#because of what amounts to a narrative glitch‚ and as such are now entitled to reparations for being robbed of their rightful happy endings

[olreid]

[ID: Ally (as Timothy): I don't know about you, but my life does get worse and worse as I die.

Brennan (as the Sea Witch): Is your life supposed to be good? end ID]

work.

[greenerteacups]

have a few questions for u! i loved your latest chapter, i believe it’s my favourite one to date together with the yule ball special :)

01. since u’re writing a (very intense) re-write of book 1 to 7 canon, how happy/sad were you about draco’s arc in the books and films? it always bugged me that him and the slytherins didn’t get to shine that much in both aspects, and that’s why we never really got to appreciate them a lot when the books and films came out. would love to hear your take on this!

02. not sure if this has been asked before, but what thing/s inspired you to write lionheart? i recall reading it was because of your love for to all the young dudes, but i’d love to hear you talk about this more

03. if j* r****** weren’t as awful a person as she was (and so terribly closed minded too) do you think there would have been a way for draco and hermione to be together in canon, or at least be some level of friends, if not together romantically?

04. i’m a narcissa black-malfoy apologist and stan, and can i just say, THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for writing her in such a beautiful and heartbreaking way. i cannot wait to see how you write her arc in books 5-7.

05. an absolute, absolute shot in the dark - but since friday’s last update was sort of a cliff hanger - would you be open to a double update or an earlier than usual update this week? we aren’t entitled to anything but i swear to you, i was biting my nails and at the edge of my seat fr the minute i ran to the friday update. draco and sirius’s conversation was too real and too beautiful i sobbed so much.

i love you!!! may the universe bless you with all the good karma (is my boyfriend, is a god, is the breeze in my hair on the weekend)!!!

hello! thank you for all the questions, wow!! will probably answer some in separate posts because tumblr usually censors my craft glitches out when i write long asks BUT

how happy/sad were you about draco’s arc in the books and films?

[looks at 400,000 words of AU fic about draco's arc] oh yeah i feel normal and care a regular amount about it

Man, it makes me sad. It makes me sad that almost all the Death Eaters are also children of Death Eaters, establishing this as a familial cycle of violence and hatred, and that's just... left to sit there in the narrative, implicating.

Draco’s arc in particular is a flat downward descent from schoolyard bully into a fascist death cult, and it’s bleak as fuck. like, if these books are written from Draco’s POV, it is some gruesome and deeply cynical stuff, guaranteed. which is a shame, because I think “reluctant and begrudging reformed villain” is an amazing character type that he could have fulfilled perfectly. doesn’t even have to go on tour with the Golden Trio, either; because I lost hope for Redemption Arc after the end of book 6, my ideal world going into book 7 was just having Draco stuck in Grimmauld Place, being bitchy and ill-tempered about the Order’s witness-protection equivalent, while the others treat him like a house-elf. “oh, yeah, that’s Draco, he used to bully us but now he has to ask us to buy the tea he likes at the grocer’s,” etc. I mean, full redemption would have been great, and by far the most rewarding for him/me personally as a reader, but I kind of figured by the end of HBP that it wasn’t in the cards. JKR writes characters in a particular way when she’s interested in them as people, and Draco was just never written with that level of attention or care. 

he’s not even given a particularly rewarding antagonist arc. he doesn’t follow through and kill Dumbledore, thus giving him something irrevocable and life-scarring to repent for; but neither does he join the Order (e.g., Disappearance), meaning his ultimate contribution to the war effort is just this listless, choiceless trend of enabling. he’s forced into the plot with the Vanishing Cabinet, but can't kill Dumbledore; he tries to hide Harry’s identity from Bellatrix in Book 7, but it doesn’t work; he tries to catch Harry in the Room of Requirement and fails, then has to be saved by Harry from fiendfyre his own incompetent sidekick conjured. cringe failson. it’s also hilarious put in contrast with this fanon we have of hypercompetent draco — it’s like we all saw him and were like god bless can we please get this man a skillset. jesus christ he is getting killed out here.

but anyway tbh I think the most character development we see from him in all 7 novels is when Hermione slaps the shit out of him in POA (call that spell of Shutting the Fuck Up the way he doesn't even try to retaliate). The bathroom scene in book 6 is huge, because it’s the first time we get a modicum of sympathy for him, but that’s not followed up on — we just sort of leave him with “yeah, that’s tough.” we don’t even know why the Malfoys go back to Voldemort, because by all accounts, they seem miserable. Lucius seems miserable even before he hits his Flop Era in book 6-7, but he’s also broadly miserable all the time when we see him (likely bc we only see him when he’s plotting/scheming/exploding in rage when Harry manages to yet again Scooby Doo one of his plots, but who knows). I think the seventh book subtly implies the Malfoys are so close with Voldemort because of Bellatrix, and [spoilers incoming] I myself lean heavily on that thread in later sequences in Lionheart, but in the books it’s up to the reader as to how much the Malfoys really believe in the Dark Lord versus just comply with his orders from fear.

