Dragon Age: Inquisition: Black Emporium and Hair

Mitchell Trevelyan, as he started the game.

The Black Emporium was recently released for Inquisition, as a free DLC in the Origin store. Sells schematics and other things, nothing new for the Inquisitor, but much more convenient than waiting for your favourite hat to drop. Sells schematics for some of the existing companion-only hats, though.

But the major feature is the ability to re-do your Inquisitor's face. Learned what the Dalish tattoos mean, and want to change to a more fitting one? You can! Don't like that nose? Fix it! Want to introduce your Inquisitor to a wonderful invention called a comb? Easily done!

I went in with the intention of changing Mitchell's nose and hair, but when I got into the creator I thought, no, that's his nose now, I've played the entire game with that nose, that's the nose of a champion. That nose stays.

The hair though, oh yes, the hair was changed. I like to imagine Josephine pulled him aside not long after reaching Skyhold, and persuaded him to tidy it up a bit. He's no longer the scruffy youngest son of a noble, trying his best not to be a threat to his older siblings, he's the leader of the Inquisition, and must look the part, even if he might not always act the part.

I also like to think Josephine convinced him more by saying 'Dorian will love it' than by any other argument.

Inquisitor Trevelyan, currently.

I went with Cullen hair, because I think it works for him, but I worry that he looks a little too generic, that's a very common hair. My first Hawke had the DA2 version of that hair, more or less. My second Inquisitor has the same or a very similar style. I do like that hair.

I had a second choice, below, and I'm still considering it. I was going for a vaguely Australian feel, and I could see that hair easily at the beach or somewhere. So it's got that going for it. But it lacks a certain professionalism. By the end of the game, Mitchell had matured quite a lot, really grown into his position, which actually surprised me. So maybe the Cullen hair is right for him after all.

Thoughts?

Runner up hair.

Mass Effect: Armour Coordination

I've been playing through Mass Effect again lately, because why not, and it's been fun making my Shepards' armour look visually distinct.  My current Shepard is coordinating with her heavy weapon, for example.

I really like Thane and Jack's DLC armour.

It also matches her eyes.

I never even use the missile launcher.

Playing as an adept, I don't think I've ever had to reload. Really using those biotic powers, singularity, warp, boom! I never really liked the 'mage-like' classes, in really anything, rogue all the way. But flinging people about is kind of the funnest thing ever.

Romancing Kaidan, Thane, Kaidan this run, romanced Liara, Jack, Kaidan last.

I suppose you could call me... pro-biotic.

Dragon Age 2: Replay Thoughts

I've been playing Dragon Age 2 again lately, because honestly, I missed it. It was fun.

I've also been playing Dragon Age: Origins again, and I'll eventually import that save into 2, then use the decisions of both in the Keep for my third inquisitor. Big plans. Right now I'm mucking about on a 'just for fun' 2 save.

I don't take many screenshots, because I play with subtitles on, but I have a couple, one of my Hawke's usual team, and a close-up of the blood mage himself. (Most of the time, he's a normal mage, but damn is blood magic handy in a tight spot. No wonder half of Kirkwall resorts to it.)

Pictured: Fenris wearing the red armband of 'has banged Hawke', Hawke, Varric's blood-repelling chest-hair, and some pious bastard in blinding white armour. Compare with Sassmaster Hawke's similar team shot.

There's a lot I've forgotten about this game, like who leaves/doesn't come back if the approval numbers aren't ideal, and maybe Varric is why I had persistent gore turned off in the first place, and so on. I feel like I'm fumbling my way through a first playthrough again, and that is something amazing.

It's been interesting watching this Hawke evolve as events unfold, most notably his personality. Act 1, 100% sarcastic dialogue. Act 2, 50-75% sarcastic dialogue. Act 3, all over the wheel. The point where things start tumbling down is in one quest, where, on selecting the funny option, Hawke gets most of the way through the line before breaking off and saying 'that's not funny at all, actually', in a serious tone. I always second guess the comedic dialogue choices after that.

I really only gave him blood mage speciality because I didn't need the second speciality point - biotic force magic is all I need. (I am a terrible healer.) But it has been handy to switch to for the extra power, crank out a few heavy spells after the mana runs dry.

