[PC/Console] Dragon Age Inquisition 11-18-2014

[SinisterDeath]

Sera's my plan for romance, although she's apparently the most complicated one. Not like James-Vega-with-horns jumping in the sack with anything that breathes (much like Zevran before him). From what I can glean without spoiling myself, I have to hit Val Royeaux first before I can run into her (and Vivienne, too, I guess). I haven't even done the whole talking-to-Mother-Gisele part yet.

So yea.. In the game I just romanced Sera.. and by romanced I mean I got to see the sex scene.

IMO it was quite hysterical.

[reyler]

Especially if you say yes to Vivienne's "suggestion". Did you get the achievement after that? That's normally where Bioware has it unlocked, but it didn't for me, so I don't know if they figured out that sex is not the finish line of a relationship and moved the achievement further down the story, or if the thing's just bugged.

[SinisterDeath]

Especially if you say yes to Vivienne's "suggestion". Did you get the achievement after that? That's normally where Bioware has it unlocked, but it didn't for me, so I don't know if they figured out that sex is not the finish line of a relationship and moved the achievement further down the story, or if the thing's just bugged.

Hehe Yes.. That suggestion was awesome!

I dunno about achievements, I tend not to care about them! (Specially on the PC version.. more so on the console for whatever reason.

 

 

 

Also, I don't care what anyone says, Ctrl+Alt+Del is still funny!

[reyler]

At least he's gotten to the point where his art seems like he's trying, because he sure isn't trying very hard on his jokes.

 

So at about 104 hours in, I finally decided to get back to the storyline. The recommended level for Here Lies the Abyss is 12-15. I'm, uh, almost at 21. My inquisitor is almost old enough to drink all those bottle of cheap hooch she keeps finding. The upshot of this is that I've run across four supply caches so far and not needed them because I haven't accumulated enough damage to bother with potions. Also everything dies in a couple of hits; even that pride demon dropped easily. The downside is that all the loot I find that didn't fall out of a dragon's ass is vendor trash by my current standards. At least the Fade is much less obnoxious than the last time I was there (so far).

 

Also ran across a rather nasty bug that seems to be affecting a lot of people wherein the game hangs up for a minute or two after every single line that comes out of Stroud's mouth. Trying to skip can apprently exacerbate the problem. Considering how widespread this problem seems to be, I'm surprised it didn't get caught in testing.

 

Probably should've gone with the other story quest first. Farscape reminded me that I don't have enough Claudia Black in my life.

[reyler]

It's nice that age has mellowed Morrigan a little bit; she was kind of grating in Origins. At least I got something out of the massive annoyance that was the masquerade mission. Kind of disappointed there hasn't been any interaction between her and Leliana so far, though; no acknowledgement of their past at all save one line from Leliana before Morrigan even appeared. Maybe when I import a different world state next time.

 

In Origins, while your party could have wildly different opinions on your decisions, for the most part as long as you said the right things, didn't bring the wrong people along for some story bits, didn't do anything egregiously awful, and gave Morrigan lots of baubles, you could keep everyone happy. Here, everyone has an immediate reaction whether you brought them or not, and it's really hard to get on everyone's good side at once. Between my decision regarding the mages and the outcome at Adamant, which were intended to get points with Sera (and of course choosing to romance her in the first place), Solas was really, really unhappy with me, and there weren't any dialogue options that didn't make it worse. Of course, because there can only be so much dev planning, once I did a few things to get on his good side (Cole's quest, no boss fight at Halamshiral), I'm back on his buddy list like nothing ever happened and no mention of past friction exists. Because math.

[reyler]

I just killed the strongest dragon in the game. Now, keeping in mind that I had my gear heavily prepped for him and was playing on lower difficulty, but your 2200 Decloaking Blast up there? Tier 1 Mark of the Rift + Full Draw = almost 14,000 in one hit. That's 5% of the thing's HP in one shot. Not to mention taking almost no damage from his attacks. After seeing that, I am definitely going to be abusing the hell out of crafting when I take on Nightmare difficulty.

[SinisterDeath]

14k at what level?

Cause I'm around lvl 18, and its doing around 3k now. (Also invulnerable while taking on a dragon.)

 

The Decloak, also works as an aoe...

[reyler]

That was at 22, I believe. I wasn't much impressed with Mark of the Rift until I stumbled into discovering that it (apparently) massively boosts whatever attacks hit inside the field of effect. After hitting that Full Draw, I noticed my regular attacks were hitting him for 3-4k each. That 14k hit him while he was at somewhere around 60% hp; he was dead in about another 10-15 seconds.

