#also.....been playing so much dragon age............

[flashhwing]

man Anders’ introduction in da2 is so good if you haven’t played awakening. like the buildup, beginning with Varric introducing the concept of a Grey Warden and the rumor that there’s one in the city, making him sound, purely in concept, like a total badass. Lirene talking about “search for the lit lantern in darktown. If your need is great enough, Anders will be within” like he’s some legend, an urban myth. then you walk into the clinic and see this incredibly human man with just a hint of something Otherworldly, exhausted beyond belief but still whipping around to put himself between you and his patients, marking himself as a protector with a voice that rings ethereal

and then within five seconds he starts rambling about his cat

#I love him so much #Anders #dragon age #this has been a post #his intro is also good if you HAVE played awakening but I imagine it’s harder to take him seriously on the outset

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

forever mad about how dirty they did aveline from act 2 onward

#thinking way too much abt it rn cus i just finished her quest today #she is important to liam and i enjoy their relationship a lot & also her character in general in the earlier acts #but MAN i hate what they did to her in acts 2 and 3 #laya plays dragon age #feels like there is such a disconnect from her attitude between acts 1 and 2? #or well. maybe not disconnect exactly but even so there is an important shift there and we never even get to see it OR question it #she could have been such a good contribution to the story and the themes by putting her at a crossroads of #do i keep following what i know and become another cog in the system or do i challenge them and break out of it #cus like. in act 1 she is not above going against laws when her own morals (or even just biases) go against them #but is generally still in favor of ''regular'' law and order (which does get challenged by characters sometimes which is nice!) #(sort of) blind loyalty is already a fault of hers and now her loyalty is understandably mostly towards her guards #but then her companion quest is not in fact about herself but about frickin. courting the guy she likes??????? #full on i thought this was a silly quest for levity in an act that has a lot of dark moments #but no it is Her Important Quest TM and not only does she not get with him if you dont do the quest #but her entire attitude and happiness going forward depends on it????? what the hell #also fun fact first time playing act 2 i thought that there was a lot going over my head and like #and some of it did yeah but i also just Assumed that bc the way aveline acted/ the guards actions were presented through her #didnt line up with what actually happened #(& her being so defensive and dismissive didnt line up with the impression i got of her before that) #sorry for the rant im just once again mad about cool characters being screwed over by the writing

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

Alistair: So I'm not going with you, I see. Any particular reason? Tabris: I'm not going to risk you getting hurt, Alistair. Alistair: And you think I want you going in there and sacrificing yourself? You think I want you to die!? But there's no use arguing with you, is there? We don't have time... and you are a stubborn, stubborn woman. Tabris: You would do something foolish. Alistair: Maybe… I guess we'll never know now, will we? I guess this is the last chance we'll get… before this is finished, one way or another. Be careful in there. Tabris: I love you, Alistair. Alistair:

Guess who made the ultimate sacrifice...?

Me. It was me.

I made the ultimate sacrifice.

The achievement wasn't worth it.

#dragon age #dragon age origins #dao #alistair theirin #dao alistair #warden tabris #i'm genuinely so heart broken #i just wanted to see what ending you get when you reject morrigan's ritual since i have very strong opinions on it as i've discussed before #and it's more in character for my tabris to reject it anyway so this was the first time i did it and just...... i am hurt #like... it's such a hopeless 'what was even the point? she didn't deserve this' feeling y'know? she didn't deserve this! #and neither did alistair... he already holds so much guilt over duncan and cailan making him stay out of battle in ostagar #and then rose makes him stay behind so she can face the archdemon and die ALONE... while also robbing him of the chance to stand beside her #the way i play dao is alistair is forever in my party like i literally take him *everywhere* he is with rose the entire journey #they are partners in this forever and always and they planned to face the archdemon together but that changed with riordan's news... #and this is the first time since they met in ostagar that he hasn't been in her party and i didn't expect it to hurt so much... #plus i keep alistair a warden so he's left alone in the aftermath of a blight that took everything from him #and i know the end card was retconned but it says that he was so hurt over the warden's death #that he said it wasn't the same anymore and he fucking *left* the order and fereldan and his whereabouts are unknown after he made #a small monument for duncan in his birthplace like.... again i know that was retconned since he obviously didn't leave the wardens but OOF #oh and don't even get me started on morrigan and how she responds to being rejected like i'm chewing on all my furniture right now #there is so much to dissect in that conversation and i'm too emotionally drained to handle it right now...

