Dragon Age, the Inquisitors Thread - open spoilers inside

[Lyanna Stark]

Purely from a plot/motivation point of view, I think the three big optional areas work best if you start with the Emerald Graves. The Inquisition is actively asked to help there, and once you do you find out that the rest of the Free Men leadership can be found in the Exalted Plains. At the same time you come across the Lyrium smugglers (or is that only on the mage path? That would sink this idea), which ends up pointing you towards Sarnia Quarry where the Red Templars get most of their Red Lyrium from.

Yes, this makes more sense from a plot perspective, although not necessarily from a level perspective. :p Emerald Graves I got my ass handed to me a few times cos I went there early on as I was romancing Cullen and was attempting the Lyrium smuggler quests ("Before the Dawn" questline) but I needed to finish Western Approach and Exalted Plains (minus dragons) before I went to the east end of Emerald Graves.

I'm a bit anal when it comes to level requirements, so I ended up moving backwards and forwards between the Western Approach, Exalted Plains, Crestwood, Emerald Graves, Hidden Oasis and for the end bit, Hissing Wastes. The only area I did separately was Emprise de Lyon which I tacked on at the end before mopping up the last dragons and going for the final fight.

Or you could just threaten to tell Cassandra he's decided to drop Swords and Shields again.

Hah! The Cass/Varric bit was one of my favourite parts of the game.

As much as I'd like to see the deep roads again, I am not sure anything can beat "A Paragon of Her Kind" when it comes to Deep Roads horror and story telling. The Dead Trenches still gives me the creeps.

[JamesD2020]

I like the idea of leading an Exalted March into the deeproads to retake a second Dwarven city from the darkspawn, though it probably wouldn't make a great game.

But it wouldnt be just to retake a city... It would be to thwart blights from ever happening again and to eliminate darkspawn altogether (if that is even possible in the storyline.) Actually witnessing the old Gods in action, discovering new ancient dwarven dwellings, perhaps exploring so deep into the world that you actually found a new civilization thats been untouched for a milenia or new factions of creatures or lore.. Yeah I imagine this would constrict the world much more linear as you can only progress downwards but why not??? You ain't gonna solve blights, the fade, andraste, and the maker by just going to war with Tevinter and romancing around now are ya?

[The Anti-Targ]

Or you could just threaten to tell Cassandra he's decided to drop Swords and Shields again.

I want someone to actually write some of this Schlock so we can have a read of what sort of bodice ripper material can come out of a Thedasian world.

As to a Deep roads campaign, I'd be happy with it being an expansion-sized game to Inquisition a la Awakening. Though I'm sure there is more than enough potential for it to be a full DA2 sort of game.

[Jon AS]

I want someone to actually write some of this Schlock so we can have a read of what sort of bodice ripper material can come out of a Thedasian world.

Well, there's that "friend fiction" conversation between Varric, Isabela and Aveline. Though admittedly it's pretty short and written by Isabela.

[Lyanna Stark]

I want someone to actually write some of this Schlock so we can have a read of what sort of bodice ripper material can come out of a Thedasian world.

You do get codex entries with "Hard in Hightown" which I really wish you'd get more of, because LOL. There are also the tantalising codex entries of "The Randy Dowager" which I really, really wanted them to get into in more detail. :lol:

Regarding "Swords and Shields", it sounded from the tidbits Cass and Varric gave us that Varric might have used Aveline and Donnic in Kirkwall as the models for his characters.

[The Anti-Targ]

You do get codex entries with "Hard in Hightown" which I really wish you'd get more of, because LOL. There are also the tantalising codex entries of "The Randy Dowager" which I really, really wanted them to get into in more detail. :lol:

Regarding "Swords and Shields", it sounded from the tidbits Cass and Varric gave us that Varric might have used Aveline and Donnic in Kirkwall as the models for his characters.

Perhaps for the first time ever in a Bioware game I might actually read some of the codex entries then. There is just too much to get through and not enough time. What are some other must read codex entries? And not just entertaining fluffery.

[Azzanadra]

So in regards to the end... was it Flemeth who took over Solas's body or did Solas "steal" Flemeth's soul as a way of gaining more power? I'm leaning towards the former because of what Cole says afterwards, but I'm not certain.

[The Anti-Targ]

So in regards to the end... was it Flemeth who took over Solas's body or did Solas "steal" Flemeth's soul as a way of gaining more power? I'm leaning towards the former because of what Cole says afterwards, but I'm not certain.

Thinking of them as The Dread Wolf and Mythal rather than Flemeth and Solas might help resolve the giving and the taking issue. Who stands higher in the heirarchy of the relationship. From just that short conversation it seems like Mythal is the Alpha dog. Which means it's Mythal who decided what soul goes where. I also very much doubt that it would be possible for either Mythal or Fen'Haral to drag the other's soul out of its current body. I imagine such a thing would take significant effort and power to accomplish in an unwilling subject who was merely a normal person. To forcefully take the soul of a peer of equal power I would think is rather impossible. Probably easier to force your soul into a body that already hard one, but I'm thinking that is hard to do as well. Which leads me to conclude there is mutual acceptance of what needs to happen.

[felice]

Solas has recently awakened and has a goal he wanted to achieve with the orb that he now needs to go about in some other way, and he's the one who sought out Flemeth. He implies that he's not the one who's going to pay the price. It seems pretty clear to me that Solas was the one doing the taking. Though Flemeth was expecting it, and may have chosen not to resist.

[The Anti-Targ]

Well I can certainly imagine the transference being considerably more difficult and protracted if Flemeth decided to resist. It happened far to gently and quickly for there to be any unwillingness involved.

