Dragon Age Inquisition Playthrough - Wibbly Wobbly, Magey Wagey

The choice between allying with mages or Templars in Dragon Age II was fairly ambiguous from a moral perspective. On the one hand, Meredith was a paranoid despot and her Templars were clearly overzealous and oppressive in their treatment of mages. At the same time, many mages were just monsters waiting to surface and Anders' destruction of the Chantry proved how dangerous they were. You could make a strong case for either side... but I don't think that's true in Dragon Age Inquisition. The leader of the Templars acts like another Meredith, whereas the leader of the mage rebellion is reasonable and you don't see blood mages or abominations among her ranks. At the same time, siding with the Templars means you'll allow a power grab from a rival empire to go unchecked, which could lead to another magical disaster. There's no good reason to side with the Templars this time around unless you think all mages are evil, and it's unfortunate that this part of the story didn't retain the same ambiguity it held in the past.

"Sure, I did call for the extermination of everyone at the Lake Calenhad Circle, but that's not why I don't want to help the mages.
It's because attacking a castle is hard, guys. It's gonna be really, really hard. *pout*"

So, naturally, Torquemada informs her war council that she'll be headed back to Redcliffe to confront Magister Alexius and his claim on Ferelden's mages. Dorian makes an appearance at the war table too, to inform us that this isn't about the Tevinter Imperium trying to annex part of Ferelden. Alexius has joined a cult within Tevinter known as the Venatori, who revere a mysterious leader called the Elder One, and are obsessed with this "Herald of Andraste" who survived when the breach destroyed the conclave. This is why Alexius has requested to meet with Torquemada alone, and Cullen is more convinced than ever that this is a bad idea. He knows that Redcliffe Castle is a well-protected fortress and there's no way that his soldiers could come to our defense once we're behind the closed doors of the throne room. Leliana disagrees, however, because she has some experience with sneaking into Redcliffe Castle from Dragon Age: Origins. She says she'll have her agents take the secret tunnel that Bann Teagan (now Arl Teagan) told her about, while we keep Alexius distracted by playing nice at his meeting.

Dorian insists on accompanying Torquemada to Redcliffe Castle, and we decide to round out our party with Sera and Blackwall. After some more moaning from Cullen about how risky this operation is, and how it'll be the end of any hope for cooperation with the Templars, we finally set off for the castle. Getting into the throne room with Alexius is no problem because it's clear that's he's very eager to have us here. His bodyguards attempt to tell us that our followers aren't welcome in the meeting, but Torquemada insists that they'll go where she goes. Dorian stays hidden while we approach Alexius and the magister asks us what we could possibly have to offer him that would be equal in worth to his new mages. In an effort to keep up the act, Torquemada offers her connections with Orlesian nobility but Alexius says he's well-connected enough already. At that point, Felix and Dorian reveal that we know everything about his time magic and cultist ties. Alexius orders his guards to haul us to the dungeons, but they've been replaced by Leliana's agents. The spies swiftly kill everyone in the room still loyal to Alexius, leaving us alone with him.

"You come in here with a Grey Warden bodyguard wearing a ridiculous yellow gambeson? FOOL!

Clearly, green is the color that brings out his eyes the best! You're no match for my fashion sense!"

The magister is prepared, though. He produces an amulet glowing with magical energy, which Dorian recognizes and yells at him not to use. Ignoring this, Alexius opens a rift, but not one that demons come out of. The next thing we know, we have been teleported to another room, somewhere in the dungeons of Redcliffe Castle, and the only party member with us is Dorian. He's fascinated by the fact that we have been displaced, but Torquemada is more concerned that everyone else is gone and there's red lyrium growing out of the walls. Dorian muses that Alexius altered time again but got it wrong, and sent us to a different moment in time instead of removing us from existence completely. He also thinks that he can reverse the spell if he can find the amulet that was used to send us here in the first place. All we need to do is find our way out of the dungeons and track the guy down. Easy, right?

We don't know when or where exactly we are, but the dungeons are full of guards that appear to be loyal to Alexius. A series of staircases winds up and down throughout the lower levels, and Torquemada and Dorian begin wandering in the hope of finding someone who can give them more information. Fighting the guards isn't easy when it's just one mage and one rogue against heavily armored swordsmen, but we eventually find our way to a cell where a familiar woman is imprisoned. Fiona is alive, but she is partially fused with the red lyrium growing out of the walls. We ask her for information and she says everyone turns out this way over time. Red lyrium infects a person's blood, it grows out of them until they die, and then Alexius' men harvest the corpse for the last of the red lyrium. She also gives us the date, and we realize that we have been sent a full year forward in time. Alexius, and the Elder One his cult supports, have conquered the world with their army and their demons.

"Yes, you traveled through time, and before you make any more Doctor Who references, please kill me first."

Not far from Fiona, we find Blackwall and Sera, who are pulsing with red energy and are convinced that we're supposed to be dead. We manage to persuade both of them that they can still fight with us to get revenge on Alexius even if we are dead, and their desire for vengeance compels them to agree. They also tell us that Leliana is still imprisoned somewhere within the castle, and she may be able to tell us where to find the magister. Our spymaster is in a different part of the dungeons, but getting there is easier now that we have our archer and our tank back on our side. After fighting our way through a few groups of guards, we find a torture chamber where one of Alexius' men is still trying to break Leliana's will and by the look on her face, it looks like she's been here a long time. The torturer turns to face us when we confront him and Leliana uses the distraction to wrap her legs around his neck and strangle him. She then frees herself and says she's ready to follow us again.

This is right up there alongside Meredith's death as one of the most unnecessary subtitles ever.

As we head back down to the main hallway of the dungeon, a large group of guards is lowering a drawbridge to investigate the disturbance. Torquemada slips into the shadows, gets behind the group and starts backstabbing while her followers take the guards head-on. Like other groups, this one doesn't last long and the path upstairs is now open to us. Leliana says that Alexius rarely leaves the throne room, so we should work our way there. The stairs lead to an outdoor courtyard and upon looking up at the sky, we see that the breach that filled a small circle of sky above Haven now stretches as far as the eye can see. There are also rifts in the courtyard, with groups of demons guarding them. Thankfully, the time travel didn't mess up Torquemada's glowy hand in any way, so once our group of five is finished killing the demons, we close the rifts and continue on our way. The throne room is in the central area of the castle, and there are plenty of guards there standing between us and Alexius.

