Board 8 > So I'm going to start Dragon Age: Origins on the PC for the first time.

(+) Yeah! (+)

And I just forced Alistair to lose his virginity to Morrigan.

I'm a bad person.

---

This game is goofing up late game. Alistair claiming he's king when he isn't. Anora talking about Alistair falling in the final battle.

---

And with that Origins is done and now it's on to Awakening.

Should probably make another topic with a spoiler tag because this is gonna be a whole lot new for me.

---

Yeah, all the Landsmeet/king stuff is pretty buggy. All things considered it's a good thing Inquisition uses the Keep as opposed to saves.

---

The keep really was a brilliant idea on the part of the developers.

---

So what was the Keep again?

---

About an hour into Awakening and it just feels like more of the same.

---

So 3+ hours in now and Awakening is finally putting in some unique touches. The court thing was fun. The Architech (or whatever its called) seems like a welcome change from the Archdemon.

---

TheRock1525 posted...

So what was the Keep again?

Keep is like a application/website that gives you a tapestry of all the (relevant) choices in DAO and DAII so you can just select those. Then you can import that into Inquisition for your world state.

Also I do not remember anything about a court. Architect is pretty cool though.

---

Can you still import saves? Or do you always have to create a tapestry and make decisions through this app?

---

You have to do the tapestry, but it's real easy and clear.

---

Testing some mods in DA2. Still need to finish Awakening first.

---

Nope.

Do not like the Children and the talking broodmother. Do not like.

---

So I'm experimenting a bit with the classes in DA2, and I'm not sure if I wanna go Mage or two-handed Warrior. Mage definitely is more viscerally fun than it was in Origins, but still I like getting up and close in the scrum.

---

So it looks like I'm actually into the endgame only 9 hours into it, which honestly for DLC seems like just about the right length but at the same time considering it introduces so many characters, I feel like I've barely gotten to know any of them. Like I was introduced to the Architect a couple of hours into the game and haven't seen him since, and it seems like poor plot telling if we don't know who he is or his motivations so late into the game.

I really have no feelings on any of the characters, Justice seems like he could have been the most interesting but he's also literally the last character I recruited. The game did seem like it wanted me to get get Kristoff first.

---

And with that, I finishing Awakening in about 10 hours and I decided to clean up Witch Hunt which took an hour.

My general feelings are that Awakening is an amazing concept that needed to be bigger than a DLC, and unfortunately a lot of important plot points are rushed through in the final minutes of the game (like the Architect starting the most recent Blight, or who the fuck even is Utha). When I heard the DLC was supposedly 25 hours I felt like that was pretty good length and figured that even if I went through it a little faster than expected, I'd still be done in about 15 hours at the soonest. But to see stuff like saving Amaranthine take less than 20 minutes and quickly moving on to the final dungeon, it felt so... small. Like for all the knocks against DA2 for the lack of areas and reused dungeons, the game never felt as utterly small as Awakening did in key moments. Especially for such a grandiose idea (intelligent Darkspawn).

The Architect was great. The Mother, as horrifying as she was to look at, was pretty dull and I wish we had gotten more from her beyond the two cutscenes before the final encounter. I actually let the one disciple go which I think caused more problems than I expected (with him spreading the taint). Also, I left behind Anders, Oghren, and Justice at Vigil's Keep and for whatever reason the codex said they were dead (which made me think "uh oh, I've created a plot hole") but they showed up as alive in the epilogue.

But now I'm ready to start DA2. I'm thinking I'm gonna go with the single big-ass sword swinging warrior.

---

In still slowly continuing my first DA:O playthrough.

Finished Orzimmar and am doing a bunch of sidequests before heading to Denerim. Did all the DLC stuff, completed Wynns companion quest.

I really love the random conversations between party members. It really encourages me to try different combos and use everyone.

From this topic I feel like the wife and I have unusual opinions on stuff in this game.

---

Maniac64 posted...

I really love the random conversations between party members. It really encourages me to try different combos and use everyone.

And still I wish they went further with it. I want characters to react to like codex entries you pick up and have them go "That's just propaganda, it's completely fake" and stuff like that, where you have to question the game developers vs the character.

Also did not remember Awakening being short. Especially because it's actually not really DLC, it was pretty much advertised as an expansion pack (you could buy it physically (which I did)).

I played through DA II three times, as a tank, mage, and a DW rogue. I was only truly mindnumbingly bored as a tank. Rogue has fun enough stuff that it gets hype, but mage just is a whole lot of fun.


---

Think I'm going to start a new topic for Dragon Age II.

---

Oh cool, Steam is doing a sale on all the DA games. I was afraid I was just gonna have to play the DA2 base game through EA Play because I stupidly bought just DA:O Ultimate Edition and DA:I GotY Edition while on sale but forgot to get DA2 with the DLC.

Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!

---

How much is DA2?

---

Game and DLC is $11. It has been $26 for a while.

Funnily enough, it's also the most expensive of the 3. DA:O is $4.99 and DA:I is $9.99. And both those include all the DLC.

---