#so many questions and I will not open one of the bioware books to answer them

[elinaline]

So. The ancient elvhen gods were spirits from a time before the Veil existed, for some reason (elvhen infighting ? Or I'm mixing up my timelines and this happened long before the fall of Arlathan) Fen'harel convinced them to retreat to the Fade and close the Veil. Were the Tevinter gods a misinterpretation of them or something similar ? Because it seems Flemeth/Mythal wanted to recover that archdemon soul as if it was family. In the Fade they become fragmented ideals of themselves, that can reach across every so often to material life, just like the Avvar spirit gods do, and just like Cole/Compassion did. Is the Maker a similar powerful spirit of kindness and compassion, empowered even more by the good actions done in his name, just like we can see Nightmare in the Fade ? Was Andraste possessed somehow (another argument in favor of Andraste is a mage. Btw.). How did the creation of the Veil affect the Titans and the dwarves ? How can Flemeth jump bodies like an archdemon and can Morrigan do it now that she can shape shift in a dragon ? Can dragons truly be extinct if that is one of their innate powers like the control by Corypheus of a high dragon suggests ? And also what the fuck is it that Flemeth needed delivered to the High Marches Dalish in DA2 ffs

[couslie]

Alistair is not a ‘himbo’: discussion of the continuous mischaracterization of Alistair with disregard to his trauma.

Throughout the fandom, Alistair is seen as a ‘cheese-loving himbo,’ and his personality is narrowed down to these two factors. People often see him as stupid, to put it simply, and others see him as ‘annoying’ and ‘whiny’. However, Alistair is quite possibly one of the most in-depth and fleshed out character that BioWare has developed. He is not actually stupid, and he should not be labeled as ‘whiny’ or ‘annoying’ either. Under the cut is an in-depth perspective of Alistair, his trauma, and his personality. 

Disclaimer: this is not going to be a ‘callout’ post to the fandom in any way. It is simply a character analysis on Alistair and his coping mechanisms for his trauma and how it is often misperceived. Warning for length.

Firstly, what is a ‘himbo?’

A ‘himbo’ is described as “an attractive but stupid young man,” most commonly used in reference to Alistair in the Dragon Age fandom. While the jokes are funny, sometimes it is taken a little too far. I have seen many people truly believe that Alistair is dumb and incompetent, and honestly, at first I also believed so. Throughout Dragon Age Origins, numerous characters comment on Alistair’s intellect including himself. This is often misinterpreted that Alistair is indeed unintelligent since he says so himself, right? Not quite.

Trauma:

Anyone who has played Dragon Age Origins knows that Alistair is the secret bastard son of King Maric to a ‘serving-girl in Redcliffe’. Instead of being raised by King Maric, Alistair was hidden away with his half-brother’s uncle, Arl Eamon, in Redcliffe. Eventually, rumors floated around that Alistair was Arl Eamon’s son, a rumor that Arl Eamon’s wife believed. Consequently, Alistair was sent to a Chantry monastery to begin training as a Templar around the age of ten; ten years later being ‘saved’ by Warden Commander Duncan and conscripted into the Grey Wardens. This is the biggest subplot in DAO, and other than the Blight looming over Fereldan/Thedas, is a main point in DAO’s storyline. 

This alone sounds absolutely awful for a child to have to go through. But it gets much, much worse for Alistair. Traveling though Fereldan with Alistair and talking with him gets him to open up a little about what his childhood was like. Most of it is shrouded in humor; however, he lets some truth shine through.

From this we can confer that Alistair did not have an ideal childhood living with the Arl in Redcliffe. Especially since when the Arl would visit Denerim, Alistair would sleep with the hounds. Not only is it hinted that Alistair suffered child neglect, it is also hinted that he may have suffered verbal abuse. As Arl Eamon was one of the only people to know that Alistair was Maric’s bastard, the verbal abuse and belittlement most likely came from him. 

 Throughout Alistair’s life he felt uncared for, and was so ignored and neglected as a child that even grown up he feels invisible and unheard. 

So uncared for, that even the simple act of giving him a gift he acts as if he never had anyone ever give him anything (which is possible except for maybe a few times). 

Or, even just remembering that he mentioned something.

Or, even a simple compliment makes him feel unworthy.

No one would listen to him or what he wanted, and that is another main sub plot of DAO. Going to visit Goldanna, the player can choose whether or not to harden Alistair and basically tell him, “People only look out for themselves. It’s time you did, too.”

Alistair felt he was unloved, unwanted, and a general burden to his family (and especially felt this way after meeting Goldanna). The only person he felt may have loved him was his mother who he believed to be a serving-girl; a main reason he holds on to his mother’s amulet. She represents the only person in his life, up until Duncan, who he thought would have loved and be proud of him. 

Coping Mechanisms:

Now that Alistair’s trauma is laid-out, we can move on to how he copes with said trauma. Alistair uses humor as a defense mechanism to cope with his childhood traumas, and it is very common, especially self-deprecating and dark humor. According to G. Swaminath, “Freud postulated that humor [sic] works by means of two principal mechanisms, ‘condensation’ and ‘displacement’. Condensation entails an economy in thought and expression and conserves psychic energy, and displacement transfers this psychic energy arising from conflict or incongruity to a humorous anecdote, which brings relief. Freud believed that cultivating a sense of humor [sic] could help lift repressions (i.e. unconscious conflictual material) but could also be harmful, particularly in certain forms of sarcasm and irony, directed at the self.”

(source)

Most, if not all of Alistair’s humor, is directed at himself in a very self-deprecating manner. Whether to make the player feel better, to make himself seem unimportant, or because his self-esteem is truly that low.

For Alistair, appearing as an idiot was the easiest way to be under the radar. He never wanted to be King. He didn’t want people to treat him differently, either, for knowing that King Maric was his father. The best way to seem insignificant was to belittle himself and appear that he was an ‘idiotic nobody’.

On top of all this, the player can even callout Alistair for using humor as a defense mechanism and deflecting questions that he doesn’t really want to answer.

It’s not that Alistair is truly unintelligent or ‘whiny/annoying,’ he is using humor to cope and defend in the best way he knows how.

So, is Alistair actually intelligent?

Firstly, intelligence is hard to measure. One person’s definition of intelligence could vary wildly from another person’s. There’s also the perspective that intelligence can be categorized. For example, a person may be book-smart but not street-smart and vice-versa. Who is to say, however, that both are not equally as intelligent, but just in different categories? There is no basis for ‘intelligence.’ Everyone can be intelligent in their own way, and for Alistair, he is intelligent on history (specifically chantry), battle tactics, and knowing deception/people’s motives. 

(Alistair not being told what the dark ritual is for)

As @mahariel-theirin​ said: “Right from the start you can just tell Alistair is smart, and not just because of his wit. When the Warden asks him about the origin of darkspawn he says, “You want the Chantry version, or the truth?” When asked about the fight with the mage, he calls out the revered mother’s power play by using him as a messenger. Look at that insight. That awareness. And that’s just from the first 5 minutes of meeting him.”

End Notes:

Take out of this what you will. But Alistair is more of a ‘hunk’ than a ‘himbo,’ and shouldn’t be discredited. He was abused and neglected his whole life. I personally believe Alistair should be given more credit than he has been receiving, and BioWare for creating a character that is so in-depth and fleshed out they have deceived people in believing that Alistair is truly dumb. Which, ironically, is what Alistair wanted in-game. I am not in any way saying to quit joking about Alistair being a ‘himbo’ either! A lot of the jokes are quite funny. This was purely made out of the informational interest of some people not quite understanding Alistair’s character and truly believing he might be one of the most stupid people in Thedas (and potentially misunderstanding his humor/defense/coping mechanism as stupidity). If anything, Alistair is ‘himbo-passing’ at best.

Also, with special thanks to @planesofduality for their Dragon Age Compendium. It was tremendously useful, and I thank you for all the time and devotion you put in to it to make it possible. Many thanks! Also thanks to @sundogsandrainbows, @not-plaidweave​, and @irhinoceri​ for discussing this with me and encouraging me to make this meta.

[jackdawyt]

With no time to waste, we have a tremendous news update on Dragon Age 4’s current iteration known as “Morrison”, as many development secrets were revealed in BioWare’s brand-new hardcover book of “Stories and Secrets from 25 Years of Game Development.”

A lot of the questions that we’ve all been asking over the past few years, finally have an answer, all thanks to this book. I will be delving into all of the Dragon Age 4-related content in this book; however, I wholeheartedly advise you pick up the book for yourself because it is filled to the brim with insights, information and behind-the-scenes reveals on every BioWare game to this date.  

It’s full of so many captivating, inspiring and amazing stories that showcase BioWare’s incredible journey over the past 25 years.  

In any regard, we’ve got a lot to get into, so leaving no stone unturned, we’ve got some updates regarding Dragon Age: Morrison, the current-rebooted project code name of the next Dragon Age game.

Morrison:

Along with this amazing retro-styled font of Morrison’s code name - that I’m totally going to use in future videos and thumbnails - we actually have a small plot synopsis on this working title.  

It reads as followed: “Tevinter Bound – a sneak peek at the follow-up to Inquisition.”  

“As BioWare entered its twenty-fifth year, the Dragon Age team was hard at work on Morrison, the code name of the long-awaited follow-up to Dragon Age: Inquisition. The game, helmed by executive producer Mark Darrah, will take players to Tevinter as events of Inquisition and Trespasser threaten to forever change Thedas.”

We’re going to Tevinter! Of course, we already knew that based on Trespasser’s ending, Tevinter Nights, and the developers already hinting that, but it is still very nice to see hear that in a plot outline.  

In addition, the most interesting factor about this synopsis, is that for the first time BioWare have confirmed that “Morrison” is indeed the code name for the current Dragon Age project, which outrightly confirms that Jason Scheirer’s Kotaku article on “The Past & Present of Dragon Age 4” carries merit and truth to it, meaning that we can indeed trust the entire contents of Jason’s article.  

Regardless, sticking with the 80’s retro theme, BioWare staff have themed shirts for the project, and they look absolutely amazing. Please, BioWare Gear Store release these one day, if at all possible, these designs are so good!  

The book then goes on to show very familiar concept art that was showcased within the Gamescom behind-the-scenes trailer, however, this time, we have actual descriptions on each of the art pieces, and what they’re portraying. So, we don’t need to spend another 40 minutes speculating about what the pieces could show.  

The underwater shot which we assumed to be Isabela accompanied by what looks like Dorian with a sword, an undead and a female dwarf, appears to showcase the Lords of Fortune, a newly-introduced faction within Tevinter Nights. 

The synopsis says:  

“Where there’s treasure, there’s adventurers braving death to get it. The Lords of Fortune are always on the hunt for treasure-wherever it may be.”

The next shot, which I speculated it as Tevinter’s capital city Minrathous, has a synopsis that says:  

“The glittering hubs of Thedas are beacons of civilization and bulwarks against the night.”

Following that, we have the mysterious Antivan Crow lady concept art with the synopsis:  

“The Antivan Crows have perfected theatrical assassinations. The Antivan Crows are celebrated for their mastery of stylish slaying.”

And then we have a most recognisable mural, one that many of us have spent way too long staring at, tinfoiling over its endless possibilities. The synopsis of The Dread Wolf Rises concept piece says:  

“One of Nick Thornborrow’s beautiful paintings showing an old friend with a shadowy threat!”

Following that, we have Nevarra’s undead operating on a dragon, with the synopsis saying:  

“From their Necropolis, the Mourn Watch guard Thedas from occult threats”

And then we have – hold on, what’s this, a new piece of concept art? Roll on the tinfoil, I’ll read the synopsis first and then we can go from there, as it states:  

“The Deep Roads teem with evils both new and old, known and unknowable.”

I won’t spend ages delving into a single piece of concept art, but we can see the Deep Roads with plenty of light coming from the surface. It’s a beautiful shot, that I’m sure is building a mood for potential locations in the next game.  

The final concept art piece shown is one from the trailer, however, it’s not cut-off anymore. When it once looked like an evil Cetus, it now reveals something even more wicked than a sea dragon... A figure with multiple arms, red eyes, a curved headpiece, holding a spear. Is this an ancient God? Could it be Ghilan’nain? A Lovecraftian sea-hybrid-monster? Or is it just a crazy idea thrown together by a concept artist, because why not?  

