Even tainted, crazed old god recognize what a threat to all that exists(including darkspawn collective) Bald Warden represents. 🤣 Archdemon landing in Denerim and asking Loghain to help him contain Bald Warden threat before it's too late 🤣 With "hero" like THE Bald Warden, one almost wishes Darkspawn Chronicles were canon 😂
I'm 28 and bald lost it when I was 13. And later got bone cancer had leg removed and lost all the hair had left when just turn 21 & I got tattoos. True story, but still love ur videos mate, love dragon age & mass effect help me thru hard times as a young teen
First time i played 15 y.o. and killed Alistair. 10 years later i still do the same thing. You must have the problem if you dont. To kill the Loghain is the foolest thing you could do in real life in such situation. To not kill Alistair after that is the same, you know.. most people would prefer to cause civil war than killing throne pretender. You must read at least 1 history book of any country to understand it. But most people are uneducated lol
@@Kairilification Loghain is not a strategist and a sane man, who wants best for his people as the game presents him, he betrayed Grey Wardens, because he probably was not very good convincing the king, putting the whole nation into vulnerable position. He screwed up all the Ferelden politics, covered slavers, blood mages and tried to assasinate political opponents, for no good reason, except being exposed to power himself. He brings ruin, the whole civil war probability wouldn't occur if he wasn't so self-righteous. That's why I've let Alistair prove to Loghain that all people can be divided into two... parts. People like Loghain would continue ruin the country from the inside, because they EXCLUSIVELY ON THEIR OWN "know what's for the best", you must read at least 1 history book of any country to understand it. If a civil war occured, I'd let it be. The price of made up stability would be too high.
Here's a trippy thought. I can't play this way and judging by the comments most people have never done this either. Yet Bioware included all this dialogue and all the repercussions that come out of it for what, played/explored 5%, 10 maybe. Probably less. This shit is giving us nightmares. Could u imagine production, the writers, voice actors who went thru this? Gotta hand it to them. This game is truly a Masterpiece
Turns out RPG games are supposed to give choices and different outcomes depending on those choices to enhance role play experience. Crazy right? Sadly, not something you see anymore since newer games got so streamlined they don't even look like an RPG now.
@@requiem5151 Still plenty of good ones that come out to this day that let you take up a more villainous role, even if often it just comes across as psychopathic, not even something Origins really escapes honestly. That said, I imagine in a lot of development cases it might even be for this very reason that evil playthroughs tend to get a bit of shaft overall unless its a selling point for the game, in all reality it does wind up being content largely untapped by the vast majority of players, especially if Larians own stats on who made what decisions is anything to go by. A sad, unfortunate, but very real truth of the matter.
The warden: _has constantly chosen the worst possible ways to handle any and all situations thrown their way and has a record of killing and/or betraying companions with no remorse at the drop of a hat_ Alistair: _see's all of this, yet is still surprised when it's his turn for the chopping block._
It is amazing the ways people will blind themselves to the things they don't want to see. People across all ages of history have been guilty of this exact thing.
Focusing on one of the non-painful parts of this playthrough: legit shoutout to the writer / animator who gave Morrigan epic parting lines and a dramatic shapeshift spell aura, into a fluffy squirrel who then scampers away. Comedy gold
Living in his la la land despite blooded murders around him that is equally same for Alistair becoming King if you don’t hardened him. He is pretty childish yet humorous adorable man who is better when hardened in his more mature attitude to getting things done. I love Alistair and he is one of my favorite romances yet I am not blind to his immaturity faults. I do prefer hardened Alistair who is less outraged and easier to agree with my Grey Warden of our actions than unhardened Alistair.
@@pamjarvis2771 I like romancing an unhardened Alistair, I don't like changing him, he's an adorable goofball. Unless you make some evil decisions like sacrificing elf slaves for power or tainting the urn of sacred ashes, he doesn't often disapprove anyway. I never had problems with his approval. Though if you plan on making him king, he's probably better off being hardened. I personally leave the throne to Anora when I romance Alistair cuz he breaks up with you if he becomes king anyway. I wish there was a way to make Morrigan "unhardened" though, it's like every time I decide to help someone she hates me for it, I mean come on, we can get money and trinkets as rewards for helping this person, do you have to be such an ass for everything I do? :'D
The things people force themselves to think to deny harsh reality, People sometimes very extreme lengths to avoid confronting themselves with the truth.
I felt so bad for him when he was denied the crown only to take justice upon Loghain. Specially when his voiced cracked while he said: "Ask me for a pound of my flesh or all the gold in Orlais... But don't ask me to accept that monster as a brother!"
@@sasakelala3360 Yes, really. He walks out on the Hero of Ferelden if he can't get his petty vengeance or, if Hardened, stays but only under the condition that he doesn't fight - which is his duty as a Grey Warden. Either way you slice it, he abandons the world for his vengeance. That's monstrous.
@@DraculaCronqvist Oh, right. Let’s forget how the order almost disappeared due to Loghain’s betrayal, how he killed Alistair’s father figure, the King he swore loyalty to (which also happened to be Alistair’s brother), a bunch of innocent soldiers, allied with the -possible- murderer of the warden’s family, sold the -possible-warden’s home to slavers, sent assassins after him and the warden, tried to frame them for the events of Ostagar, and refused to accept help from other power forces due to his own paranoia, despite his duty. But, yeah, Alistair is _so_ monstrous for not wanting him to live.
@@DraculaCronqvist Dude, there are like a dozen different options for saving Ferelden which none of involve sparing Loghain. Dude was a scumbag backstabber AND a horrible leader considering he almost doomed Ferelden if not for Flemeth who saved 2 of the last actual people who could stand a real chance against the darkspawn.
No. I was 100% achievements gamer and this would force me to do this. Fun fact: there are still achievements I've refused to complete, f.e. after playing Renegade Shepard for a bit I've decided it would be waste of time to play whole game they way you don't like to get 1 achievement. Also: I've never worked with Dark Brotherhood and Skryim Thief Guild (plus unofficial patch blocks achievements).
@@Petaurista13 Achievements are easy to get in Skyrim through console commands. I got all achievements in one day. That way you can play the game with mods without worrying about disabled achievements.
@@henrytownshed5304 I can see why. One just tried to kill you and in real life I'd return the favour 100%. The other just told you he murdered an entire family including innocent children and doesn't even batter an eye. Who's to say he can be trusted? But they are two of my favourite characters in origins. Their banter is hilarious and the game wouldn't be the same without them.
I like to think this Warden was somehow a distant, distant ancestor to (or descendent of) the Commander Shepard from your 'putting the suicide back in suicide mission' playthrough from Mass Effect 2.
I legitimately had NO idea giving Morrigan to Greagoir was an option, and I've played this game 10 times. The squirrel bit nearly knocked me off my chair. I want to imagine she went full Rabbit Of Caerbannog and gnawed them all to death.
When you say a "true" rpg i can't remember but origins, this game let's you be a hero, a Manipulator, a firm ruler, a filthy thief or even the devil himself if you desire to, talk about catching lightning in a bottle.
I suppose damning a child's soul to gain blood magic is the more flamboyantly evil option but letting Anora execute Alistair so that you can become prince consort is also pretty cold. And that you can tell him to man up while you're doing it.
I actually respected and preferred Loghain. Given the situation he is in, his choices make sense. He is trying to save a Kingdom he was chiefly responsible for saving once in the past. He's a kind of 'justified egomaniac' because he IS the guy who saved the day before. There is no reason for him to think some brand new gay warden will show up and be a superhero. He doesnt know that Gray Wardens are mandatory to stop a blight and he says as much. The King is a fantasy larping loon who will fucking catastrophically destroy the entire army of his kingdom trying to one v one the Darkspawn horde. A horde that is demonstrably endless. Literally unbeatable. Even if he wins that fight, it will cost him a third of his standing forces to face what is merely a first wave. You see how bad the Darkspawn get later on. There is nothing wrong with Loghain's choices except the fact he was, unbeknownst to him, fighting against his only hope. The moment he is presented with the truth he bows to the reality and adjusts his motives. He is a true Ruthless Good moral character. He will do anything, give anything, be anything his country needed. The most tragic of characters to have misled. Someone less capable than his character would not be able to have done so much damage. The voice actor is incredible, too.
@@bunnieskitties293 I'm assuming you missed a bit of lore. Loghain planned on leaving that fight from the very beginning, allowing the Wardens AND berserkers to just outright die for nothing. He has enough knowledge to know their forces can't fight the darkspawn without him, or for that matter even with his men present. While he did not plan on letting the King die (he wanted him by his side for the pull out), he still had no issues letting him die if he decided to fight with the Wardens. He even only allows the Wardens to be the ones to light the beacon ONLY after the mages say the beacon shouldn't even matter because they can send a signal into the sky. Loghain wanted his men to "go in" so that the fire was never lit so he would have an excuse to pull out that wasn't looked down upon. He knew mages could send the signal in time. Also the passage way in the return to Ostagar you go through from the tower to the battlefield..Loghain was supposed to have had the tunnels collapsed/completely barricaded, with absolute 0 chance they could be gotten through. He does this for a reason. What's more, He supports Howe's attack on the cousland estate and doesn't want them coming to the field (because he plans to pull back), and poisons Eamon far before the fight at Ostagar, ensuring their forces won't be present either. This alone gives him cause to Pull back, because they don't have 2 major forces present to actually fight it, but that was the point as I stated, in the first place. That's before even mentioning the Orlais predicament, which is at least somewhat understandable on his end.
