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Post by spiritofsolace on May 22, 2017 21:13:19 GMT
I'd be okay with a late dlc. It would give us all something new to talk and think about.
I don't think that is what he is working on though.
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Post by spiritofsolace on May 22, 2017 6:05:06 GMT
I'd laugh quite hard if it turned out that ancient Elvhen word for elfroot is 'cannabis' Wasn't the elvish word for it "canavaris"?
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Post by spiritofsolace on Apr 19, 2017 21:08:42 GMT
What does Kyle do?
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Post by spiritofsolace on Apr 17, 2017 0:38:47 GMT
I keep saying that - ironically - Elvehnan seems more similar to our current civilization than modern Thedas is, and that the whole thing may yet end up like a giant cautionary tale for our world: what happens to a civilization as grand as to being capable of things once considered godly will venture in a wrong direction. For sure! One parallel I find really striking is the spirits-as-AI metaphor. Spirits behave exactly how we'd expect advanced AIs to behave. They're often hyper-focused on a specific goal, to the point where humans are confused about their morality. Is this spirit good? Is it bad? Well, it's trying to maximize the value of an optimization function, based on a very inflexible definition. In western occultism that hyper focus on a certain quality is how spirits are said to behave. They are whatever that quality is personified. So I am not so sure bioware is trying to say anything about ai, I think they just did some research into how people who actually believe in spirits think about them. It is an interesting comparison though.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Apr 2, 2017 5:07:07 GMT
So does this confirm that the "frilly cakes" Solas had in Orlais where chocolate? Very important. I always wanted to know.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Mar 28, 2017 2:21:39 GMT
Clearly the best love interests are the ones who abandon you to plot genocide. 😜 Aww man, sorry for insulting your boyfriend.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Mar 28, 2017 0:43:39 GMT
Nah, Cullen's more like Creme Brulee. A little charred and singed after getting captured and tortured in DAO. Wouldn't that make him mildly interesting though?
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Post by spiritofsolace on Mar 18, 2017 4:19:00 GMT
I can't speak for everyone, but Solas certainly changed my perspective on the whole demon and spirit thing in the DA games. I think all the people who like Cole (and there seem to be rather a lot) might also have warmer, fuzzier feelings for spirits after DAI. So, it might not be so difficult as you think. But of course none of us has access to hard data about how many players made what decisions in DAI that might possibly influence the outcome of the story in hypothetical future DA games. You're right. I shouldn't mistake people not considering something as being the same as being maliciously inconsiderate. It isn't the same. I am quite sure we know pretty much nothing about Solas' plans. I wouldn't worry about that! A lot of people think they know exactly what he's going to do: tear down the Veil and reshape the world of the ancient elves, and maybe he will, still, but I doubt it. All we really know about his plans now that he doesn't have the Orb is that h e is willing and probably able to take extreme measures to accomplish his goals, but I think there is room for a befriended/romanced Solas to try to find a less destructive way.
We don't really know what he means by "restoring the world of his people." It could be more figurative; it could be more literal. But if he does literally plan to shape the ancient world back into what it once looked like, he's got to know that won't work extremely well. He'd be relying on his memories and the memories of other surviving ancient elves to do it, and he himself tells us that memories are flawed and vary from person to person. So using memories to rebuild what once was is probably going to be disappointing.
