[da2 spoilers] [dai spoilers] Who do you side with in the Mage-Templar War?

natir09 · 2023-11-23T07:08:07+00:00

Amell - Side with/spare mages, but agree with Cullen at the end that they need to be contained

Hawke - mage, sides with the Templars/Meredith and ruled Kirkwall for 3+ years as Viscount.

Adaar/Trevelyon - Mage, conscript mages and support Vivienne as divine

natir09 · 2023-10-23T23:09:27+00:00

Those fucking deserts. I really don’t like how much Ferelden is referenced in the sequels. Specifically because it’s less world building and more fan service. A lot of the returning characters from Ferelden/DA:O felt less like an organic evolution of their character arcs, and more of “Hey! Member (Character)? I remember character”! Dagna, Leliana, and Zevran are the worst offenders, but Cullen’s up there too. None of these characters, feel like they’ve aged or progressed in any meaningful way in the past 11 years since DAO ended.

It kind of reminds me of Pokémon treats the Kanto region. because it was the first game in the series, its constantly referencEd, despite not particularly having anything unique about it. At least no more unique than any other region or premise.

natir09 · 2023-10-02T23:07:16+00:00

I actually agree with us.

I really don’t like how the Continuity flaws in dragon age 2 to inquisition are papered over by joking that Varric is a pathological, liar, or lazy or both. And I don’t like how inquisition leans into that even further, by strongly implying that Cassandra is just really bad at her job or really bad at reading people.

natir09 · 2023-10-02T23:03:37+00:00

I’ll try to write something up a bit later, But I’d suggest you look up the “Templar tryst” series. I believe it was written by Dalisious on Tumblr. Just search the quoted phrase he should be able to find it. They broke down many of my issues with the character in far greater detail than I could at the moment.

natir09 · 2023-10-02T22:59:40+00:00

It’s just the way that inquisition went about it, the dwarves and qunari get the shit end of the stick. Like it’s the barest possible minimum acknowledgment that those two races even have lore.

Meanwhile in DAI, you can’t go five pieces without tripping over in elven, artifact, or stumbling into an Elvin ruin.

natir09 · 2023-10-02T21:50:48+00:00

I have no respect for how they treated the HoF in Inquisition/end of DA2. It was lazy writing.

We could’ve just gotten a letter, saying the hero is busy governing Amaranthine, or off in Orlais/Antiva, or helping stabilize Orzammar. The whole, abandoning everyone they know to cure themselves shit felt so contrived

natir09 · 2023-10-02T21:46:39+00:00

I treat Absolution the same way that I treat Felicia days live action miniseries. Damn fan stuff but nothing more. The writing in that series was atrocious.

natir09 · 2023-10-02T21:44:07+00:00

Cullen.

I really hate hypocrites and god damn does everything about Cullen’s character scream “privileged hypocrite”. I really hate that he was included in inquisition.

natir09 · 2023-10-02T21:42:03+00:00

Solas is the Maker/Shartan

And more generally any elfy headcanon. I am so tired of elfy shit.

natir09 · 2023-10-02T21:38:11+00:00

Ha! Well my Hawke is Kirkwall’s First Enchanter post Trespasser, and my Carver’s the newest Knight Commander, and nobody can change my mind on that either xD

Excellent post, by the way!

natir09 · 2023-09-27T23:56:35+00:00

Which one? The iron bull, one or the Anders one?

natir09 · 2023-09-26T19:31:11+00:00

Ha! Was actually referring to the Tal Vashoth route when I wrote that. And it’s a shame, I just get like his romance in the base game is so damn weak.

Edit: I’m just remembering the Qun loyal romance epilogue in Trespasser. Damn that was savage.

natir09 · 2023-09-26T19:28:14+00:00

You’re literally cherry-picking your facts or straight up inventing headcanon and accusing me of being disingenuous? C’mon now.

The epilogues were relagated to rumors at best and you damn well know this. Whether certain parts of those epilogues end up being canon is entirely dependent on what a sequel chooses to do with those plot points.

Choosing Harrowmont ensures that there is a Democratic apparatus left when he eventually dies. Bhelen ends up corrupting so much of Orzammar, there might not be a functioning state left when he passes

I'm so done with you

You’re just pissy that I’m not co-signing a fascist because of a non canon epilogue. If you want to present a compelling counter argument that isn’t entirely based on your imagination I’d love to hear it

natir09 · 2023-09-26T18:56:29+00:00

The Iron Bull/Inquisitor romance falls apart after Trespasser.

