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 what’s the best way to earn some early XP?
Dragon Age: Inquisition is no different. It’s a really good game, and also a really big one. There’s so much to do that it can feel paralyzing, and it’s never so daunting than at the very start.
Fear not, friends. I’ve got more than 100 cumulative hours of Dragon Age-ing under my belt at this point, and I’m here to help.
Ready? Let’s 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. It’s 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.
After you’ve read that, you’ll want to do one other thing…
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 you’re new to the series, it’s 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 they’re treated in the world. Humans are generally in charge, elves are discriminated against, dwarves aren’t seen that often and can’t 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 they’re natural fighters. Dwarves have a higher defence against magic, and can’t choose the mage class. Humans get an extra ability point, which makes them more well-rounded. When it comes down to it, I’d say just go with whichever race you think is most interesting.
Consider Playing A Mage
All of the classes in Inquisition are fun, and they’re all quite different. Mages, however, have something special going on. That’s in part because as a mage, you’ll probably feel like your character has a more personal stake in the whole mages vs. templars conflict that defines so much of Dragon Age. It’s 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, there’s 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. It’s overpowered, but is a blast to use. All of the classes in Inquisition are fun, and you can’t really go wrong with any of them. But it’s 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 it’s worth taking your time and really customising your character’s 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.
It’s OK 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 don’t 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 don’t love.
Turn Down “Lip Shine”
My biggest tip for character creation is this: In the Makeup & Tattoos section, turn down “Lip Shine” to zero. Trust me: If you leave it on even a little bit, your character’s lips will appear iridescent in cutscenes.
On PC, Set Meshes To High
I’ve found the PC version of Inquisition to be pretty flexible from a performance perspective. However, there is one setting that you’ll want to set to high: Meshes. For some reason, if you put meshes on medium, characters’ hair becomes super shiny and looks like it’s carved out of plastic. It may be a bug, or it may be unique to computers like mine, but if you’re 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 ’em.
You Can Re-Roll Your Character Once For Free
Down at the blacksmith in Haven, there’s 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 don’t like your character’s stats in the early goings, it’s 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
It’s 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 I’d purchased that I never used, and by respec’ing 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 it’s relatively cheap.
Explore Haven First
Shortly after the start of the game, you’ll find yourself wandering around your home base at Haven. While you can technically head out to The Hinterlands to begin questin’ and adventurin’, stick around Haven for a bit, first. Check under “Haven” in your journal and see what quests there are, and do those. When you do head to the Hinterlands, you’ll get a few more quests that tie back to Haven; do those as well. They’re 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
It’s tempting to go out for extended sorties in the field, but it’s 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 what’s what.
Turn In Research Items
At Haven, there’s a character who stands in Josephine’s office. She’s 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 you’ll 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 it’s 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 “junk” or “loot”? In Inquisition, it’s actually called “valuables.” (I don’t know, either.) You can even sort an item in your inventory to valuables, where you’d ordinarily sort it to junk.
It takes a minute to get your head around it — because it’s dumb and unintuitive — but it’s the same concept — basically, 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 time — one apiece. You’ll 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 you’ve 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 you’re 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
Varric’s crossbow Bianca is unique in Inquisition, as it’s the only weapon he’s ever allowed to use throughout the game. That means that you’ll have to upgrade it regularly to keep pace with your other gear. You can do that right off the bat, however — go 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. It’s an activity that, as it happens, is also a pretty good mini-tutorial for upgrading a weapon.
Craft Armour, Not Weapons
While the crafting system in Inquisition can be cool to use (though it’s way too fiddly), you’re 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 armour, 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, it’s usually worth it to go and craft custom legs, arms, and weapon accessories. You’ll rarely find what you need out in the field, and crafted weapon accessories can add helpful buffs to your gear.
You Can’t 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. Here’s a thing about runes: Using one on a weapon consumes it, which means that you can’t 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 didn’t understand that for a while, so I held off committing to runes when I should have been using them. Don’t be like me! Use your runes.
Name Your Crafted Gear
You can name the armour and weapons that you craft, and you should absolutely do so. “The Thinker” is a much cooler name for a hat than “Ice Resistance Cap” or whatever.
Check Out The Shops In Tal Verrar
You’ll arrive at the Orlesian city of Tal Verrar pretty early on in the story, and it contains some of the best markets in the game. In particular, there’s 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 it’s 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 “tales” 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 don’t 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 reason — while I definitely had my favourite groupings, I was much more likely to mix and match party members. As it turns out, that’s a great way to go. Heading out to a region that isn’t particularly dangerous? Consider taking out some of the characters that you rarely party up with. You’ll 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 didn’t previously enjoy.