The synopsis is the most intriguing and provides a further context for the next Dragon Age game:

“The Evil Gods have Thedas in their sights and only heroes can stop them. The shadows of the past stir, and new heroes must rise to fight them.”

There are many “gods” in Dragon Age, the Old Gods, the Elven Gods, the Maker, the Titans, etc. You could certainly consider each of them to be evil too, but on a whim, with the whole “shadows of the past stir.” I’m sure this synopsis is referring to the Elven Gods, given Solas’s scheme that will return the Evanuris to Thedas once more.  

Taking my tinfoil hat off for a moment, this book expertly describes concept art stages relating to BioWare, and I need to touch on what exactly these pieces could mean going forward, because they most certainly could just be conceptual drawings without much context for the next game.  

The book quotes Dragon Age 2’s development regarding concept art, saying:

“In the early stages of any project, before the concept artists are aware of any writing, they like to just draw what they think cool story moments could be. It’s not unusual for the team to then be inspired by those drawings and fold them into the game as the project progresses.”

And, even further than that, Matt Rhodes, who is the Art Director of the next Dragon Age spoke a few words regarding Dragon Age: Inquisition’s conceptual art stages:  

“As multiple teams worked on their corners of Inquisition, lead concept artist Matt Rhodes spent weeks creating images to help solidify and drive a vision of what the game could be.”

“It was partly to encourage and remind myself of what the potential of this project could be,” Matt says. “We all imagine the finished game. I wanted to get that on paper, to remind everyone we are making something that could be pretty cool.”

So, while we’re all so excited to see these amazing concept designs and imagery, and we love to correlate it all to the next game, remember that these designs are very early work building a vision for the next game, they’re just being used to represent what idealistically the developers would like the game to end up like, or what insane ideas the concept artists have for the game.  

Many of these ideas won’t turn out in the final product, but it’s still so nice to see this work already.  

Wolf Rook Book:  

Moving on, we can put an end to a five-year mystery, we finally have answers on that enigmatic red “Wolf-Rook" book that Mark Darrah has teased for half a decade.  

One of my first ever videos on this channel was delving into the early pages of this book, back then I had a hunch that this book was the next Dragon Age game’s early concepts and designs, like a shiny development doc for the team.  

And I was on the right tracks, as followed:  

“The book was an internal guide for developer and publisher eyes only that summarized the vision for Dragon Age: Inquisition’s follow-up, a project code-named Joplin. The Joplin project has since been revised to such an extent that its code name changed to Morrison, but the red book still contains plenty of ideas likely to appear in the next Dragon Age. While most pages remain highly classified, here are a few Mark said we can publish.”

There’s a small description of The Qunari with some other concept shots, the paragraph reads as followed:

“The Qunari are followers of a religious text of principles known as the Qun. Though Qunari may be of any race, most are part of a race of large humanoids with horns.”  

“For ages the Qunari have proven a formidable opponent to the rest of Thedas, almost conquering the continent until a united force of every Chantry nation pushed them back into a tense stalemate. Recent events have reignited the Qunari offensive, however, and their forces are in open conflict with the Tevinter Imperium, while their spies and agents are active in every nation.”  

And at the bottom we have a Creatures double-spread page with different concepts very similar to those seen in Inquisition, the paragraph reads as followed:

“Animals, monsters and misplaced magical experiments: creatures stir apart from the conflicts and machinations flowing across the continent. Creatures range from the lowly nug up to the ultimate apex predator, the dragon. The next Dragon Age will feature our widest and most varied set of creatures to date. While often quite simple in implementation, creatures provide variety through differentiated animation and appearance.”

So, “Wolf-Rook” is still relevant, somewhat confirming that the work that went into Joplin, may cross over into Morrison, which is very exciting because Joplin’s vision for a Dragon Age title sounded amazing, so to hear aspects of that work pouring into this new project is absolutely fabulous. I had a hunch that the red book was still valuable to the current project, because we’ve seen a lot of “Wolf-Rook” teased this year, Mark Darrah has not stopped showing off his stash of red books. So, I’m very glad it’s here to stay for the current iteration.  

Dragon Age Week:

Next up, we have an update to a story I talked about in March of this year, Mark Darrah teased a picture of his laptop with the BioWare Slack server shown at the bottom of his screen.

One of the channel-titles within the server was one by the name of “DA Week”, and thanks to this book, we know what “Dragon Age Week” actually is:  

“Dragon Age Week is a five-day period during which members of the Dragon Age team can pursue creative projects that in some way benefit Dragon Age. The work done during DA Week, and its erstwhile cousin DA Fridays, sometimes found its way into releases.”  

“The giants in Inquisition came out of a Dragon Age Week,” executive producer Mark Darrah says. “We also had a board game made that we were going to put into Inquisition, but we just didn’t have time to. It’s referenced. It’s a dwarven chess.”

So, I do wonder what kind of ideas have come out of Dragon Age Week recently that has then ended up in the next Dragon Age. Hopefully, one day we’ll have a new book that tells us Dragon Age 4’s secrets and we can visit this topic.  

New BioWare Vision:  

Moving on to the final major update, thanks to this book, we have a greater understanding about the vision BioWare have going forward. According to General Manager, Casey Hudson and Dragon Age, Narrative Director, John Epler.  

Casey Hudson spoke on the “old” BioWare and how their changing paths to a “newer” BioWare:  

“We can’t go back to where we’ve been,” Casey Hudson says, now the studio’s general manager. “The way that we worked, all of those stories and the crunch and eating pizza for six weeks straight and all that kind of stuff, as fun and memorable as it was at the time, those things won’t work for where we’re going.” 

As BioWare grows, Casey says it must learn better ways to work while still embodying the values laid out by Drs. Ray Muzyka and Greg Zeschuk.  

“It starts with the ones that were there at the very beginning with Greg and Ray of humility and integrity,” he says, “Those are super important.”

Other pillars include a passion for excellence and courageous creativity.  

“We used to exemplify this not because we were courageous, but because we didn’t know better. We would try things and fail and try something else until we got it right, and it was very experimental. But what can happen is, once you do know the consequences of failure, you can very easily start retreating. And at that point, it actually does take courage to put yourself out there and try something new.”  

Casey says. “We’re not super young and inexperienced anymore. We do know better, but we still have to try and do some crazy stuff anyway.”

John Epler shared on the change going on within BioWare:  

“I am excited for what the future holds. I think BioWare is changing. I think we’re at a crossroads where we can either accept that and move into the new BioWare, or we can try to cling to the past. We have to be respectful of our origins without being constrained by them. It’s an exciting time and I’m really looking forward to what the next five years brings.”

“’I’m one of those people who is probably going to be here until they have to literally wheel my desiccated corpse out of the building, because I love working here and I love the people I work with and I love getting to come into work every day to have long, detailed conversations about how eluvians work.”

All in all, I’m incredibly excited and optimistic for BioWare’s future, they’re aware of their flaws, while knowing what makes them great. They seek to humble themselves, while changing direction, they want to avoid crunch while being experimental. I think we’re going to see the company bloom when they inevitably release the next Dragon Age, and I am totally here for that.  

Dragon Age Day

Before I leave you, Dragon Age Day is quickly approaching, and it seems BioWare have plans this year. EA Community Manager, Jay Ingram tweeted about fans asking questions for the Dragon Age team, in prep for plans on Dragon Age Day. I’ll link the tweet down below, so you can ask as many questions as you’d like! It seems that BioWare may stream on Dragon Age Day, so do watch out for that, and give them a follow on their Twitch, also linked down below:

https://twitter.com/JayKingIngram/status/1325197450907275264

https://www.twitch.tv/bioware

Regardless, this is where we part ways. There was so much that this book uncovered, I highly recommended picking It up for yourself, it’s truly worth it to any BioWare fan. There was also some future Mass Effect stuff, but I’m saving that for a future video that I’ll do at the start of the new year. And I most likely will do future videos on other topics revealed in this book.  

[musingmycelium]

MMMMM gonna be THAT person and ask alllll the questions for the quizzy as companion meme for whomever you desire :D

:0! under a read more for obvious reasons ljlkjlkjlkjkj

1, 8, and 9 answered here

2. How would they meet the Inquisitor? depends on how they came to the inquisition! if he came with idrilla, and honestly that means linayel too, then he would meet the quizzy upon arrival to skyhold, having sent word of their visit beforehand [though not too far before]. if by himself he would just show up and request audience with them -making himself available as an agent.

3. What would some of their cutscenes look like?!! his haven cutscene -if triggered with appropriate approval- would be in the woods outside the main settlement, he’d take the quizzy out into the quiet snow and share some dalish mead with them and offer conversation if they would like it and silence if they don’t. at the end he’ll tell them they were looking overwhelmed and taking a step back to breathe always aides with that.a high approval quizzy can get a cutscene at skyhold in the garden: da’ean tending plants until he notices quizzy walking over, at which point he’ll ask if quizzy has ever tended plants before and will offer to show them what he’s been growing. 

4. What would their romance route look like? Would they be romancable?ever a quiet romantic da’ean is

5. If they romanced someone as Inquisitor, would they still fall for that person as a companion? How would that play out? How would they react to that person being romanced by the “new” Inquisitor?yes! so da’ean romances dorian and the iron bull in my canon, and depending on the quizzy he would romance an unromanced bull or dorian or both still. their relationship is pretty solid, though with da’ean as a companion there would be a few changes to their dynamic mostly in terms of da’ean doesn’t have to deal with the trauma of being quizzy lkjkljklj if either of them are romanced by the quizzy he’d approve so long as quizzy treats them well!

6. Write some of their party banter (in reaction to major events, scenery dialogue, or just shitting around. Askers can specify for which character/event, or leave it up to the writer).this honestly deserves a post of its own so like, i’ll do that.... later.....

7. What would be on their tombstone in the fade (what is their greatest fear)?da’ean’s tombstone read: Silenced and Forgotten

10. If Inquisition operated like DA:O, what would their gift items be? What would their approval and disapproval Feast Day items be?:o i don’t have the feast day dlc so i’ll skip that since i don’t have a base of ref for it lmao. his regular gift items would be flowers, dalish artifacts, and books. the two which would trigger cutscenes would be a small halla charm -a high approval quizzy would learn here about his sister, and an ancient looking book written in a mix of elvhen and arcaic tevene -da’ean would excitedly talk about it and with dorian’s help translate the book revealing it to be a dalish songbook.

11. How would they grow as a person? How would they compare at the end of the Inquisition as a companion to who they were as the Inquisitor?at the beginning da’ean is more reserved and less likely to actively engage with the quizzy, as he gets more comfortable and gets to know the quizzy he’ll open up quite drastically. in terms of character growth da’ean goes from someone who is still tied to the past and doesn’t look to the future into someone who actively makes the future the best it can be for himself and those he cares about -effectively taking his head out of his ass and learning to cope healthily with the past.

12. Do they believe the Herald of Andraste is really the Herald of Andraste?absolutely the fuck not. if the quizzy is also dalish there would be dialogue between them for how da’ean believes the quizzy is sent by mythal but otherwise no he doesn’t believe in the maker one whit, and andraste isn’t exactly in his good graces.

13. If the Herald didn’t have them tag along to prep the trebuchets, what would they do during the battle for Haven? (bonus: would they join in on the impromptu Dawn Will Come choir practice in the camp?)da’ean would organize the younger members of the inquisition and ensure they make it out of haven safely. and lmao he has a lovely singing voice but a chantry song will never fall from his lips

14. What nickname does Varric give them?songbird. which da’ean finds hilarious since his name means little bird

15. Without the influence of their decisions for the Inquisition, which of the companions do they get along with? Which ones do they bicker with?da’ean gets along well with bull and dorian [duh] and sera the best, though he is also friends with viv and solas and varric! he bickers the most with solas and cass.

16. What would the Fear Demon say to them in the Fade to try and discourage them?I HAVE. DIALOGUE I WROTE AGES AGO.... FROM MY LONGFIC SO I’M GONNA REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE THAT SHIT

“You’ll fail the Inquisition just like you failed your sister.” The silken voice of the Nightmare sent shivers running up Da’ean’s spine. He couldn’t explain the sense of wrong the voice gave him, even as the words it spoke wriggled their way into Da’ean’s thoughts like worms. The lie based on truth; how many times had he told himself it was his fault before, how many nights had he spent in fear of his own incompetence and inability to protect those he cared about. How long must he carry this guilt, a month ago he would have thought he would never be free of it. Helpless to his terror.

