There’s a lot of magic in a fantasy map.

Whether its a sprawling fantasy epic like The Wheel of Time or a multi-hundred hour RPG like Skyrim, world maps have a way of bringing an enchanting universe to life. The maps let us pinpoint our adventures and trace paths through sprawling continents, trekking through misty mountain highlands, tropical sunny coasts, and everything in between.

That same grand splendor is clearly evident in the atlas for The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, which depicts a vast fantasy world filled with kingdoms, magic, and faraway lands.

The Witcher 3’s world map is incredibly handsome, and reminds me of Morrowind’s beautifully crafted atlas.

To get the beautifully illustrated Witcher 3 map you’ll have to pre-order the game’s official collector’s edition strategy guide from GameStop, which is priced at a hefty $40. The guide also comes with a neat 90-page “grimoire” that has extra details about the monsters and peoples of the world.

CD Projekt RED has touted the massive scope of the The Witcher 3‘s open-world for quite some time.

According to the developers, the game will take over 200 hours to complete in its entirety, including all of the various quests, collectibles,  and side missions.

As far as size, the Witcher 3‘s in-game world is comparatively scaled to be 30 times bigger than the area in Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings. Put alongside other epic RPG’s we see that the game is 20% larger than the frosty continent of Skyrim.

Witcher 3 is full of beautiful scenic vistas with varying environments, from alpine mountainscapes to exotic islands and sprawling cities.

To traverse this incredible expanse, Geralt of Rivia will be able to ride on horseback across land and reach outlying island regions like Shelliar via sailboat. Players will also be able to explore full-scaled underwater regions by diving underwater and swimming in the wave-cresting seas.

The atlas maps out the Witcher 3‘s entire world, depicting every city, kingdom, river, and zone in the game.

From the Grassy Knoll and Gustfields in the north the Crow’s Perch and swampy Mire to the south, the map highlights every exotic location that players can visit in their journey.

Geralt can only reach certain areas by sailboat, and he’ll also be able to swim and dive to search for undersea treasures.

Three major continental zones include the wide expanse of the Northern Realm, the island chains of Shelliar that can only be reached by boat, and the faraway White Orchard that’s cut by a wide river.

All of these regions feature CD Projekt RED’s dynamic day-to-night transitions and real-time environmental effects including rain, storms, snow and more to deliver an authentic immersive feel.

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt is slated to release May 19, 2015 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

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Dragon’s Dogma Online is indeed real, and it’s coming to PS3, PS4 and PC as an open-world online F2P title. But it’ll only be available in Japan.

Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu broke the news, revealing that Capcom’s new online take in the Dragon’s Dogma series will feature action-based gameplay in an open-world environment that “plays like the original” and can be enjoyed with friends.

The game will be getting the full-on online treatment, with a steady stream of status updates, seasonal events and other additions that add new depth to the in-game world. According to translators on NeoGAF, Capcom plans to roll out content updates that will increase the world size by threefold.

The translations continue to reveal that Dragon’s Dogma Online will feature a brand new storyline with fresh worlds and settings.

Here there be dragons.

As far as online logistics, DDO will have a 100-player lobby that can be use to find and recruit players as well as interact with online gamers. Along with the lobby system, there will apparently also be a quick-matching option to team up with other players on the fly.

Dragon’s Dogma Online has been confirmed to ship with microtransactions (it’s a F2P after all), but we’re not sure if Capcom is embracing full on “pay-to-win” or not. I would imagine that the publisher wouldn’t take this route, as DD is pretty popular in Japan, and this would water down the game quite a bit.

Parties will be 4-player max (Famitsu affirms the game will be just like the 2012 original), and gameplay will feature a host of traditional character jobs like fighter, hunter, priest, shield, sage and more. Players can recruit other active players for a party, or use “pawns”, which are much like bots, to fill in their ranks.

Additionally DDO will have expansive 8-player raid-like events to partake in. Also it appears that monsters now have an enrage timer, where they can get “angry” and become stronger after a period of time.

Franchise regulars like game director Kento Kinoshita and executive producer Hiroyuki Kobayashi are attached to the new project, and are joined by Capcom producer Minae Matsukawa (Pheonix Wright: Ace Attorney), so it looks as if Dragon’s Dogma Online is in more than safe hands.

Additionally a Capcom UK representative told Eurogamer that the publisher has “no plans to bring it to the West”, so it looks like it’ll be an exclusive game.

As for more specifics, Famitsu will have all the info in their 18-page exclusive, and we’ll be sure to update this post when more information (release date, etc) becomes available.

The post Dragon’s Dogma Online Revealed, Will Be Japanese Exclusive appeared first on VR World.

Creating the ultimate dream-team party in Dragon Age: Inquisition is something that all players want to experience, and in BioWare games, mixing and matching party members is half of the fun.

Finding that perfect balance between Rogues, Mages and Warriors can be a long-winded process full of experimentation and testing. Sometimes you won’t know if a particular skill is worth getting, or if a passive is too good to be true.

