Re: the Dragon I think the idea was that Corypheus put part of his life essence (or whatever) into the dragon so he somehow regenerated or was reborn even if the Corypheus body dies. When the dragon was defeated, that bit went back into Cory and you were able to kill him for good. You know, or somethin'
Senior Prom was a little stressful at the time with the high society countdown timer or whatever but, despite my bumbling, I think I was at 95 or 100 when that part ended anyway and next time I'll at least have an idea of what's expected of me.
Re: Blackwall I assume he never went through a joining which is why he was not drawn by the same frantic madness that inspired the real wardens to do all their goofy warden stuff and was all "I dunno" about why the Wardens left.
Agreed about Skyhold. I don't think I unlocked more than 10-15% of the "design" options although I did do all the upgrades. And the fact that it's never attacked or tested as a fortress seemed bizarre.
I'm not in love with either sword 'n board warrior as a personality which is too bad since my rogue will need a tank. Last playthrough as a warrior, it worked out since I could take The Iron Bull and play tank myself. Cole I still want to drown and might send him off this time around since I'm playing dagger-rogue anyway. Viv gets old but she's okay in some small doses -- her reactions to Sera trying to taunt her are amusing.
Sera is probably my least favorite character (though I loved her at first).
Vivienne is pretty low on the list, BUT I suspect she'll be much higher once I actually get her speaking. Stupid companions who are difficult to get approval for. Same with Iron Bull - I've gotten enough to be pretty sure I like him, and he's interesting, but too little to actually form a real judgement.
Side note: I wish the whole "approval changes when they aren't with you" thing was more universal. I'll get approval changes for characters not with me for some actions, but then things like Solas' elven artifacts and Blackwall's warden items, I won't. And that's irritating, because HAVING to have a companion around for missions that involve traversing large expanses of land is really annoying.
____________________________
IDrownFish wrote:
Anyways, you all are horrible, @#%^ed up people
lolgaxe wrote:
Never underestimate the healing power of a massive dong.
Even worse is the "Blackwall would have liked to see this" guilt message letting you know that you just screwed up your companion choices for that bit.
I rather liked Blackwall's story, it was pleasantly unexpected. Afterwards, I kept his *** around though, he's the best tank by far. I realized last night after finishing the game that I only did half of the companion quests. I ended up missing out on Ironbull, Sera, Solas, and Cole. Of the ones that I did do Blackwall and Varric were my favorites. Finally met Bianca.
I'm happy companion gearing is back, and I love the diversity of looks...
But I also really wouldn't mind some somewhat-subpar "levels with you" gear. Keeping 9 companions geared is a little more than I'm interested in.
That way, min-maxing still solidly favors gearing your characters, but there's a decent fall-back for the characters you're not necessarily using so much (or if you're just not interested).
____________________________
IDrownFish wrote:
Anyways, you all are horrible, @#%^ed up people
lolgaxe wrote:
Never underestimate the healing power of a massive dong.
I'd just knock out armor with whatever metal/leather/cloth I had the most of at the time. A few, I barely geared at all until the very end. Then I got them in some decent gear because I was worried about a DA:O scenario where all the companions are used and having half of them in crappy iron/cotton/ram leather gear.
Who actually uses the entire spectrum of companions in a playthrough? There are always a few annoying tossers, and if you pick a favourite squad of 3-4 it adds a lot to a replay - you can just go with a different squad rather than trying to remember who you took for each quest and mission.
I'd just knock out armor with whatever metal/leather/cloth I had the most of at the time. A few, I barely geared at all until the very end. Then I got them in some decent gear because I was worried about a DA:O scenario where all the companions are used and having half of them in crappy iron/cotton/ram leather gear.
