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[Pressedcat]

Although I'm really enjoying DAI in general, I think the weakest part for me is the open world style and the effect this has on the narrative flow. I enjoy the exploration aspect and the different regions look great, but it can feel as though going to these areas is taking time away from the threat at hand, resulting in the story loosing momentum and feeling less coherent. I tend to try and play missions in RPGs in an order that I consider makes narrative sense, rather than diving off to collect certain items of gear. In some of the more linear past BioWare games, there has been a more apparent progression through main missions and side quests, but in DAI I'm struggling a bit to work out an order of play that will allow me to at least visit all of the regions without feeling like I'm ignoring the main quest line.

 

For those of you that have completed the main game, did you suffer from a similar problem and what order of missions and regions did you feel flowed most naturally?

 

I restarted my first play through because I had kind of got lost wandering different areas whilst ignoring the main quest line and the story had gotten somewhat lost. I have recently restarted, this time with an eye to trying to maintain a narrative flow (though with a bit of head-cannon to allow time out to do some side missions).

SPOILERS AHEAD


So far I have:

• Played through the intro;
• Visited the hinterlands to meet Mother Giselle, staying just long enough to feed and clothe the refugees;
• Made a trip to Orlais for the meeting with the Chantry;
• Gone to the Fallow Mire to rescue my troops and build my forces;
• Returned to the Hinterlands, picked up Blackwall and met with the mages, hitting a deadlock with them and clearing out the apostate mages as I leave;
• At this point I head cannon some downtime as the Inquisition attempts to make contact with the Templars so that I could;
• Quickly visit the storm coast, pick up Iron Bull and investigate the Grey Warden trail with Blackwall;
• Returning to the main quest, I met and allied with the Templars;
• Briefly visited the Hinterlands to attempt to clean up the rogue Templars and pick up horse for the Inquisition;
• Made a second attempt to seal the rift, get attacked and end up in Skyhold;
• Spend some time consolidating my power base at Skyhold (talking to everyone and sending out emissaries on the War Table) before thwarting the plot against the Empress and mending the rift with Briala;
• Cleaned house a little (Sera's march mission and another quick visit to Orlais for Josie's quest and the start of Calpurnia's);

At this point I am unsure whether to go to Crestwood to begin the next major point or try and find out what has happened to Gaspard and the Empress' warring troops...

 
Anyways, to draw this meandering post to a close, what order do you like to play the missions in and when do you find it makes most plot sense to visit the regions not tied in with the main plot?

 

Edited for better post flow (ironically).

[AlexiaRevan]

Hum...

 

I usually go like this : 

 

1- Do intro with Cass - Make choice with scout or charge 

2-Talk to everyone , get Lumber then HinterLand 

3- find some camps till you have 4 Powers and go to Val royaux so I get Sera and Vivi

4-Come back to Haven , Talk to them . Meet Krem , go to Coast get Bull .

5- Go back to Hinterland get BW ; go back to haven and unlock his warden mission/Varric Lyrium 

6- Do side quest and close rifts . then tackle mage and templars . Thats when usually the bear spawn in their place . By then you are on the other side of the map . 

7- Once I'm done , I have 3 rifts left that are lvl 12 and I'm around lvl 9 . I go to redcliff and Side with Mages . 

8- Ya can take alexius offer now or do the coast . 

9- I usually leave the zombie map for after I get Skyhold . Then do crestwood after it . 

10- Do the Oasis once I get all shards from Hinterland and the coast , open at least 3 doors and grab some loot . 

 

And some ordes for maps here : http://gaming.stacke...is-for-my-level

[AlexiaRevan]

and yes . if you are used like me to Games that lead you with story from area to area , this new system like Skyrim will feel overwhelming . 

 

The Game doesn't give you any indication what level they are (unless you go there and click on an ennemy and you shouldn't have to!) ...and you don't wanna over Level too much . 

 

I usually pick and do side quest . Like in Crestwood , pick and do everything you can (dead bodies quest and spirit one)....and everything on your way . Cose I like to clear them in one go and hate having to run back for that one quest I missed . 

 

The 1st time I played , I followed the Story so in the end there are maps I never went to cose the Story never led me there 

 

To this day..I have yet to see the Hissing Waste Map lol 

[Patchwork]

I'm not a fan of backtracking so I headcanon a few things to do areas in the order I prefer.

 

 -Intro with Cas, charge or mountain pass depends on the character.

-Talk to everyone, get lumber, research notes and Varric's lyrium quest. 

