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[Ieldra]

What this is about:
I am making this thread to document my impressions of my first playthrough of Dragon Age Inquisition. Except for the first one or two chapters which deal with some gameplay mechanics, it is intended to be story- and exploration-focused, with little emphasis on combat. You can see it as a written equivalent of a let's play video (which I thought of making, but getting YT to do things as I want is too much of a hassle). I will mention things I find good and bad as I encounter them, but will not dwell overmuch on them unless they influence the whole experience. I have been reading some spoilers, but since I now have the game I have better things to do than to read more of them, so I'll go into the game mostly unspoiled.

Feel free to reply to this thread. I will add chapters to the OP and add links to further posts where necessary.

Technical parameters:
I am playing this on a PC which is able to run DAI on Ultra settings (I4790K/GTX980) at 1440p on a 32" monitor. I am using a Tesoro Durandal mechanical keyboard and a Logitech Performance MX wireless mouse.

Worldstate:
This is intended as a part of my pro-mage story arc. My Warden Eorlin Amell (the one from the mage manifesto) was followed by Rowan Hawke, an angry mage revolutionary who romanced Anders. Important DAO decisions: Alistair and Anora rule Ferelden, Dark Ritual done, Warden went through the Eluvian, Bhelen is king of Orzammar, the Anvil of the Void is intact, peace was made between the Dalish and the werewolves, Connor was saved from possession, the Circle of Magi was saved, the sacred ashes were not poisoned. DA2 decisions generally followed a pro-mage pattern, except that I sided with Larius in Legacy.

My Inquisitor:
Maelyn Trevelyan is defined in considerable detail in this post. For those who don't want to read that much, she is a mage who has had a not too unpleasant life in Ostwick's Circle, but is determined to not let herself be chained again. She is not angry, but quietly determined.

Her in-game realization does not include the scar, unfortunately, since I couldn't find one that matched the description. Her in-game appearance also doesn't have the braid, since when I made the description I was convinced we'd get braided hairstyles.

Spoiler

Day 1: From waking up to the founding of the Inquisition

I am....excited to finally lay my hands on the game I have anticipated for so long. After a few technical problems which have more to do with my own system than with the game, I started up the game, connected to the DA servers in order to be able to import my worldstate from the DA Keep, and started a new game. I was a little surprised by the lack of an opening cinematic but appreciated that I could immediately start to make my character, unlike in DA2 where I had to play through a part of the prologue first.

The character creator is a delight. The preset heads come across as a little odd, though, particularly their oversized lips. As usual in Biowares games, character creation takes me a while - about 90 minutes all in all - but unlike in every other Bioware game I played back to ME1, I managed to come up with a very nice face in my first attempt, and the difference between how she looked in the CC and how she looked in-world was minimal, in spite of the greenish lighting. On the bad side, I have to mention the hair. Hair is awful. Most hairstyles are atrociously tasteless and hair of most colors looks like plastic. There isn't even a proper black. The screenshots of my character mask this since they're taken in advantageous lighting. In-game, her hair looks anything between plastic grey, somewhat shiny black and dark brown. I can live with it, but considering how stunningly impressive the rest of the game looks - I'll get to that - the hair really stands out like a sore thumb.

On to the first conversation scene... I am in a dungeon, chained, and Cassandra and Leliana come in to talk about the Breach, which Cassandra suspects I had a part in. I have the option to be silent. VERY nice! Too bad the effect is spoiled by the following autodialogue, but I guess the plot has to be introduced somehow. Since I don't recall the details of what had happened, they decide to take me outside to show me the Breach, a gateway to the Fade from where demons and other spirits may come forth. The magical mark on my hand reacts to it. I am linked to it and Cassandra tells me that it will spread and kill me as the Breach expands. With this, I have a very personal motivation to find out more and close the Breach, independent from what I might think about anything and anyone here. Good.

Stepping outside, the game begins to show its true beauty. For anyone who hasn't got the game yet and asks whether the impressive published screenshots and videos do the real game justice, I can cay: no, they do not. They are but a pale imitation of what the real game looks like. The incredible details of characters' faces and outfits, the beautiful landscape that surrounds the camp, the lighting, it all combines to the most impressive visual experience I have ever had when starting a new video game. I am....impressed is just not strong enough to describe it. Enthralled, perhaps? Anyway, it has the effect that I find myself immediately within the world, and if not for the controls I have yet to learn, I could almost forget that I am in a game. One more thing that I didn't expect: the voice acting (of Leliana and Cassandra for now) is excellent, full of subtle timbre that is completely lost in most of the published recordings, where it came across as somewhat dry here and there.

OK....I pick up my jaw from the floor and continue. Down the path to the destroyed Temple of the Sacred Ashes which is out goal, I get into my first fights. The sequence of small fights consecutively unlocks more features, which takes a little patience if you already know what to expect, but the controls are actually unfamiliar enough to players of the older games that many may appreciate this. The first fights can easily be classified as "random fumblings". Things improve fast, but there is a noticeable learning curve. There is also a feature whose absence I'm likely to hate a great deal as the game progresses: there is no move-and-interact command. Whenever you interact with your environment, you have to stand near enough to it that you don't need to take a step. I can only see this as a very big step backward from the previous games, and the annoyance caused by it for the player is likely very much out of proportion to the effort needed on Bioware's part to change it.

In one of the fights, we meet Varric and Solas, who introduce themselves. The not-so-subtle tension between Cassandra and Varric is well-realized, and Solas immediately comes across as the party's mystery man. I'm already looking forward to talking with him in-depth. I am also called to make my first tactical decision: there are demons on the way to the temple, and we can charge them in a frontal attack - obviously preferred by Cassandra - or attempt to pass them by using a mountain path. Since I prefer exploration to combat and my character sees no reason to get delayed by minor fights, I decide that we take the mountain path. I can also ask Cassandra why I am making the decision, and she answers that I have the mark, thus I'm the important person here. Not quite convincing since I'm a mage and tactically inexperienced, but OK, the game needs an excuse to let me make a decision. I am willing to be taken in.

Further up the path, a minor fight in a narrow cave familiarizes me with what I suspect will be recognized as DAI's most important gameplay-related flaw: the tactical camera's inability to zoom through roofs. This makes fighting in close quarters...well, the annoyance factor is really going through the roof here, but I'll say extremely awkward. Personally, I am usually tolerant of suboptimal combat gameplay but I have to ask how this ever passed QA. I can only hope I'll never have to play a boss fight in close quarters.

A little later I am introduced to the mechanics of closing a rift - rifts are something like mini-breaches through which demons enter the world. Hey, why can't it be nice spirits for a change? I know the Fade is home to all kinds. Anyway, the mechanics are easy to learn but the rifts themselves are so bright that I have trouble seeing anything. As the one with the Mark, I can also use the rifts to temporarily paralyze demons, up to some distance away from it. This becomes important since I am now entering the temple for...

...DAI's first boss fight. We are seeing a past scene - those familiar with the lore can infer that this is the Fade's reflection of a scene that passes through the Veil because of the Breach - wherein the now-dead Divine has implored me to run away, which implies that I was there. Cassandra's suspicions are raised anew, but before she can say anything more, a pride demon materializes out of this rift. This is an enemy with an impressive list of immunities. I have practiced with the tactical camera in the recent fights and the result is that this one goes unexpectedly smoothly. I am zipping around the battlefield in the tactical camera almost competently, and the only downside is that the rift is - again - so bright that I can't see anything from certain angles and have to attack the enemy using only its outlined shadow. Regardless, this demon is taken down by making him vulnerable by draining the rift with my mark and then hitting him with everything we can - repeatedly. It takes a little bit but I end up having used only two of my eight healing potions, in my first attempt of this fight, on Normal difficulty, and I can see in hindsight that it might have been possible to get through this without having taken any damage at all. As I mentioned, there is a noticeable learning curve, but as long as there is enough space for the camera, you can fight competently using the mechanics provided by the game.

Of course I fail to close the Breach. If I didn't, where would be no story. I am knocked unconscious and wake up a little later confronted with a disgustingly fawning elf. Apparently people are impressed that I stopped the Breach from growing, even if I couldn't close it. After picking up a few items and reading some notes, I step outside to pass several groups of disgustingly deferential people. The priest-like figure (not sure what he is, the Chantry has no male priests) who objects to Cassandra's setting me free is almost a relief. Or he would be, if he didn't insist on my execution.

I take the time to explore the management screens. Oh, and I forgot to mention the level-up. Easy enough, but why does the skill tree have to be so big that it doesn't fit on the screen? That makes ability selection unnecessarily awkward. On the good side, I am extremely delighted to see the numbered Codex entries from DAO returning. I have always been an ardent Codex collector and now I can continue to collect. Also, while the text is often too big in the management screens (really, why does everything have to be oversized here?), the cards that accompany each Codex entry are beautiful. I already love the art style of this game (excepting the hair, of course). The quest screen and the maps I can't say much about yet since there isn't much on them yet. Inventory management appears to be smooth and easy, but yet again, the text is too big, there could be double the elements in the same space. I feel like in the bad old days of bad console ports where everything was oversized so that you could read it on a small SDTV screen from five meters. And here I thought these days were gone. Several other elements of the game's controls and interface elements whose flaws are minor on their own (no tooltips on interface elements, the need to use keys where you'd intuitively use the mousewheel etc.) augment this impression. While it works moderately well for the most part, the keyboard/mouse interface has clearly not gotten the attention it needed.

Now onward to the next scene. I am entering Haven's Chantry building, and interrupt an argument between Cassandra and the priest-liek figure, in the course of which Cassandra declares the Inquisition of old re-founded, and as they tell me this was an organization that fought for some order in a time of chaos. And they need me, of course, to close the rifts and finally the breach. I am not impressed - the things I read about this organization do not make me want to follow in its footsteps - but I need the Breach closed as well in order to survive. Cassandra and I shake hands to cement out cooperation, and I have to commend the animators here: Cassandras almost-smile is so perfectly expressive of the uncertainty and hope of that moment, with both sides not knowing where they stand with the other but knowing they need to co-operate, that it follows me out of the game. 

I am at the end of my first session with Dragon Age Inquisition. It has its flaws, but within an hour or two it has managed what no Bioware game since DAO has done: I am leaving this session smiling widely and in such a pleasant mood that it almost makes me forget the dreadful possibility that I may have to fight a boss in close quarters eventually. In fact, I am thinking of this possibility and I am still smiling, such is the impact of everything I find impressive about Dragon Age Inquisition so far.

 

(to be continued)

[Ieldra]

Since nobody has replied, I might as well continue this with a new post instead of adding to the OP:

 

Day 2, part 1: Haven

I have to mention one thing I forgot in Chapter 1. There was an instance of misleading paraphrases. When Cassandra tells you people almost revere you for what you did, the top left option results in the line "I'm mage" in an astonished tone. The line is ok, but the paraphrase - which I don't recall - is not even remotely indicative of what you're going to say. A small thing, but still very noticeable.

After the previous conversation, I am finding myself out in the open in the Haven camp. The log says I should report to Haven's Chantry, but before that, I'll explore for a bit. I find some notes - I'm beginning to suspect these little things will add considerably to immersion. I also wonder whether the cryptic ramblings of "The Randy Dowager Quarterly" (LOL) have some hidden meaning.

I meet Solas in front of a building and speak with him. He has quite a few interesting things to say about the Fade. I'm going to like him, but in response to his concerns about being an spostate, I find no appropriate response. I want to say something like "I appreciate your help, but I wouldn't blame you if you left". If you don't trust Cassandra but also don't want to say something dismissive, you're stumped here. At least the paraphrases appear to indicate that.
Another misleading paraphrase in a following conversation: when Solas asks you about a world where the Veil was not present, one option is "that sounds strange". What you're saying is "I don't know if I can imagine that". That is most emphatically not what I wanted to say.

I continue to explore. Adan the apothecary, I like him! Exploring the potion crafting tables, it takes me a minute to figure out how to actually make potions, as opposed to setting the equipment preference. Upgrading...so many options. Very nice, I'm looking forward to that. I've always been a good collector of stuff, this will come easily to me.

The tavern is next. I am immediately drawn in by the songs and before I know it, five minutes have passed just listening. Further along the way, I find some more notes in a house and speak to Quartermaster Threnn, acquiring a requisitions quest. No idea what to do about that yet.

Varric....very unexpectedly after the dialogue in the preview videos came across as a little dry, he's is usual sarcastic self. I'd even say the voice acting has improved, there was always a hint of the artificial in his DA2 dialogue, well-written and delivered as it otherwise was. That's gone. I continue to explore Haven, unlocking several crafting options and minor sidequests and speaking with several merchants and craftsmen. Down a path to the North, I find some iron for the first requisitions quest and fail to find Taigen's notes which should be around here somewhere. The scan reveals nothing. Hmph.

Further down the path, I find a logging stand I need for the first requisitions quest and claim my first location. I continue to explore the rest of this area. I have no idea how much iron I'll eventually need but better be safe than sorry. I also collect a ton of elfroots while I'm searching for those damned notes. I guess the purple cloud that appears on the map when I make this my active quest is the limit of the search area? Still no success. Grrr.... I finally return to the house and scan it centimetre by centimetre and find them. I should say it is deceptive how close you have to stand in order to find it, with the range of the scan being usually so much bigger. On my way back to the central area I speak with the templar Lysette and collect some more stuff. Hmm, if there is a templar here shouldn't there also be a mage? If there is, I haven't found her yet. Further along my way back to Adan, I also complete the requisition quest. I gain Influence. Good. And I almost didn't speak to Threnn afterward, which would've been bad, since I get the XP only then, leveling up to level 4, and also +1 Power.