[alongtidesoflight]

also not to put more of my "this is gonna be an unpopular one" thoughts out there but between replaying dao and seeing what bg3 pulled off

dai was a massive step backwards in the franchise due to it being tied to EA and forced to meet a semi-family friendly corporate standard and i'm glad bg3 is rattling the industry because the industry in regards to triple A rpgs has been stagnant and satisfied with below minimum sub par corporate dictated tier quality for far too long

#the way i watched those darkspawn tear maric and duncan apart #thinking wow i forgot how violent dragon age used to be lmfao #then zevran just talked all natural about his bisexual ass #modern day bioware would never #also in terms of role-playing choices in dragon age there really haven't been many since dao #hawke is a character with a story that's pretty much set in stone and so's the inquisitor and they can't even be proper dicks about it

[cloudcrouton]

The Dreams of a Knight

birthday gift for one of my fellow players in our current campaign!

#my art #artists on tumblr #art #digital art #also on my twitter #also on my insta #chthon the beasts age #Journey #we’ll have been playing this game for 2 years as of this week #god #love this game and my friends so much!! #dnd #dungeons and dragons #tiefling

[asexualdreammorpheus]

I'll see exactly one (1) picture of fenris and hawke and be immediately overcome with the desire to play dragon age 2 again

#but i have to finish my city elf playthrough because i wanna hear merrill talk about the warden #im literally so stupid ill never get anything done hoeing like this #their romance is so top tier though #im sure I'd lover anders but fenris and a mage hawke is so *chefs kiss* #i wonder if more time had been put into the game and you could play as hawke as another race? #fenris bickers with merrill about elves what would he say to hawke #probably nothing considering the dragon age writers #they wrote solas and sera to talk down to the inquisitor about the dalish #but still i can dream #i can also dream of qunari hawke towering over fenris #or fenris picking up qunari hawke anyway #i like the dynamic of the hawke family but fantasy games i don't wanna play as a human #you know blackwall calling the inquisitor my lady this man has such reverence for her #oh my god what if bioware had made blackwall bisexual #its what everyone playing as a male inquisitor deserves #im getting sidetracked again #anyway i love fenhawke so much #dragon age

[obessivedork]

Absolutely SHOCKING to me to read that others think Inquistion has the best combat in the Dragon Age series. Origins and 2 were LEAGUES above Inquisition’s combat for me 💀💀💀

#I'm a PC gamer so maybe it's console gamers who say that? #stylistically 2 is SO MUCH FUN to play #and I LOVE hoarding spells and talents in Origins #and setting tactics! Love me some tactics because I'm a NERD! #but we probably won't get any of that back ever again :( #When I realized I didn't get to be a healer and barriers were like that(tm) I knew... oh. so the fighting in this game sucks #& I was right. Actually it might've been when I realized my slots were limited and my potion numbers were limited #Also no more smacking things with staf!! That was so fun! :( #Hawke can't jump but they can beat someone/thing to death with their bare hands if they're out of mana #and that makes them infinitely more powerful than the Inquisitor. Warden is ALWAYS OP in the fight between the 3 tho lmfao #Oh also having to hold a button to keep attacking sucks too lemme just click/press a button to attack jesus!!! #my finger hurts!!!! #Inquisition might have my least favourite fighting UI of any game I've played tbh. Granted that's not very many but..... yeah #I'm not playing the DA games for their combat to begin with but when you make it like THAT..... :/ #dragon age

[streetsandsodiumlights]

hard to play dragon age with a new character bc im just completely head over heels in love with my warden. I think about them and im like yep this is it, let’s pack it up and go home

#dragon age #followed people for cousland talk today which made me want to play a cousland #I want to make different choices!! I want to see parts of the game I haven’t seen before!! also the human noble origin is my second favorite #I just find the story so SAD. everyone you knew and lived has been killed and you’re conscripted into the wardens whether you like it or not #you can spend the whole origin saying you want to be in the wardens and you can get your wish in the worst way possible #or you can spend the whole time saying you’d rather stay home and be forced to join them against your will #and now your family’s dead so what do you have left!! nothing. you were betrayed by your father’s friend and for what?? #power? land? jealousy? how much does any of that matter in the face of a BLIGHT?? i just like it #all of the origins are fantastic stories but ive thought a lot about this one for someone without a cousland warden #aaaanyway trying to decide what my new guy will do with his life. I like to have a plan. I love this game #also trying NOT to make him similar to my main warden cause I want things to be DIFFERENT!! let him make bad choices it’s fine

