66 réponses à ce sujet

[jillabender]

I've made several posts on these forums in which I've tried to sort out for myself why Hawke didn't quite grab me as a character the way the Warden, and Shepard, have. But I felt that my explanations always seemed to fall a bit short of the mark – as though there was something that I hadn't quite managed to put my finger on.

Now, I feel that I've come to a fuller realization about why playing Hawke left me a bit dissatisfied, and I thought I'd share some of my thoughts in order to hear about why other players have had different, or similar, experiences.

(Just to be clear, it's not my intention here to bash Hawke, or the writing in DA2 – because I did find Hawke entertaining, and even though I had mixed feelings about DA2, I still had fun playing it.)

As I've stated before, I love playing Dragon Age: Origins because it lets me step into the role of a character I've created to fit into the story. The fact that some things about my characters are pre-defined doesn't take away from that experience for me, because I see the personal backgrounds and the overall quest arc that the authored narrative provides for my characters as starting points for me to build on as I imagine characters with distinct and vivid personalities and outlooks.

When I play DA:O, defining my character feels like a collaborative effort between me and the writers, and the challenge of creating a character who fits into the game's authored narrative is a very satisfying and rewarding experience for me.

Playing Shepard in Mass Effect 1 is a different kind of experience, but it's one that I also find satisfying.

Obviously, Shepard is less of a blank slate than the Warden, which means that I take less of an active role in defining him or her as a character. Because I knew going into the game that Shepard is a voiced character who's more pre-defined than the Warden, I had expected that I would have to take more of an observing/directing role in playing Shepard, as opposed to a creating/acting role. But as I play through the game, I find myself pleasantly surprised by how easily I'm able to connect with Shepard, and to inhabit her mind.

Although I don't quite feel like a co-creator of Shepard the way I do with my Wardens, I still feel as though I'm stepping into the role of Shepard, and inhabiting that role the way an actor might. In Mass Effect, I feel as though I'm stepping into the role of a pre-defined character, rather than one I've co-created, but it's still a very personal and satisfying experience.

(I've heard that some people found the Mass Effect sequels less satisfying than the original from a role-playing point of view, but I can't comment on those games yet, since I haven't yet played them. I should also add that I haven't played a male Shepard yet, so I can't comment on the voice acting for a male Shepard.)

Which brings me, finally, to Hawke and Dragon Age 2. Although I found many of Hawke's dialogue lines to be well-written on their own, and although I found the voice acting entertaining, there was always something about Hawke that kept me at a distance, so that Hawke tended to feel like another NPC to me, rather than a character I was actively role-playing.

What it comes down to for me, I think, is this: When Shepard speaks, I don't hear an actor playing Shepard – I hear Shepard.

When Hawke speaks, whether I'm playing a male or female Hawke, and no matter what tone icons I choose, I don't hear Hawke – I hear an actor playing Hawke.

That doesn't mean that the voice acting for Hawke is badly done – far from it. It just means that when I hear the actors voicing Hawke, I'm always aware that they're acting. And that makes it much harder for me to connect with Hawke as a character, and to really step into the role of Hawke.

I think this may partly be because Hawke's dialogue – both in its writing and its delivery – tends to fall a bit toward the extreme end of each tone descriptor, which often makes Hawke's demeanour come across as affected and mannered, as opposed to naturalistic.

That's not necessarily a bad thing – portraying a character in a stylized way can be a perfectly respectable style choice. It's just not a style choice that worked for me, because it kept me from feeling that I truly knew Hawke – and that kept me from being able to fully inhabit the character.

So, I'm eager to hear other people's experiences of role-playing Hawke, Shepard, and the Warden: How did you approach each character in terms of role-playing, and what made the experience satisfying or unsatisfying for you?

Modifié par jillabender, 15 janvier 2013 - 01:41 .

[Heimdall]

I don't have much time, so I'll be brief.

Hawke, to me, sort of fell into a weird niche between the Warden and Shepard. Shepard being predefined and the Warden much more up to me to define. Hawke felt like she had a little more variability than Shepard but her choices had less impact, less weight. That was the main thing that made Hawke feel a bit awkward to me, like "Here's YOUR character, but not really..."

