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

I think it's like how we never realized how creepy the idol looked or that that Orlesian guy a while back had a naked woman on his shoulder pauldrons. Screenshots are a much more fixed view of the game for better or... usually... worse.

More F-DAMMIT, ANDERS after the jump.

I'm not sure how I feel about this, from a gameplay perspective. On the one hand, it seems kind of nice that everyone in the world isn't just twiddling their thumbs waiting for you to get around to their quests, and they won't die of starvation if you forget that side quest to pick up their groceries or something.

On the other hand, dammit, Anders.

Yes. Why does everybody suddenly go self-reliant on you ONLY when commiting acts of mass-murders? And for the matter, Anders, I do NOT feel better knowing you put me up to HELPING you with said mass-murder because of CONVENIENCE. You, personally, are the WORST.

Goddammit Anders.
Fuck you, Sebastian.
Why, Joyce.
I can't side with the Templars for life - at the end, I mean, I did it only once and it was terrible, because of how the other Templars react. As much as I like Meredith, I'm done with her as soon as she says "I invoke the Right of Anulment".

I really like the companions reactions here. When Fenris and Aveline side with you on the Mage's path, it's just so goddam beautiful. I love this quest, even if it's The End, There Is No Turning Back. Varric generally speaks for me, however.

It really depends on the Hawke. Brianna wanted to help the downthrodden and went with the mages, Phillip in his earnest heart believes mages outside the Circle would be insanely dangerous and the situation Meredith and Anders created between them pretty much sets it up as Free or Dead, so he has to go with the templars. Joyce at this stage is just tired, deeply, deeply tired, and because she has a stake in both sides here, she ends up clinging to the one non-ambigious feeling she has left - she wants to be with her brother and make sure he's safe. Well aware of the selfishness inherent in that line of thinking and all, though, I imagine there'll be some intense self loathing after this.

Varric speaks for me at this point in the game every time. A lot of what ends up leading to this is so bloody... WHY....

I know, most of my Hawke are done with it not because "Anders is right!" but because "No, you're so not going to kill people who weren't involved in this". I may or may not have Hawke who are terrible at thinking about the general "Mage vs Templar" thing - and who can't leave Kirkwall for good right now.

The role of your siblings in these conflict is a good thing.

Kirkwall sucks. Which is another of the saddest thing ever, since Hawke and his companions stayed in that city for years and it was their new - or their only - home.

That loud, echoing SLAP you're hearing is the sound of a thousand faces being palmed all at the same time.

So, the final banter unlocked in making this update and very tellingly, yeah? It's Varric being a bro. I like Varric.

(And Sedrine, best gif for encapsulating emotion there. Extra points for Dr. Cox.)

Aveline: Why are you still here, Varric?
Varric: Starkhaven's too pretentious for me and Cumberland's too boring.
Aveline: You always say you hate commitment, but here you are, six years later, still at Hawke's side.
Varric: Aveline, I thought you'd have noticed by now: I lie a lot.

Let's get to it, shall we? And no, we're not finishing today by any means. Imgur cooperated, but just going to the Gallows was 100 screenshots. Remember when I said I was done with the 5 post updates? I apparently lie a lot, too.

I pre-uploaded all 80 remaining images. Baring the pc locking up, this might end up NOT taking all evening! Yaaaaay!

Time to do the 'rounds'. These are all the final words with your companions, and since I wanted them in detail, they stretch over quite the few images.

Two to go!

asldfhjk I love these characters so much, you guys. ;_;

I still can't hate Anders.

The saddest moment of the game right there. When you realize it's nearly over and the next time you talk to them in a new game, they can't remember you.

I know, right? And here I thought it was just Adam Howden's marvelous voice acting screwing with my processing of it all.

I... I think I have something in my eye, excuse me.

There will be DW gif everywhere.

I know, stupid rain!

I can't hate Anders. He's Anders.

On a slightly lighter note: fuck you, Sebastian. I usually try to get over it when playing, because most people have good reason for hating mages, but with Sebastain at this point there isn't a proper option to say something like "My sister and my father are mage you ass, stop insulting my entire family". Which is strange, since the games allows you to play the entire thing as an "It's not about mages, it's about keeping the city safe".

