The Dragon Age comparison: Part 1; The Characters

So in this new rather nerdy section of my blog, I will be comparing the games of Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2. This post today will be my personal comparison of both sets of characters that can be used as party members. Firstly; My personal "key" Origins party members:

The first companion I will be writing about about that stood out to me is Alistair; The "new" Grey Warden as he is first introduced and soon to be King of Ferelden if the option arose and you took it. Alistair to me was the first character in Dragon Age to really make me laugh with lines such as "swooping is bad" and "That's what I'm here for. To deliver unpleasant news and witty one-liners." Which in all fairness to the character is EXACTLY why I had him in my party throughout the entire game. Alistair also was the fan-girls "hunk" as it were mainly due to him being the only heterosexual male within the first game that you could romance besides Loghain late on? The banter between Alistair and Morrigan was also bloody superb! The one quote I remember him saying that has me in stitches for ages was  "Well aside from the fact that she's a complete and utter bitch, no...I don't like her at all. Why? Do you?"

Now this would be a perfect time to move onto my first choice female romance of.. Morrigan; A witch of the wilds.--->
Morrigan came across to me as a powerful, mysterious, stubborn, cocky and rather attractive (compared to the rest of the characters) shapeshifting mage.

Not only was her banter between Alistair extremely amusing but with all party members, however her infamous line of  "And now we have a dog. And Alistair is still the stupidest member of the party." to Alistair can not go amiss in this post!

Morrigan was my first romance option in Origins, nearly every decision I made was in her favour (typical me really)
However, I am rather disturbed still, a year after the event of my first sex cut scene...purely because I was talking to Zevren the rogue elf at the party camp and he invited me back to his tent. I gladly excepted not knowing what was actually going to happen ( innocently I thought "yay! I can finally see inside these tents") but oh no.. THE ELF TOUCHED ME IN PLACES I HAVE PREVIOUSLY NEVER BEEN TOUCHED! D=
Thankfully however after coping with  the traumatising event I had just witnessed I now knew how to romance and continued with Morrigan ( keeping well clear from Zevren).

The final party member that I used was Oghren; The banished drunken dwarf.
This guy was personally the funniest guy and possibly my favourite character from Origins and I was over the moon when he came walking down that corridor in Awakening and offered to be in my party.
I cant actaully describe the hilarity of this little guy any more than showing you a few of my fave quotes:

-One of the first things he says to you is "If you've ever heard of me before, it's probably all been about how I piss ale and murder little boys who look at me wrong. And that's mostly true..."

-At the party camp Oghren (drunk as an Irishman) says "Hey, Warden! You gotta hear this one! This human walks into a tavern! Eh heh. And there's an elf there. Ah ha ha ha! And she says, Ha ha ah ah ha! She says." (Snorts) "Ah ha!" (Falls down)

-By far the best thing about Oghren was his crudeness;

• (Snorts and laughs) "Ass Chaps!"  
• (At Lake Calenhad Docks) "Ooh, that's huge. (Giggles) I wonder how long it took to erect it. (Giggles) Get it, erect it!"
• "Aye. I've tried twenty-seven different types of ale and learned I'm just the right height to give a human girl a good time. That doesn't make me a good man."

Now I move onto my chosen three characters from Dragon Age 2:

Firstly lets talk about Aveline; The least attractive female warrior in the entire two games and an expansion. Before I began Dragon Age 2 and before I played the demo I said to myself that I wasnt going to use this women because in the concept art for her character she looked like a manly barbarian..
However, Out of all the playable characters in Dragon Age 2, Aveline was the only one in which I actually felt drawn to in the sense of the raw emotion she displayed to me which made me like her as a character a million times more than what I expected. To me the game seems to have made this so by making Hawke and Aveline both lose someone they love in the escape from Ferelden which gives the duo a common ground in which to form a long and lasting friendship on.

Now I know that EVERYONE who has played Dragon Age 2 is "in love" with either Merrill or Fenris who are both the only elves available as playable characters. On the Dragon Age Podcast which I have listened to since episode 13 they mention how believable and in awe they are towards the character of Merrill due to her huge eyes and facial expressions.. So near the end of the game I decided to see if this was true and decided to add her to my party and complete her personal side quests.. and you know what?...they were right! Merrill is a really special character and in my next playthrough I shall try to romance her however I didn't like how she was so against her blood magic and yet still used it like all the time.
Fenris on the other hand if you read my previous post, I instantly took a dislike to after he open that damned mouth of his. Fenris does seem to however be the new Alistair in the way of being the fan-girl's number one in this game with his suave voice and mysteriousness about him..

I have already stated how I really enjoyed the character of Sebastian and how although I think his character is rather brilliant I do not however think he is anywhere near the quality of Shale the Origins downloadable party member..

Overall, Even though I did enjoy the new characters of Dragon Age 2 and learned the back-story of each character alot easier, I fell in love with the characters of Origins whether they be the same characters as who ever is reading this and has understood everything I've said I do not know but I cant help but feel disappointed with Dragon Age 2 and would have maybe accepted the game more if it was entitled something like Dragon Age: Rise of Hawk or was promoted more along the lines as more of an expansion like Awakening rather than the sequel to what is still THE SINGLE MOST enjoyable RPG experience I have ever had..

On that note I wish anyone who would like to comment with their views or own opinions to do so and I shall leave you with this..