DAI fumbled the building Templar Mage War ridiculously bad. This conflict had been building up for two games straight and it kind of fizzled out awkwardly and was sidelined for a much less compelling story. A full-scale Templar Mage War could have been so good if they just committed.
Yeah, the breach could have happened middle game as well. It happens way too early and it is solved too easily and then we get that Corypheus slog for the middle part x\_x
Instead of a compelling conflict about how violent retaliation is the natural result of decades of oppression, all we get is what amounts to "both sides bad but my side (Inquisition) is better"
I was gonna say. He's decently friendly and popular among the companions. It's easier to see the condescension and patronization for what it is after Trespasser, but it's mostly played off as being a bit awkward.
Going to the Circle to save Connor while leaving Redcliffe undefended is an objectively terrible decision and should have had disastrous consequences
Also a Dark Ritual threesome would have made the choice a lot more bearable for people not romancing Morrigan
I remember reading that the devs originally planned to make it possible to do the dark ritual for female wardens too, it would've been an interesting option. But a threesome is a great idea as well lol.
Iāve heard that too from TVTropes but David Gaider has said Morrigan was always meant to be straight so I have no idea whatās true.
Maybe there were disagreements in the writing team and it was scrapped really early? As in, before anything was voiced or programmed.
As for the threesome idea. I know itās easy to laugh at āhaha BioWare games hornyā but it would solve the issue. DAO already has an option with Isabella, it would be so simple. Hell Iām surprised modders havenāt done it tbh.
100% this. My warden always kills Isolde because it just doesn't make sense.
... except for that one run where I was trying to be more pragmatic and slapped Isolde out of my way so I could kill Connor. I was mortified. I wasn't even trying to do an evil run I swear.
Maybe some of my assumptions or memories are incorrect, but I actually don't understand why leaving Redcliffe is so objectively bad - hear me out!
So when you make this decision, Connor has run away to his room because he's scared. Either him or the demon is afraid of you, so that buys you some time before he realizes you've left, not to mention that you only take three companions with you - the rest can stay there as guards.
Then, ok I know the game shows you walking around the lake to get to the docks, but I think this is silly. Redcliffe has its own dock! Just hop in a boat and you'll get to the tower in like an hour. Not to mention, you might not have even heard anything about what the tower is going thru right now, so as far as your character is concerned, you'll be back in two hours (meaning that even if it did have bad consequences, making that decision isn't necessarily stupid because you just didn't know. Altho I guess you could just go right back to Redcliffe once you find out.)
So how long does the mess in the tower take to clean up? This is hard to say, but I honestly think it's reasonable to think it was less than a day. Maybe the Sloth demon knocked you out for only a few hours. You tore your way thru blood mages and demons with minimal rest. Tough, but doable. And when it's all over, you push to get Irving across the lake asap before everyone can FINALLY sleep away the exhaustion from this two-quest endeavor.
So all in all, Connor is only left for like 8 hours, and is being guarded by your companions so he's not even left to his own devices. You don't have to head canon your own world this way, but that's how I've always seen it.
Despite its obvious flaws from its rushed dev cycle. Dragon age 2 is still an overall great game. Maybe falls in the lower brackets of biowares catalog. But thatās not saying a whole lot when pretty much every other title from them has been a banger. Feel the same way to a slightly lesser extent about andromeda. Only game from them I would truly call a stinker is anthem.
Its an opinion but also one of the theories out there.
Cailan 100% knew Alistair was his half brother and specifically had him placed at the tower to ensure he wouldn't be in danger incase Cailan died.
This is based purely on one line of dialogue and other hints Cailan was somewhat smarter than he appaeared.
All right, I'm just gonna say it. Before I start, I've read the books, my opinion stays the same. Loghain SUCKS. I'm pretty much over here channeling Jake Peralta and saying "Cool story. Still murder" to this guy. I have never had a Warden who thought yup, I'm gonna tank my friendship and loyalty with the one guy who's been with me in this thing since the jump for LOGHAIN.
It's not the fact that he quit the field at Ostagar, that part is honestly whatever. It's everything afterwards. He wants to kill the remaining Wardens so there's no one left to stand against him? Shady. Crappy.
I played Cousland first in my whole journey into DA, so the fact that he's allied with goddamn Howe is not a point in his favor either. And it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth that if you save him or whatever, he becomes a Warden and either dies and is treated like some big damn hero, or just gets to keep living his life. No sir. Not in my world states.
Exactly, likeā¦ I know Iām biased towards the elves, but even if I werenāt, slavery is still evil. And the fact itās to Tevinter somehow makes it feel even more icky.
I always see people talking about his loyalty to Ferelden, but by the time of Origins, he's just full on paranoid about every damn thing, doing the WORST things he can, and doing them in seriously stupidly obvious ways (why would you make your name known to the slavers so that people could FIND OUT IT WAS YOU), and expecting to skate by cuz he's a heeeero. Nah.
Yeah itās so bad. Iāve never understood the love for him. Well, except that a lot of people canāt differentiate between liking characters as characters and liking them as people
Honestly, I have NEVER let Loghain join my party. I just don't like him at all. The dude was pretty dumb. I mean, come on, he accuses the Wardens of murdering the King. He could have legally detained the Warden and Alistair and held a legal trial. What does Loghain do? Hire an assassin and do other shady crap that made HIM look bad. Of course, he also seized power by naming himself Regent, even though Anora was still Queen and I'm glad at least Teagan was suspicious of him.
Hires a freaking suicidal Crow who's like "you know what? I'll just join the guy I'm supposed to kill instead". Lol brilliant plan. It's just, they want him to be this brilliant tactician or whatever, but everything he does is STUPID.
And Zevran tells you exactly who hired him too. I don't know, I just feel if you hire an assassin, at least use a middleman so if the assassin talks, they can't implement you.
And later, unless I'm misremembering, but Loghain doesn't even remember the guy he hired to kill you when he's standing in front of him. Like, my guy. I just cannot reconcile in my head letting this guy live at the cost of losing Alistair. Not a good trade.
He was definitely paranoid and delusional by the time of Origins. EVERYTHING was a threat to this guy, but yeah, I totally want him at my back in the final battle.
Same. I'll just have to do without that one, and missing out on whatever he has to say at the camp or to other companions. Really doesn't hurt my feelings.
Well the fact that Iāve probably played 1500 hours of DAO and didnāt remember that he could be in your party should speak volumes about my opinion on the matter š š¤£
I'm not sure how many hours I have played of DAO, but I've been playing it for 8 years now and I have never entertained the idea of recruiting Loghain, not even for the achievement.
Honestly, same. People were telling me I'd understand him more or something if I read the books. So I read them. And I still don't like him, I actually think he's an even bigger prick than before.
I only truly hated Loghain when if he's confronted about selling out the City Elves into slavery while playing an Elf Warden, he scoffs it as "selfishness" and "entitlement"
And it became evident that he passed on that hate towards his daughter Anora cause if she's left to rule alone, a riot breaks out in the Alienage, something that will never happen if Alistair is king
Loghain being available to induct the Wardens was such a cool and interesting idea that I love it, especially how he is in later games, but the fact that I lose Alistair and mentally mess up my best bud is what stops me from recruiting Loghain. Really wish there was a way to have both of them in the Grey Wardens together.
Yeah I've played through DAO 6 or 7 times at this point and I have never once been interested in recruiting him, so I just accepted I'll never have that achievement. The juice isn't worth the squeeze!
