steppenwolfslair

[steppenwolfslair]

New Rook alert

I made a new GW Rook while I was taking a lil' break (still kind of am)

I barely play him but i love drawing him so expect a decent amount of random Lorant art.

gang gang

[steppenwolfslair]

Illario's cut lines? These are in the text, but they aren't related to any scene or speaker.

"How was your plan to become First Talon going to work?" I'll tell you how: poorly. I mean, I majored in backstabbing. I know how it's done. I had style! Charisma! What did my cousin have? Skill? Hard work? Sexy demon wings? "Our mages are different! They're maleficarum!" You can't spit off a balcony in Tevinter without hitting a maleficar. It used to be about the stabbing. Now, it's all flashy backflips and twirls. Just embarrassing. "What do I think went wrong?" Where do I start? "Whatever you do, don't send mages after him," I told them. What do they give me? Could it have succeeded? No. But that was never the point. Honestly, the Crows I had on my team weren't much better. Yes, most of them have spent a lifetime in training. You know what they're trained in? Backstabbing. The Venatori? They're terrible. Absolutely useless. I was making plan after plan after plan, but could they deliver? Maybe I should have worn the bigger cape.

[steppenwolfslair]

What’s really jumping out at me on my second playthrough is that the writers of the first three games understood that your character was the main character. The Veilguard writers clearly thought that the main characters were their characters, the companions.

Every scene is about setting the companions up as cool or competent or sympathetic. Often, this is done at Rook’s expense. The companions get all the witty one-liners; Rook’s attempts at humor not only frequently fall flat, but are frequently called out for falling flat (even when they’re completely automatic and the player has no say in them).

The companions have all the knowledge and skills; Rook just brought them all together and gives them all pep talks so they can focus. I’m trying to edit out all of the comments where Rook is like “Um… what????” from my videos, and let me tell you, it takes WORK. There are A LOT of them. I can count on one hand the number of times when the Inquisitor or Hawke comes across as dumb, but it seems to be a built-in, unavoidable part of Rook’s character. I have not selected a single “purple” option in all of Act 1, and Rook is still coming across as the kid who tries to be the class clown to cover for the fact that he’s always confused. Rook’s role in most scenes is to say “Uhhh… what?” so that the companions look smart.

Rook is always the one offering sympathy and never the one getting it. No one actually comes to comfort you after Varric’s death. No one asks you how you’re feeling about having to lead the team now that Varric is gone. No one tries to reassure you or give you advice for dealing with the trickster god haunting your dreams. We’re told that Neve could keep Solas out of your head, but she never actually offers to do this for you. No one comforts a Shadow Dragon Rook when Minrathous is destroyed or a Grey Warden Rook when Weisshaupt is destroyed. Rook’s problems don’t matter. Only the problems of main characters matter.

Rook is a secondary character in their own story.

[steppenwolfslair]

FENRIS

[steppenwolfslair]

im at peace🧎🏻‍♀️

[steppenwolfslair]

breaking my DAV silence to bring you this

and i am gone again

[steppenwolfslair]

presented without context

[steppenwolfslair]

[steppenwolfslair]

the tags here warm my heart :')

[steppenwolfslair]

Random ass crossover thoughts but the fact that Kim Kitsuragi in the DA universe would just be a random guard or inquisition scout is hilarious to me.

Meanwhile Harry is the DA 5 protagonist.

[steppenwolfslair]

The first most important thing about Kim Kitsuragi is that he's slowly being crushed under the pressure of being a model minority. The second most important thing is that he's a loser.

[steppenwolfslair]

i love the ways disco elysium portraits are used to both represent and bend the actual realities of the characters. elizabeth is met sitting on a bench and is generally short so the portrait reflects her reluctantly looking up at you

meanwhile cuno is like 5 feet tall at the absolute max but his portrait is framed like this: he has the viewer backed into a corner, hunched over to meet your eye level. youre cuno's bitch. his raw dominant cuno energy bends the way reality is presented to us

[steppenwolfslair]

Thanks. But it would be even more great if I were told this while he was alive.

[steppenwolfslair]

『🐦‍⬛』 — dragon age: the veilguard scenery ; 7/?

[steppenwolfslair]

You have the right to be disappointed in Veilguard

You have the right to be disappointed because you have been waiting 10 years for this game and just wanted it to be faithful to what came before.

You have the right to be disappointed because the writing is an absolute downgrade from the past three entries.

You have the right to be disappointed because the devs refuse to take any kind of criticism on board.

You have the right to be disappointed because the new writers actively chose to undo the hard work their predecessors accomplished in making this series one of the most beloved of its kind.

You have the right to be disappointed because when you were ready to forgive the game's shortcomings due to its development hell, the devs just had to make those interviews and AMAs that shed some clear and unfortunate light on the truth.

You have the right to be disappointed because so much of what made Thedas what it was was brushed aside, ignored, or entirely retconned in favour of being as cozy and non-controversial as possible.

You have the right to be disappointed because criticising art does not automatically make you a hater or a grifter. It makes you someone who isn't blind to flaws. It makes you someone who can form their own opinion.

So yes, you do have the right to be disappointed in Veilguard. Because Veilguard, to me, is, unfortunately, a disappointment. No subject of hatred, no sin against mankind. Just a colossal disappointment. One that could have been averted.

[steppenwolfslair]

“We had to choose between letting the companions talk to each other in the Lighthouse and the dialogue wheels”

You should have chosen the dialogue wheels. The lighthouse is literally just party banter it’s not even Lighthouse Specific.

not to mention how freaky and weird it is for us to learn everything about our "love interests and friends" via eavesdropping? why won't they tell ME about their life? why do i have to be a weirdo and stand around listening to them talk to other people? why do i have to stalk my friends/partner to know them??

[steppenwolfslair]

ferelden SHOULD be as gender egalitarian as the introductory flavor text implies, seeing as how they're 30 years removed from a war for independence in which your mom (yes, yours! I meant this more generically but also literally Cousland's mom!) was a freedom fighter and so was their well beloved queen

they should be belligerently proud of that shit. it should be to their mind what sets proud fereldans apart from occupiers and sympathizers tbh

"oh you don't believe a woman's place is on the field of battle? what are you, french?"