Valmy's ADHD Dragon Age playthrough

[Valmy]

So...the Circle Tower. This was David Gaider's most interesting creation IMO. What if the witches they burned in the 17th century were actually conspiring with Satan? Would it still be bad to burn them? Maybe not the best example but you know what I mean. Just to continue the Christian imagery the deadly sins are personified by evil demons trying to...um...do evil things to the world. Good virtues are personified by spirits who want to get into the world to do nice things. And in addition to that Mages are the Adam and Eve of this world and doomed us all by trying to break into the Golden City. Thus creating the Darkspawn, and the reason why the Maker no longer interacts with the world. So lots of different spiritual elements at play there. And then they are basically walking WMDs so that to.

The game makes it very clear that mages are freaking dangerous. Virtually every apostate mage is an abomination or a blood mage. Heck even lots of the circle mages are. I think Wynne turns out to be an abomination but possessed by a spirit. It is something like that, I think you discover this during her personal quest. So obviously mages are incredibly dangerous and do need to be carefully watched and monitored. With great power comes great responsibility and all that. The mages are powerful but they are stuck in a shit situation. And then there are the Templars, the poor bastards given the unpleasant job of doing the Chantry's dirty work in keeping these incredibly scary people in line. Nobody wants this job so they are selected as youngsters, trained, and then forced to remain at their posts through lyrium addiction. You get this job forever and they never let you leave. And given their profession and pressures, they tend to be a paranoid and insular group.

So it brings up all sorts of questions about how much of the Circle system is a necessary evil and which parts are just evil. Should the Chantry have so much power here? Should the mages and the secular lords have more of a say in how Mages are managed? What about the Templars? Is the way they are run conducive to doing their job well? And, if mages are so dangerous, why are the Templar secrets so heavily guarded? Wouldn't it benefit everybody if their skills were common knowledge? The Chantry does not run Temples so why is their private army called Templars?



'Abominations and Blood Mages running amok? It must be Tuesday'

Things basically work out in this game (presuming the player is not some psycho) because the leader of the mages, Irving, and the leader of the Templars, Greagoir, are basically good and reasonable people who respect each other and try to do good jobs in shit circumstances. And it begs the question of what would happen if one or both were not reasonable people? I wonder how this obviously unstable system has carried on for centuries without blowing up. Anyway they only kind of touch on this in this game. I understand this plot is a big deal in the other Dragon Ages. I doubt they pay it off well but we shall see.

Anyway the Circle Tower as a dungeon is a little different. It is linear (well..circular) there are interesting encounters where basically you can let people go or slaughter them (being the 'everybody lives' playthrough well I had my duty, even that demon got to keep her pet Templar) and lots of cool puzzles. I also like the kind of confining area. It was cool to see the first two levels again so soon after the origin story. Not sure what to make of the weird...um...blobs or whatever that is. I guess demons make that? Then of course there is the bizarre fade portion, exploring yet another really interesting concept in this universe.



'Time for the part of this game so popular there is a mod made to bypass it entirely. Muahahaha'

It is...different. First this is a party based game and this is a solo adventure for the most part and man did that suck for my two rogue playthroughs. Not a big deal for my mage though. Secondly no loot and no decisions or interesting conversations to be had (the nightmares are kind of fun I guess but short). Just puzzles and fights and puzzles and fights and puzzles...and then some fights. I enjoy it well enough. But there is a huge mystery in the fade that I can never figure out.



'Before we fight demon Duncan, why are there so many more Cunning stat increases in the Fade?'

Seriously. I guess the Fade just makes you more cunning. Or maybe cunning is the most useless stat so the game doesn't mind giving you lots of it.

After that we find Cullen, the dude who was going to kill me if I had failed the harrowing in my origin story, he seemed like a good person then but being starved and tortured by blood mages has unhinged him. And you can see how these kinds of experiences fucks up the Templars. Afterwards he remains a Templar and I cannot imagine he can still continue to do his job after that. It would be interesting to see what happens to him, and how bad things get for him and the mages he is responsible for, but you never really see him again after this. That I know of. Maybe he shows up again in the expansion.

Anyway the favorite son returns and sets things right. Greagoir and Irving have a moment. The Templars and Mages kiss and make up. What is left of the mages will blow Darkspawn up.



'You done good kid'

My guy is a circle loyalist so he was happy to help.

I found a book of Flemeth's and Morrigan responded by fucking my brains out. Awkward scene quickly skipped since my four year old was right behind me. Man that Romance was fast. Though I still need to kill Flemeth.

That reminds me the addendum to 'everybody lives' is that it does not apply to demons, dragons, and darkspawn. Nor Demonic Darkspawn Dragons like the Archdemon. Nor to Flemeth but killing her is just a tiny inconvenience to...whatever she is. Because the dragon fights are just too fun. There I said it. I am weak.

Here is what happened this play session.



I am afraid I came to terms with the fact it was just not going to work out between me and Alistair. Irvin sure looks happy to have survived there.

[Valmy]

Ok so on with my everybody-who-is-not-Flemeth-Darkspawn-Demon-Dragon-Or-A-Combination-of-the-above lives play through.

