Let's brainstorm ways to improve the companions

[Unacceptable Condition]

As has been hammered home and beaten to death at this point, many people including many of those that enjoyed the game, were let down by the juvenile writing and dialogue. I thought it would be interesting to see ways people could come up with to flesh out and improve companions, just off the top of their heads compared to the professional writers of BioWare. These are just my ideas without too much thought put into them.

For me, starting with Rook: Remove him. He is pointless and has no connection to the pre-existing characters that is absolutely necessary for the player to have any kind of emotional connection to Solas and really anything else that's going on. The MC should be the Inquisitor or maybe even someone like Morrigan's child Kieran (maybe add a lore reason to customize them and choose his gender) since he would be a young adult at this point.

Harding: Have the writers go back to Inquisition to observe the character some more so that she actually talks and acts like the Harding in Inquisition. She is not insecure and worried about being a "people pleaser." A better issue for her would be overconfidence after being a major scout for the Inquisitor for over a decade at this point. Maybe she could have sent a search party out, but her orders got them all killed, so she would have to cope with trauma and guilt. No mention of dwarven magic here, I would rather major Thedas lore be revealed with better writers across the board.

Neve: She's too passive. Maybe give her the character trope of being a jaded detective or police officer who's a "loose cannon and needs to turn in her badge." Anything to make her less bland, really.

Bellara: Give her a more interesting background after getting rid of the Veil Jumpers completely. She could be an opposite to Fenris who, despite having been a slave, manages to stay optimistic. Her fascination for elven artifacts could come from a Dalish collection owned by her former slave owner. This would also fulfill the function of bringing Tevinter slavery and racism against elves into the story.

Lucanis: He is way too bland. Because he is possessed with a spirit, he is also an abomination, which if you have played any of the previous Dragon Age games, you know pretty much everyone is terrified of. Even the people of Tevinter hate abominations. The mage Neve should despise him. Not to mention he is an Antivan Crow. The Antivan Crows are not rogues with hearts of gold. They are assassins who engage in murder and child conscription. Dealing with them in the game should be morally dubious at best. Make those aspects of the game more lore accurate and you have instantly made Lucanis more interesting.

Davrin: He's fine, I guess? He's also very bland, so maybe to spice him up a little make him hear the calling throughout the game and that's what you have to help him with. His griffon already does some heavy lifting to make him a better character to interact with.

Emmrich: He's fine. He already has the most interesting character stuff going on.

Taash: Basically, throw them away and start over. You could do a non-binary Qunari and have it actually be interesting rather than offensive to both sides of the political spectrum. Because gender roles are so clearly defined in the Qun, Sten in Dragon Age Origins literally cannot understand the concept of a woman being a warrior. He is so rigid in this belief he thinks it is impossible. If you have a character struggling with gender identity in a society that is so firm with gender roles, there are so many interesting places you could take that. Also, make Taash less creepy. There is no reason for them to be talking about how they can smell when a woman is on her period during character banter. Taash is pretty much the worst companion in any BioWare game I have ever seen as they are beyond bland, they are outright gross.

Those are my ideas that I came up with mostly as I was typing this post. I would love to hear what other people can come up with, with as little effort as possible

[PIT_DEFENDER]

I also think Inquisitor should be the main hero.

I think Tash is fine and to be honest if either or both sides of any spectrum dont like her they can ♥♥♥♥ off. I dont care about small minded people who get offended by video games. I think we already had the Qunari companions you describe in the previous games and it would be boring to have a 3rd ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ I have to kill ;p She is a refreshing new thing.

If anything I would remove Emmerich and the whole boring necropolis stuff they downloaded from the first AI operated generic dnd website they found.

Over when reading your ideas I think you have your head stuck in the past. Like sorry to say this buddy but your ideas are such cliches.

I dont like Bellara much cause she is annoying but it kinda is what makes her an interesting addition to the game.

Dont see what is your problem with Harding either, we didnt see her much in Inquistion you cant possibly know what is she like exactly.

[Unacceptable Condition]

Originally posted by PIT_DEFENDER:

I think you have your head stuck in the past. Like sorry to say this buddy but your ideas are such cliches.

