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[riverbanks]

How would a new protagonist fit? Considering the ending, it seemed pretty determined and personal.

I know up to now it's been said over and over they would never bring in a returning protagonist as current protagonist, but, how would/could they continue this story with as much investment without bringing the Inquisitor back. 

 

It's only personal if you feel it is. I don't feel the matter of stopping him is personal to my Inquisitor - as I said in another thread, the problem with the stinger coming after the epilogue slides is that, depending on the slides you got, the return to the war table feels incredibly dissonant from the ending you just watched. For me, if the intention of that stinger was to make the search for Solas personal, to make me emotionally invested in a big Inquisitor x Solas rivalry, I'm sorry to say BioWare failed miserably at the timing - I just watched my Inquisitor get a walk-into-the-sunset happy ending, I don't care about Solas anymore as far as my Inquisitor is concerned, even if the stinger says I should. If aything, what those slides made me fully emotionally invested in is in my Inquisitor catching that rainbow with Cullen and living happily ever after; someone else can fill the big hero shoes and go saving the world now.

 

As to how they can continue the story with a new protagonist... the same way the continued the story with Hawke after the introduction of ancient darkspawn in Awakening and the eluvian cliffhanger left by Witch Hunt, the same way they continued the story with the Inquisitor after the introduction of Corypheus in Legacy and the mage/Templar war cliffhanger left by the end of DA2... by shifting and refocusing the story from the protagonist to the world, to the story itself, and giving the next protagonist a new angle to explore their emotional investment from. Despite how personal their life feels when we're playing each hero, the series is never about the character you're playing right now, but how they shape this larger, overarching moment in Thedas' history.

[neonmoth]

Yeah, I feel like... choices do have consequences, and it would be unfair to say nothing we do makes any difference, but- they are either immediate consequences (choosing to kill or not kill Anders decides whether Sebastian stays with or leaves Hawke, choosing to recruit the mages or Templars in DAI decimates the other group and changes your nemesis figure), or far-reaching rippling consequences that you had no way of foretelling (like a set of three choices you made in DAO decides whether you get Loghain, Alistair or Stroud later on), or consequences that seem major when you're making them but ultimately either fizzle out (like Kieran) or get levelled out by the word of canon so all world states have more or less the same status quo (like Leliana dissolving the Circles or Vivienne reinstating them makes no difference in the end because eventually the College takes over anyway and the mage debate shifts from mages versus Templars to mages versus mages).

 

I'm ok with that notion of choices affecting the game without breaking it, in the end, because I think a series that can move forward even at the cost of some streamlining is more interesting to us as players than a series that dies on its back because it has become so splintered that it can't move on without becoming three-four different games altogether. It's more that we have to adjust the idea that "choices have consequences" doesn't mean choices will give you two different games, but they will give you enough flavor to feel like it's worth replaying at least a few times to see every side of each story.

Yeah, I prefer immediate consequences when it comes to da setting. It gives the feeling of agency on my pcs part but allows the series to move forward. In an ideal world I'd love to make more world changing decisions but as it is it just needs to lead somewhere. Though I actually care more about companions, who lives or dies, befriend my pcs or hate them guts etc than who is ruling Orlais. Admittedly I would actually like to see some consequence to disbanding vs keeping inquisition going. 

[riverbanks]

Admittedly I would actually like to see some consequence to disbanding vs keeping inquisition going. 

 

The wording is.... peculiar. On one hand you have a much stronger effort but with high risk of infiltration (and knowing now that the Inquisition was already compromised to the core from the start makes this a very high stakes bet), and on the other you have a much weaker effort, but also much safer. Should be interesting to see if anything comes out of it. High stakes tend to mean high payouts, so maybe I'll come to regret not keeping the Inquisition operating, but I'll be honest, I wasn't thinking of Solas at all when I made my decision to disband - I just wanted to give my Inquisitor the peace of mind and respite she deserved at that point. She earned her happy ending, and I'll take it for what it is.

