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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 22, 2021 6:34:36 GMT -8
I haven't actually visited it yet, though that may change as Sebastian likes/hates me more. And unlike Garrett, Iris is going to be encouraging Merrill at every turn, because BLOOD MAGIC FOREVER WOOT! But first, the Night Terrors quest!
So, Feynriel? It turns out he's a Dreamer, a rare mage who can shape the Fade itself! And he's the only one to survive in centuries! This was a huge opportunity that Iris was not going to let slip by her. She entered his brain with Anders (because of the Justice spirit inside him, which actually takes over when he gets in), Merrill, and Isabela (because they wanted to go). A Sloth Demon made the offer of helping us defeat the other demons in Feynriel's mind, in exchange for possessing him. That was a terrible deal, so he was killed--but not before offering the helpful advice that Feynriel should be brought out of the illusions slowly. After his desires were vanquished, Isabela betrayed me for a freaking boat. I was at first concerned, but the wiki says everyone gives in to the Demon and betrays you no matter what (except for Justice, for obvious reasons, and Sebastian, because they didn't bother adding him into this quest, he's DLC, they've got enough work going on he's a Christian man who refuses to participate in this Inception mumbo-jumbo). At the same time, Isabela's betrayal sticks with me because of how...frivolous it is. Everyone else is offered something that Hawke can't provide, or something from their past that haunts them: Aveline struggles with the guilt of losing Wesley. Merrill is offered a chance to restore the Dalish to glory. Fenris is offered the power to defeat the Tevinter. Varric wants a chance to get one up on his brother, to see him admit his guilt and Varric's superiority. Isabela wants a boat. Iris has over 100 sovereigns in liquid assets! If she does a bunch more quests and sells all of those weapons no one's using, it's probably closer to 200! She can buy you a boat. Even her apology was a bit...weak. She's less regretful over that than Merrill is for her betrayal--which is for something completely reasonable, something she apologized to Hawke for right before accepting the offer, something she's basically already done (dealing with a Demon to try to restore the Dalish). But at least Isabela admits that forgiving her is basically just an attempt to get on her good side. Of course, Iris isn't going to forget this soon. Her next birthday present is going to be a crop top that reads "I never give in to temptation" and booty shorts that read "I like big boats I cannot lie" (both of those are direct quotes)
But anyway, Feynriel was safely rescued, and he made the decision to head to Tevinter to master his abilities. After that, it was off to the Dalish Camp to find the component to fix the Eluvian. We fought the giant spider monster, but Pol, fearing Merrill and her blood magic, ran right into the monster. It turned out that the Keeper was apparently spreading nasty rumors about Merrill and her magic. By nasty rumors, I mean "she's a blood mage, be careful." In hindsight, it wasn't that nasty, but Merrill was understandably hurt. We also learned that she sought out blood magic in order to fix the Eluvian. For Hawkes who disapprove of blood magic, this was probably enough to make them try to convince her of the danger of it. But since Iris is all BLOOD MAGIC FOREVER WOOT this just encouraged her.
By the way: relationship update! Varric and Merrill love Iris enough to gain their Friendship Perk. The same with Fenris, except for the Rivalry Perk. (It's worth noting that Merrill is at maximum friendship) Everyone else is distressingly neutral, but at least I have a full party locked down, just in case! I think.
Also, can the Tranquil use Blood Magic? I would presume so. Tranquility "prevents magic" by cutting them off from the Fade, but Blood Magic is cast from life force, not from the Fade. Which is why Maleficarum are usually killed on sight, I presume.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 22, 2021 10:28:10 GMT -8
So...uh...I may have ruined everything.
Isabela left in the second-to-last Act 2 quest, and according to the wiki, she's not coming back. I don't know what to say...I don't really feel like playing any more.
I mean, currently, my options are: Keep playing knowing I screwed up or was screwed over (not fun), go back to the beginning of Act 2 and play through it all again, making sure I got on her good side (not fun), or stop playing altogether (not fun, but it wastes no time)
EDIT: actually, nevermind, option two is pretty fun, especially with how short the second act is. I'll tell you how it goes.
