127 réponses à ce sujet

[JeffZero]

Oooh, intriguing. I kind of gathered some of that but not all of it. The simpler way things were presented to me I was under the impression supporting Bhelen would be supporting a murderer and supporting Harrowmont was the more noble endeavor and it was as simple as that.

I think I'll stick with my choice though, even perhaps reinforced by what you've said. I do think some of these dwarven traditions don't fit the reality of the world more recently surrounding them though and it pains me to see people born casteless and such. Truly this is a fairly deep question.

And I appreciate the offer, Corker, but I'll just look it up after I complete the game. Thanks though. That was really more me joking around than anything, I wasn't even expecting anything to come with him!

[mousestalker]

One last hint: Orzammar is one of the places in the game where your companions comment on the surroundings. For example, if your warden is a dwarf commoner, Morrigan has something to say after a certain conversation in a certain locale in Orzammar. If such things interest you, you might want to talk to your companions in the wide open spaces of Orzammar.

[JeffZero]

Such things interest me endlessly. I'll be very focused on this going forward. Thank you!

[JeffZero]

I kicked ass at the Proving! Those were some easy fights, especially compared with a select few previous engagements I've had to deal with. I guess they couldn't make things too rough since the Warden is alone for a bunch of them.

Had a weird glitch though where Baizyl refused to move or act at all during the championship. I think the other companion didn't either; she was dead before I ran over to see what was going on. Question, by the way: does selecting one of Harrowmont's folks for that tag-team match affect what he thinks of you at all? I wasn't sure, so I chose one of them over Wynne. Thankfully it was a very easy encounter.

I made OK progress last night. Harrowmont sent me on Errand #1, so I dug around Dust Town and eliminated the carta. Is it possible to talk that criminal woman down peacefully? Didn't seem like it to me, but then, I wasn't trying very hard. After that I was awarded Errand #2, but if I had known the Deep Roads were so involving I'd had asked if the bastard needed any rings deposited into Mount Doom while he was at it.

Oghren joined (and I know I'm still a nubcake with regards to gameplay but Christ on a ****** am I positive the auto-leveling system sucks for him, why does he have 14 Magic? Ugh) and we were off to see the Bronka, the Paragon Bronka of Orz. Aedan wishes he were home, Oghren wishes he had a brain, Shale wishes it had the courage to destroy all pigeons, and Wynne wishes she... uhh... had a heart to... umm... er, this is hard... ask her companion spirit to marry her? Dammit, foiled at the last.

Anyway, I explored Aeducan Thaig first, finding little of import. I'm going to assume this is a starting point for dwarves or something. Then I was off to the first of what, shockingly, is at least three plot locations for this quest. Didn't have much trouble here, but in the second area I ran into a very ugly issue: the rightward path off the road was apparently screaming "Oghren! Oghren!" because unbeknownst to me at the time he had decided to run down that-a-way and get himself into a scrap like some... some... Legion of the Dead member or worse yet, Grey Warden or some such.

Then, just as I began to notice his health decreasing from quite far away indeed, Wynne got confused as well and ran around strafing the enemy troops ahead of us until she, quite expectedly, died. It was up to Aedan and Shale, the last of the sane, the man and the golem, to wage a war of attrition, because no matter how far I ran, combat would not end.

What followed were ten of the most unusual minutes of my Origins experience. I was thrust into siege tactics and positioning boot camp, learning a couple of tricks along the way. Shale did an appropriately fantastic job tanking and we survived to smack the others upside their heads and move on. Spoilers: the spider queen was a joke by comparison.

Then we found out we have to go to the place Oghren said he hoped we didn't have to go, which I could have bet money was going to happen if I could just find a sucker gullible enough to guess otherwise. Sweet cutscene on the way in! I wish the party made verbal comment about it though. A simple "holy s***", all I'm asking.

So now we're in Boo-nuh-marr, pronounced quite separately from what I was anticipating when I read its Codex entry, and I'm hoping we're not terribly far from this Paragon, else wise her "kind" is anything but. Plus side: I've leveled up twice!

Modifié par JeffZero, 12 février 2014 - 06:40 .

[caradoc2000]

JeffZero wrote...

