#bioware fandom critical

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

I recently saw a conversation that started with "Why can't we have interesting characters like Merrill and Isabela and I immediately laughed because I remember back in the day when they were both trashed. Merrill was criticized for be too bratty and childlike. And Isabela was derided for being so open with her sexuality. She was constantly called 'slutty'. Its funny how people conveniently forget that when they complain about Vivienne and Sera. I even remember back in the days of Origins when some people whined about Leliana being too religious. And Morrigan will always be evil to half of the fandom. If its one thing I learned while being in this fandom is people may claim they want strong and or interesting/ a unique variety of female characters, most really don't. The female characters get trashed far more than any of the male characters. And I fully expect the cycle will continue for Dreadwolf.

[herald-divine-hell]

I seen a lot of hate toward Veilguard regarding the released artbook, and I just want to say this.

Does the artbook make me disappointed that they had such an intriguing premise early on? Yes. I would have loved to explore the Minrathous we see in the artbook as much as we saw of Docktown.

But I don't think that means Veilguard is a bad game, much less a bad Dragon Age. (Again, people claim that and I always ask what is a Dragon Age game, because each game differ in themes, story, and gameplay that outside the connecting lore and world, there is little there to say DAO is connected to DAII except that Hawke came from Ferelden). I still think DAV is a very good Dragon Age game, primarily because to me Dragon Age has always been about the companions first and foremost, and I think that Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan are the strongest villains in this series, tied maybe with Meredith. I adore the companions to bits, and act 3 was my favorite piece of Dragon Age work in...well ever, I think.

I immensely disappointed about what was shown in the artbook (meeting the Archon would have been epic), but again, these were all ideas of a very troubled developed game. This same complaints about "What could have been" is exactly how people acted about DAII, and now DAII is considered the fan favorite, at least in the Tumblr space from what I seen, or many of its flaws were overlooked because of a personal tragedy story. I think Veilguard's story was still good. Do I have problems with it? Sure. But I have problems with all the games story, not just this one.

The biggest tragedy for me is the development hell this game with through, and how we could had this game earlier if BioWare didn't switch to that god awful live service model. For what they produced because of that chaos? I think it was pretty damn good.

[hanktalkin]

I don’t think a discussion about fandom racism is complete w/o the pointing out it’s specifically the anti-black racism. Fenris has far more extreme views than Vivienne, but she’s dragged through the mud for it. People would rather romance Reyes than Liam even tho the former is barely a character.

[hoiist]

bioware fandom dont fuck it up challenge

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

So after this N7 Day, its obvious as well as both sad and amusing how many people have forgotten the early N7 Days where there was either NO acknowledgement or we got a note of thanks or a glimpse of some art from the developers. BioWare DID NOT create N7 day, the fans did. Some of us have been around since the beginning and consider it a fun a little event and never expected much. Unfortunately as the years went by and the culture changed, people got it into their heads that the studio is supposed to have something massive for the fans when that was NEVER the case, .

Jennifer Hale and several other voice actors did a live stream event. She also made a charitable donation from the proceeds of her live signing received. N7 day is a fun day to celebrate the games, enjoy beautiful fan art, and also celebrate the friendships we made.

So many have forgotten that when they release something specifically for N7 day, its just a fun thing for the fans. Now if they were constantly releasing teasers like this on a monthly basis I would agree we're being teased too much.

Now I KNOW BioWare is NOT perfect by any means, but to want them to release something about the new game on N7 day and then to get angry at them for what they released is ridiculous to me. And with the harassment they get, I would not blame them if they did less or nothing during the next N7 day

[rawliverandcigarettes]

I'm super sorry, and this post will probably send me to turbo tumblr-hell and I expect it to be wildly misunderstood, but the Bioware fandom is lowkey unbearable sometimes. Criticism, even harsh criticism, is one thing (and completely warranted, you won't hear me preach otherwise). But you're not more legitimate harassing gamedevs on more than dubious, misinformed and overall very entitled grounds than conservative gamerbros just because you're queer/a leftist

[sha-lyuzar]

"You're just mad it's not like origins"

Yeah, how dare i be disappointed in a game series that has followed a certain tone and theme for three games, and has always been narratively complex, and about navigating hard decisions and moral dilemmas, structual injustices, deep characterisations, beauty and tragedy in tandem, rich worldstates and character arcs and thin lines between heros and villains... it's almost as if my disappointment stems from care and passion for dragon age, and not from an unwillingness to accept change, or a misplaced sense of nostalgia. It's almost as if people are allowed to criticise a thing and discuss its flaws, while also enjoying other aspects of it, and voicing their opinions on the world's most unprofitable social network to a handfull of followers and mutuals, isn't going to make any meaningful dent in the game's success

[thedissonantverses]

This is always one of my favorite shots every run and I wanted to expound on why that is because it runs into a lot of critique I see. Not trying to be snarky for a change this is way Veilguard positive and sincere. Rook is my favorite protagonist out of every BioWare game.

People get really bogged down in why the gods just let Rook and the gang go at multiple points in the story. It confused me too in D’meta’s crossing. I was really itching for a Big Hero Moment at Weisshaupt like the Inqusitor gets at Haven. Instead I got one of my favorite missions in a Dragon Age game.

And when I got there I saw this. This is why the Evanuris don’t care about Rook unless they have the dagger. Because why would they? They destroyed the Grey Wardens, an army, like it was nothing. It didn’t take them long at all. They rolled over a fortress that stood for over a thousand years. They don’t see Rook and the Veilguard as a threat because at this point in time, they’re not. Even if the Inquisitor had shown up with all of their power and connections this still would have been the result.

