Back in Ferelden

As I mentioned yesterday, I decided to revisit Dragon Age:  Origins in honor of it being offered for free on Origin.  The install process was a lot more intense than I remembering it being.  I had forgotten that I had purchased a lot of the DLC that accompanied the original game and spent a few hours downloading all of that.  I had also forgotten about Awakenings, an expansion pack that added in another good chunk of content to the original game.  Once I had that all ready to go I happily started designing my new character for my return trip to Ferelden and the world of Thedas.

My new character is Ciril, a Dalish elf rogue.  Like his Dalish bretheren he specializes in archery and I intentionally made him very elfy.  He has fair skin, long flowing hair, and Dalish tattoos. The Dalish origin story was the only one I hadn't played and I was surprised that I was able to figure that out on the first go.  (Spoliers ahead regarding the Dalish origin story--read at your own risk!). The Dalish story centers around the discovery of a strange artifact, a mirror, in a cave (the eluvian from DA2?).  Your elven character and his/her buddy goes to check it out only to be met with disaster.  The mirror "knocks out" your character and upon waking up back in your camp, you discover that your buddy is missing and you were rescued by a strange human named Duncan.  You get to spend some time in the Dalish camp meeting the other elves before you are sent back to look for your friend.

The elves in the Dalish camp were very familiar as they are the same elves as the ones in Dragon Age 2.  Keeper Marethari instructed my character to locate none other than Merrill to accompany me on my return venture into the cave.  On the way to the cave you encounter your first darkspawn, a sign that not everything is right.  Once in the cave you find no sign of your friend, but do find Duncan.  Duncan informs you that your friend is gone--killed and taken by the darkspawn (but there is no body--was he taken into the Fade by the eluvian?).  Duncan points out that the darkspawn are drawn to the mirror and that he must destroy it.  There is very little explanation about the mirror in DA:  O, but Duncan intones that it is dangerous.  You return to the camp only to find out that you must leave with Duncan and become a Grey Warden.  You are already tainted by the darkspawn and that is your only choice.  There is a sad scene as your chatacter wishes the rest of the clan goodbye and then sets out with Duncan.

I liked the Dalish origin story.  It was nice to see the tie in with chatacters from DA 2.  I am not digging my character as an archer.  I prefer melee characters or mages to this weird hybrid.  I am hoping it will get better as I level up.  I also decided to spend some money and purchase the remaining DLC that I hadn't purchased before.

So far, Ferelden is feeling familiar.  The first thing I did was crank up the graphics settings so I could enjoy the beauty.  Even 5 years later it still has the little details I love in BioWare games--the sunlight filtering through the ruins in Ostagar, a funny conversation between two soldiers in camp.  I also realized how much I like Alistair as a character.  His goofiness brings levity to an otherwise very serious game and story.