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Post by witchcocktor on May 4, 2024 23:50:37 GMT
You kill a companion bg3 and there’s impact. Some will leave. I kill bull or let black wall die etc there’s none. Only if I do enough acts will some leave Combat in dai great. Not disputing has great lore but the rpg elements were the weakest in the 3. They cut a lot of corners to make the engine work I think you are overselling it quite a bit. I killed Shadowheart in Act 2 and none of my companions said ANYTHING AT ALL about it. Not one line of dialogue. I let Orin kill Lae'zel in Act 3, Astarion approved and I think Karlach and Wyll disapproved, but nobody mentioned it further and there was no dialogue about it. BG3 is pretty rough when it comes to companions acknowledging things as well.
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Post by witchcocktor on May 2, 2024 21:33:25 GMT
Now that the dust has settled somewhat on BG3 I find my opinion on it a bit divided. Some of that is being an Early Access burn out, I put roughly 300 hours in before the game released proper (albeit over nearly 3 years). I think my biggest gripe is the pace. The city should have been Act 2 and something like the Shadowlands should have been the final Act. DOS2 had a similar problem with pacing, but if anything it's worse in BG3. The city is both trying to be the chill out and take a breath place, where you can enjoy a proper inn and some goofy circus stuff, but also it's the end of the world and an army is at the gates and a blood crazed shapeshifter is kidnapping your party members. This messy tone is all over the game, talk to the cwute animals one minute but the next here's a child being murdered. It just feels muddled. Granted some of that is about freedom and non-linearity, which is a good thing, and nor would I want a purely dour or upbeat tone, but I think the Dragon Age games generally just handle tone consistency a little better. Characters I give to Dragon Age. I just don't particularly care for BG3's characters, and there's too few of them. At least when you consider Jaheira and Halsin are Act 3 only and Minsc is basically an extended cameo. Minthara doesn't have much content, especially on a neutral run. During early access we knew that Karlach was coming, but there was a bit of a presumption on my part that we'd get a bunch of morally good companions on release, but in the end it was just Karlach. And they gutted Wyll, the character I was most keen to see progress. Makes you wonder what you might've missed if a DA game had ever been early access experienced. I'm only really interested in romance options if they give good lore, and Gale had some stuff going on with the Netheril connection, but it just felt like tidbits. Makes something like the Solas romance across into Trespasser look epic in comparison. Some of that FreeLC with new endings from Larian recently was nice though. Cynically you could call adding that in 5 months later "live service" but whatever, it was free at least. Dark Urge was too edgy for my blood. I did genuinely enjoy Jaheira though, even if it was only for Act 3. By no means were the companions bad, but something feels off at times. It's almost like you can see the game's wheels turning at times. I'm replaying DA2 at the moment and it occurred to me how, for example, having Fenris with you during Arishok and qun scenes and he just fluidly joins the conversation to offer translations and insights. I feel like BG3 never has strong control of group dialogue scenes in such a seemingly effortless way. All that said, the BG3 performances and mocap nuances coming through, plus all the animal animation and NPC banter that Larian do so well, it's really a joy to behold. Gameplay is simple answer, Larian knock it out of the park. Their encounter design is just phenomenal. The depth of builds, while being true to 5e rules afaik, expands so well with unique gear effects and a just rich enough exploration-reward system. Dragon Age's encounter design has ranged from serviceable (Origins), to open world (Inquisition), to non-existent (DA2). I know it's considered terribly gauche in the Dragon Age fandom to talk about the combat, but I would like it if DA4 could do what BG3 did and make me wake up in the middle of the night thinking about build ideas. Dragon Age can do its RTwP + settiting up companion tactics well though, and it's a very different beast for that. I still have some hope it can evolve well, even if people's definitions of "action RPG" differ from mine. All that's without even getting into BG3's batshit "kill an enemy with a salami at 200ft" stuff that you can multiplay with the bros. It's no wonder it did so well. None of that multiplayer stuff harms the single player narrative game either. It's kind of win-win that way. For soundtrack BG3 joins DAI's soundtrack as one of my all time favs, the GOATs. Both are too great to compare. Overall world and story goes to Dragon Age. I'm not a tabletop D&D player, nor familiar with Forgotten Realms. I caught up on lore in the prelude to BG3, and while there's a lot of great stuff there like Netheril history that you get bits of in BG3, it's nothing to where Dragon Age is now in terms of videogame suspense and NEED TO KNOW mysteries and old magics. How soulful the series has rendered those tropes is what makes it special for me. BG3 is an anarchic and absurdly fun videogame, but I wish it could do what Dragon Age did and make me wake up in the middle of the night thinking about lore. Pretty much agreed with all of this. BG3, as good as it is, doesn't present a very immersive RPG world with boatloads of interesting lore that'll keep people talking for ages. It's immersive in its gameplay and freedom of choice, absolutely, but the world itself I found quite uninteresting. One big thing that makes a huge difference in how the world and lore are presented in BG3 and DAI is the choices you make. The choices you make BG3 affect the world and your gameplay in a wonderful way, giving you lots of replayability and potential for future runs, but overall the (big) choices boil down to good vs evil. The choices in DA:I, while they don't affect the gameplay as much which is a shame, there aren't really any '' right '' answers to the choices you make, and you really have to justify why your character would choose the things they do, because the choices usually aren't just a black and white good or bad. You really have to immerse yourself into the world and your character in order to make an informed decision, and that really adds to the immersion. I encountered very little of this in BG3.
