1:03:00 as the wise Seargeant Kylon says after you kill an entire ambush in Denerim: Kylon: "And people actually voluntarily attack you? Are they just stupid?"
In fairness to the whole "the only mirror I know about was shattered because darkspawn" it's a reference to the Daelish Elf origin where you find said mirror, but it was corrupted by the darkspawn taint and you get infected because you didn't know better. So Duncan offers to save you by making you a Grey Warden before breaking the mirror so it wouldn't keep spreading the taint
Also the Dalish Elf who romanced Alistair but chose not to go through with Morrigan’s deal was the original canon ending. Then EA decided they wanted sequels thus male human noble was made canon.
@@TheAndrassa then quite frankly that's dumb. Never been a fan of the idea of devs choosing the "cannon path". If your gonna give the player a choice, but then say "ahh but this is the real path". It just makes me question is it actually the cannon path that was decided when it was in development or was it cuz you needed to make lore changes later down the line.
@@gigabytetech5509 Well to answer your question at least about Origins yes female Dalish Elf was decided as the cannon path at the beginning of development, I can’t quite remember if Alistair was decided as the cannon love interest at the start or midway through production. As for why it was changed EA wanted sequels and DG came up with a lot more lore because of it. EA did have their own guidelines to input though which did restrict the writing team a little so it was just easiest to have male human noble be the new canon. Of course why this is easier is only truely explained in the second season of the graphic novels. Where we learn the Theirin bloodline is infused with dragon blood which makes them a battery for the old gods and why it is especially emphasised that Alistair must have a child. It also further explains that he and others of Theirin blood are immune to the calling. Inquisition unfortunately cut out a lot of backstory that is needed to understand why certain characters are doing what they are doing. Like how Morrigan is not only sucking up to empress Celené to provide safe haven for her son but to also stop an invasion of Ferelden. Or how Sten took over the position of Arishok after the one in Kirkwall committed an unsanctioned takeover. Or that one the other reasons Dorian was in Redcliffe was because Tevinter high magisters had been keeping Maric locked up for decades draining his blood in the hopes of using it to power themselves up and that he felt guilty that his father was involved. But they might correct these things with the next game being set in Tevinter. But they might fix some of these issues in the upcoming fourth game.
For Shale, keep in mind that she was designed before the game released and there were still references to her in the pre-DLC code. She was striped out to sell later and that is why she fits into the main story well, she was initially a part of it.
For me, one of the best "feels" moments happens when you take Shale into the Deep Roads (base game). When you go to make a rubbing of the inscription at the Anvil, and find Shale's name name on in the list. I don't know why, but it hits me pretty solidly.
That is not exactly true according to Mark Darrah. It wasn't ready for the launch but they finished it shortly after the launch. Also, EA saw an opportunity to still get Shale into the game by selling her as a DLC in order to keep getting money out of DAO.
@@oldmangimp2468 whole that moment is great I never get it, most of my Wardens side with Branka over Caridin meaning I have to kill Shale or not bring her, I never bring her as a result No it's not just for the anvil of the void, I can't see any warden just telling the assembly "yeah we found this centuries old lump of steel that used to be a paragon, he made a crown for you :)" and having them just shrug and say ok. Branka just makes more sense, especially if you want the anvil but also if you want to redeem her
From what I remember, Shale's line about getting chipped down because of the wizard's wife was a joke/reference to how the developers had shrink Shale because it was too big for doorways. Shale was originally supposed to be as big as the other golems seen in the game. I also remember hearing that Shale was supposed to come with the base game but was chopped off to be sold as DLC.
Caridin has a whole thing with Shale where they used to be friends before she became a golem, and she will turn against you if you side with Branka, forcing you to kill her. Also the idea of her being conscious while under the control of the rod is terrifying for it’s implications cuz that would mean all the golems you fight in the deep roads are also conscious, just ordered to guard wherever they are so they can’t make their own choices.
@@tramiel3057 Not if she's in your party, as far as I'm aware, but if you don't have her in your party and you talk to her afterwards, you can talk to her about it and avoid her leaving the party if you withhold information, IIRC.
If memory serves you can save everything in Awakening; you need to do all the companion quests, do all the keep and soldier upgrades and leave Nate, Anders, and Oghren to defend it and take Velana, Sigrun, and Justice with you. That way, you save Amaranthine, and the keep gets defended. Also I regarded Oghren here as a better written character than in the base game, more like a killer, who know what he is, but does try to be something else and fails and is torn between what he is and what he maybe would want to be, as opposed to a drunk comic relief from the base game. Anyway solid work as always man, thank you.
you only have to do all keep and soilder upgrade quests to save the both and don't leave Nate to defend. the epilouge will tell you he survives but the codex and in DA2 he will be dead. so you have to bring him with you to defeat Mother to have him live
Your companion setup for the end works for Awakening on its own, but if you intend to import into DA2, I would leave Justice and take Nathaniel. It makes sense to pair Anders and Justice together at the keep, given events prior to DA2, and as mentioned Nathaniel's got a weird case of his epilogue differing from his import flags.
The human noble origin has a really interesting dynamic with Nathaniel. Howe murdered your family and you murdered Howe in revenge. Now faced with his son you have to deal with the consequences of your vengeance and the relationship starts off really hostile with some really interesting dialogue, but eventually an understanding is reached and it’s really cool to see.
Indeed. Played a female human noble in my first run. The interaction between Cousland and Nathaniel was perfect. I was a staunch Cousland/Alistair shipper, but give me Cousland/Nathaniel any day! But really, even if playing a male character, I would have loved the interaction between Cousland and Nathaniel. After having grown up together, those two characters have a lot of tension to go through.
The look and the short nod you and the son exchange with each other in the cut scene where you walk away from the corpse of the final boss kinda says it all.
I was a Warden who did the ritual with Morrigan after romancing her, and in Witch Hunt I managed to convince Morrigan to let me go with her and our child together through the mirror, and my Warden ending is essentially me just disappearing with her after ending the blight and killing the Architect, and honestly I kind of like that. I found it a Mysterious, but satisfying ending
Same here. Would have been nice to see my Warden with Morrigan when we meet her in Inquisition, but I'm glad she mentions him when the Inquisitor asks about her past.
I always wanted that ending. When finishing the vanilla game, she just took off with the kid. In the end, Alistair asked me what I plan to do and I selected that I want to go after her. I never managed to play her dlc unfortunately...
@@GuessWho7197 It's also cool that by doing that with the Warden, they manage to avoid what happens to the rest of the Wardens during the events of Inquisition. :D
Dude I love Shale so much, she’s such an amazing character. Also leaving her behind for the final fight is fun cuz you can set her up behind the door of the main gates and benefit from her stationary buffs with the rest of your companions
Not to mention, if you leave her to fight at the door she tells you "Have fun storming the castle," which is a Princess Bride reference. I love Origins.
Oh, and her "Best Ending" slide is great. Basically it details that her and Wynne become good friends, and together find some manner of method to put Shale's soul back into a dwarf's. It also says that people tell stories about an angry dwarven woman, living in the mountains who hates all forms of birds. Also, if you got that ending and talk to Wynne in Awakening, you can ask after Shale, too.
@@forthemysterians7630 If we're gonna be completely technical, Shale has no gender as a golem, but is still derived specifically from a female dwarf. Meaning that while they don't have an assigned gender, they can be most easily referred as being female still.
Oh man this couldn't have dropped at a better time. I'm just about to lay down for a nap and I love listening to Salt get snarky as I drift off to sleep.
@@GearShotgun Correct :) Of course I also do that to absolutely insane things...like dougdoug streams. If I had dreams, they would be absolutely insane XD
The character design in Awakening is absolutely insane. I mean the Darkspawn, Brood Mother, and the Architect are some of the most badass looking characters in the whole series.
There is one ending you missed in Witch Hunt. If you were in a relationship with Morrigan, you can actually decided to go with her and this ending will be mentioned in Dragon Age Inquisition.
@@werewolflover8893 the default world state is literally where it isn't mentioned though, since it doesn't carry over your choices? You have to import your own world state with the keep, default world state doesn't matter for this.
@@werewolflover8893 no she wont. In the default world state the Warden was a Female Dalish that died killing the Archdemon, you need to import your choices into the keep
Justice doesn’t just “show up” in the sequel, him and Anders basically merge together, and Anders issues warp Justice from a spirit of justice into a spirit of vengeance. He’s a big reason Anders does his actions in the sequel
Yeah, but you only ever interact with Justice himself really in that one side mission about Feynriel if you choose to have Anders in your party when going into the Fade. Otherwise you're only ever really interacting with the new being that is Anders and Justice merged.
@@jchart I wouldn't necessarily consider them a new being. That's just cope coming from Anders. He is clearly out of control. Anders' hatred of the circle, chantry, and templars and need for freedom basically twists Justice's nature until he forgets where Anders started and he begins. Much like how human emotions twist spirits into Demons, Justice is twisted into Vengeance. THAT is the new entity, but it's influence over Anders is clearly the product of possession. Ironically it's just another cage trapping Anders in his own bottled up feelings. It could be worse. Justice was noble, and Anders was a good person at heart, and that's probably the only reason why he doesn't just go full abomination. But in Kirkwall, a city that seems to be literally designed to empower blood magic and madness, their good natures never had a chance of winning.
@@djdaem0nplays I disagree. Anders is essentially "Wynne gone wrong". While the Fade spirit in Wynne was essentially docile, Justice has been shown to be an active being, so merging with Anders would have a profound effect on both. For all of Ander's bad decisions he understood that blood for blood was not the way, hence his hesitant attitude about the Libertarian party splitting off. When the two merged Justice of course inherented the hatred of the Circle and the Chantry for their injustices from Anders and Anders started acting more violent as Justice compelled him to act. Overtime this created Venegance.
Having Sigrun be a rogue tank is hilarious. The Legion Scout subclass is high key insanely broken if you also have her be a duelist. Also since I’m talking about rogues, bows are absolutely broken in the dlc. The damage gets to the point where it scales purely on the amount of dex and cunning you have, to ludicrous degrees, and you can literally get crits on your crits. I have seen Nathaniel hit for nearly 1000 damage before. That’s absolutely insane
I'm doing a playthrough with a dalish archer through awakening rn and i can go through the game without having anyone in my party. Rogues are such a broken class in Awakening
That was my first build. I discover it by accident but I finished the entire campaign on insanity without issues. Even the harvester died on my first attempt.
Arcane Warrior/Bloodmage is the most OP combo I found. If you build it right you don't even have to fight anything. You just walk around and stuff dies around you. Companions are completely optional. It's pretty great.
Yeah, I didn't have anything to do for the next 2 hours anyways. I do have a comment, though. At 9:55 you say your party keeps attacking the enemy forces and you need to change their tactics. If you press one of the buttons below your characters at the top left, your party won't move. I had to find this out the hard way when my party didn't do anything after I accidentally pressed that button.
I usually play a Mage so i had to learn that fast, since big AOE Spells like Grease Fire or Storm of the Century can wreck your Party pretty fast if they walk in and try to fight the Enemy there
Also in terms of his weapons disappearing. You can have two weapon sets equipped at the same time. Just click on the little sword icons at the top left of the inventory menu to switch them out.
