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[telephasic]

Having played all the origins, I really feel that you have one, or maybe two, sensible options for each one. 

Human Noble:  Goody-two-shoes all the way.  I don't remember any options in the starting dialogue to be a dick to your family and servants.  In addition, the betrayal of your family by Howe sets you up in some ways to be the anti-Howe, to at least percieve yourself as everything he is not.  A human noble would always choose Harrowmont over Behlen IMHO, as he would see too many paralells between the treachery against his own family and Behlen's.  Howe's alliance with Loghain makes it highly unlikely a noble human would spare Loghain.  I know for self-interested reasons a male might pick Anora, but nothing about your character suggests you're the kind of calculating social climber who would do that.  

Mage:  To my mind, mage RPing splits based upon your decision with Jowen.  If you help Jowen, it shows you're "good," along with a naive fool to think you could break into the basement and kill a lot of things without anyone noticing.  You become a cliched stupid good white knighter.  Turning him in to the First Enchanter shows you're more concerned about your own position in the Circle than helping your best friend - ironically, this sets you up much better to be "evil."  However, any mage which chooses this path will have a lot of resentment towards the Templars (as you're exlied on their request over the First Enchanter's wishes), so you have no reason to be resentful towards the Circle, and there's no way in hell you'd side with them over the Templars.  On the other hand, you're set up quite well to become a blood mage with this build. 

City Elf:  I know a lot of people choose this as their "evil" PC, but honestly, I just don't see it, at least from my runthrough as a male (I know female plays differently, I'll try it soon).  While you should have a lot of resentment towards humans, particularly humans in power, and choose the dickish responses, your whole introductory story as a male is about heroism - risking your life for your kith and kin.  Of course, you could take the buyout Vaughn offers you (probably the most evil act in the game). I could see how the female plays differently, as you're just out for survival and retribution. 

Dalish Elf: This sets you up to be a doll-eyed vulcan with no personality to speak of.   I can't say enough bad things about it and the Dalish in general, who seem to have no personalities (besides Zathrian of course).  

Noble Dwarf:  The main themes of the origin are you were loved by the people, and you were betrayed by Behlen.  You can be a total dick to commoners if you like, which helps in setting up a darker character, but the origin builds you up as a "hero."  Regardless of how you play the character, you're the only origin with a really compelling reason to preserve the Anvil beyond getting some golem cannon fodder.  You also ultimately want to pick Harrowmont, just to make sure your brother cannot ever profit off his betrayal. 

Casteless Dwarf:  I began this origin thinking I'd play it as an "evil" runthrough, but upon meeting my family, I found going that far didn't quite make sense.  I actually agonized in conversation with the man I was sent to kill whether or not I would do it, although I finally reluctantly attacked him (mainly because my PC was worried about retribution if his boss ever found out he didn't do the deed).  You're also the only character who's really moving on up in the world becoming a Grey Warden - besides your sister, you aren't really leaving anything behind of note, so you're probably the most stoked out of all the origins for your new position.  When I get around to playing this PC through, I think I'll go the "practical" route.  Willing to do good deeds - provided there's a monetary reward, and you don't get too put out by doing them.  Also willing to do bad things, but not for the sake of being evil, just because they're the best of all possible choices.  Clearly you choose Behlen in Orzammar.  You probably turn down the Anvil though, as your realize your own folk will be the most likely to be made into golems. 

There's a few game decisions I just have a hard time seeing anyone make.  Persuading the werewolves to kill all the Dalish, for example, only makes sense if you metagame and know you'll get a werewolf army.  Since the PC doesn't have a treaty from the werewolves, they have no way of knowing that, and no origin sets you up to hate the elves enough.  Siding with the cultists also doesn't really make sense to me with any origin story unless you metagame because you want to unlock Reaver. 

Anyway, thoughts?  

Modifié par telephasic, 02 décembre 2009 - 05:20 .

[Fieryspirit]

Hm, I agree to an extent...



