I hit level 40 yesterday. I was initially bellyaching about the game, how it didn't look grimdark enough, the companions weren't enticing, and how the bosses were these bullet sponges.
But then I realized DA2 and Da:I were fairly saturated and bright in color too, so it's been years since the series actually looked really dark. There were places like the Hossberg Wetlands that looked appropriately grimy and dark.
I played on hard, but turned enemy hp to normal, and started using the detonation mechanics and unlocking the skill tree, that at least made the gameplay a bit more fun, although it still feels like a dismantled 'mobile' version of a RPG, going from 4 controllable characters with a full-fledged skill tree, to just 1 controllable characters and only 3 active skills per character. Mass Effect has the same mechanics, but that was baked into the game since the start, and it was a way for Bioware to differentiate their two flagship titles.
Environmental graphics look quite nice too, but it creates only a very thin illusion of a world. Not much to do but the basic things like looting and fighting. And of course the always dead, static npc's in the settlements in Bioware games. I do think adding the ability to jump in later DA games makes it feel a bit more like you're physically part of the world. But I guess 'pretty visuals, but the world feels dead' and 'what fun things are we going to let the players do' has always been a harder nut to crack for game developers than merely adding pretty lighting effects.
Level cap was 50, I believe, so I should be pretty far into the game by now. Combat is feeling pretty repetitive by now, and I still hate fighting the meat tank bosses, but I'll probably finish the game. Certain insertions from Taash definitely feel obnoxiously on the nose, but overall I didn't notice much of the online perceived ideological poisoning of the well.
I think people are generally way too invested in these kind of things, it feels incredibly childish to passionately wish a game to fail so you feel your 'side' has a gained a moral victory over the other side. For the record, I think the other side isn't any better, they love pot-shotting and creating their own narrative as well.
