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Want to add a section with descriptions or link to specializations?
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Nov 15, 2014 13:56
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AnimeJune posted:EXACTLY! And if abominations were so freaking common and happened all the time, Tevinter would be a smoking crater in the ground by now, don't you think? Unfortunately, Gaider knew the Templars automatically come off as morally worse, so he overcompensated by making nearly every mage a timebomb so people wouldn't immediately reject them. Even he admitted he went too far and ended up making everyone assholes instead of morally complex. Just to make things worse, EA demanded another boss, so Orsino had blood magic tacked onto him at the last minute instead of a personality.
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Nov 16, 2014 03:47
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A. Beaverhausen posted:You can't really make a religious organization that endorses forced captivity and enslavement as morally grey, much less the good side. You could make them sympathetic as a necessary evil trying to make the best of a bad situation while genuinely caring about everyone, but that was beyond DAII.
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Nov 16, 2014 03:52
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Roobanguy posted:thats how it was in da:o so its weird how they made everyone super evil all the time in da2 Because of a terribly misguided attempt to make Templars more sympathetic than people forced into slavery by an accident of birth. That and executive mandates for extra bosses overriding any story logic.
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Nov 16, 2014 04:02
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Josef bugman posted:When you approach it like that I suppose she has a lot of good points, but the book doesn't bear that out as much because the Templars are trying to dick things over anyway. Agreed. Vivienne has some good points, mostly relating to how noble rebellion so often becomes pointlessly violent and that the mages have no real shot at fighting off all of Thedas with their small numbers, but the privileged life and connections makes her whole "perspective" speech hypocritical. Especially the way she glosses over every detail that doesn't paint he political opponents in a negative light. She really is a fantasy Republican.
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Nov 16, 2014 14:59
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Drifter posted:Waot, the qunari who DON'T have horns are supposed to be the 'higher class' qunari? I imagine that they're useful because non-qunari are less likely to freak out about the big gray guy than a big gray guy with obviously non-human horns. Cythereal posted:Also, Gaider's explanation for the existence of ogres when qunari are recent arrivals to Thedas is much, much dumber than the explanation you were probably thinking: that the darkspawn just grabbed a qunari woman, since it only takes one broodmother to create an army. Qunari are "recent" as in, they showed up in force about 300 years ago.
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Nov 17, 2014 00:16
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Bogwitt posted:Didn't see this mentioned but RPS's review is up. So the game actually is good under its own merits. Perfect. Bioware really needs a winner after the last three years.
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Nov 17, 2014 15:58
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So I just did that dumb little "watch our trailers" game. Will the weapons just be sent straight to my game now?
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Nov 17, 2014 23:30
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SNAKES N CAKES posted:Holy returning fan favourite! Alistair never get anything but awkward family reunions, does he?
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Nov 18, 2014 01:10
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Jackie D posted:Is there a mass effect vanguard equivalent, and if so what is it Not really, but Knight Enchanter is in the same vein of "warrior Mage".
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Nov 18, 2014 02:30
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Nukelear v.2 posted:Eh, I'm really disliking the barrier mechanic, making it a targeted aoe is annoying. You probably get one cast on everyone before the fight starts but then after that you need to pick ranged or melee, people moving out of it, have to shuffle ranged into melee, etc. Also I swear occasionally enemies in the aoe are getting my barrier too. Yeah, the Barrier mechanic could use some improvements. It's useful now, but not as good as it could be considering how vital it is. Anyway, I'm just now getting to the first Chantry meeting in Not-France after spending way too much time dicking around in the Hinterlands. When can I start getting new recruits? I'm playing a mage and that leaves three ranged fighters with Cassandra dedicated to getting punched in the face for them (which she does do admirably, but back up would be appreciated).
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Nov 18, 2014 19:01
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Dorkopotamis posted:In the similarly tacked on multiplayer feature of Mass Effect 3 there were incentives/impacts for the single player. Is this the same with Dragon Age? From what I understand, no. The two modes have no real impact on each other. Your multiplayer character will show up in the background of the main game if "promoted", but that's all they'll do. On another note, where do I find my DLC gear and the weapons from that trailer game? Do they only show up when Skyhold opens?
