Dragon Age
Finished it. Went back and read all the other flist comments from those who finished it and am pretty much in agreement with folks. Spoilers ahoy.
I enjoyed it. More than Mass Effect, even, in terms of replay-ability. To me, Mass Effect almost played out as a movie, so in terms of story, excellent, but as a game, kind of boring to play through a second time. It sounds like Bioware listened to a lot of the previous complaints and dealt with them, some to my liking, others, not so much.
*14 year old fangirls whining about true love: Alistair the Virgin
*The fact that the male romanceable npc is always a variant on Carth: Alistair and/or Zevran
*The games are so easy I made Malak cry uncle on the hardest difficulty without breaking a sweat: I finished this game on casual, I admit it
I really like the different origin possibilities, but some of them seem more half-cocked than the others. The dwarven commoner was fantastic in that it really explains why you were worthy to be chosen by Duncan. You spend that entire introduction carving your way up the ranks, defying the caste system and are nearly executed because kicked the living snot out of the best of the warrior caste, men and women who were supposedly bred to be the best, whereas you should be nothing more than a prostitute or criminal.
I just started a magi, however, and while fun, it's almost as though the honor of warden is bestowed upon you for shits and giggles. The same can be said of the human noble, but not as much as the magi. I can't comment for any other origins, haven't seen them, yet.
I love that every action has a consequence. And not just for party dynamics, either. Owen? The blacksmith in Redcliffe? Come back to Redcliffe later and there's a new blacksmith in town, because the dude hangs himself. And the party banter. Oh, the party banter. There's even banters between party members and the dog.
I didn't have the problem with Zevran that everyone else did. But then again, I also found both of his cutscene gifts (the Dalish gloves and Antivan boots.) I thought he was going to be over-the-top eyeroll guy, especially since I came across the, "What is it you fancy, exactly?" dialogue and couldn't resist, because I'm a dork. I don't know if it's the fact that he's so shameless about it, or indiscriminate with his come-ons to all other party members as well, but the dude grew on me. Given his background, it comes off more as he's being pleasant and sociable with you in the only way he knows how, as opposed to just being uncouth and rude like say, Oghren. Oghren cracks me up too, by the way.
It was a little glitchy in terms of dialogue near the end. Alistair kept talking to me about being king when I picked Anora over him, and the Redcliffe scenario reads in the codex like I got help from the Circle of Magi, even though I used the arlessa as a blood sacrifice. But overall, definitely worth it and I will replay it in the future. I'm just saddened that I can't find any fic that offers up the future adventures of Sten and dog. Because those two had a, "let's kill things for the good of mankind and then I'll curl up and nap at your feet" kind of chemistry.
*14 year old fangirls whining about true love: Alistair the Virgin
*The fact that the male romanceable npc is always a variant on Carth: Alistair and/or Zevran
*The games are so easy I made Malak cry uncle on the hardest difficulty without breaking a sweat: I finished this game on casual, I admit it
I really like the different origin possibilities, but some of them seem more half-cocked than the others. The dwarven commoner was fantastic in that it really explains why you were worthy to be chosen by Duncan. You spend that entire introduction carving your way up the ranks, defying the caste system and are nearly executed because kicked the living snot out of the best of the warrior caste, men and women who were supposedly bred to be the best, whereas you should be nothing more than a prostitute or criminal.
I just started a magi, however, and while fun, it's almost as though the honor of warden is bestowed upon you for shits and giggles. The same can be said of the human noble, but not as much as the magi. I can't comment for any other origins, haven't seen them, yet.
I love that every action has a consequence. And not just for party dynamics, either. Owen? The blacksmith in Redcliffe? Come back to Redcliffe later and there's a new blacksmith in town, because the dude hangs himself. And the party banter. Oh, the party banter. There's even banters between party members and the dog.
I didn't have the problem with Zevran that everyone else did. But then again, I also found both of his cutscene gifts (the Dalish gloves and Antivan boots.) I thought he was going to be over-the-top eyeroll guy, especially since I came across the, "What is it you fancy, exactly?" dialogue and couldn't resist, because I'm a dork. I don't know if it's the fact that he's so shameless about it, or indiscriminate with his come-ons to all other party members as well, but the dude grew on me. Given his background, it comes off more as he's being pleasant and sociable with you in the only way he knows how, as opposed to just being uncouth and rude like say, Oghren. Oghren cracks me up too, by the way.
It was a little glitchy in terms of dialogue near the end. Alistair kept talking to me about being king when I picked Anora over him, and the Redcliffe scenario reads in the codex like I got help from the Circle of Magi, even though I used the arlessa as a blood sacrifice. But overall, definitely worth it and I will replay it in the future. I'm just saddened that I can't find any fic that offers up the future adventures of Sten and dog. Because those two had a, "let's kill things for the good of mankind and then I'll curl up and nap at your feet" kind of chemistry.