Gaming The Inquisition's Here and It's Here To Stay: The Dragon Age Series

but i should have the pre order armor there somewhere.

 

Can you remap your abilities?

 

I think so.

Not quite sure though

 

when you say remap, you mean re-allocate your ability points to get it right? Yes you can, but i am not sure how or when that arises.


i am finally getting used to this game, it is not as easy to get a feel for as DA 2 was, and i feel the combat is not as good as DA 2, but the game feels a lot like DA. i am a rogue archer, and it is starting to grow on me. stillhave not found preorder armor. mayhave to look it up on google.

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armor is in chest by bed after you wake up after first boss battle. i did that and armor was not there. i dont get it.

 

I have a few massive problems with this game so far.

1) The variable frame rate is annoying. This probably isn't a problem on consoles, where the game is locked to 30fps, but on PC the dialogue is locked to 30fps while the gameplay is unlocked, and I manage to get 50-60fps while playing. So you get a huge drop in frame rate whenever you engage in discussion. Needless to say this happens a lot during a Bioware game, and it's horrible.
2) The engine upgrade is welcome, and the new character models are great, but they're let down by recycling animations from previous Bioware games.
3) The combat still doesn't feel very tactical, and thus still isn't a patch on DA: Origins. With the respawning enemies, toolbars and menial fetch quests this feels more like an MMO retooled into a single-player game than a tactical RPG.

That being said, it's still a step up from DA2.

 

the combat is not a step up at all. I remember the visceral, powerful feeling i had being a quick, dual dagger rogue in DA 2. It was great.

It does feel MMOish

 

What I miss most is the minimap showing stuff instead of just being plain, have to constantly check M to see where I actually am in relation to where I want to be.

But most of all I miss being able to click on someone and my character will go attack them instead of me having to constantly walk with them and move around to keep attacking them. Can't count how many times I've been standing swinging for 30 seconds to realize i'm standing too far away.

 

Cannot speak to the console versions, where most seem content with what they got, but as far as the PC version goes, this game is atrocious. I am ticked off that I missed my refund window due to real life obligations (nobody's fault but my own), but it's just a very poor product, and completely contrary to what Bioware implied, or flat out stated, would be the case. Even if the PC controls are resolved to be somewhat usable, many of the actual design decision are not what I expected or want in the game. It may very well be a cool story or a decent experience, but it certainly isn't harkening back to DA: O like they claimed it would.

 

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i guess to respec you need to talk to the blacksmith at a certain point in haven, he has an amulet

 

Anyone know how to check how your approval is with your party members? I see the 'so and so approves' notices but I don't see a bar to show me how high or low it is.

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So I'm at the part where you have to choose to get the Mages or Templars on your side. Any suggestions on who to go with? It isn't a color coded thing where Mages get the good ending and Templars the bad right?

Also kind of upset I can't get both. I mean I got the Geth and Quarians to become friends

 

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There is no way to check approval bars in this game. At first I was pretty bummed about this but it seems like all of my companions naturally like me except for Soals. Varric is like my best buddy again. He hasn't disapproved of me once the entire game.

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I sided with the Templars and I was pretty pleased with the results. I disbanded the Templar order and conscripted them into the Inquisition instead of letting them stay as independent allies. The consequences of the decision between Mages and Templars is that which ever side you don't pick gets brainwashed by the Elder One.

 

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That's annoying, hard to tell how much I need to make up with everyone then, especially as they all react to your choice instead of just the ones you bring with you. I'm romancing Cassandra and from what I've seen she'll greatly disapprove of allying with the mages and disapprove recruiting the wardens. Not sure how much a loss of approval 'greatly disproves' is. I've only gotten approvals from her so far so I might have built up a good enough lead the fall won't be insurmountable to climb back from.
Oh for the days of Origins when I could do whatever I wanted and make whatever decision I wanted and my party would always be at 100% because I showered them with gifts... those were the days...

I'll probably go for the Mages if only because i know Fiona is Alistairs mother and i don't really know anyone in the Templars worth saving.

The Warden choice looks to be brutal though, either a sad personal sacrifice or a strategic one.
Also according to Blackwall all the Wardens just up and leaving the south is normal. Glad to know all the work I did in Awakening creating a strong Grey Warden order in Ferelden lasted less than 10 years.

 

And now a gamebreaking bug where I can't complete a story mission because my combat HUD is up instead of a dialogue wheel.