Shale's DLC has just a stupid hook, meeting that random merchant tossing out free control rods. But to be fair the DLCs seem suffer from this 'tacked on' feeling. The guy from Warden's keep just randomly showing up in your camp right after Ostagar. I don't remember Return to Ostagar so maybe it is better.

I liked the rest of the DLC though, it helps add to the threat of the Darkspawn seeing a village taken over by them. They could have used more of that in the game, add a little urgency.  And of course we get another wizard-demon story. They recycle that one a lot. It is a great theme but it was a concern of mine playing this game that for the start of a franchise they have a limited number of villains. This from the company that made an impressive effort at using every single monster ever made from 2nd Ed AD&D in BG2. Well ok slightly exaggerating but not much. I enjoyed the puzzle as well, I forgot how many puzzles there were in this game. I killed the demon and left the people alive because rules...and because my character is not a monster (at least not conventionally)



Wilhelm was kind of a jerk to leave her looking upwards to catch all the bird crap.

And then Zevran ambushed us, along with those assassins trying to kill Leliana, and the guy who swindled the mages with his phony book. We just get ambushed a lot. And of course all three groups had mages. For being incredibly rare you cannot go anywhere without being assaulted by apostate mages. Either that or the Chantry just rents out mages to every evil assassin guild.

Zevran doesn't get his own screenshot, I guess anti-elf bias extends to important story screenshots. So I googled him and damn the ladies have a thing for bisexual elves. Images that will never be purged from my mind.



You just better be glad this is the everybody-who-is-not-Flemeth-Darkspawn-Demon-Dragon-Or-A-Combination-of-the-above lives play through or you would be toast.

Then Orzammar. The Dwarves are the hardcore game of thrones group in this world and I find it hard to believe that they have this cut throat society where their favorite sport is bashing each other's heads in each time they lose face, they have a rigid caste system where a significant percentage of their population are non-persons, and they are in a never ending war against an infinite foe. Yet somehow they are still around. The dwarves are fun though, I like that usually the Dwarves are the ones with the British accents and in this world they are one of the rare groups without one. It makes my accent feel all exotic.

Anyway my guy is fairly conservative in his outlook so I figured he would support the son of the king. Sure he killed his father and is responsible for the deaths of his brothers but what prince worth his salt wouldn't do those things?



What is thy bidding my master?

Almost to the Deep Roads. The second favorite part of the game for most people!

I remember the fights being pretty challenging though so it should be fun.

Anyway things did during this session:



Mardy is a dwarf girl you can impregnate in the Dwarf Noble Origin if you are a male. You can recognize the son when you get back and continue your proud bloodline in Orzammar despite being a warden. Anyway not relevant to me. Of course I helped the chanter dwarf being a Maker-fearing surfacer. Zerlinda was a woman who had the misfortune of having a son with a casteless (because the child takes the caste of the same sex parent) so was cast out of her family. Fortunately my mighty speech skill saved the day.

And damn I am just zipping through this. I thought I was really going to take my time but I forgot just how much damn fun the main game is. Oh last thought: what Leliana says in the game and what happens in her prequel DLC does not match up well at all. Come on Bioware!

[Valmy]

Ok so lots of dungeoneering went down. I personally love dungeon delving and even in this game where everything is basically just a hallway with fights (and usually the same creatures) I always look forward to Jarvia's plus Deep Roads. Though I do understand why people dislike it. And boy is it long. I mean my party went up at least four levels and collected roughly 250 pieces of loot. But each area at least has a story and lots of quests and some great set piece battles and lots of bosses make it interesting. Jarvia is one of the tougher fights. I love the giant spiders with all their ways of screwing you around. The giant battle at the dead trenches with the Legion of the Dead is fun. I remember freaking the fuck out the first time I did the Broodmother sequence. Even that trap forge before Caridan is pretty entertaining.



'and many reloads later our heroes were victorious'

I fall for those damn bombs every damn time I come back to this fight.



'Oghren gets paid in beer...ah damn is that ANOTHER apostate mage'

I mean seriously. Harrowmont sends an apostate mage after me. The Carta has apostate mages. The freaking Proving teams each have their own. I really need to start a tally of apostate mages.

Let's see...three from the assassin groups we faced last time, at least three in the carta hideout, three from the provings (including a freaking arcane warrior which has supposedly been lost for centuries), now one in Harrowmont's gang of mercs. So 10 so far. Say what you want to about the oppression of the Circle of Magi but it seems pretty easy to escape.

It is a long slog. I usually reach my limit right after the Broodmother fight.



'Alright! I found Branka! Mission is over...wait what? Damn'

There is this room right after you find Branka where you fight off wimpy Darkspawn when I start to get a little sick of it all. Fortunately I entered the first trap room and felt better.



'Hey an ancient legend who is incredibly still alive!'

Bioware really loves these. These ancient legends who have inexplicably been sitting around for centuries. Granted it is not nearly as ridiculous as the guys from KOTOR. I was going to side with Branka because I know Caridan kills himself and I am trying to keep as many people alive as I can but I was using Shale as my tank and it seems she turns on you if you do. So it was suicide golem in the end.  I think that fit better with my character anyway, Branka had clearly dashed past many evil red lines.  Evil prince is king and our hero conquers once again! Next up: Warden's Keep/Denerim sidequests/Flemeth/Ostagar.

