Summary
I’ve been on a quest to finishDragon Age: InquisitionbeforeThe Veilguardreleases later this year, but it hasn’t gone smoothly.I’ve bounced off the game before; the War Table system is annoying andthe open world areas obfuscate the great storiesI know this game has the capacity to tell.
Despite the fact that it’sfinally made dragons scaryfor the first time in the series,I can’t help but feel disappointed. And, judging by the comments on my articles, the game’s fans are equally split. Half of the commenters dismiss my opinion for giving Dragon Age 2 gentle praise (it had its positives, I stand by that), while the other half agree that Inquisition is bloated and worse for it.
I’ve had some genuine advice from the comments, too (you know, alongside the personal attacks). I’ve been sent links to great mods that cut the bullpoop, that I unfortunately can’t use because I’m playing on Xbox. I’ve been told to either lower the difficulty level to the easiest to see the story or boost it to max and make it more tactical (both suggestions by the same person, which I may well try out).
However, I found another way to make Dragon Age: Inquisition more enjoyable: playing it on my phone.
It sounds odd, but I’ve recently been wanting to make the most of my Xbox Game Pass subscription,for obvious reasons. £15 a month for my Ultimate sub is a lot, so I’ve been returning to the lesser-used portions of Microsoft’s service. Xbox Game Streaming is one such feature.
I’ve streamed games to my phone before, but never one this complex. Game streaming is perfect for platformers in my opinion, and my Google Pixel’s OLED screen makes games like Ori and the Will of the Wisps look stunning. Who needs a Switch or Steam Deck, eh?
My phone’s battery also lasts for around twice as long as my Switch OLED or Steam Deck Not OLED. I’m using a Google Pixel 6 Pro, so hardly the latest hardware.
I recently got a new controller for my phone, so it was time to test game streaming again – it’s not like a controller is going to help with Pokemon Go or Marvel Snap, is it? I scrolled through the Game Pass library and reluctantly loaded up Dragon Age: Inquisition. My last play session had been the drudgery of the Hissing Wastes. It took a lot of inner strength for me to click play, but I’m so glad I did.
Dragon Age: Inquisition wasn’t made for mobile, but it fits surprisingly well. If you use a controller rather than the touchscreen, the controls are surprisingly smooth. Combat still relies on mashing the same few triggers and face buttons for minutes at a time, but everything else runs smoothly. The framerate is stable, the graphics surprisingly good. Of course, I should preface any compliments with the fact that I was streaming on my home Wi-Fi connection, but generally, streaming Inquisition to my phone feels just as good as playing on console.
Playing on PC would be another matter entirely (especially as I could install mods to aid my experience), but I prefer playing sprawling RPGs from the comfort of my sofa. But suddenly, I wasn’t attached to my television. I could play this sprawling RPG from the comfort of my bed. The comfort of my kitchen. The comfort of the toilet.
Playing games on the loo is nothing new (I own a Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch), but playing Dragon Age on my phone has made me reassess my relationship with the RPG. I tend to have certain genres I play in certain places. Portable devices are perfect for platformers and puzzles. Small indie games run perfectly on my Steam Deck, so that’s where I play them. I play FPS games on my PC, with its beefy GPU and 160Hz monitor (neither make me any more accurate, no matter how much I kid myself). Anything with a lot of reading or that requires a mouse and keyboard, I also play on my PC.
My Xbox Series X is for comfort gaming. For me, this is RPGs. Dragon Age, Elder Scrolls, Cyberpunk 2077, Starfield, you get the picture. Baldur’s Gate 3 is a rare game that spans platforms, and I bought it on both PC and console. I prefer the precision of my PC, but the comfort of my sofa, if you’re interested.
So Dragon Age was already a sofa game, but that meant it was a big screen game. And I think this gave me undue expectations. I wanted exciting exploration, bombastic fights, and deep conversations and decision-making. The game succeeded in the latter two points, but the exploration is mechanically shallow. Collecting points to unlock new areas by planting flags? No thanks.
Considering exploration plays such a big role in advancing the story of Dragon Age: Inquisition, it’s taken a lot of willpower to push through it on the big screen. But on my phone, everything seems more manageable. It’s not that the size of the map has physically shrunk by about 45 inches, it’s that the stakes seem lower when I’m just fiddling about with a mobile game.
I think I’ve tricked myself into thinking that, because it’s a mobile game now, Dragon Age: Inquisition has lower stakes. Instead of settling in for a gaming marathon where I power through multiple missions, I can pick it up for five minutes while I wait for my pasta to boil. If I get to a really important story beat that I don’t want to miss? Switch over to the telly again to make my decision in all its luxurious glory.
I think I put too much pressure on Dragon Age: Inquisition, likely because of the esteem with which I hold its predecessors, especially Origins. Could it ever have lived up to my lofty expectations? Will The Veilguard? Who knows. But I’m making more progress with Inquisition: The Mobile Game than I have on my Xbox, and that’s all that matters now.
