Valmy's ADHD Dragon Age playthrough

[Valmy]

VERY TEMPORARY EARTHQUAKE BUSINESS PART THE THIRD

So on into the depths were no dwarf has gone...in awhile. Except those crazy lyrium guys.

So they delved deep into the very very dark caves. It is hilarious how this is the only uncomfortably dark place I have seen in all of Dragon Age so far. Varric even grumbles that the rest of the Deep Roads is usually lit. Oh and they found this thing:



Now if you recall Cad'Halash was the ancient Thaig from Dragon Age Origins that was the Thaig that was Cadash Thaig before it was Cadah Thaig. Where Cad'Halash had helped the elves and then got destroyed by um...hmmmm...the capitol before Orzammar...Kal'Sharok. I have some thoughts, some beefs if you will, with Kal'Sharok in this game but more on that later.

Anyway this was done to appease the Imperium. So basically this book is super old, like well before Corypheus back during the very beginning of the Imperium. Crazy. It involves the dwarves fighting weird creatures named the Scaled Ones who did crazy rituals and then when the dwarves returned to investigate they were ALL GONE. I feel like this is some sort of literary reference because it does not appear to have anything to do with anything in the game.

There are really archaic dwarf inscriptions written in Lyrium on the walls. The Shy-Brytol are 'revered defenders' dedicated to protecting the titans who...well...



Yeah they are pretty messed up. I wonder if they are like Lyrium undead dwarves or something since they appear to have been here for thousands of years. Man how many living things that are thousands of years old are there in this world? What does Lothar think on the matter?



'You may wonder how they eat and breathe and other science facts. You should tell yourself it's just a game I should really just relax.'

Yeah probably right on there Inquisitor. Actually Lothar was talking to Valta after she asked what the Shy-Brytol eat to survive. Which is either once again a self referential joke from Bioware making fun of itself or confirmation the things are some sort of undead lyrium monster.

Monsters or not they blow a bridge, making Lothar and company take a crazy alternative route just like their Red Templar counterparts did to them up on the surface. They push their way through the dark dark caves to find...



'Now that is a shit ton of Lyrium.'

Well at least we see what fuels the Shy-Brytol now. Now back in the Temple of Sacred Ashes all the crazy shit was supposed to have happened because there was Lyrium present so...will crazy shit happen here? Um...no not really. But it is pretty.

Besides the lyrium veins making the whole place glow like some kind of nightclub or something there is an ocean...an underground ocean. How is that...



Damn it has waves and everything!



And of course the Inquisition built a bridge over it because that is what they do.

Anyway this area was filled with more Shy-Brytol and the whole combat basically consisted of finding the Bolters and killing them before they annihilated the party. The rest of them were just run of the mill max level mobs with zillions of hit points. There was one cool fight where you had to get drops to open the barricade and there was infinite Shy-Brytol until you got the drops and opened it. So it was kind of fun with Lothar scrambling to open the damn thing before the group got overwhelmed. But besides that: meh I say.

Behind this barricade they set up another camp before the next cavern and...wow.



'We have found a magical portal into the Avatar movie!'

What the...how are there clouds and freaking green plants undergound?! WTF IS THIS?!

[viper37]

they've been hinted at in other areas, in a rather silly way, but if you want fan theories:
http://forum.bioware.com/topic/560144-the-lizard-people-conspiracy-descent-spoilers/

[Valmy]

Oh you mean the lizard people from the conspiracy Avvar from The Jaws of Hakkon?

I thought that was just a gag on the David Icke Lizard people conspiracy theory. So likewise I thought this was a goof on something similar like Lovecraft or something.

Ancestors of the Qunari? Seems unlikely but who knows?

[viper37]

Maybe they will expand the thought in DA4, I don't really know.

[Valmy]

Maybe they will expand the thought in DA4, I don't really know.

I wonder if they will announce the sequel this year? Let's see...

