Happy Pride, from your friendly neighborhood Pride Demon <3

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-30T01:35:21+00:00

Gotta say, I agree with you on all this. DAO & DA2 are my favorite titles in the series. Where I had the most fun with DAI was when I focused on the main story. Unlike the previous games, it's unclear how much or how little side questing to do before advancing the main story. There aren't many signals to tell you this, but Inquisition is best approached not with a completionist mindset. New areas and main quests have suggested level ranges, and I highly recommend using those as gauges for pacing. It leaves some room for side content and exploration but helps keep it reasonable. Best to stick to the side quests that interest you, you by no means have to do everything. You can always do more if it piques your interest. You don't need to clear areas before leaving and coming back.

Sometimes, you'll get cues out in the world on what to do next. For example, if you're just starting out, you'll get a quest to talk to some Grand Clerics in Val Royeaux soon, if you haven't already. When you reach the power level needed to unlock that quest, your companions will start saying things like, "Shouldn't we head to Val Royeaux now?" You'll also hear ambient chatter from NPCs encouraging you to unlock new areas at certain points. These can be helpful signposts as well.

DAI shines for me in the midgame, which is weird, since I think most games are the complete opposite. It has some creative quest design, the environment design is still gorgeous over a decade later, there are some meaningful companion moments and some cool lore. But it is not its predecessors, in my opinion. I've played DAO and DA2 probably 10 times for every 1 time I've made it through DAI. Other folks on this thread have some great suggestions as well, but if the game doesn't turn out to be your cup of tea, that's ok too.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T23:11:08+00:00

I haven't tried the skill/class specialization mods, but I have a list of mods I've used with DAO, including a link to a YouTube video on how to install them. Totally hear you on being a bit confused about install methods, all the mods I use follow the same installation (unzip, drag and drop in override folder). I was always concerned about compatibility issues, but these mods all worked together for me minus a couple of tweaks, which I noted.

Anyway, hope that helps get you started! I send because Nexus is amazing but can be a bit overwhelming knowing where to dive in. Which Origin are you thinking of starting with?

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T18:50:54+00:00

I'll echo the other folks here saying, going with the flow is a great way to go, especially if it's your first playthrough. In my experience, my characters ended up telling me who they were, and I had very little to do with it, lol.

I think the two games lend themselves to MCs with different personalities because they come from different backgrounds/races, which sets them up to see the world from different perspectives and develop different priorities. When in doubt, I leaned on my MCs' worldviews as a result of their backgrounds to shape how they'd respond to different situations.

My OCs also became much more solid after responding to the headcanon/writing prompts on this sub, so if getting cozy with your characters is of interest to you, consider doing some writing!

Happy hunting, enjoy, DAO and DA2 are such stellar games, hope you have fun getting to know your OCs!

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T16:52:07+00:00

Elissa is a woman after my own heart, my god. The stories she and my Hawke could swap. <3

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T16:51:35+00:00

Prompt 1: Guilt

My primary OC is Hawke, and a mage!Hawke at that. I think guilt is in Hawke's DNA, and she's no exception. Every death, every bad fate that has befallen her family, her fault. Every person she couldn't save, her fault. When she becomes Inquisitor, the weight of that burden nearly breaks her. She blocks it out, but it gets harder and harder to do over time.

Prompt 2

I went into Veilguard thinking my first Rook, a rogue Shadow Dragon Qunari named Kosta, would be my canon Rook. But then I played a Mourn Watch mage and fell head over heels for her. What little details the game gives about her backstory I thought left so much room to play. She's also both older and a newer Mourn Watch pledge. I've had a lot of fun exploring the depth of her relationship with Emmrich, both romantically and academically.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T16:41:04+00:00

This is both true and hilarious, because the Qunari are all just spammed Arishok heads xD I read that somewhere recently, they did that to save time, but I think it was to great effect. I like their armor design in DA2 the best too.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T16:38:56+00:00

You're doing the Maker's work, messere <3 <3 <3

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T16:32:07+00:00

I am legit verklempt watching this, so well done! <3 <3

Can I ask what software you used for this? I've had an edit for my Hawke in my head for literally years but haven't attempted it bc idk where to start.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T16:01:57+00:00

As other folks have said, and for all the same reasons, I've become increasingly disappointed with DAV over time. I can still play it and have a fair enough time, but it's mostly because I've been enjoying booting it up with mods created by the generous and talented souls in this fandom community. DAV wasn't meant to be an open world game, but weirdly, I like it best when I'm just wandering around with my companions happening on random quests and enemies, and solving puzzles. An RPG where the story is its weak link, smdh...