It’s why Rook is the protagonist. Rook represents the people of Thedas as they are now, and at the beginning of the game Rook is a nobody. Solas only acknowledges their existence because he’s forced to when they drop a statue on his head, and even then he only sees them as a pawn against the other Evanuris. Varric knows this about Solas. Varric knows who they’re fighting. It’s why Varric picked Rook.

People are missing the very heart of Veilguard’s story by ignoring who and what Rook is and it’s crazy because they’re such a great protagonist. Rook looks at a fucking storm and keeps fighting anyways. That’s the kind of person I want to be. The kind that sees the end of the world crashing down on them and keeps going because it’s the right thing to do.

[thevulturesquadron]

Thank you for speaking up.

Fans have absolutely no idea of the struggle that goes into working on a project you love in the video game industry. How much heart, effort and mental health goes into developing a game. There is no excuse under the sun for this behaviour, I just wish there was a way to hold these people accountable.

[creaturefeaturecommando]

So like if you bring Cole to the Winter Palace he tells you that Cullen feels anxious and uncomfortable and needs help, you know because the fucking nobles are literally groping his ass without his consent and having a laugh about it. And he got groped twice. Once by a female noble and again by a male noble. Mind you this was a man that was captured and tortured and sexually assaulted by desire demons and that entire ordeal at the ball probably gave him major flashbacks

And no one cares. Not the writers, Not the fandom and not the characters. Besides Cole. Even when he begs for the letters the nobles sent him requesting to know about his personal life to be burned, Leliana and Josephine laugh about it to his face and tell him to just shut up and look pretty (an actual quote Leliana told him to hush up and just look pretty). That’s it. They tell him to shut up and look pretty while they use him as bait even though he’s uncomfortable receiving letters from nobles who sexually assaulted him at a party just the night before.

So Cullen just gets casually sexually assaulted and BioWare treats it like it’s a joke and the fandom doesn’t care at all and ignores it

So now I have half a mind to fucking keekee at everything traumatizing that’s ever happened to everyone else’s faves since obviously it’s fucking funny right ?

[dragonageconfessions]

CONFESSION:

I've been in this fandom since I was 17. I'm now an adult and running my own business and one thing I realized awhile back when replaying the series is that I enjoyed it so much more playing it on my own and not relying on the opinions of others. So I can't stress enough that people need to stop listening to the fans with their sanctimonious self righteous diatribes and form your own opinions.

I feel like such a fool for believing everything that was said and written back then and now I see many people have an agenda and an obsession for control. And too many build up their own fan bases on fear and bullying.And I won't get into the lying about some fanons being canon.

There are things I love and dislike about each game but the dislikes are not enough for me to not enjoythe games. People have the right to play these games not only the way they want to, they have the right to play them in peace. I plan to play Dreadwolf on my own and make my review after I play it. Too many people in this fandom can't be trusted to be honest and fair.

[herald-divine-hell]

Idk what I did for the Tumblr Home page just to fill me with constant negativity and bashing about Veilguard. But I literally do not care in the slightest. Just let me see shit my followers reblogged, omg.

I want Leliana and Neve and Taash

And before anyone says - yes, I did block veilguard criticism tags. I still have no idea why they still show up

[resol-nare]

Okay I'm just going to say it because I'll explode otherwise.

Neve and Bellara could be a cute ship but I'm put off by the people who are INSISTENT that they would be better romantically.

Maybe it's my aroace-ness bleeding through but I don't get it. Why can't they be better as friends?

"Why should they only be friends when they could also be fucking?"

Why does everyone have to be fucking. Why. What is wrong with people just vibing platonically?

I think there's something to be said for close platonic relationships because they CAN be just as intimate if not more so. And pretending that romantic/sexual relationships are somehow automatically superior just feels bad to me.

Honestly I dread the day that Bioware or any other studio starts talking in depth about the ace spectrum and makes it part of a character's arc, because I know the fandom will NOT treat them right. Y'all could barely handle yourselves when Mary Kirby said Lucanis was intended to be demisexual.

[a-driftamongopenstars]

i just want to say a few words about this "only 3 choices kept from DAI" thing.

we shouldn't be okay with it. yes, at some point the game does need to grow out of where it is, not every single choice can be addressed, but that's the thing. no one is asking for it. to throw away an entire game's worth of choices in a sequel that follows directly after a massive cliffhanger is just disrespectful to player's time and emotional investment. whatever the team is saying to try and defend this choice is not working. we don't need 100 cameos and no, "bringing back a character always leads to something bad happening to them" is just not true.

it's been 10 years in development. how in this whole time does it not come up who the divine is. who drank from the well. inquisition turned the tides of nations, it's a fact, how is it that the only thing that matters is who you romanced, and whether or not you want to save solas. this is asinine.

I know Bioware did it before (see: leliana). but it's like, one or two things. not the entirety of a very long game.

people's disappointment is absolutely justified. it's normal to feel upset that your choices of a massive scale don't matter in a game directly affected by said choices.

[mass-effect-anonymous]

CONFESSION:

As someone who is Bi, I am tired of people saying Thane can't be Bi because he had a wife.  Music legend David Bowie was openly Bisexual until the day he died but he was also happily married to super model Iman and they had a daughter.  You can be Bi and still love somebody of  the opposite gender.  I will never understand why some people can't comprehend that.

[illusivesoul]

People when game characters have their own goals and motivations, aren't yes men to whatever the player says and don't change their views and opinions just cause the player wants them to