Just had to make a quick post on the hopelessly bland purgatory that is the Deep Roads in Dragon Age. It's not enough that most of the game takes place under there, but most of the DLC does, too...and both of the books.
The Deep Roads marked one of the most frustrating places in any fantasy game I've ever played. It took forever to get through it. Forever. Now, I love the concept of it. In fact, it's almost disappointing that we can't see them in their former glory, before the darkspawn took them over for themselves. But seriously...
So, aside from that large section of the game that takes place down there, we also have:
-The Stone Prisoner - When Shale goes to search for clues about its identity.
-The Golems of Amgarrak - When you are summoned to help out a desperate explorer. It's not like you haven't done that before down there.
-Witch Hunt - When you go back to the exact same place you searched for Shale's identity. I had to laugh when I saw that.
-Dragon Age: The Stolen Throne - When someone in the party thought it was the best idea ever to travel through the Deep Roads instead of, I don't know, surface roads. I was practically shouting at the book, trying to stop them from dragging me down there with them. Didn't work as well as I thought it would
-Dragon Age: The Calling - When a Grey Warden guilts King Maric into returning to the Deep Roads because he's actually been down there, never mind the fact that he hardly remembers much about that journey, which is now fourteen years past. I wanted to cry into the book for making me go back there mentally now - for the second time.
See? You can't escape it. It's been a year since I started playing DA, and I still haven't escaped it. If my concept of the multiverse holds any water, that's where I'll be going instead of hell.
Two things.
ReplyDelete1) I love this blog.
2) I just got out of the Deep Roads (which I always call the Underdark, but reading too many Salvatore books and playing D&D for years will do that to you) in my current, and first, playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins, and it literally took me EIGHT hours to finish everything up, and that's WITHOUT SIDE QUESTS! Before that location, I was really digging the game, but after finally finishing the whole Anvil of the Void quest I just put the game down for a while. I haven't played since early October (though reading some of your posts on the game make me want to go back and finish), and I'm actually relieved I don't have Xbix Live now. I know I wouldn't have been able to help myself from buying all the DLC if I did, and, at least right now, I don't need another dozen hours in the Underdark.
Though I am interested in reading the books about Maric at some point.
Deep... Roads? Doesn't ring a bell. Must've repressed it.
ReplyDeleteHey, thanks for reading through our rants, Drake. You too, Glow!
ReplyDeleteThe Deep Roads are definitely the most tedious part of the game, made only worse by the fact that not once did I ever run into House Do'Urden. But I really recommend that you finish the game! It's really, really worth it and, depending on the ending you get, very satisfying.
The books aren't bad! Mister Buch and I both really got into "The Stolen Throne." It has a few tedious moments, but it's worth it if you have an interest in the lore. =D
I do plan on finishing it, after finishing off Kingdom Hearts: Birth by Sleep (and maybe some games I'll be picking up around Christmas). I just finished Red Dead Redemption last week, so I wanted to play a short handheld between longer games.
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