338 réponses à ce sujet

[Tekbear]

Keswyn wrote...


**SPOILERS**


........- Julien/Nicholas, this could have been used to much better effect, instead of just being a way to kill Nicholas off without actually killing him.  That just didn't make any sense; wouldn't Julien have wanted Nicholas to continue the mission and not let his death be in vain?  How could Nicholas have done that to Julien's memory?  Their relationship was definitely a good inclusion though, I just wish it would have been explored a little more too.
- The black dagger that Duncan steals.  My first thought when Duncan found it was "Please, please Gaider don't let this dagger be a deus ex machina"...and guess what?  It's an all-purpose taint ward; protects against darkspawn magic, keeps Duncan from prematurely having his Calling, like the other GW with the brooches, and conveniently only gets used at the end to pull the heroes out of an otherwise hopeless fight.  That's pretty much the definition of a deus ex machina, which is only really needed when an otherwise talented author runs out of time or ideas to make a really spectacular ending.

Good book though, overall!  I'd recommend it to anyone who wants to know more about the Dragon Age world.

i actually thought it was a very good way of killing off nicolas. it really showed the strong nature of their relationship and... you know nicolas was clearly to be killed off at some point and it would have really sucked to see him get killed in just another "buy time" or "sacrificed myself to save someone else" scene.
it was stated a couple of times later that you don't know whether they live on in the fade until the maker calls them. that was left pretty much open and i like to think that way. to me they are sortof the winners of both books because they are the only ones who have somewhat of a "happy" ending.


you're right with the dagger though. for one thing it made clear that the first enchanter is a traitor which led to the brooches being a trap and the dagger itself being the deus ex machina. i still think it was pretty well written in though. i like how david gaider did an excellent job at turning a simple dungeon crawl into a really heartcrunching and deep novel.

[Kyrathustra]

The first book was much better. In this book, the only characters that I found interesting were King Maric, Duncan, and Fiona. Everyone else was just blah...didn't really care if they died or not.

[Xathras1337]

Hey guys!

I wasn't really planning to read the books before playing the game, but as the hype and fanboy syndroms grabbed me I ordered the first one while walking past a book store. I read it and loved it!

I have ordered 'The Calling' aswell, but sadly the delivery is so long (and I ordered last week) that I will get the game before the book. In other words, I doubt I'll be able to put down the game to read it

Anyway! Since this book is the most recent history before the game, and is focused on the blight, Duncan himself, more Maric and Loghain stuff etc. In other words, it has more direct story that relates to the game itself. And my question is; Should I read all the spoilers here and get the keys out of the book, and have more knowledge pre to the game, or should I save the book for later? Im not sure how big role the book plays to the game.

Also, does the book explain alot of lore, keys, how this and that came to be, or is it more of a character driven book with only a few of the previously mentioned cases?

Thanks for any answers! and /killmyself for not ordering sooner

Modifié par Xathras1337, 04 novembre 2009 - 01:45 .

[Tekbear]

Xathras1337 wrote...

Hey guys!

I wasn't really planning to read the books before playing the game, but as the hype and fanboy syndroms grabbed me I ordered the first one while walking past a book store. I read it and loved it!

I have ordered 'The Calling' aswell, but sadly the delivery is so long (and I ordered last week) that I will get the game before the book. In other words, I doubt I'll be able to put down the game to read it

Anyway! Since this book is the most recent history before the game, and is focused on the blight, Duncan himself, more Maric and Loghain stuff etc. In other words, it has more direct story that relates to the game itself. And my question is; Should I read all the spoilers here and get the keys out of the book, and have more knowledge pre to the game, or should I save the book for later? Im not sure how big role the book plays to the game.

Also, does the book explain alot of lore, keys, how this and that came to be, or is it more of a character driven book with only a few of the previously mentioned cases?

Thanks for any answers! and /killmyself for not ordering sooner

hmmm - there is no real spoilers in there. you get a bit more insight in how the world is structured but there is no big secrets told  EXCEPT if you count informtion on the calling and the joining of the grey wardens in and have no clue what they are about - then i suppose you should not read the calling

[Keswyn]

"i actually thought it was a very good way of killing off nicolas. it really showed the strong nature of their relationship and... you know nicolas was clearly to be killed off at some point and it would have really sucked to see him get killed in just another "buy time" or "sacrificed myself to save someone else" scene.
it was stated a couple of times later that you don't know whether they live on in the fade until the maker calls them. that was left pretty much open and i like to think that way. to me they are sortof the winners of both books because they are the only ones who have somewhat of a "happy" ending.


you're right with the dagger though. for one thing it made clear that the first enchanter is a traitor which led to the brooches being a trap and the dagger itself being the deus ex machina. i still think it was pretty well written in though. i like how david gaider did an excellent job at turning a simple dungeon crawl into a really heartcrunching and deep novel."


