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 The Game Inquisition is the third installment in the (sometimes) critically-acclaimed RPG from BIoware. It was released November 18th, 2014 to mostly positive reviews. Sales have been good, but not exceptional. This is possibly due to the overhyped shitshow that was DA2. Confession time: I had never played DA until a couple of weeks before Inquisition was released. Since I had heard nothing but terrible things about DA2 I went in with low expectations and found it to be an alright game, albeit one that fell apart in the third act. In playing the games back-to-back, I found I liked Origins' story more, but there were some improvements to combat in 2, and the rivalry system was a great change over the approve/disapprove system in the first. Inquisition also uses an approval system, but this time there's no bar to tell you how you're doing with people. Instead your companions will let you know how they feel about you through dialogue. Like the first game it's possible to piss people off so much that they leave. The game itself is an action-RPG. Don't expect the high level of tactics used in the first two games. In fact, the if/then commands in previous entries are gone completely. You can set behaviors in that you'll designate whether a character prefers or doesn't even use a power, how much stamina they keep in reserve, how many of your healing potions they can uselessly quaff, and whether they follow or defend a particular squadmate. Combat is still fun, but you won't be spending much time using the tactical camera. Instead of being stuck playing a human, you get to select your race. There are humans. elves and dwarves like Origins, but now they've added Qunari as playable. Also you can only choose 1 specialization. You can respec from say, two-handed warrior to sword and shield, but once your specialization is chosen you can't go back. Respeccing is done via a purchasable item and they're cheap, so if you decide you don't like your build it's easy to fix. Crafting was added. The interface is kinda terrible, but you can make some really overpowered weapons and once you unlock the ability to create masterworks you can pretty much break the game over your knee. Of course we will be doing this. What's Going on Here? Inquisition picks up after DA2. loving Anders blew up the Chantry in Kirkwall, which set off a war between mages and Templars. The fighting spilled over into the rest of Thedas making life generally unpleasant for the general populace. People on both sides decided it would be more fun to run around indiscriminately killing, burning, and looting. After a few months of this the head of the Chantry, Divine Justinia, calls for a Conclave in order to bring the factions together and try to broker peace. Your character is in attendance at the Conclave and this is where the game begins. The Characters If there's one thing Bioware does well, it's characters. The cast in DAI is quite large, with nine companions and three advisors. Each one of them has their own personality, backstory, and struggles. You start off with three and unlock more as the story progresses. Some of your new friends will get along fine. Some of them hate each other. Probably the best dialogue in the game comes from random banter your party will engage in while you are out in the field. And there is a lot of it. I don't know what poor bastards had to code it all, but they deserve a medal. Using some kind of voodoo magic scripting, the more you take people out together the more they'll warm to each other. At least to an extent, anyway. Some of them may even end up dating if they're not involved with the Inquisitor! Since this stuff is random there's a good chance I'll miss more than I catch, but there are a lot of videos out there if you want to hear some of it. Also there is a (not)bug where sometimes dialogue doesn't trigger properly and you can go a long time with no chatter. This was supposedly fixed with a patch but in some cases it broke it further. Oh, Bioware. The Inquisitor: This is you, the player character. What you were doing before you got yourself into this mess depends on your choice of race at character creation. After, well, the differences are just academic. You find yourself in a bit of trouble and what starts off as you trying to save your rear end snowballs into something much bigger. Cassandra Pentaghast: Cassandra returns from DA2. She still does not have time for your poo poo (or anyone else's for that matter). However, since you get to spend time with her outside of cutscenes you soon learn that she's actually a sane person who is willing to admit error and change her views on things. As a matter of fact, she's probably my favorite BIoware companion. Just don't ask her about her hobbies. Starts off as a sword and board tank. Varric Tethras: Another returning character, and probably the one thing everyone liked in DA2. He's still a smartass and still has that fancy crossbow. No, he won't tell you about it. Writes books when not stirring poo poo up in Kirkwall. He's an archer rogue for some range in combat. Solas: An apostate Elven mage. He's spent most of his life studying the Fade, which is the dream realm where demons and spirits live. He seems to be the only one that has any idea about what is happening. Likes: