Importance of Narrative Cohesion

[ThulsaDoomer]

I've possessed a fascination of stories since I was young, inventing fantasies all the time in my idle moments. Setting up entire narrative battlefields of plastic toy soldiers, etc, the usual male indulgences.

However, as I got older, the realisation of just how important these stories are and their influence on our minds, or even our souls, is often, in my belief, purposely understated to downplay just how significant that influence can be. As the Bible instructs us on the word of God, stories instruct us on the spectrum of man's aspirations and failures. They are vessels of an authors intent, his desire to project something onto others in hopes of shared understanding, or to simply throw his experiences into the wild of public thought. This can be both positive and negative, and understanding how to analyse these stories is critical. However, this thread more serves as a way for me to autistically explain how and why these are crucial by using one of my favourite RPGs as an example. And no, it's not Morrowind. It is Dragon Age: Origins.

Some of you may recall I did a mini-version of this in the Dragon Age thread, which I wanted to do a proper thread about it but frankly I am lazy and get caught up in other things. So, here we go.

Dragon Age: Origins, or DAO from here on, is a flawed game. This thread isn't about the mechanical side, and even from a world building and narrative standpoint it has some annoyances. Men and women fight in equal roles, despite no clear explanation for why, despite there being obvious remarks from the lower classes about the place of women in society. It cannot make up its mind on whether it wants to depict a traditional world or a progressive one. Not to mention it's visually a bit bland, but to me the world of Thedas is merely a useful back drop to the greater elements of the game, which all takes place on the character layer. This is the personal stories, of your companions, npcs, and local conflicts. This is where DAO excels, and why it stands as so memorable to this day.

Character Breakdowns

To begin, let's take a look at Leliana. She was manipulated by an evil hag to become a Bard, or court spy and assassin, to play the apathetic game of politics and intrigue. In DAO, we see her after this experience, attempting to submit to the Maker (Allegory to God) and redeem her wicked ways, to start a new life with new convictions. And the player can either help her find this redemption, or condemn her back to her former life. This is an incredibly rare moment to find in games, let alone modern media, as women nowadays are told to never submit to any authority but their own, let alone that of God. I cannot even name a single heroine of the last 20 odd years who could also fill this kind of position that Leliana does.

Then we have Alistair, a troubled young man who has been at conflict with his inherited legacy since he was a child. Throughout the game we discover his newfound purpose serving as a Grey Warden, a role he feels he can do more good in the world than ever being a King. In the Grey Wardens he found brotherhood, kinship, a kind he never felt with his royal lineage. His progression within the game is coming to accept these roles. He can embrace his duty as King and Warden, and steel himself for the betterment of Ferelden. To put his people above his own interests. He can also serve this function solely as a Grey Warden, abandoning his lineage for good to bypass political games and strike directly at evil's resurgence. Or he can abandon everything, to embrace his reckless idealism, and perish killing the Archdemon. Alistair relies on humour to hide from these struggles, not in the self serving Joss Whedon millennial way, but a true obfuscation of his own reluctance to accept the inevitable.

A particular favourite of many is Sten, the embodiment of stoicism and discipline. A soldier in a foreign land, whose honor is lost and purpose teetering on the edge. His only currency in this world is respect, and the entire game is the player earning that respect, or failing. Sten does not go through any real progression compared to the other characters, he is the same man as the one who stepped foot in Ferelden, the only change is whether he will view you as a friend or foe by the end. As Sten himself puts it, when that inevitable battle comes between their peoples, and they glimpse each other on the battlefield, he will not look for you. An interesting note is that Sten was written by a woman, the same woman who wrote all the Chantry verses, which should give you some reflection on Bioware's eventual utter contempt for their Christianity allegory within Dragon Age as they fired her during Veilguard's development, a game that removed the Maker from its lore.

