362 réponses à ce sujet

[Vilegrim]

Or you can ask for protags like Hawke and stop whining about the vo personality like in da2.

 

 

so two terrible choices then, either a bland voice that sounds half asleep most of the time (somehow managing to do this while shouting at some points) and has very little choice of action, or a completely ineffectual idiot with head desk levels of blindness about what is clearly and easily seen coming.

[Xyxlplic]

I can only assume that a lot of folks lack imagination. I have three Inquisitors - Human Male Mage, Female Elf Mage, and Female Dwarf Rogue. All three of them feel different to me when I play because I make different choices for them and they subsequently display different emotions/reactions. None of them feel 'bland'. All of them feel much more like a character that I created than Hawke did - much as I enjoyed my FemHawke.

 

As for the Warden - I loved both my Warden characters but they were pure headcannon. The Warden in game is completely emotionless due to lacking a voice and/or facial expressions.

[Lebanese Dude]

 

I couldn't care less about realism or the protag being relatable I just want to have fun (like I did with The Warden and Hawke in different ways) and not be bored as hell (like I was with the Inquisitor)

 

I can understand this. I don't know if it would have worked with the tone of the game though. DAI is more "serious" overall. (I use that term loosely)

 

More focus is put on interaction as well. Some people prefer all the focus be on the character. That's also fair.

 

It's simply not what DAI went for though. It's an equally valid approach.

[Draining Dragon]

I can understand this. I don't know if it would have worked with the tone of the game though. DAI is more "serious" overall. (I use that term loosely)
 
More focus is put on interaction as well. Some people prefer all the focus be on the character. That's also fair.
 
It's simply not what DAI went for though. It's an equally valid approach.

I'm not sure I understand what you're trying to say. Can you give examples of how DAI is more "serious" and how it puts more focus on interaction than, say, DAO?

[Spirited Treasure]

I wrote this in response to a similar comment yesterday, so I'm going to copy-paste my thoughts here as I sense the relevance:

I totally agree with this and also:

 

They said that they were looking at Skyrim, but in Skyrim I am not FORCED into the main quest or the civil war. In fact I never have to do them at all.

In DA:I I am FORCED .. I -have to- do that main quest which to me, the world maps and war table feel totally disconected from the end game..

I don't -care- what happens to the Inquisitor..

[Raiil]

I gather it's because of the theme of the story. You can rp how evil  you are by playing up to a certain point, and then not playing because Leliana has poisoned you in your sleep.

 

The Warden and Hawke did have more flexibility, but they lacked a lot of options as well. You can't actually slaughter all the citizens of Denerim, even if you're a righteously pissed off city elf. Nor can you talk Anders into going to Tevinter, save your mother, or find a third option in Kirkwall.

 

You make a deal near the beginning of the story, where you agree to stay and help the Inquisition. You shake on it. BioWare presumes on your behalf- much like they presume certain aspects of your previous life- because they can't actually give you full reign without destroying the story.

[TheJediSaint]

The only thing bland about my Inquisitor is his taste in off-duty clothes.

[Chuvvy]

Because he's a protagonist with a player defined personality, and those characters are inherently boring. "Well what about X character" That character is the exception.

 

Let me explain my thoughts on it.

 

Basically, when a player has the ability to control a protagonist, the character will suffer for that accessibility. In that, the character needs to be somewhat unoffensive so that people don't hate him. The way bioware tends to go about this is to make the character boring. This is also common in other protagonists, and even some secondary or tertiary characters (Jacob).

 

Rarely do you see a character that has serious dialog options, that's actually good. The notable exceptions to me being Lee from TWD, and to a lesser extent Jensen from Deus Ex Human Revolution. So, I don't see it being an inherent issue with dialog options, I see it as being easier to just make them somewhat bland so most people will just be okay with the character. It's because of this that I have yet to seriously like a protagonist from a bioware game. You generally can't characterize them well.

 

The lack of being able to seriously characterize yourself is an issue. I've long thought that Bioware needs to do at least one conversation per game with your LI/Bestie that allows you to really fully establish your characters' background. Where instead of you asking your companions about their past, they ask you about yours. They did this somewhat with Josie in Haven, but it was a minor side conversation, and it wasn't quite as fleshed out as I would have liked. Certainly a step in the right direction.

 

They did however do a very good job at allowing your character to voice his or her beliefs on mages, templars, and religion. You can even potentially create a small story arc for yourself, though characters won't mention it. For example, starting out as a fervent believer, and then having a crisis after the events at Haven. Or starting out on the fence about the whole thing, and then being convinced by Blackwall to adopt the title of Herald not for yourself, but for the people so they have something to believe in.

 

Also, to seriously characterize the protagonist you'd need to basically write three characters, but have them fit together into one. Meaning, you'd need to write the most in depth character in the game, and have all the dialog from the different personalities be able to flow naturally through out a conversation. It would require good writing, acting, and arguably the most important aspect would be direction. To insure that the character would flow between one mood to the next, without it seeming jarring would require very good directing. Simply because you have a third party (the player) as a variable, who can change the tone of the main character at his or her whim.

 

The actor needs to be able to emote, but he also can't be too expressive because it might catch players off guard and result in something unexpected for them. For example, femshep at Tali's trial caught me off guard with the response "I'm not a lawyer" she screams it and gets very indignant. Whereas Maleshep seems to be more annoyed and a bit nervous. Which is more in line with what I was expecting. The tonal emoticons, or whatever you'd like to call them, are very important and should theoretically, allow for more emotion. Though, it would be nice if they had a quick tutorial at the beginning that would actually tell you what they meant. (A quick digression, I think Deus Ex HR handled the dialog wheel the best. An adjective to describe the tone, and if you hovered over the option it would tell you the dialog. Bioware should implement that.)

