Pickin' Locks and Breakin' Hearts--The Rogues of Dragon Age II

It's always a good idea to keep a rogue in your Dragon Age party.  You never know when you might need a lock picked or a bad guy backstabbed.  Playing as a rogue is one of my favorite roles in Dragon Age games.  Rogues come in two flavors--the stabby kind and the shooty kind.  Dragon Age II offers players two choices of rogue-ish charm to fill a slot in your party.

I have found that BioWare likes to make it's rogues have very big personalities.  It's easy to like ALL of them!  This decision could be a hard one....(but really not because, Varric!)

Dragon Age II:  Varric Tethras

Varric and Bianca.

Probably the most colorful character in the entire Dragon Age series is Varric Tethras.  Players first meet Varric early in Dragon Age II as they learn of a unique opportunity to join a dwarf led trip to scavenge riches from the Deep Roads.  Varric is a street savvy dwarf who is well-versed in the dark underworld as well as the more legitimate ventures of dwarven culture.  As the younger son in his family he is free to pursue non-merchant related tasks and is a successful writer and storyteller.  He tells (and embellishes) the story of "the champion."  Varric sports his signature crossbow, "Bianca," and is always very elusive in explaining its origins.  Varric's personality is what makes him a great character.  He can crack a good joke but be serious when things start to look dicey.

Varric's talents compliment his unique weapon and personality.  His talent tree in Dragon Age II combines his ability to spin a yarn with his crossbow skills.  Most of the talents involve increasing his attack speed or critical hit damage.  The more talents you take from his personal skill tree the deadlier he becomes with a stunning combination of speed and critical hit chance/damage.

Isabela

Isabela

Isabela actually makes a very unnoticeable entry into the series in Dragon Age:  Origins.  As you work to clean up the city of Denerim you run into her in the seedy establishment "The Pearl."  If you are playing a rogue character she will offer to teach your character the duelist specialization (apparently if you choose some different dialogue options she will also take you into the back bedroom).  In Dragon Age II you meet Isabela in another seedy bar--Kirkwall's "Hanged Man"-- and she offers to join your party.  Isabela is a pirate captain who lives the rip-roaring life of a seafaring brigand.  When you meet her she is going through a bit of a rough patch as her ship has sunk and she is pursuing some sort of mysterious artifact.  Through her companion quest you learn that she isn't at all trustworthy and has lied to your character from the start.  Her personality is carefree and she very openly flirts with your character from the start.  Eventually she decides that saving her own skin is more important than staying in your party (unless you're romancing her) and she winds up leaving.  I have never managed to keep Isabela in my party long enough to fully experience her character.

Isabela's talents reflect her pirate background and seem to be centered around her ability to draw a single opponent away and quickly handle them.  This set of abilities can prove useful in many situations.  Her final high-level talent gives her a 100% chance to stun an enemy, an ability that can provide some minor crowd control to larger fights.

How do you Mage in Inquisition?

Dragon Age:  Inquisition decided to provide players with more choices for spellflinging friends.  One aspect of the multiple mage scheme that I enjoy is the fact that each has a unique set of personal talents and that there are enough basic talent trees that you can make each mage a master of a different type of magic.  But who's the mageyest of them all?  Do the Inquisition mages put the Dragon Age II mages to shame?

Dragon Age:  Inquisition--Solas

Solas is the first mage to join your party in Inquisition and is the resident oddball.  He's an elf who likes to hang out in the Fade and make friends with spirits....and possibly demons.  His knowledge of the Fade makes him an invaluable member of your party and someone who you can consult on all matters related to the breach in the sky.  The mages in Inquisition seem to be designed around the whole issue of the mage rebellion--all three of them have differing stances on how mages should be treated.  Solas, as an elven apostate (and other spoilery things), doesn't seem overly concerned with the fate of the mages in Thedas.  He's content doing his own thing and seems to lean more toward freedom for them.  Solas's personality reflects his odd interest in the Fade and he's not one to crack jokes but during party banter he often discusses serious issues with other members.  He's serious, quirky, and has a cute little bald head.

Solas's talents reflect his knowledge of the Fade.  He can cast spells that draw on the power of the Fade to weaken and defeat enemies.  His ability to create mini-rifts that pull enemies toward a central location is very handy.  When Solas has accumulated enough focus points you can have him unleash a barrage of fiery meteors on the battlefield.  When choosing how to spec Solas I typically lean towards the cold and spirit trees (I think he actually starts off with talents in both trees).

