howyouducan

[howyouducan]

Cool project from and by Reddit user Eglwyswrw, a gamebook adaptation of Dragon Age: The Last Court - 'I am adapting DRAGON AGE: THE LAST COURT into a Choose Your Own Adventure format in order to help preserve its narrative. Here's how you can help out...'

Excerpts from post:

"I felt compelled to start this project as a volunteer in order to preserve a playable form of The Last Court that, in spite of being in a very different subgenre of interactive fiction, somewhat keeps a good chunk of the original's spirit... or so I hope!"

"What am I supposed to do if I want to help out? Play it, either on your phone or your PC. Keep a watchful eye for typos, random strings of code that might have sneaked into the text, bizarre balance issues (such as having negative values of something for too long, or having over 100 of them for too long), illogical narrative transitions etc. If possible, screenshot your final stats (at the bottom of the page) and send them to me/copypaste it in the comments so I can have an idea if the balance is OK. A single playthrough of the demo should last, I don't know, 15 minutes? There should be a lot of variations based on your chosen class and choices so please feel free to play it as many times as you would like! When can we expect a full release? Pretty soon I think. This includes over 37000 words and I took about 9 days to reach this point, with almost a third of the story done."

the link has a free playable demo which contains almost a third of the full story, "the prologue + 3 full chapters", "Forever free, available on itch.io".

[source and full post with more info] credit: Reddit user Eglwyswrw !

[howyouducan]

Solas and Felassan in ancient Arlathan forest🍁🍂

How simpler and happier times looked like between them🍂

Commission work ❤️

I'll never get over them!💔

[howyouducan]

Veilguard did not ‘ruin’ Mythal insofar as it made her seem abusive. She always was, as both the goddess and part of Flemeth. If anything, Veilguard glossed over it.

The Mythal of DAO, DA2, and DAI is not benevolent. She is justice turned vengeance. She seeks a reckoning that will shake the very heavens in vengeance for the injustices she suffered. She uses people, especially the people closest to her, to set that board in her favor.

All of Flemythal’s ‘help’ in the first three games is as transactional as the greatest of spirits we meet. Everything she says is to give fate a little nudge in the ‘right’ direction - her direction. Everything she does demands a price in return - In Origins, it’s to send Morrigan with the Wardens in order to better shape her as Flemeth’s new host and get the old god soul. In DA2, it’s to preserve her immortality. In Inquisition, it’s the Well and thus Morrigan/the Inquisitor’s servitude, Kieran, and the fact that her only aid against Corypheus is binding yet another free-willed creature in the dragon. 

All of the advice she gives each protagonist is double-edged. She sows the seeds of the old god soul in Origins. She plants the idea of ‘here lies the abyss’ in Hawke. She makes the Inquisitor an unknowing pawn in Inquisition. The throughline for all of these is Mythal’s reckoning, her vengeance, and her doom upon all the world.

Nowhere is this more blatantly obvious than with Morrigan. Morrigan’s entire story with Flemeth is one abuse piled on another. Physical, mental, verbal, emotional - you name it, Morrigan received it. Flemeth created an environment so toxic that Morrigan can’t even fully see just how terrible it was. It is cruelty without purpose, save for Flemeth’s own ends.

That ‘a soul is not forced on the unwilling’ is not the measure of benevolence she makes it seem. There are endless ways to break someone’s will, as demonstrated by Flemythal in both Origins and Inquisition: Flemeth fashioned for Morrigan a ‘welcome home present’, ‘designed to sap Morrigan’s will and ease the ancient sorceress’ possession of her daughter.’ Mythal created the Well of Sorrows, a ‘reward’ for her most faithful servants that saps their will, replacing it with a compulsion that lets Mythal control their actions. Those who drank are not noble warriors who swore an oath - they are ‘bound,’ to quote Abelas. 

Mythal’s abusive and manipulative nature is not unique to Veilguard. Veilguard waters her down. The bones of Flemythal’s true character are still present if we read into datv’s overbroad and shallow lines. Even Morrigan’s ‘the regret of a mother’ could follow Flemythal’s characterization if it was presented as insidious and terrible as it truly is. It’s pure emotional manipulation - which the first three games established as Flemythal’s MO. Morrigan wears Mythal’s crown, she bears the staff Mythal does in her judgment fresco, she plays Mythal’s game. The Morrigan who spent a decade hiding and protecting Kieran from Flemeth’s machinations, and who spent a lifetime suffering her abuse. Where is her ‘self’ in Veilguard? Subsumed and corrupted by Mythal. Just like the sentinels, the geased, and to a lesser extent, Solas.

You can’t blame it all on Flemeth’s influence, either. There’s a reason Mythal chose Flemeth, and why they remained symbiotic for all these years. Dalish legends paint Mythal in much the same way as Flemeth, and since their legends grew from Evanuris propaganda, they’re not talking about anything Mythal did since her murder, and they’re certainly not talking about Flemeth -

Morrigan: In most stories, Mythal rights wrongs while exercising motherly kindness: let fly your voice to Mythal, deliverer of justice, protector of sun and earth alike. Other paint her as dark, vengeful: pray to Mythal, and she would smite your enemies, leaving them in agony. Solas: The oldest accounts say Mythal was both of these, and neither. She was the Mother, protective and fierce.