[justanotherbusydrone]

So I've seen more than my fair share...

... of people saying that the flat Bethesda is catching regarding the 76 launch is unfair or unwarranted, or that people should just let the people who enjoy the game have fun. I'd like to address this, because I think there's a distinct disconnect in the points being made.

Perhaps counterintuitively, I'm going to address the last point first- if you enjoy the game, you absolutely should go on enjoying it. No one should yuck someone else's yum, and that's a fact. There is no way to defend telling someone they are "wrong" for enjoying a game.

The difference, however, is that one can enjoy a game while still recognizing technical and practical issues it has. Glazing over those issues and attempting to downplay them, or to dismiss the entirely legitimate criticisms based upon them, as simply "haters" does the entire games industry - and fallout/Bethesda fans in particular - a massive disservice.

The reason is simple, and goes into why the flakstorm that Bethesda is weathering is both entirely fair and entirely warranted. A massive, AAA industry company put out a product that is fundamentally broken. I won't go so far as to call it unplayable (that's subjective, though I will say it literally can become that for many people due to server bugs); but it is in such a state that it should truly be considered still in Beta.

Lack of NPCs, the multiplayer, the direction of storytelling method... These things are subjective and everyone will have their own opinions on them. However, things such as tying walking or projectile speed to framerate; or not removing the console access (and thus console commands) for PC users; or the myriad of minor performance inefficiencies that needed to be fixed with a series of patches within the first week that cause the game to take up *over 120+ gigs*? Not even mentioning things like no client side cheat detection, or the lack of encryption on data packets to and from servers (a massive cyber security issue). These are real, objective flaws. They are a level of oversight one expects to see in an indie team with very little experience or resources, not one of the biggest developers on the planet.

"But Bethesda games are always buggy! Don't you remember when ESV or FO4 came out? They were glitch-infested too!" Yes. They were. That's exactly the point. Bethesda has been getting- and is evidently continuing to get- a pass on producing incredibly weak products held aloft almost entirely by their modding community and the strength of their (admittedly, world class) writing team. When those two elements are removed, the building blocks of their monolithic endeavors are shown to be made not of stone but of cardboard.

Bethesda has, over the course of the last few years, started to get to the point of being so profitable off their products that are objectively inferior (technically speaking, not narratively or thematically) that they feel they can do no wrong. Look at the way they've responded to most of the issues regarding the launch- they've been just shy of outright *insulting* to many of their fans, especially those who shelled out the cash for the collector's edition.

Bethesda, with their release of 76 in the state that it was and their subsequent response to the community backlash, has almost literally told the gaming community that they do not care if the game is actually good; they care that you will buy it.

Now, as a die-hard capitalist, I don't actually have an issue with that conceptually. After all, to quote a game from another titanic developer, "is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?" The issue is that part of what makes a market function is voting with your dollar. If someone is doing something unethical, damaging, or simply inferior- money *should* go to other avenues that are producing content of either a higher quality or with better practices. And make no mistake, Bethesda deserves flak not just for the razor-sharp edges on their unpolished games but for their horrific industry practices too ; some of which border on outright dangerous to employee health.

So the issue isn't that people are enjoying 76. This isn't a case of "stop liking what I don't like." The issue is Bethesda knowingly put out a major release during the holiday leadup for full price, with an amount of technical issues usually seen only in indie games or mid-dev Beta builds, and then leaned back in their chair and all but said "It doesn't matter really; you're gonna give me your money anyway."

And people are defending their decision to do so.

This is a serious issue and a major, MAJOR slope for the health of the gaming hobby- down this path lies the Call of Duty and FIFA and Madden school of thought, where they openly admit they need to do very little on the game because sheer popularity and multiplayer will sell all the copies they need. And the company starting to walk down that path is one of the few that possesses the writing and narrative talent to make truly awe inspiring epic stories.

If you enjoy Bethesda's single payer content AT ALL, and like the way their writing staff and narrative teams handled the fallout or Elder Scrolls games so far, you ABSOLUTELY should be holding Bethesda to the fire over this. Because if you don't, the market trends will lead them to do this over, and over, and over again.

And if you don't believe that, take a step back and take a damn long look at the state of the gaming industry. And then think about how we got there.

[kirain]

Dear Dragon Age Community!

Let me start by saying that I don’t want to sound like an entitled gamer, but it's been confirmed that Dragon Age 4 is currently in production. That said, I want to send BioWare and EA a list of suggestions that I think most fans of the saga would like to see. If you agree with this list, please reblog with #Bioware, #EA, and #Dragon Age so hopefully both companies will see this post and take my suggestions to heart. Feel free to add your own suggestions as well. If you’re anything like me, Dragon Age is near and dear to your heart and you really want them to blow our minds with another epic sequel! Wardens, Champions, and Inquisitors unite!

