#and i just finished da2 for the first time

[angomay]

so um… they weren’t lying that dragon really can age. 2 even

[ID: A screencap of Jim from The Office looking to the side with a shell-shocked expression. His hand is resting on his forehead. End ID]

[vigilskeep]

consequence of being on dragon age tumblr is that the longing to play dragon age 2 will sometimes hit you so hard

[becauseanders]

really want to play mass effect again but that means not playing dragon age do you see my problem

[flashhwing]

you know somethign i've noticed. and i may be onto nothing at all here but i feel like i've seen more default m!hawke than default f!hawke. by percentages not raw number. like most of the m!hawkes i see are the default short hair beard brown hair dude but most of the f!hawkes i see are custom gals, usually with long hair. what's up with that

[felassan]

Some DA facts collected together, from recent tweets -

GhilDirthalen: "the frostbite engine didn’t do ending slides, so the slides you see in DAI are actually paintings that quickly spawn in your bed room. You can zoom out during the end with fly cam" John Epler: "i remember when we were trying to do these and we're like 'hey can we display still images' and the answer was 'uhh it's a lot more complicated than you think' so this was the solution. i set up all the cameras, and I THINK level design handled all the scripting logic" JE: "anyways videogames are basically held together by magic and hope and it's a legitimate miracle anytime one gets finished"

JE: "When you 'sprint' on a horse in DAI it doesn't really do much because frostbite couldn't stream in levels fast enough, so we just added speed lines and changed the camera so it felt faster. JE: "i've carried the guilt of this for years. guilt is an ocean, and i'm tired of drowning." "feels like I just murdered Santa Claus in front of many of you" [source], "feels like i just declassified Area 51" [source]. "i'm just glad the truth is finally out there" [source] Seb Hanlon: "ME1 did it first" JE: "just to be SUPER clear, riding a horse is faster than being on-foot, but the difference between normal horse run and horse 'sprint' is non-existent except for making it look faster". "the base horse speed is faster than unhorsed run speed, but horse sprint doesn’t move you faster than normal horse speed" [source] JE: "there were three days on that project where my entire job was ‘try to make horse sprint feel faster’" User: "I swear to god John I knew it, I fucking knew it, none of the mounts have different speeds, either?" JE: "i actually don't know the answer to that one, i just set up the gameplay cameras and did what what i was told." Seb: "but they have different sounds /screams in Red Hart" JE: "no one believed that's what a Red Hart really sounds like but they are fucked up animals."

Seb: "The save system in DAI loads with all doors in the area closed. This is a problem if there’s a door between you and a party member when the save happens, because they can’t open doors. If they can’t path to you, they get teleported to join you before the fade-up from black." Seb: "This “system” was rigged entirely in Frostbite Schematic logic quite late in development once we realized it was a problem." JE: "i vaguely remember that the first time we really saw this problem was when we were putting together the Redcliffe demo for... whatever event we showed Redcliffe at." Seb: "Yeah I think that was the map I tested the teleport-fallback in. Dorian was there in those saves for sure?" JE: "yeah 100%. it was when you first end up in the future and you're fighting your way to the locked-up followers. i think we were playing it in Hanged Man or Neverwinter and we discovered 'oh shit our followers can't get to you'"

Seb: "Zither’s first-pass ability icons originally echoed a broad swath of iconic album art. The UI art team made me so happy. Why didn’t it ship? Ain’t nobody chasing down those IP clearances for an April Fools DLC."

JE: "in DA2 Mark of the Assassin, if you let Baron Arlange live after the first encounter with him, he shows up very deep in the background of several scenes, creeping on Hawke and the party around stalagmites and around corners." "no one asked for this but i put it in as a little treat because i thought it was very funny. i still do. oh the scene where you get captured in the vault by Prosper and his guards, that's the same 5 (6?) guards just cycled through multiple times." [source, two]

JE: "i've told this story before but the reason Iron Bull's romance scene takes place in a separate tower is because the mocap for everyone walking in on you assumed that there was a doorway, and the player's bedroom ended up having stairs. so we moved the scene to the Sex Tower"

Seb: "DAI: To enable party followers’ AI to use their defensive abilities (dodge/block/parries), enemies spawn a “telegraph volume” as part of their ability wind-ups. This tells the party AI what kind of reaction it can use to counter (if it’s not on cooldown and it can branch in time)." "“Parry” telegraphs are the ‘weakest’ (can activate block, dodge, or parry abilities); “dodge” telegraphs are the ‘strongest’ (dodge or get fucked). There’s an all-abilities AI cooldown on these responses; before this was added, I saw Cass perfect block for minutes at a time." [source]

Seb: "the Qunari Ashaad in Trespasser is the only combat creature I personally implemented; and the only one intentionally plays both ranged and melee. and it was great fun watching play-testers climb a ladder to close and shut down his range attack—and get kicked off by the sweep"

Seb: "I’m still personally pleased that the Red Templar faction in DAI has such a strong overarching principle: “power corrupts”. The more elite the creature, the less human they are."

