Just finished Trespasser, hated it. Interesting that a lot of reviews said Descent was the Omega of DA:I, but felt like trespasser was.
That ended up being longer than I wanted. OH well.
Too many flowery endings, super long epilogue. Not that I necessarily want people to die, but it was like they tried to be SUPER POSITIVE about people because of ME3's ending and never really understood why people were mad. The pacing and tone were off; I got married within the first 15 minutes and that felt super dumb to me. We've been together for 2 years without anything fucking crazy happening, now we're in Orlais for these crazy talks, and we should get married NOW? Yea, ok.
Meeting up with old people and reminiscing made sense with some - Dorian had been in Tevinter, Varric in Kirkwall, etc, so catching up with them made sense. But Sera had been with me the entire time, so when she's like, LET'S DO PRANKS, it's like uh could we maybe get a serious face now?
I dislike losing a hand, only because it really seemed fucking dumb. The main incentive to help the Inquisition at the beginning is because you'll die without doing it, but if the answer was just, cut my hand off, it makes the rest seem superfluous. Also, there's such a finality about it. At the end of the other two games, you had this sense that your heroes would not only be important, but would continue kicking ass. And indeed they do. But they specifically state that my adventuring days are over and its like ugh, so now I just push papers forever? SWEET. I guess that's not too different with my Warden becoming Queen or my Hawke becoming Viscount, but it makes it seem so much more finished.
The epilogue mentioned a few things with Hawke and the Warden that make no sense. The original ending of DA:I suggested that shit was going down in Weisshaupt and there had been no word from Hawke. So what then? My ending with Varric said Hawke went back to Kirkwall to help him, so apparently everything is cool in weisshaupt or Hawke escaped or??? Varric even mentions something at the beginning saying he'd heard something about Weisshaupt and shit was crazy in the way it only gets crazy when Hawke is around.
If you romanced Leliana, it says that afterwards the Warden and Leliana go home and live happily ever after. So what happened with the Warden's quest? Did she solve the calling? Inquisition is ending, POOF WARDEN OK. Dude.
Also, the entire reason you're there to have these talks is a bit wishy washy. I guess they specifically made it 2 years so that you could MAYBE understand why people might be getting angry with you after Corypheus's defeat. But 2 years seems like a small amount of time to clean up shit like red lyrium, bandit overlords, left over templars and mages etc.
Not to mention that DA's history is filled with groups of people in the past who were formed for something, (Including the old Inquisition and the Grey Wardens) and while other nations were understandably nervous about it, both organizations managed to either become something else, or remain independent but be granted amnesty because they were there for a purpose. (Re: Grey Wardens.) This very reason makes it super weird that Arl Teagan is a straight dick when he is representing a nation whose rulers are both Grey Wardens, he helped them during the Blight, and his nephew was a big name who granted Grey Wardens new holdings after the blight. Like dude, come on. The Inquisition can't remain to deal with rift shit, ESPECIALLY when after Solas we know stuff will happen later?
The side quests were utter crap. Felt a bit weird that at level 27 with mastercrafted gear I am doing side quests for attribute points. They also often granted schematics for future playthroughs but meh.
DA:I was the first DA where I really felt nothing for my hero. There was a blog post that summed it up and I agreed, that because we didn't get to see our hero before the event or during, (Warden with your normal life and the catalyst that makes you become a warden, or Hawke running from the blight) you basically had no time to get attached. It made me feel like I was just using an avatar to create change. Not a terrible thing, but nothing like what I felt for my Shepard.
So I felt very lukewarm going in anyways, but then the Qunari come and you're like, really? Really? There was something going on with Qunari, is what part of the reason DA2 happened, but this felt like another threat from nowhere, that really had nothing to do with anything. And it didn't, except to serve as a way to explain the true threat. (Which, while you may not have understood exactly what Solas was up to, you knew it was going to be a gigantic thing.) The craziest shit is what happens if you killed Bull's Chargers. I never did because it always felt like a straight dick move, but I did see the ending and how Bull turns on you. But that also makes no sense. The idea is that Bull becomes fully committed to the Qun and the organization again. BUT they very specifically say, in both words and letters, that the qunari doing this shit is not officially sanctioned. That they are a rogue group - a tal-vashoth Bull even mentions it during conversations in trespasser. So WHY, if he has fully committed himself, would he listen to someone ordering him to kill the Inquisitor, when it seems like they are also Tal-vashoth? Fucking nonsense.
The original ending was pretty anti-climatic. It could have definitely been better but I somewhat expected it. They built DA:I up like it was going to a finisher in some respects, and then Corypheus steps out. And you know he's the final boss of this game, but you know he's not responsible for everything happening since DA:O. (In trespasser I think it is Cullen who makes a list of the crazy stuff that has been happening in the last few years, and that's all important. Corypheus wasn't responsible for all of it, but someone is and that is why the world is going to shit. Kirkwall's crazy thin veil, a Blight that wasn't quite a Blight, an architect and a mother trying to "release" darkspawn from compulsion, etc.) So you already anticipated a 4th game at the very least.
But trespasser? I disliked ME3s ending partially because of no closure, but ONLY because it was such an off the wall ending that you NEEDED more. You had done so much for every freaking race, and changed gigantic things, that it was necessary to know how your ultimate choice affected things.
Once again in DA though, choices don't matter, so having a super flowery epilogue that lasts fucking forever and goes in detail to explain the type of pies you make and that Dorian and Bull meet in a cottage on occasion is really dumb.
So trespasser was super bad. I did like Solas's explanation and learning more about the world. The one thing I def give credit to DA:I for was they didn't shy away from destroying almost all of their established lore. That was a ballsy and awesome move. It was part of the reason I loved Descent. Not only was it literally the only deep roads segment that we get that makes it seem LIKE THE DEEP ROADS AND AN ANCIENT AWESOME DWARF CIVILIZATION, but you also learn the answers to why Lyrium is alive, why dwarves MIGHT BE immune to it, etc.
