45 réponses à ce sujet

[Jeradon]

Recently, after a couple of months of inactivity I decided to resume my exploration of DAI. I went to Emprise du Lion ( BTW they’ve got a funny way of speaking French in Orlais. Looks like they use poetry books instead of grammar guides) and ran into our good friend Imshael.

It did not take me long to realise that my Company of Buddies was in for a looong tussle against that bad boy.

Since I hate recurrent wipes, I decided to take everyone for a trek, so that we could notch a level up and maybe turn a 4-hour battle into a two-hour brawl. A couple of broken dragon skulls later, that was still not doing it. My buddies were stuck at level 18. I was desperate for experience, believe me. I even nearly blasted my brain drinking Qunari booze.

And then I returned to the war table, and noticed that Venatori business going on in the Hissing Wastes. A little crafting session later the Company Of Buddies set off to the Hissing Wastes.

And that did it. In the perpetual twilight of this sandy plain, I encountered upgraded rams, wyverns, poisonous spiders straight from the Forbidden Oasis. And loads of rifts too. To be fair there are plenty of Venatori too,and they seem to have turned the place into a collection of camps in the desert. It’s not the Burning Man Festival however. They just seem so busy trying to find old ruins in the desert that they do not realise that my buddies are cleaning the place, 3 wyverns, one rift, one camp at a time, rinse and repeat.

To be fair the Wastes are a little disappointing. Okay my company is way up into level 19 (and it looks like they will be level 20 when the excursion is done) but all this feels like a dotted landscape full of mobs ripe for farming. The Venatori are disappointing also. Come on, once, in a forbidden temple, I managed to surprise them in a Quantum Break moment! But this time...Nothing.

Is the whole area so incredibly dull?

[Finvola]

Yeah, I think I skipped it completely in one of my saves, but now I always feel compelled to go there to collect crafting materials, shards and the dragon. I always tell myself I will ignore the side quest with the tombs but I end up doing them anyway.  I think I might have found all the mosaic tiles there once (then again, I don't go out of my way to find them, in any of the areas). I find it to be very long and boring, even if I travel on horseback. Sometimes I take a break from the nothingness and begin JOH or The Descent. Then I feel compelled to go back to Hissing Wastes and just get it over with. I am going to force myself to skip those tombs this time and just go in there to collect stuff, kill the dragon, and get out.

[thats1evildude]

I actually like the Wastes.

 

Imshael is not too tough, though getting to him can be. Giants + Red Templar Archers=Yikes.

[Finvola]

It's so vast, I mean I look at my map and the next camp/rift doesn't look too far away and yet I feel like I'm walking/riding for ages to get to it. I wish there had been a bit more to do. Well, it seems like such a waste.

[Xerrai]

Well it is essentially a desert. I don't see why something called the Hissing Wastes should be all that exciting (unless you want a lot of snakes or something). You're lucky that you have dwarven ruins to brighten the landscape and distract you from the endless sands.

 

The night sky there is actually the prettiest in the game though (imo). The merchant isn't that bad too.

[Reznore57]

I think the main problem with some region in DAI (ok most of them ) they are big , and except for baddies , there's almost no friendly souls around.

I love the Storm Coast ,but it's super empty , and the Blades of Hessarian are generic as they come ."Well hello , there your Highness , nothing's going on!"

[thats1evildude]

The Blades will comment on the appearance of the darkspawn, Red Templars and high dragon, though only once you start the related quest.

[Reznore57]

The Blades will comment on the appearance of the darkspawn, Red Templars and high dragon, though only once you start the related quest.

 

Yeah but I'm replaying DAI and it's annoying how you get there looking for wardens , and you can't ask the only livings being around if they saw any wardens.

I like the place and the coastline very much but you have to wonder what the hell you're doing here.

[thats1evildude]

Recruiting Iron Bull.

[Reznore57]

Recruiting Iron Bull.

 

Yeah , this is also a bit of a problem my RP reason for going there in the first place is Krem tells you they are fighting venatori over there , and if you do Redcliffe you have a Venatori problem on your hand but very little information.

So RP wise before assaulting the castle I go picking IB to question him about the VEnatori but I actually can't ...

 

But I think the Storm COast was almost cut before shipping so whatever still glad we got the place even if it's empty land when it comes to npcs.

[dgcatanisiri]

Yeah, as a set piece, the Hissing Wastes are interesting, but dear GOD, this is probably the area I'd say best suited for having been cut in development and the related material moved elsewhere. I mean, obviously, it's called 'the Hissing Wastes,' implying that hey, there's gonna be a whole lot of nothing, but... Yeah, at most, I'd want the dwarven stuff moved to like the Western Approach, but overall, I really wish this zone had been cut, because it's a time sink without much of a reason. Like... What's the point of going here? Why is the Inquisitor and company going here? There's no particular reason for anything to take place here.

[themikefest]

I like the Hissing Wastes. I did the Tomb of Fairel quest earlier today. Good quest that has excellent schematics and other goodies.

[fluxcage]

First playthrough, each new region became my favorite--until I went to the next region.