Dorian

After you've made your decision about which faction, mages or templars, that you want to join the Inquisition you meet your next magical companion.  Dorian is one of the more colorful companions to join you.  As a mage from Tevinter he has a very unique take on magic, mages, and his own homeland.  Through your conversations with Dorian you learn that he is estranged from his powerful magister family due to his seemingly rebellious fancies.  At one point a strange letter arrives asking Dorian to meet his father at a neutral location to try to make amends.  It's at this meeting that you learn that Dorian is gay and that his family has virtually disowned him because of his choice to forgo the required marriage and passing on of magical genes.  Dorian doesn't have much love for his homeland and is more than willing to help the Inquisitor deal with any Venatori who have crept out of the shadows.  I have always found Dorian's personality to be fun.  He has a confidence borne of the magical superiority of Tevinter culture.  Dorian has a kind of magical swagger that makes him a fun character to keep in your party.  His banter includes cracking jokes and making wry statements that generally elicit a chuckle.

Dorian's personal talent tree reminds me of the old spirit tree from Dragon Age:  Origins.  Dorian gains access to talents that allow him to cause enemies to flee in panic (nice for crowd control) or to turn into walking bombs that when killed will explode and damage other nearby enemies.  His Focus power grants the whole party great haste, allowing you to unload a large amount of damage in a very short time span.  Having this offensive choice that can impact the whole party makes Dorian a great choice for fighting dragons.

Vivienne

With two seemingly rebellious mage choices you need the choice for a more traditional type of mage.  Vivienne is a former first enchanter from one of the few remaining Circles in Orlais.  Her connection to the Circle is what defines her as a character and she is firmly in favor of restoring them.  Vivienne is also an Orlesian noble who has an in-depth knowledge of culture throughout that country.  Unlike Solas and Dorian, Vivienne's personality is much colder.  Vivienne can seem cold and haughty and is a difficult character to get to know.  You briefly get to see a crack in her hardened facade when she asks the Inquisitor for help in acquiring a rare potion ingredient.  It turns out that this potion is her last hope to save her much older husband who is dying of old age.  Despite helping her (or not...depending on your choice to lie to her) she doesn't warm up much.  I have always found Vivienne to be a difficult character to appreciate.  If you're having a difficult time enjoying Vivienne's personality I would recommend throwing her and Sera in a party together, the banter between them is hilarious.

Of the three possible mage choices in Inquisition I think Vivienne's talents boggle me the most.  I've read that they can be crazy overpowered if taken in the right combinations.  Her talents seem to revolve around making her a powerful melee mage.  She can conjure up a magical weapon and stab the living daylights out of any baddies in her general vicinity.  In combination with her other talents allowing her to maintain a powerful barrier this could be amazing.  I personally have a problem with my mages running around stabbing things and getting within melee range.  The few times I've taken Vivienne on a dragon hunt haven't turned out well for her (meleeing a dragon is bad...no matter how powerful your barriers are).

So what's my final magical verdict?  Are the mages of Dragon Age II more magey?
I vote Inquisition.  The unique talents of each mage allows you choose the perfect magical companion for each situation rather than being stuck with one.

Personality:  Dorian.  He's a fun character and has an amazing mustache.
Talents:  Solas.  He rains meteors down from the sky.  Nuff said.

Fire, Ice, and Possession...The Battle of the Mage Companions

I started on my quest to debate the companions of Dragon Age II and Dragon Age:  Inquisition at the time in my life where my casual summer intersects with my hectic return to work.  As a result I haven't had the time to continue this very urgent argument.  With all my chores done I feel ready to take on this seriously pressing issue--which mage companion is the best?  Do you feel the need for magical vengeance and side with Anders or do you like the swagger of Tevinter and opt for Dorian?  Today I'm going to focus on our magey friends from Dragon Age II.  (I'm leaving Bethany out as she is fairly limited as a character)

Dragon Age II--Anders

Anders is a character who is initially introduced in the Awakening expansion.  He's an apostate who has narrowly escaped capture by the templars and who is completely unapologetic about having killed his captors.  He opts to become a Grey Warden and joins your crew of misfits (really....they are misfits in Awakening).  Anders' personality in Awakening is good-natured and somewhat goofy.  The one serious part of his personality is his concern for the fate of his fellow mages.  He despises the Circle and has no desire to return.  That's about as far as it goes in Awakening.

