#but also i want to finish my dao replay... and replay da2... and finish my dai replay i never finished lmao

[crows-of-buckets]

I need to draw my rook bc I actually do have some ideas for them I just. Have NOT been in a creating mood idk I'm so tired... Aoughgggh

[whereismywarden]

So after finishing the game last night, here are my initial thoughts on it.

I had fun. I enjoyed it. A LOT. Definitely more than Inquisition.

It's very much a Dragon Age game - with some Mass Effect sprinkled on top of it.

It's a direct sequel to Trespasser (even with the massive time gap there's no denying that), and its storyline is reminiscent of DAO and DAI, although it's structured more like ME2. And there are a lot of emotional beats, not just in Act 3 but during the companions' quests too.

Speaking of companions, they and Rook feel more like friends and family than coworkers, falling more in line with DA2. BioWare did a great job getting me to care about them.

While I missed having three companions in my party, it wasn't as bad as I expected. I just wish enemies wouldn't zero in on Rook so much. It made playing a ranged character a bit difficult at times.

The game puts a lot of emphasis on the background you picked, with sometimes entire conversations that appear to have a faction-specific parallel branch. Interacting with characters from your faction feels a lot like returning to your origin's location in DAO. My only complaint is that my elven Rook appeared to know a lot about the Dalish despite his background suggesting he was city-raised, but that can easily be brushed off.

One of the highlights of the game for me though was how well trans Rook was written! It felt truly affirming, and I loved that you always have a choice: from what their experience with gender is like to whether or not you want to bring up the subject in relevant conversations. And there are multiple trans and non-binary characters throughout the game too. It's not just you and that one blink-and-you'll-miss-them NPC. There are major trans and non-binary characters in this game.

That being said, I found myself thinking way too often that there should have been an imported choice for this or that. And I don't just mean "wow, wouldn't it have been cool if we'd gotten a cameo from so and so?" There are specific lines of dialogue in the game that might invalidate some people's playthroughs!

Also, I now get why some critics claimed BioWare was playing it safe with this game. Historically, they haven't always been great at writing morally grey storylines, but here, it seems they were so afraid of getting some backlash (specifically over their depictions of the elves and probably the Qunari) that they're not even trying anymore. It's not necessarily a bad thing (lord knows some improvement was needed), but it's at times such a 180 from existing worldbuilding that it's pretty jarring.

Though that doesn't stop the game from asking you to make difficult choices. This time, they're just more akin to picking an ice cream flavour rather than "Aunt Mia is allergic to nuts but if I don't give her a pecan pie, Travis will kill my dog."

But again, I can't stress it enough, I loved that initial playthrough, and only time will tell how well that opinion holds up on replay.

[anneapocalypse]

1, 2, 4, 8, 19 for the dav meme!

Veilguard Hype Ask Meme!

What was the first Dragon Age game you played?

Origins! I've been here since the beginning. Alongside Fallout 3, it was one of the first RPG video games that absolutely ate my brain. I have fond memories of sitting on my futon playing DAO for like 16 hours straight, forgetting to eat and destroying my back.

2. Which Dragon Age game is your favorite so far?

This is always such a hard question for me to answer, because the three games are all so different, and I have deeply fond memories of all three of them, and I can also look at all three pretty frankly and see their flaws even as I still enjoy them. I think if I have to name a favorite though, it's still Dragon Age 2. Something about its structure and scale, the creative and unusual use of place and time, and its themes, really appeals to me. I've also come to really like the personality lock-in feature even though it does place some limitations on role-playing, and I love the friendship-rivalry system. I love it so much. I think it makes for much more interesting character relationships than simply "Does this character approve or disapprove of my actions?" Are there things about the other games that I prefer, of course. I want to be able to play as an elf or a dwarf or a qunari, for one. But even after all this time, DA2 still hits me a certain way. I love the other two games as well. There's just something about Kirkwall.

4. What does your worldstate look like going into DAV?

So I have like five or six world states and I don't consider any one of them more canon than the others, but I will be going into Veilguard for the first time with Rogues Gallery, which is exactly what it sounds like (and which means the one thing I know about my Rook is they'll be a rogue), featuring Jolene Cousland, Mallory Hawke, and Calla Cadash.

Basic rundown:

The Circle was saved, Connor and Isolde both lived, Zathrian broke the curse, and Harrowmont is King of Orzammar.

Jo romanced Alistair and convinced him to do the Dark Ritual.

They stayed Grey Wardens and rode off into the sunset together.

Anora is Queen of Ferelden.

Nathaniel is alive.

The Architect was spared.

Vigil's Keep and Amaranthine were protected.

Jo went off alone to find a cure for the Calling, and Alistair was left in the Fade.

Carver is dead, Bethany is alive and a Grey Warden.

Mal romanced Isabela. (In my headcanon, they later become a polycule with Merrill but of course that's not in the game.)

She rivaled everyone except the rogues and Merrill.

Bartrand is dead. Varric kept a piece of the idol.

Aveline did not marry Donnic.

Feynriel went to the Dalish, and then to Tevinter.

Clan Sabrae was killed.

Merrill did not destroy the Eluvian.

Mal refused to take any kind of a stand until the very end of Act III where she heaved a big sigh and sided with the mages.

She disapproved of Anders' actions but spared his life.

Mal is still alive and kicking.

Calla romanced Josephine.

She conscripted the rebel mages and the Grey Wardens.

Alistair was left in the Fade.

I left off with her right before Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, so I am not sure of her decisions from her onward! But I do plan to finish this playthrough before Veilguard comes out. :)

8. What faction are you most excited to learn more about?

I'm pretty hype about all of them, but I'd say the Lords of Fortune and the Veil Jumpers the most since we know the least about them!

19. Are you planning to replay any of the previous games, watch Dragon Age: Absolution, or read any of the books/comics/short stories, or are there other games you want to play in the meantime?

