Hey guys, after the overwhelming positive response (thank you so much btw) on my last post of useful mons below A rank, I'm back with some more tips and info for F2P and non alike.
I've noticed a trend on the Facebook fan page and here that some info isn't well deciminated amongst everyone...either from not knowing of or not reading through the JP wiki in bad translate mode, or just a lack of posts like these to bundle it all together.
So here are my top "things I wish I knew" items, and for sake of not taking credit as me finding all this, fwiw...all of these are either in comments here or on FB, or in the wiki.
USING THE WIKI

• You'll see i link the JP wiki a bunch, you can have Chrome auto translate and its okay...names are scuffed for stuff and its def Engrish but its usable.

MORE INFO ON USEFUL MONS

• To extend on my last post, the wiki does have its own ranking system of strength for each monster rank here https://gamewith.jp/dq-tact/article/show/207923 and in addition if you click into the details on any monster of a rank, say a B rank one, in the site breadcrumbs you'll see a page for "# rank monster evaluation list"...click that to see a bigger view of each rank with point value assigns.

OVERALL PROGRESSION TIPS

• In every aspect, keep an eye on your char exp and mission completions. Try to accept the player xp rewards to level your account for a free stam reset. Overlapping a bit is okay, the bar will overfill, but don't leave any stam on the table. You want to be sure you can burn it all.
  
• Imo focus on story until you can't clear the stages. Don't fret the CP number, just go...doesn't matter if you 3 medal or 0 medal, it's prog and xp.
  
• When story is too hard, move on to making sure you have Rank Up, Weapons, and lastly Ability Rank Up missions cleared up to the highest you can.
  
• If you have Stam, imo Rank Up farming is the best use until you are set on mats for your next several mains progression, then go to weapons until you have B or better for your mains, then Ability Rank mats.
  
• No stam? Go to Battle Road and grind until you can clear stage 6 and get the goodies.
  
• Once you finish story, you get A rank weapon quests, and now you move on to clearing all material / resource missions / account prog like master perks, saving, etc.
  

SAVING RESOURCES

• Gold is precious, be wary of throwing it away.
  
• Read the Draw Details on banners, they list the mons you can pull...if you notice there are only S and maybe 1 or 2 A ranks you don't have, DONT waste gems on it...you can sit on them til a new banner and pull for new S ranks. Early game 1-3 10 pulls along with clearing content (and all the freebies we get for launch) should get you 85 to 95% of the non A or S ranks ez.
  
• Unless you are 100% sure you can't do better on a retry, don't use the 50 gems to revive. The only one it really should be needed on is the Night Clubber fight bc holy hell. The rest you can def get stronger for, not auto, something.
  
• You don't have to refill stam with gems, you can go to battle road, but if you are hellbound on it, I'd suggest only doing it a handful of times a week until the cost resets...40 gems vs 100+ is a lot easier to stomach.
  
• You don't have to rank up a monster until it is capped or say 1 level away, save your stones and gold.
  
• You do get more xp scrolls weekly, but I'd suggest funneling them or holding ones for your 2nd or 3rd round of mains...we all will pull that elusive Wight King or Killing Machine, or next banner S rank eventually and you'll want to be able to both boost it and other complementary mons up to usable state quick. This also goes in toe with saving rank up mats.
  

RECRUITING IN STORY

• You can click Enemy Details on the Embark screen to see which monsters are recruited.
  
• Skip tickets can be a good way to gnab the rarer recruits (B ranks, etc)
  
• The wiki lists drops here https://gamewith.jp/dq-tact/article/show/216122
  

USING SKIP TICKETS

• This will probs be more personal preference, but I use mind to quick farm Rank Up missions for mats. Manually 3 medal the highest you can and blast.
  
• If you somehow are flush with mats you could use them in high xp grinds to save time.
  
• When using them, have a party of low levels as your group bc you auto win, ez xp.
  

HOW TO GRIND MORE EFFECTIVELY

• Battle Road for free when you wait for stam is a godsend.
  
• Typically i grind Stage 1 a few times with fresh mons until 13 or so, then 2 until like 15 or 16. Assuming one of the B ranks you can use is higher you shouldn't have trouble.
  
• After that I farm either 3 or 4 for a LONG time depending on which stage...maybe even 5 in some...basically aiming for 1200+ xp a run...or the highest you can clear in 2 to 3 or so turns.
  
• Story mode has some good xp per stam stages to grind, listed here https://gamewith.jp/dq-tact/article/show/210788 and your goal
  
• I personally like Ch 12 Ep 4, its a solid chunk of xp for 8 stam, i can clear with basically 1 dedicated and 1 flex carry, and it drops mons i want awakening on.
  

HOW TO GAIN QUICK MASTER PERKS

• This is really an extension of How to Grind, so everything in there applies.
  
• Lots of tactics but mine has been to A) do battle road in my downtime farming quick but higher xp stages, B) boost low levels in my story mode grinds to cap before ranking a lot up and once and repeating.
  
• Any decent xp grind can be carried by 1 to 2 mons of high level, leaving 3 or even 4 boost slots. Example: I can farm Ch 12 Ep 4 with my Archdemon and 1 other decent A or S rank, boosting 3 of anything. You should always try to carry with mons you also can gain xp on to always be gaining something on everyone.
  
• Doing this, you get some levels on your "mains" or "mains in training", and can boost low ranks ez. 1 decent xp stage can insta take them 11, which is +30 or +40 levels depending on how many boosts, plus or minus if your mains level. You generally can do this until the boosts no longer gain at least a full level a run and then swap in more. E.g. my Ch 12 grind I usually take them to 25 or so and then rotate, maybe less if I want to just power through more progress and circle back later to specific mons.
  
• Basically you can quickly hit gold in like a day on most classes, dragon can be more annoying bc there are fewer.
  

BATTLE ROAD

• I focused on getting to stage 3 on everything, then farming till I could clear stage 6 for weapons.

QOL STUFF

• If you hit Rematch you don't have to go through Battle Prep again, makes it ez to have less manual taps to get into the actions.
  
• If you are grinding and need to swap members, do Edit and Rematch, this lets you edit then go back in and not hit the battle prep.
  

