8 réponses à ce sujet

[Corvah]

I'm new to the game, aparently there are advantages of a rivaled companion? And you can have a rival be your romance partner?

[LD Little Dragon]

Check out your companions' skill trees.  The friendship or rivalry bonuses are listed there.

 

You have to choose what path to take, though.  Being neutral gets you nothing from your companions.  So go for friendship or rivalry.

 

And yes, you can have a rivalromance.

[Corvah]

Check out your companions' skill trees.  The friendship or rivalry bonuses are listed there.

 

You have to choose what path to take, though.  Being neutral gets you nothing from your companions.  So go for friendship or rivalry.

 

And yes, you can have a rivalromance.

 

I don't really get that, don't you want a partner that likes you?

[sylvanaerie]

I don't really get that, don't you want a partner that likes you?

Rivalry isn't "I hate you" it's a much more complex idea than that.  I found Merrill and Fenris' Rivalmances much more interesting than their friendmances.  Sometimes it's about challenging a person to be the best person they can be, and some people need a push for that.  That's how i saw rivalry, either as a system or as a romance.

 

Fenris's story arc is filled with anger issues and rage, and my diplomatic, pacifistic Hawke mage, Lily, was always trying to turn him from that with 'this fury will kill you...or us both' arguments.  It wasn't about 'i hate you' it was about trying to save him from himself.  

Merrill is a stronger person, comes into her own more, and is much less a follower-type if you rival her and romance her.  I imagined my aggressive mage William and she got into some furious rows before they kissed and made up.

 

In addition, rivalry allows you to see a different side to a character.  Until I rivaled him I couldn't stand Anders.  As a friend he's far too self righteous, complacent and smug in his martyrdom.  As a rival, you begin to see the struggle to keep his humanity more poignantly, and I was finally able to understand him better, and admit he had some good writing going into his story arc.  Plus, you can forgive rivaled Anders for his actions right before you stab him, which added to the 'mercy killing' idea I head canoned that those of my Hawke's who cared about him were doing.  It really adds to the replayability to see see what rivalry does with different companions instead of friendship.

 

And finally, as a rival, you get different perks depending on the character that affect your Hawke or your party members.

[Machina Obscura]

Rivalry is the only way to go here. There is something wrong with you if anyone other than Varric really likes you. I sometimes wish i could scoop up varric and moms and just go literally anywhere else other than kirkwall. Poor viscount.

[LD Little Dragon]

Rivalry is the only way to go here. There is something wrong with you if anyone other than Varric really likes you. I sometimes wish i could scoop up varric and moms and just go literally anywhere else other than kirkwall. Poor viscount.

I wouldn't go that far, most of my Hawkes end up with more friends than rivals, but do have to say that I haven't had one Hawke successfully rival Varric. 

[Obadiah]

Rivalry gives you options on how to interact with your companions, and it causes them to develop in different ways. The end result of the DA2 story doesn't change much, but I did enjoy the companion plot differences in rivaled Merrill and Anders.

The rivalry path is finicky though. I ended up taking companions on specific missions that I didn't want to, and making some conversation choices for other companions quests just to get the max rivalry I wanted.

[springacres]

The friendship paths can be just as finicky, though.  I maxed out Fenris' friendship as a pro-mage Hawke through conversation choices I wouldn't necessarily have chosen otherwise.  (Said Hawke was anti-blood magic and antislavery, which helped, but...)

[Obadiah]

Fenris didn't give me too much of a problem. Isabella on the other hand... well, let's just say I have another post on this forum about how badly Act 2 ended.