|
Post by disqusf3dme on Jan 5, 2015 0:04:53 GMT -5
So I wound up romancing Blackwall after all. Go figure. I'm stationed at Skyhold now, almost to level 11, have every companion, and a bunch of their quests. Mostly exploring the Western Approach and the Fallow Mire at the moment. Have yet to do the next plot missions after the attack on Haven. My advice: Go do to the plot missions after Haven as soon as you're a high enough level. I think it's around 15. I purposefully left the Hinterlands before clearing it because everyone said you'll be too overlevelled, but then once I hit Skyhold I forgot to check recommended level requirements and ended up doing exactly what I was trying not to do. So now I'm level 19 with a bunch of a main story missions at level 15, and I can steam roll through them but the lack of challenge is making them boring, and it seems like I have a bit to go before I reach anything closer to my level. It's killed my enthusiasm for single player.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 5, 2015 0:11:08 GMT -5
disqusf3dme: The notion of lack of challenge for me in this game is not likely to ever happen. I am not very good at video games. I am playing this thing on Casual and had to essentially cheat my way around having to beat Knight-Commander Denam during the assault on Haven, because I could not beat him otherwise no matter how many times I tried. Even if I did ever manage to get to a situation where there was a lack of challenge, I'd personally prefer it. Gameplay isn't really my. .thing, although this game is very fun to play. Anyway, it's going to be a while before I get to those proper levels, so I'm fine for the moment. I appreciate the warning, though.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 7, 2015 11:51:39 GMT -5
You guys have any advice on taking down my first dragon in the Hinterlands? I'm level 14 now, I'm willing to give it a whirl.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 12:38:04 GMT -5
You guys have any advice on taking down my first dragon in the Hinterlands? I'm level 14 now, I'm willing to give it a whirl. The dragons will hop around the fight area if they take too much damage from underneath, so make sure your tank(s) have some sort of ability that lets them move around quickly to get back in melee range. Since you are a double bladed rogue (and therefore a daring, handsome man of refined taste), stealthing will work fine. If you hit its limbs enough it will drop its head, and hitting the head does more damage. Dragons have this bullshit nonsense attack where they flap their wings, and anyone outside their melee range gets sucked toward them by the wind which does a huge amount of damage for no practical reason. Ooh its windy, my spleen has ruptured. Anyway don't succumb to the temptation to have your ranged folk(s) as far away as you can. When the dragon starts flapping run into the little 'wind circle' the attack creates. This attack infuriated me as it seems like it was merely added to make dragon fights last longer. The AI is a dipshit and does a horrible job of dodging dragon breath attacks. You'll have to do that yourself for your ranged people. Oh, and I think that dragon has little shithead baby dragons that will come fight you when it calls them and retreats to a ledge or something. They aren't much problem but can sneak up on you.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 7, 2015 15:12:45 GMT -5
Edit: Sorry, never mind, just had to move further into the valley.
So, after my third try, I can safely say this is fucking hard. I barely even make a dent in its health. Alexius was easier than this. Or more likely, och, I'm bad at this.
|
|
|
Post by Generic Poster on Jan 7, 2015 15:20:38 GMT -5
Viviene is essentially indestructible, and can kill dragons by herself.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 7, 2015 15:28:24 GMT -5
Generic Poster: Not in my experience. Either of those. She is constantly eating up my potions and has been the first to die every on this and in many other occasions.
|
|
|
Post by Generic Poster on Jan 7, 2015 15:40:23 GMT -5
Generic Poster: Not in my experience. Either of those. She is constantly eating up my potions and has been the first to die every on this and in many other occasions. Re-spec her. Dump everything into the Spirit and Knight-Enchanter trees. Cast barrier on her and use spirit blade. There's a passive in the Knight-Enchanter tree where every time she scores damage with the spirit blade, it strengthens her barrier. The barrier never goes down and she never takes damage.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 7, 2015 15:45:42 GMT -5
Generic Poster: Thank you very much. I had put a lot into Spirit, but I only just got Knight-Enchanter. I apologize if I was rude before, I was trying to explain my predicament.
