The Old Guard (Ye Olde Cullen Thread v4.0 + gen discussion)

I can admit after the fact that it was an intriguing challenge. It made me think carefully about which potions to use. Granted, I'm only playing on hard. 

"I can't really play any game right now. I do play Battlefield 1 with my hubby and some friends, but singleplayer games are not holding my attention. I'm blaming ME:A, I'm too hyped for that one. I tried to play ME3, but nope, stuck in the Geth/Quarian questline right now. I already beat FO4 and I don't know why, but I'm unable to play Bethesda games more than once. I blame the sheer size of their games, lol."


Haven't played FO4 but speaking of Bethesda I have the opposite problem with Skyrim: I CAN'T BEAT IT. I just keep making characters, play about 100 hours of the game, marry various people, have six kids, obtain a massive herd of horses, conquer every damn cave in the land... but never really start the main quest.



(Sorry -- I still struggle with the formatting for quoting. Haven't figured out how to quote only part of a post.)

That's not how you do it.

Half xp allows you to do every single side quest in the map without ever getting too much ahead. I recommend doing it with scaling enemies trial.

I was level 24 when I started Trespasser with half xp trial, literally 10 levels higher than you.

I panic with timers as well. Even if it's super loose with ample room and there's no way to actually run out of said time, I start to sweat. I've still never managed to collect enough stupid halla statues to get into the last room. Why? Because I've been frenzied for the last 20 minutes and forgotten to save them up. Forgotten that there aren't enough to unlock all the doors. I hate you Winter Palace timer. I really do.    

What's funny about December birthdays is that everyone thinks "Cool! You get double presents!" The reality is that half the time you get jipped with single "birthday / Xmas combo" gift.     Silver lining: I never had school on my birthday!

Definitely ready for a fresh start!

Happy New Year everybody! 

New inquisitor!! Adell Adaar:



And her future girlfriend... I found a lovely Josie mod that gets rid of the face shininess, alters her make-up a bit, I "think" changes her hair, and softens the colors and texture of her froo-froo outfit:



Also found a great new face texture for Cassandra plus blue-grey eyes which are pretty cool-looking on her. (Blond hair was also an option but I may save that for a later playthrough):

So folks have probably seen Mark Darrah's sneaky DA4 teases on twitter:










Here's some nice speculation on some of the images we have seen.

wyrdsistersofthedas.tumblr.com/post/156433810432/more-signs-from-the-inside

Replaying DA2 recently made me consider something I hadn't really before now about why Cullen and the other Kirkwall Templars come across as terrible at their jobs. It's not that they can't identify mages, it's that Apostates are harder to recognise.

In Origins, Amell/Surana are said to have been taken to the Circle at a very young age. Having been raised in the Circle during their formative years would have left it's mark on them, informing both their bearing and how they'd react whenever in the presence of Templars.

A mage raised in the Circle would likely display completely different body language around Templars than Apostates born outside of the Circle. A Mage in the Circle would have spent years in proximity to someone whom they view as not only their jailer/guard, but someone who could easily become their judge, jury and executioner at a moment's notice. Even those friendly with the Templars or loyal to the Circle, would still always be slightly on-guard and slightly tense around Templars for that reason.

The body language of an Apostate to a Templar would probably be completely different. While they attempt to avoid Templars if at all possible, it's vital for their survival to be able to hide in plain sight. Even if they fear Templars, they have to attempt to control their body language to appear as relaxed as uninteresting as possible. Luckily many people seem to be wary of Templars and dislike it when they show up (something Cullen laments in DA2), so it makes it far easier to pass themselves off as being another disgruntled member of the public.

This is probably the reason why Hawke and Merrill rarely seem to attract that much Templar attention, while Anders is constantly threatened with discovery in Darktown (not that he's exactly remaining inconspicuous). Compared to Anders who wears his dislike of Templars on his sleeve, Hawke consistently displays a relaxed and confident manner around Templars that throws off suspicion, while any Templar looking at Merrill would chalk her "oddness" up to either being Dalish or her quirky/ditzy personality.

(Bethany tends to be more nervous and fearful around Templars, which likely contributed to her being discovered if not taken on the expedition. Of course, there's also the possibility that she contact the Circle and turned herself in, which is hinted at in a prior conversation with Aveline.)

Barring the occasional magical accident from Hawke or Bethany as they learned to control their magic, it could be that Malcolm struggling to hide his Circle upbringing from Templars was one of the reasons the Hawke family kept moving around for so long?

So yeah, maybe it's not that Cullen and his Kirkwall brethren are bad at their jobs, it's just far harder to identify Apostates than Circle mages doing a runner? Whereas someone like Anders and the Mage Warden would have "Thaumaturge Life" practically tattooed on them because it's so obvious they were from the Circle.

If Inquisition-era Cullen was ~magically~ transferred to your PC's party in DAO and DA2, how would those games have turned out?

If Cullen joined the party post-Circle drama in DAO he would've been an awful companion. He would've harassed Morrigan and Wynne and probably Alistair, too, for abandoning the templars. Really, being around Morrigan would've made him distrust and hate mages more. Can you imagine if instead of Alistair you could ask Cullen to do the Dark Ritual?! Assuming he became a Grey Warden... holy moly LOL

If DA2 Cullen were part of the party... I think he would be a very interesting addition, especially since his arc is almost as sophisticated as any of the companions. I don't know what hoops the game would have had to jump through to keep him from turning in Merrill or Anders. No amount of blackmail could've compromised that guy. But assuming you could... it would've been great getting to have more in depth conversations with him as his views evolved throughout the game. 

Heeyy.. how's everybody 😊

Just dropping in to say 'hello' and 'I sure miss this comfy spot of the internetz' 😆