What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

Got thrown into the Bad Future at Redcliffe... only to realize my inventory was full and I couldn't loot anything. Oops. Time to reload!

Ah, rats. If I have waited for a week, I could have bought the game for $8 instead of $40. Rats. Well, BioWARE, what can I say... that's $30 for your new IP budget. Make the male companions look really cool, pls!

The purple armor refers to the quality of the item. Here is Blackwall modeling it (I don’t have skillz to do a comic, so just a lousy screenshot & text to go with it):

Blackwall: It’s the best quality heavy plate Team inquisition has in stock.
Solas: Undoubtedly. A bold design with a particular attention to a warrior’s need to stay cool in combat over protecting body parts redundant on a man.
Blackwall: I gather we’ve just got a set of robes with a powerful enchantment.
Solas: Dorian, have you heard about an intricate set of powerfully enchanted, yet tastefully appointed garments acquired by Team Inquisition?



DA Doings:

I know what the Inquisition’s problem is: It starts with too much junk and too little good stuff like the Whispering Quest. I enjoyed it thoroughly yesterday! For those of you who are old Bio fans, it reminded me the ending of KOTOR2 very much, releasing my companions.

The story was smooth, the characters were talking sense (well, for a fantasy game), and it even had a few combat-teaching moments. I sincerely hope that the rest of the main story is as engaging. Was really glad to see Leliana alive and well again back in the Haven. She certainly improved in looks since DA:O, but I guess I did not discover her hidden dark side in DA:O or something, as her cutting down Felix was unexpected.

Finally managed to find Josephine before handing in the quest at the Wartable, and discovered that what I was doing all along was… collecting research. To me it looked like killing things, but whatever. The Cool Table gave me bonuses! Very well, research it was. Go, Team Inquisition! Oh, Josephine is a neat character, it’s good that they decided to highlight the diplomacy here, like in the Consular’ s story (SWTOR). She is also way more pretty in the game than on the screenshots.

My group is now established as Blackwall, Solas and Dorian. Love the dynamic, love the different personalities of the men, and I can hear the difference in their voicing.

Finished my play session yesterday with a very anticlimactic closing of the Breach, then Cullen went running across the backyard yelling we are under attack. This man has a stressful job….

I spent far too much time trying to take combat stills, because they look sooo good. Here is a couple I’ve liked the most:

Blackwall-as-a-Roman: “Nothing for it, Dusk. We charge."




Dusk: “Wall, the Mages are clear. Repeat: the Mages are clear. Moving to support you.”



Dusk now has 4 pretty cool attacks, plus combat stealth, and I find that Companion AI works fine on Normal setting for story-line. So, I am staying with a melee rogue. Thinking of making her a Tempest once I gain access to specializations, to try something a bit different.

Dusk, in full face paint, Solas with a Staff of Compensating for Something, ready to hack and slash some more:

1. What can you say?  It's no fun if it's too easy.  You have to ratchet up the difficulty until there's at least a challenge!

2. Who kills the Mad Hermit?  Or the Elder Tree for that matter?   Bad Warden!  Very bad!

3. Ideally, companion AI should be good enough that you don't have to micromanage companions in combat and can focus on your PC.  I don't know how well the tactics settings worked in DAO; I generally stuck with the defaults.  Given the stupidity of companion AI in Inquisition, I wish they had something so intricate there.  Amazing how some aspects of DAO remain superior to its successors.

4. You should take Wynne along!  Support mage and healer are needed duties, but not very sexy.  Leave sexy to the HOF!  In every DA game, I always seem to have two mages in every party.

Darn, you're making me nostalgic for DAO!  I guess I do need a DR PT for a change...

Bad habit, man. Really bad!

My rogue Wardens usually rob everybody in the whole game, except those pesky Templars and Dalish who dislike people who make an "honest" living. All this because it`s possible and it`s fun to gain some nice "surprise" items. And mostly because all these humans and dwarfs are just waiting around for the Warden to save the day, but never bothered to finance him at least. Not to mention a direct, disinterested help ...  So my rogue Wardens think it`s "natural" to help themselves and to preach "Relief" Bodhan-style all over Ferelden and Orzamar.

