Philogosten

Well Vilja I leave at my tower since I want to keep her alive and with fcom and all she doesn't last long if I go anywhere that isn't just friendly npcs. I do need companions that help out in combat as being born under the atronach sign and with a amulet that gives 1 point of magicka regen makes taking on everyone solo a bad choice as I have to resort to my Dea Obscura powers which are quite limited in use as well. Really need a tanking companion but none I find are quite up to the task even with armor and weapons that should be considered quite overpowered.

How can anyone hate good ol' Sheo? He is hilarious. The Shivering Isles is the best part of the game!

I like each companion to be unique so I give them custom armor and weapons so I have to actually care about keeping them alive as if they die then they are gone for good as it adds a level of importance to combat as its not just me I have to worry about. I wish there were more unique strong companions that dont rely on being essential to not get killed by a few fcom creatures. I give them overpowered equipment and yet still lost 5 partners in Kvatch and that was even with me slinging spells at the enemies.

Cm partners I dont mind, Its not like I travel with anyone too long anyway since I play with fcom and all installed so they drop like flies. (I force everyone to be nonessential since it feels like cheating to have immortals helping you) so when I go look for more companion mods as I burned through all companions I have installed its rare that I find one for a male. Thanks for the links. I somehow have not seen the Arren one before, maybe I accidently skipped a page when searching that category.

So it can't just be me who realizes there are very few mods for male companions. I use cm partners and while the base mod of that gives a good amount, basically all other mods to add more are for chicks. Personally I want more male companion mods, it seems weird to me that every time I go to recruit someone for dangerous quests its always some very cutesy looking girl who looks like she isnt a day over 20. Where are all the tough badass dudes? Now I know you can use the toolset to make more yourself but because of issues I dont quite get I am no longer able to use the toolset but my oblivion is stable, works well and took forever to get right so I don't want to go through the dreaded reinstall.

Fair point however the Warden took down an Arch Demon so I doubt anything in this place would be dangerous for him. Besides if Morrigan can handle it then why wouldnt she think that a badass warden who stopped the Blight could? It does not really make much sense.

Ok So I played through Origins and all the DLC except the Leliana one and the Darkspawn one. Yet I still don't get something. Why does Morrigan even want to leave after the Arch Demons soul goes into her unborn baby? I just don't see the point at all especially if she loves the Warden. If it is because she had to leave Ferelden then why didn't she just take the Warden with her? (especially since if you play witch hunt you can choose to go with her, What did she not want you to see her pregnant because she was insecure about putting on weight?) Was this just plot convenience so they could charge us for the Witch hunt DLC? Lazy Writing? or what?

Now I play this game far too much and mostly I end up replaying the same mage character since he is by far the most fun. Though you would think that a mage who is rather in the very dark area of grey morality would not get along with a former Templar yet they turn out to be best friends. They both joke around whenever possible which is what originally made them get along. When Duncan died the Warden felt bad for Alistair as Duncan was all he had in regards to family and he could relate since all he had was Jowan who was like a brother to him who he thinks he failed to save him, instead Jowan ran off without the woman he loved and then that girl was taken to Aeonar. He wanted to stand his ground and take on the Templars and Irving solo while his friend and his friends lover escaped but he just froze up. So he knows the guilt Alistair feels over thinking that he could have saved Duncan if he was in the battle. The two end up being able to relate to each other a lot despite that one is a mage who uses many forms of dark magic and is in a relationship with Morrigan and the other is more of a very morally white former Templar who dislikes blood magic. Too bad Leliana and Alistair did not get together since the mage after hearing Alistair was a virgin wanted to get him some action from "Princess Stabbity" as he likes to call her ever since Alistair made that joke which convinced him to let her join their party. So who is Alistair to the either most current Warden you play as or your favorite one?

