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[StoppedInTracks]

You're going to pools of the sun? Brave.

Yeah that didn't work... LVL20 Red Templars (skull icons) and t h r e e Dragons (2 with skull icons) that freeze you during the battle???

I bailed out and moved to Emerald Groves where I am currently hunting for the Freeman boss in his Villa. Loving the art direction of this area.

 

[diaspora]

Yeah that didn't work... LVL20 Red Templars (skull icons) and t h r e e Dragons (2 with skull icons) that freeze you during the battle???

I bailed out and moved to Emerald Groves where I am currently hunting for the Freeman boss in his Villa. Loving the art direction of this area.

Best part is how the first two are ice dragons so everyone brings fire weapons, then get fucked on the third fire dragon.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Well I cleared the whole Emerald Graves map, fancy that. It was a little bit crazy in the Giants area with aggroed Broncos hitting me while I am trying to take down a Giant, heh.

I mentioned before that I have killed the High Dragon in Hinterlands by cheesing him with my mage during a 90 minutes fight. I felt bad but whatever.

[I ran away from the 3 Dragons in Emprise for now]

Then I met Great Mistral in Emerald Graves. I knew I had to fight him fair & square this time. Aaaand I did it! My LVL18 party battled that fancy Guard-casting (what in the fuck!!!) Dragon head to head without hiding behind geometry, without hitting him from weird angles etc. Varric was of course, worthless during the whole encounter and dead 99% of the time. It seems I could beat the Dragon because I learned the Resurrection spell which brings back to life your party members with 100% health. Kinda crazy, huh? You can Barrier yourself then cast Resurrection and you are back again to 4 party members. The fight itself was amazingly intense just like Baldur's Gate 2 dragon battles (Firkaag!). They NAILED the dragons in this game. They are BEASTING and can wreck you in under a minute. I used all of my potions and was on the brink of losing it but I prevailed. Highest damage I did to the Dragon in one hit was 4444 points with my Fire Mine. Iron Bull was doing like 200 points in one attack, lol. He has an Ice Axe, though.

Great Mistral netted me 5500 XP per character, awesome.

---

Any tip how to prevent/survive the "dragon wing buffet" attack? There is no "iron flesh" or other anti-stagger spell in this game so I just run outwards like a clown but the buffet still draws me in and damages heavily.

---

Then I moved on to Western Approach and am almost done with this map. It is pathetically easy compared to Emprise du Lion and Emerald Graves. It is so easy in fact that I do not get any XP for killing the enemies

---

My save time math tells me I need around 10 hours to "clear" a single map. Seeing how I still have 3 full maps to clear: Hissing Wastes, Crestwood, Exalted Plains I will hit 100 hours after that. That does not take into account any quests on already cleared maps or additional overworld dungeons like the Orlais Party.

---

It's really puzzling in how they put Hinterlands as the beginning area. It is easily 3x as big as any other single map (Emprise, Coast, Approach etc.) and takes 20-30 hours to clear. I can see now how it can put off a large playerbase that abandons the game completely. The map shouldn't be put in the beginning of the game. It *is* a design mistake.

 

[diaspora]

Any tip how to prevent/survive the "dragon wing buffet" attack? There is no "iron flesh" or other anti-stagger spell in this game so I just run outwards like a clown but the buffet still draws me in and damages heavily.

Barriers.

 

[jonjonaug]

I think all, or almost all of the dragons have that wing beat attack. To survive it you need to run TOWARD the dragon. It doesn't deal damage when you're near it.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I think all, or almost all of the dragons have that wing beat attack. To survive it you need to run TOWARD the dragon. It doesn't deal damage when you're near it.

Yeah that's exactly how I avoided the 3rd Dragon's (Abyssal) Wing Buffet. Hug his leg Dark Souls 2 style and you get no damage.

That's 3 high dragons down.