Origins came out in November 2009.
Awakenings came out in March 2010
Dragon Age 2 came out in Match 2011

And holy shit does that release schedule still blow my mind. How is it possible Dragon Age 2 was developed so quickly? And how did they not know Anders was going to be the star NPC for DAII in Awakenings despite being released when one would expect DAII to be in an alpha state? Weird.

Then Dragon Age Inquisition came out in November 2014.

So I would expect Dragon Age 4 to come out at the end of 2017. Maybe we get some kind of announcement or trailer or something at one of the gaming conferences this year or early next year? We'll see.

I plan on AAR'ing it in this thread but doing it so slowly that hopefully you all can finish it and won't be spoiled. But if I do it on release I might have to wait for the DLC which would be horrible 

[viper37]

Maybe they will expand the thought in DA4, I don't really know.

I wonder if they will announce the sequel this year? Let's see...

Origins came out in November 2009.
Awakenings came out in March 2010
Dragon Age 2 came out in Match 2011

And holy shit does that release schedule still blow my mind. How is it possible Dragon Age 2 was developed so quickly? And how did they not know Anders was going to be the star NPC for DAII in Awakenings despite being released when one would expect DAII to be in an alpha state? Weird.

Different teams, bad communication, rushed release.  That was way too quick, and it showed, since they re-used the same interior space everywhere, among other things.

I think Bioware was independant for DA-1 and was bought by EA just after/just before releasing the game.  So, that changes a lot.

So I would expect Dragon Age 4 to come out at the end of 2017. Maybe we get some kind of announcement or trailer or something at one of the gaming conferences this year or early next year? We'll see.

They plan on releasing Mass Effect 4 early 2017.  I know it's different teams, but it's still the same corporate entity, they have shared resources and more importantly, the same market they aim at, RPG/action gamers.  I wouldn't expect the game until mid to late 2018.

I plan on AAR'ing it in this thread but doing it so slowly that hopefully you all can finish it and won't be spoiled. But if I do it on release I might have to wait for the DLC which would be horrible 

Don't worry, I won't read the thread until I've played

[Valmy]

The Witch Hunt DLC was entirely re-used areas

At least it was for the same locations.

[Valmy]

VERY TEMPORARY EARTHQUAKE BUSINESS PART THE LAST

Ok so here they are in this weird place and they spot what looks to be the...um...place they should go.



'Damn that kind of looks like a Lyrium heart...oh Maker that means...'

Yes the adventure is coming from inside the Titan!



Yes so it seems Lyrium is the blood of Titans. And maybe the ocean is its saliva or some shit. And its saliva has waves in it. And the clouds are its...



Right...sorry.

And of course like so many antibodies the Shy-Brytol are here to fight off the Inquisition infection. Suddenly Lothar has an inkling of what a bad idea it was for him to come all the way down here under the circumstances.



'A few hundred unnecessary side quests later and this only now occurs to you?'

Despite looking so amazing there is nothing really interesting here you just fight through more Shy-Brytol...well except for the bridge of death right before the heart thingy. You climb down a ladder and then have to cross a bridge defended by a large legion of Shy-Brytol. A real 'Battle of Lodi' type situation.



'Soldiers of France when we return to our country the grateful citizens will point to you and say 'He was at the battle in front of the weird lyrium heart thing''

They reach the heart and it knocks Valta out and then an enormous one-eyed monster emerges.



It is a giant one-eyed monster with tentacles. And sometime a giant one eyed monster with tentacles is just a giant one-eyed monster with tentacles. It is the guardian of the Titan I guess. Not sure what it is guarding. I have to say it reminds me of the rock wraiths. Huh. I wonder if the Red Lyrium is the blood of a corrupted Titan? And the rock wraiths are its guardians?

So I reached this fight right before bed and did it once and did alright. It was at about 50% before some kind of earthquake attack took us out. So the whole day at work the next day I was thinking about the fight and planning how I would win it. I got home all excited and my plan was going pretty well...and then the boss just stopped attacking for some reason. This allowed Varric and Vivienne to just shoot it until it died. So that was lame.



'Very slowly shooting down the boss...'

