Operation Prologue Act:
The idea here would be to expand darkspawn fleeing portion of the prologue into something better resembling an Origin from the first game only larger.
The game starts with one of two brief segments. As a Mage, Hawke is awoken at home by Leandra and told to go to town with Bethany to search for news of Carver and gather supplies for their impending flight from Lothering. (To avoid relying on Origins imports to determine the state of the town too much, this would be a mostly deserted Lothering with most of the people having fled already, including Leliana and possibly Sten, though they could just make him grunt at you in annoyance if he was there). After a few quests around town, a wounded soldier arrives in town telling of the remainder of his group still fighting darkspawn on the road. This takes Bethany and Hawke down the road, where they save Carver from the darkspawn.
Upon returning to town, they would finish gathering supplies and, upon seeing the darkspawn horde on the horizon, high tail it to mother. At which point the plot would proceed more or less as originally written. The second scenario, the Warrior and Rogue one, has Hawke waken up by Carver in camp on their way from Ostagar (For the sake of resources, this would be the same map used when saving Carver in the Mage Hawke scenario described above). They would fight their way to town where they meet up with Bethany, who was sent for the supplies, and the plot moves on similarly from there.
I would expand Hawke's involvement in Kirkwall upon first arrival, essentially by expanding the quests you have to do with Meeran or Athenril. Give Hawke some tasks around Lowtown and Darktown, a chance to define what sort of reputation Hawke will get in the next year. I'd also change the year to two years just to fix the Awakening timeline issue with Anders but that's neither here nor there. Hawke would be restricted from Hightown and outside Kirkwall for this prologue just to maintain the feeling of the city opening up in Act 1.
Operation Time Skip Agency:
Also known as Operation Let-ME-Tell-YOU-About-What-Hawke-Did. The idea is to provide players with a measure of control over what Hawke chooses to pursue in the timeskips and how that might affect new quests in each act. My solution for Act 1 is simply for Varric to ask Hawke what he or she plans to do now that Hawke is a wealthy individual possibly with noble status soon. In my mind, there would be five choices.
Help the Mages - Basically, this has Varric explaining to Cassandra that Hawke worked with the Mage underground in Kirkwall during those years. Act 2 would begin with an apostate barging into Hawke's home begging to be hidden with Templars in pursuit. Cue questline smuggling him to Anders.
Play Nice with the Templars - In this choice, Varric explains that Hawke worked to further the Templars in apprehending apostates and maleficarum, possibly out of genuine belief or a desire to earn good will with the Templars for himself or herself and possibly for Bethany's sake. Precise motive would be left open. Act 2 might begin with Cullen coming in to ask for help apprehending an apostate in Darktown.
Keep My Head Down - Basically more like the the vanilla game. Hawke becomes a noble but makes no special efforts to draw attention, a practical decision for a Mage Hawke, really. The Act needn't begin very differently than it does now.
Politicking - The pursuit of political power needs to be up there for those unconcerned by Mage or Templar but too bold to simply duck out. Varric will explain that Hawke spent the noble years building up political capital and alliances. The Act might begin by receiving an invitation to a Noble Ball. There weren't enough parties in DA2 in my opinion, so that's something that should be available no matter your choice, it just becomes harder to get an invitation without choosing this.
Life of Crime - You started in the underground and that's where you'll stay. The idea is that Hawke spends the years building a relationship working with and for the Coterie, which I will touch on again later. The Act could open with Hawke receiving a visit from a Coterie crime boss looking to pull a large job.
And that brings us to the Act 2 timeskip. I'm unsure how this would occur, except maybe in a new scene after everyone applauds Hawke. That might break the flow of the narrative though. The actual choices wouldn't be so different from the act 2 list I gave, just modified to scale with the Champion's new status. Ex: "Politicking" becomes, "I'm aiming to be Viscount." "Life of Crime" becomes "Coterie Overlord", ect.
Operation New Coterie:
I was a bit disappointed by the limitations of Meeran and Athenril's role, so I'd like to see it expanded. Have whichever Hawke chose to work for rise as a major crime boss in the Coterie, this being the boss Hawke builds a relationship with if "Life of Crime" was chosen. This boss would offer side quests in each act (For the sake of resources, the actual quests would deal with more or less the same characters with the difference being the task itself and the one giving it)
Operation Feel Like A Noble:
Did the Hawke Estate ever feel a little... small to anyone?
I know I kept looking at these estates I was repeatedly breaking into and feeling a bit miffed that mine was so small. Through in a Ball Room, a Kitchen, something to give a real sense of space and wealth to the place. Better yet, have Leandra throw a ball in the Hawke Estate prior to her demise. Hawke would get the opportunity to forge political alliances, dance with love interests, get courted by young nobles looking to capitalize on his or her success ect., ect.
Also, being a noble needs a bit more behind it than a name and some buried treasure. Hubert and owning half the Bone Pit was a start, but Hawke needs something to actually put his or her noble house on the political-economic map. Give Hawke the chance to own a shipping company (Whom may or may not actually be pirates), or become a landowner, or the criminal underworld power broker option I mentioned above. I constantly found myself wondering what nobles in Kirkwall actually did and as one I felt a bit useless, something to change.
This brings me to my next symbol of status, servants and guards. Bodahn and Orana were good for this in truth, but one or two maids and footmen, perhaps a cook, to go along with a larger estate might do the trick. Now, Hawke can take cake care of his or her self, but who protects home, servants and mother while he or she is away? Hawke could have a selection of guards depending on choices. They could be mercenaries from Meeran if you supported him or even Templars if you're really cozy with them. My personal favorite idea is to employ a bunch of Tal Vashoth mercenaries as my guard so I can watch all my guests be intimidated by them at parties.
(This would all be a highly resource intensive part of my idea)
Operation What to do with Act 3:
I'll be honest, aside from generally expanding the number of paths to complete quests and the number of quests themselves, I'm a little unsure how to change Act 3. Endings are difficult to write satisfyingly at the best of times. I suppose I might alter it to have Anders' bomb not only shatter the Chantry but also punch a sizable hole in the Veil, intentionally or not, thus unleashing a horde of demons on the city.
The final battle would not be with Meredith, though she OR Orsino would be the second to last boss depending on the player's side. I think everyone can agree that Orsino's reaction really only makes sense when Hawke works for the Templars. Instead, the final battle would have Hawke fighting a horde of demons and or an unusually powerful Pride Demon while the surviving Mages, possibly under threat of death from the Templars, seal the Veil. For better narrative cohesion, the Pride Demon would have to be found behind several disasters and attempts at sundering the Veil in previous Acts, perhaps acting through the red lyrium, something that was too plot centric not to have some sort of explanation in my opinion. If they really wanted another boss battle, that would have been a better way to do it.
If they really wanted both Meredith and Orsino dead, then whoever survives the Gallows could come under the sway of the Pride demon either through the lyrium sword or outright possession in Orsino's case.
I somewhat feel that this ending detracts from the more human quality of DA2's story, and I'm unsure how to add agency except to allow Hawke a chance to say what they want to do afterwards. Leave Kirkwall, fight for or against mages, become viscount, ect. and any combination thereof.
Any thoughts? On any of it?
Modifié par Lord Aesir, 05 avril 2013 - 11:19 .
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