There are 3 more in the Emprise, 1 on the Dragon Island on the Storm Coast, I guess 1 on Exalted Plains, 1 in Hissing Wastes and 1 is Corypheus' pet.

 

[Megauap]

I'm currently 72 hours in and level 14. I just completed the Storm Coast and I don't know where to go. My last main quest completed was In Your Heart Shall Burn and I can now go to the Hissing Wastes, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion and Western Approach.
With my level, where do you recommend me to go?

 

[Bessy67]

So how does the whole reward system from the trials introduced in Trespasser work? I've had three trials active for quite a while but haven't gotten any notification of rewards. Do I have to do a certain quest/war table mission to start getting the rewards?

I'm currently 72 hours in and level 14. I just completed the Storm Coast and I don't know where to go. My last main quest completed was In Your Heart Shall Burn and I can now go to the Hissing Wastes, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion and Western Approach.
With my level, where do you recommend me to go?

Advance the main quest line some more. At that level you can easily do up through Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts.

 

[jgwhiteus]

I'm currently 72 hours in and level 14. I just completed the Storm Coast and I don't know where to go. My last main quest completed was In Your Heart Shall Burn and I can now go to the Hissing Wastes, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion and Western Approach.
With my level, where do you recommend me to go?

I think the usual order of areas post-Skyhold (by level progression) is:

Crestwood (lvl. 10+) - did you finish this area already? - continues the story quest
Western Approach (lvl. 10+) - continues the story quest
Exalted Plains (lvl. 10+)
Emerald Graves (lvl. 12+)
Emprise Du Lion (lvl. 16+)
Hissing Wastes (lvl. 19+)

And somewhere in the middle of the above you should do the other story areas - Adamant Fortress and the Winter Palace. Of course you can do them in any order, and you'll have to go back and forth between areas to finish quests / unlock new sections, but the above worked for me.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

I killed the 1st Dragon in the Emprise - he was not that hard, pretty straightforward actually. Dropped an awesome 256 Armor for Iron Bull which replaced my current 178 Armor one. Thanks, Dragon!

I also cleared the Pools of Sun killing all Red Templars (2 Behemots at once was pretty challenging) and closing the two Rfits.

Funny how the single area of Pools of Sun gave me exactly 1 level:

- 11k for the Dragon
- ~5k per Watchtower
- Xk per Rift

I entered Pools of Sun at exactly LVL19 and left it at LVL20. Very nice. I'm also glad LVL20 is not a level cap which I was afraid of.

I still have to level up my party, imagine that! Varric sits on 20 unused Ability Points, Iron Bull on 16 and Cassandra on 19. I still do not have even one anti-Guard ability... it makes fighting Guard Dragons really, really, really long.

I think I will kill the 2nd Emprise Dragon before moving to Hissing Wastes. Then Exalted Plains and finally Crestwood.

 

[Megauap]

Thanks for the tips! I did not complete Crestwood nor the Western Approach nor the Exalted Plains and I'm level 15 now. Will continue the main quest and leave the damn side quests for later haha.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Fuck me are the Hissing Wastes HUGE. This will take hours... And of course the first thing I encounter there is the sleeping Dragon (Sandy Howler).

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Damn @ the Rifts in Hissing Wastes north. Each of the 2 waves consists of Pride Demon!

I think it is my favourite map in the game so far. The atmosphere and feeling of scale and adventure is off the charts.

 

[Yeul]

Damn @ the Rifts in Hissing Wastes north. Each of the 2 waves consists of Pride Demon!

I think it is my favourite map in the game so far. The atmosphere and feeling of scale and adventure is off the charts.

Yeah it's definitely a higher level map, usually one of the last ones people do. It's interesting to hear you say it's your favorite so far, though! Most people thought it was a tacked on map due to its "emptiness". Granted, I think DA:I could have done with less maps and instead diverted those resources to filling the other areas with more to do (in a less "go from a -> b and back to a" sort of way). Regardless, I still loved the diversity of the areas for what it was, though. Maybe in DA4 they will do a day/night and weather cycle to make things more dynamic, but for a cross-gen game they made do with what they had by making the different areas represent different times of day/weather patterns. I still enjoyed it.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Yeah it's definitely a higher level map, usually one of the last ones people do.