Now; as he saw the snarl on Dorian’s lips, the hard glint in Bull’s eye, the outrage pouring out from Solas’s entire body, he knew, he knew it was not through any fault of his own. His soiled past was not something he could change, but right here, right now, he could move on. He could chose to leave everything that burdened him in the hands of those who came with him. He could ease the burdens they carried without fear of making things worse.“Doubt me all you want, but you know the truth. It’s your fault the slavers caught her, and it will be your fault when Corypheus captures the world.” The Nightmare must be feeling desperate, it had already gone after Hawke and Stroud, and now it was focusing solely on Da’ean. The breath-warm air and disorienting light was causing him enough problems, but if the Nightmare grew bored of him, he would move on to his next target.

“If you think those are new thoughts Nightmare, you are dead wrong.” They were close, they had to be close to the rift. If Da’ean could hold his attention until they could flee, the rest of the part wouldn’t have to deal with it.“I’ve accepted my mistakes, I know what I’ve done.” The hard knot of old anxiety in Da’ean’s chest was gradually unravelling; his newfound beliefs, hard won and solid, slowing taking its place. “I am stronger for knowing myself, what about you Nightmare? What have you done that you regret, what things haunt your dreams?”

maker that’s old but i’m not gonna edit it bc i’m lazy and its late lkjljlkjklj

17. Where do they hang out in the Winter Palace? What’s their thoughts on the nobles/The Game?he’d be out on the open. area. thing??? where dorian is stan-THE COURTYARD, he’d be chillin in the courtyard. da’ean couldn’t give a nug’s ass about the nobles or the game and will show some harsh contempt for those in the palace with their noses in the air around him like he’s not even there.

18. What’s their reaction to a dragon showing up?“fuck this but also fuck this” and high fives bull

19. Once Corypheus is beaten, what do they do during the party? Do they stay with the Inquisition, or go somewhere else? What could the Inquisitor do to convince them to stay?during the party he’d be talking/drinking with sera and after the inquisition depends on his romance options. if he romanced dorian he’d follow him to tevinter bc Fuck You Bioware eat my entire ass to make sure he’s safe and to chill in the background since there’s no going back home. if he romanced bull or bull and dorian he would travel with the chargers as the newest member to the crew. a high approval quizzy could convince them to stay only if romanced

20. How do they react to learning abominations can retain their consciousness and identity, and even live peacefully with their spirits/demons, as seen in Stone-Bear Hold?psst. pssssssst... the dalish already know and you can take that hc from my cold dead hands.... BUT he’d be excited to see it recognized and would want to talk with the augur extensively

21. What do they think of the discoveries made in the Deep Roads? Do they make any comments on anything?Buck Fuckin Wild is da’ean’s take on the deep roads. he doesn’t like the claustrophobic feel they give him, he does have Some Thoughts on the titans and talks about them with idrilla.

22. If you have another Inquisitor, how would those two get along, specifically?UUUHHHHH i have his older sister idrilla who isn’t a quizzy normally but in an au she might have been the quizzy and they get along great!

23. In trespasser, what “gift” would they give the Inquisitor, if any?a halla charm! one linayel carved for just this purpose and it’s threaded on a strip of leather.

24. What are their plans for after the Exalted Council? Will the Inquisition staying in tact or being disbanded make a difference?he goes back to doing what he was doing before it, it doesn’t change much unless he was romanced and then its dependant on player choice

25. In the alternate reality, if they were corrupted with lyrium, how do they act? What’s their attitude about the end of the world/their inevitable death? oh fuck da’ean would fall deeper into depression, lose all sense of time/meaning and he would just end up with total and complete apathy

[ladynorbert]

11 questions

Dear @emotionalmorphine​ tagged me in this, and I feel so bad about never having gotten back to those asks I received when my FIL was dying that I am bound and determined to do this set.

The rules are: ✰ Post the rules ✰ answer the questions given to you by the tagger ✰ write eleven questions of your own ✰ tag eleven people

1. Pick up your closest book and tell us the first passage.

Okay, well, the closest book to where I’m sitting is the strategy guide for Dragon Age: Inquisition. The first line is “Ask anyone at BioWare Edmonton and they’ll tell you the same thing: Dragon Age: Inquisition is the largest and most ambitious game they’ve ever made.”

2. Describe your favorite book, series, video game, or movie in the worst possible way but making sure we still know what it is.

He’s totally emo because life sucks in his hair prison. She just wants to be left alone with a pile of books and some soup. They fall in love, for some reason.

3. Who was your first crush? Was it a person you knew, a celebrity, or were they not even real? What did you like so much about them?

The first one I can genuinely remember would probably be this one guy from my hometown, Charlie. He was a lifeguard at the town pool, and later in high school I was in the drama club with him (he was three years older than me). Everybody had a crush on Charlie, and I mean literally every student in the school (it was a small school). He was adorable, talented, and super sweet. I was the most annoying freshman on the planet and he was still nice to me.

4. If you were to shoot a documentary, what would it be about?

Something crafty and fairly ancient, like glassblowing or blacksmithing. I dig that stuff.

5. What have you always wanted but never been able to get?

Health.

6. If you were offered a good job in another country, all relocation expenses paid and accommodation guaranteed, could you leave next week?

Probably not. I’d panic, for one thing. Also I’m kind of needed here.

7. If money was no issue, what fashion style would you adopt? Would you buy anything ridiculously expensive or frivolous?

Not really. My fashion style probably wouldn’t change very much; I like to be comfortable, and that’s the kind of clothing I wear.

8. What can you do better than anyone you personally know?

Worry.

9. You’re given magical powers, but to keep them you have to give up the most important thing to you. What would it be and would you do it?

That would either be my writing or Lord Norbert. Either way, NO.

10. Someone gives you a million dollars! But there’s a catch. You either have to keep it all for yourself and never spend a dime on anyone else, or you have to give every cent of it away. What do you do?

Give it away. I can think of a lot of people who need it way more than I do.

11. What cryptid are you really?

The Loch Ness Monster. 

Right, so... coming up with eleven questions, that won’t be hard, right?

1. Favorite quest in any video game ever? 2. Explain to me why people drink coffee. I don’t get it. 3. How many tabs do you have open on your browser right now? 4. Favorite character ever and why? 5. M&Ms or Reese’s Pieces? 6. If you’ve been to a fan convention, which was your first? If you haven’t, which one would you like to attend (if any)? 7. How did you get in here, anyway? 8. TV Tropes - are you a fan? What’s one of your favorite tropes? 9. Tell me a story about a piece of furniture you own. 10. What kind of museum do you most enjoy visiting? 11. Recommend something to me - a book, a game, a movie, something you really love.

Tagging: @bearly-tolerable, @a-shakespearean-in-paris, @ohmytheon, @mandojedi23, @hawkeyedflame, @thesilentwatcher, @savvylittleminx, @kagetsukai, @decadentvoidprincess, @sternenstaub28, and @galadrieljones. And @emotionalmorphine, if you’re bored you can answer them too without making up another list of questions. ;)

[rawliverandcigarettes]

Tag, and a lot of Mordin

I was tagged by @natsora​ ! Thank you !

I tag whoever wants to do this ! (I’m sorry I can’t think of a lot of questions and I’m drowning under work right now so I can’t be super involved ._.) (hopefully it will get better later on)

1. Who is your single favourite character in the Mass Effect world?

*unclimactic drumroll* Urdnot Wreav ! Mordin Solus, to absolutely nobody's surprise.

2. Why is that character your favourite?

A lot of reasons. So many I'm afraid I'm going to forget the two-third of them. So I'm going to make a bullet-point list, in no particular order. - Smart in an enthusiastic way, unapologetically passionate. - Asexual yet sex-positive. SERIOUSLY how many characters are pictured with those combined traits?! - Confident. He knows his value, and he doesn't need you, the player, to “make” him, which tends to make me a bit cold towards characters looking up to you for shaping their own identity. This self-reliance is incredibly strong. Not even the genophage doubts makes him question whether or not he's able to do great work. I totally aspire to become like him one day. - Yet he's not a cloaca about it. :3 He's still compassionate and interested in others, doesn't think the rest of the world is “less” for not being able to compare to his skills. - Do what he needs to be himself. Doesn't care at all what other people might think of any of his habits, and he knows it has nothing to do with his capacities- maybe it's linked, who knows. - Considers creativity and art as an essential part of expression. So no clear separation between science and creativity in his worldview, which I'd consider absolutely great. - His conflict is fascinating. I'd argue we have a case of moral/philosophical truth vs scientific/factual truth. Both of these truth coexist within the genophage, the truth that the process in inhumane and morally condemnable, yet there is the truth that the krogans make it very clear that they will avenge themselves if given the chance. Mordin has to bear both truths, and choose, arbitrarily, which matters more, while being perfectly aware that none truly does. Not going to enter genophage discourse zone in this post but there is a lot going on with this whole affair, especially on political grounds with species other than the krogans themselves. :/ All of that jazz to say Mordin's journey truly reminds me of Andreï Sakharov, the scientist behind the Tsar Bomba during the Cold War -maybe one day I'll make a post on the similarities, because they are striking and give more depth to the Genophage conflict overall. - So I'd argue also that his “redemption arc” in Mass Effect 3 is more a shift of perspective, a voluntary blinding of one side of those truths to suit a specific context, which was Wrex/Bakara and the Reaper Conflict. I'm not comfortable with the glorification of self sacrifice for a greater cause so that might alter my views here, but I'm not sure his claim of being entirely responsible and having to fix it all by himself is entirely fair to the reality of what happened. So that leads me to my next point. - Mordin looks like he's coping well, but he doesn't. From the moment he left Tuchanka to the end of Mass Effect 3, he constantly punishes himself in very subtle ways, puts his life in danger again and again when other solutions could have been thought out (I think of the entire Omega situation, or hell, even the Suicide Mission at large). Also, until the very end and maybe his time with Bakara if we're generous, he's entirely lonely in a struggle that is a thousand years old. That's a lot to survive. - all of that coexists within the person that happily sings Gilbert and Sullivan to humanity's greatest war hero. - also a smartass - brutal, in a flawed detached way that speaks volume of where his mind currently is Many other things. I've written an entire page, I should calm down and focus. :3

3. Did you start playing Mass Effect from the first game?

No, I started from the 2, then 3, then finally the first one, after many years of circling between 2 and 3.

4. City living or rural living?

I can't really answer, because I like extremes. I like city life when it's high tech city life, meaning rich city life, with all the package. I like rural living when you live in a old stone house in the middle of nowhere with barely a road to go there. Both are great, but right now, I'm more in the mood for rural stuff -and social isolation :33

5. Single favourite piece of story, fanfic or otherwise

I don't know T_T I'm very very bad at picking favorites. I read so much books and fics that were amazing in their own specific ways. I'm sorry I can't answer this one.

6. Who did your Ryder / Shepard romanced?

I played different Shepards, all femSheps (I tried male Shep so many times, but I can't make a custom face that satisfies me, and I cant really seem to get into the voice acting either). I tried Garrus, Thane, Liara and Kelly Chambers -which was strangely maybe my favorite one ? I wish we could romance Jack as femShep as well. No romance completely satisfied me though.

As for Ryder, I couldn't play long enough to settle for anyone, but to be fair the only one I wished we could romance was Kallo, and. Well :(

7. Sweating in the desert or freezing in the north pole?

Freezing in the North Pole hands down. Even though I would like to see a desert once.

8. How do you describe your writing style? Outliner or winging it?

In english, a bit wordy, a bit dramatic too. I'm going to refine it I hope. In french, my style is sharper, and slightly more organic. I'm an outliner, even if I used to wing it when I was younger.

9. Favourite food

Anything japanese-ish. Also gnocchis. Great comfort food for me.

10. Have you played any Dragon Age games?

Not yet ! I intend to, the serie always made me curious, but I want to completely exhaust my passion with Mass Effect and my current WIP before risking to fall in love with anything else.

