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Post by Andrew Mancer on Nov 5, 2024 21:01:27 GMT
Still loving the game. One of the few things that bothers me so far is that I'm nearly 30 hours into the game and I only JUST got Davrin and still don't have Emmrich and Taash. I don't know how long the game is, but I'm REALLY hoping it's not the case where they are more like late-game companions that miss out on a lot of content (like Legion in ME2, Tali in ME3, or whoever you choose to recruit last in ME2.) The other thing that bothers me is the lack of options we had for our past adventures (which I talk about below). On Harding and past choices in Inquisition: I just got the talk where she mentions her time in the Inquisition. It's moments like this that really bother me that our choices don't carry over. The characters she mentioned may not fit everyone's world state, especially depending on whether you befriended them or gave them a "bad" ending. What if Leliana was the Lyrium Ghost? Or what about who became divine? Why is Cole just "Spirit Boy" to everyone? What if we didn't recruit the companions she talks about? I know she mentioned the Divine in banter with Lucanis and it made it seem like they defaulted to Leliana while being "vague". It's nice hearing references to what happened, but it doesn't feel impactful when they try to be vague or don't match our world state just because they chose not to let us carry over our choices. That said, I LOVE Harding and I'm so happy she made the jump to companion in this game. She is such a nice connection to our old adventures while giving a great returning character her time to shine. On Morrigan appearing: (Very early game, so more non-spoilers and speculation than anything) I was so happy to see her show up early on. She is really what makes it feel more like Dragon Age to me. It just bothers me, again, that her references to her past are extremely vague and she doesn't even reference that she fought the fifth blight with the Hero Of Ferelden....or more importantly her connection to Flemeth/Mythal and HER CHILD.
My worry is that since initially Claudia Black said she wasn't returning...that maybe Morrigan was a last minute addition and won't have much of a role...I hope I'm wrong and she has a bigger role in the plot.
I was disappointed she stayed in Arlathan forest instead of joining us at the lighthouse. I HOPE she has a bigger role. So yeah...I think it's another example of limiting our past world choices being a big mistake. On the soundtrack: I was so happy to hear the bard songs from Inquisition return! I just hate that they are ONLY instrumental and that they didn't record any new bard songs. I miss this so much. It really feels like this game is missing out by not having a new bard to sing of our stories and heroes. Non-spoiler companion thoughts: Davrin and Assan are adorable. I had to resist the temptation of flirting with him.
YOU CAN PET THE GRIFFIN!!!!
Bellara and Neve are totally a couple! Are they actually able to get together? I never looked up what companions have that option.
I still wish we had the options to bring out three companions. I don't want to leave Lucanis and Harding, but I feel like I'm missing out not having Davrin, Ballara, and Neve with me. Scottphoto Thanks for sharing with us where to find the skimpy outifts!!! I totally want to get those ASAP! Also, your are totally right about DA2. I think this is the game that DA2 wanted to be, but couldn't due to the rushed and limited development time and hardware limitations. I can only imagine how amazing the game would have been if it looked and felt like this! |
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Post by mediocreogre on Nov 5, 2024 23:27:49 GMT
Yeah I kind of feel like this game is basically if DA2 had more time to cook and took inspiration from ME2. I like the story, but PSA do not play warrior y'all. It blows chunks. One of my Reaper core abilities literally does not hit targets. It costs 2 rage, which rage is the worst mechanic I have ever seen unless you hunt for rage perks, so I barely get to use it but I think of the 10 times I have used it on various enemies, it has missed every time. It takes so long to animate some attacks that I get animation trapped taking tons of damage. The first real boss fight has unblock able attacks only and no parry windows and you cant attack fast enough as a 2h warrior and some 1h attacks so you end up taking loads of damage. Wild. I rerolled a mage last night just to see, and it was like... this game was not designed with warrior in mind.
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Post by dgcatanisiri on Nov 5, 2024 23:39:55 GMT
Trust, Emmrich and Taash have plenty to do - if I were to divide up the storyline as I've gone through it so far, I'd say that assembling the full team is the end of the game's first act, so you'll get plenty of time with them as a result.
