Then what would have been Act 1?
Granted, having subplots wrap up near the main plot is a pretty good way to get a powerful ending. But I don't think Mage/Templars could have carried the entire thing while Corypheus was also trying to destroy the world. It could have carried up to Act 3 like Origins did. But then the formula might have been too much like Origins.
I'm not so sure, only because we dealt so much with the Mage vs. Templar conflict during Dragon Age 2. I do think however that this game has a lot of great ideas compressed into short main quests that make the main plot feel all over the place, and weak in that respect. The war between the mages and templars, the civil war in Orlais, the breach, the demon army, the ancient elves. I just wish it was more focused on a single conflict instead of me feeling like I'm running all over the place solving everyone's problems while dealing with a fussy ancient magister.
To me it felt like they were trying to tie up loose ends and bring previous plotlines to a close as quickly as possible so that they can move onto something else/somewhere else in DA4.
I agree. I wish they made each zone more heavily tied to each main quest.
Hinterlands should have had an actual side-quest directly tied to the Mage-Templar war, instead of scattered quests. Scattered quests are nice though, but not enough.
Exalted Plains should have had a big side-quest where you side with one side of the civil war, and get invited by its leader after completing the zone to the Ball, to publicly support them.
Western Approach should have included Adamant in it, and be more tied to etc etc.
I liked the quests as we did them, but it was disappointing to solve each major problem with almost no effort; it ended so quickly, I felt like the issues weren't as bad as they actually are/were.
I don't agree that Act I should've been the whole plot, but I do think there could've been a better sense of tension and danger from the arrival at Skyhold onwards.
I wish the Mage/Templar had more impact then what it has.Just the Hinterlands being affected by it made it seem small. And I really hate the sequel/DLC baiting that's happening now.
You mean I wasn't able to unite all of Thedas in one big Kumbaya moment?I wish the Mage/Templar had more impact then what it has.Just the Hinterlands being affected by it made it seem small. And I really hate the sequel/DLC baiting that's happening now.
I felt Act 1 was the slowest part of the game. Corypheus was definitely a wasted opportunity. Like this dude supposedly is one of THE Magisters that stormed the Golden City, and the best title they could give him was "The Elder One"? Like he supposedly enters the Fade physically and takes the throne of the Black City and becomes a god in the future. It would've been great to explore that since it raises a ton of questions - where is the so-called Maker, then if he isn't opposing Corypheus?
I actually liked the twists in the Temple of Mythal - especially after we learned of Flemeth- and would definitely would've liked to see them explore the world of the Eluvian more. I mean, they'd been alluding to its mystical power ever since DA:O
My biggest beef with the progression of the game was how all of the sidequests contributed literally nothing to the main story. Technically, we could have just stuck with the main quests from start to finish and not visit the other locations, and we still would have ended the wars and chaos in the world. The only reasons we had to visit other places is because of the Power requirement, and recommended player level.
Wouldn't it be nice if doing Varric's Red Lyrium chain resulted in weaker/less Red Templar enemies (or conversely, not doing them means fighting tougher Red Templars)? Or if doing Dorian's Tevinter quests meant having less Tevinters support the Venatori, and thus have less Venatori to deal with?
Or what if Skyhold actually generated income and how much generated income depends on what quests we've done, and how we approached the war table missions (in Neverwinter Nights 2, which is a game that Bioware had a hand in, your fortress generated gold usable by the player, but it depended on how you managed said fortress). Instead, we just hear Josephine going on and on about how Skyhold is making money, and how Skyhold can pay for everything, Bull's Charger's included, yet she doesn't give us any money. The Inquisitor needs shiny gear too you know! The biggest insult is when you do the gold war table mission, and we only get like 100-200 gold, while Josephine says in the report that Skyhold's coffers are filled yada yada yadaa.
Maybe the story could have been better to me if the breach was the antagonist and not Corypheus. Why did someone have to cause the breach? Couldn't the widespread death caused by the two concurrent wars along with rampant magic use have caused it? Then ending the Mage / Templar war and even the Civil War could have weakened the breach enough to close it at the very end.
[snip]
I mean, this villain wasn't even competent.
Now that you mention it, the nightmare (or was it fear?) demon could have been the big boss of the game. For starters, it's already established that war and violence in general thins the Veil. That could easily be worked into causing a gigantic hole in the sky. Then,Plus, the thinning Veil means the demon can influence the real world more than ever, and it also helps that the wars and demons falling out of the sky makes everyone afraid. Yup, that could totally work as a world-threatening plot.