[Dirty Whore]

The Warden was you inserted into the world of Thedas

The "Shepard" was a character you helped define through choices

Hawke is some dude you carried toward a preset destination

[Mr Fixit]

jillabender wrote...

When I play DA:O, defining my character feels like a collaborative effort between me and the writers, and the challenge of created a character who fits into the game's authored narrative is a very satisfying and rewarding experience for me.

(...)


Although I don't quite feel like a co-creator of Shepard the way I do with my Wardens, I still feel as though I'm stepping into the role of Shepard, and inhabiting that role the way an actor might. In Mass Effect, I feel as though I'm stepping into the role of a pre-defined character, rather than one I've co-created, but it's still a very personal and satisfying experience.

Pretty much sums my experience. I enjoy both Warden and Shepard for similar reasons you do.

The Warden is, ultimately, a blank slate. Yes, he does have some background supplied beforehands, but it doesn't step on players' toes at all. Also, having 7 race/origins combinations to choose from allowed me to have a say as to what that background information was going to be.

On the other hand, Shepard is Shepard. He may be more to one side or the other of the hardass spectrum, but in the end he's one tough sonova****. Players are given a pretty rounded character with several hardcoded traits. It is constraining compared to a blank slate, but if I choose to roleplay a personality from that narrower subset of all possible personalities, I still feel being Shepard was a satisfying experience. ME3, due to extreme auto-dialogue and only 2 dialogue options, drastically infringed on player agency and my ability to "inhabit" Shepard, but that's for another topic. 

Which brings me, finally, to Hawke and Dragon Age 2. Although I found many of Hawke's dialogue lines to be well-written on their own, and I found his or her delivery of the lines entertaining, there was always something about Hawke that kept me at a distance, so that Hawke tended to feel like another NPC to me, rather than a character I was actively role-playing.

What it comes down to for me, I think, is this: When Shepard speaks, I don't hear an actor playing Shepard – I hear Shepard.

When Hawke speaks, whether I'm playing a a male or female Hawke, and no matter what tone icons I choose, I don't hear Hawke – I hear an actor playing Hawke.

I think this may partly be because Hawke's dialogue – both in its writing and its delivery – tends to fall a bit toward the extreme end of each tone descriptor, which often makes Hawke's demeanour come across as affected and mannered, as opposed to naturalistic.

I've been giving this issue some thought myself. I am still not sure why Hawke feels the way he feels. Voice-acting and paraphrasing have something to do with it, but then again, they never bothered me that much in Mass Effect. Forcing every conversation down those three paths, instead of allowing more organic dialogue choices -- sometimes less than three, sometimes more, having more than one line for each general tone which would avoid (or at least lessen) the issue of conflating tone with intent -- is a big problem as well.

Last but not least, I think my major gripe with Hawke is that he's neither a blank slate nor an established character. He's stuck in an awkward no man's land of little-bit-this-little-bit-that without really committing to either side. In my opinion, Hawke is too concrete a character to allow me true freedom, and yet too vague to give me useful guidelines and parameters by which to play him.

Modifié par Mr Fixit, 14 septembre 2012 - 02:21 .

[jillabender]

Mr. Fixit wrote…

In my opinion, Hawke is too concrete a character to allow me true freedom, and yet too vague to give me useful guidelines and parameters by which to play him.

I have to admit, I felt much the same way. I think part of the reason that Hawke felt too vaguely defined to me was that the overall story didn't really focus on the idea of Hawke facing a personal struggle – the story was more about other people involving Hawke in their personal struggles, and that made Hawke frustrating for me to play at times.

The failing for me wasn't so much that the game didn't react to Hawke's choices – in many cases, the divergent outcomes for quest arcs felt very appropriate. My difficulty was that Hawke often seemed to be reacting to other people's choices, instead of acting in pursuit of his or her own goals.

It wasn't so much that Hawke's actions didn't have an impact on the story, it was that Hawke's goals and motivations weren't what was driving the story – and as a result, I as the player didn't feel invested in the story the way I would have liked.

Mr. Fixit wrote…

Forcing every conversation down those three paths, instead of allowing more organic dialogue choices -- sometimes less than three, sometimes more, having more than one line for each general tone which would avoid (or at least lessen) the issue of conflating tone with intent -- is a big problem as well.

