#I like the companions for the most part

[zahra-hydris]

starfield is very fun, but it continues the modern Bethesda tradition of mixing some truly wild game design choices with some basic ass writing

[fatedroses]

More than just the Demon.

[idontchara]

thank you hoyo for giving me the chance to third wheel on the husbands' date crime stopping adventure

[tardxsblues]

You are Clara Oswald. You are human. You are unimportant. Incorrect. See, that is what you're supposed to think. That is what everybody thinks. You are Clara Oswald. Clara Oswald is a cover story -- a disguise. There is no Clara Oswald. Identify. Oh, don't be so slow. It's embarrassing. Who could fool you like this? Who could hide right under your nose? Who could change their face anytime they want?

[optiwashere]

Huh, I didn't even realize it'd been a year since BG3 came out until I opened tumblr this morning. Kinda wild. I didn't think much of the game's release: I like Larian's games, and I like the BG series. I wasn't ever going to skip the game, but I didn't think I'd play it at launch because I was busy working on a novel in 2023 and not doing well financially.

Thankfully, circumstances left me with a little bit of extra money last year just before launch and it meant I could spend on a video game. I needed a pick-me-up after said 2023 novel failed to go anywhere, and BG3 was right there. Like most CRPGs, I played it in basically every moment of free time that I had and did as much as I possibly could in one playthrough.

It's so odd how these small happenstances can snowball into coming back to fandom, finding some friends I might've never met otherwise, and writing a lot of fanfiction along the way. I'll probably have something more interesting to say/share when it's the 14th, AKA when I sat down and wrote my first fic for this fandom.

Anyways, it's been a lot of fun and I'm looking forward to more years to come 💜

[ssaalexblake]

I'm forever astounded at all the Gallifrey/time lord society stanning that goes on in fandom? It's the monkey paw!!!! Read the small print!!!

So much of dw's canon will Entirely pass people by, literally spanning from the earlier years of classic who to the present day, if you can't identify that Gallifreyen society is rotten to the core.

The Doctor couldn't be the hero if they continued to sully themselves in a brutal empire's name.

(it's the british empire. but space. british empire bad. very bad. come on.)

[variousqueerthings]

the doctor is like that bit from casper the friendly ghost where he's like "can I keep you," because it's these deep connections to people that can't last and there will always be a mild to severe gulf between them, and there's something just a bit unnerving about it, like you've been sucked into this being's frenzy because they can't bear to be alone and you want to, but there's something a tad lovecraftian about the whole universe the doctor introduces you to, that the doctor radiates a need to keep you in, and if the doctor weren't good you'd worry a bit about the intensity of the doctor's emotions towards you and you're worried a bit anyway, but you're not entirely sure why, only that even if you survive and leave (or get left behind) you will be forever changed in indescribable and often terrible ways, and the doctor knew this going in and you didn't, and they let you take the plunge anyway, but what else could you do and what else could they do? the doctor wishes they could keep you forever and ever

[rearranging-deck-chairs]

do you think that what the doctor usually feels for companions, rather than romantic or sexual attraction, might just be idolisation?

[tethrras]

deciding to headcanon that the lighthouse makes people feel Calm and Docile and Relaxed to excuse the fact that more of the companions aren't as mad as lucanis that ANY of this is happening

[tethys-the-aquatic-sea-godness]

I was having fun then this happened

[doctorwhoisadhd]

one thing about me is when i was 12 or 13 i DID in fact go on itunes to buy dr who music and what i legitimately did was pick out several individual tracks SPECIFICALLY because they were leitmotifs. so i have literally just always been this way

[revvethasmythh]

my toxic trait is that i legitimately think lucanis' plot is the most interesting one because it's SO soap opera and fucked which appeals to me specifically and tbh i could take or leave the god plot and most of the others for a game focused solely on the messy messy lives of family dellamorte

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

Are there any companions you can't stand?

I wouldn't say I have any that I can't stand. Something that's so engaging to me about DA is that the companions have good, bad, and a lot in between. Honestly, I don't hate any of them. There are companions that I have more issues with than others, but I like them all; even, and sometimes especially, the ones that tend to be heavily hated on by the fandom.

