28 réponses à ce sujet

[TheMadHarridan]

I'm currently doing a playthrough of DAO through DA2 in preparation for DAI. I'm going to be starting Awakening soon, but I have no idea what order to do the quests in, so I can actually do everything, as I am a horrible completionist.

 

I've only played Awakening once, and as I didn't know about all of the problems at the time, I royally bungled the order of the quests (recruited Sigrun last so she never became a GW, never got Sigrun's personal quest, never got Velanna's personal quest, etc.).

 

What is the best order to do the main quests and the companions' quests?

[congokong]

Since I killed Velanna (recruiting her is crazy) my order was the Black Marsh, that thaig where Sigrun is, and then the Wending Wood. That way all the companions I recruited became Grey Wardens. Justice also has some unique dialogue at the Dalish camp in the Wending Wood. Sigrun has a few lines too when she sniffs some tree there.

[Taki17]

If you want to keep everyone alive, do their personal quests and make them Wardens, then my suggestion would be Wending Wood - Kal'Hirol - Blackmarsh. Make a trip to Amaranthine with the new companion in your group every time you finish a main quest and it's guaranteed that you won't miss anything.

[themikefest]

I usually do Wending woods to recruit Velanna first. Go to the Thaig and recrui Sigrun and last go to the Blackmarsh for Justice. I've recruited Justice once just to see what happens otherwise I tell the spirit to get lost.

[Elhanan]

And I recruit Sigrun first, then Velanna, followed by Justice.

[theskymoves]

It's ages since I played DAA, but usually do Knotwood Hills (I like Sigrun) > Wending Woods (not especially fond of Velanna) > Blackmarsh (squicked out a whole lot by reanimated corpse!Kristoff and he's already a "Warden" so he doesn't need a Joining ceremony).

 

That order makes it difficult to complete Oghren's content, though, since his approval is bugged and his 'plot gift' is in the Blackmarsh. It also makes doing anything with Justice's approval/personal quest very difficult.

 

Recruiting Sigrun first makes it easier to efficiently get through the Amarantine quests, though, since starting or completing Law and Order/Smuggler's Something or Other will keep Sigrun's personal quest from triggering. (Get her quest out of the way early on, and then tackle Amaranthine's troubles...)

 

Velanna's thing never wants to trigger, and I don't like her anyway, so meh.

 

As others have said, visit Amaranthine often. Walk around and engage companions in dialogue.... they have little enough content, and it takes some work to get at it.

 

And as always, for PC, there are many bugfixes for Awakening that make adhering to a certain quest order a bit less onerous. I recommend them heartily. (using them is worth it, IMO, to eliminate some of the need for meta-think, and especially if you care about roleplay at all.)

[Han Shot First]

Oghren, Howe, Sigrun, Velanna, Justice

 

Oghren's Awakening approval is best raised by using the gifts he likes from Origins, if you have a DR import. If you need to use gifts in Origins to raise his approval, only use the ones from the Gifts & Pranks DLC. Save the gifts from the vanilla game for the Awakenings expansion. (they'll stay in your inventory)

[I SOLD MY SOUL TO BIOWARE]

I do it in whatever order I feel like, but I recommend always doing the Blackmarsh/Justice last. He doesn't need to go through the Joining - and for the last character you recruit, it doesn't seem like you're able to make them a full Warden, as you're kicked right into the finale before you can do it. Which is weird if it's somebody who actually needs to drink the blood. 

 

So, recruit everybody who needs to go through with the Joining first, then Justice. 

[TheMadHarridan]

Thanks, guys. That helps a lot. If I recruit Justice last (which seems the best thing to do), is it still possible to talk to him at the Keep and get his personal quest about Kristoff's wife? Or will returning to the Keep automatically throw me into the finale without being able to do Justice' personal quest? Can I just avoid going up and talking to Varel, so I can complete all of the companion stuff before the finale?

 

Also, I assume Sigrun's personal quest starts in Amaranthine, but what about Velanna's? They are the only two companion quests I didn't get, so I know nothing about them. Ugh, I hate doing all of this hoop jumping. Kind of takes the fun out of playing.

 

Regarding Oghren's plot gift (wasn't it a toy horse?), is it possible to go to the Black Marsh and grab it without triggering the Justice and Baroness stuff? That would be ideal. I'd like to get it before the Justice/Baroness quest, so I can give it to Oghren and get his personal quest to trigger.

