#mihya nolahari

[veshialles]

Dragon Age Questions

I wasn’t tagged for this or anything, but I saw @danaduchy do this and thought it was neat, so I figured I’d do my own. 

This feels like it has good potential as a tag meme, so I’ll go ahead and tag a few folks that I think might be interested. @rogue-lavellan @fallout-and-dragon-age @feeshies @dancing-flamingo-pirates @vulpestwinkulta @life-is-no-sugarlicking I’m not really sure how many of my mutuals are Dragon Age fans, but if anyone else wants to do this as well, have at it fellas!!! Go wild! (maybe tag me so I can see! I love hearing about others’ DA experiences!)

01) Favourite game of the series?

As much as I love DAO and DA2, I’m gonna have to say Inquisition, because it’s one of the few games where I put off the ending. I got to that Wicked Grace scene, and it just really dawned on me that I was near the end, I ended up putting the game down for about a week because I really wasn’t ready for it to be over. So yeah.

02) How did you discover Dragon Age?

A few of the blogs I followed for their Mass Effect content posted (and still post) about Dragon Age fairly often, so I’d heard of it and seen stuff about it, but for whatever reason I only really had a passing interest in wanting to play it. I guess I just thought I didn’t have time to get into something new?? My brother is also a Bioware fan, and he’d gotten some money for his birthday, so he ended up buying DAO, but he went to bed while it installed and my sleep schedule was messed up, so I ended up playing it before he did lol. whoops?

03) How many times you’ve played the games?

About 1.5 times? I’ve played through the whole trilogy once, I’ve started a second playthrough with some more mods, but I’m still on Origins for my 2nd playthrough. Any other “playthroughs” that I’ve started have basically just been replaying the intros of the games to get decent screenshots of some of my OCs and get a better idea of what they’ll look like.

04) Favourite race to play as?

I know this feels incredibly basic, but I like playing as an elf. I don’t really have a reason, I just kind of default to elves in just about any fantasy RPG. I also enjoyed playing as a Qunari (from what little I’ve played of that race so far) and I look forward to doing a proper run of Inquisition with my Adaar.

05) Favourite class?

Mage and Rogue. I haven’t really given Warrior a proper try yet, but it tends to feel a bit clunky.

06) Do you play through the games differently or do you make the same decisions each time?

I try to play differently as much as I can. I’m trying to make a point of having my 2nd run be fairly opposite to my 1st playthrough. But I really just cannot commit to some of the more purely evil options. 

Like, there’s strategic choices I’ve had my characters make, like killing Connor to save everyone in Redcliffe, or allowing the Anvil of The Void to be used because Ferelden needs as strong an army as possible, or conscripting the Templars for their expertise in combating weird fade stuff, but there’s still some choices that I absolutely refuse to make (siding with Meredith, or executing Alistair, for example). 

So for those choices, I just have a “Worst Case Scenario” world state on the Dragon Age Keep website.

07) Go-to adventuring group?

DAO: I kind of played favourites with Leliana and Alistair, switching out Morrigan and Wynne. But I’ve gotten better being fair with my 2nd run, and I actually really like taking Sten this time around.

DAA: I’m actually pretty even with them all, but my favourite combos were Anders, Nathaniel, Oghren, and Justice, Sigrun, and Velanna. Next time, for lore reasons, I guess I should take Anders and Justice together as much as possible

DA2: Aveline, Merrill, and Isabela. The girl squad(tm). Also Varric.

DAI: I’d like to think I was fair with my party selections, but Solas was there a lot. So was Varric. And Iron Bull, love him.

08) Which of your characters did you put the most thought into?

To be honest, for most of them, I went in blind and made up stuff about them later. It’s only been on my 2nd playthrough here that I’ve put some more forethought into my characters. (Like how my Amell has a good mind for strategy and risk assessment, or my Adaar is afraid of bears and was born on a boat crossing the Waking Sea). But in order from most to least developed I would say; Kieshara Tabris, Tamara Amell, Ilmanith Adaar, Valyhra Lavellan, Reuben Hawke, Juliana Hawke, Myrtle Trevelyan, Jerindeth Aeducan, Nellassan Andras, Mihya Nolahari.

