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Anyone else find the companions in this game better than the ones in Dragon Age: Origins?


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#151
WarBaby2

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I really liked the DAO cast of characters. I got a little invested with them on that adventure. I don't feel the same way about the DAI cast. I actually am sort of pissed at them. Sort of like a boss I guess. I am the Inquisitor. I don't want to deal with their B.S. I want them to deal with mine!  LOL

As I said, working as intended, I guess... but I agree, I didn't like any of them half as much as I did like, say, Leliana or Sten. They just felt too, well, forced... everyone of them had to have something "special", except Varric, who didn't change much from DA2. DAO's characters, for the most part, managed to be interresting without having an obvious "gimmick".



#152
Hydwn

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It's hard to sort this stuff out, because it's easy to confuse "better written" with "I like them as a person."  BioWare writes people well, but some of the people they write I wouldn't want to spend time with in the real world :P

 

The only character I've encountered as a team member who seemed genuinely badly written was Velanna.  Her values and ideas didn't make sense from one scene to another.  As for characters I'd want to hang out with in the real world, there's two or three from each game.  Alistair and Morrigan from the first game, and probably Leliana too, in a party with Fenris and Bethany and Varric x2, Dorian, and Solas.  

 

Interestingly, the DAI characters change completely in personality depending how well you represent their values.  Vivienne was wonderful in my first playthrough, because I was pro-circle and anti-mage-freedom.  She despises and mocks me in my second playthrough, which is pro-mage-freedom.  

 

I like the relationship mechanics a lot better now - how they judge me for events they aren't present at, and how I can't just ply them with gifts to make them like or love me if I'm fundamentally against their values.  I like how the romance is slow, and requires real effort rather than just looking up a guide for the right conversation options.


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#153
Korhiann

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Honestly I don't think they will be able to match the chemistry they created in Origins in any future DA title. The characters in Inquisition are generally well written and have more dept to them than those in Origins, but I never felt them to be as interesting as say Alistair and Morrigan. 

Basicly I think that the characters in Inquisition are better written and more believable, but they lack chemistry that made the Origins characters great. 



#154
KillTheLastRomantic

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I really liked the DAO cast of characters. I got a little invested with them on that adventure. I don't feel the same way about the DAI cast. I actually am sort of pissed at them. Sort of like a boss I guess. I am the Inquisitor. I don't want to deal with their B.S. I want them to deal with mine!  LOL

 

Come to think of it, there might be something to that. I did feel kind of separated and distant from the group in this one, whereas in DA:O and DA2 it felt like a tight knit group of friends. Even when they're bickering incessantly.

 

If you compare running around a huge fortress full of soldiers, politicians, agents etc to go chat with all your companions with drums beating in the background to sitting by the campfire with Leliana while Morrigan looks on and rolls her eyes...the whole Inquisition thing is just very impersonal and didn't do the companion bonding any favours. 


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#155
wright1978

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I like the relationship mechanics a lot better now - how they judge me for events they aren't present at, and how I can't just ply them with gifts to make them like or love me if I'm fundamentally against their values.  I like how the romance is slow, and requires real effort rather than just looking up a guide for the right conversation options.

 

I personally think the companions come off worse than previous 2 installments.  However i do agree with the change to the relationship mechanic, reflecting events they aren't present at. I'd like to see some visibility of it though(unless i'm missing something) .



#156
WarBaby2

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I like the relationship mechanics a lot better now - how they judge me for events they aren't present at, and how I can't just ply them with gifts to make them like or love me if I'm fundamentally against their values.  I like how the romance is slow, and requires real effort rather than just looking up a guide for the right conversation options.

Only if you didn't romance Cassandra... for her, it generally is sufficient to pick the top right answer, then you get small quest, one scene and the romance is pretty much done with. Some things may be more realistic this time around, but also more boring because of it...



#157
ReadingRambo220

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Varric is same as DA2, it's a funny dwarf but nothing really new there...


