74 réponses à ce sujet

[Vajrajina]

I do appreciate when a video game tries to throw in some intrigue to make things more real and colourful but MAN that mission was a pain in the behind. The palace is huge, and if you wander off the ball you start loosing precious approval which basically means you are under time pressure, which makes this already frustrating quest all the more difficult.

I'm not saying it's a BAD quest, it obviously has a lot going on, but it's just too much information, too quickly, and too much stuff to investigate WHILE you are under time pressure.

Can someone please explain to me who was the bad guy, or rather, who wasn't? I was running around the palace the whole time like WHAT IS GOING ON??!!!

My ending was:
Court approval 100. All you needed was to dance really.
Celene rules alone. I found nothing incriminating of her, though I did found her locket. Not that it made a difference.
Brianna and...the other guy got executed. I had plenty of evidence to incriminate the army general, so I'm quite certain he was somehow involved, but how exactly?
Brianna is a mystery, I said I have evidence against her too, I clicked one line and Celene seemed to be convinced.
I did kill the evil lady assassin. She was definitely the weakest part of this quest, quality-wise. I mean, who proclaims openly that I AM THE ASSASSIN? Even if you have 10 archers pointing at your opponents, one stray servant and you are busted.

There was just so much stuff going on there, my head hurts and I don't understand...enough. I'm not comfortable about what transpired and I feel like I missed out a lot.

Is there a difference gameplay-wise who wins and who doesn't? Is there a 'best' way to resolve the situation and if so, what is it?

Edit: My apologies, the ears are not wicked, but the hearts are.

[Illyria]

Honestly, the quickest and easiest answer is to look up The Masked Empire on the Dragon Age Wiki because the writers did a terrible job intergrating the information into the game.

 

The three main players in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts are Celene - the currently ruling Empress who wants to reform Orlais - her cousin Gaspard - who wants to take Orlais back to its old expanionsist policies - and Briala - Celene's ex-girlfriend and ex-spymaster who wants to improve conditions for elves in Orlais.

 

The 'best' ending is subjective.  I'd say that having Celene and Briala reconcile is the best ending as it allows Briala to start enacting reforms for the elves, and become the first elven noble in the Dales since the fall of the Dalish.  The downside is you end up hooking her and Celene back up with each other which is... murky.  Celene did a lot of very questionable things to both elves and Briala.

 

There is also an option to blackmail all three of them and force them to work together under the control of the Inquisition.  It's the hardest ending to get, and also the least stable.

[Vajrajina]

So maybe by getting everyone but the empress killed and getting a peaceful status quo sorted I DID get a 'decent' ending? Perhaps the idea is that all endings have some merit to them?

Oh also, WHY DOES COLE DISAPPROVE SO MUCH? I don't get it!

[AnimalBoy]

What's so wicked about their ears?

[Iakus]

How it works:

 

WIth a court approval of 80+  You can confront and arrest Florianne without a boss fight and arrest her, and can judge her at Skyhold later.  Otherwise you have to kill her.

You need to find halla statues to get past certain magical locks and find evidence implicating Celene, Briala and Gaspard of wrongdoing to blackmail them into working together (if you so choose)  You need ten total to find everything, and open the correct doors.

Gaspard was smuggling troops into the ball and hoping to take over in a surprise attack

Briala had spies amongst the elven servants.  If you open the correct door, you'll find a locket Celene gave her, and can use that as a conversation option to convince them that they still cared for each other.

 

THe possible way things can work out

Celene rules alone, Gaspard and/or Briala exiled or executed

Celene and Briala are reunited

Celene is killed and Gaspard rules alone

Celene is killed Gaspard rules publicly but is blackmailed into being Briala's puppet

All three are forced to work together 

 

The 'best" option really depends on what you think of the three.

 

Edit:  and +1 to reading The Masked Empire.  IT gives a far better breakdown on who these people are and why you should care about them than the mission did.

[Xerrai]

The whole time I did that quest, running around while spamming the search button to find the collectibles I was so on edge that I was inwardly livid. I was like "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT BIOWARE?! IS THIS THE TRUE "ORLESIAN" EXPERRIANCE THAT YOU OH SO ADMIRE!!!!"

I should be given a medal for my patience. I actually tried to exhaust the dialogue options for every candidate and every follower that I could contact. I searched for the halla, the caprice coins and even went for maximum approval.

When I was done, I left with a brand new appreciation/hatred for the game that is the high court Orlais. 

 

PS. Am I the only who got infuriatingly frustrated with the stone halla collectibles? I mean some of them were reasonably easy, but some of them were ridiculous (in the RAFTERS of the servant's quarters? C'mon​). And even though my codex says I collected them all, I could never unlock the mage vs Templar door(s) in the royal wing. I opened pretty much all the others.

​

[thats1evildude]

There are not enough halla statues in WEWH to unlock all the doors.

