I fully agree with every one of these, especially Briala ruling through Gaspard, feels like the only way to fix Orlais the way it needs fixed. Though I fully admit I'm a Briala fan so am very biased.
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Briala ruling through Gaspard.
Is that the pro Tevinter position? Because no way that's not going to blow up in everyone's faces -- I mean, masks.
Is that the pro Tevinter position? Because no way that's not going to blow up in everyone's faces -- I mean, masks.
Nice. I wanted to do an Elven Mage myself just for the unique dialogue options and ability to get the Blood Mage specialization, but ultimately I love the Rogue playstyle and wanted to experience the unique dialogue options for a City Elf with high Cunning. There's been some surprising hidden Cunning options I've found so far, at Ostagar and in banter with companions (like Alistair).
Yeah I saw that mod. Users are reporting it's not a total fix, however, and there's still a lot of run around (having to always change companions at party camp to 'reset' the timer, etc). I cannot believe to this day the banter system is so inconsistent and requires players (especially on consoles) to jump through hoops to experience it consistently. I remember being so bummed by Inquisition on launch in 2014, so I hope all the DLC and the rest of the story I never made it through is compelling enough to finish it this time.
In regards to my mentioned playthrough of DA:O... just finished Orzammar and the Deep Roads first, to get Oghren early. He's a lot more crude and funny (but also surprisingly deep) than I remember a decade ago, and his banter with both Morrigan and Zevran has been hilarious. I only found out recently you can actually bring him to Lothering before it's burned down, though I couldn't see if there were any unique reactions from him when recruiting Sten and Leliana as I'd already gotten them. Has anyone here tried that? I kinda want to go out of my way, this playthrough, to find as many hidden dialogue branches and companion reactions as possible.
As for Orzammar and the Deep Roads itself... probably still my least favourite questline of the game. The Dwarven lore is a blast to read and immerse in, but the actual content there wasn't as compelling as I'd hoped to remember. I chose Bhelen this time as I'd never supported him before, but he's rather typical in his interactions (scheming, cunning, pragmatic throne chaser) and I actually prefer doing the Proving quests for Harrowmont in retrospect. I was also disappointed none of the NPCs (with the exception of the Shaper) reacted to Shale's presence. Finally... the Deep Roads was just far too long. I get it's a high-level dungeon crawl, but it was just too same-ey for my tastes. Even the showdown with Caridan, and choosing Branka, wasn't as different or entertaining as I'd hoped.
Off to the Circle next... let's hope the Fade doesn't elicit the same reaction.
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I'm not sure how long it's taking on my newest playthrough with the mod, but it's frequent enough for me. And I don't change companions that much - I have a fixed party that only changes for story purposes (like all mages for Redcliffe, etc).
That's a cool art, but I really don't like how everything seem to be in pieces (from the bow to the world itself).
For some reason it reminds me more of Anthem than Dragon Age.
The character is supposedly part of a faction from beyond Thedas, so I think it's intentionally alien to the stuff we've seen in the world so far. As for the location itself, it's hard to guess where it could be.
I'm not sure if this is some kind of Tevinter Archer or NPC but we have seen this artwork a couple times now and that looks like the same type of bow used by the person in The Game Awards trailer. This could be the concept art for what ended up being the archer in that trailer, or could it be someone completely different?
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Yep. We've seen them before as well, at Gamescom.
And featured in a short story published on Dragons Age Day 2020, which was accompanied by this artwork:
Of course, we have no confirmation yet, but people have speculated that they are the Executors, a previously unknown faction briefly mentioned during a War Table mission in Inquisition, located beyond the Amaranthine Sea. They also briefly appear in Tevinter Nights. Their symbol is a triangle pointing down with two wavy lines crossing it, much like the triangle on the back of the character in the artwork above.
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Yep. We've seen them before as well, at Gamescom.
And featured in a short story published on Dragons Age Day 2020, which was accompanied by this artwork:
Of course, we have no confirmation yet, but people have speculated that they are the Executors, a previously unknown faction briefly mentioned during a War Table mission in Inquisition, located beyond the Amaranthine Sea. They also briefly appear in Tevinter Nights. Their symbol is a triangle pointing down with two wavy lines crossing it, much like the triangle on the back of the character in the artwork above.
Thanks, that sounds like a pretty good theory. I really need to read Tevinter Nights, I have it waiting on my Kindle but just haven't gotten around to starting it yet. I am working my way back through DA:O and don't want to get too far ahead of the game I am playing...
