‘Dragon Age Inquisition’ Strategy Guide: Tips on Being Successful Early

With many notable critics already naming Dragon Age Inquisition a guaranteed ‘Game of the Year’ candidate (amidst a wave of underwhelming AAA releases), and the impending holiday breaks many consumers will be devoting to their chosen home console – or PC – it’s safe to bet their will be more wannabe Inquisitors joining the fight with each day.

Given just how large, varied, open-ended and indeed, intimidating the world of Inquisition can be to even experienced RPG fans, we thought it wise to give a few pointers. BioWare has crafted an experience that welcomes nearly all levels of players and play styles, but if you’re on the fence, or simply open to some advice, then we hope our list of tips and tricks will come in handy.

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Use the Tactical View Early

Sure, it may not be as thrilling to some as simply jumping into the fight and letting your party members each ‘do their thing,’ but there’s no question that on almost any difficulty setting, the Tactical View will ease frustration at some point in the campaign. The ability to pause the action, issue commands or attacks, and then watch them unfold – at a snail’s pace, if you prefer – will prove useful eventually.

The developers themselves released numerous videos showing how the Tactical View wasn’t just a throwback to older PC fans, but a means of making the most out of the more finely-tuned combat systems. No matter how much you’ll end up using it, learning the ropes in the game’s early stages (where progress is already slow) is highly recommended. If you need a refresher, check out the walkthrough below:

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Always Be Searching

Where standard RPGs have turned to a variety of solutions in alerting players to loot – from Skyrim’s on-screen prompts to the ‘loot twinkle’ of prior Dragon Age games, Inquisition sets the player’s loot senses to a button press. Hit the button, and a gold wave pulses out – if it chimes in response, then loot sits within its vicinity, and the players must seek it out.

The advice here is simple: mash that Search button early, and continuously. It might seem like an annoying requirement (and we won’t disagree), but whether it alerts players to new books, crafting resources, weapons or armor, every piece of loot comes in handy. And the developers have left few corners of the game truly barren.

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Use The War Table

When the Inquisition finally gets up and running, it finds its first base of operations in Haven, among the Frostback Mountains. Besides a training camp and locations to interact with party members, players are finally given access to their very own War Council, complete with a War Table showing the goings-on of both Ferelden and Orlais. It’s a means to gain influence, and time is the only real currency.

As story missions progress, more and more additional missions crop up on the War Table, ranging from aristocratic squabbles to missing scouts. Some require the player’s direct intervention, but most allow the situation to be handled by Cullen, Josephine or Leliana (using strength, diplomacy or spies). The clock’s always ticking, so any mission left open while adventuring is influence passed up. The mission time is tied to the console itself, so save the longer missions for overnight breaks.

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Don’t Wait – Get Crafting

It wouldn’t be an overstatement to say that even seasoned RPG players tend to shy away from extensive crafting systems. Thankfully, BioWare has sweetened the deal by making crafted armor and weapons occasionally far superior to what’s being found while scavenging. Acquire the schematics for the item in question (through looting or purchased for pennies from vendors) and watch how specific crafting metals and fabrics affect the stats – and, yes, appearance – of the gear.

Find a combination that works with the desired stat boosts (this is where you’ll realize those Iron deposits scattered around Haven really are worth collecting), give it a fitting name, and start to enjoy. The crafting extends to upgrading hilt designs, leg and arm armor, and more. And with the smiths located just feet outside of Haven’s walls, most players will be hooked before long.

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Set Your Own Pace

Within just weeks of Inquisition‘s release, one bit of ‘expert’ advice has emerged with which we take issue: “leave the Hinterlands immediately.” Besides implying that BioWare has crafted a comparatively weak environment for its early questing, it goes against the kind of players who have shown to be some of Dragon Age‘s most dedicated – the completionists.

Not every quest found in the Hinterlands is particularly thrilling (though it’s easy to tell which will be straightforward), but the environment itself is incredible, and ridiculously vast. Containing a flaming dragon’s nest, a burned-out forest filled with bears (and valuable Drakestone deposits), and far too much more to mention, follow no one’s pace but your own. If exploring the Hinterlands from top to bottom before moving on makes the most of the story in your eyes, then do just that.

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Outfit Your Party At Home

This is certainly a smaller bit of advice, but one that will save some headaches. As the player’s party grows, and Follower preferences emerge (who wouldn’t want Iron Bull at their side?) it becomes even more of a mental puzzle to assign the best weapons, armor, and accessories to the soldiers seeing the most action. Thankfully, a simple solution is just a quick Fast Travel away.

