Time to decide whether I want to be a Dwarf Commoner Rogue or a City Elf rogue. Decisions!

It gives off the cold effect. Similar to the effect runes give to items.

Don't worry...the deep roads has a really nice set of armor. I've found the usefulness of the juggernaut set to be a bit limited...the amount of enemies that do elemental damage is not enough to warrant wearing the set (at least on normal difficulty)...that's why I stick to the Effort, Diligence, and Wade sets for their increased willpower/reduced fatigue bonuses

@yiasemi: the Orlesian occupation lasted a long time, and maybe Rendon Howe betrayed his family's efforts to join the Orlesians for personal gain...doesn't mean that the Howes couldn't have been fighting the Orlesians for the 60-70 years before Rendon took over leadership of the Arling...I guess I'm just willing to give the writers the benefit of the doubt...that would be a huge snaffu if they let that get through without some sort of explanation!

I like it that 'phat' lewt doesn't drop like rain like in BG2 or NWN. It's more similar to BG1 this way, where a +1 Longsword was the best weapon of the game... and finding a Ring of Protection +1 was a rare & memorable event.

Yeah...it stuck to the KOTOR model...wherein a lot of the best stuff is bought, not found...gives you something to spend all that money on...brings up some really interesting decisions between upgrading your party or your armies...granted if you're really greedy, you can do both with room to spare

Ruthless, perhaps, but not necessarily evil.

His goals weren't, but they way he did was. Evil can be defined as "characterized by anger or spite; malicious". That, my friend, is Loghain to a T.

:wub: Just bought Return to Ostagar. I told myself I'd finish the fade quest (for the thousandth time, on my new warrior..cough..) before I try it, and it's KILLING me. Must.. smash.. massive.. doors.. in.. anger..

I think both of them were complete idiots. I would rather Duncan had the say in that situation, him being the warrior who defeated countless Darkspawn and also a veteran of many battles. Alas, politics won through and messed everything up. So I personally feel sorry for Ferelden. Getting stuck with three crappy rulers in a row until Alister. Even then he is dubious as a leader.

Three?

Besides, I don't think Cailan was a bad ruler, a bit naive perhaps as others have said, but he was very popular and with Anora taking care of all the real business they would have been fine had Ostagar not gone wrong.

The most pathetic moment in the game is

Anora, Cailan, and Logaihn. The holy trinity of political stupidity.

How would you have it instead?

All good points in your post, Leydenne. Thanks.

Since when was Anora a bad ruler? Or Cailan, for the most part?

Ask the Elves.

Anora was the real power behind the throne, Cailan was little more than a puppet. A naive, childish, play war puppet. He didn't even know the first thing about the conditions in the alienage. Who knows what else he was being shielded from?

...Why?

Not being a smart-ass, I don't actually know what they did to the Elves.

I beat the game a while ago, but I didn't look into continuing after that. I just saved in the area you're dropped off in after the credits roll. So, I can continue playing but it takes place before Denerim? Is there any point in playing the same save after you finish the game?

Sort of related, is Awakening going to be about a completely different set of adventurers or will it load up an end-game save similar to Mass Effect 2?

Sorry if the questions are silly, I'm a bit late to this party.

You can import your character and his decisions.

I'm not denying that, but he was also very popular with the people, and with Anora supposedly being good at the actual governing of Ferelden, seems to me like they made a good team.

There are different types of "bad" for the record. None of those leaders possessed all of the qualities a leader must have for it's nation to flourish. Sure you can make do, but ultimately alone they were all flawed in some way as rulers.

Anora was way to harsh and unforgiving. She will not earn the loyalty or respect of her people alone.
Cailan was a moron, and while he would be loved. He would make political blunder after blunder.
Logaihn was so racist and traditionalist that he would see his country die before he seen change.

These particular qualities are all extra crippling for a leader to not posses. I kind of liked how the Dev's showed this.

Anora and Cailan were probably the most effective working together. All it would take though is just one of them dieing and the system falls apart.

Like I said they all lacked a fundamental quality necessary for a truly inspiring and good leader. Sure you can call it human, but I call shenanigans.

Your questions aren't silly. As far as I know, Awakenings will have the choice of loading a save similar to Mass Effect 2, or you can start a new character.

I loaded my mage character again today, at a point after the end of DA, and found she was in the camp. Morrigan and Alistair were gone, and Loghain was standing near the fire. I then left for the world map and was given only two other locations I could travel to: Honnleath (but Shale was at the camp and available to join the party) and Kadash Thaig (which I had already gone through, so no enemies were there either). I guess the purpose of this save was so that if I buy an add-on I can continue my character. Anyway, I'm going back to my other characters.