Seb: "Both the Children in DAO Awakening and the Harvester in DAO hide their extra body parts *inside* their torso mesh before they appear."

Seb: "Varric in DA2 is the most specialest snowflake; he’s not like any other dwarf because his rig includes all the Bianca animation bones."

Seb: "DAI’s Emerald Graves was the map where we hammered out the conceptual balance of using abilities based on the enemy composition and position."

Seb: "There’s an animation-driven movement mode in DAI that’s only used by a handful of large creatures; the dragon and the Red Templar Behemoth are the ones I remember."

Seb: "“making two combat creatures at melee range face, and not slide past, each other when they’re playing attack animations” took a surprising amount of problem solving on DAI; most of the basic-attack animations have both moving and standing variations for this reason."

Seb: "30 seconds of good combat gameplay takes more-or-less the same development effort as 10 minutes of good combat gameplay. Which is more than you’d think. IYKYK."

Seb: "The original concept for the Grand Fear Demon at the end of DAI’s Fade was a “level boss” - instead of a single big combat creature (like a dragon), the idea was it was so big it would attack out of the darkness with “limbs” (creatures) that shared a health pool. Cut for scope."

Seb: "The core combat ability animation/effects/branching system in DAI is called “CSM”, for “combat state machine”. It’s the third generation spiritual successor to the first system called CSM that I worked on, built for a project called Revolver…"

Seb: "The “impassable” purple fire zones in Trespasser were a tremendous pain in the ass, because both: - making them do enough damage fast enough to be a lock-and-key for invincibility powers as intended - keeping party members from following you in and getting bug-zappered" User: "I hate to tell you this but my first time through, I was determined to get through and I did not know that invincibility powers were literally down the stairs so I spent 10 minutes and eventually managed to get through with some mage shenanigans" Seb: "by the time we got to trespasser there were so many abilities you MIGHT have that MIGHT JUST get you through that we gave it our best shot and said “good enough”" User: "I died at that thing SO MANY TIMES until I realized there was an invincibility boost, lol" Seb: "clearly signaling “THIS IS A THING YOU WILL DO LATER” without saying it, especially if it’s a mechanical systems thing, can be surprisingly difficult"

Seb: "during development on DAI someone made a staff that, when used (hit the ground with the butt animation) spawned a bunch of nugs that ran off in all directions. for checking pathmesh bounds, obvs"

[bearlytolerant]

9, 16, 19 for DA4 ask!

Thank you for these asks! I finally sat down to get them answered.

9. Which romance, if any, do you plan to pursue first?

Solas with my lavellan. I kid…unless.

Then Varric. I kid…u n l e s s.

The real answer is I’m torn. Everyone looks lovely! But I’m going to need to get to know them better in game before I can actually make any decision on who I’m romancing first. Unlike prior games, everyone I’ve seen in the new game is starting on the same level (even though I’ve got some snippets of chars from writing but I need more to go on).

16. What's one crack theory you subscribe to (yours or someone else's)

I don’t know. Probably none. Even my own I’m not fully subscribed to. A boring answer I know but I’ve got nothing. I’m just hoping we get some solid answers in the next game but it’s dragon age so—I expect I’ll get 12 more questions for every 1 I get an answer to.

21. Are you planning to replay any of the previous games, watch Dragon Age: Absolution, or read any of the books/comics/short stories, or are there other games you want to play in the meantime?

Yes! I booted up a new playthrough of da2 and Inquisition already. I have 3 of the comics to finish and I’m also working through Tevinter Nights again currently. I won’t read any of the other books though. Will probably watch absolution again too because I’ve only seen it once so I feel like a second time I’ll be able to glean details I missed prior from the show.

I’ve included vacation photos that Cole took of Sarya in the Elvhen ruins:

[pikapeppa]

Hi!

Just finished re-reading Desert Blooms and Western Wind, and gearing up for Becoming Whole and wanted to remind you how awesome you are!

But my actual point, I stumbled across you during my AloyxDrakka phase and then you managed to suck me right in to Kotaloy…

And then I got in to BG3, which you were right behind with Kiss me on the Mouth & Someone Great. And I have to confess I wasn’t all too keen on exploring a Halsin ship, let alone a HalsinxAstarionxTav ship but you’ve sucked me right in to that too…

And while my brain festered away on Rolan, I stumbled across Catskarky’s Mass Effect comics which preemptively started my GarrusxShepard phase (and forced me out to buy the trilogy which I’m now just concluding). And so anyway, that got me thinking and I vaguely recalled that I’d seen you had previously dabbled in the ME fanfic space and I was right, and I’ve come to this conclusion:

You are the ultimate source of good games and great ships (ignoring your unfortunate Shakarian oversight lol). So please, please share your wisdom! Recommend anything and everything. I literally value no one’s opinion more in this!