Well Andraste tried to get people to believe she was pretty much the most important human ever so that is really not any different from the dragon wanting people to believe that it is Andraste except that Andraste did it first. Andraste also did her fair share of rampaging, killing in the name of a creator that she tried to convince people was on her side so any of her enemies would be looked at as evil. So far the things you think the dragon is evil for are the same things done by Andraste and she is regarded as a hero and a savior. However the dragon is just doing as she did so why does that make it evil? So actually unless you believe Andraste was evil then you cant believe the dragon is since they just did almost the exact same things. Clearly dragons are just getting a bad rep here, when what one religions saint does is mimicked by a dragon then the dragon is looked upon as evil. The tears are a form of blood magic when you think about it, it is using the body of someone though in this case a burned one for power. That is blood magic. Now his goal is actually ultimately extremely selfish. He is protecting the ashes because he wants to, he could have wondered the world with them helping people and all. Even leaving the ashes with the head of the chantry and helping others fight the Darkspawn which would save many lives, he doesnt though. Simply because he does not care about anything past his own desires. Very wolf in sheeps clothing. He pretends to be a good guy but that is nothing but an act. Even Morrigan is helping against the blight and she is borderline evil so what does it say about the Guardian that he wont help when a borderline evil mage even will. Even Flemeth helped by saving two of the Wardens yet this Guardian instead just sits around and waits for people to die in the gauntlet. Actually since the dragon and Andraste have such similar actions I wouldn't be shocked if it truly was Andraste reborn as a dragon or possessing a dragon via magic since she was a powerful mage as we established so just like Flemeth she could have found a way to put part of her soul into something else like a baby dragon and then she stayed hidden up near Haven and communicated to her followers who she was. It is not like people just saw a dragon and went "well lets worship that for no reason at all" it had to have explained itself somehow most likely telepathy as that is how old gods speak it seems and they seem to be nothing but high dragons, Oh and I forgot to address it, the old gods have to be real otherwise they wouldnt be able to call to the Darkspawn which they do even before being tainted but the Darkspawn are not called to every dragon otherwise they would have attacked the temple near Haven since that place is full of dragons. There is something different between the old gods and normal dragons, kind of like how non mages and mages are the same except one is capable of infinitely more than the other and can do things like enter the fade with just some lyrium and stuff. It seems old gods are just the mages of dragons. However one is not smarter than the other or incapable of complex though so it would not make sense to assume that dragons have these limitations if they are indeed just the non mages of their species.

This all sounds great. Sadly I am not so good with the toolset however I am a writer so I can help with that if anyone has the motivation to want to work on this.

So I was thinking that at the camp we dont get much interaction with our friends and the one we are in a relationship with so I was thinking a mod that adds some more stuff to make it more immersive. Like maybe an option to slow dance with your beloved and if it is not Leliana that you are dancing with then she could sing while you and the person you are with dance since she is a bard and all that seems right up her ally. Also maybe an option to sit around with the guys and have some drinks. Or maybe even try playing a lute or have everyone sit around the campfire while you tell them stories.

So I am sure I am not alone when I say that these kind of felt like cheap add ons to the game. There were no romance options in the dlc at all and the quests even did not offer much in the way of choice. It feels like all the dlc was half completed when it was released. For instance Awakening, It felt like I was just railroaded into doing the quests and only being able to talk to my companions when I found certain things to click like a statue was stupid in my opinion. Also I understand Morrigan and Alistair not sticking around to help you out as she left and he is the king. However why didn't Leliana and Wynne stay with you? Also since you can talk to both of them during Awakening, why cant you ask them to come back to your new base with you and help you out like they did in the old days? Also why can I not just sit around my new base and chat with my companions like I could at the camp in the original campaign? Also I got to say I was disappointed by the lack of new armor and weapons in the game (they should have given us new models for new armors like why not be able to wear some of that weird chainmail kind of stuff that certain darkspawn wear?) Personally I just expected the new campaigns to be like the original one just shorter. Instead we got cheap tacked on campaigns....though at least they expanded the story which I did like and at the end of witch hunt you could go with Morrigan which I thought was a really nice thing since the original campaign kind of left too many loose ends and ones that would have driven me nuts if I never got a satisfying conclusion. Though perhaps it is just that after such an epic quest of saving Ferelden and maybe even the world that after nothing is as thrilling. Now I know that we wont get any more dlc for this game which is a shame since it was great 9/10 game and DA2 was more like a 6/10 yet if anything DA2 will get more dlc. Though I still hope we get 1 last dlc campaign one that is meant to be after witch hunt that will explain more about the child and about the old gods and all that. personally I want to know more about Morrigan's motives and about her plans as she is the only person that is never fully explained. Plus I want to see if she ever gets comfortable enough to freely admit her feelings for the warden since having a kid does change people so maybe it will make her a little warmer to her family. If this never happens then once I have more free time then I will be sure to get together a small team and make this. Though as it is I dont have enough time to learn scripting for making a module but I will be working on the outline for the plot and the dialogue and all since I most likely have to make this.