And yay! Carver. I like that if he joins the GW he calls you out if you don't side with the Mages. Like, "What the hell, bro!" XD

It's also sad because the LP must be ending fairly soon ;_;. I know it's 40 pages long and I have been at this for over two months, but it feels so damned SOON now I'm standing at the precipe. I won't miss wrestling imgur for uploads, but I'll miss this thread when it's over. It doesn't help I finished putting everything in spoiler tags yesterday so I revisited the whole thing from the start mentally. It's been such a long journey getting here, but if nothing else it's shown me I am NEVER doing this for DAO or I'd be LP'ing from now and until my pension kicks in.

Seriously. I like where they go with Sebastian in general but at that exact moment he becomes what they were previously so good at keeping him from turning into - a mindless, judgemental religious nut. EINSTEIN, MAGE RIGHT IN FUCKING FRONT OF YOU.

I was wondering, actually, if it goes in reverse for Bethany? I mean if she's a Warden, is she against the mages?

The only solution is clearly to update one screenshot at the time until DA3 cames out!
This is a great LP, seeing it end will be sad. Will you do that one about the DA:O DLCs? It seemed a good idea!

No, she's pro-mage as well. She yelled at my Hawke for siding with the templars - and you get the option to tell her why are you doing this - but then she said she wanted to help - I turned her away because I didn't want to make her kill other mages. And to involve her in all that mess.

Alas, I have my exams in January, so it might be best to stop the train before Christmas so I can brag about never missing a day of updating. I will, however, definitely do the DLC LP now I know there's interest! I'll probably run at least Awakening in a much more participating friendly way (it honestly barely matters with Witch Hunt and Leliana's Song has a total one one minor choice, as I recall).

HUH. Now THAT is interesting. I did have her as a Warden once, but I didn't remember her reaction because it was my first playthrough and Warden Bethany depresses me. I'm mostly surprised they left some tiny mage bias in.

In related news, gathering screenshots, Cullen is being perfect. I have the squees.

Bonus shot while we wait: Joyce in a DAO style Circle Robe because I am a terrible person.



... those eyelines. Carver THAT is your SISTER, JOYCE, if you keep doing that Sebastian is DEFINITELY stealing Fenris from us.

Boob-outlining robes, Boob Staff, Isabella's melons... THIS GAME IS ALL ABOUT BOOBS.

Hmm, If you trace his eyes further, they land on Isa's butt. Ha!

I don't think he's looking at Joyce.

We're saved.

NATURALLY. How couldn't I see this before?!

*ahem*

So, I finished the game. I screenshotted and reduced and cut and pasted for better lines with better shots and the total ran to 180. I'm going to try for 80 today and the last 100 tomorrow, so... 9 updates left in total.

1-2-3, let's go.

I'd like to mention as a very neat feature that I really dig how you are entrusting so much to your companions here. It always bugged me in KotOR the final push was Revan and two friends while everyone else sat back and lounged on the ship. I get why, say, Carth would stay there to keep the engines warm and prepped for escape, but what good is T3 or HK sitting there? Even if it's an illusion, I like the game telling me not everyone besides myself is useless.

Thank God for Cullen. I'm so happy they retconned away the possible ending from DAO in which he becomes a serial killer. ._.

Yes, that was terrible. I honestly think Cullen is the big character import succes story. They manage to take the timid boy he is in the Tower when you first see him, mix in some realism from the shell-shocked state he was in during Broken Circle and make it a believable 6 year journey he undertakes to heal and become a truly remarkably upstanding character. With all that character development, I'd be surprised if he doesn't end up having a role in DA3. I just really hope it's not "AND THEN HE BECAME A MAGE-MURDERER ANYWAY BECAUSE LULZ." After Anders, I trust nothing, though Awakening in hindsight hints at it like crazy.

I doubt it. His role in DAII is probably the result of his unexpected popularity in DAO. If anything, I'd be less surprised to see him turn up as a love interest or something like that.

Once I wanted Anders as an LI. Those were such innocent, happy days ;_;

*ahem*

Cullen continues his running for Best Non-Companion Character of the Game after the jump.

DAMN it, Orsino. ;_;

(Although frankly it's even worse if you side with the mages so I'll count my blessings here.)

