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Leliana's accent was supposed to be Welsh? I thought it was some wibbly wobbly cross between a French and English accent. Also I liked Merrill's accent.
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Jan 30, 2014 01:32
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Fojar38 posted:Leliana's accent was supposed to be Welsh? I thought it was some wibbly wobbly cross between a French and English accent. Leliana's accent is French and her voice actress is French. He meant that he felt Merrill and Leliana's accents sounded fake despite being voiced by people that actually had those accents.
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Jan 30, 2014 01:33
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Actually thought Fenris had a good origin/background for a character except they made him too whiny and contrarian. Carver was the best DA2 companion because he's basically a sniveling little brother archetype and had all the characteristics encapsuled within that archetype.
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Jan 30, 2014 01:41
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steakmancer posted:Actually thought Fenris had a good origin/background for a character except they made him too whiny and contrarian. He does grow up a bit if he becomes a warden.
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Jan 30, 2014 02:04
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SgtSteel91 posted:Merrill I took Merrill everywhere! ...usually with Fenris and Anders so they could poo poo on her every chance they got. Bring them to the end of her storyline quest, its hilariously brutal. But also for her blood mage abilities. She's annoying but she can pour out damage.
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Jan 30, 2014 02:09
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Kibayasu posted:I took Merrill everywhere! I took Anders with me on Merrill missions to get rivalry with him. I also gave Hawke the Reaver specialization, too. It made sense to me to make the nice people who could use the power of blood to destroy their foes LI. Varric said it best, "It's almost too adorable. Well, except for the evil blood magic thing."
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Jan 30, 2014 02:20
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Merrill for that sweet neck action.
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Jan 30, 2014 08:27
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HenessyHero posted:Sebastian if you rivaled him into pressing his claim while siding Templars yourself nets you the unstoppable Kirkwall-Starkhaven duo that's sure to dominate the Free Marches, his words. Future entries in this franchise are sure to never touch upon this idea again if not outright handwave it into oblivion. There was originally going to be some Starkhaven DLC for DA2, but it got cancelled and the ideas in it were, at least at one point, being folded into Inquisition. So it's possible it might come up, if that part of the game hasn't been cut entirely now. Sebastian was one of the few characters who were guaranteed to survive DA2 after all.
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Jan 30, 2014 12:31
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CottonWolf posted:There was originally going to be some Starkhaven DLC for DA2, but it got cancelled and the ideas in it were, at least at one point, being folded into Inquisition. So it's possible it might come up, if that part of the game hasn't been cut entirely now. Sebastian was one of the few characters who were guaranteed to survive DA2 after all. That would be totally rad. Leelee posted:If you all HAVE to pick- which romance do you go with in DA2- Isabela, Fenris, Anders, Sebastian, or Merrill. Anders. Either romance or rivalmance followed by killing him because that's how much I hate him.
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Feb 3, 2014 02:19
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Rivalry romancing Fenris on a mage is pretty fun. Rivalry romancing Isabella is also fun. Rivalry romancing MErril isn't terrible, since you get to call her out on messing up. All of the friendship romances suck because you're just an enabler.
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Feb 3, 2014 02:23
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CottonWolf posted:There was originally going to be some Starkhaven DLC for DA2, but it got cancelled and the ideas in it were, at least at one point, being folded into Inquisition. So it's possible it might come up, if that part of the game hasn't been cut entirely now. Sebastian was one of the few characters who were guaranteed to survive DA2 after all. Yes, that's right there was the cancelled DLC. I figured that DLC might've explored some other idea since Sebastian could've been talked into not leaving Neat. I always figured Sebastian was only left alive so Anders could be handwaved into becoming a martyr in either ending, nice to see there might be more there.
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Feb 3, 2014 02:38
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KittyEmpress posted:All of the friendship romances suck because you're just an enabler. 
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Feb 3, 2014 02:40
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Friendship gay romance Fenris, bond romantically over killing all the mages. 
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Feb 3, 2014 03:25
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Captain Oblivious posted:Friendship gay romance Fenris, bond romantically over killing all the mages. I could never justify my hawkes hating all mages or wanting the circle to exist, since either herself and her dead sister or just her sister spent their whole life hiding away hoping not to be enslaved for being mages. So Fenris didn't really work friendship wise. Now, explaining that some mages are good and deserve freedom and others are dicks who deserve what comes (which gets Rivalry Points) is cool. Because seriously gently caress every non-Hawke lineage mage.