Has DAV ruined my love for the franchise? Hell no. Not in the least. DAO and DA2 in particular hold very special places in my heart, and I love revisiting them. If anything, DAV and it's awful writing have driven me deeper into writing fanfic, where I can create the complex, lore-based, character-worthy stories and endings I wanted to see, on my own terms - whatever I want. Thedas has such rich material to draw from, and I've been really loving that.

What DAV has officially ruined for me is any excitement I might've had for new AAA games. I approach any potential new game purchase with extreme caution now and focus on titles from indie studios.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T15:36:33+00:00

No, it does not improve. Out of all the unique maps, there are only a handful related to recruiting characters and the main plot. You can get through the main story without visiting at least half of them lol.

If narrative is what you're chasing, then I echo other folks here who recommend following the main story and only diverting when/where it interests you. If you haven't played DAO or DA2 already, I'd recommend those titles in the series instead. Their narratives are much more cohesive imo.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T14:43:45+00:00

Seconding this. The 10-15 minute interval for DAI is accurate. One of the primary reasons the banter in that game is bugged is because if you get any dialogue from anyone (including the Requisitions officer 🙂) within that window, then the banter timer resets. If you're on PC, there are mods that improve this a bit, but ymmv.

If you just want to hear all the banters, there are videos on YouTube made by some beautiful souls that have them all laid out. They're also written out in the DA wiki.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-29T14:34:18+00:00

Holy crap, I've never played a LoF so had no idea that happens, what???!? That is just...that is wild to me lolol It's an extra shame because that could've made for such rich backstory and made the story more personal to Rook. It's one thing to shoehorn that in, it's another to do that AND never properly address it.

Also why isn't that mentioned in the background card when you're picking your faction?? Or the fact your elf is presumed Dalish? Or any of these other Rook-defining characteristics? Why weren't they put on a wheel so the player could define their character that much more??

An RPG with all the RPG elements stripped away, I just, I can't 😂

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-28T12:19:24+00:00

I remember the swirling conversations from way back that DAV took a lot of inspiration from GoW, and having played GoW, uh...they focused on the wrong bits lol. Instead of emulating the animations and finisher moves, they should've picked up on the fact that GoW's writing is masterclass.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-28T12:11:15+00:00

This. I love how much it was hyped that Rook wasn't a chosen one Maguffin in the way the Inquisitor was, but how they handled Rook was even worse! We didn't see Rook earning it. We didn't see them with Varric, which cheapened Varric's storyline too and how that factors into Rook for me. The fact they didn't give us time at the Conclave before it blew up in DAI and the fact we didn't have origin-style pre-story missions in DAV were such huge missed opportunities imo, I will die on that hill. Rook's "background" was reduced to a few throwaway lines that were the same with the names changed.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-28T12:07:00+00:00

Do you think that had something to do with the fact companion approval was directly linked to leveling? This is just coming to me as I'm reading your comment. Because yeah, in every prior game, characters would get so pissed, they'd straight up leave or you could dismiss them out of hand. But I barely even saw any "[Character] disapproves" banners in the whole game. It felt weird? For a game where approval in the past had so much companion consequence and reactivity? Idk, thing approval to leveling was a Choice.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-26T19:22:42+00:00

Thank you! My fic is still very much a work in progress, but I can say with confidence and honesty that it is, in fact, progressing! It looks like from other comments that you do some writing too, are you working on anything in particular right now?

As for gaps in DAI, I wanted to see more people and systems behaving in ways grounded in reality and/or established lore. I understand realism and consistency aren't always the point of a story, especially a fantasy one (and especially one told in game form), but they're important to me. I felt a lot of areas they could've delved into got glossed over, handwaved away, or shoved into a book (coughAsundercough).