My Human Noble chose to sacrifice himself, because I went down the "My family's dead, there's nothing left for me"-kinda route



My City Elf picked all the options that just made him sound like a really, really bitter man who's used to being looked down upon and not liking it.

[Recidiva]

The human noble can be a complete ass, I tried to play it that way. You can be rude to everyone, including the lady at the salon. If you tell her she was drunk the whole time, she'll actually play along and say she can't remember much of it.



But it's hard for me to dishonor the memory of my parents dying so...nobly...by playing that origin.



If I want to be a complete and total ragemonster, female city elf is the way to go.

[Taleroth]

The entire basis of the game sets up your RP in some ways. You can't be a darkspawn sympathizer, for example. You can't side with Loghain and try to keep him in power.

I mean, you get thrust into being a Grey Warden, possibly against your will, trotted around for tests, then watch your "mentor" stab another guy in the gut.  Yet, they're not exactly letting you take the route that Grey Wardens truly are bastards with Loghain being in the right to try wiping out.

Modifié par Taleroth, 02 décembre 2009 - 05:20 .

[Vioitty]

For me as a mage, I'm a goody-two-shoes-but-give-me-something-if-you-can, even though I 'betrayed' Jowan. When Irving said that there was an eyewitness and evidence towards Jowan's being a blood mage, and Irving is usually leniant on mages, then I had to side with him in the end even though I got the signed form from the elven senior enchanter.



Turns out he was right too, so I don't feel bad .

[Jsmith0730]

I think a lot of it also tends to be whether or not you willingly joined the Grey Wardens, or were conscripted. This character (Dwarf Commoner) readily joined after making sure his sister would be alright.

I'm currently playing this guy as a "tough good". IE: he will help the downtrodden & poor (anyone in a position he could relate to) but won't stand for "out for themselves" types who wouldn't even be willing to help save their own village.

Human Noble, on the other hand, had to be conscripted because, despite whether or not he might have previously be interested in joining, with his parents & the attack by Howe, he's out for revenge and thus Blight-Be-Damned, so he usually goes along reluctantly and more concerned with revenge than the Blight.

Modifié par Jsmith0730, 02 décembre 2009 - 05:29 .

[P_k_r]

Fieryspirit wrote...
My Human Noble chose to sacrifice himself, because I went down the "My family's dead, there's nothing left for me"-kinda route

Same here, to be honest. My character was motivated by two things - stopping the Blight and avenging Howe's treachery. When the bastard was dead and the archdemon lay dying, he knew the path was clear. Besides, the Couslands are roylalists, so allowing the King to sacrifice himself, didn't really fit in.

[Isaantia]

I disagree about the mage thing. I think siding with Jowan sets up the slippery slope of going evil in that "road to hell is paved with good intentions" kind of way. The mage origin was the only one where I felt the PC had some kind of say in being a Grey Warden. And if you support Irving, you really feel the sense of responsibility and duty the Circle has instilled and you can carry that sense of duty into your Warden.



I know a lot of dwarf noble players that ended up picking Behlen. As my one friend said, I know how ruthless Behlen could be.. he gets things done.



My noble was pragmatic. She saw an opportunity to save and (help) rule Ferelden and took it. She also supported Behlen - he is the prince afterall, not Harrowmont. Loghain always dies tho. She can't justify him living and besides she is the new leader of Ferelden's armies.



My city elf definitely has a chip on her shoulder. She isn't educated like my other two characters and she's a lot more about survival than anything else. She is letting Morrigan influence her decisions.

[Fieryspirit]

P_k_r wrote...

Fieryspirit wrote...
My Human Noble chose to sacrifice himself, because I went down the "My family's dead, there's nothing left for me"-kinda route

Same here, to be honest. My character was motivated by two things - stopping the Blight and avenging Howe's treachery. When the bastard was dead and the archdemon lay dying, he knew the path was clear. Besides, the Couslands are roylalists, so allowing the King to sacrifice himself, didn't really fit in.