We get to work on fighting our way through more of the magister's lackeys, including a larger fellow who has a shard of pure red lyrium on him. Dorian suggests holding onto it and when we find the door to the throne room, we realize this is a good idea. There are five notches carved into the door and one of them lights up in response to the shard we're carrying... which means we need four more from some of Alexius' most trusted guards. Luckily, everyone in the party is committed to taking their rage out on the magister, so finding four elite guards and fighting against them as a warm-up is not a tall order. By the time we're done, most of the guards in the castle have been killed and we have five red lyrium shards to open the door to Alexius' chambers.

Damn it, I just collected MacGuffins for you. The least you could do is look me in the eye.

The magister doesn't have the same cocky sense of bravado when we talk to him this time. He says that the fact that we survived is his final failure, but it doesn't matter because all that any of us can do is wait for the end. Attempting to take advantage of his somber attitude, Torquemada tells him that there is hope, because he can give us the amulet and stop this timeline from happening. Alexius says it's impossible to stop the Elder One though, and that all he wanted was to keep his son safe. Dorian notices that Felix is standing next to him, but is literally a shell of his former self. Leliana takes matters into her own hands, grabbing Felix from behind and demanding the amulet. Alexius pleads for her to let him go and before Torquemada can mediate things, Leliana slashes Felix's throat to force the battle that she clearly desires. Enraged, Alexius gives her the fight she wants.

Even with a larger group than normal, fighting Alexius is not easy. He surrounds himself with glyphs of rift energy that explode if you walk on them, and he fires powerful spells from within the safety of these wards. When he takes too much damage, he surrounds himself with a forcefield and opens up a fade rift so demons can fight us while he regains his strength. Torquemada ensures that the rifts don't stay open for long though, and is nimble enough to jump over his glyphs most of the time. It's a long battle, but Alexius finally falls and Dorian plucks the amulet off his body. He confirms that it's the same amulet he displaced us with and it's also something he helped Alexius craft years ago. All he needs is about an hour to work out the intricacies of the spell and he can reverse all this damage. The pounding sounds of approaching guards tell us that we don't have an hour, though.

"Don't move. Don't even blink. Blink and you're dead.
...We killed Fiona before making this reference, right? Okay, good."

Leliana looks out and says Alexius must have summoned the Elder One, and his much more powerful minions are approaching the throne room. Blackwall and Sera say they will go out and meet them, while Leliana stays by the door as a last line of defense. Torquemada doesn't want to abandon her friends even though this timeline will be erased if we succeed, but Dorian pulls her away as he begins casting the spell. Leliana's arrows strike guard after guard with deadly precision and she continues to fight on even after taking an arrow to the chest herself. Before the forces can overwhelm her, Dorian finishes opening a rift with the amulet and he and Torquemada are pulled through it. They land back in the throne room, moments after Alexius originally displaced them. Torquemada tells the magister that he'll have to do better than that.

Alexius sinks to his knees in defeat, not in despair over failing the Elder One as much as the fact that he will not get the cure he was promised for his son's fatal disease. Felix tells his father that everyone dies some day, and he has already accepted his fate. We return to Fiona to inform her that the mages are no longer indebted to Tevinter, but we're not the only one who has come to see her. Anora, Queen of Ferelden, is in the middle of telling Fiona that she promised the mages sanctuary as long as her people remained safe and she has clearly not lived up to that promise. She's kicking the mages out of Redcliffe and is prepared to imprison them all if they don't comply. Torquemada tells Fiona that the mages can join up with the Inquisition instead. Fiona asks if it will be as prisoners or allies, but Torquemada decides that the mages won't be any good to her if they are giving assistance under duress. So, we tell her that it will be an alliance. Fiona accepts, as does Anora on the condition that they leave her lands.

I suspect this scene would have been much more awkward, in a charming kind of way, if I uploaded a save where Alistair was king.

Back in Haven, Torquemada's war council is pleased to hear that we have accomplished a task that seemed impossible, but they are skeptical about our decision. Cullen in particular says that giving mages as much freedom as we have is incredibly dangerous, and incidents involving abominations and maleficarum are inevitable. Torquemada tells Cullen that she will reign the mages in, if and only if they show that they are incapable of behaving themselves. Until then, she assumes their desire to help is genuine and will trust them to deal with their own troublemakers. Regardless, the mages' ability and willingness to help the Inquisition is about to be put to the test, because with this many magic-users on our side, we're ready to see if enough power can be channeled through Torquemada's mark to close the breach for good.

Torquemada is quick to point out to her more skeptical followers that the Dalish don't have nearly as many problems with mages.

Her arguments are an excerpt from a paper she submitted to an Orlesian academy, entitled "Elves Rule and Humans Drool".

A mission appears on the war table that allows us to mobilize our forces and head back to the breach. Well, there's no time like the present to do that. Along with Cassandra, Solas and Cullen, our substantial mage army arrives in the ruins of the Temple of Sacred Ashes and lines up behind Torquemada. Solas directs the mages to wait for her to connect to the breach, then direct their magic toward the beam of energy she projects. Torquemada reaches up to close the rift as usual, and the mages raise their staves as her hand pulses with energy. The green light show is the most intense we've experienced so far and although she looks strained, Torquemada stays on her feet until a blast erupts from the breach and everyone is knocked down. When the dust settles, we look up to see that our efforts were completely successful. The breach has disappeared.

Cassandra, in a jovial mood. You can tell she's jovial because she's not attacking a training dummy in a fit of violent zeal.

A short while later in Haven, villagers are dancing and singing to celebrate the closure of the breach. As Torquemada watches from outside the Chantry, Cassandra approaches and says her men are still getting reports of small rifts in the countryside, but for now the greatest danger has passed. There is still work to be done, but this is a victory. Torquemada modestly says that she didn't do it alone, but Cassandra tells her that it was only possible because of Torquemada's skill and perseverance. It seems like everyone, even Cassandra, can unwind a little for now... but then we spot a countless number of torches approaching from the hills near Haven. An army, a very large one at that, is approaching the Inquisition's stronghold and their only purpose can be to eradicate everyone in Haven.