Would you believe me if I said that was actually one of the pros of siding with the templars for the LP when I considered sides? Because I couldn't think of a way to have Joyce narrate what happens there without it being the written equivalent of banging her heads into walls, clawing at her hair and facepalming.

I'm still waiting for my Nathaniel romance, BioWare. :|

I can believe it!

I sided with the mages my first time through, and when I reached that point and Orsino flipped out and made things a billion times worse and I remembered who the "Quentin" he mentioned was and realized who that blood mage's contact in the Circle was, it was just kind of "y'know what, fuck mages. Fuck 'em! Should've listened to Fenris all along! Next time I'm going with the damn Templars!" and there may have been some metaphorical tableflipping.

He does not. He just namedrops Quentin and you get to put the pieces together like I did and then flip a table if you remembered enough from All That Remains to make the connection.

I first did the endgame from when the Chantry blows and onwards, and there was a LOT of table-flipping when he pulled the Harvester. I was already upset from being blindsided by Anders, by Sebastian being a complete and utter tartbaker and then the narrative breaks down on me when Orsino randomly decides to murder everyone and as you say he just makes a horrible situation even worse. Before he pulls that stunt there's a theoretical chance to make it out and actually save the mages. When he started transforming I think I started shouting at my screen to the effect of "WHY DID WE START THIS WAR, YOU PIEFACE, WHEN ALL YOU WANT IS US ALL TO DIE, ANYWAY?!" It really wasn't all that well thought through.

Yeah. It's a complete DAMNIT I AM HERE WITH YOU. I WILL PROTECT YOU WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS. His actions just further damn the mages, aaand really make it feel like every mage in kirkwall is a bloodmage in the end. Really sucks. Also sucks when you have to fight him with little support! haha. It's too bad they decided to just make him the easy bossfight choice.

Also I do like what they did with Cullen in this game.

I'm actually sad this is ending...thank you so much for this, Davian!

Yes, when Orsino is set up as the voice of reason, as the reasonable one of the constellation with him and Meredith the last thing the storyline where you help needs is him snapping like a twig for a flimsy as hell reason. It really furthers the sense of futility inherent in the mage path, which is really about making a stand you're not expecting to survive, because all Hawke's help can do for them is killing more templars and prolonging their agony. It's a stand for the freedom and safety the mages ought to have and it's telling neither path has any mage kids anywhere when it was more or less the first thing you stumbled on during Broken Circle.
The fight does work very well in the TEMPLAR path because it incorperates the narrative of 'Look what Meredith's pressure has done to them, look how she's driven him insane over the years' with the added twist that he knew about Quentin in the very least before Leandra and Alessa were murdered. The templar ending makes quite the bit more narrative sense.
It seems to lend credence to future plans for Cullen, though, or you could have had him be the mage-side boss fight in the Hall wherein things could make a whole lot more sense (and then I'd be unable to ever choose the mage path again, but that is neither here nor there, is it?). I mean, even more than the fact they freed up Greg Ellis' voice for him - Ellis doesn't voice a single other character in the game, and he did a bunch of voicework for the DAO and DLC packages (most notably he is Anders in Awakening and is both the guy who sells you Shale's control rod and the one gives you the correct command phrase for it). We'll see where they take him. I just hope he has more luck adapting to a new engine than Alistair did. He made it work the first time, but I am ridiculously fond of his DA2 design, so I hope they stay true to it.

Thank you and everybody else for reading and commenting, too! The interplay with readers and the knowledge what you write actually matters to people is part of why this LP has been running so smoothly, and it's definitely done wonders for my enjoyment of it. Part of why I chose the minimal choice journal format was actually that I was worried if I left in votes and no one was reading that day, I would feel a bit... discouraged, I suppose is the right word. Obviously I forgot that oft-lamented as it might be, DA2 is a game that matters and has been enjoyed by a number of people, and I have been extremely pleasantly surprised to learn a lot of new things about the game and to debate how I saw matters and occasionally have my mind changed on a few subjects pertaining to the events of the game. Part of that process was that screenshots is a weird, new way to see a game, but the largest part of it was everyone reading and giving their input.

Now, why am I talking like it's already over? We have 100 screenshots to go yet!