Initial Dragon Age Inquisition Thoughts
Nov. 24th, 2014 02:57 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alias_sqbrOverall: I am REALLY enjoying it. And it is a really really long game.
It took me 25 hours or so to get past what in retrospect feels like setup plots (though it felt like the normal game at the time) The length does mean sometimes I get impatient for the plot to move along, but mostly it just means there is a lot of plot. It's quite interesting and affecting too, less predictable than DAO but with more of a sense of purpose than DA2.
I'm a female archer rogue dwarf, and that's pretty fun. She has a little moustache! Once again the darkest skin tone isn't very dark, and the darkest hair and eyes aren't very dark either. You can do some fun things with the eye colours, like red rims and yellow centres, but not dark brown :( I LIKE HAVING DARK EYES DAMMIT. On the plus side it's not super gendered: dudes can have makeup, and girls can have scars. Pics once I figure out how to take screenshots.
The plot involves being in charge of a lot of Andrastians so being anything but a non-mage human is kind of funny :) And there are enough chances to say "I don't believe in Andraste I'M A DWARF" to keep me happy. But like DA2 so far it is all about human politics and magic, don't expect much about other races (in the first 30 hours or so, anyway). Unlike DA2 and DAO they've obviously tried to make the humans ethnically diverse, in terms of both in-game ethnicities and what reads as our-world race.
The companions are all pretty great, though I don't like all of them. Or at least my inquisitor doesn't, she's serious minded and a little humourless. I am pondering a snarky qunari mage next, who may feel very differently about things. More nobles than I was expecting, but still a fair variety of POVs and personalities. Interestingly, asides from Viviene none of them have mentioned their sexualities or preferences so far, either in general or in terms of my Inquisitor. I'm glad I know Dorian is gay since he responds cheerfully whenever I flirt with him, of course maybe if I was a dude he'd respond even more cheerfully.
Probably really obvious tips, since I am not very good at the game:
The one tip everyone says and which I will repeat: don't get too tied up in sidequests. If you are ready (as measured by the reccomended levels) for the next main quest then go for it! Thus far at least the sidequests don't go away as you progress through the game, and sometimes new sidequests pop up nearby so you can knock off several at the same time. Also they're mostly kind of dull, and I find just doing the more central/interesting side quests and any small ones I happen to be near to is getting me by pretty well most of the time. Remember to zoom out, some of them hide in the edges of the map!
Some of the maps are frustratingly non linear, if you get stuck trying to find a direct path to that important quest marker you can see just over the hill try wandering around to any new areas you can find and it's quite possible a circuitous underground passage etc will show up.
You have a special ability for "disrupting rifts". Ignore it, at least if you're a rogue or mage, the help it offers is offset by the damage you get from putting yourself in the middle of a bunch of monsters.
Ressurecting people is really easy! Remember to do it! And you can teleport between certain markers, some of which heal you and refill your healing potions, so don't feel the need to soldier on unnecesarily. There's no healing magic, but resurrection and free potions are doing me ok so far, it's a bit like Mass Effect in that respect. And it means you can bring whatever mage you find most likeable :)
If you're as prone to getting lost as I am, always bring along any companions with quests relating to the map you're on, or you'll acidentally trigger it when they're not there.
Check in at the war table to set off operations whenever you can, especially when you're about to log off. The operations run in real time, so you can set them off while you sleep/eat etc.
Remember to eat/sleep etc.
Here's some more thorough, but also slightly more spoilery hints I think I came across this while looking for cheats to get past a sidequest I was having trouble with and thought was compulsory. I didn't find any cheats, but eventually I zoomed out and realised the quest I was actually looking for was in a different direction. So I guess the moral is: this game is entirely doable even if you kind of suck :)
It took me 25 hours or so to get past what in retrospect feels like setup plots (though it felt like the normal game at the time) The length does mean sometimes I get impatient for the plot to move along, but mostly it just means there is a lot of plot. It's quite interesting and affecting too, less predictable than DAO but with more of a sense of purpose than DA2.