HAHAHA OKAY BUT this made me laugh, both with delight that you've enjoyed so many of my beloved ships -- but also because Shakarian is my OG ship. Garrus Vakarian is my first-ever OG videogame boyfriend LMAOOO. The reason I haven't written any significant fic for him is that my Shepard picks the control ending, meaning that she sacrifices herself to save the geth and EDI and thus she essentially "dies" and leaves beloved Garrus alone... and I could never write that. I can write angsty-ending ships, but I just don't have the heart to write a ship where one member of the pairing literally dies. (And no, I've never considered doing a non-canon workaround because I really like the control ending as it is, which may be an unpopular opinion, but I'm sticking to it!)

I have written one (1) Shakarian oneshot, though!! It was shortly after MELE came out and one of my BFFs got into Shakarian, so I wanted to see if I could bring myself to write them, but this oneshot is as far as I got, sadly 😭❤

(more below the cut!)

As for other game recommendations: off the top of my head, Dragon Age and the Witcher come to mind -- specifically Dragon Age: Inquisition and The Witcher 3, which are both the third installments of their respective series. DA:I has historically been the greatest source of fic inspiration for me, and my Geralt/Reader series might actually be my favourite body of work. You can play both of these games without having played the previous two games -- this is what I did, and both games are among my top 5 favourites!

To prepare for playing these games, beloved friends had recommended some primer articles for me, which basically just introduce you to the lore and the worldstate so you can jump in. Those articles are here, if you decide to check out these games:

The Witcher worldstate for dummies

The Dragon age worldstate for dummies

As for the rest of the Witcher and Dragon Age games: I can't speak for The Witcher 1 and 2, since I haven't played them, sadly! I played the first Dragon Age game (Origins) once, and I... struggled a lot because the gameplay shows its age now. I'M SORRY TO EVERYONE WHO SWEARS BY IT, but I just didn't enjoy playing all of it. The storytelling is good and the companions are a treat, but I wouldn't be able to play it a second time.

I loved Dragon Age 2, and I adore the companion dynamics in DA2 even moreso than in Inquisition, but I actually have only played DA2 one and a half times, mainly because the gameplay is also dated now. It's definitely playable though, certainly moreso than DA:O in my humble opinion, so I would recommend it! And I will say this for DA2: Fenris is the canon romance that I fell the hardest for and have written the most for, of all my videogame LIs. Take that to mean what you will. 🤣

If you like anime, my top two favourite animes are ones that I've also written for: Samurai Champloo (which would be considered retro now 😭💀) and Cyberpunk: Edgerunners. Both of these anime made me cry for very different reasons, and I highly recommend them! You also don't need to have played Cyberpunk 2077 in order to follow and enjoy Edgerunners (I haven't played it), so don't worry about that!

In terms of other recommendations, you can check out my writing masterpost, which lists all the fandoms I've written for and the ships within them. This could help you decide on what you want to play (or watch) next! ❤

If you want any more recommendations (movies, shows, books etc), feel free to hit me up with another ask or a DM! NOT THAT I CONSIDER MYSELF ANY KIND OF AUTHORITY ON ANYTHING LMAOOOO, I'M JUST A POTATO SMUT WRITER, I swear I'd only offer this if someone asked first 🤣🤣🤣

Enjoy!!! And THANK YOU GENUINELY for the praise!! You don't know how much it thrill me when people tell me that they got started with one of my ships and trusted me enough to try ones that they'd not considered before. It means the world! 😭❤❤❤

-- much love from your friendly neighbourhood Pika! xoxo

[dragonagecompanions]

Just wanted to say, I used to read these asks back when I only ever played DAI, but I very recently just finished DAO and DA2 for the first time and just went on an absolute binge through your masterlist, spent a good few hours scrolling through your stuff and others

Just wanted to say you're really really good and reading all those requests was super fun, I'll probably read some of them again to be honest

Anyway, you're super cool, have a good day

[hoppinkiss]

we came to the realization recently that us liking Anders was the first domino to fall for us to like Ilberd (which is beautiful) which is so funny cause Anders was actually our third pick of da2 romance and then we dropped them all for him. anyway we were going somewhere with it and its that our Hawke we use as a self-insert and Varric are besties forever and we just wanted to tell u that u having Varric as a romantic f/o makes us happy cause that dwarf deserves to be happy we just ranted in true adhd fashion. also what do u think about him having dark hair in the new trailer instead of his normal hair color? what we think is that modders with fix that in record time cause we saw people complain but we think he looks neat either way :>

aww yayy I'm glad <3 he DOES deserve to be happy and that's why he gets to date TWO of my s/is over the course of the games ksfhskf

as for his hair, I was a little huffy about it at first bc it's such a stark change, my strawberry blonde babe will be missed 😔 I was hoping for gray + somewhere in the range of light to medium reddish brown. maybe an overall duller color but still more similar to the previous game

