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Post by Beefy Titans on Nov 16, 2024 14:09:35 GMT
Finally lock in Davrin's romance. That scene is just so sweet. |
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Post by Lee on Nov 17, 2024 4:58:24 GMT
So I logged in to Tumblr for the first time in years, and found this post with banter between Lucanis and Emmrich. It turns out, Emmrich romances
Strife! Did any of you get that? Because I didn't... And I sort of wish I did... Perhaps in this playthrough. Yep. It's a very short bit of content, but cute none the less. |
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Post by farferello on Nov 17, 2024 10:16:59 GMT
So I logged in to Tumblr for the first time in years, and found this post with banter between Lucanis and Emmrich. It turns out, Emmrich romances
Strife! Did any of you get that? Because I didn't... And I sort of wish I did... Perhaps in this playthrough. I did. There's a convo between Emmrich and Lucanis where you can hear them discussing it. Lucanis suggests getting Strife a knife but makes excuses about how he's bad at that sort of thing and suggests Emmrich ask Rook what to do and you can suggest where Emmrich takes him on a date. My favourite thing about it is after that discussion, if you're romancing Lucanis, he and Emmrich will talk about Emmrich/Strife and that the knife suggestion was a good one because Strife likes knives and it will lead to a discussion about Lucanis's own past relationships. (The convo may play the same if you're not romantically involved with Lucanis, idk, I only heard that discussion on my first run.)
Also at the very end of the game when talking with Strife, he asks you to protect Emmrich which is cute. |
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carcer
Grizzled Warrior
Posts: 84 
Likes: 331
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Post by carcer on Nov 17, 2024 12:01:03 GMT
I see, thanks Lee farferello! I know why I didn't get it: because I almost always paired Emmrich with either Davrin or Taash, almost never with Lucanis. So this time I have to mix and match more often  |
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Post by farferello on Nov 17, 2024 16:53:15 GMT
carcer The initial convo (about the date/knife advice) is a cutscene at the Lighthouse. Probably easy to miss if you're not constantly leaving/returning. I can't remember if it only starts after you finish Emmrich's quest fully (I know I didn't get the follow up conversation in outer world banter between him and Lucanis until after the quest was done.) After that cutscene you might even get the banter to trigger at the Lighthouse if you keep leaving/returning.
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Post by Scottphoto on Nov 17, 2024 22:29:30 GMT
I FINISHED FINALLY, *streches hands* thesis thoughts time!
Non Spoiler thoughts summary on the game completion:
I loved this "mass effect" armor and well this man wearing it I really loved the game in the end. By far my favorite Dragon Age, Act 3 was amazing spectacle and made it all worth the time, might be the most satisfying act 3 in a bioware game yet. They really learned since the days of upset with mass effect 3. It just feels great when all the 78 hours plus I spent on it was well worth the end result. The fact all of this at the end is all in engine, no video clips for some things, that even Andromeda did at certain points, was just really stunning. I really enjoy the gameplay structure of the game, everything is just quickly to go and find things while still having room to explore and do more and having space for deeper moments with each character. I can actually see myself replaying this game, where as Inquisition I have no energy to replay that once I finish. And multi runs will be much faster easier once you know what matters and what doesn't and aren't in shock struggling on what to do with some decisions. I also got all the trophies in the game because of how easy it is to navigate it. And finally, Rook I think takes over as my favorite Bioware protagonist. I know is an unpopular opinion in some places, but I just like how the character feels so alive and real while still having a fair bit of room to decide important key things of who they are. Has for people saying they wish to be evil, the story makes no sense for you to be evil, and Varric hires you, he's not going to hire a psycho lol. But oh well never had a thing for playing evil myself I guess.
RomanceSo I did speak on flirts on act 1, Regarding act 2 romances I do echo very much the rants of farferello and Andrew Mancer regarding Lucanis, but Davrin and and Emmrich are lovely.