Stuff I did:



Yeah so despite me killing his insane cheating wife Oghren joins up to booze his way across Ferelden. He actually was a pretty good melee damager along with Shale the tank during the Deep Roads (Sten did this in the Carta hideout). Shale survived the one chance she had to die in the game. Branka was killed, the anvil of the Void destroyed, and Caridan committed suicide. Evil Prince Bhelen is now evil King Bhelen though I heartily approved of his Marius-esque policy of recruiting Casteless for his army. I always feel a bit of buyers remorse no matter which one I back. We found an amulet proving the Legion of the Dead should be a noble house, though the quest seems to have automatically finished without us actually turning it in the shaperate. Probably a bug there. We recovered that stolen tome from the Casteless thugs and returned it. We found the genealogies proving the descendents of house Orta were still alive in Orzammar in Ortan Thaig. And we found Ruck, a dwarf who had gone crazy eating darkspawn bodies, in the Deep Roads. In accord with his request, we told his mother we discovered he had died.

So onwards!

[Valmy]

Sidequestin!

In a lot of Bioware games this would be one of the best parts but in this game the sidequests are kind of generic and not particularly interesting, with a few exceptions. Anyway so first we stop by that Bann somethings land to witness the brutal beating of Cailan's former royal guardsman. After beating up the thugs he tells us to RETURN TO OSTAGAR and get the King's secret papers from a chest and tells us where he has hidden the key. Eh kind of contrived, why would we even go to this dude's lands anyway? All three of these DLCs could have really profited from not being DLCs and better integrated into the main game. Next Warden's Keep. To uncover the mystery of Sophia Dryden and yes you do meet her...sort of.



'Oh great-great-grandma how rotty your flesh is'

I swear if Bioware made a game where we explored Mount Vernon we would meet George Washington. Anyway this is just a nice little dungeon with way too good of loot for the effort, as I think they do to incentivize us to buy the DLC. The superman reference was cute though. A nice little story of corruption and pride before a fall involving blood magic and demons of course (and political intrigue). Avernus does not count as an apostate/bloodmage btw because he is a Grey Warden. I decided to let him continue his research but no way am I drinking some blood magic thing. Anyway now I have a keep with a storage chest and dudes selling overleveled gear.

Next was Denerim. I love RPG cities but Denerim kind of blows. I mean it looks like Athkatla if only look at the map but actually it is just the marketplace, and a few extra buildings and some places to fight bizarrely well organized thug teams. The fights here are fun and challenging but plotwise they are just dumb. Am I really supposed to believe the thugs of Denerim are so fearless and so well organized? I swear we should be organizing these dudes to fight the Blight instead. And of course that heavily armed blood mage compound, which again makes no sense since surely if the Templars knew where they were military might was not going to save them. It was pretty fun though. Five more blood mages apostates for the count. So 15 now.



'Search for Brother Genitivi but don't. But do. But seriously don't. Yes I am not suspicious at all.'

You can actually enter Genitivi's house before you do Redcliffe. Wait can I do the whole Ashes of Andraste quest before I have a good reason to do so? Yes. It does seem like I can. I got ambushed by the Andraste cultists back at the Spoiled Princess and then went back to Denerim and killed the cultist pretending to be Genitivi's servant and learned about Haven. Eh I still think I will do Redcliffe first. It just makes more sense.

The marketplace is pretty great (even if it felt kind of empty) so if they had a few more zones like that it could have been a decent RPG city.



'In a modern American movie this would have been an unarmed catfight in Lingerie'

W had our confrontation with Marjolaine which again sure made it sound like her betrayal of Leliana happened in Orlais and this was Marjolaine's first time in Ferelden. They brought the voice actresses back to do Leliana's Song they couldn't also have changed the dialog in Origins to reflect the new plot? Annoying. Anyway Marjolaine lives and I keep Leliana nice and soft and fluffy.

After my first foray into Denerim on to Flemeth. She must die since my character is a young heterosexual man and a pretty girl asked him to do it. Got her the first time but the old girl got her pound of flesh, only Lorcan and Leliana were left standing when the battle ended.

Then RETURN TO OSTAGAR. The main badguy is a Grenlock Necromancer so I guess he is putting demons in dead bodies to fight us. Thought once you kill him all his undead fall over, which does not really make sense but whatever. Also Ostagar is snowy now.



'Look I know I am a Texan and you guys live in Edmonton so you probably know more about snow than me...but shouldn't there also be snow on the trees and walls and not just the ground?'

Lots of melodramatic feels here. I think if you are playing this game for the first time this part would be pretty powerful since maybe you are still upset about it. Cailan looked to be about to dump his wife and marry Empress Celene and unite Ferelden and Orlais. So no wonder Loghain lost his shit.

You can see what he thinks about it here: https://youtu.be/1n8kt6Ps-tc?t=4m29s. Naturally he is not with us at this point.

Anyway after that back to Ozammar and we go to Cadash Thaig to finish the Shale DLC. Both this and Return to Ostagar have a lot of improvements on the normal Darkspawn fights with good use of the Shrieks and Ogres and spell casting Hurlocks and Grenlocks. At the end we find another monument with Shale's name on it. Not sure why this is more significant than the last one but Shale seemed happy about it.