I do plan to finish my current playthrough of Inquisition (Calla's playthrough) which is still incomplete. Beyond that, maybe I'll re-read some of my favorite Tevinter Nights stories. I spent about three years (2020-2023) playing the whole series on repeat like 5-6 times and reading and watching all the side content I could get my hands on, so... I'm probably good on that front. ;)

Final Fantasy XIV is getting a new expansion, Dawntrail, in just a couple weeks, so that should occupy a good chunk of my summer, and I expect I'll be ready to play some more Dragon Age in the fall in preparation for Veilguard! (Would love to get an actual release date, though.)

[nanalineni]

Dragon Age Veilguard first six hours of gameplay from someone who hasn't waited a decade for the game and who absolutely loved every part of Origins yes even the fade yes even the deep roads yes even the brecilian forest yes even the circle yes even denerim yes

Well first off be ready for the game to have a SHIT optimization. I had to restart my guy a grand total of six times until I was able to progress past the first rage demon crossing the screen three minutes after the introduction cinematics. My recommendation is get rid of the shader cache on your PC settings, delete the shader cache folder in the game files, lower the resolution settings, uncheck the hair strand animation that looks like ass anyways, and maybe restart your computer for good measure after that. Doing all this by trial and error went from the game loading 96% of the shaders in 45 minutes then crashing to starting in 3 seconds and not crashing (that is. Until the cinematic with Morrigan four-five good hours later which prompted me to go to bed. I suspect my PC of overheating and the shader cache to still be too large)

Now that your game is up and running well. Well that character creator is fucking amazing innit. It's a really good mix between all previous BioWare character creator iterations and it allows to make guys with very interesting facial features and good control over pretty much everything without being too huge and overwhelming, and still retaining some of the physiology of the different people from the previous games (contrary to what some steam comments would have you believe about the qunari –who had one (1) face model in DA2, cmon)

As for the fights, they've completely changed from the previous games, bye bye real time strategy and welcome final fantasy 7 type combat with perfect timing dodge and parry, and sometimes asking your companions to do some special actions (not ATB gauge tho, but you DO have a cool finish). And to my great pleasure, hello difficulty calibration ! This bangs. I'm gonna make the enemies even a bit more dangerous than I already did because I'm still not really challenged during the fights so far :)

Speaking of calibration I am extremely impressed by the accessibility tools, there's the now usual screenshake toggle, but also a screenshake slider, a size and opacity slider for subtitles, adapted colors for colorblind people you want it you name it !

Keyboard and gamepad binding are fully customizable, which is nice because you have quite a lot of tools during the fights and it takes a while to find a comfortable way to play. Luckily, the introduction is long enough that you don't feel unsatisfied by the fights you use as calibration I'd say.

In terms of the game itself the fights are quite fun ! I do miss the strategic aspect of DAO but I can also always replay DAO if I want that lol. There's still puzzles which I love, making you explore the environment a bit more, and the environment seems dense at first but is pretty easy to read thanks to a solid artistic direction. I love you artistic direction I am kissing you on the mouth. Yup this game looks a bit "cartoony" in its art they've chosen to go away from hyper realism and boy am I glad. In my opinion, the game looks a lot like Origins if it had better, more recent lighting tech and cleaner textures. I really like it ! It's still quite dark, at least in those first few hours it's been quite fucking dark lmao I don't know who out there thinks it's just silly goofy but may I remind you a recurring theme of Origins, the game where there's a dozen of you fighting a war against a living plague that eats the world while the royalty has sent assassin's after you, is that the country smells of wetdog ? Dragon Age has a lot of silly moments. It's true that Veilguard so far suffers a bit from the Cool Quip disease but I'm still very much at the beginning and I trust that I'll see the relationship develop between characters. Overall my biggest fear is that with only three choices carrying over from Inquisition (who you were in a couple with, did you disband, what'd you tell Solas at the very end), the game might make me face a world state I had no part of and that will frustrate me from the "everything carries over across a twenty year history" game franchise. Already felt weird getting a letter from Isabela due to the background I've chosen and not reading a word about Hawke. I wanna hear about Dagna and the Warden commander and how the royal family is doing in Denerim and whether Sebastian fucked off forever in the end and how are Leli's nugs doing >:( and I want to see Sandal again >:(

Overall fun time so far will come back to you all with more and with screenshots and shit over the week !

[mithrilwren]

4, 7, and 19 for the DA:TV ask meme!!!

4. What does your worldstate look like going into DAV?

You know, that's a great question that I wish I remembered any details about sdjkflsfa. I know Alistair became king and my warden died in my first DAO runthrough, and Hawke sided with the mages and ran off with Anders at the end of DA2, but I couldn't tell you anything about my DAI playthrough decisions: I did a lot of crocheting while playing that game and everything got muddled together hahaha

7. Which character from the previous games or other media are you most hoping will make an appearance in DAV?

Zevran! I miss that old son of a gun, I wonder what he's up to (ignore the fact that I technically accidentally killed him immediately in my canonical runthrough of DAO....) I'd also be extremely happy to see literally any of the DA2 companions show up, and I'm not picky about who.

19. Are you planning to replay any of the previous games, watch Dragon Age: Absolution, or read any of the books/comics/short stories, or are there other games you want to play in the meantime?

Unfortunately I've got a big backlog of games to get through, including finishing Baldur's Gate and Elden Ring, so I think those are going to keep me busy for the moment. I honestly need a refresher on Inquisition the most, and I still haven't played Tresspasser, but unfortunately that game is also the longest of the three and the one that interests me the least mechanically, so it's hard to get up the motivation. I would like to watch Dragon Age: Absolution eventually though! And I'll almost certainly be revisiting some of my favourite fics I have bookmarked.