When you meet Anders in Dragon Age II, he has changed drastically.  He's very serious and has taken on the plight of the mages in a much bigger way.  You learn early in the game that the spirit of Justice (who possessed the corpse of the unfortunate warrior Kristoff in Awakening) was looking for a new home and Anders decided to allow it to take up residence.  Essentially Anders is possessed by a spirit (not to be confused with a demon...which is bad).  The goofy, joke-telling Anders, from Awakening is gone, replaced with the vengeance seeking, templar-slaying, mage-freeing, spirit of Justice.  (Spoilers if you haven't played Dragon Age II!!!) At the end of the game Anders makes the drastic decision to use a bomb to blow up the Chantry temple in Kirkwall.  He's made himself into a terrorist for the sake of his fellow mages.  You get to decide his fate--he can accompany you and try to make up for his horrible deed or you can exile or kill him.

It's very difficult to compare Anders talents to the other mage characters from Dragon Age:  Inquisition.  His special talents as a healer make him an indispensable member of your party in Dragon Age II.  Somewhere along the line the decision was made to do away with healing spells in Inquisition.  I can understand why this decision was made--on more taxing fights it was necessary to play as the healer to keep everyone alive rather than as the main character.  It was possible to spec other characters as healers but it really made no sense due to Anders set of talents.  I always liked his healing talents and found them to be very useful.  Offensively his talents are pretty lackluster.

Merrill

Merrill makes her first appearance in the Dalish elf origin quest in Dragon Age:  Origins.  Her brief appearance isn't one that you would pay much attention to but she's another character who is reborn in Dragon Age II.  Merrill is surrounded by mystery--at first you don't really know much about why she is choosing to leave her clan of Dalish elves.  The other elves seem spiteful and opposed to Merrill and she will often side-step questions about her past or what exactly she is doing.  You discover very early that Merrill has no opposition to the use of blood magic.  She is also is willing to consort with demons and generally engage in behavior that is at the worst questionable and at best downright hazardous.  Befriending Merrill is difficult for a more upstanding Hawke character.

As a character Merrill is very quirky.  She's a Dalish elf who's not accustomed to living in a city full of humans.  Her desire to engage in dangerous magical activities make her an outcast even among her fellow mages.  After you've gotten to know your Hawke character in Dragon Age II she reveals that she has rescued an Eluvian (the same possessed Eluvian from Origins) and wants your help to reconstruct this valuable Elven artifact.  This can become a major point of contention between your character and Merrill.  In continuing the quest you learn that Merrill has been consorting with demons and that the keeper of her clan sacrificed herself to those demons to keep Merrill safe.

Unless you play a more rebellious character it can be difficult to make Merrill happy.  I've always enjoyed the quirkier aspects of her personality.

Merrill's talents reflect her Dalish heritage as well as her dalliance with blood magic.  I have never been a big fan of the blood mage talents and Merrill's talents utilize many of those abilities.  Sacrificing health to cast spells can work in some situations but mages are so squishy that it's hard to justify using that specific ability.  Abilities like Wrath of the Elvhen are more interesting and allow her to utilize nature damage.  I never really understood the Stone's Throw ability but could see how when used in conjunction with Wrath of the Elvhen it could be very useful.

Elvish Grace or Qunari Brawn?

Woo...first week of school (which was actually two days) down.  Phew.  Now I can get back to the serious business of comparing characters in video games.  I started with a comparison of warriors who are often put into the tank role from Dragon Age II and Dragon Age:  Inquisition.  How about your bruisers though?  Would you choose Fenris, the broody elf from Dragon Age II, or Iron Bull, the Qunari mountain from Dragon Age:  Inquisition?

Dragon Age II--Fenris

Fenris.  He's tattooed and elfy.

 I have always thought that Fenris is a bit of an odd character.  Firstly, an elf as a two-handed warrior always seemed to ben the traditional stereotype of the typical hulking warrior.  I've always wanted my non-tanking warriors to 1.) wield a weapon whose seize is completely inconceivable 2.) be hulking masses of muscle that tower above the bad guys.  Fenris carries a big sword but is still lithe like an elf.  What?  It's different, but it works.