You called Varric an it xD this had me lol'ing, I don't know why haha

#158
stetzen

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I feel like I'm an exception, but i love the DA2 companions the most, and DA:I the least. The DA:I companions are enormously static. You don't learn something new about them, they don't change - they just are. It's pretty much the reason why I hated Sten in DA:O - there is absolutely no story behind him or in front of him, he is frozen in time, and so do all DA:I guys (even the exceptions are doing it wrong - for Cole we are just forced to force him to change, and for Blackwall one static frozen character is pretty much replaced with another, completely different static frozen character). Well, that's probably true about everyone and everything in the game - unlike the previous games, the story is just far too straightforward to be really interesting, IMO.



#159
ThreeF

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DAI is the first game in general that made me not only interested in but also invested in some of the characters, so I'm guessing that whatever my  buttons are DAI managed to push them. DAI is also the first game that made me want to join a forum and talk about characters, so there is that too.



#160
jlb524

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DA2 > DAI > DAO

DA2 wins for more developed personal companion story missions (and has my fave possible party combo in all games). Also, the ability to have two separate relation paths with each was neat.

I think how they handle banters had gotten better which gives DAI an edge over DAO. DAI also has some companions with more involved personal missions (though, I found other companions lacking). Most DAO companion quests were meh.

Of course, there are still companions I really like from DAO but I'm speaking in general.
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#161
AllThatJazz

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Overall yes for me. My favourite DAI companions (Solas, Cass, Varric, Dorian and Cole) just beat my favourite DA2 companions (Varric and Aveline) who in turn just beat my favourite DAO companions (Alistair, Morrigan and Shale). But it's close - I do love them all, Bioware is fantastic at writing companion characters, even the ones I don't like as personalities I still find compelling.

 

I thought both DAI and DA2 did companion quests much better than Origins too, with my favourites being The Long Road (Aveline's quest in DA2) and Blackwall and Cole's personal quests in DAI. I preferred the friendship/rivalry system of DA2, think the banter has been good in all games but I enjoy it the most in DAI (when I can get it to fire) and Inquisition has my favourite Bioware romance so far in Solas, though it it's pretty close between him, Alistair and Garrus in ME :)



#162
NM_Che56

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TL; DR,

 

But yes. I enjoy these characters more.  I'd dare say that the characters in DA:I are better than in any one game of the Mass Effect franchise.

 

For instance, in DAI, there aren't any characters that annoy me, boring or I'd rather not interact with.

 

Let me explain...

 

Mass Effect (and Mass Effect 3):

Liara sometimes grated my nerves. That whole breathless kind of thing she did...and there were times where she tried to sound too profound while maintaining that Marilyn Monroe meets Spock, breathless pin-up girl voice. Hard to believe that's the same VO for Scout Harding whom I adored!  Harding sounded so natural.  

 

Mass Effect 2:

Jacob:  Not a BAD character, but just not all that interesting.  Just...meh.

Jack: A little too over the top with the whole "psycho" thing.  And the whole half-naked thing...I liked her look in ME3 MUCH better.

Samara: Oh come on! That outfit?! Seems pretty antithetical to her philosophical outlook (Justicar).  I'm not saying she should have been in monk robes, but at least give her a more practical outfit. Something that reflects a seasoned warrior versus champion pole dancer.

 

Mass Effect 3:

Kaidan or Ashley: the whole "I'm not sure if you're 'you'" thing was over done.  

 

Don't get me wrong, I don't HATE them.  I adore all of the characters in the ME universe to varying degrees, but in DA:I, none of the characters had a trait or look that constantly bothered me.  I found them all to be interesting and made more of an effort to mix up my party so I can hear their banter.


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#163
BAC PARTY CITY

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I didn't play Dragon Age Origins but DA:I party is 100x better than DA2's party.

 

DA2 I only liked Isabella, Varric, Aveline and Bethany.  After that everyone else was super annoying. Although I understood Fenris plight and sympathized with that as a character he was interesting and kind of weirded me out.

