Dragon Age Community Thread |OT| May The Dread Wolf Take You!

[Delphine]

I'm going to start reading the books tomorrow. I haven't read any of the books and I don't know why, but I am ready for more Dragon Age. Stolen Throne here I come!

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As far as books go, I haven't read a lot, I have to admit. I remember starting with The Masked Empire, that I thoroughly loved it from beginning to end, it was really great, and it motivated me to read the rest of the DA books in order. I then tried to read Stolen Throne and somehow dropped it halfway for some reason, I was just not captivated as much by it as I was by The Masked Empire, so I didn't manage to finish it. It might also be highly related to the fact I haven't played DAO & DA2, so it was easier to me to get into The Masked Empire, while Stolen Throne felt way more foreign to me, characters included.

I've heard good things about Asunder, and it features my best boï Cole, so I ought to give it a try at some point. For now, I need to finish Tevinter Nights, which I'm thoroughly enjoying for sure!

 

[Inyourprime]

As far as books go, I haven't read a lot, I have to admit. I remember starting with The Masked Empire, that I thoroughly loved it from beginning to end, it was really great, and it motivated me to read the rest of the DA books in order. I then tried to read Stolen Throne and somehow dropped it halfway for some reason, I was just not captivated as much by it as I was by The Masked Empire, so I didn't manage to finish it. It might also be highly related to the fact I haven't played DAO & DA2, so it was easier to me to get into The Masked Empire, while Stolen Throne felt way more foreign to me, characters included.

I've heard good things about Asunder, and it features my best boï Cole, so I ought to give it a try at some point. For now, I need to finish Tevinter Nights, which I'm thoroughly enjoying for sure!

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Yeah, I don't know how many times I've actually played Origins. Stolen Throne being a prequel to it is nice, so I figure it's the best place to start. Have you gotten around to playing Origins? If not, I really recommend it! Inquisition is close, but Origins is my favorite DA game. I just love the Dwarven noble origin story.

 

[Delphine]

Yeah, I don't know how many times I've actually played Origins. Stolen Throne being a prequel to it is nice, so I figure it's the best place to start. Have you gotten around to playing Origins? If not, I really recommend it! Inquisition is close, but Origins is my favorite DA game. I just love the Dwarven noble origin story.

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The first DA game I played was Dragon Age: Inquisition. After loving it so much (to the point I would take deep dives into the Dragon Age Wikia to soak in all the lore it has to offer), I wanted indeed to try and play Dragon Age Origins. And, well, that, ugh, didn't go well much, sadly. I played it for like 2 hours, but couldn't enjoy the gameplay much (vastly different from DA:I, and much more rudimentary in a way, not my cup of tea at all), and aesthetically it was a bit grating for me to look at. I don't think Origins aged as well as people think it did, truthfully. I never tried to play DA2 as a result of that experience, and also because I've seen many people claim it was the lesser of the 3 games. I still gathered lore about both those games through Wikia, but I didn't experience those games as a player. Maybe I should watch a Let's Play of both and get it over with, but I don't think I'm interested in playing either of them now, they're so different from DA:I, in a way that was hard for me to push through and get over it (like I pushed through when I played the first Uncharted games after the 4 had been released for example, it was a much better experience then).

That been said, I'm definitely interested in Bioware releasing a DAO and DA2 remastered versions. I'll probably give both a try again if that ever were to happen.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

Here's a scene I thought would work well in the next Dragon Age.

(The Architect bursts out of The Hero of Ferelden or Stroud if the HOF died.)
The Architect: "I see I've been discovered. I understand how this may look to you. But given the circumstances, I had no choice."

Dialogue wheel:
> (Attack) Monster. You die now.
> What circumstances? Who are you!?
> (emotional) You killed the HOF/Stroud?!
> (Romance) I heard you study the taint. I want to help.

