45 réponses à ce sujet

[Ecol-i]

As I have said on a few other threads, I think the real problem here is that Bioware is really bad at writing mutually supportive relationships between our characters and their companions. Most of the time, the writers don't even try -- it's all a one-way street in which we perpetually comfort and support and encourage and solve problems for the all companions while hardly ever getting even a single "are you all right" or "what do you think" in return. This is all the more grating, and makes me feel all the more left out, in the light of some absolutely beautifully written and acted companion friendships, which are chock-full of mutual curiosity and concern and camaraderie. (I think Cole's fondness for alliterations may be rubbing off on me.) The trio of Cassandra-Cole-Solas is a fantastic example. Then there's Varric's and Dorian's silly bets and poking fun. Cass' and Blackwall's warrior bonding. And of course, Cole caring for everyone else's hurts and being fascinated by what he sees in people.

 

We get none of that, none of the characterization springing from it. That is why our character's can feel so shallow and hollow, and so painfully disconnected from everyone and everything around them that we might as well not be there most of the time.

 

In short: I don't want Bioware to define my characters' past for me, I want them to write opportunities for protagonist/companion friendships that actually deserve the label, that are as touching and thoughtful and funny and above all MUTUAL as the bonds between the companions themselves. That is where the depth and the roleplaying comes from.

Agreed; and party banter while exploring should include the inquisitor just as much as the rest of the party. There are, for example, some moments when you can join in the conersation by clicking the right joystick and give an opinion (on consoles), but those are way too few and can easly be missed (it happened once in the middle of a damn melee with some red templars :-/). Throwing in little things like that can make a huge difference 'cause it actually lets you participate in conversations you have very little control of (as opposed to regular ones of course, where it's you who starts, sets the course, and ends the conv.).

 

The roof moments with Sera are pretty nice though ...

[Helios969]

I'll support anything the expands in-game story content, (my credit card is on standby;)  I absolutely love the game but it is way too imbalanced.  I'd say we need at least another 25 hours of story dispersed throughout...and the same post-game DLC(s).  Oh, yeah, more dragons, tougher dragons with more random attack patterns...one that spits acid or poisonous gas, (maybe a story-centric Nevarran dragon-hunting venture with Cassandra - a plea from her Uncle Vestalus that the Necropolis is being threatened by a rare-type dragon.)

[LightningPoodle]

I'll support anything the expands in-game story content, (my credit card is on standby;)  I absolutely love the game but it is way too imbalanced.  I'd say we need at least another 25 hours of story dispersed throughout...and the same post-game DLC(s).  Oh, yeah, more dragons, tougher dragons with more random attack patterns...one that spits acid or poisonous gas, (maybe a story-centric Nevarran dragon-hunting venture with Cassandra - a plea from her Uncle Vestalus that the Necropolis is being threatened by a rare-type dragon.)

 

25 hours seems about right for me, but it would have to be story that could be played alongside the main story, otherwise I just wouldn't get to see it at all.

[ctd757]

I'd love it. Especially for the human and dwarf since they ate from big families. Qunari and Dalish would be really fun too. I do wish I could've had more for my Dalish

[Helios969]

25 hours seems about right for me, but it would have to be story that could be played alongside the main story, otherwise I just wouldn't get to see it at all.

Yeah, that's a given.  I think the Crestwood area is a good model for how to expand in-game content.  Expanding or adding companion-related content is another approach.  Giving Harding (and making her fully romanceable instead of the 90% she currently sits) a major storyquest would be another good one.  I even think having a pre-game DLC in which we get to meet the Divine and other dignitaries would be great; it would make the destruction much more meaningful (as opposed to walking up with glowy-thingy on our hand which must be particularly perplexing to new players to the DA universe.)  There are endless possibilities to expanding (and thereby improving) the overall experience.

[Korva]

Agreed; and party banter while exploring should include the inquisitor just as much as the rest of the party. There are, for example, some moments when you can join in the conersation by clicking the right joystick and give an opinion (on consoles), but those are way too few and can easly be missed (it happened once in the middle of a damn melee with some red templars :-/). Throwing in little things like that can make a huge difference 'cause it actually lets you participate in conversations you have very little control of (as opposed to regular ones of course, where it's you who starts, sets the course, and ends the conv.).

Agreed. I had exactly one of those banters, where I could pitch in with Cole and Dorian, and I got one between Solas and Cole about Solas' past regrets ("They are not gone as long as you remember, but you could let them go") that I apparently should have been able to join in on, but never got an option to do so and missed a line or two of explanations as a result. Sigh.

