Junior Adventurer's Guild - November: Dragon Age: Origins

[J1M]

I think the Fade is alright on the first playthrough, but it's very boring on any subsequent ones.
I never read any journo reviews for this game and yet I still came to the same conclusion. Some things are just true.

The people I'm referencing played the game on average less than once.

Sections of the game that force you out of the established gameplay loop (WhiteShark, hi!) into some other completely irrelevant to the overall game gameplay loop always leave a bad impression. Any forced stealth mission in a shooter game is a good example of that.
The Fade takes you out of the party-based combat experience into a solo adventure with backtracking and puzzles. You can argue that it fits the themes of the game and perfectly encapsulates being in the Fade as much as you want, but that doesn't change the fact that the Fade section is annoying at the very least to the majority of the players.
Now, whether it should be removed or should any game consist entirely of purely fun sections without any downtime in-between are completely different arguments. I'm of the opinion that the Fade section should be experienced at least once and to its fullest. You have to explore it and get all the codex entries and all the attribute bonuses, but after that it can be safely skipped. There's no replayability there and thus it's an overall detriment to the game.
The Deep Roads, on the other hand, are proper dungeons. They give you the opportunity to enjoy the party-based combat fully. I also think the pacing is much better than with the Fade.

I'd argue that the game should introduce more sections with party size variety, such as sections where you can only bring one companion and sections where you can bring the whole party. Some quests with mandatory companions. This would make the fade feel different since it is solo, but not as jarring.

[logincrash]

Finished the Brecilian Forest. Also quite grimdark. The game didn't shy away from torture, gangrape, and suicide.
Doing the Brecilian Forest after the Deep Roads was quite an interesting experience. It felt like a cake walk, frankly. The big bad dragon fight that had a theatrical build up ended in under a minute because my party (Rogue me, Oghren, Zevran, Morrigan) sliced it into ribbons as it was paralyzed, first from Morrigan's spell and then from my Grandmaster Paralyze rune.
@Kalarion, the 6 Grandmaster Paralyze runes idea is crazy OP on a Rogue.

[Oyster Sauce]

The Brazilian Forest

[TKVNC]

I think the Fade is alright on the first playthrough, but it's very boring on any subsequent ones.
I never read any journo reviews for this game and yet I still came to the same conclusion. Some things are just true.

The people I'm referencing played the game on average less than once.

Sections of the game that force you out of the established gameplay loop (WhiteShark, hi!) into some other completely irrelevant to the overall game gameplay loop always leave a bad impression. Any forced stealth mission in a shooter game is a good example of that.
The Fade takes you out of the party-based combat experience into a solo adventure with backtracking and puzzles. You can argue that it fits the themes of the game and perfectly encapsulates being in the Fade as much as you want, but that doesn't change the fact that the Fade section is annoying at the very least to the majority of the players.
Now, whether it should be removed or should any game consist entirely of purely fun sections without any downtime in-between are completely different arguments. I'm of the opinion that the Fade section should be experienced at least once and to its fullest. You have to explore it and get all the codex entries and all the attribute bonuses, but after that it can be safely skipped. There's no replayability there and thus it's an overall detriment to the game.
The Deep Roads, on the other hand, are proper dungeons. They give you the opportunity to enjoy the party-based combat fully. I also think the pacing is much better than with the Fade.

My only issue with the Fade is how you end up there. The Sloth Demon should not have been able to put you into the Fade without a fight. Even if the fight was an automatic loss, such that his abilities were grotesquely overpowered, it would still feel better ending up in the Fade after losing (although, even in fights like this, mobs should NEVER be 'unbeatable' it should reward competence with another hidden option).

I feel like if you were able to say, defeat the Sloth Demon in the Tower, you can progress, but there might be a barrier before Uldred that requires you to enter the Fade to remove, perhaps the Templars could have assisted with this.

[ThulsaDoomer]

Also, I've been rethinking the companions. I see now what somebody in this thread meant when he said that Alistair feels out of place with his speech. He doesn't spew modernisms, but neither is he written to speak in more formal English, like the rest of the characters. Even Zevran and Oghren have a more sophisticated way of speaking and they're mostly jokey characters.
And Wynne has been getting on my nerves a lot more than I thought would be possible. It's clear that she's written as what a midwit imagines a wise character to be. And so all of her lecturing comes across as a "I know I'm better than you" idiot lecturing you on extremely obvious stuff.

