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wonderfulworldofmichaelford · 5 years

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Michael After Midnight: Dragon Age II

Dragon Age is a series very near and dear to my heart; ever since playing Origins back when I was in college, I have been inspired by the stories, characters, and lore. Hell, Origins alone is a huge inspiration to my writing, and why wouldn’t it be? It has great locations, deep lore, a core main party without a single weak link with each and every party member you have being unique and entertaining in their own right, and an epic story with all sorts of twists and turns. And it only has two really shitty segments in the whole game! It’s truly a great first entry in a series.

But despite my love for it, I put off playing the sequel for most of the decade, only playing it for the first time this year. And why is that? Because… the critics said it was bad… yes, unfortunately in my younger years I took what critics said without any grains of salt. Dragon Age II was not very popular back around the time it came out, mostly because of its radical departure from the style of the first game, with more hack-and-slash-esque combat, a much more simple and self-contained story, and a cast of characters far more divisive than the first time around. It’s only over time that people have started to give it the respect it deserves, but much like fellow fantasy series The Legend of Zelda it comes at the cost of the current game being bashed.

So how is this red headed stepchild of a sequel, anyway? Did the critics have a point, or is this really an underrated gem? Well, I’m happy to report that this is indeed a fun and fantastic game, and I heavily regret being kept apart from the lovely Merril for so long due to poor critical reception, but there are a lot of problems too. For everything it does really well, it kind of shits the bed in other areas, and a lot of that can be contributed to a rushed development cycle that got this game churned out just over a year after the first one, leading to things like all items lacking the detailed descriptions they would get in the first game, which doesn’t sound like much, but then you get an item called something like “Uncle Horky’s Spanking Rod” as a magic staff and there’s no explanation as to why it’s called that and you have to imagine up some ludicrous backstory for it.

The lack of flavor text is a minor gripe, though, compared to the obnoxiously repetitive environments of dungeons. Reusing and flipping dungeons around and reusing assets would be one thing, but here they literally just take a map, flip it a bit with no changes to the details of the level, and just block off doors that lead to areas they don’t want you going. The worst part is on your mini map you can see the blocked pathways you likely saw ten minutes ago in another dungeon, which just makes a lot of the missions feel bland and samey. It also doesn’t help that enemy types are rather paltry, so you’ll be fighting a lot of the same mooks in the same maps over and over as you grind for items, gold, and EXP.

And then there are some of the characters. The worst of the bunch are sadly two characters who are returning from the first game and its expansion Awakening – Anders and Isabela. Isabela is arguably worse, because she honestly seems rather fun and nice at first, if overly and aggressively flirty, but as the story goes on, it’s revealed that she is actually the cause behind some of the biggest issues in the first few acts, which she neglects to tell you until it is far too late and unless you decided to maximize your friendship with her, she will run off and never return to your party. I can’t deny that this completely soured me to her, and at the end of the quanari invasion of Kirkwall I was only upset I couldn’t find her in act three and kick her ass for what she did.

Then there is Anders. Poor, poor Anders. In Awakening, he was one of the most funny and charming characters, a nice little substitute for Alistair that I actually ended up liking for than the Weenie King of Ferelden. Here though? Anders can not go one fucking conversation without bringing up how oppressed mages are and how much the templars suck and blah blah blah. The worst part is I do agree with him, but he’s just so whiny and obnoxious about it I left him behind all the time, dooming my party to having no healer even as I fought high dragons, blood mages, and Corypheus. It was worth it to not hear Anders bitching about templars and insulting Merril and Fenris. Oh, and Anders nukes the chantry and sets off a civil war. Isabela may be a nasty bitch, but Anders definitely comes out looking like a huge cunt by the game’s end.

The entire endgame is kind of an utter mess too, seeing as no matter whose side you join you end up fighting the same two bosses, with one of them just not making any sense whatsoever. And then the game just sort of ends on a very unsatisfying cliffhanger. And as much as I just complained, all of this stings because really, the rest of the game is quite good, and the story is fun if scaled back from the epic tale of Origins.

Let’s get the obvious best part out of the way: Varric. Varric is literally the best part of the entire Dragon Age franchise. He’s a snarky, wisecracking surface dwarf with no beard who writes best-selling novels, constantly has his shirt open to show off his magnificent chest hair, and has a crossbow named Bianca that he is uncomfortably attached to. He is one of the greatest characters ever created, and there was not one single moment I left him out of my party, because he is a blast to have around, and what’s more, if there’s ever a situation where the dialogue wheel pops up and you can let him talk… you’ve won. This guy can talk his way out of any situation. There’s nothing bad you can say about Varric, and he is in fact the only companion in the game I can wholeheartedly stand behind as a paragon of great writing.