I would love to see all the concept art armor and weapons added into the game.

Well if by the end of the week i have not been able to figure out how to make these changes then I will be sure to stop by there.

Well it does not take a special dragon to have well thought out goals, perhaps that is how all dragons are as most tales of dragons in general that helped influence the games lore are about intelligent creatures not just mindless killing machines. The old gods are dragons and they are extremely intelligent so it seems likely that the other dragons should be at least be somewhat as smart given they have the same anatomy. Though much blood being spilled seems to make the veil thin at certain areas I do not think that lyrium can do it the same was otherwise orzamar (spelled wrong probably but I only had 1 cup of coffee so far so please excuse any bad spelling) would be flooded with demons and spirits but they are not and lyrium can be physically seen everywhere in that city even because of how much there is. Yet the veil there does not seem to be thin at all. I have a theory of why bloodshed does it and not lyrium, it is because it is not just the blood itself that tears away at the veil but it is the massive loss of life since when you die in that game your soul crosses over and a mass amount of souls doing so could damage the veil as I am sure the afterlife in that game is either an area in the fade. Also the long life would not be caused by lyrium if it did then Grey wardens would just keep enough lyrium on themselves to keep them from dying so they can forever be ready to fight an arch demon. Elongated life so far in the dragon age universe so far has only been done through blood magic and no alternatives have been shown yet. As for him being just a spirit who is there by taking advantage of the veil being thin in that area, then how come demons have not been trying to escape into the world using that area since demons always manage to find any place the veil is thin and pour through it like blood from a wound. Think about it, everytime you encounter a demon outside of the fade it is always in an area where the veil was thin and so they escaped, now the gaurdian might be able to have beaten a few demons to keep them from getting out but based on how easy he goes down if you fight him he couldnt even beat a pride demon. If he used the ashes to prolong his life then that would make sense however using the body of a dead person to prolong life does not exactly seem like a very good guy thing to do, even using the ashes to cure Arl Eamon seems questionable at best however that one I can see as the right choice given that Grey Wardens are free from moral restraint as long as in the end it helps to kill the Arch Demon and stop the blight (that is actually why they are called Grey Wardens, it is refering to being morally grey.) Oh and I do love in depth conversations about video games because I am at heart a total geek and this is like my version of sports lol.

Well you are forgetting something. Motive. Saying the dragon is rampaging just because is like if Logain convinces people you are evil by saying "The Warden and those he traveled with killed an entire village of people. He even killed the women." refering to you slaughtering Haven. See? Anything can be bad if you leave out details. For all we know the Dragon was defending some of it's followers who were traveling to spread the word about it from Templars who would kill those that were spreading a new belief and saying that the Chantry is wrong and that the resulting deaths were blamed on it. Also remember in DAO they try to make it quite clear that often what is in legends is often false or unfounded. For instance remember all the lies about Flemeth? So why should what is said about Dragons rampaging be believed when we know that much of the tales told are complete bullcrap? That is most likely just the Chantry spreading lies like they love to do. For the veil to be thin it requires much blood magic being used like in the Wardens Keep, the veil was only thin enough to allow demons to pass through on their own because of how much blood was spilled and used in magic. Keep in mind he is more than a spirit, he has a physical body which is something that can no happen by just a non mages will to protect someones grave. The only possible way he is still there is through magic and magic that extends ones life on earth that long is not going to be any kind of magic that someone could do without the chantry wanting to kill them for it so the very magic used to protect the ashes would be condemned by the followers of the religion started by the person who is now ashes. Remember not to take legends and rumors in DAO as fact. Talking to Morrigan alone debunks plenty of things that are said to be fact in Dragon Age so why should we trust the "information" on dragons when even the history of Ferelden is completely packed with lies?

