Just took down the Emerald Graves dragon and got the Inquisitor helmet to drop in the haul of loot it gave up.
Inquisitor/Cassandra/Iron Bull/Dorian for this one. Took control of the Bull and then just had him and Cassandra in real close hacking away. Just to the sides of the legs seemed to work best - it couldn't get me with its breath or tail there. Took about 10 minutes.
Ploughed through the remaining core plot missions last night and this morning.
One thing i realised, grinding earlier in the game certainly pays dividend as you get further into te game. It's a challenge, but a fairly modest one if youre ranked up beyond the recommendation.
I'll put the rest in spoilers for those still working their way through the game.
I'm not entirely sure what I think about the endgame - it was pretty cinematic, but it was essentially a slogfest, and the tactic I've used throughout much of the game was more than adequate to see off Ceryfious and his dragon - essentially have your two tanks hack the sh1t out of them while Dorian and my Rogue Archer Inquisitor bombarded them from range. Took about 10 minutes.
I'm also not entirely sure how I feel about EVERYONE surviving the ordeal. Don't get me wrong, I want that as a possibility, but I didn't really get the impression that anyone could die either way. Kind of devalued the gravity of what was happening for me.
On the positive side, the party was a nice idea, albeit it could have done with a little more depth. Also, things are left open for you to continue progressing missions through the world map.
All in all, I've really enjoyed this game. BW have returned to decent form after the disappointing DA2 and 'problematic' ME3. The characters are a joy, the party banter is fantastic and the open-world-ness worked really well, providing you're ok with fetch quests.
This bodes well for the next ME game. It's my favourite DA game and I'll definitely be picking up the DLC for this.
Bit of a break for a short while and then I'll have another play-through, as a warrior most likely.
I finally did Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts last night (the Orlesian court party).
Took bloody ages!
Lots of wandering around and talking to people.
I found it annoying that the last area you go to in it has more secrets to collect, but gives you no opportunity to turn them in to Leliana unless you know beforehand to abandon the area before triggering the confrontation. No sure if I can be bothered to re-do that bit, just to leave, see Leliana, and then go back.
What did people choose for the end of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts?
I publicly outed the duchess rather than fight her, then forced all three to work together.
Doubtful though of the long term stability from using blackmail to force a truce.
Also wondering how things change if you say "you work for me now!" rather than "for the good of Orlais!"
What did people choose for the end of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts?
What's the epilogue like for the Orlais stuff?
I'll spoiler this, for others.
I sided with Celene - handed her Gaspard and Briala, 'for the good of Orlais'. Albeit on the proviso that Celene spare Briala, who was promptly exiled.
In the epilogue - relations between Orlais and the Inquisition eventually grew more and more distant, with Orlais not wanting to be indebted to anyone, given their eminent, and evident, superiority.
Briala plots against Celene from exile and is expected to take her opportunity when it arises.
Next time I think I'll either back Briala, or, force all three to work together, and in doing so keep each other honest/straight.
I really struggled with this mission - spatial awareness went straight out of the window which made it a real grind. Was glad to get to the end of it tbh.
For anyone finishing the game - remember to hang around until after the end-credits, otherwise you'll miss something huge.......
I finally killed hinterlands dragon. It was ok in the end once I respecced the Bull. Had inquisitor and him hacking away at it and used Solas to spam blizzard.
I finally killed hinterlands dragon. It was ok in the end once I respecced the Bull. Had inquisitor and him hacking away at it and used Solas to spam blizzard.
A tactic which, following a variation on a theme, will work with most of them
I re-did the end of WE & WH (Orlesian ball at the Winter Palace) yesterday, before then continuing. I went with...
Duchess exposed and given to the guards, Gaspard executed, Briala and Celene reconciled.
Duchess judgement - Skyhold jester!
Apparently, if you kill the Duchess at the Winter Palace you *still* have to judge her, and end up having to judge a box of her remains. I saw a clip on YouTube - looks quite funny.
... and then spent absolutely ages wandering around Skyhold talking to everyone post-quest.
Also did a quest for Cole (amulet) and one for Blackwall.
