inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Apr 8, 2023 17:00:21 GMT
Last few days in FFXIV - So last two nights I was giving a friend crash course through Savage We didn't kill the carbuncle, but P6S was her first proper Savage kill without echo (i.e. before another raid tier releases and the last one is made easier). And I got my savage boots, so I'm now only chest piece and weapon away from my BiS. Even if we're like two months away from another tier. And I've made so many screenshots over the past couple of days. Edit: Oh yeah, for a couple of afternoons, I also made an Au Ra alt character, on a whim, just for fun. Mostly just did early MSQ and some side quests on her. whatever else they do with character creation in DAD, they should let me make my character this big and buff
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Apr 3, 2023 1:28:05 GMT
My savage raid prog in FFXIV continues. This weekend we downed the big tree in P7S for the second time, and it took as long as the first.Other than that, two weeks ago I started organising Extreme trial runs for some friends who were interested in trying them on-content, so we've had Mount Ordeals run tonight, and the fiery man refuses to keel over for the second week in a row. But the Flamespire Brand execution is getting cleaner and cleaner, and we're starting to make our way past sweeping immolation as well, so maybe next week? And here are some unrelated bun shots.
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Mar 1, 2023 23:44:25 GMT
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 27, 2023 1:07:11 GMT
I think I have played FFXIV for so long that I fell out of love with overly elaborate UIs. As far as I'm concerned, just keep it simple.
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 23, 2023 7:45:57 GMT
as it never felt like I had progressed at all In defence of level scaling from perspective of feeling progress - there are ways other than just stomping mobs on basis of sheer numbers to feel progress. Getting more skills, more passives, more secondary stats like crit or attack speed, all make you stronger outside of just sheer number advantage. They give you additional ways to control and defeat your foes, and make it easier to fight them that way. Say, take fighting basic wolves as a mage in DAI with scaling on. If you only have winter's grasp, and then have to auto-attack to fill in, it's going to be a lot harder to kill that pack of wolves than if you have say, fire mine array with chaotic focus, flashpoint, and Energy Barrage, and you replaced the single winter's grasp with ice mine array. Even if one of them was promoted/boss level, dropping energy barrage on one (at least one hit will usually crit) and then dropping two fire mine arrays on the will probably kill the whole pack outright, and if some survive, you can freeze them with ice mines and attack until barrage or fire mines are back up. Level 20 you has a lot more tricks up their sleeve than the level 1 you, while the level 1 enemies are never going to get more than what they already had, even if health/damage numbers remain proportionally the same throughout. Edit: In fact, I would argue that straight up number increases are the single most boring part of level ups, and depending on the how many of them are there can introduce extra problems.
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1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 21, 2023 14:08:46 GMT
I am a big fan of more granular difficulties like Pathfinder did, where you have several presets, and then you can tweak different aspects to your liking, like enabling/disabling respecs, enemies have more abilities and are more numerous, number modifiers on crits, toggle permadeath etc. Other games had some neat ideas as well, I think it was tomb raider remake? Or something else? idr. That let you tweak non-combat things like puzzles separately from combat.
Add on top of that trials that were added to DAI in Trespasser...though preferably properly implemented, no more immortal mages, and you get a great difficulty setting system!
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 17, 2023 9:36:13 GMT
Once more from FFXIV Last night we tried to clear the most recent Extreme trial, had half of our static there, and then filling in with party finder as necessary. We didn't clear, since most of the time spent there was reprogging party finder people to where we got fairly early on, which was having half of the party stack in the middle, half going to the edges of the arena, all the while dealing with a AoE attack radiant outwards from either cardinal or intercardinal directions. At least it was decent practice. And unrelated screenshots
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 14, 2023 0:08:53 GMT
I don't have much to add to the ongoing discussion, but I am baffled at DAO being called tRPG because...no it's not. It's just standard RTwP cRPG. 'tactics' menu is just a fancy name for companion ai editor. And with decent enough build/gear setup, you can make it through the whole game making absolutely bullheaded decisions mid combat and still make it through. I should know, because I'm the least tactically minded person to ever live. (hyperbole... but I really am bad at tactics and strategy both) Give me a real tRPG and I will fail miserably, yet everything in DAO is perfectly doable.
