Quote Originally Posted by Aux-Ash View Post
Which large parts of the community had been asking for years, ironically enough. Even prior to DAO.

If I recall correctly... the first and the third one was the two greatest concerns regarding story voiced about DAO during it's development. To the point of people threatening not to buy the game.

And no... I don't mean in general. I mean the very same people.

The bioware fans seem to be real good at asking for stuff they really don't want.
The catch of that is that he was still put in the position of saving the day, was still forced to engage in a bloody conflict with long-lasting repercussions, the only difference was that nothing he did accomplished anything. He was doomed from the start on every goal he undertook - the game allows for no chance for success at any turn. No amount of charm, diplomacy, or tail kicking was sufficient to inspire peace, no amount of BatHawke prowling the streets made them any safer, no amount of discussion could convince your friends to reconsider their self-destructive paths, no amount of tireless investigation can save lives, no amount of anything can accomplish anything. The game is pointless not because Hawke has no ties or motives (though I've heard complaints about that), it's pointless because the game decides the outcome long before Hawke has anything to say about it.

The closest you come to positive results is your sibling, who can either be happy, unhappy, or dead in the aftermath of your decisions, but you lose them in any event. That's one happy outcome. Oh, and there's the fact that the trip to the Deep Roads pays off, though you and Varric lose a sibling in the aftermath.

I would not have minded that game in the slightest if Hawke had been able to actually influence things, or maybe even be able to say "Screw it, I'm going to the beach." The combat was fun, the humor was great, the characters were pretty interesting when they weren't being railroaded, and the town had promise.

Like ME3, however, the real reason the game stung so bad was because we were sold a bill of goods before the game came out. "Shape the destiny of the most important person in Thedas.", "Your decisions will forge his destiny", and all that. And, sure, other game companies often promise far more than they deliver, but Bioware had proven time and again that these promises were ones they COULD deliver on. The fact that they made promises we knew they were capable of and yet still failed is why I'm so angry, and I doubt I'm the only one with that rationalization.