u/dragonseth07

Right at the start of the game, party members felt fairly impactful in combat. Not being able to control them does suck, and it's weird AF that enemies ignore them, but they did feel like they were doing damage at the very least least.

But, pretty quick, that absolutely vanished. Unless I'm calling in an air strike with the radial menu, my party members just feel like they are purely cosmetic. Like it's a solo action game pretending to be party-based.

Is there some core mechanic I'm probably messing up, that led to this result? Or is this just how it's going to be for the rest of the game?

Do we know how moddable Solasta II is going to end up being?

One of the reasons I put as much time as I did into the first game was Unfinished Business adding in a bunch of options. Do we have any idea if something like that is going to be doable?

Thanks.

Hi. I've got a bit of a confusing question, but bear with me.

With few exceptions, characters (in the first three games) feel believable to me. Their personality traits, even if they aren't ones I've come across IRL, are at least grounded in something I know of or can relate to somehow. They feel like they could be real people, to me.

Sera is one of those exceptions. Her personality is so completely foreign to my lived experiences that it makes it hard to for me take her seriously as a character. When she speaks, I'm often thinking "Why are you like this?" Which begs the question:

Why *is* she like this? Where do her personality inspirations actually come from? What sort of lived experiences can relate to her? Who are the people like this IRL that I've not come across?

If it was just that she's grossly immature and that defines her, I could buy that, but it's not. She is immature, but that's just a small part of her. She's a complicated character that I can't properly untangle.

I hope this question makes sense. Thank you.

Hello.

I'm working through Inquisition, and it seems like the game expects a baseline level of Guard/Barrier investment, given the limited nature of healing in the game.

So, what is that baseline? Is the Barrier spell enough for Mages by itself, or should they be picking up more? Should Warriors be going all the way down to Livid? Or just the two first-level Taunt abilities?

Thanks for any insight you can provide.

Hi.

I'm getting into Inquisition after playing the first two games, and what's the deal with the spells?

Creation and Spirit have been sort-of combined into one tree with very limited dips into each, and Primal has been split into *the other three*. It's so massively overrepresented, holy cow.

What, are Mages just supposed to be nukers now, and you get to pick a color for it? What happened to Arcane and Entropy spells?

Hello.

I'm a big fan of being able to actually use the sort-of signature equipment games throw at you. Pieces either made for you specifically, or customized by you, etc.

So, in Origins, I used 1H/shield with heavy armor, so that I could equip Vigilance, the Heartwood Shield, and Golem Shell Armor all at once.

In 2, all the armor is based on Hawke's class, and Hawke's Key is based on your class and weapon choice. So, there's no real restrictions in that game.

What about Inquisition? Is there any sort of equipment that might qualify? What is needed to use it?

Thanks.

Hello. I have some questions about your sibling's gear in Act and DLC.

I've done everything in Act 3 except the final quest and the DLC's. I'm about to start the DLC's, and get them done, then launch the final quest.

But, I'm trying to figure out how the game is going to handle Carver's equipment. I want to use Carver in the DLC as much as possible, and I have gear all picked out for him. But, what happens to that gear when the DLC ends? Is it saved on him, and will he still have it when he joins up for the second DLC and the final quest? Will it be gone forever? Will it come back to my inventory?

Thanks for any info you can provide.

I'm currently making my way through the DA series after last playing Origins as a kid.

There are some elements of the series that have clearly been lost over time, and unfortunately, they are the elements I liked the most.

The Dark Fantasy genre elements are smoothed over, party combat is literally gone now, nuanced world building with morally grey questions has been left behind, etc. All of these are the things I liked about Dragon Age, so seeing them get left behind is pretty sad.

In light of that, are there any good somewhat-modern games you would all recommend that capture the feel of the early entries? I LOVED playing through Origins again, but the amount of effort it took to get it running on my PC, plus the mods to fix all the old bugs and such, really has me looking for something a bit more properly maintained.

Hello.

Having just finished off Witch Hunt on my linear play through the series, I'm about ready to start DA2. I've heard that, if you don't romance the companions, they can pursue their own independent romantic affairs. But, I'm having a pretty tough time finding actual info on this online. Google is just giving me guides on how to romance so-and-so, which is not helpful.

Can someone give me the rundown on who can pursue whom if Hawke doesn't show any interest?

Thanks!

Hello.

I just started Awakening, after not playing it for many, many years.

I remember it being very finicky, regarding the order you do things in. Lots of missable quests, lots of things that just don't work if you go out of order, etc.

I'm trying to find a guide to help me not mess any of this up, but I'm not turning up much. I can find a recommended order for main quests, but that's not quite what I am looking for. The wiki has good info on individual things, but I'd rather not read through every Awakening article to piece it together myself.

Is there a written out guide that the community knows is good, for this?

Thanks.

Hello.

Last time I played Dragon Age was Origins way back on console. I just picked up the whole series on PC, and I'm looking to go straight through it, importing saves along the way.

One thing I remember about this type of game is that there are always some things that just *have to* happen one way or the other, for future games to make sense. Some character always shows up later, regardless of whether they are alive or not. Or some nation is now free, despite choosing to keep it under a dictatorship, or what have you. No series like this can truly account for everything.

That being the case, I'm looking for a list of things that more-or-less need to happen, in each game, for the future games to actually make sense. Like, if Leliana is always alive in a later game somewhere, I need to keep her alive in Origins. That sort of thing. So I can try and have my playthrough as consistent as possible.

Anybody willing to help me out? Thanks.

Edit: Trying new wording

Hello.

Last time I played Dragon Age was Origins way back on console. I just picked up the whole series on PC, and I'm looking to go straight through it, importing saves along the way.

