Board 8 > Rock continues playing the Dragon Age series with Dragon Age 2 *spoilers*

(+) Yeah! (+)

So I finally got to start up DA2. My Grey Warden was a dual-wielding warrior, and I'm gonna switch it up a bit with a... sword and shield wielding Hawke. Yeah, yeah, I know, it's probably super boring to a lot of people. But I appreciate how much more visceral the combat of DA2. It might not make a huge difference, but battles looking and feeling faster instead of the plodding nature of DA:O's combat gives off a much better first impression. I also appreciate how BioWare decided, unlike DA:O's more slow prologue scenarios, you get a first impression of how each class will play with maxed out abilities. It goes suck to lose the unique backgrounds.

DA2 does make up for it with the early gut-punch, though. You have to lose one of your two siblings based on what class you chose and you meet up with a married couple where one of them gets tainted by the darkspawn and has to be mercy killed. Losing a unique background for your character is kind of a drag, but I really do appreciate how low you're put in the beginning of DA2. It makes sense that the game is largely about building your Hawke up to being a champion. You've lost so much in the first hour of the game and even Flemeth let's you know it's not going to get any easier.

Also, sexy Flemeth seems so weird. Isn't there like a middle ground between her DA:O appearance and what we got here? Also despite my initial turns at a good, righteous, Diplomatic Hawke, I did opt to repeatedly ask Flemeth to make be a dragon. Sadly, she did not. From what I remember, whatever option you choose (Diplomatic, Charming, or Aggressive) most of the time will then reflect in dialogue by your Hawke when you don't get the option to pick what they say. Which is kinda like ME3 which has Shepard talk on their own. I know ME1 and 2 you literally picked every single piece of Shep dialogue, but not ME3, and I know DA:O you obviously chose every line of unspoken dialogue. Also, I played as MaleHawke last time I played almost a decade ago, so now I'm giving FemHawke a try. I will say that I think I like the male voice actor more, but FemHawke could grow on me.

But anyway, just escaped Lothering and got to Kirkwall. I actually let Aveline decide what to do with her husband, which led to her gaining favor with me (which I believe is measured in Friend vs. Rival where maxing out either way gains a new ability). I suspect I won't be using her much due to redundancy with my Hawke.

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Sarcastic FemHawke is the best main character in any video game ever, and it's not even close.

Also yes, I will reiterate that a sword and board tank is boring. Maybe I just had a bad build but you're just tanking hits until your party members kill the enemies because you don't do all that much damage. Any DPS class is more fun.

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I think I played dual-wielding Rogue last time.

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Also "I'll never forget you, Carver." is such a weird thing to say. I hope you wouldn't forget him, he was your son!

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I forgot what a piece of shit Gamlen is.

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I actually understood quite a bit where Gamlen was coming from, although he was a bit of a dick.

Do you have the puppy DLC? I actually don't remember if it was a DLC or a special edition bonus.

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I don't know.

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It's apparently part of the Black Emporium DLC, so if you have that, visit it. Doggo is good.

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Since my last dog was named Barkspawn, I think I'll name this one Kirkwoof.

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So I've recruited Anders and Isabela so far. Having now played Awakening, I can see why people are so pissed about the portrayal of Anders in DA2. Not that I mind, personally, but he's definitely a radically different person that they may as well have put in a whole new character (same with Isabela, mind you, but she's barely in DA:O so it doesn't much matter).

I also think there was a missed opportunity, possibly even as DLC, about Hawke's first year in Kirkwall. I chose smuggler over mercenary even though it seems like it doesn't make any sort of difference, but it would have been nice to see what it was like for Hawke and Bethany trying to survive their first year in Kirkwall. But from what I understand, DA2 sold like shit so they opted for significantly less DLC than planned.

I added a mod that allowed me to put different armors on the characters. On one hand, I actually didn't mind that companions had unique looks considering how bad the armor options were in DA:O (i.e. like 4-5 different models that were painted different colors), but having characters look exactly the same for the entire run is kinda boring.

I do also appreciate how much more cinematic DA2 is, and there's less cutscenes that are just "two or more characters standing and talking." You could tell they were still working out those kinks until ME3, which was BioWare nailed it's presentation.

Also, Varric is pretty great.

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Yeah I can't imagine playing a character that wouldn't be cool with varric

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It definitely explains why he's the only crossover playable character in any of these games.

Also what I appreciate about DA games is the ability to play as your companions, so if I want to play mage or rogue I can switch to Bethany or Isabela. Kinda wish Mass Effect did that.

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Varric is definitely the best thing DA2 did

Also the only mod I ran in my playthrough was one that made Aveline's face not look like an alien doing its best attempt at being human

Varric best boi

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oh god i forgot about how adorable merrill is

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So I brought back Flemeth from getting murdered by my Grey Warden. Figures.

I wonder if I should romance Merrill this time. She's so gosh darn cute and I want to protect her from all the bad things.

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Just got Fenris so I believe that's it for the non-DLC companions.

I remember thinking Fenris was a terrible edge lord last time I played but I don't think he's done anything too bad save threaten to kill my sister.

So... you know...

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I like Fenris. He's a bit extreme but in a game with Anders and Merrill, who wouldn't be?

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Oh my gosh Merrill is just the cutest.