Try Controlling Other Party Members In Battle
On normal difficulty, it’s 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
It’s too bad there’s no “loot all” button to let your character hoover up all the little bags that drop every time you defeat some enemies. But… there isn’t. So, you have to go and individually pick up each piece of loot. Thing is, it’s definitely worth doing that: Not only will you find some really useful crafting materials and weapons lying around, you’ll 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 loot — it 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. I’d hit it constantly while I was exploring — if there’s anything to be picked up nearby, it will make a thicker sound effect than if there’s 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 “Let’s have a look around!” That means that there’s something hidden nearby, which you can locate by hitting the “search” button and following the beeps. Your minimap also lights up when you’re in an area like this, but that’s easy to miss, so it’s 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. It will explain a good deal of what’s going on in the world around you, and it’s 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. You’ll know if you head into an area that’s too tough for you, since you’ll probably get creamed. But while it can be easy to wander through low-level areas for hours after you’ve exceeded their suggested level, that can lead to accidentally level yourself beyond a bunch of areas you haven’t yet explored. Then, as you explore them (and it’s worth exploring in this game!), the loot you’ll be rewarded with won’t be as good as the higher level loot you have. It’s 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.
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 you’ll get in each area. You can always do those if you like, but they’re totally skippable. There are so many other more interesting sidequests in the game that you can earn all the power-points you’ll need without really doing any collection stuff. In general, each area has one or two “major” questlines, as well as some other quests whose journal entries suggest that they’re more substantive than just “collect X amount of [thing].” Focus on those, unless you really like collecting stuff.
Don’t Fight A Giant In A Boulder Patch
This one’s self-explanatory as well. If you’re 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 arse 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 You’re 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 you’re out in the open world. Head for the hills, and your party members will warp to your location. Even the dead ones. I don’t know, I guess it’s magic or something.
Take Potions Before Refilling Them
Sometimes during missions, you’ll 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. That will 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 you’ll 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 you’ll 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, you’ll want to have all three classes with you at all times.
Fight A Dragon Alongside Iron Bull
That one’s 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. He’s 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 what’s on top or beyond it, it’s possible to jump and climb your way to the top. Don’t 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 you’re 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-coloured, “ordinary” weapons and armour. They’re 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 don’t bother. Take blue and purple items only.
Don’t Rush
I give this advice for most open-world games like this, but it’s particularly applicable for Inquisition. Don’t 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. You’ll 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. Don’t hurry your way through this game; take your time.
I hope those tips are helpful. If you have any more to share, I hope you’ll do so below, and if there’s anything good that I left off, I’ll 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 kirk@kotaku.com or find him on Twitter @kirkhamilton.
Comments
43 responses to “Tips For Playing Dragon Age: Inquisition”
I used Dragon Age Keep… It loaded all my achievements from DA:O and Awakenings….. Then it got to DA2 and went…. Hmmmm 12 achievements……
I had the exact same thing, I was sitting there wondering why it had stopped so quickly?
Wonder what the comparative stats are on that.
Problem @ryvman? Or have you just signed up to down vote me across the board?
I’ve got no problem with you. But hey, when in Rome!
The Dragon Age 2 bit must be borked, because it loaded a bunch of achievements for me, and the closest I got to playing the game was the demo, which I didn’t even finish.
FYI, this worked for me when I tried it on Thursday night, giving me a selection of saves to choose from. The Tapestry thing where they take you through the events was broken, but the export to a world state worked.
If it matters, I played DA:O, DA:Awakenings and DA2 to completion.
i like this very cooollll
I wonder if the game will be fine on 360.
I just want it to break street date so I can play it tonight 🙁
we can only hope… I find if I check the stores around 1 or 2pm (in SA) it will usually be available by then if it has broken street date.
maaaaaaan I want it sooooo bad !!(proceeds to scratch itch under skin until bleeds)
I have to run down to JB after work to get a DVD for my girlfriend so I’m crossing my fingers…
I got mine on origin and activated it with a VPN last night, its such a gorgeous looking game on the PC!
Near 20 hours in on pc and this is the best game have played since Dragon Age: Origins. Probably better than that even. Loving it!
I am soooo happy to hear this, I loved DA:O and have been waiting for another like it since.
