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Post by Daos on Jan 12, 2021 16:59:12 GMT -8
...as we were instantly captured by a...guy. And his little Darkspawn minions. I...don't know how I would describe him. Of course, you know who I'm talking about. He seems to have some degree of control over Darkspawn and Ghouls, much like an Archdemon, but he's also sentient, unlike Archdemons. So...yeah. Something to think about. I know exactly who you are talking about, yes. In fact, I knew who it was (and the mute dwarf with him) before I even played the game, because both appear in one of the novels. (The novels have a habit of foreshadowing characters who will later appear in the games.) We were thrown in jail and rescued by Velanna's sister, who had been infected with the Taint. After punching our way through a dungeon's worth of Darkspawn, Mysterious Man-Thing called upon two dragons to fight us. The battle was intense, but we achieved victory in the end. (On the first try, too! On Hard!) Then, he absconded with several ghouls, including Velanna's sister, who had presumably succumbed to the Taint at that point. Nice, that is a tough fight. But you left out Oghren's best line in the entire game: |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 13, 2021 11:38:29 GMT -8
Yes, as soon as I saw the skeletons wearing Nathaniel's things, I immediately though "Aww, this is the part where Ohgren says that funny thing!" Anyway, we headed back to the Keep to delve into the Deep Road tunnels we uncovered. The Shade and Ogre Commander were both very tough boss fights, but I managed to get through them with a bit of difficulty! I take pride in the fact that, even with heavy losses (I was down to just Coriander for the first fight!), I'm still doing quite well on Hard mode. The Possessed Ogre took me by surprise, though. Thankfully, it was almost laughably easy. You know, since it was a single-target boss battle, which are always easy, and it lacked all the special attacks which make Ogres so powerful in the first place? We managed a little court meeting, where I let a thief feed his family by serving in the army, upheld a treaty that Howe made, with a promise of recompense to the one who's land is being taken, and imprisoned a minor noble on suspicion of conspiracy and murder. AND ANDERS GOT A KITTY!  Ohgren seems to hate Sir Pouncealot, though. Then, it was off to the Black Marshes (...Blackmarsh?), which were crawling with Blighted Werewolves (didn't...didn't I cure them??? don't tell me there are more werewolves), to find Kristoff, the Grey Warden who disappeared. Also, now that I think about it, the Kristoff's Possessions gift isn't like the other ones where you give someone their own stuff back? Those were mostly items that had an important personal meaning, that were lost--usually that they mention in some way first. (Like Sten's Sword, or Alistair's Locket) This is just...a bundle of vaguely defined "possessions." And I acquired it before meeting him. This is the sort of suspect mechanics that make me think Kristoff's going to be a...ghoul or something. (i know grey wardens can't become ghouls, it's just an example of how he might lose all his memories) ...that might work nicely with all those blank journals I found as gifts: something that makes No-Longer-Kristoff feel more human. Or maybe he just likes journaling. Also--I say this with the greatest of respect to both Sten and Ohren--Two-Handed Weapons suck. The DPS is terrible, but the Defense is nothing special either, and none of the special abilities are any helpful because they're so slow and miss all the time. |
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Post by Daos on Jan 13, 2021 13:26:52 GMT -8
You may have already figured this out, but Ser Pounce-a-lot is one of the most useful items in the game. Outside of battle, if you use him, you'll just get some cute dialogue between him and Anders. If used in battle, however, he instantly revives anyone in the party who is KO'd. It's not a full Heal, their HP will be quite low, but it does get them back on their feet. Then, it was off to the Black Marshes (...Blackmarsh?), which were crawling with Blighted Werewolves (didn't...didn't I cure them??? don't tell me there are more werewolves), to find Kristoff, the Grey Warden who disappeared. Blackmarsh. And you did cure the werewolves in Brecilian Forest. These are different ones, who have been infected by the taint and become blighted. Like I said before, werewolves are a thing in Fereldan and have been for a long time. They weren't created by Zathrian. (i know grey wardens can't become ghouls) But they can, actually. Remember that mute dwarf you saw earlier? She was a Warden. In fact, that's the point of the Calling. To go out in a blaze of glory before a Warden becomes a ghoul. Remember, a Grey Warden is already infected by the taint. But the infection lasts decades instead of days. But the end result is the same, regardless. Also--I say this with the greatest of respect to both Sten and Ohren--Two-Handed Weapons suck. The DPS is terrible, but the Defense is nothing special either, and none of the special abilities are any helpful because they're so slow and miss all the time. I've never really played a Two-Handed build before, so I can't comment too much on that. |
