#dargon age hell

[redjennies]

it finally happened. I always said it would happen, and it finally happened. after years of dancing around saying "all Mediterranean people are actually POC," the Dragon Age fandom finally resurrected the old white supremacist "Italians (particularly Southern Italians) aren't really white because of the Moors" talking point.

sincerely, here's a pro-tip for not sounding like the fucking Klan: if there's historic weird European racism involved, saying a group of people aren't "white white" is always going to sound like you're validating that racism. and that's because not being "white white" is exactly what the racism is about, arbitrarily deciding who is and isn't white by the supposed purity of their European lineage.

it's fine to say "there are, in fact, lots of Italians with darker skin tones, who have been historically discriminated against and excluded from whiteness because of their potential Moorish ancestry. Sicilians, in particular, have been targets of this racism." but if we don't want to sound like a dyed in the wool Nazi, we do not start questioning how they aren't really white. the same way we do not start questioning if Ashkenazi Jewish people are "really white," or the Irish or Spanish or Greeks or Slavic or yes, even Turkish people. and I know you might be like "well obviously, the Irish are white but Turkish people? Sicilians? most of them are pretty brown to me." trust me. unless someone from these groups tells you they specifically do not identify as white, you should not presume and start calling them not white unless you want to sound like a big old white supremacist, my God.

[scribeofmorpheus]

Harellan - *Solavellan Angst*

Read the complete version on A03

"To know what they are, those shapeless, hapless things that are threaded in every weave and warped in every fabric; to see those pieces of a soul alighted within another, homed there, held gently as a newborn babe, and protected as violently as a raging storm; to have them gathered for all their smallness to sing to the rhymes of another’s reason and folly—that is what it means to be whole. And then to have that part of yourself that sings so clamorous awaken into terrible reason; to understand that you always held the capacity to love—and be loved ever fiercely—even when all evidence was to the contrary; when that loud part of yourself has forgotten to be docile, forgotten what it means to be quieted, and then been forced to remember, that is where all great tragedy dwells: in a place where once true kinship is lost, unmoored, and left to fade; all new, for her. Now, reason is gone, the sound has ended, and all that remains is the hollow spaces where abundance had once been rooted. These fertile futures: sallow. These resound bodies: still. This was what it was to love and lose. This was Lavellan’s every day since."

[peonypearls-muddled-musings]

Rinwey: Your kind has cost me my father and my bride, do you even know what pain is??

Dargon: *was sold by his birth-clan for money at the age of 6, sent to Hell, watched constant death and torment until he was 12 and escaped, wandered the Old Americas on his own for three years, fought for alliances, scraped for food, was vilified even after saving King Floryndus, didn’t have his first hot meal until he was 18 after joining the army, endured continued hatred (a chunk of it BECAUSE of Rinwey during the war), inherited the mantle of king even though it scared the hell out of him, almost lost his wife to a tragic miscarriage, has been stabbed, beaten, spat on, defiled, judged, before and after becoming king, and it only continued after his first pregnancy was announced and his children, who cannot shift, are vilified by Rinwey and his allies as well*

Dargon: I mean....... you could enlighten me, Rinwey.

[starrycereal]

¡Dragone belle! Bunny was wondering if you could answer a couple of OC questions? Like, which are your OCs favorite animals? Do any of your OCs have allergies? Are any of your OCs fashion disasters? (Could you give examples of their glorious messes?) Sorry they're a lot, I've missed OC talk, thanks for listening! Love you! 🐰💛💙

!!!!! I am always down for answering oc questions I will ramble about them for ages if you asked probably. Under a read more because I do not, in fact, know how to shut up.

Favorite Animals: Aster: platypus, they’re ridiculous animals to her and as such she is obscenely fond of them Nell: chipmunks, small and cute and cause problems Kiera: BEES Leo: cows, they’re large and generally super friendly Asha: whales, they’re big sea creatures and the idea of vibing in the ocean with them is very appealing to her Jude: dragons, because fire breathing lizards that fly are really just a whole ass mood half the time Eli: giraffes, long necks Melanie: frogs, they’re friend shaped and mind their own business Sasha: cats, any of them. Valera: mabari, big ol’ dog, and she’s had one since she was a kid Mheiri: honestly you could put any animal in front of her and she will fawn over it, but if pressed her favorite would probably be an owl Addie: elk, they look cool as hell but sound fuckin ridiculous. also, antlers as a general whole are an aesthetic Sarai: dargons? halla? who knows hers changes literally every other day it seems Maureen: varren, the weird eyes and spikes just kind of work Margoe: pyjack, it’s a weird space monkey what is there not to like Andi: BEARS. big and fuzzy and probably would give great hugs if they weren’t you know, super dangerous to just walk up to Carrion: does not like animals at all Chana: snakes!!! long, can easily carry them on your person, people will give you weird looks when you show them the snake sitting in your windowsill Fern: also frogs for very much the same reason as Melanie Raiha: blink dogs, they’re the same kind of chaotic that they are, and blink dogs are smart and can understand Raiha when they talk to them Skadi: mice! small and unobtrusive, make great friends when hiding in places Kit: also cats, but specifically tortoiseshell cats Allergies: Most don’t have any major allergies, but Andi has terrible pollen allergies so she’s always dying in the spring. Kit’s allergic to matcha (let me project okay?). Eli’s allergic to cats and dogs.