Now Morrigan, the cold exterior witch who has lived in the shadow of her wicked mother for all her life until meeting the player. She casually remarks how she used to lure men to their deaths in the swamps, how she has embraced changing into many different creatures, slowly abandoning her humanity just as her mother has. However, there is a sense of good within her, the repressed girl who desired the things she was denied. Friends and family. But old habits die hard, and she never quite allows herself to enjoy these things even when she has the oppourtunity to do so, although there is obvious acceptance and joy if she is allowed to have a child, and even resents her mother's selfishness to pursue a life that comes to benefit more than herself.

A particular old lady, Wynne is a former idealist turned pragmatist, attempting to motherly guide people with good intentions yet not always seeing the truth of the matter until proven so and yet to her credit, she acknowledges her own failings. As we find out, she has felt she has already died and was given a second chance by a spirit, becoming the very kind of abomination she lectured other mages on avoiding, to live up to their ideals and prove their usefulness to humanity. All of her conversations with the Warden and others involve finding ones purpose, that internal battle of rationalising your idealism versus pragmatic action. It's easy to see this is herself attempting to come to terms with her situation, to do as much good as she can to prove her own philosophy correct, or fail and achieve nothing on a borrowed life.

Lastly, we have our boy, Oghren. An alcoholic rage fueled man desperately trying to clutch onto his past, of the good life that was robbed of him by his ambitious and greedy wife. He has an interest in being a better man, if only one could tolerate his smell enough to see it. A classic case of addiction, he is constantly at odds against indulgence and acceptance. Even when the matter of his wife and origin of disaster is solved, or even when he rekindles a new flame with the girl he should have married, his demons return and Oghren returns to his only true friend, booze. Oghren is perhaps the most tragic companion, his only solace is suicidally thrusting himself into the hands of a cause, in this case the Grey Wardens, rather than trying to repair his broken life.

I would be remiss to not mention Zevran, the pinnacle worst excuse of a companion to exist in DAO. Zevran is a self insert of David Gaider, an intentional summarisation of all his sick beliefs and sexual liberation fantasies. He has absolutely zero positive qualities, he will betray the player no matter what unless you indulge in his own twisted sense of loyalty, and has no intentions to change his life beyond no longer associating with the assassins he failed. No remorse or guilt. His betrayal isn't even from unwavering faith or convictions, he does it simply because you ignored him enough times to not get his approval rating up. The true canon of Zevran is him getting killed after his botched assassination ambush like the wretched deviant he is. He adds nothing to the narrative, to the cohesion of the companions, simply no conceivable way of being worth your time in tolerating. He is a prime example of Dragon Age's direction in the future, a cautionary tale of the industries internal perversions that went unchecked.

What about Shale? I dunno, throw her in a rock crusher? Too many reddit tier jokes for me to truly engage with her character.

Summary

What is the common link between all of these characters? (Minus Zevran) The conflict of good vs evil, and their place within that struggle. Many of them are fighting their own demons spiritually, while also fighting very real demons in the way of spirits and darkspawn, who themselves are born from the sins of man. The player, or Warden, goes through their own journey of embracing their new duty as a Grey Warden and their methods of fighting evil. Do they serve the Maker and refuse to allow injustice and immorality on their task? Or do they allow lesser evil to fight the greater evil? Or perhaps, lose themselves entirely. This is all tied together not only in the main story of the game but in all of its companions, there is a tangible sense of consistency and cohesion that never leaves you from start to finish.

For me, DAO represented, at its core, the ideal narrative for young men. A ripe setting to explore your own morality, to reflect upon and understand others within that shared struggle, and trying to find your purpose in the world. Much as Alistair did. For many shallow people, this is a romance simulator, but those people are ******** and sadly they are the fanbase Bioware started listening to for their later games. Love, or romance, is part of life, and exists in many old stories in many forms. The Odyssey is as much about a mans love for family and homeland than it is an epic adventure. The problem is, much like other qualities, they have been perverted in a hedonistic manner, with romance as merely a self fulfillment simulation instead of its deeper meanings. That's ultimately what Bioware pursued.