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Airwolf (Japan)
Aishiau Kotoshika Dekinai
Aisle Lord
Aitakute...Your Smiles in My Heart
Aiyoku no Eustia: Angel's Blessing
Aka-Chan Doubutsu Sono
Akagawa Jirou Mystery: Tsuki no Hikari
Akagawa Jirou Mystery: Yasoukyoku - Hon ni Manekareta Satsujin
Akagawa Jirou no Yuurei Ressha
Akagawa Jirou: Majotachi no Nemuri: Fukkatsusai
Akagawa Jirou: Yasoukyoku
Akagawa Jirou: Yasoukyoku 2
Akagi: Touhaiden
Akagi: Yami ni Furitatta Tensai
Akai Ito
Akai Ito DS
Akai Ito Destiny DS
Akai Katana
Akai Suna Ochiru Tsuki
Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka Portable
Akane Iro ni Somaru Saka: Parallel
Akatsuki no Amaneka to Aoi Kyojin
Akatsuki no Goei Trinity
Akaya Akashiya Ayakashino
Akazu no Ma
Akazukin ChaCha
Akiba's Beat
Akiba's Trip
Akiba's Trip 2+A
Akiba's Trip Plus
Akiba's Trip: Undead & Undressed
Akihabara Dennou Kumi Peta Pies!
Akira
Akira Psycho Ball
Akiyama Jin No Suugaku Mystery
Akko de Pon! Ikasama Hourouki
Akko ni Omakase! Brain Shock
Akogare Girls Collection: Lovely Youchien
Akogare Girls Collection: Mister Donut DS
Akogare Girls Collection: Ohanaya-San Monogatari
Akogare Girls Collection: Pika Pika Nurse Monogatari
Akogare Girls Collection: Suteki ni Nurse Days
Akudaikan
Akudaikan 2: Mousouden
Akudaikan 3
Akudaikan Manyuuki
Akudaikan Manyuuki: Seigi no Yaiba
Akuji the Heartless
Akuma Zensho Dainishuu
Akuma-kun: Makai no Wana
Akumajou Dracula
Akumajou Dracula X: Gekka no Yasoukyoku
Akumajou Special: Boku Dracula-kun
Akuu Senki Raijin
Al Unser Jr.'s Road to the Top
Al Unser Jr.'s Turbo Racing
Alabama Meets Will Vi
Aladdin Magic Racer
Alan Hansen's Sports Challenge
Alan Wake
Alarm for Cobra 11: Crash Time
Alarm fuer Cobra 11 Vol II
Albert Odyssey
Albert Odyssey 2: Jashin no Taidou
Albert Odyssey: Legend of Eldean
Album Club: Mune Kyun * Saint Poria Jogakuin
Alcahest
Aldynes
Aleck Bordon Adventure: Tower & Shaft Advance
Alekhine's Gun
Alex Ferguson's Player Manager 2001
Alex Ferguson's Player Manager 2002
Alex Kidd in Miracle World
Alex Kidd in Shinobi World
Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle
Alex Kidd: High-Tech World
Alex Kidd: The Lost Stars
Alex Rider: Stormbreaker
Alexandra Ledermann: Summer Camp Adventures
Alexi Lalas International Soccer
Alfa Romeo Racing Italiano
Alfred Chicken
Alfred's Adventure
Alia's Carnival! Sacrament
Alias
Alice in Cyberland
Alice in Wonderland
Alice no Paint Adventure
Alice on Borderlines
Alice's Mom's Rescue
Alice: Madness Returns
Alien
Alien 3
Alien Breed Trilogy
Alien Brigade
Alien Chaos 3D
Alien Crush
Alien Front Online
Alien Hominid
Alien Invaders Plus!
Alien Monster Bowling League
Alien Olympics
Alien Raiders
Alien Resurrection
Alien Soldier
Alien Storm
Alien Syndrome
Alien Trilogy
Alien vs. Predator
Alien vs. Predator: The Last of His Clan
Alien: Isolation
Alienators: Evolution Continues
Aliens Versus Predator: Extinction
Aliens in the Attic
Aliens vs. Predator
Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem
Aliens: Colonial Marines
Aliens: Infestation
Aliens: Thanatos Encounter
Alisia Dragoon
Alive
All 1
All Grown Up! Express Yourself
All Japan Pro Wrestling Featuring Virtua
All Japan Woman Pro Wrestling
All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation
All Kamen Rider: Rider Generation 2
All Kamen Rider: Rider Revolution
All Night Nippon Super Mario Bros.
All Round Hunter
All Star 5-A-Side Football
All Star Action
All Star Cheer Squad
All Star Cheer Squad 2
All Star Karate
All Star Pro-Wrestling
All Star Racing
All Star Racing 2
All Star Soccer
All Star Tennis '99
All Star Tennis 2000
All Star Tennis 99
All Star Watersports
All-Pro Basketball
All-Pro Football 2K8
All-Star 1997 Featuring Frank Thomas
All-Star Baseball
All-Star Baseball 2000
All-Star Baseball 2001
All-Star Baseball 2002
All-Star Baseball 2003
All-Star Baseball 2004
All-Star Baseball 2005
All-Star Baseball 99
All-Star Fighters
All-Star Mahjong: Kareinaru Shoubushi Kara no Chousen
All-Star Major League Baseball
All-Star Professional Wrestling II
All-Star Professional Wrestling III
All-Star Slammin' D-Ball
All-Star Tennis 2
Alleyway
Allied Ace Pilots
Allied General
Alnam no Kiba: Juuzoku Juuni Shinto Densetsu
Alnam no Tsubasa: Shoujin no Sora no Kanata e
Alone in the Dark
Alone in the Dark 2
Alone in the Dark: Inferno
Alone in the Dark: One-Eyed Jack's Revenge
Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
Alpha Beam With Ernie
Alpha Mission
Alpha Mission II
Alpha Protocol
Alpha and Omega
Alpine Racer 3
Alpine Ski Racing 2007
Alpine Skiing 2005
Alpine Skiing!
Alshark
Alter Echo
Altered Beast
Altered Beast: Guardian of the Realms
Altered Space: A 3-D Alien Adventure
Alundra
Alundra 2: A New Legend Begins
Alvin and the Chipmunks
Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked
Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel
Alzadick: Summer Carnival `92
Amaekata wa Kanojo Nari ni.
Amagami
Amagi Shien
Amagon
Amagoushi no Yakata
Amagoushi no Yakata Portable: Ichiyagi Wa, Saisho no Junan
Amatsumi Sora ni! Kumo no Hatate ni
Amazing Adventures: The Forgotten Ruins
Amazing Island
Amazing Penguin
Amazing Tater
America Daitouryou Senkyo: United State Presidental Race
America Daitouryou Senkyo: United State Presidential Race
America Oudan Ultra Quiz
America Oudan Ultra Quiz: Shijou Saidai no Tatakai
America Oudan Ultra-Quiz
America Oudan Ultra-Quiz Part 2
America Oudan Ultra-Quiz Part 3
America Oudan Ultra-Quiz Part 4
America's Army: Rise of a Soldier
America's Army: True Soldiers
America's Greatest Game Shows: Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy!
America's Next Top Model
America's Next Top Model (2008)
America's Test Kitchen: Let's Get Cooking
American Bass Challenge
American Battle Dome
American Chopper
American Chopper 2: Full Throttle
American Dream
American Girl: Julie Finds a Way
American Girl: Kit Mystery Challenge!
American Gladiators
American Idol
American Mensa Academy
American Ninja Warrior
American Pool
American Pool II
Amerzone: The Explorer's Legacy
Amida
Amidar
Amnesia
Amnesia Twin Pack
Amnesia World
Amnesia: Crowd
Amnesia: Later
Amnesia: Later x Crowd V. Edition
Amnesia: Memories
Amok
Among the Sleep
Amped 2
Amped 3
Amped: Freestyle Snowboarding
Amplitude
An American Tail
An American Tail: Fievel Goes West
An American Tail: Fievel's Gold Rush
AnEarth Fantasy Stories: First Volume
Anan Kanshuu: Onna Dikara Kinkyuu Up! DS
Anarchy Reigns
Anastasia
Anata Dake no Private Lesson - DS de Hajimeru - Tipness no Yoga
Anata o Yurusanai
Ancient Magic: Bazoe! Mahou Sekai
Ancient Roman: Power of Dark Side
And 1 Streetball
And-Kensaku
Andre Agassi Tennis
Andre Panza Kick Boxing
Andretti Racing
Andrew Lloyd Webber Musicals: Sing and Dance
Andro Dunos
Android Assault: The Revenge of Bari-Arm
Anesan
Angel Blade: Neo Tokyo Guardians
Angel Cat Sugar
Angel Collection
Angel Graffiti S: Anata e no Profile
Angel Graffiti: Anata e no Profile
Angel Love Online
Angel Paradise Vol. 1
Angel Paradise Vol. 2: Eshinu Kimika
Angel Present
Angel Profile
Angel Senki
Angel Wish
Angel Wish: Kimi no Egao ni Chu!
Angel's Feather
Angel's Feather: Kuro no Zanei
Angelic Concert
Angelique
Angelique Duet
Angelique Etoile
Angelique History
Angelique Retour
Angelique Special
Angelique Special 2
Angelique Trois
Angelique Trois: Aizouhen
Angelique Voice Fantasy
Angelique: Maren no Rokukishi
Angelique: Tenkuu no Requiem
Angler's Club: Ultimate Bass Fishing 3D
Angolmois 99
Angry Birds Star Wars
Angry Birds Trilogy
AniMates
AnimAction
Anima: Gate of Memories
Animal Boxing
Animal Breeder
Animal Breeder 2
Animal Breeder 3
Animal Breeder 4
Animal Crossing
Animal Crossing: City Folk
Animal Crossing: Happy Home Designer
Animal Crossing: New Leaf
Animal Crossing: New Leaf - Welcome Amiibo
Animal Crossing: Wild World
Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival
Animal Football
Animal Genius
Animal Hospital
Animal Kingdom: Wildlife Expedition
Animal Mania
Animal Paradise
Animal Paradise Wild
Animal Planet: Emergency Vets
Animal Planet: Vet Collection
Animal Planet: Vet Life
Animal Snap: Rescue Them 2 By 2
Animal Soccer World
Animal Yokochou: Doki Doki Kyuushutsu Daisakusen! no Maki
Animal Yokochou: Doki*Doki Shinkyuu Shiken! no Kan
Animaniacs
Animaniacs Ten Pin Alley
Animaniacs: Lights, Camera, Action!
Animaniacs: The Great Edgar Hunt
Animastar
Animastar GB
Anime Eikaiwa: 15 Shounen Hyouryuuhen
Anime Eikaiwa: Tondemo Nezumi Daikatsuyaku
Anime Eikaiwa: Totoi
Anime Slot Revolution: Pachi-Slot Kidou Senshi Gundam II - Ai Senshi Hen
Animetic Story Game 1: Card Captor Sakura
Animorphs
Animorphs: Shattered Reality
Ankh: Curse of the Scarab King
Ankh: Tutankhamen no Nazo
Ankoku Shinwa: Yamato Takeru Densetsu
Annet Futatabi
Anno 1701: Dawn of Discovery
Ano Hi Mita Hana no Namae o Bokutachi wa Mada Shiranai
Anoko Doko Noko
Anoko wa Ore Kara Hanarenai
Anone DS
Another Bible
Another Century's Episode Portable
Another Code: R - A Journey into Lost Memories
Another Memories
Another Mind
Another Time Another Leaf: Kagami no Naka no Tantei
Another World
Anpanman Niko Niko Party
Anpanman to Asobo: ABC Kyoushitsu
Anpanman to Asobo: Aiueo Kyoushitsu
Anpanman to Asobo: New Aiueo Kyoushitsu
Anpanman to Asobu: Aiueo Kyoushitsu DX
Anpanman to Touch de Waku Waku Training
Anpanman to Touch de Wakuwaku Training
Anpfiff: Der RTL Fussball-Manager
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu: Assassin Ikusei Keikaku!!
Ansatsu Kyoushitsu: Korosensei Daihouimou!!
Ant Nation
Antarctic Adventure
Anticipation
Antiphona no Seikahime: Tenshi no Score Op.A
Antz
Antz Extreme Racing
Antz Racing
Antz World Sportz
Anubis II
Ao Zora to Nakama Tachi: Yume no Bouken
Ao Zora to Nakama Tachi: Yume no Bouken Plus
Ao no 6-gou: Antarctica
Ao no Exorcist: Genkoku no Labyrinth
Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm
Ao no Kanata no Four Rhythm HD Edition
Ao-Don DS: Hanabi no Goku & Hanabi no Takumi
Aoi Hagane no Kihei: Space Griffon
Aoi Namida
Aoi Sora no Neosphere: Nanoca Flanka Hatsumei Koubouki 2
Aoi Umi no Tristia Portable: Nanoca Flanka Hatsumei Koubouki
Aoi Umi no Tristia: 10th Anniversary Memorial Pack
Aoi Umi no Tristia: Nanoca Flanka Hatsumei Koubouki
Aoi no Mamade...
Aoishiro
Aoki Densetsu Shoot!
Aoki Kakumeki no Valkyria
Aoki Ookami to Shiroki Mejika: Genchou Hishi
Apache: Air Assault
Apathy: Narugami Gakuen Toshi Densetsu Tantei Kyoku
Ape Escape
Ape Escape 2
Ape Escape 3
Ape Escape Academy
Ape Escape Academy 2
Ape Escape: Million Monkeys
Ape Escape: On the Loose
Ape Escape: Pumped & Primed
Ape Quest
Apex
Apocalypse
Apocalypse: Desire Next
Apocripha/0
Apollo 11 VR Experience
Apollo Justice: Ace Attorney
Appare! Gateball
Appare! Shogi Jiisan
Apple Town Monogatari
Appleseed
Appleseed EX
Aqua Aqua
Aqua GT
Aqua Kids
Aqua Kitty: Milk Mine Defender DX
Aqua Panic!
Aqua Paradise: Boku no Suizokukan
Aqua Teen Hunger Force Zombie Ninja Pro-Am
Aqua World: Umibi Monogatari
AquaLife
AquaNox: The Angel's Tears
AquaPazza: AquaPlus Dream Match
AquaZone
AquaZone Option Disk Series 1: Angel Fish
AquaZone Option Disk Series 2: Black Molly
AquaZone Option Disk Series 3: Blue Emperor
AquaZone Option Disk Series 4: Clown Loach
AquaZone Option Disk Series 5: False Rummy-Nose
AquaZone: Desktop Life
AquaZone: Life Simulator
Aquaman: Battle for Atlantis
Aquanaut no Kyuujitsu 2
Aquanaut no Kyuujitsu: Memories of Summer 1996
Aquanaut's Holiday
Aquanaut's Holiday: Kakusareta Kiroku
Aquarian Age: Tokyo Wars
Aquarium by DS
Ar nosurge Plus: Ode to an Unborn Star
Ar nosurge: Ode to an Unborn Star
Ar tonelico II: Melody of Metafalica
Ar tonelico Qoga: Knell of Ar Ciel
Ar tonelico: Melody of Elemia
Arabian Nights
Arabians Doubt
Arabians Lost
Arabians Lost & Doubt Twin Pack
Aragami
Araiguma Rascal: Raccoon Rascal
Arashi no Yoruni
Arasuji de Kitaeru Sokumimi no Susume DS
Arasuji de Oboeru Sokudoku no Susume DS
Arc Arena
Arc Rise Fantasia
Arc the Lad
Arc the Lad Collection
Arc the Lad II
Arc the Lad III
Arc the Lad: End of Darkness
Arc the Lad: Twilight of the Spirits
Arcade 3D
Arcade Archives: Darius
Arcade Classic No. 1: Asteroids / Missile Command
Arcade Classic No. 2: Centipede / Millipede
Arcade Classic No. 3: Galaga / Galaxian
Arcade Classic No. 4: Defender / Joust
Arcade Classic Shuu
Arcade Classics
Arcade Classics: Super Breakout / Battlezone
Arcade Classics: Volume One
Arcade Hits: Moon Cresta
Arcade Hits: Raiden
Arcade Hits: Soukyuugurentai
Arcade Party Pak
Arcade Shooter: Ilvelo
Arcade Shooting Gallery
Arcade Smash Hits
Arcade USA
Arcade Zone
Arcana
Arcana Famiglia 2
Arcana Famiglia: Festa Regalo
Arcana Famiglia: La storia della Aracana Famiglia
Arcana Famiglia: La storia della Aracana Famiglia - Ancora
Arcana Famiglia: Vascello Phantasma no Majutsushi
Arcana Heart
Arcana Heart 3
Arcana Heart 3: LOVEMAX!!!!!
Arcana Strikes
Arcania: Gothic 4
Arcania: The Complete Tale
Arch Rivals
Arch Rivals: A Basket Brawl!
Archer MacLean's Super Dropzone
Archer Maclean's 3D Pool
Archer Maclean's Mercury
Archon
Arcobaleno!
Arcobaleno! Portable
Arctic
Arctic Tale
Arctic Thunder
Arcus 1-2-3
Arcus Odyssey
Ardy Lightfoot
Are You Alice?
Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader?
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader: Make the Grade
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Back to School
Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader? Make the Grade
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader?
Are You Smarter than a 5th Grader? Game Time
Are! Mo Kore? Mo Momotarou
Area 51
Arena Football
Arena Football: Road to Glory
Arena: Maze of Death
Aretha
Aretha II
Aretha II: Ariel no Fushigi na Tabi
Aretha III
Aretha the Super Famicom
Argos no Juujiken
Argos no Senshi
Argus
Aria: The Natural ~Tooi Yume no Mirage~
Aria: The Origination ~Aoi Hoshi no El Cielo~
Ark of Time
Arkana Senki Ludo
Arkanoid
Arkanoid DS
Arkanoid II
Arkanoid Returns
Arkanoid: Doh It Again
Arkista's Ring
Arle no Bouken: Mahou no Jewel
ArmaGallant: Decks of Destiny
Armada
Armada F/X Racers
Armadillo
Armana no Kiseki
Armed Fighter
Armed and Dangerous
Armen Noir
Armen Noir Portable
Armin Van Buuren: In The Mix
Armor Ambush
Armor Battle
Armor..Attack
Armored Core
Armored Core 2
Armored Core 2: Another Age
Armored Core 3
Armored Core 3 Portable
Armored Core 4
Armored Core V
Armored Core: For Answer
Armored Core: Formula Front
Armored Core: Formula Front - Extreme Battle
Armored Core: Last Raven
Armored Core: Last Raven Portable
Armored Core: Master of Arena
Armored Core: Nexus
Armored Core: Nine Breaker
Armored Core: Project Phantasma
Armored Core: Silent Line Portable
Armored Core: Verdict Day
Armored Encounter! / Sub Chase!
Armorines: Project S.W.A.R.M.
Arms
Arms' Heart
Army Corps of Hell
Army Men
Army Men 2
Army Men 3D
Army Men Advance
Army Men Gold: Collector's Edition
Army Men World War: Final Front
Army Men World War: Team Assault
Army Men: Air Attack
Army Men: Air Attack 2
Army Men: Air Combat
Army Men: Air Combat - The Elite Missions
Army Men: Green Rogue
Army Men: Major Malfunction
Army Men: Operation Green
Army Men: RTS
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes
Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2
Army Men: Sarge's War
Army Men: Soldiers of Misfortune
Army Men: Turf Wars
Army Men: World War
Army Men: World War - Land, Sea, Air
Army Rescue
Army of Two
Army of Two: The 40th Day
Army of Two: The Devil's Cartel
Arnold Palmer Tournament Golf
Around The World in 50 Games
Around the World in 80 Days
Arrow Flash
Arslan Senki
Arslan: The Warriors of Legend
Art Academy
Art Academy: Home Studio
Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone
Art Alive
Art Camion Geijutsuden
Art Camion Sugorokuden
Art Master
Art of Fighting
Art of Fighting 2
Art of Fighting 3: The Path of the Warrior
Art of Fighting Anthology
Artelius
Arthur and the Invisibles
Arthur and the Revenge of Maltazard
Arthur to Astaroth no Nazo-Makai-Mura: Incredible Toons
Arthur! Ready to Race
Arthur's Absolutely Fun Day!
Artillery Duel
Artist Tool
Arubarea no Otome ~Uruwashi no Seishikitachi~
Arx Fatalis
Asahi Shinbun Rensai Katou Hifumi Kudan Shogi Shingiryuu
Asaki, Yumemishi
Asameshimae Nyanko
Ashen
Ashes Cricket 2009
Ashita no Joe
Ashita no Joe 2: The Anime Super Remix
Ashita no Joe Touchi: Typing Namida Hashi
Ashita no Joe: Masseki ni Moe Agare!
Ashita no Joe: Masshiro ni Moe Tsukiro!
Asmik-Kun Land
Asmik-kun World 2
Asoberu Eigo: Word Magic DS
Asobi ni Iku yo! Chikyuu Pinchi no Konyaku Sengen
Ason de Chinou Up
Ason de Wakaru - The Party Casino
Asonde Aiueo
Asonde Igo ga Sara ni Tsuyokunaru: Ginsei Igo DS Chuukyuuhen
Asonde Igo ga Tsuyoku naru!! Ginsei Igo DS
Asonde Kazu Suuji
Asonde Shogi ga Kyoukunaru! Kane Hoshi Shogi DX
Asonde Shogi ga Tsuyoku naru!! Ginsei Shogi DS
Asphalt 3D
Asphalt: Injection
Asphalt: Urban GT
Asphalt: Urban GT 2
Aspic: Mahebiou no Noroi
Assassin's Creed
Assassin's Creed Anthology
Assassin's Creed Chronicles
Assassin's Creed Double Pack
Assassin's Creed II
Assassin's Creed II: Complete Edition
Assassin's Creed II: Discovery
Assassin's Creed III
Assassin's Creed III: Liberation
Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
Assassin's Creed IV: Jackdaw Edition
Assassin's Creed Origins
Assassin's Creed Rogue
Assassin's Creed Syndicate
Assassin's Creed Unity
Assassin's Creed: Altair's Chronicles
Assassin's Creed: Bloodlines
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood - The Da Vinci Edition
Assassin's Creed: Connor Saga
Assassin's Creed: Ezio Saga
Assassin's Creed: Ezio Trilogy
Assassin's Creed: Heritage Collection
Assassin's Creed: Revelations
Assassin's Creed: Revelations - Ottoman Edition
Assassin's Creed: The Americas Collection
Assassin's Creed: The Ezio Collection
Assault
Assault City
Assault Rigs
Assault Suit Leynos
Assault Suit Leynos 2
Assault Suits Valken
Assault Suits Valken 2
Assault: Retribution
Assetto Corsa
Astal
Astebreed
Asterix
Asterix & Obelix
Asterix & Obelix Contre Cesar
Asterix & Obelix Take on Caesar
Asterix & Obelix XXL
Asterix & Obelix XXL 2: Mission: Wifix
Asterix & Obelix XXL2: Mission: Las Vegum
Asterix & Obelix: Kick Buttix
Asterix & Obelix: Paf! Par Toutatis!
Asterix Brain Trainer
Asterix and the Great Rescue
Asterix and the Power of the Gods
Asterix and the Secret Mission
Asterix at the Olympic Games
Asterix: Auf Der Suche Nach Idefix
Asterix: Mega Madness
Asterix: The Mansions of the Gods
Asterix: These Romans Are Crazy!
Asteroid Fire
Asteroids
Asteroids Hyper 64
Astonishia Story
Astra Superstars
Astral Bout
AstralAir no Shiroki Eien: White Eternity
Astro Boy
Astro Boy: Omega Factor
Astro Boy: The Video Game
Astro Chase
Astro Fang: Super Machine
Astro Invaders
Astro Kyuudan: Kessen!! Victory Kyuudanhen
Astro Rabby
Astro Robo Sasa
Astro Warrior
Astro Warrior & Pit Pot
Astroblast
Astrology
Astrology DS: The Stars In Your Hands
Astronoka
Astrosmash
Astyanax
Asuka 120% Excellent: Burning Fest. Excellent
Asuka 120% Final: Burning Fest. Final
Asuka 120% Limited: Burning Fest. Limited
Asuka 120% Maxima: Burning Fest. Maxima
Asuka 120% Special: Burning Fest Special
Asuncia: Matsue no Jubaku
Asura's Wrath
Atama de Do! Kotenko Kotenko
Atama ga Yoku Naru - The Me no Training
Atama no Kaiten no Training: Rubik's Cube & Chou Yuumei Puzzle Tachi
Atama o Kitaete Asobu Taisen Yajirushi Puzzle: Puppyinu Vector One
Atari Anniversary Advance
Atari Anniversary Edition
Atari Anniversary Edition Redux
Atari Anthology
Atari Classics Evolved
Atari Flashback Classics: Volume 1
Atari Flashback Classics: Volume 2
Atari Greatest Hits Volume 1
Atari Greatest Hits Volume 2
Atari Karts
Atari Masterpieces Vol. I
Atari Masterpieces Vol. II
Atari Video Cube
Atelier Annie: Alchemists of Sera Island
Atelier Ayesha Plus: The Alchemist of Dusk
Atelier Ayesha: The Alchemist of Dusk
Atelier Escha & Logy Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky
Atelier Escha & Logy: Alchemists of the Dusk Sky
Atelier Firis: The Alchemist and the Mysterious Journey
Atelier Iris 2: The Azoth of Destiny
Atelier Iris 3: Grand Phantasm
Atelier Iris: Eternal Mana
Atelier Lydie & Suelle: The Alchemists and the Mysterious Paintings
Atelier Marie + Elie
Atelier Meruru Plus: The Apprentice of Arland
Atelier Meruru: The Apprentice of Arland
Atelier Rorona Plus: The Alchemist of Arland
Atelier Rorona: The Alchemist of Arland
Atelier Shallie Plus: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea
Atelier Shallie: Alchemists of the Dusk Sea
Atelier Sophie: The Alchemist of the Mysterious Book
Atelier Totori Plus: The Adventurer of Arland
Atelier Totori: The Adventurer of Arland
Athena
Athena no Kateiban: Family Game
Athena ~Awakening from the ordinary life~
Athens 2004
Athletic World
Atlantic Quest
Atlantis
Atlantis III: The New World
Atlantis no Nazo
Atlantis: The Lost Continent
Atlantis: The Lost Tales
Atom Smasher
Atomic Betty
Atomic Punk
Atomic Robo-Kid
Atomic Robo-Kid Special
Atomic Runner
Atrevete a Sonar
Atsumare! GuruGuru Onsen
Atsumare! GuruGuru Onsen BB
Atsumare! Power Pro Kun no DS Koushien
Attack Animal Gakuen
Attack of the Killer Demos
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes
Attack of the Movies 3D
Attack of the Mutant Penguins
Attack of the Saucerman!
Attack of the Timelord!
Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan: Humanity in Chains
AubirdForce
AubirdForce After
Audio Hero
Aura Battler Dunbine
Aurora Quest: Otaku no Seiza in Another World
Austin Mini Racing
Austin Powers Pinball
Austin Powers: Oh, Behave!
Austin Powers: Welcome to my Underground Lair!
Australian Rugby League
Auto Crusher Palladium
Auto Destruct
Auto Modellista
Auto Racing
AutoBahn Tokio
Autobahn Polizei
Autobahn Raser IV
Autobahn Raser: Das Spiel zum Film
Automobili Lamborghini
Avalon Code
Avatar - The Last Airbender: Into the Inferno
Avatar: The Last Airbender
Avatar: The Last Airbender - The Burning Earth
Aven Colony
Avenger
Avenging Spirit
Away: Shuffle Dungeon
Awesome Golf
Awesome Possum
Awesomenauts Assemble!
Ax Battler: A Legend of Golden Axe
Axelay
Axiom Verge
Ayaka Shibito
Ayaka Shibito Portable
Ayakashi Gohan: Oomori!
Ayakashi Ninden Kunoichiban
Ayakashi Ninden Kunoichiban Plus
Ayakashi no Shiro
Ayakashibito
Ayakashibito Portable
Ayrton Senna Kart Duel
Ayrton Senna Kart Duel 2
Ayrton Senna Kart Duel Special
Ayrton Senna Personal Talk: Message for the Future

