Dragon Age Thread 2: No one expects the Thedas Inquisition!

[JonArryn]

I just did the Winter Ball quest and I'm not really happy with the outcome.

I didn't find all evidence so I couldn't give Briala the throne. Instead Gaspard was executed which I didn't mind and Briala was exiled.

Nice quest anyway. Anyone know how far I am in the main story if I just got done with the winter ball?

[Jace, Extat]

I just did the Winter Ball quest and I'm not really happy with the outcome.

I didn't find all evidence so I couldn't give Briala the throne. Instead Gaspard was executed which I didn't mind and Briala was exiled.

Nice quest anyway. Anyone know how far I am in the main story if I just got done with the winter ball?

Not quite 50%

[JonArryn]

Not quite 50%

Ok thanks for the info. There's not a lot of main story in this one then. But then again, you can count in a lot of the larger side quests and companion conversations to the main story too I suppose.

Still it feels like I've been doing side stuff almost the whole game. That is probably my only complaint with the game though, otherwise it is great, and really fun.

[Jon AS]

Played through the prologue as a two-handed warrior and an archer, and the archer is so much easier it's hilarious. Not only are you keeping your distance instead of chasing after enemies that have decided to go after your mage and don't have to worry about knocking Cassandra out with AOE damage, but your stealth allows you to easily disrupt fade rifts, shortening those fights significantly. I guess if you give Solas dispel magic they get even easier. I should probably make a beeline for Vivienne for twice the dispelling fun.

[Talleyrand]

How do I do Sera's personal mission? the marker tells me to go to the war room but I can't find the operation anywhere

[Crom Dubh]

Not quite 50%

Really? It felt like once I completed the Winter Ball, I was like 75% done with the story. Only two story missions after that.

[Jon AS]

Really? It felt like once I completed the Winter Ball, I was like 75% done with the story. Only two story missions after that.

I guess it comes down to whether you do Adamant (and the entire Warden arc) before or after. On the one hand, the NPC that triggers the Warden storyline shows up in your castle, giving it some urgency, on the other hand the Winter Palace mission is to prevent an imminent assassination attempt.

[Jasta11]

Played through the prologue as a two-handed warrior and an archer, and the archer is so much easier it's hilarious. Not only are you keeping your distance instead of chasing after enemies that have decided to go after your mage and don't have to worry about knocking Cassandra out with AOE damage, but your stealth allows you to easily disrupt fade rifts, shortening those fights significantly. I guess if you give Solas dispel magic they get even easier. I should probably make a beeline for Vivienne for twice the dispelling fun.

Tempest archer is great. Double Full Draw, triple Long Shot/Explosive Shot, Lightning Flask for dat auto-attack damage. It's still less DPS than a properly used DW rogue but it's much easier to play too.

Two-handed pretty much sucks... until you get Reaver and turn into a nearly unstoppable killing machine with Dragon Rage. The only drawback is losing health, and that be offset by Guard on Hit or Heal on Hit/Kill items, Barriers, regeneration potions and Devour. My advice when playing a warrior would be to start as sword and shield and respec to 2h Reaver when you unlock it.

[Jace, Extat]

Why is the Inquisitor closing the rift with his right hand on the box art?

[Crom Dubh]

Why is the Inquisitor closing the rift with his right hand on the box art?

My guess? The person who did the box art is right-handed, and so the Inquisitor uses his right hand to close the Rift. Probably not the sort of thing Bioware cares overly much about :p

[KiDisaster]

Tempest archer is great. Double Full Draw, triple Long Shot/Explosive Shot, Lightning Flask for dat auto-attack damage. It's still less DPS than a properly used DW rogue but it's much easier to play too.

Two-handed pretty much sucks... until you get Reaver and turn into a nearly unstoppable killing machine with Dragon Rage. The only drawback is losing health, and that be offset by Guard on Hit or Heal on Hit/Kill items, Barriers, regeneration potions and Devour. My advice when playing a warrior would be to start as sword and shield and respec to 2h Reaver when you unlock it.