But I love the Hissing Wastes: the campfires, mountains, giant ruins by moonlight in the far distance. Beautiful. Play it at night, in the dark, headphones on, everybody else asleep--want it to last even longer than it did.

[Big I]

Like... What's the point of going here? Why is the Inquisitor and company going here? There's no particular reason for anything to take place here.

 

You must stop the Venatori from gaining an ancient dwarven artifact of ultimate power!...That turns out to be either a rune schematic or just a rune. Apart from that it's basically Indiana Jones in Dragon Age.

[Finvola]

Those poison spiders drive me bananas. I don't mind the lurkers and wyverns because of the leather and poison glands.

 

I wish the Hissing Wastes had some major storyline attached to it, because it really can be skipped altogether because it's just a place of side quests. I do think it's pretty, but I find myself getting bored because there is so much area to cover to gather all the things you need.

 

Storm Coast is a whole lot of nothing as well, but I suppose the difference for me was that it's broken up in two halves, so instead of doing it all at once, you have no choice but to go back later to complete the second half. That's sort of what I was attempting to do with HIssing Wastes by doing the DLC but then I feel like I should just complete that area entirely and move on.

[AlanC9]

It's funny... the Wastes strikes me as pretty much the only area in the game where you have to explore to find major quest objectives. Everywhere else you get a helpful map icon, but here you just get captured Venatori maps which tell you what to look for, but not where to go. Probably a mistake; if the TES games have taught us anything, it's that CRPG players like having everything handed to them

[Melbella]

I don't know...I kind of enjoyed using the maps to figure out where to go the first time. Now I just wander everywhere and find them eventually.

[abaris]

What I really don't like is you having to find passages into the mountains. Or the one and only correct jump path. It's that way with any open world game. I can't imagine, who's thinking it to be a worthwhile challenge when your character can't jump over some rock outcrop, just because it's not the right spot. Shards are usually on top of something. Until now I haven't figured out, how to get to that last shard inthe Hinterlands, down in dragon territory, nested atop of that spire. That's not challengig. Thats just frustrating.

[Gilli]

What I really don't like is you having to find passages into the mountains. Or the one and only correct jump path. It's that way with any open world game. I can't imagine, who's thinking it to be a worthwhile challenge when your character can't jump over some rock outcrop, just because it's not the right spot. Shards are usually on top of something. Until now I haven't figured out, how to get to that last shard inthe Hinterlands, down in dragon territory, nested atop of that spire. That's not challengig. Thats just frustrating.

 

 

You need to be either Human, or Qunari, otherwise you can't jump high enough.

(I don't know why the battle sound was delayed in the beginning.)

[Hanako Ikezawa]

 

 

You need to be either Human, or Qunari, otherwise you can't jump high enough.

(I don't know why the battle sound was delayed in the beginning.)

 

All races can do it. I did that as a Dwarf, Elf, Human, and Qunari. 

[Gilli]

All races can do it. I did that as a Dwarf, Elf, Human, and Qunari. 

 

Yes, I did it once with my Lavellan and once with Varric, it's just easier if your character is taller.

[Wulfram]

I quite like the wastes. It's relative emptiness allows it to have more atmosphere than other areas, and the map puzzles were a rare occasion I enjoyed "exploration". Though the last map seemed like it could be better - without an indication of at least the broad area to search it's frustrating

[Statare]

If you're really not into Dwarf lore, I could see how the Wastes would be boring. But my first time there, I was so into it. The Darkness, the scale, the puzzle of why Dwarves were on the surface, and a Paragon no less, and why the Venatori were searching for an item of great power there was a great idea.... but then you beat the Dragon and open the last tomb, and you get more vague codex entries and a generic rune and nothing unique. That was the true let down of the zone, just like the Forbidden Oasis. They dangle tantalizing lore in front of you, never really give you any answers, and reward you with not even an interesting item.

[Reznore57]

If you're really not into Dwarf lore, I could see how the Wastes would be boring. But my first time there, I was so into it. The Darkness, the scale, the puzzle of why Dwarves were on the surface, and a Paragon no less, and why the Venatori were searching for an item of great power there was a great idea.... but then you beat the Dragon and open the last tomb, and you get more vague codex entries and a generic rune and nothing unique. That was the true let down of the zone, just like the Forbidden Oasis. They dangle tantalizing lore in front of you, never really give you any answers, and reward you with not even an interesting item.

 

Yeah I went through the same thing.You got "oooOoh important mysteries." and then "Oh yeah , so thrilled right now , I got a ....rune."

The Oasis you get a vague text about what happened with the Pride demon but no real explanation about anything.It's supposed to be an ancient elven temple , but you find statues of Andraste  outside, warden insignia inside etc ...it doesn't even look truly elven at all.

So yeah elemental resistance is nice and all ...but finding a mysterious temple and not solving any of the mystery is a bit annoying.

[Navasha]

Well, I will be honest.   It is a desert.   It should large and feel 'empty'.   Running into living things every 20 feet like in some games doesn't really give the feeling that its a wasteland.   Not a popular opinion most likely, but I think they did a good job of blending the encounters without losing the setting feel.