What are your favorite design decisions across the franchise? [very light spoilers] Fresh fom Reddit

What are your favorite design decisions that you either wish would come back, or hope that they keep for future games? I am mostly curious about design elements that dramatically changed between games, such as gameplay mechanics, quest mechanics, or specific types of story quests that are unique to one of the games, and not present across the entire series.

Here is my quick list. I probably have a couple of controversial opinions, so feel free to discuss ;)

Dragon Age Origins

• The different origin stories were a stroke of genius.


• I loved the final combat sequence, where you needed to control different groups of NPCs and call in your forces to fight back the darkspawn. This sequence (maybe more than anything else in DA) made me feel that all of my companions were important, and that my alliances actually made a difference.

Dragon Age 2

• The Friendship/ Rivalry System: I miss this a lot. DA2 is the only game where I feel like it is OK to disagree with my companions and yet still be friends with them. This is far more representative of real friendships and relationships, where you can still respect someone even if you hold different opinions.
  


• Presence of a highly personal B plot (Hawke's family) and a frame story (Varric's Interrogation).


• Unique companion specializations: I loved that each companion had a unique specialization tailored to their personality and backstory. This also made Hawke's specialization feel more unique, since no NPC could copy him/ her directly.


• Programmable companions: Origins had this also, but I felt the interface was possibly a bit better in 2.

Dragon Age Inquisition

• The Crafting System: While it can be a little clunky, I really like the system for making unique gear. It feels far more customizable and friendly than previous games.


• Advisors: I love that there are fully fleshed out characters with full romances and companion quests that are not actually party members. It gave me a very strong connection to Skyhold and the Inquisition as an organization.

I could go on.... but this is already way too long. What are your favorites?

Submitted January 11, 2015 at 05:10PM by wardengreaves http://ift.tt/14lMMDC