Changing opinions: Your face-heel turns?

This is interesting. Your views here seem to be about DAI only. Did this change from DA2's Varric? Or were you one of those that played DAI first and then the other games (I know was a thing for some folks)?

A very thoughtful analysis.


As I wrote elsewhere I've always thought a magister controlling Redcliffe was the most immediate danger.  However in the last two PTs I did 'Champions of the Just' instead.  And especially in the last one, where I disregarded Fiona's invitation completely and went straight for the Templars, I wasn't exposed to the issue at all.  So when I first entered Redcliffe, after completing CotJ, the place had already been vacated by the mages.  Which means that after 15 PTs I managed to be surprised by Dorian's entrance and the subsequent first conversation we had in Skyhold.  And the best part about it is that it was all a consequence of my role-playing a young Templar recruit who mistrusted mages and their sudden interest in helping the Inquisition.  That and his crush on Cassandra whom he agreed with when said she couldn't believe all Templars had turned out like Lucius; therefore going to Redcliffe wasn't even an alternative.


That being said there is another reason to choose CotJ as the default stepping stone: the clues about Corypheus' future plans are more subtle, much less 'in your face'.  Cole tells us he hates Celene and wants her dead but nothing more - as opposed to our companions trapped in the future telling us *this is what he did and that is what it caused* - thus mapping our future journey for us and therefore depriving us of a real choice.  Similarly, and because of the 'oniric' feel of the mission at Therinfal, Envy's gloating about a demon army leaves us in doubt as to whether or not this piece of information is not another tactic to confuse us. 

Overall, and once we reach Skyhold where Leliana tells us we have one advantage: 'knowing' what Cory intends to do next, I find it becomes much less urgent to go straight away into the Fade and Halamshiral missions than I did after 'In Hushed Whispers' - a path that triggers the opening of Act 3 and thus devalues most of Act 2's side quests/exploration.

In short, siding with the Templars has become a better solution, if only from a narrative standpoint.

I may no longer hate Elves, but now I really hate Solas. I used to respect him, but his actions and his rationale leave me with nothing but disgust and disdain for him.