Dragon Age Inquisition

[Hemingway]

Err.

How do I reassign hotkeys for abilities? >.< Not sure if I am overlooking it.

In one of the tabs in the character screen ( Tactics or Behavior, I think ).

Yea, rogue is just beast or mine is. I can almost one shot higher level squishes with the invisible and dual dagger flank attack ability. I don't even need aid from my two handed warrior ally.

I tend to just bunch targets up and lay waste to them all at once. That said, the archer archer ability at the bottom of the tree - can't remember its name - does incredibly damage against targets that haven't taken damage yet. Currently for me it does on the order of 800 damage easily, where normal auto attacks do around 100, and my Inquisitor's most powerful spell does around 4 - 500. I do wonder if that ability would work even better from stealth - something to consider, I suppose.

Instead of respecing mages as needed I tend to just loadout mage party members with different options. Let's you save your respecs.

Or do what I do - run two mages!

Honestly, my Inquisitor's main problem now is I've focused on Lightning / Fire / Rift. Cold has one passive that increases mana regen when you're standing still - that would really have helped me cast spells more often, but I fear that'd spread my points too thin. I might try Lightning / Frost / Rift as I have my AoE needs covered even without Fire, see if that helps. Probably will. Good idea, me.

[Black Howling]

Okay, on the storm coast my wife just apparently had an 'Oh Shit' moment. I honestly walked in and thought she was watching TV or something for a sec.. No, she was not.

Lady Lunarius was staring at a dragon fighting a giant. Yes, the two are trading blows and have apparently been doing such for a while. Her only response as the Qunari warrior compananion said "Now that's badassed!" was "Uh, yeah it is."

[Inkidu]

Okay, on the storm coast my wife just apparently had an 'Oh Shit' moment. I honestly walked in and thought she was watching TV or something for a sec.. No, she was not.

Lady Lunarius was staring at a dragon fighting a giant. Yes, the two are trading blows and have apparently been doing such for a while. Her only response as the Qunari warrior compananion said "Now that's badassed!" was "Uh, yeah it is."

I was just about to post the same thing. I had Varric and Cassandra, it was pretty freaking funny.

Varric: "You're the dragon expert, seeker, what do we do?"
Cassandra: "Not let either of them near us."

The thing was though the giant beat back the dragon and came walking right toward us. Level fives versus an 8, fun fight. :3

Hemingway: I don't run two mages because I like the game to still be a challenge.

[LaLu]

I was just about to post the same thing. I had Varric and Cassandra, it was pretty freaking funny.

Varric: "You're the dragon expert, seeker, what do we do?"
Cassandra: "Not let either of them near us."

The thing was though the giant beat back the dragon and came walking right toward us. Level fives versus an 8, fun fight. :3

Hemingway: I don't run two mages because I like the game to still be a challenge.

Haha I had IronBull, Varric, and Vivienne.

and I agree with the two mages bit. I'm a duel wielding rogue myself. ^_^ I'm too in love with Bianca to not let her in my party. Just a shame I'm stuck with Varric to have her. >.>

I'm having a hard time reading a damn thing though. X-box 360 the font is too damn small and i can't fix it at all.

[mia h]

There are some really nice bits of dialouge if you have the right\wrong people in the team
(paraphrasing at little as I can't remember it word for word)

Iron Bull :  You are really tough, I like the way you backfisted that guy.
Cassandra : Thank you.
Iron Bull : Are you feeling as horny as me right now?
Cassandra : What?!
Iron Bull : Eh, that's probably not possible.

[consortium11]

It just strikes me that the game is pretty badly designed... and that's a surprise from Bioware who, despite my frequent criticisms of their more recent offerings, generally keep the design elements fairly solid.

The Hinterlands is arguably the perfect example of this. I think it's designed to be an area that you travel through once, do a couple of sidequests and then leave, coming back to later when you just want to do a bit of combat and leveling. Played that way the spikes in difficulty (although I appreciated them) are less jarring, the fetch and collectable quests become less soul destroying and you get more plot development and character interactions rather than a seemingly endless grind of MMO style quests. But if you look at how people tend to play RPG's that goes against the way things normally work; it's a general approach that when you have access to an area you complete everything available to you and then move on; you may come back but generally only because you either accidentally missed something or something new came up. Sticking a big area which is... I think most people would agree... pretty boring right at the start of the game and filling it with things players are conditioned to do (which means they stay in it for a lot longer) strikes me as poor design in a way few other Bioware games do. In fact I struggle to think of any that really do so; while you may be given a variety of places to go each one tends to be a fairly tightly crafted area with a strong narrative running through it.

