The Problem with Politics - Let's Play Dragon Age II

Seriously. ;_; I was so bothered by that scene that I wrote about half a fix-fic in which a rogue Hawke who'd handed Fenris over to Danarius went to Tevinter postgame for the express purpose of killing Danarius and getting Fenris the hell back out of there. I haven't ever finished it because I couldn't come up with a believable reason for why anyone would do that in the first place. ._.

Danarius is absolutely one of the most repulsive characters in the game series, period. After meeting him the first time, I really started feeling bad for him whenever someone in the party or Hawke tried to not make a big deal out of what Fenris had gone through and why he has an extremely problematic relationship with magic.

I saw a video of it once and I couldn't make myself finish it. I get too emotionally invested in these games, but Fenris really kicks it home, especially because that option is so senselessly cruel. You're not even killing him, you're DESTROYING him.

I have no idea ;_; I mean, even if you decide to ally with a Magister...it still doesn't make much sense, Hawke is just doing a random favor to a Magister just because and handing back a man Hawke has a good relationship with. Has anyone chose this option with a reason other than "I hate Fenris so he must suffer - and he dumped me!" (I saw something like that on BSN)?

Don't forget Vaughan. I hate them so much, killing them is never enough.
And also that's why I flipped a table when Anders says "I never thought about how life would be in Tevinter". WRITERS, WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU. (No, I don't blame that line on Anders because it does not make any sense at all. AT ALL.)

I think I've seen "I was playing a strongly pro-mage and anti-Circle mage!Hawke and felt like Fenris' issues regarding magic would cause him to become a threat eventually." I still don't feel like it justifies doing that to him, though. Especially when you can max rivalry and he'll fight on your side regardless.

I agree. Maybe it makes sense if you don't play every companion's story to the fullest like I always end up doing because completionism, but even as a full rival it's an utter jerk move,moreso if it's because, like that person Antiqua paraphrased it's only because he dumped you because that is rather uneven retribution. If anything, Fenris is less fanatical than Anders is, and he is much more ready to accept some mages can be good people and resign if he can't convince you. I can see why finding a reason Hawke did that in the first place for the fanfic was hard.

How could I forget Vaughan. NO, I WILL NOT TAKE A BRIBE AND LET YOU RAPE MY COUSIN, YOU SICK FUCK. I thoroughly enjoy leaving him in his cell every time, but the worst part is... I played as a Circle elf the first time and didn't know who he was, so I let him go. And she had red hair and Shianni's hairdo. She really looked like her. Then I played the City Elf Origin and went O_o;

And then I replayed killing him some more.

Anders can be a jerk, but sometimes he really isn't helped by his lines or the timing of them. He's hit even worse than Fenris on the terrible timing front.

It makes more sense but that's not enough for that. I mean, I understand Hawke has no way to know that Fenris sides with you because of max rivalry, but the story is quite clear about him not fighting you. There are a lot of bantera and even his own reaction when Hawke calls him out on the subject. The only one who actually cames off as a threat is Sebastian. Who seems even willing to turn in your companions. What the hell, Choir Boy.

First time I was a human mage and he started talking trash about elves and being a racist douchebag. I even had Zevran in my party, not a smart move. Enjoy dying horrible.
OVER AND OVER AGAIN.

I tought it didn't make sense because Anders actually doesn't like Tevinter, - or at least he didn't five frigging seconds before and not even five seconds after, - he doesn't like the Black Chantry and Justice still believes to be a spirit, not a demon. Unless that was foreshadowing, in that case it really worked.

I basically have most of Morrowind's locations memorized. The trick to Morrowind combat is to always start a fight with full fatigue so your attacks don't whiff; always train, carry, and fight in heavy armour; always carry the heaviest weapon possible for increased stagger chance; and to always get ripshit drunk off of Sujamma before serious fights for ridiculous damage dealing potential.

It's the always train part that gets me. I'm atrocious at games without static level up and the first person view really screws up for me, too. It's a matter for a large part of path dependency, but I get so stressed playing it it cancels out all fun because there's so much new to take in.

Ripshit drunk fighting sounds like a sensible feature, though. The Drunken Master style of armed combat!

Over the years I've created three separate fixes for the Morrowind/Oblivion levelup system. The first and easiest was just to set all of the levelup skill multipliers to a single number, so if you got any levelups in an associated skill whatsoever you'd always get X points in that attribute, (except luck, which has no associated skill) which helps to solve the tedious micromanagement of skillups to avoid the Morrowind equivalent of forever alone. (forever nerfed?) Other methods involve scripts, and whoever made the scripting system in Morrowind must have been very drunk at the time: there are all of these wonderful functions to set/mod stats, and none of them are safe to use.

