fuck cerberus

The biggest problem with open world, for me, is the way it completely strips away any sense of urgency. Corypheus is coming, we have to save the Empress, we have to save the Grey Wardens, very important, but any tension is lost simply because we can ignore all that for as long as we want and spend days or months dicking around in the Hinterlands picking elfroot. For DAI, a more linear narrative would have been much more appropriate. But imagine an open world DA2! Getting to really explore Kirkwall and the Wounded Coast, especially with the day-and-night mechanic, and find all the weird little things hidden in the corners. Each neighborhood could be an area, with its own storyline. There would be lots of big and small crises for Hawke to deal with. Their (willing or not) rise to political power could be shown and not told. Companion relationships could be more fleshed out, especially if there were Andromeda-style friend dates.

The hostility between Hawke’s companions in Dragon Age 2 makes a bit more sense when you remember that the whole game is told from Varric’s perspective and he has to keep audiences engaged with juicy drama. 

Either you deliberately go back in time with the purpose of letting her die, saving the entire town or you do nothing and let the storm take its course naturally, freeing you from moral responsibility.

In any case, it made for a hilarious mental image.

Alistair: The Circle is here at the king’s request and the Chantry doesn’t like that one bit. They just love letting mages know how unwelcome they are.

Alistair: You want the Chantry’s version or the truth? Warden: They aren’t the same thing? Alistair: (Laughs.) They seldom are.

Alistair: The Chantry raised me and becoming a templar was a decision made for me a long time ago. Alistair: Duncan saw I wasn’t happy, and figured my training against mages could double for fighting darkspawn. Now, here I stand a proud Grey Warden. Alistair: The grand cleric wouldn’t have let me go if Duncan never forced the issue. I’ll always be grateful to him. Warden: You didn’t want to join the Chantry? Alistair: It just… wasn’t for me. I believe in the Maker well enough, but I never wanted to devote my life to the Chantry.

Warden: You speak fondly of Duncan. Alistair: I spent years in that chantry, hopelessly resigned to my fate. Duncan was the first person who cared what I wanted.

Warden: So you’re not happy in the Grey Wardens? Alistair: Far from it. I never wanted to be a templar, anyway.

Alistair: The Chantry would tell you that the templars exist simply to defend, but don’t let them fool you. They’re an army.

Warden: Have you hunted many mages? Alistair: No. I never actually became a full templar. Duncan recruited me before I took my vows. Alistair: I was only present during one Harrowing. That was all I needed, too. I don’t know how anyone could get through that. Alistair: The girl they tested… she had a demon put inside her, to see if she could resist. And she couldn’t. We had to… end it quickly. Alistair: I have to say I didn’t have much interest in becoming a templar after that.

Alistair: I’m not exactly the Chantry type, if you haven’t noticed. I don’t think I would have made a very good templar.

Warden: You don’t seem like the religious sort. Alistair: You’re telling me. I was banished to the kitchens to scour the pots more times than I can count. And that’s a lot; I can count pretty high.

Warden: Do all templars make these jokes? Or just you? Alistair: Oh, you know… between all the guilt and the hours spent in solemn prayer, any good templar or priest is just bursting to tell a few good jokes when the opportunity arises.

Warden: Not this again. Can’t you answer a simple question? Alistair: I used to be able to, but then the Chantry beat it out of me. Sad, but true. I can’t hardly get through a pillow fight these days without becoming overcome with guilt, either.

Alistair: [Broken Circle] As I recall from my time as a templar, locking the door and throwing away the key was ‘plan B’.

Alistair: [Warden about to accept Kolgrim’s gift of dragon blood] Are you sure this is wise? I stood by while you did that thing with the Ashes, but they’re just ashes. This is different.

Leliana: You must have been a brother before you became a templar, no?Alistair: I never actually became a templar. I was recruited into the Grey Wardens before I took my final vows. Leliana: Do you ever regret leaving the Chantry? Alistair: No, never. Do you?

Wynne: The Templars serve a function, and a necessary one. If what has happened at the tower proves anything, it is that we mages can be dangerous… even to ourselves. Alistair: That’s… one way of looking at it.

Morrigan: So I take it you did not enjoy your templar training? Alistair: That’s directed at me, I take it? Morrigan: Do you see any others about who have failed at their religious instruction? Alistair: I didn’t fail. I was recruited into the Grey Wardens. Morrigan: And if you had not been recruited? What would have happened, instead? Alistair: I would have turned into a drooling lunatic, slaughtered the grand cleric and run through the streets of Denerim in my small clothes, I guess. Morrigan: Your self-awareness does you credit. Alistair: I thought you’d like that.

Alistair: Let me guess: that’s your final answer? Meredith: [If Mage Warden] You declare your Circle of Magi free, as if its your right to do so, and thus stir up every mage outside of your kingdom. Meredith: [If not Mage Warden] Three mages have fled to Ferelden, and you have intervened to protect them as if it is your right to do so. Meredith: What other answer did you expect, your Majesty? Alistair: A “maybe” might have been nice.

Hawke: You were having an argument about mages? Alistair: Yes, well, apparently I don’t feel the same way about mages as the Chantry does. Alistair: So we’re in disagreement. That means they get nasty. They’re like that.

Alistair: What you can do is protect Kirkwall. It will take someone like you to keep it from falling apart. Hawke: Protect Kirkwall from what, exactly? Alistair: You ask me, the biggest threat to this city just walked out the door. Alistair: But maybe that’s the ex-templar in me talking.