Valmy's ADHD Dragon Age playthrough

[viper37]

One thing I noticed on the way up Sundermount is that Merrill stopped by that altar Flemeth was revived at in Act 1 and said a prayer to Mythal. So I started thinking: aha! Flemeth is Mythal! So I looked it up in the Codex and Mythal is the Goddess of Protection, Love, Motherhood, and Justice

So probably not 

Besides, as I speculated earlier, she has the form of the Old Gods who were worshipped by the Tevinters so I think she is either Razikale, the Goddess of Mystery, or the mysterious 8th Old God.

Well, in DA: Inquisition, you will, at some point, visit the Temple of Mythal, and you will also meet Mythal toward the end.  You'll also meet Fen'harel, the Dread Wolf.

Also, Flemeth's prophecy to Hawke will come through

[viper37]

Legacy might earn the prize for epic per square inch in Dragon Age so far.

don't forget to come back home when you have the chance, just before entering the prison

[Valmy]

Alright so I finished the game and...well that happened. Hilariously enough a couple of the things I called as jokes turned out to be true. The final battle was really LOL worthy. Bioware really knows how to turn it up to over 9000.

Anyway full AAR of Legacy and the end of Dragon Age II to come.

[Valmy]

So Carta Dwarves have been trying to murder Bethany and Urien. Varric finds out they are doing this from a base in the Vimmark Mountains. Aveline, Varric, Bethany, and Urien make the trip.



'The Templars aren't so oppressive now eh?'

Moving onwards they find these Carta Dwarves massacred a Merchant's Guild Caravan in a shocking breach of protocol. First hint these guys might not be the standard mobsters.



'Not the Bronto! YOU MONSTERS'

So they advance towards the Carta fortress. Eventually a group approaches them and declares they need the blood of a Hawke. And they do not mean blood money but literal blood.



'Corypheus is some sort of Vampire who can only drink Hawke blood? Tough break for him'

All these guys have crazy eyes as well. So eventually they reach a huge arena looking place with an obelisk in the middle. The Carta have their big ambush here complete with crazily fatal traps. These dwarves are out of control.



'Maybe Corypheus gave them an offer they could not refuse'

Damn what is up with Al Pacino movies and Varric? Anyway there is something else going on here as well. The Arena thing has an inscription.



'Aveline it seems has become an expert on Dwarf lore'

So this becomes a thing later. More and more endless Carta and Bronto fights. Afterwards Bioware has us looting Bronto crap because they seem to have some sort of fecal thing going on in this game.



'Somebody put a Horde fortress in a Dragon Age game!'

Seriously though that dome thing is where the last battle of this DLC is. Check out the big griffons: that means Grey Wardens.

They descend into the dwarf fortress and the crazy just keeps going.



'Why does she have to be alive for her blood to be 'pure'?'

And why is dear old Daddy Hawke so important to dwarf vampires?



'Stupid born-again Corypheuns'

Eventually they find a dwarf Varric knows, who built Bianca (his ridiculous repeating crossbow) for him. Corypheus is some kind of Darkspawn who does the calling like an Old God. Weird.



'Oh good I was worried Bioware had introduced a new kind of bad guy there for a second'

Now around here Urien found a globe. I remembered the globe being mentioned at that inscription at the arena but kept going onwards and got pretty near the end of the DLC actually. Then Viper wrote that I should go back to Kirkwall at my last chance to do so. So I reloaded to this point figuring I should go back to Kirkwall and see if there was something I needed to do. While I did this I checked the Codex on the globe and saw that it had something to do with a monster named Malvernis who was trapped 'under the sun'. So just on a hunch I had Urien and company go back to the surface to see if anything would happen now that they had the orb...



'I cannot imagine why'

So Malvernis the Pestilent One bursts forth and immediately summons a truly awesome number of spectral archers. This was a crazy fight because those fuckers would turn them all into pincushions in seconds. But once that was done he came back as a mage and teleports around nuking them and summoning more spectral archers. Once he got beaten on a bit well...



'It's the Queen of the Blackmarsh!'

And then the fight went like a normal High Dragon fight would go. The loot was pretty sweet but I am not sure what that monster even was was. A Tevinter Magister who went nuts? Who knows. Another super boss fight that had nothing to do with the main plot

So thanks Viper I never would have bothered if it were not for you. So then they did go back to Kirkwall and restocked on potions and sold all the loot and came back. The next room slammed the door behind us and there they faced the Carta's big boss.



