we lay it out on the map
Hello, friends! As soon as the school year concluded, I threw (most) responsibilities to the wind and started a playing Dragon Age: Origins. The last and only video game I played was FF7, which should give you some indication of how hilariously flummoxed I was by the Xbox controls. My lovely boyfriend talked me through the hard bits and programmed the characters to drink health potions at health <50%, which worked out nicely for a storyline-oriented playthrough. I didn't have to do very much replaying-due-to-party-death, though there was a bit of, "Oh no, the Xbox overheated and I didn't save in the last 15 minutes!"
I enjoyed DA:O lots, especially considering I knew next to nothing about it going in. I resisted looking up spoilers and got to be surprised every step of the way. I played a female city elf rogue, since I was impressed with the game's unique spin on elves. She very much did not want to get married and eke out a living in the Alienage. Becoming a Warden allowed her to (1) do something incredible with her life, and (2) preserve the good in the world.
...you can guess where this is going. My character was too noble to accept Morrigan's demon baby plan, especially when Alistair never liked her. She also wasn't about to let the new king sacrifice himself and throw Ferelden into chaos yet again, so MARTYR TIME. I knew there wasn't going to be an eleventh hour solution, so Denerim was an interminable slog to just DIE already. The actual death scene was pretty boss, though. Other ending elements I chose: Alistair ruling alone, Anora in a tower, Loghain executed. It was a nice touch when Alistair gave Cyrion a position in my name. THE CITY ELVES HAVE A VOICE.
All right, the next paragraphs are a jumble of thoughts in no particular order:
I enjoyed the world-building so, so much. Definitely want to read official novels and/or fic that expand on the political scene and the magic and the different races and EVERYTHING. (Tell me more about Orlais and Antiva, countries of murderous beautiful bisexuals!) The game was way darker than expected, so my default Chaotic Good gameplay had some serious repercussions.
Was pretty 50-50 on whether I loved or hated my companions. Morrigan disliked my goody-two-shoes character, so I didn't have many good conversations with her. She warmed up to me after I killed Flemeth, but I did that very late in the game. Sten didn't have any particular regard for me. Oghren's genius lesbian wife was MUCH more interesting (whyyyy at her fate) and Orzammar was a long slog, so I didn't play Oghren much. All right, onto preferred characters!
* Dog: I picked up a dog and named it Faithful, after the cat in the Song of the Lioness quartet. SUCH A GOOD IDEA, both picking up a dog in general and naming it so perfectly. A solid 60% of the serious campfire discussions with other characters had the dog barking in the background. SO MUCH INAPPROPRIATE LAUGHING.
* Wynne: Her interactions with Alistair were GOLD. He kept trying to adopt her as his grandma and she would tease him to death with hints of her past sexual exploits. Also, she is powered by a benevolent spirit, which is pretty nifty!!
* Zevran: I wish I hadn't picked him up so late in my playthrough, because he is a DELIGHT. I have to laugh at how perfectly he fills the Bishounen for a Certain Type of Fan role, complete with flowing elven locks and being SOLD as a CHILD. [sakura petals drift past]
* Leliana: The other beautiful amoral bisexual! I accidentally got pretty far into flirting with Leliana; the boyfriend did not remember which characters were bisexual. I loved her backstory (plz all the Leliana/Marjolaine), though I wish the game had done more with her vision from the Maker. Her song by the fire was SUCH a pretty scene and I can see myself replaying to romance her. If I get my character to survive the final battle, we can ride off into the sunset having awesome bisexual adventures!
* Alistair: I'm a sucker for the Lawful Stupid type when written well, and Alistair was so much fun! His sense of humor, his awkwardness about feelings, and his idealism in spite of his angsty backstory made for a DEEPLY endearing character. I decided to romance him early on after searching "best DA:O romances" and reading that Morrigan and Alistair romances tied in best with the plot. Oh, the naive me of last week.
LITTLE DID I KNOW that I was setting myself up for some terrible/wonderful angst by romancing the future king as a city elf! I was all, "Aww, the rose speech is so sweetly romantic! Total symbolism for how hard I'm gonna deflower you, bro!!" and then there was hilarious tent sex and then I was PUNCHED IN THE HEART by Alistair's commitment to the throne. At that point in the game, there was no way either of our characters would do anything other than nobly bury our feelings for the greater good.
(Side note: That kind of angst is LIKE CANDY to me and I would have enjoyed the last part of the game so much more if there had been LONGING GLANCES and SIGHS. I can't figure out if I accidentally reset our relationship to friendship, or if there were just no other dialogue options after Alistair initiated the break-up conversation. If there are LONGING GLANCES, I will slog through Denerim again!!!)
Up until I found out that Grey Wardens have to die to defeat archdemons, I was in the "hero saves the world, wins heart of loved one, they can marry regardless of class differences because HELLO SAVING THE WORLD" narrative. Rather naively, I admit. *G* After I realized there was no way to get things to work out, here's what I wish I had done with this playthrough:
* Played a still good-hearted but more self-interested character
* Hardened Alistair so that he'd be willing to accept a mistress
* Done the weird demon baby ritual! Everybody lives!
* Been raised up as a representative from the Alienage so I can enact socioeconomic change while making googly eyes at my king. And think of the angst when he has to get married!!!
Should I write fic, that is totally the scenario I'll choose. I want to romance the rest of the characters in future playthroughs, and likely that will spark my imagination as well. I'm also intrigued by Noble Lady Warden/Alistair. But right now I'm all caught up in TRAGIC CLASS/RACE DIFFERENCES, TRAGIC DESTINIES, DOOMED NOBLE SOULS.
