OK, I've just finished my third playthrough, so I've hit that saturation point where I'm saying to myself "damn I loved this game"
and there's no doubt they've built replay value into it ... and yet I feel tempted to comment on some aspects of the story/characters (as opposed to the mechanics which is in another thread) ... with the potential hope that perhaps although I doubt it will affect the imminent Awakenings expansion pack perhaps the devs might take note of certain things and either accentuate the positive or eliminate the negative in future ones. 1) Endings. I liked the ending epilogue text. I was actually quite surprised that the ending text not only gave me information about the outcome of my main quests, but in some cases about some that I considered irrelevant side quests. I mean, I really didn't expect to read about what happened to Dagna in the epilogue ... and yet there it was. Of course it was deeply interesting to see what happened to both party members and others I encountered as a result of my choices and I'm only now finally seeing (having chosen 3 different "origins") how even your "origin" shapes things that happen in both your playthrough and your epilogue outcomes. If I had any minor qualm it would have been nice to see some more visuals (not even video/cutscenes, just stills) that visually depicted some of the outcomes described in the epilogue.
2) Romances. Nice job as always, Bio. The curious part about the Alistair Romance if you're a female Human Noble character is that obviously you might be pursuing Alistair because you might want to be Queen ... when he becomes King. It would have been interesting to see this come up as more of an objection when you're romancing Alistair, particularly later in the game, along the lines of ... "well, are you really interested in me, or are you just after the Throne"? I think it's interesting how race is totally ignored. You would expect Zevran to prefer elves, Morrigan and Leilana and Alistair to prefer humans, and at least if you're a dwarf ... have that come up as an initial objection "you're not my type" ... (but then maybe you could work to overcome it) but it doesn't really. (BTW, since there are AFAIK no half-elves or half-dwarves or ... delves/erfs in the game it's not clear if the races can and do intermarry.)
Not going to get into the sexual orientation issue ... but yes, I just had to at least on one of my playthroughs see if I could bed Leilana as a female ... worked. Leave it at that. The Morrigan romance for a male player is foreshadowed by the Plot ... you almost don't want to romance her on a second playthrough because you know damn well how badly things are going to end, her taking off with your child & never wanting to see you again, no matter what (well, unless you forego the ritual and allow yourself or Alistair to die.)
3) Personal Quests. Some of the personal quests are really quirky. Some can be detailed (Shale's opens up a whole new area of the game for you), some are pretty simple.... just talking to somebody's sis (but I'll be damned if it wasn't hard to get Alistair to talk about it), or in the case of Oghren, just helping him hit on a girl! I thought it was interesting Zevran had no personal quest (well, other than the "loyalty moment" where the Crows finally show up and he decided to side/stick with you or not), and it would have been interesting to have a Dog quest (OK, just as an option, I know dog is always 100% loyal/approval, but maybe the outcome could be an ability boost and it would require finding a bone he had buried somehwere ... or something). I always did Wynne's because her personal quest not only increased her attributes but unlocked a unique power (Vessel of the Spirit) ... might have been cool if that was true in other cases. BTW, I now have found out Aneirin's amulet augments Vessel of the Spirit (found that out only outside of the game proper), although I have no idea how. I also like how Sten's and Leilana's personal quests led to them getting better items... that would have been cool if it was true more often ... although btw Marjolaine's bow is awesome, Sten's Tier 3 personal sword Asala is fairly quickly exceeded by others you find.
4) The characters. What can I say. Loved Sten's cryptic Qunari stoicism, Alistair's self-deprecating humor, Morrigan's mix of **** goddess dominatrix with occasional slipping signs of human emotional vulnerability, Leilana's weird way of mixing Chantry religious morality with her actual life of crime (past & present) as a rogue-bard (BTW it is a very beautiful song she sings for you at one point, my favorite touch was the silent but evocative expressions you see on the other camp characters' faces as they listen to her touching song as well), Oghren's drunken swagger and the way he hits on the female companions (and even you, though he won't "really" romance you, if you're female), Shale's ... Shaleness (don't know how else to put it), Wynne's schoolmarm way of watching out for you, Zevran's general sense of Antivan cool, and yes even the quirky things the ever loveable Dog will do if you pet him or tell him to fetch. (Only thing I would add to Dog, maybe "dialogue" where you can tell him to do other tricks, like maybe sit up and beg. Or get him to come over and lick your face. And maybe bring your slippers.)
