#im realizing these are mostly bioware games

[nerdnproud]

You ever start a new playthrough of an rpg to do different choices and romance different people, but then you get your original romance in the party and you remember why you picked them to begin with and it's a struggle not choosing them again?

[meowsgirldrawing]

Fellow Bioware fans, specifically for Dragon Age Inquisition- Hear me out on this idea ive had

So what if Bioware did a DLC for Dragon Age: Inquisition, similar to Mass Effect's Citadel DLC

(And for those who don't know the Citadel DLC, its an...expansion pack? Or something similar that allows the crew of ME3-Mass Effect 3- to have a shore party on the Citadel. It has mini games to play of all kinds, small scenes with our favorite characters, love interest or not, and even a bit of a quest line to follow that is very hilarious and even more exciting, plus a bit more dialogue added to the game I believe)

Anyhow-What if, despite the circumstances, the inner circle of the Inquisition got something similar. Maybe not a whole vacation in itself but still something, y'know? I know Tresspasser may have did something similar but this is just me imaging fun and more comical with the potential chaos of the Inquisition crew.

Imagine this- romance scenes with the love interests like-

Seeing a more playful side of Cullen as we volunteer to help with dog training. Perhaps finally seeing him without a suit and in some casual clothes for once. I can just imagine a scene of him getting tackled by dogs as our inquisitor is laughing their ass off on the side.

Seeing Cassandra get pulled into relaxing for a bit by reading a story together, maybe her indulging in some fun by voicing the dialogues as our inquisitor is the one to act them out more.

Seeing Solas take us through a bit of an art gallery and pointing out his favorite pieces as he explains the meanings behind it. Then deciding at the end of it that he would like to make a peice with us or paint something in our quarters by our asking.

Seeing our favorite mage, Dorian go out on an actual date with his boyfriend and easing his nerves about being public about it. Him waving them off and saying thats hes fine, but obviously melting once he realizes that no one cares that its two men. And not just that- but him being sassy and playful, flirting with his Amatus as they dine together freely.

Piggybacking off the previous one, if your inquisitor is female and bestfriends with him instead, then the two having a nice day out together. Maybe if he isnt romanced to Bull in that playthrough, then helping him get a small date with someone. Maybe he fails a bit, but is able to laugh about it cause it was less terrifying than he thought compared to home. (You can plainly tell how much I adore this man)

Going to see a Jousting match with The Iron Bull. Maybe not as exciting as Dragons but perhaps Bull can read into the body language and tell whos going to loose, and instead of just telling us, he makes it a game that WE have to guess instead. Romanced version- if we win, hes laughing a bit, saying "Thats my Kadan!" (Jfjsjffs)

Blackwall probably can't do a whole lot, considering after his real identity problem, so maybe he makes pulls together a nice dinner instead. (Mostly for romance version) And somewhat saying towards the end, "You may be the Inquisitor, but you're still a lady, and you should be treated as such."

Look, I havent romanced Black wall that often, but boy- from the scene on youtube, the man can sure show his gentleman side.

And the fact that you can romance him as any race? OOO- Just imagine how much more tender that'll feel for a qunari or eleven inquisitor, LIKE-DKDJSOWNAK MAN WANTS HIS LADY TO BE TREATED LIKE THEY DESERVE

Anyhow, im gettin' off subject-

Helping Cole on a task he asked from us. It could be something so simple as flower picking cause he felt a little girl nearby feeling real upset about something and wanted to help.

I know alot of people have different views of Cole, just like any character, and people see him as either the son or little brother depending on how you go about it. So maybe this can go either way. Especially if your character is elven, they can give him tips on which flowers may be more appropriate or safer to leave for the little one.

(Ignore this if you want- My main Inquisitor is an elven chick named Bellatrix and ive always imagine her having a small soft side for Cole, treating him like a little brother in some areas cause he reminds her of her siblings. )

There are so many ways to go about this whole idea, honestly. And while I don't have many ideas for Sera, Josephine, Leliana, Varric, and Vivienne, I would have loved to see scenes with them in playful moments like these. Like Vivienne shopping with the Inquisitor or Sera going on that promise to make cookies with them and it turns into a whole mess but both end up laughing on the floor, flour caked on.

Out of all the Dragon Age games, Inquisition has to be my l, above all, favorite because of the outright love the characters bring to your character. Whether they are a steel on the outside, light hearted qunari, a playful and chaos making elf, or a soft but proud decision making dwarf with a bit of clumsyness. You cant really say that it doesnt matter what or how your character is, but its true how much it does matter cause it brings just another side of possibilities with such a character.

