Okay, this should keep our ramblings contained and spoilers off the main page. Questions and venting start in the comments. 🙂
myladylydia
Scribbles on Games
Okay, this should keep our ramblings contained and spoilers off the main page. Questions and venting start in the comments. 🙂
myladylydia 
My first DA2 play-through was a rogue so I didn’t have the “WHY DOES NO ONE NOTICE THIS?” slapping me about the head. I played it assuming the game reacted to your companions so I never took Merrill or Anders to the Gallows or on obvious Templar missions. Gave ’em too much credit. I did notice that the docks change between the acts, but that seems like the only section. It’s weird.
On Anders: yeah, he dies every time. I find it funny that Sebastian bores me, but I can’t let Anders walk no matter who Hawke sides with (so Seb’s always with me at the end)…and Sebastian is one of my husband’s favorite characters but he can’t bring himself to kill Anders so he never keeps Seb. Who was your favorite team?
Did you play ME3 before or after the ending DLC came out? Because I played it before and had the same reaction you did to DA2’s ending. Without rehashing all my issues with it…what frustrates me most was how WTF the “and into this grounded setting we now have proof of a spiritual/supernatural element that’s choosing one OF MANY themes in the Mass Effect setting and saying it’s the only important one.” Also, the best ending involves forced eugenics so everyone will be the same and therefore no one will fight any more. Because being one species prevents conflict! It’s not like humans and krogan ever went to war against each other… Oh. Wait.
Frankly, I was so angry at the ME3 ending that I wasn’t interested in Inquisition until I heard Patrick Weekes was joining their writing staff. Sorry if I’m giving you information you already know, but he wrote Kasumi and Mordin for the last two games and the Tuchanka and Rannoch missions in ME3 (the ones I liked best) so I knew I’d like some of the characters at least. 🙂
Yes, I did play Jade Empire but can remember pretty much nothing about it. KotOR’s Jolee Bindo is one of my favorite companions – possibly because Bastila and Carth irritated me so much that anyone who wasn’t in full-on lecture-mode was incredibly welcome. XD First time I heard Kaidan talk, I went “NOOOOO!” I kept talking to him because I can’t leave ANY conversation option unexplored and eventually got over it, but I wonder how many people wrote Kaidan off based on the VA.
Have you tried KotOR II with the definitive fan patch? I played it again last year and was surprised at how well it held up.
Oy, you reminded me of Merrill! I wish I could have stabbed her too after that mission on her village! hahaha I read somewhere in the forums that she was like a puppy, you wanted to roll a newspaper, swat her and say “No! Blood magic bad!”. hahahaha I felt that way also.
I really like Aveline and her quest to find a date! It was so sweet! And I had Fenris on my team too. As I said before I am a sucker for the brooding types! And Sebastian! I wished you could have brought him to the dark side by the end and had him forget his vows. muahaha 🙂
I had ME3 deluxe edition preordered the moment it was available. I guess my expectations were too high after the first and the second. That entity in the end was so out of the blue you kept wondering where the heck did he come from. So many other explanations that could have been created. It felt completely disconnected from the previous games.
And Mordin end was awesome wasn’t it?? I cried and cried. So moving!
I cried at the end saying goodbye to Garrus too! And at the end you are just raging! Such a difference.
I really enjoyed Jade Empire and my favorite character was Sky. Can you believe Nathan Fillion did one of the voices there?
I do enjoy Raphael Sbarge acting. I loved the back and forth with Carth and calling him names. hahaha From what I read in the forums, Kaidan was too nice and respectful for the male audience. And of course the straight guys would always let him die in Virmire.
I tried KOTOR several years ago when it came out but it was so buggy I gave up. I just can’t believe they sold the sequel to Obsidian. I guess they wanted to worked on a different franchise.
…and I once again have access to a computer. Yay! Sorry for the slightly tardy response
On the DA2 companions: I like all of them better as rivals than as friends (well, the ones I could bring myself to rival anyway; Varric was too hard to get angry and I love Aveline too much to fight with her through a whole game). But yeah – the first time I played Merrill’s final companion mission was with my imported Dalish Warden, and I was pretty floored (partly from what had happened, partly from Anders’ and Fenris’ commentary – talk about COLD). The end to her rivalry arc is great though. Oh, and my husband’s Hawke was flirting with Aveline at every opportunity throughout her date mission; part of me wanted to tell him not to bother, but the “go on, entertain me” part won out. XD
On ME3: I doubt your expectations were too high; that ending would have gotten a “seriously, go rewrite this” if I’d tried to submit that for a writing class.