@domi

Future Lel kills Felix no matter what. But you can prevent Princess Stabbity in the present if you are consistently anti killing to her face. Some people like Princess Stabbity though. ☺

I heartily agree!  But they need to keep the Medieval-inspired armors of DAO rather than the frequently annoying "leisure suit" armors of Inquisition!  Also, have specific armor sets look the same on all characters, as opposed to giving all characters "their own look" - again, like DAO.  (E.g., Prowler armor looks like snowboarding outfits on Cole and Sera while Varric always looks like the First Mate on a pirate ship!)

One thing about the DA saga is that it art is not as consistent as ME verse. In the Trilogy, you see that graphics gets upgrades, but the art feels essentially the same. All three DA games felt different. But I assume, we will see graphic upgrades in DA4, if it is indeed still on the books. As well as a totally new look. I don't think they will reissue the old games.

OT

Didn't touch DAI for the last two days. Reason; Horizon Zero Dawn. Yesterday I was on a 15 hr Twitch stream; watching, not playing, because the player was the doing the main quest line and the mystery / story is so interesting I didn't want to stop. The story is more or less predictable; my initial theory turned out right, but it kept viewers speculating on what's going on with each piece of lore picked up.

HZD has the same collection mode for potions (etc) as DAI except the animation isn't so tedious; it's very quick, like Tomb Raider. I can't help but when I saw the game world map. Boy, people complaining about the vastness of DAI should see HZD. It helps the mounts are fast; horses really gallop.

Combat is dynamic and fluid. Every dialogue is a cutscene. Side quests vary; sometimes short, sometimes lengthy (going to A, to B, C, D and back again). What I've seen so far, they're not connected to the main quest but they reveal interesting things about NPCs. Not all, some. The VAs are fine though NPCs can be irritating.

The drawback for HZD, unlike Bioware's RPG titles, is that it has no replayability. The protag is fixed, like Geralt for TW. But I've to say I like HZD more than TW because the char is female (and to me, more lively than Geralt), I like the gameplay (even if it's really illogical to use what looked like an ordinary bow and arrow against machines. And of course, fire arrows ) and the story has many questions waiting for the player to find the answers to.

OT

Viewing of HZD completed. The story for MEA will have to be really good because the story for HZD is very well written. A lot of shock and feels, mystery / questions. I cried at the end. So this is the second game, of many titles I played, to make me shed tears. I hope DA4 will go one better.

I don't...really know what to say. It's so stark, after reading each picked up lore. I went, "no, no, no." And yet, I understand why it has to be. I too, will take that choice. The decisions, omg, they're terrible, horrifying, and yet there is no choice. Not one at all.

And the end, I can only say to the char; you have done it. Your hopes, your visions, will live on.   

Please note the decisions I referred to occur within the framework of the story and are not taken by the protag. It is a journey but not hers alone.

Today roaming around Orzammar in Dragon Age Origins, which I am trying currently to replay. The game's not bad... just a bit bland and terribly low on replay value. Right now I'm in some pains over the search for Branka, which is probably the nadir of Bioware's game development - an insanely long dungeon crawl which just goes on and on, and in the end we meet yet another maniac. I've got my fair share of crazies in DA2 already, thank you so much.

It actually annoys me a lot that the plot of DAO is basically going to places and solving other people's problems with the pretext of raising an army. From the perspective of story design, it would have made a lot of sense to include at least one group whose support could be gained without sacrificing three lambs and dancing around naked in the moonlight, figuratively speaking that is How come everyone has issues exactly at the time when the Warden is trying to raise an army?

Good things in DAO so far:

- Waiting to become King Consort
- Waiting to get Alistair executed
- Leliana
- Giving a nug to Leliana
- Zevran, who is delightful. Ah, that accent

(Groan) One fun day, one boring day, that's how Team Inquisition rolls.