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Feb 3, 2014 03:29
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KittyEmpress posted:I could never justify my hawkes hating all mages or wanting the circle to exist, since either herself and her dead sister or just her sister spent their whole life hiding away hoping not to be enslaved for being mages. So Fenris didn't really work friendship wise. It never really seemed like the Dragon Age series did a good job of really conveying the danger of mages ingame. Abominations are oh-so-horrible, and then you murder them by the dozens. The lack of that credible threat made the 'side with the mages or not?' questions seem very forced.
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Feb 3, 2014 03:52
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Foolie posted:It never really seemed like the Dragon Age series did a good job of really conveying the danger of mages ingame. Abominations are oh-so-horrible, and then you murder them by the dozens. The lack of that credible threat made the 'side with the mages or not?' questions seem very forced. I think the closest it does to justifying and conveying the danger is with Flemeth in the first game - an abomination (maybe?) who has learned to shapeshift into forms that make her as formidable as creatures known to destroy nations on their own. The boss from the top of the mage tower was pretty good at conveying it too - you got to see what could happen if a powerful spirit entered a mage instead of a weak one. But yeah abominations are way too common and easy to defeat for how scared the world are of them. The Grey Warden cuts through over a hundred by the end of DA:O, and Hawke cuts through probably as much or more.
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Feb 3, 2014 04:04
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KittyEmpress posted:I think the closest it does to justifying and conveying the danger is with Flemeth in the first game - an abomination (maybe?) who has learned to shapeshift into forms that make her as formidable as creatures known to destroy nations on their own. Plus a large proportion of the mages we see turning into abominations do so because it is that or certain death/mindwiping.
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Feb 3, 2014 08:22
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Foolie posted:It never really seemed like the Dragon Age series did a good job of really conveying the danger of mages ingame. Abominations are oh-so-horrible, and then you murder them by the dozens. The lack of that credible threat made the 'side with the mages or not?' questions seem very forced. And you can be a blood mage all day long without anything bad ever happening. Even Merrill never did anything too horrible, the whole thing with the keeper and the pride demon could be construed as being the keeper's fault.
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Feb 3, 2014 11:44
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Torrannor posted:And you can be a blood mage all day long without anything bad ever happening. Even Merrill never did anything too horrible, the whole thing with the keeper and the pride demon could be construed as being the keeper's fault. If you go to the top of sundermount during act 2, the magical barrier is gone and there's a cart blocking the cave entrance instead. I wonder just how long the keeper was under the influence of the pride demon?
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Feb 3, 2014 11:52
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KittyEmpress posted:But yeah abominations are way too common and easy to defeat for how scared the world are of them. The Grey Warden cuts through over a hundred by the end of DA:O, and Hawke cuts through probably as much or more. It's the lore and the gameplay not matching up. In the fiction, one abomination is meant to be able massacre entire villages, which is why all the country folk want the Templars to take the mages away.
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Feb 3, 2014 14:10
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The lore and gameplay matches up just fine...in Origins. Origins did a fine job of conveying the threat mages pose, but the gameplay/lore disconnect became pretty severe in Dragon Age 2 as the game became more hack and slash.
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Feb 3, 2014 15:42
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Captain Oblivious posted:The lore and gameplay matches up just fine...in Origins. Origins did a fine job of conveying the threat mages pose, but the gameplay/lore disconnect became pretty severe in Dragon Age 2 as the game became more hack and slash.
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Feb 3, 2014 16:01
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Raygereio posted:No, DA:O had the same problem as DA2 where safe for bosses abominations were nothing more then fodder you sliced through without effort. I seem to recall them being decently threatening? Regardless I felt like the situation in the tower in Origins adequately communicated the threat.
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Feb 3, 2014 16:15
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There were different types of abominations. Some had their name in white and were lovely trash mobs. Others had their name in yellow and were harder to kill, etc. etc. On average I think an abomination was a bit more dangerous than a random bandit, but really not by much. But honestly, a random bandit could probably destroy a village as well as any abomination if he put his mind to it and there wasn't anyone there to fight back.
