Latest ‘Dragon Age’ delivers with a roar

Published 5:21 pm Saturday, December 6, 2014

Photo courtesy of BioWare

Photo courtesy of BioWare

One does not simply play straight through a game like “Dragon Age: Inquisition.”

The latest BioWare role playing game is getting a lot of attention for its deep gameplay. “Dragon Age: Inquisition” easily has more than 90 hours of gameplay and a lot of replay value due to its choose-your-own-adventure-like story. Hands down, it’s one of the best RPGs to come out this year.

BioWare is a developer famous for its expansive RPGs such as the “Mass Effect” series. Yet its “Dragon Age” series hasn’t quite found as much acclaim, as many people who enjoyed “Dragon Age: Origins” didn’t enjoy “Dragon Age II” because of changes to the game’s combat system.

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“Dragon Age: Inquisition” may change that. The game revolves around a man or woman who must use a mysterious power to close rifts to a hellish world and prevent demonic forces from taking over the medieval land. Of course, there are also dragons.

While the premise sounds almost cliche, the game is fresh and intriguing. The protagonist forms an alliance with various nobles, mages, warriors and rogues to form an inquisition to rid the continent of demons. That involves various intrigues, battles and alliances which bring this high fantasy world to life.

This game is all about the choices you make, which will affect major and minor plot points throughout the story. It involves a deep, immersive system of responses to various scenarios, which can see your character refuse help from outside nations, send away former comrades and even topple an empire should you so choose.

The combat is a blend of action RPG characteristics and tactical planning. While you can hack away at many enemies at lower difficulties, using the game’s tactical overhead map and commands is pretty much mandatory on the game’s hard and nightmare modes.

When you’re not improving your character — who can be a type of warrior, rogue or magic user — you can save regions, help people, beat back baddies and secure resources for your growing army.

That doesn’t count all the hours you’ll spend improving your relationship with various characters, and possibly even romancing them. BioWare is very good at making you care about the characters you play with, and your party will feel all too familiar to you once you near the end of the game.

“Dragon Age: Inquisition” also has a multiplayer mode, where you can pick specific subclasses to accomplish missions with other players online, but the game’s fun lies in its expansive single player campaign. I spent dozens of hours playing “Dragon Age: Inquisition” over the past few weeks and I still have more to discover.

The game isn’t without its faults, however. There are various bugs in cutscenes, which breaks your suspension of disbelief and can really take you out of the plot. Emotional moments are definitely ruined by a few of these glitches. These bugs won’t show up for everyone, but many players have reported glitches in conversations with your allies.

In addition, combat can be frustrating at times, as the only way to heal is through potions. That means you have to think and play smarter than normal, which can get frustrating when you’re deep in a dungeon with no resting camp in site.

However, “Dragon Age: Inquisition” is full of epic — as in, the literary term — moments and awe-inspiring battles, including those you have with the game’s high dragons. This is a great game to spend a month or two on, and a worthy buy for any gamer.