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Post by witchcocktor on Apr 13, 2024 21:06:59 GMT
That's definitely a matter of taste, and I think considering the sheer volume of Solavellan shippers out there, you're probably in for a big disagreement. But I get it; he doesn't do it for me, either. I did enjoy playing the Solavellan romance for the first time in my last run - it's generally very well-constructed, and especially in Trespasser, I can see the tragic appeal. It certainly makes for fun storytelling, and Gareth David-Lloyd should be commended for his acting. They could just be a vocal minority like Astarion fans in BG3 fandom. If Larian would have never released the data I’ve would assume Astarion is the most popular romance option. He has the most fanfics and videos made about him in the fandom by a good margin. His voice actor seems to be the one that wins all the awards. Comes to find out he’s not even top 3 and he might even be the most popular male romance option ( I saw something that said it was probably Gale). I think there's a sizable portion of people who are thirsty for Astarion but have never touched the actual game. Though without knowing how Larian got their data, it's hard to say why Astarion falls behind despite being so popular. While female options will always inevitably be the most popular in video games, I thought Astarion should've been popular enough (with women, to be specific, which is generally a pretty sizeable portion of the RPG demographic) to have landed in the top 3 at least.
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Post by witchcocktor on Feb 3, 2024 18:23:09 GMT
Both games have good companions
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Post by witchcocktor on Feb 3, 2024 12:30:27 GMT
This is true to every character though. I'm moreso talking about how Karlach is forced upon you in dialogue. I mean, in terms of dialogue choice, you can be really rude and dismissive to others, and to some you can straight up be cruel to. A lot of them also will fight you to death if you disagree with them. Karlach is a huge exception in terms of how the game treats her and I'm surprised people don't see it. Just out of curiosity, do you genuinely dislike Karlach's character, or is it mostly her being an apparent Writer's Pet that bothers you? Kind of both I suppose, but moreso the writer's pet thing. Karlach feels like she was specifically made in a lab to be as inoffensive and likable as possible, which doesn't ring very true to other companions. She lacks noticeable flaws outside of being loud and too trusting (which can be positive traits to some people), she has the tragic backstory that paints her ultimately as a victim and the tragic ending of her story which is the only tiny shred of intrigue her character had left was pretty quickly patched out and given a happy ending in the prologue. It feels like she was specifically made to be this adorable '' UWU BIG TALL LADY UWU SNUU SNUU UWU UM MOMMY UM MOMMY '' fan favorite character which would be fine if having her around meant that I could decide whether we are the bestest of buddies or not. But you are basically forced to care and love her the minute she hits the camp, and nowhere during the game have I decided that for my character, the game does it for me. It's just a very weird direction when all the other characters have very clear flaws, clear negative character traits (that you can often point out) and the writers aren't pushing you to be their best friends, but you can slowly get to know them and become friends, remain neutral or then completely screw them over. Matter of fact, I'd say a lot of the companions are given a very good reason why you wouldn't trust or recruit them, and plenty of lot of them also will turn on you if you disagree with them on certain things. I don't really understand why Karlach is so different. Oh, and of course, everyone in the camp also loves Karlach. They barely have anything positive to say about most other companions.
