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[HadesGigas]

I was completely baffled when Isabela left in act 2, then Varric says that she was the only one who stood by me, when I romanced Merril.

It actually plays both the lines about Isabela and Merrill at once, but Isabela's comes out on top.

The line would bother me either way though. Why would Hawke and Bethany split up if you sided with the mages and just got through "freeing" her, basically.

 

[Alucrid]

Seems to me like the general consensus is we're all disappointed with the game's story.
Glad I'm not alone.
I was completely baffled when Isabela left in act 2, then Varric says that she was the only one who stood by me, when I romanced Merril.

I hate the fact that the game gave me a choice between mages or templars, and regardless I have to kill both of the leaders. What a crock of shit.

I was completely let down by this game, the best part was the combat, but as a previous poster said, you are in one city, and you fight thousands of blood mages and templars. It's not believable!

This game failed to deliver in nearly every aspect, especially the shitty loot system. Master chest, whats in here? 20 silver and a moth eaten scarf. Fuck you bioware.

I am not purchasing DA3 day one.

Anyone else thought the game felt abit hollow without the Wardens playing a big part?

Yes!

Hawke: So do you think we'll win?

Mage President Guy: Maybe with you, but uh, BLOOD MAGIC LOLOLOL

Me: ...the fuck?

 

[Kritz]

The more I think about it, the more I'm coming to realise that Bioware have such exceptional talent at creating this generation's most disappointing games. Dragon Age 2 seems nothing more than a poster child for how shit games can get when developers realise they can't surmount the scope they initially envisioned. I'd rather they not pretend to give the player a choice at all, if they're going to force every story to be the same anyway.

It really totally pains me that Dragon Age 2's story was so completely worthless, and it gives me this terrible foreshadowing of what Mass Effect 3 will be.

 

[hateradio]

I feel like Asuka at the end of End of Evangelion.

Disgusting.

This game is BioWare's masturbatory wet dream. We're just left empty handed and used.

 

[rainking187]

I enjoyed it. I thought it would have been funny as hell if after you beat the game Varric said "Naw, I'm just kidding, here's what really happened." and you had to beat the whole final section over again. Would have pissed off even more people then they already did though.

 

[Sir Garbageman]

I finished the game a few days ago. I enjoyed the majority of the plot. Similar to Mass Effect 2, it felt like more of a series of small arcs as opposed to one far reaching epic. A TV series as opposed to a movie as I've seen ME2 described.

The ending itself was unimpressive. I sided with the mages, just seemed like strait up killing EVERYONE seemed just a tad excessive. If the templars plan was to basically imprison all mages while they sorted things or something a little less bloodthirsty I would've been on the fence, genocide not so much. I agree with previous posters saying it would've been nice to have a handful of mages running around who didn't resort to blood magic at the drop of a hat.

Anders nuking the chantry came out of left field. Anyone know what happens if you don't do his companion quest? I'm assuming in that case it plays out the same way, just feels more random.

As for the ending itself both the lyrium sword and Orisno's transformation just felt cheesy and tacked on. Would have been much more powerful if they two leaders in a dire situation doing what felt right. Also would've made more sense to only fight one and then have to pick up the pieces with the other.

 

[Confidence Man]

The worst part of the story for me is the fact that the entire conflict that drives the narrative is just coincidental and pretty much the player's fault to begin with. If we never went on that expedition and found the idol maybe Meredith wouldn't have been driven to anti-mage madness which in turn caused every mage in sight to become blood mages. The city and probably the world would have been better off if the Hawke family never went to Kirkwall at all.

 

[BarrenMind]

Anders nuking the chantry came out of left field. Anyone know what happens if you don't do his companion quest? I'm assuming in that case it plays out the same way, just feels more random.

I didn't do his quest as I played as a templar sympathizer who treated Anders and other mages like shit. I got the impression from the dialogue that Anders was intent on doing the quest on his own when I refused to help him. The scene at the chantry played out as you described, and it did feel pretty random. Made killing him an easy decision though.