spirits, questions, and freedom. Dislikes: authority, subjugation, and tea. Leliana: A former Bard and possibly dead person. Leliana was a major character in DA:O and is our spymaster. She is a bit stabby so try not to piss her off too badly. We can't take her out in the field with us. Cullen: Cullen will be leading our army. He was also in the first two games. Much less  now as far as mages go. Also he finally got some decent hair.Josephine: The Inquisition's ambassador. Got suckered into the job by Leliana. A good resource when we don't want to use murder to solve a problem. Don't play cards with her. Vivienne: Official Court Enchanter of the Orlesian Empire. Her nickname is the Iron Lady, that should tell you about her personality. Really set on getting all those mages herded back into the Circles. May rearrange the furniture. Sera: Free-spirited or brain damaged? Nobody knows! Notable for being the only companion you can tell to  at any time. Probably has the best dialogue, though. Also gives you bees.(The) Iron Bull: A gigantic horned man with one eye. Likes getting shitfaced, fighting dragons, and will bang anyone. What else do you need to know? Blackwall: A Grey Warden with a magnificent beard. Will tank for food. Dorian Pavus: A fabulous mage from Tevinter. Unlike his countrymen, he isn't a fascist and doesn't care for blood magic. Cole A How will you be playing the game? I'm doing this run as an all-around generally nice person. From time to time I'll mix it up for flavor, but I'll be friendly with my squadmates. Once we have more squadmates available I'll take suggestions for party make-up on missions. Note that the game world is loving huge and a lot of it will be dead space. In order to spare you hours of video of me running around picking up rocks I'll stick to story missions and the more interesting sidequests. If I happen to catch some interesting dialogue I'll try to work it in somewhere. Same with bugs. It wouldn't be a Bioware game without some hilarious unexpected fuckups. We're playing as a dual-wield rogue elf. I like the quick combat style and two weapons gives us an extra slot for masterworks, and while every race gets specific dialogue, elves get a bit more. I hear you can Of course, what would a Bioware game be without workplace harassment and awkward pixel sex? In this run through, however, I will only hit on people I can't actually romance since the game lets you do that.  We're done, talk about whatever! Updates I went to the Conclave and all I got was this lousy Riftus Interruptus (post) Knock knock knockin' on Haven's door (post) Let's get this party started. (post) I get by with a little help from my friends (post) I gotta see a man about a horse (post) Hit me with your best shot (post) Help Wanted (post) Pest Control (post) YOU DIED (post) Talk Show (post) Burn Unit (post) Goddamnit (post) Whoa (post) Employee Appreciation Day (post) Let's do the Time Warp again (post) You're My Wonderwall (post) We've got no Breaches (post) Kumbaya (post) Movin' on up (post) Dam Nation (post) Dank Nugs (post) Stop dragon my heart around {post) Catching up (post) Sand in your craw (post) By the book (post) Winter Wonderland (post) Better dead than red (post) Judgment Day (post) Be still my beating heart (post) (Griffon) Wing and a prayer (post) Research subject (post) This workplace contains 9,723 OSHA violations (post) Fade to black (post) So long, farewell, auf wiedersehen, goodbye (post) Thread title delivers (post) Wise fwom yo gwave (post) Tiny Dancer (post) Some Bull poo poo (post) Zoinks! A g- g- ghost! (post) Seeker seeking Seekers (post) Robbing the cradle (post) More like Exalted pains (post) Josie and the stabbycats (post) Dorian's dad is a Republican? (post) Butts, party of 4 (post) Keebler is hosed (post) Penis in ear (post) Butts breaks big balls (post) Send in the clown (post) Disenchanted Forest (post) House of cards (post) Sink or swim (post) Take me to church (post) Butts, boats, bears (post) Hold me now (post) You're Fired (post) Aspiring to greatness (post) Elf on a shelf (post) We need an intervention (post) Butts goes down (post) Why didn't I take the blue pill (post) Gears of door (post) Snake? Snake?! SNAAAAAAKE! (post) Spirited away (post) Nugment Day (post) Colonoscopy (post) Bull's & Cull's (post) Ding dong the witch is dead. Or not. (post) Open the door? Get on the floor (post) Odds...and ends (post) Coryphyshit (post) This is the thanks I get (post) Good feels (post) I've got better things to do (post) Fleshlight (post) Delyrium Tremens (post) Blowing a shaft (post) Put ze candle back! (post) Pretty much hosed (post) All good things must end (post) A farewell to arms (post) SubponticatePoster fucked around with this message at 06:59 on Nov 17, 2015 |
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Mar 4, 2015 19:44
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SubponticatePoster posted:
