I'm actually love it, after restarting the quest a few times (thank the Maker, that's possible, and there's uninstall too)
I love it because gave me a reason to hate all Orlais, and their dogs, cats and chickens... everything. Initially I wanted to save Celene, but these bunch of masked **** to be saved or provided anything good for them? No way. Now I finish the quest with an approval rating of 100, master of their "game" and end it with... (spoiler I guess)
I did it once, on my first run (mainly doing main story quests).
I did it on the second (completionist) run, then again to record all the cutscenes, reloaded everything a couple times to write down which answers I'll be using cause I wanted to record without ui.
And then after it was done and 3 more hours of play I realized I made a mistake in the end, reloaded an older save and did it again. And I've watched the recording (40 minutes of cutscenes!) twice since then.
In other words: I love this mission.
And I loved being part of "the Game" and I'd whish there would be more of it 
Guest_starlitegirl_*
And the Halla doors. That was a freaking headache because different doors used a different amount and you could waste them not realizing door A needs two and door B needs three which means you are screwed. That to me was a massive nuisance as was the timer. It's why I never will do the templar side again. I'm not into that crap of racing back to save these templars who can't hold their own while I'm supposed to be off finding their higher ups. Luckily I was able to get to the ladders and drop them so that went by faster, but with the palace, I have to keep going back to the party. I would have preferred something beside climb the very obvious trellis in front of everyone which seems to be the most idiotic thing an inquisitor could do. In fact, when I saw that I was supposed to climb up it in front of everyone, my approval of this game went down 50 because it's too dumb for my inquisitor who knows she's in the damn palace and you don't climb a trellis in front of everyone. You find an alternate path! You are the inquisitor and even if you are the most frank character, which I was, you still don't climb a trellis into the private part that is locked in front of fifteen NPCs. Good god that was stupid and very immersive breaking.
I love the mission, although the "timer" aspect was ... iffy ... and the Halla's ... whoever designed that needs a punch in the throat; seriously terrible design and fundamentally flawed. It encourages you to snag maps, read walkthroughs, and plan out key acquisition/usage, which is immediately immersion breaking. You don't know how many keys (Halla) are available, you don't know what's behind a door or how important it is ... so you basically could screw up and have no idea that you just wasted a very limited resource. If there was a console command for giving myself extra Halla, I'd use it in a heartbeat.
Guest_starlitegirl_*
Also, I find it absolutely absurd that you're the only one who can close the rifts and they throw you out of their party if you don't get their approval. I didn't even know that could happen until I read it here. It's really funny because it seems to me that politically you can out maneuver them in about two seconds by telling them that you always have the option to not close rifts in Olesian territory and you can let demons spew from them invading their towns and cities, their precious homes and attack everything they hold dear. That this is not an option to bypass approval and instantly force their hand (which is done as a power move in politics all the time) is absurd to me. You do have the power to close the rifts. You are the only person who has that power. Seems to me a good threat would go very far very fast and depending on how you are playing your character it could bring a lot of fun to the game. I honestly couldn't believe that this was not a tactic within this part of the game since it seems like it would be the most obvious thing in the world. The assumption is that you are going to close all the rifts and be this great person is ridiculous and also removes something that is pretty awesome from the game - roleplaying!!!
And regarding climbing the trellis - I think the fact that we have a rogue spymaster with us at the party should have been an alternate way of getting into different rooms and areas undetected. Perhaps with a certain perk that grants more than just that (added into a few different perks in Leliana's list) then you don't have to seem like an utter idiot who would climb a trellis at a palace into private quarters in front of a dozen witnesses. Don't want to do that? Grab your spymaster and tell her that the trellis is not an option. She needs to find a door to get us into the private quarters and breakout some of her dusty rogue skills.
You need to be ambiguous (middle option when talking with everyone in the court) and turning in the secrets. The only time the court dissaproves of questions is if you ask can two women dance
That's simply not true. I asked questions and immediately lost approval and I never asked about two girls dancing.
That's simply not true. I asked questions and immediately lost approval and I never asked about two girls dancing.
Who did you ask questions of? Florianne?
Council of heralds guy likes questions
This quest seemed like the perfect opportunity for Vivienne to prove she wasn't just dead weight to the Inquisition. But no, none of the morons who play "the game" actually play it (i.e., Leliana, Josephine, Vivienne). They just sit around jacking off while the Inquisitor has to do all the stupid toadying to the inbred, inept, useless aristocracy. There is no ability to actually RP, since a "failure" just makes you restart, rather than actually having interesting consequences. This was certainly among the worst parts of the main quest.
That's because the court is looking at you, the leader of the inquisition, and not the lowly staff you bring along. If anything, you should have held the floor whilst your party clears the servant's quarters and sweeps the palace for clues.
I think the court approval timer is to unforgiving. I'm gone for only a few seconds and already get 3 points taken away. I also hate that so many areas of the palace are locked by Halla statues but there is only 10 statues but almost 30 needed to open ever door and you still need at least 8 of the 10 statues to open 2 very specific doors if you want to get all the possible outcomes....very poor design choice.
If there actually were any role playing, I would agree. But since the consequence for not "rping" the right way is to get a game-over and have to restart, this isn't really rping.