Diving into act 2 Romance Lucanis spoilers: Lucanis act 2, well I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, it was mostly bad LOL, and you all know me I'm always do my positive spins on things but I cannot do too much of it here. There is only one saving grace scene and is when Lucanis finally reacts to your flirts again and almost kisses you, as seen above. It was a very hot seductive moment, their voices getting cut shy, and the movements, just wonderful. Unfortunately, that's where it all ends. There's not much receptiveness during his main action missions with romance, and when you finally get his lock the romance scene, is literally the worst lock in scene in the game and maybe of any game I played. Both just standing there staring at each other and that's it, you only know the romance locked because the text says it. Not to mention completing all his companion quests lead to a scene where once again you just stare at each other, only this time your seated and his standing look at you, is super weird. And don't get me started at the 20 coffee/contract related dialogues. Also the lock scene is the same scene Neve and Lucanis lock romance together as companions, yikes.  My most hated scene, they stand still there, that's it, a hug or lie down his head on him would have made wonders In comparison Davrin and Emmrich get their first kiss in the lock in scene, like you can really tell that romance is sealed. With Lucanis your still not sure what you have. And listen, I don't mind a slow burn the issue is that there isn't a lot of lines that come off or react romantic or interested by Lucanis, and comes off more like we are begging him to romance you. More so when you get that almost kiss but you both don't talk about it again. To make matters worse, you have the thing where Lucanis romances Neve as companion instead and he is the one taking the initiative in that romance. Now it does get better in act 3 but will get to that later below in the post. My slutty era, first kiss with Davrin and Emmrich:   These are just so good and made me start to question if I should stick with Lucanis lol, but I'll fully play them later on cuz I did love them. But this is as far as I gone with Davrin and Emmrich so won't spoil about them in act 3 or anything yet cuz haven't done them. But the almost kiss variants they have before these kisses are also really nice, specially Emmrich's magical hand touch bit, granted it did remind me a bit to staring at the stars with Jaal.
Companions Overall:I think overall Act 2 feels like is more engaging with the romance you select, unfortunately it didn't feel as engaging with Lucanis as it does with others, but alas. Still I really enjoyed all the new companions, I like that each brought something to the table with not only just their backstories, but more in getting to know each faction. Even the grey wardens managed to be quite interesting despite us knowing them so much at this point if your a longtime fan player. I will be honest however, the one story that didn't work for me personally was Harding. I still really like her character though, but her not having a proper faction kinda made them make up something that didn't work for me for her. Has for favorite companion regardless of romance, it has to be Emmrich. The character is written wonderfully, while I don't dislike the writing of the game as a whole, his writing just really stood out to me in every form. Harding Act 2 mini Spoiler thoughts:
I didn't really like the whole titan stuff they attached to her. Just seems like they wanted to make her stand out more with all this magic stuff, but personally I would much have preferred Harding the scout showing how much you value her position and knowledge in the inquisition makes her really good at well scouting lol. I think making her hunt for something important for us to find would have worked a lot more with her rather than give her this superpower journey. I felt she's the only returning character that just didn't feel like the original to me at times. But oh well, I didn't hate her, is just her entire arc felt like it would fit more an entire other game instead of this one.
