#anyway. my warden playthrough is going great

[ghost-bard]

I keep seeing ppl talk about a secret ending or like. A post credit scene??? WHERE??? HOW???? Are there certain conditions i have to meet to see it or am i just a dumbass and skipped it by accident bc i was streaming the end of the game to my friend

[trulycertain]

Finished Veilguard about a week back. My thoughts on the character writing (massive spoilers herein):

The character writing... feels like DA2 to me. Not enough time and too much internal upheaval. The characters are fascinating and I like them! But they're sketches - albeit often beautiful, interesting ones - not finished paintings. (Origins and Inquisition's definitely feel like paintings to me.)

It's not about writing ability. A lot of old hands who wrote beloved stuff were on here. Trick Weekes, obviously, who gave us Solas and Bull and so much other good stuff; Sheryl Chee (who wrote Leliana and Isabela and has my hat forever for them); Brianne Battye, who wrote Cullen in DAI, whose arc I adored; Mary Kirby got to write Varric and part of Lucanis; Sylvia Fetekeuty gave us the beautiful, tightly-worldbuilt quests and politics like Orzammar, and In Hushed Whispers - heck, she wrote Josephine… I honestly just think it's a lack of time and clear direction due to so many game leads being in and out.

I love all the intra-crew interaction, it's really awesome to see. I like that I can tell companions have their friends and favourites and smoochfellows (I'll be honest, I did not call Taash/Harding, I thought for sure Taash and Davrin would end up with something going on, though I also did not call Neve/Lucanis and judging from their friendship, I bet that romance would be wonderful - they're probably my favourite team to take out other than either of them with Emmrich, or Bellara + Emmrich - I love magic talk.) The team meetings are a great idea that reinforce that. Also, I really love the fact that companion banters will play in the Lighthouse too (I realised after I reloaded and got a similiar conversation post-coming back that it's the same as banter when you're out walking - so it'll advance with personal quests, and if there's a pairing you don't usually take out with you, you still get a chance to catch the odd interesting chat). I do wish it were still a three companion team, though - even more because of this. I also love the tiny things, like Lucanis adjusting his meals for the fact Rook is a tea drinker and Emmrich is a veggie. (God do I relate to "vegetarian who talks relentlessly about their special interest while others sigh and takes a while to work out what to do when flirted with".) I love that companions pick up their banter again if it's interrupted by fights! Wonderful quality-of-life improvement thing, and also a bit more realistic feeling. People get bored and talk, and wonder things while they're wandering.

I absolutely love the plot of this game. I think it follows through on so many ideas in such a cool way, and I love Solas in this game, and the art and performances are beautiful. It has lots of respectful, loving tie-ins to the past games and clearly is thinking about them. I just think the companions, much like DA2, are fantastic ideas that just needed a bit of time.

I mean, let's take Neve - my romance, trope catnip for me in "tired mage who's not afraid to just deck someone, PI, stoic, normally male tropes applied to female chars, sharp-dressed" - as an example. Veilguard does more natural conversation flow - you can't sit and quiz companions on their selves and backstories like a job interview. But because you only get investigation options in chats anyway, you only get to ask companions about stuff they want to talk about. Which means with Davrin all you'll know is Wardens and Assan, mostly, but you can at least ask him about his past. With Neve, all you get is Dock Town, depression and fish.

I found out a lot about her backstory and family after my first playthrough - because you only get that through banters and taking out the exact right team. DA2 did this too, and it was a sign of rushed writing. As opposed to DAO and DAI, where you have their basic conflicts sketched out for you, but banters add colour, context and nuance - but regardless of team you take out, you get the basics. And they'll tell you stuff, if you ask and show interest.

Lucanis, Neve and Harding talk far more amongst themselves about some actually pretty key stuff, but not to Rook - unlike Emmrich, Taash and Davrin, who when you've spoken to them long enough will tell you a bit about them, and you can go, "Oh, I see how they got like that." Like, Neve is laetan from a soporati mostly templar family, and that elevation of having a sudden mage in the family basically tore her family apart nearly as badly as Fenris'. The class and mage stuff is major to her self-identity and why she's in Dock Town. But despite her fondness of Dock Town, her accent has no class markers except "posh London" and none of this comes up if you don't take exactly the right team out; I found some of this out through Reddit, of all places.

Now, you may say, "Isn't that replay value?" I'd argue not, when you're in an RPG that sells itself on its ensemble cast. Neve's introductory dialogue establishes that she's Minrathous and really cares about her city. And that she's a PI. The rest… is plot exposition. And it mostly carries on being exposition, albeit in a stylised way. So she has a liking for fancy hats, is pessimistic and is exhaustedly principled and love-hates Minrathous… but you knew that in her first five minutes. Even the fried fish thing, which exemplifies her love for the city and how she's grounded even though she's a mage? Ten hours in at least. And even if you play a Shadow Dragon who is also from a military family and felt left out? You get more opportunities to talk about that with Tarquin than Neve.

By contrast, here are some examples of character details that were well-done replay/"thanks for paying attention" value:

I adored many char moments, like her being wary of Emmrich but liking Manfred - calling him "Fred" - and eventually warming to them both, and her helping Taash out on gender and recognising some of this because she knew Mae and Tarquin, and Lucanis trying to feed her something healthy… but other than the middle part, all of this pretty important character growth is in easily missable banters. DA2 did this too and it drove me nuts. I took her everywhere with me because I liked her so much! And I still knew none of her backstory. Because Tevinter Nights and banter fill it in. You learn very little; you'll come out of the game thinking exactly the same of her as you did at the start. She's beautiful and every trope she's made out of is gold and her actor has a gorgeous voice, but compare a character like… heck, not even Dorian - Sera, or Bull, who offered new perspectives on Ferelden and the Qun (post-Blight and working-class, Ben Hassrath). Neve has an arc so tangled with her city that it feels like you should have got more of a glimpse of everyday working class Tevinter life through her, which I would love to see explored, and you just… don't. Noir PIs are tied to their cities, the one is a metaphor for the other, and it feels like they did that metaphor so much better with Hawke as a battered allegory for Kirkwall.

In Inquisition, let's say you never talk to Dorian past recruiting him. You never even find out he's arguing with his dad, never mind that he's gay. You still get that he's a very gifted mage, pretends to be arrogant, let down by his mentor and "not everything from Tevinter is terrible." You don't get his family history, that he hates the cold and has allergies, the nerdy magical talk, the necromancy nerdery… but you get a sampler plate of "preens, principled, proud Tevinter mage". You get a good picture even if it's incomplete.

In some ways, you actually get to know the Viper better if you choose Treviso. Less overall interaction, maybe, but you get that great scene with him mourning the dead and his response to him being Blighted, and the stuff with Antoine and Evka. And then you get that codex upon his kidnapping confirming his family name, but you have to have been paying attention to the lore to know why him being a Vesperian is such a big deal. You still know who he is and why he's here even if you barely interact with him, though.

I also loved, on Tarquin, that you get to know a bit more about him either way, but it's only if you save Minrathous that you get to know just how sad he is about the Viper not trusting him, how much they talk, the fact he's the tired admin - such a mood - and the fact he's not cis. You've shown your commitment to the Dragons by then, it's not just trotted out as a basic "getting to know you" thing with a character who isn't otherwise loud and proud. Whichever city you save, the finale confirms he's actually probably a mage, too - you see him using what looks like frost/accuracy magic, briefly. My guess is that either a: like Felix, he wasn't strong enough in it to achieve much rank b: he was limited by class c: his dad went, "Nope, if you're a man, you're a soldier now.")

Those two Veilguard choices felt like such great replayability. Like I said with DAI's banters: you get the basics, but certain choices you make give you access to new info which suddenly recontextualises and illuminates things for you. I particularly enjoyed talking to Tarq as a fellow Shadow Dragon from a fellow military family. The tired wry understanding felt very real.

I really like the whole cast, but the most... I don't know, finished? characters feel like Solas, Emmrich, Bellara and Tash. Perhaps Davrin, though he still needed a little time. I adore Lucanis (and startlingly, may like Spite even more!) but I definitely feel like he needed more time and writer stability. Emmrich lets you in on his fears and his worries a good while after knowing him, and also lets on that he's grown up in the Necropolis and it's all he knows, and that he spent time talking to spirits and was more in tune with them as a kid than most. That's not structured as an exposition dump. You have to do his personal quests to see them, but they're very much "friend decides to let Rook in on something, embarrassedly" and "come to see my favourite place". The spirits you meet are as part of other side quests and that stuff comes up naturally. Taash's intro tells you right off their mum is constantly criticising them and doesn't like them "acting butch", that criticism is due to their mum being very Qunari, and that they're really into dragons. If you pursue their quests, you get them coming out, a thorough discussion of how they feel about this stuff, them being a jerk with Emmrich, their bluntness getting them into trouble sometimes, and certain rituals and friendships in the Lords being influenced by it. So you get told all that, sure… but you also get to see it spread and ripple. There's an arc. And almost all of that you can get even without the "right" banter. Davrin's Dalish background is relevant to the plot and is a matter-of-fact part of who he is, but if you pursue his quests you get to find out about him working out whether to hide/suppress the gentler parts of himself, that he was an adorable kid, that he's into whittling, and that he's very no-nonsense about the Evanuris' bullshit because he is a stoic who gets the job done and his Warden identity takes priority, even while his Dalish upbringing informs his personality and his hunts (imo this was very well done).

