44 réponses à ce sujet

[Donquijote and 59 others]

The far fetched reuse of characters bound by optional contents impoverishes the world,this is basically the double-edged sword in having the flexibility of a variable main story promoted via characters and events that are ultimately irrelevant.

The  inevitable consequence the  "small world syndrome"   leave a bitter taste  since apparently the same four cats jump across the continent since the 9:30 to end up hired into the ship of the big adventure who will "save the world" which is ultimately ridiculous, unconvincing,shallow and disappointing.

There's something rather ironic in the fact that more choices lead to less freedom on the devs' part to craft a story along traditional paths.

That's one of the unique hurdles RPGs face. On one hand, players want to feel like they're affecting the world in a meaningful way. On the other, there are only so many branches the story can take moving forward before it becomes a logistical nightmare to code and create. People have complained recently about DA2 and DAI feeling more limited in the choices you can make, but if you think about it, by restricting the outcome of the story, there's a slightly greater chance that the choices and actions you do get to make will have a deeper impact later on.

 

[Kakyuu]

This is why they really need to set the next game in Tevinter(sp) and LEAVE EVERYBODY IN THE SOUTH. Only Dorian and possibly The Iron Bull have any reason at all to be  there and depending on the plot they could have zero reasons to interact with the PC. Any "cameo's" from past games should be in the form of overheard gossip and codex like Zeveran in DAI. That way everything seems new and fresh and events from the previous games take a minimum of effort to shoe horn in. They need to keep this up in future installments, set each of them in a different part of Thedas, so that your decisions in the previous games can have huge different impacts in the game for increased replay-ability but don't really effect the next game that much.

   I would much rather play a game like DAO where my choices mattered in the game, different allies, drastically different endings to quest,s then, DAI in which your choices don't even matter in the same play through, nothing changes except who is standing around Skyhold no matter what you do the whole game. No , I don't count anything that happens on the War Table as part of the game. It's Farmville Dragon Age edition and nothing else so don't tell me " You get different war table missions!".
  They keep saying "This is the story of Thedas, not The Warden/Hawke/Inquisitor" but if that was true then we would get a whole new cast each time, not cameo after cameo and reused characters (Leliana, Morgan, Cullen, Varric) when new characters should have been used. Either give us a new story each time, or give up the lie an just say "Sorry we wrote ourselves in to a corner with this PC, here is some one new!"

[Donk]

Wot.

[DebatableBubble]

Now if only the Shepard diehards could understand this....

[Aren]

I somehow i agree the only returning character i would like to see is Solas.

[thats1evildude]

"Impoverishment!" My, my, somebody broke out the thesaurus on that one.

The advantage of a continuing storyline is that you CAN bring back characters from one game to the next, and the decisions made in one game can impact the next.

We do have to accept that our decisions will only result in minor alterations, and making a decision doesn't result in two different games, though.

[Typhrus]

It at least makes slightly more sense for a previous character to reappear in DA (although still highly unlikely), than it was in Mass Effect. The terms of scale in both serious are significantly different. At least over the course of the first three DA games we've been in Southern Thedas, or rather most of the important political centres in Southern Thedas. So in terms of game geographies, it literally has been 'a little world' with the furthest north being the Hissing Wastes and Kirkwall that the play character has travelled to.

Tevinter, being the supposed new setting for the next game lessens the chances of some characters making cameos. I'd guess at most you might get one from the ruler of Orlais or the Divine, but nothing from say, Alistair or Anora. Arguably the only character that could reasonably turn up from what was given in Trespasser is Dorian. Although that I guess, would depend on whether the other magisters don't force him and his cohorts underground, as they (the magisters) might not be entirely agreeable with his policy ideas.

So in the end, I think it works out a bit better in DA for furthering the plot of the world, whereas in the original Mass Effect trilogy, it could create certain circumstances a bit too coincidental. Andromeda will be interesting because even if we establish colonies there, the chances of bumping into the same person in relatively small population centres would be more likely.

[Donquijote and 59 others]

"Impoverishment!" My, my, somebody broke out the thesaurus on that one.

The advantage of a continuing storyline is that you CAN bring back characters from one game to the next, and the decisions made in one game can impact the next.

We do have to accept that our decisions will only result in minor alterations, and making a decision doesn't result in two different games, though.

Impacting the next with the same outcome is really shallow and without a sense.

