If only I could have spent time on this thread yesterday INSTEAD OF FLYING ON A CRAPPY PLANE. *grumblemutter* I hate flying. I lost a pocket knife in security, too, that my mom gave me on a trip because I forgot it was in the art case I stuffed into the bottom of my backpack. T__T
Uhm wow. Lots of words yesterday. I'll put in my 2 cents. Or... my own wall of change...?
For me, I had a hard time with my Warden just staring up at whoever she was talking to with the same blank expression. It's impossible to GIVE her an expression based on the things s/he says because s/he says them in a split second and you immediately get feedback. That was actually a little jarring for me sometimes, especially when I made a decision on what to say too quickly, and then I get their response, and then I'm left thinking, "Wait a sec, what did I say?? I didn't mean it the way they took it!" And then I'd review the conversations and be like "huh."
In DA:O there are also times when you also lack some influence. No matter what you do in your Origin story, things always get fxked to hell right after you leave. BUT!! I won't say much on that because I haven't finished the PT where the Warden's all like, "Ok, let's let the arl's wife sacrifice herself to Jowan's blood magic." And Alistair says "OMFG WTF DID YOU DO!!!" in camp later. I haven't done the Sacred Ashes quest to see the arl's reaction. (urgh)
Hawke only ever has 3 conversation options, but you can still shape her/his personality with a combination thereof. Correm!Hawke is a snarky bugger, but it's his shield from the world in some ways. It was tough growing up having to move around so much and be paranoid of discovery of the family he's devoted to, and if he didn't keep a good sense of humor about life in general, it would just bring him down. Sometimes he says the nice thing, sometimes he says the mean/direct thing (he yelled at Aveline about his mother, for example, and other times he's like "asdlfjlkgsd WTF YOU HAVE TO DIE", rather than joking around until the enemy attacks first). In Act 3, he gets to where he says the snarky thing less. Maybe it's his mother dying, maybe it's because he's become resigned to being put in the spotlight in the city and he doesn't find it funny anymore. Maybe even it's from living with Anders for 3 years! As evidenced by Anders's Kittenmarsh conversation with Varric, he still has some sense of humor left, but the codex tells us that, while Hawke makes him happy, he's still either mopey or manic. I think Correm has had a hard time keeping up with the mood swings, though he genuinely loves Anders. He even picks the line, "Nothing is more important than love!" when speaking to Anders after the Justice quest. Anders has such a kind, compassionate heart tied to the remnants of that sense of humor, he's broken through Correm's exterior and there are just moments when Correm acknowledges the reality of the world around him and puts aside his irreverence. And after the war at the Gallows, his ability to keep up the flippant facade all the time crumbles. He has to struggle with it, whereas he didn't before. His heart is completely broken.
I was playing DA:O obsessively when I first got it, but that was partly because I was working 60 hours a week, 900 miles from home, and didn't have anything better to do after I got home and didn't feel like going anywhere. However, I was also on the edge of my proverbial seat thinking, OMG WHAT IS GOING TO HAPPEN!!! And sure, you have an affect on what happens, but a lot of it you only really understand how those changes affect the world AFTER the fact. I had a hard time, actually, following those, and don't quite remember all of it. (Fortunately for me I have a save game right before battling the archdemon, so I can finish that off and read them again if I want.)
Personally, I am in love with characters. I used to roleplay (the write-back-and-forth kind) with someone who I'm no longer friends with, and we had these characters we'd developed over years, sometimes making new characters and throwing them against each other. The characters would make changes in the world, but primarily what we would do is we would throw situations at them and watch how they reacted. The characters mattered just a little more than the world around them, though of course that world grew and developed a lot over the massive amounts of time we put into it. The way I write, I make a basic character concept and no matter how little I start out with, that character is already complete somewhere in the ether of my mind. I get to know my characters after writing them in different situations. I don't even always know their complete backstory. It's just the way I write. I feel like the character is alive in my head, and that life comes out through me, but I'm also just an observer, because I cannot make the character go against his or her nature.
[[EDIT: With Hawke, I feel like I'm discovering who he is through the way he can react to the world around him. I am interested in those reactions, and the reactions of his/her companions. A conversation wheel pops up and the Hawke in my head "tells" me which is right.]]
And, for some reason, I just didn't feel as much with my Warden as I do with Hawke. I dealt more with the NPCs emotions in DA:O than with my Warden's. I don't know, maybe it's the voice, maybe it's getting to see their expressions. Maybe it's even the conversation wheel. I see the wheel as being what Hawke is thinking privately in her/his head, especially after, when you're speaking with Leandra, there's the option early on to pick, "Not this again." or something like that, and if you pick it, the thing that Hawke actually says is much more diplomatic than that seems.
Speaking of expressions, I LOVE the interaction with Idunna the Exotic Wonder. XD That halting speech and the drunk look on Hawke's face when she's manipulating her/him is just epic.
Herp derp derp! I'm gonna try to format
A Distant Ray of Light for my new Kindle to read while I spend time on the treadmill this morning. Slash? Yes please~ I'll be working on my own later.
Modifié par beckaliz, 21 juin 2011 - 02:26 .
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Haven't used them on a Hawke yet, though. But there's always the black emporium! (Not that I have a secret girlcrush on Morrigan or anything.. okay I do)
:whistle:
