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[SomeoneStoleMyName]

*Huge spoilers, if you haven't completed the game dont read*

 

Finished the main story on nightmare. 50 hours in I rerolled. Combined playtime of DA: I - 120 hours. However, the main quest and the way Corypheus was handled made for an extremely bitter and sour aftertaste. I will leave my biggest grief for last in this post.

 

Note: I still give the game a 8.5/10 despite the huge faults below. This due to excellent character writing (excluding the Inquisitor and Corypheus), super-addictive game elements, fun and challenging combat, satisfying crafting system (despite lack of armor model variety) and the fact that I could play 100+ hours and still want to play another play-through. Unfortunately "Be who you want to be" and the word "Roleplaying" obviously have no meaning to game developers any more as I painfully figured out. 

 

Haven

You have the anchor. Where is the option to pledge yourself to Corypheus? The game could have ended there with a cinematic for those who wished this. I really wanted to join him but I *kinda* understand why the writers couldn't do it (for obvious reasons). So Samson is allowed to join him, but we dont even have the option to try. There is absolutely no logical or plausible way Cory would've said no if you went: "The anchor is at your disposal Corypheus, let me serve". You and Cory traveling to the black city would've been a satisfying ending for me even if it was left ambiguous what happened and the game ended. 

Chantry

We are allowed to oppose the belief in the maker. But we are denied the option to dissolve the Chantry as with the Templar order. It is really depressing that with all your "power", you still have no power to do this. For a game that has the "Power to influence nations" you dont even have the power to dissolve the chantry.

Slavery / Tevinter and forced morals on your character

 

My character supports slavery, blood magic and the Tevinter culture by default in many dialogue options. All things my Inquisitor supported as a social darwinistic Nihilist. This happens over and over in the game and each time is like character-assassination to my Inquisitor. Your characters has morals forced upon him/her!

Envy Demon

The envy demon showed me what he was going to do with the Inquisition using my body - exactly what *I* want! Use it as a tool for my own power (If joining cory isnt an option). Yet my character says things like "This will never happen", "Monster!" etc. - opposing what the Envy demon shows, which happens to be my own goal. This made this whole quest a tragi-comical disaster.

Again Bioware fails miserably at Protagonist - Antagonist interaction

 

As Hawke I wanted to talk to Corypheus. No dialogue only monologue. So here I'm thinking "Well he is the main villain now, this will be good". Wrong. Even at the end - I get no option to talk with Corypheus, no option to atleast TRY to talk him down, suggest joining him or any other intelligent interaction. I tell him "I dont believe in Gods" and that ended conversation. Thats it... after 100 hours of playing the final verbal duel is again one line of monologue which leads to the next problem:

Corypheus becomes a one-dimensional stereotypical joke

Sad but true. Corypheus lore-wise had a ton of potential. But he is written poorly. It was as if the writers were like "We need a big bad the player can hate". He has his own motivations for becoming a God, which is never explored. He is dehumanized all the way through the game. Not only cant we try to understand him or talk with him more, there is no option to join him or talk him down or anything remotely close to this. Even Leliana says something beyond stupid like "We won against the ultimate evil". Please... mercy... just stop. Is a child writing Corypheus? All other dialogue and interaction is solid, why fail here?

BLACK CITY ENDING

 

Where is the ending for me to enter the black city myself? I knew this was probably too much to hope for. But it was what I wanted the most. To claim the power of the Black city. Or atleast just travel there and find its secrets.

 

Mike Laidlaw said the demons could win

 

How?

 

All the friggin game I wanted the Inquisition as my personal power trip.

All the game I was willing to join or serve Corypheus.
All the game I was willing to defeat Corypheus but claim the Black city for myself.
The whole game I was waiting for a chance to THROW MYSELF at this supposed ending. If you TRY to get this ending and fail, I would assume this was either a lie or scrapped from implementation.

