spindleweeds

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r o m a n c e

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summercomfort replied to your post: summercomfort replied to your post “go...

well, then it *does* sound like a purposeful bad decisions playthrough. Is it still a good story if you pretend you’re the director and not the actor of the story?

oh yeah, it's still good (previous criticism notwithstanding) -- partly because your choices don't significantly alter the way the story progresses. (the details change, the framework stays the same.) it just leaves you (well, me) less attached to the character and makes the 60 or so hours you sink into it feel like a bit more of a slog.

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summercomfort replied to your post “good decisions in my bad decisions playthrough: making cole more human”

was it a purposely bad decisions playthrough, or accidental?

it was meant to be an "alternate decisions playthrough" really, but that naturally meant a lot of choices i didn't particularly agree with. (my first inquisitor, simeon, is basically a slightly more elven and vastly more entertaining version of me, which made him easier to inhabit.)

i did repeat some choices from the first game because the alternative would have been really out of character for my second inquisitor (cough demands of the qun cough) or because i literally couldn't face choosing differently (dorian's & cullen's personal quests). some of the alternate choices i'm pretty neutral on (solas's & blackwall's personal quests, who drinks from the well, who becomes divine), but the cole decision i mentioned was literally the only outcome i preferred in my second game.

in addition there were some almost trivial choices that really bothered me, including THE DAMN CHANTRY GARDEN and the american voice, which was ... serviceable? i guess? very ~manly and gruff. but a bit blah after how much i enjoyed the british voice actor. (who does this little hitching laugh once or twice which i am NEVER GETTING OVER.)

it didn't help that the romance path i chose (iron bull) didn't do it for me at all where i'd expected it to be a fun romp! i blame the writing for that a little bit (i really am going to write a longer post about it), but mostly it was just me running into some personal hang-ups i should have anticipated.

tl;dr: i'm ... a terrible roleplayer ...?

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i'm beginning to think i have a problem

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good decisions in my bad decisions playthrough:

making cole more human

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OH NO OH NO why did i ever take flirt options with cassandra if i wasn't gonna romance herrrrr i knew better

she's just like, "is it true you're involved with the iron bull? you are? oh. no, it's nothing. i was just. surprised." but then you get a heartbreak option if you say you are. DD: cassandra ... those were literally just ... two flirty lines back in haven ... i.e. probably months ago at this point ...

(unable to face this outcome i reloaded and took the heart option instead ("are you jealous?") and that actually gives you some really cute, gently teasing and non-heartbreaky dialogue. hfff. [slightly approves])

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What I don’t understand is how anyone can play this game and not end up at least a little bit in love with Cassandra Pentaghast.

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wicked eyes and wicked hearts (adaar playthrough remix)

josephine in formal attire is so attractive :’))

vivienne in formal attire, on the other hand, is a bit of a crime. gown mod for vivienne! (her comments about what you find in celene’s room though, haha.)

cullen at court is so uncomfortable and hilarious ilu cullen

bringing iron bull gives you some great conversation options! i wasn’t expecting that because i’d bought into the “boisterous mercenary” bit too much myself (damn you, bull) but he goes all subtle and ben-hassrath and it’s nice. (also he looks good in formal attire, maybe he SHOULD wear clothes more often.) (also the dance response if he’s romanced is cute. “hahaha right, can you imagine. oh, you were serious? then yes, definitely.”)

i thought playing an elven inquisitor was bad at court but playing a qunari makes me want to SET EVERYONE THERE ON FIRE

i didn't see this the last time because i was already in a romance with him and had presumably maxed out approval, but: dorian approves if you reunite [spoilers] and it makes me die a little on the inside. honey. sugarbunch. everything will be all right and you will find love. :/ (even if it’s not with the inquisitor or bull this time.)