Nah... I think what we know is a mere tip of the iceberg I am curious though how much we're going to know at the very end of DA4. I recall the interview with David Gaider for VGS and how he said that initially DAI was supposed to be twice as long and DA4 will basically be (or contain) the 2nd part for Inquisition... but he also said that - whether they'd cut the plot in half or not - the pace of lore reveal is about the same. Now, I don't really think that he said that exactly literally, or that things haven't changed somewhat since that, but that means that if they haven't divided the plot... at the end of original DAI, after the supposed fight with Solas... we'd know about the same as after Trespasser ? I don't think for a minute that we know as much as some people seem to think we do. I think trespasser's writing in that ending scene was interesting because if you don't examine it all that closely it seems very clear but it is actually really ambiguous if you get into the details. I'm imagining the writers twirling their mustaches over their slightly misleading work in that scene. That is interesting that Gaider said that. I'm supposing that we only got half the lore along with half the plot that they had initially planned. Weekes has said some interesting things over twitter that really showed we will be getting more context at the very least. Like that one time when someone asked weekes if pre veil people were different from modern people in the way they experience emotions and Weekes seemed really excited. It is going to be a long wait for DA4.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Mar 12, 2017 4:13:23 GMT
Do most people even feel like Solas dilemma as it is currently framed very grey? I think people relate to Solas' grief and see him as a grey character without necessarily finding the situation itself to have much grey. To me it seems grey, but only because I find leaving the veil as it is to be wrong. So in my view Solas is in a situation where there is no morally right action. But I don't think that most people find those that are most harmed by the veil to be worth even considering. Like they don't really care at all about ghosts and magic people, they just don't. And I am not sure bioware can do anything to change that. So that is why they might have to have Solas' goals being ultimately about saving the world. I think people would be more onboard for that. And really I think it would be boring storytelling for us to already know everything pertinent about Solas' plans. DA4 imo is going to be rather dull if we truly know everything already.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 26, 2017 5:42:19 GMT
I hate this. If they are going to have a big bad in the first place ( I'd prefer they didn't) then we should be able to take them seriously. All this "lol, yer so stuupid" from writers even doesn't exactly fill me with hope. I mean it seems like they sort of want to have characters that are nuanced and have you and them make difficult choices where there may not be any easy or perfect answers......and then we get this. But it wouldn't be the first time they half commit to something I didn't exactly have high hopes for DA4 and stuff like this makes me feel I should keep my expectations low. I don't think you should take this so seriously - no more than devs at some other time pretending that they didn't know who Solas is, or that he's an elf-Hitler. I mean, unless you believe that despite them being extremely cautious with telling if DA4 is even in production, only to spoil an important component of it - "oh, the Dread Wolf was just stupid!".... Yeah, I don't really think it works that way Well, I tend to think there is truth in jokes. I think in this case it speaks to a willingness to think about him dismissively. So while they probably aren't going to have things amount to Solas just being a big dummy, I have reservations about how things are going to turn out if they are thinking dismissively on some level. It is possible to undermine someone in more subtle ways. Hopefully you are right though Also sorry for cluttering your thread hrungr
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 26, 2017 3:20:59 GMT
Natalie @stumpynat *sees a passing tweet of someone asking for KOTOR 3* JUST GO PLAY SWTOR PEOPLE. You want to know how Revan's story ended? Revan was a dick, unleashed great evil because he was an arrogant dick, and then I killed him. (And then smooched Lana.) (Also, the Exile was way cooler than Revan and I will fight you.) Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I've told you that I think Revan and Solas are basically twins separated at birth, right? 1. Do you have a plan to save the world that involves maybe killing everyone in it? CHECK. 2. Did you try this before at least once and it resulted in the near-destruction of everything ever? CHECK 3. Are you, alone, capable of fixing this mess, even though literally NONE of your ideas have ever worked? CHECK. 4. Do you have a new plan that is eerily similar to the last several failed plans, but you're sure it will work this time? CHECK Sheryl Chee @sherylchee I cackled. Mary Kirby @biomarykirby I love both characters, but guys. GUYS. Step away from the plans. You are not good at planning. At all. I hate this. If they are going to have a big bad in the first place ( I'd prefer they didn't) then we should be able to take them seriously. All this "lol, yer so stuupid" from writers even doesn't exactly fill me with hope. I mean it seems like they sort of want to have characters that are nuanced and have you and them make difficult choices where there may not be any easy or perfect answers......and then we get this. But it wouldn't be the first time they half commit to something I didn't exactly have high hopes for DA4 and stuff like this makes me feel I should keep my expectations low.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 20, 2017 23:34:37 GMT