[perilegs]

i have a text document open while i'm doing my current replay of my canon warden so i can write my thoughts down as i play so i won't forget important things about her character and. im reading what i've written down so far and i am going to make myself cry right this second. why did i write "zevran looks like home"

#like. before i started this rerun of ati mahariel i only had a small amount of text. da keep tapestry. and a playlist for her #but now i have so much text ahhhh #i like this bc i know im making tje exact same decisions as the #first time around i played her. but now that i don't have to figure out who she is while playing i get to deepen her a bit and its so much #fun #how long will it take before i write about the parallels i realized she has with morrigan and zevran. #hopefully not too long bc god i love thinking about her #i know this game series and especially origins has been so very dear to me for so many years now #but i always enjoy it when i replay the games and get in an extra dragon age mood #bc if i have a fixation i dont have to spend time deciding what to think of when falling asleep etc. it just comes to me naturally #like there are Obvious downsides to having hyperfixations but im also having a lot of fun #leevi liveblogs #i think i had a point but i got sleepy and now im just rambling #good night. i will be thinking of ati in bittersweet situations xo

[ziracona]

I really miss Dragon Age 2.

#I’m not sure I can say it was the best one? technically speaking Origins probably is? but it was the one that I liked the story of most. it #hit me deepest. that messed me up but I also loved it. and it was much better designed for cause and effect #dragon age 2 #inquisition is frustrating because half the time - especially w War Room - you pick as well as you can based on all the info you /have/ at #your disposal and it goes ‘hehe you picked Lelianna’s ‘let’s be cautious and scout first’ ^u^ over Josephine’s ‘let’s ask the nobles if they #can help intel gather’ and Cullen’s ‘let’s send our soldiers to look around’. 300 people died ^u^’ #so if you want good results you either re-load or use a guide bc there’s little sense to it & you’re constantly punished not for really your #own choices but just arbitrarily. I used a guide like 3 times the entirety of DA2. I use them constantly for DAI becuase every time I go ‘im #just gonna play normally : )’ ten minutes later I tell some girl the wardens seem cool & she immediately gets brutally murdered #also they constantly have NPcs there to tell you something and die seconds later and it’s so annoying??? in every other DA game you can heal #and save NPCs you find injured but now they go ‘tell my wife…I’m sorry…’ and die and you have a quest to tell their wife ‘sorry I didn’t #give her one of the 40 health potions I was carrying’ or some idiocy. I have NOT ONCE been able to save by healing an NPC when in every #other game I had MANY chances. no heal even EXISTS as a spell in DAI when it’s a basic skill in every other game??? #also the quests are structured so badly half the time I walk into a house and kill a monster and Varric goes ‘ah the High Beam Killer dead #at last’ and I won’t know what the fuck he’s saying At All but some quest marked Spooky Mansion is marked completed and I gain exp without #ever remotely knowing what the quest was in the first place #in DA2 when I got punished I deserved it. in Act3 the Mages with Grace suspected me of turning them in bc I tricked the Templars instead of #killing Thrask and that made sense. I did pick a slightly less safe outcome to protect him. i absolutely never betrayed them but I did take #a risk that put /them/ at risk and it made sense for her to distrust me. In DAI my friends get killed because I’m Qunari no matter what I do #at the war table before or after and they just give me pointless missions about it so I have the illusion of choice and consequence #DAI is obsessed with Only Bad Outcome quests because the Devs are centrists who think there’s no right answer to fucking anything and it #deeply damages the story structure and the quest load out #(I don’t hate DAI I’m just venting. I enjoy many many parts of it. but some I want to destroy rabidly with a hammer)

