#And speaking of Bioware

[gaywatch]

Were you ever into Dragon Age?

When they announced Veilguard I had to wipe away actual tears

[rossenn]

Cole in a grassy field like what more could you possibly need

[spinaholi]

how are y’all inquisitors doing atm

[felassan]

What kind of spirit do you think Felassan waz?

Swag

[wizardsix]

I can't be the only one who thinks it's so lame that spite ultimately had 0 effect on lucanis whereas the writers made anders suffer for just wanting to live.

[inquisitor-julia]

me a Fallow Mire enjoyer, Grey Warden apologist, and blight lore enthusiast: hm, why do I like the Hossberg Wetlands so much?? Truly mysterious...

[adonneniel]

Ok, nevermind, I am going to try and put my complicated thoughts on paper.

So, about Dragon Age elves being intentionally inspired by Jews.

Like, on one hand they’ll always hold a special place in my heart because when do Jews *ever* get to be portrayed as elegant and mystical and beautiful? Even if modern DA elves are a fallen, oppressed people, those vibes are still present. And even if it’s not always handled well, the struggle between the more assimilated city elves and the more traditionally minded Dalish is very real. The longing for a lost homeland. The ache and resentment and fear that nothing is stable & people could turn on a dime. The isolationist tendencies that arise as a consequence of that. Perhaps prickly and defensive to outsiders, but loving and community-centered to their own.

In short, it resonates, and I always felt like I had room to roleplay and embrace these concepts, particularly in the older games.

Tbh even the Dalish clans always on the verge of dying felt real. Perhaps too real. And I think the main problem (for me), was that it was never treated with the gravity and respect it should’ve been. The characters shrug and move on.

Even Davrin’s distaste for his people’s focus on the past doesn’t bother me. Because not only do people like that exist, they still made him unapologetically Dalish (he even named his gryphon Assan! An elvish word!) It’s obvious he still cares deeply about elves, and he was the only one who consistently expressed concern for modern elves when the topic came up. If they’d handled the rest of the elves in the game better (which I’ll expand on in a second), I think he’d actually serve as a great constrast to Bellara.

But then we get to the Evanuris, constant victim blaming, and the inexplicable white-guilt projecting the writers added in Veilguard. (And that last one stings because minorities are never treated as individuals—a bad apple is always turned into a representive of the collective.)

Choosing to make the Evanuris the root of Thedas’ woes might be a neat twist in isolation, but it’s *not* in isolation. Not when Jews are at the center of every conspiracy theory and often painted as this nebulous, shadowy cabal controlling society for their own nefarious means. And to then have the gall to paint *all* modern elves with this brush? As if they’re responsible for a few shitheads that existed thousands of years in the past (that also happened to enslave them). As if they’re somehow complicit when past games have made it abundantly clear that elves are treated like trash with ZERO institutional power? (And Veilguard conveniently brushes this under the rug).

It’d be one thing to make Bellara apologize—because it’s kinda in character—but there’s no meaningful pushback. And elf!Rook has at least three opportunities to spout those same bullshit white-guilt apologies. Tbh, it soured me to Harding’s entire questline.

And the distressing reality that the Evanuris might make people even more distrustful and violent towards elves? It’s practically framed as a *new* fear. Which is utterly ridiculous when even an elven Inquisitor can state that people will always find a way to blame elves (with an appropriately resigned anger)

And going back to Bellara, I hate hate hate that her questline almost encourages us to throw away the Archive, as if this monumental resource is selfish to want to preserve? And why do we get to make this choice? Rook might not even be a elf! It’s similar to the framing of Merrill’s quest to restore the eluvian, but at least Merrill fights tooth and nail for it. Why is the desire to reclaim and discover lost knowledge always presented as stupid and dangerous?

One last thing: Epler said they were trying to give the Dalish a win in Veilguard, and I assume baking in a “save the Dalish!” quest was an attempt to make up for the potiential massacres in past games, but, uh…it failed imo. How is it a “win” to make them nothing more than poor little props for the Big Hero to swoop in and save? They have no agency. They’re shown no respect. We don’t even get to talk to them!

Anyway, I’ve seen some excellent takes on the anti-indigenous racism baked into the elves, but not one from a Jewish perspective. So here’s me, a Jew, venting about a series that’s somehow still near and dear to my heart, and probably always will be, despite the racism and antisemitism. (Though whether I’ll replay datv or buy any future games is up in the air. Right now veilguard feels like the last straw—the mediocre writing failed to make up for the highly questionable & infurating choices made).

[brekkie-e]

Ok. I am all for giving Veilgaurd the space to be it's own game and appreciate it for what it is, but every time I see a person who openly talks about only getting in to dragon age this year or some other nonsense go off about how long term fans hate the game cause they cant handle change I see red.

I mean, to be a Dragon Age fan, you have to be able to accept change. Change is at the core of the experience. Whether that's a good thing or bad thing is a different question. But if you're a long-term fan of the series, you've succeeded in the task of accepting change.

The criticisms of Veilgaurd are, in my opinion, a little unique to the franchise. For all Inquisition tweaked certain lore and it irritated a lot of people- it did so with self-awareness and intention. I am thinking about how it did the Dalish dirty in many respects. For all I do not agree with that writing direction, the game itself atleast acknowledges it is 1. New information. 2. Dependent on the clan. 3. Gives you the room to roleplay your character according to previously established lore. This is just one example, of course.

Veilgaurd is unique in the fact it ignores much of the series pre-established lore and in no way owns up to it.

I have seen a lot of hateful comments about how Origins hasn't been the framework of the series since 2009. And yeah, sure to a degree that is true. The gameplay certainly got tossed out. But in many ways, Dragon Age 2 is a direct continuation of that world and setting. DA2 and Origins and the lore they established are solid and share a vision. Play as a Mahariel and engage with Merril's clan. It's the same world. The same npc's. Inquisition does not deviate that far from that vision when you look past the companions all playing devil's advocate.

