8 réponses à ce sujet

[Koveras Alvane]

So apparently, what determines your Inquisition's operational profile (whether it's a military powerhouse, a spy network, or a diplomatic hub) is how many perks you invest into each of the corresponding categories at the War Table. I see following problems with that:

• There are more Forces perks (11) than there are Secrets or Connections (9 each).
• Since combat is the core gameplay mechanic of the game, and only the Forces perks improve it (Massache's Method, Advanced Focus, Master Focus, True Grit, More Healing Potions), it's almost certain that you'll end up spending at least a quarter of your perks on Forces.
• By comparison, the Secrets and Connections perks seem to mainly improve herb collection and merchant prices - both clearly secondary mechanics. I am not ready to spend one of my limited inquisition perks on a bunch of resources I can collect on my own, and I've spent most of my gold on buying Influence from the Skyhold merchant, anyway, since I found the best gear in combat loot.

In short, you are very likely to end up with the epilogue saying that you built your Inquisition as a military powerhouse, even though you had Leliana or Josephine take care of 80% of operations for you and only upgraded Forces for the combat bonuses. I kinda get the logic behind this, but in my view, that is like basing the ending of KotOR not on your Light or Dark Side story choices, but on how many skill points you invested into Light and Dark Force powers. Sure, there is a correlation, but what you did with your resources should, in my opinion, have more impact on your enduring legacy than what kind of resources you had at your disposal.

 

My alternative suggestion would be to base the endgame tally not on perks, but on how many non-recurring operations you have completed with the help of which adviser. That must be a pretty easy statistic to keep, and it should clearly show the preferences of a player who cares about reading the operation descriptions and the adviser's plans for them. It would also avoid situations like mine, where I clearly favored Leliana's methods, followed by Josephine's (role-playing myself a bit of a Hassan-i Sabbah, with my mountain fortress and an army of assassins), but ended up remembered for my allegedly vast armies that I have never even deployed.

[Evamitchelle]

I am not sure that perks determine which epilogue slide you get. In my second playthrough I had 11 points in Forces (6 perks, 5 agents), 10 in Secrets (4 perks, 6 agents) and 6 in Connections (2 perks, 4 agents) yet I ended up with the Connections epilogue slide. 

[SardaukarElite]

Before release there was talk of capturing keeps in the open world and then choosing their function along military, spying, or diplomatic (mercantile?) lines. I get the impression that there were designs for a far more robust strategy layer which has been pretty much entirely removed and replaced with the completely inane Assassin's Creed mini-game that is the War Table. I'm guessing the narrative mentions of how you've built the Inquisition are left over from a time when you actually could customise the Inquisition, rather than just its drapes.

[Koveras Alvane]

I am not sure that perks determine which epilogue slide you get. In my second playthrough I had 11 points in Forces (6 perks, 5 agents), 10 in Secrets (4 perks, 6 agents) and 6 in Connections (2 perks, 4 agents) yet I ended up with the Connections epilogue slide.

 
I wouldn't know... I read that part about perks in a FAQ and it correllated with my finding (I did have about two more perks in Forces than in either Secrets or Connections), so I assume that's the main factor.
 

Before release there was talk of capturing keeps in the open world and then choosing their function along military, spying, or diplomatic (mercantile?) lines. I get the impression that there were designs for a far more robust strategy layer which has been pretty much entirely removed

Yeah, I remember that, too, the screenshots showing different customizations for the Griffon Wing Keep, for instance. As far as I gather, in the final game, the Crestwood Keep always goes to Leliana's agents, Cullen gets teh Griffon Wing Keep, and Josephine takes charge of the one in Emprise du Lion.

I'm guessing the narrative mentions of how you've built the Inquisition are left over from a time when you actually could customise the Inquisition, rather than just its drapes.

Be that as it may, I still think that it's better to base the endgame narration on things you did, rather than resources you acquired.

[SardaukarElite]

Be that as it may, I still think that it's better to base the endgame narration on things you did, rather than resources you acquired.

 

I agree but I don't think there's enough left of that game layer to hang the consequences on. The point stands though, consequences should have a tangible connection to the choices that spawn them.

 

Of course, avoiding ludonarrative dissonance isn't something BioWare appears to be even remotely interested in.

[LexXxich]

Are these epilogue slides somehow connected to Blackwall's commentary about Inquisition? For me, he always goes how "Inquisition is everyone's best friend", and Josephine says "scarcely a noble house that hasn't openly supported inquisition". My perks are roughly 5 in each category, and I only spent perks in Connections very recently.

[Basement Cat]

I don't think the perks you take affect the narrative in any way. Maybe they were planning for that at one point, but that feature seems absent now. There are only three keeps in the world and we don't decide how they are used. I felt a little sad when I realized that.

[mutantspicy]

Before release there was talk of capturing keeps in the open world and then choosing their function along military, spying, or diplomatic (mercantile?) lines. I get the impression that there were designs for a far more robust strategy layer which has been pretty much entirely removed and replaced with the completely inane Assassin's Creed mini-game that is the War Table. I'm guessing the narrative mentions of how you've built the Inquisition are left over from a time when you actually could customise the Inquisition, rather than just its drapes.

 

That's a shame if true, I've been thinking all along this game should have such a strategy element as you describe.  The Assassin's Creed analogy is spot on.

[Sartoz]

Before release there was talk of capturing keeps in the open world and then choosing their function along military, spying, or diplomatic (mercantile?) lines. I get the impression that there were designs for a far more robust strategy layer which has been pretty much entirely removed and replaced with the completely inane Assassin's Creed mini-game that is the War Table. I'm guessing the narrative mentions of how you've built the Inquisition are left over from a time when you actually could customise the Inquisition, rather than just its drapes.

Exactly!