Dragon Age Inquisition Review – Part 2 | Stunning Characters

Hello everyone and welcome to our place!

Last week I started my Dragon Age: Inquisiton review. Since the game is huge and there are way too many things to comment, I decided to write the review by parts. If you don’t remember, or didn’t read it, you can do it so here. The first part is about the Story and World Building.

Today, as you can see from the title I’ll be writing about the characters and no, although I’m writing a post entirely dedicated to the characters, I’m not going to review each character! That would just be a drag and you can find all of that in the Dragon Age Wiki.
However, characters are the highest point of the game, at least in my opinion. This way, I really wanted to dive into this and comment in a more detailed opinion.

– Dragon Age Inquistion Characters –

Fanart by usotsuki

First, let me introduce you the characters from Dragon Age: Inquisiton. Contrary to its predecessors, in DA:I you have two types of companions. Your fighting companions who go with you everywhere (if you choose them to your party) and your advisors. The last ones do not get out from your fortress, unless in specific quests, and do not fight. Their work is to be the head of the 3 major forces in your small empire.

You have Leliana, a veteran in the Dragon Age series which is the spymaster (no surprise), then you have Josephine the one responsible for the politics’ part and lastly Cullen, the head of your army.

For Leliana I think there is no need to talk about. She was presented in the first game, had a DLC featuring only her, appeared in the second game briefly and now she is, yet again, alongside you.

The Advisors – Pic by Progenitor98 | DeviantArt

Then you have Cullen who, if you have an elephant’s memory, remember him from being the templar who was tortured in the Magi Circle (Dragon Age: Origins) and the right arm of the chief of templars in Kirkwall (Dragon Age 2). Cullen was never a playable character and I would not even call him a secondary character, but now is here and is important.

Lastly, Josephine, the one we never met. However, don’t worry, if you ask, she will tell you all her background and I can assure you that you will end up knowing her like a close friend.

I really love Josephine, she is always so composed! 😀

Talking in background, I’ll start with that. Nothing strange In the Dragon Age series, but completely changes the perception and complexity of the characters. All of them have backgrounds! And I’m not talking about simple backgrounds, I’m talking about constructed to family tree detail backgrounds. There is no character that you will feel that is flat or that don’t seem to have a strong sense to be in the Inquisition. These backgrounds are the ones that create the personality of the characters. If you think they are too stubborn, too cold, too mysterious, too blunt, anything, there is an explication to that. Cherry on top of the cake – those explanations are not given you bluntly, no! You will understand them when you learn about their stories and the things they had to pass and survive.

The companions are as much interesting as the counsellors, the difference is that there is more than the double of them. If you get all of the companions, (yes, it’s possible to lose some of them, or just send them away if you want) you will have 9 companions to entertain yourself, to meet them, make friends and, who knows, enter in a romance relationship (you can also romance the advisors).

The design of the card corresponding to each character is also suberb

The thing about all of these companions, is that all of them were given the same time and work towards their background, their personality and the things that would make their story interesting. We have the mage who thinks that the towers of the magi are the way to go, the mage who loves his hometown, but knows that there are much too change, the seeker who looks for justice all the time, but also has a soft side for cheesy romances. Again, the characters are not simple or flat! The characters are dynamic, they are not always the same way. An example would be – maybe a character who seems to be always harsh may also have a soft side from time to time.

So, yes, all characters are extremely well done and there is not even one that I ended up disliking! In fact, if you put yourself in their shoes, most of the time you even think you would end up in the same way as them, even being them so different from each other.

Ok… I think you can understand why I like Dorian…

But, more than that, I really want for you to understand the detail and thought that was put creating all these characters. In the game there will be a time where you will go to an Orlesian (it’s a place) ball. There is where the court game happens to the fullest, the lying, the cheating, the silent assassinations, everything. Well, as you probably know Leliana was, many years ago, a bard in the Orlesian court and the “Game” was her life every single day. So, you should think that she is a master of this, I mean, she is even the head of the assassins in the Inquisition… Well, you would be right.

I went talk to her, just in a side story kind of thing and the first thing she comments about is shoes (it’s her thing) and you, the inquisitor can choose to pick this fact and just comment that she really likes shoes. Well, what she answered blew me away.

Her answer was (in other words of course) that shoes tell a lot about a person proceeding to comment the expensive shoes of a noblewoman. From there she starts making logical thinking. The thing was, that noble woman has lost a LOT and was with no money at the moment. This why, where did she got the money to buy those shoes? What favour did she has done? Who has she bedded to receive that as a gift?

Don’t worry! We won’t let them!

Can you see how intelligent this writing is? There was no other character that could have made that kind of thought process! Let’s not talk about how smart the real person must be to write something like that. It’s extremely well done and fits perfectly!

That’s the amount of thought that was put inside in each of these characters and I completely love the game for it! More than the story itself, the highest pleasure I had in this game was to meet these characters and get to know each one of them to the point of being able to tell their stories and know them as close friends.

And you, what do you think about the character development in Dragon Age: Inquisition? Isn’t it amazing or have you seen better? Comment down below! 😀

See You Soon!

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