wardencmdrs

[wardencmdrs]

I'm playing through Dragon Age 2 again and I just can't get over how... idk how to say it exactly, but the way you feel, in every moment of this game, how much Varric loves Hawke. It feels entwined with everything, it breathes through every part of the narrative, it blooms diegetigally through the integration of story and gameplay, makes you a co-conspirator in that love in a way maybe only a video game could.

It's in the way I don't think this story is a defense of Hawke only -- or even primarily -- directed at Cassandra, but at Hawke themselves. Beneath everything else going on there's the quiet, utterly unshakable refutation of Hawke's worst fears: Did you think you mattered, Hawke? Did you think anything you ever did mattered? . . . You're a failure, and your family died knowing it. Rising through the story as Varric tells it there's a fiercely tender voice saying: Yes, you did matter. In tragedy or in triumph, for better or for worse, in love or in hate, you always mattered. The ultimate tragedy of Hawke is always right there in the open before the story even starts letting you in on telling it; they couldn't fix anything. They couldn't stop the downward spiral Kirkwall was set on -- the real truth is that no one person ever could. And yet the point of DA2 is that it matters that they tried, and it matters that there were people who loved and were loved along the way, however badly it all failed in the end. Hawke is the Bioware protagonist who succeeds the least, and they're the character who matters the most, to me. (This is also why the Absolution reveal did not shake me in the least haha, my love for Hawke has nothing at all to do with whether they succeeded or failed at anything.)

What Varric is saying, in the only way he seems to be able to say the really real things -- through stories -- is so simple and so fundamental. You were here, and I loved you. There's the emotional heart of it, at the end of it all, that love and grief and recognition. It's so dizzyingly intimate. There's so much distancing, layers upon layers of obfuscation, to be able to say it. It drives me insane!!!! It makes me feel the same way that 'Poem' by Langston Hughes does:

I loved my friend.  He went away from me.  There's nothing more to say.  The poem ends,  Soft as it began,— I loved my friend. 

He loved his friend. They went away from him. What more is there to say. (Many, many, many things, when you're a compulsive liar and storyteller, but hey sometimes you have to deploy a whole armada of lies to tell one simple truth, I understand, I'm a writer too lol)

[wardencmdrs]

oh neve... how you always assume the worse to happen to you

[wardencmdrs]

day 1 of @datvcompanionweeks #davrinweek2025 - shepherd

a baby davrin taking his halla herding duties very very seriously

[wardencmdrs]

i will die your daughter.

[wardencmdrs]

Veilguard is a game steeped in insecurity of its own world, lore, and genre. I know each DA game has departed further and further from its CRPG origins but this game in particular is very egregious in its identity issues. Its like an unholy child of ME2 that also wants to be God of War. I mean down to the level design, upgrading the lyrium dagger, the companion reviving you with a stone system, the animations for cracks in the wall is straight out of God of War. The puzzles/crystals in Arlathan felt eerily similar to Alfheim (also the elven realm in Nordic mythology) in God of War.

It wanted to mimic all those successful games and the elements that made it good but forgot what made those games so good - the writing. God of War (2018) and Ragnarok benefited from having a director and a studio I think that had a very cohesive vision of the story it wanted to tell and you can tell. The writing, the music, the voice acting is all what made it fantastic. I never played the OG God of War games, but I cared about Kratos and Atreus in the reboot series and wanted to see their character growth and boy (no pun intended) did we get that in spades, especially Ragnarok. We see conflict, pain, and grief among the companions in the God of War games and even companions that cannot, and refuse to forgive the actions of Kratos or Atreus.

Dragon Age as a franchise keeps chasing after whatever popular video game trends are at the time. Even Kala Elizabeth made a whole video pointing this out, and DAI also did the same thing (I say with affection) with its open world format because of the popularity of Skyrim. But even as I love the open world setting, I know a lot of folks hated it. But the thing is, I think it was forgivable even with the many empty maps - because of how strong the writing is and it still adhered to the lore for the most part. The companions, the party dialogue, the lore - you get companions who will beef with each other but also if you look past the surface level, will reveal insight on their perspective and tell you more about whatever background and faction they come from and WHY they feel the way they do. They have flaws. They have actual character.

Not to mention, the game also reuses the husks from Mass Effect into Dragon Age for darkspawn. Illario pays a "homage" to Lion King except that the speech nearly copies Scar's speech word for word. Here's another post displaying screenshots of each speech. Its almost like the devs/Bioware at large had zero faith in the success of past DA games. DAI won GOTY 2014 and sold 12 million copies. I find it strange that DAV is pretty much a soft reboot and is so estranged from its own world despite that DAI did really well.

[wardencmdrs]

this is your baptism

[wardencmdrs]

Neve w pin curls 🤭

[wardencmdrs]

Neve 🧎

[wardencmdrs]

no nuance/multiple ocs option for these okay. you have to pick one. if you can’t decide just go for the class you most enjoy playing whether it’s for gameplay or roleplay reasons

[wardencmdrs]

another day bein a parent to a griffon.

[wardencmdrs]

I remade Isabela for DAV because her outfit in the game is horrendous I’m sorry I can’t stand it.

[wardencmdrs]

The Leliana? Who accompanied the Hero of Ferelden to slay the archdemon?

[wardencmdrs]

team who oversaw the development of anthem

during the development of anthem the devs had sound isolated stress rooms they could scream in as crunch and stress of the project was so awful

laying off the writers who were responsible for the most fondly remembered emotional beats of mass effect

this is sustainable. this is good. this will work. me5 will be good. it is all fine. we are happy. we are so happy. this is wonderful. there is no fault here, we are comfortable and warm in the belly of the machine. the machine isn't bleeding to death. the car isn't on fire, and there is a very happy driver at the wheel. the wind is is light and is a very gentle breeze. the sewers are clean and muddied with happiness and sustainability. nothing is corrupt, the curtains are open and the radio is off as we are just enjoying the sounds of life. don't embrace me yet, as these aren't the final days. andrews wallet isn't full of blood.

[wardencmdrs]

+ black and white stage cus I like it

[wardencmdrs]

Early Minrathous

These early sketches were an attempt to wrap my head around it, and to begin to incorporate landmarks that had been mentioned previously in the series. By Matt Rhodes

[wardencmdrs]

You get trapped with two Dragon Age characters (spin the wheel) in one room for a day.

[wardencmdrs]

I feel like a blade sharpened all these years to confront the worst darkness in the world. And my blade struck true at Weisshaupt. What now?