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Dragon Age: Inquisition |OT2| Leave the damn Hinterlands!

Rootbeer

Banned
at work :( want to be home playing. i don't know what i'm going to do once i finish this game. I'll move on to GTAV on PS4 probably, but it won't be the same.

Reminds me of when I finished Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma. Those games left huge voids in my life once completed.
 

JimPanzer

Member
You're at the end.

OO
ugh, really? that's it? they really should have focused more on the main story than on massive amounts of mmo- fetch-quests. I'm 45 hours in and haven't even touched some of the areas, just because there's no reason too - everything is much too easy as it is anyway :/
 

TheHall

Junior Member
I glitched myself into a part of the map i wasn't supposed to yesterday and it was friggin HUGE.

"You see those mountains? You can go there" actually holds up for DA:I

There's nothing THERE and the ocean is kinda floating in mid air, but it's a giant landmass.

(I was kinda hoping for hidden dev resources being placed offmap, but no such luck)
 

Dosia

Member
What is the best way to level up? I feel like I have been level 4 for like 5 hours of real time. Should I focus more on the main story missions, and less side quests? Also when do you start getting decent armor/weapons. My party is still using salvation army items.
 

Ranma

Member
What is the best way to level up? I feel like I have been level 4 for like 5 hours of real time. Should I focus more on the main story missions, and less side quests? Also when do you start getting decent armor/weapons. My party is still using salvation army items.

leveling is extremely slow, most of the time it looks like you don't get exp at all.

about items, until you progress a bit in the story i suggest you craft them as the powerful equipment usually has a level requirement.
 

tcrunch

Member
Are there any differences besides slight stat differences between using a party member versus a created character? As in will a level 10 created mage function almost similarly to a level 10 Vivienne? Besides the slight stat differences.

The AIs all want to die and the player character presumably does not.
 

emag

Member
What is the best way to level up? I feel like I have been level 4 for like 5 hours of real time. Should I focus more on the main story missions, and less side quests? Also when do you start getting decent armor/weapons. My party is still using salvation army items.

Leave the damn Hinterlands. Level 4 is high enough to move the story forward and explore new areas.
 

garath

Member
Finally got around the bugged Way of the Assassin quest. That plagued me for like 5 hours of game time. I was not about to go through the game with no specialization. I found an assassin that drops tokens in Valammar. What a frustrating quest. I've been at it so long that I don't even remember what I was doing in the main quest lol.
 
How many big main story missions are there in the game? No spoilers, but I've been sort of unlocking and doing most areas post Skyhold while avoiding any main story related ones just cause it seems like most people are saying there are only about 3 more big story missions? Is that for real?

Just seems kind of crazy since I recall with Origins, it was the opposite with the main story stuff. I figured the game was ending rapidly once you cured Arl Eamon but there was stilla good amount of main story stuff leading up to the Landsmeet and even after. Whereas with Inquisition, it seems like most people are saying the game ends sort of abruptly.
 
So I have an issue on the wartable where a mission won't complete. It's the Present for Bianca operation. It has been 3 days and it stills says in progress despite me being able to use all three of my advisors. I don't think I ever got the reward for it. It is also on the exactly same spot on the map as the Investigate Chalk Lines operation which I finished ages ago.

PS4 by the way.
 
How many big main story missions are there in the game? No spoilers, but I've been sort of unlocking and doing most areas post Skyhold while avoiding any main story related ones just cause it seems like most people are saying there are only about 3 more big story missions? Is that for real?

Just seems kind of crazy since I recall with Origins, it was the opposite with the main story stuff. I figured the game was ending rapidly once you cured Arl Eamon but there was stilla good amount of main story stuff leading up to the Landsmeet and even after. Whereas with Inquisition, it seems like most people are saying the game ends sort of abruptly.

No real spoilers, but I'm tagging it just in case:
There are about 4 or 5 story missions after you get Skyhold with the last couple being really short.
 

LX_Theo

Banned
How many big main story missions are there in the game? No spoilers, but I've been sort of unlocking and doing most areas post Skyhold while avoiding any main story related ones just cause it seems like most people are saying there are only about 3 more big story missions? Is that for real?