When playing solo in a friendly camp (Haven to start), the player can actually access every Follower in the inventory menu, making it far simpler to compare the equipment of one Mage, one Warrior, or one Rogue to another, and swap accordingly.

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Try Your Followers in Combat

Every player is bound to have their own preference in character class – be it Warrior, Rogue or Mage (and the subclasses contained within) – but that doesn’t mean their own class is the only one it’s wise to learn firsthand. But instead of starting up multiple campaigns, it’s worthwhile to spend time with each Follower in combat. You may discover a style of play you’ve been missing, but learning the strengths of each class is just as important as learning the weaknesses.

The little things matter more than ever, now that ranged characters can earn serious bonuses when firing from an elevated position, and tanks can be specifically commanded to guard choke points (to protect the aforementioned ranged characters). There’s no need to spend hours away from your preferred class, but playing as a Follower will help explain why they behave certain ways when it’s the A.I. piloting them in a fight.

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Vary Your Classes

Just like character classes, every player is sure to have their initial concept of a perfect build for each. Although a fire-based Mage may be impressive visually, it’s of the utmost importance that members of the same class are optimized for different situations. Those who’ve played past Dragon Age titles know that this balance can be tricky, since some two-handed or ranged attacks are always more effective than others.

That being said, diversifying the Skill Trees of class members can’t be understated. Two-handed Warriors may seem more powerful when taking down a dragon, but a shield-equipped Tank is priceless in other scenarios (not to mention the magical barriers that are only vulnerable to a certain elemental attack).

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Know When To Run

Having vast environments at your disposal is something of a double-edged sword in Inquisition; though new environments come with a recommended experience level for players. many are still likely to find themselves outmatched. Whether it’s an overpowered dragon dropping firebombs from the sky, or Revenants capable of one-hit kills, it soon becomes clear that victory is not always a likely outcome.

Instead of pounding your head against a wall for hours on end, simply accept that the designers don’t yet intend the content locked behind said enemy to be explored. If anything, the satisfaction of returning with a vengeance and smiting the foe with an over-leveled character is worth the price of a tactical retreat.

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Now that we’ve passed some of our hard-earned wisdom on, we hope that new players will be able to approach the enemies and landscapes of Inquisition with a bit more confidence. A game this big is sure to have some difficulty learning curves, but following these pointers should at least allow the opening hours of the game to show their strengths to even new RPG players.

Dragon Age: Inquisition is available now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One. We played the Xbox One version.

Follow Andrew on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

TAGS: BioWare, Dragon Age, Dragon Age: Inquisition, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

‘Dragon Age Inquisition’ Strategy Guide: Tips on Being Successful Early

‘Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 1′ Review

With the shocking surge in momentum enjoyed by Borderlands‘ loot-and-shoot series following the game’s sequel, it went without saying that the developers were going to be pumping out more content than ever before. But fans and casual audiences were stunned to see Tales from the Borderlands, a choice-driven story from Telltale Games set within Gearbox’s fictional universe, announced seemingly out of the blue.

Now the first episode of the series, ‘Zer0 Sum’ has arrived in just as unexpected a fashion, offering the first glimpse of just how Telltale has turned their recent knack for tense, excruciating decision-making to work on the over-the-top, off-kilter characters of the Borderlands universe. Unsurprisingly, it seems to be a (at-times uneven) departure for the studio – but one that many fans of the shooter will find irresistible.

Thankfully, those unfamiliar with the Borderlands series’ fiction need little background to grasp Tales‘ central premise: with overpowered weapons/robotics manufacturer Hyperion fueling the search for Vaults on the planet Pandora at the expense (and safety) of those residing in its ramshackle communities, players take control of two different protagonists; Rhys, a Hyperion employee out to hurt a corporate rival, and Fiona, a grifter from the surface looking to lie, cheat and steal just to survive.

The paths of the two are fated to cross, with both sides retelling their stories to a third party. As a framing device, it’s a clever twist that fits perfectly at home in the Borderlands sensibility. The differing accounts of Rhys and Fiona (far less significant in story terms than some fans may expect) are played for laughs, and the mystery of how the two found themselves in their current predicament – now being forced to explain what led them to it – is enough of a hook to keep players interested for the whole of ‘Zer0 Sum.’

