![]() ![]() For one thing, it means you’ll have a reward waiting whenever you resume the game. The time for completion can vary from ten minutes to the best part of a day, but it ticks down even when you’re not in the game. Once assigned, a timer ticks down, after which you can collect your reward. Each assignment can be tackled through diplomacy, intrigue or military force, with different results and completion times depending on the advisor used. Instead they can be summoned to the War Council, to be given tasks through a map view of Ferelden and Orlais. Unlike your companions, you can’t take them out into the field. Like your companions, they offer personal quests and will chat between missions. You’ll return here between missions to talk to companions, assign tasks to advisors, and optionally behead the odd criminal or two. Instead, the most populated area of the game is the Inquisition’s headquarters. Inquisition is a game about taming hostile lands, which means there’s nowhere as dense with people as DA2’s Kirkwall, or even DA:O’s main city of Denerim. For the most part, that’s welcome, but I do miss the presence of a proper, bustling city. In terms of the size and scope of the environments, Dragon Age: Inquisition is the total opposite of Dragon Age 2. My first fight with a dragon will be one of my enduring gaming memories of this year. Some, like the forests of the Emerald Graves, are absolutely beautiful-filled with wild and vibrant plant life in a multitude of primary colours. Predominantly, though, you’ll be charting massive, open spaces, each offering a distinct environment and ecosystem. Then there’s The Fallow Mire, which acts as an almost standalone undead vignette across a mostly linear area. The Orlesian city of Val Royeaux is a mere marketplace square, used for only a handful of quests throughout the campaign. It was just out there, waiting to be found. It was only the second I’d seen, and its presence wasn’t tied to a quest. This time, I encountered a dragon: first flying overhead, then landing in a bowl of charred trees and scorched rocks. I’d been poking and prodding the area throughout, gradually uncovering the borders of the map. About 30 hours into the game, I returned to check off another in my long list of tasks. It’s an enormous expanse, filled with hills and cliffs, and crammed with nooks and crannies hiding secrets, sidequests and lush, verdant scenery. The first main area you unlock is the Hinterlands. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to earn both, because the world is huge and packed full of things to do. Power lets you unlock new areas and progress the story, while Influence unlocks perks, from new conversation options to enhanced lockpicking for your party’s rogues. Successfully check something off your to-do list, and you’re awarded Power and Influence. To approach either, you’ll first need to increase the Inquisition’s support-by completing quests. Closing it requires power, and that, initially, means securing the support of either the rebel mages or the now autonomous Templars. ![]() The breach is the story bridge that links the high-level political posturing of the world’s factions to your own need to venture out and kill things. I’ve navigated the polite intrigue of Orlesian politics, recruited powerful and dangerous allies, and elevated the Inquisition from a band of fringe heretics into one of the most feared and admired orders in all of Thedas. More than that, I feel like I’ve had a bigger impact on it than in either previous game. Now, after the 50-plus hours it took me to finish the main campaign, I feel more versed in the intricacies of the world than ever. Inquisition is taking you on a long and satisfying journey, with plenty of time to work out what’s what and who’s who. It’s initially overwhelming, as names of people, places and events are tossed casually into the narrative. Over two previous games, an expansion, and numerous tie-in comics and novels, BioWare has created a rich and broad history, much of which shapes the events of this enormous third RPG. If you don’t know these things, Dragon Age: Inquisition’s opening lore-maelstrom threatens to drown you. ![]()
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