Ehhh, if expecting remotely consistent lore and characterization from a company like BioWare is my head in the past, then so be it. I play BioWare games for their story and lore, and Dragon Age has some interesting lore. Also, of course my ideas are cliches, as I said those are ideas that are off the top of my head, literally as I was typing. They are cliches but also more interesting than what we got from the professional writers, imho.

I would prefer to hear your ideas of how you could improve the characters rather than your opinion of my ideas. Surely you could come up with more ideas than what you did? I mean if you just want to leave it at that, then that's fine

[PIT_DEFENDER]

Originally posted by Unacceptable Condition:

Originally posted by PIT_DEFENDER:

I think you have your head stuck in the past. Like sorry to say this buddy but your ideas are such cliches.

Ehhh, if expecting remotely consistent lore and characterization from a company like BioWare is my head in the past, then so be it. I play BioWare games for their story and lore, and Dragon Age has some interesting lore. Also, of course my ideas are cliches, as I said those are ideas that are off the top of my head, literally as I was typing. They are cliches but also more interesting than what we got from the professional writers, imho.

I would prefer to hear your ideas of how you could improve the characters rather than your opinion of my ideas. Surely you could come up with more ideas than what you did? I mean if you just want to leave it at that, then that's fine

Sorry love I am not a writer ;p

I do think the way the game is made Inquisitor would fit better as main protagonist, thats all I can come up with ;p

I always wanted a companion like Tash and well thats there too ;p

We have now reached the edge of my creative sense ;ppp

I think you are better off asking at some writers forums <3

[barzai]

Your ideas all seem fine. Here's a possibility: instead of Davrin, why not make it the Grey Warden who gets left behind in the Fade during the mission to get the Nightmare Demon in DAI? That gives you the possibility of a rescue mission in the Fade, which would surely be interesting.

Of course you might have elected to leave Hawke behind and break Varric's heart (you monster, you!) so there's have to be some way to finesse that. Maybe if you're rescuing Hawke they'd have to do the Joining to escape the Fade, so no matter who it was, you wind up with a seasoned warrior who's also a Grey Warden? Just spitballin' here.

As an alternative if you left Hawke behind, IIRC the Grey Warden survivor winds up as the commanding officer of what's left of the Grey Wardens. So then your recruiting mission would be more straightforward and not involve the Fade at all. Again, just tossing that out.

Yet another possibility would revolve around Blackwall, though of course there are so many possibilities with him it's gonna be almost impossible to cover them all. But again, those could all be finessed by giving him a path into the Grey Wardens regardless of whether you recruited him or not (he actually appears behind Cass in the cutscene at Adamant at the end of the mission if you didn't, implying that he joined up).

[Erylaria]

in this thread: people who have never written anything professionally for a large audience thinking they can do better than actual professionals who have been in the industry for over a decade.

like. dude. that's what fanfiction is for. grab a pen and paper and literally just write all that. put it on ao3. rewrite the entire game with what you think is better. go nuts. heck. make a mod for the game to change it to be the way you want.

but the insane overconfidence to think you could "fix" what professional writers with years and years of industry experience and intimate behind the scenes familiarity with the extended lore have been working on for 10 years? stunning. i hope i can channel that level of unawareness in my next job interview lol

the ONE thing i'll agree with, is that i also wanted the Inquisitor to be the protagonist.
but i deliberately say "i wanted" it to be this way. not that it would have been "better".
it would have made sense for MY Inquisitor, a Solasmancing Lavellan.
but not everyone would have wanted their character to have to deal with Solas' bullsh**-
many, many people had their Inquisitors settle down with Cullen or Josie or Blackwall.
their story was supposed to be finished. they saved the world and got their happy ending.
the most "fair" option was a new protagonist.
AND Rook is also why Solas' gambit worked. the whole "winning the approval of the Dread Wolf" thing would not have worked with an Inquisitor who hated him.

[PIT_DEFENDER]

Originally posted by Erylaria:

the ONE thing i'll agree with, is that i also wanted the Inquisitor to be the protagonist.
but i deliberately say "i wanted" it to be this way. not that it would have been "better".
it would have made sense for MY Inquisitor, a Solasmancing Lavellan.
but not everyone would have wanted their character to have to deal with Solas' bullsh**-
many, many people had their Inquisitors settle down with Cullen or Josie or Blackwall.
their story was supposed to be finished. they saved the world and got their happy ending.
the most "fair" option was a new protagonist.
AND Rook is also why Solas' gambit worked. the whole "winning the approval of the Dread Wolf" thing would not have worked with an Inquisitor who hated him.

