100 réponses à ce sujet

[Cyberpunk]

I'm sure it is apparent to everyone that Dragon Age Inquisition has done the worst job when it comes to integrating the background stories of the Inquisitor. Dragon Age Origins did a great job and constantly referenced the Origin stories. Dragon Age II didn't have that problem as it was all about Hawke. 

 

But I'll just give you a few examples of where Dragon Age Inquisition fails with regards to background stories:

 

Dalish Elf: We see Firsts like Merrill and Velanna who have a very good understanding of Dalish history and culture. The Inquisitor barely ever mentions his clan and while sometimes references being an Elf or being Dalish, they never come close to making us believe they are Dalish like Merrill/Velanna did. Even the Dalish Warden had a great background story and so we felt like we were actually playing a Dalish elf throughout the whole story.

 

Vashoth: We barely see any references to your life as a Vashoth Mercenary, especially since all of your company are also Tal-Vashoth/Vashoth. We saw Tal-Vashoth mercenaries like Maraas in Dragon Age II who were very developed and playing as a Qunari in Dragon Age Inquisition again didn't feel convincing. It always felt that we were pretending to be Qunari rather than actually being one. This is especially true if you are a mage. It just destroys the feeling of immersion when the fact that you are a Qunari mage doesn't get many special surprises. 

 

Trevelyan: This was the most convincing background story and it did feel like we were playing a noble from Ostwick. I believe the reason was that Bioware designed the whole game with this background as the template.

[_Lucinia]

It's unfortunate, but I think that's the consequences of the game originally being planned as a human protagonist.  Adding in the other races late didn't leave them with enough time to better flesh out their backgrounds and what not. 

 

Hopefully when (if) they make the next game they will make that type of decision earlier on in the development cycle.  And stick with it.  I am glad we got more than just humans to play as, but Lavellan and "What's a Mythal?" is just uggggh, lol.  (I know that could have just been a writing oversight and had nothing to do with adding more races in late)

[Colonelkillabee]

Not a consequence. I used to think it was because it wasn't like Origins until I remembered back in Origins days I complained it was too developed. Why? Because I was an Elderscrolls fan and was used to writing my own background, or at least having a mental idea of one. That's what I did here and I feel more attached to the Inquisitor than any previous character because of it:

 

https://www.fanficti...background-post

[riverbanks]

Not a consequence. I used to think it was because it wasn't like Origins until I remembered back in Origins days I complained it was too developed. Why? Because I was an Elderscrolls fan and was used to writing my own background, or at least having a mental idea of one. That's what I did here and I feel more attached to the Inquisitor than any previous character because of it:

 

https://www.fanficti...background-post

 

I agree with this, actually. I do like the Origin stories in DAO, but I felt creatively stifled by them more often than not. In DAI you're given an almost blank slate (almost but not quite, some things are still beyond even the hardest roleplaying), and because of that I've been able to develop my characters whatever way I wanted to: this one has parents, this one doesn't, this one is a traditionalist, this one is a sht-starter, this one comes from a line of blah blah blah, this one's that one's second cousin, etc. I feel a lot more connected to my Inquisitors' backstories than to most of my Wardens' because of this - because I made up those origin stories from scratch and my characters grew from those stories, they weren't handed out already written for me and made me figure how to play around them. I'd still rather come up with my own characters in the end than play one that's already been half-developed by someone else.

[Sriep]

Actually I prefer it underdeveloped, as it gives me more freedom to develop the character myself. It was difference in DA2 where it was made clear you were playing a specific character rather than a generic one.

[Ashaantha]

I personally dislike how vague they made so much stuff in regards to the Inquisitor in DAI, I still prefer knowing more about the character in the way dao and da2 did their stories. I should not be forced to make up her story from scratch if I want to know more about him/her. A ton of people with creativity in their headcanon preferences changed a lot about their Wardens and Hawkes if they didn't like all of the set origin, but that shouldn't force everyone who plays, not just fanfic preferred people, to have to come up with a background themselves.

 

Edit: I just wanted to add that I am a writer, with a big fan-fic of the Warden, and scattered notes for a Hawke one. But these characters Bioware writes I feel should never come across almost 100% blank like the Inquisitor did to me. It took me 12 full playthroughs of DAI, prior to DLC, to finally connect with just one Inquisitor and that required player knowledge of the game to manage. I did not have this problem in dao or da2

Game characters for example are not my original ones so I'd prefer to have a decent amount of info about them at my fingertips before starting, and it's up to me how much I add, go into detail about, ignore or change - that's where headcanon does it's best work. Not make everything or even just 75% of his/her past story up on the fly.