 

Another thing that I don't know whether to take as a hint for future developments or dismiss as unfulfilled immediate gameplay consequences is the choice of the Wardens. I don't know if letting them stay in the South at the risk of further corruption will bite me in the ass later, or if that was just another gameplay element that was left unfinished in DAI, but the wording of that choice is super dodgy and bothers me to this day.

 

Though I actually care more about companions, who lives or dies, befriend my pcs or hate them guts etc than who is ruling Orlais.

 

True, true. Though it was very interesting seeing the different correspondence you get if you have Anora or Alistair or both of them on the throne in DAI, I'm still more interested in knowing that Zevran is alright and out there changing the crows, and Sebastian is back home and ruling Starkhaven well, and Merrill finally found some home with the elves in the alienage, etc. And I still wanna know where the hell are Sigrun and Nathaniel! I care much more about that than I do for whether Celene and Briala are cavorting like rabbits or stabbing each other in the back again.

[neonmoth]

The wording is.... peculiar. On one hand you have a much stronger effort but with high risk of infiltration (and knowing now that the Inquisition was already compromised to the core from the start makes this a very high stakes bet), and on the other you have a much weaker effort, but also much safer. Should be interesting to see if anything comes out of it. High stakes tend to mean high payouts, so maybe I'll come to regret not keeping the Inquisition operating, but I'll be honest, I wasn't thinking of Solas at all when I made my decision to disband - I just wanted to give my Inquisitor the peace of mind and respite she deserved at that point. She earned her happy ending, and I'll take it for what it is.

Great that you brought this up since I remember being confused by the way the choice was presented. Anyway, so far I only disbanded Inquisition, since it fit my pcs the most. I might keep it on my male Trev who romanced divine Cass cause I love the idea   Buut the whole thing goes back to the point that for it to matter somehow Inquisitor would have to reappear in Da4 in some shape or form or our new protagonist is involved in the organisation itself/working for the Quizzy, which potentially leads to the cameo/dual protag thing that in turn gives me headache, so I will just patiently wait here in my corner and see what masters of the universe have decided. 
 

Another thing that I don't know whether to take as a hint for future developments or dismiss as unfulfilled immediate gameplay consequences is the choice of the Wardens. I don't know if letting them stay in the South at the risk of further corruption will bite me in the ass later, or if that was just another gameplay element that was left unfinished in DAI, but the wording of that choice is super dodgy and bothers me to this day.

I am afraid it can be simply hand waved, since it was kind of like that in dai anyway. Truly, I was expecting some major setback for keeping Wardens around when Corypheus was still free-roaming but meh. I expect we just move north, maybe not only to Tevinter but also Anderfels? With the Last flight cliffhanger I want to jump right into that mess (which makes me wonder if Hawke is allegedly back from Weisshaupt why she never shared what kind of sh!t she stepped in there??). 

 

Edit: I want some new book Is the new comic book out yet?  Apparently it's December release.

[CuriousArtemis]

Admittedly, there was a lot more about Cullen to speculate about before, both his role in DA2 and in the future. Now... the writers have expunged all controversy from his character, and his ending has been rather tidily wrapped up. 

 

Yeah it's a shame; he's basically the hero of a romance novel now. Nothing controversial whatsoever about him. I don't think I would have joined the Cullen fandom after playing DAI alone. It was really DA2 Cullen that brought me into the fold.

 

I personally really don't want the Inquisitor to come back as the protagonist. Their story is done, they got as much closure as you can get with a whole DLC dedicated to ending their story so it doesn't linger on forever, as Laidlaw put it... the one romance that didn't get resolution is only one open thread of a thousand closed others, like Morrigan's and Anders' unfinished romances were before in the previous games, and that can't be helped given the nature of these characters (and the non-canon nature of all romances); but in general terms, the Inquisitor's arc feels wrapped up.