I'm warming up to it a little though because when I was talking to my mom about the gameplay reveal she said it's realistic bc she had a similar change (though I think she went brown a lot younger than varric did lol). It's nice imagining being there for the gradual process, maybe joining him at the mirror when he's fussing over a new gray hair or the color shifting ever so slightly, petting him and braiding a section, flirting with him and telling him not to worry

he is undeniably still a gorgeous gorgeous man tho so I forgive him for changing his hair <3 /j

I was so red when I finished watching the gameplay reveal, he's SO pretty and I missed his voice so much I'm so excited to see my dwarf again 💕💕💕

[carrinth]

Whelp I've done it. Just finished Witch Hunt which now marks the end of my Dragon: Age Origins run. 10/10 would recommend. Especially Awakening and Witch Hunt DLC.

And y'know what? Witch Hunt was worth it for this moment. A fitting end for my Warden. Reunited with his love (and baby mama) and peaces out of work and responsibilities via magic mirror. Just look at that face. I think this is honestly the first time I've seen my Warden-Commander smile in a LONG time. Poor guy.

Minor DA2 rant below cut;

Actually I finished it awhile ago but had been procrastinating by replaying Awakening.

Because uggghhhhhh... I don't want to play DA2.

Don't get me wrong, I'm sure I'll grow to love Hawke again but right now my mood is just... meh. Replaying Origins and all its DLCs just made the differences in quality and content between the two all the more jarring. Aaaand on a more personal level -- I don't want to stop being a Grey Warden. ಥ_ಥ

For the last near 150 hours, I was sold on being a Grey Warden. In fact, I think my best fun was Awakening where I actually got to BE a Grey Warden doing Grey Warden things WITH OTHER GREY WARDENS. We ALL drank the nasty juice! It was a bonding experience! This game spent so much time building up the lore and excitement of being a Grey Warden -- leaving so many unanswered questions about the Taint, the Blight, what it all means, dO wE GET griFFONs -- only to just... drop it all in DA2.

I'm just so confused by the direction DA2 went. Replaying Origins with the knowledge of the upcoming mage/templar plot in DA2, the conflict in Origins felt... minor. Sure we get hints here and there that things are Kinda Bad. But nothing major. Heck, I played a Circle Mage as my Origin and I never felt that 'Oh wow, mage rebellion should totally be Main Focus of the next game!' Like don't get me wrong, mage/templar conflict is 😌👌but the Darkspawn and Grey Wardens was what set Dragon Age apart from other fantasy.

"Well the Blight's over Carrinth, there's no more story to tell about Grey Wardens" you say. And yet, Awakening did a fantastic job of making an entire campaign post-Blight.

Part of me feels like if they didn't want to keep the Main Character the same (ala Mass Effect with Cmdr Shepard) then couldn't they have still made the DA2 MC a grey warden? Like a junior(?) Warden that's investigating Corypheus or whatever in Kirkwall but gets caught in the mage/templar mess. Sure we would have gotten a very different story but would that have been so bad?

In the end, I will likely end up playing DA2, if only for the excellent companions and to reunite with my Sad Mage and Angry Spirit Husbands. But at the moment... *sigh*

So goodbye Marzel Amell. You were the best Warden-Commander and I had fun throwing Storm of the Century on fools, flexing my maxed out Coercion, and painstakingly working out TACTICS. I will probably still keep stubbornly drawing Awakening fanart (because I am Not Normal about those idiots) but DA2 stuff will likely eventually bleed in. ༼ つ ◕_◕ ༽つ

Farewell Marzel and go live gloriously in mirror land with ur spider lady and kid.

[theluckywizard]

2023 Writing Recap

Thanks for the tag @nirikeehan

(apparently I'm just going to do tumblr tag games for NYE! but this is a good one sooooo). It is hard to believe I just started writing Fanfic in January because weeeeee it has been a year!

