100 réponses à ce sujet

[SgtSteel91]

Sure, they were trained to eventually be shunted off to the Templars. The Trevelyan family tosses one third or fourth child to the Chantry every generation and the Inquisitor was the lucky candidate.

I don't think you comprehend how boring Ostwick is. It's so boring that its most notable feature is its double walls, which ensures its citizens live out their extremely boring lives in peace. It's the Planet Namek of Thedas.

But that's not the worst thing; lots of heroes had boring early lives. You don't think Luke Skywalker was eager to leave the moisture farm because it was so darn exciting, do you?

 

Could the lack of information on Ostwick besides the double walls, cheese wheel races, having Banns and a Teyrn, and sedate Circle be intentional and meant for the player to fill in the holes on what the City State is like, like Lavellan's Clan, Cadash's Carta life, or Adaar's Mercenary Band?

[Darkly Tranquil]

I'm definitely in the "more detailed Origins please" camp. Perhaps they could do something like ME did with backgrounds, allowing you to select a couple of key backstory points that subsequently get referred to in game to give your character a bit more history.

[vbibbi]

Could the lack of information on Ostwick besides the double walls, cheese wheel races, having Banns and a Teyrn, and sedate Circle be intentional and meant for the player to fill in the holes on what the City State is like, like Lavellan's Clan, Cadash's Carta life, or Adaar's Mercenary Band?

Well, to me the Free Marches have always been the least developed "nation" in Thedas, even considering how little information we get about most of the northern nations. Its one defining feature seems to be that it's a collection of city-states. Even Kirkwall, where we "spent" seven years, doesn't have much of a culture or personality of its own. It's just a former Tevinter slave hub filled with blood mages. I never got a strong sense of identity from any of the Free Marcher cities, including Ostwick.

 

Maybe Bioware couldn't decide on which thinly veiled translation of a medieval culture to base it on, so it's based off of nothing.

[Tamyn]

I don't like having forced friends because of your background (like Jowan), but I really enjoyed that conversation with Josephine where she asked you about your life depending on your background, and you could decide your personality and past behavior based on several responses. I loved being able to say I was a loner in the woods (Dalish), I was awkward at parties (noble), or I had a crush on a templar (Circle mage). I wish more characters had that kind of interaction with you, especially your LI for crying out loud. If I don't see my character's family at least let me talk about them and about home life.

[Korva]

I don't like having forced friends because of your background (like Jowan), but I really enjoyed that conversation with Josephine where she asked you about your life depending on your background, and you could decide your personality and past behavior based on several responses.

 

Yes, this is definitely one reason why I prefer Inquisition's approach. The only origins-related characters I liked were Bryce and Fergus for the human noble, and Gorim for the noble dwarf. Tamlen was completely forgettable to borderline annoying, and Jowan was so annoying that -- in combination with knowing what he gets up to once out of the tower -- I quit my mage character in disgust after the very first conversation with him. I just couldn't stomach the notion of a forced "friendship" with a character I couldn't stand, especially since Jowan was likely the reason Duncan had to "save" the mage Warden from certain death.

[Tamyn]

I can endure forced family, but not forced friends. You can't pick your family, but the friends thing implies your character would have some reason to like this person, which immediately makes me look at them with a critical eye.

[loyallyroyal]

I prefer defining my characters origin through conversation choices like with Josephine, infact more of that would be great.

 

Less, here is your friend Jowan.

 

I might be in the minority but I prefer defining my own background. DAO felt very limiting in that way.

[CuriousArtemis]

I don't like having forced friends because of your background (like Jowan), but I really enjoyed that conversation with Josephine where she asked you about your life depending on your background, and you could decide your personality and past behavior based on several responses. I loved being able to say I was a loner in the woods (Dalish), I was awkward at parties (noble), or I had a crush on a templar (Circle mage). I wish more characters had that kind of interaction with you, especially your LI for crying out loud. If I don't see my character's family at least let me talk about them and about home life.

Yes, this! We just lacked an adequate number of race-specific dialogue options. The "emotion" dialogue wheel also came up WAY too infrequently.

[Bleachrude]

Well, to me the Free Marches have always been the least developed "nation" in Thedas, even considering how little information we get about most of the northern nations. Its one defining feature seems to be that it's a collection of city-states. Even Kirkwall, where we "spent" seven years, doesn't have much of a culture or personality of its own. It's just a former Tevinter slave hub filled with blood mages. I never got a strong sense of identity from any of the Free Marcher cities, including Ostwick.

