Dragon Age: Inquistion - New DLC The Descent Announced

Today Bioware announced a new DLC, The Descent, for their game, Dragon Age: Inquisition.
This DLC takes us back to the Deep Roads. The DLC will be released for PC, PS4 and the Xbox One.

You can find the announcement here:
http://www.dragonage.com/en_US/news/the-descent

A quote, then:



There's a trailer which you can watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N_L4qyvxAFI&feature=youtu.be&sf39671802=1

If you want to dicuss this at the Bioware forums, Dutch's Ghost at the Bioware forums has made this thread:

http://forum.bioware.com/topic/559569-darkspawn-dlc-confirmed-with-trailer/

Thanks Karsten! Looks like an interesting expansion.

Oh, that comes at a good time. I've just finished my game of DAI and am starting a new one. Hopefully the add-on can be added on in the middle of a game.

This time I'll try the Solas romance, but I gotta say, I have some suspicions about that elfy -- even before I finished the game last time I knew he had a wrongness about him. But come to think of it, decent old Blackwall turned out to be not much of a prize, either.

Haven't had time to play any of the new content, but the graphics look pretty sparkly. Early reports are that the DLC is great.

Hope it lives up to your expectations

Me too! Apparently it can be played at any level, but I'm going to wait until I have my Focus up to the third level.

I have to say, though, I still prefer DA:O by far of the three games. DA:I is a great game, but the whole open-world concept means that the story takes second place and gets lost sometimes. DA 2 was decent, story-wise, but didn't have enough world to explore. DA:O has just the right balance between story, character, and exploration.

hagatha, why no to try Cullen? he is naive and sweet, pink romance. I think one needs to be human or elf to romance him.

Cullen is kind of sweet, but in keeping with my current character, a Dalish mage who supports the freedom of all mages, it's Solas this time. Though seriously, no woman in her right mind would go for him. He's clearly not what he seems, and I knew that even before I finished the game for the first time. Though, to give him credit, he does keep warning her off.

I played as a mage and I still went for Cullen successfully .

Does anyone know how long the DLC is? Judging by the price should last quite a bit.

Oh yeah, most of the men in DAI will go for a comely Dalish Inquisitor. And Cullen does seem awfully sweet. He's the marryin' kind.

But from a role-playing standpoint, Solus is the only way. My Mage is staunchly pro-mage; she even banished those pesky Wardens. She always reminds people that she's Dalish and doesn't believe in Andraste. She wants to disband Circles permanently. She never believed that her Mark was from Andraste, and said so. Plus, she's been in the Fade, like Solus.

The DLC is apparently quite a decent size. I thought the Jaws of Haakon DLC was a good deal, too. Lots of content and some nasty high-level baddies (I never was able to kill that flock of Despair Demons, even with my level 25 party ).

I am downloading the DLC now, it is 2.2 GB.

I will play again as a human female mage since there are good tanks and good rogues.

Have fun

mcc, the thing I like best about the party member choice is that you can actually play a party of all mages, rogues or warriors if that is what you want, since there are three of each.

I was hoping that Dorian, Viv and Solas would have an argument when I took them all out together with my mage, but they've been curiously quiet. Dorian asked Solas a couple of questions; that's about it.

The most interesting parties all have Cole in them, though, since he finks on people. He just outed Dorian in my last session, and previously he gave me pretty strong hints about Blackwell and Solas. I didn't play Cole much in my first game, since I was a dual-dagger rogue myself and chose the assassin path, but now I go nowhere without him. He's just too interesting. Next I'll see if he has anything to say about Vivienne and Sara.

hagatha, I have just restarted. I have not seen anything related to the DLC, have you?

Cole is more useful than one can imagine.

If you mean on line, there is information here at IGN

Thanks oldman, I meant during the game. When starts it says download Descent now, but it is supposed to have been installed.

I find that the best way to download is to right-click on the game icon in My Games and it comes up with a list of actions. If you click on Game Details in that list you'll get a list of all of the DLC for the game, including the ones you have bought but not downloaded.