Predictably, slipping on the persona of Borderlands‘ irreverent and manic action takes its toll on Telltale’s now-signature format (seen in both The Walking Dead and The Wolf Among Us) almost immediately. The only real threat facing Rhys (and his right hand man, Vaughn) is an expected promotion being sabotaged, meaning the series’ first episode takes plenty of time to get moving.

That wouldn’t be as much of an issue if Tales relied as heavily on exploration – actually handing control to the player in a tactile sense – as Telltale players now expect. But the developers have made their emphasis on storytelling over traditional gameplay clear (imagine Wolf Among Us without clues or questioning). Thankfully, that focus proves promising once Rhys hands the episode’s reins over to his partner in crime, Fiona.

Blessed with an origin story that is far more compelling (Rhys’ path to Hyperion is still a mystery), and the more colorful characters of Pandora proper, Fiona’s story line will be what captivates those unfamiliar with Borderlands‘ universe and convinces them to stick it out for the first episode – with the climax banking on exactly that.

It’s hard to argue that Tales from the Borderlands isn’t a faithful adaptation of the property it’s based on; the humor is alive and well in almost every interaction, but where the line is drawn between the path charted by Gearbox and what Telltale has brought to it can be easy to spot. For existing fans of Borderlands‘ sense of humor, finding the value in Telltale’s writing won’t be hard. But for those who found the story or texture of the shooter series too odd, too off-putting, or too secondary to the gameplay, its survival here may prove a turn-off.

The first episode is certain to produce a few laughs, as Rhys attempts to take down a murderous Bandit only to be mistaken for a prankster co-worker, or Fiona’s attempts at intimidation criticized as simply rude. And while the player’s impact on a Bandit rendition of ‘Death Race’ may be minimal, simply watching the action unfold and hitting the button prompts as they pop on-screen, there’s no denying the sheer entertainment in watching these more pedestrian characters thrown into the deep end of Pandora’s lunacy.

All things considered, ‘Zer0 Sum’ may not be what Telltale fans will expect – put simply, it’s the Borderlands experience adapted to a different form. That itself is quite an accomplishment, with the pairing deemed a poor match by many skeptics early on. So in that regard, Tales from the Borderlands is a surprising success. Even if the overall experience feels more restricted, and more scripted than either The Walking Dead or The Wolf Among Us.

But the weight of decisions only becomes clear as time passes; for now, the choice of how to outfit one’s Loader Bot, or just who will be the recipient of Fiona’s single bullet lack the typical Telltale gravity. What the developers are attempting here is a new and singular challenge, so we’ll give them the benefit of the doubt that there’s more weight coming soon enough.

As it stands, Tales is a no-brainer for Borderlands fans seeking another story set within that universe, and those just as fond of the fiction as the fighting. For Telltale fans, it’s a chance to see the developers tackle a lighter setting, and prove there’s no source material they can’t recapture.

Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 1 is available to download now for PC, PS3, PS4 and Xbox One, with an Xbox 360 release coming December 3.

Follow me on Twitter @andrew_dyce.

Our Rating:

3.5 out of 5

TAGS: 2K Games, Borderlands, Gearbox Software, PC, PS3, PS4, Tales From The Borderlands, TellTale Games, Xbox 360, Xbox One

‘Tales from the Borderlands: Episode 1′ Review

‘Battlefield 4′ Guide: How To Unlock the Phantom Bow

Although needlers and chainsaw guns were all the rage a short decade ago, these days gamers can’t get enough old school bow and arrow. The classic weapon’s comeback may have something to do with The Walking Dead’s Daryl Dixon or the CW’s popular Green Arrow makeover; but regardless of the reason, the weapon is back in a big way. The trend has spilled over into the world of video games in the last few years and it became the weapon of choice in Tomb Raider, The Last of Us, and Crysis 3. Although the bow and arrow dealt some serious damage in those games, the destruction capabilities of Battlefield 4′s Phantom Bow definitely wins the prize.

Battlefield 4′s latest DLC, Final Stand, released on November 18th for Battlefield Premium members and thanks to the overpowered weapon, the game is generating some unexpected hype. Battlefield 4 had a hard time recovering from a rocky launch and the first four DLC packs came and went relatively unnoticed,  but players wreaking havoc in private matches with the Phantom Bow has helped put the first-person shooter back on the radar and add more hype to the game’s final DLC pack. Thanks to the Battlefield community, we now have a crash course on how a player (with the help of other dedicated players) can get their hands on the compound bow.