You might say, "But isn't 'Characters stand around telling you their tragic backstory' the BioWare Problem?" Yeah, sure! But there's a natural build with these above examples. And shoving stuff into banter is still telling, not showing; there's no writerly sleight of hand there, either. I'd also argue that one of the reasons people have often spoken about Emmrich looking out for their Rook, or having more connection with their Rook, is that his chats with them are written much more in the Inquisition style than Veilguard's, though there are some exceptions.

Another thing: characters rarely interject/add their tuppence in quests compared to the other games, has anyone noticed this? That also gives me fewer chances to clock their stances on things, or whether they hide behind snark, or their pet issues. Same with location comments/colour commentary, which are such a tiny thing but really do help with a feeling of reactivity (BG3 did this great, but it's a very different genre and devcycle, so I'm just gonna compare past BioWare). There's no "Smell the oppression" in the Gallows or "Should've brought a sweater" in Noveria or "It must have been some time since templars [in the Hinterlands] faced a mage of any talent" or… most of Garrus and Miri bitching about Omega. I can think of, maybe two? (Half of Fenris' interjections were a slightly more complex, "ugh, I don't give a shit, can we get back to hunting slavers", but you still caught that he hated blood mages, liked the Guard and Isabela, and had an incredibly dry sense of humour.)

That lessening of dialogue, to me, points to a lack of time. My theory is the plot was laid out and carefully tooled, and companions were written/rewritten last, when the timeline was tight. As folks have pointed out: for all his faults, Gaider was famously a tight lead who gave writers their favourite characters to encourage ownership and investment, said Weekes' concepts for Solas were fantastic but made them rewrite him several times because he was coming off so unlikeable, worked very closely with VAs and always got stuff in on time. Also, he has never said this, but Weekes and Busch have always said he did the vast majority of worldbuilding and pretty much all the reveals in the plot were stuff laid out in the writers' room during/after DAO, and Weekes has said they knew of this stuff and it was passed onto them. So I think a lot of it may be upheaval and his absence being… keenly felt. It always seemed like there was a lot more Gaider in DA (compare how many characters he wrote) than there was Drew Karpyshyn or Casey Hudson in ME. DA2 was still messy as hell even with him very much involved, though, so *shrug*.

I very much enjoyed Solas' dialogue, though. That felt all Weekes, and like they were at their most passionate. Bits of it felt very Mordin, actually.

I do think everyone did a fantastic job pulling together not just a coherent but enjoyable and at times very beautiful product after such a difficult devcycle. I would argue they did a much better job than with DA2. There's a lot of skill and thought in this. It feels much, much more finished than DA2. It's just a lot more "action" than "RPG" in terms of party mechanics and dialogue. That still makes it feel like a complete, enjoyable action-adventure game, whereas DA2 was much more RPG with a lot of its mechanics but felt indecisive and unfinished to the end. I also think it's a good intro to the series, though the first hour might be a bit confusing. You get a good intro to the Wardens and Mourn Watch and Tevinter. Also, I love Arlathan and I could write essays on why. It just felt like, unlike most DA entries, the plot was stronger than the people this time round.

[hellafluff]

@dalishious made a fun fillable chart (blank here) for your DA Faves. Gave my reasoning under the cut bc i love to talk

DAO Companion: Shale of course! If Shale has 1 fan its me and if Shale has 0 fans I'm dead, you know how it goes. Shale is sassy and delightful and I love that they're my nonbinary rep bc I for one LOVE non-human enbies as someone who feels pretty non-human.

DA2 Companion: I'm extremely basic and have been in love with Varric Tetras for years.

DAI Companion: DORIAN!!! His journey through the game and how involved the Quizzy gets feels more personal then any of the other companions and I love the banter the two have together. My Lavellan and him are extremely close.

Excited for Veilguard Companion: Emmrich Volkarin I am Deeply Attracted To You. I have his official art as my phone lockscreen right now. I love necromancers and older men and he's so goddamn cute. Plus, Skeleton friend!!!!!!

Favorite Other Media Character: I've been obsessed with Maevaris Tilani for years and if she isn't in Veilguard I am going to end up on the news. She's a queen and the scene of her and her husband in the fade in the comics makes me so sad.

Favorite NPC: Sandal because I decided to put the Architect in the antagonist slot! I do sincerely love Sandal and I'm excited to see if we get anymore lore on him in DATV. I love the theory that he's a Sha-Brytol.

Favorite PC: Warden-Commander Mirabelle Aeducan, Mira to her friends. I love my get-shit-done exiled princess. She put her brother on the throne but also punched him very hard first chance they were alone. She is still treated as royalty in Orzammar and keeps visiting and making surface trade agreements for them as she searches for a Cure for the Calling. Is she supposed to be doing all that? No but the Wardens sure as shit aren't gonna stop her. She misses Alistair very much but purposefully broke up with him so he could be on the throne. They still keep in contact whenever they can.

Favorite Antagonist: I'm going to kiss The Architect. If we do not see him again in DATV I'm. Well I'm not gonna end up on the news but I will be extremely sad. I want to see the rest of the Ancient Magisters very bad, I think they would make great side DLC content for DATV.

Fave NPC Ship: Wade and Herren are married and I am constantly upset that weren't in Inquisition as like a specialty weapon shop at the very least.

Fave NPC Friends: Blackwall and Sera. The goddamn... Weird Uncle and Weird Niece ass relationship they have. They have some of the best banter in the game. I wasn't a Sera fan for a long time but them together really makes both of their characters shine.

Favorite Romance: I'm extremely basic and want to commit terrorism with and for Anders. Krista Hawke can and will do everything in her power to protect this man.

Favorite Friendship: Dorian again! Seriously, him and my Lavellan are basically in a QPR. He really brings her out of her shell and she matches his energy and wants to help him anyway she can. If she wasn't with Iron Bull by Trespasser she'd probably have gone to Tevinter with him.

Favorite Quest: I like the back half of Paragon of Her Kind a lot, the final confrontation with Branka and Caridin especially. Throw Shale in there for lore and fuck yeah. A lot of it comes down to my Warden being Aeducan and my love of Shale but what can I say, if my Hawke could be a Dwarf she absolutely would have been.

Favorite DLC: I played Jaws of Hakkon as a reluctant mage elf on my last playthrough and fucking sobbed after the Ameridan Meeting. That DLC is absolutely life ruining if you play that kind of Inquisitor, it was all of Adana's deepest fears realized and it shook me how deep in character I got playing it.

Favorite Game: DA2! I love it's jank and story in a story nature and relationship mechanics. I really hope we get a rivalry mechanic in DATV or other games try something like that. I don't want to piss a companion off so much they leave I want them to stay and get bitchy with me in every dialogue! I wanna romance someone who curses my name! Also just has the best story of all the games.

Favorite Other Media: I really enjoyed Absolution! I think some parts of it are under written because of how short it is (Qwydion just being comic relief is the thing that really gets me) but the overall plot and animation is REALLY good! I haven't watched it since it aired tho. I'm hoping it gets another season to cover the Meredith stinger, because I don't know how they'd handle that in DATV.

[ndostairlyrium]

4th question for the ask game: what does your worldstate look like??

Hello!!! Thanks for asking!

And sorry in advance for the length :'D

The ask game

So, um, lemme grab the Keep real quick hahah

I'll paste pics from that, from time to time u-u

This worldstate could be summed up as: we hate dragons, and we're saying "world peace" at the q&a portion of the show

Ela - Walker Hawke - Ankh

Origins:

Elanor Cousland, Warrior, 2H Weapon, romanced Alistair

Honorable, fair, and possibly the stupidest - earnest? Both things are valid for her and can cohabitate lol

-Companions:

-Arl of Redcliffe:

Helped Redcliffe prepare, all townspeople are safe, Isolde is alive, Connor is alive and not possessed, and Jowan was sent back to the Circle. The urn of sacred ashes is pristine ✨ a dragon was hurt in the process tho <<

-Broken Circle:

Supported Mages, Irving is alive.

-Nature of The Beast:

Brokered peace, saved the halla <3 we love our weird goats <3

-Denerim / Landsmeet:

Anora is queen (literally and metaphorically. my warden fangirls pretty hard @ her)

DLCs:

-Awakening:

We sided with the Architect, because she's stupid like that << and full of hope, okay, but mostly stupid

-Witch Hunt:

She let Morrigan go, but didn't follow her. I guess Alistair still blames her for that

-Warden's Keep:

Both Avernus and Sophia are dead, she couldn't drink the drink <<

-

Dragon Age II

Walker Hawke, Entropy Elemental and Force Mage, Humorous personality, romanced Fenris

Joined the smugglers at his arrival (he's quite the silver tongue)

-Companions:

-Act 1:

Going along with the "Blame the fereldan for everything" trend, starting from mom. If you get repeated "it's your fault" constantly, you start to believe it.