 

[Kurtofan]

Now that I finished the game I want to say this:
Seriously Anders?You colossal fuck up, what the fuck where you thinking?

And fuck you, Orsino! Fuck you!
I loved to learn that the most normal guy was cosy with the killer psycopath right at the end.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

The Orsino turn was especially frustrating, because he comes to this decision after you defeat like six templars in under 20 seconds.

Hawke: Well that was eas--
Orisno: NOPE WE'LL NEVER WIN *becomes an abomination*

 

[Kurtofan]

The Orsino turn was especially frustrating, because he comes to this decision after you defeat like six templars in under 20 seconds.

Hawke: Well that was eas--
Orisno: NOPE WE'LL NEVER WIN *becomes an abomination*

It was so out of the blue, it's like the developpers remembered they forgot to give him defaults and just went with "Uh he becomes crazy all of a sudden"

I mean I understood that during most of the game he was worried and scared by Meredith,but seriously transforming into a gigabomination wasn't going to help.

 

[MechaX]

I completely see what Bioware was trying to do with Orsino, but man, it's just so disconnected with what actually happens in game that it was so damn jarring. I mean, given how the game already shoves waves and waves of enemies down your throat, I'm surprised Bioware just didn't throw like 40 guys at you to really make it seem hopeless.

But nope, like 5 templars decide to rush Hawke's entirely ensemble, let alone a group of mages and Orsino (my Hawke was a mage, so they went down in more like 10 seconds), all of a sudden my friendly mages are gone and Orsino just gives up. At the very least, I wish you had the option to talk Orsino out of his ridiculously stupid plan.

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

I think DA2 is more broken, but also more interesting and in the end more rewarding than DAO.(Also story wise).

I credit DA2 because of the characters.

At first all I cared about was romancing Isabella. When I finally got her, something became apparent. She rejected me, and just wanted to fuck every sailor who came into that damn pub of hers. Before going about to rage on the forums about "worst romance plot ever" I started taking more interest in Merrill.

Merrill was just an elf, who I gave credit for not being annoying. Her denseness was funny, charming and almost sweet. and then you could romance her? holy shit! if only I didnt do so many mistakes - I enabled her all the way through. applauded her for her blood magic, when I scolded and killed everyone else(Anders hated me, and was jealous.. but he didnt have an elf vagina, so meh)... we had to kill her clan.

But she ended up being a really great character I think.

Fenris was also a decent elf character. A bit on the emo side, but good enough. Varric was amazing. Best dwarf ever seen.

In fact, many of the characters in DA2 were great. I think DA2 needed 1 more year of development time to flesh out everything. you could feel the labor of love in the code, but it was so rushed and stitched together. It's sad if this EA going back to their old ways, about not wanting quality.


Rico' said things would be different.. And they were for a while. But a lot of their creative projects, and new IPs didnt take off... and now they might go back to regular f**k-the-consumer-and-destroy-every-inhouse-developer-we-have-mode.

Respawn might have walked into the lions den... again. Forgot why they left for Infinity Ward(and later Acitivision to begin with)?

 

[Rufus]

I loved to learn that the most normal guy was cosy with the killer psycopath right at the end.

RIGHT?! And nobody fucking says ANYTHING to that. Nothing, not even one throwaway line or a simple "what?!".

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I think DA2 is more broken, but also more interesting and in the end more rewarding than DAO.(Also story wise).

I credit DA2 because of the characters.

At first all I cared about was romancing Isabella. When I finally got her, something became apparent. She rejected me, and just wanted to fuck every sailor who came into that damn pub of hers. Before going about to rage on the forums about "worst romance plot ever" I started taking more interest in Merrill.

Merrill was just an elf, who I gave credit for not being annoying. Her denseness was funny, charming and almost sweet. and then you could romance her? holy shit! if only I didnt do so many mistakes - I enabled her all the way through. applauded her for her blood magic, when I scolded and killed everyone else(Anders hated me, and was jealous.. but he didnt have an elf vagina, so meh)... we had to kill her clan.

