#i dont care what da4 will be about

[sleepingfancies]

no fear - half the game will be spent playing as my inquisitor again - one fear

[v-arbellanaris]

i feel like some of you are really shooting yourselves in the foot. i get it! trust me, i get it! i, well known dai hater, also have my anxieties abt da4 - and yes, even expectations abt things like where the plot is going to etc - but the teaser is TWO MINUTES LONG and i've been ripping it to shreds to get SOMETHING out of it, but the truth is that it's just not going to be indicative of the full game

the teaser trailers for dao imply that the sacred ashes quest is gonna be the huge memorable quest - and for me, they simply weren't? and how different did the actual game look to the teasers like let's be sooo real. da2 teasers hinged on the qunari invasion which was like... just one of many, many events in da2. and hawke and isabela didnt even look like that. i cant even remember seeing solas in the inquisition trailers?

the teasers aren't even for the plot, is the thing. these teasers are literally companion reveals, of course it's aimed to make the characters look cool and interesting, rather than really foreshadowing anything deep about the storylines - that's for things like tevinter nights, and the comics, and even absolution. it just feels really weird to use the thing they're using to advertise the companions for this game as a metric for the entire game plot and vibes. dao and da2 trailers were SO FUCKING INTENSE and then you get iconic lines like swooping is bad and hawke stepped in the poopy like...............

like da4 is not going to be dao. it's not going to be da2. it's not going to be dai either. all three of these games were tonally totally different from each other, and idk where the expectation is coming from that da4 will be like the other games. especially when the writing direction, as i've talked abt on this blog a few times already, is definitely changing and evolving. whether or not i personally like that direction is irrelevant to the fact it's happening.

i support the haterisms - god knows ive got my issues with it - but sometimes i just think you guys are unnecessarily hostile for weird reasons and i dont get it. "people who hate dragon age the most are people who love it" i dont think you guys like dragon age anymore, is the thing. which is fine, but i'm not obliged to tolerate it, or you. like you can just say: you liked dragon age origins. you liked dragon age 2. you maybe even like dai. and you're not interested in da4. that's fine. because da4 is not those games. i dont really care to hear abt the whinging abt how da's ruined or whatever - da hasn't been the same literally since da2, which was already a tonal shift from dao. da has been changing, and i have opinions abt the changes, but fundamentally, i am - cautiously, warily, anxiously - excited about a new game. new content. new companions. new maps. new knowledge. new narratives to chew on. aren't you?

if you're not, have you considered that you just don't like dragon age anymore? and that's fine? and you can just move on?

and idk why are you acting like a 2 min teaser is gospel for how the entire game is going to anyway? we know practically nothing, and at least try to keep that in mind when you're drawing firm conclusions abt the wholeass game based on the trailers because you literally WILL NOT KNOW. the teaser literally means nothing except: here are your companions. this is what they look like and where they're from. everything else based off the trailers is wild conjecture

[vigilskeep]

what places do you potentially wish to visit that we haven't been to yet? i personally would like to walk on the desolate planes of anderfels

NEVARRA!!! NEVARRA. anyone who knows me will know i cannot be normal about necromancy and necromancers it is my favourite fictional thing ever. praying for mortalitasi companion in da4. i want nevarra lore so bad it’s unreal cassandra please talk to me about the skeletons cassandra i dont care abt the chantry just the skeletons cassandra pls

i DO want the anderfels as well though. weisshaupt would be so sexy. also shoutout to antiva. zevran sold that place way too hard and then we never get to go??? criminal.