I love the other characters, don’t get me wrong, but they have their issues. Aveline and Fenris in particular, with Aveline being a bit too by-the-books at times to the point where she exacerbates the quanari conflict by demanding that elves who killed a guard who raped one of their own be turned over to her after they converted to the Qun. This is all despite her knowing full well that the poor elf girl would have otherwise gotten no justice seeing as how city elves in this setting are second class citizens at best. Still, she has a rather adorkable romance questline where you hook her up with one of the guards, and she’s not a bad person, just a touch misguided at times.

That last sentence can also apply to Fenris, but on a grander scale. He’s a cool, edgy, brooding elf who absolutely fucking hates magic with every fiber of his being. He is the Anti-Anders, though he’s far less annoying about it, and it’s hard to really blame him for being bitter seeing as he was a sex slave for an evil wizard for most of his life and then just had misfortune after misfortune piled on him. I really hated how mean he was to Merril, but otherwise I warmed to him and befriended him.

And that brings us to a very special girl, Merril. Merril is an adorable, klutzy, scatterbrained blood mage elf who is hated by her people due to the lengths she is going to repair an ancient artifact to bring a piece of her people’s heritage back. While she can be a bit arrogant and stubborn about the whole thing, it’s mostly due to how no one around her seems to believe in and support her; naturally, I believed in and supported her, and while things still managed to go south, she seemed at least to learn a little bit. Overall I found her to be an absolute sweetheart, and she never left my party, much like Varric; frankly, I was going in expecting not to like her and was going to romance Fenris instead, but as it turns out Merril won my heart immediately and my Hawke went lesbian this playthrough.

On that note, as much as I like how Merril, Fenris, Isabela, and Anders can be wooed by either gender in principle, I do kind of feel making everyone bisexual with no rhyme or reason kind of cheapens things. It’s weird for me, a bisexual myself, to be saying that, but it just feels off to be able to get together with everyone, with everyone being Schrodinger’s Bisexual until a romance is initiated. It’s nowhere near as bad as Skyrim, but I just feel it kinda cheapens the romance options. I prefer Origins and Inquisition in that regard, where you don’t have all the options but you do have some unique choices. But, hey, at the end of the day I’m hardly complaining that my Lady Hawke got to polish Merril’s Eluvian, if you know what I mean.

Aside from the characters, I think the game’s real strength lies in its story, which is fitting since the entire game is framed as a story being told by no less a storyteller than our pal Varric. It has a three act structure, with each act detailing a different year in Hawke’s rise to become the Champion of the city of Kirkwall, which is a crime-ridden wretched hive of scum and villainy. The first act mainly has Hawke making a name for themselves, living in the slums with their uncle, doing dirty work to try and get back a little prestige, and recruiting all of their allies, with the act culminating with a trip to the Deep Roads, every DA fan’s favorite location. It’s a nice setup for a lot of twists and turns later in the story, and choices you make in certain dialogue options or quests actually can change what sort of quests you get later. Then again, this is Bioware, so this sort of “action have consequences” gameplay is expected.

Act two deals with just how Hawke becomes the Champion. Rich from the expedition into the Deep Roads, Hawke gets to do all sorts of fun things, such as track down a serial killer who ends up murdering their mom, being stabbed in the back by one of their friends, accidentally inciting a race war that nearly burns down the city, and having to duel the warrior leader of the qunari to the death in combat. Yeah, act two really piles it on to Hawke, but it does tie into the game’s themes of how no matter the level of success, great actions will also come with great consequences, even actions meant to better one’s lot in life, which also resonate in the personal quests of characters like Merril and Fenris, who despite ultimately achieving their goals in the third act feel hollow, lost, and even broken by the end, and that’s not even getting into what Anders does. However the conflict with the qunari is resolved, Hawke is declared the Champion, and things seem ok.

But then comes act three, and boy do things go wrong. Knight-Commander Meredith has gone cuckoo for Coco Puffs and conflict between templars and mages seems inevitable; this act is basically wrapping up hanging plot threads and companion quests until Anders finally nukes the chantry and all hell breaks loose, leading to the final battle. The ending here isn’t particularly happy, with Hawke ultimately ending up a fugitive in the epilogue, and things can get even worse if you make poor choices in Inquisition, but that’s just the way the cookie crumbles.