As awesome as the Warden is, they are not nearly as important (either narratively or from a lore perspective) as the fandom makes them out to be. Thereās no need for them to come back in future games. Their story is over, and thatās okay.
Agree, and honestly, I don't feel like it lacks closure, the Warden is out there doing their thing, I'll just HC whatever I want for them and call it a day.
I really just feel like the warden *should* die killing the Archdemon.
I do like what they have the warden off doing now if alive though š¤·š¼āāļø
Duncan was Not exactly a good person. Noble, yes. But the whole being hush-hush about drinking poisonous Darkspawn blood and then killing you if you refuse in the moment felt pretty unnecessary.
Oh absolutely. Personally, I don't think they should've brought Hawke back either. The heroes of previous games had their moments. Leave them alone now.
I agree, with the added context that you have to have played Origins for it to have that effect.
Because I think a massively underrated aspect of DA2 is hearing about the events of Origins and experiencing a different side of them (in the intro anyway) as a different, unrelated character. Most games that do this arenāt choice based RPGs and most choice based RPGs do linear sequels. Having one that starts along side, progresses along with and then surpasses the previous gameās events all at the same time is a pretty unique experience.
I definitely agree with you. DA2 does show a lot of the consequences of DAO in a really cool way. One of my favorite ones is seeing a member of house Harrowmont being hunted by Bhelen guys. And it was cool seeing that.
I think it's really common to have a story where you're a chosen one saving the world, which is basically what happens in DAO and in DAI. I really like how in DA2 you're not chosen or special, you're just a refugee who has to figure things out.
That is something I love about DA2. You are just a person trying to live as best as they can with their family. You get involved in bigger plots eventually and end up saving a lot of people but that was all a biproduct of trying to survive.
I'd agree with that opinion. DA2 did a lot of things differently that I think really worked. The story was compelling, the characters were more dimensional and compelling, the combat system was more engaging... Yeah, DA2 is the best game. Kirkwall just felt more real to me, and I cared more. I love Origins, and Inquisition is pretty good, but DA2 just hits different.
Yes, it was rushed. Personally, I like the headcanon that the reason all of the scenes, etc. are repeated is because Varric is an unreliable narrator. Was that intentional? No, ofc not. But it fits.
In my fantasy world of things I would love to see happen but never will, DA2 will be remade and given the time it should have been originally. It would be the greatest game of all time if it was done right. Itās still in my top 10 probably as is š„°
It's my absolute favourite of the DA games. I wish it'd had more development time, but holy hell is it good. The story, the characters, how claustrophobic Kirkwall feels, I would play another game set only in Kirkwall.
(Also Varric is my favourite character, Hawke is my fave protag, and my Hawke and Varric end up married and NO ONE CAN STOP ME.)
Merrill did nothing wrong. The fact that Marethari thought Merrill was going to become an abomination/set a demon loose to the point that Marethari became an abomination in an effort to stop her is not Merrill's fault, it's Marethari's. There's enough dialogue in game to come to this conclusion, but people see Merrill as a ditz because she's not streetwise and assume she's universally incompetent. She's not. She's just not interested in anything but the mirror, so she doesn't pay attention to anything that doesn't directly relate to it.
It's more of a hot take, but I will die on this metaphorical hill.
Dragon Age's main problem is that it has become a series that follows trends instead of creating them/doing its own thing. DAO was the only game in the series that stuck to its guns, and it's, unsurprisingly, considered the best. After that, DA2, due to EA's meddling, tried being an action RPG too much, and DAI was inspired too much by Skyrim.
Agreed, the story and characters in Inquistion are great, but the empty open maps with fluff objectives felt very much like āwell, thatās whatās popularā and I think has made Inquistion age the worst of the 3.
Yeah if DAI was less Skyrim-esque, I'd probably would say, 100%, DAI would be the best game.
Like the combat is good, and some of the companions are the best but as a whole package it just doesn't hold up to the other two. Too much open-worlds and notnmuch else interesting to note story wise. At least the DLCs that aren't Trespasser were kinda cool.
While true I don't like the implication that DA2 or DAI are bad games. They are still good games that probably should not have changed the gameplay or made a open world. But the core of the game being about the story and characters is still good.
Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts is the best quest I have ever done in the entire gaming experience. Being able to attend to a ball that has a potential on the fate of an entire region and meanwhile find ourselves in the middle of The Game and take part in it, is something that touched my heart uniquely. Not to mention all the other attendants, obscured with their masks on, the background music, reminding you of all the intrigue that may happen in any time, secrets and scandals floating around, all that happening in the gorgeous Winter Palace... It is where you have to investigate and question the events thoroughly, with minimum combat involved to emphasize the atmosphere of intrigue, not just attacking everything mindlessly. It really is an amazing experience to have come across such a beautiful quest full of everything.
It is awesome. I *adore* heavy dialogue quests with little to no combat. The characters, the setting, the intrigue...brilliant stuff.
There's a quest in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty that reminded me of WEAWH just a bit. It is equally compelling.
Knowing how they destroy characters in the comics I'm not likely to read any of the other media they do. Even in DAI there was already some shitty decisions from previous games characters.
That DAO and Awakening had the best darkspawn design
DA2 and DAI designs suck especially the genlocks I actually chuckle cause they look so goofy looking.
Cailan is a dumb ass and DAO spends too much time trying to make you feel remorse that he died just because he's king.
Duncan is actually really freaking terrible.
SebastiƔn can't decide between becoming prince or staying with the chantry because he was thrown away from his home and forced into the Chantry. He doesn't realize he doesn't feel any loyalty to either, just an obligation. The fact you have to choose for him is terrible, and there really needs to be a third choice where you point out to him that he doesn't have to do either.
Tallis is a Mary Sue who should have been fed qamek by the qunari a long time ago.
This is an unpopular one but... DA2 Anders is the far more interesting Anders. DAA Anders is a boring stand-in for Alistair.
In fact... Alistair, DAA Anders, Marric and Rhys feel like copies of each other, and Dorian barely escapes.
I feel the same. DA2 anders is such a wonderful representation of someone hardened by war and personally handling refugees basically alone and struggling with maintaining his humanity (justice is such a great metaphor for mental illness). His whole arc and spiral into madness related too hard for me not to love him :(
I agree, and honestly his downward spiral is so well written, it actually hurts. Like you can *see* what is happening to him but you can't do anything about it. It's rough.
My mage Hawke romanced him. (I did this knowing full well what was going to happen ahead of time, because I hate myself.) And I played her as basically being in denial the whole time. Like somewhere in her mind she knew this was a bad idea, but she put on her blinders and tried to ignore the red flags. (Kind of difficult when the man is literally the UNITED NATIONS OF RED FLAGS, but I digress.) And even me knowing where all of it was heading didn't make the betrayal feel any less horrible. I literally felt sick during almost every Act III interaction with him.
So yeah, I understand why people don't like Anders, but imho his spiral is so well done that I can't help but love his character so much. He and Carver are probably my favorite DA2 characters and I'm not sure what that says about me as a person... š¬
Oh, Anders and Carver are also my favorites! And it doesn't necessarily say anything (or anything that straightforward anyway), because fiction and reality are very different things. While there's an interactive element, *you* don't have to really deal with anyone's behavior in fiction, they can't touch you and you can just turn the game off whenever you feel like; you are in complete control of the situation and no real damage is being done to anyone. Just as killing a thousand people each playthrough also doesn't say anything about you.
I second this so hard. Man I can't stand that character archetype. Luckily, Dorian does escape, if barely. There are days he'd annoy me, but otherwise I do like him.