Alistair does come across as childish often, which was the point, but I agree it goes a bit too far. I enjoy his general progression and circumstances, and when he does act more serious or thoughtful it is a great moment, but otherwise he's a bit too informal given he has received a better education than the majority in Ferelden. I'm always 50/50 on him. Hardened Alistair is a much better character, but sadly he doesn't stay that way for every interaction even after you do it.

Wynne, at least for me, is not a wise character. I don't know if she was intentionally written that way, but she tends to lecture and moralise more than she actually mentors. Kind of similar to that current academic trite where people tell you things based on their "lived experience". That's Wynne. She believes her time stuck in a tower and making mistakes and "kind of" learning from them has made her wise to the world. In reality, she knows very little, and appears to only really accept her own consequences when you resolve her quest and see her again in Awakening. She was never my favourite companion, very lukewarm, but **** did I need a dedicated healer sometimes.

This is why Sten remains the GOAT.

[rusty_shackleford]

I wonder if the hatred for the deep roads, which I never saw anyone espouse until years after release, is due to the content in there combined with it being more of a traditional dungeon delve. Later dragon age games attracted a separate fanbase, the developers included.

[TKVNC]

Also, I've been rethinking the companions. I see now what somebody in this thread meant when he said that Alistair feels out of place with his speech. He doesn't spew modernisms, but neither is he written to speak in more formal English, like the rest of the characters. Even Zevran and Oghren have a more sophisticated way of speaking and they're mostly jokey characters.
And Wynne has been getting on my nerves a lot more than I thought would be possible. It's clear that she's written as what a midwit imagines a wise character to be. And so all of her lecturing comes across as a "I know I'm better than you" idiot lecturing you on extremely obvious stuff.

Alistair does come across as childish often, which was the point, but I agree it goes a bit too far. I enjoy his general progression and circumstances, and when he does act more serious or thoughtful it is a great moment, but otherwise he's a bit too informal given he has received a better education than the majority in Ferelden. I'm always 50/50 on him. Hardened Alistair is a much better character, but sadly he doesn't stay that way for every interaction even after you do it.

Wynne, at least for me, is not a wise character. I don't know if she was intentionally written that way, but she tends to lecture and moralise more than she actually mentors. Kind of similar to that current academic trite where people tell you things based on their "lived experience". That's Wynne. She believes her time stuck in a tower and making mistakes and "kind of" learning from them has made her wise to the world. In reality, she knows very little, and appears to only really accept her own consequences when you resolve her quest and see her again in Awakening. She was never my favourite companion, very lukewarm, but **** did I need a dedicated healer sometimes.

This is why Sten remains the GOAT.

Maybe it's just me, but I see Wynne as quite well written. She's an academic which means she knows almost nothing of the real world, and only knows books that may or may not be useful outside of the Tower. She states that she was taken to the Tower young and so would realistically have no actual practical skills. Just like most academics in real life. They are completely useless in anything other than lectures. To my mind, she is quite a well written character in that respect; I don't know if this was intentional, however.

Sten is a good character, I also really like the old Qunari, who are just tall, slightly grey humans. I absolutely despise the horned freakshows they turned them into, fortunately... They never actually made any more games, so it doesn't matter much. His character redemption arc is nice. It's shame you can't make him into a Warden, to then pay for his crime.

[rusty_shackleford]

I always kill Sten, he's basically a rabid shitbull liable to kill me at any moment if I took him with me.
[edit]
The assassin, too.

There really needs to be more 'bad ends' for taking such ridiculous risks. You should at least have a companion permanently killed for such stupid decisions or something.

[TKVNC]

I always kill Sten, he's basically a rabid shitbull liable to kill me at any moment if I took him with me.

A fair, and justified view. I can't even disagree with it. But I can also appreciate using him to defeat the Darkspawn, then killing him, which is why I wished he could become a Warden.

[ThulsaDoomer]

I wonder if the hatred for the deep roads, which I never saw anyone espouse until years after release, is due to the content in there combined with it being more of a traditional dungeon delve. Later dragon age games attracted a separate fanbase, the developers included.