In the video above, YouTuber jackfrags explains how to access the secret area that players need to visit to pick up the Phantom Bow. Like all DLC weapons in BF, players will need to complete assignments (in this case, three) to unlock the bow. This one is a little tougher than usual, but thankfully, the early access players have already followed the clues and cracked the case. Here are the CliffsNotes…

Use the Elevator in Hangar 21 – This is more complicated than it sounds… Finding the elevator in Hangar 21 is easy enough, but players will need a team of four to get it working. First, each member of your team will need to be wearing one of the new dog tags released in the DLC. Each player must be wearing a different tag, so there can’t be any repeats. Each player also needs to have the secondary Phantom Skull dog tag, as well as the Phantom Soldier and Phantom Weapon Camos equipped. Good luck assembling all of that…

Once you and your team arrive at the elevator rocking all the appropriate flare (on a ranked server), the elevator should be operational.

Unlock the Phantom Facility – Once players arrive at the Phantom Facility, which contains the Phantom Bow and a number of other secrets, they will need to enter a password on the keypad to unlock the room. The Battlefield community assembled on Reddit over the weekend and cracked the code together. Once riding in the elevator, any of the players can enter 1290 429 397648 970 to remove the room’s force field.

Once the force field is deactivated, the whole party can enter the room and start admiring the treasures. In addition to the Phantom Bow, the room also contains orders for the Phantom Operative Assignment. It seems highly likely that the room contains other secrets as well and we have no doubt that the Battlefield community will uncover them shortly.

YouTuber Westie has already begun uncovering some of the other secrets in Final Stand, including an icicle knife and a mini walker. Here is a compilation of some of the secrets he’s already stumbled across…

We’ll be interested to see if the Phantom Bow craze actually brings a lot of players back to BF4 or if the game is too far passed its prime. There are certainly plenty of other new-gen first-person shooters crowing that market, so BF4 has plenty of competition.

Do you plan to pick up the last Battlefield 4 DLC pack so that you can try out the Phantom Bow or have you moved on to newer games? Let us know in the comments.

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Battlefield 4 is available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, and Xbox One.

Follow Denny on Twitter @The_DFC.

Source: YouTube, Reddit

TAGS: Battlefield 4, DICE, Electronic Arts, PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One

‘Battlefield 4′ Guide: How To Unlock the Phantom Bow

‘Far Cry 4′ First Impressions: It’s Just Like ‘Far Cry 3′

Lock and load, gamers. There’s a psychopath running things in Kyrat and it’s time to go insane and kill everyone associated with him. If you loved the beautiful open-world vistas of Ubisoft’s Far Cry 3 and the fun-focused, action-packed gameplay it offered, then you’ll totally dig Far Cry 4.

Coming a quick two years after the release of Far Cry 3, the fourth core franchise installment puts players in the boots of Ajay Ghale as he visits his native homeland of the fictional Himalayan region of Kyrat to spread his mother’s ashes. From there, it takes just a few seconds before meeting the game’s antagonist, the dictator Pagan Min.

After putting about 10 hours into Far Cry 4 and testing it on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, we can happily say that the game runs silky smooth and is surprisingly polished (outside of a few instances of the sound dropping) given the complex nature of open-world titles – especially given the performance issues Ubisoft’s other flagship release, Assassin’s Creed Unity, has endured since release.

The environments are large, gorgeous, full of life and… death. As you’ll learn very quickly from the opening and first few story missions of Far Cry 4, Ajay’s parents were leaders of a rebel movement dubbed “The Golden Path” against Pagan Min. These are your allies in Far Cry 4 and just like the game’s predecessor, drive different colored trucks and wear different colored clothing than the red-clothed enemies. According to notes I read in the game, wearing the colors of The Golden Path will get you shot.

The similarities don’t even begin to stop there. Every facet of the game so far is nearly identical to Far Cry 3, from the tower-climbing, outpost-liberating geographic progression and crafting systems, to the gunplay, hunting, use of syringes and camera-enemy-tagging. It feels like I’m playing Far Cry 3 from the beginning again, learning the same skills and hunting similar animals as I fight the same enemies in the same outposts but in a different environment.

There’s a tad more polish and a few more details to the fundamental game mechanics, such as throwing flesh to serve as bait for predators who can distract and attack enemies (a feature first introduced in Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon). New this time around, players can also kick boxes and explosive barrels, shoot while driving and flying, grapple hook up and down predefined climbing spots, and yes, ride elephants. It’s surface level stuff but it does flesh out the gameplay a little bit and builds on the successful formula.

