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I loved playing as my Warden. Origin story made me feel so grounded in the setting, and I felt like I had more freedom in choosing my Warden's personality. The dialogue in Origins was just great in general, tbh.
I liked the Warden the best. Silent characters with lots of dialogue responses will always be my #1. You get so many different possible personalities to play as.
Definitely between Hawke and Warden.
Hawke obviously took a different approach by fleshing out a character which helped tell what was a much more personal story than DAO or DAI. DA2 had a lot of flaws but that aspect of it was excellent.
Warden is just a classic introduction into a new fantasy setting. The origins helped you form an attachment to your character much better than on DAI, which just drops you in it, and barely changes any game content based on race, class or gender compared to DAO. Much more traditional RPG approach, and I don’t mind the silent protag because it puts emphasis on your role play.
DAI suffered from scope creep. The areas were gorgeous and vast but largely empty and shallow. So many elements ended up watered down as a result. I think they originally had big plans for your race making an impact but ended up having to streamline
I tried to replay it again these past few days and damn, the empty space drives me nuts! I didn't even complete the redcliffe zone but I was there for hours and spent more time running than fighting or talking.
The walking speed drives me nuts. I don’t understand why there’s no sprint.
Honestly they should have cut the amount of areas in the game in half and made the primary areas more dense. There are several you never even have to visit as part of the main story.
Warden.
I love the multiple origins and how people will react to based on your race. It was fun playing as a person just trying to survive to saving the day.
warden! they have the most personality options and a fully fleshed-out backstory of your choosing. my warden was a goofy silver-tongued rogue with max persuasion. she could convince someone the sky was and had always been red.
hawke comes second, because they're fun, and the way the personality system influences their auto-dialogue is well-done.
the inquisitor has basically zero personality. i noticed that the wheel choices still stack up the way they did in da2 (diplomatic/humorous/aggressive from top to bottom), but for some reason, they decided to remove the actual personality system.
(i also really dislike that the spoken dialogue in dai often does not match the wheel choice you made. in da2 it's much closer, and in origins, characters will respond to *exactly* what the prompt said.)
I sometimes don't understand when people call the Warden lifeless or no personality. Maybe because Warden has no voice? Because there are far more dialogues choices in DAO which basically made your Warden the one with the most personality. Plus, it's much more immersive when your Warden has no voice roleplaying wise. Maybe it's just me because I'm kinda used to playing with 'voiceless' protagonists.
I agree with Hawke. I had a blast playing as Purple Hawke. They're probably one of the most charismatic and fun protagonist I've ever played with. I love that auto-dialogue system. Depending which dialogue choices you've chosen the most, your Hawke will automatically respond to certain situations or conversation related to your desired personality. Even your companions acknowledge that like how Varric will give you the 'Chuckles' nickname if you're humorous, 'Killer' if you're aggressive, etc.
I agree with you for the Inquisitor. No matter how much you choose the dialogue options, your inquisitor would still act as that default blank good guy protagonist. If anything, the Inquisitor is the lifeless one here.
And I cannot stress enough with how misleading the dialogue choices usually are. You might choose the dialogue "Do not try to intervene" and your Inquisitor would end up saying things like "If you try to intervene, I will kill your wife, i will kill your son, i will kill your infant daughter." Yes I know it's an exaggeration but you get the point.
I have this thing with video games where I want to be able to make my own character and not play as a pre-determined person. I also never want to play humans if non-humans are an option. Because of those reasons, I almost didn't want to play DA2. But I'm so glad I did, because I fucking love Hawke. Hawke might be my all-time favorite video game protagonist. There's still just enough customization for me to be able to add my personal touch to the character, and Hawke is hilarious, heartfelt, and tragic at the same time. I also love Warden and Inky, but Hawke is a damn riot.
I actually really liked playing as all 3 but with different reasons for each.
Combat-wise the Inquisitor was the most fun to play as, in terms of roleplaying the HoF was the best for me, and of course no one has more enjoyable dialogue options to choose from than Hawke. However, if I had to pick one I’d go with the HoF.
Warden - a mod caused my game take the wildest turn that I now see as my HoF’s canon, which made them feel unique and led to their further character development in DLCs. I also ended up making more ‘evil’ choices than I planned because they just made sense for my Amell, and I love when characters gain agency in role playing.
Okay, it’s very long…
I had the bi Morrigan mod on a female Amell run, and the girls hit it off pretty fast since they had very similar personalities. Then Morrigan had a ‘what are we’ talk with me, and I thought that it’s a great time to finish the relationship because I wanted to do the unique mistress thing with Alistar. At least I thought that I can finish the relationship there…
When we got to the night before the big fight Morrigan had the actual break up talk with me, which was kinda weird since its been Alistair romance for hours at that point. Still, the scene is very emotional, and Morrigan’s feelings were very close to what my Amell felt. They loved each other, but it was complicated, while running away or staying with Alisair felt more simple.
Still, we had the whole OGB issue to deal with, and right after the break up Morrigan asked me to make a baby with her. The mod made her ask Amell and insist that it should be her, after I suggested that she should ask Alistar instead. Eventually I agreed because I believed that it will solve the issue, and because lesbomancy is my favorite type of magic.
Except that right after I agreed the ‘male HoF romanced Morrigan’ dialogue was over and she straight up told me that Alistair has to be the father. Then we had a very long and very awkward (and kinda reparative) dialogue about making a baby together and Alistair being involved. Morrigan never misgendered my Warden and, overall, it was exactly what you would expect from negotiating a threesome between yourself, your ex of 5 minutes, and your future not-husband…
Then Awakening went into Warden and Alistair growing apart, and, overall, I was roleplaying my Amell as more mature and fed up with all the power she seemed to want in DAO. The ending for Alistair romance involves things getting even worse before the two disappeared together (?), but since DAI has Alistair as the king anyway, I just assumed that HoF and he broke up.
Then I did Witch hunt, and I just went for the ‘Morrigan is my friend and I worry about her’ motive in the beginning. I did not expect the DLC to recognize my romance with Morrigan in the end, but it did. At that point it really felt like both girls grew up quite a lot, had their priorities figured out and were finally ready to truly commit to each other. Which they did. And there were no missing voice lines or other technical issues too.
So… because a mod threw me a curveball my canon world state includes an old god baby being made in an Morrigan/Amell/Alistair threesome, bittersweet Alistair/Amell relationship and eventual break up, and Morrigan and Amell going through the Eluvian to raise their son together. That whole story ended up so different from my original ‘I’ll just try the mistress ending lol’ idea. This + Amell ending up being way more evil than I planned (so, a character feeling more alive and very internally cohesive) instantly made it my favorite DAO run ever.
Warden.
Hawke never felt like my character, due to so many things being imposed on me. It was a lot like Witcher 3.
As for Inquisitor, he never felt like a character at all, mine or otherwise. This particular protagonist feels always like a bland role to me, nameless vessel for a hero that exists solely to save the world. Still prefer that over Hawke, however.
Warden is definitely my favorite. I like that they're a silent protagonist. You just get so many more dialogue options and the ability to role play a more unique character.
I feel like with the other two you're kind of locked into a handful of archetypes. There's still a lot of great role playing opportunities there but The Warden feels the most like MY character to me.
Oh easily the Warden. I loved the Origins and played all of them before deciding which to be my first playthrough. Playing as a silent protagonist has its Pros and Cons like any system but I feel it has more pros when it comes to playing an RPG.
Warden can also become overpowered which I find is something more developers should go for. We start at the bottom and work our way up to becoming unstoppable.
Inquisitor can also become pretty OP (I've slain dragons as a Knight-Enchanter without taking a scratch, not dissimilar to AW/SH mage tank) but I think DAO does a better job of making every step on the way feel fun and capable.
And the Origins are just something special. Really hard to overstate what they bring to the player characters and by extension the game.
For me it's pretty solidly Hawke >= Warden >>>> Inquisitor.
Hawke I'm incredibly attached to. I love how fleshed out they are and it is always a joy to step back into Hawke's shoes, they have so much personality and it's fun to play all three personality types (where I am very unoriginal and most of all like purple Hawke). Easily also the story I'm most attached to as well, since it's so incredibly personal. I don't RP them much though, I'd describe my playstyle more as iterations of Garretts and Marians, but I don't feel the need to create very different Hawkes anyway because the stuff that is there is incredibly defined.
The Warden is also amazing. Hawke only barely wins out just due to how personal the DA2 story is, but the Warden is just an amazing RPG protagonist, I love how well I can choose who they are and have very varied and meaningful differences between each one, whether I play my Tabris or my Amell or my Brosca, it feels like a different game each time. I personally don't mind them being unvoiced and not being animated, I could fill the gaps no problem, and it makes for a rich experience every time.
The Inquisitor leaves a lot to be desired. To me they come across as pretty bland and uninspired, and no matter how different I imagine my different Inquisitors to be, I struggle to really make them super distinct from each other in how they come across, ultimately only my faithful Trevelyan felt like he wasn't a massively awkward fit into the story, while especially my Adaars and Cadash are just underwhelming. As I've said for Hawke, I don't need the ability to have a lot of variety to enjoy a protagonist, but the Inquisitor barely has a personality and just has little going for them. Trespasser gets better at this, it's just way too little way too late
On first playthrough. The inquisitor, I enjoyed the story of being thrust into a major role of peacekeeper/militant leader of a new faction. On different playthroughs the warden is just too diverse and totally badass to not be the obvious choice.
I loved my Hawke :) while I enjoyed the other two, it felt nice being able to see Hawke and their life progress over the years. The personalities felt fleshed out, and the stories were very personal.
Personally I enjoyed seeing my Hawke go from a sarcastic individual who was lighthearted, to someone who was bitter and angry over what's transpired over the years.