I agree – in Mass Effect 1, I can choose the point I want Shepard to make without worrying that it will lead to a jarring change in tone, but the dialogue wheel in DA2 didn't always make it clear to me whether I was choosing the idea I wanted Hawke to convey, or simply choosing his or her demeanour. That being said, I have confidence that BioWare will address this issue in DA3 by finding new ways to make the dialogue wheel more effective.

Modifié par jillabender, 14 septembre 2012 - 02:41 .

[Huntress]

OP to me it felt the other way around, take note I was introduce to the ME series way after the ending controversy, Months before the EC, so Hawke was my very first voice charcter and I felt in love with it, Hawke was an +1 over the warden, yes I like the warden but is different, I like the warden for others reasons, I like Hawke because it becomes alive.

When I was playing Me I thought hawke's voice could have " better" Shepard rofl.. don't hit me!
And to me it felt this character was missing something.. something like funny moments to make her more Human like..  Shepard felt dry, stiff, Oh the comic relief was Garrus, I think he made me smile a few times.

I only played ME series once and I don't see a reason to play more than that, it will always end the same way anyway, I think of it as an old cookie, tell me how many times you want to bite it and feel rancid taste in the mouth?.. Only once for me! meh.

I do not think one actor is better than another is just what I felt at that moment, I think both voice actors are superb and I don't have any doughts on that.

Wich characters from this 2 games I like more? Hmm from DA2 everyone but Sebastian, from mass effect universe Garrus, liara, wrex, Aria.. now thats a great character! I'll never forget her from me2 and kaiden alenko? I liked him in Me but didn't like him after that..

Femhawke or FemShepard? Hmm I go with Femhawke she has more to my liking.

Modifié par Huntress, 14 septembre 2012 - 03:02 .

[Fast Jimmy]

I agree with many of your observations about why some felt they could not connect with Hawke. I think, perhaps, another reason for this is how we explore the game world. In the ME series, we always explore that world as Shepherd, a semi-defined character. In DA:O, we explored and were introduced to the world with a blank slate character, the Warden, who could come from man backgrounds, have many ideas and experience many thoughts. In DA2, we explore the world through Hawke, a character that has a set background, and more rigid dialog options. Because we explored Thedas originally as another type of character, experiencing it throughs different type of character is jarring.

Although I do truly believe the somewhat extreme nature of the tone system lead to less realistic portrayals of genuine emotion than what we saw with Shepherd. So I agree that it did feel like an actor was playing the role of Aggressive Hawke, rather than us hearing the voice of Hawke. If that makes sense.

[Sylvius the Mad]

Mr Fixit wrote...

In my opinion, Hawke is too concrete a character to allow me true freedom, and yet too vague to give me useful guidelines and parameters by which to play him.

This makes sense.

While I didn't particularly enjoy playing Shepard, I didn't find Shepard that difficult to play.  Sometimes I'd struggle with how to select dialogue options, but often it seemed obvious (as it always did in DAO), so the game mostly seemed to work.

Mass Effect felt like a I game I didn't enjoy.  DA2 felt like a broken game.

[jillabender]

Fast Jimmy wrote...

I agree with many of your observations about why some felt they could not connect with Hawke. I think, perhaps, another reason for this is how we explore the game world. In the ME series, we always explore that world as Shepherd, a semi-defined character. In DA:O, we explored and were introduced to the world with a blank slate character, the Warden, who could come from man backgrounds, have many ideas and experience many thoughts. In DA2, we explore the world through Hawke, a character that has a set background, and more rigid dialog options. Because we explored Thedas originally as another type of character, experiencing it throughs different type of character is jarring.

That's a great point – and not something I'd really considered. I think it might also have something to do with the fact that we're told the story of DA2 by Varric, but we explore the world as Hawke – perhaps that was part of what left me feeling disconnected from Hawke. I'll have to think more about that.

Fast Jimmy wrote…

Although I do truly believe the somewhat extreme nature of the tone system lead to less realistic portrayals of genuine emotion than what we saw with Shepherd. So I agree that it did feel like an actor was playing the role of Aggressive Hawke, rather than us hearing the voice of Hawke. If that makes sense.