So I notice when googling mods for this game that porn mods are more popular than ones that fix or improve parts of the game. WHAT THE ACTUAL f*#@?! Dude this is a video game! this is not porn, if you want porn then just use google. Seriously and there are so many of them too! It is not like these are untalented modders either, they are good modders who are wasting their talents on creating cheap porn rather than actually improving the game. Maybe it is just me but I care about the gameplay, aesthetics and story. I dont want to see characters boning! Now nudity can be artistic sure, but not watching Leliana getting rammed. That is not art, its just smut.

Actually not a terrible idea to have her romanceable, I mean what if the character you made has mother issues so he tends to like older women (it's weird sure, but no weirder than Zevran constantly trying to flirt with a male who has made it very clear that he is straight. Seriously Zevran, you are a total creep.) No mod like this exists to have a relationship with Wynne but I doubt it would be difficult to make.

I played through the game many times and I noticed that many enemies of certain types who should be major ass kickers are about as tough as a stuffed bunny and this I think needs to be changed. 1. Mages The problem: Too damn weak, a single mage has no chance of even taking down Ogren even and he is just a a drunken dwarf warrior, so why should he be able to take down people who have so much power at their finger tips that they have to be locked away in a tower? The Solution: Make spells actually do some real damage! or add in new spells that really pack a punch and give them to all npc mages. (also maybe even turn 1 or 2 of your reinforcements from the circle into an arcane warrior or something, just anything to make them less pointless to use there) 2. Werewolves The problem: They are pretty much a joke in combat, they are all muscle and claws plus shouldnt they have a regenerating health bar? I mean what was the last time you read or watched something about werewolves where they did not heal very quickly? The Solution: Increase their strength, constitution and add in health regen so fighting them would not be childsplay for warriors and rogues even. Plus then in the final battle they would actually become useful! 3. Blood Mages The problem: A very low level Jowan took down a total of 3 templars and one enchanter with a single spell yet the higher level blood mages you encounter seem about as deadly as a kitten. The solution: Stronger Blood magic spells! and have them take less health to use. Now that is it for the allies that need better base stats or spells now for another complaint about your allies this time in Redcliffe. If you do all you can to help them out then you still end up with the Knights kicking ass but the militia getting slaughtered. So why not allow the PC to give them better weapons and armor from his/her own inventory to help in battle? I cant see any reason they should not allow you to give them some enchanted weapons you found that are too weak for your party but infinitely better than the crap the militia uses. Oh and for the battle of Denerim. instead of giving items to the people in your camp which only increases your xp, remove the xp giving from that and instead make it so you can just give them whatever equipment you want and for them to actually use it! Dont need that staff now that you are an Arcane Warrior? Give it to the representitive of the mages for him to give to one of your allies for the final fight. Dont need that fire damage rune? give it to the dwarves and they will put it in to one of their weapons. See? I mean really even if you disagree with some of the stuff I said, this part should have been how the game was made.

