Which RPG-story would you like to rewrite?

[GhostofAnakin]

Mass Effect 3.  Specifically, how they handled not only the ending, but the lead up to the ending.

 

What you did had practically no impact on how the ending battle played out.  Save the Destiny's Ascension from ME1?  Doesn't matter, because there's not some "bonus" for doing so.  If they'd incorporated where, maybe, if you saved it in ME1 the Destiny Ascension then does something heroic during the ME3 final space battle, it would feel like doing so made a difference.  That's just an example, but as a whole, the final battle seemed to not really show the impact of any of the decisions you made through the series.

 

The ending itself has been covered ad nauseum, so no point rehashing what was wrong with it.  As for what I'd do differently about it, for one, get rid of the idiotic star child, and two, as above, whatever the ending, make it dependent on what you did for the past 3 games, not just minor "red, green, blue" options.

[Harry Easter]

@Hulk O'Saurus

 

I think the story of D:OS2 is good as it is (act 3 just needs more content), but I like this idea so far . So you would turn Fane in a one-man-army?

 

 

@GhostofAnakin

 

The funny thing is, we had an ending, then suddenly the Starchild appears. Even if the build-up was clunky, at least with Shepard and Anderson dying the emotional build-up would have been enough and nobody would have grumbled (at least not as loud).

Edited January 31, 2018 by Harry Easter

[Amentep]

It irritated me that when the Destiny Ascension is first seen, a comment is made about how big its main gun was and they spend the rest of the series studiously not having it fired in action. Has no one at Bioware heard of Chekov's gun?  Because they literally introduced a gun in the first act that they never fired.

 

Frankly, if I was rewriting Mass Effect, I'd throw out the entirety of the third game and start over.

[Chilloutman]

@Hulk O'Saurus

 

I think the story of D:OS2 is good as it is (act 3 just needs more content), but I like this idea so far . So you would turn Fane in a one-man-army?

I never played it for my reasons, but what I have seen from story - its horrible abomination

[FlintlockJazz]

Mass Effect 3.  Specifically, how they handled not only the ending, but the lead up to the ending.

 

What you did had practically no impact on how the ending battle played out.  Save the Destiny's Ascension from ME1?  Doesn't matter, because there's not some "bonus" for doing so.  If they'd incorporated where, maybe, if you saved it in ME1 the Destiny Ascension then does something heroic during the ME3 final space battle, it would feel like doing so made a difference.  That's just an example, but as a whole, the final battle seemed to not really show the impact of any of the decisions you made through the series.

 

The ending itself has been covered ad nauseum, so no point rehashing what was wrong with it.  As for what I'd do differently about it, for one, get rid of the idiotic star child, and two, as above, whatever the ending, make it dependent on what you did for the past 3 games, not just minor "red, green, blue" options.

Agree, people go on about the ending but to be blunt the entire main plotline was just ****e to be honest.  Personally, I think the two major problems are:

 

1. I may be controversial with the first one, that they made the Reapers pretty much invincible except to this one special ray gun

2. They yet again stuck to the "no one believes Shepard and so are taken unawares!"  Not only did this get tiresome, but it made the entire galaxy stupid and in need of reaping

 

Now, for those who are interested (all 1 or 2 of you), I will go into the reasons why, while those who are not can shoo away to the next post.

 

