Do you think Hawke's personality system limits roleplay?

No. you don't need to use always just one kind personality. Nice guys not always nice, the jokesters aren't always funny, and the aggressive ones can have a soft spot in their heart – or make rude jokes, or both.

My concepts of Hawke:
Blue Hawke, for me, was the tragic one. I like him least, he wanted to save everything, to compromise in everything and wanted to comply with everyone (an opportunist). At the end, he lost everything (faith, his friend, himself, what for he fought), but saved his brother… In my head their relationship ruined. (Perhaps, I should try another one, in a different path…)

Purple Hawke’s not really always fun, and not that cheerful. Depends on the mix, he can be a funny, charming but nice guy, or a burned out sarcastic bastard, or a serious sociopath too. The sad clown. Probably my favourite, besides the red!Hawke.

Red Hawke can be the most trustworthy wo/man ever. Can’t lie, and manipulate. His/her moral standards are high and cruelly honest. A true knight, a hero, but not the kind one (true, can be, if feels). Hothead or and really bad in the diplomacy and have social problems, but despite this, can be the best friend ever. Or a cold-blooded psychopath murderer... Or between this two.

So: I found Hawke's personality much more flexible than the Inquisitor's. Only depends on the MIX of the base personalities.

There are many potentials in this. For example, Hawke can change with the story:

I. At the beginning–Act1 despite the tragedy, s/he can keep his/her helpfulness and charm (or at least try to keep it). Returning from the Deep Roads, s/he already lost his/her sister/brother or can feel betrayed (Carver), at the moment s/he can lose his/her charm, and become angry, but still helpful (Act2). After his/her mother's death, s/he already only sarcastic, disappointed sometimes angry, but rather impatient.
II. At the beginning s/he's an impatient hot-headed young, aggressive, sometimes perhaps can be charming (protective toward his/her family). At act 2 s/he lost his/her temper, and become rather sarcastic: on one hand, s/he lost his brother/sister, on other hand s/he became rich noble (more sarcastic, less aggressive). At Act 3, qunari gone, s/he's already the Champion of Kirkwall. S/He feel responsibility for his/her home, the people (and remained brother/sister). Despite his/her mother's death, start to hope again, and working for his/her city. S/he becomes more patient and helpful. At the end he finally s/he realized, that his/her helpfulness was totally wasted. S/He already a silent mad.

So... I suppose, while Hawke's a cartoonish hero, the most living one.

Yes, and no. I don't force myself to keep to a particular personality type. I pick responses that fit a given situation.

That said, I don't like the personality system because it's just too extreme on all levels. The nice options are sometimes too nice, the sarcastic options are sometimes too sarcastic, bordering on assholy on some occasions, and the aggressive are sometimes too aggressive, bordering on assholey on some occasions. I greatly prefer the DAI style; I know many people consider the Inquisitor be "bland," but I don't.

However, I do quite like the dialogue wheel structure. In my recent play of DAO, I occasionally found myself frustrated because I might pick something that I thought was an investigate option, but ended up moving the conversation on. That's not an issue with the wheel, where the investigates are clearly separated from those options that continue the conversation.

You get more than 5 options sometimes with the dialogue wheel. There's a whole other side of it where the branching questions for additional information are kept.

BioWare has publicly gone on record, saying that they went with the dialogue wheel for DA specifically because it allowed room for more options.

More than the three options themselves, what I didn't like about Hawke's system was how the autodialogue would change based on which you chose most. An interesting idea, but it made more cons than pros.

I think we're limited in every game, because the writers are telling a specific story and in order to tell that story the protagonist has to fit whatever narrative they've got going on.

Personally I think the Inquisitor, regardless of voice actor (so it probably comes down to direction), sounds reeaaally muted. Like they're on Valium or just woke up in the morning or they're really bored. Even with the emotional responses I find they don't emote all that much. That's because regardless of your choices, the Inquisitor's got to be somewhat of a responsible do-gooder who may or may not crack a joke once in a while. Hawke, whether they're diplomatic, snarky, or blunt, is a larger-than-life personality with enough charisma to keep the Kirkwall gang around for 7+ years, because that's who the writers needed as DA2's protagonist


Both "limit" roleplay, just as "being a Grey Warden" limits roleplay in DAO. They're trying to tell a certain story.

Same here. I always thought they did a good job expressing the emotion they are supposed to rather than being muted. 

As a member of a people far less flamboyant and dramatic than Americans generally are, the Inquisitor certainly doesn't feel muted to me, while characters like Sera and Dorian seem frankly cartoonish.

What I miss, however, is the ability for my character to express complicated opinions. It's hard to take Hawke/The Inquisitor very seriously as a leader when they basically never utter more than one sentence at a time, and only express opinions or thoughts that are either very vague and broad or pretty inconsistent. In my experience, the ability to understand and concisely and accurately respond to the reality of a situation is the most important one for any leader or administrator. The dialogue wheel takes that completely away in favor of hit-and-miss voice-acting.

In that sense, the dialogue systems in DA2 and Inquisition are pretty frustrating from a roleplaying perspective.

Hawke does have a nice back and forth with Fenris in the gallows, about the mages issue.

But that was a rare gem.