 

I wouldn't mind the Inquisitor showing as an NPC like Hawke, though. I guess I'm lucky that the Hawke they presented fit my Hawke's personality so well, because I thought her cameo was perfect - my only gripe with it is that Hawke was only really brought back so we could get rid of them, because BW seems to resent DA2 that much. If the Inquisitor came back as an NPC, I'd only wish that it wasn't in such a blatantly "kill your former PC for us so we can all pretend they never existed" way.

 

Huh, I don't feel that way about Hawke, but you may be right. Me being such a massive Hawris fan, I was just pissed Fenris never showed up and found it unbelievable that Hawke would have left without saying a damn thing and Fenris didn't even follow. Cheap way to not have to hire the other three LI voice actors (since Gideon Emery was already in the game). But yeah now Hawke (if they're alive) has run off to Weisshapt, and for what? "Mysterious reasons." Why do I think those reasons will never be explained? Also, since when does Hawke give a jot about the Wardens? I couldn't figure out why he felt so responsible for Corypheus in my game. This was not the carefree Eirik Hawke I had played for a whole game and two DLCs. This was a completely different guy. 

 

As for the inquisitor, I, too, hope they leave him/her be. My inquisitor's story isn't over because he's in love with a would be god who wants to destroy the world to save it, but I don't want the writers messing with that story anymore. I know things can only get worse. And lets assume my modded romance carries over to a fourth game. I'd still prefer to leave it to headcanon, so it's not about that. Next summer I'll probably write a follow up fanfic to my current one, where my inquisitor deals with his lost limb and his lost love, and that will satisfy me. Seeing how they handled Hawke, as you say, I don't want to imagine what they'd do to my precious Alin...

 

TBH, I also question the "choices have consequences" implications.

Spoiler

I still kinda feel like little that I did had any bearing on the ending of DA:I. Like one of the DA Confessions pointed out, I spent the whole game building armies and alliances, only to face Cory alone with three of my BFFs in a two-second fight. Even the BIG CHOICES at the end of Trespasser are so big in some sense that they'll be difficult for BW to implement properly. The disband/maintain Inquisition choice likely means that we basically won't see the Inquisition one way or the other. If our new PC is some agent of the Inquisitor's, with or without official organizational standing, we'll probably off on our own with a whole new cast anyway.

 

Agree, I don't even think we'll be in Orlais/Ferelden again, at least not for awhile. Who's Divine, what happened to the Inquisition, and so on... how can you tell a viable story without hammering down those details. 

 

The thing is, I don't mind if the ending lacks choice. That makes it easier for the writers to develop a sequel. But like you I felt there were no meaningful choices within the game. All that traveling around and it turns out nothing I did really even mattered. Mages or templars? Doesn't matter. Wardens? Doesn't matter. Who's Divine? Doesn't matter. About the only thing that felt like it matter was whether or not I romanced Solas LOL That playthrough felt like a completely different game from my first playthrough. 

[riverbanks]

Anyway, so far I only disbanded Inquisition, since it fit my pcs the most. I might keep it on my male Trev who romanced divine Cass cause I love the idea 

 

Hah! I was thinking of keeping the Inquisition running on my current Cass-romancing playthrough too. I'm thinking I'll go with Vivienne for Divine this time and keep my maleQuizz and Cassandra as her personal guard etc, it seems to fit them well for this run. Besides, Cass is Divine in most of my PTs and I seem to only be disbanding so far too, so this should be a change of perspective.

 

Edit: I want some new book Is the new comic book out yet?  Apparently it's December release.

 

Aaah, I'm so excited for Magekiller! Every time we get glimpses into the Imperium things seem different depending on from which angle we look, so this should be interesting. And I'm hoping against hope that Maevaris will be back in some capacity, I do miss her.

[neonmoth]

I was just thinking that moving to Tevinter creates an opportunity for a soft reset of the series. It gives a chance to start [almost] anew, with no cameos, no dragging threads etc. Bringing Quizzy feels counter intuitive at this stage... waahhh headache. 

Edit: Sooo this >>

Aaah, I'm so excited for Magekiller! Every time we get glimpses into the Imperium things seem different depending on from which angle we look, so this should be interesting. And I'm hoping against hope that Maevaris will be back in some capacity, I do miss her.