Also, the way he's butthurt for poor Ketojan!! Damn!

Will blame himself for handling that quest horribly. He can't understand, literally. He'll bring that experience with him forever

-Act 2:

A classic "my bullshit detector worked, but what the hell is going on anyway?" :'D

Also of course we did the 8 run around the columns << it's a must have in every playthrough!

-Act 3:

Sided with mages, heart of gold confirmed.

Also we hate dragons in this game as well u-u

Anders is alive and well, with a hand stamp on his cheek

-DLCs

Recruited Sebastian (unfortunately) - Sided with Larius (again, unfortunately) - I, huh, can't remember anything of Mark of the Assassin because it was unplayable :'D literally. The dialog wasn't working, it glitched every five minutes, and the game started to crash at a rapid pace after the party. Will watch walkthroughs in the future, because I remember having fun <<

-

Dragon Age: Inquisition

Ankh of clan Lavellan, Rogue Archer, Artificer, slayed all the dragons, romanced Cullen

Stoic approach favored

-Advisors

Prefers a honest approach, when she can. Diplomacy route is her favorite, but when she's dealing with nobles she always talks to Leliana first. The poor Cullen is the last to get attention :'

She denies being chosen by Andraste, Cassandra is veery happy about it /s

Reasons with Leliana about her role in Valence's cloister. Not hardened

Helps Josephine by raising the Du Paraquettes to nobility

Tells Cullen not to use lyrium, but it was more like "what do you want?", "This", "Then I'll help". Anyway, I always disliked how that discussion was handled as an addict myself lol

Leliana is the new Divine

-Companions:

The "friends with Blackwall" happens after a big while after what he did, but I won't say anything else since I have the chapter(s) planned and ready to be delivered lol then I will talk about it freely

-In Hushed Whispers / Champions of the Just

Sided with Mages, Mages are allied with the Inquisition

-Wicked Eyes, Wicked Hearts

This won't bite her in the ass in the future, noooo, like, totally a great decision :'D

The judgment after that was top tier best BioWare moments, I will cherish that experience forever <3

-Here Lies the Abyss

The utmost horrid choice was between Hawke and Alistair. She preferred to give the Wardens a chance, because she understands the weight of their duty - also they saved the world multiple times?

There's much else to say that relates to this decision, and some of it is personal, I must admit. But I'll eviscerate the thing another time, maybe :'D if people are interested ofc

-What Pride Had Wrought

Didn't drink from the well, because Solas made a good point about it lol and after what happened with Flemeth later, well... she's okay with that decision :' thanks Solas!

Oh, and she did the rituals. Good elfie <3

DLCs

-Jaws of Hakkon

I don't really have much to add, other than:

She sees what her role could turn into and that's a pretty scary outcome. She had fun with the bear thing, tho! That was pretty hilarious, plus I have something in mind with a climbing contest but, um

Will say the sayings another time lol

Also we still hatin on dragons

-The Descent

Did stop the earthquakes, enjoyed the trip and all the new info! 10/10 would return for Spring break (I hated it, she had the time of her life. That dlc was hard o-o like, intensely hard what the hell)

-Trespasser

She's gonna slap the god, and then she's gonna treat him with chicken soup and a hug

Also, she always knew that the Inquisition had a limited time, and she did everything she could to make it right. But you can't squeeze a lemon forever and pretend the sauce isn't increasingly bitter (?)

-

That's all I guess? Hopefully it's understandable :'D

[wifeblade]

veilguard thoughts / first impressions

First of all: My rook

Was really pretty.

I'm going to briefly summarize my opinion of the game and then just talk about my playthrough.

It's clear that solas is the writer's pet; basically the writing became 80% better and more enjoyable anytime he was even remotely involved. Luckily for us, he's very involved in the main plot and ending. Unluckily for us, he's not involved with the companions.

I deeply missed character depth/development and world depth/development in this game. I feel like we kinda got the crust of a piece of toast but not the filling.

Really genuinely impressed how despite bioware apparently changing direction drastically mid-development and laying all their writers off, this game manages to not be bad. Not great but not actually bad. I think that's a win for everyone and I'm not surprised the devs are proud/satisfied w the game as it is

I played a grey warden dwarf rook, and that was a lucky decision, because grey warden is one of apparently like three? backgrounds that really become relevant to the plot. There were also a metric tonne of GW specific dialogue options which I looveeee. I played Rias (that her) very stereotypical GW character which was really well supported by the game. Rias Thorne you will always be famous to me

Anyway so I totally fell for the varric thing and for Solas' big twist I was not expecting it at all TOOOO THHEEEE POINTTTT I wasn't paying attention in the big twist cutscene because I was like haha funny trick Elgar'nan I dont trust your silly images magic man (sob). I actually had to reload the save and watch it again to pay attention for real (and also just to comprehend it because it was a REALLY good twist). But yeah F to me for not realizing that varric wasn't real omg. I thought the weird you-are-my-dad thing that was happening with him was odd but it really makes sense with the twist.

Anyway For the treviso vs. minthaous choice I chose to defend treviso. I felt like this choice was forced at first but I really liked how it played out afterwards and I honestly wish we were forced to choose between more factions & there were more BIG CHOICESSS heheheeeee What I did not anticipate was that the choice would actually just completely obliterate the shadow dragons. I was back there multiple times trying to see if they had any sort of shop or characters left and nope they are just completely gone. This did mean I couldn't interact with their faction (sad) but it makes sense as you can't be around if you are dead. I was expecting a bit more, like I was hoping for a followup quest to follow up on what exactly happened to the dragons and where they were, but it was cool. It was such a surprise to see mae and dorian still at the end lol. I like that Neve took it really personally but wish it could have been developed more.

For my next playthru im gonna torch treviso instead and Ill be super sad about it because lucanis is kind of my little kitten man. Part of the reason I defended treviso in the first place is that lucanis has enough to deal with

I decided to romance Bellara because she's pretty and also I felt like her voice actress was doing a good job despite there not being a lot of character animation. The romance was. not very good. I genuinely thought they were doing a QPR thing because all they were doing was standing around talking about being in a relationship lol. It seems like from a cursory glance it's the same for most of the other romances, so that's a bit sad.

Managed to get Davrin super killed in the last mission (oops) but it seems like someone has to die in this choice, which I love, but we're definitely trying to kill someone else next time. (Again I really lucked out by creating a rook that makes the two people who can die very significant. These two were her besties). I almost wish the final decisions had been less obvious so I could have accidentally killed even more people *grinchface* but it is what it is. And it's nice that Neve/Bellara get to live.

Shoutouts to my favorite bitches:

Bellara - totally under-served by her questline (cyrian should have started out not dead!!!! My strongest opinion!!!!) she still managed to be incredibly lifegiving in terms of banter and reactions.

Emmerich ESPECIALLY as a skeleton. I started taking so many pictures of him as a lich. I really really dig it. He was pretty dope before also. I like that he's a full adult with a job

Davrin - besides being automatically my rook's bestie due to GW shenanigans, heroic / paladin type characters are my catnip. Somehow we managed to have a pet guy who's not completely overshadowed by his pet!! His questline was extremely dumb because the villain is a cameo from a tie-in book in a true #dragonagewriting move LOL

Lucanis - the kitten thing really got to me. I feel like it's also easy to see the potential for how his family relationships COULD have been developed and it's pretty likable. I loved that you can't kill illario (though i was looking forward to seeing what happens if you save him, which I will likely not be allowed to without saving treviso. rip)

Thats it!! Also I forgave solas at the end because I was deliberatly running a solavellan state because I knew the writers had to do something about that and I wanted to see it. Next time I'm going decieve/trick ending which is. a little sad because now I LIKE THE GUY UGH

[full---ofstarlight]

What are some of your favorite parts of DA:V and least favorite things or things you wished got changed or tweaked slightly in DA:V?

i wanna preface this by saying i ultimately did really like the game and my issues definitely boil down to a lot of personal preference!

and im putting this under a readmore so people can just scroll past it

i was surprised at how much i enjoyed the combat! it was really fun and i usually am not great at DA combat, but i enjoyed it.

i also really like the general quality of life improvements, like no inventory cap, the appearance feature withe the armor so i could wear good defensive stuff but still look cute (lol), the fact that they party banter PAUSES and picks up??? the environments were also GORGEOUS

overall i was happy with the companions, though i wish there was a little more... teeth to them i guess. and generally some more content, since looking at that storyboard dump that's been going around im like ahhhhhh what could've been!!!

there are some plot things i also wish had more teeth to them, in a way that people much more eloquent than me have stated

BUT that's. not enough for me to dislike the game, tbqh. im still very happy with it!! perhaps not my favorite dragon age, but i did fundamentally and thoroughly enjoy it and i will probably be starting a second playthrough this weekend woops lmao

i do think my BIGGEST issue tho..... is that i really do wish they integrated the past games more. i understand why but also i think there's a happy medium between the 20000000 choices from the keep vs the, like, 4 we got here

idk like i didnt have to make my hawke/warden but i coulda input their name and LI and if theyre alive or not and just get a codex entry?? something at weisshaupt that says WARDEN COUSLAND/TABRIS/BROSCA HERO OF FERLDAN etc wouldnt take too much??

yeah sure, how i resolved the redcliffe plot won't matter in a game that takes place in the north, but idk the codex entries and little nods to what you did were so fun and i guess im still a little sad about that !! im not asking for full on appearances (the codex letter you get from your LI is a nice touch BUT there's so many variables with like Bull/Cass/Blackwall that were just ignored)

ANYWAY i know that's old news at this point ahaha

OK! that is all! i am gonna make this unrebloggable i really dont want people to, like, argue with me lmao i enjoyed the game i had some issues but overall great time will play again lmao

[the-cryptographer]

Anders, Oghren, Leliana, Sten for 002.

