I have no idea how you spent 17 more hours than in me in game but around the same place. :)

Makes me paranoid, like I missed something...

It's possible I was tabbed out at some point with the game running and didn't realize it. But not for that long. It may just be because I was a mage, and they start fairly weak (on Nightmare, at least...).

You may just have discovered the crazy power of cross class combos earlier than I did. Stagger and Chain Lightning is every bit as overpowered as Storm of the Century was. That will certainly make things easier the next time through the game.

Yeah, I didn't even have Isabela yet. There was no quest for her or anything, I just happened to check out Hangmans pub before I went on...

Same thing happened to me. Apparently she becomes available after you help Anders.

I'm guessing you didn't clear all your rumors? Or did you?

I did. Only quests available now are enemies among us and the deep roads expedition.

Just finished it.

Not quite a good as the original, but I still really enjoyed it.

Will discuss when you abuse mongers get done playing nightmare mode. :D

Holy ****! The Ancient Stone Wraith on Hard was ridiculous.. You beat him on nightmare?

In January I played Alpha Protocol, which was amazing, and got super bitter towards BioWare and the state of RPGs in general as a result. I started getting peeved by every single thing that was written about Dragon Age II, which looked like it was going in a really horrible direction.

... um. This is a really fun game. =o

(FemHawke is canon)

I think 'fun' is a fair statement to make. I've had a blast playing it. I think it will be more replayable for me, too. Unless the deep roads I'm about to enter are as tedious as the deep roads were in Origins.

(NoHawke is canon)

I thought the most tedious/annoying part was the Circle tower.

It's a toss-up for me. I wasn't a big fan of the deep roads or of the tower/fade.

The Fade SUCKED. S-U-C-K-E-D. All that shape shifting to go through different portals in a giant rat maze crap annoyed the hell out of me - and seriously, what the **** were they thinking throwing that in there? It would have been enough to stop me from playing further in a game I didn't like.

BTW, I started again as a male mage, and noticed right away that the appearance of some of the characters altered from the first game. Bethany, the mother, the uncle and the whiny brother all have completely different faces. Very interesting.

Oh yeah, that's the character generation system. The Hawke family is modeled after whatever face your Hawke has (even if you create your own).

There's lots of interesting stuff like that. Apparently the personality of your character changes in the final two acts based on your conversation choices in first, so you'll still be, say, smarmy hawke even if you decide to give a peaceful or combative answer.

(You'd have a better handle on the truth of that than I would, since you've finished the game)

You'll like Carver. And by like I mean hate with a passion. In a brotherly way. As a mage he sticks with you after the ogre.

No doubt. And since I always start as a mage, I began the game in the tower and fade. And then had to go back. It sucked.

The thing about the deep roads is it never seems to end. Map after map after map, and they all look exactly the same. Somehow I knew it was going to suck, because my very first play through the game I put it off to last. And, boy oh boy, suck it did.

I finished the fight on the top of Sundermount. Got a nice dagger. It wasn't quest related or anything, but it was tough.