Mark Plays ‘Dragon Age: Origins’: Hour 2

In the second hour of Dragon Age: Origins, I avenge people, and then I explore, and then Alastair gets sassy with me. Intrigued? Then it’s time for Mark to play Dragon Age: Origins.

Hour Two

YEAH, THIS IS REALLY GREAT. And it’s not as hard as I thought it would be! Yet, that is.

My only complaint at this point is that my limited battle options are really, really frustrating. I can stun someone, then hope I get enough ahead of their attacks that I kill them first. To my advantage, I’m big on constantly checking every chest in every room to get items, so I managed to have enough health potion thingies to survive the attacks on Vaughn’s guards. (I promise I’ll learn the correct names of things, I swear.) I absolutely do not understand how to block anything yet, and I don’t even know if it’s possible. I give ONE OF YOU permission to spoil that for me. Please don’t repeat the answer 40 thousand times in the comments, haha.

I’ll talk more about the gameplay once I get to the part about Ostagar. The first half hour of my gameplay or so involved my escape from Vaughn’s men. It took me two deaths to figure out a better technique of attacking groups of enemies. I’ve noticed that this isn’t like most fighting games I’ve played. You can’t just run into a group and hack people to pieces. You’ve got to develop a strategy to it and utilize your companion as best as you can. I found that drawing away one or two men from Solis made it easy for the two of us to survive each onslaught, and I generally would stun one of them and focus on that guy immediately. Is there a technique to not missing? It seems totally random. Actually, I bet it’s related to one of the skills, and I just need to level up faster.

I keep finding random shit in this game that makes me laugh. First of all, THERE’S A CONVERSATION HISTORY IN THE SELECT MENU. Why didn’t I know about this? That’s so helpful! Am I destined to discover things by accident all of the time? Then I had to kill a war dog, and that might have been really sad, but he kind of looked like a shrunken polar bear, so I just laughed while I stabbed him with my broadsword. That probably makes me sound like a terrible person. It’s a game NO JUDGING ALLOWED.

I do wish that these enemies would drop more weapons. I need some badass shit, okay? Still, I’m picking up everything I can find. I don’t know what 90% of it does, but I’m working under the assumption that it will all become useful later. So I just set out to murder as many bigots as possible, which included brutally slaying Vaughn himself after consistently teasing him about everything he said. I don’t know if choosing to make Roslin sassy as fuck will affect her story, but everyone seems to want to fight her within sixty seconds of meeting her, so I’m going to assume this is a good path. I was a bit disappointed that leveling up to level 3 did not give me any skill points to spend, but maybe it’s only every other level that you get something.

After rescuing everyone and heading back to the Alienage, it’s clear that what I’ve done has had far-reaching implications for my village, considering that a bunch of human guards come to town immediately. I, of course, admitted to being the one who killed all their faves, and I do not regret it. They’re misogynist rapists, and I’d do it again! And drink their blood! LET ME BE A VAMPIRE. Oh wait, this isn’t Skyrim. Oh shit, I can’t wait to actually play that game through for the first time I WANT TO BE A GODDAMN WEREWOLF.

Anyway, that beautiful hunk of a man Duncan saves me from imminent death by conscripting me into the Grey Wardens. I love that as soon as this happens and I’m supposed to go say goodbye to everyone, the entire Alienage just starts telling me what an awesome thing this is for my life as I pass by them. I like that the random people in this city can talk to me and say shit, and it made me laugh that they universally supported me. You’re damn right this is going to be awesome!

Also, one of the human guards started to say, “Son of a tied down–” AND THEN NEVER FINISHED. What the hell is that phrase???

OSTAGAR IS PRETTY AWESOME, Y’ALL. This giant stone fortress is where I did some choice exploration after Duncan told me my ultimate goal is to speak with Alastair. I’m glad I chose the Rogue class because that allows me to persuade people really easily. I got the king’s guard to talk some major shit on King Cailan, who is overconfident and will be annihilated by the darkspawn in the next hour of the game. That’s my prediction. There’s no way he’s going to survive! But I think my favorite part about exploring Ostagar was engaging in conversations that continued to build this fictional world for me. It’s no surprise that I’m a big fan of worldbuilding, and I figured out a lot of stuff about Ostagar from the people around the camp.

• The Tranquil are HORRIFYING. I found one of them immediately (after trying to break into his chest WHOOPS), and learned that they are STRIPPED OF EMOTIONS AND TALENT TO AVOID BEING POSSESSED AND USED AS A WEAPON. Are you shitting me??? Yeah, I DON’T WANT TO HANG OUT WITH THEM. Wait, give me your power to turn objects into money, but otherwise, STAY AWAY FROM ME.
• The blood of the darkspawn is poisonous. That’s… that’s bad, right? Like, how am I supposed to kill them if I can’t get their blood on me? Or perhaps I can’t ingest it. Oh, well. There go my fantasies of wanting to be a vampire against bigotry.
• THE PRISONER WHO POOPED A KEY IS MY FAVORITE! I immediately set out to get him food, and I cannot wait to find the wizard’s chest and get the GOOD SHIT.
• Duncan does not have a lot of confidence in King Cailan. At all. Cailan is dead soon, I KNOW IT.

And then there’s Alastair, who out-sassed Roslin in thirty seconds. Bravo, sir, we are going to be good friends. So he’s a mage-hunter? This is very fascinating. I don’t quite understand the Chantry yet, but I get the sense that they’re a church or a religious organization of some sort. I think? Oh god, I don’t get it yet. But my hour ended right when I was supposed to go somewhere with him. I am SO EXCITED to see where this is going. GONNA GO SEE DUNCAN AND THEN FUCK SHIT UP.

My Character Stats

Strength: 11
Dexterity: 17
Willpower: 14
Magic: 13
Cunning: 16
Constitution: 11

Heroic Stats

Kills: 21
Damage dealt: 2100
Friendly-fire damage dealt: 0
Greatest damage dealt: 18
Contribution to party damage: 100
Hit rate: 79
Most powerful foe slain: Bodyguard
Injuries: 0

Story

1:36:26 – Achievement – Conscripted
1:36:58 – On King Cailan of Ferelden
1:36:58 – Loghain was born a farmer
1:36:58 – On Teyrn Loghain Mac Tir.
1:56:53 – On Alistair

Mark Links Stuff

– You can follow me on Twitter and Facebook for any updates and live commentary on upcoming reviews I’m writing.
– My Steam name is xpanasonicyouthx and you can add me as a friend if you like!
– If you’d like to support what I’m doing, you can click the little Donate button in the right sidebar, buy eBooks on MarkDoesStuff, or purchase physical books on Lulu.com.
– Mark Watches Doctor Who: Series 3 has just been released for only $3.99!!!
– You can purchase your very own Mark Reads OR Mark Watches video for just $25, and I will read ANYTHING you want, OR I will record myself watching any upcoming episode for Mark Watches OR I will record my playthrough of a level with commentary. There is a complete list of all claimed episodes/chapters/levels at the link!
– Mark Reads is now on YouTube, and you can watch all my videos right here! 
– I am now putting Mark Watches videos on Vimeo as well (they’re all located here) to avoid copyright issues I’m having on YouTube. Mark Reads videos are still on YouTube.
– I’ve started reading The Shoebox Project for Mark Reads, the first fanfic “series” I’ve ever covered! Join me!