If you see this game as more of a stand-alone continuation in the series, it's actually pretty good.
The positives
- the story at first feels boring, but the further you come into the game, the more compelling it is
- some of the lore will blow your mind with revelations of what's actually been going on
- Combat mechanics are a lot better than previous games.
- Maps feels open-world despite being "restrictive" like in Dragon Age 2, because there is so much to explore
- The Dragon Age 2 dialogue wheel is back, so you can make a "purple" Rook (iykyk)
- your choices shapes the world and the characters around you
- The Character Creator is AMAZING
- Every level is breathtaking in its own way and you absolutely should take a moment to look around and take in the details. The level designs are amazing.
- Photomode so you can take pictures of the scenery, with adjustable sliders to get the pictures how you want (you can also abuse it to look around for solutions to puzzles)
- at first I wasn't interested in the companions, found all of them annoying despite Lucanis. Get to know them and they're actually pretty compelling.
- They walk around and have a life without you and conversations you can overhear at base. They develop their own relationships between one another
- NPCs feel alive, and as if they actually have a head on their shoulder
- Great character designs
- Cameos of previous characters you would not think would appear
- you can pet every cat and dog you come across
- Companions' rooms evolve as you progress the game
- You can costumize what your outfit should look like when you explore, and are not bound by what armor you are wearing
- puzzles are easy to figure out if you look around
Negatives
- No import of previous choices in previous games, and they feel abandoned. Only the Inquisitor and their love interest, and whether they believe solas is able to be saved or not, has meaning
- No mention of ex. What happened to Blackwall
- you have to get used to the female rook voices (for me at least)
- Inquisition and Trespasser made Solas seem like he was going to be the Big Bad, but he is no such thing in this (as far as i have played with my 27 hours as of writing this)
- some cutscenes seem a bit useless, especially since the same thing will be explained by a certain someone literally minutes later
- you cannot walk up and start random conversations with your companions like in previous games, and pester them with questions about their lives
- they dont seem all that happy about gifts, and is only a "oh thanks :)" and nothing more. At least they display them.
- some chests are LITERALLY impossible to get to, no matter how much parkour you perform, or abuse photomode to find the solution
- There are still bugs here and there, like in cutscenes where characters dont show up
This is all what I could think of at the top of my head, both good and bad, but you should give it a try.
