-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Dragon Age: Inquisition |OT2| Leave the damn Hinterlands!
- Thread starter shinobi602
- Start date
Well, the first few definitely seem like Nevarran, based on the "rat-tail" hair style that Cass has in the Trespasser slides and that armor looks like it could be for Mortalitasi. Then you have some Warden designs followed by Antivan Crows it looks like. Second row looks Tevinter for sure. Last row is elves, Qunari, and dwarves, obviously, since those designs are by and large familiar and have been seen before.
Decided to pick the game up again to get back in a Biowarey mood for Mass Effect; for a change of pace I decided to do an all mage playthrough (mage PC + Dorian, Vivienne, Solas party at all times) on nightmare and all trials. So far I've been blown away - combat is super fun again because almost every encounter becomes dangerous/meaningful, especially in the early going before you have many abilities. The one thing I missed about this game compared to Origins was that the combat wasn't super strategic - even on higher difficulties once I had a good party composition with everyone specced right I could slice through most encounters without much thought; all mages completely changes that dynamic because your party is too fragile and doesn't have enough natural DPS to autowin, but if you're smart with abilities and combos it's absolutely doable (barrier spam is key). Really all came together in the fight against Knight Captain Denam in Haven - for the first time I was actually dying a lot against a boss and having to actually think through the encounter (eventually got him by nuking him with cold spells and combos). For an added wrinkle I've been speccing my character as a tank mage using the blade of tidarion, which has freshened up mage gameplay on its own!
StoppedInTracks
Member
After finishing The Ringed City in DS3 I was kind of out of games to play so I decided on a whim to buy all 3 DLC for Dragon Age 3. I paid full price for them and they were totally worth it. My savetime went from 131h to 162h after beating them all. All below were played on Hard.
My thoughts:
Trespasser
I've read that people go crazy over it due to lore and Dragon Age 4 implications but for me it was the weakest of the DLCs. Quite short, very easy battles compared to Jaws/ Descent, with a very weak hub. Of course I love the fact that Solas is the main boss of Dragon Age 4 now and his final dialogues were extraordinary but that was not enough to put this DLC on top. They could do so much more with the Eluvians (level design) IMO. I was waiting for that superb level but it never materialised (Elven Library was not enough).
Question: did anyone manage to kill the Dragon here? the one that you could save? I searched the internet and I cannot find any information what does this Dragon drop after you kill him. What are the rewards?!?
Jaws of Hakkon
An excellent DLC piece well worth even $25 IMO but the point is after 131h of main game I was sick of huge maps and Astrariums/ Shards Hunting/ Resources Gathering and Crevassed Areas and this map had it all again. Traversing the Swamp and the northern part of the map was a real pain.
The story was fantastic however and the mountain village was very well done.
The pre-final boss was the hardest boss in the entire game + DLCs. It took me 2 hours to finally kill him and I had to use everything I've got: Jars of Bees, manual control of the characters, Focus abilities etc. It was a great fight and he killed me around 15 times IIRC before I finally made it.
Desent
I liked this DLC the best because it is what the main game seriously lacked: an old-school dungeon crawling through the Deep Roads plus Darkspawn. I really loved the level design in that case that you could see the central area many times during the descent and you thought "hey! I was standing up there 2 hours ago!". The story is the weakest part but you don't play dungeon crawlers for story anyway. The new enemy race was a real pain in the ass with their machine gunners they were literally tearing through my mage in 3 seconds. The whole idea of the "Descent" was very well done and the area at the bottom was simply glorious. I killed the last boss on my first try with my mage char and then I go and read on the web that he is a bullshit superhard boss. What?!?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where's Iron Bull BTW? He did not betray me.
A fantastic set of DLCs, BioWare, job well done. Still not on the level of Citadel but then it was that juxtaposition between the shitty ending and the DLC that made it so good.
Bring it on with Dragon Age 4! I am ready.