I did the same, and it figures it was all for naught
We have a patch for PC coming out today to address some of the issues players have been having. Here’s a list of the upcoming changes:
Release date: December 9, 2014
Singleplayer
Fixed case where game would incorrectly think the player has more than one race/class/gender Fixed case where users who changed their voice off of default, would have their voice set back to default when interacting with Hawke’s chargen settings. Increased duration that search highlights things, and added highlighted items to radar while they are highlighted. Fixed several conversation lines which would take a very long time to advance to the next line unless they were manually skipped. Fixed case where followers could float above the ground after extended periods of play [PC] Fixed some hitching in conversations. [PC] Pressing the interact key (default “Fâ€) will take everything from containers. [PC] Hair should be less shiny on lower quality settings. [PC] Improved push-to-talk functionality when using keyboard and mouse [PC] Added ability to rotate character models with the mouse in UI’s that show character models [PC] Added an option to enable / disable tactical camera on mouse wheel scroll out. [PC] Hiding the HUD on the PC will now hide all UI elements [PC] Fixed being able to drag abilities from a tree that was not selected onto the quickbar [PC] Fixed being able to toggle UI state for the tactical camera on the quickbar when the tactical camera is unusable [PC] Fixed case where clicking quickbar elements in Eyefinity would trigger attacks [PC] fixed case where extra mouse-up events were triggering in UIs [PC] Fixed issue where mouse-up events were missed when dragging off of UI elements and then releasing the mouse button [PC] Fixed loading Icon not animating while Mantle creates shaders during load screens. [PC] Fixed mouse cursor flashing while targeting AOEs [PC] Fixed situation that could result in a hang on the start menu. [PC] Fixed situation where war table could become non-interactive until users right clicked on it. [PC] Fixed situation which could cause mouse-look to snap to a facing rather than turning smoothly [PC] Holding right click and pressing the camera turn buttons in tactical camera will cause the cursor to strafe in the same manner the camera behaves outside tactical camera [PC] Made some changes that should improve Mantle performance [PC] quickbar indicator for pause state should no longer remain highlighted when game is not paused [PS3] Increased number of save slots to 30 [PS4] Improved conversation performance during fast install [PS4] Increased number of save slots to 50 [360] Fixed case where movies sometimes decoded incorrectly [360] Fixed Crash when selecting storage device when select storage device warning is present [360] Fixed the online connection error being displayed twice when attempting to login to Origin with no Xbox live connection. Assorted stability improvements Fixed crash that could occur after some conversations Certain boss creatures are now immune to Disruption Field Creatures in rag doll will now pause when the game is paused Fix to Spirit Blade so it longer triggers combos Fixed a couple focus abilities to be weapon agnostic Fixed a few DA Keep world state import reactivity checks. Fixed a few situations that could result in there being no conversation selection indicator during conversations Fixed an issue caused by changing characters at the same as targeting an AOE ability Fixed Audio cutting out when using AOE abilities while radial menu is open. Fixed being unable to finish quest “Safe Keeping†if the user places key fragments in the forger, then leaves the zone without getting the finished key. Fixed camera shaking when making small camera adjustments during character creation Fixed case where blizzard would pause the game when it turns off Fixed case where controller rumble would get permanently disabled Fixed case where Imshael could end up in a location where players could not fight him. Fixed case where interaction text would not update in tactical camera Fixed case where mana or stamina was incorrectly displayed on mounted character’s portraits Fixed case where users could get stuck loading a save in a certain dragon combat area Fixed case where users could get stuck on an infinite “Connecting to Dragon Age Servers†Fixed Crippling Blows to have a 15% damage bonus instead of .15% Fixed Cullen’s hair having some strange shadows during cinematics Fixed exploit that would allow bypassing ability cool-downs in certain circumstances Fixed exploit that would allow users to take no damage. Fixed issue where orders to interact with trebuchets made in tactical mode were un-interruptable. Fixed issue where user loses control of the party if he enters tactical camera at the same time as a cinematic triggers Fixed issue which could cause potion counts to be reset due to party member changes. Fixed issue which could result in an infinite “Connecting to Dragon Age Servers†on the main menu. Fixed issue which could result in the Radial menu not staying open Fixed issue which could result in the screen re-sizing UI to stop working until exiting and re-entering the screen re-sizing UI. Fixed scripted autosave in the western approach which was made which if loaded could result in certain NPCs to not show up until after leaving the area and coming back. Fixed situation where followers could get stuck while pathfinding to the player. Fixed some of the collectible books being non-interactive in Skyhold Fixed slot types on several crafted items Fixed some item names getting cut off in stores Fixed weapon type on several crafted weapon parts. Ground rings scale on Dragons in Tactical Camera Radar will be shown during radar tutorial, even if the UI is set to be hidden Radar will show way points immediately after coming out of UIs, no longer requires player to move first. Target lock is cleared when entering tactical mode. Unified sort order for stat listings during item modification
Multiplayer
Fixed issue which could result in negative XP being granted in some multiplayer matches Fixed crash that could occur while switching characters in some multiplayer menus Cursed chests in multiplayer no longer look different from un-cursed ones Fixed some missing information on end of match screens when servers are slow in Multiplayer. Fixed Players losing their ability to target when dying while recovering object in multiplayer Fixed situation where host migration after end of match would fail to show end of match details for the remaining players Fixed issue with players being interrupted while interacting with objects in Multiplayer Fixed issue where host can be returned to an empty lobby after quitting out of a match while in the operation failed state Improved appearance of ledge drop-downs in multiplayer. Fixed case which could cause keys to not drop in Multiplayer Fixed case in Multiplayer where players could attempt to use abilities while dead.
