#she didn't do what she did bc of some sense of justice or obligation; she did it bc she fucking lived there (there being Kirkwall)

[sage-nebula]

I've now finished DA:I and have a completed World State in the Keep for DA4. I will say that, out of the three games (Origins, 2, and Inquisition) I think that the Inquisition party feels the closest to me. Like they're the ones I feel would actually want to stay together after all was said and done, helped I think by the fact that so many say that's what they want (with Sera almost starting to cry if you have the Inquisitor tell her that Skyhold will always be her home if she needs it). With Origins, it really felt like everyone was there and working together purely because of the mission to stop the blight and no other reason. With 2, it felt like they were there and working together because they lived in Kirkwall and wanted to make their lives easier. But with Inquisition, everyone who was there chose to be there, and sure it was for a cause . . . but also we got bonding scenes like them playing Wicked Grace together, or eating cookies up on rooftops. Even when they fought with each other, I felt a real closeness there. Like it was them against the world (which it kind of ends up being during the Exalted Council).

Of course, this is just all my opinion, and it's possible that this had something to do with how the personalities of each character developed over my playthroughs, as well as the fact that I found it a bit hard to track people down in Kirkwall sometimes and as such didn't bond with my companions as much as I would have wanted. (RIP Fenris, I missed the opportunity to do your character quest and so you died 😔). But at the end of DA:I Trespasser, I had the Inquisition stay together not just because that's what my Trevelyan wanted (as making the world a better place / helping people is very important to her), but also because I didn't want to see the squad break up, even though they had to break up a little due to responsibilities elsewhere in the world anyway. It's just how they made me feel.

[echoesofdusk]

major AI: The Somnium Files spoilers under cut

I have to ask people who claim AITSF is copaganda... where? how did you walk out thinking it's copaganda? is it bc nobody outwardly states that Date shouldn't have killed people? is it bc he didn't get punished?

do pieces of work really need to outwardly state that things are bad and aren't allowed to be subtle? do they need to spoonfeed people the message bc people are just unable to read between the lines? or walk out knowing that a piece of work has shades of gray?

I never walked out of AITSF thinking it's copaganda. I didn't get this message anywhere in the game. the police are shown multiple times to be incompetent at their job. hell Date is a goddamn PERVERTED COP who acts like a manchild at times. corruption is lampshaded multiple times. Boss knows she's abusing her power as a high ranking police but does it anyway, mainly out of love (all of the straight up illegal shit she does to protect Date when he popped up after the body swap). Falco knew he was severely dirtying his hands by being a vigilante cop. he wanted to go clean. he's an assassin, or should I rather say serial killer as "assassin" makes it sound clean, yes, but he has conscience, though his sense of justice is questionable. it's bc of the circumstances around how he grew up

and then there's Saito. I don't exactly disagree with people who think his depiction and role are ableist, I also feel like I'm nit really the person to comment on it, but I still have some things to say about him, although I do feel that some of the language used in game to describe him is a bit ableist

with that said, Saito is a tragic character. what could've been if he had gotten help and a support system like Date did and not have everything he did swept under the rug. what if So had actually gotten him medical help (which he probably didn't bc he's neglectful + probably thought the word of his son getting help would've stained his career)

although if Saito had gotten help, AITSF would've never happened to begin with. which is the point. Date and Saito are opposites of each other

(also ngl I wish Saito was more apathetic and jaded than cartoonishly evil, I think he'd been even more terrifying but also more believable that way)

also people don't realize that the characters in AITSF are supposed to be flawed people with shades of gray. I know it's probably easy to forget with the cartoonish porn magazine powerups, 12 year old girl beating up trained guys with assault rifles, an AI girl whose form in the physical world resembles a fluroscent hamster which is morbidly cute and all of the dirty and perverted jokes and whatnot, but it's true! So is probably the best example of this. I don't like So, and that's the point. you're not supposed to like him. he's a corrupt politician who banged a high school girl when he was twice her age as well as a neglectful father. and yet I personally find him compelling. the realization of what his somnium actually depicted stuck with not just me but many others. this man is sleazy and disgusting but holy shit the shock that hits you when you realize he's actually haunted by Manaka's death. and what he says at the end of resolution route when Date pays him a visit.

I completely forgot to mention Date getting mad with Ota bc he knew his rights to remain silent and not being obligated to obey the police but that's probably the point. that exchange was supposed to communicate that Date is kinda ACAB and you're not exactly supposed to sympathise with him and that he's 100% the good guy.

and police being able to peek into people's minds using the psync machine when the stuff seen inside of it can't serve as evidence? I'm p sure it's also supposed to lampshade how corrupt the police are.

anyways point is

nobody in this game is completely good and it's more complicated than just the good guys vs the bad guys (although Saito is cartoonishly evil which leaves a bit of a bad taste in my mouth personally as I think he could've been an amazing villain had he also had shades of gray like everyone else). the characters in this game are all flawed people who break or bend the rules in one way or another to either cover their asses or bc it's how far they're willing to go to help out a loved one

[kaedeichinose]

Oh ya, so I was trying to look up what qualifies heroic spirits to become certain classes in the fate series and I really could find any concrete answer? I'm guess some are more self explanatory but like idk what makes heroes Assassins or how heroic spirits that didn't even exist in canon get classes (I think the the assassin from fate/stay night is this?) Are there rules or qualifiers for these things? Also could mickey mouse be summoned as a ruler?

generally speaking what causes someone to classify as a heroic spirit is undefined and vague but its essentially any person or entity to achieve legendary feats or achieve massive renown in some way/shape or form. The “heroic” part of the term is a little misleading bc they 100% do not have to do ACTUAL heroic things, like Nero did a lot of Real Bad shit in her life yet qualifies as a heroic spirit regardless. "anti-heroes” like elizabeth bathory qualify because her actions were not literally heroic but widely known, and over time she came to be viewed as tragic despite her actions (in her case, its the tragedy of noblesse oblige) 

The hassans are also anti heroes but theyre a special case all unto themselves. They are all hassan-i-sabbah, 9? different individuals all sharing the name because each one of them headlines their organization at some point when they were alive, developing their own iconic assassination technique. They qualify as heroic spirits because the order of assassins the old man of the mountain founded was THE origin of assassination as we know it today, completely cementing them in the human consciousness. iirc back in fsn the assassin class consisted ONLY of hassans and they were the only ones summonable but that would be boring so theyve scrapped that over time. idk what actually determines which hassan you get though, if theres anything at all. 

class requirements are also very vague and at this point its basically “whatever kind of reasonable bullshit we can come up with”. sherlock qualifies for an archer because like i guess sherlock would know how to use a gun and thats really all you need. 

the only real requirements to be a ruler at this point is to be impartial, either towards the grail war or in a greater sense like being the literal greek goddess of justice. therefore given that mickey mouse is the embodiment of capitalistic greed i do not think he would classify for ruler.