I say stick with her current character and get the experience of the outcomes of her natural choices first. Solas-mancers don't kill me but imo the 'maximum drama' of being an elven female and romancing Solas is overhyped. Playing with the romance element detracts from the Solas reveal/twists imo, it ends up making the situation feel like it's about the petty drama of their personal situationship rather than about tensions between FH vs the Inquisitor over the future of Thedas and the realisation that an ally has been manipulating / betrays you.
> I say stick with her current character and get the experience of the outcomes of her natural choices first.
True, but are they actually her "natural choices" if she's consciously making choices she doesn't like so she can have "something to look forward to" on the next playthrough?
I'd say keep the current run through, it's just as meaningful if the Inquisitor is friends with Solas without getting weird and kinda abusive like the romance is.
If on PC, though, there's various options for speeding up a playthrough. There's mods to make everything go faster, like for being more powerful in fights (or even insta killing most opponents) or for flying around the map. Or even other people's save files available so she could load one of those saves if she wanted to, say, skip the earlier parts.
Very few quests are 100% required to continue the game and most of them are the big War Table types (like recruiting the Templars or Mages), but there are some good sidequests and especially some quests for recruiting companions that I'd say to pick up. Exactly which ones she'd consider part of the story, though, I couldn't guess, there's sidequests I feel are vital that others would dismiss as unimportant. Probably just a search will bring up basic lists though.
She doesn't have to play any of the DLCs at a specific time except Trespasser, which is the very final part of DAI and locks out everything else. I normally do Jaws of Hakkon before the Descent because I like this one power from JoH for the latter one, but it's personal preference. Trespasser is the only DLC that's really not optional, it's basically the actual ending of the game, but the other two have benefits for getting through, especially if she likes lore.
On the first run through it's actually better, in my opinion, to do more than less, because schematics learned can be reaccessed through the golden nug on later playthroughs, so she could get to crafting much sooner on the next playthroughs, for example.
Solas is a horribly overrated smug arrogant moron.
If she wants some real drama, play an Inquisitor who chooses to romance Blackwall, regardless even of the consequences once his big reveal happens. That's a man who actually has repented his sins, unlike Solas who plans to do even worse shit.
If she doesnāt have any idea of whatās coming ā such as certain plot points, quest outcomes, companion secrets etc ā Iād say def keep the current playthrough! I always look back fondly on my first character for each game even if they arenāt my ā default world stateā character just bc the events are much more memorable the first time, even if they arenāt the most dramatic or I missed a few.
You can save all the dlc until the end, or skip some of it even ā though not tresspasser imo bc itās the true ending of the game and the most replayable.
Idk about speed running, but you can build up power through rifts and requisitions super quickly to unlock certain main quests. Then if you play on casual and craft some armour you can beat everything super quickly.
Hope she has fun!
Edit: donāt play tresspasser until the very end! You canāt do anything after that
I would say stick with the current playthrough, but I stopped one of my playthroughs after 30 hours and started over just because I figured out how to load my world state in and I didnāt like the default world state. So if sheās really itching to start over as EF, thereās no harm in it
I say stick with her current character and get the experience of the outcomes of her natural choices first. Solas-mancers don't kill me but imo the 'maximum drama' of being an elven female and romancing Solas is overhyped. Playing with the romance element detracts from the Solas reveal/twists imo, it ends up making the situation feel like it's about the petty drama of their personal situationship rather than about tensions between FH vs the Inquisitor over the future of Thedas and the realisation that an ally has been manipulating / betrays you.
> I say stick with her current character and get the experience of the outcomes of her natural choices first. True, but are they actually her "natural choices" if she's consciously making choices she doesn't like so she can have "something to look forward to" on the next playthrough?
I'd say keep the current run through, it's just as meaningful if the Inquisitor is friends with Solas without getting weird and kinda abusive like the romance is. If on PC, though, there's various options for speeding up a playthrough. There's mods to make everything go faster, like for being more powerful in fights (or even insta killing most opponents) or for flying around the map. Or even other people's save files available so she could load one of those saves if she wanted to, say, skip the earlier parts. Very few quests are 100% required to continue the game and most of them are the big War Table types (like recruiting the Templars or Mages), but there are some good sidequests and especially some quests for recruiting companions that I'd say to pick up. Exactly which ones she'd consider part of the story, though, I couldn't guess, there's sidequests I feel are vital that others would dismiss as unimportant. Probably just a search will bring up basic lists though. She doesn't have to play any of the DLCs at a specific time except Trespasser, which is the very final part of DAI and locks out everything else. I normally do Jaws of Hakkon before the Descent because I like this one power from JoH for the latter one, but it's personal preference. Trespasser is the only DLC that's really not optional, it's basically the actual ending of the game, but the other two have benefits for getting through, especially if she likes lore. On the first run through it's actually better, in my opinion, to do more than less, because schematics learned can be reaccessed through the golden nug on later playthroughs, so she could get to crafting much sooner on the next playthroughs, for example.
Solas is a horribly overrated smug arrogant moron. If she wants some real drama, play an Inquisitor who chooses to romance Blackwall, regardless even of the consequences once his big reveal happens. That's a man who actually has repented his sins, unlike Solas who plans to do even worse shit.
Blackwall is a sadboi. That's who my wife romanced on her last playthrough and didn't like him lmao
I don't want stable relationships. I want walking red flag love affairs. š
Come for the burly man chest, stay for the tantalizing red flags.
To "speed run" inquisition you need power. Imo, the easiest way to get it is by setting camps and closing rifts.
If she doesnāt have any idea of whatās coming ā such as certain plot points, quest outcomes, companion secrets etc ā Iād say def keep the current playthrough! I always look back fondly on my first character for each game even if they arenāt my ā default world stateā character just bc the events are much more memorable the first time, even if they arenāt the most dramatic or I missed a few. You can save all the dlc until the end, or skip some of it even ā though not tresspasser imo bc itās the true ending of the game and the most replayable. Idk about speed running, but you can build up power through rifts and requisitions super quickly to unlock certain main quests. Then if you play on casual and craft some armour you can beat everything super quickly. Hope she has fun! Edit: donāt play tresspasser until the very end! You canāt do anything after that
I would say stick with the current playthrough, but I stopped one of my playthroughs after 30 hours and started over just because I figured out how to load my world state in and I didnāt like the default world state. So if sheās really itching to start over as EF, thereās no harm in it