In a sprawling RPG game like Dragon Age: Inquisition, it helps to know what you’re doing and be on the top of your game as soon as possible–otherwise you’ll feel the need to re-spec or even restart the game and lose your progress.

If you want to go toe-to-toe with towering dragons and take on the fiercest demons of the Fade, you’ll need to arm yourself with knowledge. Luckily we’ve come across an immensely handy guide courtesy of Reddit user Legacy_Raider, which reveals the dynamics of spell combos.

We’ve broken down the basics and fundamentals of combos, and tell you everything you need to know about status effects, detonators and the resulting bonus chaos so you can take on the biggest and baddest in Thedas.

Anatomy Of A Spell Combo

Certain skills in Inquisition are must-haves that can set up devastatingly powerful combos that wreak havoc on foes. Experimenting with class abilities can lead to some pretty surprising results (like Whirlwind with Static Cage) and decimate baddies with substantial damage bonuses.

But first we have to understand what status effects are, and how they work in tandem with “detonation” skills to pull off high damage.

Every class–Rogue, Mage and Warrior–has its own set of skills that inflict varying status effects as well as specific detonation skills. Combos essentially begin with incapacitating an enemy with a status effect followed up with a “detonator ability”.

Essentially combos are just a specific rotation of skills that deliver bonus damage and affects when properly executed, and keeping things simple is the key to understanding how they work.

Status Effects: Combo Starters

There are four basic status effects–Stun, Sleep, Freeze and Paralyze–and below we have a breakdown of the classes and skills that inflict them. Note that these abilities are also synonymous with “incapacitating” effects and the “disabled” status.

Incapacitating Effect –> Class –> Skill (Skill Tree)

• Stun –> Warrior –> Pommel Strike (Two-Handed Tree)

• Sleep –> Rogue –> Knockout Powder (Subterfuge Tree)

• Freeze –> Mage –> Winter’s Grasp // Flask of Frost (Tempest Rogue)

• Paralyze –> Mage –> Lightning Bolt (Storm Tree)

The above skills are essential abilities to pick up for all classes in some mixture or another. It’s advised that you spread out and vary your party members, but they’ll all need some form of combo starter skill. You can’t go wrong with any of the above, but the passives can get a bit tricky.

Let’s just stick with combos for right now.

Detonators: Combo Finishers

Now that we know how to start a combo, let’s explore some basic finishers.

Just like the status effects, detonators are typified by the class they belong to and are made up of three basic types: Impact, Precision and Eldritch. All of these lead to different combo outcomes and can afford tremendous strategic advantage.

Detonator –> Class –> Skill 

• Impact –> Warrior –>
  • Lunge and Slash
  • Shield Bash (Weapon & Shield Tree)
  • Mighty Blow, Whirlwind (Two-Handed Tree)
  • Spell Purge (Templar)

• Precision –> Rogue –>
  • Longshot (Archery),
  • Twin Fangs, Death Blow (Double Daggers Tree)
  • Shadow Strike (Subterfuge)

• Eldritch –> Mage –>
  • Mind Blast, Dispel (Spirit)
  • Energy Barrage (Storm)
  • Immolate (Inferno)
  • Spirit Blade (Knight-Enchanter)
  • Stonefist (doubles as Impact, Rift Mage)

Combos are all about strategy, and to effectively use them, you’ll need to hop into the freeze-frame tactical menu to plot your party’s actions. Having full step-by-step control over your party is essential to pulling off the combos, and the RTS-style tactical view is a fantastic way to learn the basics of this craft.

Learning the flow of battle is paramount to successful execution of spell synergies, but with time you’ll get the hang of it.

Now let’s move on to the advanced course in spell combos 101.

Combo Effects

Incapacitating skills set the bomb in place, detonators light the fuse and combo effects are the resulting explosion.

The most amazing thing about combos in Dragon Age: Inquisition is that status and detonator spells can be mixed and matched to deliver different explosive results. This is the advanced course, and we’ll be taking a look at the true dynamics of spell combos as tactical tools of destruction.

After successful detonation, certain combo sets will hit enemies with powerful afflictions that can weaken baddies, dish out huge elemental damage, or even send them in a crazed panic of fear. These debilitating statuses are the key to tackling strong bosses or playing on higher difficulties.

Essentially the formula is like this, along with a breakdown of each of the combo effects and what they do.

Incapacitating Spell + Detonator = Combo Effect

• Basic Combo –> Moderate bonus damage, no bonus status effect.

• Rupture –> High damage over time (DoT) that ignores armor, similar to a bleed effect.

• Shatter–> High cold elemental damage.

• Nightmare –> High damage, inflicts Panic effect (enemy stops attacking and moves randomly around the battlefield).

• Discharge –> High AoE lightning damage to enemies within range.