• Isabela: It's not always fun and games on the sea, though. There are storms and hostile pirates.
• Isabela: And it's trying being cooped up with men who haven't seen a woman in months.
• Merrill: You're a woman.
• Isabela: Exactly. And I don't usually let them touch me, so they get... frustrated.
• Isabela: I insist all of them get alone time. Helps with the crankiness.
• Merrill: But they're already lonely! Why would you insist that they be alone some more?
• Isabela: Merrill.
• Merrill: What? Did I miss something?
• Isabela: Go think about it. Maybe it'll come to you.

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DA2 actually has some pretty good characters on the whole

Its just a shame that everyone remembers the writing for the ending being a poorly thought out mess because the rest of it is really good.

And frankly the ending is still better than ME3's lol

Fenris was the only guy that hated me.

But also not enough because I kept doing things to earn his friendship and preventing the 100% rivalry.

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God I love this game way more than Origins.

I just wish there was more variety to the places you visit, because they nail everything else. Combat is fun, fast, and fluid. Characters are great and play off each other well (except when Isabela is trying to show my younger sister porn, that was kinda weird). The story is great, showing what it's like for a hero who's main goal isn't defeating a world threatening evil but rather simply survival. How your "party" isn't a group of followers that dropped everything to join you on your quest but rather they seem to have their own lives within the city.

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So I put in a mod that let's me freely change from warrior to rogue to mage, which is a lot of fun to experiment between a tanking sword and shield then suddenly a bow-wielding rogue.

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I can't agree with the combat at all I think it was one of the weakest parts of the game and an absolutely massive downgrade from Origins.

DA:O combat was a dull slog and super easy.

I actually Game Over if unprepared in DA2.

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I game overd way more often in DAO until I learned to micromanage the battles. In 2 I rarely felt the need to do that unless there was a very annoying unit (usually mage).

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Okay so there's no restrictions on a warrior using magic with this mod, so this is basically the best of both worlds.

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Gameplay in 2 is far more exciting and engaging. That's one thing they definitely got right imo.

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Doing the Legacy DLC, I'm not sure if I like the Darkspawn redesigns or not.

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Finished Legacy, I forgot how hard that fight with Corypheus was. Sided with Janeka this time, not that it really matters in the long run. It's kinda crazy they ended up making him the main antagonist of DA:I.

Now to make one big decision: do I take Bethany with me and have her join the Grey Wardens due to events, or do I leave her behind and she finally joins the Circle?

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I like both, but DA II really makes Grey Wardens sound like the most depressing bunch.

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I mean all the info give in DA:O basically makes it sound pretty horrible.

What gets me is the whole "we have to keep the Joining a secret" when it feels like any disillusioned Warden could blow the cover on the whole thing.

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Sure, but in Origins you're a Warden and it's not great but it's still kind of an adventure. In DA II they really make it sounds like the worst job in the world with zero benefits (except getting maybe saved from death once, but that maybe could also kill you so...)

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That's because it is the worst job in the world.

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TheRock1525 posted...

That's because it is the worst job in the world.

But don't sell it like that! The Grey Wardens need a new marketing team...

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Don't need a marketing team when you have the Right of Conscription.

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Welp, did the Deep Road Expedition and lost Bethany to the Circle (I wanted to punch Cullen in his stupid fucking face but the game wouldn't let me).

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Bethany just died when I took her to the Deep Roads, you can have her join the Wardens?

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pjbasis posted...

Bethany just died when I took her to the Deep Roads, you can have her join the Wardens?

Yes but only if Anders is there to do the Joining.

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So yeah, I think I hit 33 hours when I finished DAO and beat Awakening in 10 hours despite both supposedly being considerably longer.

I've just hit 24 hours and I just barely started act 2 of DA2. Granted I did do the Legacy DLC, but that added only 2 hours, maybe 3 tops.

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Y u so slow

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So Merrill tried to murder me in the Fade because a demon told her to.

I'm gonna cross her name off the list of potential romance partners. Technically Isabella and Hawke already boned but that's available no matter what.

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I didn't want to be a downer because you like(d) her but Merrill and DA2 Anders are pretty much my least favourite DA companions.

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I still very much like Merrill.

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So some random thoughts:

I generally like the elf redesign. I know people threw a fit about them being "ugly" but the whole point is that if the characters were just humans with pointy ears (like their DA:O design) then the whole "elves are second class citizens" plot point seems pretty lame. Giving them unique, distinct features was a good choice.

The Qunari, however, I don't like at all. The idea of any person joining the Qunari by simply following the Qun was pretty cool, but then making it so that it was also a different race seems largely pointless, and the design itself isn't that great, either. Sten was a great character because it was just a big dude that had a very strict belief system, but thanks to the retcon he is a special "hornless" character.

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I thought the Qunari were a race unto themselves from the beginning lol. Just Sten was the only one we saw and he was ugly because DA:P is just ugly lol.

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I mean you meet a bunch of Qunari enemies and if Sten is taken to the Fade, then he's seen hanging out with a bunch of his fellow Qunari. Which I believe just look like kinda normal humans.

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Yea pretty sure they were a different race the whole time.

They just got extra features now so that you know.

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If it was always their intention then they did it rather poorly.

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I mean, the Qunari were originally just the Qunari with their belief system. Once other people became interested in the Qun, I guess the philosophy dictated they would also become Qunari.

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