09) Favourite romance?

DAO: Leliana. One of the few times I’ve legit crushed on a fictional character. Like, she compliments your hair, and she awkwardly flirts back and I just- wow, love her!

DA2: I really liked Isabela’s romance, but I accidentally locked myself out of it or the game glitched and I ended up with Merrill instead? Which is fine, she’s cute too! I’m gonna try romancing Fenris next, wish me luck!

DAI: Cullen. I just??? Love him?? Like, he’s attractive sure, but also relatable? I dunno, maybe I just bonded with his character over struggles with trauma/addiction/mental health. It feels like a story of growth and acceptance  and moving on, and I really love that about his romance tbh.

10) Have you read any of the comics/books?

I’ve read a few of the comics at least (The ones with Alistair, Varric, and Isabela) I’ve also started on Magekiller, but I haven’t picked it up in a while because I’ve been preoccupied.

11) If you read them, which was your favourite book?

Honestly, I really loved the Silent Grove series. Though it did bug me a bit that it relied so heavily on Alistair being the king of Ferelden. I guess I can always just handwave his involvement in the story as “official Grey Warden business” when placing it in the context of my 2nd world state. 

12) Favourite DLCs?

DAO: I’d probably say Awakening. Shame they haven’t really expanded on a lot of the concepts it introduced though :/

DA2: Legacy, really gave me those ancient mystery/cosmic horror vibes.

DAI: The Descent was a fun one, kinda for the same reasons I enjoyed Legacy to be honest. 

13) Things that annoy you.

Across all three games, there’s stuff like plot-holes and loose threads that have been left untied (so far), but as for other things that annoy me, I dislike most of game mechanics in Inquisition because they’re so different from the other games. 

Instead of using the Tab key to highlight every point of interest in the area, you gotta use echolocation or whatever the hell that radar ping is. And unless you have 7.5 headphones, you’re left just guessing wildly where the thing is you’re searching for.

You can’t interact with anything that’s more than 3 feet away from your character, so you have to manually walk right up to things instead of just clicking on the door at the far end of a room and letting the AI handle it. 

Gotta pull up the map every 5 seconds because they replaced the minimap with a compass, and I don’t know where the fuck I am going! Oh hey, the thing I need is right there, oh nope there’s a mountain in the way. Gee, would have been nice to know that ahead of time!!! 

I cannot tell my save games apart at all, so when I have to go back a save or two, I have to make a wild guess based on date and time, how long it’s been played for, and the general area it gives you. No more custom thumbnail to show you exactly where you were, can’t name your saves. ugh.

Hopefully they fix some of these things in DA4, but hey at least I can finally make my character jump!

14) Orlais or Ferelden?

Ferelden, it’s got that fantasy-grunge aesthetic that I love; grey stones, browns and green everywhere but not in a lush-jungle way, colder weather, fur cloaks and steel. It’s like Skyrim, with less vikings (well, except for the Avvar tribes). 

I like Orlais’ aesthetic too, with the ridiculously fancy decor everywhere, but living there would basically just be like Game Of Thrones; Thedas Edition. Trust nobody, anyone and everyone could be ready to kill you if you get in their way.

15) Templars or mages? 

Personally? Mages. I think they deserve to be free. I should clarify; free from towers and cages, not free from responsibility. After all, their abilities can potentially become dangerous if not treated with healthy caution and care. 

The only game I can really see myself siding with the Templars intentionally is in Inquisition, and even then I still plan to disband them. I accidentally sided with the Templars in my first run of Origins because I couldn’t figure out the Litany of Adralla and the mages died as a result :(

16) If you have multiple characters, are they in different/parallel universes or in the same one?

