266 réponses à ce sujet

[KaiserShep]

So Samson does trade places with a different character if you go Templars? That's cool. I'll have to try a Templar run next time.

[De Vulus]

I don't think I could agree with this. Besides, it's not the Hero of Ferelden to be concerned about, but rather its king and/or queen. If Redcliffe village is destroyed because you invaded it unnecessarily with a band of Templars, it would no doubt sour relations with them, which I'd be disinclined to do if there are other options to explore first. Besides, my Inquisitor's primary objective is to spare innocent people as much of the fighting as possible. Destroying Redcliffe village with a bunch of Templars trying to wrangle mages through violent means would totally undermine this.

 I wouldn't unnecessarily invade Redcliffe with Templars, especially since I disbanded the Templar order due to their abuse of their power. I'd go to the mages and give them a chance to help close the breach. If they refuse then, yes I would probably drive them out of Redcliffe.

 

The lack of support from Ferelden for the Inquisition even after I helped with a few missions, doesn't really make me grateful of the King. If he feels I was wrong in destroying Redcliffe and the rebel mages while trying to close the Breach, he should have lent a hand in the first place. This is also partly the reason I didn't feel bad for letting Gaspard become the Emperor even when though there's a chance he would start a war with Ferelden.

 

 

 

I pick Templars. The actual quest itself is a tad bit weaker but Barris is far better than Fiona And Samson is far less compelling than Calpurnia as a villain.

 

I thought the Templar quest was superior. I hate time travelling. I was just really hoping throughout the quest that it would be a demon tricking me into thinking I went into the future while I'm in the fade or something. I do agree that Calpurnia is more interesting than Samson.

[Sullwyn]

In my plathrough I chose templar. I've been pro templar since da:o. I originally thought I would side with the mages in this game. I felt for them after reading asunder. But when I met Fiona in the tavern and I learned they were indentured to tevintar I said f them. I knew templar was for me...

my inquisitor felt that the mages magic was a huge threat. I agree with a circle reform and agree that the chantrys fear of magic got. Blown out of proportion in some cases. But its very well justified. They are walking time bombs. No matter how much training they can still be possessed by a demon.

the dragon age franchise and its story of the veil makes me feel this way. I don't agree with the harsh punishments of the southern lands of thedas, and this radical thinking has turned many a mage to resort to blood magic or put them in a weak emotional state which opened them to possession by the demons.

in da2 I played based on the family. My Hawke was not for Anders radical reform. But let him live cause she had sympathies due to her sister being a mage. Hawke wanted the best for her family. I felt compelled to choose in the end to help mages because I did not like merediths leadership. And with Merrill she wasn't using others as sacrifices for her blood magic, it came from within her. So I felt it was a form of magic I could agree with, and romanced her.

bottom line, I feel for the oppression of the mages in radical environments. But I feel the template are very much needed in this world. I felt I needed suppression of power on the breach not more power feeding the veil. I needed troops that could battle a magical out break. I also needed there to be a strong hand of hope and an image of right, undoing the chaotic wrongs.

man....that was long winded...my bad...

[BubbleDncr]

I chose mages, because I was a mage. And cos Dorian was there. 

[Gaz83]

Templars. 

 

Why? I missed the bit about it being one choice or the other.  

 

Tried Mages since and much preferred that route. 

[NoForgiveness]

I chose mages for a couple reasons.

1) I am on the mage freedom train
2) magic really seems like it would be more useful in closing the beach. I mean we've seen mages seal the veil. Templars? Nope. It's just speculation that they could do anything at all against it. Of course, story dictates both paths be viable but still.
3) Lord Seeker Lucius is an ass and I would rather not deal with scum like him if possible.

[guntar74]

Templars. Mainly because after doing the initial mage part in redcliff I had no reason to want to side with Fiona and her rebels. Starting a rebellion to free your mages then selling them out to tevinter.. Oh and seeing who the mini boss you got to kill during haven was that much more satisfying.

Oh and I totally wanted to spare the templars from a reused red lyrium crazed, reaper tech Cerberus plot

[Palidane]

This was a tough choice. Historically, I've always sided with the mages, as they were just victims in the first game and mostly innocent in the second. I'm not fond of how Templars abuse their power, especially, after they up and walked out on the Chantry. Yeah, way to represent the Maker by dismissing his Most Holy, guys. I was ready to side with the mages the moment I started the game.