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Nov 18, 2014 19:19
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WMain00 posted:Yeah I rolled a 2 handed qunari and i'm not sure if i'm enjoying it. I mean...cool armour and everything, but it doesn't feel fun. How so? There are only three warriors just like there are of three mages and three rogues. Starting off as a mage, I've found, gets a little tough since only one of the three party members is melee while the others are all relatively squishy even with barriers. From the little time I've spent taking control of Cassandra and Varric, the three main classes all seem pretty fun. Even warrior, the usual boring punching bag, has some fun tricks. That said, I'm still pretty early on since I had to restart to get the game to recognize my Keep background instead of just the default. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 20:25 on Nov 19, 2014 |
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Nov 19, 2014 20:23
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Hiro Protagonist posted:So is the PS3 version okay, or was it a lovely port? I haven't seen anything about it, only the next-gen versions of the game. If it's like what I've heard of the 360 version, it's uglier and slower to load, but okay enough. Not that I could tell you first hand, being PS4 and all.
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Nov 19, 2014 20:27
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KoB posted:I asked Varric about Orsino flipping out in DA2 and hes just like "I dont know, mages are weird." I can only hope for something similar if they really do make a Mass Effect game that follows the other three. "Grandpa, did you go off your meds for that last part?"
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Nov 19, 2014 20:49
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Tokubetsu posted:The previous two games made it really easy to sympathize with the mages but I just chose the mages over templars in this one and holy poo poo are they just colossal idiots and gently caress ups in this. Basically children with fire that cannot be left alone at all. The mages were screw ups who picked a terrible, overly convenient option from a transparently evil manipulator (though given how many civilian mage children and harmless scholars they're supposed to protecting, it's kind of understandable why they'd take big risks for powerful allies), but I'd still rather have their mission done than let the time warping villain go unchecked. Unless the main templar villain is risking the fabric of reality before his boss even shows up, then it's a lesser priority. Besides, we've seen what kind of stupidity the mages get to when desperate. Better to let them have some security than let them continue to be desperate (read: stupid). That said, I'd gladly do both missions, if only because people in camp have personal connections to templars.
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Nov 21, 2014 22:56
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UberJumper posted:Can anyone tell me how do people find 2 handed warriors, and rogues? You can turn Cassandra into a two handed warrior, if you want. Any companion can use either of the weapons for their class, though Varric can only use Bianca instead of regular bows. As for other party members, you get their quests after your first big meeting with the Chantry in Orlais.
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Nov 21, 2014 22:59
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Rookersh posted:They retconned Tranquiling. Now you are the same exact person you were, and still have all your normal thoughts/opinions, you just don't feel powerful emotions/can't cast Magic. But you can still feel emotions ( just not powerful ones ), and it wears off after a few years, during which time the Templars apparently try to encourage them to be better people/not crazy. While that does paint the Templars/Chantry in a better light, it goes back on a lot of the story and is pretty blatantly ignoring one of the biggest reasons for the rebellion. Not to mention many scenes they've had in the games and books. I hope that isn't what they're going with from here on in. Lotish posted:I wonder if that ties in with one of the books. I remember someone saying one of the books went into the idea of making tranquility less harsh, or reversing it. Perhaps they have a new method? The book brought up the potential for curing the condition, specifically stating that even the Chantry barely understands what it does and that it's usually permanent. Which only makes this potential retcon even dumber.
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Nov 21, 2014 23:09
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SgtSteel91 posted:The Mage Quest sounds so much more interesting than the Templar Quest because it has time travel shenanigans. It also has horribly disfigured, embittered Leliana and access to Dorian.
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Nov 21, 2014 23:22
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Rookersh posted:From one of the Templars. They mention it only lasts a short time ( still months/years, but not forever ), and they used to use that time to teach the Mages how to better protect themselves from demons, so when they stop being Tranquil they'll be able to rejoin society. I refuse to believe that because it takes away from pretty much all the weight it ever had. It makes no sense given what we've heard and seen and is just a blatantly stupid retcon if they say so. Where exactly did this come up?
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Nov 21, 2014 23:54
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Basically, the greatest hero for this series will be Thedas Martin Luther.