I wouldnt mind a new character instead of inquisitor actually, but since the game is just a slice of the original idea I think it would just fit better to keep the inquisitor as the protagonist. Maybe the rook is new but I am the same Solas hating dude and I fell for his ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ either way ;p Its not like we have choice either way, Solas holds all the intel we just have to hope he isnt lying ;p Not to mention my inquisitor swam in Mythals pool and Solas ate Mythals power so he can probably now simply control inquisitors ass xD Also as far as I remember there was no cuddly happy ending there was a court in which Inquisition either went underground or was shrunk and under chantry control.

Also I thought EA's team of writers would have turned over a few tiems since 2014 DA:I who knows who they hired, its EA games for all you know he could be one of the writers ;ppppppppp

PS - the OP politely asked to go away if we dont want to rewrite characters with him, you kinda derail his thread ;p

[Unacceptable Condition]

Originally posted by barzai:

Your ideas all seem fine. Here's a possibility: instead of Davrin, why not make it the Grey Warden who gets left behind in the Fade during the mission to get the Nightmare Demon in DAI?

That could have been very interesting and was actually part of the initial plan before BioWare decided to go with a live service game before switching back to single player. Hawke or whoever was left in the Fade would return as an adviser in some capacity. Having another party member with experience in the Fade could have added a lot to the story.

Originally posted by Erylaria:

in this thread: people who have never written anything professionally for a large audience thinking they can do better than actual professionals who have been in the industry for over a decade.

Yes, I absolutely think I and anyone over the age of 17 or 18 could come up with better character framework than the blandness that we ended up with, as can already be seen by posts in this thread. I am not alone in this opinion. And experience in writing matters, but it shouldn't be your only factor in deciding you think someone is right for the job. Some people are just always going to be better at certain things. It's great that you enjoyed the game and were fine with the writing, but I expected more. And I do have to criticize your opinion a bit. Taash announcing that they can smell when a woman is on her period is something that belongs in fanfiction, not character ideas being posted in a thread for fun. If you have any relevant ideas I would love to hear them, otherwise I really dislike your post and wish you would delete it.

Originally posted by PIT_DEFENDER:

I wouldnt mind a new character instead of inquisitor actually, but since the game is just a slice of the original idea I think it would just fit better to keep the inquisitor as the protagonist. Maybe the rook is new but I am the same Solas hating dude and I fell for his ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ either way ;p Its not like we have choice either way, Solas holds all the intel we just have to hope he isnt lying ;p Not to mention my inquisitor swam in Mythals pool and Solas ate Mythals power so he can probably now simply control inquisitors ass xD Also as far as I remember there was no cuddly happy ending there was a court in which Inquisition either went underground or was shrunk and under chantry control.

There are so many more interesting things that could have been done with Solas, story wise, if some more of the choices from Inquisition carried over to Veilguard. As it is, I felt zero connection with him in Veilguard, which is why the MC of Veilguard should have been someone Solas and the Inquisition have already interacted with, imho

[PIT_DEFENDER]

Originally posted by Unacceptable Condition:

Originally posted by barzai:

Your ideas all seem fine. Here's a possibility: instead of Davrin, why not make it the Grey Warden who gets left behind in the Fade during the mission to get the Nightmare Demon in DAI?

That could have been very interesting and was actually part of the initial plan before BioWare decided to go with a live service game before switching back to single player. Hawke or whoever was left in the Fade would return as an adviser in some capacity. Having another party member with experience in the Fade could have added a lot to the story.

How do you know this ?

Originally posted by Unacceptable Condition:

There are so many more interesting things that could have been done with Solas, story wise, if some more of the choices from Inquisition carried over to Veilguard. As it is, I felt zero connection with him in Veilguard, which is why the MC of Veilguard should have been someone Solas and the Inquisition have already interacted with, imho

Yeah obviously they should have done a proper job instead of this game, its the final instalment anyways, but I guess this is what we get ;p

[Unacceptable Condition]

Originally posted by PIT_DEFENDER:

How do you know this ?

