Just a few days ago, I was in the Winter Palace and Josephine's sister asked my Inquisitor if it's true that the mages in Redcliffe were performing rituals and sex orgies.
I picked the response where my character sarcastically replies "It's all true, especially the part where everyone was nude."
I don't think the forum's rules would allow me to express how baffling it is that people refuse to pay attention while playing this game.
The bold part is why s/he's dull, in this case.
The argument here is that these things don't need to be heavily reflected in the game to have meaning to the player.I'm not disputing that at all. I'm merely suggesting it doesn't have a significant impact on the story, thus supporting the multi-race argument is not credible. It's fine with not all of your choices having meaning. It's not fine when your race has no meaning and a qunari is treated the same way as a human. That's an issue because race should matter. Ideas about religion or mental state is not nearly as important in most cases for a BioWare game.
The argument here is that these things don't need to be heavily reflected in the game to have meaning to the player.
If you are referring to multi-race, then I disagree. Disposition towards different races is crucial and should be reflected in Dragon Age. Ignorance and prejudice is rampant throughout Thedas and that isn't an area I should have to headcanon as the world should react to who I am. That's just reality. If the world doesn't react to the way I look, then the game isn't doing its job.
The bold part is why s/he's dull, in this case.
If you are referring to multi-race, then I disagree. Disposition towards different races is crucial and should be reflected in Dragon Age. Ignorance and prejudice is rampant throughout Thedas and that isn't an area I should have to headcanon as the world should react to who I am. That's just reality. If the world doesn't react to the way I look, then the game isn't doing its job.
Well to be fair, I think the fact that the world is falling to pieces might be a tad more important than acting like a dick to that elf who is trying to fix everything and actually having some success.
I also don't recall seeing a ton of racism against the other races at all in the game even between NPCs. It seems like it's not really an issue of multi-race, but rather that BioWare wanted to scale it back a little this time around.
Although if it bothers you that much just only ever play as a Human. The game already largely treats you like one anyway, then you can have your Human only protagonist and we can have our multi-race protagonist.
Well to be fair, I think the fact that the world is falling to pieces might be a tad more important than acting like a dick to that elf who is trying to fix everything and actually having some success.
I also don't recall seeing a ton of racism against the other races at all in the game even between NPCs. It seems like it's not really an issue of multi-race, but rather that BioWare wanted to scale it back a little this time around.
Although if it bothers you that much just only ever play as a Human. The game already largely treats you like one anyway, then you can have your Human only protagonist and we can have our multi-race protagonist.
Prejudice doesn't evaporate, regardless of the context. The Breach is closed early on in the game, so the "world falling to pieces" isn't really representative of most of the DAI experience.
There is definitely still racism in the game, it's just not nearly as pronounced. BioWare focused this time around on other social issues such as religion, homosexuality, and pansexuality as something they wanted to address in more detail in the game. That's all well and good, but Thedas is still an incredibly racist place, especially Ferelden, and the game should reflect those social norms.
Herein lies the problem. You even noted it yourself. The game treats you like a human. That's a large part of the problem. For multi-race to work, the game can't be biased towards only one race. It will not be a success, thus why this thread even exists. I'm not against the idea of multi-race. I just do not believe a half-baked implementation for it at the expense of other features is worth the cost. If you aren't going to do it right from the start, don't do it at all.
Guest_Challenge Everything_*
While I enjoy choosing my own race and background, this is a very good argument against it. I'm indifferent about it, but in the end I'll definitely support whichever gives me a better story and more engaging character over being able to pick their race.
I don't see all this "mayority". There are People who say that they could be done better. But I see few People Like the OP. Just a look At the customizatin tread and you will see How many People love their elves, qunari and dwarfs.
And with How DAI is going towards elven lore related stuff, not being able to play an elf again would be not as interesting as playng a human prefixed character.
Keep in mind even People who usually play humans Like to play their Second run with a non human character.
The feature need improvemant, not to be dropped, Like bioware have done many times.
Secondly, multi-race selection with multiple backgrounds is bad for game development and storytelling. When there are so many variables and possibilities to consider, it dilutes and cheapens the overall story. The reason Shepard's story and even Hawke's story were so engaging is because they were more defined. However, in that definition, we also had more flexibility to shape their personality.
Unfortunately this is why I have low hopes for Mass Effect 4. I don't think we're gonna get a memorable and interesting protagonist, or a new trilogy instead of a stand alone game, because being able to choose multiple races was such a hotly requested feature from the fans.
I also think it should be noted that love it or not, the Mass Effect Trilogy was (at least according to people who worked the games) meant to be a trilogy so yeah Shepard had to have more personality, while in Dragon Age it's never supposed to be about one lead character but a group of people and events that shape and change their world over the span of 50-100 years. Or to put another way: Mass Effect is about one human changing the galaxy forever and Dragon Age is about one world being changed by several different people and/or events.
I just think the voice acting feels constrained, all of the voice actors did a great job within the range they were given though, it's just that when things should be "bold" they aren't. I think that comes down to direction as these VA's have done stuff before and with great range.
As for Mass Effect, both Meer and Hale were similarly held back in ME1. Both got better as the trilogy went along and they (and the writers) were allowed more freedom to add personality. Maybe they can fix that with DLC for DAI, or make a direct sequel featuring the Inquisitor that lets them cut loose. I think DA's formula of a new protagonist every game shouldn't change though.
