Dragon Age Inquisition: Nobody Doesn't Expect the Tired Monty Python Joke

[Paul le Fou]

As I now live with a DA series superfan, I was finally convinced to pick up Inquisition. I skipped DA1 and 2 - I saw a bit of Origins being played on the PS3 and it seemed really outdated (in the ugly and janky sense) and frankly my backlog is already too big to be picking up a game this massive, much less three of them.
I made a male human warrior, picked sword and shield but switched to 2hand weapon pretty quickly, poked around in the Hinterlands for a bit and just arrived at Val Royeaux.

As Patrick and Octo mentioned in the What'cha Playin' thread, I can see how people would easily get burnt out tracking down all the Hinterlands stuff to do when they first land there. It's a huge area with a whole lot of stuff to do! Map icons everywhere! Collectibles! Different secret collectibles! Sidequests and landmarks! Gotdamn! But I'm following advice to not try and clear it (or subsequent areas) all at once like a completionist. Yet.

I'm still working out how speccing myself and my party should go - I only have the starting 3 still - and how to play as myself and possibly them. The last of these games I played was KOTOR (or maybe KOTOR 2) back in (a long time ago) so I'm not exactly With It for all the in-depth mechanics, but it does seem like battle is active enough that there's little opportunity or reason to switch to other characters for battle? So far it's just "shoot an animal before it runs away from me and my big axe." I haven't figured out the basics of how the RTS-looking mode works yet either, or if it's worth using at all or should just be ignored like the faux-musou camera option in FE3H.

I'm not sure whom to romance yet either, or how I even begin going about that. So far I've just tried to be real nice to Josephine. I have been informed that Leliana is not an available option, which I find very disappointing so far.

 

[WisteriaHysteria]

The romance options in DA:I are interesting. A lot of them are gated simply by who you've chosen to play. I recommend just not worrying about that aspect just yet, and pursue whoever feels right/is most receptive to your advances as the story continues. For what it's worth, on my play through, I romanced Solas which I kinda walked backwards into and didn't really anticipate even being possible.

Leliana was a romancing option in DA1&2, so I get not making her an option here in 3. It probably would have been too much work to do that, especially when a lot of people carrying over file saves from previous DA games wouldn't be able to romance her anyways if a past MC hooked up with her.

Also, Dragon Age is the best, every game in the franchise is great. I miss these games.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Leliana was not a romance option in II (the best one!) and had a much smaller role there then in either game.

Switching out party members is easy enough and XP is shared so no one falls behind so just do what feels right/follow a guide extensively so you can get maximum party member approval from fetch quests. The dragon battles are where you might be making more use of the overhead view... I only ever play on normal so I cannot offer strategic advice.

A fun thing to do if you're still in Haven or whatever is activating whatever movement skill you have just before entering the town and losing access to your skills... as a warrior, I think that's bull rush or whatever. It's just good clean fun... charging into town...

 

[Sarge]

I really enjoyed DA:I, in fact even playing as a mage, which is not my usual choice. There was a point where I said some collectibles weren't worth it, and you'll figure out which ones pretty quickly. If you just take the stuff you want to do, and avoid the work-like ones, you'll have a good time.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Started picking up more party members - Sera and Vivienne have joined. I think I like Sera a lot, though sometimes it toes the line between that and "they're trying too hard and I literally don't know what she's talking about most of the time."

Wandered around the Forbidden?Lost? Oasis for a bit, found some more shards and landmarks and a couple big spooders. I appreciate that it's a very different type of layout than the other environment I have access to so far (Hinterlands) (I've also unlocked Storm Coast but haven't been there yet) since it speaks well to varied level design. It's important to keep the experience shaken up somewhat when a lot of the tasks themselves will get repetitive (find landmarks, find shards, close rifts...) and exploring a multi-level interwoven area is a neat way to shake things up form big open rolling hills.

 

[Paul le Fou]

A week later and I'm level 12. I've been getting set up in Skyhold, and I just finished the last of the Hinterlands quests (er I think there are one or two more but fuckit).