[werefag]

19 + 25 for the guys ^_^

he's getting revenge

19. are they afraid of death?

yeske: her verbal answer is going to be "no" but i think deep down she is she just ignores it until she has to inevitably face the possibility of it. umm torments my impulsive little elf mage with consequences <- i think she is growing increasingly nervous as the years go by and still hasnt found a cure for the calling.

wes: no but in the depression way 👍 he's doing better at the point of da4 but he's also passively suicidal in the sense of "if i die i die" He wouldnt mind that much. bracing himself for the hawke curse but it just never hits him. i think he is just tired atp

ise: notttt really i think he views it as just a natural part of life. also stories of falon'din guiding dead souls always resonated with him :) this is the part where i wish bioware wouldve elaborated more on individual worship practices for the elven gods since falon'din is ises chosen patron so i could be saying more here WHATEVER

shival: mixed bag i would say. as a healer she's seen and dealt with death a lot so i think its started to kind of desensitize her to it LOL part of the job to her. but shes not an active fighter so i dont think shes had to deal with herself possibly dying hmmm much to think about later here

25. what did they plan for their life to look like before the events of the game happened?

yeske: not many aspirations to be had as a circle mage . so! i think she was resigned to being a circle researcher... in my mind she developed magic very young so i dont see her craving any particular sort of life beyond just getting out. in the short term becoming a warden is probably best day of her life.

wes: i think he wouldve been content with staying in/near lothering for his whole life. especially after malcolms death wes feels responsible for the wellbeing of his family and tries to take care of them as best as he can. hes a simple guy He did not ask for much in life And yet...

ise: ise technically got what he wanted bc while he did enjoy being a clan hunter hes always wanted the opportunity to see more of the world <- ive been sitting on how to word that for 15 minutes and gave up Hes just a curious and nosy guy. Anyway joining the inquisition for scouting/spy work let him do exactly that in a way

i got stumped on shival here so im skipping her HDBFBFB da4 i need rook background lore pls

[spratwurst]

Leilani has been living in like 8 different timelines at the same time in my head, but I think it's time for her to Rest in her best possible canon which is:

travelling with Zevran to Antiva and living there for a while post-Awakening while Zevran sorts out his unresolved business with the Crows

getting back in touch with her Clan and Merrill

learning about her parents and meeting her father and his Clan for the first time

finding the cure for The Calling with help from a bunch of people (and darkspawn)

passing on every Grey Warden secret she knows to whoever is in charge at Weisshaupt and retiring for good

Clan Sabrae joins her father's Clan and they become one

she and Zevran decide to stay with them, and convince Velanna and Seranni to do the same

Leilani becomes the new Clan's hahren, which is what she wanted to be since she was a child, except now she has countless stories to tell without having to make them up (for the most part anyway)

[trvelyans-archive]

i think i want to mayhaps perhaps... start a new dragon age world state...

[bunabi]

Do you have any thoughts about what’s going on with anthem/BioWare? I heard they were pausing development and wondering what this possibly means for dragonage; good or bad.

I dont envy their jobs right now

Imagine working 14 hour shifts from home and your veteran leads have left, your fans keep lighting you up on social media, you’re integrating staff from another sunken title, fuck

There’ll probably be fewer preorders for DA4 unless they can rebuild confidence, but beyond that I dont know whats gonna happen anymore

I’m happy they're focusing on DA4 and integrating the Anthem team, but who knows if adding more cooks to the kitchen will help or make matters more difficult

I just hope I dont have to live through another ‘yall better support this game no matter what if you really care’ phase

I wish these people poured that energy into hyping up the Bioware Store and book releases instead

'Be a real Biofan’........girl ‘buy yo fan’ merchandise 😩 fill the shopping cart beloved

[merrilldidnothingwrong]

sorry but i do not relate at all to people who cant wait to play da4 to “scramble that egg” like im not even a solasmancer, i dont hate the guy i just think its a fully weird thing to say? i know theres things coming out in books and comics and theres some nasty shit that he is doing but the dude is like HOW old? imagine the shit he knows!! and we already know he LOVES to talk. i want to know what he knows. we know HE HAS A PLAN.

i know ill be eating my words when the game comes out bc it looks like its gonna be a HELL of a journey but tbh i look forward to it. the elves have been oppressed for a thousand years, they deserve their freedom. in the end thats all solas want, he doesnt care about his name being cleared, or hell, even him surviving. he just wants freedom for his people (even though he comes off a snob about it in the inquisition, he’s missed a thousand years)

[dgcatanisiri]

(1/2) I got such a big facepalm when Dorian appiered in tevinter nights and how writing deliberately mentioned that he have only the servants now. I just... Bioware really should stop pretending that Dorian didnt defent horrible things. If anyone of their scenarits gave at least half of theit shit, Dorian could have finally had a conflicked he (as a character) so despiratly needed in Inquisition.