 

Maybe Bioware couldn't decide on which thinly veiled translation of a medieval culture to base it on, so it's based off of nothing.

 

I have heard the following as to what the Free Marches are supposed to represent

- The italian city state era with Orlais and Neverra acting like France and the HRE and the qunari a stand-in for the islamic conquests

- The greek city state era in that they only unite when one is threatened and the commonality of the Olympics and the Grand Tourney- 

- The low countries (Netherlands, Belgium et al) duringt he middle ages in that like IRL, none of the Free marches use king/emperor or titles plus IRL, the "Champion of" is akin somewhat to the stadholder title these duchy/bishopics IRL had which led their small state in times of war. There's also one of the former Free Marches became a country and started annexing/conquering the rest (the Van Markhams are equivalent tot he Hasburgs) 

 

Honestly, it probably is a missmash mix of all the above....

 

I prefer defining my characters origin through conversation choices like with Josephine, infact more of that would be great.

 

Less, here is your friend Jowan.

 

I might be in the minority but I prefer defining my own background. DAO felt very limiting in that way.

 

I think when Bioware was given the extra time by EA, instead of adding racial options, they should have fleshed out the options they had for the human inquisitor. What I mean is that we should've been able to visit Ostwick and the reactions there would've been dependant on the choices you told Josephine.

 

Thus, if you were an inquisitor mage but you were one that spent much time there, you should be received more warmly than an inquisitor who had been considered the black sheep of the family even if you were a non-mage.

[riverbanks]

I have heard the following as to what the Free Marches are supposed to represent
(...)
Honestly, it probably is a missmash mix of all the above....

 
Yup. From Marcher Misconceptions:
 

It is strange how some people view the Free Marches. On a map, they see its name emblazoned on the vales south of the Minanter River and assume it to be a nation just as Ferelden is. They imagine a single ruler, a single army, and a common culture, but nothing could be further from the truth! (...) We are many nations squashed under one name on a map because the truth won't fit inside the borders.

 

The Marches are not supposed to represent one culture, but a bunch of different little subcultures that occupy the same general geographic space. It's more like Europe at large, with its dozens of tiny little countries occupying the same space but being nothing like each other, rather than one big country with regional differences but more or less the same culture overall.

[Ariella]

I think when Bioware was given the extra time by EA, instead of adding racial options, they should have fleshed out the options they had for the human inquisitor. What I mean is that we should've been able to visit Ostwick and the reactions there would've been dependant on the choices you told Josephine.
 
Thus, if you were an inquisitor mage but you were one that spent much time there, you should be received more warmly than an inquisitor who had been considered the black sheep of the family even if you were a non-mage.

If they had done this (and I'm not saying you're wrong, in fact I think you have a good point) the screaming would have been heard from space.

[vbibbi]

 
Yup. From Marcher Misconceptions:
 

It is strange how some people view the Free Marches. On a map, they see its name emblazoned on the vales south of the Minanter River and assume it to be a nation just as Ferelden is. They imagine a single ruler, a single army, and a common culture, but nothing could be further from the truth! (...) We are many nations squashed under one name on a map because the truth won't fit inside the borders.

 

The Marches are not supposed to represent one culture, but a bunch of different little subcultures that occupy the same general geographic space. It's more like Europe at large, with its dozens of tiny little countries occupying the same space but being nothing like each other, rather than one big country with regional differences but more or less the same culture overall.

Agreed, but I never got a sense of any culture from Kirkwall or from any of the mentions of the other areas. Even WoT does not provide much information. Compare that to Nevarra and Rivain (to a lesser extent Antina and Anderfels, which are also underdeveloped) where we have not been there but have a sense of what the countries might be like. Not a whole picture, but I feel like I understand them more from reading about them than what Kirkwall is about from living there for seven years.

 

If anything, Kirkwall feels like a Fereldan refugee camp, Qunari compound, and battleground between templars and mages with nothing else containing it. Apart from Varric we don't have significant interactions wtih any native Kirkwallers that provide more information. Sebastian is from Starkhaven and I don't feel like I have any better sense of that city other than they must have Scottish accents there.

[vbibbi]

If they had done this (and I'm not saying you're wrong, in fact I think you have a good point) the screaming would have been heard from space.

 

All the more reason for it...

