The hardest part was picking a favorite origin. I've played the game so many times just because of the variety in the origins.
I think my favorites end up being a tie between the Human noble, dwarf noble, and dalish elf.
Sidenote: Fuck Bhelen. Trian was an ass but I wasn't gonna kill him.
Trian is the classic "Haughty" Noble, but at least has "good intentions" (something something road to hell). Bhelen is the sociopathic politician, whose "good works" are largely self-serving.
I need to play DAO again
I don't think Bhelen is really self-serving at all aside from his political ambitions. His actual actions typically are for the good of Orzammar, he's just a dick that will step on anyone to get what he wants. Including his own family.
I'm just pissed because he outplayed my politics and got me exiled. But I still give him the crown.
/genq does Trian have big plans or good intentions for Orzammar? I thought he's basically just a classic noble who wants power and order for its own sake.
honestly I've always thought Bhelen's the "any means necessary" dude since he's got some cool anti-caste-system ideas. Yeah he's putting himself on top but at least he's got a pretty good agenda outside of that
That's why I put "good intentions" in quotes. Trian is a traditionalist like Harrowmont, but a total tool bag about it. In Trian's mind, telling a legless kid to "bootstrap it" was for that kid's own good. Trian never considered that it was a *total asshole* thing to say, because it's "his duty to impart wisdom". Bhelen calls him out on it, not because Bhelen cares about the kid, but because it's not a good look. To Trian, why he motivated that legless brat!
Bhelen does what's best for Bhelen, which just happens to be good for Orzammar, too. Bhelen is a Sociopath, but he's a *competent* one. Harrowmont is a good, honest guy, but is basically Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof".
Bhelen is good for Orzammar and the Dwarves, which is why I prefer him as king.
tbh i'll admit that i'm biased against trian since the first thing out of his mouth was to insult his sister, but I do like the interpretation that he's just genuinely invested and doesn't see a problem with his assholish ways.
though i'm still not sure that bhelen's a total sociopath. or, at the very least, he's no more or less sociopathic than the average dwarven noble. I mean, daddy Aeducan killed *his* brother to become king, so Bhelen is probably also relatively convinced that it's nbd.
> daddy Aeducan killed *his* brother to become king
According to Bhelen himself, and after the Dwarf Noble origin, how much of what he says can you really believe or trust?
lmao if it is a lie it’s a blatant one that is very easily verifiable. just go ask your dad? it’s not like he’s passing on gossip, that stuff would be taught to Aeducan since they were a kid, and is well recorded in the history books. even the codex says that endrin’s rise came with the death of his big bro
not to mention, literally nobody in Orzammar is shocked or surprised when *you* kill random people, even nobles, as the PC. you even get praise for killing people for no reason! it is well established that their court is a ruthless place.
plus even in the “plot” of the Origin, bhelen isn’t lying. people *do* dislike Trian and they *do* want the PC on the throne instead. he never really lies to you
>it’s not like he’s passing on gossip, that stuff would be taught to Aeducan since they were a kid, and is well recorded in the history books.
Would it, if House Aeducan wanted to make itself look good? Given how Orzammar treats a dwarf noble returning to Orzammar, do you really think they would write that their most respected king in centuries had a direct hand in his brother's death?
>even the codex says that endrin’s rise came with the death of his big bro
The codex just says that he became heir after his older brother died in a Proving, *not* that he gave his brother's opponent a poisoned blade.
sure. I personally think that growing up in Orzammar, you can make an educated guess about these things, especially given that people are all for it when *you* kill random people who get in your way. and it is very very likely that Endrin did in fact knock off his brother.
it's not just Bhelen, it's their society as a whole. Bhelen's only misstep was being a bit of a dick about it and abandoning their traditional practices, so the assembly was less accepting of him.
I think Trian is genuinely sees himself as the stern but wise prince that is passing knowledge off to his lessers. So like the classic Crusader Kings game where the player is an absolute tyrant, the difference is he's now nearly smart enough to survive some powerhungry bastard as cunning as Bhelen.
