DA:Inquisition - Review @ GameBanshee

Brumbek said:

I totally agree with you. DA:I was just a bit too fantasy, with good and evil. It would have benefited from much more focus on pragmatism and human nature. But it is what it is.

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The last time BioWare tried that their "fanbase" went up in arm and told them it sucked (DA2). DAI was just compensating for those critics.

If you dare suggest it on the BSN you get told that BioWare does what works and they should stick to black & white save the world as the only "competent" person in the whole universe storytelling.

azarhal said:

The last time BioWare tried that their "fanbase" went up in arm and told them it sucked (DA2). DAI was just compensating for those critics.

If you dare suggest it on the BSN you get to told that BioWare does what works and they should stick to black & white save the world as the only "competent" person in the whole universe storytelling.

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I think story was least of DA2 problems, at least to me. I enjoyed the story, hated almost everything else.

It's not really a question of writing style, I find. It's more about writing talent.

Archangel said:

I think story was least of DA2 problems, at least to me. I enjoyed the story, hated almost everything else.

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Exactly!

Archangel said:

I think story was least of DA2 problems, at least to me. I enjoyed the story, hated almost everything else.

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The problem with DA2 was it was a cut and paste rush job. Also nothing really you did had any real out come in the game. It didn't matter how or what you did it was the same no matter what.

Eh...that's pushing it a bit. There were a couple of quests that actually did have different outcomes, such as your sister/brother's fate and etc. A lot of people disliked how major events were out of Hawke's control, but I had no problems with it...it worked well with his "the hero next door" type of character, that is more down to earth and focused on his family's well being rather than saving the galaxy from giant space squid robots/whatever the hell they are/ things.
It's a shame how the game turned out...of all the Bioware games in last ten year or so, I think DA2 was (one of) the most interesting with the most potential.

BoboTheMighty said:

Eh…that's pushing it a bit. There were a couple of quests that actually did have different outcomes, such as your sister/brother's fate and etc. A lot of people disliked how major events were out of Hawke's control, but I had no problems with it…

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I didn't have problem with that and I didn't have problem with the story. It's (as Archangel have said) almost everything else I had problem with...

The story was incohesive and a bit nonsensical at times...get money to go to expedition to earn money with a dwarf who you could see from a mile away will screw you over in the end, but still, I liked a more "personal feel to it".
It wouldn't be as much a problem if you try to look at it as a whole "Life in Kirkwall" theme ringing through it... problem is, that place was goddamn boring and lifeless( with the exception of It's raining men! phenomenon)...even betraying city's magister didn't come back to bite you in the ass in the end.
But some humor and decent companions( Aveline, Varric) made it a bit more tolerable to get through.

DA2 had a 'Chosen One' story-line no different to any other Bioware game, the only difference was that no-one actually refers to you as "The Chosen One", at least not until quite late in the game where your rise-to-hero status is emphatic.

Jeezus, he's even called The 'Saviour' Of Kirkwall...

What exactly is the difference between rags-to-overlord and rags-to-chosen one?

The difference between Heroes doing battle with evil and someone being on a set personal path is the motivation element of Adventure that makes the former Adventurers and the latter story telling tools.

Are you seriously telling me that Kirkwall represented Adventure for Adventure's sake?

lackblogger said:

DA2 had a 'Chosen One' story-line no different to any other Bioware game, the only difference was that no-one actually refers to you as "The Chosen One", at least not until quite late in the game where your rise-to-hero status is emphatic.

Jeezus, he's even called The 'Saviour' Of Kirkwall…

What exactly is the difference between rags-to-overlord and rags-to-chosen one?

The difference between Heroes doing battle with evil and someone being on a set personal path is the motivation element of Adventure that makes the former Adventurers and the latter story telling tools.

Are you seriously telling me that Kirkwall represented Adventure for Adventure's sake?

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DA2 was, I think, just the first half of a story that was abrogated because the DA2 team was given too little time, and the planned expansion was cancelled later. I remember to have read, and it's certainly a strong suspicion on my part, that Hawke was originally supposed to fill the Inquisitor's role.
In essence, I believe Hawke was to be a 'Chosen One in spite of him / herself' from the get-go, and in that respect not that different from the Hero of Ferelden in DA:O. With only the first half of the intended story in place, he became much more 'the Accidental Schmuck of Kirkwall' and far more inconsequential than what I think was the original intention.

The irony: A good RPG with a relatively unimportant character in a well-realised city would actually have been awesome. It's not inconceivable that BioWare could have pulled that off with the limited time and resources they were given for DA2. But I think it likely they had a far more ambitious and standard plan that sort of exploded in their face during development.

lackblogger said:

DA2 had a 'Chosen One' story-line no different to any other Bioware game, the only difference was that no-one actually refers to you as "The Chosen One", at least not until quite late in the game where your rise-to-hero status is emphatic.
Are you seriously telling me that Kirkwall represented Adventure for Adventure's sake?

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It did at first, at least that's the impression I got from the game. But you could tell that Bioware was not comfortable in this setting, so "No one really knows what happened in that shit hole, but everyone agrees you're the best person ever!" messages started showing up pretty early in the game. It also took some control over the events from the protagonist, that usually comes with these type of games.