Oh well. No way am I going back to Haven for how far I am in this pt, lol. I guess I'll know for future reference, though I'll keep my fingers crossed that it was fixed in one of the patches.
And this is off topic, but I found this "bug" pretty amusing when it happened, so I uploaded a video. I'm sure most people will think it's stupid though 
Two different versions of the first lyrium talk!
<snip>
Please note that these are vids from my promised Templar playthrough, so these are going to start getting angsty. Please no passing judgement on having him take lyrium! These are for educational purposes, since we want to see all possible scenarios play out!
Going back to this post because, ah! I think you missed one version of this conversation that is unique to Templar Inquisitors! You have to take the spec before activating the first lyrium scene, so you may miss out on the romantic lines when asking him what he thinks about you becoming a Templar, and in that case.... it's kinda not worth it. But yay unique lines!
First, rather than the "lyrium grants Templars our abilities, but it controls us as well" line, you get this:
Then, if you use the "I don't approve" option, the conversation turns like this:
I haven't got the timing right to trigger this before the romance is already activated yet so I'm kinda pushing it out to headcanon land for now, but ideally I'd like some version of this conversation to happen a bit later in their relationship. It's an interesting point to raise between them, given their circumstances.
Either way you go, but specially if you decide to continue the romance, you should save at least one conversation topic with Blackwall as per this post by Sheryl to avoid the dialogue bug, so you can ask him the truth about himself after the judgement. Having these additional conversations changes the tone of the relationship post-Revelations somewhat (for the better).
Wouldn't it be the same information that you can get by talking to him in the prison? It's been a while for me so I'm not sure.
Going back to this post because, ah! I think you missed one version of this conversation that is unique to Templar Inquisitors! You have to take the spec before activating the first lyrium scene, so you may miss out on the romantic lines when asking him what he thinks about you becoming a Templar, and in that case.... it's kinda not worth it. But yay unique lines!
First, rather than the "lyrium grants Templars our abilities, but it controls us as well" line, you get this:
Spoiler
Then, if you use the "I don't approve" option, the conversation turns like this:
Spoiler
I haven't got the timing right to trigger this before the romance is already activated yet so I'm kinda pushing it out to headcanon land for now, but ideally I'd like some version of this conversation to happen a bit later in their relationship. It's an interesting point to raise between them, given their circumstances.
Crap - I wonder if this is another one of those situations where it's either one or the other. I wanted to have the pre-Templar-spec convo while in the romance and it seems this scene always triggers before the romance for me, which means I would have to wait to take the actual spec til after. 
I'm going to reload some saves just so I can record it.
Wouldn't it be the same information that you can get by talking to him in the prison? It's been a while for me so I'm not sure.
No, it's a new conversation branch that only opens after Revelations. As Sheryl mentioned, this branch was gated with a tricky condition that makes it never appear if you've exausted all his conversations before the reveal... which anyone romancing the character is bound to do, in the excitment to milk as much content as possible from their LI. For now, until it gets officially fixed(*), the only way around it is to leave at least one question unasked in the "Let's talk about you" branch, so the new questions can still show up after the judgement.
(*) "until it gets officially fixed," I say, as I stare meaningfully at the Zevran romance dialogue bug in DA2 that was never fixed in the end...
Is there some trick to herding the Golden Halla? The d****d thing turns around and runs back past me every time we get close.
Edit: nvm, as soon as I posted this, it suddenly started cooperating. If I hadn't needed the agent, I'd have shot it, Dalish or not...
Crap - I wonder if this is another one of those situations where it's either one or the other. I wanted to have the pre-Templar-spec convo while in the romance and it seems this scene always triggers before the romance for me, which means I would have to wait to take the actual spec til after.
Yeah, it ended up being one or the other for me too. I don't know what exactly does it, but in some playthroughs the first cutscene I get with Cullen is the chess one, and in others it's the lyrium one. It had to be on this playthrough that I'd get the lyrium stuff before the rest, didn't it. 
Way to break my planned flow.
In any case, in the end I decided to forego this specific conversation in order to keep the romantic lines in the specialization conversation, because those are really sweet. And they matched the tone of overprotectiveness of Cullen's relationship with this particularly Quizzie. There will be other Templar-specific dialogue options later, alas. I still think a less confrontational version of this conversation should happen later in their relationship, anyway, it's... an interesting question she asks there.