 

Merril is just a catastrophe waiting to happen. She's going to get killed and possessed by a demon. I mean beyond naive just a lack of common sense and social awareness.  

 

And don't get me started on Anders. Bipolar, psychotic with a warped hero complex. Wanted to put an arrow between his eyes half the game.

 

 

I actually like all the party members in Dragon Age Inquisition. Felt the same way about Mass Effect 2. I didn't like Cole or Sera at first but they grew on me and became worthwhile characters.  Well there isn't one characterI have a problem with but its more how the game designers handled a big reveal.  It didn't really make any sense considering how specifically and detailed this character acted to a certain point, so when the reveal happens its kind of ridiculous. 


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#164
Dieb

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Sten is the only character in DAO and DAI whose respect I could gain without agreeing that everything he does and believes is awesome (or giving him creepy little treats for no apparent reason) - as long as I was being fair & genuine about it. He's a very underrated character / approach to approval acknowledgement for this reason.

 

I miss the Friendship/Rivalry system. It was a brilliant idea that got buried by all the criticism.  With it, I could try and stop Merrill from blood magic & make her respect the fact that I want her to be safe. We would still be close (or romantic), but different. I can annoy Aveline on the surface by being a crook, but still have her respect me for still doing the right thing in a very different way than her. The only poison for any relationship is apathy. Again, it is beyond me why they cast that aside.


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#165
DarthSideus2

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I love all 3 games, and most of the companions, but Inquisition is really the first Bioware game that I don't have a set core of 3 companions that I run through a majority of the game with (except for Cassandra who I use about 80% of the game). They all seem to be more complex characters than in Origins and only Cole seems to annoy me.



#166
Navasha

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Origins was still better overall.    The companions were far more realistic to me.    They had a far wider range of real emotions.    Many of DA:Is (not all) are fairly 2-dimensional.   They also all seem to verge on the edge of personality disorder.   They also demonstrate almost zero 'growth' over the course of the adventure.  

 

Pretty much every DA:O companion exhibited growth through their struggles.   DA:I companions (again, not all) are pretty much exactly going out what they were coming in.  

 

Not saying they are bad, but they don't really come to the same level as DA:O companions.  


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#167
NessCraig

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Wow. I always find it so funny how passionate people get about liking and disliking characters.

 

DAI is so huge - I have played it now 3 times (working on my fourth) and I haven't even begun to "know" ALL of the characters.

 

Solas - I am playing with him now and I just find him interesting (knowing what I do know) he hints the "trickster" thing alot.

 

Vivi - I like her. She is a "b" and she knows it fits her perfectly.

 

Sera - Also someone who at the beginning I was like "Seriously girl, Elves... stop hating them" and then I figured her out, and then had the nugget of amazingness dropped on me about her possibly being Andruil and that made me really like her.

 

Cassandra - Absolutely love her. I wanna see her and Aveline arm wrestle or something.

 

Varric - I really liked him from DA:2 but his jokes don't seem to make me LOL as much as Sera's, bulls, Dorians etc.

Dorian - I wanted more out of him. I love his story, I love him as a romance option, I just wish he had more. (First romance opition)

 

Bull - the more I played with bull the more I liked him, consent was fantastic, but like dorian above, he just stopped growing. Cassandra you were able to ask opinions, Sera would talk to you about "the people" I wish he had more insight. (Plus I wish we could make him happy so we could get a happy tarot card sheesh)

 

Cole - Love love love love this. I like this so much more than Justice. I wish Wynne had shown more of her spirit side so we could have seen this coming but he is fantastic. Also - why didn't cole clue us in to Solas? He is doing it to Sera (your ears point to the fade, you hear the song, you sound different . etc etc etc.)