Honestly, I kinda feel like, while the general gameplay draws more inspiration from DA2 than anything, there almost is a sense of getting to redo Inquisition's general plot beats - not quite one to one plot parallels, but definitely enough to give me a sense of deja vu, especially around the Warden plot, feeling a lot like how I honestly would have preferred to have seen the battle of Adamant go down.
So, at this point, I do have to say... THAT cameo is what they shot the Dorian romance in the foot for? I mean really? It was barely worth the effort in the first place, and... THAT was what made them decide that Dorian HAD to be in Tevinter for this game? Like, maybe he was meant to play a bigger role in one of the earlier builds of the game and it dwindled over time, but...
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Post by farferello on Nov 6, 2024 0:04:15 GMT
I finally locked in my romance with Lucanis. The lead up to it in the Fade scene was nice, flirt wise - but neither of them ever acknowledge or even talk about the almost kiss they shared and Lucanis walking away from it. So, I trigger the lock in, in his next convo. It's sweet, he remembers the drink my Rook preferred during their coffee 'date' in act 1 and made a dessert to go with it. My Rook flirts a bit, says he can easily be bribed (with food/drink I guess) and... that's it. No hug, no kiss, hell, I'd take a touch on the shoulder in place of the complete nothingness I got. They gave each other a bit of a smile. Lucanis's bond is now 'personal demon' they are in a committed relationship. That feels incredibly platonic. I can only hope I get more romantic content in whatever quest comes next because the relationship does not feel like it exists. I really miss being able to approach your romance and just chat with them or ask to spend time with them. If you won't give me a kiss, at least give me something to feel like their relationship has changed. I'll keep checking back if Lucanis has another person with him at the Lighthouse just in the hopes that maybe I can get some romance banter.  Apparently his writer did not like/wasn't good at writing romances and wow. It shows. Why you'd have a writer who doesn't like/enjoy writing romance, write a romance, I have no damn clue. |
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Post by Lee on Nov 6, 2024 2:58:53 GMT
Congrats Far on locking down your man! I hope the romance is okay. I didn't read the spoiler stuff. I'll wait till you finish the game and get your over all review (without spoilers). dgcatanisiri I don't want to spoil anything, but if you've only seen Dorian once...that's not all of his content. |
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Post by Lee on Nov 6, 2024 6:30:38 GMT
Knock on wood they don't break anything with a future update, but honestly Dragon Age TV has been the best performing game to come out from a Triple A company in ages. I can't belive I'm 65 hours in and not had a glitch, a freeze/crash, or any quests breaks-well to be fair I did sort of break one dragon battle scene cause I killed the dragon too fast. It was funny though, and totally my fault.  Progress report below. I don't consider anything spoilers, save for maybe one mechanic which one might not know about. Even that I didn't describe in any detail. Anywho, I think I'm almost done with all the optional stuff given that I have poped almost all the trophies that aren't in the hidden story progression section. I also have all the "veilguard" passives for the team. they are max loyal even if I don't have them all to 10 bond...cause I refuse to not use Davrin.  I also have the factions all maxed save for the one, and it's at excellent and I can't do anymore (unless there's another quest, which I doubt based on the trophy I got). |
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Post by dgcatanisiri on Nov 6, 2024 10:02:44 GMT
I've officially locked Davrin in as my boyfriend, er, romance.
Also, I need to hug Assan. Like actually physically hug him.
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Post by dgcatanisiri on Nov 6, 2024 10:23:44 GMT
Still loving the game. One of the few things that bothers me so far is that I'm nearly 30 hours into the game and I only JUST got Davrin and still don't have Emmrich and Taash. I don't know how long the game is, but I'm REALLY hoping it's not the case where they are more like late-game companions that miss out on a lot of content (like Legion in ME2, Tali in ME3, or whoever you choose to recruit last in ME2.) The other thing that bothers me is the lack of options we had for our past adventures (which I talk about below). On Harding and past choices in Inquisition: I just got the talk where she mentions her time in the Inquisition. It's moments like this that really bother me that our choices don't carry over. The characters she mentioned may not fit everyone's world state, especially depending on whether you befriended them or gave them a "bad" ending. What if Leliana was the Lyrium Ghost? Or what about who became divine? Why is Cole just "Spirit Boy" to everyone? What if we didn't recruit the companions she talks about? I know she mentioned the Divine in banter with Lucanis and it made it seem like they defaulted to Leliana while being "vague". It's nice hearing references to what happened, but it doesn't feel impactful when they try to be vague or don't match our world state just because they chose not to let us carry over our choices. That said, I LOVE Harding and I'm so happy she made the jump to companion in this game. She is such a nice connection to our old adventures while giving a great returning character her time to shine. On Morrigan appearing: (Very early game, so more non-spoilers and speculation than anything) I was so happy to see her show up early on. She is really what makes it feel more like Dragon Age to me. It just bothers me, again, that her references to her past are extremely vague and she doesn't even reference that she fought the fifth blight with the Hero Of Ferelden....or more importantly her connection to Flemeth/Mythal and HER CHILD.