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Post by HorizonsDream on Jan 13, 2021 13:42:03 GMT -8
I think I tried out the two handed weapon thing, and I wasn't a fan either. It seemed...broken. I thought someone with a two handed weapon would have a high defense because their attack was so slow, but I was wrong.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 13, 2021 14:56:22 GMT -8
...huh. Alistair told me the Calling led to death, not ghoulhood, though I suppose he was only around for, like, 6 months. Anyway, it's a bit of a moot point, because Kristoff's dead. ...current guesses for his belongings and the gift to his wife/girlfriend? Either she joins the party, or we have a Wynne situation. The latter is quite likely, since we met a spirit of Justice in the Fade and OH NO LOST IN DREAMS FLASHBACKS Speaking of which, I can't help but notice that I've lost the ability to transform since I was last in the Fade. I understand they didn't want to give even more of an advantage to imported Wardens, but...  Anyway, I was about to storm the castle with Justice, in order to defeat the mysterious Baroness and free the people of Blackmarsh from an eternity trapped in the Fade, but...my game crashed. Which, I must admit, happens a lot. But I suppose that's 10-year-old old games for you. |
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Post by Daos on Jan 13, 2021 18:37:53 GMT -8
Likely Alistair was just repeating what Duncan told him, who was doing a bit of Obi-Wanning.  Because the Calling does lead to death. You go into the Deep Roads and kill as many Darkspawn as you can until you are killed yourself. So 'from a certain point of view,' it was true. Spend enough time as a Warden, and you start to hear the song of the Old Gods singing to you, calling to you, just like the Darkspawn do. Those who ignore their Calling...eventually succumb to the song and become ghouls. (Well, unless they are a woman; in which case there's a decent chance she'll be turned into a broodmother instead.) But who knows, maybe once things are settled in this country and the Grey Wardens can stand on their own without her for a bit, Coriander can search for a way to stop the Calling for good. As for game crashes, that's odd. I don't think I ever had trouble with Awakening crashing before. Exodus, sure. Then again, it has been a long time, so maybe I just don't remember. |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 14, 2021 7:59:21 GMT -8
After we stormed the castle gates, a battle against the First came next. It was a tough fight, but Coriander was able to succeed in the end. The Baroness sent herself and us back into the mortal realm. Although, this time, "us" includes Mr. Justice, who inhabited Kristoff's body in (as I suspected) a Wynne situation. We made our way to the town to fight the Pride Demon taking the Baroness' form, killing several Revenants along the way. I must say, beating them without any difficulty at all? On Hard? After the one crushed me on Normal, forcing me to switch to Easy to beat it? Absolutely cathartic. The Pride Demon was also a relatively easy fight, thanks to Cone of Cold stopping the grab attack in its tracks, and Unending Fury, which is stupid and ridiculous and I love it. Justice decided to join us in the quest to defeat the Darkspawn, which is very convenient, seeing as I've been without a proper tank all this time. Anyway, I believe there's only one companion left: a Melee Rogue, to complement Nathaniel's Ranged specialization. ...actually, I notice that they're going to be either a Shadow, or a Legionnaire Scout...and of the two, only one of them has some wait within the story...I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to get another Dwarf!  ...hopefully a Dwarf woman, since right now the ratio is pretty unbalanced. Also, while in Origins, the class balanced is considered to be skewed towards Warrior, but I don't think it's that skewed. Six Warriors to two Rogues and two Mages looks bad on paper, but Loghain's pretty indistinct from Alistair mechanically, and Dog and Shale aren't really typical Warriors. So it's more like 3/4 warriors, two rogues, two mages, and two special. But perhaps I'm just rambling. |
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Post by Daos on Jan 14, 2021 13:26:13 GMT -8