I apologize for my ranting but if you've taken the time to read this, please share your ideas with me cause even though hasn't made something like this for Dragon age, fans surely bring that idea to light in any way they can💜

[citrinie]

Yesss. Blackwall is everything. He’s honestly so well written. Hope you enjoy. I wanted to romance him with a Dalish elf too at some point. I know everyone loves him with Cadash, but his romance animations only work well for Lavellan and Trevelyan so I doubt I’ll ever give it a go. Anyways, please tell me all about your canon playthrough. All your major game decisions. Who you romanced etc.

totally agree with you on that! Blackwall's character is very nicely written which makes him unique to me 🥺 i feel like we have so many sad grey wardens, but it will never be enough lol so far i have only played as lavellan and trevelyan. now in my head the inquisitor is an elf bc i have mostly only played as female lavellan 🧝‍♀️

you asked nonnie, so under the cut is just a “small essay” of my canon playthrough 😅 i could talk abt DA for infinity and never get tired of it, so i did get a little carried away but here you go!

my inquisitor:

my canon playthrough for DAI is a female dalish mage inquisitor. her name is Ithil. she is a raven-haired, pale-skinned elf with purple eyes. she has a very intimidating aura to her and is very standoffish. i found it very fitting for her to have the dark voice option even though her frame is tall and skinny hehe. most recent pic of Ithil, where im doing a rogue playthrough to justify siding with the templars 😃 i hate that decision so far lol

major DAI decisions:

for the major decisions im starting chronologically. i obviously sided with the mages bc Ithil is canonically a mage and i just love mages lol

then its the choice of who to leave in the Fade. this was for me the most gut-wrenching decision bc it stood between Alistair and Hawke 😭 like how could bioware do me like that? i spent a good solid 30 minutes contemplating what to do and ultimately ending up leaving Hawke in the Fade. reasons being that i could never leave Alistair and him being the first DA character i fell in love with, would just be heartbreaking. also someone needed to lead the grey wardens, so why not him? i felt so very sad for Varric. poor Fenris, who i romanced Hawke with, he probably hates Ithil and lashed out at anything close to him 😫 but i try to remember what Flemeth said to Hawke that she may one day find herself facing the abyss and “do not hesitate to leap”, and considering the quest name is Here Lies the Abyss 🥲

when it comes to the fate of the grey wardens, i saved them bc i felt that there were more benefits to being allied with them rather than getting rid of them. grey wardens were a huge part of the first game considering you played as one. 

as for who i had be the ruler of Orlais, i kept Celene in power. she and Briala also got back together. Gaspard was never an option to me so that was yet another easy big decision. i realize now how much female power i have in my DA canon playthrough lol

choosing who would be the next divine was a hard decision. there were pros and cons for both Cassandra and Leliana. i know Vivianne is an option too but she just hates my inquisitor lol. i ended up choosing Leliana tho bc of her standing with the mages and her view of progressive change in Thedas. she also has a huge interest in politics and is well-informed abt almost everything bc of her spies. i definitely think that choosing Leliana will cause chaos bc of all the changes, but im here for it hehe

those are all the major DAI decisions i can think of are important, but lmk if you want to know anything else ;)

romance & companions:

as for romance options, i had Ithil romance Cullen bc i have loved Curly since DAO hehe in my canon DA Cullen had relations with my warden who is a female human mage named Solona. i always think of them when you ask Cullen if he has anyone, and he says something like “not in Kirkwall”. which to me insinuates that he had someone when he was in Ferelden, before going to Kirkwall, but nothing serious as Solona got with Alistair another blond-haired dude with puppy-dog energy lol i love Cullen’s character a lot tho bc you get to see the various things he has gone through in all three games. so all the pain and suffering he is going through in DAI makes a lot of sense, bc of all the trauma he has experienced and the withdrawals he has from lyrium as he essentially is a drug addict. so i love the ending where Ithil and Cullen gets a dog, gets married, the inquisition is disbanded, they move to some place quiet and still help others in their own ways like the good ppl they are ❤️