I feel like most of them definitely co-exist in the same universe. However, I view the different playthroughs as alternate timelines, with my 1st playthrough being my “canon” timeline. That being said, I’m still working out the placement and fates of my other OCs in the different timelines though.

The only characters that I’m fairly sure don’t/couldn’t exist in the same universe are my Hawke’s because they’re from different ethnic backgrounds, with Juliana being of Antivan heritage, and Reuben has some Rivaini blood in him.

17) What did you name your pets? (mabari, summoned animals, mounts, etc)

For my first playthrough, as a dumb nerd joke, I named the dog “Dogmeat”. I changed it later to Pariel, but Kieshara calls him “Parry”. She also had the Ranger spec, and she named those animals too: Tilly was the spider, Vessa was the wolf, and the bear’s name was Oursin (Leliana might have helped with that last one when asked what the French Orlesian word for bear was. Kieshara thought it was funny). They didn’t respond to the names, because they weren’t really “pets” per se, but it helped Kieshara to organize them in her head.

Tamara named the dog Marco. There’s no interesting story there, she just liked the name.

The Hawke’s family dog is either Gaius (for Juliana) or Chester (for Reuben)

Valyhra had a horse named Ilrian, who sadly perished during the Assault on Haven. She later received a Hart as a gift from her Clan and the City of Wycome as thanks for the Inquisition’s aid, she named her Melothra. And of course, there’s Pepper, the mabari hound that she and Cullen adopted together.

Ilmanith has a Mountain Dracolisk that she named Ozurak. Overall, she’s never been especially fond of animals, but she’s unusually protective towards her Dracolisk.

18) Have you installed any mods?

A lot honestly. Mostly cosmetic mods, like hair or improved textures. As well as a few gameplay ones (like one that lets you bring the dog as a 5th member of the party in DAO, or another one that makes the combat not slow as hell also for DAO). Also, I use a mod that lets you complete the war table missions instantly, thank the maker. I can’t remember them all right now, maybe I’ll make a list later.

19) Did your Warden want to become a Grey Warden?

Kieshara wasn’t too keen on the idea. To start with, she absolutely did not trust Duncan when he arrived. Having grown up uneducated in an isolated community, she’d never really heard of the Grey Wardens. All she knew was that humans who showed up in the Alienage wearing armour and carrying weapons had bad intentions more often than not. She’d seen templars, city guards, mercenaries, it rarely ended well. She eventually warmed to the idea during the week-long journey from Denerim to Ostagar, as Duncan revealed what little information he could, putting Kieshara through a brief crash course of the Grey Warden’s history.

For Tamara, it was almost too good to be true. Life in the Circle Tower was a bit dull at best, and life-threatening at worst. So Tamara often found her escape in the many books that could be found in the tower’s library, especially historical documents and non-fiction. She enjoyed the accounts of the Grey Wardens most, thinking them to be a very brave organization to face something as menacing sounding as the darkspawn. So a chance to leave Kinloch Hold and join the ranks of the heroes she’d read about? It was a dream come true. Well, almost, except for the whole childhood friend becoming a blood mage apostate part.

There was nothing about Jerindeth’s situation that was ideal, with Trian dead, and Bhelen using Jerindeth as a scapegoat, and being tossed to the Deep Roads and left at the mercy of the darkspawn or whatever horrors awaited them there. But they had a grudging respect for the Grey Wardens, and it was either follow Duncan or die in the Deep Roads (imagine what a horrible shock it was to them when they eventually learned that most Grey Wardens ended up going to the Deep Roads to die anyhow)

20) Hawke’s personality?

For Juliana; She was mostly diplomatic, but she cracked jokes every now and then. Cover the pain and fear with humour I guess?

For Reuben; I imagine he’s gonna be mostly humorous/sarcastic, maybe gradually adding a bit more fire and rage when things start going to shit.

21) Did you make matching armor for your companions in Inquisition?