Dragon Age Inquisition Playthrough - More Followers, More Problems

Torquemada has three appointments with mysterious strangers, but two of them require us to leave Val Royeaux. So, we decide to follow up on the bad guy we learned about in the note delivered by arrow. It points us to three locations in the city where we find clues about this person, wrapped in red handkerchiefs, that suggest he's an Orlesian noble trying to undermine the Inquisition. We also find out where he's meeting his supporters tonight. This seems like a strange way to pass along information and Cassandra is thinking that the meeting is a trap, but she and Torquemada agree they should try to confront this person anyway.

Apparently, in Orlais, fancy opera costumes are quite intimidating. Not so much in Ferelden.

The information turns out to be valuable, as we arrive at the meeting place to find only a few guards. Unimpressed even after Torquemada swiftly defeats his men, the noble shows himself and says he's going to find a way to beat us. He's cut short, however, by the appearance of an elf woman pointing a drawn bow at him. She promptly shoots him when he starts yelling at her, then she turns to us and says we should get ready because he has reinforcements coming. She adds that she found where they stashed their equipment, however, and has a little surprise planned for them. Seconds later, a group of guards charges at us, fully armed... but not wearing any pants.

After the fight, we ask her why she didn't simply steal their weapons. She says she stole their breeches instead because that way, they had to fight naked from the waist down. We could argue with that logic, but I'm not sure why we'd want to. Anyway, she introduces herself as Sera and says she's coming with us. Torquemada wants to know more about her first though, which seems to annoy Sera, but she says she's with the Friends of Red Jenny. They're a supposedly leaderless group that we've heard of in passing in the previous games, and they exist to take revenge on nobles when they mess with the common folk too much. Revenge could mean anything from a prank to assassination depending on how angry someone is with them. In other words, Sera is a skilled archer with access to a wide network of commoners with eyes & ears throughout Thedas. Torquemada welcomes her to the Inquisition.

She also believes that the nobles' petty infighting is due to unresolved sexual tension.

Just one reason why I think she's way smarter than she lets people think she is.

We decide to leave the shady Orlesian back alley and head somewhere more comfortable: the estate north of Val Royeaux where Madame du Fer has requested the pleasure of our company. Torquemada's blood-stained leather armor doesn't exactly fit in with the fancy outfits of the Orlesian nobles in attendance, but the first lady we talk to is delighted to meet the famous Herald of Andraste regardless. It's not long before a gentleman with an unfavorable opinion of the Inquisition appears, though. He starts to deliver a scathing lecture about how evil we are, but is suddenly frozen by a woman making her way down a grand staircase. This turns out to be First Enchanter Vivienne, and she doesn't take kindly to people insulting her honored guests. After politely greeting us, she casually asks us whether or not the rude party guest should be killed and Torquemada says that won't be necessary, since executions are usually frowned upon at Dalish parties.

"My dear, if you're going to wear an intimidating opera costume, you simply must back it up with real power. Otherwise you just look a fool!"

Vivienne then asks to speak with us privately and after walking to a more secluded part of the estate, she tells us that she too would like to join the Inquisition. Torquemada is a bit skeptical, since this Madame du Fer seems to have a pretty good thing going here in Orlais. We ask her what her motivation is, and how a mage like herself has remained in such good standing in the middle of a mage rebellion. Vivienne says that the breach is a threat to everyone and her comfortable lifestyle won't last for much longer if she doesn't help to do something about it. As for the mage rebellion, she doesn't back the apostates because she believes the Circles of Magi are still the best option and wants to see them reinstated. It sounds like her views won't alienate anyone we're trying to work with, so we welcome another new follower to the group.

Before we head to Redcliffe to meet with Fiona, we stop in Haven to discuss the situation with our advisors. Cullen, a former Templar, is in disbelief over Lucius' actions in Val Royeaux and says the order is bound to see reason eventually. While Josephine and Leliana believe it's worth hearing what Fiona has to say, Cullen advises against it and says the mages are only coming to us out of desperation. Torquemada's already made up her mind about that, though. We proceed to the war room and we're told that all the operations went well, including the construction of the watchtowers in the Hinterlands. There are new missions to undertake now, including a suggestion from Sera: her friends know a beekeeper who can provide us with angry bees that we can throw at people. We tell Leliana to get on that right away. We also have Josephine send an envoy to our Dalish clan since the Keeper has expressed concern about our well-being, and we have Cullen's soldiers start looking for hidden tunnels near the Temple of Sacred Ashes that those pesky dragon cultists used to use.

There's a hole in the sky with demons pouring out, we've openly rebelled against the Chantry...
...and what Cullen finds odd is that the Templars are more belligerent and zealous than usual?

As Torquemada gets ready to leave for the Hinterlands with Cassandra, Sera and Vivienne, Leliana says there's one more thing we may want to look into. She's been trying to track down the Grey Wardens to determine whether or not they might help the Inquisition, but they appear to have gone into hiding around the same time that the breach opened up. Leliana doesn't believe the Wardens are involved with the breach, but the timing is suspicious and she thinks we should follow up on some leads she's discovered. One group of Wardens was spotted on the Storm Coast, north of the Hinterlands, but we'll have to approve a large scouting mission before we can set up a forward camp there. In the meantime, a solitary Warden has been spotted in the Hinterlands and we can try to find out where he went instead. Since we're headed there anyway, we add it to our to-do list.

Our first stop in the Hinterlands is the farmhouse belonging to Redcliffe's old horsemaster, Dennet. He tells us that wolf attacks aren't a problem anymore, and he's seen that the watchtowers have been constructed like he suggested. We honored our end of the bargain, so he honors his and provides the Inquisition with all the good horses he has. He also expresses some regret about not being able to take care of them himself, so we ask Cassandra to appeal to his sense of morality as a good Chantry-goer. Dennet accepts Cassandra's argument that it's his duty to help, and says he'll see us in Haven. Glad that these efforts have turned out well, Torquemada turns her attention to the last known location of the Grey Warden who is supposed to be in the area.

