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felassan · 1 year

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Some more possible scraps of interest from possible DA:D leaks on Reddit, from another Reddit user, under a cut due to DA:D spoilers:

first, the usual set of disclaimers that should be kept in mind with all leaks: might not be real, unable to verify at present, sometimes leakers think they’re right about things but are unintentionally incorrect or got some wires crossed, games change a fair bit between development phases and final release, the opinion-based stuff is completely subjective, take with grain of salt etc.

I tried to gather comments together in bundles where it would make sense (if on the same or related topics).

They commented on the timepoint of development that their information is from, saying "It's up to date." and that they played much more recently than last October. Someone asked "Alright so this is like alpha or pre-alpha video right? Which means what we see is subject to drastic change." (basically asking if they played the same build as the Reddit leaker who shared screenshots/gif) and they said "Ehh, that would be based on how soon it’s released. Because I’ve playtested it recently, and if that video is old, then they’ve changed essentially nothing about it and probably don’t intend to lol." "Between when your comment was first written and now, I’ve learned enough to be convinced that it was indeed from at least a year ago, so you were right. I’ve just played a much more recent version." "Nope, completely different. But I read through it thoroughly just now, and that person is right. Based on the write-up [Insider Gaming report], it is pretty old. They’re talking about missing textures and placeholders. In my playthrough, they could’ve told me the game was done and I would’ve believed them. Definitely wasn’t from the same test." So it sounds like folks leaking played different builts/different playtests at different times.

Someone asked a bit more detail about what playtesting involves and they replied "Certain part of the game. I played specific missions, story missions, so I wouldn't know anything about the sidequest fluff." "I played in the middle because that’s how most controlled tests for games work. You almost never just hit “new game” and start from the beginning."

Reddit user: "Rook is the name of the protagonist. Like “Inquisitor” was in DA:I." Someone speculated that Rook would be a fridged prologue companion like Jenkins Masseffect (F) and they replied "As someone who has played the game, don’t try your hand at the lottery for a while lol."

Reddit user: "Grey Warden isn't the class" [of the character seen in some of the screenshots] "I’m not confirming or denying the existence of different origins, but “Grey Warden” was not the class."

Reddit user: "I've played it. You can't directly control party members. A more apt comparison (and it's extremely weird that they didn't reference this [referring to the first Insider Gaming report] considering it's another bioware franchise) is Mass Effect. It's exactly like ME's wheel where you hold RB or whatever it was, and choose what ability they use." "They can always change it, but I've played it and unfortunately, I can confirm. I personally don't care as I never switch to companions in games where you can anyway, but it's exactly like ME in that aspect."

Reddit user: "Given the timing, I'm 99% sure his source is someone I played with." "Nothing in the leak that was stated definitively is incorrect." [referring to the first Insider Gaming report]

Reddit user [re: combat]: "I've played it, and tbf, it was closer to XV than to say, DA:I" "Combat felt like Andromeda with melee weapons. Take that for what you will lol." "XV was in reference t the combat wheel. It wasn't over the top at all though, it played like a typical action game (ie not teleporting everywhere)." "I've beaten all 3 [existing DA games] and have played Dreadwolf. It's nothing like the other games. It's action combat. Grounded though, not in a fantastical way like DMC." "I don't remember a wheel in XV, but then again I havent played it in a long time. What it is exactly like though (and them not using this descriptor makes me feel like they don't play bioware games) is Mass Effect. I've played it. The wheel is exactly like the ME games."

Reddit user [re: combat, when someone was asking about hack 'n' slash]: "It's more like Inquisition, although I wouldn't describe it as either. Plays like an action game." "What they meant [in the Insider Gaming article] is that it plays like an action game. So not like any of the DA games" "I described my playtime to friends as "Andromeda but melee"." "I thought it was fun. Funner than the DAs of the past. However I never really took advantage of all the tactical options in Bioware games, so if there's someone who is looing forward to that, they'll probably have significantly less fun than I did." They also confirmed the existence of skill trees, a map, choosing the PC's class, companions who used classes and jumping & a jump button. They said that there are 4 ability slots ("I was only ever able to use 4."). There's blocking but not parrying. Stats are levelled up automatically like they are in DA:I, so no skill points to allocate manually. "I’ve played it with 3 companions and 4 skills."

They confirm the following infos from the first Insider Gaming article:

- "The game still lacks features;" The game is missing voice lines and has a lot of placeholder text. - "Dreadwolf has a lot of similarities with previous games in the franchise;" AND "You can recruit members to your team"; The article basically just describes a Dragon Age game. ***POSSIBLE SPOILER*** "It’s understood that you’ll be able to move from your hub to missions by passing through a mirrored portal." - "You cannot control your team members, but you can issue commands to cast abilities;" Key word here is currently perhaps - "Combat will be hack n' slash-like and will be like Final Fantasy XV;" The article did not say it's hack n' slash like FF15, but the combat wheel itself is more like FF15 (I never played FF15 so I don't know if it's a time-slow type ability wheel or what).

and added on this topic, "I can confirm 75% of what that person has said, and the other 25% I just never experienced. Don't know why they would lie about it." "Unless they change it in the future, you can't directly control companions." "I've played it and can confirm everything in that article except for the release date and multiplayer stuff. You cannot directly control your companions, and its full hack and slash" "Other than what I didn't experience (multiplayer/hub) it's all true. Down to the part about a 1/10th of the lines not being recorded yet." "I can confirm almost everything in that leak." "Multiplayer I didn't experience, nor did I experience the hub world that was described, although the portal thing is true." "The hub thing he described, I never played, but I did use the portals he was talking about." They also commented on the missing voice lines, "It's implemented, they're just not all there yet. During my playthrough Id say maybe a 10th of the lines were missing, and a good amount of the monster sounds." "Oh for sure, it’s definitely not a mess at this stage. On the contrary, the environments are pretty beautiful. Only things that were missing were a few audio clips."

Reddit user [re: mirrored portrals and an open world]: "I can't confirm the existence of one, I could've just never experienced it from my time with the game, but I myself never played anything that could be considered open world. Funny enough, I never thought about that until your question just now. But it would make sense from what I played."

Reddit user: "Combat's are great, cutscenes' are decent. Best ever as far as Bioware is concerned (which should be a given). What's not great are the facial animations. Granted the game isn't done yet (and might be far from done, who knows), but as of rn, it's Andromeda 2.0"

Reddit user [re: not controlling party members]: "It's true." "Unless they change it sometime before release, which I doubt, I can confirm that you cannot." "I can confirm. You can't directly control them." They also commented that companion control felt like Mass Effect.

When someone said "i hope they don't mean a real "action" combat, and it would still have those Dragon Age" they replied "That's exactly what they mean." Someone mentioned no party member control and hack n slash, FF combat and they replied "Can confirm, both are true. I wouldn't say "will be like XV", and technically that's not what he said either. What he meant was that it's more of an action combat, not that you'll be teleporting around." Someone asked if it compares to Elder Scrolls and they said "Uhhh, yeah I guess. I usually play Elder Scrolls in first person, so that comparison would be kinda weird to me, but third person elder scrolls I guess would be more accurate than any of the past DA games. ES combat has no weight to it though, and this has weight. For real, it plays like Dark Souls games if you took out the invincibility frames and all the things that make them "hard"."

Someone asked about the party size, and they replied "Yeah, 2 party members and then a third based on what mission you're playing. Weapon wheel to control 3 abilities each for the two companion's you've brought and then 4 of your own abilities." "Now I will say, Idk how far I was into the game, so it's possible that it'll eventually open up to 3 of your choosing, but I played multiple missions and the third person was whoever you were helping at the time." "It’s still 4 [party members in total, so PC+3]."

Someone asked about what's happening to Solas and they replied "I have no idea lol. He was mentioned in passing seeing as he's the big bad now, but I never saw him or anything." "in Mass Effect for instance right? WHat Sovereign was up to wasn't described in every main mission. It wasn't even described in most of them."

Reddit user: "The look of the hair was pretty damn good I will say, the physics of it though, I didn't really pay attention to. Everything about the graphics looked sufficiently next gen, except for the facial animations. They're still Andromeda level, maybe a step up." "Everyone else's hair is great. Your character's hair is...decent." "Graphics are sufficiently next gen except for facial animations. They were the one stand out." "Movements are less stiff feeling, even when people are still. Animations and movement are better as well. They were satisfying to me, but of course, that’s subjective." "visuals and performance were pretty solid from my experience. That could obviously change though."

On facial animations someone asked them "You said that facial animations were only a bit better than those in Andromeda, but how do they compare to Inquisition? Because I think in Inquisition they were somehow better or at least didn't stand out that much like in Andromeda, despite the latter being newer game. I think I'll be okay with them being just a bit better than in Inquisition" and they replied "I’m looking at clips of Inquisition now and I think you hit the nail on the head when you said “at least didn’t stand out as much” because tbh, Inquisition and Andromeda weren’t that far apart in that aspect, they were definitely made using the same process, but Inquisitions somehow don’t stand out as much. Idk whether it’s because a lot of the people talking aren’t human or what. But it looks more like that than Andromeda. But because technology has gotten better, it looks better than both. I guess the conclusion is it still has that stiffness that both of them have, where it looks a couple steps removed from a robot that gets told to move pieces of their face X way at X time, but then at the end come back to Z position. So I guess I’d say the faces look and move like an HD Inquisition. I would’ve compared it to that instead of Andromeda, but I never realized they were so similar until you pointed it out lol."

Reddit user: "Yup, a KO for you is game over." [a KO for the PC]

Reddit user: "The maps feel like they could've came from DA:I design wise."

Reddit user: "It feels the same but different. I know that's an incredibly bs non-answer but it's true. It feels like a 2023 Bioware Dragon Age. For better or for worse. Anybody expecting DA:I 2 will be disappointed." "It'll probably be worth it [the wait] in the sense that DA fans will find it passable. But at this point (keep in mind the game still isn't done) it's not something that feels like it took 10 years to make or anything. Which is probably due to them reportedly restarting development multiple times." "I'd say most things about the game definitely feel more like Andromeda then DA:I" "If they keep it pretty much the same as my playtest, average players will be happy, but people who play Dragon Age games specifically for the Dragon Age gameplay probably won’t be. It’s completely different."

Someone asked about whether it answers DA lore questions, and what the storytelling/spread of storytelling is like and they said "I was dropped in and out of missions, so idk, but I will say it has A LOT of story elements from DA:O" and then "Same answer"

On characters they said "I didn't spend a significant enough amount of time to make that call [whether they're as interesting as the chars in DA:I. they're quirky though" "I think the character designs are sick, but that's completely subjective." "I wouldn't say I had enough time with the characters to get emotionally invested." Also someone asked if the characters are 3D, realistic and complex and they replied "Stereotypes unfortunately". Someone asked how the dialogue compares to ME:A, expressing the opinion that their "biggest issue with MEA was the MCU-esque style of writing that made the dialogue sound like it was ripped from bad tumblr fanfics. I couldn't take most of the cast seriously because they sounded more like caricatures than real characters." They replied "😬 bad news my man. What you just described is exactly how I would describe it.

Reddit user [re: armors]: "Im not sure how to answer that. Nothing really stood out, if that helps. But then again, idk what parts of the game I played. Could've been closer to the beginning where you just get the plain stuff."

Someone asked them "was the camera a tight over-the-shoulder cam like Andromeda, or was it more zoomed out / character centered like DAI / other 3rd person games?" and they replied "Zoomed out, but then tight when you use the weapon wheel (which youll be using a lot)" The other user asked if it was like Mad Max, and they said "Actually that's not a bad comparison. Picture the camera a bit further out though." On tac cam, they said "I was part of the leakers playtest. As of now, there is literally no tactical camera, but like you said, who knows if they’ll add it sometime before release. Just don’t get your hopes up."

Someone asked them "Does it feel like a medieval fantasy game still? It looks so sci fi to me, like the eluvians are shitty Rick and morty style portal guns all of the sudden. Does the neon purple take away from that feeling at all?" and they replied "It didn’t feel sci-fi to me but it sounds like you’re referring to a deeper level than just baseline aesthetics, and for that I think it’d be subjective. If you’re not though, no it still felt distinctly fantasy. Some parts more medieval than others." Someone also asked about warriors breaking stuff in the world, mages restoring terrain and rogues picking locks and they replied "Let’s just say…the game doesn’t play in a way that requires those anymore."

Reddit user: "Map design was one of the best parts, and boy were they gorgeous. The greenery specifically was the only thing in the game where I was like "This is exclusively next gen, like they couldn't have done this on last gen"."

