#consume podcast

[bridgies]

Trailer is here!

Premiere 1/31/2024

[driftbit]

"What will you do without new shows" I haven't watched a mainstream television show as it released in years. I'm catching up on shows my parents liked in the 90s. I'm listening to fiction podcasts with 5 fans. I'm playing a video game the creators want you to pirate. I'm watching a minecraft roleplay. I may not know what I'm gonna do but I'm sure as hell not gonna be a fuckin scab babygirl.

[magicshmeep]

arthur, i’ve got good news and bad news. bad news: you’re possessed by a lovecraftian monster. good news: it’s not the racist one?

[noodles-and-tea]

Hey there! I've said something before but now I want to say that your art is great and that you are responsible for getting me into Sherlock & co. But I have a burning question regarding your thoughts on Guy Richtie's Sherlock. Do you like it?

I actually do like it!!!

[halionart]

The Archivist , as a treat

[itserimi]

no matter how many times i relisten to wtnv nothing will ever be more romantic than

carlos: “i know two things. i love you.”

cecil: “i love you too. what’s the second thing?”

carlos: “you just said it.”

LIKE OH MY GOD I WILL NEVER EVER GET OVER THEM ITS SO ROMANTIC I FROTH AT THE MOUTH AND SCREAM EVERY TIME THEYRE LITERALLY THE REASON WHY MY STANDARDS ARE SO HIGH

[leaf-whimzy]

guess who listened to all of magnus archives in 1 week :3

[taigarrryen]

You know these tropes in stories where if you lose your soulmate you're left forever yearning for something just out of your reach, forever searching for something you can never find? That's me, JRWI Riptide is my soulmate. Send post

[lizzybeeee]

DATV is overly reliant on Supplemental Media - especially if you are a returning player

TL;DR: Supplemental material should not be required reading in order to understand what's going on in the main game -> it's additional material that enhances what we were given. If what we were given is lacking and unable to coherently tell us a story, then the writers and those in charge did not prioritize what was important.

Not a take that's unique to Dragon Age, but one that is very relevant when talking about DATV. I've made a few posts about plot/story points that either make no sense or have been dropped entirely in the lead up from DAI to DATV. Every now and then I get a few comments or messages about how certain points I made were addressed in supplemental material released in the lead up to this games release.

This isn't a call out post, by the way! But it's frustrating, to me, that this games writing is so lacking that my understanding is being inhibited because I can't remember details from a book I read two years ago - not to mention various podcasts, comics, and short stories. My understanding of a video game in a video game series should not be reliant on additional/optional content.

DATV is a weird game in that it is absolutely a 'soft/scorched earth' reboot while also marketing itself as a continuation to what was set up in Inquisition and Trespasser. Personally, I think that if you are up to number 4 in a game series, one with a continuous story-line, it should be expected that new players won't be able to catch up to everything -> it's the game developers job to make the world and story intriguing enough that the new players will go back to previous games in the series and fill in the blanks themselves.

Veilguard, as a sequel, is overly reliant on content that comes from outside the games themselves (including DLC's) if you want to make sense of the world and story. Trespasser left us with an epilogue that set up some plot points for the next game: Solas & the Veil, the Elven Rebellion, and War with the Qun - plot points that have been built up since the time of Origins. But when we get into DATV two of these points have been dropped and resolved, off-screen.

There are more questions, but these are the ones that bothered me the most while playing the game:

What happened to the Agents of Fen'harel/ Elven Rebellion? -> answered in a cursed reddit AMA.

What happened to the Qunari following Trespasser -> addressed in Tevinter Nights, and a codex entry you can pick up (optional).

Why is Skyhold infested with demons? -> mentioned in Tevinter Nights.

How did the Dalish go from worshiping their own pantheon to knowing they are false gods? (specifically those we meet in the Veil Jumpers) -> mentioned in the Missing comic series.

What's up with Nevarra's Royals? -> Tevinter Nights addresses that there is a power struggle in the Pentaghast family and the role of the Mortalitasi in making it worse - though it does not address the whole 'mage puppeting a corpse' issue and all the implications it has.

This is a video game series -> the bulk of the information required for me to understand the story and its relation to previous entries needs to be included in the final game version. I am playing a video game and not attending a uni class - I should not need to have a required reading list in order to understand what the fuck is going on. I should definitely not need to go onto a reddit AMA to understand what happened in-game, either.

What makes this stand out the most is that DAI was very successful in tying in previous games, DLC's, movies, and books! Inquisition did a great job in getting you up to speed on the events of the previous games early on, providing personalization if you played those games, and giving the player the opportunity to inquire into these events.