[astrxealis]

lune playing cuphead in class silly silly

#⋯ ꒰ა starry thoughts ໒꒱ *·˚ #owhhh i missed playing video games w extended family/lots of other people so badly #i only won once out of a few games of mario kart and i didnt win 1st at all for smash but FUN #okay i miss playing games. actual games. by which i mean smth that isn't ffxiv or gbf to me or mobile LMFAO #i will replay ffxv soon i hope and play gow! :] #but also my priority really is studying and shit so aaa sobbing fuck everything on earth #anyway tho yeah cuphead. love that game #i love a challenge ^___^ but i don't play cuphead enough LMFAO and i have been neglecting my steam games sorry #i think i'll play later today after doing my homework for tomorrow? esp bcs..... dragon age.......... really want to play it #i played it even before xiv actually so when i started (you see it was my first. game like that i actually played w a controller and not #mobile or w a mouse w those free games online by which i'm talking abt games where u click buttons to attack and shit like mmos) #so i was like yooo when playing xiv! oh the controls are like da! little baby gamer oh hell #except ive only played like 2 hours worth on xbox and only ever origins so. yeah. BUT I REALLY WANT TO PLAY MORE okay #ohhhhhhh i love video games so much but it's good i've been distancing myself unconsciously and unpurposely for a while since it ptherwise #takes up too much of me and my time. but idrc LMFAO but priorities first !!

[kirkwallfightclub]

I can’t stop thinking about the dynamic in act 3 between non-mage Hawke (newly family-less), Anders (an open-secret apostate only still free because of his relationship with one of the most untouchable people in Kirkwall) and Meredith (aware of all of this), because. Bethany is in the circle. In the Kirkwall Circle. In the fucking Gallows.

Like no wonder Anders didn’t tell Hawke — no matter how much love was there or how much their politics aligned. His biggest enemy has the ultimate trump card. Even without taking his self-esteem issues into account, there’s no world in which Anders thinks he’s coming out on top over the last remnant of Hawke’s family (and he could very well be right), but even then. If he cost Hawke the last family they had left, that’s hardly better is it? So no, he has to go it alone or he risks forcing a standoff that can only end in tragedy.

#anders #dragon age #da2 #feel weird about tagging this because. this is barely coherent but hey let’s see #also. sorry if this has been said before this game *is* twelve years old #and I’ve only just played it this last couple months #but fuck it’s making me insane #the (watsonian) reasons why Meredith doesn’t imo are: anders isn’t that important grand scheme #especially after the mage underground gets decimated between acts #(though I feel the fact that he’s blatant *and* in general makes mages sympathetic to everyday kirkwallers is hardly negligible) #but also she just isn’t ready to push Hawke that far. yet. (or give up Bethany as a buffer to discourage Hawke taking actions against her) #but thinking about it from anders’ (and hawke’s) (and Bethany’s for that fucking matter) perspective is. ruining my brain #the doyalist reason is because that would be too much variation for a potential 1/6 of the audience #and also because they uh. ran out of time and money and act 3 was a hot mess #(said as if the rest of the game was particularly smooth sailing) #hm. #anyway riches and wonders is the hawke anders act 3 song and I’m being so so brave about it.

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

yes i make all my hawkes black haired for shits n giggled but that doesn't mean i can't make lilian fake-black

#this is semi canon but it is in my head regularly xD #just because why not #and also because it would be very funny to me if seb (ergo the only companion who wasnt around in act 1) #would not realise that she is fake until he sees carver in act 2 for the first time #yes he did see her in act 1 but he didnt exactly remember every detail and simply assumed it has always been black #this is not important in any way but she *would* tease him with it forever #like my friend have you never noticed my roots coming thru. have you never noticed that my body hair is not black #and he'd just get flustered like well i didnt look THAT closely #(theyre good friends btw) #laya plays dragon age #i may have brainfleas rather than brainworms bc they jump around all over the place all the time lmao #but they all get back to the same thing & circle around each other #been spending way too much time in the black emporium w robin and came out with the exact same look hdshsh #technically i would remove the beard bc i think they would feel dysphoric abt it at this time but also the face looks weird without it #& i cant get the face to look how i want #so beard stays on #gotta draw them to figure them out maybe idk #for now tho: recruitment time!! i need to gather my disaster gang <33

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

As much fun as I'm having doing my alternative run of DA2, one thing I really miss about my mage Hawke is his friendship with Merrill.