Just had a Rift minutes ago with 2 Pride Demons at the same time! Shit was cray with lightning whips, fire explosions, blue barriers etc. exploding all around. Like a goddamn circus.

It's interesting to hear you say it's your favorite so far, though! Most people thought it was a tacked on map due to its "emptiness".

That's one of the reasons I like it. It's not overbusy like Hinterlands or Emerald Graves. There is this air of solace? around it. It is quite relaxing to travel around it and always have some huge landmark in the distance. Cannot get lost.

Cannot wait to hear and see Dragon Age 4 for the first time. Game should blow our minds graphically.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

After 14 real-time hours I am done with the Hissing Wastes. Goddamn that was a long-ass area. Never used a mount, though. The only thing left in there is the Sandy Howler who currently wrecks my LVL21 party. Still, best map/ area in the game. Loved every second of it.

Off to the two maps left I go - Exalted Plains and Crestwood.

I entered the Plains and lol the enemies are LVL11. This will be a breeze compared to Hissing Wastes.

 

[Bessy67]

After 14 real-time hours I am done with the Hissing Wastes. Goddamn that was a long-ass area. Never used a mount, though. The only thing left in there is the Sandy Howler who currently wrecks my LVL21 party. Still, best map/ area in the game. Loved every second of it.

Off to the two maps left I go - Exalted Plains and Crestwood.

I entered the Plains and lol the enemies are LVL11. This will be a breeze compared to Hissing Wastes.

Get the Tresspasser DLC and activate the trial which scales all enemies up to your level.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Get the Tresspasser DLC and activate the trial which scales all enemies up to your level.

Does the DLC ever goes on sale (XB1)?

Anyway 5th Dragon down (Exalted Plains one). I didn't even heal before this fight just wanted to "try him out" and bam he is dead. He almost killed me with the lightning charged water attack, though. I discovered the trick in the last possible second when I had 5% health left on my Inquisitor (the rest was dead) and escaped on the solid terrain immediately. Nice one, BioWare. Props.

I really, really dislike this area. I hate crevices/ mountains/ fissure-like maps and Dragon Age 3 has an overbudnance of them. Is Crestwood full of mountains as well?

 

[Yeul]

Does the DLC ever goes on sale (XB1)?

Anyway 5th Dragon down (Exalted Plains one). I didn't even heal before this fight just wanted to "try him out" and bam he is dead. He almost killed me with the lightning charged water attack, though. I discovered the trick in the last possible second when I had 5% health left on my Inquisitor (the rest was dead) and escaped on the solid terrain immediately. Nice one, BioWare. Props.

I really, really dislike this area. I hate crevices/ mountains/ fissure-like maps and Dragon Age 3 has an overbudnance of them. Is Crestwood full of mountains as well?

BioWare DLC doesn't really go on sale very often, but out of all the DLC, I would 100% recommend Trespasser. Though a caveat about actually playing the story of that DLC is that you have to have a completed game in order to start it since it is an epilogue of sorts.

I would say Crestwood is very hill-y, but nothing really too "mountainous". I mean, there are some places where there is higher elevation, but I think the path through Crestwood is pretty obvious because it's tied to one of the missions that you go through in that area. Exalted Plains was sort of more free wheeling than some of the other areas, imo. Even the Emerald Graves was free-roamy but that was one of my favorites just because it was so enjoyable to be in/look at. The lighting and ambient music in that region were so beautiful. Crestwood is kinda cool though because you can see two different sides to it.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

There should be an achievement for pressing the left thumb stick down 10 000 times.

I must have done this 100 000 already. God damn this harvesting meta game.