This gross emotional manipulation is simply expanded in Veilguard to include everyone closest to her. It’s how Mythal coaxed Solas from the Fade and manhandled him into doing her bidding. It’s how she directed her servants to worship her in the Trials of the Gods, and how she deals with Rook asking for her help to save the world. There is nothing benevolent in requesting her aid - it is a hardline of justice and arrogance, and every answer Rook gives to appeal to her emotions or that the world deserves her atonement is met with a harsh dismissal.

It’s not so different from the Petitioner’s Path in the Temple of Mythal - using that logic is an easy way to win her favor in Veilguard. Instead of speaking truth, Rook has to bend over backwards to make her feel good about herself to the point that she’ll deign to help save the world - from Solas, who ‘betrayed’ her by refusing to submit, and not the crimes of the Evanuris or the blight.

There is nothing ‘good’ about Mythal’s role in the atonement ending. It is a tragedy, and one Mythal escapes entirely. She superficially admits her culpability, she doesn’t apologize, and she doesn’t love. All she did was ‘release Solas from her service.’ And as always, that ‘kindness’ is transactional - he receives that catharsis if he binds himself to the thing that broke the world, and the very thing that ensures his people, both elves and spirits, are never truly free. She suffers nothing from this ending. Her culpability isn’t punished by words or any other consequence. It’s Solas who’s condemned to suffer the weight of both of their crimes. It would almost have been kinder if she hadn’t made her admission at all, because now he knows and accepts her equal role, and still he alone is punished for it all, forever, in eternal servitude.

At the end of all of these stories and manipulations, it’s not the world that suffers most from Mythal’s abuse. It’s the people closest to her. If ‘everyone is a pawn’ to Solas, what does that make Mythal’s worshippers, her daughters, and whatever Solas was to her? Her love was never free and without terrible price. Mythal took that which Solas and Morrigan value above all else - their freedom. The ‘best of them’ demanded everything from Solas, her daughters, and her people. Their wills, their freedom, and their very selves. All for the promise of a benevolence and unconditional love that she is incapable of giving.

Veilguard did not invent her abuse. It softened it. 

[howyouducan]

There's literally no excuse to be shitting on the devs after this. There's no excuse to be making self-aggrandizing posts about how the devs “could have made something out of” some dumbass detail or other that edgy posters like to pick on. There's no excuse to be complaining about how DATV wasn't what you wanted, and how some writer or other hated a character, or point fingers because you personally feel like your cheerios were pissed in.

There never was, but the continued confessions of the conditions they were under, EA's general behavior, and the fact that in the end we got a game that is as mechanically smooth, visually beautiful, and emotionally affecting as it is, is nothing short of a miracle, and a testament to how much they did actually deeply care. They all put an incredible amount of work into this. And then got wrung out by their workplace and “fans” alike.

[howyouducan]

[howyouducan]

What about your OC would make them a bad roommate?

[howyouducan]

i do write for attention, actually, because that's a normal reason to create art

[howyouducan]

[handing dragon age fandom all the fucking ladders to finally get of off Trick Weeks' back]

[howyouducan]

How exactly did they get their nickname, and what do they think about it?

It was because Jack needed to go incognito and so Varric chose the most generic, could-be-a-name-could-be-a-nickname word that came to mind. Since it has a certain ring to it, Jack now uses it as a kind of stage/alternative name, similar to the Black Divine and the Viper.

How well-qualified for their new leadership position are they really?

He's young and pretty fresh, but not inexperienced. That said, he's never been in this position before, and may not have continued to lead the team if he didn't think Varric would eventually step up.

What's their opinion of the Inquisitor?

In Wycome's dwarven merchant circles, the Inquisition was a powerful trading partner. The Inquisitor herself isn't spoken about much, and after the Inquisition ended, she fell into obscurity. As a person, Jack likes her and admires her work, but she's a wallflower and he's charismatic and a social butterfly, so his main opinion is "she's nice."

What's other people's general impression of Rook? How does Rook come across in conversation?

He's goofy but contrite, and despite those two traits he seems like a capable rogue. Solas is the only man who would look at this guy and think, "according to his scars I should assume he's incompetent."

Would they rather throw hands (or spells) or talk it out?

Talk, always talk for Jack. He's both a big softie and very willingly to talk to you forever

Does Rook think the Veilguard can save the world?

I think Jack restrained himself from thinking about the big picture until the end game, when it was clear he was the only leader. After that, no thoughts, just adrenaline.

... Okay, the rest of the team's not listening. Does Rook really think the Veilguard can save the world?

"I hope so"

Do they expect to actually come out of the whole thing alive?

Like he told Emmrich, "I don't really think about death." He hasn't really confronted his own mortality properly yet, he's 23.

Killing Venatori, Antaam and random mercenaries - a particular pleasure, just part of the job, or something Rook loses sleep over?

Oh yeah Jack loves killing hate / terrorist groups and mercs who work with those groups. He's not bloodthirsty but this is a large part of the jobs he takes. It's the point, really.

