35177 réponses à ce sujet

[Sabriana]

Thank you, Ejoslin. Argh, back to work, lunch-time is over. I'm looking forward to playing with him tonight. It's almost painful how slow the 2H is, but I keep on hoping it'll get better.

In the words of our most favorite elf: "What can I say, I'm an eternal optimist."

[Creature 1]

Two-handed is more fun when you get more combat skills. The sunders are good, and there's the one that knocks everyone around you on their rears.

[Sabriana]

That's good to know, Creature. Thanks. Sheesh! A 2H berserker elf. What is wrong with me?

I guess I'm an archdemon short of a Blight too

[Tellervo]

ejoslin wrote...

@Tellervo  There is a dwarf kiss (male and female), where Zevran kneels down to kiss them.  It's one of the better (or the best) kiss animations in the game. 

I'd have to make myself play a dwarf... considering I've only met two that I didn't want to punt, I don't think that's happening any time soon.  Thanks, though.

[JosieJ]

Creature 1 wrote...

Two-handed is more fun when you get more combat skills. The sunders are good, and there's the one that knocks everyone around you on their rears.

Yeah, the trick to using a 2H weapon is to avoid auto-attacking as much as possible.  Once you get all the good talents (Sunder Arms/Armor, Mighty Blow, Critical Strike, 2h Weapon Sweep, etc.),  you just cycle through them.  You don't even have to pump WIL a lot--just use any equipment that gives a bonus to WIL or stamina.

I'm usually not much for playing warrior-types, but when I decided to make a HNF to romance Alistair and become queen, I made her a 2-hander and ended up really, really enjoying playing her.  Another thing that helped was that someone advised me to stick to S+S in the beginning of the game (even with only Shield Bash) until I built up enough 2h talents to start cycling (which happened sometime in the Korcari Wilds, for me).

And, a question for the thread (to drag my post back on-topic): has anyone fixated on one particular race/sex that will only romance Zevran?  I played a male elf who romanced him on my first complete playthrough, and now all my male elves romance Zevran exclusively.  Some of my female elves do, too, but I've tried making a male elf to romance Leliana and I couldn't do it--I ended up back with Zev.  I've never romanced him with a human (I've only ever played human females, and they generally romance Alistair), and I haven't been able to bring myself to play a dwarf for anything but the Dwarf Commoner origin, so no romance there.

Modifié par JosieJ, 24 mars 2010 - 01:33 .

[ejoslin]

*grin* Since my first playthrough, where I romanced Alistair and got dumped then got the very unexpected surprise of ending up engaged to Zevran, I have not been able to play a game without Zevran as a romance partner. My dwarves love him for varying reasons. My NHF, ambitious or not, find Alistair a bit too prissy and start off having fun with Zev, only to fall in love as well.

I think just having such a beautiful ending with Zevran and such an ugly one with Alistair just make me view them both so differently, from the start. I can't help but metagame.

@Tellervo Dwarves in this game really aren't bad.  The origins for both are great, and there's only a few times that the camera angles are weird.  But there are plenty of fabulous Zev kisses in the game.  Just that one, it's very hot!

Modifié par ejoslin, 24 mars 2010 - 02:29 .

[Creature 1]

JosieJ wrote...
And, a question for the thread (to drag my post back on-topic): has anyone fixated on one particular race/sex that will only romance Zevran?  I played a male elf who romanced him on my first complete playthrough, and now all my male elves romance Zevran exclusively.  Some of my female elves do, too, but I've tried making a male elf to romance Leliana and I couldn't do it--I ended up back with Zev.  I've never romanced him with a human (I've only ever played human females, and they generally romance Alistair), and I haven't been able to bring myself to play a dwarf for anything but the Dwarf Commoner origin, so no romance there.

There aren't a whole lot of options for male elves.  Leliana's kind of racist, and Morrigan's, well, Morrigan. 

Pretty much all of my characters romance Zevran. 

Modifié par Creature 1, 24 mars 2010 - 02:54 .

[Addai]

ejoslin wrote...
Why would Zevran take over the Crows? That is one of his endings in Origins. If the warden commits the ultimate sacrifice, whether as friend or lover, Zevran ends up taking over the Crows -- he kills his way to the top when they come back after him. I guess the writers liked that idea so kept it going.
 

Yes, it's inexplicable to me.  I guess, since Ignacio tries to recruit you, they think some players might actually want to be a Crow.  I've never met one!  Especially one who actually cares about Zevran.  Not everyone might read it as I do, of course.