lastly talking abt Ithil’s chemistry with the gang. the ppl she felt close to were Iron Bull, Solas, Cassandra and Dorian. she loves hanging out with the Bull and the chargers, drinking at the tavern and listening to various stories from everybody. Solas and Ithil have a platonic connection probably bc of their elven background, but also i feel like she learnt a lot from him abt spirits and the Fade. so we are feeling a little bit betrayed and bitter by the fact that Solas was behind everything that happend 😅 all the help for ppl in solavellan hell.  Cassandra and Ithil butt heads quite a bit, but playing Ithil as a rogue made me think that they would be really good sparing friends. and i think Ithil gets Cassandra out of her comfort zone in a good way :) as for her friendship with Dorian, they are both necromancer mages and i see them exchanging a lot of knowledge. i also think Dorian loves pimping Ithil up with dresses and jewellery, for her to show Cullen ;) she is also very close to Josephine who teaches her a lot abt diplomacy, as Ithil do not always have the best social antennas and can be quite blunt in situations where she should not be lol

the only romance options i have finished a whole playthrough of is with Bull and Cullen. so doing a Blackwall romance now, then i want to do a Solas romance just to have done it lol. loved both Bull and Cullen’s romances, they are quite different to each other but that is what i loved abt them hehe. Bull’s romance was so funny and kinky ;) Cullen’s romance was like cute and vanilla with a sprinkle of trauma ✨ in the end Cullen is the canon romance option in my little DA world 😊

[hellostarfleet]

hello i finished new vegas

wall of text thoughts. under read more bc sooooo many.

was kind of wishing by the end i'd known how much the game rewards rly picking and choosing what to make your stats... i didn't really appreciate this until i went from like 45 in energy weapons like this feels fine to 75 and was like I AM A PLASMA GOD!!!! so noted for next run (i did end with 100 in science and energy weapons I GOTTA be nosy and hack every terminal i see. or my courier will die.)

rly thought this about hour 5 but i wasn't expecting the legion to be so cartoonishly evil actually i knew they were bad but like. lol. CMON GUYS PUT SOMETHING BACK ON THE SHELF FOR OTHER BAD GUY FACTIONS... instead of the vipers/jackals/powder gangers/fiends just kind of being. free karma estate. (in retrospect i don't rly understand the point of karma as a system because after like level 5 i never even dipped to neutral karma. my courier was an angel. an angel who stole every cap, stimpak, box of ammo, and piece of scrap metal she could find from everyone and anyone in the greater mojave area. and killed. SO MANY PEOPLE.)

was kind of expecting the hoover dam battle to be like... bigger???? like just having more guys around. more chaotic. actually have a reason to go down into the hoover dam sublevels that they. built and modeled but i had no plot reason to go into and did wander into the first time i was there (mostly i was like "how much does this look like the real hoover dam" and then realized i don't really remember enough about the particulars of the interior to judge that kdjhdkdhdkj).

also maybe im just too much of a bioware kid but i also think it was kinda weird to not have all the little guys you recruited there but shrug. (also i wanted to see the superfortress. WHERE IS IT) anyway i did independent ending bc OBVIOUSLY the ncr has problems and OBVIOUSLY my courier could do better. i mean she has already almost single handedly solved every personnel and supply chain issue the NCR was having. she will definitely TOTALLYYYY set up some sort of council of local factions as soon as she's done having some portion of the securitrons clean up all the fucking rubble laying around in freeside bc it's bothering me. WHY HASN'T ANYONE EVER SO MUCH AS SWEPT MCCARRAN AIRPORT TERMINAL. i bet everyone would be slightly less miserable if you could walk down the street without the threat of tripping on rubble and impaling yourself on rebar. sorry what. you want local governance. citizen. pick up that can. then we'll talk.

anyway idk handwaving not storming through the legate's camp to the main part of the fort to get caesar with the securitrons was kind of weird. i wanna kill. which means i also apparently i missed my chance in life to kill vulpes. SAD. but i got to order yes man to throw a guy off the hoover dam. AND HE DID. so that ruled. (the duality of courier: last week she saved your president from assassination. this week she went hmm. i see. and tossed your top general off a dam.) also im sure yes man installing some updates to become more assertive will definitely not cause any issues. it's fiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiine!!

