Finally got around to picking this up and I'm wondering what difficulty to play on. From everything I've heard the combat can be pretty dull on normal, I want something challenging and fairly engaging, but not to the point where I'm struggling to beat the game. I've played both DA games prior to this if that makes a difference. Thanks in advance.

Yes. Hard mode actually requires you to utilise some strategy and the pause+play rhythm without it feeling too overwhelming. Really Inquisition's Hard mode should have been its Normal. Though you should also know that you can't customise your party's AI patterns like in previous games.

Definitely.

If you are playing on PC you should use a controller as well.

If you don't enjoy the tactical stuff on hard just go all the way in the other direction and put in on easy so you can blow through encounters. The combat is very dull in this game either way.

Yeah. Hard is a good challenge.

At least on normal, it seems like the sort of game that is not especially difficult as long as you stay out of higher-level areas. Which I've enjoyed, because it's provided a risk element to fighting in these higher-level areas, with the reward being better loot than I already have. But if you were to follow the standard level progression, I imagine normal offers a pretty mundane challenge.

In all honesty Nightmare difficulty wasn't that difficult after you've levelled up enough. The first 10 levels were challenging, but once I spec'd out my character how I wanted him, and made myself some proper weapons and gear, I found Nightmare to be just the right amount of difficulty for me.

You know what, it doesn't actually become interesting on harder difficulties anyway. It just takes ages due to no gambit system and you have to deal with the fuck awful tac cam.

I'm so burned out on it that I can't even be bothered to finish it, so I'd be inclined to recommend going normal or even easy and just blitzing through any combat asap.

I'm torn. I'm playing on normal currently and it does feel fairly easy but I'm fine with that. Personally I have no interest in actually playing as any character other than my Inquisitor and I actively dislike the tac camera. I'm curious to see if I can hang on the higher difficulties keeping my current playstyle.

I found it very boring on normal. Nightmare felt like it was for your second playthrough n such. Hard felt just right, challenging but still "kind" enough to make it feel rewarding when you get good gear.

I'm not sure how far in I am (no spoiler, I just got the ability to craft Masterworks) but so far the game hasn't been difficult at all. I'm playing on normal and only had trouble because I was trying to close Lv 12 rifts at like Lv 4 or 5. I didn't realize I could see the enemy levels yet.

I usually don't want much challenge in games like this. Just enough so I'm not breezing through, but enough so I have to pay attention. I don't want to die often in these games. I play for the story.

I don't want to have to worry too much about my party. For the most part, I can just worry about my main, only going to the tactical view occasionally. Maybe switching to my mage or something for a second. I can appreciate playing this game on a harder setting and staying in tactical mode, controlling the whole party. That said, I just don't really want to do that. The tac cam doesn't work well in some areas and it would get pretty boring, I think. For me, normal feels pretty good but I could definitely bump it up and still be okay.

Basically, do you care if the game offers a challenge or do you just want to RP and not worry about dying?

The game is indeed very easy on normal but the gameplay doesnt get rewarding just by bumping the difficulty up so thats not something i can recommend either.

Start on hard and if you dont enjoy it then just bump it down and theres no harm done as you can change it at any time.

Yes. Hard is the right mix. Bosses give you a good amount of push and depending on your party makeup can even over your game. You do have to pay attention to get through most trash combat without using health potions on Hard.

Annoyingly, I started the game on Medium, got into two fights to test it, switched to Hard and played the rest of the game... didn't get the Hard achievement. Oh well, I know I can reproduce it. There was only one fight that really pushed me through multiple game overs.

I played on Hard and I'm quite glad I did. It's a decent challenge, really tough for the first ~10 levels especially. Once you start getting above that threshold most encounters won't be very challenging. I didn't have to pause to issue commands for the last boss fight, for example.

To be honest, even on Nightmare, the game isn't that difficult (except maybe for the first few levels). Too many of the classes/specs are broken in one way or another to the point where you actually have to go out of your way and build your characters sub-optimally to make the game a challenge. KE is, of course, by far the worst offender.

