What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

The problems Obsidian Gryphon describes are a thing that really annoy me about Bioware games. Why is it so damn difficult to mod the thing? There are only a few games that I have that I play without at least ten mods, but in the case of all the DA games it's just not very user friendly. I mean I have thousands of mods and downloads for The Sims 3 (yes, still playing that ^^) and it works just fine. Also you don't have to fiddle around with merging files with patches and all that crap, just throw the file into the mod-folder and you're good to go. And if you use a lot of custom content you can create subfolders and sort the files so you don't have to go looking through 11 GB of files to find the one that may cause an issue. Heck, in Elder Scrolls Morrowind you even got the creation tool for free and in the game menu you just ticked the boxes of those mods that you wanted to use. And this game is OLD. Very.

Okay, rant over.

I stopped playing DAI for the time being; when I have time I play Lego games atm (The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, to be precise). No mods required. (If you don't count cheat engine, that is.)

Just finished Here Lies the Abyss. This is officially the first time that Loghain has made it to the current endpoint of any of my world states alive! (In five he died after losing the dual, in one he was fed to the Archdemon and in my last playthrough he tanked the Nightmare for me.) I mean, I assume that a Weisshaupt-shaped anvil will fall on him and we'll never see him again, but still, it's further than he's ever got before.

Sacrificing Hawke is always tough, although this time wasn't as bad when I did it on my first run. For one thing, Varric wasn't with me this time to ask where she was. I am relieved that this is the last time I will ever have to do it unless I end up needing a tenth world state for some crazy reason. Hypothetical World State #9 is going to be the one where Alistair bites it, though, and that might be even worse.

In happier news, I finally got Cassandra's approval high enough to trigger Guilty Pleasures. I don't think anything has made Carathir Lavellan that happy since before the Temple blew up. And I should be able to actually start the romance now!

Hmmm....did you remove your hair mods?  Any mods of Inquisition finery?  For me, the finery mod blocked Trespasser until I deactivated it.

Thank you! Yes, I know there are no romances & it is a story tie into DA2, and I am fine with both. And, erm, I have to apologize for my spell-checker. Apparently it has a mind of its own, mangling my posts really badly. I will try to read more carefully what it actually ended up saying before posting. Yakes.

Last night, while playing DAI, Alex travelled to the Emerald Graves with Cassandra, Dorian and Sera. They helped Fairbanks save his people from the Freemen and Red Templars, then secured the area under the Inquisition's protection. Fairbanks was hired as an agent later.

While further exploring the Graves and sealing fade rifts, Alex and her party encountered a lot of grouchy looking great bears. No worries, the amount of pelts they got were useful for armour.

Next, they came to Chateau d'Onterre. A haunted looking mansion with whispers of restless spirits roaming about. The lady Inquisitor was about to go through the gates, but Sera tugged on her arm. "No no no! We are NOT going in there!" she panicked.

Alex glanced at the archer with a raised brow. "Sera, we've fought demons, undead, darkspawn and Red Templars. A deserted estate isn't that scary," she answered.

"Well, we did go through a few abandoned ruins during our last outing," Dorian piped up.

Sera shot the mage a dirty look. "You're not helping!" she argued then turned back to Alex. "Let's go somewhere else! There's a dragon around here! We did see it, yeah?"

The lady Inquisitor's expression brightened for a moment, hearing about a dragon. But then she shook her head. "Maybe later." She brushed past her companion and entered the gates.

"Wait! What?!" Sera gawked.

Dorian shook his head as he entered next. "It seems our illustrious leader has the final say," he quipped.

Sera blew a raspberry. "I hate you, Inky! You too, Dorian!" she called out.

Cassandra was the last to follow when Sera latched onto her. "What are you doing?!" she yelped with a startled look.

"Cassandra! Seekers go first!" the archer pleaded, "You'll stand in front of me, yeah?"

The lady Seeker sighed exasperatedly. This was going to be a long and tedious quest.


To be continued...

