Dragon Age: Origins Playthrough - The End

In Redcliffe, we encounter a familiar scene of a villager running up to us, saying they're under attack and they need our help. Amastacia remembers how this place got through the undead attacks just fine and turns to leave. The darkspawn spot us though, and we wind up defending what's left of the village by accident before proceeding to the castle. The monstrosities follow us but there's a company of guards in the courtyard who provide supporting fire as Amy, Morrigan, Leliana and Loghain deal with a few ogres.

Once the assault stops, we head inside to talk to our allies. Riordan has just arrived from a scouting mission with bad news. All reports indicated the horde was massing on Redcliffe but he took a look and there's only a small percentage of their total numbers here. The majority of the horde is marching to Denerim. The city we just left relatively defenseless by rallying our armies here. Oh, and the Archdemon is leading the charge.

Whoa, actual war? I'm more of a "light a beacon while other people fight" kind of guy.

Although we can't reach Denerim in time to stop the invasion, Anora and Eamon agree that we should march our armies there as soon as possible. Amy's pretty damned tired of walking at this point and asks if he can just direct his armies from here. Riordan speaks up to ruin our brilliant idea, insisting that the Grey Wardens must face the Archdemon. He also says he'll explain why to Loghain and Amy in private. Eamon doesn't question that, and suggests that everyone gets a good night's sleep before that whole forced march against a superior force thing.

We make our way to the upper floor of Eamon's castle, where Loghain is already waiting to talk to Riordan. With all of us assembled, Riordan explains that an Archdemon's soul will jump to a new darkspawn when it dies, to be born again in a new body. Since Grey Wardens bear the darkspawn taint, the soul will jump to a Warden's body instead if they make the killing blow. This prevents it from being reborn, and kills off both the Archdemon and the Warden for good.

"Sucks to be you guys, huh? LOL!"

Amy says there's no way he's sacrificing himself, and Riordan says he plans on making the killing blow himself since his darkspawn taint will kill him soon anyway. He reminds us that there are no guarantees in this battle though and we should be prepared to do what's necessary. Amy makes a mental note of that. Specifically, it says "run like hell."

For now, Amy is ready to get some sleep but he can't because someone else wants to talk to him. Morrigan sits on his bed, explaining that she overheard our conversation and knows of a way to cheat death. All we have to do is sleep with her and AMY NEEDS NO OTHER DETAILS.

Please enjoy this bottle of bleach in lieu of Morrigan pretending to enjoy the sight of a naked Amastacia.

We ignore the bit about "Flemeth wants Morrigan to have a baby born with the soul of an Old God" and spend the night with our witch. The next morning, Amy is in a strangely good mood as they march on Denerim. Most of the city is in flames by the time we get there, and we stop just outside the walls to rally the troops. Anora tells Amy to keep his mouth shut while she gives a stirring speech describing the Grey Wardens' heroics. We let her do her thing, and our armies charge into the city. Our initial push overwhelms the darkspawn assembled inside the main gate and we establish a forward camp there once the stragglers are cleared out.

Riordan finds us to talk strategy. He suggests that Amy and Loghain go one way while he goes another to ensure all the Grey Wardens aren't wiped out at once. He also says he'll go after the Archdemon directly and we can try to find the darkspawn generals. Last but not least, we need to stick to the mandatory 4 person party and leave the rest of our allies behind to guard our forward camp. Damn, who died and made this guy Greyest Warden of them all?

...Oh, right.

We decide to head into the city with Loghain, Morrigan and Leliana while Polystyrene, Shale and Oghren stay behind with Sten in command. Each party member takes a moment to wish us luck, or say goodbye in case we all die. Some, like Leliana, are quite sentimental while Shale simply says, "so, the Archdemon's next? Good luck with that."

We head to the market district first, which is swarming with darkspawn including one with a particularly large axe and more hitpoints than the two ogres he brought with him. This would be the first general. Loghain proves to be a competent fighter and weathers the attacks as well as Amy does. With the market clear, we proceed to the alienage where we run into Shianni again. She's armed herself with a bow but an ogre is about to burst through the flimsy wooden barricade the elves have constructed, so she's more than happy to let us take over. The brutish darkspawn in the front stand between us and the second general, who is a mage. Amy charges past the ogres to confront the general while our allies deal with the main force. Not the best strategy, but it's better than letting a powerful mage sling spells unchecked. Many healing potions later, the battle is won.

