![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Entry tags:
30 Days of DA: Favorite Origin
Day Seventeen: Favorite Origins story
So far, I have played complete games for three of the six (or seven, if you consider Amell and Surana to be distinct from one another) origins: Human Noble, Dwarf Noble, and (Elf) Mage. I've also played each origin as far as the arrival at Ostegar (most of them on one day, when I was home sick from work). I'd like to do a complete game for each origin eventually, but at this point, I have a clear favorite, and that's the Dwarf Noble.
Part of the reason I played all the origins through was to decide which one I wanted to select for my second complete game, and the Dwarf Noble was, for me, the obvious choice. I found the story it told to be the most compelling of the six: a tale of family and honor and betrayal, with implications and effects that ripple through the entire Orzammar quest line. I suspect that playing as either dwarf character gives that part of the game more resonance, but I found this to be especially true for my Aeducan.
It's true that my Aeducan is my favorite Warden, hands down, so this may color my reaction somewhat, but I also believe that part of the reason she's my favorite is because I find her backstory so compelling.
The question of which backstory to play next is a very open one in my mind right now. At the moment, I'm stalling by taking Alim Surana through Awakening (and then probably by playing FFXIII-2, which is out at the end of the month!), but eventually I will have to pick. Is it time to play my hell-on-wheels Warden who stomps all over Ferelden without much heed to the carnage s/he is leaving behind? (I suspect either the City Elf or Dalish origin would be the best match for that, although it might also be interesting to try with a Dwarf Commoner or m!Cousland.) Do I play Dalish because it's the most interesting to carry forward into DA2? (Which helps make up for its lack of connection to the Origins storyline -- this is the backstory I find least compelling to play in DA:O, for that reason.) Or do I play my Dwarf Commoner, to see the other side of the story in Orzammar? Decisions, decisions.
Complete list of questions
So far, I have played complete games for three of the six (or seven, if you consider Amell and Surana to be distinct from one another) origins: Human Noble, Dwarf Noble, and (Elf) Mage. I've also played each origin as far as the arrival at Ostegar (most of them on one day, when I was home sick from work). I'd like to do a complete game for each origin eventually, but at this point, I have a clear favorite, and that's the Dwarf Noble.
Part of the reason I played all the origins through was to decide which one I wanted to select for my second complete game, and the Dwarf Noble was, for me, the obvious choice. I found the story it told to be the most compelling of the six: a tale of family and honor and betrayal, with implications and effects that ripple through the entire Orzammar quest line. I suspect that playing as either dwarf character gives that part of the game more resonance, but I found this to be especially true for my Aeducan.
It's true that my Aeducan is my favorite Warden, hands down, so this may color my reaction somewhat, but I also believe that part of the reason she's my favorite is because I find her backstory so compelling.
The question of which backstory to play next is a very open one in my mind right now. At the moment, I'm stalling by taking Alim Surana through Awakening (and then probably by playing FFXIII-2, which is out at the end of the month!), but eventually I will have to pick. Is it time to play my hell-on-wheels Warden who stomps all over Ferelden without much heed to the carnage s/he is leaving behind? (I suspect either the City Elf or Dalish origin would be the best match for that, although it might also be interesting to try with a Dwarf Commoner or m!Cousland.) Do I play Dalish because it's the most interesting to carry forward into DA2? (Which helps make up for its lack of connection to the Origins storyline -- this is the backstory I find least compelling to play in DA:O, for that reason.) Or do I play my Dwarf Commoner, to see the other side of the story in Orzammar? Decisions, decisions.
Complete list of questions
no subject
...my hell-on-wheels Warden...
I was thinking about doing this with a Dwarf Commoner or m!Cousland. I still haven't played the Dalish origin (need to do that over the next few nights).
Do I play Dalish because it's the most interesting to carry forward into DA2?
Interesting.
..
For what it's worth, I consider the Amell and Surana characters different enough to either warrant separate play throughs or to at least carefully consider which to play. Surana deals with noticeable amounts racism in Redcliffe. That experience strongly drove home my f!Surana's position in society (especially given that it was just after Alistair announced who he is). Likewise, Amell has direct connections to the Hawke family in DA2. Now that I know a good deal about the Amell family, my head canon has shifted DA:O Amell and DA:O Surana even further apart as far as how I imagine them acting in game.
no subject
Well, it's a theory, anyway. I don't know for sure. But because of the connections there, it seems likely.
Right? It makes sense, at least -- you can give a Surana any of a number of backstories (mine had a reasonably happy childhood in the Alienage), but none of them involve being scion of a semi-disgraced noble family in another country. Although I suspect that this difference wasn't actually planned when DA:O was being written -- it's almost certainly a retcon. But a retcon that I find quite interesting.