Tagging @warpedlegacy, @crackinglamb, @leggywillow, @delicatefade, @melisusthewee, @spicywarl0ck, @skyeventide, @ammoniteflesh, @wildercrow, @rowanisawriter

words posted: probably about 370,000

additional words written: 140,000

grand total of words: 510,000

fandoms:

Dragon Age!

highest kudos:

My Cullen x Trevelyan and m!Hawke x Trevelyan longfic WIP In the Shattering of Things with 121

highest hit oneshot:

My Alistair x Cousland first time smut The Boy Who Talked too Much with 752 hits and 63 kudos

new things I tried:

Writing fanfiction 😂 Yeeting canon, being horrible to my blorbos

fic I spent the most time on:

In the Shattering of Things, if it isn't obvious!

fic I spent the least time on:

Probably my WIP Nightmare!AU A Splinter of Light which I really want to dig into, but I felt it pulling me from Longfic so I stopped (the premise is Rose and Dorian never return from the corrupted future and get scooped up by Hawke and his DA2 crew (Bethany, Fenris, Merrell, Anders, Elegant).

favorite thing I wrote:

Ohhh so this is probably my WIP Kiss Me Moonstruck, my matchmakingmoms!AU in which old friends Leandra Hawke and Alsatia Trevelyan try to fix up their two incorrigible children Garrett and Rose over Satinalia at the start of DA:2, Act 2. One of the reasons I am so into it is because it's new and I get to fold in alllll the lessons learned so far this year, but also because it's a self-contained romantic comedy/adventure romp with a lot of class commentary. If I'd thought of it first it would have served as a heck of a backstory for an Inquisition long fic. 👀

favorite thing(s) I read:

Weather the Dawn by @skyeventide - Breathtakingly beautiful portrayal of the friendship between Sebastian Vael and Nathaniel Howe. Archery descriptions that will give you chills. Deftly handled politics. Sky has such an incredible way of describing things that is just achingly original and beautiful. 🏹

The Rise by @warpedlegacywrites - This Cullevelyan fic is the reason I started writing fan fic! It was the first long fic I read that really grabbed me by the throat and held me! The delicious crunch and angst, the ROMANCE. It is so beautifully written. And BECandCall/WarpedLegacy and this fic is the reason I even found the fan fic writing community. 🥰

A Little Grace; And Some Elegance by @nirikeehan is a GUT PUNCHING work exploring Cullen's addiction and his history with Raleigh Samson. Her character work is amazing and her respectful but *brutal* grappling with lyrium addiction feels so authentic. And honestly, any of Niri's Cullen and Samson in Kirkwall stuff! Check out the stuff in her Kirkwall Kops (LOL). I use them as background research!

writing goals for 2024:

KEEP GROWING AS A WRITER. Keep plugging at long fic (maybe finish!?), finish and release Kiss Me Moonstruck, do the DAFF OC / OC exchange

new works:

LOLOL the last new work that isn't a companion fic to the longfic or the longfic itself is my Kinktober spanking (yes, really) one shot Proper Provocation. I spent a long time trying to figure out how to reasonably get Cullen to spank my OC Rose and I think getting them bickering and turning it into a playful spank fight was the way to go. THIS IS NOT HIGHLY POLISHED but it is silly and fun and smuttish and I yeeted it onto AO3. Please enjoy my new work 😂

Template under the cut!

words posted:

additional words written:

grand total of words:

fandoms:

highest kudos:

highest hit oneshot:

new things I tried:

fic I spent the most time on:

fic I spent the least time on:

favorite thing I wrote:

favorite thing(s) I read:

writing goals for 2024:

new works:

[greypetrel]

✨Self-Rec Tag Game ✨

Thank you very much @shivunin! ✨✨✨

Rules: Share five of your own fanworks (fic, art, etc.). Then, tag five more people to share the things they've made. e.g.: 1. Something you absolutely adore 2. Something that was challenging to create 3. Something that makes you laugh (or smile, if that fits more comfortably) 4. Something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.) 5. Something you want other people to see

Soooo... I'm actually one of those people who can't just tell you ONE favourite thing. If you ask me about my favourite movie, I'll shorten the list to ten and will cry because I left something I love outside. Oops, I guess.

And I also really love colour coordination. 🌈

1. Something I absolutely adore.

I don't absolutely adore any of my works ahahahahahahah.

Beside some self-deprecation, I'm still very please with this fanart of Aisling and Dorian looking outside the window.

I know you don't appreciate much Crossovers, Mo and way too many people around, but the chance to put together two things I love... I would never tackle fanfiction if I didn't have something mine to put it (that's why I started writing fic with Dragon Age, which is based on the "Create your own character" basic), so this was my chance at tackling Tolkien lore which I absolutely adore and has been part of my life ever since I was a little bean.

There's also a fic which is basically LOTR... But with Dragon Age Characters (taking advantage of the fact that in the book nothing much is seen of Mordor... I slipped everyone there and I promise it makes more sense x°D)

2. Something that was challenging to create

Everything concerning Raina, which you can now find in this convenient folder I'll fill little by little on AO3.

I... Accidentally tackled too many things that strikes close to home with her, and writing her is basically something similar to a therapy session. The current thing I'm working on is proving difficult.

