"Shattering Everything that has Reflections of You"
So I have a lot of Dragon Age Inquisition feels. Let me expound upon them below, to prevent spoilers for anyone who cares about that sort of thing.
I absolutely loved the game. It took me a little bit to get into the game, Act I was really slow, but I really liked it once I got into the flow of it. Sometimes having missions that would take 16 hours or so before they were complete would be a little bit annoying, but I guess it was good to keep me from powering through the game. Not that I could have powered through the game, the game is LONG, but I didn't really feel it dragging.
I loved all of the characters in the party, save for Vivienne. I managed to somehow go through the entire game and not get Seras though. I just started a new game and met her; to be honest I am glad I didn't play through the whole game with her so far. Maybe she gets better, but so far she just seems to be a disrespectful.
Vivienne has some decent ideas, but she seems unable to say anything without coming off as condescending. It just makes me furious. And like I appreciate diplomacy, I loved the hell out of Jospehine and Leiliana, but she just made it all seem boring and petty. I wished to be her friend because of her badass opening, but she just went through the whole game hating me.
I supported the mage rebellion as my Dalish elf rogue. I wanted freedom for everyone, which made that Solas loved me. I kind of accidentally romanced him and I am so glad I did. The whole romance felt like it was built for my character since he will only go for female elves. So there's a lot of reference to the shared blood and the Dalish background of the character that I thought were nice touches. I also loved having him around because he added so much history and depth to some of the quests. He was a little vicious at first, but I really like how he developed and began to get attached to this world. I did not read a wiki about the game beforehand so when he broke up with my character I was actually really sad. I mean it makes a bit of sense, but part of me wishes that he hadn't chickened out with the whole truth and told me who he was. (Side note, I love the fact that I still get absurdly attached to the frickin' god of chaos even without knowing he was a god of chaos. It's like I have a type.) His bits about the removal of my tattoos actually made me stop and think for a very long time because the erasure of everything in my past is kind of a huge deal. So when I agreed and removed the entire past only to have him then leave the character my heart hurt! That is such a punch!
Speaking of punches, Varric! My poor baby! I always knew the story of Bianca was sad, but for some reason it still hit me. I think it was because you got to meet and interact with her and then learn the whole story once you got attached that it hurt more. Seeing him so crushed was such a contrast to DA2. It didn't help the fact that I killed Hawke and left him in the Fade, which just made him more depressed and beaten even once he mourned. I also appreciated the scenes where he forced the Inquisitor to go enjoy herself and hang out with people.
Cullen grew on me a lot. I hated him in the other games, but I loved him in this one. He just felt a lot more sympathetic and mature this time around and I could see him struggling with some deep personal issues that hooked me in more. The mere fact that he was forcibly weaning himself off of lyrium is really impressive and I love the way that him and Cassandra play off of each other.
Cassandra also grew on me a lot. At first I thought she was just a cliche templar type woman character, but then I learned that she liked romance novels and for some reason that was the stupid detail that made me love her character. I love the stupid, tiny details that writers put into characters because I feel like it really makes them come to life. Plus having someone so strong have a fondness for silly things like bad romance novels is kind of endearing, because she got so embarrassed over it and it made her more human. That's kind of what happened with Josephine too. She was okay and then she started gossiping with me and getting all flustered and suddenly I loved her a lot more because she was human.
I like Dorian's cavalier attitude, but I really got more out of his storyline so far as the male Inquisitor that is my second character because the romance adds a lot of depth to the character. Like I went through the whole game as my female and never really got to know his family all that well, though we were on good terms. I love his bravado and sarcasm.
The Iron Bull is a simple character type, but he did the type of character he was very well. Seeing him with his Chargers was so heartwarming that I gave up the alliance with Quanari just to save them. and Krem <3. I loved seeing a transgender girl and seeing how the universe reacts to her. The game was actually really good at putting in treatment of different races, sexualities, and genders and making them matter. I mean they didn't matter for plot, but they mattered for character development.
I also loved seeing so many different countries represented so you got a feel for some of the countries that you never really got to know outside of a few scattered codex entries.
Cole! My baby! I loved and understood this character so much! You just do strange things and try to help, but no one understands! I get you! You just want to help! I got strangely protective over him as the game progressed and just wanted him to be happy. I encouraged him to keep helping and go one with his badass spirit self. Seeing the gentle assassin is a nice change from the typical assassin type.
Blackwall was a good character, and I am very glad that there was a Warden character since I love the Wardens and they were really integral to the plot. I just never got more than a vague sense of tragedy from him, like he was just waiting to die at times, in my first play through. Part of me wants to romance him as a character just to see what scars I can dig up.
Corypheus was a badass villain. There were times where I was legitimately not sure if I was going to win or not. Seeing him destroy Haven was a wonderful galvanizing moment.
I sided with the mages the first time around. I actually liked the time travel plotline and normally I hate time magic. Seeing Leliana be a stone cold badass was fantastic and her line about how all of this was real really hit home. It made me realize that people actually felt pain from this bizarre future, that it wasn't just a dream.
Leliana was a bit crazier than I remember her being. The part where I made her Divine and she said she would start spying and killing people who didn't believe in the Chant and support free mages was a bit of me jumping off the crazy train. She is exactly the type of person I expect an Orlesian Bard to be. I liked her a lot more here than I did in DA: O
I am so glad there was just a talky investigative mission with the Orlesian ball. I am a sucker for when games occasionally allow me to solve my problems by talking my way out of things. Seriously I always just try to talk and flirt my way out of every problem in role-playing games. It is great to be able to do that occasionally.