 

All and all, it's a balancing act.

 

I think the closest they got was Hawke, mainly because the "persistent personality" system really did make him feel different and unique depending on how you played. It's a shame that they dropped that feature for DAI, because it was one of the very few positive changes in DA2.

 

So, in short, it's hard yo.

[DarthLaxian]

easily the worst Bioware protagonist for me
Even though there seem to be more dialouge options for the Inquisitor to choose from most are useless since there are very few intersting RP options

We can't even be ruthless/evil (don't tell it wouldn't be realistic because he/she is the leader of this big organization, a freaking dwarf can be the herald of andraste it doesn't get more ridiculous than that), and sarcastic Inquisitor is just not funny

Hell the Warden has more depth even though he has no voice..( and Hawke is of course 10×better)

They decided to do a mix between the Warden and Hawke but failed
also headcanon doesn't count

 

Well...

 

The Warden is better (note: I only have one problem with the warden - that there's no option to run away during the time it takes to travel to Ostagar...my mage for example would have petrified Duncan and given him some sleeping draught or something in order to escape (no: I would not have killed him because I think Duncan is an honorable man, even if he thinks that the ends justify the means (something which - for me - in most cases is not true))...of course the blight would have caught up with my hero sooner or later and though the story would have gone on just like it did...I just hated being forced into becoming a warden -.-) than both Hawke and the Inquisitor (not having a voice is a bonus IMHO - as it takes away the stupid paraphrasing of the dialogue wheel and does not constantly make me wish my character sounded differently (like say I am thinking the character should act cold in a certain situation but the shout something in a fit -.-))

 

Hawke? - Well, I don't know...the Inquisitor at least has some choices and is not just at the wrong place at the right (or was it wrong? ^^) time...not that the choices of both characters matter (which is kind of sad, that's why the warden comes out ahead of them both)...It's hard for me to decide which of them really is the better character (oh, there's one thing against the Warden: The world is coming apart and he/she does not show up to help (if they haven't done the sacrifice of course!)? - Not something I think is cool, not in the slightest - even more so as a I think my Warden is a lot more powerful than Hawke and I get saddled with the later, again - after not really liking him as my protagonist in DA2 -.-), does not make them look all that heroic -.-)...but Hawke feels more like a tool, the Inquisitor at feels like they are their own man at least sometimes (you can after all disregard advice given by your advisors/companions...)

[DarthEmpress]

I honestly think the Inquisitor is a good balance between Hawke and the Warden.  Hawke never really felt like mine, and I felt too much like the Warden with the lack of emotions/voice.  So the Inquisitor achieved the perfect balance, I think.  The only thing I would want added is interactive background quests for the Inquisitor.  Like, instead of the war table operations we actually get to go on a quest related to the Inquisitor's background.

[Carciel]

I for one, enjoyed my Inquisitor. People who point out that the Inquisitor is a balanced mix of Warden and Hawke are more or less correct, in my case. But opinion on what a player character is like is always subjective. You imagine the person you want to play and mould them as the game goes.

 

As I usually play the mischievous but ultimately kind leader, I think he seems more or less fit for the role. There aren't wild deviations in personality, if that's what you mean - the character is rarely developed just for a "gamer" perspective, but they should also behave in a manner that befits the world around them. For anyone struggling to empower their little band of misfits to the status of an all powerful military and espionage organisation, random acts of evil seem just as out of place as them being "bland". There has to be a set template, after all. In a game where the developer allows you to make your own character, you're the one who has to fill in the details and nuance their personality - because, in the end, we wanted a customisable protagonist, and then failing to customise them ourselves doesn't make the player character bland as much as it makes the player lazy.

 

Tl;dr, Fluid and adaptive imagination is key to enjoying a game with a customisable protagonist.

[Fireheart]

The Inquisitor is crazy... I say this because for most of the game the female British voice is so dull-sounding, like she doesn't care about what's going on and then suddenly. EMOTION. She spoke so politely and neutral most of the time. Then the scene comes where Cassandra is mad about Varric hiding Hawke. Now in my first playthrough, I decided not to interfere, my second, I interfered.

 

THAT'S ENOUGH!!!!

but... 

I SAID, ENOUGH!!

 

My IQ yelled soo louuud, like a drug addict screaming at someone who's trying to take their drugs away. It came out of left field. Idk if it's because I had the volume up or she actually sounded like that. I wanted more emotion in my IQ but that was too much and irrational. The situation between Varric and Cassandra wasn't even that serious, that you need to sound so pissed off about it. Bioware definitely needs to find some sort of balance. To have a character who is mostly neutral-toned suddenly flip out is creepy, and made me slightly scared of my IQ.  I feel like Alix (that's the British VA, right?) needs to do more acting, and less "reading a script". She can't be monotone all the time, but also shouldn't sound too angry or too polite. Jo Wyatt did a hell of a job, can't speak for Nicholas because I've never played mHawke.

 

And yeah, sarcastic IQ isn't funny. I remember when you talk to Cassandra about her becoming Divine, she responds to sarcastic option with "The Inquisitor was hilarious. They will say that one day, you watch." And I'm like... I didn't know I made a joke? o.o I was wondering was she being sarcastic, or is my IQ so unfunny that the joke flew over my head. lol