ANYWAY despite all that i had a good time as evidenced by finishing it in the time i did oops. i had a good time. i actually didn't realize this game had a companion system i just thought it had a collection of pathetic men. which it does. but also i love having companions (although did get kind of tripped up on only being allowed to have one humanoid companion and one ed-e/rex. it was always ed-e btw bc rex was like continually under my feet im sorry boy.) i also travelled with boone for like 20 hours so it took me a while to realize like any other companion talks a lot more since im pretty sure stringing more than 3-5 words together causes him physical pain. i love that there's a scene for if you do give veronica a dress!!! i am still thinking about how hard arcade dissed me the first time i asked if he wanted to travel with my courier!!!!! i also asked if it could wait when i got his quest and he was like no actually im gonna keep talking and like. lmao. STILL DON'T KNOW WHAT THE ENCLAVE DOES I FEEL LIKE THE ANSWER IS JUST "GO PLAY FALLOUT 3"??? kind of like how visiting jacobstown was just "go play fallout 1 & or 2"

misc briefer thoughts ig:

WHY IS THERE A SNOWGLOBE IN SARAH'S VAULT 21 ROOM. HASN'T SHE LOST ENOUGH TO MR. HOUSE. i did not sell this snowglobe. please clap bc $$$.

loved exploring the vaults in that i hated exploring the vaults man. i think vault 11 wins for most fucked up and vault 34 wins for most times i thought "i fucking hate this" while i was there (but that's a personal problem bc feral ghouls. ueueuueueueueueue cries in a corner while arcade and ed-e shoot everything. nice moral dilemma at the end though. i saved the groundwater but oof. oughf.)

why do the options with dealing with the great khans suck so much lmaooo.... shoving ncr soldiers up against the wall for being like HA we showed theM CHASED THEM RIGHT OUT!! like girl no i told them to leave bc UR COMMANDING OFFICER SAID SHE'D USE THEM FOR CANON FODDER IF THEY ALLIED WITH THE NCR

also honestly same for all the dialogue about neslon bc sorry WHOOOOO kicked the legion out. bc it wasn't you guys it was boone and i doing a sidequest and then just going fuck it kill them all actually -

ok but speaking of NCR guys sorry to the misfits bc i did not have enough explosives to teach u how to explosives and then u all deserted and were hung. skill issue but sorry but skill issue -

because i had done all the vaults i. did finish most of the brotherhood quests ig and honestly was probably going to leave them alone except then i triggered veronica's quest and they wiped out that followers station so. hot take maybe you guys shouldn't have had like three terminals of kill everyone dead. also maybe don't preface yay we can leave again with thoughts on going at it with the ncr again imMEDIATELY what is wrong with you guys.

i feel like some other run im gonna go all in on punching and sneaking that sounds fun. or lead pipe run. i hope primm appreciated me liberating their big hotel in town and didn't think too hard about the piles of guys beat to death with a lead pipe.

the powder gangers and guys in vault 19 rly didn't do anything to me but if it will get me better epilogue slides. well i did get this gauss rifle too late in the game to really use it (ENERGY WEAPON SNIPER RIFLE. IDEAL WEAPON!!!)

i can't believe i have to pay $5 to experience mormons. actually is it even specifically mormon bible thumping or am i just assuming bc it's utah. anyway im gonna do it. but. lmao. (i was also surprised how much man on fire stuff was mentioned in the game proper since it is apparently dlc.)

is the ideal dlc order release order btw

[ars0nism]

friend: so im downloading mass effect-

me, immediately: omg now i miss kaidan. i love garrus. have you seen tali id die for her. also samara. please play the citadel dlc. im downloading me3 again as we speak. you should not have done this. did you know bioware wrote 3/4 romances that i still cant get out of my head despite being greyro. did you know me3 made me cry. did you know i never finished my garrus & tali romance playthroughs bc i went through the ending with kaidan once and couldnt even think about mass effect without crying for 2 weeks. i love mass effect so much please love it too

[greensconnor]

Do you have any more info on hepler? Like last time I heard about her she was getting attacked by gamers for saying she wanted less (or quicker?) combat in games in some interview about dragon age. The way people (mostly men) attacked her made me sick and I instantly took her side. But I've also seen ppl talking about how she's homophobic/biphobic??

FORGOT THAT I WAS GOING TO ENGAGE IN INTERNET DISCOURSE THIS ASK SCARES ME SO MUCH and yeah basically everything that happened to her at bioware was absolutely shit and she 100% did not deserve it but she does also have some Questionable Opinions which are very easily google-able, the most obvious one being that she was responsible for writing anders dragon age 2, everyone’s favourite chantry-exploding sewer rat idiot, and very specifically stating that she wrote him to be a gay man if romanced by a male hawke and a straight man if romanced by a female hawke (so if you’re a female hawke he makes no mention of his relationship with his male Bestie ;) which is Kind Of Significant) which. on its own is not FANTASTIC but not absolutely terrible until you realize that despite 4/5 companions from the game being bi romance options, only one of the other characters is textually confirmed bisexual and its Not Good. i love isabela to death but shes a blatant sexualisation of both bi women and women of colour and alongside every other romance option who Can Be Heterosexual, If You Just Believe it’s not FANTASTIC. here’s a link to an interview where she talks about writing anders and calls him a “bipolar terrorist” which is. not an Excellent thing to call anyone much less the character of anders but yk thats dragon age politics and thats a Whole other thing which is why im not mentioning her writing cullen or the mage/templar conflicts because those are like. dragon age game problems and not Her problems