I have no idea why anyone hated the Deep Roads, it's extremely based and one of the few segments in the game where you're just getting hammered by Darkspawn, plus also delving into the nature of the blight and seeing these remnants of an expansive civilisation corrupted and trashed. You're probably onto something, the fanbase became very obsesssed with the companion and NPC interactions and less on the dungeon delving and heavy combat segments.

There really needs to be more 'bad ends' for taking such ridiculous risks. You should at least have a companion permanently killed for such stupid decisions or something.

Zevran does betray you if you never raise his favor and ignore his quest, so I guess you could count that as a risk?

Sten is a good character, I also really like the old Qunari, who are just tall, slightly grey humans. I absolutely despise the horned freakshows they turned them into, fortunately... They never actually made any more games, so it doesn't matter much. His character redemption arc is nice. It's shame you can't make him into a Warden, to then pay for his crime.

I suppose why the option doesn't exist to make him into a Warden as punishment is that you can kill innocents and even a child and face no real punishment yourself. In that case it would be pure hypocrisy to judge Sten. Granted, for the moral Wardens, there should have been an option. Likely scope creep, I'm sure a lot of these kind of details were drummed up and never implemented.

[Oyster Sauce]

I always kill Sten, he's basically a rabid shitbull liable to kill me at any moment if I took him with me.
[edit]
The assassin, too.

There really needs to be more 'bad ends' for taking such ridiculous risks. You should at least have a companion permanently killed for such stupid decisions or something.

The plot of the game is that you've joined the dedicated "press-gang violent criminals and lowlifes into service if they're capable fighters" organization

[rusty_shackleford]

I always kill Sten, he's basically a rabid shitbull liable to kill me at any moment if I took him with me.
[edit]
The assassin, too.

There really needs to be more 'bad ends' for taking such ridiculous risks. You should at least have a companion permanently killed for such stupid decisions or something.

The plot of the game is that you've joined the dedicated "press-gang violent criminals and lowlifes into service if they're capable fighters" organization

Wouldn't know, I've only ever played as the human noble and don't recognize other origins.

[logincrash]

Also, I've been rethinking the companions. I see now what somebody in this thread meant when he said that Alistair feels out of place with his speech. He doesn't spew modernisms, but neither is he written to speak in more formal English, like the rest of the characters. Even Zevran and Oghren have a more sophisticated way of speaking and they're mostly jokey characters.
And Wynne has been getting on my nerves a lot more than I thought would be possible. It's clear that she's written as what a midwit imagines a wise character to be. And so all of her lecturing comes across as a "I know I'm better than you" idiot lecturing you on extremely obvious stuff.

Alistair does come across as childish often, which was the point, but I agree it goes a bit too far. I enjoy his general progression and circumstances, and when he does act more serious or thoughtful it is a great moment, but otherwise he's a bit too informal given he has received a better education than the majority in Ferelden. I'm always 50/50 on him. Hardened Alistair is a much better character, but sadly he doesn't stay that way for every interaction even after you do it.

Wynne, at least for me, is not a wise character. I don't know if she was intentionally written that way, but she tends to lecture and moralise more than she actually mentors. Kind of similar to that current academic trite where people tell you things based on their "lived experience". That's Wynne. She believes her time stuck in a tower and making mistakes and "kind of" learning from them has made her wise to the world. In reality, she knows very little, and appears to only really accept her own consequences when you resolve her quest and see her again in Awakening. She was never my favourite companion, very lukewarm, but **** did I need a dedicated healer sometimes.

This is why Sten remains the GOAT.

Maybe it's just me, but I see Wynne as quite well written. She's an academic which means she knows almost nothing of the real world, and only knows books that may or may not be useful outside of the Tower. She states that she was taken to the Tower young and so would realistically have no actual practical skills. Just like most academics in real life. They are completely useless in anything other than lectures. To my mind, she is quite a well written character in that respect; I don't know if this was intentional, however.

Sten is a good character, I also really like the old Qunari, who are just tall, slightly grey humans. I absolutely despise the horned freakshows they turned them into, fortunately... They never actually made any more games, so it doesn't matter much. His character redemption arc is nice. It's shame you can't make him into a Warden, to then pay for his crime.