@@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken even in this case, Loghain was just trying to keep Ferelden from grasping Orlaisians's fingers. King Cailan divorced Anora to Marry impress Celine which was a diplomatic way for Celine to slowly conquer Ferelden. Imagine what would've happened to Ferelden if the king didn't die in the battle of ostagar. History wouldn've reapeted itself if you've read The Stolen Throne. Loghain have set up his death purposely probably to save Ferelden from Orlay invasion once again. In my book Loghain is a Ferelden hero not a traitor (tho I acknowledge his immoral actions regarding city elves
@@wanderingman5516 Maybe read what I said again. I said his distrust in Orlais is fair. everything else he did to his OWN countrymen is disgusting and uncalled for. If you think he's a hero, your views are twisted. This isn't a Revan case where he's choosing the more optimal path even if it's morally wrong. He consistently chooses options that lead to a weaker Ferelden directly from his inept decisions. And while that Marriage would have been diplomatic (they hadn't divorced yet, 0 idea where you get your information from), Anora had YET to produce an heir. The agreement to marry into Orlesian to also produce an heir was another reason. And I think it's funny you think Orlais could do that, with Loghain and Arl Eamon there to easily help him spot these things if needed. Loghain let the past cloud his judgements, and not the now and what was happening.
@@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken my bad, not divorced yet, but as David Guider mentioned in one of his interview, Cailan was planning to divorce that bitch, in order to marry Celine for political reasons (making permanent peace between the two lands and that sort of shits) which was probably set up by Orlasians noble to take back Ferelden under their rule. In my opinion Cailan is not really a good ruler. He's just like Alistair tbh, naive and easy to be manipulated
Frankly, Dragon Age has all the marking that can go further as a show than Game of Thrones. The first game by itself can support several seasons. You can have all 6 Origins as canon and scatter all of them on personal quest of their own, having their path crossed here and there.
The only thing that scares me is how awful they usually turn video games into movies/shows. If I had absolute faith that they would do it justice I would love the idea.
There are plenty story points that DA took from ASOIAF. Grey Warden = Night's Watch, Alistair = Jon Snow, Loghain = Tywin. But what surprises me most was the other way around. There are places where GOT copied Dragon Age. The first episode of Game of Thrones, Bran scene watching the King arrival on the roof directly mimicked a kid sitting on the roof watching Arl Howe arrival in Dragon Age. That Bran scene doesn't exist in the books. And Alistair = Jon Snow correlation was made before Jon Snow parental reveal.
@@araisikewai Well it's a great story and I am glad it inspired good scenes. R.R. Martin doesn't really look like a gamer to me so he probably never played DAO. Some younger people working for HBO might've gotten inspiration from the game and added details into the script.
It's also cool that they reference a few things from the series before the show even came out like oathkeeper and ser pounce as anders cat in awakening.
Interestingly, Leliana might still be "dead" in Dragon Age Inquisition if you do this. While I've never done it, apparently her epilogue in Inquisition (or after the last DLC or something) if you killed her in Origins indicates she was a spirit the whole time.
I saw that epilogue in someones video and didn't know what they were talking about or how they got it, they didn't mention killing her in DAO. I never have myself so never saw it, but now it makes sense. Though the person making the video seemed to love her so its weird that they wouldn't have mentioned something like that.
Spoiler: Leliana doesn't really come back. If you play Trespasser, you learn that it was a fade spirit impersonating her, the same way that fade spirit did to the Divine.
Honestly I think Belen is one of the best writing in Dragon Age. A total scumbag, but supporting him actually helps your cause so much more than going against him. He's that scheming dictator that work for the greater good, mainly because it's a good image on him.
Yes, he is definitly an amazing character. You have to admit, that he knows to play the treacherous dwarfen game of politics extremly well. Kill or get killed. He is a scumbug because he wants to survive in this game, since if you play a dwarfen noble, it´s not absurd, that you could plot to kill your older brother and blame Bhelen. A charismatic, clever and ambitious scumbag, but he has ideals and a goals, all dwarfs benefit from in the end, even his enemies.
And thats why I pick him to be king, it's a better choice for the common dwarf , screw the nobles who think they are better than everyone else let them see how it feels to be on the shit end of the stick...😁
@@whispersinthedark88 Even as a dwarfen noble I would choose Bhelen. Let him have the throne he wanted. He has played well and my dwarf would secretly salute to Bhelens cunning move. Our brother we booth hate is dead and it is a lucky fortune I owe him that I´m free of all dwarfen politics and can become a hero on my own. Becoming a warden created so many chances and I have not much time to think about any revenge. My dwarfe noble would be a progressive person like Bhelen who would´nt hate the castless or the surface dwarf. So it´s not a great loss of pride. She would alwys see the bigger picture.
I forget what Harrowmount does rt after something or other but I remember that he orders the execution of a bunch of innocents at one pt. I remember thinking what the F? I backed you? Wish I had the option to talk him out of that or gut him on the spot. Can't remember the details
I sooooo wish Bioware would make another game that allows you to be this much of a pos. With each new game they release the harder it is to do pretty much anything like that. It sucks the fun right out of it. Sure, on my first playthrough I like to be the noble hero but you sure as hell know I want to do an asshole run immediately after it.
Big Dan should probably change his exit to "I play as the evil son is a b*itch so you don't have to". And poor Alistair, the guy literally stepped into a game of thrones episode.
LOL , Alistair should had took charge from beginning or when our Grey Warden offer leadership to him at one point! Alistair had told us no! It is his own fault in putting brand new Grey Warden who he didn’t know one’s history in charge! Poor Alistair didn’t realized all the hints of pure hatred towards humans from my Dalish Elf or Dwarfs when they talked liked fool who led himself to his own death. I do actually adore Alistair yet I am not blind to his purposeful foolishness when murderous Grey Warden had repeatedly say they hate humans in front of himself.
@@pamjarvis2771 I see Alistair as a good person, albeit one who's immature. It's easy to fault him for making it a choice between him and Loghain, but it's the same reason a Dwarf Noble is going to be biased against Behlen no matter how much he ostensibly benefits some portions of Dwarven society in the short run. However I see no sign that Alistair'd even make a decent king. Anora's claim is less than paper-thin but she seems to have a good head on her shoulders while Alistair is too ruled by his passions to make the hard decisions.
Keeping Connor possessed is most definitely the worst option. It'll come back into play briefly in Inquisition. Also while Bhelen is a total scumbag, he does turn out to be the best option for Orzimar in the end. So siding with Harrowmont isn't necessarily evil but will lead to Orzimar losing prosperity
But I think in one of the inquisition dlc you hear from a dwarf who lives in orzommar, and while I cant recall whay exactly he says the basic is: behlen is a dictator (making his enemies "disappear") Also as a noble dwarf I didnt give him the crown out of pettiness
@@eranbenzeev627 you hear about it even at the end of Origins, he is a total asshole, but he makes it FAR better then Harrowmont. Establishes Trade & Trust between Dwarves & Humans, helps with armies, etc. IF you destroy the Anvil, he is the best choice out of two.
@@ShadowZeroFlame to be fair, I am replaying origins right now and I played the dwarf commoner... I chose Bhelen without hesitation... my sister will be queen, damnit...
@@aeroga2383 That's actually proof he should have left it, since he is a monster throughout the whole playthrough. Killing it is more of a courtesy at that point.
I actually killed Wynn during my latest playthrough by accident, I agreed with her that we should save everyone up there and everything was fine and dandy. Well, as soon as I mentioned killing the main blood mage she entered that scene and challenged me. Unfortunately, I couldn't let such a challenge stand so I gutted the old crone, that and my last save was before the Fade and screw doing all that again just for Wynn
Yeah, on my first playthrough I sided with the mages but somehow Wynne hated me anyway and I had to kill her pretty early on. I did 2 subsequent playthroughs and in only 1 she survived but I never used her or bothered much with her at all that I can never recall her when I try to remember all the characters in the game lol
@@JayFFAFAlesanaES I played as a mage too, lol. 2 spirit healers is better than 1. Besides, I was more focused on the dps and let Wynn take care of the party
on my first playthrough i sided with the templars. Honestly,i have no idea why,i was playing A BLOOD MAGE and was just "eh,this seems fine",and killed her.
Bhelen is actually the right choice for the dwarfs, since even if ruthless and a ass, he is a progresive king that will change the caste system, open trade with the humans and so on, making the kingdom prosper. Harrowmont, even if kind of a "good guy", is struck in tradition, he doesnt change anything, he eventually is murdered and the kingdom is stuck in a civil war.
