What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

I forgot to mention that last time I had the drinking session with Iron Bull which was a bit of an oopsie considering it did not match at all, he wasn't there, and I went after an electric dragon first time. So oops. There is a few things that I forget in not playing this game for so long one can forget a few things. So alas I will double make sure that the next Dragon I take out, well with him in the party, will be the Ferelden Frostback.

But first went around to the Western Approach to continue to get ready for the Dragon there and grind for more levels. I think the one reason I am also going around and continuing to do it this way, jumping around maps, is so I can hopefully continue to level up my character(s) and get better armor through mats so I can have a wider variety of party combos available to take them on. Namely the Mark of Death which is an all important power to bringing down dragons and...they are quite the tough nuts to crack so want to give myself the best and overleveled chance to kill them. I think as a result though I may get to essentially do a few of the dragons in very short order. Though I am closing in on maybe hitting the one in the Exalted Plains. Bit nervous since I am not entirely sure of its level.

Back at base got through a lot of companion chatter and pushed things. Got through a few big cutscenes. The Cullen v Dorian V Kara chess match where the romance is starting to sizzle, Cassandra reading Varric's book and wanting the sequel...while also flirting with her as well because perhaps the Inquisitor should read it. And then wrapped it up with three straight cutscenes with Varric because apparently I had to get through some stuff before I could get to him writing the book.

Looks like Anders doesn't approve of Tara Hawke X Fenris. Anders asked "Orly?! Fenris?" right at the start of one of Justice little dung scavenger hunt.

As for Fenris, he wondered (ambient dialog after clicking on him) how it felt to lose all your familly right after he

DA2 is a Soap Opera!!!

Glad I can live this vicariously through you as I just could never do it!!!!!! 

It might be the only time I do a playthrough like this. Though I have to admit some of the dialogue is hilarious

It's an excellent playthrough. It's like doing the playthrough in my signature in DAO. excellent. 

My next playthrough will be more.....friendlier.  

You'll use the Nightmare spell combo over murder knives and slicing people?

The second Dragon that falls to Kara...the thing in the Exalted Plains. Was going to be a lot more epic but then I realized I forgot what the thing is even called. No real issues here but think that this is the first time that I have done this one second at all. Which brings me up to 7 Dragon Bones for the campaign so I am getting there. Kind of fun though having a bit of an internal debate with myself about moving forward. Now I usually go through the Ferelden Frostback pretty early in these games but the annoying thing about going after her is all of her children guarding the area in front of ehr before you go there. Normally I just go into stealth and try and rush through to get to her but then the companions aren't always so lucky so its always a bit of a resource drain before the big fight either way. But then I realize kind of a lot of the Dragons do have these fights before you even get to them and you can't conveniently go to a camp to resupply before you go through to get to the Dragon but for some weird reason the one in the Hinterlands just stuck out. But going after the one in the Plains despite having Gurguts and Fade rifts didn't have a lot of issues getting to her. And then plus going through and dealing with the Kids first might get me more XP on the way...but on the other hand might lead to grind and time wasting. Speaking of there is a lot of variance in this game. Like this time, so far, I have made more effort to beeline to getting the Dragons without doing the side quests in these areas...I don't think there is a paricular reason why per se but I am discovering this is still a valid way of playing the game because I am still levelling, I have Mark of Death now, and still putting more and more distance between me and said Dragons for one I get around to hunting them. Now the practical concern is that this could be important because I do like actually doing a lot of the side quests, for one reason or another, for the Inquisitor and still given things it would feel a bit wrong not doing them before Veilguard...but doing it this way if for some other reason I could feel like cutting this playthrough short if Veilguard starts looming...I can now do so maybe more easily.

Also did the first bit of 'Under Her Skin'.