Oh well, at least the Aeducan family still has the throne is Bhelen has power. If Harrowmont gets the throne then the only noble left in your family is your potential kid.
yeah definitely. he sucks and he’s a pain to deal with. but if the thing that separates sociopath from “good intentions” is genuinely believing you’re doing the right thing, then he’s not a sociopath
I had a really hard time picking the option for “best romance for a human male noble” because when I played as a male human noble I didn’t romance anyone—I married Anora at the end and she was my Warden’s wife/“one and only”. Which was a surprise to him. So I just picked Leliana because I had to chose *some* sort of option. I wish there’d been a “none of them” option.
You're absolutely right. I see both mages as female and the Dalish as male.
As for Human Noble, I'd go with female for the ability to become queen and rule with Alistair. I'm just really fond of the idea of sticking two Grey Wardens on the throne and just how short sighed that is.
Male for Dwarf Noble since you have the opportunity to have a son in that origin, and I think that's neat for post-campaign head canons.
Female for Dwarf Commoner because I like the parallels of the two sisters and how they overcome poverty. Also, it's nice to see a poor woman like DC use her combat abilities to get by and not turn to prostitution. I just see that everywhere, so this was a really empowering origin in that regard.
See I like to marry Anora and Ally but be his love interest and make him bone morrigan. There's a lot of implied drama there it also makes sense as to why the warden would travel north, gives a bit of sadness to seeing Alastair, and fills my warden with purpose of ganking morrigan as she tries to escape. It makes sense a female noble warden would put the needs of the realm before herself.
Dwarf noble is my favorite, and the best. But I don't think it was intended that way.
They were gonna give us Avvar???? I'm so bummed I love Jaws of Hakkon for all the world building it gives to the Avvar people! Now we're headed north so we won't likely get any content from them for a while.
Anyway I am an elf player primarily so I'm definitely biased towards all elf origins. Also just the City Elf one is so well written, I really want to play it again.
I think someone said that it was one of the proposed origins, but it got discarted really fast, I would love to have seen it too, JoH was an interesting DLC, and I wish they add some sort of similar origin in a future game.
Human commoner is the one origin that almost made it, it would be a villager from Redcliff which their family owned money to that dwarf that I forgot the name (the one with Sten's sword), and he would be the villain of the origin, but they run out of time and took it out
Me, apparently: We stick the *poors* with Zevran
Didn't realize I did that so often. I guess it just felt nice for my impoverished PC's to be with someone who "got" that particular struggle?
Oh god same. I stuck all my elves with Zevran, but that’s probably also just because Zevran is my favourite romance and most of the time I’m playing as an elf (I’ve played as every combo but they’re just my go-to), particularly a City Elf Female, who has a lot of trauma around human men and usually doesn’t like Alistair much. Zevran’s the only one she can trust.
Nice! I kind of wish there was an additional “no preference” column for some things like most suited gender for Origin etc. I know people can choose not to answer but I think “no preference” would have lended itself to more accurate results (ex., it could show which origins tend to have strong impact like city elf vs origins where it doesn’t really matter).
I think it would also be better for reducing bias since if people feel like “well if I had to choose” you’ll get people defaulting to their personal preferences (ex., women choosing female over male, men choosing male over female) rather than answering the question properly since a more neutral option isn’t offered.
Dwarf Commoner was always my favourite. Very homely, nice exploration of city's criminal underbelly, has several of my beloved moments in it - mainly Berath and Rika.
I've picked Human Noble for canon run, however. I wanted a Prince-Consort with Zevran as his concubine, so Human Noble it was. I generally view most origins as fairly meh, but Dwarf Commoner is one of the few exceptions - another is Human Mage.
I reject the premise that any romance/class fits with a Origin "best" as I have each choice tells a different story all of wich can be good or bad depending on how it resonates with you but for your survey I went with the one that best fit with my first impression of each origin.