1. Don’t rush it! I know hardcore gamers can be pretty intimidating, to the point that they nag and threaten and force you to release a game early– but don’t give in! Just know that they don’t represent the majority of us. Most of us would rather wait and for a glitch-less, well-rounded game, than a half-assed, heavily bugged disaster that’s barely tolerable to play. If it’s obvious that a lot of heart and soul went into the final product, we’ll stand by you and denounce the haters every step of the way.

2. Beta testing. Remember that consoles and PCs work differently. Please ensure that the game runs smoothly on all systems, not just one. I realise that PC gamers generate almost 50% of all sales, and that that number is only growing, but that doesn't mean console gamers should be forgotten. We're still diehard fans who simply can't afford a $2000 PC.

3. More kick-ass companions with one personal quest (or more) for each one. If there’s one thing we love about BioWare, it’s their colourful characters and awesome companion interactions. Please give these characters as much thought as possible. Each one should be someone’s pet project, because each one should have a unique personality. You nailed it in DAI and we hope to see that kind of dedication and creativity again!

4. Romance options. I understand that it’s hard to please everyone, but there should be several options for every orientation. Don't forget your target audience. I hate to say it but video games are mostly dominated by straight men, and in DAI straight men only had two choices-- Cassandra, who's a bit too brutish for most, and Josephine, who isn't even a main companion. In contrast, gay men only had two choices as well-- Dorian and Iron Bull. Straight women had more options than most, but one of their choices was a liar (Blackwall) and the other was a heartbreaker (Solas). And lesbian women got the shortest stick with Sera as their only option for romance. What I'm saying is, we need more variety. It might be a difficult feat, but we'll definitely appreciate it.

5. Story. Most gamers don’t even care about graphics or setting, so long as the story’s good. Please do your best to come up with a gripping narrative that we’ll love to follow. We also want to see a great conclusion to the cliff hanger DAI left us with. I think many of us are expecting Solas to be the main antagonist of Dragon Age 4, and it would be incredible to see how that plays out.

6. Story import. Please don't tell us we played through three games only for our choices to be stricken from the experience now. Please allow us to import our world state from DAI. You've done a fabulous job connecting the stories so far, and we're dying to continue it.

7. Don’t break our hearts. A little pain is fine. A little sorrow it fine. Audiences love being moved, but no one wants to finish a game and walk away feeling emotionally butchered. You can tug at our heartstrings, but please don’t shred it into a million pieces.

8. Speaking of broken hearts ... please tell us that Hawke is still alive if we chose to leave him/her in the Fade.

9. Throwbacks to the original games. You’ve done a great job with this so far, so all we ask is that you keep at it! It makes us feel all warm and fuzzy inside when we see characters from the old days, or find a fun little Easter egg. It’s very nostalgic and we need that. Enchantment!

10. Make our choices matter. Please. We want to see the impact of our choices and how they affect everyone and everything around us. We want to think before we act, not act with the knowledge that it won’t matter.

11. Allow us to save and import/export our character profiles. In DAI, it was rough having to recreate the same face if we lost/restarted a game.

12. Keep the same combat system! It literally kicks ass! The only thing I can recommended is more specials. Remember, there's no point in fixing something that isn't broken.

13. Continue to let us build and colour our armour/outfits. That was an awesome bonus that was a lot of fun for DAI players. It was a great way to let us express our individuality as players, and I for one spent hours finding the perfect armour for my character and companions.

14. Don’t experiment. Please. You nailed the graphics in DAI, and that’s all we could ever ask for.

15. Jumping! Jumping is important, and we’re so happy you included it in DAI! Please keep the jump feature!

16. Multiple voices for the main character. I understand that hiring voice actors is expensive, but if you’re able, I highly suggest you follow this pattern for Dragon Age 4. Having so many choices really made DAI go the extra mile for so many people.

17. Can we have a mabari, please? :)

18. The amount of side quests and locations to explore in DAI was absolutely stunning. There’s a reason DAI was awarded Game of the Year and considered a fan favourite, and this was one of them. I think most of us would be overjoyed to see the same variety of maps and quests available in Dragon Age 4.

19. Don't kill Varric. You can trick us into thinking he's dead for a while. Hell, you can even injure him, if you want. But don't kill him. That would be ... such a dick move.

20. Good character presets. Please give us decent templates. Something that we can mould into a character we can all be proud of. Please don't limit our options.

Again, these aren't demands, just suggestions. I personally won't send out death threats or burn down buildings if these suggestions aren't met. XD But as a long-time fan of Dragon Age ... I will be very hurt if BioWare doesn't listen to their fans on this. A lot of people are looking forward to Dragon Age 4, and we're ready to help you make it something that will be remembered for generations of games to come!

Ma serannas!