What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

Well, I guess I wanted to be anti demon/spirit to go along with being Anti Qunari. In both Merril's and Anders' cases, I think that would have me rivaled or around the middle the whole game, possibly even with metagaming. I feel like Bethany is a bit too forgiving right off the bat of the problems that Anders has with Justice. I'm trying to play a character I haven't played before. Prior to this, I did "Hero" that didn't bat an eye at the merge and fell in love with Anders, supporting him all the way. Followed by a hypocritical mage that drove Anders bonkers, made Merril sad, and sided Templars. To a sociapath who was definitely part of the Chaos in Kirkwall; he may have...ended the problems in Kirkwall, but definitely not to a logical or beneficial outcome to anyone but his own enjoyment.  So, now I'm trying for this sexually promiscuous morally grey chantry ish anti Qunari guy who thinks talking to demons probably just shouldn't be done but he's not super hell bent on the matter. I feel like DA2 usually only supports extremes when it comes to companion points. I suppose I'll find out if it can support this character but I feel I'll end up in the middle on some characters even with metagaming some. Like, I suspect that Anders may end up killing Ella and I'll banish Anders in Act 3 just to see him return to blow the Chantry up due to lack of points on him to get the Star option of stopping him.  I haven't see him pop up out of nowhere before so it'll be interesting.

In other news, unrelated to DA... I played TW3, cried a lot. Played ME3, cried even more. Decided to watch "A series of Unfortunate Events" on Netflix, felt grumpy and frustrated; if those kids had been open to killing the bad guy to save themselves, they would have saved themselves so much heartache. Then my husband and I finally finished Star Trek Enterprise, that prequel with Captain Archer? It's take us nearly two years to watch 4 seasons because man... some of it really sucked, mostly because Archer and the stupid Xindi War anb how he did everything wrong. Then they killed my favorite character, Tucker, for absolutely no reason in the very final episode. And Tucker and T'pol never got together, even after they lost their clone baby. And if anything, their relationship finally becoming a REAL relationship was half the reason why I kept watching. So, the last two episodes of that series made me cry (albeit, once for the clone baby and once out of angry loss for Tucker).  Entertainment shouldn't be depressing! bah humbug!

Prevent? No. But in the rivalry romance, Hawke can to crush Anders. This seems as s/he "convinced" him, but I think, he only realized, that Hawke never will understand him. So, Anders sadly retreat. Justice come out and he tell Hawke to fuck off, then retreat, and Anders apologize and promises to try everything, but not sure of the success. Of course, he doesn't remember anything, what Justice told to Hawke.
One of the saddest scenes in DA2, Anders reminds me to Awakening Anders, when tries to explain to the Templar, that he's not a murderer but know well, that she will not believe, just as everyone else.

Anders can leave? Well. I didn't know this before, thank you!

Oh, okay.  I always had one dialog options that saves Ella and another which results in her death.  It's not clear which is which just by looking at them in the dialog ring though.

The separated one is the rescue, the rest is the death.

I don't remember the "silver star" option; another reason to play DA2 again to see if I can do a better job of managing companions.  On one occasion, I had to kill Fenris during the climax in Act 3.  On another PT, Isabela ran out for good at the pivotal moment in Act 2.  If nothing else, your choices in DA2 matter the most with respect to your friends.

deadlydwarf Catilina

I romanced Anders, lost Isabella, AND had to kill Fenris my first PT. That was a raw emotional ride of crazy, where I kept trying to "fix" Kirkwall and it kept falling apart no matter what I did. That's the very sad glory of that game- Kirkwall's problems are bigger than the protagonist can fix. Didn't learn my lesson in PT 2 and still lose Isabella. It was actually my learned lessons that got my Evil Hawke (3rd PT) to get her to stay. Her loyalty was so wasted on him, he was a nutso. But oddly enough, it was Evil Hawke, who didn't try to fix Kirkwall at all, who actually caused more problems for fun, that made the game practically lighthearted. There was only one part where I flinched and winced, and that was selling Fenriel's soul to Torpor. Oh man. Fenriel's line had me feeling like a right turd. But the rest! how can I describe it.

IB voice: "Maaaayheeemmmmm."

Solas was so livid after Adamant. I went through the aftermath dialogue and he was blustering loudly. I realised belatedly there's a fourth option so I reload. To my amusement, it's a romance option. Choosing that tone down his fires. There, there, Solas. *stroke stroke*

Been playing a bit DA2, figuratively speaking that is... In reality, I've been playing it A LOT. To be more specific, I think all my free time during the last few days have been spent on it.

My computer sucks ass and the FPS rate is sometimes like 20 but I can't bring myself to care about such inconvenient details. The game is pure bliss for me. This is my fourth playthrough, and I actually appreciate the game more with every PT. There's just so much depth in the character interactions and new things and scenes to discover. I actually made some calculations, and I discovered that some 50% of my playtime has been related to companions (personal quests and other interactions). I mean, neither DAO or DAI even comes close to that. At times I feel I'm playing some soap opera instead of a fantasy RPG, and that's great, especially when all the characters are so interesting.

I'm already at the end of Act 2, and there have been some great moments which I had not yet discovered in the previous PTs. For example, I did Fenris' quest Bitter Pill, and it was a blast, really. Slavers ambushed us because I took too long bringing Fenris to Hadriana, and he was fuming at me afterwards And I rescued the poor little slave girl Orana and gave her a job as my servant. She's too adorable, also a bit sad, but what can you do... At first I feared that Orana would just disappear, but I was so happy to find her in my home. And Mother's reaction was so judgmental, haha. I think it makes my Hawke happier that there are more people in the house. I also asked Merrill to move in, so the house doesn't feel so empty and sad even though Mother's gone During my last PT, it was terrible in Act 3 when Isabela didn't move in and my warrior Hawke was all alone with Sandal and Bodahn. I still dislike Fenris strongly but I like to disagree with him.

DA2 is an emotional rollercoaster... I don't know how much it's in my head, but for me it's real nonetheless. I do remember the first time when I played the game many years ago, and back then I was impressed, but not enthralled as I am now. But somehow the game just keeps growing on me. This time I'm playing a red Hawke who's a elemental/blood/force mage, and it makes the combat pretty fun. I've rivalled everyone (except for Carver, lol), and it really gives a new perspective on the characters. It's a real shame that they scrapped the friendship/rivalry system. Sure, it is really confusing, and it took me three PTs and a lot of hours with DA wiki to understand how it actually works. But it's worth the cost, because it makes the game so much deeper.

Plus, the rivalry path/romance with Merrill is so heartbreaking and bittersweet I'm really not the emotional type but DA2 makes me want to cry all the time.

PS. MEA is coming and I'm kinda interested but it's really hard to get hyped up about it when I'm playing DA2

My take on the issue, although the exact characteristics of some countries in Thedas are a bit vague and contradictory:

Ferelden - England (Britain also includes Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland!)
Orlais - France
Antiva - Mostly Spain, whiffs of Italy and maybe Portugal
Free Marches - No good real-world equivalent, Kirkwallers have English accents while Starkhaven's Sebastian sounds Scottish. A polity like the Free Marches has existed in many parts of Europe in various times, but it's not much of a clue yet. 
Nevarra - the only Nevarran of note is Cassandra, and her accent is a mix of different European influences. Not many clues really.
Rivain - they don't have an unique accent, hard to say. Dark skin sure but many people have dark skins, could be Turkey or some other Mediterranean country.
Tevinter - Byzantine is a good bet
Qunari - No real world equivalent, I guess as the constant threat to Thedas they could be seen as any historical other of the Western civilization. Take your pick. But culturally they don't really have a lot common with Turks or Mongols, because the latter raised hell while the Qunari want to spread order.

Because s/he responsible for Corypheus... (not mine, not ever!)

By the way, I need to let my Hawke go home (or wherever...), but somehow I'm tired of the Inquisition, later. I miss DA2. And yes, Andromeda incoming!