Reddit user: "I thought it was fun, but I mean fun is subjective. Things were changed about the series that some long time fans will hate and some people who never liked Dragon Age will now love, such as the lack of tactical options." "I thought the combat was fun, but fun is subjective ya know? For instance, you guys already know that all the tactical stuff is gone, and for someone looking for that, they wouldn’t find it fun. I guess the takeaway could be that it’s by no means bad. Footage and screenshots are real. That’s 100% the game."

Reddit user: "I’ve played it. Recently. And all of the things people are giving the “year old” line in reference to are still the case. So the likelihood of them being changed are very slim."

Someone asked them "Hello! Could you share (or hint in some way) if some of the characters from previous games will make an appearance? (Beside Varric and Solas, obv). Some old leaks implied Bioware considered dual protagonist at some point, so I'm wondering if it turned into something. Or, at least, any mentions about Inquisition?" and they replied "[besides Varric and Solas] Literally the only people I saw/heard about lmao, sorry. I also never experienced anything regarding dual protagonists."

Someone asked them "Did it look to be anywhere near close to done??? I mean it's kinda a dumb question because on one hand I think you may have only played a certain area... On the other though I don't know anything about why you playtested, nor do I want to but, I am interested in knowing more about the overall size, comparison of detail to say like anything new gen, and whether or not they incorporated newer tech such as haptics, adaptive triggering, graphic upgrade and is the story intriguing or pushed... You know.". They replied:

"No no, that’s not a dumb question at all. Tbh, they could’ve said it was releasing at the end of the year and I’d believe them. The only thing I could see that wasn’t finished were the voice lines, and not even that many weren’t recorded. Maybe 1/10th. Graphics were superb except for the facial animations (and given Andromeda, that might just be how they’re going to stay). Controls were solid, enemies were solid, abilities were solid, UI and menu all looked unique and finished. General gameplay was in a finished state. Had a couple glitches here and there but nothing that couldn’t easily be ironed out.

[re: about the overall size, comparison of detail to say like anything new gen] From what I played, it seems more instanced than open world like DA:I, so I can’t really compare it in size, and obviously the previous 2 games have been outclassed in terms of technology.

[re: whether or not they incorporated newer tech such as haptics, adaptive triggering] Not that I saw, but idk if that’s the type of thing they’d incorporate anywhere before near the end of development. You sound like you’d have a better idea of that than I would though.

[re: graphcis upgrade] Graphics are for sure upgraded. The flora in particular I would say wouldn’t have been able to be created before the PS5 gen. It’s that good. Environments, clothing, faces were up there as well (clothing and faces could’ve been better with your character, but everyone else’s were next gen).

[re: is the story intriguing or pushed] The thing about judging a story is that even the most interesting ones fall flat if you experience it out of order (unless that’s the author’s intention), which I did. Even with putting bits and pieces together from what the characters were saying, I really felt nothing because I was coming in mid storyline."

[source] <- read the comments in context for them to make the most sense ofc :)

Edit - Update:

New comment of interest from the user (thanku @ladymacbethsimp for letting me know!). Someone asked them "can you attribute a single emoji to every companion you saw? like an out of context spoiler kind of thing". They replied "Hmmm I can try…" and posted these three emojis/series of emojis:

The screenshots I have included here are screenshots of the same comment from 2 different devices side by side, as emojis/emoji groupings can change appearance depending on OS etc.

so.. elf man of color, red hair woman and woman mage?

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age: dreadwolf spoilers #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #solas #ladymacbethsimp

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eldstunga · 11 months

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Howdy!! First off, a bit obsessed with the colors in your art. There’s just something about them that really stands out in my eyes and draws me in like nothing else. Second, have you ever played SWTOR and if so, would you recommend it in the year of our lormd 2023? If not that’s ok thank you thank you ok byeeeeee!! <3

Hey! Thank you very much, colour is something I really struggle with, and have for a long time, so hearing that someone likes them is very very nice <3

As for SWTOR, I never really played it honestly. I was a Star Wars Galaxies kid, the little I played of SWTOR never gelled with me at all. I didn't like the setting, the art style or the way it felt awkwardly shoved in between a theme park MMO and Bioware RPG (at least at the time I felt it did both very poorly). Esp. Coming from a sandbox MMO in the BBY setting I just wasn't impressed back then. But those were my original impressions - and It's managed to survive for like a decade, with many of my followers and friends swearing by it and having great memories of the game. They are better suited to tell you if it's recommendable today, but clearly it's doing something right!

#asks #.txt #swtor

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tanadrin · 1 year

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DA:I tried to move in a more open-world direction, but it’s obviously still operating under some kind of technical constraint, so the “open world” regions are small--as a result, to make them feel bigger, they do that thing where all the usable paths are really winding and the topography is textured like it’s the surface of the goddamn moon--contrast this with Skyrim, which does this a little bit, but also has pretty wide-open vistas, and the path from point A to B is rarely four or five times longer than a straight shot would be.

i actually really hate this kind of level design--it feels incredibly padded, like you’re making me walk longer so reviews have to report a longer playtime for the length of the game. i would rather have the smaller, more curated levels of DA:O and DA2, where you can’t jump, and nobody’s pretending this is a Bethesda game.

also the pointless sidequests, the way this game practically shoves crafting down your throat (I hate crafting systems in rpgs, since they’re usually annoying busywork--this game is no exception), the way quests are gated behind a points-accumulation system, and the way war table operations are on a timer all really contribute to a feeling that there was a top-down mandate that the game had to have a playtime above a certain length Or Else.

and it sucks! because the combat is OK, the story is good, just let me play the actual game instead of slogging through all this other crap. skyrim’s open world and long playtime work because you can do whatever you want in basically any order--none of it is gated behind arbitrary numbers, you can totally ignore the main quest and have a grand old time, and indeed one reason i have 200+ hours in skyrim is because i tend to download mods that take that element and turn it up to eleven (skyrim random start mod fuckin’ rules--nothing like starting in a bandit-filled fortress naked with nothing but a woodsman’s axe and trying to make your way in the world).

da2 was actually a really good length, for the story it was trying to tell--but even it felt a bit padded in places. da:o had some more pointless sidequests, especially in denerim and orzammar i never completed. sometimes less is more, especially in games whose core attractive feature is their narrative focus! having to have that narrative grind to a halt while i go collect bear asses or w/e is not why i play bioware RPGs! i want to get to the next fun battle, or the next exciting plot point.

#dragon age #mods help with some of this #but not all #da:i

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stevetown · 2 months

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Mass Effect 2

Playtime: 26h 53m Completed: January 29, 2024

Ah I see now this is what they were always going for. Mass Effect 2 is superior to the first game in almost every single way. It really puts into stark contrast how much the original game feels like a prologue. Except, perhaps, when it comes to cozy janky vibes. I miss the original Citadel layout!

The main plot here isn't anything to write home about. The stars of Mass Effect 2 are the myriad of party members you add to your collection. The bulk of the main missions have Shepard zooming across space like an intergalactic bug collector looking for the next specimen to throw in her jar. And it's great! There are so many hits that it's difficult to pick a favorite party member (it's Mordin).

Returning cast members and newcomers alike are given so much more depth and characterization that all jived with my Renegade Shepard in interest ways. While there is a bit of Chrono Cross-ness to how character conflicts are quickly resolved and then never spoken about again to make room for the new shiny toy in your box, it all manages to come together for an impressive finale. It's a natural expansion of the long term decision making and character interaction that Bioware began experimenting with in Virmire. Do you know your crew well enough to actually lead them?

I'm also impressed with the continuity from the first game. After an opening that manages to reset your skills in truly bonkers fashion, the framing of ME2 lets you visit new and old locales to see what's changed and what actions from the first game continue to be felt. It really makes the game feel like part of a serialized space opera instead of a one off adventure. There's a lot! It's impressive as hell!

she's still got it

I do wish there was more to the gameplay than running and gunning. There are only so many sci-fi themed hallways you can crack skulls in before you feel like you've done it all before. While the overall gunplay feel of the game is better than the first, the highlight of Mass Effect 2 continues to be the visual novel aspect of the conversations. At least the Mako sections are mercifully removed in favor of a meditative resource extraction minigame that lets you suck planets dry from afar so you can get an extra heal or whatever.

Finishing Mass Effect 2, I finally get why people cite it as one of the best games ever made. I really haven't played anything like it, and I can't wait for the satisfying conclusion that Mass Effect 3 will surely deliver!

...

and yeah I fucked Garrus.

#2024 game journal #mass effect 2 #video games #video game review

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a-cosmic-elf · 2 months

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For the fic writer asks:

56 and 37!

This is going to be a personal one, probably long winded again, so I’ll put it under a cut.

56. Are there any fics that you would change or rewrite if given the chance?

The current version of Absolution is a rewrite. I’ve changed minor things, like how Kat used to call Seb ‘Boss’ - after a while, I found I didn’t like it. I wanted them to be closer and less formal with each other.

I also re-added in the confirmation that Yin is trans. He always has been, but I was afraid I’d get hate for it, so initially, that part had been cut. I felt brave after enlisting the help of a sensitivity reader and reinstated it for the re-write.

I don’t believe you have to ban writers from writing the ‘other’. It’s like acting. A good actor should be able to play any part, regardless of their personal experiences. Who I am really shouldn’t come into it. And if we want more inclusive and diverse stories, demanding cishets stick to only writing cishet is not going to help that cause. Careful research and enlisting sensitivity readers is the way forward.

The original version of the fic is still up but archived locked. I only got to chapter 9 before I had a falling out with my previous beta, which coincided with falling ill with depression. I wanted to die, ended up in therapy, and so on. It took a lot to return to the story after that. It was like returning to the scene of the crime. ‘Oh, and here’s where I fell ill and wanted to kill myself’ like fuuuuuck.

2020 was tough on everyone. Like many, I was already struggling, so lockdown took all of it and held it under a microscope. The most important thing is that I sought help, I’m recovering, and I started writing again. I took that opportunity to rewrite the story from scratch. I like how it’s going so far, but…

37. What fic has been the hardest for you to write?

Again, Absolution. It still feels like an impossible hill to climb, made worse by association with my illness, and it is an OC fic in a fandom notoriously hostile to OC fics. A fandom I now dislike for being a toxic dumpster fire. And the other related canon ‘Absolution’ happened.

I found it very hard to return to the Abby again after that or even speak of it. It feels wrong. Part of me wants to go back and rewrite it again, removing the ‘absolution’ part so that I don’t cringe every time I like to talk about my fic. (Notice how I rarely mention it on my blog unless asked). I’m getting better at it, but I still find it jarring. But the name is so essential, woven into the very fabric of the story. It’s the name of the goddamn ship and the theme of the entire piece. It would be very hard for me to remove it at this point.

Bioware has upset me. The whole reason I started writing it was because their narrative has more plot holes than a seventies string shopping bag. I know it’s just a big coincidence, but I feel like they stole my subtitle on purpose, and now the only reason I want to finish it is out of pure spite because I believe I can write a better story than them with one eye shut, standing on my head, dancing the Macarena. I mean, look how I’ve been able to fix their story retrospectively without touching canon events at all. It’s easy. I don’t know why they didn’t do it themselves. Canon is just asking for fic writers to fix their shit when they’ve been so blatantly incompetent. 🙄

I didn’t find it hard to come up with the story. I’m just finding it hard to care about Mass Effect these days. Or the videogame industry as a whole in recent years. It feels like just one letdown after another. Games have never exactly been award-winning sci-fi, but it has felt increasingly like the story part of game development has meant less and less to developers over the years. They now sacrifice everything - story, most of all - just to get something out of the door. It’s depressing.

Sorry to end on such a bum note. It’s always going to be angsty talking about which fics were the hardest.

I am still committed to finishing Absolution. Spite alone is a powerful motivator, but your and other’s support makes the struggles worthwhile.

I’m sorry I haven’t got back onto AO3 this week. I prefer using it on the laptop, and I just haven’t had a chance to switch it on. I also wanted to pace myself, savouring all your lovely comments because I rarely have so much interest in my work.

I would have replied earlier this evening, but I had to lie down with a headache. Whew, it’s been a tough day. My head still hurts.

