Dragon Age

I still haven't completed a Templars playthrough so I don't know anything about Calpernia. :/ For me, the Hushed Whispers quest is the better one though. As someone above me said, the Champions of the Just quest is great in concept but just ok in execution.

I'm pretty sure I still have a save file set sometime before I chose the mage - I could always do the Templars sometime in the future.

I kinda prefer it when rpgs dont let you play after final mission <_< Is that weird?

For DA Inquisition it would have been better, considering how little the post-endgame content is. It could have kept an automatic pre-final mission save file to let you do other things.

I am replaying Origins and....damn I forget how powerful Jowan is right out the gate. With one spell he lays out the First Enchanter, Knight Commander, and entire squad of Templars and *then* escapes without so much as a hitch. Lily's not exactly a slouch either...she's a pretty kick ass rouge given she is a Chantry Sister.

I really wish he and Lily had come back in 2 or Inquisition: I feel like there is a lot left undone with their stories.

Looks like we now know where Gaider went after he left.

Nice. I'm not familiar with Beamdog, but it looks like they have got some good talent.

They're the ones behind the enhanced releases of the Baldur's Gate games(and the new expansion IIRC) among other things.

Thus begins my fourth DA 2 run, second Mage Hawke run.

I guess the default dark hair makes the most sense given how Carver and Bethany look but I think it looks so plain. I chose red hair this time.

i was assured getting Frienship with Carver is a relatively simple task but I never really stopped to think about what that meant. Basically, your Mage Hawke has to be the world's biggest hypocrite. Don't get me wrong, hypocrisy is hardly some cardinal sin. Everyone has a little bit of hypocrisy in them now and then because times and circumstances changes so you might very well have to eat your words down the line. But, for example, if I tell Feynriel to go to the Circle to get that +10 Friendship from Carver? That's just shitty.

Why not just go for a rivalry?

Anyway, I have a question about the Trespasser DLC: how many opportunities do you get to change your party? And when do those opportunities occur?

About 3-4 times.Each time you leave an eluvian.

That's just something you'll have to shoulder. Maxing Carver's friendship isn't supposed to be a walk in the park if you're roleplaying.

I only made one mage Hawke character, but I made two save files. One with the brother alive and the other with him dead. Finished the one where Hawke has no living siblings. Merrill was the one kidnapped from high town. Rival romanced Merrill and killed her clan. So probably should not abandon that Hawke in the face come inquisition.

Recently finished act two of the other story path I created. I don't remember how things are relationship wise, but I think I have the neutral between the two in regards to rival and friendship. Though I do believe I had Hawke commit some actions that seem a bit hypocritical considering he is a mage.

' I Rivaled Carver on my first run. I wanted to do things differently.

Well I learned that you don't actually have to max his Friend score to get different dialogue and everything. There are other choices I can take to win his Friendship that don't involve my Hawke being a dickhead.

He was always so surly my first run, I want things to be better this time.

I think he stays surly even if you do get his friendship score positive because the game wasn't really expecting it.

Or its just too much a part of his character.

Though, on the serious side, its probably that they didn't really think people would try to or that they really had too much in mind for a Friendship!Carver.

Similar to a Rival Bethany. Like, you could theoretically force the values into the Rival zone, but there's not a whole ton of content there.

So it occurs to me that, in all my runs of DA 2, I've never explored its mechanics much. I just used all the DLC equipment, spent all my points on stuff to make the party hit harder and that's about it.

Well I want to be more creative this time around. Also hopefully make things easier, too. Last run, first run I played on Normal, I had to switch down to Casual for the Rock Wraith. Maybe a better strategy than "keep hitting it a lot" can save me. More focus on buff'/debuffs.

Which brings me to you, people who actually know the game mechanics.

1. Right now I'm focusing my Hawke n Entropy, Hex of Torment, Horror, etc.. They seem okay right now but how good are these spells in the long run? Will harder enemies just shrug all of my offense off? I was gonna go Blood Mage once I get to Level 7.

2. What are the materials for? Like, Silverite and etc.? I've been discovering deposits of stuff for the last three runs and never did anything with any of them.

3. Similarly, what are the "junk" items for like Frayed Rope, Empty Bottles, etc.?

edited 13th Feb '16 8:33:39 PM by Nikkolas

1. You'll want to make Hawke an Elemental Force/Blood Mage. Massive damage from your Fire/Ice/Blood Wound spells and crowd control with your gravity spells.

2. Materials are used to order potions, tonics, and runes by spending money on them in your estate or near the specific vendors in High Town, Low Town, and Dark Town.

3. Junk is for selling. That's it.

edited 14th Feb '16 6:23:52 AM by VeryMelon

Thank you for the info... I'll see if I can make better use of Crafting and stuff. I've never been good with that in any DA game.

So is it just me or do one or two enemies bug out semi-regularly when the mobs spawn? Like you'll kill a band of whatever and everything goes back to normal or maybe not and then you go a few feet and one poor schlub will finally arrive on the scene after all his comrades are dead so it's just him against all of us. Maybe they get stuck on a wall or something.

Then you're in luck: there isn't really any true crafting in the game, unlike Origins and Inquisition. You just find the resource spots and recipes (or buy them in the Emporium if you've missed the missable ones) and then pay to have the potions, poisons, bombs or runes delivered to Hawke.

edited 14th Feb '16 9:12:16 AM by ITNW1989

The only advice I have for the Rock Wraith is that when it does its big explosion move, have all your people hiding behind the columns to avoid it.

But that's fairly obvious.

Yes it was fairly obvious, even I figured it out on my own.

I don't remember why we kept dying. Or rather, it wasn't we, it was Varric. I never used him until that mission forces you to. Maybe this time around I can focus on him and help him survive better.

I have a ton of trouble with that segment.

Not with moving people behind pillars but with KEEPING them there. Even with everyone toggled to not move without instructions, they STILL keep trying to walk into the blast zone.

I've never had issues keeping my party behind the pillars.

Honestly from what I remember I got bored of trying to organize everyone and just let half the party die.

I'm a pretty great leader.