Also, the Fenris romance is interesting, but could use more 'but I'm a mage' at times. I was hoping for more conflict, but I had to drag him around while I was trying to get Carver's friendship up, didn't I? I did indeed max Carver's friendship, and Fenris' in the process. I'll have to try a rival romance with him another time.

BIG Inquisition Spoilers. No really. Huge. OR: My brother noticed another thing.

Previous 'My brother noticed a thing' post. (Mass Effect spoilers.)

So... this time it was ambient noise. "When I stand here, and this character is not in my line of sight, I hear this noise."

Read more jump going in here.

BIG spoilers below.

Seriously, it's a thing you don't learn until the after-credits scene.

Oh, and there's an after-credits scene, so stick around for that.

Note: Not labelling this post with the character involved, as that could also be a spoiler.

Crafting

And the exact moment I decided to craft my companions' armour:

Blackwall: Looking good. Inquisitor: Exquisite. Dorian: ...

Really, though. Plaideweave?

That's more like it. Not the armour he finished the game in, but better than plaideweave.

Here was the end-game armour for my Inquisitor and Dorian:

Matching hats! I made four of them, then ran out of lambswool. Varric has one, and I think Blackwall wound up with the fourth. Until this point, I had 'hide helmets' option checked. They're still hidden in cutscenes, I didn't see an option to turn that off, but they look great in the wild.

For my Inquisitor, I prefer the armour in the first two screenshots to the one he ended up in. Mostly for the colours - if I had the latter armour in those colours it probably would be my favourite. Still, it's not bad.

Anyway, some spoiler-free info on this playthrough: Romanced Dorian. Played 95 hours before going to the final fight. Left a bazillion sidequests undone. Gave up on the war table about 60 hours in, kept sending my people out as soon as they were free, but so many markers, still so many.

Dragon Age Inquisition: First Thoughts

I'm barely out of the first zone, and all the screenshots in this post come from before the main title splash screen. I've also avoided anything with subtitles or that might be a visual spoiler.

Firstly, I'm very glad I recently upgraded my graphics card, because this game is really using it. Looks amazing.

The controls are a little awkward, and I think it's going to take longer to get used to them than usual, but we'll see. Combat is a struggle right now, steep learning curve, but I'll get there.

You can actually flirt with the restricted romance options, they just turn you down. Can't tell you how much I would have loved something like this after Garrus' reach and flexibility chat. (He shares that story to male Shepards too.) So far my male inquisitor has flirted with Cullen, who is only available to female humans and elves. It was adorably awkward. Didn't flirt with Cassandra, although I'm warming up to her faster than I expected.

The character creator is probably the greatest one I've seen so far. Everything down to eyelash length...

Pictures of my Inquisitor, a human rogue by the name of Mitchell Trevelyan:

I think of him as the inquisitive inquisitor, every time a dialogue option includes a question, I pick a question. Seemed like a good idea from a player perspective, to get all the background info, and a feel for the characters. I'm playing blind here, only the dialogue and codex to guide me. Well, that, and experience with DAO and DA2.

I'm enjoying watching his face as he bumbles around cluelessly, the expressions are excellent. I omitted some of the better ones because there were subtitles on the frames. I could crop those out, but, I could also go back to the new game I just got.

Also, for a first character in a Bioware game, Mitchell isn't doing too badly. For one, I still like his face. This was probably the first time I didn't exit back to the menu and try again.

"I think I'll upgrade my graphics card."

One week later... my computer is finally fully operational again. That was fun. BUT! It's done now! Shiny new graphics card! Runs a lot cooler and faster than my old one. I am looking forward to games where the settings aren't 'textures:high, everything else:low/off', and the FPS matches my monitor's refresh rate.

I just hope I don't have to do this again for a while.

Sovereign?

"Vanguard of our destruction? How's that working out for you, big guy?"

The lamp is called 'The Sovereign', and the description reads: Innocent jellyfish or malicious alien lifeform? You decide, with this great conversation-starter!

Not sure whether to buy lots of this lamp for Kaidan and Shepard's place, or avoid this lamp for Kaidan and Shepard's place. The latter is probably safer.

I eventually want to build them a lot that looks like it's made out of the prefab units seen on some Mass Effect human colony worlds, but I'm not entirely sure if that'll work. It'd be so much easier if Sims 4 had ladders, I must admit. What is a Mass Effect build without either ladders or elevators? I mean, really?