Dragon Age 3: Inquisition

Teinz · Jan 6, 2015

thepicpic said:
I'd do the same with the dragonskin robes I'm planning, but I can't seem to find any more of this silverite. I got it in Emprise Du Lion, but repeated trips haven't yielded anything yet.
Just a heads up, if anyone finds it useful. Of course, assuming I'm not the last to know.

There's a small cave in Crestwood with a couple of Silverite nodes inside. Keep spamming those and you should be able to find your second Fade-touched Silverite right there.

Teinz · Jan 6, 2015

I've got not much to add about the story. Only finished it once, though. I'll say I found the endgame a bit... anticlimactic. Not in comparison to DA2, but definitely when compared to DA:O.

The gameplay was pretty smooth. I liked the way most of the maps were pretty open, avoiding the endless reruns of territory already covered. I really hated that about DA:O and DA2. Having fast travel on maps was a godsend. Jumping was a godsend.

The menus worked well, although in-menu loading times were a littlebit too slow for my liking. Loading times in general were pretty long sometimes. The noise my Xbox 360 made, was unbearable. I wonder how that worked out on other consoles.

I really liked the way the developers handled crafting. It really enhanced the game for me. Would have loved Wade as an armorer in the undercroft. I was pleased to see Dagna return. Morrigan, too. I wonder; (spoiler) who of you trusted her with the Well of Sorrows?

What do you guys think of the after credits scene (spoiler)with Solas and Flemeth? Does this mean that the Elves will revolt in the next installment of DA? I sure hope so!

So, all in all, it was a very enjoyable experience. I shall give it a B+

KateSmash · Jan 6, 2015

The this first spoiler: I did the first time. On my second playthrough, my elfquisitor drank instead (omg the writing for the temple of my that as an elf was horrible. I never wanted to slap Morrigan so hard ... Even worse with Solas along. Anyway.) I think you get more if you drink. A lot of the codex entries written in ancient elvhen get translated.

Which drop clues to the other spoilers.

I could dive into meta quite happily, but I'll soare y'all. I just hope the rumors of an Awakening sized expansion are true because they left way too many threads dangling to expect us to wait until the fourth game.

Zoombie · Jan 6, 2015

Well, I always want to slap Morrigan. I remember this webcomic whose punchline was: "no matter what, MORRIGAN DISAPPROVES"

thepicpic · Jan 6, 2015

Teinz said:
The menus worked well, although in-menu loading times were a littlebit too slow for my liking. Loading times in general were pretty long sometimes. The noise my Xbox 360 made, was unbearable. I wonder how that worked out on other consoles.

Yeah, my 360 sounds like it's seconds away from a meltdown. I actually find it pretty funny, but I use a headset so I'm isolated from a lot of the noise.

I still haven't finished it. I'm close with my Dalish elf, but I seem to have developed an aversion to endings that's difficult to shrug off.

And thanks for the heads up on silverite, people. My quest for an even more broken Knight Enchanter continues...

Opty · Jan 7, 2015

7 dragons on Nightmare down.

3 to go.

I'm thinking that even though one of the dragons in Emprise du Lion is a level 23, that the dragon on the Storm Coast is the toughest. It's electrical field attacks are very powerful and pretty much fry my entire team every time, even though I'm drinking electricity resistance potion and have on the superb belt of electrical resistance.

Closest I've come to killing him, I was one or two strikes away and he swiped me good in the middle of my attack and that was it. :rant:

Maxinquaye · Jan 7, 2015

Teinz said:
What do you guys think of the after credits scene (spoiler) [Max note: I cut out the spoiler part because it was visible with the grey background in the quote]

I did on my first playthrough. I kept biting my nails thinking that I might have made a mistake because, well, I trust Morrigan about as far as I can throw her.

That said...

Later I actually laughed aloud because choosing that option binds Morrigan to Flemeth - the thing she's spent all her life trying to avoid.

Opty · Jan 9, 2015

Woo hoo! All 10 High Dragons have been slayed on Nightmare. That...was much more difficult than I thought it'd be. I still think the Storm Coast Dragon is the toughest because of his electricity attack.

Finding all four Amulets of Power for the Inquisitor, so you can add skill points without having to level up, definitely helps immensely.

Now, I can recover what little sanity I have left and finish the last mission against Corypheus.

CoffeeBeans · Jan 15, 2015

Beat it last night. I played very slowly. I have so many thoughts it's not even funny.

KateSmash said:
No, really. Blackwall might be the first romance to pull out the old "You must end this because I will only end up hurting you" BS and actually have a reason for it and actually ends up breaking your heart.

Yes, I'm still sore from it.

I loved him in my play through, and I didn't even romance him... Now knowing how that's going to hurt, I might still do it next time.

