Okay, so after several playthroughs, I wanted to leave feedback on one of my biggest bugbears about DA:I, and that's the lack of little, meaningful touches that make the game seem more alive and the peril far more immediate and real.
Take, for example, one of the first quests you receive, feeding the refugees in the Hinterlands. You talk to the hunter who is worried now that all the bread has run out. "We need meat!" he says to you, or the people will starve. That's a worthy cause to give your time to. Hard to think of it as a pressing issue though, given that if you go into the house directly beside him, it's filled to brimming with butchered animals, hanging sides of meat and various bags full of vegetables. In fact, most of the houses seem to have food lying around all over the place. However, it could be argued that these supplies may not last long. Go up to the hill to speak to Recruit Whittle, and you're practically surround by Inquisition forces, a few of whom are practising with a bow on targets. Rather than have him implore you over the starvation the refugees face...couldn't you suggest that a few of his recruits take their bows and go find some edible targets to practice at? Hell, even if they come back empty handed, it's better than nothing.
Also, the Crossroads are meant to be full of injured, starving/freezing refugees. All you're shown though, is a bunch of people standing aimlessly around in some pretty fancy clothing, talking happily to each other and seemingly without a care in the world. None of them talk of hunger, injuries or seem to worry about being homeless and helpless in the middle of a war. Why aren't they mourning over the dead and lost? Why aren't they scrabbling for food or complaining about the cold? The crossroads appear more like a village fete than a town racked by war and devastation and filled full of destitute refugees.
The game is plagued by instances of this, where the dialogue your given is so wholly at odds with everything you see and hear around you, that it stops you from feeling any connection or urgency to the story or quests. Almost all of the npc's seem to have two idle stances. Stand about talking or hunching on the ground and running their hands over the dirt (seriously, wtf are they meant to be doing?). With the addition of a few more, they could easily be turned into people actually performing meaningful tasks, like sorting through equipment, or patching up clothing, or even just eating or crying or healing or friggin anything than just standing about or molesting the ground!
Also, the game world changes a little (i.e. Templars and Mages not spawning and bandits replacing them etc.) but the buildings that were on fire at the start of the game are still burning when you take down Coryfish. The refugees are supposedly making their way back to their homes and rebuilding their lives, but the crossroads still stay exactly the same and the rest of the world stays empty long after people have resettled.
I think if Bioware had taken even a very small amount of time and resources to add more of these little touches into the game, people would find the open world aspect of the game far more enjoyable and it would have helped to drive forward the idea that Thedas is a living, breathing world rather than some static set pieces you run around in. I hope in their next game, they look to address these issues.
Retour en haut
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In my army, those two would be hung for cowardice or complete dereliction of duty, seriously. 