(2/2) But it would probably make many players uncomfortable with their "Best Gay Friend" being not so perfect cinnamon roll UWU as they want, so Bioware just run from risk as fast as from a shitting elefant. Writers dont want Dorian to grow, just be a stereotipical LGBT-doll to bait the audience. The worst thing is - it actually worked... It sickens me. (sorry for my bad english btw) 

I mean, I really would have been down for a “Dorian learns that slavery is bad” push through Inquisition - we have Krem, Bull’s trusted right hand among the Chargers, whose father sold himself into slavery because he couldn’t compete with the prices of slave labor, and yet there’s not even a passing encounter between them. We have Varric, who was friends with an escaped Tevinter slave, and yet Fenris isn’t even NAME-CHECKED, let alone discussed as an example of what is wrong in Tevinter. We have the encounter with Gatt, and, while I understand not making it a must-have encounter because of variation possibilities, Dorian just gets catty at him because he represents the Qunari, rather than having even a moment of recognition that this freed elven slave looked at staying in slavery and joining the Qun, and unreservedly joined the Qunari - kinda shoots holes in that whole “poverty is the same as slavery” thing when the Qun looks better to someone who has suffered under those systems.

But no. We have Dorian revealing that his father would have straightened him out if he’d gotten the chance (and getting the option to push Dorian to “forgive” him, which HELL. NO. and I resent the implication that it’s somehow “better” to do that). And we have Dorian getting harassed by Mother Giselle, framed in such a way that we can only disagree with her asking after the intentions of the Tevinter mage among the Inquisition - when a Tevinter cult centered around an ancient Tevinter magister is the actual enemy of the game. Her concerns are completely justifiable, but the game wants to set her up as a straw villain in opposition to Dorian, with no real room to accept her point of view. But DORIAN, no, he’s got to be in the right.

Like I’ve said before, Dorian just comes across as little more than a prop - there to drop the “homophobia is bad” anvil and then be the ego boost for the female Inquisitor with the “safe” flirting - flirting that leads to that conversation where the Inquisitor will accuse him of leading her on, he’ll offer that line of “in another life” that I despise, and then tell him to keep fluffing her ego. He’s there to be the bestie character, not a character in his own right.

I mean, note that when BioWare DID write a gay character who shut that “friendly flirting” down right off with Gil in Mass Effect Andromeda, Gil has been sidelined all over the fandom. And while part of that is certainly BioWare setting the scene with the combination of minimal focus on him and a homophobic storyline... When it’s compared to Dorian, it gets very, VERY concerning to me on the subject of representation.

Because, end of the day, BioWare is still a business, still trying to make money. And making money means focusing and continuing their successes, cutting their losses when things aren’t working out. So the business approach here says that Dorian is a success, so keep chasing a repeat. Meaning that there’s a not-unreasonable-expectation that whoever DA4′s gay option is, he’ll be a prop as well, yet another gay character suffering something exclusive to his experience as a gay man.

Worse, even, because if they don’t do something like this, when we’re heavily expected to be in TEVINTER and hobnobbing with the elite of that nation, then there are two options to BioWare - either they don’t comment on homophobia in Tevinter, gutting the emotional core of Dorian’s story outright by making it into “not that big a deal” in reality, or they try and argue that Dorian’s efforts at reform have already been turning the tide, which... No. That’s not how society works. If they were already near the point where Dorian’s (acknowledged to be!) long shot minority party has been able to impact society that much, then it was already nearing that change, and, look at that, the emotional core of Dorian’s story is gutted anyway, because now Halward was doing this at a point that it would have reflected poorly on him in society.

BioWare doesn’t THINK about how the things they include will impact the rest of the world. It’s all immediate gains at the expense of future world-building. I mean, hell, that much was obvious with all the snapback Trespasser put the Inquisitor’s choices through, making everything more or less the same.

