I was thinking on the endings of a few of Bioware's games and I think I clicked on what irked me most about DA2's final conflict between the Mages & Templar and I decided to make a thread about it (which ended up being in the wrong forum due to spoilers
). Originally it was just about DA:O and DA2 final conflicts but expanded slightly and became a slight drabble of thoughts. Note: Warning a long read.As some people have stated the fight against the Archdemon is inevitable as the battle between the mages and templars, the same thing could be said for Sovereign's attack on the Citedal in ME1. Fans of DA2 also bring up the fact that they like that DA2 is less about a grand scale adventure with a visible goal and more of a things happen in Hawke's life type game.
Unfortunately in my opinion both those point's work against each other in DA2.
Thing is the Archdemon was a world threatening villain (or at least the Blight it lead/spread was.) It was also if not mindless, then either completely insane (due to taint) or at least unable to be reasoned with. The only way to stop it would be to kill it and the only way to kill it, required an army. It carried a sense of inevitability with it, that a hero (the player) would have to fight it sooner or later, no way out of it.
Sovereign from Mass Effect had the same presence. After the player found out what it was there was practically no way out of a confrantation. A seemingly non-organic life form, alive for who knows how long, which had commited genocide multiple times against multiple species and was planning to do so again. There was no common ground, nothing that could really be done to prevent the conflict to come.
Then comes Dragon Age 2, the Mages versus Templars conflict.
Now as some have stated they liked the more low key conflict, less big bad monster threatening the world villains and more just people hating and wanting to kill each other and to an extent Bioware has delivered that. Unfortunately by bringing the conflict down to a lower, more human level, they also reduced the feeling of inevitability that the conflict had and this was made even worse by the decision to use Time Skips and use of Anders as the Catalyst.
While the issue between Mages & Templars in Thedas are long term issues, the problem in Kirkwall does not feel inevitible but instead feels avoidable or at least preventable from becoming a full scale war particularly after Hawke becomes a champion (as always in my opinion.) Because the conflict is more human, it should mean that my character has *more* not less options to prevent it from happening in the first place.
Thing is the problem of Meridith (and her too tight grip) could have been solved in so many ways:
Assasination was always an option: send a letter to that Dreamer Mage who we send to Tevinter asking for a return of the favor by killing Merideth.
Considering the help some players gave Trask, then it makes little sense that he would not have come to you and you could conspire to remove Merideth in some fashion.
Limiting the Templar's power by first convincing the Nobles to either elect you or even another Noble as Viscount and if the Templar's get uppity then convincing the Grand Cleric to uphold Chantry Law that Templars keep their nose out of secular affairs. (Note: While the Grand Cleric may have been too much of a coward to choose between Merideth and the Mages, I would like to believe that she would at least possess enough courage/wisdom to limit the Templar's secular power over Kirkwall and Kirkwall needs a ruler. Heck Sebastian should be willing to help concince her of that.)
If you meet Sister Nightengale in Act III then there should have been an oppertunity to send the Divine a message: Something along these lines:
" Your Grace, Kirkwall's Knightcommander is crazy STOP If she remains in charge, then an Exalted March will be necessary STOP Replace her or put her in charge of Aeonar (The Mages Prision) where her mindset would be more suitable STOP "
You might give a more diplomatic version even such as her interference in the proper running of Kirkwall by preventing the election a Viscount. If Leliana takes this message (which in my opinion she probably would) just telling Anders of this (if he was not present) would be likely to give him hope that things for mages in Kirkwall would become better.
The Time Skip between the end of Act II and Act III does DA2 no favours in this sense. Where as in Mass Effect 1 we were hurtled just as much towards the final battle without Council support, the fact that we had a chance to argue with the Council, that we were literally shown their disbelief in our evidence, that there was no time to convince them other wise helped the story/plot. In Dragon Age 2 while we are told about what happens between but don't get a chance to argue or interfere as things got worse, despite our character having three years to convince the nobles/templars/mages/Grand Cleric to stop this stupidity.... well it creates a sense of impontence, not against the characters but against the game for not giving us a chance to even attempt to fight back.
A similar thing happens with Anders, while on one hand using a companion character to make such a big plot point is great and can tug at our hearts, it also renders most of our PC's feeling foolish particularly those who romanced him. We knew the guy for 6+ years, Some of us were in a relationshiop with him for 3 maybe 4 years and we dont recognise that he's about to do something that foolish or can't stop him? This feels (to me at least) as something that could have been prevented.
Another example that came to me of the feeling that I got from the ending was that NWN2: Mask of the Betrayer's ending. There a number of players who disagreeing with the God of the Dead's policy on a certain Wall wanted to fight him on his home ground and got angry that the game wouldn't let them. The players for the most part accepted that they would not be able to win against the god but wanted to try anyway even it resulted in them being killed. Instead they got politely sent back home with his thanks/condemnation.
That battle even if hopeless would have been wonderful to have here, to have the chance to rally support for/against Merideth's policies during the the time skip or at the start of Act 3. Probably it would have resulted in the exact same thing happening (again the main thing is to get the illusion of the chance to change what's going to happen even if we will fail 100% of the time) but that would have helped the sense of invevitability, that despite our character's efforts things in Kirkwall were headed for disaster or perhaps if Bioware allowed us to rally support and we succeeded it would have resulted in Merideth declaring Martial Law and the same thing happening.
The result need not necessarily be different then what it is currently a battle between Mage & Templar, but the illusion of both our chance to influence it and the corresponding feeling that it was unavoidable would have been heightened. That we had done all we could. Right now all I feel is that the situation in Kirkwall should/could have been avoided if my character had actually done everything he could/should have. That my characted had not explored all the options to prevent it and infact had decided to take a three year nap between Acts 2 and 3.
Examples of what I mean by Inevitable despite our actions:
- make it that Anders was not working alone, that people from that mages underground were helping him. Then allow Hawke a chance to stop Anders either convince him to stop or stop him with a knife or even agree with him and then have Anders's co-conspiritor blow up the Grand Cleric anyway. This way you get a chance to stop Anders but don't necessarily succeed in stopping the bombing...
-Imagine what would happen if Lelianna did send our message to the Grand Divine, and that Merideth was recalled? Would the kill magey Merideth really have stepped down or would she be too crazy and fight anyway seeing it as a mage plot?
- Suppose we did rally the people against Merideth or become Viscount and rally the guards against the Templars, would she accept our protests peacefully or declare martial law and execute another viscount for being in her words anti-chantry?
Result would have been the same, a Mage/Templar conflict but my Hawke would have done more to stop/instigate it.
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