Woohoo! Thanks for the ask!

002 | Give me a character: ANDERS

How I feel about this character: Ugly baby. Perverted old coot. I love him. He is like... simultaneously the most self-absorbed bastard and the most selfless giving person. Absolutely beautiful. I think Anders is a man/character of dichotomies, and I think despite some issues the narrative really gets that across well.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Merrill. Fenris. Justice. Hawke. Not sure if the canon version of this romance is any better than any of the others, but it’s definitely awful in a funnier way for me personally. And noncanon Hawke you can of course do great things with. Carver. Bethany. Basically whether these two end up in the Circle, or with the Wardens, you have an immediate in for thematic relevance and shared experience with Anders. He’s my favourite person to ship each of them with. Sigrun. I don’t have a justification for this one. Just think it would be cute. Nathaniel. Mmm, same. I’ve seen other people write this well in a way that makes me want to say I ship it, but I can’t exactly pin it down. Leliana. I mean, they don’t talk in canon. And I don’t think I can ship her Left Hand of the Divine self with Anders. But, like- canon diverge before that? Think about it. They both wanna be Andraste. They’re both wildly heretical Andrastians talking about love and compassion and justice. They need to kiss about that.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I’m going to say Justice? Like, I think their connection is romantic, but it’s sometimes hard (for me anyway) to get that across when they’re sharing a body, so I don’t think of it in quite the same way. I think despite all the dysfunction in their relationship, Justice and Anders really managed to be what the other needed through some hard times and I think there is some genuine longing there where Justice loved that Anders’s hedonism could coexist with the goodness of his cause and his compassion, and Anders was inspired by Justice’s courage and sense of morality and responsibility. I’m glad Anders has Justice, even in playthroughs where everything else goes wrong for him. I guess also Isabela? In the sense that I think they’re fun to put in a room together and bounce off one another. I think they make good friends-with-benefits too, but I don’t think they especially want to be emotionally intimate with one another. Anders doesn’t really respect Isabela and I think Isabela has very little patience for Anders’s drama so :/  But I like that they seem to manage to coexist in a working relationship quite well despite that. I like how Isabela seems to know how to handle him without taking his shit personally, and see the good in him without enabling him overmuch.

My unpopular opinion about this character: Idk, he’s a jackass, but I don’t think he was wrong about bombing the Chantry if it helped end/stymie the prison labour system in Southern Thedas? I guess something more specific? I don’t think he’s a character that’s easily satisfied. I think he’s reckless and self destructive and loves testing people’s boundaries. I’m writing a fic where he’s cheating on my OTP for all of the above reasons. I feel like ‘Anders would cheat on my OTP’ is probably an unpopular opinion, but it probably says more about me than him, lmao.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I think there are probably a couple answers I could give to this but I think #1 is just better acknowledgement of who Anders was and what he was up against? I dunno. The real thing I want is for da4 Fenris to wryly talk about how much he hated Anders in Kirkwall and now he’s essentially become Anders - a freedom fighter raging against an uncaring slave labour machine and aggravating the people he talks to with problems they don’t know how to help - and isn’t it strange and wonderful and awful where life takes you? I think it would be ironic.

my OTP: Anders/Merrill & Anders/Fenris. I often ship them simultaneously in a polyamorous sense, but not always. I talked about both of them in this post.

my cross over ship: N/A.

a headcanon fact: There’s canon dialogue reasons not to, but I think most people headcanon Wynne as Anders’s teacher in the Circle, and I’m no exception. I feel like her ‘boys will be boys’ attitude in Origins really jives well with a lot of Anders’s worse qualities, lol.

002 | Give me a character & I will tell you: OGHREN

How I feel about this character Worst boy, best boy <3  What a pathetic old war veteran who got chewed up by the system and spat out and left for dead. Also he’s terrible!

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Nobody really. No one deserves that, especially not Felsi. Okay, I lied. Wrote a fic once where he had a thing with Stroud and a fade spirit named Fury. Also he totally has a weird little crush on Nathaniel Howe (and maybe Anders too). It would be nice to explore more of that in ways that would cause brain damage for everyone involved >:)

My non-romantic OTP for this character: He and Zevran have a funny little set of banters going. I like how amused Zevran is by Oghren trying to negotiate this grudging respect for him. And I like Zevran trying to get him to laugh with the joke about an elf and a human and a dwarf talking about wiping the piss off their hands. Also Branka, to be honest. Theirs was obviously a very unhappy marriage, but I do genuinely like Oghren’s involvement in Paragon of Her Kind, and how he obviously seems to love and revere this woman and care about her when everyone else has given up on her. I love the way he’ll unreservedly call her a genius, and genuinely be upset if the Warden elects to kill her. Pity she doesn’t seem to return any of that affection.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I like him. I think he’s great for the duration of Paragon of Her Kind, as I said above. I think he definitely overstays his welcome after that though, between the rest of Origins and Awakening. Especially since Origins itself is saturated with a lot of Warrior characters when you really only want one in your party to draw fire.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: I wish he’d gotten a little more depth following Paragon if he was going to stick around. I think it’s frustrating that the writers seemed to think he was hilarious when the rest of us seemed to only see a sad pathetic alcoholic who takes out his disappointments with the world by sexually harrassing the people around him. I’m not even sure what I expect because I don’t even *need* him to get better, especially when he clearly doesn’t want to. But I wish there was a way to engage him less shallowly.

my OTP: N/A.

my cross over ship: N/A.

a headcanon fact: He thinks that Chasind honey mead is TOO SWEET and obviously for PANSIES & LITTLE GIRLS. But he still likes it. He sips it in secret at night and thinks of the honey termites in Orzammar.

002 | Give me a character & I will tell you: LELIANA

How I feel about this character: She is... the first character I romanced in this series. But I’m not sure it left me with many strong feelings about her. I think the back and forth the first game has about whether she fabricated her vision of the Maker entirely was interesting. I find her need to mythologise the world and the events of her life kind of frustrating, especially where it concerns turning Marjolene’s abuse of her into a tragic romantic epic. Though I think she is allowed to make sense of her life that way, if she chooses, I do find it alienating. I also think her association with the Chantry as a spearhead for its Imperialism is frustrating in DAI and subsequent additions to the series. Not that I consider it out of character, but it is a slap in the face imo for people who romanced her as Amell/Surana/Tabris/Mahariel. Definitely grounds for divorce.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Morrigan. It’s definitely fun to contrast their worldviews. And, of course, to get Leliana to use her comparative savvy and experience to get Morrigan begging >:) Zevran. It’s fun since they’re both bisexual killers for hire who like shoe shopping. Warden. I think most of the backgrounds can be done well with her (discounting DAI). Wynne. I do like how Leliana seems to see through Wynne’s old lady act a little, and point out that she herself is older than she looks. I think this could be fun. And I brought up Anders up there ^ as a potential crackship >:)

My non-romantic OTP for this character: I don’t think I have one? Or, rather, I’m open to all the things I discussed in the shipping section being explored nonromantically.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I think there’s a lot of potential for her and Josie and Cassandra to be the villains in a DAI playthrough tbh. They are the ones kind of controlling the narrative about what the Inquisition is, and using it to further an agenda I do not feel is particularly in the interests of the Inquisitor in many cases, let alone most of Thedas.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Leaning more into her villain potential in DAI should have been an option imo.

my OTP: Any permutation of Leli/Morri/Zev/Warden is okay by me, given the writing to back it up.

my cross over ship: N/A.

a headcanon fact: This is very fix-it of me. But Tug made it out of the Arl of Denerim’s Estate alive, but without working legs. Leliana thought it was more romantic to write about him dying and giving Sketch his axe. Ableism abounds. Sketch is not done being pissed off at her about it.

002 | Give me a character & I will tell you: STEN OF THE BERESAAD

How I feel about this character: Another dumb bitch traumatised war veteran <3 I like him. I think he is the source of the best character work and worldbuilding this series has done on the Qunari. And he’s fun and rewarding to watch open up. Discovering that this really hardened and murderous bastard, with this totally foreign social perspective, likes cookies and art - it feels lovely.

All the people I ship romantically with this character: Warden! I don’t go here often enough, but I have seen some really cute fics about him bonding with Wardens of different kinds and showing them his nice and soft sides <3 I think him and Morrigan troll flirting with one another is also really funny and great, lol.