The Baroness sent herself and us back into the mortal realm. Although, this time, "us" includes Mr. Justice, who inhabited Kristoff's body in (as I suspected) a Wynne situation. Yep, Justice is your new companion, and your second warrior. Kind of odd to have a walking corpse going everywhere with you. You'd expect people would freak out more at the sight of him, although I guess he is fairly well preserved. For now. Anyway, Justice has the Spirit Warrior specialization, which is one of the two new specializations for Warrior (the other one being Guardian). Coriander can take either for her third specialization when she reaches level...22, I think it was? If you haven't already. Bonus, you don't need to have Justice go through a Joining Ritual. Because he's already a Grey Warden. And also dead.  The Pride Demon was also a relatively easy fight, thanks to Cone of Cold stopping the grab attack in its tracks, and Unending Fury, which is stupid and ridiculous and I love it. I do believe this is the first time you actually fight a pride demon, too. Unless you count Uldred, but he was more of an abomination possessed by a pride demon. Anyway, I believe there's only one companion left: a Melee Rogue, to complement Nathaniel's Ranged specialization. ...actually, I notice that they're going to be either a Shadow, or a Legionnaire Scout...and of the two, only one of them has some wait within the story...I have a sneaking suspicion that we're going to get another Dwarf! ...hopefully a Dwarf woman, since right now the ratio is pretty unbalanced. You are correct, there is one more companion left and they will be a melee rogue. But I won't say any more, for spoilers' sake. Also, while in Origins, the class balanced is considered to be skewed towards Warrior, but I don't think it's that skewed. Six Warriors to two Rogues and two Mages looks bad on paper, but Loghain's pretty indistinct from Alistair mechanically, and Dog and Shale aren't really typical Warriors. So it's more like 3/4 warriors, two rogues, two mages, and two special. But perhaps I'm just rambling. I feel like Awakening's formula is the best one. Two warriors (one Weapon and Shield type, one Two-Handed type), two mages (one healer/support, one blaster), and two rogues (one archer, one melee). Origins added two non-human companions (Shale and Dog) and one extra warrior (I consider Alistair and Loghain to fill the same spot, as you can only have one or the other, but not both). Exodus follows Awakening's formula, but if you get the DLC companion, it adds one extra rogue (so two warriors, two mages and three rogues). Inquisition takes it a step forward. You get three of each class. Three warriors (two Weapon and Shield types, one Two-Handed type), three mages, and three rogues (two archers and one melee). Which makes Inquisition the only game where you can have a full party of mages (assuming the Inquisitor is a mage). |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 15, 2021 6:14:50 GMT -8
After the fight with the Baroness, I went around and collected all the dragonbones, awakening the spooooky ghost dragon! I was, of course, crushed. But, after returning with a more optimal team, switching to normal, which I have negative shame points about, and crashing at least thrice, I finally beat it, collecting an Amulet that gives -25% fatigue?!?! Holy cow, was that worth it! I also collected the Elder Dragonbone, which, after shuffling around Ander's skills and an excessive amount of travelling between the Keep's interior and exterior...allowed me to make VIGILANCE. Which, of course, rocks. I love that you can customize it to your liking, as well. I went for a Longsword (of course) that was nimble and light (bonus to attack) and effortless to swing (bonus to stamina). That combination also gave it +5 cold damage, which I boosted further with a Grandmaster Frost Rune, also crafted by Anders. Come to think of it, Runecrafting rocks. I didn't really do any crafting in the base game, but Runes are pretty awesome and relatively easy to make. I also outfitted it with two Expert Silverite Runes (because what am I, if not good at killing Darkspawn?). Duncan's Sword, my off-hand weapon, had two Journeyman Silverite Runes attached, combining with the bonus on the sword for a total of +12 Damage to Darkspawn.
Oh, and we also put down some rioting peasants, after they refused to back down from Intimidation. I felt a little bad, but not much. They did attack first, even if they were incited by the conspiracy. They really should have riled up a crowd of Elves; that would have hit close to home. Also, it turns out that Esmerelda was the leader of the conspiracy. ...not gonna lie, I had forgotten who she was and had to look her up to see why I should be concerned. Turns out, she's the Bann of Amaranthine City! Good thing I didn't waste troops defending it!