Davrin and Emmrich Act 2 Spoiler thoughts:
I like a lot how Davrin essentially has an arc warming up to your Rook romance wise, to the point that when is finally time, he's the one that goes for the kiss first. Not only that I love how he's also building up his relationship with Assan and we get to be a part of it to the point that you become also very special to Assan. Not to mention the hug you can give Assan breaks me emotionally in a good way. Missing my pet dog feelings badly. I'm also happy they just overall really nailed Davrin. In act 1 I was worried he would fall into people finding him boring, but in act 2, specially after weitshahaupt (yeah i ain't memorizing how that is spelled), he gained so much great depth as a grey warden. I do look forward to romance him next and Im so happy for you all that wanted to romance him first, you deserve this win!  Has for Emmrich, the decision to Lich or no Lich was perhaps the hardest decision for me in the entire game. Save Manfred or let Emmrich live his dreams so he can be free of his fears. Like OOf. I chose lich to try it and since I was not romancing him, but for a romance I'm not gonna lich him. By the end of the game I wasn't really too crazy about his lich thing, I missed my adorable worded man being his normal self. Still I love the intensity and changes of that choice, maybe one of the most or most impactful companion wise choice. And also happy for those of you wanting to romance him from the start, he really ended up being the surprise really nice romance this game. Ok that's a wrap on act 2 stuff, so diving into Act 3 going to start first discussing Lucanis romance, will avoid talking plot wise in this spoiler tag will put that seperate later:
ACT 3 SPOILERS, MOSTLY LUCANIS BUT SOME SMALL PLOT CORRELATION:So Act 2 final stuff that lead to act 3 are really great with Lucanis. He's very important with the mission as he still is the one that needs to kill Gillanain. So there's a lot of dialogue of Rook worried for Lucanis several times, desperate to save him and such. Some of those moments, non romanced rooks might still get it, but they are so much more powerful if you are romancing him. Like when you are in the fade and see Lucanis dead and Rook has that moment I was like damn, I felt all the things again between these two. Once you are rescued, him having that worry that you take a rest, relax was nice too. A lot of the dialogue of Lucanis how it reads to me in act 3 is that he regrets not being as forward with you in the romance in act 2 after losing you, he had fears holding him back, and now he almost lost you. So when the long awaited kisses and banging scene arrive and happen, he says he doesn't want to sleep now because he doesn't want to miss having time with you again. Of course this is how I read it myself as my vision between them and to make up for the scraps of act 2 lol so you can all call me delulu if you want XD. The long awaited Lucanis kiss in act 3: While I was sad how short it did feel, I did like a lot the overall dialogue between them, and felt like two virgin boys first time and waited too long.  (Or im just projecting) I also like that I could actually see the kiss in a good angle, glad we do. Kiss Picture and shirtlessness: 
Finally, ACT 3 SPOILERS DECISIONS (I will still try to be vague in case someone presses by accident) IMMA SPOIL WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE IF YOU DIDN'T FINISH Anyway, so regarding the big choice at end of act 2, I was a bit shocked of it, a virmire moment. More so shocked at the choices here. The fact that THAT character and the OTHER one die together is oof will never pick that. The other choice honestly surprised me but I think it made the most sense to make that choice really impactful soul crushing, just was surprised since that character still has a lot of things unanswered. Regarding act 1 choice miranthous and Treviso, kinda feels like saving Miranthous is a waste of time anyway cuz it gets all destoyed in act 3, so you might as well save Treviso so is not two cities destroyed. That was my only odd nitpick with act 3. The blighted companion decision did freak me out a little, I didn't want any harm to bellara so I chose Neve. But I did feel really bad for Neve for a while until thankfully it resulted in a good way and she got free of the red spooky eyes. But ultimately it made the most sense to pick Neve as she gets to shout about fighting for her city at the end, pretty cool. And the fact Rook is here to make up for not saving Miranthous last time while she's not available at first to help it, is a nice touch if you picked Treviso. All the factions and allies coming together was huge epic loved it. Thankfully maxed everyone out. Now Solas decision, ultimately since I went through the effort of mythal stuff and my inquisitor wanted to redeem him, I chose the redemption path. I think I liked my choice because while my Rook was super pissed at him to the point of literally using the f word in rage at him after varric thing, etc. My Rook still showed him that's he not vengeful hate like Solas had over Mythal. I also did take this choice because I overall liked Solas a lot more in this game, in inquisition i though he sucked until the trespasser ending that made him a bit interesting and I think this follows up on that well. I may also like him here because the solavellans are nitpicking it and being pissy complaining about the most dumb things, so that means is good hehehehe. But fandom aside, I did kinda wish my inquisitor and him could have had a romance, the gay dramatic kiss in that moment would be rad but oh well. Legends say the inquisitor and Rook rented a room together after this