But she ended up being a really great character I think.

Fenris was also a decent elf character. A bit on the emo side, but good enough. Varric was amazing. Best dwarf ever seen.

In fact, many of the characters in DA2 were great. I think DA2 needed 1 more year of development time to flesh out everything. you could feel the labor of love in the code, but it was so rushed and stitched together. It's sad if this EA going back to their old ways, about not wanting quality.


Rico' said things would be different.. And they were for a while. But a lot of their creative projects, and new IPs didnt take off... and now they might go back to regular f**k-the-consumer-and-destroy-every-inhouse-developer-we-have-mode.

Respawn might have walked into the lions den... again. Forgot why they left for Infinity Ward(and later Acitivision to begin with)?

If you pick the bottom right "I will take the blame" option then you don't have to fight them and they live.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

I romanced Merill, but to be honest, I never saw any character depth.

She was Ricky Gervais with a sidequest that went nowhere and ended tragically for no reason.

 

[hateradio]

I romanced Merill, but to be honest, I never saw any character depth.

She was Ricky Gervais with a sidequest that went nowhere and ended tragically for no reason.

Blood Magic ruins lives. Didn't you learn anything? Didn't BioWare make that clear? I guess they'll just have to drive that point home in the triquel.

 

[BarrenMind]

The Orsino turn was especially frustrating, because he comes to this decision after you defeat like six templars in under 20 seconds.

Hawke: Well that was eas--
Orisno: NOPE WE'LL NEVER WIN *becomes an abomination*

I liked the Orsino turn at the end, but only because I was so staunchly anti-mage already in that playthrough. It truly seemed like the only thing Orsino could do, and it made sense for him to throw the thing about the killer in my face. If that whole scene plays out exactly the same when you're protecting him from the templars then yea, that sucks and does not make much sense.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I liked the Orsino turn at the end, but only because I was so staunchly anti-mage already in that playthrough. It truly seemed like the only thing Orsino could do, and it made sense for him to throw the thing about the killer in my face. If that whole scene plays out exactly the same when you're protecting him from the templars then yea, that sucks and does not make much sense.

The worst part is it seems like it was a conscious choice for him to do that. So lame that you fight both faction bosses regardless of who you side with.

 

[Duki]

man a lot of this stuff that went wrong feels like it went wrong because of totally muddled execution rather than it all not having a purpose

like, had they made it obvious that their intention was to subvert their whole choices shtick with a game that was ultimately guided by destiny instead of like, leaving it to the first goddamn trailer for the game to explain it

or if they had just foreshadowed orsino being a dick the whole time a tiny little bit more

or at least make it so that the reason the fight starts after he turns into a monster is because YOU attack HIM and not because rawr monster im going to fight you for no reason

or if they had explained the amount of blood mages and other ridiculous mage shit with something other than a couple of goddamn codexes

or a bunch of other shit

then we couldve really had something

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I dunno, the game felt pretty pointless to me. Like a series of disconnected events that all happen to one dude. The plot only gets going a bit in Act 2, but subsequently resolves itself pretty much instantly, then again right at the end of Act 3, but with a sequel hook. Most of the game is spent dicking around with sidequests and going through the ones marked "main plot" for reasons that are not apparent at all.

So much of the game seems like pure filler and the actual story content is comparatively tiny. Kinda like ME2, except in that there were a huge variety of companion sidequests that gave tangible rewards for completing them (and were the best parts of the game).

 

[Vigilant Walrus]

I don't understand all the flack for ME2's story. It was a solid straight forward plot driving the player through, but unlike DAO which was also a save-the-world, ME2 was mixed up by great characters, freedom to choose awesome side quests in any order you saw fit(character missions).


It's like with 300. Just because something is simple it does not mean it's bad. 300 is a movie about a bunch of dudes who fight off invaders from their homeland. that's the stretch of it. Then you can make the argument that the story was poorly told, the characters were not good and so on, but the actual story was just fine, I think.

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

I don't understand all the flack for ME2's story.