Thank you for the ask! I wanted to make sure that I at least reply here! Feel free to ask about the Abby any time. I am working on chapter 17. It’s just been a slow process because of, you know, everything above. It kind of kills the creative process. Talking about it with fellow readers and writers reignites that spark, so thank you from the bottom of my heart. 🙏🏼💕🥰

#writing asks #Fic writing asks #ask game #cosmic chats #cosmic writes #asks and answers #✨💕💕🙏🏼🥰#once again I’ll send out some asks tomorrow if you’d like one #let me know #i’m just so tired and sore and need to sleep #love and hugs to you all #mutuals 💜#tw depression #tw sui ideation #mental health recovery

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justcallmecappy · 2 years

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When you first finished DA2, were you surprised by Anders's endgame actions? Before finishing the game, I felt that he's going to do something drastic at the chantry and remembering so many NPCs who was killed there, I was actually worried that he was going to be next. During the Justice quest, he was such a bad liar and even I was starting to doubt about what the ingridients are for, then after telling me it was a lie and I need to distract Elthina at the Chantry, I became afraid for him. I was like, "if he dies, I'll just redo this quest because I can't live w/o my only healer". Then there's the pillow giving scene and I was like, "oh no". I already assumed that Anders was written to be a mentally ill character by then because of his behavior during Dissent (questioning himself whether or not he's just being paranoid about the Tranquil Solution, wanting to isolate himself because he felt like's a danger to everyone, and the "trash, trash, keep" scene made him look like he's about to fall apart from distress). I was just worried for my companion's welfare even if he's not my romance back then. At the end, I was waiting for another chantry scene but I didn't expect for the building to explode. I always figured out Meredith was unreasonable so her declaring an annullment wasn't a surprise but I was kind of expecting that she'll kill Anders on the spot and I have to fight her to defend him. All of a sudden, I have the choice of whether to execute him or not. Obviously, I spared him because he's my only healer and I always felt like the chantry was a corrupt institution ever since Origins. Then after 2 and was fixing was my keep save for DAI, I searched Anders online and to my surprise, the game's narrative is actually against him and a lot of players hate him. I thought people love an underdog fighting against opression. I guess that doesn't apply in this series. So in the end, I was kind of right that he's going to do something at the chantry and someone will die there. I just didn't expect the explosion and that I have to be his executioner. 😭

Hi anon, thank you for the ask, and sorry for my late reply! 😅

Thanks so much for sharing your excellent perspectives on Anders' character and DA2! 💖 I really, really wish more players had your level of compassion and understanding when playing these games. I think a bit of empathy would have given many players more a more nuanced appreciation for these games, and especially Anders' character.

You are right in pointing out Meredith's hypocrisy in walking right past Anders (who literally just confessed to being the sole person responsible for the destruction of the Kirkwall Chantry), to slaughter all the mages in the Gallows, who had nothing to do with it. Anders was willingly submitting himself to retribution. Why didn't Meredith try to execute Anders herself, if she truly believed in delivering justice? I think it's in that moment that we see the hypocrisy of the Chantry and the templar order: Meredith was never interested in justice, she only wanted to kill mages.

And your insight: "I thought people love an underdog fighting against opression. I guess that doesn't apply in this series" is so, so apt! 👏👏👏 To me, Anders is like Katniss Everdeen from the Hunger Games, or Luke Skywalker from Star Wars: the protagonist character who is fighting against great injustice and oppression, a champion for the downtrodden, a force of positive change.

Usually in stories like this, these characters are the heroes, and for good reason. Sometimes, people need stories that give them hope that they can overcome insurmountable odds (“Fairy tales do not tell children that dragons exist. Children already know that dragons exist. Fairy tales tell children the dragons can be killed.” ― G.K. Chesterton). BioWare trying to force a "grey morality" narrative by villainizing Anders, I think, was a bad call. There are many great ways to push a morally grey narrative. However, making someone who was trying his best to improve conditions for a marginalized people (something that resonates so strongly with people in the real world) into a villain and de-legitimatizing his cause his is not.

Thanks again for sharing your insights, friend! 🥰💖 I do love hearing about appreciation for Anders' character, because all the flak he gets from haters online can get exhausting and disheartening, sometimes! I'm happy and grateful for perspectives like yours. 🥰

I'll talk about my own experience with DA2 and Anders' character behind the cut (in case anyone is interested, lol!):

I have to confess: I got into DA only very recently (I only started playing the games in 2020), so when I started DA2, I was pretty much spoiled on Anders' actions in destroying the Kirkwall Chantry, so it didn't exactly come as a surprise when it happened, unfortunately! 😅 I guess this happens when you join years-old fandoms, haha~

My first DA2 playthrough was a Fenrismance. And I also confess, I was rushing through that playthrough (I was creating my first World State and wanted to get to DAI as fast as possible lol), so I didn't pay much attention to other characters outside of the romance and Hawke's family.

However, in that first pt, my relationship with Anders was pretty good: he saved Bethany's life in the Deep Roads, I brought him around a lot because he was my healer, I got him to full 100 Friendship, and even though I couldn't totally understand his motives at the time, I spared his life in Act 3 and we fought to save the mages against Meredith's templars.

When I replayed DA2 for my second World State, I decided to romance Anders, and pay more attention to the world and the characters this time around.

And let me tell you, friendship romancing Anders was — no exaggeration — life-changing. It was like a switch flipped in my head and a bright light came on, haha~ 😆 In my first casual pt, the hardships that mages face in Southern Thedas weren't immediately obvious. However, in my second World State, I happened to roll a Warden Surana in DAO, and in DA2 I romanced Anders as a Mage!Hawke ... and it opened my eyes, lol~ Mages have it tough. They're dehumanized, othered, stripped of equal rights by the Chantry. As someone who has been 'othered' before, and as a minority in the industry I work in, the narrative quickly became important to me.

And now that I was romancing Anders and paying more attention to him, all the wonderful things about his character I overlooked previously now became crystal clear to me. He's so, so devoted to romanced!Hawke, and he doesn't take their love for granted for a second. He loves so carefully and deliberately, with all his heart, despite all his struggles, and the world demanding so much from him.

I never thought it was possible to love a fictional character with as much enthusiasm and ardor as I do now, but here we are, haha 😂❤️

Anders' cause became just as important to me when I saw how noble and necessary it was. My Hawke supported him, fully and wholeheartedly, with zero inhibitions. I would say my Hawke "forgave" him for his actions in Act 3, but honestly, there was nothing to forgive. When you spare Anders in Act 3, the surprise and relief he shows when being shown mercy and understanding is so heartbreakingly palpable. He never expected to be treated with empathy; never expected to be worthy of being listened to with compassion. When you reach your hand out to him, it's a rare kindness he's hardly ever been shown.

(Playing the Andersmance was also pivotal to me shipping Fenders, and realizing how perfect Fenris and Anders are for each other, but that's a story for another time, haha! 😂❤️)

Thank you for reading this far, I hadn't expected this reply to turn into an essay, lol! 😂

#asks #anon #character analysis #chantry boom #andersmance #anders positivity #anders my love #mage rights #bioware critical #dragon age 2 #anders da2 #anders dragon age #anders deserved better

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rationalisms · 7 months

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u randomly post ab ME is funny bc i just started playing it lol anyways i was planning on romancing liara but ur post is making me hesitate should i go for it tho? if not who is ur favorite/best romance

LMAO sorry!! i don't like her me1 romance at all but tbh i don't like anyone's me1 romance, i don't think any of them win any writing awards any time soon lol. her me3 stuff is cute especially (without giving too much away) in terms of role reversal though. tbh i just don't find liara very interesting as a character, fullstop, so that does bias me.

kaidan's romance is great if you don't mind m/f (though again the me1 choices are. well. choices). some people like garrus's (you can start it from me2 onwards) but i personally never vibed with it, he always felt like a younger sibling to me and his friendship path feels way more organic imho.

if you aren't on console i highly recommend installing the mod that enables the tali romance for femshep because that's bar none my fav femshep relationship and should have been canon anyway if bioware weren't fucking cowards

EITHER WAY! i really hope you enjoy them they're amazing games and i'm excited for u to experience them <3 say hi to mordin from me he's my fave

#anon #reply

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icespyders · 7 months

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i finished disco elysium today!!! & as someone who plays a lot of choice-based rpgs, the way the game acknowledged the way i played was particularly fun and rewarding (readmore for spoilers)

so obv at the end you're confronted by the cops from harry's precinct and kim can defend you (i assume if he hates you, he does not defend you, but i literally unlocked that Goodest Of The Good Cops achievement at the end of day 1, because i've been trained on bioware games to make every companion in every video game love me), and i got a real kick out of some of the dialogue i got during that finale sequence. particularly: one thing kim said to defend me was that i was unbelievably stubborn and thorough chasing down leads, no matter how vague or unrelated to the actual case they seemed to be, and that's 100% how i play rpgs lmao, i chase down every dumb random sidequest no matter how far it diverts me from the main plot. and in this game, some of my most joyful/interesting/thought-provoking/just plain nice moments were in these random sidequest diversions, so i loved how the game basically gives you a thumbs-up for that. and i was really unsure how to play it with evrart & joyce, who i give information to and why/when, and felt like i fucked up, and the game acknowledged that too, kim had some dialogue like, ok, yeah, maybe it wasn't a smart move, he ran his mouth a bit too much to the wrong people, but it was an ethical move and it maybe helped the whole situation, somehow, slightly. and i did okay in the tribunal sequence so kim noted that too, how i got in between the mercenaries and the union guys and put myself in harm's way and minimized the bloodshed. and! i didn't even realize the game would track my drinking/smoking, but the fact that i stayed sober and only smoked once (to light that graffiti on fire, lol, i did it for ART ONLY) was verbally mentioned by a couple characters and seemingly improved their opinion of me. OH OH and i was a very Sorry Cop and characters noted that in particular, kim was like ok yeah he apologizes for everything and it's kind of weird, but still, he's a good guy. and my actual partner is like YEAH YEAH i know you're sorry, you're always sorry, you fucking sad sack. & obviously my insane political views were noted (kim like "i know he's a communist, and also somehow a centrist, idk how he reconciles these things in his mind, but he's a good cop, i promise") (i never got to go back to my communist book club :(((( i read all the literature, i just didn't have time to go back, i ran directly into the plot too fast :(((((((( tragique)

and i was SO EXCITED to meet the phasmid...that was so nice...what a weird and lovely and odd game. it's just very rewarding, because like...i never felt like i was playing Perfectly, yknow? i started the game and was really intrigued by it, but felt a little overwhelmed as my Need To Play Perfectly habit crept in. so i put the game aside for like 9 months, worried i'd never get back to it or finish it, picked it up again 2 weeks ago and felt kinda stuck...and then i got to day 3 and i just cruised through to the end. i played pretty much blind, just looking up a sidequest or two when i was stuck, progression-wise, but i always have this bad habit in rpgs where i want to do things Right and get way too invested deep-diving on wikis trying to orchestrate the most perfect outcomes possible. i tried to kind of free myself of that habit for this game and play looser (though i am grievously guilty of save-scumming ahead of checks and doing dice rolls over and over again, but save-scumming is a sacred art to me, who the fuck doesn't do that in rpgs, if save-scumming is wrong i don't want to be right!!), so i wandered through the game, flailing around and fucking up and failing skill checks, always wondering if i could be Playing Better, but all of that second-guessing is worth it, because in the end i felt really rewarded by this sensation of acknowledgment i got from the game. this feeling that my failures and my successes were noted and catalogued and referenced directly as my companion character sticks up for me at the end. i'm always seeking that in rpgs, that acknowledgment, the sense that my choices mattered and were noted and made both subtle and obvious impacts. and disco elysium has so many variables that i REALLY didn't expect it to be as specific at the finale as it was! like, seriously, i can't get over it, the game scripted shit to acknowledge "you pursued so many fucking sidequests with a maddening and almost obsessive determination, good job," i feel so SEEN. and i got to hold hands with a big bug. what a game

#maggie plays disco elysium #rambling!!! i had fun :')#the tribunal scene was so tense i don't think i moved except to click my mouse the whole time...oh man. so many great moments in this game

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forevermagik · 7 months

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13 video games to get to know me

vaguely tagged by @rarmaster. Sort of pulling from an old tweet thread about this. Ish. In sort of a particular order, but don't think too much about it.

Under the cut 'cause this is long

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - gave me feels about time shenanigans and destiny and stepping up to the plate and waiting for the person you care about and character growth and childhood friends. Also reincarnation and the self, and are you who you think you are, or are you who you were destined to be? Very much my shit. It's my favorite Zelda game.

FFVIII - also time shenanigans and destiny and proving destiny wrong and forging your own way and making your own luck and standing up for what you believe in. Also, there is something about the fact that my disc 3 (out of 4) was broken and I had to replace it 3 times just to get past the part on the moon so I could finish the game. Definitely makes it more special I think. The patience and dedication. (Also, I know a game has wrecked me when I'm writing fanfiction for it. And then taking characters from this game and putting them in other fanfiction. (Okay, it was Kingdom Hearts so it only kind of counts.) But I definitely added Rinoa to my KH long fic and have no regrets about it.)

