The Glade 4.0

I was worried about the less-epicness of it (I mean, relegating the game to one city when, in the previous game, you saved the flippin' world?).

However, upon actually playing through, its epicness and the importance of Hawke becomes apparent. In Dragon Age: Origins, you save the world. In Dragon Age II, you change the world.

Dragon Age: Origins never has you leaving Ferelden. Saying you saved the world is a bit of a stretch. The archdemon is killed before the Blight becomes anyone else's problem. So in Dragon Age II, how much do your actions impact anyone outside that city?

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

A huge amount. The events of this game ripple through the world as a whole.

It is pretty damn clear at the end that **** is going down all throughout Thedas.

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Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

I miss the party banter and grand quests like the Ashes. In this game, I wander around find random X item and the map tells me to take it X. No backstory, no conversation at the end of the quest. Just:
You found Bob's remains
Hail three pointed arrow. Here is Bob's rotten corpse
"Thanks I never thought I'd see these again!"
You received 50 sp

Also, Anders is gay now?

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There is far more party banter, and it's even more well written, than in DA:O.



No. Anders is hawkesexual. Play a female Hawke, he's just as interested in you.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Is that true of everyone in the party (except Bethany I hope...)?

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All four main romance options (Anders, Fenris, Merrill, and Isabella) are open to you, no matter your gender. Sebastian is also available as a romance option if you're female (and never attempt to romance anyone else).

Sebastian doesn't count as a romance for achievements. (And he won't ever sleep with you, he keeps to his chantry vows.)

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Is Avaline never an option for romance?

No.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

So basically, you're either Franz Ferdinand or Gavrilo Princip. WW1 is going to happen regardless, and you're just the guy who kicked it all off, either by getting shot or by shooting someone.

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Buckle your pants or they might fall down.

Actually, Anders is openly bi. He and Carl would...comfort each other back when things got tough at the Circle back in the day. Isabela is also openly bi, but we knew that from DAO. Fenris and Merril are both straight, but will go for Hawke if Hawke is the same sex. Hawke just has that special something that will make straight people go gay for you. Not once will Fenris or Merrill hit on you. Those two are entirely initiated by Hawke.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

You don't impact anyone in the city either. Well, that not entirely true. Three things you do affect things that happen in the city, but you don't really mean to do anything. Hawke is just kind of there.

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"...the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. And who is willing to destroy a piece of his own heart?" -Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn

Cripes, I have to wonder if you whiners played the same game I did.

Your decisions make far more difference in DA2 than in DAO. That doesn't mean the overall plot isn't on rails. And frankly, I wouldn't want it any other way. The game is very good at giving you the illusion of choice in situations where your choices won't change anything. But the important part is the story. Hawke's essential to the story. Without Hawke, the Arishok conquers Kirkwall, and whichever group (templars or mages) hawke doesn't side with ends up winning. Hawke is very important. But for the core plot points, what the player decides won't make a huge difference -- which in the end doesn't matter.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Plus, DA2 has Varric. That makes it super awesome.

_________________
Los Angeles Kings 2014 Stanley Cup Champions

"I love this **** team right here."
-Jonathan Quick

Hated him at first but he's growing on me now.

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Haven't played DA2, but I'm trying to figure out who you mean. The only chicks I can think of that was bi in DAO was the barmaid in the bar at the top of the hill in Redcliffe and some chick in the chantry. Is it one of them you're referring to?

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The Dude abides.

In Origins, Isabela is the captain of the pirate ship "The Siren's Call." You meet her in "The Pearl", a brothel in Denerim. She teaches the player the Duellist rogue specialization. She's also more than willing to spend some intimate time with the warden. And Zevran, if he's with the Warden. And Leliana or Alistair, if they are with the Warden.

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Well Ali Baba had them forty thieves, Scheherezade had a thousand tales
But master you in luck 'cause up your sleeves you got a brand of magic never fails...
...Mister Aladdin, sir, What will your pleasure be?
Let me take your order, Jot it down -You ain't never had a friend like me
█ ♣ █

Ahhh yeah, forgot about her. Thanks.

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The Dude abides.

Recently got the game. And I resolved myself to doing something I've never, ever done before in the history of my gaming life: Play through the game on the first play-through as balls-to-the-wall pure EVIL. I always play through games as the good guy first. Always do. Only on my second or third play-through do I play as the evil bastard. And they are generally always fun and interesting, but there generally isn't a lot of surprises for me. I know the basic story. I know the characters and their reactions and what I will gain or miss based on my actions.

So I steeled my resolve to be as an evil a bastard as I could even if it meant causing my entire party to hate me, lessen any chances for the romance options, even make it so I can't get "Cool uber sword of uberness" or whatever. Doing that on a game I've never played through once before is not as easy as it sounds. For me, at least.

But so far... I have to say I'm a bit disappointed in the "evil" options presented by Bioware this time around. I *hope* that it gets better, but so far it's pretty "meh." Right now Hawke is nothing more than a blunt jerk and causing everyone to go down the rivalry path, but none of my actions are truly "evil." Quests all end with the same result, with just me acting like an a-hole the whole way through.

I was hoping for more an experience like KOTOR. You definitely felt like you were truly an evil bastard in that game. Even from the very start.



I guess what I am getting at is, will it get better in terms of "evil" choices? I think I'm still in "Act 1." So I can understand not being given the ability to truly evilly shine. I just hope I didn't pick the wrong game to be my first evil outting in. I'd rather not just be a selfish jerk who is only evil-lite.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Your options are hero, practical, sarcastic, or selfish. Dragon Age's grayness, and Hawke's ability only to influence instead of commandeer, means you're not going to be the depraved and destructive flavor. Both games are similar to Mass Effect in that regard.

Damn.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I've realized the only other thing that has been bothering me about this game. You don't have a quest journal. Oh sure, you have something labeled a "journal." But all it does is tell you what to do next. It doesn't give you a synopsis of the quests you have and what you have done so far.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!