Man those responses, woulda laundered this one through the official DA account. Lot of "oh you're too good for Anthem now huh?!??" replies.
In my opinion, the faster they just burn Anthem to the ground and cut their losses the better: resources going to DA4 and ME5 well spent.
Yeah, I found that pretty embarrassing. The dude isn't even on the same studio anymore, let alone the same project. It's not his place to talk about Anthem, but gamers going to be gamers I guess.
I think he is still in Austin but then everyone is working from home so location may not make as much difference at the moment. Also plenty of BioWare Austin devs have worked on Dragon Age before
I think it's the combination of the bow and the armor, that gives off more of a Sci-Fi vibe to this than fantasy (at least for me).
Anthem is eating Star Wars The Old Republic and BioAustin resources
Everything is in BioWare's hand, EA gave them another chance after Andromeda and Anthem, they expanded the team into a new office and they are getting whatever they want, if they have a clear vision from start to finish then both DA4 and ME5 are going to turn out to be good, but if they fuck up a 3rd and a 4th time they are going to dig their own grave.
I still can't believe the DA keep used to let you choose whether Hawke was friends with Cullen. Lmao unreal. My Hawke would have murdered him if she could
Just as a heads-up for those interested, the Enhanced Character Creator mod was updated and fixed the crash at Skyhold. If you want to get it (and I do recommend it), it's super stable so far!
We're all thinking it, but I'm going to say it:
Bring back the rhyming tree and make it romanceable.
Bring back the rhyming tree and make it romanceable.
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Welp.
I'm junkie and I need my fix so I guess I hallucinate things now. This is the life I chose to lead.
So I'm at 'Doom Upon All the World' in Inquisition. I am aware of what happens to Solas after that mission, and am wondering if it's worth postponing to do the DLC first (other than Trespasser, of course.) I've done all the other companion quests and after 61 hours of playing I think I'm ready to move on. I'm definitely gonna do Trespasser regardless, but the idea of doing the other DLC and clearing the rest of the maps is kinda leaving me cold. Is it worth it?
I think it might be particularly interesting to do Jaws of Hakkon with Solas, yes, especially considering the story it tells, hitting very close to home if you've played a Lavellan who romanced Solas. I remember I thought so back when I did it way after I finished the game and regretted not having him by my side to do it with. I'm definitely bringing him along on my next playthrough.
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I'd probably play Jaws of Hakkon with him before finished the main story. I can't remember if he adds anything to The Descent so I'm not as sure on that one.
Just finished the Brecillian Forest on my DA:O replay and I'm surprised at how much I enjoyed it.
I always remembered it as being the most boring of the main quest arcs, yet maybe my high-school brain just couldn't comprehend the moral dilemma and epic depth of choices presented in dealing with Zathrian, Witherfang and the Lady of the Forest. Rolling a City Elf, I really wanted to be ruthless toward the former humans, but even after hearing Zathrian's story I couldn't help but feel sorry for the people still paying for their ancestor's sins hundreds of years ago. My final choice (support Zathrian) was a lot harder to make than I'd envisioned. And I found that very compelling.
Oh, and Oghren, Morrigan and Zevran have such good commentary throughout this area. Zevran's joke when he steals hte Mad Hermit's loot in the tree stump is gold.
I always remembered it as being the most boring of the main quest arcs, yet maybe my high-school brain just couldn't comprehend the moral dilemma and epic depth of choices presented in dealing with Zathrian, Witherfang and the Lady of the Forest. Rolling a City Elf, I really wanted to be ruthless toward the former humans, but even after hearing Zathrian's story I couldn't help but feel sorry for the people still paying for their ancestor's sins hundreds of years ago. My final choice (support Zathrian) was a lot harder to make than I'd envisioned. And I found that very compelling.
Oh, and Oghren, Morrigan and Zevran have such good commentary throughout this area. Zevran's joke when he steals hte Mad Hermit's loot in the tree stump is gold.
I'm playing a boring/totally awesome human noble inquisitor, so no Solas romance! Josephine though...
I'll play through Jaws of Hakkon next then.
One of my favorite gaming series ever. I wonder when we will get a release date, want to start a 'final' playthrough of Dragon age: Inquisition before DA4.
I'm a few hours into Dragon Age II and uh...why do people hate this game? I'm having a much better time than I did with Origins. The removal of skill checks and RPG elements in general is a bummer but the characters and general story are so much better so far, and the combat isn't bad at all. I'm confused.