I kicked ass at the Proving! Those were some easy fights, especially compared with a select few previous engagements I've had to deal with. I guess they couldn't make things too rough since the Warden is alone for a bunch of them.

Did you do the "informal training opportunities" there? Those are quite a bit more difficult than the regular provings.

Question, by the way: does selecting one of Harrowmont's folks for that tag-team match affect what he thinks of you at all?

It doesn't matter, you can use them or your party members.

Is it possible to talk that criminal woman down peacefully?

Jarvia? No.

Anyway, I explored Aeducan Thaig first, finding little of import. I'm going to assume this is a starting point for dwarves or something.

Part of Dwarf Noble origin.

So now we're in Boo-nuh-marr, pronounced quite separately from what I was anticipating when I read its Codex entry, and I'm hoping we're not terribly far from this Paragon, else wise her "kind" is anything but.

The Dead Trenches (aka the Twilight Zone ), have fun there.

Modifié par caradoc2000, 12 février 2014 - 07:17 .

[DarthGizka]

JeffZero wrote...

..., but in the second area I ran into a very ugly issue: the rightward path off the road was apparently screaming "Oghren! Oghren!" because unbeknownst to me at the time he had decided to run down that-a-way and get himself into a scrap like some... some... Legion of the Dead member or worse yet, Grey Warden or some such.

Then, just as I began to notice his health decreasing from quite far away indeed, Wynne got confused as well and ran around strafing the enemy troops ahead of us until she, quite expectedly, died. It was up to Aedan and Shale, the last of the sane, the man and the golem, to wage a war of attrition, because no matter how far I ran, combat would not end.

That is due to a basic engine bug. You cannot dealert unless all of your companions are out of alert distance; that is to say, each of your toons must be farther than the alert distance away from any enemies they have seen (or at least two doorways away). Which is kind of difficult to arrange if some of your companions are lying dead at the feet of the enemy...

The location would be Ortan Thaig, by my reckoning (the first being Caridin's Cross).

What followed were ten of the most unusual minutes of my Origins experience. I was thrust into siege tactics and positioning boot camp, learning a couple of tricks along the way. Shale did an appropriately fantastic job tanking and we survived to smack the others upside their heads and move on. Spoilers: the spider queen was a joke by comparison.

Then you were probably lucky enough to hit by accident one of the strategies to turn the spider queen from an evil über-god of destruction into a mere very nasty brute. Getting close and personal with a melee-heavy party would do the trick, for example.

The queen is the only non-joke in the whole quest line, although things can still get nasty in some places until you find out how things work. However, there are quite a few places where things can turn sour in a hurry if you let your toons go galivanting off on their own, or if you forget to modify their tactics (clearing all tactics works perfectly fine).

The point man - or point woman, or point being - should always be controlled by the source of the ominous clicking sounds, and the rest of the party should be somewhere not too far behind, in territory that has been cleared already. Bringing the fight into enemy territory is usually a bad idea because you never know what else there is besides the stuff you can see. Traps being the most obvious of these - both the flimsy leghold kind and tripwires, but also the kind where, ahem, stuff happens that you might not have been expecting.

Also, one of the genlocks behind the row of boulders where you've taken cover might turn out to be an emissary, and once he has seen you he doesn't need line of sight anymore to cast stuff like Curse of Mortality. Which means you're basically toast if your support team is too far behind to dispel you before it is too late. Just to give an example for a painful lesson that I learnt at Caridin's Cross...

Modifié par DarthGizka, 12 février 2014 - 09:09 .

[JeffZero]

Replying old-school style since my phone is, as has been well-documented, problematic.

@carodoc2000:

Actually, yeah, I've done two of those optional fights so far. The blood mages are pretty brutal! If there were any doubt in my mind that mages must be eliminated ASAP in every combat situation ever, they would surely have erased it.

Thanks for all those other answers!

@DarthGizka:

Heh, having the party I currently possess probably helped a great deal against the queen. I took the uncharacteristic road of lacking in the lockpicking department in favor of bringing Shale no matter the balancing cost because I figured taking a golem into the Deep Roads just feels appropriate. I'm very OCD about these things. My first runs of the Mass Effect games likely each had almost an hour added to them simply because I spent a ridiculous amount of time internally debating which party members were best suited story-wise to which locations... even in ME2, where it was a minor miracle whenever anyone not on a Loyalty Mission talked in the field.

