Party Members

[hils]

So here's my question. Do you have a default party that you use whenever you play one of the games or do you mix it up depending on the character you're playing?

I mixed it up in the beginning so I could have a go at playing with everyone but I've settled into default parties now

Origins: Alistair, Leliana, Wynne
Awakening: Nathaniel, Velanna, Anders
DA2: Anders, Fenris, Isabela
Inquisition: Dorian, Bull, Cole

What about you guys?

Comments

party groups

[jenna_thorn]

For Origins, I restarted the game to run each of the origins, and my party varied a bit because of that. Playing as a mage, I tended to run Dog, Leliana and Alistair to give myself a picklock and two tanks, but as a rogue, I'd play with Wynn and Zevran for the banter. I don't find Oghren funny, so I'd use him when I needed (Braka's quest) and leave him behind when possible.

Awakening, I'd run Nathaniel until I got Sigrun, because Sigrun. I loved Anders, which is why my first run in Kirkwall, I was Anders all the way, romanced him even, and man, I'm still pissed off about that.

Subsequent Kirkwall runs I'd take Merill, because my spouse loves her voice actress, and he'd pout if I didn't, Varric because I love him kind of an embarrassing lot and Aveline as my front line fighter because ♥ . I like Isabela but not as much as Varric, so she'd get pulled in on specific stuff, but he was my go-to.

Inquisition: I tend to run around doing minor stuff (bandits, rift-closing) with Dorian and Bull because I'm still trying to boost them into their romance, so those two, plus either Varric or Cole because Sera's speech gets on my nerves and I need a lockpick. Unless I'm dragon hunting, when I take Varric for range, Bull for damage, and either Cassandra or Blackwall for tank / in close fighting.

I re-run games - play them through more than once, and second run and after, I've noticed a pattern: I minimize interaction through the whole game with Anders in Kirkwall and with Blackwall in Inquisition. Their personal quests get under my skin. I'm just glad I didn't romance Blackwall on my first playthrough.

Except I'll carefully upgrade everybody evenly, making armor for and carefully leveling up the folks I don't run with. Velenna and Solas duplicated my abilites, so I don't use them, but when I'm at base, they get leveled and armored up along with everyone else.

Re: party groups

[hils]

Oh, yeah, I level and armour/weapon up everyone regardless of whether I'm using them or not.

I'll admit the only reason I have both Velanna and Anders in my Awakening party is because I ship Velanna/Nathaniel. So much.

And, like you, I romanced Anders in my first DA2 playthrough and never quite recovered. Although weirdly I don't take his betrayal as personally as I did when I romanced Solas and he dumped me and left me. The Egg is dead to me now.

Dorian and Bull's romance gives me life though. I actually prefer them together than I do the two games I played where I romanced them.

Re: party groups

[jenna_thorn]

Heh, I don't think I ran with Velanna enough to trigger that banter unless I was playing a rogue, in which case, I didn't have Nathaniel.

I really don't play warriors, much, come to think of it.

I was spoiled before I romanced Solas. I'm ... actually okay with that. Anders and his stupid gathering items quest. Argh!

[fragilespark]

My parties end up with at least one of each class as a default set up, which is my cautious side going "but you might neeeed them".

For Origins, I stuck to Alistair, Morrigan and Leliana pretty consistently. I only swapped Leliana for Zevran in my second playthrough because I was romancing him.

With DA2, once I played a few times, I broke the class balance rule to mix it up and get interesting banter I hadn't heard before. I also tend to keep rarer characters such as the Hawke twin and Sebastian in as much as possible while they are available. But it's a rare playthrough I don't take Fenris everywhere.

Inquisition is the one that has been affected the most strongly by my character's preferences. While my first Inquisitor stayed close to Varric, Cassandra and Solas, my second had Iron Bull, Vivienne and Sera.

[jenna_thorn]

Hi!

get interesting banter

Bioware has got to recognize that we will spend hours playing and replaying their games to catch these bits.

Points to Bioware - because I play and replay, I'm less skittish about the price tag, because I know I'm going to spend hours with it, as opposed to a game I'm going to run through once and I'm done.

[fragilespark]

Hello :)

Bioware games definitely have a lot of replay value just because the game can be so different each time (and also reassuringly familiar when you want them to be). Although saying that I have only played the DA and ME games. I definitely made the most of DA2 (I created ten Hawkes and maxed out my PS3 save files).

[maramcreates]

Origins: Leliana, Wynne, Alistair (my solid go to trio)
Awakening: Have yet to really play Awakening...(I know right?)
DA2: Isabela, Merril/Bethany (depending on availability), Aveline/Varric (sometimes Aveline gets very upset with me...so I use Varric when I anticipate this ^_^)
Inquisition: Sera, Dorian, Cassandra (my solid go to trio - not just for the party banter, as I especially love to combine their end-game special abilities)

[settiai]

For me, it's basically a combination of the two. I have a few different groupings that I tend to stick with, but exactly which one or ones I go with depend on the playthrough (both when it comes to my character's background as well as their personality).

For Origins, I tend to stick with Alistair, Zevran, and Wynne quite a bit for most of my rogues and warriors. I'll sometimes alternate them with other characters (Leliana instead of Zevran, Morrigan instead of Wynne, etc.) depending on who my character is romancing and who they're generally friendly/unfriendly with. I tend to mix it up a bit more on my mage playthroughs, at least in the ones where Amell or Surana can heal. Instead of Wynne or Morrigan, I usually use one of the companions that I don't use as much in other playthroughs (especially Shale, because Shale is awesome ♥).

For Awakening, I tend to stick with Anders and Nathaniel almost always, while mixing in the various other characters depending on the mission/my character. I tend to use Sigrun as my third party member a lot with my Brosca playthroughs, for example, while Velanna gets used more in my Mahariel playthroughs.

When it comes to DA2, I tend to go with Anders|Fenris|Sebastian or Varric the most. I like using Bethany and Carver as much as possible, while they're possible companions, so in Act 1 I tend to go with Carver|Merill|Varric and Aveline or Fenris|Bethany|Isabela on at least some missions.

With Inquisition, my party tends to depend more on where we're going and what plot points are involved (with a side of what background my character comes from). Bull|Dorian|Cole or Sera, Blackwall|Sera|Solas or Vivienne, and Cassandra|Cole or Solas|Varric tend to be my go-tos, although I definitely mix it up.

[hils]

I need to take Shale out more because she is awesome!