Some of you may be familiar with these. I was or am at some point one of the main theorycrafters of Guild Wars 2, Kantai Collection, Azur Lane, Epic Seven, Another Eden, and Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. Partially because this game is nice, and partially because I've already seen misinformation floating around, I've decided to do a guide for this too.
I'm assuming you will read all ingame tutorials, so instead of treating you like an ogre-faced Knight, this guide contains only things you won't get to read ingame. If you have no idea what I'm writing about at any point, continue the main storyline until it eventually makes sense.

Starting your account as an F2P

• Before starting the game, select the region that matches your lifestyle. You will want to be awake at 12PM and 7PM on the server time, so while this may be a straightforward choice of geographical region for most people, those who work on a night shift may have better results playing cross-region. Note that guilds and PvP content are server-specific.
• Guardian Tales comes with a guaranteed 3★ hero in the first 30 hero pulls, and a guaranteed epic exclusive 5★ weapon in the first 30 weapon pulls.
• When rerolling, you'll more or less need to clear World 1 with three stars to get enough gems for a 10 pull (2700). Pull, grind, pull until you get your first 3★ character. If this character is Lahn, Bari, Tinia, Vishuvac, Lapice, Marina or Oghma, you're set and can go all the way into the midgame without problems, as everything else you'll need is guaranteed. If this character is Idol Eva, you're screwed and should reset as she buffs others rather than carrying on her own. If this character is anyone else, it's up to you whether to keep the account or not as the character will be useful, but you will need at least one more natural 3★ before your account becomes midgame-viable.
• To actually reroll, you can set the account for deletion, and then go to another server within the same region to repeat the process while your first account is being deleted, and rinse and repeat until you get an account you're happy to start with. Deleting game data works instantly but requires game data redownload, which may or may not be a problem for you depending on your connection. For more details on what the region does, scroll down to the section on stamina mail later.
• Link your account once you're happy with the reroll result. You don't want to lose the account.

Character development and Party Composition

• The largest resource sink in this game for stamina is not experience, nor hammers, nor weapons, but Evolution Stones. As all 2★ heroes of the same element share the same Evolution Stone dungeon, when starting out players are recommended to build a team consisting of 3 to 4 members of the same element, as this will minimise the amount of repeat grinding, getting you to the 5★ endpoint as soon as possible so you can increase your resource gain per stamina point spent.
• When using weapon skills and chain skills, the weapon/chain skill applies a 2.5 second crowd control (CC) effect that both prevents a target from taking actions as well as increasing the damage it takes. Injured does damage by itself on top of that. Weapon skills generally raise the CC gauge by a certain amount, and when it reaches 100% the target is CC'd, starting a chain.
• As the number of weaponskill activations is approximately equal to the time taken for a skill chain to recharge, you generally want to ensure you can activate all four chain skills in your party in a row. This cuts down the number of effective team combinations to a certain limited number. When attempting to do a max DPS setup for Raids and Dummies, you also want to ensure your terminal skill does not inflict the same CC type as your weapon skill so that you can drop your weapon skill before activating the 4th chain skill - this allows you to build up stacks for the next chain up to 2.5 seconds earlier.
• Since there is no direct Attack buff, mono-element teams generally want to include a buff to elemental Attack, which further raises the strength of every member in the team, so at least one member with such a buff is required for an effective team. Cross-element teams on the other hand will want to include bonuses to Skill Attack and Critical Rate.
• Stacking buffs of the same type lead to additive gains, which means that as a % of overall DPS/survivability, you get diminishing returns. It is ideal to mix the buff types so you get a multiplicative stacking effect.
• Once you have a strong enough monoelement team to autogrind lvl 70 awakening dungeons, you can start thinking of building a full 3★ cross-element team instead for lategame purposes. Monoelement is just the fastest way to get to the endgame, not the strongest endgame in itself. As 2★ characters become replaced, you can always awakening-reset and push their stones into your target 3★, so you don't have to worry about a permanent stone loss.

Recommended teams

• Mono-elemental teams based on the abovementioned principles are listed below. These teams will unfailingly get you to Diamond rank in PvP when fully built, though going beyond that to top 10 usually takes second-order gameplay (building something with a hidden synergy that people underestimate so they commit suicide against your defense) or extremely well-built characters with their exclusive equipment maxed out and fully limit broken - usually the domain of whales, luccsaccs and people who've played for a really long time. Different servers have different difficulties - the higher-numbered servers per region tend to have weaker players and give you an easier time climbing the Ranking charts.
• Note that elements deal 30% more damage against another element and 30% less than a third in two triangles. Light > Dark > Basic > Light, and Fire > Earth > Water > Fire. While PvE content isn't hard enough for this to really be a problem, when facing other players this effect incentivises building more than one mono-element team for better success in PvP.

Earth: 1-2x 3★ required, starter build if reroll yielded either Bari or Tinia

• Earth Team 1: Bari-Craig-Marvin-Aoba
• Combo: Injure-Down-Air-Down-Down
• Combo must start with Bari as skill reduces earth resistance.
• Skill 80%, Def 44%, HP 38%, Earth 35%.
  
• Earth Team 2: Tinia-Marvin-Craig-Aoba
  
• Combo: Injure-Air-Down-Air-Down
  
• Range 54%, Def 44%, HP 38%, Earth 35%.
  
• Earth Extreme DPS: Bari-Hekate-Tinia-Aoba
  
• Combo: Injure-Down-Injure-Air-Down
  
• Range 54%, Crit 24%, Skill 80%, Earth 35%.
  