'Shale Approves +5'

Next on to Redcliffe!

Things we have done:



Flemeth dead, Morrigan gets grimoire and falls in love and so will not longer have sex with me.

I smuggled the lyrium into the tower figuring it could be of good use to the mages. My character is a believer but a bit anti-clerical due to his circle upbringing. But it turns out it was just being used by some psycho to control the Templars and probably Cullen specifically. Fuck. I tried to tell Greagoir about it but the game wouldn't let me. Too late.

Ser Landry is one of Loghain's personal friends who wants to duel you for betraying King Cailan. I convinced him he had the wrong guy, he wanted the other mage walking around Denerim with a golem.

I didn't kill Zevran awhile ago but I forgot to enter that in Keep.

I didn't do the crime wave since I am not a rogue.

The Dwarf Dagna will be going to the Circle to study magic. I expect she will be the all powerful evil Dwarves archmage trying to take over the world in Inquisition. Yes I know Dwarves cannot be mages but she will find a way.

I peacefully got the Mercs to leave the whorehouse but they later ambush you anyway. Some people just do not want to live.

I got the Crimson Oars to leave the bar in the Denerim Market peacefully but the image in Keep makes it look like I murdered them all. Of course given how dangerous the streets of Denerim are maybe they all got slaughtered on the way to docks.

I did not do the Crow Master's quests and I did not kill him because of that keeping as many people alive thing. Besides it just seemed kind of pointless.

Marjolaine lives, probably destined to be Dagna's evil second in command. And lesbian lover since 90%+ of all women in this world are at least bisexual.

I generally do not drink stuff that promises to give me 'fantastical blood magic powers!' and I killed Sophia but she was a demon so it was ok.

[Valmy]

Redcliffe man. So I took Sten, Alistair, and Leliana along and damn did they have a lot to say. But maybe all the companions have a lot to say. I like this part despite the fact the fights are all pretty straightforward. I only had to reload once the whole time (and that was because of the AI). But it is thick in plot and interaction which is what we all love most in a Bioware game. Some people may dislike Redcliffe but I rarely hear the hate the Fade and the Deep Roads get.

I always thought it was weird Alistair just coughs up he is Maric's son here and feels bad it has taken him so long to spill the beans. Um dude this was the last possible second you could have kept it a secret. Alistair is such a dude.

The Qun is a philosophy that says whatever Sten needs it to say to be stern and disapproving of everybody. Pretty handy.



'Heroes here to save the day. Damn my guy looks like he has an underbite with this angle. Habsburg Amell'

I always enjoyed the preparation for the fight, finding all the various slackers you can rough into shape. Somehow by forcing the tavern keeper to fight with the militia I gave his tavern to his barmaid. Even after he survived the ordeal. Ah well at least she is hot.

I made it a point to win without losing anybody. At the first wave the demon corpses charge the burning lantern oil and I figured the smart thing to do was to fight right next to the oil, to try to keep them in it as long as possible. Unfortunately this means my dudes just charged right into it and fought while heroically burning to death. So that was my one reload hehe.

I get the feeling this was easy because I think I over leveled it somehow. The earlier plot missions you do in the game seem much harder. I think this would have been hard if I had done it first.



'Cheer up Bann Teagan! We won with no casualties!'

People act like we just defeated the possessed corpse army for good, but I thought they attacked every night? The next part in the castle was short but fun, I remembered that battle with the spell casting revenant in the court yard particularly.



'So um...that one time I sold you out to the First Enchanter? Let's call it even.'

And we find my old buddy Jowan from the Circle of Magi, though seriously the game would not let me tell him I was primarily responsible for him being caught and exposed as a blood mage. Loghain grabbed him from the Templars and used him to poison the Arl. That is...interesting since you find Arl Eamon's knights searching for the Urn in Lothering. Did Loghain have time to execute this convoluted plan in the time it took for me to recover at Flemeth's hut? And for Isolde to send out the knights? And for them to already be failing at their quest? Maybe I was out longer than I thought. Or did Loghain do this plan before Ostagar even happen? Huh. Either way damn Loghain, even as regent, that is slightly exceeding your authority to undermine the Chantry like that. But then Howe does betray the Couslands before Ostagar, was this some sort of preconceived coup? That makes his attempts to try to reason with Cailan nonsensical. Eh ok so there might be a few plot holes, or maybe I am missing something. But, to be fair, when a game is as awesome as Dragon Age Origins you can get away with that. If you are going to be a mediocre DLC like Leliana's Song well...



'Fear the demon child of evil FOOLS!'

Creepy demon possessed kid is even creepier than demon possessed cat from the Shale DLC. Love creepy demon kids, like that little girl in Icewind Dale who was actually the Tanarii snake woman. Not sure what was going on with Bann Teagan here. I presume the demon was controlling him somehow not that he was an abomination himself. For some reason killing him cured him.



'Anybody else feel awkward by this reunion?'

I went and fetched First Enchanter Irving to get in the Fade. Everybody lives. Jowan went in to redeem himself.