-Go to the Hinterlands and do most of the quests leaving the templars/mages if I haven't had the requisitions only they drop loot for (if I have I stockpile). By the time I go back to Haven I usually have enough points to unlock all dialogue perks.

-Go to VR and pick up Vivienne and Sera.

-Back in Haven I do the rounds, debate whether or not to interfere with Leliana's Kill Butler plan and accept Krem's offer to meet the Chargers.

-Storm Coast, recruit the Chargers and Blades of Hessarian, complete the available quests. 

-Find Blackwall and go speak to the mages. 

-Consider the next move; is this character the type to go to the templars in hopes of getting their help to fight Tevinter mages or walk into the obvious trap in the Chantry?

-Make the choice and do the mission.

-We're waiting on lyrium so I can afford to to travel to the Fallow Mire and rescue a few soldiers. 

 

-Seal the breach, meet Cory and travel to Skyhold.-

 

-Talk to everyone, go get supplies from VR, be amazed at Skyhold's transformation in such a short time, talk to everyone again picking up personal quests for this segment and agree to Cullen/Leliana's plan to learn more about Cory's second in command. Lock in a LI.

-Helping Solas' friend is better than waiting around for Varric's to show up so off to the Exalted Plains we go.

-The Freemen lead to the Emerald Graves.

-Back to Skyhold and meet Hawke, stop Cas from killing Varric. Go to Crestwood.

-But instead of going with Hawke to the Western Approach I have to go to the Empress' ball. 

-Collect personal quests most of which involve bleh backtracking so I put them off until after the Western Approach.

-Luckily The Western Approach neighbours the Forbidden Oasis, it's easy to do them one after the other.

-It's going to take time to organise an assault on Adamant which gives me time to do the personal quests and finish up any outstanding quests in those areas. 

-Invade Adamant Fortress. 

-We can't go to the Arbour Wilds until Inquisition forces are back from Adamant and we've re-supplied which means I can investigate the stories coming out of Emprise du Lion about red templars and see if I can learn more about Cory's plan in the other elven ruins I'm aware of.

-More personal quests, more backtracking. What to do about Blackwall? What to do, what to do.

-Arbour Wilds.

-Flemythal stuff.

-My default romance breaks up with me and I need space so it's off to the Hissing Wastes I go.

 -*

 

-Cory throws a tantrum and I rip him apart on a cellular level and send him to bed without any supper.-

 

-*

 

*I'm not sure where to fit JOH in yet, I could do it while waiting for Cory to make his final move or do it after when my character might want to prove defeating a blighted ancient magister isn't the only purpose for the Inquisition.

[Pressedcat]

Thanks for the replies.

 

One thing I feel this game (and in fact quite often other BioWare stories) can suffer from is a lack of breathing space between main story missions. I notice you both 'head cannon' dead-times between some of the main missions during which the the inquisition consolidates its new gains or waits on another party to respond to its overtures. This can give a good opportunity to go and tackle some of those optional regions or deal with inner-circle stuff.

 

Occasionally the writers will imply an in-game delay; as is the case when you recruit the Templars and are told you will have to wait on them arriving from Therinfall Redoubt before you can close the rift. I can't help feeling that future games would benefit if this was done more often, with the writing team every now and again including dialogue stating there will be some kind of delay before the main quest can continue, during which time it would make sense for the main character to tackle secondary problems. What do you think?

 

Edit: Also just checked that link AlexiaRevan, that information is good to know. I really struggle to not over-level in this game, so region order can be an important issue.

[nightscrawl]

I posted mine in another thread a while ago, but I'll repost for you...

I shouldn't have to say this, but there are SPOILERS in this list.

I'll just list my play order and you can decide whether it works for you. This includes ALL zones and likely WILL leave you out-leveled for a portion of the game. However, my primary goal is for story progression, not difficulty. To determine the story order I relied on NPC dialog as well as Codex entries available within the zones (such as those regarding the Freemen or Red Templar activity).

DISCLAIMER: I play on Casual, so you might need to be a higher level to do some of the missions than my recommendation if you play on a higher difficulty. I've also never completed a templar play, so I don't know if some of the content of the Hissing Wastes (or Emprise du Lion) changes based on that due to the concentration of Venatori activity.

NOTE: The term 'urgency' is used to describe the level of urgency given to certain events due to NPC dialog or other factors. Yes, you CAN leave the events for a later time, or never complete them at all, but that would require you to completely ignore NPC pleas for help and such, which I feel takes away from the immersion if you just expect the game to wait for you to take your sweet old time. (My comments regarding Hawke below do take this into consideration, in addition to the urgency created by talking to him/her in the first place. IMO it's a balance and you have to decide what feels right to you.)