I am using this game in the PS 4, at the top it has the updates, downloads and installs, it says that the DLC has been installed. Do you see something in your Journal that is different after the DLC? or it takes certain level of the character to appear?

mcc, you will simply see another location marker on the map in the War Room, on the Ferelden side (near the bottom)

Hagatha

Have fun, Mcc

Thanks hagatha!

I have a bug.

In Ferelden in the south I see: Rescue soldiers missing in Ferelden and south west (west really) : Champions of the just, both available in the original

Edited 8/18

With your information I googled the problem, others had it also, they said to Restore Licenses (an option in PS4), after this there is supposed to be a new patch, it does not download and I am stuck again.

Thanks for your help, at least I know the problem is that it does not appear in the table. I´ll wait to see if the patch finally downloads.

Edit again

I restarted the PS4 and I found a place to manage the downloads, apparently the patch is downloading now

The good thing of playing a game in PS4 or other console is that one buys a game, installs it and play it, no need for tweaking anything, well not this time.

You know, I was playing last night and realized that the new location is farther up the map in Ferelden. But anyway, it glows blue, so would be easy to see. Too bad about the bug in your game. I hope you resolve it!

hagatha, I just reedited my post, it seems things will work this time.

for your help.

Excellent.

Let me know how it is. I'm putting it off for a bit longer.

It worked but something strange happened, I am the only real user of this PS4 but you can register several users, when I finish a game ad want to play again I do through one of my 3 registered users, one of them myself registered online and 2 more.

The new game I started in my registered name and the one I use to download the DLC is just as before with a comment : Download the Descent

I am playing using the old game that I finished, loaded on game near the end (after the end I don´t have Cassandra, Solas or any mage apart from me).

Do not start the DLC until you are quite strong, enemies are strong and there are many. Until now I found one campsite and after two big battles one case to replenish potions.

Sounds like good advice

There are some too difficult fights, one has to go with the right team, Cole e.g. is very good but not strong enough for fighting close up with some bosses and consumes many of the very scarce potions.

If one takes the wrong team the closer camp may be a 3 hours play.

Take as many potions as possible.

DLC hah! I still haven't finished the main game. I've finally started playing again though. RPGs are the hardest to pick up and play after leaving for a while.

I can't really fault them for releasing DLC though when they did put a lot of content in the main game.

I'm finding as I'm finally doing the main quest again that all the enemies are like swatting at flies now. Crafting good equipment + the right skill combinations does wonders.

I'm working on my companion quests now (though Blackwall seems to be lagging behind in that department - is he in a snit because I didn't romance him this time?) and then I'll move ahead one more area in the main story line, THEN I'll tackle the Deep Roads. I almost want to save it until the very last bit of the game.

I have a question for those of you who are playing this game. How do you find it? I ask because I played the game for about 5 or 6 hours about a month ago. I could do it because EA and Bioware did have an offer on Origin to let me download and play 5-6 hours of the game. As for the controls, I'm sorry to say I didn't like them much. As for the tactical combat, it didn't seem to work the way I expected it to e.g. it seemed broken. And as for the story? I'm still confused as to why I seem to be chosen one? I do hope this becomes clearer down the road?

As for why you are "chosen"

The tactical takes some getting used to but I rarely used it. You can use the tactical key to target your enemies by each of your team members and then back off target and when you un-pause your team will do as you directed. I really didn't find it very useful except in a couple of instances.

I found the controls to be the same as the first 2 DA games. You can turn with the mouse and use the w key to move. You just have to press the right mb when you turn.

Overall I liked this game as much, if not better than the previous two.

Thank you oldman, for you recommendation of this game. However, if i may, I still have one question or two for you as well as the others who play this game:

One of the questions is this one:

As I see it, Bioware looked to Skyrim (maybe?) when they made this game. You start out as a prisoner. (Oblivion, Skyrim, and possibly Morrowin). Then something happens e.g. you become the chosen one. Suddenly in this game, just as the start of the game, I, as my character in this game, am the one who will decide what to do and where to go. I admit this had me a bit confused. I mean, why would or should I, a lowly prisoner, suddenly have a say in whatever the powers that be decide to to do next in the game?