This was almost exactly how I played my Human Noble. O_o Very, very creepy.

Modifié par Fieryspirit, 02 décembre 2009 - 05:46 .

[Sereaph502]

General RP directions, yes. But ultimatly, it's the player who decides how their character will be. whether they decide to RP based off their origin and what their character would do based on the origin or RP based on what they themselves would do is their own choice.



Personally I did a bit of both as a city elf

[interesting03]

telephasic wrote...
Casteless Dwarf:  I began this origin
thinking I'd play it as an "evil" runthrough, but upon meeting my
family, I found going that far didn't quite make sense.  I actually
agonized in conversation with the man I was sent to kill whether or not
I would do it, although I finally reluctantly attacked him (mainly
because my PC was worried about retribution if his boss ever found out
he didn't do the deed).  You're also the only character who's really
moving on up in the world becoming a Grey Warden - besides your sister,
you aren't really leaving anything behind of note, so you're probably
the most stoked out of all the origins for your new position.  When I
get around to playing this PC through, I think I'll go the "practical"
route.  Willing to do good deeds - provided there's a monetary reward,
and you don't get too put out by doing them.  Also willing to do bad
things, but not for the sake of being evil, just because they're the
best of all possible choices.  Clearly you choose Behlen in Orzammar. 
You probably turn down the Anvil though, as your realize your own folk
will be the most likely to be made into golems. 

Casteless Dwarf also sets you up to pick Bhelen. As a casteless, you could only ever pick Harrowmont for the random what if? factor.

Modifié par interesting03, 02 décembre 2009 - 05:34 .

[DariusKalera]

Taleroth wrote...

 You can't side with Loghain and try to keep him in power.

Actually, siding with Loghain and kicking Eamon to the curb after you kill Howe would have been a really cool option before the Landsmeet.

Alistair would leave the group early because of it and Loghain would never become a Warden.  This would leave the PC and Riordan as the final two Wardens in the last battle which would put a heavier selfishness and desperation spin on Mirrigan's offer.

[Haasth]

You have some valid arguments. Especially about the Werewolves and Cultists. Especially the Werewolves. I am having a difficult time picturing why any character would do that. Killing the elves purely to be evil sounds ridiculous... no one is going to be 'purely evil'. There must be some reward out of it and killing the werewolves instead isn't necessarily a lot 'less evil'. And indeed, unless you know what is coming you could potentially be lacking a whole army because of this. So which character with half a brain would support them?

[Fieryspirit]

^ The werewolves join your army. And they KICK ASS. I'm just sayin'.

[Riona45]

To answer the topic question? No, not really. Sure, I've been influenced by actually playing the game, but I've had a basic idea in my head for my character since before I started playing, and I also don't think the game "sets you up" to do anything, at least in terms of how moral you choose to be or where your loyalties are.

[telephasic]

Fieryspirit wrote...

^ The werewolves join your army. And they KICK ASS. I'm just sayin'.

Yeah, but you have no way of knowing this as a player.  You don't have a treaty from the werewolves.  Before the persuade option opens up to kill all the elves, the werewolves do not promise to help you if only they didn't have the dalish problem.  Slaughtering the elves just doesn't make sense as a Grey Warden - you're exchanging a gimme army for a big question mark.  At least in the Templars/Mages decision the Templars tell you they'll help you if they don't have to guard the mages. 

The only real reasons to pick the werewolves is playing chaotic stupid, or metagaming for the unlock/army.  With a little more work, the game could have given you a reason, but it falls really flat here. 

[Whailor]

Anyway, thoughts?  