The Archdemon appears briefly to destroy a bridge in the alienage, preventing us from retreating even if we wanted to. As Amy proceeds to the palace district, we cut to Riordan who is awaiting the Archdemon atop a building near Fort Drakon. He senses it coming and seizes his opportunity, jumping on its back and driving his swords under its scales. The Archdemon pulls up into a steep climb to shake Riordan off. He clings to his sword but the force causes the blade to slice downward across the Archdemon's wing and he falls to his death. The Archdemon is now flightless however, and lands on top of Fort Drakon.

"Killed one of you! Aww yeah! Time to raze the roof!"

Amy sees the wounded Archdemon land and we make for the fort. There's heavy resistance, but we haven't used our new warhorn yet. We have the ability to summon elves, knights, dwarves, Templars or a few golems to our location and Amy calls in some Dalish archers to help clear the way to Fort Drakon. There are darkspawn in the fort too, including some beefy assassins, but they're small fry compared to what awaits us on the roof.

The Archdemon is slightly larger than the High Dragon and has lots more pointy bits. Our strategy for dealing with it is basically the same, but this time we can call in the golems. They trade punishment with the Archdemon while we surround it and start chipping away at its hide. However, it can still fly short distances and is not shy about running away when we're in an advantageous position.

This should be the hardest fight of the game, but there are a couple of problems. One, the armies you summon provide a very effective distraction and you don't have to watch your party's health as closely. Two, there are a few ballistas set up on the roof and you can take cheap shots at the Archdemon while your allies keep it busy. So the fight isn't too challenging; it's just long.

With the proper timing, you can keep lobbing bolts indefinitely, making this thing more powerful than two dozen knights.

We have to call in the Templars after the Archdemon kills all our golems, but it's eventually whittled down to its last ounce of life. Amy grabs a greatsword that he doesn't even know how to use that well, climbs onto the back of the Archdemon's neck, and rams the blade into its head. A shaft of light erupts from the wound which makes the darkspawn flee in terror, followed by a small explosion of energy... but as Morrigan promised, Amy survives the experience.

All that's left is the epilogue. Queen Anora assembles many important nobles together in the throne room of Denerim's palace to honor Amastacia. Most of our party is there as well. Alistair has kept his promise not to return, Shale seems to have wandered off and Morrigan has disappeared into the Wilds to prepare to be a new mother. Loghain is present though, confused about why Amy's not dead but he admits that we've earned his respect. Oghren has a trio of dwarven ladies around him, saying he might stay on the surface for a while. We flirt with Leliana, but she says she'll be off on a new adventure shortly. Sten says he's going back to his home in Par Vollen and thanks us for making that possible. Lastly, our sister has come to tell us our mother has finally stopped drinking... but only so she can lord her sobriety over her old drinking buddies.

Amy has the opportunity to ask a favor of the new human regent. For the final time in this game, he blows it.

Amy exits the palace to greet his adoring masses and we're shown a series of closing narratives about Ferelden. Queen Anora proves to be a good ruler but never remarries. Redcliffe never recovers from the undead incident and eventually becomes a ghost town. The Dalish prosper for a while, but their increased numbers inevitably bring them into conflict with humans again. As for Orzammar, King Bhelen starts off well by allowing casteless to fight darkspawn and become warriors. However, he becomes tyrannical over the use of the Anvil of the Void and Paragon Branka eventually locks herself in the deep roads with it, just like Caridin before her.

The fact that Amy is declared an ideal example of dwarven society is the strongest proof yet of its inevitable downfall.

So ends my playthrough of Dragon Age: Origins! There is an expansion to this game, somewhat cumbersomely entitled Dragon Age: Origins: Awakening. However, I think this is a good stopping point for now. I'll have to think about what to do next... let me know if there's anything you'd like to see!