[Jon AS]

Huh, Bioware are planning to open up the beta testing for future patches (or at least patch 5) to PC players through the Keep. And the patch is apparently supposed to feature a bunch of cosmetic additions (and item storage) which I don't give a damn about. But there's something in there about an auto-attack button, so maybe it'll be the first step towards allowing slightly more tactical gameplay.

Oh, and the Black Emporium is supposed to make a comeback, hopefully with a bunch of silly codex entries like the original one.

[felice]

One little fun glitch - in the Emerald Graves dragon's lair, you can smash the ground level stone blocks, and leave the higher blocks floating unsupported in mid air 8)

Given that Solas makes repeated references to the fade and "song" I'm going with the theory that the Dwarves purposely cut themselves off from the Fade and that Lyruim was the result. (Some of the dwarves in Origins talked about how the Lyrium "sang" to them)

And it occurs to me that it's not proximity to the taint that's responsible for the decline of the dwarves - it's mining lyrium! They're basically digging up their own souls and selling them to the mages and templars to consume. That assumes there is an ongoing mystical connection of some kind between lyrium and the dwarven species, of course.

[PhoenixFlame]

SCORE! I've been away from the forum for awhile. Saw this and plunged!

Yeah, I thought it would have been explained (maybe something to do with Imshael?) but nope. The only other possible lead is that the tower being held by giant chains (next to the bridge you need to repair) is apparently home to a very powerful demon (again), which may have caused it somehow.

I don,t care that much either, since the zone looks really great.

I assumed it was Imshael. What a silly cutie. Wonder what he asked of the penitent Red Templar, for the poor guy to embrace red lyrium instead of say yes.

My favorite Inquisitor is my rogue Lavellan.She wanted to climb Solas like a tree but his sudden withdraw ended in her furiously leaving him sadfacing in the grotto. From his comments, the codex, and that elf dude from Masked Empire, this was my theory of the elven stuff--

Fen'harel grew irritated at the pantheon and their disciples holding elves in slavery (...hmm, maybe where the proto-Tevinters got their ideas for slavery and the Magisterium?). This made him a rebel/red-headed stepchild of the elven gods. Mythal's murder sealed the deal, and he decided the elves would be better off if he sealed up his brethren. He went into uthenera soon after but when he woke he saw how elves were either straggling, close-minded gypsies or second-class ghetto-dwelling city elves. So, solution, bring the gods back. This backfired when he expected Corypheus to die in the explosion, but Solas had no understanding of the Blight and so things went pear-shaped. Once more it's his fault the world is fucked up, and so he's back to the drawing board, but now with Mythal's power he has more options.

...and in my favorite playthrough, a part of him misses Lavellan, but had to ditch her before she made him rethink his godly jailbreak plan.

[Jasta11]

One little fun glitch - in the Emerald Graves dragon's lair, you can smash the ground level stone blocks, and leave the higher blocks floating unsupported in mid air 8)

And it occurs to me that it's not proximity to the taint that's responsible for the decline of the dwarves - it's mining lyrium! They're basically digging up their own souls and selling them to the mages and templars to consume. That assumes there is an ongoing mystical connection of some kind between lyrium and the dwarven species, of course.

I remember dying out of the blue while fighting the Exalted Plains dragon. At first I thought it was a bug of some sorts, turns out when you fight her on Nightmare she electrifies the water. Clever girl. Still managed to have Iron Bull man mode it to the kill.

[Aerys Blackfyre]

it really pissed me off when I discovered that Blackwall wasn't Blackwall

[MerenthaClone]

it really pissed me off when I discovered that Blackwall wasn't Blackwall

They did a good job with it, imo. I really liked that if you take him to the Warden-meet or ask him about Wardens, he gives you vague (and wrong) answers. At first you read it like a dude trying to protect the secrets of his order, then the reveal makes everything take on a new tone.

[Aerys Blackfyre]

They did a good job with it, imo. I really liked that if you take him to the Warden-meet or ask him about Wardens, he gives you vague (and wrong) answers. At first you read it like a dude trying to protect the secrets of his order, then the reveal makes everything take on a new tone.

true, but still it pissed me off because I trusted him!

[Jon AS]

They did a good job with it, imo. I really liked that if you take him to the Warden-meet or ask him about Wardens, he gives you vague (and wrong) answers. At first you read it like a dude trying to protect the secrets of his order, then the reveal makes everything take on a new tone.

It's funny if you take him to fight Darkspawn.

Inquisitor: How many Darkspawn can we expect to encounter under these circumstances?

Blackwall: Difficult to say...

or

Blackwall: The big one with the heavy armour must be the leader.

Why, thank you for these helpful insights, Mr. Grey Warden.

[The Anti-Targ]

So first DLC is out. Anyone played it yet? I'm not sure about it as it doesn't seem to be about anyone opn the team, and it doesn;t appear to be advancing any of the major plotlines. If the DLC can be incorporated into a main game play through it might be a nice addition, but it might not be great to play as a post game standalone extra bit.

But that's only based on watching a 2 minute trailer.

Being a PS4 peasant I have to wait for it to be available on that platform.

[ebevan91]

So first DLC is out. Anyone played it yet? I'm not sure about it as it doesn't seem to be about anyone opn the team, and it doesn;t appear to be advancing any of the major plotlines. If the DLC can be incorporated into a main game play through it might be a nice addition, but it might not be great to play as a post game standalone extra bit.

But that's only based on watching a 2 minute trailer.

Being a PS4 peasant I have to wait for it to be available on that platform.

I'm playing it, but I need to level up some more because some basic enemies are beating the FUCK out of me. Also SO MANY DAMN FUCKING SPIDERS WTF BIOWARE?