1.  In ME1 the reapers have this plan: they encourage organic life to use the relays and set up shop on the Citadel, then when they come through they immediately nom the citadel (destroying the current major governments that lead from there and get all the information on the state of the galaxy) and shut down all the relays, preventing travel between worlds, isolating them right when they need to unite to fight off the reapers.  Effectively preventing the galaxy from being able to unite against them.  This, to me, implied that a united galaxy could be a threat to them: that while each reaper is immensely powerful they are not invincible and knew it, and wanted to minimise the risk to themselves (each one is a nation after all, a loss of even one must be a catastrophe for them, virtual genocide).  A galaxy working together could at least hold them off long enough to work out new methods and technologies to deal with them, for instance the Thanix cannon was I thought going to be Chekov's gun to show that the Citadel races were developing weapons around dealing with them secretly, which I will go into more in point 2.  Sure, it could just have been to make it easier for them, after all even immortal beings would want to make things easier for themselves, but then that leads to why Sovereign was so desperate to get to the Citadel?  We know now that the reapers were able to leave Dark Space without it, and that he actually jumped the gun effectively by alerting the galaxy to their existence, if they were so powerful why not just wait for his homeboys to show up first anyway?  I mean, they could have had a backup relay (and why wouldn't they if they couldn't get out otherwise?).   Getting the races to work together would then have been more meaningful and more 'galactic' than just saving earth.

 

2.  When I saw the Council denying the reapers again I hoped it was just a bluff on their behalf.  A bluff or a clue that they had been indoctrinated by the citadel and that the individual nations were just leaving the citadel to it while they secretly prepared.  But no.  Typical Bioware dumped story and logic in favour of set pieces yet again.  "Oh but we gotsa have the player be the underdog because it's cool!"  It was tiresome to go through it again in ME2, and made the galaxy stupid and in need of reaping.  Had they gone with the nations preparing secretly (and not wanting the Cerberus-affiliated Shepard to know) then it would have helped make more sense as to why they would be able to take on the reapers AND give the previous two games more relevance since Shepard uncovering it all then had given them time to prepare.  But no.  Not Bioware.

 

3.  An extra though occurs to me: if they were going to kill and resurrect Shepard then they could have at least gone into it somewhat.  Had the question of your humanity been gone into, whether you even were the real Shepard or if they had died at the start of ME2, then it could have been a bit more high brow.  Actually, scrap that, this is Bioware, they would not have been able to do it justice.  I mean, they don't even get what a transhuman is right in the game (seriously, there is a conversation with EDI about it and they get it COMPLETELY WRONG, and yes you are a transhuman in the game in fact most of the humans in the game are varying degrees of transhuman but of course they had to go with the human-centric angle).

[FlintlockJazz]

It irritated me that when the Destiny Ascension is first seen, a comment is made about how big its main gun was and they spend the rest of the series studiously not having it fired in action. Has no one at Bioware heard of Chekov's gun?  Because they literally introduced a gun in the first act that they never fired.

 

Frankly, if I was rewriting Mass Effect, I'd throw out the entirety of the third game and start over.

Actually yeah, linking in with my previous post, they should have had it revealed they had secretly upgraded it with thanix cannon tech, making it powerful enough to turn the tide of a particular battle or something by blowing up reaper ships.

[Pidesco]

Dragon Age: Origins

 

Its plot is a big ball of suck and hopeless genericness.

 

I would do an obvious change to the game's beginning that would turn everything on its head and would make DA:O have at least one positive aspect. I'd have the idiot king win that first battle instead of getting killed. The win would come through sheer luck and some help from Loghain. Being the completely unlikeable but well meaning idiot that the king is he would take it as a sign of being awesome and would continue espousing ridiculous policies and strategies, while ignoring his advisors, and dismissing the Blight.

 

You'd have to go underground to surreptitiously gather forces to fight the Blight, while the King prances around the whole time all jackassy and full of himself.

 

At the end of the game you would be able to choose between siding the Grey Wardens or siding with Loghain. Siding with the good guys would mean ending up under the king cleaning up his messes for all time. It would be the worse ending in terms of outcome for the people of Ferelden because of the idiot king being in control. Siding with the bad guys would get you the throne or at least real power. You would be able to use that power to make life much better for the people of Ferelden.

 

This would help DA:O suck less. You would still have to contend with crappy, repetitive combat, though.

[Hulk'O'Saurus]

@Hulk O'Saurus

 

I think the story of D:OS2 is good as it is (act 3 just needs more content), but I like this idea so far . So you would turn Fane in a one-man-army?