I understand many are tired of seeing DAO at the top of peoples RPG lists, but hopefully this will provide a new perspective on why so many have latched onto this title over the years. Feel free to add your own opinions on this subject, I will try to reply when I can.

[Tangerine]

Good write up.

fill this kind of position that Leliana does

And of course, they don't commit to this after DA:O.

not in the self serving Joss Whedon millennial way

Alistair still talks like a Joss Whedon character regardless of his motivations, which is insufferable. I'm fairly certain he says "Well, THAT happened" at some point in the game. It made me unsympathetic to what would otherwise be a good character arc. Morrigan's snarky, but not nearly as annoying.

his ambitious and greedy wife.

Who's also a ****.

[Mortadela_Viva]

but hopefully this will provide a new perspective on why so many have latched onto this title over the years.

One honest advice I would give to someone who has never played Dragon Age: play Origins and simply pretend the rest doesn't exist, it's just a sequential destruction of the first game.

Also, that's how Zevran happened, they just wanted a gay ***** in the game:

[ThulsaDoomer]

not in the self serving Joss Whedon millennial way

Alistair still talks like a Joss Whedon character regardless of his motivations, which is insufferable. I'm fairly certain he says "Well, THAT happened" at some point in the game. It made me unsympathetic to what would otherwise be a good character arc. Morrigan's snarky, but not nearly as annoying.

Who's also a ****.

It's not as often as you see/hear nowadays, but I agree, it's there. And while I understand your view, Alistair's general qualities and story have allowed me to tolerate his cringe jokes as there is a person underneath it, unlike every modern marvel character.

[Bertram_Tung]

Storyfags rise up!

[Irenaeus]

I liked reading the introduction about narratives and playing out them. Dont care for that BioWare game as they are particularly bad at narratives going back to Jade Empire at least. Happy New Year

[rusty_shackleford]

To begin, let's take a look at Leliana. She was manipulated by an evil hag to become a Bard, or court spy and assassin, to play the apathetic game of politics and intrigue. In DAO, we see her after this experience, attempting to submit to the Maker (Allegory to God) and redeem her wicked ways, to start a new life with new convictions. And the player can either help her find this redemption, or condemn her back to her former life. This is an incredibly rare moment to find in games, let alone modern media, as women nowadays are told to never submit to any authority but their own, let alone that of God. I cannot even name a single heroine of the last 20 odd years who could also fill this kind of position that Leliana does.

There's a parallel here to Ashley(Mass Effect) somewhat, another female character with positive religious portrayal from Bioware near the same timeframe.

[Tangerine]

Um Ashley is a heckin' space racist, ackshually.

[WhiteShark]

Um Ashley is a heckin' space racist, ackshually.

If only Bioware would portray a character so positively again!

[ThulsaDoomer]

There's a parallel here to Ashley(Mass Effect) somewhat, another female character with positive religious portrayal from Bioware near the same timeframe.

It's remarkable how fast Bioware ditched their tolerance of Christianity soon after DAO and ME1 dropped. Even the Qun, which didn't get fully retconned, got so watered down as to become meaningless. I always found it hilariously absurd that a society ran by rigid codes had a specific word for transgenders and not just a word to generalise all non-conformists, people who, according to Sten, cannot exist in Qun society and would be immediately reeducated to conform.

ME1 I find hard to remotely defend, it is one of the most anti-white and anti-human sci-fi games out there. The pro-human elements are constantly depicted satirically, and their ending, while based at first glance, is absolutely a dire message of "the dangers of nationalism". I wouldn't mind replaying Dragon Age Origins, but I will never return to Mass Effect.

[WhiteShark]

Good writeup. @ThulsaDoomer, thoughts on what's-his-name, the guy who can replace Alistair? Feel free to put it in spoiler tags if you have anything to say about him.

[ThulsaDoomer]

Good writeup. @ThulsaDoomer, thoughts on what's-his-name, the guy who can replace Alistair? Feel free to put it in spoiler tags if you have anything to say about him.