Would have been fine without the timer and ticking down reputation (instead just take a set number hit to rep every time you go into a 'forbidden' area). Then I actually could have enjoyed wandering around listening to the conversations and talking to NPCs. Instead I was just rushing through conversations as fast as possible and not able to pay attention to half of what they were saying, let alone talking to anyone I didn't have to or lingering to hear people gossip.
That outfit, too... Ugh. And Solas' hat that clips through his nose.
If there actually were any role playing, I would agree. But since the consequence for not "rping" the right way is to get a game-over and have to restart, this isn't really rping.
I never said that the quest is perfect, but I think FaWa has the right answer for you:
The whole point is that if you're going to be able to make the Orlesians like you, you have to "play the game". What your character would actually say in this situations may not be what wins the game. This is when you have to be fake to get what you want. It's not that hard to understand.
I started doing this mission a few days ago with my male archer and was bored so restarted a new game as a female mage and will just do everything in the game and just do the story when I am ready.
This will be my last play through (as I have already restarted about 6 times) unless we get some patches that improve the gameplay so I can play a rogue with a sword or a warrior
It's really funny because it seems to me that politically you can out maneuver them in about two seconds by telling them that you always have the option to not close rifts in Olesian territory and you can let demons spew from them invading their towns and cities, their precious homes and attack everything they hold dear.
That's not political out maneuvering, that is blackmailing (which might be common at the Orlesian court, but still...).
And it would be pretty douche-y. But if your Inquisitor is that kind of person, alright 
Yes the timer was a little *ugh* but if you went above 70 approval before going off exploring there was no problem. Even if you fell back down below 15 when you came back. The dance scene, when done right got you ~100 approval, so it could easily make up for any approval lost.
Also: I really loved the dress uniforms 
But that boils down to taste. Personally I'm very happy that they give us a schematic for it after the mission.
I also like how you take an approval hit for being gone for a couple of minutes but not for climbing around on the trellis like a chimp right in front of them. Or for starting WW3 like one room over from the ballroom.
I loathed the timer aspect of the mission. I don't really enjoy rushing through areas and I have terrible navigation skills. Even with a map I easily forget where I've been and how to get back lol. I like to explore and take my sweet time. I think I would have preferred less collecting of statues that I didn't know I had to keep for later and much more verbal jousting; that part of it I really liked.
That's not outmaneuvering. That's handing them PR ammunition to paint you like a villain on the level of Corypheus for entire population of Orlais and to lesser extent worldwide. Which as far as politics go is, if anything, the opposite of "outmaneuvering".It's really funny because it seems to me that politically you can out maneuver them in about two seconds by telling them that you always have the option to not close rifts in Olesian territory and you can let demons spew from them invading their towns and cities, their precious homes and attack everything they hold dear.
I thought it was an interesting twist and actually hoped to see more of it. My only qualm with this chapters is that the whole mechanic seems to have very little consequence or dynamic to it.
In general I had sort-of hoped there'd be a bit more to this chapter than the handful of dialogues, combat and item-searching it offered. But it was fun nonetheless. But it might have better to more clearly communicate what is expected from the player.
Liked it a lot, but hated the timer.
I never said that the quest is perfect, but I think FaWa has the right answer for you:
We are clearly not using the same concept of what a Role Playing experience is. This quest has a correct and incorrect way to proceed. If you do it the wrong way, you just get a game over and have to then do it the correct way to proceed.
IF there were a real consequence for not playing by the rules of "the game", then I would agree with you. If you simply didn't toady to the nob's and you lost Orlais and the civil war continued; that would be role playing. If you could just tell them all to **** off and went back to Skyhold; that would be Role Playing. If you could just ignore the nob's and make them work through your intermediaries, as they do to you (as a show of your own power and influence); that would be Role Playing. If you then also had the option to do the quest how it currently is; that would be Role Playing.
As it is, there is one role. You play it. That is the Final Fantasy school of RPGs. If playing a pretty pre-rendered cutscene is RPing, then I'll choose something where the roles can vary.
I believe when they talk about role playing, they mean it in the sense your inquisitor has to "role play" a certain person the court wishes to see, no matter what sort of personality you happen to role play for them. It's dual level "roleplayception" so to speak, with the stakes set so high that your inquisitor has no real choice but to pass their "role play" challenge.We are clearly not using the same concept of what a Role Playing experience is. This quest has a correct and incorrect way to proceed. If you do it the wrong way, you just get a game over and have to then do it the correct way to proceed.
Guest_Shove Dragons_*
I love this quest. Never had issues with running out of court approval (and I was an elf). I typically max out at 100 by doing virtually nothing, aside from shmoozing and solving a few minor issues for NPC's. I think this quest is a good break from all the idiotic grinding and power fantasy crap.
Personally, this was my favorite quest in Inquisition. I'd probably play an entire game dedicated to playing The Grand Game in Orlais. Of course, I prefer diplomacy and manipulation over more aggressive tactics.
I played through it as a human mage, and I had 100 court approval as I finished it.
Personally, this was my favorite quest in Inquisition. I'd probably play an entire game dedicated to playing The Grand Game in Orlais. Of course, I prefer diplomacy and manipulation over more aggressive tactics.
I played through it as a human mage, and I had 100 court approval as I finished it.
same. I am hoping that we can have much more politics and intrigue in the future
Retour en haut