I'm a female archer rogue dwarf, and that's pretty fun. She has a little moustache! Once again the darkest skin tone isn't very dark, and the darkest hair and eyes aren't very dark either. You can do some fun things with the eye colours, like red rims and yellow centres, but not dark brown :( I LIKE HAVING DARK EYES DAMMIT. On the plus side it's not super gendered: dudes can have makeup, and girls can have scars. Pics once I figure out how to take screenshots.
The plot involves being in charge of a lot of Andrastians so being anything but a non-mage human is kind of funny :) And there are enough chances to say "I don't believe in Andraste I'M A DWARF" to keep me happy. But like DA2 so far it is all about human politics and magic, don't expect much about other races (in the first 30 hours or so, anyway). Unlike DA2 and DAO they've obviously tried to make the humans ethnically diverse, in terms of both in-game ethnicities and what reads as our-world race.
The companions are all pretty great, though I don't like all of them. Or at least my inquisitor doesn't, she's serious minded and a little humourless. I am pondering a snarky qunari mage next, who may feel very differently about things. More nobles than I was expecting, but still a fair variety of POVs and personalities. Interestingly, asides from Viviene none of them have mentioned their sexualities or preferences so far, either in general or in terms of my Inquisitor. I'm glad I know Dorian is gay since he responds cheerfully whenever I flirt with him, of course maybe if I was a dude he'd respond even more cheerfully.
Probably really obvious tips, since I am not very good at the game:
The one tip everyone says and which I will repeat: don't get too tied up in sidequests. If you are ready (as measured by the reccomended levels) for the next main quest then go for it! Thus far at least the sidequests don't go away as you progress through the game, and sometimes new sidequests pop up nearby so you can knock off several at the same time. Also they're mostly kind of dull, and I find just doing the more central/interesting side quests and any small ones I happen to be near to is getting me by pretty well most of the time. Remember to zoom out, some of them hide in the edges of the map!
Some of the maps are frustratingly non linear, if you get stuck trying to find a direct path to that important quest marker you can see just over the hill try wandering around to any new areas you can find and it's quite possible a circuitous underground passage etc will show up.
You have a special ability for "disrupting rifts". Ignore it, at least if you're a rogue or mage, the help it offers is offset by the damage you get from putting yourself in the middle of a bunch of monsters.
Ressurecting people is really easy! Remember to do it! And you can teleport between certain markers, some of which heal you and refill your healing potions, so don't feel the need to soldier on unnecesarily. There's no healing magic, but resurrection and free potions are doing me ok so far, it's a bit like Mass Effect in that respect. And it means you can bring whatever mage you find most likeable :)
If you're as prone to getting lost as I am, always bring along any companions with quests relating to the map you're on, or you'll acidentally trigger it when they're not there.
Check in at the war table to set off operations whenever you can, especially when you're about to log off. The operations run in real time, so you can set them off while you sleep/eat etc.
Remember to eat/sleep etc.
Here's some more thorough, but also slightly more spoilery hints I think I came across this while looking for cheats to get past a sidequest I was having trouble with and thought was compulsory. I didn't find any cheats, but eventually I zoomed out and realised the quest I was actually looking for was in a different direction. So I guess the moral is: this game is entirely doable even if you kind of suck :)
no subject
Date: 2014-11-24 09:15 am (UTC)You're on console, yeah?
I'm also enjoying it more than I expected, even though I rolled my eyes at a bit of plot already (I'm 20hrs in, but have barely collected any companions yet.) But it's so much fun I'm really mellow towards plot stupidity (... for the moment.)
no subject
Date: 2014-11-24 11:47 am (UTC)Nope, PC!
It is a pretty world but I get bored of games like Skyrim. I might enjoy wandering around more on a later playthrough when I'm not so curious to know where things are going but still have that central plot to keep me motivated.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-25 04:51 am (UTC)The best strategy!
I just got to the Hinterlands and already feel doomed. MUST EXPLORE FOREVER, but also want to meet all the companions right this second. Sigh.
Yeah, they need a much wider range of eye/hair/skin colours. I'm especially baffled by the disappearance of dark brown eyes - why include them in other games and then take them out (also looking at you, ME3)? Some of the previews hinted at improvement in that area, so it's a bit of a letdown. At least the scars look good.
no subject
Date: 2014-11-27 12:01 pm (UTC)Yes! I am very happy with my Cadash's scars and little moustache, even if her eyes look funny :)