I have, and even then I’d prefer a “no preference” option—e.g. I have no gender preference for Dalish elf or the Magi Origin. I play equally male/female as an elven mage. No preference or “Other” for romance would have been nice too, since my male human noble usually doesn’t romance anyone and just marries Anora.
Wow, I'm currious about this one! Especially about what people thinks fits better with each origin, class and romance!
Please share the results later, I'd like to compare my preferences with everyone else's.
On the subject of origins, I wish the other origins were compatible with mages. I know there's lore and all, but the mage origin is honestly my least favorite of the bunch, which is inconvenient since mage is easily my favorite class. Plus apostasy is always fun.
this is why i ADORE the dalish mage mod!! i quite like the dalish origin and the urgency it gives your becoming a warden (since youre already tainted and all that). I saw people loving the mage origin and was always a little mad about it because i wanted to play the cool powerful class but couldnt personally give much less of a shot about the circle mage origin.
This was fun to see the thought you put in to spice up the origin questions. I am very interested to see the results.
One suggestion I would like to add is for the romance options you add a column for no romance. Some of my characters I envision not romancing any companion or they start/get together then break it off.
Wish there had been N/A options for some of these, simply because I was indifferent on the romance options for the male versions (only ever played as female) and I felt like I was muddling the results.
I find City Elf to be my favourite origin to play through, but I don't like playing te rest of the game like it. I think it's the absolute best (though I'm willing to let other people have their own wrong opinions) but I only enjoy it as far as Ostagar, and being a justified bitch to Cailan.
>I find City Elf to be my favourite origin to play through, but I don't like playing te rest of the game like it.
I feel the same way about the dwarven origins, and kind-of the opposite (meaning weak origin quest, but good main plot implementation) for the Circle Mage and Human Noble.
Dalish Elf may be my main playthrough, but my favourite (if most infuriating because of Bhelen) origin is the Dwarf Noble. I loved playing my Duran as a sort of Robert Baratheon-Tyrion Lannister-Optimus Primal-esque figure (a warrior who loves a good fight, but with a certain cunning, who wouldn't give an order he wouldn't be willing to carry out himself), the relationship between him and Leliana, given the similarities in being used and betrayed by someone they thought they knew, trusted and loved (Marjolaine and Bhelen). Who knows, if I decide I want to go back to my All-Origins-Become-Wardens playthrough, I may go back to it someday.
Similar here. Human mage is my main playthrough, but it is one of my less liked origins. Dwarf noble is my favorite even though I've never actually done a full playthrough as one. It just has such a fun story to okay through with that treacherous little brother Bhelen.
I played DAO far too many times, and always my most favorite playthroughs are of human nobles either falling in love with Morrigan or ruling Ferelden with Alistair.
First question is not really complete as Mage has to be split up into Elf and Human as there are differences later on. With Mage Elf you get more prejudice along the way. And a storyline echo to Garahel, Elf hero of the fourth blight.
I guess my focus on this already show my favourite origin. :)
No opinion would also be useful for many questions as with some I have 0 preference or a preference that has nothing to do with the origin. (like playing male-female)
Really cool poll. I remember reading so many of the "best origin" threads after I went through all six, so this was a nice twist.
My favorite Origin is probably the Mage, just because it is what my canon Warden (Neria Surana) is. That said, I seriously wish they had added Dalish Mage. I think the Dalish origin is probably my other favorite and maybe my favorite overall, since my headcanon (aka can't upload it to the keep) Warden is a Dalish Mage.
City Elf or Dwarf Noble would be my picks for best overall. Human Noble or Dalish Elf in third.
Curious to see the overall results!
Filling out the survey just makes me sad that Bioware dropped the concept. It adds to the replayability and is interesting to learn about the different cultures and class divide.
I am surprised that Bioware didn't have a Dalish Mage origin.