I really don't think everyone disappointed with this game or finding it lacking are "blinded by nostalgia." Most Dragon Age fans will be the first ones to tell you the franchise is a mess. But acting like the games that established it as beloved to it's fans are no longer relevant is so nasty to me. You as a newer fan would not be able to play Veilgaurd if the older fans had not made the previous titles financial successes. If they had not kept the love for the series alive, this new game would never have made it out of development.

The game is good. It's enjoyable to play. It's not without its charms. It should be given room to shine for what it is. It's a miracle we have it given the development journey it went on.

But it's also a massive smack in the face to many people who loved all three previous titles. And that's a bad thing. And I hope future titles remember the lore and tone of the series better.

These two things can both be true.

[ellstersmash]

someone please explain to me how keeping the veil up makes sense

last we heard it was already failing. is its strength being sustained by just solas' life force somehow better and more stable than when it was being sustained by both elgar'nan's and ghilan'nain's?

are we all cool with the spirits still being closed off from the world? because i was under the impression that was a problem

iirc there is still LOTS of blight (??) stuffed into the fade like a sausage, and I understand we need to NOT loose that upon the world, but if all other signs point to veil = bad, wouldn't that just make this yet another stopgap between now and Problem Solved?

nevermind I talked myself into Solas & Lavellan cleansing the blight from within to eventually bring down the veil anyway. score

[godslittlesadge]

so ive taken some time so marinate in my salt about the 3 choices imported decision and in that time i read some articles and

so this was all a lie lmao

[sun-marie]

BG3 has two of the most thoughtful, unapologetic, no holds barred depictions of men with abusive female partners I've every seen (Wyll + Mizora and Gale + Mystra), which is so rare to see in any media but especially video games, and some of the Larian writers seem determined to convince me it was 100% by accident

[rainydaysie]

I just want to say, everyone criticizing Taash, you’re wrong. :3

Just because you can’t personally relate to another non binary person’s story, doesn’t mean it’s not well-written and/or accurate.

For those of you angry about the term ‘non binary’ being used in a fantasy setting, you are fucking stupid. It’s the english language. It means not-binary. And yes, there ARE gender roles in thedas, plenty of them! You just aren’t paying close enough attention. Also, there is another term that Taash’s mom brings up, aqun-athlok, so there ya go there’s your transgenderism that’s built into the fantasy setting.

The fact that you all are going through hoops and loops to try and find problem’s with Taash’s representation just gives away your internalized transphobia. Yeah, it’s not accurate to YOUR story or your friend’s story — because it’s not your story. It’s theirs.

[lillotte17]

We are such stuff as dreams are made on

And our little life is rounded with a sleep

[bunabi]

You know I do think you're onto something about the 'real fans' things because there is this weird belief that big artists or big streamers or whatever are somehow seen as 1) some sort of source of canon that noone else could possibly be privy too (which is strangely why their fanons get oddly taken as canon and 2) that noone who creates or is even involved in fan communities or fanbases somehow has less valid opinions because they aren't aware of the memes or 'not contributing'. Number of followers doesn't equate to importance of opinion so I respect you saying that everyone has just as much skin in the game and their opinions and experiences of the game have just as much worth as anyone elses

I have seen posts like that

'You guys abandoned DA for years, you weren't making any content, you weren't having any discussions, you don't really care', etc etc

I'm a little shocked to see how many people agree with that sentiment since it's just 'ew casuals' in a different hat; if someone's engagement w/ DA begins and ends with thinking the Wardens look cool (true!) then moving on thats still a plus one for the books

To your first point: making content as a larger account really just dooms you to being perceived as a taste-maker and expert regardless 😭 speaking from experience I wish we didn't do that

Fanon and theories are meant to be loose wiggly & open-ended; I don't think the point is to arrive at a single agreed-upon conclusion, and it gets dicey when you start selecting fans as authority figures —especially against their will

[felassan]

nature is healing

[wizardsix]

bioware either writes a trans man and allows the player to invade his privacy out of nowhere or writes a buff nonbinary character and makes it their whole personality. just stop. I'm fed up with it and I'd rather have a game w no trans rep than butchered trans rep and forced allyship.

there's absolutely no need to use our modern terms in a fantasy setting. its very weird and jarring and shows how little bioware cares. it's not difficult to make up their own words or just talk about it in a more natural way. you'd think for a fantasy world that has made up languages they could easily make up a word to describe genders and sexualities, so what's the issue? why don't we get the same care everything else (supposedly) does? like how come no one uses the words gay or lesbian or even bisexual but it's easily implied through dorian saying "I prefer the company of men" and sera's "we have too much in common bc we both like women"???? how come they can say that in a way that doesn't break immersion but taash has to go crazy about gender and write "trans/non-binary/genderfluid/agender all so so super valid I am affirmed" on the walls??

I get what they were trying to do with taash's story but it's not executed well at all especially with that fucking misgender scene. bioware I can assure you most people won't dissolve when they're misgendered. saying sorry or just correcting yourself and moving on is ok. its preferable actually. we don't need a character to stop the conversation to give a speech about how misgendering is bad and apologizing is also bad and act all white knight for us. it's embarrassing. like if I didn't know any better id say they were making fun of us. that's how fucking bad this writing is.

I'm sorry to the people who just accept the bare minimum, but it IS cringe and annoying to have our existence watered down to "trans" and "valid". why can't we just fucking exist without being turned into freakshows to gawk at. trans people deserve better representation than this caricature. we deserve basic fucking respect. our existence is much more complicated than cis people could ever understand and I'm sick of people pretending to care.