[Drake Valentine]

I think one of funniest convos for me was something with Sera.

>.<

I can't remember exactly what it was, but she was talking bout Soulis and how he was always complaining about "We people something something"  and she was 'Who are we people? I am just me and fine, thank you.'

Another one was asking where she was from and she was riddling north south, so on and so forth.
Character: So you not going to tell me where exactly any special points?
Her: No.
Character: How Quanari of you.
Her: What?
Character: Nothing, nevermind.

[Inkidu]

It just strikes me that the game is pretty badly designed... and that's a surprise from Bioware who, despite my frequent criticisms of their more recent offerings, generally keep the design elements fairly solid.

The Hinterlands is arguably the perfect example of this. I think it's designed to be an area that you travel through once, do a couple of sidequests and then leave, coming back to later when you just want to do a bit of combat and leveling. Played that way the spikes in difficulty (although I appreciated them) are less jarring, the fetch and collectable quests become less soul destroying and you get more plot development and character interactions rather than a seemingly endless grind of MMO style quests. But if you look at how people tend to play RPG's that goes against the way things normally work; it's a general approach that when you have access to an area you complete everything available to you and then move on; you may come back but generally only because you either accidentally missed something or something new came up. Sticking a big area which is... I think most people would agree... pretty boring right at the start of the game and filling it with things players are conditioned to do (which means they stay in it for a lot longer) strikes me as poor design in a way few other Bioware games do. In fact I struggle to think of any that really do so; while you may be given a variety of places to go each one tends to be a fairly tightly crafted area with a strong narrative running through it.

So it's bad design because they're not sticking to the trite norms established by World of Warcraft?

Sign me up!

When I actually learned that it wasn't level scaling it was such a nice return to more classic games like Ultima that I couldn't be happier. So what if I have to dick around the Storm Coast for a bit, I'm happy. I can't believe how miserable I was playing because I had to do everything in the Hinterlands because that's how games (Bioware too) had conditioned me.

That's not bad design, that's different design.

[consortium11]

That's not bad design, that's different design.

1) I'm not sure where the idea that it's different from WOW comes from... the Hinterlands is pretty much WOW in single player form complete with hotkey based cool down ability combat and endless fetch quests which are all pretty much meaningless.

2) Different design would have been to put some form of time element into your first journey through the Hinterlands so you're given access to this huge area with lots of quests but then putting some downside (in gameplay or narrative) in for sitting their and grinding through them rather than pressing on and then eventually coming back. Bioware have used similar mechanics in the past... waiting too long to rescue your shipmates in Mass Effect 2 for example. In contrast the only downside to loitering in the Hinterlands right now is that it's boring.

When forums are filled with posts going "I'm 10 hours in and I'm really bored", "Why is there nothing but fetch quests?", "Does this ever get any better?" and you have to have websites and staff telling people to skip part of the game and then come back later that's bad design. If they'd made the Hinterlands more interesting then it wouldn't have been an issue but it's a boring area with boring quests and boring combat... yet because you're constantly being given quests (most of which have some minor narrative sense of urgency to them) the game's telling you to stay and keep doing them.

[Drake Valentine]

1) I'm not sure where the idea that it's different from WOW comes from... the Hinterlands is pretty much WOW in single player form complete with hotkey based cool down ability combat and endless fetch quests which are all pretty much meaningless.

2) Different design would have been to put some form of time element into your first journey through the Hinterlands so you're given access to this huge area with lots of quests but then putting some downside (in gameplay or narrative) in for sitting their and grinding through them rather than pressing on and then eventually coming back. Bioware have used similar mechanics in the past... waiting too long to rescue your shipmates in Mass Effect 2 for example. In contrast the only downside to loitering in the Hinterlands right now is that it's boring.

