Dalisclock plays through the Dragon Age Trilogy and makes a lot of running commentary along the way. Spoilers abound.

thebobmaster

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Speaking of Dragon Age 2, suggestions for gender/class? I know you're pretty much always Human Hawk and the big choices you get at the start are Mage/Rouge/Warrior and Male/Female. Is there a notable difference in genders(FemShep was my favorite Shepherd and I played both)? Are any of the classes notably more fun or powerful then the others or is it personal playstyle? I'm enjoying Rogue in DA:O/A but not sure if that holds in DA2.
There's not really much difference between genders other than the pronouns you are referred to as. There is a DLC companion that is only romanceable by FemHawke, but all the other romances are bisexual. As for the classes, meiam pretty much nailed it.
 
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I'd say ideal party is 2 mage 1 warrior and 1 rogue, but as a results if you play as the one rogue you have to bench Varric which is a big no no in my book so I usually go mage. But overall rogue are probably the strongest class (with one very specific spec of warrior not being far behind).

FYI, its kinda hard to get if you go in blind, but there's a semi important 1 v 1 duel you can do, so its probably a good idea to spec in a way you can do it (my first time trough I had to kite the boss for like 30 min cause I had almost no offensive ability but I could root him every once in awhile). Its a bit of a shame because the MC can be an amazing healer if specced for it.
2 mage, 1 rogue(my main) and one warrior(alister 90% of the time) was how I played Origins anyway.

As for the one fight, is the one with the Qunari dude(but with horns this time!) that you can win by doing figure 8s around the room for a bit? Because I've heard about it. I just have no context for it.
 

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There's not really much difference between genders other than the pronouns you are referred to as. There is a DLC companion that is only romanceable by FemHawke, but all the other romances are bisexual. As for the classes, meiam pretty much nailed it.
Are either of the VA considered notably better then the other or just pick the one you like better?
 

thebobmaster

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Both Hawkes are pretty decent, but I tend towards FemHawke. Then again, I tend towards female mains anyways when given a chance.
 
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meiam

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As for the one fight, is the one with the Qunari dude(but with horns this time!) that you can win by doing figure 8s around the room for a bit? Because I've heard about it. I just have no context for it.
Yup that's the one and that's how I beat him the first time. Its kinda cool to do the whole duel, but I think a lot of people can't do it unless they spec right or kite (which kinda ruin the whole duel to the death aspect when one person just run around).

That section is pretty cool because player action have a lot of impact and the outcome is pretty varied depending on how much legwork you actually did before it.

Can confirm that Femhawke is a great VA, she's not too far from Morrigan in sound (and delivery if you go sarcastic).
 
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With that said, Alistair does name his dog "Barkspawn", which I have used to name my dog in subsequent playthroughs ever since. As far as I care, it is canon.
While I did find that adorable, I never adopted the name myself, because...well I wouldn't want to subject my poor pooch to that. "Look out, Darkspawn!" *dog grunts and looks at me cockeyed* "No, not you, Barkspawn, Dark-spawn, with a 'D'." *Frustrated bark* "Listen, if you want a new name, we'll talk about it after we get out of this!"

Speaking of Dragon Age 2, suggestions for gender/class? I know you're pretty much always Human Hawk and the big choices you get at the start are Mage/Rouge/Warrior and Male/Female. Is there a notable difference in genders(FemShep was my favorite Shepherd and I played both)? Are any of the classes notably more fun or powerful then the others or is it personal playstyle? I'm enjoying Rogue in DA:O/A but not sure if that holds in DA2.
I chose to contrast my Hawke with my Warden. Warden was a Circle Mage, so I made Hawke a 2-handed warrior. This ended up being pretty fun, as combat is a lot more stylized than DA1 (to the point that I've heard it described as anime-esque), meaning that one of my go-to moves was something that had Hawke just charge into a tightly-knit group of enemies and slice into the lot of them.

That said it's not necessarily optimal. That duel meiem mentioned had me at the edge of my seat the entire time because (And the build I'm referencing does sound familiar), it was a high-risk/high-reward build that was at its best when clearing groups...which made it a poor match for a one-on-one boss fight without some...generous use of kiting and terrain. That being said, I do greatly enjoy the narrative weight that being a warrior adds both to that duel and the general mage/templar tensions.

As to male or female...the functional difference is nil. In the main game, it doesn't even impact which romances you have access to, as evidently every one of them swings Hawke's way. So my advice on that is simply choose based on whichever voice/default appearance you prefer (sample, using the middle 'wise-guy' options).
 
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Gordon_4

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There's not really much difference between genders other than the pronouns you are referred to as. There is a DLC companion that is only romanceable by FemHawke, but all the other romances are bisexual. As for the classes, meiam pretty much nailed it.
Isabela is the only one I’d describe as truly bisexual. The rest are simply Hawkesexual. Except for Varric; to the disappointment of MILLIONS.
 

thebobmaster

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Isabela is the only one I’d describe as truly bisexual. The rest are simply Hawkesexual. Except for Varric; to the disappointment of MILLIONS.
It's only actually mentioned if you are a male Hawke, but Gaider confirmed that no matter which version of Hawke you play, Karl was a former lover of Anders.
 