'I suddenly have an image of a Darkspawn dancing like Lola from 'Damn Yankees''

So the dwarf had a pet Bronto and a ton of minions with him but eventually they won. The first time I did this fight I went through it no problem but after they came back from beating Malvernis I had a much harder time of it. Beginner's luck I guess. As Urien approaches the corpse something begins to glow. It is a sword with a comically huge hilt. It bonds to Urien somehow.



'I am magically bound to all stupid looking weapons!!11'

This is the key to the prison, the Grey Wardens had it but forgot what they had so the Carta had little problem stealing it. A few remaining Carta dwarves see they have the key and then charge deeper into the compound. Urien and company give chase. ...and then Corypheus' prison magically shuts behind them.



'Another fine mess you have gotten us into Urien Hawke'

So now they are trapped in an ancient prison for an ancient powerful Darkspawn. Should be fun!

[Valmy]

So nowhere to go but downwards. I think we all know where we are headed: we have to release the ancient trapped evil from its prison and destroy it. Like we always do.



'OMG evil mutant versions of Donkey Kong!'

Actually while they may look like a new monster they are actually Genlocks. That's right the Darkspawn Goblins to the Hurlock's orcs to use a Warhammer reference. Only now they are the big beefy guys instead of the little stealthy guys. I have no idea why this redesign took place. I guess in response to the failure of the Blight the Genlocks have developed a steroid habit. Still no Shrieks though. Alright so who Corpyheus? If you remember the beginning movie of Dragon Age: Origins then this next shot should make it obvious:



'Let's see...a Darkspawn with the powers of a Tevinter Magister who was around for the First Blight...'

I mean this should trigger Urien and company as much as finding a prison holding Adam and Eve should for anybody living in the Christian west. Though I have to say Atheism and disbelief the Chantry when there is no scientific revolution or any appreciable evidence to doubt their version of events is really mind blowing. I mean we had a hard enough time getting people to do that even with those things. Anyway so yeah it looks like Tevinter Magisters were the first Darkspawn just the Chantry preaches. Yet despite being preached this their entire lives they still seem surprised when it actually turns out that way. Score another one for the Chantry.

Ok now behind the Genlocks there is a prison holding a fade monster.



'Hey look a demon that has been sealed away for the world's safety. Time to free it!'

It is what we do. Urien and Bethany's father trapped the demons here. So natch they free it and kill it. Then a blue cloud speaks with Malcolm Hawke's voice that the Warden's made him deal with these demons and he sealed them here. The reason is blood magic was needed to seal Corypheus and it brought out these demons. Daddy Hawke sealed them here. Somehow a bit of his spirit remained to explain himself.

Wait does that mean Malcolm Hawke created this prison? Is he two thousand years old? More on this later.

Speaking of Grey Wardens:



'No...there is another. She is right behind me actually. Say 'hi' Bethany.'

This very Darkspawn tainted Grey Warden explains that they have to use the comically huge sword to open the seals in order to escape the prison. Everybody who comes in can never leave except Hawke did because he created it I guess. Does that mean this guy has been here for two thousand years as well? When two thousand years old you are look as good you will not.

So they find the the first seal and opening it triggers a fight with a pride demon. Not sure why it is a pride demon but they are big and impressive looking. Afterwards Urien's sword absorbs the powah of the seal and down deeper into the prison they go.

The next level is chocked with Darkspawn. So glad hardly ever have gotten to fight Darkspawn in this series.



'He is wielding a castle door! Might as well nobody else in Thedas ever uses them'

More daddy trapped demons on this floor.

The first one had some profanes, the ones from the Deep Roads expedition from Act 1. That seems silly but I was glad to fight something newish again.



'May all of our loved ones live on in bizarre magical contraptions'

The third one was the last one and revealed another layer to Malcolm's role.



'That he had freaky blue glowy eyes!'

No...but the glowy eyes in the blue fog was creepy. It was that by doing whatever he did he earned their freedom. And there is a reference to a baby. Wait is Urien two thousand years old? We know Leandra isn't so...what is going on here? This brings Bethany and Urien closer together.



'I know sis '

The Sibling-mance with Bethany might be one of my favorite NPC relationships in a Bioware game evah.

The third level is a the bottom. A bit of the deep roads and it looks like the deep roads from Dragon Age: Origins. There is a sidequest where they find an altar to Dumat, the Old God who was the First Blight. He looks familiar.



'Evil Buddha!'

Maybe that altar was also to Dumat? Anyway Urien desecrates it. Dumat is dead, get over it people! Or is he? I don't get how these Archdemons work. There is another sidequest where they find the guy who Varric's Great House was named after. That was nice.

I think my favorite part was this find:



'Ok Corypheus must fucking die now!'