Regarding the inquisitor, I liked that he was there, even though bleh that outfit, his cutscenes were much better than the first one were he is so stiff, he looked so much better in the dinner scene and then act 3 action. Hard not to chaotically ship them with rook however with this dinner time XD. Sad he doesn't directly mention iron bull but the codex you get is very nicely written so is okay I suppose. I saw that dorian only gets one line or so with him if romanced and is not a cutscene so we are not missing much there but he does call him Amatus which is nice. Also Dorian's look grew on me a fair bit but he still looks hella old. Oh lastly Varric! I was getting suspicious how he had no chair to sit on, and how no one directly looked him in the eyes, so while I wasn't surprised, I still really liked that scene how it plays out, it was pretty sad, granted the scene is more written for the player that knows him for so long rather than Rook himself that we don't know as much their history but I thought they did good in selling us they worked well together. But the fact it was Solas giving us this illusion was the whoa part for me, gut wrenching there and is when I went all in on yelling at Solas. But yeah in the end that final act and missions after point of no return just have so much going on and I loved every minute of it. Im really happy and worth the wait for me. And im so happy that regardless how we feel on the game itself, romance wise we are eating in options rather than suffering we only got one. Even if well Lucanis had its plenty of missed opportunities. |
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Post by dgcatanisiri on Nov 18, 2024 2:32:59 GMT
See, I think that, in the choice between Neve and Bellara, Bellara makes more sense - sure, Neve's fighting for her city, but Bellara's fighting against one of her gods, fighting for the future of her people to be free of their corruption. With me playing an elven Rook and romancing Davrin, all the elves of the Veilguard played a major role in saving the world. To me, that felt the most fitting. I'll say again, though, even after everything I went through in order to for unlocking the full ending options, it just felt right and satisfying to shove Solas into the Veil, especially in having Rook calling on the others to do it.
It felt like a full refutation of him all the same. Solas could never accept that the solution to the problems he made, the issues he created, fell to someone not him. Benevolent superiority. He must stand alone and fix everything, no matter the cost and consequences, and those allied with him are regrettable but necessary sacrifices he will allow to die for the "higher purpose."
And the fact that when you do this, his last words are "I am a god!" just prove all the hypocrisy he's spouted since we met him - he was only out to do what was necessary to prove himself correct, that he did the "correct" thing everything, that he was always right and everything he did, he did because "there was no other way," even though EVERYONE around him would always suggest an alternative that would have been better, but wouldn't have satisfied his ego. In the end, Solas was still one of the Evanuris, as much a relic of a world that no longer existed, as Elgar'nan and Ghilan'ain. |
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Post by Lee on Nov 18, 2024 4:15:50 GMT
Oh, ending talk: Bellara is my prefered choice too. Her "You're not my God!" scream is just so dramatically powerful. I was sold. I felt bad for her, but she took her power back and made me so happy!
I have watched all 3 versions of the ending on youtube-I think I'll probably always pick the redemption ending. I think in my mind I'll always worry we might need the Egg when the hidden enemy shows up in the next game. Also...I'm a marshmallow that is not overly fond of conflict with characters I love-even if the Solas is a shit most of the time.  |
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Post by farferello on Nov 18, 2024 4:48:33 GMT
Ending talk, I get petty. I pretty much choose Neve now for that choice if only for the fact it's my only petty, spiteful way of breaking her and Lucanis up permanently without risking fucking over other factions. Yes I am an asshole.  It also keeps her out of the game for that last chunk of time. Grats Bioware on making me hate a character I was otherwise neutral about.  As for Solas, I go through the effort of setting it up so I can have the Mythal confrontation, so I do it. It also feels safer that he goes and does the veil thing willingly because one day he might be able to get out and will be pissed if you toss his ass in. If he does it willingly, he's going to stay there. I'm pretty sure that the 'redemption' and possibly? trickery path?, are the only ways he will calm the Blight because he doesn't do that if he's big mad at you. |
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carcer
Grizzled Warrior
Posts: 84
Likes: 331
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Post by carcer on Nov 18, 2024 12:52:03 GMT
I also watched all the endings on Youtube after my first playthrough, and I know what option my elf warrior will pick I also like reading about everyones reasons for choosing the ending they did.