 

 

There, I've edited my post and made it a bit more coherent. You might wanna give it another read. 

 

OS2 suffers from bringing in too many story lines, being non-canon to the first OS, not to mention the rest of the Divinity series, and altogether stretching itself too thin on too wide a toast. Some of the characters: like Braccus, like Malady and Lucian, like Dallis, serve as nothing more than a snotty handkerchiefs used in a moment of an apparent plot hole. It speaks nothing of their motivations, beliefs, progression arcs, not to mention that they were somebody else entirely in a previous game of the same series. Best left without. Or...what? Super duper inter-dimensional spell? Naah. 

 

Furthermore, the Void was something different in the first game. There was Astarte, too, whose absence in OS2 is a bummer, imho. She is the established and de facto mother of all Source. Who, if anybody else, should be involved in a crisis of Source?

 

Fane is pathetically wimpy. He is established from the beginning as an ancient undead who has untold arcane knowledge. He acts like the perfect lone wolf up until the moment he asks you to join your party. He sucked the Source dry out of the adventurer who woke him up, but we don't see any of that in the game. Yet he is an integral part to the plot and lore, and so I think he needs to be a sort of a Gandalf figure, somebody who is very wise, very powerful and having an urgent agenda to fulfil.

 

Dallis, out of all, is one of the weakest antagonistic forces I've seen in a while. Quite bland.

 

What I've done is just reduce the characters that need elaboration on, compress the plot, and allow for more endings. There isn't the need for large acts, as well. Four times the size of Fort Joy is more than enough. 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Hulk'O'Saurus

[Mr. Magniloquent]

There are so many things I'm in agreement with in this thread. It's always nice to be in good company. I'll try and focus on things that haven't been written about.

 

NWN 2 OC - Eliminate everything. Instead have something akin to Ammon Jerro's story, where the player walks around the plans and is put in positions to compromise themselves in pursuit of the original Blade of Gith.

[GhostofAnakin]

 

 

@GhostofAnakin

 

The funny thing is, we had an ending, then suddenly the Starchild appears. Even if the build-up was clunky, at least with Shepard and Anderson dying the emotional build-up would have been enough and nobody would have grumbled (at least not as loud).

 

In a way, sure.  I still think the ending should have reflected what you did, even in that case.  If you made a bunch of "bad" decisions or chose certain decisions where sacrifice was the key note, then that ending with Anderson fits.  But there should have been also "happy" endings if you made certain decisions that actually should have lead to more success (ie. having a powerful warship like the Destiny Ascension means more chance of survival since more Reapers had to deal with it rather than being available to wipe out your ground forces, etc.).

 

The starchild was just the icing on the cake for stupidity though.

[HoonDing]

have Cloud killed instead of aerith

[marelooke]

Mass Effect 3.  Specifically, how they handled not only the ending, but the lead up to the ending.

 

What you did had practically no impact on how the ending battle played out.  Save the Destiny's Ascension from ME1?  Doesn't matter, because there's not some "bonus" for doing so.  If they'd incorporated where, maybe, if you saved it in ME1 the Destiny Ascension then does something heroic during the ME3 final space battle, it would feel like doing so made a difference.  That's just an example, but as a whole, the final battle seemed to not really show the impact of any of the decisions you made through the series.

 

The ending itself has been covered ad nauseum, so no point rehashing what was wrong with it.  As for what I'd do differently about it, for one, get rid of the idiotic star child, and two, as above, whatever the ending, make it dependent on what you did for the past 3 games, not just minor "red, green, blue" options.

 

Since you are taking care of the ending, I'll take the rest of the game's "story". I'll just try to make it "better" instead of fixing it, since the latter would require scrapping the entire storyline starting with ME2 (which ultimately was a mostly pointless filler game that ended up leaving the last game with lack of time to properly expand on everything it should/could have).