BioWare said that they took some inspiration from the Elder Scrolls series for this game.

You know what that means: horse armor DLC.

We find a well-armed man outside of a remote shack in the Hinterlands, who is training a couple of young, inexperienced villagers how to fight. As we approach, so does another group that appear to be bandits. The Warden tells the youths it's time to fight for real, and they prepare to defend themselves. Naturally, Torquemada and her companions join in and the bandits are completely overwhelmed. The Warden says the youths have earned their freedom and lets them go. We ask him what that was all about, and he says those two tried to steal from him so he had temporarily invoked the Grey Warden rite of conscription as a way of making them pay for their crimes with service. Torquemada tries to casually ask about the other Grey Wardens, but he realizes he's being interrogated and we admit we're with the Inquisition. That doesn't seem to bother him, though.

The Warden introduces himself as Blackwall and says he's been working on his own, trying to find new recruits in the Hinterlands. Between the lack of darkspawn activity in the ten years since Amastacia's disorganized victory and total paranoia over the breach, he hasn't had much luck. He also has no idea where the other Grey Wardens are and suggests they may have returned to their headquarters in Weisshaupt, which is a long ways away from here. Being a loner, he hasn't had much contact but realizes that his mission here isn't doing anyone much good. Grey Wardens are allowed, however, to uphold their oath to protect in any way they see fit when there's no blight to deal with and Blackwall says that if we want to close the breach, he'd be happy to help with that. Torquemada accepts, and we now have three new companions to choose from.

"If you need me, Inquisition, I'll be by this scenic lake, practicing my doleful brooding."

Since the one Grey Warden we've met has agreed that their order should be trying to close the breach, we decide to head to Haven with him to tell Leliana that scouting the Storm Coast is good idea. As we get outside the Chantry, however, we notice an unfamiliar-looking mercenary lurking about and decide to ask what he's doing here. He introduces himself as a member of a group called "The Bull's Chargers" and says he's been trying to get an audience. We tell him he's got one now, so he informs us that his leader, the Iron Bull, would like to discuss the possibility of working together. Conveniently enough, he and his company are located on the Storm Coast. We proceed to the war room and spend four power points to set up the appropriate scouting missions and forward camps that will give us access to the Storm Coast, then head to this new area of Ferelden.

Our forward camp isn't too far from the location of the Bull's Chargers, so we decide to get that meeting out of the way before tracking down clues about Wardens. The Iron Bull, a massive, shirtless Qunari, is in the middle of taking out bandits with his men as we approach. We decide to help with that, and the Bull asks if we'd like to join him for drinks while we talk business. He gets straight to the point once the casks are broken open, saying he knows the Inquisition needs soldiers and he'd like us to hire him. Torquemada is skeptical, so he lowers his voice and says he's also a Ben-Hasserath, a Qunari spy sent here to determine whether or not his people should invade due to the breach. Hiring him gets us his men, plus access to his spy network. Sure enough, we welcome yet another new companion.

"Excuse me, my eyes are up here. ...Well, one of them is."

Apart from getting his support, however, the trip to the Storm Coast isn't very fruitful. We find traces of Grey Warden campsites and journal entries that indicate they were looking for one of their own in the area, but neither the Wardens or the person they were looking for are here anymore. The Storm Coast is living up to its name by being rainy and generally unpleasant too, so we all head back to the Hinterlands once again. Next on the agenda is our meeting with the leader of the mage rebellion, Grand Enchanter Fiona, but getting into Redcliffe is easier said than done, it turns out. The main gate is blocked by a rift that's even more unusual than what we've encountered before because time keeps speeding up and slowing down as we fight the demons around it. Eventually, they're all defeated, but this is just the start of the unusual happenings.

Redcliffe guards tell us that a nearby tavern has been vacated so the Inquisition and the mages can meet, so we head inside and see Fiona again. She asks what brings us here and we reply that her invitation in Val Royeaux did, obviously. Fiona says she's never met us before, which is odd... but not as odd as the fact that she's indentured to a Tevinter magister now, and all the mages in the rebellion have agreed to join the Imperium. She then introduces us to her master, Gereon Alexius, who will negotiate with us for the use of "his" mages in the Inquisition.

Here's a hint: if you're pretending you're not pure evil, maybe DON'T wear the red cowl with horns on it.

Magister Alexius is a sleazy fellow, to say the least. He claims that his timely arrival in Redcliffe after the disaster at the conclave was a stroke of divine luck and Tevinter will be happy to accept Ferelden's mages as full members of the Imperium after they complete their mandatory one year of servitude. Until then, they do as he says and we must go through him if we want them to help us close the breach. Torquemada is unsure of how to proceed, but then the magister's son Felix arrives to serve us refreshments and nearly faints into her arms while doing so. The magister is concerned and says we'll have to continue later. At first, we assume this will give us time to think, but then we realize that Felix passed us a note when he nearly fainted on us, and we have another clandestine meeting to attend.

The note simply says we're in danger and should come to the Chantry. The situation is so bizarre at this point that Torquemada doesn't even care if it is a trap, she heads into the Chantry and hopes there's at least one answer waiting inside. What we find instead is another rift, along with another Tevinter mage who kindly asks us to help him close it. He doesn't need to ask twice, and after the fight he takes a moment to admire our glowy hand. We are then joined by Felix, who says that this mage is who actually wanted the meeting. His name is Dorian and he used to be Alexius' apprentice, but is working against him now because he manipulated time itself in order to reach the mage rebellion before the Inquisition did. That explains why we saw Fiona in Val Royeaux but she claims she was never there. Kind of. It just goes to show that the magic being used is unstable and threatens to tear another hole in reality.

"I realize you just met me and what I'm saying is hard to believe; but if you'd stop laughing at my mustache for a minute, I'll explain."

