#does creating an rpg where the choices the player makes are rendered obsolete by virtue of one being vastly surperior to the other -

[sun-marie]

pivoting a little off of that Neve post to say real quick that if you haven't played the Templar route of DAI i highly recommend it. Some highlights:

Calpernia vs Leliana > Samson vs Cullen. Samson, as an antagonist, honestly feels pulled out of thin air, and having an extremely weird rivalry between him and Cullen shines a spotlight on the very strange role Cullen plays in DAI and makes the player wonder why they aren't switched. Calpernia, on the other hand, is a nuanced and complex character with somewhat sympathetic motivations, and watching Leliana get to put her spymaster skills to use to find out more about her is a lot more satisfying imo. Additionally, Samson's maguffin of his Red Lyrium armor being weakened for the unavoidable fight pales in comparison to convincing Calpernia to stand down by telling her the truth about how Corypheus is using her.

DAI's infamous issue with Corypheus's lack of presence in the story? Somewhat alleviated in this route. It's still not great, but we actively see him manipulate Calpernia, multiple times iirc, and at one point we hear his thoughts throughout one of the dungeons. I sincerely believe the reasons Corypheus gained such a reputation for being absent in the story are because most players have only played the mage route

Everything involving Therinfal Redoubt. The Envy demon, the mind prison, Cole's introduction (a far improvement over his intro in the mage route), the slow and natural revelation of the Venatori's ultimate goals (as a opposed to "i accidentally got chucked into the future but some time goo and here's everything i was able to learn for the whole Hour I was there"), Ser Barris my beloved <3

Depending on how you play it obviously, but there's an argument to be made that dissolving the Templars may do more good and result in more lasting change than freeing the Circles, seeing as the idea of the circles, as an academic space for mages to learn to control their powers, was never really the issue and oppression and abuse of the Templars is the true root of the problem. YMMV here though

As mentioned in a previous point, no time magic! this streamlines a lot of the storytelling imo, and makes for an INCREDIBLY CRUNCHY introduction to Dorian, who shows up at Haven and, since he's allowed to talk like a normal person and not a Spirit of Compassion, brings a very intense energy to the scene. Imo this works best if this is your very first time meeting him, as in you never went to Redcliffe and never had to deal with the Headache that is Alexius, the character assassination of Fiona, and the illogic inherent to Time Magic

The Templar route is just better integrated into the rest of the story. Cassandra's personal quest where they mention the Lord Seeker's been replaced by a demon? That no longer feels like it came out of left field, we literally saw that and so this quest feels like payoff. Leliana gets more time to shine doing Spymaster Things so her personal quest about being More Than A Tool feels more impactful. The Inquisition being an organization that scares the Chantry makes more sense because we stole the Chantry's army. The Red Templars no longer feel like a "bad thing made worse for some reason" and instead feel like sad endings for good (or well, i should say "good") people, who could've found a better way with the Inquisition and instead chose to be This. Emprise Du Lion and the Emerald Graves are now completely skippable areas, aside from whatever sidequests you'd like to do there.

Unfortunately, the greatest barrier to entry is justifying the In-Character reasons for your Inquisitor to get help from the Fucking Templars, which is. not ideal. BUT if you can do that, I really truly believe it's the superior route