*SPOILERS* Dragon Age 2 Discussion

[Ailia]

For everyone complaining about Orsino turning to blood magic coming out of left field, you're missing a pair of subtle details.

Quentin, the white lily killer, has a note marveling at his 'research' and it's simply signed - O. Orsino also mentions something to the effect of "Quentin was right" before he changes. This points to at least some passing interest in blood magic.

I imagine this was done to write both Orsino and Meredith out of the situation, further destabilizing the situation and simply to remove them both from the story for the next iteration. I also saw this as a further means to muddy your decision. Meredith wants to kill every mage, which in this play through included my sister, but Orsino could have put a stop to the murders and you mother would never have gotten killed.

yes i notice that, a bit late actually. when orsino said something about quentin before he used blood magic i didn't put much into that until about 5 minutes into battle when i realized that he played a part in my mother death, i was so shocked about that i didn't even notice half my party was dead .

Wh-wh... I hadn't noticed this. Oh my. I'd noticed Orsino's research comment but it didn't click. I... huh. Bastard.

I just back to the Fade quest (saving Feynriel)... is there no good way for this thing to end? No matter who I bring in there everything seems to go wrong. (Fenris royally pissed me off; he one-shotted Anders who was standing right behind him and then Scythed me before I realised he was trying to kill me.... and then went on to blame me for bringing him to the Fade in the first place.)

 

[bootz]

I've played through it as a mage. The city and caves that had the same layout got boring after mid act 2. I told a couple of my friends that I think Orgrimmar in Wow was bigger than Kirkwall. I missed Fenric because I skipped one quest. Some items required a lot of willpower to use.

When Alistair arrived I thought to myself how I miss killing darkspawn. The repeative nature of the game was voiced by my sarcastic mage "OH no not again". I ended up married to merril even when she was a full rival to me. Those are my gripes.

I will play through again probably. I love the new combat it felt more fluid. I love the saractic dialogue trees. They were really funny and I wasn't expecting that. I liked the overall story it wasn't perfect but still good. The characters were awesome. I really liked Isabella and the fact you can change her by your actions. "I like big boats and I cannot lie"

 

[Ailia]

When Alistair arrived I thought to myself how I miss killing darkspawn. The repeative nature of the game was voiced by my sarcastic mage "OH no not again". I ended up married to merril even when she was a full rival to me. Those are my gripes.

The Rivalry doesn't men they hate you - it just means that they respect you while not liking your decisions. The rival-mances are a lot more intersting than the friend-mances in my opinion.

 

[[Gavo]]

I liked it, it definitely lacked the epic scale of the original game (defeating a great evil, being able to go to more than 3 areas) was nice, but this one had its own charm.

The story is well-written, although they go for the BLOOD MAGES ARE EVIL HURRR card way too often.

As a side note, I romanced both Merrill and Isabella, but completed the romance with Merrill in the end, but in the epilogue, when Varric is talking about who stayed with the Champion, he said both Merrill and Isabella. Did anyone else get this?

 

[Ailia]

]As a side note, I romanced both Merrill and Isabella, but completed the romance with Merrill in the end, but in the epilogue, when Varric is talking about who stayed with the Champion, he said both Merrill and Isabella. Did anyone else get this?

Haha I slept with Isabela once but romanced Anders and Varric said that Isabela stayed with me (despite, y'know, promising Anders I'd stay with him). Don't know if it was a bug or on purpose but that kind of ruined my endgame.

 

[tstilwell]

The game itself was good (the mechanics, the combat, the dialogue system, the equipment) but I have to be honest that I was really disappointed in the story. This is a Bioware game! This company has been legendary for producing games with some technical flaws but, but despite of that, blow your doors off with an incredibly engaging story. I just did not feel it with this title. There was no gravitas. There was no heroic moment like you see in the Mass Effect series or the original KOTOR. There really was no overriding plot device to channel our efforts against. Yes, the theme ultimately was the conflict between the Chantry, the Templars, and the Circle of Magi; but I had difficulty figuring that out until close to the end. Hints of the conflict were there, yes, but hints on the conflict were in Dragon Age: Origins too and it did not play a huge plot point.

I play Bioware games (ironically, my favorite game company) to be engaged in an award-winning story. To feel the emotional connection to the characters, the world, and the situation that the characters face. I am sorry, but in this case, Bioware really let me down.

 

[Etherlad]

I just back to the Fade quest (saving Feynriel)... is there no good way for this thing to end? No matter who I bring in there everything seems to go wrong. (Fenris royally pissed me off; he one-shotted Anders who was standing right behind him and then Scythed me before I realised he was trying to kill me.... and then went on to blame me for bringing him to the Fade in the first place.)

The people i took with me where Anders (because i figured a guy possesed by a ghost could be helpfull), Merrill (same reason) and Fenris (because he's kinda magic). The only person who betrayed me was Merrill though, although she just left and didn't attack me.
Then i told Feynriel to go to the Dalish and ask for help and way, waaaaay later he send me a letter that he went for Tevinter and is apparently pretty happy now because the Mages there are experienced enough to help a Dreamer deal with his powers so all is well.

I guess it depends on scale of Friendship/Rivalry if your party leaves/betrays you in the Fade or not.

 

[Yossarian1507]

Also, I'm curious - what will happen if you won't help Anders with his final request? Can you take the third option in that case?

 

[darth.pixie]

I just back to the Fade quest (saving Feynriel)... is there no good way for this thing to end? No matter who I bring in there everything seems to go wrong. (Fenris royally pissed me off; he one-shotted Anders who was standing right behind him and then Scythed me before I realised he was trying to kill me.... and then went on to blame me for bringing him to the Fade in the first place.)