 

There should have been a lot more of those. Best example: Cole asking Cassandra where the Inquisition would go to keep people safe if we stop helping and go bad. Isn't that just the sort of thing that the Inquisitor would/should also be concerned about? I really wanted to tell the two that I swear to be vigilant and always listen to their concerns and advice, as they are my most trusted friends and confidants.

[KaiserShep]

I wouldn't mind having an option to that to the effect of: "I'll go light on the iron fist, I swear."

[ThreeF]

I got one between Viviene and Dorian. I wonder how many of those exist in the game.

[EmissaryofLies]

In theory I'd enjoy it. Though I am worried that after such a gripping story that Bioware's Inquisitior would assume direct control, and go back to being the same wooden protagonist that I do not care for.

[Delilah Faye]

I'd like to meet the clan Lavellan keeper.

[jellobell]

I'd love something like this. Especially if we're able to bring our companions along and there's a lot of interaction with them.

 

An Arlathvehn DLC would be amazing.

[veeia]

I would have loved this in the game, but I think it's too late at this point to do a backstory DLC. It would be great if we had a more Quizzie character based DLC tho...just something where the PC gets to be less decisive reactive leader and more of a person.

[Melca36]

THis should be a free DLC

 

we were cheated out of a background story and they were scrapped

since that means they wouldnt have to work on the backgrounds from scratch and on the disk there is the merc band for the qunari inquiz

it should be free

 

getting more money to work on something more?

nope

get to work 

 

 

They were scrapped because people wanted multiple races. So look at the people who hate playing humans.

[DuskWanderer]

I like the idea of a personal DLC. You could set it in the Fade, the dreaming Fade, not physically inside. Tie it to Solas, and you've got the first (or possibly the last) DLC.

[jlb524]

I'd like something to make the Inquisitor less hella boring but I don't see this happening. I think it was mentioned that SP DLC would be more open world areas with a story.

oh well

[Lady Artifice]

I would have loved this in the game, but I think it's too late at this point to do a backstory DLC. It would be great if we had a more Quizzie character based DLC tho...just something where the PC gets to be less decisive reactive leader and more of a person.

 

That's really the main thing for me. I can understand why someone wouldn't want the character controlled too much for them...some people hated that Hawke didn't ever really feel like theirs. 

 

But the truth is, I wasn't thinking of anything being forced on the player. Ideally, I was imagining a scene where the Inquisitor sets the tone for the encounter in the same way you could set the tone in the relationship with Tamlen during the Dalish Elf origin, or with Gorim during the Dwarven noble origin. 

 

Anyway, I realize that what I'm really wanting is for a significant history to be established for the PC outside of the in-game events, and how unlikely that is at this point. The scenario you suggest would be an acceptable substitute. 

[veeia]

Yeah I definitely got that's where you're coming from. I mean headcanon is great and I embrace it wholeheartedly, but it does make me disappointed to feel like I have to fill in all the blanks. I would just like more personal/specific conversations in general, like Mage Trev getting to decide how they felt about their first enchanter with Vivienne, or Adaar talking about Qunari life with Iron Bull, or even just more layered conversations about Quizzies religious beliefs, since that's one of the biggest parts of the game. I'm also fond of that conversation with Sera about whether or not you're actually afraid of spiders, haha.

My favorite scene in the game is that convo with Josie at Haven where you get all those class/race specific options. I wish more convos had been like that. There's just not a lot of convos where you get to establish anything about Quizzie. You're almost always making a big decision or reacting to a companion, and both of those things let you express a general personality and attitude, but they don't let you play with it, really. It's all about the present, but that feels oddly empty, because we are only who we are right now because of how we have lived our entire lives. Which is something the companions get, but not Quizzie.

I get all this is difficult to balance, esp with VA budgets, but I hope any DLC does allow us to just...idk, dig deeper into our own character and let them be an equal participant in the narrative as the rest of the characters, instead of strangely detached from it all.

But I do think it's too late for a background one. I'd certainly play one! I just don't know if they'd even consider it. They don't seem interested in doing anything like the origins again, which is a pity. DA:O didn't even offer the best RP experience on the main narrative, but you didn't even notice it so much because by the time you left the Origin, you'd developed this fascinating and unique character and you knew exactly who they were.

[Korva]

I'll have to state a different opinion again. The vaunted origin stories didn't actually mean much to me at all because they were so pointless, so completely disconnected from the actual narrative. Were some of them enjoyable? Sure. But they didn't go anywhere and ended up feeling like a complete waste of resources as a result. And the one time I thought it would go somewhere, would allow me to express myself, was in a conversation with Alistair ... which immediately swung around to be all about him and his past and his feelings and his needs. Of course.

