Starting a new role-playing game is never easy. Which class should you choose? Which race? What kind of party should you make? Which gear should you buy, and whatâs the best way to earn some early XP?
Dragon Age: Inquisition is no different. Itâs a really good game, and also a really big one. Thereâs so much to do that it can feel paralyzing, and itâs never so daunting than at the very start.
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Ready? Letâs go!
Brush Up On Lore
Dragon Age: Inquisition presumes a lot of knowledge of the land of Thedas, its people, and the events of the first two games in the series. Itâs worth brushing up on all that before you start. To that end, I actually wrote a spoiler-free primer that should serve as a helpful introduction for newcomers, as well as a refresher for veterans.
https://lastchance.cc/a-beginners-guide-to-all-things-dragon-age-1658487212%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
After youâve read that, youâll want to do one other thingâŠ
Do The Dragon Age Keep
BioWare has done something really cool for
Inquisition: The Dragon Age Keep website. The Keep lets you go through all the events of the first two games, make or re-make all of the crucial choices in the story, and then import your own custom world-state into the new game. If youâre new to the series, itâs still worth reading a primer before you do it, but the Keep is absolutely worth doing before you play the game.
Go With Whichever Race Feels Right
Races in
Inquisition are mostly defined by how theyâre treated in the world. Humans are generally in charge, elves are discriminated against, dwarves arenât seen that often and canât use magic, and Qunari are little-understood outsiders. However, each race does have a baked-in attribute that makes them better suited to a given role. Elves have a ranged damage reduction, which makes them good rogues; Qunari have a melee damage resistance, so theyâre natural fighters. Dwarves have a higher defense against magic, and canât choose the mage class. Humans get an extra ability point, which makes them more well-rounded. When it comes down to it, Iâd say just go with whichever race you think is most interesting.
Consider Playing A Mage
All of the classes in
Inquisition are fun, and theyâre all quite different. Mages, however, have something special going on. Thatâs in part because as a mage, youâll probably feel like your character has a more personal stake in the whole mages vs. templars conflict that defines so much of Dragon Age. Itâs also because spells are fun to cast, and are varied enough that you can build a lot of different party-types to support your mage. Also, thereâs a mage subclass that opens up partway through the game called Knight Enchanter that gives you an powerful melee attack, effectively turning your mage into a hybrid spell-thrower/sword-swinger. Itâs overpowered, but is a blast to use. All of the classes in Inquisition are fun, and you canât really go wrong with any of them. But itâs worth trying out playing as a mage, nonetheless.
Take Your Time With The Character Creator
The character creator in
Inquisition is nice and robust, and itâs worth taking your time and really customizing your characterâs hair and face. Remember that you can hit a button and make your character say a couple of different lines, which can help demonstrate what he or she will look like during cutscenes.
Itâs Okay To Restart
Look. We all do it. Everyone who has ever played a BioWare game has created a character, played through the intro, and then decided that they donât like how their character looks and gone back to the drawing board. Give yourself permission to do that in
Dragon Age. Replaying the first few hours with a character you love is better than playing an 80-hour game with a character you donât love.
Turn Down âLip Shineâ
My biggest tip for character creation is this: In the Makeup section, turn down âLip Shineâ to zero. Trust me: If you leave it on even a little bit, your characterâs lips will appear iridescent in cutscenes.
On PC, Set Meshes To High
Iâve found the PC version of
Inquisition to be pretty flexible from a performance perspective. However, there is one setting that youâll want to set to high: Meshes. For some reason, if you put meshes on medium, charactersâ hair becomes super shiny and looks like itâs carved out of plastic. It may be a bug, or it may be unique to computers like mine, but if youâre getting shiny hair, you can fix it by turning up your meshes setting.
Turn Off Helmets
You can turn off the helmets in-game, meaning that your character will still technically be wearing a helmet, and get all of the protection and stat-boosts the helmet carries, but the helmet will be invisible in the game. I found that approach vastly preferable. That said, if you like the helmets, by all means, stick with âem.
You Can Re-Roll Your Character Once For Free
Down at the blacksmith in Haven, thereâs a small kiosk in the front-right corner as you walk in. There, you can buy an amulet that lets you reassign your ability points. The first one costs a single coin, which means that if you donât like your characterâs stats in the early goings, itâs very easy to respec. My advice: If you decide to do that, save your game before you do. Respec, then go into the field some and see how you like your new abilities. That way, you can always reload and save the potion for later.