[icharchivist]

I haven't played Dragon Age before btw but I think Veilguard looks really interesting. I hope I can get into it despite being a complete beginner

oh damn

I hope you can too.... from experiences while th DA games clearly follow heavily on one another, the fact each entry has it's own protagonist, they usually use it to really go "we can't assume you know what happened previously so here's a run down". I've seen people who never played the previous games get fully entranced by da2 or dai, and i have no doubt da4 will do the same on that regard, so if this is the way you want to go about it, i'm sure the game will be accomodating. and the game does look a hell of fun.

Personally i think it's a terrible idea but i'm also a person who has been living those past 8 years on the incredible high DAI's ending left me on with its major plot twist that literally changed everything, all while actually having been set up for all 3 games that going back to any of the prev game is a treat in term of treasure hunts of how "everything was there all along, we just didn't know any better" and genuinely i'd be saddened by people being introduced by the twist /first/ when the games have set this beauty up in 3 games.

The current promo cycle revealed also very early 20mins of the gameplay (not the very beginning and it skips around on a few scenes, but it's basically huge part of the prologue), and they will throw you into it right away (and there's no way it won't spoil the prev game, like, at all lmao), which is... so exciting as a long time fan, but is going to be a lot of biased exposition dump too.

("biased" bc the person who's going to fill you in on the situation has a history with the character it's about as well and the chara in question is so incredibly built through all of DAI and is such a nuanced, interresting character, that describing him in a few sentences is. very likely to get you the wrong idea about him. *mumbles* not like playing DAI has ever stopped people from being wrong about him, but,)

(Because yeah also 2 major characters/companions from da2 and DAI have been confirmed to coming back, as well as one of the most detailled secondary characters from DAI becoming a companion in DA4, so there's a lot of history there. The concept arts also teased a lot of returns from possible DAO, DA2 and DAI characters as well.

Not to mention they also confirmed the protagonist of DAI is coming back for a considerable portion of the game to "finish their story with [one of the major character of DAI (and possible romance option) that is going to be super important in DA4]" and has been mentioned to have a significant part to play/that sometimes you'll have to play them.)

But hey i'm talking from the place of someone who spent the last 8 years replaying the three games so often i have 700 hours on the first game, 600 on the second, and nearly 1500 hours on the third one (i've been replaying it those past few weeks, i'm 130 hours in and i am still "early" ish in the plot lmaoooo, and i already planned to replay the game when i'm done.), and have diven into everything the saga has to offer, from books to comics to movies to TV shows and webseries.

(speaking of TV shows, Dragon Age: Absolution on netflix was released a couple years ago and it was a great entry. It also has spoilers from DAI but if you decide to still going on with playing DA4 despite that, you can also watch DA:A to see if the universe compeels you to get deeper into. The show is short, 6/8 episodes? And the full cast (aside from Fairbanks being a big npc on dai and the cliffhanger refering to prev games as well) are new characters so the story can work as a stand alone thanks to that. and it's 2D animated, it's lovely)

point is i'm fully biased and the one thing that thrills me more than anything else about the game is really just rereading the pages of lore and seeing how they connect, so while to me the twist is 100% worth discovering in full, it's also just /my/ concern personally.

(and i can't even begin to touch on the specific high i've been on for the past month by the fact the trailer + gameplay showcase already went on to confirm theories i've been having for /years/ and there's a specific type of high that comes from "oh my god i picked that up!!! i did!!!! holy shit!!!" that would be lost on a new player who's introduced to it right away)

but it's MY way of experiencing DA and i think if you want to go into da4 first, esp since the other games are intimidating in some way (and god knows i've tried to drag ppl into DA and they all ditched early in DAO because DAO has some slow gameplay and some slow built before really hooking you in, so while i can't relate i know it's a deal breaker for some people when i say "no please start from the start"), i'm sure you'll still be on for a treat and everything.

If you end up getting into da4 without playing the other games, if you have questions my inbox is opened. I tend not to talk about DA much on main bc i can't stand the fandom esp on here and don't want them to find me at all (which is why every single of my completely unhinged rantings about DA have been confined to private conversation with friends and spamming my private twitter account i mostly have my IRLs on), but at least in term of lore clarification i should be able to help o7

anyway sorry lots of thoughts about it but i've been thinking about it a lot lately especially as i'm replaying DAI and i'm constantly crying just playing exploration phases because i'm just so enamoured with the way the game saga grew and rewards you for caring yaknow? and how as happy as i am people are interested in DA4 because i do want the game to do well and personally i feel in every fiber of my body that it's going to be a blast, but it saddens me to think the whole saga and the way the twists and turns affected one another will not be experienced fully by newcomers.

but again. ranting of a raving fan, and the game itself will surely ease you through it, so don't mind me too much about it.

I genuinely can't wait, my brain has been only DA for the past month.

happy it got your interest though <333

[holydragon2808]

Thoughts On Dragon Age II after Replaying (Massive Spoilers)

Hello fellow DA fans! It's been quite some time since I last posted anything here on Tumblr. Hope everyone has been safe during all of the world's craziness. Figured I'd post something to let people know I'm still alive.

Anyway, DA2 was first released back in 2011. I was 20-21 years old at the time. Back then, while I still acknowledged the lack of genuine player agency with Hawke (in comparison to the Warden before them), I did belong in the camp of people believing that people went way overboard with the DA2 critiques regarding those complaints, at least back then.

Now though? After replaying the game again a decade or so later, and also in light of the Inquisitor and DAI, I now personally believe that Hawke's story stands out as (overall), all the more unbalanced in comparison to both the Warden and Inquisitor.

Massive Spoilers for the franchise abound beyond this point. Last warning.

Despite a lot of the old critiques leveled at DA2, it isn't a 100% terrible experience, and despite the oncoming rant, I do love the game overall.

Even though I've personally always thought that DA2 story was centered around tragedy a bit TOO much, in light of the growing franchise and the directional tone of the other protagonists thus far, it unfortunately stands out even more to me, and not in a good way.