Sorry, it's still pretty early for me here. Do you mean Loghain? I did forget to include him here, although honestly I never made him a companion 90% of the times I did a playthrough.

[WhiteShark]

Good writeup. @ThulsaDoomer, thoughts on what's-his-name, the guy who can replace Alistair? Feel free to put it in spoiler tags if you have anything to say about him.

Sorry, it's still pretty early for me here. Do you mean Loghain? I did forget to include him here, although honestly I never made him a companion 90% of the times I did a playthrough.

Yeah, that's the one. I really did forget his name. I didn't take him along either. I also couldn't remember who Oghren was; I could only infer he must have existed from the OP. Wish I had something to add because I appreciate the effort, but I last played D:AO over a decade ago, so it's all fuzzy now.

[TheEmptyRoad]

Good writeup. @ThulsaDoomer, thoughts on what's-his-name, the guy who can replace Alistair? Feel free to put it in spoiler tags if you have anything to say about him.

Sorry, it's still pretty early for me here. Do you mean Loghain? I did forget to include him here, although honestly I never made him a companion 90% of the times I did a playthrough.

You should give him another shot, he’s a fascinating companion, especially if you bring him back to Ostagar in the Return to Ostagar DLC.

[Tangerine]

There's a parallel here to Ashley(Mass Effect) somewhat, another female character with positive religious portrayal from Bioware near the same timeframe.

It's remarkable how fast Bioware ditched their tolerance of Christianity soon after DAO and ME1 dropped. Even the Qun, which didn't get fully retconned, got so watered down as to become meaningless. I always found it hilariously absurd that a society ran by rigid codes had a specific word for transgenders and not just a word to generalise all non-conformists, people who, according to Sten, cannot exist in Qun society and would be immediately reeducated to conform.

ME1 I find hard to remotely defend, it is one of the most anti-white and anti-human sci-fi games out there. The pro-human elements are constantly depicted satirically, and their ending, while based at first glance, is absolutely a dire message of "the dangers of nationalism". I wouldn't mind replaying Dragon Age Origins, but I will never return to Mass Effect.

Ashley and the Templar are both handled by BioWare in the same way; they're both fundamentally correct, but BioWare portrays them as misguided and thus understandably wrong. They were much better at the propaganda back then.

[ThulsaDoomer]

Yeah, that's the one. I really did forget his name. I didn't take him along either. I also couldn't remember who Oghren was; I could only infer he must have existed from the OP. Wish I had something to add because I appreciate the effort, but I last played D:AO over a decade ago, so it's all fuzzy now.

All of this was from memory, I haven't played DAO in over 8 years myself.

You should give him another shot, he’s a fascinating companion, especially if you bring him back to Ostagar in the Return to Ostagar DLC.

If I do play again I will, absolutely. I enjoy the character of Loghain, but for me he was always a doomed villain and justice was going to be given its due.

[Kolgrim]

I really enjoyed reading your observations and write up here ThulsaDoomer. I personally never get sick of seeing DAO at the top of people's RPG lists. I consider it Bioware's swan song and I think most who actually love RPG's know how special the game is on some level. The thing I like the most about DAO is that Bioware actually tried to have more nuanced moral choices in this game compared to their previous work. Something like the choice between supporting Harrowmont or Bhelen for example is something that could be argued both ways with no "correct" answer. Bhelen is a reformist and while he killed people to get to his position under his rule the casteless wouldn't be doomed to a life of poverty and death. Harrowmont on the other hand is a more respectable man, a traditionalist, that unfortunately doesn't understand or care about the casteless. He would represent a more stable choice long term. This quest in particular is unique because the player will approach it from various points of view especially as a noble or commoner dwarf. That kind of story telling isn't very common nowadays.

For me, DAO represented, at its core, the ideal narrative for young men. A ripe setting to explore your own morality, to reflect upon and understand others within that shared struggle, and trying to find your purpose in the world. Much as Alistair did. For many shallow people, this is a romance simulator

An excellent summation on what killed Bioware. In addition to pandering to the shipping crowd we also got an influx of women interested in Bioware's work which shifted the focus of their narratives to interpersonal drama.