Back at Adan's, I gain the recipe for a lyrium potion. Good. Also, it takes me several minutes to find out how to replace an equipped potion with another (drag and drop the icon for the new potion you want to equip).

At this point, a word about outfits. I equipped a piece of headgear called the Adventurer's Hat - and immediately proceeded to activate the "hide helmet" option. Not that the "hat" (it's more of a helmet) looks bad in itself, it's actually quite nice as a piece of decoration, but it looks bad on my character. It also appears to float on the head. Well, maybe that's realistic with the necessary padding of a helmet, and maybe it looks better with specific armor equipped, but for now I'm immensely glad I can hide it. Also, I am finding that I can equip my armor within Haven, which lets me hope that we can do this in Skyhold as well. The standard civilian outfit looks much better than I expected from the published material, but it's still a piece of clothing you would only wear in your own quarters and maybe with friends, certainly not for going anywhere in official capacity.    

Speaking of outfits, I found an armor upgrade in a chest and can now complete the tutorial crafting quest "Upgrade an armor". The new piece gives me +2 willpower on my Apprentice Mail. I'm beginning to understand the upgrading system, this looks like it has a lot of potential. Also, the fact that additional armor pieces are realized as upgrades makes armor management a lot more comfortable. The tutorial quest for crafting armors I can't complete because I haven't found any cloth yet.

Now it's time to go to the war room. I am introduced to Cullen and Josephine. Yet again, the pattern of excellent voice acting and technical sound quality continues. Cullen sounds considerably better than in the published videos, again adding that subtle timbre that makes him come alive and that didn't come across in the online videos. I am very impressed. Josephine - she, too, looks and sounds even better than in the published videos - and Leliana explain the strategic situation. People call me the Herald of Andraste and the Chantry has denounced the Inquisition, we must look to expand our power before we can do anything big. I have the opportuntity to deny that I am anything's Herald, particularly not Andraste's. Cassandra immediately continues to call me Herald, I must have a word with her about that. I also come to know that the priest-like figure opposing me earlier was High Chancellor Roderick. I guess we'll hear more of him.

The first war table mission is Scout Harding finding Mother Giselle, a chantry cleric who wants to talk, apparently open-minded enough to consider co-operating with the Inquisition. A very nice cutscene later and I get a report report. That also looks quite impressive. Really, I should stop to mention these things. EVERYTHING looks impressive except for people's hair.  

I can now go on my first mission, but I back out for now to complete some more tutorial quests and speak with my advisors. The mage Minaeve who does the research gives an account of her experiences with the Templars and the Circles before "everyone went mad". I should say this gives a much better impression of the Circle's good sides than DAO and DA2 ever managed to convey. Minaeve also accepts some of the monster parts I collected after some of the fights for her research, which gives me a damage increase against demons. Nice. Going to speak with Josephine, I find her in an argument with some Count DuRellion who purportedly owns Haven, who she handles nicely. Yet another character I'm going to like. I talk some more with her before I leave. LOL, seventeen invitations to Orlesian parties already....and that right after I declared how much I dislike such events.

Speaking with Leliana, I find she has a crisis of faith. I wonder if that's the start of a story or just a random event. Anyway, I also witnesss her give an order for an assassination, which I neither approve nor deny. I think she knows her job. Rather appropriately, when I walk through the tavern the minstrel sings a song about Leliana, "Nightingale's Eyes". The little things in this game.... Speaking of which, I also found a note about Andraste's bloodline which is reminiscent of a popular piece of real-world fiction. You can guess. LOL.

Before I head back to the war room for my first story mission, I go to speak with Cullen and Cassandra. I also experiment with the crafting system by buying and applying the available upgrades for Varric's crossbow and crafting a Maul, which surprisingly completes the tutorial quest "craft an armor" (I still haven't found any cloth. Odd). Cassandra...I tell her I don't believe in the Maker, her reponse indicates she has misunderstood what that means. Odd how these things follow me into this fictional world. Otherwise, I appreciate her blunt honesty, even though I don't share her faith.  Cullen....I recall him from DA2 and from DAO. He went a long way from his beginnings, as did the quality of his presentation.

 

Now onward to my first war table missions and my first story mission...

(to be continued)  
 

[Bizantura]

Thank you for being back Ieldra.  Walls of text are a bit daunting but refreshing much better then all the bashing that is going on since the game came out.

I don't mind criticism, but reviewing a game after hardly playing 1% of it and scoring it 0 because it is not your taste is like reviewing a very thick book solely by its cover.  Frankly I find it very insulting towards the team who made the game.

 

Please continue, looking forward to it.

[Ieldra]

(I should apologize for not putting up any screenshots, but I am playing the game and I'm having great fun with it. I forget, and then I have no motivation to revisit an area just to make screenshots. Not on my first run, where is so much of the unknown to explore)
 
Day 2, part 2: The Hinterlands, part 1:
 
I am doing a ton of sidequests. It turned out that meeting Mother Giselle was a simple matter of defeating a few bandits/renegade templars/apostates (I don't even recall what they were exactly) and then talking to her. The next stage of the questline involves going to Val Royeaux to meet representatives of the Chantry and convince them not to stand in the Inquisition's way. I need 4 power for what, which I already have, and if I didn't, a small number of sidequests would give it to me. So if you want to go forward with the plot almost immediately, you can. I do not. I want to start building my power base. Sidequests give you Influence (which you need to level up the Inquisition by acquiring perks), Power (which you need to unlock new areas and quests) and gear. I do not know when exactly I will continue the main plot, but I will not leave the Hinterlands before I have acquired enough power to unlock the two unlockable Fereldan areas on the war table in addition to Val Royeaux.
 
I'm also doing War Table operations. I am finding that - in my personal estimation and apart from in-game restrictions on some of them - some war table operations are suited to specific advisors, while it doesn't matter so much with others. I end up sending all my advisors on war table operations. Some war table operations require power as they unlock new areas, usually named "Scout <area name>", and these are sometimes concluded with a little cutscene showing something of the new area. There is one operation that connects to your background, in my case, dealing with some troublesome relatives of my family. After it is concluded, I have a conversation with Josephine about my family, where I can say something about how I stand with them. I like this. I have envisioned Maelyn to remain connected with her family, who haven't disowned her more than required by Chantry rules for being a mage, and this gives me the opportunty to anchor her in the world.

Back to the Hinterlands. The rationale for doing sidequests depends on how you envision your character. I see it as some sort of nation-building. Maelyn Trevelyan wants to build a personal power base in order to keep her independence once the bigger issues are dealt with. In other words, she wants to become a ruler, very much against the Chantry's rules about mages. A good way to do that is to convince people that you're a better deal than the competition. Low as her power is, that necessarily involves some legwork and dealing with small problems. In addition, exploring will give you raw materials for various things from item crafting and upgrading to powering up the Inquisition's forces. It is somewhat similar to ME3's War Assets system, but the connection between the sidequest rewards and your power remains more abstract, which - oddly enough - makes it work much better since you can infuse your own rationale for how this works.

I won't go through all the sidequests here but stick to random observations. I have to mention jumping. Bioware's games never had that before, and it results in some different ways to get around, as well as some added frustrations, which both will be familiar to anyone who has played the TES games. Jumping and climbing can sometimes provide a shortcut. Jumping over fences makes me laugh every time, recalling how waist-high fences and walls have often been used to mark implausibly inaccessible areas in earlier games. This new system feels much more natural, and where the map designers don't want you to walk, they have put ravines and cliffs for a rather more convincing "you can't get there from here" message. This also introduces the very familiar "how the heck do I get up there" moments I know from other games. This can be a little frustrating if you can't find a way for too long but generally works well. However, when intricate jumping sequences are required to reach a resource you need for a quest (a shard in my case), then it becomes an exercise in screaming frustration. I really wish the map designers had refrained from putting in what amounts to a jumping puzzle. Perhaps I'm lucky and this remains the only instance, but I already dread the next one.

Next item on the list, the unleveled world. This works really well. You can click on a distant enemy to see its level, and then usually decide not to engage. There is one rift guarded by a L12 Greater Terror, which materialized not too far away from me as I approached the rift, but I could walk away with no problem. This also makes it possible to sometimes sneak past enemies to reach a resource you want. In my case, there was an ocularium in an area with dragonlings I didn't want to fight. I ended up fighting some anyway but only because I misclicked. The shards revealed by that ocularium required evading enemies again and that worked well. Having said that, some enemies respawn if you leave the map and come back later, and if they do, they adapt to your party's level to some degree. I've seen this once and I don't know yet if there is an absolute level limit.

Speaking of enemy evasion, there is also the dragon. I must say that Bioware has done a great job depicting dragons as the awe-inspiring beasts of legend they should be, and fail to be in so many other games. When you see the shadow of a dragon on the ground....you flee into the next cave if you can. Not doing so - at least at the level my party was (6), may result in being killed by a fireball. This can be a one-hit kill. I explored the valley leading to the dragon's lair, always aware of the possibility that it might make another excursion, until I saw the dragon's lair. And then I backed away. I'm looking forward to engaging a dragon at some time in the future, but then I will come with a powerful party and specially prepared for the task. As it should be.

Of the normal enemies, I can only say beware the bear. Bears are unexpectedly powerful. They're not too difficult to kill even for an underleveled party but they do a ton of damage and you'll end up using your healing potions at an undesirable rate.

Next item, collection quests. There are a great deal of those. Even power-related quests are often realized as collections, such as "Hold the Hinterlands" (= claim all 6 camps). For those who don't like them: they are completely optional. It's not at all hard to acquire the necessary power to continue without ever completing any. I don't think I have completed any one yet and I still have enough power to unlock all optional areas AND continue the plot. So really, they *are* optional. Having said that, some may result in really nice rewards. I don't know yet.

So much for now about the Hinterlands. I'll play some more and then I'll be back.
 

Excursion: Tactical camera problems
The tactical camera controls are a well-known problem. After playing for some time, I find that you can adapt to most of the system's unintuitive features. However, I do NOT get used to not being able to zoom out far enough. I keep turning the mousewheel as if my fingers refuse to believe I can't zoom out further. I see this as a critical flaw. The effect is that very reluctantly, I keep friendly fire off, since I can't keep tight enough control of my party's movements without being able to see them all at the same time.

Excursion: The dialogue system
The dialogue system has improved since DA2. There is a less extreme pattern of "too soft/noncommital/too dickish" to the response paraphrases, and I find myself using more varied responses. However, the paraphrasing system still fails in conversations with more complex topics like faith, where the spoken lines inevitably convey more than the paraphrase, which means you never know in advance if a particular option works for you. Here's an example: In the first "Herald of Andraste" conversation at Haven, you can select "they're wrong", which makes you say "I'm not the Herald of anything, particularly not Andraste". First, you may notice that the first part of the spoken line says rather more than the paraphrase, particularly that you aren't the Herald of *anything*. This works for me because it's exactly what I want to say, but it doesn't work for people who have an aversion to Andraste, but wouldn't mind being Heralds of some other figure. I guess that's why the second part was added to the line (we know the original from pre-release material). Well, I wish they hadn't done that, since I do not want to make that distinction. That makes me ask myself if there is another response that better expresses what I want to say. And the fact that I don't know because the paraphrases hide the other options from me drives me up the wall. I feel like an Alzheimer patient, always wondering if I have forgotten something or not, and almost being driven crazy by not knowing my own mind (this does happen in RL, in case you didn't know).
This means that before I replay the game with another character, I will have to repeatedly load this conversation and memorize the spoken lines for all options. Yet again, the paraphrasing has resulted in an inability to make an informed decision about things I absolutely should know down to the last detail, namely the workings of my character's mind.

Excursion: the healing system
This works really well. The limitation on healing potions combined with the absence of healing spells results in a much more strategic approach to "clearing an area". Key to this is that you can almost always choose your fights - click on enemies at a distance to see their levels, and back off if you don't feel like engaging them. The enemies are designed so that you can usually survive an encounter or two even if you're severely underleveled, but you really don't want to engage more powerful enemies because you then need to return to a camp much earlier. Fighting enemies around your own level is fluid and with moderate competence you can easily reach the next camp in the course of regular exploration before you run out of healing potions. I am very much pleased about how well this works. This is on Normal difficulty, but if I don't engage more powerful enemies, I usually have enough of a healing potion reserve that I'm quite confident that it would work on "Hard" as well. I have so far not been motivated to "spam the fast travel". Rather, I have continued my exploration, more carefully if my healing potions were depleted, and in one case I sneaked to the next camp after having failed to avoid some bears. All in all, this adds considerable variety to exploration and fighting, and it gives me agency about how I want to do things.

[Ieldra]

Day 3: Hinterlands, part 2:

 

This is a short update since I spent most of the day wrapping up the Hinterlands. Did everything I could find except for the horse racing, the L12 rifts and the dragon. Collected all the shards, did all the Astraria, claimed all camps and found all but three landmarks. I guess I'll find the last one behind the dragon eventually, LOL. It appears I'll be back here for Redcliffe since it was closed to me at this time. I found some really cool Masterwork Vanguard armor for Cassandra I took off a L9 mercenary captain, then explored Valammar and was almost killed by some darkspawn in the Vault - which didn't have anything interesting in it except a mosaic fragment, to my great disappointment. While I have some nice crafted and upgraded armor for Maelyn, I am not satisfied with the weapons of my mages.