The only companion that might fall into this category for me is Sebastian, but I totally acknowledge that I've yet to make an effort to use him when I play DA2. I legit just forget about him. How am I supposed to have a good grasp of his character when I don't engage with him outside of his companion quests? Plus I usually romance Anders so Sebastian always leaves my party in the end with threats of bringing an army down on Kirkwall for not killing Anders, soooo... yeah. Not the greatest impression he's left me with.

I would like to have a more well-rounded opinion of Sebastian because the concept of him is interesting; he's this chantry brother who is also a prince, but his family was murdered so he puts up a bounty on the chantry board [which admittedly is SO funny] and his companion quests are about avenging his family and helping him decide if he should take back his lands or remain a chantry brother. But then I talk to him, I listen to him talk to the other companions, and it's like... oh, the chantry has become his entire personality because the dude was brainwashed and now he's saying shit like the maker was actually the one who freed Fenris from slavery, and when Fenris tells him a story about how Denarius killed a child in a ritual for more power, Sebastian just doubles down that the maker has his reasons, like....babe, c'mon now.

I feel like I've read pieces about him written by fans who love him that are more compellingly written than he is, if that makes sense. Really, I would love to be educated by those who love him, especially Sebastian romancers because of all the love interests in all of DA, he's the one I look at and go, "....okay but why?" I have a lot of fun with character discussions and other perspectives so I mean that sincerely.

Also I think it's worth noting that when I play, I tend to get super into the roleplay of my warden/hawke/inquisitor, but while they have party members they can't stand, I have opinions that are separate from them, y'know?

For example, since I've talked about it a lot recently, my mage Hawke and Aveline butt heads constantly. By the end of Act 3, they're rivalry is heated and Ed's surprised Aveline even sided with him in the end because THAT is how much their relationship deteriorated over the course of the game... but then there's my warrior Hawke who adored Aveline. The two of them were best friends and Aris always gave her the benefit of the doubt, like she had Aveline's back through and through.

I've complained about Aveline a lot in my posts so it probably does sound like I can't stand her, but that's not true. Aveline's actually a companion that fascinates me, like she makes me go, "God, you're such an asshole, tell me more right now." and it drives me crazy how she and Carver are foils, like I love it so much, I could go on and on about how foiled they are, it makes me want to bite something.

It's very easy to look at Aveline and think she's just a bitch, she's a cop, she's a bad character, #Aveline-critical, bad companion, etc. I see it all the time, and not just with her, but with every companion in dragon age, y'know? I'm not saying that's wrong or anything; some characters just don't vibe with you or you have legit reasons for hating them and that's fine. I'm just saying some of it's very surface level unless you make the effort to elaborate.

If you don't like a character, you're less likely to make an effort to understand or see anything positive about them. You're more likely to have confirmation bias, so whenever they do or say anything, you go looking for the worst interpretation. I try not to do this just because for me, that's the "boring" approach to games like this but as we've seen, I'm not immune either... y'know, Sebastian.

But Carver gets this a lot, too, and I think I've made myself clear that Carver is my favorite, I love him, the Hawke twins are S-tier companions and I would throw everyone in Kirkwall into the ocean if it meant Bethany and Carver's happiness.

Now that I'm thinking about it, the characters a lot of fans can't stand are some of my favorites?

Like a lot of people shit on Sera, and I'm like "Nah, that's my girl! Listen, she's got a LOT of internalized issues, but we're working through them okay! She's getting better!"

And Vivienne? Oh, don't get me started on Vivienne, I have a whole deal about her. She's also an asshole and I love her.

My canon inquisitor is Surana who escaped the circle and joined the dalish, becoming Lavellan. Vivienne is a reflection of what Ash could've been if she hadn't run away with Jowan. She played the game of the circle, she stepped wherever she needed to step because Ash knew she was at a disadvantage by being an elf, for one, and for two, not coming from a family with wealth that would give her special privileges. Her downfall was buying into her own hype and believing she couldn't be wrong about Jowan, believing that she could either prevent them from making him tranquil or help him and Lily run away, and believing she was above punishment because she worked her way into being Irving's favorite. Yet it all bit her in the ass and she had to run… so then years later after living outside of the circle and realizing just what the chantry is, how it conditions and abuses mages and shit, she meets Vivienne who also played the game well and came out on top, who now spouts the same shit Ash used to spout and it's makes their dynamic sooo chewable.