Edit: I feel really stupid for not realising
that there was something wrong with Varric I mean, no one talks to him, not even Harding. How didn't I see this the first time around? I'm such a dumbass Edit 2: Yeah, that first talk with Solas in the fade, when he says "Varric is...!", that is the moment. Solas is joining Loghain in the "never gets another chance" category of asshole... |
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Post by disgustednoise on Nov 18, 2024 13:37:29 GMT
I finally finished it! 60 hours lol.
I have my complaints about some things (which can also be said for the other three games), but over all I enjoyed it a lot and I can see myself playing this a lot. I've already got more characters in mind.
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Post by farferello on Nov 18, 2024 20:12:57 GMT
I started my 3rd playthrough though going to take it slower, especially now mods are starting to show up. (I've only nabbed a few outfit recolours so far. XD) But I started an Elf Shadow Dragon, and considering you were 'adopted' by some Tevinter Military family I was trying to play mine as someone who didn't believe that those Gods were his Gods because I like angst and no way is some Tevinter military family adopting an Elf for noble reasons as I was going with the idea of him having some sort of belief in the Maker, forced or otherwise. So I ignored that first dialogue option in the discussion with Harding and Neve which was all 'my Gods' and thought sweet, I can roleplay - only for him to immediately call them his Gods when you first meet Bellara.  I'm just going to have to once again ignore all the auto dialogue so I can play how I want. |
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Post by Lee on Nov 19, 2024 6:09:15 GMT
I am going kind of fast through my third playthrough. I think the absence of Davrin romance in the last run is lighting a fire under me. Still...after this hopefully I'll take a break. Creating a fourth character would require me to kill one of my characters-and I don't know if I want to do that.
I really hope they rework the character limit for consoles. Even if we get less saves-I'd still rather have closer to the 10 character limit PC gets. 300 saves is 300 saves...let me decide how to use them BioWare!
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Post by dgcatanisiri on Nov 19, 2024 6:14:45 GMT
Yeah, don't they know their audience by this point? I'm trying to decide how I want to handle a replay right now - do I want to attempt the Lucanis romance, now that I have the adequate warning about the romance just not being much of one, or do I want to be with Davrin again? I don't really think Emmrich is my cup of tea in terms of romance - I get too much of an "elder family member" vibe off of him to really feel comfortable with it, so I don't think I'm ever gonna roll a Rook for him. And we all know how I feel about wasting my time pretending to be heterosexual...  |
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Post by Lee on Nov 19, 2024 6:57:01 GMT
Yeah, don't they know their audience by this point? I'm trying to decide how I want to handle a replay right now - do I want to attempt the Lucanis romance, now that I have the adequate warning about the romance just not being much of one, or do I want to be with Davrin again? I don't really think Emmrich is my cup of tea in terms of romance - I get too much of an "elder family member" vibe off of him to really feel comfortable with it, so I don't think I'm ever gonna roll a Rook for him. And we all know how I feel about wasting my time pretending to be heterosexual...  The good news is that even with limiting oneself to only Davrin-you can at least give it slightly different shades with differing classes and factions. It's something at least. |
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Post by disgustednoise on Nov 19, 2024 12:17:09 GMT
The three character limit is really annoying, especially when 100 saves seems really excessive. Like I think I didn't even hit 30 saves on mine?
I'm torn whether I want to do Davrin or Lucanis's romance next. Definitely more interested in Davrin, but I like my Lucanis character a bit more. I sort of want to do F/F Neve and Bellara as well before I go running back to Emmrich who is probably my favorite DA romance ever. Originally I was thinking about doing Harding as well since there's six factions, but I really don't like how they wrote her in this game unfortunately.
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Post by dgcatanisiri on Nov 19, 2024 12:58:09 GMT
I'm gonna give Lucanis a shot with my new Rook - he's even a Crow, so at least they have that in common. Even if the romance isn't romance-y enough, it still deserves a run.
