Role of Inquisitor and Inquisition in DA4

I don't completely agree. Inquisition had basically the same writers of DA2, with the exception of Weekes being added to the mix. While one can dislike both Hawke and the Inquisitor as protagonits, the former's lines weren't as bland as the latter. As with many things with Inquisition (the focus on the open world areas being the prime example of this), the lines of the Inquisitor were at least partially a consequence of the criticism about Hawke. 

I'd say this issue is more due an issue related to the protagonist being voiced, and the difficulties that comes with this approach. You have to find a balance in the tones and lines, because if you go too far, you expose yourself of the criticism that the PC isn't really you and it's more of a fixed protagonist (which is something *some* people said of both Shepard and Hawke); on the other hand, you can get criticized for making a protagonist that is too bland.

I'm not saying that DA4 won't necessarily have the same situation, but I don't think it's an issue that is related to the writing staff, per se.

Imagine a spectrum. On the left you have the blankest of blank slates, the Dragonborn of Skyrim. On the right, you have a fully defined character like, say, Geralt of Rivia from Witcher 3. The DA protagonists are nestled nicely in the middle of that for me, with the inquisitor being slightly further to the left than Hawke and the Warden. The latter two having more context added to them because we get to know their families/friends and more of their life from before the start of the game.
I never found them bland, I'm good at filling in the blanks. I prefer the blanks beings there so I can fill them for myself to begin with but having enough context to know who my character is in this world.



Personal thing, but I found I really like my protagonists voiced. It helps to form an image of the character in my head and I prefer full dialogue cutscenes. Considering the backlash Fallout 4 got though, I'm probably alone with that.

I don’t get the complaints about the Inquisitor being bland or not not emotive. Definitely want the next protagonist to be more like them instead of like Hawke or Shepard.

That is exactly how I feel about every character Bioware has introduced, since DA2. With the added problem that I can't even use them as pack mules.

If I had to be excessively nitpicky, I'd say that the Warden and the Inquisitor (for most of the game) are definitely closer to the "blank slates" side, while Hawke is closer to the "fully defined" side. But in my opinion, they all worked for their respective games.

The Warden needs to be "blank-slatey" to fit all the various origin stories and help players shape their own vision of a Grey Warden.

Hawke being a defined character was one of the best decisions they could've made for DA2, and it's one of its strengths, in my opinion. You couldn't have things like Sarcastic Hawke with a blank-slate, non-voiced character. 

I hear some arguing that the Inquisitor should've been similar to Hawke now, but people forget many were clamoring for multiple playable races and the return of origin stories before release. It's understandable why they went the safe route and made the Inquisitor more blank-slatey. At the same time, though, I feel the Inquisitor progressively gets bits and pieces of characterization all throughout Inquisition, and by the end of Trespasser they feel more similar to Hawke than the Warden.

Shepard is a special case. I think the success of Shepard resides in the fact they're probably at the dead center of this scale, but somehow manage to be liked by both those who prefer blank-slate main characters and those who prefer defined main characters.

I mean, you do you man. With the exception of some select characters who are there for main quest related reasons, players can refuse virtually every other companion. Just don't recruit Iron Bull, Cole, and so on when their introductions are over. In Sera's case you can dismiss her whenever you want because she's a literal wandering criminal. Although god knows I would have loved to have a dismiss option for other characters like Vivienne and Iron Bull. But senselessly murdering them may have been too much and make no sense narrative wise since we we're the lawful Inquisitor and all, but I can certainly see more lawless figures like our potential DA4 protag getting that option for at least some of thier followers...

But if you don't want to recruit anyone at all because you don't want them, that works too. It will really cut down on the amount of triggerable cutscenes, side quests, and other ambient dialogue you don't want to deal with.

Warden was unvoiced but had good dialogue variety. I think Hawke was a bit too defined but had great dialogue and voice acting. The Inquisitor was fine as a blank slate but the dialogue was written in a way that didn't leave a lot of room for expression. That and I think it was a challenge for the VAs to all have to read their lines at the same pace as the English male so that may have caused less emotion to come out. With Trespasser they finally had a chance to be more emotive and I'd like more of that moving forward. I think you can be blank slate but still have dialogue options and voice acting that is highly varied and emotive.