'My redemption is at hand...damn though those are nice abs demon'

He went back to prison but I hope Arl Eamon pardons him when he recovers. But what happens to Jowan is not in Dragon Age Keep so I guess live or die his part in this saga is over. Here is hoping he is forgiven and sent back to the Circle.

From creepy demon child we go to creepy cult village: Haven. For some reason the only thing Dragon Age Keep cares about in Haven is what you do with the ashes of Andraste. While every other major locale has lots of choices and there are a few important choices in Haven. But then I guess there is no reason this little creepy town would be important in future games.

From Redcliffe:



We helped Redcliffe prepare and win.
Connor lives on, unpossessed, and soon to be sent to the Circle of Magi for proper instruction. Not sure who the heir to Arldom is now. Ah well not my problem.

Bella took over the tavern for some reason. Future beer baron of Thedas.

I rescued that little orphan boy and returned his sword after the battle, though the sword remained in my inventory. Little bug there. Someday he will be the marshall for the Dagna Empire of Evil.

I found and rescued the town blacksmith's daughter in the castle. I guess she will grow to make the weapons for the Dagna Empire of Evil.

Isolde lives on, even though the Codex said she was sacrificed...despite her still being alive in game. Bugs like this are probably why Dragon Age Keep exists.

Sten got back his sword so he will not be brutally executed for the crime of being robbed while unconscious. The Qun is as hardcore as it is incoherent. But seriously Sten is awesome.



Future Archmage of the Dagnarian Evil Empire. Am I getting sort of close to Inquisition's plot here?

[Valmy]

Is there anything more classic than the noble quest for a holy relic? A thing of legend, unlikely to exist, and our heroes driven forward by simple faith? No sir there is not.



'Our entire cause depends on you finding an object of legend that our greatest scholars have spent lifetimes unsuccessfully trying to find.'

'Alright but you gotta give me a couple days'

Of course the hopelessness of the quest is slightly changed by the fact we already know to go to Haven. I like the fact they kept up the creepy factor for a little bit there before the general mayhem broke out. Actually the village may have profited a bit from making you question it even a little bit. Also maybe even a bit tempted beyond just basic sociopathic tendencies to side with them. I mean does anybody side with them except for the lolz?



'Ah hell it is that sort of cult'

Well I guess if you just really hate the Chantry. Though come to think of it this is a pretty crazy temple. I mean the ashes of Andraste really exist and they perform honest to God miracles. You meet the spirit of a dude who knew her personally and interact with various things from her contemporaries than confirm all the legends. I mean damn if they found some holy relic than honest to God did cure the sick and I got to talk to Pontius Pilate's spirit and he was like 'yep it's all true. Even the stuff that seems contradictory' I would find that pretty convincing. But damn the non-believers in your party are hardcore they are not even slightly fazed by this stuff. I mean yeah Oghren says there is a lot of Lyrium down here but damn. We basically had everything but Andraste herself (in non-dragon form) come down and say 'yep, bride of the maker here.' But I guess that is part of coolness factor of the setting, they never quite confirm or deny if the Chantry has it right or not.

I think the problem with feeling overleveled comes largely from Alistair now that I maxed out his sword and shield skills. He just hardly gets scratched now. It made most of the fights rather trivial unless I really screwed something up. There was the fight with the overseer and all the drakes I totally screwed up position management and lost control of the battle but we still powered through without to much of a problem. The only thing that could beat him up good was the High Dragon and damn did she ever. That move where she tosses him in the air did him in, Morrigan was tanking for the last 10% of the things health. Great fight though, always look forward to that one. The screenshot problem seems like it is not uncommon for DA:O so hopefully by the time I get to DA2 I can take them again, but no screenshots of that fight here.



'Madness? This is...well you know'

I have no idea how that spirit guardian was able to read the minds of the characters and summon the spirit of your biggest regret (I got betraying Jowan to Irving). The tests are kind of cool right before the urn, and I had forgotten the tricks to doing them so it was fun to learn them again. All those riddles and that bridge puzzle.



'The Maker has turned his eyes from man, which is good because otherwise this would be embarrassing.'

Seriously? Could Andraste at least let me keep my pants on?



'Our quest is at an end'

It is nice once Eamon gets revived and somebody who knows something is around again. Shit is going to get real soon. Oh and we are going to make Alistair become King.



He is surprised. One would think me dressing him entirely in his brother Cailan's gear and giving him his father's sword would have tipped him off. Good boy but a little slow. Eamon allowed me to decide what to do with Jowan and damn if I did not think the logical thing would be to conscript him into the Wardens and have him join the fight against the Darkspawn. But since I inexplicably couldn't do that he was sent back to the Circle Tower. Probably to be made Tranquil...damn. But Jowan is not in Dragon Age Keep so I guess this marks the end of him in this series. Sorry pal.

Here is what we did:



Yeah so playing it again it does look like the main choice is side with cult and destroy Urn or don't. There is also how you handle Genitivi and whether or not you let him tell the world about the discovery which has major implications in the epilogue, but I guess not in any of the future Dragon Age games. Since the cult was not sided with Leliana and Wynne will not be killed.

Next: Sidequestin' again!