 

The game continues to look and sound fantastic, and the immersion factor is through the roof. Did I say that earlier? If so, it bears repeating. 

 

Now for the open-mouth event: After I went back to Haven, I had a new war table operation. "Locate Weapon of Tyrdda Bright-Axe". The timeframe was given as 24 hours with Josephine and 18 hours for Cullen!!!! Now my suspicion is this: I got this operation because of the number of landmarks I had claimed - the landmarks told the story of Tyrdda Bright-Axe after all - and the timeframe will probably go down if I claim the last three before I start the mission. I didn't want to wait though, so I sent Cullen. It won't be too much of an issue since the timer continues as I switch out of the game to write this, even if you're in the options screen, but that weapon had better be worth it. 

 

Now off to Val Royeaux. I have level 3 influence and 26 power after having opened up all unlockable areas except Val Royeaux. I did not visit the Storm Coast, the Oasis or the Fallow Mire yet.

[Ieldra]

Day 3, part 2: Val Royeaux and more companions. Visiting the Storm Coast.

 

I'm off to Val Royeaux to speak to Chantry representatives. Val Royeau is disappointing. I expected something more grand. Didn't the Chantry have a grand cathedral in Val Royeaux? Not only am I not meeting the Chantry people there - the meeting takes place on a market square - there is no hint of grandeur at all. Val Royeaux feels like a toy village, and the visual art has a noticeably lower quality than everything I've seen before. I wonder if something big had to be cut here. The art book appears to indicate they had bigger plans for Val Royeaux.

 

The meeting is over in short order. The Mothers who denounce me expect the templars to do....whatever unpleasant things templars do to upstart mages, but instead they walk out on the Chantry. The Chantry is even more in shambles than before. I wouldn't really mind, except this comes at an inconvenient time. Also, there's something odd about Lord Seeker Lucius' behaviour, which is confirmed by Cassandra commenting on it. That's something we should look into, but before I go back to Haven, I'll explore a bit. Also, things happen. A messenger approaches me with an invitiation from an Imperial Enchanter. An arrow hits the ground in front of me with a message from a "Friend of Red Jenny" that I should examine red things. I waste almost an hour scouring the map before I recall that I may have to use the search function instead of just looking. The search reveals a map location I should visit. Before I leave to meet these people, I examine the shops and buy some upgrades and the schematic for a Magister's Staff. Most of the equipment on offer I can't use yet since it's for L9 or L13. I am L9, but my companions are L8. Leaving Val Royeaux, we meet Grand Enchanter Fiona, who invites me to speak with the mages at Redcliffe. Good, I've wanted to speak to them anyway, but that's for later.

 

At a shady location somewhat north of the bazaar, an arrogant nobleman has been set up for an assassination. The assassin turns out to be Sera. She wants to join, with her "Friends of Red Jenny" supporting the Inquisition behind the scenes. LOL, Sera is confusing. Half the time I have no idea what she's talking about, but I like her. She's funny. Looking forward to talking with her more. Then off to Imperial Enchanter Vivienne's invitation. I have another opportunity to tell a pair of friendly nobles how I see things, then another one of the arrogant sort starts insulting me, only to be paralyzed by Vivienne as she comes walking down the stairway. Nice entrance. One wonders if she planned this. She asks what I want to do with the offender. I'm not the type who has people killed for petty insults, so he leaves the scene alive. Vivienne, too, wants to join. I'm not quite sure how she and Fiona will get along - not at all, I suspect - but I accept her offer. Vivienne is interesting....and extremely attractive, though I suspect we may have our differences regarding the Circles. I know I can speak with her about that, but I hope I'll also have Fiona's take on things.

 

Back to Haven, where I find that I have missions to meet the templars and the mages. Unlocking the templars' mission costs 15 power, which I already have, but I decide to put that off for now and look into the Wardens' disappearance which was mentioned by one of my advisers. I start two more war table operations unlocked by my new companions (Cullen's still looking for Tyrdda Bright-Axe's weapon), meet a messenger of the Bull's Chargers with a suggestion that the Inquisition might want to hire them, and could I meet them at the Storm Coast, then off to the Hinterlands to pick up yet another companion, the Warden Blackwall (yeah, I already know his secret, but Maelyn doesn't). Hmm. I had plans for romancing him, perhaps, but it turns out I don't like his voice. Not that it's bad, no, it just doesn't appeal. I wonder who Maelyn will end up with, if anyone at all. Cullen appears the most likely candidate. That would be rather fitting, reminiscent of Evangeline and Rhys, and indicative of the kind of setup I'd like for mages and templars - if mages' guardians would be companions rather than jailors, the requirement of having one around would be acceptable. I just don't know how much Cullen will disapprove my alliance with the mages.

 

OK, back to Blackwall. He offers to join, too, after a short interchange where he can't tell me anything about the Wardens' disappearance. It turns out he unlocks even more war table operations. Now off to the Storm Coast to meet with Iron Bull, search for hints of the Wardens and expand the Inquisition's power base even more.

 

The Storm Coast is as fantastically impressive as Val Royeaux is bland. I could just stand there staring at the sea for minutes. The illusion isn't perfect - swell of this size would run much farther up the beach than it does here and break with much greater violence as it does - but it's really good regardless. The haze in the air, the clouds, the sea, the rock and the way the plant life slowly gives way to rock and sand, together that makes for almost perfect immersion. Bioware's artists and sound designers did an excellent job here. I use an ocularium to search for some shards. Is it a bug that I have nothing resembling a crosshairs or a cursor that tells me where I've centered my view? I could swear there was one in the Hinterlands, and the haze makes it difficult to judge where I'm centering my view. Anyway, using the ocularium adds to the mood as I scan the sea and the mountains whose outlines I can vaguely recognize through the haze. I am completely taken in by the scenario.

 

At the camp where I arrived I met the Inquisitions' chief scout again, a cute-looking dwarf named Harding with an air of no-nonsense competence, who told me the area is infested with bandits. I (the player) have to laugh. I wonder if there will ever be a fantasy roleplaying game where there are no bandits as convenient targets. Nicely enough, though, this time it isn't just a matter of killing them. Apparently I can attempt to influence them after dueling their leader. For that, I have to craft...what is this thing, a weapon? No idea, but I need two serpent stones and a deepstalker hide for it. I have one and zero. Well, I need to meet Iron Bull first anyway so we walk down the path to the beach straight into a fight where together with the Bull and his people we deal with these "Hessarian Blades" - a rather pretentious name for a gang of bandits - in short order. Iron Bull is yet another character I unexpectedly come to like. Also, again I have to commend Bioware on their characters. Never have they come across as so real as in Dragon Age Inquisition. That they are so real with only occasional hints of artificiality showing through plays a big part in the fact that I like them even where they're not my type.

 

The Bull's Chargers get hired through Josephine while the man himself joins me as a companion. Before I continue exploring more of the Storm Coast, some party management is in order. I can't take Sera since I want her to be a dagger-wielding rogue (I have Varric for the range) but I don't have a weapon for her. I have a good dagger but it's L9. I want to take Blackwall but he has the same problem. Fortunately I have a sword schematic so I can craft a sword for him. The superior vanguard's armor I saved for him is, yet again, only L9 and up. This is a little annoying but I don't really mind, surprisingly. I have something to look forward to when my party reaches L9 (80% of a level to go). I also take Vivienne so my party is now Varric, Vivienne and Blackwall.

 

Now for a long period of exploration and collecting stuff again that I won't mention in detail unless something especially interesting comes up. I see a dragon in the distance, fighting a giant with innate lightning. Heh, no wonder it made its home here. I'll avoid that one, too, until I'm consirably more powerful and well-equipped. 

 

(to be continued) 

[Ieldra]

Day 4, part 1: Storm Coast, some general comments

 

Another short update. If my walls of text get shorter, it's because I'm enjoying the game too much. I don't want to stop to write. I've finished the Storm Coast quests - recruited the Hessarian Blades for the Inquisition - and explored everything there except the area with the primeval lyrium. The cave is closed for no reason I can see. I'll wait a bit to see if some other quest opens it up. I'm missing an ocularium and its shards though. I also sneaked past the dragon as it fought the giant troll or whatever these things are to reach a shard. I almost stepped on its tail, that was quite the moment of tension. Then it flew off and I haven't seen it since.

 

So much for what I did.

 

I'll now comment on the roleplaying. My character has consistently denied she's anyone's Herald so far, the game has given me that opportunity. Some people believe it anyway, I don't like that but I can't do anything about it and that's normal. So far so good. I can also express disbelief in the Maker although I've done it only once after Cassandra asked. In Val Royeaux I didn't see any reason to be intrusive with my unbelief. Very good so far, I will take this as an opportunity for roleplaying and hope the game responds to it in some way somewhen. Maelyn hates the fawning deference shown her by some people. She'd rather be quietly respected for having done some good. In fact, she has an easier time dealing with antagonism, and I imagine she tells Cassandra to kill her if she ever comes to enjoy that worshipful attitude. On the other hand, she does want power, she does want to rule. I have said that I don't like this scenario in the past, but it is actually more of a roleplaying challenge than a problem. It gives me an opportunity for developing my character and maybe change her a bit in the course of the story, and that I like quite a bit. No Bioware game has given me that kind of challenge before. If the game is responsive to my character's statements in that regard, this can become quite the story. So....I'm fine with the setup so far, and immensely curious about how the game will handle this further along in the story. I have managed not to be spoiled about that, don't ask me how. 

 

The paraphrasing drives me up the wall though. Not that I have met anything drastically misleading, or character-derailing autodialogue. No, it's not that bad. Instead, the paraphrases are often so cloudily vague that the connection between them and the spoken line - content-wise - might as well be a matter of rolling dice. There were numerous times I've flinched when I heard a line spoken by my character. Not that the lines were something I wouldn't have wanted to say, they were just too different in actual content from the paraphrases. I don't know what Bioware thinks they achieve with this but I hate it with a passion. If you absolutely must use this system, then at least give me paraphrases that are more indicative of the content of the spoken lines. Most of the time, this doesn't adversely affect my enjoyment of the whole package except in minor ways. But in those instances where it makes me flinch, it is hugely annoying, even more so since I don't see any benefit from being so vague. It's as if they made a roleplaying game where they don't want people to roleplay.

 

Now back into the game. I'll try to find that last ocularium before I move to Redcliff to meet the mages. Again, feel free to reply if you've made it through my walls of text. Maybe I'll add some screenshots later but don't hold your breath, that takes time I'd rather spend playing.

[Ieldra]

Day 4, part 2: In Hushed Whispers

 

I....am sitting here in front of my PC and recovering from this mission. It was...intense. In several very good ways.

 

As anyone knows who made it this far, this is the mission where you acquire the mages' alliance, and as a consequence lose the chance to gain the templars as allies. I would've attempted to gain the alliance of both sides, but.... things happened. Here is how things went:

 

I went to Redcliffe to speak with Fiona as she had invited me. When I arrived, the Tevinter enchanter Alexius had taken control of the mages and proceeded to discuss the herms of an alliance, which sounded fishy to me. Fiona didn't sound like her usual self, so I suspected foul play. This was supported by a message from Alexius' son Felix, who apparently didn't like what his father did, and I went to the Chantry building to meet him. Instead, I met....Dorian, the Tevinter mage who didn't agree with what most of his peers were doing, and particularly not Alexius, who experimented with time travel and time warping magic for an unknown purpose. They confirmed that Alexius was there for me, but they didn't know why. Some Tevinter mage supremacist cult named the Venatori was involved. For now, I had to get out and make plans, since Alexius would contact me again.

 

That did indeed happen. After going back to Haven, an invitation from Alexius came, and the obvious trap in the condition "come alone" was recognized. Dorian appeared and pledged his support. Alexius was his old mentor and he had helped him develop the magic he now abused. It was decided that Leliana would smuggle some of her people into the castle while we entered through the front door. I took Sera, Cassandra and Dorian with me and went to Redcliffe castle. Pretending my companions were my "attachés" to the not very smart guards the whole party gained entrance. 

 

Now things got interesting. Alexius called me a mistake that should never have happened. Apparently my presence - or I - at the old Divine's "sacrifice" had disrupted something and something had gone wrong for a person named the Elder One, and Alexius, who was apparently a henchman of this Elder One, wanted to capture me in order to find a way to correct that "mistake". As he ordered his Venatori to attack, Leliana's agents appeared from behind the doors and killed them. Alexius got mad and attempted a spell, which was interrupted by Dorian, and then........Dorian and I found ourselves in an unknown room reminiscent of the lower levels of Redcliffe castle overgrown with red lyrium crystals. Dorian explained that Alexius had attempted to cast me away into another time but hadn't been completely successful. We were indeed in some other time, but didn't know when. Dorian said he could possibly bring us back with an amulet carried by Alexius. We had to confront him. Exploring the castle we found my other companions, who hadn't cast away into another time and remembered what had happened. It turned out we had been cast one year into the future, and thus we got an inkling of what the world under the rule of the Elder One would be like.