My thoughts:
Trespasser
I've read that people go crazy over it due to lore and Dragon Age 4 implications but for me it was the weakest of the DLCs. Quite short, very easy battles compared to Jaws/ Descent, with a very weak hub. Of course I love the fact that Solas is the main boss of Dragon Age 4 now and his final dialogues were extraordinary but that was not enough to put this DLC on top. They could do so much more with the Eluvians (level design) IMO. I was waiting for that superb level but it never materialised (Elven Library was not enough).
Question: did anyone manage to kill the Dragon here? the one that you could save? I searched the internet and I cannot find any information what does this Dragon drop after you kill him. What are the rewards?!?
Jaws of Hakkon
An excellent DLC piece well worth even $25 IMO but the point is after 131h of main game I was sick of huge maps and Astrariums/ Shards Hunting/ Resources Gathering and Crevassed Areas and this map had it all again. Traversing the Swamp and the northern part of the map was a real pain.
The story was fantastic however and the mountain village was very well done.
The pre-final boss was the hardest boss in the entire game + DLCs. It took me 2 hours to finally kill him and I had to use everything I've got: Jars of Bees, manual control of the characters, Focus abilities etc. It was a great fight and he killed me around 15 times IIRC before I finally made it.
Desent
I liked this DLC the best because it is what the main game seriously lacked: an old-school dungeon crawling through the Deep Roads plus Darkspawn. I really loved the level design in that case that you could see the central area many times during the descent and you thought "hey! I was standing up there 2 hours ago!". The story is the weakest part but you don't play dungeon crawlers for story anyway. The new enemy race was a real pain in the ass with their machine gunners they were literally tearing through my mage in 3 seconds. The whole idea of the "Descent" was very well done and the area at the bottom was simply glorious. I killed the last boss on my first try with my mage char and then I go and read on the web that he is a bullshit superhard boss. What?!?
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Where's Iron Bull BTW? He did not betray me.
A fantastic set of DLCs, BioWare, job well done. Still not on the level of Citadel but then it was that juxtaposition between the shitty ending and the DLC that made it so good.
Bring it on with Dragon Age 4! I am ready.
He is standing behind your Inquisitor I think. You can see IB horn to the left of your Inquisitor's neck.
Anyway, just can't agree with your opinion about Jaws of Hakkon. It was overpriced and just bored me to death with its Astrariums, Shards and other fetchy quests. Avvar were also not as interesting as I have hoped. I am not a huge lore fiend, but I did enjoy learning about the previous Inquisition. And the Dragon fight, those are always great.
I share your sentiment of the Descent though. I enjoyed it the most, maybe because I find DA:I combat to be quite tactical and satisfying on higher difficulties. Also, there is just something about Deep Roads that I find fascinating - who built this stuff, how deep does it truly go, the Darkspawn etc.
StoppedInTracks
Member
I think you are right, wow, good eye! Thanks.
Psychoward
Banned
Played the game at launch and enjoyed it but never got around to the DLCs. Bought the GOTY edition on sale a few weeks ago and finally played through them last weekend and holy fucking shit Trespasser was amazing. Descent and Hakkon were just ok even if they had nice little lore stuff.
Was on such a high after Trespasser that I (unfortunately) trudged through Dawn of the Seeker, the CG anime movie about Cassandra's earlier years as a Seeker. It really was awful in just about every respect lol, there was pretty much nothing redeeming about it. If anything it made Cassandra look worse by being insufferable.
That being said, yeah I'm excited for DA4, hope they can maintain open zones while cutting down a lot of the excess fat and making the main story beefier.
Also some of the DLC diffculty spikes were outrageous, switched it down from hard to normal during the end phase of Hakkon because it was just stupid. My enemies basically went from having rocks and sticks to nukes, Blackwall would go down in a few hits.
Was on such a high after Trespasser that I (unfortunately) trudged through Dawn of the Seeker, the CG anime movie about Cassandra's earlier years as a Seeker. It really was awful in just about every respect lol, there was pretty much nothing redeeming about it. If anything it made Cassandra look worse by being insufferable.
That being said, yeah I'm excited for DA4, hope they can maintain open zones while cutting down a lot of the excess fat and making the main story beefier.
