Dragon Age

Yeah, I don't really get why you need to wear some kind of hood underneath your hat to wear a hat. Is it really so hard to just, I don't know, code in a switch that bumps up hats a few pixels to keep them from clipping certain hairstyles? Swords and shields hover in space on your back. I think I could have tolerated some floating hats.

Prevent clipping hair through hats? They couldn't even be bothered to stop most of the hairstyles from clipping through your ears.

I mean, I know that 3d modeling takes a lot of time and effort, but really? Really?

Anyway, the war table. I like the idea of it; the Inquisitor is also a politician, and they must make decisions from a distance. However, the fact that they're usually not incorporated into the story or dialogue; for example the aforementioned "accidentally destroying your clan" only is mentioned in Trespasser. Also, an elf-dominated city council in Wycome. Interesting. Why can't I see that?

A mini-quest chain depending on your race would have been interesting. Use the resources that were used for the Hissing Wastes (ugh, that place) for it, and relegate the surface thaig to the war table.

edited 7th Dec '16 1:12:15 AM by SilentColossus

So its kinda funny how Anders changes between DA 1 & 2

I mean, its attributed to Justice changing Anders, but DA 1 Anders is like "What, Libertanians want to leave chantry? Thats madness!"

edited 7th Dec '16 5:18:27 AM by SpookyMask

To be fair, Anders apparently was always planned as being Justice's next host, and we do see Justice telling Anders that he needs to start standing up for mages in Awakening. But we really should have seen the development first hand.

(Velanna was also considered to be a potential host)

Anders always had the same opinions, he just has a spine in DA 2.

Yeah - he didn't want the mages to leave the Chantry mostly due to wanting to avoid conflict and responsibility. Any rebellion would drag him in as well. He always wanted to escape himself, and he always hated Templars, finding their deaths funny. Justice convinces him he has a responsibility.

I don't hate the war table in concept, but the execution is awful. Like I said when the game comes out, it feels like a Free to Play Facebook game where Bioware forgot to implement micro-transactions to skip the RL timers. Which only makes it worst coz then whats the point of the timers? "Wait 48 hours to get a vendor trash item and some influence." Yay?

Plus there's stuff that shouldn't have been relegated to the War Table. Like Zevran's cameo. It's not like they didn't have the voice actor - he's one of the Inquisitor voices!

Dunno if that's been patched, but when the game came out, making the helmets invisible doesn't affect the Vitaar. So you end up with no choice but having your Qunari look like a Juggalo.

I still dislike how Qunaris were obviously added at the last minute. From the lack of helmets, to having the most restrictive armor choices (Especially in terms of armor with unique models), to some unique armors reverting to the "default starting game armor" model when worn by a Qunari.

I replayed Inquisition recently, using the "no War Table wait times" mod, and the War Table is pretty good if you discard the idiotic real time element. This way you can actually focus on the "choosing the best way to solve an issue" element.

I still believe the only way for the game to make sense would be to make every War Table mission require Power instead of time. I would be almost be ready to bet money that the game was designed that way, and then someone decided to force a "real time" element into it.

Anyway, Anders had a spine in Awakening. He was determined to live his life and enjoy it despite adversity. He discarded the spine and picked up obsession in 2. (Disclaimer: I love Anders' character arc)

edited 7th Dec '16 6:51:11 AM by Cozzer

I don't think those things are mutually exclusive. It takes a spine to obsess over what Anders obsessed over and to fight it relentlessly for years.

Yeah, I'm probably not being fair to him. In the end, Anders goes to the dark side only at the very end of the game, after ten years of supernatural influence from a strong spirit, living in possibly the worst place he could be at the time. It's actually quite admirable that he lasted so much before going nuclear.

edited 7th Dec '16 7:08:41 AM by Cozzer

Being spineless would be Anders living in the tower his whole life and hating every moment of it.

Most armor not fighting Qunari doesn't matter, because you should be using the much better craftable armor.

Never got the hatred for crafting. You should be swimming in enough gold to buy most of the materials.

edited 7th Dec '16 7:45:41 AM by SilentColossus

A lot of the Craftable armors are not Qunari compatible. Like, all the Grey Warden armors for example.

Yeah. I'm talking about things like the Coat or Mail Schematics. You can also add arms and legs to them, which give you even more stats.

Well, its not only thing that is changed about Anders between the games. DA 2 Anders is much less ladies man than DA 1 Anders .-.

Some of the unique armors actually have higher stats. Especially when it comes to "primary" stats like armor. While they have less slots, the slots use more materials, or the armor's basic armor is higher.

Fair enough. Even so, most don't exclude Qunari. Just as many only let one race wear them, like the templar, dalish or (some) dwarven armors. Unless I'm being seriously misled by the DA wiki.

edited 7th Dec '16 8:26:26 AM by SilentColossus

Yeah, but there's no Qunari specific armor (sans DLC), and many armor that allow everyone BUT Qunari. And again, a few armors revert to a different appearance on Qunari, showing up as the same armor you start the game in.

Lack of options is annoying >_<

There can always be more.

edited 7th Dec '16 8:29:15 AM by VeryMelon

They do? Keep in mind, a lot, perhaps even most, of the armor in-game share similar models. They also look different on other characters (that fit their styles). Do they look like a completely different armor on the Qunari Inquisitor than an elven or human Inquisitor? Or do they look different on Cassandra and the Inquisitor? Or Dorian?

The Inquisitor wears a trench coat. Higher tiers are longer. Solas, by contrast, will look like a hermit.

edited 7th Dec '16 8:34:58 AM by SilentColossus

Yeah, but on the inquisitor they'll keep the same model, just resized for his/her race. Some of the Qunari armors however do not, they revert to a completely different model.

By the time you have the gold to buy whatever resources you want, you don't really need to craft anymore, but that's not actually my problem with it. I just hate crafting and gathering in general. It's a thing.

The Qunari armour problem is pretty noticeable if you're going from a mage to warrior playthrough, although that's somewhat true for any of the races. The most glaring example is that one suit of armour from Trespasser— the Skin That Stalks, I think it's called? It has bare arms, so your Qunari character's arms shrink to about half the size, as do their chest and legs.

edited 7th Dec '16 11:23:24 AM by Unsung

Oh, if we wanna talk arms and legs, let's talk the male elves.

The way their arms are bent means the hands constantly clip through armors. And also that the male elf's arms are socketted into his ribcage, not his shoulders◊.

edited 7th Dec '16 11:35:48 AM by Ghilz

Only played one elf and she was a mage, so I didn't see that. There's a ton of clipping issues for the dwarf warrior, though, too. The straps on the default armour sink into their back muscle, it's weird. And of course their gestures in dialogue and cutscenes have their mystical, magical beards constantly phasing through the world and their own bodies.