And on the war table front I do love screwing with the the Tevinter Imperium with the Morvan and the Under Arc. Like I love Tevinter, always the faction/ nation I was the most fascinated with going back to Origins. And many of my favorite antagonists, or most colorful antagonists, come from Tevinter. But I do so love screwing with them as the Inquisitor. So I exile Morvan and his clan to Tevinter, they camp out on the Imperial Highway, the Magisters are like 'what the heck are these people doing here, they say they are friendly but they jsut up and took over a section of our nation!' And the Inquisitor is like 'enjoy your reinforcements against the Qun' Which is in no way the truth per se...but it works. *cackles*

And I do love the BioWare's dialogue system but sometimes the paraphrasing is interesting when you don't remember things. And in this case talking with Solas and asking about Demons and well...the issue here is I like Solas. I want to be his friend so don't want to be too tough on the guy and honestly none of the three really seemed to match what Kara would believe anyways so I was trapped. But then in the option I did choose you get the great quote 'if we can live together if not completley then without such active confrontation?' which of course Solas replies that without the Veil that is unlikely. Which does relate to Solas's plan and his mind set going into tearing down the Veil and what not but its telling. Second nice RP moment more of a chuckling one and like if I could actually fully control these characters...Dorian's quest popped for Kara and I just imagine that she is all like to Mother Giselle 'oh yes OK I'll think about it...Hey Dooorriiiiaaaaannn guess what!' Then Giselle. 'no Inquisitor what you are doing please stop' No way I am not going to tell Dorian felt so bad the one day I forgot.

Had some more fun with the crafting system. First I gave Varric a new coat but then forgot to give him the FTM so had to reload it, fortunatley it just saved. Then the debate and the thought was going to give Cole a new dagger to use the 'damage boost if you don't get hit FTM'...but then I realized if he is a melee guy in the thick of things he is far more likely to get hit. So instead Sera gets a new coat as well, the Skin that Strikes. Also since she is one of my A teamers so it gave me an excuse because I was thinking of not using my Snowfluer skins for Cole...but Sera is fair game. Bad news on that now I gotta do more hunting for them and other tier 2 mats because I am a bit drained of those mats. Which gotta think on the future as well because with me also having the FTMs for Hidden Blades that goes into Kara's version of her best coat. Which means I want the best materials for it, tier 3 materials. SNowfluer skin is obvious but also...other things I gotta think about since I don't like it being...well many of the leather does not make good defensive slots so want to see if I can get some more variety...so that means I have to go maybe to the Emprise or the Hissing Wastes to get tier 3 skins and metal and cloth. But looking it up it recommends not doing them till level 19...and I am just level 16. Still tempted and think I will go open up one of the areas before hitting Here Lies the Abyss. Question is which one? Probably Emprise but I think Hissing Wastes has more of a variety with tier 3 leathers and what not. In the Emerald Graves right now and they do have Great Bears there to so that might be something to consider.

I am trying to just choose what I think is right for the moment rather than stay true to a type, so probably evenly balanced between diplomatic and Comedy with a few evil comments thrown in as well.

Yeah think with Mark of Doom (Death) I should be able to handle it a bit early. And Hissing Wastes is good for leather Variety but Emprise is good for my two favorite mats in the game, aside from the Dragon stuff and maybe even then, the Snoufleur and Silveright. 

Which I realized forgot to talk about the awesomeness of the Mark of Death in my reaction up there and was just thinking about...ways they could work on. Like I think in the past and Hunter's Mark in D&D it can go to different targets. In Inquisition Mark of Death was just one target at a time. I think it really could have been interesting and provided some further variance and risk reward if that was the difference, like it could spread to different targets but you lost the damage bonus/ ability to detonate the thing. And I wonder if it does show up in aVeilguard what its going to be like. 

Yeah I tried not t oge ttoo bogged down either which is why I try t oa tleas tdo the main quests on each of the main game maps befoer I turn t othe DLC. I probably migh tmak ea start tomorrow on tha tbut i tdepends on how quickl yI navigate th eEmpris eafte rI unloc ki twhic hI plan t od oafter I've wrapped up what I'm doin gon th eStorm Coas tas I'm doing the Darkspawn down quest atm. Also planning t opick up the Grey Warde artifacts foe rBlackwall  while I'm hre as ewll. Once I ge tt oSkyhold it'll  be to open up and do th eEmprise the 2 DLC zones an dan yremainin companion quests I'm ye tto do. After tha tit'll be the slow march to endgame. I'll definitel ybe takin on a tleas t2 or  3more dragons though as I d oneed moe rdragon materials. Plus fighting th edragons is on eof m yfavouriet parts o fDAI.

Yeah I have had some strange endings in my two recent PT's, it kind of sucks and ruins it TBH.