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 15, 2021 8:24:53 GMT -8
I was so excited by the prospect of Runecrafting, I decided to look up how to get Expert and Master Silverite Runes. Then, after some more buying and crafting, Vigilance has two Master Silverite Runes and a Masterpiece Frost Rune, and Duncan's Sword has two Master Silverite Runes. That means Duncan's Sword is doing more damage to specifically Darkspawn that it is to anything else! (~10 normal damage, and 16 damage to Darkspawn!) Vigilance and the weapons together are still losing out to the extra Darkspawn damage, though. (~12 base + 11 cold = 23, compared to 16 Darkspawn. Counting them together, it's ~12 + ~10 + 11= 33, compared to 32 Darkspawn. Still.)
We headed off to the Deeproads afterwards, and met the last companion: Sigrun! Who, just as anticipated, is a Female Dwarf Melee Rogue who's a member of the Legion of the Dead! And she rocks. I didn't really get to play around with the close combat-oriented Rogue abilities (you know...all of them), since I was romancing Leiliana in Origins. But my goodness, is it awesome. I read that Dual-Wielding Daggers/Backstab is a really powerful Rogue build, and they were so right. The attack speed is so fast! And the wide-angle backstab basically means you crit more often than you hit regularly! I entrusted her with Fang, Adaia's dagger, for the time being. (I've done several purges of inventory items for sentimental reasons, but I always keep Fang and the Wedding Ring for sentimental purposes. I would have done the same for Adaia's Boots, but I'm pretty sure Leiliana is wearing them. But hey, leaving your mother's boots with your girlfriend certainly has more sentimentality than leaving them with some Elf dude that tried to kill you)
Anyway, I imagine Coriander has a lot of respect for the Legion of the Dead. They're basically Grey Wardens that are always on duty--sacrificing their lives (both literally and figuratively) to protect the world from the Darkspawn. And within not too much time, Sigrun's going to be both!
The Deeproads were really easy. Mostly because the enemies are primarily Darkspawn, and read above about Coriander being literally built to be the best at killing Darkspawn. Even the fight against the Lost and the Fire Golem didn't have too much difficulty. The Lost was defeated in about two second, read above ^^, and its wide booty the fact that Coriander was drawing its attention meant that Sigrun got a lot of Backstabs on him. Plus, Vigilance's bonus Stamina and the fact that my Fatigue is -20% meant that Coriander can Unending Fury him for a long time. And while he's being Unending Furied, he cannot do anything. That gave Anders plenty of time to revive, heal, and boost the other members of the team. Once again, victory on the first try. On Hard! I'm quite proud of myself.
Anyway, although you didn't give me an order to do the areas in, like in Origins, I still think I ended up with a pretty good chain of events, as far as story is concerned. First, the attack on Vigil's Keep, where we first learned of the talking Darkspawn. Then, the Wending Woods, where we met a mysterious figure who can control Darkspawn and Ghouls. Then, in Blackmarsh, we encountered a Darkspawn in the service of "The Mother," revealed in a cutscene to be a Broodmother. Now, in the Deeproads, we find that the Darkspawn are fighting with each other. One group is in the service of the Mother, the other with the Architect, the figure from Wending Woods.
........was there a Dwarf inside that Volcanic Golem? Did they find a dude and pour lyrium into him, then they said "......nah, not big enough" and they poured lava on him until he was absolutely gigantic?
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 15, 2021 11:03:57 GMT -8
Well, I discovered that, after the Deeproads, there wasn't much of the game left. After completing Kristoff/Justice's personal quest, I triggered the endgame, and an attack on Amaranthine followed. Anders, Justice, Coriander, and Sigrun headed there to fight. Although people said the city was lost, and that attentions should be drawn to the Keep, Coriander trusted the defenses she had spent the game--I mean, that she had worked so hard to build, and she trusted Nathaniel and Ohgren to defend it. She was less confident in Velanna, but whatever. The city was cleared of Darkspawn, then it was time to take down the Mother. After several areas full of Darkspawn, we encountered the Architect, wishing to speak with us.
I...uh...
I killed him.
That's not to say I listened to him, and decided the best thing was to kill him. I just killed him.
He was...a Darkspawn. Coriander kills Darkspawn for breakfast. Plus, he caused the massacre of Vigil's Keep, even if he claims it was an accident. And...he...uh...annoyed me...?