It would be weird to me if Solas wasn't doing something about the blight. He does call it "the real problem" at one point. So if he isn't doing something about it and he is just doing his veil destroying plan for nostalgia or whatever, than he has to just accept that the blight is going to eventually kill the Elves anyway? That is way less explainable than why he isn't telling us about what he is doing. (...) I do think that he has plans for the Blight, the question for me is if bringing back the world of the elves is part of that plan or a goal on its own, his main goal in fact, and the way he talks in Trespasser it seems it's the latter. And I'm not even saying that it's not the former so that what he's really doing is saving the world (or trying to), but if that's the case (and I hope it is), I'm going to feel cheated That is an interesting question, I think maybe it is motivating factor. Just to speculate, since the only thing I am sure of is that there is some foreshadowing going on, is that maybe Solas believes the blight can't be solved if the veil is up. So he would feel that the modern world is most likely doomed no matter what he does. If he brings the veil down the elves will have stronger magic and with it better odds at defeating the blight. So it is a added motivation, one reason out of all the reasons he has to want the veil gone.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 20, 2017 9:05:59 GMT
It would be weird to me if Solas wasn't doing something about the blight. He does call it "the real problem" at one point. So if he isn't doing something about it and he is just doing his veil destroying plan for nostalgia or whatever, than he has to just accept that the blight is going to eventually kill the Elves anyway? That is way less explainable than why he isn't telling us about what he is doing. Honestly what is the inqusitor going to be able to do? The grey wardens haven't found a good plan for the blight or even truly understand it after 2,000 years. It is sheer player vanity to think we have an answer for all these problems. If we do it is just because that is the sort of power fantasy bioware games are, not that it is remotely logical for you to be the shiny hero who can solve anything, the npcs just aren't going to acknowledge you that way. I *still* don't remember where I read this, but I think DA protagonists are *supposed* to be random people stuck at the right (or wrong?) place at the right (or wrong) time. They're essentially just pawns to the story or to some higher powers, struggling against the current. Some actions can fail, others backfire, and yet others lead to some unexpected consequences (yeah, sure, let's help that dwarf open a church in Orzammar...). We are not supposed to be able to help everyone and save everything, and I think that it's the point. But players don't like it because people like feeling like they've accomplished something. But DA's prerogative seems to be it's story, not making the players feel accomplished by becoming a "shiny hero" who magically made every problem on Thedas go away. And it's realistic, even if depressing and/or irritating at times. That's my take on it, anyway. As for Solas, no matter how much he tries to be logical, he still acts on his emotions. That's his main problem, he doesn't really think things through. Right now, destroying the Veil is his goal number one since he feels guilty about this, and the Blight might be somewhere further down the list... might be.
As I saw on Tumblr the other day - Solas is what happens when you put all stat points in Intelligence and zero in Wisdom Solas typically has more than one reason for doing anything he does and he has way to much to say about the blight for it to be something "further down the list". His dialog seems to imply that he thinks an eternal blight is going to occur after all the old gods are defeated. So, it just doesn't add up for me personally that he would suddenly (and conveniently) forget that. Here is a tumblr post that compiles everything Solas says about the blight, the writers really made a point to have him talk about it. I'm sure the blight is definitely going to be a part of Solas' story in some way. as for the bolded do we know this? How do we know he isn't thinking things through? Cole actually says that Solas was right to bring up the veil. Even if all this was just about the veil we know that it is hurting spirits. What i am getting at is that this is all probably more complicated in some way than most care to admit. The current world is built on the suffering of others (spirits, elves who should have lived longer, mages who became abominations) and I don't think that is truly morally right any more than bringing the veil down is morally right. Imma be blunt but that tumblr post is what I am talking about with player vanity. He has no wisdom at all......but we do........even though it is obvious we aren't fully informed. I dunno man
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 20, 2017 5:39:09 GMT
It would be weird to me if Solas wasn't doing something about the blight. He does call it "the real problem" at one point. So if he isn't doing something about it and he is just doing his veil destroying plan for nostalgia or whatever, than he has to just accept that the blight is going to eventually kill the Elves anyway? That is way less explainable than why he isn't telling us about what he is doing. Honestly what is the inqusitor going to be able to do? The grey wardens haven't found a good plan for the blight or even truly understand it after 2,000 years. It is sheer player vanity to think we have an answer for all these problems. If we do it is just because that is the sort of power fantasy bioware games are, not that it is remotely logical for you to be the shiny hero who can solve anything, the npcs just aren't going to acknowledge you that way.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 11, 2017 2:07:53 GMT
I don't know how I feel about Solas with hair. Most of the fan art with hair has him with hairstyles from the concept art, which were all rejected because they didn't suit the person Solas became. So it always looks off to me. If they wanted him to have hair in the next game for some reason (to disguise himself, maybe?) I'm sure they would come up with something that works for him. Hopefully something plain. Anyway, what is it with Solas and keeping his crotch covered at all times? I guess he thinks we wouldn't be able to handle all that Elvhen glory... It makes the other men feel insecure, so he covers it for their sake. It is very impressive . How kind of him to protect other dudes' feelings like that!