 

We fought our way up the several levels to the throne room, closing several fade rifts and saving Leliana who had been tortured by the Venatori who suspected she knew something about how the Elder Ones' ritual had gone wrong, and collected several useful pieces of information. Alexius had been tasked by the Elder One to find a way to travel into the past, in order to unmake whatever had gone wrong. However, since this magic was connected to the Breach it was not possible to travel to a time before its existence. I was now very curious about my own role in this ritual that had been going awry. It's maddening I can't remember. Anyway, we finally confronted Alexius and killed him - his future version, that is - in a protracted fight that included closing two fade rifts. However, as Dorian set out to cast his reversal spell, which would take him some time, the room was attacked by Venatori and demons. Leliana - her future version, that is - sacrificed herself in order to gain us enough time, and soon we found ourselves in the present again, in the presence of Alexius who conceded defeat. 

 

The scene was interrupted by Anora and Alistair, who demanded to know what had happened, accused the free mages of having abused their hospitality by letting Tevinter mages in and forcing non-mages out of the town, and revoked their offer of sanctuary. I could now offer to take the mages in either as allies or as conscripts. I decied to take them in as free allies. There was some debate about this among the companions, with strong approvals and disapprovals, but in the end everyone had to accept my decision. I said to Cassandra she could see this as the mages' probation. And in the confusion caused by the arrival of the royals, Alexius had slipped away...

 

A mission appeared on the wartable where we attempt to close the Breach with the help of the mages, but something tells me it won't come to that. At the very least, we won't be successful.

 

So...how did I experience this? I should say that to find another central story mission with this intensity in a Bioware game, I have to go very far back. Back to BG2 and Spellhold, in fact, only with a drastically improved presentation. I totally forgot my surroundings and was completely in the story. The characters acted completely naturally, too. That was video game storytelling at its best. If you really want, you can find a few holes in the logic and the characters' behaviour, which is almost inevitable with things like time travel, but I think it was extremely well designed, and suspension of disbelief was easy. Also well-designed was the boss fight, and that surprised me after Corypheus. It was another three-stage battle where I had to close two fade rifts in-between fighting Alexius. That Alexius conjured an invulnerable shield while the rifts were active is hard to rationalize, but at least the rifts themselves were perfectly appropriate in a future world where the Elder One's reach extended almost everywhere.

 

I'd also like to say that it's impossible to do the mission justice with a written account. If you're reading this without having played the mission and are not impressed, play it before you judge.

 

Now on to the Fallow Mire before I tackle the next story mission. If things go on like this, DAI will become a serious contender for my personal "best game ever". I'm also curious about how the templar mission goes. I won't see that for a long time, unfortunately.

[Ieldra]

While I'm at it, I continue to be impressed with the visual quality. Just look at the details on this Enchanter "Mail":

 

[Irritum]

First of all interesting read, nice to see how other approach the game and also adding the "roleplay" aspect of it.

 

Now to my main reason for posting. Regarding Locate Weapon of Tyrdda Bright-Axe mission, did you recieve the axe itself? Is it any good? What kind of Axe is it, 1h or 2h?

[Tazz25]

Leldra,

 

Your post actually inspired me to refresh my logon so I could tell you how much I really enjoyed your observations.  I usually don't comment on games, although I read many.  I hope you continue with your diary, and I can't wait for my download to finish, so I can play.

 

Here's to the wide open spaces.

[Ieldra]

First of all interesting read, nice to see how other approach the game and also adding the "roleplay" aspect of it.

 

Now to my main reason for posting. Regarding Locate Weapon of Tyrdda Bright-Axe mission, did you recieve the axe itself? Is it any good? What kind of Axe is it, 1h or 2h?

It is no axe. It is a staff. The report commented on the mixup of terms. Though the weapon may be variable, depending on your character's class.

[Ieldra]

Day 5: Fallow Mire, Oasis and Skyhold

 

Today, I explored the Fallow Mire and the Oasis. The next story mission recommended L8-11 which meant that I wanted L12 if possible. Good that I did, really. I'll get to that. I won't cover Fallow Mire and the Oasis in detail, since it's all sidequests here.

 

The Fallow Mire is morbidly beautiful. You deal with some Avvar chief who abducted Inquisition soldiers, eventually defeat him and turn the Avvar into allies. The swamp is full of undead, which are easy to destroy but annoying because their poisonous arrows can do a surprising amount of damage. Also there are way too many of them, especially if you're going for a completionist playthrough and want to see everything. You'll have to get into the water here and there, which makes them appear. Another observation: it appears you can't do all the quests without the Deft Hands, Fine Tools perk which lets your rogues open Masterwork locks. One of the items of Blackwalls quest appears to be in a locked room behind such a lock. Maybe I overlooked something but I did a thorough search of every place I could reach around the quest marker and found nothing. 

 

The Oasis....is a convoluted mess of cliffs, ravines and mining tunnels, liberally sprinkled with ladders that go everywhere except where you want them to, created by a sadistic map designer who made sure that the path between any two points of interest is as convoluted as possible. Collecting the shards here is not something I'm looking forward to doing again. Some areas require a mage to "energize" a bridge. The presentation is not convincing, it's just as if a normal bridge appears out of nothing. This is definitely not my favorite map. However, collecting shards appears to pay off in a big way. You need them to open doors in the temple, where you get innate elemental resistances and some really nice elemental resistance items. I had collected all shards so far and could only open one path completely and another halfway. There are three elemental doors and one of unknown purpose here. That should tell you how many shards there are still to collect. There's also a sidequest involving a cave key I couldn't complete since the person I need to talk to is behind a stone door in the temple I found no way to open. Perhaps it needs more shards after all the elemental doors are opened, I don't know. 

 

 

Story mission "In Your Heart Shall Burn":

 

Now L12 and with nothing more to do, I start the next story mission, "In Your Heart Shall Burn". I have no idea what the title alludes to, if anyone knows, please tell. Anyway, in a cutscene we go to the Breach, and with the aid of the mages I manage to close it. I....did not expect that. Though of course that wasn't the end. As people were celebrating news came of a templar army marching on Haven, led by the mysterious "Elder One" in person. A short scene showed him and revealed it is....our (for those who played DA2) old friend Corypheus - which I already knew but I didn't expect this revelation to happen so early. The first part of the mission involves getting your trebuchets ready, defending them against attackers or retaking them in case they've been taken, and using them to trigger an avalance that will greatly damage the attacking army. It is a desperate but rather inventive strategy. Good. The Red Templar forces are surprisingly resilient and the fights harder than anything I had done before except attacking rifts while underleveled. I definitely recommend overleveling here.

 

The avalanches are triggered as intended, and we were about to celebrate our victory when a dragon appears and starts blasting Haven with dragon fire. Now we retreat to the Chantry building, and I have the task to rescue as many people as possible before we have to retreat fully. I don't know if it's possible to rescue all characters named in the quest but I didn't manage that.

 

Back in the Chantry building, we consider our now very limited options. Chancellor Roderick is dying, but before he does he tells me of a way to escape, a secret pathway. However, Corypheus is still there and he's after me personally. So the plan to deal with him involves getting the people out of the village while I draw Corypheus' attention, and then triggering an avalanche on Haven, burying Corypheus....and quite likely myself as well. I should mention that you can't opt out of this act of (apparent) heroism. You have a few options about how you present this plan or agree to it, but you do it willingly. If you have problems with that as a player, consider that this appears to be the only way to have anyone escaping. I didn't envision my character as particularly altruistic but personal courage and a determination to confront her enemy in person is not out of character.

 

The next part of the mission involves getting to a trebuchet and using it again. Aiming it takes some time, and you're interrupted several times by attacking Red Templars, the last wave lead by a monstrous mutated Knight-Captain. This is surprisingly hard. I had had to use too many healing potions and ended up with none when the last wave appeared, so I had to switch the difficulty down since I have an aversion to repeating fighting sequences if they're part of a story mission. It gets in the way of storytelling. Right as the trebuchet is aimed, Corypheus appears, I am thrown away from the trebuchet. It is my task to keep him distracted until someone else makes the shot to trigger the avalanche. 

 

Now for some interesting revelations. Corypheus does indeed start talking. He calls the mark an "anchor" and claims that I stole his purpose, which had something to do with ascending and becoming a god. It is a motivation I can understand, except that I wouldn't destroy half the world for it. I can't but observe that yet again, it is not the goal that makes the antagonist evil, but the methods he uses to achieve it. I also get an interesting insight into his personality. He says he wants to restore Tevinter to its glory, but he apparently thinks the world needs a god. He thinks I should want him to succeed, and gives as the reason "I have seen the throne of the gods and found it empty." All this makes him quite a bit more interesting as an antagonist than the person with the stereotypical villain lines from the pre-release publications, but of course it can't end well. He attempts to take the mark from me and can't, and then proceeds to kill me, when the trebuchet finally does its job - what the hell took them so long - and the avalance is triggered. The army is crushed, Corypheus is forced to escape on his dragon, and I am hit by something I can't see and the world goes black.

 

A little later I wake up, alone. In front of me is the cave that leads to the escape path used by the others, which I now follow. Something has changed with my mark when Corypheus tried to remove it, and I have gained a new ability: Mark of the Rift. A tutorial pop-up explains that this a a focus ability and that I get focus by damaging enemies. I can try out my new ability since just then, some convenient cannon-fodder appears in form of two despair demons. One use of the ability kills them both, as something like a small rift appears and consumes them. I'm told it's possible that you mis-click and fail to kill them, which will cause you to get stuck if you don't have a staff that can damage despair demons. I don't know if that's true but I always carry three staffs with different elemental damage with me anyway.  

 

I walk out of the cave into a blizzard. I am exhausted and can walk only slowly, and while I know the general direction from a quest marker, I can't see anything. A felt eternity later I walk out of the storm onto a ridge, and I'm found by my companions and saved.

 

We have set up a camp and I am overhearing arguments about what should be done now. Mother Giselle comments on it, resulting in a central roleplaying moment. We're talking about faith and that people believe I'm the Herald of Andraste, and how I feel about that. I get six options to reply. I am sitting in front of the screen and cursing the paraphrasing to hell. I don't know if there is an option I would want to take since I don't know what I'll be saying. The paraphrasing tells me not nearly enough but I can narrow it down to two possibilities. Now for second-guessing what the writer may have associated with these responses. The top left option sounds rather more harsh than I want to be but it's the only really committed one. On the other hand, committed may also result in a certainty I don't want to express. All right, I take the top left option and.....luckily, the spoken line is perfect. I stand up, walk over to the arguing companions and say: "All this happened because.....and arguments about the next world. It's time we start believing in this one." Phew. Bioware, this should really have been easy. Why are you making this so hard? Mother Giselle's answer is cryptic. "It's all one world, only our place in it changes." I wouldn't disagree with that statement, but likely still remain far away from what she wanted to express with it. What I said apparently inspired the others. Mother Giselle almost hesitantly starts a song, and the others join in one after the other. The song....I don't recall the lyrics, but it is a beautiful expression of hope. I am uncomfortabe about being its source, but while my hope does not reside in faith, I am no stranger to it. It is a touching moment, and well enough designed that only a complete cynic remains unmoved by it.   

 

It's decided that we need to find a new base of operations, and surprisingly it's Solas who provides it. It appears he knows of a forgotten fortress through his experiences in the Fade, and we make our way...to Skyhold.

 

Skyhold is...jaw-droppingly beautiful and impressive, a soaring castle sitting at the end of an icy valley in the remote regions of the Frostbacks, connected to the rest of the world by a half-buried road guarded by old watchtowers probably from the times of the Imperium. Unsurprisingly, it is not in good repair. We take it for the Inquisition. Everyone agrees that I should lead the Inquisition from now on, since everyone believes in me. As Mother Giselle said in the earlier conversation, some people have seen me buried under the avalanche and seeing me here alive makes them draw some rather nonsensical conclusions. I can explicity deny those to Mother Giselle, and surprisingly, she agrees but says it's more important what people's minds make of the event than what actually happened. I see her point but I still don't want to be a religious leader and I can say so. I can also express my astonishment about the fact that people believe all that about a mage. In the end, I reluctantly agree to the request but declare that I will do it to show the world that magic can be used for good purpose.

 

I now spend two hours exploring Skyhold. Skyhold will only be restored to full functionality after you've left and returned, and at that point, a number of upgrades will become available. Also, while discussing what's to be done about Corypheus, Cassandra mentions that Varric knows someone who might just have some relevant information about him. I'll get to that in the next chapter.

 

I've talked in some detail about the way the game implements roleplaying here in these character-defining conversations. I am very pleased with the various options I get for expressing my character. With the games responsiveness to that, I'm not as pleased. While it's not crippling, it still feels too much as if the game gives me options to express my character and then ignores what I said to continue in its predetermined track. I guess that can't be avoided without spending considerably more resources on it, but the fact that there is an understandable reason doesn't make it go away as a problem. All in all, it's good storytelling and roleplaying - as good as the limits of the medium allow, anyway - but in terms of the games' responsiveness to my character's statements, there is room for improvement. The most important thing, however, is that my character feels at home in her story so far, and about that I am *very* pleased. The contrast to ME3 could not be greater. 

 

Unfortunately, I have to mention the inability to change your character's outfit in Skyhold. This is really not good. I don't know why I could walk through Haven in my armor but can't do the same in Skyhold. Being constantly underdressed adversely affects the plausibility of everything that happens in Skyhold considerably. Standing at the wartable with my advisors and walking about speaking with my people clad in what amounts to a very stylish pyjama is an immersion-breaker of the first order. If two things about this game should be changed in a patch, it's the tactical camera and the inability to wear your armor of choice in Skyhold.