Wynne was written by a woman in her mid-20s. There's no way she was written to be a conceited academic intentionally and not ended up this way because her writer genuinely attempted to write a wise and experienced mage and failed hilariously. Wynne's age is all over the place too. She's supposed to be 49-55-ish years old, but she acts as if she's 80.
As for Sten, I like his stoicism and how alien of a culture the Qunari are, but I can't abide child murder nor communist muslims. So, he's getting left to be darkspawn food from now on.

I always kill Sten, he's basically a rabid shitbull liable to kill me at any moment if I took him with me.
[edit]
The assassin, too.

There really needs to be more 'bad ends' for taking such ridiculous risks. You should at least have a companion permanently killed for such stupid decisions or something.

The plot of the game is that you've joined the dedicated "press-gang violent criminals and lowlifes into service if they're capable fighters" organization

Wouldn't know, I've only ever played as the human noble and don't recognize other origins.

I think you misunderstood him. He's not calling the Hero of Ferelden a violent criminal or a lowlife (even if he can be one), but saying that the Wardens wouldn't blink at letting people like that join their ranks.

[rusty_shackleford]

Alistair does come across as childish often, which was the point, but I agree it goes a bit too far. I enjoy his general progression and circumstances, and when he does act more serious or thoughtful it is a great moment, but otherwise he's a bit too informal given he has received a better education than the majority in Ferelden. I'm always 50/50 on him. Hardened Alistair is a much better character, but sadly he doesn't stay that way for every interaction even after you do it.

Wynne, at least for me, is not a wise character. I don't know if she was intentionally written that way, but she tends to lecture and moralise more than she actually mentors. Kind of similar to that current academic trite where people tell you things based on their "lived experience". That's Wynne. She believes her time stuck in a tower and making mistakes and "kind of" learning from them has made her wise to the world. In reality, she knows very little, and appears to only really accept her own consequences when you resolve her quest and see her again in Awakening. She was never my favourite companion, very lukewarm, but **** did I need a dedicated healer sometimes.

This is why Sten remains the GOAT.

Maybe it's just me, but I see Wynne as quite well written. She's an academic which means she knows almost nothing of the real world, and only knows books that may or may not be useful outside of the Tower. She states that she was taken to the Tower young and so would realistically have no actual practical skills. Just like most academics in real life. They are completely useless in anything other than lectures. To my mind, she is quite a well written character in that respect; I don't know if this was intentional, however.

Sten is a good character, I also really like the old Qunari, who are just tall, slightly grey humans. I absolutely despise the horned freakshows they turned them into, fortunately... They never actually made any more games, so it doesn't matter much. His character redemption arc is nice. It's shame you can't make him into a Warden, to then pay for his crime.

Wynne was written by a woman in her mid-20s. There's no way she was written to be a conceited academic intentionally and not ended up this way because her writer genuinely attempted to write a wise and experienced mage and failed hilariously. Wynne's age is all over the place too. She's supposed to be 49-55-ish years old, but she acts as if she's 80.
As for Sten, I like his stoicism and how alien of a culture the Qunari are, but I can't abide child murder nor communist muslims. So, he's getting left to be darkspawn food from now on.

The plot of the game is that you've joined the dedicated "press-gang violent criminals and lowlifes into service if they're capable fighters" organization

Wouldn't know, I've only ever played as the human noble and don't recognize other origins.

I think you misunderstood him. He's not calling the Hero of Ferelden a violent criminal or a lowlife (even if he can be one), but saying that the Wardens wouldn't blink at letting people like that join their ranks.

Massive majority of criminals are too stupid to be useful unless you enjoy getting your throat cut in the middle of the night.
They can take criminals, yes, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea unless it's specific circumstances. More likely, they're recruiting third and fourth sons.

[TKVNC]

Maybe it's just me, but I see Wynne as quite well written. She's an academic which means she knows almost nothing of the real world, and only knows books that may or may not be useful outside of the Tower. She states that she was taken to the Tower young and so would realistically have no actual practical skills. Just like most academics in real life. They are completely useless in anything other than lectures. To my mind, she is quite a well written character in that respect; I don't know if this was intentional, however.

Sten is a good character, I also really like the old Qunari, who are just tall, slightly grey humans. I absolutely despise the horned freakshows they turned them into, fortunately... They never actually made any more games, so it doesn't matter much. His character redemption arc is nice. It's shame you can't make him into a Warden, to then pay for his crime.