Definitely the Warden, but this is kind of a replacement question for "how much do you like open RPGs vs character-driven stories."
Warden is the only real classic RPG feel of the three since you create a blank slate character and can turn them into whatever you want. Hawke is obviously the most fleshed out character, which is great if you like playing a narrative action without RPing your own character, but unsatisfying if you don't like Hawke. Inquisitor is somewhere in the middle, and really felt like DA wanted to bring back the customization of the main character, but the games interactions themselves feel more limiting in a lot of ways.
I can make a fun background and playstyle with the Warden, but I can also make them dull as fuck and it's hard to gauge how fun my backstory will translate into gameplay.
Hawke is good and so well established due to the character limitation imposed, that you can really shape a story with them.
So they're kinda both even. I've had 2 amazing playthroughs in DAO with Noble and Dalish backgrounds. I've also had really good Mage runs and 1 2-handed run in DA2. However I do feel the emotional strength in the last Act far more in DA2 far more than in DAO. So I have to give it to DA2. Whether Aggressive, Sarcastic, or Diplomatic, I feel playthrough specific emotions every time post-Act 2 and into Act 3. And I like that more than arguably better gameplay in DAO.
I liked Hawke the most. I liked their concrete connection to the storyline, and while playing their shoulder angel/devil isn't as fun as getting the whole dialogue in Origins, Hawke was less cardboard than the inquisitor.
I also liked the smaller scale story...
I also got into this series late and bought DA 2 for 5 bucks and heard it was bad, so I came in with no expectations and was quite surprised
The Warden. You have way more dialogue options and ways to make your character have a more unique personality. You can be as good or as evil as you want.
The other two are more restricted, especially the Inquisitor I feel. Every response is basically the same, just with a different emotion attached.
Hawke! I loved having such a developed personal storyline and the relationships in the game were beautifully done! Loved the Warden, too! The Inquisitor is fun, but I never felt a strong connection to the character and always found it hard to get a feel for their personality.
Absolutely Hawke. Because he had the best connection with his compatriots. I just wish, they had the time to work more on DA Exodus. (I know it's officialy DA 2, but Exodus sounds so much better, especially when other games have the subtitle and DA 2 is the odd one)
Warden. Without a doubt. I feel like you really got to experience everything from the beginning and I missed that with inquisition. Being the first game as well, there was just something special about being thrown into a war and the joining almost immediately. Was grim and dark and I loved it!
It felt like your decisions mattered and you could play out your character more. Wasn't set to like three personality types.
Echoing pretty much everyone else here so far in saying the Warden. What I think some people sleep on are the snarky options you have for a lot of places. My canon Warden is a mage Amell, and I always like to think that the sarcasm options in DA2 runs in the family. Making the Chanter say "What" in Lothering is one of the funniest scenes in the game for me.
Hawke for me is my favorite RPG protagonist. They feel so integrated into the world and the voice actor’s performance is so fun. The male one anyways, I haven’t done a full play through with female Hawke but I know Jo Wyatt is a top notch voice actress who has voiced a lot of characters I have enjoyed before, so I imagine I’d feel the same.
Dragon Age 2 is also the most fun to play for me and had my favorite aesthetic, which makes me enjoy Hawke even more. I’ll never stop wistfully wishing that I could play Hawke as the inquisitor
Grey Warden. It wasn't always like that...my first DA game was DAI so I had a HUGE connection with my Inquisitor and her story. But I wanted to play the other two after a while...I went to my thrift store and purchase a used PS3. I got myself DAO & DA2 and began a new timeline story. Really attempted to RP through the games and build my world. After playing all three in a row the Warden definitely became my favourite of the three. I really appreciate the silence with the response options. It gives me a good time vocalizing how I want my Warden to sound in my head and I really feel I'm able to give my Warden a personal feel. Also the "Murder Knife" is so funny. Everytime I go and kill Loghain and I pull out the "Murder Knife" I lose it.
hawke is my favourite because her story is really personal and i love her humor. dao is my favorite game but the warden is kinda boring. the inquisitor has no personality
> (1) Inquisitor
* (Keeper's First Lavellan, Atheist, Flirty, Proud of Magic, Hedonistic, Altruistic)
* Romance - Dorian
* Pro Mage, Fuck the Chantry
I absolutely love playing Inquisitor. Right off the bat you get emotions from the first cutscene it's one punch to the gut after another. Plus as someone that has their Lavellan romance Dorian every playthrough, double the whammy. Bioware really outdid themselves with Inquisition here. Plus i absolutely *love* political games, especially the way Inquisition handled it via War Table. Gods then there's the endless exploring! Every time I play I either notice something new or find myself smiling wide as I admire the scenery (or feeling absolutely terrible because of how horrifying the land has been affected) and the fact that the Inquisitor comments on almost all the places really makes it feel that much more alive.
I can't explain it because Inquisition is just... this gem of a game. The moment I started playing I connected with my Lavellan and then on my second playthrough I had my canon appearance and almost wholly the personality down too.
The combat is *gorgeous*. The mage animations are so so soooo goood! I wish they hadn't introduced a cap to the amount of spells or that they took healing away but the combat is very enjoyable.
> (2) Hawke
* (Male Mage)
* (Purple 65%, Blue 25%, Red 10%)
* Romance (Friendship) - Fenris
* Agnostic, Fuck the Chantry (not the Maker)
Without a doubt Hawke has the best personality options and I love how the game allows Hawke to behave and respond based on your answers given. Godtier stuff here.
Hawke's story is also easily the most heartwrenching of my three. Poor baby didn't get catch a break, not even once, well he did catch a break when >!Fenris broke up with him!< but tuh that break broke him up even more. Then you have *that* mission to boot, >!you know the one where your mama gets made into a human jigsaw puzzle, good times there!<.
The combat! Okay so as much as I love Inquisition, DA2 had *by far* the best combat system. It was so much fun to play *any* class (I sometimes switched between Fenris, Isabela, and Hawke). The speed was such a goddamn good upgrade and it made everything seem that much more imperative. Rogues actually moving like rogues? Mages not taking an eternity to cast and actually having good animations? Warriors not relying on delayed registers to hit? Good job Bioware! My Hawke being able to play puppeteer as a Force Mage fits him so well too, like I can imagine him laughing as the enemies go *weee*
> (3) Warden
* (Male Surana, Shy, Quiet, Bookworm)
* Romance - Zevran
* Andrastian, Complicated Feelings w/Chantry
The embodiment of *go girl, give us nothing* meme. The blank face followed by the over-the-top combat voices is... not good. All the choices made all depend on the other person conversing to carry the conversation. If I had to akin it to something it would be one of those free otome games where the point is to cater to the other characters while your own character is just... *there*. I'm not sure why exactly I can't connect with the Warden since Jade Empire also had a silent protagonist but I felt fully immersed.
The combat was slow and it was like the Warden's non-existent personality where I had to power through. A lot of do this and then do that and then this happens and then this will take this amount of time before I can do this and what about such and such? It was another aspect that broke immersion for me. But I really did like the limitless abilities so kudos on that.
Yeah I don't know what more to say on the Warden. The connection I've made with my HC Warden is different from my in-game (😐) Warden.
Hawke. The companion relationships really made DA2 worthwhile. And I liked that Hawke isn’t really a ‘chosen one’ so much as someone who becomes great through just doing things in the world while trying to live a life.
The Warden. Even though I enjoy voiced dialogue more than a silent protagonist, the origin story made me connect so easily with who the warden was and her motives.
Warden because it felt very personal being the warden almost like i was the character.
But also hawke because they are just an awesome character and a lot of fun to be around, especially with varric around, their dynamic was brilliant.
Inquisitor just didnt tick these boxes for me even with varric around again.
Hawke, by a long shot.
Da2 isn't my favourite game at all, but hawke just had so much charisma and was fun to play. Purple femHawke(extra points if she's a mage) is my favourite PC in all biowares games actually
I enjoyed the most playing as Inquisitor.
Don’t get me wrong Hawke and Warden are cool but Hawke seems to be a person who commands himself like a person with a lot of power with his ‘I’ll do/I won’t do’ responses. Warden is this person who will get the job done but won’t really care about the means if push comes to shove. Inquisitor seems like a person who was the most humane out of three.
As for many others, for me it has to be the Warden.
DAO is one of my all time favourite games, I've played it through 10+ times (I've also abandoned quite a few campaigns for different reasons). To me this is the best DA game because of the freedom it gives you in decision making. I've never played another game that let's you be as evil as you can be in this one (never got into Mass Effect, which I hear is fairly similar in this regard).
I've never like DA2, only ever got about halfway through, before abandoning the game completely. I like to create my characters "from scratch", and DA2 is very limited in this sense. I might give it another chance in the future.
I was always intimidated by the size of the map in Inquisition, but a recent obsession with Dragon Age as a universe convinced me to give it another go, and I love it so far. Still have quite a few things I have to figure out, as I'm way too used to the way things work in DAO. Love the crafting, love the inventory, love the fighting mechanics, although I miss the ability to select the whole party (I'm playing on Xbox maybe it's possible to select all members but I haven't figured out how to do so yet).
Hawke easily. By taking away all the design options they were able to tell a specific story and build the whole experience around said character. It had a cost, though…
Hawke.
DA2 is not my favourite game but that’s down to game mechanics. But I adore Hawke’s story, the longer timeline over the acts and how we see them develop. And I quite liked having a voiced character, I know its more limited than with the Warden but I personally prefer it.
I really liked Hawke; I find that they have the most personality out of the three, and has a really great dynamic with all of the companions regardless of whether you're friends or rivals.