Encountering Velana (I don’t remember how it’s spelled) as a Dalish is actually really cool cuz she literally acts completely differently. She’s pretty respectful and almost grateful to see you, as she hasn’t been with her people for so long
I wasn’t sure if I remembered that right. Glad to hear it is though. I was an elf in 1 and 3 and really appreciate the way they are fleshed out especially in 3.
I firmly believe that playing as a Dalish in 1 and 3 is the “canon” race for them. The base game of Origins was probably originally intended for a human noble rogue since that has a lot more connection with Howe and stuff, but the dlc favor Dalish heavily. And I don’t need to tell people that a Dalish Mage is by far the most fleshed out character in Inquisition, specifically if you romance Solas
@@Aerowarrier Actually Dalish female rouge who romances Alistair but refuses Morrigan’s deal was the original canon. It only changed to male human warrior noble who romances Morrigan when EA decided they wanted to do sequels. As for Inquisition the canon is female Qunari from what the devs have said.
@@TheAndrassa that just don’t sound right tbh. Human Noble has a lot more connections with the main storyline of Origins. And romancing Solas has such a huge effect on things it’s weird not to have that be canon
@@Aerowarrier Dalish female who biffs it was confirmed by head writer David Gaider himself. He mentioned in several interviews how he was sad he had to make the make human noble the new cannon after EA green lit DA2. As for Inquisition it’s literally confirmed by by the dev interviews in the special interviews they did for game guide for Inquisition.
While I may not always agree with your opinion, I really do appreciate the way you structure your videos and give me viewpoints that differ from my own, but are well supported and I can see your side. Sometimes you even manage to bring me over to your way of viewing an aspect of something. All in all, I'm just trying to say that I enjoy your videos. :)
In my opinion, that is the way any debate should go :) I realize there is no back and forth, but even without that he still changed your opinion (regardless of "right or wrong"), and that is fantastic: that you approach with at least a fairly open mind, and that his argument was built well enough to be able to sway someone on the opposite side. As you can tell, irl I really enjoy good-hearted debate :)
@@amsgamingandmusic 100% agreed - I'm not sure why so many choose to believe that a debate is a competition, and you lose if you can't convince the other party. And a large subsection of them couldn't imagine associating with someone that doesn't share and validates their opinions. But hey, to each their own. Personally I get very uncomfortable in unconditional echo chambers.
With Return to Ostagar I think the implication is that Cailan gave the key to the soldier after the tide turned, he was dumb, but not so dumb that he couldn't recognize things weren't looking good. Also, the DLC is much better with Loghain and Wynne; they argue harshly about whether Cailan was a fool or not, and Loghain fleshes out his decision much more. He's particularly livid that Cailan appeared to be cheating on Anora with Empress Celene of Orlais.
Huh. I've played Origins for years but it never occurred to me to bring Loghain back to Ostagar ... I will try that. I just started an "I hate you all" playthrough so that should work.
You ran into a bug at 58:00 you were suposed to lose your inventory too but some character builds causes the bug wich lets you keep your inventory. You were supposed to beat the first group with your fists and salvage the tainted equipments of each darkspawn group until you can recover your partys item sets with each beaten experiment. Your inventory should be stored right at the end in the chest next to the merchant before the dragon fight. Its a nice concept and would be really intriging if the Segment would be much longer and without the bug.
I actually lost my characters gear due to a bug. The thing that was supposed to wear my stuff, couldn't because of the high stats, and thus it vanished into space. So i had to buy myself new equipment lol.
@@LynxStarAuto It always struck me weird that Oghren is willing to flirt with any kinds of female except your female warden. As if he was afraid or something.
Justice's relationship with Anders is a pretty damn important part of Dragon Age 2, just maybe not how you would expect. Also, if you romanced Morrigan you can go through the mirror with her.
@@adeptdamage3669 Big disagree. The writing was easily the highlight compared to the repetitive environments, confined world, and lackluster combat system.
@@khinzaw77 I agree with you, DA2 was such a letdown. How do you feel about Inquisition? To me it was constantly teasing that things might get good down the line, except they never really did. Everything felt simplified to the point of being laughable. Clearing up the entire Mage vs, Chantry Civil War in just one Quest was the perfect embodiment of that; No Splinter Groups, no Extremists that complicate Negotiations on both sides (Actually no negotiations at all), no real repercussions to a devastating uprising and honestly no real thought being put into the whole conflict in itself. The biggest downfall of Inquisitions writing in my opinion is that they felt forced to clear up as many plot threads as possible in one single game which just lead to all of them feeling rushed and underdeveloped.
He mentioned he was disappointed that no one mentioned you have a golum but there a dude in orzimmar who literally does this and tries to persuade you into giving it to him.
@@JimmyMon666 Its the same thing as another quest with Leliana, or another with Wynne, or another with Alistair. I like that it gives you a choice and consequence
For what it's worth, there actually is a little bit more content from Warden's Keep that you missed. It was intended to be played early in the playthrough, and provides a secure "home base" for you for the rest of the game. Some of the 'content' comes from that (but that's mostly QoL stuff like a storage box and some easier access to certain merchant types and stuff, and I feel like it's pretty scummy to make people pay for fixes to the dev's bad design decisions in the first place). But there are also a few random encounters that you can get after you finish the main DLC story, which lead into their own little quests, like a quest to forge a super fancy weapon and stuff.
Wardens keep is the only way to get a personal storage chest in the game and sometimes when you put stuff in the chest they'll level up when you leave them by itself
Having all of your equipment in Awakening after being abducted is definitely a bug. I mostly played on console, so I can't speak to PC, but I never had all of my gear. It was in a chest next to the qunari merchant
@@onnashinkan2702 Yeah that was so frustrating. I only made a quick save right before that dungeon, and then wrote over it before I realized my gear was bugged and gone. My last real save was from hours and hours ago, so I ended up just cheating to gain my gold and armor back. That moment really ruined the game for me.
One of my favourite lines from Dragon Age in general comes from Awakening and that's when Oghren sees the experiment wearing his stuff "no one touches Oghren's junk and lives"
Salt not capturing the Howe joke by Anders is disappointing Anders: So you're a Howe? Nathaniels: Do you have point mage ? Anders : Hey I'm fond of the Howes, I'm also fond of the why's, who's and the whats. Nathaniel : (sarcastic tone) How clever.
Some little fun facts about the content of these DLC (incoming wall of text) : - During Leliana's Song, when you're escaping from the prison you also find and free a named female elf (Adaia) which is supposed to be the mother of the city elf player character - Darkspawn Chronicles happen in the case of the player character not surviving the joining and Alistair having to be the main character and make some questionable choices (keeping the golems and siding with the werewolves 😂 ) - In the Warden's Keep, if you play as human noble, Avernus tells you that one of your ancestors was opposing the king and was a potential ally of the wardens during their coup. - Doing the deep roads with Shale is a whole lot different, especially when you meet Caridin, she also automatically side with him and becomes hostile if you side with Branka - Return to Ostagar have a whole lot different dialogues if you brought Loghain with you and he have some very interesting dialogues, especially when you find the letters and how to deal with Cailan's corpse. The dog also react to some parts of the area and if you didn't bother getting it in the base game, you'll find him here and can decide to either keep him or let him go free. Awakening has to be my favorite part of the game, the atmosphere and the gameplay with the expanded specs are just so good. The story is also much more well structured compared to Origins in term of Darkspawn and how to fight them. Too bad it's shorter than DA:O and also very, buggy because a lot of content doesn't work properly unless you use mods to fix them (Sigrun side quest, some gear you can't get among many). And it has the best antagonist in the Dragon Age series imo, the Architect is so interesting and fascinating and it's a real shame they just shoved him off and didn't bother expanding on him, even more when we had Corypheus twice in the sequels. There's an interesting interaction that I found in subsquent playthroughs with Oghren, if you recruited him early and took him with you in the mage tower questline he'll freak out when you find him in the fade later on (since dwarves aren't supposed to do magic and dream) and during Awakening, if he's with you when you enter the fade again, he'll remember it from Origins and comment on how he doesn't like how it feels because it's so unatural for dwarves to be there. There are also so much stuff from Origins that are well transfered depending on your character's origin : If the warden is human noble, the interactions with Nathaniel Howe are one of the best and you can also remind his sister that you were supposed to get an arranged marriage. If the warden if dalish elf, Velanna will recognize you and be friendlier with you compared to other origins. If the warden is dwarf commoner, Sigrun will recognize you from the slums of Orzammar (don't remember anything if dwarf noble) If the warden is mage, Anders will recognize you from the mage tower. As for the Witch Hunt DLC, there are some nice details that I especially like : If the warden is dalish, Ariane will aknowledge you as a fellow dalish and be more friendly. The dlc also gives some closure to a dalish warden, going back where it all began and discovering the true nature and secrets of the Eluvians. Dalish warden commander will also be mentioned a lot in DA2 during many dialogues through Anders and Merrill. If you romanced Morrigan and kept the ring she offered you in Origins equiped, there will be a cutscene where Ariane will ask you why you keep looking at it and if you tell her it was Morrigan's gift, she'll ask if you were married. Morrigan's interactions at the end are also very touching if she was romanced. Though this dlc is good imo, it's also very short and could have been a little more expanded. The ending especially is a big cliffhanger and cuts abruptly only to be really resolved in Inquisition. TLDR : I just love exploring the details of DA:O and its DLC content compared to the sequels, the general ambience and atmosphere is what hooked me to this franchise, I would liked if they continued with the dark fantasy setting rather than the high fantasy we got now Thank you for this video and for rediscovering what this games were, it reminded me why I loved it so much despite its clunkyness and many bugs and optimization problems 😅😆
@@ZrodyApo “mehh” is to kind in my opinion. I remember how the developers talked about “going back to the roots of the series”, how they would focus on dialogue, story and tactical combat again, how they had learned from their mistakes (DA2). Then the game came out. I played it, and my disappointment was immeasurable. Dumbed down dialogue with illusion of choice, NO way of doing an evil playthrought, an empty open world for the sake of having an open world, same combat system as DA2, no origin stories for your character &c. Man, I was mad.
When Awakening came out it felt less buggy (I don't think I've encountered any bugs). Later updates and "fixes" made it worse and now I need to use community mods and tips to fix it myself.
The Witch Hunt DLC is Bioware`s way of informing us that the Morrigan romance is the superior one. Also, glad I got to see Anders in awakening one more time before *the incident* in the dragon age 2.
Nah, it is to give closure if you pick her. I mean she barely is part of it outside chasing her then making her leave. Imo Bioware knew Liliana is the best and most romanced one, which is actually true, why they give you DLC to play her. Plus I always saw Witch Hunt also to show Dalish Wardens are maybe the most likely canon one, and give closure to them
@@omnipotiscience7251 that's irrelevant to what is the best romance lmao. That's like saying Anders is the best character because he is a companion in 2 games. Its a nonsense argument.
