Random DA things

[zillah975]

I love this game like burning. After I'd been playing on the PS3 for several months, I bought a shiny new laptop for the sole purpose of having it for the PC and I'm now playing it on BOTH the PC and PS3, because it's JUST THAT AWESOME. *draws hearts* I have four working laptops now, because of the three I had before, none would run DA.

The following rantishness is from looking at the game from the POV of a character within it, not from the POV of a player who understands why things have to go a certain way in order to position the player character to proceed down a certain path and become the big hero.



There. Now.

Okay, have you noticed that Duncan is a manipulative, evil bastard? I was crushing on him so hard at first, but my human wardens and my newest City Elf warden just want to punch him in the face. Alistair may be all starry-eyed over him, but oh my god.

My human wardens. First, while her father lies dying at their feet, Duncan promises to get her and her mother to safety only if her father agrees that she'll become a Grey Warden. She doesn't get a say in this, and her DYING FATHER is being blackmailed into it on the lives of his wife and child!

That's a pretty big strike against poor old Duncan.

Second, it turns out that this thing that Duncan blackmailed her dying father into agreeing to will get her killed, either immediately upon joining, or within just a few decades -- when she will descend into the deep roads and fight monsters in the dark miles below ground until they kill her. RAWR.

Third, POOR SER JORY. OMFG. He's got a pregnant wife at home! but does Duncan even try to talk sense into him?! No! He's all, "oh, he pulled his sword, I HAD to kill him," but you notice that Jory looks about as threatening as a kitten up a tree until Duncan draws his sword and advances on him? Because I sure noticed that. Doesn't even once try to reason with him, or explain things to him further. No, he just tricks him into leaving his wife and child, then stabs him to death when Jory expresses some dismay at Daveth's gruesome and untimely death!

Also, creepiest group ever, the way Duncan, Alistair, Jory, and your Warden just back slowly away while Daveth chokes to death. Jeez, guys, maybe it wasn't even the blood, maybe he just swallowed wrong! Somebody could at least TRY to help him!

The human origin is definitely the worst (for Duncan's character, I mean) of the ways I've played through so far. But the City Elf is also kind of grim, as I realized when I played through the opening on the "I am a selfish asshole" setting and discovered that if things go a certain way, your pal gets carted off to prison to be executed and Duncan's all, "hey, I only need one warden. Too bad for him."




I feel sort of guilty for still crushing on Duncan, even knowing what a bastard he is.

Are there any "Duncan is a manipulative evil bastard" fics out there for a girl who both crushes on him and wants to punch him in the face?

Comments

[niniane]

Yeah, that was my feeling on my first playthrough. It felt like, "OK, well, I won't kill Isolde, as I may do that and find that I still can't kill the demon, I don't want to get the Circle as that may take too long, so I'll kill the kid" and then Alistair went ballistic. I was like, WTF, dude? You were OK with this earlier. You even helped me!

Mass Effect is awesome, although it took me a bit to get into it. But after that, I was all "OMG, this is the bestest game ever!!!!"

[zillah975]

So, would you say I should start with the first one, or jump in with the second?

[niniane]

I'd start with the first, as I think that the second makes a lot more sense with the first. (And the second is very "Empire Strikes Back", a great game, but it really is a middle game with plot lines going forward and back).

Mostly it's just a warning to stick it out for the 5-10 hours it takes to get interesting. A walkthrough might not be the worst way to go, either. The main plot of ME 1 takes 10-15 hours to get through, but the side quests can easily add another 50 hours, and while they're of interesting, aren't *that* exciting, I think. To me, it took getting pretty far along in the main plot for me to go "OMG, this is an awesome game!", which you can get to in <10 hours if you don't do side quests, but which can take, say, 60 hours if you do. <10 hours isn't that much of a time investment for a really cool story line (esp. if you buy the game for $20...). But 60 hours is a long time to wait to start getting into the meat of the story.

My interpretation, anyway. ;) You may love the game immediately, or hate it even after playing the whole thing. I just remember being bored for like 25 hours, before suddenly getting to a major plot point and then not being able to stop even for things like food and sleep. ;)

[zillah975]

Okay, cool! Thank you! I'll see if I can get a copy for the weekend. Whee!

[prisoner_24601]

I wouldn't recommend jumping in with the second either. A lot of the decisions you make and people you see in the first game carry over into the second game if you import the same Shepard, and it makes for a much cooler gaming experience if you play them back to back rather than playing a vanilla game with the default choices starting with the second part of the story.

Because unlike Dragon Age, Mass Effect 1 & 2 are part of a trilogy that revolves around your main character (Shepard) and the story is really just a straight continuation and direct story sequel from the first to second game.

[scarylady]

I tried to play ME1 first for story reasons and couldn't wrap my head around the controls, so I abandoned it. ME2 controls are far more intuitive and I had no trouble with them at all.

[niniane]

Yeah, ME2 is easier to play. Then again, the game carries over! And...and...there's not really a plot in ME2, but there is in one!