Will I be fine playing Inquisition not having beaten any of the previous Dragon Age games?

[ninja666]

So, I want to play Dragon Age: Inquisition, but I'm not sure if it's a good idea considering I haven't even come close to beating any of the previous DA games - just couldn't care enough for them. Will I be fine just jumping right into Inquisition without any major knowledge of the previous games' story and not using Dragon Age Keep (because, again, I'm not familiar with the games' story enough to make an informed decision on the events), or will I get too confused in terms of the story? I don't really want it to end up like my attempt at playing DA2 while skipping Origins, where it just picked up where it left off and left me not knowing what the fuck was going on for most of the time.

 

[Elfgore]

You should be fine. Each Dragon Age game is pretty much its own thing and only a few characters come into play, usually as cameos. Inquisition does a great job of telling you what's going on though.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

All the Dragon Age games are very self contained.

That said, Inquisition calls back heavily to previous games, so there will be quite a few "Aha, it's THIS person" moments you simply won't get or will have zero impact on you.

 

[ninja666]

That said, Inquisition calls back heavily to previous games, so there will be quite a few "Aha, it's THIS person" moments you simply won't get or will have zero impact on you.

As long as they're properly reintroduced and/or aren't crucial to the story, then I think I'll live.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

As long as they're properly reintroduced and/or aren't crucial to the story, then I think I'll live.

Yeeeaaaaa...sort of? In some cases certainly. In other cases I think the game counted on their reveals as being sources of primary drama. There's a few...including a couple right near the end...that will definitely rob a healthy dose of impact if you have no idea who the person is or what their significance was. And the game's highest octane "punch in the gut" moment will be utterly diluted.

 

[ninja666]

Yeeeaaaaa...sort of? In some cases certainly. In other cases I think the game counted on their reveals as being sources of primary drama. There's a few...including a couple right near the end...that will definitely rob a healthy dose of impact if you have no idea who the person is or what their significance was. And the game's highest octane "punch in the gut" moment will be utterly diluted.

All the Dragon Age games are very self contained.

Don't you think those two statements contradict each other, then?

 

[BloatedGuppy]

Don't you think those two statements contradict each other, then?

No, the narrative for each game is contained and does not rely on previous games for coherency, like, say, Mass Effect.

In terms of fan service and enjoyment, the game will definitely take some lumps. But the plot is a stand alone.

 

[G00N3R7883]

If you didn't like Origins, don't bother with Inquisition. Origins is the vastly superior game (and my 2nd favourite game of all time) both in terms of story and combat.

 

[ninja666]

If you didn't like Origins, don't bother with Inquisition. Origins is the vastly superior game (and my 2nd favourite game of all time) both in terms of story and combat.

I liked Origins in general. I just didn't like its gameplay mechanics enough to bother beating the game cause I'm more of an Action RPG guy.

 

[sanquin]

I liked Origins in general. I just didn't like its gameplay mechanics enough to bother beating the game cause I'm more of an Action RPG guy.

Then Inquisition might be right up your alley. It's combat is a lot more action orientated and a lot less strategy. I had the same problem with Origins. The combat just didn't appeal to me that much. But I loved inquisition. Heck I plan to play it again some time in the future.

Just be prepared for a very mmorpg-like style of play. As that's what most of the side questing felt like, mmorpg, but single player. I'm wondering if you've tried Witcher 3 yet? It's combat is a BIT clunky, but nothing too bad. And it's world, quests and story are far superior to Inquisition, imo.

 

[OpticalJunction]

yeah, its more like a stand alone action rpg than a continuation of a series

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

You'll be fine for the most part, the game is set in the dragon age world, and there are some returning characters, but for the most part it is its own contained story that (up until the end) doesn't have any huge "uh..who is that? what's going on?" moments.


....but overall inquisition is just TOO much of a chore, sure they might have "open world" gameplay, but by fucking god are the sidequests so fucking boring and mmo-like, and the stats/leveling is kinda non-existent, so if you don't mind that missing then you might like it.

avoid the sidequests that are typical "collect 5 bear furs!" and just go straight for the meat of the main story, otherwise you'll be chuggin red bulls just to get through the game.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

This is really the only thing you need to know going into Inquisition. The main bad guy is from Dragon Age II's DLC called Legacy. Varric and another character will talk about it, but that's it. Everything else you should be okay with. You're going to miss a lot of little nods, but you'll be fine.

Short version: Hawke and her team confronted this guy in Dragon Age II and, depending on your choice, you either sided with his corrupted jailers or the last real jailer. Either way, after you killed this guy, it is highly suggested that he's not actually dead, and that by killing him you've actually helped him escape his prison. As it turns out, that's true, because he shows up here as the main bad guy. That's really all you need to know. Hope it helps.

