Dragon Age: Origins/Tropes L to Q: Difference between revisions

** ...Cailan, Uldred, even Loghain, Bhelen, and Teagan at times.

* [[Last Kiss]]: {{spoiler|At the end for a female who romanced Alistair, if you stayed together and you didn't [[Take a Third Option|take the third option]], since one of you has to die to finish off the Archdemon. What happens next is... well...}}

'''Alistair''': {{spoiler|Sanest thing I've ever done.}} }}

* [[Last of His Kind]]: After Ostagar, the Warden and Alistair are the only two Grey Wardens left in Ferelden.

** Needless to say, the game's difficulty is rather inconsistent. Some trash mob encounters may utterly curb-stomp you, while boss battles you can just walk right past, especially later in the game.

** One of the game's hardest battles is a random pack of wolves met on the road. The difficulty of the battle depends entirely on how often the wolves use their 'Overwhelm' ability.

* [[Made of Explodium]]: Abominations will explode a few seconds after being killed.

* [[Madness Mantra]]: Hespith.

* [[Magic Versus Science]]: After their conquests, the Qunari were repelled by the Chantry-led forces in good measure thanks to the advantage given to them by the use of Magic applied to warfare. In the Qunari culture, magic, albeit known, was regarded nearly as an abomination, and their warfare relied heavily on their superior technology (like cannons) which proved to be no match for the Chantry-controlled mages. The Qunari have also been unable to conquer the remnant of the Tevinter Imperium.

** That's selling them a little short. The qunari war lasted over a hundred years, and only ended when the Chantry declared an Exalted March (fantasy Crusade) which itself lasted more than fifty years. And the war ended with ''Thedas'' suing for peace. And numerous people who have been to Par Vollen have said the qunari are not so much fighting the Tevinter Imperium as fending off the occasional attack.

* [[Magic Wand]]: Mage staffs. According to the Witch Hunt DLC, mages find the idea of using actual wands to be silly.

* [[Magikarp Power]]: Archery. When you start out, it deals mediocre damage (generally lower than you'd get from pulling a sword or a mace and hitting the target). But then you get to the fourth-tier talents and you get Arrow of Slaying (which can dish out damage that rivals or exceeds anything the party mages have to offer) and Scattershot (which can both injure and stun an entire crowd of foes). And then you get to ''Awakening'', at which point an archer with high dexterity and decent armor basically becomes a [[One-Man Army]].

* [[The Magocracy]]: The Tevinter Imperium, of course.

* [[Malaproper]]: Sister Theohild in the Denerim Chantry, much to Mother Perpetua's consternation.

'''Mother Perpetua:''' There is no veal in the Chant! You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? }}

* [[Malevolent Architecture]]: Bioware seems to ''really'' like this trope.

* [[Medieval European Fantasy]]: With some alterations, of course

* [[Medieval Stasis]]:

* [[Medium Awareness]]: The Warden responds to player input, but the Violent voice gets personal:

* [[Melee a Trois]]: The final dungeon in the ''Awakening'' questline is a slog a dragon graveyard which the [[Hive Queen|Mother]] territory while the Architect's forces are also trying to invade for the same reason. So you have the Grey Wardens trying to plow through two factions of warring darkspawn, and just in case you were getting bored, a High Dragon drops out of the sky in the middle of a fight and begins attacking everything indiscriminately.

* [[Men Are the Expendable Gender]]: During the main quest, the player can choose to help the villagers of Redcliffe defend from an undead attack. The women remain in the chantry along with the elderly and children, while the men (militia) fight (this is stated by Murdock and Mother Hannah). While helping the villagers prepare for the attack, you can persuade (or intimidate) a few more men into joining the militia, but no mention is made of arming the women. Quite the opposite -- a dialogue option with a village woman is "Shouldn't you be in the chantry?", whereas with the man she works for it is something like "Why aren't you with the militia?". Considering that you can play as a female warrior, there are women in the army (including many fighting at Ostagar, who were doubtless slaughtered with the men), there are female party members, there are female enemies, and character creation states that men and women are generally considered to be equal, it is odd that the women were portrayed as defenseless and did not fight to defend their village from certain destruction.