I do want to complain a little about how fandom generally seems to ignore the American VAs, with both Inquisition and now Veilguard. Personally, they're my primary pick. I think it's kind of a "medieval fantasy = speaking British" mindset, but I do really think it needs to be set aside, cuz I think they deserve way more love.
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Post by disgustednoise on Nov 19, 2024 13:23:48 GMT
I'm gonna give Lucanis a shot with my new Rook - he's even a Crow, so at least they have that in common. Even if the romance isn't romance-y enough, it still deserves a run. I do want to complain a little about how fandom generally seems to ignore the American VAs, with both Inquisition and now Veilguard. Personally, they're my primary pick. I think it's kind of a "medieval fantasy = speaking British" mindset, but I do really think it needs to be set aside, cuz I think they deserve way more love. I'm using the American male with the low pitch on my qunari and I love his performance. Gives a completely different vibe which I'm enjoying a lot. I liked the British male voice too, but I completely agree that I'm over the fantasy must have everyone sound European mindset. |
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Post by farferello on Nov 19, 2024 14:48:21 GMT
I'm gonna give Lucanis a shot with my new Rook - he's even a Crow, so at least they have that in common. Even if the romance isn't romance-y enough, it still deserves a run. I do want to complain a little about how fandom generally seems to ignore the American VAs, with both Inquisition and now Veilguard. Personally, they're my primary pick. I think it's kind of a "medieval fantasy = speaking British" mindset, but I do really think it needs to be set aside, cuz I think they deserve way more love. My first Rook used the American voice (lower pitch) and having completed the game twice, and started a third run, it is still my favourite. (Tried Masc 1, and regular Masc 2 on the others.) The regular pitch isn't quite working on my Elf, but it still fits him a bit better than the British voice does. With Masc 2 lower pitch, I just like the softness and tone to it, it really suited my Qunari (and as such I won't use it on any other Rook I might make.)
Good luck to anyone trying out Lucanis. You've had my warnings, may the Gods (not those ones) be with you. 
I haven't gotten far on my 3rd run yet. Getting a bit of stutter that I'm trying to figure out if it's Frosty, or graphics card driver update related.  I keep wanting to replay my first Rook but I think I will wait for more mods first.  |
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Post by mediocreogre on Nov 19, 2024 14:58:33 GMT
I finished the game. I would say my favorites are DAO and Da2 tied, then DAI and DATV tied in the "meh" category. Inquisition was boring, dull, uninspired, and felt like it was intentionally avoiding telling an interesting story. DATV is more inspired but has so many moments where it feels "off" that it brings down things enough I cant say I like it more that DAI. Some of it is for sure rushing a game, rebooting a game, but I think more of it is a noticeable lack of care put into writing to the extent it sometimes doesnt feel like a BioWare game. Like I had a moment where I read Taash's diary entries where I couldnt tell if maybe the writers werent anti-woke people making fun of gender identity issues... I dont think they were but it just felt off.
Plus I was kinda hoping the lore would go in a new direction than what we kinda already knew (nothing really surprised the fan theorists who basically already pieced everything together). Which I think gets back to my point where basically I think Thedas just felt tired and that people on the team were tired of Thedas (Hence why they just nuked Southern Thedas lol). So part of me hopes that if there ever is a new DA game they really just... re-invent the lore and world into something the team working on it likes, instead of a weird middle ground. Also BioWawre really needs to get better at villains again. Its been too long since they were good at it at this point. DAI, MEA, Anthem, DATV all really suffer cause they cant give us compelling villains and leaning on the "ancient thing bad" thing is driving me nuts personally.
But I was impressed with their companion roster and that kind of thing. It would have been nice with more free-flow conversations and the ability to talk anywhere type stuff, but considering this game emerged from a multiplayer game with probably minimal character development, it was at least better than I feared.
Solas is also the dumbest person in Thedas history so I do appreciate that.
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(Or im just projecting) I also like that I could actually see the kiss in a good angle, glad we do. Kiss Picture and shirtlessness:
I'm just going to have to once again ignore all the auto dialogue so I can play how I want.
I keep wanting to replay my first Rook but I think I will wait for more mods first. 
