Okay, I finished DA:I
Nov. 5th, 2018 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lizbeeTook a bit longer than expected, because I completely forgot about the Inquisition DLC. And then that took a couple of hours longer than it should have because the fights were really hard and I kept dying.
Anyway.
I feel like I haven't quite had the proper Dragon Age experience yet, because first I had to reinstall Windows just to install Inquisition, so lost my DA and DA2 games, and then it ran so badly on my Mac Mini that I semi-impulse purchased an XBox from Aldi.
(It was on sale, and I got a free copy of Assassin's Creed: Origins.)
(Semi-impulse in the sense that I did a lot of research, and worked out that the Playstation has better exclusive games, but very little backwards compatibility, whereas the XBox One has few exclusives, and none which interest me, but it's backwards compatible with XBox 360 games, which covers everything I want. So I had the money in savings, and I was looking around for a good deal -- I just didn't expect to find it at Aldi while I was doing my groceries.)
I played as a human female mage for each game -- not that you get a choice with Hawke's species, but, you know.
My Warden romanced Alistair, albeit with some false starts where she kept mistaking insults for flirtation, THEY'RE SO REALISTIC, THESE GAMES, and wasn't too sad when she failed to talk him into marrying Anora. She survived, and is, I assume, off doing Warden-Commander things and wishing she had recruited literally anyone but Oghren into the Wardens.
My Hawke romanced Isabella, because none of the other options were appealing and I was mad that I couldn't romance Varrick or Aveline. And, needless to say, she chose mages over Templars, but also cut 'splodey mage loose, because we cannot be having with that, and I was very fond of Kirkwall's chantry as a setting.
(I knew in advance that a mage Warden would be a cousin of Hawke, so I gave them both dark hair and eyes and prominent noses. Love a good nose. And cheekbones. Just set those cheekbone sliders to max.)
My Inquisitor romanced Blackwall, but ditched him after, you know. That whole identity theft thing. I feel like we could get back together by Trespasser, but the game didn't actually give me that option. Kinda feel like maybe I would have been better off with Cullen, but I remembered him from such hits as Being Creepy With My Warden and Existing in Kirkwall, and it took a while to appreciate how much he had grown.
(I also tried very hard to romance Cassandra, who had to have a very uncomfortable "I'm not into women, sorry" conversation. I love Cassandra because she hates admitting she has emotions nearly as much as me.)
My Inquisitor also chose mages over Templars, and I'm genuinely not sure I can ever play a Hawke or Inquisitor who doesn't make that choice. I'm not a monster, you know! Even though some of the mages are!
All my characters were fairly consistent in terms of being mild mannered, curious, eager to learn, and a bit bewildered at finding themselves in the ridiculous situations they do. Hawke got the most character development, which is inherent in DA2's structure -- she went from earnest to comfortable and sarcastic, and finally angry after her mother's murder. Veering back to humorous and sarcastic by the end, but with a sadder edge.
I will say, I went into the trilogy feeling not all that excited about having to create a new character for each game -- I got very attached to my Shepards -- but it really does increase replayability. I really need a break from Thedas, but I'm very keen to start a new playthrough. Ideally as a rogue, this time -- whenever I switched to control other characters, I was most comfortable as the rogues. And it would be nice to be able to pick my own locks.
Of course, the next question is, dwarf or elf? And city or Dalish, and commoner or noble? I can't even think about my next Inquisitor yet -- plus, I get the impression the game doesn't change as much with your Inquisitor's background?
Here is a list of things I have vague feelings about and will probably seek out meta or something:
Elf Gwen Cooper is gonna be pissed when she discovers that Elf Ianto is the sketchy god whose name she uses as a curse. These games sure do have a lot of Torchwood alumni, don't they?
My biggest failure: even though they spent a lot of time together, and did flirt occasionally, I couldn't get Dorian and Iron Bull together. I really feel like I've missed out on something special.
(I've also never managed to get Garrus and Tali together ... but that's because I'm forever slipping and falling in love with Garrus.)
Anyway.
I feel like I haven't quite had the proper Dragon Age experience yet, because first I had to reinstall Windows just to install Inquisition, so lost my DA and DA2 games, and then it ran so badly on my Mac Mini that I semi-impulse purchased an XBox from Aldi.
(It was on sale, and I got a free copy of Assassin's Creed: Origins.)