1. Still a little shocked about the Solas spoilers. And a little hazy on the timeline. When did he go to sleep, and when did he wake up? My best guess is it was during the events of The Masked Empire, but it's not said for certain. Why did he hand the Orb over to Corypheus; I know, he says because Corypheus had the power to use it, but couldn't he have found someone else? What was his goal with the Orb? At the end, did he kill/absorb Flemeth/Mythal, or did they possess him?
2. After doing Blackwall's story I never want to use him again. It also felt very... unresolved. After sentencing I expected a cut-scene when talking to him... but he stayed bland and boring with nothing unique to say for the rest of the game. I was a little annoyed that it never came out and explicitly said he never went through the Joining.
3. I think I accidentally "hardened" Leliana in this game, and her personality shift is awkward. She goes full homicidal. And then became the Divine. Nice. Chantry runs red with blood.
4. When Alistair appeared at the end of Redcliffe (sided with mages), why was there no mention of him hearing The Calling like every other warden in the world? Unless his mother's cure somehow passed to him and now he's lost his Grey Wardening abilities too?
5. Now that we know what the Eluvians do, why did they kill people in previous games, and why was it so bad that Merrill was playing around with one? I guess the latter makes sense since she was making deals with demons and the Eluvian puts them into a place "next to" the Fade. Maybe it's easier to gain possession there?
6. Why wasn't the idea of the Joining floated to Alexius? He was dying of Blight poisoning; may as well have taken the 33% chance to live as a Grey Warden, right?
7. Time travel in Redcliffe with Fiona. How did that work? Obviously the entire world didn't travel, because the Inquisitor remembers the meeting but Fiona forgets it.
8. The whole "the dragon is Corypheus's weak-point!" seems a little ridiculous. I won't ask to explain it, as it's BS. Unless someone thinks it's not and can explain why it would weaken him.
9. Did whoever you leave in the Fade possibly survive? The option doesn't say they WILL die, just that it's likely. I don't recall seeing them fall in combat. As a side note, anyone else disappointed we didn't get to fight the giant Nightmare Spider?
10. Wicked Hearts was neat looking back at it, but stressful as heck at the time. I felt like I was running around looking for something unknown. I thought the ending I got was ok (Celene lives, Gaspard executed, Briala exiled, Florianne boxed), but I honestly didn't quite understand what I was doing at the time. I think it'll just be frustrating on subsequent runs.
11. I'm looking forward to mixing it up a bit for teammates in my next game. This game I used Varric every time and Blackwall instead of Cassandra after I recruited him. Last spot was either Solas or Dorian, usually Solas. Now I'm tempted to go tank in this game (female dwarf warrior), use Sera instead of Varric, and either grab Iron Bull or Cole as my fourth. My mage will be Dorian, as I couldn't stand Vivienne after a few banter conversations. Anyone else have dedicated bench-warmers?