Finally all the nuttiness in Kirkwall, with like every other mage being a blood mage, is explained! Now it is personal. Well ok before it involved our dad but now it is like super double personal.

Ok so eventually they find a rival group of wardens who have a briliant idea on how to deal with Corypheus:



'A plan that always works'

LOL no. We came here to release an ancient evil from its prison and kill it and that is what we shall do. There is another level here with a puzzle and a race with the other grey wardens but nothing really to talk about (well there was a nice fight with multiple Arcane Horrors and Revenents). The brainwashed Grey Wardens meet us again and reveal the old Grey Warden was the Commander of the Grey, named Larius, who kidnapped Leandra and forced Malcolm to use blood magic to seal Corypheus down here. And all this happened 30 years ago. The seals were breaking down so Larius selected Malcolm to be the one to seal the Well be that as it may:



'You guys are still idiots'

So they took care of them and went on to rouse a two thousand year old Magister. Oh man I was pumped for this.



'Tevinter Magister Darkspawn? Check'



'Turned the Golden City black by trying to become a god thus damning all humanity to the blights? Check.'

So hey go Chantry. They were right on the story of Andraste and right on the origin of the Darkspawn. Granted the existence of the Maker is still out there but they sure do better than real religions do.

This battle was kind of a letdown. I mean it was long and involved some AMAZING POWERS but nothing too difficult. You could be on him for a bit and then he would poof to the middle and start using attacks based on the elements in Dragon Age: Nature, Electricity, Cold, Fire, and Spirit.



'Oh and the Giant Tornado Monkey phase'

But eventually our foe is bested and the great Tevinter Magister is no more.



'Wow did Urien actually do something heroic and make the world a better place?'

That is kind of a weird thought. Usually total disaster occurs around him. Larius is returned to lucidity and thanks Urien for his liberation and says he will go tell the Grey Wardens about what happened. Urien heads back to Kirkwall.



'Damn straight he did!'

But Cassandra claims Larius never made it back to the Grey Wardens and nobody outside of Varric and Urien and company know what happened. Huh. Everybody else just found an empty prison.

Eh probably nothing to worry about.

After that Bethany and Urien have another moment and Urien imagines what his mother would say. I really like this element of having a sort of pre-determined character is the family dynamic. Really adds something.

This DLC was alot of fun and had alot of relevance to the series up to this point. It was basically just a straight dungeon crawl with lots of hard fights (but no including the last fight...which was too bad) and a few nice puzzles. Probably not everybody's cup of tea but I do enjoy some challenging Dragon Age combat.

Stuff that was done in Legacy:



Urien sided with Larius instead of those other Grey Wardens with their obviously stupid plan.

Urien released and destroyed all the demons Malcolm Hawke had bound to save himself from becoming an abomination after he was forced to use blood magic to reinforce the seals keeping in Corypheus. Interesting they have an Amell family crest behind Malcolm Hawke there, he is only an Amell by marriage!

Urien has mail!



'Well I know what I am doing today'

[Valmy]

Sadly the Templars and mages did not slaughter each other while they were gone. Bethany goes back to the Gallows...but not for long as it turned out. Urien lives right by the Viscount's palace so he goes there first to see King Alistair and Aveline.

When he gets there he sees Meredith speaking for Kirkwall telling Alistair to go F himself he will get so assitance from Kirkwall because he sheltered some escaped Kirkwall mages in the Ferelden Circle Tower. Then she threatens him with being overthrown.



'Who knew being the Knight Commander of one Circle Tower actually gave your dominion over the entire world?'

Seriously this is almost getting comical. In Ferelden the Templars seemed like a small group of suckers drafted into doing really shitty job in the middle of nowhere. Here they are the SUPREME POWER IN THE UNIVERSE.

Aveline at least remembers decorum and respect.



'Ah Alistair never change'

So it seems Ferelden is in a bad place. Orlais is politically fracturing and alot of its lords want to regain their lands lost when Maric and Loghain kicked them out. Ferelden is still hurting from the Blight so Alistair is traveling around looking for allies. Unfortunately Kirkwall can hardly keep itself from collapsing into open warfare every three years so cannot do much even if it wasn't being run by a power mad paranoid illegal dictator.

So Alistair and Bann Teagan leave. Hey it seems Lorcan is back in Denerim after going wherever it was he and Morrigan went.



'IT IS AMELL! SAY IT WITH ME! Damnit.'

So with that little cameo completed Urien and Aveline discuss the accusations brought forth by Knight Captain Cullen.



'Aveline keeps her men hard at all times!'