Once that was CLIMACTIC battle was concluded Valta wakes up and has been adopted by the Titan somehow and is going to stay here and learn its dark secrets or...something. Probably destined to become a horrible Lyrium monster and terrorize the world and is going to be the surprise boss of Dragon Age 4.

Because well...



Exactly. Oh and here is why the Titan woke up and started shaking Thedas around:



'See? Tied into the main game. Nailed it!'

So Thedas is saved and Lothar and company head back to the main Inquisition camp.



Ok so if Lothar had not come back the entire world would be doomed to sure destruction and everybody barely seems concerned

And the Titan closed itself back up



Ok so it was nice to return to the Deep Roads and hang with the dwarves Bioware introduced us to way back in Dragon Age Origins. It was weird they made something so cool and then barely used it after that...oh but we got lots of Dalish shit! Oh and I was really glad to see the whole collection of re-imagined Darkspawn. Darkspawn 2.0, if you will.

However I have to be honest here: the fights were boring and the final boss was lame. It raised questions but never really answered anything. Well except we know the Titans exist and they are part of the earth. But everything else we are still in the dark about. It had a B-Movie Schlock ending but the last time they had a Deep Roads B-Movie Schlock DLC was Golems of Amgarrak but that was crazy fun with two of my favorite fights in the entire series. This one was a bit too tedious from a gameplay stand point. Was glad to get away from wondering around the countryside and back into a freaking dungeon at least.

Thing Lothar did in The Descent:



So yeah Lothar did the DLC and saved the day. Hurrah!

[viper37]

Weird about the final fight.  It never stopped for me, it kept attacking, until the very end.  I too had to try twice before doing it.  Fucking hard fight.

I agree with everything else you said

[Valmy]

What do you think? They do not look at similar as I thought they were lining them up together.

[Valmy]

Weird about the final fight.  It never stopped for me, it kept attacking, until the very end.  I too had to try twice before doing it.  Fucking hard fight.

I agree with everything else you said

My plan was working, I would have beaten it anyway. Still that was lame.

Yeah the Inquisition DLC was not nearly as good as the DAII DLC was. Well I still have one DLC to go.

[viper37]

What do you think? They do not look at similar as I thought they were lining them up together.

I don't know.  I'm not sure EA/Bioware knows either

Maybe it's a guardian too, they don't have to be that similar, when something/someone becomes blighted, their shape&appearance are twisted.  Maybe that's simply because the same artists designed it too.

[Valmy]

ON TO OUR CLIMACTIC...ER....CLIMAX PART THE FIRST

Finally back at Skyhold Lothar decides it is time to go talk to Morrigan after a delay of only a few months. But she is nowhere to be seen...did she get bored and leave? Understandable but not quite:



'Or she might have run into the Crossroads?'

Ok get this: Kieran dashed into the Crossroads and Morrigan went in after him. Oh no Lorcan's Old God spawn is in peril! Lothar dashes in after them and...



Pffft those wimpy Magisters of Tevinter only invaded the Fade physically once. Lothar now makes it a regular practice. Anyway onwards to find Lorcan's fam.



Well he is part Old God.

Morrigan is panicking and is begging Lothar to help her. Awwwwww.



Well of course. If Lothar has time to do those DLC he can do this. So they run through the Fade...not as exciting as it sounds it is pretty much just a big weird looking hallway...and they come to:



'Oh grandma what big horns you have.

All the better to steal your Old God Soul with my dear!'

Yeah! Flemeth is back! Oh I was so worried this would be a game lacking in Flemeth. Anyway what follows is AWESOME.

Morrigan moves to save Kieran from Flemeth and Flemeth makes Lothar stop her:



Because she IS Mythal! Holy Shit I totally sort of called it in a lukewarm way! The fact she was summoned at Mythal's altar was probably a give away I guess. So anyway Lothar is now Flemeth's slave.

Oh but she is actually possessed by the spirit of Mythal so she is also Flemeth and the legends are all true because...of course they are. She is like a super abomination.



'Including this outfit and crazy hair!'