Carley you made some great points. However the dragon is not necessarily evil or even wicked at all. It has proven to be smart enough to understand the complexities of human speech though without being able to speak itself which suggests it is as smart as if not much smarter than a human. Now a creature like that in Ferelden especially given the state of things would not need any power boost to slaughter nearly anyone there without much trouble however it chooses to stay isolated watching over its worshippers and its children, that seems like a rather good thing to me. In fact there is nothing at all to suggest that it is dangerous to worship it as it so far has killed no one nor has it ordered the death of anyone, its followers killed to protect it because they felt they must. If you believed your savior was in a form that was mortal and could be hunted by some for sport or fame then would you not also protect it as it's followers did? In fact when you talk to Kolgrim after receiving the nice cup of blood he seems to be completely in favor of battling the Darkspawn. In fact if the designers did not rush the game and cut so much out then Kolgrim and his buddies plus the Dragon probably would have followed you into battle against the Arch Demon as he basically says that they would fight the Darkspawn with you. Actually I would be much more worried about the Templars as they have an army and clearly do not have a high regard for life as they try to solve every problem by killing someone. Think about it, the gauntlet is full of ash wraiths and those are not meant to be in this world in fact the binding of them to that place seems an awful lot like blood magic doesn't it? Then you have to consider that Enchanter Sweeney said if you told him magic could fix his eyes "not any magic I would be caught doing." and that is just for fixing his eyes, so just imagine what sort of magic it took to keep the Guardian there alive for so long without him aging or even needing to eat or sleep (there is no bed or food so it looks as though he does neither probably because he just like the wraiths was a demon bound to Andrastes will.)

Personally every time I play the game no matter what character I make they always defile the ashes. For my Human mage, he hates the chantry for how they treat mages. Locking them up in a tower like criminals. He also does not believe in the maker or that Andraste was anything more than a strong mage who pretended to be something else to secure a place in history. So he defiles the ashes and makes plenty of questionable choices like killing Genitivi however he is very generous and often gives as much money as possible to those who need it like Kaitlin. For my Human Noble. He is not a believer in the maker and when he met Kolgrim, he liked how he acted. Giving him a chance for redemption while he and Morrigan were covered in the blood of his people. He also was extremely polite and non violent considering that the warden just committed mass murder. So he also Defiled the ashes as for my last character who I once played as a female rogue just because I never played as a female in the game before so I wanted to see how it effected the game. She also defiled the ashes as she sees the Chantry as much more evil than Kolgrims people. Kolgrims "cult" if you like that term only killed a few people. The Chantry is the cause of many deaths including those of apostates whose only crime was not wanting to be locked away in a tower for their entire lives.

Now I have done everything in this game at least 5 times by now because of my obsessive personality and the fact that I adore Dragon Age Orgins. However there are some aspects that annoy me, now for me I always go lore over balance because the lore is what keeps me absorbed in that magical world. Now what I am bitching about today is how underpowered blood magic is in the gameplay when in the lore they basically beats you over the head with the fact that Blood magic is uberpowerful and terrifying, yet the blood magic spells in the game are worthless. Now before anyone goes "no blood magic is good, you just dont use it right." Yes I do know how to use it right and it is weak. Oh and before I hear the whole "well its like that for balance" Well then how come blood mages are weak yet Arcane Warriors are basically an "I win" button oh and dont even get me started on the battle mage specialization that makes every fight laughably easy in Awakening. Now I also suspect someone might say "well blood magic is weak unless you are sacrificing a lot of people for strong spells" Oh really? explain how a incredibly low level Jowan was able to knock out Greagoir, Irving and the Templars with them with just the blood that came from him stabbing his hand. So does anyone have any GOOD reason why Blood Mages are underpowered other than maybe the writers trying to discourage people from picking that spec as another one of their attempts at railroading the character to not be a malificar? (sorry for the long block of text)

So last time I installed Oblivion and then CM partners as well as a good chunk of the available partners offered under the Companions -Cm based section and tried to load up the game, it crashed. so I started unchecking some of them at random and eventually got it to launch. Now since then I did a reinstall because I dont want pointless data for companions I cant use just laying around in my computer. Anyway any idea why some companions conflict with others? and yes before you ask I made sure to install all race mods and all that jazz that the mods would tell you to. I am not exactly new to playing modded oblivion either so its not like I am some dolt who does not know to install wrye bash or BOSS.

modders should add mirror links for download sites like we do on the re4 site. That would help take the stress off of here for a bit until things cool down.