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Dragon Age: Origins |OT| Letting The Fade fade out of memory

M

Mar

Member
DiatribeEQ said:
About the (possible) endings:

Is the best possible "Happy Ending" you can get (non-sacrificing your Grey Warden) is romancing Lelianna & (via the credits) finding out you're traveling the world with her after it's all said and done?

I ask this, because I've found that the vast majority of the endings are a depressingly horrible, yet awesome, collection of very sad endings in which:

1) You die to save the world
2) You die to save the world & lose a future with Lelianna (but get a double whammy when you find out that when she dies, she says she'll "Finally be reunited with her love..."
3) You die to save the world & lose Morigan (yes, she is in love with you)
4) You let Allistair die to save the world, so you can live & be with Lelianna
5) You let Lohgain die (big whoopie) to save the world so you can be with Lelianna
6) You perform the Blood Ritual with Morigan so you can live, kill the dragon, so you can be with Lelianna (and also find out that Morigan does love you, even though you never romanced her)

See where this is going? There's several other possible endings (all small variations on a common theme: You save the day, but ultimately, still lose something important. I'd honestly would have loved to have had the option of a very difficult to attain ideal ending. Something in which Bioware said "Okay, you nitwits want a "Rainbows & Puppy Dogs ending, eh? Okay, you have to do this, 100% in order to get it." To me, that'd be the ultimate goal to shoot for & all the other endings, what I replay the game to experience.

All in all, it's (yet another) awesome game from Bioware, one of which I'm sure to continue to play over and over again, because I love having Sten, Ohgren & Lelianna in my group, all chattering with each other.
Click to expand...

I
was in a romance with Morrigan and she didn't want to leave, but did. We did the deed and my life was saved while she went off to have a baby. The part that didn't work so well was Leliana was also mostly in love with me however things wouldn't happen because I was involved with Morrigan. At the very end I chose dialogue choices with her where I was 'supposed to get the girl' and she was all into that, then all of the sudden the conversation changed and she was off to embark on her big adventure. That part was a bit broken if you ask me.

One of the crappy ending static images talked about my character and Morrigan sensing each other through the ring I had and that she still loved me. But that was it.

I was unsatisfied with the ending. Seemed to leave far too much in the air and leave too many questions. If the sequel doesn't directly address many of the things that happened I honestly won't be interested.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Anyone have a full list of where the love letters are?

Game Status Update:

502460.png

Ramos - City Elf Warrior/Templar/Guardian Grey Warden Level 15
Dual Wield Swords - Starfang & Maric's Blade
Armor: Warden Commander Glove, Knight Commander's Plate, Warden Commander Boots
Accessories: Shadow Belt, Reflection, Harvest Festival Ring, Morrigan's Ring

Finished Urn sidequest, did the Reaver unlock this time, but still sided with the Urn (backstabbed poor homeboy AND his dragon)

Currently at Redcliff, this time I got EVERYONE to participate in saving the town, missed the bartender last time.
 
Diatribe1974

Diatribe1974

Member
Mar_ said:
I
was in a romance with Morrigan and she didn't want to leave, but did. We did the deed and my life was saved while she went off to have a baby. The part that didn't work so well was Leliana was also mostly in love with me however things wouldn't happen because I was involved with Morrigan. At the very end I chose dialogue choices with her where I was 'supposed to get the girl' and she was all into that, then all of the sudden the conversation changed and she was off to embark on her big adventure. That part was a bit broken if you ask me.

One of the crappy ending static images talked about my character and Morrigan sensing each other through the ring I had and that she still loved me. But that was it.

I was unsatisfied with the ending. Seemed to leave far too much in the air and leave too many questions. If the sequel doesn't directly address many of the things that happened I honestly won't be interested.
Click to expand...

If they:

Give us the ability (if we did romance with any of the characters in which a child could be born from) to continue the story based from our save game files in DA:O-2, then that'll help give me a better feeling of things. The kind of "You are the descendant of your father (Player or Alistair) & your mother (Lelianna or Moriggan)" then I'll forgive Bioware for the lack of a "proper" ending. Do they pull a "400 years later..." type BS, then, while I will play it with the same "Oh yeah..." passion I did with DA:O, I will still harbor some degree being upset.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
DiatribeEQ said:
If they:

Give us the ability (if we did romance with any of the characters in which a child could be born from) to continue the story based from our save game files in DA:O-2, then that'll help give me a better feeling of things. The kind of "You are the descendant of your father (Player or Alistair) & your mother (Lelianna or Moriggan)" then I'll forgive Bioware for the lack of a "proper" ending. Do they pull a "400 years later..." type BS, then, while I will play it with the same "Oh yeah..." passion I did with DA:O, I will still harbor some degree being upset.
Click to expand...
Your choices will matter, I'd wager. What with all the bruhaha over ME2's choices making a difference in the second game, Dragon Age 2 will definitely have your choices in it. Unless they go back in time as opposed to forwards.

