The game is getting a little bit more fun, but I guess I'm somewhere between OliverDK and Unkindled in terms of liking the game now. Part of it has to do with the fact I am treating the actual gameplay in the open zones as a kind of singleplayer MMO now; my experience and playstyle is less intense than in Skyrim or Witcher, and I am making a lot of use of the map and the various markers. Not a Skyrim feeling, but definitely a WoW feeling. The cutscenes and talky bits, on the other hand, feel like BioWare, albeit slick, competent but not terribly inspired. But at least it's tasty like a familiar brand of okay-but-not great chocolate. And there's a lot of it.
As open worldy zones, I don't think the Hinterlands and the Storm Coast, the two I've explored so far, are very well done. When you look at your immediate surroundings they look pretty, but you soon get a feeling and you can also see that they are rather unnatural and fake, though they share this with landscapes in other games as well. They also lack really recognisable landmarks, making it very hard if not impossible to navigate by sight; one ruin or dungeon feels very much like the next one. There's also no sense of both zones being in Ferelden; both zones are supposed to be there, but the Storm Coast lacks almost all of the architecture and ruins you see in the Hinterlands, and vice versa.
Almost as if the two zones were designed by different teams who didn't communicate.
As open worldy zones, I don't think the Hinterlands and the Storm Coast, the two I've explored so far, are very well done. When you look at your immediate surroundings they look pretty, but you soon get a feeling and you can also see that they are rather unnatural and fake, though they share this with landscapes in other games as well. They also lack really recognisable landmarks, making it very hard if not impossible to navigate by sight; one ruin or dungeon feels very much like the next one. There's also no sense of both zones being in Ferelden; both zones are supposed to be there, but the Storm Coast lacks almost all of the architecture and ruins you see in the Hinterlands, and vice versa.
Almost as if the two zones were designed by different teams who didn't communicate.