The shorter dev cycle meant they had to cut a lot of corners. The same dungeon over and over again, for example. That left a sour taste in a lot of people's mouths. But honestly, I agree with you. If you can get past these things, it's a fantastic game. Enjoy!
You start to see the cut corners as you progress, like there's 4 environments in the game (Kirkwall, same cave over and over with different sections cordoned off, same mountain path over and over), combat encounters being waves of enemies that jump from the sky, and the final act has some dubious character choices, but in general I think DA2 has aged pretty well especially its bite-sized length. Play the Legacy DLC if you are enjoying yourself (you can skip Mark).
The quality of the story and character interactions are on par IMO with anything else in the series, so if that's what you come to Dragon Age for, you're in good hands. Honestly the asset re-use didn't bother me at all when I played it.
I think the story has a bit of quality whiplash, partially due to them needing to rush the third act. Act 2 with the Qunari is still, I think, the best extended stretch of storytelling in the Dragon Age series. Act 3 is some of the worst.
Yeah, you can tell there's some cuts even on the creative side, both due to short dev time and different goals. Like Hawke is easily the least customizable lead in the series, more of a Shepard, and that's a big step down after DAO.
But there's a lot to like there, and going in with low expectations helps you appreciate those parts. With another year or two in the oven, I think it could have been one of the all-time great RPGs of the 2010s.
But there's a lot to like there, and going in with low expectations helps you appreciate those parts. With another year or two in the oven, I think it could have been one of the all-time great RPGs of the 2010s.
In saying that, I think if they knew going in they would have a longer dev time, they wouldn't have made it as it is. It would probably have covered more of the Inquisition'a story then the smaller story of a refugee it ended up being. DA2 may be flawed but the limitations that made the flaws are also the same limitations that did the interesting really good things that might it quite unique
Working my way through Tevinter Nights and here are my thoughts thus far:
Three Trees to Midnight
Down Among the Dead Men
The Horror of Hormak
As a PS to the above, can we please not have brainwashing plots ever again in DA, thanks
Callback
Three Trees to Midnight
Pretty enjoyable, notable in the setup sense in that we get an idea what's going on with the Qunari invasion of Tevinter. Ben-Hassrath reveal was a good twist and it's always welcome when cultures and peoples in Thedas become more nuanced than less
Down Among the Dead Men
Really loved this. Sylvia Feketekuty's writing was tasty and I thought the characters worked the best out of the early stories. Nevarra as always is an interesting place and I hope to see Myrna and Audric somehow in the future.
The Horror of Hormak
Notable for some of its lore implications with the Elven Gods. I still don't think this series has had a good answer for what to do with the Grey Wardens after Origins. In some sense that is exactly what is going on with them in-universe but...Inquisition utilizing them with a brainwashing plot is not the most compelling development.
As a PS to the above, can we please not have brainwashing plots ever again in DA, thanks
Callback
Did nothing for me, either in concept or execution. I guess it's kinda interesting to see what happened to Skyhold after the Inquisition disbanded, but the answer is apparently nothing. Additionally, the "reveal" of the demon feeding off Solas's regret is mildly interesting, but we already knew pretty thoroughly just how conflicted he has felt about what he feels he has to do. I felt the writing in particular was not very sophisticated and overwrought with fight description and eventually I just started scanning paragraphs. All in all felt like nostalgia bait and not much more.
What are you playing on? The story and characters are the high point of the game, the repetitive environments and dire PC controls however...
I enjoyed playing it on console but find it a bit too tedious to go back to.
That was very deliberate and not a result of the cut corners though (for once). After the way DA:O had been received compared to Mass Effect they made a conscious choice that they wanted a Shepherd equivalent for Dragon Age. So they created Hawke - they even compared him to Shepherd in the pre-release stuff. Of course people didn't actually like that in Dragon Age so they reversed course again for Inquisition.
Yeah it feels very much like a game made for consoles, glad you're having fun!
i could never go back to playing da games unmodded tbh
in da:o all the origins tie into the main plot in some way which is pretty neat, so go with whatever you feel like. da2 i'd say mage hawke because that's so central to the story's conflict. people will tell you to play a female mage lavellan in dai and romance solas which i find incredibly boring but a lot of people enjoy so it's worth a shot?
in da:o all the origins tie into the main plot in some way which is pretty neat, so go with whatever you feel like. da2 i'd say mage hawke because that's so central to the story's conflict. people will tell you to play a female mage lavellan in dai and romance solas which i find incredibly boring but a lot of people enjoy so it's worth a shot?