Wynne was written by a woman in her mid-20s. There's no way she was written to be a conceited academic intentionally and not ended up this way because her writer genuinely attempted to write a wise and experienced mage and failed hilariously. Wynne's age is all over the place too. She's supposed to be 49-55-ish years old, but she acts as if she's 80.
As for Sten, I like his stoicism and how alien of a culture the Qunari are, but I can't abide child murder nor communist muslims. So, he's getting left to be darkspawn food from now on.

Wouldn't know, I've only ever played as the human noble and don't recognize other origins.

I think you misunderstood him. He's not calling the Hero of Ferelden a violent criminal or a lowlife (even if he can be one), but saying that the Wardens wouldn't blink at letting people like that join their ranks.

Massive majority of criminals are too stupid to be useful unless you enjoy getting your throat cut in the middle of the night.
They can take criminals, yes, but that doesn't mean it's a good idea unless it's specific circumstances. More likely, they're recruiting third and fourth sons.

I think it's supposed to be the French Foreign Legion in the old days; they'd take virtually anyone, but the training was brutal, and you were effectively sent on suicide missions because the actual French Army didn't want to risk their own men. Perhaps there is an argument of trauma bonding to it, you don't turn on your fellow Wardens (or Legionnaires as it were) because you're all so buckbroken that it seems better to stay, than to risk it and leave.

Logically, I assume the people who would snap are weeded out both by the joining, and the lack of mental fortitude required to keep going. Most criminals are pathetic, and have no conviction at all.

[DrSneed]

If Morrigan wasn't so ******* hot and the only way for your warden to survive I'd throw that ***** in a blender

[logincrash]

If Morrigan wasn't so ******* hot and the only way for your warden to survive I'd throw that ***** in a blender

You can always send Alistair or Loghain to die in your stead. No need to stick your **** in crazy then.

[DrSneed]

If Morrigan wasn't so ******* hot and the only way for your warden to survive I'd throw that ***** in a blender

You can always send Alistair or Loghain to die in your stead. No need to stick your **** in crazy then.

impossible

[Kolgrim]

Next you're gonna tell me you never abducted nugs off the Orzammar back alleys.

Nug Lives Matter

[Kolgrim]

If Morrigan wasn't so ******* hot and the only way for your warden to survive I'd throw that ***** in a blender

Much of Morrigan's hotness fades away when you realize what a harlot she is:

[logincrash]

Finished the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I was way overleveled for it. I was at 19 meanwhile the regular enemies were level 13-14. I haven't even done Redcliffe yet.
I like how the drakes make a discordant string sound when you hit them. Feels really weird but in a cool way. As if the score is reacting to your actions in-game.
Did Soldier's Peek too. Also was way overleveled for it. Reached level 20 by the end of it.
I think I will bump up the difficulty up to Hard. This feels way too easy now.

[Reichspepe]

Finished the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I was way overleveled for it. I was at 19 meanwhile the regular enemies were level 13-14. I haven't even done Redcliffe yet.
I like how the drakes make a discordant string sound when you hit them. Feels really weird but in a cool way. As if the score is reacting to your actions in-game.
Did Soldier's Peek too. Also was way overleveled for it. Reached level 20 by the end of it.
I think I will bump up the difficulty up to Hard. This feels way too easy now.

I definetly recommend you turning it up. Of course you should play how you want, but I recommend just to also at least try the highest difficulty once. I always played the game on normal as well and only recently, when I played again for the adventurer's guild did I play it on the highest difficulty and had quite the good time.

It really forces you to engage with all the systems of the combat and crafting, while having to think about tactics lest you get crushed, with the correct approach feeling like night and day. All of that though in a fun and not tedious way I found, which impressed me because I expected it to be really unfair and just a chore, like the highest difficulty felt in Pillars of Eternity for example. Though then again, it is also quite a while ago that I played it, so maybe I'd have a different experience by now.

[Valter]

Finished the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I was way overleveled for it. I was at 19 meanwhile the regular enemies were level 13-14. I haven't even done Redcliffe yet.
I like how the drakes make a discordant string sound when you hit them. Feels really weird but in a cool way. As if the score is reacting to your actions in-game.
Did Soldier's Peek too. Also was way overleveled for it. Reached level 20 by the end of it.
I think I will bump up the difficulty up to Hard. This feels way too easy now.