|
|
|
Post by Generic Poster on Jan 7, 2015 15:46:52 GMT -5
Generic Poster: Thank you very much. I had put a lot into Spirit, but I only just got Knight-Enchanter. I apologize if I was rude before, I was trying to explain my predicament. You weren't rude at all. You'll have to control her to reach full potential - the AI won't do it.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 7, 2015 16:15:53 GMT -5
Alright, I respecced Viv, and sold a bunch of stuff in anticipation of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. I'm going to do normal quests for a while, and then go after the dragon either right before or after Wicked Eyes. Again, thank you very much, GP and Chalms.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 16:18:32 GMT -5
Generic Poster: Not in my experience. Either of those. She is constantly eating up my potions and has been the first to die every on this and in many other occasions. Re-spec her. Dump everything into the Spirit and Knight-Enchanter trees. Cast barrier on her and use spirit blade. There's a passive in the Knight-Enchanter tree where every time she scores damage with the spirit blade, it strengthens her barrier. The barrier never goes down and she never takes damage. WHY DOES NO ONE TELL ME THESE THINGS. I hated Viv, so stopped taking her with me and let her auto-spec. *fumes* Also she's voiced by Ellaria Sand. Completely unrelated, merely rowr.
|
|
|
Post by Tea Rex on Jan 7, 2015 16:41:00 GMT -5
Re-spec her. Dump everything into the Spirit and Knight-Enchanter trees. Cast barrier on her and use spirit blade. There's a passive in the Knight-Enchanter tree where every time she scores damage with the spirit blade, it strengthens her barrier. The barrier never goes down and she never takes damage. WHY DOES NO ONE TELL ME THESE THINGS. I hated Viv, so stopped taking her with me and let her auto-spec. *fumes* Also she's voiced by Ellaria Sand. Completely unrelated, merely rowr. I THOUGHT her voice was familiar. I was buds with Viv at the end. She and I had a similar outlook on life - sometimes you gotta play the game, or you're gonna get played.
|
|
|
Post by disqusf3dme on Jan 7, 2015 17:00:59 GMT -5
Alright, I respecced Viv, and sold a bunch of stuff in anticipation of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. I'm going to do normal quests for a while, and then go after the dragon either right before or after Wicked Eyes. Again, thank you very much, GP and Chalms. What party are you using to fight the dragon? I find two handed warriors to be useless. I always go with two sword and board warriors. The dragon's move set is simple enough that they can keep up full guard for pretty much the entire fight. Otherwise, have the remaining two party members be ranged attackers. Warriors hold aggro, mage and an archer pelt from a distance. Makes dragons almost too easy.
|
|
|
Post by Generic Poster on Jan 7, 2015 23:07:26 GMT -5
Alright, I respecced Viv, and sold a bunch of stuff in anticipation of Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts. I'm going to do normal quests for a while, and then go after the dragon either right before or after Wicked Eyes. Again, thank you very much, GP and Chalms. What party are you using to fight the dragon? I find two handed warriors to be useless. I always go with two sword and board warriors. The dragon's move set is simple enough that they can keep up full guard for pretty much the entire fight. Otherwise, have the remaining two party members be ranged attackers. Warriors hold aggro, mage and an archer pelt from a distance. Makes dragons almost too easy. See, I find distance attackers to be relatively useless against dragons. That wind vortex thing sucks you in no matter how far away you are, and the further out you are, the more damage you take. Best to stay in tight.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 7, 2015 23:13:34 GMT -5
What party are you using to fight the dragon? I find two handed warriors to be useless. I always go with two sword and board warriors. The dragon's move set is simple enough that they can keep up full guard for pretty much the entire fight. Otherwise, have the remaining two party members be ranged attackers. Warriors hold aggro, mage and an archer pelt from a distance. Makes dragons almost too easy. See, I find distance attackers to be relatively useless against dragons. That wind vortex thing sucks you in no matter how far away you are, and the further out you are, the more damage you take. Best to stay in tight. Yup. Two tanks, myself, and a mage. Iron Bull is charming as all hell but kinda prone to dying. Respeced that guy three times trying to find a good mix.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 8, 2015 1:56:05 GMT -5
Alright, I finished Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts as well as the final quest for Blackwall. I. .am emotionally exhausted and will go after the dragon again tomorrow, refreshed. Honestly, I think we should include choices from at least some companion quests in the big lists of major decisions. They are just as if not even more tough than some of the main quests. Forcing Bull to forsake his people and faith that he was devoted to was so painful. And let me tell you, Blackwall's quest is even harder when this revelation hits you as his girlfriend.
