127 réponses à ce sujet

[JeffZero]

Although I have a huge pet peeve when it comes to compression grain in video (willing to bet this isn't as much of an issue on PC, but man, DA:O and ME2 [but not 1, go figure] both have such an issue with it on consoles) the entry cutscenes for the Battle of Denerim were magnificent. All I could have hoped for. Unpopular BSN opinion time, but I really, really love much of the atmosphere involved in ME3's climax, and this was the dark fantasy equivalent. Justifiably so!

Alistair delivered a kickass little speech. See? He's kingly material, dammit. And then we stormed the gates of Valhalla itself. All Aedan's companions were visible here, which was a terrific touch worthy of special mention. The Normandy of Ferelden saw many losses on both sides, but the initial onslaught was finished. Time for the rest.

Riordan informed us of the generals and I knew at once they had to be dealt with first. If it cost us troops, so be it. If it proved a fatal decision, I'd die standing by it. The nifty army selection system soon showed up, and I had Redcliffe men, mages, dwarves and Dalish elves at my disposal, but I refrained from using them for as long as possible, getting through the marketplace without them and then the alienage as well. But Christ was it close.

Called some elves forth during the Royal Palace, which directly succeeded a nifty segment in which I got to take the reins of Oghren and his fellows. Which reminds me I didn't mention the tearful goodbye sequence with all the companions. Potential goodbye, anyway. That was excellent. But anyway. Royal Palace was "secured" and it was on to Drakon.

As expected, Riordan met his end. Unexpected, however, was how completely badass he was in the process. Some almost Kojima Productions level fighting here. Magnificent.

Nice place you've got here, Ferelden. Oh my god, oh my god. Enemies everywhere. I will destroy them! Hold on! Aaaahhhh, POWER WHEEL.

Come forth my dwarves! Let your steel be their answer!

Phew.

And that was just the entrance.

Along the way, I ran into Sandal. I'm beginning to suspect he's an Old God. Well there you have it ladies and gentlemen: if Morrigan's child cloaks the world in darkness, Sandal will... enchant that world and everything will sparkle.

Aedan. Alistair. Wynne. Sten. These would be the four to show the archdemon the door or have the future of Ferelden firmly shut against them. There it flew, at the perch of Fort Drakon, clawing and breathing hell upon the good men and women who had kept it occupied. I had its number though. And Aedan, legacy of the Wardens, would end it. Or Alistair, with a kingly tale. Or Sten, with quite another answer for the qunari. Or Wynne, who would... well that would be... eh, I guess I already made this joke.

Hard as hell. I spent at least 100 health poultices of varying shapes and sizes and Wynne came within a few points of death at least 30 times despite my best efforts to keep her out of harm's way. To say that luck may well have factored in my not losing even once would be an understatement. My trigger-happy poultice fun time just happened to slide with the rest of the frantic proceedings every single time it desperately needed to and I don't know how that happened but it's stellar.

Things really went to hell in a handbasket around midway through the darkspawn army's arrival at the scene. I had 44 dwarves with me when the battle began and only 18 survived, so I think that says everything. I was too preoccupied with the carnage to land any hits on the archdemon itself, and it wasn't until nearly every single creature on the map was wiped -- including my Orzammar allies -- that I grabbed a ballista like Shepard on Rannoch and fired away.

Oddly, it didn't seem to appreciate that.

Like the High Dragon "Andraste" before it, the archdemon's last fifth was the best of fifths and the worst of fifths. And like the High Dragon, Wynne faltered at last with just a few percentage points left on the enemy's considerable life bar. But this time, Aedan did not join her in the realm of the unconscious. Funnily enough though, it was Sten who dealt the game-side killing blow, with a line that had me bursting into a frenzy of manic giggling loud enough for my roommates to have wondered what drugs I was on:

"I have silenced it."

Yeah. OK Sten. Go to bed.

Then the real killing blow. And you know how I was talking about, well, Aedan's lack of talking earlier? That single profound scream was almost enough to make up for it entirely. That was incredible. And it was dead. Whatever price was paid for a lack of individual sacrifice, the death toll in Ferelden ensured this was no overly happy ending.