All of the companion banter from the game. This video is 5 hours long. I told you there was a shitton of it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0zNyv_WdH0Romances Blackwall: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t_YAWE1zs4Q Cassandra: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sobkAejx1ZQ  for boobiesCullen: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ym3Uq-EgAtU Dorian: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aiA9EQNSvYE for man rear endIron Bull (male): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4QV3LTPlduw it's pretty much identical with a lady Inquisitor except you see titties. Josephine (female): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hEhQJEcDeOc Note the intro is annoying as gently caress but just the first 20 seconds or so Sera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KhFoHcNFKM still more boobiesSolas: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CEg31RkiRoA Endings All the different options from FuzzyNinjaLlama. If you want DA videos they are great, no obnoxious commentary and FNL is a completionist. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMNhsSWoTq4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v2Y6eRQaoVE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJdk2ZpWRGA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-qs2mxYcH4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WI26MrG59-o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p2jDVECPe9I https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q8WrHBWIa9E https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N8QP3obJW84 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=prXxgtrMgpY SubponticatePoster fucked around with this message at 02:03 on Nov 20, 2015 |
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Mar 4, 2015 19:44
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Guys she's not evil, she's a sweet kitty and has only told me to kill like 6 people and HAIL SATAN
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 I went to the Conclave and all I got was this lousy We start the game at the Conclave. Our character, a Dalish Elf has been sent by their clan to spy on the proceedings since it's likely to effect everyone in Thedas regardless. Needless to say, things don't go very well. We do get to meet a few familiar faces. I won't do a ton of talking for the first couple of updates, as there are a lot of cutscenes providing very important info. I skipped the class selection and character customization screens, they're general Bioware fare, though with more options due to being on next-gen consoles. You still have presets but there are also sliders to change things in greater detail. We're playing on normal as Hard and Nightmare only make combat tedious for the first few hours.
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Mar 4, 2015 19:45
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I'm not sure I'd call the first two games' combat high-level tactics or anything but if the implication here is that this game's got a (even) further dumbed-down combat system the fights gotta solve themselves.
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Mar 4, 2015 19:47
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On lower difficulties they definitely do. It's more action-y than RPG. I don't necessarily consider this a drawback, as it could get tedious in Origins.
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Mar 4, 2015 19:56
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Trying to beat the tutorial on Nightmare is the pretty much the hardest part of the game, closely followed by one other mission. Then things open up and you can snap the difficulty curve with some effort.
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Mar 4, 2015 20:02
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Lotish posted:Trying to beat the tutorial on Nightmare is the pretty much the hardest part of the game, closely followed by one other mission. Then things open up and you can snap the difficulty curve with some effort.
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Mar 4, 2015 21:23
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I like that you are playing a dual wield rogue, I've loved them since DA2.
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Mar 4, 2015 22:43
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They're a lot of fun in this game. Speaking of rogues I hope you either don't patch the game for a bit or move quickly enough that you can show off the Flask of Fire + Thousand Cuts glitch--I read the next patch might have finally caught that.
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Mar 5, 2015 00:12
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Since I got my keep state downloaded I can skip the patch. I was planning on going that route anyway for maximum hilarity 
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Mar 5, 2015 00:20
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Next couple of episodes are recorded. I have a new mic that should be delivered this afternoon so expect an update tomorrow. Hopefully that'll fix any audio issues, I noticed the commentary was uneven.
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Mar 5, 2015 18:57
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Are you planning anything specific like dating and major decisions?
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Mar 6, 2015 00:23
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GuyUpNorth posted:Are you planning anything specific like dating and major decisions? I'll also have a shorter update done for this weekend, mostly showing mechanics and whatnot.