Just seems kind of crazy since I recall with Origins, it was the opposite with the main story stuff. I figured the game was ending rapidly once you cured Arl Eamon but there was stilla good amount of main story stuff leading up to the Landsmeet and even after. Whereas with Inquisition, it seems like most people are saying the game ends sort of abruptly.

Last story mission has caution text about going to end of game.
 

MartyStu

Member
I really like this game, but the sheer 'Bioware-ness' of some of their decisions is pretty off-putting.

The fetch are probably the worst. It really feels like the environments were created to be large do to some mandate not to any actual need.

While Origins had a ton of issues with shitty dungeon design, one thing it had going for it was choosing the right scope for the amount of real content there was.
 
No real spoilers, but I'm tagging it just in case:
There are about 4 or 5 story missions after you get Skyhold with the last couple being really short.

So once I do the couple big story missions involving
meeting up with Celene and the one with Hawke
there are only a couple more after that?

Damn, BioWare needed to spend less time dumping in fetch quests and more time on the actual story if that's the case.
 

Neoweee

Member
So once I do the couple big story missions involving
meeting up with Celene and the one with Hawke
there are only a couple more after that?

Damn, BioWare needed to spend less time dumping in fetch quests and more time on the actual story if that's the case.

Both of the missions you can do are really, really long, though, with a bunch of different outcomes. I was really impressed by multiple parts of both of them, and the combinations of outcomes is at times astonishing.
 
So once I do the couple big story missions involving
meeting up with Celene and the one with Hawke
there are only a couple more after that?

Damn, BioWare needed to spend less time dumping in fetch quests and more time on the actual story if that's the case.

Yep. The main storyline was a bit of a disappointment. But the rest of the game made up for it for me.
 
Both of the missions you can do are really, really long, though, with a bunch of different outcomes.

That's good to hear at least.

I actually don't mind the length of main story the game encourages you to explore other areas it about right length

I kind of just wish that even the more optional areas had more story hooks in them. I feel like its kind of a design flaw that they have some areas you can totally miss. At least they should give you a stronger reason to want to explore those areas, even if they're not necessary for the main story. So many areas of the game just feel so devoid of any narrative focus. Or the most you get is "Go kill X amount of Ventori / Red Templars / Generic mercenary group."

The game is just sorely lacking some more fleshed out sidequests. Cut out about 25-50% of the collectable/fetch quests and take some of the War Table missions and put them in the game as fleshed out side quests and that would make a better experience, I think.
 

tcrunch

Member
How many big main story missions are there in the game? No spoilers, but I've been sort of unlocking and doing most areas post Skyhold while avoiding any main story related ones just cause it seems like most people are saying there are only about 3 more big story missions? Is that for real?

Just seems kind of crazy since I recall with Origins, it was the opposite with the main story stuff. I figured the game was ending rapidly once you cured Arl Eamon but there was stilla good amount of main story stuff leading up to the Landsmeet and even after. Whereas with Inquisition, it seems like most people are saying the game ends sort of abruptly.

It's less that it ends abruptly and more that the baddie never gets anything done in the first place (aside from
setting Haven status to #rekt
). The baddie is in the background/backstory more than it is in the actual game. Even before you know
who he is, you're dismantling his various armies
, and by the end of the game it's
just him and his pet lizard.

I guess you might expect him to pull out some curveball at that point, but
nope, he just dies like the failed villain he is.

Anyone who was surprised that the final mission was the final mission doesn't read anything in the game and you can't trust their opinions. :p
 
I have a question. Are there any differences in these two situations besides the slight stat differences?

1.) Gaffer playing as a created character, level 10 mage.

2.) Gaffer playing as Vivienne, level 10 mage.

Basically what I want to know, is playing as my other party members a good representation of the classes? Or will a created character kick more ass somehow than simply playing as one of the other party members? Different damage modifiers or whatever. The reason it came up is because my friend says there is a "monstrous" difference when playing as a created character versus trying out another class as one of your other party members (Cassandra, Iron Bull, etc). Which is right? Anyone understanding me?
 

Horns

Member
I just
went into the alternative future and had the mages join the inquisition.
How far into the game am I?
 
at work :( want to be home playing. i don't know what i'm going to do once i finish this game. I'll move on to GTAV on PS4 probably, but it won't be the same.