* [[Moral Myopia]]: [[The Dragon]] to the {{spoiler|Tevinter slavers in the Denerim Alienage}} will demand to know your reasons for attacking her soldiers, then piously announce her intention to "halt your slaughter" as she attacks you.

* [[More Than Mind Control]]: Those tempted into deals with demons of Pride, Sloth, and especially Desire become to some degree a willing party to their own possession.

* [[Muggle and Magical Love Triangle]]: It's entirely possible for a male Warden to end up in a love triangle with Leliana (Muggle) and Morrigan (Mage).

* [[Multiple Endings]]: Tenfold.

* [[Nintendo Hard]]: Higher difficulties will strongly punish players who don't properly use tactics. The game also gives a very minimal introduction to the combat, causing a [[Difficulty Spike]] when players get into battles designed to be won with strategy.

** Given the focus the game has on tactics, there are a few design decisions that are a bit odd, almost to the point of being [[Fake Difficulty]]. The game makes some fights significantly harder by porting the entire party directly in front of the bad guys for a mandatory conversation before the fight starts; in extreme cases, this means the party walks directly into an ambush/crossfire/killzone.

* [[No Campaign for the Wicked]]: The Darkspawn Chronicles DLC averts this by allowing you to play as as a Hurlock Vanguard {{spoiler|during the Battle of Denerim}} in an alternate universe where the Warden failed the Joining.

* [[No Fair Cheating]]: There was a glitch to raise your levels to the cap in Ostagar. Using it makes the game [[Unwinnable]]; the [[Dynamic Difficulty]] means that while your party levels up, without matching equipment for your level, you'll be far outgunned by the enemy. It can be averted while playing a warrior, since low level enemies will start immediately dropping silverite and dragonbone equipment and leveling up early means early access to the bonus items (blood dragon armor, etc.)

** Wonderfully lampshaded when the PC reaches the paranoid hermit in the Brecillian Forest and has a mage in the party, who immediately points out this isn't just your average old loon. "No fair, bringing mages to a guessing game!"

* [[No Hero Discount]]: Mostly played straight -- despite the fact that the Warden goes around saving the bacon of pretty much everyone in Ferelden, most of the merchants you encounter won't offer you so much as a minor discount in return, and the game even goes out of its way to rub this in the player's face by having one of the few who claims to be doing so (Bodahn) charge you ''some of the highest prices of anyone'' for his goods.

** Gorim is an exception to this rule, but only if you play as a Dwarf Noble. If you did then he does give you a discount and buys your items for higher prices too.

* [[No Sympathy]]: You can play your character as this [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|if you're feeling heartless]]. The game provides you with cold or cruel responses, which may ''gain'' favour with the pragmatists (Sten), but are more likely to hurt your relationships with characters -- even Morrigan demands a certain level of respect for her beliefs and upbringing. More significantly, your group generally dismisses or ignores your character's woes. Occasionally, however, the game will surprise you by averting the trope when least expected -- it's possible to be cheered up by amoral Zevran, or receive approval for your romance from sharp-tongued Morrigan.

* [[Non-Indicative Name]]: As Sten can note about the Crows in a conversation with Zevran.

'''Zevran:''' I heard that at one time they considered calling us the Kestrels. But you know. It didn't sing. It didn't dance. }}

* [[Non-Lethal KO]]: Unless your whole party gets wiped out, a downed character is only unconscious, though with an injury that needs treatment. They'll haul themselves upright (usually with a one-liner) when the battle is over.

* [[Noodle Incident]]: Bann Teagan instantly recognizes Alistair when Alistair tells him he was covered in mud last time they met. No further details are given.