 

The ball was being held as a peace talks between Empress Celene, the usurper Duke Gaspard and Celene's former lover Brianne, who had formed her own small army of elven spies in a bid to force the victor to grant the elves more rights.

Gaspard actually was planning a coup. He had Fereldan mercenaries stationed in the Winter Palace ready to attack on his signal; as these were peace talks, his actions were highly treasonous. What he didn't know is that Celene was planning to counter his coup.

 

What none of them knew is that Grand Duchess Florianne, sister to Duke Gaspard, was actually working for Corypheus. Her plan was to kill Celene and have Gaspard blamed so Orlais would be thrown into chaos, allowing Corypheus to easily take over.

 

Depending on your actions, you can either have:

 

1) Celene rule alone

2) Celene and Briala reunited

3) Celene die and Gaspard rule alone

4) Gaspard become emperor with Briala controlling the empire from behind the throne

5) All three blackmailed into working together

[Vajrajina]

But what was wrong with the empress? I read you can blackmail her too, but I never found out how.

[thats1evildude]

In her bed chamber, Celene has one of Gaspard's men naked and tied up. If you release him, he will testify how she was planning to take down Gaspard's forces with her own. That can be used to blackmail her.

[nightscrawl]

It's really important to remember that the halla statues are used as a way to force the player to make a choice. There are a limited number of them, so you have to choose what you want to use them for. You can NOT do and loot everything on this mission. If you want to have the option to blackmail Celene you must save 5 statues for that door.

 

Also, as long as you don't go into the final area with the captive mercenary you are free to continue to roam about the palace, collecting various items. However, you are still artificially constrained by the Court Approval meter and should occasionally pop back into the normal areas.

[AlanC9]

My ending was:
Court approval 100. All you needed was to dance really.
Celene rules alone. I found nothing incriminating of her, though I did found her locket. Not that it made a difference.
Brianna and...the other guy got executed. I had plenty of evidence to incriminate the army general, so I'm quite certain he was somehow involved, but how exactly?
Brianna is a mystery, I said I have evidence against her too, I clicked one line and Celene seemed to be convinced.
I did kill the evil lady assassin. She was definitely the weakest part of this quest, quality-wise. I mean, who proclaims openly that I AM THE ASSASSIN? Even if you have 10 archers pointing at your opponents, one stray servant and you are busted.

You seem to have done well enough with it for someone who was confused.

[AlanC9]

The whole time I did that quest, running around while spamming the search button to find the collectibles I was so on edge that I was inwardly livid. I was like "IS THIS WHAT YOU WANT BIOWARE?! IS THIS THE TRUE "ORLESIAN" EXPERRIANCE THAT YOU OH SO ADMIRE!!!!"

We should be on edge more often in RPGs.

[AlanC9]

The 'best' ending is subjective.  I'd say that having Celene and Briala reconcile is the best ending as it allows Briala to start enacting reforms for the elves, and become the first elven noble in the Dales since the fall of the Dalish.  The downside is you end up hooking her and Celene back up with each other which is... murky.  Celene did a lot of very questionable things to both elves and Briala.

Fortunately, my Inquisitors haven't read The Masked Empire, so they don't know anything about that. It's Briala's problem, not theirs.

[jlb524]

What's so wicked about their ears?

 

Briala's got those wicked elven ears.

 

idk the title made me laugh though

[Illyria]

But what was wrong with the empress? I read you can blackmail her too, but I never found out how.

 

Celene purged the elves of Halamshiral because Gaspard implied she was soft on elves.  This is only brought up in passing in the game.

 

She also had Briala's parents murdered so she could blame political rivals and use that in her favour in gaining the title of Empress (the idea was to make it look like assassins had attempted to kill the then 16 year old princess and, finding her gone, had killed her servents to cover their traces).  She never told Briala this despite them being lovers.

 

Fortunately, my Inquisitors haven't read The Masked Empire, so they don't know anything about that. It's Briala's problem, not theirs.

 

To be fair, Briala knows what she's getting back into, and the game (and the book) make it pretty clear that despite everything they do love each other.  Plus, making her a noble and having Celene publicly acknowledge their relationship puts them on a much more equal footing.

[Xerrai]

We should be on edge more often in RPGs.

Perhaps in some situations, yes. The on-edge atmosphere of Halamshiral actually seems quite befitting of the actual dangers of the grand Game when you think about (even if it is tedious...really,really, tedious). But overall, the player should only be on-edge when it befits the narrative and not just for the sake of it.

 

Pivotal plot points, final boss battles, being in the middle of over hostile enemy territory--that sort of thing. Trying to go anywhere close "Dark Souls level" nerve-grating on it all the time will only appeal to a small niche crowd.

[Caoimhe]

It can be a complicated quest, as there are many outcomes. I personally like to gather all the statues and blackmail all 3 into working together.

