#dragon age negativity

[lithosaurus]

I know we're in the 'backlash to the backlash' phase of the fandom news cycle but there is something incredibly irritating about the phase of posts that are dismissing the upset about the worldstate updates. Obviously no one was expecting who owns the tavern in Redcliffe to matter twenty years later in Tevinter but I absolutely was expecting the major decisions of Inquisition to matter.

BioWare has put out their statements about how your choices are still your choices from past games and how hard it is to write for the amount of branching options they included in past installments, which is largely true.

However, it absolutely invalidates the big choices that were previously presented as earthshattering decisions if ten years later they're not considered relevant.

Morrigan is going to show up. Does it matter if she has a son she's willing to sacrifice everything for? No.

Varric is going to play some sort of role. Does it matter if Hawke is even alive? No.

Solas is a key figure. Does it matter if he was close to the Inquisitor before being revealed as the Dread Wolf? No.

Dorian's a Magister in Tevinter now. Does it matter if he has/had a relationship with a Ben-Hassrath spy or how close he was to the Inquisitor? No.

I fully understand how difficult it is to write for so many possible options. I'm struggling to understand how to write for a worldstate where none of those decisions have hard answers.

This doesn't have much of a thesis other than a note of annoyance. Obviously, the severe responses that actually go so far as to threaten the writers are out of hand but dismissing other people's reactions to hearing the promises BioWare has made for over a decade are meaningless is kinda crap.

[leliwardens]

Answering the Anon question about the South under the cut so big Veilguard spoilers are hidden + neg.

`

`

`

`

`

`

`

`

Understandably, there is a quantum nature to The Warden and Hawke that got uh, fucked over when they wiped worldstates. I assume the vague nature of scene (and as I discovered, letters from the Inquisitor also I believe?) are so you can "headcanon" whoever is alive in your worldstate is running around (outside non-quantum like Aveline).

But the kicker to me is they run with what is a common worldstate, despite their previous claims about it. Like Isabela talks about Kirkwall and mentions Merrill, Harding talks about everyone in the Inquisition.

So the assumed timeline is one where everyone was recruited and lived throughout the three games.........you're saying all of them went down like bitches??? Just like that??? That's what 15 years worth of characters and stories end up?????? Thanks for being invested in the franchise, now we won't ever mention the fate of your favorites/MCs again and they're probably dead now, or not, up to you!

Bitter af about this lmfao.

[dreamerinsilico]

Me, finding out my computer will run Veilguard: goddamnit.

[afroditeohki]

me: I'm such a stick in the mud, completely void of excitement for the new Dragon Age, can only see the flaws in the new trailer

my entire tumblr circle: mocking the new trailer

welp, guess that's not just my hatred towards EA and disenchantment toward Bioware talking huh

[hauntedgarden95]

When we finally get a dreadwolf trailer I want to see gameplay mechanics, locations, everything. I wanna see that I shouldn’t just throw in the damn towel

[amadelii]

Relationship status: year 10 of an awkward situationship that could have ramifications for the fate of the world because the gods she used to follow might actually be horrible (aka It's Complicated)

I can't wait for the new game - I'm very fond of this desperate, tortured, wet cat of a man. Bonus points if Lavellan can swoop in and save him from his own delusional chaos for Peak Drama 🙏🙏🙏

[whereismywarden]

"We wanted to make the game accessible to new players."

It's not though. Not entirely. The plot is a direct follow-up to Trespasser. And romantic or not, the relationship between Solas and the Inquisitor will apparently play a pivotal role. By definition, you're already including content that could make new players feel like they're missing parts of the story (which they are).

Also, you could easily have a default worldstate with next to no references to the older games while still giving returning players the opportunity to input a few additional choices that could crop up if relevant in codex entries or background dialogue. I forgot which game it was, but I remember playing a game once that asked you at the start whether or not you wanted to see past events be referenced during the story. It really could have been that simple.

But by choosing to remove past choices from the game entirely, not only are you not really making the game more accessible to new players, but you might end up alienating half your existing player base.

[kikicolors]

Screaming into the void about Veilguard. Spoilers!

I have this written somewhere else, but I might as well put it here.

It feels so shallow. None of the places we visit feel like they're even on the same planet as how they're described in the original 3 games, and there's no current politics or set world-state as you can't transfer over choices/saves from past games.

I was surprised when we didn't see an intense scene about slavery or the horrors that regularly occur in Tevinter when Dorian paints such a detailed picture of his home in DAI.

Elves have been turned into humans basically, Dalish no longer exist or feel like they have culture. No longer are they suspicious of outsiders. Hey, join the veil-jumpers and get your grubby shem fingers all over ancient artifacts! Essentially Jesus Christ has come back to earth and none of them seem that bothered about it. It should be chaos among the Dalish as they're so hardcore in their beliefs, established by lavellan and Solas' encounters with them in DAI.

The factions just feel like filler that all have the same feel and milquetoast goody-two shoes goal.

Everyone's accents are all over the place. I heard maybe 1 guy sound Tevene in Tevinter, everyone else was American/Dwarven-esque or Fereldan. It's like Andromeda all over again. They just don't care about the details.

No true arguments or bashing of heads, no characters have a strong opinion one way of politics/beliefs that could be seen as morally wrong. No one feels real.

Not even to mention (SPOILERS!)

Solas for some reason 'abhors' blood magic, when in DAI he was willing to teach you if he knew it.

They butchered Solas' character. They're acting as though he's always been cold and evil, out for revenge, and even in his memories during his rebellious days he sacrificed tons of spirits to get what he wanted, which couldn't be further from his character. They also forgot about the implied elven uprising that was growing at the end of Trespasser. Not once does the game mention an agent, or does he have any followers.