So, no answers there! Then, it was off to fight the Mother!
I, uh...didn't talk to her either. I just killed her. It was pretty easy. Way easier than the Architect.
...so, uh...I killed both of the main villains of the DLC. Without asking them anything about...stuff. ...I feel like I missed out on...some stuff.
But anyway, Velanna disappeared (I ain't looking for her), Nathaniel restored his family's honor, Anders did some stuff before he appeared in the next game, Justice died on Kristoff's doormat, Ohgren became a deadbeat dad because I couldn't think of any way to raise his approval high enough to do his quest (it's 20-30 to trigger, but 75 to finish), and Sigrun went off and died in a Darkspawn hole. ...huh.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Awakening is a nice game! And it has some crazy abilities. I do wish it was a bit longer, but what can you do? From what I understand, Origins is as good as Dragon Age gets (ie. Exodus and Inquisition are both worse by some degree), and I must say, it was quite lovely! Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Daos!
So, even if I sort of messed things up along the way, I hope you've enjoyed watching my little text-let's-play of the game! Next up is Exodus. (Unless Golems and Witch Hunt are necessary for the save transfer to work) I may have mentioned this before, but I'm planning on having Hawke be a complete maniac in it. That is, Coriander was about doing the right thing. The Inquisitor will do the pragmatic thing. Hawke's going to do the fun thing. Anywho, this has been Gravity's Journey Through Dragon Age! Signing off!
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Post by Daos on Jan 15, 2021 14:01:24 GMT -8
After the fight with the Baroness, I went around and collected all the dragonbones, awakening the spooooky ghost dragon! I was, of course, crushed. But, after returning with a more optimal team, switching to normal, which I have negative shame points about, and crashing at least thrice, I finally beat it, collecting an Amulet that gives -25% fatigue?!?! Holy cow, was that worth it! I also collected the Elder Dragonbone, which, after shuffling around Ander's skills and an excessive amount of travelling between the Keep's interior and exterior...allowed me to make VIGILANCE. Which, of course, rocks. I love that you can customize it to your liking, as well. I went for a Longsword (of course) that was nimble and light (bonus to attack) and effortless to swing (bonus to stamina). That combination also gave it +5 cold damage, which I boosted further with a Grandmaster Frost Rune, also crafted by Anders. Come to think of it, Runecrafting rocks. I didn't really do any crafting in the base game, but Runes are pretty awesome and relatively easy to make. I also outfitted it with two Expert Silverite Runes (because what am I, if not good at killing Darkspawn?). Duncan's Sword, my off-hand weapon, had two Journeyman Silverite Runes attached, combining with the bonus on the sword for a total of +12 Damage to Darkspawn. I remember I had a lot of fun with runecrafting, too. It lets you build some pretty bonkers weapons, but this is an epic level campaign now anyway (post level 20!), so that's fine. I always appreciated that Awakening celebrated the fact you were a big superpowered hero. You slew an archdemon, after all! Oh, and we also put down some rioting peasants, after they refused to back down from Intimidation. I felt a little bad, but not much. They did attack first, even if they were incited by the conspiracy. They really should have riled up a crowd of Elves; that would have hit close to home. Also, it turns out that Esmerelda was the leader of the conspiracy. ...not gonna lie, I had forgotten who she was and had to look her up to see why I should be concerned. Turns out, she's the Bann of Amaranthine City! Good thing I didn't waste troops defending it! I told you there would be consequences. And of course the Bann of the city led a conspiracy to overthrow you. You refused to send any troops to protect her city. Makes sense to me.  Anyway, in my playthrough, I managed to talk the peasants down and sent them on their way without any violence. My Warden was always the pacifist when he could be. We headed off to the Deeproads afterwards, and met the last companion: Sigrun! Who, just as anticipated, is a Female Dwarf Melee Rogue who's a member of the Legion of the Dead! And she rocks. I didn't really get to play around with the close combat-oriented Rogue abilities (you know...all of them), since I was romancing Leiliana in Origins. But my goodness, is it awesome. I read that Dual-Wielding Daggers/Backstab is a really powerful Rogue build, and they were so right. The attack speed is so fast! And the wide-angle backstab basically means you crit more often than you hit regularly! I entrusted her with Fang, Adaia's dagger, for the