 

•  actually visit Palaven and learn more about the Turian. Pretty sure most people would have liked to see more of the Turian homeworld than just a moon...
• I'd flesh out the Asari plot mission more and probably the Asari in general, show some more of their planet, go a bit deeper into their belief system and the "shocking revelation" that their goddess was a Prothean and what that would mean for their culture.
• I'd get rid of Javik. I'm not sure why they needed to drag in a Prothean to begin with. To expand on their culture? Could have deepened out Liara a bit more there (instead of turning her into that information broker, role better suited to Miranda, or TIM if you really need to have one). To provide more background on the Asari/Prothean thing? Then why is he a DLC character? To satisfy curiosity as to what they looked like? What about Quarians then? That'd at least have made sense since the Quarian-Geth war was recent (any old Asari would know what a Quarian looks like, as mentioned by Liara's mom in ME2). Some mysteries are better left and I think the Prothean one was one of those.
• fix the mess that was the entire Quarian-Geth thing. Clearly more was planned there instead of the two-dimensional pile of clichés we got, what with all the hubbub about the Horizon sun in ME2. Maybe the original idea was that they'd just wipe (out) the Geth somehow and they back-pedalled on that (especially after introducing Legion) but I think I'd find that preferable over the current sutuation.
• get rid of the TIM indoctrination plot, keep them as xenophobes helping Shepard from a purely human POV by providing information (see information broker point above), but never entirely trustworthy (since they don't give a damn about those filthy aliens) so you'd always have to be careful with the information you get from them. Could lead to some interesting situations I'd imagine.
• show some more of Tuchanka, while this mission was pretty great those ruins really got me intrigued about Krogan culture before they turned their planet into a wasteland
• get rid of the EDI body thing, seriously

Honestly the EDI/Geth stuff feels like they just hopped onto the "What is life?"-question bandwagon. Sorry folks, but SOMA, among others, did it way better.

Edited February 1, 2018 by marelooke

[Harry Easter]

@Chilloutman

 

Naaah, it's pretty good! You just have to take your time, because they try to deepen every aspect of it. But it can be a bit slow.

 

 

@HulkO'Saurus

 

Haha, I disagree on most of it, but I can see where you're coming from :D. I think Dallis is one of the better antagonist in the series and they spread enough crumps to fit everything together. The NPC's are part of the bigger story, which is a tale about power and corruption and intentions. Some characters may not have an arc, but they fit the theme.

 

As for retcons: I can't think of bigger ones, except the elves, but even that you can explain. The lore of the Divinity-Universe was always kind of vague and people in it tend to lie or tell it with their own cultural biases, so it worked out for me, especially since they used other stables of the series (parallell-worlds, talking objects and animals, everybody can do the magic, etc). But still no bad points, though .

 

 

@HoonDing

Maybe just a joke, but I actually like this idea. Cloud could have turned into Sepiroth, which would turn the motivation of the group upside down  .

Edited February 1, 2018 by Harry Easter

[Harry Easter]

 

 

Since you are taking care of the ending, I'll take the rest of the game's "story". I'll just try to make it "better" instead of fixing it, since the latter would require scrapping the entire storyline starting with ME2 [...].

 

[...]

 

Then let me do it, since I have a few ideas :D! Mostly rewriting a few characters.

 

Mass Effect:

 

1) Shut the Reapers up: The Reapers worked best, when they were this silent force of nature, who  just destroyed everything in their way, so this should be a no-brainer. They are basically god /titans in this universe, so they don't communicating with us. This makes them way scarier in my book.

 

2) Make Reaper-cults a thing: There was this one scene, where the geth prayed to the Reapers. I thought it was a strong image and it could have be a good device to unite all the antagonists of the series. They want to be assimilated and "perfected" by their machine gods, so they sabotage the citadel to make the victory for the Reapers easier and fastening the ascension od the other races.