Men and women fight in equal roles, despite no clear explanation for why, despite there being obvious remarks from the lower classes about the place of women in society. It cannot make up its mind on whether it wants to depict a traditional world or a progressive one.

Maybe I'm being overly generous but I kind of think this is the result of the cultural milieu of the time. Developers were fine putting women in combat roles because they grew up watching characters like Ripley in Aliens and thought "why not?" That's not to say that Bioware isn't a progressive company. They always were liberal and even in DAO there's some bad ideas being floated around but my point is that some of this stuff might have been unconscious bias. For example I think there's a fairly obvious anti-religion stance in DAO. The interactions with Leliana are the main examples. You can mock her when she mentions she talks to the maker and respond with statements like "do you hear voices in your head?" When asked if you believe in the maker most of the dialogue options are some form of answering no you don't. This game was being developed during a time when Atheism, specifically on YouTube, was gaining traction and I think that rubbed off on DAO.

Lastly I think your character breakdowns are on point. I don't have too much to add except a few small things I noticed with the cast. First off it's interesting that Alistair and Morrigan are inversions of one another and also of I guess what you would call gender roles/attitudes. Alistair despite being a man is more submissive, openly admitting he is a follower in conversation. Morrigan on the other hand is more blunt, never really showing emotion to the player at least initially. She's masculine as opposed to Alistair who is feminine.

I actually didn't know about David Gaider until I read the comments here but it explains why Zevran felt like such a terrible meme character. It's not the intention of the writer but you could actually interpret Zevran's character in a more based way. For example he was an orphan who was raised in a brothel and later became a murderer for hire with his own degenerate sexual preferences. So the moral of the story is don't let perverts raise children and that a traditional upbringing is foundational for a child. Oh and I also don't have anything really to say about Shale. She's such an odd character. Originally day one cut DLC, a literal golem that hates birds. She really is like a quirky chungus reddit character.

[Norfleet]

Um Ashley is a heckin' space racist, ackshually.

Is it even really racist when they literally aren't human? Let's be xenophobic, it's really in this year...

[ThulsaDoomer]

Maybe I'm being overly generous but I kind of think this is the result of the cultural milieu of the time. Developers were fine putting women in combat roles because they grew up watching characters like Ripley in Aliens and thought "why not?" That's not to say that Bioware isn't a progressive company. They always were liberal and even in DAO there's some bad ideas being floated around but my point is that some of this stuff might have been unconscious bias. For example I think there's a fairly obvious anti-religion stance in DAO. The interactions with Leliana are the main examples. You can mock her when she mentions she talks to the maker and respond with statements like "do you hear voices in your head?" When asked if you believe in the maker most of the dialogue options are some form of answering no you don't. This game was being developed during a time when Atheism, specifically on YouTube, was gaining traction and I think that rubbed off on DAO.

Lastly I think your character breakdowns are on point. I don't have too much to add except a few small things I noticed with the cast. First off it's interesting that Alistair and Morrigan are inversions of one another and also of I guess you what you would call gender roles/attitudes. Alistair despite being a man is more submissive, openly admitting he is a follower in conversation. Morrigan on the other hand is more blunt, never really showing emotion to the player at least initially. She's masculine as opposed to Alistair who is feminine.

I actually didn't know about David Gaider until I read the comments here but it explains why Zevran felt like such a terrible meme character. It's not the intention of the writer but you could actually interpret Zevran's character in a more based way. For example he was an orphan who was raised in a brothel and later became a murderer for hire with his own degenerate sexual preferences. So the moral of the story is don't let perverts raise children and that a traditional upbringing is foundational for a child. Oh and I also don't have anything really to say about Shale. She's such an odd character. Originally day one cut DLC, a literal golem that hates birds. She really is like a quirky chungus reddit character.