time being. (I've done several purges of inventory items for sentimental reasons, but I always keep Fang and the Wedding Ring for sentimental purposes. I would have done the same for Adaia's Boots, but I'm pretty sure Leiliana is wearing them. But hey, leaving your mother's boots with your girlfriend certainly has more sentimentality than leaving them with some Elf dude that tried to kill you) Yay, Sigrun! She's one of my favorite companions. I loved her reactions to the entire surface world. Anyway, I imagine Coriander has a lot of respect for the Legion of the Dead. They're basically Grey Wardens that are always on duty--sacrificing their lives (both literally and figuratively) to protect the world from the Darkspawn. And within not too much time, Sigrun's going to be both! I've said before there are elements of Dragon Age that seem clearly inspired by Dragonlance. I've mentioned the Harrowing as being eerily similar to the Test of High Sorcery. The Legion of the Dead are another one. In Dragonlance, on the continent of Taladas are a race of gnomes who have something called the Company of the Dead. The similarities cannot be denied. Those who join the Company are considered 'dead' by their kin, and they even have funerals for them. Uncanny, right? It can't be coincidence, even if the Company is pretty obscure by Dragonlance lore standards. Anyway, although you didn't give me an order to do the areas in, like in Origins, I still think I ended up with a pretty good chain of events, as far as story is concerned. First, the attack on Vigil's Keep, where we first learned of the talking Darkspawn. Then, the Wending Woods, where we met a mysterious figure who can control Darkspawn and Ghouls. Then, in Blackmarsh, we encountered a Darkspawn in the service of "The Mother," revealed in a cutscene to be a Broodmother. Now, in the Deeproads, we find that the Darkspawn are fighting with each other. One group is in the service of the Mother, the other with the Architect, the figure from Wending Woods. The order you took is the one I did, and is pretty much the 'standard' way of doing things. ........was there a Dwarf inside that Volcanic Golem? Did they find a dude and pour lyrium into him, then they said "......nah, not big enough" and they poured lava on him until he was absolutely gigantic? The Inferno Golem? No lore exists on where it came from, other than it was designed by Paragon Hiral, but...yeah, that sounds as plausible as anything else to me. Well, I discovered that, after the Deeproads, there wasn't much of the game left. After completing Kristoff/Justice's personal quest, I triggered the endgame, and an attack on Amaranthine followed. Anders, Justice, Coriander, and Sigrun headed there to fight. Although people said the city was lost, and that attentions should be drawn to the Keep, Coriander trusted the defenses she had spent the game--I mean, that she had worked so hard to build, and she trusted Nathaniel and Ohgren to defend it. She was less confident in Velanna, but whatever. The city was cleared of Darkspawn, then it was time to take down the Mother. After several areas full of Darkspawn, we encountered the Architect, wishing to speak with us. Yeah, Awakening is pretty short compared to Origins; it's just an expansion pack, after all. If you don't improve the keep's defenses and choose to save the city, your companions left behind can die defending the keep.  Also, the keep falls. I...uh... I killed him. That's not to say I listened to him, and decided the best thing was to kill him. I just killed him. He was...a Darkspawn. Coriander kills Darkspawn for breakfast. Plus, he caused the massacre of Vigil's Keep, even if he claims it was an accident. And...he...uh...annoyed me...? So, no answers there! Then, it was off to fight the Mother! I, uh...didn't talk to her either. I just killed her. It was pretty easy. Way easier than the Architect. ...so, uh...I killed both of the main villains of the DLC. Without asking them anything about...stuff. ...I feel like I missed out on...some stuff. But anyway, Velanna disappeared (I ain't looking for her), Nathaniel restored his family's honor, Anders did some stuff before he appeared in the next game, Justice died on Kristoff's doormat, Ohgren became a deadbeat dad because I couldn't think of any way to raise his approval high enough to do his quest (it's 20-30 to trigger, but 75 to finish), and Sigrun went off and died in a Darkspawn hole. ...huh. Well...yeah. I always listen to what someone has to say before attacking. I imagine you missed a lot of lore--who the Architect is, what he is, what he was trying to do, etc. Well, if you have any questions, I can answer them. Fortunately, he doesn't play any big roles in the sequels yet (DA4, who can say?), so it probably won't affect the story in any grand way. Who and what the Architect is does foreshadow a bit of