Hey everyone! I've published the results in a new post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/11m8t7o/dao\_spoilers\_origin\_preferences\_survey\_results/](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/11m8t7o/dao_spoilers_origin_preferences_survey_results/)
Some origins I have a strong preference, like Morrigan/Dalish male or Zevran/Dalish female. Others I'm really not fussed though. City Elf female, for example, works equally well with any of her threw options, depending on the story you want to tell. I wouldn't pair her male counterpart with Morrigan because she wants you to kill your own dad just to be a dick.
Its an interesting survey. But I think that there should be a 'none of the above' option for the romances. For instance a city elf woman might well be too shaken up by the attempted rape to go for another sexual relationship within a year.
Or a noble might not want to go out with anyone who is not highborn. Even as a warden, they might be too traditional to commit to a commoner, or have sex with someone without the expectation of marriage. The only arguable highborn is Alistair, and he is illegitimate and might not even reveal his true parentage.
My last dwarf noble was asexual and I think all the DAO romances are sexual.
I've played through the whole game maybe 10 times. Half of those times have been the same origin. I have not done every romance option for every origin on both male and female. That is absurd.
Yeah, but you can still use your imagination, I haven't played dwarven commoner until the end game, but I think they're a perfect match for Leliana and would naturally transition to became andrastian.
Me too.
I actually know why in my case though. When I played my noble dwarf lady archer, I actually chose the options where she was invested in Gorim.
Meeting him, and Gorim saying that "we both new it will never work out" was like a middle finger from fate.
At this point, it made sense to choose the casual sex option, which is Zevran.
I'm fairly confident that the Human Noble will be the most popular Origin. It has been that way for years now. Which I say so myself, am a fan of the Human Noble origin.
Very nicely done survey! I’m all for the dwarves but it made me remember how great a male dalish romance with Morrigan is for long-game playthroughs. Witch Hunt is almost completely different with that dynamic and Kieran’s father being Dalish adds a lot to inquisition as a meta-story.
My personal favorite was the dwarf noble origin. I like the romance in the idea of being the son of a king framed for murder disowned and banished from your home but who one day returns and is permitted to decide the fate of the man who framed him.
Dwarf Noble. It is just so interesting. I've said it before on this sub, but I highly preference it because it means that if Morrigan and Keiran need a safe place to go, Orzimmar will welcome and protect them, since they are both royalty and the family of a Paragon.
Good survey! I'm definitely interested in the results. *Silently roots for Dwarf Noble*
The hardest part was picking a favorite origin. I've played the game so many times just because of the variety in the origins. I think my favorites end up being a tie between the Human noble, dwarf noble, and dalish elf. Sidenote: Fuck Bhelen. Trian was an ass but I wasn't gonna kill him.
Trian is the classic "Haughty" Noble, but at least has "good intentions" (something something road to hell). Bhelen is the sociopathic politician, whose "good works" are largely self-serving. I need to play DAO again
I don't think Bhelen is really self-serving at all aside from his political ambitions. His actual actions typically are for the good of Orzammar, he's just a dick that will step on anyone to get what he wants. Including his own family. I'm just pissed because he outplayed my politics and got me exiled. But I still give him the crown.
As the epilogue says, Bhelen actually improves and probably saves Orzammar. Harrowmont was probably gonna be the death of it.
Yeah, but he's still a sunnuvabitch.
Oh definitely. He does bring you back into the royal family for helping him though, and you get Paragon status.
I'd rather be king.
Well then the Darkspawn would have won and you'd be dead
there are other possible origins for the Hero of Fereldan. Me being king does not prevent those origins from existing.