If, like me, you are concerned about being too over-leveled for some of this content (but still want to complete everything), you can certainly avoid turning in most of the quests (particularly in the Hinterlands) until the end of the game. I typically complete everything, but leave finished quests sitting in the log until I'm ready to turn them in.

1 Hinterlands
----- In Hushed Whispers / Champions of the Just - I strongly recommend doing either of these as soon as possible. You can get the required Power Points by setting up camps, closing low-level rifts, recruiting companions, and doing some miscellaneous Haven quests, thereby leaving most of the Hinterlands untouched for later exploration with the full party of your choice (including Dorian + Cole), which is not available until after you arrive at Skyhold.
2 Storm Coast
----- In Your Heart Shall burn - Again, I do recommend doing this early so you can stay within the level range of some of the zones. After arriving at Skyhold I avoiding talking to Hawke at all because that simply sets the urgency ball rolling. I wait until I'm ready to head to Crestwood and begin the whole sequence of events leading to Adamant.
3 Fallow Mire
4 Exalted Plains (civil war, part 1) - Do NOTE that if you leave all of the civil war stuff until after the Winter Palace some of the dialog with NPCs is (can be) different.
5 Forbidden Oasis - This zone can really be done at any time, or never if you don't care for shard collecting. I place this here for personal RP reasons.
6 Crestwood - Due to urgency, I recommend taking Caer Bronach, draining the lake, and closing that rift before leaving the zone, even if you don't do anything else there.
7 Western Approach - I suggest taking Griffon Wing Keep before leaving the zone.
----- Here Lies the Abyss
8 Emerald Graves (civil war, part 2) - I recommend resolving the final Freemen of the Dales conflict there before moving on.
----- Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts
9 Emprise du Lion - Be sure to clear out the mine, take Suledin Keep, AND talk to Mistress Poulin again before leaving the zone. Because of Codex entries found in the mine, I recommend completing Red Water area after clearing it out.
10 Hissing Wastes - This can be done before or after What Pride Had Wrought. Because of the structure of some of the dialog I recommend after, leaving the final missions to be done in succession.
----- What Pride Had Wrought
----- The Final Piece
----- Doom Upon All the World
EPILOG - Enjoy the party + optional boy/girlfriend time .
11 Jaws of Hakkon DLC - Due to the level requirement, and it just making sense that you would undertake this search after the world is saved, I recommend this for post-game play.
END (until the next DLC is released).

[Ellana of clan Lavellan]

One thing I have to add is that I think it's better to do "Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts" first, and "Here Lies the Abyss" after that, because 1) better pacing overall as Wicked has less action than Abyss, and Abyss will neatly fill the gap between Wicked and "What Pride Had Wrought" in terms of pacing; 2) from a RP point of view, dealing with the assassination of the empress seems to be a more pressing matter than delving into an investigation on the Grey Wardens (until you know how deep the rabbit hole goes when you get to the Western Approach); and 3) I think if you play Wicked first, from a storytelling point of view, the story benefits from the fact that you get to learn the truth behind the conclave during the prologue at approx 2/3 of the game, whereas if you play Abyss first, you get to know what happened almost immediately after your nemesis has kicked you to the curb in Haven.

[nightscrawl]

... dealing with the assassination of the empress seems to be a more pressing matter than delving into an investigation on the Grey Wardens (until you know how deep the rabbit hole goes when you get to the Western Approach)...

You do have a point here. However, I think that the presentation of meeting Hawke provides its own urgency. Right after you arrive at Skyhold Varric says that he has a "friend" that can help, and to my mind the game is all but throwing this meeting in your face. And once you've met Hawke and get the suggestion to go to Crestwood, I don't think it makes sense to delay, which is why I just ignore Hawke for a time. If you don't go meet him/her, Hawke is basically standing around waiting for you. Seems kinda odd.

 

To me it's an either/or with the head canon required to make it work as far as urgency is concerned. I think you can either temporarily ignore Hawke, or pretend that the ball isn't scheduled to happen for however long.

 

In their effort to make the game non-linear I think the devs got a bit carried away with these particular missions. There is the story aspect of wanting to handle the most pressing issue, but there is also the gamey aspect of knowing that you can put them off for as long as you want. IMO it kinda kills any sense of real urgency provided by the story.