Good time for you to wrap up DA2.
I just did MotA on one of my older characters. I used a bit more unusual (at least for me) party composition: 3 rogues (Archer Hawke, Isabela, and Tallis) and Circle mage Bethany. I probably do Legacy with that same character.
You did Mark of the Assassin first, eh? Before I begin my update (relatively sparse one for now, but this evening is going to be DA2-filled for me) I wanted to ask if there are any companion quests in particular that feel better plot-wise either before or after either of the DLCs. Like if Merrill is about to drop the whole blood magic thing and become a Chantry Sister somehow I'd like to avoid seeing her talking about how her blood magic is well under control in MotA or something. 
I really doubt there are any special orders here so I'll probably tackle one or both of them tonight but just checking.
Onward!
When last I left Isabela, she had a plan to square things with ol' Casty. It involved the Blooming Rose, because Isabela. When we got there, she explained to Garrett that she wanted him to stop at nothing to put on a convincing performing to the little bastard behind closed doors, even if it meant punching her. Well that's fair, I'm all for muscle-relative punching rights over the more typical gender identification punch rights. And hell with it, so is Garrett. And look at Isabela, the woman's got curves and her so-called excess has gone in all the right places but she's toned enough to do like 88 damage per second or something. That tells me she can take a hit for the right cause. So Mr. Vela-at-you-gurrrl or whatever needed a show and Garrett provided. Then he dragged her out unceremoniously and abrupt protective instinct dictated Garrett followed, which is convenient as that's what the quest called for in the first place.
Three "random encounters" and a trip across Kirkwall later, I was half-expecting to find Isabela naked in that warehouse given just how lengthy a trail she'd provided. I mean what else was she using? Rivaini perfume? Is this where my faithful mabari hound takes over? "Woof-woof! That's Isabela's scent!" No, she was definitely tattering something, and she's a bit under-dressed to begin with. But I digress.
Mr. Veil-tearer or whatever was being a little knave so we kicked him to the curb and searched the area. Slave-trading in the Free Marches, eh? Garrett wasn't going to stand for that. But then he showed up and Isabela wanted Garrett to stand for that. Like, really badly. Pucker face. Naked pucker face, if continuity were an element here, but clearly Jeff can't always get what Jeff wants, now can he? Now I understand the mass hatred for this game! Awful, awful game! But... I... digress.
Well, that's how she wanted to play things. And she wanted that ship something fierce. And frankly, Garrett had eliminated so much corruption in the city over the years and this fellow wasn't planning on coming anywhere near here for a while anyway. And if he does, well, it's outside the realm of Isabela's demands at that point, shackle him up and throw him to the shark called Aveline at such a time. (Ten bucks says this doesn't happen, but it's what would happen if he does return, dammit.) So... I let it slide. And Isabela got her ship. Fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, I suppose. Then I visited her in The Hanged Man because she was Questioning Beliefs. I gotta say, it's kind of weird how that term is used for the little "confirmation conversations" with everybody. Most of the time beliefs haven't really been questioned. But then again, every time I've gotten it thus far it's been from max friendship stuff. Fenris is close to max rivalry. Merrill is... once again somewhere in between... sigh... it's just not happenin'...
In any case, I also gave her a shiny that I found in that underground passage after the tussle. And the entrance was clearly in just the right spot for people to run into it and find said shiny. And Garrett was like, "^____^! A shiny," and she was all, "LOL n00b, you want babbies or something?" And it was awkward. And then Garrett was like, "I'm just trying to get you into bed," with that infamous Shepard ME2 face, you know the face, don't try to pretend you don't, even if you've never played a Mass Effect game you're on the BSN, you've seen the face, and they banged.
Was doing the rounds across Kirkwall, soaking in the shops, buying some shinies. Ran into Cullen. Had a chat with him. Questioning Beliefs, you might even say. Seems he's gotten a little less star-struck with Meredith lately. That's not surprising -- he's no idiot, after all. He also took notice of Garrett's Orsino-siding at the demonstration. In fact, a lot of people have. I got a quest to work with some nobles to help undermine Meredith from the shadows. Willing to bet you get something against Orsino otherwise. Also, some Antivans are looking for a "Murderer of Crows" and I'm really hoping it's the one and only you-know-who. If it isn't I'm going to break the fourth wall and punch them for information on where to find the real Antivan, the legit Zevran. That smarmy bastard needs to show up. And I mean, I already punched Isabela, what's the face of an alleged rampant murderer? Oh, and You-Bear (Hubert) has a problem and he's taking it out on a horse. I swear, this guy is something else. I'll look into... oh dear, "Mine Massacre", yeah, that doesn't sound good at all. I wonder if I should have gone back there a third time after clearing out the spiders and the undead. I never got around to mentioning it because I had so much ground to cover (it's nice relaxing with this update because I didn't do as much, by the way) but it was blind luck that had me walk back into the Bone Pit a couple of times in Act 2 and I couldn't believe another crisis emerged in ten seconds!
