#sorry for anyone who hasn't read the last flight. i feel very passionate about it.

[tethrras]

ngl i am. so curious as to what your breaking point was with the game lol

it's tricky to pinpoint bc i was trepidatious off the top but was willing to give bioware the benefit of the doubt. i was looking past the therapy speak, the defanged companion interactions, but then there was the state of the world and the lack of urgency and then but the isseya quest really solidified it for me.

tay and i have been talking in detail about how a lot of this stuff feels like a classic "somehow, palpatine returned" moment (like with illario being in cahoots with elgar'nan... ILLARIO?) which is bad enough re: isseya, who should've been dead for 500 years at this point but that coupled with a complete lack of nuance and care regarding isseya and the griffons is driving me fucking insane. valya does not offer her unique perspective from reading the journal, in which isseya EXPLAINS WHY SHE DID EVERYTHING SHE DID AND EXPRESSES IMMENSE GUILT, one can easily extrapolate that the fourth blight would've gone on significantly longer and been significantly worse if she hadn't done what she did with the griffons. she was a brilliant tactician, PART OF THE REASON THE FOURTH BLIGHT was as short as it was, she was garahel's right hand woman and SHE DID NOT WANT TO BLIGHT THEM. and then, not to mention, SHE'S THE REASON A CLUTCH OF EGGS WAS SAVED AND PROTECTED AS WELL AS IT WAS AT ALL!

and then the gloom howler quest is her saying nothing bad will ever happen to the griffons again and fuck the wardens but then also recruiting old wardens and calling them grey wardens still like... they could've at least had her call them the Gloom wardens or something sick like

so much of dragon age is about grey morality but they take the hardest stance on one of the most interesting, unique characters across every installment of their franchise. and there was a way to make her coming back good and interesting if we got to actually understand the depth and urgency of her situation at the time and give davrin some shit to second guess and question himself on but, like the rest of the game, there is no urgency. a blight is going on in ferelden and we're having gossip dates with the inquisitor. AND THEN NO REPEATABLE KISS! IN THIS ESSAY I WILL