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today i fell through skyhold, a fortress built upon the remains of a site holy to the ancient elves, and

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okay, but a vashoth inquisitor not knowing any qunlat at all is only slightly more believable than a dalish one not knowing who mythal is, right? like, i'll buy that they might not be fluent, having grown up outside the qun; perhaps their parents insisted on only speaking the common tongue -- to break with their old life, to better fit into their new one -- and both spoke it well for some reason. but things like "kadan" and "katoh" and the meaning of your own name seem like they'd be pretty basic knowledge if you're born to former qunari parents, and even more so if you were part of a mercenary company that's largely made up of tal-vashoth as well?

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he’s a lot of boy, as they say.

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i have to take back what i said about the second part of here lies the abyss being too long! it was fine the second time through, knowing where i was going and what i needed to pay attention to. i mean, it's an unpleasant place to be -- i can't stand the lighting there, and all the demons aren't super cosy either. but it was just fine as far as pacing goes.

i went with a different party this time (cassandra/bull/dorian rather than blackwall/solas/varric) and a different world state, but more on that below.

cassandra doesn't say much but is super useful from a gameplay perspective! i think i must have been lower level now than the first time i did this quest with simeon, AND i only had one mage instead of my previous two, but the final fight especially was SO much faster this time around, i couldn't believe it. it almost felt silly having to make that final decision at all, we were doing so well.

more significant spoilers under the cut.

so i know there's a lot to be said for bringing solas along but let me also recommend bringing dorian and iron bull, because the amount of "hahahaha oh maker we're physically in the fade" is hilarious, especially if your inquisitor is freaking out right along with them. (weh weh weh i love them both so muchhhh.)

the fake archdemon basically biting warden-commander clarel in half still made me laugh. i'm a terrible person.

this mission is SO MUCH WORSE with alistair instead of stroud, fuck. alistair seems so resigned in crestwood i thought it would be easier to choose hawke over him, but once you do adamant you can see he still has fight left in him, and the grey wardens COULD do with a senior officer. (alistair is admittedly just about the worst choice in all of thedas to be left in command of ... anything. but okay.) so in the end i left hawke in the fade. it IS my "i regret everything about this" playthrough i suppose? and i love alistair to bits but that was terrible and i'm never doing that again. :(( (anders is gonna LOSE it, wherever he is. like. lose whatever was left of him anyway. errrk.)

i was more invested in hawke's and alistair's ill-timed argument about the grey wardens this time, too; alistair just hooks right into your DA:O experience of being a warden -- much more so than stroud, obviously -- which gives it weight.

and then i couldn't even hug varric because rafa would never in a million years. but i appreciate the option, game.

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maybe i shouldn't have turned my garden into a chantry garden, there's ... so much chanting there now ...

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i started a second playthrough a little while ago -- tal-vashoth rogue, rafa adaar, bull romance probably -- with the explicit goal of playing through the game as fast as possible, i.e. doing story missions as soon as i had enough power available and only doing side missions when relevant to companions.

i also started with the goal of allying with the templars this time round, but the game makes that really hard to justify, right? i mean, i'm aware i have a mage problem, but the only impression you get of the templars is in val royeaux and that's unfavourable, to say the least. if you go to investigate what's up with the mages in redcliffe at all you get drawn right into the alexius plotline; with the templars, you have no way of investigating before committing, so your main reason to commit would be a deep-seated mistrust of mages. which is fair enough, but the templar order seems to be in such disarray that even from a position of mistrust it would STILL seem like the more solid choice to go check out what the hell is up with that tevinter alliance and maybe settle it yourself.

but okay, i'm playing someone who's vaguely andrastian and slightly more pleasantly disposed towards the chantry this time around (i'm tal-vashoth, mum, i can do what i want, it's your own fault for leaving the qun) and so templars it is.

