!SPOILER!

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It must be pretty magical gun powder just to have the whole thing disappear and not kill everyone standing outside. From what had been suggested so far I would not expect it to "blow up" in that fashion. Looks like it was being dragged into the Fade piece by piece.

****Thar be spoilers****

Well yeah it was a magical explosive, hence I mentioned Lyrium. The Dwarves already use lyrium based explosives so there is no way to know how a combination of gunpowder and lyrium would react.

I'm sure it didn't kill anyone outside or damage the rest of Kirkwall simply because they couldn't be bothered to change the maps.

Yah. I did a few hours of a new mage playthrough and I skipped pretty much every dialogue scene, as they were all the same. Every quest plays out the same, even if I pick different dialogue options. It's pathetic.

That interview is scarry although not quite as scarry as Laidlaw's selective reading when it comes to feedback.

I'm wondering what replay value they're talking about when so many folks have to force themselves to play it once and of those who manage to do it many feel physically ill just by thinking about replaying CH1.

*Spoilers*


While I have yet to do a second playthrough, I will admit I'll be a bit frustrated with the end basically being the same even if you sided with the Templars. I figure you'd have to kill Meredith either way since as we've discussed you have to kill Orosino even if siding with the Mages. I'd just like a little variation depending on who I side with in the end (from what I've heard the dialogue is the same regardless though).

I still am pleased with the game, but I'd say it's the few things I can generally nitpick about it. My personal gripes are: The enemy waves, stupid difficulty curve (this carried over from DAO. Normal on both games go in waves of: Too easy, Right level of difficulty, Cheap hard that comes from overloading you with enemies. (There are three instances I had to turn the game down at: The Rock Wraith, that massive Templar fight in one of Ander's companion quests and that part in chapter 3 on the way to the Gallows where there's a Blood Mage, way too many Shades and a Pride Demon. Fake difficulty :\), and not quite as much interaction with my party.

I do enjoy the story though, acts 2 and 3 I greatly enjoyed (Meredith's character is made even better by her fantastic voice actor. The scene where she is calling for the Rite of Annulment was fantastic).

I don't think anyone takes issue with the story itself, it's a fine story and another part of the Dragon Age world. The trouble is the railroading in the game. Just as StingingVelvet says all the quests seems to play out to the same outcome no matter what you choose. There is nothing like Origins where picking the Reaver spec has dire consequences or killing the First Enchanter ends up with the Templars joining the Warden. DA2 takes an all or nothing approach.


*Spoilers*


As an example the quest where you aid the Qunari mage. You can't decline as it's a main quest. If you want favor from Anders and Merrill you help the Mage and you fight the Qunari, if you want favor from Fenris then you turn the mage over to the Qunari... and you fight the Qunari. There is no diplomacy and no middle ground, taking that mission ends with you slaughtering the Qunari and to make matters worse the mage STILL ends up dead. I would like to think if this was in Origins there would be a third option of telling the Arishok about Petrice. You have the option of turning over Isabela to him but not some Chantry bitch who is trying to set you up??? Of course this would then make some quests in Chapter 2 unavailable. It comes back to a very limited script with no real choice in the game at all.

Also you can choose to let the Qunari kill himself with a green check-mark on the dialogue wheel or refuse to allow it with a red X symbol on the wheel and either way he kills himself. What was the point?

*Spoilers*
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You can tell the Arishok about Petrice after the fact and he doesn't give a shit because he can't figure out the different players in Kirkwall, but he does kind of makes a mental note of it because he sees that Petrice's involvement means something for Hawke even if him, Arishok, can't quite figure out what or why. He's actually pleased that the mage 'returned' to the Qun. That, and the mage setting himself on fire, actually makes sense since Qun is just a fancy word for batshit insane. As for the railroading, think of it as 'streamlined' choices ;)

*spoilers*



Yes you can do that and it earns respect with the Arishok. It's not that he cant figure it out, he just sees the whole of Kirwall as a complete mess that would be improved with fire. To be honest having finished the game I tend to agree with him. Gaining his respect get's you nothing more than his praise during the end of Chapter 2 and getting that 'Worthy Opponent' achievement. What I would have liked is an option to go to him first since I talked to him with Fenris over the Black Powder then lead one of his teams to reclaim the Serebaas. That way I personally don't have to kill any Qunari and Petrice is put to a Qunari spear much earlier.

