![]() ![]() What would have been nice is if we’d arrived a few days before the explosion, and then instead of a 75 word description of our character’s background on the menu screen, we could have been properly introduced. Dragon Age: Origins didn’t start at the Battle of Ostagar with a narration of why the Ferelden army was meeting there, and Dragon Age: Inquisition shouldn’t have started after the single most important event in the story. And no, seeing the explosion on the main menu when we press play doesn’t count! Nor does the beginning narration. Having such an important part of the story occur off-camera is just a silly, amateurish mistake to make. ![]() The only stories I can think of that successfully start after the inciting incident are the ones occur in reverse order, like Memento or Irreversible. The inciting incident is a pivotal part of any story, it’s literally what sets the story in motion and propels the characters into the unknown world. There’s in media res and then there’s just starting at a random point in the story because fuck the pacing, amirite? ![]() Now in media res is a common literary technique and works great, but starting the story after the most important invent in the game is such a stupid move. That’s like starting Skyrim during Alduin’s attack and asking us to choose our race and appearance while fires burn in the background or starting Mass Effect after the attack on Eden Prime, the whole pace of the beginning section would be wrecked. The beginning of Inquisition doesn’t feel like a beginning and there’s no buildup to the giant explosion, you enter the game after the inciting incident of the game: the destruction of the Conclave. The whole pace of Inquisition just didn’t feel right, I think most of that has to do with open world and MMORPG feel of the game’s mechanics, but the pacing is off from the start. Inquisition Needed a Beginning You’re doing it wrong, Bioware… My next article will be about three scenes in Inquisition that suggest the game was originally supposed to be a much better game, but for now, read about all these other problems the game had. Next week will see me returning to a more normal schedule and regular updates. You can blame Bioware for launching so late in November. Apologies for the long wait on the follow up, but the holiday season is always a busy one. ![]()
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