Respec Your Character Once In The Later Stages
Itâs also a good idea to go through and respec your character at least once in the later stages of the game. I found that there were a few abilities Iâd purchased that I never used, and by respecâing I could rebuild almost the same character, but save a few points for use in areas that were more helpful for my playstyle. Each respec only costs 345 coins, so itâs relatively cheap.
Keep Multiple Saves
Itâs generally smart to keep multiple saves as you work your way through the game. That way, if you make a decision you really canât live with, it shouldnât be too difficult to go back and undo it. (Though itâs fun to stick with your choices as much as possible.) Also, the game has some technical rough edges, and itâs generally better to play it safe than risk losing progress. Every so often, save to a new slot, along with your running autosaves.
Explore Haven First
Shortly after the start of the game, youâll find yourself wandering around your home base at Haven. While you can technically head out to The Hinterlands to begin questinâ and adventurinâ, stick around Haven for a bit, first. Check under âHavenâ in your journal and see what quests there are, and do those. When you do head to the Hinterlands, youâll get a few more quests that tie back to Haven; do those as well. Theyâre an easy source of early XP and can help you climb a few levels before you even begin to engage in combat.
Return To Base Every So Often
Itâs tempting to go out for extended sorties in the field, but itâs generally a good idea to return to base every so often to check in. There are a bunch of things you can do at home, and each one of them will make your work in the field that much easier. Once you finish an objective or two, consider popping back in to see whatâs what.
Turn In Research Items
At Haven, thereâs a character who stands in Josephineâs office. Sheâs in charge of research, and you can give all of your yellow research items to her in between missions. You should definitely do so, as youâll be granted damage and XP bonuses when taking on researched enemies. Just add it to your mental list of things to do each time you go home, since itâs easy to forget.
Sell Your Valuables
You know how most RPGs have useless items you find in the world that you sell at vendors?
Inquisition has that stuff too. But you know how in most RPGs (including other BioWare games), that stuff is called âjunkâ or âlootâ? In Inquisition, itâs actually called âvaluables.â (I donât know, either.) You can even sort an item in your inventory to valuables, where youâd ordinarily sort it to junk.
It takes a minute to get your head around itâbecause itâs dumb and unintuitiveâbut itâs the same conceptâbasically, free money. Every time you go to a vendor, sell all of your blue valuables for quick cash and to free up inventory space. However: Keep the yellow stuff, because those are usually research items that you can turn in for stat boosts. Better yet, just turn in your research before you hit up the store every time you go home.
Always Assign Operations
Your colleagues in the war room can be running three operations at a timeâone apiece. Youâll get a notification every time an operation finishes, but it can be easy to forget about that and keep playing the game. Try to revisit the war room as often as possible, so that youâve always got all three advisors dispatched on one operation each.
Run Long Operations Overnight
Operations run in real-time and keep going even when the game is turned off. That means that you can strategically assign your longer operations to carry on while youâre asleep.
Sleep
Speaking of that, it can be tempting to play
Dragon Age all night and forego sleep. That is inadvisable, because your body needs sleep to function.
Buy Bianca Upgrades At The Market
Varricâs crossbow Bianca is unique in
Inquisition, as itâs the only ranged weapon heâs ever allowed to use throughout the game. That means that youâll have to upgrade it regularly to keep pace with your other gear. You can do that right off the bat, howeverâgo to the main weapon merchant in Haven, and you can get one of each type of Bianca upgrade essentially for free. Then, go to the blacksmith and install the upgrades. Itâs an activity that, as it happens, is also a pretty good mini-tutorial for upgrading a weapon.
Craft Armor, Not Weapons
While the crafting system in
Inquisition can be cool to use (though itâs way too fiddly), youâre just as likely to find great gear out in the field as you are to make it. I found that it was rarely worth it for me to craft weapons, though I did craft some pretty good armor, particularly once I started taking down dragons and collecting their valuable hide and bones. Generally speaking, though, you can skip a lot of the crafting and just use the stuff you find lying around, unless you really like to make your own gear.
Craft Upgrades For Your Gear
With that said, itâs usually worth it to go and craft custom legs, arms, and weapon accessories. Youâll rarely find what you need out in the field, and crafted weapon accessories can add helpful buffs to your gear.
