#which kinda sucks in terms of balancing for gameplay but like god damn‚ narratively? | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

icharchivist · 6 years

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OKAY so a Champion of the Just completed later, after hearing a lot of people recommanding it over In Hushed Whispers because it's "better to play" i finished it and i must admit i'm disappointed.

Okay so big thoughts eventually, and it may be full of bad faith because I really like IHW and when people compare something i like to something I don't know my bias become stronger, but those were basically my Hot Takes (NOTE: all of it is biased af, i mean it as "pros for Me" "Cons for ME" this is not a judgement of the quality of the quest in general)

Also under the cut bc damn i love complaining

Pros:

-The Concept of Envy. As a demon, it is incredibly cool, and I am mesmerized by what it can mean, of how many Envy Demons may actually exist, this kind of things. The gameplay inside of Envy's world was amazing, and the scenes to manipulate the Inquisitor were all really, really chilling. (but i'll go back on it more later for others reasons). Makes me want to see another Envy Demon in game, in a plotline that is more accessible.

-Cole's scenes. Cole introduction was great, Cole coming to help was great, Cole coming at the war table was amazing. All was fun and I love how his speech patern present itself. He's such an interesting characters in general.

-Ser Barris. True mvp. He was sweet and kind and I feel like he represented more what the Order should have been about instead of what it ended up being. Although i'm upset he can legit die this easily fuck this.

-Overrall nothing new is learnt tbh, but I am chilled by the line about "they often make us test different kind of lyrium" about the templars habits. This bring a whole new level of fucked up to the whole thing.

-Some of Envy's manipulations were actually very insightful on my character and made me understand her a little better, which i always appreciate. Being able to explore my character is always a welcomed thing.

-Bull has a very funny line when it comes to talking about Envy when you don't take him along.

-Cole's feeling toward the breach are kind of interesting, and i don't think it's that much mentioned when he comes after you closed the breach in the IHW run.

Eehhhhs (Not Pros but Not Cons either):

-The whole gameplay with the Templars holding the barrers. I've seen people complain that IHW had a dull playthrough and i think it may be because it's compared to that. Indeed, that was an interesting idea, but i hate going against the clock and in the end it didn't bring anything too interesting.

-Thematically speaking, the Envy quest tries to do with Cullen what the Future Quest did with Leliana: ie, showing the player how they would react to catalystic events reminding them of desperate times. Leliana was her loss of faith after the tortures she endured and her "failure" (it's not your fault bby), and Cullen was how, after he rebelled against the Envy!Inquisitor he feels he deserves to suffer if it is that he was too blind to realize he was serving another tyrant.. Both are things that can resonate a lot with both of those characters. Thematically it's coherent.

The problem though is that for Leliana, it was the Future: it was FACTS. It was actually happening. And by sacrificing herself to have you get back in the past, she gained her faith, at least in you, again to help you.

For Cullen, it makes absolutly no sense Envy shows that (more in a moment) and it doesn't actually happen to Cullen but to an illusion. So the impact is completely dull, even if i think it was intended just as much as fact value as Leliana's.

Cons:

-Here I go: Envy is a freaking moron oh my god. That destroys absolutly the full amazing concept, Envy is so much a moron.

Envy is supposed to serve for exposition the same way the timetravel quest does, but it backfire so badly. Alexius ended up making you travel in time because he wanted to erase you from the timeline, and if i recall, you weren't sent too far in time thanks to Dorian. Anyway, Alexius didn't expect it to happen this way - what you learn in the future are actual facts of the plans of Corypheus: you learn that he murdered Celene, that he unleashed demons, ect... but you learn them because /It happened/. Plus there are the chilling moments with the sky being clearly opened. ("It used to be that only dwarves were afraid of the sky, now it's just common sense")

But in this plotline, Envy is just a goddamn moron??? the justification is that Envy wants to see how you'll react to the things he shows you so he can impersonate you better but..... Then.... he ends up revealing the whole plan of Corypheus... just to see your reaction... while he's still planning on being a tyran at your place anyway so it's not like he'll be in character doing that.

This is SO STUPID and it takes out of the experience completely to me. Because it's just that Envy is such a moron, how did Corypheus trust him with anything??? that's so stupid, oh my god, so stupid.

Like, I don't completely fault the writting per se, bc I do think Envy would be that stupid (the concept being that he always wants more to impersonate someone, ye, makes sense) but it removes a lot of the weight you get in IHW.

In IHW I was terrified that this future may happen. In CotJ I was just angry that Envy believed it could happen, and that he would think no one would notice him being an idiot.

-Cole's involvement. It kinda sucks since I just said i loved his scenes, but this is just..... so weird. Dorian was involved in the mage quest because his Master was the one who put this trouble, and he wanted to help the mages. Cole was there for reasons totally indepedant from the templars, and his involvement is completely about helping you against Envy and that's it. Even him coming back later feels a little out of place and a little forced?

Or at least it feels so when the alternative is known. IHW feels much, much more natural, with him coming because he realized the threats, felt it, and tbh I find him being confusing even worse when the Templars are basically assaulting us - and him being a support for Roderick makes so much poetic sense in a way that it wouldn't as much with Dorian (especially with Cole reminding Roderick his own thoughts and all).

So in CotJ it just feels.... a little out of place in general?

-The companions almost bring completely nothing to the plot orz. I had Cass, Viv and Solas and Cass and Viv had a few little sidecomments that were neat, but in comparaison to IHW this was lacking.

-Hell the whole emotional impact of the Future of IHW is far better.

-The templars involvement was weird. The Red Templars were antagonists sure, but since the focus was so much on Envy it was really distracting from what was happening to the Templars. It was more balanced out in IHW.

-I still hate the Templar Order and this quest didn't make me like it at all. The result of having them joining the inquisition are underwhelming, but that's mostly bc i dismantled them. Still though I've never felt this disliked by the Advisors, yet three out of four of the advisors were against me allying with the mages and they were much more graceful about it than they were with the whole dismantling the Templars thing.

-I went from them being sweet and soft with me to them being disappointed with me the templar run is hell.

-Speaking of bad, something i mentioned before, but ti's basically confirmed that even while dismantled the Templars are still looking for ways to controle the mages even against Cullen's and Cass's orders. I hate the Templars so damn much. It remplaces a scene which were just showing a mage complain because they were cold. Kinda shows their priorities.

Long story short, I think it is definitly worth a try in term of gameplay because there are some interesting stuff, but even without speaking about how i'm morally against the templars and that IHW is just more Morally Right, it just feels like it's less coherent in the narrative. Interesting to /play/ but not interesting to live in a timeline i'd say.

That's my Hot Take and i'm probably too harsh because I really liked IHW and saw a lot of people compare the two, and that i've played it non stop just to be just "that's.... it?" about it, so i guess i point out the flaws too much.

But ye, IHW ftw and now i get back to this real, better timeline thank u for your attention.

#ichablogging dai #ichablogging cotj #*finger guns* ignore me bye

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