 

[Ariella]

All the more reason for it...
 

Crap... I really need to remember NOT to drink soda and read BSN at the same time. I'm going to kill me keyboard one of these days.

I remember when it came out that we were going with a human only again. There really was screaming: this is going to suck, it's another DA2. Bioware doesn't listen... So we got not just three races but four.

Now, I'm a heretic as I love Hawke, and I would sold my left arm and maybe a foot to have Exalted Marches. Barring that, I'd rather have just two options: the race with the most lore connection to the game, and a default human. Would never fly, of course, but it's as close a compromise as I can come to the one PC option and not have it always be human or a race someone won't play.

[Bleachrude]

Weirdly, I think the Free Marches exist to be "conquered". What I mean is that there culture isn't important so much as they represent ways to show "expansion/invasion" without automatically reshaping the borders...

 

Basically, Bioware wanted an area accessible to the main big players of the setting, Tevinter, Quanari, Neverra, Orlais, Ferelden yet not a nation itself.  I mean, look at the map and you literally have every nation in Thedas basically surrounding it ither directly or by seas except for the Anderfels. (Orlais is maybe the only nation without direct access depending on how accessible the Waking Sea is to their navy - though it is stated they have the strongest navy after the qunari)

 

Although I do wonder about Cumberland and the fact that the college of Enchanters is there....same with the last Grand tourney being situated there and makes me wonder if Bioware writers forget Cumberland is a Neverran city. 

 

re: RACE

I'm actually hoping we get a ME2/ME3 infographic for DA:I. I know we never got one for Origins but I thought we did get hints about some of the results and wasn't dwarf something lke less than 5% including both options? I'm predicting at least 60% human, 30% elf and quanari being slightly higher than dwarf. 

[vbibbi]

I remember when it came out that we were going with a human only again. There really was screaming: this is going to suck, it's another DA2. Bioware doesn't listen... So we got not just three races but four.

Now, I'm a heretic as I love Hawke, and I would sold my left arm and maybe a foot to have Exalted Marches. Barring that, I'd rather have just two options: the race with the most lore connection to the game, and a default human. Would never fly, of course, but it's as close a compromise as I can come to the one PC option and not have it always be human or a race someone won't play.

 

Yes to all of this.

[introverted_assassin]

Bann Trevelyan: Morgan! MORGAAAN!

M: What is it, father?

BT: I saw a fish.

...

BT: That is all. You can go back outside now.

Seriously, it's so boring that one of the war table operations has you try to settle a feud that started when one branch of the family insulted the other's milk cows. Other places, they're dealing with civil war and monsters. In Ostwick, they're so bored they're ready to spill blood over the quality of livestock.

i guffawed at this.

[Youknow]

Backgrounds are fine being a little underdeveloped, I find both Origins and Inquisition fine in this regard for the various styles. What gets me are the backgrounds don't always seem to work in Inquisition is the problem. Like Elf has some serious problems in Inqusition plot wise that require that your Elf didn't care about his/her own culture. 

 

I'd rather the game be better about the present than the character's past. 

[myahele]

I like how you can pretty much choose to fill in the blanks of the inquisitor's past based on dialogue options, like a Wiked Grace scene + others. At most, hopefully they can add more scenes like that

[DuskWanderer]

I don't think the background really needs to be developed that much. I remember one of the old taglines "Who we were wasn't important. We are the Inquisition"

[BansheeOwnage]

I don't like having forced friends because of your background (like Jowan), but I really enjoyed that conversation with Josephine where she asked you about your life depending on your background, and you could decide your personality and past behavior based on several responses. I loved being able to say I was a loner in the woods (Dalish), I was awkward at parties (noble), or I had a crush on a templar (Circle mage). I wish more characters had that kind of interaction with you, especially your LI for crying out loud. If I don't see my character's family at least let me talk about them and about home life.

Yes, this is definitely one reason why I prefer Inquisition's approach.

Having more moments like that and having either some sort of origin or at least a background you pick are not mutually exclusive.

 

Agreed, but I never got a sense of any culture from Kirkwall or from any of the mentions of the other areas. Even WoT does not provide much information.

I don't really think of my country having a distinct culture, so it never really bothered me. I don't know if that's because I live there or if it's true, though.

 

I like how you can pretty much choose to fill in the blanks of the inquisitor's past based on dialogue options, like a Wiked Grace scene + others. At most, hopefully they can add more scenes like that

Uh... I don't see how being able to tell a story that you don't actually get to hear constitutes adding to your background. I mean, I liked that you could, but you didn't actually get any information out of it.