[Valmy]

Ok so there actually were not many sidequests to do. The main one was seeing Alistair's sister and turning in various things in Denerim. So first we went and turned in the ancient Andraste Scroll to Sister Justine in Denerim since she wants actual relics and not fake ones. Pfft some clergy member. I feel like we should have told her we found it in a whole library of massive numbers of similar stuff...but whatever.

Then we went and saw Goldanna that little shrew. Since I was totally obsessed with this game before it came out I actually read David Gaider's not entirely shit novels and know she is not Alistair's real sister anyway. His actual mother was that elf mage Maric actually loved. And Loghain and Cailan's mother were in love with each other. But anyway yes I am sad for my 2009 self for having done that. Not that I have gotten much better I got that setting book thing for Pillars of Eternity. So sad.

I used my super speech skill of power to at least get her to be civil but the resolution was still the same. Alistair is sad and I hardened him so he will do the right thing later.



'I want you hard Alistair! Hard as a rock! Wait what do you mean I am making you uncomfortable?'

Then I turned in a few of the thief quests and got the quest I absolutely hated the first time I played this game. The quest to get 10 garnets. Fuck this quest. I mean it is easy enough if you knew it was coming and had saved them up but I forgot and so had to go see if any were left on the merchants I had sold to. I visited them all except Ruck but another Thief quest is sending me back to Orzammar so I guess I will pay him a visit later. I have seven garnets right now.

But it is Elf time! Now during my City Elf playthrough my character really thought the Dalish were clowns. They knew very little about the actual Elven Empire, they were posers living in the past and not cool and sophisticated like the forward thinking City Elves. They are going to make their own modern Elf Kingdom screw you prancy little Dalish losers. And they treated her with barely concealed contempt calling her a 'flat ear'. The Dalish seem like those Europeans trying to recreate European Paganism centuries after it vanished into the ether but there are lots of other RL parallels. But to a human they seem like they are nobly trying to recreate the history the evil Tevinter Empire stole from them. But gamewise I think most of what the Dalish think they know about Arlathan and the ancient elves is wrong. And eventually we will meet an ancient elf because...this is Bioware and of course we will. But surprisingly not in this game. Also the ruins in the forest look like Tevinter ruins because they resemble the Circle Tower in style but maybe Tevinter just took over the old Arlathan buildings...not sure. Probably if I read all the in-game codex things I might know.

I do like when you first meet the Dalish Alistair bemoans that of course they cannot help us because of an awful curse. I mean what are the chances Arl Eamon gets ill, the King of Orzammar dies, Abominations take over the Circle Tower, and a terrible curse has effected the Dalish right when we need them all? Well pretty high since Abominations are in the Circle Tower about twice a week, Nobles in Orzammar have a notoriously short life span, Arl Eamon was poisoned by the guy we are trying to stop, and the Dalish curse has been going on for centuries. But still.

Only a few quests in the elf place but they all matter in the Dragon Age Keep. Weird I can sell the City Elves into slavery but that doesn't matter but it is of vast importance that I help that wimpy elf get the girl? Ah well.



'Go forth and kill the beast Witherfang! Bwhahahaha. That was a good guy laugh.'

The forest is way too easy and not particularly interesting. The only saving grace were all those revenant fights. And I guess the insane malificar. And the Treebeard guy. But again once you reach a certain level I guess you outlevel the 'get four allies' parts.



'All sentient trees must talk funny. So I shall rhyme....bunny'

The ruins are a little better. I enjoy the big trap room on the second level. Some interesting puzzles. An ancient elf ghost and an actual ancient elf trapped in a vial are there because tradition. I hate the Arcane Warrior class (though the game makes it seem like if you become one you will be the last one in the world...except for the one in Orzammar) though, as if mages were not overpowered enough as it is. The tension for the dragon fight was nice but after the High Dragon nobody is going to be impressed.

I thought it was interesting the werewolves were literally man-wolves and not Lycanthropes in the classic sense. But despite seeming to be a nice departure from the normal Dragon Age stuff with werewolves but this is the normal 'person gets angry and summons fade spirit/demon hilarity ensues' thing. Again. Three out of four of the army plots involve this. It is cool, I mean I enjoyed them all but that will get old if Gaider doesn't (or rather didn't I am not really familiar with anything since this game and now) find other things in this world to explore.



'Oh Witherfang what big hair you have'

So I did the thing I set out to do and kept as many people alive as possible. Though I think hardly anybody actually massacres the werewolves or the elves except just to see if you can.



'All in a days work folks!'

During the ruins part I found the last Unbound scroll so I went to Denerim for the Gaxkang fight. There are some easy ways to cheese your way through it but I forgot them all so had to take him down the hardway. Shale, Oghren, and Leliana did the heavy lifting while I just stood back and healed and paralyzed/froze/petrified him when I could. It took five mana potions but we got him down. Got the armor from Wade made (hey that rhymes!) and then went down to Redcliffe to get this Landsmeet party started!

Things we did this session:



Ok so I met Goldanna and gave Sister Justine the scroll from the Temple of Andraste's Ashes.

I got Zathrien and Witherfang to go away and make peace. Because I am awesome.

