So I bought and played this finally.
Part of the reason I wasn't that active recently.
First play through was 143 hours. All maps cleared of active quests. Second play through, realizing there were quite a few that I'd missed. Level 25 Elf Rogue. Most trophies received. Haven't played on higher difficulties yet.
A very... simplified... RPG.
That isn't a knock. In some ways it feels similar to a Zelda title now. And even though I'll miss the DAO style... I really don't hate what they've built. They're doing what they do best, turning the role-playing into your dialog more than combat, with fun and interesting characters.
I really like the majority of this cast.
The overarching story isn't exactly all that special. It isn't bad, and some of the big plot twists were fun and make sense in a way. Well... one of them at least.
I'm enjoying it. But only scratched the surface. I won't know how much I love it until I've spent at least six hundred hours with it.
I used my day off to clear it. Holy fuck man this was great. Especially to those who romanced Cassandra.
The best thing in the new DLC for me was infinite Tier 4 materials to buy.
DRAGON ARMOUR FOR EVERYONE!!!
How do you guys make money? I accumulated some 50k so far but it seems most items are very highly priced too much so.
I took advantage of the dupe glitch before they patched it.How do you guys make money? I accumulated some 50k so far but it seems most items are very highly priced too much so.
As per Trespasser but, did anyone else notice thatSolas is essentially the same in motivations as The Architect? Both are willing and able to destroy the world to save their people, and both feel sad about doing so I guess.
Good on you, Ralemont. I was actually fixing to make a similar post this morning.
It kind of amazes me that the blog post is humble enough to refer to all this as "a little bonus" -- this is a pretty terrific feature through and through. I'm having a blast with the toggles.
So I bought Jaws and The Descent to play before Trespasser. Oh crap, is it weird trying to come back to this game.
Popping back into the game and everyone is gone. Had to load it back up to get peeps to show up in Skyhold.
For some reason when I left off playing last year I distinctly remember not making a choice when asked to send, but now, even though she's there, I can't choose her.Vivenne away to become the divine
Also, even though I romanced her, Cassandra's just saying, "hey inquistor", and I remember being able to ask her to make out or some shit. Is that another bug?
Thanks, been busy. Couldn't reply.No. Romance is still "active" but you can't do anything with it once you beat Corypheus.
edit: Until you go into Trespasser.
So true.Brb taking a stroll into the deep roads
OGRE ALPHA OUT OF FUCKING NOWHERE
Finished the Descent. There was some real Mines of Moria shit going on in several places and I really liked it. The last boss seemed like a jump in difficulty though, had to retry a few times.
The last area was very pretty. Overall the dlc turned my opinion around on the Deep Roads.
Story stuff:So lyrium is Titan blood eh? Man, can you imagine fighting a Titan in the next DA game all God of War style?
Also, Snake!? Snake!? SNNNNNAAAAKKKKEEEE!
Ready to start Trespasser but am I correct in assuming that it wipes out your active quest log? Can you keep playing after it's done? Either way I am going to make a save before it.
Thanks.1. Yes it wipes your log.
2. No you can't keep playing.
I also finished the Descent tonight and thought it was good. The final boss was making me rage on Nightmare until I just bit the bullet and played the whole thing in tactical cam, which made it fairly easy.
I kinda wish in hindsight they used Anders instead of Calpernia. I mean I do like her, but I feel like Anders would have fit the mage and tevinter supremacy mold better considering how he approves of giving Fenris back to his tevinter slavemaster.
I can only begin to imagine the outrage if that happened. BioWare at it again with abusing Anders, etc. etc.
Anders is the closest Bioware has come to creating a redpill type character.They should have done it for the shitstorm.
I certainly wouldn't have been bothered. I really have no attachment to DA2 regardless of how much I like the series as a whole. Edit: Even saying I don't like DA2 that much is blasphemy in some circles and worthy of lots of mean comments.
I don't think anyone likes waves of enemies appearing from thin air and dropping down.
I kinda wish in hindsight they used Anders instead of Calpernia. I mean I do like her, but I feel like Anders would have fit the mage and tevinter supremacy mold better considering how he approves of giving Fenris back to his tevinter slavemaster.
Really, really loving the game but in my eyes it really does not feel like a Dragon Age title. It's just some Superb Looking RPG referencing Kirkwall, Denerim, The Wardens (I have Warden Blackwall by the way) etc. once every 4 hours in some random party talk. Even Varric does not feel like Varric
That would have been so cool.I still hold out small hope he'll pop up in DA4. In a small way. Somehow. Because reasons. Dammit.
It feels like a right true Dragon Age title when the main quests and companion quests are taken into account, I think. In the final telling, you may change your mind. Thinning everything else out, the foundation is definitely there. It's not as long plot-wise as I'd wanted, but it isn't really all that much shorter than Origins, I don't think. Right now you're choosing to indulge in all the side content (which is obviously fine, since you're loving it!) and that makes it all feel distinctively un-DA.
As for Varric... well, the years haven't been kind to him. He's jaded. He has some DA2-like moments here and there, though.
... Bioware, or at least Laidlaw isn't fond of bringing back old characters.
I did everything possible before picking Mages/ Templars side:
Fanservice? He's the one who said it was contrived and works against trying to create a big world, not me.Oh really?
Explain Morrigan, Flemeth, Alistair, Loghain, Hawke, Leliana, Varric, Cassandra, Cullen and probably more that I'm forgetting showing back up in some capacity in Inquisition.