Unfortunately, a lot of Justice's more nuanced character development happens in dialogue with your companions - which is obviously missable. It's a real pity, because while Justice isn't my favourite character, I really like his development. He starts out as a very one-dimensional character and I believe we're meant to initially think that spirits of the Fade are truly, objectively the idea that they portray. However, Anders especially delves into what separates spirits from demons (their desires corrupt them, supposedly), with Justice doth protesting too much about how he has no desires. We grow to realise that there is actually nothing intrinsically different between spirits and demons - some just get corrupted and turn 'bad', while others do not. The virtue they carry is not an 'objective', always-correct expression, but merely the spirits' own interpretation of it. Later, Nathaniel brings up possessing a different body, dead or alive - to which Justice recoils in horror, initially. When they talk again, Nathaniel says it could be a mutually beneficial act, or even an act of kindness and mercy - like in Wynne's case - and Justice is drawn to the idea. Velanna gets Justice to admit that he could leave the body if he wanted to - though he's not certain if he would be drawn back to the Fade or remain listless in this world, and he admits he doesn't know if he wants to leave anymore. He agrees that this world has beauty in it and that he has had experiences he never even knew about. Sigrun talks to Justice about death and how spirits can be slain in our world, which disturbs Justice. In a way that completely fits Oghren, through his dialogue we learn some funny haha farts allusions that actually still illuminate how the process of possessing a dead body works. He tries alcohol and can taste it, and he pretends to not know what Oghren is talking about with regards to controlling his body, sex and bodily functions - implying all of that is present, too. Most importantly, Justice admits that he has Kristoff's memories. And there is a small throwaway line by Justice when talking about Kristoff's wife Aura that he has love for her and she has become important to him - whether purely because of the memories he has or because they have grown into something else through his own experiences. And so through every companion's dialogue we are introduced to the two main backstory elements of Anders/Vengeance - consensual merging of a living host with a spirit and the possibility of their corruption. We see Justice grow from a cardboard cutout of an idea into an actual nuanced, fallible character, and I feel like it sets the stage for their eventual corruption soo well! He also prods Anders about his inactivity with helping other mages. I don't think it was Anders' traumas poisoning Justice as much as it was a vicious circle of the sense of justice that uh.. Justice had in him driving Anders to become more radical, and as they simmered in the mistreatment of mages and their misfortunes, it warping their sense of justice into an angry thirst for vengeance. Sorry for the massive wall of text! I'm just really excited to share this with other fans who might have also missed it. It's also really nice to see them setting up the backstory for DA2 already, and it feels like follow-through like that is increasingly rare. Thank you for coming to my TED talk :)
I mean, you can go with Morrigan at the end of Witch Hunt as well; which is really nice and does show up in the later titles if you do the weird decision import thing that Inquisition has
Hope you never stop making videos Salt, I get excited for every single one, even for games I haven’t played. You make my favorite long form game videos on the platform, keep up the fantastic work
When it comes to Justice in DA2, they rolled him into Anders and a lot of Anders changes stem specifically from Justice. Anders in Awakening wouldn't actively fight the chantry to free mages, mostly being fine with escaping on his own and causing problems on purpose, but with Justice, who was becoming a demon called Vengeance, he was influenced to blow up the chantry and start the mage templar war.
What happened in Kirkwall didn't start the Mage Templar war, just added to an already tense situation that's been brewing for years. It was the events in the book Asunder that truly started the war. I agree that the change in Anders is because of Justice, which why I roll my eyes at people who complain that he is different in DA2. The whole demon thing in the end, I call bs. I know they call themselves Vengeance, but sitting down and waiting someone to decided whether you live or die right after destroying the chantry isn't a very demon-y thing to do. It's more of an Anders/Justice thing to do. Acknowledging that they know they crossed the line. I would expect Vengeance to, at the very least, run off and kill some templars. Of course, this part is just my thought.
@@AzraelSoulHunter It's unrealistic to think Anders wouldn't change when he accepted Justice into his body. Justice is named for what he is and embodies it with all his being. Humans are complex beings, full of concepts and ideas that a spirit would attribute to other spirits and demons. Hunger, Rage, Love, Wisdom, Pride, Faith, etc. Justice influence on Anders is only part (a significant part) of why Anders changed. Other part is, Anders wanted to change.
@@sinmajik Doesn't change the fact that writing in DA2 was kind of shit and Anders became more unlikable. The idea MAY have been okay, but it was badly executed and rushed. Like most of DA2.
@@AzraelSoulHunter It certainly needed more time in development. Though, I played DA2 before I played DAO. If I didn't enjoy playing it, I wouldn't have given DAO a chance or given DAI a chance when it was released.
I really like darkspawn chronicles. My favorite part was when you killed a main game party member or npc you'd get a codex entry about how they got there without your character. It also confirmed a fan theory that the blacksmiths assistant was a demon
So Justice is Anders. More specifically, he is the Vengeance that inhabits Anders’ body, twisted by both the events of this dlc and the hatred harbored in Anders’ heart. Meaning one companion is DA2 is two companions in Awakening, which is pretty fun
Yeah I was about to make a similar comment. Justice is always there with Anders in 2 and is a big reason why Anders goes as far as he does. This sounds like I’m taking a lot of agency from Anders himself though.
... her? That's a she? Has an awfully manly voice.... and it literally asks to be referred to as "it" ... doesn't it? The bird hate is pretty great though. Oh. Just reached the point where he says shale was a female dwarf... huh. I like "it" better lol
@@I_am_a_cat_ Yeah, I guess it's a bit of a spoiler for Shales quest in Orzammar. But Shale is a she, or atleast was a she, not sure if you can assign a gender to a sentient rock.
@@I_am_a_cat_ Nah, she sounds like an old woman, to me. But as a golem, I honestly think Shale is more of an "it" than a "she", though. Edited to add: When I last played the game (on PC) I thought it sounded a lot like an old woman, but in this video: sounds male. Weird.
Okay I just want to point this out right now because holy crap did that mage just amatuerly shake his hands off after blasting that darkspawn with fire magic? because i dont think I have actually seen any reaction from casting magic EVER before which to me is fucking awesome! the idea of the magic you wield actually being able to be felt as it leaves you hands and then having prolonged use of it having a potential effect that you can feel as a detriment from your magic is a very interesting concept that often times is completely ignored. and I have to admit I whole heartedly apreciate this minor detail.
A lot of things in Witch hunt are "cooler" if you played the other origin stories The mirror that was corrupted by the darkspawn and the elves living underground? Dalish origin The basement and the statue in the circle of magi? Mage origin Also i really enjoy how if you create a new character for witch hunt, golems and awakening they all have their own backgrounds and stories. Im not sure if its the same person every time, i cant remember but i very much enjoyed it Also if you are a human noble, Howe will tell you how his daughter might be in love with you and when you visit her she will say how she actually hated you withouth noticing you are the same person I dont really agree with a lot of what you said but i respect them, a lot of it i agree with but im just really glad you experianced it all. I cant wait for more content from you and as much as i want to say "i cant wait for dragon age 2" i... still try to pretend most of that game doesnt exist.
I thi k that's the issue with this review of the dlc. The dlc has a different level of effect on your game depending on when you play it, who you use as companions, which origin you chose, what ending you choose. So reviewing it after one random playthrough really isn't effective. Like shale has a lot to do with the deep roads story so if you don't bring her there you miss out on a bunch of dialogue. Witch hunt is more effective if you romance morrigan which makes the entire story out of love instead of just looking for her. The different origins have different effects on the plot of awakening and witch hunt. Wardens keep is much more beneficial if its completed really early. Bringing Wynne and alistair/loghain to ostafar adds a bunch more unique dialogue and depth. Lielianas song has a mich stronger effect if you become close with leliana and complete her side story. These docs arnt really made for one and done playthroughs. They're done to accommodate the rpg world
I want a salt factory companion. "Could've fought harder, but whatever" "I thought that would've been more climactic, but that's how it goes." "Wow this is the best gift ever! When can we stop by a vendor to sell it?"
To your point about Witch Hunt: the story is much more interesting if you played as a Dalish Elf. Everything with the tainted Eluvian ties back into the Dalish Elf Origin, and Finn and Ariane will even talk about your origin unaware that you are to whom they are referring, though you can point out that they're talking about you. It's super interesting. Great video!
Alright, but can we speak in Aura’s defense? This shit happens to Grey Wardens all the time. Have you not been paying attention? How many grey wardens have used blood magic or been possessed by demons, or sent into the fade, or eaten by dragons… I mean, he probably literally told her, “Honey, my job is dangerous. I deal with impossible and mythical stuff on the daily. So if I die in some weird ass way, or something horrific and scarring happens to my corpse, don’t be surprised.” I would if I was a warden.
It is crazy that pirating Bioware games is most of the time a better game experience, less bugs, no feeling of being scammed by a dlc, better performance. Idk what ea is thinking
Salt: “It’s pretty nice that Shale will stop calling you ‘it’, and will instead refer to you as ‘you’.” Also Salt: (Continues to refer to Shale as “it” even after finding out that she was a female dwarf.) 🧐
@@LynxStarAuto in their good Origins ending, Wynne calls her she and says they'll be heading to Tevinter to see about (probably definitely through blood magic, which is way less forbidden there) putting Shayle back into a dwarf body.
The Problems you encountered like the weapon disappearing and having to change tactics is a lack of knowledge of mechanics. Your weapons disappeared because they swapped to their secondary weapons, you just needed to swap them back. You also could have ordered your soldiers to hold position and you wouldn't have needed to swap tactics to passive.
I wonder how many times people have given up on games because of human error on their end rather than genuine issues in the game mechanics. I know I have dropped a few games because I thought they were broken only to come back years later to find I was just inept at playing the game.
@@IsaacClodfelter I think in this case it's that the game never communicates these features. I only know the solutions because I had the very same issue the first time I played Dark Spawn Chronicles.
Thank you, is freaking infuriating seeing someone telling to millions of people that the game has this and that issue/bug when in fact he just fucking sucks at the game and doesn't know how to play it.
Really cool thing about Awakening, the Mother’s death animation changes based on how your character fights. Mages burn her alive, archers shoot her I’m pretty sure, that sorta thing
You actually need to take shale with you when you get the sketch in caridins room. She'll remember the location of their home. It's a bit of a slog but does add a bit to it. Although awakening basically demands a guide to see everything. Not because it's hidden, it's just easy to break basically everything.
Just finished up another playthrough of DA:O and all of its DLC because of your first video. Brought back lots of fond memories playing through it again. Gonna tackle DA:2 next so I hope you play that one as well.
Awakening probably marks the last time Bioware created a full on expansion as opposed to mere DLC. Expansions used to be a thing but haven't for a long time.
Suddenly glad I spent $40 on the UItimate Edition rather than individually on the DLCs. At those price points, I probably would have felt a bit gipped on everything but Awakening, Amgarak, and Shale.
@@mike-7684 DLC is for minor stuff. For example, cosmetics, or a character. An expansion does just that - it expands on the story from the original game. That's at least how it was at the beginning. Nowadays, DLC seems to be used for both expansions and true DLCs.
Keep up the good work man, you’re one of my favorite creators. I listen to videos/podcasts when I work and even to fall asleep to sometimes so I dig the long form content
If you play as a male human noble, Rendon Howe does have a bit more interaction and you have a personal vendetta against him. Also, this opens the door to the Morrigan romance which allows you to walk through the Eluvian (mirror) with her, providing a solid end to the story of the Hero of Ferelden. That sentiment gets a little messy with Inquisition but in my headcanon it ends well.
