I don't know what people get out of repeating what has apparently become an Inquisition meme, but it's just ignorant and wrong
No it's not. Approx. 70% of the quests are fetchquests - if we go by traditional Dragon Age fetchquest presentation (aka Mage's Collective, Blackstone Irregulars), then Inquisition, which has about 170 quests (excluding requisitions), features 130 quests that play out exactly like the Mage's Collective, or sometimes even worse. This does not guarantee that the remaining 40 are quality quests, it just means they aren't such low quality garbage.
pretty much every western RPG does
Just because other games replicate poor design decisions do not make those poor design decisions any better. But I don't know how pretty much every western RPG has approx. 70% of its optional content littered with garbage?
But they're far from the majority of quests
Lol nope
and all of them are completely optional
So what? They're still a part of the game. They are a part of the optional areas. The optional areas are by far the biggest part of DAI. And they consist mostly of menial, repetitive, and uninteresting chores. The fact that they are optional does not remove them from the game, and does not exempt them from any criticism. Whenever you say "it's optional", you're just trying to bounce off any potential criticism because GUISE, you didn't HAVE to do it! And bioware didn't have to put it in the game, but they did, and since they did, if I am to criticize the game, I will criticize whatever they put in it, especially if it's so prevalent.
Every zone in Inquisition has one or more major side quest lines
I wouldn't call them "major", but yeah, they usually do.
No collecting or fetching involved
You kidding me? The entire premise of the Hinterlands -- helping the refugees - consists of about 4-5 fetchquests. Storm Coast doesn't even have a "major side quest", unless you count fetching 4 warden letters as a major sidequest. While it's true that you don't technically fetch or collect anything in other areas, you are still presented with the formula that permeates the game (talk to X, go to Y, do Z, go back to X), only now there is no collecting or fetching involved, since you aren't technically fetching an object, but that doesn't actually change the formula in a drastic way. The Hissing Wastes is also non-stop fetching, but it's exempt from it because you actually gain some cool new info, unlike the Forbidden Oasis, which literally gives you nothing except "elven temple, bound pride demon", further worsened by the fact that the shards are by far the most banal activity in the game.
but all of that is optional
Once again, not really an argument. It's optional, but it's still in the game in large numbers. You know, playing the game is optional too? How the hell does anybody have the right to criticize it? If we follow your logic, nothing can be criticized because you are opting into doing that activity, so it's free from any criticism because you're not forced to do it.
You get way more than enough power to finish the game just by doing the main quest lines and the occasional side quest line without fetching or collecting anything
No you really don't. You need about 110~ power to finish the main quest line. Things such as shards and astariums do not give you any power. Landmarks only give you TWO power after you collect EVERY landmark. The only way of actually collecting any power to go through the main quest is to do the sidequests, and you will inevitably run into more fetchquests than not, so your conclusion isn't true. The other way is to buy power from the merchant that sells it, but that also requires grinding, as you need to be Inquisition level 6 to even get him to appear, which would require doing some menial tasks.
Not only does Inquisition have much more than fetch quests
Not really lol
it also has a variety of other quests like puzzles
There are 5 maps that have 3 astariums each, out of 10~ maps in total going against over 100 fetchquests, that doesn't really make the experience better. The only other puzzle I can remember is the dead hand, I guess? It's not like Inquisition is a puzzle heavy game.
discovery quests
Wow you're trying really hard to make the game sound better than it actually is, protip: if a game requires you to do some heavy mental gymnastics to justify its shortcomings, it never had it in the first place.
Many of the quests that do involve collecting things for an NPC happen to also lead to areas with these other kinds of quests, which makes the fetch quests more interesting and worthwhile.
Wow... fetchquests leading to more fetchquests!
Also, I don't know if you're serious, but there are so many things that are supposed to be leading you to the same areas (various quests, shards, astariums, rifts), that it kind of begs the question why is there such a need for so many different things to do the same exact thing, as if I need to be told to go and explore in the first place? In truth, it's not because they're there to guide you through the open world, they're there to pad out the game with banality. Couldn't they leave the handholding to shards or rifts? No, they also have to add like 4 quests that lead to the same spot, too. Which leads back to my previous point, why even add those quests if there are already shards and rifts? Then I repeat, because they're there to pad out the game.
Inquisition's fetch and collection quests are there for a reason
Yeah, and that reason is padding out the game.
They make the game more rewarding for players who like to explore every corner of every map,
You know exploration should be a reward in and of itself, not because I did something while going to that exact same spot? It should feel cool to discover a landmark, or view a beautiful vista, I should want to explore every corner of the map with an incentive other than "this quest wants me to go there, might as well". If that happens, then I'm not doing exploration, I'm following a yellow brick road.
for the completionists
Did it cross your mind that simply doing things isn't satisfying? Content for the sake of content is not fun, it's only fun if it's well designed. Fetch quests are not well designed. The entire open world being populated by them is not good design.
I'm honestly wondering whether you're simply ignorant, this is your first game ever, or you're a bioware shill.