For the purpose of our project I will be looking at a standard party members, done well, in the game Dragon Age Origins. In the interests of staying relevant to the subject matter of interesting and believable characterisation, I will be looking at his character through the lens of how his character design and choices effect me as a player.
Alistair is the former Templar in training, recruited into the Grey Wardens. His character is initially portrayed, as somebody who is happy with the lack of control he has over his life, to the point that he will follow the players character with almost any choice he makes, despite being technically his senior in the organisation they are both a part of. His reaction to most awkward situations and in fact most situations, is to make a sarky joke about it, this implies to me that he is the sort of person who just goes with the flow and would rather make a joke than deal with what’s happening. This contrasts with his obvious determination to see his mission through to the end. This may be a contributing factor for him to be interesting to the character
Aside from his personality, Alistair has a mechanical reason for players to like him, unless the player starts as a warrior class and aims to have him be the party tank (the character aimed at taking damage and keeping enemies attention on him) Alistair can fulfil this roll from the outset quite aptly. For our project the question this creates is, does having a mechanically beneficial character in the party effect how a player perceives that character. While it is defiantly possible to have a character who is interesting, by simply being interesting, in the scope of a video game, players are just as likely to take a player along because they are useful, as they are because they like then.
As with all characters in Dragon Age, Alistair has a myriad of flaws and quirks that characterise him, it is one of the strengths of the game, and Bioware games in general, that they give their characters such depth of personality beyond the usual tropes. Alistair’s purpose in dragon age is to be friend and confidant for the players character, he is the hardest character to make abandon your cause, to the point that you can get away with almost anything except one choice at one specific juncture over the course of the game.
Physically the characters in Dragon Age are far from perfect, while their designs are top notch, giving implications about the characters personality traits. There are certain graphical glitches that can be extremely jarring during the game, such as characters eyelids warping through their eyes. While purely a technical complaint it is an example of the uncanny valley, we accept the character to look as it should then when the graphics cause the character to break that expectation it looks strange.
A lot of the faults and traits that Alistair possesses are characterised through back story, this enhances the perceptions of these traits, and allows the developers the ability to alter and control how these perceptions work. For example Alistair’s unwillingness to become king, initially all the player has to go on is his initial reactions, through random events, and the natural evolution of the story the reasons for Alistair not wanting to become the king become clearer.
Throughout the game all of the characters evolve their personalities, or at least have ways of imposing their personality more on the player, as the story progresses. Most of the time, this takes the form of a personal task done at the behest of the character. Talking to Alistair enough will grant you insight into his relationship with his adoptive father and the regrets of his past, at one section of the game it is possible to discover the item he smashed in an act he mentions regretting, rebuilt by his foster father. It is interesting to note that this act of resolving past issues for a character usually endears the player to them to a greater degree than most other factors. Is it because they are having an effect on the characters personality and being involved in their life, or is it a side effect of helping a character that makes the player want to keep them around.
Throughout the story of Dragon Age: Origins, there is only one point where Alistair completely disagrees with the player’s choice with no chance of convincing him otherwise (only the possibility to make him forgive you for it later). This event comes when it is time to choose the fate of the games main antagonist, in practice forcing you to pick between taking the antagonist in your party and loosing Alistair or vice versa. For me this choice rang hollow, because Alistair had effectively gone along with my every whim for the entire game, making him leave if I took this character felt like a way of avoiding having 2 mechanically similar party members. There didn’t seem to be any real reason why both couldn’t be a part of the party at the same time, some of their interactions from my point of view would have been very interesting. But it does work as an example of how a character, acting in a way that does not seem completely believable compared to their previous actions, can be detrimental to their character, in this case on a very small scale though.
Relationships between characters adds depth to their personalities, it is an opportunity to show the player what a character is like without their interaction. Alistair’s most interesting, or perhaps most volatile, relationship is with the witch Morrigan. Both outwardly hostile towards each other, having both in the party can create quite entertaining. In the way these characters argue and the nature of how petty and childish some of their arguments are players gain insight into how these characters view each other, as an outside observer we are given a greater idea of what these characters are actually like. In this case Morrigan comes across as quite unfeeling and mean, where Alistair seems a bit slow witted and easily led to an argument he isn’t capable of winning. While they may not necessarily seem more interesting as a result the depth of character this lends to them does allow players to emphasise more with their decisions along the way, this is not something unique to Alistair and Morrigan, all of the characters have some degree of interaction with each other on this level. How it effects a players reaction to these characters is difficult to gauge but undeniably profound.
It is possible later on in the story to have quite a dramatic effect on Alistair’s personality by treating him roughly and showing him the harsh truths about people it is possible to make him stop being such a follower and actually take control of matters, culminating in his becoming king of Ferelden without complaint. Not having done this myself, I have no way of knowing the effect it has on a players perception of Alistair. I would assume that having the ability to illicit such a drastic change on a character, gives players an immense sense of power over them, more so than the usual ability to control their every action. Does having this effect on the personality make the character seem less real or does the player feel more a part of their existence as a result?
If there is anything to learn from Alistair in terms of character creation, it is that flaws are as important as traits. How we portray these flaws is also important, do we do it simply through the characters actions, or will it be more appropriate to give a character back story. If we give the character back story how will we present that, will it be through a short play section or the character explaining it himself.
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