The game was really not that deep.
Edit: the infinity engine games, or the infinity engine inspired revival games aren't tRPGs either.
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0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 9, 2023 14:24:25 GMT
I'm more worried about Forspoken because whilst it has plent yo faccessibility options too bu twhether they'er enough to make the game playable for me I'm not sure. Mostlyit's moe rthe whol etying t ocast spells ewhile bein gconstantl yon th emov ebit I'm mos tworried about as trying to shoot and firea tthe sam etime has neve rbeen one of m ystrong suits. Because a tleast in Mas sEffect I can usuall yge tint ogood cover spots befoe rengaging th eenemy or using a power or 2 to destabilize them long enough to get to one a tleast on Casual difficulty. i'm hopinmg I can d oth esam ewith Forspoken in tha tI can throw of a big AOE o rsomething befoe rthe yrealise I' mthere o rsomething and such and use thatto gain an advantage but we'll see. From what I've played of Forspoken (only played the demo), it doesn't require much if any precise aiming. The shooty purple/rock magic automatically snaps to an enemy closest to center of the screen if you have the option enabled, and red magic is mix of melee and AoE. And the charged attacks that do require aiming should have aim assist, though I don't remember how generous it was.
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0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 9, 2023 14:08:42 GMT
I have no clue why anyone would use such style for a fantasy games. The biggest reason would be readability. Having fancy paperlike UI texture and flowery fonts is nice for feel, but it can make things harder to read. I don't have particular preference for either, both have their pros and cons.
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inherit
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0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 9, 2023 11:02:08 GMT
I didn't end up playing much of anything yesterday, because I decided to learn to use a very specific blender tool so I can move over outfits to this new body I did end up grabbing a few pics in XIV still though.
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 8, 2023 12:39:23 GMT
If Bioware was always trying to get away from tactical RPGs, why did they create the DAO tactical RPG, as well as the sequel tactical RPG and the DAI hybrid? I don't think I've seen anyone address this (unless I missed it), so here goes - The most obvious answer would be that with Jade Empire being something of a flop, either the team collectively, or someone higher up decided that since they are known for cRPGs and not ARPGs, they would either go back to their roots for their following game, or try to make the transition more gradual. I think the latter is more likely, considering their overall trajectory since then.
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 7, 2023 23:57:39 GMT
Chronologically speaking which game comes first timeline wise Origins or Odyssey? Odyssey takes place a couple of centuries before Origins. Odyssey happens during Peloponnesian Wars, so it's 420-ish BC, while Origins is like 50-40BC
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Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 7, 2023 14:37:45 GMT
Over in FFXIV So my most recent adventures have been of more technical nature. Up until now, I've been using TexTools as my tools of choice for applying visual mods, which has been reliable for me personaly, but lacking some functionality more recent tools have, as well as directly modifying game files. While Penumbra doesn't directly touch gamefile, as well as allowing things like choosing who things like character mods apply to. And there is another tool that links into it that allows others to see your modded look. So this weekend I spent roughly 6 hours migrating all my over. I did not expect it to take that long, but I had to learn how to use the tool, because while importing full modpacks is simple, doing so with collection of loose files that I used to apply freckles to my character is not so easy. But I did figure it out and migrated everything, as well as added some more which weren't really an option before. Specifically, muscles. After all, my character is a dark knight, wielding a sword as large as she is. Only makes sense she would have muscles, yes? Other than that, I stumbled my way into a Savage raid static group, and completed my first Savage raid fight ever. It was a couple patches late to this particular one, as they only just started running through Pandaemonium, but the plan is to progress to the most current fights. Funny story with that, because my joining this group was complete accident. Last week I was casually running my daily Expert roulette, when the red mage said that they need to get together their BiS to get better damage. So I conversationally say, Imagine have BiS /nonraider. And apparently I was doing well enough as the dungeon's tank that they extended me an invitation to join their group, because they just had an opening.