It's probably already been mentioned, but Justice is inside Anders in DA2. Presumably this occurred after Justice drops off his meat puppet back w/ Ms. Meat Puppet. What they might not have mentioned is that one of the gifts you give Anders in Awakening is a cat that he names Sir Pounce-a-Lot. The cat also get's many a mention in DA2 by Anders/Justice who are quite cross at the rest of the wardens for making him give it up to the local animal shelter.
58:26 You having all your other stuff is a bug, you are supposed to lose everything, get your equipped items back along the way then get everything back near the end.
Awakening was fun as far as I remember, been a super long time since I played it, I play the main campaign every 2-3 years though and I still love it, same with the mass effect trilogy.
Nathaniel is one of my favorite characters in the series, I really love the dialogue you get with him if your warden is a noble human because he knew you before all this happened. Your families were close and you all grew up together so there's that added betrayal feel from the warden and Nathaniel that's awesome. Eventually when he comes to terms with the man his father was, you both seem closer for it. I'd love to have him the next game too. Also....where is Ser Pounce-a-Lot?!?! Please tell me you found him for Anders lol the cat meows are the best!! 😆😺
35:00 Not just 3. If you make it to level... I think it was 28? You can get a 4th specialization. Which is as horrifyingly broken as it sounds for Witch Hunt.
Wondering if you got the cat to give to Anders, his main gift is the adorable ser pounce-a-lot On another note, as I played as the human noble warden, it was fun playing awakening with everyone like "we liked howe" and I responded "he was a bastard that killed my family", with Nathaniel there side eyeing me
@@IamaPERSON hey bud i appreciate it. The long and skinny of it is that due to covid i lost my job and my family is being evicted and right now while watching this im packing our house to go to family while we find something else. Failure feels like shit :/ and the office at our apartment are asses. Nothing like saying heres 5k in freedom dollars and them filing over 2
I loved Justice's character. It almost felt like he was relentlessly loyal because that's what he is, an unchanging stone in a sea of everchanging things. It almost makes you want to try and "break" the machine, see if you can get the overwhelming spirit of justice to change just to realize that its roots are stronger than ever.
There is actually something of a faction difference in Awakening. I dont think its ever stated or pointed out, but you can tell which side the Disciples (the talking Darkspawn) work for by the color of thier scarves. The ones with purple scarves follow the Architect, the ones in red serve the Mother. What's really interesting is the Withered, the Darkspawn who led the attack at the beginning, worked for the Architect. He was actually sent to make contact and attempt to talk to the Grey Wardens. But because Darkspawn are just by nature violent and savage, he didn't seem to quite understand what the Architect wanted. So the Withered decided to attack and kill everyone except the Keep's leader. It's pretty fascinating actually. It almost makes the awakened Darkspawn come across as weirdly innocent.
@@pyromare4879 5. Each Archdemon/Old god has a High Priest. But since 4 blights/arch demons (Counting Urthemiel the archdemon of DAO) happened, only The Architect & Corypheus surfaced the rest are MIA.
@@pyromare4879 More than 2 are confirmed dead, when the darkspawn magisters fled to the deeproads they cannibalized each other. Its unknown how many are left.
9:47 When the reviewer don't know the basic mechanics like hold under the party portraits or that there are 2 set of weapons ... ... you cannot be really confident in his ability 2 give a fair review.
Thats why Salt is gpod at reviewing though, especially games he played in the past. He goes back into them with a fresh perspective on its story and mechanics and figures them out and elaborates as a "new" player
@@ijustmakeinflammatorycomme9839 Forgetting/not knowing basic mechanics and complaining that they are not in the game is just a plain misrepresentation of a game... and not a fresh perspective.
It's never quite explained outright, but there's something somewhere in the dialogue with the Kitty Demon when you side with her and actually ask her about wtf the wizard was doing in there anyway, along with a journal from the wizard. It's hinted that the wizard tried to shove a demon (maybe not Desire, but definitely a demon/spirit) into Shale and the result was "violent". Up to you if you trust Kitty, but I already promised her her freedom and the girl in the character I remember learning more about the wizard's experiments from, so she has hardly any reason to lie to me about the bad deeds of the wizard.
40:52 actually if you prioritized the trade routes then merchants would of had more to sell you. Prioritizing the farms will effect your run in with the mob and the dlc’s ending. Sending your solders to defend all three just spreads them too thin. Edit: oh and since you seem to of liked the court part I should note that it was brought back in dragon age: inquisition
1:07:25 The thing that upset me most about this scene is that the Legion chick didn't even mention that I 1) ignored her advice and went for a full frontal assault and 2) won anyways Figured she'd bring up the fact that I did, casually, what the Legion couldn't.
After the amount of issues you had with the DLC. I recommend using GOG for future oldies. As that's what I bought the ultimate edition (on sale) on and all the DLC worked perfectly. Probably due to no DRM.
regarding cailan knowing the battle was a lost cause. but showing naïve confidence at ostagar before the battle, it's a moral thing, if loghain had actually played his part there was a slim chance of driving the darkspawn back into the tunnels to buy more time for reinforcements to arrive from redcliffe (though them being late when denerim is further from ostegar than redcliffe is makes no sense) and possibly elsewhere. but loghain didn't ambush the darkspawn flank as planned so shit went sideways even faster.
Fun fact! In the climax of Awakening there is a possible bug that marks the Keep as not upgraded enough, which leads to its destruction despite any effort from the player. The only way to avoid your inactive party members’ deaths is to sacrifice the town. Which is very nice and doesn’t ruin player’s impression at all.
your coverage of dragon age is amazing. I loved my play through of all the dragon age games however find it hard to re-play games like this. one day maybe but in the mean time, i've been digging your videos
With regards to the Anders part, I think it's because the Templars see themselves as having authority over the crown rather than that legally or practically being the case.
Golems of Amgarrak was basically the Dragon Age equivalent of bringing your level 20 D&D character, fresh off a campaign, to play a dungeon module. Flimsy story set up as an excuse to run a a dungeon and fight a difficult boss.
YEAHHH i was waiting for this. the dragon age video essay you did was my first time seeing your content. When you said youd be doing the dlc, plus the amazing quality of the essay, it was an easy choice to sub. thanks for the content!
I really liked Justice, so much that I think he is the only Dragon Age character who ever passed a Persuasion Check against me. In the conversation with the Architect I initially wanted to let him live until Justice had his little outburst. So I relented and we killed the Architect giving me like +30 approval with him.
40:25 & 54:00, the making decisions as Warden Commander thing seems like a prototype for what they did in Inquisition, with the war table, and passing judgement on NPCs you meet through the game. I thought that was interesting.
I think the idea of ogran wanting to become a grey warden only after the blight and once the wardens have so much fame in the public eye as saviors is a nice touch
1:03:00 as the wise Seargeant Kylon says after you kill an entire ambush in Denerim:
Kylon: "And people actually voluntarily attack you? Are they just stupid?"
In fairness to the whole "the only mirror I know about was shattered because darkspawn" it's a reference to the Daelish Elf origin where you find said mirror, but it was corrupted by the darkspawn taint and you get infected because you didn't know better. So Duncan offers to save you by making you a Grey Warden before breaking the mirror so it wouldn't keep spreading the taint
Also the Dalish Elf who romanced Alistair but chose not to go through with Morrigan’s deal was the original canon ending. Then EA decided they wanted sequels thus male human noble was made canon.
@@TheAndrassa as far as I'm aware there has never been a confirmation of the "cannon" ending.
@@gigabytetech5509 It has been several times in interviews with head writer David Gaider.
@@TheAndrassa then quite frankly that's dumb. Never been a fan of the idea of devs choosing the "cannon path". If your gonna give the player a choice, but then say "ahh but this is the real path". It just makes me question is it actually the cannon path that was decided when it was in development or was it cuz you needed to make lore changes later down the line.
@@gigabytetech5509 Well to answer your question at least about Origins yes female Dalish Elf was decided as the cannon path at the beginning of development, I can’t quite remember if Alistair was decided as the cannon love interest at the start or midway through production. As for why it was changed EA wanted sequels and DG came up with a lot more lore because of it. EA did have their own guidelines to input though which did restrict the writing team a little so it was just easiest to have male human noble be the new canon. Of course why this is easier is only truely explained in the second season of the graphic novels. Where we learn the Theirin bloodline is infused with dragon blood which makes them a battery for the old gods and why it is especially emphasised that Alistair must have a child. It also further explains that he and others of Theirin blood are immune to the calling. Inquisition unfortunately cut out a lot of backstory that is needed to understand why certain characters are doing what they are doing. Like how Morrigan is not only sucking up to empress Celené to provide safe haven for her son but to also stop an invasion of Ferelden. Or how Sten took over the position of Arishok after the one in Kirkwall committed an unsanctioned takeover. Or that one the other reasons Dorian was in Redcliffe was because Tevinter high magisters had been keeping Maric locked up for decades draining his blood in the hopes of using it to power themselves up and that he felt guilty that his father was involved. But they might correct these things with the next game being set in Tevinter. But they might fix some of these issues in the upcoming fourth game.
For Shale, keep in mind that she was designed before the game released and there were still references to her in the pre-DLC code. She was striped out to sell later and that is why she fits into the main story well, she was initially a part of it.
Just like Javik in Mass Effect 3...though the entirety of Dragon Age wasn't rewritten to accommodate Shale's removal, as ME3 was with the Prothean.
For me, one of the best "feels" moments happens when you take Shale into the Deep Roads (base game). When you go to make a rubbing of the inscription at the Anvil, and find Shale's name name on in the list. I don't know why, but it hits me pretty solidly.
That is not exactly true according to Mark Darrah. It wasn't ready for the launch but they finished it shortly after the launch. Also, EA saw an opportunity to still get Shale into the game by selling her as a DLC in order to keep getting money out of DAO.
@@oldmangimp2468 whole that moment is great I never get it, most of my Wardens side with Branka over Caridin meaning I have to kill Shale or not bring her, I never bring her as a result
No it's not just for the anvil of the void, I can't see any warden just telling the assembly "yeah we found this centuries old lump of steel that used to be a paragon, he made a crown for you :)" and having them just shrug and say ok.
Branka just makes more sense, especially if you want the anvil but also if you want to redeem her
That’s me with all podcasts I listen to
From what I remember, Shale's line about getting chipped down because of the wizard's wife was a joke/reference to how the developers had shrink Shale because it was too big for doorways. Shale was originally supposed to be as big as the other golems seen in the game. I also remember hearing that Shale was supposed to come with the base game but was chopped off to be sold as DLC.
Yeah, Shale was originally going to be recruited in Redcliffe, going by the unused audio from Murdock.
Shayle has that in common with Javik from Mass Effect
Shale was given as a free code in new copies of the game. I think it was ea’s little scheme to discourage buying used games.
@@lovechafesIt was a decently common practice at the time. Rocksteady did the same with Catwoman in Arkham City
Caridin has a whole thing with Shale where they used to be friends before she became a golem, and she will turn against you if you side with Branka, forcing you to kill her. Also the idea of her being conscious while under the control of the rod is terrifying for it’s implications cuz that would mean all the golems you fight in the deep roads are also conscious, just ordered to guard wherever they are so they can’t make their own choices.