Dorian says we need to cut the meeting short before Alexius notices Felix is missing and gets suspicious. However, he claims that he developed the magic Alexius used and can reverse it if we work with him. He hopes we'll consider his offer and meet with him in Redcliffe again if we agree. We return to Haven and the war table with this information, and are faced with two options. Either we can throw our lot in with Dorian, hoping we can free the mages, stop a hole in time from being created and kick the Tevinters out of Ferelden... or we can take Cullen's advice, forget the mages, arrange a meeting with the Templars and hope Lucius is more reasonable than he was in Val Royeaux. The game is clear on one point, though: once we pick one side, we can't work with the other. Yet again, a Dragon Age game is making us choose between Templars and mages and we'll make that choice in the next update.

Dragon Age Inquisition Playthrough - On Our Way to Orlais

Now that Cassandra has reinstated the Inquisition and has made Torquemada one of the founding members, the town of Haven is open to us. There's an alchemist that will take herbs to create more powerful healing potions, a requisitions officer who tells us about special supply requests and, in a first for the Dragon Age series, a blacksmith who will make weapons and armor for us if we have schematics and materials. This is also where we can talk to our followers-- Cassandra, Varric and Solas-- and some important NPCs. The three most crucial characters who we can't put in our party are: 1) Leliana, our spymaster, the Orlesian bard we know and love from Dragon Age: Origins. 2) Cullen, our military commander, a former Templar who appeared in both of the previous games. 3) Josephine, a completely new face. She's originally from Antiva, but spent a lot of time in Orlais as an envoy and is now a seasoned diplomat.

She also carries a book with a candle permanently stuck to it, which seems convenient.

Except for that one time when she tried turning a page, and nearly burned the Chantry down.

Leliana, Cullen and Josephine are our key advisers once we head into the Chantry and Cassandra introduces Torquemada to the war table. Here, key areas on a map of Orlais and Ferelden are marked for our attention. Once we select a location, we'll be given a choice of which of our three advisers we want to handle the mission. These can either be smaller operations which only require time to complete, such as responding to concerns from Ferelden's banns and teyrns, or larger missions that can only be completed when you have gained enough "power points" from doing quests. These points are supposed to be a numeric value for how powerful the Inquisition is, but it comes across as a little superficial when the system boils down to, "find farmer's lost buffalo-thing, receive plot coupon". More on that a little later.

For now though, the only mission available to us is something that Leliana brought to our attention regarding a Chantry leader, Mother Giselle, who is trying to help refugees and might be more open-minded than the rest of the Chantry is right now. Our advisers also tell us that, probably thanks to Chancellor Roderick's meddling, the Chantry has denounced the Inquisition and refers to all of its supporters as heretics. It doesn't help matters that many of the locals in Haven decided that Torquemada got her rift-closing mark from the Chantry's revered prophet, Andraste, and are now calling her the Herald of Andraste. As a Dalish elf, Torquemada doesn't agree with this, neither does she particularly like the idea, but Leliana assures us that people need something to believe in. They have decided not to encourage or discourage the idea, and let people believe what they want. 

Hold on, Leliana. What's the point of naming my character if everyone's just going to call me 'Harold'?

Normally, this is when we would assign one of our three advisers to handle the mission, but only Leliana has an idea of how to handle it. She sends her covert agents to harass Templars and apostates fighting in the Hinterlands, ensuring relative safety for the refugees, before contacting Mother Giselle. This action costs us the one power point we have, and Leliana's agents report back that they have established a forward camp near the crossroads between Haven and Redcliffe, where Mother Giselle will meet us. With that, Torquemada heads out to the Hinterlands with Cassandra, Varric and Solas. The lead scout who greets us is a dwarf woman who seems more than a little bit nervous to be talking to the person that the villagers keep calling the chosen one, but she helpfully points us in the direction of the meeting.

Mother Giselle greets us warmly, thanking us for our efforts thus far in helping her people. She proceeds to tell us that between the death of the Divine and the Chantry's denouncement of the Inquisition, many of the faithful are divided and simply looking for someone who will make a real difference. Torquemada says that's all well and good, but wants to know what Giselle can do for the Inquisition right now apart from offer friendly advice. The Mother says she will go to Haven and provide Leliana with a list of Chantry members who will be willing to meet the Inquisition and hear our side of the story. She insists, however, that whether we believe we are the Herald of Andraste or not, we need to go out and start proving to people that we can solve problems.

Giselle, you may look and dress like Guinan from Star Trek... but you, ma'am, are no Guinan.

It's here that the open-world nature of Dragon Age Inquisition comes into full effect. The Hinterlands is a large map full of rolling hills, roving bands of Templars and apostates, and several quests that can be undertaken to impress the locals. When we walk into the small village that has been established at the crossroads, a guard loyal to the Inquisition named Corporal Vale gives us just a few examples: the former horsemaster of Redcliffe may be able to provide mounts to the Inquisition if we ask nicely, a guard recruit is trying to find a way to get the villagers more blankets, and a local hunter is having trouble getting enough food to go around. Most of the quests can be found simply by wandering the map and getting into trouble, though... and that's kind of a problem. If you keep the village from starving and from freezing to death, you get one power point for completing each of those quests. On the other hand, you could also find a farmer's lost buffalo-thing and a widow's lost wedding ring, and you'd get two power points that way instead. Eventually, certain tasks give your Inquisition more power than others, but initially it seems kind of ridiculous.

This open world wandering only ties in loosely to the main plot of the game, too. Once your Inquisitor gains enough experience and your Inquisition gains enough power, your will be able to start the mission that brings you to Orlais' capital city of Val Royeaux to answer the Chantry's denouncement in person. Apart from talking to Mother Giselle, you're not required to undertake any specific task in order to gain that power and experience. You can literally gain the power you need by finding a crapload of iron ore and onyx to send to scholars in Orlais to curry their favor if you're not too enthusiastic about killing Templars or mages. On one hand, It's good that the player a great deal of freedom in choosing what they want to do in the Hinterlands. However, it's also true that the lack of a direct tie to the overall narrative makes whatever quest you choose seem kind of pointless.

"We need food, blankets and medicine. Also, this scout is worried about a recruit he has a crush on. That's equally important."