Dragon Age 4 most definitely DOES NOT NEED another Shepard/Hawke protagonist and should instead (for sanity's sake) continue to feature a HoF/Inquisitor. Here's why: Because variety is the spice of life and everyone who wants a continuous stream of vanilla white bread heroes can just make one of those for themselves out of the startup screen options, while the rest of us sample a variety of races as lead hero during a number of playthroughs.
You're welcome for the lesson!
Guest_PaladinDragoon_*
My canon Warden is Dwarvan Male Noble. My canon Inquisitor is a Male Qunari. Last thing I want to play is as another generic human. At the end of the day no matter how interesting you make their background. The player is still playing as a human.
I hope the next ME game take some notes and let us choose from a few other races. I am not getting my hopes up though. It would be awesome to play as a Turian,Salarian,Quarian,Asari or a Krogan. I am glad the DA series let you play as other races. It up the replay value a lot.
DA2 was the way to make Dragon Effect. Based on ME. But in a fantasy setting, expecially in a sequel of a game that ALREADY gave the options of playable races, doesn't work for fans.
So true. When Bioware made its very first announcement for DA2, it reeked of EA involvement because whittling the Dragon Age franchise down into a tidy Mass Effect formula would mean EA could minimize development time and push out sequels at a rabid pace to satisfy the quarterly statements for its shareholders. That's the bottom line with the typical corporate publisher Shareholders >> Fanbase.
I was extremely relieved when DA2 wasn't received well by a large portion of the fanbase (minority/majority, who knows but it was significant) and with all the spankings EA has been receiving lately (SimCity 2013/Sims 4, etc.), it's almost starting to look like EA might finally be clued into the fact that listening to what its fanbases want might actually be a good idea when it comes to game development. Who knew, right?! 
Dragon Age 4 most definitely DOES NOT NEED another Shepard/Hawke protagonist and should instead (for sanity's sake) continue to feature a HoF/Inquisitor. Here's why: Because variety is the spice of life and everyone who wants a continuous stream of vanilla white bread heroes can just make one of those for themselves out of the startup screen options, while the rest of us sample a variety of races as lead hero during a number of playthroughs.
You're welcome for the lesson!
There's more variety in Hawke than the Inqusitor....
I played Origins a few times, it remains my favorite and I acknowledge that other people like different things. I liked how the origin story gave you a completely unique voice. When I talk to my friends who've played it (and there are many) none of them remember a silent protagonist, most took some serious reminding before they'll admit that The Warden didn't talk.
Having a good voice actor (Jennifer Hale) makes one kind of charecter; for Mass Effect I can't imagine having a silent protagonist. But I also would never have have the versatility of storytelling I did in origins if I'd been forced to deal with what my character sounded like.
I played an elven mage in DAI, I was loyal to my own gods, fought for elf rights and generally copped an attitude with anyone who didn't like it. It was a fun and unique character, flawed yet strong and could easily have been totally lame if I'd been locked into a way of being. If we are going to get voiced parts for every game to come, they have to have the option for nuance and motivations or I'm not going to keep coming back.
An rpg lets you play a role, a good rpg makes that role fun to play, a great rpg lets you choose that role and make it your own.
I don't mind multiple races as long as there background comes into play more often, for example meeting you clan, get a good piece of armor from a personal quest for yourself, or if we are noble again a quest to get family armor and weaponry, one good thing this game did was put relevance into the elf but it needed more for the qunari and dwarf, speaking of qunari they need to go back to the DA2 ones(with variety), I could never play a qunari because they were not badass enough apart from iron bull in this game and I felt like I was a shadow to what he was and a dwarf felt irrelevant to me
I actually felt that playing an Elf really added to the story in Dragon Age Inquisition. My first playthrough was with an Elf, and as the story moved closer and closer to its end, I definitely felt that connection with the game.
That being said, I don't want another Hawke/Shepherd. I didn't try Dragon Age II for months because I couldn't choose a race beyond human. I had the expectation that I should. In truth, I should actually thank Bioware for that, as honestly after playing it, I thought the gameplay and story were lacking.
I though Inquisition did a great job. I would have just liked to have seen a much more diverse origin for the character you play as. I didn't expect it, so I'm not disappointed, but it would have definitely added depth.
An rpg lets you play a role, a good rpg makes that role fun to play, a great rpg lets you choose that role and make it your own.
Love this! Well said, and so true.
Hawke was A **** tier Protagonist, The Inquisitor was far superior
The bold part is why s/he's dull, in this case.
You think sarcasm is dull? I mean, that's a huge YMMV but I find sarcasm incredibly fun. Not sure what other form of tolerable humour there is beyond sarcasm or dry wit. I suppose Hawke had a lot of irreverent dismissals, but it was really just Joss Whedon's version of sarcasm (so, basically, sarcasm, but in a really manic way).
You think sarcasm is dull? I mean, that's a huge YMMV but I find sarcasm incredibly fun. Not sure what other form of tolerable humour there is beyond sarcasm or dry wit. I suppose Hawke had a lot of irreverent dismissals, but it was really just Joss Whedon's version of sarcasm (so, basically, sarcasm, but in a really manic way).
And I think that in general, it was fairly good-natured, even when it was ridiculously inappropriate. It's being caustic that can be incredibly boring, since it's more about making bitter, mean-spirited remarks than for humor.
However, regarding the comment you're responding to, I suspect that it's considered boring because the Inquisitor's brand of sarcasm comes off as more of just some dry charm than anything else, which I do like, but I can see why people might not care for it.
Retour en haut