moteh wrote...
So why are you forced into being a filthy Sehmlen or a Casteless Surfacer? I present a theory...
*SPOILERS FOR DAO, BUT IF YOU ARE HERE, YOU PROBABLY PLAYED IT THROUGH*
Since aspects of the first game will be taken into account (some of your choices from DAO will have effects on the sequel) the Grey Warden must be alive for part of Hawke's story (does not mean they are present though). What choices are these? I would think the Dwarven ruler will be a big deal, as will Connor from Redcliff, the elves/werewolves, and whether you destroyed Andraste's Ashes.
'None of those choices explain why we need to play a human' some of you scream. Actually, some of them do.
Some of these choices greatly affect the power balance with Dwarves and Elves. However they do not affect the power balance of Lothering at all as that was destroyed before any of those choices could take effect in any way. Lothering is the ONLY place in the whole world you really had no real meaningful influence over, and this is where Hawke is from.
However by the time Hawke is old enough to be the Champion s/he is, all those other choices have affected the world. So now your character from DAO is dead or old enough to be inconsequential again. So now we can't play as The Warden.
The problem is that after the Blight things changed, a lot. How do you create game to account for SO MANY CHOICES from a previous one and still allow people to choose from multiple origins and races and someone make it all work without having to water them all down slightly?
Oh you want to play a Dwarf?
*Seems The Warden incited a Civil War in the first game, guess what, it's still going on. You want to go to the Free Marches? You are now a deserter to your side in the war.
*No Civil war? So the Dwarves are isolationist, they aren't going to let you go easily, and you likely aren't going to be allowed back ever.
Oh, you want to be an City Elf?
*You are an orphan of the Blight, your parents have both been dead and you find yourselves in the Free Marches in slavery.
*Your parents are still alive, but in slavery in Orlais/Antiva/etc., why are you going to the Free Marches?
*You are in Orlais/antiva/etc., why/how are you going to the Free Marches?
You are a Dalish.
*Finally at home in your own land, finally taken back from the Shemlen. Why are you leaving to go to the Free Marches after your people fought for this so long?
*Most of the people in the Brecillian forest have died from the werewolves unleashed by The Warden, how did you and your parents survive?
*Your caravan gets word about a campaign to the Free Marches, why are you leaving to fight there?
tl;dr start here
Based on the choices you made in the first game the Elves and the Dwarves have unlimited numbers of origins now... which ones get picked? How do you make them all possible in any way and still make it something able to be developed in a decent timeframe?
Simple, you make a base character that doesn't need to experience all of those first hand... but one that can hear about them from NPCs. One who can learn from a grizzled dwarf veteran what it was like to be in the Dwarven civil war. One who can talk with a grieving elf at finally finding her parents dead after years of separation due to slavery. One who can rejoice with the Dalish at finally having their own land back, or see the horror of hearing of the werewolves attacking the Dalish.
In the end it's all about characters, but not yours... it's about the people in the universe you play in. In Mass Effect I can't go to the Quarian Homeworld and get the same feeling for what it is like losing it as hearing the lamented words of Tali'Zorah. I can't experience the anguish of the assassin for his son starting down the same dark path, but I can hear it in Thane's words.
In DAO I can imagine Orlais all I want, but I won't miss it as much as Leliana does when it's gone. I can't attach value to a simple sword the way the Sten can. I can't understand the loss of history Shale feels.
I am simply the player, I have no memory of this world, I have no frame of reference, and me seeing it first hand isn't going to change my emotional stance, I still have no frame of reference for my characters life before I started playing them. I can only hear what they tell me, I can only feel for what I see acted out and voiced.
The gameplay is remaining largely unchanged for the PC version as reported in GI. The console version is probably getting an interface better suited to the specific consoles, but I suspect you will still be issuing commands and pausing the battles to better plot your tactics. The dialog system will still be there, there are some tweaks but you will still have choices to make and those choices will have consequences. There will still be party member to know and a large world to explore.
Would not be surprised if this were the case.
Retour en haut