 

On another note, which did you guys think was the better choice: saving Amaranthine and leaving Vigil's Keep (fully upgraded) on its own, or burning the city and saving Vigil's Keep instead?

[Elhanan]

I do not recall having troubles on personal quests other than Oghren. If someone else can guide you through his quest, then that should work.

As far as the final choice, I like to save the Keep with my Warrior, and the city with my other canonical Warden's. This is done more for RP purposes, as my Mage could forsee that the fully upgraded Keep would survive, my Rogue would care more about the city, and my Warrior would make the more strategic choice of saving the Keep.

[theskymoves]

Thanks, guys. That helps a lot. If I recruit Justice last (which seems the best thing to do), is it still possible to talk to him at the Keep and get his personal quest about Kristoff's wife? Or will returning to the Keep automatically throw me into the finale without being able to do Justice' personal quest? Can I just avoid going up and talking to Varel, so I can complete all of the companion stuff before the finale?

 

Also, I assume Sigrun's personal quest starts in Amaranthine, but what about Velanna's? They are the only two companion quests I didn't get, so I know nothing about them. Ugh, I hate doing all of this hoop jumping. Kind of takes the fun out of playing.

 

Regarding Oghren's plot gift (wasn't it a toy horse?), is it possible to go to the Black Marsh and grab it without triggering the Justice and Baroness stuff? That would be ideal. I'd like to get it before the Justice/Baroness quest, so I can give it to Oghren and get his personal quest to trigger.

 

On another note, which did you guys think was the better choice: saving Amaranthine and leaving Vigil's Keep (fully upgraded) on its own, or burning the city and saving Vigil's Keep instead?

 

Yes, Sigrun's personal quest is in Amaranthine. Velanna's thing (IIRC it's called "Velanna's Exile") is a random encounter. 

 

You can indeed go to the Blackmarsh, do part of the area, get Oghren's toy horse, leave, and go back. You can do the same in Knotwood Hills (leave before finishing Kal'Hirol and return to Vigil's Keep) to circumvent Sigrun not being able to take the Joining if she is the last companion recruited. And possible that Velanna can be Warden-ized that way too, by taking her to Vigil's Keep before entering the Silverite Mines, but I can't swear to that. (I'm not one for bouncing around the map a lot... the thought of all the time it would take to do that much travelling nags at me.)

 

Re Amaranthing vs Vigil's Keep, that's entire a roleplay decision, and one I make on a per-Warden basis. My Dalish has absolutely no qualms about leaving the shem'len to fend for themselves. My other Wardens are generally quite confident that the upgraded Keep can defend itself, and are loathe to abandon innocent civilians. From a meta 'which one is more fun to play?' standpoint, I'd say abandoning  Amaranthine and defending Vigil's Keep wins... Varel is all the awesome. 

[Dabrikishaw]

My preferred order is Last of the Legion > The Righteous Path > Shadows of the Blackmarsh. I like to pace out the mystery of the Darkspawn Civil War. So first finding out about the broodmothers in Kal Hi'rol being protected by a legion of talking Darkspawn, then meeting the Architect for the first time in the Silverite Mines, and finally confronting the right hand of the Mother, the First, and finding out that there even IS a mother leading the Darkspawn feels very organic to me. As far as party members go, It depends on if you want to make both Sigrun and Velanna a Grey Warden. You won't be able to do so if you recruit Velanna or Sigrun last because you won't be able to ask the option anymore.

[Hydwn]

A lot of people have commented on the ideal quest order.  There's another factor to consider, which is that Awakening is crazy glitchy, and if things aren't done in a proper order they will screw up.

 

If you're a completionist like me, that means maxing out friendship, doing everyone's personal quests, doing all the optional sidequests and making Master Wade's awesome weapons.  Here are the problems you're going to encounter (as I encounter every time):

 

• Velanna's personal quest is bugged to the point where is you don't do everything in a precise order, you will not get it.  Worse, no one's absolutely sure which order.
• Sigrun's personal quest will not trigger if you start the Law and Order sidequest first.  No one knows if this is a bug or intentional
• The Lyrium collection sidequest is bugged so that you can't fully upgrade Vigil's Keep if you try to deliver two lyrium sands at a time.  There is one on the Wedning Woods quest, and one on the It Comes from Beneath sidequest, but there are two in Kal'Hirol.  This means walking all the way back once you have one, and then coming back for the other - or else being sure not to touch the "lyrium deposit" after you've touched the "lyrium-infused skeleton"
• It Comes From Beneath (the sidequest in the basement of vigil's keep) frequently screws up after you battle the wraith.  Have a save kept from before the battle.
• As others have mentioned, the last companion you recruit cannot go through the Joining.  Since Justice can never do that, he's the ideal last choice.
• If you are importing from Origins rather than starting fresh in Awakening, note that Oghren's approval is back to 50%, but the gifts now give diminishing returns if you gave him anything in Origins.  When I'm ending an Origins game, I tend to load my invo down with unused gifts to boost him one point at a time