Kingdom Hearts II - Yeah it was only a matter of time before something KH showed up on this list. I chose KHII because it's honestly my favorite to play. It's a really good balance of mechanics, controls, and skill that I feel other KH games don't necessarily have. Plus, I mean, somewhere between here and Days, I had enough ideas to start writing a longfic that basically is the length of 4+ novels.

Dragon Age Origins - I really enjoyed the concept of starting out in different places but coming to the same result in Ostagar. I loved making the best of a shitty situation and getting to know a bunch of people who were also coming from shitty situations but somehow we all were what it took to save the world. And my choices mattered! (Well, as much as they could in a BioWare game.) Also a game I wrote fanfic for - though never finished the fanfic. But that doesn't change the fact that sometimes I think about what would've happened if all the potential Wardens had lived.

Undertale - I feel like this one speaks for itself a fair bit. Being kind. Choosing mercy. The power of friendship. (Assuming you go that route.) But also, consequences of actions. Choosing to be good. The lesbians win. Sometimes a marriage isn't recoverable. Sometimes kids are just kids. The horror I felt when I realized how the game changed based on your kill count? Yeah, definitely restarted and figured out how to do a full pacifist run. Wrote fanfiction for this fandom too. A couple of shorter one shots. Because I like operating under a "what if everyone lives" sometimes.

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess - Yes, another Zelda game. Twilight Princess is very much vibes for me. Another Link who steps up to the plate even though he was just a goat farmer. Zelda trying to reconcile her past. Midna's entire fucking existence. Also, there is so much that haunts the narrative in this game if you look hard enough. I want to know more about it. I don't want to know more about it. It's perfect as it is.

Super Smash Brothers Brawl - Play Subspace Emissary. I'm begging you. Epic team ups. Character development in a fighting game. Trying to save the world from a greater evil that's destroying everything. Former enemies setting aside their differences to wreck shit together. Some of my favorite moments include Peach and her tea and then Zelda also has tea. Also Zelda, Link, and Ganondorf deciding that the Big Bad is a bigger problem than their differences. So much good stuff here.

Thrillville - This game has everything. "You've inherited a park from your crazy uncle go manage it." It's a rhythm game, a side scroller, a coaster builder, a racing game, and so much more all packed into one. I spent way too much time getting every high score for the cheerleading mini game. Also Event Horizon is the best. I go back to this game for comfort.

Yoshi's Story - This is also a N64 game. I worked very very hard to get to the end of this game while keeping all of my Yoshi's alive. (Did I absolutely reset if I died so I didn't lose the Yoshi? You bet I did as soon as I learned I could do that.) I spent a ton of time trying to figure out how to unlock everything in that game (when the internet was still new for this sort of shit) and I *still* never managed it. I tell myself one day I will, but I probably won't.

Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Maybe it's cheating to say this game? It's also the newest game on here because I really focused on ones that were formative for me at a younger age. However, if there's one Zelda game I wish I could go back and play for the first time again, it's this one. That's it, that's the vibe.

Tetris 64 - I very specifically mean this one. There is something about making a square that makes my brain go BRRT. It makes happy noises. I play this game to destress. I remember racking up lines and building the 7 wonders of the world alongside my fam. It's good shit.

Shrek Super Party - Honestly, this one is about the fun memories of playing with my family. We would mimic the voices of the mirror and poke so much fun at each other while playing. We'd compete for high scores in some games, and just accept that others of us were just better at others. So so so much fun and a lot of fond memories attached to this game.

Mario Party 1 - Okay look, you're probably like, "magik, why are there not one, but TWO party games on here?" And my answer is that Mario Party 1 was the first game that my family and I played together that we actually like, worked for a common goal. (Tetris notwithstanding.) Like sure, we'd play racing games and stuff, but there was something about Mario Party when we got our 100 stars and then Bowser came to steal them and we played his map for the first time? And then Eternal Star? I have *vivid* memories of sitting on a chair with a TV tray in front of me with my food in one corner and the controller in another as I waited for my turn or mini games. And we all just sat there, playing a STORYLINE that hadn't been there until then. Except it had been? So, I mean, that is a very specific scenario to me. I cannot do that again for the first time. But that's okay.

Honorable mentions:

Mario Kart Double Dash - while this game doesn't have all my favorite Mario Kart tracks, there's something about the mechanics. Two racers, with power ups linked to racers. The ability to play two people one kart?!? Wild. The mindmeld required to do that and the experiences I had playing with my friend and sibling growing up. Also, Baby Park is insane.

Super Mario 64 - I played this game a lot with my friend as a kid. We shared a save file. My younger sibling was not a fan of seeing this game in their dreams because they watched us play it all the freaking time. We just worked to get gud and beat the game. Before school. After school. Over the summer. It was like, goals.

Mario Party 2 - Costume changes based on the worlds. That is all.

Some non-video game media that fucking rewired my brain that you should consider:

Owl House - I have not been this wrecked over a TV show in years. I have not been this wrecked over media in years. But if you haven't noticed, it's been Owl House hours on my blog for the past several weeks and that's not stopping in the near future either. But there's something about seeing myself in Eda. Along with the tight writing. The excellent magic system. The characters. The parallels. Everything.

New Who - I specifically mean doctors 9-11. Tennant was like, my favorite doctor. But 9 has some amazing episodes. And River, another of my beloveds, is primarily featured with 11.

Middlegame - Time. Loops. Siblings. TIMELOOPS. Dodger, I love her.

So You Want to Be a Wizard - Technically, I wasn't really wrecked until much later in the series, but the way magic works in this universe is fantastic. Also, I so wanted to be Nita and find a manual like she did. Alas, I did not. So instead I write my own stories.

Mistborn - Listen, you do not read all three of Era 1 in three days, make a shitton of playlists, and think about it for hours on end and not say it didn't rewire your brain. (This is currently, effectively, what I am doing with Owl House apparently.)

Arcane - Again, siblings. The vibes. Victor. The will-they-won't-they between Caitlyn and Vi. The music. The vibes.

#13 games #video games

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felassan · 7 months

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Last week Mark Darrah did a Q&A video on his YouTube channel Mark Darrah on Games, called "15K Subs - Q&A". In case it's useful to anyone e.g. for accessibility reasons, here are some notes. The full video can be watched here [<- source link].

(Some of the questions answered were leftover from his previous Q&A video in this series from some time ago, during which time he had left BioWare and had not yet started his consultant work with BioWare.)

---

Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, the DA:D development era at BioWare & related topics

"I'm still consulting with BioWare."

Q. Were there any plans to make Dragon Age games in other genres, like an MMO? A. "Not really. What actually happened was during Joplin development, as we were being squeezed and people were being stolen onto other projects like Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem, I actually put a Twitter poll up at one point, just sort've gauging the interest. There was never any people against it, it was really nothing more than that, just to see what the appetite was for something like that. But no development was ever done." Q. Are you looking forward to playing Dragon Age: Dreadwolf? A. "I mean, I'm not really completely on the outside anymore. I'm working with BioWare as a consultant. So when this question was originally asked I was on the outside. Yeah, I mean, that was a pretty interesting thing to look forward to, I know a lot more now than I did then. So my answer I guess is not really relevant anymore, but at the time, yeah, I would say so."

Q. At this point would it be better for the Dragon Age IP to be sold off and taken by another studio such as Larian? A. "I don't think, first of all that's never gonna happen. EA doesn't really sell off IPs. I think that it's in a good place, it's got support from EA and it's moving towards its end." [meaning Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is nearing the end of its development cycle and moving towards ship]

Q. What happened internally at BioWare, [someone whose name was redacted by Mark for the video] started becoming more and more bigoted, and why does he have a beef with Mark? A. "So I'm not gonna talk about who this was, but I'll just answer the question. The reason why there's a specific beef with me is because I was the one tasked with responding to some of the drama that was spinning up, once it crossed the line where EA felt something needed to be done. I did a video about why it's sometimes the right answer to be quiet and not to respond to something, in this particular case EA decided that things had gotten sufficiently out of hand and something needed to be done. I was the one who had the very legally-approved language and was the one that was, as a result, responding to that."

Q. [a question regarding Dragon Age extended universe/secondary material, like the comics and novels] A. "At BioWare, there is a business development group who is responsible for looking for this kind of thing. Usually, well I guess always, there is a requirement of feedback, some sort of feedback loop. Depending on the exact property that might be everything from 'you will do exactly what we say and you're just work for hire' up to 'you have a lot of creative control and BioWare maintains some degree of veto power'. Typically, with BioWare, they're looking for deals where the cost is being carried by the people making the product, as opposed to by BioWare. This is not the case with all companies. The advantage of the studio paying for it is that you make more money, but you carry more risk, so BioWare goes with the more conservative way, where they're not spending as much, or anything usually, but they give away more profit on the back end."

Q. How has it been working on Dragon Age again? Did you miss it? A. "I don't know that I missed it when I wasn't working on it. It was interesting to be on the outside. It's very strange being back in the, on the inside again, because my role is very different. I'm not the Executive Producer, I don't have that direct managerial role, I don't have direct, I don't really have any hard power whatsoever on the project anymore, so that's definitely different."

Q. What's the best piece of advice you would give the Dragon Age/Dragon Age: Dreadwolf team if asked? A. "I guess this question, which was from before, isn't as relevant, I've given them all that advice at this point."

"Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be only on next gen consoles and PC, as far as I'm aware." [i.e., PS5 not PS4, Xbox Series X not XBone etc].

Q. Is this [referring to Dragon Age: Dreadwolf] a new beginning for Dragon Age? A. "Dragon Age is a weird franchise. It has had to reinvent itself every single time because of internal corporate pressures. This, like Dragon Age: Inquisition, like Dragon Age II, will be different from the games that came before it. I think that's fine. It's kind of become part of the DNA of the franchise at this point."

Q. What made you want to reach out to BioWare to consult on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf? A. "So I feel like that's been somewhat over-reported. So I have been doing consulting work since, in 2022, was when I started doing it. I was reaching out to different people. I knew where BioWare was when I first reached out to them. At the time they said 'no', and then I was like 'alright, fine' and I started working with some other people, and then things changed at BioWare and then they came and reached out to me when their situation was a bit different. So, I guess the short answer is money. The long answer was, I mean I have contacts there, I knew I could help them out, and I'm certainly interested in Dragon Age being the best game that it can be."

Q. How long is alpha to beta to release in general terms? A. "Almost unanswerable. It is incredibly dependent upon - the time from alpha to beta, well first of all there's lots of different definitions of these different phases, but the time from alpha to beta is the time of getting the content finished, and then from beta to release is more about getting your bugs fixed. Some games have thousands of bugs, some games have tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of bugs, so these times can be highly dependent upon the game and the genre. If you're making something that's a competitive game that really needs a lot of tuning, then you want a lot of time in that beta period, ideally to get the game in front of people who're gonna play it, to really dial those knobs in as best you can."

Q. Why does Frostbite struggle with animation? A. "I actually feel like it's actually doing fine with animation. I think it's a content problem, not an engine problem, when it comes to animation in Frostbite. I think what you're seeing is what is being built. Now, that being said, Frostbite now uses ANT, which is the animation system built for sports, so it is different."

"I did watch Dragon Age: Absolution. I actually really liked Absolution. I'm not sure how enjoyable it would be for a non-Dragon Age person, because I'm not a non-Dragon Age person, but as a Dragon Age person I really liked it, I thought it was well-made, I thought it did something interesting with the IP."

Q. Have you added any new gameplay mechanics that you can talk about? [unclear if question was regarding DA:D or the DA games in general] A. "Not anything that I really remember, exactly, because, you know, it's a collaborative, for a AAA game it's a collaborative exercise, at least the way that I ran the project, so I wouldn't consider that anything that was in the games that I led was introduced by me, they would have been introduced by the team, or pushed for, or advocated for by people other than me, for the most part."

"In one of my videos, I said that Dragon Age: Origins went through lots of shifts in development. Yeah, Dragon Age: Origins was multiplayer two different times before it actually ended up shipping. Also, it was originally being built on the Neverwinter Engine, it shifted engines in the middle, so it had some big shifts. The difference being that, you know, back in the early 2000s, there wasn't as much scrutiny on development, there wasn't as wide of a pipeline for rumors as there is now."

Q. Is there going to be any new external/secondary media about Dragon Age? A. "I actually don't know the answer to that, that's not a room that I am in anymore, so that would be a question to ask BioWare."