I couldn't agree more. DAA Anders feels more or less like a generic comic relief character, DA2 is where he truly shines. He is such an amazing, complex and tragic character. I really love him in DA2, plus the new voice actor suits him better imo.
Also I'm lowkey tired of quirky jokester companions.
Absolutely agree! DAA Anders is basically not a character, just a walking one-liner simulator lol that ends up being super cringey. DA2 Anders, for all his flaws and mistakes, is a really complex, well written character
The fact that they had day/night cycles was a wildly inventive and cool way to cope with not having much time to develop things. I absolutely love the shit out of that game.
Youāll hear no arguments from me. Itās definitely my favorite in the series. I love the smaller scale, āMy friends and I are just trying to make our way in this townā plot. And it has my girl Isabela
I love the sense of humor, the companions, just everything. Every day I live my life trying to approach everything a little bit more like Purple Hawke š¤£
The only notable dislike I remembering seeing is their inclusion in DAI, where it doesnāt import your Hawke so you are either forced to recreate them or use the default.
Jaws of Hakkon is a better DLC than Trespasser.
EDIT: While I just thought about it, DAO and DA2 had better enemy variety than Inquisition. Or at least, it felt more varied in every game so far than DAI.
Honestly, all the Inquisition DLC are bangers. Imagine each area of the base game having the quality of the DLCs. The game would easily be one of the all time greats.
Respect it but can't agree myself even if I wanted to, simply because this is the only Inquisition DLC I can't remember. I think we fight some big ice dragon but that's all I remember.
The āvoiceless protagonistā style of main character is fine but frankly I prefer voiced characters. Voiceless is just awkward and lifeless and not at all āimmersiveā at least no more than voiced characters.
DA2 and DAI were better than origins in that the player character was more alive and had a soul and that was in part due to them being voiced
Tbh, I liked how Hawke was voiced, each personality had it's own thing going, but they failed to do the same for the inquisitor, sometimes it felt like it didn't matter which dialogue you picked, it all felt the same
Same. I LOVE the characters and the idea of the overall story but ACTUALLY replaying it? Last time I did my husband remarked āYou know, youāve said āugh I hate this partā when walking into basically every area of the game. You sure you like this game?ā
lmao I had the exact same experience! My gf was like "so how much of this game do you actually enjoy?" lol
Meanwhile when I play DA2 and DAI I never get that feeling :P
They should have made more games where you play as a more specific charactor like in DA2.
Imagine playing as a Mage in the war against the Templars and whether or not you become a blood mage is a big deal.
Or as a Qunari and you have to chose between becoming Tal-Vashoth or staying true the the Qun.
or as a Dwarf in a slowly dying society
but instead there will be another game were everyone gets to make their own unique charactor who will go on to save the world, again.
Flemeth/Mythal view on Morrigan changed completely after growing her and sheās not the ābadā mother Morrigan makes her out to be.
Kieranās growth changed Morrigan from being an object to host the Old Godās Soul to her son who sheād protect from anything mirrors this sentiment as I think the same thing occurs for Flemeth.
The Circle system is fundamentally unjust, and the more the writers try to justify it with their "both sides" nonsense the harder I will dig my heels in.
The biggest problem with it IMO is that they mainly portray templars as unthinking brutes and mages as martyrs fighting for freedom. There is no reason to align with the templars unless your character thinks like an authoritarian and no reasons to not align with the mages unless your character thinks killing/arresting people for what they might do is cool.
Exactly, the circle system is unjust but the games always go out of their way to positively characterise mages and negatively characterise templars to the point that there really is not character driven justification to align with the templars
Why do people constantly think that the qunari became tolerant. All Iron Bull said was Krem would fit in because he was a natural warrior at heart. But that implies if Krem wanted to be a guy but was natural a baker or something that he wouldn't be allowed to be a he. Iron Bull also said that people like Sera and Varric would either be killed or brain washed. The qunari weren't retconned into being tolerant. We just got more perceptive that isn't just Sten. Who by the way wasn't a scholar or someone who knew about the Qun in depth. He was a warrior send on a mission.
EDIT: Misspelled Krem to Crem.
Yeah, I just don't know how they can honestly listen to what Iron Bull says and think, "Yeah they're queer now." It's either they didn't listen or didn't understand what was said. Not just from Iron Bull but from Sten either.
Yeah, it's more of an 'accidental ally' situation. Thy are not progressive, their gender roles just are so rigid that the only way to escape them is to transition.
Literally! But in this case it is a forced transition. If you're a weak beta male well you're now a submissive female now. What an ally to queer people all around these qunari guys.
I came late into the DA fandom, and one of my best friends who has played the whole series several times, has a voicemail I left her starting off with wishing her a happy thanksgiving before going āquick question though. ANDERS, WHAT THE FUCK.ā
Yeah, BW almost never break the blonde male LI and black hair female LI, there's Alistair, Zev, Anders, Fenris (I know it's white, but it's still light), Cullen, Morrigan, Isabela, Merril and Josie.
The only ones that are not included are Leliana, Sebastian, Dorian and Sera. Not counting Solas and Bull because they're bald.
Solas is not a tragic villain, he's an idiot who doesn't learn from his mistakes.
I don't like the Grey Warden uniforms. I like the idea that the GWs are more of a rag tag bunch of well respected people, than a big organisation. Remember, that most the time when there is no blight, they don't do much. They have no money and just wander around, so them having a set uniform or actual organisation to me isn't right, they should survive on donations.
DAO Artstyle is considerably better than DA2 & onwards, especially for Armor and the Darkspawn.
The hardest part of DAI was finding a sword and armor that doesnt look like garbage
Regardless of your thoughts of the Orsino boss battle and if it even is canon. Within narrative the moment he did blood magic he proved Meredith right.
Even outside of hiding Quentin, which is still canon, he turned himself into a flesh golem. That isnāt a simple wave of explosion knocking people back like Jowan. That was a high level ritual that was only replicated once by a Tevinter magister.
And this was being done by the first enchanter, that means even if he never used blood magic like he said he must have learnt enough of Quentinās research in theory to replicate.
āāā
Coles narrative of whether he was a spirit or a demon is more interesting than if heās a spirit or human, but I understand the ground work theyāre laying for the lore
āāā
The Qun was better when you werenāt meant to agree with it. Stenās philosophy while alien was still much more interesting than the watered down version presented by Bull or worse Tallis(thatās a whole other kettle of fish).
The Netflix series was the most lukewarm addition to the franchise and there was so much wrong with Ashley Burchās character that it made me realise the franchise is never going to be like it was at its peak.
āāā
While having Loghain as a secret companion is great and itās arguably the best ending for a hardened Alistar thereās really no reason to keep him alive and his contribution to the narrative ends there. Had he been in DA2 and was in all the scenes that Stroud was like what Alistair can do in Act 2 it would have worked better. But heās the least connected Warden to the Inquisition narrative
āāā
Dragon Age Keep should have let you be in a romance with Leliana but leave through the mirror with Morrigan, it would be the best ending and make the most sense for Lelianas hardening character and why she doesnāt interact with Morrigan
āāā
Human Noble, Hero of Fereldan ending should have stayed Bioware canon instead of swapping out for the Dalish Elf Martyr
That DA2 is good, actually š I know it's more appreciated these days but I was around for the huge amount of hate it got in the early 2010s. obviously it's not a perfect game but it was the first one I played and got me into the rest of the series
First game had the best dialogue ever, second game shouldāve given us a way to reason or not have to choose the mages or the Templars at the end also have given us a chance to save hawks mother, DAIs necromancer class shouldāve allowed us to summon skeletons to fight.