then also last year when i heard she wrote ACOR i checked her twitter account to see if she had yknow. changed on that front. and saw the wonderful hot take that being bisexual should be more accepted in fantasy games and i was like AH GROWTH and then the next tweet in the thread was like because you know you can have wild gay sex in your Youth and then settle down to your heterosexual family and have children later on

long story short she hasnt really done anything like. TERRIBLE yk yk but her history with writing lgbtq characters is like. not fantastic and i’m also personally offended over her writing marc antony’s wife out of acor for the purpose of girl power

WAIT UPDATE I WAS LOOKING FOR THE TWEETS I MENTIONED ABOVE AND I FOUND THIS IT ALL MAKES SENSE ITS ALL COMING TOGETHER. did not find the tweets though my twitter froze on july 2019 but i am TRYING AGAIN wish me luck

[jamiedodgerart]

if you're happy to tell us, i'd love to head more about ur inquisitor :00!! his debates with dorian sound fun

:DDD yeah sure! soz this is late

pica’s 1/6 of an inch tall

(im kidding. his name was originally a pun, but not a typography one - he’s a rehash of an old oc i had way back in the day, who was based off a magpie. hes actually on the short side for a dwarf, i want to say around 4′3″)

he was a lyrium smuggler before the inquisition, and specifically was the front man who sold it. he’s a champion liar and man of many faces, and knows how to disappear in plain sight (which is easy if you’re a dwarf and most law enforcement on the surface are humans. to a human guard dwarves all look the same and theyre too short to really get a good look at their faces). he had a pretty transient lifestyle- he didn’t get tied down, didn’t get too attached to anyone or anything, had pretty few posessions. he was 26 (or the dwarf equivalent of 26. hows dwarf aging work in dragon age anyway) when the carta got him to spy at the conclave, and you know how that went

look ok. the first half of his career as inquisitor was just. wingin’ it. no one really knew what the fuck he was supposed to be doing, least of all him, so he just pretended he knew what he was doing till, i wanna say the end of into the abyss. after talking to mal hawke some he learned that, hey, everyone’s always winging it, and also that his decisions kind of really mattered. (and that those decisions he makes can. kill people) for the first time in his life, he realizes hes actually important, and what he does changes things on the large scale

so after that, he got to thinking. the world kinda sucks. and it sucked before the war. and the leaders of thedas are really not doing all that much about it, except trying to kick each other in the nuts while their enemies are weak and completely forgetting that politics Cannot Survive as a practice if theres no farmers able to make food for diplomats to eat. so, orlais, if your farmland is all gunched up with battlefields, then you need to fix that, don’t you. but the inquisition is really, really good at providing stability! it’s good at establishing patrols, safe trade routes, providing local employment, and is a fairly reliable consumer of local goods. so pica capitalized on that, and quietly spread inquisition presence all over southern thedas. this led to immense inquisition influence, with very little fanfare.

you can guess why the rulers of thedas tried to get rid of him as soon after corypheus was taken care of as possible. they branded him a tyrant and like. ok. they werent like. super far off. bc at this point he was kinda trying to see how much of the world he could take over before anyone noticed/tried to stop him and also figured he could do like, a way better job at leading it than the current rulers could. and he wasnt beholden to anyone either (not like empress celene! elected to her throne by… uhhhhhhhhhhh divine providence or something. i mean shes doing an ok job but like i didnt vote for her) so if he really really wanted to he could go full dragon reborn

ive got off topic but point is he figures humans have had their go and they fucked it up, so it’s a dwarf’s turn and he’s going to put the world back together himself. (ps hey bioware can we have some dwarf stuff in the next game. im js. weve had a whole load of elf nonsense and its nice and all but dwarfs had a cool ancient society too yknow)

after trespasser he elects to keep the inquisition around, because he worked hard to make this glue keeping the bits of thedas stuck together and he’ll be damned if he’ll let solarse and his minions screw it up. but it gets nerfed heavily and hes pissed about it