Granted, I'm fine with BioWare bringing back characters from past games should it make sense and it feels well thought out. But especially with the revolving door of Player Characters BioWare has etched in stone as some immutable rule for every DA game, I kind of wish they'd make as much of a clean break with dredging up these old characters from game to game, if they're not going to bring back the corresponding old Player Character to interact with the old companions.
So bringing back somebody like Isabela in DA2 after her tiny role in Origins was fine. Same with Cullen or Cassandra- those are characters with small roles in Origins and DA2 that are more fleshed out in Inquisition. But bringing back a previous companion / love interest like Morrigan or Leliana or Alistair for Inquisition without the Warden from Origins to interact with them? Eh, it just kind of falls flat to me, and yet BioWare seems to have no problem doing that, to the point where I think it kind of cheapens those characters' development, since they have those old characters get up to big life changing moments, yet you're stuck interacting with them as the Inquisitor who has very little emotional connection to those old companions compared to your Warden for instance.
And it will likely be the same thing withgoing forward since they've said that character's story isn't done and yet the Inquisitor likely is kaput in terms of being a playable character.Solas
You just might burn out if you keep doing every single little thing going forward. Maybe not if you're enjoying the core gameplay but the problem I had with Inquisition was that I kept doing every single little thing before advancing the main quest lines thinking there would be some more meaningful story or narrative rewards for doing that side quest stuff. But in the end, the only real story content you get out of the game is the main story quests and the companion stuff. Everything else you get will at most be some codex entries or maybe some interesting war table missions. But that stuff you're honestly just as well off looking up on the DA wiki or something, unless you're still having a blast with the gameplay.
Wait until you get to Trespasser, the music kicks it up another notch.The music in this game is the very definition of epic. Love the OST.
It was a great arch with the time travel. Props to BioWare - I think this is the first time I've seen time travel quest in a western RPG and it was done pretty damn good. Old (?) Leliana gave me the shivers and the ending was terrific with your party literally dying in front of your eyes...
Yeah that was a great quest. What's more impressive is that the Templar path is also a great quest. It really is a great story branch.
Also, you were agonizing about picking abilities earlier: you probably realized it already but you can buy a Tactician's renewal in your smithy shop that lets you respec. And it's pretty cheap. In fact, I'd recommend it for everyone once you unlock specializations, since specializations are pretty OP.
I can understand why it won 100s of GOTY awards. The game is simply an amazing RPG that gives you so much freedom. I think I appreciate that this is the "end game" of Baldur's Gate type of RPGs evolution. Because it basically *IS* Baldur's Gate with resources gathering. A little lighter on the story to be frank but that's alright.
So after doing everything in Skyhold I decided to go to Emprise du Lion first because I liked the name most.
It was ummm... tough, very tough. Some of the monsters had that skull icon when I fought them (Cassandra's quest). I managed to get to Imshael after 8-9 hours abusing the combat system and zoning of enemies but you cannot cheese in that boss fight. It took me a couple of tries but I killed him, yay. Me and Cassandra were on our last health bars, he had like 2% health left but he casted that damned Guard on himself. Then it was just a race of DPS/ Barrier spell cooldown. Very intense fight, he reminded me of the Sloth Demon in DA1 in the Fade what with all his forms and whatnot.
The view from top of Sulden Keep was breathtaking. You can literally see the wooden planks down in the Quarry, the planks you were traversing 5 hours ago under those huge chains. This is some insane graphics for an RPG methinks. The whole area has some INSANE art direction with white snow and red lyrium intersecting all the time.
I love how this game has now a loot system that is very Diablo-like. For instance my best 1H weapon for Cassandra was some 169 DPS Templar Sword that I found someplace. In Emprise du Lion I found a Tier 3 Axe schematic --> boom 240 DPS Axe for Cassandra. Crazy. It made the area so much more manageable. I found so many LVL 18 weapons that I cannot use yet (my party is LVL 14).
Schematics and Tier 3/4 Materials are KEY in this game! If you don't craft your own stuff you can be severly behind the DPS curve for a given area.
Congrats, you took on what is intended to be one of the two final areas of the game way before you're supposed to. You're right that equipment is just as important, if not more so than your actual level. One easy way to break the second half of the game is to go to the Hissing Wastes and make a mad dash for all of the level 3 schematics lying around.
You're going to pools of the sun? Brave.To be honest I cheesed the two Giants encounters. I could just not face them head on and survive. The Behemots, Red Templars etc. were perfectly doable fair and square with some luck and potions.
Imshael didn't get stuck on level geometry like Flamelurker in Demon's Souls, I didn't run in circles around him etc. It was a 100% fair head on battle. Luckily I restored my potions before entering his hall and luckily I had known the Dispel spell which was crucial for his Rage Demon form. I managed to kill him on my 3rd try. LVL14, hard mode with crafted Tier 3 Weapons except Bianca.
On to Pools of Sun I go now then it's either Hissing Wastes or Emerald Groves or the rest of new areas (Hawke's area I left for last because it was marked as Main Quest).
62 hours in and it is a great game. I am lucky I bought it even after reading countless whining about the MMO-isation of the Dragon Age formula. But then I rather trust Metacritic than Gaf, no hard feelings Gaf.
I just started up a new playthrough and was wondering what DLC is worthwhile. I'm pretty sure I'll get Trespasser, but are Jaws of Hakkon or the Decent any good?