 

I don't think the background really needs to be developed that much. I remember one of the old taglines "Who we were wasn't important. We are the Inquisition"

It was actually "Whatever we were before, we are now the Inquisition." It doesn't say that who they were isn't important, it just highlights the fact that they are a team now instead of a bunch of ragtags. Also, I find it strange that you couldn't actually say that ingame.

[BloodKaiden]

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

This is my main issue, head canon is all good but when you introduce multi races/backgrounds at least make enough differing dialogue options for possible different views of that said race's viewpoints or belief systems. There is no reason for a Dalish elf to not know who Mythal is and even if they don't b/c of lost Elven knowledge at least give them the option to know. We should be able to play as a shem hating Dalish. Same with the Qunari, know and be able to educate people on the damn Qun. With the way their society works that is really unacceptable imo. We have a whole chat grid to work with, no side should be blank and race specific stuff should show up constantly when reasonable.

[Ghost Gal]

There are these things called "creativity" and "imagination," which you can use to fill in the blanks of the Inquisitor's backstory (since the game gives you the bare bones to work with) yourself, if you could be bothered to use them.

[Sifr]

Agreed, but I never got a sense of any culture from Kirkwall or from any of the mentions of the other areas. Even WoT does not provide much information. Compare that to Nevarra and Rivain (to a lesser extent Antina and Anderfels, which are also underdeveloped) where we have not been there but have a sense of what the countries might be like. Not a whole picture, but I feel like I understand them more from reading about them than what Kirkwall is about from living there for seven years.

 

If anything, Kirkwall feels like a Fereldan refugee camp, Qunari compound, and battleground between templars and mages with nothing else containing it. Apart from Varric we don't have significant interactions wtih any native Kirkwallers that provide more information. Sebastian is from Starkhaven and I don't feel like I have any better sense of that city other than they must have Scottish accents there.

 

Kirkwall alway struck me as an amalgamation of the many mediterranean port cities that have been found themselves changing hands between various nations throughout their long history.

 

The reason I think that Kirkwall's culture and politics are not that well-defined (at least compared to mediterranean cities) is because Kirkwall seems to be constantly in flux and never able to settle into one particular niche before something comes along to turn over the apple cart.

 

In the span of twenty years, Kirkwall went from an authoritarian Viscount attempting to throw out the Templars, to himself being overthrown and replaced with Dumar. The Blight brought thousands of refugees into the city, followed shortly by the Qunari landing. The Qunari then launched an ad hoc invasion attempt, murdered the Viscount and were barely stopped. Meredith then assumed full control over the city, grew increasingly draconian, leading to Anders blowing up the Chantry, the Circle rebelling and the Mages and Templars turning the streets into a battlefield.

 

Suffice it to say, Kirkwall changes it's relationship status more times than Taylor gorram Swift.

 

[straykat]

There are these things called "creativity" and "imagination," which you can use to fill in the blanks of the Inquisitor's backstory (since the game gives you the bare bones to work with) yourself, if you could be bothered to use them.

 

I don't have any problem with creating something, personally. I only dislike how hard it is to workaround the Noble's age range. It's possible, but not "neatly" done. I wish there was something more like the original idea, where the game was human only and had a variety of backgrounds. I can create a ton of stories with Shepard, for example. But here I felt like my hands are tied a bit.

 

Circle Mage produces a lot of ideas in my head. It works.

 

Elven spy does too, but now  it's made a little worse that the last Inquisitior was an elf too (and Dalish even). I'd even say this DLC kind of puts a damper on any mage as well.. human even. I think it's bad form, narratively speaking, to have something too much like the last Inquisitor. But that's just me. The story worked better before I ever knew any of this.

 

Qunari.. how convenient is it to have yet another Qunari who acts human and is a merc. We don't have two dwarves in the Inquisition inner circle, but yet.. there's two Qunari. If it works for others, fine.. but it doesn't for me. I liked the Qunari when they were the "Other". The alien-like element of the setting. The oddity that was barely understood or could understand others. Now they're just posers, who dress up and dance at balls and act like Average Joe Bro, having a grasp of humanity with ease. And then have the balls to dictate to humanity too. How do I create a backstory for something like this? I don't. I either roll with it or just shake my head and move on.