As for Torquemada, she's going to clean up the Hinterlands a great deal before she proceeds to Val Royeaux, figuring that she'll need as much evidence of good deeds as she can if she wants to stand any chance at making the Chantry happy. She brings a large quantity of fresh-killed mutton to a local hunter, points the local guards in the direction of secret apostate supply caches where they can find blankets, and takes out the leaders of encampments where both the mages and Templars were organizing attacks. There are a number of rifts throughout the area as well and, by closing a few near an old fort where some former Chantry members were trying to start a cult, we manage to impress some of the locals with proof of our abilities. The would-be cult leader becomes an agent of the Inquisition and we tell her to spread the truth about us, which will make Ambassador Josephine's job a little easier. Lastly, we visit Redcliffe's old horsemaster on his farm and ask him about the possibility of securing mounts for the Inquisition... but he's harder to impress.

The horsemaster tells us that between bandits, mages, Templars, and demon-possessed wolves there are too many things between here and Haven that would steal or eat the horses. He gives us the location the demon wolf lair and says clearing them out will solve some of the problems in the immediate area, but what they really need is watchtowers so guards can spot bandits when they start to make their move. Clearing out the wolves and the demon controlling them is a relatively simple job, but building the watchtowers requires us to survey three locations and then return to Haven to decide who will be responsible for overseeing the construction. So, once the locations are scouted, we head back to the war table and find that building the towers isn't the only operation available to us. The Teyrn of Highever requests the Inquisition's presence at a memorial service for the Divine, a lesser noble is stirring up sentiment against the Inquisition, and there are a couple of repeatable operations that we can use to gather resources.

Hey, Josephine! I found these magic rocks in the woods! Can you do something with these?
"...I used to attend balls in Orlais every week. What am I doing with my life?"

These operations can be completed using different tactics depending on who we get to handle them. Cullen's soldiers could build the watchtowers, but Josephine suggests appealing to the local banns to provide manpower instead. Leliana says we can send some of her Chantry friends to Highever, while Cullen suggests an honor guard consisting of Ferelden officers loyal to the Inquisition. As for the noble who's unfriendly to us, Josephine recommends getting his fellow nobles to speak out against him but Leliana thinks we can make him an ally by having her agents solve some problems he's been having in his lands. It's not clear to me at this point if any of these operations will fail if I pick the wrong advisor but for now, I choose Josephine to handle the watchtowers, Cullen to handle the memorial in Highever and Leliana to deal with the unfriendly noble. We'll have to wait for up to an hour before a report on these operations is ready, though. So, Torquemada is going to Val Royeaux while we wait for the towers to be constructed in the Hinterlands.

Getting into Val Royeaux costs four power points, but we have plenty of them thanks to all the quests we completed. Torquemada heads into the city with Cassandra, Varric and Solas, and by the reaction we get from nervous locals, it looks like our reputation has preceded us. Shops are temporarily closed because of the crowd that has gathered in the central plaza, where tension appears to be high. We approach to see that a Chantry mother is standing on a stage above the assembled locals. She immediately notices the arrival of the Inquisition and wastes no time in calling us heretics. Torquemada reminds her that she never claimed to be the Herald of Andraste and all she wants to do is close the breach. They're not buying it, though. The mother announces that the Templars have heard of our heresy and have decided to return to Val Royeaux to enforce the Chantry's will. Right on cue, a man wearing armor similar to Cassandra's joins the mother on the stage... and punches her in the face.

"You should do something respectable, like sucker punching priestesses whenever you feel like it!"

Cassandra recognizes this man as Lucius, one of her fellow Seekers of Truth who is now calling himself Lord Seeker, and has apparently taken command of the Templars. This isn't a good thing for us, though. Lucius refuses to talk to Cassandra, saying she started an opportunistic movement to capitalize from Divine Justinia's death, before directing every Templar in the city to leave with him because Val Royeaux is no longer worthy of their protection. The local population is shaken by the Templars' betrayal immediately, with one local food vendor offering to send supplies to the Inquisition right away. We check on the Chantry mother too, who is still laying on the ground but conscious. She has already been told that most of the Templars in the city have left and those who remain loyal to the Chantry are too few be called an order. We ask if her she thinks any differently of the Inquisition now, and she says their opinion doesn't seem to matter anymore.

So, the trip to Val Royeaux pretty much got us nowhere... but after the debacle in the town square, Torquemada does receive a number of strange invitations. The first arrives via an official messenger, who says that First Enchanter Vivienne, also known as Madame du Fer, would like us to visit her at a nearby estate. The second arrives via an arrow that strikes the ground near us, and the note attached says a bad person wants to hurt us, but there are clues we can follow to find them. Lastly, we get an invitation in person from Grand Enchanter Fiona, who is apparently the leader of the mage rebellion. Torquemada questions how she managed to get into Val Royeaux unnoticed, but Fiona dodges the question and says we should meet with her in Redcliffe to discuss how the mages and the Inquisition can help each other.

So, you're saying we shouldn't go to the guy who likes assaulting old women and appeal to his sense of reason?

With the Inquisition still a fledgling movement with few allies, this level of interest is promising even if we're not sure what any of these people want with us. Is it possible that one of these invitations will lead to a valuable alliance that gives more credibility to Torquemada and her mission? Or are they traps designed to give us a false sense of security before leading us into an ambush? Cassandra is suspicious as always, but she and Torquemada agree that we can't afford to ignore these opportunities. In the next update, we'll be following up on these offers and dealing with the consequences....

Dragon Age Inquisition Playthrough - Character Creation and Prologue

As you may have seen elsewhere online, Dragon Age Inquisition was released two days ago for a variety of platforms. Most outlets have focused on the "next-gen" versions of the game available for PS4, Xbox One and PC (if your system is powerful enough). Reviews have been fairly positive so far, praising the robust amount of content and impressive graphics. There has been less coverage of the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions and since I don't have one of the newer consoles or a respectable gaming PC, I'm about to find out whether the Xbox 360 version of Inquisition is an enjoyable product, or if the old hardware is just too large of an obstacle.

Well, the graphics on the Xbox 360 box art are identical to the Xbox One box art. Maybe that's a good start?