By my count, Lilliana, Zev, Oghern, and Morrigan are the only ones to survive this cursed play through. Morrigan probably survived since she fell through the Eluvian and recovered. She is in Inquisition regardless of her fate in Witch Hunt. As stated in the video, Lilliana survives and is in both 2 and Inquisition but we don’t have a solid answer on how she survives. Oghern is met in Awakening, claims that he woke up with a monster hangover the morning after and wants to join the Wardens, water under the bridge I guess. Zev can meet Hawke in a side quest in 2 if he survives Origin. However, the file transfer system is glitched so that Zev always survives and remembers his time with the Hero of Fereldan fondly. This glitch is similar to the glitch that makes Conrad always say that Shepard pointed a gun to his face, even if he/she did not.
I believe Leliana is a lyrium ghost similar to that guardian of andraste when you try to find the ashes. That's what's shown in the epilogue of traspasser.
"Ah that bald bitch with a villainous mustache... Betrayed some, killed most of his companions... Including me! Totally someone that I must call a Hero, and remembering that makes my heart warm." Zevran probably lmao
To be honest, when I saw this in recommended, I thought it was from 5-6 years ago, just like the other dragon age videos, then I saw "Yesterday"... Imma say I'm not disappointed at all
This game kinda ruined gaming for me. No other game released after it comes close, there is no other game where the world sucks you in as much as in Origins. This is the only game where I feel like im actually living in the world when playing, a masterpiece. New games has never impressed me after playing Origins honestly.
Big Dan: "Let's kill everyone in Dragon Age Origins." Me: "Nice." Big Dan: Kills dog. Me: "And now you have officially taken it too far buddy." But seriously, I wouldn't even have it as an option if it were up to me. Nobody should kill dogs.
This is what Inquisition was missing The absolute *grim* tone where anyone can die and how you could roleplay as a character that's so full of hate thanks to the numerous amount of opportunities to kill characters
To this date I still think DAI only received a Mature rating because of the nudity and language. In every other aspect it was so toned down from the setting Origins, and even DA2, established.
I laughed so much when you could only choose Loghain to come with you for the Battle of Denerim. It was the cutscene to the party choice with the two drumming sounds, like the game was entering the joke of the situation for you :D
im pretty sure you can just ignore sten and leliana, on my first playthrough like 7 years ago i didnt even know they existed and i guess they died when i left
That would a pretty interesting bit of rare dialogue if it exist. 99.99% of people take Leliana with them and in Inquisition there is a lot of dialogue that involves her time with the Hero of Fereldan. Does that dialogue not exist? Is there dialogue that know one even knows about?
@@silentjester4817 She simply doesn't say anything about the warden. The only difference is that she knows Morrigan as a member of Celene's court. Though it is bugged and she will sometimes talk about travelling with the warden, even though never did.
@@silentjester4817 I should really give inquisition a go. I bought it a couple years ago and have done almost nothing with it. Think I got 2-3 hrs in and never went back for some reason.
@@BofaDee33 I recommend it just for the story. I'd give it a B, good overall. What drags the game down are the side quests, for me. They're quite generic at times. Most of the companions are interesting though.
@@orarinnsnorrason4614 I think it was the sheer size of the game that stopped me. Like I got in made it to a camp then had like no idea what I was supposed to do after that. It was slightly confusing maybe I'm wrong about it been awhile since I've looked at it but I remember feeling lost.
@@Romanus_MatthaeusStrongly disagree, Alistair is charming and is incredibly noble despite his horrible upbringing. He deserves all the love and to be a little whiny sometimes!
Lol The Legend Big Dan I laugh because I remember why the dwarf is naked when you fight him. For some reason he wiped the floor with you even with your dirty blood magic and back handed ways. However it was of course all in the name of science and because of it humanity as a whole has grown and become more knowledgeable. I actually never played DAO this way so I had absolutely no idea you could kill off your entire party. For some reason DAO doesn't really feel like a game to be played full renegade like the ME trilogy. I've disagreed with a few party members, had a few die or killed but generally most of the party survives. It really is amazing how much freedom to role play BioWare used to give us. Such a great company and a sad story. Keep up the legendary good work Dan!
I got lost in DAO for probably 2 years and i played it and replayed it over and over. There were so many things to change and see and have happen that were new. It was an amazing experience and I bought the new bundle edition on steam because my old version was on disk that I had lost ages ago but, for some reason every time I try to give it a go I can't. I think the days of turn based rpgs for me died. If they remake it and it's more of an action rpg I'd love it. Not like full action rpg but semi action rpg not sure how it would work but more then the pause start/turn based form the combats in now.
@@BofaDee33 DAO is not turn based. It's real-time with pause. You never have to pause, thus just don't pause and that is how you get your "full action rpg" experience, whatever that means.
@@BradTheAmerican Yeah that had me confused. I played through DAO right before AC Valhalla came out and even the graphics weren't that bad in comparison. But then again I started on the og Atari and Nintendo so almost anything looks great to me..🤣
I’m giving a like for two reasons. 1. Your bravery and dedication to your audience in getting to know how these choices play out. And 2. The developers’, voice actors, hell, the whole DAO team’s heart into making LITERALLY THE MOST HEART BREAKING, PSYCHOTIC DECISIONS, also possible. Not because I like them being done in itself, but the level of dedication from all parties. Thanks for uploading.
I could never bring myself to being anything but a benevolent hero in the game. I appreciate your dedication and mental fortitude for this. Also, love the outro, "Swooping is bad!" 😂
Great video, Dan but I have something to tell you that you might not know. You can actually extend the abilities bar to make it take up the whole bottom of the screen! I found this out on my second playthrough and I thought you should also know since it would help with fights!
Btw it's a shame how in later games your abilities are so fcking limited, you even have to choose between one ability or other under the same ability tree because you can't fit everything in the bar on DAI
Hearing Alistair heartbroken after the Loghain fight got me cringing hard, despite all the messed up playtroughs i've done the basturd's always been my BRO even more than the dog. Every Bioware game i've played if you have a friend/sidekick I always go "So thats the curent Alistair", same for Garrus damn.....😥.
Yes. Also shows the amazing writing as well. So many moral choices, ambiguous and vague ones as well as in choosing between bigger or lesser evil etc. One of the best writing in game history.
i am watching this vid in absolute horror because i never knew you could be this evil or go so far omg i want to play again a super kind run just to scrub the evils you have committed for this! :P also excellent work and thank you!
LOL , it depends if I have good day or bad day! If bad day to get rid of my bad mood , many will died except romantic partner , my precious doggy who loves me no matter what and best friend! Two guarantees are my dog and Zev who is either love interest or best friend! I can never kill my precious doggy who is unconditional loving, loyal and protector! 🙂🤨😉🤣🥰
I've done such a run long ago and ported it to inquisition. It was funny how controversial the Hero of Ferelden was. Leliana sure despised him for murdering her. And Morrigan sure as hell hated the father of her son who also tried to kill her.
Thank you for doing this I think I'd cry myself to sleep for an entire week if my Grey Warden had to do any of this... I ended my playthrough with 100 Approval from all party members, married Allistair, besties with Morrigan, saved every single person I could, and took the girls with me to fight the Archdemon, and let Allistair sire the baby This is genuinely painful to know what could've happened
In my first playthrough of DA:O I didn't even realize Sten and Wynne could join your party. Sten was rude to me so I was like "No I'm not finishing this quest" and left lol. Though Wynne was more me being careless she never struck me as a companion and it was so easy to end up with her dead. I never knew she could join you until years later.
Yeah, this always bothered me about Alistair. The pretentiouness that only people with clean records could join the Wardens. The dwarf commoner was an enforcer for a crime lord, the dwarf noble can kill one of his siblings, the city elf kills a human lord and the mage aided (unknowingly) a secret blood mage. Only the human noble and dalish elf are really innocent victims in their respective plots.
So interestingly... I actually didn't know Dragon Age punished you for leaving Redcliffe once it started... on my first playthrough anyway. I left because I wanted to go to the Dalish to buy some stuff from their shopkeeper and got that cutscene... I immediately reloaded that save.
I'd wager to say that Harrowmont is the worse of the two. Shitbag though he is, Bhelen at least opens trade, relaxes caste restrictions and employs his power well. Harrowmont is...just a really bad leader :p
You misanderstood evreything, Dan. It wasn't the worst playthrough. It simply was the biggest villain plan ever made. That warden is the smartest master mind villan i ever seen.
Short term thinking. He woulda been raped and butchered by a random Darkspawn while traveling the roads. No companions to help, his dieing screams woulda echoed through the quiet lonely trees...
As someone whose played dragon age as every origin, and then replayed mage 2 times and Human noble like 6 times, I’ve never chosen anyone other than Alistair as my king, seeing Alistair at all being betrayed like this is too much for my poor soul
If I recall correctly, Balen is a scumbag, but an effective one. In the afterstory, He actually makes Dwarven Kingdom great again, while Harrowmont fails. Golems are good for the dwarves as well, without them they get eaten by darkspawns. If they are not eaten by the Chantry first. So basically dwarves can either go amoral or go extinct.
Funny enough, it’s actually better for Orzammar in the long run to put Balen as king 💀 Harrowmont (or whatever his name is) actually leads Orzammar into financial difficulties due to them not advancing and only keeping the “old ways”. Balen is a dick though.