Then there's Cullen who's not a companion but I lump him and Josephine in with the companions anyway. They're advisors, they're in the inner circle, they count.

He's such a spineless ass in DA2 like believe me, I get all the criticisms he gets... but he's also fairly polite to Hawke even if they're openly anti-templar, he's softer spoken, and he's unwell after what happened to him in DAO and Meredith's clearly taking advantage of his state... but then he becomes an advisor in DAI who is so done with people's bullshit and blatantly honest about it, like he looks at Chancellor Roderick like "this fucking guy again" and he's so ready to just go for it, y'know? Well... unless you're a pretty lady who bats her eyes at him, then suddenly he doesn't know how words work. Like sometimes I feel crazy because I find him to be so funny in DAI, and overall a compelling character that I enjoy interacting with even when he's being a total asshole. Yeah, there's issues in his writing but I appreciate the vision the writers were going for, even if they stumbled... except for Sheryl Chee, I don't appreciate her contribution of those few posts on the DA forums that everyone uses as a smoking gun to "prove" awful things about him. Nothing gets under my skin more in character discussions than bad faith arguments and there's so much of that when it comes to Cullen.

Actually, while we're on that, can I just add a note that when I first got into this fandom, I saw someone's post about Chee doing an interview where she said all those bad things about Cullen wanting to assault the mage warden and I was like, "What? An interview? What interview?? Where??" and I couldn't find shit until much later when I read another anti-Cullen post that cited a DA forum as the source for her saying those things... so not an interview. I went digging for the forum, went into the way back machine to find it.... only to discover that this smoking gun comes from a fanfiction forum where Mary Kirby was also talking about Sten and catgirls and y'all expect me to take that seriously?

We can have discussions about whether or not Cullen's a bad person or a bad character, but the moment you bring Sheryl Chee into it, I know you're here in bad faith and your argument is void.

Sorry for the tangent and the long answer but this is the stuff I enjoy. I could talk about the characters of DA for ages unprompted that when someone does throw me a bone, I will discuss and gush about them all.

[elendsessor]

actually the worst takes for any sega owned property come from yakuza.

there’s a ton of themes surrounding how you can always make steps to improve yourself and atone for past actions, start over, and find reasons to live no matter how difficult life gets.

but if your take away from any of the games is organized crime is cool or that the series is about romanticizing crime or just plain using it to fuel the fetishization of japan/japanese culture please don’t play any game about morally questionable things or anything from japan ever again.

[local-redhead-bookworm]

The sheer number of spider man game fans who are whining over Neil Newbon winning best performance is so funny. My partner is an avid Final Fantasy and Legend of Zelda enjoyer, and they were rooting for Clive’s VA and Tears of the Kingdom to win more awards than they did. But you know what happened when Baldur’s Gate 3 won? My partner grumbled but accepted the loss with grace and acknowledged that BG3 was a good game.

Meanwhile I have never seen such sore losers as the Spider Man 2 fans. They are in videos of people celebrating Neil Newbon’s performance, congratulating him on his win, and sharing their favorite parts of his performance leaving comments like “rigged af”, “Yuri lost to this?”, and “😭 we know these girl voted cause they were creaming for him” (that last one is a direct quote). As if that isn’t a phrase I’ve never heard before. Accept the L! You were outvoted! This is how the awards work, people vote for what they like! Cry about it, and go touch some grass!

[redeemed-wren]

Listening to Spare Parts and had to stop and TAKE A SECOND because this Frank character really asked NYSSA who she's ever lost. Nyssa.

Aside from the fact that she's having Adric's death thrown in her face over and over due to the cyberman presence here, SHE LOST HER WHOLE PLANET. Every single person she KNOWS. Her father's FACE WAS STOLEN.

I am Fuming on her behalf what do you know Frank. She is so strong for not responding to that.