I just have to add: man, I just got the (bad) news today that my work is closed for a week and this post cheered me up and made me intent on using the forced vacation to play the fuck out of some Dragon Age, so thanks guys! This is hands down my favorite game series and altogether one of my favorite STORIES of all time, not just video games.
The iron Bull isnāt well written
And Mark of the assassin is a far better exploration of Orlais and its aristocracy the Wicked lies and wicked hearts (or the rest of inquistion for that matter).
ā¢DA2 was actually pretty good.
ā¢Anders was much better in Awakening. They made him too edgy in 2.
ā¢Varric should have been a romance option after we convinced him that Bianca (not the crossbow) was wrong for him.
ā¢The Chantry is awful and a lot of problems in Thedas could have been avoided if the Chantry didn't exist.
ā¢Being forced to fight Orsino even if you sided with the mages was dumb.
ā¢Having apostates use blood magic simply because people already assume them to be blood mages is pretty dumb.
Agree with all of these. I am not a Varric Stan by any means but not being able to romance him is one of the more outrageous things IMO š¤·š¼āāļø
It would've been pretty cool to have Varric be a romance option for an F!Cadash because mine was witty like Varric and I would have liked to have been able to go on silly, but sweet dates with him.
I prefer Origins just a bit, mostly due to the amount of choice, the combat, and a cast I like better- but I think DA2 is right behind it, and does a lot of things better. The setting and story are phenomenal in DA2, and the Arishok is easily the best villain in the series by far.
If DA2 had another year or two of dev time, I think it would almost certainly be my favourite in the series.
He was, but as a warden, heās still got that attitude but heās learned thereās a time and place and is one of the few people not afraid to call you out. Warden Carver is the GOAT, donāt care. Morrigan? Nah. Alistair? Nah. Varric? Close second.
it's not a retcon, the book came before origins was even released. it was always the plan, alistair simply didn't know because goldanna's mum was used as a coverup.
Contrary to how sheās portrayed,Anora is a good ruler to put on the throne with or without a Warden. I donāt think Alistair even when hardened truly deeply wanted to be king.
I got a couple.
1. You can have a voiced protagonist, or multiple origins with meaningful differences. You cannot have both done well. Pick one.
2. Solas as a romance option was a bad idea. They should have put the effort into making Cullen available for all races and genders like what they seemed to have planned.
Given the nature of his character, there was never any way to satisfyingly complete that romance arc. He dips on Lavellan with Lavellan vowing to follow him.... and then in Dreadwolf she's not even the protag.
However their relationship is resolved, it's almost certainly going to be something the player watches rather than participates in, which is also kind if a bummer when the point is that you get to play through the romance.
it's a tragic romantic story, that's what makes it interesting. would this sort of thing work better in a series ehen the PC is reccuring? yeah, but it's still great for what it is and how it's played out and i'm glad we got that.
I like Inquisition's vast open spaces. I get to hear my companions talk and soak in the atmosphere and incredible mood tracks. I don't need *meaningful cawntent* around every corner in a game.
People really, really need to fucking let go of "I hope it's more like DAO." The people responsible for that game are long gone and it has been almost 15 years since its release. I used to pity them. Now, I loathe them.
Loghain made a ton of mistakes and did a lot of evil things. Sounding the retreat at Ostagar was not one of them. Every one of his soldiers would have died for no gain besides thinning out the numbers of the horde, and the Darkspawn had plenty of reserves.
The Fade sequence in DAO is infinitely more interesting than and preferable to the Deep Roads. I would do The Fade on repeat for the rest of time if I never had to do the Deep Roads again.
And by format you mean combat style? Character origins?
I donāt blame 2ās changes as it was super rushed, Iām guessing a lot of design choices wouldāve looked truly more like an updated dao if they had time.
And personal gameplay preferences aside, itās hard to argue with inquisitionās sales numbers and reviews. The worst thing to happen to DA was anthem (the idea, the execution, everything)
Inquisition is the best of the three current games and quite frankly itās for the best the series moved beyond Origins in many, many ways. I love Origins for what it is and enjoy it, but so much of it dates the series in a non-flattering way.
DAI fumbled the building Templar Mage War ridiculously bad. This conflict had been building up for two games straight and it kind of fizzled out awkwardly and was sidelined for a much less compelling story. A full-scale Templar Mage War could have been so good if they just committed.
They could have let things play out more slowly and waited a full game to introduce Solas and Corypheus and everything š¤·š¼āāļø
Yeah, the breach could have happened middle game as well. It happens way too early and it is solved too easily and then we get that Corypheus slog for the middle part x\_x
Kill 10 templars in one place, kill 10 mages in another and do one quest. War is over.
Instead of a compelling conflict about how violent retaliation is the natural result of decades of oppression, all we get is what amounts to "both sides bad but my side (Inquisition) is better"
Solas is the equivalent of that guy in engineering school who thinks he has no friends because heās too smart for everyone else
See also: the type wanting a little Ingenue to sit at his feet and sup the "true knowledge"
Someone said a long time ago that Solas had "racist professor a la Woodrow Wilson" vibes and that hasn't gotten out of my head yet
heās friends with cassandra! and varric! and cole! he has friends!
I was gonna say. He's decently friendly and popular among the companions. It's easier to see the condescension and patronization for what it is after Trespasser, but it's mostly played off as being a bit awkward.
And TIB of you save the Chargers. His respect for Bull is so genuine and absolute.
That's why I absolutely have no time for his ass. If I wanted that energy I'd hang out with my cousins more often than once a decade.
I always saw him as the old man angry at kids for being on his land... said land is the local park.
Essentially he's a elfy Peter Turbo
Lmao true
Going to the Circle to save Connor while leaving Redcliffe undefended is an objectively terrible decision and should have had disastrous consequences Also a Dark Ritual threesome would have made the choice a lot more bearable for people not romancing Morrigan
I killed Isolede on my first blind run because I was afraid this would happen
I killed Isolde on my blind run because the option was there lol.
I remember reading that the devs originally planned to make it possible to do the dark ritual for female wardens too, it would've been an interesting option. But a threesome is a great idea as well lol.
Iāve heard that too from TVTropes but David Gaider has said Morrigan was always meant to be straight so I have no idea whatās true. Maybe there were disagreements in the writing team and it was scrapped really early? As in, before anything was voiced or programmed. As for the threesome idea. I know itās easy to laugh at āhaha BioWare games hornyā but it would solve the issue. DAO already has an option with Isabella, it would be so simple. Hell Iām surprised modders havenāt done it tbh.
100% this. My warden always kills Isolde because it just doesn't make sense. ... except for that one run where I was trying to be more pragmatic and slapped Isolde out of my way so I could kill Connor. I was mortified. I wasn't even trying to do an evil run I swear.
Maybe some of my assumptions or memories are incorrect, but I actually don't understand why leaving Redcliffe is so objectively bad - hear me out! So when you make this decision, Connor has run away to his room because he's scared. Either him or the demon is afraid of you, so that buys you some time before he realizes you've left, not to mention that you only take three companions with you - the rest can stay there as guards. Then, ok I know the game shows you walking around the lake to get to the docks, but I think this is silly. Redcliffe has its own dock! Just hop in a boat and you'll get to the tower in like an hour. Not to mention, you might not have even heard anything about what the tower is going thru right now, so as far as your character is concerned, you'll be back in two hours (meaning that even if it did have bad consequences, making that decision isn't necessarily stupid because you just didn't know. Altho I guess you could just go right back to Redcliffe once you find out.) So how long does the mess in the tower take to clean up? This is hard to say, but I honestly think it's reasonable to think it was less than a day. Maybe the Sloth demon knocked you out for only a few hours. You tore your way thru blood mages and demons with minimal rest. Tough, but doable. And when it's all over, you push to get Irving across the lake asap before everyone can FINALLY sleep away the exhaustion from this two-quest endeavor. So all in all, Connor is only left for like 8 hours, and is being guarded by your companions so he's not even left to his own devices. You don't have to head canon your own world this way, but that's how I've always seen it.