[reyler]

Finished the story. I'm reminded of Eddie Izzard saying that he likes to end his shows with a sort of "Oh." feeling. The final boss battle just kind of happens, the ending just kind of happens. It's like the game had a more involved ending sequence and just edited it down to the Cliff's Notes. Pretty much everything from the moment [REDACTED] shows up to be mysterious at you feels like the story is on autopilot.

 

[edit] GOD DAMMIT SOLAS I KNEW IT

[SinisterDeath]

That was at 22, I believe. I wasn't much impressed with Mark of the Rift until I stumbled into discovering that it (apparently) massively boosts whatever attacks hit inside the field of effect. After hitting that Full Draw, I noticed my regular attacks were hitting him for 3-4k each. That 14k hit him while he was at somewhere around 60% hp; he was dead in about another 10-15 seconds.

Mark of the Rift is that aoe that only the inquisitor gets? Or is it special to your rogue? Cause if it increases damage.. I might have to use it more! (I have yet to try it with my de-cloak...)

[reyler]

That's the Inquisitor-unique focus skill, yeah. I'm still not entirely clear on how it works; other sources say it does huge damage all by itself, though I never saw any evidence. I just know that that's what seemed to be happening to that poor dragon. And while it seems pretty effective on single hits like that, it looks like you're probably better off using it in conjunction with regular attacks or low-damage/high-quantity specials for max dps. Seriously, dps in the thousands for as long as that skill lasts? Nothing in the game can survive that.

 

Still pretty annoyed with the last couple of hours of story. It feels like they left out some big chunks and gave up on having a proper finale.

 

Starting a new worldstate on Nightmare. Pray for me.

[SinisterDeath]

Oh forgot to ask.

What 'was' the hardest dragon in the game? The final one? Or the black one, on dragon island?

[reyler]

Purely statwise, the last of the three in the Emprise du Lion ought to be, but like I said, I was stupid high in level and stupidly well prepared for him (seriously, when you can get 100% fire immunity and at least 50% melee immunity on all characters, plus frost damage on all weapons, he's kind of a cakewalk).

 

I think the Storm Coast dragon was the one that pissed me off enough to tune down to casual just to get him out of the way. There's also one in the Exalted Plains that takes place in a waterlogged environment and shoots electricity at you, and yes, it is exactly like Rain Dance plus Thunder in Pokemon. I'm not sure any materials actually give you electrical resistance.

[SinisterDeath]

Purely statwise, the last of the three in the Emprise du Lion ought to be, but like I said, I was stupid high in level and stupidly well prepared for him (seriously, when you can get 100% fire immunity and at least 50% melee immunity on all characters, plus frost damage on all weapons, he's kind of a cakewalk).

 

I think the Storm Coast dragon was the one that pissed me off enough to tune down to casual just to get him out of the way. There's also one in the Exalted Plains that takes place in a waterlogged environment and shoots electricity at you, and yes, it is exactly like Rain Dance plus Thunder in Pokemon. I'm not sure any materials actually give you electrical resistance.

I've taken out the ones in Hinterlands, and exalted Plains. + the one on dragon island. (Is dragon island the storm-coast one? Or are there two on stormcoast?)

I'll have to explore Emprise Du Lion's for more dragon huntin'. 

Just hit up the crestwood area today.

[SinisterDeath]

http://www.gamefaqs.com/boards/718650-dragon-age-inquisition/70701139

 

Looks like its Mark of Rift + Mark of Death + Full Draw that did all that damage.

[reyler]

Considering I went artificer (and promptly ignored it) and I never use Cole, I'm going to say the odds on that are pretty low. I had Cassandra, Blackwall, and Solas with me, so it's possible that one of them did something that factored in, but it didn't look like it.

 

Dragon Island is part of the overall Storm Coast zone, yes. Most of the higher level ones have to be unlocked through other things; in the case of the Emprise, you have to clear out the quest line of taking out Red Templar emplacements, which activates a War Table Operation to rebuild a bridge, across which there are three separate dragons and a few high-level Fade Rifts.

 

The one in Crestwood shouldn't give you much trouble, considering the game obviously expects you to be exploring that zone much earlier than you are.

 

It just occurred to me that part of what kept me from taking damage was the fact that I'd completed the Solasan Temple and gotten a buttload of elemental resistances nailed to my forehead in the process.

[SinisterDeath]

Considering I went artificer (and promptly ignored it) and I never use Cole, I'm going to say the odds on that are pretty low. I had Cassandra, Blackwall, and Solas with me, so it's possible that one of them did something that factored in, but it didn't look like it.