Fenris's story is interesting.  He's a former slave bound to a powerful Tevinter magister.  This magister had him branded with lyrium in order to augment his powers.  As a result Fenris sports some interesting body art that makes him stand out from other elves.  This magical brand is also the explanation for his exceptional skills.  Due to his torture and mistreatment at the hand of Danarius, Fenris hates magic.  He also hates slavery and anything associated with it.  Fenris's personality tends to be pretty serious.  He's not cracking jokes and is completely focused on eliminating his former master and all slavers.  At the end of Dragon Age II your choice to support either kill, exile, or save Anders and to support either the mages or templars can affect Fenris's support.  If you choose to save Anders and support the mages, Fenris will leave your party and fight on the side of the templars (unless you romanced him...I think).  If you oppose the mages, he will stay in your party.  Unfortunately in my latest playthrough I may have accidentally skipped his companion quest to kill Danarius and ended up having to kill him along with the templars at the end of the game.

Fenris's talents have never impressed me.  His talents revolve around the lyrium brands on his body and can give him a very high magical resistance.  There are several talents in his tree that do give him some handy battle talents--particularly those that increase his stamina regeneration and attack speed.  His talents tie in well with his story, but seem to have somewhat limited usefulness.

Dragon Age:  Inquisition--Iron Bull

Iron Bull

Iron Bull definitely falls into the stereotypical warrior category.  He's big, brawny, and wields a huge weapon.  Having Iron Bull be the two-handed warrior of choice in Inquisition seemed to be a return back to more traditional character type.  As you start to learn about Iron Bull you learn that he is anything but traditional.  He's a Qunari, but he's not exactly wrapped up in following all the traditional Qunari rules.  He does what he wants and leads a very ragtag but talented group of mercenaries known as the "Bull's Chargers."

As a character, Iron Bull is a big change from the seriousness of Fenris in Dragon Age II.  Iron Bull cracks jokes and seems to enjoy hanging out in the tavern drinking all day.  Although he seems to reject the values of the Qun he still maintains ties to the Qunari.  In your first encounter with Bull you learn that he is Ben-Hassrath, the Qunari equivalent of a spy, and that he regularly sends reports to the Qunari.  It's obvious that he still feels ties to his people, but he also revels in his independence.

One of the more curious aspects of both Fenris and Iron Bull's personalities is their willingness to be romanced by both male and female characters.  In Dragon Age II there isn't really a story explanation about why Fenris is open to a relationship with either sex.  There was the odd decision in Dragon Age II to make all the available romanceable characters (except Aveline and Varric) open to relationships with male or female characters.  In your many conversations with Iron Bull in Dragon Age:  Inquisition you learn that the Qun has very loose rules regarding sexuality and that it's completely acceptable in their society to choose whomever you want.  Romancing Iron Bull is fun as there are lots of jokes about his size and one funny scene where the leaders of the Inquisition walk in on your character and Bull and proceed to make a number of pointed remarks about Bull's state of undress.

I prefer Iron Bull's talents as a reaver over Fenris's talents.  As a reaver, the more damage Bull takes to more damage he puts out.  This is handy as I find my two-handed warriors often end up in an off-tanking kind of role and can successfully keep the baddies off squishier characters.  I do find that Iron Bull can seem pretty squishy himself and in dragon fights I have to be extra careful about his positioning.

Do you opt for Fenris with his magical tattoos and elvish grace (and fantastic anime-like white hair!) or Iron Bull with his bulging...muscles...and carefree attitude?

Personality:  Iron Bull
I like a character with a sense of humor and there is a lot of humor built around Iron Bull.  His laid back personality and general bloodlust make him a fun character to keep in the party.  Romancing Bull is a hoot and you will often find yourself laughing.

Talents:  Iron Bull
I really like my warriors to be wrecking balls of fury.  Having so many of Fenris's talents revolve around seemingly defensive qualities have never endeared him to me.  Bull can soak up some damage while simultaneously increasing his damage output.  That's a very handy set of talents!

It was no contest for me--Iron Bull easily wins out as my pick for best two-handed warrior companion.

Next up....the magey types.

Who are the Best Dragon Age Companions? A Comparison for People who like Comparisons.