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Mar 6, 2015 03:15
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I imagine since you consciously decided to do elf-lady to show off some of the extra content they get, that a highlight reel of some of their romance options must be in the future. One in particular for the actual lore involved. Everyone digs elf chicks. Except the elf chick.
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Mar 6, 2015 03:46
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Bah, I was gonna have an update this morning but for some reason YouTube decided it would only publish it in SD so I'll have to try again this evening.
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Mar 6, 2015 16:18
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Flirting with characters who don't have a matching sexual orientation is certainly one of the nicer points of DA:I. 
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Mar 6, 2015 16:27
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  Riftus Interruptus Listen for what is probably the most  reading of the phrase "What's going on here" in videogame history. All of the VA's read it this way, so it had to be bad direction. It seems we've gotten ourselves off Cassandra's shitlist, but it's a matter of out of the frying pan and into the fire. Our poor Elf is suddenly being held up as some kind of divine savior by a bunch of nutty humans. Considering the past treatment of elves in Thedas this is probably going to ruffle more than a few feathers. We've only got one more scripted thing to do, and that's unlock the starting area. After that things open up and we can more or less choose what we want to do and where to go.
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Mar 7, 2015 01:53
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Well, this seems interesting! I've never played a Dragon Age game before - I just didn't like what I saw of them - but this one might have to become an exception. Your mic seems to have a lot of static behind it. Will that be fixed in the future? I love your dainty little pixie walk. Is that one of the things you can customize, though? It suits an elven rogue, but I'd hate to play a warrior who does it. Also, I'm surprised you didn't cut the video right after that "What the gently caress". Would've made a great stopping point. Little much of the MMO terminology, isn't it? It doesn't seem to fit a game like this, or at least not a narrative like this one. And it occurs to me that Cassandra must've started trusting us pretty early. It takes a lot of trust to free someone who can turn invisible almost at will.
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Mar 7, 2015 03:14
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I just got a new mic so hopefully any audio issues will get fixed. DAI is pretty different from the other entries in the series; it is almost like a single player MMO in the way it works and with the insane amount of sidequests. I'll only be sticking to the "major" ones and avoid the collectathons and fetch quests (at least on camera, they do provide XP and other benefits but are boring as poo poo). The dainty walk is default for all female characters regardless of race or class. You get a fair amount of customization with your character's face but none for your physical build. So I'll be sashaying my way through Thedas. I let it run through the splash screen so it's clear that we're done with the intro and actually into the main game though that would have been a good stopping point as well. I'll have a short-ish video up this weekend just showing off Haven but then it's into the big open world and getting ourselves into and out of trouble in various ways.
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Mar 7, 2015 05:05
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I ran through this game as a Qunari Warrior who romanced Cassandra. I don't think I have the chops for a dagger rogue playthrough so I look forward to seeing what you do.
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Mar 7, 2015 05:46
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 Knock knock knockin' on Haven's door This is Haven, our base of operations. It's where we were in jail. If you played Origins, Haven was the village outside the Temple of Sacred Ashes where the weird dragon cult lived. Once the Hero of Ferelden cleared the place out the Chantry moved in and set up a holy site. I'm not sure how this works if you peed in the Urn and ganked Brother Genitivi, but here we are. Pilgrims came here to see the Temple and ostensibly do other religiousy things like pray, buy cheap souvenirs, and get street cred with fellow Andrastians. It's rather rustic but all in all not too bad. It's a fairly big area, though really only the settled part is used. You can find basic crafting materials lying around like elfroot and iron. There are also some critters running about who can be murdered for leather. There are lots of cabins though most contain nothing of interest. In addition we have an apothecary and a smithy where we can craft and upgrade potions and weapons/armor. Each of your squadmates has a place where they'll hang out and as we recruit more of them the place will get pretty full. I wish they'd taken a cue from Mass Effect 3 and had them move around and interact with each other but they don't. We'll be returning here fairly frequently to offload loot, advance the plot, and catch up with our companions.