By trial and error, this is what I've found to always work to make sure you get Velanna's Exile and the other quests.  It's the most common suggestions online, and they work for me:

 

• Go to Mistress Woolsely and get her to trigger the Righteous Path quest.  DO NOT talk to Varel or the other one standing with her (they start the other two main quests).
• You can shop and talk to your companions all you want, that's safe.  If Oghren comes with you or if you talk to him, be very careful with his approval.  You need a 90+ approval from him to finish his personal quest, and his gift-giving is bugged.  I recommend using the Dragon Age wiki for it.
• Go outside.  Talking to anyone out there - including the quest-givers - is safe.  Recruit Nathaniel, and do the first It Comes from Beneath quest in the basement.  Feel free to loot anything in the courtyard, the keep, or the basement.
• Go back to Mistress Woolsely and start Trade Must Flow.  Again don't talk to the seneshal or the captain of the guard beside her.
• Go to the Amaranthine.  Talk to no one except merchants, and the guy near the merchant's guild board who gives you the Righteous Path quest - his name is Mervis.  Talk to no one and click on nothing else, except him and merchants.
• Go to the Wending Wood.  Kill creatures in your way, but loot *nothing*.  You can come back later, and it will all be waiting for you.  Stick to the script - meet Velanna, go to her camp, and then wander down to where you find the dying soldier.  Then go back to the camp and recruit Velanna.
• Take her into your active party when given the option.  Go into the Silverite Mines.  Here you can kill and loot and click on whatever.  You cannot come back here, so remember to do the Architect's puzzle for some neat rogue armour and a useful bow, grab the lyrium sand and the silverite deposit for upgrading the keep, the fresh dragon egg for Master Wade's quests, and start the Last Wishes quests from the dying soldier.  Not that if you're an arcane warrior or have one in the party, remove their gear before entering the mine.  Otherwise it will vanish if mages can't normally equip it.
• Don't forget to recruit the qunari merchant for Trade Must Flow.
• After the double-dragon battle in the mine, save at the door.  When you go to the world map, go to the Wending Woods.  If no encounter happens, move the cursor back to the mines, then back to the woods, and click.  Keep doing until an encounter triggers.  If it's anything other than Velanna's Exile (a high chance), reload back to the mines, and try again.  Some people think giving her the one gift item you should have for her - the shiny malachite - increases the chance, others don't think so

After that, it gets easier - now you can loot whatever and talk to almost anyone safely.  Just a few other points:

 

• If you're planning to side with the smugglers in Amaranthine, you don't need to worry about starting that quest.  If you're planning to do Law and Order, though, don't talk to Constable Aidan until after you've finished Sigrun's personal quest.
• Oghren's personal quest starts early on, but only finishes if you get to over 90+ approval to finish it.  He's the only one with a requirement like that - most only require a little approval.  
• Velanna's quest is detailed above.  The other three just require you to be in the right place, with a little approval.  Nathaniel needs to be in Amaranthine's market district, Justice in Vigil Keep's courtyard, and Anders needs to talk to a woman in the north end of Amaranthine.   
• You should do Kal'Hirol second.  Do it in two parts.  Go back after touching the lyrium-infused skeleton, give it to the dwarf at the keep, and then go back again.
• Save before the wwraith and don't save over it until the end of that quest in the Avvar crypt.
• Recruit Justice last.

The nice thing is that most of the big decisions are not bugged.  If you follow the path above, you side with the Architect or kill him, side with the baroness or with Justice, or burn Amaranthine or save it.  Do note two import bugs with Awakening into Dragon Age 2 however:

 

• If Nathaniel is left at the keep, DA2 will consider him dead, period.  This happens even if you fully upgrade it, and the slideshow at the end has him as living.  The Finding Nathaniel quest in DA2 will not trigger, and Varric will  never get his last armour upgrade
• If you create an Orlesian Warden instead of importing, and you burn Amaranthine, the pre-built history they add to the Orlesian's history has Amaranthine as both burnt and saved, triggering both opposite quests in DA2.  This is a good bug

I think that's it.  Don't ask me how to get Dumat's Claw, though.  I gave up on that

[TheMadHarridan]

Thanks so much everyone (and a special thanks to Hydwn for that detailed guide)! Your suggestions and tips will be immensely helpful for my upcoming Awakening playthrough.