Speaking of endings...

[JeffZero]

Very few endings across just about any media (although books dominate much of this list) touch me so profoundly and hit so many intended marks so flawlessly so as to reach the topmost echelon of my all-time favorites. In gaming, the list is quite short and mostly Japanese, actually. Final Fantasy VII, Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid 3, Metal Gear Solid 4 (yeah, yeah, insert "did you go out to eat and come back to see the last five minutes or something?" joke here). There are a few others, but not many. To be sure, I tolerate and even enjoy a great many endings. Including that highly infamous one you all know what I'm referring to by now, as of June 2012 anyway. But it's rare form indeed for me to fall apart in glee or bittersweet adoration.

I'm happy to say Dragon Age: Origins just about fits that bill.

It was just so delightful being given the time to speak with everyone one last time, as a genuine denouement. That was what did it for me. That practically never happens in games. Strangely it reminds me of something science fiction television creator J. Michael Straczynski once said concerning his idea for cult space series Babylon 5. He said that most science fiction, most war stories in general, concern themselves only with the war itself, without troubling to mull over what comes afterward. That to him that is as important a question, if not more so. There's nothing clean in the months, years, lifetimes, that follow. But there's light and dark because the tunnel keeps going. The tunnel continues. Insert endless Deep Roads segment joke here. If you must. 

And it continues for the men and women of Aedan Cousland's legendary origins. I can't think of a more fitting salute to what the Dragon Age: Origins writers clearly aimed to achieve with this Post-Coronation than that.

Then of course there was the epilogue, which I also appreciated. I got to see how things went down for the rest of the realm following my decisions. Knowing that Dragon Age was conceived as a series means I also know I'll get to at least indirectly follow up on a lot of this in "real time", but that doesn't change the touches of polish that went into all this. Of particular note, it appears Orzammar isn't going to have it easy now. I guess I always knew that, but it pains me to see. But this is what I love in endings: the bittersweet. I want real sweetness too, mind you, and I have that in knowing Aedan and Leliana will have their fun together, and I have that in knowing deep down Alistair will make a great king, and I have that in hearing Wynne speak of she and Shale journeying to Tevinter together, and Oghren considering looking ol' what's-her-name up as promised, and Sten finding an answer for good and all and Dagra's accomplishments at the Circle Tower and Lanaya and the Dalish founding lands and Teagan's popular role as arl and so much more.

But I have the bitterness of my decisions to accompany all that. I have Morrigan disappearing beyond the Frostback Mountains; perhaps Witch Hunt will eventually shine light on this, or perhaps Awakening or 2 or Inquisition will do so. But for now it's troublesome. I have the bitter pill that must always be swallowed in knowing how many gave their lives for this cause. For Duncan, Riordan. Zathrian. So many whose names end with "n'". There are too many people in this world whose names end with "n". That's bitter, too.

But Aedan's journey is not yet over. It says so right here in the credits, three years before "aaaalright, oooone more stooory". If nothing else there's an Awakening to attend to, and as I understand it, a few Golems in Amgarrak and the aforementioned Morrigan-related adventure after that. And Thedas' story is only just beginning.

The tunnel continues.

Fantastic game.

Modifié par JeffZero, 15 février 2014 - 05:42 .

[JeffZero]

Oh snap, ONE MORE POST.

Is that 30 Seconds to Mars? Why yes it is. I'm a Jared Leto hipster, I liked his work a lot more in the first album when it was very prog. Second album was alright. Third was ugh. But that's just my opinion, no need to go spreading it around.

More importantly though, I AM THE ONE IS SO GOOD. WOW. I think I somehow neglected to mention Leliana singing to the party (maybe I didn't, I don't know, not looking through all those posts now) but it was great to hear it again. And this version was... well, this song is going up there almost with M4, Part II for me.

OK. Whew. Done.

[caradoc2000]

JeffZero wrote...

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?