[biccs_pudding]

I'm on the opposite side on this one. The franchise would steadily lose a significant portion of its audience from game to game if the world would indeed be the only thing that connected them. This is not Elder Scrolls where the individual characters never really had much effort put behind them. BioWare is characters first, everything else (including story integrity) second, despite the oft quoted "This is the story of Thedas" rubbish. If they make X character that a lot of people become fans of, which is pretty much the goal of fleshing out th roster the way they do, they have a much bigger chance of successfully luring them into other installments that use said character, even if it otherwise wouldn't interest them (let's face it, Inquisition's shortcomings turned quite a few former fans away but some of them could very well still play DA4 just to see what happens with X person). Just look at how many fans were geeking out over their returning sweethearts be them Leliana, Varric, Alistair, Morrigan, Flemeth and the handful of others, or try to count the threads pleading that the Inquisitor/Warden should absolutely play a part again (some of them even wanting the former to be a protagonist once more). The fact itself that Solas would now play a central role in two consequent games show that both BioWare and the majority of the game's audience prefer the overarching narrative approach with cosmetic/mostly irrelevant branching.

 

Your choices affect the characters, but not so much the world and story. I think it's fine this way. I much prefer the writers to have bigger freedom to make an overarching narrative in a specific way that they envisioned, rather than to have a series of separate little bubbles with wild variety within but little to no connection to each other whatsoever. As long as it isn't too shoehorny (like if Varric just so happened to be signing his books in a throwaway Tevinter tavern we happened to visit) then I'll gladly welcome as many cameos from past characters as they can squeeze in. With proper motivations it shouldn't be a problem. I could easily see a White Divine-Black Devine meeting in the midst of the Qunari crisis, Sten as the Arishok, Iron Bull being a friendly mercenary, Dorian as an ally in the Magisterium, Josephine as a diplomat from Antiva, Merril as an anti-Solas City Elf Keeper, the Inquisitor as the Solas-expert, Morrigan as Flemythal's reluctant sockpuppet, yadda yadda. Tons of opportunities that would hurt the central plot little if at all.

[XEternalXDreamsX]

I would like the optional content (different choices/outcomes) to affect content later in the game. It doesn't matter to me if the choices carried over to the next game unless it was major decision that could impact future installments. That's where it bothers me..when it tries to explain in a epilogue or the implementation in the next game or not at all.

[Ashagar]

Given the writers have expressed a clear desire to break from the south and deal with northern Thadas in the next game and perhaps the games following the next I don't think we will have to worry about to many reappearing characters esepically as they pretty much tied up the loose strings with all the characters that aren't plot important.

 

Other than Solas who will be the main villain of the next game or the greater scope villain for the next several games I can't think of any character that might appear other than Shale who was supposed to have ended up in Tevinter and then Calpenia and Doran who are both from Tevinter and returned there.

[Dai Grepher]

I disagree. It mainly comes down to ideas. If DA:I fails anywhere, it's that the main plots were not written well or strongly presented. Not saying the main ideas were weak, in fact I liked them. Though the presentation could have been better. DA:I was a giant leap back in the right direction.

 

However, I don't think limited choices equate to stronger storyline, because ultimately the storyline is only as strong as the idea behind it.

 

And when you think about it, is limiting choice to two paths really any different than funneling several choices into a two outcomes? It's the same result in both cases. As Harry Kim from Star Trek: Voyager once said, "Maybe it's not the destination that matters most; maybe it's the journey." Having several choices on how to reach the same destination is important because it helps define your character.

 

There might be an argument that having the devs come up with multiple scenarios detracts from the effort put into the main plots, but I would say this just calls for better investment and better delegation of resources. Besides, typically the main plots are written first and then all variants are written afterward. So the main plots would still get the lion's share of attention. The only thing it might be deprived of in this case is that last bit of polish.

 

Instead of limiting how much customizable storyline there is, I think a better approach is to demand greater investment in as much storyline as possible. Raise the bar higher. Push for the best.

