Dragon Age

Well, the question is whether Softened!Leliana doesn't run into the same soft moderate issues as Cassandra. Hardened!Leliana gets her way because she has an answer for her opposition, but I wonder if the response to her drastic reforms wouldn't be fairly extreme regardless.

It's been awhile but doesn't it ultimately make no difference who was made Divine as it all just ends in a conflict between the Circle and the College after Trespasser anyway?

edited 31st Oct '16 1:05:52 PM by LordVatek

Yes.

Blood magic was mentioned, which leads me to ask: with revelations from The Descent (Lyrium is titan blood), is it really that different from using lyrium for spells? It seems to draw attention from demons more, but is that due to the nature of blood magic, or because a blood mage, in a society that condemns them, is more likely to attract the attention of a demon? As Solas put it, blood magic is more likely to be used by the power hungry or desperate.

Lyrium can do a lot of what blood magic can do; use it to enter the fade, and I think can also bind spirits and demons.

edited 1st Nov '16 5:11:17 AM by SilentColossus

Personally I still don't find Blood Magic an issue in and of itself. I don't think it inherently makes you Count von Genocide just for using it. So yeah, with the revelation that lyrium is titan blood, the two things are essentially the same in my book.

Also, do we need to spoiler that still? It's been over a year since Descent's release.

edited 1st Nov '16 7:55:23 AM by joergenjetsam

Blood magic is explicitly stated to grant a stronger boost in power as opposed to conventionally using lyrium/titan blood, so yes, it is different, lyrium being Titan blood notwithstanding.

I think what Solas said is the crux of it; demons/spirits are attracted to powerful emotions, so someone using blood magic in desperation and/or a mad grab for power is likely to attract a demon, with both the magic and emotions being a pretty powerful siren's call to demons. It could possibly explain why Jowan hasn't gotten himself possessed.

edited 1st Nov '16 10:05:27 AM by ITNW1989

Eh. I generally go back to spoilering major reveals when someone comes onto the thread saying they're doing an active first-time playthrough.

People have been spoiler tagging a lot of things over the last few days. I'm not sure why. Is there someone new?

Edit: Misread, sorry.

edited 1st Nov '16 9:01:07 AM by Unsung

Tam. You can see his posts on the previous page.

/Waves - yeah I'm the new boy. And thanks for sticking to the spoiler policy, folks. It's most appreciated.

No problem. Sorry for missing it a few times.

Back to Lyrium: when it comes to the power it grants as opposed to blood magic, we also have to keep in mind the Lyrium used by Templars and mages is not pure; it's refined so non-dwarves can interact with it and not die. Raw Lyrium is dangerous even to dwarves.

edited 1st Nov '16 9:28:03 AM by SilentColossus

My main beefs with blood magic:

As a resource, it's pretty horrible. If you're just throwing out cantrips with your own blood, that's one thing, but the benefits it provides over other forms of magic at those levels are unclear if they exist at all. The main purpose of blood magic is tapping into wells of power that can only be achieved by having an external source of blood.

When you need more resources to power a massive spell, piling on a few more crystals of lyrium is automatically less horrific than adding a couple more slaves to mixture. Origins's Redcliff plot perfectly demonstrated this. Your options are to either murder a child, perform a blood magic ritual, or not be a shitty person and do things the correct way that achieves the same results as the blood magic but without the tragic costs of using blood magic.

But that's really a slippery slope argument. More to do with how you use it than that you use it. If you're not using blood magic for any of the reasons that exist to use blood magic over regular magic, sure, no issue there.

Except that blood magic also makes you more vulnerable to demonic possession, so that's a beef. This may or may not be related to the fact that the primary method of learning blood magic is the making of a demonic pact. Either way, it's reason enough to be extremely wary of even those blood mages who are just performing party tricks for lulz.

All things considered, I don't really see any reason to perform blood magic if you're not a psychopath other than, like, sticking it to the man and rebelling against the system by doing that thing they don't want you doing.

edited 1st Nov '16 10:26:01 AM by TobiasDrake

Apparently (I have no source) Bioware says they regret not adding consequences for going all the way to the Circle (a travel that would take quite a bit) as opposed to sacrificing Isolde. Which was my motivation; I was worried something worse would happen if we went to the tower. As it is, the demon just does nothing if you disappear for a week or two. Furthermore, I believe it isn't even an option if you went to Redcliff before the mages.

edited 1st Nov '16 10:48:04 AM by SilentColossus

That bugged me too. I chose the blood magic ritual the first time because I thought Connor's demon would come back for a second round if left to its own devices for weeks.