Bought some qunari swords for some qunari dude too. They're all almost four gold. Oh, found one in some rubble. I have a feeling I screwed myself somehow because when he asked if Garrett wanted gold I picked yes and got like 90 silver. That is... not exactly equivalent exchange, even. Qunari being qunari, I'm expecting to find all the swords and then the guy'll be like, "had you any honor, I would bestow upon you the greatest blade of them all -- the one and only Kirkwall Injustice Slayer, capable of deflecting and dismantling any and all tragic uprisings in one swift stroke. And it also deals like 10,000 damage every millisecond. And it sparkles and if you lick it, it tastes like General Tso's Chicken. It's basically the greatest weapon in the omniverse. But you asked for money like a dirty little hound grubber Fereldan pickaxe so here's an Opal Fragment, why don't you grind it down to nothing so it matches your failure of a nose?"
Last thing I did last night was chat with Fenris. His sister was in town, a joyous occasion no doubt. But then again, probably not. Well we went to The Hanged Man and it was a setup. That much was obvious by the customary twitching of her little BioWare eyes, and Garrett told Fenris as much, and he was like, "nothing you say makes sense, Hawke, there's no such thing as a BioWare" and then Danarius showed his ugly Tevinter mug. Heh, mug. In a bar. Get it? Entertain me and laugh, I'm running on zero coffee here this morning. Well to the shock and awe of no one, not even the talkative patron himself, Danarius proved a right royal bastard and not the special edition Alistair variety, either. And then he was invulnerable for a long time as he was programmed as a noncombatant for the first couple of waves of the fight and Garrett's sword kept happening to swing straight through his character model and just once I'd like to have seen his head go flying off for it but alas. And then he was no longer a noncombatant and we killed him.
Or rather, Fenris killed him, and then turned his rueful gaze upon Sister Dearest. I was torn on this decision (happens a lot in this game, if you hadn't noticed) because Garrett had definitely taken Isabela's words about family being far more than blood relations if we allow it to be so to heart after his mother's passing. And this chica definitely set my boy up something fierce, didn't she? But something struck me at the last second -- Garrett had to kill his sister and it stuck in his throat perpetually like a... a bad... like a... a tongue. (Damn, I need coffee.) Circumstances were very different indeed here, but if Fenris felt even a fraction of the guilt and remorse over it with time that Garrett had to carry, well, that would not be healthy. So I told him to spare her, and to my immense satisfaction, the thing about Bethany is precisely where Hawke went with the statement. I was positively giddy. Hadn't anticipated that. Expected something I'd have to handwave about "family is family, the most crucial thing!" but nope. He went there. That's my boy.
And I got +20 Rivalry somehow which is good because I'd taken in +15 Friendship earlier in the quest (*le sigh*) so he's back on track. I don't know if there's any story-related bonus for having people maxed in one side or the other but I'm running on the chance that there is, so I'm starting to hope I can get these troublemakers to rival me in full before the end. We'll see~
OK, so yeah, like I said, thinking of tackling one or both DLCs later tonight. Should I finish up the companion quests firsts? I've also got a bunch of side stuff popping up. Forgot to say before but I need to check up on Gamlen too. Busy plate. I just wanna make it all flow as smoothly as possible, story consistency is a sacred thing to folks like me who don't even notice when they earn achievements.
Oh yeah, might have been my favorite part even. The tension, the outbreak of hostilities, the fact that fighting through Kirkwall somehow managed to not feel arduous, Meredith and Orsino, Hawke takes the lead, the old guard fading in a blaze of insurrection, Isabela returns, the duel, the applause.
Aces.
Yeah awesome part. Talk about concentrated story bombs being dropped everywhere!
Edit: And not to be a downer but again, http://social.biowar...642/17#14100283. Be careful.
Aye. I'm worried. I'm really hoping backing up my file on a USB before heading into Mark of the Assassin will do the trick.