 

Dragon Island is part of the overall Storm Coast zone, yes. Most of the higher level ones have to be unlocked through other things; in the case of the Emprise, you have to clear out the quest line of taking out Red Templar emplacements, which activates a War Table Operation to rebuild a bridge, across which there are three separate dragons and a few high-level Fade Rifts.

 

The one in Crestwood shouldn't give you much trouble, considering the game obviously expects you to be exploring that zone much earlier than you are.

 

It just occurred to me that part of what kept me from taking damage was the fact that I'd completed the Solasan Temple and gotten a buttload of elemental resistances nailed to my forehead in the process.

Damn. I'm not sure what it was then.

Mark of the Rift doesn't seem to do any kind of damage multiplication for me at all. At most it seems to be a pull enemies into aoe, slow em down, and deal a little aoe dmg. (As far as I've seen!) Course you might have unlocked more abilities in the inquisitor tree? (I dunno)

 

Side note: I'm still 1/3rd of the way done with the Solasan temple, but Knight Enchanters are a beast. I can literally solo a dragon with it.

[reyler]

Yeah, I've seen that trick. Something involving constant regeneration of barriers. Once I'm far enough in to unlock specializations, I think I'm going to see about using that for this Nightmare run.

 

You got Static Cage and its upgrade, or a party member who does? Guide says to try that with the Mark. I was getting the same results as you with it, which is why I wasn't bothering with it for the most part. Only other thing in the Inquisitor tree is a passive that boosts focus gain.

[SinisterDeath]

Yeah, I've seen that trick. Something involving constant regeneration of barriers. Once I'm far enough in to unlock specializations, I think I'm going to see about using that for this Nightmare run.

 

You got Static Cage and its upgrade, or a party member who does? Guide says to try that with the Mark. I was getting the same results as you with it, which is why I wasn't bothering with it for the most part. Only other thing in the Inquisitor tree is a passive that boosts focus gain.

I'm thinking that might just be the same as using any other 'warp enemies to central location' trick and 'laying AOE' on top of there asses trick.

 

But, I dunno.. What's the book say Mark of the rift does exactly? In-game and other guides are pretty vague on it.

[reyler]

I dunno, it doesn't seem to draw anything in towards it; Rift Mage has a skill that does that, though. Granted I've never bothered to use it against anything small enough to be moved that wasn't instantly destroyed by it the way spawning demons are. Guide isn't especially informative either. It's Prima, what do you expect, useful information?

[SinisterDeath]

I dunno, it doesn't seem to draw anything in towards it; Rift Mage has a skill that does that, though. Granted I've never bothered to use it against anything small enough to be moved that wasn't instantly destroyed by it the way spawning demons are. Guide isn't especially informative either. It's Prima, what do you expect, useful information?

Your right. I guess everytime I used it, Solas used his rift mage skill at the same time. (and they look similar!)

 

Doesn't seem to do much in the form of damage for me. Doesn't increase it really. (so far?)

About all it really seems to do is 'banish' demonic enemies, or 'siphon' away there hp without actually showing sparkly damage numbers. so I dunno.  The ability is confusing!

 

Also, I was stuck on that damned fire dragon in Emprise du lion last night. first dragon I actually had problems killing!

That one hits like a mac truck. My party AI is stupid and stands in his ground-fire attack.

They've don't seem to understand the concept of getting into the dragon-fighting position.

And most oddly, the guy is able to one shot even my warriors! I 'wish' I could 'solo' each character all at the same time, and this would be a cake walk. But trying to micromanage that fight would just be mind grueling.

Each fight was lasting well over 15 minutes! And I was doing everything I could to 'survive' with my Knight Enchanter..

Black Wall was the only one that seemed to even hold is own against the dragon (As standard AI!) But that's probably because he was in 'tank' mode.

 

I might try again 'tonight' by having 'me' tank, and having 3 ranged mages fight the bastard.. Its the only thing I can think of doing without leveling up 3-4 levels to take him on.. 

(I'm not even sure what level he is! Doesn't actually say.... or I wasn't looking hard enough.)

[reyler]

It's generally recommended to be over 20 for that guy (except by those assholes who minmax the everloving crap out of the game and then complain it's too easy). Might also depend on your skill distribution. It helps to not just have fire resistance on your armor but also ice on your weapons. Solas was my mage in that one simply because I had him built up on the ice magic tree (I'd developed each mage around one element, plus barriers), while Cassandra and Blackwall were pretty much constantly generating guard. Blackwall was maxed out in his specialization tree, which makes him next to impossible to kill.

 

You can still take him on after finishing the story if you want, though I'd advise not waiting, as you lose access to at least one character, maybe two depending on what you've said to whom by then. Honestly though by the time I hit postgame there wasn't anything left to do anyway.