[BansheeOwnage]

I'm on the side that prefers a more developed origin. I don't think that means you can't make your character your character. When I started the game, I remember having some trouble picking the first dialogue options about the Conclave because I had no idea what my character's life was like and had no investment in the Conclave besides: People I never saw died, I should feel sad - like any other off-screen tragedy full of people you haven't met. I also had trouble relating to my Inquisitor because I had no idea who they were.

 

Origins are usually about key events that have happened and characters from your past, both of which are things you have no control over anyway. I'd rather Trevelyan's family be jerks than forcing me to make up how they treat her. That breaks immersion for me, because it doesn't seem real at all. Also, I want to roleplay my character, not her entire family. Come on, they could have at least sent letters to you. That writing desk in your quarters could use some use anyway.

[BansheeOwnage]

I personally dislike how vague they made so much stuff in regards to the Inquisitor in DAI, I still prefer knowing more about the character in the way dao and da2 did their stories. I should not be forced to make up her story from scratch if I want to know more about him/her. A ton of people with creativity in their headcanon preferences changed a lot about their Wardens and Hawkes if they didn't like all of the set origin, but that shouldn't force everyone who plays, not just fanfic preferred people, to have to come up with a background themselves.

I agree. I feel like people who love headcanon could still add a lot to their Wardens and even Hawkes. It's not like we had a biography of their whole lives written for us; there are years worth of things to make up. That gives options to both types of people, whereas the Inquisitor is too vague, only giving options to one group.

 

I'm not terribly imaginative myself (or more precisely, I'm not original, I can add on to a foundation better), so I never found vague backgrounds satisfying. In addition, if I do make something up, like "Maybe she got that scar by doing X" it never feels real to me, since I know I just made it up. It's not immersive.

[Hazegurl]

I agree OP.  I prefer more info and I want that info integrated into the game.  It feels more authentic this way and it feels as though my character truly belongs to the world rather than be nothing more than a decoration piece that moves around the canvas. I loved the Cousland Origin story. Playing over the betrayal by Howe and the personal connection in the later stages of the story was very well done.  I wanted to stomp Howe's face in when he bragged about what he did. Killing him was extremely satisfying.  Although I didn't finish my city elf play through, I still felt like an actual city elf living in the slums and looking for a way out.  Playing my female Mage was pretty awesome, lots to work with there and having to resort to being Alistair's mistress because the game acknowledges my character's role in society was the icing on the cake.  And my female Cousland who married Alistair was awesome. 

 

I do enjoy head canon, but not when I have to do the writer's job for them. 

[YourFunnyUncle]

I really liked the light-touch origins. As others have said they allowed me greater freedom to create the character I wanted and I feel really close to all my Inquisitors because of it. I was able to imagine things about their character and past that made them have specific attitudes and make certain decisions in the game.

What I think was a negative consequence of the switch to including the option to play as any of the species part-way through development was the lack of reference to your race by others when playing as a non-human. There are also some parts of the game where an elven inquisitor shows a ridiculous lack of knowledge of their own people's lore. This was improved in the DLCs, so it shows that things might have been different had the game been developed with multiple races in mind from the start. I don't think it was necessary to beef up the backstories to ameliorate this, though. I liked them the way they were.

[YourFunnyUncle]

Thinking about it I reckon that the different approaches fit the different games well. Origins was introducing the world, so you needed to understand the situations of the various races. DA2 was a very personal story about Hawke so it was restricted. With Inquisition the story is less personal and the setting is more established so they could give you freer rein to invent your character. I relished the opportunity.

[Heimdall]

I would like character backgrounds more explicitly explored in future games, I'll say that much.

[S.W.]

The problems weren't so much the origins but that there weren't really enough opportunities for characters of different races to flesh out how that upbringing had affected their outlook. I don't mind the more limited origins, I like the fact I can make up a bunch of stuff up about the Vashoth merc. company or Clan Lavellan which works for me, I just disliked the amount of times I could point out - hey, I know a bit of qunlat, I can translate these codexes, or hey, I studied a bit of elven history, let me tell you about Mythal - were so few. I also disliked that most people should have trusted my qunari warrior or my dalish mage a lot less than they actually did, and I wish I'd had more opportunities to distance myself from the chantry because of it.

[Ashaantha]

The problems weren't so much the origins but that there weren't really enough opportunities for characters of different races to flesh out how that upbringing had affected their outlook. I don't mind the more limited origins, I like the fact I can make up a bunch of stuff up about the Vashoth merc. company or Clan Lavellan which works for me, I just disliked the amount of times I could point out - hey, I know a bit of qunlat, I can translate these codexes, or hey, I studied a bit of elven history, let me tell you about Mythal - were so few. I also disliked that most people should have trusted my qunari warrior or my dalish mage a lot less than they actually did, and I wish I'd had more opportunities to distance myself from the chantry because of it.