To be honest, I'm not sure that Nicholas needed to be killed off; Utha wasn't, and I expected her to be the first to go. I mean, in terms of character, she was only slightly more engaging than Hafter; except for her constant doses of compassion. Given that Nicholas' body was dead, and not just asleep, I think the assumption should logically be that he joined Julien permanently in the Fade. BUT, since the illusion created by the demon surely ended when that demon got defeated, would Nicholas and Julien really have stayed together? I'd like to think so, but my logic circuits won't let me!

As for Nicholas dying another buy time kind of way, it might have been a good way of tying him and Julien together; if he had replaced Kell for example. Kell could have made it to the Remille fight, for example, or maybe Nicholas or Kell could have died actually fighting the demon; that would have made that fight a little more dramatic.

I agree that Gaider made the story much more than a dungeon crawl, but the dagger was too obvious, IMO, to have been well-written in.

I do hope there's another book, maybe a trilogy (or something), so the endings don't have to get so bloodily rushed.

Modifié par Keswyn, 04 novembre 2009 - 03:16 .

[Xathras1337]

Tekbear wrote...

Xathras1337 wrote...
My First post.

hmmm - there is no real spoilers in there. you get a bit more insight in how the world is structured but there is no big secrets told  EXCEPT if you count informtion on the calling and the joining of the grey wardens in and have no clue what they are about - then i suppose you should not read the calling

First of all, thanks for your answer!
And with the 'except' part you mean the event The Joining where Grey Wardens drink darkspawn blood etc? And the Calling when they feel their end comming and go to fight darkspawn untill the end? (I don't know the details, but I suspect they are slowly turning into Darkspawns?)

What I imagined would be in the book is stuff like why is Brogan going to the darkspawn, does a blight begin?(obviously ye), how does it begin, what happens etc... Another (quite major) thing is Maric and whatever he is up.. I unintendedly read that he has a lost son etc, which makes sense since Cailan dies in the game.. With Fiona appartantly, and it would be cool to know the details behind this.
The more I think about it the more irritating it is x) Would love to read more about the Darkspawn emissaries etc,  the ones that can actully speak the king's tongue etc.. 

Hopefully, and most likely, all the practical and important stuff will be in the codex in the game 

[Loghain the Teyrn]

Just finished The Calling after I spent the last week reading The Stolen Throne. Good read, both of them, though I think The Calling is the better of the two.



My favourite character?......The Architect by far is the most fascinating charachter in Dragon Age; I really sympathize with what he's (it's?) trying to achieve.



We should realize that darkspawn don't think like us, they don't have near the same principals as us; so when you think of it that way, what the Architect is planning does absolutely make sense.

[Tekbear]

Xathras1337 wrote...


First of all, thanks for your answer!
And with the 'except' part you mean the event The Joining where Grey Wardens drink darkspawn blood etc? And the Calling when they feel their end comming and go to fight darkspawn untill the end? (I don't know the details, but I suspect they are slowly turning into Darkspawns?)

What I imagined would be in the book is stuff like why is Brogan going to the darkspawn, does a blight begin?(obviously ye), how does it begin, what happens etc... Another (quite major) thing is Maric and whatever he is up.. I unintendedly read that he has a lost son etc, which makes sense since Cailan dies in the game.. With Fiona appartantly, and it would be cool to know the details behind this.
The more I think about it the more irritating it is x) Would love to read more about the Darkspawn emissaries etc,  the ones that can actully speak the king's tongue etc.. 

Hopefully, and most likely, all the practical and important stuff will be in the codex in the game 

you know a whole lot already so the book won't be giving you anything all that new

[flem1]

So, well, the thing at the end is something we find out almost right away. Heh.

[Bklynlad]

Finished reading The Calling the day the game came out. Great book and story. I recommend it to anyone into this genre......whether you play the game or not.

[LeoNarses]

Anyone notice who glitchy the battles are in Brecilian Forest when you are trying to retreave the Bezerker Armour Set? It took several attempts but I got the complete set (XBOX 360).



Also, I think the DLC Side quests are too short but I'll take those acheivement points.

[LenaMarie]

Does anyone know if the baby at the end of the book is -you-know-who- in the game?

[flem1]

Take Alistair to Redcliffe.

[Tekbear]

*MAJOR SPOILER!!!*





does anyone else think the human noble storyline of the game has a lot of similarities with "the stolen throne"? i mean: replace the usurper king with loghain and maric with alistair and yourself with loghain ( oh now it get's confusing... )



not complaining about it - actually i kindof like that history repeats itself approach.



as far as loghain goes: i haven't had a chance to find out what made him betray the king. maybe i have missed something and loghain pulling out of battle was actually a good thing for some reason but as far as i have gotten i just wanna get his ass for doing that!