I agree. I think this is partly because we get to know Hawke secondhand through Varric, who's prone to exaggeration and therefore portrays Hawke in an over-the-top way. As I said earlier, while that's not necessarily a bad style choice, it's a mixed bag for me. When Varric is describing himself in an exaggerated and over-the-top way, it's hilarious and helps us understand him as a character. When Hawke is portrayed in an over-the-top way, it keeps me at a remove from him or her in a way that distances me from the story.

Modifié par jillabender, 16 septembre 2012 - 04:32 .

[Warden661]

For me DA:O was a story where I was the main character. I was the Warden. I got to pick the race, class, background story, and the look of the Warden. Because he (or she) was a silent character, I heard the voice I wanted to hear in the tone I thought he should be speaking in. It always felt like the character was just me in a new skin, if that makes sense.

With Shepard, even though he was a more defined character (mostly because of the voice acting) I still got to choose his/her background story. Almost everything that defined Shepard up to the point of the start of ME1 was my choice. And from then on, his/her story was defined by me. I never felt like I was Shepard but I felt like his/her story was mine to tell.

With Hawke, his/her background story was defined. The only thing I got to choose was the gender and class. Hawke always felt like Shpard did except the story never felt like it was me telling it. It was Varric telling the story. If anything, I felt like I was Varric at times, telling Cassandra the story of the Champion.

[jillabender]

Huntress wrote...

OP to me it felt the other way around, take note I was introduce to the ME series way after the ending controversy, Months before the EC, so Hawke was my very first voice charcter and I felt in love with it, Hawke was an +1 over the warden, yes I like the warden but is different, I like the warden for others reasons, I like Hawke because it becomes alive.

When I was playing Me I thought hawke's voice could have " better" Shepard rofl.. don't hit me!
And to me it felt this character was missing something.. something like funny moments to make her more Human like..  Shepard felt dry, stiff, Oh the comic relief was Garrus, I think he made me smile a few times.

I only played ME series once and I don't see a reason to play more than that, it will always end the same way anyway, I think of it as an old cookie, tell me how many times you want to bite it and feel rancid taste in the mouth?.. Only once for me! meh.

I do not think one actor is better than another is just what I felt at that moment, I think both voice actors are superb and I don't have any doughts on that.

Wich characters from this 2 games I like more? Hmm from DA2 everyone but Sebastian, from mass effect universe Garrus, liara, wrex, Aria.. now thats a great character! I'll never forget her from me2 and kaiden alenko? I liked him in Me but didn't like him after that..

Femhawke or FemShepard? Hmm I go with Femhawke she has more to my liking.

Haha… don't worry, I won't hit you :happy:

Personally, Shepard doesn't feel dry and stiff to me – to me, she feels blunt and no-nonsense, but in a way that feels true-to-life. But of course, our relationships with characters are extremely personal, and very subjective.

I really like Garrus, too – I find myself wishing he was a romance option in ME1! I have to admit, I love Kaidan – he's adorably shy, gentle and sensitive, and he's brooding, but in a refreshingly soft-spoken way.

As far as DA2 characters go, Fenris and Merrill were probably my favourite companion characters.

Modifié par jillabender, 23 octobre 2012 - 12:51 .

[CuriousArtemis]

Well, out of the three (Hawke, Shepard, and Warden), I liked Hawke best. Hawke feels like a real character. Hearing his voice plays a huge part in that. So with Hawke, I feel partly like I am reading a visual novel and partly like I'm helping to write it. I feel like Hawke is my character, but I don't quite know where the story is going.

Second is the Warden. I had a lot of control in CC and really enjoy making just the kind of character I normally enjoy writing: the adventurous young man type. I love my cute elf Warden's. I love their back stories (Dalish or city). Unfortunately, that back story does die after twenty minutes or so of game play. The Warden becomes fairly generic after that. And because he has no voice, he has no personality, whatsoever, other than what I create in my head. I really have a tough time connecting to him. But, I can imagine the story. I've even started a fanfic featuring my Warden.