 

3) Turn Liaras mother in the main-antagonist of part 1: Saren never worked for me. He basically was just a hired though, more of a doer than a planer. Liaras mother as a patriarch made much more sense for me. She had the ressources, the experience and she was a religious leader, so it would also fit with my thoughts on section 2. There's also more of a emotional connection to her and genetic perfection is part of the doctrine of her race, so I'm suprised nobody ever used this and turned them into the antagonists right from the beginning. Saren could have been her right hand, a role way more fitting for him.

 

4) Let Miranda take over Ceberus: Miranda is the perfect foil to Shepard. While we play a hypercompetent hard worker, she was created to be perfect. She's smart, ruthless, knows a bit about biotics and SHOULD be a charismatic leader. She also has no problems making her hands dirty and with a perfection-complex she should have a good reason for merging with the Reapers. She could kill TIM at the end of ME2 and get in contact with the other Reapercults (see 2), so everybody would be as perfect as she (she also would be quite crazy, of course). 

 

5) Don't let Shepard die at the beginning of part 2: Let them die at the end and then get cloned two years later by the Reaper. It would have used the two year gap of 2 better and gave us more conflict potential, because Shepard wasn't there when the Reaper invaded earth and brought the citadell down to their knees. It would also make Shepards situation more ambigous, since we don't know if it wasn't to convenient, that Shepard just escaped from the cludges of the Reaper ... I also like the idea of fighting a whole army of Super Shepards, who command the Husks :D. 

Edited February 2, 2018 by Harry Easter

[Chilloutman]

@Chilloutman

 

Naaah, it's pretty good! You just have to take your time, because they try to deepen every aspect of it. But it can be a bit slow.

 

 

really? from what I seen it seems so much more ... cartoonish (and I don't mean aestetics) while old ones feels more... i don't know, gothic?

[SonicMage117]

Morrorwind and Skyrim.

 

 

For.... obvious reasons.

[Amentep]

I have a lot of fun with Skyrim, but I don't really see it as a RPG. The Bethesda ES and FALLOUTS are almost a genre to themselves.

[Katphood]

Kingdoms of Amalur: The Reckoning.

 

 

Awesome gameplay and visuals which is -sadly- coupled with a story that is so bad I can't even remember.

[Gromnir]

 

 

And Throne of Bhaal would have been changed as follow:

 

- Bhaal takes over: Thought long about it, but as predictable as it would've been, Bhaal should have been the last boss of the series. The games were about his plans and I don't know why he just didn't take over of Amelyssan.

 

 

 

obvious answer: bhaal was dead.  

 

*shrug*

 

sure, bhaal had a plan to reconstitute himself, but amelyssan subverted the scheme.  bhaal weren't active directing the flow o' events cause, as already stated, he were dead.

 

to answer the larger question as to which crpg stories we would wanna rewrite, the answer is simple: none.  is any number o' crpg stories we believe fail or is harmed by poor writer choices, but would never choose to change 'em.  is not our stories, and if they became our stories we would be disappointed 'cause then we would know exact what were gonna happen, and where is the fun in that? 

 

we will note how we believe folks is inordinate focused on plot shortcomings in this thread, in spite o' reality o' plot being the least important aspect o' most crpg stories.  particular for fantasy, but also for most sci-fi, plot is tending to be o' marginal importance to the story.  is quixotic difficult to explain to folks, but is more to story than plot.  character development and setting is often more important than plot in the vast majority o' fantasy, which almost by definition has the reader embracing implausible plot. sure, plot is inextricable linked with other qualities, but could change minor and major aspects o' plot in most fantasy and sci-fi storytelling w/o much hurting or improving the actual story.

 

make folks care 'bout characters, and the author can do whatever the hell they want to with plot.  make the reader love protagonists and hate villains, or vice versa.  readers will accept and even forgive most any plot shortcoming if setting creates sense o' wonder and the characters breathe. 