 

[rras1994]

The first DA game I played was Dragon Age: Inquisition. After loving it so much (to the point I would take deep dives into the Dragon Age Wikia to soak in all the lore it has to offer), I wanted indeed to try and play Dragon Age Origins. And, well, that, ugh, didn't go well much, sadly. I played it for like 2 hours, but couldn't enjoy the gameplay much (vastly different from DA:I, and much more rudimentary in a way, not my cup of tea at all), and aesthetically it was a bit grating for me to look at. I don't think Origins aged as well as people think it did, truthfully. I never tried to play DA2 as a result of that experience, and also because I've seen many people claim it was the lesser of the 3 games. I still gathered lore about both those games through Wikia, but I didn't experience those games as a player. Maybe I should watch a Let's Play of both and get it over with, but I don't think I'm interested in playing either of them now, they're so different from DA:I, in a way that was hard for me to push through and get over it (like I pushed through when I played the first Uncharted games after the 4 had been released for example, it was a much better experience then).

That been said, I'm definitely interested in Bioware releasing a DAO and DA2 remastered versions. I'll probably give both a try again if that ever were to happen.

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I love Dragon Age Origins because there is good characters and you see where the lore about the world is and underlying themes but there is some issues with it, the gameplay is old fashioned which I know some people say is very good but it's awkward and it's the people who like a very old school RPG, kinda reminds me the people who like ME1 gameplay the best and wish the sequels followed it, but it's really clunky xompared to newer games and there's a reason it was moved away from. The art direction also struggles partly from the engine they used but you can tell at moments they felt they had to do stereotypical fantasy whereas DAI has very much it's own identity. I agree that DAO and DA2 would really do well from remaster/remake , as it would help be more welcoming to new players to remove the clunkier elements. If the Mass Effect Triology remaster does well, I really hope they do Dragon Age games.

 

[ShiftyCow]

Oh neat, a community thread.

Currently 45 hours into Inquisition, decided to finally play it now that it's on Steam. Just finished the Wicked Hearts and Wicked Eyes quest, loved how different it was.

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It's a unique mission for sure, but I find it a bit annoying on replays because of the timer and the fact that you can't open all the halla doors and there's no way to know what's behind each door, meaning that the options available at the end are kinda dependent on luck. After my first playthrough I always just used a guide. It has one of my favorite tracks from the game, though:

As far as books go, I haven't read a lot, I have to admit. I remember starting with The Masked Empire, that I thoroughly loved it from beginning to end, it was really great, and it motivated me to read the rest of the DA books in order. I then tried to read Stolen Throne and somehow dropped it halfway for some reason, I was just not captivated as much by it as I was by The Masked Empire, so I didn't manage to finish it. It might also be highly related to the fact I haven't played DAO & DA2, so it was easier to me to get into The Masked Empire, while Stolen Throne felt way more foreign to me, characters included.

I've heard good things about Asunder, and it features my best boï Cole, so I ought to give it a try at some point. For now, I need to finish Tevinter Nights, which I'm thoroughly enjoying for sure!

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The only Dragon Age books I haven't finished are The Stolen Throne and The Calling. Not sure if this is a hot take but I honestly think David Gaider didn't really become a good book writer until Asunder (which I def recommend). I do want to get back to The Calling just because the Architect is one of my favorite characters of the franchise.

 

[rras1994]

The only Dragon Age books I haven't finished are The Stolen Throne and The Calling. Not sure if this is a hot take but I honestly think David Gaider didn't really become a good book writer until Asunder (which I def recommend). I do want to get back to The Calling just because the Architect is one of my favorite characters of the franchise.

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I don't actually feel like that's a hot take, honestly the first two books feel like he felt he had to include typical fantasy tropes in them and I think it ended up working against the story of what he was trying to tell.