Especially her husband Donnic. We go find out just how hard his patrol is and then go grumpily to Cullen. He passes the buck and says the accusations were coming from somebody in Lowtown. Well after a little investigating guess who it was? That's right. That foul mouthed guy from Act 1 who we got fired for being corrupt.



'Really? All those years in prison and you couldn't come up with a different insult for her?'

So they solve this problem permanently. This solidifies the loyalty of Aveline and ensures Meredith never gets control of the City Guard. It is all falling into place...or at least seems to.

Oh and while I was doing this quest I did the last two bandit crew quests and visited the 'friend' in the Hanged Man. She thanked Urien and gave him lots of extra gold and as she left she informed him she works for the 'Friends of Red Jenny'. You might not remember but that is the mysterious organization we delivered that small painted box to in Dragon Age: Origins. So here they are again. Well they like small boxes and dead bandits so we know that.

On to see Orsino. God I hate that guy. But any port in a storm and all that. It seems mages are sneaking out of the Tower every night for what he suspects are dirty deeds. He wants Urien to investigate.



'Wait so disregarding the rules and laws regarding Templar conduct makes it more difficult to police the mages? It is almost like they existed for a reason Meredith.'

By they way it confuses me the Templars are portrayed a bit as having arbitrary power over life and death over the mages when we have seen before that is just not true. The Templars have a very specific set of rules and laws on how they do their business, ones the mages seem to basically agree on. It just does not work here because Meredith just ignores those laws and nobody has a problem with this for some reason. As if that is standard Templar business.

So anyway Urien tracks down these mages and they are meeting with Templars in High Town. They accuse Urien of being an Orsino stooge and a battle breaks out and...well damn they are planning to overthrow Meredith. Dammit I have the City Guard and the Nobles in my pocket lets do this! Let's march down to the Gallows and do this NOW. WHY CAN'T I DO THAT. So frustrating. I guess because Urien is worried for Bethany?



'Yeah! I just slaughtered my own allies!'

So they head down to Gardibali's warehouse where again the allied Templars and Mages just try to kill me. Just head-desk poundingly frustrating. Only Keran, the guy I rescued from the Blood Mages in Act 1, survives. The Templar-Mage anti-Meredith alliance has kidnapped Bethany and are on the Wounded Coast. You know what? GREAT. Now I have no reason at all to not overthrow the illegal regime of Meredith.



'You know you guys just could have asked me I would have helped you kidnap her'

Keran goes home to his sister and leaves this craziness. I cannot say I am not envious.

So they go down to the Wounded Coast and Samson, the ex-Templar who helped us with Feynriel way back in Act 1, greets us and says he is leaving the conspiracy because of their blood magic. Damnit those morons. Urien has publicly come out against Meredith why not just talk to him?



'Great! Join us!'

But Samson won't. He heads off while Urien goes down to meet the Conspirators. They are led by Grace and Trask, unsurprisingly.



'No shit Trask!'

Then Grace flips the fuck out even after Urien informs them he is on their side.



'Because...reasons'

For revenge for killing her boyfriend in Act 1 even though he just attacked without giving them a chance to talk. Oh and she turns Trask into an abomination and makes us kill him. Lovely. Alain, one of Grace's people in Act 1, stays sane and frees Bethany.



'Anytime Sis'

Samson arrives with Cullen. Damnit now is the time! We have Bethany. Let's convince Cullen to join us, and capture him if he refuses, and march on the Gallows NOW. NOW IS THE TIME DAMNIT.

But Urien doesn't and I have no explanation why not. Alain explains Urien was not part of the plot and Urien makes sure Alain is unpunished and Samson is reinstated in the order. Everybody goes back to the Gallows. And...well...that is frustrating. Urien's position is now weaker not stronger and the golden opportunity to unleash the conspiracy was handed to him on a silver platter. What exactly is the plan? I guess from what was said we were supposed to be getting Meredith out of power and electing a new Viscount. But did something change? The pacing in this game is so frustrating. Just like why Urien never bothered to question Isabela in Act 2 or preempt Sister Petrice.

At least with Bethany you could see why he would stay his hand against Meredith in Act 3 but there is no reason once she was out of the tower and he had this anti-Meredith Conspiracy there nothing happened. I don't get it. I just cannot come up with a RP explanation for this. So they go back to Orsino.



'Yes Urien, yes she will. And now she has Bethany again.'

Seriously Urien sucks as a hero. I guess we will just await events.

They do not have long to wait.



'Somebody lit up the Amell signal!'

And now onto the final disaster.