Instead, it's just the golden option. You can do one of two horrible but necessary things or you can not be shitty and do the good thing that works perfectly, requires no extra effort on anyone's part, and has no negative consequences of any kind! Easily one of Bioware's shittiest "choice" moments.

EDIT: It is an option if you went to Redcliff first. It's just hidden behind a conversation option. You're presented your two choices and there's an option to go, "Third choice, anyone?" whereupon the Circle plan is proposed.

It just means that in addition to the transit time, Connor's demon also failed to resurge while you were f*cking around the Circle questline.

edited 1st Nov '16 10:49:59 AM by TobiasDrake

Tobias: Jowan using his own blood knocked down the First Enchanter, the PC, Greagoir? and a few others iirc. This is a guy that's implied to be a pretty weak mage.

Also, lyrium is expensive. Not everyone can afford it. It's also not widely distributed thanks to the trade arrangements between the dwarves and the Circle.

Today I just finished my second Inquisition playthrough (this time with a female elf rogue, instead of my canon male human mage Inquisitor), and I noticed...

during the last battle, Corypheus goes in complete "stupid hammy villain" mode and overloads the elven orb, which destroys it. And saves the world. I mean, just after the end you see Solas all sad because the orb has been lost and you think it's because of important elven heritage, blah blah... but Solas wanted the orb because he would have used it immediately after getting enough power by absorbing Flemeth's soul and the Old God soul. So, Thedas was saved by Corypheus holding the Villain Ball until the very end, and being even more of a failure than Solas expected. I don't know, I just find it funny.

"Corypheus: wants to destroy the world, prevents the guy who could have actually destroyed it from destroying it."

edited 1st Nov '16 11:31:46 AM by Cozzer

I think Flemeth pulled a past one on Solas. She is seen putting something in an Eluvian before he arrives, which makes me think she is placing part of Mythal and/or Urthemiel to be used later. As seen in DAII, she needs "just a piece" to restore herself. I'm convinced Morrigan will become Mythal's next host.

It's possible, but considering what we see Solas do in Trespasser, he did get a large amount of power from Flemeth (and/or the Old God). I think he would definitely be able to unlock the orb on his own, if Corypheus hadn't destroyed it.

Technically, Corypheus wants to become God, not necessarily to destroy the world. He's having a crisis of faith and believes that the world needs a deity overlooking it in order to stop being so shitty. He's also delusional and thinks he's the guy for the job, and his efforts to get there may wind up destroying the world in the process.

So it's actually kinda fitting that his final moments were spent inadvertently thwarting an actual deity's malicious plans for the world. Corypheus died the way he lived: raging against the heavens that betrayed him.

Corypheus actually works well as a villain if you view him as a pathetic loser, as opposed to a Palpatine or Sauron style villain, IMO. I liked him.

I liked the little bits we get on him. There's a lot of depth of character and potential for complexity there. Problem is, he's just not enough of a presence to really get the chance to strut his depth. He has the presence of a backdrop villain that's meant to provide a foundation for the plot so that all the characters within can move about and have their own conflicts inspired by him. He's an Archdemon trying to be a Loghain, and that hinders Inquisition.

edited 1st Nov '16 11:49:19 AM by TobiasDrake

Having scenes after various main quests, like after finding Skyhold, Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, and Here Lies the Abyss, where he reacts to his plans going wrong could have provided more insight to his personality. He can take it out on Samson or Calpernia, showing more of them as well. And after the Temple of Mythal, when he has all but lost.

Essentially, his own war table.

edited 1st Nov '16 12:09:36 PM by SilentColossus

I'd have loved a scene where he hits Skyhold and is repelled by the Inquisition's forces. The game spends so much time building up this amazing fortress and developing your army, and it means f*ck all because none of it's ever used.

Inquisition was all but begging for a mechanic like Mass Effect 3 where your choices and actions influence how many people are recruited to your side, all building up to the massive battle with Corypheus where the outcome is partially dependent on how well you assembled your troops and fortified your base.

Not enough people? You barely manage to take down Corypheus himself but the Venatori survive to menace future games and the Inquisition and Skyhold are totally destroyed. All the forces? You unambiguously demolish the Venatori and the Inquisition becomes a prominent force in the world.

edited 1st Nov '16 12:11:19 PM by TobiasDrake

I would've loved that.