Replaying Dragon Age: Inquisition has recalibrated my expectations for Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I had a real good time with Dragon Age: Inquisition when it came out. So did a lot of people. It reviewed well, but it had the misfortune to come out six months before The Witcher 3, which rewrote everyone's expectations for what this kind of open-enclosure RPG could be. The Witcher 3 asks: "What if (some of) the sidequests were (almost) as good as the main quests?" Compared to that, zones full of collectible shards and connect-the-dots puzzles start to look pretty weak.

It's not an entirely fair comparison.