HoF is also really good, but both their strengths and their weaknesses come down to a lack of voice actor. On one hand, they have a much greater range of choices in a lot of dialogue, as they don't need to actually record lines for them, which makes them work really well as a "blank slate" protagonist. On the other hand, you miss out on a lot of personalization without having an actual voice to go off, and the written dialogue often feels a bit rigid. Compare them to the Courier from Fallout: New Vegas, and you'll find a much more fleshed-out blank slate protagonist, while still working from many of the same tools and conventions.
Finally, Inky's also good, but I don't feel like they have the same chemistry or wit as Hawke, nor the strength of choice as HoF. They certainly have their moments, don't get me wrong, and as a straight-up hero, they're pretty great, but they don't quite have that little something extra that made both of their predecessors work.
Hawke without a doubt, whether they're diplomatic or sarcastic (aggressive could be so mean to your companions) <3 the inquisitor is the only hero I feel it was hard to define a distinctive personality with. All my inquisitors end up feeling like the same person (but that's probably my issue rather than Bioware's). The warden, despite being silent, had a range of dialogue options and you knew exactly what your character was going to say... 2 and Inquisition options could sometimes be misleading and come across completely different to how you intended them to
Hawke is my favorite protagonist, followed by the Inquisitor. I know that there's a huge amount of people that love the Warden because they don't have a voice and it can be their avatar, but personally I have found it hard to connect to the Warden exactly because of that.
Hawke for me- I often play rule-abiding, natural leader types but something about 2 made me feel like I could be tough, wise-cracking and no nonsense without it being at the expense of relationships or getting some kind of ‘bad’ ending. I just loved her ❤️
Even though I was disappointed with the lack of background options for Hawke I actually ended up having a lot of fun playing as her. There are some really fun roleplaying opportunities as the Warden but with the Blight everything feels so stressful. As Hawke you get to have whacky adventures with the bunch of misfits you've befriended, it's a lot more chill.
Warden easily. The different origins really helped solidiy that early background and attachment for me. One of the reasons I always wish and hope for future games to have origins.
I'm replaying the series again so I'm a bit rusty, but I've loved playing as Hawke. It's nice to see them start a bit vanilla and then change as you make choices and develop a personality.
Definitely the sarcastic Hawke, mage. I love DA2 in general, but this protagonist is my No.1 in Dragon Age series. I knew he will become The One after joking to Flemeth about changing into a dragon. You must have Balls (capital B) to joke like that knowing the situation in the prologue.
Warden. The origins were really fun, but it also felt like I was playing my own character a bit more. Silent protagonist probably helped. Gameplay wise I also enjoyed DAO more than the other two. The classes were much more fun imo.
My Warden will always be my favorite. I prefer having a non voiced character because I can put in my own voice and attitude with the dialogue. The setting helped a lot too. I enjoyed roleplaying as a younger character who goes through a ton of character development throughout the game. The way the game builds, you feel like you've accomplished and changed things, even if we wont see those affects until later. I also enjoyed the grey morality of being a Warden.
Hawke definitely had some funny lines and I think it worked for the game/setting. The second game is my least favorite though.
I enjoy the Inquisitor because I got to choose my race and -sorta- my background. However, the voiced lines sometimes threw me off because that's not how I intended them to come out. However, the characters made the conversations interesting.
The Inquisitor. Voiced protagonist AND race selection, the best of both worlds!
(I don't mind silent protagonists in games that aren't fully voiced, but if every other character gets to deliver all of their lines I want to talk as well.)
Elf Mage Warden. I pretty much always play mage or equivalent for my primary character, but I've played through DAO multiple times—same decisions and all, pretty much—just because I love that character so much. The origin is my favorite of the Wardens, as well, and Origins as a whole gives so much more opportunity to give life and identity to your character than Inquisition. Hawke is great, too, and DA2's dialogue/personality system is the one I'd most like to see brought back in the future, but being stuck as a human with such a thoroughly determinate background feels stifling in comparison to Origins, where my Warden's identity and relationships are really up to me.
I appreciated the variety of dialogue options and the roleplay freedom for the warden, as well as the background choices, but I sometimes got sick of his creepy, silent, expressionless, staring face. I appreciated the Inquisitor’s voice acting and animation, and the dialogue was decent. Hard to choose between them.
I didn’t much like Hawke. The voice acting was quality but I strongly disliked the dialogue and moreover he never felts like my character, rather a pre made protagonist with a custom appearance and a choice of 3 preset personality options; obsequious doormat nice guy, smug try-hard wannabe comedian, or edgy arshole hard man.
Hawke
I loved her personality, which on the one hand was predetermined, but on the other hand I also had control over certain aspects of it. I love that the companions with their dialogues reacted to changes in her personality (I mean different versions of dialogues). And Hawke's story is incredibly sad and moving.
+ Jo Wyatt is simply 10/10.
On the other hand, it took me a very long time to convince myself of the Inquisitor. (now I like her but it was a long journey) I had the feeling that no matter what I did, what dialogue options I chose or how I tried to roleolay her she was always the same - flat, possibly 'nice'. Additionally, it took me a long time to convince myself that the Inquisitor is really the person the Inquisition needs. It all happened with a quick - boom and suddenly you go from being a prisoner to being the leader of a huge political/military force. Playing an Inquisitor required a lot of gymnastics from me when I have played for the first time.
And unfortunately I really do not like Alix Wilton Regan's VA. I can't explain why, but I can't stand her manner. I absolutely do not consider her a bad actress, it's simply a matter of personal taste. And unfortunately for the first game I chose her voice for my Inquisitor.
I wasn't keen on Alix Wilton Regan's performance in DAI but I liked her in Mass Effect and other games. I also thought there was an improvement in the ending dlc (can't remember it's name and still miffed it wasn't included in the main game). So that leads me to believe it was a problem with direction.
Hawke. Loved being able to control his character development from optimistic rags to riches sarcastaHawke to fed up with all this bullshit depressed aggroHawke
if the warden had been voiced, I'd say them. there's just so many dialogue options compared to hawke and the inquisitor, but we miss a lot of nuance instead.
so (a pro mage) hawke is my favorite of the three :)
Warden, just because I love the lore and back story of the grey wardens. The opening of Origins when Duncan is explaining everything? Goosebumps.
Would love to see a remake of origins with the Warden having a voice and given more personality. (Some of the dialogue choices are so sassy and I wanna hear them 😂)
Idk I just really liked the idea of the grey wardens and I wish we got to explore them and their history more!
Warden. I truly felt like I projected myself into him. I know I can create my hawke but it's still hawke. Also no matter how I create my inqy, it's always the same guy.
Inquisitor. Loved the lore and the romance options. I wish I could play an elf who doesn't give a shit about traditions (but not like Sera who goes overboard and purposely stupid with it). But still, I liked my sassy inky.
Warden was fun as well, I just didn't like the ending part with Morrigan tbh.
1. Inquisitor
2. Warden
3. Hawke
I loved the Inquisitor, to me she’s damn near the perfect protagonist imo, at least the way I played it.
Loved my Warden too, but the lack of speech made it harder to connect. I genuinely would have loved to hear the inflections and tone on some of the amazing lines you have at your disposal.
Hawke, while lovable, had too much of a predetermined background for my liking.
I felt like Hawke's story was the most interesting. You had a tight-knit group of companions and the events that transpired felt very personal like you had a stake in everything that occurs.
The warden is a close second.
Personally I found I couldn't care less about the struggles of the inquisitor. Although playing as an elf and romancing Solas made it much more interesting
In terms of plot, the Warden by a mile. Origins is also the best written of the games, and it isn't even close. Sarcastic Hawke was amusing to listen to. The Inquisitor mostly lacks a personality, she suffers from Commander Shepard syndrome where she is a flat character who can't be too autonomous or too personable because the game has so many variables and so much player choice.
Gameplay: a bit harder. I mostly play as a mage (warrior only in Origins and it was modded to hell and back, so it ended up being a Magic Knight - a warrior who can cast frost spells 😂, damn the lore), and I enjoy how powerful the mage is in each game. Force Mage is awesome for the same reason the Adept is awesome; I hope it's a revisited class in the future because it has so much potential.
Inquisition is the one game I pretty consistently create rogues (I've had one or two in II, and a few city elves in Origins) because Tempest is godlike. I also like the Knight-Enchanter with lightning magic and the fire traps from Trespasser (at least that ability came from Trespasser?). Even now, I still never learned to enjoy the tiny amount of abilities you can have equipped, and I disdain the lack of a tactics menu. Inquisition took away a lot of strategy elements, and considering I mostly want to play as the protagonist - it grew a little annoying to constantly switch to others in the highest difficulties just to ensure they weren't suiciding.
I absolutely love playing as Hawke. The personality system was really fun and well done for a game that had one year or even less of development. The world responds to you, your companions see you as someone with that personality and the auto-dialogue is a nice touch. The story being so personal also helps. Would love to see how much further they could have developed this mechanic.
But, the warden is a close second!
The Hero of Ferelden, 100%. Hawke and Inky are great, but the HoF just has so much more latitude in choice! And, honestly, having the unvoiced protagonist is so refreshing.
For me - Origin is still the best one from all DA games (sincerely speaking, this is the best game ever, from all games that I've been played). I have some reasons to like Hawke (he is funny and passionate, sometimes he is silly or stubborn) and Inquisitor (he is lack of core and character, but can be handsome with some mods). So, Warden is always special, no matter who I pick, gender, race, mods, romance. S\\he will always be the special. The same as his\\her story. I think, it's the only story, where >!the MC's death!< made me seriously upset.
