This seems like a good time to satisfy my curiosity about the Wandering Keepers headcanon, namely, that if these were a thing, why didn't Marethari send Merril and her shard off to join them? (I mean, *my* answer to that question is that Marethari's a malignant narcissist who wouldn't have been satisfied by anything less than Merrill's complete submission to her will, but I wanna know what you guys have come up with.)
Spoiler: Spoilers for the next chapter of my fic Some of that's actually addressed in my fic! Since DA2, Merrill has actually become a Wandering Keeper, and the eluvian is what allowed her to do that. As for why Marethari didn't do that initially, that's an excellent question. My initial instinct is to say that this was personal enough that Merrill was against sending the eluvian away, and Marethari didn't want to send Merrill away. Also, even if Marethari wanted to send it with a WK, they're not particularly common or easy to track down. It's very reasonable that in the time between the Dalish origin and Merrill settling in at Kirwall (less than 2 years), they would not encounter one. While I understand the Marethari is a malignant narcissist interpretation, I don't subscribe to it quite that extent. She was controlling and she needed to be right and have Merrill know that she was right, but I think she was motivated by fear because she lost two clanmates very quickly and the third is now engaging in what she sees as terribly risky behavior.
Re: the spoilered text, that makes sense. It's not like there's a centralized Dalish postal service that you can send a message to whenever you need a WK. (Or...IS THERE???) (Some kind of drop box system would make a lot of sense, but since everyone's walking or riding a halla if they're lucky, even if you did have people riding circuit to deliver the mail, it could still take months or years to get a reply. Not to mention the WK probably avoid Kirkwall unless they have a really good reason, because of the Circle and how freaking haunted Sundermount is. I mean you run into, what, TWO Arcane Horrors on its slope in act one alone? Plus those three Revenants in act three. WKs have to be tough, but there's no way just one mage could win a fight like that by themselves.) I mostly came up with the malignant narcissist theory to explain the inconsistencies in Marethari's behavior in acts two and three. She keeps begging Merrill to come back, but at the same time she's telling the rest of the clan that Merrill's dangerous and possibly tainted. What was she going to do if Merrill had come back, and the entire clan was terrified of her and hated her for endangering them all? That'd be a huge problem! But a narcissist wouldn't think of that, I think. They kind of tend to live in the moment.
Some sort of system like that might be used, but I see the WKs having pretty erratic routes. It keeps them safer, for one. And I imagine they spend a fair amount of time going directly between clans to do something like escort a mage to a new clan or things like that which keeps them from any regular pattern of movement. I would imagine that there's a way for Clan Keepers to contact them directly, in case they really needed something, but it would be too dangerous to have them be accessible to the whole clan.
The first dragon age game I actually played was 2, b/c it was a gift, and it was my absolute favorite video game of all time for a long while...but now I'm FINALLY able to play both Origins and Inquisition (yay for partners with PS4s and capable computers lol) so I'm doing that simultaneously right now. One day I play a bit of Origins, the next Inquisition lol. Very piecemeal system but man my headspace is all Thedas all the time again, and I'm loving it.. In fact I'm just online right now b/c I was at the Urn of Sacred Ashes trial and THIS BRIDGE IS STUPID AND I DON'T LIKE IT...so I exited to look up a walkthru and write it down >>;
@rje Same here with starting with 2! Also feel free to tell us about your experiences, I LOVE reading people's first impressions of those games <3 <3
@wixbloom So far I'm loving the conversations and group dynamics in Origins the most. I wish for 2 things tho, that party members would make comments on the quest you're currently undertaking more, like you could ask for opinions and stuff. And that there was a BIT of a more linear path because I totally lost the thread of what I was supposed to be doing lol. (Which now that I'm playing this I can see how they addressed both those points in 2, with varying success haha) I'm just happy there's relationship mods for it. Inquisition I'm starting to love and hate in equal measure, but I'm having a shit ton of fun with all the stuff you get to do and combat is easier with a controller >> << lol. (I have the PS4 version that came out with all the DLC. It's KILLING ME that I can't mod it though. I'm probably gonna just do a playthru on here and then do all the rest on the computer)
you can get computer-compatible USB controllers for fairly cheap at most electronics stores/online. I use one to play Inquisition with on my computer (totally agree with you that it's a lot easier with a controller, I could barely even do the combat with a mouse and keyboard, lol)
I think playing mages and archers is easier with a mouse and keyboard, but I only play my warriors and dual dagger rogues on the computer when I want to pay for my earthly sins. The USB compatible controllers help a lot, the game really feels like it wasn't designed for pc. It's a shame, cause I really like my elf blooded orlesian Templar OC and I wanted to take more pics of her >:/
I feel like I'm the only person in the world who didn't have a trouble with Inquisiton's computer controls. :') They're kind of MMO-like but simplified so instead of having a fuckbillion action bars with 10-12 actions a piece, I only have one with 8 actions. Then again, I only play on normal, so...
My problem with it is positioning myself; they are very mmo like, but all I play in mmos are ranged characters haha so having to actually move to get to the poor dude I'm trying to murder sometimes escapes my mind. I got way too used to da2s automatic positioning thing. It's easier to remember to move with the controller. Having only 8 skill slots also fucks up my groove cause, since I play primarily as a Mage, I feel like I don't have options. I wouldn't mind if we could extend the action bar so I could actually use some of the skills I have.
I feel that. Even with my dual dagger rogues I could really use a longer action bar, as by the end of the base game I have more skills than I can use.
I always end up with the same skills on the action bar, to the point where having different specializations is, like, completely useless. What's the good in having a necromancer if the only way I'll use half of my skills is when I hop over to the other Mage who is stuck in barrier duty?
This is something that bugs me too. And at least in DAO and DA2 you could go into your spells and still use the ones that weren't on your quickbar. But there are always a few spells talents that feel necessary (fade step, barrier) that it eats into your specialty really quickly. I really only use the passive buffs and focus talent from my specialization.
I'm doing my first PC DA:I run on a mage, and it's... interesting. I'd say that controllers are smoother and more intuitive, while keyboard is more precise (though oh my GOD it took me ages to get the 'left click autofire' down, because typically left click is the safe way to touch things for me) and I'm not sure how I'm gonna feel about it when I actually hit my specialization. I'm primed to pick passives before active spells (because mmos) but I also know that mage is a little easier to do that on.
That is awesome!! I love woodcuts Do you get more spell/ability options on keyboard in DA:I than controller? Or is it still just 10 total? (which yea, having to pick and choose like that is painful...the system definitely is taking some getting used to this time)
