43 réponses à ce sujet

[Tootles FTW]

Asunder.  Do it for the Cole.

 

EDIT - also, it's a pretty important part of Wynne's and Shale's continuing journey/arc, if you care at all about those characters.

[Beerfish]

Masked empire if you ask me.  Asunder can totally affect the way you are going to view one prominent companion.

[Beerfish]

Asunder.  Do it for the Cole.

No just the wrong reason.  Going into this game our player character who has never met the guy before is going to have a very strong opinion about him for good or bad.  They should avoid putting book characters in games if you ask me unless they are at a very high level and not interacted with often.

[OdanUrr]

Masked empire if you ask me.  Asunder can totally affect the way you are going to view one prominent companion.

 

That's a good point. Knowing too much about Cole beforehand will affect your interactions with him.

 

EDIT: However, the same holds true for any character that appears in the books and the games that you can interact with.

[Karlone123]

Masked Empire

 

 

Although it's pretty light reading. You might have time to still read Asunder.

 

 

I think it's going to be more relevant to new information you could use. You can get away without Asunder, since it treads the ground that DA2 did, but in a different way. You know a lot as it is about the mage/templar conflict. But you know next to nothing about Orlais, if you just played the games.

 

That's the thing, both books are related to the game (or will be) and both cover different elements, Asunder being about the Mages and Templars and Masked Empire being about Orlais and her politics. Hard to choose if it were to be one. I'll probably find the Mage/Templar conflict just a bit more interesting than what is happening in Orlais.

[Tootles FTW]

No just the wrong reason.  Going into this game our player character who has never met the guy before is going to have a very strong opinion about him for good or bad.  They should avoid putting book characters in games if you ask me unless they are at a very high level and not interacted with often.

 

 

Different strokes.  It's not often we get an in-depth look at a video game character outside of the medium, though for some the outside knowledge might effect their playthrough.  But pre-established notions are always going to exist on forums - it's not like we don't already know more about all these characters than our PC will from the jump.

[Spectre Impersonator]

Masked Empire.

 

Asunder is definitely better than Gaider's other attempts at novels but still not too impressive. I think Masked Empire sets up Inquisition better.

[QueenofPixals]

Asunder

[aaarcher86]

Asunder = character specific

TME = plot specific

I preferred Asunder, but I think TME would be more game important overall.

[aeoncs]

I preferred Asunder, but I think TME would be more game important overall.

 

Exactly this. I enjoyed them equally but TME is much more important plot-wise.

[hellbiter88]

I liked the heck out of Asunder, but Masked Empire is actually starting to get pretty good im reading it now.

[FrontlinerDelta]

Personally I recommend Asunder. 

Now both are very good books, especially as video game tie-in novels go, these are probably some of the best I've ever read and don't try to shoe horn "gameplay" stuff into the books.

 

I found Asunder to be almost a "thriller" in how it was written, I read it in two days, just couldn't tear myself away. Wanted to turn to the next page to find out what happens next constantly. 

Masked Empire is more relaxing as I didn't find myself guessing or wondering what was going to happen but it IS very important and the characters are pretty good there too. 

Asunder is more relevant to Mage/Templar war and specifically mentions Kirkwall a few times as well as cameo's some DA:O characters. Masked Empire cameos only 1 I believe, if that matters to you. Masked Empire is more meandering in it's story telling, like the Lord of Rings movies in a way while Asunder is more like an action thriller. At least that's my opinion. Oh and Asunder made me go from thinking Cole was some weird follower I would never use to one of the most interesting, if not THE most interesting, characters in the game.

 

 

Sorry for rambling, TL:DR 

 

Asunder - Mage/Templar war, info on Cole.

Masked Empire - Orlesian civil war

[Yuoaman]

Both are definitely very important, but Asunder would probably be best to read first. Definitely read The Masked Empire, though.

[Vilegrim]

Blood of Elves

[dragondreamer]

I love both.  But if I had to suggest one for going into DA:I, it would be Masked Empire. 

 

Asunder introduces Cole, and there's a few things in there that will undoubtedly have callbacks in DA:I.  Also the setup for the mage/templar war.  But if you played DA2, you already have a good idea of what's going down with the mages and templars.  The Masked Empire introduces completely new lore info that looks likely to have much more plot significance in DA:I overall.  Masked Empire is our first real look at the setup for the Orlesian civil war, the elven rebellion, and more.

[berrieh]

I think Asunder is the better book. I think it's important because it introduces Cole and gives further background on the Mage/Templar conflict. However, I think a lot of that will be more clearly explained in game anyway. 

 

I would go with Masked Empire. It is the inferior book (still compelling, but the writing seems quite a bit cheesier to me - not that the writing in Asunder is Proust; they're both pulpy). But it really introduces things about Orlais, Celene, the Eluvians, and Gaspard that I had no idea of. I also think the way the "villain" is drawn is more compelling. It does a better job of showing two equally bad sides than Asunder does (since in Asunder, even though you see the problems with the Mages and Templars both, the viewpoints are very uneven). I still can't decide which side seems more fit to rule. 

[Augustei]

The Masked Empire is the better of the two

[DarkKnightHolmes]

I'd go with Asunder. The story and characters are great through out the whole book (plus Cole is a great mystery) while Masked Empire story gets more interesting around the half way point.

[Solas]

Asunder is my favorite out of all of the DA books.

 

It really depends what you want the background/context on. Want to know Cole's origins and backstory, and gain insight into his character? Asunder is for you. Want to know the setup/context for the Orlesian civil war, Gaspard vs Celene and the elf rebellion? TME is the way to go.