Basic: 1x 3★ required, starter build if reroll yielded Lahn

• Basic Team: Knight-Amy-Ranpang-Lahn
• Combo: Air-Down-Injure-Air-Injure
• Swap Ranpang for Coco in extreme DPS checks.
• Basic 36%, Melee 48%, Def 42%, HP 40%.

Light option 1: 1x 3★ required, starter build if reroll yielded Lapice

• Light Team: Aisha-Sohee-Eva-Lapice
• Combo - AiDown-Down-Air-Down-Air (While this ends the combo with the same CC it started, Aisha's exclusive weapon has a long enough Recharge time that this is unlikely to matter for once).
• Combo must start with Aisha and then Sohee as they buff attack and then debuff light resistance.
• Light 54%, Recharge 30%, HP 36%, Def 22%.

Light option 2: 2x 3★ required, 3x melee plus Eva's high defense makes tanks unnecessary

• Light Team: Lapice-Eva-Mei-Lahn(Basic)
• Combo: Down-Air-Down-Air-Injure
• Swap Lahn for Aisha in extreme DPS checks - in which case Aisha must start the combo.
• Light 54%, Def 22%, Melee Def 64%, HP 40%.

Fire: 2x 3★ required, starter build if reroll yielded Vishuvac (Plitvice is guaranteed)

• Fire Team: Girgas-Vishuvac-Plitvice-Lavi
• Combo: Injure-Air-Injure-Down-Air
• Combo must start with Girgas and Vishuvac as they reduce fire resistance and increase fire attack.
• Swap Lavi for Dolf in extreme DPS checks.
• Fire 40%, HP40%, Skill 74%, Def 48%.

Water: 2x 2★ required. This is the only team without an elemental Atk buff as Coco outperforms White Beast by quite a lot, and there is no other way to ensure a full chain.

• Water Team: Bianca-Marina-Coco-Favi
• Combo: Air-Down-Injure-Air-Injure
• Crit 27%, HP 40%, Skill 72%, Atk, Heal x2.4 vs Injured.
• Swap Marina for Rachel in extreme DPS checks: Order = Rachel-Favi-Coco-Bianca

Dark: 3x 3★ required, endgame build

• Dark Team: Arabelle-Karina-Lupina-Marina(Water)
• Combo: Injure-Down-Injure-Air-Injure
• Swap Marina for Gremory for extreme DPS checks.
• Dark 70%, 3% HP on Kill, Crit 27%, HP 40%.

The ability of Bari, Tinia, Lahn, Vishuvac and Lapice to create their teams without further RNG make them some of the best heroes to start with. Marina doesn't form a monoelement team without further support, but gets a special mention for outdamaging several damage dealers even as a tank due to her anchor skill, and the extremely wide attack area for Armada, her exclusive weapon.
As a side note, the 1★ Hero named Dragon is required to full-clear one of the maps in Story mode, so while he's entirely useless in combat, he's someone you'll need to pull eventually.

Resource Management

This is the meat of the guide, as spending resources efficiently is the key to developing your account. Like how spending resources efficiently in real life is the key to developing your life. Ahem.

Stamina

• The daily stamina mails come in at 12PM-6:59PM and 7PM-11:59AM on the servers. Ensure you are able to make it for both resets - if your schedule does not allow for it, play in a different region where these periods sync with your schedule.
• These are also the same times at which Arena opens, and Arena together with the gem mail (7PM) represent a critically important source of F2P gems. Stamina is spent when unlocking nodes on the map or when completing rifts - there is no stamina lost for failure on a rift, so you generally want to ensure getting 3★ results. The only Rift you should never reset-scum for a good reward is the Awakening stone Rift.
• Stamina mails can be kept for 7 days. It is generally good practice to hoard 7 days' worth of mails prior to an event if possible as this will help you kickstart the next event for faster rewards - and some events require so much stamina for rewards that you'll be compelled to buy stamina at increasing prices if you didn't have a reserve float able to take the hit.
• Many events require spending 250 stamina per day for rewards. On average you will get 254 stamina per day through a daily quest, natural regeneration and two stamina mails, so if you purchase one set per day, you can hoard one mail every day.
• Coffee grinders provide a one-time Stamina refill and max Stamina increase, and are obtained through the Tower as well as through Purple Coins. Raise your max Stamina to 72 as soon as possible to avoid Stamina overflows from the weekend 70-Stamina mail. Try to have more than one Story stage available when reaching 10 Stamina before using this, unlock a stage, quit, use the grinder and unlock the next stage in rapid succession to minimise Stamina overflow.

Gems

• The most important purpose of gems is to buy Low-Grade HP/Def/Atk stones from the Heavenhold Store. These items are timegated otherwise to three runs per day of the Awakening Dungeon,bushes, Shop and Kama-zone, so purchasing these as they show up are a must to help you develop your characters faster.
• Consider buying 50 stamina per day at a cost of 100 gems per 50 stamina. The gem cost per cost increases as you buy more, so there's some diminshing returns, but in general you get better progress from buying stamina than from rolling more heroes or equipment at least for the first two purchases per day.
• Gems are also used for Summons, though Summons also produces Mileage rewards. More on this later.
• Gems can also be used to buy Costumes. Costumes are not purely cosmetic - unlocking them also provides a 0.1% buff per costume unlocked - so if you're whaling hard, you might actually want to buy those you don't wear. For F2P, this is prohibitively expensive and generally produces inferior results to buying Stamina.

Mileage, Magic Metal and Hero Crystals

• You gain one Mileage per summon. 300 Mileage allows you to buy any 3★ Hero or Epic Exclusive Weapon of your choice. As some event missions in the past rewarded Mileage for performing X summons, you'll generally want to keep at least 60 summons' worth (16200 Gems) in the balance just in case. Limited numbers are also gained from Events.
• You gain ten Magic Metal per equipment summon. Once per month, you get to buy 10 reset stones for 300 Magic Metal, two legendary exclusive random weapons for 200 Magic Metal and one epic exclusive random weapon for 300 Magic Metal, so you'll want to ensure you summon equipment at least 80 times per month, usually during events. Beyond that is generally the domain of whales. Limited numbers are also gained from Events.
• You gain Hero Crystals used for limit breaks at a rate of 1/8/50 per duplicate hero of the ★/★★/★★★ rarities respectively. Moderate numbers are also gained from Events. At current rates (7 Oct), you gain 3.68 Hero Crystals per 300 Gem pull, or about 40 Hero Crystals per ten-pull of 2700 Gems.
• Hero Crystals can also be obtained from converting Evolution Stones, and in the endgame, you'll get about 3.1 2★ Evolution Stones per 10 Stamina for level 70 Rifts. As the exchange rate is 80:1, you'll generally get about 1 Hero Crystal per 50 Stamina spent while pushing for your 3★ hero, or a total of approximately 180 Hero Crystals per 3★ Hero that reaches 5★. Note that 700 are required to push a 3★ hero to the level cap, so after deducting the Farmed Crystals, you'll need another 520 - or the equivalent of 13 tenpulls.
• Hero Crystals can also be purchased from the Kama-zone store for bottle caps and are highly recommended.
• Between Hero and Equipment summons, due to the benefits involved in summoning equipment 80 times per month, you'll want to do this regardless. Beyond that is generally a question of how much stamina you're spending - you'll want enough Hero Crystals to be able to Limit Break the natural 3★ you push to 5★, so the more Stamina you buy (and the more Evo/Awakening Stones you get), the more hero Crystals will be worth to you. For the average F2P player, the equipment summons and once-daily stamina purchase will generally mean limited to no hero summons on routine, and the occasional hero splurge when a particularly attractive 3★ appears on a rate-up banner.
• Try to get as many of these as you can from Events.
• NEVER buy Plitvice or Libera with these as you are guaranteed to get them from Heavenhold!
• NEVER buy Evolution stones with Hero Crystals as this will set you behind for months relative to someone using them on Limit Break as one should.

Awakening stones

• Ensure you clear with 3 stars your daily 3 runs of the Awakening Rift. For the average midgame player, your mono will be able to clear level 70 for the element you have advantage on, and level 60 for everything else, assuming a partially invested team. When you reach the endgame, level 70 for everything is standard.
• You get the same number of Low-Grade stones for a long time between levels 40 and 60, so if your team isn't strong enough to ensure a 3★, do a lower levelled one if you have to as it is imperative to earn at least 13 Low-Grade stones per run.
• Kama-zone provides bottle caps which absolutely must be spent on the four types of low-grade stones. What to buy after that is up to you, though Hero Crystals are recommended as the next highest priority.
• Ensure you purchase low-grade stones off the Heavenhold shop.
• Concentrate your Awakening stones on one main team which you use to clear all content, but try to split them relatively evenly between the characters involved. The cost per stat point favours lower-evolution nodes, so it's better to unlock all the 4★ nodes for a full team rather than to full-unlock a 5★ tree and leave the rest on only 3★ unlocks. For clearing content, what's important is a strong team, not a single strong hero.
• If you're intending to dolphin this game, the pack that gives Awakening Stones every day for a month is the most effective way to power up your account per dollar, as this is the timegate restricting power.
• Ensure you shave the bushes in Heavenhold as often as possible as they can provide low-grade Awakening Stones as rewards.

Gold

• The main use of gold is to level up your equipment, though moderate amounts are also needed to unlock your awakening tree. Before leveling up any weapon, ensure it is a weapon which is either exclusive to a hero you intend to use (ideal), or one of the placeholder weapons mentioned in the comments of the hero spreadsheet linked below (not a great idea, but not as bad as randomly leveling a Unique).
• Ensure you collect your daily gold, buy your daily hammer from the Kamazon shop, and buy your weekly Legendary awakening stones.
• If you reach the level at which Mirror Rift is doable, ensure you buy your weekly gold.
• Avoid doing Gold Rifts as Evolution stones generally throttle your progress much harder than Gold does.

Evolution Stones

• Early game - push the main story, come back later.
• Midgame - note that level 40 Challenge stages provide more 3★ Evolution stones (2.072 +/- 0.156 2★ stones and 0.914 +/- 0.033 1/3★ stones) than non-Challenge level 60 stages (2.35 +/- 0.154 2★ stones and 0.675 +/- 0.03 1/3★ stones) Even though the numbers are split between the available 3★ heroes for a Challenge stage, you'll want to consistently run Challenges as you will always finish 5★ on every single natural 2★ of that element before you can 5★ a single natural 3★.
• Endgame - Once you are able to do level 70 stages, abandon all previous stages and farm exclusively level 70 stages.
• In general, it takes one month to push a 3★ hero to 5★ assuming you purchase stamina once per day and spend all stamina exclusively on Evolution rifts and the weekly Mirror Rifts.

Medals

• You earn medals from Competitive content, namely Arena (manual 1v1x3), Colosseum (auto 4v4) and Guild Raids (manual 4x1x3 PvE, cooperative, cannot reuse heroes).
• These medals can be used to buy several pieces of gear, but the only ones which actually matter are the Mad Panda Rocket Carrier stand-in used for Loraine, Minotaur's Necklace and Mad Panda Brooch. Personally I would advocate not getting the Mad Panda Rocket Carrier as her exclusive weapon will eventually show up, and Loraine is one of the weakest healers.
• The costumes are medal-exclusive and provide a permanent stat boost as costumes do, but this is not a good idea to do in the earlier game and really something for when you already have nothing else you really need to buy.

Mirror Shards

• They are earned from Mirror Rifts unlocked very late in the storyline.
• As the elemental accessories have a chance of dropping on Mirror Rift completion, you'll want to ensure you farm enough mirror shards to buy your weekly supply of gold and hammers, so that you'll occasionally get the epic accessories as random drops on the way. These accessories are Best-in-slot (BiS).
• In the very late game when Evolution stones cease to be as important (all 2★ characters and the 3★ characters you use at 5★), there is an incentive to spend a week on dropping enough shards to buy Martyr Mirror Necklaces and the BiS Captain's Mirror Shield for your shield users.

Option Stones

• Used to reroll elements for the Minotaur's Necklaces, Captain's Mirror Shields, and to reroll stats for the epic/legendary exclusive weapons used for each of your characters, and the Mirror Rift epic accessories.
• Don't waste these as they are very hard to get efficiently (mostly from the monthly Magic Metal purchases, from Events, and from some login bonuses. It often takes 10-15 rerolls to get a passably good roll for most stats on equipment.
• This determines the difference between heroes at the absolute pinnacle of investment - after the Awakening trees are maxed out and the characters as well as their exclusive weapons are at the level cap.

Star pieces

• A limited number are used for Heavenhold upgrades. Reserve like 20 for this purpose.
• Spend the rest on the High-Grade Evolution Stone Box type pertaining to the 3★ hero(es) used in your team. You'll have way more than enough 2★ evolution stones for any other use to ever be worth it.

Event Points

• Event points are given at a base value for each event rift, with higher values for higher levelled rifts. However, the increase in points relative to the increase in difficulty is pathetic, and generally you'll need to go up two difficulty tiers to replace the loss of a 20% bonus.
• The fact that the Knight always has a 20% bonus is a strong reason to ensure he/she has a decent level of development, which is also easy to achieve when the required Evolution stones are given to you as a matter of course.
• You want to ensure you always have a minimum bonus of +40%, and ideally +80-110% if possible to unlock the higher event rewards. Note that 2-starring an event rift only provides 2/3 of the event points, and so if you cannot comfortably 3-star a rift, you'll want to downgrade one level of difficulty to have more points. It is a straight loss of points to 2★ any Event Rift.
• As stamina generally also gets 10x the number of event points when used within an event, you'll generally want to target the reward tier that corresponds to 5000 stamina usage.