Inquisition, though. Awakening is a nice game! And it has some crazy abilities. I do wish it was a bit longer, but what can you do? From what I understand, Origins is as good as Dragon Age gets (ie. Exodus and Inquisition are both worse by some degree), and I must say, it was quite lovely! Thanks for bringing it to my attention, Daos! I'm glad you enjoyed it. As for which game is best, I do think it is Origins, at least in terms of combat. But then again, I'm the same guy who thought 2E was the best version of D&D for 20 years, so...anyway, I'm actually in the minority. Most DA fans think Origins had the worst combat. I suppose it's a matter of taste. So, even if I sort of messed things up along the way, I hope you've enjoyed watching my little text-let's-play of the game! Next up is Exodus. (Unless Golems and Witch Hunt are necessary for the save transfer to work) I may have mentioned this before, but I'm planning on having Hawke be a complete maniac in it. That is, Coriander was about doing the right thing. The Inquisitor will do the pragmatic thing. Hawke's going to do the fun thing. Anywho, this has been Gravity's Journey Through Dragon Age! Signing off! Golems and Witch Hunt are not necessary for the save transfer. And you'd probably hate Witch Hunt anyway, since the entire premise is tracking down where Morrigan went. Exodus is a different beast entirely. Awakening was just more of Origins; same engine, same mechanics (a few new talents, skills, and spells, but otherwise the same). So keep that in mind. I don't want to spoil anything, but there are a few main differences I can talk about (and I'll probably go into more detail once you start playing it). Combat - Combat is fairly different in Exodus. It's faster, flashier, and more button-mashy. They were trying very hard to appeal to console gamers at the time. The marketing said things like, 'Every time you push a button, something awesome happens!' No more overhead tactical view, either. I actually hated it. I remember early on I turned the difficulty down to Easy; not because I was having a hard time, but because I just wanted battles to be over faster. I liked the ponderous, more-strategy based combat of Origins. But lots of people disagree. It all comes down to taste. (Exodus also has a really annoying mechanic, where enemies spawn in waves, that I really hated. In Origins, once you clear out a room, that's it. But in Exodus, you can burst into a room, kill everything inside, and then have more enemies appear (sometimes more than once!) and if you're really unlucky, they might spawn on top of you--very bad if you are a mage). Magic is slightly different, too. In Origins there are four schools of magic: Primal, Spirit, Creation and Entropy. In Exodus, Primal is split into two--Primal (Earth and Lightning magic) and Elemental (Fire and Ice magic). Oddly enough, Inquisition completely does away with Creation and Entropy, and turns Fire, Lightning and Ice into their own schools, so there are only four schools again (Fire, Ice, Lightning and Spirit). Meaning every mage in Inquisition is a blaster, boo. Relationships - Exodus does companion relationships in an interesting way. Instead of having a numeric scale where low is bad and high is good, it has Friendship (positive relations) and Rivalry (negative relations). Maxing out rivalry is just as good as maxing out friendship. (Essentially, if you agree with your companions, you earn friendship points. If you disagree with them, you earn rivalry points.) This works way better than the old Approval/Disapproval system, where you are encouraged to be a two-faced liar who talks up the Chantry to Leliana and then turn around and badmouth the Chantry to Morrigan, so to keep them both happy. The Friendship/Rival system lets you actually roleplay your character the way you want, instead of being a sycophant or just never using companions who disagree with you. You know how in Origins, if your relationship score was too low, sometimes a companion might betray or leave you (like Zevran?) In Exodus, that only happens if your relationship remains neutral (around 0); as long as your score is very high or very low, you've earned their loyalty. For all my complaints about Exodus, I really liked this system and was disappointed when Inquisition didn't use it, too. Plot - Exodus tells a much smaller, more intimidate story. It is not about saving the world from an existential threat. There is no trekking across the country, either. Almost the entire story takes place in a single city over a number of years. The story is divided into three acts, and there's a timeskip between each of them. The plot is also far more linear; choices have less of an impact or sometimes don't change anything at all. It's more about roleplaying your character than actually changing how things play out. This, unfortunately, makes Hawke