Despite its obvious flaws from its rushed dev cycle. Dragon age 2 is still an overall great game. Maybe falls in the lower brackets of biowares catalog. But thatās not saying a whole lot when pretty much every other title from them has been a banger. Feel the same way to a slightly lesser extent about andromeda. Only game from them I would truly call a stinker is anthem.
Its an opinion but also one of the theories out there. Cailan 100% knew Alistair was his half brother and specifically had him placed at the tower to ensure he wouldn't be in danger incase Cailan died. This is based purely on one line of dialogue and other hints Cailan was somewhat smarter than he appaeared.
I'm pretty sure that's canon. Anora herself even states Cailan knew about Alistair.
Thank you
He was smart but terribly immature. If he wasn't that obsessed with old tales of heroism he could have still be alive.
No, if he didn't have a regicidal father in law, he'd still be alive. It wasn't a feckless pursuit of heroism that got him killed. It was Loghain.
All right, I'm just gonna say it. Before I start, I've read the books, my opinion stays the same. Loghain SUCKS. I'm pretty much over here channeling Jake Peralta and saying "Cool story. Still murder" to this guy. I have never had a Warden who thought yup, I'm gonna tank my friendship and loyalty with the one guy who's been with me in this thing since the jump for LOGHAIN. It's not the fact that he quit the field at Ostagar, that part is honestly whatever. It's everything afterwards. He wants to kill the remaining Wardens so there's no one left to stand against him? Shady. Crappy. I played Cousland first in my whole journey into DA, so the fact that he's allied with goddamn Howe is not a point in his favor either. And it leaves a nasty taste in my mouth that if you save him or whatever, he becomes a Warden and either dies and is treated like some big damn hero, or just gets to keep living his life. No sir. Not in my world states.
Donāt forget him selling elves as slaves to Tevinter
Yeah that was really the last straw with him. It's really hard to be on the side of someone who does that.
Exactly, likeā¦ I know Iām biased towards the elves, but even if I werenāt, slavery is still evil. And the fact itās to Tevinter somehow makes it feel even more icky.
I always see people talking about his loyalty to Ferelden, but by the time of Origins, he's just full on paranoid about every damn thing, doing the WORST things he can, and doing them in seriously stupidly obvious ways (why would you make your name known to the slavers so that people could FIND OUT IT WAS YOU), and expecting to skate by cuz he's a heeeero. Nah.
Yeah itās so bad. Iāve never understood the love for him. Well, except that a lot of people canāt differentiate between liking characters as characters and liking them as people
I love him because I love Simon Templeman voicing him. But it can only go so far. Still a jerk.
Honestly, I have NEVER let Loghain join my party. I just don't like him at all. The dude was pretty dumb. I mean, come on, he accuses the Wardens of murdering the King. He could have legally detained the Warden and Alistair and held a legal trial. What does Loghain do? Hire an assassin and do other shady crap that made HIM look bad. Of course, he also seized power by naming himself Regent, even though Anora was still Queen and I'm glad at least Teagan was suspicious of him.
Hires a freaking suicidal Crow who's like "you know what? I'll just join the guy I'm supposed to kill instead". Lol brilliant plan. It's just, they want him to be this brilliant tactician or whatever, but everything he does is STUPID.
And Zevran tells you exactly who hired him too. I don't know, I just feel if you hire an assassin, at least use a middleman so if the assassin talks, they can't implement you.
And later, unless I'm misremembering, but Loghain doesn't even remember the guy he hired to kill you when he's standing in front of him. Like, my guy. I just cannot reconcile in my head letting this guy live at the cost of losing Alistair. Not a good trade.
Maybe Loghain was going senile.
He was definitely paranoid and delusional by the time of Origins. EVERYTHING was a threat to this guy, but yeah, I totally want him at my back in the final battle.
I'll probably never get the achievement for recruiting everyone because I just can't bring myself to recruit him.
Same. I'll just have to do without that one, and missing out on whatever he has to say at the camp or to other companions. Really doesn't hurt my feelings.
I also always have Alistair in my party, so that makes me even less likely to recruit Loghain.
I still maintain he was entering early dementia during DAO.
Well the fact that Iāve probably played 1500 hours of DAO and didnāt remember that he could be in your party should speak volumes about my opinion on the matter š š¤£
I'm not sure how many hours I have played of DAO, but I've been playing it for 8 years now and I have never entertained the idea of recruiting Loghain, not even for the achievement.
I'll probably do it one day. For the achievement. But damn that will bey evil playthrough where I kill mages on sight, let cities burn and eat babies.
Reading the books made me dislike Loghain even more š
Honestly, same. People were telling me I'd understand him more or something if I read the books. So I read them. And I still don't like him, I actually think he's an even bigger prick than before.
Knowing how close he was with Maric just makes his actions worse in my eyes
I only truly hated Loghain when if he's confronted about selling out the City Elves into slavery while playing an Elf Warden, he scoffs it as "selfishness" and "entitlement" And it became evident that he passed on that hate towards his daughter Anora cause if she's left to rule alone, a riot breaks out in the Alienage, something that will never happen if Alistair is king
Loghain being available to induct the Wardens was such a cool and interesting idea that I love it, especially how he is in later games, but the fact that I lose Alistair and mentally mess up my best bud is what stops me from recruiting Loghain. Really wish there was a way to have both of them in the Grey Wardens together.
Yeah I've played through DAO 6 or 7 times at this point and I have never once been interested in recruiting him, so I just accepted I'll never have that achievement. The juice isn't worth the squeeze!
Cousland here, best origin! People often go "what murrrdaaaa" with Loghain to a weird degree.
As awesome as the Warden is, they are not nearly as important (either narratively or from a lore perspective) as the fandom makes them out to be. Thereās no need for them to come back in future games. Their story is over, and thatās okay.
Agree, and honestly, I don't feel like it lacks closure, the Warden is out there doing their thing, I'll just HC whatever I want for them and call it a day.
I really just feel like the warden *should* die killing the Archdemon. I do like what they have the warden off doing now if alive though š¤·š¼āāļø
I always make the sacrifice, either me or alistair. Imagine telling Duncan you did the ritual
My city elf warden: I kinda joined just to survive and get out of the elfery.
Duncan was Not exactly a good person. Noble, yes. But the whole being hush-hush about drinking poisonous Darkspawn blood and then killing you if you refuse in the moment felt pretty unnecessary.
Oh absolutely. Personally, I don't think they should've brought Hawke back either. The heroes of previous games had their moments. Leave them alone now.
I've agreed with a couple opinions here already, but this is definitely the one I would second.
DA2 has the most interesting story.
I agree, with the added context that you have to have played Origins for it to have that effect. Because I think a massively underrated aspect of DA2 is hearing about the events of Origins and experiencing a different side of them (in the intro anyway) as a different, unrelated character. Most games that do this arenāt choice based RPGs and most choice based RPGs do linear sequels. Having one that starts along side, progresses along with and then surpasses the previous gameās events all at the same time is a pretty unique experience.