 

Blackwall - I need to give him a good honest chance in the party - I don't play with him much and beside the banter about penis sizes with Cole, I haven't warmed up to him

 

Side char: Leliana - I wish that the romance to the warden could also count in you being able to soften her. Her having a love with him/her should have carried more weight in DA:I in my opinion. Her in the future is B.A. btw.



#168
Guest_shepard_343_*

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nope DA:O's companions are A LOT better

Morrigan,Leliana and Alistair still unforgettable companions in my opinion

 

DA:I's companions in comparison are just lacking my Inquisitor didn't need them at all the 3 advisors + Cassandra were more than enough

the rest didn't do anything (except Solas towards the end)



#169
line_genrou

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No.

 

I liked DAO characters so much that everytime I replay that game I get a feeling of sadness while saying goodbye to them at the end.

 

In DAI it was like ok whatever bye. 



#170
RinuCZ

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Yeah, absolutely. Companions' personalities felt alive in this installment the most.

 

I spent a good portion of DA:O wanting to stab my companions, so I bonded with Morrigan over our shared disgust over the rest of party :D. Too bad, she wasn't a romance option.

I kinda got used to the party later on but their writing was so not up to my liking. Way too much brooding all around.

 

My order is:

1/ DA:I

2/ DA2

3/ DA:O

 

I just wish DA:I would have extended dialogue tree with companions after their personal quest is done. It felt like the game just ended once I warmed up to them and expected to spend some time with "friends" not companions.



#171
Aaleel

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Naw I loved the diversity of the Origins characters.

 

Had the motherly member in Wynne, Sten always serious, keeping you on your toes about leadership, Morrigan the apostate non believer in the maker.  Then you had Shale the golem, the dog interactions.  Morrigan, Leliana, Alistar were awesome characters, Oghren was an great character as well.  The cast was realistic and diverse.

 

DA2 - I really didn't like the companions much.  Fenris brooding all the time, Merrill was just naive and clueless to me, she was much better in Origins.  Aveline was pretty dull, and so was Bethany.  Anders was just mad all the time and the dog was reduced to a summoning skill as if he wasn't a full party member.  Only ones I liked were Varric and Isabela.

 

DA:I - Some of the characters are really exaggerated like Vivienne being so pretentious and Sera being so obnoxious all the time, or some are just dull like Blackwell.  Varric didn't change much between games, so he didn't seem as good as he did in DA:2.  But some of them are voiced acted very well like Solas and Vivienne, but the cast as a whole just isn't either great or bad to me.

 

The party in DA:O just felt the most real to me.



#172
LonewandererD

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I'm half and half. All the games have had their good companions and their not so good, not one I've really hated yet though unlike other games *cough* Vega *cough*. Liked Alistair but didn't care for Oghren, Liked Sigrun but didn't care for Anders. Liked Varric but didn't care for Fenris. Liked Dorian but didn't care for Blackwall. All personal taste I know but another aspect is how well to the companions mesh with each other, Logain felt like a rough fit for the group where as Varric could easily be chums with everyone. Neither is really better but both do at least work

 

-D-



#173
Ashagar

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I freely admit I get a mental image of Cassandra dealing with Alistair's hissy fit if you spare or think of sparing loghien's life and it makes me smile.



#174
DuskWanderer

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The DA:O party only slightly interested me. Leliana was cute and adorable, Zevran was positively hilarious, and Alistair I enjoyed. Dog was a dog without the mess, the expenses, and the allergies, so he was kinda fun. Wynne was a good wholesome person, but faceless. Morrigan was a "b" for the sake of simply being a "b", and her disapproval of actually doing quests was aggravating. Oghren suffered from Eleventh Hour Syndrome, Shale was stupid, and Sten (and all of the 'true qunari' were terrible people, and I felt like I was forced to accept how wonderful they were.

 

In Awakening, I liked them better. I actually understood Velanna. She was wrong, but she learned from it, and it was dealt with in an all right way. Sigrun was hilarious, Nathaniel felt very realistic and enjoyable, Anders was too much but kinda fun, Justice needed more, he didn't feel alien enough. Oghren I enjoyed more, but getting his approval up for his quests was difficult. 

