Rath Darkblade wrote:
Hmm... some impressions of DA3 so far for me. Well, I'm playing through the Hinterlands and looking around, and the game looks fairly spectacular so far, but not all that solid.
Gameplay-wise, it appears to be DA2 all over again - albeit with a far bigger world with far more backgrounds, and without zillions of enemies dropping off the ceiling.
Still, the Hinterlands appears to be simply a case of "Find Quest A; Run Around, Killing Enemies; Solve Quest A. Lather, Rinse, Repeat." There are far too many small little side-quests to do, and the Hinterlands is a
HUGE place. It could easily swallow the Deep Roads section from DAO without even a burp.
It does feel a bit like a Single Player MMO style themed set of Quests. But, most of those are for the "Completionists" - who must find and complete every quest they get, and uncover every area of the map. I am one of those people. I, like you, started in the Hinterlands - and uncovered everything I could. And only just now "finished" that area (though I am sure I will find myself going back there as other quests unlock - and there's the matter of a certain enemy who is not required that I wish to defeat - but I will spare the name or details, to prevent spoilers!) Now, I have been doing the Haven things, and moving the story forward (finished three little "mini areas" that I unlocked so far thanks to the events of Haven's War Room).
DAO remains my favorite thus far, but DAI is miles ahead of DA2 in the "Awesome" Rating. It's like night and day to me.
Rath Darkblade wrote:
I guess perhaps one thing that bugs me about DA3 so far is that I feel a lack of personal involvement, in that - in comparison to DA2 and certainly to DAO - there are very few philosophical questions (like, for instance, the lust demon who ensnared a templar in DAO and who provided him with the illusion of happiness; do you kill the demon, thus destroying the templar's illusion, or do you let him be happy - albeit in a deluded way?) These questions of grey-and-gray-morality are one reason why DAO was so compelling for me in the first place.
I feel the same, in that regard. I don't feel like I am impacting the lives of other characters, the way I was able to in DAO, which made you do - as you showed in the example - more morally questionable choices - which really made me feel invested in my character - because I felt like I was having to really decide for the character and shape the character. There was a quest in DAI in the Hinterlands called "Blood Brothers" or something like that - about a brother mage and a brother templar - and I thought, "Oh! This is going to be cool! Trying to convince them to settle things peacefully!" And... lo and behold, that's not even an option - talking to them wasn't even an option because
they were both already dead! I was disappointed.
Rath Darkblade wrote:
I've also noticed that there is no way to keep track of your party members' affection or hatred towards you (as you could in DAO and DA2). Or have I missed something? I thought the DAO version was simplest and easiest to understand.
This is all done strictly through conversation and choices you make in the War Room.
Rath Darkblade wrote:
Two final things: I'm not sure why they've put those Breaches so high up - it becomes very difficult to find the right spot to seal them, and then you play a frustrating game of "hunt the pixel". Or am I missing something? I've also noticed that the monsters in this game (particularly the demons and dragons/dragonlings) are far tougher than before. I'm at level 6, and already I have to tackle a level 12 flame demon to close a breach, or to run across a canyon infested with dragonlings to get to another breach. That flame demon takes down my party with no trouble, and those dragonlings are vicious - any more than two of them, and my party is toast (figuratively
and literally).
Is there any way to make battles easier? I've already turned the difficulty all the way down.
What does your party consist of?
As for the Dragon - leave him alone. Come back for him much later. (I am level 12 and I have yet to go back for him!)
So, here's a thing I do...
There's a Rift in the Hinterlands near the farm, next to a waterfall. I was level 7 when I came across it and the monsters not only had the red dot - but they had red skulls. Needless to say I couldn't beat it.
Until I tried something different.
I am playing a Warrior (Sword & Shield), had Varrick, Solaris and Cassandra.
I initiated the fight; immediately switched to Solaris.
Spammed magic missile attacks (frost in this case), while the other three just fought (I didn't issue any commands; just let the AI do all the fighting).
By doing this, I was able to stay out of the range of the fight - and had my warrior and Cassandra always taunting, so it kept it off my mage. I was able to fight the demons this way; until the Rift was nothing - and then switched back to my own character, and closed the Rift. I have used this method of combat three times now, during tough fights. (Mages are insanely powerful in Dragon Age, and with no "Mana Pool" to have to worry about; you can literally spam magic attacks)!
See if that helps.