As for the height difference, it's always one thing that bothered me with a human female + Zevran.  I like the height of the human female figure in the game, it's just a shame they make the elves so scrawny in comparison.  It's not actually bad though.  Looks to me like Zevran comes up to her eye level.



As far as which races with Zevran, prior to my DNF character, I only romanced him with elven females.  I just feel that there's a sweet compatibility that you even see in the tent scene.  Plus, my elven females have had hard lives, and I would rather see them stay together with Zevran than be Alistair's mistress.

[Jaulen]

I've popped around.

Had CEF romance both (US, both in love at end), CEF romance Alistair, one that romanced Zevran. A CEM that romanced Leliana (and he did the US), my DEF had Alistair at 35 warm and romanced Zevran all the way (although in the beginning it was a little dicey).

My HNF is romancing Alistair (but didn't start until she found out he was heir to the throne....yep, going to lead him on, and become queen), and flirting with Zevran (but she's a tad racist and sees Zevran more as a fun diversion/tool than a LI, that and I tried the Zevran tent scene (reloaded) I was just too creeped out by the Zev/HF scene).

Next up will be a male human mage that romances Morrigan.

Then a male elf mage for Zevran.

And a male dwarf commoner (no romances)

Female dwarf noble (purely for the uber kiss )



I'm not really into the whole romance Alistair thing. I think all the Alistair - PC fanfic out there has kind of .... killed my interest in that story line, esepcially the ones where the PC is in a relationship with Zevran, but then Alistair comes back around and then all of a sudden it's *PC runs and jumps in Alistair's arms forgetting about the elf who loves her*....*gag* makes me kind of wish I could import my CEF into the story line and poke their eyes out.

[Darkannex]

I always saw Zhev going back to the Crows as sort of an expression of how lost he is when he loses the Warden. Either as friend or lover-he's never had anyone in that role before. Going through all of that trouble opening up just to lose that person must be staggering.

It seems a gesture of despair-to dive back into the Crows almost to die-but he instead lives and takes over them entirely. I get a very Godfather type vibe from him a-la Michael Corleone.

Sadly my HNF never seems to realize what a doofus Ali is. She's too blinded by how sweet he is to her. She overlooks the glaring faults that cause him to not look before leaping and show a lack of real will or firmness usually. Also-he never dumps her cause she's noble. She lets him have his way with Loghain, because if SHE fights Loghain she is swayed by Riordan to let him live. THAT blows up in her face-but by then she's already turned off the romance with Zev and usually Ultimate Sacrifices in despair. 

...I didn't like that playthrough. LOL. 

Modifié par Darkannex, 24 mars 2010 - 03:03 .

[jenovan]

Hmm, I think the way I assign romances has more to do with the character than the race, but I think I could never do the Cousland royal wedding/Zev on the side thing... it just seems so sad to me.    Other than that, anyone is fair game.. XD  Right now I'm looking at:
CEM - Zevran all the way (although Morrigan tried twice to ninja him)
HMM - I'm going to TRY to keep him with Morrigan, to see how that romance ends.. he will spend some time with Zevran but shouldn't end up with him.
HNF - Not sure yet. XD  I may be different and try the Alistair romance full-on and try to become Queen.
DEF - She'll be a Zevran girl for sure. X3  (Is it surprising I'm looking most forward to playing her right now?   )

[SurelyForth]

Jaulen wrote...
I'm not really into the whole romance Alistair thing. I think all the Alistair - PC fanfic out there has kind of .... killed my interest in that story line, esepcially the ones where the PC is in a relationship with Zevran, but then Alistair comes back around and then all of a sudden it's *PC runs and jumps in Alistair's arms forgetting about the elf who loves her*....*gag* makes me kind of wish I could import my CEF into the story line and poke their eyes out.

That's really gross, actually. I can't imagine someone who likes Alistair as a character would want to cast him in that sort of role since it reflects pretty poorly on him. And part of the appeal of the Zev romance is that it explodes right when Alistair's can knife you in the gut. Even being a huge Alistair fangirl, I couldn't imagine a character going back at that point.

The only race I hold to a specific LI is City Elf. They end up with Zevran. I can't imagine any (female) CE being comfortable with Alistair or Leliana.

Modifié par SurelyForth, 24 mars 2010 - 03:08 .

[ejoslin]

Darkannex wrote...