 

Now, regarding accurate reflection of world states, I don't think it's that difficult at all. Take the example of who rules Ferelden. I think BioWare was just plain lazy on this. DA:I could have reflected it better by simply having a Cousland banner option if the Hero of Ferelden was an M!Cousland who married Anora and became a joint ruling monarch. The artwork for the banner already existed from Origins. So I don't see why they couldn't just have this option in the game. I would have been more immersed in the game had I seen my Hero of Ferelden's banners flying on the King's Highway instead of Cailan's old one from 11 years ago. And for those who had Alistair and/or Anora, then keeping the Therin banners would have been fine. Anora's last name in a Cousland ruler world state was also not accurately reflected. And this was just a simple matter of TEXT swapping.

 

Of course there's also more complex situations, such as the Ferelden monarch(s) granting asylum to the mages. Even if Alistair and Anora would come to the same conclusion, not every Cousland would. Hence why BioWare needed to remove the Hero from the situation. In these cases I think there could be better ways to portray differences in world states. For example, one Cousland might ban the rebel mages from Ferelden. In which case the rebel camp is placed in a different location on the Hinterlands map, and it is highly prone to siding with Tevinter since they lack protection and support. This could in turn make it more difficult to persuade the mages to abandon Tevinter and join the Inquisition. Alternatively, you might have a Cousland who would accept the mages, but also not group them all together in one spot. He or she might disperse them in various locations so that they can't be easily corrupted. That way they can't mobilize as an army, unless the crown mobilizes them. Providing good templars to watch them, and assigning soldiers to watch the templars, would also result in a world state where convincing them to join the Inquisition would be much easier. In this case Alexius would not set a trap, but would rather launch a surprise attack. This is the sort of variation that would make the games better without expending a ton of resources.

 

Another idea I had is if the Hero founded the Silver Order or not. If so, then the plot with the Wardens would have some differences. If the Silver Order exists, then it would help the Inquisition by providing information and allied soldiers to help track the Wardens, contain them, and stop Clarel's plot. In this case you would not be meeting Stroud in a smuggler's cave but rather in Vigil's Keep. There could even be extra content if you conscripted that sheepherder who in the epilogue becomes a respected commander in the Silver Order. If you didn't conscript him, then he simply doesn't show up.

 

I think BioWare just needs to stick with the Frostbite engine and build on it. The reason why DA:I lacked as much as it did was because BioWare spent so much time and money into developing the engine to meet their purposes. 

[TheKomandorShepard]

I agree with you. Import system in dragon age is a failure , in first place most of the choices are brought into same outcome anyway others simply don't matter leading to either to making choice irrelevant as outcome and consequences will be the same or simply refusing to give choice at all and force player in order to enforce certain outcome.Pretty much it kills entire point of import feature by restricting consequences of choices or given choices in first place and all it devours considerable resources that could be used on something different. 

 

When it is comes to returning characters, it is badly done as well because bioware is abusing it making world small and story ridiculous with amount of returning character they bring back it goes to point characters like Leliana and Cullen jump around world every game just to meet protagonist or ridiculous amount of connections that characters have with other characters.

[nightscrawl]

"Impoverishment!" My, my, somebody broke out the thesaurus on that one.

The advantage of a continuing storyline is that you CAN bring back characters from one game to the next, and the decisions made in one game can impact the next.

We do have to accept that our decisions will only result in minor alterations, and making a decision doesn't result in two different games, though.

 

You have to admit that DAI took it to the next level with returning characters, even if most of them did make sense within the story. Honestly, I tend to feel that Cassandra and Leliana are really the only needed ones, as Right and Left Hands of the Divine, and considering the final scene from DA2. I think we could have done without Varric as well, as his reason was thin to begin with. Cassandra says that she brought him to tell his story directly to the Divine so she could hear it from the source, but since she is now dead he is no longer required.

 

Even considering the whole issue with Corypheus and his introduction in Legacy, I think they could have gotten away with leaving out Varric and Hawke entirely as neither of them actually knew anything of value about him. Hawke's true value to the game's story was in providing a Grey Warden contact that we then used to deprive Corypheus of his demon army. But that's all, really. I think they could have come up with some other way of giving us that information. Hell, it might have been a chance to have some minor involvement from the HoF** in the form of Corypheus's apparent connection to the Architect and the strange allies that Nathaniel refers to in his DA2 cameo.

 

** Note that I did say minor and would not expect to see them, with the understanding that it would be so generic as to be able to be substituted with someone else if they are dead.

 

And I say that as someone who does enjoy the whole import thing, even with the necessarily limited variable reactions, and was pleased with how it worked out in DAI.