Didn't notice this one yesterday. Yes, if you ask the bartender about clues regarding Genitivi, you will be attacked by cultists when you go outside.

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.

There are several ways to handle this. You can fight her or you can surrender (Cauthrien only captures you - and Alistair if he is with you). If you surrender you get a fun little side quest in which you have to escape the prison. You can choose to free yourself or get two of your party members to break you out. I'd definitely suggest you try the latter for various combinations (such as Sten/Dog or Morrigan/Leliana), it is hilarious.

Alistair was none too pleased with this idea, as I knew he wouldn't be.

Alistair's reaction depends on whether he was "hardened" or not.

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?

You can suggest the dog, but it won't happen, but you do get some fun dialogue.

Modifié par caradoc2000, 15 février 2014 - 06:14 .

[mousestalker]

Your account of your play through has been quite enjoyable.

At some point, you may want to try out the other origins. They all play out at least slightly different.

Modifié par mousestalker, 15 février 2014 - 06:16 .

[JeffZero]

You can get thrown in jail instead? Oh that's so cool! I think I would have probably enjoyed that more. Next file I'm definitely orchestrating that most cherished of fantasy cliches, yes sir. And Alistair is different about all this under certain conditions... Nifty. Mordin-esque.

...take a drink every time I reference Mass Effect in this topic...

Yeah, I will definitely sample someone else next twirl. Thinking City Elf. Female. Rogue. Or maybe a female Dalish rogue. One of the two.

I'm going to do the "rest" of DA1 very, very soon. I think it'd make the most sense for me to continue chronicling it here instead of making a new thread in the Awakenings sub-forum, but when I reach DA2 I'll go ahead and start something in the DA2 section. If any of my readers wish to continue following my heroic exploits that'd suit my inner Leo just lionly.

For now, however, I do want to discuss my only real qualms with Origins. No game is perfect, but most of my quibbles are technical and doubtless less problematic (if at all) on PC. Meaning the frame stuttering mirroring ME1's Citadel (take a drink) all over the place was the biggest issue. It really did cause some battle-related frustration here and there for fairly obvious reasons. I know switching to PC would mitigate that but full disclosure: I don't even own one of those right now, haha. Eventually.

On a related note the long auto-save times kind of cut the tension a little bit. But I mean this is just pulling at strings really. So I'll move on to my one major storytelling problem.

The companions were too silent far too often.

Take a drink, because ME1 flashbacks. But it stands out more here because, well, frankly, Origins is just a much bigger, much longer experience. Party banter was fabulous when it happened but I wish it happened a little more often; more to the point, though, the party camp really could have used twice or thrice the word budget.

Rather than making blanket statements without specifics, I'll hone in on the greatest offender: Alistair, whose character itself made up for it by being awesome and relevant as hell but ASK AWAY. OF COURSE. ABOUT THE GREY WARDENS, ANYWAY. ASK AWAY. OF COURSE. OF COURSE. OF COURSE.

NEVER MIND.

;_;

Talk to me, my brother. Speak to me, my closest friend.

I am hardly surprised. It speaks. As you wish. So full of questions are we. What say you? ZEVRAN WHAT SAY *YOU*

But I digress. I can't think of much else "wrong" with Origins. Some of my technical difficulties distracted and some of the camp saminess detracted and maybe some of the longer dungeon treks were a bit overlong for my taste but that's about it.

What about y'all? Any outstanding issues? Or maybe some favorite aspects instead? I think I spoke a novella's worth on those.

[caradoc2000]

JeffZero wrote...

You can get thrown in jail instead? Oh that's so cool! I think I would have probably enjoyed that more.

Especially as a human noble, since you can see the dead bodies of people from castle Cousland in there (such as Ser Gilmore and Mother Mallol) - likely tortured by Howe.

And Alistair is different about all this under certain conditions... Nifty. Mordin-esque.

You can "harden" both Alistair and Leliana in their respective conversations after their personal quests (Goldanna and Marjolaine). This changes their attitudes to some decisions you make. Hardened Alistair, for example, has no problems becoming king.