OH YEAH, BY THE WAY. I could have sworn the guy who gets his neck snapped during the climax of Act 2 was Seneschal Bran. Am I wrong? Because I must be. Because he was totally standing there talking to me in Act 3.
Can you backup DA2 files? I thought either that or Origins had copy protection but I could be wrong.
Oh, I bet you're right. I guess I'll find out. Sigh!
Hmm... I'm doing a little digging while I'm still at a computer. It seems because I have PS+ I can back my saves up to a cloud server. That might do the trick. I'll check the USB thing too though. I think I'll take a gander at that when I get home later regardless of whether or not I hit MotA tonight.
I was about to suggest PS+ if you had it. Worst case you could play one, beat the game, then play the other all the way through without stopping. If that's what you end up doing I've heard Legacy is the better one to play during the game.
I know. I'm just so stubbornly attached to doing them both before the end since neither of them is set afterward. So hopefully the PS+ thing is enough to at least avoid destroying my file in the case that MotA fries it.
Hell, I won't even mind just pretending the events of MotA happened if I have to go back to before I played it, because dammit they did!
You better take care.Ah cannae wait, lads n' lasses.
First as in, this my cobwebbed ye olde playthrough, yes.You did Mark of the Assassin first, eh?
Before I begin my update (relatively sparse one for now, but this evening is going to be DA2-filled for me) I wanted to ask if there are any companion quests in particular that feel better plot-wise either before or after either of the DLCs.
What you are asking is by-definition ripe with spoilers - here is the most spoiler-free approach I could think of. Legacy is best with (your by-now-late) sibling. MotA can be done in various different ways - all potential (Tallis is mandatory) companions have a 'personal' quest, however, Isabela and Aveline have an additional one. Pick your squadmates accordingly.OK, so yeah, like I said, thinking of tackling one or both DLCs later tonight. Should I finish up the companion quests firsts? I've also got a bunch of side stuff popping up. Forgot to say before but I need to check up on Gamlen too. Busy plate. I just wanna make it all flow as smoothly as possible, story consistency is a sacred thing to folks like me who don't even notice when they earn achievements.
You are wrong, it was just the generic redshirt mook.OH YEAH, BY THE WAY. I could have sworn the guy who gets his neck snapped during the climax of Act 2 was Seneschal Bran. Am I wrong? Because I must be. Because he was totally standing there talking to me in Act 3.
"Ye cannae hit me. Ye cannae hit me!"
"Hi, my name's Barn Door. Bet ye cannae hit meeee!"
Sorry - I'm still at the Fable mode 
Anders and Varric have extra lines in Legacy DLC. Your sibling has extra lines too but poor Bethany...
You could take Anders Merril and Varric as you are a warrior yourself.
It doesn't make that much of a difference but I'd personally hate to bring someone who'd stand there the whole DLC, only having some forced banter.
Ah dinnae recognize ye banter, caradoc, for ah have nae played ye olde Fable m'self
"Ach, ya blunderin' goon, you couldnae hit me in a million years!"
Aww 
Ah dinnae recognize ye banter, caradoc, for ah have nae played ye olde Fable m'self, but feel free to carry on with it laddie, 'tis far less manic and compulsive than half the things ah m'self have written here.
Yeah, exactly, Lu! That's why I asked. I mean if that's how it's gotta be then that's how it's gotta be, ME2's DLCs are excellent but its sprawling squadmate roster made for staring silence as the order of the hour no matter who ya brought, but I was hoping for more of an ME3 approach to the subject in DA2 and it sounds like some companions do have a thing or two to say.
Not only the mentioned three have more to say, they have special quests and specific events dedicated to them! 
It's hilarious what you said about the whole Qunari swords things, because...erm...that's kinda exactly what happens if you don't ask for money....if you find all the swords, you get a special shiny....
Not getting money means a ton of XP.It's hilarious what you said about the whole Qunari swords things, because...erm...that's kinda exactly what happens if you don't ask for money....if you find all the swords, you get a special shiny....
Yeah, not a big fan of how restrictive the F/R system is if there's some storyline bonus to come behind it. Definitely one of my least favorite aspects of the game if so, because I really admire what they were shooting for with it (holding to your ideals the whole way through) but at least in my n00bish perspective it's gone kind of all over the place about things, or at least really conflicted with more... complex Hawkes.
In my first playthrough, I got the <guano> storm for most characters. Of course, not role-playing would be the best.
LOL, interesting word choice.
Unfortunately, it wasn't just for fun.
Retour en haut