 

HA! Good Fun!

 

ps  that said, am not certain what it is 'bout bis/obsidian and their inability to finish games.  have been almost universal disappointed with bis/obsidian conclusions, including the endings o' some o' our favorite games evar. 

[Harry Easter]

 

@Chilloutman

 

Naaah, it's pretty good! You just have to take your time, because they try to deepen every aspect of it. But it can be a bit slow.

 

 

really? from what I seen it seems so much more ... cartoonish (and I don't mean aestetics) while old ones feels more... i don't know, gothic?

 

 

Huh. You sure you mean D:OS 2 and not D:OS 1? Because the graphics in 2 are way more realistic and the tone is way darker. I mean, there are Plant-design-armours, but even those look more realistic than the helmets in D:OS 1 (although I liked those too. Sometimes colour is just more fun). 

 

 

@SonicMage

 

Okay, Skyrim I can get, but why Morrorwind? Because it doesn't present it's story at all, while Skyrim tries, but fails?

 

 

 

@Katphood

 

Oooh, me too. I have a lot thoughts, but for me it comes down to shrink down the world and give the mainquest more focus.

 

 

@Gromnir

 

True, but it is still fun to read the reasoning of the others and a fun thought experiment for your own creative content (at least I like to do this, while working on other stuff. It also makes me appreciate the stuff I already like more). 

[Chilloutman]

I don't know why but I thought we are talking about Diablo 3. My bad

[Blarghagh]

World of WarCraft.

[the_dog_days]

Dragon Age Inquisition

 

My rewrite:

 

Act 1: You are considered the prime suspect for the divine's death, even by the Inquisition. The only reason they haven't killed you is because you have the anchor and can close rifts and are therefore their only means of closing the breach. Cassandra is your 'parole officer', she's also in charge of keeping an eye on Solas (she includes Varric in these orders, even though he isn't). You aren't the leader of the Inquisition; you are a prisoner. (Since I don't have a budget I'd also throw in an option for you to attempt to run right at the beginning of the game. All it does is initiate a 10 second cut scene where you are killed while trying to make a break for it resulting in a Game Over.) The only areas you have access to are the Hinterlands, Val Royeaux, and Haven (in the actual game you have can go to the Storm Coast and Fallow Mire in act 1). The only reason they are letting you run around these open world zones is because they need you to close the rifts. Campsites aren't campsites, they're where you check in with the Inquisition (there's a timer that starts when traveling in between campsites and if you haven't checked in with them by the time it runs out they will send soldiers after you initiating a 10 second cut scene where you are killed). Solas, Cassandra, and Varric are the only companions available in act 1. During Corypheus' attack on Haven he succeeds in wiping out the Inquisition and reclaiming the anchor. Only you and whomever you have in your party at that time (which is the reason I only gave you just enough companions to have a full party, though like the actual game you can run around in that quest without a full party because it takes place in Haven) are the only people to (barely) escape.

 

Act 2: The Inquisition is gone, Orlais is being overrun by demons, the Grey Wardens are under Corypheus' control, and you have no base of operations. From this point you begin to build a network of spies (our new use for the agents of the Inquisition). While no one agent is plot essential, each one does have a unique background and personality. Corypheus is still after you, and you are on the run. Gathering these agents, tracking down leads to find out more about Corypheus, and closing the occasional rift with the residual power of the mark (its hand wavey, but its a BioWare game and if they can hand wave 100,000 people magically having the means and want to needed to travel to Andromeda to . . . you know, like, see stuff, then I'm not too concerned about this little plot hole) are the new reasons for the open world zones.