[themikefest]

Thanks so much everyone (and a special thanks to Hydwn for that detailed guide)! Your suggestions and tips will be immensely helpful for my upcoming Awakening playthrough.

Keep us updated on your playthrough.

[gottaloveme]

I'm also playing thru this again, hoping this time I can save the keep. It was bugged previously and I could only save Amaranthine (not so bad) but I would like to do both. Here's hoping it will go my way with a different import.

[Hydwn]

Thanks.  I wrote it while I was feverish with the flu, so I hope it makes sense

 

I will say that while it looks intimidating, it just has to be followed from the end of the prologue to the end of the first mission.  After that, just take care with which Amaranthine quest you start, how high Oghren's approval is, and how much lyrium sand you're carrying, and you'll do fine.

 

No one is absolutely sure what bugs it, but doing the things outlined above guarantees you can get it.  It's almost certainly more than one thing.  Things that are likely to do the bugging:

• One of the main quests started in the keep
• One of the Amaranthine sidequests
• Some unique loot you pick up in the forest - the good money is on the Elven trinket, but no one's ever proved that

I got this by reading guides online and trying everything out.  The above is the result of trial and error.  Likely not everything is necessary, but why take that chance?

 

The funny thing is, Velanna is my least favourite companion of any Dragon Age.  Below Jowan and tower guard.  I'm just a completionist about these things, and it's easier to do them in order than spend eight hours (again) trying to trigger a random encounter that's been removed by a glitch from the tables.

[gottaloveme]

I am in awe.

[Magdalena11]

Hydwn's advice is right on.  I do it a little differently to help get approval raised on some of the tougher companions.

 

I didn't know there was a problem talking to Varel and Garavel and always talk to them to get all the quests at once, as well as learn about the Dark Wolf for the Brewing Conspiracy side quest, then go recruit and join Nathaniel.  I start It Comes from Beneath as far as the injured mabari, using survival to calm the dog, then leave it alone for a single approval exploit (it sounds so cruel) and go rescue the Ransomed Daughter and schlep back and forth from Amaranthine to the Vigil to the Truenoble farm to pick up Lillith the merch and kill off the conspirators.  I also do the Blight Orfans quests (except the last) before I pick up Justice and Sigrun. Then I go pick up Sigrun in Last of the Legion, making sure to bring Oghren to get his approval for the pretty dwarf.  Then I bring her back to the Vigil and finish the first part of From Beneath with Sigrun and Oghren and the ransoming the prisoners for their clothes points.  Back inside to talk to Sig and have her join, then off to Amaranthine for Sigrun's personal quest.  Then I do Making Amends and the Law and Order side quest.  

 

On to the Wending Wood.  Velanna's personal quest is very bugged (on PC) and won't trigger at all if I leave the Silverite Mine and go anywhere but the Wending Wood again.  If Velanna's Exile doesn't trigger going from WW to the Vigil, I go on to Amaranthine to talk to Mervis with her, and it usually triggers then.  Then I bring her back to the Vigil, recruit her, shower her with presents, and forget about her, because I don't care for her much, TBH.

 

Then it's on to Blackmarsh for Justice, and more schlepping around to talk to Aura and do Justice's quest, go shopping, decide if I'm going to do Witch Hunt, and if so, what to bring with.

 

I don't have trouble with Oghren's personal quest, but that's because I only give him 2 gifts in DAO.  So I'm starting out at +8 instead of +10, but there are so many gifts to give, even +6 approval for each gift and metagaming with the wiki brings him up to 74 before I even leave for Wending Wood.  That's been enough (in the games I've played so far) to trigger the 2nd half of his Family Man quest.  By the time I'm at Blackmarsh, the toy horse is just something I give him to get it out of inventory because he's maxed out.

 

Have fun!  Keep us posted on how you're doing!

[Hydwn]

Velanna's exile is actually bugged on all machines, but you PC people can mod it to fix it.  We console-types are out of luck

[gottaloveme]

 Oh my lordy yes - there is lots of schlepping.  This quote went weirdo on me. Magdalena this was meant to be quoting you.

and schlep back and forth

[Dabrikishaw]

I just manged to get Velanna's Exile to trigger right after going to Amaranthine, talking to Mervis, and traveling to Vigil's Keep. I did this after completing Last Of The Legion by the way.