A shame really because DA2 could have been a better and interesting contrast to DAO in tone and direction had it been more balanced with meaningful successes and failures for Hawke as a character rather than veering too far over into angst and tragedy.

For example, in DAO, your Warden character is railroaded into success against the Blight no matter what. Regardless of the origin, regardless of what sort of allies you acquire, no matter if you live or die in the end or which warden gets the final blow, you succeed.

This sort of narrative framing gave the writers a much easier way to balance genuine tragedy and success throughout the journey without veering too far in one direction or the other, and also without making nearly everything the player does seem like an exercise in futility.

In other words, there were failures and successes more properly balanced throughout, from experiencing meaningful failures and heartache during the chosen origin stories, to failure at Ostagar, to having more balance with the party members and their struggles (they weren't too boring or too dysfunctional), romances that stood out as a light for the Warden amidst all the fighting and death and their massive burden, to succeeding with building the army to take on the Darkspawn, to potential personal sacrifice to save the world and so on.

The option to play a more tragic, angsty or "evil" character who alienates everyone around them and then ultimately dies in the end is there too. The point is that the game largely gave the player the reins and let THEM decide what sort of story they were interested in shaping within the confines of the narrative railroading.

This balance just isn't there with DA2 as the player progresses. Hawke is railroaded into failure in almost every way from start to finish, whether in their personal life or with the massive political struggles in Kirkwall.

I'm sure most people would have been fine with the main plot between the mages/Templars spiraling out of their control in the end (thanks Anders), the Qunari rampaging no matter what, and even the Hawke family being forcefully separated as the story progressed.

However, to me some of the railroaded bleak tragedy should have been offset by Hawke (and by extension the player) at least having the OPTION of being able to keep their family alive.

I'm fine with the tragedy of losing the whole family being ONE POSSIBLE option in the game, but when this tragedy along with the main plot failures, the dysfunctional party members that are too problematic to help ease Hawke's burdens (in fact, they all add to Hawke's worries, which if Inquisition shows anything, that it finally takes its toll on Hawke) is THE ONE AND ONLY OPTION in light of everything else wrong in Kirkwall, then that's a potential writing issue and could potentially alienate the player more than make them care about anything that happens and wonder why they aren't given the option to just nope out and leave Kirkwall to its fate.

Tragedy can be fine, don't get me wrong, but not everyone wants to role play a COMPLETE AND UTTER tragedy from start to finish with no option to deviate in any way from that narrative. Options in the way people progress (especially where people can break the story down and see the holes in the narrative where it COULD have possible but just wasn't allowed), should be presented in a ROLE PLAYING game.

I personally find it more realistic and relatable when a character experiences a nice blend of both MEANINGFUL success and failure. However, the writers seemed intent on railroading Hawke into just being at the mercy of the main plot with little to no agency.

In stark contrast to DAO, planning for the entire story in DA2 (or just in an RPG period) to end in failure no matter the player choices is already a bold enough risk on its own. It can definitely work with the proper balance of both positive and negative experiences along the way though in both the political and personal aspects of the player characters life, to keep the player actively engaged in a way that doesn't leave them thinking that their presence in the story amounts to little more than the equivalent of holding a book and simply turning the page rather than actively doing something.

But combining an already planned bleak ending with a very corrupt setting where the leaders on all sides are either completely moronic or passive, party members where the majority of them have too many burdens of their own to give Hawke a genuine sense of a reprieve from the madness even if romancing one of them (except for Varric, Aveline, and Bethany, if alive, everyone else is either a whiner or dysfunctional. It's very telling that Hawke's PET DOG gets more no strings attached visits from the party members than Hawke does. Just saying), railroading Hawke to lose the majority of their family in some way, AND having what little success and influence Hawke DOES acquire to come back and bite them in the ass in the end (Hawke struck it rich and became Champion of Kirkwall?! Awesome!.....right up until its revealed the red lyrium idol they found in the deep roads played a part in screwing up everything), then at that point, a serious argument can be made that the writers veered far too heavily into tragic overdone melodrama for some people.

How cool would it have been to be able to leave the game with "Well, okay, I couldn't do anything about the corruption in Kirkwall or the mage/Templar tensions spiraling out of control, but at least my whole family is alive and well"? There could have even been an achievement/trophy for this very outcome called "The pride of the Hawkes" or something.

Just one possible example of how the railroaded political failures could have been offset by giving Hawke, (and by extension the player), the OPTION for personal success in a more meaningful way. The option for extreme tragedy with some or even all of the Hawkes dying can still be there of course for people who want that degree of angst, but again having multiple OPTIONS is more likely to accommodate more people and their preferred play styles or stories, and thus, give more reasons to play the game multiple times.

As it stands now, sure, Hawke can save the life of one sibling, but they're still railroaded into losing one of them before the prologue is over, the other is either killed by the Blight or forced from their side in act 1 because the game said so, and the mother is forced to die in the most shock value induced way possible (nevermind not even being able to warn Leandra in act one or follow up on this quest until it's too late in act two or the guards and Templars being forcefully incompetent for this to play out like the writers want).

Those have just been my thoughts as of late. Some people argue that in a way, this is the entire point of the game. That sometimes only REALLY crappy choices exist and there may not be a third option. I agree with that to a point.

But "there might not be" and "there NEVER is" an option for an ideal third way are two very different things and IMO, DA2 suffered in veering far too heavily in the direction of the latter, often being too focused on heartbreak and shock value (looking at you "All That Remains") to really work as well as it could have.

Anyway, these are just my thoughts a decade later. Make no mistake, I still love DA2 for what it is, love the general concept and idea of DA2, just not the execution. It's just sad to me that this game could have been so much better with more development time, more options to shape Hawke's story on a more personal level (whether with an ideal outcome of everyone in the family living, or a semi tragic one where some can die depending on choices, or everyone dying), and not being railroaded into tragedy to nearly nigh ridiculous levels to the point where a giant spider nightmare residing in the Fade in a whole other game mocks Hawke for their "failure is the only option" status.