'''Alistair:''' What? Lead? Me? No, no, no. No leading. Bad things happen when I lead. We get lost, people die, and the next thing you know I'm stranded somewhere without any pants. }}

* [[Not Even Bothering with the Accent]]: Neither Susan Boyd Joyce (Wynne) nor [[Star Trek: Voyager|Kate Mulgrew]] use the English-sounding Ferelden/Tevinter accent used by of the humans in the (first) game.

** Andraste's Sanctified Girdle!

** By My Ancestors!

** As well as various less polite variations such as "Andraste's Ass" and "Andraste's Knicker-Weasels".

** Dalish Elves have suspiciously Christian blessings and creeds where "Creators" is hastily substituted for "God" -- "Creators speed/guide you on your way", "It seems the will of the Creators", "Gods bless you", etc.

* [[Pragmatic Villainy]]: Though the villain part is debatable for both of them, Morrigan and Flemeth qualify. Well, Morrigan tries, anyway, but ends up coming across as [[Stupid Evil]] as, for example, she'll complain about you helping the villagers of Redcliff with their undead problem despite it being the most direct, not to mention safest, way to the castle. Flemeth, on the other hand, {{spoiler|despite her [[Grand Theft Me]] plot with all of her daughters}}, fits to a T as she couldn't care less about the Grey Wardens except for the fact that they're the only ones capable of stopping the Darkspawn{{spoiler|, plus there's her [[Xanatos Gambit]] involving getting Morrigan pregnant with a Reborn Old God}}. So naturally she gives them as much help as possible on their quest, {{spoiler|including saving the player's and Alistair's lives}} as she can afford, since even she would succumb to a Darkspawn horde.

* [[Pre-Ass-Kicking One-Liner]]: Several of Alistair's comments upon encountering a group of enemies.

''Is that death you're wearing? It really suits you!''

* [[Preorder Bonus]]: Rather ridiculously, '' every major vendor'' had a pre-order bonus for ''Origins'' that's exclusive to them. Amazon.com had The Lion's Paw boots, Direct2Drive had the Dalish Ring, [[Electronic Arts|EA Store]] had the Fire Band, Game Crazy had the Guildmaster's Belt, GameStop and Play.com had the Feral Wolf Charm,[[Valve|Steam]] had The Wicked Oath... Those who pre-ordered were forced to pick one and miss out on all the other items. [http://dragonage.wikia.com/wiki/Downloadable_content_(Origins)#manual_installation Some items], however, have been made available for manual installation.

* [[Prolonged Prologue]]: There are 6 origin stories and they can take an hour or longer to complete. And then that prologue is followed by another prologue in Ostagar, which will probably run between one and two hours, depending on one's thoroughness and efficiency. And if you want to get technical, you can also include Lothering, which will take at least fifteen minutes and can stretch to over an hour if you're thorough, since you have to get through that town if you want to go anywhere else in the game.

* [[Promoted Fanboy|Promoted Fangirl]]: Aimo, whose [[Deviant ART]] work caught the attention of David Gaider, who worked with her to create ''Dragon Age: The Revelation'', depicting a cutscene Gaider wrote for Origins but which didn't make it into the game.

* [[Proud Warrior Race]]: The qunari, to a lesser extent the Warrior and Noble Caste Dwarves.

** Although we've only seen the qunari invasion vanguard and rogue qunari mercenaries in game. It's strongly suggested qunari who fulfill a non-warrior role in qunari society according to the Qun are also respected... except mages.

* [[Purely Aesthetic Gender]]: The gender of your character has no effect whatsoever on your stats. Gender is not ''completely'' aesthetic, but it mostly affects some conversation options.

** Though it has to be said that you [[Captain Obvious|cannot impregnate female NPCs as a female player]], {{spoiler|which may affect two questlines, one minor, one not so minor.}}

 

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[[Category:Dragon Age]]