Yeah, I'm definitely going mage-side on my next playthrough. Makes sense though that if you choose mages a follow-up quest (sort of) is one that addresses the Red Templars, and if you go Templar you get a follow-up that addresses the Venatori. Seriously, we can't just have those people walking around Thedas. That's why we can't have nice things.
I thought it should have been the opposite, honestly.
Spoiler
Choosing to recruit the Templars and reform the Order to bring it back to its real purpose should have triggered the Red Templars quest, because who more than the "good Templars" would want the "bad Templars" eliminated? Who more than a Cullen who's now leading what's left of the loyal Templars would want to clean up the mess the Red Templars made? Conversely, siding with the mages should have triggered the venatori quest, because, again, who more than the "good mages" would want to deal with the "bad mages"? Who more than a Leliana who finally got the mages in power would want to eliminate the venatori who are staining their cause?
It made very little sense to me why these quests were positioned the way they were. Here I had Cullen now leading the Templars and trying to rebuild their good name, and nobody really cared about the Red Templars still out there undoing with their chaos all the work we were trying to do in cleaning the Order up. It was all very awkward.
Personally I think these nemesis quests shouldn't have been gated to either side, anyway, because both threats needed to be dealt with from whatever side you chose. But that goes into another rant about railroading and forcing illusion of choice through unnecessarily gated content that I could just go on about forever.
Tielis, R2s Muse, Monica21 et 2 autres aiment ceci
FWIW, here's what the game guide says on lyrium and Cullen romance:
Spoiler
If you want to keep the possibility of a romance open, never order Cullen to take lyrium. If you persist in ordering Cullen to take lyrium, change your mind in the follow-up or tell him he can find a better way after the war. If you order Cullen to take lyrium, he will break up with you, or if the relationship hasn’t started, it will now be impossible.
I thought it should have been the opposite, honestly.
Spoiler
Choosing to recruit the Templars and reform the Order to bring it back to its real purpose should have triggered the Red Templars quest, because who more than the "good Templars" would want the "bad Templars" eliminated? Who more than a Cullen who's now leading what's left of the loyal Templars would want to clean up the mess the Red Templars made? Conversely, siding with the mages should have triggered the venatori quest, because, again, who more than the "good mages" would want to deal with the "bad mages"? Who more than a Leliana who finally got the mages in power would want to eliminate the venatori who are staining their cause?
It made very little sense to me why these quests were positioned the way they were. Here I had Cullen now leading the Templars and trying to rebuild their good name, and nobody really cared about the Red Templars still out there undoing with their chaos all the work we were trying to do in cleaning the Order up. It was all very awkward.
Personally I think these nemesis quests shouldn't have been gated to either side, anyway, because both threats needed to be dealt with from whatever side you chose. But that goes into another rant about railroading and forcing illusion of choice through unnecessarily gated content that I could just go on about forever.
It actually makes sense to me the way it is.
Spoiler
When you recruit the Templars, you've already cut off the poisonous head of the organization, so whatever's left is just a bunch of disorganized bandits and not really a big threat. The mages, however, are still at full strength and need to be dealt with. Same goes the other way around, when you recruit the mages you've already gotten to the heart of that stuff, and it's the Templars who run around unopposed.
I thought it should have been the opposite, honestly.
Spoiler
Choosing to recruit the Templars and reform the Order to bring it back to its real purpose should have triggered the Red Templars quest, because who more than the "good Templars" would want the "bad Templars" eliminated? Who more than a Cullen who's now leading what's left of the loyal Templars would want to clean up the mess the Red Templars made? Conversely, siding with the mages should have triggered the venatori quest, because, again, who more than the "good mages" would want to deal with the "bad mages"? Who more than a Leliana who finally got the mages in power would want to eliminate the venatori who are staining their cause?
It made very little sense to me why these quests were positioned the way they were. Here I had Cullen now leading the Templars and trying to rebuild their good name, and nobody really cared about the Red Templars still out there undoing with their chaos all the work we were trying to do in cleaning the Order up. It was all very awkward.
Personally I think these nemesis quests shouldn't have been gated to either side, anyway, because both threats needed to be dealt with from whatever side you chose. But that goes into another rant about railroading and forcing illusion of choice through unnecessarily gated content that I could just go on about forever.