I am betting that there exists a mod for PC version that turns "search" always on.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

You know the Exalted Plains is a pretty interesting area all being said and done. It also features the following interesting concepts which are nowhere (?) to be found in the rest of the areas (Emprise, all of the Deserts, Storm Coast, Hinterlands, Graves etc):

- a puzzle in the Elven Ruins where you have to split your party and perform specific actions (light torches, pull levers) in a timed manner
- a Dragon that electrifies the water you are standing in which kills you pretty fast - you have to escape to solid ground
- a "spotlight" in the Fortress which searches the area and burns you if it spots you

These three points make the area very distinct and stick out of the rest. I also like the lore of this place - the Dalish March and now the Undead being raised all over the place.

 

[AndyD]

You know the Exalted Plains is a pretty interesting area all being said and done. It also features the following interesting concepts which are nowhere (?) to be found in the rest of the areas (Emprise, all of the Deserts, Storm Coast, Hinterlands, Graves etc):

- a puzzle in the Elven Ruins where you have to split your party and perform specific actions (light torches, pull levers) in a timed manner
- a Dragon that electrifies the water you are standing in which kills you pretty fast - you have to escape to solid ground
- a "spotlight" in the Fortress which searches the area and burns you if it spots you

These three points make the area very distinct and stick out of the rest. I also like the lore of this place - the Dalish March and now the Undead being raised all over the place.

I agree. Several areas had small touches like that which I wish were more widely used. I almost feel like they could have cut out several of the maps and spent more time on making encounters more meaningful. Either more clever or involved puzzles or more interaction with the environment. Still, looking forward to other EA games of this scope.

 

[Ralemont]

I just hated the Undead Pits in Exalted Plains. It's also really ugly, which I get is the point, but in a game where you really only have to do 1/2 the zones for a playthrough it's hard to justify completing it every time.

 

[Hungry Ghost]

I just hated the Undead Pits in Exalted Plains. It's also really ugly, which I get is the point, but in a game where you really only have to do 1/2 the zones for a playthrough it's hard to justify completing it every time.

Does that mean I can skip the exalted plains? Im level 18, and so far everything is level 11. Aside from the companion quests, and killing the dragon I dont want to be there.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Guys I cleared all possible maps except the Dragons (5 of them left) and reached The Fade via Adamant Fortress. 101 hours gametime.

How long till I reach the end of the game?

 

[Megauap]

Guys I cleared all possible maps except the Dragons (5 of them left) and reached The Fade via Adamant Fortress. 101 hours gametime.

How long till I reach the end of the game?

I'm 102 hours in the game and still level 15. Just completed the main quest where

Spoiler

you have to save empress Celene. I actually made Celene empress alongside Briala, hope they help the Inquisition later on.

I still got a long way to go...

 

[Yeul]

Guys I cleared all possible maps except the Dragons (5 of them left) and reached The Fade via Adamant Fortress. 101 hours gametime.

How long till I reach the end of the game?

If you already did Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts then you have about 3 main quests left after the Fade. If you didn't do that quest before Here Lies the Abyss then you have 4.

 

[Megauap]

Killed my first dragon randomly, doing the quest for the researcher on the Western Approach. When I saw it descending I thought that I wouldn't be able to kill it but having 12 health potions saved my life. Ended up with low HP on all party members but the feeling of achievement was amazing.
Now I'm level 17 and I still have to go to the Exalted Plains, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion and the Hissing Wastes.

 

[Ultimadrago]

Against better judgement, I got Trespasser DLC to play. It had better be more interesting than Hakkon. I am currently just skipping Descent altogether.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Killed my first dragon randomly, doing the quest for the researcher on the Western Approach. When I saw it descending I thought that I wouldn't be able to kill it but having 12 health potions saved my life. Ended up with low HP on all party members but the feeling of achievement was amazing.
Now I'm level 17 and I still have to go to the Exalted Plains, Emerald Graves, Emprise du Lion and the Hissing Wastes.