I would definitely recommend playing on Hard for main story missions, but I feel like that can be a little tedious when you're just running around the world.

If one would want to play all the sidequests in the Hinterlands would playing on hard make the rest of the game a little less of a snooze?

I'm in the same boat, I think I'll go with hard. If only because I like my big dragon battles and such challenging.

@redroach: You should probably play it on normal because all hard more really does is lengthen the fights and there is already so much fighting that why bother. If you want the game to be fun then just play it on normal. If you are one of those people that think the normal mode of modern games is actually easy and you just need the extra challenge then sure why not, bump it up.

It's an RPG, not a fighting game or a shooter. Hard mode and above will simply test your patience much more than any sort of skill as everything is hidden behind stats. If you want a challenge, then simply do everything a few levels before you're supposed to.

This is pretty much how my play through was. I played on Nightmare to get the trophies. It can be difficult in the beginning but it got easier near the end. I actually almost never used the tactical mode even on nightmare.

I would recommend nightmare if you want the trophies and plan on doing pretty much everything in the game. If you just plan on just doing the main story you might have a hard time so then I would recommend hard.

I started on hard and am about 7 hours in. Have barely scratched the first game area (the Hinderlands). Combat is pretty boring so far. My mage pew pewing feels super weak at the moment. I want to get to the point where I feel powerful while the game gives me a decent challenge.

@cerberus3dog: I'll give you some good advice that I got. GTFO of the Hiterlands. You'll can go back whenever you want and the quests will still be there. I think I left around level 5 or so. Spread out some or you'll over level for the rest of the game. Also, the better stuff is in the other areas. I'm playing on normal and I've found the combat to be really easy, but I'm not bored. I'm just not worried about dying. I may push it up to hard, though.

My rogue archer felt really weak for quite a while. Not sure when I started feeling more powerful. Maybe around level 8. After 9, you get another skill tree. Like most games of this type, it's easy to settle into a rhythm with your abilities and just start wasting dudes.

I'm just about to get my Assassin specialization. Probably going to respec my whole main party at that point. I expect to feel pretty badass at that point, hence bumping the difficulty up some.

I found Hard an enjoyable and fair challenge until a certain boss about halfway through the main story, where the combat system and balance just completely fell apart through unfair game design. So I had to knock it down to Normal. Hard is more engaging but not really super-rewarding. On the downside you are wrestling with the terrible tactical view on the bigger fights on hard, fuck that.

If you just want to play your character, don't care about tactics what so ever and just roll through, normal is good for that. Hard is still very much way too easy, but requires you to at least move your tank in first and hope the AI works from then on. Hard in DA2 was pretty good, as it felt balanced. Hard in DA:O was sometimes extremely unforgiving, but overall it was challenging and constantly fun.

Most of the stuff that made DA:O such an amazing game, at least combat wise, is sadly not to be found in Inquisition. What I miss the most is the advanced tactics and behavior control which made it so that you could automate a lot of frustrating micromanagement that Inquisition requires on hard, as the AI of your party members, at least your tank, is quite awful. In DA:O you still hade to micromanage, but you could totally let your damaging members do most of the work themselves, even combo stuff themselves in DA2. I really miss this and I don't see why they couldn't just add an advanced option for the tactics. A shame.

@r3beld0gg: After about 80 hours spent in the game and having come back to some locations, I actually think the common advice now to "get the hell out of the hinterlands" is actually not that great in the grand scheme of things.

I actually took that advice and decided to skip around a bunch. Had a good time with the game regardless and I still continue to do some stuff long after I've finished the main story. That said, I do think it's best to make the most out of each area before moving on. Now at level 23 I came back to the Hinterlands in order to collect some shards after my revelation after the game was already over that they are in fact used for something. I'm discovering brand new things in the Hinterlands that I never got around to because I was in such a rush to leave in the beginning. Schematics for staffs that I could have used in the beginning. Schematics for certain armor. Even tutorials that I blindly passed on. Obviously all this stuff is useless to me now as I'm decked out in all the end-game gear and dragon bone crafted armor, but now I realize why there was such a drought in equipment for several levels in the game - I simply passed up on it.