A piece of fan art depicting the companions from Dragon Age II appeared on my Facebook timeline earlier this week.  The art itself was neat but the comments were what caught my attention.  The comment section was filled with arguments about whether the companions in Dragon Age II were better than those in Inquisition.  Since I had somewhat recently decided to delve back into Dragon Age II and it is fresh in my mind, I decided I would put some serious thought into that question and do a sort of comparison between them to come to a final consensus about which companions are actually better.

I'm going to break down my comparisons by class.  Let's start with our tanks!  Something I've liked about both Dragon Age II and Inquisition is that they made most of the tank characters female.  This seems like a "bucking the system" choice as the stereotypical tank character is usually some hulking male figure.

Dragon Age II--Aveline Vallen

Aveline is your go-to tank in Dragon Age II.  You meet her very early in the game and she's with you until the end.  I will say that I am not a huge fan of the tank talents in Dragon Age II (it's very possible that I am also inept at choosing the correct ones and setting up tactics correctly).  The tank talents in Inquisition are much better even with the small variation between Cassandra and Blackwall.

As a character Aveline has an interesting story--she was raised by her father, a former Orlesian chevalier, with the intent of training her to be the knight he never was.  Aveline seems to have some resentment towards him because of this.  At the beginning of the game she is forced (or your character) to kill her own husband who has fallen victim to the darkspawn taint.  I think BioWare does a great job of finding some small details that make their characters seem more human and Aveline is no exception.  One of the goofier quests in Dragon Age II involves awkwardly trying to set Aveline up with one of her fellow guards.  You realize very quickly how inept she is at capturing his attention and are forced to intervene on her behalf.  Her morality seems to lead toward justice-oriented choices.  As guard captain she's not fond of breaking the rules.  Using BioWare-esque language, she would be more of a paragon-friendly character.

Dragon Age:  Inquisition--Cassandra Pentaghast

Cassandra appears in Dragon Age II as an NPC but becomes a playable character in Inquisition.  Even without being able to play Cassandra in DAII you are already able to get a good idea about her personality--she's strong, serious, and dedicated to the Chantry.

As a playable character in Inquisition you get more opportunities to interact with and learn about Cassandra.  The addition of the "guard" stat in Inquisition made my tanks feel...more tanky--they felt like a damage sponge who could withstand big groups of enemies or just big baddies.  The templar tree specific to Cassandra featured some pretty handy AoE type attacks that were much more useful than Aveline's limited set of group grabbing talents.  In general I felt confident that Cassandra could keep the baddies from whacking my other party members.

Cassandra's personality can feel very stern but it feeds in well with her story of being a dedicated servant of the Divine.  She's focused on her duties to the Chantry and isn't willing to sway much from her goals.  Her story of being Nevarran royalty but giving that up to serve the divine helps define who she is in Inquisition.  She isn't a character who is going to make you laugh, but her interaction with Varric is pretty funny.  They definitely don't like each other after the long interrogation depicted in Dragon Age II.  Like Aveline, Cassandra is made more relatable by her secret love of romance novels.  Late-ish in Inquisition you can set out on a quest to mediate the strained relationship between Varric and Cassandra with the goal of getting Varric to finish writing his romance serial for Cassandra.  It's a light moment for an otherwise serious character.

Dragon Age:  Inquisition--Blackwall

If you're looking for a memorable character...it's not Blackwall.  Blackwall is a former Grey Warden (sort of!  Spoilers!) who you meet as he is travelling through the countryside trying to recruit new wardens.  His talents as a warrior vary from Cassandra's but he is still a very solid tanking character.  I have always enjoyed his "Line in the Sand" ability which can be used to channel the bad guys toward Blackwall and away from your squishy characters.

As a character, Blackwall is not quite as interesting as Cassandra or Aveline.  His dedication to re-building the Grey Wardens is a central theme in your interactions.  A big part of his story is intentionally vague and later on you find out that he is actually faking his identity as a Grey Warden.  He is actually an Orlesian mercenary who had been involved in some intrigue and murder.  Blackwall is actually a man named Thom Rainier and assumed the identity of a Grey Warden who he saw die.

So who's the best tank?  Do you choose someone with an interesting story or with the best tanking talents?

Talents:  Cassandra.  Her templar tree gives you the versatility to be a bulwark against magic attacks but to also use the more AoE oriented abilities to keep the attention of a large group of enemies.