Third is Shepard. Keep in mind I've only played ME3. I've played through it twice though and played close to the same Shepard twice. I like him, but the voice actor seemed ... a bit bored lol Also the character creator screen forced me to make a certain kind of character, a buff stereotypical tough soldier type. So many times, all of this killed the characterization for me. I would have to say, I loved the story of ME3 far more than the PC.

[Sacred_Fantasy]

jillabender wrote...
So, I'm eager to hear other people's experiences of role-playing Hawke, Shepard, and the Warden: How did you approach each character in terms of role-playing, and what made the experience satisfying or unsatisfying for you?

 How do I approach each characters in terms of roleplaying? 
DAO's the warden:
1. ) Maverick Cousland: I am the warden. First person roleplaying or you could call it, self -insert roleplaying. My second DAO's character and my ultimate avatar in Thedas.
2. ) Amber Cousland: A female Cousland character spesifically created to explore the world of Thedas from the eye of a character that isn't mirror my own but loosely based on someone very close to me. Third person roleplaying. My first DAO's character who sacrifice herself in order to allow Alistair lives.
3 )  Tiara Aeducan, Lyra Mahariel, Madeline Amell and others: 100% fictional third person characters created to explore various origins and perspectives. 

Mass Effect 2's Sheppard ( Mass Effect 3's Sheppard resigned the series after ME 2 and never comes back. The Reapers win the game in ME 3, not that I bother anymore ) : First Person roleplaying failed. Could only be roleplayed from third person's perspective. I never enjoy it due to restricted binary paragon/renegade personality system and cinematic experience but it was a good game when all choices had huge impacts on Sheppard squadmates' fate and afftected the endings. Unfortunately the ME 2's retail disc end up in dustbin. Sheppard never returns in ME 3 as I decided the game isn't my RPG. 

Dragon Age 2: Rise to Power's Hawke.
3 male characters. None can be played from first person's prespective. Self-insert roleplaying is impossible due to storytelling device's third person narrators, frame narrative, cinematics character, inconhensive voice tones and broken dominant personalities especial purple Hawke.  Unable to put myself in Hawke's shoe and view the world through his eyes. 3 failed attempts before I gave up and switch to third person roleplaying with all female Hawkes.


what made the experience satisfying or unsatisfying for you?

DAO's Wardens: 
My character creation. All those blank slate characters belong to mine. I created their appearance with much effort and crafted their personalities carefully so each and everyone of them are unique and individual. Each of them have their own stories. 

My Maverick Cousland continues to journey beyond time and dimension with his beloved Morrigan and their son.

My Amber Cousland rest in peace at Weisshupt Fortress, forever remembered by King Alistair and Queen Anora, Leliana, Shale, Sten and all Fereldens. Her tale ended but her memories continues with her legend. The greatest person of all times along with Riordan and others wardens who sacrifice themselves to end the blight. 

Knowing their journey and destiny is thrilling experience which remind me so much of Neverwinter's Night experience. And better. I never stop roleplying my avatar, Maverick Cousland.

Mass Effect 2's Sheppard:
Storywise - satifying due to choices and consequences.
Roleplayingwise - disappointed. 

Conclusion: Played it once before I threw the retail disc to dustbin. It's not worth my time. Not much to play and the story quickly dry after one playthrough. I never like set characters anyway. It was a mistake for me. So I choose not to buy ME 3.

Dragon Age 2: Rise to Power's Hawke.
Huge dissapoinment.  Unable to roleplay Hawke. Incohensive voice tone, vague paraphrashing, no clear motivation and goal, unfocus story, terrible storytelling technique, broken personality system with auto dialogues, auto emotes, autoplay by itself, too much Out Of Character's element, unable to connect to Hawke due to frame narrative, lack of immersion, absurd plot for apostate Hawke, feel more like a JRPG than a WRPG due to cinematic experience, completely ignore romance option and the companions due to limited interaction and uninteresting characters development, too many faults to enjoy the game. But above all, roleplaying experience is non-existent for me. I merely direct BioWare's blue, purple or red character. Hawke is never be my character and I don't know her.   

Conclusion: Not only Hawke fails to meet my expectation, I cannot understand why this character even exist and  important to Thedas, I regret the PC has to be Hawke. I regret trying to play as Hawke. It's obvious I can only play with BioWare's Hawke. And after 3 fail playthroughs and 6 completed playthroughs, I'm convinced the game isn't worth my investment. Just like ME 2, it ended up in dustbin. May their souls rest in peace and be forgotten through time.

