Dragon Age: Origins

Re: elves. Yeah, if I weren't playing one, I would have appreciated the fact that the noble and his henchmen treat elf women like whores... well, worse than whores, since they don't need to pay.

Because you know that if elves existed in Real Life, they'd probably be the #1 sex slave industry in Southeast Asia. Well, tranny elves at least.

Anyone tried playing around with the website for tracking game progress? Unfortunately you can't see stuff on it without an account, but other than that it looks interesting. Here's my current character.

Got this yesterday. Seems fun, but I haven't had the chance to really sit down and play it, for a proper play through.

Oh dear, doing the Circle quest.

You can actually call Alistair on the fact that his idea of perfect happiness seems to be living with his sister and raising kids together... So Yeah.

Haha, nice. I'm doing the Circle quest too right now, but Alistair hasn't been in my party for a while. Sten and Morrigan are mainstays, and I've removed Leliana for Wynne. I think I'll bring her back afterwards, though, and save dual-mage gameplay for my elf mage.

I've dropped Morrigan, she seems to have everything I do.

Yeah, I dropped Alistair for the same reason. Don't need two sword/shield tanks.

I was actually GOING to say that she hates everything I do.

edited 8th Nov '09 1:15:34 PM by Arilou

I find that Morrigan is easy to get relationship points with gifts and one-on-one conversation, but tends to lose a point here and there when you're doing nice things for people (I don't think she likes Everybody Lives resolutions much).

My main party has generally been Leliana, Alastair, and Morrigan, but I often sub in my dog (Enkidu) when we're about to walk into a world of hurt (those Redcliffe Chantry quests are murder). His stunning bark and Morrigan's Mind Blast make for excellent crowd control.

Don't like Zevran much; only spared him because my main is an elf, too. I do like the fact that they had the guts to make him a Depraved Bisexual, but they also made him too cocky for my taste.

For some reason I just get Sten's weird dialogue style; I've scored +10 or more with a couple conversations. I'm somewhat torn between pursuing his personal quest and heading to Denerim, where most of the rest of my quests are pointing.

Wynne is easy to talk to; I usually get +1 or +2 from chatting with her... When I first got her in the party, I talked to her four or five times in a row and got different conversations each time. It was cute when she expressed concern over my character's relationship with Leliana, the "I don't want her to get hurt" conversation I've had with my little sister's boyfriends.

Speaking of which, I'm doing the lesbian relationship with Leliana, and it's actually pretty good. Butch Warrior and Femme Bard? Yeah, that works.

Overall, the quest flow of this game is excellent; they really did overtime duty in giving us options on how to complete quests (the Redcliffe castle quest, for example has at least three endings, with at least three scripted solo adventures for one part). I really dug the Sloth Demon's side dungeon (permanent stat bonuses? Yes, please!). If I have any complaints at all, it's that my inventory space is sorely limited, and I haven't found a way of dumping stuff at camp yet. Backpacks are expensive, yo.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that Alastair is way more interesting than Bioware's previous attempts at a romantic male lead. The Deadpan Snarker component, I think, makes him better than the twits they had in Baldurs Gate or Mass Effect. I can't remember who they had in Jade Empire (that's probably bad).

edited 9th Nov '09 7:32:44 AM by Dracomicron

Sky was in Jade Empire, he was pretty damn bland.

I actually didn't mind Anomen per se. He was a decent character but making him the only choice was a very bad mistake. If he'd have been say, one of three he'd probably have been considered a much better character.

Oh yeah, Anomen. I hear he loses some of his stick-up-ass syndrome later in the relationship, but I could never give that much of a shit about him to pursue it.

It depends. His relationship branches, if he passes his test he becomes a LG, gets more mature and even gets a sense of humour. If he fails he becomes CN and very emo. If you start to mock him at that point he'll actually try to kill you, IIRC.

There is a god dang error in my game. For some reason, I can't find Alistar's sister in the Market Place.

Also, guys you want Morrgian around for the end. Just a head's up.