|
|
|
Post by Generic Poster on Jan 8, 2015 9:31:03 GMT -5
I'm at level 20, and I somehow haven't advanced Iron Bull at all.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 9, 2015 2:21:04 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 9, 2015 16:09:22 GMT -5
Well it took several more tries to get the hang of fighting it with Vivienne, but it's done. The Fereldan Frostback is no more.
|
|
|
Post by Generic Poster on Jan 9, 2015 17:34:17 GMT -5
Well it took several more tries to get the hang of fighting it with Vivienne, but it's done. The Fereldan Frostback is no more. See? She's unstoppable once you get it down.
|
|
|
Post by Tea Rex on Jan 9, 2015 18:08:53 GMT -5
You know who's unstoppable? Fucking Cassandra. I fought one motherfucker, can't remember which one - my whole party including me, dead. Health meter with thousands of points left as far as I can tell. Me, hacking away at the asshole's ankles while it beat at me ineffectually. I NEVER fought a dragon without Cassandra.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 13, 2015 13:49:25 GMT -5
Generic Poster: Oop, sorry about that, regarding Bull. In other news, after my visit to the Temple of Mythal last night, Solas' wildly varying approval for me wound up averaging to a net positive due to most of my decisions at the Temple. We had a nice conversation, in a scene I figure was supposed to happen much much earlier, and I have his companion quest now. Go figure.
|
|
|
Post by Tea Rex on Jan 13, 2015 16:24:27 GMT -5
I can't believe I'm saying this, but...I need to play it again. I NEED to. I've got to find out what it's like to be Cullen's romance partner. Or to have Solas skeeving all over me.
I'm gonna play an elf chicka, a mage this time. I've never been a mage...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2015 17:20:52 GMT -5
I actually popped it back in on Sunday to see what all the hubbub was about Vivienne's game breaking Knight Enchanter skillz - And I played for two hours. I killed a dragon (so easy) and replayed the final boss fight (which took me maybe 5 minutes minus cut scenes after I respeced and reequipped people). My goody two shoes world state had me kinda on the same page as Tea Rex. Gaspard was alive in exile and the Circle and College were a bit miffed at one another. Only sources of conflict. Kinda want to go more crazy with it. Also would totally be a mage. Or maybe a dwarf. Scout Harding can get it.
|
|
|
Post by Tea Rex on Jan 13, 2015 22:54:51 GMT -5
Yeah, this time I'm gonna allow a bit more conflict. I've got my qunari lady saved for whenever the next (HEAVILY FORESHADOWED) game comes out. I'll let a little mayham reign and see what happens.
|
|
|
Post by Lady Bones on Jan 13, 2015 23:03:02 GMT -5
Tea Rex: I'm just going to watch the videos of the Solas and Cullen romances. I already have SIX playthroughs extensively planned out. It would've been fine, but DA Keep issues/the Default World State and my desire to romance both Dorian and Cassandra squashed that. All of the other five tie in to one of my Origins playthroughs. I'll start the first of those once the Keep thing is resolved. I am VERY thorough.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jan 13, 2015 23:28:25 GMT -5
Also I finally took a good look at the voice cast list, and it is pretty impressive. Morrigan was voiced by Claudia Black which explains several heretofore mysterious pants-feelings, and I'll be danged if now I don't actually think Freddie Prinze Jr. might be fun to hang out with for the first time ever.
|
|
|
Post by Generic Poster on Jan 14, 2015 13:09:45 GMT -5
I like the game a lot, but I'm disappointed at how many quests depend on you reading every book you find to get the "plot" of the thing.
|
|
|
Post by Tea Rex on Jan 14, 2015 13:12:26 GMT -5
I like the game a lot, but I'm disappointed at how many quests depend on you reading every book you find to get the "plot" of the thing. Yeah, the reading in this game is much more necessary than the last couple of games. The dwarven tombs in the Hissing Wastes were particularly flummoxing until I read some codex entries.
|
|