IKR! I'm hoping she will be our future companion ::fingerscrossed::

[Tishina]

Wow, I throw out a speculation and walk away for a couple of hours, lol...

 

I'm just brainstorming possibilities. I don't particularly have strong feelings about DAI the way I did about DAO so it's easy for me to speculate wildly, lol. It's a solid, fun game with beautiful graphics, but I have a stronger emotional attachment to some of the DA2 companions than most of the DAI companions, and I haven't even played DA2 myself, lol. Part of it is feeling like there were huge messages that everything I want in characters is wrong (I could really have gotten into a CE far more than a Dalish, a human streetrat over a noble, and I won't even start on my complaints about almost everything about the way female dwarves were treated in the game, lol.) And for all there were lots of dialogue options, I ended up feeling like there were only a couple of coherent personalities possible.

 

Spoiler

My thought is actually running more along the lines of us having a main protag, but being able to control our IQ from time to time or giving us the choice between a new protag and the IQ. I certainly wouldn't mind the chance to run the IQ with companions she could actually develop strong friendships with rather than mild friendships/alliances, but the downside would be that we wouldn't have romance content if we were locked into one already (other than possibly Solas.) But after Trespasser, well, why give us the choice at the end of the conversation with Solas, and why make it clear that the Inquisition persists, either under the Chantry or in the form of a secret organization, if the Inquisitor and Inquisition aren't important? 

 

As for "punishing" people for not befriending Solas (and he treats you as a friend if you have the slightest amount of positive approval), you need to consider what they did to the IB romancers who decided the alliance with the Qun was important... I think something of the sort is entirely possible, especially since there has been so much grumbling about choice not having enough consequence. Though I think SgtSteel91 may be onto something - If you do redeem him, he may sacrifice himself to stop whatever he's doing. Tears all around for Solasmancers in that case...

[neonmoth]

Wow, I throw out a speculation and walk away for a couple of hours, lol...

 

I'm just brainstorming possibilities. I don't particularly have strong feelings about DAI the way I did about DAO so it's easy for me to speculate wildly, lol. It's a solid, fun game with beautiful graphics, but I have a stronger emotional attachment to some of the DA2 companions than most of the DAI companions, and I haven't even played DA2 myself, lol. Part of it is feeling like there were huge messages that everything I want in characters is wrong (I could really have gotten into a CE far more than a Dalish, a human streetrat over a noble, and I won't even start on my complaints about almost everything about the way female dwarves were treated in the game, lol.) And for all there were lots of dialogue options, I ended up feeling like there were only a couple of coherent personalities possible.

 

Spoiler

My thought is actually running more along the lines of us having a main protag, but being able to control our IQ from time to time or giving us the choice between a new protag and the IQ. I certainly wouldn't mind the chance to run the IQ with companions she could actually develop strong friendships with rather than mild friendships/alliances, but the downside would be that we wouldn't have romance content if we were locked into one already (other than possibly Solas.) But after Trespasser, well, why give us the choice at the end of the conversation with Solas, and why make it clear that the Inquisition persists, either under the Chantry or in the form of a secret organization, if the Inquisitor and Inquisition aren't important? 

 

As for "punishing" people for not befriending Solas (and he treats you as a friend if you have the slightest amount of positive approval), you need to consider what they did to the IB romancers who decided the alliance with the Qun was important... I think something of the sort is entirely possible, especially since there has been so much grumbling about choice not having enough consequence. Though I think SgtSteel91 may be onto something - If you do redeem him, he may sacrifice himself to stop whatever he's doing. Tears all around for Solasmancers in that case...

Heh, I thought that's how I felt about the game as well but after running through it countless times I feel so attached to all of the characters. My emo response to the final [group] scene in Trespasser surprised me quite a bit. 