 

[Deleted member 34881]

So I have been getting into Dragon Age lore a lot watching videos and stuff and playingthrough inquisition a bunch with different races and stuff. I messed around with some mods nothing major just custimization and hair and stuff. Though I seen that the Bi Cassandra mod was popular I was just curious how the community felt about it?. I wouldn't use any of the other like Dorians or Sera's since that wouldnt make any sense. Also I still need to grab tevinter nights lol

 

[ShiftyCow]

So I have been getting into Dragon Age lore a lot watching videos and stuff and playingthrough inquisition a bunch with different races and stuff. I messed around with some mods nothing major just custimization and hair and stuff. Though I seen that the Bi Cassandra mod was popular I was just curious how the community felt about it?. I wouldn't use any of the other like Dorians or Sera's since that wouldnt make any sense. Also I still need to grab tevinter nights lol

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I definitely think the Bi Cassandra mod is less "problematic" than the respective Dorian or Sera mods because with the latter you're removing gay representation from the game. But at the end of the day, I think people should mod their games however they want since it doesn't really affect anyone else.

Straight Dorian is the most ironic mod ever, though.

 

[Xando]

Didn't realize we have a DA community thread.

Been itching to reinstall DA:I and do another mage playthrough.

 

[ShiftyCow]

Some random facts from the Summerfall stream:

-Zevran was supposed to be gay
-The placeholder name of the franchise was "Chronicles"
-The reason Oghren was in Awakening is because they started working on it before Origins came out and had assumed Oghren would be the most popular character
-Duncan wasn't supposed to be hot
-Tons of people dropped the game at the Fade part

 

[Phellps]

So I have been getting into Dragon Age lore a lot watching videos and stuff and playingthrough inquisition a bunch with different races and stuff. I messed around with some mods nothing major just custimization and hair and stuff. Though I seen that the Bi Cassandra mod was popular I was just curious how the community felt about it?. I wouldn't use any of the other like Dorians or Sera's since that wouldnt make any sense. Also I still need to grab tevinter nights lol

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I think mods changing a character's sexuality isn't a big deal if you're doing it because you really like said character and you wish you could romance them. There's no ill intent in doing that.
It's different if someone was, for instance, making Dorian straight simply to remove the gay themes from the game.

-Tons of people dropped the game at the Fade part

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Can't blame them.

 

[OneTrueJack]

I really hope we get to kill Solas in DA4. Like, the rest of the game could be terrible, but if we get to kill Solas then it's a 10/10 and I'll love it.

Can't blame them.

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It's the major thing that stops me from replaying Origins. How it wasn't cut during development is baffling. The Fade either needed to be much shorter, or be an entirely separate questline. Sticking it in the middle of an already too long quest was such a bad choice.

 

[Sou Da]

assumed Oghren would be the most popular character

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what the fuck?

 

[Doc Laserstein]

I hate the Fade in DA:O, and have absolutely used 'Skip the Fade' for the majority of my playthroughs, but once you've played through it once or twice you can power through it pretty quickly. The Deep Roads, on the other hand, are a fucking never-ending nightmare even if you know them like the back of your hand. I never would have played through all of the origins if it weren't for the mod that lets you skip the majority of the Deep Roads.

 

[Quinton]

Some random facts from the Summerfall stream:

-Zevran was supposed to be gay
-The placeholder name of the franchise was "Chronicles"
-The reason Oghren was in Awakening is because they started working on it before Origins came out and had assumed Oghren would be the most popular character
-Duncan wasn't supposed to be hot
-Tons of people dropped the game at the Fade part

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Ugh. Oghren.

 

[Zocano]

It's that Steve Blum charm/pull.

I will say I never really "got" the dislike/hate for The Fade. It takes a little bit but is mostly painless and you just get it out of the way.

 

[Phellps]

I hate the Fade in DA:O, and have absolutely used 'Skip the Fade' for the majority of my playthroughs, but once you've played through it once or twice you can power through it pretty quickly. The Deep Roads, on the other hand, are a fucking never-ending nightmare even if you know them like the back of your hand. I never would have played through all of the origins if it weren't for the mod that lets you skip the majority of the Deep Roads.