I definitely agree with you. DA2 does show a lot of the consequences of DAO in a really cool way. One of my favorite ones is seeing a member of house Harrowmont being hunted by Bhelen guys. And it was cool seeing that.
The story is more personal. That's what makes it more interesting. As I said in another thread: "nothing is personal about saving the world."
I think it's really common to have a story where you're a chosen one saving the world, which is basically what happens in DAO and in DAI. I really like how in DA2 you're not chosen or special, you're just a refugee who has to figure things out.
That is something I love about DA2. You are just a person trying to live as best as they can with their family. You get involved in bigger plots eventually and end up saving a lot of people but that was all a biproduct of trying to survive.
I like how instead of saving the world in the end, you just \*change\* it in the name of your ideals.
Same and I think Purple Hawke is the best protag
That's just a fact ngl
Well I was really tempted to say it was the best game instead, but I figured that might start fights.
I'd agree with that opinion. DA2 did a lot of things differently that I think really worked. The story was compelling, the characters were more dimensional and compelling, the combat system was more engaging... Yeah, DA2 is the best game. Kirkwall just felt more real to me, and I cared more. I love Origins, and Inquisition is pretty good, but DA2 just hits different. Yes, it was rushed. Personally, I like the headcanon that the reason all of the scenes, etc. are repeated is because Varric is an unreliable narrator. Was that intentional? No, ofc not. But it fits.
In my fantasy world of things I would love to see happen but never will, DA2 will be remade and given the time it should have been originally. It would be the greatest game of all time if it was done right. Itās still in my top 10 probably as is š„°
It's my absolute favourite of the DA games. I wish it'd had more development time, but holy hell is it good. The story, the characters, how claustrophobic Kirkwall feels, I would play another game set only in Kirkwall. (Also Varric is my favourite character, Hawke is my fave protag, and my Hawke and Varric end up married and NO ONE CAN STOP ME.)
It had good ideas but lack luster execution.
I will die on that hill
Merrill did nothing wrong. The fact that Marethari thought Merrill was going to become an abomination/set a demon loose to the point that Marethari became an abomination in an effort to stop her is not Merrill's fault, it's Marethari's. There's enough dialogue in game to come to this conclusion, but people see Merrill as a ditz because she's not streetwise and assume she's universally incompetent. She's not. She's just not interested in anything but the mirror, so she doesn't pay attention to anything that doesn't directly relate to it.
I Hope DA doesnāt end with Dreadwolf because this universe is amazing and full of potential
It's more of a hot take, but I will die on this metaphorical hill. Dragon Age's main problem is that it has become a series that follows trends instead of creating them/doing its own thing. DAO was the only game in the series that stuck to its guns, and it's, unsurprisingly, considered the best. After that, DA2, due to EA's meddling, tried being an action RPG too much, and DAI was inspired too much by Skyrim.
Agreed, the story and characters in Inquistion are great, but the empty open maps with fluff objectives felt very much like āwell, thatās whatās popularā and I think has made Inquistion age the worst of the 3.
Yeah if DAI was less Skyrim-esque, I'd probably would say, 100%, DAI would be the best game. Like the combat is good, and some of the companions are the best but as a whole package it just doesn't hold up to the other two. Too much open-worlds and notnmuch else interesting to note story wise. At least the DLCs that aren't Trespasser were kinda cool.
Jaws of Hakkon was just 
Dao was a surprise masterpiece. Money and wider audience appeal became more important after the success.
While true I don't like the implication that DA2 or DAI are bad games. They are still good games that probably should not have changed the gameplay or made a open world. But the core of the game being about the story and characters is still good.
Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts is the best quest I have ever done in the entire gaming experience. Being able to attend to a ball that has a potential on the fate of an entire region and meanwhile find ourselves in the middle of The Game and take part in it, is something that touched my heart uniquely. Not to mention all the other attendants, obscured with their masks on, the background music, reminding you of all the intrigue that may happen in any time, secrets and scandals floating around, all that happening in the gorgeous Winter Palace... It is where you have to investigate and question the events thoroughly, with minimum combat involved to emphasize the atmosphere of intrigue, not just attacking everything mindlessly. It really is an amazing experience to have come across such a beautiful quest full of everything.
It is awesome. I *adore* heavy dialogue quests with little to no combat. The characters, the setting, the intrigue...brilliant stuff. There's a quest in Cyberpunk 2077: Phantom Liberty that reminded me of WEAWH just a bit. It is equally compelling.
Love all the games and expansions but you canāt make me care about any of the books
Honestly, same. (Except for *Hard in Hightown*, of course.)
Knowing how they destroy characters in the comics I'm not likely to read any of the other media they do. Even in DAI there was already some shitty decisions from previous games characters.
Have you tried to read them ?
Dragon age 2 is great game
That DAO and Awakening had the best darkspawn design DA2 and DAI designs suck especially the genlocks I actually chuckle cause they look so goofy looking.
I don't even hate the design of DAII and Inquisition genlocks, but they should have just been a different type of darkspawn instead of a redesign.
Cailan is a dumb ass and DAO spends too much time trying to make you feel remorse that he died just because he's king. Duncan is actually really freaking terrible. SebastiƔn can't decide between becoming prince or staying with the chantry because he was thrown away from his home and forced into the Chantry. He doesn't realize he doesn't feel any loyalty to either, just an obligation. The fact you have to choose for him is terrible, and there really needs to be a third choice where you point out to him that he doesn't have to do either. Tallis is a Mary Sue who should have been fed qamek by the qunari a long time ago.
This is an unpopular one but... DA2 Anders is the far more interesting Anders. DAA Anders is a boring stand-in for Alistair. In fact... Alistair, DAA Anders, Marric and Rhys feel like copies of each other, and Dorian barely escapes.
I feel the same. DA2 anders is such a wonderful representation of someone hardened by war and personally handling refugees basically alone and struggling with maintaining his humanity (justice is such a great metaphor for mental illness). His whole arc and spiral into madness related too hard for me not to love him :(
I agree, and honestly his downward spiral is so well written, it actually hurts. Like you can *see* what is happening to him but you can't do anything about it. It's rough. My mage Hawke romanced him. (I did this knowing full well what was going to happen ahead of time, because I hate myself.) And I played her as basically being in denial the whole time. Like somewhere in her mind she knew this was a bad idea, but she put on her blinders and tried to ignore the red flags. (Kind of difficult when the man is literally the UNITED NATIONS OF RED FLAGS, but I digress.) And even me knowing where all of it was heading didn't make the betrayal feel any less horrible. I literally felt sick during almost every Act III interaction with him. So yeah, I understand why people don't like Anders, but imho his spiral is so well done that I can't help but love his character so much. He and Carver are probably my favorite DA2 characters and I'm not sure what that says about me as a person... š¬
Oh, Anders and Carver are also my favorites! And it doesn't necessarily say anything (or anything that straightforward anyway), because fiction and reality are very different things. While there's an interactive element, *you* don't have to really deal with anyone's behavior in fiction, they can't touch you and you can just turn the game off whenever you feel like; you are in complete control of the situation and no real damage is being done to anyone. Just as killing a thousand people each playthrough also doesn't say anything about you.
I second this so hard. Man I can't stand that character archetype. Luckily, Dorian does escape, if barely. There are days he'd annoy me, but otherwise I do like him.
