Dragon Age 2 limited its scope in comparison to Dragon Age: Origins, taking place almost entirely in the city of Kirkwall and in the areas immediately surrounding it. The reduction of the next Dragon Age game’s scale would not be unprecedented. For many players, the Inquisitor has too clear a goal to make focusing on exploring the world feel like anything other than a rejection of the pressing main quest that the character has already committed to. This allows the player an immersive opportunity to explore the world beforehand without rejecting the call to adventure. While Skyrim’s opening involved the main villain, the player does not find out that they themself are the Dragonborn until they kill the dragon outside of Whiterun. In other open-world RPGs like Skyrim, the main quest didn’t present itself until later in the game. Furthermore, the plot of Dragon Age: Inquisition gave the protagonist a clear central motivation from the get-go: close the rifts and defeat Corypheus. The quests were few and far between, and those that were available were repetitive and rarely particularly story-driven. Areas like the Hinterlands were enormous compared to previous locales seen in the franchise, but did not feel sufficiently lived-in to justify the games’ transition to the open-world format.
Many fans found that Dragon Age: Inquisition’s open world was spread thin.