My non-romantic OTP for this character: Zevran, maybe! I’m disappointed that follow-ups to the series never did anything with Zevran considering going to Par Vollen with him and checking out the Qun. And Dog <3  I feel like Sten is really that war vet guy who needs a service animal.

My unpopular opinion about this character: I’m not sure what counts as an unpopular opinion. I suppose I think it was terribly out of character for him to declare Alistair ‘basalit-an‘ in the comics. He clearly has absolutely no respect for the guy in Origins.

One thing I wish would happen / had happened with this character in canon: Egh, I think I’m pleased enough with what we get from him in canon, excluding the comics jank.

my OTP: I still think him and Warden could be cute together.

my cross over ship: N/A.

a headcanon fact: He got promoted to Arishok because he introduced Mabari puppies and cookies to Par Vollen and for no other reason.

[mugirmu]

ive heard of lots of people having frequent crash issues when playing dragon age origins on pc, but ive been lucky... 3rd crash ever was just now in the battle of denerim 😭😭😭 its no big deal because im a frequent saver, not even at the archdemon yet either, but RIP my immersion HSKDBSBDKS

[anneapocalypse]

The Dragon Age II short stories everyone forgot about

Okay, that's not true. I didn't forget about them. I never knew they existed at all until 2020. See, I played Origins not long after it came out, liked it a lot, got about two playthroughs in and then rolled off into something else. When Dragon Age II came out, I initially kind of missed it altogether; I wasn't active in the fandom at the time, and as DAII initially did not get great reception or reviews, it was easy to just kind of push it aside for later, only picking it up some time in 2012 when a friend convinced me to give it a go. So I missed any anticipation and promotion leading up to the game's release.

And it was surprisingly difficult to confirm when these stories were even released. The wiki does not list dates, and the old BioWare Social Network where I believe they were originally posted no longer exists. I was finally able to confirm on Goodreads, of all places, that these seven short stories for the seven Dragon Age II companions were released in 2011—when in that year, before or after the game's release, I'm still not sure. If you were there, I'd love to know!

Fortunately for us, these seven short stories are all archived in full on the fan wiki:

https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Dragon_Age_II_short_stories

So let's read 'em!

"Anders" by Jennifer Hepler.

Or, that time Anders did cannibalism!

Well, this changes a lot.

So the first thing that jumps out to me is that Anders didn't just invite Justice to hop on board as a way to help him out. Justice offered Anders aid, in exchange for giving him a vessel to stay in the mortal world, an offer Anders accepted.

Funny, that sounds a lot like the thing demons do!

So it was always their intent to spark a revolution together, one way or another. Before Justice, Anders had never thought beyond his own freedom, but Justice offered him a chance to change things for more than just himself. I think when Anders tells Hawke at the end of DAII, "I took a spirit into myself and changed myself forever to achieve this," that's one of his most honest statements.

Because there's a lot Anders was never fully honest with Hawke about. Not just the part where he accepted a spirit's offer of help in exchange for literal possession, but especially the part where he fled the Grey Wardens after a templar Warden caught on to the fact he'd become possessed, and Anders/Justice murdered him and a bunch of other Wardens and ate their flesh.

...Sorry, what?

And suddenly I'm alone, standing in a burning forest, with the bodies of templars and wardens at my feet. So many, and I didn't even know they were there. Didn't even know I had killed them, but the evidence is all around me. Not the aftermath of a battle as I've known it, but a bloody abattoir of rent limbs and torn and eaten flesh.

So, that happened!

In DAII, Anders tells Hawke that his own anger has corrupted Justice into a spirit of vengeance, and that's certainly one way of looking at what happens to them. But I wonder, especially in light of some things we learn about spirits in Inquisition, if Justice hadn't already begun to change before he joined with Anders. After all, the Justice we first meet in the Blackmarsh would be happy to return to the Fade, where he belongs. As he says himself, benevolent spirits desire nothing from mortals.

But something changed. Justice decided he desired something from Anders, and made him an offer. By some definitions, that alone would make him a demon. Whether or not he fits that designation, Justice changes first, and then he and Anders change one another.

I'm not really sure of the timeline here, since the story specifically has Justice making Anders the offer while still possessing Kristoff's body, but sometime after the siege on Vigil's Keep, as they've had time to bring in more Wardens. (I mean, I'm assuming there are other Wardens here and we aren't just meant to assume he murdered all the other Awakening companions. I hope, anyway!) But not so long after that Anders can't catch a ship to Kirkwall within a year of Lothering's destruction. It's kinda tight, but it can work.

And incidentally, man, the Fereldan Wardens cannot catch a fuckin' break. First Ostagar, then the first attack on Vigil's Keep, and then Anders goes abomination and slaughters a bunch of them in the woods. At this rate, no one is going to want to serve the Wardens in Ferelden. They might as well be cursed. No wonder the Warden-Commander eventually decides to fuck off and leave the country for a while.

"Aveline" by Lukas Kristjanson

So this is how our girl met Wesley.

Doubt is the repeated theme of this story, doubt as an enemy that reaches for Aveline as she shrugs it aside and forges on. At first this seems merely a figure of speech, until Aveline reaches a templar bearing a wound "from no weapon she knew." Only when the man exclaims, "Maker, woman! You have their blood from head to foot!" does Aveline—and the reader—realize that she has fought a genuine foe, striking it down without realizing what she was doing. A demon, it seems, as this is the templar's quarry, and they continue the hunt together.

I like the thematic associations of doubt and assurance with Aveline. I think doubt is one of the things she fears most. During the quest "Night Terrors" Aveline can be brought into the Fade, and tempted by a desire demon playing on her regrets over Wesley's death. The accompanying quest to speak to her afterward is called "Doubts that Linger."

The story concludes with Aveline speaking to her father about Wesley, already certain that she means to take his name.

"Fenris" by David Gaider

This story offers us a glimpse of Fenris's life on the run before his arrival in Kirkwall. What stands out immediately is his hypervigilance as well as his solitude—every other character in the story is merely a danger to be evaluated and dealt with as necessary.

We also get a strong sense of Fenris's pride, that he would rather stand and fight than blend in with the other city elves enough to go unseen.

There is a very random mention of a woman's cleavage as Fenris flees through her house, reminding me a bit of The Stolen Throne in terms of Gaider’s "this is what straight men like, right" kind of writing (and I say that with affection). Fenris, weirdly, grins at her before stealing a loaf of bread and running. (This bit is included in the fan-made machinima adaptation of this story, and it's just as awkward as you can imagine!)

That aside, this story primes us pretty well for the Fenris we meet in DAII, who would rather squat in a stolen mansion than slum it in Lowtown, and would rather turn and fight than run and hide.

"Isabela" by Sheryl Chee

This story takes place in Kirkwall right after Isabela's shipwreck, and is told in first person from the bartender's point of view, which is neat. It consists mostly of the well-worn trope of the scantily-dressed woman beating up men for harassing her, so that's less interesting, especially since it's not that much different from Isabela's introduction in the game itself. At the very end, Isabela meets Lucky, and mentions having lost something in a shipwreck and wanting it back, setting up her story arc for DAII.

As character pieces go, this one might have been more intriguing as a teaser but it doesn't add a whole lot after the fact.

"Merrill" by Mary Kirby

Merrill's story is from Merrill's own point of view. She and Keeper Marethari climb Sundermount together, called there by the spirit's whispers in their dreams. Marethari seeks only to be certain the demon will not threaten their camp, and finding it bound to the statue in the cave, is content to leave, turning her back on the spirit even as it offers her lost knowledge of Elvhenan. Merrill, too, hears the offer, and though she follows Marethari back down the mountain, we know that she later returned alone.

I like seeing this little gap in Merrill's story filled in, particularly the nature of the demon's initial offer. Notably, the eluvian fragment Merrill took from the ruins in Ferelden isn't mentioned here. The demon makes a general offer of lost knowledge; it might be Merrill, then, who asked for help with the mirror specifically, or the demon may have made that specific offer when she returned.

"Sebastian" by Jennifer Hepler

This story shows us a younger Sebastian Vael, newly given to the Chantry and chafing at the loss of his freedom and his fun-loving life. It's interesting to see how his faith is already at play here even as he is attempting to escape the cloister.

Elthina's unexpected mercy goes pretty far to explain why Sebastian cares for her so much. She gave him freedom, gave him a choice, and that choice brought him back to the Chantry with renewed purpose. Perhaps because he felt cast out by his family and constrained by their name, and Elthina showed him a home where he was welcome but not confined against his will.

This is of course not the end of Sebastian's inner conflict, but it does help to contextualize the relationship he has with the Chantry and with Elthina in particular.

"Varric" by Mary Kirby

Another first-person story, delightfully from Varric's point-of-view and thoroughly in his voice, which Kirby always does so well. A great little introduction not just to the character and the Hanged Man and a few of the game's plot points, but to Varric as a storyteller, his style and showmanship. A really fun story.

Final Thoughts

This is a really neat series of character pieces and I think for the most part they really hold up and bring something unique to the table even when the game has been out for many years and played many times. I'm glad they've been preserved, and that I finally got around to reading them.

Crosspost. Originally posted on Dreamwidth on 12/14/20.