The first thing to note about the Xbox 360 version is that it comes on two discs and while installing the game to your hard drive isn't required, the game highly recommends that you free up 7.1 GB of data to do so. This can be a tall order depending on how big your drive is and what else you have stored on it. I had the space for it because I was planning on installing the game to the hard drive anyway, but I could see how this could be problematic if you weren't expecting it. The bigger issue is, even after you've spent 15+ minutes on the installation, loading screens are long and frequent. Additionally, the high resolution textures won't be fully loaded even after that long wait and various characters' clothing will look downright ugly until finer details pop in. The good news is, the game mostly runs smoothly during combat and while exploring the environment; there are only minor frame rate issues when the camera focuses on graphics-intensive areas. Once the character models are fully loaded, people look as good in this game as they did in Mass Effect 3, so the graphics are great for a 360 game. Most of the time.

The short answer is: yes, you will definitely notice that this game is not optimized for the 360 and PS3. I've only just started playing the game though, so I can't say for sure yet whether this is going to interfere with my enjoyment of the overall game. I guess the best way for me to find out is to do another playthrough!

Thanks to the Dragon Age Keep, I'm able to start a game using the dubious histories of Grey Warden Amastacia and Chickene Hawke, the Champion of Kirkwall. Between the two of them, we have a male human mage and a male dwarf warrior. It seems reasonable to round things out by having a female elf rogue Inquisitor. You also have a choice between dual wield specialization and archery specialization for the rogue class. I chose dual wield because I know Varric's in this game and he'll have archery covered. Upon selecting these options, the game tells us that our character is a Dalish elf sent by her Keeper to find a way into the Chantry's conclave, because the Keeper had a vision of something that will affect the entire world. The game then cuts immediately to our character, standing on a barren hillside and surrounded by greenish light. From here, we can customize her appearance and give her a name.

Readers: Say hello to my Inquisitor, Torquemada.

I'm not sure yet what the dialogue options are going to be like in this game, so I don't have a plan for her personality. However, given the fact that I just named her Torquemada, something tells me she might wind up being kind of snarky. As soon as the appearance is accepted, we see our Dalish elven lady begin to run away from demons. Well, crap. Apparently, I forgot to set the demon slider to "zero" when I created her. In any case, Torquemada's aimless running brings her to a feminine figure shrouded in green light and reaching out her hand. Given a choice between this being and the demons, the elf reaches out and takes her hand. There is another flash of light, and the next thing we see are soldiers rushing toward the elf as she collapses to the ground on a completely different landscape.

I realize this screenshot is kind of a blur but then again, so is her memory of this event.

That first cut scene only lasted about a minute and I already have no idea of what's going on. One thing's for sure: Chantry Seeker Cassandra Pentaghast isn't happy about that cut scene, either. Torquemada is brought before her and Leliana in chains in some unfamiliar dungeon, and Cassandra demands to know how we got a magic glowing hand that blew up the entire conclave. We assure her that we have no clue what she's talking about. In fact, we don't even know what the conclave is, let alone how we got into it, and that bit about the magic glowing hand is new to us, too. Looking down at our left hand confirms that it is, in fact, quite glowy. Apparently, I forgot to adjust the glowy hand slider to zero, too. This new character creation interface is tricky.

Cassandra finally decides to show us what the plot is instead of making us guess and unchains Torquemada, but binds her hands with rope for the walk. We find ourselves in the town of Haven, located in the Frostback Mountains of Fereldan, which we recognize from Dragon Age: Origins as the town populated by cultists who were hiding the Temple of Sacred Ashes. In addition to the army of soldiers patrolling the streets, there's another new feature: a massive shaft of green light pouring downwards from the sky that Cassandra refers to as "the breach". She tells us this breach destroyed the Temple of Sacred Ashes and killed everyone in the area... except for Torquemada, who emerged from one of the rifts alive and with a strange mark on her hand. We also learn that the conclave was a meeting between Templar and mage leaders, moderated by the head of the Chantry, Divine Justinia, with the goal of ending the Templar/mage war. Now all those people, including Justinia, are dead and Cassandra is highly suspicious about why we survived.

Unfinished portrait of Divine Justinia V, during happier times.

In this case, "happier times" means the concept art stage of the game.

Torquemada asks why we're going for such a nice walk when everyone thinks she blew up the temple. Cassandra replies that all they know about the mark is that it's connected to the breach and this connection may allow us to close the rifts between our world and the Fade. It's just a theory, but it's also the only idea anyone has at the moment for how to actually close these tears in reality. Cassandra assumes that we're either innocent and can close rifts, or we'll all die horribly in the attempt and Torquemada's guilt or innocence will be a moot point. Seeing how we don't have much other choice, we agree to follow Cassandra and the Seeker cuts our bonds.

As we head toward the front line that the Chantry soldiers have set up to defend Haven from the demon onslaught, a flare of magical energy goes off in front of us and Torquemada's mark burns with similar energy. Two demons appear and Cassandra tells the elf to stay behind her. Torquemada sees one demon headed straight for her, then spots a pair of daggers laying on the ground nearby, and decides that Cassandra's advice sucks. We kill one demon as Cassandra deals with the second, but as soon as the Seeker turns around and sees we're armed, she points her sword at us and tells us to drop the daggers. Torquemada replies that she'll be happy to if Cassandra can guarantee that absolutely no more demons are going to show up on our way to the portal with demons pouring out of it. Cassandra sighs and lets us keep the butter knives.

Eventually, we run into other people who are fighting against the demons. An elf mage and a dwarf with a crossbow are fighting near a rift that is somewhat large and doesn't look like it's going away any time soon. The theory about using Torquemada's mark to close rifts is about to be put to the test. The four of them take out the demons in the immediate area and Cassandra yells for us to do something cool with our hand. Torquemada reaches toward the rift and a beam of green energy shoots out, connecting the two of them. There is a small magical explosion, and the rift becomes unstable. Torquemada reaches out again, and this time her ability manages to seal the rift completely.

And I was worried I'd be stuck with Cassandra forever. Thankfully, here's a character from DA2 who's actually likeable!