I KNOW I KNOW YOU GUYS TOLD ME NOT TO but there was so much. Luckily, I was getting area-fatigue and am ready to move on, and don't feel at all driven to complete later areas. That said, I'm glad I did because one of the last things I did there was Valamar and that was a very cool area. I popped over to Storm Coast and got a very good 2h axe from the Astrariums there. It seems to be a much smaller area with much less to do, and it may be weird to say but thank god because I have two other areas already open, one of which I haven't even visited, several more available on my war table, and others referenced in quest descriptions that are yet to be revealed.

There's just so MUCH to do. All those areas to explore, full of their own quests, plus I'm also staring down a pretty long list of main/story quests. I'm already outleveling some of the areas, though it seems like a lot of them scale to you, thankfully. Though I'm very ready to start getting tier 2 materials more regularly (if not tier 3, I dunno how common those are). Good lord, the amount of time I spend managing armor and weapons with their add-ons and taking parts off older pieces and shifting replaced gear down to the next character... (The interface being kind of clunky certainly doesn't help.) And I just unlocked master crafting which is a whole 'nother thing on top of it. Gotta do my specialization sidequest too, what else... I think I won't even look at the collectibles for a good long while.

I'm mostly set on romancing Cassandra. I had Varric write the next installment of her series for her, but either there was no romance thing in there or I messed it up. But I've been flirting at every chance (...with almost everyone, tbh) so I foresee happiness in our future.

 

[chud_666]

I played a Male Qunari Rogue and I romanced Iron Bull

Related to the spoiler above, please play the Trespasser DLC

Anyway, this game is VERY underrated.

 

[Paul le Fou]

Anyway, this game is VERY underrated.

...is it? I feel like I've only been hearing good things about it for years.

 

[chud_666]

...is it? I feel like I've only been hearing good things about it for years.

It gets brought up as an also ran, in Witcher 3's wake. And start of decline of BioWare

 

[Paul le Fou]

Huh. I guess it's a good thing I haven't gotten around to Witcher 3 yet. shrug!

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Dragon Age II is underrated. This game is... rated! Now I have it on the PS4... kind of want to play it on the medium screen.

I have never played a Witcher and it is bc of this franchise. (I'm sure they're fine)

 

[Paul le Fou]

I will say that I'm chafing against the "only 8 skills" limit, especially with my focus skill taking up one of those slots. That's not enough! I have more skills than that, and noticeably long stretches of downtime holding auto-attack that I could be using them in!

 

[fanboymaster]

Game literally won multiple game of the year awards...

 

[Sarge]

Game literally won multiple game of the year awards...

Yet I absolutely remember people (and the press) ragging on it not long after release, not unlike what happens to a Zelda game when it falls out of favor.

 

[fanboymaster]

I mean I think the game's a bloated mess which colors this but underrated's a pretty big stretch DICE awards Game Awards GDC and BAFTA video game noms, you'll still find plenty of people champing at the bit for more and singing its praises.

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

I mean I think the game's a bloated mess which colors this but underrated's a pretty big stretch

I agree and yet I am downloading it rn. (only problem is with the bloat... mess is fine; good, even)

Just remembered that to help create the Dark, Realistic Fantasy vibe, everyone has yellow teeth. (at least in Origins and Inquisition - the people of Kirkwall appear to have toothpaste)

 

[fanboymaster]

Far be it from me to criticize, I like a lot of bloated messy games just didn't speak to me. I just take issue with the idea the game's particularly underrated.

 

[upupdowndown]

I really adored DA:I, even though it is a bit bloated and the game is saddled with the burden of trying to continue to pretend like the Mage/Templar conflict is a conflict between two sides of equal moral valence*.

It comes down to the characters for me: they're so engaging and distinct, and the character design is very good.

Gita Jackson's (spoiler-filled) Kotaku paean to loving to hate Solas really sums up why the writing is effective.

* the mages are literally slaves for the Chantry and the Templars are literally drug-addicted cops/slavecatchers. Thedas has a legitimate and compelling interest in making sure mage activities are regulated to be safer, but the Chantry's solution of Circles and Templars is a wildly repressive way to do it. Rivaini society has virtually no Chantry influence outside of the capital, and according to in-game lore, "the Rivaini refuse to be parted from their seers, wise women who are in fact hedge mages, communicating with spirits and actually allowing themselves to be possessed. The Chantry prohibition against such magical practices violates millennia of local tradition." Yet Rivain hasn't collapsed into a demon-ridden hellhole!

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Ah, as is tradition: Dragon Age Keep is down or something and I can't export my worldstate.