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Post by witchcocktor on Feb 2, 2024 15:52:36 GMT
You can be a total dick to everyone else in the game basically, but not Karlach, not really. It's annoying. Karlach is a huge exception in terms of how the game treats her and I'm surprised people don't see it. Hmm, who does that remind me of in Dragon Age? You've guess it, Varric. Now I can understand the forced friendship in DA2 because it is essentially a story being narrated by him, so I would imagine it if you had told him to get lost from the outset that would have been a really short game. However, whilst you could rival him, did anyone actually manage this? What do you have to do? To be honest I assumed Hawke couldn't have been that close a friend as they never got invited to his parties but our mabari did. Then in DAI once again he acts as though we are his friend and there is no option to dispense with his services, nor does he seem any different towards the PC no matter what they do. Seriously, is there a different dialogue for low approval? Still, I suppose that you can argue that he genuinely likes us since this time round we do get invited to the card party and in Trespasser he bestows the key to the chains of Kirkwall on us and gives us a title. Mind you, that could just be Varric co-opting you to his supporters in the city in self interest, like the wheeler dealer he is. So, it would seem that DA and BG3 are similar in having one character where you seem to be forced into feeling a certain way about them and there is little flexibility to deviate from that by the writers. Oh right. That's true as well, but I think with Varric, you can be pretty dickish to him in DA:I at least, but it does kind of make it comical that he treats us like a friend in Trespasser regardless of how you treat him lmao.
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Post by witchcocktor on Feb 1, 2024 12:39:22 GMT
You can be a total dick to everyone else in the game basically, but not Karlach, not really. It's annoying. You can literally cut her head off when you first meet her, and also piss her off enough that she leaves the party permanently. This is true to every character though. I'm moreso talking about how Karlach is forced upon you in dialogue. I mean, in terms of dialogue choice, you can be really rude and dismissive to others, and to some you can straight up be cruel to. A lot of them also will fight you to death if you disagree with them. Karlach is a huge exception in terms of how the game treats her and I'm surprised people don't see it.
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Post by witchcocktor on Feb 1, 2024 7:38:46 GMT
You aren’t forced into anything with karlach. Maybe you can be led by her charm but it’s easy to resist. She’s a charmer though Yeah bullshit. The dialogue doesn't give you much choice in regards to whether you care about her condition or not. I really don't give a damn if she blows up, tough shit Karlach, but the dialogue choices only let me be a damn best friend to her and nothing else. Even in the prologue Withers is asking me about Karlach dying and the dialogue choices are 1) I CAN'T THINK ABOUT IT BECAUSE IF I DO I START CRYING :'''((( 2) SHE WAS LIKE A SISTER TO ME.... 3) WE SHALL REMEMBER AND HONOR HER AS SHE LIVED!! bruh where is the '' i don't really give a fuck '' option? You can be a total dick to everyone else in the game basically, but not Karlach, not really. It's annoying.
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Post by witchcocktor on Jan 31, 2024 17:04:42 GMT
Something that I think both BG3 and DAI kind of have an issue with though is that they both have characters that you are kind of FORCED to feel a certain way about, those being Sera and Karlach. Inquisitor's dialogue choices with Sera are always pretty belittling and it feels like we are lead to think that Sera is such a crazy, unconventional person with crazy ideas whose sentences don't make sense, but I don't feel that way at all. But the dialogue tree doesn't really give me much choice about that. In BG3 though, you are basically best friends the minute Karlach hits the camp and you aren't really given much choice about it in dialogue or elsewhere. No Withers, I really don't care that Karlach died. I really, really don't. But alas, I am forced to have these big feelings about her death. I DON'T.
This is something both games could be a little more aware of.
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Post by witchcocktor on Jan 28, 2024 13:10:20 GMT
One thing I hope BW takes from BG3 (even if it's too late now, but perhaps for future projects) is that companions can be evil, problematic, immoral and/or morally gray. If BG3 taught us anything is that nobody cares about characters being '' problematic '' as long as they are compelling (and sexy, lbr), and you don't need to fix them to be better people either.
I'm not into super edgy and evil characters myself, but things like retconning things or subsequent media smoothening the edges out of factions and characters is not a good way to go. Dragon Age universe should not be a cutesy flower shop/coffee AU fanfiction, and our companions should reflect that with their hot takes and opinions. Something like Dorian's views on slavery made his character more interesting, even if it makes him more morally questionable or downright immoral. But of course they decided that Inquisitor taught him out of those horrific ways in Tevinter Nights.