Reminds me of when I finished Skyrim and Dragon's Dogma. Those games left huge voids in my life once completed.
I am afraid to finish. Ive started a second character to avoid finishing first one. I've got some vacation days in two weeks so I will do it then and savior the experience. Luckily, I haven't spoiled anything for myself yet.
 

MuggerMD

Banned
I have a question. Are there any differences in these two situations besides the slight stat differences?

1.) Gaffer playing as a created character, level 10 mage.

2.) Gaffer playing as Vivienne, level 10 mage.

Basically what I want to know, is playing as my other party members a good representation of the classes? Or will a created character kick more ass somehow than simply playing as one of the other party members? Different damage modifiers or whatever. The reason it came up is because my friend says there is a "monstrous" difference when playing as a created character versus trying out another class as one of your other party members (Cassandra, Iron Bull, etc). Which is right? Anyone understanding me?

I've been curious about the same thing. The only things I can think of are the race bonuses your inquisitor gets, and I think the inquisitor may end up with a couple more skill points throughout the game and some stats boosts gathered through quests.
 
I have a question. Are there any differences in these two situations besides the slight stat differences?

1.) Gaffer playing as a created character, level 10 mage.

2.) Gaffer playing as Vivienne, level 10 mage.

Basically what I want to know, is playing as my other party members a good representation of the classes? Or will a created character kick more ass somehow than simply playing as one of the other party members? Different damage modifiers or whatever. The reason it came up is because my friend says there is a "monstrous" difference when playing as a created character versus trying out another class as one of your other party members (Cassandra, Iron Bull, etc). Which is right? Anyone understanding me?

I'm not sure about huge differences but your character I believe is always about a level ahead. Also around that level is when you first start seeing specializations. The inquisitor can choose whereas your party member's is already set (I may be wrong on this- perhaps you can respec your character our of it?). Finally, the inquisitor gets an extra two abilities related to his mark (AOE spell that you build up a meter for ) and something else.
 

Hystzen

Member
That's good to hear at least.



I kind of just wish that even the more optional areas had more story hooks in them. I feel like its kind of a design flaw that they have some areas you can totally miss. At least they should give you a stronger reason to want to explore those areas, even if they're not necessary for the main story. So many areas of the game just feel so devoid of any narrative focus. Or the most you get is "Go kill X amount of Ventori / Red Templars / Generic mercenary group."

The game is just sorely lacking some more fleshed out sidequests. Cut out about 25-50% of the collectable/fetch quests and take some of the War Table missions and put them in the game as fleshed out side quests and that would make a better experience, I think.

I think they had issues from overwhelming and creating a game wayyy to long. Just look how many people stay in hinderlands for hours and hours. I agree some the war table should link into actual gameplay in side areas but I think they worried about making game to long and causing players be burned out before finishing.
 

jgwhiteus

Member
So the first patch is supposedly coming out today (at least for PC - edit: and I guess all platforms besides XBoxOne) - does anyone know around what time? And how do Origin patches usually get applied - do you just login as normal and it's applied automatically (without notification), or do you have to initiate it somewhere?
 
That's good to hear at least.



I kind of just wish that even the more optional areas had more story hooks in them. I feel like its kind of a design flaw that they have some areas you can totally miss. At least they should give you a stronger reason to want to explore those areas, even if they're not necessary for the main story. So many areas of the game just feel so devoid of any narrative focus. Or the most you get is "Go kill X amount of Ventori / Red Templars / Generic mercenary group."

The game is just sorely lacking some more fleshed out sidequests. Cut out about 25-50% of the collectable/fetch quests and take some of the War Table missions and put them in the game as fleshed out side quests and that would make a better experience, I think.

I would say most of the areas that open up after Skyhold have core stories that directly relate to the main game. The Venatori actions in those areas provide additional context, background, and lore related to
Corypheus'
goals. Exalted Plains is a little different because it really doesn't have anything to do with the main plot but it does provide additional context to the Wicked Hearts quest. Storm Coast is the big miss for me- it's a pretty area but there really is almost nothing there in terms of story or lore.

Some (though not all) of the companion sidequests have some pretty interesting revelations as well.