11. Hopes or wishes for the next Mass Effect game.

Meaning. MEANING. Meaaaaning. mmmeaaaning. Which means smart narrative design, strong characters, strong stakes. Strong undertanding of Bioware’s own references and worldview for sharper writing. A more risk-taking artistic direction than MEA (which I thought was very bland and made no statement besides « we're a next gen sci-fi title!! » :/). And I know it's too much to ask, but I would love the level design to stop trying to go open world at all cost for any given reason, because that's not Bioware's forte and it deters from the creative control over the mood of their settings. (also yes maybe an asexual salarian romance option OKAY I SAID IT HAPPY NOW)

[ilyasvieltrevelyanshepard]

Fanfic posting and reading questions - Makocartwheels

My try answering @makocartwheels ‘s questions! 

You can see the original post here

1. Why did you first start reading fanfic?

When I finished my last run during my holidays in 2016, a stupid thought crossed my mind... ‘I’m sure there has to be someone writing about Vega’... see? stupid reason ever xDDDDD

2. Why do you read it now? Has it changed from the reason you started?

I read it because I love to see how other people understand the stories, the voices they give to the characters, the ideas they have... The reasons are still the same, I want to enjoy more of this fantastic universe, and read more about my favourite characters ^^

3. When are you most likely to be on Tumblr to see a post? (Include timezone, please.) Weekdays? Weekends? Morning? Lunch?

I’m on GMT +2 (+1 tonight xDDD) and EST is 4 hours behind GMT.

I have Tumblr on my mobile and have it opened while working >_< but I tend to look more ‘seriously’ at it first hour in the morning, lunchtime and night. 

4. Same question as above for actually reading the fic.

On my way to work/home (if I’m not writing), but usually I read at night, before sleeping, that’s one of the reasons I tend to not leave as many comments as I want T_T

5. Do you look for fic notifications anywhere else? Facebook group or something? Email notification from AO3 for followed authors or bookmarked stories?

I’m on some FB groups for ME and DA, and have a LOT of users/fics bookmarked on A3O ^^

6. Do you follow authors or bookmark fics? Why/why not?

I do. I like to know when an author I enjoyed with X fic publish a new one, maybe I will discover a new favourite! And with the fics, well, I have a veeeery bad memory for that kind of things xD so having a way to know when a new chapter has been published, to run there and ready it, is wonderful hahaha

7. Do you read fic right away? Why/why not?

If I can, I try to do it, but timezones are bitches, and the chapters tend to be published while I at work xDDD but even then, I try XD

8. Is fanfic a thing you use to escape at work, a relaxing way to end the day, something to do while on the toilet, a break from your kids, something for when you’re just bored? In other words, what’s the context in which you’re reading?

I use it to escape at work, A LOT. I didn’t deal well with stress, and lately, my work has been a mess... Writing and reading fics help  to relax my mind enough to keep the anxiety at bay ^^ I use it too as the good night reading XD if I’m stressed, I tend to have nightmares (my brain is a bitch, what can I say?) and reading fics before sleeping let my mind to dwell on it while sleeping :P what can be better than dream of the things you like instead of dark things?

9. How are you reading fic? On computer? Mobile phone? Tablet?

Mobile and computer.

10. Where do you like to read fic? Tumblr? AO3? Somewhere else?

If the fic is available on AO3, I prefer to read it there, to leave comments and kudos, if it is only on Tumblr, I read it there. Tried fanfiction for a while, but didn’t bonded with the page >_<

11. How do you discover new fics to read?

Right now, with recommendations from friends, and when I’m feeling adventurous, picking a pairing on A3O and scrolling down :P

12. Are you a commenter? Why/why not?

I try!!! If I didn’t do it as usually as I want is because I read almost all my fics from bed, with my hubby sleeping beside me (or over me xD), and write on the mobile gets complicated xD I’m one of those fangirl commenters who fill the comments with YAY! WIIII! Love and emojis xD can’t fight it :P is one of the reasons I didn’t comment in some fics with very well detailed comments from other users >_< I feel like a child playing with the grown boys' toys xD

13. Have you ever donated to a ko-fi or Patreon? Why/why not?

Yep! I did! And I will keep doing it whenever I feel like :P The same way I pay or donate for artwork, if I enjoy a fic, I’ll pay for it. I read books and I pay for them…  

14. What’s your favourite thing about reading fanfic?

Reading other people's headcanons, seeing characters I love out of their element, or just being there in a more deep way that the games didn’t give us.

15. What do you really dislike about reading fanfic?

Besides the stupid side of the fandom and the hordes of haters? XD When the author didn’t tag the fic correctly… I ALWAYS read the tags. There are some themes I didn’t want to read about, and I got some surprises out there that I didn’t enjoyed U_U

Ah! And when people try to put ‘fiction’ over reality, diminishing real problems with they misjudged impression of a character game (let’s talk about rape on games/movies/fiction or PSTD and the stupid misconceptions some of the fandomers have ¬¬)

16. What do you look for in a good story?

Good characters, nice setup, deep background… or good smut if I’m going for that PWP xD

Really, we all can write about good characters (I’m the first to use them shamelessly), because, damn, all the Bioware characters are good, but I need more than that on a fic ^^ and I’m the first to blame when that doesn’t happen XD that’s why I enjoy so much other authors’ work :P (they *you* got them right and give me the ‘edge’ I want ^^)

17. What turns you off of a story?

Huuuh, it’s complicated to turn me off on a story once I begin reading it… I’m that kind of masochist xD but the few times I stop reading has been because the characters didn’t make any sense for me or because something that isn’t tagged appears and turns to be one of my NO-NO >_<

18. What do the best stories have or do?

Niiiiiice dialogues, good development between the characters, and to whom I want to fool… good smut and lovely relationships <3

19. Do you follow along with incomplete stories or wait til they’re marked complete? Why?

I try to keep reading when the chapters are published, but if I discover a series with a number of characters announced and that is about to end (5 or less), I didn’t even begin, just follow it to read it once complete.

20. If you read incomplete fics, how often do you like to see updates?

As every reader out there, I will like an update as often as possible, but being a writer (sort of xD) myself, I know how difficult it can be, so I’m more than happy with a chapter every month

21. Is there an ideal chapter length (in terms of words or read time)? If yes, what?

I like long chapters… veeeery long chapters xD more than 3k-4k words is very nice for me. I like to spent all the time possible in the story, and having long chapters give me the opportunity to do it ^^

22. Is there an ideal story length (in terms of chapters)? If yes, what? If not, at what point do you find closure in the story (or is that not important)?

I don’t have an ideal story length. Sometimes you can see a closure to a fic, but I want it to end? HELL NO!  I like having ‘archs’ closed, to put my mind at ease with the struggles of the characters, but if I can find a story that goes on and on, with sense, of course, I will be more than happy to keep reading it!

23. How important are tags? Are there any that you look out for, either to read or avoid?

SUPER IMPORTANT! There are things in my life I didn’t want to read about in fiction, and having them tagged helps me to avoid them, giving me the chance to not ‘suffer’ reading them. TAG IS A MUST!

24. Any other etiquette you find important, either from the author or from other readers?

For the Authors, TAG WELL!!!!!! And treat the subjects with respect... if you want to talk about transgender, is fine to do it, but do it right! read about it, ask about it, RESPECT the subject you are writing about! is the same for kinks! For mental issues! Anything outhere can be a real struggle for someone! keep that in mind and treat the topic with the respect it deserves ;)

And for readers… let them know you like what they do!!!! A single comment in one of my fics make me wants to keep writing and sharing! If you like something, spread the word, comment, like, reblog, buy kofi is the option exist! Fanfic writers gift us with HOURS of entertainment! And sometimes a simple ‘I FRIGGIN LOVE IT!’ can make a shitty day bright ;)

And even more important.... LEARN TO RESPECT! Yoy may don’t ship a pairing, don’t like a kink, don’t share a concept... fine! world is big! 

25. What do you wish the author knew?

*Puts on the “Renegades rocks”’ shirt* I love your works! And can’t wait to read the originals you are working on too! Come on, girl! You have a fan overseas ;)

[commanderlurker]

I've had a day to decompress, I’ve thought about the game, and I've worked through a few of my feelings on it. They are contradictory and hypocritical. I fully acknowledge that. 

2,300 word diatribe under the cut, with game spoilers and character hate. I need to get it out of my system so I can move on with my life.

I went into the game with low expectations and the game still managed to let me down. I think one of the reasons for this is that I went into the game with the wrong mindset. I went in with high expectations for the characters while not really giving a shit about the story, because characters are what Bioware is good at! But in the end, the story was the most interesting part while the characters... well... they lacked.

My one continual feeling throughout the game was boredom. The side quests were boring. Travelling between systems was boring. Side quests that required you to travel between systems were so boring. Mining was boring. Crafting was boring. The characters were, mostly, boring.

There were a few moments of ah! Yes! But they were let down by poor execution. Take Ryder Family Secrets, for example. I absolutely loved that quest line and if I end up writing any fic for Andromeda, it will be based on this. Sure, finding floating orbs of light as 'memory triggers' was dumb but it's a game mechanic so whatever. The memories themselves were great. Alec's reasoning for partitioning them was mostly great. Then the big reveal at the end? Your mum isn't dead? WHOAH!! BUT, and this is a huge but,  the reactions you get from the two Ryders are, 'Wow! Isn't this great! Mum's not dead!' But I'm sitting here like, WHAT THE FUCK GUYS??? I was fucking pissed off that Dad hadn't told us. That he'd lied about her dying, that he'd gone so far as to take an unconscious woman who had already accepted her death to another fucking galaxy possibly without her consent. Don't get me wrong, it's a great twist! But the execution, the fact that the only 'angry' option I had to respond with was a confused and sad 'why didn't dad tell us' instead of an actual angry 'wtf dad' response really pissed me off and took away from the emotional impact of that whole story.

Sticking to the Ryders for a moment, I really did love my Ryder. Frustrating character creator aside, I made someone who looked great and the VA was perfect for her. I can’t stand BroRyder’s VA but that’s just me, not really a legitimate criticism against the game. BUT that your sibling is asleep for such a long part of the game doesn’t really give you much time to develop a relationship with them, or ‘remember’ them, as it were. Sibling wakes up and is very soon thrown into the Main Plot deep end. The stakes are raised too soon. I was sitting here thinking, if I end up having to choose between me and Bro, I’m going to choose me because I have very little reason to care about Bro.

First contact with the Angara was really underwhelming. We get a couple of interactions where we can't understand each other and then our translators kick in no problem. That's what annoyed me the most, actually. That they were so wary of outsiders/aliens was understandable in light of what you learn about the Kett, so I have no complaints there. But the whole scene was just… short. And… dull. That was really frustrating.

And, this might just be me being an Antipodean, but making the angara sound foreign by giving them Australian (and Dickens-eque servant/maid) accents just made me laugh. I kept expecting an Angara to turn up with a cork hat and a dagger between her teeth and suggest we go wrestle a crocodile. Not really a complaint, just something weird that kept pulling me from the game in an amusing way.

My other translation gripes are with the Kett interactions and then the Jadaan at the end. How did SAM manage to instantly translate this dead language? ~plot reasons~ obviously. SAM ended up coming across as a bit of a deus ex machina, except when the plot meant he needed time to decrypt something that he had no problem decrypting from a mission ago.

One thing I really liked about SAM: When you're in the Archon's ship and SAM say he (is he a he?? I don't care) has to stop your heart, kill you, in order to get you out of the Arcon's fancy jail. That for me was cool. It really highlighted the AI/Human conflict, and the characters' reaction to that, Lexi, in particular, was great. Again, if I write anything, the AI/Human relationship will be considered (but there are people out there who will do a much better job of that than me), BUT I didn't really feel like I had enough time to work up to that, to consider life before an AI implant and life after.

Game play: There were a couple of very frustrating instances of the game not being good in telling you what to do. In Liam's loyalty quest, you have to shoot/smash through a wall, but there is nothing about that wall to indicate that it is smashable. I kept following my quest marker and getting stuck at the wall, thinking, it can't be this way, I must need to go another way. In another mission, I encountered another such wall and Ryder or someone said, 'maybe try shooting it'. I don't know if I just didn't hear that the first time or what, but I got so fucking frustrated (don't get me started on how much I fucking hated Liam's loyalty mission and how much I ended up hating Liam afterwards.) I ended up watching a walkthrough on youtbube and when I this fucking player just shot the wall I almost threw my fucking controller across the fucking room. My god. In other games, a breakable wall is usually pretty obvious: a different pattern, a slightly off colour. It looks out of place. But these breakable walls just looked like they were part of the room.