Here’s the thing: everything I just said? It could be entirely different from my playthrough depending on the choices you make. Sure, some things are inevitable, like Anders committing terrorist acts, Hawke’s mother dying, and Meredith going absolutely bonkers and making you fight statues, but depending on how you play, maybe you’ll like/romance Isabela, maybe you’ll resolve things with the Arishok differently, maybe you’ll side with the templars… the story ends the same but there are so many ways to make your story different. Throw in some great lore, some fun DLC that reveals some shocking truths about the lore, and the fun albeit simplified combat, and you’ve got a game here that has a lot of replay value if only to see where all the plot threads can lead.

I definitely think this is a good game, even a great one. It has its share of problems, but so did Origins, and frankly I’d sooner put up with the backstabbing pirate hooker and the pissy mage terrorist again then go through the fucking Fade and Deep Roads one more time. If you liked the first one, definitely give this a shot; you may end up liking or disliking some of the stuff I dislike and like. That’s the fun of these Bioware games, different aspects are going to appeal to different people. The question is, do I find it better than Origins?

In some respects, yes; I much prefer the simpler combat here, and I like the more down-to-earth story in this one, but at the same time Origins just had stronger characters overall and I’m a sucker for “save the world” fantasy tales. While Origins infamously had some real mind-numbing slogs in the form of the Fade sequence and the Deep Roads, while those environments were tedious at least they weren’t boring. But on the other hand… Origins didn’t have Varric.

It’s really a tossup, frankly, and I love both games a lot. I think each of them has their place and each of them brings something interesting to the table for the series. It’s one you really need to play for yourself to get a good grasp on; don’t be like me and put it off for nearly ten years, give it a go right after your done with the first game and see how you feel. Your experience is going to be a lot different than mine, that’s for sure.

#Michael After Midnight #Review #video game review #Dragon Age #Dragon Age II #Bioware

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blarfkey · 6 years

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Three Fandoms

I was tagged by @shiroyuri

My first ever tagged meme thingie! Let’s go!

Tagging: @emilytwist1 @pizzopaps @nsml

Rules: Choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag people you wanna know better.

Three Fandoms: Dragon Age // The Queen’s Thief series // Ouran High School Host Club

It was so hard to pick!

The first character you loved:

Dragon Age - I started with Origins, having no idea what Dragon Age even was, and so of course I met Alistair and fell in love. He’s so disarming and self-deprecation and nothing like what I thought he would be. Also his voice is hot and I have a MAJOR voice kink.

The Queen’s Thief - Eugenides . OMG. He’s probably one of my most favorite characters of all time. He’s snarky, fully aware of how pathetic he is in the first book, a trickster, does not take himself seriously at all, secretly kind but shows it in fucked up ways. Perfection.

Marvel- I started with Tony and even though I’m still pissed at him, he was definitely a great love of mine from Iron Man. When that movie came out, there was no real superhero like him (in cinema) and I was so intrigued at how that movie kind of dismantled what superhero movie was expected to be like and how he subverted a lot of superhero expectations.

The character you relate to the most:

Dragon Age - Varric. I come from alcoholic parents, I have an older brother that does nothing but disappoint me, I cling to my friends like they’re my family, I adopt lonely people into the friend group, I love to write and tell stories, I’m fascinated with people, I don’t want to be in the limelight, I tease people all the time and I give them nicknames. I love Varric the most out of any character.

The Queen’s Thief- The Queen of Eddis. She is not beautiful and she doesn’t give one shit about it. She is loved by her people because of her personality and her wise leadership and they just straight up adore her. I aspire to that level of self esteem where I know I am valued for what I contribute and not for how I look. Even so, she has times where she is deeply self conscious of the fact that she doesn’t look the way a Queen is “supposed” to look and it humanizes her. Plus, she is unflappable in the face of all of Eugenides’s insanity, and this reminds me of the way I have to be with my middle school students, lol.

Marvel - The Hulk? It’s hard to relate to a lot of superheros, but I definitely have a very bad, destructive temper that I have learned to control. But the rare occasion when I do lose control, it’s bad and scary and I always hate myself afterwards.