he romanced cassandra! i really like their relationship- they look to each other for moral guidance. pica knows he can get flighty and relies on her to keep him in line, and always asks her for advice when he sees her in the courtyard. he usually doesn’t follow it but he feels it’s important to have her perspective on things

they disagree on a lot of stuff (like he made celene and briala co-leaders but she was in favor of gaspard) but he trusts her judgement, and supported her in becoming the divine

he’s a little weird about religion, specifically relating to the stone. the surfacer part of him that hates caves is like pff hippie garbage, but the bit that’s generations old and wants to belong to a larger whole of a culture is Super Into It. cole said he felt the stone’s presence around pica one time and externally he didnt react but internally he was yelling WHAT THE FUUUUUUUCKKKKKKKKKKKKK I LIVED IN SUCH PEACEFUL IGNORANCE I DIDNT NEED TO KNOW THAAAAAT and after the mythal thing hes like fuck believe what you want. whatever floats your boat. we live in a world where nugs have little people hands so if it comforts you to know a god did that then live your truth

re mages he figures theres a way better way for them to fit into society than the circle. its dumb. they can LIFT THINGS WITH THEIR MINDS. USE THAT FOR BUILDING. they can HEAL WOUNDS WITH THEIR MINDS. THEY CAN TALK TO SPIRITS AND SHIT THEY CAN PROBABLY FLY WHY ARENT WE USING THIS THEY’RE WASTED IN TOWERS LEARNING TO SHOOT FIREBALLS OR WHATEVER people who fear magic are cowards. chantry more like sham-try. 

hes big on research and development. he sent samson to dagna for research and in the au where mal lives he sent anders to her too. cos. like. dude COEXISTS WITH A SPIRIT. thats cool as SHIT how does it WORK. 

(im gonna make a post abt the mal lives au soon. its good)

hes largely responsible but he has also impulse bought at least three stuffed dragons. also, if the textiles technology were available, hed have dragon jammies. it’s the little things in life.

he collects notes he’s found talking about him and hangs them up by his desk. his favorite is the one samson wrote calling him a damnable rogue. he says hes doing things right, if he’s making people mad

hes trans! im not sure how thatd be regarded in dwarf society, in undergrounders i doubt it’d be very acceptable given their emphasis on reproduction, but house cadash has been on the surface for generations and has probably adopted more liberal views on lgbt stuff. either way hes not very open about it, and it’s really easy to pass when he’s around humans (i get the feeling dwarves and humans look for different things, when they’re trying to guess gender. for example hes got some beard scrub, which in human terms means male but in dwarven terms probably either means very young male or unkempt female) (the added implication to this is that varric might keep his beard to stubble so he looks younger) he met krem and had an instant Trans Solidarity moment, which also comes with the Trans Fear that the person Knows that you’re trans and could out you. it’s a weird kind of trust and for me feels like that one performance art piece with the people holding the bow and arrow. anyway hes cool w krem but doesnt talk to him all that much. theyve got pretty different interests.

his best friends are probs cole and dorian! he’s very curious, and likes to hear different perspectives on things. he and dorian often play chess and discuss all sorts of stuff. they end up yelling a lot because they both want to talk but the other started saying something before they were done with their point, which they started saying before the other was done with their point, and so on. he doesnt get very far in the slavery argument until hawke starts chillin at skyhold more regularly and can adequately school him on the state of tevinter slavery (fuck i gotta make a post about that. mal’s had a lot of development since i last talked about him)

he listens very seriously to cole’s observations. he can really appreciate the input of someone who watches so much more than speaks, and heartily supported his ventures in becoming more human.

he also gets along very well with josephine and likes to trick her into taking days off. hes also always down to chat w dagna and scout harding! and varric, of course. it’s always nice to talk to someone without having to crane his neck up at them all the time

(this is the reason he doesnt usually spend time w bull. hes just too tall and its uncomfortable knowing your face is at your friend’s dick height while ur trying to discuss battle strategy)

uhh trivia, at one point i thought i’d fucked up cassandra’s romance by not flirting with her enough so i meant to go for dorian’s instead, bc while i had wanted to romance cass since uhh i dunno one of my mutuals first reblogged a picture of her, i underestimated how charming and cool of a guy dorian ended up being. so in canon i say pica had a crush on both of them for a little while

its late and i think i got mostly everything so enjooooooy

as a parting gift, this is him

[sleepymarmot]

MEA liveblog #8

I finished it! I’m free!