Liberating outposts to reclaim enemy territory is still the highlight of the game, and this time around, Ubisoft built the co-op into the open-world game. Now, other players can join you exploring the world, helping out on outposts and taking on the larger and more dangerous fortresses (which the game recommends to play cooperatively). Each time you complete an outpost, a few little side quests open up that ask players to rescue hostages, escort or locate supplies, or assassinate bad guys, etc.

The strategy remains the same. Suppressed weapons and the bow and arrow are your best friends. Throwing rocks to lure enemies or throwing meat to call in predators to attack and distract. Crouching and moving slowly through bushes and tall grass -and burning or blowing stuff up – has never looked so good in Far Cry which makes it an easy recommendation for fans.

Be warned though, where Far Cry 3 really put the theme of insanity on the forefront, and offered legitimate motivational factors to what you’re doing (escaping, drugs and rescuing friends), Far Cry 4 – at least, so far – doesn’t deliver when it comes to Ajay Ghale. Far Cry 3 even worked in the progress to a tattoo which marked your character but its successor abandons that. Without that needed context, without actually seeing your character and who he was/is, or his relationship to his parents, most of the interactions with other characters may fly over your head, or at the very least, aren’t very meaningful. Hopefully, that picks up later in the game.

That being said, the core gameplay is there and the shooter aspects are amazing. The little details of seemingly moving, traversing obstacles, swimming, diving, hopping into vehicles, laying traps, shooting over cover, violently taking down enemies up close and chaining kills together is all wonderful. Far Cry 4 is nailing it on the combat and traversal mechanics.

Our own Hannah Shaw-Williams is much deeper into the game so stay tuned for her full review.

Far Cry 4 is available on PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

Follow me on Twitter @rob_keyes.

TAGS: Far Cry 3, Far Cry 4, PC, PS3, PS4, Ubisoft, Xbox 360, Xbox One

‘Far Cry 4′ First Impressions: It’s Just Like ‘Far Cry 3′

‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ Is The Biggest Entertainment Launch of 2014

In the last few weeks, Activision has claimed that Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare would not only outsell Call of Duty: Ghosts, but also go on to become the biggest game of the year – Two very bold claims for a series that’s slowly dropping in sales.

Last week, however, alongside the release of the game’s first update, Advanced Warfare was revealed to have accomplished the former of Activision’s statements, outselling Ghosts; at least, in the UK. Today, it seems that the game has vindicated the second of the two claims, with Activision announcing that AW is now the “biggest entertainment launch of 2014″ when it comes to overall revenue, even when compared to the likes of movie, music and book launches.

Furthermore, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is the “highest-selling digital launch in console history,” based on data from Xbox Live, PSN and Activision’s own internal estimations.

With milestones such as these to be proud of, you’d think that definitive sales numbers for the game would soon follow, if only to show off; but no. For one reason or another, Bobby Kotick, CEO of Activision Blizzard, avoided the subject, instead focusing on total revenue made since the Call of Duty series began in 2003. And while $10 billion is a large amount of money most can’t even begin to imagine, it’s not specific enough to make Advanced Warfare’s own achievements more exciting.

There were no launch day stats; no lengthy infographics; nothing that really says “look at what we did!” aside from a couple of player stats revealing that 370 million online matches were played during the game’s launch week, and players have leveled up over 200 million times.

“Since Activision created the Call of Duty franchise in 2003, franchise revenues have exceeded $10 billion in sales worldwide, far exceeding box office receipts for such household movie franchises as Hunger Games, Transformers, Iron Man and Avengers, combined.”

Eric Hirshberg, CEO of Activision Publishing, added on to speak about sales performance, though only in vague terms:

“Sales and engagement are up through the first week compared to last year. Season Pass sales are up, as well. The game has been very positively reviewed and the response from fans has been tremendous. We believe Advanced Warfare will be the most successful game of the year and we thank our fans for making it the biggest entertainment launch of the year.”

Activision neglecting to delve into overall sales numbers for AW (or sharing any other interesting facts) is a bit suspicious; almost to the point that it downplays the game’s own accomplishments. For past releases, the company has been eager to share and discuss the performances of their games, regardless of if they were big hits or underwhelming.

For whatever reason, though, Activision isn’t sharing much this time around, and it’s unlikely that we’ll get more out of them.

Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare is out now for PC, PS3, PS4, Xbox 360 and Xbox One.

TAGS: Activision, Call of Duty, Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, PC, PS3, PS4, Sledgehammer Games, Xbox 360, Xbox One

‘Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’ Is The Biggest Entertainment Launch of 2014