Can't you talk her into siding with Branka? I remember doing that
@@tramiel3057 Not if she's in your party, as far as I'm aware, but if you don't have her in your party and you talk to her afterwards, you can talk to her about it and avoid her leaving the party if you withhold information, IIRC.
If memory serves you can save everything in Awakening; you need to do all the companion quests, do all the keep and soldier upgrades and leave Nate, Anders, and Oghren to defend it and take Velana, Sigrun, and Justice with you. That way, you save Amaranthine, and the keep gets defended. Also I regarded Oghren here as a better written character than in the base game, more like a killer, who know what he is, but does try to be something else and fails and is torn between what he is and what he maybe would want to be, as opposed to a drunk comic relief from the base game. Anyway solid work as always man, thank you.
you only have to do all keep and soilder upgrade quests to save the both
and don't leave Nate to defend. the epilouge will tell you he survives but the codex and in DA2 he will be dead. so you have to bring him with you to defeat Mother to have him live
@@coolkumla you should always have Nate with you anyway, by far the best party member in the DLC
Your companion setup for the end works for Awakening on its own, but if you intend to import into DA2, I would leave Justice and take Nathaniel. It makes sense to pair Anders and Justice together at the keep, given events prior to DA2, and as mentioned Nathaniel's got a weird case of his epilogue differing from his import flags.
@@BaronVonHoovy leaving Anders at the keeps also fucks up the DA2 import sadly IIRC
I think so its more of Oghren's character development in the base game culminating in the Oghren in Awakening.
The human noble origin has a really interesting dynamic with Nathaniel. Howe murdered your family and you murdered Howe in revenge. Now faced with his son you have to deal with the consequences of your vengeance and the relationship starts off really hostile with some really interesting dialogue, but eventually an understanding is reached and it’s really cool to see.
Indeed. Played a female human noble in my first run. The interaction between Cousland and Nathaniel was perfect. I was a staunch Cousland/Alistair shipper, but give me Cousland/Nathaniel any day!
But really, even if playing a male character, I would have loved the interaction between Cousland and Nathaniel. After having grown up together, those two characters have a lot of tension to go through.
The look and the short nod you and the son exchange with each other in the cut scene where you walk away from the corpse of the final boss kinda says it all.
7
You could complicate that even further by being either the King or or Queen
Also has a nice interaction in Warden’s keep where you find out your family was slaughtered to make them compliant to the king and betray the wardens.
I was a Warden who did the ritual with Morrigan after romancing her, and in Witch Hunt I managed to convince Morrigan to let me go with her and our child together through the mirror, and my Warden ending is essentially me just disappearing with her after ending the blight and killing the Architect, and honestly I kind of like that. I found it a Mysterious, but satisfying ending
Same here. Would have been nice to see my Warden with Morrigan when we meet her in Inquisition, but I'm glad she mentions him when the Inquisitor asks about her past.
I always wanted that ending. When finishing the vanilla game, she just took off with the kid. In the end, Alistair asked me what I plan to do and I selected that I want to go after her. I never managed to play her dlc unfortunately...
@@GuessWho7197 It's also cool that by doing that with the Warden, they manage to avoid what happens to the rest of the Wardens during the events of Inquisition. :D
Same except I married Anora and became Prince- Consort before my character peaced out with the hot witch like a boss. I like to think dog came too.
And it really does affect a significant portion of Da:I
I recently rewatched the entire DAO video and was like "Damn, I wish he played the dlc too". Literally read my mind
I've been hoping he would post this for like weeks
@@Briot12345 same lol
Ditto, i just finished the first vid this week and restarted Origins accordingly.
Dude I love Shale so much, she’s such an amazing character. Also leaving her behind for the final fight is fun cuz you can set her up behind the door of the main gates and benefit from her stationary buffs with the rest of your companions
Yeah she's great, playing DA:O without Shale is like playing Mass effect 3 without Javik. It feels incomplete.
Not to mention, if you leave her to fight at the door she tells you "Have fun storming the castle," which is a Princess Bride reference. I love Origins.
Oh, and her "Best Ending" slide is great. Basically it details that her and Wynne become good friends, and together find some manner of method to put Shale's soul back into a dwarf's. It also says that people tell stories about an angry dwarven woman, living in the mountains who hates all forms of birds. Also, if you got that ending and talk to Wynne in Awakening, you can ask after Shale, too.
Shale is female?
@@forthemysterians7630 If we're gonna be completely technical, Shale has no gender as a golem, but is still derived specifically from a female dwarf. Meaning that while they don't have an assigned gender, they can be most easily referred as being female still.
Oh man this couldn't have dropped at a better time. I'm just about to lay down for a nap and I love listening to Salt get snarky as I drift off to sleep.
I just woke up from one, and I still love to listen XD
So I’m not the only one who naps to the sound of salt
@@GearShotgun Correct :)
Of course I also do that to absolutely insane things...like dougdoug streams. If I had dreams, they would be absolutely insane XD
Bro same
Legit one of the few ways I can fall asleep lol
The character design in Awakening is absolutely insane. I mean the Darkspawn, Brood Mother, and the Architect are some of the most badass looking characters in the whole series.
There is one ending you missed in Witch Hunt. If you were in a relationship with Morrigan, you can actually decided to go with her and this ending will be mentioned in Dragon Age Inquisition.
@@werewolflover8893 the default world state is literally where it isn't mentioned though, since it doesn't carry over your choices?
You have to import your own world state with the keep, default world state doesn't matter for this.
@@werewolflover8893 no she wont. In the default world state the Warden was a Female Dalish that died killing the Archdemon, you need to import your choices into the keep
I went with her. I stepped through the portal.
@@patinho5589I slipped into her portal then, I stepped through the portal… 😉
Justice doesn’t just “show up” in the sequel, him and Anders basically merge together, and Anders issues warp Justice from a spirit of justice into a spirit of vengeance. He’s a big reason Anders does his actions in the sequel
A big reason?
More like **the** big reason
Yeah, but you only ever interact with Justice himself really in that one side mission about Feynriel if you choose to have Anders in your party when going into the Fade. Otherwise you're only ever really interacting with the new being that is Anders and Justice merged.
@@jchart I wouldn't necessarily consider them a new being. That's just cope coming from Anders. He is clearly out of control. Anders' hatred of the circle, chantry, and templars and need for freedom basically twists Justice's nature until he forgets where Anders started and he begins. Much like how human emotions twist spirits into Demons, Justice is twisted into Vengeance. THAT is the new entity, but it's influence over Anders is clearly the product of possession. Ironically it's just another cage trapping Anders in his own bottled up feelings. It could be worse. Justice was noble, and Anders was a good person at heart, and that's probably the only reason why he doesn't just go full abomination. But in Kirkwall, a city that seems to be literally designed to empower blood magic and madness, their good natures never had a chance of winning.
@@djdaem0nplays I disagree. Anders is essentially "Wynne gone wrong". While the Fade spirit in Wynne was essentially docile, Justice has been shown to be an active being, so merging with Anders would have a profound effect on both. For all of Ander's bad decisions he understood that blood for blood was not the way, hence his hesitant attitude about the Libertarian party splitting off. When the two merged Justice of course inherented the hatred of the Circle and the Chantry for their injustices from Anders and Anders started acting more violent as Justice compelled him to act. Overtime this created Venegance.
@@jchart you also get scolded by justice/vengeance near the end of the game with 100% rivalry
Having Sigrun be a rogue tank is hilarious. The Legion Scout subclass is high key insanely broken if you also have her be a duelist. Also since I’m talking about rogues, bows are absolutely broken in the dlc. The damage gets to the point where it scales purely on the amount of dex and cunning you have, to ludicrous degrees, and you can literally get crits on your crits. I have seen Nathaniel hit for nearly 1000 damage before. That’s absolutely insane
I'm doing a playthrough with a dalish archer through awakening rn and i can go through the game without having anyone in my party. Rogues are such a broken class in Awakening
That was my first build. I discover it by accident but I finished the entire campaign on insanity without issues. Even the harvester died on my first attempt.
Arcane Warrior/Bloodmage is the most OP combo I found. If you build it right you don't even have to fight anything. You just walk around and stuff dies around you. Companions are completely optional. It's pretty great.
@@DSzaks that was my first build for the dlc lol. Just freezing everything near me
What's also hilarious is that in the base game archers are pretty bad xD
Anders: You can't just burn down a city!
Warden: we can if it serves a higher purpose.
Anders will remember that.
😂 the dreaded will remember that text.
"Oh, so the Warden-Commander can burn down an entire city, but I blow up ONE church and suddenly I'M the bad guy?!"
Good grief. That would be a straight 1:1 comparison if you razed Amaranthine.
Yeah, I didn't have anything to do for the next 2 hours anyways.
I do have a comment, though. At 9:55 you say your party keeps attacking the enemy forces and you need to change their tactics. If you press one of the buttons below your characters at the top left, your party won't move.
I had to find this out the hard way when my party didn't do anything after I accidentally pressed that button.
This
I usually play a Mage so i had to learn that fast, since big AOE Spells like Grease Fire or Storm of the Century can wreck your Party pretty fast if they walk in and try to fight the Enemy there
Oh god, I remember pressing that button on accident and trying to figure out for 30 mins straight why my party isn't moving anymore. >.
Also in terms of his weapons disappearing. You can have two weapon sets equipped at the same time. Just click on the little sword icons at the top left of the inventory menu to switch them out.
@@NeguraGhost yeah, same. I think that part was communicated really poorly to the player.
Encountering Velana (I don’t remember how it’s spelled) as a Dalish is actually really cool cuz she literally acts completely differently. She’s pretty respectful and almost grateful to see you, as she hasn’t been with her people for so long
I wasn’t sure if I remembered that right. Glad to hear it is though. I was an elf in 1 and 3 and really appreciate the way they are fleshed out especially in 3.
I firmly believe that playing as a Dalish in 1 and 3 is the “canon” race for them. The base game of Origins was probably originally intended for a human noble rogue since that has a lot more connection with Howe and stuff, but the dlc favor Dalish heavily. And I don’t need to tell people that a Dalish Mage is by far the most fleshed out character in Inquisition, specifically if you romance Solas
@@Aerowarrier Actually Dalish female rouge who romances Alistair but refuses Morrigan’s deal was the original canon. It only changed to male human warrior noble who romances Morrigan when EA decided they wanted to do sequels. As for Inquisition the canon is female Qunari from what the devs have said.
@@TheAndrassa that just don’t sound right tbh. Human Noble has a lot more connections with the main storyline of Origins. And romancing Solas has such a huge effect on things it’s weird not to have that be canon
@@Aerowarrier Dalish female who biffs it was confirmed by head writer David Gaider himself. He mentioned in several interviews how he was sad he had to make the make human noble the new cannon after EA green lit DA2. As for Inquisition it’s literally confirmed by by the dev interviews in the special interviews they did for game guide for Inquisition.
While I may not always agree with your opinion, I really do appreciate the way you structure your videos and give me viewpoints that differ from my own, but are well supported and I can see your side. Sometimes you even manage to bring me over to your way of viewing an aspect of something. All in all, I'm just trying to say that I enjoy your videos. :)
In my opinion, that is the way any debate should go :)
I realize there is no back and forth, but even without that he still changed your opinion (regardless of "right or wrong"), and that is fantastic: that you approach with at least a fairly open mind, and that his argument was built well enough to be able to sway someone on the opposite side.
