@ Luke Maciak:

According to the Chantry: The Fade is analogous to our ‘astral realm,’ and in DA lore, it was the first world created by The Maker, into which were created his ‘First Children,’ spirits (which include demons).

After, he created humans, animals, the physical world, etc.

When people dream, their minds enter The Fade. This is when demons can most easily tempt/possess them.

Mages pull their power from the Fade. Lyrium allows one to harness the Fade. The Fade is tied to consciousness. Tranquils do not dream, and can not enter the Fade. Archons of the Emperium caused the ‘first fall,’ by physically entering the Fade… and were cast out, becoming the original DarkSpawn.

PS. Dragon Age is one of the best video games I’ve ever played. Heroic, archetypal, and visceral. Nearly perfect for the genre.

“which were your most and least favorite companions?”

I think I should be asked: who didn’t I like? I like Alistair because of his witticism (is that a word?). I like Zevran because……well, just because. I like Shale for his/her dislike of birds (too funny). I like Morrigan because of her snarky comments. I’m not sure what to say about the others, but I know I didn’t like Sten (I only put him in my party to give him gifts and for the occasional romp).

Oh…and if you want to see something fun with Sten and Ohgren, try this:

When you get captured by Loghain’s head soldier-chick person, and you are in the dungeon, choose to be rescued by Sten and Ohgren. Their dialog as they try to trick their way pass the guards is priceless.

The replay value of this game is fine when you start with a different race and try the different opening quests – but once these are done, it can get old, very fast. The cool thing is you can fly through the PC version by using various cheats (start the game directly, not through the Launcher). In game you hit the tilde (~) and then you can type in commands (you won’t see them, so spelling is really, really important). My favs are “runscript killallhostiles” and “runscript zz_money 90000” (the latter giving you 9 gold).

I also tried “runscript addtalent x” where x is a 5 or 6 digit number (usually) related to a particular talent. Very cool to try different specs without going through the game a thousand times.

Sten is my favorite companion, because the few lines he speaks actually make me smile (like : tell me about your people -> no, why not ? -> I don’t want to). He’s also the only one to question your leadership, a very good point as you have done nothing at all to deserve it. This trust people seem to place in you doesn’t ring true with the history of grey wardens and Ferelden, but this is a game and you have to be the hero…

My least favorite companion would be Leliana, because her fake exagerated french accent was just too much to bear. I felt like I was back in high school during english lessons, listening to my classmates read a text they don’t understand… Listening to her talk was a chore, same with all Orlesian NPCs. Also, she’s pretty bad as a companion, and was only in my party to open chests until Zevran got enough levels to raise the skill.

I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the game, but I expected a little more from the story. It’s really not epic until the very few last hours of the game. That, and the mandatory dungeon crawlings. Doing them once is fine. Replaying through them is annoying. The “choice” you can make for each main quest is usually after 99% of the dungeon is cleared, and only affects which enemy you fight in the boss battle, a few lines of dialogue and who you’ll be able to call at the end, so it was also quite lacking there.

Now finished 2 playthroughs, seen all outcomes for the main quests and the results of two origin stories. I doubt I’ll play again just to see what happens with the other 4, but I’ve been modding the game for a while now and I quite like the toolset.

@ fae,or:

Really? Well shit! I just started a mage origin story… I might be tempted to try and play it through Ostragar and Lothering just to check Shale out.

@ Luke Maciak:
As seen in the first Mage-Quest: Not every Mage CHOOSES to become Tranquil, some just get told they should become Tranquils and not all like this.

Hey you do realise Shale is free DLC? And she’s by far the best tank, if you do another playthrough I recommend being a mage and letting Shale tank :)

@ Chris Wellons:

It’s similar but different. In Dragon Age mages are connected to the Fade which is a parallel dimension that seems to be created and powered by human empathy – its the place where dreaming minds go when people falls asleep, and where raw emotions and urges coalesce into sentient beings known as demons. All people have some connection to the Fade, but mages have pretty much an open floodgate. They can draw energy from it to power their spells, but they are also a target for demons who can use this link to posses them and take over their bodies.

Because of this all mages are forced to undergo a Harrowing ritual in which they are thrust unarmed into the fade and must defend themselves from any and all demons that choose to attack them. If they survive, they prove to the Circle that they are strong enough to resist being possessed in the future. If they fail and become possessed they are executed on the spot by Templars. If they take too long, the Templars will execute them just in case.

Fortunately there is another option. Those who choose not to undergo harrowing can be made “Tranquil”. The ritual will strip them of all their magic power and make them inaccessible to demons. Unfortunately the ritual cuts one’s link to fade completely, which makes the Tranquil unable to experience normal human emotion. It’s a bit harsh, but most of the Tranquil don’t regret their decision, and are perfectly content with their stunted emotional state.

The situation you describe with the mages sounds somewhat like it is in The Wheel of Time series. Very few people have the ability to wield magic (called the One Power). The male side of the One Power is tainted by corruption, so any men that can access the power gradually go mad and can do lots of damage (like the Breaking of the World, where all the male magic-users went mad at once and tore whole continents apart). When magic-wielding men are discovered the female Aes Sedai (mages) can cut them off permanently from the One Power, a process called “gentling”, taking away their power and source of madness. That sounds like the demon possession thing in Dragon Age.

(The catch that’s the central part of the whole story is that only a certain, special male Aes Sedai can save the world from the Big Bad Guy in the final, epic battle. History always repeats itself, so this man, called the Dragon Reborn, is reborn each “age” to fulfill this role. But now that the male half of the One Power is tainted, which only just happened at the end of the last age (I think), this extremely powerful man will inevitably go mad. But he can’t be gentled until after he plays his part to save the world. So it’s a race against the clock.)

For the women, when they are discovered to have the ability to use magic they are brought to the White Tower, the central place for all the magic-users, and trained there. They can’t leave until they’ve learned enough to not hurt themselves. Those who want to learn more can stay and become Aes Sedai themselves.

Now that I type it out, maybe it’s not all that similar. :-P