Ouch. That sounds very painful. Guess I've been getting lucky in more ways than one. Hell, that whole "separation anxiety" incident almost felt like it enriched the kind of atmospheric vibes the Deep Roads seem to seek by design. Tense, claustrophobic, yet expansive and endless.

[DarthGizka]

Ah, vibes... I found the whole Orzammar thing awesome, but most of all the Deep Roads. And I'm not so easily impressed these days. I grew up with Day of the Tentacle, Privateer, and all id games starting with Doom; then I became an RPG junkie with KotOR and Morrowind.

If you're not doing so already, do yourself a favour and play in the close-up over the shoulder view. The zoomed-out tactical view is good for difficult battles but it loses a lot of the atmosphere.

The lock-picking thing is indeed like a stone in my shoe during the Deep Roads mission, at least for the final part. Nowadays I tend to decide in favour of Leliana and rather leave the artillery behind (i.e.Morrigan).

Modifié par DarthGizka, 12 février 2014 - 10:18 .

[mousestalker]

If you are OCD (as am I), there are a lot of mods that can help on your subsequent play throughs. One in particular, is the Chest Bash mod over on Dragon Age Nexus. It allows non-rogues to open chests by bashing them.

[DarthGizka]

Sounds just like what the doctor ordered, especially as warriors can already disarm traps as neatly as you please. (Memo to self: look for chest-bash mod and maybe something similar for mages. Addendum to memo to self: hope it's not one of those things where bashing a chest breaks indestructible arms and armour into a billion pieces of scrap metal.)

But shhhhh, we shouldn't distract from Jeff's adventure too much. It's his first time, lucky him.

Modifié par DarthGizka, 12 février 2014 - 11:35 .

[JeffZero]

Guys, guys, I appreciate all the PC-centric suggestions but I should have mentioned from the first, I play on PS3. Hehe. The "good" news is that I've been enjoying the up-close camera out of necessity!

[JeffZero]

Back with more!

Finished off the Dead Trenches. Nice twists! Broodmother was a very impressive piece of gelatinous art design and I appreciate the subsequent nightmares that have no doubt plagued whoever crafted her for five years now.

So Bronka. Crazy woman. Talk about cracking under pressure. Oghren took it fairly well. I felt bad about denying him further opportunity to save her from what she'd become but there was no way I wasn't going to honor what Calidin requested. (Intercession here real quick: Jesus Mercy was this quest long, I know I said it before, but the Deep Roads essentially had four bosses! Four! The spider queen, broodmother, the Anvil and Bronka! Wow. And probably Calidin if I didn't side with him. Tough place.)

Destroyed the Anvil. Was great to see my hopes that Shale would be an appropriate plot choice finally pay off when it -- ahem, SHE?! -- had that revelatory conversation with Calidin. Excellent stuff. Then I left and presented the glorious crown the noble Paragolem handcrafted prior to nobly melting in a sea of lava and predictably enough Bheren wasn't going to stand for it. But compared with some of the fights outside Orzammar, he went down like a damp sponge.

And so was marked the Return of the King... er, a new king, a different king, er, a very standard and traditional king... er... just... hail King Harrowmont, OK? Done with this place.

And oh yeah, Filda, your son? Dead. Yep. So dead.

Shale informed me she wanted to learn more about herself, and I'm all about self-discovery in times of mass genocide and civil strife, so we headed off into the depths once more, slew some darkspawn and presto! She did. She needs time to dwell though so I'll chat her up later. Fun aside: as a gender stereotype (I don't stand for these, but sometimes they're entertaining in small and harmless doses!) Shale's "cattiness", as Wynne put it, is rather fitting now.

Oghren's a weird cookie. I didn't get any conversations with him about why he chose to accompany me. Instead he just is, I guess? I have a theory, though. Since I'm playing the Ultimate Edition I have access to all the DLC and while I've generally avoided artificially +50-ing companion loyalty (or whatever it's called) I did so with him kinda inadvertently, thinking it was a different item. So as soon as I was done with A Paragon of Her Kind when I pressed X on his ugly mug he started talking to me about some old flame of his and it's pretty obvious this is is personal mission. So I think I accidentally bypassed that entire phase.