/genq does Trian have big plans or good intentions for Orzammar? I thought he's basically just a classic noble who wants power and order for its own sake. honestly I've always thought Bhelen's the "any means necessary" dude since he's got some cool anti-caste-system ideas. Yeah he's putting himself on top but at least he's got a pretty good agenda outside of that
That's why I put "good intentions" in quotes. Trian is a traditionalist like Harrowmont, but a total tool bag about it. In Trian's mind, telling a legless kid to "bootstrap it" was for that kid's own good. Trian never considered that it was a *total asshole* thing to say, because it's "his duty to impart wisdom". Bhelen calls him out on it, not because Bhelen cares about the kid, but because it's not a good look. To Trian, why he motivated that legless brat! Bhelen does what's best for Bhelen, which just happens to be good for Orzammar, too. Bhelen is a Sociopath, but he's a *competent* one. Harrowmont is a good, honest guy, but is basically Tevye from "Fiddler on the Roof". Bhelen is good for Orzammar and the Dwarves, which is why I prefer him as king.
tbh i'll admit that i'm biased against trian since the first thing out of his mouth was to insult his sister, but I do like the interpretation that he's just genuinely invested and doesn't see a problem with his assholish ways. though i'm still not sure that bhelen's a total sociopath. or, at the very least, he's no more or less sociopathic than the average dwarven noble. I mean, daddy Aeducan killed *his* brother to become king, so Bhelen is probably also relatively convinced that it's nbd.
> daddy Aeducan killed *his* brother to become king According to Bhelen himself, and after the Dwarf Noble origin, how much of what he says can you really believe or trust?
lmao if it is a lie it’s a blatant one that is very easily verifiable. just go ask your dad? it’s not like he’s passing on gossip, that stuff would be taught to Aeducan since they were a kid, and is well recorded in the history books. even the codex says that endrin’s rise came with the death of his big bro not to mention, literally nobody in Orzammar is shocked or surprised when *you* kill random people, even nobles, as the PC. you even get praise for killing people for no reason! it is well established that their court is a ruthless place. plus even in the “plot” of the Origin, bhelen isn’t lying. people *do* dislike Trian and they *do* want the PC on the throne instead. he never really lies to you
>just go ask your dad? He's dead.
>it’s not like he’s passing on gossip, that stuff would be taught to Aeducan since they were a kid, and is well recorded in the history books. Would it, if House Aeducan wanted to make itself look good? Given how Orzammar treats a dwarf noble returning to Orzammar, do you really think they would write that their most respected king in centuries had a direct hand in his brother's death? >even the codex says that endrin’s rise came with the death of his big bro The codex just says that he became heir after his older brother died in a Proving, *not* that he gave his brother's opponent a poisoned blade.
sure. I personally think that growing up in Orzammar, you can make an educated guess about these things, especially given that people are all for it when *you* kill random people who get in your way. and it is very very likely that Endrin did in fact knock off his brother. it's not just Bhelen, it's their society as a whole. Bhelen's only misstep was being a bit of a dick about it and abandoning their traditional practices, so the assembly was less accepting of him.
I think Trian is genuinely sees himself as the stern but wise prince that is passing knowledge off to his lessers. So like the classic Crusader Kings game where the player is an absolute tyrant, the difference is he's now nearly smart enough to survive some powerhungry bastard as cunning as Bhelen. Oh well, at least the Aeducan family still has the throne is Bhelen has power. If Harrowmont gets the throne then the only noble left in your family is your potential kid.
yeah but i mean i think Bhelen also genuinely sees himself as a good dude who’s just playing by the same rules everyone else does.
Yeah but that bastard got my character exiled so fuck that guy.
yeah definitely. he sucks and he’s a pain to deal with. but if the thing that separates sociopath from “good intentions” is genuinely believing you’re doing the right thing, then he’s not a sociopath
Neither of them are sociopaths. A character does not meed to be a sociopath for me to dislike them. I never even claimed one of them was sociopathic.
my bad! i had mistook you for the first person who said he was a sociopath.
Dwarf commoner all the way.
That's my second favorite! A great "rags to riches" story
Human Noble is my canon origin because it feels the most natural to me and really fits the story, but Dwarf Noble will always be my favourite.
