Dragon Age DLC: Awakening, part 4

This post will contain spoilers.

I didn’t realize how close to the end of this game I was, because I finished it a little bit ago!

It turns out there was only one Broodmother in the Knotwood Hills, and I didn’t even have to fight her. I just cut some chains holding up a chandelier and it fell on her, killing her. It was a bit anticlimactic, but I remember how hard they were to fight from the main game so I wasn’t too disappointed. We got out of there, and I went back to Vigil’s Keep which I guess triggered the end game.

We were informed that a large army of darkspawn were approaching Amaranthine, so I went there. We got there too late to stop the darkspawn from taking the city. The Architect/Father, the darkspawn who had trapped us in the silverite mine before, sent a messenger there to warn us that the Mother was also going to attack at Vigil’s Keep. I had to make a very hard decision here. Would I leave Amaranthine to the darkspawn and go help Vigil’s Keep, or try to take back Amaranthine and leave Vigil’s Keep on its own? The Architect’s messenger wanted me to go defend Vigil’s Keep, but could I trust him?

I’ve tried to make my own decisions on what I should do in this game, but I have to admit I did look up what each choice would lead to. I ended up taking back Amaranthine, confident that the effort and money I put into the defenses of Vigil’s Keep would keep it safe. I am curious to see exactly what would happen if I opted to save Vigil’s Keep instead.

We then had to track down the Mother, with the help of the Architect. As usual I had Justice, Velanna, and Anders with me. There were lots of fights with Childer grubs, hatchlings, and adults, as well as the usual hurlocks, shrieks, and genlocks. There were also a couple of steel golems, which were difficult to fight but my party could handle them. I also had my first fight with a High Dragon. It went better than expected! I was surprised it only took me one try. I guess I’ve built up a pretty great team!

At last we reached the Mother. The Architect claimed he would help us face her, but he ended up not being very useful. I am curious what would have happened if we had decided to kill him earlier. We did get some help from the towers we activated by placing crystals into sockets around runes. We ended up not really needing the extra help anyway. Justice did go down, because I couldn’t get him to stop running up to the Mother. I kept summoning animals, so there was always a bear, wolf, or spider distracting her while Velanna and Anders hit her with spells and I hit her with fire arrows or defended Velanna and Anders when a wave of lesser enemies would spawn. It took a while this way, but we did defeat her.

Afterwards, we find out that Vigil’s Keep did withstand the attack. Because I trusted the Architect, there seem to be fewer darkspawn in the Deep Roads.

I am both happy and sad to be done with this amazing game. I’m glad I got to see what happened, but sad that I will no longer have this world to explore. But the great thing is, there are always more games and more worlds for me to explore!

Dragon Age DLC: Awakenings, part 3

This post will contain spoilers.

I ended up not exploring Blackmarsh much more, because the only thing left to do there was fight a dragon. I didn’t feel up to it, so I continued on with the rest of the story.

Awakenings has been quite different from the main game. There are a lot more politics to deal with, and I have no idea if I’m making good choices or not. I have been spending quite a bit of time and money on making sure Vigil’s Keep has strong walls, explosives, weapons, and armor.

I was in the Wending Wood a lot, finishing up as many quests as I could do there. A lot of these ended up being things like finding all the statues or pieces of silk.

After that I ventured into the Silverite mine with Oghren, Anders, and Justice. We were all taken prisoner, but freed by an elf. We had to fight our way out and reclaim the armor and weapons that had been taken from us. As has been the trend so far, none of the fights were difficult at all. I don’t even think anyone was injured the whole time, even when we didn’t have our usual armor or weapons.

Once we got out of the Silverite mine, we dealt with another elf, named Velanna, who had been destroying any caravans that went through the Wending Woods. We convinced her that the humans were not killing the elves. It had actually been darkspawn, tricking the elves into thinking that humans were killing them. She has also now joined our party! She’s a powerful mage, but dressed really unfortunately in my opinion. I want to keep her clothes though, because they give her a +1 to every stat. Anders has also been really gross to her, but at least she gives him a hard time right back. I alternate between liking Anders and disliking him, and this time I really disliked him.

I then moved on to the Knotwood Hills with Justice, Anders, and Velanna, where I gained another potential party member! We saved Sigrun the dwarf from being dragged off by darkspawn and turned into a Broodmother. The whole Broodmother thing is so disturbing to me, and I was glad to save her! Unfortunately she is a rogue, and my PC is already a rogue and I don’t need two of them. I continued on with Justice, Anders, and Velanna, and I think we are on our way to destroying some Broodmothers!