 

[ninja666]

I'm wondering if you've tried Witcher 3 yet? It's combat is a BIT clunky, but nothing too bad. And it's world, quests and story are far superior to Inquisition, imo.

Sadly, I don't have a PC capable of running Witcher 3 as of now. Maybe in a few years, when I switch, then I'll play it.

 

[Creator002]

I think you'll be fine. A bit of the game has callbacks to the others, mainly Dragon Age 2, and there might be terminology you don't understand,[footnote]Most importantly IMO: Blight, Darkspawn, the Fade)[/footnote] but most of them you'll pick up quickly. There's no harm looking at a wiki for those words I used or any others you come across.

 

[Saetha]

This is really the only thing you need to know going into Inquisition. The main bad guy is from Dragon Age II's DLC called Legacy. Varric and another character will talk about it, but that's it. Everything else you should be okay with. You're going to miss a lot of little nods, but you'll be fine.

Short version: Hawke and her team confronted this guy in Dragon Age II and, depending on your choice, you either sided with his corrupted jailers or the last real jailer. Either way, after you killed this guy, it is highly suggested that he's not actually dead, and that by killing him you've actually helped him escape his prison. As it turns out, that's true, because he shows up here as the main bad guy. That's really all you need to know. Hope it helps.

Eeehhhh, that might be enough to get the basic plot down, but a lot of late game stuff won't make much sense. To supplement this, I'd say you always have know about Morrigan. I'm assuming you do, since you say you tried Origins, but just in case of a memory jog - Morrigan's an apostate and daughter of Flemeth, famous Witch of the Wilds, who's implied to be more than just human (Flemeth, not Morrigan) Morrigan was a companion in Origins, but ran off at the end because you either helped her fulfill her nefarious plot to have a kid, or didn't.

Second, I'd say pay attention to some of the lore, especially lore that centers around the setting's various religions. The game centers a lot on faith, and a few of the characters relate back to the concepts of faith and divinity, either via the plot itself or simple character arcs.

Lore dump beneath the spoiler if you want it.

Spoiler

It helps to know The Maker, the primary "God" of the setting, and Andraste, his prophet who may have just been a crazy woman claiming she could hear Him. Not much to say about this, really. It's basically fantasy Christianity.

There's the Old Gods, the old religion who aren't so popular anymore. Here you've got deities like Dumat, Urthemiel, Razikel. The Old Gods are proven to exist, but are currently trapped in prisons beneath the earth, and nowadays most claim that they're just smart dragons. But centuries ago, they were the go-to religion for humans, especially those in Tevinter. The story is that the Old Gods communicated to their priests through the Fade, and taught them magic for the purposes of bringing them into the heart of the Fade - called the Golden City - where the OGs were trapped. The priests did so, but not only did they not find any gods at all, they turned the Golden City black, found the Blight, and unleashed it on the world. The idea in Andrastianism is that the Blight was punishment for treading in the Maker's Realm.

And then the third religion that's important is that of the elves. Of particular note are the Creators, who consist of deities like Elgar'Nan, Mythal, etc. and the Forgotten Ones, and the Dread Wolf, Fen'Harel, who was friends with both pantheons but part of neither. The story for them is that they used to rule directly in ancient elven society, like the Old Gods, until Fen'Harel betrayed them and tricked both pantheons into trapping themselves away from the mortal world, allowing elven society to collapse beneath human invasion. According to myth, the reason Fen'Harel did this is basically "Why the fuck not?" and as such, he's basically a devil figure to the modern elves, tormenting them and making their lives terrible for shits and giggles. To continue the theme of ambiguous religions, though, it's not uncommon for people to claim elven legend's entirely made up, or based on historical figure's rather than out-and-out gods. Unlike the OGs, there's no solid proof that the elven gods even existed in any capacity.

That should cover any questions might have on where various characters are coming from, when the game start to really indulge it's theme.

 

[BarryMcCociner]

Yes and no. The mage/templar conflict is so fucking easy to grasp. There's little complexity in just how they want to portray both sides. "They're both good, but a vast majority of their leaders are corrupt and secretly evil!" You'll grasp the formula quickly. I think there's a feigned attempt at nuance but if you're a fan of fictional media in general you'll be able to predict the outcome of most mage/templar situations before every character involved is even introduced.

However, once you're near the ending things might get a little confusing when the game drops some solid LORE on you. Just read as much as you can find in the game about religion, particularly Elven gods and you'll be mostly right.

 

[nevarran]

Yes.
You can also use the Keep to get in touch with the world from the previous two games and customize your experience.
https://dragonagekeep.com/

Of course, playing the first two games would be better.