(in a weird trivia point, my Templar is also called Rhiannon... only mine's a cutesy naive romantic dweeb, everything opposite to your fierce&fabulous Rhiannon, hee)
Yeah, it ended up being one or the other for me too. I don't know what exactly does it, but in some playthroughs the first cutscene I get with Cullen is the chess one, and in others it's the lyrium one. It had to be on this playthrough that I'd get the lyrium stuff before the rest, didn't it.
In any case, in the end I decided to forego this specific conversation in order to keep the romantic lines in the specialization conversation, because those are really sweet. And they matched the tone of overprotectiveness of Cullen's relationship with this particularly Quizzie. There will be other Templar-specific dialogue options later, alas. I still think a less confrontational version of this conversation should happen later in their relationship, anyway, it's... an interesting question she asks there.
(in a weird trivia point, my Templar is also called Rhiannon... only mine's a cutesy naive romantic dweeb, everything opposite to your fierce&fabulous Rhiannon, hee)
You'd be surprised how hard embrium is to find when you're actually looking for it...
I'll file this one away under "head canon" as well:
I'm looking for a fanfic site and wondered which one is good. I got swamped when I googled. The site I originally signed up with allows only a K rating. I doubt I"m up for writing erotica or anything but I don't want to be restricted too much in this area as there probably will be sex. The site I am currently signed up with is Fan Fiction.
Some opinions for the FF newbie 
Soooo...um...Easter Egg!
And keeping with Cullen, here's an alternate version of the Templar Spec discussion:
And here's another Templar-specific dialogue:
That's it! I remember the option now! Like finding the Mayor of Crestwood.
Do you actually get to judge Samson? That never happened in my game.
I don't remember the WT mission but you do it after you return from Arbor Wilds
@CuriousArtemis
yeah you judge samson the wartable mission is called
You'd be surprised how hard embrium is to find when you're actually looking for it...
I'll file this one away under "head canon" as well:
Thanks for taking those videos, I'm very curious about that Cullen lyrium convo with a Templar quizzy. I can't bear myself to play templar so... Really, thanks.
I'm looking for a fanfic site and wondered which one is good. I got swamped when I googled. The site I originally signed up with allows only a K rating. I doubt I"m up for writing erotica or anything but I don't want to be restricted too much in this area as there probably will be sex. The site I am currently signed up with is Fan Fiction.
Some opinions for the FF newbie
Archieve of Our Own (AO3) and FF.Net are excellent. AO3 allow smuts too.
Going back to this post because, ah! I think you missed one version of this conversation that is unique to Templar Inquisitors! You have to take the spec before activating the first lyrium scene, so you may miss out on the romantic lines when asking him what he thinks about you becoming a Templar, and in that case.... it's kinda not worth it. But yay unique lines!
Then, if you use the "I don't approve" option, the conversation turns like this:
Spoiler
Wow, these are fascinating. It reminds me how much of his story is gated behind options many of us never took. His thoughts on loyalty are insightful. (and, um relevant to my interests... )
I'm looking for a fanfic site and wondered which one is good. I got swamped when I googled. The site I originally signed up with allows only a K rating. I doubt I"m up for writing erotica or anything but I don't want to be restricted too much in this area as there probably will be sex. The site I am currently signed up with is Fan Fiction.
Some opinions for the FF newbie
Archieve of Our Own (AO3) and FF.Net are excellent. AO3 allow smuts too.
AO3 is far more forgiving of sex, particularly full on smut. But there's also sex on ff.n, so long as you use the M rating. If it's not full on pr0n PWP, then ff.n is fine.
Besides that, the tags are more organized on ff.n, and more freeform on AO3. You can tag for story elements for example, as well as triggers and warnings on AO3. For many, ff.n is easier to browse and has higher readership, altho AO3 has grown significantly, particularly in the DA genre. Some folks just use both (like me).
Other options are: tumblr, altho it's not designed for fic; devart, altho the fic is far far outweighed by art; livejournal; dreamwidth.
His arc is pretty captivating in DA2, awesome voice notwithstanding. When you first meet him as Hawke he's kneeing someone in the groin, then ends fighting at your side. Let's just ignore the fact that it takes him a while to catch on if you're a mage, that's just poor writing.
R2 you've mentioned that Greg Ellis doesn't know much about the character, which I find super interesting. Wouldn't they give him some Cullen background so he can hit the right emotions, or do they just say "be angsty here about this, be in love during this line"?
I was always wondering about how it works. Have never been to a sound studio.