 

I am also hoping that the next game takes place in Tevinter, or somewhere farther north of The Waking Sea, so we can avoid most of this and start relatively fresh in an entirely new place. And please, no more Ferelden. I have a fondness for the country after DAO, but let us move on.

[Tidus]

A trip to Teventor would be nice and as a sub story a rogue Grey Warden looks for his or her lover's killer while joining the main story group that's once again saving the world from a arch villain.

 

Would it be to far fetch to ask for a sub story in RPGs? My 'heroes' been saving the world from destruction since Final Fantasy 1 seemly without a personal vendetta.

 

Since RPGs seem to be based on D&D type stories it could be possible.

[Dai Grepher]

Don't forget that Weisshaupt is close to Tevinter. The Wardens might be involved in the DA4 plot, especially if the Hero found the cure. Also, whatever Hawke or the Warden Contact did when they were there will likely be mentioned. And whether the Wardens were exiled or not, and if they were killed off should all be reflected.

[ModernAcademic]

Don't forget that Weisshaupt is close to Tevinter. The Wardens might be involved in the DA4 plot, especially if the Hero found the cure. Also, whatever Hawke or the Warden Contact did when they were there will likely be mentioned. And whether the Wardens were exiled or not, and if they were killed off should all be reflected.

 

I TRULY hope BW shows that in the next game. Curing the taint and visiting Tevinter, where the Blights began should be like finishing a huge cycle storywise that started in Origins.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

Given the writers have expressed a clear desire to break from the south and deal with northern Thadas in the next game and perhaps the games following the next I don't think we will have to worry about to many reappearing characters esepically as they pretty much tied up the loose strings with all the characters that aren't plot important.

 

Other than Solas who will be the main villain of the next game or the greater scope villain for the next several games I can't think of any character that might appear other than Shale who was supposed to have ended up in Tevinter and then Calpenia and Doran who are both from Tevinter and returned there.

I haven't actually played Trespasser, but wasn't there a scene where the founding members including the Inquisitor stated an intention to go to Tevinter to seek out people whose skills Solas hasn't watched over the course of about a year in combat alongside them? So whoever's in that scene (if it happened) has reason to be there.

 

I also think whoever drank from the Well might have a reason to show back up. I thought the scene after you beat Corypheus implied that Solas had drained Mythal's remains from Flemeth; if that's the case then he could easily weaponize either the Inquisitor or Morrigan whether they want it or not, and in Morrigan's case at least he has little reason to hold back since I don't think he likes her enough to care if we off her.

 

Calpernia, on the other hand, I'm almost certain is dead. She said she's going to confront Corypheus on his deception and then go back to Tevinter "if she survives," doesn't she? Or she kills herself rather than die to you. Either way, she's probably dead.

[Marshal Moriarty]

Would moving the focus to Tevinter really help anything at all? For ages now, we've been bludgeoned into submission by talk of Mage rights, the dangers of blood magic and uncontrolled/unsupervised mage, the issue of slavery etc etc. Party members have had their whole contributions to the games subsumed by their opinions on these things, and other characters seem to have been created specifically to *not* have an opinion on any of it and decry those who do harp on about them etc etc etc etc etc. Moving to Tevinter would leave us at the mercy of all these things. Do we really want to spend a game hearing about rights for slaves, rights for non mages, reform of mage dominated politics etc? And have characters who will talk about nothing else?

 

The fact is that they have chewed over the issues of the day ad nauseum now. We either need a sizeable shunt forward in time to create some new points to talk about, or we need to pull it back and go for a more intimate story and leave the big issues of the day in the background a la DA2. We need a story that is free from ancient world threatening evils, and please *God* stop pampering the player's ego by telling them how incredibly awesome and uniquely amazingly strong and powerful and fantastic they are every 10 seconds.

[Ghost Gal]

I'm so sick of people using the word "story" like its this great Holy Relic, where any level of flexibility or roleplay choices for a roleplaying video game somehow contaminates it.

 

If you want a pure, "traditional story," go read a book or watch a movie. Those don't require any reader/viewer input and therefore are all self-contained for it.

 

The beauty of video games is that players can influence the outcome of the story, and the beauty of roleplaying games (ideally) is that we can "play a role" in the story, and (ideally) influence many quest and story and world outcomes by making choices that work for our character. We can influence the story and the world in video games the way we never can for books or movies.