Also some of the DLC diffculty spikes were outrageous, switched it down from hard to normal during the end phase of Hakkon because it was just stupid. My enemies basically went from having rocks and sticks to nukes, Blackwall would go down in a few hits.
StoppedInTracks
Member
It's crazy how Hakkon's last boss (Dragon) is 10x easier than the pre-last boss (Ice Revenant). Like what the fuck at that difficulty spike JESUS CHRIST.
Psychoward
Banned
Yeah the entire area with the winter shards is just fucking DUMB, I refuse to believe they playtested Hakkon on anything other than Normal or Casual. It makes the Denerim blood mage dungeon back in Origins look like fair difficulty progression.
Sugarmonkey
Member
Sorry for the thread necro, but I was wondering if I could get some advice. I just returned to the game after purchasing the DLC (I never completed the base game, about 75% in), and after reading through the posts I think I'd like to start a new game on Nightmare. My question is: should I go through the remainder of my current game or start a new game on Nightmare now? I kind of feel like I missed out on some of the game by playing on normal up to now. Also, do you guys recommend having ALL the modifiers on if I plan to go for the platinum trophy? I'm having so much fun with it again and wondering why I left in the first place (well, not really wondering - answer is ADD lol).
I mean, it really depends on how you feel. Since you're about 75% into the base game you pretty much know the gameplay loop. Then again, this is coming from someone who really loves this game and has played like 500+ hours of it lol.. Anyways, I think that the Trials that came with the Trespasser DLC really add something to the gameplay, especially on Nightmare. I played on PC but got all of the achievements and I believe if you want all of them you have to have the majority of the Trials on (you'd just have to check to see which ones in the trophies list). It's not that you're missing anything critical if you just finish the game now, but obviously if you're after the platinum then you're probably going to feel that way. I would make one recommendation though regarding the Trial called "Fair-Weather Friends". It's the Trial that doubles companions' negative approval. It becomes really easy with that Trial to end up with your companions hating you so I would recommend making sure you choose options that are agreeable to them (i.e. if you're unsure have the wiki open to see what dialogue options yield the most approval) then turning it off once you begin the "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts" quest as per the conditions of completing the Trial. Obviously if you don't really care about how your companions feel about you then you can disregard that, but when I played through with that Trial I was choosing options that I always had chosen which ended in being basically everyone's best friend when that Trial was turned off, but with it on I found Cassandra drunk on the floor mad at me pretty early on. I was able to salvage everyone's relationships back to where I wanted before the end of the game, thankfully. But yeah, just be aware and all that. Hope this answers your question!
Sugarmonkey
Member
Thanks Yeul, this is awesome advice. I'm really loving the game and am excited about going for a challenge as well as platinum, so I think I'm going to start a new game with your suggestions in mind.
maximum360
Member
I beat the game just after launch, traded it in for a healthy return and then reordered the GOTY edition from the PSN store [this system to be the most cost effective one for getting the best out of any game]. I started again from scratch and while it was annoying doing the basics again initially it has been worth it so far. I look forward to trying out the new DLC included.
TharpDaddy
Member
Recently got back into this after not playing since around launch. I forgot that I actually really like this game despite the general lukewarm feelings for it I see on gaf. The graphics are gorgeous (especially the zones), I enjoy the combat quite a bit with all the different combos, and it's fun to explore and find things.
I just summoned my first dragon to fight (the one in the western approach) and I got it to about 30% health but lost the war of attrition. Now i'm back at my base and carefully redoing people's abilities and upgrading gear and weapons to be able to win the fight and i'm loving it.
I like Varric as a character but I might have to sub him out for this fight. I was generally running with Solas/Varric/Blackwall but Varric is constantly dying on the dragon fight and not seeming to put out much DPS. I've upgraded his weapon a bit, but I don't think it'll be enough to help.
I just summoned my first dragon to fight (the one in the western approach) and I got it to about 30% health but lost the war of attrition. Now i'm back at my base and carefully redoing people's abilities and upgrading gear and weapons to be able to win the fight and i'm loving it.