Either that or it simply doesn't exist. Which would be... Odd. What if I didn't want him hanging around? He's a good axe-arm and I could use a stout dwarf (Shale got too tall for it) but yeah!

Speaking of which, does Zevran not have one of those-there companion mission do-dads? He once almost told me about his "most interesting op" or something but cut himself off and no latter how many times I threaten to talk to him he won't spit it out or even say "eh, nevermind LOL" like he did the once back in Orzammar. Ungrateful little.... I found those boots just for him! Allegedly.

[Ferretinabun]

Yeah, Oghren does just kinda invite himself along. Essentially he's a dead weight in Orzammar since his disgrace, so it kinda makes sense that he'd leave to fight a Blight, but it does feel like there's a conversation missing where he actually asks to join. But then, what's a good fantasy story without a feisty, drunken Dwarf?

And yes, Zevran does have a personal quest - you just haven't gotten to it yet. It's triggered by a plot point, not by a conversation you have with him. You won't miss it.

[Jaison1986]

Talk to Oghren when you give him booze. There is usually some humurous dialogue from him. He is the hardest companion to get at 100 approval since very few quests net approval from him, so you usually need to build it with Gifts alone.

And as for Zevran, make sure you get his approval above 40 before doing his personal quest, otherwise, it won't be pretty.

[mousestalker]

FWIW, if Zevran's romance is pretty thoroughly bugged. If you switch to the PC there is an excellent mod that fixes it. Unbugged, Zevran has my favourite romance.

As it is, if you romance anyone, you may want to not romance Zev. It isn't impossible, but some of the dialogue really does not make much sense.

I hope that wasn't too spoilery? The other romances work pretty much as intended out of the box.

[JeffZero]

Nope, not too spoilery at all, my friend! That's very good to know. I greatly appreciate the fact that this little journal has attracted some attention! I'm learning a great deal and it's fun coming back everyday and seeing who's posted. And most importantly, it's an excellent motivator. For I have made a bit more progress!

Had a swell little heart-to-stone with Shale, who has definitely impressed me more of late. I've always enjoyed her company (I don't think there's been a single BioWare party member I've genuinely disliked mind you) but she felt so necessarily disconnected until Calidin. Have I mentioned how glad I am I brought her along for that? Because I'm glad I brought her along for that.

Ran into one of Oghren's old flames at Lake Calenhad too. That was fun. Do those shady patrons simply tie in with the Sacred Ashes quest or are they there for something else? Because they've never left and it's unsettling. Also saw a Templar praying for the souls of the departed back at the Tower; nifty detail. And I got Dagra a full ride for a seemingly useless degree, so have fun, Dagra. Oh, and I got an honorable topsider's sword and assassinated an ambassador and felt bad afterward and then reported back to Ignacio and slew Howe's agents and felt good afterward and run-on sentences help illustrate frantic pacing but here's the end of this one.

And at last it was time. Displaced-Cousland-turned-de-facto-Warden-Commander Aedan, bastard-turned-Warden-turned-ROYAL-bastard Alistair, bard-turned-sister-turned-bardsister Leliana and no-turned-yes-turned-dressed-in-Legion-of-the-Dead-and-looking-deadly-for-it Sten approached the hall of Arl-turned-coma-turned-Arl Eamon, they and theirs ready to call this Landsmeet and meet this traitor and try his power and powerfully turn to the darkspawn thereafter.

After a brief narration introduced me formally to a place I've been visiting periodically for 60 hours, I was treated to an opener between my forces and Loghain and Howe themselves.

This seems like as good a time as any to inform everyone I've been reading The Stolen Throne for a few days now. I'm on page 350 or so. So I've really gotten to know the Loghain of 30 years prior. It feels quite odd saying this but *I* must be vague lest *I* spoil any of *you* who have not yet read it but intend to; I will however mention that it's a pretty good book and as far as game tie-ins are concerned it's fantastic. I thought Drew Karpyshyn's second and third Mass Effect novels, decent enough as they were, were the best game novels I'd read, but Gaider is far more true author than Drew. No offense, Drew, I love what you did with space and an Xbox 360.