[buccaniers]

Where i cand find the books in spanish to buy on internet?

[MordantWastrel]

I don't see how Alister is the child in question, since DAO clearly establishes that Alister is descended from a human peasant (along with his half-sister) - which means there is ANOTHER bastard running around who doesn't appear in DAO at all (probably because the child would be around 15 years old or so in DAO, yes?)

[Sarkus]

After reading the first book earlier this year, I wasn't sure if I'd pick this later one up or not.  It wasn't that I disliked the first book, it was that I didn't feel like it provided as much backstory and history to the world that I was hoping.  Nevertheles, just a few days before the game was released I decided to get The Calling.  I finished it yesterday.

In a nutshell, I was disappointed.  Not by the writing quality, which shows improvement, but rather by the plot.  My biggest gripe is one that is unfortunately rather common among fantasy writers, and from that angle I can't really blame Mr. Gaider.  Here's the thing: if you are going to write an epic story about characters, and what happened in the first book counts as an epic, then you need to think twice before you reuse the same characters in major roles.  Why?  Because it's very hard for the reader to take anything that happens in a later book all that seriously.  After all, those characters survived so much already.  And yet, here we have King Maric as a central character in the story of The Calling, and with a somewhat hackneyed premise to boot.  Years later and Maric and Loghain are the only people who can lead the Grey Wardens into the Deep Roads?  A map wouldn't have been sufficient?  What a shock to see that Maric survives the events of The Calling. 

The sad thing is that Maric didn't really need to be such a major character.  This really is Duncan's book, and the story would have worked without Maric's presence for most of it.  In fact, there are large sections where he really is just along for the ride.  Outside of the ending and its (apparent) significance to the game, which I have not yet finished, his importance to what happened wasn't that great.

As an aside, playing through the Fade sequence at the Mages tower in the game seemed like it was too much like what transpired in the story. 

So I can't really recommend the book but to die-hard Dragon Age fans.  The amount of backstory and history is again rather minimal, most of it takes place in one location, and there are some odd plotting choices.  I certainly hope Mr. Gaider has another book coming, but next time I pray he has the confidence in his writing to understand that he can write a story in Thedas that we want to read and that the hook of previous characters isn't really necessary.

[Spell Singer]

Anyone know what the time difference between the end of The Calling and the game start is?



I've not see a date in the game and I'm curious how old the king is supposed to be...it looks to be about 18 or so years from one to the other. Duncan seems to be in his late 30's and well a certain character could be 18-20 by then making the King 27-29 at the game start. But does anyone know for certain?

[MordantWastrel]

I think they mention somewhere in the game when the Gray Wardens were allowed back in Ferelden, which happens immediately after The Calling. IIRC, it's twenty years.

[Gavelayde]

Then why was my toon so renouned in Redciff

[Gavelayde]

Oops...Redcliff...

[Amagoi]

For the reason the MC is so recognized (at least in teh beginning parts of the game), I think it because eventually rumor starts getting around and Grey Warden's have an air to them that sets them apart. After the joining I would think you can just tell a Grey Warden apart from an average person, and there was a description of the MC around at the time.

Anyway, I really liked both books. I'm very interested in hearing about Maric's other son, which we know what happened to poor Cailan. I hope that's the subject of an add-on or expansion later. I felt a little disappointed with the setup for the end of The Calling thinking the end would be a big part of DAO only to find Alistair's heritage.

Rather surprising how much Maric got around since... he's Maric.

[Gavelayde]

U r more into the game than I am Amagoi. I'm more into the the gameplay than the plot. So I can't argue with u...

[MordantWastrel]

It almost seems sloppy, really - that Gaider (or someone) intended the child from The Calling to be Allister at one point, and then reversed course later, because if there were another of Maric's line floating around somewhere, that would've had a huge impact on the whole story of DAO. The alternative is that the whole thing was planned from the beginning for reasons that aren't entirely clear, which I certainly wouldn't put past Gaider or Bioware.

[IcedDeath]

Overall I'd say it was a good read and an interesting book, perhaps not so much unless you planned to play Dragon Age but still above average.
Personally I would have liked the game to follow the books more and give some answer to the plot lines.
Like what happened to The Architect and Utha? Is it because of them the blight started, or did they fail to reach and kill the dragon before it got corrupted?
Is Fiona really Alistairs mother or does Maric have two bastard sons? And if she is he's mother does she still love?
And most importantly what happened to Maric? I for one never found any information as of how and where he should have died to let his son Cailin take over the throne.

Modifié par IcedDeath, 14 novembre 2009 - 08:06 .