The people i took with me where Anders (because i figured a guy possesed by a ghost could be helpfull), Merrill (same reason) and Fenris (because he's kinda magic). The only person who betrayed me was Merrill though, although she just left and didn't attack me.
Then i told Feynriel to go to the Dalish and ask for help and way, waaaaay later he send me a letter that he went for Tevinter and is apparently pretty happy now because the Mages there are experienced enough to help a Dreamer deal with his powers so all is well.

I guess it depends on scale of Friendship/Rivalry if your party leaves/betrays you in the Fade or not.

They all betray you one way or another except Anders.

Also, I'm curious - what will happen if you won't help Anders with his final request? Can you take the third option in that case?

Spoiler

If you won't help he still blows it up.

 

[Yossarian1507]

Also, I'm curious - what will happen if you won't help Anders with his final request? Can you take the third option in that case?

Spoiler

If you won't help he still blows it up.

Spoiler

Well in this case - it sucks. I am disappoint.

 

[VulakAerr]

Also, I'm curious - what will happen if you won't help Anders with his final request? Can you take the third option in that case?

If you don't help him, he leaves and is unavailable again as a companion. I'm assuming he manages to find a way to live out his Guy Fawkes fantasies without your help in that case.

 

[Heartcafe]

Anders - Fuck you, Fuck you, Fuck you.I actually felt betrayed because he was awesome in awakening but in this he's just a whiny ***** who fucked me over.

I was looking forward to funny Anders banter like they had in awakening BUT WITH EVERY ACT he got bitcher and bitcher. For a moment I thought he was Fenris's long lost brother (ironically.) I miss DA:O's character quirks. Sten liked cookies, Shale hated pigeons, Zevran had an love of Antivan boots. Led to some really funny dialogue.

I think that's why I like DA:O a bit better. These 'faults' and 'quirks' made the characters seem more human and relatable. Maybe that's just me.

 

[Etherlad]

They all betray you one way or another except Anders.

In my case Fenris didn't betray me, only Merrill.

But I never used Aveline or Fenris because I didn't find them very interesting.

Seriously? Aveline is probably the most "real", fleshed out character in the whole game, unlike the oversexed (Isabella) or outright retarded (Merrill) females in the game.
Her advancement throughout the story of the game, unlike the other characters who apparently don't change at all and have no personal agenda over the years makes me believe she either was the first character designed for the game and the others were just rushed in or the guy writing her (the same guy who wrote Garrus for Mass Effect btw) is a genius who really cares for his characters.

 

[Vetala]

For everyone complaining about Orsino turning to blood magic coming out of left field, you're missing a pair of subtle details.

Quentin, the white lily killer, has a note marveling at his 'research' and it's simply signed - O. Orsino also mentions something to the effect of "Quentin was right" before he changes. This points to at least some passing interest in blood magic.

I imagine this was done to write both Orsino and Meredith out of the situation, further destabilizing the situation and simply to remove them both from the story for the next iteration. I also saw this as a further means to muddy your decision. Meredith wants to kill every mage, which in this play through included my sister, but Orsino could have put a stop to the murders and you mother would never have gotten killed.

yes i notice that, a bit late actually. when orsino said something about quentin before he used blood magic i didn't put much into that until about 5 minutes into battle when i realized that he played a part in my mother death, i was so shocked about that i didn't even notice half my party was dead .

Wh-wh... I hadn't noticed this. Oh my. I'd noticed Orsino's research comment but it didn't click. I... huh. Bastard.

me too, i didn't put much on the notes. i should've known that no other mages name begins with O

oh on the other hand the biggest twist in the game was

Spoiler

SERENDIPITY!!

 

[Watson767]

The things that bug me about the game are the lack of a Flemeth/Morrigan confrontation, which i was REALLY looking forward to, and the lack of 'demon hawkey-ness' that was shown in the trailer where he tore the Arishok apart .

Also does noone else get this very annoying bug, where no matter what you interact with itll open a dialog with a party member, leaving you unable to attack, loot or even open doors? This happend a few times to me leaving me stuck in a small room unable to use the door to escape, and again during the High Dragon fight.. not cool

 

[darth.pixie]

They all betray you one way or another except Anders.

In my case Fenris didn't betray me, only Merrill.

She takes precedent in that. It's only one per dream, I think. I experimented with almost all of them.

 

[Shycte]

The things that bug me about the game are the lack of a Flemeth/Morrigan confrontation, which i was REALLY looking forward to, and the lack of 'demon hawkey-ness' that was shown in the trailer where he tore the Arishok apart .

Also does noone else get this very annoying bug, where no matter what you interact with itll open a dialog with a party member, leaving you unable to attack, loot or even open doors? This happend a few times to me leaving me stuck in a small room unable to use the door to escape, and again during the High Dragon fight.. not cool

Yeah that shit happends to me to. I pause and un-pause the game and it's gone. Until it happends again.

 

[Dragonborne88]

Wh-wh... I hadn't noticed this. Oh my. I'd noticed Orsino's research comment but it didn't click. I... huh. Bastard.

I just back to the Fade quest (saving Feynriel)... is there no good way for this thing to end? No matter who I bring in there everything seems to go wrong. (Fenris royally pissed me off; he one-shotted Anders who was standing right behind him and then Scythed me before I realised he was trying to kill me.... and then went on to blame me for bringing him to the Fade in the first place.)

Yeah, it ended on a pretty good note for me. Merill turned on me during the Pride demon part, but I beat her back to the waking world and she apologized later. Everybody else stayed with me, and I convinced the guy to study his powers and he left for the Imperium to learn how to control it. He sent me a letter saying he is doing much better.