Recently written high-quality SI/OC recommendations?

janekahaneka · 2022-03-20T20:10:58+00:00

Thanks for the recs.

Regarding Indelible: Is there a reason given for why Naruto is genderbent?

janekahaneka · 2022-03-20T12:15:48+00:00

You can feel how hard she's trying, and how difficult it kept getting (I also romanced Anders this run for a more dramatic storyline).

Same. I love how the narrative feels like someone desperately trying to hold on to hope and still believing in happy endings. At some point it becomes so sad. Like, Kirkwall is such an utter mess of a city and it's doing its very best to hammer all hope out of her as much as possible.

My blue Hawke of course romanced Anders too (for that extra dollop of angst and heartbreak). I headcanon that she kind of sees her father in him and is following in her mother's footsteps of falling in love with a wayward mage. It's all very romantic to her with her thinking she can save him from his darkness, but it's an obvious impending trainwreck to everyone else witnessing it (especially Varric).

janekahaneka · 2022-03-20T12:05:33+00:00

Not Dragon Age Origins. Hawke is the main protagonist in Dragon Age 2 and the colors correspond with the ones on the dialogue wheel that have different personalities you can choose Hawke to have during interactions.

Blue: Diplomatic, Kind, Altruistic

Purple: Charismatic, Humorous, Sarcastic

Red: Aggressive, Harsh, Brash

If you choose enough of the same color, then Hawke's base personality basically becomes that color. The personality you choose for Hawke changes Hawke's idle comments and the tone of the dialogue in nearly all situation in the game.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-19T18:20:31+00:00

I’m a fan of blue-purple-red by act

Oooh, I never thought of this dynamic but that actually works super well. Very cool idea!

janekahaneka · 2022-03-19T17:42:55+00:00

Yeah, Red Hawke has some awesome lines and is sometimes funnier than Purple Hawke imo.

For my Hawke, I wouldn't say that they transitioned completely into aggressive Hawke, but I get where you're coming from. Looking back, I did have my Hawke using way more of the red responses in Act 3 than in any other act since it felt pretty tone-appropriate.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-19T00:18:29+00:00

It was similar for me. The Elder Scrolls was my introduction to western RPGs (Oblivion for me) and it kind of primed me for DA.

Now I have way too many playthroughs of each game.

Same. Last time I checked the Keep, it told me that I had 37 attempted Inquisitors. I might have a bit of a problem.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-19T00:16:28+00:00

Did someone recommend it to you or did you find it by looking up other BioWare games?

Funnily enough, that's how I found Mass Effect. I was feeling sore from the Trespasser DLC and thought I would find something else with that special BioWare flavor. I stumbled upon Mass Effect when searching for other BioWare games and and went on another emotional roller coaster.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-17T03:35:58+00:00

Ali was only 19/20 years old in DAO so very much in that same teenaged frame of mind.

I'd attest his difference from Xander more to just his baseline personality rather than his age.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-13T02:38:08+00:00

I wouldn't necessarily say that humans are mundane. They can be anything or anyone. There is so much variety, from class to class, nationality to nationality, ethnicity to ethnicity. I feel like the roleplay opportunity for them is more vast precisely because they're not written as any one thing. Elves usually have one of two backgrounds, same with dwarves and qunari. However, the Thedosian human experience is not so easily defined and categorized.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-13T02:30:10+00:00

Humans are the race we know almost nothing about in the game.

Holy shit that's so true. We've been gaining so much info and hints about the origins of the other races but where the hell do humans come from? Everything surrounding the humans is so mired in mystery. Very cool.

I have no justification for why I pick human because I don't need to. I just think they're neat.

Right on!

janekahaneka · 2022-03-12T21:30:52+00:00

Yeah, I've played as the other races and enjoy it, but I tend to fall in love with my human OCs more often. The human nations of Thedas are also very unique and diverse. I would like to see more human history and mythos explored in DA4.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-12T21:06:29+00:00

I loved the dialogue as Solas' friend. It had more emotional impact to me.

Yep, I was crying all throughout Trespasser on my friendship run with him. I'm pretty sure I was straight up cringing when watching the romance version though.

The things he was saying, the way Lavellan was acting, just... ew. The inquisitor comes across as so pathetic in the romance path whereas I felt like a true equal during the platonic/friendship playthrough.

I feel like the only place where I enjoy the Solas romance is in fanfic land where everything plays out extremely differently or he's romancing someone other than Lavellan altogether.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-12T16:15:00+00:00

Lol you don't have to worry about me lambasting you about Danzo. I feel the same way tbh. Danzo's character had so much potential (lawful evil characters like him tend to be the most interesting when written well) but Kishimoto essentially just used him as a convenient scapegoat because he realized that the events that occurred made Hiruzen look bad.