I'd actually like it, if I could outright murder them. Imagine if we could outright murder Solas. We'd be done now. I wanted to murder him, after the fifth time I talked to him. I didn't want to just send him away. I wanted to cause him harm. To Owen from Anthem, as well.


The main protagonist has the same general flavour as the other characters, in their writing. If it's Hawke, the Inquisitor or someone new, I don't care. They'll be the same shit again. The game will sell less than Inquisition did, because of Bioware's rep and that will probably be the end of the Dragon Age franchise. A franchise that should have been regarded as GoT for video games. Pre-season 8 GoT.

A few examples.
So I went to talk to Solas. And the first conversation we have is about agriculture. And I'm like ... OK. So I went the second time and he talks to me about sanitation. And I'm wondering why do I talk to this person. So I go talk to him a third time and now he's talking to me about democratic elections. And I'm thinking, is the next conversation I'm going to have with Solas going to be about the public elementary school system, or basic economics? Because I really don't give a fuck about any of this.

And then I talked to Varric and I talked to Cassandra and their conversations were "Varric, you're in trouble" followed by "Save me, Inquisitor". And we did this something like 4 times, before the conversation escalated to Cassandra being a fan of Varrick's gay fanfiction novel, at which point we went to "Varric, finish your book, or you're in trouble" followed by "Save me, Inquisitor". Like this is some "Three Stooges" skit.

Not to mention the thrilling banter comprised by Cassandra saying "Did you just stereotype me, because I am a woman? You should be more sensitive in the future", Solas going "Did you just stereotype me, because I am an elf? You should be more sensitive in the future" and Varrick going "Did you just stereotype, because I am a dwarf? You should be more sensitive in the future". And I really didn't care about being more sensitive toward them in the future. Fuck them.

Then I met mr. Sarah Michelle Gellar, who only has one voice, Fred from Scooby Doo and I never felt like talking to him, then I met Sera, who I didn't even want to deal wish, so I sent her straight away, then I met Blackwall, who was OK and the rest I forget, because I was very much done with the game, at that point. I wasn't going to play a game with a bunch of nobodies, just for the off line by Blackwall, not to mention that the VO I chose for my Inquisitor at that point was getting on my nerves, because he was the most "m'lady" kind of guy I've ever had the displeasure of playing, I'd rather neck myself, than keep playing.

In stark contrast, let's take Grunt from ME2. In his introduction, he takes out 4-5 cerberus crewmen and fights Shepard in a tense scene. Later, when you talk to him, he tells you about the great Krogan generals of the past, their glorious battles, their strategies, he talks about literature and what it means to be a Krogan, a tankborn, the mother voice, interesting things. You talk to Thane and he talks about his training as an assassin, his wife and her tragic death, he's like a film noir assassin, he's unique, interesting, he has a backstory, vivid in his descriptions of his memories. You have Jack who talks about her time as a pirate, the cult she was in for a while, her dead "sisters" that she immortalized as tattoos on her arms, Cerberus, their experiments, her biotics, stuff I want to hear about.

And are any of them "sensitive" about each other? No. They're hardened. Grunt warns Shepard that if Garrus so much as looks at him wrong, he's going down, Jack tries to literally kill Miranda in the mesh hall, there's tension, but these people can handle themselves and if any of the others have a problem with them, that's their problem to handle. They're not going to let the others try and get under their skin and if they have a problem with someone, they're going to confront them about it. They're not going to whine about how the others are being "insensitive". They're not children.

I was always happy when I came back from adventuring and saw that the companions and advisors had new dialogue. Talking to them is one of my favorite parts. Even with Blackwall who is otherwise one of the most boring characters ever.

The real kicker with the Inquisitor was the absence of interesting choices. Commander Shepard wasn't exactly a barrel of charisma, but he/she got placed into a ton of interesting situations with interesting choices/consequences.

The inquisitor rarely had such agency. I actually really enjoyed the sequences where the Inquisitor sat on his throne and presided judgement. It was one of the few times I felt the Inquisitor had any great agency with consequences.

A Dragon Age protagonist with no murder knife is no Dragon Age protagonist at all.