As you can tell, irl I really enjoy good-hearted debate :)
@@amsgamingandmusic 100% agreed - I'm not sure why so many choose to believe that a debate is a competition, and you lose if you can't convince the other party. And a large subsection of them couldn't imagine associating with someone that doesn't share and validates their opinions. But hey, to each their own. Personally I get very uncomfortable in unconditional echo chambers.
With Return to Ostagar I think the implication is that Cailan gave the key to the soldier after the tide turned, he was dumb, but not so dumb that he couldn't recognize things weren't looking good.
Also, the DLC is much better with Loghain and Wynne; they argue harshly about whether Cailan was a fool or not, and Loghain fleshes out his decision much more. He's particularly livid that Cailan appeared to be cheating on Anora with Empress Celene of Orlais.
Huh. I've played Origins for years but it never occurred to me to bring Loghain back to Ostagar ... I will try that. I just started an "I hate you all" playthrough so that should work.
You ran into a bug at 58:00 you were suposed to lose your inventory too but some character builds causes the bug wich lets you keep your inventory. You were supposed to beat the first group with your fists and salvage the tainted equipments of each darkspawn group until you can recover your partys item sets with each beaten experiment. Your inventory should be stored right at the end in the chest next to the merchant before the dragon fight.
Its a nice concept and would be really intriging if the Segment would be much longer and without the bug.
Ahhhh. Losing my top tier items and a third of my DPS, fuck the silverite mines
I actually lost my characters gear due to a bug. The thing that was supposed to wear my stuff, couldn't because of the high stats, and thus it vanished into space. So i had to buy myself new equipment lol.
Man it's a shame he didn't bring Oghren into the Silverite Mines. It leads to the best delivery in the series
*No one steals Oghren's junk AND LIVES*
"Touching my junk!"
Yeah Velanna (?) says it instead which doesn't have the same impact.
Ogh is a very underrated character. I only wish you could romance him. But as a dwarf warden, they have some interesting convos at base camp.
@@LynxStarAuto
It always struck me weird that Oghren is willing to flirt with any kinds of female except your female warden. As if he was afraid or something.
😂
Justice's relationship with Anders is a pretty damn important part of Dragon Age 2, just maybe not how you would expect. Also, if you romanced Morrigan you can go through the mirror with her.
God the writing in 2 sucked.
@@adeptdamage3669 Big disagree. The writing was easily the highlight compared to the repetitive environments, confined world, and lackluster combat system.
@@khinzaw77 Not really it had interesting ideas but it was clearly rushed.
@@adeptdamage3669 Well I continue to disagree.
@@khinzaw77 I agree with you, DA2 was such a letdown. How do you feel about Inquisition? To me it was constantly teasing that things might get good down the line, except they never really did.
Everything felt simplified to the point of being laughable. Clearing up the entire Mage vs, Chantry Civil War in just one Quest was the perfect embodiment of that; No Splinter Groups, no Extremists that complicate Negotiations on both sides (Actually no negotiations at all), no real repercussions to a devastating uprising and honestly no real thought being put into the whole conflict in itself. The biggest downfall of Inquisitions writing in my opinion is that they felt forced to clear up as many plot threads as possible in one single game which just lead to all of them feeling rushed and underdeveloped.
Its a shame you didnt do Shale before Orzimmar. I recommend loading a very old save/trying a new save where you bring it for the full deep roads.
Seconding this! I adore Shale and its dialogue and story arc if you take it to Orzammar is fantastic
He mentioned he was disappointed that no one mentioned you have a golum but there a dude in orzimmar who literally does this and tries to persuade you into giving it to him.
Yeah, without that you miss a ton of Shale's backstory.
Though I feel it locks you into a certain choice regarding Caradin. Unless you want to lose a companion.
@@JimmyMon666 Its the same thing as another quest with Leliana, or another with Wynne, or another with Alistair. I like that it gives you a choice and consequence
For what it's worth, there actually is a little bit more content from Warden's Keep that you missed. It was intended to be played early in the playthrough, and provides a secure "home base" for you for the rest of the game. Some of the 'content' comes from that (but that's mostly QoL stuff like a storage box and some easier access to certain merchant types and stuff, and I feel like it's pretty scummy to make people pay for fixes to the dev's bad design decisions in the first place). But there are also a few random encounters that you can get after you finish the main DLC story, which lead into their own little quests, like a quest to forge a super fancy weapon and stuff.
The wiki says the random encounter where you get the meteor happens in base game, the DLC only gives a way to use it if you kept it
Wardens keep is the only way to get a personal storage chest in the game and sometimes when you put stuff in the chest they'll level up when you leave them by itself
That's exclusive to console but the merchant next to it will do the same thing if you sell it at a high level then leave and come back
Having all of your equipment in Awakening after being abducted is definitely a bug. I mostly played on console, so I can't speak to PC, but I never had all of my gear. It was in a chest next to the qunari merchant
There's also a bug on PC that will delete all of your equipped gear. For me the only way to guarantee not to loose everything is to go in naked.
Its a notorious PC bug that made me redo 4 hours of Awakening.
I remember playing it once and I had to reload at the end because I get didn't get all my stuff back because the chest glitched.
Yup, I got into the cage naked which is a bug I later found out (after defeating the 2 drakes). It's better just to strip down to be safe.
@@onnashinkan2702 Yeah that was so frustrating. I only made a quick save right before that dungeon, and then wrote over it before I realized my gear was bugged and gone. My last real save was from hours and hours ago, so I ended up just cheating to gain my gold and armor back. That moment really ruined the game for me.
One of my favourite lines from Dragon Age in general comes from Awakening and that's when Oghren sees the experiment wearing his stuff "no one touches Oghren's junk and lives"
“Unpainted warhammer model that is her sister” absolutely killed me 😂😂 10/10
Salt not capturing the Howe joke by Anders is disappointing
Anders: So you're a Howe?
Nathaniels: Do you have point mage ?
Anders : Hey I'm fond of the Howes, I'm also fond of the why's, who's and the whats.
Nathaniel : (sarcastic tone) How clever.
Some little fun facts about the content of these DLC (incoming wall of text) :
- During Leliana's Song, when you're escaping from the prison you also find and free a named female elf (Adaia) which is supposed to be the mother of the city elf player character
- Darkspawn Chronicles happen in the case of the player character not surviving the joining and Alistair having to be the main character and make some questionable choices (keeping the golems and siding with the werewolves 😂 )
- In the Warden's Keep, if you play as human noble, Avernus tells you that one of your ancestors was opposing the king and was a potential ally of the wardens during their coup.
- Doing the deep roads with Shale is a whole lot different, especially when you meet Caridin, she also automatically side with him and becomes hostile if you side with Branka
- Return to Ostagar have a whole lot different dialogues if you brought Loghain with you and he have some very interesting dialogues, especially when you find the letters and how to deal with Cailan's corpse. The dog also react to some parts of the area and if you didn't bother getting it in the base game, you'll find him here and can decide to either keep him or let him go free.
Awakening has to be my favorite part of the game, the atmosphere and the gameplay with the expanded specs are just so good. The story is also much more well structured compared to Origins in term of Darkspawn and how to fight them.
Too bad it's shorter than DA:O and also very, buggy because a lot of content doesn't work properly unless you use mods to fix them (Sigrun side quest, some gear you can't get among many). And it has the best antagonist in the Dragon Age series imo, the Architect is so interesting and fascinating and it's a real shame they just shoved him off and didn't bother expanding on him, even more when we had Corypheus twice in the sequels.
There's an interesting interaction that I found in subsquent playthroughs with Oghren, if you recruited him early and took him with you in the mage tower questline he'll freak out when you find him in the fade later on (since dwarves aren't supposed to do magic and dream) and during Awakening, if he's with you when you enter the fade again, he'll remember it from Origins and comment on how he doesn't like how it feels because it's so unatural for dwarves to be there.
There are also so much stuff from Origins that are well transfered depending on your character's origin :
If the warden is human noble, the interactions with Nathaniel Howe are one of the best and you can also remind his sister that you were supposed to get an arranged marriage.
If the warden if dalish elf, Velanna will recognize you and be friendlier with you compared to other origins.
If the warden is dwarf commoner, Sigrun will recognize you from the slums of Orzammar (don't remember anything if dwarf noble)
If the warden is mage, Anders will recognize you from the mage tower.
As for the Witch Hunt DLC, there are some nice details that I especially like :
If the warden is dalish, Ariane will aknowledge you as a fellow dalish and be more friendly. The dlc also gives some closure to a dalish warden, going back where it all began and discovering the true nature and secrets of the Eluvians. Dalish warden commander will also be mentioned a lot in DA2 during many dialogues through Anders and Merrill.
If you romanced Morrigan and kept the ring she offered you in Origins equiped, there will be a cutscene where Ariane will ask you why you keep looking at it and if you tell her it was Morrigan's gift, she'll ask if you were married. Morrigan's interactions at the end are also very touching if she was romanced.
Though this dlc is good imo, it's also very short and could have been a little more expanded. The ending especially is a big cliffhanger and cuts abruptly only to be really resolved in Inquisition.
TLDR : I just love exploring the details of DA:O and its DLC content compared to the sequels, the general ambience and atmosphere is what hooked me to this franchise, I would liked if they continued with the dark fantasy setting rather than the high fantasy we got now
Thank you for this video and for rediscovering what this games were, it reminded me why I loved it so much despite its clunkyness and many bugs and optimization problems 😅😆
To have all these choises in Orgins just makes me hate Inquisition even more.
@@valentingartner3793 exactly, I mean it's a good game on its own but compared to what we had before mehh
@@ZrodyApo “mehh” is to kind in my opinion. I remember how the developers talked about “going back to the roots of the series”, how they would focus on dialogue, story and tactical combat again, how they had learned from their mistakes (DA2).
Then the game came out. I played it, and my disappointment was immeasurable. Dumbed down dialogue with illusion of choice, NO way of doing an evil playthrought, an empty open world for the sake of having an open world, same combat system as DA2, no origin stories for your character &c.
Man, I was mad.
Didn't know about bringing Loghain to Ostagar. Usually I do the DLC early on, never considered waiting until I get him.
When Awakening came out it felt less buggy (I don't think I've encountered any bugs). Later updates and "fixes" made it worse and now I need to use community mods and tips to fix it myself.
The Witch Hunt DLC is Bioware`s way of informing us that the Morrigan romance is the superior one. Also, glad I got to see Anders in awakening one more time before *the incident* in the dragon age 2.
Morrigan is easily Bioware's best romance.
Nah, it is to give closure if you pick her. I mean she barely is part of it outside chasing her then making her leave. Imo Bioware knew Liliana is the best and most romanced one, which is actually true, why they give you DLC to play her. Plus I always saw Witch Hunt also to show Dalish Wardens are maybe the most likely canon one, and give closure to them
@@adeptdamage3669 Miranda ❤
@@jjmara01 Not to mention, she is fully relevant in DAI unlike Morrigan.
@@omnipotiscience7251 that's irrelevant to what is the best romance lmao. That's like saying Anders is the best character because he is a companion in 2 games. Its a nonsense argument.