You Canât Remove Runes, But You Can Replace Them
Runes are the other most useful thing about crafting; most weapons can accept one rune, which will add some sort of unique damage increase to it. Hereâs a thing about runes: Using one on a weapon consumes it, which means that you canât remove the rune and use it again on a different weapon. However, you
can replace an existing rune with a new, more powerful one. I didnât understand that for a while, so I held off committing to runes when I shouldâve been using them. Donât be like me! Use your runes.
Name Your Crafted Gear
You can name the armor and weapons that you craft, and you should absolutely do so. âThe Thinkerâ is a much cooler name for a hat than âIce Resistance Capâ or whatever.
Check Out The Shops In Val Royeaux
Youâll arrive at the Orlesian city of Val Royeaux pretty early on in the story, and it contains some of the best markets in the game. In particular, thereâs a vendor there who sells blank runestones for cheap, which you can then use to start crafting runes for your weapons back home.
Talk To Everyone
It can be tempting to just run around fighting monsters all day, but keep in mind that this is a BioWare RPG, which means that it rewards those who take the time to talk with their party members. The characters in this game are great, and itâs worth taking the time to fully explore the various conversations you can have with them. In time, those conversations will open up new dialogue options, new avenues for surprising character development, sidequests, and even (of course) romance.
Go Listen To The Tavern Bard
The tavern bard in
Inquisition is pretty terrific. She sings a variety of different songs, and as you locate song lyrics out in the world, her repertoire will expand. You can find the lyrics under the âtalesâ section of your codex, and read along as you listen. Sure, she has the uncanny ability to play both rhythm and lead guitar at the same time, but donât overthink it. She probably just has a magical instrument or something.
Change Up Your Party
In past
Dragon Age games, I almost always wound up playing with one party makeup for the entire game. Inquisition feels a bit different for some reasonâwhile I definitely had my favorite groupings, I was much more likely to mix and match party members. As it turns out, thatâs a great way to go. Heading out to a region that isnât particularly dangerous? Consider taking out some of the characters that you rarely party up with. Youâll hear all sorts of new banter and dialogue, get to know the characters better, and might be surprised to find that you really like fighting alongside someone you didnât previously enjoy.
Be Sure You Get Every Party Member
There are 9 companion characters in the game in total, and while itâs not too difficult to pick them all up, itâs possible to miss one or two. Two in particular that are easy to miss: Follow the âFriends of Red Jennyâ quest in Val Royeaux and head to the Hinterlands when you hear about a guy named Blackwall.
Try Controlling Other Party Members In Battle
On normal difficulty, itâs easy to focus on your main character and let your other party members just sort of do their thing. However, it can be really fun to change things up and take command of someone else in battle for a while. My first playthrough was as a mage, but I eventually began taking the time to play as The Iron Bull in combat. He was really fun to use, just wading around in combat dealing crazy damage with a huge hammer. It was, needless to say, a super different experience from playing as a mage. Trying different characters can also give you a sense of what the other classes play like, in case you decide to start a second playthrough.
Loot Everything
Itâs too bad thereâs no âloot allâ button to let your character hoover up all the little bags that drop every time you defeat some enemies. But⊠there isnât. So, you have to go and individually pick up each piece of loot. Thing is, itâs definitely worth doing that: Not only will you find some really useful crafting materials and weapons lying around, youâll also get valuables and other items that can be easily traded in for cash.
Use The Search Button
The search button is useful for more than just lootâit makes
everything in the environment light up, and can make it a lot easier to find whatever items you may be looking for in a given room. Iâd hit it constantly while I was exploringâif thereâs anything to be picked up nearby, itâll make a thicker sound effect than if thereâs nothing.
Listen For When To Find Hidden Items
Often times as you wander the wilds, your character or a party member will say something like âLetâs have a look around!â That means that thereâs something hidden nearby, which you can locate by hitting the âsearchâ button and following the beeps. Your minimap also lights up when youâre in an area like this, but thatâs easy to miss, so itâs generally better to keep your ears open for someone in your party talking about it.
Read
Between the script, the side-conversations, the codex, the journal entries, and all the reports in the war room,
Inquisition contains an absurd amount of writing. While it can be easy to simply blow through new codex entries and other on-screen text, try to slow down and really read it. Itâll explain a good deal of whatâs going on in the world around you, and itâs all pretty well-written and fun to read on its own.
Try To Stick With Level-Appropriate Quests And Areas
Every area and quest in
Inquisition has a suggested level range attached to it. Youâll know if you head into an area thatâs too tough for you, since youâll probably get creamed. But while it can be easy to wander through low-level areas for hours after youâve exceeded their suggested level, that can lead to accidentally level yourself beyond a bunch of areas you havenât yet explored. Then, as you explore them (and itâs worth exploring in this game!), the loot youâll be rewarded with wonât be as good as the higher level loot you have. Itâs a tricky balancing act, and probably impossible to get totally right, but it remains a good idea to head into areas that are right for your level.
