Diversions

[thessalian]

It is amazing how much better one can feel after a few hours of beating on oogly creatures via video games and the prospect of a lovely steak dinner later. Seriously, not to be sneezed at as a way to spend a mental health day.

A lot of it was Dragon Age 2. I finally caved last month and bought the Exiled Prince DLC (so I didn't preorder, okay? So sue me) and have been having my first playthrough in which we actually have a Sebastien. I ... don't entirely understand the fanlove and wishing-he-was-properly-romanceable thing for Sebastien. I mean, obviously it's a matter of personal taste and I don't judge; I'm just saying I don't get it. What's more, I don't-get it in an entirely different way that I don't-get the wishing-Varric-was-romanceable-at-all brigade. With Varric, I guess I could see how someone might find that attractive and he's definitely got a way with words, but ... for me, he's so much platonic BFF bro-guy that I just couldn't even imagine wanting horizontal fun there. It'd ruin things for me. (Besides, I'm very much Varric/Merrill OTP; shut up.) Sebastien ... well, I guess I could potentially see him as the less angsty option. If I close one eye and tilt my head to the right. Thing is, he's so fired up about "Starkhaven! Or ... maybe the Chantry! Yes! Devote my life to the Chantry! Unless I decide to take my rightful place as Starkhaven's ruler. But the Chantry!" that there really doesn't seem time for anything else. At least Anders seems vaguely interested in something other than the whole mage-freedom thing in the first couple of acts. Besides, plate-and-chain on a rogue weirds me out. Also, I find his accent ... not offputting, but certainly not sexy. He sounds like a bad Sean Connery impersonator to me.

That said, I actually like the DLC. Interesting bit of backstory, and puts an interesting spin on endgame. (You should have listened, Elthina; you should have listened. Wonder if Anders would have pulled his little stunt if she had, though...) I got through maybe three quarters of an act total - little under half of Act 2 overlapping to a little more than a quarter of Act 3, and then moved on for a bit.

Specifically, Warcrack. Yeah, I'm still hacking it through Outland with my poor belf pally, with one major difference - I'm finally out of frikkin' Hellfire Peninsula! I finally polished off most of the quests for that area (I think there are a few left over, but I can go back to those and a couple of them probably require higher level than I'm currently at; they do recommend two players...) and soared off to Zangarmarsh, which is a lot less barren and there are no jets of fire and no ground tilted at stupid angles, so I like it way better.

And yes, I said 'soared'. As in, on my spiffy flying mount. See, a thing I came to realise after a bit of a wade through Google is that you only need your Flight Master's Licence for flights in Kalimdor, Northrend and the Eastern Kingdoms. You don't need it for Outland. So I bought my spiffy blue windrider and while I can afford my Flight Master's Licence, I will continue to save up my gold so that I'll have a nice buffer by the time I hit level 70 and get out of Outland for good, therefore really needing my FML. (Oh, that's a fun TLA. Kind of like how they didn't really think before calling new WoD Werewolf 'The Forsaken', y'know? WTF is probably not what you want people calling your game.) Of course, by then I'll also have to be thinking about saving for cold weather flying, because apparently it's very much required in Northrend. Woo to the hoo. Yeesh.

Anyway, my last trek through Hellfire Peninsula earned me a not overly pleasant surprise. Look, there's this bunch of 'let's untaint the world' types called the Cenarion Circle and they tend to send people out to cure taints and kill blighted things. I got sent after five colossi. (Don't look at me like that; that's what the ditzy nelf NPC called them as plural!) I walked up to a colossus, made like Captain America (my shield? Meet its head) and ... oh. That's a gold dragon wound around the headshot of the mob I have engaged. That's an elite mob, that is. And it's at my level. Didn't I get my arse kicked by an elite mob four levels below me as moocow shammy? ...Yeah, well, that was moocow shammy. Belf pally is a little more resilient. I should really have realised this earlier this week when I got mugged by two NPC guards that had six levels on me, killed them both and survived. Suffice to say that it was somewhat rougher going than I'm used to (as in, I could only kill three of them before my health bar dropped to 50%) but I managed. The rest of that quest chain looks soloable no matter how much they say they suggest two players, so ... eh. Maybe I'll actually hit level 64 tonight. I haven't been levelling all that much out of sheer hatred for the zone I was in; maybe things will improve now that I'm somewhere a little less ... um ... horrible.