When forums are filled with posts going "I'm 10 hours in and I'm really bored", "Why is there nothing but fetch quests?", "Does this ever get any better?" and you have to have websites and staff telling people to skip part of the game and then come back later that's bad design. If they'd made the Hinterlands more interesting then it wouldn't have been an issue but it's a boring area with boring quests and boring combat... yet because you're constantly being given quests (most of which have some minor narrative sense of urgency to them) the game's telling you to stay and keep doing them.

Yea, I done most things in Hinterlands but Red Lirum but can't get to that cause of that douche of a yellow dragon and I am no where near strong enough to kill it yet. I watch video of level 17s tackling it and even they struggled to kill it. Not looking forward to that fight.

Right now I am doing other quests in other areas. I hate the undead area, zombies keep coming from water and they not even worth killing since they give such crappy xp. 
Me: "Oh cool, I can level grind." *Looks at xp getting. 10, 12... 11...* "Nah, not for real."
Which I think they are endless spawns, but not worth it. ;\

[mia h]

You can ignore the dragon, sort of, run far enough down the valley it takes off and parks itself well out of the way of red lyrium and other bits.

[Hemingway]

When I actually learned that it wasn't level scaling it was such a nice return to more classic games like Ultima that I couldn't be happier. So what if I have to dick around the Sword Coast for a bit, I'm happy. I can't believe how miserable I was playing because I had to do everything in the Hinterlands because that's how games (Bioware too) had conditioned me.

Storm Coast, wrong IP.

I tend to agree that the design isn't very good, though. The areas really aren't very interesting. There's a lot of quest markers, but most of them are for red lyrium, or shards, or books, or stuff like that. There are a few to go kill some named baddy, but even those generally only reward you with some influence and one of your companions saying "Well, he deserved it" or something like that. A few more dialog trees would not have harmed this game in the slightest.

Especially considering how good some of the main quests are! I mean, the Grand Masquerade was an absolute blast. Well, aside from the part where I didn't understand who or what was going on half the time, it was at least interesting.

[Drake Valentine]

You can ignore the dragon, sort of, run far enough down the valley it takes off and parks itself well out of the way of red lyrium and other bits.

[Inkidu]

1) I'm not sure where the idea that it's different from WOW comes from... the Hinterlands is pretty much WOW in single player form complete with hotkey based cool down ability combat and endless fetch quests which are all pretty much meaningless.

2) Different design would have been to put some form of time element into your first journey through the Hinterlands so you're given access to this huge area with lots of quests but then putting some downside (in gameplay or narrative) in for sitting their and grinding through them rather than pressing on and then eventually coming back. Bioware have used similar mechanics in the past... waiting too long to rescue your shipmates in Mass Effect 2 for example. In contrast the only downside to loitering in the Hinterlands right now is that it's boring.

When forums are filled with posts going "I'm 10 hours in and I'm really bored", "Why is there nothing but fetch quests?", "Does this ever get any better?" and you have to have websites and staff telling people to skip part of the game and then come back later that's bad design. If they'd made the Hinterlands more interesting then it wouldn't have been an issue but it's a boring area with boring quests and boring combat... yet because you're constantly being given quests (most of which have some minor narrative sense of urgency to them) the game's telling you to stay and keep doing them.

Nothing's keeping you in the Hinterlands though. Only your compulsion to completely and mechanically check all the boxes, which they try to break with higher level areas.

EDIT: Anyway, some of those constellations are devilishly tricky. Two words: The Maiden, though honestly I think the tree was harder for me. It's all a haze of rage and tears and bargaining with God.

[Ebb]

EDIT: Anyway, some of those constellations are devilishly tricky. Two words: The Maiden, though honestly I think the tree was harder for me. It's all a haze of rage and tears and bargaining with God.

A hint about the constellations:
Look for stars in the finished picture which have an odd number of lines coming out of them (3,5,7,etc.). There will be at most two of these. One of them must be your starting point, and one must be your ending point. If you stick to that, it's very hard to paint yourself into a corner. Just be careful not to use any of the extra stars they throw in.