Those two are best friends and he's 100% supportive in her goals toward the eluvian. Ed has the humorous/charming personality, too, which bounces off super well with Merrill. He doesn't think any less of her for her usage of blood magic; if anything he's impressed by her level of strength and willpower. He's so ready to defend her from the other companions and the clan, and he's absolutely out here attempting to matchmake her and Carver....at least he is in my heart because the game won't let me, it's fine, I'm not bitter about it or anything-

But then my warrior Hawke? She has the diplomatic personality with quite a bit of direct/aggressive thrown in there and she ends up having the same attitude as that one party banter Aveline and Merrill have: "Merrill, you're clearly talented and meant for great things, but you're stupid," and that's so difficult for me to lean into. I'm trying to play Aris differently so she ends up being so condescending to Merrill, like she's trying to gently tell her to give up on the eluvian but it doesn't come off well.

Also if Carver was around, Aris would be the opposite of Ed, she'd look at the suggestion of her brother and Merrill getting together and be like, "No :) I don't think so :) I like Merrill, she's my friend :) but she's not right for Carver."

But I guess it makes sense; if you told him that Bethany would giggle and kick her feet and twirl her hair around Sebastian, Ed would've thrown him in the ocean as a warning. Meanwhile, Aris is like, "A handsome prince that could take my sister away from all of this? Wonderful, we just need to work on his incorrect views on mages, but that shouldn't be a problem :)"

Anyway I miss playing Hawke as the #1 Merrill stan.

#dragon age 2 #da2 #da2 merrill #carver hawke #bethany hawke #sebastian vael #da2 hawke #edgar hawke #aris hawke #listen i'm a little weirdo i like comparing the different ways to play the heroes of da games but especially the different hawkes #i like comparing my own hawkes and i like looking at other peoples hawkes and the different relationship dynamics they bring to the table #kicks my little gremlin brain into gear #like ed always rivals aveline and their relationship is strained at best... meanwhile aris and aveline are ride or die best friends #and seeing aveline from both perspectives is....... well it's an experience i'll just say that sksksks #oh also i miss anders so much sksksk i miss his romance and the dynamic he and ed have #aris rejected him right from the start and while it's neat to see her character through an unromantic lens i still miss him and his bullshi #aris romanced isabela and *that* makes me want to bite nom nom so interesting and heartbreaking in its own way like losing leandra like tha #and then dealing with the qunari bullshit only to find out isabela's part in it before she abandons aris with the book #and then aris reunites with bethany who is bitter and pissed off and can't get away from her fast enough like........ the end of act 2 y'al #aris was *ready* for the arishok fight solely because she needed an outlet for her frustration and grief and agony #she couldn't kick his ass fast enough sksksksks and now she's so Done with everything and then isabela admits that she's in love with her #and it's just................. a lot. it's so much. i can't #anders and isabela's respective romances drive me nuts for very different reasons i love them #this has been another 'cj needs to ramble about [blank]' post #stay tuned for next week where she continues to sob about the hawke twins

[yshtal]

making YET ANOTHER inquisitor when I’m not even done with the original one, as ya do

#I’ll finish trespasser someday #but listen LISTEN I don’t have an inquisitor who was a chantry boy #and I NEED to have one #struggling with his own faith and trying to represent the chantry at the same time babyyyyy!!!!! #he was given to the chantry as a child and he’s been chasing their approval ever since #and he is trying so hard to be good and faithful and a servant to the blessed andraste and to the maker #but he grapples so much with his faith especially now that he is being claimed as the herald #he lies awake at night begging her to make him believe it and she never does!!! I love a religious crisis!!!! #(also tho I was never gonna choose the templars and this is the only way I can justify it #if it’s a scared kid who resents that he had to make that choice and laments not giving the mages their chance) #dragon age #dai #(ALEXA PLAY GOD MUST HATE ME)

[thingsidonethunked]

Finished playing Skyrim, and now I don't know what to do with myself.

#skyrim #i might have finally played dragon age inquisition too much #and i can't afford elden ring #or justify spending the money to get the newest ac valhalla dlc #i also am stuck playing on xbox #so i can't play horizon zero dawn #which makes me very sad #i COULD justify the money to buy ac Odyssey dlcs BUT it's been some time and i've gotten massively attached to eivor in the meantime #i don't know if i have the emotional energy to connect with cassandra again right now #games #xbox #elder scrolls