12. I was a little disappointed in Skyhold. Only three infrastructure upgrades, no customization possible for them. I had hoped that the effort put into the castle would have some result on the ending (like Vigil's Keep in Awakening).
Figured I'd respond for some of those. =X
6. I think the argument is that a) it's secret knowledge and b) the only one who could have actually known and offered that option to him for sure there is Fiona, and she's probably not inclined to be helpful like that. Obviously, depending on your canon, Varric's a valid source too.
7. They never really explained it, as far as I could tell.
8. They're basically saying that Corypheus is a lich and the dragon is his phylactery, to use D&D terms. He takes over another blighted body if his current body dies, and it looks like he gets to pick, so if he wanted to get away, he could always pick a darkspawn in the Deep Roads, let's say. That's what they demonstrate in Arbor Wilds. If you didn't kill the dragon, he'd just reform again after he dies, and you wouldn't have any control over where he goes.
9. Very disappointed it wasn't an optional encounter.
10. You were trying to put someone stable on the throne, and the recommended choices were Celene or Gaspard. If you open most of the doors and look around inside, you can basically turn the tables on all three of them by pointing out that they're all at fault for the whole mess.
11. I cycle through specific party members on each playthrough as well. When I go through a 3rd time, it is going to be Cole/Vivienne/Iron Bull in the main party.
That radar thing will be awesome. And glad they fixed voice hitching since I'd been notic-noticing it a lot lately.
I must be the only one who wasn't surprised/disappointed about giant Fade spider not being a fight. I could tell immediately it was too big for that to happen, even from a technical standpoint.
Side note: I wish the whole "approval changes when they aren't with you" thing was more universal. I'll get approval changes for characters not with me for some actions, but then things like Solas' elven artifacts and Blackwall's warden items, I won't. And that's irritating, because HAVING to have a companion around for missions that involve traversing large expanses of land is really annoying.
Whenever I went back to blackwall to talk to him he always acknowledge me finding them. He guilt trip me a bit but I still get the approval rating. It did **** me off I could be exploring an area but my group would get pissed at me for simply picking this up because I didn't first go get blackwall. What happens to the artifacts when I pick them up does someone claim dominance over it and he can't look at them anymore?
To the dragon thing.
The dragon thing seems weird to me because we can explain it till we are blue in the face but he didn't have one in DA2 legacy DLC. So how was he able to regen then? The only thing I can come up with is that he spent so much energy making the thing the kick back kills his ability to regen a bit.
What happens to the artifacts when I pick them up does someone claim dominance over it and he can't look at them anymore?
I like that. Solas picks up some artifact, say "This is a nice find. Too bad Blackwall wasn't here to see it" and then whips it at the wall just to be a dick
I got the cool, got the cool hair shine. We are fixing this issue by taking specularity to 11 on all settings!
In other news I am enjoying my mage run so far. Doing IB, BW, Sera, and me Dalish female elf this run. Feeling laid back, since I have a handle on the game, the pacing, the flow and where things are. Sometimes I enjoy second runs more for that reason. I enjoyed the first run plenty but at times felt overwhelmed by wtfshouldIdonext.
Looks like the patch helps fix two of the overpowered classes:
Quote:
Fix to Spirit Blade so it longer triggers combos ... Fixed exploit that would allow bypassing ability cool-downs in certain circumstances
If that second one means what I think it means, Tempest will no longer be able to use Focus abilities without losing Focus while under Fire Flask? And while the Knight-Enchanter change is indeed a nerf, I don't think it's a huge one. You'll still be detonating with Veiled Blast every few seconds anyway.
The new radar thing is nice. I wish resources were a different color dot than "environment" things. Annoying to chase a dot and have it be a ladder or similar. Game is easier second time around when you know what you're doing. So says my level 5 rogue with Tier 2 daggers for 218 DPS each.
So my world state loaded this time and helped show the limitations of the Keep. I flagged myself as having has a relationship with Leliana, which I had. But I also married Anora and became king so Leliana told me toodles in the DA:O epilogue, apparently being too good to stay around and be my screw-buddy while I was married. But the World State apparently just looked at the "had relationship" and had Leliana tell my Herald that the Hero of Fereldan was on a mission and after the Inquisition was done, she'd rejoin him -- forever this time. I haven't gotten deep enough in to see if I get any War Map missions (the minigame Josie/Leliana/Cullen ones) based on the Warden king, like last game when I got mission requests from King Alister.