(a REALLY weird side effect of all this is that i'm suddenly "friends" with vivienne, who's somehow even more terrifying if she likes you -- you can really feel her trying to butter you up and shape you into what she wants and it's completely disconcerting.)

champions of the just (& corypheus's lieutenant quest) & in your heart shall burn spoilers under the cut --

champions of the just

I HATE TIMED MISSIONS i'm never doing that again.

although i do have to say that ser barris is super cute and i hope he stays around. (inexperienced, upstanding templar boys who just want to do the right thing: gah. i just want to give them soup and maybe a hug and be like, sorry your order sucks so much.)

i integrated the templars into the inquisition at first, then thought about it some more and figured rafa was both confounded by all things magical and likely to want to give them a chance to find their own strength ... so i reloaded and allied with them. i'm gonna regret that, probably.

... i'm already regretting everything about this playthrough tbh. except archery, that's fun.

the different intro to cole was good -- not that the way you meet him if you side with the mages doesn't also work, but if you go with the templars you really get to meet cole in his element. it's smart: if you're siding with the mages you'll miss out on the longer intro to cole, but you're also more likely to be open to the idea of letting random spirits hang out with you in the first place. if you're skeptical about magic and side with the templars, champions of the just gives cole an opportunity to prove himself to you before the game makes you decide if you're letting him stay.

(cole's voice actor is fantastic.)

that said, missing out on the longer intro to dorian is a crime. i just watched the version where you don't talk to him in redcliffe at all and i feel like -- you miss out on a big chunk of character development if you do that? dorian's so defined by his former status, his decision to turn away from the likes of alexius, so driven by his desire to reform tevinter. i mean, he kind of tells you about it later, but in hushed whispers gives you a chance to experience all of it for yourself! the reverse -- missing out on cole interaction -- doesn't seem like nearly as drastic a loss because cole isn't as coherent a character; the remarkable thing about him is his otherworldliness, but less the story of it than the way he exists in the world, and you can get a good feel for that later. (i do think going the templar route gives you more of cole's rhys and evangeline background, but i can't remember exactly from my first playthrough.) if you DO talk to dorian in redcliffe and then fail to come to his aid with alexius all this is mitigated a bit ... but then he makes frowny faces at you in skyhold, which. rafa doesn't really care BUT I DO I'M SORRY BB.

overall i'd say champions was an entertaining quest but not nearly as surprising and emotionally hard-hitting as in hushed whispers. (i think the main sticking point is that it felt like much more of a lone wolf thing than a "oh god what happened to my team?" thing.)

in your heart shall burn (champions of the just remix)

that was a LOT more dorian/cullen interaction at haven than if you ally with the mages though. like the "are you sure you're a templar? because you sound like a blood mage." sniping? that was pretty great. (and it sets up stuff like them getting along/playing chess later, too.)

the entire sequence from the destruction of haven up until arriving at skyhold was nearly as emotional again as the first time i saw it. (still love the "weak and wading through the snow" sequence; finally, finally fires in the distance, familiar voices, realising suddenly that these people have already become something like home to you.)

the "dawn will come" scene takes on a different feeling ENTIRELY when you're playing someone who's at least sort of on board with andraste and the chantry, which is really neat. simeon was more pissed off about it because it felt so manipulative and thrust upon him; with rafa actually believing to some extent it became genuinely inspiring and motivational.

cassandra and iron bull immediately threw their loyalty quests at me upon arrival in skyhold and now i'm in "... maybe i should romance cassandra instead." territory AGAIN. no self no. next time. i still don't have dorian's (GETTING THERE but man it's taking some work) and i don't stand a chance of getting solas's (so much disdain, hahah) ...

calpernia

i don't know how this plays out yet, but i did calpernia's background quest and liked the story it uncovered. that said, samson is more firmly woven into the lore and it'll be a shame to miss out on working with cullen to track him down. working with leliana to figure out calpernia is interesting, but it's less engaging for lack of cullen's personal investment.

this is really more of a general observation, but why not make it here: dagna :D <33

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i just don't know any more.