But it hits with Dorian in a different way because the game wants us to see him as a “good” Tevinter, without ever asking the question of if there ever really can be a “good” Tevinter. And my answer is “not among the Magisterium.” The good Tevinters are ones like Krem, like Fenris, the people who’ve been beaten down by the systems of Tevinter and have no voice.

I stand by the idea that, if BioWare wants us to have some kind of conflict in DA4, some decision point, where Dorian’s life hangs in the balance and it defines who gets to “rule” Tevinter going forward... Honestly, I can very easily accept Dorian as a casualty. Of course, given how BioWare has gone out of their way to play him up as “the good Tevinter” in the last few years with their supplementary material (he’s been in like every comic story arc they’ve published over the last few years in some capacity, even just a one-issue cameo), I’m reluctant to believe they’d actually even go through with that - “oh, no one would sacrifice Dorian, so let’s not put that in, no one would choose [other option] over him.”

I get that, in a barren landscape, Dorian represents a very powerful SOMETHING to audiences. Hell, I even understand the people who are moved by his story, even if I’d deeply critical of it - just because I find it reduces him to a prop for the development of the straight man who would have done that to him, that doesn’t mean that other people can’t find meaning and can’t connect with Dorian himself. But it’s a very real counterpoint that, in a barren landscape, Dorian also by design fails to be what just as many people needed him to be as he provides. And, rather than listen to anyone who was left unsatisfied, the overwhelming attitude I’ve seen from both the fandom, in their treatment of anyone who DOES have criticisms towards him, and BioWare, in their portrayal through merch (having his hoodie modeled by and shaped for women’s bodies) and supplementary material (the comics, Tevinter Nights), don’t care to address, that they want to just sweep it under the rug and lavish praise on Dorian for being what he is in Inquisition.

And, again, all I see in Inquisition is a prop for gay pain causing straight people character growth and development. I’m not here for that.

[pestopascal]

While I will absolutely agree that CB2077 isn’t the ONLY game doing all this bullshit, or that other AAA studios don’t deserve the flack CDPR is getting, I have to say that this is absolutely the perfect storm and I think people are FINALLY seeing the problems in modern AAA gaming. CB2077 might be fun to play, may have a good story, but it’s almost impossible to see because of the glaring issues. Which, honestly, is a good thing. I hope games change after this.

under here

AAA studios have been like this and this sort of release has been completely normalised on all accounts by both the businesses themselves and fans because of the inherent reliance on modders (bethesda at the forefront of this), as well as the pushback every time companies actually go ‘uh we need a lil more time’ (although... they just shouldnt announce potential release dates, im even of the camp they shouldnt even start releasing the game until like 6 months out from their official date because they fuck it up every time. borderlands 3 being the only game i know of being in “secret” development and then announcing itself in march for a september release. game itself aside, thats how companies should do it). easily i can remember a lot of 2011 release games which have had the exact same issues as cp77′s release, and then every other game in between since. very rarely do you actually have a game that isn’t a fucked up mess of a pile of pixels. and it is always the customisable character ones that are honestly, genuinely, ugly looking at release. but you can definitely say its been happening looooooong before 2011, with unrealistic expectations, word limits, 11 month time frames, offloading sequels to smaller companies so they can suffer if it fails, etc etc. the entire system has been like this for so long... they dont know any real different nowadays.

i mean look. tlou2 released under crunch conditions this year, and was rewarded. it was ALL over the social media feeds, it was quite the controversy because, surprise surprise, the company promised they wouldnt do it uwu and then. bam ! crunch conditions. literally around that time too, bioware employees came out with a statement saying ‘man we wish dai FAILED so that back in 2014 we couldve proven crunch was a wrong practice’. they say this as well after having to produce da2 in 14 months, which just suffered from fans and journalism for reusing environments, because it was produced in 14 months, and honestly? no one pointed that out back then, bioware themselves pointed it out again this year, 6 years after release, that that game was produced in 14 months. rdr2′s release was hounded by stories of crunch, and they all disappeared into the night because... it was heralded as the best game of all time. that was 2018, 2 years ago.

