DAI combat was abysmal. They tried to reinvent RTwP with that atrocious tactical camera nonsense that was jank af. It was a button masher with barely a sliver of party mechanics. Period.
Writing was great in terms if new lore, especially elven stuff. So much new lore and plot threads that I am very excited for DA4.
However…trying to say that the writing/storytelling in that game was deep or complex is laughable. I am sorry…but they attempted to add faux complexity to all the lore of the races and classes from DAO…and it was a complete failure. It was exposition dump after exposition dump. Examples:
Vivian preaching to you about how not all circles are bad. The elf mage who specializes in animals preaches that not all templars are bad. Cullen explain that Templar vows of chastity are just a choice (a complete lore rewrite so fans could bone him btw). Solas explaining why blood magic is really not that bad. Iron Bull explaining how the little man is not all that affected by living under the Qun, so it is not that bad Dorian explaining how slavery in Tevinter is really not that bad.
God…so many more.
This is not letting a story develop through interactions and narrative (which imho is what good writing does). This is having npcs spewing a bunch of “you thought you knew something but I will tell you that it is more complicated!†aha moment garbage. So boring.
Still…the elven lore stuff was fun. And I will likely play DA4. I just hope it is written better, personally.
Oh…and dear god…I wish they would move away from the frostbite engine. Uggg…