[TheLastSuperSaiyan87]

 

 

• Velanna's personal quest is bugged to the point where is you don't do everything in a precise order, you will not get it.  Worse, no one's absolutely sure which order.

I actually found the perfect order to get her quest and I have had her quest activate 3 playthroughs in a row

 

First of all I have seen several claim to not do any side quests before going to the Wending Wood, this is false I did every side quest at Vigil's Keep and Amaranthine (except for the quest that bugs Sigrun's companion quest). Then I went straigh to the Wending Wood (I saved every time before I traveled on the over world cause two world encounters will bug the quest), Do the side quests in Wending Wood then recruit Velanna and then go straight to the mines and do the quest there, after you fight the two dragons at the end and see the scene with the Architect and before you leave the mines SAVE, you should encounter her clan right after leaving the mines on the way to Vigil's Keep, if you don't and encounter another world encounter then re load and try again. Like I said I have done this my last 3 playthroughs of Awakening and got it each time. 

[Han Shot First]

Interesting, I never knew that Velanna's personal quest was so bugged. I guess I've been lucky, as I've never had it not trigger.

[TheMadHarridan]

Well, I'm about a third of the way through my playthrough, and it's definitely interesting so far. As I said in my OP, this is only the second time I've ever played Awakening (the first being several years ago, and it being a buggy experience). So far, I think I'm bug free.

 

I was able to get Velanna's personal quest to trigger by following a slightly modified version of Hydwn's advice above. I started all the side quests at Vigil's Keep, but the only main one I started was "The Righteous Path," along with "Trade Must Flow." The first place I went was actually the Turnoble Estate, and I traveled back and forth from there to the Keep until I got the random encounter with the merchant Lillith to occur, as I read that if you don't get her before you meet Armaas, "Trade Must Flow" will bug and won't complete. Then I went to Amaranthine and only talked to Mervis (I even avoided Delilah as Nathaniel was in the party, and I didn't want anything to screw up.).

 

After that, I went directly to the Wending Wood where I didn't touch/loot anything (SO HARD!) and quickly recruited Crazy B**** (aka Velanna). We then went to the Silverite Mines (I stripped everyone before we entered.). I did everything there and saved before heading out the door. Right before leaving, I gave Velanna the Shiny Malachite. Travelling back to the Wending Wood didn't trigger her quest for me, so I reloaded and went to Amaranthine instead, talked to Mervis, then headed back to Vigil's Keep. Her personal quest triggered on the way to the Keep. Whew! Now I have to go back to the Wending Wood and do all of the quests, pick up loot, etc. Such a difficult method for my OCD.

 

One of the funniest things so far was the Dark Wolf reference. When Varel mentioned it, I chose the "lie" option, saying I knew nothing about that. Varel started explaining, and I could imagine my Warden acting all horrified on the outside because of the Dark Wolf's dastardly deeds, while laughing maniacally on the inside because of her sheer Dark Wolf awesomeness. Actually telling the "Dark Wolf" in Amaranthine that I was the real Dark Wolf was fun too. He was quite flustered.

 

I've decided I really don't like Velanna. I've tried to be nice to her and have tried to peel back the layers of nastiness, hoping that perhaps she was actually a nice person underneath it all. Nope. She is just unpleasant. I intend on recruiting Sigrun next and then leaving Velanna at the Keep forever.

 

I really hate having to babysit Oghren's approval. What a pain in the butt. Why couldn't Bioware have left him at whatever friendship level he was at when you ended DAO? Felsi finally showed up last night, so I guess I'm doing something right, but it's a big pain.

 

Nathaniel is kind of adorable. Sure, he's got a big chip on his shoulder, but considering who his father was, who can blame him? We're warming up to each other right now, so things are going good. I think he has a crush on Velanna. I feel I should warn him away from her. The boy doesn't need any more crazy.

 

I actually really like this version of Anders. He's cute, funny, charming, and just a fun guy to have around (I love Ser Pounce-a-Lot). I don't want to recruit Justice. I don't want him to ruin Anders and turn him into a whiny, loony terrorist (I know this is unavoidable, but I still don't want to do it). And what happened to Anders' physical appearance in DA2? He's pretty cute in DAA. I guess Justice really took a toll on everything. Stupid spirit.