Morrigan was good to see again. I had her drink from the Well of Sorrows and felt strangely vindicated when she ended up bound to Flemeth anyway. Serves you right for stealing the memories of my people.
I absolutely loved the game. It took me a little bit to get into the game, Act I was really slow, but I really liked it once I got into the flow of it. Sometimes having missions that would take 16 hours or so before they were complete would be a little bit annoying, but I guess it was good to keep me from powering through the game. Not that I could have powered through the game, the game is LONG, but I didn't really feel it dragging.
I loved all of the characters in the party, save for Vivienne. I managed to somehow go through the entire game and not get Seras though. I just started a new game and met her; to be honest I am glad I didn't play through the whole game with her so far. Maybe she gets better, but so far she just seems to be a disrespectful.
Vivienne has some decent ideas, but she seems unable to say anything without coming off as condescending. It just makes me furious. And like I appreciate diplomacy, I loved the hell out of Jospehine and Leiliana, but she just made it all seem boring and petty. I wished to be her friend because of her badass opening, but she just went through the whole game hating me.
I supported the mage rebellion as my Dalish elf rogue. I wanted freedom for everyone, which made that Solas loved me. I kind of accidentally romanced him and I am so glad I did. The whole romance felt like it was built for my character since he will only go for female elves. So there's a lot of reference to the shared blood and the Dalish background of the character that I thought were nice touches. I also loved having him around because he added so much history and depth to some of the quests. He was a little vicious at first, but I really like how he developed and began to get attached to this world. I did not read a wiki about the game beforehand so when he broke up with my character I was actually really sad. I mean it makes a bit of sense, but part of me wishes that he hadn't chickened out with the whole truth and told me who he was. (Side note, I love the fact that I still get absurdly attached to the frickin' god of chaos even without knowing he was a god of chaos. It's like I have a type.) His bits about the removal of my tattoos actually made me stop and think for a very long time because the erasure of everything in my past is kind of a huge deal. So when I agreed and removed the entire past only to have him then leave the character my heart hurt! That is such a punch!
Speaking of punches, Varric! My poor baby! I always knew the story of Bianca was sad, but for some reason it still hit me. I think it was because you got to meet and interact with her and then learn the whole story once you got attached that it hurt more. Seeing him so crushed was such a contrast to DA2. It didn't help the fact that I killed Hawke and left him in the Fade, which just made him more depressed and beaten even once he mourned. I also appreciated the scenes where he forced the Inquisitor to go enjoy herself and hang out with people.
Cullen grew on me a lot. I hated him in the other games, but I loved him in this one. He just felt a lot more sympathetic and mature this time around and I could see him struggling with some deep personal issues that hooked me in more. The mere fact that he was forcibly weaning himself off of lyrium is really impressive and I love the way that him and Cassandra play off of each other.
Cassandra also grew on me a lot. At first I thought she was just a cliche templar type woman character, but then I learned that she liked romance novels and for some reason that was the stupid detail that made me love her character. I love the stupid, tiny details that writers put into characters because I feel like it really makes them come to life. Plus having someone so strong have a fondness for silly things like bad romance novels is kind of endearing, because she got so embarrassed over it and it made her more human. That's kind of what happened with Josephine too. She was okay and then she started gossiping with me and getting all flustered and suddenly I loved her a lot more because she was human.
I like Dorian's cavalier attitude, but I really got more out of his storyline so far as the male Inquisitor that is my second character because the romance adds a lot of depth to the character. Like I went through the whole game as my female and never really got to know his family all that well, though we were on good terms. I love his bravado and sarcasm.
The Iron Bull is a simple character type, but he did the type of character he was very well. Seeing him with his Chargers was so heartwarming that I gave up the alliance with Quanari just to save them. and Krem <3. I loved seeing a transgender girl and seeing how the universe reacts to her. The game was actually really good at putting in treatment of different races, sexualities, and genders and making them matter. I mean they didn't matter for plot, but they mattered for character development.
I also loved seeing so many different countries represented so you got a feel for some of the countries that you never really got to know outside of a few scattered codex entries.
Cole! My baby! I loved and understood this character so much! You just do strange things and try to help, but no one understands! I get you! You just want to help! I got strangely protective over him as the game progressed and just wanted him to be happy. I encouraged him to keep helping and go one with his badass spirit self. Seeing the gentle assassin is a nice change from the typical assassin type.
Blackwall was a good character, and I am very glad that there was a Warden character since I love the Wardens and they were really integral to the plot. I just never got more than a vague sense of tragedy from him, like he was just waiting to die at times, in my first play through. Part of me wants to romance him as a character just to see what scars I can dig up.
Corypheus was a badass villain. There were times where I was legitimately not sure if I was going to win or not. Seeing him destroy Haven was a wonderful galvanizing moment.
I sided with the mages the first time around. I actually liked the time travel plotline and normally I hate time magic. Seeing Leliana be a stone cold badass was fantastic and her line about how all of this was real really hit home. It made me realize that people actually felt pain from this bizarre future, that it wasn't just a dream.
Leliana was a bit crazier than I remember her being. The part where I made her Divine and she said she would start spying and killing people who didn't believe in the Chant and support free mages was a bit of me jumping off the crazy train. She is exactly the type of person I expect an Orlesian Bard to be. I liked her a lot more here than I did in DA: O
I am so glad there was just a talky investigative mission with the Orlesian ball. I am a sucker for when games occasionally allow me to solve my problems by talking my way out of things. Seriously I always just try to talk and flirt my way out of every problem in role-playing games. It is great to be able to do that occasionally.
Morrigan was good to see again. I had her drink from the Well of Sorrows and felt strangely vindicated when she ended up bound to Flemeth anyway. Serves you right for stealing the memories of my people.