[wkngsnds]

You know, I wish we had the option to condemn Urianger and G’hara during Shadowbringer; the closest we get to that is telling Urianger “No more lies”.

Straight up, “I cannot forgive you” or “I cannot trust you anymore”

“Oh but they feel so bad and Ghara was planning on sacrificing himself 🥺🥺”

I don’t care, they fucked us over for the “greater good”, because they knew we wouldn’t and couldn’t say no to saving the first and the source. They knew we wouldn’t sit idly by and let the calamity happen. They took advantage of the fact bc we are the WoL/champion, and just assumed we would handle the responsibility. I think they’re great characters, but to ignore the fact that they manipulated us, and refused to let us properly choose between life and death when it’s our lives doesn’t sit right with me. Chances are, it would have been a nearly identical playthrough if they were just transparent with us from the get go. This is also the second time Urianger has done this to us; baiting us and the Warriors of Darkness just so we can use our crystals to give light to Hydaelyn. All that talk about feeling guilty for his arrogance and manipulating everyone in post Heavensword and defying fate yet he’s back on his bullshit. Even in Endwalker, he doesn’t really acknowledge using us and exploiting us— only his guilt for Minfilia, the Exarch, Moenbryda, and it’s like??? Umm?? Did you forget the death path you agreed to put us on a few weeks/months ago? We literally almost became a light warden because you thought we could handle it. He never truly apologizes to the WoL, and I wonder if he thinks we’ll just get over it, so he doesn’t bother. He definitely opened up to us, but (in my opinion) he’s not a good friend. Not yet, anyways. Mind you, I simp this man but it would stupid of me to ignore these major flaws of his.

We’ve been through too much up to that point, (we probably have some degree of trauma(s)), just for others to take that autonomy away from us. For other characters to do “what’s best” for us, and not allowing us to have a say. It’s also a meta critique in the lack of choices we have in the game play, and our dialogue choices not having much influence on our relationships with characters. We’re forced to be this goody two shoes, happy go lucky type of hero with no room for grey morality. Yes, we can be snarky and rude but it’s not the same. There’s only one path and we get roped around back into it even if we try to diverge. Hell, the game acknowledges this in one of the aether current blue quests.

I think that’s why Y’Shtola shot up to my top favorite characters— she was already a great character, but she was the only one before the reveal calling Urianger and the Exarch out on their bullshit and how they were hurting us by keeping us in the dark. Alisaie as well, for that matter, though she was already top fave.

[imjusthereforbatfam]

Okay, I saw that you like Dragon Age too, and I gotta know, who do you think Jason would romance???

Oh ho ho~💕

My dear Duke (Kansas??), you have come to the wrong right place.

Gonna put a Keep Reading cut here because I know myself and I know I'm gonna go crazy with this BUT LET'S GO!!!!!!

Canonically, we've seen that Jason is generally attracted to intelligent, independent women who can (and would) kick his ass. The people he's attracted to also tend to compliment his sarcastic sense of humor — whether that's being sarcastic themselves or just responding to it with the right sort of beat.

So I think for the first game it's pretty safe to say he'd romance the HECK out of Morrigan. However, I also think he'd be a little charmed by Alistair, too, and would do a second playthrough as female Warden just to see what that's like. (I think sweet Alistair's total swooning devotion might be a little hard for Jason to take at times, but it's such a pure love I think he'd ultimately enjoy it.)

For DA2, it gets a little trickier.

My initial thought is Isabella, for the same reasons as above. Also because I think he'd really enjoy her "I do what I want when I want, with whom I want" attitude. The man drinks his Respect Women Juice all day every day. But I can also see him really connecting with Anders and Fenris, too.

I don't know if he'd actually be able to complete a romance with Anders though, because I feel like he might eventually get a little too uncomfortable with the parallels between the two of them — becoming a nearly completely different person thanks to a traumatic event (Anders: hosting Justice/Vengence vs Jason: murdered & coming back), being literally overtaken by blind rage (Vengence vs pit rage), the willingness to "go too far" and the backlash that follows, etc. I think this is especially true if he's already completed the game before and knows he's eventually going to have to judge Anders's life for his crimes. Idk I just feel like it might overwhelm him?

I think he'd immediately be intrigued by Mr. Ripped-a-dude's-heart-out-of-his-chest-with-my-bare-hand and I do think he'd enjoy brooding and being pissy/dramatic with Fenris, but I'm also not sure he'd finish out that romance either. Namely because Jason tends to be The Dramatic Broody One and him being with another Dramatic Brooder feels like it might eventually... idk I don't want to say it'll fizzle out, but I do think he would have more long-term investments with someone a little more grounded/lighter than him. Also when Fenris leaves him in Act II?? idk if he would get over that... Maybe but idk

For inquisition... dear god, I have no clue.

I feel like he'd wish he could romance Vivianne because she just oozes confidence, intelligence, and a sense of being in control of her destiny in a way that I think he'd really be attracted to. But alas.

Maybe Cassandra because she definitely has the "I can and will kick your ass" vibes and is a tank of a woman. I feel like Jason has a weird relationship with faith though, so her constant Maker talk might not be great. But at the same time, he really likes loyalty so maybe he'd be inspired by her devotion 🤷 When he finds out she likes reading trashy romance novels I think he'll initially scoff but find it endearing.

I don't know if Dorian is usually his type as far as men go – I see Jason liking guys who are a little more laid back – but I can see him really enjoying his sense of humor and loving the fact that he's a bookworm and researcher so he'd being willing to try it out. Ultimately, I think he would really enjoy romancing Dorian because the man's a total nerdy sweetheart under all that dramatic sass like Jason and Jason would like the feeling of being the one Dorian trusts to fully let his guard down with.

hmm... yeah. Actually, now that I think about it some more, I feel like once he romances Dorian for that first time he'll become Jason's go-to L.I. for Inquisition.

Anyway! What are your thoughts? Agreements? Disagreements?

I'm curious to know! 🥰🥰🥰

[grimelven]

Character questions: 20, 28, 67, and 86 for your Hawke and/or Lavellan :)

Thanks for asking friend! I'll do these for my Hawkes because I have da2 brain rot rn and I love/miss playing as my Hawkes :’))

20. How would your character define love? 

Alayna: I don't think she really understands the concept of love just yet. She loves her siblings, she knows that, but that’s given. It’s when it comes to the love she feels for her friends or LI she's just like “I get this weird fuzzy feeling when I look at you😐” which is how she’d define love “weird fuzzy feeling.”

Alyxandria: That’s a complicated question for her, I imagine this scene for when the topic of love comes up:

She really said “I'm in lesbians with you,” to Isabela. But I don't think she can describe or define what love is, she just know that what she feels for her friends and Bela is real.

28. When your character was younger, how did they picture themselves growing up? Does it differ from how they really turned out?

Alayna: Definitely not this! She wanted to have a normal life, with a normal home, a normal job and a normal family, but so much death has occurred around her that she didn't have much hopes for her future. Then she got to Kirkwall and all of a sudden she had a new goal in life, protecting her sister and all mages at any cost. (I'm doing a whole redesign of Alayna since I didn't get the far into her playthrough and wanted to change some things around like switching her class to warrior because I've never played as a warrior in da2 before and I think it'll work better for where I want her story to go).

Alyxandria: She had no idea where her life was going, but helping the mage rebellion wasn't even a thought that occurred to her until she got to Kirkwall. Her only plan in life was “Avoid the Templars. Avoid the circle. Protect Bethany from both.” Which she managed well enough, but we all know what happened to Bethany :(

67. What was the most acidic remark your character’s ever given to someone? And their reaction? (I’m pretty sure this means a really hurtful insult, if that not what acidic remark means, my bad y'all)

Alayna: She can say some pretty mean stuff, sometimes she doesn't even realize she's said something horrible at all. But I think it would probably be something she had said to her mother out of anger regarding Carvers death and it being the first time she took a step back like “wow...did I really just say that? That was horrible.” and regretted it how she handled her anger.

Alyxandria: It was definitely to her brother in act one when he's being all bitchy about feeling stuck im her shadow, y’know? Not just calling him a brat, but really rubbing in the fact that he will ALWAYS be in her shadow and that she will ALWAYS be better than him. Which she doesn't believe that in the slightest, she doesn't believe she's better than anyone and she think Carver will do great things one day, but she just wanted to say something that would hurt him cause, well, she was upset. She never got a chance to apologize either, he had been conscripted by the grey wardens before she could.

86. Do they have anything that they consider a good luck charm? 

Alayna: She likes bracelets a lot and when her siblings were younger, they both made her wicker and yarn bracelets that she's worn ever since. It's the last thing she has of Carver and even though it's worn out, close to breaking, she still wears it as a lucky charm to honor him.