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Isabela is the only one I’d describe as truly bisexual. The rest are simply Hawkesexual. Except for Varric; to the disappointment of MILLIONS.
I'm still a bit bummed that Tali in ME can't be romanced by femshep. I know there's a reason for that but damnit, I want my Quarian waifu!

But OTOH, that means I get Garrus all to myself. Calibrate away, garrus!

Anyway, still poking away at Awakening. Ran around the town doing quests and such, did that thing where I grabbed all the notice board quests because fuck anyone else who wants work. Fought a bunch of gangs hanging out in the center of town and murdered them to death because what right do they have to stand about being jerks like they are. I'm sure there was a plot reason or something but hey, Red circles get stabbyed and that's all the excuse I need(I'm sure someone will clean up the corpses....eventually).

Not much to tell other then I somehow pissed off head guard by taking a job from him but then later asking a bartender about his SECRET(smuggler) TUNNEL. Not sure exactly what I did there but whatever. Beat up a couple of wandering muttering dudes in the center of town only to find out they were escaped blood mages or something. I wasn't sure what was going on, just seeing muttering guys with quest arrows over there head, clicking on them. And then they turn hostile("Stop poking me!") and I killed them. Only after I checked the quest log did I realize that these were the blood mages I blindly accepted a hitman contract on. Good to know I wasn't killing random civilians...intentionally. And for some strange reason, there's a collection box for the "Orphans of the blight". They're asking for gold, which is fine, but they're asking for booze as well. Either there's a scam going on here or the drinking age in Denerim is a lot younger then I imagined it was.

Definitely noticed some cash gating going on. The dwarf who offered to fix the walls to the Vigil is asking 80 FUCKING gold for his services, but I guess it's a really good wall. He apparently doesn't accept my offer to make the darkspawn pay for it, but I did manage to find some money to hire him. It turns out a lot of the quests pay a pretty hefty amount of gold but there's also a way to make a lot of money through abusing the rune crafting system. Basically, make intensity runes, using materials the elf mage at the keep sells in unlimited quantities and then sell them back to her. It's annoying to set up but you get like a 2-3:1 profit on every rune, which means about 20 minutes of crafting bulk runes can make you a fuckton of cash and she doesn't fucking care that she's acting as the beginning and end of your little rune crafting assembly line. I hope she doesn't care. If she realized she could make the runes herself I'd be out of business and have to go back to adventuring or something(What do you mean that's the point of the game?).
 
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Gordon_4

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Both Hawkes are pretty decent, but I tend towards FemHawke. Then again, I tend towards female mains anyways when given a chance.
I only played him a bit before deciding I preferred Jo Wyatt, but the actor for Man!Hawke has a really great sounding voice.
 

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Speaking of Dragon Age 2, suggestions for gender/class? I know you're pretty much always Human Hawk and the big choices you get at the start are Mage/Rouge/Warrior and Male/Female. Is there a notable difference in genders(FemShep was my favorite Shepherd and I played both)? Are any of the classes notably more fun or powerful then the others or is it personal playstyle? I'm enjoying Rogue in DA:O/A but not sure if that holds in DA2.
I vote for Mage, otherwise you will miss out on the most annoying party member since Carth Onasi from KotOR, and I wouldn't want you to do that. Also choosing mage kind of breaks the story.
 
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Gordon_4

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I vote for Mage, otherwise you will miss out on the most annoying party member since Carth Onasi from KotOR, and I wouldn't want you to do that. Also choosing mage kind of breaks the story.
Eh, you can’t be an Arcane Warrior OR a Knight Enchanter in II. So mage is just ‘meh’ for me now in that game.
 

meiam

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Eh, you can’t be an Arcane Warrior OR a Knight Enchanter in II. So mage is just ‘meh’ for me now in that game.
It was part of the game originally but got cut along the way.
It's annoying to set up but you get like a 2-3:1 profit on every rune, which means about 20 minutes of crafting bulk runes can make you a fuckton of cash and she doesn't fucking care that she's acting as the beginning and end of your little rune crafting assembly line. I hope she doesn't care. If she realized she could make the runes herself I'd be out of business and have to go back to adventuring or something(What do you mean that's the point of the game?).
Is it really a scam or does she buy at low cost and re sell at higher cost in a bigger town, ie she just hired you under the table and now you won't be able to collect unemployment if you lose your job as warden, plus watch out for the MIRS (medieval IRS).
 
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It was part of the game originally but got cut along the way.

Is it really a scam or does she buy at low cost and re sell at higher cost in a bigger town, ie she just hired you under the table and now you won't be able to collect unemployment if you lose your job as warden, plus watch out for the MIRS (medieval IRS).
Wait, Ferelden has an IRS? Are Wardens tax Exempt? This could be really bad.

