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[Commander Kurt]

Batteries wrote...

rapscallioness wrote...

You know, at one point in the panel David mentioned sumthing abt how sum fans say they didn't feel like they knew the companions in DA2 as well as in DAO.

Some of that, I think may have to do w/technical stuff like the time skips. Missing time all over the place.

And also the physical proximity. In DAO you were all roughing together around the fire. In DA2 they're all separated. It just didn't have that same feeling of closeness simply cuz of physical proximity.

I even felt the diff in DAO when we ended up at Eamon's.

There is the whole becoming friends first, too. I really did like being able to ask them questions. Hear they're history..when they were ready. They asked me questions , too. I got to know them at a good pace. Then romance developed..

I was bummed I couldn't ask Anders about his multiple escape attempts and hear a funny story about one of them. Or even Isabela about some of her escapades. 
This would be very welcome in my DAI game.

Yeah, I agree that it felt more lonely in the Arl's mansion in Denerim (and in DA2). Sharing a campfire is more intimate than sharing a city after all, and I preferred the former. Having the companions lined up in the throne room in Amaranthine however was the worst of the lot, very strange.

Honestly, now that you mention it Batteries, I can't really recall what I talked about with the companions in DA2.  I remember all of Zev's and Leliana's little stories, gossiping with Alistair and remembering the Wardens, Wynne's lectures, Oghren's leering, Morrigan's tales of the wilds and the arguments with Sten, but in DA2 I draw a blank (or just remember "it was something about mages"). I played DAO more, but I played DA2 most recently.

That is really strange...

Modifié par Commander Kurt, 12 août 2013 - 11:08 .

[neonmoth]

ag99 wrote...

rapscallioness wrote...

motomotogirl wrote...
He said that lovingly, with affection for the crowd. He wants to make them cry, make them have a meaningful connection with what he's written for them. It was a sweet moment.

yeah. I agree. The DA Team does BitterSweet really well. There is tragedy and difficult times, but they don't forget the Sweet.

I never played ME3 but from what i've heard at the PAX Aus panel  ME3 didnt really had a "sweet" part mostly bitter, in regards that pretty much everyone died , now granted ME3 wasnt written by DG but still , I can understand haveing bitter/sweet moments, but for example if they will pull stuff like they did with Fenris as in like when my Hawke romaced him and after she slept with him only to find out that he is dumping her , and then wait 3 years in order to get back together , if they would do something like that to Cullen if he even is a LI i would be kind of upset, because for example in my 1st PT in DA2 when Fenris dumped my Hawke  I wasnt even aware that there might be a chance  they would get back together  , and then i had no other choice but to romance freaking Anders,

In a way Fenris story did had a bitter/ sweet moment to it and Cullen might be eligeble for something like that but I just dont like the idea of Cullen dumping my Inquisitor  just because he/she decided to side with the mages or whatever idk for some ppl or maybe most ppl would find that intresting  but personally  I dont want any drama like that

For me me3 romances had more sweet than bitter flavour. I would say that da relationships provide more drama. I am probably biased cause I never romanced Thane, this one was on the sad romance side but your character was getting into it with knowing that it couldn't finish well. The main reason I never went for it was that I never believed I could get closure I wanted (this and the fact that he still had a very "vivid" memory of his wife). But he loved you and the ending to his romance was very beautiful (though a tearjerker). I guess I could add Jacob to it but he was meh to me, so I won't. Now, there was no real happy ending to the story of Shepard, but this is a completely different thing in my book. To be honest I had more time knife twisted in my stomach playing dao/da2 than me series.

In da2 Fen is my fav romance and it was the pacing of the 'plot', not his issues that I had problems with. I wouldn't even mind this stupid 3 year gap if in the meantime they could have another convo, where they could talk about the issue not-in-the-heat-of-the-moment and somehow acknowledge it. It was just not realistic for me that they would live in the same city, do all the killing adventuring together and never touch on the subject yet they would be still pinning for each other. But hey, it is a game, I can wait few more game hours to see what's going on (and admittedly, pinning for Kaidan in ME2 made me very patient:))).