I have only 4 Dragons left and all of them destroy me pretty quickly *sadface*. Especially the electrical one in Storm Coast, gah.

One of them is quite manageable until he summons the little ones. Then my whole strategy goes to shit.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Cassandra has awesome tits ;D

 

[Megauap]

I have only 4 Dragons left and all of them destroy me pretty quickly *sadface*. Especially the electrical one in Storm Coast, gah.

One of them is quite manageable until he summons the little ones. Then my whole strategy goes to shit.

Could you tell me which ones are "easier" to kill?
I'm now exploring the Exalted Plains, for now I like it.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Could you tell me which ones are "easier" to kill?
I'm now exploring the Exalted Plains, for now I like it.

You have the Barrier spell right? And some form of Revival?!? (must have)

Emerald Graves one is pretty easy but long. Crestwood as well but you need to micromanage around the mines. And finally the Exalted Plains one is pretty easy except his one "trick" that can kill your whole party in mere seconds. I also found the first one in Emprise du Lion to be pretty standard - no tricks, no fancy attacks.

The rest either summon allies or just hit like tanks with stupid electricity/ fire AoE attacks.

Oh... assume every dragon casts Guard on herself!

 

[Megauap]

You have the Barrier spell right? And some form of Revival?!? (must have)

Emerald Graves one is pretty easy but long. Crestwood as well but you need to micromanage around the mines. And finally the Exalted Plains one is pretty easy except his one "trick" that can kill your whole party in mere seconds. I also found the first one in Emprise du Lion to be pretty standard - no tricks, no fancy attacks.

The rest either summon allies or just hit like tanks with stupid electricity/ fire AoE attacks.

Oh... assume every dragon casts Guard on herself!

I have a barrier spell but no Revival yet :S
Will try to take them on anyway hehe

 

[show me your skeleton]

so i'm at the final mission now, i think, what should i definitely do before i wrap up the story for the first time? not massively in to 100% the game the first time round but i'd like to know anything big that i shouldn't miss.

 

[AndyD]

so i'm at the final mission now, i think, what should i definitely do before i wrap up the story for the first time? not massively in to 100% the game the first time round but i'd like to know anything big that i shouldn't miss.

There's not much. But doing the side quests for the various companions was the last thing I did (some of the quests get locked out after story ends). It really fills up the side background story going into the finale, plus it lets you steamroll through some areas as a high level character.

 

[diaspora]

so i'm at the final mission now, i think, what should i definitely do before i wrap up the story for the first time? not massively in to 100% the game the first time round but i'd like to know anything big that i shouldn't miss.

Make sure you've finished all the companion quests.

 

[RDreamer]

Just beat Trespasser last night. I'm torn overall on it. I really liked the direction of the story, and since the lore and everything is one of the biggest things to draw me into the Dragon Age universe, I really liked that. It offered pretty good closure and a really great link to the next game.

That said, especially after playing Hearts of Stone, it seemed really fucking half-assed for what you pay. I'd have been pretty happy to pay 8-10 bucks for it. $15 is just too fucking steep for how long that took me. I kind of feel that way about all 3 DLCs. I think all together for $25 or $30 would have been reasonable. $45 for all of them and I kind of feel like a sucker.

I also feel like I'm one of the few to like Descent a bit better than Hakkon. That could be because I didn't try and barrel through Descent by itself, though. I alternated between Hakkon and Descent stuff since I got them both at nearly the same time.

Also, I really hate to sound like one of those Witcher fanboys that tries to say Inquisition is trash because of what Witcher did. Honestly I loved both W3 and Inquisition in very different ways and can't wait for more in both universes. I just tend to have a bit of a problem with Bioware price gouging on DLC.