Thoughts?
Meeting up with old people and reminiscing made sense with some - Dorian had been in Tevinter, Varric in Kirkwall, etc, so catching up with them made sense. But Sera had been with me the entire time, so when she's like, LET'S DO PRANKS, it's like uh could we maybe get a serious face now?
I dislike losing a hand, only because it really seemed fucking dumb. The main incentive to help the Inquisition at the beginning is because you'll die without doing it, but if the answer was just, cut my hand off, it makes the rest seem superfluous. Also, there's such a finality about it. At the end of the other two games, you had this sense that your heroes would not only be important, but would continue kicking ass. And indeed they do. But they specifically state that my adventuring days are over and its like ugh, so now I just push papers forever? SWEET. I guess that's not too different with my Warden becoming Queen or my Hawke becoming Viscount, but it makes it seem so much more finished.
The epilogue mentioned a few things with Hawke and the Warden that make no sense. The original ending of DA:I suggested that shit was going down in Weisshaupt and there had been no word from Hawke. So what then? My ending with Varric said Hawke went back to Kirkwall to help him, so apparently everything is cool in weisshaupt or Hawke escaped or??? Varric even mentions something at the beginning saying he'd heard something about Weisshaupt and shit was crazy in the way it only gets crazy when Hawke is around.
If you romanced Leliana, it says that afterwards the Warden and Leliana go home and live happily ever after. So what happened with the Warden's quest? Did she solve the calling? Inquisition is ending, POOF WARDEN OK. Dude.
Also, the entire reason you're there to have these talks is a bit wishy washy. I guess they specifically made it 2 years so that you could MAYBE understand why people might be getting angry with you after Corypheus's defeat. But 2 years seems like a small amount of time to clean up shit like red lyrium, bandit overlords, left over templars and mages etc.
Not to mention that DA's history is filled with groups of people in the past who were formed for something, (Including the old Inquisition and the Grey Wardens) and while other nations were understandably nervous about it, both organizations managed to either become something else, or remain independent but be granted amnesty because they were there for a purpose. (Re: Grey Wardens.) This very reason makes it super weird that Arl Teagan is a straight dick when he is representing a nation whose rulers are both Grey Wardens, he helped them during the Blight, and his nephew was a big name who granted Grey Wardens new holdings after the blight. Like dude, come on. The Inquisition can't remain to deal with rift shit, ESPECIALLY when after Solas we know stuff will happen later?
The side quests were utter crap. Felt a bit weird that at level 27 with mastercrafted gear I am doing side quests for attribute points. They also often granted schematics for future playthroughs but meh.
DA:I was the first DA where I really felt nothing for my hero. There was a blog post that summed it up and I agreed, that because we didn't get to see our hero before the event or during, (Warden with your normal life and the catalyst that makes you become a warden, or Hawke running from the blight) you basically had no time to get attached. It made me feel like I was just using an avatar to create change. Not a terrible thing, but nothing like what I felt for my Shepard.
So I felt very lukewarm going in anyways, but then the Qunari come and you're like, really? Really? There was something going on with Qunari, is what part of the reason DA2 happened, but this felt like another threat from nowhere, that really had nothing to do with anything. And it didn't, except to serve as a way to explain the true threat. (Which, while you may not have understood exactly what Solas was up to, you knew it was going to be a gigantic thing.) The craziest shit is what happens if you killed Bull's Chargers. I never did because it always felt like a straight dick move, but I did see the ending and how Bull turns on you. But that also makes no sense. The idea is that Bull becomes fully committed to the Qun and the organization again. BUT they very specifically say, in both words and letters, that the qunari doing this shit is not officially sanctioned. That they are a rogue group - a tal-vashoth Bull even mentions it during conversations in trespasser. So WHY, if he has fully committed himself, would he listen to someone ordering him to kill the Inquisitor, when it seems like they are also Tal-vashoth? Fucking nonsense.
The original ending was pretty anti-climatic. It could have definitely been better but I somewhat expected it. They built DA:I up like it was going to a finisher in some respects, and then Corypheus steps out. And you know he's the final boss of this game, but you know he's not responsible for everything happening since DA:O. (In trespasser I think it is Cullen who makes a list of the crazy stuff that has been happening in the last few years, and that's all important. Corypheus wasn't responsible for all of it, but someone is and that is why the world is going to shit. Kirkwall's crazy thin veil, a Blight that wasn't quite a Blight, an architect and a mother trying to "release" darkspawn from compulsion, etc.) So you already anticipated a 4th game at the very least.
But trespasser? I disliked ME3s ending partially because of no closure, but ONLY because it was such an off the wall ending that you NEEDED more. You had done so much for every freaking race, and changed gigantic things, that it was necessary to know how your ultimate choice affected things.
Once again in DA though, choices don't matter, so having a super flowery epilogue that lasts fucking forever and goes in detail to explain the type of pies you make and that Dorian and Bull meet in a cottage on occasion is really dumb.
So trespasser was super bad. I did like Solas's explanation and learning more about the world. The one thing I def give credit to DA:I for was they didn't shy away from destroying almost all of their established lore. That was a ballsy and awesome move. It was part of the reason I loved Descent. Not only was it literally the only deep roads segment that we get that makes it seem LIKE THE DEEP ROADS AND AN ANCIENT AWESOME DWARF CIVILIZATION, but you also learn the answers to why Lyrium is alive, why dwarves MIGHT BE immune to it, etc.
Thoughts?
That ended up being longer than I wanted. OH well.