I mentioned that to mention this: I really do view Loghain separately now from when I began this topic. What foulness has befallen him? What madness is this? How could he fall so far as to align himself with the likes of Howe? Perhaps the last hundred pages of this book will begin to shed light, but it's been 30 years now. A lot happens in 30 years. I am predicting he signaled the retreat because he believed it tactically required, though. Short of Reaper indoctrination I just don't see how else that could... Ugh.

Aedan has been tempered in the fires of a war which, if it really is two weeks, four days between the Circle Tower and Orzammar, must surely have been raging for almost a year now. He is not the pup of Bryce Cousland any longer. He is a man grown, a man aged far beyond his face, a man who has learned hate -- and love. But upon seeing Howe stand before him, proud, boastful and hideous, he breaks. "Blood price!" The words ring like just silk. I will see this man suffer.

Soon.

But for now, we plan. Loghain marched away angry as ever and it wasn't long before news was received that Queen Anora herself may be Howe's latest target. That he thinks himself so far above the stratum... blood price. Blood price.

I don't know what to make of this Anora but I'd rescue a genlock from that true spawn of darkness and I can surely imagine she'd be useful under the right circumstances. We're off.

Along the way, we ran into some of Zevran's old friends. Zevran just so happened to be in my party because I liked the idea of a Crow accompanying me to the estate. We dealt with this filth and he was free at last. He seemed to relish the idea of wandering wayward, and I wasn't going to stop him by point of sword or anything, but I did remind him of all the treasure and he acquiesced. You can wander when this is ended.

Soon.

[Corker]

JeffZero wrote...

I mentioned that to mention this: I really do view Loghain separately now from when I began this topic. What foulness has befallen him? What madness is this? How could he fall so far as to align himself with the likes of Howe?

I almost dare say nothing, because in general just mentioning Loghain and his motivations is enough to derail a thread past all hope of recovery, but...

Because they were sacking Highever, Howe's men were not at Ostagar.  That gives him a small army to command.  Loghain has his own, of course, but why would he refuse the aid of an arl?

Howe demonstrates efficacy by using that small army to restore order in Denerim, squashing the Alienage riots and installing himself as the arl.  At that point, he has claims on Highever (a teyrnir), Amaranthine, and Denerim. That's a huge swath of northeast Ferelden, including three major port cities.  I'm sure Loghain sees the naked ambition there, but it's got to be better to have Howe on his side than with the forces arrayed against him.

Anything else, justice for Highever included, will just have to wait until he's saved Ferelden, I suspect.

Modifié par Corker, 14 février 2014 - 09:18 .

[JeffZero]

So Loghain *does* have noble ambitions, however impure. So he *isn't* going to turn out to be a body double or something equally out-of-place and less compelling. That's good news.

I'll certainly continue roleplaying Aedan as relatively in the dark about such matters (although I like to think after many months on the road surely he's given it ample thought and a little research too) until such time as Loghain decides to be a bit more forthcoming.

[caradoc2000]

JeffZero wrote...

I greatly appreciate the fact that this little journal has attracted some attention!

Attention is fine, but I did start a new dalish elf playthrough because of it.

ME VAs: you did notice that Lord Harrowmont is Zaeed, Oghren is Grunt and Ser Cauthrien (Loghains lieutenant) is Sam Traynor.

[Corker]

*I* believe that's how his character was meant to be interpreted, anyhow. IMO, the narrative is much more compelling if Loghain has good intentions paving the road he's on.

However, you can find threads a-plenty hereabout arguing all sides and facets of Loghain's character and actions, what he knew when, what he intended when, and how nefarious or not that makes him.

[JeffZero]

Intriguing stuff. I concur with you the narrative is much richer with the "road to hell" paved within. I like noble failures and vile monsters both in epic-style storytelling, and I believe Howe is monstrous enough even without the darkspawn to further that element. Then there are others like Uldred right alongside. Wonderfully, there are Zathrians and -- indeed -- Loghains too.