As for a possible Cullen romance, I can take anything as long as it makes sense to me story wise and whatever happens, happens because of the choices I make (or don't make). Him dying when romance is active could be on the extreme side but they never did that in the past so I don't think we need to worry about it (do we?). As for his possible madness, addiction or crazy attitude, I am fine. I can always create pc that will fit his story arch well enough just to enjoy his hot bod ekhm, to enjoy the complexity of his character :] Funnily enough I never feel that my characters need to try fix their LI, they just roll with the crazy (but admittedly I always create my protagonists totally bonkers, so they don't really stand out from the party, and if they do, it's not in a good way:]). All in all, I just think that after several games in the series, writers and devs have a general idea what people dig and what enrages them and they will try to balance it to still make us care, suprise us but give us some closure in the end. I will be happy to have him as companion in dai.

Modifié par neonmoth, 12 août 2013 - 11:34 .

[neonmoth]

Commander Kurt wrote...

Batteries wrote...
I was bummed I couldn't ask Anders about his multiple escape attempts and hear a funny story about one of them. Or even Isabela about some of her escapades. 
This would be very welcome in my DAI game.

Yeah, I agree that it felt more lonely in the Arl's mansion in Denerim (and in DA2). Sharing a campfire is more intimate than sharing a city after all, and I preferred the former. Having the companions lined up in the throne room in Amaranthine however was the worst of the lot, very strange.

Honestly, now that you mention it Batteries, I can't really recall what I talked about with the companions in DA2.  I remember all of Zev's and Leliana's little stories, gossiping with Alistair and remembering the Wardens, Wynne's lectures, Oghren's leering, Morrigan's tales of the wilds and the arguments with Sten, but in DA2 I draw a blank (or just remember "it was something about mages"). I played DAO more, but I played DA2 most recently.

That is really strange...

Yours (and rapscalliones) comment about the camp is spot on. Just sharing this small and intimate space, travelling together and basically being with each other all the time. Also the little quirks that you could find out through conversations (like Leliana and my warden having girly talk or Shale's pigeon problem). I liked that the convos were not in a form of quests. I don't mind having quest as a mean for knowing followers better but there should still be space to have non-quest convs. In da2 everything was in a form of quest <_< Still, I must say that I had greater sense of having a team, being a bunch of friends in da2. Those were people that liked each other (or loved to hate) and were hanging out with each other, whereas in dao there was an overarching motivation to stop the blight and all the guys were just taging along; they became friends to some extent but I never felt such a sense of being a part of a group. Somehow characters in the da2 were better rooted (?) within the world (but it's probably due to the fact that they were living in the city for many years).

Modifié par neonmoth, 12 août 2013 - 12:02 .

[neonmoth]

Sorry for those walls of text, I guess I have a problem with expressing myself in a short and concise manner:] Have a Cullen instead

Modifié par neonmoth, 12 août 2013 - 11:58 .

[R2s Muse]

neonmoth wrote...

Commander Kurt wrote...

Batteries wrote...
I was bummed I couldn't ask Anders about his multiple escape attempts and hear a funny story about one of them. Or even Isabela about some of her escapades. 
This would be very welcome in my DAI game.

Yeah, I agree that it felt more lonely in the Arl's mansion in Denerim (and in DA2). Sharing a campfire is more intimate than sharing a city after all, and I preferred the former. Having the companions lined up in the throne room in Amaranthine however was the worst of the lot, very strange.

Honestly, now that you mention it Batteries, I can't really recall what I talked about with the companions in DA2.  I remember all of Zev's and Leliana's little stories, gossiping with Alistair and remembering the Wardens, Wynne's lectures, Oghren's leering, Morrigan's tales of the wilds and the arguments with Sten, but in DA2 I draw a blank (or just remember "it was something about mages"). I played DAO more, but I played DA2 most recently.