As for the controls, I'm used to movement with the mouse e.g. rightclicking to go where I want to go. And as for moving with the w key, I found my character's movement very akward and not at all easy to guide where I wanted her to go. But maybe it is just med who needs to get used to the controls in this game?

As I wrote previously

Also, I agree about the comparison with the story lines from the Elder Scroll games.

Karsten, the movement in this game will come with time, as you get used to it.

Under certain circumstances I do use the Tactical command key, which is kind of like the pause key in games like Baldur's Gate, where you issue specific commands to certain party members. I use it under these conditions:

I want a party member to use a potion other than a straight Healing potion, which they will use automatically;

I want a party member to use a specific spell/ability (especially once the party members all have their special Focus abilities later in the game);

I want a party member to use a grenade.

Otherwise, I control one character on the field and let the others do their thing. The AI is pretty good and often my meddling makes the party less, not more, effective - especially when it comes to the Warriors in the party.

This is a huge game and if you do all the side quests it can easily take you 200 hours to play. I'm enjoying my second go-through as much as my first because now I know what I'm doing and what to expect. I've changed things around in terms of my plot decision-making, so I'll get a whole new ending.

Now, has anyone else noticed all the Dog statues strewn all over the landscape? I seem to have missed that first time through....hmmmm....wonder what it means?

Hagatha, it is not that I have anything against the tactical combat screen in itself. However, I find it to be much cumbersome (if that's the correct word?) and very difficult to use as the tactical combat screen apparantly can't be scrolled out so that I can see what's going. And giving orders to my companions seem to be a hazzle, the screen seems to reset itself every time....

I agree that the AI is quite good in this game. However, I do like to be able to control all of my characters, especially in battle. I didn't like it in neither DA:O or DA2 when my characters just would attack every enemy they saw on sight. I liked that I in both DA:O and DA2 could control all of my characters.

As for the movements in this game, I got used to it after 5-6 hours of play. However, I still find that the movement in this game is not the traditional movement I've come to expect from a game which has the main character move by the w-key. If you look at say Skyrim and Oblivion, you get this movement when moving with the w-key:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO_tM-KWd0Q

In DA:I you sort of guide your main character along with the use of the w-key by his or her feet. And it does, at least to me, look akward and unrealistic.

I'm well aware that this game, DA:I, is a very huge game indeed. Unfortunately, I don't have time to play for 10 hours at a time or even 5-6 hours in one session anymore. And at least to me, this game doesn't seem to be a Bioware game, it seems more like Bioware looked at Skyrim and and made Skyrim game with followers.

I'm happy that you're enjoying the game, though.

I'm really torn about this DLC.

While the visuals are really stunning, and there seems to be a huge revelation about Dwarven mythology coming up, the content doesn't really add anything to the game, other than some cool schematics and a LOT of money from the main camp merchant stall, which pays lots for even the most basic stuff.

There are virtually no party member interactions; almost all of the talking is done by the two dwarves who join the expedition. I would have thought that at least Varric would have had something acerbic to say about cave dwellers, but he is as silent as everyone else.

It seems to be a fairly large area, though, so good for level gains, and there are some really tough adversaries.

More later, when I've finished it.

EDIT: Well, all done, with one or two minor Deep Roads War Table quests remaining.

The very last segment of the DLC is wonderful, but far too short. Otherwise, a good, solid six or seven hours of gameplay; a bit repetitive but fun. I do wish it had been longer and more involved from a story-telling perspective, like the Deep Roads section of DA:Origins.

Hmmm, a Tactical Screen eh? Is that similar to what was used for Mass Effect?

I can't remember combat in Mass Effect (that seems like a such a long time ago).

I didn't have too much trouble with the DA:I tactical screen in the end, but it did take some getting used to. The biggest problem for me was the camera angle in the tactical screen.

Anyway, once the party members have high-level abilities and spells, and you've set up the conditions for using potions, it's easy to just leave them to it. They really don't need micro-managing. They will sometimes even revive fallen party members in the middle of a battle, leaving you to keep on fighting.