My worry is that since initially Claudia Black said she wasn't returning...that maybe Morrigan was a last minute addition and won't have much of a role...I hope I'm wrong and she has a bigger role in the plot.
I was disappointed she stayed in Arlathan forest instead of joining us at the lighthouse. I HOPE she has a bigger role. So yeah...I think it's another example of limiting our past world choices being a big mistake. On the soundtrack: I was so happy to hear the bard songs from Inquisition return! I just hate that they are ONLY instrumental and that they didn't record any new bard songs. I miss this so much. It really feels like this game is missing out by not having a new bard to sing of our stories and heroes. Non-spoiler companion thoughts: Davrin and Assan are adorable. I had to resist the temptation of flirting with him.
YOU CAN PET THE GRIFFIN!!!!
Bellara and Neve are totally a couple! Are they actually able to get together? I never looked up what companions have that option.
I still wish we had the options to bring out three companions. I don't want to leave Lucanis and Harding, but I feel like I'm missing out not having Davrin, Ballara, and Neve with me. Scottphoto Thanks for sharing with us where to find the skimpy outifts!!! I totally want to get those ASAP! Also, your are totally right about DA2. I think this is the game that DA2 wanted to be, but couldn't due to the rushed and limited development time and hardware limitations. I can only imagine how amazing the game would have been if it looked and felt like this! Not gonna spoil anything, but Morrigan does have a few more conversations to have later on.
I do agree with you about the first spoiler tag element, though. Like I do understand the concept of "provide the basics, ignore the branches," considering how varied the games can be, but it's a thing that minimizes how much things feel like OUR individual worlds. For me, Dorian, Sera, and Blackwall are never in the Inquisition, so no, Dorian, you were NOT at Adamant, even if that would have meant getting the First Warden to back down some other way. And Harding is not just talking about people she never met, she even refers to a man by a name she never knew him by!
It's little things, and I know that it also means recording varying dialogues and setting them up to fire properly, all of which takes expense, but it still is a lot of little things that make this world not feel like it is the same one I've been playing in. Hopefully only for a blip in time, rather than the whole way through, but that blip is still noticeable. |
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Post by farferello on Nov 6, 2024 10:42:58 GMT
My first romance related banter. Spite just really wants to fly like a dragon. I wonder how much he'd enjoy third wheeling on a date though.  I do wonder how Spite feels about it. I would assume fine with it considering how he wants Rook's attention. XD |
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Post by mediocreogre on Nov 6, 2024 15:25:30 GMT
Not gonna lie, used this game as a coping mechanism all night. If I ignore how much I dont like warrior at all, I am enjoying it more than I thought. I had some "remember Inquisition" stuff and honestly even though on some level it bugged me how uninterested in respecting player choice it was, I don't care as much as I thought cause I personally dont like Inquisition as a game at all. Played it once. Played DAO and DA2 a lot more. But I can see why people who enjoyed DAI would be miffed.
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Post by Lee on Nov 6, 2024 19:03:59 GMT
I completed the game. I will do a second run after I recover from the first. One spoiler I need to vent about. Seriously don't read unless you want to know about the hardest part of the game (emotionally). At the end of act 2 I had to pick a leader for a "distraction team". It seems innocent enough, but whoever you pick dies-no exceptions.