That is really strange...

Yours (and rapscalliones) comment about the camp is spot on. Just sharing this small and intimate space, travelling together and basically being with each other all the time. Also the little quirks that you could find out through conversations (like Leliana and my warden having girly talk or Shale's pigeon problem). I liked that the convos were not in a form of quests. I don't mind having quest as a mean for knowing followers better but there should still be space to have non-quest convs. In da2 everything was in a form of quest <_< Still, I must say that I had greater sense of having a team, being a bunch of friends in da2. Those were people that liked each other (or loved to hate) and were hanging out with each other, whereas in dao there was an overarching motivation to stop the blight and all the guys were just taging along; they became friends to some extent but I never felt such a sense of being a part of a group. Somehow characters in the da2 were better rooted (?) within the world (but it's probably due to the fact that they were living in the city for many years).

For me, I'd prefer some amalgam of the previous two games.  I think that having the companions in their own home base that fit with their character and deepened their story was awesome. When I got a tooltip in DA2 that said, 'Go to your companions base often to talk to them!' I crowed and sped there... only to find that that I couldn't talk to them at all. Only at very specific quest moments... That was my big let down. So it wasn't organic; getting to know the companions was just another series of quests. But I preferred all the flirting with Fenris, um, away from our friends... if ya know what I mean!!

[Danny Boy 7]

R2s Muse wrote...

neonmoth wrote...

Commander Kurt wrote...

Batteries wrote...
I was bummed I couldn't ask Anders about his multiple escape attempts and hear a funny story about one of them. Or even Isabela about some of her escapades. 
This would be very welcome in my DAI game.

Yeah, I agree that it felt more lonely in the Arl's mansion in Denerim (and in DA2). Sharing a campfire is more intimate than sharing a city after all, and I preferred the former. Having the companions lined up in the throne room in Amaranthine however was the worst of the lot, very strange.

Honestly, now that you mention it Batteries, I can't really recall what I talked about with the companions in DA2.  I remember all of Zev's and Leliana's little stories, gossiping with Alistair and remembering the Wardens, Wynne's lectures, Oghren's leering, Morrigan's tales of the wilds and the arguments with Sten, but in DA2 I draw a blank (or just remember "it was something about mages"). I played DAO more, but I played DA2 most recently.

That is really strange...

Yours (and rapscalliones) comment about the camp is spot on. Just sharing this small and intimate space, travelling together and basically being with each other all the time. Also the little quirks that you could find out through conversations (like Leliana and my warden having girly talk or Shale's pigeon problem). I liked that the convos were not in a form of quests. I don't mind having quest as a mean for knowing followers better but there should still be space to have non-quest convs. In da2 everything was in a form of quest <_< Still, I must say that I had greater sense of having a team, being a bunch of friends in da2. Those were people that liked each other (or loved to hate) and were hanging out with each other, whereas in dao there was an overarching motivation to stop the blight and all the guys were just taging along; they became friends to some extent but I never felt such a sense of being a part of a group. Somehow characters in the da2 were better rooted (?) within the world (but it's probably due to the fact that they were living in the city for many years).

For me, I'd prefer some amalgam of the previous two games.  I think that having the companions in their own home base that fit with their character and deepened their story was awesome. When I got a tooltip in DA2 that said, 'Go to your companions base often to talk to them!' I crowed and sped there... only to find that that I couldn't talk to them at all. Only at very specific quest moments... That was my big let down. So it wasn't organic; getting to know the companions was just another series of quests. But I preferred all the flirting with Fenris, um, away from our friends... if ya know what I mean!!

I liked the personal feel of the companions' bases they really added to the atmosphere of the environment,  but I didn't like the loading screens between characters. If they can keep each person's room or little area visually linked to them whilst still allowing us to freely speak to them about the occasional repeatable conversation then I'll be happy. 