I think Bioware generally does a better job in DA:I of relating most of the side content into the main events of the game compared to DA:O where Dwarven, Dalish, and Mage/Templar politics had almost nothing to do with either The Blight or Loghain's betrayal.
 

Ralemont

not me
The posts BioWare made on upcoming patches and features are very promising. I'd bet some more Skyhold customization options were filed under "not for release but patched in later."

In general I think they did a good job outlining their strategy going forward (as well as explaining banters and the banter bug) and I'm also happy for the PCGaffers that didn't like the controls or UI that they seem committed to improving them.

I think Bioware generally does a better job in DA:I of relating most of the side content into the main events of the game compared to DA:O where Dwarven, Dalish, and Mage/Templar politics had almost nothing to do with either The Blight or Loghain's betrayal.

Really I think the issue is simply the lack of sidequests with the cinematic cutscene view. There's tons of side story content, but it's mostly told through codexes, letters, etc., which is a little jarring (though understandable) considering how the companion and main stories are told. The dungeons are all worth one's time, for example, both for loot and story.

I think unfortunately a place like the Hissing Wastes stands out because of how...empty it is. The dwarven tombs are nice but the premise for being there was that the Venatori are there and you don't know why. Well, I've completed the zone and I still don't know why. Likely that's because I got bored of reading codex entries to explain the zone's story, which is sort of my fault...but at some point I think BW needed to do more to engage the player.
 

TheHall

Junior Member
Question: I feel like i am nearing the end
Morrigan just showed me her Eluvian
. I kinda want to replay the story on a new character, but there is still lots of sidequests to do.

Should i just finish the story and start over and THEN clean up shop or does finishing the main storyline drop me back into the world before the point of no return?

If the game ends when the story ends, i rather do all sidequests now, but if it lets me finish up i'll just do the main storyline again on a new character.
 
Question: I feel like i am nearing the end
Morrigan just showed me her Eluvian
. I kinda want to replay the story on a new character, but there is still lots of sidequests to do.

Should i just finish the story and start over and THEN clean up shop or does finishing the main storyline drop me back into the world before the point of no return?

If the game ends when the story ends, i rather do all sidequests now, but if it lets me finish up i'll just do the main storyline again on a new character.

You can still play after the story ends.
 

FHIZ

Member
So, has there been any talk about DLC for the game? I know there was some minor controversy about no on-disc DLC meaning no new party members, but I'm more interested in new story content in general, and I'm genuinely surprised there's no season pass for this game.
 

Ralemont

not me
Question: I feel like i am nearing the end
Morrigan just showed me her Eluvian
. I kinda want to replay the story on a new character, but there is still lots of sidequests to do.

Should i just finish the story and start over and THEN clean up shop or does finishing the main storyline drop me back into the world before the point of no return?

If the game ends when the story ends, i rather do all sidequests now, but if it lets me finish up i'll just do the main storyline again on a new character.

You can continue playing after the main story but some content gets locked out and in general I think Skyhold feels more lifeless. I beat the game then reloaded my pre-final battle save and completed all the sidequests on that.

So, has there been any talk about DLC for the game? I know there was some minor controversy about no on-disc DLC meaning no new party members, but I'm more interested in new story content in general, and I'm genuinely surprised there's no season pass for this game.

Mike said there are plans but it won't be soon since the team is exhausted.
 

FHIZ

Member
Mike said there are plans but it won't be soon since the team is exhausted.

Oh, I bet. Well, that's cool. Taking my damn sweet time with the game, so I can wait. Something to fill that two month Witcher 3 delay would be nice, though.
 
So the first patch is supposedly coming out today (at least for PC - edit: and I guess all platforms besides XBoxOne) - does anyone know around what time? And how do Origin patches usually get applied - do you just login as normal and it's applied automatically (without notification), or do you have to initiate it somewhere?

I recall back with Origins and DA2, with DLC and patches alot of time they'd release around noon eastern time. Don't know if that's still the case.

I think they had issues from overwhelming and creating a game wayyy to long. Just look how many people stay in hinderlands for hours and hours. I agree some the war table should link into actual gameplay in side areas but I think they worried about making game to long and causing players be burned out before finishing.