Show off your current(last) warden!

15cym1g.jpg


BTW, Murdock = Zaeed Massani
 
F

Fredescu

Member
Maxrpg said:
Your choices will matter, I'd wager. What with all the bruhaha over ME2's choices making a difference in the second game, Dragon Age 2 will definitely have your choices in it. Unless they go back in time as opposed to forwards.
Click to expand...
My vain hope is that you're not a Grey Warden at all in Dragon Age 2, and the focus isn't on saving the world. Again.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Fredescu said:
My vain hope is that you're not a Grey Warden at all in Dragon Age 2, and the focus isn't on saving the world. Again.
Click to expand...
It could be that you're not a Grey Warden like in DA1, and you get thrust into it because of a blight that happens in the middle of a war (say, Antiva vs. Nevarra). The whole game could revolve around rallying one side to win over the other and crush the darkspawn, or rallying both together against the darkspawn, or other cool stuff.
 
D

Doytch

Member
Fredescu said:
My vain hope is that you're not a Grey Warden at all in Dragon Age 2, and the focus isn't on saving the world. Again.
Click to expand...
Bioware doesn't know how to make a story that isn't trying to be wtfepic.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Doytch said:
Bioware doesn't know how to make a story that isn't trying to be wtfepic.
Click to expand...
That, and once they set precedents, it's hard not to keep to them, although in ME2, you're not actually prominently a Spectre, but working for Cerberus.
 
M

Mar

Member
Fredescu said:
My vain hope is that you're not a Grey Warden at all in Dragon Age 2, and the focus isn't on saving the world. Again.
Click to expand...

The whole grey warden thing, and the way in which the game tracks every dialogue choice, is something that really bothers me in regards to a complete lack of potential. The ending could have been epic. Imagine if it trawled through your dialogue history and addressed various responses and decisions and gave you results in turn. I mean, even just a basic alignment map of your entire game experience. Even that would have been really cool. Yet we got nothing. It makes it even more painful because you could go to that tab and see everything you'd ever said in the game yet the game does nothing with it.

For instance, throughout the entire game I was bitter that I was forced into becoming a grey warden. I resisted at every step and in every dialogue choice. I never addressed myself as a grey warden, I was always just "Mar". At the end they could have presented in some form or another the fact that I was resistant to that.

Yet still, nothing. If Dragon Age 2 doesn't do something stupidly awesome with all that data I'm going to be very upset and knock over at least 3 magazine racks.
 
Diatribe1974

Diatribe1974

Member
Maxrpg said:
Your choices will matter, I'd wager. What with all the bruhaha over ME2's choices making a difference in the second game, Dragon Age 2 will definitely have your choices in it. Unless they go back in time as opposed to forwards.

Show off your current(last) warden!

15cym1g.jpg


BTW, Murdock = Zaeed Massani
Click to expand...


Hrmmm...what directory is the screenshots being saved to? I bought it via Steam, so I'm searching....not sure where tho....
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Mar_ said:
The whole grey warden thing, and the way in which the game tracks every dialogue choice, is something that really bothers me in regards to a complete lack of potential. The ending could have been epic. Imagine if it trawled through your dialogue history and addressed various responses and decisions and gave you results in turn. I mean, even just a basic alignment map of your entire game experience. Even that would have been really cool. Yet we got nothing. It makes it even more painful because you could go to that tab and see everything you'd ever said in the game yet the game does nothing with it.

For instance, throughout the entire game I was bitter that I was forced into becoming a grey warden. I resisted at every step and in every dialogue choice. I never addressed myself as a grey warden, I was always just "Mar". At the end they could have presented in some form or another the fact that I was resistant to that.

Yet still, nothing. If Dragon Age 2 doesn't do something stupidly awesome with all that data I'm going to be very upset and knock over at least 3 magazine racks.
Click to expand...
Wow. It's not like Grey Warden was a class choice forced onto you. Backlash much?
 