[meanieweenie]

R2s Muse wrote...

For me, I'd prefer some amalgam of the previous two games.  I think that having the companions in their own home base that fit with their character and deepened their story was awesome. When I got a tooltip in DA2 that said, 'Go to your companions base often to talk to them!' I crowed and sped there... only to find that that I couldn't talk to them at all. Only at very specific quest moments... That was my big let down. So it wasn't organic; getting to know the companions was just another series of quests. But I preferred all the flirting with Fenris, um, away from our friends... if ya know what I mean!!

This!

I enjoyed the camaraderie of the camp until it came to flirty time with your LI. Then I just felt exposed. And I really did not care for the "Oh! Time to go talk to your companions" thing. It felt like I was getting a phone message, which is fine on occasion but not as the only means of knowing they need you go perform some task.

Modifié par meanieweenie, 12 août 2013 - 12:40 .

[neonmoth]

As much as I liked companions to have their homes and lives, I think it was very context dependent. The whole story was Kirkwall based, hence they could do it. I don't think that it will be possible in dai to this extent but I definitely would appreciate some privacy, especially when it comes to flirting. I am actually quite curious how the story will develop and how much travelling we'll have to do, where our main base will be and so on. In da2 I didn't like that you had no initiative when it came to meetings with team members, yet I appreciated the variety in cinematics, the fact that some scenes were in companions base, some in Hawke's base, some out and about and that they had different poses (like the first 1-on-1 scene with Fen when he drinks wine and throws the bottle), not just standing stiffly and looking at each other. So I guess that if they could incorporate a bit of freedom and a bit of scripting then I would be happy. From what I have gathered DG mentioned that he wants to keep the importance of questing in getting to know the characters but he also talked about bringing more player agency. And who am I fooling, I will take whatever they give cause they still offer the best level of character interaction I have encountered in games.

Modifié par neonmoth, 12 août 2013 - 01:04 .

[LolaLei]

Returning back to the romances and stuff, I thought the way Fenris left Hawke was right for his story arc and issues. The problem was the way it was portrayed because we didn't really get to talk to the companions enough to see the relationship grow between them anyway, and then when he leaves we hear nothing else about it until he suddenly returns again.

If, between that gap of three years there had been a few awkward scenes to indicate that Fenris still had feelings for Hawke then that, in my opinion, would have made the romance arcs feel a little more full. Of course, all the romance and companion interactions could've benefitted from more interaction but I think that was mainly down to time constraints.

In regards to "drama" and Cullen, if he is a companion/LI then I think it would be a total waste for them not to make use of his past experiences and "angst" in not only his storyline, but also his romance arc. Having a romance with him (regardless of class, race or specialisation) shouldn't be a cake walk, given that he's clearly got a few issues AND the current state of Thedas, it would feel cheap (and quite frankly, boring) for the romance to be all hearts and flowers, we should have to work for it. Plus, I totally think that if we happen to do something really bad that he can't agree with (like blood magic, or deals with demons) then he should totally refuse to romance the protagonist.

Modifié par LolaLei, 12 août 2013 - 01:14 .

[LolaLei]

R2s Muse wrote...

neonmoth wrote...

Commander Kurt wrote...

Batteries wrote...
I was bummed I couldn't ask Anders about his multiple escape attempts and hear a funny story about one of them. Or even Isabela about some of her escapades. 
This would be very welcome in my DAI game.

Yeah, I agree that it felt more lonely in the Arl's mansion in Denerim (and in DA2). Sharing a campfire is more intimate than sharing a city after all, and I preferred the former. Having the companions lined up in the throne room in Amaranthine however was the worst of the lot, very strange.

Honestly, now that you mention it Batteries, I can't really recall what I talked about with the companions in DA2.  I remember all of Zev's and Leliana's little stories, gossiping with Alistair and remembering the Wardens, Wynne's lectures, Oghren's leering, Morrigan's tales of the wilds and the arguments with Sten, but in DA2 I draw a blank (or just remember "it was something about mages"). I played DAO more, but I played DA2 most recently.

