#its a sequel to my comic

[spaceistheplaceart]

more ford and mabel bonding because i said so :)

bonus ford under the cut:

[mispelled]

Would you guys hate me if I told you I drew most of this before the poll was over

[peacockrulz]

N tries to tell another joke (gone wrong)

Sequel to This

[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.

[holy-reference-in-a-username]

Puberty sucks fr. remember losing an eye

Content Warning: gender dysphoria

(tumblr please be normal about a child in their underwear challenge)

[todayisafridaynight]

happy holidays from the two most incompetent men in tokyo

[azure-clockwork]

How Does it Feel to Read Classic Sci-Fi?

Orson Scott Card: Two of the most interesting books you’ll ever read if you’re willing to look past a handful of things. And then you find the planet of Chinese people who worship having debilitating OCD. And the Mormonism. And the fact that the author is wildly homophobic and ought to read his own books.

Robert Heinlein (or at least the Wikipedia Summaries): I guess that’s a neat concept—oh, it’s a sex thing. Um. Gotcha.

Ray Bradbury: Man, I gotta read this thing for class huh. Well here’s hoping it’s good! *three hours later* oh. that’s why he’s famous. this will stick with me forever and I will never look at the phrase ‘soft rain’ the same again. christ. And then repeat 3x.

Isaac Asimov: Wow, this is such an interesting concept! I wonder how the exploration of it will influence the plot! Wait, hey, are you going to add any characters? Any of em? No like, with character traits other than ‘robot psychologist’ and ‘autistic’ and ‘woman’? None of em? No, ‘detective’ isn’t a character trait. Those are all just facts. Aaaand now I’m bored.

Ursula K. Le Guin: Hah, get a load of this guy! He’s never heard of nonbinary people before. Lol, what a riot; how dumb do you have to be to comprehend that these people aren’t men *or* women actually? Oh, wait, what’s happening. Oh shit, it was about society and love and learning to understand each other? And now I’m crying? And perhaps a better human being for it??

Andy Weir: Alright, this guy’s a really good writer. Funny, creative, knows so much engineering stuff…ooh, a new book! …I guess he can’t write women. Well, he wouldn’t be the first sci-fi writer…ooh another new book! And it’s more engineering problem solving and—wow. It’s not just women he can’t write. Please stop letting your characters talk to each other.

Lois Lowry: Oh, I remember this being fun when I was a kid! Wouldn’t it be fucked up to not see color? …upon reread, it would be fucked up to have your humanity stripped away, replaced with a tepid, beige ‘happiness’ for all time. Yeah.

Tamsyn Muir (let me have this ok): Haha, “lesbian necromancers in space” sounds fun. Lemme read this. Oh wow, yeah, this is right up my alley. OH GOD WHAT. NO. FUCK. OH SHIT WHAT IS EVEN HAPPENING AND WHY IS IT REFERENCING THE BOOK OF RUTH AND HOMESTUCK BACK TO BACK!!! AHHHHHHHHH!! Now give me more please.

[sforzesco]

I want to say that I really love how Cassius in your art actually has agency and Does Things, rather than being relegated to Brutus' footnote!

HELL YEAH! Cassius Does Stuff is my favorite kind of thing to focus on because Brutus gets such a spotlight and honestly, I Do Not Think He Deserves It That Much

[chocolateteapotsvis]

This has next to nothing to do with the latest chapter of Missing You in the Soulbond, but I just can't get over Batman: Masque. From the timeline, we should be due for Batman: Love Never Dies any day now.

[danidoesathing]

oh dude i watched reanimator the other day bc of all your posts about it and there was something specific i wanted to say but forgot but anyway

damn you werent joking. about any of it

it kills me that all the climactic bad shit happened because herbert west may be a genius but hes also a fucking idiot who injected a body with reagent and then promptly forgot he did that and turned his back on it

DFLJSADS im so glad i could convince someone to watch it because those movies are. a fucking ride. i love campy 80s gorey horror movies like these they're so fun

THAT WAS MY EXACT FUCKING REACTION i went in like "yeah people talk about how gay it is but people tend to exaggerate so im assuming its like. Saw 1 levels of queer coded" AND NO. NO THEY WERENT LYING. THAT SHIT GAY. and like its even WORSE in the sequel somehow. like holy SHIT how do you make the plot of them making a fucking build-a-girlfriend and its gayer than the original

herbert west is simultaneously the smartest guy and also a fucking idiot. he managed to create something that can restart your brain but decides its a good idea to 1. use it on the guy he just decapitated and who hates his guts 2. injects both the body and the head with reagent and proceeds to only focus on the head. dude repeatedly reanimates corpses that has been only violent and hostile towards him in particular and he is somehow surprised every time

and its even funnier cause like. hes alive in the sequel and its never explained how he got out of that shit alive. last we saw him he was getting choked to death by some guy's insides and then he's. just here. this is how its gonna be and we're just moving on. no time to waste on things like "plot holes" and "on screen character deaths being undone" we've got places to be! bodies to reanimate! women to be sexist to!