Blackwall spoilers post the WE & WH Winter Palace ball:
I broke him out of prison via Leliana's "secret" method, although it doesn't seem very secret to me given that he then had a public judgement back at Skyhold.
Freed him to atone for his past.
Post WE & WH:
It seems that I inadvertently have "hardened" Leliana due to what seemed a minor decision very early in the game.
Did a quest for her, where we went to a chantry somewhere to follow a clue left by the Divine... Turned out the chantry woman there was spying for some enemy of the Inquisition. Leliana killed her. I had an option to tell her not to, and she ignored me. Later in a conversation I tried to talk about how she had a good heart and said something along the lines of the ends not justifying the means, and she was all "How can you say that after what you told me back in Haven!" What? Oh. Crap. I vaguely remember her issuing an order to kill a spy in Haven, and I stood silent, and later told her some crap about how sometimes you have to do things no matter the cost. Crap...
Oh well!
Did some side stuff in the Western Approach. Captured a keep, which then opened up more side quests and a war table operation to unlock an area. I only went there to hunt someone down for Cassandra... (who I still didn't find as I couldn't get to where they were).
I guess I am playing the game slowly. 22 hours in and I have just reached Skyhold.
I think most people were around that mark when they go there. So no not slow, just enjoy the game, it's not a race, I'm 70 odd hours in lvl 18 and just hit the Western Approach, had to move on need more shards for the quest in the oasis.
Pretty sure I was 20 hours+ before hitting Skyhold. I'd pretty much cleared the Hinterlands before I even went back to Haven.
Probably the first three quarters of the game that's what I did, cleared an area before moving on to the next. Also managed to forget about a few missions on the world map as well!
One thing I'm noticing about my Dalish playthroughs, the Chantry hate me even more than they did back when I was Human!
Pretty sure I was 20 hours+ before hitting Skyhold. I'd pretty much cleared the Hinterlands before I even went back to Haven.
Probably the first three quarters of the game that's what I did, cleared an area before moving on to the next. Also managed to forget about a few missions on the world map as well!
One thing I'm noticing about my Dalish playthroughs, the Chantry hate me even more than they did back when I was Human!
I went Dalish on my second playthrough too and you're right about the extra hate. Went mage too which gives people two reasons to dislike me!
Also went with the mage faction instead of the templars this time. That section when you go forward in time is rather dark and disturbing. Poor Leliana!
This game is absolutely brill on the ps4 but I haven't got a clue what I am supposed to do. I just roam from quest to quest having great fun. It works for me
As mentioned before, I'm going to try and do as many side quests as I can before I go back to the story, as I know I'll abandon the game once I've finished the story.
Done all the Inner Circle quests, except for completing Vivienne's... which I'm not bothered about, because I can't stand her.
Gonna work through the areas in the order they are in the journal. I've already pretty much finished a few, while some of the others aren't as big AFAIK, so it shouldn't be too bad.
Killed my first dragon last night
How have people handled the judgements?
I think I only executed one person -
the Venatori Magister who was corrupting the Wardens
Everyone else has been spared and either made to atone in some way or been exiled.
Alexius (the one controlling the Mages) - put him to work as an Agent. He did the wrong thing, but out of grief for his son's condition. Plus he could be useful.
Goat chucker - exiled to Tevinter's border, with weapons. Didn't do anything wrong, other than throw goats.
Mayor of Crestwood - exiled, I think. He did wrong, but for the greater good.
Quarry-owning woman from Emprise (?) - Made her use her money to rebuild the village after what the Red Templars did.
Venatori Magister who corrupted the Wardens - off with his head!
Female Warden who wanted to die - Public humiliation.
Grand Duchess - outed her at the ball rather than fight her, then made her a jester for Skyhold.
Servis, the smuggler guy working for the Venatori in the Western Approach - made him an Agent.
I think that's it, so far.
Just cleared a load of leftover stuff in the Exalted Plains (rifts, dead soldier letters, Dalish stuff...), and dealt with rifts and other leftovers in Crestwood, the Hinterlands, Emerald Graves, Emprise.