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Post by Daos on Jan 22, 2021 16:42:06 GMT -8
It turned out that the Keeper was apparently spreading nasty rumors about Merrill and her magic. By nasty rumors, I mean "she's a blood mage, be careful." In hindsight, it wasn't that nasty, but Merrill was understandably hurt. We also learned that she sought out blood magic in order to fix the Eluvian. For Hawkes who disapprove of blood magic, this was probably enough to make them try to convince her of the danger of it. But since Iris is all BLOOD MAGIC FOREVER WOOT this just encouraged her. Yeah, it was weird how caught off guard Merrill was to the whole thing. I get that she believes blood magic is harmless and there's no need to exercise any caution whatsoever in using it, but surely she understands that's a minority viewpoint, and the vast majority of people fear/hate it? I mean, wasn't the reason she was kicked out of her tribe in the first place because she was using blood magic? You'd think she'd expect her kinsmen to react that way by now. Also, can the Tranquil use Blood Magic? I would presume so. Tranquility "prevents magic" by cutting them off from the Fade, but Blood Magic is cast from life force, not from the Fade. Which is why Maleficarum are usually killed on sight, I presume. Not that I'm aware of. I think you still need some kind of connection to the fade to use Blood Magic, otherwise dwarves could do it. But I don't know. For the longest time, it was believed that Tranquil are immune to demon/spirit possession entirely. Maybe it is possible, but none have ever tried it before? If it is possible and has happened before, I have to imagine the Chantry wouldn't allow Tranquil to leave the Circle and wander around unsupervised. So...uh...I may have ruined everything. Isabela left in the second-to-last Act 2 quest, and according to the wiki, she's not coming back. I don't know what to say...I don't really feel like playing any more. I mean, currently, my options are: Keep playing knowing I screwed up or was screwed over (not fun), go back to the beginning of Act 2 and play through it all again, making sure I got on her good side (not fun), or stop playing altogether (not fun, but it wastes no time) EDIT: actually, nevermind, option two is pretty fun, especially with how short the second act is. I'll tell you how it goes. The exact same thing happened to me in my playthrough. To be fair, I almost never used Isabela. My preferred Rogue was Varric (although ironically, he can never leave, no matter your relationship, as he's the narrator), and her Chaotic Neutral outlook didn't mesh well with my Lawful Good characterization, so I tended to leave her behind. I was frustrated; not so much that I lost her, but because I felt like I would miss out on content as a result. I powered through, though, and just continued without her. I decided my first playthrough would not be the canonical one, like it was for Origins. (Although, it sort of became so anyway, by virtue of me not having any additional playthroughs, except that one that I couldn't finish because the game bugged out.) My normal party was Hawke, Anders (for healing), Varric and either Aveline or Merrill (or Bethany, when she was available). I rarely used Isabela or Fenris, and of course, never recruited Sebastian. |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 22, 2021 16:56:03 GMT -8
From what I understood, she wasn't actually banished, she left by her own decision, to learn about humans, or somesuch. But I digress!
It turns out, making Isabela like you is really easy, if you're willing to commit(?) to a casual sexual relationship. When I took a reset on Act 2, I just flirted with her once, and got the romance dialogue as soon as I headed back to the estate. That was enough to unlock her friendship perk, even though I turned around and initiated Merrill's romance not long afterward. I also did Sebastian and Aveline's quests again, this time trying to making him hate me and her like me. (Apparently, he approves of Templars doing their job. BOO)
Also, after doing Anders' Act 2 quest, Dissent, he and Iris actually started to get along. She kept him from killing an innocent mage, which made him realize he needed somebody to support him--to keep him from going crazy again. He may not like her blood magic, but they share a common goal: ending the Templars.
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Post by Daos on Jan 22, 2021 20:24:33 GMT -8
From what I understood, she wasn't actually banished, she left by her own decision, to learn about humans, or somesuch. But I digress! Honestly, I couldn't really remember. Still, she's a pariah. And she knows how most people feel about blood magic, so it still seems weird she'd be so surprised by it. (Apparently, he approves of Templars doing their job. BOO) Makes sense. I remember reading somewhere he was a pretty devout Andrastan, right? Also, after doing Anders' Act 2 quest, Dissent, he and Iris actually started to get along. She kept him from killing an innocent mage, which made him realize he needed somebody to support him--to keep him from going crazy again. He may not like her blood magic, but they share a common goal: ending the Templars. What would she replace them with? Having the Circle remain but become mage-run and independent of the Chantry? Or just allow mages to run free, like in Tevinter? |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 23, 2021 5:58:38 GMT -8
Yes, actually. Sebastian was the youngest of three children, so, in his words, his parents had "the heir and the spare, so I was shipped off to the Chantry to protect me." He ends up becoming very devout, which will cause a lot of conflict with Iris' dislike of the Chantry.