Get Out Of The Hinterlands
The Hinterlands is the first major area youâll get to explore in Inquisition. Itâs a nice enough spot, full of little sidequests to complete, plants to harvest, and druffalo to herd. But itâs far from the gameâs most interesting area. Rather than spending a dozen hours hundred-percenting The Hinterlands, get out of there as soon as you open up a new area and start to branch out. The Hinterlands isnât going anywhere. See what else there is to see!
Skip The More Boring Sidequests
Not all sidequests in
Inquisition are created equal. Some of them are just boring collection-quests, particularly the requisition quests youâll get in each area. You can always do those if you like, but theyâre totally skippable. There are so many other more interesting sidequests in the game that you can earn all the power-points youâll need without really doing any collection stuff. In general, each area has one or two âmajorâ questlines, as well as some other quests whose journal entries suggest that theyâre more substantive than just âcollect X amount of [thing].â Focus on those, unless you really like collecting stuff.
Donât Fight A Giant In A Boulder Patch
This oneâs self-explanatory as well. If youâre going to fight a giant, try to see if you can get him away from any nearby boulder patches. Things tend to get messy otherwise.
Use Tactical View For Tough Battles
It can be easy to get into a rhythm where you just sort of do battles on auto-pilot, only to come up against a tough enemy and get your ass kicked. If you feel the tide of a battle turning, immediately whip things out to the overhead tactical view and start issuing direct orders.
If Youâre Really Getting Whupped, Run Away
If you wind up in a no-win situation and have lost several of your party members, you can still run away, as long as youâre out in the open world. Head for the hills, and your party members will warp to your location. Even the dead ones. I donât know, I guess itâs magic or something.
Take Potions Before Refilling Them
Sometimes during missions, youâll come across a potion restocking box. These can be helpful, since potions are the only way to heal yourself mid-combat. However, before you refill your stock, go through and have each character take one of your remaining potions. Thatâll fill their health bar
before you replenish your inventory, maximizing the amount of hitpoints (and potential hitpoints) you recover.
Roll With A Diverse Party
There are a few types of locked doors out there in Thedas, and youâll want to roll with a diverse party so that you can be sure to be able to open all of them. There are ordinary locked doors that your rogues can open, and there are the more advanced locked doors that youâll need an inquisition perk to access. There are also walls that only a warrior can bash down, and magical barriers that only a mage can destroy. So, youâll want to have all three classes with you at all times.
Fight A Dragon Alongside Iron Bull
That oneâs pretty straightforward. The first time you go fight a dragon, take Iron Bull with you. Trust me.
Actually, Just Keep Iron Bull Around In General
You know what? You can just keep Iron Bull in your party in general. Heâs the best.
You Can Totally Climb That Mountain
You can jump in
Inquisition, which is a big deal for a BioWare game. That means that when you come upon a mountain or other obstacle and want to see whatâs on top or beyond it, itâs possible to jump and climb your way to the top. Donât let a little slipping and sliding discourage you! If you truly believe, you can do that weird RPG jump-slide thing until you finally get to the top. Once youâre there, your party will magically teleport to the summit beside you.
Eventually, You Can Start Skipping Normal Gear
Past a certain point in the game, it stops being worth picking up white-colored, âordinaryâ weapons and armor. Theyâre barely worth anything at the store, and they take up space in your inventory. Rather than picking them up only to have to destroy them later, just donât bother. Take blue and purple items only.
Donât Rush
I give this advice for most open-world games like this, but itâs particularly applicable for Inquisition. Donât hurry! Slow down and explore. There is so much cool stuff in this game, and most of it is off the beaten path. You may have enough power points stored up to take on the next story mission, but instead, go exploring. Youâll find new areas that you can spend those points to unlock, as well as interesting dungeons, exciting side-adventures, and some really good self-contained stories, all waiting for you out in the wilderness. Donât hurry your way through this game; take your time.
I hope those tips are helpful. If you have any more to share, I hope youâll do so below, and if thereâs anything good that I left off, Iâll probably come in and update this list in the future. Good luck, and watch out for dragons.
To contact the author of this post, write to [email protected] or find him on Twitter @kirkhamilton