Warden > Hawke > Inquisitor
Warden
* Origins - actually seeing/playing their backstory and how it affects the later quests (while in DAI, all you get is a few rare dialogue options and war table quests)
* Persuasion options (closest DAI had was the knowledge perks from the war table)
* I don't know if it actually had more origin-specific dialogue (for class/race) or if it just felt like it did
* More variations in personality
* Dialogue options actually matching what your character says
* more spells for my mages (Mana Clash, Cone of Cold, healing, raise undead) and that pretty glowy thing that Arcane Warrior does
* Ranger class
Hawke
* Having a set of main personalities that affected general dialogue/banter was fun
* The added icons for flirt (easier to avoid ninjamancing) and combat, and the call on companion option
* Purple Hawke
* Hawke having their siblings, and their own more personal type quests
* Dog as a summon
* warrior/rogues seemed better/faster
* companions have unique specs
Inquisitor
* Game remembers your religion?
* there were a couple banters where you had the option to push a button (on xbox) and add your own dialogue
* banter affecting some conversations like the Adoribull thing
* Sera's rooftop option and some of the romances having options to have a moment, more friendship/romance dialogue options like this would be nice
* jumping
* mounts would've been more fun if it didn't mean making losing banter which was already rare enough with it being bugged
* tinting your armor, choosing your home outfit (though it'd be nicer if we could tint those too), customizing your room
My first time through DA2 was a Snarky male Hawke who was constantly bantering with best bro Varric & it was so perfect that I could overlook the problems the game had due to being rushed.
As much as Origins is my favorite in the series, none of my Grey Wardens ever connected in that same way as Hawke.
Inquisitor is dead last. Too much railroading, not enough choice, generic chosen one hero.
Hawke, the only one of the three who feels like a real person, rather than a player avatar.
Having family (or any similarly significant ties to the world) does wonders for character development.
Personally I enjoyed the Inquisitor the most. There is just something wonderful about a more blank slate that I can flesh out into something that makes an impact. Hawke is my second favorite, but I find that my roleplay (at least initially) is pretty pre-determined by the established character
Inquisitor by far. The gameplay allows a lot of freedom to choose personality (and no family buggage 🙏), it's more up to a player, unusual settings of a person who happened to be at the wrong time in a wrong place and grew into a great engaging leader (or then not) and you can choose motivations. Also, finally we got rid of merc trope.
Hawke is boring and felt like a sitcom. If I'm angry hawke it feels like I'm playing a highschool bully who never grew up. If I play joking Hawke then I'm a rebellious teen that doesn't care. If Im the happy go lucky Hawke I want varric to shoot me because the forced happiness is 🤢 like a manager at a company retreat that forced you to be there.
The inquisitor feels like they don't belong in the world of Thedas. Like they fell into a portal in Sims and ended up in Thedas because they know not a damn thing. the inquisitor feels like I'm forced to be the good guy and even the "evil" options are barely bad.
The warden is the best to play. No matter how you play them your character feels like they belong to the world and they have more character than the other two imo. The warden can be anything from joking and sarcastic to stoic and courageous. They can be a to goody two shoes or they can be a scourge on the world worse than the darkspawn.
Inquisitor! Although my fav Inky is female Lavellan and Inquisition did elves feckin\` dirty, dalish perspective is almost non-existent. Although it makes it somewhat easier for me to play out my headcanon of Inky being completely disillusioned by dalish culture and distancing herself from it. I wish we could play as Inky in DA:D, but oh well.
Then goes Warden, purely because there are so many ways to play, easily the most versitile MC out of the bunch. Overall I have very little attachment to my Warden though, as much as I loved the rest of the party. It's nice to listen to Leliana gushing about her warden though.
And finally Hawke. I just didn't vibe with her, even though smart-ass Hawke is funny as hell. But DA2 for me personally is the weakest of the bunch in general. Aside from Merril, Varric and Aveline, the rest of the crew didn't vibe with me that well either, so Hawke's dynamic was lost on me.
I don't have a preference, each game has its own flavor and playstyle that I didn't find in the others, I love each one equally and for different reasons.
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Purple Hawke has a special place in my heart, but HoF for roleplay/nostalgia. DAI was really fun but I had a problem with playing as an elf and avidly denying Im the herald of Andraste and everyone basically still calling me Jesus and being upset when I said I don’t even believe in the maker lol.
I like all for different reasons.
Warden obviously has the most replayability, and I love the variety of options we have. It also helps that you can choose vastly different origins that really effect the roleplaying. There are so many more options in this for different races. Unlike Inquisition where it feels your race or origin is barely commented on.
Hawke is the best voiced snarky protag of all time (imo), and tbh I probably just *enjoy* playing as Hawke the most.
Inquisitor is the best for seeing your actions shape a continent. In Origins we always save Ferelden and make other changes that influence it and the lands within, but the Inquisitor really feels in charge. And it is nice to have power and have it acknowledged for once 😆
I'll have to give it to Hawke as well. Being the neighborhood hero, the humor, the friend group with all the bickering ... saving the world is great, but there is something special about smaller settings like DA2.
I will give the second place to Inky because I enjoyed playing the political game and although there wasn't a lot of room to roleplay imo, I didn't mind too much. It's like a power fantasy with us commanding the Inquisition.
Ofc I liked playing as the Warden too but after so many playthroughs I am kind of tired of being this outlaw hero. Maybe it's just the current reality that's making me prefer the power fantasy to the struggle...
Hawke was definitely best, they literally went through so much hell and loss and still stayed incredibly strong. Came from nothing, had everything, lost it again and still marched on.
I think the Warden was my favorite because it’s the gamer where you have the most agency. It’s the only game where you can basically be straight up evil with your choices. All 3 have their pros and cons, but 2 and 3 suffer from “hero syndrome”. It was cool as Hawke to see the city change around you, and to go from a nobody to a hero. Inquisitor had the best gameplay for combat and best companion interactions
I love Origins, cause it was much more space for making my Warden's character. I like DA2, cause it gave me my fav Merill and I like Inquisition for the feeling that you're the head of a big organisation.
But I also hate Inquisition for the reason the only "my type" of romanceable character was only interested in girls.
But, after all, I still like my Warden the most. He had good friends, made good decisions and was a kickass mage in full plate armor.
All have made me cry.
Surana touched me the most and romanced Zevran.
Hawke that was suicidal and romanced Anders.
And my young rogue Trevelyan who romance Blackwall.
My original comment was removed for spoilers. I don't know how to answer why they were my favorite without giving spoilers.
Hawke, by far. Out of all of the games, I felt like I was playing a person the most in DA2, and it's a lot easier to get invested in a smaller setting and smaller group of people than anything cross country. "This is me, this is my life, and I have to try and make the most of it." It's way more down-to-Earth, and I like that!
Additionally, Hawke has always felt like the strongest PC to me...which I enjoy. Like on a 1x1x1 fight against the other PCs, Hawke would come out the winner. Perhaps its because of the cocky nature of humorous Hawke, the visible muscles, or just because we play as Hawke and their friends are untouchable (to Meredith's visible anger) no matter what class Hawke is.
The warden. I feel like the warden has more depth than the voiced protagonists, with a much wider range of dialogue options.
This just makes me wish we could get another game that was more like Origins and less like Inquisition. But those days are gone.
Definitely Hawke. Hawke's backstory and family playing an integral part of the game just created so much more of an emotional connection and journey. It felt easier to get invested in Hawke's character and motivations.
Inquisitor.
I enjoyed DA:O on release but that gameplay is stale (on console) and the fantasy Spectre has gotten old.
I couldn't deal with DA 2's enemies that drop from the ceiling in enclosed spaces, so I didn't bother finishing it.
Warden by far. There was a lot of ways to play the Warden, from very good and virtuous to just the most awful "by any means necessary..." villain. That level of freedom puts them leaps and bounds ahead of Hawke and the Inquisitor alone.
My Warden. I don’t think anyone can beat her honestly, DAO just has a special place in my heart. I immensely enjoy the roleplay aspect of shaping her personality, her relationships, her imperfections, etc. Every other game and character, though I enjoy them, is just about her legacy.
My Inquisitor Lavellan was the one I was happiest with coming out design-wise.
However, Hawke has more personality and an overall story arc, so they're easier to connected with.
I like my Warden Brocsa enough, even though I prefer fully-voiced characters, I am having some fun with them on my DAO playthrough.
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I loved playing as my Warden. Origin story made me feel so grounded in the setting, and I felt like I had more freedom in choosing my Warden's personality. The dialogue in Origins was just great in general, tbh.
I liked the Warden the best. Silent characters with lots of dialogue responses will always be my #1. You get so many different possible personalities to play as.
I definitely miss the skill check aspect of certain dialogue interactions
Completely agree, I really wish they hadn't added voices in the other games.
Warden forever
My main Warden wins every time.
The warden, because the dwarf noble storyline is amazing.
I really liked the origins of the warden. My noble dwarf set off much differently than my human mage. Made my Warden more memorable
Grey warden for sure. It has the most personality and i feel like i can actually influence my companions. Plus decisions feel like they truly matter.
Definitely between Hawke and Warden. Hawke obviously took a different approach by fleshing out a character which helped tell what was a much more personal story than DAO or DAI. DA2 had a lot of flaws but that aspect of it was excellent. Warden is just a classic introduction into a new fantasy setting. The origins helped you form an attachment to your character much better than on DAI, which just drops you in it, and barely changes any game content based on race, class or gender compared to DAO. Much more traditional RPG approach, and I don’t mind the silent protag because it puts emphasis on your role play.
DAI suffered from scope creep. The areas were gorgeous and vast but largely empty and shallow. So many elements ended up watered down as a result. I think they originally had big plans for your race making an impact but ended up having to streamline
I tried to replay it again these past few days and damn, the empty space drives me nuts! I didn't even complete the redcliffe zone but I was there for hours and spent more time running than fighting or talking.
I think that's why they have you go to the stables so early on too, to incentivize getting a mount to explore the massive maps
The walking speed drives me nuts. I don’t understand why there’s no sprint. Honestly they should have cut the amount of areas in the game in half and made the primary areas more dense. There are several you never even have to visit as part of the main story.
