I finished all the Treaty Quests. Below some thoughts with spoilers where necessary.
Broken Circle: the first quest I did and possibly one of my favorites. The religious and political backdrops were interesting and most of the side quests were really challenging from a moral perspective, like the Desire Demon one. Plus, the segment in the Fade was awesome and cleverly planned. Being a mage makes this quest even more interesting because I got to see the Circle Tower before the devastation and after, and because every character responded accordingly, recognizing me and often bringing up issues that originally arose during the origin story.
Arl of Redcliffe: I did this quest second and I enjoyed it immensely. Redcliffe was a wonderful setting, the characters were interesting and the side quests very well implemented with the main plot. The epic escalation was the perfect icing on the cake and, in fact
The night segment, when you have to battle through hordes of skeletons and undeads, is perhaps my favorite moment: the atmosphere was thick and eerie and the music was just perfect during the fights. Moreover, I loved that the final outcome was heavily influenced by the choices you made during the day, giving to this quest an incredibly realistic feeling
Urn of the Sacred Ashes: since this quest completes the Arl of Redcliffe one, I completed it right away. I liked it, even if
unfortunately the Haven village - although graphically amazing - was a bit empty: most of the characters don't present many dialogue options and thus the quest felt to me a bit vague. Perhaps this is only because I liked the heresy idea so much that I'd have wanted to explore further and to fully understand the historical roots of the dragon cult. However, when the party reaches the Gauntlet this quests rises to a whole other level of quality and it becomes really great, epic and emotional. Even if I'm roleplaying a character that believes more in the old gods of the Elves than in the Maker, reaching Andraste's final resting place was touching
Nature of the Beasts: another favorite of mine (come to think of it, I loved every Treaty Quest
), and it was great to play through it with a non-Dalish elf. I don't about other characters, but with my Elf Mage I found the whole setting to be extremely rewarding: you have to slowly build the trust (especially with Sarel the Storyteller) and many characters have questions about the cities, the outside world and the social condition of city elves. It was a really rich experience and, personally speaking, I found that Bioware succeeded in writing an Elven mythology that is both coherent with the tradition and peculiar enough to keep the attention high (the Codex entry one can find in the Dalish Camp are amongst the better written of the entire game and the stories they tell are compelling and often fascinating). The main plot (Zathrian and Witherfang) was great as well, and very thought-provoking.
It took me a while to figure out what to do. Side with Zathrian whose hatred and revenge I could totally relate to? Or side with Witherfang, whose rational arguments indeed showed that Zathrian's loss had been repaid tenfold? Can you punish someone for the crimes of their ancestors? Of course no, but aren't the contemporary elves paying a much bigger price for the violence of said human ancestors?
Paragon of Her Kind: the last one. I finished it today. While I certainly liked it and found that the Dwarven culture was as strikingly written and imagined as the Elven one, this is without a doubt my least favorite quests. Broken Circle, Arl of Redcliffe - Urn of Sacred Ashes and Nature of the Beasts offered a solid background, a spellbinding story, many epic moments and rewarding side-quests, and they all felt right. Paragon of Her Kind, on the other hand, felt too long.
While the segments in Orzammar were really beautiful, full of little details to discover, and while the political issue concerning the throne was really good - and amazingly written as always -, the Deep Roads were way too long. I can live with Aeducan Thaig (short and nice), Ortan Thaig (many side-quests and lots of background details) and, of course, the Dead Trenches (the more I neared the Broodmother, the more I grew uneasy, even if I didn't know what lied ahead and this can only mens that the writers/developers are really, really great: kudos for the atmosphere!), but Caridin's Cross was way too long to be just a mid-step and too difficult, with many different passageways and galleries to explore. But even the thaigs I liked - like the Trenches - could have been more brief...
... In general I agree with Datadog: ten hours (I actually finished it in nine, but still) are a bit too much for a single quest line and, even with the most intriguing setting, I eventually grew tired of exploring gallery after gallery, with literally dozens of side-quests thrown at me from everywhere
Right now, I can't wait to be back under the clear night sky and I have no doubt in saying that - during my future playthroughs - Orzammar will certainly be the place I will visit less eagerly.