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1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Feb 1, 2023 17:03:14 GMT
XIVposting So I decided to make the basement of my house a tabletop gaming room. Took couple million gil, some experimentation with different tables, as well as couple of hours of work just to get it right, but I'm largely satisfied with it now. (images past the first spoilered for size) Afterwards I remembered Valentine's seasonal event is starting today, so I went off to do that and got a cute dress out of it! Hilariously (in an incredibly stupid way) the reward is genderlocked, when the theme of this year's event quest was wearing what you're comfortable with practicing self-love @.@
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Jan 31, 2023 0:11:09 GMT
I saw a Magus from PF2e class mod on Baldur's Gate 3 Nexus page, so I had to give it a shot. And with that comes a new character.
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Jan 29, 2023 23:06:38 GMT
Back with more FFXIV So I was slacking off with doing this reset's alliance raid until now. Didn't get tank gear, which is my most played role (well, technically tank gear did drop, but it was a piece I have already), but I did get maiming chest piece, which I immediately incorporated in my glamour for dragoon.
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Jan 28, 2023 22:40:07 GMT
/XIVposting Some days, I don't really feel like playing, and others are very productive indeed. Spent a whole bunch of time gathering and crafting, doing duty roulettes, doing Gold Saucer things, and the finishing the day off with a map party with friends. And of course, taking many, many screenshots.
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Dec 21, 2022 7:59:29 GMT
I've been playing a drow oathbreaker paladin in BG3 patch 9. My headcanon for her is that she used to be a conquest paladin for Lolth, but got tired of all the murder and tyranny so she broke her oath in order to leave the Underdark and do some good to balance the scales, so to speak. But lifetime of being what she was left her with some...questionable methods to do so, so she's been largely intimidating her way through the game. ...in reality I started as a devotion paladin and broke my oath by murdering two tieflings, may they rest in peace. But hey, you do what you gotta do, right?
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inherit
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0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Nov 25, 2022 18:48:53 GMT
So today I did both What Pride Had Wrought and Doom Upon All the World. The latter I did solo, because it feels right, just you and your dragon vs. Coryphyshite and his dragon. Seeing Briala's elves helping you, alongside Inquisition and Inquisition mages was neat. I did all the rituals and allied with Abelas, because I always tend to play my mages as a bit of history nerds when the game allows, and then let Morrigan drink from the Well, because Solas was sending too many mixed signals about it to risk it myself, and Morrigan was very insistent on it. And then of course, the fight with Cory. I love deflecting dragon projectiles with Deflecting Blade I don't really like gameplay of amplified bladeThat finish on him is as brutal as ever. I am currently pondering if I want to do Descent and Jaws of Hakkon. I probably will, though admittedly I'm getting burnt out on Inquisition's open world after Exalted Plains/Emerald Graves/Hissing Wastes/Forbidden Oasis combo.
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0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Nov 24, 2022 11:37:17 GMT
So yesterday was the day of Hissing Wastes and Forbidden Oasis, as well as finishing off treasure maps and other assorted minor side quests. This is the first time I actually went to Forbidden Oasis, my previous runs where I collected shards died out long before I got around to getting there, and my previous finished runs completely ignored shards because that was the only way I could ever get far enough through the game. This time though, I have a mod that reduces number of shards (as well as required shards, obv) to 2 to 3 per zone, which makes the collection so much more bearable. Anyway, Forbidden Oasis is bad, actually. Convoluted, dusty area, and the temple was...really underwhelming honestly. At least I got a vitaar out of it. And Hissing Wastes are so, so incredibly massive. And DAI horses are so bad I refuse to use them, they look like they sprint in slow motion. So I finished that whole area on foot, which took just an incredible amount of time. At least the desert night is pretty, so it has that going for it. And the tombs are not bad either. The one benefit of the sheer size of Hissing Wastes is that I got to hear a bunch of banter, I had Solas, Bull and Cole with me. The one where Solas reassures Bull that he will be fine without the Qun was sweet And I managed to finish all the mosaics, which is something that I've never done. In fact, in all my previous runs I've always missed 1-2 pieces from every single one On to What Pride has Wrought today!