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Nov 22, 2014 00:25
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How do you re-spec your points here? I've heard it was possible, but don't know where to go. I'm still in Skyhold now.
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Nov 22, 2014 18:51
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Ballz posted:Sigh... started all over, created a new character, played the Intro again... and it's still ignoring my Keep decisions. The default decisions are so far off what I want, there's no way I can ignore it. I had the same problems. Did you save your Keep in a file called World State #? If you don't, it'll read "Default" as the actual default choices. It took me until hours into the playthrough where Leliana referred to the Warden as a dead Dalish elf that I realized what happened.
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Nov 22, 2014 20:27
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Dolash posted:Not done yet, but I wanted to mention that I'm weirdly impressed with how the Mage/Templar situation was handled in Act 1. After the frustrating "everyone's an rear end in a top hat" approach they took in DA2, they managed to make both sides seem pretty reasonable but with their own issues. Having Corypheus trying to subvert both sides and you effectively picking which one to save is a better way to present the choices than picking one based on an awkward, ginned-up conflict. Yeah, I liked that detail too. Sure, both sides are still being corrupted at least partially by evil magic, but it's a lot easier to swallow when it's based on the deliberate actions of a single villain. Having one figure to blame for twisting both sides, along with giving them actual reasons to consider unusually extreme actions like the Breach's destructive appearance, makes it all more understandable. It makes you see the two factions as victims of a corrupt force rather than just all being completely unreasonable just to drum up false conflict. Seeing the twisted monstrosities the fallen get turned into to serve only help sell it. Of course they still had to let enormous groups of lunatics run around for the obligatory fights, but they minimized the impact by making both renegade splinter factions that the official groups want nothing to do with. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 06:01 on Nov 23, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 05:58
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GreenBuckanneer posted::| Hopefully, a future DLC will allow you some easier method to gain Inquisition perks. As of now, it never seems like you have quite enough.
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Nov 23, 2014 06:02
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A BIG loving BLUNT posted:I'm getting sick of these battles quickly devolving into potion chugging contents. Why is there no other way to heal in this game? There is one for Knight Enchanters, but that takes Focus, a resource that only grows over battles instead of regenerating. Instead of healing, you should depend on both barriers and guards. It's rough at the start, but a few ability points can make you all extremely tough, even dangling on the edge of death. After leveling up Knight Enchanter, enemies can barely scratch my Inquisitor. Honestly, I'm not sure giving us a lot of heal spells would help that much given how fast enemies can whittle you down. As it is now, avoiding damage at all is more important than healing it. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 17:05 on Nov 23, 2014 |
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Nov 23, 2014 17:02
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I'm trying to do Vivenne's quest and, in a separate area, the "Call me Ishmael" quests and am just hopelessly lost. Are there any maps because I just can't figure out how to get to their markers past these huge rock walls.
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Nov 25, 2014 05:50
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Haroshia posted:I went Templar route. Major spoiler. The only thing the Templars did wrong was follow orders. An Envy demon was impersonating the Lord Seeker, and ordered everybody to start eating Red Lyrium. Keep in mind it wasn't particularly uncommon for the Templars to be given experimental Lyrium by their COs since they have to take it for their anti-magic powers. A lot of them did it because in the short term it gave them superpowers and because their commanders were making them. Even faced with execution for treason many of the Templars refused. The mages made a stupid alliance with a Tevinter magister for protection after the Breach disaster, basically letting him take over Redcliffe, but they were tricked into it by his time-manipulating schtick and the fact that nearly everyone did blame them for the disaster. There weren't any blood rituals or possessions, just one magister being a massive jerk (for the moment), so they didn't do worse than make a panicked decision to keep lynch mobs at bay. Given how many non-combatants the mages have to shelter (i.e. every scholar or child that just happened to be born with power), it's understandable why they'd feel extra pressured. The templars may have been just following orders, but they still followed their commanders into full on treason despite being fully able to just put down their swords and walk away or join a their loyal comrades. As far as I'm concerned, both sides screwed up understandably this time before being subverted by their common enemy. Besides, no matter how the games try to present it, templars and mages aren't at all close to equivalent. Mages are born while templars can still choose their lot. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 17:39