Yeah, I will definitely sample someone else next twirl. Thinking City Elf. Female. Rogue. Or maybe a female Dalish rogue. One of the two.

I'd suggest female city elf. The city elf origin differs a bit depending on whether you play a male or a female character. It has a quite graphic portayal of how the elves are treated by humans. Both dwarf Origins (noble and commoner) are also nice, and the Orzammar segment is quite different for these characters.

I'm going to do the "rest" of DA1 very, very soon.

Two caveats for Awakening. First, most DLC items (such as the Warden Commander Armor from Warden's Peak) DO NOT import into Awakening neither do the items equipped by your followers. Only one of your companions will be returning and even he has new starting gear. So to prepare for the import save, sell all the items you do not need. Money does import and you'll be needing lots of it, as you will find out castle upkeep is pretty expensive. As to your equipment, you get better stuff soon anyway. Awakening raises the level cap from 25 to 35, and adds two new equipment tiers (8 and 9).

Second, Awakening is notoriously buggy, so make frequent saves in separate slots. Particularly BEFORE you enter the Silverite Mines. It has a nasty bug that may occur when you enter and the game autosaves inside the mine.

What about y'all? Any outstanding issues? Or maybe some favorite aspects instead? I think I spoke a novella's worth on those.

I've completed DAO about a dozen times, including at least once per Origin. My favorite Origin is female Dalish Elf, but I am biased for that as it was my first playthrough. She romanced Alistair and got herself killed in the final battle after Alistair dumped her like a bad penny upon becoming a King. BTW, if you spare Loghain, Alistair leaves your party for good with the equipment.

Overall, I think DAO has some great morally ambiguous quests. It is also long enough to get attached to the characters.

Modifié par caradoc2000, 15 février 2014 - 08:24 .

[mousestalker]

To echo caradoc2000, if you are intending to drive away a companion (sparing Loghain does that for Alistair), strip them of their gear first. Alistair routinely appears naked at the Landsmeet in my games due to sheer amusement value, as do Daveth and Ser Jory at the Joining.

There are a lot of topics as to which origins people prefer. A simple search should reveal them. Some people simply list them whereas others go into the pros and cons. The consensus is that the female city elf origin is better than the male, but your mileage may vary.

As for Awakening, what seems to set off the Silverite Mine bug is having certain special gear, especially DLC gear. You may want to check the DA wiki for particulars. I generally start Awakening with nice tier 7 generic gear and a lot of cash. You can generate the cash by visiting camp after the epilogue and selling all your companions' gear to Bodahn. If you have the storage chest at Soldier's Peak, then you can also store stuff there until you sell anything that isn't absolutely essential to Levi. You will lose everything that is not in your inventory in the transfer from Origins to Awakening.

Modifié par mousestalker, 15 février 2014 - 09:47 .

[caradoc2000]

mousestalker wrote...

Alistair routinely appears naked at the Landsmeet in my games due to sheer amusement value, as do Daveth and Ser Jory at the Joining.

Like this?

[DarthGizka]

Gorim always keeps some commoner clothing or a Chantry robe in storage for me, in case Alistair gets up to his usual antics.

Modifié par DarthGizka, 15 février 2014 - 09:58 .

[Jaison1986]

I see you completed the game. So stuff I have to say:

You seem to have an level of... admiration for Loghain? So, you can actually spare him without losing Alistair. Here is how you do it: When you meet Alistair sister in his personal quest, choose the line "everyone is out for themselves" this will harden his personality. Then convince Alistair to marry Anora before the landsmeet, and voilá, Alistair becomes king and Loghain gets recruited in the Wardens. I kind of like that option.

[caradoc2000]

Jaison1986 wrote...

Alistair becomes king and Loghain gets recruited in the Wardens.

Alistair still leaves the party.

[Jaison1986]

caradoc2000 wrote...

Jaison1986 wrote...

Alistair becomes king and Loghain gets recruited in the Wardens.

Alistair still leaves the party.

