Completed All Three Games for the First Time [spoilers all]

Recently, I got all three games and played through them for the first time, 95% blind. I had played the Mass Effect trilogy at least seven times, but knew almost nothing about DA.

My approach to most games is to feverishly scour every inch of space, and complete every side quest I can before any “main” missions. In the cases of all three games, I frequently found myself severely over leveled for most of the primary missions.

First impression of the games:

Origins is the most amount of fun that I never want to have again lmfao. Some of the most frequent crashes, bugs, and esoteric mechanics I’ve ever played, even compared to pre-Legendary Edition Mass Effect 1. The plot-line and story was great. Gameplay was… okay. Great opening to a series, I think. As a note: I never got to play any of the story-DLC, and I only viewed playthroughs of them after I finished DA2. In which case: Shale is the best.

DA2 is the game that I will have the most nostalgia for, going forward. Largely because the story and character-writing did the best job of roping me in and making me invested in being an authentic Hawke, and caring about the choices I make. When Anders finally went off the deep end, I was genuinely galled and heartbroken— like, bro, you were like a brother to me, how-very-fucking-dare you?? Every decision in that game felt like the weight of the world. Gameplay was a welcome step up, but after a while, I was more or less on autopilot.

Inquisition is the game that is the most entertaining, moment to moment, and unsurprisingly: the best combat. Crafting system was alright, and it probably had the best hub/home base. The story felt… it felt like it was paced oddly. After Adamant fortress, I could have sworn it was just the halfway point, but apparently, it was three-quarters of the way through the whole thing. I was expecting a moment like the camp-invasion in Origins, or like when your headquarters gets invaded in XCOM— maybe some more missions dealing with the aftermath of a catastrophic siege of Skyhold, and working to get back people’s faith in the Inquisitor. But nope, after Adamant, we were ready to go and kick Coryphyshit in the nuts. Take away his mages, stop Celene’s assassination, save the Wardens from his control, and then he’s on his last legs?? For a guy who spat on God’s doorstep and tore the universe several new arseholes, Mister Amladaris was kind of a pushover. Anyway, Inquisition was pretty good, although it didn’t quite leave me in as much silence during the credits, as DA2. It felt like I didn’t get enough time with any of the characters, like there was a hidden, extra forty hours of content that I couldn’t find, even though I’m extremely thorough.

All in all, it seems like the Dragon Age series followed the same pattern as Mass Effect. Dated but unparalleled first installment, the laterally-written “revamp” of a sequel, and then the tilted third installment that pissed off more than a few people. It was an interesting time, although I don’t find the setting of DA nearly as interesting as Mass Effect’s. If you could take the magic-system and the Fade from DA, and replace Biotics and Eezo in ME, with them: that would be damn near perfect, in my mind. Although, that would probably amount to a bootleg Warhammer 40K, now that I think about— only less religion and more of an HBO series.

EDIT: finished Trespasser. It certainly felt like a more conclusive end to the story of Inquisition. And like finishing Mass Effect for the first time, it has me irritated because I now wish to do it all over again, but better. Which I don’t think I have time for lol