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0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Nov 23, 2022 15:08:22 GMT
Had a few days off from DAI (I needed more sleep) but I'm back. This time around, I dealt with the Red Templar presence in Emprise du Lion. While there, I finished Cassandra's mage and templar hunts, and Blackwall's hunt for Grey Warden relics, as well as found the location of the resting place of the Blade of Sulevin. I dealt with Imshael while accompanied by Bull, Viv, Sera, then went off to deal with the dragons in beyond the broken bridge. I raided Samson's base for information on information on his armour (shame about Maddox). Then I retrieved the Blade of Sulevin, and finally, finished Vivienne's personal quest by giving the heart of snow white the snowy wyvern. Oh and I also freed Blackwall from prison, and re-recruited him as Thom Rainier. Screenshots:
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inherit
1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Nov 22, 2022 7:59:51 GMT
Returned to the Hinterlands to hunt the Ferelden Frostback. I would feel bad fighting the high dragons, because they are cute, but the fights are too much fun to feel bad about them
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inherit
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0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Nov 20, 2022 14:28:20 GMT
Emerald Graves is such a visually spectacular area. I adore it, so lush and beautiful. That haunted villa side quest is also really good. So today (or, well, yesterday, but over the course of one day), I mostly completed Emerald Graves. Helped out Fairbanks' folks, gotten rid of the Freemen in the Graves, discovered evidence for his being noble...and then promptly discarded it. Since I did In Hushed Whispers this time, I also picked up smuggler letters to find out more about Samson, and found out I need to unlock Emprise du Lion. I also fought a dragon. Dragon fights are always fun. Once that was done, I started Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts. I took Bull, Dorian and Sera with me, just for fun. I charmed the court despite the massive approval hit from being qunari (almost half your starting approval gone, just like that) and had the tough decision what to do with the court. I originally thought I would go for the truce ending, but since I never did the ones where Celene dies, I decided to try to do the shadow empress Briala one, and if I felt too bad about it, I would just reload. But I did end up sticking with it, in part because the game let me express remorse about letting Celene die. Oh and after that I got the romance achievement. Only took me...7 years Screenshots I would kill for a decent photo mode in DAI.
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1663
0
2,777
Vall
1,413
Sept 23, 2016 22:09:07 GMT
September 2016
vall
Mass Effect Trilogy, Dragon Age: Origins, Dragon Age 2, KOTOR, Jade Empire, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by Vall on Nov 19, 2022 13:57:49 GMT
She was mentioned once before in the thread, but Amelia Tyler would be an amazing choice. She voices Malady in DOS2, Nyrissa and Wenduag in Pathfinder games, and now narrates BG3, and she's wonderful. Also bring back Joanna Roth. I know she played Aveline in DA2 already, but come on. She was the voice of Venat in FFXIV, and it just reminded me how much I enjoy listening to her.
For male characters, my current faves are Peter Bramhill (Thancred in FFXIV, King Cailan in Origins), Timothy Watson (Urianger - FFXIV, Uncle Gamlen, Bann Teagan), and Luke Allen-Gale (Zenos - FFXIV).
Neil Newborn and Jennifer English could also be fun (Astarion and Shadowheart in Baldur's Gate 3)
And yes, most of these are British. We are going to Tevinter after all.
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