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Post by witchcocktor on Jan 27, 2024 15:59:49 GMT
The only companion I'd like is a proud, militant tal'vashoth. I think we've heard enough Qun propaganda throughout three games, it's time to switch it up and rip Qun a new asshole. Though I have a sneaking suspicion we aren't going to be doing that much with Qun outside of Tevinter vs Qun... but having a companion just spitting on Qun throughout the game will be enough, I suppose.
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Post by witchcocktor on Jan 13, 2024 21:27:28 GMT
February 7th, 2025
I think that's my realistic guess.
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Post by witchcocktor on Jan 13, 2024 13:59:28 GMT
If DAD bombs so bad it puts Bioware into indefinite coma, then let Dragon Age fall into the indefinite coma along with them for the rest of time. For whatever reason, the gamers and the media have then decided Dragon Age has no place in modern gaming.
But I doubt it'll be THAT bad. Even DA:I, which most people seem to loathe and dislike, was financially successful. If we got through the absolutely horrid corner cutting in DA2 (in terms of dungeons) and the single player MMO DA:I all the while Dragon Age had become more popular during games that a lot of people deem inferior to DAO, then I'm sure DAD can't be so bad even with it's potential issues. Though, an extremely troubled development is never a good sign.
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Post by witchcocktor on Dec 29, 2023 18:41:40 GMT
Yeah, DA:I added things too after the game release (that should've been in the game to begin with. I'd also argue Trespasser should've been in the game from the start as well). And there are still lots of other things I feel they should've added and fixed as well, but not every company is blessed with the ability to do such things and have it be financially beneficial.
I'm not saying it's bad for Larian to have added content and patched the game after the initial release, but I am saying that none of the added content has really added much replayability or enjoyability for me. And I'll still gladly replay DA:I early, warts and all. BG3 I'll gladly leave to gather dust until a full expansion/DLC.
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Post by witchcocktor on Dec 29, 2023 17:54:55 GMT
How is that even remotely comparable? There's a good reason why the Divine that is chosen is not around, and you can fully enjoy the rest of the DLC content with Cassandra/Vivienne as long as you do them before the final base game quest. Meanwhile most of the companions are completely irrelevant in Act 2 of BG3 despite never leaving to do anything on their own.
It's great that BG3 is doing a lot of patches to fix their game, but you can definitely make the argument that all of those things added to the game should've been there from the start. And I'm not particularly in agreement that the things they've added post-release has done much to really fix my grievances of Act 3 and the ending specifically. The post-ending party was pretty laughable to me, it didn't offer much resolution.
I'm not trying to trash BG3 because overall as a video game, I would say it's better than Inquisition, but I prefer Inquisition SO MUCH MORE to BG3, because the things that I love in Inquisition are so much bigger and more important to me than the positives of BG3.
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Post by witchcocktor on Dec 29, 2023 17:07:06 GMT
What '' stuff ''? I've been talking about the base Inquisition experience the whole time. It's a much more structured experience in good and in bad compared to BG3. There's a steady flow of content from the companions (even romance-wise) which I personally appreciate.
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Post by witchcocktor on Dec 29, 2023 16:45:00 GMT
The tavern scene with you drinking with Bull has no effect on triggering Bull's romance outside of being able to garner approval from him. It's actually better to not trigger that scene with Bull before starting is romance because you'll get extra dialogue if you do it after you've started his romance.
All DA:I companions have a very similar route with their romance, some just get their pivotal romance scene a bit later.
BG3 romances aren't much different. You flirt with them throughout act 1, get the romance initiation scene in act 2 and then have one more after finishing their personal quest in act 3 after which they do not get any more dialogue. I'd even argue it's worse in BG3 because at least in DA:I, you finish their personal quests like 70% way through the game, and they still have cutscenes and new dialogue left after completing main story quests after that. BG3 is pretty bad in that once you are finished with their personal quest in act 3 they basically become mute, only offering a few lines whenever something happens. And most companions have absolutely nothing to do in act 2 if you're not romancing them.
