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katetheworm · 14 days ago

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Okay, I really wanted to write down all of my thoughts on the dragon age games as someone who has just recently played through them for the first time. This will be a long post and is really just my ramblings about things I did in each game, what I liked, and what I didn’t like, so idk if anyone will interact with this lol. I also want to preface that I really don’t know much about these games and I rarely read any of the codex entries so all the crazy lore is kinda beyond me except what is moreso told to you in the game. I also had so much fun playing these games and played them basically back to back because winter break as a college student is lovely and I think I deserved a break from my crazy classes as an engineering student. Anywho, on with my ramblings. I will separate it into each game and there will of course be spoilers so be warned.

Two more things; I got these games when they were each on sale for like 4 bucks with all the dlcs, so that was nice, and I just got veilguard for christmas so I will be playing that one too. And I was very fortunate to not hear any spoilers for these games other than when I looked things up, which was nice for a first playthrough.

Another thing from future me: I started this after finishing Inquisition the first time, but never finished my thoughts on DAI and then I added my thoughts on DAV since I finished that too.

Origins-

Despite the graphics not being the best compared to what we have today and the gameplay being kinda atrocious imo, I loved this game to bits. Here’s some main plot points I did: I played as an elven mage named Freya, romanced Alistair (obviously), recruited everyone I could, made Bhelen king, didn’t kill all the mages, saved both Connor and his mom, brokered peace between the elves and werewolves, killed Loghain, made Anora queen, Alistair stayed a grey warden, and did the ritual with Morrigan.

Overall, sometimes I thought my character making all of these crazy decisions about so many people’s lives was a little overwhelming at times and I looked up so many things to make sure the decision I chose was “right”, at least for me. Idk if any of my choices are super controversial or anything, but I honestly made so many of them purely dependent on if Alistair would approve of them or not lmao. I did not make him king for that reason as well. There is no way I’m hardening him and having Freya become his mistress when they can be happy together as wardens. I think by that point in the game as well, I was kinda getting tired of having to make all the decisions and I didn’t want Alistair to be sad as king because I feel like he would be, especially if he and Freya couldn’t be together then. Same thing with the ritual. While it felt kinda yucky to ask Alistair to do it, I don’t really regret it. I wish there was more conversation between him and HoF beforehand, but I guess I can headcanon it whatever way I like. Also does anyone else think… no… nevermind.

On another note, I was really expecting there to be more about why Loghain betrayed Cailan, not just because he thought he was overreacting or whatever his reasons were. I was thinking he’d have been corrupted by the Blight or something, but I guess the darkspawn aren’t smart enough to do that lol.

And onto Awakening; I did spare the Architect in the end because what he was saying made sense to me at the time and I thought he was chill… other than the kidnapping part… but it’s fine. I really liked Anders too, which will be apparent when I talk about DA2 lol. I was really upset that Alistair wasn’t there at all even though they stayed wardens together. Like Oghren is cool and all but he definitely wasn’t my favorite character. I liked Nathanial though, and Anders… did I say that already?

I also did witch hunt and allowed Morrigan to go through the Eluvian and did not follow her. It didn’t feel right to me and I also don’t think Freya would have gone after her in the first place unless Alistair wanted to find his son or something since they were pretty good friends by the end of the main story. It was a cool quest tho, just a little lackluster.

Overall, great game, 9.5/10 for me (the -0.5 for gameplay and too many big choices for my little brain to handle lol). I loved the dark elements to it and the lightheartedness of other parts. I liked the lore of the elves and mages and blight and wardens. And I love Alistair to bits. He’s just the best. And so sweet. And I just want him to be happy. It’s a great game for anyone with the patience to deal with the graphics and gameplay. Out of all three games, I think the story of this one is the best, but it is pretty overwhelming with the amount of choices needed to be made by one person (why can’t anyone decide things for themselves???), and the gameplay is kinda bad. But other than that, really fun and it will be rotating in my mind for a while.

DA2-

I went into this one not really knowing what to expect at all. My dad had said at some point that he thought it wasn’t good (he never played it, it’s just what he heard other people say when it came out). But honestly I had a lot of fun playing this one. I wasn’t the biggest fan with the lack of customization for this one, but I also understand that it was a smaller team making it on a much shorter time frame. One thing I do really like about this series is how they’re all connected but you don’t play as the same character. I think it adds some really cool ideas and makes the stories feel more complete so there’s not much unknown about what happens to your characters.

Oh, and some main plot points I made for this game: female, mage Hawke named Sivana, very diplomatic/nice, romanced Anders (initially I was gonna romance Isabela, but then I met Anders… and I think Isabela’s personality just didn’t fit with the Hawke I played), Isabela came back with book, killed Arishok, supported mage rebellion, did not kill Anders so Sebastian left my party. I will say this game did also feel like my choices didn’t carry as much weight as the first game since it only took place in one city and not an entire country, but I suppose that isn’t a terrible thing since a big drawback for me in DA:O was the amount of choices I had to make. I thought that for what it was, the story was interesting and engaging. I also love Varric so much, he is just the best… and why can’t we romance him? It’s so sad. They literally gave us a charming, rogue dwarf with his shirt always half unbuttoned showing his chest hair… they can’t expect us not to fall in love with him lmao. Anyway, that can be a tangent for another time.

I do wish the whole mage rebellion played out a bit differently, not with how Anders handled it or anything, but it was annoying that other mages or people who supported them kept on fighting Hawke or saying things as if she didn’t support them. She literally is a mage and is in a relationship with Anders… of course she supports the mages and she never said otherwise (also, Cullen, my boy, how did you not realize Hawke was a mage when she literally was casting spells at that demon the first time you met… as a guy with ptsd from mages, that was a little silly imo). Speaking of Cullen, I thought it was cool to bring him back and yay for character development! Helping Hawke fight Meredith was pretty sick. Oh and the red lyrium? People saying they hear a “song” from it??? Of course it has something to do with the blight you sillies. (Oh and when I say I screamed when Alistair showed up with Carver… I mean I screamed. And carver is a little shot sometimes but at least the Grey Wardens mellowed him out lol).