My god. I've played enough Dragon Age: Origins that I've actually seen every single one of these deaths and evil decisions before... with the exception of betraying and later killing Morrigan, because I could never do that haha! I love Morrigan far too much. But damn that's wild to watch all of that in a single playthrough! I didn't know that was even possible, but makes sense. Maker bless DA:O. What an incredible game. Glad I found your channel! Liked and subbed, mate!
Apparently Oghren survives into Awakening if you kill him in Origins too. Unbelievable bioware, hackery levels of this magnitude shouldn't be possible.
Hahaha yes it's true. I covered that specific incident in a video on what happens if you kill Oghren ua-cam.com/video/3UbZ2HrtPAI/v-deo.html He basically just handwaves it away and says the death "didn't stick" lol
Riordan's "Who will come with you?" followed by the empty character select screen with just Loghain as option is kinda hilarious. "Hmmmmmm, who will I pick, I wonder...." Question though: If you'd chose to go alone, would Loghain defend the gate alone? Is that possible? Would be kinda epic.
Nic achievement! :D I would argue no body, no dead character though, Morrigan probably could have survived that. Not her child though (if she had any). The look in his eyes during the finally deed, felt like real delight of our serial killer.
This actually made me almost cry watching. The 3 that hit me the most is Morrigan leliana and Alistair. Leliana was my alltime favorite and she was so ecstatic to see such a holy relic. Only for it to be defiled in front of her. I know it's metagaming but knowing how much of a sweetheart she is hurts seeing her die and rot there. Alistair was with you through it all and sure if you are a complete prick he hates you. But even then sticks with you. Hearing how destroyed he is at the end is too much. Not only is he betrayed but his only real family left that he loved like a brother. But he is left to die and isn't even helped. Morrigan while I didn't romance her often since I liked leliana. She is a good person deep down. She has her own agenda sure but she never meant you harm. She even saves your ass after all. Seeing her stabbed when she did you no wrong and even tried to save you is painful.
I think perfoming the dark ritual and letting Loghain alive is the worst outocome possible. You left the man who betrayed everyone go unpunished, you had a kid with the soul of an evil old god and you left the menace of Thedas alive (by "menace" i mean the Warden).
Considering Bhelen actually opens up Orzimmar in his ending, it may have been better for an Evil playthrough to pick Harrowmont. Just a minor nitpick. Great video otherwise!
Harrowmount is the 'good' route, though he gets blocked too much to do anything for Orzimmar. So it depends on if you view the state the city ends up in as the "good vs bad" ending or who rules it. That kind of meta knowledge makes the Orzimmar section really interesting.
The beauty of the Dragon Age setting is that a lot of choices aren't that black and white. Yeah, he ends up being the better choice overall, but he wasted no time executing Harrowmont, his family and any and all rivals.
Fun fact: there was originally an option to turn Morrigan over to the templars. It got cut at the last minute to accommodate Witch Hunt, but it was actually left in the game; they just removed the choice that let you do it. There's a simple mod that will restore the choice, including the fully-voiced cutscene.
Also I accidentally left Redcliffe before I helped them defend the town in my first playthrough and I immediately reloaded with a look of horror on my face. Whoops!
Damn. that was painful to watch. Thanks for compiling all this content from the game though. I could never make those choices even knowing its just a game.
"All of you will die, and that's a sacrifice I'm willing to make."
-The so-called Hero of Ferelden.
Makes sense why Loghain is like "Wow I should have noticed you're like.. Te best. Outplaying me at the backstabbing murder game. Respect"
Maybe he just didn't want to get vaccinated.
@@GedenWilbur Game recognises game
Plot twist: Loghain tried to kill Grey Warden only in failed attempt to save his companions
Should've called himself a Black Warden, cuz nothing grey about this 😂
As far as I'm concerned, Oghren fighting the Hero of Ferelden while drunk, in his underwear and on fire is canon. I don't care what Bioware says.
its canon if it happened in your playthrough
@@Ghilannugs Probably happens for real in his house every Friday night
@@Bubbles99718 lmaooo
And if you play awakening he is just "i woke up naked"
But i killed you!
"I got better. Wanna drink?"
Alternate ending : The people of Fereldan side with the Archdemon to defeat the Bald Warden. 😂😂😂
Underrated comment 😂😂😂
Even tainted, crazed old god recognize what a threat to all that exists(including darkspawn collective) Bald Warden represents. 🤣
Archdemon landing in Denerim and asking Loghain to help him contain Bald Warden threat before it's too late 🤣
With "hero" like THE Bald Warden, one almost wishes Darkspawn Chronicles were canon 😂
lol I’d pay for such DLC
Playing Dragon Age as a Psychopath
Kevin would be proud.
Dude I tried to play as a psycho and it wasn’t nearly this bad
I thought it was sociopath? Lol
@@yoemeuunitoful
I could be wrong, but I think the main distinction is that psychopaths are born that way while sociopaths aren’t.
@@user-sf9gs2pg1b I looked it up and in a nutshell you are pretty much on point.
As a bald guy with a mustache and tattoos, I'm deeply offended. I wouldn't have killed the dog.
🤣
You gotta play the warden in the Netflix adaptation of this playthrough
U are unworthy of the stache
I'm 28 and bald lost it when I was 13. And later got bone cancer had leg removed and lost all the hair had left when just turn 21 & I got tattoos. True story, but still love ur videos mate, love dragon age & mass effect help me thru hard times as a young teen
In DA a bald mage is always bad news...
I love how Alistair screamed FOR THE GREY WARDENS while stabbing a defensless, frozen mage granny XDD
JAJAJAJAJAJAJAJ
It sounds like him.
Suddenly the Archdemon and his Darkspawn invasion don’t seem so bad…
Darkspawn chronicles shows brighter future because companions made it to the final battle.
Grey Warden: I just hate competitors. It is ME who will destroy Ferelden!
This comment is even more poignant considering that DA 2 and 3 were "templars vs mages" conflicts at their core
That last talk with Alistair really hit me. I was young when I played DAO and he was like the best friend of the companions
Same here mate. Help me thru when I started secondary school and my early teen years
Exactly, the dude never deserved such an ending
He hated my mage haha Then he became a drunk in Awakening. Good times.
First time i played 15 y.o. and killed Alistair. 10 years later i still do the same thing. You must have the problem if you dont. To kill the Loghain is the foolest thing you could do in real life in such situation. To not kill Alistair after that is the same, you know.. most people would prefer to cause civil war than killing throne pretender. You must read at least 1 history book of any country to understand it. But most people are uneducated lol
@@Kairilification Loghain is not a strategist and a sane man, who wants best for his people as the game presents him, he betrayed Grey Wardens, because he probably was not very good convincing the king, putting the whole nation into vulnerable position. He screwed up all the Ferelden politics, covered slavers, blood mages and tried to assasinate political opponents, for no good reason, except being exposed to power himself. He brings ruin, the whole civil war probability wouldn't occur if he wasn't so self-righteous. That's why I've let Alistair prove to Loghain that all people can be divided into two... parts. People like Loghain would continue ruin the country from the inside, because they EXCLUSIVELY ON THEIR OWN "know what's for the best", you must read at least 1 history book of any country to understand it.
If a civil war occured, I'd let it be. The price of made up stability would be too high.
I’ll make the usual “Big Dan making the hard choices so we don’t have to” statement.
Adam Blyth making the tough comments so we don't have to.
He's an absolute legend
Well... I played this game so many times I once did a playthrough to see what happened if I didn't recruit/have everyone killed
@@Quizzmet hahaha!
C'mon, who doesn't do the atrocious, sinister playthrough at least once? Maybe not companion murders but the sinister story ones?
Here's a trippy thought. I can't play this way and judging by the comments most people have never done this either. Yet Bioware included all this dialogue and all the repercussions that come out of it for what, played/explored 5%, 10 maybe. Probably less.
This shit is giving us nightmares. Could u imagine production, the writers, voice actors who went thru this?
Gotta hand it to them. This game is truly a Masterpiece
Gotta be like when Earl Jones was handed the script and he was like "wtf. I'm his Father?!"
Yeah, I wouldn’t be able to play this way. But I did want to have a world stat where the heroes weren’t really hero’s lol
Turns out RPG games are supposed to give choices and different outcomes depending on those choices to enhance role play experience. Crazy right? Sadly, not something you see anymore since newer games got so streamlined they don't even look like an RPG now.
@@requiem5151 Still plenty of good ones that come out to this day that let you take up a more villainous role, even if often it just comes across as psychopathic, not even something Origins really escapes honestly.
That said, I imagine in a lot of development cases it might even be for this very reason that evil playthroughs tend to get a bit of shaft overall unless its a selling point for the game, in all reality it does wind up being content largely untapped by the vast majority of players, especially if Larians own stats on who made what decisions is anything to go by. A sad, unfortunate, but very real truth of the matter.
@@requiem5151
May not be your cup of tea, but I’ve been liking Baldur’s Gate 3 (:0 rhymed)
The warden: _has constantly chosen the worst possible ways to handle any and all situations thrown their way and has a record of killing and/or betraying companions with no remorse at the drop of a hat_
Alistair: _see's all of this, yet is still surprised when it's his turn for the chopping block._
It is amazing the ways people will blind themselves to the things they don't want to see. People across all ages of history have been guilty of this exact thing.
Yeah. 1930's Germany comes to mind, Roman history etc etc.