 

[Ralemont]

I thought $15 was too much for Hakkon and Descent, but that Trespasser was well worth it. I don't really evaluate DLC's value by length but rather quality of content. Trespasser being an epilogue that meaningfully incorporates a lot of your previous decisions, lets you decide the fate of the Inquisition, has a ton of story and character content, while expanding the meta-arc across the series and setting up DA4, made it worth the money. The Witcher is always going to have an easier time compared to Dragon Age since it has a lot less redundant content (multiple protagonists, different outcomes for characters who have a lot of dialogue lines including 3 different Divines who play a large role in the DLC, etc).

So basically if I am looking at length, Trespasser could feel like 3 different experiences with 3 different Inquisitors depending on your choices and companions. Dragon Age makes up the difference in replays.

 

[RDreamer]

I thought $15 was too much for Hakkon and Descent, but that Trespasser was well worth it. I don't really evaluate DLC's value by length but rather quality of content. Trespasser being an epilogue that meaningfully incorporates a lot of your previous decisions, lets you decide the fate of the Inquisition, has a ton of story and character content, while expanding the meta-arc across the series and setting up DA4, made it worth the money. The Witcher is always going to have an easier time compared to Dragon Age since it has a lot less redundant content (multiple protagonists, different outcomes for characters who have a lot of dialogue lines including 3 different Divines who play a large role in the DLC, etc).

So basically if I am looking at length, Trespasser could feel like 3 different experiences with 3 different Inquisitors depending on your choices and companions. Dragon Age makes up the difference in replays.

I mean it makes up some of the difference. The amount of people that will realistically get to replay an epilogue like that seems like it would be pretty minuscule though. I mean it's nice they put in some of that, and I'm sure it took a bit of planning to do. I haven't seen some of the alternates but if it's like most of Bioware's stuff it's probably a few changes in lines of dialogue and not really huuuuuuge in the grand scheme of things. That's especially since Hearts of Stone took me probably 3-4 times as long to complete as Trespasser and it was only 2/3 the price. Even if you tripled the amount of everything in Trespasser it still wouldn't quite be as big as Hearts of Stone.

Again, I'm not trying to get into a pissing match between Witcher 3 and Dragon Age, since, again, I fucking love both properties. I just think $15 is pretty substantial. And I think not offering some sort of bundle to people who've owned the game for a while is kind of shitty too.

 

[Raggie]

I have the GOTYE and all the DLC came with it... Must say, Descent probably works a lot better played in bits between the other areas, instead of completing the whole thing after the main quest. I can see it would drag as a one long slog, but a level at a time every now and then gives a nice change of pace for the more relaxed strolls on the countryside. Too much fresh air never does anyone good.

 

[Ralemont]

Yeah, there's a lot in Inquisition that could rightly be called costly for a small return. Even companions, normally the highlight of the game, expand the game horizontally too much when most people don't even finish a single playthrough with 3 companions, much less replay with different ones and a different Inquisitor. Had the game only featured a human protagonist as originally planned and had half the companions, imagine how much writing and voice budget gets freed up for those side quests (of course I think elf is the best race for this story, so that happens to be a significant loss for me).

This is something Dragon Age 2 actually does fairly well; minimizing redundant zots. 6 companions is a very nice amount and allowed them to develop Friendship and Rivalry arcs which feel very different. And with only a human protagonist it allows you to go a little deeper into who the protagonist is.

I also completely understand them going balls out on races and companions though since they felt they had something to prove after DA2. I'm hoping DA4 strikes a better balance because honestly, we don't need 12 companions in the next game (the advisors probably have even more dialogue than the companions). And if they are going to keep Qunari as a race, I think it must have a bigger impact on the story, especially since we'll now be focusing on the Qunari/Tevinter reignited war.

 

[RDreamer]

I have the GOTYE and all the DLC came with it... Must say, Descent probably works a lot better played in bits between the other areas, instead of completing the whole thing after the main quest. I can see it would drag as a one long slog, but a level at a time every now and then gives a nice change of pace for the more relaxed strolls on the countryside. Too much fresh air never does anyone good.