Conclusion: The game was extremely enjoyable. I was until the ending positive I would give it a 10/10. Actually an 12/10, thinking "So much must go wrong to even remotely grade this down". And yet again - the disappointment from ME3 reveals itself, namely:

Bioware cant write good, complex and enjoyable villains. Corypheus as a character is fantastic, well was fantastic until now. The Harry Potter style "His dragon is his horcrux" was unimaginative and poor. Interaction with Corypheus was poor. We never found out his plans if he had reached his goal. We cant even know what Corypheus would've done with the world. 

As it stands, Bioware made Corypheus into a "Evil for the sake of evil with no other motivation than power or/and destroying the world". Such potential ruined. 

I stand amazed at how writers as skilled and crafty as Bioware, A-class in gaming when it comes to story and characters - manages to completely and utterly fail at main villain character writing. 



---


All that said, still love the game. Will probably play it tons more. But I will never play *MY* Inquisitor. I will play Bioware's Inquisitor, against a fantastic lore figure ruined by poor writing. So yeah, Bioware did everything right except the most important two factors: Your character and the main villain. How that is possible I do not know.

 

PS: IGN said the main story was weak. I think they were only half-right, the main story was good. But the Inquisitor and the main villain were weak. And they are obviously important to the story. Still recommend buying the game though if you haven't. The good fortunately overshadow the bad too much for the bad to ruin too much. Which seems to now be the new Bioware tradition.

If you read this massive wall of text, please share your thoughts. I'm in an emotional turmoil atm.


 

[myahele]

Well we were shown a future what would happen if the inquisitor died/failed/etc. So that was good.

I agree the inquisitor was bland. Most of his\her responses where neutral IMO. I was more scared of Flemeth than Corypheus....and more character development.

[Kantr]

You werent really able to submit to him.

 

It would be nice if there was a cutscene where you fail.

[KaiserShep]

It'd be funny if you were able to submit to him at Haven, and he just kills you and then it's game over.

[Rawgrim]

7 out f 10 is my rating. The inquistor never felt like my own character. Felt more like Hawke with racial options. Combat is pretty damn lame too, as well as the level up system.

 

Everything else in the game is bloody superb. Great work.

[Rifneno]

"Darkspawn and people always fight. This sucks. ... I know! I'll infect every living thing with the Blight! Surely they'll be okay with being tainted if it means no more fighting!"
"There is no god, so I must become a god through the power of evil and insanity and atrocities! Worship me, world, for I give you that which you cannot do without even though I also believe you've done without it already literally forever!"

Tainted magisters have the best logic.

[blacqout]

I agree that the Inquisitor was poorly written. One line of dialogue sums it up for me - when chatting up Josephine, an actual flirt response is 'i like spending time with charming women'. 

 

I'm also inclined to agree with IGN. The main story wasn't that good. What was there was mostly excellent, and i enjoyed the more focused approach to main objectives, but there were so few of them. It's as though BioWare bought into the Bethesda idea that the main story doesn't matter, as well as the focus on exploration.

 

After Dragon Age II, i was pretty vocal about the Dragon Age universe offering a far greater fantasy role-playing experience to the likes of Skyrim. I actually think that Inquisition might be the game that gets a lot of people to agree with me... but in adopting so many of the traits of The Elder Scrolls, they've kind of diluted the core Dragon Age experience in my mind.

 

It's actually a bit like how the Grey Wardens must drink of Darkspawn blood and absorb their taint in order to defeat them. Sad, but the DAII critics ruined this game.

[Emonthepm]

Mike Laidlaw said the demons could win

 

How?

 

Die during a fight and don't reload another save.

 

Bam. Demons won.

[Medhia_Nox]

Firstly - marching across the world with a demon army and joining Corypheus... is not an anti-hero.  It's a douchebag villain... just like Corypheus.

 

Secondly - if your character were the one to be marching this army of demons across Thedas... I don't care if your mother didn't give you enough hugs, or if you're doing this because a farmer accidently killed your favorite pet pig, or whatever boorish reason villains are "humanized". 

 

Lastly - while I'm not inherently against someone playing a villain... what's the point.  So that person can whine that their character was retconned in the next DA game?  

 

The games where you can be the villain in the end... don't get continued.

[Father_Jerusalem]

Why can't I join the Archdemon in DAO and wipe out humanity?