@@orarinnsnorrason4614 Too many examples to count but all of yours are good references.
@@orarinnsnorrason4614 Currently going thru it with modern day nazi maga scum.
Down goes America
I guess alistair thought there was some line even the warden wouldn't cross. Didnt think he would turn on another fellow warden
Focusing on one of the non-painful parts of this playthrough: legit shoutout to the writer / animator who gave Morrigan epic parting lines and a dramatic shapeshift spell aura, into a fluffy squirrel who then scampers away. Comedy gold
And the templars being like "Screw it, we don't have time to catch a squirrel!"
How did Alistair not expect that betrayal, after seeing bald mage in action so many times?
Living in his la la land despite blooded murders around him that is equally same for Alistair becoming King if you don’t hardened him. He is pretty childish yet humorous adorable man who is better when hardened in his more mature attitude to getting things done. I love Alistair and he is one of my favorite romances yet I am not blind to his immaturity faults. I do prefer hardened Alistair who is less outraged and easier to agree with my Grey Warden of our actions than unhardened Alistair.
@@pamjarvis2771 I like romancing an unhardened Alistair, I don't like changing him, he's an adorable goofball. Unless you make some evil decisions like sacrificing elf slaves for power or tainting the urn of sacred ashes, he doesn't often disapprove anyway. I never had problems with his approval. Though if you plan on making him king, he's probably better off being hardened. I personally leave the throne to Anora when I romance Alistair cuz he breaks up with you if he becomes king anyway.
I wish there was a way to make Morrigan "unhardened" though, it's like every time I decide to help someone she hates me for it, I mean come on, we can get money and trinkets as rewards for helping this person, do you have to be such an ass for everything I do? :'D
The things people force themselves to think to deny harsh reality, People sometimes very extreme lengths to avoid confronting themselves with the truth.
@@pamjarvis2771 Ok you like Alistair HARD. I get it...
Morrigan just turned into a squirrel and yetted up a wall and everyone is like, yeah we'll get her later.
You know how hard it is to catch a squirrel!
Maybe the Templars should have learned to fire a bow.
Lol that was too funny, I was expecting her to just disappear.
@@derrickbonsell hitting a running squirrel with a bow? Not everyone is Legolas..
The Murder Knife should be a legendary artifact in DA4.
16:04
God Alistair's VO is fantastic this whole scene
This whole game you mean
I felt so bad for him when he was denied the crown only to take justice upon Loghain. Specially when his voiced cracked while he said: "Ask me for a pound of my flesh or all the gold in Orlais... But don't ask me to accept that monster as a brother!"
Wow. The Alistair scene is legit heartbreaking.
Not at all, Alistair is acting monstrously. He's willing to doom the entire world for his petty vengeance.
@@DraculaCronqvist no. not really.
@@sasakelala3360 Yes, really. He walks out on the Hero of Ferelden if he can't get his petty vengeance or, if Hardened, stays but only under the condition that he doesn't fight - which is his duty as a Grey Warden. Either way you slice it, he abandons the world for his vengeance. That's monstrous.
@@DraculaCronqvist
Oh, right.
Let’s forget how the order almost disappeared due to Loghain’s betrayal, how he killed Alistair’s father figure, the King he swore loyalty to (which also happened to be Alistair’s brother), a bunch of innocent soldiers, allied with the -possible- murderer of the warden’s family, sold the -possible-warden’s home to slavers, sent assassins after him and the warden, tried to frame them for the events of Ostagar, and refused to accept help from other power forces due to his own paranoia, despite his duty.
But, yeah, Alistair is _so_ monstrous for not wanting him to live.
@@DraculaCronqvist Dude, there are like a dozen different options for saving Ferelden which none of involve sparing Loghain. Dude was a scumbag backstabber AND a horrible leader considering he almost doomed Ferelden if not for Flemeth who saved 2 of the last actual people who could stand a real chance against the darkspawn.
Lol killing all your companions is so crazy and heartbreaking it should be a trophy, and it should be called, "tis maddening"
'tis betrayal then...
No. I was 100% achievements gamer and this would force me to do this.
Fun fact: there are still achievements I've refused to complete, f.e. after playing Renegade Shepard for a bit I've decided it would be waste of time to play whole game they way you don't like to get 1 achievement. Also: I've never worked with Dark Brotherhood and Skryim Thief Guild (plus unofficial patch blocks achievements).
@@Petaurista13 Achievements are easy to get in Skyrim through console commands. I got all achievements in one day. That way you can play the game with mods without worrying about disabled achievements.
I always kill off Sten and zevran.
@@henrytownshed5304 I can see why. One just tried to kill you and in real life I'd return the favour 100%. The other just told you he murdered an entire family including innocent children and doesn't even batter an eye. Who's to say he can be trusted? But they are two of my favourite characters in origins. Their banter is hilarious and the game wouldn't be the same without them.
What did this victory cost you warden?
Everything.... And I enjoyed it
I like to think this Warden was somehow a distant, distant ancestor to (or descendent of) the Commander Shepard from your 'putting the suicide back in suicide mission' playthrough from Mass Effect 2.
can i get a link to this video ?
@@clarewhite548 ua-cam.com/video/9PasjiLkkyA/v-deo.html
"It's only 300k people, I'm sure there won't be much of a difference."
I legitimately had NO idea giving Morrigan to Greagoir was an option, and I've played this game 10 times. The squirrel bit nearly knocked me off my chair. I want to imagine she went full Rabbit Of Caerbannog and gnawed them all to death.
It a a mod that restores ‘deleted content’
Aah, remember the Golden Age of Bioware? When at least 10 satisfying playthroughs were guaranteed?
The Templars nearly soiled their armor they were so scared.
@@jjrj8568 your life must me amazing complaining and coping so much
@@johnpantag472we are upset that it took 10 years for the next dragon age for it to be the way it is. It’s a slap to how good the first game is
When you say a "true" rpg i can't remember but origins, this game let's you be a hero, a Manipulator, a firm ruler, a filthy thief or even the devil himself if you desire to, talk about catching lightning in a bottle.
"the grey wardens could not have chosen finer"
I mean warden outclassed Loghain in Betrayal and Backstabbing probably why Loghain was Impressed lmao
@@fl1ckr145 Grey Warden killed everyone just to impress Loghain and kill him too
I suppose damning a child's soul to gain blood magic is the more flamboyantly evil option but letting Anora execute Alistair so that you can become prince consort is also pretty cold. And that you can tell him to man up while you're doing it.
Sooo. This is how you make me hate the protagonist more than Loghain. Impressive and depressing at same time. Good job.
I actually respected and preferred Loghain. Given the situation he is in, his choices make sense. He is trying to save a Kingdom he was chiefly responsible for saving once in the past. He's a kind of 'justified egomaniac' because he IS the guy who saved the day before. There is no reason for him to think some brand new gay warden will show up and be a superhero. He doesnt know that Gray Wardens are mandatory to stop a blight and he says as much. The King is a fantasy larping loon who will fucking catastrophically destroy the entire army of his kingdom trying to one v one the Darkspawn horde. A horde that is demonstrably endless. Literally unbeatable. Even if he wins that fight, it will cost him a third of his standing forces to face what is merely a first wave. You see how bad the Darkspawn get later on.
There is nothing wrong with Loghain's choices except the fact he was, unbeknownst to him, fighting against his only hope. The moment he is presented with the truth he bows to the reality and adjusts his motives. He is a true Ruthless Good moral character. He will do anything, give anything, be anything his country needed. The most tragic of characters to have misled. Someone less capable than his character would not be able to have done so much damage.
The voice actor is incredible, too.
@@bunnieskitties293 I'm assuming you missed a bit of lore.
Loghain planned on leaving that fight from the very beginning, allowing the Wardens AND berserkers to just outright die for nothing. He has enough knowledge to know their forces can't fight the darkspawn without him, or for that matter even with his men present. While he did not plan on letting the King die (he wanted him by his side for the pull out), he still had no issues letting him die if he decided to fight with the Wardens.
He even only allows the Wardens to be the ones to light the beacon ONLY after the mages say the beacon shouldn't even matter because they can send a signal into the sky. Loghain wanted his men to "go in" so that the fire was never lit so he would have an excuse to pull out that wasn't looked down upon. He knew mages could send the signal in time.
Also the passage way in the return to Ostagar you go through from the tower to the battlefield..Loghain was supposed to have had the tunnels collapsed/completely barricaded, with absolute 0 chance they could be gotten through. He does this for a reason.
What's more, He supports Howe's attack on the cousland estate and doesn't want them coming to the field (because he plans to pull back), and poisons Eamon far before the fight at Ostagar, ensuring their forces won't be present either.
This alone gives him cause to Pull back, because they don't have 2 major forces present to actually fight it, but that was the point as I stated, in the first place.
That's before even mentioning the Orlais predicament, which is at least somewhat understandable on his end.