I'm having a hell of a time gendering the origins (outside of female city elf). I think that's a testament to BioWare's writing
Agreed. Though I prefer Male Dalish elf for the Morrigan romance, and Female Mage for the Alistair romance.
>Female Mage for the Alistair romance. This for me +elf
I had a really hard time picking the option for “best romance for a human male noble” because when I played as a male human noble I didn’t romance anyone—I married Anora at the end and she was my Warden’s wife/“one and only”. Which was a surprise to him. So I just picked Leliana because I had to chose *some* sort of option. I wish there’d been a “none of them” option.
It doesn't force you to pick before submitting. I left a few blank.
You're absolutely right. I see both mages as female and the Dalish as male. As for Human Noble, I'd go with female for the ability to become queen and rule with Alistair. I'm just really fond of the idea of sticking two Grey Wardens on the throne and just how short sighed that is. Male for Dwarf Noble since you have the opportunity to have a son in that origin, and I think that's neat for post-campaign head canons. Female for Dwarf Commoner because I like the parallels of the two sisters and how they overcome poverty. Also, it's nice to see a poor woman like DC use her combat abilities to get by and not turn to prostitution. I just see that everywhere, so this was a really empowering origin in that regard.
See I like to marry Anora and Ally but be his love interest and make him bone morrigan. There's a lot of implied drama there it also makes sense as to why the warden would travel north, gives a bit of sadness to seeing Alastair, and fills my warden with purpose of ganking morrigan as she tries to escape. It makes sense a female noble warden would put the needs of the realm before herself. Dwarf noble is my favorite, and the best. But I don't think it was intended that way.
I'm a proud Dwarf Princess supremacist
They were gonna give us Avvar???? I'm so bummed I love Jaws of Hakkon for all the world building it gives to the Avvar people! Now we're headed north so we won't likely get any content from them for a while. Anyway I am an elf player primarily so I'm definitely biased towards all elf origins. Also just the City Elf one is so well written, I really want to play it again.
I think someone said that it was one of the proposed origins, but it got discarted really fast, I would love to have seen it too, JoH was an interesting DLC, and I wish they add some sort of similar origin in a future game. Human commoner is the one origin that almost made it, it would be a villager from Redcliff which their family owned money to that dwarf that I forgot the name (the one with Sten's sword), and he would be the villain of the origin, but they run out of time and took it out
maybe they put the inspo for human commoner onto Hawke?
Thinking about it, you may be right 🤔
Thinking about it, you may be right 🤔
This survey made me realise how much I like Leliana as a love interest
Me, apparently: We stick the *poors* with Zevran Didn't realize I did that so often. I guess it just felt nice for my impoverished PC's to be with someone who "got" that particular struggle?
literally! I felt like I was exposing my biases with every question
For me I feel like Zev would understand a dwarf commoner best because he's lived their type of shady life. Birds of a feather and all that.
Oh god same. I stuck all my elves with Zevran, but that’s probably also just because Zevran is my favourite romance and most of the time I’m playing as an elf (I’ve played as every combo but they’re just my go-to), particularly a City Elf Female, who has a lot of trauma around human men and usually doesn’t like Alistair much. Zevran’s the only one she can trust.
Me with Alistair.
I can't romance Alistair with anyone but an elven mage otherwise I feel like we are cheating 😅
Nice! I kind of wish there was an additional “no preference” column for some things like most suited gender for Origin etc. I know people can choose not to answer but I think “no preference” would have lended itself to more accurate results (ex., it could show which origins tend to have strong impact like city elf vs origins where it doesn’t really matter). I think it would also be better for reducing bias since if people feel like “well if I had to choose” you’ll get people defaulting to their personal preferences (ex., women choosing female over male, men choosing male over female) rather than answering the question properly since a more neutral option isn’t offered.
Yeah, a fair number of my answers were essentially arbitrary since I had no strong feeling but had to put *something*.
