I’ve done one each and in the end the Dwarves turn out much better overall with Bhelen
spoilers in case you don’t want to know
Harrowmont ends up isolating the Dwarves and stopping trade from elsewhere, and in general everything is bad
Bhelen ends up dissolving the senate but eliminates the castes and trade with the other races flourishes
neither are perfect but the tone I got from Bhelen’s ending was much better
Dissolves the senate? They left out the part when Bhelen initiates Order 66 and directs the golems to kill the rest of his enemies it seems. d:
well I didn’t side with Branka yet, but ya he kills his enemies first on, but it says that he eventually would dissolve the senate when they refused to go along with him getting rid of the castes
Finally finished my first playthrough. Seems like it all went fairly well considering.
Despite saying I was going to do it, I let Alistair convince me he was the better choice. Put that double crossing grass snake Anora on the throne, but it didnt go that badly - some tension with the elves and a big honkin’ statue of her loser father contrasted with a rebuilt prosperous denerim, military assistance for the Dwarves and Wynne as her advisor.
I put Bhelen on the throne - he dissolves the assembly after some assassination attempts from snotty nobles, trade prospers castes are weakened and the casteless get a chance to pick themselves up by serving Orzammar against the blight. The Dwarves manage to reclaim everything up the Dead Trenches as well. Even more importantly I get put into the Warrior Caste, Yay!, and am declared a living paragon with a statue in my honor ( I hope its damn big).
The dwarves find the remains of the anvil I destroyed and begin research into again, the first golem goes ape and kills some shaperate dudes. They keep plugging at it and eventually animate a golem with a spirit from the fade.
Circle of Magi is cleansed and rebuilt.
The elves get their own bit of land, gain more acceptance in human areas for their contribution and things are great for a while till tempers start to flair again.
Leliana stays on as my girlfriend/wife, Zevran hangs out but doesnt join the Wardens. Sten goes home with a promise to repay his debt to me. Oghren gets hired as a General for some human forces.
Morrigan runs off to Orlais after I refuse to intercourse her. Not sure having the soul of an old god reborn to a daughter of Flemeth is exactly a good idea.
So much happens in the epilogue, cant wait to go again and see what I get on an ‘evil’ playthrough.
How easy was the final battle? I was one-shotting those darkspawn (literally), did everyone have the same experience?
What level was your party? Normal difficulty?
I think oneshotting the normal darkspawn was intentional. I was 20/21/22 around then and it was just way more cinematic.
ya I’m pretty sure they weakened them up big time for the final battle so it felt epic slicing through waves and waves of them
I felt like Legolas :3
Do a multi-shot and just see like +5 XP, +5 XP, +5+5+5+5+5+5
There’s a Dwarf Balin in in Fellowship of the Ring. Coincidence? I think not.
I was level 20/21, my party was of similar level, and I was playing on Hard. Was curious if the sword with the ‘Weaken nearby Darkspawn’ attribute (Asturian?) was the cause or if they just set it up to be easy.
Anyone have difficulty with the Archdemon battle? I read online some strategies for this fight talking about ballista or catapults being used and calling in waves of allies. I called in the Elves and that was it, actually had a harder time fighting the High Dragon. Just curious to see how much was based on the choices I made and how much do to how they structured The Final Battle.
I thought the elves would be better at fighting the arch demon because they’d all be range and less prone to the dragon just mowing them down in melee range
I stand by it though, the Mages do pretty good as well, maybe better but you only get 12 of them total
also I imagine if you had the golems that I think you get from taking Branka’s side that those would be excellent against the Archdemon
They’re decent when the Arch is right near you, everything sucks if he’s on the platforms you can’t get to. Thank god I was range and there’s ballista though
Lemme think about my ending.
Sacrificed myself, made Alistair king with Anora as queen. Killed Loghan, the sorrybarbsucker.
Put Harrowmont on the throne, he cut off trade and everything and I felt really bad for the Dorfs. Accidently sided with Branka but got Golems so it was cool. Got the Legion of the Damned to come fight with me for the final battle.
Cleansed the Circle and got both the mages and the Templars to come help out.
Sided with the Werewolves I guess kinda, turned them human, but still got Elf help and they got some land and relations improved and stuff.
Saved the Earl of Redcliff and his son and his wife and his brother…I think the Earl gave up his seat to his brother because the people were digging on him and he went to be the earl of the capital area. I think. Don’t remember.
Leliana disapeared because I didn’t do her side quest so she’s dead. Zevran goes back to wherever and becomes leader of all the Crows. Morrigain got pissed aka was really sad I wasn’t gonna do her plan and peaced. Ogren became a general under Alistair. Sten went home and said I was the only stand up dude in all the land. Wynne…became an advisor? I think and then went on a trip. Dog was dog. Shale…I forget what happened to Shale, I think he went wandering or something.
Oh my brother was found alive and got Howe’s land and castle and gave it to the Grey Wardens.
Elven mage
Had a great romance with Alistar but he dumped me in order to produce an heir. I hear that human women can be Queen. Not sure why an elf woman cannot be a queen as I thought one of the reasons elves became concerned with humans as all elf/human conceptions ended with human babies. Alistair gave me some BS story. Ah well.