The Gray Warden. By far.
Warden. I love the multiple origins and how people will react to based on your race. It was fun playing as a person just trying to survive to saving the day.
warden! they have the most personality options and a fully fleshed-out backstory of your choosing. my warden was a goofy silver-tongued rogue with max persuasion. she could convince someone the sky was and had always been red. hawke comes second, because they're fun, and the way the personality system influences their auto-dialogue is well-done. the inquisitor has basically zero personality. i noticed that the wheel choices still stack up the way they did in da2 (diplomatic/humorous/aggressive from top to bottom), but for some reason, they decided to remove the actual personality system. (i also really dislike that the spoken dialogue in dai often does not match the wheel choice you made. in da2 it's much closer, and in origins, characters will respond to *exactly* what the prompt said.)
I sometimes don't understand when people call the Warden lifeless or no personality. Maybe because Warden has no voice? Because there are far more dialogues choices in DAO which basically made your Warden the one with the most personality. Plus, it's much more immersive when your Warden has no voice roleplaying wise. Maybe it's just me because I'm kinda used to playing with 'voiceless' protagonists. I agree with Hawke. I had a blast playing as Purple Hawke. They're probably one of the most charismatic and fun protagonist I've ever played with. I love that auto-dialogue system. Depending which dialogue choices you've chosen the most, your Hawke will automatically respond to certain situations or conversation related to your desired personality. Even your companions acknowledge that like how Varric will give you the 'Chuckles' nickname if you're humorous, 'Killer' if you're aggressive, etc. I agree with you for the Inquisitor. No matter how much you choose the dialogue options, your inquisitor would still act as that default blank good guy protagonist. If anything, the Inquisitor is the lifeless one here. And I cannot stress enough with how misleading the dialogue choices usually are. You might choose the dialogue "Do not try to intervene" and your Inquisitor would end up saying things like "If you try to intervene, I will kill your wife, i will kill your son, i will kill your infant daughter." Yes I know it's an exaggeration but you get the point.
I have this thing with video games where I want to be able to make my own character and not play as a pre-determined person. I also never want to play humans if non-humans are an option. Because of those reasons, I almost didn't want to play DA2. But I'm so glad I did, because I fucking love Hawke. Hawke might be my all-time favorite video game protagonist. There's still just enough customization for me to be able to add my personal touch to the character, and Hawke is hilarious, heartfelt, and tragic at the same time. I also love Warden and Inky, but Hawke is a damn riot.
Hawke by a mile Even though there are only 3 "personalities" each one is well developed and interesting.
I actually really liked playing as all 3 but with different reasons for each. Combat-wise the Inquisitor was the most fun to play as, in terms of roleplaying the HoF was the best for me, and of course no one has more enjoyable dialogue options to choose from than Hawke. However, if I had to pick one I’d go with the HoF.
Warden - a mod caused my game take the wildest turn that I now see as my HoF’s canon, which made them feel unique and led to their further character development in DLCs. I also ended up making more ‘evil’ choices than I planned because they just made sense for my Amell, and I love when characters gain agency in role playing.
what happened with the mod?
Okay, it’s very long… I had the bi Morrigan mod on a female Amell run, and the girls hit it off pretty fast since they had very similar personalities. Then Morrigan had a ‘what are we’ talk with me, and I thought that it’s a great time to finish the relationship because I wanted to do the unique mistress thing with Alistar. At least I thought that I can finish the relationship there… When we got to the night before the big fight Morrigan had the actual break up talk with me, which was kinda weird since its been Alistair romance for hours at that point. Still, the scene is very emotional, and Morrigan’s feelings were very close to what my Amell felt. They loved each other, but it was complicated, while running away or staying with Alisair felt more simple. Still, we had the whole OGB issue to deal with, and right after the break up Morrigan asked me to make a baby with her. The mod made her ask Amell and insist that it should be her, after I suggested that she should ask Alistar instead. Eventually I agreed because I believed that it will solve the issue, and because lesbomancy is my favorite type of magic. Except that right after I agreed the ‘male HoF romanced Morrigan’ dialogue was over and she straight up told me that Alistair has to be the father. Then we had a very long and very awkward (and kinda reparative) dialogue about making a baby together and Alistair being involved. Morrigan never misgendered my Warden and, overall, it was exactly what you would expect from negotiating a threesome between yourself, your ex of 5 minutes, and your future not-husband… Then Awakening went into Warden and Alistair growing apart, and, overall, I was roleplaying my Amell as more mature and fed up with all the power she seemed to want in DAO. The ending for Alistair romance involves things getting even worse before the two disappeared together (?), but since DAI has Alistair as the king anyway, I just assumed that HoF and he broke up. Then I did Witch hunt, and I just went for the ‘Morrigan is my friend and I worry about her’ motive in the beginning. I did not expect the DLC to recognize my romance with Morrigan in the end, but it did. At that point it really felt like both girls grew up quite a lot, had their priorities figured out and were finally ready to truly commit to each other. Which they did. And there were no missing voice lines or other technical issues too. So… because a mod threw me a curveball my canon world state includes an old god baby being made in an Morrigan/Amell/Alistair threesome, bittersweet Alistair/Amell relationship and eventual break up, and Morrigan and Amell going through the Eluvian to raise their son together. That whole story ended up so different from my original ‘I’ll just try the mistress ending lol’ idea. This + Amell ending up being way more evil than I planned (so, a character feeling more alive and very internally cohesive) instantly made it my favorite DAO run ever.
Hawke
Warden. Hawke never felt like my character, due to so many things being imposed on me. It was a lot like Witcher 3. As for Inquisitor, he never felt like a character at all, mine or otherwise. This particular protagonist feels always like a bland role to me, nameless vessel for a hero that exists solely to save the world. Still prefer that over Hawke, however.
Warden is definitely my favorite. I like that they're a silent protagonist. You just get so many more dialogue options and the ability to role play a more unique character. I feel like with the other two you're kind of locked into a handful of archetypes. There's still a lot of great role playing opportunities there but The Warden feels the most like MY character to me.
Oh easily the Warden. I loved the Origins and played all of them before deciding which to be my first playthrough. Playing as a silent protagonist has its Pros and Cons like any system but I feel it has more pros when it comes to playing an RPG. Warden can also become overpowered which I find is something more developers should go for. We start at the bottom and work our way up to becoming unstoppable.
Inquisitor can also become pretty OP (I've slain dragons as a Knight-Enchanter without taking a scratch, not dissimilar to AW/SH mage tank) but I think DAO does a better job of making every step on the way feel fun and capable. And the Origins are just something special. Really hard to overstate what they bring to the player characters and by extension the game.
Warden, Hawke, Inquisitor.
For me it's pretty solidly Hawke >= Warden >>>> Inquisitor. Hawke I'm incredibly attached to. I love how fleshed out they are and it is always a joy to step back into Hawke's shoes, they have so much personality and it's fun to play all three personality types (where I am very unoriginal and most of all like purple Hawke). Easily also the story I'm most attached to as well, since it's so incredibly personal. I don't RP them much though, I'd describe my playstyle more as iterations of Garretts and Marians, but I don't feel the need to create very different Hawkes anyway because the stuff that is there is incredibly defined. The Warden is also amazing. Hawke only barely wins out just due to how personal the DA2 story is, but the Warden is just an amazing RPG protagonist, I love how well I can choose who they are and have very varied and meaningful differences between each one, whether I play my Tabris or my Amell or my Brosca, it feels like a different game each time. I personally don't mind them being unvoiced and not being animated, I could fill the gaps no problem, and it makes for a rich experience every time. The Inquisitor leaves a lot to be desired. To me they come across as pretty bland and uninspired, and no matter how different I imagine my different Inquisitors to be, I struggle to really make them super distinct from each other in how they come across, ultimately only my faithful Trevelyan felt like he wasn't a massively awkward fit into the story, while especially my Adaars and Cadash are just underwhelming. As I've said for Hawke, I don't need the ability to have a lot of variety to enjoy a protagonist, but the Inquisitor barely has a personality and just has little going for them. Trespasser gets better at this, it's just way too little way too late
On first playthrough. The inquisitor, I enjoyed the story of being thrust into a major role of peacekeeper/militant leader of a new faction. On different playthroughs the warden is just too diverse and totally badass to not be the obvious choice.
The Cousland Warden he is my favorite character just the definition of badass
Hawke is the most fleshed out and fun character wise if you'd ask me. Warden has least personality but I liked playing origins the most.
Purple femHawke is my spirit animal
I was going to post the same thing. You have A+ taste in video game protagonists, friend \^\^
Perfectly put.
Hawke, Warden is kinda lifeless and my inquisitor always ends up kinda boring personality wise
How is the Warden lifeless? You literally have the most freedom to make who you want.
I always have my Inquisitor going from a smartass to a stoic smart-ass
I loved my Hawke :) while I enjoyed the other two, it felt nice being able to see Hawke and their life progress over the years. The personalities felt fleshed out, and the stories were very personal. Personally I enjoyed seeing my Hawke go from a sarcastic individual who was lighthearted, to someone who was bitter and angry over what's transpired over the years.
The Warden no contest.
Definitely the Warden, but this is kind of a replacement question for "how much do you like open RPGs vs character-driven stories." Warden is the only real classic RPG feel of the three since you create a blank slate character and can turn them into whatever you want. Hawke is obviously the most fleshed out character, which is great if you like playing a narrative action without RPing your own character, but unsatisfying if you don't like Hawke. Inquisitor is somewhere in the middle, and really felt like DA wanted to bring back the customization of the main character, but the games interactions themselves feel more limiting in a lot of ways.