.. How? Privateering?
Unlocked early via Korean VPN.
If you were to stop using it, would it at all affect the game or.. anything?
No. Game releases tomorrow I think for us so then you can just play the game as normal. Use it, don’t use it. Does not matter.
Yeah, I ended up using it. Thanks for that man, was awesome to get a few hours in last night.
If you were willing to use VPN you could unlock it Monday night at on Origin.
8hrs in on Xbox One – don’t feel like I have achieved much, probably because I haven’t progressed the story really, but that is great. So much to learn and do from the start.
howd ya get the xbone version early ??
http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/2187396
Under the “save $$$” section. Game was released in US on the 18th.
Thanks man.
It’s going to be AGES until I play this. My pile shame is great. and shameful.
admitting you have a problem is the first step, there are many more to come just remember we are all with you (and have secret piles of shame ourselves)
Dragon Age Keep might be a great tool for new players but I feel they messed up with people who have preexisting save games, sure they import the DLC and Achievements registered from both previous games, but that doesn’t cover half the choices made, not to mention in my experience it gives up and goes with the default world state each time I’ve tried to import.
I think I remember them saying they were looking into allowing us to import our saves to the Keep, that was over a year ago now with no news, supposedly the reason is because some of the choice flags are just outright broken, but surely Bioware knows this and could just import the saves, flag those broken ones and have us pick between the conflicts instead of just going “Use a wiki we can’t help you”, because I sure don’t remember half the choices I made in DAO or DA2 years ago.
Maybe someone will come up with a 3rd party tool that we can feed our story.xml files into that spits them out into a readable state, which would be better than blindly guessing.
/endrant.
It’s more than anyone else has ever done. Dude, it’s progress. They give you the chance to do something pretty damn neat that they really didn’t have to do and you still complain.
Was going to wait. I have no money… But I’m getting it! Just have to catch and Kill my own food. In the Melbourne CBD.
#biowaremademeresorttoalifeofcrime
Dumpster diving, dude. You’d be surprised at what edibles are thrown out!…
Lol. Beats the shit out of chasing down pigeons…
Aw, YEAH! That’s what Kirk Hamilton said!
Seriously though, thanks for these tips. I’m so itching to play this game! I was going to play as a Qunari tank, now because of this article, I’m gonna try mage-ing first!
Best price is $68 at Big W – if anyone can beat that.
$55.20, by using a 20% off voucher from “JB hifi now music” which you can get it for unlimited times by creating fake fb acc.
Can grab it from Simple CD Keys for 30 pounds. The site’s really dodgy looking, but I’ve bought a few games through there (including Dragon Age Inquisition) and they all works fine – pretty good deal.
Thanks for the tips Kirk, great to read for a newcomer like myself.
Just a quick thing, you mentioned this regarding Varric’s crossbow:
Playing yesterday, I equipped Varric with daggers as he has an ability tree dedicated to daggers?
I name my crafted upgrades based on the character they’re for, the slot, and the iteration, i.e.
Cole_Legs_01
Sera_Grip_03
Cassandra_Pommel_02
I’m a thrilling individual.
I would hesistate to say at least one of those suggestions is not wholly accurate. There are certain valuables you will need to complete quests, like Glass Hallas and Malachite. Having played through once now, I am keeping my eye out for items like these.
My tip: don’t have a EA account you set up on your Xbox 360 that morphed into an Origin account and automatically logs you into when you play Dragon Age on next gen, without giving you any idea of what your email or login details are so you are unable to import saved data from the hundreds of hours of Dragon Age: Origins.
What a shitty system for importing saved data.
I play on consoles…and if you want to complete those 18+ hour missions quickly, just manipulate your consoles date/time to the next day and bam! All done!
Hmm never played these games before but I’m starting to think it’s worth a try.
Do it! I started the other two but gave up really early on multiple times. But this is ace and worth grabbing.
Lol, you’re actively telling people to not craft weapons? Bahaha
Okay, sure, here’s an example. A purple staff that’s restricted to level 12 with 96dps and some “meh” bonuses, versus my crafted staff that has no level restriction that has 131dps and MASSIVE bonuses, including a 40% chance to crit.
Sure, don’t craft weapons if you want to spend the game boring yourself with damage sponge enemies because you relied on pickups. If anything you can ignore armour crafting (I wouldn’t) because late game you’re pimped out enough to not care too much about armour and just go for looks. Hell even early game if you know how to use your skills properly.