I know, but at least he doesn't leave Ferelden in this option.

[JeffZero]

caradoc, thank you for all your valuable insight! That bit about Awakening being notoriously buggy in particular sounds like it's going to save me quiiite a bit of frustration. Hopefully, anyway. I have my things prepared for a trip to... the... place Awakening is set.

I think I "hardened" Leliana. Got her to accept that she's always going to be part bard and such. I suppose when I have time I'll look up just what exactly I accomplished there and half a hundred other places, hehe.

So Alistair would have walked on me if I had spared Loghain... that's rough, but he'd still be king at least. And he'd still take part in the battle somehow, I imagine? Or would he... not? That would be... weird. I have to say, I really dig the idea of a "Loghain's Redemption" style ending. I'll definitely do so eventually, but for this file at least, I felt like there was a bond between Aedan and Alistair too sacred to let anything, anyone -- maybe even Leliana if it came down to it -- get in the way.

In any case, it sounds like I have some Awakening glitch homework to attend to.

[caradoc2000]

JeffZero wrote...

I have my things prepared for a trip to... the... place Awakening is set.

It is set in Amaranthine, Howe's former arling, given to the Grey Wardens after DAO. You will go there to become the new Arl and to start rebuilding the Fereldan Grey Wardens (you can recruit all your new companions into Wardens). It begins six months after DAO.

Modifié par caradoc2000, 16 février 2014 - 03:04 .

[JeffZero]

Ha! The Howe name relevant once more. I'll strut about all cavalier, wearing his shield on my back because it... has a +6 to defense. :/

[caradoc2000]

As a side note, you won't have Garrus - the dog, that is, for Awakening. It is revealed why in Witch Hunt (where he returns).

[JeffZero]

Huh, OK.

Starting up Awakening tonight. I don't have terribly much time for it before I ought to hit the sack, but I'll at least make my way through its opening aspects.

[DarthGizka]

You may want to do the Darkspawn Chronicles before Awakening, while the memory of your first Denerim battle is still fresh.

It might also be beneficial to run your Origins character through Witch Hunt, for similar reasons. Not to mention that you gain an extra level or so and some gear (including a respec tome that will be useful in Amgarrak).

Modifié par DarthGizka, 17 février 2014 - 09:20 .

[JeffZero]

Oh, I thought there was a "canon" order of Awakening -> Golems -> Witch Hunt and that that was the only order by which imports could be done?

[Jaison1986]

Yeah, that's the actual order, Story wise, I suggest you leave Witch hunt for last.

[Ferretinabun]

JeffZero wrote...

Oh, I thought there was a "canon" order of Awakening -> Golems -> Witch Hunt and that that was the only order by which imports could be done?

That's correct. But Darkspawn Chronicles and Leliana's Song are standalone stories that can be done at any time (and are optional, frankly). The Darkspawn Chronicles takes place in an 'alternative universe' and covers the events of the Battle fo Denerim, while Leliana's Song is a prequel and follows Leliana before the events of Origins. Neither feature the Warden and neither have any choices to be imported through other games, so can be easily done if and when you fancy.

[JeffZero]

Oh, I did (and quite enjoyed) Leliana's Song. I'm grateful to have done so prior to bumping into Marjolaine. Someone let me in on that hot little tip ahead of time.

As for Darkspawn Chronicles, I have a strange "meh" feeling on playing it, but I don't even entirely know quite why. I think since I've already begun Awakening I'll try to remember to leap on that afterward? In any case, initial thoughts on the first couple of hours of the expansion are pending, just as soon as I get myself to a late enough breakfast that I suppose I should just say early lunch.

Impressions spoiler: it's good so far but definitely suffers from one too many technical flare-ups.

[mousestalker]

There is an excellent compilation of all the bugs sorted by platform in the wiki. It also is sort of spoilery. It does give some very helpful hints on how to avoid or work around many of the bugs.

FWIW, despite the lack of romance, I really liked the Awakening companions. One of them is one of my all time favourites. <3

Modifié par mousestalker, 17 février 2014 - 03:56 .

