Dragon Age 3

[Gogan]

PSA: If You're Playing Dragon Age, Leave The Hinterlands

Pretty funny, because I would totally have fallen into the same trap. I played a bit more tonight and was about to say I have a love/hate relationship with this game. On the one hand, it's the most spectacular looking world I've seen in a game. There's so much to do in the Hinterlands, and the scenery is breathtaking. On the other hand, the world feels *so* big with no direction that it's a little overwhelming. Fortunately, simply exploring the world is hugely rewarding.

Fusa, since you've played a lot more than me so far, is DA3 like Skyrim in that mobs/rifts scale to your level? Or is it possible to run into mobs that will face smash you? I ask b/c I tried a rift in Hinterlands today and the second wave destroyed me pretty quick. I don't really have the hang of combat yet, so not sure if I just suck or it out-leveled me.

[Fusa]

Ok I must say one thing related to first paragraph, yes I was there much to long (mind you lvl 8-11) is the recommended level for the Breach Closing, so I had to level somewhere and I will complete every zone so I stayed there (fun or not).

onto the question at hand, which I truly can not answer because I never played Skyrim. I do understand what you are asking me though. I have been to a level 16 zone ( just to get a rare plant for a quest ) and things absolutely shit on you. like 1 shot. When I was young (level 2-4) there are area's in "The Hinterlands" that is 8-12 mobs, when I went close to this rift the larger mob one shot me not to mention spell casters rape. So no, things do not scale down or up to your level just because you are close to the zone, you have to be mindful and then tell yourself I shouldn't be here.

Lastly about the combat, this game forces you to "pause" to often if you want to be (perfect) which means a combat fight would take probably 5 mins longer than it should (just to be clean). What I do is find a happy median, there are area's on the map (while in an instance) that refill your supplies (pots) so I do not fear using some of them. The AI of your team members are sometimes fucking stupid as in if a boss retreats or you are doing a rift, you must actively separate your members so they do not get AoE'd to death which is very easy fighting higher level mobs.

I do actively fight things that are 3 levels higher then me ( which proves a challenge if you fuck up you know what you fucked up and the second time through you find you don't even use pots with good position) but then I go to area's that are my level or a little lower, and I curb stomp them, no challenge.

I think the way I am doing the game on the first time through is seriously wrong, I will soon find a zone on the War Table that needs to be done (Ill be level 20 and the zone will be level 9)

edit** I currently have 20 hours played and still have not cleared the hinterlands =P I am level 10

[Fusa]

25 hours and finally 100% finished the hinterlands ( including the Dragon lvl 12 ) I gayed him forsure using the terrain and got like 9000 exp and 3 purples ( level 15 loot off a lvl 12 dragon)

I was lvl 11

[Gogan]

Wow, you've been playing a lot. Does the game tell you what % complete a particular zone is, or are you just confident you've done everything there?

The dragon fight I saw in some gameplay video looked pretty epic. Nice that you got one down. I like that they're rare encounters in the DA worlds. I also love how exciting it feels (at least so far) to get purple items. Like vanilla wow, it really does feel rare and epic. I've seen two so far -- a dagger and a staff.

I'm about 13 hours in and level 8 now. Tactical combat got better once I learned that holding shift lets you pan the camera by moving the mouse. I think I'm finally getting the hang of things. I've been focused on moving the story along, quest-wise. Went to Redcliffe and sided with the mages (since I'm a mage too). Definitely want to play through again and check out the templar story though.

P.S. I love Lelianna. Wish she was a playable character. She was a badass in the Redcliffe/Alexius story. She was a companion in DA:O, but I never played with her much since I was also a rogue in that game. Such a great character story though. Sera is pretty entertaining so far too. Guess I got a thing for badass chicks with bows.

[Yooxra]

[Fusa]

I am just going by the world map shows 1-etc* amount of quests in the zone, I did all the shards and the landmarks one thing I know forsure I didn't get was all the mosaic pieces and the locked doors that need defyhandsfinetools ( need to sped perks might be stuff behind there)

hinterlands shows nothing above it

[Fusa]

Also if I had to fight the dragon I would have got my ass kicked no problem, I basically explioted the terrain so I could kill the dragon and it couldn't touch me. mind you I choose fire and it is vulnerable** to cold ( Human Mage ) so I just finished the fire tree now I will go cold, my other mages are frost/lightning, basically 10 mins of staff auto fire

[Gogan]

Originally Posted by Fusa

I am just going by the world map shows 1-etc* amount of quests in the zone, I did all the shards and the landmarks one thing I know forsure I didn't get was all the mosaic pieces and the locked doors that need defyhandsfinetools ( need to sped perks might be stuff behind there)

Ah, I never noticed that on the world map. Will have to look for it.

There's a few of little collections like the mosaics. I picked up some bottles too, which is apparently like the mosaics quest. Neat, but I'm not gonna sweat finding them all. I do wonder what the rewards for finding them all is though.

That lockpicking perk is the one I'm going for as well. I hate coming across doors that I can't unlock.

mind you I choose fire and it is vulnerable** to cold ( Human Mage ) so I just finished the fire tree now I will go cold, my other mages are frost/lightning, basically 10 mins of staff auto fire

Yeah, I went fire too, but I'm thinking it was a bad idea. The elementals that come out of rifts seem to be fire immune as well. I want to check out how good Fire Mine is, but then I'll probably respec if it's not that good. The storm tree looks like it has some good CC, as well as the winter tree, but lack any big damage spells. TBH, I'm not super excited about any of the mage trees. I was sad Blood Magic isn't in DA3. It was pretty cool in DA2. The mage specializations look good, but no idea when I'll get those.

[Fusa]

Fire mine is worth it, and I am not sure when I got my specializations but I do have them now and they are neat as fuck ( almost want me to respec the respective guys to their trees)

I want to say they magically showed up at level 10 around the same time I finally closed the rift and got to the large keep.

The inquisitor one is fucking amazing.

also yes there are bottles I have came across, fucking OCD "V" key one thing I hate so much is on your mount you can't ping Search "V" does nothing and it is irritating for those pesky items, hence why I have the same attitude for those is if I don't find them all I wont sweat it

[Gogan]

24 hours. Level 12. Acquiring Skyhold was epic. Fought my first dragon in Crestwood (he was 13, I was 12) and got my ass kicked. Found the specializations -- apparently they're unlocked from a quest originating the war room.

Loving this game now. Not something I can pick up for even just an hour, but it's so amazing.