Fashion: So Aster isn’t quite a fashion “disaster” per se, but she is generally wearing the standard ship’s uniform, but does tie the top half around her waist and refuses to wear it normally because she hates things on her arms. Margoe is a fashion disaster in the “I know none of this works together but bold of you to think I care,” and has walked out wearing a green striped shirt, blue scarf, orange plaid pants, and her hair dyed purple.

[blacklistedwriter]

So, I would just want to talk about my thoughts on TDP season 2 as a whole.

It's basically Voltron Season 3, which is basically means lots of potential, but not great delivery, and plenty of room to screw things over royally.

Now that the short version's out of the way, strap in because I'm about to turn on the grunt birthday party skull and explode.

First: Ezran. This kid has been to hell and back and still has the personality complex of a cardboard cutout of a smiley face. Kid, you were endearing for 2 minutes, now please do something an actual kid your age would do, or what anyone would do having been through anything remotely like you. Aaaannd now he's king. (#virenwasright which begs the question: why does Callum needed to be killed. The only reason he would need to go is if he had a claim as strong as Ezran.) But seriously, he has no important life outlook that adds to the story or affects the other characters, his involvement was only needed when the power of Macguffin was on his side (which it always is.) Seriously, regarding Harrow's death, it's out of his mind 10 minutes after it's entered.

Now, a good flat character is Harrow. Hot damn was he good this season. His world view is that regardless of anything, he is just as capable of doing bad this as his enemies, but the choice to do so or not is his own. This view has incredible influence on Callum, Viren, and even Sarai.

Now to one of the hotter topics of this season: Sarai. Honestly, she was a mixed bag. At first, she was doing nothing but saying reeeaaaallllyyy cliched lines and not much else. Her dynamic with Harrow did nothing...

...Until it came into conflict with Harrow.

That was her high point. When her husband was doing something she though was morally questionable, she challenged him on it, and he stood his ground. Heck, she walked away from the argument still not agreeing with him. But then she goes with him anyways. Why? Because he's her husband and it's their jobs to stand by one another even when they dont agree. This is a wonderful, healthy thing and I fully understand why people adore this character.

Onto Callum. Good start with Callum writing to Harrow (see what mean about him affecting other people?) I enjoyed the fact that he was in denial over his stepdad. It felt like something a real person would do. Hell, I've seen real people do it. And when he was reading his letter from his step-dad, I genuinely felt that this was based off an actual letter written by a real dad to his real step-son. (Much better than some other children in this show, but I have already made my thoughts on them clear)

By the way, while I'm on good stuff of Callum's, how bout these cute bundles of cute?

If I didn't ship Rayllum before, I sure as hell do now. (And so I must constantly ask myself why a fully grown adult man cares about 15 year olds' relationship @blacklistedwriter you're doing me a concern)

Now we get to my main problem with the Callum: He was able to cast magic without a Primal Stone.

If magic is something anyone (including humans) can learn, then there is no reason for Dark Magic to be a thing. Dark magic obviously comes at a cost to the user and would be forgone for safer, but just as effective primal magic. The only way this could work is if Callum can't really cast powerful sky magic like lightning without being in a storm or having some other source to draw from (keeping the spell sword dream alive), while sky creatures can cast it at will, but that doesn't seem to be the case with Viren and Aaravos.

Rayla....

...You good girl.

Keep to your weeby ways and all shall go smoothly between us. (Claudia, you're in this category too) Nothing big of note to say. They're just good.

Now, Viren still has the same problem as season 1:

He ded and Don Birb has been rockin his bod without a license.

But in all honesty, he is either skitsophrenic or there are two different writers with completely different ideas on who this guy is (which is basically the same thing but with shade). Does he care about Harrow and his family or does he not? Is he trying to save Katolis or is he trying to grab power? Simple yes or no will do. However, he's not all bad (writing). Soren suffers from the same problem, going from a jock with a heart of gold to a downright douche, but not to the extent as Viren. I prefer the Viren who believes he's doing the right thing, mainly because there is so much more depth there. However, his best moments of this are his interactions with Aaravos.

