Part 16: Let's do the Time Warp again

Let's do the Time Warp again
edit: possessed pants at 4:39

We have our showdown with Alexius and try to get back to the present. For all his "rargh evil mastermind" shtick turns out he's a bit of a chump. Leliana goes full on and we upset several people with our decision making. It's rather tragic all around. Alexius really only wanted to help save his son but in doing so he fucked up the whole world and left him in a state worse than death. Unfortunately it's never explained how the Elder One contacted Alexius in the first place so it remains a mystery.

We recruit Dorian to the cause. Dorian is a fantastic character. In some ways he's a bit of a stereotype (gay man obsessed with fashion and rather snarky) but it never comes across as too heavy handed and David Gaider, his writer, is also a gay man so he's fully fleshed out as a human being who happens to like boys. Unlike Sera, who at least to me, is a terrible immature romance option. As a tagalong little sister she's fine but not as a romantic partner for an actual adult person making world-changing decisions.

Our other option would have been to recruit the Templars instead of the mages. Spoiler Alert!
In the Templar storyline you go to Therinfall Redoubt, their major base of operations with a bunch of Orlesian nobles to convince them to work with you. We find Templars have been ingesting red lyrium, turning them into horrible monsters. Also turns out that Lord Seeker Lucius is actually an Envy Demon, with the real Seeker MIA. The Envy Demon pulls us into a dream world that we must fight our way out of with the help of a friendly Spirit of Compassion named Cole. Once we get out of the dream we have to fight off a bunch of mutated Templars and Demons to save the remaining non-fucked up Templars. At the end of it all you're presented with the same choice: to have the Templars as full allies or to disband the order and conscript them to work for the Inquisition. The latter choice pisses off pretty much everyone. You then get the option to recruit Cole like we did with Dorian. Whichever ally you choose, the other recruitable character will show up later so you don't miss out on anyone.

The Templar mission is maddening for its own reasons, namely that a group dedicated to nullifying magic and destroying demons doesn't seem to notice the fucking demon in their midst. Sort of like how the mages are idiots, you're tempted to blow the whole thing up because they're clearly morons who are so obsessed with killing mages they don't notice GODDAMN DEMON RIGHT IN FRONT OF THEM. Although I like the secondary story generated from this mission better and you get war table missions that are actually interesting. Plus their new leader Ser Barris (the black man way back in Val Royeaux who was at the priestess getting punched in the head) is a cool dude and you get a nice thing to promote him to Templar leader.

The next plot mission is the end of Act I. It's a great setpiece and finally introduces our true antagonist. I have a couple of minor sidequests recorded that I can post up, and will want to finish up everyone's conversation trees so we start the next act with a clean slate. At this point talking to squadmates will net you some minor personal sidequests that will help pad out your approval. I'll grab those off-camera since they're not particularly interesting, but I'll show what you're supposed to do.