 

0/10. Game sucks. OMG.

[Rifneno]

Die during a fight and don't reload another save.
 
Bam. Demons won.

You laugh, but Gamble said the exact same thing about Mass Effect 3 ("The Reapers can win"), then later clarified that he meant the game over screen.

[Medhia_Nox]

@Father_Jerusalem:  While I kinda agree with your sentiment... the OP still says he loves the game.  So you're being a tad unreasonable.

[Rawgrim]

Why can't I join the Archdemon in DAO and wipe out humanity?

 

0/10. Game sucks. OMG.

 

He rates it an 8.5 out of 10, and that means he thinks the game sucks?

[Daveyido]

For Hawke, Commander Sheppard etc I am playing as a character, for the Warden and various elder scrolls characters I play as myself. With the Inquisitor I am somewhere in the middle and that frustrates me.

[Emonthepm]

You laugh, but Gamble said the exact same thing about Mass Effect 3 ("The Reapers can win"), then later clarified that he meant the game over screen.

 

 

Oooooor it was the indoctrination theory and y'all got duped.

 

Or he meant Synthesis, since that's basically the Reapers winning.

[elrofrost]

I agree on all points. First, to use the tired "dusty old mage wants to take over the world just because he's evil" was just LAME. I mean, com'om Bioware - was that ALL you could come up with?

 

Corypheus is a great character. Flush him out more. Give us a reason to hate him beside the "He evil go kill". 

I give the game a 7.5 If they ever get around to fixing the PC controls, it gets a 8.

 

But I will say this: I enjoyed the game. But I expected more, lore/story wise from Bioware. Instead we got the same **** we got in ME3 - fun game to play; fun interaction with the characters; decent combat (better if you fix the PC controls); and a boring villain with lame ending.

 

Also anyone else feel the final battle was just too weak. Fighting the dragons took more of out my team Cory was a push over.

[Commander Michael]

Thank you SO much for creating this topic. I agree 100% on everything. 

 

The forced morals are such a big issue for me personally; particularly when talking to Dorian about slavery where my Inquisitor will be against slavery no matter what options I pick. It's truly annoying and, quite frankly, makes it impossible to play certain types of characters.

 

Hawke was also made into a Blood magic hating mage, even if you played an aggressive blood mage in your DA2 playthrough!

[Fabiano79]

I completely agree with the OP...btw, best writen thread here.

 

I didnt want to join Cory, but spent the whole game planning in becoming something like the dictator of the world. With all the power of the inquisition  and with my status of herald of Andraste this could be achieved. But to my surprise theres no end possible that is close to this. Actually, theres no "evil ending" what is a surprise and a let down. 

[KaiserShep]

I could say the same thing for not being able to choose to kill Duncan and run like a thief in the night instead of being a lousy Grey Warden.

[Emonthepm]

Note: This is not my theory, but it's something I picked up from my SPOILERFILLED thread regarding the ending and what the Dread Wolf is planning to do.

 

''I think new revelations in Dragon Age: Inquisition clear up a lot of the lore. And I think Solas is going after the Maker.

 

It seems that originally there were the creator gods (the Elven Pantheon), and the Old Gods (the Forgotten Ones). The Creator gods had dominion over the Fade, while the Old Gods had the physical realm. If this is true, it means that the Elven All-Father, Elgar'nan, is the figure now associated with the Maker, while Mythal, aka Flemeth, was his bride. We know that the Creators and the Old Gods were at war with one another, and we know that Elgar'nan was a wrathful god, per his name "the god of vengeance" and the story of him throwing the sun down from the sky (which I believe is a possible allusion to the creation of the Darkspawn Taint).

 

Here's what I think happened, long ago. At some point, for some reason, Elgar'Nan (The Maker) created the Darkspawn Taint as a weapon against the Old Gods. The fact that it targets them proves that it's designed against them. We know that the Taint is ancient, far moreso than the Darkspawn, because Red Lyrium is Lyrium corrupted by the Darkspawn Taint, and its presence in the Primordial Thaig shows that it predated the First Blight by a long, long time. However, in creating the Darkspawn Taint, Elgar'Nan was himself corrupted by it. Knowing the dangers of what would happen if the Darkspawn Taint reached Thedas and turned the Old Gods into Archdemons, I believe Fen'Harel took action, duping the Old Gods into imprisonment for their own safety, and sealing Elgar'Nan and most of the rest of the creators in the Golden City (turning it into the Black City, and making it a prison for the gods).

