52 réponses à ce sujet

[Maria Caliban]

At the end of the day, their motivation doesn't really matter, they just need to be stopped.

Sentences like this remind me why Game of Thrones became the hit it did.

[The Baconer]

My Inquisitor is packed with six cores and a solid state.

[Lorien19]

I assume that even the most morally complex inquisitor who doesn't care about power or saving the world etc...Will join the Inquisition to save their hide first and foremost.
With demons pouring out of the fade,they might as well be the next victim,no matter how powerful they may be they can easily be overwhelmed by large numbers,not to mention that you're the only survivor out of a blast tat killed thousands and you just walk out of the fade with a glowy hand,if Cassandra doesn't kill you where you stand,then the angry mobs will.
To be honest I suspect that as the Inquisitor we'll have to prove themselves to the world and their companions that they're not involved with the incident but on the contrary they want to help(even if the don't want to help in your playthrough),until they can safely declare that "I lead the Inquisition"I have a feeling that we'll be pretty much be figureheads at first,especially if our quizies are Elves or Qunari.

Of course we'll need more info on the Inquisitor's background to say that the game doesn't give us a reason to assume this position,but still even if they don't this is where RP comes in.

[Lebanese Dude]

It's a scripted video game. Your character will end up leading the Inquisition.

 

Your headcanon doesn't matter in this regard

[Lorien19]

It's a scripted video game. Your character will end up leading the Inquisition.

 

Your headcanon doesn't matter in this regard

True,no matter what happens we'll end up leading the Inquisition.(which is the purpose of the game,in the first place)

But Still headcanons can sometimes add flavour without necessarily contradicting the canon.This is the charm of a more ambiguous background than a detailed origin story,even though I wouldn't mind either option.

[TanithAeyrs]

Head canon adds seasoning to the story.  A plain meal can still be very good, but spice it up a bit and it adds a whole new dimension.  My head canon was very different for my duty-driven and honorable Dalish Warden versus my well crap, I guess I don't have any other choice Dwarf rogue.  The story was the same but the details and their significance to my character were different.

[Maria Caliban]

In the human noble origin, I didn't need headcanon to know why my PC wanted to kill Howe. The story supplied my character with a motivation as Howe betrayed and butchered my family. Alternatively, I'm never given much of a reason to care about Duncan's death, the death of the Grey Wardens, or Loghian's betrayal.

In Dragon Age 2, both my PC and her companions had verbalized motivations for the first act. Hawke seeks out wealth because she's tired of living in poverty and wishes to restore her family's place among the nobility. After that happens, Hawke is supplied with no motivation and acts simply because she's the designated hero.

BioWare makes story based games, but the PC is often the weakest character. The amnesia suggestion and mystical power that no one else has doesn't give me much in the way of confidence.

Head canon is fine for filling in gaps for the story. 'Why is the main character emotionally invested in events?' should not be a gap.

[Lorien19]

In the human noble origin, I didn't need headcanon to know why my PC wanted to kill Howe. The story supplied my character with a motivation as Howe betrayed and butchered my family. Alternatively, I'm never given much of a reason to care about Duncan's death, the death of the Grey Wardens, or Loghian's betrayal.

In Dragon Age 2, both my PC and her companions had verbalized motivations for the first act. Hawke seeks out wealth because she's tired of living in poverty and wishes to restore her family's place among the nobility. After that happens, Hawke is supplied with no motivation and acts simply because she's the designated hero.

BioWare makes story based games, but the PC is often the weakest character. The amnesia suggestion and mystical power that no one else has doesn't give me much in the way of confidence.

I will have to agree with this,as much as I like the story and the characters,sometimes I feel that my own character is weak and bland in comparison.

[TanithAeyrs]

I don't mind filling in the gaps.  It gives me more room to make the character "mine".   Once I have an idea of the kind of background the story has given us I usually write a paragraph or two about my PC so I can flesh out the character's personality, motivations, strengths, and weaknesses.

[Lebanese Dude]

Head canon adds seasoning to the story.  A plain meal can still be very good, but spice it up a bit and it adds a whole new dimension.  My head canon was very different for my duty-driven and honorable Dalish Warden versus my well crap, I guess I don't have any other choice Dwarf rogue.  The story was the same but the details and their significance to my character were different.

 

Don't get me wrong. Recently when I started roleplaying games better,  I write a background story in order to make their personalities more solid. 

 

However, I make it so that it makes sense that my character is doing what they are written to do. I would never headcanon a character that would never make sense in the story.

 

This is usually why my first character is a self-insert, as I don't have much meta-knowledge of the game and I am more comfortable just being myself.

[TanithAeyrs]

@Lebanese Dude: I often play a very similar character for a first run through on any game for that reason (and yes, she is usually a bit more of a self-insert with a few changes).  My canon character is usually very honorable and duty-driven, sometimes a bit more compassionate, sometimes a bit more practical.  Having a bit of a set character does help when you are going into a game cold.