S

Speevy

Banned
If you weren't a grey warden, there's absolutely no reason you would leave your current life, or visit these exotic locations.

The entire story is based around the fact that people respond to you being a grey warden. It's not about whether this is a pleasing decision to you.
 
A

Ashodin

Member
Speevy said:
If you weren't a grey warden, there's absolutely no reason you would leave your current life, or visit these exotic locations.

The entire story is based around the fact that people respond to you being a grey warden. It's not about whether this is a pleasing decision to you.
Click to expand...
Quoted for truth.

Speevy, I'm gonna send you a PM!
 
K

kitzkozan

Member
Doytch said:
Bioware doesn't know how to make a story that isn't trying to be wtfepic.
Click to expand...

Given the state of the industry,I think it's for the best. :lol

I'm sure a lot of Bioware fan would be pissed if you weren't saving the world or if it weren't epic enough.As many people have already said,Bioware is a smart developer and they know their core audience well (or casual wrpg fans). :D I would really like to see what would happen if they tried to completely change the rules of their typical storylines and go for something that's completely out of the rpg norms.I suspect it would be a massive bomb...

The state of this industry is even worse than Hollywood,where even a high metacritic doesn't mean much and niche japanese game are an harder sell than ever (except Nintendo as always).No wonder the next platinum game is going for a generic space marine hero and shooter approach.
 
M

Mar

Member
Speevy said:
If you weren't a grey warden, there's absolutely no reason you would leave your current life, or visit these exotic locations.

The entire story is based around the fact that people respond to you being a grey warden. It's not about whether this is a pleasing decision to you.
Click to expand...

Of course, which is my point. My character was a grey warden yet bitter about the choice that was forced upon him via the story. If they offer you the choice of being the unwilling hero (you never had to address yourself as the grey warden), then I believe it would have been really cool to have that reflect some way in the ending. My whole point being that they didn't go into much detail about your grand adventure at all. It could have been so much more.

I don't mean I as a person was literally bitter and angry while playing the game.
 
F

Fredescu

Member
Mar_ said:
My character was a grey warden yet bitter about the choice that was forced upon him via the story.
Click to expand...
What you can roleplay as is very limited, true. Most video games are like that by their nature though. You can't code for everyone's imagination. No matter how many possibilities you provide, there will always be some glaring omissions. You sort of have to feel out the boundaries before deciding what your character will be I think.

We will see how games like Heavy Rain and Alpha Protocol approach story altering choices, but at the end of the day I don't think we can expect all that much out of choice based video games. Especially modern profitable ones.
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
Alpha-Bromega said:
I was super disappointed when after 50 hours of altering/saving/destroying the world, I got a fucking powerpoint slideshow telling me what happened.
Click to expand...

It wouldn't have killed them to add voice over and less generic images.
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
Is the social.bioware site supposed to show your armor? Cause it totally doesn't for me.

My original warden. A warrior city elf (even though he has Dalish tats, whoops. Wish they'd have planned for that and added in some snippet about your mom teaching you elven history or something)
804879.png


Current human mage girl:
1194405.png
 
D

Do The Mario

Unconfirmed Member
Ending Spoilers

Does anyone else see Bioware doing Baldur’s Gate I & II style plot with subsequent Dragon Age games. Morrigan gets herself killed by some templars and the newborn child is taken away to be raised by foster parents. The child (who is ignorant of its heritage) attracts attention from powerful forces that seek to exploit it. The choices you take in the game (or set of games) can result in you becoming the next archdemon, a good deity or repudiating your birthright.

I really enjoyed DA but I must admit the limitations of a 3D engine has resulted in Bioware not yet having made a game as epic in scope as Baldur’s Gate I & II. They are however getting close; I’m also very impressed at how much lore and detail they put into the DA universe. It all bodes well for the future of the franchise.
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
Kadey said:
Do you get to keep your shape-shifting forms after the fade quest?
Click to expand...

Nope.
In the fade you don't have an actual form, and maintain your regular look because your mind knows that's what you look like. At least that's how it's explained in the mage origin story. So the shapeshifting is not any sort of magic really. Just you learning to change how you perceive yourself. Which isn't very useful in the real world

Though seems there's some sort of bug to allow it:
The game normally removes these abilities from the Warden as you leave the Fade, however it is possible to keep them. If you assign a Fade Shapeshifting form to 2 quick slots, the game will only remove 1 of them when you leave the Fade. You will still be able to use it after leaving the Fade even though they will no longer appear in your abilities list. Caution: This can cause the game to freeze when done on the main weapon set's quick slots.
 