Alyxandria: I like to imagine that the red ribbon a romanced Isabela and Fenris wear was Hawke’s lucky charm (which a headcanon of mine. Also that a romanced Anders and Merill have that red ribbon some where on them too). But since Lexi romanced Isabela, bela definitely stole her lucky charm and put it on her arm. Lexi doesn't care tho, looks better on Bela anyway, she thinks.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Screenshare Chat

Last night, as we were not having shenanigans (though at least two out of three have now provided me with all the information I need to run a short bit of session, which is good), I needed the following:

Something engaging enough to be fun but not fiddly enough to be painful

To talk to a human being that wasn’t a colleague or the guy at my local corner shop

So Meep!Warden was out (too fiddly, and not good for conversational background). Which meant the next option was to start my first Molly!Hawke playthrough with a full, 100%, all-DLC completion Warden to import to form the world state. So I could get through Lothering and talk to @true0neutral more or less at the same time, which is what I generally do when I need human companionship because I lost the knack of just talking without something else to do ages ago. I dislike being on the phone or any kind of voice chat without something to do with my hands. Also I screenshare so @true0neutral gets to watch me stab darkspawns’ spines out through their abdomens.

Anyway, discussion went to cover the Dragon Age franchise from the point of view of “writer with a tendency to dissect everything” and “someone studying game development”. Which was fun.

Disappointment in the progression of darkspawn model design largely explained with, “They keep saying how the DA franchise is about the world rather than the specific characters and focus on the darkspawn died with the Blight, especially if you killed the Architect”. Then the realisation that you only really had a Blight in the first place to make Corypheus a bit more comprehensible, and Corypheus himself was only there to usher in Solas / Fen’harel.

Armour and clothing design, and how sometimes it gets deeply, deeply stupid (I mean, I get that you need to hide neck seams because those are the worst in development, but in which case maybe don’t have so many of your NPCs wear off-the-shoulder shit that involves having this stupid leather neckpiece? And the design of Templar armour, if you look at it closely, is just stupid.)

That whole thing derived from, “I get they want to make it really obvious that Wesley got injured but a slash from waist to shoulder along the back of someone in full armour is probably not going to do that much damage, as the blade would get bound up on straps, metal, or both. You can make a stab obvious enough to get by but please stop pretending armour isn’t a thing!” (See also: Aveline putting a dagger through an armour chest plate to mercy-kill Wesley. I get that we’re going for drama but common fucking sense would be nice too.)

How honestly this does feel like a bit of a disconnect between the writers and the dev team as much as anything else, and how there should be regular weekly meetings before they get very far past the pitch stage just to make sure that art and writer expectations mesh well. Same with dev team and concept artists; regular checks of things like, “Can we do this?” “We’ve tried to do this and it looks horrific; where can we adjust expectations?” etc.

How despite all of this, Dragon Age 2 is a great game that did a lot better with subverting the traditional Hero’s Journey expectations of a game than, say, the ending of Mass Effect 3. I’d rather have the anticlimax of whittling down Meredith’s health bar only to have her red lyrium sword shatter and turn her to lyrium, thereby denying me the killing blow, than end up with the last bit of combat being Marauder Shields before ten minutes of slow limping and transhumanist rambling that never once takes into account the notion of getting the rest of the galaxy’s consent for the whole “synthetics and organics become one” thing.

(For the record, I can see the advantages; it’s not like I’m against transhumanism in general. My issue with all of that was consent. Killing or controlling the Reapers? That’s between you and the Reapers. Modifying the genetics of every member of every sapient species in the galaxy? I want informed and enthusiastic consent before I do that to, like, septillions of people. But we don’t get a dialogue option for that.)

Anyway, also, “Warrior or Rogue Hawke answers the Call to Adventure by going to Ostagar, flees the Call to Adventure screaming NOPE when Loghain’s forces withdrew, and then found that the Call to Adventure followed them across the Waking Sea and keeps banging on their door like they owe it money” being our jam as far as subverting the traditional Hero’s Journey.

The writing potential inherent in Hawke, on the way to Weisshaupt or wherever, trying to explain this whole mess to an interested third party (possibly, like, Finn from Witch Hunt).

And finally, the realisation that, particularly with the lead writing role passing to Patrick Weekes, and the general necessity to cram in whatever possible from ancillary media (books, comics, etc), it’s highly likely that if we ever do get any kinds of answers to any of the mysteries that Thedas has to offer ... they’re going to contradict each other in some way. Hell, enough of the lore does already that I still kind of want to shake people (how the Dalish treat mage-talented clan members, for instance ... and honestly anything to do with elves).

I still hurt, but mentally and emotionally I feel a bit better. Honestly, I’d probably have felt better even if we hadn’t had such an interesting conversation. It’s the cat thing; I’m happy just having someone share my space, virtually or otherwise, not doing much of anything but maybe making the occasional comment. Which is a lot of how it happens when we do that sort of thing but I was having a thinky sort of day yesterday, I guess, so hey.

[nightwingshero]

For the ships: Solas/Inquisitor, and/or Alistair/Warden? (only if you've played Origins, and you can totally substitute OC for Warden/Inquis!)

Okay...this completely worked out because I just started DAO (technically I had to restart it, but that’s a story for another time I made an elf and heard that Alistair breaks up with you and I also made an oopsie that I couldn’t fix). So, I put this under the cut because I had to explain my reasoning, you know, cause I’m extra like that. But anyway, I haven’t beaten it yet, I’ve only gotten as far as the circle (seriously...I don’t know what Solas was thinking...the Fade sucks...), so my DAO knowledge is limited. 

Zorina is my human noble Warden...and let me just say...that I would die on this ship happily, because they’re so damn adorable. Zorina is very much the noble daughter that refused to marry--she had too much fun with her bow and she didn’t like any of the suitors (even the one you meet in the beginning of the game.) However, she knows Alistair for about 30 seconds before she starts to get flirty and playfully teases with him. They get along immediately, hitting it off and joking a bit to themselves at camp, and they bond over their losses. They’re so damn CUTE. Honestly, Alistair is someone I would want for myself IRL, and I wish there were more like him, but alas...anyway, I adore them and they deserve happiness. Now, if I decide to make another Warden (an elf mage), the platonic relationship will be very sibling like (because I’ll probably ship her with Zevran, depending on how it all goes). I know I didn’t put it on the bingo sheet, but that’s because that OC is questionable, and I honestly love Zorina and Alistair. Their love is just...so damn pure and they go through so much together. They have a soft place in my heart. (And yes, Zorina and Alistair’s ship name is absoltuely the song from Phantom of the Opera, because that has major vibes, okay? He is a Disney prince, and Raul reminds me of one, and just...I have no excuse)

LISTEN. I 👏 have 👏 opinions 👏. I’m SO MAD still about that ending, and even more so for Athera, because her heart is just...shattered. Everything she believed in was wrong, SHE LOSES HER ARM, she lost the love of her life because he plans on pretty much destroying the world, and she can’t join him (and try to change his mind). Athera ends up pregnant with twins, you know, and it just...sucks. She tries to use lyrium to find him in the Fade, but can’t, so she has two little ones while he watches on. It’s so damn SAD. But honestly...they have a few aesthetics going for them: the wolf and the halla, and the black and white wolf yin and yang thing. She’s gonna try and bring him back into the light, because Athera is, after all, the White Wolf of Lavellan, and she loves him dearly. They’re so soft, he constantly meets her in her dreams, and she will sketch him or sketch while he’s walking the Fade at ruins during missions. He tells her stories of his journeys while they lay together in bed, and just...it’s true love, it really is. But also, they make great friends (hence the platonic), and even though Athera is my Inquisitor, my playthrough as Evune has taught me that the friendship with him is just as meaningful, just in it’s own way. Which is what I want for him and Evune. And honestly, she’s just as heartbroken and angry as Athera, for some of the same reasons, but also because he lied to her and betrayed her (in her eyes), and that...is a hard thing for her. Evune has trust issues as is. Its just sad all around. 

[sewerpigeonart]

literally no one asked but that’s never stopped me before; my inhibitions are low bc i’ve been awake since 4am and idk if any of this is even going to make sense when anyone reads it but i want to talk about my 𝑓 𝑒𝑒 𝑙 𝑖 𝑛 𝑔 𝑠

having to choose between hawke and alistair in the fade is literally like the most stressful video game decision i have had to make—and actually, considering i’ve done alternate playthroughs where i choose each of them, i still technically haven’t “chosen” because it’s. so. hard.

if Loghain or Stroud are the warden, they’re obviously the expendable option because loghain has no rights and stroud simply isn’t a character the player was given the opportunity to emotionally invest in.  unless you make a specific party decision in da2, you never even meet him. but when it’s between alistair and hawke, now the emotional stakes are astronomical, because not only is it hard for me to pick on an emotional level, even when thinking in terms of narrative for each of these characters it’s hard to decide which is the better option.

we’re invested in both these characters; we traveled with alistair through origins and either romanced him or became his best friend through our wardens, our wardens with whom i think most players have also developed an emotional attachment to because they’re our own characters.  and hawke was our character in da2, and you could sort of “mold” him into one of three general personalities, he’s still a pretty strong character on his own, regardless of if he’s snarky or angry or benevolent.  and sort of opposite the case with alistair, we know that hawke’s friends are attached to him.

