5 réponses à ce sujet

[Fast Jimmy]

Choice is one of the coolest things about the Dragon Age games.

The story told, the characters we see, the world and lore that exists... they are all really amazing and fundamental. But what kept me coming back to DA:O (and what left me unsatisfied with DA2) was how the choices I made had a demonstatable difference in the game, more than just one line of text difference*.

One way I would suggest making choice matter in DA3... er... The Next Big Thing... is having an impact on the order I choose quests.

Given the fact that the Mage/Templar war will be a factor, if not one of the overall story arcs**, on the game, I think the order in which we choose to do the main quests should be taken into consideration. Choosing to do one quest over another could have good impact for the quest done first, and possibly negative impacts for the quests done last.

As an example, in ME1, you are given three main quests to do: find Liara, go to Noveria or go to Feros. All of these quests have their own reasons for why you should do them, but given that you are looking for information on the Protheans (starting out), it makes sense to rescue Liara first, since she is one of the foremost researchers into Prothean culture. However... if you choose to do her quest last, visiting Noveria and Feros first, you will actually see a scene where Liara is a little loopy from being trapped and not eating for weeks (seen here ). Granted, this is a very small scale example of what I was thinking of, but it gets the point across.

Meanwhile, in DA:O, the order you retrieve the treaties has no effect on what is going on. Regardless, Bhelen and Harrowmant will fight in the streets just as you arrive, a rage demon will have just broken through that Wynne will stop, the werewolf disease is ravaging the Dalish and the undead will attack Redcliffe at nightfall and no one is expected to survive. While all very cool stories, they all seem to be frozen in time, regardless of when you do them***.

What if by helping the Circle first, you could save more of the mages involved or, if you choose it last, no one would have survived (including the random NPCs you find in the tower, like the mage hiding in the closet who you can do quests for) and the litany is lost, preventing you from receiving a "perfect" ending? What if by helping the Dwarves first, the Carta doesn't manage to gain as much power as it does and neither of the candidates if they win give the casteless any priveliges? 

I could hash DA:O's possibilities to make this work for hours, but the gist is there: shouldn't choosing a priority of which quest you do, especially during war time (which DA3 appears to be working towards) affect the options you DIDN'T choose first? 

*Best Served Cold, I'm looking at you.
**I am hoping that the Mage/Templar War is simply a back drop for a larger plot, one that is organized by certain witches of the areas not civilized.
***Note, I am not talking about a timer factor, like seen in Fallout, but something just based on the order you finish your quests.

[AkiKishi]

That sort of timing is kind of dumb. It only accounts for when you advance the plot, where as you can spend tons of time just goofing off walking across the world map a couple of times or whatever.
Despite the Reapers supposedly closing in, I had all the time in the world to scan every system 100% and do a ton of side quests between priority missions (which were the things that moved the game forward and locked off areas).

It's either all or nothing a counter counting down as you move or rest. In which case wasting days will mean loses, or just make the whole thing abstract and don't even involve a clock.

[Sylvius the Mad]

I don't think it's important that the order we do the quests be reflected per se, I do see some value in having the NPCs react to that order.

If, for example, you save group A before saving group B, group B might be resentful.

But I see no reason why hostilities can't happen to break out in Orzammar just as you arrive, regardless of when you arrive. But nor do I object to your proposal. It would certainly change replayability (I'm not sure yet whether that change would be an improvement).

[Feathered Chimp]

I like your idea, this seems like a really good idea, it doesnt really have to be major differences imo, but as long as it makes a difference.

[Fast Jimmy]

Sylvius the Mad wrote...

I don't think it's important that the order we do the quests be reflected per se, I do see some value in having the NPCs react to that order.

If, for example, you save group A before saving group B, group B might be resentful.

But I see no reason why hostilities can't happen to break out in Orzammar just as you arrive, regardless of when you arrive. But nor do I object to your proposal. It would certainly change replayability (I'm not sure yet whether that change would be an improvement).

If there is a negative effect to the order in which I do things, then I think this could limit the "perfect ending" scenarios. For instance, if by making sure the Dalish/Werewolf quest was resolved in the best way possible by going there first, I might make only a slightly successful option to save Redcliffe if I chose it last. If saving Isolde, Connor nor any of the townsfolk was really an option if I waited to do the quest last, would that affect how you played and enjoyed the game? Would it make every choice you make that much more agonizing? Simply picking the nice, evil or mercantile options would no longer be as easy, since even choosing the good ending for one group could spell the death of another.

Then it might become more of a choice about what group/choice/quest/ending you'd best like to see come out on top. Then again, something like this might give some actual reason to choose a venue like the Renegade options seen in ME, other than Roleplaying purposes. Renegade is always advertised as "whatever it takes" but the Paragon route provides the best outcomes, both in terms of characters and in terms of EMS in the last game.

Perhaps if you leave a certain quest to last, it leaves things like the Renegade option your ONLY option, aside from failure...?

I'm throwing a lot of ideas out there, not all of which are neccessarily connected (this is my therapy session after a helacious week at work), so take it all with a grain of salt. I think the core concept of what I suggested would be cool to see.

[wsandista]

It all depends on the situation. The dwarves arguing over succession didn't seem as urgent as the demon infested tower. But the general idea is good and I agree with it, just don't force the player into initiating main quests after x amount of time has passed/quests completed.