As for her goals, I doubt that the game will allow her to accomplish them exactly, but she was imagining an independent Circle, with the Harrowing and Tranquility banned. Templars would probably be kept around, but it would be the Mages who had control over them, and their main job would be to fight Abominations that became violent, rather than hunting down mages. Of course, she'd still be pretty happy with a Tevinter-style free range mage environment.
As for party makeup, I try to use everyone about equally. Mostly because I'm actively trying to push characters towards friendship (or rivalry, in Fenris and Sebastian's cases). So far, Varric and Merrill are maxed out, while Isabela, Anders, and Fenris are above 50%. Aveline is still distressingly neutral, as is Sebastian, though the neutrality is less distressing in his case. Even before I decided to make him hate me, I didn't use him very much.
By the way, his skillsets are more or less built around crits. His personal skill tree gives bonuses to crits and crit damage, as do his armor upgrades. I gave him the Hood's Message to the King DLC bow, which gives a massive +15% (or so) to crit chance and +25% (or so) to crit damage.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 23, 2021 8:09:09 GMT -8
After a cute little conversation with Isabela about Hawke and Merrill's romance, she headed out with Varric, Merrill, and Anders to the Deeproads, to rescue some Dwarves who had been trapped inside by their brother, who had gone mad with desire for an artifact hidden there. Yes, there were comments, by both Iris and Varric. In the end, both of the brothers who weren't jerks got saved. Hooray!
Next, came Fenris' personal quest. We killed some slavers, gave an elven slave a job, and made Fenris promise not to kill someone, and then watched him kill her. Which led to several arguments between Fenris and Iris. If only Coriander were here, she'd find some common ground. After all, she likes mages, AND hates slavers.
It's interesting contrasting Coriander with Iris. Iris is completely uncompromising with the mage issue; she won't settle for reform, she wants to tear everything down and build it back up with the mages on top. And she judges everyone based on how they feel about mages. She has zero sympathy for Fenris' enslavement because he hates mages. Coriander is much more moderate, except with Elf-ists. She may not like how the Templars and Qunari treat mages, but she understands that the best thing for everyone is to keep the peace and prevent a war of any sort. Coriander's Neutral Good, and Iris is Chaotic Good-ish on a good day.
We also tracked down and killed Gascon DuPui. Who wasn't actually the killer in question, but I know he ends up betraying you, so I feel no shame. Especially because it preventing a rivalry gain with Aveline.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 23, 2021 10:58:01 GMT -8
The tracking down of Mr. DuPui was followed by a startling revelation: Leandra was kidnapped by the killer in question. Iris tracked her down...but too late. She was already chopped up and twisted into an undead. Quentin died--painfully--and Leandra gave some teary final words that were definitely invented by Varric. But Iris sucked it up. There were Templars and Qunari to kill.
The Viscount's son, Seamus, ran off to join the Qun, which probably could have been expected. He was tracked down to the Chantry, found dead by Mother Petrice. But Iris fought off the religious mob and exposed her to the Grand Cleric, right before a Qunari planted an arrow in her throat. By the way, if a Sarcastic Hawke performs this mission alone, they'll do a monologue about "enchantment stew" and "daft idiots muttering to themselves" once planted into the street.
Iris went home, still struggling with Leandra's demise, and found her two best female friends she isn't currently dating duking it out verbally. Aveline wanted to talk to the Arishok about the criminal elves he's sheltering, and Isabela had a lead on the relic. The second she mentioned it might be relevant, Iris deduced that she had stolen it from the Qunari (what with earlier comments) and agreed to help. But first, that mine she owns a timeshare in!