@caradoc:

Badassfully! Quite glad to inspire! Have fun. How many playthroughs will this be for you?

RIP, Zaeed AND Harrowmont, then. Sachs. Oghren is Steve Blum, so he's half a hundred characters I know and love. Talented man there. Didn't realize Sam made her way in as well though, but I certainly hear it now.

Spoiler alert: I've been playing again for over an hour. I've made my way into some satisfying moments to say the least. I don't think I need to elaborate further to tell you gurus what I mean. But I'm going to do another stupidly long all-encompassing update later or tomorrow to catch everyone up on all the things they... already know.

[Ferretinabun]

JeffZero wrote...

Along the way, we ran into some of Zevran's old friends...

Soon.

Just so you know, that was Zev's personal quest. More an encounter than quest really, but yeah.

Just in case you were expecting something more.

[JeffZero]

Uh. Well. So.

I spent the entire night.

And. Well.

I beat it.

And. Wow.

And. I have a looooooot to talk about.

But it's four in the morning. So. Expect several long posts tomorrow.

Amazing game by the way. In case you were wondering. Do play it.

>___>

[JeffZero]

Oh god, so I don't even know where to begin with this. Where did we leave off? *rummages through thread* Ah, bach. Well geez. OK. Sorry if this all ends up rather scatterbrained until near the end, but the finale was so poignant for me I'm having a hard time considering the rest right now. I think I'll just perform a cursory examination of some of these other things, I mean, it's not like y'all haven't seen 'em a dozen times before yourselves anyway.

Went for a stroll to Howe's undeserved manse. Snuck in through the back. Made some noise, because screw you, Howe. And then, at the end of the dungeon, literally, figuratively, and damn near psychologically, stood the bastard himself. The exchange here was amazing. I'm so glad I chose Human Noble. Howe had a fantastic line just before the battle commenced, telling Aedan his father would be proud of what he'd become, but only in the sense that this just means he wants him dead all the more. My fingertips took over for that brief encounter; my blood was boiling. I've mentioned before that I vastly prefer when main characters aren't silent, so it's phenomenal how BioWare managed to get my Aedan-ese adrenaline pumping several times throughout Origins. This was a pinnacle in that regard. And it felt so good to end this monster.

Ran into... dammit, what was her name again? I could scroll up, but let's just call her Samantha Traynor... on my way out. I would have offered her a game of chess to settle our differences amicably, but it wasn't meant to be. Later I realized that perhaps I was supposed to don my disguises again? Anora's snarky little "you completely missed the point of my disguise" alerted me to that potentiality. Well, too bad, princess. How does that Han Solo line go? Either I hate her or I'm starting to like her? Sounds about right. I've always had a strong soft spot for soft strong women. Too bad for your little alliance idea, though, Anora -- three things working against it. Firstly, Leliana wouldn't appreciate my wedding you, if that's indeed where this was going. Secondly, my duty to the Wardens supersedes any notion of throne inheritance. And perhaps most importantly of all, I'm putting a Theirin back on the throne so help me.

Alistair was none too pleased with this idea, as I knew he wouldn't be. But I genuinely believe it's the best thing for the people of Ferelden to have, not only to stop Loghain's rule but for the days following the end of the Blight as well. He's really, really not happy, but you know what? I greatly enjoy the dynamic Alistair and Aedan have had. Brothers in life and death, all that jazz. They quarrel, but they love one-another. Here's another great example of the power the writers managed to instill in the interpersonal relationships a "silent" lead could hold.

Then we visited the elves. Finally? Nice place they've got here. Nice... tree. Oh, and I helped Ser Owen on a quest whose ending had clear ties to my Stephen King joke from earlier. Maker watch over you, departed templar. And I finally met some Tevinter... ites? Teventir... i? Teventiri! That sounds awesome, let's go with that. Well, my travels in life have taught me never to judge a people by one representation, and I think Aedan's journey certainly mirrors my real-life growth in that regard. But this was not a good first impression as far as "defying expectations of a people that allegedly brought so much suffering to Thedas" is concerned. Killed that charmingly gay man with feathers for shoulders, because he was also a total tyrant. Lots of killing in Denerim today.