Pretty much. If you watch the videos of the VAs you can see that they get a screen with a table on it with the line and how to say it. Then, I think it was Allegra who mentioned that they'll get to hear the other character's line before they respond.
I think for Greg, tho, he's so very busy and does so much voice work for so many games that smaller roles like Cullen just don't stick. He's not a gamer and has never played Dragon Age, so the whole big picture is missing for him. For contrast, that's why folks gush about FPJ and Allegra being different, since they know so much about the game. (edit: I should say that this came as a surprise to us, too, when we first started interacting with him; he barely remembered who Cullen was. I think that's why he got in trouble that first time for telling us he was doing Cullen VA work back in 2012)
... and since illustrations are good
Over a decade ago I worked at a localization office (yeah, my English was way better then ). Depending on the developer and/or publisher we sometimes got biographies for the characters - which helped a lot. Usually this was the case for big titles, proabably because they are very dialogue heavy. I'm not sure but I could imagine that voice actors get biographies, too. I agree, though, that Cullen is probably just one of many voice acting jobs that Greg Ellis does and that he forgets about the character once his work is done. (Although, he must have so much interaction with Cullenites by now that he will probably remember Cullen for the rest of his life .)
We had a so called "black box" at our localization office that allowed us to listen in to the voice recordings at the studio. When actors had a recurring role people at the sound studio played the old recorded lines for them because they usually didn't remember their characters or which tone their voice was. By hearing their old lines they could get back into character. So, if Greg doesn't remember Cullen it would be nothing uncommon and appearently happens to other voice acters, too. And yeah, that makes it really cool to have voice actors who are fans themselves. Allegra uploaded several of her Quizzies on Twitter. It's quite entertaining, actually. LOL.
(I didn't want to contradict you, I just wanted to add 
. )
Edit:
Polygone has an article about video game voice recording. It is about Defence Grid 2 but mentions Jennifer Hale.
Over a decade ago I worked at a localization office (yeah, my English was way better then
We had a so called "black box" at our localization office that allowed us to listen in to the voice recordings at the studio. When actors had a recurring role people at the sound studio played the old recorded lines for them because they usually didn't remember their characters or which tone their voice was. By hearing their old lines they could get back into character. So, if Greg doesn't remember Cullen it would be nothing uncommon and appearently happens to other voice acters, too. And yeah, that makes it really cool to have voice actors who are fans themselves. Allegra uploaded several of her Quizzies on Twitter. It's quite entertaining, actually. LOL.
(I didn't want to contradict you, I just wanted to add
That's really interesting! I wonder if Greg has a little black book somewhere with more Cullen deets in it. 
That would be awesome, although according to Rita, if he did have those details, he hasn't... retained much of it. They also have Caroline Livingston to direct them, and apparently sometimes the writers can sit in to help with characterization.
^ That's interesting, too, especially the part about the writers being able to join them. Do you know where the sound studio is located? Is it in Canada?
^ That's interesting, too, especially the part about the writers being able to join them. Do you know where the sound studio is located? Is it in Canada?
They apparently do their recording all over. Some in Edmonton, where BW is, but Greg for example did his recording in LA. In those cases, they'll have the director on the phone.
I think David Gaider had a blog post about what it was like to participate in a VA session on his tumblr (RIP :sniff sniff:). I'm sure someone has a handy link to it.
I think David Gaider had a blog post about what it was like to participate in a VA session on his tumblr (RIP :sniff sniff:). I'm sure someone has a handy link to it.
Did someone say "David Gaider blog post" and "handy link?" Here you go!
http://the-gaider-ar...3/on-voice-over
http://the-gaider-ar...on-voice-acting
HOLY HELL, THEY MADE A GAIDER ARCHIVE!?!?!?!!?!?!?
YESSSSSSSSSSSSS
Wow, these are fascinating. It reminds me how much of his story is gated behind options many of us never took. His thoughts on loyalty are insightful. (and, um relevant to my interests...
.
Re: voice recording, seems like it would be a mandatory for the writer to be present (in person or via Skype) to assist the director, so they can give context and intent. I've worked as an audio tech in film and video and my husband is a music producer so gaming is quite different.
Re: voice recording, seems like it would be a mandatory for the writer to be present (in person or via Skype) to assist the director, so they can give context and intent. I've worked as an audio tech in film and video and my husband is a music producer so gaming is quite different.
Not necessarily. I'm pretty sure that the writer doesn't have to be there for every session. Some of the major ones, yes, but they probably leave that up to the discretion of Caroline Livingstone.
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