Originally Posted by Niara
Originally Posted by robertthebard
They agree to follow you, because of the tadpole. [...] The tadpole moments provide a reason to work together, you know, removing it.

I'm curious why you've been treating "We should travel together" as a phrase synonymous to "I'll follow you and defer to your decisions". Those are two different statements with two different meanings. The tadpole provides a reason for everyone to travel together and work together; everyone agrees with and acknowledges that (meaning everyone involved in this discussion thread). What it does not do, however, is provide a reason for the main character being thrust into the leading and decision-making role. Shadowheart saying "We should travel together" is not a synonym for her declaring you the leader and agreeing to put her opinions secondary to your decisions. Wyll saying "We should team up" is not a synonym for that either, nor Gale's "You and I need to find a healer" (indeed Gale's dialogue, given his personality, comes off very much as him assuming the leadership role). The tadpole is an element that everyone shares equally, at the moment - there is no internal story beat that pushes the player controlled character (whether that be an origin character or a custom one) into the leading position, to justify or explain the deference that they all drop into counter to their various self-directed and headstrong personalities. That's one of the things that numerous people here have found jarring and damaging for immersion - and a thing that most other games in this genre make some degree of effort to address.

You mean "some" other games? I gave you a list earlier, am I wasting just as much of my time typing this as I did that? Hell, I even acknowledged this "other games doing it better", maybe even in the same post. For better or worse, this trope is a very real thing, and it's going to be a thing whether it's Tav, or Shadowheart as the main character. Pick your poison, the "Player Character Syndrome" is a very real thing. Even in some games where there's an eventual reason, such as Dragon Age Inquisition, initially, there's no reason for the main character to be making decisions, and yet, you still do. After you meet Leliana, the decision on which route to take to the temple is on the main character. Why? Nothing is decided on the War Table in Haven w/out your approval. Why? Why aren't you reporting the results to the staff, instead of having the staff bow to you? By all rights, until you seal the breach, you should be a subordinate, but you're not.

As I said previously, this makes sense in Mass Effect, since, in so far as the human crew is concerned, you outrank them, and everyone else is on your ship. In Inquisition, you're in chains, and suspected of destroying the enclave, which resulted in the death of the Divine, but they're following your orders like you're an established military leader. Why are Varric, Cassandra and Solas all level 1? I mean, there's a movie about Cassandra's exploits prior to the events of Dragon Age 2, that explains how she became a Seeker. Presto, however, and she's level 1. If you played Dragon Age 2, you know Varric should be much higher than that, and Solas talks a lot about his experiences, so there's not much chance that he should be level 1 either. Yet there they are, all conveniently leveled to the main character. It's all down to the same reason the companions follow you here, "Player Character Syndrome".

So tell me, would you rather they all just rejected you outright, made their own party and left you on your own to sort it out? That would be an amazing game, wouldn't it? Hey, maybe they should decide the main character by forcing everyone to fight it out the first night in camp, last person standing wins. That would be great, wouldn't it? Is it something that's going to have to be repeated every time we meet a new recruitable character? Of course, it would also have the potential to nullify the player choice to have Tav, instead of an Origin character, if Tav doesn't win. Alternatively, Shadowheart follows you because you freed her from the Pod, or tried to, if you did, or saved her on the beach. Lae'zel has already proven to be insufficient to lead, or she wouldn't have needed rescued from the tieflings. How'd your initial conflict with Astarion go? If you schooled him, and then accepted him, would it be surprising that he'd follow you? How many are already following you when you meet the others? If you've already got 3, would it be surprising to think anyone else would follow too?