 

This explains several things:

1. Why the city was already blackened when the Magisters set foot in it

2. Why the Elven Pantheon seemingly abandoned the Elves, leading them to flee Arlathan

3. Why the Maker is absent

4. Why the Tevinter statue in the Mage Origin from the first game drops the hint that the Black City is a prison

 

In effect, Fen'Harel saved the world by this act. Mythal was not imprisoned and remained afoot in Thedas, seeing the wisdom in it. Fast forward a ways, and the imprisoned Old God Dumat makes contact with the Tevinter Imperium from his prison. He teaches them Blood Magic, and believing Elgar'Nan still responsible for his imprisonment, advises the Magisters to assault the Gold City (Black City) to exact his revenge against Elgar'Nan. However, as Corypheus says, they arrived to find the city blackened and corrupted, and became the first Darkspawn. They brought the Darkspawn Taint back to Thedas, thereby unleashing the weapon that is the Taint and corrupting Dumat into an Archdemon. And so began the first Blight.

 

What Fen'Harel had hoped to prevent by imprisoning everyone had happened anyway, thanks to the Tevinter Imperium. So after the first Blight had ended, it would make sense that Fen'Harel and Mythal would seek to remove the threat that Tevinter posed. Enter Andraste. I believe Flemeth/Mythal was Andraste. It fits perfectly. Perhaps Andraste was a real person and Mythal possessed her at some point in her campaign, but regardless, Andraste's claim to be being the "Bride of the Maker" is now ironically correct, when you realize that Mythal is the bride of Elgar'Nan. Andraste's campaign against Tevinter significantly weakened Tevinter, as well as eradicated their worship of the Old Gods. Problem solved, for the time being.

 

Ever since them, the Blight has come and gone and Archdemons have risen and fallen, slain by the Grey Wardens. Mythal/Flemeth appears to have spent her time consolidating power (arranging to take Urthemial's soul, for instance). I believe Mythal and Fen'Harel's end-game is to consolidate enough power to enter into the Black City, confront the corrupt Elgar'Nan (The Maker), and purify or destroy him for good, thereby forevermore ending the threat of the Blight. ''

 

I think this may help those that think the plot was bad.

[Linkenski]

I agree with the sentiment that DA2 critics "ruined" this one, and in general I think a big problem is that Bioware has started listening TOO MUCH to fans (except for with the ME3 debacle).

I'm sure a lot of the feedback from DA2 made this a better game, but I also think Bioware should keep their faith in what they think they can do well.

[KiwiQuiche]

Yup needed more options to be a bad-ass. True, you could behead a few people during Judgment but yeah, being as nasty self-serving bastard like in DAO was completely servered. My human was all for bloodmagic and slavery but you had to go "NO SLAVERY BAD" to Dorian like someone else pointed out. I hate being pidgeon holed into being a moralistic character.

 

Same with Cory being....well, boring. I did like how he was tall as hell (him snatching up my Qunari was hilarious) and his voice was neat so it was a pity we couldn't learn more. Personally I think fighting before the Black City in the Fade with Cory would've been awesome, then an end option to try getting into the city yourself. But no, we had the end boom of Cory and...then that really was it. (Also yeah Leliana was stupid as hell calling Cory 'evil'. He was a demented egomanic but not a 'true evil'lmao)

 

Yeah, the lack of being a blood mage was lame as hell. I couldn't even be a Knight Enchanter 'cause I couldn't find that stupid-ass book you needed and the journal was no help.

[elikal71]

I agree with the OP. I had fantasies to overthrow it all, become evil or a power myself. It was really a letdown to see that it is not possible. I understand such an ending could not become canon, but not having such choices really was a disappointment.