[SinisterDeath]

It's generally recommended to be over 20 for that guy (except by those assholes who minmax the everloving crap out of the game and then complain it's too easy). Might also depend on your skill distribution. It helps to not just have fire resistance on your armor but also ice on your weapons. Solas was my mage in that one simply because I had him built up on the ice magic tree (I'd developed each mage around one element, plus barriers), while Cassandra and Blackwall were pretty much constantly generating guard. Blackwall was maxed out in his specialization tree, which makes him next to impossible to kill.

 

You can still take him on after finishing the story if you want, though I'd advise not waiting, as you lose access to at least one character, maybe two depending on what you've said to whom by then. Honestly though by the time I hit postgame there wasn't anything left to do anyway.

Well I got em!

My main was 20, everyone else was 19. (I didn't even power level for the guy, I just completed a quest and leveled up the main.)

All I ended up doing, was crafting some +fire resistance gear for 2 mages (main + viv) a rogue (Sera) and for a warrior (blackwall) I gave all of em around 50+ Fire resists (except viv, she only got +18) Though I did respec Viv to have Ice + Knight enchanter)

Everyone lived except sera to around the 10% range.. But that's only because the dragon was focusing on Sera for whatever reason. He went down REALLY fast. I'm guessing this was due to Sera (possibly massive ranged dmg?) and Viv's ice based attacks.

 

Oh, and I used some Flame Resist Tonics for good measure.

[reyler]

It's odd that Sera should be getting so much aggro at that point. Did you not have any points built into her stealth tree? Did Blackwall not have Challenge and War Cry to generate threat? Also, not sure how many other dragons you'd killed, but if you were also crafting arm and leg armor, you should have had enough dragon materials to give everyone ludicrous amount of fire resist.

 

You know, it's kind of obvious that Sera was intended to be the primary romance option (at least for anyone playing a femquisitor), when you take into account her journal outside her room and her codex entry, both of which keep getting updated. Kind of like how it was obvious Bioware wanted you going after Liara, which everyone then did until Garrus and Tali were available. I think Blackwall is the only other character who has as much as a single change in codex entry, and that is quite a bit more substantial update.

 

I hate falling damage. It occurs that I haven't bothered to say so before now, but I hate falling damage.

 

Trying to level up my Nightmare run mage in the Hinterlands before taking on Redcliffe Castle. Still not using much in the way of the tactical camera, but my equipment is more than making up for it. I don't normally play games with a crafting component (except Kingdoms of Amalur, where the game was so easy that you didn't need to bother), so I wasn't really familiar with the standard gear grading of bought < found < crafted. The only reason I'm not dying horribly all the time is because my team is kitted out in armor about 30 points higher than anything I've found, with damage and (mostly useless) elemental resistances to boot. Party is Cassandra, Sera, and Solas, with Blackwall occasionally subbing for Cass or Sera, depending on the situation. Now that I know what's up with Solas, I want him where I can pay more attention to him. I think I'm going to avoid some of the choices that pissed him off before. Sera won't like the changes, but I'm not bothering with romance this time. Vivienne won't like them either, but she's a terrible person and I'm not going to talk to her. Actually when you're not playing for story, there's little point to talking to any of your characters, since raising approval doesn't improve stats like in Origins, and personal quests don't provide extra abilities like in ME2.

 

Mildly annoyed that, although the same armor will look radically different depending on which party member you equip it to, armor is pretty much unchanged on the Inquisitor no matter what race or class you're playing.

[SinisterDeath]

 

 

It's odd that Sera should be getting so much aggro at that point. Did you not have any points built into her stealth tree? 

Nope.

I filled up her specialized tree and then her Bow tree. Probably working on stealth next... I'm just filling the trees at this point over min-maxing.

 

 

 

Did Blackwall not have Challenge and War Cry to generate threat? 

He should have.. I'll have to double check but I was sure he had some taunts.. Though I did respec him as he was too much tank and not enough DPS. (went from his specialized + tank tree, to specialized + sword and board tree.. he's still a freaking beast!)

 

 

 

Also, not sure how many other dragons you'd killed, but if you were also crafting arm and leg armor, you should have had enough dragon materials to give everyone ludicrous amount of fire resist.

Well, I did waste the first few dragon components on weapons instead of armor. 

But I've taken out the 3 in emprise.

The one in Exalted plains, storm coast, hinterlands.. I think I've taken out a total of 7 or 8? now. But yea, for that fight I did equip 3 of my 4 characters in heavy resist gear. Without the tonic, they were in 40+. My main had 90. Blakwall around 60, and Sera around 40. Viv was around 18. (They were around those levels, not exact levels)

Toss on tonics and they were pretty high up there in fire resist.