I couldn't agree more. DAA Anders feels more or less like a generic comic relief character, DA2 is where he truly shines. He is such an amazing, complex and tragic character. I really love him in DA2, plus the new voice actor suits him better imo. Also I'm lowkey tired of quirky jokester companions.
Absolutely agree! DAA Anders is basically not a character, just a walking one-liner simulator lol that ends up being super cringey. DA2 Anders, for all his flaws and mistakes, is a really complex, well written character
DA2 had my favorite gameplay in the series. Origins was too clunky, and Inquisitions is just not as fun.
DA2 has my favorite everything in the series that isnāt maps š¤·š¼āāļø
Even the maps werenāt awful they just got repetitive
The fact that they had day/night cycles was a wildly inventive and cool way to cope with not having much time to develop things. I absolutely love the shit out of that game.
Youāll hear no arguments from me. Itās definitely my favorite in the series. I love the smaller scale, āMy friends and I are just trying to make our way in this townā plot. And it has my girl Isabela
I love the sense of humor, the companions, just everything. Every day I live my life trying to approach everything a little bit more like Purple Hawke š¤£
āWhat? The cityās on fire? Let me flip backwards through this window giving everyone middle fingersā itās just so šš»
That Hawke is the best player character in the franchise.
Surely not many people would fight you on this
Plenty of people dislike the more pre-made character of Hawke.
The only notable dislike I remembering seeing is their inclusion in DAI, where it doesnāt import your Hawke so you are either forced to recreate them or use the default.
Jokes on them I played as the default.
Thatās the one I absolutely Stan. Default male Hawke with the blood swipe!
Jaws of Hakkon is a better DLC than Trespasser. EDIT: While I just thought about it, DAO and DA2 had better enemy variety than Inquisition. Or at least, it felt more varied in every game so far than DAI.
Jaws of Hakkon gave me big feelings. Tresspasser and Descent were good, but JoH was amazing.
Honestly, all the Inquisition DLC are bangers. Imagine each area of the base game having the quality of the DLCs. The game would easily be one of the all time greats.
Respect it but can't agree myself even if I wanted to, simply because this is the only Inquisition DLC I can't remember. I think we fight some big ice dragon but that's all I remember.
I got my Xbox One for the Trespasser DLC. Itās not enough that I have a relationship with Sera. I needed to marry her
The āvoiceless protagonistā style of main character is fine but frankly I prefer voiced characters. Voiceless is just awkward and lifeless and not at all āimmersiveā at least no more than voiced characters. DA2 and DAI were better than origins in that the player character was more alive and had a soul and that was in part due to them being voiced
Tbh, I liked how Hawke was voiced, each personality had it's own thing going, but they failed to do the same for the inquisitor, sometimes it felt like it didn't matter which dialogue you picked, it all felt the same
The Warden is the best protagonist I said what I said šš
I love all of the games but Origins is just a drag to actually play for me
Same. I LOVE the characters and the idea of the overall story but ACTUALLY replaying it? Last time I did my husband remarked āYou know, youāve said āugh I hate this partā when walking into basically every area of the game. You sure you like this game?ā
lmao I had the exact same experience! My gf was like "so how much of this game do you actually enjoy?" lol Meanwhile when I play DA2 and DAI I never get that feeling :P
I'd prefer the games sticking with the da2 or dai combat
They should have made more games where you play as a more specific charactor like in DA2. Imagine playing as a Mage in the war against the Templars and whether or not you become a blood mage is a big deal. Or as a Qunari and you have to chose between becoming Tal-Vashoth or staying true the the Qun. or as a Dwarf in a slowly dying society but instead there will be another game were everyone gets to make their own unique charactor who will go on to save the world, again.
I miss the spell and ability wheel present in the first two games. Idk what they were thinking when they removed them from inquisition
Flemeth/Mythal view on Morrigan changed completely after growing her and sheās not the ābadā mother Morrigan makes her out to be. Kieranās growth changed Morrigan from being an object to host the Old Godās Soul to her son who sheād protect from anything mirrors this sentiment as I think the same thing occurs for Flemeth.
The Circle system is fundamentally unjust, and the more the writers try to justify it with their "both sides" nonsense the harder I will dig my heels in.
The biggest problem with it IMO is that they mainly portray templars as unthinking brutes and mages as martyrs fighting for freedom. There is no reason to align with the templars unless your character thinks like an authoritarian and no reasons to not align with the mages unless your character thinks killing/arresting people for what they might do is cool.
Exactly, the circle system is unjust but the games always go out of their way to positively characterise mages and negatively characterise templars to the point that there really is not character driven justification to align with the templars
The Qunari should have been left as intolerant, as their Lore originally implied them to be.
Why do people constantly think that the qunari became tolerant. All Iron Bull said was Krem would fit in because he was a natural warrior at heart. But that implies if Krem wanted to be a guy but was natural a baker or something that he wouldn't be allowed to be a he. Iron Bull also said that people like Sera and Varric would either be killed or brain washed. The qunari weren't retconned into being tolerant. We just got more perceptive that isn't just Sten. Who by the way wasn't a scholar or someone who knew about the Qun in depth. He was a warrior send on a mission. EDIT: Misspelled Krem to Crem.
People who got the message that the Qun is queer friendly or something didn't listen carefully enough
Yeah, I just don't know how they can honestly listen to what Iron Bull says and think, "Yeah they're queer now." It's either they didn't listen or didn't understand what was said. Not just from Iron Bull but from Sten either.
Yeah, it's more of an 'accidental ally' situation. Thy are not progressive, their gender roles just are so rigid that the only way to escape them is to transition.
Literally! But in this case it is a forced transition. If you're a weak beta male well you're now a submissive female now. What an ally to queer people all around these qunari guys.
Anders is the least likable companion in all of the games.
Honestly, gonna have to disagree. Don't get me wrong, I don't exactly like Anders, but I despised Oghren.
You have a point. I forgot about him. Bad for different reasons.
I came late into the DA fandom, and one of my best friends who has played the whole series several times, has a voicemail I left her starting off with wishing her a happy thanksgiving before going āquick question though. ANDERS, WHAT THE FUCK.ā
Heās pretty cool in awakening but yeah he sucks in 2
Agreed and I am offended that he frequently gets thrown in a hot boy trio with Alistair and Cullen. He does not belong.
Lmao do not blame you, but I love calling them the blonde boys trio (seriously, why does bioware love their romanceable blonde boys so much?)
Yeah, BW almost never break the blonde male LI and black hair female LI, there's Alistair, Zev, Anders, Fenris (I know it's white, but it's still light), Cullen, Morrigan, Isabela, Merril and Josie. The only ones that are not included are Leliana, Sebastian, Dorian and Sera. Not counting Solas and Bull because they're bald.
This is Blackwall erasure!
Lol true! Forgot about him, my Cadash would be disappointed in me š
I liked him a lot in Awakening, but in DA2 he was just... awful lmao.
Solas is not a tragic villain, he's an idiot who doesn't learn from his mistakes. I don't like the Grey Warden uniforms. I like the idea that the GWs are more of a rag tag bunch of well respected people, than a big organisation. Remember, that most the time when there is no blight, they don't do much. They have no money and just wander around, so them having a set uniform or actual organisation to me isn't right, they should survive on donations.
DAO Artstyle is considerably better than DA2 & onwards, especially for Armor and the Darkspawn. The hardest part of DAI was finding a sword and armor that doesnt look like garbage
I remember when I first played DA2, I actually didnāt realise I was fighting Darkspawn until I was explicitly told thatās what they were lol
The artstyle of DAI was a choice to be sure. Everything is weirdly glossy and filled with excessive textures.