The Krogan/Salarian conflict: Oh my god. Call me a space racist, I don't give a fuck, but I fucking hate the krogan and wish they'd not been brought to Andromeda. Being constantly reminded how much the Krogan and Salarians hate each other was really fucking grating. Morda was a fucking cunt. Wanted to shoot her. Wanted to nuke the entirety of New Tuchanka (with the exception of the nice romantic krogan guy. He was a sweetheart).

There is no nuance to their conflict. In the Trilogy, the krogan are fucking awful, too, but they're tempered by Wrex. The Salarians' involvement in the genophage is ~okay~ because Mordin is cool. (I don't like Mordin, FYI, I think he’s a fucking dick). But in Andromda, the generations-long conflict is constantly shoved down your fucking throat to the point where I stopped caring about the Krogan at all. Grow up, put on your big boy pants, and join the negotiation table. Stop playing the victim and acting like none of this is your fault (to be fair to them, they were treated very badly on the Nexus), take some responsibility, and stop threatening to blow people up. Terrorism, or the threat of terrorism, doesn't make people want to work with you, Morda! Or whoever. That quest was confusing. I wasn’t paying attention because my god, I just stopped caring about the fucking krogan and their fucking problems.

The shove-down-your-throat issue was really highlighted on the Archon’s ship. The choice between saving the Salarian Pathfinder and her mates, or some random fucking krogan scouts of Drack’s? Of course I’m going to choose the fucking pathfinder over some random fucking krogan scouts. Oh my god. What is wrong with the krogan.

On the topic of cunts, how the fuck did so many low life scum get into the Initiative in the first place? Just how many fucking exiles were there?!?! I killed so many. SO MANY. HUNDREDS. And the hundreds more in Kadara Port that I also wanted to murder with nuclear weapons but for some reason the game didn't give me that option. I read Nexus Uprising and while it gave me a bit more context (especially with Sloane--but that's a can of worms I'm not going to open right now) than what non-readers had, neither the book nor the game really answer a) how these fucks got into the Imitative and b) why so many people were woken up. If I remember correctly, only two people in the book had manual override codes for the cryo pods, and Tann, Addison, and Kelly agreed (for once) to only wake those needed to get the Nexus working. But there must have been, what, 10k people across the Nexus and the exiles? That’s the impression I got. I understand the need for “low skill” people like dancers and bar staff and cleaners in Helius, fuck, not everyone is a scientist, but I question why the people likely to shiv you were allowed in. That made me really depressed, actually. You travel to another fucking galaxy and we end up with another Omega. Great. Conflict like that lasts generations. Sons and sons and sons of the first exiles hating the sons and sons and sons of the Nexus for history that no one really remembers the truth behind. I vacillated between wanting to save as many as I could, bring them back into the Nexus family, and wanting to fucking nuke them all.

This leads to a point that I read in another post: Just about everywhere you, as Ryder, went, the exiles had been already. Whether it was a planet or a star system, chances are, Ryder stumbled across stolen Nexus shuttles/gear/satellites. In a game that was advertised as going-where-humans-have-never-been-before, there sure weren't that many opportunities for Ryder to actually be the first.

Do I do a breakdown of the characters? I feel like I should, since I went into this game really hoping to find my new OTP, the person who would break my heart in all the right ways. Positive first: I really liked all the female squadmates. That was the one thing I wanted and the one thing I got: Likeable women. I didn't fall in love, but I did get a great female crew.

All in all, the characters fell flat, and that's the most disappointing part of Andromeda. In Inquisition, I could forgive the shit plot and that the whole story peaked with the destruction of Haven because the characters made up for it. In Andromeda, the characters were at best, interesting, but mostly not much more than cardboard cutouts. Not much in the way of nuance. They rarely felt like real people, fleshed out.

Cora was not what I was expecting personality wise but I loved her anyway (except for her tragic biosecurity blunder with the seeds on Eos, but I'm putting that down to writing rather than her character). Her loyalty mission made me feel feelings, which is an achievement, to be honest.

Vetra is amazing. She's wonderful. I love her and I love Sid. Had she not been turian, I would have romanced her in a heartbeat.

Peebee was fun and unpredictable. She's who I ended up romancing and I enjoyed it, but that's all.

Liam. He was gone as soon as I figured out how to change my squad (and that took a fucking long time. That loadout system is not intuitive at all). I liked him fine to start off with, I just preferred Cora and Peebee on my squad. But then came his loyalty mission and fuck him. He was out. I was glad I got to yell at him at the end. Never used him again.

Drack grew on me. Totally love grandpa Drack. Surprise star. Still, never took him out except when I had to deal with the Krogan, which I avoided whenever possible.

Jaal got on my tits. Bro, please talk faster. I have five other crew mates to talk to, I don't have all day.

After I got over my disappointment of Lexi being an Asari and not, you know, Natalie Dormer, I really liked her.

Suvi's great. Liked her a lot, especially after you discover the ~truth~ about the Angara. There’s lots of nuance there, lots to explore in terms of creation and evolution. Her lip gloss looks like it tastes like strawberries.

Once I could remember Kallo's name, he was cool. I liked his and Gil's continual conflict and the way it was resolved.

Gil was great, though I worry he has a gambling addiction. I don’t have any strong feeling either way on his baby with Jill. I thought Jill was a dick, but whatever, I didn’t need to be friends with her.

I really liked the main missions. For the most part, it was action packed, full of suspense and wonder, and well executed. HOWEVER the Archon was a pretty fucking boring antagonist. One sided. I did see a post that talked about him being effectively a middle manager defeated by his own hubris, and that take does add some interest to him, but ultimately, he's boring. The kett are boring. They are Collectors. There is barely a difference between them and the Collectors. Cough *reapers* cough. A more interesting story could have involved just the Remnant tech. But you got to shoot, something, I suppose.

A list of the other shit I didn't like: crafting, R&D, AVP, mining, SAM talking over my squadmates to tell me shit I already know about AVP and mining, huge maps, mining, why the fuck am I the one doing the fucking mining, HUGE MINERAL DEPOSITS of 67 iron wow thanks that's great.

Yeah. I think that's it. I'm disappointed by how disappointed I am. I resent how much of the game is shit, and how much that shit detracts from what is actually good. I don't know how many of my complaints are legitimate criticisms or nitpicking, or whatever. But like I said at the start of this diatribe, I went in with low expectations and the game failed to even make it to that low bar. Perhaps, after enough time has passed, I'll pick the game up and stick only to Priority and Allies missions and hopefully enjoy it more. But right now? I'm bored. So bored. And so disappointed.

[lovesickhomunculus]

Thank you Mary @birdgeoise for tagging me! <3 Rules: answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions. 1. Coke or Pepsi: Pepsi 2. Disney or Dreamworks: honestly I have no preference 3. Coffee or Tea: I love both to the point of addiction 4. Books or Movies: sadly I haven't read in a long while and I usually prefer all the extra stuff in books but I also love how people can do wonders with movie visuals 5. Windows or Mac: I've only used Mac in school so windows 6. D.C. Or Marvel: I prefer the villains of D.C. And the superheroes of Marvel 7. X-box or PlayStation: my Xbox 360 shat on me all the time and I honestly prefer the games on playstation cuz I'm a gross animo game liker 8. Dragon Age or Mass Effect: I prefer the gameplay of mass effect but I like the dragon age characters and opener world more 9. Night Owl or Early Riser: night owl 10. Cards or Chess: I've never played chess 11. Chocolate or Vanilla: chocolate 12. Vans or Converse: converse, vans have given me painful blisters 13. Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash or Adaar: Adaar cuz I love being a beautiful giant lady 14. Fluff or Angst: I prefer fluff cuz I have enough angst from my life 15. Beach or Forest: I'll say beach cuz I'm a water fucker but if you were to have like a hidden forest spring I'd be all over that shit 16. Dogs or Cats: I love them both but I tend to enjoy cats a little more 17. Clear Skies or Rain: rain unless it prevents me from doing something I actually want to do 18. Cooking or Eating Out: cooking 19. Spicy Food or Mild Food: it depends on the spice like Cajun and Asian spice is good but Mexican spice isn't my thing 20. Halloween/Samhain or Solstice/Yule/Christmas: I love Halloween since it's an excuse to dress in costumes but I love the winter aesthetic of Christmas 21. Would you rather be forever a little too cold or a little too hot: probably a little too cold cuz sweating is a horrible feeling 22. If you could have a superpower what would it be: either time powers (slowing down, speeding up or stopping) or shapeshifting 23. Animation or Live Action: animation 24. Paragon or Renegade: paragon with the occasional renegade 25. Baths or Showers: I mainly take baths at home since my dad is picky as fuck about the shower but I love both 26. Team Cap or Team Ironman: I don't really care 27. Fantasy or Sci-Fi: why not both 28. Do you have three or four favorite quotes, if so what are they: These aren't anything fancy just silly lines I like. "Well there's the usual things. Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep." -Cogsworth "Blacker than a moonless night, hotter and more bitter than hell itself... that is coffee" -Godot aka coffee husband I can't really think of others right now 29. Harry Potter or Percy Jackson: I haven't read Percy Jackson therefore Harry Potter 30. When you feel accomplished: when I actually do stuff or don't suck at something 31. Star Wars or Star Trek: both 32. Paperback Books or Hardcover Books: hardcover usually but leather bound are aesthetically pleasing too 33. Horror or Rom-com: rom-coms are usually just blah and I'm too much of a baby for horror so neither 34. TV Shows or Movies: movies or nice but I have trouble paying attention for that long so tv shows 35. Favorite animal: tigers and mantas are my favorite sea animal 36. Favorite genre of music: video game music, orchestrated soundtracks, jazz, punk and electronic 37. Least favorite book: idk 38. Favorite season: winter though spring is beautiful too 39. Sparkly or Shiny: sparkly 40. Favorite character in a TV series: yikes idk 41. Do you have/want any tattoos and if you do what are they: I want quite a few. A white ink triforce on my hand, a Pisces symbol on my foot, a little cat with a halo somewhere for my baby, many more that I'm considering but don't know where I'd put them. I have a Pinterest board full of this shit 42. YouTube or Netflix: YouTube 43. If you could go to school for completely free what would you study: well since I have no clue what I want to do anymore Idk really know. I'm still considering veterinarian medicine but I'm also thinking about something to do with video games since that's basically the only thing I'm decent at in life 44. What's your aesthetic: for clothes it's like a mess of being able to dress intimidating but then also dress really fucking cutesy. Scenery wise I really like big city nights, snowy landscapes and like cherry blossom gardens (just look at most of okami honestly) 45. Pineapple on pizza: hell no sorry My Question: why are there so many bioware questions? Real question is Warrior, Mage, Thief, or Healer? You don't have to do this if you want but I tag @ivysmapsandwriting, @an-apocalypse-of-magpies, @sernacht and @pthumerian

[lesabear]

Tag Meme

I was tagged by @ravenclawnerd for this one, and boy is it a long one.

Rules: Answer all questions, add one of your own, and tag as many people as there are questions: There are too many questions to tag that many people, so I’ll tag @kaijuslayer , @darth-char, @bionitelke, @motheatenscarf @talonticus @striges13, @brightephemera and let’s go with @rissalf to waste her time.

Under a cut for length.

Coke or Pepsi: Coke. Pepsi is fine, though.

Disney or Dreamworks: Disney for nostalgic reasons, but I love both.

Coffee or tea: Coffee gets me through the work week. That’s probably not a good thing but...

Books or movies: Books - leave more up to the imagination, more room for detail and description. And I love reading nonfiction, while documentaries are very hit or miss

Windows or Mac: Windows

DC or Marvel: Both? I like the Marvel movies but most of my favorite comic characters are probably DC

Xbox or PlayStation: PC ...

Dragon Age or Mass Effect: Dragon Age by a hair. I have a very complicated relationship with both, though.

Night owl or early riser: Neither...I don’t really stay up too late and don’t like early rising (except to get up in time for work!)

Cards or chess: Chess. I am terrible at both.

Chocolate or vanilla: Chocolate

Vans or Converse: Neither. Terrible question.

Lavellan, Trevelyan, Cadash, or Adaar: Trevelyan, didn’t really do a second full playthrough of DA:I though so that’s really “incomplete”

Paragon or Renegade: Somewhat sarcastic/angry but mostly paragon. Not really a fan of the renegade playstyle or characterization.