All good points, and really, I'd like to be able to deal with all of them. But hey, more reasons for additional playthroughs, and I'm all for that!
Oh, he's, yum, quite good looking. I really love his eyes, and I think you managed his tattoos to be incredibly flattering.
Here's my test Dalish from my daughter's computer:
Spoiler
Her eyes aren't quite what I wanted, but she's closer than I expected.
Edited for spelling,
Thanks. The eyes are blue-green on the outside and yellow on the inside, I really quite like the effect. I'm also quite happy that I've managed to find an ear configuration that doesn't clip too badly with the hair. xD
Yeah, it's not a bad face to be looking at for dozens of hours. Speaking of, *goes to play*
When you recruit the Templars, you've already cut off the poisonous head of the organization, so whatever's left is just a bunch of disorganized bandits and not really a big threat. The mages, however, are still at full strength and need to be dealt with. Same goes the other way around, when you recruit the mages you've already gotten to the heart of that stuff, and it's the Templars who run around unopposed.
Spoiler
It just felt like misplaced petty vendetta. Because I sided Templar, it means I want to hunt down mages, hurr hurr. I watched the mage side later, and had the same feeling: because I sided mage, it means I want to burn Templars. And I don't like that interpretation.
I feel it would have had more story and character value to clean up your own chosen side. To have to acknowlege that your side of the issue has very bad stuff going on too, and that you need to weed out the rotten apples if you want your side to regain the trust of Thedas, after this war screwed everything up. The way it was positioned made it sound like your own side only had one or two bad guys that you quickly dealt with, but everyone else was a-okay, and only the other faction was full of ireedeemable evil that needed to be hunted down and burned to a crisp.
I don't know, I don't like easy us versus them dichotomies like that. I'd rather the post-conflict had been about looking into your own side and dealing with your own problems too, rather than just continuing to blame everything on the other guys.
do u want to get rid of the PJ entirely or just change the color?
I want pretty things. All the pretty things.
I'd prefer getting rid of it,like the mod that changes Hawke's house robes with noble clothes.
But knowing how difficult it is to mod frostbite,I wouldn't mind something like changing the colour either.
On totally unrelated subjects, starting my second playthrough at last and I just discovered that if you side with Leliana in the tutorial level
Spoiler
you don't get that first meeting with Cullen on the remains of the Temple! I consider that almost the first romance scene between Cullen and the Inquisitor, because he's so pissy at your general existence and you're so cocky with him and it's delicious and full of UST and the way he looks at you like he could incinerate you with a glare. Yum.
Naturally I had to roll back and side with Cassandra again, because I can't pass up on Quizzie and Cullen's fateful first meeting and the sparks flying all over the place.
Exile Isan, fuzuoko, LolaLei et 1 autre aiment ceci
I never wanted to say Andraste is not real, or that the Chantry or Circle is pointless, because that's not the diplomatic thing to do. But by playing a mage I thought I'd be able to express a more human opinion about the situation. The only time I remember being able to express my feelings about growing up in the Circle was while talking to Josie, and saying in the most mild way possible, that I enjoy not being in confined spaces anymore.
Ah, so they dropped the ball on mages, too. Overall I've been very disappointed with the inquisitor's dialogue as well as the voicing of that dialogue. Yes, the English male voice is very good, but the lines are so bland, and his delivery is likely directed to be equally bland, that I feel I might as well be playing with a voiceless character. Really, the inquisitor feels very similar to my Warden: I had to construct most of his personality and beliefs in my head. Hawke was different; he had a more defined personality and I felt like I knew him as a person. Same with Shepard.
I think in 50 hours or so of gameplay I've only gotten the "emotional" dialogue wheel a handful of times. You know, the one where you can choose the fist, the weepy eyes, the brain, etc. It hasn't been enough for me to even decide what kind of personality my character has.
that's just symptomatic of how very very short each of those encounters were. The word budget must have been very small, because they packed a lot of information into some very short character beats. Plus, we learn about ourselves in lots of ways, but we only learn about him with him. Seems like an efficient use of those words, IMO.