[burntblueberrywaffles]

Being a prequel girlie in the year of our lord 2023 is so hard guys all the merch is either for the OG trilogy or the sequels/new tv shows WHEN IS IT MY TURN TO BE HAPPY

[h0n3yk1tt3n]

FRIRNDO BLENDO!!!! Tell me your bmc glup shitto

THE GIRL AT SEV-ELEV

She's in ONE LINE of ONE SONG and NEVER APPEARS in canon and I MADE HER A MINOR CHARACTER IN A LONG COMIC™️ ON INSTAGRAM BACK IN 2019-2020

Backlog Part 31, circa March 13, 2020

This comic got me through covid/my senior year you have no idea

Plus the dtiys I hosted after the comic wrapped up, hot damn it's almost the anniversary HHHHHH

She's 19 at the time of the show (+ after vimh) so she's 3 yrs older than Michael, there are Some sex jokes shared between them but? Idk they're pretty minor all things considered. She's gay so we get that swert wlw mlm solidarity babyyy

[llitchilitchi]

Ok so I was re-reading your vampire au and there's so many things I wanna know! But I'm terrible at eh wording my questions I guess ...

For starters ... how will Dream react to Sapnap after he's back from hospital? Will he be afraid or will he tried to brush it off as nothing serious (while it's clear that it did affect him)? Was that the first time something like that happen? What about George? Is he mad at Sapnap about it? Or well ... how mad he is would probably be better question.

Oh also ... I'm ashamed I haven't noticed this in your profile sooner but... hovoríš po Slovensky?

ohhh goodness that's a storyline from the vampire au that I should certainly come back to, someday

this was the first time either Sapnap of George were overcome with bloodlust.

Dream tries to pretend like nothing happened, or rather acknowledges that it happened but says that it doesn't have to mean anything, especially after George explains to him that Sapnap didn't do it consciously. he tries to go back to how things were, act like the whole experience wasn't traumatic. he's genuinely not mad, if only a little worried and disappointed that things even came to that point because if Sapnap acted like this because of some deeper instinct or a certain trigger, maybe it could've been prevented. he tries not to be jumpy but when someone comes up to him from behind or touches him, be it Sapnap or George, he tenses or flinches away. the first feeding session after the incident would definitely not end well.

George is a lot more angry about it happening. as a vampire himself, he knows that it could have been prevented, especially if it was because of hunger. he almost comes to terms with everything but then the first time Dream flinches away from his fangs he's angry all over.

I'm still trying to figure out how I could continue the series, which would also get into just How Exactly the three of them were affected by this. when George comes back from the hospital it's still a fresh kind of anger, the one that has him yelling at Sapnap before he runs out of energy and the bone-deep fear for Dream takes over. he's also known Sapnap for decades at this point, over a century, so he isn't even capable of being truly angry with him. it doesn't go away, it fluctates, sometimes small and hiding in the very back of his mind, sometimes silent and cold that has him walking past Sapnap, has their conversations be much shorter and more clipped and tense than they used to be, some times bright and burning with shouts and insults (but those happen rarely, on the bad days, and the outbursts could be counted on the fingers of one hand). he doesn't stay angry. if not for himself, then at least for Dream's sake.

they will all be forced to talk it out, once Dream is better and once they are all fully aware that they can't just ignore what happened

and last but most important: áno!! ahoj ahoj teší ma rada vidím ďalších slovensky hovoriacich ľudí vo fandome :D

[themyscirah]

Green Lantern: Edge of Oblivion #3

[wellhalesbells]

LIAR YOU TOTALLY WATCHED ONE SEQUEL!!! 😉💜

https://www.tumblr.com/wellhalesbells/736050291745652736/friendraichu-jackironsides

HAHAHAHA, I should clarify that I just mean for super hero-y ones. I mostly watch the first one and rarely watch the second (or anything after...... or remakes, lol), I think the only Marvel one I've seen in recent history is Thor: Ragnarok. Actually, the Spider-man franchise pretty much encapsulates how I interact with Marvel properties: I saw the first trilogy because it was new and exciting at the time, then they remade it too fast and I refused to pay for something I just saw, that was so recent in my memory from the release date I could still remember exact scenes from it (THERE WERE ONLY FIVE YEARS BETWEEN SPIDER-MAN 3 AND THE REBOOT - THAT IS NOT ENOUGH TIME FOR ME TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT AGAIN. HOW IS THAT ENOUGH TIME FOR ANYONE TO GIVE A SHIT ABOUT THAT AGAIN???), then I watched the first Tom Holland one (fourteen years I can vibe with) and nothing that followed because that's generally when the gimmicks and cameos start in lieu of good story-telling, or they make it dark and gritty because that's the only way to ground this superhuman, right (I assume a random white guy: "Should we fridge a lady? Yeah, we should probably fridge a lady"). The first one generally at least tries to have a soul because they have to introduce the character and make you care about them but many of the ones that follow (the few I've seen from when the MCU was just starting out and I had hope *coughs*Iron Man 2, Thor 2, etc.*coughs*) are just cash grabs that don't try because you already love this character and there they are, right there, so money please!

Meg 2 however..... EPIC, NO NOTES. It knows if I was a shark girl, I was probably a dinosaur girl and it gambled correctly. That's what you're watching this for? Have three sharks and an unnecessary (probably stupid expensive) dinosaur intro that is nearly completely irrelevant to the story but that you will also not want to live without and for an extra special bonus: oblivious husbands and their brilliant daughter. Like. You got me nailed, my dude. Will watch every subsequent sequel, no questions asked.