(I think it took days to come back up last year when I started a new playthrough... can't wait until this website disappears forever)

 

[Paul le Fou]

Cassandra and I are now officially an item <3 <3 <3 awwwww I saw cassandra kissing the inquisitor omg omg dish!!!

 

[upupdowndown]

Cassandra and I are now officially an item <3 <3 <3 awwwww I saw cassandra kissing the inquisitor omg omg dish!!!

Cassandra in Inquisition and AvelIine in DA2 are such good examples of how to write lawful good characters that aren't boring!!

 

[Paul le Fou]

Also I really need to internalize the advice about not needing to complete areas. The ones I've done since the Hinterlands have been much shorter typically so it hasn't felt like a slog or anything, I was able to clear a few out in a single session. But they're still all lower-level than me, leading to things like a climactic battle with the lord seeker that ends in about 4 seconds (not to mention, I keep getting loot that is worse than what I have from said battles).

But if I've outleveled so many areas, would skipping to content my level look like just skipping some areas entirely going forward? I guess I can try and get all that stuff next time around and it'd make for a more varied re-play, which is a big plus, but (I think) I have a loooot of game left to go despite being almost 60 hours in at this point and feeling like I'm barely past the starting areas.

 

[upupdowndown]

I mean, that's just how it is with open world RPGs with lots of optional side content and no challenge scaling - if you complete all of the side content, you're just gonna be ridiculously OP

at least the Dragon hunts exist to give you something to do with your ridiculously OP party!!

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

What I personally do is: try the Hinterlands one ASAP ("that's annoying... I'll come back later") and then I accidentally come back later when I'm "Too" Powerful.

Anyway, I guess you could just only collect enough power to do main quests and stop screwing around but I think it'll be pretty weirdly paced regardless... I don't have that kind of self-control anyway.

Playing a shooty Dalish rogue this time. I traditionally don't like archery in RPGs but I'll give it a go. I don't think my character has a charge skill (like bull rush or whatever for warriors or blink for mages) so the most I can do is rocket myself back into Haven before the game stops letting me use abilities. I'll take it!

So much dialogue just doesn't make sense unless you're an Andriastian human.

 

[Paul le Fou]

I progressed the story a bit at the Shrine of Dumat, then followed a plot thread to a new area and landed in the Forbidden Wastes. That's another real big area! That's OK I don't need to exhaustively explore thi—what do you mean it has shards, OK, fine

BUT I did fix one of my earlier problems. I finally listened to my girlfriend telling me about, what were they called, Trials? There's one where enemies are always at least your same level, so it bumps up all the weak ones I've been steamrolling. Frankly I still steamroll most encounters but it feels like I actually get to/have to use all my skills, and my party and I have to heal a little more often. So that's good. The others seem like standard challenge-run stuff that doesn't do anything for me...except for the one that promises "more bears." I might turn that one on...just to see...

 

[Paul le Fou]

Well, of course I completely cleared out the Forbidden Wastes, and then did the same thing with Emerald Graves. The sickness is too deep inside me, I can't escape.

A few days ago I finally pushed the main quest forward and did the attack on the Wardens at Adamant castle quest, which was pretty neat! I chose Stroud to die, though it wasn't nearly the emotional choice for me that it is/was for continuing players - my GF had Hawke vs someone else entirely from DA1, and she said it was the hardest choice she had to make in that or any game.

I did Emerald Graves after that, mostly, and then went on to Wicked Eyes and Hearts and Whatevers, the ball with the empress assassination plot. I actually really enjoyed that section? There was actually some mystery and ambiguity to figure out, at least for most of it, and culminated in (what felt like) a pretty monumental choice (though of course still not in the way that would drastically fork the game's plot). I was a little confused at the end about who'd done exactly what, so maybe things weren't explained as well as they should've been? And my two main choices weren't very clear. "Give proof about the Duke" or "the same thing, but Briala helped" - felt like an odd choice, especially when after the Duke part I then had the opportunity to throw Briala under the bus as an accomplice, which I don't think had been true...? I dunno. I liked the stage design and doing stuff in my fancy uniform and there were some great character moments.

The recommended level for that quest is 12-15. I'm level 21. At least all the enemies are dragged up to my level too!