Personality:  Aveline.  Despite being a serious character, Aveline has moments of lightness that make her a fun character to keep in the party.  I've always enjoyed her companion quests that involve her awkward wooing of fellow guard Donnic.

Next:  The Brawny Warrior Men--A comparison!

Demons, Mirrors, and Exile--The Joys of Befriending Merrill

Dragon Age II offers a eclectic mix of possible party members who you can join your Hawke on adventures in and around Kirkwall (and then in and around Kirkwall at night and then in Kirkwall again.  I think I've mentioned the environmental shortcomings of Dragon Age II).  There seems to always be one character who absolutely mystifies me.  One person who you cannot befriend and seems to be diametrically opposed to the personality of your playable character.  In Dragon Age II, this character is Merrill.

Merrill--Difficult to befriend.

You first meet Merrill as you head off to a Dalish encampment to return the amulet given to you by Flemeth.  From the first moment that you talk to the keeper you get a weird feeling.  Merrill is choosing to leave her tribe of elves for some mysterious reason.  As you head up the mountain you meet Merrill and realize that she's definitely a little odd...even for an elf.  This feeling of offness continues as you run into an elf hunter who states that he can't wait to have Merrill gone.  What the heck did she do that her own people are rejecting her?  It's when you make it to the barrier blocking entry into the elven burial ground and witness her using blood magic that you realize she could possibly be dangerous.  You question her about the spell she just used and hint to her that blood magic is sketchy...she shrugs you off and says she knows what she's doing.  After performing the ritual and having a brief exchange with Flemeth (or a fragment of Flemeth?), you head down the mountain and prepare to leave the encampment.  The keeper tells Merrill that she doesn't have to leave, but Merrill isn't going to change her mind.

Once you return to Kirkwall you see Merrill settled into the elven alienage in the city.  There are several opportunities to interact with her and learn her story.  Like Morrigan in Dragon Age:  Origins my kind actions generally resulted in negative feelings (rivalry in Dragon Age II).  It didn't matter that I tried to reassure her that eventually she would get the hang of city life or that my character was trying to be friends with Merrill.

The story unfolds and you learn more and more about Merrill.  Eventually you learn that she has managed to piece together an ancient elven mirror known as an Eluvian.  Merrill is obsessed with figuring out how to make the mirror function again.  She claims it is a relic of her people and that by fixing it that she will help to recover a piece of elven culture.  And, by the way, someone already died trying to fix it.  Befriending Merrill becomes even more difficult as you have to make the choice of letting her try to fix the mirror (which could possibly unleash demons and/or darkspawn onto the world) or telling her to give it up.

Eventually Merrill's quest leads you back to the Dalish where you are forced to make her see the error of her ways.  The quest involves demons and killing those closest to Merrill...it's hard to like her after that.

Merrill is not one of my favorite characters and one who it's extremely hard to like if you choose to play a more "paragon" like character.  I think I have only managed to really befriend Merrill on one playthrough and I intentionally made that character kind of a ruthless jerk.  

Straight Outta Kirkwall

With my trek through the darkspawn invasion in Dragon Age:  Origins and my semi-successful management of Vigil's Keep in the expansion Awakening completed, I scrambled around to download the mass of DLC for Dragon Age II and start a new game.  I have played Dragon Age II many fewer times than I have played Origins so I'm always forgetting small things that I love or hate.  I have always felt positively towards this game where many people do not like it.

In starting a new game I realized how people might feel unhappy with some of the choices made in the second game.  I sort of forgot the whole character creation system was essentially narrowed down to almost nothing.  There were no more cool origin stories...just a line-up of human characters to be your new Hawke.  Rather than go with the default Hawke appearance I decided to tool around with the few choices I actually had and managed to make my own unique Hawke.  After I solidified my choices I realized that I had inadvertently designed an almost doppleganger of the Bethany character.  They're supposed to be related, right?  I guess it works.

The beginning of the game really gives players a chance to experience the new combat animations.  My Hawke is a warrior of the two-handed variety who cuts a wide swathe through groups of bad guys.  The opening combat sequence where Varric colorfully describes Hawke's escape from Lothering gave me a fantastic feeling of invincibility as I commanded my character to painlessly slay through the onslaughts of darkspawn.  So satisfactory!  This led me to the stupid decision to crank the difficulty up to nightmare (it's really hard--there's a huge leap between hard and nightmare) and proceed to die a lot.  The trek through the backroads near Lothering was painful but I managed to survive long enough to turn the difficulty back down to hard.