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Post by Daos on Jan 23, 2021 12:52:43 GMT -8
I remember at the time, Leandra's death was a big sticking point for a lot of fans. No matter what you do, or how quickly you act, you cannot save her. And this frustrated a lot of people. It goes back to that divide I mentioned earlier--between people who feel Hawke's actions, like the Warden's, should have different consequences depending on what they do, and those who believe Exodus is a tragedy and Hawke is a doomed protagonist who can't possibly stop some things from happening, no matter how hard they might try.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 23, 2021 13:07:42 GMT -8
Eh, I didn't mind it too much. If this happened in Origins, I might have been mad, but This Ain't Origins (tm). It's its own game, with its own...stuff. Or whatever. I'm not in the practice of complaining about games I play for too long every day. In the end, Isabela ended up leaving, because she always does. Iris' reaction was basically the same as my initial one: crying, inelegant blubbering, an intense feeling of nothing else mattering. She was distressingly numb during the entirety of the Arishok's declaration of war. But she, Aveline, Merrill, and Sebastian fought their way through the city, with the brief help of THE GREY WARDENS??! AND ALISTAIR'S BACK!  And he also gave Iris a magic amulet that Coriander apparently had. It certainly isn't the Warden's Oath or the Crazy -25% Fatigue Amulet, which were the ones she actually wore. But whatever, Alistair's back! He also revealed that the Grey Warden leadership told them off quite harshly for getting involved in all those politics during the 5th Blight. Coriander was probably a bit grumpy about that. We also met with two main players in the next Act: Knight-Commander Meredith and First Enchanter Orsino. But Isabela came back and returned the book, but the Arishok wanted her punished. Now, what with how her leaving turned Iris into a teary wreck, she wasn't about to give her up. The Arishok challenged her to a duel, but I recognized that this was the fight you were talking about, and was pleasantly surprised to see that we could just turn it into an all-out brawl. He was killed, and Iris hailed CHAMPION OF KIRKWALL! (also, because the fight ends as soon as he dies, the cutscene included a Qunari soldiers standing awkwardly in the background.) Aside from all the companion chats, the next event (chronologically) is Legacy! Which, from what I've glimpsed, actually allows you to play as Carver again! Which makes sense, since it's all about Hawke's dad. I'm thinking of bringing him, Varric, and Merrill. (I would have brought him, Isabela, and Merrill, but I took those two to Mark of the Assassin) |
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Post by Daos on Jan 23, 2021 14:01:31 GMT -8
In my playthrough, Alistair is king, so he doesn't show up here. Instead, it's a new character, a Grey Warden named Stroud. He's also the one who helps initiate your sibling into the Grey Wardens if they contact the taint. I...barley remember anything about him, to be honest.
Was the amulet any good?
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 23, 2021 14:17:01 GMT -8
Oh, it was pretty good! I gave it to Aveline. Actually, I think Aveline and Coriander would get along quite well.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 24, 2021 8:05:41 GMT -8
The Legacy DLC has been pretty interesting so far. Basically, some Carta Dwarves, led by the creator of Bianca, no less, are seeking out Iris and Carver for Malcom Hawke's blood. They intend to use this to free Corypheus from an ancient Warden prison in the Deeproads. He's described as being not human, Darkspawn, or magister, but perhaps all of them at once. I haven't even met him and I'm already sure he's the Architect's cousin or something. We also learned a bit about Malcolm himself, how he viewed magic as a curse he would wish on nobody, and how he seemed to be a fairly devout Andastrian. ...he and Iris don't actually have much in common. Carver also tried to explain why he decided to join the Templars, but I had some trouble understanding it.
Also, this isn't related to the DLC, but Sebastian's combat dialogue is a lot of religious stuff, like "May you find peace," and "I pray for your soul." Which is unintentionally hilarious when he's fighting demons.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 24, 2021 10:49:26 GMT -8
After that, Iris was given a choice--to free Corypheus, or to entrap him. Larius claimed he was too dangerous to release, but Janeka said he could be bound, and his power used to end the Blights forever. Now, I would have entrapped him, because to set him free would be irresponsible and dangerous. Coriander would have trapped him, because she hates Darkspawn, no matter how much talking ability they have. But this is Iris, and Iris is an irresponsible (bordering on) maniac with absolutely no foresight. Of course, he would have escaped and needed to be killed anyway, because this is Dragon Age: Exodus, where Your Choices Do Not Matter! (tm). But he was zapped to death by Merrill, we got some epic stuff which I can't use because of low Magic and Willpower, and probably never will because the Fugitive's Mantel looks way cooler. But Hawke's Key is pretty sweet.
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Post by Daos on Jan 24, 2021 11:54:23 GMT -8
I've never played Legacy, so I don't really have much to add. I will say The Architect and Corypheus are cut from the same cloth, though.
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