I actually think you should exhaust each area before moving on to the next, or at least uncover the entire landmass. I think Patrick started the narrative of "get the hell out of the Hinterlands" and as is common people just parrot this advice whenever they can. Explore, explore and explore some more. The Hinterlands is a great area because it has a ton of quests and introductions to things you will be doing later on in the game. Most importantly know that once you leave an area and level past it's designated level range, you are basically forsaking that entire chunk of the game because apart from achievements you will have no real reason to go back.

So don't get the hell out of the Hinterlands as soon as you can. That is probably the most common ill advice I hear about the game. Explore the Hinterlands fully, and when you feel that you've seen everything it has to offer only then move on to the next area in your level range.

Also systematically do all the wartable missions. I neglected those a lot and they have some surprisingly good rewards.

@humanity: First, to give credit where it is due, I'm parroting Matt Rory, not Patrick Klepek. ;)

Second, I still stand by leaving the area if you get bored. You don't have to wait until after the main quest line to go back, as you say you did. You should definitely explore the area, but if you're bored with it you are free to move on.

I believe the loot is randomized, also, so I'm not sure you have to worry about missing a specific piece of gear if you move on. I may be wrong.

I felt the hinterlands were a bit overwhelming and I'm glad I moved on. But info agree you should not just completely skip it.

Also, +1 on the War Table. I actually really like it and make sure to hit it before shutting the game off every time. I just wish you could re-read the stuff because I sometimes forget the details of a particular event. Worst case was the damned logic puzzle (smuggler, bard or mage or whatever)

In the end, I ended up bumping it down to normal. Not because it was hard, just cuz I didn't want to deal with the combat any more than I had to. The difference between hard and normal was the amount of time I was holding down the right trigger on my controller. I leveled myself up to lvl 24 by the end and being overpowered made the combat more enjoyable for me.

Well this is true period for the game. Once you hit about level 17 regardless of your difficulty if you have kept your gear up and are crafting good stuff from top end materials it will start to level out. Once you hit 20 even nightmare begins to veer into easy land outside of a few specific boss fights/dragon battles. That said Nightmare is straight up hard for a very large portion of the game. Enemies you don't have at least 2-3 levels on can pose a threat to you and anything that out levels you will straight out give you a real fight. In fact a level difference of more than 3 in the enemies favor on nightmare is normally tantamount to suicide.

So my advice is try hard if you want a challenge, but if you want to really be pushed try nightmare. If you just want to play normal is fine, no need to drop it to easy. If you do play on PC do as some others have said and use a controller. Inquisition was clearly built from the ground up for controller based play, not mouse and keyboard.

I'm 39 hours into a nightmare playthrough with a 1h Templar and so far I'm enjoying it. I wouldn't call it difficult, just challenging. I still never use the tac cam and I'm just about always playing as my Inquisitor unless he goes down. One big thing in this difficulty is that I find myself low on potions more often and therefore I have to travel back to a camp more often, which is a bit of a time killer and does make me wish that there was some sort of healing magic.

Right now I believe I'm close to level 15 and the only thing in recent memory that was really challenging was sealing the rift under Crestwood. After I switched out Sera for Viv making my party my 1h Templar, Blackwall, Dorian and Viv it was fairly easy. The initial foray into the Hinterlands was probably the most difficult part between getting used to the new difficulty, not having a lot of abilities, and there being a decently wide variety of enemy levels in the Hinterlands. The hardest part overall was definitely In Your Heart Shall Burn. Where I eventually just kind of ran around to kite the enemies, then I ran to the crank and got a few turns in. I actually beat it without taking out the "boss"

Hard doesn't make the combat more fun. Just gets it in your face more...