The character you’d slap:

Dragon Age - I think everyone wants to give Bianca a good wallop, but I am going to have to go the unpopular opinion route and say Cullen. If he had just showed up in Inquisition and I’d never seen him before, I would like him. But I played the Dragon Age games in order and I’m very pro-mage and I saw Cullen express and act upon too many horrible and oppressive ideaologies to really trust him in Inquisition. I know they tried to give him some kind of redemption, but to me the writers did not spend enough time having Cullen process his actions and his attitudes and try to move away from them. Instead, he just wanted to move past and forget all his past mistakes without acknowledging them. If the game had shown more of him realizing the problematic things he had thought about Mages (like the fact that they are just weapons and not people to him) and working through them (especially if you ally with the mages) then I would have liked him more. I don’t think less than a year is long enough for him to unlearn a lot of his issues.

Queen’s Thief - Ambiades in the first book just because he’s a classist piece of shit and he almost got them all killed. He deserved what he got.

Marvel - Tony Stark after Civil War. I could write pages and pages about how that movie enraged me, but to sum it all up: No matter what you think about the Accords, the fact that Tony went off without talking to the team and made a deal on their behalf without their input in it whatsoever, then slapped the rules down on the table and said follow them or be a criminal/leave the Avengers was complete and total bullshit. I didn’t see Tony’s desire for the Accords as some noble act, but an avoidance of responsibility. He wanted it to be where if the Avengers screwed up and some got hurt or died you could ultimately blame the people in charge of the Accords and not him. Even so, he should have sat down with the team and discussed the possibility of the Accords instead of going behind their backs and making the decision for them.

Not to mention that his reaction to Bucky before he learned about the assassination of his parents was total bullshit. As if Tony doesn’t know what it’s like to have a friend who’s destructive in a way he has no control over and he doesn’t want, as if the Hulk didn’t destroy an entire building of people in Age of Ultron, as if Tony doesn’t have to build an iron man suit with the sole purpose of battling his best friend when Bruce loses control, but whatever.

Three favourite characters (in order of preference):

Dragon Age - Varric // Cassandra // Solas (this was really really hard).

Queen’s Thief - Eugenides // Helen // Irene

Marvel - Steve Rogers // Rocket Raccoon // Shuri

A character you didn’t like at first but do now:

Dragon Age- Sera? This question is hard because I either like or don’t like the characters and it doesn’t change a lot. But while I never disliked Sera, I didn’t get a better appreciation for her until after I had played the game a couple of times. I thought at first that she was a bit too immature and it got old and so I didn’t talk to her a whole lot and her friendship was hard to earn for me. But after a couple play-throughs, I got to see all the deeper aspects of her character and I love her more.

Queen’s Thief- The Magus. He seemed so insufferable in the first book, and then his weird friendship with Eugenides develops and he turns into this adorable badass grandpa that I love and adore.

Marvel - Spiderman. I used to hate Spiderman so much because of the original trilogy with Toby McGuire. I hated that he was a whiny, angsty teen with a weird and obsessive crush on Mary Jane. But Tom Holland is slowly but surely warming to cold cockles of my heart because he’s so guileless and sweet and funny. Just kill me.

Three OTPs:

Dragon Age - Varric x Cassandra // Solas x Inquisitor (of any race or gender) // Hawke x Varric (I am forever bitter that you cannot romance Varric. I will never get over this)

Queen’s Thief - Actually the main ship is kind of a major spoiler, but if you read the books you know what I’m talking about ;) Also Eugenides x Helen as a platonic OTP and Costis x Kamet

Marvel - Steve x Natasha // Steve x Bucky // Loki x Sif

#Now that I'm thinking about it #I should have done x-men #because Erik and Peter are my sun #moon #and stars #oops #someone tag me again lol

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queen-of-the-crows · 6 years

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Three Fandoms

I was tagged by @dovahkiinshepardtrevelyan to give you more insight into my top 3 fandoms so here goes

Rules: Choose any three fandoms (in random order) and answer the questions, then tag people you wanna know better.

Three Fandoms:

Dragon Age / Game of Thrones / Arrowverse

The first character you loved:

Dragon Age: Alistair. I actually romanced him on accident cause I didn’t even know that was possible but he was so sweet and charming and funny and witty and so hopelessly romantic, I couldn’t help but love him and he still holds a special place in my heart

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow. Hands down. My sister kinda started me on this before I even watched the show because he’s one of her favorite characters and she started the show before I did. I liked that he wanted to be his own person and not just live as a bastard.

Arrowverse: Oliver Queen. kinda obvious since hes the main character and the first character you really know anything about. he grows so much just between when you meet him and the flashbacks you see and his attitude is just something i’ve always liked.