• Weakness –> High damage bonus and inflicts Weakness effect (target’s attacks do less damage)

Now that we know all the basics of the incapacitating spells, detonators and the combo effects, let’s go over some sample combos and their respective results in battle. Every detonator will trigger different outcomes, all of which can be the difference between life and death in those tough situations.

It’s best to start out with the simple combos like Pommel Strike + Lunge and Slash, then work your way to using Mage skills like Winter’s Grasp and Lightning Bolt to start off your combos.

One of the more effective starter synergies is just Winter’s Grasp + Shield Bash, which works incredibly well if the opponent is shielded or heavily armored. Varric or Cole’s Knockout Powder is an excellent combo starter as well, as it puts baddies to sleep and allows you to kick off the bleeding effects of Rupture or terrorizing them with Nightmare.

If you happen to unlock the Templar specialization, he can actually combo off of his own skills: the  Wrath of Heaven ability–which delivers a Stun AoE attack–can be detonated by the Spell Purge attack, dealing huge damage.

If we consult the table above, a Stun starter combined with an Eldritch detonator kicks off Weakness, and for an added bonus, Spell Purge also dispels and de-buffs baddies of all their bonuses.

Another amazing combo is using Knockout Powder on group of clustered enemies then rampaging in with a two-handed Warrior’s Whirlwind ability. This will combo off of the entire group, dealing impressive damage across the board.

Static Cage also works exceptionally well with Whirlwind.

The former is a spell from the Mage’s Storm tree, and essentially traps enemies and paralyzes them in a given space. Once paralyzed, two-handed Warriors can jump in and stir up a frenzy with Whirlwind, rending the poor hapless souls to bits.

To take full advantage of these synergies you’ll want to pay attention to enemy strengths and weaknesses. These can be seen at any time when you use the tactical menu, where you can hover over a demon or Red Templar and see their stats.

Should an enemy not have any weaknesses, well you can just fire up a recipe like Pommel Strike (Stun) + Mind Blast (Eldritch Detonator) and Weaken them yourself.

At their core combos are strategic advantages that can sway any battle in your favor. Using the right conjunction of spells at the right time can lead to an ultimate victory against the strongest foes of Thedas.

With the power of combos every party member has the capacity to be a huge asset for the entire team. Be sure to pick up all of the combo starters and check through the detonators to find which you like the most. But be careful as you’ll want to invest in passives to round out your characters.

Now that you know the basics of combos be sure to give them a try! At first it’ll be slow-going, but once you get all the rotations and Tactics down pat, battle will flow like a finely tuned machine.

We hope you’ve learned a thing or two with this guide, and be sure to let us know in the comments section below if you’ve found any other interesting character class skill combos!

The post Dragon Age: Inquisition Skill Combo Guide appeared first on VR World.

Ser Jaime Lannister has crossed over from the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros to the fantasy realm of Thedas.

Using Dragon Age: Inquisition‘s innovative character creator, Reddit user sigurd07 has re-created the Kingslayer from George R.R. Martin’s renown fantasy epic A Song of Ice and Fire.

Known for his dashing good looks and superlative swordplay, Jaime Lannister is one of the most feared and admired men in all of the Seven Kingdoms. The knight earned his namesake as Kingslayer after betraying and killing the ‘Mad King’ Aerys Targaryen during Robert’s Rebellion, and ever since Jaime has carried the dishonorable title like a weight throughout his life.

The Kingslayer is one of the main characters in HBO’s megahit Game of Thrones, portrayed by Danish actor Nicolaj Coster-Waldau, and is one of the most captivating personas in the fantasy drama.

If you want to make your own Kingslayer, YouTuber MarcusGarlick has a nice video tutorial on how to craft Jaime Lannister’s hard-planed and charming visage in Dragon Age: Inquisition, highlighting all the small facial tweaks you’ll need to make in order to match Coster-Waldau’s stern-yet-somehow-jocular expressions.

The trend of creating Game of Thrones characters in Dragon Age: Inquisition continues onward, and was originally started when a Reddit user spun a stunning recreation of one of the show’s principal heroines, Daenerys Targaryen.

The Mother of Dragons and Khaleesi of the Great Grass Sea looks resplendent when rendered in Dragon Age’s graphical engine, and instantly steals the scene with her white-haired beauty. The creator, a Reddit user by the handle of killerewok, even goes as far as to show you how to create your very own Daenerys Stormborn with an Imgur tutorial gallery.

Inquisition‘s character creator is pretty dynamic, but it’s also tricky.

After fiddling with it for some time I can honestly say that these guys are pretty close to mastering their craft. All of my renditions turn out awkward, freakish or plain wrong, leaving me to start over from scratch.

We can only guess what other Game of Thrones worthies will be created next: maybe Tyrion Lannister will make an appearance as a Dwarf, or the sly, silver-tongued devil Littlefinger. It’d be neat to see Eddard Stark or Jon Snow in the mix, along with Stannis Baratheon and maybe even the stoic, honorable she-knight Brienne of Tarth.

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