In brief, it's because the stakes were non-existent as soon as you actually thought about the situation (Collectors = one ship that can be easily destroyed, never had any chance to attack Earth and succeed, Alliance was already on the case and after more defense guns were installed they never would have been able to hit another colony), the plot was largely unrelated to the overarching ME story (What were the collectors going to do, even if they succeeded? One reaper is not nearly enough. Arrival DLC seems to be implying that the events of ME2 were irrelevant anyway since the Reapers return was unrelated to it), and the behavior of nearly every character was extremely idiotic (Shepard's plan was: Find a way to collector homeworld > Destroy collectors. How was he going to achieve this if it didn't turn out that the Collectors were all on a single space station with such terrible defenses? If there were two space stations, Shepard would have been totally boned. Likewise, if there were 2 collector cruisers, the SR2 would have been toast. If there wasn't a convenient overload button in the station, they couldn't have destroyed it and would have been toast. It's not just a suicide mission, it's a mission that had no chance of actually achieving its objectives if not for an extreme number of coincidences. Worst of all, nobody ever discusses a plan of any sort, or questions Shepard about how he's going to do anything. Shepard himself never asks TiM about it either).

It's a bit more complex than just "the plot was simple".

 

[rainking187]

If you pick the bottom right "I will take the blame" option then you don't have to fight them and they live.

Well fuck, that's something to keep in mind for my second playthrough I suppose.

EDIT: What about killing the Keeper? I mentioned something about how the Keeper said she had to die to destroy the demon, and Merril just went up and stabbed her. I assumed it was a trick and there would be some sort of cutscene showing that, but after doing it I wasn't sure. Was it a trap, or did I fuck that one up too?

 

[ThoseDeafMutes]

Well fuck, that's something to keep in mind for my second playthrough I suppose.

EDIT: What about killing the Keeper? I mentioned something about how the Keeper said she had to die to destroy the demon, and Merril just went up and stabbed her. I assumed it was a trick and there would be some sort of cutscene showing that, but after doing it I wasn't sure. Was it a trap, or did I fuck that one up too?

Keeper always die. If you try to not kill her she just turns into an abomination anyway.

 

[irriadin]

I just finished this game yesterday, and my thoughts on Dragon Age II are decidedly mixed, like many of you. The characterization was uneven, ranging from exceptional to mediocre tinged with some "WTF" moments. The story, overall, was disappointing. Anyway, here's a breakdown of what I liked and disliked about the experience:

Likes

• (Some of the) Characters - Varric was a funny and personable character. I liked having him in my party, as I didn't have to worry about upsetting him by talking about GWAR MAGES! or GWAR TEMPLARS! Aveline is the rote Lawful Good, but I appreciated her candor and general unwillingness to freak out and throw a hissy fit like some of the male companions in the game.
  
• (Some of the) Villains - The Arishok was awesome. His voice was suitably imposing as hell, and he was simply unreadable at times. Thank god for a character not given to histrionics. Meredith, before her OMG "I'M INSANE" turnabout, was actually a rather compelling character, if a little under-developed. For what little screen time she had, Flemeth absolutely came across as a badass.
  
• Music - Maybe I have selective memory, but I don't recall Origins having as good a score as this game. Some of the themes, particularly the one that plays in Hawke's Estate, are very good.

Dislikes

• The Combat - Kill everything dead in a few seconds flat, wait about two to three seconds for the next wave. Repeat a few times, if necessary. I much prefer Origin's take on the combat, as it was more balanced and less about stabbing things as quickly as possible before the next wave shows up.
  
• The Story - This is my main problem with the game. The plot and writing are both unconvincing and downright lazy at times. For Kirkwall to succeed as the central hub for the majority of the game, it needed to feel like a character in its own right. Sadly, it lacks any such distinction. It's not a badly designed locale, for certain; but it's not interesting enough to captivate a gamer for the course of a 40 hour game.
  