Do you not go to each place according to their average level? I learned at some point each area has a minimum and maximum level for its enemies and just do them in an appropriate order to get a consistent challenge.
https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Main_quests_(Origins)

Supposing what's presented in this table is true, as I haven't seen the game files myself, I think the game also does a good job at steering you in the right directions, at least regarding which areas need urgent attendance.
The barkeep in Lothering tells you that the Right of Annulment has been invoked on the Circle of Magi, which is very close to Lothering in the first place and also one of the strongest allies you can get against darkspawn. Risking losing them to whatever's happening inside the Circle is nothing to scoff at.
You also hear that the arl of Redcliffe has fallen ill and that no one's heard from the castle, giving you immense urgency to go aid an ally critical to your mission. This also evolves naturally into the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest, keeping the enemy level rising consistently.
You then have the option to aid either the dwarves in their political deadlock or the elves in their deadly mysterious disease. Again the matter that seems more urgent is the lowest level, keeping the game balanced for people who want all recruit all their Treaty allies while they yet live.

I found this to be a pleasantly immersive way for the devs to guide the player the right way, really left a good impression on me.

[logincrash]

Finished the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I was way overleveled for it. I was at 19 meanwhile the regular enemies were level 13-14. I haven't even done Redcliffe yet.
I like how the drakes make a discordant string sound when you hit them. Feels really weird but in a cool way. As if the score is reacting to your actions in-game.
Did Soldier's Peek too. Also was way overleveled for it. Reached level 20 by the end of it.
I think I will bump up the difficulty up to Hard. This feels way too easy now.

I definetly recommend you turning it up. Of course you should play how you want, but I recommend just to also at least try the highest difficulty once. I always played the game on normal as well and only recently, when I played again for the adventurer's guild did I play it on the highest difficulty and had quite the good time.

It really forces you to engage with all the systems of the combat and crafting, while having to think about tactics lest you get crushed, with the correct approach feeling like night and day. All of that though in a fun and not tedious way I found, which impressed me because I expected it to be really unfair and just a chore, like the highest difficulty felt in Pillars of Eternity for example. Though then again, it is also quite a while ago that I played it, so maybe I'd have a different experience by now.

I've beaten the game on Nightmare before. I'm just doing a Normal run to get myself back up to speed.
I might skip Hard and go straight for Nightmare on my next playthrough.

Finished the Urn of Sacred Ashes. I was way overleveled for it. I was at 19 meanwhile the regular enemies were level 13-14. I haven't even done Redcliffe yet.
I like how the drakes make a discordant string sound when you hit them. Feels really weird but in a cool way. As if the score is reacting to your actions in-game.
Did Soldier's Peek too. Also was way overleveled for it. Reached level 20 by the end of it.
I think I will bump up the difficulty up to Hard. This feels way too easy now.

Do you not go to each place according to their average level? I learned at some point each area has a minimum and maximum level for its enemies and just do them in an appropriate order to get a consistent challenge.
https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Main_quests_(Origins)

Supposing what's presented in this table is true, as I haven't seen the game files myself, I think the game also does a good job at steering you in the right directions, at least regarding which areas need urgent attendance.
The barkeep in Lothering tells you that the Right of Annulment has been invoked on the Circle of Magi, which is very close to Lothering in the first place and also one of the strongest allies you can get against darkspawn. Risking losing them to whatever's happening inside the Circle is nothing to scoff at.
You also hear that the arl of Redcliffe has fallen ill and that no one's heard from the castle, giving you immense urgency to go aid an ally critical to your mission. This also evolves naturally into the Urn of Sacred Ashes quest, keeping the enemy level rising consistently.
You then have the option to aid either the dwarves in their political deadlock or the elves in their deadly mysterious disease. Again the matter that seems more urgent is the lowest level, keeping the game balanced for people who want all recruit all their Treaty allies while they yet live.

I found this to be a pleasantly immersive way for the devs to guide the player the right way, really left a good impression on me.

Yeah, I usually go Magi - Redcliffe - Dalish - Urn - Orzammar, with the DLCs somewhere in-between. But this time I wanted to show up in Redcliffe with all the solutions to all of their problems in my pocket.
Oh, you need to save your peasants in the fight against the walking dead? I have a healer. Oh, you need to travel into the Fade to save your son? The Circle of Magi owes me a favour. Oh, you need to heal your incurable illness? I've got a super-panacea right here in my backpack.
Just for the lulz.

