Dragon Age: Inquisition is an enormous game. I’ve been pouring hours into it, trying to finish every quest, and reach every bit of the map that I can. During the main campaign, Dragon Age leads you through both Ferelden and Orlais, with an ungodly amount of side quests at your disposal. And by ungodly, I mean enough to see you through more than almost 80 hours of game play. That’s what I’m talking about! Be sure to check out my Dragon Age: Inquisition Review. The game is extremely fun, with enough lore to keep you interested, and entertained, for a long time to come. However, these are a few things I felt would be interesting additions.
#1- Dragon Mounts
Seriously, there needs to be a true dragon mount in this game. That flies. I don’t mind traversing the ground, but I’d like to be able to fly up and over a lot of the unscalable landscape. Even while riding, there are some places that you just can’t get to. A flying dragon would make exploration so much easier. Also, landing on enemies and roasting them? That’d be divine!
#2 Climb
I really wished that you could clamor over certain rocks, or at least grab onto ledges to boost yourself up. The worlds are insanely massive, and exploration is a must! But when you can slay dragons, cast magic, and close the Fade, why can’t you hop up onto the little edge? I mean, is the Inquisitor really unable to scale that rock face barehanded? Nothing, not even the beasts from beyond the Veil can stop you, so I think being able to ninja up that slope should be a given.
What would be a great addition, instead of just being able to spider man your way through the world, would to have a perk or an item that granted you the ability. You know, like maybe ranking up strength allowed you to climb higher, or only a certain item, say spiked climbing gloves, would allow you to reach higher places. And you wouldn’t be able to use them without a high enough dexterity rating. Or something? I just want to climb!
#3- Jump Higher
This goes along with what I was saying about climbing. There were so many instances where I felt like jumping just a bit higher would make exploration a bit more fun. And as I said, not having it from the very beginning would be nice. Perhaps some special boots, or a perk, to give you an advantage would make you feel like a boss later in the game. Imagine catapulting through the stage, able to jump up and climb any incline, without the tedious need to read the map (which usually isn’t very helpful) and wandering until you eventually find the right path, the right nook, the right open area that allows passage. For me, that eventually got frustrating, when where I wanted to be was right there! At least it looked close on the map. Did I mention that I have an issue with the map?
#4- Map
I guess that’s a good segway into the need for a better map. Or a more intuitive one. The map system that’s already in place is nice, but I always found it hard to read. Hard to navigate? I mean, I could see a quest marked clearly in the vicinity but reaching it wasn’t that easy. I know this lends itself to exploration, and searching and all, which is good. I enjoy exploring. It eventually became an issue when I just couldn’t get to the area, and I’d give up all together. Or, I’m forced to look up the answer online. Which is no fun. Maybe I’m too impatient?
Also, the mini map makes it difficult to gauge where you are exactly, without clicking back into the larger map. It would have been nice if the landmasses you saw in the big map also showed up in the mini map. As it stands, I always, always had to open the larger map in order to get my barrings.
#5- Ability to Run or Dash
One thing that I felt was sorely needed was the ability to run (faster) or dash. I know that’s what mounts were designed for, but sometimes even they felt like they just weren’t fast enough. I know mages have that fade-dash-thing, which is nice. But I usually play as a rogue, so something on that level would be appreciated for my class. Speaking of which, I also wish that the rogue’s grappling hook, in the skill tree, could lock onto inanimate objects, so you could dash about! This always crossed my mind each time I locked onto an enemy and dashed forward.
#6- Connected Worlds
As massive as Inquisition is, I wanted to be able to cross from one area to the next, without the need to fast travel. Don’t get me wrong, fast travel is fabulous, and I’d find the journey a bit more cumbersome if it didn’t exist, but the world of Thedas is so big that I wanted to see what was in between each area. You know, like an open world game? What Inquisition already has is still more than enough to explore, so this is just a minor nit pick.
#7- Main Campaign Multiplayer
The multiplayer ability is nice, but I’d enjoy traveling through the campaign more than I would random dungeons. I feel like it’d be a wonderful Gauntlet, or Diablo, experience. I also have friends and family that aren’t really interested in the game, but I know they’d jump in to adventure with me if the game supported the main campaign.
Also, it’d be amazing to play Dragon Age alongside side my wife. She loves these games, and since she likes to play as a ranged mage, and I like to get up close and into the action with rogue, we’d make an amazing team!
#8- Character Specific Techniques
While the skill trees are all varied in their own right, I think it would have been cool to have skill trees specific to one character. Like Varric could have the Bianca skill tree, where he’d rain various exploding arrows onto the field that deal poison damage. Or Sera could have a skill tree called Prankster Armageddon, where every ability would allow her to dart across the battle field, teleporting from one place to another, exploding, and dealing random elemental damage, much like the Alchemist skill tree for rogues.
Also, I found it odd when you could choose an extra class, it was just another skill tree used by one of the other classes. I don’t want to be like everyone else, I’m an individual!
#9- Train Characters in Another Class
With that said, I also wish it was possible to train your other characters in another class, as well. I didn’t use some of the characters, like Cole or Varric, very much simply because I had their role as an archer/rogue were covered by my Inquisitor and Sera. I wanted to be able to change their class, so they could fulfill another role in my party, that I actually needed. Duel classing your companions would have helped remedy this issue.
#10- Search on Horse
When you’re searching or just exploring, riding a mount is a way to go. I found myself riding more than 80% of the time, simply because walking takes too long. Am I right? However, it was an added chore to have to stop and search in order to gather items. A great addition would be the capability to search and gather obs while your on your mount. It would save so much time! Also, if you called your horse, it’d be nice if you automatically jumped on it, instead of having to walk up. I guess these are lazy gamer wishes?
#11- War Table Menu
Lastly, I love searching the War Table, checking new quests, and sending my generals to different areas to scout and gather supplies. The only issue I have is that I need to constantly warp to Haven or Skyhold, and then walk over to the War Table in order to do anything. I wish there was a way to either warp straight to the War Table from the map, or simply access the War Table from a menu, no matter where I am. That way, I wouldn’t have to pause my exploration to jump to Skyhold, wait for the loading screen, end up in Skyhold, walk to the War Room, wait through another loading screen, and finally wait in the war room for my generals to gather. It takes an unnecessary amount of time to get to what is a very important aspect of the game, and pivotal for exploring all of Thedas.