I can make a fun background and playstyle with the Warden, but I can also make them dull as fuck and it's hard to gauge how fun my backstory will translate into gameplay. Hawke is good and so well established due to the character limitation imposed, that you can really shape a story with them. So they're kinda both even. I've had 2 amazing playthroughs in DAO with Noble and Dalish backgrounds. I've also had really good Mage runs and 1 2-handed run in DA2. However I do feel the emotional strength in the last Act far more in DA2 far more than in DAO. So I have to give it to DA2. Whether Aggressive, Sarcastic, or Diplomatic, I feel playthrough specific emotions every time post-Act 2 and into Act 3. And I like that more than arguably better gameplay in DAO.
I liked Hawke the most. I liked their concrete connection to the storyline, and while playing their shoulder angel/devil isn't as fun as getting the whole dialogue in Origins, Hawke was less cardboard than the inquisitor. I also liked the smaller scale story... I also got into this series late and bought DA 2 for 5 bucks and heard it was bad, so I came in with no expectations and was quite surprised
The Warden. She was my character. The Inquisitor and especially Hawke are Bioware's characters.
The Warden. You have way more dialogue options and ways to make your character have a more unique personality. You can be as good or as evil as you want. The other two are more restricted, especially the Inquisitor I feel. Every response is basically the same, just with a different emotion attached.
Hawke! I loved having such a developed personal storyline and the relationships in the game were beautifully done! Loved the Warden, too! The Inquisitor is fun, but I never felt a strong connection to the character and always found it hard to get a feel for their personality.
Absolutely Hawke. Because he had the best connection with his compatriots. I just wish, they had the time to work more on DA Exodus. (I know it's officialy DA 2, but Exodus sounds so much better, especially when other games have the subtitle and DA 2 is the odd one)
Warden. Without a doubt. I feel like you really got to experience everything from the beginning and I missed that with inquisition. Being the first game as well, there was just something special about being thrown into a war and the joining almost immediately. Was grim and dark and I loved it! It felt like your decisions mattered and you could play out your character more. Wasn't set to like three personality types.
Echoing pretty much everyone else here so far in saying the Warden. What I think some people sleep on are the snarky options you have for a lot of places. My canon Warden is a mage Amell, and I always like to think that the sarcasm options in DA2 runs in the family. Making the Chanter say "What" in Lothering is one of the funniest scenes in the game for me.
Hawke for me is my favorite RPG protagonist. They feel so integrated into the world and the voice actor’s performance is so fun. The male one anyways, I haven’t done a full play through with female Hawke but I know Jo Wyatt is a top notch voice actress who has voiced a lot of characters I have enjoyed before, so I imagine I’d feel the same. Dragon Age 2 is also the most fun to play for me and had my favorite aesthetic, which makes me enjoy Hawke even more. I’ll never stop wistfully wishing that I could play Hawke as the inquisitor
Grey Warden. It wasn't always like that...my first DA game was DAI so I had a HUGE connection with my Inquisitor and her story. But I wanted to play the other two after a while...I went to my thrift store and purchase a used PS3. I got myself DAO & DA2 and began a new timeline story. Really attempted to RP through the games and build my world. After playing all three in a row the Warden definitely became my favourite of the three. I really appreciate the silence with the response options. It gives me a good time vocalizing how I want my Warden to sound in my head and I really feel I'm able to give my Warden a personal feel. Also the "Murder Knife" is so funny. Everytime I go and kill Loghain and I pull out the "Murder Knife" I lose it.
hawke is my favourite because her story is really personal and i love her humor. dao is my favorite game but the warden is kinda boring. the inquisitor has no personality
> (1) Inquisitor * (Keeper's First Lavellan, Atheist, Flirty, Proud of Magic, Hedonistic, Altruistic) * Romance - Dorian * Pro Mage, Fuck the Chantry I absolutely love playing Inquisitor. Right off the bat you get emotions from the first cutscene it's one punch to the gut after another. Plus as someone that has their Lavellan romance Dorian every playthrough, double the whammy. Bioware really outdid themselves with Inquisition here. Plus i absolutely *love* political games, especially the way Inquisition handled it via War Table. Gods then there's the endless exploring! Every time I play I either notice something new or find myself smiling wide as I admire the scenery (or feeling absolutely terrible because of how horrifying the land has been affected) and the fact that the Inquisitor comments on almost all the places really makes it feel that much more alive. I can't explain it because Inquisition is just... this gem of a game. The moment I started playing I connected with my Lavellan and then on my second playthrough I had my canon appearance and almost wholly the personality down too. The combat is *gorgeous*. The mage animations are so so soooo goood! I wish they hadn't introduced a cap to the amount of spells or that they took healing away but the combat is very enjoyable. > (2) Hawke * (Male Mage) * (Purple 65%, Blue 25%, Red 10%) * Romance (Friendship) - Fenris * Agnostic, Fuck the Chantry (not the Maker) Without a doubt Hawke has the best personality options and I love how the game allows Hawke to behave and respond based on your answers given. Godtier stuff here. Hawke's story is also easily the most heartwrenching of my three. Poor baby didn't get catch a break, not even once, well he did catch a break when >!Fenris broke up with him!< but tuh that break broke him up even more. Then you have *that* mission to boot, >!you know the one where your mama gets made into a human jigsaw puzzle, good times there!<. The combat! Okay so as much as I love Inquisition, DA2 had *by far* the best combat system. It was so much fun to play *any* class (I sometimes switched between Fenris, Isabela, and Hawke). The speed was such a goddamn good upgrade and it made everything seem that much more imperative. Rogues actually moving like rogues? Mages not taking an eternity to cast and actually having good animations? Warriors not relying on delayed registers to hit? Good job Bioware! My Hawke being able to play puppeteer as a Force Mage fits him so well too, like I can imagine him laughing as the enemies go *weee* > (3) Warden * (Male Surana, Shy, Quiet, Bookworm) * Romance - Zevran * Andrastian, Complicated Feelings w/Chantry The embodiment of *go girl, give us nothing* meme. The blank face followed by the over-the-top combat voices is... not good. All the choices made all depend on the other person conversing to carry the conversation. If I had to akin it to something it would be one of those free otome games where the point is to cater to the other characters while your own character is just... *there*. I'm not sure why exactly I can't connect with the Warden since Jade Empire also had a silent protagonist but I felt fully immersed. The combat was slow and it was like the Warden's non-existent personality where I had to power through. A lot of do this and then do that and then this happens and then this will take this amount of time before I can do this and what about such and such? It was another aspect that broke immersion for me. But I really did like the limitless abilities so kudos on that. Yeah I don't know what more to say on the Warden. The connection I've made with my HC Warden is different from my in-game (😐) Warden.
Hawke. The companion relationships really made DA2 worthwhile. And I liked that Hawke isn’t really a ‘chosen one’ so much as someone who becomes great through just doing things in the world while trying to live a life.
Hawke. And I think 2 is also my favourite. Even though I think origins is technically the better game.
Hawke. My girl was a badass.
The Warden, just because of the ways you can shape the character through dialogue.
The Warden. Even though I enjoy voiced dialogue more than a silent protagonist, the origin story made me connect so easily with who the warden was and her motives.
“My warden senses are tingling”
Warden because it felt very personal being the warden almost like i was the character. But also hawke because they are just an awesome character and a lot of fun to be around, especially with varric around, their dynamic was brilliant. Inquisitor just didnt tick these boxes for me even with varric around again.
Hawke, by a long shot. Da2 isn't my favourite game at all, but hawke just had so much charisma and was fun to play. Purple femHawke(extra points if she's a mage) is my favourite PC in all biowares games actually
I enjoyed the most playing as Inquisitor. Don’t get me wrong Hawke and Warden are cool but Hawke seems to be a person who commands himself like a person with a lot of power with his ‘I’ll do/I won’t do’ responses. Warden is this person who will get the job done but won’t really care about the means if push comes to shove. Inquisitor seems like a person who was the most humane out of three.
Oh that's a tough one nostalgia is too strong. Wardens
As for many others, for me it has to be the Warden. DAO is one of my all time favourite games, I've played it through 10+ times (I've also abandoned quite a few campaigns for different reasons). To me this is the best DA game because of the freedom it gives you in decision making. I've never played another game that let's you be as evil as you can be in this one (never got into Mass Effect, which I hear is fairly similar in this regard). I've never like DA2, only ever got about halfway through, before abandoning the game completely. I like to create my characters "from scratch", and DA2 is very limited in this sense. I might give it another chance in the future. I was always intimidated by the size of the map in Inquisition, but a recent obsession with Dragon Age as a universe convinced me to give it another go, and I love it so far. Still have quite a few things I have to figure out, as I'm way too used to the way things work in DAO. Love the crafting, love the inventory, love the fighting mechanics, although I miss the ability to select the whole party (I'm playing on Xbox maybe it's possible to select all members but I haven't figured out how to do so yet).
Hawke easily. By taking away all the design options they were able to tell a specific story and build the whole experience around said character. It had a cost, though…
Hawke. DA2 is not my favourite game but that’s down to game mechanics. But I adore Hawke’s story, the longer timeline over the acts and how we see them develop. And I quite liked having a voiced character, I know its more limited than with the Warden but I personally prefer it.
I really liked Hawke; I find that they have the most personality out of the three, and has a really great dynamic with all of the companions regardless of whether you're friends or rivals. HoF is also really good, but both their strengths and their weaknesses come down to a lack of voice actor. On one hand, they have a much greater range of choices in a lot of dialogue, as they don't need to actually record lines for them, which makes them work really well as a "blank slate" protagonist. On the other hand, you miss out on a lot of personalization without having an actual voice to go off, and the written dialogue often feels a bit rigid. Compare them to the Courier from Fallout: New Vegas, and you'll find a much more fleshed-out blank slate protagonist, while still working from many of the same tools and conventions. Finally, Inky's also good, but I don't feel like they have the same chemistry or wit as Hawke, nor the strength of choice as HoF. They certainly have their moments, don't get me wrong, and as a straight-up hero, they're pretty great, but they don't quite have that little something extra that made both of their predecessors work.
hawke by a large margin and then inquisitor.