Unfortunately, a lot of Justice's more nuanced character development happens in dialogue with your companions - which is obviously missable. It's a real pity, because while Justice isn't my favourite character, I really like his development.
He starts out as a very one-dimensional character and I believe we're meant to initially think that spirits of the Fade are truly, objectively the idea that they portray. However, Anders especially delves into what separates spirits from demons (their desires corrupt them, supposedly), with Justice doth protesting too much about how he has no desires. We grow to realise that there is actually nothing intrinsically different between spirits and demons - some just get corrupted and turn 'bad', while others do not. The virtue they carry is not an 'objective', always-correct expression, but merely the spirits' own interpretation of it.
Later, Nathaniel brings up possessing a different body, dead or alive - to which Justice recoils in horror, initially. When they talk again, Nathaniel says it could be a mutually beneficial act, or even an act of kindness and mercy - like in Wynne's case - and Justice is drawn to the idea.
Velanna gets Justice to admit that he could leave the body if he wanted to - though he's not certain if he would be drawn back to the Fade or remain listless in this world, and he admits he doesn't know if he wants to leave anymore. He agrees that this world has beauty in it and that he has had experiences he never even knew about.
Sigrun talks to Justice about death and how spirits can be slain in our world, which disturbs Justice.
In a way that completely fits Oghren, through his dialogue we learn some funny haha farts allusions that actually still illuminate how the process of possessing a dead body works. He tries alcohol and can taste it, and he pretends to not know what Oghren is talking about with regards to controlling his body, sex and bodily functions - implying all of that is present, too. Most importantly, Justice admits that he has Kristoff's memories. And there is a small throwaway line by Justice when talking about Kristoff's wife Aura that he has love for her and she has become important to him - whether purely because of the memories he has or because they have grown into something else through his own experiences.
And so through every companion's dialogue we are introduced to the two main backstory elements of Anders/Vengeance - consensual merging of a living host with a spirit and the possibility of their corruption. We see Justice grow from a cardboard cutout of an idea into an actual nuanced, fallible character, and I feel like it sets the stage for their eventual corruption soo well! He also prods Anders about his inactivity with helping other mages. I don't think it was Anders' traumas poisoning Justice as much as it was a vicious circle of the sense of justice that uh.. Justice had in him driving Anders to become more radical, and as they simmered in the mistreatment of mages and their misfortunes, it warping their sense of justice into an angry thirst for vengeance.
Sorry for the massive wall of text! I'm just really excited to share this with other fans who might have also missed it. It's also really nice to see them setting up the backstory for DA2 already, and it feels like follow-through like that is increasingly rare. Thank you for coming to my TED talk :)
I mean, you can go with Morrigan at the end of Witch Hunt as well; which is really nice and does show up in the later titles if you do the weird decision import thing that Inquisition has
Hope you never stop making videos Salt, I get excited for every single one, even for games I haven’t played. You make my favorite long form game videos on the platform, keep up the fantastic work
When it comes to Justice in DA2, they rolled him into Anders and a lot of Anders changes stem specifically from Justice.
Anders in Awakening wouldn't actively fight the chantry to free mages, mostly being fine with escaping on his own and causing problems on purpose, but with Justice, who was becoming a demon called Vengeance, he was influenced to blow up the chantry and start the mage templar war.
What happened in Kirkwall didn't start the Mage Templar war, just added to an already tense situation that's been brewing for years. It was the events in the book Asunder that truly started the war.
I agree that the change in Anders is because of Justice, which why I roll my eyes at people who complain that he is different in DA2. The whole demon thing in the end, I call bs. I know they call themselves Vengeance, but sitting down and waiting someone to decided whether you live or die right after destroying the chantry isn't a very demon-y thing to do. It's more of an Anders/Justice thing to do. Acknowledging that they know they crossed the line. I would expect Vengeance to, at the very least, run off and kill some templars. Of course, this part is just my thought.
I'm mad at how Anders was handled in DA2. I really liked him in Awakening and see him turned into that is fucking terrible.
@@AzraelSoulHunter It's unrealistic to think Anders wouldn't change when he accepted Justice into his body. Justice is named for what he is and embodies it with all his being. Humans are complex beings, full of concepts and ideas that a spirit would attribute to other spirits and demons. Hunger, Rage, Love, Wisdom, Pride, Faith, etc. Justice influence on Anders is only part (a significant part) of why Anders changed. Other part is, Anders wanted to change.
@@sinmajik Doesn't change the fact that writing in DA2 was kind of shit and Anders became more unlikable. The idea MAY have been okay, but it was badly executed and rushed. Like most of DA2.
@@AzraelSoulHunter It certainly needed more time in development. Though, I played DA2 before I played DAO. If I didn't enjoy playing it, I wouldn't have given DAO a chance or given DAI a chance when it was released.
I really like darkspawn chronicles.
My favorite part was when you killed a main game party member or npc you'd get a codex entry about how they got there without your character.
It also confirmed a fan theory that the blacksmiths assistant was a demon
Wade's assistant is a demon?
@@DragonessYT a desire demon no less. You go to kill them, Wade changes form, and magically whisks them away.
The Cailan Crusher 9k was killed by Duncan shortly after crushing Cailan. Duncan gives it the Shadow of Colossus treatment.
So Justice is Anders. More specifically, he is the Vengeance that inhabits Anders’ body, twisted by both the events of this dlc and the hatred harbored in Anders’ heart. Meaning one companion is DA2 is two companions in Awakening, which is pretty fun
Yeah I was about to make a similar comment. Justice is always there with Anders in 2 and is a big reason why Anders goes as far as he does. This sounds like I’m taking a lot of agency from Anders himself though.
@@ichigokage Anders probably would've just kept running without Justice though. Justice is the one that convinces him to start helping mages.
I legitimately completely forgot the elf companion existed.
Ive played this like 5 times and alwats forget her and sigrun exist 😂
Shale is one of my favorite DA characters.
Something about her always making smartass comments throughout the game and her hatred of birds.
... her? That's a she? Has an awfully manly voice.... and it literally asks to be referred to as "it" ... doesn't it? The bird hate is pretty great though.
Oh. Just reached the point where he says shale was a female dwarf... huh. I like "it" better lol
@@I_am_a_cat_ Yeah, I guess it's a bit of a spoiler for Shales quest in Orzammar.
But Shale is a she, or atleast was a she, not sure if you can assign a gender to a sentient rock.
@@I_am_a_cat_
Nah, she sounds like an old woman, to me. But as a golem, I honestly think Shale is more of an "it" than a "she", though.
Edited to add: When I last played the game (on PC) I thought it sounded a lot like an old woman, but in this video: sounds male. Weird.
@@Elora445 yeah "it" fits much better... and yeah I definitely hear a male voice but it doesn't really matter :3
Okay I just want to point this out right now because holy crap did that mage just amatuerly shake his hands off after blasting that darkspawn with fire magic? because i dont think I have actually seen any reaction from casting magic EVER before which to me is fucking awesome! the idea of the magic you wield actually being able to be felt as it leaves you hands and then having prolonged use of it having a potential effect that you can feel as a detriment from your magic is a very interesting concept that often times is completely ignored.
and I have to admit I whole heartedly apreciate this minor detail.
Been eagerly awaiting your continuing video on the Dragon Age: Origin game.
This is the continuing video mate😂😂😂
Having played the whole game with Shale, I have to say she was one of my absolute favorites, especially by endgame.
A lot of things in Witch hunt are "cooler" if you played the other origin stories
The mirror that was corrupted by the darkspawn and the elves living underground? Dalish origin
The basement and the statue in the circle of magi? Mage origin
Also i really enjoy how if you create a new character for witch hunt, golems and awakening they all have their own backgrounds and stories. Im not sure if its the same person every time, i cant remember but i very much enjoyed it
Also if you are a human noble, Howe will tell you how his daughter might be in love with you and when you visit her she will say how she actually hated you withouth noticing you are the same person
I dont really agree with a lot of what you said but i respect them, a lot of it i agree with but im just really glad you experianced it all.
I cant wait for more content from you and as much as i want to say "i cant wait for dragon age 2" i... still try to pretend most of that game doesnt exist.
I thi k that's the issue with this review of the dlc. The dlc has a different level of effect on your game depending on when you play it, who you use as companions, which origin you chose, what ending you choose. So reviewing it after one random playthrough really isn't effective.
Like shale has a lot to do with the deep roads story so if you don't bring her there you miss out on a bunch of dialogue.
Witch hunt is more effective if you romance morrigan which makes the entire story out of love instead of just looking for her.
The different origins have different effects on the plot of awakening and witch hunt.
Wardens keep is much more beneficial if its completed really early.
Bringing Wynne and alistair/loghain to ostafar adds a bunch more unique dialogue and depth.
Lielianas song has a mich stronger effect if you become close with leliana and complete her side story.
These docs arnt really made for one and done playthroughs. They're done to accommodate the rpg world
I want a salt factory companion.
"Could've fought harder, but whatever"
"I thought that would've been more climactic, but that's how it goes."
"Wow this is the best gift ever! When can we stop by a vendor to sell it?"
Love the videos, Salt. Was waiting for this one. Hoping to see some coverage of 2 and Inquisition down the line as well.
To your point about Witch Hunt: the story is much more interesting if you played as a Dalish Elf. Everything with the tainted Eluvian ties back into the Dalish Elf Origin, and Finn and Ariane will even talk about your origin unaware that you are to whom they are referring, though you can point out that they're talking about you. It's super interesting. Great video!
Alright, but can we speak in Aura’s defense?
This shit happens to Grey Wardens all the time. Have you not been paying attention? How many grey wardens have used blood magic or been possessed by demons, or sent into the fade, or eaten by dragons… I mean, he probably literally told her, “Honey, my job is dangerous. I deal with impossible and mythical stuff on the daily. So if I die in some weird ass way, or something horrific and scarring happens to my corpse, don’t be surprised.”
I would if I was a warden.
It is crazy that pirating Bioware games is most of the time a better game experience, less bugs, no feeling of being scammed by a dlc, better performance. Idk what ea is thinking
Salt: “It’s pretty nice that Shale will stop calling you ‘it’, and will instead refer to you as ‘you’.”
Also Salt: (Continues to refer to Shale as “it” even after finding out that she was a female dwarf.)
🧐
Salt even calls Shale "she" like once and then goes back to "it". I thought that was an incredibly funny thing.
Because it is an it. Shayl is the she, trapped inside an it. 🥴🤷♂️
@@LynxStarAuto in their good Origins ending, Wynne calls her she and says they'll be heading to Tevinter to see about (probably definitely through blood magic, which is way less forbidden there) putting Shayle back into a dwarf body.
The Problems you encountered like the weapon disappearing and having to change tactics is a lack of knowledge of mechanics. Your weapons disappeared because they swapped to their secondary weapons, you just needed to swap them back. You also could have ordered your soldiers to hold position and you wouldn't have needed to swap tactics to passive.
I wonder how many times people have given up on games because of human error on their end rather than genuine issues in the game mechanics. I know I have dropped a few games because I thought they were broken only to come back years later to find I was just inept at playing the game.
@@IsaacClodfelter I think in this case it's that the game never communicates these features. I only know the solutions because I had the very same issue the first time I played Dark Spawn Chronicles.
