35 réponses à ce sujet

[Priisus]

Rivalry for sure, I never romance her though. The rival path is quite harsh but I believe it's for her own good in the end. I'm all for her trying to learn the lost legacy of her people, it's a noble cause but I don't agree with her methods. Blood magic may not be evil (to her) but endangering her own life and especially her clan's (as evident later in the game) is a big no no for me. If you play the Dalish elf origin in DA;O, we know what that particular Eluvian did. Even Duncan said it had to be destroyed at all cost. She may have cleansed it but we don't know for sure if that's the case. Even if it's fixed, will we know if it may still contain residue of the corruption?

And the demon... if you read her short story, the demon approached her and Marethari in the Fade and they went to check it out. We don't know what happened between that story and when we first meet her in DA2 but she made a deal with it too quickly... just seemed scary... Her part in "Night Terrors" show us how easy it is for her to fall under a demon's word on the pretext of saving the Dalish.

I think she describes herself (and Anders) well - "breaking the things you love most isn't restricted to mages". She love her clan but she is evidently breaking it... and if you go on a friendship path, you're supporting this notion. She is quite the sweet girl but too naive and stubborn for her own good.

[dragonflight288]

I personally go for the friendship path. My reasons are simple.

1. I see Merrill doing everything she can to be responsible and is well aware of the risks of blood magic.

2. She has pure and honest motivations. Helping her people rebuild what was lost. What the Dalish are doing is self-destructive (although they feel self-righteous about it) in "Let's preserve what knowledge we have and pass it onto our children. True, we have no homeland or any place to preserve our findings, and yes there are dangerous artifacts that our ancestors used that we are wise enough not to touch. But we can rebuild it!" *snort* Yeah right. Sometimes you have to take risks, and Merrill was doing that. Imagine if she succeeded in rebuilding a working Eluvian without getting possessed by a demon. Think of the possibilities. Morrigan and maybe the Warden go THROUGH one to...another place. Keeper's and their firsts have a responsibility to relearn what was lost. Even the dangerous things. They are taught all the lore so they can be careful.

3. That girl deserves a friend. Her people pretty much abandon her and don't even listen to her side of the story after what happens to Merethari. They have made up their own conclusions and won't even listen to what happened. The Dalish have the duty of killing Keepers who become abominations. And since I never told Merethari we were going up to talk to the demon and keep Merrill from being possessed, I'm assuming that Merethari actually got possessed sometime before Act 3. Or it could be after if you do talk to her. Regardless of their feelings to Merrill, the clan had the duty of killing Merethari. But no. They put all the blame on Merrill. She deserves a friend.

So yeah, those are my reasons for going the friendship path. I understand and respect the rivalry path. And no, I don't condone deals with demons since I know they always go south. When you say yes to a demon, you are effectively ruining someone's day.

Modifié par dragonflight288, 25 avril 2011 - 02:36 .

[Lucian820]

Merril doesn't need saving, she's just trying to recreate an ancient magic.
The Keeper was stupid for taking in the demon, should have just trusted Merril but no she has to take an active path in screwing Merril up, thats why I enjoy killing off the Dalish.

[dragonflight288]

I can't blame the Dalish for Merethari's actions. But I do blame them for not questioning their keeper. By Act 3, several of them are thinking of leaving even without the lost halla, but Merethari wants to stay because of Merrill. Merrill left the Dalish clan. Her actions were no longer their concern. Even if the Dalish had lost the halla, can't they at least travel on foot? I don't think the halla would be coming back anytime soon if they hadn't returned after 7 years. And in Origins, the Dalish say the halla lead them to where they should go. A bond of friendship.

I'm guessing those halla felt their friendship with the dalish wasn't worth it.

[primero holodon]

I always felt the freindship one was better, but thats partly because I've always been of the mindset that you need to be allowed to make your own mistakes to learn from them. usually when I did Merrill's quests my Hawke would voice his uneaseyness with it, but would come along to help her and make sure that things didn't go too badly. As far as my Hawke was concerned, It wasn't until Merrill talks of sumoning the demon again that he thought she shouldn't go along with it, and even then he went with her, though mostly because he didn't want her goinng alone. 

[thegrimfandango]

I really enjoyed rivalling her, the angry dialogue and the tone of the mansion encounter made it for me. The only thing I didn't like was that the aftermath is just the same, and it felt wonky to me to have a rivalmance be like 'yay, please move in immediately after sex' or 'it's too soon' equating to '****** off' and ending the romance there & then. That made a bit more sense on the friendship path which was rather sweet. This may be a function of more time supposedly having passed in the game than it feels like - who moves in together after sleeping together once, even after a few years?
One thing I did like about the friendship mansion scene was that if you're playing a snarky TrollHawke, then Merril actually responds to those lines, instead of them seeming to fly over her naive little head as the rest seem to.

While we're on the subject, did anyone manage to rivalmance her AND give her the Arulin'holm? I fancy RPing a Hawke who gives it to her then regrets the decision when they see the obsession it's leading to.

[andraip]

thegrimfandango wrote...

While we're on the subject, did anyone manage to rivalmance her AND give her the Arulin'holm? I fancy RPing a Hawke who gives it to her then regrets the decision when they see the obsession it's leading to.

actually I did

[thegrimfandango]

andraip wrote...

thegrimfandango wrote...

While we're on the subject, did anyone manage to rivalmance her AND give her the Arulin'holm? I fancy RPing a Hawke who gives it to her then regrets the decision when they see the obsession it's leading to.

actually I did

Oh yeah? apart from destroying the Act 2 tomes, mind giving me some specifics on how to do this without taking too much of a friendship hit on the Arulin'holm?

Modifié par thegrimfandango, 25 avril 2011 - 08:57 .

[andraip]

thegrimfandango wrote...

andraip wrote...

thegrimfandango wrote...

While we're on the subject, did anyone manage to rivalmance her AND give her the Arulin'holm? I fancy RPing a Hawke who gives it to her then regrets the decision when they see the obsession it's leading to.

actually I did

Oh yeah? apart from destroying the Act 2 tomes, mind giving me some specifics on how to do this without taking too much of a friendship hit on the Arulin'holm?

If you give her the Arulin'holm you only gain +15 friendship, as you can see there http://dragonage.wik...ki/Mirror_Image.

It may be difficult if you're pro-mage and don't want do be rude to her, but to achieve the 100% mark you can use her Act 3 personal quest, http://dragonage.wik...wiki/A_New_Path, there you can achieve +35 rivalry without beeing rude, if you night terrors quest, when Merril betrays you, you can gain + 20 rivalry http://dragonage.wik...8Pride_Demon.29.
That plus the +50  rivalry from the tomes (destroying all the 5 tomes and gaining the +2 attribute from the fell grimoire), should give you plenty of rivalry (+90 rivalry adding all up), and then you also have the gifts that give rivalry if she's on the rivalry path.

Just take care not to gain too much friendship and it should be easy, even without the beeing rude.

Modifié par andraip, 25 avril 2011 - 11:30 .

[thegrimfandango]

andraip wrote...

*snip*

Ah, yeah, thanks - I'd totally forgotten about the Night Terrors quest, you can get rivalry for agreeing to kill Feynriel if he loses control, for telling the sloth demon to eff off, for bringing Anders and for the betrayal. That should do the trick.

[Esk7140]

Go Rivalry, it's a lot better. In the end, she understands your views and thanks you, and she admits she's been a fool.