Not a gameplay related post but... I drew these today! Solas and Flemeth (I'm a beginner so please be kind ) I still need to make adjustments to them but I'm having a break and coming back to them in a couple of days. Flemeth was hard because her face is at an angle and is older. I'm still learning but I'm having fun with it

Since it's working at the moment; the elven female athletic body mod, I'm going to leave the mods alone until Trespasser stalled again in a terrible way. Hopefully it does not. *cross fingers*

The journey of Warden Commander Drako Amell, The Hero of Ferelden: (DA:O, DA:A, and Witch hunt)



The Chronicles of Tyros Hawke, Champion of Kirkwall:



The Path of Inquisitor Mason Trevelyan, Herald of Andraste:



The Journey continues,

Went to talk to Cassandra this morning. She was hitting the training dummies particularly hard. Something was bothering her. She's lost all contact with her fellow Seekers. Even the Lord Seeker hasn't been heard from for over two weeks. They were not among the Red Templars that attacked Haven. I had Leliana redirect a couple of her agents to investigate the matter. The only thing they turned up was rumors about a Ferelden Bann and "odd Templars". It was thin, but it's the best we had. When I informed Cassandra she grabbed her sword and shield and started towards the main gate. Had to stop her from heading off on her own. If Seekers are going missing, I've no intention of losing mine. Can't send our soldiers. If the rumors are wrong, that would send entirely the wrong message. A small strike team with me and Cassandra at the head can be disguised as just the Herald going to meet the a devote Andrastian noble. I call on Varric and Vivinne then we go...

...When we arrive, the place almost looks empty. Despite there being plenty of trees and bushes, there isn't a single chirp of a bird or insect. It's quiet. That creepy, something is hiding around the corner, quiet. We slowly make our way inside and find the place to be crawling with Red Templars. Seems the rumors were true after all. Vivinne's Knight Enchanter abilities are particularly useful in these close quarters. As we move through the mansion we find the bodies of a couple Seekers and one young man near death. Cassandra knew him. He was her understudy. He told us that the Lord Seeker himself was behind all this. Killing off his own order one by one. Hard to believe even for me. The young man then complained of something inside him. A demon he said, but he was not possessed. I would have sensed it. This was... something else. What exactly it was, I have no idea, but we couldn't simply leave him to be torn apart from the inside. Cassandra gave him a quick death. Most would have been sad after such an action, but she was...well... pissed. More determined than ever...

...Up and up we go, carving our way through Red Templars until we finally find the bastard responsible. Lord Seeker Lucius. He had a monologue ready. They always do. The man was barking mad. Talking about ending the world. Too much crazy. He had to die and considering the look in Cassandra's eyes, I assumed he would die screaming. The Seekers were family and he killed them. The one thing the Lord Seeker was not going to get was mercy. The fight was far easier than I had thought it would be. For one calling himself a "Lord" he went down pretty quick. This had all been overwhelming for Cassandra, so we left. I would have Cullen send some men to collect the remains of the Seekers that died there. They, minus Lucius. deserved a soldiers pyre...

...After the Seekers had been given a proper funeral, we returned to Skyhold. I left Cassandra alone for a while before going to check on her. She found a book she on the Lord Seeker's body. A book passed down from Lord Seeker to Lord Seeker containing the order's secrets. Secrets that have left Cassandra... shaken. As much as I wanted to, I knew I couldn't fix this. All I could do was listen. I did what I could to reassure her. Not really the time, but I even flirted with her a bit. Got her to smile. It's not much, but there was less despair in her voice and a glint of hope. I'll take it...

...Spent the last few days reading Leliana's reports from her agents on the Western Approach. There are sightings of Wardens and Venatori in the area. Harding is having some trouble with the local wild life and sand storms. My mind is filled with "what could be" and how to stop "what won't be". Decided to walk the grounds to clear my head. While checking on some of the repairs to the main hall, Cassandra pulled me aside. Didn't say anything, just gestured. Seemed odd. She was flustered and nervous. Two words I don't normally associate with her. She had decided to confront me about my flirting with her. I wasn't exactly being subtle about it, but she clearly had something to say on the matter. The entire conversation was... confusing... She insisted there was no way to engage in a courtship because of our respective positions. Sounded like excuses to me. Then the confusing part, she told me how she wanted to be courted. Strangely specific too. I wasn't sure if she was trying to discourage me or encourage me. I doubt she knew exactly what she was doing. After her little rant, I had a plan and set out to set things up...

...Takes a couple days for the timing to be right, but I get Cassandra to meet me in a small grove just outside Skyhold. Candles, flowers, and even poetry. I hate poetry, but this display is for her. Not me. I recite a poem as best I can, but this is not exactly "my field" here. The reading falls flat, but the over all gesture lands quite well... No more excuses... Can't decide if this is fate, luck, or sheer madness. And tonight... I really don't give a damn.

We're as tenacious as our heroes of DA aren't we? 

Good news btw. Successful transition at third pass into Crossroads. From what I understand from my previous struggles, repairing the game will not remove the mods but smoothed them into the game. That's what I figure because I noticed one difference.