So now every time I play the game I'll have to decide to kill one of my favorite companions simply cause I could never pick Davrin for the choice. RIP Harding. |
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Post by Beefy Titans on Nov 7, 2024 3:44:13 GMT
My progress has been slow but I've finally met Davrin, and Oh no, he's hotter than expected. After flirting with Lucanis without getting reciprocated, I am all in on the Davrin train. |
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Post by farferello on Nov 7, 2024 15:11:52 GMT
I got a sort of not-a-date-date with Lucanis and Spite and I'm still just dying. They have a talk about/with Spite, and then it gets a little romantic and Lucanis comes over to us and... just looms over my Rook as they awkwardly stare at each other. Throw me a bone here, it would have been the perfect moment for them to share their first kiss but no! Denied again! Not even a touch on the cheek, or the shoulder, just awkward staring. I had to head canon a lot in Iron Bull's romance to 'fill in the gaps' but I think I have to head canon an entire romance for Lucanis at this point.  (Ignore the skip button, I move the mouse because the cursor refuses to hide and it brings up the skip button and drives me insane.) Lucanis admits in a banter with Emmrich that Rook is his first relationship and he is happy and I'm just then SHOW IT. I'm 65 hours in and half way? through act 2 and I am dying for breadcrumbs of romance. I just met my Inquisitor for the second time. He seems really lonely. But! I did get the sweetest letter from Bull after it. |
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Post by Scottphoto on Nov 7, 2024 17:39:33 GMT
A new patch is now live! Fixing a couple of things but it also includes a free N7day themed gift in game!
Here’s the instructions to claim it:
I want to catch up on everyone’s posts later but want to finish act 1 later today to add some thoughts about the journey so far but still loving the game so far 33 hours in! I did too much side questing to the point of encountering a level 50 boss and had to cancel it of course XD.
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Post by Andrew Mancer on Nov 7, 2024 19:21:20 GMT
Finally met Taash with a very familiar face: SHE CAME BACK!!! I was SO HAPPY to see Isabela again! She's always been one of my favorites and she looks amazing!  I'm hoping that she'll show up again and we'll get to talk to and work with her more! This still does go back to the issue of past choices being ignored. I'd love to catch up with her and ask her about her adventures with Hawke...but because she could be very different depending on Hawke's choices/romance they would have to be extremely vague again. They really should've just allowed us to import our choices if there were going to be this many returning characters and references. Okay...so back to Taash...I really didn't like her at first but decided to take her along for some side stuff in the Rivain coast so she'd catch up on approval points. She's growing on me after listening to her banter with Lucanis and talking to her a bit. I haven't done her first quest yet. Going to do that today when I get home from work. Meeting Emmrich: OMG he has the PERSONALITY but I am just not a fan of his looks/voice. Like, I'd totally be all for the hot daddy professor romance 100% because I was crushing on my university professor for the four years I worked with him  ...but h e's just not attractive to me as far as looks go!  I'm really liking his character though. Like with Taash, I took him with me to complete some side quests in his area so he wouldn't fall behind on approval. On the first major choice in the game from before you get Taash/Emmrich: I chose to go with Treviso, naturally, because of my romance with Lucanis and my interest in the crows over the Shadow Dragons. I wasn't expecting to have such a big choice so early on that would cause Neve to leave. I'm assuming the same would have happened to Lucanis if you chose Minrathous instead as an option.
It makes me sad that Neve doesn't seem to be interested in making friends with my Rook anymore and was "hardened", something I didn't think they'd bring back from Origins.