Dragon Age 1.75: The Wardens try to keep their assets from being seized for tax reasons.
 
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Wait, Ferelden has an IRS? Are Wardens tax Exempt? This could be really bad.

Dragon Age 1.75: The Wardens try to keep their assets from being seized for tax reasons.
Dammit, man! They were trying to make a dark fantasy, not a straight up horror game! :eek:
 
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Now you know what happened to all the shiny armour and griffons and other shit from the legends. Tax forfeiture.
Oh, that's right. There was that bit where you were told the story about the Wardens having Griffons. Which of course, you could keep insisting the teller get to the griffon part, much to their annoyance.

Speaking of which, I'm detecting more comedy in some of the writing of Awakening for sure. Oghren in particular, who seems to have become something close to comic relief at times, notably drinking the entire Joining "potion" and then complains the cup isn't big enough. Of course later one, there's that bit where he complains he's got some kind of green rash on his crouch, and one of the responses is "You weren't supposed to drink the entire joining chalice" .

Picked up some more companions along the way. Sigrun, a dwarf lady part of the Legion of the dead and Velanna, an elf mage who reminds me a lot of Morrigan(suspiciously so, in fact). Did a sweep of the forest area but didn't explore the mines yet because I needed to turn in some quests and go back to the fortress to regroup and upgrade. I did enjoy explaining that we stopped the caravan attacks and since Velanna was with me, I said "Do you have anything to add, Velanna?" to which she gets super uncomfortable and keeps wanting to leave the conversation. Oh, it is amusing to watch these characters squirm when faced with the consequences of their actions, or even just the prospect of it.

Oh, getting weird Alsiter vibes from Anders, though a bit more on the dickish side(Alister was kind of a teddy bear, so I guess that's not hard). Already mentioned Velanna reminds me of Morrigan. Sigrun, can't really tell if she reminds me of anyone from Origins or not. Same with Nathaniel.
 
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Finished the kal'hirol dungeon with Sigrun. It feels a lot like the Dead Trenches from the base game without all the Deep Routes mazing running prior to that. I helps that there are a lot fewer fucking spiders some of those have been replaced by creepy grubchildern which are...yeah, pretty gross. It's also a lot better paced and has a "ghost narrative" showing the last defense of the city, where the casteless defended the city to the end(and Sigrun really appreciates it). At the end, found 3 broodmothers in a pit but luckily the game doesn't intend you fight them, instead you fight some tentacles and drop a giant stone...chandelier(?) on their heads, neatly solving the problem. And there's a useful staircase back to the main map just after that.

After that, came back to the keep, found some new quests markers and quests waiting for me. Was able to give the dwarf working on the wall some granite and direct him to the source of it, the quest to clear out the basements under the keep has updated(it was wierd to clear out one section and then nothing would happen). Alao found out I was expected to make Noble decisions for the Arling, wth supplicants asking for things or having to decide the fate of prisoners, which involves hearing their case quickly and then picking from a list of choices, which is kinda cool.

I do think the quests are a bit bugged though. Prior to this I was trying to finish as many sidequests as possible in the city and some of them don't seem to trigger properly. One invovles finding some records at the chantry, and by Andraste I've searched that building from top to bottom several times without finding the records I need. All the guards in the city seem to hate me because of the smuggler quest, which I don't think I realized I was pissing them off and I can't talk to them about it. Quest markers sometimes appear on NPCS but won't let me talk to them because apparently it's tied to main quest progression. Also, after I finished the "Last of the Legion" quest, I convinced Sigrun to become a grey Warden, but I'd already given both her and the Elf mage lady from the forest the joining(and the completed quests reflects that). I have the distinct feeling I was supposed to finish Sigrun's quest and talk to her before the joining was possible.

Also noticed some more fun asset reuse. In two of the side quests, notably the salvage quest and the hostage negotiation quest, both of which use maps that are from the last section of Leliana's Song DLC with no attempt to change them. Though I guess they were working on both at the same time and figured, Leliana's song is already full of recycled environments, why stop now?
 

meiam

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Also noticed some more fun asset reuse. In two of the side quests, notably the salvage quest and the hostage negotiation quest, both of which use maps that are from the last section of Leliana's Song DLC with no attempt to change them. Though I guess they were working on both at the same time and figured, Leliana's song is already full of recycled environments, why stop now?
Lol that's probably where they got the idea for DA2.

I don't really remember quest being bug, maybe that's a poor PC port?
 
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Lol that's probably where they got the idea for DA2.

I don't really remember quest being bug, maybe that's a poor PC port?
It's entirely possible. I've heard people talk about how the game tends to get really buggy at times. Notably in Origins near the endgame.

Sigrun's personal quest apparently doesn't trigger if you've started either the "Law and Order" or the Smuggler quest. Not finish, START. At least there's a fan patch workaround but it still shouldn't be required and this game came out 12 years ago for god's sake.
 
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