 

But right off the bat, the Templars sounded like better allies. The first thing your advisors say is that the mages can probably supercharge you with magic to counter the rift, while the Templars can hit it with anti-magic and shrink it down enough for you to close it. That's not really a hard choice. We're dealing with raw, unstable magic that no one has seen before, and you want to pump my body with a ton of magic to hopefully counter it? I'm trying to close the damn thing, not get into an arms race with it. I'd much prefer to contain it as much as possible.

 

Two, we are fighting demons and weird magic. Who is trained to fight demons and weird magic? Templars. Who is vulnerable to demonic possession and weird magic? Mages. I mean, the Chevaliers are good in a fight, but when you need to fight Darkspawn, you don't go running to them. Plus, we have already seen what happens to mages in areas where the veil is thin, so marching an army of them right up to a massive tear does seem like a pretty stupid thing to do.

 

Three, Eric Trevelyan was a good Chantry boy who had always heard about the heroism and nobility of the Templars. He would probably have joined them, had fate not had other plans. From a pure roleplaying perspective, he would be much more likely to back the straightforward, pragmatic Templars than rebellious mages.

 

But all that being said, I was very unimpressed with their debut in Val Royeaux. Casually smacking an old woman is not cool. I was weirded out when I heard that the Lord Seeker had changed his personality almost completely, and all in all, I didn't feel like wading into their self-righteous piety and ludicrous priorities. While leaving the city, Fiona's offer seemed much better.

 

But when I got to Redcliffe to make the alliance, you know what I found? The mages have signed up with the goddamn Tevinters! Oh wait, did I say "signed up"? I really meant "willingly sold themselves into slavery"! You know, to the Tevinter Imperium, the go-to cautionary tale for all magical corruption. The place filled with so much blood magic, demons, maleficar, and slaves that mages would call it ridiculously overblown Chantry propaganda if it didn't actually exist! Oh, and it turns out, I never met the real Fiona, that was some crazy doppelganger or something, no one seems to really know.

 

Oh, but it's not that bad, the Magister's son says he is secretly working with another Magister against his father. He's discovered weird time magic, and taken over a massive impenetrable fortress. All I have to do is trust this random Tevinter, walk alone and unarmed into the single most defensible location in all of Ferelden, while sending my spymaster and her best agents into the lion's den through a dodgy secret passage that may or may not exist. And the Tevinters may or may not know about it. All for a few hundred mages so stupid they actually allied with Tevinter, as I can't emphasize that enough. So they can join the Inquisition and slam my fragile mortal body with an unbelievable amount of magic, hoping it won't kill me or trigger something or react violently or Maker knows what else. And if I survive that, they can go on to fight demons, an enemy they are famously susceptible too, and frighten all the common people of Orlais and Ferelden.

 

That's a bad plan, to put it mildly. Risk vs. reward was skewed so far I just couldn't justify it. So I sided with the Templars, and didn't look back.

[zeypher]

Would also add if you find what they did to the tranquil's in redcliff. The oculurm is made from their skulls, and they were made in red cliff. SO not only did they sell themselves into slavery they also let their lessers be killed to be used a magic binoculars. Oh fiona also sold the children into servitiude.

 

When you say freedom etc and then go into slavery with a slave nation, yea they lost any moral high ground they had. Add to the fact they got refugee status and they take over redcliff, invite enemy of state, kick out the locals, the arl etc. Real smart. The only one worth saving there was Clemence who joins you as an agent. Rest of them can follow their brain dead leader into the abyss.

 

While templars barris did not need to own up to the failings of the order, hes not even high up but he did. He is worth saving, a person who believes in the ideals of what a templar should be IE to protect the innocent be it mage or normal person. His war table missions convinced me that i did the right thing.

[Bfler]

Mages. But I think the Templars with the black guy as leader are more reasonable.

[zeypher]

Finally mage quest involves time travel and i hate anything to do with time travel as i feel its a cheap plot device used by writers who do not even understand the complexities involved with the concept of time travel. So as soon as time travel started i reloaded my save and went templars.

[Bad King]

Templars. Mainly because after doing the initial mage part in redcliff I had no reason to want to side with Fiona and her rebels. Starting a rebellion to free your mages then selling them out to tevinter.. Oh and seeing who the mini boss you got to kill during haven was that much more satisfying.

Oh and I totally wanted to spare the templars from a reused red lyrium crazed, reaper tech Cerberus plot

 

Fiona was forced into serving Alexius - she wanted peace with the Chantry/Templars but after the conclave was destroyed the mages found themselves in dire straits as the world blamed them for the explosion. Refusing Alexius's offer would have forced them to be at odds with the Venatori on top of the templars and their supporters - there would have been a slaughter.