 

When I want to watch a story unfold by itself, I watch a video. When I want to influence the story, I play a video game.

 

And I'm so tired of people like you who call for restricting player choices and input because you expect the video game to be like a movie, where you passively sit back and watch the self-contained "story" unfold before you. Only in this case where all the player does is kill monsters between cutscenes and constantly press "A" to advance the dialogue during cutscenes. Don't restrict my freedom of choice because you expect a video game to be like a movie, and think "self-contained story" is inherently superior than an influenceable story.

[Dai Grepher]

Calpernia, on the other hand, I'm almost certain is dead. She said she's going to confront Corypheus on his deception and then go back to Tevinter "if she survives," doesn't she? Or she kills herself rather than die to you. Either way, she's probably dead.

 

But based on the way in which Corypheus just saunters into the room with a dumb grin on his face, I'm thinking he didn't run into Calpernia. Otherwise he would have entered franticly, and would not have been surprised to see the Inquisitor at the Well. He was fully expecting to see Calpernia there, and was enraged to find this wasn't the case.

 

As for her "death". She jumps into a pit that has water falling into it as well. Odds are she landed in a pool of water and was carried away by the current. In movies and games an off-screen death usually means the character did not die (see: stabbing Morrigan), unless its a matter of censorship, which isn't the case in Dragon Age.

[Darkly Tranquil]

I'm so sick of people using the word "story" like its this great Holy Relic, where any level of flexibility or roleplay choices for a roleplaying video game somehow contaminates it.
 
If you want a pure, "traditional story," go read a book or watch a movie. Those don't require any reader/viewer input and therefore are all self-contained for it.
 
The beauty of video games is that players can influence the outcome of the story, and the beauty of roleplaying games (ideally) is that we can "play a role" in the story, and (ideally) influence many quest and story and world outcomes by making choices that work for our character. We can influence the story and the world in video games the way we never can for books or movies.
 
When I want to watch a story unfold by itself, I watch a video. When I want to influence the story, I play a video game.
 
And I'm so tired of people like you who call for restricting player choices and input because you expect the video game to be like a movie, where you passively sit back and watch the self-contained "story" unfold before you. Only in this case where all the player does is kill monsters between cutscenes and constantly press "A" to advance the dialogue during cutscenes. Don't restrict my freedom of choice because you expect a video game to be like a movie, and think "self-contained story" is inherently superior than an influenceable story.

You do realise that most of the "choices" in DA all end up leading to more or less the same end result? Just as the Warden contact can be Stroud, Alistair, or Loghain, so can pretty much every other choice either make only cosmetic changes or end up all with the same ending. The choices you are so keen on are an illusion. The story is all Bioware's and we get as much or as little choice in influencing the story as they choose to give us.

In any case, the argument that a videogame story must (or indeed should) have player choice is nonsense anyway; some of the best videogame stories you can play give you no choices at all. The Last of Us, Bioshock, and Red Dead Redemption all offer no player choice, and have some of the best written and most powerful stories you can experience in a game. Choice is nice, but it's icing on the cake of a great story.

[Dai Grepher]

Would moving the focus to Tevinter really help anything at all? For ages now, we've been bludgeoned into submission by talk of Mage rights, the dangers of blood magic and uncontrolled/unsupervised mage, the issue of slavery etc etc. Party members have had their whole contributions to the games subsumed by their opinions on these things, and other characters seem to have been created specifically to *not* have an opinion on any of it and decry those who do harp on about them etc etc etc etc etc. Moving to Tevinter would leave us at the mercy of all these things. Do we really want to spend a game hearing about rights for slaves, rights for non mages, reform of mage dominated politics etc? And have characters who will talk about nothing else?

 

The fact is that they have chewed over the issues of the day ad nauseum now. We either need a sizeable shunt forward in time to create some new points to talk about, or we need to pull it back and go for a more intimate story and leave the big issues of the day in the background a la DA2. We need a story that is free from ancient world threatening evils, and please *God* stop pampering the player's ego by telling them how incredibly awesome and uniquely amazingly strong and powerful and fantastic they are every 10 seconds.