Mordin will forever be the best; his file in LotSB made the DLC worth it. I’m too much of a softie to do it, but have you played a run-through in which you try to trick Wrex? Makes me thankful for Youtube – that way I can enjoy the writing without the stomach-turning horribleness of actually doing it. Oh, did you ever drag Liara and Javik around together? I was howling at times.
On Sbarge: I think most of my problems with Bastila and Carth boil down to how the conversations were initiated. The game would stop you whatever you were doing and say “Carth/Bastila looks like he/she wants to talk about something.” So you initiate a conversation just to be told “good grief, I DON’T WANT TO TALK TO YOU AND, BTW, I STILL DON’T TRUST YOU EVEN THOUGH YOUR AURA IS SO LIGHT SIDE I CAN’T EVEN LOOK AT YOU WITHOUT SUNGLASSES.” But again, that was more how it was set up than the characters themselves.
On Kaidan and Ashley: They suffer from being the two normals in a ship full of exotics. Poor guys – I really liked how they each represented different human outlooks on inter-species relations. Kaidan’s view is how I hoped it would work; Ashley’s view is how I think it probably would. And the nice thing is that (at least in the first two games) there’s enough variety that Shepard could prove either philosophy out.
And, on a completely unrelated note: I just finished Akifusa’s route in Scarlet Fate. I’ll have a longer piece up later, but the short version is: skip it. If I wasn’t going to write about it later, I would have quit half way through.
I’m falling asleep tonight so I’ll post a bigger comment tomorrow. I just wanted to tell you I tried a game from this company called D3publisher and I think it’s supposed to be some kind of erotica. And I say some kind because it called the male private part ‘wedge’…. Hahahahahahaha I was in stitches by the end! So funny!
I got stuck on Orphan Black! Have you watched that show? It’s great! I was on the edge of my seat the whole time!
Ok, so I never read any Japanese erotica but now I want to just to see if I can make more sense of the game I played! Hahaha the translation didn’t feel too terrible but they sorely needed an editor. Some parts were really convoluted and others needed total rewrite. It revolves around an island that’s supposed to be a huge brothel. But it’s male only and it seems they can’t leave the place at all, they are indenture workers. I thought the story was going to involve this issue and by the end you’d free the chosen person. Oh Lordy, no such luck. But by the end I was skipping several paragraphs so I might have missed something. I only recommend if you want to laugh at the weirdness. Hahaha
Did you see Bioware released the LIs? They were getting so much flak. 😦 it’s just sad they get harassed so much. I’m not sure who I’m going to pick yet!
Orphan Black looks interesting. It’s on my ever-growing “watch when the toddler isn’t running in every eight minutes needing something” list. Right now I watch operas with subtitles – no coarse language or bloody explosions in those stage productions.
You know it’s a good story when you’re skipping large chunks just to reach the end. XD Yeah, I can’t get into stories (game, book, whatever) that treat trafficking/slavery/intimidation as okay or simply a background feature. Thanks for the warning.
I did see the Inquisition character list pop up yesterday; I purposely avoided the commentary. I almost wish Bioware would skip romance options altogether – or at least not put so much of a character’s back-story behind that gate. If one of your Hawkes never romances Isabela you miss out on a lot of her history and moments that would have worked as a good friend. And I like Jacob but flat-out could never talk to him as a femshep because the options I thought would be friendly turned out to be creepy cougar lines. Leave the nice man alone, Shepard. XD
Back to Inquisition: I had already decided on a female Dalish mage so apparently I will have ALL THE OPTIONS. No idea if I’ll chase anyone the first play-through – all depends on the personality and beliefs. I bump off my Wardens regularly and my main play-throughs are Forever Alone types so I have no problem leaving them without someone to hug. Poor things.
Toddler’s calling me again…
Husband looked at the DAI website for the first time today. His comment: “Solas looks like Voldemort.”
Haha! So true! He has a famous European actor as a VO. I don’t think I’ve seen anything he’s on though.
How old is your baby? My daughter is 4. I can only watch Orphan Black after she’s asleep.
Not quite three; we usually crawl into bed at the same time so that cuts down on viewing time.
Have you decided on a class/race combination yet?
I was sure I was going human Mage first but the qunari looks so awesome! But I think I’m sticking with human Mage, then qunari warrior, then elf rogue. It might change upon first play through. All female.
How about you?
I’ll probably stick with the Dalish mage to go with my Dalish Warden and rogue Hawke (sympathetic with the mages). Then I want to pair my Amell Warden and mage Hawke (both sided with the templars because the Fade terrifies them) with a male Qunari rogue who’s also wary of magic. I like to see all the different outcomes if I can.