@@ArcAngle1117 the game does communicate them though people just ignore it, in the codex menu there is literally an entire tutorials page
Thank you, is freaking infuriating seeing someone telling to millions of people that the game has this and that issue/bug when in fact he just fucking sucks at the game and doesn't know how to play it.
Really cool thing about Awakening, the Mother’s death animation changes based on how your character fights. Mages burn her alive, archers shoot her I’m pretty sure, that sorta thing
You actually need to take shale with you when you get the sketch in caridins room. She'll remember the location of their home. It's a bit of a slog but does add a bit to it.
Although awakening basically demands a guide to see everything. Not because it's hidden, it's just easy to break basically everything.
Cool fun fact Shale is related to the dwarven inquisitor
Also in a similar case the human mage origin is related to hawke
Just finished up another playthrough of DA:O and all of its DLC because of your first video. Brought back lots of fond memories playing through it again. Gonna tackle DA:2 next so I hope you play that one as well.
Awakening probably marks the last time Bioware created a full on expansion as opposed to mere DLC. Expansions used to be a thing but haven't for a long time.
Suddenly glad I spent $40 on the UItimate Edition rather than individually on the DLCs. At those price points, I probably would have felt a bit gipped on everything but Awakening, Amgarak, and Shale.
If Awakening costs 40$ it's because its an expansion, not dlc. It was even sold on its own separate box and everything. I miss expantions
Whats the difference between dlc and an expansion? Genuinely curious, I always thought they were the same thing
@@mike-7684
DLC is for minor stuff. For example, cosmetics, or a character. An expansion does just that - it expands on the story from the original game. That's at least how it was at the beginning. Nowadays, DLC seems to be used for both expansions and true DLCs.
Keep up the good work man, you’re one of my favorite creators. I listen to videos/podcasts when I work and even to fall asleep to sometimes so I dig the long form content
If you play as a male human noble, Rendon Howe does have a bit more interaction and you have a personal vendetta against him. Also, this opens the door to the Morrigan romance which allows you to walk through the Eluvian (mirror) with her, providing a solid end to the story of the Hero of Ferelden. That sentiment gets a little messy with Inquisition but in my headcanon it ends well.
It's probably already been mentioned, but Justice is inside Anders in DA2. Presumably this occurred after Justice drops off his meat puppet back w/ Ms. Meat Puppet. What they might not have mentioned is that one of the gifts you give Anders in Awakening is a cat that he names Sir Pounce-a-Lot. The cat also get's many a mention in DA2 by Anders/Justice who are quite cross at the rest of the wardens for making him give it up to the local animal shelter.
58:26 You having all your other stuff is a bug, you are supposed to lose everything, get your equipped items back along the way then get everything back near the end.
Awakening was fun as far as I remember, been a super long time since I played it, I play the main campaign every 2-3 years though and I still love it, same with the mass effect trilogy.
The slow, steady build up to Inquisition throughout the series, including literally the browser game, is literally the best part of Inquisition
You literally said literally literally too many times.
@@zaldbathar4866 Yeah, literally.
1:09:19 Best moment in The Awakening in terms of companions. (Also I didn't remember Anders being so horny for many times)
Nathaniel is one of my favorite characters in the series, I really love the dialogue you get with him if your warden is a noble human because he knew you before all this happened. Your families were close and you all grew up together so there's that added betrayal feel from the warden and Nathaniel that's awesome. Eventually when he comes to terms with the man his father was, you both seem closer for it. I'd love to have him the next game too. Also....where is Ser Pounce-a-Lot?!?! Please tell me you found him for Anders lol the cat meows are the best!! 😆😺
35:00 Not just 3. If you make it to level... I think it was 28? You can get a 4th specialization. Which is as horrifyingly broken as it sounds for Witch Hunt.
Wondering if you got the cat to give to Anders, his main gift is the adorable ser pounce-a-lot
On another note, as I played as the human noble warden, it was fun playing awakening with everyone like "we liked howe" and I responded "he was a bastard that killed my family", with Nathaniel there side eyeing me
9:47 I’m just wondering how you were able to cross the bridge in the urn of sacred ashes quest if you didn’t know about changing tactics.
Going through some rough days so this made me happy to see. Any plans on a fable 3 video just for cataloging purposes ?
Definitely man, I'm hoping to get it done sometime this year. Sorry about the rough days, hope they clear up soon!
Want to talk about them? It could make you feel better.
@@IamaPERSON it's probably personal so you shouldn't ask that
@@drip5308 sorry, just wanted to help.
@@IamaPERSON hey bud i appreciate it. The long and skinny of it is that due to covid i lost my job and my family is being evicted and right now while watching this im packing our house to go to family while we find something else. Failure feels like shit :/ and the office at our apartment are asses. Nothing like saying heres 5k in freedom dollars and them filing over 2
Never thought I'd find myself loving long form videos from a channel called the salt factory.lmao you're awesome man, keep it up.
I loved Justice's character. It almost felt like he was relentlessly loyal because that's what he is, an unchanging stone in a sea of everchanging things. It almost makes you want to try and "break" the machine, see if you can get the overwhelming spirit of justice to change just to realize that its roots are stronger than ever.
Uh.
Dragon Age 2.
There is actually something of a faction difference in Awakening. I dont think its ever stated or pointed out, but you can tell which side the Disciples (the talking Darkspawn) work for by the color of thier scarves. The ones with purple scarves follow the Architect, the ones in red serve the Mother.
What's really interesting is the Withered, the Darkspawn who led the attack at the beginning, worked for the Architect. He was actually sent to make contact and attempt to talk to the Grey Wardens. But because Darkspawn are just by nature violent and savage, he didn't seem to quite understand what the Architect wanted. So the Withered decided to attack and kill everyone except the Keep's leader.
It's pretty fascinating actually. It almost makes the awakened Darkspawn come across as weirdly innocent.
The Architect is 1 of the Magisters that entered the Golden City with Corypheus.
So with 2 confirmed dead how many are left?
@@pyromare4879 5. Each Archdemon/Old god has a High Priest. But since 4 blights/arch demons (Counting Urthemiel the archdemon of DAO) happened, only The Architect & Corypheus surfaced the rest are MIA.
@@Chronoir3 that's concerning, i hope DA 4 has us find them, i think they'd wanna stop solas tearing down the veil since it would kill them too
@@pyromare4879 More than 2 are confirmed dead, when the darkspawn magisters fled to the deeproads they cannibalized each other. Its unknown how many are left.
I've been re-watching salt videos for the past couple days, and just ran out again. Absolutely rad.
9:47
When the reviewer don't know the basic mechanics like hold under the party portraits or that there are 2 set of weapons ...
... you cannot be really confident in his ability 2 give a fair review.
Yes, that was painful to hear.
Thats why Salt is gpod at reviewing though, especially games he played in the past.
He goes back into them with a fresh perspective on its story and mechanics and figures them out and elaborates as a "new" player
@@ijustmakeinflammatorycomme9839 Forgetting/not knowing basic mechanics and complaining that they are not in the game is just a plain misrepresentation of a game... and not a fresh perspective.
@@TheGrunaldi Yeah, who is this white knight anyway?
It's never quite explained outright, but there's something somewhere in the dialogue with the Kitty Demon when you side with her and actually ask her about wtf the wizard was doing in there anyway, along with a journal from the wizard.
It's hinted that the wizard tried to shove a demon (maybe not Desire, but definitely a demon/spirit) into Shale and the result was "violent". Up to you if you trust Kitty, but I already promised her her freedom and the girl in the character I remember learning more about the wizard's experiments from, so she has hardly any reason to lie to me about the bad deeds of the wizard.
Man I literally had surgery hours ago, now just in bed and doing nothing, your video is like gold from sky
40:52 actually if you prioritized the trade routes then merchants would of had more to sell you.
Prioritizing the farms will effect your run in with the mob and the dlc’s ending.
Sending your solders to defend all three just spreads them too thin.
Edit: oh and since you seem to of liked the court part I should note that it was brought back in dragon age: inquisition
I like how you emphasized the DLC costing “human money” versus goblin money I guess xD
I remember when at the end of a game you used to be able to use in game currency to continue your story
1:07:25
The thing that upset me most about this scene is that the Legion chick didn't even mention that I
1) ignored her advice and went for a full frontal assault
and 2) won anyways
Figured she'd bring up the fact that I did, casually, what the Legion couldn't.
After the amount of issues you had with the DLC. I recommend using GOG for future oldies.
As that's what I bought the ultimate edition (on sale) on and all the DLC worked perfectly. Probably due to no DRM.
regarding cailan knowing the battle was a lost cause. but showing naïve confidence at ostagar before the battle, it's a moral thing, if loghain had actually played his part there was a slim chance of driving the darkspawn back into the tunnels to buy more time for reinforcements to arrive from redcliffe (though them being late when denerim is further from ostegar than redcliffe is makes no sense) and possibly elsewhere. but loghain didn't ambush the darkspawn flank as planned so shit went sideways even faster.
Pre watch:
Absolute love the original Dragon Age DLC. It was the first time I ever bought "dlc" and I was not disappointed.
So keen to watch this!
Fun fact! In the climax of Awakening there is a possible bug that marks the Keep as not upgraded enough, which leads to its destruction despite any effort from the player. The only way to avoid your inactive party members’ deaths is to sacrifice the town. Which is very nice and doesn’t ruin player’s impression at all.
Leliana's Song is worth it just for the soundtrack.
your coverage of dragon age is amazing. I loved my play through of all the dragon age games however find it hard to re-play games like this. one day maybe but in the mean time, i've been digging your videos
With regards to the Anders part, I think it's because the Templars see themselves as having authority over the crown rather than that legally or practically being the case.
The best thing about shale is havinther around from the beginning she adds so much with her sassy attitude. And especially at orzhammar
Poor tugging dwarf. We will remember him by his fondness for tugs
Actually he's called tug beacause he steals silks from the nobles and uh.... uses them for tugging.
Golems of Amgarrak was basically the Dragon Age equivalent of bringing your level 20 D&D character, fresh off a campaign, to play a dungeon module. Flimsy story set up as an excuse to run a a dungeon and fight a difficult boss.
Thank you god I needed this. I'm gonna take a depression nap and this is perfect
YEAHHH i was waiting for this. the dragon age video essay you did was my first time seeing your content. When you said youd be doing the dlc, plus the amazing quality of the essay, it was an easy choice to sub. thanks for the content!
I really liked Justice, so much that I think he is the only Dragon Age character who ever passed a Persuasion Check against me. In the conversation with the Architect I initially wanted to let him live until Justice had his little outburst. So I relented and we killed the Architect giving me like +30 approval with him.
40:25 & 54:00, the making decisions as Warden Commander thing seems like a prototype for what they did in Inquisition, with the war table, and passing judgement on NPCs you meet through the game. I thought that was interesting.
If you get Justice's approval high enough, the quest changes. He wants to go find Kristoff's wife and found out that she was having an affair.
I think the idea of ogran wanting to become a grey warden only after the blight and once the wardens have so much fame in the public eye as saviors is a nice touch
Shale was one of my favorite party members, but the experience was definitely different having them around through the whole game.
The human noble origin has a really interesting dynamic with Nathaniel. Howe murdered your family and you murdered Howe in revenge.