I always saw Zhev going back to the Crows as sort of an expression of how lost he is when he loses the Warden. Either as friend or lover-he's never had anyone in that role before. Going through all of that trouble opening up just to lose that person must be staggering. 

It seems a gesture of despair-to dive back into the Crows almost to die-but he instead lives and takes over them entirely. I get a very Godfather type vibe from him a-la Michael Corleone.

Darkannex, that is exactly how I viewed him going back to the Crows -- that combined with him never letting anyone get close to him again.

I have to admit, Awakenings has taken some of the magic away from the Zevran romance for me with that epilogue. From the warden having to chase the man who tells her he'd storm the dark city for a chance to be by her side to him perhaps going back to the crows. It makes me very leery of what may happen to him in another expansion. I will be finding out second hand, though.

Edit: Added quote for context.

Modifié par ejoslin, 24 mars 2010 - 03:19 .

[Addai]

Jaulen wrote...
I'm not really into the whole romance Alistair thing. I think all the Alistair - PC fanfic out there has kind of .... killed my interest in that story line, esepcially the ones where the PC is in a relationship with Zevran, but then Alistair comes back around and then all of a sudden it's *PC runs and jumps in Alistair's arms forgetting about the elf who loves her*....*gag* makes me kind of wish I could import my CEF into the story line and poke their eyes out.

I don't read fanfiction so I never take this risk.    Only if a story comes recommended.  I've read a few that people here have posted.  Most are... ugh... won't go there.

The Alistair romance is why I'm playing the game.  Like I said upthread, it takes a lot for me to even start playing a video game.  I didn't like DA:O at first, either, but I was so shocked to find such a nuanced character and such a sweet love story in a video game that I was hooked.  I also like Maric from the books, so I feel like the Alistair romance is the main event.  I am sure, however, that I would have stopped playing long ago if I hadn't "discovered" Zevran as a character, both friend to my queen PC and LI for my elves (and now my dwarf).

[jenovan]

ejoslin wrote...

Darkannex, that is exactly how I viewed him going back to the Crows -- that combined with him never letting anyone get close to him again.

I have to admit, Awakenings has taken some of the magic away from the Zevran romance for me with that epilogue. From the warden having to chase the man who tells her he'd storm the dark city for a chance to be by her side to him perhaps going back to the crows. It makes me very leery of what may happen to him in another expansion. I will be finding out second hand, though.

Yes, yes, yes.   By putting that epilogue in place -- "rumors" though it may be -- it's stealing some of the thunder of Zevran's US epilogue in Origins, and at the same time, it's a slap to all of those who chose the "stay with the Wardens" ending.  He seems so happy to stay... and while I can see some crazy events drawing him away to Antiva, why would he want to take over the Crows?  Reform is a nice thought, but it seems unrealistic...  And if he's in love, why would he suddenly turn ambitious?  Geh.

I'm sure I'll be suckered into buying the next(?) expansion on launch day, though, just like this time.

[Creature 1]

SurelyForth wrote...

Jaulen wrote...
I'm not really into the whole romance Alistair thing. I think all the Alistair - PC fanfic out there has kind of .... killed my interest in that story line, esepcially the ones where the PC is in a relationship with Zevran, but then Alistair comes back around and then all of a sudden it's *PC runs and jumps in Alistair's arms forgetting about the elf who loves her*....*gag* makes me kind of wish I could import my CEF into the story line and poke their eyes out.

That's really gross, actually. I can't imagine someone who likes Alistair as a character would want to cast him in that sort of role since it reflects pretty poorly on him. And part of the appeal of the Zev romance is that it explodes right when Alistair's can knife you in the gut. Even being a huge Alistair fangirl, I couldn't imagine a character going back at that point.

But they probably read Twilight, so dumping the new boyfriend to be with your old boyfriend who broke up with you is sweet and romantic because your lub is so true you'll trample someone else's heart to be together. 

[Darkannex]

I guess I missed this epilogue card-since I've only played through awakening with an Alistair romanced toon (which also leaves me a bad taste-my pc just 'vanishes' one day?)

The unpublished letter shows that he has some unfinished business with the Crows-and I agree that makes some semblance of sense. If he can come to terms where they aren't actively trying to kill him, that's a good thing, right?



I can see my PC being annoyed that he went without her though-but at the same time-she has to do her Darkspawn killing thing in Amaranthine. Not like she can not do that-being THE GW and all...and if Zev had to go back THEN to get free of the Crows...it makes sense. I don't like it, but it makes sense.