Yeah, definitely agreed. As I said, I did it alternating with Jaws of Hakkon and it worked pretty well. I liked the story and lore connected with it... and having mother fucking Snake helping me look for metal gears!

Yeah, there's a lot in Inquisition that could rightly be called costly for a small return. Even companions, normally the highlight of the game, expand the game horizontally too much when most people don't even finish a single playthrough with 3 companions, much less replay with different ones and a different Inquisitor. Had the game only featured a human protagonist as originally planned and had half the companions, imagine how much writing time gets freed up for those side quests (of course I think elf is the best race for this story, so that happens to be a significant loss for me).

This is something Dragon Age 2 actually does fairly well; minimizing redundant zots. 6 companions is a very nice amount and allowed them to develop Friendship and Rivalry arcs which feel very different. And with only a human protagonist it allows you to go a little deeper into who the protagonist is.

I also completely understand them going balls out on races and companions though since they felt they had something to prove after DA2. I'm hoping DA4 strikes a better balance because honestly, we don't need 12 companions in the next game (the advisors probably have even more dialogue than the companions). And if they are going to keep Qunari as a race, I think it must have a bigger impact on the story, especially since we'll now be focusing on the Qunari/Tevinter reignited war.

Yeah, this is partially why I defend the Dragon Age series (and love it). They do a lot to really give a unique experience. It's funny seeing them get attacked on choice not mattering meanwhile Witcher 3 pretty much threw every choice you made in 1 and 2 in the trash and said fuck it. I think there's a good balance between the two that I'd like to see.

Going into Inquisition I was really surprised how much they stuck to their guns, especially after DA2's flop and even with switching consoles and not being able to actually import saves. I really thought they'd kind of nuke a lot of the back-choices and start pretty new.

 

[Ralemont]

And I'm definitely not trying to get into a Witcher 3/Dragon Age thing either. I actually haven't played the former yet because I'm trying to distance my mind from Witcher fanboys shitting up Dragon Age threads which has made me unintentionally predisposed against it. Which is a damn shame since I really liked The Witcher 2 and to a lesser extent 1.

Going into Inquisition I was really surprised how much they stuck to their guns, especially after DA2's flop and even with switching consoles and not being able to actually import saves. I really thought they'd kind of nuke a lot of the back-choices and start pretty new.

I was very satisfied by how Inquisition handled previous world states, yes. Also, did anyone else see that in Trespasser they even bothered to explain Leliana surviving the Temple in Origins if the Warden kills her?

Spoiler

She didn't! Lyrium sang thought into being. Lyrium ghost Leliana ftw.

 

[Raggie]

And I'm definitely not trying to get into a Witcher 3/Dragon Age thing either. I actually haven't played the former yet because I'm trying to distance my mind from Witcher fanboys shitting up Dragon Age threads which has made me unintentionally predisposed against it.

Same here, actually. These pissing matches are as stupid as they're inevetable. It's not only it's like comparing apples to oranges, it's also saying you can't like both. I should think that eating nothing but one type of fruit would sooner or later get dull, no matter how much you love it.

Why do I always end up making food analogies?

 

[diaspora]

I think Hakkon and Trespasser were at least better priced than almost all of the Mass Effect DLCs- excluding Citadel and arguably Leviathan.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Two things infuriate me to no ends in this game even after 112 hours:

- the Barrier spell works differently for you and for the enemies. For the enemies it is a static amount of "hit points" you have to reduce - just another health bar. For your characters it is a constantly decreasing amount of hitpoints - basically a timed health bar that will disappear even if you take no damage.

WHY THE DIFFERENCE

- the "Hold Position" command is useless and broken... but that's true for every Dragon Age game out there.

