You can still have a hell of a lot of fun with the third part of Dragon Age if you keep a few important things in mind. Our tips will help you.
How good is Dragon Age: Inquisition, if you sit down today to play the then quite controversial role-playing game hunk from 2014? Is it worth sinking fifty hours or more into it right now? That’s exactly what I tried out recently. Out of pure frustration, by the way, because Dragon Age 4 is confirmed, but won’t even be showing up at EA Play in 2021. So the predecessor will have to do it again!
And I was pleasantly surprised. Inquisition is still an excellent game in my eyes, no matter if you can speak every sentence of Morrigan or travel to Thedas for the first time. The world is beautiful even by modern standards, the story gripping, the companions unforgettable.
But Inquisition has a few pitfalls in itthat you need to know about. That’s why there were some heated discussions back then. But seven years later, we’re digging in: With our tips, you can enjoy Inquisition 2021 more than ever!
How to have the most fun with Inquisition
Tip 1: Use Dragon Age Keep
You’re ready for dragons, fireballs and epic stories! And now I demand that you first take the time to enter decisions from previous games into this lumpy program ? Yes. Believe me, it’s worth it.
If you’re lucky, you can import an old “world state” from your EA account and save time. Otherwise, Keep will go through events with you, the outcome of which you decide – which in turn affects Inquisition. At some point, you will be faced with a character you chose to be king in the first part. This makes Dragon Age feel like your own personal story. Feel free to experiment with how changes affect you!
What if I’m new to Dragon Age? At least Keep gives you the opportunity to customise the setting to your liking. Short explanations will help you
learn a little bit about the complex lore.
If you haven’t played the prequels, I urge you to do so – or at least watch a proper summary. If you know why Templars and Mages butt heads and what spymaster Leliana used to be like, you’ll get a lot more out of Inquisition. Elena tells you why you should definitely give Dragon Age 2 another chance in her column:
Tip 2: Get out of the Hinterlands!
The Hinterlands have become a running joke – quite literally, because in the huge area you can easily spend 20 hours running back and forth between clients. If you’ve ever heard of Inquisition’s “MMO quests”, there are plenty of them here. And that’s one of the meanest traps you can fall into! The Hinterlands are the first open area you are sent to. So that you don’t run out of breath here already:
– Get your inner hundred-percent-searcher under control: You don’t have to find every single lookout just because it’s marked on the map. Otherwise you’ll get bored after a few hours and throw in the towel. You can revisit all areas later if you really want to explore them – but take the freedom to move on!
– Choose quests wisely: Some side quests tell exciting stories or develop into a larger quest series. They also give you influence for your inquisition, which will be quite important later on. It’s best to pick quests that sound interesting or unlock fast travel points. If you are supposed to collect 30 shards, don’t do it.
Tip 3: The companions are the real highlight
Companions have always been one of the best things about Dragon Age, and Inquisition is no exception. Many companions can easily keep up with the characters from Origins – be it the arrogant mage Dorian or the wacky Sera, who steals her enemies’ trousers. To get the most out of your colourful troupe, you should keep in mind:
Recruit all companions as soon as you can: There are a total of nine possible companions and three advisors, some of whom only appear after a certain point in the main story. It is worth playing as quickly as possible so that your coven is assembled. That way you miss as few exciting moments with them as possible.
– Take your favourites with you as often as you can: When you are on foot, your companions often talk to each other. And depending on who you have with you, they chat about completely different things, their wishes, fears and ideas. There are many hours of such conversations in Inquisition – so don’t bother with the ideal class combination and just take the ones you like best. It’s also worth turning down the difficulty level.
– Talk to them regularly: Only if you talk to your companions more often will you learn more about them – Dorian won’t trust every stranger with his big secret. And if you want to start a romance, you have to get to know each other first. So seek out your friends after each (main) mission!
– Complete the personal quests: All companions have a personal quest line (under “The Inner Circle”), most of these stories are excellent. Be sure to tackle them in time for the finale, otherwise they will have no effect on the finale. Specifically, it’s best to take care of them before “The Consequences of Pride”.
Tip 4: Divide up the main story sensibly
The story revolves around a huge threat to the entire world. Inquisition increasingly tells you to hurry up – but don’t fall for it. There is no timer for the story, you can take your time for side missions and exploration. To make your final hours of play before the end still feel suitably epic, it’s best to follow these tips:
– Split the main story: It is best to pack extensive exploration tours and side quests between the individual parts of the main mission. The main mission consists of different chapters that you start from the map table. You have to collect power points first anyway, so take full advantage of the opportunity. Personal advice: After “May it burn in your heart” it makes the most sense from a story point of view to do everything else first.
– The grand finale: Inquisition really takes off towards the end. It would be a shame if the epic feeling is ruined by hours of elf root collecting. I therefore strongly advise you to strictly follow the main story from “The Last Part” onwards.
Tip 5: Don’t let the map table annoy you
The card table is in my eyes the most exciting, but most poorly implemented idea of Inquisition. Here you send your three advisors on missions that bring you big rewards or open quests. But you have to wait for real time – sometimes over 20 hours. If you don’t want to do that:
– This mod is a remedy: War Table – No Waiting is available at Nexusmods, with which you simply skip all waiting times.
– There are also provided tricks: If you don’t want to install a mod, then at least do yourself the favour and invest early in the Inquisition Perks, which make your advisors faster. For example, by recruiting new spies for Leliana. However, you will still need a lot of patience for some missions.
Tip 6: Two out of three DLCs are one must
It’s best to get Dragon Age: Inquisition as a Game-of-the-Year edition. It has all three story DLCs in it and at least two of them are really worthwhile.
– The Descent: Brings a new area with its own story. On the trail of a titan, you descend deep underground – I don’t want to spoil what you discover there, but my mouth was open at the end. Story-wise, it makes the most sense to play the DLC after the finale of the main story, and then you’ll be strong enough.
– Intrusion: By far the best DLC of Inquisition, which is half fantasy thriller and half pure fan service. It leads you directly into the story of Dragon Age 4. Important: Be sure to play Intruder only when you are ready to say goodbye to Inquisition. After the epilogue, you will no longer be able to continue.
Dragon Age: Inquisition is still available until July 8, 2021 for 7 euros in the Steam Summer Sale, otherwise for 34 euros. Or at no extra charge on EA Play.