That is really strange...

Yours (and rapscalliones) comment about the camp is spot on. Just sharing this small and intimate space, travelling together and basically being with each other all the time. Also the little quirks that you could find out through conversations (like Leliana and my warden having girly talk or Shale's pigeon problem). I liked that the convos were not in a form of quests. I don't mind having quest as a mean for knowing followers better but there should still be space to have non-quest convs. In da2 everything was in a form of quest <_< Still, I must say that I had greater sense of having a team, being a bunch of friends in da2. Those were people that liked each other (or loved to hate) and were hanging out with each other, whereas in dao there was an overarching motivation to stop the blight and all the guys were just taging along; they became friends to some extent but I never felt such a sense of being a part of a group. Somehow characters in the da2 were better rooted (?) within the world (but it's probably due to the fact that they were living in the city for many years).

For me, I'd prefer some amalgam of the previous two games.  I think that having the companions in their own home base that fit with their character and deepened their story was awesome. When I got a tooltip in DA2 that said, 'Go to your companions base often to talk to them!' I crowed and sped there... only to find that that I couldn't talk to them at all. Only at very specific quest moments... That was my big let down. So it wasn't organic; getting to know the companions was just another series of quests. But I preferred all the flirting with Fenris, um, away from our friends... if ya know what I mean!!

Yeah, I think they've yet to get the balance right (although it sounds like they've probably cracked it this time). I like the idea of companions all having their set area (presumably within our castle), but I'd like to see the companions socialising together, even if it's just in the occasional scene where we can get them all together in one room and stuff.

[neonmoth]

It would be great if they kept that aspect of the rivalry system which allowed our pc to still be able to romance a companion even when having major disagreement, but still kept the chance to abruptly end romance if the pc did something that their LI would be fundamentally against. Such as Anders' example someone mentioned before, I had no idea he would dump my protagonist if I made Feynriel tranquil. That's actually pretty cool. And I am totally with you Lola on the Fenris romance thingy. I just wish there was some extra dialog that would make the situation more clear.

As for Cullen and his portion of drama, I guess this is what makes me want to see more of him since I am curious about his character. I just want to see what the hell is going on in his head, how is he making sense of what has happened, how he's coping with what he's gone through, what kind of person he is. Only more interaction (as in being a companion/maybe LI) would provide us with some more depth to his character. So I am perfectly happy with drama, that's exactly what I am curious about

Modifié par neonmoth, 12 août 2013 - 01:29 .

[R2s Muse]

Dirgegun wrote...

After reading back, I think people are getting a bit too focused on details like the hairline and nose? I believe the guy looks quite a bit like Cullen, but that isn't the point I'm trying to make. The point is that it's concept art, and every artist has his/her own style. I think that's just the case here. That's not necessarily a receding hairline but instead just how that artist draws short wavey hair. That's not a broken nose, but instead how that artist just draws noses at that angle/draws noses in general-- Cassandra's nose looks very, very stylised, for example. So with that in mind, I don't think we can make too many assumptions over this character design. 

Admittedly, I just thought it looked like what Cullen, as is, would look like if a concept artist drew him. Receding hairlines and broken noses didn't even enter my head when I looked at that image. 

Well,  the point of the discussion is exactly that artists styles all vary, so then what makes a fan perk up and say, unequivocally, "Yup, that's Cullen!" The specific style of this concept artist isn't the point, since yeah, it's just concept art. My point was, what makes Cullen look like Cullen, since every representation we see is an artist's representation, even in-game.

[CuriousArtemis]

Oh suuure, have an indepth discussion on Fenris and romance while I'm asleep! 

[LolaLei]

R2s Muse wrote...

Dirgegun wrote...