[Ieldra]

Day 6, part 1: Skyhold, specializations, Hawke and starting Crestwood

 

I have been sitting in judgment in Skyhold. That's a really nice feature for roleplaying I must say. There was the father of the Avvar chief I killed in the Fallow Mire. As a response to my killing his son, he defaced Skyhold's wall with goat's blood. Apparently he isn't all that angry about his son's death who made the mistake of taking the Inquisition's soldiers for Tevinter's, but tradition must be upheld and he was his son after all. I'm not the type to be vindictive over petty insults, so I "exile" him and his tribe to Tevinter and make the point that they can keep their weapons. That was easy, everyone's happy. Next was Gereon Alexius, the mage responsible for what happened at Redcliffe. I have several interesting options, including having him research magic and serving the mages, but I can't rationalize taking any of these options. If this man keeps in character and does research for me, the next thing that will happen is a rift opening in Skyhold by accident, and anyway Dorian knows as much about that magic as he. Imprisoning him would keep options open for later, that would've been possible, but I decide he's too much of a possible danger and execute him myself. I roleplay that I get little satisfaction from it, it's rather a grim necessity.

 

I am at the war table and wow, doesn't the world open up to be even bigger than I expected. I have some concerns about the story getting lost in a world this size, but it appears every area is connected to the story in some way, though it's sometimes minor. There are a lot of new war table operations, some repeatable. To my delight I see that I can let my advisors organize resource collection for me. I don't mind resource collection, but picking up common stuff like elfroot and blood lotus gets old after a while, especially it you need a great deal of it for some project. It also appears that different advisors will collect different types of resources. Speaking of the war table, the time every operation takes varies by advisor, and I take the time as an indicator who's best suited to an operation, even where it's not obvious from the description. 

 

After my acquisition of Skyhold, some specialist trainers appear to help me develop a specialization. They have very distinctive personalities. Oddly enough, the most down-to-earth type is the Mortalitasi, the rift mage had her mind affected by the magic and she says she learned fast so that I don't have to do the same. The Knight-Enchanter immediately asserts her authority as my master while I'm training with her and says after I'm finished I'll wield the same authority. I like how this decision isn't just a gameplay decision but also has roleplaying aspects. I'm caught between Rift Mage and Knight Enchanter. Maelyn has always liked the physical exercise of weapons training organized by the Libertarians back in her home circle, and the idea of being able to use a melee weapon is attractive. A rift mage would complement her already existing ability nicely, but the explanation sounds a little too much like brute force and little elegance. I don't like how the Knight-Enchanter's view is steeped in hierarchy, but then, it's my choice how to wield my skills, I don't need to copy her attitude. I don't need to decide now since any path requires collecting some rare ingredients for an item that defines the specialization. I don't have the resources for any of the recipes yet.

 

Also in Skyhold, I have met Hawke. I don't customize my Hawke since I know of the bug that makes my Inquisitor change voice actors. I can't recreate her DA2 face exactly anyway and some general features of the default face - skin tone and hair color - are correct. Most likely I'd change nothing but the eye color and the hairstyle anyway, as well as removing the blood swipe, of of that, only the eye color is a non-transient feature.

 

Hawke tells me of what she knows about Corypheus, and I can ask questions about her, and about Anders (who this Hawke romanced in DA2). This connects me nicely with my Hawke from DA2, though I haven't heard any snark yet. I head off to Crestwood, where a Warden named Stroud may have more information....and where I'm somewhat overleveled for most areas. That's not so good, but I was really glad to have been L12 for the last story mission. I'm not sure if I was just too reckless with my healing potions or if the last part of of "In Your Heart Shall Burn" (mage ally path) may need some rebalancing. The effect is that at L13, I get almost no xp from most enemies in Crestwood.

 

Crestwood is, yet again, impressively beautiful in its own way. A rainy forest area, and I also found a dripstone cave with convincingly wet features. The visual art of DAI continues to impress me to no end. I've a few examples of more detail and photorealism in a game, but none of them felt so alive and real. The immersion factor of DAI is 11/10. I also like how every area has its own identity. You'd think two areas with similar climate and vegatation would feel too much the same, but Crestwood and the Hinterlands are very different. The weather plays a part, of course, but I like how the weather - I see it as indicative of the most common weather in the area - helps define an area and prefer it to Skyrim's dynamic weather.
 

Now for actually doing something in Crestwood...

[Ieldra]

Before I forget to mention it, the little things in this game make the world come alive so much. I captured Caer Bronach in the Crestwood area, and witnessed some of Leliana's people playing cards in a locked room. I had the option to tell them "no slacking" or to be more lenient and just admonish them for locking me out of my own keep. They're refreshingly irreverent. After one of them said it won't happen again his friend remarked "Your nose a little brown, <name>?" only to be admonished by the third participant who then talked offhand about an assassination she had done. A funny little scene that also gives me some insight into the workings of my spy network.

 

A little later, I found two young people having a date in an abandoned building near the lake who implored me not to tell anyone.

[Ieldra]

Day 6, part 2: More exploration and Here Lies the Abyss, part 1

 

I have met Hawke and Stroud in Crestwood. We talk about Corypheus, what Hawke knows of him (from DA2 Legacy) suggests that the Wardens might have fallen under his control. She mentions Anders as having been affected as they explored Corypheus' prison (Which I find odd - I actually did take Anders with me there and he did feel the influence, but there isn't a DA Keep option to tell DAI that). We decide to meet at a Grey Warden Fortress in the Western Approach for further investigation, but before I go there, I wrap up Crestwood. Yet again I won't go over the sidequests in detail, but there are a few things to comment on.

 

The keeps you can capture feel significant. This isn't just "informed power" but you feel their impact through art and gameplay, and it is really as if you expand your Inquisition's power into the regions. You have crafting stations and merchants there who buy your loot (very useful) and sometimes sell a few things (most of the time not useful) as well as a number of NPCs to talk to. The commanders have their own identities, not on the level of the companions of course but they're real enough. You can't customize the keeps but that they're under a command of a specific advisor feels right for the two keep I have captured so far. They also are unique in their architecture and no Keep feels the same as another, and they are well-integrated into their natural environment. I have capture Caer Bronach in Crestwood and Griffon Wing Keep in the Western Approach.  Since the Western Approach is big and requires quite some time to explore, it's nice to have the keep there, If you don't use fast-travel to travel within a map (that's my playstyle choice), seeing it appear in the distance and drawing new as you stumble towards your local home, low on health and healing potions, those are intense moments.

 

Another notable event: the weather changes in Crestwood after I destroy the rift in the lake. It is somewhat odd though. The landscape looks sunny but it's still raining. Also, I recall there was a pre-release video about a choice to make about Crestwood, and burning boats. Either there's another mission there triggered by a plot event or it has been cut.   

 

In both Crestwood and the Western Approach, there are interactions between some of your sidequests and war table operations. For instance, you find a note about some suspicious activity, and since the culprit has flown you can task your spy network to find him. Leliana's people capture him and you can judge him as the Inquisitor at Skyhold. That's really neat, a lot of thought went into this. I have often accused Bioware of not thinking things through in some of the story elements of their games, with sometimes narratively disastrous consequences, but in DAI I see the opposite. Great care has been taken to make the world of DAI, and your Inquisition, feel as an organic whole. I recall one other game that attempted this (Fallout:NV), but while it has more elements to integrate, the integration is much better executed and quite a bit less buggy in DAI. Nice work, Bioware.

 

Also in the Western Approach, I collected enough Lazurite for my Spirit Blade hilt. Maelyn will become a Knight-Enchanter. Having to craft that at a requisition table instead of the weapons and upgrades crafting station is very unintuitive. In fact, I had to consult the internet to find out what I needed to do. I respec-ed my character and chose the upgraded Spirit Blade and unupgraded Fade Step from the KE tree for now. The Spirit Blade is done well: it does more damage than your spells, so that you're motivated to use it and get close to your enemies, but you still can't wipe the floor with your enemies. At the moment, this Knight Enchanter is still a little too vulnerable though. I kill my enemies faster, but since I need a barrier more often now the barrier cooldown is making itself felt as inconvenient. I guess I'll have to acquire a few more skills to become as overpowered as people say the Knight Enchanter is. I know I want to.

 

Lastly, I leveled up my Inquisition to Influence 8. That was significant since I acquired the Forward Scouts perk. Let me tell you that you want that perk. Why? Well...it marks Quarries and Logging Stands on the map. I had so much trouble finding logging stands since on most maps they don't stand out. They do in the Western Approach but there the distances are so great that you can miss unmarked map locations easily. One level earlier I acquired the Deft Hands, Fine Tools perk, and got an impressive schematic from the first masterwork-locked place I explored. It seems that perk, too, is well worth a point of the most valuable currency in the game. Now if only I had another point and could acquire Eagle Eyes, The items of Blackwall's quest prove troublesome to find here in the Western Approach. I think I scouted everywhere in a significant distance from the marker in that abandoned fort, but no luck so far. Speaking of which, I have companion quests for Blackwall, Dorian, Sera, Varric and Vivienne. All but Dorian's are some kind of collection quest, which I don't find really exciting. I hope there is more to them.

 

Remarkable sidequests from this day include an encounter with a non-hostile spirit. It says it embodies Command, is confused that none of the elements of this world can be shaped by its will (as things do in the Fade, for those unfamiliar with the lore) and refuses to leave until something heeds its command. I thought a little about this and offered to do something for it - I figured if it was too unpleasant, I could always break my promise. Well, killing a rage demon is definitely something I have no objections to, so I did that and returned, and the spirit left. I love these moments where Thedas' lore connects with your roleplaying to result in a unique little side-story that couldn't have happened the same way in any other fictional world.

 

Also, I found an old, half-sunken palace occupied by Venatori. There was a Fade rift affected by a time-stopping spell that I had to dispel in order to close the rift. So far so unremarkable but the architecture stands out as extremely beautiful. I have to check my Codex in order to see if any of the notes I collected said anything about its origin.

 

So much for the sidequests here. There are quite a few more which I don't mention because they're not significant but they all add to the world. I do not mind doing any of them, and since most of them include things I'd do anyway in the normal course of exploration, they don't feel like filler. "You want your research back and it's scattered all over the place. Well, I happened to explore all over the place already, is this your missing research?" The only quests that feel tedious are those where you need to search big areas, and they are that by intention. After all, searching for hidden things is tedious by nature. 

 

At this moment, I am standing in Griffon Wing Keep, preparing to go to Adamant Fortress to uncover the secret of the Grey Wardens' disappearance. Unfortunately, I have to end the game session at this point. For those who read this, updates will be coming more slowly from this point onwards since my five free days I could dedicate wholly to Dragon Age Inquisition are coming to their end.   

[Ieldra]

Day 7: Emerald Graves, part 1:
 
Unlocking Adamant Fortress, I found that it has a level recommendation of 12-15. I like to be slightly overleveled for story missions, so I decided to take a detour and the visit the Emerald Graves...
 
...and I find that I am unable to pick up my jaw from the floor because I also have tears in my eyes. The Emerald Graves are so beautiful that it makes you cry, a landscape of giant trees and rock overgrown with moss, and the sun shining through the cover of leaves to reflect in the water of brooks. I've never seen anything like it in a video game. It also has very dangerous wildlife, as I'm about to discover.
 
I'm here to meet a man named Fairbanks, who has problems with a gang of bandits calling themselves the Freemen who are apparently allied with the Red Templars. After talking with him, I find I am hesitant to involve myself in local politics, but the Red Templar connection makes the Freemen acceptable targets for me. 
 
I also redistribute my ability points again. As a rule, I don't like to do that because it adversely affects the continuity of my character, but it's a gameplay matter of being unable to make an informed decision about abilities. "Try out and see if it suits you" is way more fun than "consult this Excel Sheet about the synergy potential of DAI's combat abilities", and in a game this long you don't make a new character for minor variations. The result is a significant level-up in badass for Maelyn Trevelyan the Knight Enchanter. It appears that the KE is a worthy successor of DAO's Arcane Warrior. I like that. The downside is that I only have one ranged attack spell now. We'll see how that goes.
 
With this change and some inventory adjustment - some of my companions get new armor and weapons - I head off into the wilderness, and prove my newly-acquried badassery by defeating Sister Costeau in the Veridium mines without taking any damage at all. The L15 rifts here with rage and despair demons are a not quite as easy but I still rarely need a healing potion for them if I keep making myself the target and keep hitting enemies to restore my barrier. Varric draws a lot of aggro though, that can be annoying. I also kill my first giant, for no better reason that it was in the way of my claiming the cluster of landmarks on the way to Chateau d'Onterre. That took me one healing potion. A little later, I stumbled over a L20 rift. That took me three healing potions.....to get away from. Oops. Clearly being badass doesn't mean you can afford to be careless. Then I met a Great Bear. OK, I thought, I've had bears before. Well, not this kind - Great Bears are the true rulers of this map, if you discount a possible dragon (I've heard something in the distance but haven't seen any yet). That beast beats a giant one level above itself in resilience and does significantly more damage. It almost trashed my party and I was really glad that the next camp was just a few steps away.  All in all, I'm having a great time exploring this area. A nice mix of easy-to-trash enemies, challenging fights and run-for-your-life moments, and quite a few minor quest items and lots of Codex entries to discover. I am an ardent Codex collector. I'm about half through the game in my estimation (only a third of the story though) and the moment I got the Loremaster achievement is already a bit in the past.
 