But I'll say this official portrait of her, just for the fact that I tried a new way of colouring (thanks to @ndostairlyrium forever and ever for the tips and tricks) and everything was new and challenging. The amount of times I cursed myself for putting a background! xD

3. Something that makes you laugh

You see, Mo, I am very unable to choose just one thing. If you ask me what's my favourite movie, I can shorten my list to 10. I'll give you three.

The Bi Cullen series. I should do another one, I just have to finish it, but this is close to my heart. Because bi panic and science bros.

This little exploration in the Mythal Temple, full with very necessary Indiana Jones and Emperor's New Groove quotes.

And last but not least, the one and only Haunting Queen, Doris the Rage Demon who lives in Cullen and Aisling's stove and is deeply in love with Cullen... And also very jealous. It's jealousy, it's not Aisling that doesn't know how to cook.

4. Something that surprised you (in how it turned out, how much other people liked it, etc.)

Ok, for this I have 2:

Home Was Never on the Ground aka the Monster fic. It's my first attempt at fanfiction and the first prose I had written in YEARS. I thought of an anthology of moments missed in game, or expansions of scenes I liked. I am honestly surprised by the amount of hits it got and even if I see flaws, I like my baby.

One for the Road. Aka. Fenris/Lavellan 2 chapter fic. I wrote it as a divertissement, it ended up to be extra angsty... And I sincerely thought I had totally misinterpreted Fenris here. I remember being so nervous when posting it that I actually considered keeping it for myself. And instead, it was received well?

5. Something you want other people to see

On this I'm more sure! (well.)

My little joy is the DadWolf AU which you can find here. Basically, a Modern AU following the events of DA2 and Inquisition... With something changed.

Namely, Solas woke up 30 years before, and he and Varric were roommates. And they co-parent my Inquisitor, Aisling, and Dorian who are actually science bros. It's something that brings me joy in doing, there's nothing written as per yet save some prompts but it will be!

Also one fanart I'm very very attached to is this one which was done in collaboration with @ndostairlyrium (I drew it, she coloured it), and which now guards me from my wall when I work in my studio.

In case you all were still wondering yes, I'm wordy. I know it's a surprise.

I reckon that I forgot to tag, OOPS. @rosella-writes @oxygenforthewicked @cullenvhenan @cao-the-dreamer @transprincecaspian and for the rest I think everyone was already tagged...? Send me a word if you were not and would like to!

[knife-eared-jan]

OK, I’ve finally had time to read The Missing #4 and I have THOUGHTS!

Thought #1 - Varric is Duncan 2.0: Varric made it through the comics unscathed and without a decision to quit active fighting, but being clearly shown to be getting slow and weary of it all etc etc, like that was basically his entire role in these comics, to give off a “too old for this shit” vibe. I therefore have a sneaking suspicion that Varric is going to essentially be Duncan in DA:Dreadwolf. He will recruit the hero and be shown as a beloved mentor, especially for Harding, tasked with a mission too important to fail. And then, at the end of the Prologue, he will die. That’s when Harding will take up Bianca in his name, as we can clearly see in promo images (@mrs-gauche makes an extremely compelling case for this being Harding):

And she will get a whole arc about grieving for Varric, like Alistair had. The protagonist will get to have something to show the stakes in this and a hook to continue what Varric started but couldn’t finish + to get justice for Varric. It’s a classic story telling device for an inciting incidence, and Bioware already used it successfully when they wrote the battle of Ostagar!

We know the devs have tried to kill of Varric twice before and I feel like they will finally want to nail the bastard (affectionate). And Harding kinda needs a bit more character background and driving motivations tbh. Like, she is absolutely lovely, but she is mostly a blank slate in Inquisition, fresh from her parents’ home and just looking for adventure and meaning. That was really refreshing in DAI when all your companions were Important People(TM) and it felt really nice to just talk to a normal person for once, that wasn’t jaded by it all. To be full companion, however, it makes sense to give her some trauma to work through in her personal story, to allow her to have character growth.

And of course, as others have pointed out before, they would never kill of a character as beloved as Varric in a tie-in comic. That was to be expected. But if the comic had ended with him deciding it’s time to leave it to the next generation or something like that “Right I’m getting too old for this, I’m out” kind of thing, I would have thought they’ll make him an advisor. Since he doesn’t hint at anything like that at all, I’m back on team “Varric will die”. I think all these points to show him getting slow and weary serve as lead up to his death at the end of the first phase of the game.

Edit: oh and I can totally see him narrate the whole game again, like Duncan did in DAO, and like Varric does in the trailer already. People will think he’s safe, like in DA2, and then BOOM.