[Valmy]

So Meredith wants to search the tower and accuses Orsino of harboring blood mages. Orsino has had enough and is heading off to the Chantry to seek Grand Cleric Elthina's intervention. Urien rushes of to meet them. Bethany is with them and knew Urien would come to do something that might be confused with saving the day.



'You tell her!'

Wait we are still talking! Strike her down Urien! Fortunately Abominanders is there and he is not one for half measures.



'Damn straight Vengeance finally do something good and strike Meredith down! NO HALF MEASURES LETS DO THIS'

But instead he blows up the Chantry. Yes. Instead of attacking Meredith the fucking idiot blows up the Chantry. Why? How is that not a half measure? If you want to strike a blow against the Nazis you kill Hitler not blow up Bopfinburg. What kind of nonsensical Anders nonsense is that? Meredith is standing not 10 feet from where he is standing.



'Well the Templars will sure be hurt by your killing of...all those not Templars you just nuked'

Man I am so done with this dude. Well at least his Act 3 quests now make sense. He needed those ingredients to make a bomb not brew a potion and he planted it when Urien was in the Chantry. No wonder he was apologizing for betraying Urien like that.



'Because he is a FUCKING IDIOT'



'You don't have the authority to do that and the circle had nothing to do with...actually nevermind why do we bother?'



'And you could have done that. Meredith was right there in front of you. But instead you blew up worthless people for no reason.'

Meredith runs off to mobilize her men and we take out the other Templars. Orsino heads back to the Gallows to mobilize the mages and leaves Anders to Urien. Anders wants to die a martyr to...um...stupidity I guess. Wish granted.



'RIP Justice. Good riddance Anders.'

So relieved. Like a great burden was lifted off my shoulders. No more Anders. No more stupid companion quests that always end in demoralizing train wrecks. No more selfish whines or detached from reality screeds. And he even got to go out like he wanted. So everybody won. Except Justice...and all those people he murdered.



'Time to get down to business'

Now for some reason the city has erupted into violence between mages and Templars even though shouldn't the mages all be at the Gallows? Was the Chantry explosion the trigger for a mass break? Actually it would not surprise me if there were that many Apostates living in Kirkwall, the Templars are so inept. Actually since the Kirk is no more I guess the city is just 'Wall' now?



'It's everybody become an abomination day!'

They rush down to the harbor and sail across to the Gallows.



'Urien crosses a la Washington crossing the Delaware'

As Urien and his team get there Orsino makes a last desperate attempt to surrender.



But Meredith is a psycho and will have none of it but allows the mages to go into the Gallows and prepare for the battle while the rest of the Templars assemble. Seems like a bad idea but Orsino does it. Everybody prepares for the final battle.



'Awwwwww House Amell forevah'



'It is how it always goes amiright ladies? He is either gay or married or Templars decide to go crazy and kill everybody.'



'Booze always motivates the troops'

So....

[viper37]

1st, you're welcome.  I knew you'd like the fight and need the extra potions and space in your inventory

I guess in response to the failure of the Blight the Genlocks have developed a steroid habit.

I'm guessing the Darkspawn are breeded from the genetic material available, in this case, mostly dwarves, so they are bulkier thant those based on humans we saw in Origins and Awekaning.

Alright so who Corpyheus? If you remember the beginning movie of Dragon Age: Origins then this next shot should make it obvious:

Wasn't it hinted at in DA:O, during your Deep Roads run that someone noticed a talking darkspawn?  A letter found that made a codex entry?  It wasn't Corypheus, but he wasn't alone in entering the Golden City either.

Yet despite being preached this their entire lives they still seem surprised when it actually turns out that way. Score another one for the Chantry.

There are various current as to how the blight began.  The Tevinters have other ideas on this, it would seem   The Qunari probably have their own version too, so do the Dwarves.  I figure lots of people don't know what to believe.  The Chantry strikes me as less orthodoxal than Christianity in that it does not preach the Chant of Light to be the literal truth about everything.  I think even the Chantry thinks there is some part of myth to the story of Darkspawn.

Wait does that mean Malcolm Hawke created this prison? Is he two thousand years old? More on this later.

No, not by far.  Corypheus was captured and chained 2000 years ago, but eventually, the Wardens realized they weren't really holding him as secure as they thought, so they had Malcom Hawke re/design this particular prison for him.

Not sure why it is a pride demon but they are big and impressive looking.