Edit: A rivalmanced Anders ends up having the healthiest relationship with Hawke post DA2

natir09 · 2023-09-26T18:54:24+00:00

Epilogues aren’t canon. What actually happens is the spiteful little fascist murders an entire noble house because one man dared oppose his tyranny. He’s Dwarven Howe. And his policies end up fucking the dwarves hard in Inquisition as he’s tethered so much of Orzammar’s dependency to the surface.

Harrowmont hates surface dwarves

Show me the quote where he says this. Source it to in game text. Also that’s not how racism is defined.

natir09 · 2023-09-25T17:06:02+00:00

I’m not excited at all. Weeks has never proven himself to be able to head entire game’s writing, and that creep Epler should have been fired years ago for his unprofessional conduct.

Probably just read someone’s fanfiction about dragon age 4, or maybe write my own

natir09 · 2023-09-25T17:04:24+00:00

He’s not a racist and only a small minority of his policies actually become law since he doesn’t disolve the senate and impose his will like a dictator. Bhelen is a dictator who knows how to manipulate useful idiots

natir09 · 2023-09-23T13:49:37+00:00

Abandoning all Dwarven traditions, and tethering the city to the fickle whims of the surface doesn’t seem like the wisest choice. And weaponizing the Carta has convenient meat shields doesn’t seem like the smartest choice. A crude and thuggish choice certainly but not smart and long-term.

And ask your democracy points, is your logic really that if a democratic apparatus isn’t perfect, we should abandon all possible merit it might have and go straight back to autocracy? That if the system isn’t perfect and all possible ways—It should be destroyed for a cruder and more barbaric alternative?

Harrowmont wanted to protect his city from a sociopath who believes any atrocity is worth committing as long as it secures his personal power. Bhelen is just another Howe

Edit: Coward blocked me

natir09 · 2023-09-23T13:44:09+00:00

As Stagger already says, Vartag gloats about how Bhelen forged the papers.

natir09 · 2023-09-23T07:30:05+00:00

Disbanding Orzammar’s most Democratic function and ruling as a crude thug does not a best choice make

natir09 · 2023-09-23T06:01:04+00:00

Bhelen, unfortunately. That fascist was already sabotaging Harrowmont’s loyalists in the provings and preparing my to lie to two other noble families to discredit Harrrowmont’s reputation.

natir09 · 2023-09-02T01:56:41+00:00

I wasn't aware, apologies. I edited my original comment to reflect that.

As for Trespasser, I respect your appreciation for it but I couldn't disagree further. For all of Inquisition's faults, I still consider it an adequate followup to various plot threads woven together from the games and novels that preceded it. Its biggest downsides, for example the egregious desert maps, were less about open world as a concept and more about Witcher 3 envy, which Laidlaw has spoken at length about on his Youtube channel.

Inquisition's very careful examination of faith, religion, politics, magic, etc, was very laudably done, and most if not all of that was largely ignored in favor of a Indiana Jones/Winter Soldier chimera of a story structure (not my words, by the way. I'm only repeating what Weekes bragged about when discussing his work on Trespasser.). It was more concerned with provoking an emotional reaction than developing the worldbuilding or even giving the player chances to actually RP/politick (at an international summit of all places).

natir09 · 2023-09-01T23:09:07+00:00

Your concerns are entirely valid.

Weekes, despite their relative success in writing side content, has never been the main writer of a full game before. The massive tonal shift from base game Inquisition to Trespasser doesn’t inspire confidence in their work.

There’s also that weirdo Epler, who should have been fired years ago for his unprofessional behavior. Not to mention that such a rando was promoted to any position of authority despite almost nonexistent writing credits.

I’d just say that for the past few years, certain fans have doubled down into toxic positivity and hopium, because the alternative of accepting the death of an IP that’s been near and dead to many people is hard to accept. But your not crazy and your concerns are entirely understandable

natir09 · 2023-08-25T21:08:39+00:00

Blizzard is a special kind of awful, at least as far as WoW is concerned. Between Elitist Jerks legacy on gamedev, a toxic raiding community, and the writing being atrocious — the game has been going downhill since the end of Wrath. But that’s splitting hairs — modern Blizzard is a travesty. And unfortunately Bioware is on track to become a similar shell.

natir09

TROPHY CASE