(no subject)
So I just finished my second DA2 playthrough! It was tough, man. It was my m!warrior, Rowan. He pretty much ended up being the complete opposite of Marian.
He started out just being my generic aggressive asshole. (Because Marian was mostly sarcastic and Saffiya is diplomatic.) And for awhile I HATED him. I didn't even want to play, I hated him so much. In Act 1 he was a huge asshat. Really SRS BSNS and putting his family first, but being a dick about it. He was also pretty cheap, saving money like crazy for this Deep Roads thing. I didn't even have him buy armor or weapons or anything. So ~singleminded~. (BUT HE DID SPEND SOME SILVERS AT THE PEARL, OH HO HO.)
The only reason he did anything nice at all in Act 1 was because Bethany was around going "SRSLY?" She was his one weak spot. (For instance, if Bethany was not in the party, he would never have talked to Merrill, lol. I JUST FELT SO GUILTY.) (Merrill was super adorable though. He was such a jerk to her and she's like WE'RE FRIENDS RIGHT???)
Also, he has a huge crush on Aveline. (WHO DOESN'T.) But he doesn't do anything about it because, hello, Wesley JUST died. a year ago, whatever
And then... I killed Bethany off in the Deep Roads (one of the saddest fucking things ever, jsyk) and he cried really manly tears. And got REALLY insufferable afterwards. (And this is about when I stopped playing for a few days because what a jerk, lol.) Understandable, but still, I wanted to punch him through the TV.
I didn't really start liking him until I started the Isabela romance, even though now I think it was a bit of a mistake, idk. I figure he started up something with her in between Acts 1 and 2 or something, idk. Casual, you know? But during the main conversation in Act 2 of course he brought up the "L" word~ (Er, not "lesbian" (or "lesbians")...) (Which was just me being selfish and wanting to continue the relationship. SIGH. And maybe he did too, I guess.)
Idk if that is before of after "The Long Road" with Aveline. He was flirting with her like crazy, and it was just so, so adorable that it went right over her head. Well, he didn't think it was cute... he was pretty pissed. And I think he hates Donnic for awhile. Like, hardcore. "TAKE THIS FUCKING COIN. GO TO THE GODDAMN HANGED MAN, ASSHOLE."
Anders killed the girl in "Dissent" and Rowan told him to leave (probably after punching him, lets face it.) This was a sucky decision. I missed Anders a lot :C But that means I played almost the entire game without mages! Which I was pretty proud of. And I probably played 99% of it on Hard! This is an accomplishment! lol
Okay, no, I think I really started liking him after "All That Remains". When Isabela showed up afterwards I was like, D'AWW. I was worried she wouldn't, but it was so adorable and awkward :') And afterward, Rowan went and totally blamed Aveline and the guard for it. He didn't mean it, but *SHRUG* it's Rowan. It was still really nice though. Worth the Rivalry, haha. I still had Aveline's Friendship maxed by the end, but he did get a fair amount of Rivalry in the beginning. Ha, especially with the shield. He was like FINE DON'T TAKE IT, THEN! x)
Anyway.
As I mentioned, I romanced Isabela... Which means... high friendship... which means... SHE CAME BACK AT THE END OF ACT 2 YESSSS!!!! It was so great. And Rowan was pissed because this was right after she betrayed him for a big boat in the Fade and THEN she ran off with the Relic and he was like, WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK but then she comes back and HELL YES HE DUELED THE ARISHOK FOR HER (on casual). It was so romantic, lol. SIGH. If that's not love, I don't know what is, haha.
And, idek what it was, but it's so weird/cool how his personality seemed to change without me doing anything. Because I pretty much picked the aggressive/red options the entire game but towards the end it was just... different! Idk! He seemed sassier or something, which I liked. I love during Isabela's Act 3 quest he's always like "Can't we just kill him?" about everyone LOL like that is his answer for everything or something. I can't believe he hit her at the beginning! I was not really expecting that to happen. I felt bad afterwards :C
Oh ho ho, and then they finally have their big romance thing in Act 3 and she's like, "Just tell me if I have a chance with you." and he's like "I've been waiting for years." (lol) AND THEN I do "A Murder of Crows" and she trots off and bangs Zevran. LOL. I was like, SERIOUSLY? And Rowan went stomping back to Kirkwall like a child throwing a tantrum.
