RL has kept me busy lately so I haven't been on the forums much - just had to skip over dozens of pages since the thread moves so quickly.  I am planning on finally finishing my first PT (kinda stalled since I've been trying to wrap up the shard collections, dragon hunting, astrariums, mosaics etc so I won't feel compelled to do all of those in successive PTs) and then will finally start my 2nd PT with Aodhan so I can romance Dorian finally and also side with the mages for the first time.  Not sure what PCs (maybe finally go elf?) I'll do after that but I fear I'll probably end up gravitating back to a Cullen romance no matter what I choose.     I will make sure to side with the mages so I can get his extra quest.

I have created Aodhan already (sword and board warrior) so I might end up just shelving the item collecting for a bit and get his PT done over the holiday break before work and school interrupt these more important things in life.

Aodhan (my California surfer Trevelyan; spoilered for size):

For those of you who think the Shards are bad ... did any of you spend time trying to do Holocrons in TOR? THOSE were insanely evil! My husband and I blew whole afternoons trying to figure out some of those things. Shards can be annoying, but they are on the whole much easier to get to than almost all of the Holocrons were.

 

*snip*

I haven't played TOR for comparison, but I have done all the insane side quests to get the ultimate weapons in FFX.*  Anytime I start grumbling about running after the shards that are stuck in odd places, I remind myself that it is infinitely less frustrating than dodging lighting bolts 100 TIMES IN A ROW.

* Except Tidus' - I can never race my damn Chocobo fast enough. 

I took out my first dragon over the weekend (the Hivernal) and at level 18 on normal it wasn't that bad.  Iron Bull had a lot of fun during the fight and with Dorian's fire spells and my KE spec everyone was alive and well at the end (I did use all my potions and Resurgence once).  I was amused to see my map right after the fight; apparently I used Fade Step a lot.

I hadn't realized it was one of the higher level dragons; guess I should go finish off the rest before I push on with the main quest line and then end game to finally finish my first play through.

Ooo, no, what's that??

 

EDIT: Apparently it's just a mount...? How does that help me lol

Well, not help per se, but I really like it.  I don't use mounts that much but it gives me a nice laugh to ride around on it. 

urs was 10k??  mine costed 4k and it was a

 

Spoiler

golden nug statue that i didn't even see in my inventory and i didnt see it anywhere else like for example to put it in the castle

so i just spent 4 k to basically look at a golden nug statue in Val

I don't have any of the perks that lower merchant costs, although I could be misremembering the cost.

Hmm not so interested in gold. Just, if I never have to establish a landmark or close a rift again I'll be a happy gamer. That aspect of the game is so incredibly tedious.

I'd just like to level everyone up so I can play through the story stuff straight through.

Oh and max everyone's approval.

Have you bought the mystery box in Val Royeaux, yet?  I had to grind a little to get the 10,000 for it earlier in the game but I was very pleased once I did. 

Ooooh I just get to Emprise the Lyon and meet Michel!!!

 

Spoiler

After defeating that Imshael demon & Michel asked to join the Inquisition, he kneels to the Inquisitor!!! Knowing his personality from TME, it was really... wow. I wonder whether he'll be around at Skyhold since I gave him to Cullen as Officer (Cullen asked on wartable to get him as officer. Guess that it's better than asking him to work with Solas as Leliana suggest...).

 

And does anyone think to Mobydick at the quest "Call me Imshael"? I directly remembered the first line of Mobydick when I saw that, not TME...

 

Seriously I wants both Michel & Barris for next DA game...

I might have squee'd just a little when I met Michel.  Then immediately went about doing the quests so I could recruit him. 

With the additional war table missions that follow, though

Spoiler

I'm pretty sure I'm not reconciling him with Celene.  He's mine...err, the Inquisition's now.  She doesn't get or deserve him back.    I'll probably avoid this the next play through by letting her get offed.  Meant to do that this play through but Florianne pissed me off too much so I took her out on the ballroom floor.

Yeah. By that point, I think the main story has progressed too far for it to trigger. I'm in the same boat.

ah rats.

I didn't kill my first dragon until that point either (I'm running around wrapping a lot of stuff up before I do What Pride Has Wrought).  He was in my party and I was at level 18.  I'd wrapped up all of Iron Bull's personal quests and cut scenes (not in a romance though; not sure if that affects anything) and his tarot card had already changed.  I'm not sure if any of that affects the dragon conversation but when I talked to him after it was triggered.

I think I might have already done the associated war table mission that pops up after you kill your first dragon, but I wouldn't think that should be tied to triggering the conversation.

OK, I misread that the first time as "they make you render judgments ON your pajamas"  

Where do you get the Wedge of Destiny? lol I haven't found it yet.

If it isn't randomly generated, here is where I found it:

It's definitely slow going since I keep getting side-tracked by the little things; I just finished Halamshiral yesterday.

I'm loving the Cullen romance - I have about 5-6 saves now for right before the cut scenes so I can go replay them.

For pure silliness sake, I tried out the Wedge of Destiny shield on Cassandra to see how it would look (spoilered for image size):

Spoiler

 

but I haven't been able to bring myself to use it because I feel like she would make her disgusted noise if I tried.  Maybe I'll equip it on Blackwall for a bit like someone else mentioned some pages back. 

Aaaaaand now to change my bloody DAO cannon that I'd got so attached to. Urgh, that one part really annoyed me LOL!

I feel you.  I usually get attached to the characters (usually not the main character) in books/games/movies who end up getting sacrificed or get a really raw deal in the end.  I think this is the first time it hasn't happened to me, but I've been there so many times I feel for everyone else this happened to.