 

That sucks. I have encountered a number of game breakers as well. My voice changed from the British voice into the American voice after I entered Skyhold. Than Cullen permanently vanished from Skyhold. I suppose my file is still playable but it is still rather annoying.

 

Managed to get it to work, just had to lower my resolution to the point I could only see blurry pixels moving on the screen.

Cassandra vanishes all the time in Haven. Have to reload half a dozen times until she shows up. And for a while Varric was unable to be spoken to, would just stand there, staring at me.

 

Your PC seems to really hate this game GenAntilles

Your Companions wonder arround in Skyhhold during events, just check the map if they are somewhere else, if he is not at the location he is supposed to be at, fast travel there and he or she show up.

You can´t. Done on purpose, as one of the major gripes many people had with DA 1 and 2 was how your interaction was often just down to points, so they did not want to include such a system openly again.

 

I just completed the quest "Here Lies The Abyss". It contained one of the hardest choices I ever had to make in a Bioware game.

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At the end of the quest, you are forced to pick wether Hawke or a Warden must die to escape the fade. I am a huge Loghain fan, but I also really liked my Snarky Fem Hawke so choosing between them was agonizing. I finally decided to save Hawke because if she died poor Varric and Isabela would be heartbroken. Also I felt Loghain finally gets his chance to atone for his wrongs since my Warden robbed him of his chance when he did the Dark Ritual. I enjoy redemption stories so it felt fitting that Loghain finally has his chance to go out like a hero. One of my friends whom also plays DA said she had an even harder choice. She had to pick between Romanced Warden Alistair and Hawke. I am curious whom replaces Loghain if he and Alistair are not Wardens.

 

Spoiler

If not Alistair or Loghain it's Stroud from Dragon Age II. I've got to pick between Loghain and Hawke, I'll choose Hawke but I have a bad feeling in the next game the correct choice will end up being to save Loghian/Wardens as without a leader the southern Wardens are no longer combat effective.

What would've been a real nightmare is if it was picking your Warden or Hawke to save. That would've been cruel.

 

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Stroud was the guy who saved Carver? I guess they are using the ME3 approach of replacing Important NPCs with Redshirts if they died. Sure lacks the emotional impact of a Loghain/Alistair or Hawke choice. I too am relieved that at least they left my Warden alone. i like how they treated my Warden's relationship with Leliana; it was really heartwarming to learn how much she missed my Prince Cousland. On another note, I just finished the quest "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts". This quest was probably my favorite in the entire franchise. Playing the "Game" and Deciding the fate of the entire Orlesian empire was really fun. I managed to get my big Qunari to full approval with the entire court. Also unlike Shepard, Inquisitor Adaar can actually dance.

 

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Yeah thats Stroud. Would've been better if it was either Alistar, Loghain, Carver, Bethany, Nathaniel, Ogrhen, etc.. one of your former party members and what not. Heck maybe even Anders, have sparing him cause him to go back to the Wardens and then him sacrificing himself could've helped redeem him after staring the War. Stroud dying is only sad because you know you've just screwed the Wardens over. That said why can't Blackwall take command of them? He's a senior Warden isn't he?
That said I saw what happens if you sacrifice Hawke with Varric with you and that is just... brutal... can't imagine what it would've been like if Merrill was there too...

Yeah I saw a playthrough of someone who did a Warden/Morrigan romance and seeing how that turned out was golden, can't wait to get to that part.

 

I have been keeping track of recurring characters. I'm pretty surprised at the relative lack of returning characters, especially since we are back in Ferelden. I think there was a larger number of returning characters in DA 2 and that game was not even in the same location as Origins.

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So far I have seen Varric, Hawke, Leliana, Cullen, Cassandra, Morrigan, Loghain, Anora, Conner, Dagna and have seen Alistair (King or Warden only), Stroud and Flemeth on Youtube. The biggest shocker was that Bodahn and Sandal are not in this game. Also Cole apparently knows Wynne and he told me that she has died since the events of Origins.

At least most of these characters seem to have important roles instead of the senseless fanservice cameos in DA2. Still, I was expecting more recurring characters because we were back in Ferelden. If anybody has encountered other returning characters I would love to know.

 

A lot are mentioned in the Warroom mission, though I was actually surpised to see Samson back from DA:2, since that was really random.

 

So far enjoying this but agree with Chewgumma; this game has been optimised for console controls, which is like saying a car was designed to be driven by the severely handicapped.

 

Just plug in a X-BOX Controller, no harm in that, they cost 5 quid or so.

 

Hopefully in the next Dragon Age, we can encounter the Hero of Ferelden