 

I don't disagree. If Tevinter is the next setting, then those issue will likely be touched on to some extent, and it has been done a little too much. But there is some potential. Tevinter could finally give us the opportunity to explore blood magic in-depth. It can also give us a more detailed look into the ancient elvhen, as Tevinter was built on their fallen empire. They also have the most extensive library of historical records and all sorts of magic. Tevinter is also connected with the dwarves. So it's a chance to learn more of their history and culture. There's also the dreamwalkers. No one can do it nowadays, but they could still explore that topic, which I think would relate to Solas and his abilities.

 

Hopefully, the slave/aristocrat scenario will just be an obstacle to fight through in order to get to the lore based content. Like eating a salad before the main dish. Eating some of it is fine, but you get sick of it after a while. Because I mean really, is the next protag, no matter the status or skill level, really going to change hundreds of years of Tevinter practices and ago old institutions in a single game? I highly doubt it. In fact, I doubt even someone like Calpernia will do it in her lifetime. She will probably just be the founder of the first truly organized effort to win freedom from the magisters since Andraste, and that effort will take decades to achieve its goals, if at all.

 

Basically, Tevinter should be an example of why Solas is justified in destroying the current world. We should see all of its evils, not correct them. But there should also be that glimmer of hope that things will eventually change, and that spark is what will drive the new protag and the (ex)Inquisitor to stop Solas.

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

But based on the way in which Corypheus just saunters into the room with a dumb grin on his face, I'm thinking he didn't run into Calpernia. Otherwise he would have entered franticly, and would not have been surprised to see the Inquisitor at the Well. He was fully expecting to see Calpernia there, and was enraged to find this wasn't the case.

 

As for her "death". She jumps into a pit that has water falling into it as well. Odds are she landed in a pool of water and was carried away by the current. In movies and games an off-screen death usually means the character did not die (see: stabbing Morrigan), unless its a matter of censorship, which isn't the case in Dragon Age.

I'll grant you the above point.

 

As for the below point, is Water Breathing magic a known thing in Thedas? Or Slowfall, for that matter? Thedas has done the Never Found the Body thing before, but they usually have some explanation: Anders faked his death by burning another mage's corpse beyond recongition, Morrigan took a gut wound (which takes long enough that she could credibly have had time to treat herself), and Leiliana died in a powerfully magical place that (taken in context with what we learn in Descent) might be right above a Titan. So, I'd grant that Calpernia might have survived, but I'm skeptical until she makes a reappearance.

[nightscrawl]

I haven't actually played Trespasser, but wasn't there a scene where the founding members including the Inquisitor stated an intention to go to Tevinter to seek out people whose skills Solas hasn't watched over the course of about a year in combat alongside them? So whoever's in that scene (if it happened) has reason to be there.

There is a post-credit scene where you are shown around a table with a map of Thedas. There is some dialogue, but Tevinter is not mentioned directly by anyone. The big clue is that the final scene is the Inquisitor stabbing the map with a dagger (remember the Cassandra map stabbing thing?) right into Tevinter.

Cue fangirl/boy screaming all over. I know I did.
 
 

Would moving the focus to Tevinter really help anything at all? For ages now, we've been bludgeoned into submission by talk of Mage rights, the dangers of blood magic and uncontrolled/unsupervised mage, the issue of slavery etc etc. Party members have had their whole contributions to the games subsumed by their opinions on these things, and other characters seem to have been created specifically to *not* have an opinion on any of it and decry those who do harp on about them etc etc etc etc etc. Moving to Tevinter would leave us at the mercy of all these things. Do we really want to spend a game hearing about rights for slaves, rights for non mages, reform of mage dominated politics etc? And have characters who will talk about nothing else?
 
The fact is that they have chewed over the issues of the day ad nauseum now. We either need a sizeable shunt forward in time to create some new points to talk about, or we need to pull it back and go for a more intimate story and leave the big issues of the day in the background a la DA2. We need a story that is free from ancient world threatening evils, and please *God* stop pampering the player's ego by telling them how incredibly awesome and uniquely amazingly strong and powerful and fantastic they are every 10 seconds.

I am dying to get a look at the place. The reason some folks want to start fresh is because DA2 led in with the Blight and the PC being refugees from that, and then there was the carryover of the mage issues toughed on briefly in DAO. Then DAI starts in Ferelden and has about 1/3 of the game take place there, in addition to the same carryover of the mage issues.

Yes, for three games and and an entire novel (Asunder) we have been bludgeoned with the way mages work in southern Thedas. IMO it's time to see how the "evil" Tevinter ones conduct themselves.