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Post by witchcocktor on Dec 29, 2023 15:56:35 GMT
If your not careful with bull you can end up in a relationship You are a liar, since this is complete bullshit (pun intended). There is ZERO WAY you could end up accidentally in a relationship with Bull. To even get Iron Bull's first romantic cutscene you have had to pick several romantic dialogue options that are extremely clearly communicated to the player with a vivid red and pink heart icon in the dialogue choices that leaves zero room for doubt. And even then, if you manged to somehow accidentally still trigger the first romantic scene with him where he suggests you want to ride the Bull (out of your own damn foolishness I can only assume) then you can put an end to it immediately and Bull will understand. BG3 though is notorious for every character wanting to bang you if you just are kind to them, to the point they have had to patch some of them to be less horny. But even now, Karlach will come onto you if you just proceed with her personal quest, and same goes for Halsin (though there is a way to stop Halsin's horniness in act 3). Even Wyll will ask for a dance if you just exhaust his dialogue options. There are issues in DA:I but accidentally stumbling on titties or dicks is not one of them.
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Post by witchcocktor on Dec 6, 2023 2:48:11 GMT
DA:I has excellent banter, but there's some real cringy '' Marvel quipish '' stinkers along the way as well.
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Post by witchcocktor on Dec 6, 2023 2:44:12 GMT
No sign of Par Vollen or Seheron yet is... hmmmh. Unless I missed something.
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Post by witchcocktor on Nov 18, 2023 11:00:45 GMT
BG3 and DA:O even DA:I have one common theme in the camps. The NPCs + extras are placed somewhere and become mannequins. Interesting that the devs don't have them mingle with one another. DA2 has the same thing but only for the Elf camps.
I wish the studio puts some of them together in the camps and maybe we can have a three way conversation. A cinematic or two won't hurt either.
This is true, but there is banter in Skyhold in the form of Leliana's, Josephine's and Cullen's retainers/assistants going around delivering messages between the companions and the advisors. There's also the trainers who might sometimes appear next to the companions in Skyhold for some brief banter related to their specialization. It's not much and I've rarely seen them in the actual game, but it is something at least.
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Post by witchcocktor on Oct 13, 2023 20:29:31 GMT
I love DA:I to death but BG3 clearly has a lot more in terms of choices and reactivity, but it mostly boils down to '' which person/group do I kill '' or '' good choice/evil choice. '' What DA:I might lack in terms of choices or '' illusion of choice '' and overall reactivity, it makes up for the few choices you do make not have a clear right answer, and while you do not see the consequences of your actions during the game (which is a shame), your choices do shape the world in big ways. I don't think there's anything at all close to Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts in BG3, for example.
Honestly, there is probably only one choice in the entire game of BG3 that I feel like will have people debating (fpr years to come) on what is the '' best '' choice, while every big choice you make in DA:I has people still discussing what is the best way to go, in general or for their character. The debate over who should rule Orlais is still to this day really interesting to read.
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Post by witchcocktor on Sept 30, 2023 15:19:55 GMT
I'm nearly finished, I think. Only the final fight to go. It's been absolutely epic so far. Stories comparable to the best of ME and DA. Every companion's quest line had me tearing me up. Well, I don't know what to do with Lae'zel's though. One question for those who've done Karlach's quest: she asked me to stay with her till the end, and of course I said yes, but I'm wondering if that's a bug and belongs to a romanced Tav, or was that meant as friends? Because I'm not romancing her, to my knowledge, yet she's talking to me rather intimately. It's odd. Oh this is my time to shine! Nah I'm kidding, but yes, the game really pushes you to be a huge Karlach simp and most of the dialogue options with her are like that for some reason, whether you romance her or not, whether you have high approval with her or not. Can't say whether it's a bug or intended that way, but yeah, I've never romanced Karlach but she also asks me to stay with her till the very end. It doesn't exactly stray far from how her dialogue is handled other situations (especially in act 3), so I can only assume it's intentional?
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Post by witchcocktor on Sept 29, 2023 7:57:22 GMT
A lot of good discussion. I'm going to ramble a bit myself. Ending spoilers!!! Astarion Of course, there are pressing reasons why he is the way he is, but that just doesn't cut it. I need to see progress, and that happens momentarily if you redeem him, but there's no follow through. He acknowledges there's some hurt he has caused, but I wanted to dig deeper into that and what he plans to do about his guilt. In the end, we can '' redeem '' him, but he himself is not actively seeking redemption. His conclusion is to live freely now, which is great for his character arc, but that's not much of a resolution when he still seems to be a murderous twat.