Star Wars or Star Trek: Both, Star Wars if I had to choose. 

One episode per week or binge watching: Depends on the show. If I’m watching live, probably one a week. I enjoy binge watching older shoes I missed out on though.

Heroes or Villains: Heroes from a philosophical point of view. I’m pretty open to well-written characters... within limits 

Kill Quinn or kiss him: Ignore for the most part. Kill if I had to choose, but not because of the Quinncident (which I actually didn’t really care about)

Gandalf or Obi-Wan: Obi-Wan, easy.

My question: MMO or Single Player? I play MMOs more (mainly WOW these days), but I appreciate the depth and complexity single player games offer. I was mostly a Bioware singleplayer RPG player but I’m branching out now.

[felassan]

Any theories on how many squadmates we'll get in Andromeda? A friend of mine is convinced we will only get 8, but that seems like to low a number to me (I hope we get 12 like in me2)

Confirmed:

Cora

Liam

Peebee

Vetra

Drack ( = 5 )

Likely:

Jaal [iirc not officially confirmed but assumed very likely due to trailer prominence, the Funko Pop figure, and the fact that he’s angaran and BioWare said there was at least one Andromeda-native squaddie] ( = 6  )

If Jaal turns out not to be a squadmate, we’re still due at least 6 due to the aforementioned Andromedan squaddie that BioWare has spoken of.  

Possible, imo (caveat: mostly personal speculation here):

1 more, as-yet-unseen ( = 7 ? )

Now, when asked (on the subject of the new trailers) whether we had been shown the whole team, dev Michael Gamble tweeted that it wasn’t. Do we take “team” to mean “squad”? It could mean that, or it could refer to the wider Pathfinder team (i.e. including Tempest crew). I hope it refers to squadmates though, because I’d like 1 or 2 more.

There was an interview with Mac a while ago:

Q. Let’s talk squadmates - I’m going to try and remember them all. We’ve got Liam and Cora, Peebee, Drack and Vetra and I think you guys have said we should expect one of the new Andromeda races represented as well. Is six squadmates a good number?

Mac Walters: [Pause] Assuming that’s how many we have, I think that’s a good number [laughs].

Obviously Mac was avoiding giving a straight answer there due to limits on what he could speak about at the time, but it does give us a feel for the probable number range (since he thinks 6 is a good number), in terms of a ballpark figure.

There was a leak which stated,

Throughout the story, you will recruit seven distinct crew members to fight by your side.

So far everything else in the leak has proven to be true (Cora, Drack, etc), and we know that the similar leak for DA:I (which listed Cole and Bull as squadmates etc) turned out to be true too. However, BioWare have also discussed a squadmate that was cut in development.

Q. Mac, I remember you speaking to Game Informer and mentioning a squadmate that was cut in development. From the races represented I’m going to make an educated guess and say they were salarian. Can you say anything more about why he didn’t make it and if we might ever see him again?

Mac Walters: You know game development is a constant series of decisions - there’s always going to be some scope reductions. Because we decided to do loyalty missions that meant every squad member had their own special mission plus a significant amount of relationship dialogue. Ultimately, the only reason we chose to cut was because of that. It wasn’t that we didn’t like the character - I believe at the time it was just which ones were furthest along. As for whether we’d see them again in the future - it is possible. I think a lot of people like the idea for the character. But you never know - sometimes what we do is instead of coming back to it in the game he’ll come back in a book or comic or something like that. 

Q. Mordin is my favourite character so, as a salarian fan, I hope we see him again.

Mac Walters: [laughs] Part of it too was we’re playing up the Tempest crew members much more and we have a salarian on the crew. We put a lot of investment in that character.

Q. He’s the pilot, right?

Mac Walters: Exactly.

The question is, is the cut squadmate he talks about here part of the leaked 7, or was he cut before that?

They have also discussed the potential for DLC or other forms of additional squadmates.

Q. Just to clear up one more thing from that interview - you mentioned we might see additional squad members via DLC in the future. That confused me a little because I remember BioWare’s comments after [Mass Effect 3 day-one DLC character] Javik that you probably wouldn’t do a DLC squadmate again - because maybe you wouldn’t have them the whole adventure or get the most out them. I wondered whether you meant a DLC squadmate more like Aria, who was available for a specific set of missions only.

Mac Walters: Yeah - I think there’s a lot of different ways we could introduce new characters like that, new squadmates, whether they are one-offs for a mission… But I think Andromeda is more of a persistent experience, more of an open world than we’ve done before. Even once the critical path story, the main narrative, is done there’s still a lot to accomplish. It’s a game of exploration so if we wanted to create a space for a new follower we can do it. It’s more a question of will we do it, at this point. I wasn’t ruling it out, I think I meant, but it’s certainly possible we’ll bring in new characters before we get to a Mass Effect Andromeda 2.

Take that as you will.

Other things on this topic that we know:

Ryder’s unplayed twin is confirmed not a squadmate

iirc there was a rumor going around about a synthetic squadmate/companion. my feeling with this is that it was referring to SAM, who will be a companion-category character like EDI in ME2 as opposed to an active squadmate like EDI in ME3

Gamble tweeted the other day that they can’t confirm the number of squadmates yet

Flynn tweeted the other day that they’ll do it soon though

Tl;dr -

So what do I think personally? 6-7, 8 max (6-7 more likely). If I was to bet money I’d put it on the confirmed 5, plus Jaal, plus [potentially] one more as-yet unseen squadmate. As to your question specifically, definitely nowhere near 12, they found 12 was too many and seemed happier with the size being in the ME3 roster sort of range (plus see above aforementioned stuff about the ballpark figure).

[jackdawyt]

Since my last news update in March, today I’m dissecting everything that has come out of the woodwork in April and May regarding Dragon Age 4. So, get some tea and let’s get this show on the road, because we’ve got over 4,000 words of news to delve into!  

Reveal? (game shows/new hire/remaster):

Following the cancellation of E3, EA Play 2020 Live has been officially confirmed as a digital show, taking place on June 11th, at 4:00 pm PST / 7:00 pm EST. 

Before the outbreak cancelled E3 2020, we knew Mike Gamble, the Project Lead on the next Mass Effect game had plans to make a physical appearance at E3/EA Play. So, the question remains, will BioWare still have a presence at EA Play this year?  

Mike Gamble is one of the key members of the Mass Effect team, I highly doubt he’s talking about revealing the next Mass Effect game which is currently in very early stages of development, and won’t release until after Dragon Age 4. Perhaps, Mike back in 2019 was hinting at revealing the heavily rumoured Mass Effect Remaster this EA Play?

Earlier in May, EA had a quarterly conference call and it revealed some fascinating information regarding future unannounced titles. Currently, EA have “one more EA HD title, Four EA Partner titles and two mobiles games still unannounced”. Also, EA said "multiple titles" are set to launch on Nintendo Switch this year.

The EA HD title refers to a remaster of an EA game, hence why most people are speculating at the Mass Effect Trilogy. Venturebeat went on to officially state that this title was indeed the Mass Effect Trilogy.

So, there’s one rumoured possibility for the Mass Effect Trilogy Remaster to be revealed this EA Play, which is cool! BioWare may have a presence this year after all! But I know you all didn’t come for Mass Effect; you came for Dragon Age. So, what do we know about that franchise and a potential reveal?

Jo Berry, a Writer at EA retweeted EA Play Live’s announcement with a party emoji! 👀  

This could be absolutely nothing, but at a whim, perhaps a reference to a Dragon Age 4 teaser, or EA Motive’s new I.P since she has worked within both teams....  

On top of that, Brianne Battye, Writer at BioWare tweeted about her 8-year journey at BioWare. She’s very grateful for sharing her work, and the awesome people she’s worked with along the way.

Patrick Weekes replied saying they: “Cannot wait for everyone else to see what you've been working on recently. :)”

Then, Brianne said: “Right back at you :)”

Two HUGE witters on the Dragon Age team are excited for everyone else to see what they’ve all been working on recently! 👀 When I saw this tweet, I was trying to stay calm and keep my expectations low, but come on when you see a tweet like this, you just get so excited! The question is, when will we see what they’ve been working on, and is it anytime soon? Please?

Well, there is something else we need to talk about that may relate to a potential tease.

Hilary Heskett, who used to be EA’s Global Product Manager has returned to work at EA and BioWare. Put simply, she’s a Digital Marketer for BioWare.  

Hilary; particularly, was heavily involved in Dragon Age: Inquisition’s marketing! In fact, the majority of her work at EA involved representing BioWare as a brand online creating trailers, key art, screenshots, packaging, and advertisements. So, it’s a fair assumption that she’ll be fulfilling the exact same role for future BioWare titles like Dragon Age 4.  

With Hilary joining the team at this point in development, could the marketing stages of Dragon Age 4 soon begin, perhaps at EA Play? Or later on in 2020? Or is she going to be marketing the Mass Effect Remaster?

I sound impatient, but, in the past BioWare have a habit of starting the marketing stages of their products at least two years before an initial release.  

With that, we’ve got to ask ourselves, is hiring a marketer at this point in time a mere coincidence? or is it preparation for when marketing does start? Are we on the verge of seeing Dragon Age 4 official content soon?  

Not to waffle on, because we’ve got a lot to talk about in this video, but I was hired as a Digital Marketer for an app company in the UK. As I understand it, you normally enter projects, mid-to-end of production, because what would a marketer do in the early stages logically? Your role is to be there for the advertising of the product.  

So, in BioWare’s case, it's my understanding that Hilary has joined the team with one year full-swing production, is she about to begin the marketing stages of the next Dragon Age game? Is the game ready for that stage? If anything, I think with Hilary’s background, she’s the perfect person to market Dragon Age 4.  

On top of EA Play, Geoff Keighley announced Summer Game Fest, a new industry-wide celebration of video games. Showcasing digital news, In-game events, & playable content. EA are headlining the event with EA Play, but there are many other world premieres spread throughout the summer. So, there’s a potential for other trailer reveals later on in the year, not to mention The Game Awards.

And, there’s also this leak that shows Dragon Age 4 on a list of PS5 games from the newest issue of PlayStation magazine UK. PlayStation are having an event on June 4th, so we’ll find out if this leak is true soon enough.

If we’re going to see anything Dragon Age 4 related this year, EA Play is the biggest contender for a reveal. I know the whole world could do with that right now! At this current moment, there is no schedule for the show. However, Saria, myself, Fusselkorn and maybe other content creators will be streaming EA Play, no matter what, so turn those reminders on and come join us in our clown suits.

Development (teases/production):

Moving on to teases and development updates. Currently, BioWare are hiring a ‘Senior Outsource Producer.’

This is a pretty big deal, to those who don’t know what a ‘Senior Outsource Producer’ would do...

“Outsourcing development means to hire out any process of a business to third party. The process helps your company or organization to grow.”

To grant more perspective, during Mass Effect: Andromeda’s development, major aspects of the game's animations were outsourced to other EA studios. 

However, this isn’t going to be the same for Dragon Age 4, this role is for one Producer to help the outsourcing team into a robust and comprehensive department that supports BioWare projects in all aspects of development.  

I have friend in triple AAA games, and they had something to say about outsourcing regarding Dragon Age 4: “To be honest, I'd say (outsourcing is) different per studio due to scope. But with something big like Dragon Age I'd probably say outsourcing would start early to mid-production as they have a hell of a lot to do. Some studios outsource from the get go though so that's also possible. And It's rare that outsourcing starts in the final leg of development.”

What I understand from the job posting is that BioWare are looking to hire a producer who will be dedicated to outsourcing so they can establish a pipeline and maintain proper standards for outsourcing. This hiring was posted in May, so the studio might be a few months early from when they actually have to outsource. However, this process will be coming up soon in major development.  

Moving on. In early April, Mark Darrah went on a twitter rampage sharing many tweets relating to Dragon Age 4. One tweet stated: “Is tweeting more going to make you all speculate more or less?”. Followed by a poll with the answers “more”, “less” & “Dragon Age 4!?”

The following week, Mark Darrah teased his three Wolf-Rook books he has placed on a shelf at home.

Later on, in the month, he decided to stack each of them, prompted with the caption: “Spoiler: these are a terrible building material…”

Just last week, Mark tweeted the Wolf-Rook book once more, with the following meme: “Dear men, what is preventing you from looking like this?”