The Western Approach just has a dragon left (that I have to make bait for or something).
Emerald has three (?) dragons over the bridge.
Got a few things left in the Fallow Mire and the Storm Coast, plus I've not really done anything in the Forbidden Oasis or the Hissing Wastes.
I'm not counting Shards towards my "leftovers" - they're just things I get if I happen to come across them on my way to something else, I never really bother with collectable stuff like that. Also not counting requisitions as they seem to be never ending.
'Off' is the general direction in which you can fcuk.....:p
I think the only judgement that I let off lightly was the Warden who wanted to die. All the rest, <chop>
Re the Dragon Age servers - I thought it hung on this for a while before dropping to the main menu, ie. Continue, new game etc. Your game saves ordinarily save to the cloud and to your Xbox from memory. If the two match when you fire up your game then you go straight in. If they don't match then you get asked which save you want to start from. For a new game, without the servers, you should be ok - you start, play, save to the Xbox, and then when the servers are back up and you reload your game the next time it will also sync the save to the cloud/DA servers. Could be wrong but that's how I thought it worked.....:)
Just got this game was so excited but it just says "connecting to dragon age servers" been stuck for ages is this because the networks down?
If you are using a PS4 go into Network Settings and uncheck Connect to Internet and it should work. You won't get any patches but the game should play. Once PSN is back up you can reconnect and patch.
Comments
Inquisitor/Cassandra/Iron Bull/Dorian for this one. Took control of the Bull and then just had him and Cassandra in real close hacking away. Just to the sides of the legs seemed to work best - it couldn't get me with its breath or tail there. Took about 10 minutes.
One thing i realised, grinding earlier in the game certainly pays dividend as you get further into te game. It's a challenge, but a fairly modest one if youre ranked up beyond the recommendation.
I'll put the rest in spoilers for those still working their way through the game.
I'm also not entirely sure how I feel about EVERYONE surviving the ordeal. Don't get me wrong, I want that as a possibility, but I didn't really get the impression that anyone could die either way. Kind of devalued the gravity of what was happening for me.
On the positive side, the party was a nice idea, albeit it could have done with a little more depth. Also, things are left open for you to continue progressing missions through the world map.
All in all, I've really enjoyed this game. BW have returned to decent form after the disappointing DA2 and 'problematic' ME3. The characters are a joy, the party banter is fantastic and the open-world-ness worked really well, providing you're ok with fetch quests.
This bodes well for the next ME game. It's my favourite DA game and I'll definitely be picking up the DLC for this.
Bit of a break for a short while and then I'll have another play-through, as a warrior most likely.
Took bloody ages!
Lots of wandering around and talking to people.
I found it annoying that the last area you go to in it has more secrets to collect, but gives you no opportunity to turn them in to Leliana unless you know beforehand to abandon the area before triggering the confrontation. No sure if I can be bothered to re-do that bit, just to leave, see Leliana, and then go back.
What did people choose for the end of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts?
Doubtful though of the long term stability from using blackmail to force a truce.
Also wondering how things change if you say "you work for me now!" rather than "for the good of Orlais!"
What's the epilogue like for the Orlais stuff?
I'll spoiler this, for others.
In the epilogue - relations between Orlais and the Inquisition eventually grew more and more distant, with Orlais not wanting to be indebted to anyone, given their eminent, and evident, superiority.
Briala plots against Celene from exile and is expected to take her opportunity when it arises.
Next time I think I'll either back Briala, or, force all three to work together, and in doing so keep each other honest/straight.
I really struggled with this mission - spatial awareness went straight out of the window which made it a real grind. Was glad to get to the end of it tbh.
For anyone finishing the game - remember to hang around until after the end-credits, otherwise you'll miss something huge.......
I may re-load and go for this instead for WE and WH:
I doubt that there's a particularly good outcome to this one tbh.
Always makes me smile when the Inquisitor says "I should go".....
A tactic which, following a variation on a theme, will work with most of them
Duchess judgement - Skyhold jester!
Apparently, if you kill the Duchess at the Winter Palace you *still* have to judge her, and end up having to judge a box of her remains. I saw a clip on YouTube - looks quite funny.