  Templars vs. Mages. Yikes, where to begin. This isn't an original conceit by any means, yet the lore that BioWare crafted behind this is surprisingly solid. Why was it implemented in such a ham-handed way? If this plotline had been truly simmering since the first act, it might have felt more meaningful. Nevertheless, I sided with the Templars merely because I thought Anders' attack on the Chantry was the height of stupidity. From what I've heard, siding with the mages makes the ending even more unconvincing.
  
  That ending. Why did they have to take Meredith and turn her into a generic psycho-baddie?! That's part of what irritates me the most about DA2; the missed opportunities. Meredith DIDN'T need to turn into a psychopathic berserker. Hell, you could explain her paranoia due to the lyrium, that's permissible (if a little disappointing) but transforming her into a nutcase obliterated any pretense of "depth" DA2 was striving for. The stone-eyed Meredith shouting in your face that she'd "Protect [the] city no matter the cost!" is someone that I find far more intimidating (and vaguely relatable) than a generic comic-book villain. For a series that is ostensibly inspired by the works of George R. R. Martin and his "Song of Ice and Fire" series, you have to wonder where they decided "yes, this is the part where Meredith completely loses it, shredding any sense of character depth whatsoever." I'd have much rather fight just "normal" Meredith, clinging to her self-righteousness than what the DA2 writers turned to.
  
  Lastly, missed opportunities. Why did they tease us with Flemeth so much? She could have made this game feel a lot more legitimate, rather than some black sheep of a sequel. As it is, her cameo appearance just makes you long for some well-written antagonists

 

[AllenShrz]

What waste of time it was.


"So we are going to the deep roads because we want money?...ok...... The qunari kill the vice count just because they want a book.... and later they just can walk away just because I killed their leader and they have the book back?.... ok...... So you fucking Anders blow the Chantry and you fucking Orsino, why use blood magic when I have killed endless numbers of enemies (Who ninja style appear out from thin air). Fuck you Bioware!"


Such awful pointless story.

DAO is a far superior game than this pile of shit.

(Isabella, Aveline and Fenris are ok though)

 

[GillianSeed79]

Man Act 3 makes no sense. I just finished this tonight. I did EVERYTHING with a playtime of about 85-90 hours. I get what they were trying to do, but the mages templar conflict was poorly written and there should have been a neutral option. In the end, I liked neither side. The problem is for the first two Acts, the templars are depicted as jerks and the mages as innocent victims. Then, in the last two hours of the game every mage turns into a prick. And Anders. WTF?

 

[Somtaaw]

the neutral thing to do was to have quest to investigate the enigma of kirkwall that would make things more clear as why there is so much bloodmages in kirkwall.

 

[MechaX]

The problem is for the first two Acts, the templars are depicted as jerks and the mages as innocent victims. Then, in the last two hours of the game every mage turns into a prick.

I know I've already said this in this topic, but I picked the mage side out of hopeless optimism that there was at least ONE innocent mage that wasn't a fucking blood mage in this city (or if we're counting the Dalish, a blood made anywhere in the vicinity). You see a young woman being cornered by Templars and you think "oh wow, the Templars are really going on a witch hunt with this, let's save her- Oh, OH... She's another blood mage that gets turned into an abomination!"

Don't even get me started on that one mage that you save in the beginning of the game who shows up in Act 3 only to literally prove the Templars' point that Mages, Blood Magic, and Psychotic Behavior seem to go hauntingly together in Kirkwall more often than not. Oh, she decides to kidnap my sibling and kill me... because? Bioware, if you want to have two equally sympathetic sides, you might want to actually have characters from each that are.. you know... actually sympathetic.

 

[Somtaaw]

I know I've already said this in this topic, but I picked the mage side out of hopeless optimism that there was at least ONE innocent mage that wasn't a fucking blood mage in this city (or if we're counting the Dalish, a blood made anywhere in the vicinity). You see a young woman being cornered by Templars and you think "oh wow, the Templars are really going on a witch hunt with this, let's save her- Oh, OH... She's another blood mage that gets turned into an abomination!"