@@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken even in this case, Loghain was just trying to keep Ferelden from grasping Orlaisians's fingers. King Cailan divorced Anora to Marry impress Celine which was a diplomatic way for Celine to slowly conquer Ferelden. Imagine what would've happened to Ferelden if the king didn't die in the battle of ostagar. History wouldn've reapeted itself if you've read The Stolen Throne. Loghain have set up his death purposely probably to save Ferelden from Orlay invasion once again. In my book Loghain is a Ferelden hero not a traitor (tho I acknowledge his immoral actions regarding city elves
@@wanderingman5516 Maybe read what I said again. I said his distrust in Orlais is fair.
everything else he did to his OWN countrymen is disgusting and uncalled for. If you think he's a hero, your views are twisted.
This isn't a Revan case where he's choosing the more optimal path even if it's morally wrong. He consistently chooses options that lead to a weaker Ferelden directly from his inept decisions.
And while that Marriage would have been diplomatic (they hadn't divorced yet, 0 idea where you get your information from),
Anora had YET to produce an heir. The agreement to marry into Orlesian to also produce an heir was another reason.
And I think it's funny you think Orlais could do that, with Loghain and Arl Eamon there to easily help him spot these things if needed.
Loghain let the past cloud his judgements, and not the now and what was happening.
@@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken my bad, not divorced yet, but as David Guider mentioned in one of his interview, Cailan was planning to divorce that bitch, in order to marry Celine for political reasons (making permanent peace between the two lands and that sort of shits) which was probably set up by Orlasians noble to take back Ferelden under their rule. In my opinion Cailan is not really a good ruler. He's just like Alistair tbh, naive and easy to be manipulated
"After redoing the whole landsmeet, we win the duel with a little bit of blood magic"
-The Hero of Ferelden
Frankly, Dragon Age has all the marking that can go further as a show than Game of Thrones.
The first game by itself can support several seasons. You can have all 6 Origins as canon and scatter all of them on personal quest of their own, having their path crossed here and there.
The only thing that scares me is how awful they usually turn video games into movies/shows. If I had absolute faith that they would do it justice I would love the idea.
There are plenty story points that DA took from ASOIAF. Grey Warden = Night's Watch, Alistair = Jon Snow, Loghain = Tywin.
But what surprises me most was the other way around. There are places where GOT copied Dragon Age. The first episode of Game of Thrones, Bran scene watching the King arrival on the roof directly mimicked a kid sitting on the roof watching Arl Howe arrival in Dragon Age. That Bran scene doesn't exist in the books.
And Alistair = Jon Snow correlation was made before Jon Snow parental reveal.
@@araisikewai Well it's a great story and I am glad it inspired good scenes. R.R. Martin doesn't really look like a gamer to me so he probably never played DAO. Some younger people working for HBO might've gotten inspiration from the game and added details into the script.
It's also cool that they reference a few things from the series before the show even came out like oathkeeper and ser pounce as anders cat in awakening.
@@BofaDee33 Martin doesn't look like anything but a fat slob to me.
Tried reading the 1st book. Thought it was garbage
It is fitting Logain is the final companion you can have during a psychopathic playthrough.
Interestingly, Leliana might still be "dead" in Dragon Age Inquisition if you do this. While I've never done it, apparently her epilogue in Inquisition (or after the last DLC or something) if you killed her in Origins indicates she was a spirit the whole time.
I guess that explains how she came back if you explode or absorb her corpse.
There was a *fuckton* of -plot crystal- lyrium under that mountain.
- Wait, she was a spirit all along?
- Always has been.
Leliana also gives a cryptic handwave about her DAO death in both a DA2 dlc and the base game of DAI.
I saw that epilogue in someones video and didn't know what they were talking about or how they got it, they didn't mention killing her in DAO. I never have myself so never saw it, but now it makes sense. Though the person making the video seemed to love her so its weird that they wouldn't have mentioned something like that.
Spoiler: Leliana doesn't really come back. If you play Trespasser, you learn that it was a fade spirit impersonating her, the same way that fade spirit did to the Divine.
Are you for real!? I was just about to ask what the in-game logic was for her returning if she died in DAO.
Leliana was actually a lyrium ghost in that game if you killed her.
If you kill her in DA1 or she makes suicide she will be a spirit. If you saved her she is a normal person.
So, my warden just bang a ghost?
@@TheReptain I'm sorry, "nakes suicide"??
Honestly I think Belen is one of the best writing in Dragon Age.
A total scumbag, but supporting him actually helps your cause so much more than going against him.
He's that scheming dictator that work for the greater good, mainly because it's a good image on him.
Yes, he is definitly an amazing character. You have to admit, that he knows to play the treacherous dwarfen game of politics extremly well. Kill or get killed. He is a scumbug because he wants to survive in this game, since if you play a dwarfen noble, it´s not absurd, that you could plot to kill your older brother and blame Bhelen. A charismatic, clever and ambitious scumbag, but he has ideals and a goals, all dwarfs benefit from in the end, even his enemies.
And thats why I pick him to be king, it's a better choice for the common dwarf , screw the nobles who think they are better than everyone else let them see how it feels to be on the shit end of the stick...😁
@@whispersinthedark88 Even as a dwarfen noble I would choose Bhelen. Let him have the throne he wanted. He has played well and my dwarf would secretly salute to Bhelens cunning move. Our brother we booth hate is dead and it is a lucky fortune I owe him that I´m free of all dwarfen politics and can become a hero on my own. Becoming a warden created so many chances and I have not much time to think about any revenge. My dwarfe noble would be a progressive person like Bhelen who would´nt hate the castless or the surface dwarf. So it´s not a great loss of pride. She would alwys see the bigger picture.
@@sneakysquirrel7352 also he restores my bastard son's caste so that's nice of him
I forget what Harrowmount does rt after something or other but I remember that he orders the execution of a bunch of innocents at one pt. I remember thinking what the F? I backed you? Wish I had the option to talk him out of that or gut him on the spot.
Can't remember the details
I sooooo wish Bioware would make another game that allows you to be this much of a pos. With each new game they release the harder it is to do pretty much anything like that. It sucks the fun right out of it. Sure, on my first playthrough I like to be the noble hero but you sure as hell know I want to do an asshole run immediately after it.
You can do some evil shit in Jade Empire. Worse than in this game.
Big Dan should probably change his exit to "I play as the evil son is a b*itch so you don't have to". And poor Alistair, the guy literally stepped into a game of thrones episode.
LOL , Alistair should had took charge from beginning or when our Grey Warden offer leadership to him at one point! Alistair had told us no! It is his own fault in putting brand new Grey Warden who he didn’t know one’s history in charge! Poor Alistair didn’t realized all the hints of pure hatred towards humans from my Dalish Elf or Dwarfs when they talked liked fool who led himself to his own death. I do actually adore Alistair yet I am not blind to his purposeful foolishness when murderous Grey Warden had repeatedly say they hate humans in front of himself.
@@pamjarvis2771 I see Alistair as a good person, albeit one who's immature. It's easy to fault him for making it a choice between him and Loghain, but it's the same reason a Dwarf Noble is going to be biased against Behlen no matter how much he ostensibly benefits some portions of Dwarven society in the short run. However I see no sign that Alistair'd even make a decent king. Anora's claim is less than paper-thin but she seems to have a good head on her shoulders while Alistair is too ruled by his passions to make the hard decisions.
This was so hard to watch because I love all of the Dragon Age companions.
Keeping Connor possessed is most definitely the worst option. It'll come back into play briefly in Inquisition.
Also while Bhelen is a total scumbag, he does turn out to be the best option for Orzimar in the end. So siding with Harrowmont isn't necessarily evil but will lead to Orzimar losing prosperity
But I think in one of the inquisition dlc you hear from a dwarf who lives in orzommar, and while I cant recall whay exactly he says the basic is: behlen is a dictator (making his enemies "disappear")
Also as a noble dwarf I didnt give him the crown out of pettiness
@@eranbenzeev627 you hear about it even at the end of Origins, he is a total asshole, but he makes it FAR better then Harrowmont. Establishes Trade & Trust between Dwarves & Humans, helps with armies, etc. IF you destroy the Anvil, he is the best choice out of two.
@@ShadowZeroFlame to be fair, I am replaying origins right now and I played the dwarf commoner... I chose Bhelen without hesitation... my sister will be queen, damnit...
@@AwkwardPain Yeah, Dwarf commoner picks Bhelen 90% of the time. IT'S YOUR FAMILY DAMN IT!
Worst for whom lol. I get to learn blood magic, e'erything's just dandy :)
Morrigan: "Do you still seek my knife?"
Warden: "...Nah, i've got my own."
This playthrough really should have been named "how to be an absolute monster" considering your first real action of the game is to murder a dog
Really he could have just left it behind. Poor dogo
@@whispersinthedark88 RIGHT!? it literally dies to the blight if you do so he went out of his way to murder that dog for no reason
@@sirpotatolord2219 Did you ignore the video title?
@@sirpotatolord2219 eh killing it off then is better than leaving it to the darkspawn
@@aeroga2383 That's actually proof he should have left it, since he is a monster throughout the whole playthrough. Killing it is more of a courtesy at that point.
