Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of my favourite games of all time, so naturally I had to aim to achieve the pretty, sparkling platinum trophy; to cherish forever on my digital cabinet. Yesterday, that finally happened! After 80 hours of traversing through Thedas, the silver image, accompanied by that harmonious ‘ding’ finally appeared on my screen.

But it wasn’t easy. My journey to that plat was riddled with challenges – Nightmare difficulty being one of them. Overpowered dragons, court balls, friendship aims – Dragon Age: Inquisition is no walk in the park. But it is a fun prance across Fereldan.

I played as a dual wielding rogue, named Lucian, whose wit and sarcasm stretched across the four corners of Thedas, smashing out the plat in one play through on Nightmare mode. To be honest, Nightmare wasn’t too difficult. Sure, I had a couple of glitches that ended up actually helping me (thanks, High Dragon exploit – I loved firing ice at you from the stairs while you looked on, aimlessly) – but it wasn’t as difficult as I was expecting. And that’s coming from someone who doesn’t play games on the hardest difficulty very often (except for Kingdom Hearts for… reasons).

Don’t get me wrong – it didn’t come without a challenge. Especially in the early hours of the game – poor little Lord Lucian died over and over again; cut down in his prime by the horde of demons that plague the land. Eventually, though, as I unlocked more skills and chose a Specialization (Tempest, FTW!), the game eased up.

Before long, I was wondering through Thedas with ease; slicing down anyone who dared oppose the Inquisition. The hardest part of the game was, incidentally, the very last thing I had to do: slay The Highland Ravager. I did it by the skin of my teeth – my party was nearly dead, I was all out of potions – but, eventually he fell (after six or seven tries…) With a mix of A Thousand Cuts and the Mighty Offence Tonic, the big bad was down.

What platinum screenshot did I get, I hear you ask? Well, ponder no further…

Eh, it could’ve been worse. You can see Lucian’s glowing green blade, apt for killing dragons, so that’s not too bad, I suppose. Not quite the rapturous, crescendo moment I was hoping for – where my party cheers me along as my Inquisitor stands atop the dragon’s dead body, but hey – I’ll take it!

Speaking of my party, I mainly ran with the same team: Dorian, the mysterious mage from shores afar, Sera, the morally grey rogue, and Iron Bull, who likes to smash things first and ask questions later. Playing on Nightmare, I needed to ensure my party was balanced – so one of each class worked perfectly. While I prefer Cassandra as a character (her side quest is so cute. Spoilers: She’s obsessed with smutty romance novels. Heart eye emoji), Iron Bull packed more of a punch, and so he was whisked off with me across the vast plains that Dragon Age had to offer. Besides, hearing his odd comments here and there – “this is a good day. This is a very good day” – when we were about to kill a dragon, was always a delight.

In fact, all of my party were a delight to travel with over the course of the game, from Dorian’s witty quips to Sera’s affinity with stuffing everything full of arrows, it was never a bore to travel with my gang, nor did I ever feel the need to mix it up. I mean, if you can’t stick with the people who you’ve killed dragons with – who can you stick with?

Gameplay-wise, Dragon Age: Inquisition served up a solid amount of variety, fun, and sparkling cast of characters to keep me hooked. At one point, Lucian found himself wrapped up in the political drama of a court ball, where he had to keep the approval rate up in order to get a trophy to ping.

While it was slightly annoying, it was nice that Bioware threw in something a little bit different – a change of pace in the otherwise fast-paced game. There’s also Skyhold itself – a wonderful castle of your own that you can customise to your heart’s content – right down from the bed to the throne.

There was also a slew of side content to explore in the game. Hell, if you want to achieve the platinum trophy, you have to do a lot it: But not all. If you haven’t got the trophy yourself yet, know this: It’s not quite as daunting as it first seems! You don’t have to close every rift – just most of them. Nor do you have to do every side quest – praise the Maker!

While there’s a lot you have to do, from romancing to collecting crafting materials, it never truly felt like a grind. At least, not for me, anyhow.

The endless onslaught of content was always fun to work through. Aaaaand I guess it helps that the game is like, super pretty.

I only encountered a few glitches or bugs throughout the 80-hour play time of my game, none of which were too bad. The only issue I did have was that once the game just shut down, forcing me to reboot it. Thankfully, none of my progress was lost, and all worked wonderfully once my PS4 had a little bit of down-time.

Oh, and there was the time my Inquisitor decided to hover ominously in front of Josephine, who, as usual, was too busy with her paperwork to notice anything was amiss.

Overall, my journey with Dragon Age: Inquisition was a fun one, one I relished every moment of. From exploring the rolling green plains of The Hinterlands, to wandering through the rain at the Storm Coast – every area felt alive, booming with NPCs ready to give you side quests, herbs to gather to improve your potions and metals used to weld new armors.

If you’re attempting to platinum this game yourself… Maker be with you. It’s not too hard, but there’s a lot to do. You have to be somewhat in love with the game, as I am, for it to be enjoyable, because it’s gonna eat up a lot of your time. Thankfully, I was okay with Dragon Age: Inquisition whiling away my hours. It was a journey I’d happily take again. Besides, it’s a great way to kill time until the elusive Dragon Age 4 is released!

What did you think of Dragon Age: Inquisition? Too many side quests? That’s cool – just skip them! The main quest beckons you onwards. Side quests aside, let me know your thoughts of the game in the comments down below! I’m gonna be taking a little bit of a break from Dragon Age for a while – ready to play Pokemon Sword and Shield this Friday! That said, one of these days I’ll be grabbing the DLC and undertaking one last adventure with my Inquisitor.

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