Happy Holidays!

I’ve been so busy with Christmas festivities that I didn’t have a chance to blog yesterday. I have played more Dragon Age: Awakenings so I need to update you all on that, but I’ll work on that and try to post it sometime this weekend. I did a lot, so it’s going to be a pretty long post!

I also got Pokemon Alpha Sapphire for Christmas, so I have another game to play! I won’t be blogging about it however since it’s not a game that I missed out on when I was younger.

I hope you’re all having as much fun this holiday season as me! Thank you for reading.

Mass Effect, part 4

This post will contain spoilers.

Wow, I really shouldn’t write blog posts right after I play, especially after I’ve tried and failed to beat a difficult part. Looking back at my last post, I can see how much worse I write. I need some time to process what happened and calm down if I’m frustrated.

I went back and finally beat that difficult fight. Once I noticed that there was some warning before the shots that would kill me in one hit, I could move out of the way in time. I also threw Sergeant Kaira Stirling before I ran for cover, rather than immediately running for cover which gave me a little more time to lower her health before she could fire at me. It was still close and still took me several tries, but I finally did it! I hate the feeling of being stuck on one part of a game.

Once that fight was over, I could finally get a garage pass and venture to the outside world. As I was leaving, I had to fight off a Geth ambush. I drove a Mako for the first time to help me do so, and I am terrible at driving them! I think it would be easier with a controller, but unfortunately I just have a keyboard. I was eventually killed before I got to Peak 15, and decided that would be a good stopping point. My plan is to practice driving the Mako more, and then I’ll probably be able to get through without too much of an issue. Then I can find out what the Asari matriarch Benezia is up to on Peak 15!

Mass Effect, part 3

This post will contain spoilers.

I’m having a lot of fun immersing myself in the Mass Effect Universe. I spent a while longer in the Citadel, trying to find and scan all the Keepers. I finally managed to do so, and began exploring more of the universe.

I finally used the Galaxy Map to travel, and it looks beautiful. I didn’t really know where to go first, so I went to Noveria. I helped Opold the Hanar smuggle in some mysterious package. I originally wasn’t going to help it, but Anoleis was such a jerk to me I decided to help Opold to spite him.

Right now, I’m in the process of trying to help Lorik Qui’in. I successfully made it into his office, but I’m having a lot of trouble getting back out. Kaira Stirling catches me, and I keep getting killed by her in 1 hit. I’m too frustrated to keep trying right now, but hopefully I’ll be able to beat her soon.

Dragon Age DLC: Awakenings, part 2

This post will contain spoilers.

I ran around Amaranthine for a while, completing a couple of the simpler side quests. I’m trying to raise enough money fix the walls of Vigil’s Keep. I do have enough now, but I haven’t been back to deliver it. I’ll get around to it eventually!

I then moved on to Blackmarsh. I still have Oghren and Anders with me, and Anders kept complaining about how creepy it was. It is a creepy place! There were lots of wolves and blighted werewolves to fight, but nothing we couldn’t handle. I explored for a while and found Kristoff’s body, who I was looking for because of a quest. The First was waiting for me there, and took us into the Fade.

I had to fight Childer’s grubs, rage demons, and desire demons here. They weren’t very hard fights however, and killing them allowed me to send loot back to the real world. I kept exploring and got to the village. Exploring was very profitable here, because there were two +1 bonuses to every stat.

The villagers, led by the Spirit of Justice, were at the gates of the Baroness’s house. They were demanding justice against her, because she had been taking the village children and killing them to benefit herself. I agreed to help them, and Justice broke through her gates.

The First was already with her, trying to get sent back out of the Fade. She tells him that he’ll have to defend her from us before she’ll send him back, but we easily beat him. The First was then killed when the Baroness used his life energy to send everyone else back.

The Spirit of Justice was still with us, in Kristoff’s body! He is a spirit warrior, which is a fun addition to my party. I’d been wondering what they were like, and now I get to find out! I explored more, getting all the loot from fighting the rage and desire demons which included a full set of Armor of the Sentinel which I gave to Justice.

We then had to fight the Baroness. I’d been complaining a little that the fights so far had been too easy. I regretted saying that in this fight. It was not easy. It took me three tries, but each try took about 20 minutes and I was pretty close each time. I finally beat the Baroness once I learned how to counter her healing spell.