Ok, now on the best thing this show has given us:

Lotor 2.0 (Magic: The Gathering Edition) was done 100% right this season. From his introduction, to his design, to his mannerisms, to his voice, to his lines, to his delivery, to his theme, to the angles onscreen we see him from, (Dear God! THE ILLUSTRIOUS ANGLES!!!) to his mystery, to his foreboding sense of danger he gives off, this guy was on point. I can't wait to see what he'll do right next season. However, we all know what happened with Lotor 1.0 (the Voltron: Legendary Defender model), and, seeing the similarities between this show's writing and Voltron, I wouldn't put past them. Which leads into why I'm writing this:

This show has massive potential, really. I actually care about these characters and want to see then grow, face new challenges and change (Ezran, take notes here), and become better, wiser people. However, people can grow the wrong way (in a bad writing sense) and I, for one, am afraid DreamWorks isn't learning from their mistakes with any of their shows. Say what you want about Voltron, The Dragon Prince, Carmen Sandiego, or She-Ra, but they have a bunch of little flaws that keep holding them back in a big way. Voltron and Tbe Dragon Prince are the two shows that had their first seasons (and second season of Voltron) mostly free of these problems, but now Dargon Prince is starting to have them...

...and I don't want it to.

No, I shall not speak of the finale. It sucked.

[taye-x]

I just played Nameless and I loved it!! Thank you for introducing me to otome games! I've never really liked video games at all because all of the ones I see are so violent and focus on killing things :( but I didn't know there was this whole genre.

Oh boy Nonny, you have just hit a sore spot. Prepare for A Rant you didn’t ask for.

I have been saying for years, even before I knew entirely why, that video games have the potential to be one of the greatest forms of art. They are uniquely able to incorporate all the best features of other forms of art: the ultimate fusion of visual art, film and television, drama and music. And they do so in a way that can be more immersive and interactive than any other form could hope to achieve, especially with some of the recent technology coming out. However, the gaming industry always seems to fall back onto one theme: kill or be killed. For a media platform that has virtually no limitations on what can be done, the gaming industry as it is has remained....pretty uncreative honestly. And that means that the true potential of video games has largely gone untapped.

At E3 (which, as the face of the gaming industry, is the best place to analyze overarching market trends) in recent years, around 80% of all the games announced have been combat-orientated. When you take away puzzle games, racing games, sports games, etc., it leaves about 7% of industry-level (AAA) non-combat games being produced. And just because they’re non-combat doesn’t mean they’re non-violent— it just means that players are the ones causing the violence. 

It’s so severe that most gamers think of ‘combat’ as synonymous with ‘game mechanic’. It’s not. The mechanics are the foundations of a game; the tools that the players are given to interact with the game world. In many of the game coming out, you are only given one mechanic: combat. That is the only tool you are given to resolve conflicts,overcome obstacles, and otherwise complete the game. If all you’ve got is a hammer, everything starts to look like a nail, right? And video games are designed in way that nearly everything in your path is a nail. In other words, if all your given is a machine gun to interact with the world, that is going to determine how you approach the world and everything in it. And when games focus so heavily on this, it restricts the capacity for both emotional interaction and creative conflict resolution. Conflict is major point of storytelling, but their are many different forms of conflict, and even more forms of conflict resolution. Not everything needs to end at the barrel of a gun.

Even when it comes to my personal favourite genre, RPGs, where players do more than just fight. Unfortunately with these though, most of the other forms of interaction only exist to support the combat. You might talk to NPCs, who will give you a quest….which involves killing things. You can gather resources to craft new items….to help you kill things better. You might even be able to build a house …which you will have to defend by killing things. All of these other options available to players still seem to ultimately revolve around that core combat mechanic. This is not something that I personally mind in a lot of cases, but I have noticed that, when given the opportunity, I skip it completely. My favourite game series of all time is Dragon Age, and I’ve played full, 100+ hr playthroughs of Origins at least 20 times.. Do you know how many times I’ve played a full playtrough without using console commands to skip through combat? Once. And the game is able to stand on it’s own legs without it.