In the most remote region of the Emerald Graves, I find Chateau d'Onterre, which is an empty palace which is haunted. I don't know how much of the spirit of the girl who acquired a demon friend is left, but if so, then perhaps she's not beyond saving. It appears it's the old story again: parents hiding their mageborn daughter from the templars, with disastrous consequences. Anyway, entering the courtyard I get a tutorial pop-up about the search function.....and find that I haven't understood it at all so far. I was annoyed that I was supposed to do random searches in so many area, which would've made these search quests incredibly tedious. I failed to recognize the significance of the compass flash and mistook the direction indicator as a random light reflection. Well, NOW I understand, and searching this way is actually very enjoyable and not at all tedious. I don't recall getting this tutorial popup earlier in the game, but it may have been in the prologue when my attention was on other things.
 
Solving the riddle of Chateau d'Onterre proved uncommonly elusive since I had pocketed the images with the clues without a closer look at them and couldn't find a way to review them afterwards. I didn't find them in the Codex, which I still find odd, but eventually I found that the journal has a function "review related Codex entries". Well, THAT is a useful function. I found the balcony key - I won't spoil it here since the way it is, well, handed to you is rather inventive - and killed the arcane horror I uncovered when deactivating that box. Clearly, nothing is left of the mageborn girl except a corpse possessed by a pride demon. Little things like this illustrate why the Circles existed. Being pro-mage, Maelyn Trevelyan has no objection to *a* Circle system, as long as it isn't under the authority of a religious organization predisposed against magic.

 

I'm making a short hop back to Skyhold to get rid of a full inventory, excepting a number of L16 items dropped by the giant. Nice, that's just half of a level to go. I also talk to some of my companions, share an hour or two of companionship with Josephine on the balcony, flirt with Cullen and decide he's too sweet for me and go to talk to the Iron Bull as an antidote, who is unfortunately occupied with drinking. Heh, that's someone I never though Maelyn would like, but between the deference shown her and things like Cullen's sweetness, she begins to think she'd rather have someone who neither coddles her nor looks up to her as a holy figure.

 

That ends this playing session. I still have almost half of the Emerald Graves to explore and deal with the Red Templar presence here.

[Ieldra]

Day 8: Emerald Graves and Here Lies the Abyss

 

Let me say this out of chronological order: after finishing Here Lies the Abyss, I had to stop playing for a few minutes. recovering from the impact of the story. That was just awesome. First the well-orchestrated siege scene that gives you an impression that your inquisition has really grown into a powerful force, your Inquisitor stepping throught the broken gate, then the sequence on the battlements that make you really feel like you're taking part in the siege. Then I had the history perk, and that let me convince Clarel to break up the ritual by appealing to the Wardens' heroic history. That makes you feel the impact of your Inquisitor's knowledge and voice. Then, the Fade sequence, with some very lore-appropriate gravity confusion when you enter, until the mind has chosen an alignment, the Fade itself extremely well realized with all the power of the engine, all while staying true to the spirit of the fade sequences in older games with their (optional) riddles and attribute bonuses. Again very appropriately, if not here then where, you have the opportunity to get your memories back which have been stolen by the nightmare demon. The revelation of the origin of your power and the identity of the mysterious woman, not the greatest of surprises ever since Alexius called you a mistake and having mentioned that you interrupted the sacrifice, but still a very good moment. I've rather relieved that the game goes out of its way to deny any direct divine intervention in regard to your power, though you can still believe the spirit you're talking to *now* is special. It denies nothing.

 

This Fade is not exactly beautiful, but it is not bland at all but appropriately weird and strange. You can rush through, but that deprives you of some fantastic scenery as well as a few tangible benefits. And at the end.....now *that* is a demon worth the name "Nightmare". Hawke's presence was an additional bonus. she actually showed some of her trademark snark and I could keep her alive since she really had less reason to give up her life there than Stroud.

 

I also think Bioware chickened out. And that's very, very good. I'm convinced that at some point during development, the choice was designed to be between Hawke and whoever survived DAO with the priority being the Warden > Alistair > Loghain. That would not have gone well.

 

There is a possible problem with Hawke's characterization. She is canonically against blood magic here, which appears problematic for keeping you connected with her if you weren't in DA2. Fortunately there is an earlier comment by some NPC I don't recall at the moment that different people mean different things when they speak of blood magic, and for some its specifically blood sacrifice and demon summoning. Given the number of insane blood mages in Kirkwall, with one of them having killed Leandra, I can't find too much of a fault with making Hawke canonicaly against that. 

 

After I finished Here Lies the Abyss, I found that quite a few of my companions didn't only comment on my decisions but had new conversation options. I found out the Bull likes to be hit , that Solas was outright angry with my acceptance of the Wardens' alliance for no reason I can understand, that Dorian can get really angry (not at me) instead of always being flippant, that Vivienne is a condescending b*tch (not that I didn't know that already) and a few other things. I also had a few talks with Varric, I think his writer did a great job of making him a bit more serious while keeping his basic personality intact. All in all, the dialogue scenes after this return to Skyhold are really good.

 

What I'm wondering is where are the rune ingredients? All I can make is spirit runes, for anything else I'm missing the essences. Generally, the balance between the weapons you can craft and those you can find has not been quite satisfying so far. Two companions are using crafted weapons, which is OK I guess but nobody is wearing crafted armor, and my Inquisitor has been using Tyrdda's staff since I left the Hinterlands. I wonder if I should take the crafting perks, but getting to the high-end ones is just too costly in perk points. Also, my Inquisition is level 9.6 and I don't know if there is a cap.

 

Earlier this day, I had wrapped up the Emerald Graves. Explored some more, was almost crushed by another Great Bear, closed some more rifts, did all the astrarium riddles and found all the shards. Annoyed that I can't claim the last landmark without killing the dragon by about half a step of being unable to leave combat mode. There are quite a few little sidequests in this area, and I did them all except for the map quests. I know approximately where to go but wanted to start with Here Lies the Abyss. The one L20 rift remains unclosed, and I wonder if that pavillon near the center of the map will reveal anything if I manage to light all the torches. Control issues have prevented me from doing so, since characters switch out of hold position mode if you order them to interact, and if that interaction fails, they come running. Too much of a hassle for now. There is some dungeon or tomb dedicated to the Emerald Knights in the remote corner of the map, with some dalish guarding it. I talked with them, revealing my familiarity with the history (yet again, I love how these perks enable me to play an educated Inquisitor), offered to help but didn't force the issue. I do want to know what's in there, but....perhaps later.

 

After that, Here Lies the Abyss which I've already commented on above. All in all, a very enjoyable and intense playing session. I'll do some companion quests and explore the remaining parts of the Western Approach before I go to meet the Orlesian court.

[Ieldra]

Day 9: Companion quests, wrapping up the Western Approach. The first dragon hunt.

 

I killed my first dragon. Wow. That was intense. It was only a comparably weak dragon -the one in the Hinterlands - I fought significantly overleveled, but it was still quite the experience. I like how the places where the fights take place are designed to accomodate them. The last stage required my team walking through a veritable wall of fire breathed out by the critically wounded dragon in a last desperate attempt to save its life. It is rare that a multi-stage fight doesn't feel contrived, but this one did it. If anything, the least convincing aspect of it was that I could fight it at all as a ground-based team with no flight capability. I got a few pieces of L4 crafting material, but only one of each kind, and I'm wondering if the bigger dragons will drop more of the stuff, or I won't ever be able to make a weapon of them.

 

I also felt bad about having killed the dragon. Such a magnificent beast, and I killed it for no better reason than it's there and I could. I should also mention I hate the tactical camera more than ever. They designed a tactical camera that manages the singular feat of giving you less of an overview of the battlefield than the 3rd person shoulder camera. Zoom out further, damn it! Why does this thing refuse my command? I am reminded of the spirit in Crestwood...

 

I had taken the Iron Bull with me on the dragon hunt, since he appeared to look forward to it whenever we approached dragon territory, and got a quite funny dialogue scene back at Skyhold. I can't believe I've come to like this character so much. Still not my type for romance though, and Cullen's too sweet and I don't like Blackwall's voice. I'll probably end up with Josephine - those two hours of easy companionship on the balcony, such things are the hardest to come by for Maelyn Trevelyan. Just a little scene, but so well-made that it sticks in my mind.

 

Speaking of companions, I'm doing a few companion quests. Oddly, Varric's tarot card suggests red lyrium influence when I didn't let him keep the shard in DA2. Also, Bianca! Finally! Another set of nice scenes. I love those two - and they deserve each other, in all the best ways. *cough* Mostly. The mission, though, ends abruptly. I wonder if something's been cut, I fully expected to go to another cave system after Bianca mentioned Larius.

 

Dorian's quest is next. Ah yes, Dorian's preference for men and Tevinter's breeding schemes, and blood magic rituals to change your own child's disposition. *Shudder* All too reminiscent of some practices in the real world. I wonder how the suggestion to just impregnate the woman and walk away would've gone over. Still, Dorian's anger doesn't even give his father an opportunity to speak, and he does wear a face of regret, so I tell Dorian to let his father talk. I do not know what they said behind closed doors but Dorian appeared to take it well. We have a short talk back at Skyhold. Having Dorian's friendship feels good....and bad *sigh*.

 

Sera.....a trap by a nobleman who doesn't like her. Heh, who would've thought that? The man's a slimy bastard who attacked my friends but I might have let him go, if he hadn't started this slimy weaseling-around. Since it appears he can't get to the point, I tell Sera to kill him and be done with it. She goes way overboard though, I'll not do that again. Hopefully she doesn't recall I'm a noblewoman, too, some day. 

 

Josephine, my friend, you're far too nice for your business. Let me help you out and send Leliana's people to steal the assassins' contract, that will speed things up considerably. I don't have the results yet, since Leliana was occupied with another mission and I had to wait for the resolution until the next playing session. 

 

Those were all companion missions I could do at this time, since for everyone else I either didn't have a quest yet or it required me to go to Emprise du Lion or the Exalted Plains, which I plan to open only after I've met the Orlesian court.

 

Before that, though, there is the Western Approach to wrap up. It appears to be the biggest area in the game, and walking around is somewhat time-consuming. Still, I like the place, it has a mood of its own and it's beautiful. I also like the way war table operations interact with exploration here as I explore, then send my people to clear stuff away so that I can continue the exploration in my next visit. Generally, the war table does an excellent job of integrating everything the Inquisition does. This time I explore an old Tevinter ruin taken over by the Venatori. I don't need to say it looks good, right? After killing some darkspawn and a giant the Venatori had brought under their control, I capture their leader and send him home to be judged. I also complete the Draconology quest - or nearly complete, since an "Abyssal High Dragon" sounds like something I don't want at the moment - and collect all the shards and complete the astrarium puzzle. The astrariums, btw, are one of those little things that add much more to the world than a simple puzzle, for the constellations are steeped in lore. Not for the first time I think that Dragon Age may indeed have a continuing protagonist - the world of Thedas. Thedas' lore may be less voluminous than Tamriel's lore, but then Tamriel is four times as old as Thedas, and Thedas' lore is less disparate and makes a more convincing cohesive whole. 

 

Back at Skyhold, I look at the impressive list of gear I want to keep but have no use for at the moment. Why the heck did Bioware's writers let my Inquistor say "I could store an army" when I explored Skyhold for the first time, if then I'm not even allowed to store a single piece of gear. The inventory perks I don't need. 60 items while exploring are quite enough for my need. What I need is long-term storage outside of my inventory. I would've spent a perk point on that. Well, there's no solution to that problem at the moment - though I hope there will be - but in a fit of impatience I sell everything I don't have equipped except for the runes, Cole's hat and the second staff I carry around in case I need a different element.  Hmph. I need storage, Bioware, Lots of it. Make it so!

 

And that concludes this playing session. I am now at Influence 10, and prepared to meet the Orlesian court. The Inquisition is a power to be reckoned with, and will be after Corypheus is defeated. Or so I hope, unless fate throws a wrench into my plans. 

[KaiserShep]

Good read, leldra. I can't wait to try a new playthrough.

 

The storage issue annoys me too, especially since I'm constantly crafting new stuff.

 

Edit: Considering the Hawke bug, I'm reluctant to play from the beginning any time soon, because I'd really like to get a proper playthrough where I'm not metagaming Hawke to look so different from my own version just to maintain my preference of voice for the Inquisitor. I'm praying to Mythal and whomever that BioWare patches this soon. Really annoying.

[Ieldra]

Day 10: Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. More companion stuff.

 

I hate time limits. Especially if they prevent me from exploring at my own pace and I can't return to the place later. Not having found all the Halla statuettes, all the caprice coins and not all the shameful secrets is maddening for a completionist like me. 

 

Having said that, this mission is great. A mission with a focus on talking and investigation is a very welcome change, even though the roleplaying opportunities are more limited than you might expect since you essentially have to play along to succeed. Maelyn Trevelyan was right at home there, though - getting her way with clever responses is something I imagined her to be good at, and so this mission fits perfectly. I also have to commend the designers of this mission for the mood: people were always talking about how dangerous a battlefied the Orlesian court is, and this mission makes you feel it. I was about ten minutes in, and the  tension easily matched that of a dragon fight.