But before I put foot in mouth, can someone link me/pm me this card so I can see?

[Jaulen]

SurelyForth wrote...

Jaulen wrote...
I'm not really into the whole romance Alistair thing. I think all the Alistair - PC fanfic out there has kind of .... killed my interest in that story line, esepcially the ones where the PC is in a relationship with Zevran, but then Alistair comes back around and then all of a sudden it's *PC runs and jumps in Alistair's arms forgetting about the elf who loves her*....*gag* makes me kind of wish I could import my CEF into the story line and poke their eyes out.

That's really gross, actually. I can't imagine someone who likes Alistair as a character would want to cast him in that sort of role since it reflects pretty poorly on him. And part of the appeal of the Zev romance is that it explodes right when Alistair's can knife you in the gut. Even being a huge Alistair fangirl, I couldn't imagine a character going back at that point.

The only race I hold to a specific LI is City Elf. They end up with Zevran. I can't imagine any (female) CE being comfortable with Alistair or Leliana.

Yeah, there are a lot of fan fics out there after Ali dumps PC, PC goes on to Zevran, but then Ali comes back into the story and all of a sudden the PC is waffeling between the two, or begins ignoring Zev for Alistair. Just makes me gag. First of all, Alistair IS a nice guy, and I can't see him, once he or the PC says it's over, being okay with reopening the relationship (especially if the PC is involved with someone else).
 

[ejoslin]

 Zevran Awakening Epilogue Card.

Edit: As I said already, it just is so completely different from the Origins ending.  The letter, had it made it into the game, was good.  That makes sense.  And I can see them not being able to take all the different endings into account.  But why not take one of the endings where the warden survived?  And also take into accounts comments at the end like, "You caught me, now you're stuck with me. Sad, but we'll manage."

It was when the warden died that Zevran had nothing left and threw himself at the Crows.  If the warden was his lover at that point, he took over the crows and no one ever got close to him again.  It was so heartbreaking, that everything that was good about him died along with the warden.

What I really can't see is Zevran and the Warden being separated for long.  Or the Warden having to chase after him.

Ah well, the writers will do with the story what they will.  And I can cry and stamp my feet or I can enjoy the love story in Origins, ignore the ending in Awakenings, and wait and see before buying any others.

Modifié par ejoslin, 24 mars 2010 - 03:34 .

[Darkannex]

I think those fanfics being labelled as Twilight-esque peg it. They try to convolute to fulfill a fantasy where everyone adores the Warden and she/he need to make the choice about who loves them 'more'. Such romances predate Twilight-of course. It's standard fodder for fanfic grill.



And ah-I see the card. Well, I can see it as trying to stay as ambiguous as possible so it does not 'force' an actual ending, but leaves all possible outcomes open. For myself-I can possibly see my PC catching up to the Elf to find him in charge of the Crows, only to get a chagrined look and a smile and a 'well, remember how we discussed my amazing luck....?' followed by some insanely improbably way he ended up the leader of the Crows.

[SurelyForth]

Jaulen wrote...

Yeah, there are a lot of fan fics out there after Ali dumps PC, PC goes on to Zevran, but then Ali comes back into the story and all of a sudden the PC is waffeling between the two, or begins ignoring Zev for Alistair. Just makes me gag. First of all, Alistair IS a nice guy, and I can't see him, once he or the PC says it's over, being okay with reopening the relationship (especially if the PC is involved with someone else).
 

See, I don't like to even have Zevran as a rebound (my PC's who romance him either start it up soon after he shows up or break up with Alistair for other reasons and then wait a bit to romance Zevran) because I feel like it is unfair to him and Alistair (I'm not a big fan of rebounds in real life either, for what it's worth). To trade off a sweet, genuine Zevran romance for a second chance with Alistair (newsflash, it's still doomed!) is silly and a bit mean.

[JosieJ]

Creature 1 wrote...

JosieJ wrote...
And, a question for the thread (to drag my post back on-topic): has anyone fixated on one particular race/sex that will only romance Zevran?  I played a male elf who romanced him on my first complete playthrough, and now all my male elves romance Zevran exclusively.  Some of my female elves do, too, but I've tried making a male elf to romance Leliana and I couldn't do it--I ended up back with Zev.  I've never romanced him with a human (I've only ever played human females, and they generally romance Alistair), and I haven't been able to bring myself to play a dwarf for anything but the Dwarf Commoner origin, so no romance there.

