Update: Neither Microsoft nor EA has fixed the save issues for Xbone, but still Dragon Age: Inquisition was a ton of fun!
So I figured out that the Xbone never actually shuts off. The light goes off, but it tries to stay online. DA:I was designed to take advantage of this, but when I power down DA:I loses connection... but still thinks it is connected. So when I power up, the game immediately starts, but cannot save.
To actually play DA:I on the Xbone, I start each session by unplugging the Xbone. This severs whatever pseudo or interrupted connection. Then when I power up, the Xbone actually connects to the online/cloud/somwhereinthenetherworldsavefunction. That's a technical term... I'm gonna trademark it. Anyway, this ensures I can actually save... and thus make progress through the game.
So should I review the game? Nah... but I'll give you some info. Graphics... good. Combat... good. World... very big. Crafting... good. Party members... great. Story... very good. Returning characters... great.
After the disappointing story aspects of DA2, DA:I gets your character back to saving the world... but you also get to do some political base building. Decorating your castle with matching drapes and pillows may be fun to some... and it would be fun for me if my character was a king, but my character was the Inquisitor, the moral compass for continents, the defender of the weak, the renewer of hope. Who cares about drapes when religions, nations, millions of people, heck, the whole planet depends upon the Inquisitor? And that is where the game really shines... the decisions. Mercy, punishment, death, life, liberation, slavery, genocide, colonization, war, judgement... are all part of the decisions that you must make for governments, organizations, communities, and individual people throughout the course of the game.
Is the Inquisitor chosen by the Maker? Is the Inquisitor a heretic?
The continuing problem of how society deals with mages once again is a focus. Free them, kill them, enslave them, intern them, or protect them?
Templars are actually drug addicts? What?!?! And the Chantry encourages this?
I played through first as a male human who openly doubted whether he was the Chosen of Andraste, but was focused on preserving order while fighting Corypheus. My second character was a female elf who claimed to be the Chosen of Andraste while championing Elven rights wherever and whenever possible. Both were good characters, but seemed nothing alike due to their class, race, and gender differences.
I don't want to spoil the story by saying which NPCs from previous DA games show up, but there are at least five. One was expected, a second one I should have anticipated, and another was not surprising... but the others were like punches to the gut.
If you go down the crafting route, you'll get better equipment than you'll loot from bosses.
I thought playing as an Archer made for a lot... I mean, a lot easier combat. In my first game, as a two-handed-hacketizer, there were some hairy moments on Normal Mode. As an Archer, I played mostly on Nightmare... and I stink at console games... well, I had to dial it down to Hard for some of the dragons.
Vary your party just to listen to what they say to each other. Vi is cruel to Bl. Ca loathes Va. Se hates Do, Va, Vi, and Ca on principle. IB is pure joy.
The Inquisition obviously sets up the next game in this franchise. And yet for my first character, he wanted nothing so much as to dismantle the Inquisition as soon as they stopped Corypheus. Everyone is trying to use the power and the influence of the Inquisition for their own ends. Two NPCs want you to back them as the next Divine. Some encourage the Inquisitor to actually change the Inquisition into a nation.
The reason Americans love George Washington is because when he had absolute power in his hands he walked away. He did not need it. He did not want to use it as leverage or for personal gain. I'm not saying he was perfect, but he did know what absolute power does. He set the precedent that leadership must have a time limit.
In Inquisition, the masses (and the Inquisitor's companions and inner circle) all laud the Inquisitor and give him even more power and influence. It is heady and it is scary at the same time. Even in a video game there is a strong pull to justify my decisions.
"Killing that man probably saved lives. Probably."
"You once tweeted a racist joke. I sentence you to twenty years hard labor cleaning my outhouse. I love the smell of roses in the morning."
"So you drowned hundreds of plague victims and refugees decades ago in a far away place during a civil war and a demonic invasion in order to save your town from certain death? I don't know any of the details of the case nor do I have jurisdiction over you.... hmmmm. I sentence you to death because everyone hates you and they'll love me for killing you."
"You want me to support you as Pope even though you lead a guild of assassins? Okay, but you have to give the Inquisition tax exempt status forever and the right to torture people... oh, and the right to start a Jihad whenever we want."
The lure to control people... to control the outcome... to play God is tangible. It makes the game compelling.