Multiplayer

Hell yeah level 9/10 rank I asari adept -- full extraction and top score on a silver APEX mission with bonus to combos! Against outlaws, but still. And I got an outlaw badge for it!

Yoo, two human female vanguard cards! And my Charger is now at X!

Looked up my statistics:

Dialogue:

Interrupts: 11

Casual: 151

Emotional: 187

Logical: 206

Professional: 187

Kills:

Kett: 983

Outlaws: 857

Remnant: 520

Wildlife: 377

Holy shit, the Pathfinder killed almost as many former Initiative members as the Initiative's enemies...

Melee: 276

Assault rifle: 60

Pistol: 135

Shotgun: 100

Sniper rifle: 59

Biotic: 679

Combat? Force?: 0

Tech: 316

Jump: 5

Construct: 35 (wow)

Combos: 777

Hello patch 1.05

Why did they remove the priming icon from Throw? Does it not prime anymore?! 

Good news: Throw still primes. Idk why they removed the button. Like misinforming their players?

Bad news: the game is super laggy. Did I set my graphics too high?

The fusion mod perk is still broken!

No, I don't have a new email, SAM! I got one from Peebee, very cute but referring to I don't know what.

Multiplayer

Kroguard level 7/rank I successfully extracted from Silver!

Maxed out Avenger and Katana, goodbyeeeee

Singleplayer

Fuck, I opened all my reward boxes and then realized the game loaded the autosave with the still-bugged fusion mod support :( Goodbye all my rewards ughh

I lowered the graphics to default but the game still keeps stuttering... I don't understand

Peebee on Voeld: "I should have dressed warmer" Sigh, once again game writers blame their sexist costume designs on female characters who have to wear them...

Finally I got to hear PB&J's conversations about asari reproduction myself...

SAM asked me about my romance and I picked the sappy option because it was the safest...

Journey to Meridian

I don't like how the patch changed my Ryder's face. The lips are too narrow and round now.

Damn, I should have taken Jaal. I knew the spoiler though. Want to know what from? A freaking side romance video I clicked because I was sure something so inconsequential wouldn't have spoilers. Ha!

Peebee says something like "They created life but the Archon wants to destroy it!!" in the most melodramatic tone. Ugh! The tendency to say overly sweet things like this is the worst part of her character.

Ha, screw you ascendant! I'm a bit offended that my rifle doesn't one-shot his orb. Ah well, I'm not wearing any weapon damage bonuses...

Oh, a Destroyer and a Fiend are fighting each other? Good, I'm not going to get involved.

The Destroyer won and came for us but had the decency to open up its chest as it turned to face us lol

I'm overusing Bio-converter + Life Support like hell on this mission lol... Too many bosses

lol nullifiers im not scared of you

Why is my mouth so small! It's bothering me.

Tempest

Lexi doesn't want to talk to me lol. Can't interact with her

Jaal's door is closed, I knew he'd have a lot to say

Well this conversation was saccharine. Jaal are you a positivity machine?!

Don't you "love" how you can go through the entire game not knowing that Gil is gay?! There's even a dialogue option about him "loving" Jill! This entire dialogue tree is a mess. At least everyone on tumblr has ranted about that so I don't have a lot to add. But even if you (try to) set the homophobia aside it's a mess. He talks about fathering a friend's child and you can't even be surprised because usually only romantic couples start families? And you can't even disapprove really, the most negative thing is "it's crazy" said in an awed, surprised tone of voice.

Cora I took you to Meridian and you have nothing to say?

More forum threads! And a shitload of emails!

Aw, Liam is such a good vivid character -- both the conversation and the email are great. I love his email attachments. I mean I'm still angry at him about the stupid, irresponsible, dangerous shit he did in his personal storyline, but he's definitely the most engaging of the male starter companions in ME.

Here's the Movie Night continuation, I was starting to worry it was broken...

The ship's doctor asks me to buy some booze on the Citad--the Nexus, why does it sound so familiar

Let's appreciate the fact that the "golden worlds" are not just inhabited -- they were created for someone other than us! The Initiative has even fewer rights to them than initially thought.

I'm glad Bioware sped up the galaxy map (not surprising after that kind of outrage) but the stupid and vertigo-inducing camera turns and pans are still there.

Btw I preferred my own more abstract interpretation of the Scourge as the Chaos to the Remnant's Order. Now they look even more mundane. As if the mystery and awe didn't already evaporate after about the second vault because they're all the same thing with slightly different puzzles!

Nexus

What?! I don't get to actually play with Drack, Kesh and Vorn?! What's the point then?