Oh and only recently I've discovered that Upgrades take physical space in your inventory. No wonder I had inventory problems for the last 40 hours - I was hauling along 40+ upgrades at all the times. BAH.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Well I've beaten the game. 126 hours. Have to reload and finish the last 2 side-quests and kill the remaining 4 Dragons.

Some quick thoughts:

1) Hardest main-quest fights in the game:

- Samson (w/o his armor!) - died over 10 times here. His whirlwind just obliterated me again and again.
- last Haven catapult fight. Never beat them - I triggered the catapult instead after some tries.
- Imshael.

Last boss was a pushover even for my unskilled party (no skills on anyone besides Inquisitor).

2) Morrigan and Flemeth felt so forced in. Morrigan lost all her DA1 charm.

3) Best PCs story arcs:

- Blackwall (HOLY SHIT, did not see that coming)
- Dorian (time travel)
- Iron Bull (love dem Chargers)

4) Corypheus felt somehow underutilized? He had a great 1st part of the game then he kept on losing again and again. I didn't feel fear or even respect towards him like I did with Arishok in DA2. Don't even get me started on BG2 Irenicus - still the best BioWare villain.

Irenicus > Arishok > Corypheus > Sarevok >>> Meredith

5) Physical Based Rendering makes this game's graphics one of the best of the market. Holy shit does this game LOOK GOOD.

 

[diaspora]

Well I've beaten the game. 126 hours. Have to reload and finish the last 2 side-quests and kill the remaining 4 Dragons.

Some quick thoughts:

1) Hardest main-quest fights in the game:

- Samson (w/o his armor!) - died over 10 times here. His whirlwind just obliterated me again and again.
- last Haven catapult fight. Never beat them - I triggered the catapult instead after some tries.
- Imshael.

Last boss was a pushover even for my unskilled party (no skills on anyone besides Inquisitor).

2) Morrigan and Flemeth felt so forced in. Morrigan lost all her DA1 charm.

3) Best PCs story arcs:

- Blackwall (HOLY SHIT, did not see that coming)
- Dorian (time travel)
- Iron Bull (love dem Chargers)

4) Corypheus felt somehow underutilized? He had a great 1st part of the game then he kept on losing again and again. I didn't feel fear or even respect towards him like I did with Arishok in DA2. Don't even get me started on BG2 Irenicus - still the best BioWare villain.

Irenicus > Arishok > Corypheus > Sarevok >>> Meredith

5) Physical Based Rendering makes this game's graphics one of the best of the market. Holy shit does this game LOOK GOOD.

Iirc, it doesn't use PBR.

 

[StoppedInTracks]

Iirc, it doesn't use PBR.

Wha? It still looks crazy then. The way light bounces of metal armors, pauldrons and helmets is unbelievable.

........

So after beating the game I finally levelled up my guys, crafted some 300+ DPS weapons (2H and 1H using Essence of Perfection), crafted some Fire & Electricity Resistance armors and went to hunt the rest of the dragons.

They were a pushover, lol. In fact the one on Storm Coast was the hardest of them all - even harder than LVL23 Highland Ravager - due to the shitty AoE attack. Still, he didn't stood a chance. I killed all of the 4 remaining Dragons in under 1 hour. Cannot even remember how fast I was killing the Dragonlings - it was almost instant.

(Fun fact: I remember the Swarm spell from Baldur's Gate 2 being a lifesaver in some of the battles (Jaheira was casting it IIRC). I never used grenades here but I needed to craft something for the achievement so I crafted Jar of Bees in honor of BG2's spell. It was... extremely usefull when fighting the Dragons. Free damage never hurts!)

I am done with this game after 132 hours. Will not aim for Platinum as I'd have to play it again on Nightmare. No thanks, Hard mode was hard enough in the first 30 hours.

Mage Inquisitor, Cassandra, Iron Bull and Varric FOR LIFE.

It is a terrific title, well done BioWare.

Cannot wait for ME4 and DA4. Day One as always.