(And call me old fashioned but a small part of me is like, what is the point of this romance, then?? lol)
AND THEN, what really changed my opinion of him was when he was talking to (King) Alistair. (I used the pre-set Dalish origin for this playthrough cause I don't have any others besides Kallian's finished, lol.) And Alistair says "What you can do is protect Kirkwall. It will take someone like you to keep it from falling apart." and Rowan says "I'm the Champion. If there's a danger, I'll deal with it." It was like DING!! Rowan's going to be Viscount. I had started with the intention of him siding with the templars, but things flip-flopped a bit as the game went on and I wasn't too sure what was going to happen. This pretty much solidified his character for me. Like this was his calling, and now he and Alistair would be Bros 4 Lyfe. (This is also when I started doubting his relationship with Isabela. I don't think he could tie her down or would want to, and he definitely plans on staying in Kirkwall, at least for a little while. Screw what Varric says at the end, haha.)
It was cool to see him change over the course of the game, because Marian was pretty much static the entire time (MAAAGEESSSS!!)
So, yeah. He sides with the templars in the end, which was just fucking horrible. I had planned on Saffiya siding with the templars too, just because I like the idea of it (FOR TEH DRAMA), but idk how that's going to work. It was heartbreaking, but still enlightening to see things from a different perspective! Especially because I haven't been hanging around Anders the entire game! I hate to admit it, but there it is. There was like, zero mage talk this entire playthrough. (I somehow missed Fenris's Act 2 quest, avoided Merrill, had a dead sister. If anything he viewed them kind of negatively after "All That Remains", but by the end wasn't like GRR ARG!) So it all seemed like, really crazy and out of nowhere. Rowan was more concerned with becoming Viscount than the whole mage vs templar thing, and spent a lot of time telling everyone to just STFU and it really did seem like Anders forced his hand. So he sided with the templars because siding with rebel mages wasn't going to get him anywhere. He does want to do good for Kirkwall. ("You want peace in Kirkwall? This is where we create it!") And it's not like he's a total mage hater or anything; he still stands up to Meredith and spares the mages that ask for it. Orsino going all crazy makes a little more sense this way though.
That said, the whole thing was really hard for me! I do not like killing mages and I do not like killing Anders, because I AGREE WITH HIM, UGH :( UGH UGH UGH IT JUST SUCKED. I got some interesting(/depressing) Anders dialogue though. And I can't believe no one turned on me! :| What's up with that, man? AND WHAT IS UP WITH ISABELA/HAWKE GETTING A FUCKING KISS??? ASLKF;JASF UGH PROBLEMS WITH THIS FOREVER!! CAN'T PRO-MAGE HAWKE/ANDERS GET A LITTLE ACTION?!? sheesh. :C
One thing that was really interesting this time was how different the tone was. Marian ran around with Anders and Fenris so there was a lotta talk about MAGES(!!!) which I didn't even mind then, because Marian was like MAGES!!!!!! too. But Rowan mostly had Varric (or sometimes Fenris), Isabela, and Aveline and it is CONSTANT LOLS omg. I think the party banter changed the way I played the game, honestly.
ALSO!! So he told Anders to leave, Anders leaves. He's not in the clinic anymore (which uh, kind of pissed me off. YOU NEED TO HELP THESE PEOPLE!) but he still shows up in Act 3 talking to Varric about the Black/Beer/Kittenmarsh! :|
And I feel like there were way more Blood Mages in this game... EVERYWHERE. SWEET JESUS. And constantly killing me! :|
So, uh, yeah, all in all it was pretty fucking good! It's so much better than Origins, because I actually feel like I'm playing a different game each time! *mind blown*
Now I guess I'll go work on Saffiya's and get to the Fenrismancin' awwwww yeah.