I cannot say for certain if the player choices for Leliana are intentionally anti-religious, I would have criticised Bioware if all you could do was affirm Leliana's visions with no protest. I have included similar responses to my own mod projects, because while I do not agree with the inherent choices, some people want to roleplay those kind of godless characters and it is an RPG at the end of the day. (in my case, a mod for an RPG) Do I believe Bioware's budding new beliefs made this easier for them to include? Of course. There is definitely a level of normalcy people insert into their work, cultural acts that themselves are propaganda but the writer views as simply the way of life. This makes analysis of intent a bit difficult, as it's incredibly easy to assume malice instead of complacency. We know David Gaider loved propaganda, but I cannot say the same for some of the other writers.

Perhaps I am being too kind here, but from my first hand experience, players will actually conform to the characters beliefs if they are compelled enough by them. People who enjoy Leliana will rarely choose that dialogue against her. She is inherently designed for her religious path, it is the most positive outcome for her. If they intended the opposite, I simply do not see it.

Sadly, David Gaider didn't intend for Zevran to be a kind of anti-hero character. While he is honest about his origins and way of life, he offers no solutions to it. To him, this is how things are, he has no remorse about anyone else who may face a similar fate. That is why he is evil, and why he deserves to die.

[Marcus]

I never played DA:O, but your article made me want to play it. So I went to youtube to check out some playthrough videos - here the first three videos recommended by youtube:
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1.png

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A ******, a libtard looking soyboy and a woman who looks like a man (or is it actually a man???) - how the **** is this website still alive?

[Marcus]

how the **** is this website still alive?

(it's because most people on this planet are non-whites, libtards, soyboys and unfeminine women, isn't it?)

[Oyster Sauce]

I never played DA:O, but your article made me want to play it. So I went to youtube to check out some playthrough videos - here the first three videos recommended by youtube:
_

-
A ******, a libtard looking soyboy and a woman who looks like a man - how the **** is this website still alive?

Use the term "longplay" when you want uncommentated footage with no ****** in the corner

[Bertram_Tung]

Ashley and the Templar are both handled by BioWare in the same way; they're both fundamentally correct, but BioWare portrays them as misguided and thus understandably wrong. They were much better at the propaganda back then.

Yes, even among libtards, the white men they used to employ were more competent than the women, eunichs, and ***** they replaced them with.

[Reichspepe]

@ThulsaDoomer Great read. You really encapsulated why I love this game despite its flaws. The things DAO does great are so good, that I practically do not care about the things that aren't. The character writing with its themes interwoven with the world and story is quite profound I find and it's really sad how as you mentioned BW seems to have learned the wrong lessons, with many people playing and liking the game not really *getting it*, so to say.

Insert "To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty"-reference

One thing that's really impressive and interesting is the decision making and roleplaying for not just building your character by his interactions with the world, but also your companions. Even if you don't always influence them in the same ways, like with Sten and Leliana as opposite examples. Most of the things you would want to do and say, you can. At least that's the case for me.

I noticed this especially in the last roughly 5-10 years when I developed more just by getting older and also forming my own world view more coherently. I've been replaying this game for at least 10 times (full playthrough with everything done) and compared to when this game came out, I am in some ways quite different from before, when I was just in my mid teens and still much more attuned to the zeitgeist of that era. This lead to me making completely different decisions and viewing several characters in a completely different light (prime example being Leliana, really disliked her before, now she's a top contender for favourite). What's more, I could actually "live out" this change of perspective. The options in the game are there. I play differently now compared to before to quite a great degree in some respects, but it's still as satisfying as it was before.
And as you said, there are some very meaningful decisions not just for the game world and characters, but ones from which you can take quite deep lessons for the real world as well, as pretty much all of the themes are universally applicable.

Staying with the example of Leliana: being dismissive and a reddit-tier atheist cringe lord character ******** all over her faith, telling her there was nothing wrong with her past life and reverting all the character progress she made up to that point to just become a new Marjolaine in a way on the one hand. On the other hand being supportive of her faith, that she really wants to change for the better and dedicate herself to a greater cause and leave her sinful past life behind is just so satisfying and something that really stuck with me in the latest years.