 

Spoiler

I had a similar thought as well. More specifically, I thought we would control our new protag, with Quizzy being somewhere in the background, present but not encountered (if that makes sense). Then when we are to confront Solas, we get the choice to whether do it as a new protag or our good old Quizzy. Granted, it would only work if Solas' character arc was not the main nemesis arc, since my new protagonist would be absolutely raging if someone took the final boss encounter from him. I think about Solas as new Loghain, antagonist but not a main villain of the story, quite central but more shades of grey. Can/will affect the final outcome but is not all there is to the main plot. Maybe there will be no nemesis at all but some process that is initiated by him that cannot be stopped regardless of his intent? I know it sounds loopy but that's the best I can do atm  

 

As for the redemption through death... not sure. If done well it can be a powerful thing but this is where the story seems to lead atm. I am hoping for more of a twist.

[riverbanks]

Wow, I throw out a speculation and walk away for a couple of hours, lol...

 

Spoiler

As for "punishing" people for not befriending Solas (and he treats you as a friend if you have the slightest amount of positive approval), you need to consider what they did to the IB romancers who decided the alliance with the Qun was important...

 

Well, we're all throwing speculation out there, speculating is all we have for the next how many years.

 

Anyway I do take into account the Bull outcome (his whole romance outcome being so thin and inconsequential, positively or negatively, did sour my taste for his romance overall) but I think this is a different level of player punishment. We have had romances punishing you for making the "wrong" choices before - Alistair did leave my romanced Warden for recruiting Loghain, Zevran can betray and attempt to kill a romanced Warden, Sebastian does leave a romanced Hawke if she spares Anders, Anders himself leaves a romanced Hawke if s/he won't help him sneak into the Chantry... but none of those decisions affect the player's survavibility. Of course, we're not talking about romances here, since the Solas choice at the end is not dependant on that.

 

In any case, I'm not even saying BW wouldn't do that, with Weekes at the helm anything is possible (he seems even more trigger happy about wipeouts than Gaider - it was he, according to Gaider, who infamously brought up the thought that they could have used the Conclave to tabula rasa every possibly dead/alive character). I just think it would be a terribly stiffling thing to do to players; essentially telling you there is only one way correct way to play DAI -that is, by befriending Solas- and whatever else you had in mind for your character is wrong and will land them dead.

 

I'm just brainstorming possibilities. I don't particularly have strong feelings about DAI the way I did about DAO so it's easy for me to speculate wildly, lol. It's a solid, fun game with beautiful graphics, but I have a stronger emotional attachment to some of the DA2 companions than most of the DAI companions, and I haven't even played DA2 myself, lol.

 

Well I do agree that I have a much stronger emotional investment in Hawke and her various relationships with her squad than I do with either my Inquisitor or Warden. It's just DA2 is still the one out of three games where the companions were your friends before being your allies, co-workers, recruits etc, and that seeps through every pore of Hawke's story - those companions were Hawke's family in the end, and that's a feeling that's hard to rival when you're recruiting people based on how useful they can be to your cause rather than just inviting them to hang out because why not.

 

(although I do feel a very strong sense of friendship between my Inquisitor and certain characters, and I do feel she made more true friends out of her allies than my Warden ever did out of her acquaintances, so your mileage of course may vary)

[R2s Muse]

Spoiler

I had a similar thought as well. More specifically, I thought we would control our new protag, with Quizzy being somewhere in the background, present but not encountered (if that makes sense). Then when we are to confront Solas, we get the choice to whether do it as a new protag or our good old Quizzy. Granted, it would only work if Solas' character arc was not the main nemesis arc, since my new protagonist would be absolutely raging if someone took the final boss encounter from him. I think about Solas as new Loghain, antagonist but not a main villain of the story, quite central but more shades of grey. Can/will affect the final outcome but is not all there is to the main plot. Maybe there will be no nemesis at all but some process that is initiated by him that cannot be stopped regardless of his intent? I know it sounds loopy but that's the best I can do atm

As for the redemption through death... not sure. If done well it can be a powerful thing but this is where the story seems to lead atm. I am hoping for more of a twist.