[logincrash]

Finished Redcliffe.
Man, Redcliffe situation is just tragic. Both the mom and the son are voice acted really well even though it doesn't sound like it at first. But Connor saying that he's ready to die if it saves his parents and Isolde screaming her heart out begging you on her knees not to kill her son ******* got to me.
On the lighter note, Loghain once again acting like a ******:

► Show Spoiler

He ambushed a Templar and stole a confirmed blood mage on the run from the Chantry. He then PERSONALLY hired said blood mage to poison Eamon.

loghain being ********.jpg

You dumb ******* ******, that's the most obvious **** you DON'T DO when you're hiring an assassin.

And more little details that BioWare absolutely didn't have to put in because 95% of the players would've never seen them:

► Show Spoiler

You can explore the castle after you've dealt with Connor.
There's a new quartermaster doing inventory and he notes that the armory and treasury were stolen from if you cleaned them out. His servant also says that a lot of suits of armor were thrown out because nobody wanted to get the rotting corpses out of them.
And there's a detachment of mages in Eamon's study. They have a proper conversation too.

circle bodyguards.jpg

Oh, and here's a screenshot from the Urn quest. It's funny because it describes Wynne as what she really is.

► Show Spoiler

wynne trvthnvke.jpg

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Then went to Denerim. Rescued Anora. Got spotted by the guard getting a BJ from a servant girl. Had to kill Cauthrien because I'm trying to get the achievement for never getting your main character downed in combat. Will earnestly try to beat her on my Nightmare playthrough without reloading and if I get sent to Fort Drakon, so be it. But for now I cheesed it by kiting them away from the firing squad of archers with Scattershot.
Anora's such a ****, holy ****. She just throws you under the bus and then has the gall to demand your support for the throne.
Told her I will support her for now but I will pull the same "Sike!" trick on her at the Landsmeet.

[logincrash]

I mentioned something about a merchant who buys stuff for twice the amount other merchants do in one of the my previous posts. That might've been a mod thing. It's probably bundled in one of the three huge fix packs I installed. Not sure how it ******* counts as a bugfix, because now I feel like I've been cheating this whole ******* time. Goddamn it.

[logincrash]

Doing the final stretch. Getting through hordes of darkspawn to get to the Archdemon.
The performance is so ******* bad, bros. The memory leak thing is a real pain in the ***. The stuttering is HORRIFIC.
I have the 4GB Patch AND the DVKX (or whatever the **** it's called) thing installed and I still have to quit and launch the game again once every couple of hours.
Such a shame.

[Valter]

Doing the final stretch. Getting through hordes of darkspawn to get to the Archdemon.
The performance is so ******* bad, bros. The memory leak thing is a real pain in the ***. The stuttering is HORRIFIC.
I have the 4GB Patch AND the DVKX (or whatever the **** it's called) thing installed and I still have to quit and launch the game again once every couple of hours.
Such a shame.

Probably the biggest deterrent to me revisiting the game more often. And someone in the forum, @rusty_shackleford I think, said Bioware has no one left that knows how to work the DAO engine so a remaster's not to be expected :////////////

[Oyster Sauce]

Doing the final stretch. Getting through hordes of darkspawn to get to the Archdemon.
The performance is so ******* bad, bros. The memory leak thing is a real pain in the ***. The stuttering is HORRIFIC.
I have the 4GB Patch AND the DVKX (or whatever the **** it's called) thing installed and I still have to quit and launch the game again once every couple of hours.
Such a shame.

Probably the biggest deterrent to me revisiting the game more often. And someone in the forum, @rusty_shackleford I think, said Bioware has no one left that knows how to work the DAO engine so a remaster's not to be expected :////////////

MGS4 is getting a PC release at long last. Sometimes you just have to believe.

[Valter]

Doing the final stretch. Getting through hordes of darkspawn to get to the Archdemon.
The performance is so ******* bad, bros. The memory leak thing is a real pain in the ***. The stuttering is HORRIFIC.
I have the 4GB Patch AND the DVKX (or whatever the **** it's called) thing installed and I still have to quit and launch the game again once every couple of hours.
Such a shame.

Oh have you tried limiting the CPU threads being used? You can do that in task manager, I think it helped a few years ago when I played.