I didn't find a thread about DAI zones, so I would like to ask which one you liked/disliked and why.
My favourite zone is Hissing Wastes because I love full moon and wind blowing around and because there was almost nothing I would have to search for, so I could really enjoy that feeling the whole time.
Favorite: Hissing Wastes - best ambience and best schematics.
Least favorite: Exalted Plains - tedious to navigate and loot is very difficult to detect against the pale ground color.
^ I think Hissing Wastes is wonderful, too. A desert at night-- it was a wise choice.
I think The Hinterlands is actually done incredibly well-- it's very well-developed, has a perfect amount of things to do, and I like that there are towns attached to it as well (Crossroads, Redcliffe).
Emerald Graves might be my favorite because I love the Elven lore associated with, and within, it, as well as many of the missions. I love the missions of Western Approach, as well-- I think it might take the cake for most enjoyable missions, though the actual environ might not be #1 (matter of opinion).
My favourite area is the Emerald Graves, because of the Elven history, quests and one of my favourite dragons, the Greater Minstral. Beautiful scenery to fight a dragon as well. Honourable mentions are the Hissing Wastes, because of beautiful desert nights and Dwarven ruins. And the Frostback Basin, gorgeous area and sunsets.
Least faves are Exalted Plains and Fallow Mire. I get the Exalted Plains are the war torn area, but it's just so bland and boring. At least Loranill is recruited as an agent and you help the Imperial army. The Fallow Mire has not much going on after rescuing the missing soldiers and recruiting Skywatcher. Running around in a swamp full of undead is just.. ugh...
I didn't find a thread about DAI zones, so I would like to ask which one you liked/disliked and why.
My favourite zone is Hissing Wastes because I love full moon and wind blowing around and because there was almost nothing I would have to search for, so I could really enjoy that feeling the whole time.
yeah I like the moer windswept locations too especially with the fact that armours are affecte3d by wind in the game. I don't think I've got a favourite zone but i do quite like Haven in the early part of the game. But I quite like the Storm coast both desert areas and the Emerald graves as well for the elven history. Which is probably why I think the story works best if you play as an elf Inquisitor given the story in general does talk a lot about elven stuff. Been enjoying both my last playthrough and my current one equally as much playing female elves one a mage the other rogue.
Hinterland..cose I never left 
Favorite: hard to choose! Maybe Emprise du Lion, because I love the snow, closely followed by Storm Coast (the seeeeeeaaaaaaaa!), Emerald Graves, Crestwood and Frostback Basin.
Least Favorite: Hissing Wastes. It's great that other people enjoy it, but it's just not my thing.
I am also a Hissing Waste fan, love the desert at night, the ancient topside Dwarven ruins (makes me wish for an actual mission to the Deep Roads), and the loot is pretty fantastic as well. It's about the only place I feel I have need of a horse. It reminds me of Four Corners in the US and parts of northern Arizona.
I hate the Exalted Plains for the same reason as an earlier poster: Cluttered with the rubble of war, depressing, hard-to-see loot, and an overall atmosphere of despair and decay of what must have once been a beautiful area depress me and make me want to head for the greener pastures of the Emerald Graves or the clean open spaces of the desert areas.
Favorites: Emprise du Lion and Hissing Wastes. I like the first one because I like how different it is from the other zones. Our camps are captured from the enemy and the decor is kinda pretty in spite of the red lyrium everywhere. And the name means 'the lion's grasp'. How cool is that? I like Hissing Wastes because it's an archaeological adventure and the vast desert plains are nice to wander on horseback. It's the only zone where I use the mounts.
Least favorites: Exalted Plains and Emerald Graves. Too much clutter in both cases and the former feels dead. Also those blasted forts. *shakes fist*
The Emerald Graves is so gorgeous that it became my favourite area the moment I traveled there. It's all the greenery and it being a forest in general, I love forests. Hissing Wastes comes second for I love night time environments, also it is a very wide open to space so I sometimes love riding around the area on a mount.
I am not too fond of the Western Approach. because I don't like deserts. (The Hissing Wastes is an exception.)
The Emerald Graves, that was the one and only zone that upon entering, I hadn't left until I had completed everything. I just didn't want to leave, it was far to beautiful
In order that I complete them: Hinterlands, Emerald Graves, Arbor Wilds, Frostback Basin. All are soothing to me, with lots of life and greenery around. I also like the Crow Fens portion of the Exalted Plains, but not the torn-up part with all the destruction. Sera's line in the Fens is the best, "Something touched my leg!" I even like the Storm Coast, because the scenery reminds me of somewhere I can't place. I love lighthouses and coasts, though.