This post: https://x.com/mattrhodesart/status/1872644016921096277

[barzai]

Originally posted by Erylaria:

actual professionals who have been in the industry for over a decade.

You know, that just might be the funniest thing I've read all day

[PIT_DEFENDER]

Originally posted by Unacceptable Condition:

Originally posted by PIT_DEFENDER:

How do you know this ?

This post: https://x.com/mattrhodesart/status/1872644016921096277

Thats cool, tho I think veil jumpers are in the end a better idea.

Then again imagine if it was Alistar who stayed there, I doubt fade would leave a mark on that fool, If anything the other way around ;p For all you know Solas would open the veil just to find the gods dead already having committed suicide just to get away from him xDDDDD

Originally posted by barzai:

Originally posted by Erylaria:

actual professionals who have been in the industry for over a decade.

You know, that just might be the funniest thing I've read all day

Do you have any info on that chancellor ?

[mhsiea]

Originally posted by Erylaria:

in this thread: people who have never written anything professionally for a large audience thinking they can do better than actual professionals who have been in the industry for over a decade.

like. dude. that's what fanfiction is for. grab a pen and paper and literally just write all that. put it on ao3. rewrite the entire game with what you think is better. go nuts. heck. make a mod for the game to change it to be the way you want.

but the insane overconfidence to think you could "fix" what professional writers with years and years of industry experience and intimate behind the scenes familiarity with the extended lore have been working on for 10 years? stunning. i hope i can channel that level of unawareness in my next job interview lol

the ONE thing i'll agree with, is that i also wanted the Inquisitor to be the protagonist.
but i deliberately say "i wanted" it to be this way. not that it would have been "better".
it would have made sense for MY Inquisitor, a Solasmancing Lavellan.
but not everyone would have wanted their character to have to deal with Solas' bullsh**-
many, many people had their Inquisitors settle down with Cullen or Josie or Blackwall.
their story was supposed to be finished. they saved the world and got their happy ending.
the most "fair" option was a new protagonist.
AND Rook is also why Solas' gambit worked. the whole "winning the approval of the Dread Wolf" thing would not have worked with an Inquisitor who hated him.

The original post is, in essence, fan fiction. At this point the game is out and is what it is.

I agree with your observations about why the Inquisitor wouldn't work as the main character. Bioware has worked itself into this corner many times. When players make the choices, they will make choices where my version of what happened in Inquisition may be much different than what happened in your game.

They can't use many existing characters in later games because a character may have died in some player's versions, but be alive and well in others.

[Age]

Originally posted by mhsiea:

They can't use many existing characters in later games because a character may have died in some player's versions, but be alive and well in others.

Mass Effect 1
(Save transfer)
Mass Effect 2
(Save transfer)
Mass Effect 3

You sure about that? I thought DA2 uses Origins save while Inquisition used the O+DA2 saves?

I admit i barely played Origins but beaten DA2 multiple times but characters did appear depending on the choices you made. Bioware definitely cut BIG corners here.

[mhsiea]

Originally posted by Age:

Originally posted by mhsiea:

They can't use many existing characters in later games because a character may have died in some player's versions, but be alive and well in others.

Mass Effect 1
(Save transfer)
Mass Effect 2
(Save transfer)
Mass Effect 3

You sure about that? I thought DA2 uses Origins save while Inquisition used the O+DA2 saves?

I admit i barely played Origins but beaten DA2 multiple times but characters did appear depending on the choices you made. Bioware definitely cut BIG corners here.

DA 2 is the game where Hawke is the main character. It doesn't carry over much of anything from your decisions in Origins. I think you are right that a couple of characters from Origins can appear in brief scenes.

Inquisition uses a world creator system where you enter in the choices you made. It doesn't import save files so you can set the world however you like.

I wasn't thinking about Mass Effect, which does carry through some significant choices.

[ViewtifulGene]

Cut out 2/3rds of the Walking Simulator quests from each character.

My main problem with all the quests is that there's no real conflict. Everybody just gets a mustache-twirling antagonist and ends up fine no matter what they choose. Bellara's questline could've been interesting if her brother were actually brainwashed, Davrin's questline might've worked if the Gloom Howler wasn't just giving the Griffons fantasy cancer, etc.