explodingchantry - Tumblr blog

explodingchantry · 8 days ago

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Hey you ever think about how dragon age 2 had a sexually active and confident black woman and how she was constantly treated like and openly called a whore for it, how much the writers just hate sexually active women AND sex workers. You ever think about that. You ever. Think. About the fact that isabela was made into naught but an object to be ogled to the point no one actually bothers to do any character analysis of her. "dragon age writing was so much better back then" yeah and it also fucking hated minorities so fucking much. Take your rose tinted glasses right off.

#Every single fucking time I look back at da2 banter I'm like ooohhh right OK this game is downright cruel I see

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explodingchantry · 12 days ago

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Do you have a source for Jennifer Helper intentionally writing Anders to seem straight for female Hawkes?

"No matter who the player is, Karl was always someone [Anders] was romantically involved with," says Gaider. "The part of him the player is exposed to, however, is different. Anders doesn't mention Karl to a female Hawke because Jennifer Hepler [Anders' writer] didn't think he would -- and also because a player who prefers to think of Anders as straight is welcome to do so."

[Source]

#😶

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explodingchantry · 20 days ago

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I was getting really into expedition 33, only to find the character I adore and that tore my heart to pieces is the subject of hot debate and discourse, with people absolutely despising him as if he's a war criminal, and the majority of the reasons why being that he lies. And I find that fascinating. He lies not just to other characters but to you, the player -- and this elicits such intense vitriol in the playerbase, veritable rancor that leads to some of the most bad faith takes and interpreterions...

... So of course, it makes me think of Anders. Everything reminds me of her etc etc -- but really, though. I've spoken to a lot of people over the years, looked into a lot of the discourse both from back then and current -- and the one recurring sentiment I've seen is that even people who otherwise sympathise with Anders are furious about the Lie. You know, him telling you he needs that stuff to separate him and Justice, rather than to explode the chantry.

And I mean, that's fair, right. It's a pretty monumental lie. A lot of players, if they knew what they were truly getting that stuff for, would've refused to help him. This leads players to feel manipulated, used -- and to be fair to them, it is manipulation. Anders feeds you false information for the purpose of making you help him. It is fair to be shocked and angry in the moment, upon realising what happened.

But what I find fascinating above all is that most of these people will then not take a moment to think about WHY exactly Anders lied, why he felt he had to lie. How, to him, this was too important to risk you saying no. How, even if you're max friendship, even if you're lovers, he can't take the risk of you saying no. But of course, there's the other angle to it -- the one that makes me truly unable to hold his lie against him, the one that breaks my heart above all: that he couldn't chance implicating you. Because, see: if he lies to you, if he gets this material from you via a trick, then you cannot be held responsible for his actions. He is protecting you. He is saving you. But few people are able to see that past their anger at being lied to in the first place.

I've met people who dislike, sometimes downright hate, Anders for The Lie and The Lie alone. They don't bring up his double standard with blood magic, or the shitty way with which he treats Merrill. The only thing they care about is The Lie.

Players really, REALLY hate being lied to. If it was instead Anders lying to, idk, Varric, whilst we know the truth -- a bunch of people would still be pissed, but nowhere near as much as this. It's specifically because he lied to Hawke, to the player, that people are furious about. And it does make sense: as the player, you are expected to be the driving force behind the narrative and have the choice in what you do, and even when you DONT have choice, you still feel largely in control as you at least are in possession of all the tools at your disposal to understand what it is your character is doing and why. To lie to the player is to take this sense of control and agency away, and that really rubs players the wrong way.

(there's also, obviously, the framing part of it all. But I've made plenty of posts about it. This is specifically about the lying aspect making people super pissed.)

I think understanding that -- the way lying to the player affects them -- can give game writers some very fun tools to mess with players I wanna see more often tbh LOL. But when it comes to Anders it is another tragedy, because his lie was born of good intentions. Of a wish to shoulder alone the weight of his act, whilst at the same time ensuring he could carry it out and save the people he saved.

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explodingchantry · 28 days ago

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you can love a character and still admit when they’re wrong. i love anders but can acknowledge his flaws (he has none) and can hold him accountable for his wrongdoings (he’s never done anything wrong in his life) and call him out for his actions (which are always correct)

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