Anyway, I would give this one a solid 7.5/10. Pretty fun and engaging story but just not as detailed as origins. I definitely did not feel as attached to my character or the other characters as I did in origins. It was fun and a good connection between inquisition and origins, but just not the same. And of course it’s not the same, it’s a different game, I understand that. Idk, again, I just didn’t feel as connected to the characters which is a big part of any game for me. Except Varric. He’s amazing and has done no wrong.

Inquisition-

Okie dokie, onto this crazy game. Gonna start with plot points for this one: female, elf mage, romanced Cullen, did not believe in the chantry very much, sided with mages, left Hawke in the fade (because I’m sorry I cannot have Alistair die after everything I did in origins to make him happy, the only reason I would save Hawke would be for Varric), let Grey Wardens into the Inquisition, used the well of sorrows, allowed Blackwall to stay, Bull is a Tal-Vasoth, Cole is more human, supported Leliana as divine, did not tell Cullen to take more lyrium, married Cullen, and said I would try to save Solas, or whatever that choice was.

Now, I took a break writing this because school started lol, so these are based on my more recent playthroughs as well and after playing veilguard… twice.

I am working on a male human rogue rn who is romancing Dorian (the main reason I made him was to romance Dorian because I love him and really wanted to see more of his story even tho I don’t make male characters very often lol). I also just made another lady elf mage to probably romance Blackwall but also flirt with Solas and Josie.

Overall I really love this game. The gameplay is pretty mid, but the story is really good imo. I loved all of the little hints to your choices in the previous games and how well it ties to the other games. I think having Varric as a companion again is also a bonus because omg what an amazing character. Really all of the companions in this game are amazing and so well written. I love all of their flaws and conversations, I love how they are all so different from each other and the different relationships you can have with them. I truly do enjoy the people in this game the most. Even Corypheus was a good villain and I think it makes so much sense to bring him back from DA2.

I also liked the amount of choices available, I think it added to a lot of the game and made it feel very personable. I definitely felt a lot more connected with these characters than I did in DA2, and maybe even DAO… But it’s a different kind of connected lol.

The amount of lore in this game was also very fun to see, especially regarding the elves because I love the elves in DA. I also had no idea who Solas was when I started playing, so all of the crazy reveals were super fun to see. I was not expecting Solas to be an elven god at all. All of the elf stuff does feel different after playing DAV and idc what other people say, I think it adds some cool ideas and lore to it all.

Overall, a solid 9/10 for me. DAO is still my favorite for simply the amazing atmosphere of that game, but Inquisition is a very close second to me.

Veilguard-

Perhaps controversial but I am now on my third playthrough of this game and I really enjoy it. Is it the same caliber as the others? Not at all. Is it still an enjoyable experience and one that I will replay multiple times–unlike the first two, mind you–absolutely. The gameplay and graphics alone make this game stand out so much in my mind. The companions are also rather compelling, at least story wise–some of the voice actors kinda get on my nerves, but that’s a me thing, like I love Bellara and Harding as characters but sometimes listening to their voices…….. let’s just say I skip through their dialogue now that I’ve played it once.

Onto my first character! I already posted pics of her, but she is an elf mage (surprise surprise), shadow dragon, and romanced Emmrich. My second character was a human crow rogue who romanced Taash, and my current playthrough is an elf grey warden warrior who is gonna romance Lucanis. I also made a qunari mage, mourn watcher who will either romance Neve or Davrin. I’m also doing a nightmare mode run with my grey warden, Fern, and I think the warrior class is my favorite in this game, it’s usually mage, but it’s a bit difficult to use right imo.

For the story, Solas is so well done in this game that it kinda makes up for its faults. I really love what they did with being able to talk to him and seeing more of his Fen’Harel side versus what you see in DAI. Elgar’nan and Ghila’nain are also interesting villains but I swear if I hear one more character say those two names in a serious or scared tone I am going to scream. Something about it is just so silly to me and kinda takes me out of the game. I think I liked Elgar’nan more as a villain and kinda wish we saw more of him. I also wish that if you played an elf with their vallaslin, they would comment on it? Idk I think that would have been cool… also since I am in my DreadRook brain rot era, why can’t we flirt with Solas even once? Like a quick little thing and he’s so exasperated by it that it never happens again. Or it keeps on happening just to annoy him lmao.

Another big complaint, which is my main one for this game and I’m sure so many others, is the lack of choices from the previous games being included. Like you have Morrigan there she could say something regarding DAO. And you can’t tell me HoF and the Champion wouldn’t be helping in the South if they were alive (thank you mods).

And the ending???? Best part in this game tbh. I feel like they put all of their money and effort into those last few sequences (like in the fade….. the tears are still there) along with the graphics and gameplay lol. I really really wish the rest of the game had that same level of commitment and tone… but alas.

I could talk about this game more (and all of them for that matter), but that would be a lot of writing that I don’t feel like doing. So I will leave with a rating of 7.5/10. Same as DA2 because while DA2 had a better story, DAV has much better gameplay and customization.

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Thank you for listening to my rambling (if anyone did). I may post pics of my other DA characters in the future (tho I’ll make HoF and Hawke in DAV probably). I also may be working on a DreadRook fic, but who knows if I’ll finish it or when. Toodaloo and see y’all later!

#kate talks #dragon age #dragon age origins #da2 #dragon age inquisition #dragon age the veilguard

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