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Haroshia posted:That first sentence is why I have no sympathy with the mages. They signed on the dotted line with a loving TEVINTER MAGISTER. As in enemy of the loving state, part of a nation that once tried to take over the world with magic and still wants to, pants shittingly evil bastard. There was no trickery here. They got desperate and did what mages do which is accept any power they can get without even thinking of the loving consequences. Again, the Divine just exploded in a massive ball of magic. Just about everyone was ready to point the finger at them for the crime because it was magical. They need some ally to keep lynch mobs at bay and this magister was offering to take in their many noncombatants at their lowest point. It was a terrible deal, which Fiona herself admits, but their options were pretty limited and the magister, magically, appeared at just the right moment. Despite it all, nothing worse than the magister being a jerk happened by the time you intervene. They definitely need a lot of regulation, but it wasn't like accepting a deal with a demon. Haroshia posted:Because the one manipulating the Templars was literally wearing the skin of their commander and ordering them to behave in a way that wasn't particularly uncommon. You can't seriously say there isn't a difference between following orders by a person you think is your commanding officer and actively going out of your way to sign a deal with an evil mage from a nation of evil mages. So the Templars were so bad at their jobs that they failed to realize their commander was possessed or that their ranks were slowly being devoured by evil crystals? That's better than signing onto a bad deal without actually doing anything wrong beyond that? Geostomp fucked around with this message at 17:51 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 17:48
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Spikeguy posted:I also like the idea that is presented by some groups in the game, that the Dragon Age 2 situation is a little different because they were all loving crazy and gently caress Kirkwall. A lot of mages say something to the extent that they were dragged into this because of what happened there and while they wanted change they didn't want a war. Some of the Templars seem to agree with the sentiment, but they seem less defensible since they could have easily broken off from the group and joined the same faction as Cullen and Cassandra. One thing I liked is how much this game dumps on DAII's stupidity, acknowledging how crazy Kirkwall is in general and how ineffective Hawke's efforts turned out.
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Nov 25, 2014 17:56
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Spikeguy posted:What the gently caress did Hawke really accomplish? He killed a lot of people and made a lot of money. But for the overall greater good of the continent? Not much. Which is exactly the the what the Nightmare demon in the Fade portion of Act II taunts him/her with. Hawke knows that despite everything, s/he was a failure as a hero, not even managing to save their family, and nothing s/he did mattered at all in the end.
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Nov 25, 2014 18:03
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Levantine posted:Cassandra's reaction to (Skyhold spoilers) Varric having hidden Hawke made me laugh out loud. This whole time she keeps saying that she'll kill him if he had been lying to her all this time and sure enough when you show up she's flipping tables to get at him and kick his rear end. Yeah, that's great. It also showed how sly Varric was. Even after being kidnapped and interrogated at sword-point, he managed to not only keep his head, but manipulate her into listening to the real story and gaining an audience with the Divine without ever revealing where Hawke went. He even held it together while Cass was practically foaming at the mouth to kill him for it, basically saying "You kidnapped me, did you expect me to give up my best friend for you?" That dwarf's got balls. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 18:16 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 18:14
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Spikeguy posted:I loved that bit. Hawke knows all she's good for is being a murder-machine. If you want to complete the Hawke tragedy you should make her romance Anders and kill him. Total fail. It was almost as good as Loghain hearing the demon taunt him for ruining everything he touches and shrugging it off. "That all you got? That's nothing I haven't told myself every day." 