The most chaste syrupy love story ever was made possible because of me and it made Morrigan feel physically ill.

Wynne helped save the Halla from being unnecessarily slaughtered.

I brought the scarf from the lady elf who became a werewolf to her husband.

I brought the Ironbark to the Dalish. Not sure why that matters. Got a nice magic staff from it.

I helped the injured Dalish scout back to camp because I am not a psycho.

So time to go crown our king in Denerim.

Alistair's VA on being Alistair: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFDDUxUMSic

Claudia Black warming up to play Morrigan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPpC3roW6ZM

[viper37]

I really supposed to believe the thugs of Denerim are so fearless and so well organized? I swear we should be organizing these dudes to fight the Blight instead. And of course that heavily armed blood mage compound, which again makes no sense since surely if the Templars knew where they were military might was not going to save them.

Yes. There is chaos.  The King is dead, Loghain took his place as regent, not as King.  There is a rebellion brewing, there are Darkspawn, the Circle of Ferelden is in turmoil.  Everyone is busy with something.  And the Regent is a lot more concerned about Orlais and the plots against him than anything else, even the Darkspawn.  Why would he concern himself with a few riff-rafs from lower town?

About Loghain trying to convince the King: yes, it makes sense.  Of course Arl Howe had to do his move before he betrayed the King, as well as taking care of Bann Teagan.  If he wants to live more than 5 minutes after betraying the King, his staunchest supporters need to be concerned with something else.  Not all dead, since that would look suspicious.  But not in a position to do any damage immediatly.  Betraying the Cousland could have been explained with forged documents implicating the father in some rebellious plot with Orlais as a way to exonarate Arl Howe.  Or if push comes to shoves, Howe is sacrificed and sadly never makes it to trial.  It's a dangerous world.
So, yes, that makes sense.  He is the son of his best friend, he offers him one last chance.

Ah, re: Dagna.  You made the right choice, she will be helpful in Inquisition, but no, she won't be the Queen of Evil.  It would have been nice though, facing a regular human, I mean, Dwarf, for once

[Syt]

At some point I want to go back and play this as a cowardly, whiny mage.

[Valmy]

Yes. There is chaos.  The King is dead, Loghain took his place as regent, not as King.  There is a rebellion brewing, there are Darkspawn, the Circle of Ferelden is in turmoil.  Everyone is busy with something.  And the Regent is a lot more concerned about Orlais and the plots against him than anything else, even the Darkspawn.  Why would he concern himself with a few riff-rafs from lower town?

Well I am certainly not surprised the streets are dominated by criminal gangs but damn those guys were practically a military force

I am glad they did not give them apostate mages though.

About Loghain trying to convince the King: yes, it makes sense.  Of course Arl Howe had to do his move before he betrayed the King, as well as taking care of Bann Teagan.  If he wants to live more than 5 minutes after betraying the King, his staunchest supporters need to be concerned with something else.  Not all dead, since that would look suspicious.  But not in a position to do any damage immediatly.  Betraying the Cousland could have been explained with forged documents implicating the father in some rebellious plot with Orlais as a way to exonarate Arl Howe.  Or if push comes to shoves, Howe is sacrificed and sadly never makes it to trial.  It's a dangerous world.

Or maybe Howe manipulated Loghain by forging the documents. Loghain is pretty paranoid and easy to manipulate. Seems he will do just about anything so long as you say the Orlesians are involved. He is basically if Malthus was a Ferelden Noble.

So, yes, that makes sense.  He is the son of his best friend, he offers him one last chance.

Yeah I guess that's true, and also the son of his One True Love. Still he moved a bit fast in poisoning Eamon. Ah well.

Ah, re: Dagna.  You made the right choice, she will be helpful in Inquisition, but no, she won't be the Queen of Evil.  It would have been nice though, facing a regular human, I mean, Dwarf, for once

Sweeeet! Still curious how feeding that prisoner in Ostagar was something worth recording

[Valmy]

At some point I want to go back and play this as a cowardly, whiny mage.

Not sure you have much chance to be a coward in this game. You basically are a person who has tons of leadership qualities and courage no matter what you do. The main choice is how big of an asshole you are/aren't. Sort of like how you cannot play delegating Commander Shepherd 'Ok the three of you go handle the Reapers and um...let me know how it goes.'

[Syt]

Well, you can still be reluctant/trying to take the path of least resistance. But yeah, freedom of choice in games only every goes so far.

[Valmy]

Well, you can still be reluctant/trying to take the path of least resistance. But yeah, freedom of choice in games only every goes so far.

Yeah I guess there are a few things, like you could leave Redcliffe to burn.

[Syt]

I liked how Mass Effect 1 & 2 handled it, though (haven't played 3 beyond the opening). Yes, the main plot was the same, but you could change the tone of the narrative a fair bit and basically either be Captain Picard who tries to be by the book and solve things with as little violence as possible, or you could go Dirty Harry and release metric tons of whoop-ass. And you could nuance the whole thing. You could be pretty racist by being nice to humans and being an asshole to aliens.