[AresKeith]

I could say the same thing for not being able to choose to kill Duncan and run like a thief in the night instead of being a lousy Grey Warden.

 

Or not being able to go back to Ferelden with Hawke in DA2

[Arantir]

 

''I think new revelations in Dragon Age: Inquisition clear up a lot of the lore. And I think Solas is going after the Maker.

 

It seems that originally there were the creator gods (the Elven Pantheon), and the Old Gods (the Forgotten Ones). The Creator gods had dominion over the Fade, while the Old Gods had the physical realm. If this is true, it means that the Elven All-Father, Elgar'nan, is the figure now associated with the Maker, while Mythal, aka Flemeth, was his bride. We know that the Creators and the Old Gods were at war with one another, and we know that Elgar'nan was a wrathful god, per his name "the god of vengeance" and the story of him throwing the sun down from the sky (which I believe is a possible allusion to the creation of the Darkspawn Taint).

 

Here's what I think happened, long ago. At some point, for some reason, Elgar'Nan (The Maker) created the Darkspawn Taint as a weapon against the Old Gods. The fact that it targets them proves that it's designed against them. We know that the Taint is ancient, far moreso than the Darkspawn, because Red Lyrium is Lyrium corrupted by the Darkspawn Taint, and its presence in the Primordial Thaig shows that it predated the First Blight by a long, long time. However, in creating the Darkspawn Taint, Elgar'Nan was himself corrupted by it. Knowing the dangers of what would happen if the Darkspawn Taint reached Thedas and turned the Old Gods into Archdemons, I believe Fen'Harel took action, duping the Old Gods into imprisonment for their own safety, and sealing Elgar'Nan and most of the rest of the creators in the Golden City (turning it into the Black City, and making it a prison for the gods).

 

This explains several things:

1. Why the city was already blackened when the Magisters set foot in it

2. Why the Elven Pantheon seemingly abandoned the Elves, leading them to flee Arlathan

3. Why the Maker is absent

4. Why the Tevinter statue in the Mage Origin from the first game drops the hint that the Black City is a prison

 

In effect, Fen'Harel saved the world by this act. Mythal was not imprisoned and remained afoot in Thedas, seeing the wisdom in it. Fast forward a ways, and the imprisoned Old God Dumat makes contact with the Tevinter Imperium from his prison. He teaches them Blood Magic, and believing Elgar'Nan still responsible for his imprisonment, advises the Magisters to assault the Gold City (Black City) to exact his revenge against Elgar'Nan. However, as Corypheus says, they arrived to find the city blackened and corrupted, and became the first Darkspawn. They brought the Darkspawn Taint back to Thedas, thereby unleashing the weapon that is the Taint and corrupting Dumat into an Archdemon. And so began the first Blight.

 

What Fen'Harel had hoped to prevent by imprisoning everyone had happened anyway, thanks to the Tevinter Imperium. So after the first Blight had ended, it would make sense that Fen'Harel and Mythal would seek to remove the threat that Tevinter posed. Enter Andraste. I believe Flemeth/Mythal was Andraste. It fits perfectly. Perhaps Andraste was a real person and Mythal possessed her at some point in her campaign, but regardless, Andraste's claim to be being the "Bride of the Maker" is now ironically correct, when you realize that Mythal is the bride of Elgar'Nan. Andraste's campaign against Tevinter significantly weakened Tevinter, as well as eradicated their worship of the Old Gods. Problem solved, for the time being.

 

Ever since them, the Blight has come and gone and Archdemons have risen and fallen, slain by the Grey Wardens. Mythal/Flemeth appears to have spent her time consolidating power (arranging to take Urthemial's soul, for instance). I believe Mythal and Fen'Harel's end-game is to consolidate enough power to enter into the Black City, confront the corrupt Elgar'Nan (The Maker), and purify or destroy him for good, thereby forevermore ending the threat of the Blight. ''

 

I think this may help those that think the plot was bad.

 

 

Awesome thinking! Until I read your post I thought to myself that maybe Mythal and Fen'Harel were the ones who corrupted the Golden City in the first place and now they are trying to fix things but your explanation makes so much more sense. Thanks, thanks a lot!