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.