My previous method; repair, install mods effected a very long loading time each time the party transit to other maps. Very much longer than usual in a vanilla PT.

Present method; install mods, repair. Loading time during map transition is close to normal.

* 

By the by, I really want to smack Teagan really hard. I wish he had met Mythal / Flemeth, she'll cut him down to size and into ribbons. I know what he'll scream and rant about once he knows ancient elves would once more be afoot and that they're more terrifying than he can possibly imagine. Blame it on the Elves! I'd bet he'll bitch, stomp his foot and whine and run to hide when the world fall apart once more. Btw, I didn't bother to answer his demand for reparations to Redcliffe because the Inquisition were supposedly in charge of the mages when in fact his own King dumped them on his estate. 

P.S. You know what? I want Solas to succeed. Tear down the Veil, I say. Let Thedas know what had been, what their ancestors had built upon, face their fear, face the truth. Live or die? It's up to them.

I think the PT has gone a bit awry. I remember talking to everyone after each return from the Crossroads. Dorian is supposed to say he received a letter etc, etc, and so on but nothing! All of them made small talk. Now I'm on the last fight, maybe? I can't remember. I hope it's not but I've a sinking feeling it is. If it is, this PT is missing the Dorian segment.

I think the game is failing to register that entry / return from Crossroads, hence, cutscenes that're supposed to appear, do not. The fourth entry to Xroads failed again but I used that same trick once more. Dorian's segment is the other important node. I hope that the decision on whether he gives the crystal to the Inq is in DAK so I can adjust it (I haven't check up on the DAI part). Since the fourth and final mirror has passed, I hope to get the final dialogue.

I didn't get the Dorian talking to Inq in the epilogue. Not my fault, the stupid cutscene just never appear. Glitchy PT. I felt that cutscene should have appeared as the first eluvian passage was a success. There was no glitch.

I checked DAK, my elven Inq isn't even in there. And it's hard to tell which PT has Trespasser completed. I've got close to 40 PTs in there. Some of which are not even PTs but failed to launch (char stuck in Fade). For some reason, the program registered the failed char....and then failed to register my elven Inq. Really!

I loaded one that says current PT which is apparently wrong as it's a human Inq and there's no Trespasser section. I hope they update the DAK when DA4 is confirmed / announced / going to launch.

*

The last fight was crazy. Frantic running about and throwing mines everywhere and remembering to discharge the Mark. Sometimes I forget to keep an eye on it and then I'll see the Inq float into the air at the wrong moment. Baboom! Worst when companions are close and everybody is injured. I'm also annoyed how sometimes the mines bounced off somebody's back and then everything flew away into the air.

I got the final dialogue and did not choose to break hearts with Solas. I winced at the painful cries; wow, Sumalee Montano is more vocal as an elven Inq than Alix Wilton Regan as a human Inq. Solas, how can you stand it?

The kiss was bittersweet and very sad. Will there be a moderately good ending? Well I can hope.

I chose to disband. Freck it, the moment Solas said "my spies tripping over Qunari spies", ok that settles it.   I really want Solas to remove the Veil. I want to see the return of the ancient elven mages.

I enjoyed the elven PT, hiccups aside and the less than ideal immersion breaking dialogues. I hope the next PT Trespasser is better but I'm really not holding any hopes for it. I think for that one, I'll remove all the mods first and then repair the game before starting the DLC. 

Blackmarshes turned out to be a surprisingly charming dungeon crawl. Really enjoyed it... actually still playing through it (it is a crawl after all), but after getting Justice it sort of turned anticlimactic with a blatant third reuse of the area and repetitive sameness of too many spawns. I guess, after I squash enough portals, I will get to fight baroness, or something. eventually. Can't wait to be honest.

Awakening has extremely functional party. Between two mages, Nathaniel and Justice, and the copious amount of gear, there is no suffering like in the first game. But, I gave up, and looked up where I can get the Blood Mage spec, so, yeah, once the Marshes come to whatever end, I'm going to get it for both of my mages. Their builds are really eerie similar, but they are efficient together.

I'm trying to remember the Blackmarshes...  You have the real Blackmarshes where you find ruins and have to fight werewolves and other critters....and areas which you can't pass through because of tears in the Veil.  Then you have the Blackmarshes in the Fade where you see the village with villagers and the Baroness.

Note that outside the Fade village, you have to clear all those altars of demons so that those areas will become passable again in the real world.  If you don't, then they will remain impassable in the real world.  Regarding the Baroness, once you are all sent back to the real world from the Fade....have you gotten to that point yet?