Making it into Kirkwall, the primary setting of Dragon Age II, reminded me of the narrowness of the world in this game.  You spend most of your time in Kirkwall and it can get pretty boring.  The story of the city of Kirkwall is interesting though and the dismal setting perfectly echoes the horror that surrounds it's origins.  Darktown is filled with forlorn elves struggling to eke out a living in the dirty tunnels beneath the city.  Even Lowtown, your initial home area, has a very depressing industrial air that reminds you of how low your families fortunes have really sunk.  Maybe this droll setting was why so many people hated the game.  I have to admit that the choice to use the city as the core setting but to make the only real changes be toggling between day and night seems like a lazy design decision.

My Hawke preparing to smackdown some stupid archer.

It's as I wander the darkened streets of nighttime Kirkwall that I remember how much I enjoyed the combat in this second game.  The combat seems much more fluid and the animations for each class are a lot of fun to watch.  So much fun, that I often get sidetracked and forget to pause combat to set up combos.  Watching my warrior leap through the air to waylay a baddie is so satisfying.  I had to pause it and take a screenshot to savor the moment.

No matter how many negative things I read about Dragon Age II it will always have a special place in my BioWare library.  Sure, the environments are repetitive, but you can't tell me that you don't want to laugh out loud when you land a perfect combo and smash an enemy.  

Romantic Entanglements--Dragon Age II Style

Dragon Age II made some of my romantic choices slightly simpler.  Hawke, the main character, can only be human.  Yes, you can opt to romance elven party members but I felt more comfortable making many of my decisions in the shoes of Hawke the human.  Since a major focal point in this game is the ongoing conflict between mages and templars, I tend to focus many of my choices on who would best support my Hawke's pro or anti-magic beliefs.

One very odd choice for romance in this game was the decision to make all the romanceable characters open to relationships with either the female or male character (with the exception of Sebastian Vael who is only available through DLC).  Maybe people in Kirkwall are just more open-minded about their relationships?  It just seems odd and nonsensical to me but probably was a way to cut down on production costs.

Without the addition of "The Exiled Prince" Hawke can choose to pursue romantic relationships with four different party members--Anders, Isabela, Fenris, or Merrill.  My Hawkes have romanced all but Isabela.  Now that I'm thinking of this it seems really weird.  Why not Isabela?  Well, she's a liar and a traitor for one.  She does end up leaving the party.  She could be an interesting romantic choice...maybe next playthrough.

If my Hawke is of a more pro-magic persuasion I will opt for relationships with either Anders or Merrill.  Romancing Anders is a little weird because of the whole spirit/demon possession part.  He is a character that I like and his jokes and sarcasm make me laugh.  Merrill is also a bit of a weird choice.  She is supportive of magic, but also of the very controversial blood magic.  A large part of her story revolves around her obsession with recreating the eluvian despite the fact that there is the possibility of demon activity.  I always had a hard time initiating a relationship with Merrill.  There's just so much I disagree with regarding her story.

Fenris.  So angry, but so hot.

My more anti-magic Hawke will typically lean toward Fenris.  Fenris, like Merrill, can also be a difficult character to initiate a relationship with.  You really have to make sure that you oppose any decisions related to magic.  I think Fenris is also the hottest character.  There's just something about this brooding, tattooed elf that works.  Sure, he's kind of cranky.  Isabela is also an option but I've never chosen her.  You could also argue that she's more of a "hot" character but I find her personality off-putting.  She seems very self-centered and very much to have her own agenda.  Maybe I'm judging her too much based on her actions toward the end of the game.  I do enjoy the whole pirate queen aspect.

It's always been kind of a disappointment that you can't romance Aveline or Varric.  Varric is one of my favorite characters in the series and I've always found his voice to be attractive.  Aveline's story revolves around her attraction to one of the guards in her command so I understand why she's not a choice.  But why not Varric?

Only a few more days until Valentine's Day.  I'm hoping to keep writing about romantic options in video games till then.  It's my own weird way of celebrating...well, that and eating a bunch of candy.