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I think what makes the Fade much more hated than the Deep Roads is that the Fade is a 1-hour long quest that happens to start in the middle of another 1-hour long quest. You arrive at the Circle, you make your way up the tower, about half way through you're dragged into the Fade for another quest involving a confusing labyrinth, shapeshifting and an awful, awful visual design (and by that I mean the Fade is fucking ugly). It's exhausting. It kills the pace of the quest. You have no down time. You can't wait to go back to camp. It's even worse if you get lost.

The Deep Roads aren't as bad - and I'll tell you this, I hate it too, make no mistake about that - but that's it, you start it from Orzammar, you had some rest, then you embarked on a trip to find a crazy Paragon. It also helps that it's not a hopeless blurry labyrinth.

 

[Sou Da]

The Deep Roads, on the other hand, are a fucking never-ending nightmare even if you know them like the back of your hand

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It's far worse than the Fade but also very thematically appropriate to be a slog.

 

[Lord Vatek]

-The reason Oghren was in Awakening is because they started working on it before Origins came out and had assumed Oghren would be the most popular character

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God damn was that a bad call.

I hate the Fade in DA:O, and have absolutely used 'Skip the Fade' for the majority of my playthroughs, but once you've played through it once or twice you can power through it pretty quickly. The Deep Roads, on the other hand, are a fucking never-ending nightmare even if you know them like the back of your hand. I never would have played through all of the origins if it weren't for the mod that lets you skip the majority of the Deep Roads.

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In addition to what other people said, getting through the Fade just ends back to where you were, the quest ends right after, and the whole thing was a waste of time.

The Deep Roads at least lead to the Dead Trenches which are great.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

I used to like Broken Circle a lot more in the past. But now that I think about it, in addition to the slog that is the Fade, the main conflict is the simplest/least complex/least interesting of the main quests.

On the other hand, possessed Uldred has beautiful enunciation.

 

[Doc Laserstein]

I agree about the payoff in the Deep Roads at least. The Dead Trenches and especially the encounter with Hespith and the Broodmother are great, it's just the getting there that still gives me cold sweats just thinking about it.

I got to the game a little late, I think 2012, and had heard all of the negative impressions of the Fade, so I was expecting the worst. When I finished Broken Circle I thought 'yeah, it sucked, but if that's worst the game hs to offer . . . ' so the Deep Roads completely snuck up on me.

 

[Kalentan]

I love all of the Dragon Boss music in the game. I loved those fights imho.

 

[ConVito]

I love all of the Dragon Boss music in the game. I loved those fights imho.

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Damn, looking at the video's thumbnail, I'd forgotten just how badass that promo image for Inquisition was.

 

[ShiftyCow]

Here's the timestamp for the Oghren part btw. Basically James Ohlen had a phase where he thought there was a formula for everything, from titles to comedic characters, and thought Oghren was gonna be the new Minsc or HK-47.

"Oghren is the key to all of this." - James Ohlen, probably

 

[Inyourprime]

The first DA game I played was Dragon Age: Inquisition. After loving it so much (to the point I would take deep dives into the Dragon Age Wikia to soak in all the lore it has to offer), I wanted indeed to try and play Dragon Age Origins. And, well, that, ugh, didn't go well much, sadly. I played it for like 2 hours, but couldn't enjoy the gameplay much (vastly different from DA:I, and much more rudimentary in a way, not my cup of tea at all), and aesthetically it was a bit grating for me to look at. I don't think Origins aged as well as people think it did, truthfully. I never tried to play DA2 as a result of that experience, and also because I've seen many people claim it was the lesser of the 3 games. I still gathered lore about both those games through Wikia, but I didn't experience those games as a player. Maybe I should watch a Let's Play of both and get it over with, but I don't think I'm interested in playing either of them now, they're so different from DA:I, in a way that was hard for me to push through and get over it (like I pushed through when I played the first Uncharted games after the 4 had been released for example, it was a much better experience then).

That been said, I'm definitely interested in Bioware releasing a DAO and DA2 remastered versions. I'll probably give both a try again if that ever were to happen.