[Valmy]

Ah yeah Landsmeet time. On to revisit the castle of the Arl of Denerim last seen in Leliana's Song. Given what was said in Origins it seems Marjolaine actually was just teaming up with the Arl's Captain of the Guard and not the Arl himself...which only makes his entourage of mages and dragons all the more strange. Anora's elf maid shows up speaking with an Orlesian accent...which I find confusing since I thought City Elves had American accents like the Dalish and Dwarves did. But then one of Arl Eamon's servants is a Ferelden accented Elf so maybe there are City Elves and super integrated elves. But then there is Zevran so I guess I should have known that. Anyway on Arl Howe's house of torture, which seems like it usually is anyway given Leliana's Song.

Speaking of Zevran:



'The Antivan Crows send their regards...again'

After he was liberated from the Crows Zevran decided to stay on for the treasure. Sure I seem to spend all our loot as soon as I get it but that works for him. He later admitted he really stayed because saving the world from the Blight sounded like a noble cause. I can see why that would be a hard thing for Zev to admit. Ah I will miss you Zevran after this campaign is finished.

I did a pretty good job sneaking into Arl Howe's without alerting anybody until after I had already found the queen. For a scheming noble with a whole castle of skeletons his security is pretty loose. Anyway so we rescued a whole boat load of nobles, including Mr. Elven Rapist from the City Elf Origin. Weirdly the game gives you all these options to kill him for his crimes even though you do not even know of them. Also that Templar they captured when they got Jowan to poison Eamon. And some random noble's son. Rescuing these guys basically gives you the Landsmeet. I got the Templar's Ring to give his sister since that sadist Howe, who I can only assume feasts on the blood of infants and virgins at every meal, has sent him into Lyrium withdrawal. Also the other Warden in Ferelden who makes a suitably badass entrance. I mean geez between he and Duncan...



'Grey Wardens are basically ninjas'

Arl Howe also was employing a handful of mages. Again do lords get to just rent these guys out? Anyway farewell Tim Curry's character. We hardly knew ye. As a super villain he was not developed terribly well, especially for one with a big name VA. It works better if you are a human noble a bit.

I surrendered to Loghain's loyal Ser (I guess a genderless term in this world?) Cauthrien, even though it seems keeping her alive doesn't factor in later games. I think she shows up in the Battle of Denerim though. Fortunately Fort Drakon also has fairly porous security. I do like these disguise infiltration scenarios. Hope we get more of these in the later DA games. The Warden being located due to Morrigan's ring was a nice reference to. Leliana and Morrigan to the rescue of Alistair and Lorcan! Hey wait Loghain had, at one time, all three Warden's in prison and he let them all escape? Really he just deserves to lose.



'We're selling these fine leather jackets' (points if you get that reference)

Once we all escape I arrange the deal with Alistair and Anora. They will marry and rule. It is best for the stability of the realm and Lorcan is a patriot. Plus Alistair does not want to be King and I have always been fond of the concept of Nolo Episcopari.

I like how in the Alienage you have three random sidequests that all get completed within 30 seconds of stepping inside. Always happy to help my City Elf peeps. Two short but cool adventures in the haunted house and the Slaver compound. Annoying that Loghain had to sell Elves to the Imperium (and I mean seriously Loghain? Maybe he should grow a mustache to twirl it) when those bastards should be sending the money themselves, they started this whole Blight business after all. The haunted house is suitably creepy along with the Amulet you receive that you give to the beggar.  Huh was the amulet responsible for the whole thing? The beggar regains her sense when she gets it back. Is there a spirit within that is possessing her or something? Maybe I will find out someday.

The Tevinter Slavers have one of my favorite fights in the game. There is a room with a bunch of melee slavers and a leader with a special bow and in a side dining room there are a bunch of archers. They can take you down in a few seconds if you do not have your strategy down. Love that fight. I used a super storm to take out the Tevinter boss (blizzard, inferno, tempest combo) and let him live because...that is what I do. The Elves are freed and I have proof of Loghain's treachery. Time for the big confrontation!



'Ah Teyrn Loghain we meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I met you I was but the learner. Now, I am the master'

I expose his use of blood magic to poison Eamon and get him condemned by the Chantry. A duel is fought which is damn hard as a mage actually. Damn I wish I had gotten crushing prison instead of leaving it to Morrigan, Anyway Loghain is spared and Alistair is outraged...even though I have spared everybody from assassins to slavers to demons. He sounds kind of like a badass though at this point. Telling me to shove it and I have work to do to stop the Blight and he has work to do as well, to check the influence of Anora. Now that is a fine character arc right there.

A few loose ends to tie up then THE FINAL BATTLE.

Man I have loved this playthrough. Total nostalgia kick. I forgot how much I enjoyed this game and hanging out with these characters. It was a five year labor of love for Bioware and it shows.

Things I did this session:



Alistair becomes King along with Anora. He is no longer part of the party so his part is done.

I told Bann Sighard about the capture and torture of his son to gain his support against Loghain.

I gave Bann Alistanna her brother's ring to gain her support.

Creepy fade amulet thing was returned to creepy beggar. Wonder if that is the last we will see of that. If the Alienage is being ruled by a super powerful abomination in the future I was responsible.

And here is what Alistair's culture advisor is telling him upon his ascension: https://youtu.be/DVz_eDUTjAI?t=2m7s.