And just to further clarify my point here, true, Kirkwall was a ticking time bomb with or without Hawke being there. They made the tensions between the two factions apparent as far back as DAO. A Mage/Templar war was all but inevitable, as was Anders eventually losing himself to Justice/Vengeance and after exhausting all peaceful options, finally doing the unthinkable and "forcing everyone to choose a side". That part was fine. And it makes sense for this part of the story to remain static and unchanged no matter what (as I said before, the issue isn't necessarily that DA2 had a planned tragic ending or was framed as a set story within a story).

The issue is that, at the end of the day, regardless of whether this is framed as a recounting of events already played out, Bioware still chose to present this part of the story to the world as an RPG, not a novel. It's just too easy to pick apart the current execution of the narrative and find too many holes and inconsistencies, far too easy to see that Bioware wanted tragedy and completely railroaded the player into it regardless of whether or not it made sense to do so at times. Part of it is definitely that it was rushed, but not all of it.

" Genuine inevitable tragedy" (example: the mage/Templar rebellion) and "railroaded and just never given the option to question/change anything because the game/developers said so but still forcefully insisting and trying to frame it as an inevitable tragedy" are two very different things (outright confirming in Act 1 that the remains of the serial killer's vicitms did indeed belong to one of the missing women (Ninette's wedding ring) and he gave them white lilies but conveniently never given the option to bring any of this up to the guards/Templars or pursue the quest or warn Leandra until it's far too late). Leandra's death isn't the only example of this problem, but it definitely is one of the most prominent and IMO, takes away from the intended story of a good woman who met a bad end with their oldest son/daughter being unable to prevent it when the game failed to let them (and by extension the player) truly try.

DA2 could have been a great contrast to DAO. Rather than having the influence to shape the fate of the world like the Warden and succeed in their goal, they could have compromised in DA2 with having the fallout of the Kirkwall Chantry destruction and the rebellion still happening no matter what (i.e. Hawke "failing" to stop any of the madness and still ultimately forced to flee Kirkwall in the end after finally dragging the Amell line back into prominence) but still given the player the option to save their immediate family members across the story if certain choices were made throughout. I'm sure most people would have been fine with a more "bittersweet" option being presented for Hawke, (and by extension the player) in the game, especially where again, one can pick apart the narrative and see where it could have been an option, but just wasn't allowed for no other reason than seemingly because of the "True art is angsty" trope.

Bioware could still have their own canon (similarly to how Alistair is shown to be king in their canon no matter what as an example) of the ultimate tragedy if they wanted, but again, DA2 is still an RPG where players expect to have more meaningful choices reflected in how they progress, even with an inescapable darker and downer ending.

Complete and utter tragedy is fine, but I just don't think it was the best decision to have it as THE ONLY option in an RPG.

[colorisbyshe]

also, in terms of video games, once i finish up bonding with sisyphus/bouldy which is the last plot content in hades i have left (i THINK i have to check i there’s any extraneous stuff, but i have credits AND epilogue and bonded everyone else), should i play:

fire emblem: 3 houses for a sixth time to romance jeritza (after having done all the other gay romance)

final fantasy xv

final fantasy type 0 hd

bravely default ii demmo

hyrule warriors demo

final fantasy 7 OG version (have already played he remake)

stardew valley which i have never played despite having it for a year

the world ends with you (Switch version, i played the ds version like 10 years ago)

valkyria chronicles 1 so i can play valkyrie chronicles 4

okami

tales of vesperia for ps4

tales of zestiria

the witcher 3 (fuck cdpr but i alreayd own it so :|)

horizon zero dawn (which i played earlier this year and enjoyed for 10 hours but then put it down for a month and forgot how to play)

assassin’s creed odyssey for the hot main lady

persona 5 royal beacuse i loved vanilla so much and i got it on sale but then my eye immediately died

do i relearn how to play overwatch

and i THINK that’s all the uplayed games i ave so who wants tso shoot me for wasting so much fucking money over the years tho a lot of these were birthday/christmas presents and used

or should i replay the entire dragon age trilogy so i can finally romance someone other than fenris and who should i romance (in DAO i romanced alistair, da2 i romanced fenris, dai i played 2.5 times romancing dorian and sera)(DO NOT RECOMMEND ANDERS OR CULLEN OR IRON BULL TO ME ANYONE ELSE IS FAIR GAME)

[dyrwoodan]

tagged by @nordxz thank youuuuu i’ve been wanting to ramble about da i love this tag!! 💖💖 tagging [only if you want to, as always 🌲]:  @geirdrifuls @magewave @blckwall @the-elves @blood-magic @dykejessblack @kipoints @greyedwardens @jennystahl @vecna @widowmaqer @readceras @henantier @stenscookies @watcherofsouls @noonvraith

1. favourite game of the series?

dao and da2 are like,, equally amazing but for the sake of picking only one- da2. i love that game so damn much it's unreal. i love hawke's story, story of a refugee who somehow made it to the top but... what i love is that it doesn't feel like a victory, like a reward. obviously it's a matter of how you play it but to me it feels like... hawke loses so much the title of the champion sounds like a mockery. to me, personally, in my most humble personal opinion. apart from hawke's story i love the whole plot of the game. the mage-templar conflict, meredith is such a good villain lmao coryphishit who?? and lastly, what i love the most about da2, the companions. in dai, they feel like your colleagues, they are following you because you are the Big Inquisitor figure, they aren't even following you personally but the cause, the inquisition itself. in dao it's kinda better but it still feels like they don't have to be there because of you, the protagonist, but because they want to stop the blight, or whatever other reason (no beef with dao, still better than dai). in da2 the companions join hawke because they want to. and they don't follow a cause, they don't have a goal, they join hawke because of who hawke is to them. and they feel so real to me. and i just really live for this "found family" trope. i love that shit.