I don't think using Flask of Fire for a double Full Draw is worth it honestly. Even if the target is at full health so you get the bonus damage on the first one you're getting 2400% weapon damage out of that flask. (1600% if the target is already wounded)

Compare that to 3200% with four max range Long Shots. I was usually able to get off four before CD, 5 or 6 if I used Flask of Fire right after one of the other Flasks for the duration bonus.

Generally I'd use Long Shot once at the beginning of a fight to get double damage on a threatening enemy and sleep them for 20 seconds and then ignore it until the start of the next fight. The stamina cost, long CD and long windup (when you could be auto attacking for dem Pincushion stacks) just make it not worth it since Long Shot hits for the same 800% at max range, and can hit multiple enemies for more damage with the upgrade if you line it up right.

Of course if you're at close range double Full Draw will do more damage, but in that case I'd usually do four Leaping Shots (if the aggro is on me) to get range or pop Lightning and run to max range then lay down 6 Long Shots.

But I've never been very good at theory crafting (if you can even call this theory crafting) so I could be totally wrong about all of this :lol:

Tempest Archer is awesome regardless. Thousand Cuts is so overpowered it's not even funny. At level 3 focus I was shredding close to half the HP of the dragons I was fighting with it.

[Jace, Extat]

Forgot to mention that I love how much better the facial animations are.

When I was Mean Mugging Corypheus at the end, it felt legit.

[Crom Dubh]

I guess it comes down to whether you do Adamant (and the entire Warden arc) before or after. On the one hand, the NPC that triggers the Warden storyline shows up in your castle, giving it some urgency, on the other hand the Winter Palace mission is to prevent an imminent assassination attempt.

That makes sense. I wanted to do the Warden stuff first since it felt more pressing, and because I like the Grey Wardens. Kind of miss my own Grey Warden. Anyone else feel like the Hero of Ferelden was their character, and Hawke/the Inquisitor are just kinda these interim fellas? The Inquisitor feels a bit more like me (I admit, I have my girlfriend help me create my characters in video games so that they look like me >.>) and I like the guy, but whenever I hear stuff about the Hero of Ferelden, I can't help but think: hey, that's me! All the stuff with Morrigan this time around was cool because I got to see how she's mellowed out bit, and that her and Hero didn't crash and burn, as so many seemed to suspect they would (myself included.)

[MerenthaClone]

I didn't, because my import bugged out and the Hero of Ferelden is now a dude. Its alright, still pretty cool.

[Crom Dubh]

So finished the game. Wait 'til after the credits for awesome scene.

Morrigan is a dragon now. That will come in use next game somehow :D So, Vivienne becomes the new Divine? I didn't even know that was possible! Thought only Leliana or Cassandra could! So what, we're the new Tevinter Imperium? Holy shite. And the Templars split into her personal order, and The Silver Shield under Cullen? Sounds grim. Also, the Grey Wardens disappear and Weisshaupt goes dark? I bet anything the Hero of Ferelden is the next game's protagonist.

[Talleyrand]

So finished the game. Wait 'til after the credits for awesome scene.

Morrigan is a dragon now. That will come in use next game somehow :D So, Vivienne becomes the new Divine? I didn't even know that was possible! Thought only Leliana or Cassandra could! So what, we're the new Tevinter Imperium? Holy shite. And the Templars split into her personal order, and The Silver Shield under Cullen? Sounds grim. Also, the Grey Wardens disappear and Weisshaupt goes dark? I bet anything the Hero of Ferelden is the next game's protagonist.

Cassandra became my Divine and made changes for better circles. With most of the Templars staying under the Inquisition. And on a bigger note Solas is a fucking god! And he started this shit. As for the Grey Wardens in mine they're appears to be a civil war going on between the new reformed Southern wardens and the Weisshaupt bunch so I'm more willing to go with the next game being about Solas/Flemeth/Mythol - whichever one is in control trying to free the gods

Also on the Dalish

Ha. I knew it not only are they pretentious and arsey they're also bloody wrong. The Old Elves were just as big pricks as the Imperium and the Dalish are marching around all high and mighty with slave markings on their faces.