Hiding away the answers in additional material or a codex entry that may be missed is not good game design or good writing. DAI didn't assume that you had bought and played the Legacy DLC -> it made certain you experienced the conversation with Varric and Hawke if you wanted to proceed in the game. It didn't hide away imperative information in codex entries - it had characters talk about it in scripted scenes and encourage the player to ask more. You would actively need to avoid interacting with characters for you to not experience this information in DAI.

Leliana talks about her role during the Blight, her calling by the Maker, and her relationship with Dorothea/Justinia -> DAO and Leliana's Song DLC.

Cullen talks about his time as a templar at Kinloch & Kirkwall -> DAO and DA2.

Cassandra speaks about her history, investigation into Hawke, and the Seekers -> Dawn of the Seeker movie, DA2, & Asunder novel.

Varric talks about Hawke, Kirkwall, and Corypheous -> DA2 and Legacy DLC.

Cole talks about how he discovered he was a 'demon' - it leads to further conversations about Rhys, Evangeline, and Lord-Seeker Lambert -> Asunder novel.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts -> the game literally continues what the Masked Empire novel sets up, the Orlesian Civil War. The game does a decent job of telling us about the players (Celene, Gaspard, Briala etc...) and the reasoning behind the conflict through dialogue, the ability to explore the battlefields, quests, ambient dialogue, etc... The book is not required reading - though it greatly adds to the complexity of the characters, motivations, and political intrigue!

I never once, playing DA2 or DAI, felt penalized or like my experience was lacking because I had not engaged with supplemental material or DLC's. I got into Dragon Age when I was in high school, it wasn't until I graduated and began working after that I had the disposable income available for experiencing the extra material. I cannot say that for DATV - If you have played Inquisition and go into DATV straight from that you will, absolutely, be confused about how we got from A to B.

Which is especially strange to me!? Why is it that new players will be less confused than those that are returning players? It's like the game is actively punishing you for playing and caring about previous games in the series.

Supplemental media is bought because the main product has earned your investment, love, or interest. Not everyone has the income available to buy it with their own money - especially if you live outside the US and have to pay additional shipping costs. Not everyone has the ability to buy or 'obtain' the digital versions either. My understanding of the main story of a video game in a video game series should not require additional monetary investment into other mediums.

The game itself should be enough and DATV is not enough.

[passiunclepaltry]

guys i think there’s a wasps nest in her attic

[gfanlocalcryptid]

Arthur Lester, you're quite a horrible person but your flaws make you too human to hate you.

Before you ask me in the notes, yes, I am sad.

[gendiebrainrotreceipts]

The “I’ve watched/listened to/read this thing so you don’t have to, here are my comments/analysis” thing is for movies etc, it is not for political pieces. I cannot stress how important it is to consume those things for yourself and make up your own mind. Do not let other people think for you

[driftbit]

"What will you do without new shows" I haven't watched a mainstream television show as it released in years. I'm catching up on shows my parents liked in the 90s. I'm listening to fiction podcasts with 5 fans. I'm playing a video game the creators want you to pirate. I'm watching a minecraft roleplay. I may not know what I'm gonna do but I'm sure as hell not gonna be a fuckin scab babygirl.

[inconceptual-nonsense]

I am so sad thinking about John and Arthur rn. Just the fact that John feels like Arthur only wants him there out of necessity, and that's why John is so wary of Arthur making connections and having other friends. Because then Arthur wouldn't need him anymore, and he thinks that Arthur wouldn't want him around otherwise.

Also, the whole situation with John feeling isolated bc Arthur is quite literally the only person he has. I'm so upset thinking about how Noel was the first person they trusted enough for Arthur to tell him about John and that at first John was freaking out about it and then Noel takes it so well and actually asks for John's opinion on things and Arthur is able to literally give John a voice of his own so he can talk to him. And when Noel was hanging off the edge of that railing and John fought Yellow off so that Arthur could pull him back up, and John didn't even know how he was able to project himself like that in the first place, but he did, to save Noel. And the fact that Noel, in the face of being told that John is a fracture of the KIY, the god that tortured Noel in the dreamland for years and killed his friends, Noel is understanding, and he reassures John that he isn't like the King. Noel is the first person outside of Arthur that John has had, and now he's gone.

Losing my shit actually.

[ratwizz]

I WANNA BE A SPACE PIRATE

[raybies-10]

2am jmart s5 doodle :3 it’s not very good but I had fun making it!!