F

fanboi

Banned
Do The Mario said:
Ending Spoilers

Does anyone else see Bioware doing Baldur’s Gate I & II style plot with subsequent Dragon Age games. Morrigan gets herself killed by some templars and the newborn child is taken away to be raised by foster parents. The child (who is ignorant of its heritage) attracts attention from powerful forces that seek to exploit it. The choices you take in the game (or set of games) can result in you becoming the next archdemon, a good deity or repudiating your birthright.

I really enjoyed DA but I must admit the limitations of a 3D engine has resulted in Bioware not yet having made a game as epic in scope as Baldur’s Gate I & II. They are however getting close; I’m also very impressed at how much lore and detail they put into the DA universe. It all bodes well for the future of the franchise.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with this!

I hope, that now when they have the engine, they will focus on the main story and shit tons of content.

Another thing... as someone mentioned, the universe lacks something... Like FR got all cool shit... but this is a standard world... I wonder if they can change this somehow.
 
B

BlaneH

Banned
Ducarmel said:
Really then whats the point of going through the annulment, beside just role playing.
Click to expand...

I just completed this quest on my first play through of the game but I understand that a larger plot is if you side with the templars or the mages so I believe it's the catalyst for you going down that path to choose.
 
F

fanboi

Banned
Question, how did your party look like?

I had:

Me (Mage), Alistair, Wynne and Morrigan.

Awesome with three mages and a tank.
 
K

Kadey

Mrs. Harvey
I was going to inititally do with that party minus Le but having Wynne seems to help round out my party better. The mages are a beast in this game.

Also, the game is starting to get really good for me.
 
B

BlaneH

Banned
I don't play RPGs so my group prob sucks but its Morrigan, My rogue, Alistair/Sten, Wynne. Playing without a healer is really rough. I switch between the two tanks but think Sten is the better of the two.

Is it just me or does "the fade" suck? The shapeshifting was kinda fun but it dragged on foreeeeeever. It seemed like a good concept that didn't get executed that great.
 
M

Mar

Member
fanboi said:
Question, how did your party look like?

I had:

Me (Mage), Alistair, Wynne and Morrigan.

Awesome with three mages and a tank.
Click to expand...

I changed a few times.

Started off with me (tank), dog, Morrigan, and Alistair.

Changed to me, dog, Morrigan, Wynne.

Then me, Oghren, Morrigan, Wynne.

Very close to the end I spent up big on Liliana and went with me, Liliana, Morrigan and Wynne.
 
Y

Ysiadmihi

Banned
BlaneH said:
Is it just me or does "the fade" suck? The shapeshifting was one but it dragged on foreeeeeever. It seemed like a good concept that didn't get executed that great.
Click to expand...

Yeah it's pretty poorly designed. It's even worse doing it on new playthroughs.

Speaking of, has anyone come up with a mod for skipping it yet?
 
C

Ceebs

Member
Ysiadmihi said:
Yeah it's pretty poorly designed. It's even worse doing it on new playthroughs.

Speaking of, has anyone come up with a mod for skipping it yet?
Click to expand...
You can console command your way through it.

http://social.bioware.com/forum/Dragon-Age-Toolset/Toolset-General-Discussion/modhack-to-skip-the-fade---help-needed-576336-1.html


OK i've tested it and that way doesn't work that well because your party members get stuck in the fade. The best way to do is it as follows:



1. Enter the mage tower alone, with no party members.

2. open console; type "runscript zz_cir_debug"

3. Jump to area -> Fourth floor.

4. Talk to sloth demon and he will teleport you to fade

5. open console, type runscript_zz_cir_debug

6. This time jump to area - lake calenhad docks.

7. Put everyone in your party and start the mage tower again.



Next time you visit sloth demon in the fourth floor, he won't teleport you to fade because the game assumes he already did.



Now to get the lost attribute points, I use this mod:

http://social.bioware.com/project/1350/
Click to expand...
 
K

Kadey

Mrs. Harvey
You can do any main quest in any order right? I swear I have like 20+ quests and I don't even know where to begin. I'm thinking about doing the Urn one.
 
N

ntropy

Member
the whole concept of the grey wardens is revolting. they're like idiotic Kantian special elite forces that bow before the abstraction of duty. besides,
you die at thirty
, so not much room for an odyssey. the grey warden is actually a foil to bg2's character who becomes a god!
 