Next, I will continue to explore the Blackmarsh!

Dragon Age DLC: Awakenings

I am very excited to start playing this longer DLC. This post will contain spoilers.

When I first started Awakenings, I struggled with whether or not to create a new character. I have grown very attached to my PC, so even though I wanted to try playing as a mage and designing the character to look like me I eventually decided to stick with my character.

There are some fun new companions, as well as a returning one. Oghren is back, and he wants to become a Grey Warden! Mhairi, who I started with in the DLC, also wants to become a Grey Warden. We also ran into Anders, who was mentioned before in Witch Hunt as a mage who always escapes. I decided to conscript him into the Grey Wardens, because it was either that or he’d be arrested as a maleficar. While it sounds like he had done some questionable things, the Grey Wardens could use all the help they can get.

So far, I’ve gotten to the Grey Warden ceremony. I was pretty sure that at least one of them would die, and I didn’t think they’d bring back Oghren just to kill him. And I was right; he survived just fine. Next Anders went, and he drank and collapsed. I thought he was dead, but they said he’d wake up soon. I would have felt responsible for his death if he had died since I made him do it. Then Mhairi drank and unfortunately I was right. She was the one who did not survive.

There are a lot of quests to do! I’m looking forward to spending more time in this world.

Dragon Age DLC: Witch Hunt

This post will contain spoilers.

I had time to play through the Witch Hunt DLC. I enjoyed it more than Lelianna’s Song, but I still feel like I didn’t get too many answers.

After I fathered a child with Morrigan, I kept wondering what happened to that child. I got some new companions for this DLC, including a Mabari. I was sad to not have my Mabari from the main game though. Ariane and Finn were really good companions to have as well. Their banter was just as great as Alistair and Morrigan from the main game. We were a really powerful team too! There wasn’t a single fight that gave me any trouble at all.

Ariane, and elf fighter, was trying to track down Morrigan, so I joined her. Morrigan had stolen a book from Ariane’s clan. We went to the Circle Tower to see if they had a similar book. We were joined by Finn, a fastidious human mage. We figured out what Morrigan was looking for, and tracked her down.

When I finally got to Morrigan, she reminded me of the promise I’d made not to track her down. I just kept telling her I want to know what happened to our child. I definitely did not want to fight her, and I was confused about the option of accusing her of betraying me. I don’t think she ever betrayed me. All I found out was that our child was a boy, and that Morrigan is preparing for some great destiny that he has. It wasn’t a very satisfying answer, and Morrigan looked so sad and scared. I am not used to seeing her that way! I still feel like I need more answers.

Next, I’m planning on playing Awakenings.

Mass Effect, part 2

This post will contain spoilers. I know this is an old game, but just in case anyone reading hasn’t played it either I don’t want to ruin it.

Mass Effect has continued to live up to the hype. I’m still wandering around the Citadel, completing whatever quests I come across. To my complete lack of surprise, I tend toward being a Paragon. I like to play RPGs as closely as possible to how I would act in real life, which means I generally try to be a good person.

I could really do without the alien strip club scenes. They make me a little uncomfortable. I also find it hard to believe that only the females of all the species would be the ones stripping while only males watched. It doesn’t make sense that this would be the norm for all the alien species. Given how inclusive the rest of the game has been so far, it doesn’t fit.

I now have Wrex and Tali in my party, and I’ve reached level 9. I’m still so poor though, I can’t afford to buy many upgrades or new things. You’d think that with my becoming the first human spectre that the Council could give me a stipend or something!

I can’t wait until the next time I get to play. I’m almost ready to leave the Citadel as soon as I finish up some quests.

Mass Effect, part 1

Mass Effect has been on my list of games to play for a while now, and it’s the one I’m most excited about. I was finally able to get access to a computer that can run it. This post will contain spoilers.

I chose a Spacer and War Hero background and Vanguard for my class. I really don’t know anything about how those backgrounds will affect gameplay and I mainly chose Vanguard because it sounded the coolest to me. I have many friends who have played it, and I’m grateful to them for how good they were about not spoiling things for me!

I am very much enjoying the game so far. I’ve completed the first mission, so I got to the beacon and had visions. Now I’m in the process of trying to convince the Council to do something about Saren, the rogue Spectre.

Out of the different genres of video games, I probably have the least experience with shooters. This seems like a great game to get me more comfortable with them, because it combines the shooting parts with RPG parts, which I’m probably the most comfortable with. This is such a short post, because I’m about to go play more right now!