He started out just being my generic aggressive asshole. (Because Marian was mostly sarcastic and Saffiya is diplomatic.) And for awhile I HATED him. I didn't even want to play, I hated him so much. In Act 1 he was a huge asshat. Really SRS BSNS and putting his family first, but being a dick about it. He was also pretty cheap, saving money like crazy for this Deep Roads thing. I didn't even have him buy armor or weapons or anything. So ~singleminded~. (BUT HE DID SPEND SOME SILVERS AT THE PEARL, OH HO HO.)
The only reason he did anything nice at all in Act 1 was because Bethany was around going "SRSLY?" She was his one weak spot. (For instance, if Bethany was not in the party, he would never have talked to Merrill, lol. I JUST FELT SO GUILTY.) (Merrill was super adorable though. He was such a jerk to her and she's like WE'RE FRIENDS RIGHT???)
Also, he has a huge crush on Aveline. (WHO DOESN'T.) But he doesn't do anything about it because, hello, Wesley JUST died. a year ago, whatever
And then... I killed Bethany off in the Deep Roads (one of the saddest fucking things ever, jsyk) and he cried really manly tears. And got REALLY insufferable afterwards. (And this is about when I stopped playing for a few days because what a jerk, lol.) Understandable, but still, I wanted to punch him through the TV.
I didn't really start liking him until I started the Isabela romance, even though now I think it was a bit of a mistake, idk. I figure he started up something with her in between Acts 1 and 2 or something, idk. Casual, you know? But during the main conversation in Act 2 of course he brought up the "L" word~ (Er, not "lesbian" (or "lesbians")...) (Which was just me being selfish and wanting to continue the relationship. SIGH. And maybe he did too, I guess.)
Idk if that is before of after "The Long Road" with Aveline. He was flirting with her like crazy, and it was just so, so adorable that it went right over her head. Well, he didn't think it was cute... he was pretty pissed. And I think he hates Donnic for awhile. Like, hardcore. "TAKE THIS FUCKING COIN. GO TO THE GODDAMN HANGED MAN, ASSHOLE."
Anders killed the girl in "Dissent" and Rowan told him to leave (probably after punching him, lets face it.) This was a sucky decision. I missed Anders a lot :C But that means I played almost the entire game without mages! Which I was pretty proud of. And I probably played 99% of it on Hard! This is an accomplishment! lol
Okay, no, I think I really started liking him after "All That Remains". When Isabela showed up afterwards I was like, D'AWW. I was worried she wouldn't, but it was so adorable and awkward :') And afterward, Rowan went and totally blamed Aveline and the guard for it. He didn't mean it, but *SHRUG* it's Rowan. It was still really nice though. Worth the Rivalry, haha. I still had Aveline's Friendship maxed by the end, but he did get a fair amount of Rivalry in the beginning. Ha, especially with the shield. He was like FINE DON'T TAKE IT, THEN! x)
Anyway.
As I mentioned, I romanced Isabela... Which means... high friendship... which means... SHE CAME BACK AT THE END OF ACT 2 YESSSS!!!! It was so great. And Rowan was pissed because this was right after she betrayed him for a big boat in the Fade and THEN she ran off with the Relic and he was like, WHAT THE FUCKING FUCK but then she comes back and HELL YES HE DUELED THE ARISHOK FOR HER (on casual). It was so romantic, lol. SIGH. If that's not love, I don't know what is, haha.
And, idek what it was, but it's so weird/cool how his personality seemed to change without me doing anything. Because I pretty much picked the aggressive/red options the entire game but towards the end it was just... different! Idk! He seemed sassier or something, which I liked. I love during Isabela's Act 3 quest he's always like "Can't we just kill him?" about everyone LOL like that is his answer for everything or something. I can't believe he hit her at the beginning! I was not really expecting that to happen. I felt bad afterwards :C
Oh ho ho, and then they finally have their big romance thing in Act 3 and she's like, "Just tell me if I have a chance with you." and he's like "I've been waiting for years." (lol) AND THEN I do "A Murder of Crows" and she trots off and bangs Zevran. LOL. I was like, SERIOUSLY? And Rowan went stomping back to Kirkwall like a child throwing a tantrum.