 

In an attempt to keep all my friendships high, I noticed that Cole seems to disapprove of Celene ruling alone or Gaspard ruling (meaning Celene must die), but he's happy if all 3 are forced to cooperate and I think he also approves of Celene and Briala reuniting.

 

Also a tip for those who hate the rafters, skip that statue. You can collect 11 of them, so ignore that one and focus on the main 10 to complete the quest.

[Forsythia77]

Honestly, the quickest and easiest answer is to look up The Masked Empire on the Dragon Age Wiki because the writers did a terrible job intergrating the information into the game.

 

The three main players in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts are Celene - the currently ruling Empress who wants to reform Orlais - her cousin Gaspard - who wants to take Orlais back to its old expanionsist policies - and Briala - Celene's ex-girlfriend and ex-spymaster who wants to improve conditions for elves in Orlais.

 

The 'best' ending is subjective.  I'd say that having Celene and Briala reconcile is the best ending as it allows Briala to start enacting reforms for the elves, and become the first elven noble in the Dales since the fall of the Dalish.  The downside is you end up hooking her and Celene back up with each other which is... murky.  Celene did a lot of very questionable things to both elves and Briala.

 

There is also an option to blackmail all three of them and force them to work together under the control of the Inquisition.  It's the hardest ending to get, and also the least stable.

 

I've never been able to reconcile Celene and Briala, but I've gotten enough dirt to own all three and make them work together or blackmail them all multiple times.  Every time I've tried to get Celene and Briala back together Celene she ends up exiling Briala.  And I've played the game a lot of damn times.  *shakes fist at sky*

[almasy87]

Court approval is SO easy to get and keep. There is a trick, in case you plan to redo the mission.

2 times during the night you hear the bells and Inqui says it's time to get back to the main room. One is before you meet Morrigan and the other one before you dance with Florianne.

If you hear the bell, go near the door, but do not go into the main room until you hear the bell a second time. Then Inqui will say "now I'm fashionably late!" and this gives you 20 extra court approval points.

That, and collecting gossip for Leliana/throwing a few coins, is enough to keep you around 100 all times even when you wander the Palace a little longer

[Illyria]

I've never been able to reconcile Celene and Briala, but I've gotten enough dirt to own all three and make them work together or blackmail them all multiple times.  Every time I've tried to get Celene and Briala back together Celene she ends up exiling Briala.  And I've played the game a lot of damn times.  *shakes fist at sky*

 

You need to find the locket and talk to both Celene and Briala before triggering the end of the quest.  There should be new options when talking to Celene's ladies in waiting and Bria to do this.  And you need to pick the options that point out they still care about each other.

[Iakus]

We should be on edge more often in RPGs.

 

Sure.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure the game has us on edge about the right things in this mission.

 

Shouldn't it be "Can't let Orlais fall into chaos!" more than "Where's that last  %&^@ing halla statue?

 

Fortunately, my Inquisitors haven't read The Masked Empire, so they don't know anything about that. It's Briala's problem, not theirs.

As such, my Inquisitors have no particular reason to put Gaspard on the throne when he is in a position to stop the assassination.

 

Which is why I wish there was more in-game information.

[vbibbi]

Sure.  Unfortunately, I'm not sure the game has us on edge about the right things in this mission.
 
Shouldn't it be "Can't let Orlais fall into chaos!" more than "Where's that last  %&^@ing halla statue?
 

As such, my Inquisitors have no particular reason to put Gaspard on the throne when he is in a position to stop the assassination.
 
Which is why I wish there was more in-game information.

Also "why do all doors in this palace need statues to open them, and why are the statues scattered around in public?"

And "If we as Inquisitor came to the ball in order to prevent Celene's murder, why do two of my advisors suddenly suggest allowing her to die is a good idea? Especially when our mandate is to bring order to the land, not to decide on our choice of ruler"

[Chardonney]

Also a tip for those who hate the rafters, skip that statue. You can collect 11 of them, so ignore that one and focus on the main 10 to complete the quest.

 

The statue on top of the rafters in the kitchen is actually pretty easy to get. First jump onto the table. Then just jump in the air and at the same time hit the hour glass to pause the game. While the inquisitor is in the air, click the statue and unpause the game. That's it. Done.

 

 

In her bed chamber, Celene has one of Gaspard's men naked and tied up. If you release him, he will testify how she was planning to take down Gaspard's forces with her own. That can be used to blackmail her.

 

That scene is hilarious.

[Mlady]

The statue on top of the rafters in the kitchen is actually pretty easy to get. First jump onto the table. Then just jump in the air and at the same time hit the hour glass to pause the game. While the inquisitor is in the air, click the statue and unpause the game. That's it. Done.

 

I always found that part easy too. It can be tricky if you aren't using a controller though, but months of ME has made me an expert at using WASD.

[Chardonney]

I always found that part easy too. It can be tricky if you aren't using a controller though, but months of ME has made me an expert at using WASD.

 

I'm a PC+k&m girl to the heart but I have never had any problems with it.