10 Things I Wish I Knew When I Started Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Dragon Age: The Veil Guardian is out now, a return to BioWare's famous series after a decade. It's received pretty solid reviews from critics, but now in the hands of fans, we'll see what everyone makes of it.

Thanks to my review copy, I've put 65 hours and a full playthrough into this game and I think I can offer some advice for my journey along the way. I enjoyed blind play, although I think there are a few important things you should know before you start. Here are ten things I wish I knew when I started Dragon Age: The Veil Guardian.

1) You will have more skill points than you losek – I know the game makes it seem like you only specialize in one fighting style, but there are fifty character levels and even more skill points with wolf puzzles on the map. While I ended up focusing on, let's say, poison blades for my rogue, I also managed to become a killer archer with my equipment and skill points. You can only choose a full specialization, but you can also become strong in other areas.

2) Vendor Shops are an extremely important source of loot – Obviously the 140 or so chests scattered around the map will be the biggest source of loot, but if you're looking for “duplicates” to unlock rarity levels and perks, you'll definitely need to stop by reputation traders as you level up factions, as these often have exactly what you are looking for to improve your build. Oh, and remember to sell scrap to merchants because that also increases your reputation.

3) Respect everyone, at all times – Dragon Age This time it essentially allows you complete freedom. You can reset all of your skill points at any time for free. But beyond that, you can also redefine your entire companion skill tree, and I've often changed their “focused” skills (two of which you end up maxing out) to suit my own build or the team synergy I'm aiming for make.

4) Match the right type of primers and detonations – Speaking of matching: Not only do you have one character with a primer and another with a detonator, there are also different types. For example, as a basic requirement, a character would have to apply the Overwhelmed debuff to an enemy in order to be detonated by another character who can detonate overpowered enemies. A character that detonates “Sundered” enemies won’t work, so you’ll need to check.

5) If combat is a grind, you are probably underpowered or underequipped – I've seen people complain about fights where you feel weak or that the enemies' health is way too high. I don't want to say, “You're playing the game wrong,” but you're probably playing the game wrong. Some bosses actually require you to return later unless you want to spend 35 minutes draining their health. Normal fights against enemies shouldn't be a huge pain. You'll need to both level up your skill points and, more importantly, start putting together a real build, making sure you're using gear with unlocked perks, but also things that work synergistically together. This will become more and more coherent over time.

6) Don't be crazy about some unreachable chests – This has driven me crazy a few times as sometimes it feels like it's impossible to reach a chest on the map. Sometimes it's…impossible. In fact, if a chest puzzle seems too hard to believe, there are cases where either A) you just have to push further into the level and possibly turn around again, or B) you might have to come back later when a Way for another opens search. This may only happen 5-10% of the time, but it does happen.

7) Return to the lighthouse often for great character moments – Stop by the lighthouse from time to time and visit both the rooms with the passage of time and the areas with the yellow exclamation mark bubble. Exclamation Points themselves are quests, but the others can be fun conversations with your teammates, or often your teammates talk to each other.

8) Record literally everything – I kind of dislike the sheer amount of crap littered on the ground here, but you'll need it to level traders, upgrade your enchantman, and upgrade your gear. If you don't get the vast majority of it, you can run out pretty easily.

9) Don't forget to enchant, and keep enchanting – Enchanting a piece of equipment itself is free, and it's a really big boost to your character overall when you apply it to all your equipment. My point here is to remind you that you should do it to begin with, but also remember to continue doing it as you replace your equipment.

10) Do the loyalty quests – This may be pretty obvious to BioWare fans, but if you want your teammates to survive… whatever comes, throwing them into the fire without reaffirming their loyalty to you is where things can go wrong. If you don't care, then so be it! But many of these quests are good in their own right.

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