Don't even get me started on that one mage that you save in the beginning of the game who shows up in Act 3 only to literally prove the Templars' point that Mages, Blood Magic, and Psychotic Behavior seem to go hauntingly together in Kirkwall more often than not. Oh, she decides to kidnap my sibling and kill me... because? Bioware, if you want to have two equally sympathetic sides, you might want to actually have characters from each that are.. you know... actually sympathetic.

i blame the city kirkwall for the bloodmage on every corner the city was build to weak the veil for the tavinters summon something very powerfull.

 

[ShockingAlberto]

i blame the city kirkwall for the bloodmage on every corner the city was build to weak the veil for the tavinters summon something very powerfull.

I blame shitty writing!

We're both right!

 

[Fimbulvetr]

Remember the talk about how Hawke wasn't going to be special like other Bioware protagonists?

Whatever happened to that?

 

[Somtaaw]

I blame shitty writing!

We're both right!

I agree the ending was atrocious i wish there was a neutral ending.

 

[hamchan]

I wish this game wasn't shit.

 

[HadesGigas]

Remember the talk about how Hawke wasn't going to be special like other Bioware protagonists?

Whatever happened to that?

He wasn't special. Almost the entire story would have been the same if he never existed. The only difference would be most of the companion characters probably would have died (especially Isabella).

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Remember the talk about how Hawke wasn't going to be special like other Bioware protagonists?

Whatever happened to that?

They said he wasn't going to join "A secret society" like the Spectres or the Grey Wardens.

Which was on the face of it true, but

They just gave him all the benefits of being in a secret society while just making his household that group.

 

[DSN2K]

My biggest issue and its likely the most popular one at that is the sad fact that regardless of what side you choose, you end up killing all of them anyway. The whole ending sequence simply made all your decisions over what was a 10 year period completely and utterly pointless.

 

[Fimbulvetr]

He wasn't special. Almost the entire story would have been the same if he never existed. The only difference would be most of the companion characters probably would have died (especially Isabella).

Special in the sense that every character treats him like something special for no reason.

"Hey you random person, I need you to back me up. And by back me up I mean lead the way and do everything ever, even though there are no real indications that you'd be a good leader and I'm the one who actually knows where they're going."

Then there are two separate occasions where Flemeth blathers on about Hawke's destiny and junk, and another occasion where the Dalish elder says that Hawke has a special light to him or some bullshit.

They said he wasn't going to join "A secret society" like the Spectres or the Grey Wardens.

Which was on the face of it true, but

They just gave him all the benefits of being in a secret society while just making his household that group.

Yeah, this was probably it.

 

[IoCaster]

I blame shitty writing!

I can wholeheartedly agree with this. It just strikes me as totally self-indulgent on the part of Gaider and his gang of clueless hacks. They decided that this was a story they were determined to tell and neglected to consider whether or not it would be a suitable narrative to base a video game on. From my perspective it was a disjointed and incoherent mess right from the start.

 

[HK-47]

My biggest issue and its likely the most popular one at that is the sad fact that regardless of what side you choose, you end up killing all of them anyway. The whole ending sequence simply made all your decisions over what was a 10 year period completely and utterly pointless.

Bioware is not pro C&C. They never really were but they have actively moved away from any type of choice recently.

 

[Alrix]

Bumping for new(ish) novel talk. Did anyone read Dragon Age: Asunder?

 

[Jibbajabbawockky]

Bumping for new(ish) novel talk. Did anyone read Dragon Age: Asunder?

Sadly, yes.

Its a decent read and I think would make for a better game than Dragon Age 2. But I was still annoyed at how stupid some of the characters end up acting or how the Templars still end up being characterized as evil nazi jailers just trying to keep those poor mentally unbalanced blood mages down.

I think DA is a potentially interesting universe, but I'm just really sick of all the Mages/Templar stuff. It just comes across as a poor man's X-Men.

And then there is the new DA comic, Silent Grove out too, with Alistair, Isabela and Varric going to Antiva to find out more about Alistair's parentage.