Experience

• Experience - Event quests generally offer rewards for spending 250 stamina per day. From natural recharges, a daily mission and the stamina mail, you generally get 254 stamina on weekdays and 274 stamina on weekends. Time your recharges so that you always complete this daily event mission, and the bonus experience will add up at a significantly faster rate than you can gain Evolution or Awakening stones.
• Due to how easy it is to get experience relative to Evolution or Awakening stones, if you ever have to choose between Experience and any other resource for any reason, choose the other resource.
• The only reason to do the Experience Rift is the first-clear Gem rewards.

Heavenhold

• Vegetation - As previously mentioned, shave bushes as often as possible for Low-Grade Awakening Stones. These regrow naturally.
• Build the Shop as soon as possible and purchase Low-Grade Awakening Stones whenever available.
• The maximum SP per hero is 480 per hour. If you are below that number, push the resource you have the lowest number of through upgrades. if you are at that number, push the Hero Statue Square upgrade to increase Facebreak visitor frequency instead.
• Upgrade your inn whenever you have more heroes than your capacity allows.
• Higher rarity stores are more expensive to upgrade but have a higher max SP production. The general upgrade plan is to push all your low-rarity buildings to 13 GP/hour ASAP, then concentrate upgrades on the higher rarity buildings till the maximum allowed limit, then upgrade your inn, and then replace the lower rarity buildings with higher-rarity buildings with the unlocks, and repeat this process until left with only one 1★ building and maxed higher rarity buildings on all plots.
• Ensure no plot is left empty.
• The canned Tomato Soup required for Girgas, Vending Machine used for Libera and Crystal required for Plitvice are also obtained with SP, and should be delayed until you actually need to use them.
• Delay the Tower of Will and Strength as they provide very weak rewards to later, while focusing SP on buildings that generate SP - and the Shop.
• While it may be tempting to summon heroes to generate more SP, you'll have more than enough heroes for SP generation from just pushing the storyline, so don't summon just for this purpose, though it may very well be a nice additional bonus. In addition, summoned heroes come in at level 1 while unlocked heroes come in at level 20, further disincentivising early summoning.
• Don't forget to click on the princess for anything from gold to gems to star pieces, and on the Facebreak followers clinging from Heavenhold Airlines for additional hearts. Aside from that, everything else can be collected from the Inn, so you don't have to tap each bubble individually.

Equipment

• Equipment can be used for three end-purposes.
• The first is to equip - which is a thing for epic and legendary accessories and shields, as well as exclusive weapons. Keep and level these, and use duplicates for Limit Breaking the equipment. Avoid overinvesting in legendary accessories as they will eventually be replaced by epic accessories from the Mirror Rift and Battle Medals.
• The second is to evolve - which is a thing for low-level equipment of rarity 1-3★, and all-level equipment of rarity 4★+. When using them in Random Evolution, choose the highest level gear as a base, and then shove in lower level fodder of the same rarity until your success rate reaches 100% before attempting - lower rates result in gold wastage. If you obtain a good legendary/epic equip at 5★, keep and level it as per the category class above. If you get a shitty Unique or Legendary at 5★, disassemble it for 30 Magic Metal to plug into the Kamazon monthly purchases.
• The third is to use as levelling fodder, which is is only a thing for high-level (level 30+) gear of the rarity classes 1-3★. In this usage they are similar to hammers, but as this reduces the number of good equips/Magic Metal you get, avoid doing this for low level gear which doesn't give good experience anyway. For the higher level low rarity gear, the hammers you save on this allow you to maintain gear progression while focusing Stamina exclusively on Evolution Rift and Mirror Rift grinding, which results in a much better power level than wasting Stamina on Hammer Rifts.

Other tips

• Join any guild, but make sure you're always in one, as the login rewards and raid rewards is free resources you will otherwise miss. If you really hate people, make your own guild. But make sure you're in some guild. Larger guilds generally mean more gems from the increased Raid rewards. Smaller guilds generally have lower entry requirements.
• The decisions you make in the Story determine your alignment on the dark-light scale (which currently has no effects) as well as whether you obtain Fei or Mei from the relevant story mission. Aside from that, most other dialogue decisions either don't have an effect, or allow only one 'correct' answer to progress.
• Make sure you complete the Guardian Pass dailies to get your rewards earlier. The non-dailies will eventually be completed whether you want to or not in the course of normal play, so you don't have to worry. The only Guardian Pass missions to avoid are the Resource Rift missions, as your Stamina is generally better spent on the Main Story, Evolution or Mirror Rifts.
• Avoid raising 1★ as they are dead ends. Avoid raising too many 3★ early on as the split Evolution Stone requirement makes you significantly weaker than you need to be. Efficiency is about maximising resource gain rates, and a higher rate will always pay for itself. Once you have one full 5★ team to throw around content, you can raise all the 3★ from all the elements you want, and you'll be able to do so efficiently.
• The development team likes putting free coupon codes on Facebook. Either watch Facebook or a fansite that aggregates these codes for free stuff.
• Obsessively claim Level Up rewards on the Book interface for unlocking heroes and equipment. These provide free passive buffs in addition to the gems you get the first time. In addition, as all Epic Exclusive (note: non-Exclusive Epics do not) weapons have an achievement reward for raising them to Level 60, you'll want to keep one copy of each hanging around even if you don't have the hero for it yet.
• If you have three Warriors and one non-Warrior or three Ranged and one non-Ranged in the same team, they'll be able to activate Team Combination Skills if all the members are at rarity 5★. This ability is unavailable in PvP content.

Living in the Database

• This spreadsheet contains information on the CC types, elements, and weapons of every single 2-3★ hero in the game, which may be of use if you're crafting an endgame cross-element team, or if you already screwed up your account early and want to make the most of what you've already built.

Acknowledgements

• u/Caminae for the correction regarding CC durations.
• Both u/Caminae and and u/tylerronde for mentioning the heavenhold bushes as an important outlet for hearts.
• u/Issengrim for pointing out the missed upcoming EX weapon for Aisha.
• u/MrHughJwang for pointing out the gold purchase thing in the shop which I forgot to mention.
• u/Skulldestroy for pointing out the mistake of Eugene's element in the spreadsheet.