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faaaaves (pt. 1 of 2749292)

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A very long post about things that worked for me in DA:I and things that didn't, spoilers for the entire game:

The locales were gorgeous. I understand people who were overwhelmed by the sheer size of the zones, but I enjoyed riding my beautiful horse everywhere SO MUCH. (idk if it's just me or what, but that horse was a m a z i n g?! the animation felt so solid, i loved it.) Storm Coast wins personal favourite for the weather and the greys and the unbelievably pretty lighting, but the entire thing was basically like taking an extended vacation in a bunch of beautiful places.

Skyhold felt wonderfully lived-in. So many little touches -- the notes throughout construction, the conversations everywhere, how the people in the courtyard changed with your actions, the changeable decor. The wine cellar! Wandering through it gave you such a sense of comfort, made you want to protect it -- especially after Haven.

I've read a few reviews where people said they had some trouble connecting with their Inquisitor but I can't say the same at all; I loved mine to bits. I really benefited from playing a Dalish mage though -- you immediately run into so many things that make you question where you stand and who you are, and then as the story progresses it becomes more and more relevant to your heritage and identity. (I do also have some criticism there though, see below.)

The story beats were fantastic up until after the Temple of Mythal. Gosh, In Hushed Whispers completely floored me, and then the follow-up of In Your Heart Shall Burn, the move to Skyhold ... I had to force myself away from the computer at regular intervals, completely captivating. Even the complete change of pace in Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts -- I mean, that could have been a disaster (hours of spying and political intrigue?) but instead it worked brilliantly.

Dorian's romance arc was touching, charming, and sexy by turns, with a shocking lack of cringey lines. (I can only really think of "How bad does the Inquisitor want to be?" though I'm sure there were a few more. I genuinely loved the "Inquisit me again." line, to be honest. YOU KNOW HE'D SAY THAT.)

The companion interactions in general were wonderful, both the banter and the actual cut scenes like Dorian and Cullen's chess game, Cassandra helping Cullen through the lyrium withdrawal, etc. (The banter bug is a tragedy, but at least I'll have lots of new material to look forward to once it gets fixed.)

Dorian, Cassandra, the Iron Bull, Josephine, Cullen: fantastic. I'm a bit on the fence about Varric (whom I love, I just ... wanted more maybe? wasn't sure about where the Bianca thing went?) and especially Solas (even more conflicted now I've gone and watched some of his romance) but leaning positive.

There's a theme to the game of deconstructing myths -- you get the elven gods, of course, but it also makes a point of doing it with the Dalish themselves, with the Grey Wardens (almost hilariously so; they're so weird), with the templars and the rebel mages, the Orlesian court, even Corypheus himself ... all these grand stories and in the end it's all about people being a) petty and terrible and/or b) thrown into terrible situations and forced to make impossible choices.

The crafting system is hilarious and fun (okay, make something with reasonable stats but it MUST NOT involve plaidweave), at least once I'd figured out the interface. On replay I'd start crafting much earlier and be less stingy with materials.

There's just so much to do. I spent so much time just sightseeing, crafting, talking to everyone, listening to ambient dialogue. It really is a world to get lost in.

Didn't work --

The story beats after the Temple of Mythal, and especially the weird, rushed last mission, where I basically just threw up barriers on occasion and auto attacked the dragon and Corypheus to death. I was only level 19, so not crazily overlevelled either. I'm not calling for a harder fight necessarily, but it just felt really banal? And the victory felt so ... unearned. I spent the entire game gathering assets and strengthening the Inquisition only to then not get to use any of those assets in the final battle? Even if I'm gonna roll with the whole "my army's still at the Temple of Mythal but we have to strike now" thing -- couldn't I have found a use for my companions, at least? They were all there in the end! ME2 did that so well, as did Origins, I think (it's been a while) -- surely something like that would have been an option. Basically the ending wasn't satisfying from a gameplay perspective and it wasn't satisfying from a narrative perspective either, and that's a disappointment after all that extraordinary build-up. That's not to say it was a terrible ending -- it was a very straightforward and safe ending -- just that the longer I think about it the more I realise how little it resolved and how much more it could have been.