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Feb 3, 2014 16:38
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A random bandit wouldn't be able to do that by unleashing destructive magic and lesser demons, however.
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Feb 3, 2014 16:52
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To be honest, everyone in this world seems to be terrible at doing their jobs except for the player character, so I'm not surprised they have their hands full with abominations. The PC just rocks that hard. 
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Feb 3, 2014 17:09
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Bioware are releasing "Character Kits" for making cosplay. Morrigan first:  It amused me that she's called the "Witch of the Wilds" and dress like that.
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Feb 3, 2014 23:58
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KittyEmpress posted:I think the closest it does to justifying and conveying the danger is with Flemeth in the first game - an abomination (maybe?) who has learned to shapeshift into forms that make her as formidable as creatures known to destroy nations on their own. Flemeth is clearly an old god that freed itself and learned to shapeshift from a dragon to a human  Hot Sexy Jupiter posted:To be honest, everyone in this world seems to be terrible at doing their jobs except for the player character, so I'm not surprised they have their hands full with abominations. The PC just rocks that hard. Pretty much yeah. In DA:O the PC cut through abominations in a party of 4 while a tower of templars got cut down by the same enemies to a few knights. Kirkwall gets ruined a second time as collateral damage in Temps v. Aboms Round 2 while Hawke and three others can destroy like 50 lieutenant-level abominations, a dozen rage demons, a blood mage and a giant pride demon in literally one encouter by themselves. Ultimately you play peerless fighters in both games but doofuses nonetheless in all other respects (at least in DA2). Though I would add that I'd think most of the terror behind abominations stems from the horror of a person's consciousness being completely usurped by a monsterous demon from another plane, their free will gone, and that it could happen to any mage at any time. A single abomination could probably take a village if it suddenly appeared out of nowehere, a tower of templars might get bested by a sudden, possibly co-ordinated sneak attack by several but I don't think one abomination itself poses much threat to seasoned warriors. E: VVVV Very plausible. HenessyHero fucked around with this message at 00:22 on Feb 4, 2014 |
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Feb 4, 2014 00:13
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Lotish posted:Bioware are releasing "Character Kits" for making cosplay. I'm reminded of when I forced Morrigan to wear stuff like priest robes since it clashed with her personality so much. ...wait why are there flies on it? HenessyHero posted:Flemeth is clearly an old god that freed itself and learned to shapeshift from a dragon to a human Flemeth is a lazy plot device.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:18
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Lotish posted:Bioware are releasing "Character Kits" for making cosplay. Why is she wearing a disney princess dress?
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Feb 4, 2014 00:23
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KoB posted:Why is she wearing a disney princess dress? I suppose its at least easier than gluing those rags she wore in DA:O to her nipples every day.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:29
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I like to think that's from her Orlais trip, and those little wasps on her dress are to remind herself at any moment she can rain down hell with a little ol' razzmatazz transformation.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:35
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One of the things that always bugged me slightly about Morrigan is that she didn't look enough like her concept art, instead looking several years if not a decade or more older than she's presumably supposed to be. It's probably not helped that she's voiced by Claudia Black, a fine actress who sounds considerably older than she actually is, and she was in her late 30s when she took the part. Also, I think Morrigan's outfit would have worked better if that hood on her outfit could have been pulled up and counted as a hat, because all other mage hats looked dumb as hell.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:35
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Cleatcleat posted:I like to think that's from her Orlais trip It talks about that being her Orlesian ball gown right in the description.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:38
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Captain Oblivious posted:I seem to recall them being decently threatening? Regardless I felt like the situation in the tower in Origins adequately communicated the threat. It didn't really. Even playing on hard all but one or two abominations in the game are worthless fodder that you can forget about ever being a threat - and I've done runs where I only take non-mages on the highest difficulty. The fact is that 90% of them either can't or don't use their magic, so they end up being less threatening than random bandit groups because normally the random bandits have some archers or even a mage, while most abomination groups in DAO just run up and try to hit you with their fists. Plus the fact that you kill every type of demon besides Pride or Sloth ones as non-bosses, as well as killing one Sloth boss and three Pride bosses in DA:O makes demons out to be a joke. And in DA2 you kill something like 10 Pride Demons over the course of the game. And a billion abominations. Basically, the lore makes these scary monsters out to be way scarier than the game actually has them be. The dragon at the urn of sacred ashes is stronger than any of the abomination or demon bosses in DAO.