This cheeky tease encouraged Melissa Janowicz (Gameplay Designer) to join the fun and share her own Wolf-Rook book! She said: “It's an absolutely gorgeous book. I'll treasure it for life.”

Ahhh. The secrets these books could hold about Dragon Age 4’s core concepts.... And Mark Darrah is just staking them together, making book forts out of them, as you do! 😂 Maybe one day, we’ll uncover the secrets held within every page, but that day is not yet upon on.

On the same memey day, Chris Anderson, (Application Development/Publishing Support at BioWare) tweeted: “Other people are teasing things, so what the hell, here's an image that I used in something I was working on today.” With a pink image shown.  

Chris and Melissa followed a Twitter conversation about pink being the “perfect colour for when you need something that screams temp.”

Basically, this pink actually has some context for the development of Dragon Age 4. ‘Temp’ means temporary textures, the first blocked out layer of a texture before actual detailed textures are added.

This can refer to many scenes or models in the early texturing phases, as art assets are still in the approval stages. On a wild, out-there whim, perhaps the team are wrapping up a trailer for a reveal? Maybe?... please?

John Epler (Narrative Director) shared his most controversial opinion of all time:

I loved the Hinterlands, but as a fan of the previous Dragon Age game’s ‘linear with freedom' approach, I appreciate John’s take on open world’s since Dragon Age: Inquisition, perhaps this will shape the way forward for future BioWare titles?  

Alix Wilton Regan, voice actress of the Female British Inquisitor retweeted Autumn Witch’s poll asking if people believe the Inquisitor will return as a voiced appearance in Dragon Age 4. Alix tweeted: “C’mon #DAI Fans, you know what to do ;)”

Patrick Weekes replied to Alix’s post with an eye's emoji 👀.... I think I speak for everyone when I say, in some capacity, the Inquisitor has got to return in the next game!

In another tweet, Patrick Weekes teased potential new companions when a Twitter trend placed 5 Dragon Age characters in 6 different camps went around the platform.  

When choosing their preferred camp, Patrick Weekes tweeted: “Finally, in Camp 7, it's turned into a bit of a mess, with coffee grounds spilled everywhere and the couch inexplicably on fire after a drinking game gone wrong. But that's another story.” 

Of course, there’s not much to tear apart here, but we have acknowledgement of the next party members! It sounds like they’re a wild bunch already!  

In early April, Mark Darrah answered a few current development tweets:

So, that’s...Splendid.

Karin Weekes (Editor) tweeted that they “got to sort/catalog/document updates to made-up languages at work today.”  

Following that tweet, @ladyiolanthe asked Karin: “Do you think BioWare might ever be able to release Qunari, Dwarvish, and Elvhen lexicons in a World of Thedas Volume 3 sort of book? Or is that unlikely since they're ciphers and maybe there isn't a standardized grammatical structure, etc?”

Karin replied with: “That’s an interesting idea - I, for one, would find it a hoot! I might send out some feelers…” Any books of made-up languages I can get my hands on would be greatly appreciated!  

Alain Baxter, (‘Production guy’) tweeted: “BioWare review of content today. All I can say is “Scriplet”. 😎

Apparently a ‘Scriptlet’ is an action verb. Alain is teasing premature scripts as they ‘perform their function’ So, something exciting is going down in the scripts, to be worked on in-engine. Or maybe it’s just an inside joke?

John Epler tweeted a great design message about “how 90% of ‘bad’ decisions are, in fact, the best decision at the time. For John, that will always be the camera zoomed conversations in DA: I. People didn’t like it, and asked why not just make them full scenes. But that’s not the decision they make in-house. It was 'make them simple conversations or else cut them'. Game dev is all about making the best decision you can at the time, with the resources you have .A lot of stuff you thought was weird or awkward came down to a gut call of 'this is the best I can make this and I trust it's good enough'. Sometimes we're right, sometimes not.” 

 Awesome words to think on, Dragon Age 4 will be amazing, I’m sure, but just remember to set your expectations right and realise everything design-wise, happens for a reason.  

Shifting to other design aspects. Jos Hendricks (Senior Level Designer) tweeted:

Mike Jungbluth (Animation Director) tweeted: “Just reviewed something in game that hit THIS LEVEL! Hot damn, moments like this are what I live for.” 

Both tweets are incredibly excited and telling of development for Dragon Age 4, it sounds like they’re building and prototyping an epic scene equivalent in scale to the attack at Haven scene? Perhaps, Solas destroying the Veil? Who knows, but it sounds epic, and I’m living for both dev.'s enthusiasm!

For the final tweet regarding the development side is from Åsa Roos (Principle UX Designer)

A UX designer writing about Solas? That must be for codex entries? Right? More lore on our Rebel God!  

Unannounced Dragon Age Game:

In my previous March news update, I discussed brashly about the developers on Dragon Age 4 still claiming that this project has not officially been announced yet, however, The Dread Wolf Rises teaser in 2018 certainly alluded to an announcement regarding the next Dragon Age title. Following this story, we have many sources providing clarity on Dragon Age 4’s current ‘unannounced’ situation.  

Patrick Weekes confirmed that they are “working on an unannounced game in the Dragon Age universe.”

Patrick said: “We would LOVE to be able to say more. We are really excited about what we’re working on. But we can’t share anything right now. Sorry!”

In April 2019, I painted this unannounced situation rather conspiratorial, I said that perhaps the Dragon Age dev’s can’t share anymore on the next game because Anthem was the next project, and EA are forcing them to not speak on Dragon Age. In an attempt to maintain the crowd by not letting BioWare developers regard Dragon Age 4 as the next working project in the works.

However, I don’t think it’s that deep. I think the developers are just under an NDA, and literally can’t speak about the game.  

In Episode 121 of the Anthem-based ‘Freelancer Codex’ Podcast - as a guest, Melissa Janowicz shared that the developers on the secret Dragon Age team cannot talk about the next game, in fact, they can barely talk about the contents of The Dread Wolf Rises teaser trailer.

Chris Anderson also emphasised this same point in a tweet:

As a side not, someone asked Chris why not lie and come up with fake answers to fool the fans, and Chris said: “That can, unfortunately, get me in nearly as much trouble!”

Which shows the validity and value in BioWare developer tweets. The developers can’t just lie about the project either. Which honestly helps someone like me out.

As we know, a game is coming, yet it’s still is very much unannounced, probably because as Jason Schreier reported in 2018, Dragon Age 4 is going to change at least 5 times in the next two years, perhaps BioWare don’t want to show us anything because they don’t want to set anything in stone, or show gameplay that is not representative of the final game.  

But that doesn’t extend to a CGI trailer, or a full title drop, Maker knows that would be amazing, and is within the realm of possibility.

New Lore/Fun:

We have some new lore, and other fun things I wanted to share.  

Dragon Age Comic Writer, Nunzio DeFillipis talked HUGELY about the red lyrium idol and what was originally planned for their comics.

Nunzio recently mentioned in the Unofficial Bioware Forums that the comic characters from Deception were originally chasing the red lyrium idol.

Nunzio stated that the original plan for the comics would've had the characters retrieve the red lyrium idol. Only to have Solas take it back. Eluding to the idol's planned whereabouts before the plot changed since Joplin's cancellation and BioWare's shift regarding this idol in the comics.

Does this still mean that the location of the red lyrium idol is most likely in the hands of Solas and might only be discovered in Dragon Age 4? Or does the next protagonist have a shot at retrieving the idol before Solas finds it?

It seems like a bummer that the original comic idea was scrapped and the writers were forced to change narrative direction regarding this particular idol.

As a funny tweet I saw. Emily (Domino) Talyor tweeted using her overheard in the office hashtag:

BioWare dev’s can’t even tell their kids, folks.

And, regarding the Fuzzy Freaks livestream. Patrick Weekes’s response to my question, asking how does Solas kill dwarves in their sleep if they have no connection to the Fade, was “very effectively.”  This will be a mystery I will personally be investigating when we have our hands on the game.  

Considering it was really fun for those who watched the Fuzzy Freaks livestream, I’m going to share other silly takeaways:

Patrick Weekes doing a New York accent for the Carta Dwarf is amazing!

“DREAD DUMBASS” - is a jokey dialogue option that Karen Weekes scribbled notes for future reference.  

Patrick likes soft romances and happy endings! IRONICALLY.

Patrick’s style of writing is less high fantasy and more modern.

@DrunkDalish, Co-founder of Dragon Age Day interviewed both Karen and Patrick Weekes. As a lover of Dragon Age lore, these interviews reveal so many loving tidbits that you should read for yourself. However, something I noted that was very significant regarding the future is based on Masked Empire’s ending. So, spoilers for that, but Felassan’s fate isn’t what it seems. Perhaps this elf could come back in the future if needed.

Wellbeing:

And, we come to the last topic, this one is centred on the BioWare staff’s wellbeing. Last year, there was a Kotaku article revealing the crunch and working conditions at BW, there was a lot of worry and confusion in the air that the people working on these games were struggling mentally because of senior management and many other reasons. With that in mind, I’m dedicating a section in these news updates to the wellbeing of the developers, any signs/tweets of positivity and hope will be shared in an effort to see if there has been any change in the BioWare offices since Anthem’s release.

It seems like things are going pretty well and people seem happy and optimistic about the next Dragon Age.  

If there are any major updates to a Dragon Age 4 tease at EA Play, I'll be sure to make an update video, but otherwise, be sure to join our livestream as see for ourselves what waits us this EA Play.

Let me know your thoughts down below, what do you think about a potential EA Play teaser, where are your expectations at?

[masterpick]

Tagged!

So... I got tagged by @rwbywriter22 to answer a set of 11 questions. Thanks, Katie!

RULES: Always post the rules. Answer the questions asked, then write 11 new ones. Tag 11 people to answer your questions, as well as the person who tagged you.

What’s something you’ve done or created that you’re most proud of? 

Hm. Tough question. There’s a lot of things that I’m proud of. In the context of tumblr and RWBY, I’m actually extremely proud of Guns and Roses. (I know it’s not finished yet, but... I’ve got a lot of events on the cusp of happening.) It’s the first ‘big’ thing that I’ve written and posted.

What’s your favorite quote from a book?

Heh. I actually had to search pretty deep for this one. It’s from Agent X by Noah Boyd, a book I read on the ferry back from Isle Royale.

Vail: There are worse things than being shot at.

Bannon: ...like?

Vail: Living a life where you’re never shot at.

What’s your Hogwarts House?

Gryffindor (if you use the one house system) or Ravendor/Gryffinclaw (if you use the two house system).

Dream Job/ Career Goal?

Back when I raced, I would’ve said to go into a professional racing gig someday. Open-wheel like Indy Cars or one of the higher-end Formula series. But now... HH-60 pilot. I wanna fly those birds so bad, and I’m working my tail off to make that happen.

Least Favorite Fictional Character?

Tough one. I’m gonna have to stray from RWBY on this one and say Jacob Taylor from Mass Effect. If you romance him as femshep... between the two games, he conceives a child with another woman, then names that child after you. His romance is also awful. Just... no. Sorry, BioWare.

Fictional Character that you think deserved better and why?

My knee-jerk reaction is to scream “PYRRHA!!!!” at the top of my lungs, but... I’ll refrain. My secondary answer would actually be James “Rhodey” Rhodes from the MCU. He was an awesome character, patriotic, almost like a “Captain America” Iron Man. But... in Civil War, it felt like he took a back seat to Tony Stark, then he gets seriously hurt to cause turmoil for Tony. He got turned into a Rosencrantz/Guildenstern. Not cool.

Are you an introvert or an extrovert? 

Truthfully? I have no clue. I’ve taken many personality tests over the years which have spattered me on both sides of the E/I spectrum. I can play both sides of that coin... I read up on something not too long ago that stated that there is a blend of E/I that is known as a ‘univert.’ So... guess I’m that?

All-time Favorite Ship?

Cedar Sea. ((masterpick x @flagbearer-or-scouts))

Okay, okay, fine... Guess I gotta put a fictional ship... Bumbleby. Hands down.

What’s one thing that always reminds you of your childhood?

Whoa... Nostalgia time. The answer is motorcycles. My dad used to race them, and some of my favorite childhood memories were burning down backroads ((way faster than we should’ve been)) on the back of his GSXR. He got me into riding dirtbikes and while I never raced motocross, that’s something him and I still do together.