Q. Where was this filmed? [The next DRAGON AGE: Behind the scenes at BioWare] How does it hold up comparing to what was announced at The Game Awards? A. "I think this is the video, the Dragon Age video that was filmed at a park in Edmonton. I think it was Whitemud Park, if it's the video I am thinking of. How does it hold up? I mean, it doesn't show as much, it's showing a little bit of content, it holds up fine."

Q. How difficult or realistic is it to have previous protagonists in a sequel game? Like Hawke in Dragon Age: Inquisition or letters from the Warden? A. "It can, for Dragon Age, or any game that has a, or any game that has character creation, it is extra work, because you have kinda two choices. You either have to move to sort've default marketing protagonist. Well I guess you have three choices. Default marketing protagonist, or you have to put character creation right in the middle of the game flow, to allow people to create their character, or you have to have some way to move your protagonist appearance from game to game to game. Which, it would be the ideal solution, but that requires that your character creation remains relatively constantly from game to game. Which typically isn't actually the case."

Q. Why did EA cut BioWare's budget? A. "I assume that's to do with the layoffs. I do not have an answer to that question, but I put it in here anyway, so, there you go."

Q. Have you acquired new knowledge you can use for yourself consulting at BioWare? A. "It's actually been really useful, for me, so as a story-shaper, someone who develops my storytelling through the interaction with people, it's been useful for a lot of my concepts and philosophy, to bounce it off of people, and to be able to come back to things that I've thought about and even written about, even made videos about, and re-examine some of that. So absolutely, working with people has, for my kind of storytelling, has been helpful for me understanding the things I already believe."

Q. Any idea what the Dragon Age: Dreadwolf Collector's Edition will entail, or how do you decide what goes in them? A. "I have no idea, I guess they'll announce it probably when they put pre-orders up. When you're doing a Collector's Edition, when you're doing a Digital Deluxe, any of those things, it's all about perceived value. So it's all about, how much more do we want to charge for this thing? How do we get that much stuff in the box so that it's worth it? Not worth it for everyone, because otherwise, that would just be the game, but worth it for some degree of people. Typically, for physical Collector's Editions, that comes with a bunch of little things and one big thing. Dragon Age: Inquisition went a different way and it gets its value through a ton of little things like a map, little things you put on the map, and a lockpicking set, and a whole bunch of little things, but it's all about getting over that threshold of this being worth it to some percentage of your audience."

Q. Do you have hope that Dragon Age: Dreadwolf will be good? A. "Absolutely, that's why I'm working with them."

Q. Do you think it's possible for EA to recover in the eyes of BioWare fans? A. "I'm not sure that it's possible for any multi-billion dollar publicly traded company to ever have a really great public perception. I think it's something that they should care about, but I think they would be better served by focusing on strengthening the perception of the individual studios. Let EA be the evil corporate overlord and then make the perception of the studios that they own as strong as possible. That would be the way that I would go."

Q. If you could go back and change Dragon Age lore, what would you change? A. "There was some stuff in the early Dragon Age: Origins [days] which was very much trying to address some of the tropey, problematic bits of magic from D&D, so teleportation, things that. I think we went a little too hard there, and I think leaving that door a little bit more open would be better. The other thing that I think that Dragon Age has been dealing with, but is sort've a problem is, the source of magic. So in typical vanilla D&D magic kind've comes from a million different places, so it kinda doesn't matter. In some other settings, magic comes from a single place, it comes from the astral plane or it comes from this crystal that people dig up and grind up and use to do magic. In Dragon Age you kind've have it coming from a couple of different places, but too few to be everywhere, and therefore it doesn't matter, but too many for it to be one. So you end up with this weird thing of like, are undead caused by the Blight, is lyrium a source of magic? Like, there's just a few too many. And so Dragon Age has been kind've collapsing that probability space down. If I had a time machine, I'd probably just collapse that probability space down in the first place, not necessarily put it in the games, but at least know where that space collapsed." Q. Aren't the only sources of magic Blight, blood or Fade? A. "It isn't, because you've got Blight, blood, Fade - well, okay, yes - lyrium is [Titan] blood now because that was Dragon Age collapsing the probability space. That's what I mean by Dragon Age is collapsing the probability space. It didn't used to be. I don't know if that was always the plan for lyrium or not. I don't think so, I think that was - yeah, no, I think there are Titans, Titans have always been in the plan, but I don't know that lyrium was always - I could be wrong, I could be misremembering."

Q. Are games taking longer to come out now, or is it just Dragon Age and Mass Effect that this has happened to? Why? A. "No, games are taking longer. The short answer actually has a lot to do with graphical fidelity, it's just the assets take longer to make. There are more things, like you didn't have as many steps in creating a piece of art in 1998 as you do now, you didn't have even the concept of materials or shaders or any of these things, so now you have all of these additional steps along the way. It will be interesting to see if, as, some of these techniques, you know, PBM and photogrammetry and these other things become more commonplace, if some of those costs come down. It hasn't happened yet, it actually just kept going up and up and up, you just changed the work that's being done, but that might be the end-state, where maybe costs actually start to go down again. I haven't seen it yet though."

Q. Can you tell us more about Sandal or do we have to wait until Dragon Age: Dreadwolf? A. "No, Sandal is a character whose future will be decided by BioWare." Q. Can I assume that Sandal will be in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf? A. "I wouldn't make that assumption."

Q. What did you miss most about working in AAA and how does it feel being back in a different position? A. "Like I said before, it's weird, because I am, my desk, the desk, if I go into the office the desk I actually sit at is the same desk I had before, but my position is very different. I'm not doing salaries, I'm not doing people management, I'm not doing reviews, but also I don't have final say on anything, I have no hard power in my position, it's just a consulting position, so it's pretty different. I don't know that I miss anything in particular about AAA, I mean there's a power in the giant team that you just don't see in the indie space, but there's an agility that you just don't see in AAA in the indie space, so I think there's pros and cons for both sides."

Q. Any thoughts on the idea that Mass Effect and Dragon Age have become too similar? A. "I would, so I did a very sarcastic presentation back in, probably 2017. They've always been really similar. They are BioWare games with a party, they've always been incredibly similar, so I don't think it's a problem, I think that they have their own distinct characters, they stand apart from each other. In the same way that I wouldn't say that Fallout and Elder Scrolls are too similar, but they sure are both Bethesda games, so I don't think there's a problem there at all."

Q. Do you have an opinion to share on why there's been no marketing yet for Dreadwolf? A. "I assume that means 'why hasn't there been marketing yet for Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. I mean, there has, but nothing recently. The policy for much of AAA has become very much shorter, louder marketing campaigns. I think that there is a lot of power in that. I think that can be a very powerful way to go. Dragon Age obviously carries the fact that we did an announcement trailer back in 2018, but I think that's what's happening."

Q. Do you think it's possible for BioWare to split from EA? A. "No. EA doesn't let things go, so no. Could everyone leave and start their own studio? Sure, but BioWare will remain part of EA as far as I can tell. That's not how EA thinks."

Q. Should Dragon Age have more or fewer jump-scares in it? A. "I mean it doesn't have that many jump-scares, so... more!"

Q. Why did you decide to rejoin BioWare? A. "Like I said, I was consulting. I reached out to them, to look at the possibility of helping them out with some things. They said no, then some time went by and then they contacted me and said 'oh, actually yes', so, short answer is because it was what I was doing at the time. Longer answer is, I mean, definitely I am interested in Dragon Age being the best game it's capable of being."

Q. Do you feel BioWare could have done more to nurture the fanbase between releases, other than comics and novels? A. "Yeah, I do actually wish that there was an ecosystem to make little games, so, you know, you make the little, you make Final Fantasy Tactics, you make Dragon Age Tactics. You make mobile title - I mean there was the mobile game, the Dragon Age mobile game [Heroes of Dragon Age], that did really well, but yeah, I think there is an opportunity there. That is not the way that development works really at EA. It would've had to have been done by a different part of EA, and, so, yep. [shrug]"

Q. What do you feel about the comments that BioWare is becoming less writer-oriented? A. "I don't know that that is true. Definitely it went through a period of trying to focus more on different kinds of gameplay, like Anthem is definitely a game driven by its gameplay as opposed to by its story. I guess we'll see with Bowie what the actual truth is going to be, but I don't think that's what's happening."

Q. Is the next Mass Effect still in development? A. "Yep."

Q. Will Dragon Age go open-world again? A. "I don't know, I mean I guess that's always a possibility."

"I'm not going to comment on any things that have changed in BioWare's staffing, because, one, I found out at the same time as everybody else did, so I have no information, and two, I'm working with them, so I'm not going to give my opinion on that, so." "I'm not gonna comment on any layoff stuff."

Q. Would it be possible to give us the option to turn off the 'screen shake' effects after a critical or melee hit in Dragon Age games? A. "Yeah, I mean you do see that as an accessibility option in a lot of games now, so, hopefully."

Q. Mass Effect and Dragon Age have thousands of years in each of their respective lore/worlds, do you think there's a space for smaller and/or externally produced experiences that explore it more? A. "I do think there is an opportunity for that, I mean that's kind've where the comics and Dragon Age: Absolution and things like that have lived. You do have to figure out to control the IP somehow. Now you could go, like with KOTOR, where you just throw something back into the past far enough. Like go wayyy back and talk about 'where the Qunari came from' or something, but, I do think there's an opportunity there with some thinking. Now, will that happen? I don't expect so because that would require dev resources that don't really exist, or going to an external studio, which I don't think EA is gonna be particularly interested in doing."

"Yeah, I know. [the title] 'Dreadwolf' did ruin the whole vowel thing. Like, I'm also mad about that."

Q. Has there ever been discussion about adding more 'drama' to BioWare romances? I loved the conflict with Liara in Mass Effect 2 if you had romanced another character. A. "I'm sure that's a conversation that's happened somewhere. Often the characters are, each character is written by a different writer, so when they interact that can become a little bit more complicated, but yeah, there's certainly interesting things to be potentially done there."

Q. How involved are you as a Creative Lead on marketing titles? Do you have input into the creation of trailers? A. "Yes, usually there's some degree of input in trailers, but at EA they're usually done by a central group, so it's influence more than necessarily even veto. Probably the Executive Producer has veto power if necessary, but not direct creative control, they're done by a different group."

"I won't be working on [his game, High Tea on the High Seas] until my contract with BioWare is over, I expect."

"I love the modding community. We don't really support them very much, but I think there's a lot of power there for sure."

Q. Do you think BioWare should make non-linear games like Baldur's Gate 3 or stick with what they have always done before? A. "I think that there is, BioWare used to do more 'campfires in the dark', so more, like, 'I know you got here, but I don't know how', and I think that we should return to that more, at least for the side content. I think that the follower content is where BioWare's strength remains and will remain, and I think that deserves to be done in whatever way fits the storytelling that we're trying to do."

Q. Do you think the Dragon Age series should have more musical numbers in the game? A. "Yes I do."

Q. Is there any animosity between BioWare teams? A. "There has been, in the past. I don't think there is now, but there has been in the past, for sure."

Q. Do you regret allowing the player to kill certain characters? How much does that complicate future titles? A. "It makes future titles really complicated. In Dragon Age: Inquisition trying to find a Warden was like, basically they all could be dead, that's why you end up with mustache, Stroud, because literally everyone else could be dead. I don't regret it though, I think it's good to do that kind of thing when you can, it adds extra impact. You just have to live with the consequences of it."

Q. Is there room when AAA games are being developed for smaller projects to get made in the same studio? A. "It depends on the studio. Within BioWare, basically no, because the big AAA things just suck all the life out of it, but I've seen it work at some places where they have protection to keep the little things working and alive. So it's possible, but I don't think it could work at BioWare because I think they would just end up getting starved out by the bigger titles."

Q. Do you think BioWare is going to innovate, or are they trying to make something standard? A. "I mean all games contain innovation, so I'm not sure what your question is there, so yes."

Q. Was there any general reaction that BioWare had to Cyberpunk: Edgerunners? A. "Nothing that I'm aware of. I'm sure that people watched it and had thoughts, but nothing that I've heard."

Q. Do you believe marketing campaigns that are started too early, with features that don't make it into the final product are deceptive and counter-productive because they create false expectations? A. "So I do believe in shorter, louder marketing campaigns in general. There are cases where ya gotta go out and ya gotta start building expectations for your title, but when you're out there for a long time, and you're showing gameplay, you're going to show things that end up getting cut. And I don't think, so, are they counterproductive? No, I don't think they are, because most people don't remember, they just remember they were excited, the thing they saw two years ago. They don't remember that it showed something that ended up getting cut. Do they cause a little bit of internet drama? Sure. But I don't think that they're counterproductive. I think in the cases where you have to do them, where you're repairing a relationship or you need to build up a new IP or whatever, they can be useful. Are you gonna get yourself into trouble? For sure, but, still worth doing."

