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Quick Davrin sketch for you all on this Monday morning.

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the o.g 🌹

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“I went to Kirkwall once.”

“Yeah?”

“Bit of a shithole.”

“Yeah…”

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IGN: "Key Dragon Age developers have announced they are leaving BioWare after the developer restructured to focus on the next Mass Effect." Michael Douse, publishing director of Larian Studios: "*laid off I wrote more but then deleted it because I’m not about to ruin a long weekend. Something something $30 billion corporation operating for decades unable to provide the necessary economic foundation from which to support a big RPG. But again, I deleted it. It is possible not to layoff large parts of your development teams between or after projects. Critically, retaining that institutional knowledge is key for the next. It’s often used as an excuse to ‘trim fat’ and to an extent I understand that under financial pressure, but doesn’t that just highlight how needless the aggressive efficiency of giant corporations is? I’d understand it if they were pumping out hit after hit - perhaps you could argue it’s working - but clearly the aggressive streamlining (layoffs) aren’t. It’s *nothing but cost cutting* in the most brutal sense. It’s *always* people lower down the food chain that suffer, when it’s *clearly* strategy higher up the food chain that’s causing the problem. On a pirate ship, they’d toss the captain overboard. Video games companies should be run like pirate ships. The delta between VC and unemployed game developer is fascinating because where one falls upwards the other in parallel velocity tumbles downwards. You can tank an entire multi-billion dollar initiative and head upwards, while an incredibly talented artist, engineer, QA, etc can head into poverty. I don’t have LinkedIn btw 😬 Just in case any of this annoys you, just imagine I meant the exact opposite of it and you’re the best. Have a great weekend ✌️ "[source]

Michael Douse: "To make it absolutely clear, what I hate about the way layoffs are carried out is that they are done *before* decision makers know what do do with a studio, and not as a result of figuring out a direction. This is consistently true. It is a short term cost saving measure at a huge human expense that doesn’t solve a long term problem. (A lack of a viable strategic direction defined at an executive level). You can probably figure it out if you trust your developers instead of firing them. On a positive note, I’m seeing a slight shift in this direction. In the low-stakes arena of remasters and remakes, but they are the foundation of something bigger." [source]

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And no rivers and no lakes can put the fire out I'm gonna raise the stakes I'm gonna smoke you out

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the gazerrr

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If you listen closely you can hear my heart snapping in half

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Thank you, Dragon Age devs

This series has had a special place in my heart for 13 years. It has brought me so much joy, sparked my creativity, and put me in contact with so many amazing people. I have made friendships both irl and online that I cherish because of a shared love of the games.

Veilguard has been a joy to while away the hours with. When I play, I can truly feel the blood, sweat, tears and love that was poured into it in every facet of the game. I am writing for the first time in a decade because of it and am more involved in fandom than I ever have been.

Devs, thank you so much. We, the fans, will keep your art alive.

I hope they find prosperity and stability in the future, wherever it takes them.

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spin the wheel for a genre!

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Surprise! Tumblr just got turned into an epic fantasy RPG, just like [your favorite appropriate media franchise]. And the Tumblr RPG's plot needs to have all of its characters covered, in roles both large and small.

That means that you are assigned to a stereotypical RPG role inside our new fantasy world. Spin this wheel to find out what you are now doing for a living.

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Davrin and Assan! Had a lot of fun putting this together!

You can commission me via ko-fi here!

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Stuff I Adore about Davrin ❤️

Positions himself as no-nonsense but actually has a soft heart, the little boy who sang to Halla never left

When Mila asks for payment for saving them at Weisshaupt he plays along and asks if Griffon kisses count 🥺

Cares about Rook's well-being regardless of romance, we joke about touching grass, but touching grass actually helps lol

"The road less traveled. That's how I found you."

Is understanding about Emmrich's lichdom (if you take that route) because he sees how much it means to Emmrich, even if he doesn't really understand that stuff

His big brown eyes when he goes 🥺

So so CHARMING. AND FOR WHAT 😭❤️

Skilled craftsman, like genuinely. He makes such detailed figures

Knight in shining armor hero type oughhh

Is going to write his own monster manual because he thinks no one else will do it right lmao "Fine I'll do it myself"

The most beautiful elf ever tbh

Is a sword and board warrior. I'm weak for that I fear

Customized his own armor to be able to represent him being a Warden and so it's utilitarian for his being a hunter

Will always consider himself Dalish no matter what

His friendship with Bellara, telling her she's got him

Acts stoic at first, but is actually a goofball

Non-chalantly telling Taash about the secrets of the Joining LMFAOOOO

Genuinely the bisexual boyfriend of my dreams (canon)

"From here on out it's pretty simple: wherever you are, there I am."

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i'm sorry but the "da fandom is a little racist BUT veilguard holds most of the blame for making davrin so irrelevent in the game" excuse is the weakest shit i've ever heard. no actually i genuinely think this is almost exclusively a fandom issue. like i won't argue that the "davrin vs harding choice is reliant on assan" shit john epler pushed was unbelievably racist and i won't argue that there's merit to the fact that it was tone deaf at Best to have the black man's character arc so reliant on his animal companion but i'm sorry you cannot fucking convince me that the "knight in shining armor with a gentle heart and a cute animal companion that takes you out on picnic dates and carves you little wooden trinkets" character is not almost Perfectly Engineered to be the most popular romance option in any game ever and yes i fully believe the only reason he isn't is entirely hinged on the fact that he's black and no amount of whataboutism towards the devs can convince me otherwise

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MASS EFFECT 2: LEGENDARY EDITION (2021) dev. BioWare ↳ Garrus: Eye for an Eye

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“With fandom the kind of racism that you most commonly see isn’t things like racial slurs and hate speech and white hoods. What you really see is a constant communal prioritization of white people and white characters, even when there are non-white characters in major roles. This is a trend across almost all fandoms.”

— Holly Quinn in Episode 22A of Fansplaining

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Doodled Garrus