One thing I remember about this type of game is that there are always some things that just *have to* happen one way or the other, for future games to make sense. Some character always shows up later, regardless of whether you killed them. Or some nation is now free, despite choosing to keep it under a dictatorship, or what have you. No series like this can truly account for everything.

That being the case, I'm looking for a list of things that more-or-less need to happen, in each game, for the future games to actually make sense. Like, if Leliana is always alive in a later game somewhere, I shouldn't kill her in Origins. That sort of thing. So I can try and have my playthrough as consistent as possible.

Anybody willing to help me out? Thanks.

I haven't played SR6 in a good few years, and I am looking at running another game. But, I only have the core book.

There are a lot of splatbooks out now, which is great, but I am unsure which would be the most worth it with my limited budget. What splatbooks are the best to get these days? Maybe because they fill out a big gap in the core rules, or just from the volume of character options, etc.

Thanks.

Hello. Regarding the HBS trilogy:

Does anyone know of a custom campaign for Hong Kong that allows for multiple customizable characters? Where could I find it? I'd like to try custom building a full squad, if that's possible.

Thanks.

Hello.

​

I have a couple of questions about some nodes on the new Empire tree.

​

First, Focused Affinity (General). I'm having a hard time seeing the use case for this. By the time you have 600 general empire affinity, do you really need +50 each turn to your highest? Surely it's already super high. And if it isn't, because you are super spread out, wouldn't you want to invest into Cosmic Affinity anyway?

​

Logistical Centers (Materium). So, this doesn't actually work for any Provinces you control? It boosts Provinces adjacent to your cities, meaning ones you haven't actually annexed yet. So, what is the value here? What am I missing here?

​

Thanks.

Hello.

​

I've got a pet faction build that I really enjoy, and I'm looking for suggestions on updating and improving it, since a few DLC's have dropped since I made it.

​

Build is here, but I'll go over it below: https://minionsart.github.io/aow4db/HTML/FactionCreator.html?u=35:34:20,e8,d,5d,235:180,4f,s,ba:aa:84:e2:ef:ee:150:b1:af:22f,000000,1aa,141,h,n:Chosen%20of%20Tzeentch,4eb

​

I'll spare you the hyper-specific lore vision behind it, but the basic idea is Umbral Demons, polearms, and fire damage. Specifically weird fire damage if possible, which is how I landed on Cleansing Flame and Ghostfire.

​

Race: Strong, Ferocious, Hardy

​

Nothing cool or thematic here, just good choices for Pyre Templar

​

Culture: Oathsworn Strife, Umbral Disciples, Chosen Destroyers

​

CD is honestly just my favorite trait. I love single city factions. Oathsworn Strife has some natural synergy with CD, added Fire damage, as well as solid melee cultural units to take advantage of the Pyre Templar supporting options. Umbral Disciples is a natural extension of the plan for taking Gloom Strider, but also has a very nice secondary benefit: With only having one city, the extra layer of defense on it that comes from Gloom is really, really nice.

​

Ruler: Champion, Warrior, Warlord Ascension, Raider Ambition

​

These all seem like natural extensions of the faction choices.

​

T1 Tomes: Pyromancy, Cryomancy

​

Early melee damage enchants are good. Searing Blades is just great on Pyre Templars, and Cryomancy means I can take full advantage of Ghostfire later, enabling Burning + Frozen

​

T2 Tomes: Construct, Fey Mists

​

Construct is a natural pickup for Templars. Fey Mists is somewhat of a flavor choice right now, but the big mechanical draw is the Feywater Pond. It's another really nice layer of defense on my one city. The combination of Gloom and Mist just really makes attacks on my city a nightmare.

​

T3 Tomes: Cleansing Flame, Corruption

​

The whole concept, really. I recognize that these two Tomes aren't necessarily optimal together, but it's what I am trying to make work.

​

T4 Tomes: Calamity, Chaos Channeling

​

Ghostfire is firmly in the realm of Burning and Fire damage, especially weird Fire damage. Accursed Armors was a fantastic ability for these guys, but now it no longer reflects Ghostfire, so I am not sure if it's worth keeping anymore. Chaos Channeling gets all sorts of Fire synergy, including Scion of Flame.

​

Tier 5 Tome: Chaos Lord

​

It's the only one I qualified for. It's fine.

​

After that: Prophecies

​

Replacing Vowkeepers with Oracles is really nice.

​

--

​

Generally speaking, my armies end up as a Pyre Templar stacks with one Vowkeeper/Oracle each for support. Until I get Templars, Oathsworn has some great melee units to use those enchants and such on.

​

The combination of Gloom and Mist feels amazing against the AI. Defending my one city is a breeze when they have to march blindly through Gloom to even get close.

​

I feel like there are better options now, though. Specifically, the Tome of Burning Passion feels like an amazing inclusion for Fiery Heart and Blazing Aura. And the Tome of the Warlord looks absolutely cracked for Pyre Templars, but I have no room for it at T3.

​

It feels like I have way more Tomes that I want than I have room for, with the new DLC's, and I'm not sure how to best approach it.

​

Thanks.

Apologies for what is probably a stupid question. My searching has failed me.

I've never engaged with the Artifacts system before, either Giant Kings (Soulcursed and such) or Fractured. I've found loads of information online on what they can individually do, but not how they actually work. How do you get them? Are they just for one game, or do they impact Ascension somehow? That sort of thing.

Their information is bundled together with that of Secret Spells on pages like minionsart, so I'm assuming they work similarly to one another, but that's just an assumption.

If someone could break both of them down for me, I would appreciate it.