"Shorter marketing campaigns are super effective, but there are cases where you need a longer conversation with your potential fans."

Q. Do you see Dragon Age as a franchises headed towards a linear end, or more of a world for stories that expand in different directions? A. "I don't know that we'll ever see Dragon Age kind've branch into a bunch of different things. So, like, will there be a main title that continues to basically be the line of canon, that's, probably, yes. That's probably what will happen. It is a franchise that is much more about its world than Mass Effect, and much less about its characters, so I get your point, but I don't think we'll ever see, like, several different parallel storylines going at once."

Q. Without a remake or remaster [of previous Dragon Age games] what would you pitch to onboard people in the Dragon Age franchise? A. "I mean hopefully Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is a perfectly reasonable on-boarding point. The games are designed to be able to be consumed starting with any of them, so hopefully that remains the case."

Q. Why did you not teach anyone at BioWare the true art of Twitter teasing and trolling before you left, because your skills was legendary, and it has not been the same since? A. "So I think, I only got to be on Twitter the way I was on Twitter because I was the Executive Producer, because I was basically the one who decided what information was public. Which is why you haven't seen me do that again."

Q. Does BioWare face any recruitment problems due to its primary location in Canada? A. "Primarily in Canada isn't a huge problem, primarily in Edmonton definitely is. We still live in this weird world of hybrid development so people are getting hired from all over the place right now, but yeah, Edmonton was always a problem for recruiting."

Q. When are you planning to talk about Anthem? [in YouTube videos] A. "Yeah, so we're like two years late on this. It is going to be after I finish working with BioWare at this point, to be perfectly honest. It's gonna be a while, but we'll get there, we will definitely talk about it."

Q. There was talk about a "five game plan" for Dragon Age at some point. Was that ever a thing? If so, is it still a thing? A. "There have been lots of plans, so, sure."

Q. Will you continue your career in development after Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, or was it just a one-time return? A. "Yeah, I'm working with another studio right now as well, this is not my only contract, for sure."

Q. Will you be involved with the next Mass Effect as a consultant? A. "That's not my decision to make."

Q. What is the main thing you would change about how management works in AAA studios? A. "I think that question is unanswerable because management at AAA studios is different everywhere. BioWare uses a matrix structure, so they have departments, but they also have individual leaders. I would like to see more project-driven, like, I've talked about [his] 'hourglass' [concept] in a video before, where driven more through the product, but that being said, I'm not sure long-term how that would be for the people, so I guess, short answer is depends on the studio."

"Dragon Age has had the misfortune of always being seen as being inaccessible to the average gamer, so there's been a lot of corporate pressure for it to become more mainstream. And so it's been kinda questing for a fantasy RPG that is very accessible. Hence why, and then, you know, hence that's Dragon Age II, and then you know Dragon Age II's reception pushed Dragon Age: Inquisition to change some more. Dragon Age has never really been allowed to be constant. And I think it would actually be very good for the franchise to be allowed to be constant for a while, get some 'true sequels' [true sequels here refers to a specific thing Mark has previously discussed on his channel] under the belt. So, yes, true sequels are awesome, I wish that there were more of them and I wish that Dragon Age was one of them."

Q. Are Dragon Age and Mass Effect regarded as big IPs by EA? A. "Sometimes. Sometimes yes, sometimes no. There was a time when EA had the, I think it was called like, 'The Big 12', Mass Effect was on that list, Dragon Age was not, so, sometimes."

Q. Do you feel EA has historically had unrealistic profit expectations for the Dragon Age series? A. "I can't really get into the way that EA does its financials. I think that there are, sometimes, EA wishes everything was FIFA and obviously that's unrealistic."

Q. Will the critical success of Baldur's Gate 3 influence Dragon Age: Dreadwolf and other future projects? A. "It's a bit late to influence Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. Will it affect other future projects? I suspect so. I think it's gonna have a big impact on the RPG space, in some ways, for sure."

Q. Oh, is 'Bowie' the actual codename? Neat! A. "Yeah, Bowie is the actual codename. Did I just leak that? Well it is."

"The hardest part of a project for most people, myself included, is when you can't see the start anymore, and you can't yet see the finish, so with games with really long [development] cycles they can have a lot of trouble in the middle because you don't have the excitement of the beginning anymore and you can't see that it's finishing. So that can be hard. I think that is honestly one of the reasons why I think completion urgency has been on my mind so much, because this has always been kind of the case with BioWare with games, where you do a middle march in the dark, and so hopefully we find some solutions to that."

Q. When are you planning to talk about Anthem? A. "Yeah, so we're like two years late on this. It is going to be after I finish working with BioWare at this point, to be perfectly honest. It's gonna be a while, but we'll get there, we will definitely talk about it."

Q. Is it more accurate to think of the development cycle of Dragon Age: Dreadwolf as one game, or several? A. "Kind've something in-between. Definitely there have been moments where the game has pivoted to a large degree that it effectively has started over, but it hasn't always actually started over, and maybe that would've been better, so it's a little bit of both."

Q. BioWare office tour when? A. "I don't think that I can do that, but maybe BioWare will, you should ask them."

Q. Do you think the 'Frostbite is bad' narrative has been blown out of proportion? A. "Yes I do. I mean, yes it is not a perfect engine, no engine is. It definitely doesn't have the support levels that Unreal has, but it is a capable engine if you treat it with respect. The problem is, is that I think a lot of developers have not treated it with respect."

Q. Has BioWare ever thought about character DLC, for example the story DLC in Dragon Age: Inquisition was wonderful but much of what people enjoyed about the story DLC like Trespasser was reuniting with the companions. A. "Yeah, there actually, a bunch of stuff got discussed in earlier incarnations of Joplin and Morrison about doing, like, date packs, or very, very focused bits of DLC. I don't think that's still in the plan, but that was the plan at one point."

Q. What would you say to fans of Dragon Age that are worried about Dreadwolf right now? A. "I'd say keep paying attention, and hopefully BioWare give you confidence."

Q. Do Dragon Age: Dreadwolf leaks hurt any team morale? A. "It can, depends on the leak, it can, for sure."

[source and full video link]

Other notes from the video are collected under the cut due to length:

Q. What's something from Baldur's Gate 3 that may not be obvious to players that you've seen and said 'wow, Larian really figured something out that I wish we, BioWare, had been able to do'? A. "The big thing that Larian is doing that is missing from most other modern games is they are, Failbetter Games calls it 'campfires in the dark', which is, a lot of their plot scripting is based upon reacting to where you are in the moment as opposed to the path you use to get there. What that means is you can do almost anything, because the game doesn't really care how you did it. If you're Matt Mercer and you pile up a bunch of boxes and then teleport into a keep, and bypass the entire plot of getting in there, once you're in the keep, the keep is like, 'okay, you're here, I don't know how you did it, but whatever, we'll just go from here'. And, two things. One, it makes for incredibly robust scripting. The game is able to not fall apart as you do things that it wasn't expecting, because to some degree it's not really expecting things as much. Two, it's just letting you do much more as a result. Now you are giving up a certain degree of reactivity for that, but it's a very powerful tool that I think has been largely set aside by most other developers."

"I think there's definitely some interesting avenues to be taken with your party members having relationships with each other and interacting with each other. It gives them more life. It makes them more believable, that they're not just there waiting for you to come and talk to them and otherwise they're completely static. I think having them interact with each other definitely helps make them more believable."

"One of the, I would say, biggest mistakes of Dragon Age II is the fact that you always have to fight both final antagonists, regardless of which path you decided to do, and that's a decision coming from 'we don't want to waste our content. We want people to see this stuff we spent all this time on'. So some of it is about just being willing to commit to the concept of, there is content that people won't see. It helps, at least it helps me a little bit to remember that most people aren't gonna even finish your game, so arguably the end is a branch that most people won't see." "Honestly, to a large degree, let the creatives guide the way. If they're excited about writing it, if they're excited about scripting it, let them do it. Maybe you do a much simpler version [of the hypothetical cutscene being discussed, re: branching content and zots/resources], but you can still do it."

"I've never played a game of the Dragon Age TTRPG. How much was the Dragon Age team involved in the creation of the rules? Not at all. That was created entirely by Green Ronin. That was their system entirely and I think they've used it for other things since then. I like that it exists. I like that there is a, something that signals that Dragon Age is an RPG. Now I think I would be pushing to make a 5th edition supplement for Dragon Age, rather than a standalone RPG, but at the time, it was the right call, I'd say."

Q. As a producer, how have you mitigated decision fatigue for you or your team throughout closing a project? A. "So one of the reasons why I actually advocate so strongly for triage is that triage is a forum through which you can answer a lot of questions, especially at the end of a project, the closing parts of a project. You're not going to avoid making decisions. Finaling a project is making thousands of decisions in rapid succession, but you can take a little bit of the burden off individual team members by helping them with that decision-making, or when necessary making decisions yourself. Triage also lets you get a group of people together. Making decisions as a group, if you've worked together for a while, can be faster, can be less draining as well."

"I really believe in some degree of developing out loud. I don't know how practical Larian's style of, 'go into Early Access for three years and develop it with the community' is, for most studios, especially the publicly traded ones, but I do think some form of discourse with the community is incredibly valuable. Are we gonna see it? I hope so, but I do think that a lot of studios have developed a very secretive, private kind of stance. For good reason. It's a lot of work to keep this discourse running, to keep it from turning toxic, to keep the conversation going. I think it's worth it, but there's work there, for sure." [I think BioWare are a publicly traded company]

"I could be wrong, but I feel like we're starting to see DLC in singleplayer games be a thing of the past. It seems like it's fading away. I think we may not see very much [of this] three years from now. Will it then circle back around, come back around? I suspect it will, but that's what I'm noticing."

[on the game industry in general] "We've had a lot of layoffs this year, so definitely there's been volatility this year, but we have, as the industry has grown up, it has become more risk-averse, at least in the AAA space, it's become more expensive, things have taken longer, but you do see less, sort've pulsing - you see less AAA games shipping and then the entire studio being shut down. It does still happen, but I do think you are seeing less of it. I think it's partly just, becoming more and more a business."

"I do not think Mass Effect 3 will ever be open-sourced."

"If I was given a large budget and asked to create a 'Dragon Age Legendary Edition', I think if I was given that task, the big thing would be, I think for Dragon Age: Origins, you have only two choices. Once you start going in there, you gotta go so deep, that I would go remaster, and just pretty it up, and let all its warts be its warts. Maybe take another crack at the console controls, and like getting tactical camera on the consoles, if I could, but largely just prettying it up. Dragon Age II, I'd be really tempted to see if you could make Orsino an optional fight, otherwise, probably it's fine. Dragon Age: Inquisition, Hinterlands, actively pushing you out of the Hinterlands much more quickly, not cutting anything from it, but definitely making it more clear that there is a critical path, because the pacing is kind've off there. Reducing the amount of Influence you need to unlock things so you can get through it a little more quickly."

"Dragon Age: Origins was originally planned as one game with no sequels. That was the original plan, which is why the end of Dragon Age: Origins has weird branching epilogue structure, is because it was never intended to be a game with sequels. You're always going to, that's a lesson for the world, always assume that you're going to potentially have sequels. So, it's not that you should leave a bunch of threads, but don't make sequels incredibly difficult to have."

"Dragon Age: Inquisition basically only had eight spells because of console convenience, yeah, basically, it's designed around its console controls for sure."

Q. Was there ever a significance to the Amell [blood]line? Like the Warden and Champion being related? A. "I don't know the answer to that question. I mean, there are often things that are planned and then executed, but also things where convenient plot hooks are picked up and taken in different ways. So sometimes things are planned years in advance and sometimes they just look that way."

"As far as I can remember, Leliana's lyrium ghost was just a quantum thing. It's just because we wanted Leliana in Dragon Age: Inquisition and Leliana could be dead. I mean it kinda makes sense, because the only place that Leliana could die in Dragon Age: Origins was at the Urn, so, sure, the Urn did it."

Q. If Dragon Age: Origins ever gets a remake, would a lot more of the problematic elements be removed? A. "So that's, ultimately what it comes down to, I think if you did a Dragon Age: Origins remaster, you wouldn't, you would just put a fresh coat of paint on it and that would be what you would do. But if you start to do a remake, I think it becomes necessary to start to open up some of those conversations, and that could be a lot, which is honestly one of the things that probably is causing hesitation on doing a remaster, or a remake in that case."