[wright1978]

Personally i enjoyed the warden but found his/her silence frustrating. To me Hawke was just the DA equivalent of ME1/ME2 Shep before the auto-dialogued defined horror that was ME3. I enjoyed roleplaying Hawke and those 2 games Sheps. The only real difference i can say was the weaker voice acting of male hawke's actor as well as the abrupt jumps between acts. What i mean by that if you take the lore the game covers 10 years and you just get to jump in at various points and then the story jumps on again. I end up shortening the time frames a lot as otherwise it destroys immersion.

[Allan Schumacher]

Do you think that maybe the idea that you could choose a background factors into it?

You could do that with all the games except for DA2.

[Shevy]

I'm not interested in sci-fi, so I never played ME and therefore I can't comment about Shepard as a character.
The problems I have with Hawke are:
He doesn't feel like my character, while the Warden felt that way. I think race selection and a background are important factors to get that feeling. Silent protagonist and full text answers are others.
Hawke has no goals or motivations, neither I could imagine some for him. Could be a result of the unclear goal of the story. My Cousland wanted to judge Howe and Loghain and while doing that she tried to protect Ferelden against the taint.
Hawke feels like a passive, unconfident deliveryboy and handyman. I think MotA ending is enough evidence of this. "Give me that thing"
"No"
*sadface*
I think I never hated a character in an rpg more than after this situation.

[wright1978]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

Do you think that maybe the idea that you could choose a background factors into it?

You could do that with all the games except for DA2.

I certainly enjoyed the background/psychological profile elements present in ME1 and the origins in DAO. So that probably plays into it.

[Mr Fixit]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

Do you think that maybe the idea that you could choose a background factors into it?

You could do that with all the games except for DA2.

Not sure, but I don't think that's a big deal. In ME you only had rudimentary choice anyway. It had a pretty minimal impact during the course of the game.

[ianvillan]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

Do you think that maybe the idea that you could choose a background factors into it?

You could do that with all the games except for DA2.

In my opinion it would of been better if you started DA2 in Lothering, it would of helped introduce your family which you have to admit was not introduced properly in DA2. 

[Fallstar]

The Warden wasn't a predefined character. Whilst the combinations of race and origin story were actually quite limited, there was still enough variation there that you felt like your character was unique, even if they weren't. Hawke on the other hand, was about as predefined as you could get. Character creation was literally a sex and class choice. I still find that hard to believe. So the first reason I preferred the Warden was more detailed CC.

Next up, dialogue. I'll be brief as this has been iterated upon countless times, but basically no set voice and no paraphrasing allowed me to get into the character better which made  in character decisions carry more weight to me. I cared about what I did and said as the Warden, as I really felt like it was me making those decisions.

Finally, I think that a lot of my preference for the Warden comes down to the story. As the Warden, we get to do all these fantastic things that could have huge impacts in Ferelden. Do you keep the Anvil; what are the potential consequences of destroying it for the future of the Dwarves. Will letting Genitivi live cement the strangehold of the chantry.  Should the werewolves be punished for the crimes of their ancestors. The Loghain situation. The OGB situation. I'm barely scraping the surface here, but there are many decisions in the DAO story that are extremely complex and which have significant ramifications for the future. When you get into your character and really think about those decisions, you obviously develop more of an attachment to that character. Very, very few of the decisions in DA2 made me think as deeply as those in DAO did.

The mage-templar issues could have been fantastic, but act 3 was dealt with so appallingly that I stopped caring about even that. What I thought about most was actually if I should have just left Kirkwall to the Qunari. I cared about a very small number of characters in DA2, all of whom could have left with me. Given the choice, I'd have let the Qunari take over the city. In DAO, if there had been a similar option and a Qunari vanguard arrived having assumed Sten failed (or whatever) I would not have done so, as I cared far more for the characters in Ferelden than I did in Kirkwall.

My ME experiences are limited to half a playthrough of ME1 years ago, so I can't really comment on Shephard.