I’m not here to say that combat-focused games are bad, or that they limit our potential to be emotionally invested completely, because that’s not true. Look at The Last of Us for example. Nor am I saying that games need to be emotionally captivating or philosophically deep to be good games. Games are allow to be just games, there’s nothing wrong with that. Mass Effect: Andromeda isn’t inherently better than Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater just because it’s got a three act structure and themes and in-depth characters. I sure as hell know which one of those games I sunk more play hours into. What I am saying is that when the market is over-saturated with one particular type of game, it severely limits the potential of other stories to be made. Imagine all of the ‘Life is Strange’s and ‘Journey’s and ‘Firewatch’s and ‘To The Moon’s we’re missing out on because the majority of developers are putting all of their resources into what are ultimately just rehashed adaptations of Call of Duty. This is why indie game developers are so important. Why games like Undertale and The Stanley Parable and Gone Home are so important: to show the industry that these games can be successful and universally loved. This is why that 7%, those trailblazers and innovators, are the future of the gaming industry. 

Just think of the potential of games, especially with all the new technology in recent years. Imagine a open world, post-apocalyptic game where, instead of fighting zombies or others for scraps, you work to build a new civilization? Imagine a game like Dear Esther in virtual reality? And yet, all we keep seeing is these amazing virtual worlds that we can only experience from behind the barrel of gun. It fucking sucks.

Are all otome games innovative and automatically more ‘real’ than combat video games? Fuck no. 95% of otome games are fanservice trash. I know it, you know it, we all know it. But at least they’re something different. 

If you ever want to stray outside of the otome world Nonny, there are some great non-combat games that exist. Here are some recs from the top of my head:

Everything that I’ve mentioned in this post (Life is Strange, Journey, Firewatch, Undertale, Stanley Parable, Gome Home, To The Moon)

Never Alone (Kisima Ingitchuna)

Portal and Portal 2 

Stardew Valley

A Bird Story

Kentucky Route Zero

That Dargon, Cancer

Fez

INSIDE

Papo & Yo

Night in the Woods

The Witness

(Check the summaries of these games before you play them, because they might not be for you, but they are all non-combat)

[redjennies]

tbh the companion mechanics in Veilguard just sound like how they work in Mass Effect, which is not the worst thing in the world, like I enjoy Mass Effect, but tbqh I still kind of hate it.

like one of the most popular fantasy western RPGs to be released in years litcherally has straight up D&D style turn based combat but SURE OKAY "nobody" likes micromanaging their party anymore. everything has to be smooth and streamlined and soulless according to the playtesters at EA. I hate it here.

[redjennies]

i'm gonna be honest i have extremely low expectations for veilguard but the animation style really does not bother me in the slightest and to be really honest, i think people who care about this sort of stuff are kind of dumb and shallow.

[redjennies]

I'm so biased against the Surana origin in a way that I can only explain to people who were both in the dragon age fandom and on deviantart in 2010.

[redjennies]

Oghren is one of the most compelling and complex companions in Origins if you actually interact with him, take him places, and try to understand his perspective, 2024.

[redjennies]

ngl I'm watching Veilguard compilation vids on youtube and Davrin alone might be enough to get me to play this game.

[redjennies]

I keep alternating wildly between "Veilguard is going to be bad and I need to accept that Bioware is too removed from what it used to be to ever release something I like again." and "it'll probably be fine. there are games I've played that weren't like great or life changing or whatever, but I did enjoy playing them. like Elder Scrolls: Oblivion is objectively kind of stupid but it's also a permanent part of my brain."

[redjennies]

whatever my anxieties, I'm glad Veilguard is releasing on a Thursday (and on Halloween, when I will be busy with social events, no less) so I can have a couple days to read reviews before I would even have a chance to play it.

[redjennies]

I still have not forgotten or forgiven that when Inquisition came out, a good portion of the "Anders did nothing wrong" crowd was so quick to call a 20 year old lesbian an abuser over like one (though I will easily admit it was pretty yikes) scene that possibly didn't even trigger for some people who romanced her and the fact that she's just honestly not super romantically compatible with a Dalish Inquisitor because of wildly different life experiences relating to their relationship with their own elven-ness.

like sorry there's not a single version of Anders romance where every scene he isn't word for word quoting out of a handbook titled "The Abuser's Guide on How to Isolate and Manipulate Your Partner in Ten Easy Steps!" and that no matter what you do, he either attempts to murder or succeeds in murdering a young woman he literally came here to rescue in front of you because she was afraid of him, but like my Cadash and Sera are fine. I just didn't bring her to Adamant and the only toxic thing about them is their individual self-image and honestly they're getting better!

[redjennies]

like i'm so sorry but i was actually fine when i initially thought that the complaining was about a confirmation that no other Inquisition companions would show up outside of Solas and Varric. like Inquisition also did that with the DA2 companions, but genuinely not having "who drank from the well of sorrows?" as a world state question but having "umm, *blushes* does your inquisitor like solas? check yes or no." as one is truly the sound of the other shoe dropping that i've been anticipating for months.

[redjennies]

we are like one week out from the news that there is in fact a DA4 and I already hate this fandom again.