I felt really bad going back to Mintathous and seeing all the damage and death of NPCs the Venatori and dragon caused...but I also think it would've been more effective if we got to spend more time with the Shadow Dragons before injuring them/killing them off. Now that I've got all the companions I can say that I like them a lot more than I thought I would based on just the screenshots and bits of information we had before release. It does really feel more like a close group of friends than Inquisition and I like that they move around and talk to each other. I just wish they would have brought back the options to hang out with them like the rooftop cookies with Sera, or hugging/kissing your romance options. They were minor things, but a nice addition that I'm sad they didn't bring back. (At least not from what I've seen since you can't actually talk to them like before in Inquisition.) |
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Post by farferello on Nov 7, 2024 20:34:19 GMT
I'm nearing the end of the game but took a break because I got emotional over something. But I did finally get my first Lucanis kiss. Sadly it comes literally at the end of the game in the final romance scene, but the scene itself was really good. I'm just wishing I'd had more of it earlier on. Time to fill in that content gap with head canon I guess. The romance scene was super sweet and I can't go into full details without spoilers but it was great. Plus wings.  Tomorrow I will finish the game but I needed a break after crying like a baby playing for so long. |
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Post by farferello on Nov 8, 2024 10:39:34 GMT
I finished the game, all achievements, best ending, etc. Here are some non spoilery thoughts and ratings. Overall game: 8/10 (lost points in a few places.) Bugs/Stability/How well it run: 9/10 It made my PC fans sound angry but I never stuttered and I only had two bugs, one I was able to (accidentally) fix. The other was more of an annoyance I could fast travel out of. Overall Companions: 8/10 - I had everyone's bond around high 9/10 (Neve was a smidge lower because of that choice.) Favourite location: Treviso. Gorgeous. I think it's my favourite location in the entire series. Overall Factions: 7/10 - Some felt very lacking. My Rook's Faction/Faction Reactivity: 10/10 - I felt gloriously immersed both when dealing with the Crows, and Treviso in general, and when doing Lucanis's quests. My Rook's Race Reactivity: 5/10 - The game couldn't decide if he'd been part of the Qun or not part of the Qun. Every conversation with Taash contradicted what he said in the prior conversation and kept ruining my personal head canon for him. Auto dialogue sucks. Lucanis's Romance: 4/10 - You've seen my rants. Lucanis's final two romance scenes: - 9/10 - If only the entire romance had been like this. (I knocked a point off because the romance scene has terrible timing.) Combat Specialization: 9/10 - The most fun I've had playing as a Mage since my Inquisitor's Frost Knight Enchanter. I played a Spellblade glass cannon. Used my own health for auto crits on abilities and stacked damage, plus low health bonuses. I had -100 resistances all the time but +200% bonus damage. The final fights were a joke.  Combat in general: 7.5/10 - I really missed having a third person for banter. Also having to fit your team to work for combos could be a pain if the main story took them away for story beats. Exploration: 7/10 - So many areas blocked by quest progression. Also fuck treasure chests. The game isn't open world but I wasted as much time as I would in the Hinterlands trying to get to all those god damned chests. (I finished total exploration of Thedas at 91% explored. I got to the point where I just wanted to progress the main story than spend another four hours hunting for another chest that isn't showing on my map.)
Workshop/Upgrades: 6/10 - I'm mostly just pissed that it was so hard to find/buy copies of the things you wanted to so you could unlock the bonuses. I kept getting upgrades of things I didn't use but never what I had equipped. Companions mostly had blues/greens because I never found/could buy copies of things I used for them.
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In general I had a lot of fun. I will say though that it's going to be difficult for me to make another character if only for the fact I really love my first Rook and picking the Crows for my faction just worked really well.
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Post by Lee on Nov 8, 2024 10:40:06 GMT
I started a second playthrough as a Warrior this time. I am having fun, but I have to admit it doesn't feel as good as mage did. I also thought he'd be less "squishy" but he can't take a hit any better than my mage could. I'm sure just like my mage he'll be nearly invincible by the ending, but yeah...was really hoping for a bit more survivability for the start of the game where it matters most. |
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Post by mediocreogre on Nov 8, 2024 13:57:02 GMT
You eventually do get super strong but unlike mage you don’t really ever get to use fun abilities because you kill things faster than you get rage and you just use the stagger stuff. You can kinda rage farm perks… but I just kinda think rage is them sticking to a mechanic from slower paced combat.
my mage in the highest difficulty can one shot almost all encounters besides bosses. My warrior couldn’t on the second highest. My mage build by level 10 never runs out of mana and can spam spells. My warrior by level 10 could barely get enough rage during combat to do one rage attack.
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Post by disgustednoise on Nov 8, 2024 15:26:31 GMT
Rage is very slow at the beginning, but those perks help a lot if you take them. I'm also a Reaper and I often have all my abilities on cool down - especially the longer encounters. The one that keeps you from not going below the first rage notch is especially game changing.
I do agree about the double charge scythe move being very wonky and easy to whiff. But I'm gonna keep doing it because it's very satisfying when you do land it lol.
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I also have the factions all maxed save for the one, and it's at excellent and I can't do anymore (unless there's another quest, which I doubt based on the trophy I got). 
I do wonder how Spite feels about it. I would assume fine with it considering how he wants Rook's attention. XD
