It's stunningly beautiful. Skin looks amazingly realistic. There is something off about the hair texturing, however, as it looks somehow artificial. But, yeah - visually amazing.

yeah the hair's really not up to snuff with the rest of the visuals

'Keep' screwed up some of the details of my play-throughs. Had to alter some of the tapestry stuff.

Last observation (as I am still relatively near the start of it): The cinematic interactions are definitely improved, but the game-play feels less focused.

Like, I had to read up some guides before understanding what you had to do to leave an area. DA 2 was a lot more focused, in terms of objectives and what was where.

With that said, I like that not everything is an ambush. You can walk through landscapes and just come across random stuff going on.

It won't be long before you get the hang of it. It's just a different interface, and going straight from one to another is always disorienting.

YES, THAT

I hate monster pockets

Yep! Was also thinking something had gone wrong, because it wasn't clear it auto-levels attribute statistics now.

Also, doesn't allow you to strafe while firing - at least, as a mage.

It's just a mage thing.

'Skyrim' influence is very clear. And I love that you can actually jump and navigate over tiny walls/rocks now, like in reality!

Darn!

Yes, I enjoy Skyrim hopping

I like the more open maps, and I like that they kept the things I liked about 2 (improved battle choreography/animation, for one) but also brought back the things that were good about 1

like being able to sense enemies coming

The lack of long hair for female qunari was disappointing, but I decided for a human mage for the extra ability point. Qunari later...

you playing PC or console?

It's nice that you can see enemies in the distance, but they don't instantly decide to rush up to you. Like they're real people just doing their thing.

PC

Some mods will give you more hair options.

there IS a long hair option for qunari but their hair is tied back

In DA 2, you had all these area-based spells, but could hardly ever use them unless you were really quick on the pause button, straight off.

Yis!

One mod in particular that I liked for female qunari turns the mohawk around backwards so that she has bangs

Hah!

The passive abilities in some of the spell blocks are unreal

like, I've found stacking enough in barrier mage stuff to get Dispel Magic for at least ONE mage (Solas most likely) is important because that can shut down tear-enemies from coming through

and if you aim them right you can neutralize really strong enemies before they become a problem that way

It's weird not being able to close doors for peace of mind... There are dozens of peoples' homes which people are returning to, now, going, "Who was in my wooden hut?!"

Ice + Lightning, especially because of their combined passive abilities, is a deadly combination

I was blown away by how photo-realistic Varric looked. D:

yess

the landscapes are beautiful too

like more than once I'll stop just to look around

Even though everyone's been given a slight additional gloss to their skin, for some reason, which makes them look like they're sweating when they're complaining about being cold in snow...

Yes!

for your archer bros like varric you want to climb down the right side of the skill tree. There's a passive ability on that side that increases their damage each time they fire.

and it really multiplies the amount they contribute to overall party damage.

I'm hoping the ability choices branch out more. There are only four of them, right now. The first and second games had... More diversity.

Additional skill trees open up later in the game

Phew!

and current skill trees have more added to them if you have any of the expansions

like they're technically an equal number of them compared to previous games. You just don't get specializations until later

Yes, got the 'Game Of The Year' version on a huge discount, with every DLC extra, ever.

I'm kinda' glad I did a huge play-through of the series before this, because I understand a lot more about the lore now, but, oyyy... It was a long while!

I haven't played ALL the expansions yet?

But I'm impressed with the ones I have.

Still fresh from fretting over what the hell to do about Anders' fate...

But yeesh, don't touch the Descent until you're at least Level 17 or 18.

I have heard good things about how expansive this one is, even without the expansions.

Shall try to remember!

it's so good, and so important, but the Darkspawn do not fuck around in this game

it will take you about as long to kill an ogre as it does to kill a High Dragon

They're worse?

Eek.

there are a few places in the regular game where you'll run into patches of them on the surface

and they're challenging when you hit larger groups (especially ones with twohanded weapons)

but it's NOTHING like what you encounter in the Descent

I was always disappointed I couldn't befriend/negotiate with dragons and was forced to kill them all. :c

Also, something to notice and appreciate

that the Darkspawn all have redesigns so the different species are that much more different from each other

like Genlocks are no longer just recolors of dwarves

Cool!

but ogres are horrific

I noticed in the 'Legacy' expansion for DA 2 that they were doing that. Genlocks looked like huge gorrilla things.

Skeletor!

yeah, the genlocks:

My magical staff feels a bit weak, right now. I'm looking forward to having some proper power behind it. It's taking a lot of hits to just bring down a human.

Ooh...

That'll increase based on the skills you take and the equipment you trade out for/how you modify it.

Darkspawn look like they'd inspire the kind of terror in people they should have in 'Origins'.

Always remember you can add things to your staff if you've got the right equipment. The Black Emporium comes in major handy

Hopefully, yes!

and the stuff it offers as you advance gets better as you go through the game

Oh, that thing's back? I loved the voice actor for Xenon in DA 2!

Yup, it's one of the first free locations that you get.

"Don't!!! Manhandle the urchin..."

Excellent!

there isn't a box of free junk like in DA2 tho

The free stuff was usually discardable, anyway...

yeah

Because of all the DLC, I have a set of armour rated for 90, but it's qunari-specific and looks a bit ridiculous. It feels awkward putting it on my human mage!

And this hilariously impractical-looking Orlesion helmet...

With that said, even the helmet would have probably looked more imposing on an actual qunari build.

For the mages I prefer the other armor

it looks better on humans

Does!