I like Varric as a character but I might have to sub him out for this fight. I was generally running with Solas/Varric/Blackwall but Varric is constantly dying on the dragon fight and not seeming to put out much DPS. I've upgraded his weapon a bit, but I don't think it'll be enough to help.
Bring Cassandra, she's so good because she rarely ever dies and has the ability to put a guard on everybody if things start to go dire for you.
TharpDaddy
Member
Who is she good to run with? Something like Blackwall/Solas/Cassandra? My Solas is fairly supportive so I worry that might be too low damage. I'm a knight enchanter so I do decent but Blackwall is pure tank
I played a Knight Enchanter too but my comp was more based on who I really liked the most so it was always Cass, Solas, and Dorian (I know, I know four mages and one warrior lol..). But I think since Cass is pretty diverse in what she can do it'd help to bring her along. So yeah, I'd try her out with Solas and Blackwall. Her focus ability Rally is very useful since at Tier 3 it builds 30% guard/mana/stamina regen per second for 15 seconds iirc. Iron Bull's Reaver abilities can be good as well, but he's really kind of squishy when it comes to building a guard and keeping his health up so I'd pick Cass over him.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Sorry for the bump.
Downloading da again just to replay it. Loved it the first time around.
But the second reason is because I never played any of the dlc.
Are all the dlc worth it? I'm hesitant because each one is 15 bucks, and there are 3 of them. 45 bucks is pretty hefty.
Worth it to play all 3? Any of them must play?
Have you guys ever seen them go on sale on ps4?
Downloading da again just to replay it. Loved it the first time around.
But the second reason is because I never played any of the dlc.
Are all the dlc worth it? I'm hesitant because each one is 15 bucks, and there are 3 of them. 45 bucks is pretty hefty.
Worth it to play all 3? Any of them must play?
Have you guys ever seen them go on sale on ps4?
Trespasser is pretty essential. It caps of the story though and locks out base game content so be sure to leave it for very last. It also changed skill trees and adds some options that may make replays interesting. Jaws of Hakkon is good if you want lore on Avvar and early inquisition organisation and has some weapons and a new zone to run around (and a dragon to fight if you like those). Not sure about Descent since I dont have it.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Ok, great.
So Trespasser is a must at least.
Can I play Trespasser and then go and play those other 2?
No, Trespasser takes place two years later.
Lone_Prodigy
Member
I didn't really like Trespasser, but that's probably because I ran through it. Combat got stale fast (same enemies on repeat) and while some areas are neat, you do a lot of backtracking.
I think I waited too long to play it, though; as a "farewell" to your party members and the story, it didn't mean as much when I had spent so much time away and forgotten most of it.
I think I waited too long to play it, though; as a "farewell" to your party members and the story, it didn't mean as much when I had spent so much time away and forgotten most of it.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Ahh. Ok.
So trespasser is absolute last thing I can play. Got it.
I'll probably just buy trespasser then to be honest.
imo they're all worth playing. Hakkon is an example of the DA team finally figuring out zone and quest design while being well written, Descent is a decent dungeon crawler. Both are great if you enjoy DA lore.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Damn, lol.
Let me ask you this.
Would you pay 45 dollars for all 3 dlc right now, knowing what you know about them?
I did, and I thought it was worth it.
Mikey Jr.
Member
OK thanks.
FWIW I bought them all separately at launch, so the ask of dropping 45 at once isn't the same as 45 over the course of several months/ a year.
Worst case scenario you pick the other 2 up later and play them on a new save.
Mikey Jr.
Member
Yeah, my first gut instinct was to see if the GOTY version is cheaper. (it isn't).
So I'm going to create 2 saves at the end.
Gonna play Trespasser first. If I STILL have a hankering for more, then I'll pick the other 2 up and play those on the other save.
Kinda surprised how everything is still kinda expensive 2 years later.
Whenever there's a sale the GOTY edition drops to $30. I think all the DLC are on Origin Access.
I agree, while Descent wasn't my favorite out of all of them, it was fun working your way through the Deep Roads and getting to the 'heart' of it for lack of a better word. Trespasser is a must, and Jaws of Hakkon is really enjoyable and its area is in my top 5 areas of Inquisition.