There's an ending that says every big choice in past games (Loghain's betrayal, corypheus going into the golden city) was orchestrated by a secret no-name organization that is basically the illuminati, destroying all agency of past characters.

I haven't finished the game, but I hear the titans are never truly touched on other than Lace's powers.

The crows who torture and kill innocents are seen as this group that helps keep the streets safe...?

Why was solas so against the grey wardens killing archdemons if nothing bad happens when you kill them and they're just creatures assigned to each of the elven pantheon? In DAI he acted as though killing Archdemons was a dangerous thing and would worsen the world.

What ever happened to the soul of the old god that Mythal took from Morrigan's child, then Solas took from Mythal? Is that ever touched on?

What about the well of sorrows!?

I should've steeled myself against this game being bad. I knew it was coming. But man, I love the other three dragon age games so it's still horrible to see it happen. I think solas' character assassination was one of the worst things this game did as he's one of the most interestingly written villains IMO (In inquisition).

[zundely]

Sorry for a little petty and not a very positive post but it gets on my nerves a little when I see people being like "My RPG choice/romance is in the Bioware CANON WORLDSTATE we won!" like I dunno what to tell you man, congrats your singleplayer game choices were approved by the corporate or whatever but it's a little weird you want to use it to make your, again, singleplayer RPG game choices feel more valid then other ones.

And while in plot choices it's bad because it feels unecessary discourse about which choices are the 'correct ones', it really rubs me the wrong way when it is about romance options. Because first- there obviously shouldn't be a right and wrong romance choice. There shouldn't be secret winning romance. And second- if it is a thing that there is a romance option that gets loads of attention from creators because they chose it as more canon then others... yall realise why this is actually a bad thing right? Especially when usually it's a straight locked romance? And how it's especially bad when there is no alternative with comparable plot relevance? Like I dunno if that's winning guys when all but one choice in the game with multiplechoices don't get any followup in the narrative.

[momochanners]

So, that new Dragon Age trailer...

Uh...

*sigh*

Some games are not for me and that's okay.

[chessentans]

It really is so over. Like shut up. "UwU the solavellans or the other people we guess"

[lithosaurus]

It's coming up on a month after the limited worldstates news and I'm coming to terms that it really did kill my interest in Veilguard. If the game doesn't have the same writers, mechanics, characters, world building, or narrative through line, why even act like this is a sequel? I'm not against game series changing over time. Plenty of franchises reinvent themselves. The difference here is that this is supposedly a continuous narrative. DA2 and DAI both ended with open plot threads. DAI and DAV are both marketed as direct sequels supposedly following the plot's of the previous games.

Except all the tension built up by DA2 and the expansion books before DAI were answered in what more or less amounts to the tutorial levels with major retcons along the way. There's even an achievement or reaching Skyhold (meaning you must have resolved the mage-templar war) before level 5. And now DAV is entirely divorced from any decision that wasn't Trespasser, the DLC ending that cost an extra 15 bucks and wasn't even released for all platforms.

There's been layoffs and retcons and so much turmoil at BioWare that I've effectively lost all trust in the company. Even if they managed to hold it together for one more game, there's no telling which decade that game will release in, who will be writing it, what sort of gameplay it will have, what major details of the world will be changed, or what they'll decide to completely change.

Why should I get invested in any decisions if there's no guarantee they'll matter next game? Why should I care about the new characters if their arcs are going to be written to be as inconsequential as possible? Why should I be excited about returning characters when they're Schrödinger's Character development?

We had a 10 year long cliffhanger re: Solas, and 15 years of unanswered questions going back to DAO. It all ends with limp 'it matters in your heart!' from a dying game company.

TL:DR this sucks, man

[greensaplinggrace]

yeah you know what? I'm going to get into this. "don't humanize villains"/"this abuser is a monster" is some of the worst character discourse in fandom. abusers are not other. abusers are not always easy to recognize. othering someone who's done terrible things from humanity is an arrogant, poisonous idea.

that is a person who is doing those things, and you want so badly to be unable to fall into such patterns of harm and abuse that you will force that person into another category of species altogether, and in so doing you spare yourself from introspection and you give yourself a pretty little pedestal to stand on and you shame everybody who fell for a red flag that is surely so easy to recognize. and you give into prejudice you assign moral values to attributes outside of yourself and you think you are so above doing harm that you could never act in such a way, even as it is a capability within all of us to do so.

get off your self righteous high horse for a moment and use your fucking brain. I'm sick of people in fandom claiming to be the most moral members that are the "only people willing to discuss this" and then every statement out of their mouth is harmful and pervasive word vomit.

[magnetic-rose]

how come every time i say anything positive about vivienne (on other sites, thankfully not here) i always. ALWAAAAAAYS!!! have someone "um actually" me to tell me how vivienne is the worst person to ever exist in thedas.

[zombolouge]

I appreciate that from everything that I've seen so far, the fandom has collectively decided that regardless of their Rook's overall personality and goals, we are all making it a high priority mission to irritate the living hell out of Solas with them.

[rachelamberish]

Also and i say this as a solavellan truther but it is so painfully obvious that the romance question is not going to hold any relevance whatsoever unless the answer is Solas and that’s very sad for everyone who isn’t me.

Bc there are no other context questions surrounding those relationships so get ready for it to be “hey guys its me the inquisitor! (INSERT COMPANION NAME HERE) is back home on the farm so they couldn’t make it but they send their best!”