lobselvith8
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Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquistion
Posts: 426 Likes: 496
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lobselvith8
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Post by lobselvith8 on Dec 20, 2016 5:47:41 GMT
I liked The Last Court. The implementation could have used some work (some more variety with the cards, for example), but overall I liked the alliances I could make and the defining choices. My Marquis, Javier de Serault, romanced the Elegant Abbess (and successfully met her during the midnight meeting of the Cult of Masked Andraste - only took four times and an endless amount of Twilight to successfully pull it off). In case anyone is curious, this is the scene:
"On the third night you don your antlered mask and ride into the woods. The disciples of the Masked Andraste await you, clad in chantry habits and black masks of charred wood. Their idol is an ancient wooden statue hung in the boughs of a slumping oak. Perhaps the face beneath its mask is that of Andraste. Perhaps it is best not to look too closely. Their leader approaches you. She is masked like the others, but you recognize the calm smile and the gentle fingers that press to your lips. 'There are no names here' the Elegant Abbess whispers. 'No faces. Only old ways, and a bargain kept.' The moon is dark, the firelight coy. You witness the rites in flickering glimpses. The stag, trussed to a pole. The arrowhead, bronze and bright. The priestess' mouth, red in the night. When the ceremony is done, the leaves of the forest sigh like a lover and are still. The disciples bow to you and depart. In the days that follow Serault becomes a cornucopia of woodland bounty. Sweet fruit, nuts and rich game flow to your hall."
I thought the concept of Masked Andraste was interesting (reminded me of Silent Hill and how local Christianity had merged with the indigenous religion to become something altogether new). I wish that had been explored more.
My Marquis curried favor with others, accepted the Purveyor of Teas into his inner circle as an accomplice, convinced the Silent Hunter to serve as his bodyguard, imprisoned the Marquis of Alyons (presumably adsorbing Alyons into Serault), and befriended the Knight of the Forest (I liked the notion of this spirit mingling with dryads and other beings from the forest). Outright lied to Divine Justinia about breaking into the Chantry and brought up Marjolaine's name at dinner, kept the Knight's gift away from Justinia (although showing her a 'living' disembodied head would have been hysterical), allowed the Dashing Outlaw to get a full pardon, and restored the name of Serault.
What about everyone else?
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thats1evildude
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thats1evildude
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Post by thats1evildude on Dec 20, 2016 6:53:51 GMT
Oh, the Knight's gift isn't a disembodied head; it's a whole Chantry sister with flowers growing where her eyes used to be. A "living garden," as it were.
The Horned Knight is very much inspired by the tales of the old Fair Folk. The fairies of old were often malevolent, and even when they weren't, they didn't think like humans and thus their actions were unintentionally harmful. Thus, the Horned Knight actually believes that a Chantry sister turned into a potted plant would make a good gift for the Divine.
Needless to say, she does not appreciate it, and immediately ends the Feast. Thus, you lose your chance to remove Serault's Shame.
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Post by thats1evildude on Dec 20, 2016 7:00:25 GMT
I thought the Masked Andrast was an interesting concept, though I found The Last Court a little frustrating in that it was one of those ideas introduced but never expounded upon.
Like, take the Shame of Serault. We know that he was a mage and an abomination, but what did he actually do to make Serault the effective pariah of Orlais?
Anyways, I played the Huntress and took the Dowager as an advisor, the Pig Farmer as an accomplice and the Wayward Bard as a lover. I even forgave him for cheating on me.
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Heimdall
N6
∯ Interjector in Chief
Staff Mini-Profile Theme: Heimdall
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
Origin: HeimdallX
Posts: 5,575 Likes: 12,626
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Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda, Anthem, Mass Effect Legendary Edition
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Post by Heimdall on Dec 20, 2016 13:34:27 GMT
It has been a very long time since I last looked at that game... I believe I ended up with the Scholar as my Marquis. Beyond that I'm having trouble remembering. I believe I had the Elegant Abbess as the lover, the Dowager as counselor, the silent huntsman as bodyguard and the well-read pig farmer as accomplice.
The Last Court is the sort of thing I hope to see more of in DA spinoffs, an exploration of a localized area (Though they could have afforded to do more exploring)
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Post by lordofwar on Dec 20, 2016 16:52:54 GMT
I love the Last Court, and I think it's probably the best written piece of Dragon Age media. It's a shame it probably won't be getting any kind of follow-up, I like my Marquis as much as any of the game protagonists.
For my choices, I picked the Scholar, romanced the Abbess, had the head of the Glass-makers as my counselor, the Outlaw as my accomplice and the Hunter as my bodyguard. And yeah, lied to and out-Gamed Justinia, decided I liked the Shame, et cetera. I'd like to play again, but it says only beta testers can now?
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Post by parsival on Dec 23, 2016 14:01:47 GMT
I really liked 'The Last Court'. It was a collaboration with Failbetter Games and written of course by Chris Gardiner. Hasn't he been hired by Bioware to undertake a 'special project'? There was some speculation that he might be involved in a Dragon Age spin-off game that has been intimated - something turn base, as I recall. That would be great, if so.
If I recall correctly I went with the Scholar and romanced the Abbess - the Silent Hunter was my bodyguard and the Glass Maker was Counsellor. Perhaps the Purveyor of Teas was my accomplice (or it may have been the Bandit). I remember that I never managed to trigger the midnight meeting with the Abbess because I tried to keep my midnight score under control. A great shame!
I liked the Faerie elements in the forest, that sadly haven't really been explored before or since in Thedas, to my knowledge. I also liked the different aspects of Andrastian worship introduced through the Masked Andraste aspect. As I'm running a pen-and-paper role-playing campaign (published by Green Ronin) set during the Inquisition, I intend to set an adventure in Serrault, based around the war table mission.
What did everyone think of the war table follow up missions to Serrault, by the way? I wasn't quite sure what they portended or implied!
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Post by phoray on Dec 23, 2016 21:24:13 GMT
I didn't read any of the above because I don't want to be spoiled. But is this a game I should play? How is it related to the trilogy?
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Iakus
N7
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
Posts: 20,882 Likes: 49,341
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Post by Iakus on Dec 23, 2016 21:42:18 GMT
I didn't read any of the above because I don't want to be spoiled. But is this a game I should play? How is it related to the trilogy? It's not, really. You play as the ruler of Serault, a province of Orlais, as their the Scholar (male) or the Huntress (female) which has no effect on the game aside from starting stats. It plays as a sort of resource-management card game, where you have to maintain control of your province while preparing for the arrival of Divine Justinia V in seven days. If you do well, and sufficiently impress her, she may remove the Shame on your family name and restore your family's honor. The Keep records the results, but the only effect it has is unlocking two War Table missions in DAI. Completing those gives you Serault Glass windows for Skyhold. They're actually kinda pretty.
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Iakus
N7
Games: Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, KOTOR, Baldur's Gate, Neverwinter Nights, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
Posts: 20,882 Likes: 49,341
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Post by Iakus on Dec 23, 2016 21:45:57 GMT
Addendum: The Last Court was not developed by Bioware, but by Failbetter Games, the creators of Fallen London.
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Aneira
N2
Games: Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2
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Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2
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Post by Aneira on Dec 25, 2016 11:15:27 GMT
I have to admit, I was mostly confused and didn't know what to do so I just did random stuff. Somehow it turned out okay, but I never managed to get a lover or anything like that. I didn't really understand what I was supposed to do, sadly. The ingame windows look nice, though.
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