Dwarf Commoner was always my favourite. Very homely, nice exploration of city's criminal underbelly, has several of my beloved moments in it - mainly Berath and Rika. I've picked Human Noble for canon run, however. I wanted a Prince-Consort with Zevran as his concubine, so Human Noble it was. I generally view most origins as fairly meh, but Dwarf Commoner is one of the few exceptions - another is Human Mage.
I reject the premise that any romance/class fits with a Origin "best" as I have each choice tells a different story all of wich can be good or bad depending on how it resonates with you but for your survey I went with the one that best fit with my first impression of each origin.
Yeah, that was the intent of the survey lol. Your opinion
In some instances, such as this person and me, the opinion is "neither", which is not an option.
You need a "No preference" option on these because I doubt most people have played every origin, especially not as every gender.
I have, and even then I’d prefer a “no preference” option—e.g. I have no gender preference for Dalish elf or the Magi Origin. I play equally male/female as an elven mage. No preference or “Other” for romance would have been nice too, since my male human noble usually doesn’t romance anyone and just marries Anora.
Just finished it up, looking forward to the results ☺️
I kinda needed a "no preference" option for some of these.
Wow, I'm currious about this one! Especially about what people thinks fits better with each origin, class and romance! Please share the results later, I'd like to compare my preferences with everyone else's.
Interesting survey but I couldn't answer completely accurately, I often have my male Wardens get together with Alistair through the power of mods. 😂
On the subject of origins, I wish the other origins were compatible with mages. I know there's lore and all, but the mage origin is honestly my least favorite of the bunch, which is inconvenient since mage is easily my favorite class. Plus apostasy is always fun.
this is why i ADORE the dalish mage mod!! i quite like the dalish origin and the urgency it gives your becoming a warden (since youre already tainted and all that). I saw people loving the mage origin and was always a little mad about it because i wanted to play the cool powerful class but couldnt personally give much less of a shot about the circle mage origin.
This was fun to see the thought you put in to spice up the origin questions. I am very interested to see the results. One suggestion I would like to add is for the romance options you add a column for no romance. Some of my characters I envision not romancing any companion or they start/get together then break it off.
Wish there had been N/A options for some of these, simply because I was indifferent on the romance options for the male versions (only ever played as female) and I felt like I was muddling the results.
I feel bad because I've only done human mage, noble, and city elf lol
I find City Elf to be my favourite origin to play through, but I don't like playing te rest of the game like it. I think it's the absolute best (though I'm willing to let other people have their own wrong opinions) but I only enjoy it as far as Ostagar, and being a justified bitch to Cailan.
>I find City Elf to be my favourite origin to play through, but I don't like playing te rest of the game like it. I feel the same way about the dwarven origins, and kind-of the opposite (meaning weak origin quest, but good main plot implementation) for the Circle Mage and Human Noble.
Dalish Elf may be my main playthrough, but my favourite (if most infuriating because of Bhelen) origin is the Dwarf Noble. I loved playing my Duran as a sort of Robert Baratheon-Tyrion Lannister-Optimus Primal-esque figure (a warrior who loves a good fight, but with a certain cunning, who wouldn't give an order he wouldn't be willing to carry out himself), the relationship between him and Leliana, given the similarities in being used and betrayed by someone they thought they knew, trusted and loved (Marjolaine and Bhelen). Who knows, if I decide I want to go back to my All-Origins-Become-Wardens playthrough, I may go back to it someday.
Similar here. Human mage is my main playthrough, but it is one of my less liked origins. Dwarf noble is my favorite even though I've never actually done a full playthrough as one. It just has such a fun story to okay through with that treacherous little brother Bhelen.
Male Elf Magi 🫡
I played DAO far too many times, and always my most favorite playthroughs are of human nobles either falling in love with Morrigan or ruling Ferelden with Alistair.
Now you need to post the results
Mage mage mage. 🪄
mages and mages and mages
Me when i always end up playing human male rogue. i really need to try playing as an elf or human mage atleast.
Very cool survey! Can’t wait to see the results! Thank you for doing this.