i think too is that some people get kind of ... morally and ethically concerned. which is understandable. can you consume something when you know it was made under conditions like crunch? and i think one of the most confronting things about it is that 9/10, not only has your favourite company engaged in crunch conditions, they almost actively choose to continue with them. and then that’s a whole other bag of issues blown up over there when it comes to what is able to be consumed what isn’t etc etc

i think also like a mix of marketing, promises and then the expectations of what the game will be like have really had cdpr earn the ire of fans which is just like... you don’t believe what these companies are saying. you never should, esp when it’s their ceo’s saying it who don’t work on the actual floor. bioware itself is the main culprit of doing this to the point they finally came around with all the da4 concept art and teasing to be like ‘ummm but actually dont get invested?’. remember all that qunari lady fanart that bioware management was like ... please dont get attached? yeah. yeah. like at what point as well is there going to be heavy level of apprehension to approach this? and i can’t really talk either, i cracked open the door for mass effect again. i know exactly what kind of shit bioware will pull, i know they are teasing it already on social media, but mass effect is my ride or die series. that’s why people keep opening the door on letting these companies get away with it. and you can’t fault fans entirely either because this is down to a science of how to get money. i mean, fuck, mass effect andromeda’s entire advertising campaign HINGED on the n7 logo. for the nostalgia value. and i see text posts in the same vein of both ‘guys, disney isnt gonna fuck you if you consume every remake for nostalgia value’ and ‘its understandable why people do it’.

so then you have to go ‘well are fans as just to blame’ and then that’s a whole other argument.

i think also like. i personally havent run into aaaannnyyyyyyy of the issues that you see posted online. which is ironic bc 1) i play on ps4 and 2) its an old dusty ps4. in fact a lot of ppl i have spoken to who have had issues have played on pc. does this mean the glitches dont exist? ofc not, the vids and screenshots are right there. but like... ive had a basically unhindered experience so far, and i get where ppl are coming from (i do, i promise) where theyve basically found the game unplayable. is there also a standard of what ppl consider unplayable because ive played most AAA games at launch when they basically rushed to slap the box label on the game and called it a day until they work on patches. when ppl consider unplayable is also just... different per person. some people have a slight blur on the screen when turning too fast even in an MMO and decide the game is horrible and unplayable. some people can have broken quests and npcs not loading and falling through maps and still be fine. there’s no agreed statement of what makes a game unplayable either, which is why you read threads on twitter and someone goes ‘yeah this npc t-posed so i quit in the first hour’ with a dozen replies. everyone has different levels of it.

it’s a mixed bag of issues. im not excusing cdpr, but the ppl who worked on the game are honestly likely not the ones who pushed for a release. you’ve gotta look at sony and microsoft and ceo’s with bonuses coming up and the investors and shareholders and people who sit behind computers and read numbers detailing interest and demand and supply and how every single time they had to delay this game, the loudest (but smallest) bunch of assholes on like reddit and in the twitter threads complained that it was delayed AGAIN even though back in what 2015? they said it’ll come out when it’s ready. and yeah there are times when game delays result in a mismatched half assed sort of story (kh3... p5... ffxv... dai...) and then there are times when, if they need to delay the game... they probably need to delay the game. sometimes delays are bad sometimes theyre good sometimes you are sitting there like whew if you only didn’t try to be like THIS TIME this is the release date.

the ONLY WAY this will stop happening is, quite frankly, unionising. and everyone is allergic to that whole concept so like... this is “the perfect storm” as you put it. but it’s also not. people have been so disappointed over the last 2 years alone for gaming companies, the final product, the attitudes from higher ups, that i think cdpr is receiving a good few years worth of anger. i think theyre also on the receiving end of misdirection from american fans who still don’t fucking get the company isn’t american, because that’s another bag of issues as well. like we’re holding at least 8 bags of groceries out of the back of the car now, and we don’t want to take another trip, because there are so many little bits of this entire situation to look at. there’s so much back and forth.