https://imgur.com/a/Wsm00yt
For me, it has been 5 years since I first downloaded Dokkan Battle. Like most of you, I started out this game because I was a big fan of Dragon Ball Z. My fandom included owning the original Pioneer VHS tapes, to playing the original Score DBZ CCG and the subsequent but short-lived sequel made by Panini, to being able to attend the World Premiere of Resurrection F in LA.
I’ve been fairly quiet on Reddit as of recently, but have used this community as a resource to beat challenging events (SBR, LGE, etc.), and getting information on future summons. I hope that reading this post gives you a sense of nostalgia, advice if you need it, and just general perspective.
Year 1:
A more in-depth 1st year:
https://www.reddit.com/DBZDokkanBattle/comments/4w22ig/365_days_login_a_f2p_story/
Find your favorite gif involving crazy, huh, wtf, jaw drops and insert them here. That was Year 1 of Dokkan for me. I had no idea of team building, links, etc. If you ever played a TCG like Pokemon or Magic and just jammed your first decks with your favorite foils and rare cards you had; that was my first Dokkan team building experience. Very little synergy. We really didn’t have dedicated leader skills that provided ki and boosts. There was a point where I felt accomplished because I could field a full UR team.
The Dokkan Medal event grinds were particularly brutal in-game events because their power level was so much higher unless you had the right units, which obviously required pulling on banners. In other gatcha games, these were raiders, great units specially for that event (SSR AGL SS Kid Trunks for Broly, the Androids for Cell, etc). For another perspective, we grinded these events for 1 medal drops. We needed a total of 11 to Dokkan a unit. And it was never even a guarantee that you were going to beat the event. Truly had to be lucky and resourceful with your items. I know I probably wasted some stones to continue the event and finish it for 1 MEDAL!
As far as summons go, I think a lot of the community were very much, “It’s new! Summon!” I eventually realized that Japan was a head of us in the Dokkan timeline, so I could really start to strategically plan which units did I want to try to get rather than pull aimlessly. Broly was the first unit I had future knowledge of so I saved for that unit. This is a mentality that I continue to have to this day: figure out the next great banner and save for that.
The first World Tournaments were some of the longest grindfests I had ever seen. This is my old man on the porch moment of “Back in my day, we had to get 100 Wins for a GSSR.” If I recall correctly, we did not have a GSSR for a Multi on our Dragon Stone summons. So, I originally saw the World Tournaments as ways to get GSSR. Unfortunately, to this day, the WT exclusives aren’t game-breaking; they’re more trophy units. I can recall those first WTs and thinking I might try to go for top to try to get the exclusive but realizing that the time commitment, stones, and lack of use of the WT exclusive led me to just go for the GSSR and save the stones for pulls.
STR Broly, the first AOE in Dokkan, was probably the most desired unit and one that I saved the most for at the time. Given how World Tournaments were run, Broly could be a literal time saver. I recall pulling a lot trying to get Broly but didn’t get him until before the 2nd Anniversary. I recall a moment where I had created and rerolled another account on a separate device just to see if I could Broly. Well, it just so happened I did. I was at a true crossroads of “Do I make this my main?” For a small amount of time, I was running both accounts, but I choose to eventually let go of that alt with Broly because I had pulled TEQ Majin Vegeta and knew it was going to Dokkan to be an AOE so it was a fair substitute for Broly. Plus, I was saving for Super Gogeta on the main, which I had pulled upon his release in the 1st Anniversary. That was enough to say, this is my main. Even if doesn’t have Broly on it.
Prior to the STR Super Gogeta release, I also inspired to write the original: ‘Twas the Night Before Gogeta: one of my proudest Reddit moments. https://www.reddit.com/DBZDokkanBattle/comments/4rpkmp/a_dokkan_poem_twas_the_night_before_gogeta/
Year 2:
A more in-depth 2nd year:
https://www.reddit.com/DBZDokkanBattle/comments/6st41n/a_2_year_reflection_of_dokkan/
After pulling STR Super Gogeta and STR SS3 Goku, I felt having a full Over in a Flash team was stellar. Double STR Super Gogeta lead plus OIAF gave +9 Ki to Unit 1 and 3 and +12 Ki to the middle Unit. Spamming Supers became the name of the game, especially in World Tournament. Now with STR Super Gogeta in hand, the in-game events and quests became much more doable.
Probably the most significant event of this year was Prime Battle LR SS Goku. This introduced Global to the first LR. At the time, you had to only use Strike and drop units to complete it. For a reference point, the optimal team was INT Chilled lead with Mecha Frieza, Android 16, King Vegeta, etc. And the main event was 50 Stamina, not the 25 that they are now. Farming any and all drop units is the equivalent to forcing a child to eat their vegetables. You may not like it, but it is in your best interest to do so. That can now be seen with the current EZAs that are limiting who can be brought into the event. (For the record, with the incoming EZA for LR SS Goku, I will not be grinding out another 777 medals for 5 SA. I will gladly use 5 Elder Kais.)
Remember SSR Broly and how I was going crazy for him? Year 2 was when the LR form of him came out. And history repeats itself again lol. Now this is a spoiler alert, but I pulled LR Broly…on the 5th year 200 DS Guaranteed LR Banner. It’s been that long. However, with the shifts to WT and LR Broly friends at high enough ranks, it did not become necessary to have LR Broly in my box.
Overall, Year 2 was a lot of the same. World Tournament. Dokkan Fest. Repeat. With knowledge of AGL Super Vegito on Japan coming at our 2nd year Anniversary, that became the next unit for stone saving. The first tank and counter unit, Super Vegito did not disappoint. It also was a shift from Rainbow teams to more structured teams based on color. So AGL became the top team, INT not being far behind but the other 3 clearly far behind them. Two Rares, Oceanus Shenron and Muraski, became optimal on Super AGL for their sealing; that’s when you know the team is badass. This team held their own, but the 120% meta was coming. The end of year 2 was bringing STR SS4 Goku and AGL SS4 Vegeta. I was lucky to pull SS4 Goku, but not SS4 Vegeta. This would be the first significant meta-defining unit I did not pull. But 1 out of 2 was not bad.
Finally, Year 2 introduced Global’s Hidden Potential System. A staple still in Dokkan today, but I could not tell you how many reddit posts there were for “What do I unlock?” or “Crit or Dodge?” But the worst was having to open up EVERY. SINGLE. NODE. ONE. BY. ONE. New players today won’t know the pain lol. Let me sum up Hidden Potential System 101: Bottom right and top left first. Most cases: Crit > AA > Dodge. AA > Crit if the Super stacks something like Attack or Defense, especially if the stack is infinite. Dodge if the Unit is very much support and can’t take any hits nor give out any hits.
Year 3:
Year 3 of Dokkan was where the difficulty level of the game jumped the most. Honestly, this was probably the golden age of Dokkan. 120% leads were coming and it brought some level of parody. A fair amount of the teams with their 120 leads could be viable in a lot of events. And with the looming Super Battle Roads coming, you know you need something in every category if you wanted to complete all of them.
Where Dokkan decided to implement a WWE-style-glass-break-theme-music and Stone Cold Steve Austin entrance was SS4 Gogeta and Omega Shenron as 150% leads in the middle of the 120% leads releases. This gave the community a glimpse into the direction of leads and it was another breath of fresh air. We would get categories as our primary way of building teams and it’s still very much implemented today at the 5th year anniversary going into Year 6 and beyond. I personally was fortunate enough to pull SS4 Gogeta and Fusions became my primary. (No Omega Shenron pulled though, but I wasn’t disappointed.) However, I did know that I was still likely needing to pull on the 120 lead banners for the incoming SBR Stages 1-10. I recall limiting myself to a budget on the 120 banners. Either discounts, multis and tickets, but nothing to bankrupt myself stone wise. With the way the game was progressing, there was always going to be something new and game-defining so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t left behind. (This would eventually be the incoming LR SS Gogeta duo and Vegito duo.) I wanted to give myself the best chance of not being left behind and making sure I didn’t spend too much on sub-par banners.
We also started seeing older units getting rebirths or Dokkan Awakenings. These would be great in principle, but I don’t recall many earning slots onto a significant team. Others can chime in here. More LRs from Rising Dragon Carnivals or Legendary Summon banners would come but most of these LRs ok, but not great. (LR Trunks, Boujack, etc.).
Year 3 also brought along two free LR units, LR Vegito Blue and LR 1000 Day Goku. Some players were pissed that we needed Prepared for Battle units to complete all the missions associated with LR Vegito Blue. I was fortunate that it did not really affect me and I completed the missions without much difficultly. Regarding 1000 Day Goku, I thought it was a great way for fan service: not game breaking, but serviceable as a substitute rainbow lead. (These would start to see more use in the future Virtual Battlefield/Ultimate Clash.)
EZAs would also be introduced with AGL SS3 Goku. Fairly grindy, but another good way for Dokkan to keep older units relevant. Otherwise, this game would always be “Pull on the new unit banner!” And with some of the events rewarding players with larger boxes or being able to flexible teams (current restricted EZA events), it became more that there was a sense of needing to collect units as well, even if they were not game breaking or meta relevant.
Super Battle Road would also be introduced in Year 3. Probably the hardest category of events to this day. This event would truly let tanks (AGL Golden Frieza, STR SS3 Vegeta), AOEs (LR STR Broly), and stunners and sealers (PHY Gotenks) would really earn their spot in Dokkan. My SBR mentality was also Stage 1 = No items. Stage 2 = 2 Items. Stage 3 hopefull you Dokkan attack. Stage 4 use all of your items. I never actually beat an SBR until 3rd Anniversary and LR Potara Duo were available. On the bottom is a link to all my SBR wins.
The end of Year 3 brought the much anticipated LR Potara and Fusion Duos at the 3rd Anniversary. These guys made their respective SBRs much more doable with their built in Senzu Bean transformation. Like a fine wine, these two would get better as time went on with introductions of the Kamehameha and Joined Forces categories.
Year 4:
Much like Year 2 was to Year 1, Year 4 felt like a continuation of similar events in Year 3. Year 4 brought us more EZAs, more LRs (both free like Prime Battle Trunks and summonable), World Tournaments and Dokkan Fests. It became clear that LRs in general were going to be the standard moving forward in regards to gameplay. The tricky part was navigating which LRs were worth it. For me, it was hard but using this subreddit and the knowledge of Japan’s timeline made it a little easier. It was almost a certainty that the Anniversary LRs would be worth it. I believe I skipped most of the banners except TEQ Goku & Frieza, but never managed to pull the duo until recently.
Some of the more unique units to come were the Transforming Goku, Frieza, and Vegeta. I believe these are glimpse into more of the future of Dokkan. It would not surprise me if LR versions of these unit concepts come in the future. We currently see them but they are either locked by an active skill or condition needed (HP, Team member needed, etc.), not one that transforms automatically.
The Dokkan Punch Machine was introduced during this year. This is one of the few events I haven’t completed, specifically the no item stages 1 to 3. These definitely require a little luck and patience. But please don’t feel discouraged if you don’t complete these events right away. They don’t go away, and over time, you’ll get units and dupes to make this event easier.
Ultimate Clash (or Virtual Battlefield 2.0 in Japan) would be one of the major game updates to Dokkan in Year 4. After watching the mess that Virtual Battlefield 1.0 was in Japan, seeing the 2.0 version was relieving. This event favors the longer time players who have accumulated lots of units in their box (or the whales who spend a lot on banners lol). While trying to manage these teams some of things I consider are at least 1 team per faction and color combination (70 units), 1 F2P team that takes out boss 1 (was Namek Gohan and Ginyu Force. Now that team is Team Bardock and AGL Broly), a team of stunners/sealers (Great Saiyaman stage), extra Rainbow leads (1000 Day Goku, SBR Gohan, SBR Goku, LR Vegito Blue, etc.)
Prior to the 4th Anniversary, Global learned about the Coin System. This was a very refreshing update to the game. Allowing players an outlet to not feel completely shafted and could use their coins to get the units they wanted. My stone saving was aimed at the 4th Anniversary SS4 Goku and SS4 Vegeta, and particularly began when the coins were announced. 4th Anniversary I went ham. Managing both SS4 units, my first Fusion Duo and a couple Potara duo dupes. Having the coins in your back pocket was a very welcoming safety net.
Year 5:
If you are still reading this, more power to you. I won’t go to in depth because (a) it’s again a lot of the same: WT, DokkanFest, Ultimate Clash, etc. and (b) you probably played through part of it so you recall a lot of it too.
Two things stand out for me during Year 5. The New Years Banner and Kale & Caulifa’s LR debut.
For the New Years banner, this is mainly a “learn from my mistake” moment. I had enough Red Coins at the time for LR GoBros. But for some reason I burned through a couple hundred stones seeing if I could pull them and keep me stones (Essentially, trying to have my cake and eat it too) and never getting them. So I was out some stones for a future banner and ended up having to use my red coins to acquire GoBros. Had I just used the coins prior to summoning, then I would have more stones for future banners. Pro Tip: If you’re chasing a unit that you can just get with coins, get it with coins. Save the stones for future banners. The coins will replenish themselves.
LR Kale & Caulifa stand out to me because it was the Legendary Banner (yellow coin) that I would commit myself to pulling for. The hype was real and I definitely pulled the sisters and that became my ultimate flex and current team to run (up until 5th Anniversary).
Fighting Legend: Goku (or LGE) was nice new addition to challenge the player base. I personally like trying to find teams that would knock out multiple missions (Thanks to this reddit, I found a 4-in-1 Potara, Time Travelers, Future, Realm of Gods team. 3-in-1 for me because I had already beaten Potara)
Final reflections:
So, the ultimate question probably is “Why am I still playing?” There’s honestly not much left for me to do. I do the weekly Ultimate Clashes when they come out, daily missions, etc. I still need to do Punch Machine Stages 1-3, but I don’t feel a huge pressure to finish it out. It’ll happen eventually. With my spare Stamina, I’ve been trying to rank up to 999 (currently at 866), but again, don’t feel a ton of great pressure to complete it yet. I look forward to when E. SBR is released. As a fan of Dragon Ball, I’ve liked that they have implemented content from all franchises including DB, Z, GT, Super, SDBH, and even bringing in Arale! I have not let the game be my end all be all. In the past 5 years, I have traveled to Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Peru, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. I just honestly found ways and downtime to play the game. Dokkan has become more of a collecting game for myself. I’m currently only missing 8 LRs, and they range from LR Bardock to Nappa/Vegeta. There are still moments of excitement when I summon and pull a desired unit. There are still moments of relief when I complete difficult events (most recently the LGE missions.) Whatever Dokkan is for you, I hope you remember that at its roots, it is a game and it is meant to be fun.
One thing about this game that truly makes me smile is how it (along with DBS) have really brought in a new generation of Dragon Ball fans. If you would have told me 15 years ago that Dragon Ball would still be as popular as it is (probably even more popular than before), I would have laughed it off and called you crazy. As a high school teacher, I've seen some of my students get the game (and DB Legends, but we won't get into that discussion) and ask to see my box or ask for advice on their team. I hope the fandom for Dokkan and Dragon Ball continue to grow in the future.
As far as in-game tips, I would emphasize the following:

• You do not need to rainbow a featured unit for it to be viable. 0 dupes is very much useable. 2 dupes is probably the most functionable on a budget. Full rainbow is just icing on the cake. I have a 0 dupes on LR Vegito, LR Gogeta, LR K&C and have never felt that I need to pull more on their banners. Just get the unit.
  
• Use the search feature on reddit. You’ll find a plethora of example teams out there.
  
• Understand what’s happening in Japan to figure out what to save for (if you want to save).
  
• Grind out the F2P units. We’ve recently seen an uptick in events like EZA Areas which required specific drop characters to attempt and complete.
  

What I would like to see:

• A new type of lead. We’ve been on categories for 3 years now. Off the top of my head, a leader that concentrates on a single character? Then we can generate teams based on 1 character? Something like All “Goku” named units get +4 Ki, +190% Attack, Defense, HP.
  
• An actual Rainbow unit? Not TEQ, STR. Brand new typing. Super effective against all, reduced damage on defense.
  
• More story quests (PS. I have no idea what the actual plot is. This is really for stone purposes lol).
  

(In classic DBZ Announcer End of Episode voice.)
Will the streak continue on to Year 6? Will new banners and unit change the meta again? Will another event be introduced to challenge all players? Find out next time on Dragon Ball: Dokkan Battle!
Completed SBR teams
https://imgur.com/a/t4Q1o1k
Completed FLG teams
https://imgur.com/a/kP7TrtR
5 Year Box (sorted by acquired)
https://imgur.com/a/YpgrSfZ

As I mentioned in my recent retrospective on Dragon Age II, last year I put aside my disappointment in the direction of the franchise post-Origins and committed to a full series playthrough.
Much like when I started Dragon Age II, I was tentatively looking forward to Inquisition by the time I got around to it. Interesting plot and characters, a more robust dialogue wheel than II’s, and mods that added tolerable hair (I went with Zevran’s). Combat that looked to strike a balance between Origins’ overly deliberate pace and II’s frantic, grueling minion spam. But having been burned by my faintest expectations for II, I was leery of letting myself build any hype.
Let’s see how that panned out.

Disclaimer

Same deal as last time, although with less snark. [Edit from the future]Nope, regular amount of snark.[/Edit] I recognize that my opinions are nothing more than a reflection of my own preferences and expectations, and I know this game means a lot to tons of people. I’m not tearing anybody down, but I’m also not pulling any punches in terms of this game and what it means to me, personally.
I tried to make the exaggerations and sarcasm non-offensive and tongue-in-cheek, so apologies if any of it comes off badly.
Now on to my shit opinions.

You Can (Not) Play the Game—Interface

I’m going to get this out of my way right now to reduce the number of times I need to keep bringing it up: holy shit Inquisition’s interface is a chore to deal with. A game with this much going on demands an interface that facilitates smoothly interpreting and manipulating all of its systems. What we got just isn’t up to the task. It’s possible that I’m just a cretin who can’t find his way around a menu, but believe me, I’ve tried. This is the best I’ve been able to manage.
I’m pruning some things from this retrospective since it ended up at 20 full pages. So to condense a full page of interface complaints down to 3 bullet points:

• The War Table interface is a mess of readability and accessibility issues. Too much clicking around to check different things with almost no features to help you organize or synthesize the information. (You really don’t want me to elaborate on this. It used to be three paragraphs on just this one topic).
• The gathering interface similarly could really have used something more than blips so you could tell what was mineral, herb, loot, etc.
• Allergy to mouseovers that provide relevant information. Especially frustrating when trying to find codex entries.

However, I can’t just breeze through the combat interface issues like this. The above just represent processes being longer and more tedious than they had to be. The combat interface actually poses a serious barrier to enjoyment and playability.
The 8 ability slots are often criticized, but at least I understand the idea behind it. What I couldn’t understand is why the game was so insistent on obfuscating combat information. How much stamina does Caltrops cost? You certainly won’t learn from mousing over the bar. You have to bring up the talent menu, scroll over to the appropriate tree, and tunnel down from there. And where Origins gets criticism for not giving you enemy stats, Inquisition is tight-fisted with even player stats. How much health am I missing? How much does a potion heal for? What’s the cooldown on Stealth again? I spent the majority of the game thinking there wasn’t even a way of answering these questions without diving menus—and in some cases, there isn’t one AFAIK. Why you can’t just mouse over someone’s health bar and actually see their health boggles my mind.
Oh yeah, it’s because controllers can’t mouse over, and they didn’t add mouseovers to the PC version. But wait, it can’t be that, because you can mouse over an ability to see its name and have it reiterated what the hotkey is, both of which are of course completely useless.
Of course I learned near the end of the game that some information is gated by the tactical camera. But we’ll cover that in a bit. Oh you better believe we’ll cover that.
And then there’s character stats. Inquisition distilled II's simplified system even further, then did its damnedest to hide all useful information from you. I know there are codex entries that explain what the stats do broadly, but the game fights you tooth and claw to keep from giving you any practical information. Cool, I get +3 Cunning. No idea what that did in practice but OK. Oh this armor made my shield icon go up by like 5 widths of a typing stylus? I guess I should be celebrating?
It feels like BioWare wanted the benefits of the Skyrim stripped-down stats (“Just click Health, Stamina, or Mana! Oh my god you guys I’m so accessible!”), but without the stigma of ripping out the traditional RPG core. So they split the difference to achieve the absolute worst of both.
This, it turns out, will become something of a theme. And from there we arrive at our title. A game that at multiple critical junctures can’t quite bring itself to commit to a lane, and ends up at odds with itself.
All right that’s enough of that. I think. Hopefully. I’ll just sum it up by saying holy gods, the barrier raised by the interface would make Solas blush. It’s not a deal-breaker, but I’d point to this as a textbook case of an interface that, while robust, isn’t suited to the demands of its game.
OK now that I never have to talk about any of that ever again for the rest of my life, let’s move on to the game.