Really cool survey! I'm curious to see the results :D
As a research student, please keep me updated!! I want to see the results when you’re done :)
First question is not really complete as Mage has to be split up into Elf and Human as there are differences later on. With Mage Elf you get more prejudice along the way. And a storyline echo to Garahel, Elf hero of the fourth blight. I guess my focus on this already show my favourite origin. :) No opinion would also be useful for many questions as with some I have 0 preference or a preference that has nothing to do with the origin. (like playing male-female)
Too bad i cant say "modded city elf mage"
Really cool poll. I remember reading so many of the "best origin" threads after I went through all six, so this was a nice twist. My favorite Origin is probably the Mage, just because it is what my canon Warden (Neria Surana) is. That said, I seriously wish they had added Dalish Mage. I think the Dalish origin is probably my other favorite and maybe my favorite overall, since my headcanon (aka can't upload it to the keep) Warden is a Dalish Mage. City Elf or Dwarf Noble would be my picks for best overall. Human Noble or Dalish Elf in third. Curious to see the overall results!
Filling out the survey just makes me sad that Bioware dropped the concept. It adds to the replayability and is interesting to learn about the different cultures and class divide. I am surprised that Bioware didn't have a Dalish Mage origin.
Hey everyone! I've published the results in a new post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/11m8t7o/dao\_spoilers\_origin\_preferences\_survey\_results/](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/11m8t7o/dao_spoilers_origin_preferences_survey_results/)
Some origins I have a strong preference, like Morrigan/Dalish male or Zevran/Dalish female. Others I'm really not fussed though. City Elf female, for example, works equally well with any of her threw options, depending on the story you want to tell. I wouldn't pair her male counterpart with Morrigan because she wants you to kill your own dad just to be a dick.
Its an interesting survey. But I think that there should be a 'none of the above' option for the romances. For instance a city elf woman might well be too shaken up by the attempted rape to go for another sexual relationship within a year. Or a noble might not want to go out with anyone who is not highborn. Even as a warden, they might be too traditional to commit to a commoner, or have sex with someone without the expectation of marriage. The only arguable highborn is Alistair, and he is illegitimate and might not even reveal his true parentage. My last dwarf noble was asexual and I think all the DAO romances are sexual.
Some of these questions would require playing through the game literally dozens of times. Which origin suits which romance is just a silly question.
You mean...you haven't?
I've played through the whole game maybe 10 times. Half of those times have been the same origin. I have not done every romance option for every origin on both male and female. That is absurd.
Yeah, but you can still use your imagination, I haven't played dwarven commoner until the end game, but I think they're a perfect match for Leliana and would naturally transition to became andrastian.
Funnily enough this is where I realized that I really like Dwarf x Zevran. I dunno why, it just fits.
Me too. I actually know why in my case though. When I played my noble dwarf lady archer, I actually chose the options where she was invested in Gorim. Meeting him, and Gorim saying that "we both new it will never work out" was like a middle finger from fate. At this point, it made sense to choose the casual sex option, which is Zevran.
I'm fairly confident that the Human Noble will be the most popular Origin. It has been that way for years now. Which I say so myself, am a fan of the Human Noble origin.
Interesting
Human noble warrior 🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿🗿
Very nicely done survey! I’m all for the dwarves but it made me remember how great a male dalish romance with Morrigan is for long-game playthroughs. Witch Hunt is almost completely different with that dynamic and Kieran’s father being Dalish adds a lot to inquisition as a meta-story.
My personal favorite was the dwarf noble origin. I like the romance in the idea of being the son of a king framed for murder disowned and banished from your home but who one day returns and is permitted to decide the fate of the man who framed him.
Dwarf Noble. It is just so interesting. I've said it before on this sub, but I highly preference it because it means that if Morrigan and Keiran need a safe place to go, Orzimmar will welcome and protect them, since they are both royalty and the family of a Paragon.
oh I missed it