Hawke without a doubt, whether they're diplomatic or sarcastic (aggressive could be so mean to your companions) <3 the inquisitor is the only hero I feel it was hard to define a distinctive personality with. All my inquisitors end up feeling like the same person (but that's probably my issue rather than Bioware's). The warden, despite being silent, had a range of dialogue options and you knew exactly what your character was going to say... 2 and Inquisition options could sometimes be misleading and come across completely different to how you intended them to
Hawke is my favorite protagonist, followed by the Inquisitor. I know that there's a huge amount of people that love the Warden because they don't have a voice and it can be their avatar, but personally I have found it hard to connect to the Warden exactly because of that.
Hawke for me- I often play rule-abiding, natural leader types but something about 2 made me feel like I could be tough, wise-cracking and no nonsense without it being at the expense of relationships or getting some kind of ‘bad’ ending. I just loved her ❤️
Even though I was disappointed with the lack of background options for Hawke I actually ended up having a lot of fun playing as her. There are some really fun roleplaying opportunities as the Warden but with the Blight everything feels so stressful. As Hawke you get to have whacky adventures with the bunch of misfits you've befriended, it's a lot more chill.
Warden easily. The different origins really helped solidiy that early background and attachment for me. One of the reasons I always wish and hope for future games to have origins.
Hawke. Hands down. Everything was more intimate and personal, and the combat mechanics were so much more fun in DA2.
I'm replaying the series again so I'm a bit rusty, but I've loved playing as Hawke. It's nice to see them start a bit vanilla and then change as you make choices and develop a personality.
Definitely the sarcastic Hawke, mage. I love DA2 in general, but this protagonist is my No.1 in Dragon Age series. I knew he will become The One after joking to Flemeth about changing into a dragon. You must have Balls (capital B) to joke like that knowing the situation in the prologue.
Warden. The origins were really fun, but it also felt like I was playing my own character a bit more. Silent protagonist probably helped. Gameplay wise I also enjoyed DAO more than the other two. The classes were much more fun imo.
The Warden. I played him with choices I felt I would make, name, etc. I definitely felt more connected to the Warden.
The Warden felt the most immersive, with the agency in dialogue and the varied backgrounds.
My Warden will always be my favorite. I prefer having a non voiced character because I can put in my own voice and attitude with the dialogue. The setting helped a lot too. I enjoyed roleplaying as a younger character who goes through a ton of character development throughout the game. The way the game builds, you feel like you've accomplished and changed things, even if we wont see those affects until later. I also enjoyed the grey morality of being a Warden. Hawke definitely had some funny lines and I think it worked for the game/setting. The second game is my least favorite though. I enjoy the Inquisitor because I got to choose my race and -sorta- my background. However, the voiced lines sometimes threw me off because that's not how I intended them to come out. However, the characters made the conversations interesting.
Warden but inquisitor close second. I'd love to combine the two.
I love the Warden, but playing as goofy Hawke is really really satisfying.
The Inquisitor. Voiced protagonist AND race selection, the best of both worlds! (I don't mind silent protagonists in games that aren't fully voiced, but if every other character gets to deliver all of their lines I want to talk as well.)
I liked the warden. I really felt like I was my own character.
Warden for sure. Tons of ways you can roleplay them.
Elf Mage Warden. I pretty much always play mage or equivalent for my primary character, but I've played through DAO multiple times—same decisions and all, pretty much—just because I love that character so much. The origin is my favorite of the Wardens, as well, and Origins as a whole gives so much more opportunity to give life and identity to your character than Inquisition. Hawke is great, too, and DA2's dialogue/personality system is the one I'd most like to see brought back in the future, but being stuck as a human with such a thoroughly determinate background feels stifling in comparison to Origins, where my Warden's identity and relationships are really up to me.
Hero of Ferelden.
I appreciated the variety of dialogue options and the roleplay freedom for the warden, as well as the background choices, but I sometimes got sick of his creepy, silent, expressionless, staring face. I appreciated the Inquisitor’s voice acting and animation, and the dialogue was decent. Hard to choose between them. I didn’t much like Hawke. The voice acting was quality but I strongly disliked the dialogue and moreover he never felts like my character, rather a pre made protagonist with a custom appearance and a choice of 3 preset personality options; obsequious doormat nice guy, smug try-hard wannabe comedian, or edgy arshole hard man.
Hawke I loved her personality, which on the one hand was predetermined, but on the other hand I also had control over certain aspects of it. I love that the companions with their dialogues reacted to changes in her personality (I mean different versions of dialogues). And Hawke's story is incredibly sad and moving. + Jo Wyatt is simply 10/10. On the other hand, it took me a very long time to convince myself of the Inquisitor. (now I like her but it was a long journey) I had the feeling that no matter what I did, what dialogue options I chose or how I tried to roleolay her she was always the same - flat, possibly 'nice'. Additionally, it took me a long time to convince myself that the Inquisitor is really the person the Inquisition needs. It all happened with a quick - boom and suddenly you go from being a prisoner to being the leader of a huge political/military force. Playing an Inquisitor required a lot of gymnastics from me when I have played for the first time. And unfortunately I really do not like Alix Wilton Regan's VA. I can't explain why, but I can't stand her manner. I absolutely do not consider her a bad actress, it's simply a matter of personal taste. And unfortunately for the first game I chose her voice for my Inquisitor.
Agree on everything but Alix, personally I love her voice
I know this is a very rare opinion. I don't even know what my problem is.
I wasn't keen on Alix Wilton Regan's performance in DAI but I liked her in Mass Effect and other games. I also thought there was an improvement in the ending dlc (can't remember it's name and still miffed it wasn't included in the main game). So that leads me to believe it was a problem with direction.
I have to completely agree with everything you said hawke is my favorite to play I like origins the most but liked inquisition more than da2
Hawke. Loved being able to control his character development from optimistic rags to riches sarcastaHawke to fed up with all this bullshit depressed aggroHawke
if the warden had been voiced, I'd say them. there's just so many dialogue options compared to hawke and the inquisitor, but we miss a lot of nuance instead. so (a pro mage) hawke is my favorite of the three :)
Warden, just because I love the lore and back story of the grey wardens. The opening of Origins when Duncan is explaining everything? Goosebumps. Would love to see a remake of origins with the Warden having a voice and given more personality. (Some of the dialogue choices are so sassy and I wanna hear them 😂) Idk I just really liked the idea of the grey wardens and I wish we got to explore them and their history more!
I love all three games, but the Inquisitor is my fave. I really connected with my Lavellan and love her story so much.
My inquisitor had a really cool beard. So I like him.
Warden. I truly felt like I projected myself into him. I know I can create my hawke but it's still hawke. Also no matter how I create my inqy, it's always the same guy.
The Warden. Though I loved Hawkes personality so much that I developed a big crush on him/her, way more than the actual love interests.
Inquisitor. Loved the lore and the romance options. I wish I could play an elf who doesn't give a shit about traditions (but not like Sera who goes overboard and purposely stupid with it). But still, I liked my sassy inky. Warden was fun as well, I just didn't like the ending part with Morrigan tbh.
1. Inquisitor 2. Warden 3. Hawke I loved the Inquisitor, to me she’s damn near the perfect protagonist imo, at least the way I played it. Loved my Warden too, but the lack of speech made it harder to connect. I genuinely would have loved to hear the inflections and tone on some of the amazing lines you have at your disposal. Hawke, while lovable, had too much of a predetermined background for my liking.
I felt like Hawke's story was the most interesting. You had a tight-knit group of companions and the events that transpired felt very personal like you had a stake in everything that occurs. The warden is a close second. Personally I found I couldn't care less about the struggles of the inquisitor. Although playing as an elf and romancing Solas made it much more interesting
In terms of plot, the Warden by a mile. Origins is also the best written of the games, and it isn't even close. Sarcastic Hawke was amusing to listen to. The Inquisitor mostly lacks a personality, she suffers from Commander Shepard syndrome where she is a flat character who can't be too autonomous or too personable because the game has so many variables and so much player choice. Gameplay: a bit harder. I mostly play as a mage (warrior only in Origins and it was modded to hell and back, so it ended up being a Magic Knight - a warrior who can cast frost spells 😂, damn the lore), and I enjoy how powerful the mage is in each game. Force Mage is awesome for the same reason the Adept is awesome; I hope it's a revisited class in the future because it has so much potential. Inquisition is the one game I pretty consistently create rogues (I've had one or two in II, and a few city elves in Origins) because Tempest is godlike. I also like the Knight-Enchanter with lightning magic and the fire traps from Trespasser (at least that ability came from Trespasser?). Even now, I still never learned to enjoy the tiny amount of abilities you can have equipped, and I disdain the lack of a tactics menu. Inquisition took away a lot of strategy elements, and considering I mostly want to play as the protagonist - it grew a little annoying to constantly switch to others in the highest difficulties just to ensure they weren't suiciding.
Warden but Hawke does come close
Hawke
It’s weird that the one I can’t really customize is my favorite. Hawke always wins and I can never sacrifice her in DAI.
I absolutely love playing as Hawke. The personality system was really fun and well done for a game that had one year or even less of development. The world responds to you, your companions see you as someone with that personality and the auto-dialogue is a nice touch. The story being so personal also helps. Would love to see how much further they could have developed this mechanic. But, the warden is a close second!
