Dragon Age

Skyhold and everything in the game makes better sense when you know the game was originally intended as an MMO.

I could tell, and was frustrated by that at the time. I've mellowed on it somewhat, but I do feel like it would've been a much better game if they took out about half the gameworld and focused on making what they had left as strong as possible. But it's the sinister invisible hand of EA in motion once again, etc, etc.

Ugh, I feel a brainstorm coming...

Picture this: the game starts off with you being an attendant to an ambitious Tevinter Magister who is experimenting on an Eluvian with Blood Magic. Suddenly something goes wrong, because of course it does. The mirror explodes, there's a lot of chaos and blood...and the next thing you know you're the Sole Survivor and thousands of tiny fragments of the Eluvian are embedded in your flesh. Then all of a sudden, Solas himself appears and reveals that the shards will slowly poison you to death. But on the plus side, you've become a living Eluvian of sorts and can access the Crossroads from anywhere. Solas strongarms you into serving him by claiming that he's the only one who can save you from a slow and agonizing death.

Throughout the game you do missions for Solas in a bid to survive, partnering up with other Agents of Solas. But all the while, you keep searching for alternative means of freeing yourself, since surely Solas can't be the only one with the power to free you. Complicating things, the Magister isn't quite as dead as you thought, and he wants the shards back one way or another. And all the while, the shards themselves seem like they are speaking to you, trying to tempt you to embrace their power regardless of the danger to yourself...

And since the Crossroads would be a major element in this game, the title could be something like Dragon Age: Crossroads.

edited 2nd Feb '18 12:42:47 PM by M84

I’d be all for that if we hadn’t already had Inquisition, which that sounds a lot like, and I think players would get impatient doing quests for a guy they know is bad news, especially if that took the entire game to reveal.

edited 2nd Feb '18 12:42:39 PM by KarkatTheDalek

It is a rehash of sorts of Inquisition. The difference is that you know from the start that the guy you're working for is bad news, and part of the plot is trying to figure out how to free yourself...or if you even want to free yourself.

Just have the Qunari invasion.

It'll be a Gut Punch if you are forced to kill Sten. (Er, our Sten. We still don't know his name.)

Well, they already gave us a chance to kill off Alistair...

Correction: we don't know Sten's number. Or his nickname, if any. He's not Sten anymore, since one way or another, his rank will have changed.

I like the basic concept, but having already worked for the Illusive Man and had a mark that was killing us after blowing up everyone else, I'm not really sure I'd want to hem too closely to those beats again. Maybe you could work for Morrigan, instead? Ultimately choosing between the Inquisitor and Solas as the Qunari invasion through Tevinter kicks off in earnest?

edited 2nd Feb '18 1:40:23 PM by Unsung

Inquisition is still my favourite Dragon Age game, and always will be unless the sequel's REALLY good. I just don't get the praise for Dragon Age II, and no doubt never will, because it's still one of the few games I ever sold without getting through a playthrough.

Granted, working for Morrigan would effectively mean working for Solas if she drank from the Well in Inquisition.

I'd distinguish it by offering paths siding with Solas, the Inquisition, or...others.

edited 2nd Feb '18 1:07:28 PM by M84

Our Sten is the Arishok now. We will almost certainly have to fight him in a full-on Qunari invasion.

To some extent, sure. Unless the will of Mythal and Mythal's power as stolen by Solas are separate and distinct, able to exist separately and simultaneously (as Flemeth herself did when she gave her amulet to Hawke). She seems a bit like the archetypal lich in that way, with any number of backdoors and contingencies in place. And even if she's bound in one way, finding ways around her orders and obligations via Exact Words and information being passed to third parties seems like exactly the sort of thing the character(s) of Morrigan (and her mother(s)) would do.

War is coming, bring cookies.

edited 2nd Feb '18 1:13:09 PM by Unsung

Kind of odd they establish Flemeth as immortal only to kill her off because, apparently, Kate Mulgrew wanted too much money.