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 11, 2017 1:46:48 GMT
I don't know how I feel about Solas with hair. Most of the fan art with hair has him with hairstyles from the concept art, which were all rejected because they didn't suit the person Solas became. So it always looks off to me. If they wanted him to have hair in the next game for some reason (to disguise himself, maybe?) I'm sure they would come up with something that works for him. Hopefully something plain.
Anyway, what is it with Solas and keeping his crotch covered at all times? I guess he thinks we wouldn't be able to handle all that Elvhen glory...
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 6, 2017 1:09:23 GMT
Cool story, usually when people have cultural chauvinism pride they aren't grossly misrepresenting someone else's culture the way the dalish are the Elvhen and then wetting themselves when others disapprove. Nor can you expect everyone to be happy to take self involved behavior, being marginalized isn't a free pass out of common decency. And nobody is making the Dalish into cartoon villains though you seem eager to vilify others in order to prove their infantile child like innocence.
You know where would be a good place to talk about the Dalish? In their own thread. Heaven forbid people want to talk about Solas with out the same wank by Dalish racists.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 6, 2017 0:02:18 GMT
You know, I actually get why Solas is irritated with the Dalish, because for me the majority of the "dalish pride" options Lavellan can say make me want to grind my teeth. That stuff was terrible, about the nicest thing I can say is that it makes Lavellan look cluelessly self involved and indifferent to other people and their own ethnic identities and at worst yes it is arrogant. I'm like jeez you and your Dalish ass aren't the only thing that matters.
And before any of you shoot back that "not all dalish" they don't have to all do it for something to be a recurring problem in Dalish culture. We can't even talk about culture without doing some degree of generalizing. Like, It would be ridiculous to run into a discussion about Andrastians and try to deflect criticism by pointing out that Leliana is pro mage and pro elf "so not all andrastians are racist and anti mage how dare you". It would be inappropriate then and it is inappropriate now.
Why are we even talking about the Dalish again anyway.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 4, 2017 1:04:27 GMT
"Anders, who mostly serves as the game’s walking erection" I'm sure no one has called Anders a dick as a serious insult.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 4, 2017 0:29:46 GMT
Am I the only person who found that wildly unfunny? I honestly thought it was sort of gross.... Since I heard near exact same words (not necessarily the conspiracy theory part, but that our favorite Fade nerd is an utter psychopath and that those that like him might have serious problems with themselves) uttered in full seriousness I kinda wondered is this piece is POE or not... until "mod community have recently discovered that images of burning kittens are frequently reflected in his eyes". Then I laughed I knew they weren't being serious because the picture of Solas they picked out was so cute and adorable, it really didn't go with what they wrote about him which was a denial that he could even conceivably have any likable traits at all. It came across kind of sarcastic like: "look at this dude, smiling sweetly in his romance scene, who would romance this monster?" I think a real Solas hater would have picked out something where he either looked stupid or angry. I just didn't see their point. Sure, there are people who say stuff like that seemingly seriously. What about it? I think they were trying to get at the absurdity of those kind of people, but I missed that somehow when I read it.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Feb 3, 2017 22:52:59 GMT
Am I the only person who found that wildly unfunny? I honestly thought it was sort of gross....
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Post by spiritofsolace on Jan 28, 2017 7:42:59 GMT
And she doesn't have a "beef with elven culture" per se - her criticism of 'elfiness' is actually the same one Solas has: 'elfy elves' claim they know what it means to be an elf and know exactly what happened in the past. I agree with this entirely. I think maybe because Solas and Sera express this view in an abrasive and arguably racist way that people keep overlooking it. In general the Dalish are worse about it but all the elves do it to some extent. And I think that is wrong. If you imagined the human characters going up to each other and being like "hello their fellow human" with this subtext that there is some sort of universal "humanness" people would find that really obnoxious or even offensive. That is why Solas flips out after Halamshiral and goes on about people seeing him as "just a pair of pointed ears" and that he himself could be accused of the same line of thinking doesn't really negate his point. I dunno about anybody else but I find the way "efiness" is framed to be racist, so I totally get why some characters violently reject the idea and the people who espouse it.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Jan 28, 2017 7:19:34 GMT
I voted no. But my feelings are sort of complicated. My first playthrough of dai I got bored about halfway through and quit. I didn't get back to it until after I heard spoilers for trespasser about a year after my false start. So, in this case spoilers motivated me to get through inquisition's weak mid game and helped me craft a narrative that appeals to me.