So yeah. That's been my day and I feel somewhat better now. I have doughnuts, and steak dinner planned, and a weekend impending. All is reasonably right with the world.

Comments

[phoenixblaze.livejournal.com]

If I had to guess, a big part of Sebastian fanlove comes from the States. Most of us aren't as familiar with the accents used in the game, so if there are some really bad ones it generally flies over our heads. I think for me, my love of Sebastian came from his faith. He's adorable to torment and it was nice to see a character who didn't blow the Chantry off. You can make an argument with Leliana in Origins, I think, but I personally feel they did a better job with showing the Chantry with Sebastian than with Leliana.

And did I mention the torment part? Seriously, I have a brain like Isabela's and all of her banter with him was things I would have thought to say. Plus I think there's something to be said for fangirls and dangling a not really romanceable character in front of them. I agree with your thoughts on Varric, I just can't see him and Hawke together, but I fell for Sebastian/Hawke, though it's definitely not my favorite LI.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I agree with you about Sebatien being a really interesting character from the point of view of seeing the Chantry through him (and yes, it's hysterical hearing Isabela tease him, not to mention Anders' comments about the 'codpiece'). I didn't say I didn't like him as a character; in fact, I think it's because I like him as a character that I can't see him as a viable love interest. I suppose to me it seems like half the planet's trying to pull him away from his faith and the last thing he needs is yet one more person confusing him. He's like a puppy - dangle one too many jingly toys at him and his poor head might explode. Maybe I just like him because he doesn't seem to need anyone in the same way that the rest of the party (let's face it; each and every one of them cataclysmically broken, emotionally) seems to, and am happy to help him find a path without adding "but I lurve you!" to the mish-mash in the poor guy's head.

(Please note that I am not judging, and hope I don't sound like I am. I just like discussing the viewpoints.)

[baronsamedi.livejournal.com]

Sebastian is there with Velanna for the two companions I don't really like. And Carver I guess but I keep playing a rogue so I don't generally see him long.

Sebastian strikes me as a screaming hypocrite and really wishy wasy, willing to throw aside his beliefs whenever he gets pissed, and more then willing to hurt innocents himself despite being horrified when others do.

Out of curiosity, which love interests do you tend to like (in either DA)

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I admit it; I'm an Alistair fan of the first water. I just ... I always play female and I can't not romance him. Of course, part of that is to do with the fact that he's so incredibly easy to romance and I have a hard time stomping on his heart when he comes out wearing it on his sleeve. None of the DA2 folk do that (except Merrill) and that's the one thing I kind of miss.

For DA2? Well, the way you keep playing Rogue, I keep playing Mage, so what I get is Fenris Rivalry-romance, all the way. (Even if it does mean that my poor Hawke tends to get stuck going to the Blooming Rose for three solid years if she wants physical gratification after Fenris freaks out, though then again, him freaking out is understandable...) I romanced Anders first time through and I can't go through that again!

As to Carver? I do subscribe to Aveline's opinion on the matter ("Bit of a tit, your brother.") but I always feel bad when he ends up dying in the Deep Roads. It's my head-canon, y'see; Anders bitch-bitch-bitches about never wanting to see the Deep Roads again, so Hawke doesn't bring him along, and Carver sulks if Hawke doesn't bring him so I do and ... well. Alas, poor Carver.

I wanted to like Velanna but she seemed like such a wannabe-Morrigan substitute...

[baronsamedi.livejournal.com]

Cool, cool. I know Alastair has the appeal. I usually go after Leliana and Merrill.

I am odd, when playing with others, say, Warcraft, I almost always play healers. My character for 95% of the time I played WoW was a Troll Priest Discipline/Holy. I tend to play rogues when playing solo games like DA though.

The problem was while Velanna and Morrigan were aloof and abrasive, Velanna kept being wrong about things, while Morrigan was wrong less then she was right. Also, Morrigan and, say, Nathanial did a good job of warming up to you, but Velanna really didn't.