[JeffZero]

Neat, thanks. Skimming it now. Better to be minorly spoiled than majorly screwedeled.

It has been six months since the Archdemon's defeat at the hands of the ragtag Fereldan defenders. Six months since Aedan plunged his sword through its form, surviving the ordeal thanks to Morrigan's mysticism. I know you're all dying to finally know what canonically occurs to the Grey Warden in the interim, so I'm here to establish a forced canon, eliminating player agency: he/she travels through Orlais alongside his/her beloved Leliana in the hit new Dark Horse comic series from Mass Effect 2 and 3 lead writer Mac Walters: Dragon Age Song Bard Chevalier Hero In-Between Saga Perdition. Last word in the title required by Mac Rule of Cool #8 -- "ion" suffix is cruise control for awesome.

It was a dark and stormy night. Aedan, accompanied by Private Ser Leroya Jenkinsa, arrived at Vigil's Keep to discover it under darkspawn assault. It seems the post-war really does concern Gaider as well, or at least it does whenever a Blight doesn't end as intended. Something wicked remains.

Carving a path through old familiar foes, Aedan and Cerberus scientist Ser Wilsona ran into Anders, an apparent apostate with just as dreadful a love of feathered shoulders as that charmingly gay-cliche Tevinter schmuck from the Denerim Alienage and his idol velociraptor. Concerns of blood magic and vile realm-conquering seemed trivial at the moment, so he was allowed to tag along for now. Elsewhere, Ol' Burpspawn himself rejoined, thoughts of Grey Wardenism on his mind further cementing his role as insane. The Darkspawn Ravager turned every subsequent encounter into cakewalk central, by the way, eliminating some of the pangs I felt from CANONWARDEN CANONICALLY tripping in an Orlesian alleyway and getting mugged of his Blood Dragon set in Issue #3: "Invader Pirates from Space! Omega Mercenaries Steal Aedan's Stuff! And They Don't Even Apologize."

Terrible comic by the way.

At some point a dwarf is blowing something up or something but the level up screen blocks the entire cutscene because I'm not allowed to see this event apparently. Lots of explosions in the background but blocked from content access... I feel this was Gaider's little joke against net neutrality. Clearly. Couldn't have been a bug. Perish thought.

At the end of the mission, a talking darkspawn challenged us. But everyone knows darkspawn don't talk, so we pummeled this fakespawn and tried our best to pretend we were dreaming. Except no doubt we weren't. So this is gonna get weird. Maybe there'll be an option to side with some of these darkspawn somehow, and I'll be like "LOL NO" until DC Douglas voices one, explains that he covered part of his body with Aedan's old shield because "there was a hole" and somebody down your entire beverage here's a meta Mass Effect reference indeed.

Bumped into Alistair! Deliciousness. Wasn't expecting to see him or any of Origins' companions after Leliana's little note made it clear to me Amaranthine stands separately, but there went Oghren joining my party too. Told the Femplar to shove it because Anders was useful and as another name for Aedan Cousland is Luke Skywalker, there is the contemplation of rebuilding the Jedi Order to consider. In my understanding, "taking the black" is very Grey Warden conscription-ese, and if rapists can defend George RR Martin's kingdoms, surely a man whose gravest offense is avian fashion sense can slum it up with a commander who once shot Loghain's fatal blood all over Queen Anora's horrified countenance.

Speaking of Joinings, those happened. Quibble: melancholy Vigil's Keep music continuing to play in the background for so momentous an occasion seems... awkward. Well, it wouldn't have been so bad if it weren't for the sad passing of Republic officer Ser Traska Ulgoa. (Ha! Wasn't sure if I played KOTOR? Well... I didn't. I just knew that somehow. ;_

I do quite dig the concept of playing the Commander of the Grey, by the way. Rebuilding the order is precisely what I wanted to do and told Alistair as such. Nifty that I get to play my wish, but I'm sure those who desired otherwise for the Warden may have felt kind of disappointed. Then again, a six-month gap is noteworthy.

More to come.