I just play and don't calculate options and choices I can or should take. I don't play an "ass" because I am not an ass. I don't play "evil" because I am not evil, though make no mistake, I am not "good" either - I consider myself sort of "chaotic good", doing things which seem right to me and obviously that doesn't always sit well with others. Not that I care about their opinions. I may kill 50 bandits because they gave an angry look to some cute girl or a poor orphan or I may lie to some poor shmuck so that he'd walk into trap infested hallway and thus "disarm" the traps, in a fatal way, because I forgot to take a rogue with me. I may save a lord's daughter from a dragon and return her home safely and then on the way out ransack the treasury of the same lord and keep most of the cash because I wanted to "buy something nice" in next city. And then, later, donate the leftover gold to some orphanage or give it to beggars and on my way out of the city, kick a cart of some poor farmer into ditch because it was on my way. I may donate 5 gold to Chantry so that they can help the poor and then smack the teeth of some templars in because I think they're "rude to mages". I do it because that's what I thought was right at that moment, for me, no matter the origin and what others may think. I don't plan any of the origins long ahead. I don't kill Howe, when I play human noble, because he "killed my family members and little Oren", I kill him because he messed with me, his men attacked me in my home on his order.

Basically, I don't plan as much as you do, makes more relaxing play this way

[LordAsael]

I found that the Dwarven noble origin left the road wide open before me. I could seek to maintain the honor and chivalry that I once held as a reality of my station in life. I could seek to best my brother by living as noble a life as possible in my new station. He failed to kill me through my exile to the deep roads, he will fail to destroy who and what I am. When I return to my people, I will aid my house and the memory of my ancestors. I have been to Denerim and have learned that my father sacrificed me so that the house might retain its prominence. I have learned that he regretted the choice that he made and commissioned Gorim to deliver a message and my family shield.



I could also see being a conceited butcher, and carrying that through the rest of the game. The options are there to look down on merchants and even to allow your second to butcher them (don't know that he does).



I can see starting as an honourable noble amongst your people, and through the act of betrayal descending into an abyss of anger and vengeance. I can care little for my brother, and the ancestors (my father ) who betrayed me and seek to exact vengeance against them all.

[Fieryspirit]

telephasic wrote...

Fieryspirit wrote...

^ The werewolves join your army. And they KICK ASS. I'm just sayin'.

Yeah, but you have no way of knowing this as a player.  You don't have a treaty from the werewolves.  Before the persuade option opens up to kill all the elves, the werewolves do not promise to help you if only they didn't have the dalish problem.  Slaughtering the elves just doesn't make sense as a Grey Warden - you're exchanging a gimme army for a big question mark.  At least in the Templars/Mages decision the Templars tell you they'll help you if they don't have to guard the mages. 

The only real reasons to pick the werewolves is playing chaotic stupid, or metagaming for the unlock/army.  With a little more work, the game could have given you a reason, but it falls really flat here. 

That's a very good point.

[EricHVela]

I see that the situations are... well... situational. Just because you're "good' in one situation doesn't mean you can't be "rude" in another. As a Human, you can be a knife-ears hater, but kind to everyone else. As a Dalish, you can be a jerk to Humans but tolerate everyone else. As a dwarf, you can hate everyone or the "lesser" castes or just your family. You can mix and match conceit with egoism with altruism with whatever in different scenarios, adding a bit more depth to your origin than one or two options at the start.

(Such options, however, can also lead to a character that is randomly kind and rude as if the character has some kind of Tourette Syndrome disorder. Get Alistair to 100% and then just start yelling at him to shut the $*#@ up for no reason.)

Modifié par ReggarBlane, 02 décembre 2009 - 06:25 .

[Curlain]

I think each origin is what you make it, with the parameters they give you you could play the human noble as a highly responsible noble person caring for his people like Tegan (Te-GHAN) or like Howe, or a jerk like the city elf human noble. Or anything in between, and it's similar with other origins, is the city elf going to be consumed with bitterness and rage, or instead be effected by the rape and abuse to take a stand to this happening to others, again up to your idea of your starting character.