So agree, would have loved to have more, but apparently we got more with Cullen than with most romances. :shrug: Hard to say.
Indeed we got more with Cullen in terms of romance, there's no doubt about that. I'm not criticizing his romance as I am criticizing the extent to which they could have customized Inquizitor dialogue based on his/her identity.
Ah, so they dropped the ball on mages, too. Overall I've been very disappointed with the inquisitor's dialogue as well as the voicing of that dialogue. Yes, the English male voice is very good, but the lines are so bland, and his delivery is likely directed to be equally bland, that I feel I might as well be playing with a voiceless character. Really, the inquisitor feels very similar to my Warden: I had to construct most of his personality and beliefs in my head. Hawke was different; he had a more defined personality and I felt like I knew him as a person. Same with Shepard.
I think in 50 hours or so of gameplay I've only gotten the "emotional" dialogue wheel a handful of times. You know, the one where you can choose the fist, the weepy eyes, the brain, etc. It hasn't been enough for me to even decide what kind of personality my character has.
Based on other players' experiences, I think mages had a better time than elves/qunari. But yeah, I agree with you, something about the Shepard/Hawke formula has had made them emotionally resonate with me more than the Warden/Inquisitor. I have been compensating for my Inquisitor's identity through my imagination, too. That isn't a big deal given what RPGs are about, but somehow the Inquisitor persona's is not having as much of a unique presence as Hawke/Shepard had for me. I still love her, and the rest of this game, but it's just not the same effect (..yet?)
still nothing. hes dissapeared form skyhold. the quest marker says hes there but ive combed the fort top to bottom and no sign of him exeecpt this stupid unclickable messenger
still nothing. hes dissapeared form skyhold. the quest marker says hes there but ive combed the fort top to bottom and no sign of him exeecpt this stupid unclickable messenger
Did you leave the area and come back? Iron Bull disappears on me a LOT, and leaving the area and returning always helps. (As in, go to Crestwood, then return to Skyhold.)
still nothing. hes dissapeared form skyhold. the quest marker says hes there but ive combed the fort top to bottom and no sign of him exeecpt this stupid unclickable messenger
nope. nowhere to be seen. must have happened when i did seras sidequest. messenger guy tried to talk to me but i kept going with the quest so i blew him off and now he refuses to talk. that might have been what happened. and if it is im going to have to replay a huge chunk of game
nope. nowhere to be seen. must have happened when i did seras sidequest. messenger guy tried to talk to me but i kept going with the quest so i blew him off and now he refuses to talk. that might have been what happened. and if it is im going to have to replay a huge chunk of game
the thing is the messenger in his room only says something to you after reading the letter. You can't really interact with the guy so if he did talk to you, you should probably check the building next to cassandra again? Also what does your journal say
Out of curiosity has anyone done a playthrough as a warrior and chosen the templar spec while romancing Cullen? I've read that choosing it apparently adds some rather interesting dialogue options but I can't find a YT vid of it.
Out of curiosity has anyone done a playthrough as a warrior and chosen the templar spec while romancing Cullen? I've read that choosing it apparently adds some rather interesting dialogue options but I can't find a YT vid of it.
Out of curiosity has anyone done a playthrough as a warrior and chosen the templar spec while romancing Cullen? I've read that choosing it apparently adds some rather interesting dialogue options but I can't find a YT vid of it.
Yeah, apparently he begs you not to do it. I wonder if there's additional romance dialogue to it?
While we're somewhat on the topic of lacking race-specific dialogue, I'd like to lament on how they sort of tried having companions ask for your thoughts/feelings, but hardly went as far as they could have. As a mage, I never got the opportunity to express my contempt for the Circle system without coming off as an obnoxious atheist/anarchist.
I never wanted to say Andraste is not real, or that the Chantry or Circle is pointless, because that's not the diplomatic thing to do. But by playing a mage I thought I'd be able to express a more human opinion about the situation. The only time I remember being able to express my feelings about growing up in the Circle was while talking to Josie, and saying in the most mild way possible, that I enjoy not being in confined spaces anymore.