Hated the Mage-Templar plotline. A stupid war that no one even in universe cared for, that was shoehorned into happening. Glad it was over as soon as it was.
The problem I have with the story is none of the story missions have direct connections to any of the zones aside from the Hinterlands. If for example Western Approach was directly involved with the events at Adamant, or the stuff in the Dales with the Orlesian civil war, the main quests would have felt bigger and the zones more connected to the overarching story. As it is you can march into the masquerade ball (that you can't even wear a mask to even though it generates one in your bag...) as soon as Act 2 starts and resolve the entire civil war plot without setting foot in the Dales. It just feels wrong.
Maybe there were too many whiners complaining about having to more or less thoroughly explore each zone in DA:O and they wanted to give those people the option of racing through the story at light-speed. Hell, you can probably complete a speed run of this game faster than DA2. The zones themselves are huge, and there are some interesting stories happening in the background, but nothing ties them into the main plot in a significant enough way. For example the Hissing Wastes; the Venatori are doing... something there, and you need to stop them. Sort of. But the game never penalizes you for skipping it. No mention of marauding gangs of Red Templars if you skip Emprise Du Lion. No nagging engagements with the Freemen of the Dales for avoiding Emerald Graves.
It doesn't help that because the main story missions can be completed the moment Act 2/3 open, they are extremely low level and thus pathetically easy. It's hard to feel threatened by anything when the game's pacing is set up for people who ignore all the content the game has to offer in favor of clearing as quickly as possible.
I don't know...I enjoyed Adamant way more than either the mage or templar missions, and I also loved the winter palace.
I honestly felt like the game was way better after act 1...maybe I'm in the minority, but the end of act 1 going into act 2 is basically what sold the game for me. If that transition didn't happen...I doubt I would have liked the game as much. Act 1 also only has access to the 2 weakest zones in the game IMO. The hinterlands and Storms coast.
One of the reasons i did not like the fact they wrapped it up so quickly is because the attack on Haven did not have the emotional impact it should've had.
It seems like they ment to use the attack on Haven the same way they used the Thessia mission in Mass Effect 3. THAT loss actually felt like a blow, i was gutted after that. One of the reasons was because it was so late in the game, i was already heavily invested in the storyline. The attack on Haven came so soon that the lost battle felt flat on an emotional aspect. Could just be me though...
I don't think they should have left out the act 2 and 3 storyline ideas, but they should have greatly expanded on all of them. Act 1's plot of mage vrs. templars was very rushed. The fact you only deal with one faction, and the other one becomes slaves to Corypheus is kind of weak.
I'd like it if we would have gotten to do both quests in some form or another. Such as the Templar quest would be much more difficult if you did the mage one first, and you don't have an option to ally but just defeat. -shrug- I don't know, but it could have been done better!
I felt like the warden's and Orlais civil war however got plenty of coverage, especially since a lot of the side quests tie into both themes (more the war though then the Wardens). Act 3 is a tough call though, as in a way the themes of it are explored through the game, but at the same time aspects of it (Flemmeth, acient elves, Elven gods) were so facinating that there could always be room for more!
I don't agree that Act I should've been the whole plot, but I do think there could've been a better sense of tension and danger from the arrival at Skyhold onwards.
That is something I can agree with.
I just wish there was a quest indication or some attempt on the Inquisition to see both sides if you choose the other in Act 1. The journal just said "you missed your chance, nyah~~~" on the mages after I finished with the templars, and I was like ok :|
Then Haven happened and I went back to Redcliffe way late into the game because I never had a cause to explore other than to just explore... It looked fine even though a lot of stuff happened... I didn't really feel the impact of the destruction of "what could have been."
I liked Act 2. I liked Adamant because storming a keep/fortress is always fun. Also beginning of What the Pride Had Wrought, I didn't feel that last hurrah like I did in Origins, even though the cutscenes were pretty cool, because I just didn't feel the impact of the Orlesian alliance I just made couple of hours ago. Maybe the environments were too big and the population too small, idk.
Until the twist at Act 3, everything felt like just moving through the motions and couple of "ok, sure..." at times.
Regarding Leliana:
Spoiler
Huh.... Never thought of it that way. 
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