 

The party starts with me and my companions being presented to the court. I brought Cassandra, Varric and Vivienne as well my advisors who are there by default. The presentation is...hilarous. Quite Orlesian how it manages to inflate people's importance. LOL, I never knew Cassandra had so many names. I manage to get through the presentation without being verbally stabbed to death and find myself exploring a bit. I find Briala's tracks and speak to the Empress's arcane advisor. Morrigan! I'll say more about her later, but it is good to see her again (from the player's view only of course). Being a mage, Maelyn has less reason to distrust her than others might have, and she convinces me she's more or less on my side if I choose to take the Empress's side, which I've already estimated to be the most likely course I will take, if possible. I want support and stability for Orlais, but not in a way that will leave a superpower with renewed  expansionism at my borders after the crisis with Corypheus is past.

 

Before the first excursion into areas I'm not supposed to be, I get to 90 court approval by various means including talking to people the right way, uncovering shameful secrets by eavesdropping and searching and telling Leliana so that she can use them, and....by being fashionable late to the main events. That's a nice surprise. Unfortunately I now need to leave the party for my investigation, which will be noticed. Since I don't know how much court approval I need, I play it safe and don't explore much, which means no more shameful secrets and only one more Halla statuette. We kill the harlequin assassin, get some new information, and I manage to sneak back to the party with only 2 points of court approval lost. Maybe I shouldn't have hurried, since in the following dance with the dowager you can easily gain 20 points, possibly more. More talking, more exploration to uncover evidence of Gaspard's and Briala's machinations. I and my advisors consider the options. We can let Celene die to make Gaspard take over. I have no objection in principle to this course but I don't see the benefit in it over Celene's continuing rule. I distract the guards in front of the trophy room and entering it, find some evidence against Gaspard, a caprice coin, and another Halla statuette. Now off to the royal wing, where after some exploration and the acquisition of another agent for the Inquisition, we find the mastermind behind the assassination plot is Grand Duchess Florianne, who's fallen in with Corypheus.

 

Needless to say, her trap fails to contain me and my party, and we hurry back to the ballroom. I have several options. Choosing to arrest the Grand Duchess sounds attractive but I fear she might get away, and the reaction of the court might not be positive if I can present no evidence, so I choose to save Celene and then deal with the duchess. Again I'm glad I went into thie mission overleveled, because the following fight is somewhat hard. Maybe I should've chosen to arrest her anyway. 

 

After the fight, yet again I have to hurry back to the ballroom to confront Gaspard. I present my evidence to the empress, failing to mention Briala's machinations, and he's condemned to death as a traitor. I wonder if court approval plays a role in how this plays out, if different things happen at different thresholds apart from the one that keeps me in the party. Anyway, this mission has succeeded spectacularly. The Inquisition has the respect of the empress and the Orlesian court as well, adn they promise their help against Corypheus, but I can't stop thinking about the secrets I missed....

 

Back at Skyhold, I talk to my companions to hear what they think about the events. Varric promptly invites me to a game of Wicked Grace, where I get to tell an embarrassing story from my place of origin (it's a nice touch to make this a fade-to-black moment so that you can insert your own version. good for roleplaying) and wherein Cullen loses his pants. There is much hilarity. Also, the possibility of Leliana and Cassandra becoming the new Divine is brought up and I go to talk with them about it. I don't share their faith, but both want to make some reforms in the Chantry, and I'd rather have a reformed Chantry that keeps things together than, for instance, ten thousand disparate cults of the Maker should the Chantry be dismantled. Thankfully I can defer the decision to later so I don't have to lose an advisor or a companion at this point. I should say Cassandra has been growing on me. She's one of those rare people whose faith I don't share but who are otherwise perfectly reasonable and easy to deal with (yes, she is that - just don't be needlessly antagonistic) even when talking about the things we disagree about. Also, I appreciate her statement about how the Chantry as it is is not a home for people of virtue if they're otherwise unsual, like Varric. I also talk with Leliana, and find I can't really see what kind of Divine she would be. I guess there will be more about that later.

 

Now, about Morrigan. She has joined the Inquisition as an advisor at Celene'e command, and she says she doesn't have a problem with that. In the following conversation, she explains why it is important to oppose Corypheus from her point of view. I find hers an interesting perspective, one that I also thought about but could never bring up with anyone else. I am also introduced to Kieran, her son, a curious child who I (the player) know to carry an Old God's essence. She makes a short statement about Kieran's father, and then proceeds to show me her eluvian, taking me on a short trip through and back. A fascinating revelation. I immediately see the potential in that. We need to prevent Corypheus from acquiring an intact one, but I also think about using the eluvians for the Inquisition. That one of them is now located in my castle makes me very much aware of the opportunities it presents.

 

At this point, let me express my complete satisfaction and delight about how Morrigan was written so far. She has noticeably grown as a character, showing awareness of the situation's complexities in a way I would not have expected from her earlier self but which appears completely natural here. She's noticeably still the same Morrigan I came to love in everything that matters, and as a mother she appears to be protective but not coddling, as I'd imagined her to be. She also appears to have acquired some wisdom. It's almost like she's the counterimage to Corypheus. Like him, she has knowledge and power beyond that of most mages, which sets her apart from other humans to some degree, but she didn't let that consume her or turn her into a monster. I may have more to say about her when I know more of the story, but so far I really love how Morrigan has turned out. 

 

Now, the story continues. With Morrigan's explanation, I know I must head into the Arbor Wilds. I have heard that this starts the game's final, so to speak, consisting of two missions. If that's so, that would be rather abrupt. I feel like I'm still in the middle of the story rather than approaching its end. Maybe I shouldn't have played Here Lies the Abyss first, because that felt much more like being on the offence against Corypheus, and would translate much more naturally into a final sequence. Maybe this is the reason for some people's statements that the story is too short. As I see it, there is certainly enough content in it, even should there be only one more story mission and the final fight, but the pacing appears a bit off. No big matter, since I can draw things about by exploring three areas I haven't seen yet - the Exalted Plains, Emprise Du Lion and whatever hides behing "stop Venatori activity in the west", but it will still be noticeable. We'll see.

 

Before I head off to the Exalted Plains, I can finish Cole's companion mission since I have found the amulet for him. Solas and Varric speak for different ways to protect Cole against being bound, and after an encounter with the man who killed the "real" Cole, so to speak, the one from whom this spirit has gotten its memories and parts of its identity, I face a difficult decision: I can use the amulet and Cole stays more like a spirit, or attempt to make him deal with the problem like a human would, making him more human. Solas objects on the grounds that Cole's nature as a spirit shouldn't be changed, and that's why I end up choosing Varric's way. Not that I think being human is all that great, but I have a strong belief that if you want to change your nature and you have the means to do it, you should not be prevented. Still, it is a difficult decision since I also think Cole's existence as a spirit - like anyone's and anything's - is of value by itself, and he's not sure about where he wants to go. I can only hope we have done well by him, but when he asks about how he'll be able to put honey in Leliana's tea without her noticing and Varric says he might be able to help with that, I get the impression this may turn out well. Cole, I must say, is an absolutely fascinating character, with his alien mindset but still so genuinely caring for people in a way that's almost unheard of among humans. I wonder what he embodied before he became Cole. Compassion, perhaps. All of DAI's major characters are memorable, but Cole stands out as something apart from the usual archetypes, that likely required some serious thinking on his writer's part. I am impressed.

 

Now off to the Exalted Plains, where I discover I'm horribly overleveled, but that's for another playing session. Meanwhile, I should add that there is so much content in this game that I can't cover it all in detail. I'm sorry about that, I feel that there are things I'm not doing justice by mentioning them only in passing. Almost everything in this game is a whole level better in storytelling and roleplaying than in any other of Bioware's game's ever since they switched to voiced protagonists, and while I find it's almosts impossible to compare it to games before that because they feel so different, I think it also surpasses all of their older games. A part of this is the improvement in the storytelling voice I've mentioned elsewhere. It's as if suddenly, Bioware's writers have grown confident that the events of their story and the characters speak for themselves, and they don't have to hit the players over the head with how they're supposed to take them. "Maturity" is a word too much used in debates about these things, but that's exactly how it comes across to me.

 

Before I forget it again, I have to mention how the war table operations enhance the way you feel you impact the world. Often, their outcomes vary depending on which advisor you choose for them, and that means how you roleplay these choices affects the world. It's actually sometimes more convincing than missions you attend to in person, where there is, sometimes, still the impression you get your say and the story continues on its predetermined path, leaving you no real impact. I suspect war table operations are easier to make in this way because no cinematic scenes and no dialogue is required, and because they're of a smaller scope so that you can write their consequences into the story without having to address them in future games. Anway, the result is that the war table feels like the primary way I impact the world as the leader of the Inquisition, while the roleplaying opportunities in the quests serve more to flesh out my character but apart from the plot forks where I make major decisions, have no impact on the world. This combination works surprisingly well.

[Ieldra]

Day 11: Exalted Plains. More Companion stuff. Romance.

 

The Exalted Plains - flaws of older games manifest on this map in a most annoying way. The dominant feature of the Exalted Plains - at least the northern part you spend the most time with - is an abundance of walls and slopes just high enough that you can't jump or climb them, while looking as if you should easily be able to do that. This screams "Take the predetermined path through this area, don't even think of attempting your own". Add a plethora of collection quests that make you revisit areas again and again searching for stuff you really should've been able to see on an earlier visit, several search-and-collect quests that don't use the search function (!), veritable hordes of undead that often pop out of nothing (not that this is not plausible here, but that doesn't make it less annoying), and a map design apparently ruled by the idea "make it as much of a PITA to get around as possible", and it's pretty much a time sink with very little fun. I usually like the occasional hard-to-get item where you need to find your way to the top of a cliff or something like that, but added on top of a map like this is just makes me scream at my screen. On the Exalted Plains, I had more moments of being returned to a place with 10% health after attempting to go somewhere I was not supposed to, than in the rest of the game together. I also used the search function exactly two times - for the map puzzles, which are nice as always - on a map that abounds with collection sidequests. OK, maybe it was three times - I vaguely recall finding a bottle for the collection "Bottles of Thedas"

 

As a result, I'm very glad I went into the Exalted Plains drastically overleveled. Gaining almost no XP is an acceptable price for at least shortening the time you spend fighting undead. I had thought of attempting the dragon, but yet again, getting to it from the nearest camp is a pain. It's probably not worse than on other maps, but added to the other map features it just drains me of motivation. 

 

Anyway, what I deal with here are several Orlesian forts and camps cut off from each other by hordes of undead summoned by the leader of the Freemen here. I free the forts and burn the body piles from which the undead were made, and help some people out by things like collecting letters from fallen soldiers, marking supply caches and suchlike. At two places, I need wartable operations to open up new areas, one opening the way to the white wyvern Vivienne want me to deprive of a feather, plus the dragon, and the other opening up the way to a remote fortress, also almost taken by undead. All in all nothing I'm not prepared to do, and plausible enough, story-wise, but actually doing them - well, enough complaining.

 

The southern third of the map is rather more pleasant. There is a dalish camp there. The elves can't move on because of the civil war (The news that it's ended have not made it here before I arrive, as becomes clear talking with the Orlesians), and I get the opportunity to recruit one of them for the Inquisition. For that, I must gain favor with the Keeper by doing a number of easy tasks for him he can't spare his own people for. Ironically, the one crafting resource I need to collect for them I don't already have in abundance (that includes the Great Bear hides) is Elfroot - I spent too much for the Skyhold upgrades - so I make a short trip to the Hinterlands to buy some from the merchant in the refugee camp, who has an unlimited supply. I also need to deal with some demons at a graveyard and find a missing man, which I had already found before I arrived. 

 

With the Exalted Plains done (I'm still missing one map region and have no idea where it might be, while having all the landmarks), I can now finish Vivienne's companion quest. What she wanted that feather for is surprising. Nice to see she's capable of love. Not that this makes me like her any better (my Inquisitor anyway, as a player I appreciate her as an interesting character). While I respect her ambition, her condescending attitude is grating.

 

Speaking of companions, Blackwall went missing. I'll deal with that later, for now I have to speak to Josephine. I have the feeling that the romance is about to become real. And so it proves. After Leliana makes veiled threats about what she'll do to me if I hurt her friend, I speak with Josephine to tell her about how I'm attracted to her, and we have a kiss followed by a nice scene of easy companionship in my quarters. I really like how this romance is made around the idea of just spending time with your loved one. It comes across as completely natural, and in Maelyn Trevelyan's experience (as in my own RL experience btw), a combination of easy companionship and sexual attraction is much harder to come by than either of those alone, and as a result is very much valued. Less natural though is the way the romance is "locked in" by talking to Leliana, which comes across to me as "I tell the game to lock the romance". I guess the writers wanted to make the romance lock-in as idiot-proof as possible, but it's awkward. There is also a possible problem with autodialogue. The scene in my quarters assumes that I've told Josephine about my talk with Leliana, which fits Maelyn Trevelyan perfectly, but since this says something significant about you as a character, this should be a choice. Others may not be as satisfied with this scene as I am.