My character was in a blue funk so decided to take up with Zevran for fun. He ends up being quite devoted. I decide to do the work of the Grey Wardens and Zevran travels with me and helps me rebuild their numbers.
My character was good and liked to be liked by everyone. Therefore when Morrigain suggested her proposal, “I” trusted her and talked Alistair into doing the deed. After the fight, Morrigain left and was seen travelling in the wilds with child.
Leliana was given a little army of her own by the Chantry and she went off to protect and study the ashes of Andraste. The site apparently becomes some sort of tourist destination.
Ogren heads off to the pub to be with his lady love.
Sten goes back to his people.
Shale decides to travel the “world” to see if she can find a way to lift the enchantment and turn herself back into a dwarf. Wynn decides to travel with Shale to help her.
I chose Alistair as King and Anora is cooling her heels in the tower where she belongs. Let Alistair take out Loghain. Thought it would be good for him to avenge Duncan with his own hand.
Put Harrowmont on the throne but he ended up being a weak King, only managing to screw over the casteless and surfacers before dying and leaving the whole Dwarven kingdom in a succession mess yet again.
Sided with the Golems and killed Branka. She was loopy beyond belief. As soon as I turn my back, the Dwarves are hunting for a way to make golums again. They manage to bring forth a nasty killer, serves them right.
Cleansed the Circle and got the mages and Templars out. In the end I asked Alistair to free the circle from the Chantry – its now run by the First Enchanter alone.
Helped Dagna study magic and she became will known among her people, starts a circle in Ozammar, finds a place for the apostates, learns much about lyrium and may be the cause of the Chantry starting some holy war. Great.
Helped the Alienage, and Alistair gave them some power in government. Not everyone appreciated this. Freed the werewolves. The Dailish were given some land by Alistair as thanks for their help in the final battle. At this point, things are tense with the humans around them, much distrust and hints of dark things to follow.
Saved Earl’s wife and son. Earl moved to the palace to assist Alistair and gave his seat to his brother who becomes very popular.
The nasty fellow whose name escapes me (the torturer) has his lands given to the Grey Wardens.
This was a great game. I started out as a rogue, but had to restart as rogues are so under powered. It appears that the dexterity issue has been corrected, so I might go back and finish that game.
I have heard that there was another dragon in Ozammar. I thought I had killed all of them in the game, but I guess not. Must do that. Also, my good character would not work with the Crows or do the not so lawful stuff. I guess that is what rogues are for!
We made many of the same choices and yet have a number of differences. Great to see how everything interacts in the end.
Interesting. I think this is the first time playing a Bioware game that I felt playing as a female character was not as equal to playing a male character. If you’re a male character (presumably human?), you get the option to be king, without having to sacrifice either Morrigan or Lelianna (depending on your romance preference).
I have heard that there was another dragon in Ozammar. I thought I had killed all of them in the game, but I guess not. Must do that. Also, my good character would not work with the Crows or do the not so lawful stuff. I guess that is what rogues are for!
There is, though the fight is more similar to a drake than the High Dragon or even Flemeth. No scales as a reward, but you do get a pretty nice sword. Also, the quest must be completed before a king is chosen, since it takes place in the throne room of the royal palace.
Oh that one! Yeah, she was wimpy compared to the other two. Easier than a Revenant fight too.
I think it was actually an anti-elf thing. If the character was human, she could have been the King’s consort/Princess. Can a human male be Anora’s consort, or does he become the King? Not sure.
I did notice that the female character was not treated like a female version of a male character. I wasn’t too disturbed by it. Actually added a bit of depth. There are very few female Grey Wardens and this is mentioned often by other characters. Sten has rather odd conversations with my character amounting to, basically, that I can’t be a woman because I am a warrior and I can’t be a warrior because I am a woman. He seems to work his way around it and almost apologizes near the end.
Some obviously sexist characters raise an eyebrow at my being a Grey Warden but when challenged back off with a “oh, nothing, nothing” sneering attitude. Of course my elf character got that as well from some anti-elf racist humans. I presume this is a slightly sexist world, but if you can pull someone’s guts out through their eye sockets, they’re not going to challenge you.
I didn’t know male Grey Warden’s could sacrifice Lillianna. I thought you could pick yourself, Alistair or Morigain’s demon baby.
Good to know. Hate to run right past the opportunity.
Ahh, no. The sacrifice choices are the same. You can sacrifice yourself, Alistair, Loghain or have yourself (male warden only), Alistair or Loghain (I presume anyway - if you chose to make him a grey warden and Alistair leaves) accept Morrigan’s little ritual.
My point was simply that as a male character you can have the big, royal happy ending without sacrificing any romance options or having the demon baby.
I agree the level of depth is interesting. And I do appreciate the different complexities of each origin. My issue with it probably has more to do with Bioware’s tendency to, I dunno prefer (?) a “canonical” storyline even though they’ve gone to such lengths to provide me with other options. But I’m sure that’s all franchise / marketing related craaaap and it doesn’t really matter.