 

While it isn't confirmed, I also think it's likely that the Venatori were using blood magic to influence her - she complains of 'feeling strange' and doesn't recall her first encounter with the inquisitor. Blood magic is a better explanation for this than time magic or an envy demon (neither of which should make someone feel strange).

[Machina Obscura]

snip

Best post i've read on the BSN.

[Dean_the_Young]

Fiona was forced into serving Alexius - she wanted peace with the Chantry/Templars but after the conclave was destroyed the mages found themselves in dire straits as the world blamed them for the explosion. Refusing Alexius's offer would have forced them to be at odds with the Venatori on top of the templars and their supporters - there would have been a slaughter.

 

While it isn't confirmed, I also think it's likely that the Venatori were using blood magic to influence her - she complains of 'feeling strange' and doesn't recall her first encounter with the inquisitor. Blood magic is a better explanation for this than time magic or an envy demon (neither of which should make someone feel strange).

 

Unfortunately for Fiona's defenders, blood magic was never raised as present or at play in the series of events. Time magic and Envy Demons indisputably are, and time magic alone is more than novel enough to cover her strange feelings. Or at least no more unusual than blood magic, for which 'convenient amnesia' and 'migrane' are also hardly standard signatures for victims.

 

Moreover, one of the most relevant testimonies about what Fiona's reasons were for making her deal is, well, Fiona. A person who consistently  claims her reasons for doing what she did were reasons other than Blood Magic, despite her having the greatest incentive to claiming that her choices weren't her own fault.

 

Fiona made a bad and hasty decision on poor intelligence and an even worse assessment of what her standing wash. She basically fell for Alexius going 'There's an army right over that hill, sign on the dotted line and I'll save you from it. Oh, what do you know, my scouts tell me that the army is now gone.' Trying to justify that with 'and if you don't sign, my other army over that other hill will attack you as well' is just compounding the error.

[Ogillardetta]

I picked the mages on my first run thinking they weren't tevinters ally and had an idiot leader, then I came to redcliffe and I didn't want to mess anything up so I finished the quest just because of that. I hoped I would get to judge Fiona in the end but no.  Also found some sane mages and that makes it harder but the sane ones could have left redcliffe thats what bothers me about them.

[thesuperdarkone2]

Mages. Anyone with a soul would make the right choice.

[Mir Aven]

In DAO I helped the mages. In DA2 I tried to help the mages again and they "thanked me" by turning to blood magic/becoming abnominations and trying to kill me.

Then I came to the forums and there were thread after thread about mage freedom to the point that I got sick of it. By the time DAI came I was more pro-templars than pro-mages. Also when I meet Fiona she seemed suspicios to me, her invitation to meet the mages sounded more like a trap than a genuine proposal. So I picked the Templars. 

[Navasha]

First time was definitely mages.   Even the second time around, it was REALLY hard choosing the Templars but wanted to see the content on the other side.    All future playthroughs will likely pick mages. 

 

To me, the Templars have pretty much asked for their fate.   Its like Karma finally paying them back.   

[Biotic Flash Kick]

mages because i get the boring stuff out of the way first 

[Ryzaki]

This was a tough choice. Historically, I've always sided with the mages, as they were just victims in the first game and mostly innocent in the second. I'm not fond of how Templars abuse their power, especially, after they up and walked out on the Chantry. Yeah, way to represent the Maker by dismissing his Most Holy, guys. I was ready to side with the mages the moment I started the game.

 

But right off the bat, the Templars sounded like better allies. The first thing your advisors say is that the mages can probably supercharge you with magic to counter the rift, while the Templars can hit it with anti-magic and shrink it down enough for you to close it. That's not really a hard choice. We're dealing with raw, unstable magic that no one has seen before, and you want to pump my body with a ton of magic to hopefully counter it? I'm trying to close the damn thing, not get into an arms race with it. I'd much prefer to contain it as much as possible.

 

Two, we are fighting demons and weird magic. Who is trained to fight demons and weird magic? Templars. Who is vulnerable to demonic possession and weird magic? Mages. I mean, the Chevaliers are good in a fight, but when you need to fight Darkspawn, you don't go running to them. Plus, we have already seen what happens to mages in areas where the veil is thin, so marching an army of them right up to a massive tear does seem like a pretty stupid thing to do.