 

Act 3: You eventually discover that there's a magical ritual that can temporarily multiply the power of your mark, meaning that you could use it to nullify Corypheus' anchor. Its complex and requires lots of time and space to setup so you have to draw out Corypheus to a prepared spot, ideally without his demon army. Thus begins the long task of theatrically using your mark in public to undo Corypheus' rifts in open defiance while still on the run from his armies. You mange to use your agents to sabotage one of Corypheus' strongholds and personally close one of his main rifts right in front of a group of enslaved peasants. Feed up with the display, Corypheus decides comes out of hiding to attack you head on (he wants to show the world that he isn't afraid of you). Corypheus triggers the trap but at the height of the battle the Red Templars catch up to their master and disrupt the magical ritual. Corypheus pulls the entire stronghold with him into the Fade where he throws demons and nightmares at you (they kill indiscriminately, so those helpful Red Templars meet an untimely death). You go on a chase through the Fade after Corypheus. These zones are half puzzle mini game like the Fade in Origins. Each time you nearly corner Corypheus, he uses the anchor to shift where in the Fade you are. In each Fade zone you can either befriend or enslave a spirit to aid you. After cornering Corypheus you use the spirits to harass him when he attempts to shift once more. In Corypheus' exhaustion and lack of focus he missuses the anchor and tears himself part, destroying the anchor in the process. As the anchor's power explodes outward you channel the last of it through your residual mark to help you and your companions escape the Fade.

 

End Game: Going around zone to zone and killing respawning demons and closing rifts, so basically what DA:I was to begin with.

[EbonyBetty]

Welp, Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age Inquisition have been called out. Time to bring in the Red Headed Step-Child of the DA series

 

Dragon Age 2

 

In the concept art it's implied that Hawke was supposed have tattoos like Fenris had. For those that don't know or purged your memory of Dragon Age 2 ( I don't blame you). Fenris was forcibly tattooed against his will with lyrium-infused ink. Lyrium is basically the mana of DA world is made out of the decomposed bodies of dead titans. This act granted Fenris temporary invulnerability, resistances to magic, and super strength (the famous scene of how you meet Fenris is is him literally punching a guy's heart clean through the otherside of him.) Now, I'm in the minority of most DA fangirls, I ****ing hated Fenris. He was an interesting concept on a bland character and it was clear that the tattoos were a hold-over from something else because he's story about those tattoos go literally nowhere.     

 

Instead I think DA2 should have opened with Hawke (yes I'm keeping the fixed name character but I feel Hawke could be either Elf or Human and can be either Mage, Warrior, or Rouge), selling themselves in indentured servitude, to pay for their families' trip away from war-torn Ostagar.  They're ultimately tricked and sold into actual slavery and literally the first scene the player sees/plays is their player-character trying to escape Mad Max Fury Road opening-style from this Tevinter organization and ultimately getting caught, tied down and painfully tattoed with lyrium ink. The camera doesn't skimp on the gore and the last thing the player sees is the camera panning up with Hawke's muffled screams.

 

'Cause this Hawke ain't no punk, they escape. Either sneaking out and only having to kill a couple of people or going on a full bloody rampage.

 

Honestly the whole 1st act should be thrown away. No underground expedition and making it rich. Hawke is alone and trying to figure out how the hell they can get back to their family. They ultimately get picked up by the Qunari ship and is treated like this oddity. Storm happens and the Qun ship crashes into the Kirkwall port. BAM! we're already rollin' with the Qunari/Kirkwall conflict.

 

I have more ideas, but I gotta go off to class. ADD MORE IF YOU GUYS WANNA    

[Harry Easter]

Welp, Dragon Age Origins and Dragon Age Inquisition have been called out. Time to bring in the Red Headed Step-Child of the DA series

 

Dragon Age 2

 

In the concept art it's implied that Hawke was supposed have tattoos like Fenris had. For those that don't know or purged your memory of Dragon Age 2 ( I don't blame you). Fenris was forcibly tattooed against his will with lyrium-infused ink. Lyrium is basically the mana of DA world is made out of the decomposed bodies of dead titans. This act granted Fenris temporary invulnerability, resistances to magic, and super strength (the famous scene of how you meet Fenris is is him literally punching a guy's heart clean through the otherside of him.) Now, I'm in the minority of most DA fangirls, I ****ing hated Fenris. He was an interesting concept on a bland character and it was clear that the tattoos were a hold-over from something else because he's story about those tattoos go literally nowhere.     