[Fez]

Not done. I'm just over 40 hours in and only have two main story missions left, as I understand it. So I'm just wrap everything else up first. I'm not going for everything, just Inner Path quests and zone-level story missions (and not even all of those, I hated the Oasis map and never bothered finding the key for the temple door), but that's still a ton. I've got a little bit left in the Exalted Plains, just unlocked the Emerald Graves, and still haven't been to Emprise du Lion or the Hissing Wastes yet. So I reckon I've probably got around at least 10 hours left getting back to the main story.

I like the game a lot. But its too stuffed with side content, and that makes it hard to stay on top of some of the story arcs. The main story is easy because everyone keeps reminding me where things stand, but some of the character arcs keep getting lost in the shuffle. For instance, I just did a short, non-combat quest with Leliana at a Chantry, and I had no idea what was going on; and then, at the end, I said something that made her go "How can you say that? After everything you've said before?" and I was so confused I restarted the whole thing.

[Jon AS]

(and not even all of those, I hated the Oasis map and never bothered finding the key for the temple door)

The shards are the keys. You need all the shards to open all doors, but you can open some doors with fewer shards to get at the loot and special bonuses inside. I think the idea is that you come back every so often to open more doors, as the fights get progressively tougher (though by the time you indeed do have all the shards it's not exactly going to be a challenge unless you focus entirely on shard collection; even then it's probably not that hard).

[KiDisaster]

The oasis temple really isn't worth it. I'm not picking up a single shard on this second playthrough :P

[Crom Dubh]

Cassandra became my Divine and made changes for better circles. With most of the Templars staying under the Inquisition. And on a bigger note Solas is a fucking god! And he started this shit. As for the Grey Wardens in mine they're appears to be a civil war going on between the new reformed Southern wardens and the Weisshaupt bunch so I'm more willing to go with the next game being about Solas/Flemeth/Mythol - whichever one is in control trying to free the gods

Also on the Dalish

Ha. I knew it not only are they pretentious and arsey they're also bloody wrong. The Old Elves were just as big pricks as the Imperium and the Dalish are marching around all high and mighty with slave markings on their faces.

Yeah, I knew Solas was up to something. Did not predict him being the trickster god of the elven pantheon though. The whole Flemeth being Mythal thing was pretty cool: definitely thought she was one of the Old Gods, due to being a dragon and all, but...well, she is an

old god, not just an Old God. And yeah, elves are douches. Perhaps it is my lifelong affinity for dwarvenkind (started out playing them in Dark Age of Camelot, and so it's gone), but I'm fairly certain elves are cancer. Pointy-eared, poncy cancer. Also, I was surprised by the Old God Baby (Kieran) being a red herring. Definitely thought he would be significant somehow, and that Morrigan's plans for him would be super evil. Didn't think he would just be a battery for Flemeth.

The Grey Warden thing I can't help but think has to do with the Hero of Ferelden's quest to end the Calling: apparently, and I haven't read anything but the wiki summaries of them, the tie-in novels explain that the Calling was actually created by the Grey Warden leadership shortly after it was founded to kill Wardens before they got too old. Wardens are not immune to the darkspawn taint, but rather have its effects delayed. The Calling forces them to seek out their deaths, rather than having them succumb to the taint and become ghouls. The leadership of the Order knows this, but do nothing about it (seems like an elegant solution to me). Also, apparently the Wardens killed off their own Griffons after the Fourth Blight by trying to make them go through the Joining ritual (because why not? Get better writers for your shite tie-in novels, Bioware) but saved one clutch of eggs in a magical time capsule, which just recently hatched. So griffons are a thing again. So something something, Grey Warden civil war because the Hero finds a cure for the Calling without realizing that might be a bad thing. Or whatever.

So yeah, pretty sure Wardens and Flolas will be in there somehow.