Killing Morrigan in slow motion is evil. You broke my heart.
right after he sliced hers in half ^^
I actually killed Wynn during my latest playthrough by accident, I agreed with her that we should save everyone up there and everything was fine and dandy. Well, as soon as I mentioned killing the main blood mage she entered that scene and challenged me. Unfortunately, I couldn't let such a challenge stand so I gutted the old crone, that and my last save was before the Fade and screw doing all that again just for Wynn
Yeah, on my first playthrough I sided with the mages but somehow Wynne hated me anyway and I had to kill her pretty early on. I did 2 subsequent playthroughs and in only 1 she survived but I never used her or bothered much with her at all that I can never recall her when I try to remember all the characters in the game lol
@@JayFFAFAlesanaES wow, she was my main healer in my 1st playthrough 🤔
@@UnQuacker I play mage first every time, (except in Kingdoms of Amalur where I respecced as a thief/warrior) so it never bothered me.
@@JayFFAFAlesanaES I played as a mage too, lol. 2 spirit healers is better than 1. Besides, I was more focused on the dps and let Wynn take care of the party
on my first playthrough i sided with the templars. Honestly,i have no idea why,i was playing A BLOOD MAGE and was just "eh,this seems fine",and killed her.
"Did someone replace my fellow Grey Warden with a pit viper?" - Alistair, after having watched the Warden kill everyone 😂
No good man could have a mustache like that
🤣
Bhelen is actually the right choice for the dwarfs, since even if ruthless and a ass, he is a progresive king that will change the caste system, open trade with the humans and so on, making the kingdom prosper. Harrowmont, even if kind of a "good guy", is struck in tradition, he doesnt change anything, he eventually is murdered and the kingdom is stuck in a civil war.
By my count, Lilliana, Zev, Oghern, and Morrigan are the only ones to survive this cursed play through. Morrigan probably survived since she fell through the Eluvian and recovered. She is in Inquisition regardless of her fate in Witch Hunt. As stated in the video, Lilliana survives and is in both 2 and Inquisition but we don’t have a solid answer on how she survives. Oghern is met in Awakening, claims that he woke up with a monster hangover the morning after and wants to join the Wardens, water under the bridge I guess. Zev can meet Hawke in a side quest in 2 if he survives Origin. However, the file transfer system is glitched so that Zev always survives and remembers his time with the Hero of Fereldan fondly. This glitch is similar to the glitch that makes Conrad always say that Shepard pointed a gun to his face, even if he/she did not.
I believe Leliana is a lyrium ghost similar to that guardian of andraste when you try to find the ashes.
That's what's shown in the epilogue of traspasser.
@@ingydegmar2060 Leliana also speaks vaguely about her death while speaking to her in the base game.
Her name is Leliana, not Lilliana. Also, Oghren, not Oghern. Sorry, I'm that guy.
"Ah that bald bitch with a villainous mustache... Betrayed some, killed most of his companions... Including me! Totally someone that I must call a Hero, and remembering that makes my heart warm."
Zevran probably lmao
They did hilariously address the Conrad glitch in ME:3 where he says “Sorry if I said you pointed a gun at my face even though you didn’t.”
To be honest, when I saw this in recommended, I thought it was from 5-6 years ago, just like the other dragon age videos, then I saw "Yesterday"... Imma say I'm not disappointed at all
what an epic game it is. No games nowadays with their dialogue circled choices "bad, good, whatever" can even approach to this masterpiece
This game kinda ruined gaming for me. No other game released after it comes close, there is no other game where the world sucks you in as much as in Origins. This is the only game where I feel like im actually living in the world when playing, a masterpiece. New games has never impressed me after playing Origins honestly.
The Best Leader is the one that Sacrifices his team. . .
Worst you mean
Ah yes i meant the worst
Like Griffith from Berserk
Big Dan: "Let's kill everyone in Dragon Age Origins."
Me: "Nice."
Big Dan: Kills dog.
Me: "And now you have officially taken it too far buddy."
But seriously, I wouldn't even have it as an option if it were up to me. Nobody should kill dogs.
That's a ruf one
Ever tried them? They're amazing
@@mohammadrezapahlavi4578
XD these replies are harsh! equality, I guess?? lol
This is what Inquisition was missing
The absolute *grim* tone where anyone can die and how you could roleplay as a character that's so full of hate thanks to the numerous amount of opportunities to kill characters
Origins was a classic RpG, 25-30 hours tops with multiple dialogue choices/outcomes; Inquisition was an OVERLONG offline MMORPG mess...
To this date I still think DAI only received a Mature rating because of the nudity and language. In every other aspect it was so toned down from the setting Origins, and even DA2, established.
@@jjrj8568sold double btw
In the words of Evil Abed: "This is the darkest most terrible timeline"
I laughed so much when you could only choose Loghain to come with you for the Battle of Denerim. It was the cutscene to the party choice with the two drumming sounds, like the game was entering the joke of the situation for you :D
NOOOOOOOO, no one should be allowed to kill the dog! ಥ_ಥ
Psychopath Shepard: 'Except me!'
Cry
In real life there are actually people who do this. Insane
im pretty sure you can just ignore sten and leliana, on my first playthrough like 7 years ago i didnt even know they existed and i guess they died when i left
That would a pretty interesting bit of rare dialogue if it exist. 99.99% of people take Leliana with them and in Inquisition there is a lot of dialogue that involves her time with the Hero of Fereldan. Does that dialogue not exist? Is there dialogue that know one even knows about?
@@silentjester4817 She simply doesn't say anything about the warden. The only difference is that she knows Morrigan as a member of Celene's court.
Though it is bugged and she will sometimes talk about travelling with the warden, even though never did.
@@silentjester4817 I should really give inquisition a go. I bought it a couple years ago and have done almost nothing with it. Think I got 2-3 hrs in and never went back for some reason.
@@BofaDee33 I recommend it just for the story. I'd give it a B, good overall. What drags the game down are the side quests, for me. They're quite generic at times. Most of the companions are interesting though.
@@orarinnsnorrason4614 I think it was the sheer size of the game that stopped me. Like I got in made it to a camp then had like no idea what I was supposed to do after that. It was slightly confusing maybe I'm wrong about it been awhile since I've looked at it but I remember feeling lost.
God the Alistair one hurt. He's not my favorite but he's a close aecond. He felt like a consistent friend in the game.
If you don't want to be Mary Sue he's pretty annoying though, Sten/Loghain are funnier.
@@Romanus_MatthaeusStrongly disagree, Alistair is charming and is incredibly noble despite his horrible upbringing. He deserves all the love and to be a little whiny sometimes!
@@Brittanysplittany I just don't like his background and his constant whining about that, it's not soldier-like behavior in-mission. Literal wuss
Lol The Legend Big Dan I laugh because I remember why the dwarf is naked when you fight him. For some reason he wiped the floor with you even with your dirty blood magic and back handed ways. However it was of course all in the name of science and because of it humanity as a whole has grown and become more knowledgeable. I actually never played DAO this way so I had absolutely no idea you could kill off your entire party. For some reason DAO doesn't really feel like a game to be played full renegade like the ME trilogy. I've disagreed with a few party members, had a few die or killed but generally most of the party survives. It really is amazing how much freedom to role play BioWare used to give us. Such a great company and a sad story. Keep up the legendary good work Dan!
Leliana is explained to be a "ghost" made from the pure lyrium veins in Haven. Not the best writing, but at least is an explanation.
They need to remaster DA:O
I got lost in DAO for probably 2 years and i played it and replayed it over and over. There were so many things to change and see and have happen that were new. It was an amazing experience and I bought the new bundle edition on steam because my old version was on disk that I had lost ages ago but, for some reason every time I try to give it a go I can't. I think the days of turn based rpgs for me died. If they remake it and it's more of an action rpg I'd love it. Not like full action rpg but semi action rpg not sure how it would work but more then the pause start/turn based form the combats in now.
Yeah. Doing the achievements takes a long ass time. But the journey is worth it.
I don't know... currently on a replay and it is perfectly fine. normally the remasters don't do much for me, though.
@@BofaDee33 DAO is not turn based. It's real-time with pause. You never have to pause, thus just don't pause and that is how you get your "full action rpg" experience, whatever that means.
@@BradTheAmerican Yeah that had me confused. I played through DAO right before AC Valhalla came out and even the graphics weren't that bad in comparison. But then again I started on the og Atari and Nintendo so almost anything looks great to me..🤣
“Does the word insane mean anything to you?” -Alistair
i had no idea you could betray Morrigan to the templars!
24:10
the cheering is actually in your head
you big jagoff
This scenario *does* make it easier to pick Hawke in Inquisition!
Easy. Make Hawke just as much of a scumbag
When you kill Lilliana in DAO she is essentially a Ghost from there on out (only ever revealing after DAI Tresspasser). She would be just like Cole
Cole... isn't quite the same. Also, (spoiler) he is canonically responsible for Wynne's real death
@@elisabethenglisch3835 Cole is still precious. And a spirit of mercy. Thedas really needs more of those
Out of all the chaos in this video, Alistair hurt my heart. 😭
Big Dan here making the *real* tough choices for everyone,
lets face it, we’ve all thought of doing this but could never do so.
Did it once but immediately went back to saved game. Kinda like it didn't happen. But I know it did, I know it did...
I’m giving a like for two reasons.
1. Your bravery and dedication to your audience in getting to know how these choices play out.
And 2. The developers’, voice actors, hell, the whole DAO team’s heart into making LITERALLY THE MOST HEART BREAKING, PSYCHOTIC DECISIONS, also possible.