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Feb 4, 2014 00:51
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KittyEmpress posted:Basically, the lore makes these scary monsters out to be way scarier than the game actually has them be. The dragon at the urn of sacred ashes is stronger than any of the abomination or demon bosses in DAO. That happens a lot in video games. It's really hard to balance the enemies being proper threats with making the player character seem powerful. Especially when enemies range from common street thugs to eldrich monsters. Even more with level scaling (which is part of the reason I'm glad to see it going away for Inquisition).
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Feb 5, 2014 16:45
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Geostomp posted:That happens a lot in video games. It's really hard to balance the enemies being proper threats with making the player character seem powerful. Especially when enemies range from common street thugs to eldrich monsters. Even more with level scaling (which is part of the reason I'm glad to see it going away for Inquisition). Elder Scrolls games, especially Oblivion, are bad about that, but it's forgivable due to the nature of the games themselves. Dragon Age doesn't have the exploration angle to fall back on.
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Feb 5, 2014 16:55
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Blue Raider posted:Elder Scrolls games, especially Oblivion, are bad about that, but it's forgivable due to the nature of the games themselves. Dragon Age doesn't have the exploration angle to fall back on. The silly thing about DA:O's implementation of level-scaling was that each area had a minimum and maximum level the enemies could scale to. And despite the game letting the player decide wether they wanted to tackle the mages, dwarves or whatever first, with how those minimum and maximum levels were set there was a specific order you were intended to do all the areas in The game tried to communicate this via gating encounters. But some people didn't really get that, which resulted in a lot of complaining that the game was too hard when people went - for example - to Orzammar first and found that the difficulty curve had suddenly transformed into a brick wall they slammed head-first into. Raygereio fucked around with this message at 21:32 on Feb 5, 2014 |
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Feb 5, 2014 18:17
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Raygereio posted:Oblivion made level-scaling a dirty word on the Internet. But the concept isn't inherently bad. DA:O let you do the second act missions where you gather allies in any order. So you could for example do the Mage's Tower thing first at level 5, or last when you're level 15. When a developers has no real way of knowing how powerful the player is going to be, they need some method (such as level-scaling) to adjust the difficulty of an area on the fly. But level-scaling is always a lovely mechanic used to cover up developer laziness. Why are they including RPG mechanics in the first place if your character never doesn't become stronger by using them? (Answer: it's a cheap, easy to implement Skinner box) Setting minimums/maximums on the levels makes no sense from a gameplay or narrative perspective and is just a way of dismissing legitimate criticisms of the practice. The issue is that fixed-level design requires more effort from the developer, as you have to make a combat engine engaging enough that old enemies are never trivialized (or accept that the player will eventually be a god and make being a god fun) and set up cues to telegraph the difficulty to the player (for example, enemy appearance, location, and lore should reflect their strengths/weaknesses and overall difficulty so you know when you're outmatched and will need to run or fight smart). For example, Skyrim blew its load with the first dragon fight which informed you that as lovely as it was it was just going to go downhill from there and while Mass Effect was a decent Star Trek/Star Control corridor shooter you'd never know it was supposed to be an RPG. On the other hand, it is possible to include scaling as long as it's not simple +stats. For example, you could add spawns such that "out of depth" monsters appear in thematically appropriate locations to keep the player on their toes. In an RPG, there must always be moments where the player feels that they have grown in avatar strength/player skill or that they're in over their heads. Good scaling must be so subtle that you'd only find out about it by completing multiple playthroughs or consulting a guide, and must never be the primary method of setting encounter difficulty.
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Feb 6, 2014 01:38
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I don't know if there's a better place to ask this, but does anyone happen to have a high resolution picture/vector of the Hawke family crest? A friend of mine wants it for a crafty project and Goons are much more resourceful than I. Googling's turned up nothing.
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Feb 12, 2014 19:38
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