I did wander into the Deep Roads, which I very soon realized was a DLC area since the enemies were actually hard. I want to go back, but also I'm already starting to outlevel that place too and I have plot to keep moving through. That and a whole 'nother DLC area, to boot. I'm at 85ish hours in already. Hoping that means I'm starting to get a little near the end of the main story, at least. Also made myself a mastercrafted dragon bone 2h sword with over 300 damage, woohoo

 

[Paul le Fou]

I'm at a little over 100 hours and I'm so tired of the game and want to move on to others. That's not a strike against it really - 100 hours is about where I start burning out on pretty much any game I've played the bejeebus out of, and it's a rare game that can keep my attention beyond that mark in a single play period (except for addiction machines like multiplayer games and such, but I digress).

I'm at the end of the story, thankfully, just the last chapter to go. But I only just explored one DLC area, Frostback Basin, and still haven't gone back to the Deep Roads. But I think that's all I can take. Even though Frostback had some really awesome areas and architecture and layout, I just felt like I was slogging, so I think I'm done.

But that's good, because if I ever do come back for another replay, I have a lot of fresh content that I didn't do here. I never set foot in the Hissing Wastes; I only dipped a toe into Emprise du Lion to kill one quest NPC; I have the entire Deep Roads left, and all of the good stuff in Frostback waiting for me (I pretty much just wandered and explored the map, and only barely started its bigger questlines). I can't completely avoid re-doing areas from before, I know, but considering another complaint I had about this play was that I was overleveled for most of it, pushing through those much faster (and just doing the coolest parts of them) and then doing the stuff I didn't do last time should make for a fresh replay, especially playing as a whole different character with a new personality; instead of a 2h tanky warrior, I plan on being a mage; instead of a straight bisexual human male, I'll be a gay bisexual non-human female and romancing Sera next time, and whereas my choices here mostly leaned to middle-up on the wheels, I'll probably purposely lean middle-down on the wheel, go for more URGH ARGH RED FIST personality choices, and do the opposite of all my major branch decisions). So that's something to look forward to...except way down the line, and who honestly knows if I'll ever come back around to it. But still, neat.


Also, the core game-game is actually not all that long, just with a lot of side stuff, so I know I can get through faster next time. It's what, five, six big main story missions?

Gear progression was kind of wonky too, and made the game feel shorter/less substantial than it was. Sera's bows were like the only thing that got upgraded "normally," with a decent number of times finding a new bow that was slightly better, ooh I can craft an upgrade, ooh here's a great new one - at semi-regular intervals. My main character's 2h weapons were kind of a shitshow. After one or two gray weapon drops I found a blue/rare maul in Hinterlands. I crafted a dragon sword a little bit later, and then even more shortly after that I got an epic axe from astrariums. That was all in the first 25%-ish of the game, and I used that same axe through to, what, the 75-80% mark when I managed to craft a massive upgrade. I spent so long getting new weapon and gear drops that were just not as good as all the things I already had. Meanwhile, for the first half of the game I was getting epic staves for all my mages left and right, and then nothing - they're still stuck with the same 100-120 dps purples for levels 12ish+ when we're at 24-25. It...doesn't make a lot of sense, and it led to more disappointing moments than enjoyable ones overall? Eh. Anyway.

 

[Falselogic]

This game has been on my list forever. I bought it for the 360 and then never played it. (And stupidly got rid of my 360 and all the games... Dumb dumb dumb.)

Getting back to it now on PC.

I keep thinking that DA is just like ME but fantasy. But that isn't true at all. 2 got rid of your character and made you place as Hawke, didn't it? I keep forgetting about that. In Origins I played as a Mage (that eventually became a Blood Mage. Look if you give me super powerful dark magic, I'm going to choose it. Just like if you let me shoot lightning out of my fingers...) I rolled a Mage for this one as well. I'm still doing the intro (just met Varric (Who I remember from II, he was fun.) and the Elf and Cassandra. How does the game start if you don't start as a mage? Is it the same for everyone? Cause for the mage they blame you for the Breach. Is that the same regardless of what you choose?

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Yes.

Hawke was still your character, just voiced, although I think they were the most distinct protagonist in the series. (which I quite liked)

 

[Neo Skimbleshanks]

Am I going to start up Dragon Age Inquisition again? I don’t have time for this! Stardew, BG3, MK1 next week. God dammit!