[frylock23]

It could be that closing the breach means healing yourself. Maybe that glowing thing in your hand isn't benevolent and only gets worse as the Fade Rifts grow, and no matter what ultimately happens with them, whether they will destroy the world or not, you'll die if the Rifts aren't closed in some way.

[TanithAeyrs]

That would give the Inquisitor a very strong motivation to close the Rifts.

[Lorien19]

It could be that closing the breach means healing yourself. Maybe that glowing thing in your hand isn't benevolent and only gets worse as the Fade Rifts grow, and no matter what ultimately happens with them, whether they will destroy the world or not, you'll die if the Rifts aren't closed in some way.

This is genius!

[Basement Cat]

It could be that closing the breach means healing yourself. Maybe that glowing thing in your hand isn't benevolent and only gets worse as the Fade Rifts grow, and no matter what ultimately happens with them, whether they will destroy the world or not, you'll die if the Rifts aren't closed in some way.

That is a brilliant theory and would be par for the course with the Dragon Age series. The Wardens' taint, blood magic, magic in general even, all come with great risks/costs. Great power comes with a heavy, heavy price in Thedas.

[MisterJB]

Why did Daenerys set Slaver's Bay on fire?

 

She's a silly girl with terrible decision-making skills and little to no knowledge on socioeconomic structures and how they glue society together?

 

Because she decided slavery sucked because of the pain it inflicted on those in servitude and became the Breaker of Chains.

 

Right, that was my second answer.

[MisterJB]

It could be that closing the breach means healing yourself. Maybe that glowing thing in your hand isn't benevolent and only gets worse as the Fade Rifts grow, and no matter what ultimately happens with them, whether they will destroy the world or not, you'll die if the Rifts aren't closed in some way.

First thing that popped into my head.

[KC_Prototype]

There's really only one answer to your questions and that is if the world is destroyed, then everybody is dead so of course the Inquisitor wants to save it.

[TanithAeyrs]

Yeah, for most PC's that is an adequate answer.  But I'm sure I'll have at least one that is all "lol, what, save the world.  Not me.  You have the wrong gal.  What about all your experts over there - they can save it.  Oh, I'm gonna die if I don't - well, s***.  Guess I'm drafted."

[Reznore57]

Well I assume if our pc went to a peace talk ,(s)he was at least willing to ...talk?

Besides it seems it takes place on sacred ground , so in theory you're not supposed to fight.

And then everybody gets killed .The pc survive by some miracle.

So it's a pretty good reason to be pissed off .

 

Also the magical glowing hand and not understanding how it happened.

 

I can't imagine anyone just going "oh well ..." /walks back home.

[Fortlowe]

I'd imagine the green glowy thingy is pretty bad for the Inquisitors health. Maybe closing the rifts is the only way to cure it.

[Maria Caliban]

We don't know that the Inquisitor was at the peace talks, do we?

 

We know they managed to stumble out of a first Breach where the peace talks were, but I'm not sure if that means we were there before the Breach opened.

[LobselVith8]

We don't know that the Inquisitor was at the peace talks, do we?

 

We know they managed to stumble out of a first Breach where the peace talks were, but I'm not sure if that means we were there before the Breach opened.

 

If thousands died, it could have covered a rather large area - possibly the town of Haven and the surrounding area. The protagonist may have had different reasons for being in the area, depending on their background.

[Gervaise]

Look, if the world dies, you die.   What more motivation do you need even without the green glowy hand?    So you can be the biggest, most selfish bastard in existence, who doesn't give a stuff about anyone else, but unless you have a death wish, you are going to act from self preservation.

[Maria Caliban]

If saving the world were enough motivation, then you wouldn't need the Inquisitor. All of Thedas would be lining up to save the day. Instead, people continue to focus on their immediate concerns. That is what people do.

You have a magical glowing hand specifically because BioWare often fails to provide a strong, personal motivation for the PC. It works because it's a game and you can put all sorts of bad characterization or plotting in games and have it be fun.

But let's try this out with a companion from DA:O who helped the Warden save the world.

Alistair - A bastard who spent his childhood isolated and unwanted at Redcliffe before being shuffled off to the Templars, where he was miserable. Duncan recruited him to the Grey Wardens where he found friendship and happiness and, in Duncan, a replacement for the father he never knew. At the Battle of Ostigar, the Wardens are betrayed and Duncan dies. Alistiar seeks to avenge Duncan's death and fulfill his duty as a Grey Warden.

OR

Alistair - Wants to save the world, otherwise he'll die.


One of these is good characterization. One of them weakass characterization.

Wanting to stay alive only works as a motivation in horror or disaster stories. Even then, play the Walking Dead and ask yourself if staying alive actually is the primary motivation of any of the character. There are two characters who spend the game struggling to stay alive yet end up killing themselves when their son turns into a zombie. Because it wasn't really survival that drove them, it was was love for their son. Without him, survival wasn't worth it.

If a character's ONLY interest is in staying alive, they're not going to spend their time putting their life in constant danger by fighting demons, mages, and Templars. Running away and hoping someone else fixes the problem is far more rational if your primary or only interest is in living.