2. how did you discover dragon age?

god i don't even know?? i have a vague memory of seeing fenris fanart on my dash so i started digging like ooo who's this hot elf and i found out he's from a dragon age game. i made a mental note to play it someday. so obviously i forgot about this immediately. then ages later i got a new laptop and the first games that i bought were skyrim, dai and dao ( @lavellane tay i also didn't know da2 existed lmao). but the thing is, i can't remember why i bought those da games?? i just... did. like it was an instinct to buy it asap.

3. how many times you’ve played the games?

i have played dai more times than i'm willing to admit since now i'm a certified dai hater. but okay like,, i know i have finished the whole game at least 9 times because i did have some other inquisitors and i did play as kaz and lyrhis twice. and then there are those many many inquisitors that either didn't even get past haven but i spent 3 hours in the cc and then those that got to at least skyhold or further. many. many times. and then dao and da2 are about the same, not as much as dai but a lot? i don't know. i had many hawkes and wardens.

4. favourite race to play as?

elfsies hehe

5. favourite class?

i usually play a rogue in like,, every game because it's the most comfe for me, being an archer. BUT i do love being a mage in dao, i LOVE the classes and the abilities and everything. i still prefer being a rogue in da2, love me some cute lil daggers. in dai i prefer to be an archer but knight-enchanter is cool too.

6. do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

yeah i play differently a lot. even when i replay my own characters i sometimes make different choices. i do however stick with my choices in da2? i like being "bad" in dao and in dai, much fun. but in da2 i just.... i love my one set path of choices and i won't make different ones lmao

7. go-to adventuring group?

i pick the companions depending on the character i'm playing. as in, who would they like to be around. so it looks like this dao- morrigan, zevran, alistair/dog/shale da2- fenris.... i love all of them except for sebastian so i change them around dai- lyrhis: viv, solas, dorian/blackwall. väellera: solas, blackwall, sera, dorian, varric. kaz: sera, idk i'm having a lil kaz crisis and idk who he likes but sera is there for sure

8. which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

kaz for sure. he was my first da protagonist and i love him a lot. but i would say.. also lyrhis and väellera, since i put so much time into dai i really did think through all three of them. and right now they are equally developed i think

9. favourite romance?

fenris is my all time fave. but like... blackwall, anders... really good as well

10. have you read any of the comics/books?

nah

11. if you read them, which was your favourite book?

/

12. favourite DLCs?

THE AWAKENING!!! i love it so much it's SO good i'm hhhhhhhhh hyped just thinking about it. also jaws of hakkon. very cool, better than the actual plot of dai because you get to see something other than chantry and andrastianism for once. aaand trespasser, i love the soundtrack and how rushed it feels. like you are just running and chasing and it's fast and emotional.

13. things that annoy you.

the fucking fandom lmao also like. do i have to say it, do i, do i really.......... dai. the entirety of dai. the andrastianism. the chantry. hawke's cameo. the... everything. there is a lot that annoys me but we are not here to see me list every single thing that annoys me, are we?

14. orlais or ferelden?

ferelden

15. templars or mages?

mages

16. if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

so i reduced my hawkes to one hawke and i also only have one warden. but i do have 3 inquisitors and i didn't want to erase them and remake them into one because they are all so different and i love thinking about them in parallel universes. so the way it works now (because i used to change it up lmao) is that kaz is the main main main inquisitor and when he is the inquisitor väellera and lyrhis eventually join the inquisition too. when lyrhis is the inquisitor kaz and väe live happily and peacefully in the clan. when väe is the inquisitor kaz lives happily in the clan and lyrhis probably joins the inquisition again because she is Like That. so they did live in one clan lavellan prior to the events of dai.

17. what did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

it's been months..... since i played any da game and the last time i played it.. it was probably dao for like 10 minutes before it crashed and i didn't have the patience to fuck around with mods so i never touched it again. that being said, no i do not remember any names i gave the dogs in dao or da2 lmao and kaz has 2 cats, but he didn't name them

18. have you installed any mods?

yeah... a lot. in all three games. like, not currently because i don't even have dai installed and like i said, dao is modded but something went wrong and i never looked into it again. idk in what state is da2 tbh. but yes when i used to play them they were all modded

19. did your warden want to become a grey warden?

caiwyn hhhhhhh really nah. he was kinda conflicted. on one hand, of course he wanted to get out of the circle but on the other hand... he didn't want to die fighting darkspawn after like 2 days of freedom y'know. but he got better, t'was all fine after all

20. hawke’s personality?

ryon is hmmmmm nice and funny. simply said. in the keep i went with the diplomatic preset but in game he was a mix of blue/purple AND red when defending his friends and stuff. but mostly very kind and empathetic.

21. did you make matching armor for your companions in inquisition?

no i would always make something for the companions that would fit only them. like, i used to make orange/red armor for dorian, green/brown/white for solas, sera's plaid and red, viv with white/blue... but not matching with the whole squad

22. if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

:/ yeah. kaz has a lot of guilt and regret that keeps him up at night. he would change a lot of things that happened before the inquisition but one thing that happened during it- the slaughtering of his clan. he would have done something differently, to keep them safe and alive, if he only knew. lyrhis is so angry after trespasser, after discovering all that failed within her organization. she wouldn't have hired the iron bull, she would've pushed leliana to spy more and find out everything about everyone, to avoid finding it out later and feeling like a fool for not seeing it väellera wishes she stayed in the clan. in the forest. she never should've left. she never wanted this whole inquisition bullshit and it ruined her, broke her.