The elf mage, who introduces himself as Solas, is pleased to see that his theory was correct. Cassandra tells us that he is an apostate who she has consulted for his expertise in this area and he says that if we can close small rifts, there's no reason why our ability shouldn't be able to close bigger ones with practice. The dwarf rogue chimes in and introduces himself as Varric Tethras... but we knew that already. Torquemada gives Bianca a compliment and we're already on his good side. Cassandra tells them they should leave while they can, but Varric says she should know perfectly well that she'll need all the help she can get. So, we proceed to the front line with a party of four, including an increasingly grumpy Seeker.

Before we can get to the rally point where Leliana is waiting, we have to fight through a larger group of demons and this is where the game introduces us to the tactical view. A feature that many fans were displeased to see cut from Dragon Age 2, this allows us to pause the action and issue individual commands to each of our party members. In this case, I have Torquemada go into stealth mode and flank the group from behind while Cassandra and Solas focus on the most powerful demon, and Varric is directed to take shots at demons using ranged attacks. Once the actions are queued up, I unpause the game and the group springs into action. The demons are taken down without too much fuss.

I don't trust Chancellors. Not since Chrono Trigger, when one of them turned into a monster named Yakra.

Shortly thereafter, we meet with Leliana on a bridge overlooking what's left of the Temple of Sacred Ashes. She's arguing with a Chancellor of the Chantry who, upon seeing Torquemada, demands to know why we're not irons. Cassandra tells him that we can close rifts and she's not going to bind the only person who can close the breach that they're staring at. The Chancellor's not happy, but he has little authority at the moment. Cassandra says we should take all the soldiers we have and charge toward the temple. Leliana disagrees, and says the soldiers should be used as a distraction while we take a safe path through the mountains to reach the temple. Since they can't agree, Cassandra asks us what we think. Torquemada decides that since demons can apparently pop up anywhere around here, the idea of a "safe path" is flawed and decides to go with Cassandra's plan.

Fighting through demons is definitely easier with soldiers to back us up, and getting to the temple turns out to be simple enough. We descend down some stairs and find ourselves in a large room with balconies overlooking the site where the breach's energy is impacting the ground. Solas believes that all we need to do is get to ground level, and sealing the rift there will also close the larger breach above. Since we don't have a way of reaching the sky, we hope he's right about that. Cassandra tells her archers to take positions on the balconies and her soldiers to stand ready on the ground, because messing with the rift will also attract demons. Something unexpected happens as Torquemada approaches the breach, though: she can hear a menacing voice talking about a sacrifice, along with the panicked cries of Divine Justinia. Once on ground level, we have a vision of the Divine being suspended magically in the air before a shadowy figure who senses our presence and directs his minions to kill us. We shift back to reality after that vision, and Solas muses that this since this area is partially merged with the Fade, we're seeing echoes of the past.

That mystery will have to wait though, because it's time for us to disrupt the rift and make some demons angry. As Torquemada connects with the breach, something comes through and it's not one of the weaker demons we tore through on the way here. It appears to be a Pride Demon, and it quickly becomes clear that its close proximity to all this magic energy means our attacks can't touch it. Solas yells at Torquemada to disrupt the rift to weaken the demon, so we get clear of its attacks and do exactly that. Its armor disappears, but the damage it takes from each attack is still in the single digits. Between its thick hide and the lesser demons coming through the rift to distract us, it winds up being a long fight. Eventually, Torquemada's new power weakens the pride demon enough for it to be slain, and she proceeds to close the rift.

Honestly, I don't think Varric was pulling his weight in this fight. I clearly remember him being level 20 at the end of the last game.

Torquemada doesn't remember anything after that until she wakes up three days later in one of Haven's quaint log cabins. An elf girl walks in as we wake up and she apologizes profusely for disturbing us. We tell her to relax, but she doesn't, and she tells us that Cassandra wants to see us right away. Since most of the town of Haven is closed off to us at the moment by NPCs posing stoically with one fist pressed to their chests, we decide to do that. Cassandra is in the Chantry, and we can hear before we even get close to the door that she's having a shouting match with that Chancellor about whether or not we're innocent. We interrupt their argument and the Chancellor responds by ordering the nearby soldiers to chain us up and drag us to Val Royeaux to be executed. Cassandra tells the soldiers to ignore that and leave her, Torquemada, Leliana and the Chancellor to talk. Once they're gone, Cassandra reveals that the Divine issued an edict before she died, and that was to re-establish the Inquisition. That means the Chancellor officially has no authority of the Seeker, and Cassandra tells him he can go now.

We're confused by what exactly this means. Cassandra and Leliana explain that the Inquisition was an order established by the Chantry in the past to restore order during a time of crisis and we've clearly reached that point. With Torquemada having gone through the rift and emerging with a power that can end the crisis, they now believe she was a gift from the Maker and the proper choice to lead the Inquisition. Being Dalish, our elf doesn't even believe in the Maker and she tells Cassandra she's not interested in leading a holy war. Cassandra replies that despite our heritage, we're still the only person who has had any success in dealing with the rifts and she reserves judgement on whether or not this is a holy war because we don't know what caused it yet. Torquemada agrees that restoring order is necessary and decides to go along with the plan for that reason, but that reason alone.

"Look, just be our protagonist. Please. The nug with the glowing left ear didn't exactly work out well."

The game then cuts to the town of Haven again, where Chantry soldiers begin nailing proclamations to doors and mobilizing for war. A crowd of villagers assembles as Cassandra, Leliana and some high-ranking soldiers stand alongside Torquemada as she emerges from the Chantry. The only bystander who doesn't look impressed is the Chancellor, who shakes his head and presumably leaves Haven. After that, the title screen appears, letting us know that what we played was just the introduction to this crisis.

My first impression of the introduction is, there wasn't enough exposition. Telling me my character has a good reason to be at the conclave isn't as good as showing me her conversation with her clan's Keeper and hearing the urgency in their voice as they describes their vision. This is particularly true when we don't even know what the conclave is; the main menu only shows us mages and Templars marching toward a location just before the sky explodes. In modern RPG's, players need to be able to connect to their character early in the game and the first two Dragon Age titles succeeded in that regard, but Inquisition fell decidedly flatter in its intro. Hopefully, the confusion will be cleared up as the game goes forward and perhaps the gaps in the Inquisitor's memory will even serve a purpose in the larger plot. Once again, the best way for me to find out is to keep playing.