*spoilers*
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The Arishok can't tell friend from foe, his own words, very much the definition of 'can't figure it out', but yes, above all else he sees a bunch of people who should embrace the Qun. Gotta give them points for consistency if nothing else.

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Why would one of his teams go reclaim the mage, what difference would it make ? Isn't Aarvard or what's his name one of his teams already ?

Hawke spent 'alone' time with a mage who was cut off from the Qun, that means either death death or ceremonial death, the end.

*spoilers*


The whole mess with Petrice is probably one of the things that bugs me the most. :\ Like we discussed early, plot armor. No matter what I say to her, she just has to stay alive until in the Chantry. it's a bit distressing to know that are choices typically only have a little variation to what actually happened (case in point, I personally killed Gasgard early in chapter 2 since I didn't trust him. Later when the truth came out I realized I was wrong. I read up on the differences with if you keep him alive and if I understood him correctly you might have to fight him anyway? So killing him first just cuts out a fight later? Now I could be wrong, I'm only going off what I read and what I did.

Oh, another thing I enjoyed: During the fight with Meredith the people you've helped along the way just show up and start fighting with you (I like it a bit better than DAO since you don't physically summon them, they come out when they want and just join you in battle). I smiled cause it seemed like Aveline and Donnic often targeted the same creature in the points where Meredith wasn't around. :)

We might have to make a proper DA2 thread now as the spoilers are coming thick and fast :p

****Spoilers****




While I did like that Zevran and the others turned up I thought it was done a lot better again in DA:O. Who joins you in the fight with the Archdemon depends on who you aided and talked to in the game. Irving, Tegan, Eamon, Kardol etc all turn up to help if you helped them. I don't know for sure but I would put money on Zevran turning up at the end of DA2 even if you didn't bother with the quest to meet him. DA2 just has that vibe about it that nothing you do actually seems to matter.

As for Gascard it's worse than you think, there is a chance he will JOIN the serial killer despite what he did to momma Hawke. If you are going to play the game again take Varric with you. He sees through Gascard far quicker than Hawke does apparently.
When I say reclaim, I mean go and kill. Quite frankly I had Bethany next to me at the time so had bugger all interest in helping the Chantry/Templars and the Qunari seemed to be the only people in Kirkwall whose word actually meant a damn. Ideally I would like to flip her the bird, go straight to the Arishok and say "Dude, some Chantry bint has one of your pets in Lowtown. No one knows she is there so if you want to kill her it's cool."

Too true, considering we're no longer even talking about the demo and more the full game. XP!


*Spoilers*


I'm going to just have to flat out say this: What the fuck? :| I definitely didn't read that part and my mind is completely boggled. So is the story about his sister complete bullshit, or is it something like "Oooh, you tried to recreate your dead wife, maybe I can recreate my dead sister... Who you killed..." I'm kind of speechless right now. :\ Thank you for the heads up on bringing Varric, I'll definitely do that.

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I'm under the impression the Qunari presence in Kirkwall is restricted to the compound and that stepping out for whatever reason would mean all hell breaking loose. There's the cave but you can't assume Petrice would tell Hawke about it if Hawke were to refuse taking the mage out, so the only option would be the Arishok asking you to deliver the mage to him instead, which would mean the mage would get ceremional death just the same and Hawke would get either death death or ceremonial death just the same, and that's a big no no because instead of disposing of Aarvard and his merry bunch Hawke would have to dispose of the Arishok and his fun loving entourage, and CH1 is a bit early for that.

So, if you had that choice, the Arishok would likely just ask you to fetch the mage and point you to Aarvard instead, which would mean things would play out exactly as they did, only difference being the Arishok would know beforehand that either Hawke or Aarvard were about to have a relly bad day. He still wouldn't care about Petrice and he'd still be plentty 'happy' about the mage returning to the Qun.

I was under the impression they could come and go as they wished it's just that they choose not to associate with anyone for obvious reasons. This is the only reason that can explain the Aaravard being out hunting the Tal-Vashoth (other characters like the Viscount even mention they go hunting their rebels), the Qunari delegation that was kidnapped and the Viscount's son who was following one of them on the wounded coast.
I dont want to spoil it but if there is one thing DA2 has practically hammered into our heads it's BLOOD MAGIC IS BAD.