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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 9, 2021 15:19:00 GMT -8
So! HERE LIES THE ABYSS
The attack on Adamant Fortress began, led by Cullen with his big 'ol siege weapons. Kevlan slashed and stabbed his way through the battlements, accompanied by Blackwall (because Wardens), Varric (because Hawke), and Cassandra (also because Hawke). We spared non-demon-mind-control-possessed Wardens wherever we could, and we made it to Clarel and Mr. Magister the Goateed. Blackwall made a lovely speech which inspired all the non-demon-mind-control-possessed Wardens to give up on him and fight for the Inquisition--including the Pride Demon. There were...well, a couple of glitches I encountered. First, Cassandra died. That is to say, she fell unconscious, but couldn't be revived. Also, I missed a cutscene trigger and was stuck phased halfway through the floor. Then I had to turn off, and was sent back to right after the Pride Demon, because the presence of the Archdemon means the battle is still technically happening, so no savey. At least I avoided those glitches the second time around.
Clarel killed Magister Goatee Man and blew up the bridge, sending us all to our deaths--except for the Fade-entering power of the Anchor, utilized by Kevlan. There, we met with "Divine Justinia"--theorized by Kevlan to be a spirit of Faith or Hope. She told us of the truth of the Anchor--it was caused by Corypheus' Orb, and the women seen helping Kevlan out of the Rift was Justinia herself. Kevlan was weirdly happy to learn that the Maker is not involved. He was like "*smiling widely* So it WASN'T the Maker! I WAS RIGHT!" Actually, come to think of it, the Maker is actually fairly compatible with the Elvish faith, because the Chant says the Maker gave up on the world, and the Dalish faith teaches the Gods didn't CREATE the world, they just made all the nice things in it.
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Post by Daos on Feb 9, 2021 21:24:31 GMT -8
Wait, I'm a bit lost. Did you skip over Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts entirely? Also, Blackwell persuaded a pride demon to join the Inquisition? I don't remember that at all. I do remember an Archdemon appearing, though. That was a pretty big deal, and I was pretty stunned by it at the time. Also, is Alistair not with you? I thought I remember Stroud being there, which would be Alistair for your playthrough.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 10, 2021 5:52:39 GMT -8
Wait, I'm a bit lost. Did you skip over Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts entirely? Also, Blackwell persuaded a pride demon to join the Inquisition? I don't remember that at all. I do remember an Archdemon appearing, though. That was a pretty big deal, and I was pretty stunned by it at the time. Also, is Alistair not with you? I thought I remember Stroud being there, which would be Alistair for your playthrough. Oh, I'm sorry for the confusion, I made that post in a hurry. Here Lies The Abyss and Wicked Eyes and Hearts can be completed in any order, though I'd presume most people do Abyss first. It has lower Power cost, and you get to run around with Hawke and Alistair, vs the higher power one based around saving a character that, from what I've learned in the books, deserves to die. Jeez, Celene. You purge an Alienage and then get all sad because your Elven girlfriend leaves you? What did you expect!? I meant that Blackwall persuaded the Grey Wardens to fight the evil guys, who included a Pride Demon. The Pride Demon was among the fought, not the fighting. And, yes, Alistair came along. He even referenced the Black Horse Comics that Hawke came along for in my personal continuity! It should be said, I didn't really think of it as an Archdemon, since there was no Blight. Though it could have been a corrupted Old God, I couldn't tell. It should be said, though, that Coriander made the decision to let Morrigan have an Old God Baby before she (and I) were aware of what that actually meant. In Coriander's mind, it was just a bunch of magic babble, and it was a question of "alistair has sex and lives, or he doesn't and dies." But now that she actually knows how Blights are started? And that there are a limited amount of Old Gods left? Yeah, she wouldn't have taken the risk with the Godbaby. ALSO, Nightmare is kind of a loser. Like, he taunts every party member with their "greatest fear," but everyone just shrugs it off. In the words of Iris, "it's like he looked at a summary of our lives and guessed what our big existential fears were." Anyway, the issue of what would happen to the Grey Wardens once the group escaped the Fade came up. Cassandra viewed their corruption a security threat, and advised banishing them. Alistair, however, argued that this was exactly when the Wardens were most needed, and many weren't under Corypheus' control. Iris pointed out that Nightmare was the one amplifying the False Calling, and that without it, Corypheus can only influence people at a very short distance. Cassandra tried to argue further, but Kevlan told them all to shut up. He's good at telling everyone to shut up. |
