31 réponses à ce sujet

[Teddie Sage]

BioWare probably acknowledge I loved Dragon Age Inquisition's story besides its flaws near the end, but there's one thing I noticed about the design of this game that really didn't occur to me before watching an anime where characters are actually fighting for their lives against a very powerful dragon. What I'm actually trying to say is, where is the "fear", the sense of danger and horror that we felt with the Archdemon? Is it possible that the people of Thedas don't fear dragons at all anymore?

Dragons are like a very powerful race in many books and series. I guess Archdemons are more feared than common dragons. What I would love in the DLCs, expansions or following game is seeing back the dragons destroying things, being feared, powerful and maybe at the center of the plot(s) again.

I miss the feel of rallying a whole nation to beat down a very powerful dragon and its army. I would love to see back the terror, the agony of facing a demon army and I would love to feel it through the characters. By the end of the Inquisition, I felt like my character ascended Godhood... It was an odd feeling. My only guess for now is that somehow, the Old Gods will have something to do in what's left to tell in the actual Dragon Age era.

[Taki17]

Dragons are still rare, they just started appearing again, and most people only knew them from the legends where the great dragon hunters slaughtered them. Plus, when DAI happens, people have a lot more to fear from than just dragons, as there's a war going on between templars and mages and in Orlais, the Breach appearead in the sky and the divinie and half of the chantry leaders just died.

 

I guess not many people encountered the archdemon during the fifth blight (and certainly no one is still alive to remember the archdemon from the fourth blight), probably only the defenders of Denerim had the chance to see it, and only a fraction of them engaged it battle (and met their gruesome end). I don't think they've even seen a normal dragon before, and not many people could've told the difference between a dragon and an archdemon. But people certainly fear dragons, as it was witnessed during the siege of Haven, when Corypheus brought in the dragon to destroy the catapults, he managed to turn the tide of the whole battle in his favor.

 

Archdemons are only a problem because they can respawn when not killed by a Warden. During the first blight, tevinter soldiers managed to kill Dumat once, but he came back, since it wasn't a Warden who killed him. The real problem in stopping blights always was, that the archdemon had to be located, and the Wardens had to get through hundres or thousands of darkspawn to kill it.

[Teddie Sage]

 

 

But people certainly fear dragons, as it was witnessed during the siege of Haven, when Corypheus brought in the dragon to destroy the catapults, he managed to turn the tide of the whole battle in his favor.

Yeah, but sadly that was the most epic quest of the game and it happened at the end of the first act. I sorta was expecting something like this to happen for the final quest as well, but with a much bigger scale.

[SwobyJ]

I...what?

 

Dragons were destroying towns, devastating armies, and standing directly in your way in DAI. Throughout the whole game.

 

I don't understand this.

[SwobyJ]

If you follow the story in JOH, the dragon was very feared, but that was over 800 years ago. And in Crestwood if you read the board outside the mayor's home, it mentions the torment villagers are going through due to the dragon. Nothing can cause fear like an Archdemon though because fo what it can do, so Corypheus' dragon was the most feared based on the assumption it was an Archdemon, especially by Sera and everyone in Haven.

 

I generally feel like DAI traded focus for numbers.

 

Lots of dragons, but none of them individually as threatening as DAO's Archdemon. But a few which do come close, at least in lore (not as much narrative). I mostly liked the inclusion of the Red Lyrium Dragon, Guardian of Mythal, various high dragons setting roost, and more recently Hakkon Wintersbreath.

 

Still better than DA2's severe lack in dragon importance for a game called Dragon Age.

[Zatche]

What I would love in the DLCs, expansions or following game is seeing back the dragons destroying things, being feared, powerful and maybe at the center of the plot(s) again.

 

I agree, I think dragons could have used more drama and in-game build-up, and more reasons to go out of your way to kill them besides it being a fun challenge for the player and crafting materials.

 

...By the end of the Inquisition, I felt like my character ascended Godhood... It was an odd feeling.

 

Well, I think this might have more to do with the combat getting progressively easier as the game goes on. That and there are ten dragons, and at a high level, you can pretty much plow right through them.

 

I...what?

 

Dragons were destroying towns, devastating armies, and standing directly in your way in DAI. Throughout the whole game.

 

I don't understand this.

 

They were? I remember it was said that the Crestwood Dragon was causing trouble to the townsfolk. But it felt like the rest were just chilling around. But maybe the game just failed to convey the idea to me that they were wrecking havoc.

[Teddie Sage]

 

 

But maybe the game just failed to convey the idea to me that they were wrecking havoc.

Exactly my point.

[SwobyJ]

Even with all the Dragons, DAI didn't focus on them more than other things.

 

Those things being Demons + Darkspawn (or rather the legacy of the Darkspawn, not the Darkspawn themselves).