After reading back, I think people are getting a bit too focused on details like the hairline and nose? I believe the guy looks quite a bit like Cullen, but that isn't the point I'm trying to make. The point is that it's concept art, and every artist has his/her own style. I think that's just the case here. That's not necessarily a receding hairline but instead just how that artist draws short wavey hair. That's not a broken nose, but instead how that artist just draws noses at that angle/draws noses in general-- Cassandra's nose looks very, very stylised, for example. So with that in mind, I don't think we can make too many assumptions over this character design. 

Admittedly, I just thought it looked like what Cullen, as is, would look like if a concept artist drew him. Receding hairlines and broken noses didn't even enter my head when I looked at that image. 

Well,  the point of the discussion is exactly that artists styles all vary, so then what makes a fan perk up and say, unequivocally, "Yup, that's Cullen!" The specific style of this concept artist isn't the point, since yeah, it's just concept art. My point was, what makes Cullen look like Cullen, since every representation we see is an artist's representation, even in-game.

To add to what R2 said above, the core question was: "what are his core features and physical traits that makes Cullen recognisable under any/every form of concept/fanart/in-game model".

Modifié par LolaLei, 12 août 2013 - 02:16 .

[LolaLei]

motomotogirl wrote...

Oh suuure, have an indepth discussion on Fenris and romance while I'm asleep! 

I wondered when you'd pop up, LOL!

[CuriousArtemis]

LolaLei wrote...

motomotogirl wrote...

Oh suuure, have an indepth discussion on Fenris and romance while I'm asleep! 

I wondered when you'd pop up, LOL!

Fenris is perfect and none of you b!tches deserve his glorious elfiness. /Discussion

[R2s Muse]

LolaLei wrote...

motomotogirl wrote...

Oh suuure, have an indepth discussion on Fenris and romance while I'm asleep! 

I wondered when you'd pop up, LOL!

LOL I'm sorta glad I missed it...

EDIT: OMG, MMG!!! Bwahaha! #caseinpoint

Modifié par R2s Muse, 12 août 2013 - 02:17 .

[LolaLei]

motomotogirl wrote...

LolaLei wrote...

motomotogirl wrote...

Oh suuure, have an indepth discussion on Fenris and romance while I'm asleep! 

I wondered when you'd pop up, LOL!

Fenris is perfect and none of you b!tches deserve his glorious elfiness. /Discussion

And you're more than welcome to him, dear! 

[LolaLei]

I've just remembered we're supposed to be getting more DAI information today, aren't we. I wonder if it'll be anything new, or just more screenshots from the September article?

[R2s Muse]

LolaLei wrote...

I've just remembered we're supposed to be getting more DAI information today, aren't we. I wonder if it'll be anything new, or just more screenshots from the September article?

I would guess that latter... but then, they must have more video footage. If I were them, I'd seed each week with one video... since I'm a marketing professional, after all...

[CuriousArtemis]

R2s Muse wrote...

LolaLei wrote...

I've just remembered we're supposed to be getting more DAI information today, aren't we. I wonder if it'll be anything new, or just more screenshots from the September article?

I would guess that latter... but then, they must have more video footage. If I were them, I'd seed each week with one video... since I'm a marketing professional, after all...

Woot, I definitely think they should take marketing advice from you lol

[berelinde]

neonmoth wrote...

It would be great if they kept that aspect of the rivalry system which allowed our pc to still be able to romance a companion even when having major disagreement, but still kept the chance to abruptly end romance if the pc did something that their LI would be fundamentally against. Such as Anders' example someone mentioned before, I had no idea he would dump my protagonist if I made Feynriel tranquil. That's actually pretty cool. And I am totally with you Lola on the Fenris romance thingy. I just wish there was some extra dialog that would make the situation more clear.