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Nov 25, 2014 18:22
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Rookersh posted:No. By your logic, all those crazy templars slaughtering anything that moves with the excuse of having seen a mage at some point should reflect just as badly on them. Fiona did fail to lead the mages as one monolithic group, but that's understandable because they never were one big monolithic group. Even back in the Circles there were political parties, each with a different idea on what to do. After everything fell apart, this loose congolmeration of everyone that just happened to be born with magic were all labeled fugitives and left little option but rebellion or just hoping that the Chantry would take them back. Naturally, that basically splintered apart since there was little binding them together beyond magic. Some tried going back, some fled, some tried to stick together under the only major leaders left (like Fiona's group), and the assholes decided to play evil sorcerer because they could. Just like the rabid Templars went out terrorizing the countryside under the pretense of hunting for apostates. After the Divine was killed, the people already sick of the mage/templar fighting, would naturally blame those magic freaks for the blast. Fionna had little options for protecting her mostly noncombatant force (including many scholars and children) until this one Tevinter magister showed up at just the right time and offered her a lopsided deal that would at least offer protection for those who can't fight. Fiona herself was forced to play servant to the magister to keep the deal. I see that as desperate and stupid, but far from evil. Said magister had access to time travel spells, which were supposed to be impossible, meaning that he had all the time in the world to practice his sales pitch until he found the one that the mages would accept. He would then, presumably, get started on his blood magic to brainwash any unwilling mages into his Venatori force to hand to his master, just like how the Templars would be corrupted by their higher ups. I have no idea where you're getting your views, but you had to ignore a lot to miss this. Just like your extremely inaccurate tranquility write up. Harrow posted:
Plus their own leader willingly sold them out the Corypheus because he saw his organization's dark secret on tranquility and decided the only way to make it right was to remake the entire world. He didn't have the excuse of possession or red lyrium, it was all their own doing for joining a crazy cult. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 20:07 on Nov 25, 2014 |
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Nov 25, 2014 19:57
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10 Beers posted:Am I the only one just getting my poo poo wrecked by enemies? There are a few rifts in the Hinterlands, one in the river with ice demons, and one near a mountain wall with a fire demon, and I just get obliterated each time I try. And there are 2 beacons in Fallow Mire that spawn a poo poo tone of lobs that I have no hope of defeating. Do I just need to level up and come back? Speaking of leveling up, does it seem slow to anyone else? I'm almost 6 hours in, and I'm only level 6. I don't remember other RPGS taking this long at early levels. Some of those rifts send out enemies closer to level 10 or so in the Hinterlands. Stay away until you've leveled up some more and gotten your specialization unlocked.
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Nov 25, 2014 20:04
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Rincewind posted:I like Cole but I never put him in my party since I couldn't bring myself to force that poor gentle soul to go out and stab people with knives. Juvenalian.Satyr posted:Oh but you see, he's helping them. In Asunder, stabbing miserable people was his main idea of "helping". It took several people telling him otherwise to get him to figure out other options. Cole's severely screwed up for a confused Compassion spirit and has the mentality of a maladjusted preschooler.
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Nov 25, 2014 21:50
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Cythereal posted:Just chatted with Varric after Hawke's death, and now I'm considering going back and playing that fight yet again and letting Stroud die instead. I'm not sure I've ever felt this conflicted about two linked choices in a Bioware game before. Do it. Stroud is the definition of filler character. Unless he dumped a load of backstory in those few missions, I'd have no problem sending him to be spider-demon chow. Personally, I think Loghain making the sacrifice felt the most "correct" of all the choices. It just suits his character arc the best. Not to mention that he has great dialogue in that whole section. Geostomp fucked around with this message at 19:30 on Nov 27, 2014 |
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Nov 26, 2014 01:43
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Drifter posted:NO If they were double the speed, they'd be great. As of now, it's hardly better than just walking everywhere like normal.
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Nov 26, 2014 19:24
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Harrow posted:Yeah, that made a lot of sense. She seemed pretty even-handed about it, too, like: yeah, she can see why some mages might want independence, but was that really the time? If you make your move then, it comes off as opportunist at best, and as condoning (or even being involved in) a terrorist act at worst. Mages' situation got notably worse after the rebellion started and their timing and manner of rebellion earned them very, very few allies and a whole host of enemies. It was just dumb as hell. Which is why they basically needed a Not-Anders and a Not-Meredith pulling equally terrible stunts at the first attempts at negotiation without the excuse of mind manipulation to push them into finally (narrowly) voting themselves into rebellion. Every time rationality is about to win, convenient extremists take over. The mages seriously need better leadership.
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Nov 26, 2014 23:17
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Shugojin posted:Also, having beaten the game, I am still really bothered by Josephine's weird clipboard thing. That thing must spill lots of hot wax everywhere all the time. Glad somebody besides me noticed. That thing just looks like a fire hazard.
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Nov 27, 2014 02:03
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