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Mar 8, 2015 06:15
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I'll be curious to see this. I got the game, played it as a two-hander quinari who lucked into a great prestige weapon. And then the lovely encounter design just turned me off entirely. Sure you can roam around all you want, but there's some events that are impossible to pass. Mine was so bugged I don't know if it's possible to pass, I tried it 20 times. I went back and gained 5 levels and I still couldn't 'defeat' this encounter. It was a rift gate that no matter where I was, I couldn't dismiss. Right under it, across from it, noclip, godmode, didn't matter. The thing would keep spawning bad guys and refuse to be dismissed. So I said gently caress this and went into the 'swamp' area and ran into the same thing, and decided I was better off not playing this game. Still be good to see how it ends though.
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Mar 8, 2015 12:09
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If it's been a while since you've played it maybe try patching it and playing again. I've never had that happen on console and it's weird it happened to you in two locations. You can ask in the main Games thread for help. e: There are only a couple of rifts that are mandatory to the plot so you can always just ignore it as well if it's not one of those.
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Mar 8, 2015 17:33
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I just spent like 140 hours beating this game, but apparently I missed the "lock on" tutorial message and never even realized that was an option. The game cleverly gives you the message very briefly in the middle of one of the first enemy encounters in the game, where you might be, I dunno, focused on the monsters trying to kill you instead of the text popping up. Good luck on this LP. It's a massive, massive game unless you plan to just cut out huge swaths of content (which might not be a bad idea). Scaramouche posted:I'll be curious to see this. I got the game, played it as a two-hander quinari who lucked into a great prestige weapon. And then the lovely encounter design just turned me off entirely. Sure you can roam around all you want, but there's some events that are impossible to pass. Mine was so bugged I don't know if it's possible to pass, I tried it 20 times. I went back and gained 5 levels and I still couldn't 'defeat' this encounter. It was a rift gate that no matter where I was, I couldn't dismiss. Right under it, across from it, noclip, godmode, didn't matter. The thing would keep spawning bad guys and refuse to be dismissed. So I said gently caress this and went into the 'swamp' area and ran into the same thing, and decided I was better off not playing this game. Still be good to see how it ends though. That's really weird if it kept popping out monsters. At least at the update version I played, rifts have "health bars" which correspond to the monsters they spawn. They all seem to spawn two waves of monsters, and once you kill them the "health bar" is empty, at which point the rift will occasionally make explosions on the ground but shouldn't summon anything else. The closest I came to your issue was one rift was just totally inert- it didn't spawn monsters, and I couldn't interact with it at all.
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Mar 10, 2015 06:18
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Looks interesting so far. I'll be following this thread.
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Mar 10, 2015 19:19
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Thanks! Should have an update done tomorrow (currently editing and recording commentary) where things start to take off. I think I've got my audio issues worked out but I need some subjective opinions: Am I leaving up the codex entries long enough/too long? Is there anything people want more of, like explanation of the world and lore? Once we're out in the open areas there'll be a lot less blabbing on the game's end.
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Mar 10, 2015 21:08
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We can pause the videos to read stuff, so there's no need to leave it up longer. But I'd certainly be interested in hearing more about the lore since I've never played any of the Dragon Age games.
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Mar 10, 2015 21:17
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Definitely hit on the lore. Some of the more impactful choices of this game has a mandatory knowledge base in order to properly understand just why said choice is huge. I think one of the main weaknesses of this game is that if you haven't played the first two games (and one critical DLC, shame on you Bioware!), then twists can feel quite flat since you won't have any investment in past events.
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Mar 11, 2015 17:04
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thejoshie posted:I think one of the main weaknesses of this game is that if you haven't played the first two games (and one critical DLC, shame on you Bioware!), then twists can feel quite flat since you won't have any investment in past events. No doubt I'll eventually give Inquisition a try, but (having not played the second game, and getting stuck on the final boss on Origins, because I had a dispute with Morrigan - which I used throughout the entire game - near the end and she ran off), once I heard about how the game assumes you know a fair bit about the lore - that goes beyond knowing what a Quanari is (miss you, btw Sten  ), I considered staying away until I at least completed Origins and tried out Dragon Age 2, despite some of the negative things I've heard about it.The fact that I'm here should tell you all that I have since given up on that idea. Out of curiosity, what was the "critical DLC" that was so important?