[s1ithers]

finished da:o at last. thinking about my assortment of half-developed warden ocs who never quite gelled the way hawke did and i feel like it's partly that i never hit on a sequence of endgame choices that really felt like a payoff. da:o is a such a great build-your-own-blorbo kit, you get such juicy character concepts out of the origin choice & reactivity but i'd always get an oc to mid-late game and feel like they were a bit dressed up with nowhere to go bc the ending just doesn't... really cap their arc in a way that feels satisfying

there's some good crunchy episodic drama contained within the treaty quests but in terms of the overall structure, the warden hits their lowest point at the beginning and you spend the game powering up until you win, pretty straightforwardly depending on your choices. like yeah the dark ritual is edgy sexist bullshit but you need it, you need something there.

like the first 2/3 are a great arc. hero leaves home in exile, goes around finding friends & adventure, returns home changed by said adventures, confronts their past, wrenching emotional ordeal etc, moves on as their new actualized self to take on the big bad. which is great except everything pretty much comes up warden from there on out. you need some kind of climax crunch to test that actualized self, another pain point at the end

which they tried to do, it just falls a bit flat for me. i've heard the 'grey warden must die' twist criticized as feeling sprung out of nowhere but i don't mind that so much. between the whole 'in death, sacrifice' thing, duncan & jory, sophia dryden, etc, i think it's pretty well set up that this is an organization with dark secrets that their two bumbling junior recruits know way too little about. i do think it's a bit stock. 'will you die to save the world?' just isn't that interesting, there's a plain right answer both ethics & genre are pointing you to, which more importantly is not really tied to your character at all.

like say what you will about da2 but the ending pays the hell off bc it forces hawke to show who they are. a person could justify making either decision, so who your hawke is matters. every bit of character development is leading up to how they'll jump in that moment

and then after dropping the warden sacrifice on you, dao immediately offers you an escape hatch, which, unless your warden is really fussed about blood magic or whatever, of course you're gonna take. structurally i think this decision is leeched of a lot of potential by the fact that both options are coming as new information.

new guy we just met: wait! there's a problem! morrigan: don't worry i fixed it! okay! on we go then! thanks morrigan

(could've been cool if alistair knew a warden had to die from the start, so you're struggling to go on with this journey, knowing how it ends, really get some time to stew on that before morrigan drops her bomb. the full relief of a stay of execution, plus 'you're only telling me this now?!' gives the warden a somewhat more sympathetic reason to feel betrayed than like, self-centered dickishness)

but more than that, the options the game gives you to object don't acknowledge what's really so awful about it. like you get 1) dark magic scary. part of a pattern in how i think this franchise tends to (mis)apply blood magic etc as a narrative device, but, like, good option to have for roleplay. 2) is oldgodbaby a bad idea? valid question but doesn't really go anywhere (and is more or less locked into being an anticlimax, can't be world-shaking as a choice-dependent outcome)

but like that post that was going around. what it means for morrigan is so wrenching. is it what she wants for herself or is she still acting out her mother's will? can the warden know, or believe they know? if they ask her to go through with it, are they complicit in flemeth's abuse? or are they overriding morrigan's agency if they refuse out of concern for her? how does your warden's origin & personality frame how they see this - what they're entitled to, what they owe, what they believe about duty & autonomy & respect, they're relationship with morrigan, & with magic, & their own impending death.

these people who are so young & so traumatized flailing around hurting each other in their good intentions. the dark ritual as this awful act of desperation & mixed motivations & regret that tears this hard-won friend group apart (especially if alistair is involved). saving the world as a good clean victory over evil in the grand scope, at the cost of this cataclysmic sacrifice on the personal level - so intimate, so devastating, so small. THAT'S drama.

[sarasa-cat]

Wow. The fight I had with EA on my gaming machine was not a fun one. Suddenly it just crapped out and made it look like Steam didn't know where my bioware games were. Anyhow. Probably solved after uninstalling, reinstalling, and updating the EA hell.

So, let's see. Finished differentiating between my Surana and Amell, got both of them full mapped out in DA Keep (and partly mapped out in the mega spreadsheet), generated end-game saves for both of them using the gibbed.savegenerator on PC. Got DA2 running my PC, created the appropriate Hawkes (mage Mari in lawful-scheming Neria Surana's world; warrior Vespertine in dumpsterfire chaos agent Keres Amell's world). Saved. Turned on the Steam Deck. Was able to access both of them and play a few minutes in on each. Whoo-HOO!

My two Hawkes are ready for yet another of many runs through that game.

Fwiw, not sure if I will ever fully replay Neria's game in DAO+DLCs because she's a competitionist character and that is a lot time. I do want to (re)play and finish Keres one of these days.

As for warrior Vespertine Hawke -- she's someone who has existed only on the sidelines while in fanfic that required a world state with Bethany alive. I have headcanon for her but have never gotten around to actually playing her game past the first couple of hours of game time. Haven't decided if I want to pre-map out her path through the quests or, alternative, just let things happen (knowing some of the rough guidelines already via existing headcanon).