Champions of the Just—The Inquisition

As per usual for BioWare, the highlight of the game is your merry band of followers and their eccentric personalities. While a few were a little meh, this might be my overall favorite bunch to date—if perhaps only by sheer volume. I don’t even want to get into it here because it would just turn into me gushing about my strapping, adorable, curly boi, and my handsome, charming Gay Best Friend™, the Seeker that I kept flirting with just to get on her nerves a little even though she virtually screams Raging Hetero, the legit Ben-Hassrath who feels well integrated into the narrative without selling short his deeply alien cultural upbringing… and see I’m already doing the thing. Plus a bunch of great cameos from previous entries. Especially Morrigan and Flemeth.
Also, the voice acting throughout the entire game is top-notch. I cannot give enough props to the cast and directors.
And much DAII, Inquisition surprised me by delivering a pretty solid character arc of my PC. Granted by 2 hours in, my Lavellan felt sick to death of being called the Herald of some quaint human prophet. But Cassandra actually surprised me by pointing out this was a chance to help mend the rift between humans and elves. The way they worked my PC’s background into the story, while usually just little bits of fluff text, was really well done. It actually reminded me at times of how one’s origin would recontextualize big segments of the story in the first game, and that is a significant praise.
Overall, while Inquisition is less robust than II in its ability to chart a personal course for the PC, it still does an admirable job of finessing a blank-slate-shaped PC peg into a defined-cinematic-character-shaped hole. I’m incredibly grateful BioWare ended up broadening PC selection from human-only to the most options the franchise has ever seen, and the amount of work that went into that (at least judging by the Lavellan side) was impressive. Big tip of the hat for that.
Also I appreciated the subversion of the chosen one narrative. It was a very Dragon Age way of subverting it, and I loved that.
Also Skyhold. Skyhold is great. While the customization fell flat for me, it was a marvel of design and really elevated the feel of running the Inquisition.
Just typing this out brings me straight back to the high highs this game had to offer. Unfortunately, with such highs come some low lows. Which brings us to…

DoOm UpOn AlL tHe WoRlD~~!!!!!

Before I get into the central conflict, permit me a brief tangent.
BioWare. Dude. Having just played Legacy, I would have been so stoked for this bombshell of a reveal.
That is, if you hadn’t spoilered it immediately the first time I opened the War Table.
Did you really have to name-drop Corypheus in the Black Emporium operation text? Like would it have been really hard to remove the words “against Corypheus”? Sure, sure, by the point the DLC dropped the true chosenest of the chosen would already have known. But we all know these games have a long tail. Throw me a frickin bone here!
sigh
OK, let’s just… let’s just move along.

What Pride Had Wrought—Main Story

I want to bring up one mark against Inquisition's story before I dive into the good parts. It was a major letdown that after all the effort DAII put into building up the Mage-Templar war, it had very little relevance to Inquisition other than a few lines here and there, and cutting down rebel mages left and right. Other than the calamity at Haven (and really, killing some high-ranking VIPs didn't require a worldwide calamity to bring about), it just felt like window dressing rather than the central conflict that it had earned the right to be. Having the ways I interacted with the world largely unchanged from previous mage-Templar tensions made this feel like a major case of tell-don't-show that, along with relegating Hawke to pretty much a footnote, really deflated the arc of DAII.
Anyways, Inquisition tries to go back to basics with Origins’ cataclysmic conflict looming over the player at every turn. Each major story beat does a good job of advancing that overarching conflict. And many of them are quite good on their own. In Hushed Whispers is a hell of a ride, easily one of the best vignettes the franchise has seen. Here Lies the Abyss was delightful with its sharp turn into crazy town (as well as getting to interact with my beloved Hawke and dark-horse woobie Loghain [RIP][also RIP hair]). What Pride Had Wrought delivered some cool ruins, neat puzzles, and a sweet plot beat with the Well.
And I want to call out In Your Heart Shall Burn in particular. It stands out as one of the few moments of deep vulnerability and exigence the franchise has had since Origins—a game so steeped in that pervasive sense of threat that it seemed like the bedrock that would carry the whole franchise. Stumbling through the blizzard, snowblind and dying of exposure, was a beautiful moment of experience-crafting. And The Dawn Will Come is legitimately one of the greatest single moments the franchise has ever offered, demonstrating in concrete yet tender terms the power of faith in community during a moment of utter despair. Overall, the mission serves as a dramatic volta and represents a return to form for Dragon Age storytelling.
Speaking of The Dawn Will Come, Inquisition earns some serious points for how well it handles its central theme: religion. The Chantry faith has been a fascinating part of the Dragon Age world since its inception, and it’s front-and-center here. IMO, Inquisition succeeds fantastically at demonstrating on macro and micro levels the ways that religion and faith can drive division and friction, and how it can unite, inspire, and heal. Popular media seems largely uninterested in exploring these topics with much nuance or subtlety, so Inquisition’s success on that front, both overtly and subtextually, is exceptional.
There are definitely issues with the way the Elven Pantheon is addressed later on, but that’s actually better suited for the franchise retrospective, so stay tuned for that one.
Before I move on, I want to take a brief detour over to companion quests. In traditional BioWare RPG fashion, they were all good. But their brevity often left me underwhelmed. Of course some had you track down X number of Y things across Z zones, which sure lengthened them but served as a really obnoxious gating mechanism for the content. I’d have been much happier removing one or two entire zones, but having more fleshed-out companion quests—not necessarily as in-depth as those in Mass Effect 2, but something a little closer to them.

In Your Heart Shall Burn—Combat

Credit where credit is due: the core of Inquisition's combat is functional and even—dare I say it?—good. Although I do question why they decided left mouse button was going to be “hold to auto-attack” when the mouse buttons are the most nuanced way of interacting with and gaining information about the game world—why would you relegate half of such a flexible function to auto attacking—that does so much to flatten the range of interactions with—
Nope nope nope we’re back on interface gripes again. We said we were done with that. smacks wrist with ruler
OK good things first. The visceral nature of combat was preserved from DAII, but with a more focused and controlled overall design which I vastly preferred. And the endless waves of identical creatures are gone, which is good because truthfully I don’t know if I could have gone through that again. Do not let it be said that BioWare has never learned from its mistakes.
Executing each characteclass’s role feels really good. I played a Daggers Assassin Rogue, and setting up to sneakily pick off a vulnerable flank or high-priority target felt awesome. By the time I unlocked my specialization, I immediately saw the synergies of a build that could leverage lingering Stealth to gain near 100% uptime on guaranteed crits, threat reduction, huge armor penetration, cooldown resets, and ample energy to string together kill after kill. That kind of synergy hasn’t really been seen, or at least not been realized that well, in a Dragon Age game to date.
Unfortunately I do actually have to go back to interface topic for a minute here. I know that I’m not blowing any minds here, but the clumsy execution of combat sucked out so much of the joy I could have had with combat in Inquisition.
Once again, I will condense a page’s worth of issues down to some bullet points just to keep things moving along.

• The terrible tactical camera is prohibitively cumbersome.
• Jumping from character to character to control them that way caused serious issues with how badly the AI bungles things for the 3 you’re not controlling. Perhaps partly on me for playing an Inky with heavy positioning and sequencing requirements, but that doesn’t absolve the system.
• Terrible companion AI (Dorian face-tanking Dragons was basically a meme by the end of my play) and a hamstrung scripting system exacerbate this problem.
• Little-to-no push-pull to spice up the action combat—interesting resource management, defensive abilities, counterplay, etc.

As it is, the only joy I found in combat was in the simple submission of executing my Inky’s routine and watching numbers tick by. There’s nothing wrong with this way of enjoying the game. But this kind of more—observational?—experiential?—combat just doesn’t do it for me. It’s still a step up from DAII, but a significant downgrade from the tactical challenge finding the perfect orchestration to overcome the odds of Origins' Nightmare mode.
This is also partly a matter of Inquisition's encounter design itself, or lack thereof. As necessitated by the (semi)-open world, I found it quickly became uniform and bland due to the lack of focus and variety. Sure, Origins had too many combat encounters, and many of them were rote. But then you had times when you went through a random door and found a concave of Genlock archers. The brutal power of the Revenant (likely your first) within the gates of Redcliffe Castle. Being ambushed by Ser Cauthrien and about a billion crossbowmen while trying to escape with Arnora. Ogres battering down the barricades in the Denerim alienage ahead of a swarm of darkspawn grunts. Undead pouring into the fields of Redcliffe as you desperately fought to save the townsfolk. Even encountering just several Deepstalkers as your Dwarf Noble struggled to find Duncan before succumbing to the Deep Roads.
You can tell these encounters received real attention—even the ones that were just minor encounters along the way to the next plot point. Each of them feel fresh and engaging, despite pulling from a not-so-deep pool of asset variety. And that’s what Dragon Age II and Inquisition have both failed to recapture by and large (with some exceptions, mainly boss fights). The rinse-and-repeat nature of combat encounters—even in major set pieces like Adamant—makes combat’s shortcomings just that much more apparent and disheartening.
And the acumen behind Inquisition’s encounter slash lack thereof design dovetails perfectly with…

Here Lies the Abyss—The Not-Actually-Open World

…Inquisition’s approach to environmental design. Open and expansive, with a lot to take in, but sacrificing most of its depth to achieve its breadth. And this is where Inquisition really started to lose me.
To be fair, I started out semi-positive on this front. I began exploring the Hinterlands, enjoyed the vistas and the rustic countryside, grabbed a couple of shards and then said nuts to this, and generally had fun poking around.
And I absolutely need to give proper credit here. The design of the world itself is fantastic. The environments are splendid and varied, the ambience is wonderful, the weather is moody and evocative, the ruins are haunting and ethereally beautiful…. In a game this focused on exploring the world, having such a variety of gorgeous locales is an irreplaceable, essential quality and its importance cannot be understated. To those for whom this is enough to get them onboard, I’m really happy for you. Because I can see the value. I can see the effort and love that BioWare poured into making this world. The building blocks are there, and they’re really damn good blocks. I genuinely wish that I were able to enjoy them more in the final estimation, but I just wasn’t able to push myself over that hump, no matter how pretty and lovingly crafted my surroundings were.
This was largely a factor of the collect-a-thon grind. While Dragon Age II had me lamenting the lack of an overall point to a lot of my activities, Inquisition says “hold my Legacy White Shear” and divorces nearly everything you do from any meaningful narrative. Fill requisitions. Get shards. Find mosaics. Place traps. Take keeps. Plant flags. Kill bandits. Ad nauseam. In every zone. Always the same. Why? I honestly can’t remember, but a number ticked up incrementally so good on me I guess. The game provocatively drapes the thinnest veneer of importance on some of these, but it barely covers up the fact that they’re primarily excuses for the busywork that gates progression. Losing the personal connection and feeling of importance behind the actions I felt in previous games—yes even II—is a pervasive miasma that followed me through nearly every zone.
Granted, plenty of games do this. Some games that I like do this. But they all have other things bolstering that loop that Inquisition lacks, which I have broadly categorized as traversal, discovery, and cosmos. Which again I will condense to bullet points.

• Traversal: Traversing Inquisition feels more like fighting the system than mastering it. The Frostbite Engine isn't exactly Parkour Simulator, so it's easy to see how we ended up with what we have.
• Discovery: I went through some cool places, for sure. But I almost never felt like was exploring the world. I think a lot of this comes down to the weak traversal and barely-existent signaling that's all made up for with map blips. Sure you can generally go in any direction, but you're mostly just running through a gauntlet of things you're meant to easily find.
• Cosmos: This one's actually hard to quantify, so I'm breaking my promise and going long-form with it.

In games like Morrowind and Breath of the Wild, I got immense joy from just being in motion within the world. It’s not necessarily tied to traversal—although that generally factors into it. Rather, it’s the sense of inhabiting an organic, holistic place rather than a discrete bunch of video game locations that just exist to provide specific experiences to the player. (Even if this is largely an illusion, as video games in general are catered events.) And this is largely because, when you get down to it, Inquisition isn’t an open-world game. It’s a game with large, discrete, segregated zones.
And this is where I think Inquisition again tries to split the difference, and ends up with two conflicting halves. Its expansive breadth forces it to sacrifice the focused attention to varied, curated experiences like we saw in Origins. At the same time, its half-hearted commitment to the open-world formula robs it of this sense of cosmos. The great big world that BioWare poured so much heart and effort into generally felt like it was interposing itself between me and the joy I found in the game’s story and characters rather than driving or enhancing the experience.
A good example of this is how Inquisition nearly universally segregates its story from its world. The overworld zones and the story locales are separated by a wrought-iron fence made of tigers. This lends the overworld an air of artificial, lifeless irrelevance. The one exception is In Your Heart Shall Burn, which incidentally is one of the best parts of the game for how it recontextualizes a core part of Inquisition's world.
Imagine if, say, Adamant stronghold were actually within the Western Approach zone. At first, it’s closed tight, allowing you no entry. Once the order starts to fall more squarely under Corypheus’s influence, the area begins to crawl with corrupted Wardens. Getting too close to it would cause endless waves to spawn under cover of siege weaponry, repelling your assaults. Eventually, you unlock Here Lies the Abyss. Now instead of bringing you to a completely new place that you have no emotional relationship with and will never be relevant again, it takes you back to that stronghold that has always impeded you. You launch your attack from a war camp backed by the full might of the Inquisition. Once you complete the mission, the fortress is open to you—a ghost of its former self, but a place of rest and healing from which the Inquisitor can freely come and go. The place has been recontextualized as an organic, dynamic part of the greater world that is the gameplay’s primary vessel. Like what happens with strongholds, but in this case with an emotional and narrative anchor.
That is what it would have looked like for Inquisition to capitalize on its structural focus on its world. But it sadly never comes to pass. Which makes the sacrifices BioWare made in order to actualize this world feel somewhat hollow, and all the more tragic.