I guess the only thing I kind of didn't like is how far into the game you had to be to get some of them. If you want Wynne, you have to go in, and finish, Circle of Magi, to get her ... since you can't leave Circle of Magi once you start it. If you want Zevran, you have to completely finish one major world quest line since he won't show up before. And, BTW, you can get Oghren if you start, but don't finish, your excursion into the Deep Roads with him in Orzammar, but he won't dialogue with you in camp or start his personal quest until after the Branka denouement. So you basically have to finish that too. What I'm basically saying is to have a complete party, that you can completely interact with, you have to have already finished two major world quest lines. I would say yes, you shouldn't be able to get *everybody* in Lothering either, but I would have done that slightly differently.
I loved all their personalities ... personally instead of having 5 warriors, 2 rogues, and 2 mages (since Dog and Shale are warriors, and so are Sten, Alistair, Oghren), I might have made the mix a little bit diffferent. Maybe a third mage, a Primal, to complement Wynne (Spirit/Creation) and Morrigan (Entropy). Sten should have had a specialization available to him at 7, instead of waiting to get one at 14. The large number of warriors in the game made me not want to play one myself.
Party banter ... hilarious. Loved it.
5) And ... of course.... the Storyline/Plot. I love the way that the Dwarf substory was a microcosm of the larger overall Plot story. Factional war over the throne. You have to choose a side between Bhelen and Harrowmont even as you are trying to get people to choose you/your candidate over Loghain at the Landsmeet. I also think it's interesting the two different Dwarf Origin stories predispose you to choose a side ... although you don't have to (but as a Dwarf Commoner, how could I betray my sister Rica, even if I didn't agree with her choices?... so I *had* to side with Bhelen). I love the way the Origin stories have you meeting people that will figure in the Main Plot later on. Like, for example, I already thought Arl Howe was a slimeball, just on general principles, in playthrough one. But when I was a Human Noble in playthrough two, I mean, I *really* hated him and wanted him dead for what he had done to my family.) Or how killing jarvia has a certain extra sweetness to it once you realize what she had done to you as a Dwarf Commoner. Etc. I've now played four of the six origin stories (though done only three playthroughs that was because I started one over). It's really tempting to do the other two. As an Elf Mage in playthrough one, I never got to see the Origin of either a City or Wild Elf. It's interesting that as a Human that's not a Mage you don't have a choice of origins (i.e. Human Commoner/Peasant instead of Human Noble)...
I liked some of the more unusual plot twists ... breaking out of prison, disguising myself to sneak in and rescue someone (instead of, like always, hacking & slashing my way in), the political maneuvering at the Landsmeet, the rare opportunity to essentially "be" someone else than my PC when trying to hold off the siege of the Denerim gates, the odd solo-shapeshifting journey through the Fade in Circle of Magi. The only thing I would have liked to have seen is the occasional brief quest or moment where somebody else in your party might solo or do something else with another companion ... like Sten and Dog go off to hunt a rabbit, or Zevran and Leilana go off to do something roguey by themselves ... etc.
I like how there are many good moments where Persuade will sometimes prevent you from unnecessarily fighting fights you don't have to ... or otherwise allows you to talk your way out of or into stuff ... nicely done but BTW it's hard to spot on your skill screen!
Oh and I liked the puzzle embedded minigames ... those were cool. Frankly, found defeating the "four face" guardian in the Anvil of the Void damn difficult until I turned off AI and ordered each party member to stand by an altar and stay there.
One final thing I found kind of quirky... the whole game revolves around getting your treaty armies (elves-dwarves-humans-magi) for the final battle, but to be frank, I didn't have much use for many of them in the endgame, I found I could take out the generals and the archdemons without them, and preferred to.
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