"Oh my god, they killed Captain Janeway! You bastards!"

Is that why?

That sucks. I thought she was kind of wasted in Origins, but I really liked the direction they took her character in II. If that means more Claudia Black instead, though, I won't mind.

My great regret of ME 3 is that we didn't get the villain arc for Admiral Xen that the end of Tali's loyalty mission implied, although having Xen join you on the geth flagship if Tali is dead almost makes up for it. Seriously. Almost.

Did anyone actually kill off Tali if it wasn't for the express desire to see what would happen if she died?

Did anyone actually kill off anyone if not for that desire?

Mass Effect's a bit simplistic in its moral choices compared to Dragon Age because with just about every choice in the game, there is a clear correct answer. If players hadn't noticed by the end of ME 2, ME 3 made it unmistakable by giving you points, grading players on how good their decision-making was.

Consequentially, I can't imagine any reason to go into ME 3 with anything less than a perfect Suicide Mission run. Having even a single person die in the Suicide Mission isn't a product of complex player choice; it just means you f*cked up.

The Virmire Survivor is just about the only exception to this rule I can think of, where one option is not objectively superior to all other options.

edited 2nd Feb '18 2:00:55 PM by TobiasDrake

The above meeting with Xen was on what I call my evil playthrough, so not me.

A perfect run is a little too deterministic in 2, sadly. There's not quite enough game to the game other than combat for it to really work any other way. if you're thorough, the points are more than generous enough or a golden ending even if you don't do all the side missions in 3.

I haven't seen anything suggesting Flemeth was killed off because Kate Mulgrew wanted too much money. And, in fact, I've seen a lot of fan theories as to how she will come back; Namely the dev notes specifically cite that Flemeth left something for Morrigan which is presumably what can be preserved from Mythal. And, its not like this is the first time Flemeth has 'died' and come back or been in more than one place at the same time.

As for Skyhold, want to know one thing that might have made things better? If the companions walked around more. I know we occasionally get scenes with them elsewhere, but walking in on Iron Bull trying to make some armor requisitions or Vivienne picking herbs for some potion in the garden could have opened some doors of opportunity in ambiant dialogue. Similar to how the ME 3 crew could walk around.

*Vivienne* of all people is not going to be picking her own herbs, but I know what you mean. Show some of the other NP Cs gathering around them, interacting with them.

I hadn't heard that about Kate Mulgrew either. I don't think her wanting more money would be out of line, if she values her time and it's a small part, but I suppose I was just imagining Bioware having to tighten its belt yet again. Suppose I should have asked for citation.

edited 2nd Feb '18 3:07:25 PM by Unsung

I actually think Vivienne *would* get her own herbs. She'd want to veryify their quality and make sure they meet her standards herself. She's very much a 'If you want something done, do it yourself and do it right'.

She's done her own herb-getting, though, to get to where she is now. She might well cut and mix them herself, sort the wheat from the chaff herbally speaking, but somehow I see her telling someone to bring her the herbs, and if they're wrong, telling them again.

I mean, you have a damn army, it's ridiculous that the game makes the Inquisitor pick his own herbs. I know some people like gathering in games, but me, I like the method where you're not so much picking them as marking them down for your suppliers. I'd at least appreciate that being more of an option..

edited 2nd Feb '18 3:50:44 PM by Unsung

Well, I also think that's just generally a problem with positions of power period in games.

The higher up you are, the harder it is to justify picking herbs or doing side quests. But, if we didn't have those, the world would be even more empty. Those serve a function from other standpoints. Not to mention the Inquisitor never really does a bunch of 'ordering people around' and it feels more like people order you around at times.

Another reason why being an 'Agent of the Inquisition' would feel better for Bioware's storytelling.

Eh, the problem with DA: I is as you say, The Inquisitor shouldn't be picking herbs but I feel the game shouldn't have flower picking at all. It's very much a Collect 20 Bear Asses game and it shouldn't be that.

They didn't even need the Warboard.

They should have done a tighter less MMO-esque game.