 

Before I go to liberate Emprise du Lion, I make a short trip to Dirthamen's forgotten temple whose location was revealed by researching the scattered glyphs in the southern part of the Exalted Plains (that quest was, btw, very much ok since it isn't such a pain to get around in the southern area). The temple has a puzzle of scattered body parts you must collect and use in a ritual in order to re-awaken a corrupted high priest. Not a good idea? Well, no, but there is a magically sealed door..... which of course we unlock by killing the "Highest One". I had some trouble finding the way to the last body parts since I had overlooked - and failed to loot - exactly the one body with the ornate key, but I like puzzles like this. The reward was a little disappointing, but that was more because I was overleveled. A purple weapon for L14+ characters and a rune I think it was, not too shabby. I also can't stop thinking about whether it would've been advisable to put the body parts back on the altars, and whether my failure (read: inability) to do so means this "Highest One" will rise from the dead again after I'm gone.

 

Now onward to Emprise Du Lion.

[Ieldra]

I have to interject here to express my delight! I have just spoken with Morrigan, and we had a chat about the Hero of Ferelden. It happens he's on a quest to fight the Calling, Which is exactly what I thought my Warden would do at some time. Also, Avernus research was mentioned, and she talked about contacting "her" Warden. I don't know if anything will come of that operation, but the way she talked....I couldn't stop laughing for a full minute, so perfectly Morrigan that was, the almost grudging affection in her voice, the way she said if she'd sent him a message he'd think she missed him and be insufferably pleased with himself. ROFL.

 

That was one of the rare perfect moments in video gaming. Thank you, Bioware, for making this possible! 

 

Now back to Skyhold. I must sort my dragon loot.... I'll write about that later.

[Lynx]

I made an account just to post how delightful it is to read your diary of your impressions through the game. Im still before skyhold (mostly since I re-rolled my mage qunari to a dalish ranger, but still), but I dont care very much for spoilers anyways. The Journey is everything, after all, and this game makes SO MANY THINGS exactly perfect that I can hardly wait to see some of those awesome stories you write about unfolding.

It`s good to have Coripheus back, btw, I felt he was wasted in a DLC in DA2, he was far too game-breaking storywise with his confirmations of Tevinter`s myths about the Darkspawn and the Old Gods and the Golden/Black City to be just ignored. I felt extremely pleased when I saw him attacking Haven (ok, maybe PLEASED is not the exact word when I saw him and his darkspawn dragon coming to destroy me, but I digress...)

Fact is, please continue! I love your diary, your roleplaying, and I cant wait to do all those things myself. Im more than 30 hours in and it feels like I barely scratched the surface, specially after being drowned in War Table options after Skyhold, the specializations and the TONS of new areas unlocked with dozens of sidequests, astrariuns, shards and whatnot.

Not only that, but now you have 12 (YES, TWELVE, plus morrigan later) characters in your skyhold keep that you have to chase to talk in-between exploration. And also tons of crafting and customizing for several areas of the castle... Im feeling so terribly overwhelmed, I can hardly decide what to do first...

Plus I hate the fact that I have to walk skyhold in my pajamas, but I hope that`ll get patched soon or at least a minor bonus through a DLC.

Also what is the bug about customizing your Hawke? I did that with my new playthrough (since I did play DA2). I didnt notice my character`s voice changing... is it random? Maybe I just didnt notice it...

I guess I wrote enough... anyways, keep on the good work! Im here with you! ;D

p.s: also I need to express how awesome the characters are in this game. In DA2 most of my companions were pretty bland. We had whiny mage Anders, goody sister-mage Bethany, grumpy ex-slave Fenrir (which I romanced, though), roguish-backstabying Isabela and Naive dalish. Aveline, Sebastian and Varric were the most interesting characters of all. But they were all kind of bland, considering.

 

The characters of this game are NOT bland. They each have an intriguing personality that opens up the more you get to know them. In my first playthrough I used to rely on Solas, Cole and Cassandra. I despised Sera, found blackwall kinda strange and Viviene extremely annoying.

However, after my re-roll, Im finding Seras awesomely written and folk-wise, Blackwall extremely coherent and conscious of everything - he gets in Sera`s JOKES and they have very funny moments! I also had to finally give in to Vivienne`s point of view about the mages - they are like fire, pretty but extremely dangerous, and what she speaks about each Circle being its own world and each "templar" being human - some better, some worse is completely true.

Fact is, if Mages were so extremely opressed we wouldnt have people like Solas, Anders, even Hawke (which is more or less default mage) wandering around.

Heck, even Vivienne's a courtisan and she`s a mage... not talking about Dorian, too. Mages have way more freedom than many believe. I`ve gathered intel on my codex that say that many circles were little more than formalities.

On a side note, Tevinter also have circles, but as Dorian say, they are like Universities - places of knowledge and study, not some kind of prison. If possible, that is what I would like to have the circles of Thedas become. After allowing mages to take part in the Chantry, of course....

man,,, I don't know when to stop writing, do I...

[Ieldra]

@Lynx:

Thanks for the appreciation. I'll certainly continue until I'm finished. Should not be that long now. I agree, so much of this game is fantastically impressive that it's hard to do it justice in a written account.

 

 

Day 12: Emprise du Lion, more companion stuff, romance, and another dragon

 

Before I get to this day's events in DAI, I should mention two things that have come progressively more annoying to me personally as the game progresses:

 

(1) Especially as a mage, I miss the ability to switch my weapons in combat. The reason is that I can't know in advance which kind of demon I will face at the next rift, and rather often, I've been going into fights with the wrong staff, i.e. one against which the primary demon coming out of that rift is immune.

 

(2) My Inquisitor's animation. I don't know what the animators were smoking when they made the animations for the female Inquisitor. In many cutscenes, my Inquisitor walks as if she has hot coals between her legs. In some cutscenes, her standing pose is reminiscent of an old woman, and something's off about the way she sits her throne. There is also an exaggerated hip sway in normal gameplay but I got used to that and it doesn't bother me anymore.

 

Now of this day's events.

 

I am back at Skyhold after a talk with Solas. I had been doing his companion quest, which involved dealing with a spirit friend of his who had been bound by some mages. When we arrived, it had turned into a pride demon, which happens, so Solas said, when a spirit is forced to act against its nature. I could either attempt to turn it back by destroying the elements of the binding ritual, or just kill it. I didn't have time to think that statement over - I'm still not sure if it makes sense, lore-wise - but the attempt to free the spirit couldn't hurt. If turning it back didn't work, we could still kill it. So we destroyed the ritual pillars, and the spirit did turn back, and then died. NOw at Skyhold, Solas commended me on my wisdom and the ability to think beyond black and white. Since this is exactly what I had been trying to do all the time, not just in matters of spirits but everywhere, it felt very good to see that acknowledged. The question of how to relate to spirits is an interesting one. Asked whether spirits are people, the most appropriate answer appears to be "some of them are". I have seen spirits that changed, grew in experience and had emotions, and while their nature remains somewhat alien to humans - as indicated in this scene by what I'm tempted to call the "Standard Bioware otherness marker", glowing green eyes - a spirit can be enough like a person that it makes no difference. 

 

This may also be the time to mention how much I love my quarters at Skyhold. In the normal course of playing, there is little reason to go there, but it does feel like a home and I tend to stay a while when an interactive scene puts me there. I also like how my main hall gets more impressive as the Inquisition's influence grows. I wonder if I can reach Influence 15 and there will be another change. There might just be enough points available. We'll see.

 

Now it is time to deal with Blackwall. After what I read about the matter he involved himself in, the revelation of who he really was didn't come as a suprise. I go to talk with him and then send agents to get him out. I'm a sucker for people earning their redemption if they genuinely regret what they did - and if they actually did something that requires redemption, about which Bioware and I do not always agree - so I tell him to go and join the Wardens in truth after the matter with Corypheus is settled. Phew, I'm rather glad I didn't romance him. That revelation would not have gone over well with my Inquisitor had she been more personally involved with him, and not because what he did in the past, but because he kept his past secret from her.

 

Cassandra's companion quest is next. She has a problem with fellow Seekers disappearing, meaning the ones who kept out of the mage/templar war. We go to Caer Oswin in Ferelden - another very beautiful place if I may mention that again - to find Lucius has turned fanatic and wants to destroy the world and a new, purer one reborn. Why he thinks accepting an offer from Corypheus will help with that escapes me, but fanatics like him rarely make sense. We kill him, and back at Skyhold, Cassandra and I talk about the future of the Seekers. She appears to favor that Seekers become more like questing knights rather than the Chantry's secret police, about which I have no strong preference, so I tell her it's her decision.

 

Now off to the Emprise du Lion. This is a beautiful area where an early winter has set in, which may be connected to the two dragons who have made their home here. I am here to liberate the area from the Red Templars. The map is also very linear with one fork, with the paths broad enough to include some interesting features but the design is still very noticeable. I remove Red Templar forces and establish a sequence of Inquisition camps where theirs used to be. At the Tower of Bone camp, there is a three-way fork, all of whose ends I'll eventually have to take. On the way to Suledin Keep in the West, I have to go back to a camp before I really want to for the first time in this game. I had been fighting two giants at the same time, which was one more than I expected after a note told me that there was only one surviving giant from the Red Templars' experiments, and ended up with two healing potions left and the party at 60% health. I might have gone onward, but then I read a note signed with the name "Imshael" and decided it was better to go back and resupply. Good that I did. The fight wasn't exceedingly hard, but it would have been without going back to resupply. 

The southern fork brings me to the Sahrnia quarry, which Cullen had wanted me to raid for some time. I killed all the Red Templars there, freed all the captives and found all of Samson's notes to bring back to Cullen. That triggered a sequence of war table operations in order to find Samson and uncover what he'd been about. It was something about letting red lyrium grow in people. This is, btw, the same Samson from DA2, who had turned into a Red Templar general. The operations to uncover his location will continue into the next playing session.

 

The way East from the Tower of Bone camp requires that the bridge is repaired in a war table operation, which had been in progress while I was exploring other parts of this map. The area beyond the bridge features a number of level 20+ rifts - and two dragons of my own level. So why did I decide to attack one of them? Well, the reason is that there's one element of video games I really, really hate - difficult boss fights at the end. So I'm determined to squeeze every drop of advantage out of the game before I get to that boss fight, and the dragon kept me from using the ocularium to collect the shards, by which I can get innate elemental resistance. So  I attack the dragon after going to a camp to equip some potions. I still can't believe I survived that fight and won. We actually didn't do all that badly, but the dragon managed to to a lot of damage and I ran out of healing potions and focus healing. and when the dragon was at 1% health the last of my companions fell and I couldn't revive any because there were too many dragonlings around. So I decided to try and do the rest single-handedly with my Knight-Enchanter, which seemed almost hopeless since I was low on health, too and the way the dragon kept stunning me kept me from keeping up my barrier indefinitely by just whacking away. When I finally killed the dragon, my health was so low that there was no green visible on my health bar, and I almost ended up being killed by a dragonling *after* I had killed the dragon itself because I was so relieved about my survival I didn't pay attention for a second. That would've been embarrassing. Fortunately, my barrier was half up at that point.

 

I can say the fight was worth it in more way than one. Not only could I now use the ocularium, the dragon dropped enough level 4 crafting materials to make a staff or a suit of armor of it. I think I got 20 pieces of dragon bone alone. Now if I only had a level 4 schematic, I could start making the ultimate weapon or armor. I'll probably need 24 pieces of dragon bone and I have 23, so another small dragon might be enough to get me there. I have no idea where to get a level 4 schematic though. I have the perk for mage schematics but that only gave me level 3 schematics. Maybe the Deluxe Edition will give me new variants of the dragon gear after I finish the next story mission. We'll see. 

 

After I defeated the dragon, I collected all the shards and left the Emprise du Lion. Back at Skyhold, I spoke with Morrigan - see my previous post for that, I must smile every time I think of it. I have no idea if I'll ever hear of my Warden again after DAI, but if not that's perfectly OK. I know he's alive and doing stuff I would make him do if he was still under my control, and he's still with Morrigan in a relationship that is, as she says, much less domestic than you might think. I can't imagine a more perfect way for my Warden to walk out of the story.

 

But now back to Inquisitor Maelyn Trevelyan, who has become quite fleshed out in my mind, and the game has actually done much more to aid me than hinder me in that regard, which I admit was rather unexpected. I get another example of this when I talk to Josephine and she asks how she should respond to requests for details about the spirit I met in the Fade. I'm torn between "It wasn't Andraste" and "say nothing". Maelyn has become a little cynical about this and thinks most people believe what they want regardless of the truth anyway, so why say anything at all?

 

Before I end this playing session, there is the matter of a duel to attend to which came up because of my relationship with Josephine. Unfortunately, that's a scene I will have to disown, because Maelyn Trevelyan would never have agreed to do any of this in public, starting with the duel and ending with the declaration of love. I also happen to dislike the "original" scenes from which this one takes its inspiration. I'll pretend this is Varric's embellished version and in reality, all this took place in a more private environment. The following scene with Josephine in my quarters is nice though. I also wonder if you'll be less awkward in the duel if you're a rogue - not that Maelyn came across as incompetent, but it's clear she was overmatched. I would have a problem with the same being shown of a warrior or rogue Inquisitor. If it is the same - which is what I suspect - this scene has even more speaking against it from a roleplaying perspective. Some writer has been in love with this kind of scene way too much.

 

Now onward to the Hissing Wastes. where it appears I'll deal with Venatori again. Good, I've had enough of Red Templars for a while.