81 réponses à ce sujet

[Hiemoth]

I personally feel the side-quest quality is tied to the game having a very different approach to side quests than the previous two installments, which makes comparing them with each other very difficult. Before continuing, I should mention that my favorite side quests were in DA2, but I was mostly okay with the side quests in DAI.

 

Almost all the side quests in DAO and DA2 were almost completely independent of the actual story going or served as world building. In DAI, however, each map is treated as a larger quest or a story and almost all the side quests within that map contribute to that story. When you are exploring the Fallow Mire, the texts and side quests tell you what happened to the villagers there. When you are in the Hinterlands, the sidequests and stories there tell how much the Mage/Templar conflict has cost everyone. They help building up those areas and maps as living, breathing worlds where multitude of things are happening, but the central themes are driven by the larger conflict affecting that area in some manner. Because of this, they rarely had those kinds of choices at the end, because it was a story of a place which usually culminated in to the judgement.

 

 Now to me, this worked to a degree and enjoyed finding that story, but it had a kind of a consequence of most resolutions feeling really anti-climatic. The Crestwood rift is to me the clearest example of this, where I fight through a fort to make it to the dam, so I can lower the water, then through a haunted village to beautifully crafted tunnels and dwarven ruins to finally close that accursed rift. And then it just, you know, closes and I just walk away. It honestly left me kind of just standing there for a moment confused that was that supposed to be it. Then I go to the village, where the mayor has fled and then I do an operation to judge him. It just felt really mundane, despite the epicness of the task, like even the heroes were shrugging about it.

 

 I guess it leads to another complaint I have of this game in that there were very few Hell Yeah moments, at least for me personally, compared DAO or DA2, which was largely due to the way they wanted to tell this story.

[Hobbes]

It may be that others imagined that those quests you evaluate as simple fetch and carry without depth were missions whereby the inquisitor gains influence and power. Some people believe there is power in popular support. The U.S. Military dedicates personnel towards winning the 'hearts and minds' of the people. Not everyone is a prince, but everyone you can sway, everyone who afterward speaks well of you is a gain in your political power and prestige. Sara has a point when she talks about the little people: they do matter. Doing a favor for somebody will be remembered, and the Inquisitor will be thought well of among the populace. Take care of the people and they are far less likely to rise up and rebel. Take care of the people and your enemy will have a rough time winning them over to his side.

 

You may well think everyday people stupid and beneath you, but my Inquisitor enjoys his good reputation. I even imagine it wise.

Which is fair enough, I personally prefer the depth to be with more personal stories and interactions.

It's arguably fine for those fetch quests to be there, as others argue, you can ignore them to some degree and they help with with the Inquisitions power etc etc.  The problem is that, at least for myself and perhaps others, it isn't balanced well with those other types of side-quests.  Fine, have those simpler fetch quests alongside the others, but I don't like that they have effectively replaced the more interactive ones almost altogether

[berrieh]

Which is fair enough, I personally prefer the depth to be with more personal stories and interactions.

It's arguably fine for those fetch quests to be there, as others argue, you can ignore them to some degree and they help with with the Inquisitions power etc etc.  The problem is that, at least for myself and perhaps others, it isn't balanced well with those other types of side-quests.  Fine, have those simpler fetch quests alongside the others, but I don't like that they have effectively replaced the more interactive ones almost altogether

 

What side quests in DAO were terribly interactive? DA2 had some really good secondary quests that felt like they were in the actual story (though the ones in Act 1 you basically have to do to get the money and a lot of the good ones later are extensions of those quests) but it seems like it had way less main story if you don't count the really good secondary quests. But DAO doesn't really have more interactive secondary quests. It has more side quests that use the cinematic camera, but not more that allow you dialogue choices and so forth. 

[Hobbes]

Let's see...

I would say at the start with the prisoner, the bandits on the road, Bevins quest, the Halla, Cammen and Gheyna, the man with the cursed Werewolf wife, the dwarf in Dusttown with the baby, Dagna, Ruck, the Chatry in Orzamaar, the Crimson Oars in Denerim....I mean I could go on.

 

I'm not asking for big epic stories, I just want to be able to stop and interact with these people, make some choices.  Define my character, let me care one way or another about what I'm doing.  DA:O definitely had fetch quests of its own, but it was balanced out with other types as well.

[berrieh]

Let's see...

I would say at the start with the prisoner, the bandits on the road, Bevins quest, the Halla, Cammen and Gheyna, the man with the cursed Werewolf wife, the dwarf in Dusttown with the baby, Dagna, Ruck, the Chatry in Orzamaar, the Crimson Oars in Denerim....I mean I could go on.

 

I'm not asking for big epic stories, I just want to be able to stop and interact with these people, make some choices.  Define my character, let me care one way or another about what I'm doing.  DA:O definitely had fetch quests of its own, but it was balanced out with other types as well.

 

I don't want to deconstruct everyone of those quests, so Let's take Dagna:

 

I can either help Dagna or tell her no. She has a few pieces of dialogue yes. How is she different than Clemence at the tavern in Redcliffe who has lines of dialogue too and who I can recruit or not? 

 

OK, let's take the prisoner. I have a few options there. But I have a few options with the Cult in the Hinterlands too - 3, in fact, in terms of what I ask of them. 

 

There are deeper quests in Inquisition than these, for sure - longer, more dialogue, etc. But I feel like people are finding the smaller quests in DAO "more" just due to cinematics somehow, and that seems very odd to me. 

 

Especially with judgments, and with the deep companion choices I can make, I feel like I get to make more impactful choices in DAI than DAO. 

[Hobbes]

I suppose where we differ is in what we are looking for, like you say the tranquil is more just a yes I want you or a no, he seemed rather inconsequential.  With Dagna it was also more than just talking to it once and then done, at least for most.  She was able to leave enough of an impact to be memorable enough to appear in DA:I.  With the cult the choices were pretty much just variations of something that resulted in the same thing.

 

The judgments, yes I'll agree they were fairly well done, although I suppose I personally look at them as something else other than a side-quest.  I would like to see more of that sort of impact and choice with the people in the outside world

[berrieh]

I suppose where we differ is in what we are looking for, like you say the tranquil is more just a yes I want you or a no, he seemed rather inconsequential.  With Dagna it was also more than just talking to it once and then done, at least for most.  She was able to leave enough of an impact to be memorable enough to appear in DA:I.  With the cult the choices were pretty much just variations of something that resulted in the same thing.

 

The judgments, yes I'll agree they were fairly well done, although I suppose I personally look at them as something else other than a side-quest.  I would like to see more of that sort of impact and choice with the people in the outside world

 

Most of the judgments come from side quests, though. Some come from main quests, so I see them as part of that quest, but a lot come from side quests and people you capture through those. 

 

I find plenty of the characters in Inqusition memorable personally. I mean Dagna is great. But so is Stargazer, so is Ritts, so is Horsemaster Dennet, so is the Dragon Professor Serault, so is frankly even someone like the Enchantress near the Crossroads or the woman who wants to join the Wardens near Crestwood. There are lots of NPCs I care about in both games. I only care about Dagna more because she's in two games.