The Hissing Wastes would be soothing as well, if it weren't for the flies. I keep going crazy trying to find the little buggers around my desk 
The desert at night is so different from the daytime one. Emprise is right out, because, well, snow. Brrrrrr. Deserts aren't really my thing. I get a headache looking at all that sun.
Favourite: Storm Coast and Hissing Wastes.
Storm Coast was a great and atmospheric area, in my opinion. Looking for the Grey Wardens signs of passing and reading the journals left behind was very interesting. The battle between the dragon and the giant came completely unexpected on me, so when I saw that, I was like: "Wow, cool!"
Not to mention, I wasn't aware before release that there were giants in DAI, so seeing that huge creature in the distance, slowly coming out of the mist was a rather terrifying sight.
In addition, I love dwarven lore, so finding all them ruins left behind made me curious.
I just happen to like the concept of a creepy coast I guess.
The Hissing Wastes were also great, since the dwarven tombs there added some interesting new lore. It was the only of the desert areas that felt as open as a desert area should be, in my opinion. Not feeling restricted was great, since it really made the desert feel vast.
Of the non-open areas, I thought that the Arbor Wilds was beautiful and that the place in Cassandra's companion quest looked absolutely gorgeous. The Winter Palace was majestetic and unlike anything i've ever seen in a game before. It's also the location of my favourite main mission.
Least favourite: Hinterlands.
I did not enjoy the Hinterlands as much as I would have liked to. The area is beautiful, but there is so much uninteresting content there, and it lacked an engaging storyline. Still, I did like seeing Redcliffe again.
Listed from most favorite to the least:
1. Emerald Graves : Beautiful Scenery, wildlife.
2. Hissing Wastes : Desert under full moon, great schematics.
3. Western Approach : Great quests, best keep.
4. Emprise du Lion : Dragons, snow covered landscape.
5. Storm Coast : Sea, Dragon and a Giant fighting.... Dragon and a Giant fighting... Dragon and a Giant fighting...
6. Hinterlands : First zone to visit, good quests, nice scenery, overall good...
7. Crestwood : Didn't like the wet gloomy, night but got to capture the first keep.
8. Exalted Plains : War ridden, gloomy, filled with undead but some decent quests and a good dragon fight make up for some of it.
Now the last two Fallow Mire and Forbidden Oasis, I don't understand why they are even full fledged zones. The only things to do in those two areas was to defeat the Avvar leader and Enter the Temple. Why didn't the just make a keep which was full of Avvar to fight through instead of making a whole area filled with undead (killing which was tiresome and boring after a point) and only a handful of Avvvar.? As for the Temple, they could have made it in a place like Cradle of Sulevin or that place/temple/tomb of Dirthaman. Instead they made it into a crappy map where all there was to do was climb up and down ladders. It was plain stupid.
My favorite is the Storm Coast. I love rough seas 
Occasionally I would bring my Inky there just to stand in the crashing waves, imagining the water running down her face, salt on her lips, the smell of the sea, crisp and raw, all around her... it feels amazing. Up until Dorian complains about being sea-sick.
Torn between Hissing Wastes, Storm Coast and Fallow Mire.
Same as Ivy Lavellan, my favorite area is Storm Coast for the same reason 
And my least favorite is forbidden oasis, because this area is a maze for me.
(the underlined text are links, 3 separate ones)
I don't know now. Several hours ago I would have said Emerald Graves but... That place is a freaking horror show. You have young girls getting her mind slowly polluted and kills someone close to her who was a young boy and then kills the mother of that person too when they start screaming because the girl killed her son thanks to the demon messing with her perception and memory (she forgot the boy and thought it was a dog upon re-reading her own journal again) and then ultimately dies either through being made to jump or being pushed when it made her go near a cliff, another young girl who was a mage was locked in her house her whole life so no one would know she was a mage who finds a "friend" who "dances" with her as her family suddenly dies in their beds because of its influence and then she gets possessed and becomes an arcane horror and warns people away with her last bit of free will via a note after she realized what had happened to everyone else in the house and knew she was possessed, a couple who were on a picnic and one was going to propose marriage and a giant spider ate both of them... It's a goddamn hellholle, full of nothing but horrible stories and horrible ends to those stories. By the time I was done with that place, I had no good mood left. Not because of the environment or the areas, but just because I happened to do all 3 of those quests in a row. When it was all over, I was emotionally empty and drained because of how much those quests had effected me. I don't know why people say DAI isn't as dark as DAO or DA2, nothing in either of those games has hit me as hard as these damned area has. And I say "damned" quite literally, Maker and Mythal damn that place. I suppose I like and appreciate that area even more now since it's impressive how well it got a legitimate emotional reaction of of me, but that same reaction has caused to me hate it as much as my Inquisitor probably did (the way I roleplay her is she's someone who is actually quite sensitive which means she wouldn't take those quests very well either).