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Yeah, I've heard the same from friends who tried to play Origins. I understand, and agree, it hasn't aged well, aesthetically. And honestly, I don't think I can play Origins again without any mods installed. And wIth DA2, I admit I am not as hard on it as I was when it first came out but I am in that same boat with people who didn't enjoy it as much as the other two games.

If this remaster of Mass Effect does well, I really would like to see them remake the Dragon Age series as well.

Some random facts from the Summerfall stream:

-The reason Oghren was in Awakening is because they started working on it before Origins came out and had assumed Oghren would be the most popular character
-Tons of people dropped the game at the Fade part

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That's... interesting. Oghren certainly wasn't my favorite. He was just some drunk, horney dwarf to me.

And yeah... not surprised at all. Didn't like the Fade my first time either.

 

[jph139]

Count me among people who didn't mind the Fade but hated the Deep Roads. Like, the Fade didn't even register to me as "bad" - I didn't know about its reputation until I saw people talking about it online. But I definitely remember playing through the Deep Roads and viscerally hating the experience.

 

[Zocano]

I like the Deep Roads more than the Fade and a lot of it has to do with the fact it was absolutely spot on with the long treacherous delve that it's sort of meant to be within the world. I enjoy the Origins combat so more of it never bothered me and that's probably key. While the actual character interactions is the core of Dragon Age, the combat was still perfectly acceptable and long combat sequences never really put me off so something like the Deep Roads or The Fade was just another one of those.

And like someone else mentioned before, the Deep Roads section actually builds up and is fairly relevant within the world and immediate story for the Paragon. It builds up to "hey, you're gonna have to go through the deep roads, you ready? It's an arduous trial for many and especially Wardens as the end of their Calling." As important as the Fade is, that segment in Origins absolutely felt way more distraction-y to what was immediately occuring.

 

[Zaber]

The Fade could be a pita depending on how you built your main character.

 

[Phellps]

The Fade could be a pita depending on how you built your main character.

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A mage was pretty much screwed having to get in combat on their own, given how fragile the class was in Origins.

 

[TheBlackMarvel]

A mage was pretty much screwed having to get in combat on their own, given how fragile the class was in Origins.

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Unless you had Arcane Warrior as your specialisation.

 

[Cantaim]

Because I have few places to turn I thought I'd come in here and ask for help. So I wanted to play Origins again as it's been years since I last did a run of it. But it keeps crashing on my computer (I'm running windows 10) are there any patches or fixes available to make it less crash happy on PC?

 

[Persephone]

Because I have few places to turn I thought I'd come in here and ask for help. So I wanted to play Origins again as it's been years since I last did a run of it. But it keeps crashing on my computer (I'm running windows 10) are there any patches or fixes available to make it less crash happy on PC?

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4GB patch. it tells the game to use 4gb of ram instead of the standard 2gb and is basically a necessity for stable performance

anyway my dragon age hot take of the day is that varric is an overrated shitty centrist

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

Who called Duncan "hot"? WHO? That's like finding Aslan hot.

 

[Cantaim]

4GB patch. it tells the game to use 4gb of ram instead of the standard 2gb and is basically a necessity for stable performance

anyway my dragon age hot take of the day is that varric is an overrated shitty centrist

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Thank you so much!

 

[Disclaimer]

Who called Duncan "hot"? WHO? That's like finding Aslan hot.

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Duncan is one of the hottest characters in the series.

 

[XR.]

.

 

[Jegriva]

Ugh. Oghren.

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Damn, they really missed the mark there.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

I looked back at pictures of Duncan. And you know what, I can see what people mean. But it's Duncan! He's barely a person. He's a symbol of something greater. Are symbols hot? It's like calling Andraste hot. Which she was technically speaking at the end of her life. But boundaries, people. BOUNDARIES.

But I suppose Duncan is at least understandable. As opposed to those of you who get sweaty around Corypheus.

 

[NeoBob688]

Some random facts from the Summerfall stream:

-Zevran was supposed to be gay
-The placeholder name of the franchise was "Chronicles"
-The reason Oghren was in Awakening is because they started working on it before Origins came out and had assumed Oghren would be the most popular character
-Duncan wasn't supposed to be hot
-Tons of people dropped the game at the Fade part

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Cool! Thanks for the summary.

