#archi thoughts

[exhausted-archivist]

So I have a thought, I think Inquisition is a good game and one that is necessary for the transition of the story focus. However, Inquisition should have been two games. Instead of scraping Exalted March and recycling parts into Inquisition, they should have just made Exalted March its own game with the ability to be a new protagonist since that is the identity of Dragon Age.

All the protagonists could have been from Kirkwall, all the races playable, and all could have been impacted by Anders attack on the Chantry in 9:37 Dragon. It could have still involved Varric leaving Cassandra’s interrogation in 9:40. This would have presumably happene at the same time as the events of Asunder.

It should have kept the main plot of Exalted March: Corypheus attacking the Free Marches with his red lyrium templars. He would be the force that causes you to recruit allies, coming into contact with some old contacts of Varric but ultimately you have new companions with possible return companions in a limited capacity with the surviving Hawke sibling, Anders as a Grey Warden, Isabela as Pirate Queen, Sebastian as ruler of Starkhaven, and Merrill with her arcane knowledge and connections in the Alienage. But ultimately you would have new companions save for Varric.

Then, the game that would come after would be to address the civil war in Orlais, which is alluded to in Asunder, and give us the opening into the Solas plot. The Mage-Templar War is in full swing, we could still have the conclave attack, keeping the Grey Warden element and bringing back the Architect. The main focus of this for the first two acts would be focused on resolving the Mage-Templar War, actually addressing the concern of the war and not shuffling it into being resolved by choosing who helps give you extra muscle. But then afterwards, when you feel like you’ve secured victory the threat behind the Breach comes to light. Focus on the magic mysteries that have been building, along with the delving into the secrets of lyrium; both red and blue. Which would dovetail into the Architect and Grey Wardens.

I think the premise of Inquisition is solid, but tries to do too much while being too new player friendly and drawing back on the actual gravity and consequences in the game. I might elaborate more later, but yeah.

Inquisition is a good premise but should have been kept as two separate stories.

[exhausted-archivist]

I'm replaying da2 as a rogue Hawke who is going to romance Anders because I've never done that nor have I had a playthrough with Bethany.

Thoughts so far?

Aveline hits different when you don't have Carver as your surviving sibling.

Bethany, I would kill for her. I do want to redesign her hair though.

Varric is Varric.

Also I've noticed there is a lot more head coverings and like satchels around people's necks in da2 than I remember. I'm playing on console so no mods to be mucking with things.

Also I resent that mages can't lockpick. Feels like a scam. Especially apostate mages.

Oh, also they reused so many assets from DA2 that they just upped the textures on. Like I knew this from digging into the game files of Inquisition but it is kinda funny seeing them in their original state.

I found the bucket and table toilet in DA2. Sometimes DA2's scaling is as inconsistent/hilarious as Inquisition.

[exhausted-archivist]

The Original Scope of Haven to the Temple and the Hinterlands

So something that has always bothered me was that the Hinterlands and the map in the prologue on Inquisition take the same amount of time to cross if you go non-stop. I could never understand why since the Prologue map seemed far larger and longer than the Hinterlands.

But then I was digging through the game files, extracting things for projects and reference when I came across this map.

In case it's a bit hard to see, or if tumblr mucks up the quality, here is a closer version with higher contrast of the over layed section. The Prologue/Haven map is on the top under Orzammar, and below it is what I am theorizing is the early iteration of what we know to be the Hinterlands map. Only it is no where near Redcliffe nor is it covering the space we know to be the Hinterlands.

For reference here is the Haven map that is being overlayed. I would like to note that there seems to be a portion to the north that has since been removed since the early stages of development.

This second map being overlayed does not seem to exist in the files. So I can't show it, but I believe it is one of the early iterations of the map that will become the Hinterlands.

When I lined it up, they were not a one to one which I expected since they would want to adjust the map when they decided to move it. However, it does however match up in a few spots along the coastline, where rivers start, and some clusters of mountains. However, it is neither a clear image nor one that speaks solidly one way or another. So I don’t feel I can say with any firmness that is actually what happened. Especially since the image of the overly becomes such a muddled mess. If I can clean it up any further, I will add it in an update. For posterity though here is the Hinterlands map extracted asset.

[old-archivist]

I thought I was strong enough to handle this food compiling project. But guys, Thedas has a lot of food and we’ve reached the point where I’m tired but my brain and its insufferable need to be as thorough as I can possibly be has kicked in.

The master doc page count is in the 60s. Send help and prepare for multiple posts cause I made banners and I’m invested in:

[exhausted-archivist]

It may be 4am here, but like... Have you ever considered if gurn would be halal?