23. do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

yeah like a lot? dragon age is my playground now?? idk about the examples hhhhhhhhhh like,, väellera's spec is ranger from dao.... and others i guess idk i don't feel like writing about them lmao

24. are any of your characters based on someone?

time to expose myself yea, me lol except for ryon hawke, i'm nothing like ryon hawke. and väe, she’s based on.. someone else

25. who did you leave in the fade?

lyrhis- hawke. kaz- straud. väe- straud.

26. favourite mount?

the elks!! so pretty. but they sound like demons

[harelan]

its that dragon age questionnaire

tagged by @falkreathh​ and oh god oh fuck other people probably

tagging. you. you!!!!! 

1. favourite game of the series?

dai :/ listen, there’s no part of dai that i go “oh god not this part” during so.

2. how did you discover dragon age?

my brother bought me dao for my... uh nineteenth birthday? i think? but i got stuck early on and quit. and then that summer when me and jonah reconnected we were talking about video games and i said i’d bought dragon age and he was like “I LOVE DRAGON AGE” so i sat down and played it. also fun fact, i bought a thousand dollar gaming computer because i wanted to play inquisition and my laptop couldn’t handle it. 

3. how many times you’ve played the games?

uh all the way through? dao once, da2 twice, dai once. to be clear i have 350 hours in dai, but i’ve only finished it once. so. 

4. favourite race to play as?

elfs elfs elfs elfs

5. favourite class?

mage!!!!!!!!!

6. do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

uhhhhhh i mean i have like a “canon” worldstate that i replay, but i do test out the different options. especially dai. also i have mods that let me romance everyone at once so yes i romance the same person over and over, but it’s everyone. 

7. go-to adventuring group?

origins: cecil, alistair, leliana, wynne da2: rogue!hawke, fenris, varric, merrill/anders inquisition: matilda, solas, blackwall, cole | galani, blackwall, dorian, varric | rosanna, blackwall, vivienne, cassandra (hey can you tell who my favorite character is)

8. which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

matilda, definitely. i think rosanna has the most complicated morality and backstory, but i’ve spent the most time building matilda. 

9. favourite romance?

issa tie between blackwall and solas. like blackwall’s in-game scenes are the best, but the implications of solas’ romance are wonderful. 

10. have you read any of the comics/books?

i’ve read through bits of world of thedas, but nah. 

11. if you read them, which was your favourite book?

the dalish recipes in WoT are cute. 

12. favourite DLCs?

oh fuck i haven’t PLAYED the da2 dlc (i just got it!) and i haven’t played awakening either :( but trespasser and jaws of hakkon are VERY good dai dlc. 

13. things that annoy you.

how vivienne is written :( i want to like her so badly and i feel like... if you could actually discuss mage rights w/ her and change her mind and help her realized how she’s been hurt and how pulling the ladder up after her is bad... idk. also how varric and hawke are written wrt anders but that’s a common complaint. 

14. orlais or ferelden?

o. orlais...... i don’t think it’s better but it’s way more interesting imo. .

15. templars or mages?

all templars are bastards. 

16. if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

they all exist in the same universe! and usually know each other. like in my canon universe, miriam and rosanna are friends and galani meets rosanna at halamshiral and they’re all pals. 

rosanna has my bad worldstate where alistair was exiled and cecil died slaying the archdemon so they uh don’t know each other as neatly. miriam becomes teryna of highever instead of fergus and probably provides aid to the mage rebellion, so she knows matilda that way, and rosanna is still friends with her. 

17. what did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

cecil names his mabari frances. galani rides a halla that’s named leanos

18. have you installed any mods?

i don’t love a game unless i’ve modded it to shit. dai is probably my most heavily modded tho. 

19. did your warden want to become a grey warden?

he wasn’t....averse to it. he and miriam are both very dutiful, so he kind of looked at it like “this is what i have to do” and he did it. so he didn’t want it, but he didn’t resist. 

20. hawke’s personality?

red hawke is where it’s at. 

21. did you make matching armor for your companions in inquisition?

nope! i make armor based on what i think that character would look good in. though i use a lot of fade touched silverite so that everyone just has guard out the ass and is untouchable. 

like, i put cassandra in dragon bone/webbing/leather, blackwall in silverite, solas in lambswool/cotton, vivienne in silk. stuff like that. 

22. if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

matilda would save orsino, i think. rosanna would run away from home. miriam wouldn’t go to university. idk about cecil and galani, i don’t have their backstories fleshed out enough. 

23. do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

blackwall looks like his concept art lol. i tend to write solas differently from canon tho i can’t pinpoint exactly what. the shit alistair does in silent grove isn’t canon. 

24. are any of your characters based on someone?

nah. i mean, besides me? galani is based a little on my sister. 

25. who did you leave in the fade?

stroud in galani’s playthrough, hawke in rosanna’s (but hawke is an asshole in rosanna’s)

26. favourite mount?

i have a mod that makes the hart look like a halla :) so... hart/halla. 

[ghilan-maim]

i wasn’t tagged but i saw this dragon age questionnaire thing and wanted to do it so  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

also i play so many playthroughs that most of my wardens/hawkes/inquisitors don’t have great well thought out lives because i literally forgot everything i ever made up for any of them lmao

also i tag all of you so yea

1. favourite game of the series?

da2 and i aint even gonna pretend to feel shame for it

2. how did you discover dragon age?

so i got my first console of my own when i was like 17, it was an xbox 360 and for a while i was living off my bros hand-me-downs and he gave me origins and i had seen commercials and wanted to play it and he didn’t really like it so he gave it to me. at this point the game was maybe a year old. i literally could not even make it to the tower of ishal, i tried so hard man but inevitably i rage quit. about a year later or so, like before da2 was really announced (cuz i remember already being a fan and following news on da2 sooo) i tried to replay it and i demolished the game in like four days playing every single second out of it and here we are

3. how many times you’ve played the games?

so....many....i have AT LEAST 15 completed games for each game but i know theres like. way more. i think i finished dao over 20 times so like. yo.