KateSmash said:
A and C are totally worth it. It's been a riot seeing all the heavy hints the writers drop about certain characters and wonder how in the hell you didn't figure it out earlier. Plus the extra content you get with Solas as a female elf is totally worth it - romanced or rivaled. It tickles me with all the narrative possibilities post-game.

They need to release a "wolf hunt" DLC yesterday.

I really liked Cullen! Yes, it was exactly what was on the tin, but I'm actually okay with that. I got all my heartache from the other characters.

I hated Solas and his sanctimony, but I want to play an elf just to see all the things I missed out on.

Also, yes please.

I never had much Morrigan love, so that whole side of things was a bit of a shrug for me. Four dragons down, so I can finish up the last few quests to do, and go dragon hunting while I plan next playthrough!

Bufty · Jan 15, 2015

Just out of curiosity, when you guys say you've played it through what sort of time are we talking here? If you're on nightmare setting do you 'zip' through everything and only do the main quests, or what??

My save details show I'm some 90+ hours (?) in and haven't fought a single dragon yet although I just completed the Fairel's tomb quest, where there was a massive dragon outside the last (his) tomb. I love being able to take my time with these games and sniff out every little nook and cranny.

Myrealana · Jan 15, 2015

My first play through was about 75 hours total. I didn't "Zip through" until a certain romance ending (Solas dumped my inquisitor.) Then, I wasn't exactly interested in expanded content. I just wanted to murder things. I had killed 4-5 dragons at that point. I knew some areas were only partially explored, but I didn't have the motivation to go back to what felt like a pointless slog.

CoffeeBeans · Jan 15, 2015

I was at 96 hours on my play last night. I did four dragons, but I'm counting the one at the end.

I did the one as the part of the quest in the Western Approach, then two as I came across them in the maps. (Hinterlands and Emerald Graves)

No nightmare setting for me, though. I love doing all the random little stuff. Not much makes me happier than reading all the diary pages, and returning druffalos.

KateSmash · Jan 15, 2015

Bufty said:
Just out of curiosity, when you guys say you've played it through what sort of time are we talking here? If you're on nightmare setting do you 'zip' through everything and only do the main quests, or what??

My save details show I'm some 90+ hours (?) in and haven't fought a single dragon yet although I just completed the Fairel's tomb quest, where there was a massive dragon outside the last (his) tomb. I love being able to take my time with these games and sniff out every little nook and cranny.

No nightmare for me - my hands couldn't take it since I'm not a tactical player. Normal is just fine.

My first, thorough playthrough (did everything there was to do given certain choices, etc, with all dragons killed) clocked in at 100+ hours. It took about nine days. My second game, the Elfquisitor (who I might make my canon for a juicier world state) took about 50-ish hours because I mostly wanted to see plot differences and Solas' romance. That took me closer to a month because it wasn't an obsessive gotta-see-it playthrough.

Unemployment and my husband being away on business the week it released helped .

Opty · Jan 15, 2015

My first playthrough ran around 97 hours, I think. I tried to do most of the side quests.

My nightmare playthrough took about 106 hours. I did almost all of the side quests and killed all 10 dragons. However, I didn't close as many fade rifts. They were a lot tougher and more frustrating on nightmare, so I finally said "f%&k it" and skipped most of them. Too many Arcane Horrors and Fear demons spamming me with their spirit power beams.

My nightmare playthrough was longer for a few reasons. 1) It's a lot tougher!

, 2) I made it my mission to slay all 10 dragons (not including the one at the end), 3) In order to slay all 10 dragons, I had to get my XP up for skills points and get the schematics for the best weapons and armor, which required me doing a lot of the side quests.

Another good way to get XP is to do the War Table missions. Do as many as you can. Not only will you get a lot of XP, you'll get some good rewards on a lot of them (weapons, amulets, etc.). If you're playing as a mage, you get a pretty kick ass staff if you let Iron Bull's troops die in his companion quest. After that mission, you'll get the staff from a War Table mission that pops up.

Opty · Jan 15, 2015

Just to add, I tried to pay a lot better attention to everything during my second playthrough. Usually, with games like this, I don't really figure everything out until the second one, anyway.

Anyway, during my first one, I couldn't really stand Solas or Vivienne and I thought Sera was too weird. But, this time, I got to know them more by talking to them more. Solas turned out to be a lot better character than I thought. Sera, as well (those rooftop meals you can have with her were kind of cute).

I took Solas in my party nearly the entire time (first playthrough I always took Dorian). He's very useful, especially on nightmare. You get to know him a lot better from the party banter while walking around.

Another thing I noticed is....

....spoilers.....

after Blackwall leaves and comes back (if you rescue him), Solas and Cassandra are very harsh on him during the party banter. Like, I really, really felt sorry for the guy. They just shit on him left and right and he just takes it. Eventually, they lighten up on him but...geez...they tear him a new arse hole for what he did.