...and I still need to play Awakening. And DA2. And DAI. (Please no spoilers for anything!) I know myself and I need to play the games fast, before I cave into temptation and read spoilery fic. Goodbye, productivity!
http://littledust.dreamwidth.org/558174.html |
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I enjoyed DA:O lots, especially considering I knew next to nothing about it going in. I resisted looking up spoilers and got to be surprised every step of the way. I played a female city elf rogue, since I was impressed with the game's unique spin on elves. She very much did not want to get married and eke out a living in the Alienage. Becoming a Warden allowed her to (1) do something incredible with her life, and (2) preserve the good in the world.
...you can guess where this is going. My character was too noble to accept Morrigan's demon baby plan, especially when Alistair never liked her. She also wasn't about to let the new king sacrifice himself and throw Ferelden into chaos yet again, so MARTYR TIME. I knew there wasn't going to be an eleventh hour solution, so Denerim was an interminable slog to just DIE already. The actual death scene was pretty boss, though. Other ending elements I chose: Alistair ruling alone, Anora in a tower, Loghain executed. It was a nice touch when Alistair gave Cyrion a position in my name. THE CITY ELVES HAVE A VOICE.
All right, the next paragraphs are a jumble of thoughts in no particular order:
I enjoyed the world-building so, so much. Definitely want to read official novels and/or fic that expand on the political scene and the magic and the different races and EVERYTHING. (Tell me more about Orlais and Antiva, countries of murderous beautiful bisexuals!) The game was way darker than expected, so my default Chaotic Good gameplay had some serious repercussions.
Was pretty 50-50 on whether I loved or hated my companions. Morrigan disliked my goody-two-shoes character, so I didn't have many good conversations with her. She warmed up to me after I killed Flemeth, but I did that very late in the game. Sten didn't have any particular regard for me. Oghren's genius lesbian wife was MUCH more interesting (whyyyy at her fate) and Orzammar was a long slog, so I didn't play Oghren much. All right, onto preferred characters!
* Dog: I picked up a dog and named it Faithful, after the cat in the Song of the Lioness quartet. SUCH A GOOD IDEA, both picking up a dog in general and naming it so perfectly. A solid 60% of the serious campfire discussions with other characters had the dog barking in the background. SO MUCH INAPPROPRIATE LAUGHING.
* Wynne: Her interactions with Alistair were GOLD. He kept trying to adopt her as his grandma and she would tease him to death with hints of her past sexual exploits. Also, she is powered by a benevolent spirit, which is pretty nifty!!
* Zevran: I wish I hadn't picked him up so late in my playthrough, because he is a DELIGHT. I have to laugh at how perfectly he fills the Bishounen for a Certain Type of Fan role, complete with flowing elven locks and being SOLD as a CHILD. [sakura petals drift past]
* Leliana: The other beautiful amoral bisexual! I accidentally got pretty far into flirting with Leliana; the boyfriend did not remember which characters were bisexual. I loved her backstory (plz all the Leliana/Marjolaine), though I wish the game had done more with her vision from the Maker. Her song by the fire was SUCH a pretty scene and I can see myself replaying to romance her. If I get my character to survive the final battle, we can ride off into the sunset having awesome bisexual adventures!
* Alistair: I'm a sucker for the Lawful Stupid type when written well, and Alistair was so much fun! His sense of humor, his awkwardness about feelings, and his idealism in spite of his angsty backstory made for a DEEPLY endearing character. I decided to romance him early on after searching "best DA:O romances" and reading that Morrigan and Alistair romances tied in best with the plot. Oh, the naive me of last week.
LITTLE DID I KNOW that I was setting myself up for some terrible/wonderful angst by romancing the future king as a city elf! I was all, "Aww, the rose speech is so sweetly romantic! Total symbolism for how hard I'm gonna deflower you, bro!!" and then there was hilarious tent sex and then I was PUNCHED IN THE HEART by Alistair's commitment to the throne. At that point in the game, there was no way either of our characters would do anything other than nobly bury our feelings for the greater good.
(Side note: That kind of angst is LIKE CANDY to me and I would have enjoyed the last part of the game so much more if there had been LONGING GLANCES and SIGHS. I can't figure out if I accidentally reset our relationship to friendship, or if there were just no other dialogue options after Alistair initiated the break-up conversation. If there are LONGING GLANCES, I will slog through Denerim again!!!)
Up until I found out that Grey Wardens have to die to defeat archdemons, I was in the "hero saves the world, wins heart of loved one, they can marry regardless of class differences because HELLO SAVING THE WORLD" narrative. Rather naively, I admit. *G* After I realized there was no way to get things to work out, here's what I wish I had done with this playthrough:
* Played a still good-hearted but more self-interested character
* Hardened Alistair so that he'd be willing to accept a mistress
* Done the weird demon baby ritual! Everybody lives!
* Been raised up as a representative from the Alienage so I can enact socioeconomic change while making googly eyes at my king. And think of the angst when he has to get married!!!
Should I write fic, that is totally the scenario I'll choose. I want to romance the rest of the characters in future playthroughs, and likely that will spark my imagination as well. I'm also intrigued by Noble Lady Warden/Alistair. But right now I'm all caught up in TRAGIC CLASS/RACE DIFFERENCES, TRAGIC DESTINIES, DOOMED NOBLE SOULS.
...and I still need to play Awakening. And DA2. And DAI. (Please no spoilers for anything!) I know myself and I need to play the games fast, before I cave into temptation and read spoilery fic. Goodbye, productivity!
http://littledust.dreamwidth.org/558174.html |
comments | Comment at Dreamwidth