- In addition to scouring areas for interesting loot, you should always keep an eye open for crafting resources. Collecting these will enable you to create runes, potions, bombs and poisons – all of which can make your party stronger in battle. You also receive 200 XP per resource found. Consult the Maps chapter to learn where ingredients can be found.
- All locked chests in Act 1 are of Standard grade at maximum, which requires 20 in Cunning to unlock. If you have a rogue as a permanent fixture in your party, there’s profit to be had by boosting this attribute at a fairly early stage. Complex chests that require 30 Cunning appear from the start of Act 2, so you may also wish to begin investing attribute points in anticipation of this.
- In the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions of Dragon Age II, there is a useful trick that you can employ to detect points of interactivity (especially sources of loot) in your immediate vicinity. Activate the Radial Menu and use the Camera stick to scour the environment. If there’s anything of note to investigate within range, a text description will appear above it (Fig. 4). Note that this only works with points of interactivity on your current elevation. For the PC version, press the TAB key to achieve the same result.