As for Cullen and his portion of drama, I guess this is what makes me want to see more of him since I am curious about his character. I just want to see what the hell is going on in his head, how is he making sense of what has happened, how he's coping with what he's gone through, what kind of person he is. Only more interaction (as in being a companion/maybe LI) would provide us with some more depth to his character. So I am perfectly happy with drama, that's exactly what I am curious about

It's possible that I may be unfairly projecting my opinions onto others, but I believe that the rivalry system opened an unclosable door. The rivalry interactions were often very rewarding, and I don't think too many players want to give that up completely. Yeah, there are people who state with absolute conviction that rivaling Merrill is emotional abuse, and others who will say with just as much certainty that rivalling Anders is beating an already-broken man (I've been guilty of that myself on occasion), but that's what the friendship path is for. Some players feel that the hard truths are worth telling, and some players feel that the NPC is strong enough to take it. Others think the character has learned all he or she can from his or her mistakes, and they prefer to take a more protective role. One is not inherently "better" than the other, even if one may be more appealing to individual players.

TL;DR: I think most players appreciated the opportunity to be supportive without condoning behaviors they find objectionable. The rivalry system won't be back in its present form, but that doesn't mean it won't reappear in a new one.

Regarding Cullen, I'd really like some kind of rivalry system for him. He seems like a man who cherishes his beliefs, and faith grows best in adversity.

[CrazyRah]

I'm going to bet on information about something, small or not as small for today. I think they'll be alternating between information and screenshots/concept art and if they got more videos kinda save that towards the end. Now if they had more than one video i'd be just fine with that

[Jean]

I've been wanting to know what the specs will be for each class.

Assuming we have three choices like DA2, I'm certain that mages will have blood mage and spirit healer, but I can't decide on the third.
Can't see warriors without the templar spec.

[R2s Muse]

berelinde wrote...

neonmoth wrote...

It would be great if they kept that aspect of the rivalry system which allowed our pc to still be able to romance a companion even when having major disagreement, but still kept the chance to abruptly end romance if the pc did something that their LI would be fundamentally against. Such as Anders' example someone mentioned before, I had no idea he would dump my protagonist if I made Feynriel tranquil. That's actually pretty cool. And I am totally with you Lola on the Fenris romance thingy. I just wish there was some extra dialog that would make the situation more clear.

As for Cullen and his portion of drama, I guess this is what makes me want to see more of him since I am curious about his character. I just want to see what the hell is going on in his head, how is he making sense of what has happened, how he's coping with what he's gone through, what kind of person he is. Only more interaction (as in being a companion/maybe LI) would provide us with some more depth to his character. So I am perfectly happy with drama, that's exactly what I am curious about

It's possible that I may be unfairly projecting my opinions onto others, but I believe that the rivalry system opened an unclosable door. The rivalry interactions were often very rewarding, and I don't think too many players want to give that up completely. Yeah, there are people who state with absolute conviction that rivaling Merrill is emotional abuse, and others who will say with just as much certainty that rivalling Anders is beating an already-broken man (I've been guilty of that myself on occasion), but that's what the friendship path is for. Some players feel that the hard truths are worth telling, and some players feel that the NPC is strong enough to take it. Others think the character has learned all he or she can from his or her mistakes, and they prefer to take a more protective role. One is not inherently "better" than the other, even if one may be more appealing to individual players.

TL;DR: I think most players appreciated the opportunity to be supportive without condoning behaviors they find objectionable. The rivalry system won't be back in its present form, but that doesn't mean it won't reappear in a new one.

Regarding Cullen, I'd really like some kind of rivalry system for him. He seems like a man who cherishes his beliefs, and faith grows best in adversity.

I see your point berelinde, and I also hope we have the opportunity to disagree with our companions without making them leave. I realized that again going back to DA:O, that I was constantly petrified I would get negative points and become a man down. So instead, I'm blowing sunshine up their @ss, which isn't very realistic...  While there were clear downsides to the friendship/rivalry system, I'm glad DG's comments on it suggest they're not totally going back to the Origins way.