What bothers me most about the breakable objects is the inconsistency: either make all small, loose objects breakable, or make none of them breakable. The current mix makes the game feel less immersive. Breaking stuff here also feels more like a chore than a fun mechanic, as it’s tied to finding items needed to upgrade equipment. If I don’t break every object, I risk missing out on important resources.
Instead, there could be a more engaging way to farm gold and valuables—something fun and creative. Breaking objects could then be more about immersion or optional gameplay rather than a requirement. For example, you could make breaking things in town affect your reputation, leading to consequences like NPCs reacting negatively or other implications. This could add a deeper layer of strategy and role-playing. I realize this would be more complex to implement, but for a triple-A game with a 10-year development cycle, it feels like a missed opportunity.
Another issue: treasure chests. Why are they randomly scattered across the world? It feels absurd. Finding a rusty item or coins lying around makes sense, but stumbling upon a massive treasure chest in the middle of nowhere? Not so much. Chests should feel logical and intentional—hidden in places like a dragon’s lair, a villain’s backroom, or a locked chest in a looted house.
If lootable items must be placed in other areas, there are better ways to do it. Replace random treasure chests with more immersive options: coins in a ruined cart, a weapon leaning against a wall, or valuables dropped by defeated enemies. It’s not rocket science, but it would make the world feel far more believable.
I completely agree with the points raised about the inconsistency and lack of immersion caused by the mechanic of breakable objects and treasure chests. The duality of some objects being breakable and others not makes the world feel disconnected and sloppy. Worse still, the system encourages players to “break everything compulsively” to avoid missing important resources, turning the experience into a tedious chore rather than something fun.
A brilliant suggestion would be to connect the player’s actions to world consequences. For example: breaking objects in cities could harm your reputation or cause NPCs to react negatively, while doing so in deserted areas would be more acceptable. This would add a layer of strategy and dramatization, transforming a boring mechanic into something with purpose.
As for treasure chests? I completely agree that their current placement is absurd. Randomly scattered chests in the middle of nowhere break any sense of logic or immersion. Replacing them with more organic options, such as coins in ruined carts, items on abandoned walls, or treasures left behind by defeated enemies, would feel much more cohesive and natural to the world.
This isn’t a difficult idea to implement; it’s simply a matter of respecting the quality level expected from a AAA RPG. A game with a 10-year development cycle cannot afford to offer mechanics this lazy.
Not to mention the barriers and locked doors that 'magically' unlock all of a sudden—just because you decide to start a companion side story or something similar. It’s not even that the companion has a unique way to open them; the door might simply be open, or the barrier might suddenly vanish. It creates this weird, disjointed feeling, making the game feel overly streamlined.
And then there’s the strange mechanic with Harding’s power—suddenly, you can just do it yourself using Solas’s knife. I mean, seriously?
Then we come to the dialogue choices. No matter how moody or intense your response seems, they’re almost always positive. The clenched fist option, for example, looks like you’re about to give an order or threaten someone, but it ends up being a fairly polite comment anyway.
It’s like they went overboard to ensure that every line of dialogue is so safe it couldn’t possibly offend anyone. 🤐
Absolutely, I couldn’t agree morethis game feels like it’s designed for a child, yet it awkwardly tackles mature themes like sexuality and identity. The disconnect is absurd. How can they simplify gameplay to the point where locked doors just magically vanish because you started a companion quest, while also expecting us to take the story’s deep themes seriously? It’s like teaching a toddler about philosophy while they mash buttons.
Then there’s the dialogue. Even the most intense-looking options result in polite, sanitized responses. It’s as if they’re terrified of offending anyone, completely undermining the gritty, morally complex choices that Dragon Age is known for. And if everything’s so "safe," why even bother addressing complex topics?
This incoherence is the real issue. Is this a thought-provoking RPG for adults or a simplified kids’ game? You can’t have both, and the result is a bizarre, identity-confused mess that fails to challenge or satisfy either audience.