There actually is a relationship option in Morrowind, which means my forever alone metaphor is technically incorrect. On the other hand, the relationship option in Morrowind: don't even go there, don't search for it, DO NOT WANT.

Meanwhile, in Dragon Age II, I finally finished ALL of the bloody bandit quests and just need to turn them in now. And I finished Faith, more or less.

GODDAMIT SEBASTIAN. I earnt 35 friend points from him because of this quest. Now I have to cheat for trigger his Questioning of Beliefs ._.

He was capped before this. It's never been a problem before but then this playthrough has been anything but normal, what with random levitating Fenrisses and the likes. Like when his romance cutscene bugged.

Come to think of it most of my game-related problems have been with Fenris. His being trouble for the player has gone meta.

/late to the party

so this is just one of his many glare shots of that update that I happen to find wondrous and beautiful
yea see this is why I always lurk in this LP. my comments, they are not lovely and in-depth
back to the shadows~~

Putting an update with him together is murder, because he has one of the most expressive, well-animated faces. It's hard to choose what to let go.

I can't promise there'll be more than this update today, so I will make it count. I am good and pathetic from a bad cold and it makes stringing thought together a bit tricky.

First, though, banter.

Fenris: So you engaged a Qunari dreadnaught in battle...
Isabela: They engaged me in battle. I was just trying to get away.
Isabela: Sailing into the storm was a gamble. Took care of the dreadnaught, but it did us in too. Can't win them all.
Fenris: Where I come from, we would call that insanity.
Isabela: Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Sebastian: You've been watching me all day. It's getting a little... distracting.
Isabela: Merrill's right. Your armor is shiny. I can see myself in it. Look!
Isabela: Shit. Oh, shit. Is that a wrinkle? Is that a wrinkle between my brows?!
Sebastian: Um. I don't see-
Isabela: -Hold still!

Isabela: It's been years, and not once have you tried to get me to repent or turn to the Maker.
Sebastian: Preaching seldom works, Isabela. To change a person's heart, one has to lead by example.
Isabela: Huh. That makes sense. I can respect that.
Sebastian: I grew weary of the strings of nameless lovers and the nights full of mindless pleasure. You will, too.
Isabela: *Gasp* That's the cruelest thing anyone's ever said to me! I think I'm going to cry...

Anders: You're not nearly as selfish as you pretend...
Isabela: Hey! You take that back!
Anders: You had your relic. You were gone. There was no reason for you to come back and face the Qunari.
Isabela: I... still don't have a ship. I thought I could get one.
Anders: From a bunch of shipwrecked Qunari?
Isabela: From the Viscount. I just got here late.
Anders: I always knew you had a heart of gold!
Isabela: Shh! Don't tell anyone...

Stuff like this is why I like Sebastian. :D

Feel better soon, Davian! \o/ I have a bit of a cold right now myself and it pretty much sucks.

Oh, Fenris.

Although, you know, someone might have taken a hint from the fact that he kept wearing that red armband and Amell crest for three years. XD

I think we already established Joyce is pretty dense as far as social cues go XD

And I think I'm okay as long as I don't have to think. My paper writing is not going anywhere and I have problems focusing on gameplay, so going to talk to Fenris was nice and easy and very satisfying for a single update.

I spent a while trying to figure out a song which fits, but apparently I don't have love songs which fits this romance on my mp3, so that's the closest thing that makes sense:



I hope you get better Davian <3

Very satisfying indeed! :D

If I were going to pick a song for this scene, it'd probably be this one:

I love this thread so much, and thank you for the well wishes. I plan on swamping around in tea until my brain engages, and these two will make a nice soundtrack.

You should try lime-blossom tea. My mother called me three times this week to ask if I bought it because it's really good apparently.

Red! I have a friend who is in love and she sent me some of their songs.

I can believe that. The Anastasia blend I'm currently drawing on for the second time is... hold on...

"Bergamot, lemon, lime and orange blossom."

A fancy way to say 'Lady Grey' but it's pretty good (Okay so I have a stash easily surpassing a quarter of a kilo) so I wager lime blossom would be, too. The elderberry juice started collecting mold, so that went in the sink.

See you said this is a smile. To me, it's a smirk. And internally, I hear his voice saying "Yeeeeeeaaaaassss" when I see it.

A fair point. A very fair point XD

Things I do when I cannot focus; I draw silly stuff. Chibi Javert scowling around a tophat isn't terribly relevant here, but since I did strike one thing that actually has thread relevance, I give you Joyce as a chibi drawn from memory.



I had some problems remembering her hair. By some I mean I have an absolutely rubbish memory for pictures and I go overboard where hair is involved.

Tomorrow, because I will be damned if I am going bedridden, Clerics, Loot, Dragons and Oh My!

