Clearly, That Was Not the Correct Decision

Man, I am doing my replay of Dragon Age: Origins and it is going pretty well so far except for in one area: the relationships.

I was bound and determined not to romance Alistair this time around. Not because I didn't enjoy the romance in the first play but because there are a few options there and I wanted to try something different. So I went for Leliana instead. Then Zevran showed up and I had forgotten how flirty and fun he is. Sigh. So, my mage has been building a true romance with Leliana, flirting with Zevran for fun, and trying to be buddies with Alistair. Okay.

Except, the game doesn't really have any shades of grey in this particular aspect. Even without hitting on Alistair, if you are just nice to the poor guy, he ends up a little besotted. Then Leliana gets jealous. Then you try to smooth things over with Leliana and Alistair gets pouty. Jeez. Funnily enough, no one seems to care what you are doing with Zevran, even though he seems to think things might be going somewhere sweaty. Hmm.

So the other day my character had to have "the talk" with Alistair. You know the one. The "let's just be friends" talk. Sigh. Damn near broke my heart. I wanted to hug him. But the game doesn't let you do that, also, he's not real. So now I am stuck with Leliana, and as nice as she is, I can't help feeling that maybe I've made the wrong choice. That's what I get for trying something different, I guess. I think it's safe to say that all of my future playthroughs (as a girl character anyway) will involve romancing Alistair. As I told my husband, it would be nice if my character could play matchmaker for the other characters that she doesn't hook up with. Then I could help Leliana and Zevran get together. I don't see why my character should be the only one getting any loving. I guess I'll have to settle for helping Oghren reunite with his ex-girlfriend now that his wife is dead.

Of course, when I hit Dragon Age II up again I will certainly be going down a different path. Anders isn't getting a second chance from this gamer. Not gonna happen. Of course, the only character I actually want to romance in that game isn't available to be romanced, so I still don't know how that's gonna go. I mean, I guess I could play it without that element, but where's the fun in that, eh?

Other than that, however, the game is going really well. I've gotten all of the main treaty quests completed and cleared all of the walking dead out of Redcliffe. Yay! I actually waited to do that bit this time around because the first time through I did that right after Lothering and got my behind handed to me. That was when I had to go ahead and put the game on easy. This time around though, it was much, much better. Part of that is having a more experienced character, part of it is remembering what kind of baddies are where, and yet another part of it is that I am actually a better gamer than I was the first time around. Nevertheless, I have yet to have needed to put the game on easy this far, and my character didn't die once during the whole Redcliffe broohaha. Excellent.

I also managed to complete Morrigan's companion quest without killing her mother. That was kind of an accident, but so far it hasn't had any sort of negative impact on things. I wonder if it will come back to bite me in the butt though, as well as how it will affect a certain storyline in Dragon Age II. Though the XP from fighting the dragon would have been nice, I have to say any scenario where I can not kill the dragon is kind of appreciated.

I am already thinking about my next playthrough though, beyond just the romance aspect. I am looking forward to trying it out as a rogue this time I think. I may or may not do so as an elf. Haven't decided that bit.

Um, I think it might be fair to say I may never actually need to buy another video game (until the third game in the franchise comes out anyway). Seriously, I love playing this game, even when I hate it.

In Stargate news, looks like I am not the only one with a rewatch on the brain. Gateworld announced that they are going to be starting/sponsoring a rewatch of the entire franchise beginning in August. I don't think I am going to alter my plans any, but if you wanted to start your rewatch with SG-1 rather than Atlantis the details are here.

Well, that's all I've got for you today folks. Now, if you don't mind, I am off to kill some darkspawn.

(Insert epic battle soundtrack here.)