Also, the annoyance that you can only set a single romance in the Keep, despite being able to simultaneously romance Leliana & Morrigan in DA:O.
Edit: The term for a nail with an inclined plane wrapped around it is Google-banned
The dragon thing seems weird to me because we can explain it till we are blue in the face but he didn't have one in DA2 legacy DLC. So how was he able to regen then? The only thing I can come up with is that he spent so much energy making the thing the kick back kills his ability to regen a bit.
I'm not far enough along to know anything about the dragon but the comic series details about how Alistair, being of the Calenhad line, actually has dragon blood (my understanding is that Calenhad was like a reaver on steroids). That gave him the ability to wake the dragons. I mean, he refuses, and he kills Morrigan's sister when she asks him to do it, but still.
@Joph, yeah, that seems to be missing. They have an option for you to remain Alistair's mistress, but no option for Leliana to be yours or not.
____________________________
IDrownFish wrote:
Anyways, you all are horrible, @#%^ed up people
lolgaxe wrote:
Never underestimate the healing power of a massive dong.
The dragon thing seems weird to me because we can explain it till we are blue in the face but he didn't have one in DA2 legacy DLC. So how was he able to regen then? The only thing I can come up with is that he spent so much energy making the thing the kick back kills his ability to regen a bit.
I'm not far enough along to know anything about the dragon but the comic series details about how Alistair, being of the Calenhad line, actually has dragon blood (my understanding is that Calenhad was like a reaver on steroids). That gave him the ability to wake the dragons. I mean, he refuses, and he kills Morrigan's sister when she asks him to do it, but still.
@Joph, yeah, that seems to be missing. They have an option for you to remain Alistair's mistress, but no option for Leliana to be yours or not.
Just spit-balling here, but...
Are the Old Gods the sealed Elven Gods? There were 9 Elven gods; 7 were sealed by Fen'Harel. Mythal and Fen'Harel are still alive as Flemeth and Solas. Mythal/Flemeth can turn into a dragon. When Morrigan took in the Wall of Sorrows, she learned how to do that as well. This implies the elves and dragons had a link. Perhaps the Elven Gods had dragons as phylacteries, and were sealed in the Fade within the Black City... which could be the lost city of Arlathan? Makes sense. Elves lost their immortality when Arlathan was destroyed; what if it was sent to the Fade? Then when the magisters arrived they met the Old Gods (Elven Gods) and released the Blight? Not sure that explains what the blight is... maybe a weapon from the ancient elven civil war that led to the end of Arlathan? Which allowed the phylactery dragons to become corrupted and connected to the Elven gods again, creating archdemons?
No idea, seems like I might have some of it, but I'm just guessing at the rest. Is DA4 out yet?
Also, Tempest wasn't fixed and is still overpowered.
Spirit Blade is also still overpowered. The combo thing is a nerf, but it's not really that significant of one.
The only solutions I can come up with are pretty big changes for a patch. Something like giving it a three-strike combo, that then triggers a long CD, so that the Mage would want to be negotiating distances or something. But as long as you can slash your way to relative invincibility, it'll be just as OP. It might be a slower sort of OP, but still super strong.
____________________________
IDrownFish wrote:
Anyways, you all are horrible, @#%^ed up people
lolgaxe wrote:
Never underestimate the healing power of a massive dong.
What about a 2 KE (you and Viv) party with a tempest potion spam rogue and a endless gaurd champ? That could be some good dragon burn fun.
*Oh and Locke I think it's something like that. Big thread over at reddit this morning debating such theories. Was a fun read. Only thing missing from your theory is the Forgotten ones. Are they the enemies of the elven gods, or one in the same? etc
I am surprised that no one brought up whatever spirit came out of the well and into the eluvian after your hero and morrigan but before our main baddy can get to it. The crap is that thing? Maybe the third spirit in our little story?