There aren't a whole lot of options for male elves.  Leliana's kind of racist, and Morrigan's, well, Morrigan. 

Pretty much all of my characters romance Zevran. 

It's true there aren't many options for male elves, but there's no reason all my human females have to romance Alistair, is there?  Except that I can't bring myself to have any of them romance Zevran for some reason I can't pinpoint!  Same with female elves--after the first couple, most of them have romanced Ali (except for 1 who romanced Leli).

And I knew there was a reason I've avoided DA:O fanfics thus far--some of those sound nauseating!

Modifié par JosieJ, 24 mars 2010 - 03:39 .

[ejoslin]

Fanfic, I generally don't read it. That sounds dreadful, though.

It's a funny thing, even though my first romance with Zevran WAS an Alistair rebound, I was so grateful everything turned out the way it did. When Alistair died for my Warden, it was so beautiful, and so fitting. I loved that game (my first playthough). But there was no way, once Alistair had dumped her, that them getting back together would have been an option. Even in my warped mind. And the Zevran romance hit me so hard that I have never been able to complete another playthrough without him at 100 love.

If I play Awakenings again, I probably will do a HNF playthrough that had a royal scandal (Zevran staying with the warden -- 100 love Zevran, friendly or warm with Alistair). I know the game starts with Alistair and the Warden all over each other though the marriage had been political, but it would be interesting to see if it ends up with the Alistair epilogue or the Zevran epilogue. I actually CAN see a queen Cousland having to chase after Zevran in that circumstance. But I was upset enough at the start that Alistair and Elissa were having a loving marriage instead of a political arrangement I imported a different character.

Modifié par ejoslin, 24 mars 2010 - 03:41 .

[Jaulen]

I think the Zev Epi-card from Awakenings is what's made me hesitate to purchase the game.



And the other epilogues where the Warden just 'disappears' but it's suggested that their story continues. I just don't see the Origins Warden story continuing based on the epilogues. (I spoliered myself and went to the Wiki and read them)



If there is a continuation of the Origins Warden story.....I just don't see ANY of the LI's being involved. Unless you were romancing Morrigan.....but then based on what I've been reading about Awakenings, I just see it getting a passing mention.



Personally, I will probably purchase Awakenings, but I'm not as super-excited about it as I was. And I most deinitely WILL wait to purchase any further expansion packs or a sequel until after it's been out a bit so I can read up a bit to see if I'd be interested.

[SurelyForth]

ejoslin wrote...

Fanfic, I generally don't read it. That sounds dreadful, though.

It's a funny thing, even though my first romance with Zevran WAS an Alistair rebound, I was so grateful everything turned out the way it did. When Alistair died for my Warden, it was so beautiful, and so fitting. I loved that game (my first playthough). But there was no way, once Alistair had dumped her, that them getting back together would have been an option. Even in my warped mind. And the Zevran romance hit me so hard that I have never been able to complete another playthrough without him at 100 love.

If I play Awakenings again, I probably will do a HNF playthrough that had a royal scandal (Zevran staying with the warden -- 100 love Zevran, friendly or warm with Alistair). I know the game starts with Alistair and the Warden all over each other though the marriage had been political, but it would be interesting to see if it ends up with the Alistair epilogue or the Zevran epilogue. I actually CAN see a queen Cousland having to chase after Zevran in that circumstance. But I was upset enough at the start that Alistair and Elissa were having a loving marriage instead of a political arrangement I imported a different character.

I think Zev is designed to be a rebound- it seems pretty deliberate when you can't get him to love until once the Landsmeet has started and, what do you know! that's when Alistair can break your heart. I might be the only female player who didn't throw myself at Zevran after being dumped by Alistair (I was too sad for him and my PC) but the game leads you to it and it is a lovely surprise. Once you know what Zev is all about, though, it seems unfair to use him as a consolation prize. I can't even roleplay that anymore.

You can downplay the Alistair/Queen interaction at the beginning with the right responses (either one where you say his name yield pretty neutral/friendly responses) and just pretend that he likes spending time with you because you're friends (and that he's whispering something about Mhairi's rack). It's a stretch, on account of the Sexy Voice, (and silly that the game doesn't account for a political marriage) but it could be done. Or maybe it's all about keeping up appearances!

Modifié par SurelyForth, 24 mars 2010 - 03:52 .