4. favourite race to play as?

elves and qunari tbh

5. favourite class?

it was rogue at first but i seem to be making a lot more mages now

6. do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

i mean ive played so many times that some games are essentially the same but when i first replay i make choices i dont usually so that i see all outcomes ya feel

7. go-to adventuring group?

this is highly dependent on who my inquisitor is. i tend to have one mage, one rogue and two warriors tho. the characters i almost always have w me are leliana, zevran, shale, fenris, merrill, isabela, blackwall, solas, sera

8. which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

i had a cousland once named eliana that had...so much history. so much. i put a lot of thought into her but never did anything with her outside the game and now i dont have her playthrough so

9. favourite romance?

i can never choose just one lol. for dao its leliana or zevran for da2 its fenris or isabela for dai its sera and blackwall

actually all the dai romances are my fave fight me

10. have you read any of the comics/books?

ive read all the comics and one of the books. i have two of the books but havent finished asunder yet

11. if you read them, which was your favourite book?

the stolen throne is the only one ive completed so

12. favourite DLCs?

out of all of them i think trespasser is my favorite tbh

13. things that annoy you.

how vivienne and sera were basically made for people to hate like. miss me with that bullshit. 

14. orlais or ferelden?

i find orlais to be more interesting but also in game orlais sucks

15. templars or mages?

mages all the way

16. if you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

i mean ive never had any of them...meet or anything. i dont put much thought into it

17. what did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

i used to try to give them real names but the only name i remember giving to one is asschabs so theres that

18. have you installed any mods?

i only have dao and da2 on pc and they are both modded

19. did your warden want to become a grey warden?

lol no

20. hawke’s personality?

purple hawke is my fave

21. did you make matching armor for your companions in inquisition?

no i go with colors n schemes based on what i think the character would choose

22. if your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

dont make me think

23. do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

i mean not really? i dont make headcanons a lot but i like...see others that i like? like i like the fenris is trans headcanon i can fucks with that

24. are any of your characters based on someone?

i based one of my inquisitors on my friend bee once

25. who did you leave in the fade?

i have left every single person possible in the fade 

26. favourite mount?

nuggalope!!!!!!!!!!!

[nerdierholler]

Why isn’t there enough time to play video games? Also, why do I chose such long games to love? Makes it hard to replay them a lot.

I need to finish this DA2 run, but also want to do a Zev romance DAO run, finish my Izzy MEA run, replay PoE before the sequel comes out....

[icharchivist]

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞

AND DONE

It took forever how the fuck

again i played my first playthrough in 99 hours. And I don’t feel like i’ve done anything too different. I perhaps just stayed iddle too much this time around but you can’t tell me it’s this much hours of difference holy hell

it also took me months. I started the game back in August, the 26th. so it took me 3/4 months to finish the same game i played in 2 weeks straight the first time.

I amaze myself at time.

Anyway it was super fun! I always had a soft spot for da2 so replaying it is super nice. The Mage gameplay came so naturally i don’t know if i’ll ever be able to come back to rogue ahah. Carver was such an amazing character i’m so glad i’ve tried it out, and the Fenris romance just went right to my heart.

And I’m also amazed by how Ariel came out to become. I didn’t really come in thinking i’ll make a purple!hawke, i was expecting her to be more green, but i love how her character ended up shaping up and that’s something i stay in awe at @ da for making me fall in love with my own ocs that i didn’t even expect to work on this hard and y e t.

Still nice to go back to dao/da2 with dai’s insights bc there’s a lot of things to pick up everywhere and maybe a lot of those hours were wasted in overthinking every bits of codexes i could find, but it was fun. I still love how da2 really peeked in a lot of details here and there. 

And damn that climax. The whole Last Straw is so intense hh

I’ll go back to dai soon, i think i’ll restart a playthrough (wise me would tell me to play a different background and romance but dumbass me is ready to start a third Laena playthrough. No i never finished my second one, but i have a new mod that would be fantastic for her hair so-)

I kinda wanna start it back right now but i should take a break in between game, and it’s past midnight anyway so i’ll replay tomorrow.

Hopefully i should calm down on the comments, i have been wanting to stop doing those liveblogs for a while actually, but it’s really when some scenes hit too much that i end up commenting. da2 was my most distant memory though so some excitement were worth mentioning. 

(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞ so ye, that was it for now. 

Next da2′s replay will be an Isabela romance, mark my word

[icharchivist]

didnt u romance cullen dfhgkdjhgjkd

(˵ ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°˵)

I make very bad decisions and one of those implies romancing Cullen again in my second playthrough just because I loved it so much the first time and just kinda want to relive it with the exact same playthrough with just a slightly different tapestry.

Which is probably the stupidest thing i've ever done considering i still managed to organize my replays of the previous games to have others romances, but i stand by my very embarassing choices of romance.

All joke aside (or am i even joking) I planned on doing others romances in future playthrough (Dorian's, Josie's, Sera's, and even Solas's kinda sparkle my attention) But i really, really am serious when I say i crush on Cullen. Like. I am barely even joking this is ridiculous how much I like him. It rarely happens to me orz this is that bad. And since I play mostly to put myself at peace for now i'm not interested into "being curious" let's say, i just want to relive the story that made me happy the first time kdjhfdkjfh

I'll do others playthroughs for those romances - hell i also have an ongoing playthrough i'm using as a background for dao that I need to finish with the Leli's romance, and I still want to try at least the Fen's and Isa's romances in da2 - but for now i'm really just replaying for the same story dkjfhdkjf

which, remains one of the stupidest thing i could do in the da games but i've given up trying to fight against what I want to do jdhflkdjf

*finger guns* so yes i'm romancing him again.

It'll. I'll romance someone else. one day. I swear. One day.

Take care ;O