In DA:O, while touring the Mage Circle tower, you find a reference on demons.  They are as big&powerful as the sin they represent.  I guess pride is the worst of sin.
Don't know why they picked pride demon, maybe because they are big and powerful

[viper37]

About Anders, his story makes sense.  He's the only one who makes sense in this story

See, Anders, he was frustrated with the Templars.  he hated life in the circle, he dreamt of liberty from taxation without representation or something
When he got Justice inside him, the Spirit was twisted by his own emotions.  It appears that often, in the fade, spirits are neutral, leaning on benevolent, but once they have contact with humans, they can become demons.  Or so I'm told in DA:I by a mage who sympathizes with both spirits and demons and don't see them as evil by nature.  Great philosophical debate there

So, Anders and Justice who becomes vengeance because of Anders and Anders no longer able to control Justice wich has no identity besides Anders now...  Ah, great recipe for disaster, as you noticed

So Anders is so mad at the whole system, he wants to bring it down.  It's Anders of a down, now.  Things are tense, but a calm voice of authority, if she ever decided to use her authority could save it.  But provoking both parties into open war, the Templars will react badly to an attack on the Chantry and the mages will react badly that the Templars are trying to slaughter them, that is a brilliant plan for anarchy in Thedas.  No Viscount, no Chantry, templars hating all mages, mages hating all templars.  This will rally all templars and mages in thedas.

[Valmy]

So the Templars try to break in but they hold them back. After this victory Orsino inexplicably gives in to despair and says his buddy Quentin was right that it is the time for evil magic. I knew that guy was in league with the Lily killer!



'Wait he is drawing all those corpses to him that kind of reminds me off...'



'THE HARVESTER!!11'

Now this is weird. I guess I tought the dwarves had made the Harvestor through truly extreme amounts of Lyrium and dark magics. That it was some kind of unique horror not something any mage can just dump out a little blood to make.

But hey didn't I make a joke at the time about how Dragon Age II would be about destroying the other Harvesters? Well here we are.

So the battle begins. It is not to be compared with the craziness that was the Dragon Age: Origins Harvester.



'I knew the Harvester. I spent an entire Saturday fighting the Harvester. And you, sir, are no Harvester'

The main difference is that Orisno's Harvester summons much wimpier skeletons. They are not the walking death machines they were before. However Orsino's harvester has a third phase. Once the little monster is beaten it hoped BACK on top of the big construct and gains full health again ah well. So Orsino paid for his crimes. Now Urien and company march through the Gallows to the Courtyard. On the way they find a group of mages and Templars praying together, innocents caught up in a tragedy attempting to comfort each other.



'Oh you noble souls!'

HAHA just kidding they were worshipping a demon



'Muahahahaha'

Well the tone of that scene changed quickly.

They storm out to the courtyard where a massive force of Templars is waiting led by Cullen and Meredith.



'FINALLY'

She demands the Templars kill Urien and his companions. Cullen and the Templars refuse.



'Really? This is too far? Well better late than never pal'

Then Meredith pulls out her sword and yes it has the Lyrium Idol embedded in it. Holy shit did I not call that? As a joke? So the idol has driven her completely mad and Cullen joins the gang to strike her down in the FINAL EPIC BATTLE.



So the battle starts rather normally with us all beating on her but when she gets a little hurt she jumps on the gallows. Yes the sword gives her super jumping powers. And then she animates all the Tevinter statues to attack us? LOL WTF? That is one hell of a idol and if can do that why not just animate the stones on the ground and swallow us up into the earth?



'Ok so this is happening'



But all her statues are to no great effect, our might group strikes them all down. Then there is nowhere for Meredith to go.



'FOR GREAT JUSTICE'

And as she falls she gets um...engulfed by the idol somehow.





So she is now a giant lyrium idol?

The Templars all come and crowd around Meredith's statue while Urien and company walk away. Sic semper tyrannis and all that.



'Thanks for the help Cullen'

And one might think that with all the troublemakers dead that order and justice had been restored. But oh no the disaster is only getting going.



'Oh is that what I did? I thought I just killed their leader and left the others alone.'

Also I am kind of blown away that the Templars were some invincible army I thought they just were a small order of mage watchers.

Urien and his team feel Kirkwall as more Templars pour in. That strikes me as weird the Templars clearly had enough men to kill him there if they wanted. But the party scatters except Isabela who stays with Urien.

So the mages rise up and everybody starts murdering each other. I mean geez the person responsible was killed what is wrong with you people? Two entire circles get eliminated. The Templars secede from the Chantry and the Mages and the Templars smash up shit in a giant war for...um...something.

Cassandra gets it.



'Yes! Thank you! I hope that is everybody's tale away.'



'Way to go hero'

They are not wrong. What actual good did Urien do in Kirkwall? But Cassandra wants Urien to come talk sense to everybody and that was the purpose of the interview in the end. Or at least it became that when she heard the story.