So I don't know. It's my favorite area in terms of visuals and enemies and music, but those wonderful visuals and music mask an extremely vile and venomous place. The contrast is both ridiculous and amazing, prettiest place in the game is the absolute most depressing place in the entirety of the series so far. So I really don't know. I was having a blast when it was just taking out freemen and red templars and rifts and thought it was the best place in the game, and then everything completely changed once I started doing quests that weren't about those things.
My favorites, in no particular order, are:
Emprise du Lion, because I find the snowy landscape indescribably beautiful, because even if the quests in this zone are straightforward (save the miners, retake a keep, kill dragons), I enjoy them, and because Edouard des Jardins is one of my favorite non-joinable NPCs in the game.
The Hissing Wastes because the desert at night is so romantic (OK, I dislike deserts IRL, but I like the rolling dunes and purple skies of the HW are prettier than the scraggly flora that grow in my country's deserts. Also, I love bringing Varric to the tombs and watching him feebly resist the urge to get dwarfy. Plus the Tomb of Fairel is a really sad quest. If it weren't for sibling rivalry, dwarves might have actually established lasting colonies on the surface. It's something to think about.
The Emerald Graves, because of the lush, scenic forests... and the tragedy. This is the heart of the Dales, and the destruction of the elves here was just the start of the long spiral of heartbreak this place endured. I know, I know, even a beautiful face is ugly when it's weeping, but the sadness here is the slow, single-tear variety, so it's a romantic kind of grief.
The Exalted Plains. Yes, they're horrific and war torn, and pretty much a smoking ruin, but that's the effect they were going for. The whole zone is a masterpiece of non-verbal storytelling with its blasted groves and wrecked villages. And I like clearing the ramparts and giving the soldiers hope.
I liked Emprise Du Lion, because i felt it was probably one of the better structured areas
Few of the other areas i felt like i was just going A to B back to A to hand in an rinse repeat, with Emprise it just felt better, it felt like i started at bottom of a hill an once i reached the top everything just naturally was finished then i went an handed in, tada, zone complete,, to many other areas, for me, felt more like a check list to complete
Hissing Wastes-Coolest looking zone hands down.
Frostback Basin is my runner-up because is has the best content quest wise.
I am also a Hissing Waste fan, love the desert at night, the ancient topside Dwarven ruins (makes me wish for an actual mission to the Deep Roads), and the loot is pretty fantastic as well. It's about the only place I feel I have need of a horse. It reminds me of Four Corners in the US and parts of northern Arizona.
I hate the Exalted Plains for the same reason as an earlier poster: Cluttered with the rubble of war, depressing, hard-to-see loot, and an overall atmosphere of despair and decay of what must have once been a beautiful area depress me and make me want to head for the greener pastures of the Emerald Graves or the clean open spaces of the desert areas.
I agree thisis the only time I really use the mounts as well as ilke Scout Hardinjg asys when you venture there that ther eisn't really anything out there and ther isn't Other than the merchant and the Sandy Howler there isn't a great deal out there nut as you asy it's a nice location and it has some nice loot in the dwarven ruins as well when you go there.
My favorite is the Storm Coast. I love rough seas
Spoiler
yeah I often go there just to watch the wind blow my armourespecially when I'm wearing one of the mage coats or one of the armours with a flap on the back. Should asy Ivy nice avatar your elf is cute
I liked all the areas in the game. But if I really had to choose:
Favorite
Emerald Graves
Least Favorite
The Hissing Wastes (Only because it was too big to navigate) that's what she said...
My least favourite: the Hinterlands. Okay it is a well designed starting zone and we are thrown in the middle of a showdown between mages and templars...But everything is a little too obvious and there are those "kill 10 rams" quest which make people feel that there is an achievement to reap. Add to this the fact that Redcliffe looked really different in DA O and disappointment starts to rise.
My current favourite: Exalted Plains. This is a war zone indeed, but things go deeper than it seems. The narrative is that this region was once the jewel of an elven kingdom and it was trashed by a human led crusade (which incidentally slaughtered the elven leaders). Several centuries later the region is dotted by small human settlements and it is clear that those human stick to the areas they know well while entire corners of the zone are inherently elvish.
I loved exploring it with Cassandra, Solas and Cole (the party banter can be hallucinating especially when retrieving the belongings of the fallen soldiers).
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