Can't quote everyone, but if the Solavellan story were to continue, this is also sorta what I was thinking. I honestly think that the new PC will be totally off on their own, with a new team, as per the final Trespasser scene. How they would deal with Solas... harder to say. I would also keel over dead in disappointment if my Lavellan didn't get a chance to confront a villain Solas. If they will resolve her romance, I would revive and then die again if I can't control what she would say to him. This is in essence the depth of my Solavellan pit of pain, since I just have a hard time believing that will work out in a satisfactory way. Which means essentially, I probably need to headcanon my Solavellan resolution. sigh. But, perhaps, you could have the option of controlling what your IQ says at least, or switch PCs briefly. Maybe they'll have a way to import your appearance... altho signs point to No. mournful sigh.

[riverbanks]

I was just thinking that moving to Tevinter creates an opportunity for a soft reset of the series. It gives a chance to start [almost] anew, with no cameos, no dragging threads etc. Bringing Quizzy feels counter intuitive at this stage... waahhh headache. 

 

I'm lowkey hoping for this, to be completely honest. As much as I've loved the cameos and seeing old faces so far as much as anyone else, I do kind of hope that moving North will sever ties to most characters of this "Phase one" of the story, and let us breathe new life into the franchise, let us meet new characters and have different conversations, without always looking back, always wondering where is XYZ, etc. I think we've done what we could for the South for now short of running circles around ourselves at this point, and we could take a full break from it now and let things sort themselves out while we're off looking at things from another point of view.

[R2s Muse]

Yeah it's a shame; he's basically the hero of a romance novel now. Nothing controversial whatsoever about him. I don't think I would have joined the Cullen fandom after playing DAI alone. It was really DA2 Cullen that brought me into the fold.

Word. More mournful sighs.

Agree, I don't even think we'll be in Orlais/Ferelden again, at least not for awhile. Who's Divine, what happened to the Inquisition, and so on... how can you tell a viable story without hammering down those details.

The thing is, I don't mind if the ending lacks choice. That makes it easier for the writers to develop a sequel. But like you I felt there were no meaningful choices within the game. All that traveling around and it turns out nothing I did really even mattered. Mages or templars? Doesn't matter. Wardens? Doesn't matter. Who's Divine? Doesn't matter. About the only thing that felt like it matter was whether or not I romanced Solas LOL That playthrough felt like a completely different game from my first playthrough.

Yeah, for myself, the choices don't make a whit of difference (for ex, I would have preferred to have had both Samson's AND Calpernia's quest) and I also see why, practically speaking, they can't have a totally different world state each game based on your choices. What I think is weird is the rhetoric being thrown at "choices that matter." Folks have given lots of examples of choices that mattered on a small scale even in DA2, which players complained about. Then, the devs resolve to have "moar choices that matter!" in DA:I, and it was pretty much the same. :shrug:

The disband choice also puzzled me for all the reasons mentioned by everyone. Is a disbanded Cullenmancer just off somewhere living the Do Gooder life, doing good deeds and happily shagging Cullen? Or is she also secretly meeting with her former Inquisition cabal and plotting against Solas's return?? That dissonance could actually be fodder some plot bunnies.

If Solas is to be main baddie for next game, it did feel like we ended on a cliffhanger that can only end with the involvement of our IQ. If the next game is more about Dorian's stuff in Tevinter, then the search for Solas could continue on a backburner until he's found and stopped as a side plot or something that could interweave with whatever Tevinter-y things are happening. Too many options I suppose. The silence from Weisshaupt is hopefully something else they'll touch on.

[CuriousArtemis]

Which means essentially, I need probably headcanon my Solavellan resolution. sigh. 

 

Yeah I'm telling you this is what we should cling to... create our own endings and then just smile and roll with whatever they give us, satisfied with the knowledge that we know what REALLY happened

[Tishina]

Yeah I'm telling you this is what we should cling to... create our own endings and then just smile and roll with whatever they give us, satisfied with the knowledge that we know what REALLY happened

Yep. I honestly thought about revisiting my Zima-Cullen story after Trespasser came out, but I'd put them to bed (literally ) and really prefer to keep going forward with my AU Cullen-Surana story then on to something completely different I've been thinking about.