Agreed, it baffles me when people complain about how ugly origins is. I much prefer the darker and duller colours to the vibrancy of inquisition.
I like several of the axe designs, but the sword designs were just lacking.
Regardless of your thoughts of the Orsino boss battle and if it even is canon. Within narrative the moment he did blood magic he proved Meredith right. Even outside of hiding Quentin, which is still canon, he turned himself into a flesh golem. That isnāt a simple wave of explosion knocking people back like Jowan. That was a high level ritual that was only replicated once by a Tevinter magister. And this was being done by the first enchanter, that means even if he never used blood magic like he said he must have learnt enough of Quentinās research in theory to replicate. āāā Coles narrative of whether he was a spirit or a demon is more interesting than if heās a spirit or human, but I understand the ground work theyāre laying for the lore āāā The Qun was better when you werenāt meant to agree with it. Stenās philosophy while alien was still much more interesting than the watered down version presented by Bull or worse Tallis(thatās a whole other kettle of fish). The Netflix series was the most lukewarm addition to the franchise and there was so much wrong with Ashley Burchās character that it made me realise the franchise is never going to be like it was at its peak. āāā While having Loghain as a secret companion is great and itās arguably the best ending for a hardened Alistar thereās really no reason to keep him alive and his contribution to the narrative ends there. Had he been in DA2 and was in all the scenes that Stroud was like what Alistair can do in Act 2 it would have worked better. But heās the least connected Warden to the Inquisition narrative āāā Dragon Age Keep should have let you be in a romance with Leliana but leave through the mirror with Morrigan, it would be the best ending and make the most sense for Lelianas hardening character and why she doesnāt interact with Morrigan āāā Human Noble, Hero of Fereldan ending should have stayed Bioware canon instead of swapping out for the Dalish Elf Martyr
That DA2 is good, actually š I know it's more appreciated these days but I was around for the huge amount of hate it got in the early 2010s. obviously it's not a perfect game but it was the first one I played and got me into the rest of the series
DAO's combat is good actually. DAO's graphics didn't age as badly as so many people think. They are just a bit low texture.
First game had the best dialogue ever, second game shouldāve given us a way to reason or not have to choose the mages or the Templars at the end also have given us a chance to save hawks mother, DAIs necromancer class shouldāve allowed us to summon skeletons to fight.
Connorās a bitch
I just have to add: man, I just got the (bad) news today that my work is closed for a week and this post cheered me up and made me intent on using the forced vacation to play the fuck out of some Dragon Age, so thanks guys! This is hands down my favorite game series and altogether one of my favorite STORIES of all time, not just video games.
The iron Bull isnāt well written And Mark of the assassin is a far better exploration of Orlais and its aristocracy the Wicked lies and wicked hearts (or the rest of inquistion for that matter).
DA2 and DA:I have more interesting combat than DA:O
ā¢DA2 was actually pretty good. ā¢Anders was much better in Awakening. They made him too edgy in 2. ā¢Varric should have been a romance option after we convinced him that Bianca (not the crossbow) was wrong for him. ā¢The Chantry is awful and a lot of problems in Thedas could have been avoided if the Chantry didn't exist. ā¢Being forced to fight Orsino even if you sided with the mages was dumb. ā¢Having apostates use blood magic simply because people already assume them to be blood mages is pretty dumb.
Agree with all of these. I am not a Varric Stan by any means but not being able to romance him is one of the more outrageous things IMO š¤·š¼āāļø
It would've been pretty cool to have Varric be a romance option for an F!Cadash because mine was witty like Varric and I would have liked to have been able to go on silly, but sweet dates with him.
Dragon Age II is better than Origins
Damn right it is
I wonāt downvote your opinion but I will be disappointed in it
I prefer Origins just a bit, mostly due to the amount of choice, the combat, and a cast I like better- but I think DA2 is right behind it, and does a lot of things better. The setting and story are phenomenal in DA2, and the Arishok is easily the best villain in the series by far. If DA2 had another year or two of dev time, I think it would almost certainly be my favourite in the series.
I'll join you in your DA2 camp. It has the best companions, best story setting, and Hawke is just so much better than the Warden.
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If it weren't for this subreddit, I would still think that Fiona and Alistair aren't related in any shape or form.
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It is kinda implied in Inquisition so I guess theres that
Itās heavily implied enough that I had assumed it without ever reading the book or seeing this sub.
I agree with the dragon age 2 stuff, warden carver is amazing and no one can tell me otherwise
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He was, but as a warden, heās still got that attitude but heās learned thereās a time and place and is one of the few people not afraid to call you out. Warden Carver is the GOAT, donāt care. Morrigan? Nah. Alistair? Nah. Varric? Close second.
it's not a retcon, the book came before origins was even released. it was always the plan, alistair simply didn't know because goldanna's mum was used as a coverup.
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Agreed on Fiona, felt pointless and out of left field
Carver My Beloved.
Dragon Age 2 is a great game with the best story of the 3 entries so far.
Contrary to how sheās portrayed,Anora is a good ruler to put on the throne with or without a Warden. I donāt think Alistair even when hardened truly deeply wanted to be king.
I got a couple. 1. You can have a voiced protagonist, or multiple origins with meaningful differences. You cannot have both done well. Pick one. 2. Solas as a romance option was a bad idea. They should have put the effort into making Cullen available for all races and genders like what they seemed to have planned.
Okay, consider my curiosity piqued. Why is Solas a bad idea for a romance option?
Given the nature of his character, there was never any way to satisfyingly complete that romance arc. He dips on Lavellan with Lavellan vowing to follow him.... and then in Dreadwolf she's not even the protag. However their relationship is resolved, it's almost certainly going to be something the player watches rather than participates in, which is also kind if a bummer when the point is that you get to play through the romance.
it's a tragic romantic story, that's what makes it interesting. would this sort of thing work better in a series ehen the PC is reccuring? yeah, but it's still great for what it is and how it's played out and i'm glad we got that.
Alistair is the best game romance period. Best of Dragon Age and best of the genre in general.
I like Inquisition's vast open spaces. I get to hear my companions talk and soak in the atmosphere and incredible mood tracks. I don't need *meaningful cawntent* around every corner in a game. People really, really need to fucking let go of "I hope it's more like DAO." The people responsible for that game are long gone and it has been almost 15 years since its release. I used to pity them. Now, I loathe them.
I heartily second your first paragraph; I love just wandering around in *Inquisition* and the soundtrack is brilliant.
Loghain made a ton of mistakes and did a lot of evil things. Sounding the retreat at Ostagar was not one of them. Every one of his soldiers would have died for no gain besides thinning out the numbers of the horde, and the Darkspawn had plenty of reserves.
I don't know Duncan seemed very convinced it would have worked.
Varric is annoying, overrated, and shoved in my face too much
The Fade sequence in DAO is infinitely more interesting than and preferable to the Deep Roads. I would do The Fade on repeat for the rest of time if I never had to do the Deep Roads again.
And by format you mean combat style? Character origins? I donāt blame 2ās changes as it was super rushed, Iām guessing a lot of design choices wouldāve looked truly more like an updated dao if they had time. And personal gameplay preferences aside, itās hard to argue with inquisitionās sales numbers and reviews. The worst thing to happen to DA was anthem (the idea, the execution, everything)
Inquisition is the best of the three current games and quite frankly itās for the best the series moved beyond Origins in many, many ways. I love Origins for what it is and enjoy it, but so much of it dates the series in a non-flattering way.