 

Instead I think DA2 should have opened with Hawke (yes I'm keeping the fixed name character but I feel Hawke could be either Elf or Human and can be either Mage, Warrior, or Rouge), selling themselves in indentured servitude, to pay for their families' trip away from war-torn Ostagar.  They're ultimately tricked and sold into actual slavery and literally the first scene the player sees/plays is their player-character trying to escape Mad Max Fury Road opening-style from this Tevinter organization and ultimately getting caught, tied down and painfully tattoed with lyrium ink. The camera doesn't skimp on the gore and the last thing the player sees is the camera panning up with Hawke's muffled screams.

 

'Cause this Hawke ain't no punk, they escape. Either sneaking out and only having to kill a couple of people or going on a full bloody rampage.

 

Honestly the whole 1st act should be thrown away. No underground expedition and making it rich. Hawke is alone and trying to figure out how the hell they can get back to their family. They ultimately get picked up by the Qunari ship and is treated like this oddity. Storm happens and the Qun ship crashes into the Kirkwall port. BAM! we're already rollin' with the Qunari/Kirkwall conflict.

 

I have more ideas, but I gotta go off to class. ADD MORE IF YOU GUYS WANNA    

 

 

Love this, hate Fenris too, but also liked his concept (and the idea of having guys like him being an type of enemy. He also would have worked better as an antagonist).

 

I will write stuff down about DA: I, because it goes a bit in another direction, but I have some thoughts on DA2, too. 

 

I liked the story of the game, except for the ending and I would just rewrite two things:

 

Let Corypheus be a real character and give him a good build up: It is implied in the story, that Red Lyrium is the concentrated essence of sacrificed slaves of the Tevinter Empire. Kirkwall was the biggest market for slaves, Corypheus was imprisoned under the city and one of the magisters, that entered the City in the Fade. So why not combine those four aspects into one?

 

In this version Corypheus was the Lord of Kirkwall, but got mad and was imprisoned by rebells. Over the centuries he could feel the pain of the slaves and mages, that died in the dungeons of Kirkwall, feel their suffering, hear the pleas for redemption of the Lyrium addicted Templars. The Lyrium also started to grow into his skin, so the voices turned really loud. It got only worse over the reign of Archtemplar Meredith and the experiments of Orsinos secret circle of blood mages. A lot of blood flew into the streets of Kirkwalls and Anders big ritual is the last straw to finally let him free. Maybe Hawke gets caught in the explosion and Corypheus resuces him, because he sees a likeminded spirit in them and himself? We don't know, but he leaves the city, the souls of tens of thousand dead people in his head, ready to change Thedas for the better, even if it doesn't want it.

 

I think this would fit good into the whole "sins, hate and miscommunication" - theme of the whole game and give Corypheus a certain aura of mystery around him. It would also be a good payoff, for all the hints the game spread through in-game documents.

 

 

Lets us choose one ending and live with it:  I never liked that we fought Meredith and Orsino no matter what we choose. I found it kind of cowardly. Either we live with our choice, or we don't. And it is still a bit hasty, that Orsino loses all his cool and turns into a big monster.

 

or

 

Meredith should be the final boss: If it doesn't change anything, stay with Meredith as the solidary antagonist. She had a good build-up and an interesting polarising personality and I like the idea, that she really loses it when she sees that Corypheus is HER fault. Maybe it is even Corypheus, who uses his magic, so she gets transformed by all the red Lyrium in her body she might have consumed over the year? It would be a good example of his might and there's kind of poetic irony in this transformative act.

Edited February 12, 2018 by Harry Easter