SO. Given that I know the world that Neria+Mari live in (the History of Lies world), my Dragon Age Keep is all set for the Merrillquisition. May as well start there for DAI.

Meanwhile, DA2 is pretty quick to play so when I'm done with Vespertine's play through, I can make any final tweaks on my Keres+Vespertine canon in DA Keep and my epic spreadsheet before potentially replaying and completionist-finishing my Trevelyan mage (whom I initially played many years back, but left a lot of things unfinished). I really like my Trevelyan a lot and had meant to write fanfic for her but ... life. lol. Yeah.

So... all that is left is getting mods (re)installed on PC and installed (probably with a minor fight) on Steamdeck and all is good to go.

And other to do: Revive my DA sideblogs and make character pages, canon summaries, etc., because ... escapism. I need it. For reasons.

[anneapocalypse]

1, 2, 4, 8, 19 for the dav meme!

Veilguard Hype Ask Meme!

What was the first Dragon Age game you played?

Origins! I've been here since the beginning. Alongside Fallout 3, it was one of the first RPG video games that absolutely ate my brain. I have fond memories of sitting on my futon playing DAO for like 16 hours straight, forgetting to eat and destroying my back.

2. Which Dragon Age game is your favorite so far?

This is always such a hard question for me to answer, because the three games are all so different, and I have deeply fond memories of all three of them, and I can also look at all three pretty frankly and see their flaws even as I still enjoy them. I think if I have to name a favorite though, it's still Dragon Age 2. Something about its structure and scale, the creative and unusual use of place and time, and its themes, really appeals to me. I've also come to really like the personality lock-in feature even though it does place some limitations on role-playing, and I love the friendship-rivalry system. I love it so much. I think it makes for much more interesting character relationships than simply "Does this character approve or disapprove of my actions?" Are there things about the other games that I prefer, of course. I want to be able to play as an elf or a dwarf or a qunari, for one. But even after all this time, DA2 still hits me a certain way. I love the other two games as well. There's just something about Kirkwall.

4. What does your worldstate look like going into DAV?

So I have like five or six world states and I don't consider any one of them more canon than the others, but I will be going into Veilguard for the first time with Rogues Gallery, which is exactly what it sounds like (and which means the one thing I know about my Rook is they'll be a rogue), featuring Jolene Cousland, Mallory Hawke, and Calla Cadash.

Basic rundown:

The Circle was saved, Connor and Isolde both lived, Zathrian broke the curse, and Harrowmont is King of Orzammar.

Jo romanced Alistair and convinced him to do the Dark Ritual.

They stayed Grey Wardens and rode off into the sunset together.

Anora is Queen of Ferelden.

Nathaniel is alive.

The Architect was spared.

Vigil's Keep and Amaranthine were protected.

Jo went off alone to find a cure for the Calling, and Alistair was left in the Fade.

Carver is dead, Bethany is alive and a Grey Warden.

Mal romanced Isabela. (In my headcanon, they later become a polycule with Merrill but of course that's not in the game.)

She rivaled everyone except the rogues and Merrill.

Bartrand is dead. Varric kept a piece of the idol.

Aveline did not marry Donnic.

Feynriel went to the Dalish, and then to Tevinter.

Clan Sabrae was killed.

Merrill did not destroy the Eluvian.

Mal refused to take any kind of a stand until the very end of Act III where she heaved a big sigh and sided with the mages.

She disapproved of Anders' actions but spared his life.

Mal is still alive and kicking.

Calla romanced Josephine.

She conscripted the rebel mages and the Grey Wardens.

Alistair was left in the Fade.

I left off with her right before Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts, so I am not sure of her decisions from her onward! But I do plan to finish this playthrough before Veilguard comes out. :)

8. What faction are you most excited to learn more about?

I'm pretty hype about all of them, but I'd say the Lords of Fortune and the Veil Jumpers the most since we know the least about them!

19. Are you planning to replay any of the previous games, watch Dragon Age: Absolution, or read any of the books/comics/short stories, or are there other games you want to play in the meantime?

I do plan to finish my current playthrough of Inquisition (Calla's playthrough) which is still incomplete. Beyond that, maybe I'll re-read some of my favorite Tevinter Nights stories. I spent about three years (2020-2023) playing the whole series on repeat like 5-6 times and reading and watching all the side content I could get my hands on, so... I'm probably good on that front. ;)

Final Fantasy XIV is getting a new expansion, Dawntrail, in just a couple weeks, so that should occupy a good chunk of my summer, and I expect I'll be ready to play some more Dragon Age in the fall in preparation for Veilguard! (Would love to get an actual release date, though.)