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Post by Daos on Feb 10, 2021 13:04:55 GMT -8
I don't think I realized you could do them in any order. I am pretty sure I did Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts first, though. But I could be misremembering. It's been awhile.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 10, 2021 13:57:32 GMT -8
So, after a few more fights, we conquered the Aspect of Nightmare by the Rift. But then the real thing attacked, and somebody needed to hold him off and Alistair volunteered, and......  Goodnight, sweet prince. We all salute you. Kevlan decided to allow the Grey Wardens to stay with the Inquisition and aid them in fighting Corypheus, because the last time the Wardens were banished from somewhere, nothing good came of it. Also, a bug has locked me out of the Dorian romance--permanently, as far as I can tell. ....you know what? this is the worst Dragon Age game. Forget Exodus, I liked Exodus. This just kinda...sucks. |
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Post by Daos on Feb 10, 2021 14:53:34 GMT -8
Yeah, it was meant to be a very difficult, nail-biting choice. But because I put Alistair on the throne, I got Stroud. Which means my 'difficult choice' was between a former protagonist and...some guy I barely knew. Sort of took the oomph out of it, but did make it far easier. Sorry, Stroud. I remember way back in your Origins playthrough, you were like, "Alistair doesn't want to be on the throne, so he doesn't have to be!" and I'm thikning, "Well, you may regret that decision two games from now."  Sorry about Dorian. I looked it up, and is this the bug you are referring to? I've had romances bug out on me before, although not in a Dragon Age game. It happened to me in Pillars of Eternity 2 and Kingmaker, though, so I can relate. It's super frustrating. |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 10, 2021 15:14:54 GMT -8
Yeah, it would have been a difficult choice, but the thing is? Iris is way more selfish than Alistair; she wouldn't offer to sacrifice herself like that. So...yeah. Goodbye, Alistair. I'll miss you.
Actually, this is a separate bug, where after the boinking scene, if you don't specifically pick the Romance option (the one with the heart), the Romance isn't initiated. There's an option to start one later, but it's bugged, so no matter how many times you press it, it doesn't go away and the romance is not initiated. I could reload an old save like with Isabela, but the game is so much longer, and I don't actually enjoy it that much, I've just decided to grin and bare it.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 11, 2021 15:08:04 GMT -8
Anyway, now that I've completed a main quest, a bunch of things happen at once, though it's mostly just chatting and such. Varric got a new tarot card where he's all sad and surrounded by demons, which works a lot better when Hawke is the one that dies. We also met a contact of Varric's who let us know where Corypheus was getting his Red Lyrium from. Her name? BIANCA
Cole was asking Solas to bind him in order to protect from being bound by someone else. Thankfully, Iris was not here to be asked that, and Kevlan and Solas found a better solution--an amulet to protect spirits from Blood Magic.
Lots of people were asking about the Fade, and Justinia...and at this point, Kevlan had more or less mellowed out about Andraste. He still believes in the Dalish gods, but he lets the shems have their divine omens and whatnot. It gives them hope, and that's what's important.
We also met with all the Chargers! And Krem's apparently trans, which is cool and all. Finally, Sera says she doesn't know or care about the Hero of Fereldan. In fact, she says she forgot. ...you forgot about Coriander, who grew up in the Alienage--they most definitely met, since she's only about 10 years older than her--who also became the Bann of the Alienage, and in my little self-indulgent personal canon, stopped a purge by standing between royal troops and elven rioters until Anora herself came down to yell at her, then got embarrassed and left. Sera, you are truly an incomprehensible misanthrope.
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Post by Daos on Feb 11, 2021 15:46:00 GMT -8
If I'm remembering correctly, Sera left the Denerim alienage when she was a child. After that, she was raised by humans. So it's entirely likely she wouldn't remember Coriander. Assuming they ever met in the first place (not sure how many elves live in the alienage, but I get the impression it's not so small that necessarily everyone knows everyone else).