so now it’s down to the wire and you gotta pick one. there’s no other way out. it sucks. and i think on one hand i can actually appreciate that because it means the games did a good job of making me care about not only both of these characters themselves, but their impact on the characters around him.  when i think of sacrificing hawke, my mind at once goes to varric, the living hawke sibling, and the love interest.  with alistair, my mind goes to my warden, who in terms of the game itself isn’t a strongly defined character because like most custom protagonists a lot of the emotional investment comes from our own imaginations and projections. but in that regard it’s like the relationship to alistair is more personal to the player themselves, in my opinion.  when choosing who to sacrifice, i think about who is going to hurt.  i literally burst into tears when i played the hawke route and varric comes up to you in adamant and says, “where’s hawke?” like i fuckin lost it man lmao, and when you talk to him later and he tells you the story and they play hawke’s theme sadly in the background?????? im like im going to pass away now but ANYWAY

so not only do i think about the emotional consequences on hawke and alistair’s companions (and myself), i struggle to choose which option is better narratively. because i feel that both of them have a very strong reason to stay behind. for hawke it’s obvious: with corypheus, it’s personal—way more personal than it even is with the inquisitor who is meant to defeat him. it’s literally in hawke’s bloodline. not only did his father cage the magister, but hawke is assuming the responsibility of “releasing” corypheus upon the world. of course he would give up everything remain in the fade and deal this huge blow to corypheus. it’s more than playing hero, it’s about vengeance for him, and you could even say it’s about protecting his family, if his sibling is a warden and if you romanced anders, protecting him too.

alternatively with alistair: all through origins alistair is characterized as believing himself expendable. “i wish i had died instead of duncan, i’ll kill the archdemon so you don’t have to,” etc. and yes he is young and insecure in origins, and it’s clear when we see him again in inquisition or even the cameo in da2, we can see him more confident, more assured, capable of making his own decisions. but—and i acknowledge this is largely headcanon, but this whole post is explaining why it’s hard for me to choose—i think especially with the romanced hero of fereldan still alive, in that pivotal moment in the fade i would assume alistair would be thinking of her, sorry to leave her and knowing she’ll be hurt but confident she could be the capable hands the wardens would need to recover, even if she is sort of in the shadows by that time, i project that the HoF would assume a sense of duty in helping them recover, even from the background somehow if she insists on kind of staying in “hiding.”

i think characterwise, alistair is always going to have some degree of innate self-sacrifice, that when it comes down to it, he’ll be the one to take the blow. so it would make sense that in the fade, he’d say “no, hawke, you go,” maybe no longer from a place of lower self-esteem like in origins, but i think in his mind, especially since he’s literally been a fugitive from the wardens, he makes the decision in a fairly rational state of mind. he acknowledges the wardens have messed up, and maybe this sacrifice can even be the start to redeeming their honor because he cares such a great deal about them. even hawke changes his tone in the final moments, saying yeah the wardens fucked up but they’re not beyond saving. so even then i think alistair would take comfort in knowing whether it be hawke or the HoF or the Inquisitor or whoever, the wardens will be left in good hands.

i know a lot of the alistair stuff is more headcanon than anything, but going off my own world history with the games and my own role play ideas and stuff, these are the associations in my head and how i interpret the cost of his sacrifice alongside hawke’s.  and i’ve even tried jotting some fic ideas exploring so many different post-fade concepts depending on which was left behind to see if i could construct some mental narrative to help me “commit” to sacrificing one of them, and in honesty, i think in the end i would go with hawke, because even though it’s more of an immediately impactful death (VARRIC IM SO FUCKGIN SORRY), it is personal, and i think that motivation is beyond alistair’s more “honorable” motivation. i think alistair could be convinced to help the wardens before hawke could be convinced to step back and let someone else take care of corypheus “for him,” for lack of a better term.

HOWEVER. it may be wishful thinking in order to cope, but i would be willing to bet that in da4, we find out whoever was left in the fade is not dead after all, because if it is hawke you leave behind, or even with alistair, these are both two protagonists that would have rather unceremonious deaths. narratively, that’s kind of lame writing if we were to forgo the closure of their actual deaths. even in the choice tree it says the person will “most likely” die; in the cut scene as the inquisitor and the non-sacrificed character run toward the rift, you see in the background the other character fight the monster and hit the ground under an attack, but we don’t see an explicit “death.”  they are then, understandably, assumed dead.  but there’s no actual confirmation. and i don’t know the writing team personally, who am i to say they’re indisputably above this, but i would like to have enough faith in them to expect they would not commit to such an unsatisfying ending for that character’s story. even with a more “expendable” character like stroud, i think there’s too many questions left behind. 

the introduction of walking physically in the fade and surviving is a huge revelation in-game. it’s reiterated that that literally hasn’t happened since the first magisters entered the black city.  that’s ENORMOUS. and if they’re only going to explore that twice—or more like one and a half times because we get the vague opening cut scene of escaping the fade, then the adamant sequence—it again feels very inconsistent and sloppy. dorian even says that essentially once people realize it is possible to survive the fade physically, they are going to try it, however unwise and irresponsible.  i think the da4 teasers alone (i haven’t followed da4 updates very closely tbh bc i haven’t been able to play trespasser yet bc i only have a ps3 and i’m trying so hard not to get too spoiled beyond the main inquisition ending asjkfd) imply our experiences with the “real” fade are so far from over.  and thus, i feel “comfortable” leaving hawke in the fade because i would like to believe he’s going to come back. i mean, he’s hawke right? and if hawke’s character can come back, that would then further suggest if you left the warden in the fade, they would have to come back too for whatever the da4 narrative might be.

ok sorry this is rly long and disorganized im bad at communicating ideas effectively but i have been thinking about this lately way more than i care to admit lmao

[sapphim]

The acorn quest in DAO (or really "getting into the fogged forest area" I guess), the escaped mages from a circle in DA2 (the one where the lady ends up using blood magic when your friend or sibling gets kidnapped), or the Well of Sorrows from DAI if you're feeling up to it!

The Dalish are the first allies the wardens pursue so they’ve, really not settled into a group dynamic yet. And while Alistair and the other wardens have all been acquainted for a month or so, they only met Sulina Mahariel, like, the day before the joining. And she’s been pretty reserved aside from occasionally making a decision for the group and then being remarkably stubborn until everyone else concedes. So they’re content to let Sulina take point navigating the spoopy forest, and she’s like, “look, I’ve camped in many spoopy forests and every da’len learns early on not to fuck with sylvans, we’re going to do what it asks” and everyone else is like “you are currently the only person present who looks like they know what they’re doing so we’re not about to disagree”

Juniper is extremely “fuck the chantry fuck the circles mage rights” but she’s also extremely “fuck with my friends and I will murder you” so, it’s pretty predictable how that all plays out.

Well of Sorrows under the cut, because, this is another one I can ramble about at great length!

So, for a little bit of context, I was planning to play as Adaar for my first playthrough, but I looked at the qunari CC options and... restarted the game with Lavellan, lol. So Shirae was my first inquisitor and the only one I’ve finished the game with but so much of the plot was so alienating for her, like, she was constantly uncomfortable and I didn’t feel like she really had the chance to make the sort of meaningful emotional connections with party members that I’d hoped she would. It was sad and she deserved better! So I rolled up Kataara Adaar to replace her as inquisitor shortly after, but, it felt Real Bad realizing that meant the well of mythal - one of the only aspects of the plot that was really deeply meaningful to Shirae as a keeper’s first - would come down to a choice between two characters completely unconnected to Dalish culture. So! She got  overhauled as a recruitable party member of sorts and thus she’s always been my girl for the well of sorrows.

(I also have an dalish exile warden oc, Ellaran, who I decided was disaster enough to be a good match for Solas - I was tired of all the 20 y/o live laugh lovellans that seemed to predominate amongst the solavellans and I figured an opinionated middle-aged asshole would be more his speed - so I set his path to intersect with the Inquisition as well.)

So there were a lot of nerdy elven mages who were excited to go on the field trip to the temple of mythal, oh, and also morrigan I guess. Kataara consults Shirae and Ellaran when the Inquisition gets involved in Dalish stuff because she, you know, wants to be diplomatic and respectful.

Shirae and Ellaran spend the entire trip through the temple (good-naturedly) arguing with Solas and Morrigan about the finer points of elven history. They’re having a great time.

Well of Sorrows, Kataara hears everyone out, and she’s like, okay, sounds like someone’s going in the well and we have a lot of experts here, so, let’s discuss our options? Solas? And Solas is like “hell no :|” Ellaran? And Ellaran is like “believe me I am so fucking tempted but I’m a warden and don’t want to take the chance the taint in my blood might, you know, ruin this in spectacular fashion somehow, so.” And Morrigan’s like “uhhh, ME, obviously”

Shirae’s been quietly studying the well through most of this talk and this is when she pipes up like, “uh, I am dalish and the first to the keeper, preserving elven  history is like literally my entire calling, that I’ve been training my whole life for, so, no, I’ll be the one to do it” and Kataara’s like “that’s fair”

Anyway that’s my girl she deserves it!! When she realizes later that she can decipher some of the ancient texts that she and Ellaran had been puzzling over for a while (and Solas had been keeping mum about), they both, like, lose their goddamn minds with excitement lmao nerds.