Though then again, he is not a moral character and doesn't pretend or want to be! But then his character arc for the '' redemption '' arc just seems kind of awkward if we are to just accept he is exactly what he is presented as, and that's all. And furthermore, if you RP a goody two-shoes character... why the HELL would you ever recruit him if you can't actively change him '' for the better '' or whatnot. In that case, the only reason such a character would recruit him is to use him as a weapon, and that seems rather character breaking to do essentially what Cazador did.
Much like other companions, there is something missing in his arc. I think just having him gradually be less approving of wanton murder and deception during the story would be a good start. And honestly I think the redemption arc should include a step to cure him of vampirism, or alternatively make him want to lead the vampires in the Underdark if you choose to release them. I believe that's an option during the romance epilogue, but they should make it an actual plotpoint. The vampire spawn arguably suffered more than he did, as even Astarion was shocked by how they were kept, and I think at least making up his past mistakes would be good progress, because he is not blameless no matter how much he was abused. Karlach It's true that becoming a mind flayer is basically death and you lose your soul, with the tadpole taking over and gaining your memories. There is no you there anymore. But the game is very, very suspicious about the transformation, and doesn't really want to confirm whether it's true or not. You get kind of a '' you are you... or are you? You feel yourself slipping away... '' and '' Karlach is still Karlach.. for now... '' narration. The game doesn't really outright say whether the transformation has truly deleted your existence.
Either way, when I have Karlach with me, I squid her up. She doesn't want to go back to Avernus no matter what, especially alone. And I personally want Wyll to become the Duke, so I'm not letting him tag along with Karlach, and neither do I. So, squidding time it is for her. And frankly, the dialogue with her is quite nice, even if it isn't Karlach anymore. Eh, Karlach enough for me, and a helpful squid to boot. I'm good with that choice.
Honestly, if they give Karlach a '' good ending '' then I hope they do it to others as well. It feels redundant only having her problems be 100% fixed while others are left in a bit of a limbo, especially Gale and Astarion. My preferred ending for Karlach would be that she could take residence in the House of Hope, perhaps as a guard, if you rescue Hope and defeat Raphael. It'd be a good middle ground ending to me. Dream Visitor I really love the Emperor, but ultimately there is very little reason to side with him over Orpheus. The game doesn't really offer you a pressing reason to act in the Emperor's interests, or believe anything he says. Siding with the Emperor isn't exactly a bad ending though, just a bad ending for githyanki... and all the gith you meet during the game are kind of twats so I just side with my lovely squid king and doom their entire race because I'm cool like that.
But it's honestly really frustrating that there is no option to have the Emperor and Orpheus work together. Why is there a persuasion check for Lae'zel and Voss to work with Orpheus-slaying ghaik, but none for the Emperor? There should be a choice to persuade the Emperor into trusting you on freeing Orpheus so that you could work together. This should especially be an option if you have lovingly embraced his tentacles and tried to do things he approves of during the game. There should probably be a hidden approval mechanic for him, which either lowers the persuasion check you have to roll for him to trust you in the end, or an option that outright forces him to do so. I hope they make an option like this in the future... because the Emperor's story is otherwise really appealing to me. I like that there's almost always a pretty logical reason for his immoral actions and lies, so you have to really think about whether you believe him or not, and whether you want to fight by his side. It's just a shame that the Emperor vs Orpheus thing is so heavily loaded in the favor of Orpheus, and I think they really need to look into this.
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witchcocktor
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Sept 6, 2016 10:00:37 GMT
September 2016
witchcocktor
Dragon Age 2, Dragon Age Inquisition, Neverwinter Nights, Mass Effect Andromeda
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Post by witchcocktor on Sept 28, 2023 16:23:29 GMT
Ugh. Astarion. The way he disapproves of me calling out duergar slavers for being disgusting rubs me the wrong way. He if anyone should approve of calling out those who rid others of their freedom. But this just emphasizes how he cares for nothing but his own blight and predicament, and helping out anyone else except him he disapproves of, because he probably feels he is owed more than anyone else. Like I've said before about him, there is a limit to '' hurt people hurt people '' that I can look past, but at this point Astarion is just a narcissistic immoral piece of shit, and he never gets better, even if you redeem him. There is no discussion about who he is, if he regrets anything, just what freedom and lack-there-of means to him personally.
Perhaps that's what makes him such a compelling character, but at this point I'm just bringing him along to disapprove of all of my goody two-shoes decision I make. Yeah, I'm a nice guy, deal with it. And I'm going to be a nice guy to you as well.
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