Also, canonically, the Denerim alienage is all but abandoned by the time of Inquisition. Many of the residents fled during the Blight and never came back. And with their Bann missing for some time, I imagine things aren't peachy there at the moment, either.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 12, 2021 6:22:08 GMT -8
Also, canonically, the Denerim alienage is all but abandoned by the time of Inquisition. Many of the residents fled during the Blight and never came back. And with their Bann missing for some time, I imagine things aren't peachy there at the moment, either. Aww...I hope Shianni's ok... |
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Post by Daos on Feb 12, 2021 12:31:29 GMT -8
Unknown. She's not heard from or seen again after Origins. But she's a survivor, so I hope for the best.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 12, 2021 12:53:52 GMT -8
Unknown. She's not heard from or seen again after Origins. But she's a survivor, so I hope for the best. According to the Epilogue, which I'm to understand are "canon until proven non-canon," she became elder of the Alienage. I like to imagine she's out and about with some of the refugees, searching for a new home...maybe starting their own little pseudo-Dalish tribe. Sending regular letters to Leliana.... |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 12, 2021 16:22:42 GMT -8
So, we learned that Cullen is having some problems with Lyrium withdrawal, which doesn't appear to be an issue yet, but, you know. A personal quest on the horizon. Although, I must say, I'm not a huge Cullen fan. You can be pro-Templar and anti-Mage without having a trashy viewpoint, but he has a trashy viewpoint. I also helped Cole become more human, with the aid of Varric, and the power of murdering people you don't like (he didn't actually murder him, though). The amulet wasn't working, because Cole was too close to a human, and we tracked down the Templar who killed proto-Cole. Well, Cole, because Cole is actually "Cole," if that makes any sense. But yeah, he's more human, now! Finally, we did Varric's personal quest, where we learned that Bianca is responsible for the location of the Red Lyrium getting out! Bianca, you ruined everything and the crossbow is better than you!  I can't really stay mad, though, because people make mistakes. If Iris were there, she'd keep going on and on about how she messed everything up, until someone pointed out that she released Corypheus in the first place. He would have gotten out no matter what she did, in the world she lives in, the whole thing is squarely her fault. Also, Varric's sad post-Here Lies The Abyss tarot was replaced with a happy party tarot after the Wicked Grace cutscene, which was fun and cute. And Cullen took his clothes off upon losing, which I have no feelings about. AND FINALLY Iron Bull brought up the possibility of an alliance with the Qunari government, which would be the first time they did this. Ever. That's pretty cool! I bet it was Arishok who brought it up, he's marginally cooler with bas than other Qunari. |
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Post by Daos on Feb 12, 2021 22:48:14 GMT -8
So, we learned that Cullen is having some problems with Lyrium withdrawal, which doesn't appear to be an issue yet, but, you know. A personal quest on the horizon. Although, I must say, I'm not a huge Cullen fan. You can be pro-Templar and anti-Mage without having a trashy viewpoint, but he has a trashy viewpoint. Also, his voice actor is a jerk. Finally, we did Varric's personal quest, where we learned that Bianca is responsible for the location of the Red Lyrium getting out! Bianca, you ruined everything and the crossbow is better than you! I can't really stay mad, though, because people make mistakes. If Iris were there, she'd keep going on and on about how she messed everything up, until someone pointed out that she released Corypheus in the first place. He would have gotten out no matter what she did, in the world she lives in, the whole thing is squarely her fault. Was this the quest where it also reveals the origin of Red Lyrium? AND FINALLY Iron Bull brought up the possibility of an alliance with the Qunari government, which would be the first time they did this. Ever. That's pretty cool! I bet it was Arishok who brought it up, he's marginally cooler with bas than other Qunari. That would be unprecedented; but a hard sell to the Chantry, I'd bet. |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Feb 13, 2021 8:29:37 GMT -8
So, we learned that Cullen is having some problems with Lyrium withdrawal, which doesn't appear to be an issue yet, but, you know. A personal quest on the horizon. Although, I must say, I'm not a huge Cullen fan. You can be pro-Templar and anti-Mage without having a trashy viewpoint, but he has a trashy viewpoint. Also, his voice actor is a jerk. Finally, we did Varric's personal quest, where we learned that Bianca is responsible for the location of the Red Lyrium getting out! Bianca, you ruined everything and the crossbow is better than you! I can't really stay mad, though, because people make mistakes. If Iris were there, she'd keep going on and on about how she messed everything up, until someone pointed out that she released Corypheus in the first place. He would have gotten out no matter what she did, in the world she lives in, the whole thing is squarely her fault. Was this the quest where it also reveals the origin of Red Lyrium? AND FINALLY Iron Bull brought up the possibility of an alliance with the Qunari government, which would be the first time they did this. Ever. That's pretty cool! I bet it was Arishok who brought it up, he's marginally cooler with bas than other Qunari. That would be unprecedented; but a hard sell to the Chantry, I'd bet. Yes, I did read about that. That's the one! Red Lyrium being blighted Lyrium, which explains how it combines the mind control song of the taint with the paranoia and mental degradation of lyrium. More sinisterly, this means that lyrium is alive. Creepy... It'd be a hard sell to Iris, too. |
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I can't really stay mad, though, because people make mistakes. If Iris were there, she'd keep going on and on about how she messed everything up, until someone pointed out that she released Corypheus in the first place. He would have gotten out no matter what she did, in the world she lives in, the whole thing is squarely her fault.