 

In 2, I loved the companions, for the most part. Except Fenris (too broody and whiny) and "Dammit, Anders". They felt very realistic, at times childish (*cough*Isabela) and at times completely stupid. But I was close to them. 

 

In Inquisition, the companions were better than Origins, but they felt very detached from each other. They were linked by the Inquisitor, and said things in each other's presence, but I wasn't getting things like Isabela bribing the dockworkers, or getting salves from her STD's from Anders (did anyone else think dwarf clap resists magic?). They felt like they were in a party together and acknowledging each other's presence, save for a few outliers. 

 

If I was going to rank them all, including the temporary folk from the Origins, it would go like this:

 

The Great Group

Leliana > Varric > Zevran > Cassandra > Cullen > Merrill > Nathaniel > Sigrun > Josephine > Alistair > Isabela  

 

The Good Group

Leske > Carver > Iron Bull > Soris > Dog > Gorim > Cole > Eleanor > Bethany > Fenarel > Solas > Aveline > Morrigan (DA:I) > Velanna 

 

The "I like you, but I also dislike you" group

Jowan > Wynne > Sebastian > Daveth > Vivienne > Blackwall > Anders (Awakening) > Lily > Oghren > Sera > Gilmore > Frandlin Ivo 

 

The Bad Group

Shale > Tamlen > Morrigan (DA:O) > Justice > Sten > Fenris 

 

The Utterly terrible Group

Nameless Scout > Jory > Dorian



#175
Mocksie

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I like the majority of the companions from all games. Some more than others, sure, but I respect most of them in their own way.

 

The only ones I hate, who I leave to rot in jail or kill every time are Blackwall and Anders. Somehow, I just don't want a person who thinks it's okay to commit acts of terrorism or kill children on my team.

 

I really liked all of the companions in Origins, although I did find Wynne a bit boring. I really enjoyed every single one of them, and I liked how they would all open up to you about certain things based on how high your approval is with them.  They all had unique personalities, and some were more open/tolerant of things than others, which I liked. It was also a nice touch that each of the romances progressed at a different pace (Ex: Morrigan's starts with sex, but you need really high approval with Alistair to get him to have sex with you). It made it feel less like sex is the "prize" at the end of the romance, and rather that it was just a natural thing that happened based on your LI's comfort level with it and you.

 

In DA2, I'll admit, a few of the companions grated on me due to their relatively strong opinions, but that's what made rivalry nice. It was nice that you could change Fenris's opinion on mages, or make Merril stop using blood magic with rivalry. And I loved Varric, Aveline, and Carver/Bethany. My main gripe with DA2 was necessarily how the companions were, but rather how conversation played out. For example, Fenris seemed pretty friendly with a reasonably good sense of humor whenever he talked to other party members in banter, he talked about playing cards with them, hanging out with them, etc. But whenever I went to talk to him, it was always "My life sucks! I hate everyone, I hate mages! I was a slave!", we never got to see that more humorous/friendly side of him that he shows to other party members. I don't really want my Hawke to be everyone's personal therapist, I want to see the fun side of my companions too.

 

I like DA:I's companions, but in some ways, I feel less attached to them than I do companions in Origins and even DA2. Even though I disliked Fenris at times, I could never justify giving him back to Danarius. And even though I always kill Anders, I felt somewhat betrayed during my first playthrough when he did that. Don't get me wrong, I do like DA:I's companions, and the majority of them are well written, but I just am not as attached. I never really cared when they disapproved of things I did (whereas in previous installments, I would reload if I got large disapproval from someone), and I simply forgot about, and never talked to the some of them. I highly doubt I would care if one of them left too. I also liked Leliana, Morrigan, and Alistair better in Origins than in Inquisition.

 

I don't know...  I think I still like DA:O's companions better, but DA:I did have some good ones (Dorian, Solas, Cullen, etc.)