As for DA4, I want spoilers because I have some apprehensions. Bioware's writing is a little spotty imo and I think it would help me manage my expectations/possible disappointment if I knew something going in. Or you know, let me decide if I want to buy it at all.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Jan 22, 2017 3:41:21 GMT
I don't think she really cares about the modern elves in a special way, either. The thing about Flemeth is that she isn't actually Mythal or even an elf. I think part of the Ancient elf guys beef with the Dalish is that they go waltzing up to them and basically expect them to both relate to them and help them out with things, even though they are profoundly different peoples and helping out the Dalish or other modern elves really doesn't benefit Ancient Elvhen in anyway. Yet, we have a lot of Lavellan's who apparently feel entitled to their time. So all that isn't personal to Flemeth the way it is the others.
Also just my speculation, but if Flemeth hadn't have wanted Solas to take her power wouldn't she have done something to stop him? I also don't think her motives are going to be that cut and dried. Whatever she is going to do might not be something like a cartoon villain would have but that doesn't mean whatever she is doing is going to be something we are going to want unambiguously.
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Post by spiritofsolace on Jan 21, 2017 3:54:11 GMT
We have Zathrian's clan rescue a wounded Anenrin who was on the verge of death because templars attacked him as a child when he ran from the Circle. Zathrian rescued Lanaya from bandits, and the clan offered to take her back home. Alarith's life was saved by Dalish when bandits murdered his parents and his brother and almost got to him; they also left his belongings alone. Merrill says that the plight of Andrastian elves matters and chastises Fenris (a Tevinter elf) when it seems like he doesn't care about them, and says to him they are "our people". You seem to generalize and denigrate the Dalish as if they all hold negative views on Andrastian elves, even though there are a number of examples that disprove this. I think you missed the second part of spiritofsolace's point; that it was less about supposed Dalish antipathy towards City Elves, and more how Dalish fans keep idealizing a completely unified culture that doesn't actually exist in the lore. We've all known from the beginning that Dragon Age is a dark, complex fantasy with deeply flawed characters and no easy answers. Yet, every single time the writers try to portray the Dalish as three dimensional as everyone else, it's an "attack". Sure, humans can be good, evil, weird, ordinary, and everything in between. But ELVES must be superior, inherently more moral and spiritual, otherwise why bother using them? Even when the deconstruction of the Tolkien model was the whole point
He missed my point entirely and also proved my point about Dalish fans. You get what I am trying to say though. The Dalish being ethnocentrist does not imply that they would leave random city elves to die. Being indifferent to other peoples' cultural expression and being unable to see things from their perspective is not remotely the same as whatever it is Lob is trying to say here. One thing I like about DA is that it depicts the various elf cultures, of which there are three not one, as being separate. And also critiques the idea that they would relate to each other based on some sort of weird ethnocentrist nationalism. Like the fact that they have pointed ears makes their different cultures and life experiences inconsequential. If you treated real people like that people would recognize that as the profound racism it is. How did spiritofsolace's post amount to that? It seemed like spiritofsolace was against generalising the Dalish as acting exactly the same. This is especially given the objection to this line of thinking: "Being Dalish or an elf can't mean something different to different people."
Yes, there could exist some Dalish guy who finds the important part of being Dalish to be something like self reliance or being a really good hunter. And I don't think anyone would have the right to tell this hypothetical person that their sense of their own identity was wrong just because they value those things more highly then magic or whatever it is that wannabe cultural gate keepers dictate. In the same vein, maybe the clan that instated the mage rule had local templars coming down on them hard because they had had a serious problem with abominations or the local circle was unusually hard line. This clan may very well value magic but they might not have been willing to sacrifice their lives and their childrens to a cultural ideal. Would this clan now cease to be Dalish, again who even decides that? That is my argument. I'm not saying the the three mage rule was well implemented by the writers though. I find it plausible but they sure didn't explain it well enough. I don't think it really adds anything either
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