feel more reactive than active as a protagonist. But again, it comes down to preference. Some people like that he can't just change the world with his choices. Origins - There is only one origin in the game. You must play as a Fereldan human named Hawke. You can choose gender and class, but that's about it. Some people find this a dealbreaker, others don't mind. Again, it comes down to preference. Exodus had a very specific story to tell, and so there are less options for character creation. (One interesting thing of note, is that unlike Origins, if you make your character brown or black, their family will change to match, which is pretty neat. In Origins, if you made a black character, all of your relatives remain white, which makes you look adopted or something.) Dialogue - In Origins, you are given a number of different options for dialogue. But in Exodus, perhaps because the protagonist is fully voiced now, you only ever get three options--the 'nice' option, the 'mean' option and the 'joking/sarcastic' option. Fun fact: If you choose one of the three more often than the others, it will actually shape your Hawke's personality. For instance, if you consistently pick the mean options, then even when you aren't given options for dialogue, Hawke will sound more ruthless and intimidating. There's a bunch of other, minor stuff, but those are the big ones. Just so long as you don't go in expecting Origins II, you should be okay. Regardless, I've very much enjoyed your playthrough of Origins/Awakening. It was something to look forward to each day after work, and I look forward to your Exodus playthrough and your thoughts on it. You may meet some familiar faces along the way! No spoilers, though! (By the way, did you take any screenshots of Coriander? I was curious how she turned out.) |
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 15, 2021 14:42:14 GMT -8
Apparently, the game has been taking screenshots at important intervals without my knowledge. So...here you are!    She's been rocking out in King Caelin's armor ever since she reached the strength requirement. I don't remember why I thought it was a good idea to give her a wide-eyed stare and bright blue lips, but it's definitely her look. Anyway, I'm really happy you enjoyed this! The blind musings of a new player are always fun for a veteran to read, I say. ...by the way, how do you transfer save data? The wiki doesn't seem to have any idea. EDIT: Never mind, apparently you can do so after the prologue.  |
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Post by Daos on Jan 15, 2021 15:03:04 GMT -8
Transferring data is easy, but it's not very intuitive. (This is assuming you are playing on PC for both games.)
First, start up Exodus. You will watch a cutscene. Then you'll choose your class/gender and be thrown into combat. When it's done, you'll view another cutscene. Then, and only then, does the full character creation open up, and you will be allowed to choose one of your Origins/Awakening saves to transfer over.
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Post by GravityEmblem on Jan 15, 2021 17:21:21 GMT -8
DRAGON AGE: EXODUS
The one that ruined Dragon Age combat forever
So, the game was booted up, and...well, first I had to mess around with Origin for a bit. I'm not fond of Origin in the slightest. Once the game was booted up, I discovered that the full-screen option...did not work. For one reason or another, it just changed the resolution of the screen and placed the window in a corner. Huh.
After a brief intro cutscene, we were thrown into combat, as previously mentioned, and OH MY GOODNESS IT'S HORRIBLE GOOD GOSH I CANT
...uh...not a big fan of the combat system. It's...well, it's fast enough for an action game, but this isn't supposed to be an action game. It's an RPG. I came in expecting Knights of the Old Republic, and I ended up with...knockoff Bayonetta.
Another thing I noticed is that the game is a lot more...gratuitously mature than Origins. They're both M rated, but the swears in Origins weren't that bad, and the gore was limited to splatters and an occasional decapitation. Here, Miss Pentghast curses worse than anything I saw in the first game within 5 minutes, and the cutscenes were very bloody. (That ogre getting ripped in half...yech)
Also, the dialogue system. Even with a fully-voiced protagonist, I still prefer hearing what you say twice to...you know...not knowing what you're gonna say before you say it.
Anyway, I started work on the customized character, but then I had to stop for dinner.
So, a game with a vastly different combat system, with dialogue you can't control, faulty full-screen, and gratuitously mature...
I'm...gonna have to warm up to this one a bit.
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...hopefully a Dwarf woman, since right now the ratio is pretty unbalanced.
Also, the keep falls.