i think the worst, but most realistic thing is: games won’t change. how they will social media wise will. maybe. assuming bioware gets their heads out their asses but... they’re going to be a lot more careful. i mean, hell, sony offered refunds. that was just a publicity stint. they dont give a fuck if the game was bad. as i said before, if they did, they would make all companies fix trophy problems, starting from like 2010 or whenever the trophy system first came out. they just don’t wanna fall in alongside cdpr being thrown on its sword. but the companies are gonna learn from this, get smarter, still do the same shit to their employees, still pay off journalists, still do media blackouts, etc etc. and we’re gonna be here in another year’s time, with another game, having these same roundabout arguments, and cp77′s issues are gonna fade into just a wikipedia article.

[sickeningradiances]

Hewwo! DA questions time! 7, 25, 39, 78 (ideally would have asked all 101 but we can do this in batches lmfao)

oh! 😳i havent even looked through all 101 bc it'd just occupy my mind for whole day

7. Favorite DA:O backstory?

i haven't watched all of them even though at one point i was Going to.. i didn't see the humans but i can't imagine it was that big of a deal so i'll say dalish elf i chose the correct one on my first try 😌no regrets

25. Favorite DA:I place?

Emprise du Lion because it was snowy but it was kind of annoying to clear, Exalted Plains because it had cool lore and i actually enjoyed walking through that one!

39. Creepiest moment in the games?

hmmmmmmmmm i've suddenly forgotten all creepy things. OH that one area that you had to discover through war table where weird things were happening.. that was like the only creepy thing i can think of akjfskjdsdkjs Lost Temple of Dirthamen according to wiki

78. What are you hoping for from DA4?

another cool qunari gay/preferably bi romance, i wish they would go back to giving us endless action bar lmao, just...cool specializations. i dont know i only care about the romance

ty for asking!!! 🥺

[luobingmeis]

what i dont get about da4 is why they chose to make solas a companion in da3 when he is such an important character? my reaction to finding out who he was came down to "really? this dude?" bc, to me, he is literally the least interesting companion in the game. i get that's my personal opinion, but did bioware not consider that some people would not care about him? making da4 and teasers all about him make me.... not care about the game, just like i didn't care about him in the third game.... i truly don't understand

akjsdjkjdsk okay i GET this like i too also did not care for solas as a Companion but tbh i have him kinda in separate halves like. companion solas?? tbh i don’t get the hype (BUT i have never travelled with him before past the mandatory beginning of the game stuff so like, take my words with a grain of salt). Villain Solas though????? i think is very interesting!!!! esp bc (if i remember correctly) a huge part of his character in dai is the fact that no one really knows shit about him so i feel like. while i have personal faves in dai that outshine solas a little bit (in my opinion), i think he makes for an interesting villain (tho lets be real trespasser did all that leg work) (like honestly the reason i replay dai so much is bc i love trespasser as a dlc) (which imo trespasser should have been either a part of inquisition or da4 itself but bioware loves making us spend $30+ for like. idk 10 hours of content. but i digress) 

tldr: as a companion, i dont really care for solas, but trespasser does a decent job at laying out his whole plan so i just vibe

(@ solas fans: this is not an attack on you, just my personal solas opinions!!)

[catdays]

been thinking extensively about my dragon age inquisition rewrite. again.

first major restructure: fen’harel is an elven trickster deity as he is in the first two games lore, and the elven gods are NOT slaver kings or whatever. their status as a deity/mythologized mages OR old gods (like the arch demons) is something i’m debating. but they’re not evil.