 

Unless and until Bioware fix this mind-boggling and frustrating refusal to let protagonist/NPC (joinable or not) conversations and relationships be mutually supportive and caring, no amount of backstory blather is going to mean more to me than a dead rat's last fart. If anything, it only leaves me more aggravated, like it did in Origins. A red herring, a false hope.

 

(Admittedly, I remember a grand total of four conversations in this game which allowed me, very briefly and with no impact on anything, to express something personal. Josie asking about my background at Haven, then about the mark at Skyhold, Cassandra asking about the mark right after proclaiming the Inquisition, and Mother Giselle reacting to whatever the player says about faith during In Your Heart Shall Burn. I guess that's some progress. Still feels like a joke compared to all the deep and meaningful mutual bonding the companions get with each other. There were a few other conversations which could have allowed us to express our character more, but which immediately turned to be all about the NPC again.)

 

Edit: Adding to the above, it was also good to get Cole's "read" on me during one of his early dialogues, and that he acknowledged how hard it must be. It's a particular shame that the writers didn't let him of all people express mutual concern and interest in the protagonist.

[veeia]

Yeah for me, the idea to include the origin content in the ongoing game was exciting because it would allow that background stuff to me more tied into the actual narrative....which I think would allow you to have more supportive two way relationships, since you're defining your character as the companions are explaining who they are.

They just didn't deliver on it. I mean I remember some dev saying you got the same amount of origin specific content as Origins, just spread throughout he game, which would be so cool if that were true on a meaningful level (which there were tiny bits of...for example, I loved the Dorian Cadash specific convo) but it mostly manifested for me as Orlesians going "ugh, a dwarf/elf/Qunari/mage"...which didn't really give much depth.

[The Loyal Nub]

The thing with personal DLC is that basically each Inquisitor's backstory had been crafted in a way that leaves each player the freedom to headcannon. I sincerely believe a good deal of things are left unsaid by the dev so that each of us can choose our own backstory, the relationship we have with people from our "Origin". (ex: Trevelyan with his/her family relationship, etc).

 

Doing a personal DLC might be a good idea, but if it's released now after people made their own headcannon it might be... well... crush several people's headcannon. In DA:O it's different since the Warden's personal story is presented as prologue.

 

It might depend on a carefully set section of Keep questions that would aim to provide the widest possible latitude to the player in crafting the shape the dlc experience will take.

[Lady Artifice]

Yeah I definitely got that's where you're coming from. I mean headcanon is great and I embrace it wholeheartedly, but it does make me disappointed to feel like I have to fill in all the blanks. I would just like more personal/specific conversations in general, like Mage Trev getting to decide how they felt about their first enchanter with Vivienne, or Adaar talking about Qunari life with Iron Bull, or even just more layered conversations about Quizzies religious beliefs, since that's one of the biggest parts of the game. I'm also fond of that conversation with Sera about whether or not you're actually afraid of spiders, haha.

My favorite scene in the game is that convo with Josie at Haven where you get all those class/race specific options. I wish more convos had been like that. There's just not a lot of convos where you get to establish anything about Quizzie. You're almost always making a big decision or reacting to a companion, and both of those things let you express a general personality and attitude, but they don't let you play with it, really. It's all about the present, but that feels oddly empty, because we are only who we are right now because of how we have lived our entire lives. Which is something the companions get, but not Quizzie.

I get all this is difficult to balance, esp with VA budgets, but I hope any DLC does allow us to just...idk, dig deeper into our own character and let them be an equal participant in the narrative as the rest of the characters, instead of strangely detached from it all.

But I do think it's too late for a background one. I'd certainly play one! I just don't know if they'd even consider it. They don't seem interested in doing anything like the origins again, which is a pity. DA:O didn't even offer the best RP experience on the main narrative, but you didn't even notice it so much because by the time you left the Origin, you'd developed this fascinating and unique character and you knew exactly who they were.

 

I'm very grateful for that opportunity for characterization. It's so worth taking your time there.

 

Another great conversation like the is with Mother Gisele after finding out the truth about your mark, and about what happened in the Fade. My first Inquisitor had been denying that they were the Herald since the beginning, and Gisele suggested that they must feel validated.

 

The ability to reply that it was quite the opposite, that she had hoped--despite her protests--that it might all be true. It made a difference. It was a tremendously personal and revealing moment. So well done.