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Mar 11, 2015 18:45
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Yagyumi posted:Out of curiosity, what was the "critical DLC" that was so important? Legacy, for DA2. The main villain of this game was introduced there.
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Mar 11, 2015 18:49
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Meh, I didn't buy any DLC for DA2 as a personal boycott after being so disappointed at the time, and I didn't feel I'd missed out on much when playing Inquisition. Chatting with Varric, and later with Hawke, gave me enough to catch up on the topic. It's no more a problem than all the 'read more about this character's backstory in the related novels!' stuff that keeps popping up. The stuff's there if you want to pay for it, and if not the game tells you enough to get by anyway.
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Mar 11, 2015 23:21
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Do we have a DAkeep link for this to see what you're going into it with?
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Mar 11, 2015 23:27
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Calax posted:Do we have a DAkeep link for this to see what you're going into it with? Current update is rendering, should have the post up in a couple of hours.
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Mar 12, 2015 00:38
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   Let's get this party started. Here we formally meet our advisers. Two of them you'll know if you played previous DA games. Cullen has mellowed out a lot since he proposed a Final Solution for the mages in Origins. After the crazy in DA2 he's hung up his Templar shoes and now works for us. He'll be commanding our forces (such as they are). And Leliana makes a return as a full-fledged character instead of the cameo we got at the end of 2. Yes, even if you killed her in DA:O. The game will actually explain this if you chose the option in the Keep. We went a different route, but the gist of it is the Hero of Ferelden offed her at the Temple of Sacred Ashes and she woke up some time later. I guess this is what happens if you kill someone next to a relic with fantastical healing powers. Needless to say if that's your world state she isn't too fond of the HoF. Josephine is the person who has to put a good face on all our Our first area is the Hinterlands. It's a woodsy, mountainous area and where Redcliffe (of the first game) is located. Since it's the starting area you'll find at least one of each type of game-thing; collectibles, landmarks, etc. Sort of an extension on the tutorial but out in the open world. Enemies are generally low-level, though there are a few surprises such as rifts that will spawn as high as level 12 enemies. These are best avoided to say the least, until you're high enough to deal with them. Generally that's within 3 levels. Common crafting materials include iron, drakestone, onyx, obsidian, elfroot, royal elfroot, embrium, spindleweed blood lotus, and a rare plant called Crystal Grace which you can only find here. Crafting materials respawn if you go to another zone and head back, so once you know where stuff is it's pretty easy to run a circuit if you need to for crafting stuff. It's also crammed with poo poo to do. Right at the top of the regular Games thread is a big flashing sign to get the gently caress out as soon as you can. New people have a tendency to try and do everything and get bored and overleveled for the rest of the game. You'll see just how fast the sidequests start rolling in. There are only two points in the game where you will be cut off from doing content, and they both pertain to companions/their personal quests. So it's fine to gtfo and go elsewhere if the place is getting stale. We can't actually advance the plot until we have 4 power at our disposal, but that comes quickly. It also requires power to unlock new areas, so it's a good idea to bank around 12 or so before leaving as otherwise you won't have many options. A note on the Keep: Since DAI was going to be across platforms and console generations they did away with straight importing. Now you use the Keep to choose what you did in the first two games and their DLC's. It's not mandatory and there is a default world state for those who choose not to use it. It really doesn't have much of an effect on DAI except for possible cameos and some background (like Leliana coming back from the dead). You can speak with Varric and Leliana in Haven to find out if your world state imported correctly and we'll do that in a bit so you'll know what's going on. I can also link my Keep if people are curious and not worried about getting spoiled, so let me know.