Maybe- if that's the case then I feel like they should have tried to gate and pace things a bit better. Hinterlands is almost too big, in that people can get burned out there. But the game doesn't really do much to nudge you along towards progressing the story at all.

I think Bioware generally does a better job in DA:I of relating most of the side content into the main events of the game compared to DA:O where Dwarven, Dalish, and Mage/Templar politics had almost nothing to do with either The Blight or Loghain's betrayal.

That may be the case in terms of relating things back to the main story. But for me (so far) in Inquisition, the actual zones don't have much narrative by themselves. Yes, you get bits and pieces from notes and so forth that you can piece together but no side stories or sidequests like you had in Origins with the Orzammar politics or Branka and the Deep Roads, the whole Werewolf curse, or Redcliffe and the Urn of Sacred Ashes. Even if those questlines in Origins weren't always directly related to the Blight and Logahin, you were directed to those areas because you were trying to recruit those factions.

Basically, Origins directed you to those areas for the sake of the main story and once in those areas, you had a substantial main questline to engage with once you were there. With Inquisition, you unlock a bunch of areas and I feel like most of the time there is little immediate direction of what you should be doing, before the game just dumps a bunch of collectables and fetch quests at you. Having freedom and some collectable quests is fine but I wish each area had at least one big signature questline tied to it, like Origins did.

And the fact that the side quests' story are often relegated to notes and codex entries doesn't help. The lack of even Origins level cinematic conversations in side quests also cheapens the feel of them too, I think.
 
Yes, you get bits and pieces from notes and so forth that you can piece together but no side stories or sidequests like you had in Origins with the Orzammar politics or Branka and the Deep Roads, the whole Werewolf curse, or Redcliffe and the Urn of Sacred Ashes. Even if those questlines in Origins weren't always directly related to the Blight and Logahin, you were directed to those areas because you were trying to recruit those factions.

None of those were sidequests- all were required as a part of the main story in DA:O. Which IMO is a fault of DA:O because they had almost nothing to do with the main story.

Having freedom and some collectable quests is fine but I wish each area had at least one big signature questline tied to it, like Origins did.

They do (except for The Storm Coast sort of). It's the quest line mentioned in the area description in the journal and it's what Scout Harding briefs you on when you arrive. Have you done Crestwood yet? That's an excellent example of a really good, long, and detailed sidequest. Probably the best in the game of what I've played so far but some of the other areas' quests are quite good as well.

As someone helpfully pointed out yesterday the quests are sorted in the journal. If you want the major quest line for the area then just focus on the entries at the top of the journal.
 

spekkeh

Banned
I would say most of the areas that open up after Skyhold have core stories that directly relate to the main game. The Venatori actions in those areas provide additional context, background, and lore related to
Corypheus'
goals. Exalted Plains is a little different because it really doesn't have anything to do with the main plot but it does provide additional context to the Wicked Hearts quest. Storm Coast is the big miss for me- it's a pretty area but there really is almost nothing there in terms of story or lore.

Some (though not all) of the companion sidequests have some pretty interesting revelations as well.

I think Bioware generally does a better job in DA:I of relating most of the side content into the main events of the game compared to DA:O where Dwarven, Dalish, and Mage/Templar politics had almost nothing to do with either The Blight or Loghain's betrayal.
Skyrim gets shat on a lot here, but what I thought made it much more rewarding than some of the previous Elder Scrolls and probably the best one yet was that most of the sidequests had story arcs. Exposition, tension, climax, twist, resolution. DA:I doesn't really have that outside of the main story missions, so 90% of the game. It's exposition, fight some baddies, read conclusion. To me that feels like a major regression.

If I were to hazard a guess, I think whether DA:I's sidequests click with you or not is whether you enjoy lore; disjoint pieces of text that cumulatively build up a world. I don't really, so for me most of the missions are kind of hohum with no satisfying flow and subsequently feel meaningless. I don't even read most of them frankly. If you do like disjoint exposition I guess there's meaning to be derived from the individual missions.
 

witness

Member
So I'm level 6 and just got to redcliffe and did the first two story quests there. Should I keep going or head to the Storm Coast? I have a lot of power, I think it was 29? I love this game so far, first character as a rogue and I prefer archer though daggers are fun too.
 
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