The Wrath of Heaven—The Inquisition War Machine

The exploration side of Inquisition feeds directly into, and is in turn fed by, the crafting and War Table systems. And while they have promise, it’s another promise that, to me, failed in the execution.
I didn’t find the cosmetic or crafting elements of the game at all fun or engaging. A shame considering how much work clearly went into them. But trying to negotiate if this new schematic is useful, and if it is what I’ll need to make it a reasonable upgrade, and where I’ll have to go to get the materials that will give it those boosts I’m looking for, was a huge amount of micromanagement for the reward, and I gave up on it very early on. (Incidentally, this seemed like this was the one remaining way of optimizing combat that the interface hadn’t cut off, so… there goes that.)
Upgrading potions was great, though. More of that, less of 400 different pommel recipes, please.
At its core, War Table and its unlocks seem like BioWare's attempt to give meaning to the hoops it has you jump through, to accommodate the nonlinear content gating and lack of emotional/narrative linkage behind most of its tasks. And in that regard it's functional, but not exactly riveting. I’ll spare you another block of text and just bullet point a few things.

• Some perks are good quality of life improvements, but most are really boring.
• Far too many offer the illusion of choice where all routes lead to the same lame outcome.
• Many fail at basic conveyance, not giving the player sufficient information to make informed decisions. (Which I guess is OK when your decisions don’t matter anyways, but that’s a petty consolation and there’s no way to tell either way.)
• Why in the nine hells would you make Contact Clan Lavellan available from the bloody beginning and then make it one of the few operations that can end catastrophically when the only thing the player knows so far about how this system even works is the tooltip that says “Some people are better suited to some tasks, so they’ll go faster!” and then Cullen is like 3 minutes faster so you think “Well his idea sounds stupid but I guess I’ll go with him because the game just told me to hoopdy whoopdy doo” and then suddenly you’re effectively DEAD TO YOUR ENTIRE CLAN and the marker just bloody sits there on the map as a perpetual mark of your shame and rage aaaaaAAAAHAHFGAHRTGKAREHGKJAEH

OK OK, I’m good. I’m good. I’m OK. I just… I just needed to get that out. Sorry. phew
By the Maker this is already 4000 words long. Well past time I started wrapping it up.

The Final Piece—Rising Action & Endgame

Man, this just didn’t quite go how I’d hoped.
After In Your Heart Shall Burn, I saw so much potential. The Inquisition had suffered a major blow. Maybe a little bit of that crushing, desperate atmosphere I’d loved in Origins would find its way back.
And then someone (I think it was Curly) says (paraphrasing) “Corypheus is embarrassed that he didn’t kill you, so he probably won’t even acknowledge us here as that would be a sign of weakness.”
And I knew it wasn’t to be.
I know, I know. This is a common concession in video games, especially ones where the rising action is gated by open-ended exploration. But some games handle it well. Origins used its world building and tight plotting to make you feel under constant threat of spiraling out of control even if you know you have all the time in the world. Some games handle it excellently. Breath of the Wild makes its core game a training montage and lets you tackle Ganon whenever you think you’re ready.
And some games flat-out tell you that your nemesis is too embarrassed to show up and finish the job.
Maybe more tension wouldn’t lend itself to the fetch-quest-ful nature of Inquisition. But that kind of underscores how unsuited the story, world, and gameplay are to each other. If you reduce the tension, you lose the crushing narrative weight that I and thousands of others loved. If you have more tension, you can’t make your core gameplay loop farting off collecting Elfroot. (Well you can, but there’s more narrative and cognitive dissonance.) Once again, it feels like they split the difference and ended up kind of having it neither way.
I think Inquisition wanted to go back to Origins’ “Big Damn Crisis Go Go Go!” attitude. Which is admirable, but it missed the mark. Because in each mission from Skyhold and beyond, you’re effectively dismantling Corypheus’s power structure, and/or directly thwarting him. Can you imagine what level of threat the Darkspawn would represent if every major plot point in Origins was “The Darkspawn are trying to do X” and each resolution was “Good job, you stopped the Darkspawn from doing X and undermined their operations across the continent.” Do you think that would make the Darkspawn seem lame as hell, and like they were totally inept and no threat whatsoever? (Yes. The answer is yes.)
And that’s what this structure does to Corypheus. After Haven, it's crippling blow after crippling blow to his machinations, all while he fails to accomplish literally anything of substance. This really comes into focus in Here Lies the Abyss. Unless I'm missing something, we learn that the entire plot happened because Inky literally just walked into the room that apparently all of Corypheus’s influence couldn’t grant him an agent or two to secure. This is such a colossal and compromising failure for our villain—a villain who started out so promising.
So after proving him ineffectual at every turn for the last 70-ish hours, eventually you get to the end of the game where you must kill this exceptionally immortal darkspawn and his red lyrium dragon. (Note: I’m going to convey this as if Morrigan drank from the Well so that I don’t have to split narrative hairs.)
But lo! Morrigan reveals that Corypheus should have been entirely unkillable, but he made himself vulnerable by transferring some of his power to his dragon. OK, so that dragon must be a cataclysmic, world-ending threat in its own right if he was willing to give up virtual immortality to empower it.
No, not really. Morrigan deals like 20% of its health and then it’s just yet another dragon fight. You can fill in the gaps narratively and say maybe it would have been invulnerable or something without the fall, but it entirely failed to impress me. You easily dispatch it while Corypheus completely ignores you rather than incinerate you from above while you’re busy and vulnerable.
And then you kill him. Because he traded immortality to make his pet look a little meaner or something.
I get that they’re plugging “pride cometh before the fall”, but this undermines the theme more than it elevates it. I really question why the Corypheus = immortal thing was even brought up if this was the resolution. Sure, it’s later revealed to be important in that it allowed him to survive unlocking the orb, but it does irreparable damage to his credibility as a villain, and by extension to the fabric of the entire game.
In the end, Corypheus is a joke. The first darkspawn, the ageless magister who crossed the vale and blackened the golden city, and returned, who saw with his own eyes the empty throne and rocked the foundations of Thedas, is a joke.
I didn’t enjoy defeating Corypheus. I still remember my jubilation at the end of my first play of Origins, after so much blood and sacrifice and regret, compromises and calamities, finally laying the archdemon low and the bittersweet nature of my victory. All of that had given way to watching the narrative self-conflagration of what should have been the series’ most monumental villain to date.
It left me feeling… done. Not angry. Not elated. Not frustrated. Just like I’d had an experience, and it was over.
The finale is fine. Chatting everyone up brought some nice closure. It wasn’t the final parting at Denerim, the last words of camaraderie and love before Lady Aeducan gave up her life to protect those she cared for most. But it was nice.

Conclusion

Inquisition had its share of highs and lows. But most of my time there, I related to it like I would to a mindless clicker game—doing 20 minutes of rote, comfortable tasks before getting bored and wanting to close it down. I know lots of people find those loops engaging, but to me, it feels alienating and antithetical to the ways Dragon Age succeeds as an IP.
Inquisition still has BioWare magic, but the gameplay stood between it and me rather than enhancing it. To be rewarded with 20 minutes of story, I had to plow through hours of what to me felt like a mindless, unenjoyable grind. I legitimately spent around two-thirds of my 84-hours playtime zoned out listening to podcasts or YouTube video essays. That’s… not the kind of experience I turn to Dragon Age for, and it’s diametrically opposed to the kind of story that I think the franchise is best equipped to convey.
Confronting these questions tears me up, because Inquisition still has those great conversations. The loveable companions. The strong narratives—at times. Feels. There’s a really good experience in Inquisition, but it’s buried under so much mediocre game that it’s hard to find at times. It feels like 20 hours of content butter spread over 80 hours of gameplay bread.
It’s too bad that this is where the game left us, because there was a lot of—

The Threat Remains—Story DLC

Haha, didn’t expect a post-credits stinger did you? But of course I couldn’t leave this out.
On the surface, Jaws of Hakkon is Inquisition but now with Nords. But it also represents the best implementation of Inquisition’s core components. The environments are fantastic, the quests have a little more narrative thrust, and it even dynamically changes a major zone feature after integrating it with the central story. Plus, said story is very good, the final dungeon was well done, and the fights felt genuinely challenging and gratifying, requiring some good execution of the combat system rather than just feeling like a loot-fueled slog.
But Descent—now that’s what I call DLC. This was Inquisition’s Legacy moment: A high-quality, self-contained experience with a compelling narrative that gave me the constant urge to dive deeper.
I know so far in this piece I’ve come down hard on the linear side of the linear-vs-open debate. But actually I’m largely ambivalent on this issue. To me, different styles suit different games. I just find that for what BioWare and Dragon Age are doing, I think the linear delivery, with some branching points, is better suited.
And that linear, driven experience is what makes Descent feel, to me, like top-notch old school Dragon Age. Nothing is wasted. Everything relates back to the central mystery of the quakes, and then later, the Titans. Each new level you explore sheds a little light on what’s going on, but also raises more questions.
The combat encounters are again a breath of fresh air. More telegraphed abilities that reward counterplay. Large-scale skirmishes that add some variety and scale to encounter design that has been largely stagnant up until this point. I even had to problem solve during combat once. All welcome additions to the formula.
Add to that the fantastic environmental design and you have a recipe that—much like Legacy—makes me think I could have really loved this game as a whole, had it more resembled this overall direction.
But we all know what the real star is. Whereas Awakening and Legacy are both satisfying codas to their respective games, Trespasser is Inquisition. It’s such an integral part of the game experience that locking it behind an expansion actually feels like kind of a cheap shot. But it’s one I’m happy to live with.
While I found the framing device of Sassy Bann Arl Teegan a little boring compared to the meat of the content, it served its purpose. The mystery was very cool. Traversing the fade was cool. Learning about elven history was cool. Slowly putting the pieces together about the fade and the veil was splendid. My one gripe is that this would have had an extra layer of discovery and wonder if they’d held off on dropping the Fen’Harel bombshell, letting you piece it together yourself (if you can). But minor quibbles aside, this was fantastic content. Especially the part before the last leg where my Inquisitor got to absolutely flip her lid and drop one of the most satisfying f-bombs in gaming history.
The anchor powering up but also also becoming a ticking time bomb was an excellent addition. While you have ultimate control over it, it makes things feel like they’re spiraling out of your control, which adds a palpable pressure that Inquisition had largely lacked. Plus it leads to exactly the sort of deliberate encounter design I’ve been asking for.
And at the end of it all, just one conversation between the Inquisitor and the Dread Wolf. Or in this case, between Lady Lavellan and her lover.
Holy shit you guys. This is what I’d been missing. I’m not certain, but I think this stands out as the most emotionally poignant moment I’ve had with the franchise. This is when Dragon Age not only met, but actually surpassed the emotional heights it set 11 years ago.
Granted, I know it plays out differently in other circumstances. And my PC already being in emotional shambles and literal seconds from death probably made it feel a bit more raw. But the feels were so real. And I’d missed them. (In the context of Dragon Age. I can feel just fine IRL, thanks for checking though!) And the voice actors so wonderfully elevated the scene, carrying the weight of irreconcilable regret and sorrow and tenderness. It was earned, and it was deeply moving.
The catharsis of this ending went a long way towards picking up the slack of the main game’s conclusion. I can’t say that it made me reflect positively on the grind I’d gone through to get there, but it made me glad to have done it. And it even gave me a little glimmer of hope for DA4, so… we’ll see how that plays out—again.

Afterward

So that’s it. 6000 words later, I’ve run out of things to say about Inquisition and can finally watch this.
Without the DLC, Inquisition would have averaged out to an infuriatingly mediocre disappointment. With them, it just manages to stick the landing, while still leaving me severely conflicted. As you can probably tell from my using the word “but” 66 times up to this point.
I can’t imagine returning for another playthrough of Inquisition, with its emphasis on busywork and routine over the significance and heart that defined classic BioWare games. But do you know what? That’s all right. I’ve made peace with it. And I'm excited to see where the franchise goes from here.
Thank you for reading my second, even longer word vomit that probably made the other half of you hate my guts. Next time I’ll piss off everyone I’ve already angered even more, but maybe redeem myself a little in the eyes of some, with my thoughts on Dragon Age: Origins and the identity of the Dragon Age franchise as a whole.
Dareth shiral, vhenan.

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