spoiler (Not) looting chests in friendly areas to improve game immersion

[Alonshowman]

I have the habit of not looting chests or other containers in friendly areas (Lothering, Redcliffe, etc.). If there is a chest in, say, a house in Redcliffe and I loot it, then I'm a thief, whether somebody sees me or not. Since I'm playing "good" characters, I shouldn't do that, so I avoid it to improve game immersion. The obvious consequence of doing that is that I miss some money and gear, but that's fine with me, it's a part of the challenge. But I wonder if that might be counterproductive in the sense that by avoiding those containers I might be missing important quest items. For instance, I checked the chest in the mill in Redcliffe and found a love letter there that looks like it might be important for some side quest. Is that common in this game? Is there important content that I will miss if I don't loot containers in friendly areas? Also, is there anyone who also does this?

 

For the record, I'm using an auto loot mod, so checking each container to see if it contains some important item is not really an option, as soon as I click the chest I loot it and it can't be undone.

[theskymoves]

There are items for the quest you've encountered (Correspondence Interruptus) in containers and locked chests throughout the game, and you will be unable to complete the quest without them. However, the quest in question is part of a rogue-centric quest chain, so you may not want to accept those quests at all with a 'good' character. (I don't.)

 

I'm not sure how you define a 'friendly area' (for example, is Redcliffe Castle 'friendly' or not?), but I will note that there are some companion quest items in containers and locked chests, and you'll either be forced to go back for them later if you don't loot them when you initially have the opportunity (or miss out on completing the companion arc); likewise, many companion gifts are found that way. (I personally find traveling back to a chest is even less immersive than looting away, but YMMV.)

 

Additionally, there are some rather valuable/unique gear items to be found in containers and chests (and behind locked doors), which you'd be missing out on.

 

While I'm a pretty hardcore roleplayer, I find in Bioware games I have to put aside that inclination when it comes to pillaging the map, as there is a clear expectation on the part of the developers that the player will loot everything, regardless of 'alignment' or roleplay preferences.

Edited December 11, 2020 by theskymoves

[Alonshowman]

Thank you, theskymoves, excellent answer, as usual. Keeping that in mind, I think I'll just drop the immersion approach and loot everything. When it comes to immersion sometimes you have to compromise.

 

 

I'm not sure how you define a 'friendly area' (for example, is Redcliffe Castle 'friendly' or not?)

 

Yeah, good question. In the case of Redcliffe Castle I consider it not specially friendly and decided to loot everything. The reasoning is that, according to the note you find soon after you enter the castle, the earl and the other nobles are murderers who like to kill innocents to get what they want. Meaning that the riches in the castle were obtained by "evil" means, so it's "OK" to take them. This is very subjective, of course, what the note says might not even be true. On the other hand, I assume that the goods stored in chests in the village belong to the villagers, so I was leaving them alone because there doesn't seem to be any good reason for a good character to take their stuff.

[theskymoves]

I'm trying to think of what note you find in Redcliffe Castle that would indicate the nobles there are bad guys.

(Because the game positions them as decidedly white hat.)

 

 

Is it A Rolled-Up Note?

 

 

I'm pretty sure that is all about Rainesfere (a small bannorn loyal to Redcliffe), and that the events that it describes occurred at least thirty years before the game, during the Orlesian occupation of Ferelden. The oppressors who burned and pillaged and imprisoned the writer were Orlesian, not Fereldan.

 

In fact, the Guerrin family (Arl Eamon and Bann Teagan's family) were on the side of the writer of that note. Their sister and father were both leaders in the Fereldan Rebellion which overthrew the Orlesians.

 

Edited December 12, 2020 by theskymoves

[Alonshowman]

OK, I got it wrong, then.

 

 

When I read that note I didn't know who the Orlesians were. Since the guy had been imprisoned in the castle, I must have assumed the earl and the others were the Orlesians. At any rate, it seems funny that the Orlesians imprison him and he (or at least his note) ends up in the dungeon in Redcliffe castle. Guess I must have missed something there.

 

[theskymoves]

 

The Orlesians controlled Redcliffe during the occupation, and held most, if not all of the castles and seats of power in the nation. The Guerrin family (Redcliffe is their hereditary stronghold) were either part of the Resistance (basically a guerilla force) or, in the case of the two members you meet in the game (Arl Eamon and Bann Teagan, who were children at the time), in hiding in the Free Marches.

 

 

The game sometimes doesn't do a good job of presenting the background history of the world in a way that make things understandable... I know Ionly have a rudimentary grasp of things, even after multiple playthroughs and having read all of novels and lore volumes.

[Alonshowman]

Thanks, that clarifies it.