It amused me because nine times out of ten, I respec her to be a melee rogue (as her default is archer). THE GAME KNEW.


PS: I totally started a new DA:O playthrough for a new base for DA2 because of yoooooou.

PPS: Chibi Javert sounds hilarious.

I really wouldn't put it past this game. It has pulled a fast one more times than I could count at this stage. And, as Alistair would say, I can count pretty high!

PS: I am glad to further everybody else's addiction! I was actually planning to do the same once I finish this and it's time to start making Serah Hawke, Duellist Rogue. Awakening in the very least.

PPS: I'll toss him in behind a spoiler tag when I get back home, then XD

child!Joyce is really cute <3
And now you have to show us chibi!Javert XD

I already have nine Hawke that I have to replay because I lost the savegames and thanks to this LP yesterday I created a new mage Hawke.
And I called him Doctor. And he is my tenth Hawke.
Not sure who to blame for this. I also need a Donna Hawke. And maybe a Belladonna one.
It never ends.

Here he is. Well, under the full figure one and I ended up drawing him a new arm later (full figure one, chibi one doesn't have any arms showing) so he had both hands on the damn thing. Seemed more IC somehow.

He is the Law and the Law is very tiny.

Doctor Hawke is brilliant XD And I'm glad to know it gets people playing - the more the better! DA2 needs all the love it can get.

With all the Morse I watch lately I am half tempted to make an Endeavour Hawke, if the character limit allows. Then it would make ABOUNDANT sense Hawke is always just called Hawke. "You haven't told me your first name." "Ah... yes... everyone just calls me Hawke >_<"

Tiny and CUUUUTE!

And eveyone in the mine died!
Yay!
I hate you, game. Act 2 is full of foreshadowing and you can't do a damn thing about it.

I really liked Elthina there. And I wanted to punch Sebastian.

And cute <3

Someone at Bioware have this giant knife they just like to twist every time something happens, don't they? Yes, yes they do.

What I really like about Sebastian's DLC is how it fleshes out Elthina. Dumar deals with it fine on his own, but it's so limited what you see of Orsino and Meredith, though part of that, of course, is how late they are introduced. It makes her more understandable in the grand scheme of things, too.

Thank you! The whole idea of it was really to force myself to draw a top hat, because I suck at drawing them, but because I was half ill, adding in a very moody tiny Javert suddenly seemed like a good idea. He does not want you to borrow his hat.

Banter again. Joyce does, as she frequently points out to me, a lot of walking.

Aveline: Do you feel like a citizen, Fenris?
Fenris: Excuse me?
Aveline: You've been in Kirkwall as long as I have. Does it feel like home?
Fenris: It feels. That itself has been a surprise.
Aveline: I think I know what you mean.

Contingent on romance. If he's not in one, he will say it just feels like a free place.

Merrill: Aveline... do you think we'll win?
Aveline: Win what?
Merrill: In the end. It feels like something is ending, doesn't it? Do you think we'll win?
Aveline: Nothing is ending, Merrill. Things are a little tense, but it will pass.
Merrill: I hope we win. Varric will make it a good story, I'm sure.

Aveline: Are you loyal, Prince?
Sebastian: Guard-Captain?
Aveline: To Kirkwall. Are you loyal? You're set on a title in Starkhaven, but we're having a crisis here.
Sebastian: This isn't just Kirkwall's concern. If this chaos spreads, Starkhaven will need a strong ruler to beat back the tide.
Aveline: I've seen greater men than you use that excuse.
Sebastian: Noted and ignored, Captain...

Sebastian: Do you have many dealings with the knight-commander?
Aveline: Please don't start with that. I'm not a templar. I'm the captain of the guard. We arrest burglars. The knight-commander never gives us a thought.
Sebastian: Grand Cleric Elthina is worried about her. She's stopped taking the Chantry's advice.
Aveline: Her jobs not easy. Certain... forces in the city are allied against her.
Sebastian: Clearly, our templars need strong leaders.
Aveline: Until something changes, that's Meredith. And we must give her any support we are able.

Merrill: *Giggle*
Fenris: What? Why are you looking at me like that?
Merrill: You're in love~!
Fenris: I am not.
Merrill: Everytime she looks away, you stare at Hawke with those sad puppy eyes.
Fenris: There are no puppy eyes.
Merrill: It's all right, you know. Even you can be happy once in a while. It won't kill you. But your face might crack if you smile, so be careful...

And a little extra something since I was swinging by the Emporium to buy the crafting nodes I'd missed anyway, here is Joyce held up against the iconic female Hawke.




I might update more today if imgur starts working. I had to ally with tinypic for this one and I am not doing a 40 screen update one screen at a time.

And then imgur started working. True story.