H

HadesGigas

Member
ntropy said:
oh, i was dead wrong. it's marginally better i guess, but it still stinks!
Click to expand...

Well, you could always be like
Avernus at the Soldier's Keep, and use blood magic and whatever other weird experiments he had going to stay alive over 200 years.
 
L

Loxley

Member
I just finished my first playthrough, and I can say with full confidence that this is my favorite RPG of this generation thus far (despite playing it on the 360). All I could think about during my first playthrough was how great my second playthrough was going to be :lol I have to say, Bioware really surprised me with DA; I've never been the biggest fan of their games in the past. It's not that I didn't think they were good, it's just something about them never really grabbed me. But man I just couldn't put DA down, such a good game. Now I need to play through the DLC.

One amusing thing happened during the final battle that made me chuckle:

When you're running through Denerim and there's that section where it cuts to the front gate defense and you take control of the characters you never used and didn't bother to gear or level up your B-team, I quickly realized that I never actually gave Sten a weapon...so for that initial part of the fight when you first enter Denerim and everybody is slicing/stabbing every orc in sight, Sten was apparently running around and trying to kill the Darkspawn with stern looks :lol Luckily Wynne was standing in his vacinity keeping him alive ;D . Later on I was able to equip him with a Darkspawn sword & board that I'd picked up, thankfully.

My party throughout the entire game was me (Dalish Elf Warrior (Berserker)), Alistair as the tank, Morrigan for ranged DPS and Wynne for healing. A very solid setup for a beginner. However, I think for my next run I'm going to get a little more creative, I'm thinking of Shale for the tank role, switching Alastair to ranged (yes, ranged) DPS, turning Morrigan into the primary healer, and roling a Dwarf or Human Arcane Warrior :D I'll be curious to see how that setup works out.

Oh, and in retropspect, The Fade seems like an incredibly random and (quite frankly) dumb inclusion, and I cringe for when I have to run through that shithole again ><. But yeah, aside from that, all around an incredibly well-designed game.
 
ajim

ajim

Member
DiatribeEQ said:
About the (possible) endings:

All in all, it's (yet another) awesome game from Bioware, one of which I'm sure to continue to play over and over again, because I love having Sten, Ohgren & Lelianna in my group, all chattering with each other.
Click to expand...
I love having Alistair and Morrigan together and listening in on their banter, its hilarious.
 
S

slyght

Neo Member
Has anyone else experienced freezes on PS3 version?
Yesterday I was at the final bossfight with the archdemon and just when it entered phase three it happened to freeze. I was nearly going mad... Was not the first time but this time was the worst. I hope Bioware will do something about it *sigh*
 
A

Aon

Member
Sir Garbageman said:
I'm on board with the Fade hate. It's about twice as long as it should be imo.
Click to expand...

I don't see what's so bad about the fade, it was actually one of the highlights for me. Although I dig Metroidvania in general and I know those mechanics intrinsically annoy alot of people.

What I liked most about it was the way it made combat interesting, forcing you to play out a sort of 'rock,paper scissor's counter system in the final fight with the sloth demon, constantly evaluating which form would be best to put his current one down.

I also like the way it's used to show how your different companions feel trapped by different aspects of themselves, whether it be their guilt or family.
 
M

Mr. Durden

Banned
Just finished Return to Ostagar. Cailans armor sucks, however, Duncan's blades are worth it alone. They're really great. Still, not really usefull once you've finished the game, since you won't be able to take your current party with you through Awakenings :/
 
Stahsky

Stahsky

A passionate embrace, a beautiful memory lingers.
I bought this game the day it came out, but due to IRL shit, I never really played too much of it.

I got to some point in Redfield( I think that's what it is called) in where I had to either do one thing, or go to the Mage Tower place (which is what I did.) After a while of playing the Mage Tower fight-thing, I quit and ended up coming back way later and decided to remake a Dwarf. I finished the elf place and ended up quitting that too.

But I'm determined to beat this game, as I really do love Bioware. I just can't ever seem to dive into this game and have the time to complete it.

So my question is, do I just jump in on my dwarf and keep playing even though I hardly remember what I did on him, or start over and dig on in? And how much of the game have I even seen? I feels like I did a good deal, but I'm not too sure. I ask because I really want a full experience in this game, and I'm not sure if I'm missing too much by completing the Elf place. Though, now that I think about it, all I really remember doing in there was talking to some trees, and beating up wolf dudes.
 
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