I feel like the dragon age series runs into the problem it lacks an actual conclusion-as opposed to Mass Effect.
It was never intended to be a cohesive story. You've got the blights (two more to go!), Solas and the Elven god/veil stuff, the Forgotten Ones/dwarf lore, and then the Qunari invasion, and Mage-Templar conflict.
So they either escalate the stakes, or they do more narrow stories-either way people feel unhappy.
As for Inquisition in particular-I just finished another playthrough. It's not bad-the combat is drastically simplified, and the story has its high points. Especially if you have the Morrigan/Kieran/Flemeth stuff in your world state.
Even Corypheus has potential-he's basically a disillusioned priest who has resolved to become the god his people need and deserve, when his god stopped answering him. Its just Corypheus is not really shown outside Haven and the ending.
It also has loads of bloat and fetch quests-XP farming isn't even that fun as your enemies tend to scale up, or you get so far ahead it is no longer even a challenge. I like most of the cast-even Sera is sort of tolerable in a "robin hood wannabe who has internalized self hating minority syndrome and isn't even effective at her stated goals"-you can even tell her to leave. Dorian is...probably the only homosexual character in a video game I find tolerable.
Sure, they still have Mass Effect but who wants another ME game, especially after the failures of ME3 and Andromeda?
ME3 wasn't a failure? The ending was divisive, but the legendary edition showed pretty clearly the audience for ME exists still.
As for Inquisition-even the woke stuff is not near as bad as it could be. Vivienne feels like she actually fits the setting-at least in principle, you don't even have to recruit the trans character(and even if you do-its only brought up if you inquire specifically).
I feel like both DA2 and DAI suffer more from being rushed and having a bunch of elements jammed together. Like Sebastian in DA2 is clearly meant to be a much more important character. The various race options in Inquisition were added late in the development process, meaning we get such gems as a Dalish inquisitor asking who Mythal is.
I haven't really kept up with BG3-but from what I've heard, it had become industry wisdom audiences didn't want RPGs, so honestly the fact the market for an Origins like game exists has probably come way too late for Bioware.
It had a lot of good ideas but they fell short. It wasn't a bad game and in a lot of ways was an improvement on DA2, in some ways it missed the mark. Compared to Anthem, ME: Androgyny and modern day games, it had love, care and a lot of attention to detail given to it. The war-room was a good idea, the team squabbling over where and when you strike/struck was fun, sitting on the throne and determining the fate of people you've come across was an interesting mini-game.
The open worlds were boring but there was a lot of potential there. I do wonder how much was held back because of the cross-gen launch between ps360 and PS4/X1.
There's enough in the game that makes me feel like they sort of understand DA, or at worst, can build an RPG in the DA universe. Don't misunderstand my optimism, i'm the biggest fucking doomer when it comes to the industry, I believe GTA6 will be a flop, but I really feel like this game will succeed.
I wish we actually got to play a more ruthless inquisitor. The Templar recruitment mission alludes to this idea-the Inquisitor is having people arrested and killed left and right. But modern Bioware games don't let you make "evil" or ruthless choices. At most you can have a few people executed or made tranquil. Give us an inquisitor that orders entire cities burned for heresy, that betrays companions for the slightest doubt, that bulldozes institutions that don't play ball, that uses his religious icon status to demand loyalty and obedience from noble and commoner alike.
I actually do like Solas-I can appreciate the narrative around the character-a trickster and a destroyer, a rebel and a savior. He isn't "lol evil" so much as he has a particular vision for how the world should be and won't be dissuaded-he's genuinely sad about basically mass genocide and chaos on a gigantic scale, but restoring his people matters more.