CoffeeBeans · Jan 15, 2015

Opty said:
Another thing I noticed is....

....spoilers.....

I had him in a party with Bull (I was the DW Rogue, so I liked a two warrior, one mage party - mostly Blackwall/Cassandra with Bull and Dorian (okay, if I was going somewhere easy, I'd take Sera or Cole. I chose party based entirely on banter))

Bull had a killer line about all humans looking alike if all Blackwall had to do was grow a beard to hide. They were totally low stress. I felt like it helped things.

KateSmash · Jan 16, 2015

Yeah, most characters were quick to forgive Blackwall. It's kind of adorable with Dorian. Those two were bickering the whole time, but Dorian was the first one to forgive him. Seriously an "awwww!" moment.

I'm finding myself mopping up all those extra side quests (kind of staggering to see just how much of the game is optional, including whole damn maps) just to hear banter of people I don't typically bring with me.

Oh, btw - there's a semi-fix to the banter bug. You've got to go through you active quests, collections, finished quests, and codex entries and clear them of that little gold dot that marks them as unread/new. Once I found that out, I was already 3/4 through the game and have never hated Bioware more for leaving out the "mark all read" button in the menu.

Maxinquaye · Jan 16, 2015

KateSmash said:
Oh, btw - there's a semi-fix to the banter bug. You've got to go through you active quests, collections, finished quests, and codex entries and clear them of that little gold dot that marks them as unread/new. Once I found that out, I was already 3/4 through the game and have never hated Bioware more for leaving out the "mark all read" button in the menu.

You mean I have to play the game again because the banter in both my play throughs were exceptionally sparse and quite repetitive with only a few subject areas, and this was because I didn't read the codex stuff?

I was actually thinking that BioWare had skimped on the banter because there was only banter like once every five or ten minutes.

I usually used a dps rogue Verric, Ice/Spirit mage Solas, a tanky Cassandra, and me as first a male elf archer in the first playthrough and a female elf mage in my second.

But apart from Cassandra and Verric being a bit snide to each other, they didn't actually talk that much.

Opty · Jan 16, 2015

Well, shit.

Teinz · Jan 17, 2015

First playthrough took me about 86 hours. Now I'm gonna try and do everything. Returned the Druffalo last night. "Heeere boy, come on, no, don't be scared, that's just a camp from the Inquisition."

Banter-bug? Now I wish I hadn't read that.

KateSmash · Jan 17, 2015

Maxinquaye said:
You mean I have to play the game again because the banter in both my play throughs were exceptionally sparse and quite repetitive with only a few subject areas, and this was because I didn't read the codex stuff?

I was actually thinking that BioWare had skimped on the banter because there was only banter like once every five or ten minutes.

Right?

Later in the game, if you've kept the same old party, conversation does taper off a bit. But if you keep switching members around to people that haven't interacted with each other much, they chit chat every few minutes. Like Blackwall and Varric keep talking about jousting until it gets really annoying - and you can interrupt and tell them so. Or Solas and Iron Bull will have a running chess match without a board. And Cole will just keep saying cryptic, creepy stuff to everyone.

CoffeeBeans · Jan 17, 2015

KateSmash said:
Later in the game, if you've kept the same old party, conversation does taper off a bit.

My friends and I were just commenting how much the banter tapers off - it's one of the reasons I kept swapping party members. Dang it, now I'm sorry I probably missed a lot. Well, we still have some dragons to find. Let the banter resume!

Roxxsmom · Jan 23, 2015

I'm almost done (I think) with my first play through. Well over 100 hours of game time here, but I did a lot of kicking around looking for shards and doing side quests. I want to play again already, so I can try it with some different pivotal choices.

CoffeeBeans · Jan 23, 2015

I'm on play-through two now. I wanted to go kill all the dragons, and finish some of the areas, but then no one was talking much, and I didn't have any dialogue options at Skyhold, and I just had to accept that I'd actually beat the game.

I went from human rogue to mage qunari and the differences in the conversations/interactions are so interesting. I'm going to make a lot of different choices, but the rest of it is super cool already.

KateSmash · Jan 27, 2015

Hey!

Was anyone else disappointed the soundtrack didn't have the tavern songs on them? Well, Bioware is giving them away for free until Feb 9th (and selling them after that).

Now we're all doomed to have "Sera Was Never" stuck in our heads forever.

(IDK about international downloads. There's a mediabistro UK giveaway, iirc.)

Dragon Age 3: Inquisition

Back at it again.

Back at it again.

this was a triumph

Dragon of the Multiverse

May or may not be a potato.

That cheeky buggerer

Where have the last ten years gone?

I aim to misbehave

this was a triumph

this was a triumph

That cheeky buggerer

Back at it again.

this was a triumph

Beastly Fido

this was a triumph