Q. If a fan writes an incredibly good idea on a forum or social media, is BioWare banned from implementing their idea? A. "It depends. If it's just like, 'I put an idea out on a Twitter post', no, you're basically releasing that idea to the public by that kind of post, but we don't, but BioWare doesn't, so I guess no, I guess, short answer no, because in that case it's like, well you just gave that to everybody. If it's a bit of fan literature, nobody's reading it, it's just going in the garbage, so no, so in that case nobody knows what's in that piece of literature, so, no."

"Will Dragon Age: II and Dragon Age: Origins ever come to PS5? I don't know. I mean that would basically require a remaster of some sort."

Q. If you had free reign what's the coolest, most ridiculous thing you would put into a physical Collector's Edition of the game? A. "So, I did, on Anthem, I did push for this, and I wish we'd done it, I did push for doing, because we had the studio that made the physical versions of the Javelin suits for that one EA Play. I did push for a $55,000 Collector's Edition, where you got one of those suits. Obviously we didn't do that."

Q. Would you say it’s harder to import decisions in a series like Dragon Age or Mass Effect? I bet it’s harder when each game has a different protagonist. A. "Actually, so, Dragon Age is a little bit more self-healing because when you are playing a Mass Effect, so Mass Effect 1, 2, 3, a lot of what you care about is the interpersonal stuff. When you're moving from Dragon Age: Origins to Dragon Age II, you don't really care about any of that interpersonal stuff, because it's a different character. I mean, you care, but it doesn't, the game doesn't need to reflect it. So Mass Effect has to deal with a lot more minutiae than Dragon Age does. Dragon Age just needs to deal with the big stuff."

Q. Would the Eclipse Engine have been better for Dragon Age: Inquisition even if it had meant the scope of the game would have to be smaller? A. "No, the Eclipse Engine was about ready to die of old age."

Q. Do you remember what the major aesthetic influences on Anthem were? A. "So, this is what I remember. Cigarette butts and coffee cups, so like, the abyss. No wheels. I actually think Anthem has a pretty strong identity. It looks like something."

Q. Who's decision was it to start using Frostbite? A. "I mean, the short answer is, it was the only politically-viable answer for Dragon Age: Inquisition, so, so I guess EA."

Q. Did you feel there was a large culture change when Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka left BioWare? A. "Not really, like a lot of it was basically already happening, as part, as EA basically started to impose its culture on, and also just the culture infiltrated over time. I would say that the cultural shift at BioWare happened slowly, not all at once when they left."

Q. I was really hoping for that Dragon Age tactical game. Any chance of seeing something like that in the future? A. "Probably not, I mean, it was a tweet, there wasn't anything behind that."

Q. If only there was a Mass Effect toolset. A. "Yeah, so I don't think you're gonna get, so a toolset with a game that is using Unreal like Mass Effect, that's much less likely, because you're gonna have to get a deal with Epic to do that. They might go for it, but yeah, that would be harder."

Q. I recently found out that The Last Court was made by an outside studio, and BioWare has brought in outside writers to work on Dragon Age before. Is that a common occurrence? A. "Yeah, it happens, for sure."

"Dragon Age II is pushing the Eclipse engine to the limit, it's basically the upper limits."

Q. Was there ever any discussion on showing Hawke and their companions visibly age over Dragon Age II? A. "There was, there was absolutely, that conversation did happen. We didn't really have any way to do it easily, but it was talked about."

Q. Dragon Age seems to have a much larger female fanbase than most gaming franchises, is this something EA has been cognizant of/interested in? A. "Cognizant of, yes, interested in, yes as well, though The Sims is actually even better. Understanding what to do about? No."

Q. What were your lessons learned from Mass Effect: Andromeda and why it went that bad? A. "I don't actually think it went that bad. It had a rough launch, so it kind've escaped a little early. That's probably its biggest problem. If it had released in the state that it was at within a month, it would've been a lot better received. Now it did also launch up against Zelda and Horizon, so, the number one lesson there is - when Dragon Age: Inquisition shipped and the Inquisition team was talking to the other team, one of the biggest things we said was 'don't use Inquisition as your baseline, it should be your worst-case', and a lot of the planning on Mass Effect: Andromeda was done using Dragon Age: Inquisition as the best case, so, what happened, basically its end got squeezed out of existence."

Q. What do you think about a Mass Effect: Andromeda remake? A. "Seems early, but maybe, some day. I mean it's kind've healed its perception to a large degree, kind've like Dragon Age II but for different reasons, it's not seen as as bad as it was seen at launch, so, I think there's a market there."

Q. Have there ever been discussions within BioWare of visual novels as a possible format for their franchises? A. "Yeah, it's come up, it's even been pitched. Hard for EA to do little things."

[source and full video link]

#dragon age: dreadwolf #dragon age 4 #the dread wolf rises #da4 #dragon age #bioware #video games #long post #longpost #mass effect #mass effect: andromeda #anthem #dragon age: absolution #next mass effect

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c0rpseductor · 1 year

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also like its kind of funny bc in terms of video game franchises dragon age actually DOES do fairly (?) well when it comes to representation of lgbt characters. at least by sheer volume. and a lot of games whose writing i prefer fall extremely flat in comparison. so it probably seems silly that im so much more ready to tear da apart

like in ffxiv, emet-selch isn't actually gay despite how many posts i make about his loving joan crawford and dolly parton. he's heavily queercoded (ESPECIALLY in the localization) in order to remind you he's the bad guy. like, it's cheap; the best xiv can do in terms of lgbt rep among its cast is Heavily Imply a relationship between ryne and gaia, and i don't deny that it's really great that they did that, but it's also like...not much. and i think it does suffer from this pitfall of like, "we intentionally chose pretty teenage girls in a very chaste relationship to Imply Homosexuality About, because male homosexuality is gross." like i'm not saying Less Lesbian Rep Is Good or something or that it's a contest or some shit like that, i just think it's clear in this case they made this choice bc the devs have kind of evinced a bit of disgust toward gay men. most of the time (not all the time!) when male homosexuality or homoerotic imagery with men is brought up in the game i think it's sort of as a gross-out joke. also, as sort of an aside, transmisogyny is like. A Gag That Happens Way Too Much. However i think xiv is a much better-written game/series as a whole and i will be sucking it off until the end of time.

dragon age is like, nominally a lot less homophobic and transphobic, but i feel a lot more critical of and less generous toward its representation of lgbt characters because this is also a Big Selling Point for them. bioware i think has sort of built this image as like a really character-driven sensitive liberal crunchy kind of studio (i just really wanted to say crunchy lol) and seem to kind of pride themselves on having this really deep tactful groundbreaking lgbt rep. so if it falls short of those standards i'm going to be mad at being ripped off, naturally, and at bioware for patting their own asses for doing ultimately very little.

ffxiv did not at any point try to sell me Gay Rep. ffxiv did not say "hey, we're square enix and we're a really cool progressive company, we're going to make an mmo for the gays!" square enix looked me in the eyes and said "we have an mmo. our character creator has catgirls, and almost every single outfit in the base game is unconscionably hideous," and i said "HOLY SHIT CATGIRLS!!!" and have been playing it for nearly a decade now. i've never felt cheated out of sensitivity square promised me. i kind of know the score with them, as a company they can be pretty regressive and that often reflects in how they handle real-world issues in their games.

to use a food metaphor here, if i'm told i'm going to be given the most enormous delicious tasty stake ever and then it's like...good enough but ultimately very average, i'm going to feel a little cheated and probably be meaner about that steak than i would if i were simply told "i made steak. have some." i might even appreciate a kind of middling or even Not That Good steak without complaint if i'm not hyped up for no fucking reason first. this is kind of my feelings.

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shizuu-chann · 8 months

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Okay, I am loving Baldur's Gate so far. There are many merits and overall it's just quite a fun game to play, BUT... I got beef with the romance system. Spoilers under the cut for those who care.

Specifically that it seems like every single companion is into you when I've only been trying to be friendly or kind. I have tried SO hard, like SO FUCKING HARD, to ONLY flirt with the person I'm intending to fully commit to. In this case, it's Gale, and I've already had to reject Lae'zel and Wyll--and let me just fucking tell you that rejecting Wyll specifically was painful. I felt like such a ruthless bitch, and I even went out of my way to not say anything even kind of flirty to him all throughout Act 1! I just had the dance scene with him. He's such a good character, and he's kind and all that, but he's not the object of my character's affection this run. Anywho, I didn't dance with him (said I wasn't interested) because I had a feeling he was going to officially confess feelings after or during the dance or something, and I felt like that would have been worse. But anyway, I just feel so fucking bad. The way his face fell and he just kind of went "Oh." with that absolutely rejected face, like I kind of want to cry I feel so terrible.

Rejecting Lae'zel was at least a little easier, because it seemed like what she really wanted at the time was just sex. She ended the conversation with a "you'll wish you hadn't missed your chance," and that was that. But Wyll? This is one circumstance where I'm going to say BioWare's Dragon Age does romance MUCH better (at least in 2 and Inquisition) with the explicitly labeled flirt dialogue options. That way, I don't have to hurt anyone's feelings because I don't have to worry about whether or not what I consider friendly dialogue will be taken as flirting.

And in my opinion, this ties into a greater issue with society that I've noticed, and it's that being friendly will invariably come across to some people as flirting, and that drives me insane. Like, I'm just trying to be nice and supportive, to help people out because they need it, NOT because I'm interested in them romantically! I might as well just never speak to any character I don't intend to romance in BG3, because otherwise they get the wrong impression. And I'm not even sure that will work, because I got this cutscene randomly after trying to get him out of his pact with Mizora.

I'm wondering if I had danced with him, if it would have been a friendship dance precisely because I haven't flirted with him (that I've noticed, anyway), or if dancing with him counts as flirting. Two friends can dance together! Why does it need to be romantic??? But I really don't want to have to reject him again, because I'm serious, that scene fucking hurt. I had to get up and walk away and then write this post because I felt like such a terrible person, even though I know I didn't really do anything wrong. I don't even think that's a character flaw, I think it's just a writing choice that I highly disagree with and highly dislike. Seriously, WHY is there no option to just very blatantly say something like "we're just dancing as friends, right? Because I like you, but not like that." Uuuuuggghhhhh, I hate everything right now. I just feel bad and sad and I almost want to stop playing because I'm scared I'm going to have to reject someone else...

Maybe if Gale's romance would fucking get on with it and actually establish him and my character as a couple, there would be fewer companions interested because she's taken. Right now I'm sitting at a mutual infatuation, but nothing physically romantic has happened.

#bg3 #baldur's gate 3 #seriously i'm so upset #i feel terrible

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anneapocalypse · 2 years

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The Dragon Age: Inquisition short stories

and what they tell us about the agents of Corypheus.

Warnings: Discussion of fictional slavery, and plot spoilers for Dragon Age: Inquisition.

In 2015, BioWare released three short stories by Joanna Berry on the BioWare blog, about three side characters from Dragon Age: Inquisition. When I first read these stories last year, I assumed they'd been released before Inquisition as teasers for the game, but it turns out they were actually only released after the game. "Paper and Steel" was posted on April 30, 2015 to celebrate then-upcoming The World of Thedas, Volume 2. "Paying the Ferryman" was subsequently posted on June 2, 2015, and "The Riddle of Truth" on September 15 the same year. All three can now be read in their entirety on the Dragon Age wiki:

https://dragonage.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Dragon_Age:_Inquisition_short_stories

These three stories offer some background on three of Inquisition's minor antagonists: Samson, Calpernia, and Florianne de Chalons. I first read them last year as I was eagerly devouring all the Dragon Age media I could get my hands on (and highly appreciating all the reading material available when I needed a break from the screen). I took a lot of notes, but never got around to writing up a post, so I thought I'd revisit those stories now that I have a couple playthroughs of Inquisition under my belt, and have met all three characters in the game.

The time of publication is noteworthy, because at the time of the game's release, players did not have the benefit of any background information on these characters, beyond what returning players would remember about Samson from Dragon Age II—which, depending on how recently or often you'd played the game, might not be very much, as he's a pretty minor character in that game. I barely remembered who Cullen was when Inquisition first came out, and I'd played both of the previous games. I don't think Florianne is even mentioned in The Masked Empire, or if she is, it's blink-and-you'll-miss-it; she certainly has no part in that story. Calpernia is a completely new character.