While I was going through the operation, I thought I would choose Gaspard and support Briala having power behind the scenes.  Then Florianne revealed her plan and I wasn't about to let anyone working with Corypheus live (particularly after they tried to have me killed), so I denounced her and executed her right there in the ballroom.  I figure I'll put Gaspard on the throne for my second playthrough, when I'll also be siding with the mages since I went with the Templars this time around.

I will say I was surprised that she arrived for judgement in a crate rather than a heavily decorated urn - the crate didn't seem very Orlesian to me (unless they were really trying to shame her, even posthumously).

Speaking of orleasian ball thin  here is my outfit

 

 

Spoiler

Very pretty.  I forget what I used, but I made mine into a nice blue velvet and am running around in that armor now.

Did you mod that?? I thought everyone had to wear the uniform...?

You get the schematic after the operation is complete and can make some very pretty armor with it.

Well. Off to kill my first dragon. Wish me luck!

Spoiler/question about Dorian's location:

Spoiler

So... speaking of the thing with Fiona and then Felix and meeting Dorian... I returned to Haven afterward. Blackwall is at the smithy, even though he doesn't have an icon on the map. Is Dorian supposed to be in Haven at this point now, too?

For the past several visits to Skyhold, I've been trying to figure out how to break up with Blackwall so I can start a romance with Cullen. However, when I tell Blackwall I want to discuss our relationship, my only options are to go "never mind" or to kiss him.

So, uh, am I missing something? I'm wondering if I've been locked into the romance, despite the fact I can discuss a relationship with Cullen (who won't agree to start a relationship while I'm seeing someone.)

I'm just past the Winter Palace story plot.

Female human rogue.

I haven't tried this myself, but I saw in another thread that someone mentioned they had to progress the romance with Blackwall before they could break it off later on (they were trying to break it off so they could persue Sera but weren't getting the option to do so with him).

I've seen a lot of Viv convos. Elidri and her will get along like a house on fire if she doesn't mind her being a little blunt every now and then. Solas will learn to hate me though. I already threatened him a little.

I've been polite to Solas but in terms of approval

As far as Vivienne goes

Ha, Solas keeps approving of what I'm saying. Wonder how long that'll last... Lol!

Same with me! Literally everything I ask and say, he's always approving. xd

I think I'm somewhere in the middle with him - started off well but then we've disagreed on some things so it lowered things back into more neutral territory.  Cole is the one that seems to approve of everything I do.  I'm having to work harder at keeping Vivienne's approval from going down too much since we disagree on most things but so far I'm trying to be polite even when I'm telling her I think she's wrong. 

I'm alive.

 

I've been playing Inquisition now that I've got it.

 

I've just met Dorian. I wanted to take screenshots, but I'm still new with how the PS4 takes them!

 

But anyway, damn that son of a ******.

 

Spoiler

But I just love that he's among the earliest instance of a locked-in companion should you choose the In Hushed Whispers quest. That man is a dreamboat.

 

Just... HRNGH!!

To take a screenshot, use the share button on the controller and it will give you the option to save the screenshot.  I moved mine over to USB, which if I remember correctly was done outside the game (from the main PS4 screen, choose the DAI options choice under the icon).  That should get you into the video or screenshots you have saved and then you can choose to save them to USB. 

I love the eyes people are getting in the CC. And yes, I'd noticed that the ponytail is extremely popular with the bun and the braid showing up occasionally . I can't tell until I get into the CC, but my Dalish won't have the ponytail simply because that WS elven warden has a ponytail, and my human mage is probably going to have extremely short hair since that's the only way to give her something that looks like curly hair. Volya might get that one that's buzz cut on one side with longer hair on the other (can't remember what people called it), and Zhenya may get the braided style (good padding for a helmet).

I tried the ponytail at first but couldn't stick with it - I can't stand that it doesn't move.  I kinda wish we could get casual hair to go with our casual Skyhold outfit.  Then I would be fine with a sensible updo or ponytail for adventuring and then could come home and literally let my hair down (like I do in real life).  It just starts to hurt my head when my PC has her hair up or in a tight ponytail for hours on end. 

Ellana Lavellan:

Spoiler

 

Asarja Cadash:

Spoiler

Here's my Dalish mage, Calypsia!

 

Here's my Qunquistor, Kasaanda.



You can get some purdy eyes with this CC.

Out of likes (again ), so like for all of these!

Here is Aislinn Treveylan, former Circle mage.  My first attempt at creating her I had her hair too light (a kind of auburn or brown color depending on the lighting) for my liking and tried out the ponytail hairstyle, but it started to bug me so I scrapped that one right after the title screen and so she looks like this.  I'm very pleased with her and love all the eye color choices that are available.

She is Andrastian but isn't sure if she really believes it was Andraste she saw at the beginning; she really isn't sure which prospect is more frightening.  She has gotten more and more into accepting the role of Herald, though, particularly since it seems to her that that is what the people and what the Inquisition needs (I've just gotten to Skyhold for story reference).  Personality-wise, she tries to be lighthearted when possible, if only so that there is a break in all the serious, heavy things that are happening.  Trying to be diplomatic with most of the companions, though, particularly Vivienne since we don't see eye to eye on the Mage-Templar issue.

So...did anyone reload a save to have the first one on one conversation with Cullen...several times?

 

_{I did.}

Not that one, but I have a save right before the first Skyhold conversation with him so I can replay that one.   

I'll probably do that for later conversations as well, kinda like I did with Fenris in DAII.