I was especially hoping to elaborate on those feelings during the Cullen romance, since it would've made the ex-templar/mage tension more interesting. I'm glad we got to express self-conciousness about that, but I felt there was a missed opportunity during the lake/gift scene. While I LOVED that scene, I was a wee bit miffed that Cullen
Spoiler
spent that whole time talking about himself. Obviously it was to explain the gift he wanted to give to you, but I felt that it would've been the perfect moment for him to get to know Inquizzy better. It felt too much like a one-sided conversation, which made it less romantic for me.
Yeah, now that you mention it I realize I agree. I think there actually was one chance to express your dislike of Circles to Cullen around when you first meet him and get to talk to him - at one point, you can ask him something akin to "So do you think I should still be locked up?" and he'll get flustered and apologize for bringing it up given both your histories. It's pretty obvious that his views on mages are much more moderate than they were in DAII, and we know from his dialogue that he thinks mages in Circles should be granted more freedoms. But it would definitely have been nice to really give him some gentle insight into what life as a mage in a Circle was like.
Cullen has viewed mages from the other side for a long time, and apart from his desire to reach out to your female mage Warden he's likely never had a chance to really communicate with a mage since then because he was still reeling from his experiences in Ferelden in DAII. He even says at the beginning of Inquisition that Templars and mages don't often talk and aren't really encouraged to but that it is essential that they do in order to foster a sense of understanding. He's finally healed back to that more compassionate mindset he'd had in the beginning of Origins now, and he's all the stronger for it. Uldred didn't win. yay!
I guess I'll just headcanon that he's now very receptive to listening you speak about what your daily life as a mage in a Circle was like during private moments together outside of the ones the writers had to present to us to flesh out his character. I think he'd totally understand if you said you disliked Circles anyhow. While some mages might have taken advantage of that whole "poor chained apprentice" image, your mage warden was presented as a confident, capable prodigy and that was why Irving introduced you to Duncan as soon as he showed up. Even though life as a Warden is hard, Irving wanted to give you that chance to be free because he saw in you the promise of greater things. That's probably the same beauty that mesmerized Cullen, and the reason why he can still think fondly about your Warden in DAII despite his harsher views on mages during that time. You were the caged bird who returned home and freed them all. There's a magnificent sense of poetic justice in that, and now that Cullen's head is clear he absolutely knows it.
Spoiler
It just felt like misplaced petty vendetta. Because I sided Templar, it means I want to hunt down mages, hurr hurr. I watched the mage side later, and had the same feeling: because I sided mage, it means I want to burn Templars. And I don't like that interpretation.
I feel it would have had more story and character value to clean up your own chosen side. To have to acknowlege that your side of the issue has very bad stuff going on too, and that you need to weed out the rotten apples if you want your side to regain the trust of Thedas, after this war screwed everything up. The way it was positioned made it sound like your own side only had one or two bad guys that you quickly dealt with, but everyone else was a-okay, and only the other faction was full of ireedeemable evil that needed to be hunted down and burned to a crisp.
I don't know, I don't like easy us versus them dichotomies like that. I'd rather the post-conflict had been about looking into your own side and dealing with your own problems too, rather than just continuing to blame everything on the other guys.
I wasn't happy about having to take sides again in Inquisition either, but I saw it as less of a "us against them" thing and more of an unfortunate happenstance that occurs when you spend the time to save one side only to have the other side fall into the clutches of evil before you could get to them, too. For us as players it's easy to save and play at our leisure, but if we were to live in Thedas itself I imagine there'd much more of a sense of urgency when it comes to decisions that need to be made. So we're not agreeing with either side in terms of ideology at all - we just didn't have the chance to get to the other faction in time. Definitely unfortunate that we miss out on content from the other side, but story-wise it made sense to me. I definitely agree that it would have been great if we could actively negotiate a truce between Mages and Templars the way I had hoped we could, though.
Tielis, Tishina, witchknights et 1 autre aiment ceci
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The eyes are blue-green on the outside and yellow on the inside, I really quite like the effect. I'm also quite happy that I've managed to find an ear configuration that doesn't clip too badly with the hair. xD
Speaking of, *goes to play*
I consider that almost the first romance scene between Cullen and the Inquisitor, because he's so pissy at your general existence and you're so cocky with him and it's delicious and full of UST and the way he looks at you like he could incinerate you with a glare. Yum.