'Really? Because I don't know how good his track record is at stopping madness'

But Varric doesn't know where Urien is. Cassandra says he is free to go and they walk outside which you can now see is the Viscount's palace in Kirkwall...er...Wall.  Leliana is there to meet her and Cassandra tells her both Urien and Lorcan are gone and nobody can find them. And it seems they needed them for some scheme they are concocting. Could it be...AN INQUISITION?!



'Lots of hotness in this picture'

So that is that. I will post the Dragon Age Keep stuff later and wrap up my thoughts on DAII and say a bit about Inquisition. Probably later tonight.

[Valmy]

So Anders is so mad at the whole system, he wants to bring it down.  It's Anders of a down, now.  Things are tense, but a calm voice of authority, if she ever decided to use her authority could save it.  But provoking both parties into open war, the Templars will react badly to an attack on the Chantry and the mages will react badly that the Templars are trying to slaughter them, that is a brilliant plan for anarchy in Thedas.  No Viscount, no Chantry, templars hating all mages, mages hating all templars.  This will rally all templars and mages in thedas.

And the terrorists win. Stupid Anders. At least he cannot be forced on me a third time.

[viper37]

So Anders is so mad at the whole system, he wants to bring it down.  It's Anders of a down, now.  Things are tense, but a calm voice of authority, if she ever decided to use her authority could save it.  But provoking both parties into open war, the Templars will react badly to an attack on the Chantry and the mages will react badly that the Templars are trying to slaughter them, that is a brilliant plan for anarchy in Thedas.  No Viscount, no Chantry, templars hating all mages, mages hating all templars.  This will rally all templars and mages in thedas.

And the terrorists win. Stupid Anders. At least he cannot be forced on me a third time.

never say never!  maybe  he's the big baddy of DA:I! 

[Valmy]

Well that would be alright so long as he is not in my party 

[Valmy]

Alright stuff Urien did in Act 3:



He agreed to help Nuncio find Zevran

But then let Zevran go and kill Nuncio

This one was weird but he did the Conspiracy quest with Orsino. It was Cullen who actually apprehended them conspirators but this is how I had to answer this question.

He rescued Nathaniel Howe from the Deep Roads.

He reunited Gamlen with Charade Amell.

Emile de Launcet was returned to the circle after popping his cherry. Boy was he mad at the end of the game to be caught up in that mess.

He sided with Orsino when Meredith illegally enacted the Rite of Annulment.

He let Keran go home during the anti-Meredith conspiracy quest

He killed the High Dragon at the Bone Pit

Stuff Urien did in Dragon Age 2 with the Companions:



He romanced Isabela.

Varric was his bud.

Bethany became a Circle Mage.

Carver was smashed by an Ogre on the way out of Lothering.

Bartrand is going to spend the rest of his life in a sanitarium.

Bethany survived the final battle.

Varric discovered the sliver of the idol causing the haunting at the Tethras Mansion.

Urien did not let Varric have the idol sliver, Sandal disposed of it.

Isabela was recruited in Act 1.

Isabela heroically returned with the Qunari relic at the end of Act 2.

Fenris lived free to the end of the game.

More Stuff Urien did in Dragon Age 2 with the Companions:



He did not give Isabela to the Arishok.

He recruited Merrill in Act 1.

Merrill lived until the end of the game.

Urien thought Anders was a psycho for his shit at the Chantry.

Urien executed Anders, though Anders was literally asking for it.

Merrill did not destroy the Eluvian, but never got it working either.

Aveline Married Donnic and maybe will live happily ever after.

Aveline stayed friends with Urien to the end.

Urien did not kill Merrill's Clan. Though he was tempted.

Urien teamed up with Sebastian.

Urien and Tallis parted on good terms.

Urien did not have kissy time with Tallis.

[Valmy]

I really enjoyed Dragon Age II. The combat was a big improvement on Dragon Age Origins in a lot of ways. The boss fights were much more sophisticated, the numerous adds that joined the fights made things more challenging and exciting, and the companions each had their own talent tree which was a great idea which I hope carries on to Inquisition.

The lack of a tactical camera was a huge problem. Friendly Fire in DA:O was not a big deal since there were few AoE spells and the tactical view made them easy to manage. In DAII it was a nightmare. Lots of abilities that didn't seem like they were AoE, like basically all of Urien's two handed weapon attacks, were. It was hard to see exactly what areas were being targeted without the tactical view. This made using grenades a pain as well. So I just gave up eventually and stuck with Hard because I had no idea how to manage it. Fortunately friendly fire and difficulty are not connected anymore. So I can play on nightmare and try out friendly fire and see if it is viable or adds any fun to the fights. Another problem with the lack of a tactical camera is that it is just much easier to click on targets from above. Man sometimes I was going crazy unable to target things.