Not because I like them being done in itself, but the level of dedication from all parties.
Thanks for uploading.
I could never bring myself to being anything but a benevolent hero in the game. I appreciate your dedication and mental fortitude for this. Also, love the outro, "Swooping is bad!" 😂
Great video, Dan but I have something to tell you that you might not know. You can actually extend the abilities bar to make it take up the whole bottom of the screen! I found this out on my second playthrough and I thought you should also know since it would help with fights!
Just leaving a reply to make comment more visible.
How do you this? o:
@@beekai6273 Drag the right side of the bar more to the right.
On every new playthrough I start, this is always the first thing I do! Screw this tiny bar! XD
Btw it's a shame how in later games your abilities are so fcking limited, you even have to choose between one ability or other under the same ability tree because you can't fit everything in the bar on DAI
Hearing Alistair heartbroken after the Loghain fight got me cringing hard, despite all the messed up playtroughs i've done the basturd's always been my BRO even more than the dog. Every Bioware game i've played if you have a friend/sidekick I always go "So thats the curent Alistair", same for Garrus damn.....😥.
Love the sidekick character 😅 feels so safe near them
Just goes to show you have to work hard to become completely evil. Dan gladly takes on the job to become the most evil warden ever.
Yes. Also shows the amazing writing as well. So many moral choices, ambiguous and vague ones as well as in choosing between bigger or lesser evil etc. One of the best writing in game history.
i am watching this vid in absolute horror because i never knew you could be this evil or go so far omg i want to play again a super kind run just to scrub the evils you have committed for this! :P also excellent work and thank you!
No matter how many times I play Dragon Age I can never bring myself to kill my companions smh
something something dark side....
LOL , it depends if I have good day or bad day! If bad day to get rid of my bad mood , many will died except romantic partner , my precious doggy who loves me no matter what and best friend! Two guarantees are my dog and Zev who is either love interest or best friend! I can never kill my precious doggy who is unconditional loving, loyal and protector! 🙂🤨😉🤣🥰
@@pamjarvis2771 You romance your dog? What is wrong with you!?
@@BofaDee33 LOL , I am hoping you are joking! That would be sick. I do consider pets family. Dog is one of three characters left in my playthroughs.
@@pamjarvis2771 ya im joking its just the way you said it. Dog elf guy one is romance option leaves a lot of room to poke some fun at you.
I've done such a run long ago and ported it to inquisition.
It was funny how controversial the Hero of Ferelden was. Leliana sure despised him for murdering her.
And Morrigan sure as hell hated the father of her son who also tried to kill her.
The timing of this video was great. I just finished DAO and was looking for interesting content about the game here on YT. Awesome video dude!
Thank you for doing this
I think I'd cry myself to sleep for an entire week if my Grey Warden had to do any of this...
I ended my playthrough with 100 Approval from all party members, married Allistair, besties with Morrigan, saved every single person I could, and took the girls with me to fight the Archdemon, and let Allistair sire the baby
This is genuinely painful to know what could've happened
In my first playthrough of DA:O I didn't even realize Sten and Wynne could join your party. Sten was rude to me so I was like "No I'm not finishing this quest" and left lol. Though Wynne was more me being careless she never struck me as a companion and it was so easy to end up with her dead. I never knew she could join you until years later.
Allistair "Yes, swooping is bad..."
I would very much like to see the aftermath of all these characters being non-existent in the next games.
Alistair: "Naming him a warden will cheapen us all"
*look's at Duncan's history*
Me: "I'm ok with this"
Yeah, this always bothered me about Alistair. The pretentiouness that only people with clean records could join the Wardens. The dwarf commoner was an enforcer for a crime lord, the dwarf noble can kill one of his siblings, the city elf kills a human lord and the mage aided (unknowingly) a secret blood mage. Only the human noble and dalish elf are really innocent victims in their respective plots.
So interestingly... I actually didn't know Dragon Age punished you for leaving Redcliffe once it started... on my first playthrough anyway. I left because I wanted to go to the Dalish to buy some stuff from their shopkeeper and got that cutscene... I immediately reloaded that save.
Dragon Age let you kill all your companions before ME2 made it cool.
"Now, rejoice!" * Everyone is dead*
I'd wager to say that Harrowmont is the worse of the two. Shitbag though he is, Bhelen at least opens trade, relaxes caste restrictions and employs his power well. Harrowmont is...just a really bad leader :p
You misanderstood evreything, Dan. It wasn't the worst playthrough. It simply was the biggest villain plan ever made. That warden is the smartest master mind villan i ever seen.
Short term thinking. He woulda been raped and butchered by a random Darkspawn while traveling the roads. No companions to help, his dieing screams woulda echoed through the quiet lonely trees...
As someone whose played dragon age as every origin, and then replayed mage 2 times and Human noble like 6 times, I’ve never chosen anyone other than Alistair as my king, seeing Alistair at all being betrayed like this is too much for my poor soul
This is the story outcome I would expect from a balding ex-soundcloud rapper.
If I recall correctly, Balen is a scumbag, but an effective one. In the afterstory, He actually makes Dwarven Kingdom great again, while Harrowmont fails. Golems are good for the dwarves as well, without them they get eaten by darkspawns. If they are not eaten by the Chantry first. So basically dwarves can either go amoral or go extinct.
Funny enough, it’s actually better for Orzammar in the long run to put Balen as king 💀 Harrowmont (or whatever his name is) actually leads Orzammar into financial difficulties due to them not advancing and only keeping the “old ways”.
Balen is a dick though.
My god.
I've played enough Dragon Age: Origins that I've actually seen every single one of these deaths and evil decisions before... with the exception of betraying and later killing Morrigan, because I could never do that haha! I love Morrigan far too much.
But damn that's wild to watch all of that in a single playthrough! I didn't know that was even possible, but makes sense. Maker bless DA:O. What an incredible game.
Glad I found your channel! Liked and subbed, mate!
Apparently Oghren survives into Awakening if you kill him in Origins too. Unbelievable bioware, hackery levels of this magnitude shouldn't be possible.
Hahaha yes it's true. I covered that specific incident in a video on what happens if you kill Oghren ua-cam.com/video/3UbZ2HrtPAI/v-deo.html
He basically just handwaves it away and says the death "didn't stick" lol
I actually really like Logain in DAI. He makes a good Warden.
Riordan's "Who will come with you?" followed by the empty character select screen with just Loghain as option is kinda hilarious. "Hmmmmmm, who will I pick, I wonder...."
Question though: If you'd chose to go alone, would Loghain defend the gate alone? Is that possible? Would be kinda epic.
Eamon waking up to everyone he know and loves dead except for his brother: 👁👄👁
The Alistair moment hurts me really deep. Leliana's death too. Geez, but thanks for showing us the worst
The worst part was supporting Anora.
This game needs a current gen remake. One of the best RPGs
Nic achievement! :D I would argue no body, no dead character though, Morrigan probably could have survived that. Not her child though (if she had any). The look in his eyes during the finally deed, felt like real delight of our serial killer.
This actually made me almost cry watching. The 3 that hit me the most is Morrigan leliana and Alistair.
Leliana was my alltime favorite and she was so ecstatic to see such a holy relic. Only for it to be defiled in front of her. I know it's metagaming but knowing how much of a sweetheart she is hurts seeing her die and rot there.
Alistair was with you through it all and sure if you are a complete prick he hates you. But even then sticks with you. Hearing how destroyed he is at the end is too much. Not only is he betrayed but his only real family left that he loved like a brother. But he is left to die and isn't even helped.
Morrigan while I didn't romance her often since I liked leliana. She is a good person deep down. She has her own agenda sure but she never meant you harm. She even saves your ass after all. Seeing her stabbed when she did you no wrong and even tried to save you is painful.
I think perfoming the dark ritual and letting Loghain alive is the worst outocome possible. You left the man who betrayed everyone go unpunished, you had a kid with the soul of an evil old god and you left the menace of Thedas alive (by "menace" i mean the Warden).
Considering Bhelen actually opens up Orzimmar in his ending, it may have been better for an Evil playthrough to pick Harrowmont. Just a minor nitpick. Great video otherwise!
Harrowmount is the 'good' route, though he gets blocked too much to do anything for Orzimmar. So it depends on if you view the state the city ends up in as the "good vs bad" ending or who rules it. That kind of meta knowledge makes the Orzimmar section really interesting.
The beauty of the Dragon Age setting is that a lot of choices aren't that black and white. Yeah, he ends up being the better choice overall, but he wasted no time executing Harrowmont, his family and any and all rivals.
Fun fact: there was originally an option to turn Morrigan over to the templars. It got cut at the last minute to accommodate Witch Hunt, but it was actually left in the game; they just removed the choice that let you do it. There's a simple mod that will restore the choice, including the fully-voiced cutscene.
If your Warden isn't named Baldwin Amell, there will be a riot. It's too perfect.
Also I accidentally left Redcliffe before I helped them defend the town in my first playthrough and I immediately reloaded with a look of horror on my face. Whoops!
Damn. that was painful to watch. Thanks for compiling all this content from the game though. I could never make those choices even knowing its just a game.