corypheus isn’t the main villain but red lyrium is still a huge plot point, but it factors more into the mage/templar wars

the beginning of the game is pretty similar? the rift is blown up from solas’ failed attempt to bring the fade down i just think it takes way longer for it to get closed, but still pre-well of sorrows

the first chunk of the game is about the mage/templar war, and the inquisition trying to stabilize thedas again. pretty similar to the actual game at first, except there are more political missions, and caring for the people, etc. basically a lot of war table missions that you’re doing yourself INSTEAD of just time locked missions with rewards and no actual gameplay

one of the more major roles that’s made a big deal in the game is dalish-human talks, the inquisition protecting dalish camps, etc. i’m biased bc i played as a dalish inquisitor so i’m waiting to expand on this after i think a little more on it, but i think they deserve a bigger (positive) role in inquisition

instead of corypheus, haven gets corrupted by red lyrium and the inquisition has to mass evacuate and you have to choose between leaving infected members or killing them. stuff like that.

all the warden stuff is pretty similar id say. instead of being told to do blood magic by corypheus or whatever they’re trying to use red lyrium and the rifts to fix the blights resulting in corruption and possession through a lot of the ranks. i think the fade mission stays purely bc i liked the emotional impact of it and i wanna wiggle around with it. hawke is there bc of their experience with lyrium instead of corypheus (alistair was the other warden in my save Btw idk who that other guy was)

over the course of the game solas becomes closer to the inquisitor, and eventually ends up being a member of the war table instead of morrigan i think. he tells them abt the eluvians + leads the inquisition to the well of sorrows bc he believes he can tap into the pure magic of the old elves there, and tells the inquisition it could be a cure for red lyrium

bonus: if a dalish elf drinks from the well they hear elven voices...possibly mythal herself?

tbh idk what i wanna do with flemeth/morrigan. i’ll figure out later.

umm skipping ahead cuz i can’t think of what to fill here. maybe solas summons a dragon and runs off in an eluvian.

the inquisition has to go hunt down the fen’harel temple thats in trespasser or whatever. funny fade antics as you figure out fen’harel is trying to open the seal between the fade again so he can get back his magic and like destroy humanity idk

the final boss battle is against a giant 6-eyed, 6-legged black wolf (fen’harel) and its prety cool actually. fuck you. you dont kill him though after he gets down to like 20% health or something he shifts back to humanoid form (doesn’t look exactly like solas, it’s like his human-god form, but is still clearly the same dude) and is basically the same ending as trespasser he cripples the inquisitor and monologues and then runs off through an eluvian tht shatters behind him. it’s a very inconclusive game that would set up for my ideal da4 which would resolve the mage/templar wars, red lyrium, and fen’harel

[autopotion]

whenever i play da4 i’m gonna have a hell of a time deciding what my canon playthrough is, cuz at this point i’m more interested in dwarf lore than mage lore and my canon playthrough is mostly mages (amell/leliana -> rogue/purple!hawke/isabela -> mage!trevelyan/josephine). also i forgot that i named my amell dorothea and did not know / did not remember that that’s also divine justinia’s name, so leliana’s closest people are dorotheas lol. i’m thinking about this because before da4 comes out i want to do a full replay, start to finish, of my canon timeline, with ALL the dlcs (some of which i haven’t played yet) and i was struggling to decide what my canon timeline actually.... is. lol.

my other playthrough that i really loved was warrior!aeducan/zevran -> warrior/red!hawke/merrill -> rogue!verochka cadash/sera.... augghh also good. though i didnt much care for my playthrough of da2 mostly cuz i dont like the merrill romance half as much as the isabela one. also that playthrough had a lot more interesting decisions, like loghain being alive (i have retroactively decided this is the case since i really wanted to in the actual playthrough but chickened out of it at the last second) and bethany being a gray warden, and also it was very fun to play a red!hawke that was still friends with everyone. presented a unique challenge

i mean the answer to this is i will probably just do multiple playthroughs of da4 so.

[m-thegreatandpowerful]

Solas

Knowing Solas will be the antagonist of DA4, I like going back through Inquisition to find any and all hints to his path to villainy. So far Ive found several references to Pride. Which is what Solas' name means. And also seems to be one of his defining traits/flaws.

The first boss you fight is a Pride demon. Said to be the strongest type of demon. Essentially you are fighting Solas or his pride. This was his first attempt at tearing down the veil by giving his orb to corypheus. I mean, he actually thought this was a GOOD plan. I wouldnt be surprised if the pride demon that came through was inspired by Solas and reflected his own pride.