The way Corypheus's generals are handled in Inquisition always leaves me a little dissatisfied, as it always feels like there must be so much more to their stories than we ever get to hear. We see one or the other (depending on whether the mages or the templars were recruited) very briefly at a distance during the attack on Haven, and then one of the advisers gives a quest line focused on finding that character's weaknesses and exploiting them, and learning what Corypheus had planned for them. We finally meet that character face to face in a fairly brief battle at the Temple of Mythal. Calpernia escapes or possibly falls to her death (though I highly doubt she's actually dead). Samson is captured and brought to Skyhold for judgment.

At the time of the game's release, these characters had to stand on their own—in contrast to, for example, the characters featured in Asunder and The Masked Empire which the game definitely expects at least some players to have read. These stories offer some new insights into three of Corypheus's most important agents, but they are supplemental to the game after the fact.

So let's see what they have to offer.

Paper and Steel

Samson's whole involvement in Inquisition was sort of a "Why?" to me. It always felt like one of the many cases of "People like to hear familiar names" in that game. It gives Cullen something to take even more personally about the Red Templars, assuming the Inquisitor recruits the mages, but I've never felt that Samson's presence in Inquisition follows from his brief role in Dragon Age II in any meaningful way.

In DAII, Samson is a lyrium-addicted ex-templar reduced to begging in Lowtown, and occasionally he helps runaway mages where he can. He has sympathy for mages, and resents Knight-Commander Meredith for throwing him out on the street after he carried a mage's love letters to his sweetheart in Kirkwall. He is also encountered briefly in Act III during "Best Served Cold," in which a group of mages and templars secretly band together to work against Meredith, but their plans go awry when one of their leaders turns to blood magic. Samson remarks that for all his dislike of Meredith, perhaps she has a point about the danger free mages pose.

Fast forward to Inquisition and Samson is now a general for Corypheus, leading his red templars. In just a few years he goes from begging coppers on the street for a lyrium fix to commanding an army of renegade templars on red lyrium for an ancient darkspawn magister bent on godhood.

It's... a bit of a leap.

And I do think this story helps to fill in that gap a bit. We get inside Samson's head here in a way the game never does, in a way that I do think follows from who he was in Kirkwall. Samson's deepest resentment is neither for mages nor even for Meredith, but for the Chantry itself, which in his eyes uses the templars until the lyrium they take steals their very selves from them, and then discards them when they are no longer useful. Corypheus has offered him a chance to fight the Chantry, to tear it down. Samson is aware that the red lyrium from which they draw their strength takes an even greater toll than the regular lyrium, but he considers their purpose worth the cost, and he is determined to treat his soldiers with dignity even as the red lyrium transforms them into fearsome creatures.

That last bit is, to me, the most compelling thing about Samson in this story. He is characterized not merely by his resentment nor even by his devotion to this new cause, but also by his compassion for the dehumanized. The red templars deep into their transformation barely look like people anymore, and yet Samson insists on looking them in the eye and speaking to them personally.

This is also reflected in Samson's treatment of Maddox, which does come up in the game as well. Maddox was the mage for whom Samson delivered love letters, which lost him his position in Kirkwall. Maddox, meanwhile, was made Tranquil for his transgression. After the collapse of the Kirkwall Circle, Samson found Maddox and looked after him, even before he was recruited by Corypheus. Many find the Tranquil unsettling or even horrifying, but Samson still saw Maddox's personhood, and cared about him, and wanted him to have a chance at life even if it could never be the life he once had.

The other aspect of Samson that stands out to me in this story is this:

Samson paid the stranger's price, would pay it forever, but he knew what he was buying.

He swallows the red lyrium and gives it to his soldiers to swallow, knowing what it will do to them, because he believes that it will buy them the power they need to create a better world, even if many of them do not live to see it.

A running theme among agents of Corypheus is the promise of power---whether power for its own sake, as in the case of Grand Duchess Florianne, power to restore lost glory as desire the Venatori, power to fulfill their purpose and protect their world as with the Grey Wardens, or power to right a great wrong. It is the latter that Samson s promised, and I think that the idea of being chosen appeals to him. But I think what makes him most vulnerable to Corypheus is the belief that he is already powerless, drained, "burned out" and used up. It leaves him willing to pay any price if he believes he might see justice done and the Chantry brought low in the end.

This story, I think, does a good job of illuminating Samson's motivations and why he has accepted Corypheus's offer.

The lingering question is why Corypheus has chosen Samson. He believes himself worthy of becoming a god; does not a washed-up lyrium-addicted ex-templar begging on the streets of Kirkwall seem a bit beneath his notice?

Perhaps this tells us something about Corypheus himself, not to mention the position in which he finds himself after he awakens from his centuries-long slumber.

Corypheus and his fellow magisters bought their passage into the Fade with the blood of slaves. For as highly as he thinks of himself, he knows only how to prey on the more vulnerable. Not to mention, he would be hard-pressed in the south to find agents who wouldn't flee at the very sight of him. Knowing his true identity would only repel them further. He can control and command Grey Wardens through their tainted blood, but to succeed in his ambitions he needs servants who are loyal. Given his nature and his history, this requires lies. And it requires choosing from the subset of people who won't take one look at him and see an horrifying blighted monster fit for a Grey Warden's blade, or a nightmare out of Chantry tales told to frighten children. The pool of candidates is rather small. In other words, he probably has to take who he can get, though he would be loathe to admit it.

The real question, for me, isn't why Corypheus chooses Samson. It's how he tricks Calpernia.

Paying the Ferryman

Of the two generals, I do find Calpernia quite a bit more interesting than Samson. Her role in Inquisition is sadly quite limited; if you choose the mages to recruit, you'll never even hear her name spoken. Frankly she's one of the best reasons to play "Champions of the Just" from a purely game experience standpoint, because what little you get about her and her background is so tantalizing.

This story is an excellent and much-needed addendum to her brief role in the game.

"Paying the Ferryman" alternates between past and present, showing us Calpernia's early life as a slave, interspersed with her preparations to leave Minrathous and enter the Elder One's service as a free woman. We see her making her very first purchase with her own money: "She'd never owned anything before." This purchase is incense, an offering to the mysterious figure of "the ferryman," finally revealed to be a statue of Archon Darinius, founder of the Imperium.

This story is also our first glimpse of Marius, who is enslaved by Magister Erasthenes along with Calpernia and with whom she has a relationship until he is suddenly sold and vanishes from her life. (Marius later appears in Magekiller and other comics, but that's another post!) Erasthenes himself pays only enough attention to Calpernia to teach her how to control her magic when it manifests, while she longs to amount to something more.

Calpernia takes a particular view of slavery which is... critical of it as an institution in Tevinter but which I'm not sure can quite be called abolitionism. Her position isn't so much that every person has a moral right to freedom, so much as that enslaved people constitute wasted potential that could benefit the empire if they were only given the freedom to aspire and achieve. She feels this way even before her own magic manifests, which is rather late—it seems to be well into her teenage years, after her sexual relationship with Marius.

Calpernia isn't even necessarily against blood sacrifice, as she tells Marius:

"The empire used to be different. When a person's life was spent, it meant something—it bought something. If slaves had a voice the Archon could hear..."

To me, there is an inherent contradiction in that line, and it illuminates what I see as the primary dissonance in Calpernia's motivations. With nowhere to direct her power, she reads widely in Erasthenes' library and becomes obsessed with Tevinter history and what she sees as the empire's lost glory. Even her name, Calpernia, is one she chooses herself, after the priestess of Dumat who raised Archon Darinius, the founder of the Imperium.

But surely someone as well-read as Calpernia must know that the empire, past and present, was built on the blood of the enslaved, right? Well, the thing about this is we haven't yet seen nearly as much of Tevinter as we have of the south, and we can gather from the dialogue of our few Tevinter characters that the history of the Imperium as told within the Imperium is probably a bit different than the history of the Imperium as told in the south—particularly in Ferelden and Orlais, the birthplace of Andraste and the home of the Andrastian Chantry, respectively.

I don't necessarily mean that Calpernia doesn't know about the massive blood sacrifice used to, for example, breach the Veil and enter the Fade. I do think she romanticizes the ancient empire as a time when blood sacrifice "bought something," when it brought about achievements she considers meaningful, as opposed to the petty power-play of nobles in the present day, which infuriates her.

You're mages! Calpernia wanted to scream when Erasthenes invited visiting scholars or his peers over to drink fragrant tea, play chess, or gossip. The ancients built the greatest empire in Thedas with wisdom and conquest. Now the only ones who must sacrifice for Tevinter are slaves, while you spend all your time on... frippery!

Calpernia does not, in other words, see any inherent problem with empire and conquest. What she despises is the complacency of the powerful, and the wasted potential in their decadence.

Where I see a great dissonance is in Calpernia rhapsodizing about how life sacrificed once meant something, followed by "If slaves had a voice the Archon could hear..." Because the one thing really doesn't follow from the other. I think it's safe to say that the enslaved of Tevinter had no more voice when magisters spilled their blood in ancient times than they do in the present.

In this, the most direct statement of her motivations, I think we see the error in Calpernia's thinking and the reason she is vulnerable to Corypheus.

Both Samson and Calpernia see people being exploited by the powerful, and they both see wasted potential in the exploited that could, they believe, be put to better use. Both are willing to spend lives for some greater purpose. The biggest difference between them, I think, is that Samson is driven in large part by his cynicism—he understands the cost but believes it is the best the templars can do to strike back against the Chantry. Calpernia, on the other hand, is driven by a misplaced idealism—a romanticized view of ancient Tevinter, and a mistaken belief that Corypheus will empower the powerless to restore that lost glory. She needed little more than that promise of restoration and the power required to agree to follow Corypheus. Never mind that the magister once called Sethius had pursued his own ambitions fueled by the blood of countless slaves. In the story's final scene, Calpernia vows that she will see the enslaved of Tevinter walk free.

I have to wonder when, if ever, Calpernia even realizes who Corypheus is. His name is never actually mentioned in this story, and many of his followers refer to him only as "The Elder One" in the game. Perhaps she doesn't find out until much later, when too deeply invested in the cause to be easily turned away. The Inquisitor's investigation reveals, however, that she does not fully trust the Elder One.

Given her ambition, it is unsurprising that Calpernia is the one to escape capture or death at the hands of the Inquisition. If Corypheus's intent to bind her after she drinks from the Well of Sorrows is revealed to her, it is not difficult to persuade her to turn on him. Either way, she has no confirmed death in the game, and I think it's safe to say Calpernia's story is not yet over.

Of the three, her short story is my favorite. It's very thematically strong, and there's a lot of beautiful and evocative imagery.

The Riddle of Truth

"The Riddle of Truth" is a story about Grand Duchess Florianne de Chalons, and unlike the previous two, it is told in first person from her point of view. In it, the Grand Duchess speaks to the reader as a charming companion with whom she converses in "the mansion's gardens" and shares several riddles.

It is fitting that this story comes to us in Florianne's voice, because it reveals to us the way she thinks about herself. She drops hints as to her intentions to undermine her brother Gaspard, later to be carried out at the Winter Palace in the game:

"A chevalier might be as the hawk—perform mighty deeds and be showered with glory—only to find that a subtler fellow at home has nibbled away at his influences at court, with sweet gifts and sweeter promises."

In fact, I'm not convinced the unnamed "you" to whom the Grand Duchess speaks is meant to be real, this conversation actually and literally taking place. Florianne's companion seems to flatter her rather extravagantly, and her narrative voice sometimes phrases things as hypotheticals:

"No one would ever lay such deeds at your door," you assure me. "The very idea. You of all people are above reproach!"

Because we are such very good friends, I might smile, and lean in for a confidence.

This whole story is Florianne reveling in her own cleverness, and so I think it's entirely likely we're meant to see it as simply a flight of fancy, taking place in her own imagination.

And this, of course, perfectly illustrates why Florianne was vulnerable to Corypheus's offer: her own vanity. I doubt he had to do much more than flatter her and offer her power. While this is quite evident in the game itself, this story explores that in an interesting and entertaining way, delving into Florianne's inner world in a way the game can't give us, and I enjoy it for those reasons.

Having read them a few times now, I think these particular short stories are among the better ones that the series has produced, certainly a step up from the DAII character shorts which I found to be less interesting. I also think it's kind of a shame these weren't released before Inquisition, as the stories of the generals in particular bring some much-needed depth and motivation to those characters. I would definitely recommend checking out all three if you find these characters even remotely interesting, or want more about them.

Crosspost. Originally posted on Dreamwidth on 04/23/21.

#calpernia #samson #florianne de chalons #dragon age inquisition #dragon age meta #dragon age short stories #anne does dragon age #blunders of thedas #dragon age

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