What made you join your current fandoms?

Curiosity. One of the guys I used to hang out with had RWBY on one day and I was intrigued at Crescent Rose. Another day I watched my girlfriend play Mass Effect 1, and I was curious of the whole RPG/Action concept. I was not disappointed.

Do you have any hidden talents or talents that you think are really cool? What are they?

Um... trying to think of what I’d define as “hidden” talents. One that a lot of people don’t know about me is that I’m a pretty good skater. I played hockey for four years when I was younger, and I wanted to be the fastest skater on the team. It’s like riding a bike whenever I step on the ice again.

OH!!! I can ride a bicycle backwards. It’s been a family tradition that you learn how to ride a bike forwards and backwards. ((My family puts the FUN in dysfunctional.))

Okay, that’s a wrap. I tag... @flagbearer-or-scouts, @evira77, @rwbyfan45, @hellastevenuniverse, @studiogible2016, @rwby-snippets, @thegreatironknight, and... EVERYONE ELSE WHO WANTS TO DO IT!

My questions:

Have you had any nicknames, and what’s your favorite?

Do you name inanimate objects? (Cars, Computers, Phones, etc.)

Tell me all of the fandoms you’re a part of.

What is your favorite kind of fanfiction to read? ((And favorite story?))

You’ve been given $100k. What do you do with it?

Favorite story from your childhood?

Tell me about an OC you’ve made or thought of. Any fandom.

Farthest away you’ve ever been from home?

You can talk to any historical figure dating before 1917, for any length of time. Who do you talk to, and why?

The superpower of your choosing.

What is your favorite pet? ((Current or past))

[maarlathvhenan]

1 4 5 6 17 19 33 39 46 74 84 112 126 127 150 170

Thanks, Lee! ♥♥

1) How tall or short do you wish you were? 

I like my height, tbh. I’m pretty short, but short girls are cute from what I hear. 5′3′’ is fun.

4) What was your favourite video game growing up? 

I’ve always been a really big fan of the Legend of Zelda series, even though my first game wasn’t until Wind Waker. Me, my dad, and brothers used to play World of Warcraft. I also played a lot of Bioware games like Dragon Age and Mass Effect. Me and my brothers would play Dark Alliance and Gauntlet all the time. I also used to be really good at fighting games, specifically Soul Calibur. I used to “pwn n00bs” in that game all the time. 

I come from a family of avid video game players. 

5) What three things/people do you think of most each day? 

1. Red Hot Chili Peppers/John Frusciante

2. Everybody in every group chat I’m a part of (some more than others)

3. The few friends I have here on campus.

6) If you had a warning label, what would yours say?

Warning: Full of mean looks, random hatred and will probably spout anger at you for no reason. She usually has the best intentions though and probably does love you. 

17) If you had to change your name. what would you change it to? 

Well, I really like my name. I think t fits well. I couldn’t imagine myself as anything else. Buuuuuut,  if I had to I’d probs change it to something neutral like Charlie.

19) Do you believe in ghosts/spirits? 

I would like to think so. I don’t really believe the shows that sort of exploit “them” because they’re not at all real. Leave them alone. They can’t be bothered with you, Zak Bagans.

33) Blog rate? [You’ll rate the blog of the one who’s asking]

10/10. You’re blog is easily one of my faves. 

39) Do you believe in horoscopes or zodiacs? 

Sort of. I used to not really believe anything in astrology, but when I read about my sign, things kinda make sense. Like, the traits and stuff are all there. The only thing I don’t really understand is why Scorpios are always deemed super sexual in nature and always fucking. I have never even touched a peepee that wasn’t my own. 

46) Talk about your crush, if you have one! 

I have a few. 

1. I talked to him today as I was walking back from psych class. I think he was on his way to take one of his exams.

2. I saw him but didn’t really say anything to him because he was talking to someone else, but he had a class in the same lecture hall that I had a class in but my class began after his ended.

3. He’s a tumblr crush. It won’t go anywhere. But they’re pretty nice and wholesome, I’d like to think. Fun to talk to. 

74) What is one random but interesting fact about yourself? 

I can play 8 instruments, can sing (coloratura dramatic soprano, apparently), and can read music. Bass clef; I’m very fluent. Treble clef; I’m getting there.

84) What was your first impression of tumblr? 

“How the hell do you work this?”

112) Ever been bitten by a spider? 

I don’t think so. You’d think I would feel it, right? I honestly have no idea.

126) Something you hate about tumblr.

Anonymous hate. Show your face, pussy. Don’t be some fucking keyboard warrior. Come and face me.

Also, pornbots. *shivers*

127) Something you love about tumblr.

Everyone that I’ve met here is so nice and sweet and adorable and I love em.

150) Favourite thing about your personality.

I’m so eclectic and have so many different things influencing me that I can talk to anyone about anything.

170) Did you answer the questions you were asked truthfully? 

Of course. I have no reason to lie. I’m an open book. :^) 

♥♥♥

[waffliesinyoface]

Tagged by: no one, but I saw it and I was bored so I’m doin’ it

Rules: Answer all questions, add one question of your own and tag as many people as there are questions. No, that’s dumb, not gonna do it.. 

Coke or Pepsi: Diet Coke. (With some sprite and fanta or lemonade mixed in) Has a different taste than regular coke. But I don’t drink soda much anyways.

Disney or Dreamworks: I’m largely apathetic about which company made the movie. Both have good and bad.

Coffee or tea: I mainly drink coffee! But like. Not actual coffee. More “this is an excuse to drink milk and creamer and sugar” than coffee coffee. (The actual portion of my coffee that is coffee is around half) I also like chai tea. With a bit of milk in it.

Books or movies: Books. Usually fanfiction nowadays. 

Mac or Windows: Windows. No real personal reason, but I’ve heard that macs are “about as upgradeable as a pie.”

DC or Marvel: I could not really give much of a crap. Never got into comics! I like some of the Marvel movies (Iron Man 1, most notably) but they’ve become all same-y and boring and I don’t care for their whole “the continuity of this is #1 of this series A, then #2 of series B, then our netflix show, then this other unrelated one, then #2 of series A, etc.” (yes, this is me bitching about avengers 2, if ya couldn’t tell.)

Xbox or PlayStation: I originally got an Xbox 360 for Halo. ...but that’s literally the only exclusive I cared about. And I don’t care enough about Halo 5 to get an Xbone. Playstation’s got a lot more exclusives I actually give a damn about.

Dragon Age or Mass Effect: Tried to play dragon age, never got into it. Kinda boring. I played the ME trilogy, but never finished 3, because A: 3 felt like a step down from 2, B: a mission breaking glitch happened, and C: I got bored. Bioware not doin’ a real good job of keeping my interest.

Night owl or early riser: I like night time more than day time, but I try to keep my sleep schedule from 12am-8am. However, my job occasionally requires me to wake up before 4 in the friggin’ morning.

Cards or chess: Only card game I play is CAH. I used to play chess all the time though. Played it against my therapist back in high-school. We were pretty much an even match for each other.

Chocolate or vanilla: Depends on the thing. I like French Vanilla Pudding, but Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.

Star Wars or Star Trek: eehh. Been meaning to watch the Star Wars movies, but the only “unaltered” versions are VHS quality. Likewise never got much into Star Trek. I like the setting, but I prefer games to movies when it comes to SciFi stuff.

One episode per week or binge-watching: I’ll usually watch a couple episodes in a day, but won’t watch something all at once. Usually wait for the whole thing to be done before I start.

Studio Ghibli or Makoto Shinkai?: I’m only familiar with one of those names, and that name is Ghibli.

Heroes or Villains?: Both, as long as they’re relateable or well written.

Notebook or on PC typing?: ...is this for like... notes? I’m assuming it is, even though some computers are called “notebooks” (fuckin’ apple, come up with an original name, dammit.). Either way, I’m real bad at actually taking notes. Do better when physically writing them though.

The X-Files or Supernatural?: Buddy. Pal. Between this and others, you are confusing me for someone who actually watches TV way more than they do. I’ve not watched either. But I do like the X files opening. Is spooky.

Lord of the Rings or Harry Potter?: Harry Potter. (Even though I spend more time in the fanfiction realm nowadays)

Sci-Fi or fantasy?: Fantasy, despite my opinions on DA vs ME above.

Vampires or werewolves?: Vampires are cool. I like both the cute variety (Touhou, Demi-chan wa kataritai, etc) and the “Eldritch Abomination” variety (Hellsing Ultimate). Werewolves... eeeh.

Romeo and Juliet or Hamlet?: Don’t particularly have an opinion on either, because they were covered in school, and school can make even possibly interesting things boring. I am annoyed about the sheer number of times Romeo and Juliet keeps getting re-made, though.

Disneyland or Disney World?: I went to one of these when I was real young. Like, still-in-a-stroller-at-times young. It was the one with Epcot, though, which I THINK is Disney World? Anyways. Haven’t gone since then. IIRC, Disneyland is more “rides” while Disney World is more “cultures of the world,” and the latter sounds more interesting. Six Flags beats out Disneyland when it comes to rides as it is.

Favorite Hamilton song?: Do I look like the sort of person who’s got the ability to go to a Broadway play. Do I really.

Mermaid aus or College aus?: I don’t read fanfiction like that at all, actually! Give me time travel, give me weird cross-overs, give me For Want of a Nail, give me something with an actual plot.

Glitter or confetti?: Confetti.

McDonald’s or Burger King?: McDonalds is decent if you’re on a roadtrip or w/e. I mainly get the McGriddle, because it’s the only thing they make that’s not done better anywhere else. Burger King... no. I can smell the grease a block away. I’ve eaten there once within the past decade, and it’s because there literally were no other options.

Warriors or Seekers series?: These words mean nothing to me.

Jelly or Jam?: Jam. But really, preserves are best. Jelly is just... too homogeneous.

Favorite recent anime (within the past year): New Game! was especially cute. Miss Kobayashi’s Dragon maid is also super cute, but I still need to catch up on that, whoops.

 As for who to tag.. you! Yes, you who are reading this. Consider yourself tagged, if you want to be tagged. If you don’t want to be tagged, consider yourself not tagged. There we go. (though if you do do it feel free to @ me so I can see because hey why not)

[clarissaexplainingitall]

Vaguely well-informed-on-NieR person here. What do you seek, O seeker? (It might really help in answering your question if you were a little more specific. Like: what's your thesis about, and what general notion do you have about how the NieR universe might relate to it? I don't know if I'll be able to answer, but it's cool to think the series might be included in someone's thesis somewhere.)

Oh nice! Sorry, this got a bit long, but here’s a bit more explanation:

So in short, the thesis is primarily on narrative structure: how the different narrative structure of some video game narratives enables them to tell different kinds of narratives/narratives that engage with themes of consequence, culpability, and violence, due to the inherently active nature of audience consumption. The tl;dr version of that is that these video games contain multiple potential narratives within a structure of narrative possibility, and rely on the player to make decisions that result in one of many complete narratives, rather than something like a book that contains one set narrative.

The second part of the thesis deals with how different kinds of games take advantage of forcing players to engage with the plot differently - for example, you have the Bioware decision-tree style, with different branching plot points and endings, you have the actively changing world-state of Dishonored (where the levels themselves change as well as the endings), you’ve got the really open style of Fallout NV, where shooting people willy-nilly and disrupting the plotline can be done but drastically affects how the world reacts to you as well as the development of the main plot.

NieR was recommended to me as a game within the vein of “games that allow players to make decisions and force them to engage with the consequences of those choices,” so I have several veins of questions about it:

1) What kind(s) of narrative branching does NieR use? Is it more like a decision tree (or set of them), that forces the player to make choices (between, say, Option A and Option B) at distinct branching points, or is it something more akin to Dishonored’s Chaos System? Or, is it something along the lines of “doing X, Y, and/or Z will affect how NPCs behave and decisions they make?” Or even something like Bioshock, that plays off of 

2) What kinds of variation do the endings have? Is there any variation in plot/NPC behavior/worldstate as a result of player decisions outside of the ending?

3) How much does the game, if at all (though from what I’ve read it definitely sounds like it does), engage with themes of culpability, and by what means does it force the player to engage with the consequences of their own actions in the game (cutscenes, forcing them to play through an area/level that’s been shaped by their decisions, only varying in endings, etc.)?

That was a lot but if anybody is interested in talking about this stuff, hit me up!