The characters were great though I felt like something was missing a bit. You kept hearing about how they were getting together to play Wicked Grace and drink and do things like that but you rarely saw them do it. I feel like some scenes from time to time where everybody is together and discussing what is going on and their thoughts on what to do next might have really helped further connect you to the team. I mean these people were together for six years and you got the sense they were all great friends, or at least all great friends with Varric, but you the player were not involved somehow.

I am not sure how I felt about the new talent trees with so many passives and upgrades instead of new abilities but I think that made combat easier to balance and perhaps helped it overall. But Lorcan always felt like he had a huge bag of tricks to call upon that I never felt with Bethany, Merrill, or Anders.

I liked how Urien contracted out his crafting, I find crafting systems kind of silly in these games. People spend decades becoming competent craftsmen and it seemed silly one could become an expert alchemist as a side hobby in a few weeks. But since this game lasted seven years ironically I guess this might have been one of the rare occurrences that may have worked for me

The repeating maps were out of control. They kind of numb you to it by the sheer volume of times they do it. And it is so often I had a hard time knowing if it was justified, if I actually was in the same location or not. Locations in DA:O were memorable in their map layout but certainly not here. The worst offender was the red deep roads one they liked to use for all the demon lairs for some reason. It was constantly used for places clearly not in the deep roads and worse it is boring as hell just straight hallways connecting square rooms. I groaned every time I entered one of those maps.

The companions all had their own armor like in Mass Effect 2 and eh I am ok with it. I suppose it is too much to ask to be able to control what everybody is wearing.

The game was bold in that it was a major departure from the usual Bioware formula and this is also where the game had its biggest problems IMO. Taking place in the same location over a long period of time without a big world ending big bad were all huge gambles. It only kind of worked. There were a lot of possibilities to have each act be radically different depending on the choices made in the previous acts and really give you the ability to shape how things went in the city but that never really happened. You never really felt like you were in control of the action driving it forward as an active participant. Rather the game would throw events at you and you had to react to them. That bit was by far the most frustrating part of how this story was told. Like it was playing you instead of you playing it. Like this story had to unfold a certain way and you were not allowed to interfere.

The plot was really disjointed and it was hard to tell what was part of the main plot and what wasn't. That made it really difficult to write this playthrough especially having never played it before. I am sure it was not very coherent and I apologize.

Now that might have been fine but they needed to define why your character was not doing certain things. Again a scene where all the party members would discuss what is going on might help communicate what was intended.

Lastly Origins had this attempt at gritty realism but that was tossed completely out the window. The outfits are crazy, the weapons are silly looking, the melodrama was high, the angst and brooding were turned up. It was kind of great really but coming right from Origins there was a bit of 'WTF' at first at the tone shift in both graphics and storytelling.

If you enjoy Bioware characters and Dragon Age combat you will love it. But if you love their epic plots and big twists this one might not be for you. I thought Origins was a masterpiece. This one is just good.

Anybody still reading I hope you enjoyed it. I only see Viper commenting now but there are still views so that's nice

Final stats:



Warrior
Berserker
Reaver

Gear:
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/The_Hawke's_Key
Aka absurdly large handle greatsword.
Damage 46
+4 Str
+3% Crit
Ignores Armor
+5 Fire Damage
+5 Nature Damage

http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/The_Golden_Mask
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Ser_Maura's_Gauntlets
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Hauberk_of_Gelgenig_the_Faithful
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Boots_of_the_Fortress
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Master_Wyvern_Hunter's_Belt
Ornate Amulet (+58 attack, +4% Physical Damage)
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Ring_of_the_Emerald_Knights
http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Ichor

What I know about Dragon Age Inquistion: It tries to incorporate more open world elements and is more console friendly. That is basically it. It did not seem to generate the controversy DAII did so maybe that means it is a better game.

Having loaded it up I see the Divine has brought together the Templars and Mages for truce talks and then hilarity ensues.

Ok so my character in Dragon Age Inquisition will be: Lord Lothar Bernard Anthony Ferdinand Aurelian Tythas Trevelyan. Or simply Lord Lothar to his friends. Though His Lordship works fine. No need to be too formal. Duel wielding rogue because some of us prefer to fight like gentlemen. I shall aspire to be as pompous and aristocratic as possible. Uphold the Chantry and be courteous to women...and all that good stuff. Or bad stuff depending on your predilections.