... and then spent absolutely ages wandering around Skyhold talking to everyone post-quest.
Also did a quest for Cole (amulet) and one for Blackwall.
Blackwall spoilers post the WE & WH Winter Palace ball:
Freed him to atone for his past.
Post WE & WH:
It seems that I inadvertently have "hardened" Leliana due to what seemed a minor decision very early in the game.
Oh well!
Did some side stuff in the Western Approach. Captured a keep, which then opened up more side quests and a war table operation to unlock an area. I only went there to hunt someone down for Cassandra... (who I still didn't find as I couldn't get to where they were).
I think most people were around that mark when they go there. So no not slow, just enjoy the game, it's not a race, I'm 70 odd hours in lvl 18 and just hit the Western Approach, had to move on need more shards for the quest in the oasis.
Probably the first three quarters of the game that's what I did, cleared an area before moving on to the next. Also managed to forget about a few missions on the world map as well!
One thing I'm noticing about my Dalish playthroughs, the Chantry hate me even more than they did back when I was Human!
I went Dalish on my second playthrough too and you're right about the extra hate. Went mage too which gives people two reasons to dislike me!
Started that way myself but eventually things start falling in to place.
From reading around, I have two left after that.
As mentioned before, I'm going to try and do as many side quests as I can before I go back to the story, as I know I'll abandon the game once I've finished the story.
Done all the Inner Circle quests, except for completing Vivienne's... which I'm not bothered about, because I can't stand her.
Gonna work through the areas in the order they are in the journal. I've already pretty much finished a few, while some of the others aren't as big AFAIK, so it shouldn't be too bad.
Killed my first dragon last night
How have people handled the judgements?
I think I only executed one person -
Everyone else has been spared and either made to atone in some way or been exiled.
Although if you're romancing Sera, just kill them all. She likes it when you kill them....;)
It's only Josie for my Femquisitor
My Judgements:
Goat chucker - exiled to Tevinter's border, with weapons. Didn't do anything wrong, other than throw goats.
Mayor of Crestwood - exiled, I think. He did wrong, but for the greater good.
Quarry-owning woman from Emprise (?) - Made her use her money to rebuild the village after what the Red Templars did.
Venatori Magister who corrupted the Wardens - off with his head!
Female Warden who wanted to die - Public humiliation.
Grand Duchess - outed her at the ball rather than fight her, then made her a jester for Skyhold.
Servis, the smuggler guy working for the Venatori in the Western Approach - made him an Agent.
I think that's it, so far.
Just cleared a load of leftover stuff in the Exalted Plains (rifts, dead soldier letters, Dalish stuff...), and dealt with rifts and other leftovers in Crestwood, the Hinterlands, Emerald Graves, Emprise.
The Western Approach just has a dragon left (that I have to make bait for or something).
Emerald has three (?) dragons over the bridge.
Got a few things left in the Fallow Mire and the Storm Coast, plus I've not really done anything in the Forbidden Oasis or the Hissing Wastes.
I'm not counting Shards towards my "leftovers" - they're just things I get if I happen to come across them on my way to something else, I never really bother with collectable stuff like that. Also not counting requisitions as they seem to be never ending.
'Off' is the general direction in which you can fcuk.....:p
I think the only judgement that I let off lightly was the Warden who wanted to die. All the rest, <chop>
Re the Dragon Age servers - I thought it hung on this for a while before dropping to the main menu, ie. Continue, new game etc. Your game saves ordinarily save to the cloud and to your Xbox from memory. If the two match when you fire up your game then you go straight in. If they don't match then you get asked which save you want to start from. For a new game, without the servers, you should be ok - you start, play, save to the Xbox, and then when the servers are back up and you reload your game the next time it will also sync the save to the cloud/DA servers. Could be wrong but that's how I thought it worked.....:)
If you are using a PS4 go into Network Settings and uncheck Connect to Internet and it should work. You won't get any patches but the game should play. Once PSN is back up you can reconnect and patch.
I am sure the Xbox has a similar work around.