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Mar 12, 2015 04:59
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Schwartzcough posted:That's really weird if it kept popping out monsters. At least at the update version I played, rifts have "health bars" which correspond to the monsters they spawn. They all seem to spawn two waves of monsters, and once you kill them the "health bar" is empty, at which point the rift will occasionally make explosions on the ground but shouldn't summon anything else. The closest I came to your issue was one rift was just totally inert- it didn't spawn monsters, and I couldn't interact with it at all. That could possibly be; I got it early and at the time I was without broadband (switching providers) and had to hotspot off my phone on crappy 3G, so I only connected to activate it with Origin and that's it. I'm not too chuffed since it was getting a little samey and I'm the kind of guy who has to do everything in an area before moving onto the next one, so this LP might be the best way to experience the highlights as it were. Actually sorry to you and the LPer if it sounded like I was crapping on the game, just a weird thing that I came across but I do appreciate the effort put into it. I actually know a bunch of (ex) bioware guys and wouldn't want to crap on their stuff.
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Mar 12, 2015 06:20
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Scaramouche posted:That could possibly be; I got it early and at the time I was without broadband (switching providers) and had to hotspot off my phone on crappy 3G, so I only connected to activate it with Origin and that's it. I'm not too chuffed since it was getting a little samey and I'm the kind of guy who has to do everything in an area before moving onto the next one, so this LP might be the best way to experience the highlights as it were. Actually sorry to you and the LPer if it sounded like I was crapping on the game, just a weird thing that I came across but I do appreciate the effort put into it. I actually know a bunch of (ex) bioware guys and wouldn't want to crap on their stuff. There are bound to be glitches in huge games like this. For example, near the beginning of this video where you liberate the crossroads by killing a few waves of guys? I guess I approached from an unexpected direction or something, because the enemies never actually spawned for me, but they seemed to be dying off on their own to complete the quest for me. My guys kept yelling stuff like "Here comes some more!" and I'm all  I also have a friend at Bioware; nothing personal about it.Anyway, TC, I forgot to ask- is your Inquisitor named after the unfortunately named protagonist of Final Fantasy 5? And is anyone reading this thread that isn't familiar with Dragon Age lore, and is wondering what the whole deal is with these Templars and Mages (not just what spawned the current conflict but their whole relationship)? The game addresses it rather briefly outside of codex entries. The background could probably be covered by the TC pretty quickly in a video, or in the thread here.
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Mar 12, 2015 06:28
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Yeah, if people want a big fat lore dump I can do a post or a shorter video explaining stuff. Wouldn't take more than 10-15 minutes to get everyone up to speed. Scaramouche posted:That could possibly be; I got it early and at the time I was without broadband (switching providers) and had to hotspot off my phone on crappy 3G, so I only connected to activate it with Origin and that's it. I'm not too chuffed since it was getting a little samey and I'm the kind of guy who has to do everything in an area before moving onto the next one, so this LP might be the best way to experience the highlights as it were. Actually sorry to you and the LPer if it sounded like I was crapping on the game, just a weird thing that I came across but I do appreciate the effort put into it. I actually know a bunch of (ex) bioware guys and wouldn't want to crap on their stuff. Remember though that you can always come back to an area if you want to do every piece of content there. Hinterlands is really stuffed with things to do and spending the first 6-8 hours of a game in one place might make you go crazy. I feel in some sense they overreacted to the criticisms of DA2 and said "Oh, you want content? We'll give you content!" If you get a chance to patch it try again and see if it's something you enjoy.Our Inquisitor is named Butts because it's kind of a goon tradition. 
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Mar 12, 2015 15:53
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You should romance Josephine if only to show everyone The Princess Bride-esque duel at the end of it. Plus it's the only SFW one of them all.