 

[Alrix]

Sadly, yes.

Its a decent read and I think would make for a better game than Dragon Age 2. But I was still annoyed at how stupid some of the characters end up acting or how the Templars still end up being characterized as evil nazi jailers just trying to keep those poor mentally unbalanced blood mages down.

I think DA is a potentially interesting universe, but I'm just really sick of all the Mages/Templar stuff. It just comes across as a poor man's X-Men.

And then there is the new DA comic, Silent Grove out too, with Alistair, Isabela and Varric going to Antiva to find out more about Alistair's parentage.

yeah like I said in the other thread, asunder should have been DA2's story. the whole anders blowing up the chantry thing is an important event, but I feel like hawke is rather meaningless overall. I like where it's going with the templar/mage war. I was never really into x-men so I didn't think of it that way but it's a good point. I think it makes for an interesting DA3 story if they do it right (if!).

the whole wynne thing was kind of a surprise, but I never liked her to begin with. pretty sure I killed her in my origins playthrough, lol.

 

[Patryn]

The problem is that they keep portraying the mages as this sympathetic group, despite having every single mage in Dragon Age 2 be a blood mage.

It's like the game, through the gameplay, is telling you that everything that the worst of the Templars believes about mages is true, yet the story is portraying them as this misunderstood and oppressed group.

 

[Kurtofan]

How did they explain Leliana alive at the end of the game?(if you killed her in DAO)

 

[Alrix]

The problem is that they keep portraying the mages as this sympathetic group, despite having every single mage in Dragon Age 2 be a blood mage.

It's like the game, through the gameplay, is telling you that everything that the worst of the Templars believes about mages is true, yet the story is portraying them as this misunderstood and oppressed group.

I feel like it would even out a lot more if players were able to see the tevinter imperium, where mages rule and I think they still allow slavery there.

It's actually kind of cool the way the mage story is unfolding. Like they drag these kids out of their homes to essentially lock them up and keep watch over them, thus creating these mage-terrorists and shit, but on the other hand if left alone they can easily like, accidentally kill someone or get possessed and start killing hella people. it fits with the whole "choice and consequence" thing bioware likes to talk about.

 

[Patryn]

How did they explain Leliana alive at the end of the game?(if you killed her in DAO)

Because you didn't kill her. The Dragon Age writers have made it clear that they have a canon version of the events of the games in mind, and they have no problem ignoring choices a player made from a previous game if they conflict with this canon ideal.

I feel like it would even out a lot more if players were able to see the tevinter imperium, where mages rule and I think they still allow slavery there.

It's actually kind of cool the way the mage story is unfolding. Like they drag these kids out of their homes to essentially lock them up and keep watch over them, thus creating these mage-terrorists and shit, but on the other hand if left alone they can easily like, accidentally kill someone or get possessed and start killing hella people. it fits with the whole "choice and consequence" thing bioware likes to talk about.

The Imperium definitely allows slavery, the Alienage plotline late in DA:O deals with that fact.

And even if they showed Tevinter, Bioware's writers don't have the skill to avoid using the crutch of showing mages as being anything other than this poor, oppressed class. It would take some actual skill to show the Templars as sympathetic, having to guard against the potential evil of mages.

 

[Alrix]

Because you didn't kill her. The Dragon Age writers have made it clear that they have a canon version of the events of the games in mind, and they have no problem ignoring choices a player made from a previous game if they conflict with this canon ideal.

Yeah, she was in Asunder, too. Could you kill her in origins? I thought you just didn't recruit her and then Lothering was destroyed. I guess it's possible she made it out alive. Unless there's another chance you get to kill her, but I don't remember.

 

[Patryn]

Yeah, she was in Asunder, too. Could you kill her in origins? I thought you just didn't recruit her and then Lothering was destroyed. I guess it's possible she made it out alive. Unless there's another chance you get to kill her, but I don't remember.

If you choose to defile the Sacred Urn with her in your party, she will turn on you and you'll be forced to kill her.