I barely even made armour for myself, honestly. I don’t tend to explore the crafting element much in games. At most, I think I crafted a magic-bladed sword, modified a few weapons and armour, but apart from that I only really used the tinting option, because some of the default colour schemes and materials are ugly as hell.

22) If your character(s) could go back in time to change one thing, what would they change?

Kieshara has many regrets, but the one that haunts her most were the events at Kinloch Hold. She found the templars’ attitude towards the mages despicable, it reminded her of how herself and the other elves were treated back in Denerim. When Cullen told her to slay any remaining mages in the upper level of the tower, Kieshara refused his pleas. These were living people, she couldn’t simply kill them. But when she got up there, she froze. Facing abominations was one thing, but actually seeing them created before her eyes deeply disturbed her, and in her terror she couldn’t hear Wynne shouting at her to activate the Litany of Adralla. By the time she got her focus back, it was too late to save any of them.

Tamara doesn’t really have a whole lot that she would change. The Blight was growing fast. If she hadn’t made the tough calls, there might not have been a country left to save. Though, she does wish that maybe she had kept a closer eye on her friend Jowan. Ironically, she herself ended up turning to blood magic in the last few months of the 5th Blight, but she was never so careless as he had been, and she certainly would never have poisoned someone for money.

Juliana would have tried to save Bethany. Her and Bethany were usually in sync when it came to fighting and training together, but the one time Juliana slipped up, Bethany paid for it with her life. However, Juliana has no regrets about leaving Carver at home, even if he ended up joining the Templars.

Reuben’s biggest regret is that he didn’t keep a closer eye on those around him. Maybe if he’d kept a more keen eye, he could have foresaw some of the more horrible things before they’d happened; like all the betrayals and murders.

If Valyhra were to go back and change things, she would probably be just a bit more rude to people who turned out to not deserve her kindness. That’s really about it.

There really isn’t much that Ilmanith would change, except maybe she would have dropped the tough lady act for a bit and gotten medical attention, amputating her hand instead of letting the Anchor fester and grow for 2 years past its usefulness. It surely would have made matters easier on Dagna, only having to design a hand instead of a full arm replacement.

I can’t really think of anything for my other OCs right now.

23) Do you have any headcanons about your character(s) that go against canon?

Not really? I usually try my best to take what canon gives me and work within that, maybe bending a few things here and there when needed. I have a few headcanons that are maybe a bit unconventional, but most of the time there’s nothing in canon that explicitly says I’m wrong lol

24) Are any of your character(s) based on someone?

The only one of my Dragon Age OCs that I intentionally based on a person would be Myrtle Trevelyan. I based her appearance (and maybe some aspects of her personality??) off of this alt model that I’ve low-key been crushing on for the past month and a bit or so. Any other OCs likeness to real people is purely coincidental (which makes trying to do those Face Claim memes I was tagged in especially difficult)

25) Who did you leave in the Fade?

Stroud. It was a fairly easy decision honestly, given that Juliana Hawke met him for a whole 30 seconds in DA2 while the Qunari were attacking the city and he just skipped out. My 2nd playthrough won’t be as easy of a choice though, because I’ll likely have to choose between Alistair or Reuben Hawke and I’m just...not sure. Thankfully that decision is a whole 2 games away at this point lol.

26) Favourite mount?

Anything goes, really. There aren’t actually a lot of maps where I liked using the mounts?? The only map where I used the mount fairly often was...one of the desert ones I think? I found most of the maps were perfectly fine to travel by foot, because they had a lot of ups and downs, things to climb, things to go explore inside of. Can’t really do a lot of that easily when you’re riding on a horse/elk/dracolisk/giant nug. So I usually just went without a mount unless I was feeling particularly impatient.

#dragon age #ask games #tagged games #kieshara tabris #tamara amell #juliana hawke #reuben graham hawke #valyhra lavellan #ilmanith adaar #jerindeth aeducan #nellassan andras #myrtle trevelyan #mihya nolahari #dragon age origins #dragon age 2 #dragon age inquisition #long post #ruby rambles #ruby's ocs