The character you never expected to love so much:

Dragon Age: This one is tough cause most of the characters I either love, hate, or am indifferent to. Probably Shale if I had to choose. I got the DLC cause it was free and I like to collect all the companions I can. I figured a golem would basically be good for fighting and that’s it but Shale’s dialogue is some of my favorite in the whole series and i adore her attitude. She’s basically me.

Game of Thrones: Tyrion. I didn’t expect to dislike him or anything like that but as the seasons go on, I just grow to love him more and more because he is truly an absolutely amazing character.

Arrowverse: John Diggle. He starts off being Oliver’s bodyguard and is really more of an annoyance than anyone likable but when he joins him on his mission and they start to become friends and then almost like brothers. it’s really wholesome and they’re dynamic is one of my all time favorites.

The character you relate to the most:

Dragon Age: Zevran. He keeps people at arm’s length because he doesn’t want to be hurt and sometimes doesn’t think he deserves it. He covers up his pain with humor and has a very loving heart even though he doesn’t show it. You truly have to gain his trust and his loyalty and break down his walls and that’s how I am.

Game of Thrones: Arya. The girl who doesn’t want to be a lady and would rather be a warrior, that’s 100% me. That’s why my own original character in my fic while being from a noble house abandons that to aid the Night’s Watch. Women who are just badass and don’t take anyone’s shit are my absolute favorite and very like my own personality about people.

Arrowverse: Felicity Smoak. She loves Oliver despite his past, despite the things he’s done and how broken he can be. She’s supportive and loves him even when they aren’t together and she’s incredibly smart. She loves the way that I love when it comes to my own soulmate and I love seeing that.

The character you’d slap:

Dragon Age: Solas. I do really like Solas as a character, don’t get me wrong. I think he’s very written and has a very cool story but there have to be better ways to restore what was lost to the elves or at least help out their lot in life without tearing apart the veil and killing everyone. Plus you know he lied to everyone and fucked some shit up. Also Loghain because I loved his character in The Stolen Throne and can’t believe he went so wrong in Origins.

Game of Thrones: Jaime Lannister. I hated him at the beginning but after being kidnapped and traveling with Brienne I start to really like him and he really starts to change and become a better person and that’s something I love to see. But his unending devotion to Cersei pisses me off because despite all the horrible things she’s done including getting their children killed, he still loves her and stays with her up until the end of season 7 which did make me happy. But yeah, that’s why I’d slap him.

Arrowverse: Malcolm Merlin. I actually love Malcolm at least in Arrow, he pisses me the fuck off in Legends but anyway. He loves his daughter and wants to be in her life and for awhile she wants that and lets him but his greedy power hungry ass always fucks it up and loses her.

Three favourite characters (in order of preference):

Dragon Age: Fenris, Zevran, Morrigan

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow, Arya Stark, Tyrion Lannister (it was Daenarys but she really bothered me last season with how power hungry she’s becoming)

Arrowverse: Oliver Queen, Felicity Smoak, Sara Lance

A character you didn’t like at first but do now:

Dragon Age: Loghain would be the closest one to fit this category cause most of my character opinions don’t change. I played Origins first and of course hated him because he’s the bad guy and they want you to hate him but then when i read The Stolen Throne I loved his character in that, he was so relatable and his story and his romance with Rowen broke my heart. It made me feel bad for him in Origins instead of hating him and wanting to know what happened to make him change so much.

Game of Thrones: Jaime Lannister. Pretty much most people who watch the show can relate to this. His character development is so great and he changes so much you go from hating his guts and wishing his death to rooting for him. Also the Hound, I love the Hound now. I never really hated him but i didn’t really like him at first either.

Arrowverse: Laurel Lance. I hated her basically the entire time until she picked up her sister’s mantle as Black Canary. She was an annoyance and a whiny bitch who I literally just couldn’t stand any scene she was in and wished she would die. its ironic that they killed her once she got likable. Also like Black Siren and i didn’t think I would.

Three OTPs:

Dragon Age: Zevran/Mahariel, Isabela/Merrill, Fenris/Hawke

Game of Thrones: Jon Snow/Ygritte, Daenarys/Khal Drogo, Gendry/Arya

Arrowverse: Oliver/Felicity, Nathaniel/Amaya, Sara/Captain Cold

I tag @sassylavellen @annorarutherford @a-shakespearean-in-paris @enchantment1385 @heraldofwho

#queen of the crows #tag memes #three fandoms #dragon age #game of thrones #arrowverse

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