Got me Skyhold and all the things that happened Haven

[zen_monk]

 So that thing in Haven was a thing! All the standard Muwahahaha dialogues and frantic saving of a home base. Sadly, I was too late to save some people and so in a replay I'll be sure to get better at it. 

I gotten the Mages' alliance first, so it was all the possesed and crazy templars left and right, like a whole army of Meredith's (except I kinda now started to think it would've been really cool if Meredith was somehow back because at this point in the game I was all nostalgic for DA2) 

The whole time after that debacle, I thought it was a nice atmospheric thing to stumble through a snow storm with all the slowness of an injured and freezing person, even though the pacing was hell for me on my already stuttering computer and the whole time I was thinking why a a mage this person hadn't tried lighting up a floating fireball for warmth. 

No singing, Haven. If you must sing, it must be in indecipheable Gregorian Chant so that it was at least atmospheric? 

Solas just gets more conveniently useful each plot narrative after another. But at least Skyhold is swanky. 

Comments

[sarasa_cat]

I loved the game play of that battle in Haven. During my first time I found it difficult and challenging and it gavee such a sense of urgency while trying to figure out how to save people. Definitely looking forward to replaying that with my next inquisitor and hopefully saving everyone.

As for the mwuhahaahaha and the singing (plz stop), I just keep thinking about how the battle mechanics and challenges engaged me.

Solas is very interesting during this phase of the game's story.

[zen_monk]

Trying to get the trebuchets while also being on a time limiit in saving people really got me engaged all right. It's also the added "switch to your warrior if you want to break down Hagrit's door" which also threw me off a tad, though I still got him.

The thing with the singing bit, at least before it, was there was some well-placed body language between the advisors. Leliana and Josephine huddled together, either praying or waiting because it's all they can do, but as they are good friends with one another more than the others they seek each other's company in solace. Cullen feeling slightly alienated and alone in his thoughts while feeling discomfort in trying to maintain his position but also knowing that being unyielding doesn't bring him friends. Cassandra pouring her focus on the maps of where they are, looking for a lifeline but probably really seeing nothing; in times like these, she sees answers in practicality but it's another expression of finding faith in something tangible (like the Herald).

Solas is also just so sneaky; knew all along there's an empty fortres of Tevinter-make, which he might probably reveal soon, but then sees Corypheus and the orb and goes "looks like we gotta move up the plan i guess". He just stood around in his peasant clothing so he's being lowkey, and then suddenly he 's here for plot.

And sudden excursion in a dream without telling the Inquisitor

[sarasa_cat]

Agreeing so much with your assessment of each of the advisors and how powerful that moment should have been.

The game set up tension and established a mood. After the difficulty of that Haven battle, the lostness I felt just figuring out how to endlessly trudge down the snowy mountain (lol- I got lose in the beginning at the top!), Cullen&crew finding the Inquisitor, and the dark moment of "will this all hold together?" as the advisors met/argued/worried, I felt the gravity of the situation and then ... The Singing Began. -_- That destroyed the mood for me. And, adding insult to injury, the trek to Skyhold was a blatant homage to LOTR which annoyed me after The Singing. :/

I can see this as a devisive thing: some people will love that singing scene and see it as setting the mood for an epic adventure (and love the LOTR cinematography homage too), and other people will headdesk the first time they see the singing scene, looking at it as too sappy, too yuck, too PLZ STAHP.

Differing tastes... (Ugh, that scene)

Solas: hahahahaha. I made it as far as Skyhold with a fem mage Lavellan before restarting and playing thru as a fem mage Trevelyan. During convos with Solas in Haven with mage Lavellan, I got the distinct impression that Solas is a lying liar who has tricks up his sleeve so when he pulled that dream stunt and revealed himself as key to the plot, I knew to keep an eye on him. Also, he seemed far too convenient in the opening part of the game. ;)

[zen_monk]

My thing with Solas is that he has settled really into that exposition guy when someone wants a 101 class on magic and the dalish and almost all things Fade. He gets more interesting once his intrepidness reveals like "oh yeah, that orb is elvhen." "How is it Elvhen?" "Oh it's totally Elvhen." *Shrug alright, no one else is bringing up theories*

And doing that Solas-mance.. It's all ho-hum so far, you know? Even with being thrust into a dream without her knowing, he's otherwise just there until my Inquisitor pushes for that romance. But the romance dialogue is so flat and pedantic, you know? So far no spark that I see. Though I will say... the smooching scene was less cringe-worthy compared to how I first reacted to Anders smooching scene, visceral-gut feeling-wise.

Also, what is with that box of lyrium-heroin thing that Cullen has. Wow, I knew that this scene was in the game, but it's that very special "let's talk about drug addiction in our media for realism, mkay?" scene. Like, here comes the War on Drugs in Thedas movement. Is there a D.A.R.E program? It includes singing.

[sarasa_cat]

My early impressions of Solas were so negative and so unpleasantly button-pushingly NOPE that my aborted Lavellan would have preferred to kick Solas out of the inquisition. Romance was off the table for that PT. ;) Although, now that I am fully spoiled on the story and the romance, I am intrigued for perverse reasons.

At some point I will do a meta-gamed Lavellan for the Solasmance although I am putting that on hold for a little while purely because other things call to me a little more right now: DA2 replay plus a more thorough exploration of DAI with my existing fem mage Trevelyan.

I wonder if Mother Giselle runs Thedas' D.A.R.E. program? If so, it would definitely include an entire book full of educational songs.

Cullen's crude drug paraphernalia and the scenes that go with it felt odd and a bit off to me, especially when with an Inquisitor who is in a relationship with him, although after being spoiled on all possible dialogue paths and outcomes, it seems that certain outcomes were far better written than others. Playing blind and unspoiled, I sort of feel like the game railroaded my inquisitor down a specific path where everything was handled too easily and then it was done. Many mixed feelings about it and now that I've seen all of the writing for Cullen, I think I would nominate the "getting your lyrium addicted boyfriend off of the blue drug" as the worst written part of the Cullen+Inquisitor script and among the least satisfying writing with the companions... Even though I can see why the writers decided to confine Cullen's story arc to him confronting his past, it felt underwhelming, especially when I compare it to Cassandra's quests and Leliana's quest which are some of the best parts of the game. (It might be a little while before you get to those quests).