Keri where are you? I can hear your voice but it's coming from nowhere.

Oh my god I can see Kandros's purple tongue through the hole between his jaws(?)

Tempest

Well at least I could get Gil a date!

Am I like... supposed to give a shit about Jaal? I mean Ryder is getting all emotional no matter what I choose and I'm sitting here like "idc". And I don't want to bash such a nice person, it feels mean to dislike someone for doing nothing wrong, but that's the problem, he's so bland. From the promotional videos I assumed that Peebee would be the irritating designated best friend/love interest like Liara, but it's mostly Jaal.

Tempest again -- after a week-long break

Why couldn't Bioware add a "take all rewards" button? Why do I have to spend 10 minutes clicking “space”?

Ah yes, Bioware's trademark mashing naked dolls together! When Peebee's eyes flashed black it was pretty creepy.

Movie Night requires one more step... After the main mission, then.

Great, another galaxy map fetch quest -_-

Yoo finally the point of no return!

The final mission

Fine, I'll take you Jaal for plot relevance, though I'll probably miss Cora's Shield Boost...

Playing as my twin is cool, but why is he underpowered? Trying to kill a single mook with no powers and that tiny pistol was torture...

Where's Peebee? On the bridge?

Why open the equipment screen but not let me change the squad? It made sense to take the Science Team PB&J to the Meridian, but not to take back an ark! It makes no sense! I'm on my ship with everyone, but can't choose a new team?

Ah, so it was a romantic goodbye with the LI, and I didn't have to choose the "schmaltzy" version to make it more personal? Damn.

Ughh, so much lag... It's not fun to fight when fps falls below 10 sometimes.

The final fight is so badly designed. Apparently I have to hold ground at the quest marker position, but it's not explained clearly, and the circle doesn't appear until you're almost done. I jumped into the abyss several times because the quest marker was hanging over it.

Ah yes, Meridian, home for the humanity. Despite the fact it was clearly built for the Angara... Ugh!!

I don't get it. We're selecting a representative of whom? The entire cluster? The Nexus? It's bullshit.

Oh, this wheel is confusing. So each candidate is assigned to a "tone", when I first click it it's a question, if I click for the second time it confirms the selection. 

Hmm, my first choice was the Moshae, but maybe Morda?

Went with the Moshae. Thankfully, Ryder said exactly what I wanted to say! Haha, Addison: "That's the point, you colonial wad"

This human woman got a name from Quarian godparents?? That's a thing? Okay.

I don't understand how Ryder could use the Remnant without SAM. Has SAM changed her brain enough that it's now superhuman even without SAM's active involvement?

Oooh, interesting email. I haven't thought of angaran reincarnation as a designed feature to carry extra information in DNA. So they can be genetic hard drives -- again, like the kett? This has got to mean something. And angara "remembering" how to use the Meridian, or being sleeper agents? I demand a big storyline in the sequel about this!

Um. Using the Remnant involves not just a connection, but moving your consciousness into them? Okaaaay. That doesn't sound ominous at all. This entire terminal is like a sequel teaser...

Yeah Jaal, I can't stop joking because everyone is being so sugary sweet and I can't bear it anymore

The Moshae doesn't sound too excited about her new job... :(

The Quarian-Volus-Elcor-Hanar arc! Yoo! Sequel or DLC?

"Seeing you in cahoots makes me all misty" I don't know which is worse, the line itself or the delivery...

Aw, the science team are all in the same lab! ...With the dancers. What?

Tempest

Peebee sent an email saying she wants to explore the galaxy "with or without me". Aw.

Okay, I'm tired, let's leave The World is Waiting and Movie Night for tomorrow.

Watched alternate dialogue choices on Youtube.

I chose the casual option to rally the fleet, but logical is good too. But I think that after watching her brother being kidnapped and tortured, Ryder doesn't have the patience to be inspirational...

The emotional option as you walk out victorious is addressed to your LI! And Peebee's reply made me laugh and clap: "And now they all know you're mine!" And they walk away hand in hand. Aw.

Can’t find logical and professional options for the goodbye with Peebee before the final mission :( Not a fan of emotional and casual.

Oh. I thought Habitat-7 would have something more than one cutscene...

My edition of the Movie Night glitch: Ryder was simply invisible. Peebee was embracing thin air. So much for romance.

The funniest thing, tbh, was that Ryder leveled up when the scene ended.

Aaaaand now I'm free! 92%, 97,5 hours. I still have some sidequests to do, but let's leave them until later.