 

Three, Eric Trevelyan was a good Chantry boy who had always heard about the heroism and nobility of the Templars. He would probably have joined them, had fate not had other plans. From a pure roleplaying perspective, he would be much more likely to back the straightforward, pragmatic Templars than rebellious mages.

 

But all that being said, I was very unimpressed with their debut in Val Royeaux. Casually smacking an old woman is not cool. I was weirded out when I heard that the Lord Seeker had changed his personality almost completely, and all in all, I didn't feel like wading into their self-righteous piety and ludicrous priorities. While leaving the city, Fiona's offer seemed much better.

 

But when I got to Redcliffe to make the alliance, you know what I found? The mages have signed up with the goddamn Tevinters! Oh wait, did I say "signed up"? I really meant "willingly sold themselves into slavery"! You know, to the Tevinter Imperium, the go-to cautionary tale for all magical corruption. The place filled with so much blood magic, demons, maleficar, and slaves that mages would call it ridiculously overblown Chantry propaganda if it didn't actually exist! Oh, and it turns out, I never met the real Fiona, that was some crazy doppelganger or something, no one seems to really know.

 

Oh, but it's not that bad, the Magister's son says he is secretly working with another Magister against his father. He's discovered weird time magic, and taken over a massive impenetrable fortress. All I have to do is trust this random Tevinter, walk alone and unarmed into the single most defensible location in all of Ferelden, while sending my spymaster and her best agents into the lion's den through a dodgy secret passage that may or may not exist. And the Tevinters may or may not know about it. All for a few hundred mages so stupid they actually allied with Tevinter, as I can't emphasize that enough. So they can join the Inquisition and slam my fragile mortal body with an unbelievable amount of magic, hoping it won't kill me or trigger something or react violently or Maker knows what else. And if I survive that, they can go on to fight demons, an enemy they are famously susceptible too, and frighten all the common people of Orlais and Ferelden.

 

That's a bad plan, to put it mildly. Risk vs. reward was skewed so far I just couldn't justify it. So I sided with the Templars, and didn't look back.

 

Bwahahahahaha.

 

This is now my headcanon.

 

I love all of this

[brad2240]

I picked Templars. My character was a warrior, and as a devout Maker-fearing man he was destined to become a Templar himself. It felt right to give the honorable among them the chance to redeem themselves and have them fight alongside the Inquisition as allies.

[goofyomnivore]

I chose mages on my first playthrough. I am a very pro mage person, and I play mages almost always. But holy crap Fiona you are stupid beyond words. I tried the Templar one on my next playthrough and I preferred it and Calpernia is way better than Samson as Cory's second in command.

 

I just tell myself investigating the Templar Order / gaining their allegiance would help unify the Chantry / Inquisition / Templars as a united force against Corypheus. Plus it seems a whole lot easier to go meet with the Templars rather than infiltrating Redcliffe Castle and usurp Alexius power. If I still need to do the latter I will hopefully have the Templars to help me out.

[Tocs]

Templars. Half the mages didn't even want rebellion and fight with the circles. Mages like Vivienne. Bhelen and Harrowmont. Celine and Gaspard. Alistair and Anora. Mages and Templars. The ones that seem the "mean guys" are always better suited for power and handle better. I made that mistake by choosing Harrowmont which I lived with. So I chose Gaspard, Anora, Templars, and sadly Harrowmont. Templars give order. Tevinter is the only free mage country (Not including Rivain, hippy bastards) and they are the most stuck up vile douches. And in rp my guy is a warrior with templar spec tree who believes in Andrastian eminencely.

[thesuperdarkone2]

First time was definitely mages.   Even the second time around, it was REALLY hard choosing the Templars but wanted to see the content on the other side.    All future playthroughs will likely pick mages. 

 

To me, the Templars have pretty much asked for their fate.   Its like Karma finally paying them back.   

This. I kind of find it to be poetic that the Templars' own hatred of mages winds up leading to their destruction. They could have left and joined the Inquisition or just stopped hunting mages but they supported the war and wound up paying the price for it.

[Tocs]

And people that talk so much about mage freedom because Templars are oppressors. So next you will topple all human kingdoms (still not including Rivain) because they oppress elves? Making Gaspard a figurehead of Briala which will most likely end in another purge of the alienages and elves dying for no reason? People won't be able to handle free mages and will more than likely riot and murder mages in the streets in the name of Andrasta. I might be exaggerating but Templars, lmao