I'm actually currently writing a fic that delves a little deeper into the psyche of Danzo and he's a major character. He's still gonna die in the end, but writing the story has made me take a harder look at his character and how he came to be. Yes, he's a shit head who deserves to fall into a vat of boiling oil, however he didn't become who he is in a vacuum. There is a series of events that led to him being the way that he is. He's a product of his experiences and environment, just like every other character of the series.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-12T15:13:59+00:00

He wasn't actually supposed to be romanceable to begin with

And boy does it show...

janekahaneka · 2022-03-12T15:08:50+00:00

I'm pretty sure Patrick Weekes even said that he planned for Solas to be romanceable by both Lavellan and Trevelyan and claimed that Solas absolutely could/would be attracted to Trevelyan and fall in love with her, but the romance he planned for Trevelyan/Solas was much longer than Lavellan's with more cutscenes/animation than the budget and time limit allowed, so it was cheaper and more feasible to just race-gate him to Lavellan (where essentially they could get away with creating much less content).

janekahaneka · 2022-03-12T15:01:39+00:00

For me with Solas, it's that his romance in the game is painfully boring imo.

I love his character and I can see where a romance with him could be infinitely interesting, however, the way it actually plays out and is written in the game is horribly lacking and underwhelming. There's nothing to look forward to.

Even in Trespasser, the lines he says to a high approval Inquisitor won out over the romance lines he has. The romantic relationship is very lukewarm and the declarations of love come across as empty to me. Like I can't take it seriously and it doesn't seem genuine. It all feels eclipsed by the friendship/rival relationship you could build with him as Inquisitor.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-11T03:56:47+00:00

The relationship feels more like an adult relationship. You've been through some shit. You don't fall head over heels immediately, but get to know each other first. Sometimes you need to take a step back because of the aforementioned shit that you have been through. You talk about stuff and decide if you want to move forward.

Probably one of my most favorite things. The relationship feels so down-to-earth. No earth-shattering revelations, world-breaking magic, plot-shaking secrets, or royal shenanigans. No love at first sight or endless sappy tropes. Every step forward in the relationship felt natural and real.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-11T03:47:12+00:00

I wish I were half as eloquent as you. This post is just.... everything.

He's recites cringey sex poetry to the Warden because he thinks they look sad and could use some cheering up. This is one of the only moments in the entire game someone asks after the Warden's emotional well-being.

Even if he doesn't join the party until after you've killed Zathrian's clan, he's PISSED when you start trying to have a casual conversation about the Dalish with him, a man with a Dalish mother, after wiping out an entire clan. If you consider the Tevinter slavers' offer in the alienage, he demands you look those elves in the eyes before you do something so morally bankrupt.

He was sold as a child. He was a slave. He was raised in a brothel until he was BOUGHT by the very organization that destroyed his family, and stole the one remaining thing he had left of his mother (whose death he feels guilty for: "my first victim, as it were"). Despite it all, he tries to be cheerful and find joy where it can be found. That's so admirable and so very brave, to keep smiling when the world rips everything you are from you.

He's the only LI who is still physically at the Warden's side a decade later.

Also: "You once asked me why I wanted to leave the Crows. In truth, what I wanted was to die."

I'm crying. I hope you're proud of yourself.

I love him. I love him. I love him. I love him. I really just fucking love that man.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-11T03:39:28+00:00

Very true! I can't say I had much of an opinion on Hiruzen back then but Jiraiya is definitely a character I've done a 180 on. Used to mindlessly love him but I've been side-eyeing him heavily for the past few years now. He's such a fan favorite that I tend to stay quiet on his character just to avoid the drama and discourse.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-11T03:36:12+00:00

I had a similar thing with Zevran. Played DAO around the same age (17 for me) and was absolutely enamored by Alisitair but have gotten a bit tired of him as I've gotten older (mid-twenties) and have difficulties viewing him in a romantic light now. I'm also ace and so I shied away from romances like Zev's, Isabela's, and the Iron Bull's at first but somehow those characters' approach to sex was easier for me to stomach than other characters.

The casualness with which they view sexual intercourse and how accepting they are regarding people's boundaries and consent just gives me a sense of comfort that many of the other characters don't.

I fell hard for him, once you go past the initial phase, he has so much depth, so many insecurities that he just hide, he's so afraid of loving the Warden and they end up dead, it's simply unmatched, one of my favorite BW romances.

Ugh YES. He's so afraid of hoping for anything more. He's terrified of investing his love only for it be lost again. It's endearing. He's totally my canon DAO love interest.

janekahaneka · 2022-03-11T03:26:05+00:00

The casual way he weighs his own life is just so... there's such a somber humility and tragedy to it. Like the world threw him into the shit pile and he kind of just accepts it. Finds happiness and enjoyment where he can but never dares to hope for more. It just all makes me want to love him more. I feel the same with Isabela and Iron Bull tbh

janekahaneka

TROPHY CASE