Solas, Solas, Solas. LOVE the idea, not convinced by the half-hearted execution. I realise his storyline is going to lead into future events and that the post credits scene was intended as a teaser, but it really needed to be a lot clearer and, uh, explain a lot more. Actually, well -- I think it shouldn't have been a post credits scene at all but been more properly integrated, including more set-up than a bit of easy to miss banter and a codex entry. In fact, I really think they missed out on a chance to make the ending much more compelling and emotionally satisfying by integrating the Solas reveal. For instance, what if the orb hadn't shattered but ostensibly been depowered, and you were given a choice to either try to take it from Solas by force or let him leave with it? You could even bring that sort of thing around to a similar ending place so as not to complicate the story too much in the future, but it would have let the player have some input, would have given the Inquisitor more agency in those last minutes.

I think this is partly a problem of contrast because some of them were SO GOOD, but some of the companions felt a bit underwritten -- especially Vivienne. Simeon didn't get along with her too well, and I'll try becoming better friends on my Cassandra romance playthrough, but ... it's difficult to sympathise with someone who's embraced an obviously faulty system to this extent, and I wish I'd seen her question it even just a little bit. Instead we got the Bastien thing, which felt oddly tacked on -- "Let's show people Vivienne DOES have a gooey centre!" -- as well as inappropriately intimate on my playthrough. She'd been nothing but distant and patronising until I brought her the proper wyvern heart, and then she suddenly lets me see THAT?

Because you have the option to keep playing after you finish the main quest (which is nice!), all your companion's arcs end up in this weird limbo where everyone has plans but no one's actually leaving. This is particularly frustrating when it comes to your romance. For me, with Dorian -- does he leave and try to reform Tevinter? Does he stay indefinitely, growing more restless and frustrated? Does he leave but make plans to come back? I don't need definitive answers, but a general direction would have been nice. (I assume it's the same with both Cassandra and an Iron Bull who remained with the Qun, possibly others too.)

It's buggy as fuck on PC.

As good as it was to play a Dalish mage Inquisitor, it wasn't enough sometimes -- thinking particularly of the Temple of Mythal, where the Inquisitor's like, "So who was Mythal?" Dude, you're your Keeper's First, you should probably know these things.

Relatedly: The war table mission where you can accidentally wipe out your entire clan? By taking the option that seems safer, I might add. I really feel like that should have triggered a cut scene (the next time you're in your quarters, perhaps with your highest-approval companion?) that lets you choose how you're dealing with it, but ANY acknowledgement would have been better than no reaction at all, which felt super disorienting.

Not actually sure if good or bad --

Blackwall's arc. So with characters like Anders or Morrigan I've always been able to see the motivation behind the betrayal and at least sort of understand. With Blackwall though, his entire deal is so reprehensible and so mundane, and he STILL has the gall to play the morally superior card at every opportunity. He never comes off his high horse, only it's not even HIS high horse! Oh man. I hated having him around after his reveal. And that's me the player, not me the Inquisitor, which I think is my main point of critique -- I don't see this changing on future playthroughs, even with different Inquisitors. There's just not a lot to sympathise with, I think. fwiw though a lot of people seem to have taken a much kinder view of Blackwall, and I guess it's good if a character that could have been boring turns out to be pretty divisive, so here he is in this "idk idk" category.

The criteria for things like the choosing of the new Divine and Leliana's hardening being so opaque. I like this a lot in theory, that the way you behave in the game world influences it just as much as your explicit choices. The problem is that you might want your character to grow and change a bit over the course of the game, and some of the things you say early on seem to lock paths in -- for example, Leliana apparently always hardens if you don't tell her not to kill her spy really early on in Haven (COMPLETELY overstepping your position at the time). Filing this under "neat but frustrating".