[riverbanks]

Completely unrelated, but - hey, apparently among the many animations that were fixed/changed in Patch 10 (including Cullen lowering his head during Dawn Will Come instead of raising it as he used to), they also fixed the animation for the scene when he goes back on lyrium. Instead of sliding to the middle of his office after taking the vial, he just stays in place looking miserable in front of his desk now.

 

Doesn't make the scene any easier to watch, but at least it's not so cringe-worthy for the wrong reasons anymore.

[neonmoth]

On a completely unrelated note, is anyone using sigils effectively? So far I have only used two since some of the drawbacks put me off/can't be bothered to create dedicated armour to particular style of missions. 

 

Also, I started using cheat engine (again) to get moar banter, even though I never suffered banter bug and I love it. It is amazing how alive the game feels when you have companions giving comments/chatting with each other every few minutes or so. 

 

Edit: Cozy Cullen by Shalizeh

 

[CuriousArtemis]

On a completely unrelated note, anyone is using sigils effectively? So far I have only used two since some of the drawbacks put me off/can't be bothered to create dedicated armour to particular style of missions. 

 

Also, I started using cheat engine (again) to get moar banter, even though I never suffered banter bug and I love it. It is amazing how alive the game feels when you have companions giving comments/chatting with each other every few minutes or so. 

 

The banter bug disappeared for me somewhere around patch 3 or 4 then returned indefinitely. For the few days I played the game during updates, it really WAS pretty awesome The game really does feel alive when it's working the way it's supposed to :| And yet they claim it's our problem >.<

 

p.s. sigils...?

[thats1evildude]

I'm not sure if the next Dragon Age game is going to focus on Solas at all, for a few reasons.

 

1) He did suggest that his plan was more long-term when he said the qunari focusing their efforts on Tevinter would give the Inquisitor a few years of relative peace.

 

2) You can tire players out by sending the same type of threat at them over and over; Solas has different goals than Corypheus, but the way of achieving them is pretty thematically similar. Corypheus had former countrymen and demons on his side; Solas has former countrymen and spirits on his side.

 

3) Quite frankly, his current power level is such that he's not going to be taken down by poking him with a sharp piece of metal a few times. I think it will take some very powerful magic to stop him, possibly even weapons of the Evanuris themselves. (Didn't Andruil have a spear ...?)

 

I wouldn't be surprised if DA4 is a breather from the business of saving the world, a proper exploration of Tevinter and possibly a resolution to their ongoing war with the qunari that may reveal some of the background of their race. (We got some hints to that effect in DAI.) Perhaps there will even be a slave revolt; I think that would be pretty cool to be the central figure in that.

[neonmoth]

The banter bug disappeared for me somewhere around patch 3 or 4 then returned indefinitely. For the few days I played the game during updates, it really WAS pretty awesome The game really does feel alive when it's working the way it's supposed to :| And yet they claim it's our problem >.<

 

p.s. sigils...?

=> armour upgrades added in patch 10/trespasser (?) I don't even remember which ones I used but most of the time I am just hoarding them in my chest (full of junk btw).

[riverbanks]

On a completely unrelated note, is anyone using sigils effectively? So far I have only used two since some of the drawbacks put me off/can't be bothered to create dedicated armour to particular style of missions. 

 

Also, I started using cheat engine (again) to get moar banter, even though I never suffered banter bug and I love it. It is amazing how alive the game feels when you have companions giving comments/chatting with each other every few minutes or so. 

 

I haven't been using much of the Sigils either, because the drawbacks tend to outweight the benefits, yeah. +10% something in exchange for -100% something else isn't that great of a deal. It could be made workable by investing in the right skill perks, but that's too much min/maxing for me. They do sell for quite a bit though, so at least they're valuable as loot.