[fay.livejournal.com]

Besides, I'm very much Varric/Merrill OTP; shut up.

omg O_O

i've never before considered it but I CAN SEE IT omg

I'd always thought of him as Big Brother Varric and of Carver with a terrible Merril crush but now I don't think that I'm going to be able to unsee this.

I don't get the Sebastian appeal. I've always been more than a bit forgiving to the Chantry, so he does nothing but irk me with his inaction. Also I dislike his face and his armour and I don't see anything special about his voice and feel the same about Nathaniel for that matter.</petty>

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

I just wish that Bioware had coded Sebastien's dialogue and Hawke's options towards same a bit better, particularly in terms of playing a mage. Particularly during that act 3 quest where they're going on about "These mages are out of control!" and there's no option to remind him, "Dude. Mage. Who has saved your arse more times than anyone can count and actually takes down rogue blood mage arseholes, you prick."

I never see Carver and Merrill together, so I'll have to see what that dialogue is like, but to me ... I dunno, it clinched it for me when he turned up at her house to try to prod her outside to get some air. Generally when he worries about someone and interferes in their life, he either waits for them to come to him, or he does it clandestinely and denies it later. That seemed like an excuse to go visit her and I always kind of imagine that after her chat with Hawke, Merrill turns up at the Hanged Man going, "...Sorry." and things progressing from there. There may be fic one day.

[fay.livejournal.com]

the lack of coded mage dialogue in general annoys me. There are so many points where I couldn't help but think, "HI, MAGE HERE. SEE THE STAFF?" before deciding that that was a quick way to an aneurysm. still doesn't mean that it coming from Sebastian didn't irk. Why you around mage Hawke if you don't like les magis?!

Carver wants to interrupt Merrill's plans, which may or may not include keeping Hawke from losing their head to the maw of something creepy. She continues to Not Get It. I should see if there's video.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

Well, at least there are some points where you can actually turn around and say, "Hey, hello? Mage! Hi!" Vincento, Feynriel, Cullen... As to Sebastien, you could say the same about Fenris, but at least he explains ("I've stuck around with you for years because I owed you and I thought you could help me! And you did! And ... now I have no idea what else to do so fuck it; I'm staying until you do something I really don't approve of, and maybe even then, whatever"). Sebastien, on the other hand... Ever want to say, "Hey, if the Grand Cleric won't take you back here, ever thought about trying another Chantry? Y'know, Starkhaven? Amaranthine? Denerim? ...Rivain? ANYWHERE but in my face making my life more complicated?"

Ah, Legacy chatter. My headcanon Carver never gets that far.

*scrolls down* STILL a chaste marriage? Seriously? How do they expect to have heirs?!? Eff that!

[wingedkami.livejournal.com]

Dammit I really need to get my troll shaman moved so I can come and kill stuff with you in Zangarmarsh. :)

The dwarflock was running around Hellfire Peninsula, but has taken a trip to Kalimdor to learn to cook. Unfortunately, since I don't own Cataclysm yet, I can't buy the flying license. Arrrgh.

Also, yay steak.

[thessalian.livejournal.com]

Oh, I cleared Zangarmarsh just the other day and am now doing way, waaaaaaay too many quests in Terokkar Forest. Level 66 woo! Not to mention Shattrath City, which is more or less awesome and has a portal direct to Orgrimmar so I don't have to worry about the flight back when I finally clear Outland. But yes, you should move your troll over to Bloodhoof; I could use the company. What level's your Feegle!Shammy at, anyway?

Hell, I need to level an Alliance character so maybe I can hang out with your dwarflock. I think the highest Alliance I have at the moment is a level ... maybe 20-ish Draenei Paladin? I think? I'd have to check again. Either way, levelling up really doesn't take that long.

Oooh, you must get Cataclysm! I'm pretty sure it's relatively cheap now, and Goblin, at least, is a purely awesome character race. Plus, yeah, that whole Flight Master's Licence thing, which I am enjoying in Outland and will enjoy even more when I'm done doing every quest that throws itself at me in this lump of Somewhere-Out-There.