 

Most primarily, I'd say DAI is about Demons.

(DA2 was primarily about Mages, DAO was primarily about Darkspawn) (I'm acknowledging there's MANY things secondary, very prominently secondary)

 

We have yet to see a Dragon Age game that I'd say is primarily about Dragons, but truly, I think its coming. DA5-6 or something .

 

DA4 might be Qunari.

[Teddie Sage]

I figure if the expansion (if there is one) can pull out an even bigger menace than Corypheus who felt like you were slashin' through butter, maybe it will give a reason to use all the resources and agents collected in your inquisition... that would be so epic... I would love to interact with my agents on the battlefield between a few background fights, resurrect them with medics, whatever it means. I felt like DAI could've been so much more. I understand that the Inquisitor was always surrounded by his personal elite of soldiers and mages, but it never felt like he was participating to the war himself. (Obviously, he could be a she as well. I'm just speaking from my personal experience with this game.)

[Sunnie]

The key part of the games' title is "Age". The games are set in the "Dragon Age" which is the 9th Age since the Chantry was created. An Age is approx 1 century.

[The Baconer]

"Wreaking havoc" is something a High Dragon will only do once a century, give or take. In the end they're just animals doing their own thing, whereas something like an Archdemon is an overtly malevolent being.

[thats1evildude]

Most of the dragons are situated in remote locations. That said, I recall the people of Crestwood being quite frightened of the dragon - it bit off one man's head - and they all comment on its death.

"You slew a high dragon? And you still have all your limbs?"

[bondari reloads.]

They probably existed in the l-space before, now they are too busy producing offspring that doesn't get maimed by the Inquisitor. I'd say give it time. What I don't want is Skyrim where a random dragon encounter loses all sense of danger after at some point not long into the story ... or what story there is.

[Teddie Sage]

Imagine if one day Thedas woke up to an army of wyverns and dragons rampaging everything and the experts would be like: "But we thought the race was extinct!" Just imagine they migrated to the north for something and suddenly decided to go south... That could be interesting. Then again, a huge blight could be just as fun.

[Teddie Sage]

I got a sudden flashback of the Dragon from Dragon's Dogma, which was an interesting villain... sadly the plot of that game was just a huge mess.

[Rawgrim]

BioWare probably acknowledge I loved Dragon Age Inquisition's story besides its flaws near the end, but there's one thing I noticed about the design of this game that really didn't occur to me before watching an anime where characters are actually fighting for their lives against a very powerful dragon. What I'm actually trying to say is, where is the "fear", the sense of danger and horror that we felt with the Archdemon? Is it possible that the people of Thedas don't fear dragons at all anymore?

Dragons are like a very powerful race in many books and series. I guess Archdemons are more feared than common dragons. What I would love in the DLCs, expansions or following game is seeing back the dragons destroying things, being feared, powerful and maybe at the center of the plot(s) again.

I miss the feel of rallying a whole nation to beat down a very powerful dragon and its army. I would love to see back the terror, the agony of facing a demon army and I would love to feel it through the characters. By the end of the Inquisition, I felt like my character ascended Godhood... It was an odd feeling. My only guess for now is that somehow, the Old Gods will have something to do in what's left to tell in the actual Dragon Age era.

 

Dragons became common place in DA:I. That removed the fear of them. If you kill 10 of them easily, they aren't scary anymore.

[Teddie Sage]

Dragons became common place in DA:I. That removed the fear of them. If you kill 10 of them easily, they aren't scary anymore.

They were 10 or 11 depending on your choices, plus the Jaws of Hakkon Dragon... While they were fun boss fights, they were "terrible" villains, plot wise. 

[Rawgrim]

They were 10 or 11 depending on your choices, plus the Jaws of Hakkon Dragon... While they were fun boss fights, they were "terrible" villains, plot wise. 

 

It is like the Xenomorph from Alien. the first one is terrifying. But after the second movie, where we see a ton of them get killed, they lose the fear factor.

[Sunnie]

The 10 dragons are completely optional and have no impact on the narrative. The only dragon that does (the Mythal dragon cant actually be killed) is only a minor prop in the final fight with Coryphyshite. The only dragon that "is" part of a narrative is the JoH Ice Dragon, which is also optional DLC.

[Grieving Natashina]

All I can think of every time I read this title is "Maker, think of the children!"

 

Joking aside, I definitely agree with you here Teddy.  I really enjoyed the dragon fights, aside from the suicidal AI.  However, for the most part, the dragons aren't tied to the story very well.  Heck, the only two I had quests to kill dragons was in the Western Approach, and in Crestwood.  The rest didn't have any quests.  That was something that DA:O and DA2 got right: They made the dragon apart of the main story.  I'm hoping for a few less dragons next time, so we can have more lore tied to the rest.