Having finished the game... I have so many feelings. Would I recommend this game? Short answer, yes. I think people have been too dramatic about review bombing this game. It's playable (I encountered no glitches) and is clearly meant to be an easy entry point for those who are not familiar with Dragon Age lore (aka have never played the previous games).

*Combat: I have always played Dragon Age for the lore and the characters, not the combat, so how the combat felt does not matter too much to me. Having always played a mage, I found the mage combat in this game to be particularly fun, especially the orb and dagger combination. I rarely fought with my staff. I found the enemies to be challenging in a good way, I liked that I could not fully control my companions except for certain abilities, and I never used the runes except for their passives.

*Exploration: I felt that the number of side quests was well balanced, and I ended up liking the more limited exploration (the Hinterlands was always Inquisition's worst flaw, I felt). Towards the end it got really hard to get materials and it was hard to get gold. I did every side quest as they came up, and I tried to travel everywhere the long way, but I still had trouble with this and I think that they may need to consider making it slightly more easy to get gold and materials. I enjoyed the Caretaker and upgrading as well as enchanting my weapons and armor was a great way to get buffs. I wish that there was more to do with the Lighthouse, such as upgrading its appearance or finding more secrets. I also kind of wish that it had more of an effect on the final battle.

*Graphics: Like everybody else, I was super mad when the Fortnite style graphics were introduced, and character changes were shown for much loved characters, even for the enemies. However, the style grew on me, and it ended up not even being something I really noticed after a while. The landscapes are stunning, and I took so many screenshots of how gorgeous so many of the scenes are. However... WHY is everyone so short?? The dwarves are almost as tall as everybody else, and the elves are no longer the tall willowy types that they were in previous games, and don't get me started on how absolute crap the Qunari look. It's like we went back to Dragon Age Origins Sten in the worst way possible. There also was hardly anyone walking around areas, making those areas seem so lifeless.

*Writing: Here is where I absolutely grieve what could have been. There was so much potential here. In one of the first missions, we are told we have to rescue an elven village. The problem with that? There are no elven villages in the lore. They are nomadic and travel in aravels. Why have the elves here started a village? We don't know, there is no explanation, and we are just expected to think it's normal. All of the hatred towards elves from non-elves, between city elves and Dalish elves- has just vanished with no explanation. There is so much lore like this. throughout the game, that seems to have been disregarded or forgotten. In one of the cut scenes, we are shown a darkspawn eating a halla. Given what is going on, for my elf character and the elf character I am scripted to be with at this moment, this could have been a really symbolic and heart wrenching moment. Instead, nothing. It's just meant to be gross. As you walk through the world as an elf, there are hardly any moments where you can discuss your heritage or backstory in conversation. There are even some key story beats that are never explained, such as we are never told why there are only two gods left and what happened to the others. We are told their lives were used to fuel their prison and the Veil but like... did they die from that?
Your companions - good grief, they are so one-note. We get it, stabby guy likes stabbing and coffee, investigator likes investigating (why did she have wisps around her room? Guess we will never know!), dragon person like dragons, dwarf likes plants and is emotional, manic pixie dream girl likes being quirky... etc., etc. The conversations between everybody feel like they were written by AI. They are cliche, soulless, and depressing. Rook feels they have to be funny at every opportunity, and the romance - I romanced Davrin and felt absolutely nothing. No connection. It was boring.
The sad thing is, there are moments like the optional side quest where we discover a whole bunch of Solas's past. And it had the best writing of the game! Also the optional ending I got had excellent writing and closure for my little Solavellan heart.

Overall, I just feel like it was really sad. It felt like an ending to Dragon Age, and not necessarily in a good way. I hope that this isn't the end for Dragon Age, and it can come back better than ever. But I am afraid that this might be the end of the line. I hope that they don't end one of their best series on a note that's just... ok.

Having finished the game... I have so many feelings. Would I recommend this game? Short answer, yes. I think people have been too dramatic about review bombing this game. It's playable (I encountered no glitches) and is clearly meant to be an easy entry point for those who are not familiar with Dragon Age lore (aka have never played the previous games). *Combat: I have always played Dragon Age for the lore and the characters, not the combat, so how the combat felt does not matter too much to me. Having always played a mage, I found the mage combat in this game to be particularly fun, especially the orb and dagger combination. I rarely fought with my staff. I found the enemies to be challenging in a good way, I liked that I could not fully control my companions except for certain abilities, and I never used the runes except for their passives. *Exploration: I felt that the number of side quests was well balanced, and I ended up liking the more limited exploration (the Hinterlands was always Inquisition's worst flaw, I felt). Towards the end it got really hard to get materials and it was hard to get gold. I did every side quest as they came up, and I tried to travel everywhere the long way, but I still had trouble with this and I think that they may need to consider making it slightly more easy to get gold and materials. I enjoyed the Caretaker and upgrading as well as enchanting my weapons and armor was a great way to get buffs. I wish that there was more to do with the Lighthouse, such as upgrading its appearance or finding more secrets. I also kind of wish that it had more of an effect on the final battle. *Graphics: Like everybody else, I was super mad when the Fortnite style graphics were introduced, and character changes were shown for much loved characters, even for the enemies. However, the style grew on me, and it ended up not even being something I really noticed after a while. The landscapes are stunning, and I took so many screenshots of how gorgeous so many of the scenes are. However... WHY is everyone so short?? The dwarves are almost as tall as everybody else, and the elves are no longer the tall willowy types that they were in previous games, and don't get me started on how absolute crap the Qunari look. It's like we went back to Dragon Age Origins Sten in the worst way possible. There also was hardly anyone walking around areas, making those areas seem so lifeless. *Writing: Here is where I absolutely grieve what could have been. There was so much potential here. In one of the first missions, we are told we have to rescue an elven village. The problem with that? There are no elven villages in the lore. They are nomadic and travel in aravels. Why have the elves here started a village? We don't know, there is no explanation, and we are just expected to think it's normal. All of the hatred towards elves from non-elves, between city elves and Dalish elves- has just vanished with no explanation. There is so much lore like this. throughout the game, that seems to have been disregarded or forgotten. In one of the cut scenes, we are shown a darkspawn eating a halla. Given what is going on, for my elf character and the elf character I am scripted to be with at this moment, this could have been a really symbolic and heart wrenching moment. Instead, nothing. It's just meant to be gross. As you walk through the world as an elf, there are hardly any moments where you can discuss your heritage or backstory in conversation. There are even some key story beats that are never explained, such as [spoiler] we are never told why there are only two gods left and what happened to the others. We are told their lives were used to fuel their prison and the Veil but like... did they die from that? [/spoiler] Your companions - good grief, they are so one-note. We get it, stabby guy likes stabbing and coffee, investigator likes investigating (why did she have wisps around her room? Guess we will never know!), dragon person like dragons, dwarf likes plants and is emotional, manic pixie dream girl likes being quirky... etc., etc. The conversations between everybody feel like they were written by AI. They are cliche, soulless, and depressing. Rook feels they have to be funny at every opportunity, and the romance - I romanced Davrin and felt absolutely nothing. No connection. It was boring. The sad thing is, there are moments like the optional side quest where we discover a whole bunch of [spoiler] Solas's past. [/spoiler] And it had the best writing of the game! Also the optional ending I got had excellent writing and [spoiler] closure for my little Solavellan heart. [/spoiler] Overall, I just feel like it was really sad. It felt like an ending to Dragon Age, and not necessarily in a good way. I hope that this isn't the end for Dragon Age, and it can come back better than ever. But I am afraid that this might be the end of the line. I hope that they don't end one of their best series on a note that's just... ok.