[Drake Valentine]

A hint about the constellations:
Look for stars in the finished picture which have an odd number of lines coming out of them (3,5,7,etc.). There will be at most two of these. One of them must be your starting point, and one must be your ending point. If you stick to that, it's very hard to paint yourself into a corner. Just be careful not to use any of the extra stars they throw in.

Or you can cheat like I did and just look online for the answers and videos showing answers to them. :3

[SinXAzgard21]

Or you can cheat like I did and just look online for the answers and videos showing answers to them. :3

So much this.

[Drake Valentine]

So much this.

Yea, I didn't have trouble till that one in Sword Coast. ;\ Symbols everywhere.

[Inkidu]

Yeah, but the feeling of doing it on your own is pretty damn gratifying. :)

[Drake Valentine]

Now here's a paradox for you.

Major spoiler, involving story missions/mage choice side

Seriously, if you haven't got to Redcliff Castle or wherever it was involving this quest and Recruiting Dorian you shouldn't read, unless you don't care.

So essentially, you time travel a year. Now you go about looting and getting new equipment and whatnot, but I wonder, would it really transfer to the past game wise?
I mean, my character is still sporting that wicked dagger that does bonus damage to living creatures, but I never tested out something.

I) The future avatars, if I stripped item from them, would that carry over to their past self(these are the two that are glowing red/were in party and now imprisoned?) Not that it would be big deal either way, since I doubt there is much I would want to duplicate, but just speaking, hypothetically, wouldn't they still have what was on them in the past if future got stripped? Let alone, all the things I looted to begin with have no impact on coming with me in past? Time travel. >.<
II) If I looted future rooms, does the loot not remain in past to be looted again? Not sure if you can reloot those areas, haven't made it that far in the game. Also if so, wouldn't that create a paradox of having the same items twice? ;o Now that would make interesting conversation to nonbelievers of time travel (Soulus).
Character: Telling you man, this badass dagger is in that chest. I looted it, from the future.
Solous: Bullshit.
Character: *opens chest.* SEEEE!
Soulous: Dafaq?

Or other scenario

Soulous: Chest looks empty to me.
Character: Nah man, you gotta trust me, lets check it again in a year from now. In fact, lets make sure the Whatever One turns the future grim to ensure that this dagger is here.

Actually, I think I would loot their staves, if Dorian wasn't already in party at the time and if things could be duplicated, but doubt game would go that indepth on such a simple concept.

[LaLu]

Yea, I done most things in Hinterlands but Red Lirum but can't get to that cause of that douche of a yellow dragon and I am no where near strong enough to kill it yet. I watch video of level 17s tackling it and even they struggled to kill it. Not looking forward to that fight.

Right now I am doing other quests in other areas. I hate the undead area, zombies keep coming from water and they not even worth killing since they give such crappy xp. 
Me: "Oh cool, I can level grind." *Looks at xp getting. 10, 12... 11...* "Nah, not for real."
Which I think they are endless spawns, but not worth it. ;\

Light the beacons!!! ^_^ Draws them out of the water....

[Drake Valentine]

Light the beacons!!! ^_^ Draws them out of the water....

Yea, I already done that. Sure drew them out of water, damn things are still in water even after beacon quest. ;\ Unless you got to complete the full thing, can't remember if I did what was after lighting/checking the three runes if there was anything after that.

[Inkidu]

I'm at a crossroads. I can spend the 15 power to unlock the templars or do the mages for free at Redcliffe. None have made compelling cases for why the Inquisition should support either of the putzes.

I honestly want to tell them both to go stuff it, the Inquisition doesn't need them. :\

[NotoriusBEN]

Unfortunately, you do need one of them.

Both choices are *fantastic* pieces of writing and gameplay by the way. I highly recommend you save and do them both then choose the one you want.
(also empty out your inventory. there is a *lot* of stuff in them)

[Nadir]

So I was taking a short cut and fell behind a house - to find this dirty little secret

The biggest wheel of cheese in all of Thedas.

Also a skeleton and some tarot cards



I thought no more of it. Continued on my questing. Tried to Skyrim my way over a mountain...

only to find someone had been there first.



Lootable cheese.

Maker, yes.



Best. Loot. Ever.



Nothing can stop me now.