(And call me old fashioned but a small part of me is like, what is the point of this romance, then?? lol)
AND THEN, what really changed my opinion of him was when he was talking to (King) Alistair. (I used the pre-set Dalish origin for this playthrough cause I don't have any others besides Kallian's finished, lol.) And Alistair says "What you can do is protect Kirkwall. It will take someone like you to keep it from falling apart." and Rowan says "I'm the Champion. If there's a danger, I'll deal with it." It was like DING!! Rowan's going to be Viscount. I had started with the intention of him siding with the templars, but things flip-flopped a bit as the game went on and I wasn't too sure what was going to happen. This pretty much solidified his character for me. Like this was his calling, and now he and Alistair would be Bros 4 Lyfe. (This is also when I started doubting his relationship with Isabela. I don't think he could tie her down or would want to, and he definitely plans on staying in Kirkwall, at least for a little while. Screw what Varric says at the end, haha.)
It was cool to see him change over the course of the game, because Marian was pretty much static the entire time (MAAAGEESSSS!!)
So, yeah. He sides with the templars in the end, which was just fucking horrible. I had planned on Saffiya siding with the templars too, just because I like the idea of it (FOR TEH DRAMA), but idk how that's going to work. It was heartbreaking, but still enlightening to see things from a different perspective! Especially because I haven't been hanging around Anders the entire game! I hate to admit it, but there it is. There was like, zero mage talk this entire playthrough. (I somehow missed Fenris's Act 2 quest, avoided Merrill, had a dead sister. If anything he viewed them kind of negatively after "All That Remains", but by the end wasn't like GRR ARG!) So it all seemed like, really crazy and out of nowhere. Rowan was more concerned with becoming Viscount than the whole mage vs templar thing, and spent a lot of time telling everyone to just STFU and it really did seem like Anders forced his hand. So he sided with the templars because siding with rebel mages wasn't going to get him anywhere. He does want to do good for Kirkwall. ("You want peace in Kirkwall? This is where we create it!") And it's not like he's a total mage hater or anything; he still stands up to Meredith and spares the mages that ask for it. Orsino going all crazy makes a little more sense this way though.
That said, the whole thing was really hard for me! I do not like killing mages and I do not like killing Anders, because I AGREE WITH HIM, UGH :( UGH UGH UGH IT JUST SUCKED. I got some interesting(/depressing) Anders dialogue though. And I can't believe no one turned on me! :| What's up with that, man? AND WHAT IS UP WITH ISABELA/HAWKE GETTING A FUCKING KISS??? ASLKF;JASF UGH PROBLEMS WITH THIS FOREVER!! CAN'T PRO-MAGE HAWKE/ANDERS GET A LITTLE ACTION?!? sheesh. :C
One thing that was really interesting this time was how different the tone was. Marian ran around with Anders and Fenris so there was a lotta talk about MAGES(!!!) which I didn't even mind then, because Marian was like MAGES!!!!!! too. But Rowan mostly had Varric (or sometimes Fenris), Isabela, and Aveline and it is CONSTANT LOLS omg. I think the party banter changed the way I played the game, honestly.
ALSO!! So he told Anders to leave, Anders leaves. He's not in the clinic anymore (which uh, kind of pissed me off. YOU NEED TO HELP THESE PEOPLE!) but he still shows up in Act 3 talking to Varric about the Black/Beer/Kittenmarsh! :|
And I feel like there were way more Blood Mages in this game... EVERYWHERE. SWEET JESUS. And constantly killing me! :|
So, uh, yeah, all in all it was pretty fucking good! It's so much better than Origins, because I actually feel like I'm playing a different game each time! *mind blown*
Now I guess I'll go work on Saffiya's and get to the Fenrismancin' awwwww yeah.