I may mostly reiterate points already raised by others, but I do think they bear repeating:
This is something mentioned by some more critical reviews, and I have to say I definitely agree on that point: the very beginning seems rather abrupt, bare-bones even. Going right from the animated main menu to the big-badda-boom act of terror on this supposed "conference" may look pretty, but it does little to make one connect to the event. I am given little reason to care about it, as no detailed on-screen evidence is given on the extent of the people assembled there, the layout, etc. A narration outlining the state of things would have helped as a minimum, I'd think, showing the camps of the different parties taking part in the meeting, some impressions of how they do (not) get along, those kinds of things. Similar-ish to the intros of DA:O for the different origins; in the case of DA:I going for one that's mostly the same for all races would have worked, simply referring to race right at the end, prior to character creation, just so:
...all present perished, except for one human/dwarf/elf/qunari.
Full-blown playable Origins I would have preferred even more, although I acknowledge that those would probably have been a sizable amount of additional workload for the developers. Hope you get the idea.
Further...is it just me or did the 'welcome' at Haven seem awfully static? There's chatter, true, and a whole host of people, but they are pretty much all motionless. Particularly noticable with a bunch of fellows kneeling in place already long before my Inquisitor passes them. Right there, at the tail-end of the prologue, this is just lacking in the presentation-department, and one can certainly see and feel that the game-world at large, for all its size, simply is rather static. There is some changes in which factions roam an area as the story progresses and one drives out former occupants, sure, but the lack of dynamic day/night-cycle and a good many congregations of NPC that permanently remain in place simply warrant no other descriptor.
Then, and this I also found raised elsewhere: something of a lack of questionable decisions – be it for as blunt a reason as malice or to pursue more devious approaches. Now playing a benefactor who takes in and looks after refugees is all well and good, but why not present some other goals here other than altruistic ones, being vicious in lieu of the 'Inquisition of old' as some characters in DA:I – Cassandra, Mother Giselle – describe the forerunner of the organisation in Thedas? Let me give an example:
The Inquisitor is approached by refugees, asking the Inquisitor to get supplies for their starving, displaced lot. An officer of the Inquisition's troops hears of this, and reports to the Inquisitor in no uncertain terms that the supply-situation for the troops is anything but good, morale low and thus the risk of mutiny high. Who to hand the supplies to, then, refugees that may spread the word about a benevolent Inquisition but are not soldier-material themselves at all and potentially provoke your own, battle-hardened troops to mutiny; or make certain that the troops' loyalty to the organisation is kept intact and meanwhile risk animosity or even rioting on the refugees' side?
My hope was that similar options would turn up as I progressed in the game. Yet, the likes of a war map, text-only mission where one is given the opportunity to have Leliana's agents "encourage" refugees to move off the land of a noble, as per his wish rather than waltz in and oppose said noble as Cullen would have it was about the only thing of the kind, and ultimately is just that: a text-only mission. I would very much have welcomed actual dubious decisions of the kind in-game. It's doubly irritating that with 'Champions of the Just', bizarrely enough, one is presented with the organization taking a starkly darker turn, leaving me wondering: why-oh-why can't one do something more to that effect in the game itself? By this I do not mean go full-on dark-side, yet more in lieu of the original Inquisition, taking harsh action towards its intended, long-term goal. A few options of that kind are there beyond the, in my opinion, not terribly enthralling war map ops, such as the Winter Palace, yet I would certainly argue that it's too little to go around.
Don't get me wrong, some decisions and turns of events I hugely enjoyed in this game – elevating a certain, classy mage-lady to a certain rank in the end-game being my favourite. Yet, the underdeveloped presence of morally more ambiguous decisions I just find unfortunate, and not befitting the title the PC and the organization they lead are given. There is not just the real-world historical annotations to it, but those of the game world itself, which state that this group is not without precedence, and that preceding Inquisition was markedly not received as a benevolent formation, as I mentioned. The option to live up to that other side of the spectrum in a more profound manner I would have greatly appreciated. It would have helped make the game's premise far more interesting, given it more grit. While some of this is undoubtedly present, it is far out-weighed by one-sided do-gooder solutions especially when it comes to the areas outside the main-quest, which make up a major portion of the game.
In short:
- a far better fleshed out prologue
- a game-world that is not just vast, but dynamic
- the option to actually live up to the infamy of the Inquisition of old as described in DA:I's own setting and lore
Having said all this, I still mostly enjoy the game, currently doing a second playthrough with a Qunari miss – quite delightful to see one can actually take a more welcoming approach to their people's namesake creed! -, and am curious where BW take DA:I from here on out.
Retour en haut
unfortunately DA:I doesn't follow this rule.