So anyway she now controls Lothar and when they found the well it told her where Kieran and Morrigan were hiding. Hey I bet Morrigan is happy she is not enslaved by her mother.

But Mythal has a plan for Flemeth. She is going to use her to achieve vengeance against the...um...events that were not supposed to happen.



'This vague thing that happened WILL BE AVENGED!!'

I presume she is referring to Mythal's murder but the whole world was betrayed? I presume this is Fen'harel and his exiling the Elven Gods. Perhaps in the future we will defeat him and rescue those gods? I don't know Solas seemed to hint the Elf Gods were kind of shit. But then he seems to think most non-Solas elves are kind of shit.

Then she gives Morrigan a choice: either give her Kieran or Flemeth will torment Morrigan forever.



'Think carefully here...Lothar will tell on you to Lorcan...'

But she, of course, keeps her beloved Kieran. So hey Lothar is Flemeth's slave and Flemeth will continue to screw with Morrigan. Awesome.

She then offers Lothar some help with Corypheus: go to her altar and summon her guardian dragon thing...



'So your help is I get to fight a dragon? Gosh...'

Note that she saved Urien and Lorcan's lives. Everything in this series only happened because of Flemeth. So if she offers help, no matter how crap is may be on the surface, one should take it. This dragon should help with Corypheus' dragon, it's defeat will render him vulnerable for a bit. And a bit is hopefully all they need.

With that Morrigan, Lothar, and Kieran return to Skyhold. Amell Jr feels a bit empty losing his Old God soul.



'Kind of sweet...and also kind of creepy.'

Poor lad. I wonder how this soul will help Flemeth?



'Care to elaborate a bit on what that destiny was supposed to be?'

Ah well that was one of the coolest scenes in this game. On to the altar!

Now I hoped this would be the altar on Sundermount from Dragon Age II but instead it is just an altar in a random place in Orlais.  Lothar stopped off to see Solas before going but suprisingly he did not have anything to say. Ah well. He took him to the altar anyway to see what he had to say. He just translated an incription but nothing big.



'Bring forth the dragon!'

So the big green guy shows up and dragon battle number #12 is on! I think it is twelve anyway hard to keep track.



'Pfft level 25? Not even max level.'

Yeah so they own that dragon pretty fast and after beating it up a bit, it agrees to help out and flies off.



I totally forgot to get my potions refilled after the end of Descent^TM Oh well, not necessary.

On returning to Skyhold Lothar makes the rounds and checks with the troops. Thom Rainier has found new purpose and stands ready:



'Glad to have you with us pal.'

Total bromance moment there. Nobody else had anything new to say except for Josephine who must know something I don't...



'What's in place? The Temple of Sacred Ashes? What are you talking about?'

Damn. Lothar's advisors need to keep him up to date. Probably a bug there. Anyway time for the GRAND FINALE



'Wait levels 16-19? You put a max level on the final battle that is lower than the level cap?'

Huh. Oh well. Tune in next time to save the world!

[viper37]

ON TO OUR CLIMACTIC...ER....CLIMAX PART THE FIRST
Pffft those wimpy Magisters of Tevinter only invaded the Fade physically once. Lothar now makes it a regular practice. Anyway onwards to find Lorcan's fam.

The problem wasn't the Fade in itself, more the black city, I think, which was golden before they went there.

Now I hoped this would be the altar on Sundermount from Dragon Age II but instead it is just an altar in a random place in Orlais.  Lothar stopped off to see Solas before going but suprisingly he did not have anything to say. Ah well. He took him to the altar anyway to see what he had to say. He just translated an incription but nothing big.

Given my previous choice, I never fought the dragon

'Wait levels 16-19? You put a max level on the final battle that is lower than the level cap?'

Huh. Oh well. Tune in next time to save the world!

Always the same problem with Bioware.  The end mission will not scale to take the DLCs into account.

[Valmy]

The funny part is that for Baldur's Gate they DID scale Sarevok up to take the 'Tales of the Sword Coast' into account.