Over the past week I've been in the midst of a self-imposed media blackout for fear of spoilers about the game, but I just finished playing my six hours of EA Early Access gameplay and have a number of thoughts on it. Obviously there are spoilers below, although I've tried to keep them vague and to a minimum. If you spot any errors or omissions, please let me know!
On the technical side, I had no difficulty in getting access, although my world state from the Dragon Age Keep did not get imported (my fault)--it accessed my Origins account, but as I had not yet selected the "Export to DAI" button (I hadn't noticed it) nothing was exported. As for the game itself, I only came across one glitch of note (a conversation with Cassandra froze for about a minute during an optional chat in Haven--only via one dialogue choice, btb). Along with the time limit, play was restricted to the starting area (Frostback Mountains, ie, Haven) and the Hinterlands, which also meant party composition was locked--granted, it's a good group to start with (Cassandra, Varric, and Solas).
For my playthrough I created a female elven mage. I have no idea how much story content is racially based, but I did think that being an elf might yield the most in-game reactions; from the six hour snippet I can't really tell, but there were a few comments about racism against elves as well as options to declare my faith in the elven gods.
I was delighted with both the gameplay and story experience. There is an immense amount to do in DAI and for any of you who like to pick up every available item you can find, there is a ton with every step. The combat (I played on normal) was intuitive--it took me a moment to orient myself with the tactical camera, but I did find it quite useful in any difficult fight (while the AI is good, things like focus fire and party positioning are ones you need to tweak yourself). There were a few times I came across enemies too powerful for me, but I was able to disengage without too much trouble.
I was very happy with the development given to secondary characters--they all have motivations and backgrounds and while those may only lightly involve themselves in the storyline, it does give the world depth and make talking to them more engaging. As for the companions/advisors, they were as dynamic as you'd expect and they (like all the other characters) reflect on and are impacted by the events as they unfold.
Specific observations:
-I like how all the characters are unsure about what happened to the Inquisitor--their varying reactions and explanations add to the mystery
-banter between companions was mostly between Cassandra and Varric, as expected, and was entertaining (as I'd guessed back in October some of it was heard in the Emerald Graves let's plays)
-Your first true decision in the prologue gives you two options of how to deal with a situation and one is more interesting than the other (the one I choose; the other was shown here)--it's not a huge difference, but the only case I know of where the rewards are a bit skewed depending on what you do
-I enjoyed the little banter we see between Varric and scout Harding
-Leliana's reaction to events was not what I was expecting, but something I'm interested in exploring
-There's a Templar recruit who is part of the initial Inquisitor force that serves as a nice contrast to the Templar experiences of DA2
-Haven is much bigger than I was expecting--it's more than just a small camp
-I wonder if Varric's reaction to red lyrium varies if you gave him some to tweak Bianca in DA2? (I did not)
-the one minor quest I wasn't enthused about involves racing with your horse--I realise the purpose of it (mechanically) is to get you used to riding...but it just doesn't have the gravitas of all the other quests, nor suit the chaos and danger that exists everywhere
After playing I'd planned on combing through reviews and videos freely, but it seems as though spoilers abound for after this initial snippet so that will have to wait. Needless to say the game has been reviewing quite well (as I'd expected). The 18th can't come soon enough, although now I face the decision of continuing with my default world state character or starting fresh with my Keep import....
This article is written by Peter Levi (@eyeonthesens)
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