 

This was my other concern when playing a non-human. They're pretty much treated no differently in-game then a human is other then a few comments in the Winter palace it seemed.

[YourFunnyUncle]

The problems weren't so much the origins but that there weren't really enough opportunities for characters of different races to flesh out how that upbringing had affected their outlook. I don't mind the more limited origins, I like the fact I can make up a bunch of stuff up about the Vashoth merc. company or Clan Lavellan which works for me, I just disliked the amount of times I could point out - hey, I know a bit of qunlat, I can translate these codexes, or hey, I studied a bit of elven history, let me tell you about Mythal - were so few. I also disliked that most people should have trusted my qunari warrior or my dalish mage a lot less than they actually did, and I wish I'd had more opportunities to distance myself from the chantry because of it.

This is what I meant. It wasn't the lack of detail in the origin stories but the lack of reactivity to your race in general that was a problem for me.

[GoldenGail3]

Not a consequence. I used to think it was because it wasn't like Origins until I remembered back in Origins days I complained it was too developed. Why? Because I was an Elderscrolls fan and was used to writing my own background, or at least having a mental idea of one. That's what I did here and I feel more attached to the Inquisitor than any previous character because of it:
 
https://www.fanficti...background-post

I like Skyrm, but i also like DAO. Skyrm is my 'Lets go hunting Dragons! We're super OP Mage Warriors!' While DAO I also feel like that, but Skyrm is my rage game, to be honest.

[MortallyDead]

While I agree that with the less developed back story there is more freedom for the player to invent a history, the problem is that there is little impact in such a story. Personally, I'd like to see a system more akin to the way that Mass Effect handled the background (Spacer, Earth born, Colonist paired with Hero, Sole Survivor and Ruthless....I think those are right.) In the game I remember there being quite a few references to the origins, and in some cases, they were referenced in the future games. One of the issues I can see for DA4, would be generating enough meaningful options for all the playable races. Obviously not a problem if they use the formula from DA2. 

[Hanako Ikezawa]

I think they did the best job in Inquisition. I much prefer having the backstory be a blank slate than predetermined. That way that character is actually my character rather than it being Bioware's character. 

[Heimdall]

This was my other concern when playing a non-human. They're pretty much treated no differently in-game then a human is other then a few comments in the Winter palace it seemed.

That I think can be attributed to the race options being added at a relatively late date, after the story had been written for a human.

 

I'm hopeful for a future game avoiding that

[AresKeith]

This was my other concern when playing a non-human. They're pretty much treated no differently in-game then a human is other then a few comments in the Winter palace it seemed.

 

I did hear that Bioware originally planned for the Inquisitor to have personal quests based on their background but I don't if it was during human only or with the multiple races also

[Heimdall]

I did hear that Bioware originally planned for the Inquisitor to have personal quests based on their background but I don't if it was during human only or with the multiple races also

I know the plan was to have background options for the human only Inquisitor, so it was probably part of the plan then but slipped into the 'nice to have if we have time' category during the transition to race options

[Knight of Dane]

Not a consequence. I used to think it was because it wasn't like Origins until I remembered back in Origins days I complained it was too developed. Why? Because I was an Elderscrolls fan and was used to writing my own background, or at least having a mental idea of one. That's what I did here and I feel more attached to the Inquisitor than any previous character because of it:

 

https://www.fanficti...background-post

This is exactly why I liked the way they did it in Origins. I am a fan of both DA and ES, but for different reasons.

 

Origins had a more personal feel, not because of the choise itself of Origin, but because of the characters that introduced you to the world. Fergus, Tamlen, Gorim etc. were a reference back to before you started the new life as a warden, which made the game feel deeper, like you were a real person in the world and not just an avatar of action.

[AresKeith]

I know the plan was to have background options for the human only Inquisitor, so it was probably part of the plan then but slipped into the 'nice to have if we have time' category during the transition to race options

 

Pretty much since they got reduced to war table missions 

[thats1evildude]

I can see the point with the other races, but it wasn't really a problem with the human Inquisitor, as it's implied Ostwick may be the most boring place in Thedas. Not much to say about a childhood spent rolling cheese wheels for entertainment.

[Ashaantha]

Pretty much since they got reduced to war table missions 

 

ugh *bangs head against the wall while remembering killing her Clan via war table ops*

At least the writers admitted they should have changed that one/removed the kill clan thing since it was done after voice actors were finished...