Or Alistair: being this more submissive, unsure of his place in the world, conflicted individual in the beginning and helping him as his brother in arms to go out into the world and find his place in it, becoming the man and king he always had the potential to be still just hits so hard for me. As you said I feel like this just is peak in terms of speaking to me and you as a (young) man back then, and still today. Thinking and writing about it actually gives me goosebumps right now, can't really explain why.

Or Loghain: his motivations being completely reasonable and being such a great example of a good man turned bad by his fears and past grievances, plus the options you have of dealing with him. Truly my favourite villain of all the games I've played, I think.


I'll end it here to not get too rambly, but I think I got my point across. I adore this game, it's among my top 3 favourite games of all time.

Going to use my current vacation time and replay it again, I guess

[ThulsaDoomer]

I never played DA:O, but your article made me want to play it. So I went to youtube to check out some playthrough videos - here the first three videos recommended by youtube:

A ******, a libtard looking soyboy and a woman who looks like a man (or is it actually a man???) - how the **** is this website still alive?

This is Bioware's new audience in full display. Any sane person who covered this game did it nearly a decade or more ago and then abandoned this series.

@ThulsaDoomer Great read. You really encapsulated why I love this game despite its flaws. The things DAO does great are so good, that I practically do not care about the things that aren't. The character writing with its themes interwoven with the world and story is quite profound I find and it's really sad how as you mentioned BW seems to have learned the wrong lessons, with many people playing and liking the game not really *getting it*, so to say.

Insert "To be fair, you have to have a very high IQ to understand Rick and Morty"-reference

One thing that's really impressive and interesting is the decision making and roleplaying for not just building your character by his interactions with the world, but also your companions. Even if you don't always influence them in the same ways, like with Sten and Leliana as opposite examples. Most of the things you would want to do and say, you can. At least that's the case for me.

I noticed this especially in the last roughly 5-10 years when I developed more just by getting older and also forming my own world view more coherently. I've been replaying this game for at least 10 times (full playthrough with everything done) and compared to when this game came out, I am in some ways quite different from before, when I was just in my mid teens and still much more attuned to the zeitgeist of that era. This lead to me making completely different decisions and viewing several characters in a completely different light (prime example being Leliana, really disliked her before, now she's a top contender for favourite). What's more, I could actually "live out" this change of perspective. The options in the game are there. I play differently now compared to before to quite a great degree in some respects, but it's still as satisfying as it was before.
And as you said, there are some very meaningful decisions not just for the game world and characters, but ones from which you can take quite deep lessons for the real world as well, as pretty much all of the themes are universally applicable.

I am the same way. My younger self was not who I am now, I never understood the characters properly but there was something equally relatable in their struggles that I also didn't grasp at the time. Ironically, as I grew older, I felt the same religious pull as Leliana did, I became less submissive and spoke for my own beliefs just as Alistair does, I grew into the rigid stoicism of Sten, etc. A lot of people within the fantasy genre believe stories need to be more unique, weirder, and go further away from traditional problems. That's why it's failing. The character arcs in DAO are hardly abnormal and easily seen if you look hard enough within society.

A struggle of faith is timeless, it's a shared dilemma of thousands of years we have with our ancestors. And while that dilemma remains the same, the way it's told, the circumstances we find ourselves in, that will always change. And that's why it's never boring. If it is boring, then it is a fault of the writer, who lacks the passion to tell that story.

[Reichspepe]

Something that is also quite unique about DAO and how I play it is the level of self-insert I tend to do in it. Thinking about it, I don't believe there is a game where I can do it that much as I do there, even though of course the Origin I choose matters in how I roleplay in a playthrough. It probably has to do with how "personal" playing the game with your selected Origin feels if you really engage with it, at least it does for me because of the reason mentioned before in this thread.