(Semi-impulse in the sense that I did a lot of research, and worked out that the Playstation has better exclusive games, but very little backwards compatibility, whereas the XBox One has few exclusives, and none which interest me, but it's backwards compatible with XBox 360 games, which covers everything I want. So I had the money in savings, and I was looking around for a good deal -- I just didn't expect to find it at Aldi while I was doing my groceries.)
I played as a human female mage for each game -- not that you get a choice with Hawke's species, but, you know.
My Warden romanced Alistair, albeit with some false starts where she kept mistaking insults for flirtation, THEY'RE SO REALISTIC, THESE GAMES, and wasn't too sad when she failed to talk him into marrying Anora. She survived, and is, I assume, off doing Warden-Commander things and wishing she had recruited literally anyone but Oghren into the Wardens.
My Hawke romanced Isabella, because none of the other options were appealing and I was mad that I couldn't romance Varrick or Aveline. And, needless to say, she chose mages over Templars, but also cut 'splodey mage loose, because we cannot be having with that, and I was very fond of Kirkwall's chantry as a setting.
(I knew in advance that a mage Warden would be a cousin of Hawke, so I gave them both dark hair and eyes and prominent noses. Love a good nose. And cheekbones. Just set those cheekbone sliders to max.)
My Inquisitor romanced Blackwall, but ditched him after, you know. That whole identity theft thing. I feel like we could get back together by Trespasser, but the game didn't actually give me that option. Kinda feel like maybe I would have been better off with Cullen, but I remembered him from such hits as Being Creepy With My Warden and Existing in Kirkwall, and it took a while to appreciate how much he had grown.
(I also tried very hard to romance Cassandra, who had to have a very uncomfortable "I'm not into women, sorry" conversation. I love Cassandra because she hates admitting she has emotions nearly as much as me.)
My Inquisitor also chose mages over Templars, and I'm genuinely not sure I can ever play a Hawke or Inquisitor who doesn't make that choice. I'm not a monster, you know! Even though some of the mages are!
All my characters were fairly consistent in terms of being mild mannered, curious, eager to learn, and a bit bewildered at finding themselves in the ridiculous situations they do. Hawke got the most character development, which is inherent in DA2's structure -- she went from earnest to comfortable and sarcastic, and finally angry after her mother's murder. Veering back to humorous and sarcastic by the end, but with a sadder edge.
I will say, I went into the trilogy feeling not all that excited about having to create a new character for each game -- I got very attached to my Shepards -- but it really does increase replayability. I really need a break from Thedas, but I'm very keen to start a new playthrough. Ideally as a rogue, this time -- whenever I switched to control other characters, I was most comfortable as the rogues. And it would be nice to be able to pick my own locks.
Of course, the next question is, dwarf or elf? And city or Dalish, and commoner or noble? I can't even think about my next Inquisitor yet -- plus, I get the impression the game doesn't change as much with your Inquisitor's background?
Here is a list of things I have vague feelings about and will probably seek out meta or something:
- The Tranquil don't sit right with me -- I think they're meant to be a metaphor for autistic people? Especially in Inquisition, where they have more personality. But they're essentially lobotomised, so it's that narrative of autistic people "lacking" something.
- The Qunari are really interesting, and I like them a lot and want to see more of them. Buuuuuuuut I got the impression that they were stand-ins for Muslims in some respects, which: yikes.
- LIKEWISE, my friend Rivqa likes to shout a lot about how the Elves are Jews, and that is a really strong parallel, which makes it all the more unfortunate that their religion ends up being ... well, less real than the human one. Again: yikes.
- See also Morrigan and her hobby of elven appropriation. I love her, but she is THE WORST.
- (Okay, not the worst, there are multiple contenders.)
- (What is the name of Chantry 'splodey man? He made quite an impression, as you can see.)
- (And yet I remember that his cat was named Ser Pounce.)
- (Anyway, you compare those yikesome parallels to the comparatively nuanced Fantasy Catholicism of the Chantry.)
Elf Gwen Cooper is gonna be pissed when she discovers that Elf Ianto is the sketchy god whose name she uses as a curse. These games sure do have a lot of Torchwood alumni, don't they?
My biggest failure: even though they spent a lot of time together, and did flirt occasionally, I couldn't get Dorian and Iron Bull together. I really feel like I've missed out on something special.
(I've also never managed to get Garrus and Tali together ... but that's because I'm forever slipping and falling in love with Garrus.)