You could sum up my feelings for Hawke, and Kirkwall in general really, with one word - apathy.

Modifié par DuskWarden, 14 septembre 2012 - 12:06 .

[Wulfram]

Hawke's voice acting was very characterful, which is a mixed blessing for a CRPG.

You also had a lot of detail about Hawke's family and background, which contrasts with ME where you only really got broad strokes about Shepard's past, aside from one incident and maybe one chat with shep's mum.

Modifié par Wulfram, 14 septembre 2012 - 12:08 .

[jillabender]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

Do you think that maybe the idea that you could choose a background factors into it?

You could do that with all the games except for DA2.

I'd have to say that's part of it. Being able to choose my character's background makes the character feel more personal to me, and adds to my sense of ownership over the character. The way that Origins introduced me to my characters by having them interact with the people they'd grown up with, in what were everyday circumstances for them, gave me insight into my characters, and helped me to get a better feel for them compared with DA2, where I had to get to know Hawke on the fly.

However, I'd say that other things, like Hawke's more mannered and stylized demeanour compared to Shepard, and the lack of a broader and more organic range of responses that didn't fall neatly into the categories of "diplomatic," "sarcastic" or "aggressive," were bigger factors for me personally.

Another big factor for me was the fact that despite the story being a more personal one, the story tended to focus more on other people's personal struggles than on Hawke's – instead of actively choosing to make things happen, Hawke often seemed to be simply reacting to other people's choices, and that made the overall story arc less compelling to me.

Modifié par jillabender, 14 septembre 2012 - 02:46 .

[Welsh Inferno]

Allan Schumacher wrote...

Do you think that maybe the idea that you could choose a background factors into it?

You could do that with all the games except for DA2.

It certainly helps.

Even though in Mass Effect it has very little effect on anything, I found myself picking the exact same background choices for "my" Shepard. I was able to imagine some backstory based on the ones I chose & it gave me a feel of what my Shepard was like as a person, what his past experiences made him into.

The origins in DAO are better simply because they allow me to play through and experience it. Thus, each different Warden feels completely different.

I'd certainly like some form of backstory or origin choices in DA3.

Modifié par Welsh Inferno, 14 septembre 2012 - 01:03 .

[TMJfin]

I think I like Hawke most. But that might be because the sarcastic Hawke who took Anders under his wings reminded me so much of myself I also have one Warden and one Shepard who are my "avatars", but conected most with Hawke because of his sarcastic nature.

[nightscrawl]

jillabender wrote...

I think this may partly be because Hawke's dialogue – both in its writing and its delivery – tends to fall a bit toward the extreme end of each tone descriptor, which often makes Hawke's demeanour come across as affected and mannered, as opposed to naturalistic.

...

So, I'm eager to hear other people's experiences of role-playing Hawke, Shepard, and the Warden: How did you approach each character in terms of role-playing, and what made the experience satisfying or unsatisfying for you?

This whole thing was well written.

I agree with that statement about Hawke, but I'll share some of my experience. I've played DA2 about a dozen times. Mostly with a female character, a very few times with male. After 5 or so plays I finally decided to make a male Hawke. It took me most of the game to get used to a man's voice saying all of the lines I had heard so many times done by a woman. That was incredibly jarring. The second time playing male Hawke I enjoyed it a lot more, and now, while I prefer female, since I am one and can actually relate to her, I find that the male Hawke is somewhat more enjoyable, simply because of the voice acting. Across all tones, he just seems more natural.

As far as being satisfied or not, I would say the single biggest frustration came from the paraphrases. Not going to elaborate, that topic has been done to death.

For the Warden, I must admit that I don't really "roleplay" as such. Even if I start out with some idea about how I am going to portray a character (like a Cousland Warden who only wants revenge) I usually end up defaulting to myself somewhere down the line. I tend to base my choices on goals I have for that specific play. Those goals fit in the narrative I developed for my character, but I don't really feel as if I am roleplaying someone else. I've certainly never experienced roleplaying as some people describe it on these forums.

I'll also add that going back to DAO after playing DA2 several times was a little frustrating. I really wanted my Warden to talk and for the scenes to be more orchestrated as they were in DA2, rather than the the camera-over-shoulder first person POV in DAO.