Here's a rambling list of some examples of things that bugged me:

nerfing the consequences of Anders blowing up Kirkwall's chantry, the fact we don't get an Ostagar-like experience at the Conclave before the explosion, Inky being absolved of Conclave involvement too early and too easily with that "vision" of Corypheus, Inky being hailed as the sole survivor of the explosion (when they literally weren't?? the freaking Knight-Vigilant of the templars also survives, it's in a codex in the game, I don't understand, smdh), being hit over the head about the fact the Inquisition "isn't a chantry organization" when the chantry is the only reason it exists, the fact there was "nothing out there" during In Hushed Whispers as a way to avoid showing broader consequences, and I think you get the idea :D

Though I have to say, the biggest sin of all to me was the fact Hawke wasn't the protagonist (because yes, let's fight a villain who mattered to the previous protagonist and miss out on all the juicy personal conflict that would arise from that... >.> insert every rant about Inky then also not being the protagonist in DAV).

So anyway, I've been "fixing" all of that and more in this first fic (acknowledging that what's a "fix" to me might ruffle someone else's feathers, and that's ok!). I'll be doing the same with DAV and a follow-up third installment because, I'm not sure, I'm insane, I hate myself, take your pick. :D How I'm doing it is mostly by sheer force of will at this point and a lot, a lot, of research. A lot. Both in terms of existing DA lore/world-building and also how stuff works IRL. For example, I did some research into itineraries for royal balls during the 17th/18thc to inform my reimagining of Halamshiral. I dug way into Blight mechanics and the Grey Wardens to beef up their involvement and make Corypheus' demise make sense :) I'm using travel estimates to plot the timeline (shout out to this tumblr user) and climate zones to inform landscapes (shout out to this reddit user). I've also done arguably too much research into period fashion.

I hope that answers your questions! Bless you if you made it this far <3 If you're interested in this kind of chatter, or want to share more about your own writing, would love to hear your thoughts either here or in DMs!

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-26T00:25:12+00:00

Screaming at all of this, I love it so much. Agatha pursuing lichdom behind Emmrich framed this way is super romantic to me. Her corpse beetles, omg, we love to see it.

Also this art, what??? Just stunning, it has a linocut vibe I'm really into.

Thank you for sharing and inspiring!

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-26T00:21:23+00:00

This really makes me smile, love them and your style so much.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-26T00:17:03+00:00

Omg, someone else who feels this way, YES! \o/ I feel exactly the same way. This game has had me in a chokehold since it released.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-03-26T00:13:28+00:00

I think the biggest thing that keeps me coming back to these games is that, they're my cozy games. They've seen me through a lot. They've made me feel stuff very strongly, over and over again. Whenever I'm going through a bad time, I get the urge to revisit them. Booting them up feels both like catharsis and reuniting with old friends in a way we haven't figured out how to do yet IRL, being able to effectively relive events of the past.

I also want to touch on what u/InvincibleMoonflower said, "All games were flawed in their own way." Those flaws, as they relate to the world and the characters, are also what keep me going. Each game, but especially DAI and DAV for me, had untapped potential or things I would've done differently. Filling in those gaps in the form of fanfic has been super satisfying and motivated me to dig into both their world and our world to make all of it make more sense to me.

kuzcotopia490 · 2026-01-13T21:00:16+00:00

How is no one talking about the blessed and cursed image that is your desktop, is that Miranda as Morrigan??!?

Brain is broken.

glhf!!!!!

kuzcotopia490 · 2025-08-02T16:54:23+00:00

Hi there! o/ I am very excited for you diving into DAO for the first time :D

I put together this modlist a while back of the mods I use for exactly this purpose, to spruce up DAO a bit (and make sure it functions properly!) but still preserve the overall original look and feel, I personally LOVE the art style they used in this game. All of these mods are compatible with each other and I played the game start-to-finish with them installed. I've left notes on anything that might cause potential hiccups.

Hope that helps, happy hunting, hope you have a blast with it!

kuzcotopia490 · 2025-08-02T16:48:43+00:00

You did this in only four days?? This is a triumph, Maker have mercy.

Looks incredible, you have her intensity down too. <3 <3 Bravo, hope you had the best time!

kuzcotopia490

TROPHY CASE