If you start to mock him at that point he'll actually try to kill you, IIRC.

Classy.

edited 9th Nov '09 8:52:05 AM by Dracomicron

You have been the crucial factor in shattering Anomen's dreams at that point and put him on the verge of losing all faith and hope in anyone and anything...

Alistair is quite entertaining, yes. My character would be interested in a relationship with him if she were interested in men.

I've taken to removing Morrigan from my party before I complete a quest I don't think she'll like (with the help of Save Scumming). Though absent party members won't ignore all your actions... got a nasty surprise with Alistair at one point.

I'm trying to build up as big a harem as possible for my female human warrior. She's scored Zevran and Leliana. Morrigan's hovering around 50 affection with no obvious flirting options yet; hoping for more once we do her character quest. The aforementioned event with Alistair is probably going to keep him out of the harem; he's at around 13 affection.

As for the non-romantic choices, Sten likes me too. "Sten, can you tell me about your homeland?" "No." Sten approves (+12). I don't remember his exact affection level, but it's at least 80, possibly in the 90s. I love his conversations with my dog Interceptor. Just got Wynne; haven't talked to her much.

So it turns out there are no dragons in Dragon Age. If there were any, they would be nice and friendly and not enjoy picking you up in their mouth, chomping on you, then flinging your corpse into the air.

edited 9th Nov '09 9:17:14 AM by Comonad

Well. There are dragons, sort of. so it turns out that archdemons are dragons who are corrupted Old Gods.

Also I distinctly remember getting pinned and gnawed on by the male of the species in the Circle Tower.

You have been the crucial factor in shattering Anomen's dreams at that point and put him on the verge of losing all faith and hope in anyone and anything...

Yeah, at that point it's pretty much "I gave up everything I wanted, all my dreams, for you and you mock me for it!?" Classy? No I suspect, but you have to pick some pretty darn evil-sounding dialogue options to get that kind of response.

So I get to mock Anomen AND kill him?

Awesome! I get to have my cake and kill it too!

Yep, although it takes a very special kind of hatred to go through most of the romance just in order to goad him on :p

Good grief. Anomen is my favorite NPC Bioware has ever produced, as he's far and away the most human. Yes, the guy has some major flaws, but people in real life tend to have big flaws. And Anomen is genuinely doing his best to be a beacon of righteousness and everything he sees as good, despite those flaws.

Bioware and Obsidian: that's how you do a real person in a game.

Wow, really? YMMV indeed.

I could barely keep Anomen in my party.

I usually keep him around for min-maxing reasons if nothing else. He's a very good fighter/cleric.

Yeah, I suppose, but Viconia is so much more awesome a character (despite being a dark elf). I seem to recall that her chatter with Jan Jansen is hilarious (though everybody's chatter with Jan is funny, I suppose).

Anyway, back to Dragon Age... I haven't played since noon on Sunday (cleaning because girl is coming over... then girl coming over)... I'm starting to get the shakes. You know it's an addictive game when a small part of you is wistful that you were on a date instead of playing.

I'm trying to build up as big a harem as possible for my female human warrior. She's scored Zevran and Leliana. Morrigan's hovering around 50 affection with no obvious flirting options yet; hoping for more once we do her character quest. The aforementioned event with Alistair is probably going to keep him out of the harem; he's at around 13 affection.

Sadly Morrigan can't be romanced by female characters.

So it turns out there are no dragons in Dragon Age. If there were any, they would be nice and friendly and not enjoy picking you up in their mouth, chomping on you, then flinging your corpse into the air.

There are actually a few dragons in Dragon Age but most are optional and easily missed:

the High Dragon at the Temple Ruin when you ring the gong, Flemeth turns into one if you do Morrigan's personal quest, and of course the Archdemon. There's also a normal Dragon that you can fight in Orzammar's throne room if you solve a puzzle BEFORE choosing a king who you get Ageless, an awesome two-handed sword, from. Then there are the Drakes and Dragonlings which are fought as grunts.