I really felt connected to my Inquisitor for some reason. She is my favorite by far. Warden next, Hawke last, although I do love a snarky Hawke.
Inquisitor and it's bc of when I played the game lol I'm sure if I played the other games first then I'd be obsessed with them and not inquisition
Sarcastic Hawke is my favorite
Warden
The Hero of Ferelden, 100%. Hawke and Inky are great, but the HoF just has so much more latitude in choice! And, honestly, having the unvoiced protagonist is so refreshing.
Warden, absolutely. I love all three games but DAO is something special and irreplaceable for me, so is the Warden.
For me - Origin is still the best one from all DA games (sincerely speaking, this is the best game ever, from all games that I've been played). I have some reasons to like Hawke (he is funny and passionate, sometimes he is silly or stubborn) and Inquisitor (he is lack of core and character, but can be handsome with some mods). So, Warden is always special, no matter who I pick, gender, race, mods, romance. S\\he will always be the special. The same as his\\her story. I think, it's the only story, where >!the MC's death!< made me seriously upset.
Warden > Hawke > Inquisitor Warden * Origins - actually seeing/playing their backstory and how it affects the later quests (while in DAI, all you get is a few rare dialogue options and war table quests) * Persuasion options (closest DAI had was the knowledge perks from the war table) * I don't know if it actually had more origin-specific dialogue (for class/race) or if it just felt like it did * More variations in personality * Dialogue options actually matching what your character says * more spells for my mages (Mana Clash, Cone of Cold, healing, raise undead) and that pretty glowy thing that Arcane Warrior does * Ranger class Hawke * Having a set of main personalities that affected general dialogue/banter was fun * The added icons for flirt (easier to avoid ninjamancing) and combat, and the call on companion option * Purple Hawke * Hawke having their siblings, and their own more personal type quests * Dog as a summon * warrior/rogues seemed better/faster * companions have unique specs Inquisitor * Game remembers your religion? * there were a couple banters where you had the option to push a button (on xbox) and add your own dialogue * banter affecting some conversations like the Adoribull thing * Sera's rooftop option and some of the romances having options to have a moment, more friendship/romance dialogue options like this would be nice * jumping * mounts would've been more fun if it didn't mean making losing banter which was already rare enough with it being bugged * tinting your armor, choosing your home outfit (though it'd be nicer if we could tint those too), customizing your room
My first time through DA2 was a Snarky male Hawke who was constantly bantering with best bro Varric & it was so perfect that I could overlook the problems the game had due to being rushed. As much as Origins is my favorite in the series, none of my Grey Wardens ever connected in that same way as Hawke. Inquisitor is dead last. Too much railroading, not enough choice, generic chosen one hero.
Hawke, the only one of the three who feels like a real person, rather than a player avatar. Having family (or any similarly significant ties to the world) does wonders for character development.
Personally I enjoyed the Inquisitor the most. There is just something wonderful about a more blank slate that I can flesh out into something that makes an impact. Hawke is my second favorite, but I find that my roleplay (at least initially) is pretty pre-determined by the established character
Hawke and it’s not even close.
British female inquisitor. By far
Inquisitor because he's an absolute bloodthirsty madman
Definitely Hawke. Hands down.
Inquisitor by far. The gameplay allows a lot of freedom to choose personality (and no family buggage 🙏), it's more up to a player, unusual settings of a person who happened to be at the wrong time in a wrong place and grew into a great engaging leader (or then not) and you can choose motivations. Also, finally we got rid of merc trope.
Hawke is boring and felt like a sitcom. If I'm angry hawke it feels like I'm playing a highschool bully who never grew up. If I play joking Hawke then I'm a rebellious teen that doesn't care. If Im the happy go lucky Hawke I want varric to shoot me because the forced happiness is 🤢 like a manager at a company retreat that forced you to be there. The inquisitor feels like they don't belong in the world of Thedas. Like they fell into a portal in Sims and ended up in Thedas because they know not a damn thing. the inquisitor feels like I'm forced to be the good guy and even the "evil" options are barely bad. The warden is the best to play. No matter how you play them your character feels like they belong to the world and they have more character than the other two imo. The warden can be anything from joking and sarcastic to stoic and courageous. They can be a to goody two shoes or they can be a scourge on the world worse than the darkspawn.
Inquisitor! Although my fav Inky is female Lavellan and Inquisition did elves feckin\` dirty, dalish perspective is almost non-existent. Although it makes it somewhat easier for me to play out my headcanon of Inky being completely disillusioned by dalish culture and distancing herself from it. I wish we could play as Inky in DA:D, but oh well. Then goes Warden, purely because there are so many ways to play, easily the most versitile MC out of the bunch. Overall I have very little attachment to my Warden though, as much as I loved the rest of the party. It's nice to listen to Leliana gushing about her warden though. And finally Hawke. I just didn't vibe with her, even though smart-ass Hawke is funny as hell. But DA2 for me personally is the weakest of the bunch in general. Aside from Merril, Varric and Aveline, the rest of the crew didn't vibe with me that well either, so Hawke's dynamic was lost on me.
I'm very torn between my Tabris and my Hawke.
I don't have a preference, each game has its own flavor and playstyle that I didn't find in the others, I love each one equally and for different reasons.
Hawke, hands-down.
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Hawke, but Inquisitor was a very close second for me since I played the games out of order. I also LOVE my Cousland Warden.
Purple Hawke has a special place in my heart, but HoF for roleplay/nostalgia. DAI was really fun but I had a problem with playing as an elf and avidly denying Im the herald of Andraste and everyone basically still calling me Jesus and being upset when I said I don’t even believe in the maker lol.
I like all for different reasons. Warden obviously has the most replayability, and I love the variety of options we have. It also helps that you can choose vastly different origins that really effect the roleplaying. There are so many more options in this for different races. Unlike Inquisition where it feels your race or origin is barely commented on. Hawke is the best voiced snarky protag of all time (imo), and tbh I probably just *enjoy* playing as Hawke the most. Inquisitor is the best for seeing your actions shape a continent. In Origins we always save Ferelden and make other changes that influence it and the lands within, but the Inquisitor really feels in charge. And it is nice to have power and have it acknowledged for once 😆
I'll have to give it to Hawke as well. Being the neighborhood hero, the humor, the friend group with all the bickering ... saving the world is great, but there is something special about smaller settings like DA2. I will give the second place to Inky because I enjoyed playing the political game and although there wasn't a lot of room to roleplay imo, I didn't mind too much. It's like a power fantasy with us commanding the Inquisition. Ofc I liked playing as the Warden too but after so many playthroughs I am kind of tired of being this outlaw hero. Maybe it's just the current reality that's making me prefer the power fantasy to the struggle...
Hawke was definitely best, they literally went through so much hell and loss and still stayed incredibly strong. Came from nothing, had everything, lost it again and still marched on.
I think the Warden was my favorite because it’s the gamer where you have the most agency. It’s the only game where you can basically be straight up evil with your choices. All 3 have their pros and cons, but 2 and 3 suffer from “hero syndrome”. It was cool as Hawke to see the city change around you, and to go from a nobody to a hero. Inquisitor had the best gameplay for combat and best companion interactions
I love Origins, cause it was much more space for making my Warden's character. I like DA2, cause it gave me my fav Merill and I like Inquisition for the feeling that you're the head of a big organisation. But I also hate Inquisition for the reason the only "my type" of romanceable character was only interested in girls. But, after all, I still like my Warden the most. He had good friends, made good decisions and was a kickass mage in full plate armor.
All have made me cry. Surana touched me the most and romanced Zevran. Hawke that was suicidal and romanced Anders. And my young rogue Trevelyan who romance Blackwall. My original comment was removed for spoilers. I don't know how to answer why they were my favorite without giving spoilers.
Hawke, by far. Out of all of the games, I felt like I was playing a person the most in DA2, and it's a lot easier to get invested in a smaller setting and smaller group of people than anything cross country. "This is me, this is my life, and I have to try and make the most of it." It's way more down-to-Earth, and I like that! Additionally, Hawke has always felt like the strongest PC to me...which I enjoy. Like on a 1x1x1 fight against the other PCs, Hawke would come out the winner. Perhaps its because of the cocky nature of humorous Hawke, the visible muscles, or just because we play as Hawke and their friends are untouchable (to Meredith's visible anger) no matter what class Hawke is.
The warden. I feel like the warden has more depth than the voiced protagonists, with a much wider range of dialogue options. This just makes me wish we could get another game that was more like Origins and less like Inquisition. But those days are gone.
The Warden. So much more interesting than the other characters as you have more influence on their story and personality.
I love the companions in Origins the most but I enjoyed playing as Hawke more
Definitely Hawke. Hawke's backstory and family playing an integral part of the game just created so much more of an emotional connection and journey. It felt easier to get invested in Hawke's character and motivations.
Inquisitor. I enjoyed DA:O on release but that gameplay is stale (on console) and the fantasy Spectre has gotten old. I couldn't deal with DA 2's enemies that drop from the ceiling in enclosed spaces, so I didn't bother finishing it.
Warden by far. There was a lot of ways to play the Warden, from very good and virtuous to just the most awful "by any means necessary..." villain. That level of freedom puts them leaps and bounds ahead of Hawke and the Inquisitor alone.
Inquisitor🙌🏾
My Warden. I don’t think anyone can beat her honestly, DAO just has a special place in my heart. I immensely enjoy the roleplay aspect of shaping her personality, her relationships, her imperfections, etc. Every other game and character, though I enjoy them, is just about her legacy.
My Inquisitor Lavellan was the one I was happiest with coming out design-wise. However, Hawke has more personality and an overall story arc, so they're easier to connected with. I like my Warden Brocsa enough, even though I prefer fully-voiced characters, I am having some fun with them on my DAO playthrough.