Mother Giselle mentions that "we teach that Pride is evil. And corrupts not only mages." Possibly hinting at Solas again and the eventual downward spiral/corruption he put himself in.

Sera and her "Pride Cookies". A small one. But Sera hates cookies because of the woman who took her in. Her pride led Sera to hate the Baker. And hate herself for being an elf. Once again another message about the corruption of pride. I think this is partly why Sera doesnt get along with Solas. I feel like its less about "elfy things" and more about Sera picking up how prideful Solas is.

What Pride Had Wrought. Basically all of this is Solas' fault. Its in the name. This one is blatantly in your face. This was all caused by him. He threw the world into chaos once again. But he does feel TERRIBLE about it. Throughout the world, if you take Solas with you, you'll notice the little things. At the cross roads in the Hinterlands, during the cut scene. You'll see Solas in the background kneel down beside a wounded person as if to either help heal or check on them. Quests that involve helping people he approves of. Like finding the supply caches or getting the ram meat. He also approves of taking care of the demon controlled wolves. Perhaps feeling guilty or responsible for their corruption by the demon.

From these, I really dont think Solas will be the antagonist of DA4. I dont think its going to be the Hero (you) VS Solas. I mean, at the very end of Tresspasser you have the option to try to save him. The main conflict then, will probably be Solas VS his own Pride. And you, the Hero, deciding which one will win.

[rosykims]

@nordxz ask and u SHALL recieve ✊✊✊

another addition i forgot to add is.....hhhhhh...... the fucking scene where she MEETS mythal is so amazing when u go into it with these hc's..... like ashara honestly does Not care that shes also flemeth and morrigans mum and whatever, bc all she can think of is that mythal is REAL...... her ppl were rignt 💕💕💕 its so profound and important to her especially bc she Chose mythal as well,,,, like thats HER god that she had always tried to embody...

and i think it could be a combination of the well's effects nd also her own personal relationship with justice/vengeance but.... shes very easily manipulated by mythal i think !! obviously shes in the presence of an evanuris so shes nervous and overwhelmed and kinda terrified, and mythal would definitely be able to exploit asharas thirst for knowledge and need for validation if she wanted too... like when she says "you do the people proud and have come far" ashara is like okay guess ur my mum now 😒😒😒😒 basically even if she hadnt drunk from the well she STILL could have been easily corrupted. i dont think she would ever blindly follow mythal and doesnt even rly Like her (she removes the vallaslin when solas tells her what they mean, and also she deeply resents how apathetic mythal is about the elves struggles in general) but like i said....... she WANTS to feel in control of her life and she wants vengeance and she honestly wants ppl to be AFRAID of her so they wont hurt her.....and mythal has the potential to give her that. hence the possibility that she could become VERY corrupted in da4 hhhhhh

also. that option to tame the guardian dragon of mythal? SO sexie when u go into it w these headcanons...... she felt connected to dragons somehow for reasons she didnt understand, and then met mythal and suddenly those feelings made sense !!! and she is powerful enough because of it to TAME a DRAGON ?????????? HELLO ??????? DJDJDKDK so obviously .... it rly goes to her head fbdjdkdkskdjdj and like i said i dont think ashara would normally care about power for powers sake, but meeting mythal and getting the wells power kinda,,,, sets her on a downward spiral (and then trespasser fully sets it in motion lol) bc shes so ANGRY and also so powerful now, which is not a great combination lmao. it leads to her refusing to disband the inquisition - essentially allowing it to continue to become corrupted - purely bc she wants to find and kill solas !!!!! and with solas PLUS iron bull (he betrays her in her playthru lol) PLUS blackwall,,,, shes fucking pissed and will essentially do Anything to get revenge.

so ya,,, shes rly going thru it lol !!!

anyway i Think thats all the thoughts i have abt it.... i do also like the vibes of ashara being a fire mage bc of the dragon parellels but,,, that one i guess doesnt count bc theres ice/storm dragons as well but whatever she's just trying to uphold her Brand lol !!