I have to disagree somewhat with the OP's opinion of the Dalish origin, while I do sometimes wonder if it was decided to include it later on and that possibly it was initially intended not to have a Dalish elf origin as it could do with some more work, I did find it to strongly inlfuence my character's perspective, more then any other character. For one the issues raised by the ruins of human make but with elven gods, which we see again in Brekalian forest raised interesting issues of early human/elven relations that the game sadly never went into. But I found my character gained a very different perspective on things due to the very different believes and the human/elven dynamic then my other characters. It as also a good origin to being clueless about what the Chantry is and how it functions, cause my character really wouldn't know about these things.

Anyway, I think each origin is what you make it

Modifié par Curlain, 02 décembre 2009 - 06:30 .

[MS3825]

Skipping all the posts and answering before reading others thoughts: No.
No, I never feel obligated to play a certain way no matter my character's forced or chosen background in any RPG. I pick my characters personality before I ever pick a gender / race / class whatever.
When I start a second character I plan on a Noble Dwarf Rogue who is selfish and greedy. I have no idea if that's how the origin implies I should play since I have yet to start it.
My first and only character right now is a Male Elf Mage. He is polite and picks the "good" (but I will take that reward, except the necklace that one guy made for his wife) options, but I would pick a sarcastic but still helpful tone if there were more options for when people start being impolite to me first.

Modifié par MS3825, 02 décembre 2009 - 06:31 .

[Tumett]

I can't speak to most of the origins as I have yet to play them. For those I have played I have chosen my characters perspective before starting. I do, however, tend to use plot points to justify that choice. For example, my human noble rogue started out a bit of a brat. It was all about him, which given that he was the second son to a noble family seemed to fit well to me. Seeing his family betrayed, his father and (persumably) his mother butchered, left him bitter and distraught. During his time at Ostigar, he dutifully fulfilled Duncan's requests.  However, Howe's treachery eats at him, which ultimately leads him down more evil paths.  (My plan is for him to rule the kingdom with an iron fist!)

I could just as easily use these same plot points to justify having a human noble that became the paragon of good. (No Dwarven pun intended.) For me, it's all about what type of character I want to role play and then reacting accordingly. It does mean, though, that I might miss out on some opportunities.

With all that said, however, I did allow one aspect of my noble human rogue's origin have some impact on how I intended to role play him. The fact that he's the only child left in his family's line causes him to show compassion to orphaned children. For example, he acts compassionately towards the red-headed kid in Lothering, offering to help find his mother, etc. It's a small ****** in his otherwise festering evil and selfish personality.

Modifié par Tumett, 02 décembre 2009 - 07:05 .

[RunCDFirst]

The origins set you up to view certain events in different light.



I don't think they set up your character to act in a general sense in any specific way. My mage turned in Jowan but wasn't evil just more concerned with duty and the protection of society (it was rather obvious Jowan was a blood mage).



My human noble, while nicer than my mage, certainly isn't a good-two shoes. Unless, of course, that definition includes someone who takes everything that isn't nailed down with them.

[Kuravid]

 The human noble can be a complete spoiled brat. There are plenty of those dialogue options in that part of the game.

As for making an evil city elf, I can't really see it. If you play as a female, you're basically carted off to Vaughan's house so that he can rape you. I noticed, however, if you play a male city elf, it's much easier to end up as hero than it is as a female city elf.

What threw me off about Vaughan's offer is that he threatens to send guards to the alienage to beat up on elves, basically, if you don't give him the other elf girls for the night. Being that I played this out twice, I found out that if you don't take his offer and you kill him, nothing at all happens to the alienage. No guards come to slaughter some of your relatives. This kind of ticked me off, because the first time I played the city elf origin I did take his offer, simply because I didn't want half of the alienage to be destroyed (I'd rather sacrifice a few women over a whole or even half of a city). So, when I get to the alienage towards the end of the game, of course all the elves despise me. This sucked, because I played an otherwise really good character.

Also the Dalish elves are completely stupid, I agree with you 100% on that.