Second Time Around

Earlier I wrote of my slight disappointment in Dragon Age:  Inquisition.  Sure, it's a huge game but I didn't feel as drawn to it as I had the earlier games in the series.  As a result of that feeling I finished it and have set it aside for several months.  I recently decided to create a new character and give it another playthrough in an effort to correct the mistakes I made the first time around.  These corrections have made the game much more enjoyable and I am somewhat regretting my criticisms earlier.

Here are the changes I'm making in my second playthrough of this epic game.

Crafted a more engaging character.
I went with a default character on my first playthrough and didn't spend much time playing with the very detailed character creation tool.  As a result of this I didn't feel as invested in my first character.  My first character was a Dalish Elf Mage who sided with the mage rebellion throughout the game.  I chose the default voice (which I do actually think is the better voice acting of the two female choices) and features.

My new character is a tough talking dwarf--a casteless surfacer, former Carta member and lyrium smuggler.  I spent some time with the character creation tool to make sure that her looks complimented this background.  Casteless face tattoos--check.  Rogueish haircut--check.  Facial scars indicating conflict in the past--check.  I also decided to have this character take a decidedly anti-magic stance that fits a society with no magical abilities.  It makes sense that a dwarf would favor control over mages and would side with the templars in the scope of the rebellion.  Being a dwarf also throws some central parts of the story into conflict.  Would the so-called "Herald of Andraste" be a dwarf?  It's really easy for me to make this character deny the possibility of being some sort of heaven sent prophet.

Following the main questline.
During my first playthrough I was way too focused on trying to explore every inch of each zone.  This can take many hours and I tended to ignore the main quests way too much.  Each quest requires a certain amount of power and has a recommended level range.  This time around I decided I would do my best to stick to the recommended level range.  I still plan on exploring the many zones in the game, but I want to be sure to keep up with the central story.  So far this strategy has kept the main storyline in the front of my mind and I don't feel as lost in the details as I did during my first playthrough.

Mixing up your companions.
The composition of the party you choose to accompany you tends to be made up of the same classes.  Your character (in this case a dagger rogue), a sword-and-board warrior (Cassandra or Blackwall), a mage (Solas, Vivienne, or Dorian), and then a class of your choice.  The first time I played I went with a pretty default party for much of the game--Cassandra, Varric, Solas, and my mage.  Sometimes I would switch it up and take Iron Bull rather than Solas but I pretty much stuck to this composition.  If you've ever played a BioWare game you know that party banter is a very central part of character interaction and can be highly entertaining in the correct combination.  My new party consists of Cassandra (I think Blackwall is one of the most boring characters and I like Cassandra too much), Vivienne, Sera, and my dwarf rogue.  Vivienne and Sera are polar opposites and the resulting interactions have turned out to be pretty hilarious.  One of the best moments has been taking Sera to the Storm Coast and listening to her maniacal laugh as she requests that the party watch the ensuing fight between a giant and a dragon.  That laugh....it's so awesome.

Getting to know you...

Another aspect of the game that I felt I skimped on in my first playthrough was my interaction with companions.  In Mass Effect I always made sure that I exhausted all the speech options but I did a really crappy job of that during Inquisition.  This time I am taking the time to talk to the numerous people who make up the Inquisition and am finding many of the characters more interesting.  Sera, a character I largely ignored the first time, has turned out to be oddly entertaining.  She's weird but her immature sense of humor is a great contrast to many of the very serious characters.

I spent very little time interacting with my advisers on my first playthrough and was particularly sad about Leliana being relegated to the background.  Leliana was one of my favorite characters from Dragon Age:  Origins and deserved a bigger part in the story.  I've spent more time interacting with her in this playthrough and like the way her character has evolved.  She's not interested in talking about her past life and has instead put her energy into serving as the Left Hand of the Divine.  Even though her faith seems tested at the beginning of the game it seems like a momentary lapse and it's very evident that she's dedicated to the Chantry.

I'm about fifteen hours into my new game and am enjoying it so much more than I did the first time.  I still find myself with the occasional face full of tree view due to the crappy tactical camera and am irritated that I can't set more specific behaviors for my followers.  If you found yourself frustrated with Dragon Age:  Inquisition, create a new character and give it another try.