Beat back the Corynpheus hordes. Had a really long conversation with Corynpheus about how useless my character is. Watched my character walk through the snow for 10 minutes. Shepards’ dreams in ME3 come to mind. BioWARE has a thing for slo-mo moving character.

Then I get to Skyhold, and spend a couple of frustrating hours getting around the dumb place and doing dumb stuff. Dusk, held the Sword of Inquisition high in a Herald to THE inquisitor transition.

Figure 1. Dusk, redeeming the notion of Inquisition, much maligned in human history (brave BioWARE). The students of Ignatius Loyola, the nearest and dearest to him….


Listened to an unskippable Dawn Will Come song.

Spent time recreating Revel’s face. Was reminded how awesome males look in BioWARE games. The rest of the encounter was indecipherable references to a DLC I did not play. I gathered Hawke fought Corinpheus & Wardens are all corrupted.

Figure 2. Revel Hawke, DAI style, gorgeous.


Did relationship talks. Was reminded how awesome it is to play a male in BioWARE’s games.

Cullen chewed his antacid pills and told Dusk: “Babe, thanks, but no, babe. We are still cool, right?”
Blackwall lost the spark in his eye, so cute when meeting him. He looked at Dusk dully, and lectured her on duty.
Dorian is gay, so I did not really try heart options on him, just went through the actually interesting dialogues with an actually interesting character.
Got more disapproval from Vivienne (what’s new?)
Recruited Cole. Don’t need him, but he appeals to my maternal.
Tried chatting with Iron Bull, boring, but chatted with Krem, was fun to hear Jennifer Hale’s voice, and Krem’s hero worshipping of Bull is fun.

Speaking of maternal. My one solace, Solas, whisked Dusk away on a dream tour of Haven. Man, this is an Open World Game with miles and miles of landscapes, and you pick Haven, the place I hate with a passion? Anyway, I did not expect it, because the game is rumored to be hard-coded to the n’th degree, and, yes, the animations were not fixed when the modmaker lifted the romance restriction (and thank you for lifting the rom restrictions, friend, whoever and wherever you are).

BioWARE insists that an elf stands a head shorter than a human, and a Qunari – a head taller.

Figure 3. Dusk and Solas, the Height is Right.


When Solas aims to kiss a Qunari, he misses her lips by a large margin, and borrows his head in her generous bosom instead. With the smooching sounds playing on. He’s no slouch! Dusk’s facial expression remains stoic.

But his (and Dorian’s) dialogues are the best, so I’ll keep using my considerable imagination or laugh my head off.

Ran into Blackwall again, in the stables (did not plan on it, just wanted a new stallion of a horse kind). Dusk asked him if he wants to talk about their relationship. He yawned, said All right, let’s talk about our relationship. The only thing that came up was a break-up option. Dusk yawned, and took it. Blackwall yawned and said it’s for the best. Good romance. High five, BioWARE.

Finally, scrolled through the list of three gazillion locations in the quest-logs, and sent Team Inquisition to Redcliffe to see Dorian’s parents.

Should have played a male. Cassandra vs Dorian would have made it actually hard to choose between the two romantic options. Qunari men get all the options the other men do, unlike the Qunari women…

deadlydwarf Sera is completely gone, yes. I can see Solas taking the non rom Loyola to the Fade of Haven, but I assume he doesn't kiss them in an uncontrolled fit of passion with a regretful: "oops, wrong dream!"

Also, as a female Quanari I get only two official romantic choices with males, one less than a straight male. Iron Bull and Blackwall. That's why I put the hack in, to enable Solas romance, and as much as people would look down on this choice as OOC, and game-breaking, it proved the right thing to do. A game without a romance is not a wrong choice, but I am playing this on-going experiment of a game only once, so I might as well see at least one rom.

As a male, I'd be happy with Dorian and Cassandra vying for my affections, unless Cassandra is Blackwall... well, not in skirts, but... well, you know. Not dull.