 

[InASnowBoundLand]

By the way, here's a longer summary of Daivd Gaider's comments.

The Vir Dirthara

Dragon Age development insights from David Gaider - PART 1 This information came from DG on a recent SummerfallStudios Twitch stream where he gave developer commentary while Liam Esler played DAO,...

felassan.tumblr.com

Among many, this is an interesting bit that I know has been brought up by fans many times:

The experience of a mage in the world isn't represented or conveyed very well to the player when the player is a mage. The experience of the player when they're playing a mage or have a mage in their party doesn't really match up with how the world lore tells them how dangerous mages can be - for example, how they can lose control and so on, we never really have an example of a PC mage struggling with being taken over by a demon. This was originally supposed to be a subplot in DA2 for mage Hawkes, in one of the last cuts. In Act 2, mage Hawke was originally slowly being tricked by a demon in their head that they thought was real, only to realize at the last minute. Mouse the Pride demon in the mage Origin is the only time in the entire series that they really ever properly demonstrated how demons can fuck with [PC] mages. Also, PC templars were originally supposed to have a permanent lyrium addiction that they needed to 'feed', but this was scrapped as the system designers weren't keen on it and felt that it was essentially handicapping the player.

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They managed to keep the Tranquil in. There was a while there where they were going to be cut. At the same time, DG regrets that they couldn't solve the making of the player more aware of how mages are dangerous, thing. Players could make a cogent argument like "they're not that dangerous, look at me [mage PC]" and the writers were like "well… yeah, that is fair". It was a case of showing one thing and the player experience of it being another. DG feels that this made the templars come off worse than they are. DG feels that they are being massively unfair and too extreme in their approach to the problem, but the problem itself is a real thing. He feels that there's some merit/truth in the argument that mages are oppressed, but he looks at it more like an issue like gun control rather than as treatment of oppressed people, saying that we don't have an example in real life of oppressed people who can explode into demons and cast fireballs and so on

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[Deleted member 864]

Some random facts from the Summerfall stream:

-Zevran was supposed to be gay
-The placeholder name of the franchise was "Chronicles"
-The reason Oghren was in Awakening is because they started working on it before Origins came out and had assumed Oghren would be the most popular character
-Duncan wasn't supposed to be hot
-Tons of people dropped the game at the Fade part

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Oghren lol

 

[BossAttack]

LOL, imagine think Oghren is going to blow up when Alistair is standing right there. Like, Alistair is the first companion your introduced to, Oghren comes way later.

 

[rras1994]

LOL, imagine think Oghren is going to blow up when Alistair is standing right there. Like, Alistair is the first companion your introduced to, Oghren comes way later.

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HK47 blew up as a memorable companion and he can be one of the last companions in the game.

 

[Quinton]

Thankfully, HK-47's dark humor is about 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times funnier than Oghren's sexism-and-fart-jokes routine.

 

[rras1994]

Thankfully, HK-47's dark humor is about 100,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 times funnier than Oghren's sexism-and-fart-jokes routine.

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True, I love HK47, he is amazing. Like it's a shame that him along with Jolee Bindo you end up gettin g later in the game, I can never get enough of them.

 

[BossAttack]

HK47 blew up as a memorable companion and he can be one of the last companions in the game.

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True, and yet Gaider didn't think much of him at the time. Reading the blog post, its clear why it was believed Oghren would blow up. But, Gaider hates writing that type of character and saw him as pathetic, so someone else wrote Oghren. And yet, he still came off as pathetic.

 

[MetalMagus]

So, I haven't played any of the Dragon Age games since Origins dropped all those years ago, but this came across my way last night, and, well, thought it definitely needed to be shared.

 

[Comrade Grogu]

Both Sides: The Game.

😅

 

[rras1994]

I'm sharing this essentially cus it's cute and made me smile 😊.