How often does someone have to fish them out of a body of water?

Not very often, since deep water makes him nervous.

Do they crash on Solas' ugly green couch or do they have a bed hidden somewhere?

He prefers the main tower's library/meeting area, or the Hall of Valour.

What do they think about their room at the Lighthouse?

It's not badly decorated, but being underwater is strange. He would prefer the room Varric is in, but Varric wouldn't let him stay.

What does Rook put onto the grocery list in the dining hall?

Fish, fresh fruit, rice. He's not a huge tea or coffee drinker, but likes wine and hot cocoa.

How often do they actually get a decent night's sleep?

He's odd in that he'll sleep like a log in the worst of times.

Out of the people they met during their adventure, whom do they like the most?

Neve for a companion, his social circle in the Lords of Fortune, and the spirits of adventure along the Rivaini coast.

What's their favorite spot around the Lighthouse (and Crossroads)?

The kitchen, since it's open but you can't see into oblivion, and is a natural social gathering place.

How'd they deal with the fade prison?

Badly and With Tears but he got through to the end nonetheless

Is Rook quite as bad at jumping as the game implies, and if yes, why?

He's still learning parkour! He was discouraged by his parents from being seen doing that in Wycome, so he hasn't gotten much practice in. Even though he wants to look cool very badly.

What's their favorite outfit like?

Slutty, made of metal links, dyed leather and silk cloth

What do they do when they have some downtime?

Head down to the Hall for grub and drink with good company

Biggest regret of all?

Probably screwing up his first mission so badly. (No, not the one with Varric in the beginning. No, also not the one that got him a vacation from Lords of Fortune. He messes up a lot, okay?)

The absolute highlight of their adventure?

Anything in Minrathous, because Neve is there.

A place in Thedas they haven't seen yet, but would like to?

He's never seen the Winter Palace, and it's doubtful he'll be able to now. Aside from that, he's been almost everywhere in Thedas - he's well-traveled! He'd be interested to see Kal-Shirok, but knows it's unlikely. He really enjoys the bits and bobs of cultural Par Vollen goods that leech into Rivain, but that's another no-go zone.

What's a lie Rook's told before, and why?

Probably has to do with concealing his identity while with Varric and Harding, he doesn't lie very often.

What do they do after the end of their adventure?

Partially go back to the Lords of Fortune, but he accepts a lot of jobs in Minrathous to work with Neve. He's also helping to rebuild Minrathous, and he plans to eventually poke around down south and see what's still standing.

Some character development questions for Rook Dragon Age

Use 'em as ask game, pick and choose questions as you please, or do the whole dang thing!

How exactly did they get their nickname, and what do they think about it?

How well-qualified for their new leadership position are they really?

What's their opinion of the Inquisitor?

What's other people's general impression of Rook? How does Rook come across in conversation?

Would they rather throw hands (or spells) or talk it out?

Does Rook think the Veilguard can save the world?

... okay, the rest of the team's not listening. Does Rook really think the Veilguard can save the world?

Do they expect to actually come out of the whole thing alive?

Killing Venatori, Antaam and random mercenaries - a particular pleasure, just part of the job, or something Rook loses sleep over?

How often does someone have to fish them out of a body of water?

Do they crash on Solas' ugly green couch or do they have a bed hidden somewhere?

What do they think about their room at the Lighthouse?

What does Rook put onto the grocery list in the dining hall?

How often do they actually get a decent night's sleep?

Out of the people they met during their adventure, whom do they like the most? (Challenge mode: companions don't count)

What's their favorite spot around the Lighthouse (and Crossroads)?

How'd they deal with the fade prison?

Is Rook quite as bad at jumping as the game implies, and if yes, why?

What's their favorite outfit like?

What do they do when they have some downtime?

Biggest regret of all?

The absolute highlight of their adventure?

A place in Thedas they haven't seen yet, but would like to?

What's a lie Rook's told before, and why?

What do they do after the end of their adventure?

[howyouducan]

[howyouducan]

Brosca at the Provings watching the guards closing in on them but knowing they just spat out the most iconic quote of the entire franchise

[howyouducan]

I'm back after hoarding text posts like a little goblin while gathering screenshots from my Origins playthrough

Unhinged Text Posts: Alistair Theirin Edition

[howyouducan]

When the guy in ur head won't stop being mean to you.

[howyouducan]

DANDELION | overcoming hardship, healing, resilience, hope

I had the pleasure of painting the illustrious Dorian for @daflowerzine 🌼 leftover sales are now closed but you can still get a print of Dorian here!

[howyouducan]

"can you explain this gap in your resume?" I once breached the Fade in the name of another, to serve the Old Gods of the empire in person. I found only chaos and corruption. Dead whispers. For a thousand years I was confused. No more. I have gathered the will to return under no name but my own, to champion withered Tevinter and correct this blighted world. Beg that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the gods, and it was empty!

[howyouducan]

Which player characters (hypothetical) child would make the best protagonist?

[howyouducan]

Jack is a bow-and-arrow man, but when your two more experienced colleagues are also long-ranged attackers...

Also, is that glowing eye rune-sign in the top left intentional? This is what's left of the Inquisition, after all.