 

I've been using Cheat Engine a lot to force banter to exaust faster between characters I don't take out as much... and to cheat crafting materials into my inventory, tbh. I feel I've played the game "honestly" enough times now that I can allow myself to just sync every schematic and cheat all the best materials and run through the game wearing the best and prettiest armor from the start. Long gone are the days of wearing Plaidweave and ugly Scout plate just because it was the best I could loot/craft at that point. It's all about the Refined Prowler crafted from the finest Dragon Scale now.

[thats1evildude]

I have the Sigil of the Great Bear on Blackwall, which gives him 100 per cent extra Guard in exchange for 100 per cent less Barrier. Works pretty well, actually.

[neonmoth]

I'm not sure if the next Dragon Age game is going to focus on Solas at all, for a few reasons.

 

1) He did suggest that his plan was more long-term when he said the qunari focusing their efforts on Tevinter would give the Inquisitor a few years of relative peace.

 

2) Thematically, you don't generally want to follow a villain threatening to bring down the Veil with ANOTHER villain wanting to bring down the Veil.

 

3) And quite frankly, his current power level is such that he's not going to be taken down by poking him with a sharp piece of metal a few times. I think it will take some very powerful magic to stop him, possibly even weapons of the Evanuris themselves.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if DA4 is a breather from the business of saving the world, a proper exploration of Tevinter and possibly a resolution to their ongoing war with the qunari. Perhaps there will even be a slave revolt; I think that would be pretty cool to be the central figure in that.

I thought that Cory only wanted to break into the Fade? The veil was unfortunate to stand in his way. 

 

Wouldn't it affect the narrative, considering the build up and reveal in Trespasser? Waiting for the sequel of the sequel might result with people being meh about Solas and I thought the whole point of having him as a follower was to create more personal relationship (be it friend or enemy). 

[Tishina]

I'm not sure if the next Dragon Age game is going to focus on Solas at all, for a few reasons.

 

1) He did suggest that his plan was more long-term when he said the qunari focusing their efforts on Tevinter would give the Inquisitor a few years of relative peace.

 

2) You can tire players out by sending the same type of threat at them over and over; Solas has different goals than Corypheus, but the way of achieving them is pretty thematically similar. Corypheus had former countrymen and demons on his side; Solas has former countrymen and spirits on his side.

 

3) And quite frankly, his current power level is such that he's not going to be taken down by poking him with a sharp piece of metal a few times. I think it will take some very powerful magic to stop him, possibly even weapons of the Evanuris themselves.

 

I wouldn't be surprised if DA4 is a breather from the business of saving the world, a proper exploration of Tevinter and possibly a resolution to their ongoing war with the qunari. Perhaps there will even be a slave revolt; I think that would be pretty cool to be the central figure in that.

I could seriously go for involvement in a slave revolt in Tevinter! Especially if they avoid making the leader of the rebellion someone with high rank or a slave who was once high rank and let the leader actually be someone who was never anyone.

 

And yes, I'm not sure Solas will be a major character in DA4, though possibly threads of his story could connect in from time to time.

[thats1evildude]

Wouldn't it affect the narrative, considering the build up and reveal in Trespasser? Waiting for the sequel of the sequel might result with people being meh about Solas and I thought the whole point of having him as a follower was to create more personal relationship (be it friend or enemy). 

 

I think the point of having him as a follower was to build up Solas as a character before revealing him as a villain.

 

The difficulty with introducing villains in action RPGs is that they generally have to operate out of reach of the hero. I mean, if they're in the same room together, aren't the hero and villain basically obliged to try and kill each other? That's why you spend most of DAI dealing with Corypheus' lieutenants; if he was actually at Adamant instead of sending along his dragon, he would have reduced the Inquisitor to a gooey paste. Even if you won one battle against him, he had an entire fortress of other Wardens to jump into.

 

Solas being a party member first provided a workaround.

 

As to whether people are going to get bored of waiting ... I imagine there will be complaints about the Solas storyline not getting resolved in DA4, but Shepard didn't defeat the Reapers in one game either. Master Chief didn't defeat the Flood or the Convenant until Halo 3.