It was so long ago and I played so briefly, I can't recall.

Finished DA:I, and now I'm feeling slightly mournful about being done, in that way where you know you can go back into the world and do random side missions and close more rifts or whatever but you know you never actually do.

And then, because I'm a basically decent person, I handed over the controller for S. to take his turn for the first time this weekend, and he's almost up to the final sequence in the main story, but has done a slightly different set of side quests in a different order, and as a result he has a giant stack of friendship quests left. And I suddenly found myself incredibly jealous -- I'm completely in it for story and exploration, don't give a rip about badges, would happily play on a difficulty level so easy there were no fights at all (except for the fact that they make Iron Bull so incredibly gleeful, and who would want to miss out on that)... and I fucking miss these characters and want to spend all that time focusing on them again.

(And yes, I can and will replay. But I will still miss the relationships I made with these characters in this go-round, with this character.)

(Also, my dwarf noble from my first DA:O playthrough was totally the great love of Leliana's life. Just saying.)

I'm such a sucker for Bioware's schtick. That is all. A prepaying and lining up at midnight on release night sucker.

As frustrating as some of the bugs can be (especially the banter bug, as companion banter is something I've always loved about Bioware's games), I just don't get the fan-rage on the official forums. I loved getting to know the characters in DA:I and watching the story unfold.

And I agree, it's never quite as good on a replay, because some of the magic of getting to know the characters is lost and it becomes more of a "well, I know they like it when I do this" or "I did X last time, so I'll do Y this time to see what's different."

That being said, there always seems to be a couple characters I neglect on my first play-through that I then focus on during my second, so there's still some of the getting to know them on the second play. In DA:O, for example, I couldn't connect with Sten on my first play-through, so I didn't use him. I also didn't care for Zevran. So my second play-through I used them both more and managed to befriend them both. Recovering Sten's sword and having him call me "kadan" was immensely satisfying after my failure to get along with him the first time.

I also think that DA2's Friend/Rival system helps with replayability. After seeing how Anders and Merrill turned out in my first play-through, I'm rivaling them both the second time and I like that you can, depending on your choices, rival them without being a jerk. You can play someone who honestly cares about them, but doesn't agree with the choices they're making, and that's fantastic. In some ways I'm kind of disappointed that DA:I went back to the simplified approval tracking. (Though even DA2's system is too simplistic. There's times where you sabotage your rivalry by doing something your companion likes that's unrelated to your point of contention. Or the silliness of gifts actually raising your Rivalry, if you're far enough down that path, even if they like them. However, I imagine a more realistic relationship system that tracks both affection and agreement on two different graphs would be a nightmare to implement.)

But yeah, I'm totally onboard with the Bioware model. While I know some people are upset some of their previous choices only seem to make a cosmetic difference, if at all, I still enjoy seeing the affects my previous characters had on the world. And walking into Skyhold's garden and seeing my Warden's son standing there was a serious "Woah" moment for me.

I've started a second playthrough. I went through Dragon Age Keep this time and made all the decisions from the first two games. amych, it turns out my Dwarf Commoner from the DA:O choices is actually the great love of Leliana's life.

I'm having fun being completionist and thorough, but will yield up the controller to Will this evening, because I've already moved past the mages vs templars decision in this playthrough and he just opened up the Hinterlands.

In my mind, in this playthrough, my little Inquisitor Cadash still exists and is still the tiny dwarf woman who taught Iron Bull to love. Even though, you know, my Inquisitor is now Neil Trevelyan, and he's not the Inquisitor yet. But I created him for the explicit purpose of romancing Dorian.

But I created him for the explicit purpose of romancing Dorian.

HAHAHA I am already planning this for my next character. Because playthrough 2 is all about the fanservice.

Because playthrough 2 is all about the fanservice.

I'm super bummed that Solas is both straight and kinda racist because once I realized that he's voiced by Ianto I needed a Captain Jack character. Hence, falling back on to Dorian.

I'm pretty sure I, me, myself, and not just my DA:I character, have a big crush on Iron Bull. Seriously. If you don't intend to/haven't romanced him, watch his romance scenes on YouTube. Delightful.

BSG

Okay, I need to dig into my email and pick up from where I was at, but I'm feeling like I'm good to pick up again. How does the rest of the BSG gang feel?

Heh. I totally did. And it was my first-ever straight romance in a Bioware game -- my character was totally intended to be a lesbian until the Bull turned out to be the most trans-friendly character in the history of all pop culture ever and I said HMMMMM.

This is actually a bit of a hangup with the Dorian plan, because apparently if you don't romance either of them, they totes fall in luuuurrrrve.