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Mar 12, 2015 21:23
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Hmm, I'll give it a shot with  ...Most of Thedas' problems can be described thusly: loving. Mages. You see, the way magic works in the DA setting is that magic originages from something called the Fade -- an alternate plane of reality where most people reside when they dream, where spirits roam, and so on. It's not quite as bad as The Warp from the Warhammer setting, but it's not safe for waking beings. Every time a mage casts a spell - ANY spell - they draw power from there, weakening the barrier between the planes and potentially attracting the attention of the spirits and/or demons residing there. Most spirits don't really bother with the real world - it's too solid for their tastes - but demons do enjoy dropping by for a massacre or two if they can possibly manage it, such as when the barrier is weakened enough for them to break through, or if the mage is terminally careless and gets themselves possessed. A couple of incidents like that, and you probably start to understand why the common people tend to be uneasy around mages. And then there's loving Tevinter, which is a lovely place to live if you're a powerful mage who likes to kick holes in the fabric of reality, throw your power around and enjoy owning a whole lot of nonmagical slaves as well as mages who weren't as powerful as you, and not so great a place to live if you're not a mage or not powerful or connected enough. Nobody likes Tevinter, including non-Tevinter mages, because if anyone needs an example of why mages should not be allowed anywhere near political power, there's loving Tevinter. Nowadays (at least until recently) the majority of the continent (IE, the part that isn't loving Tevinter) dealt with this by having organized, sanctioned Circles -- basically, groups of mages responsible for training new mages when their abilities are discovered -- which were protected by the Templars. Templars are trained in various powers that can override and at least temporarily shut down any mage if they pile on enough power, and the commander of any individual Templar group has ultimate authority over the Circle his group "protects" -- ranging from incarceration to magical lobotomies, summary executions, and if need be the complete eradication of every single member of said Circle. Yes, that's pretty harsh, and while the first two games do make a decent case that *some* kind of control is necessary because an untrained, undisciplined mage is the rough equivalent of a stray nuclear explosion waiting to happen, it's also made clear that the original charter of "protection" has mutated into virtual complete incarceration and the Templars react to any objections from the mages by tightening the noose even further. The whole situation was a powder keg waiting for a spark when loving Anders decided to blow the hell out of the church containing one of the few highly respected clerics that were trying to argue for a little more civil discourse, which led to the Knight Commander of the entire Templar order completely losing her poo poo and declaring all out Rite of Annulment (Read: Exterminatus on the mages), which in turn led to the mages not wanting to die and within a few months most of the continent was pretty much on fire, which brings us to the start of the game... Important terms:
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Mar 12, 2015 21:40
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kaosdrachen posted:Hmm, I'll give it a shot with Haha, guess that's why Bioware's stories tend to be pretty good- they're not black-and-white. I'm usually a mage sympathizer, so your writeup is CLEARLY biased! Circles aren't really "organized groups of mages"- it would be more accurate to describe them as luxury prisons. Once a kid starts showing magical powers, they're taken away from their parents and family whether they like it or not, and put into a Circle (read: magic tower). Most mages never get to leave the tower for the rest of their lives. They get food and standard-issue uniforms and a library, and get to perform some controlled experiments, but they're basically locked up. In fact, when a mage is brought to circle, they get a vial of their blood drawn, which can be used to hunt them down and kill them if they ever try to escape. They basically lose all rights. The Templars are the "prison guards" of the Circles. They keep the mages from leaving, and others from getting in (not that many really want to). Templars are not supposed to interact with the mages- just watch them for suspicious behavior. Templars are basically considered the militant arm of the Chantry (the main religion of the land this game takes place in). So basically, mages are the reluctant guests of the church. If a mage starts acting "fishy" (according to the subjective opinion of one or more Templars), they may be killed or turned into a tranquil. Understandably, mages tend to be really really uncomfortable around Templars. Likewise, Templars are always afraid of mages turning into abominations or trying to violently escape, so they tend to be really jumpy and suspicious of mages. It's a really uncomfortable arrangement. kaosdrachen's description of the Rite of Tranquility is also a bit off. Young mages in a Circle eventually have to make a choice- to undergo the "harrowing", or to be made tranquil. It's a lovely choice. The harrowing involves sending the mage's mind into the Fade, where they are basically thrown to some demons and told "don't get possessed!" If they can survive their harrowing, it shows they have the strength of will to be allowed to continue living in the Circle as a mage. However, if they get possessed, a team of Templars is waiting to kill them on the spot. If they choose not to undergo the harrowing, they have to be made tranquil. So these young inexperienced mages are given the choice to fight for their life against demons, or to get a magical lobotomy and become emotionless robots. Since there are other civilizations out there that do not subject their mages to this kind of subjugation, many mages are quite opposed to the arrangement. So this is where the whole long-standing animosity between the two groups comes from.
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Mar 12, 2015 22:27
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