Spoke with a few nobles. Got a couple of pledges. And it was time for the Landsmeet. Most of Ferelden sided with the Grey Warden, which was excellent to behold. Nice that a couple of peeps still held out for Loghain too though. Apparently a 6-2 (or so) was a stalemate though? So we dueled, Loghain and I. Funny how it not only allowed Alistair to champion (fitting; almost rolled with it) but also Sten... and... Wynne. Can you imagine that? "Wynne, slay this man." Oh god, what if I had Garrus in my party? The, er, dog, I mean. What if I had Dog in my party? Could that have happened? That would have been... wow.

It was over practically before it began. Loghain was one of the finest warriors in Ferelden, but Aedan was young, vital, and had been forged in the fires of every conflict in the nation. Afterward, I was tasked with a difficult decision.

Loghain yielded. For Anora's sake, for mercy's sake, for the sake of a man who had sacrificed so much to unite the land against its Orlesian oppressors 30 years ago, I wanted to see him walk away, in some form. But for everything he had done -- and most pressingly of all, as I briefly considered it, for Alistair, who was incredulous with my even passing flirtation with the idea, and I worried what effect this would have on a newly-appointed king -- I rejected Riordan's offer. Tempting though it was to increase our numbers from three to four, I couldn't do it. For Alistair if nothing else, Loghain had to die.

Choked up a little when the former Hero of Ferelden spoke to Anora. Choked up a bit more when the former Hero of Ferelden told Aedan he felt the realm was in good hands after all. And then Aedan slew him and his blood flew upon his daughter and it was done.

More to come.

[JeffZero]

But the battle was only beginning. We made haste back to Redcliffe, only to discover a darkspawn assault had commenced. Some tough fights toward the end here. Lots of barely avoiding getting cornered in that same courtyard I once destroyed a Revenant. We made it. And then news came from Riordan: the main force was marching on Denerim. Curses! How could we ever hope to arrive there in time to save it? We couldn't. But we could, however, man a counterattack and save what was left of it -- and of Ferelden. The game was on.

That night, Riordan exposed Aedan and Alistair to the dark truth behind the destruction of the archdemon. Ouch. BioWare, *ouch.* Naturally I knew at once Riordan wasn't going to make it. There'd be no player agency otherwise, unless some wonky ME2/3-style interrupt plugged in allowing the Warden to take Riordan's place. Which would be really, really stupid. Because Riordan kicks ass but his time's almost up anyway. So yeah. Found myself wishing Loghain were there beside us. That would have been a terrific end to his character. But I think this was as well and again, happy Alistairs make clapping Fereldans. Just like mama always said.

Then another game-changer. Morrigan revealed Flemeth's true purpose in saving the Wardens. Wow, what the hell. This was getting very intense. This was a harder decision than the Loghain thing, even. Here's what I weighed:

*Aedan would willingly die to end the Blight, young though he is, because he's also "old" now, and in his "age" he's seen the horrors of the world and what it takes to accomplish true greatness. He's also seen the wonders. Think John Crichton from Farscape, right? Conveniently, I have a picture for reference to the left of this post.

*Aedan would sooner die himself than allow the soon-to-be-king to do the same. So an Alistair sacrifice, if he could help it, would not be an option.

*Morrigan is such an enigma. And that she would only come forward with this new deeply troubled him. And me for that matter. And this Old God baby idea? And her inability to be forthcoming about more information on the matter? Troubling. Very troubling.

*On the other hand, Aedan doesn't exactly want to die, either. He has Leliana. More selflessly, he wants so very deeply to see the Ferelden Grey Wardens restored to greatness. He worries that he alone can accomplish this.

*Such goal in hand, could Morrigan perhaps be thwarted years down the road should her ambitions prove utterly impure? Perhaps. Perhaps not. But Aedan was about to slay an archdemon or die trying, anyway. Although beyond knowing, there was a respectable chance Morrigan's... darkspawn... could be dealt with similarly as well.

Filled with far more reluctance than the cheesy sex scene called for, Aedan relented. The deed was done. What this would bring to Ferelden -- no, Thedas -- would remain a mystery. For now.

It was time to #FightForTheLost.