"No Brothels to be in DA4" as per Mark Darrah Tweet.

No need for that.


The conversation thread that my post spawned from began with someone mentioning Solas's status as an elven apostate as reason why they couldn't dance during WEWH (as opposed to when it actually happens, after all the excitement is over), after which it was pointed out that Sera is given a "name," while Solas was named as a servant, and the elven Inquisitor is, well, the Inquisitor. It was merely a remark about the disparity in presentation for all three elves and how that it might not actually have some larger meaning relating to prejudice, especially given that all of the LI are treated equally (in matters relating to the dance), even the "acceptable" ones, like Cassandra, Josephine, and Cullen.

That conversation happened on page 1 of this thread, so it's not very pertinent on page 27 and the connecting threads were lost from one single quote.

Probably something along the lines of Desire/Lust demon quest line...

Seduction is a powerful tool that often gets censored in video games, but remains very explicit in books.

It wouldn't be hard to make brothels into a centralized aspect of the story. I've read many fantasy novels which use them as a center of a spy network... people let secrets spill to their lovers.

It's honestly harder to censor it than to let the story goes where it really needs.

I don't really understand how so many of you miss the point of this kind of statement.  No one is saying you need brothels to make a good fantasy game.  We're saying that actively making a choice to NOT include them shows BW is not the company they used to be.  They used to be willing to go ANYWHERE to tell the story they wanted.  I can't think of any social taboo they shied away from in the past when they made NWN, Baldur's Gate, Mass Effect, and DA:O and DA2... Now they're all like "Nah, we're too mainstream for that stuff now."  They don't seem to be gaining any fans from these decisions either... just alienating the old fans, like myself and many others.

So yeah, like I said.  I honestly can't tell if you guys are missing the point or just feigning ignorance to make poorly constructed counter-arguments.

Yes. I said this way back in 2014 when people called DAI too Disney. It's the presentation that's colorful and sanitized, not the actual plot. DAI was plenty dark but it just didn't LOOK the part and didn't have the sort of emotional impact that DAO and DA2 had.
That said, I DID like the look of DAI quite a bit because I like colorful settings (I grew up on Final Fantasy, you see). All the maps had gorgeous art design. I actually thought the art style of DAO was really bland and boring, and even the plot was super cliched. The characters and banter was what made DAO stand out. Story-wise, DAO was your usual RPG tropes. However, the art style matched the gloomy story. There was no disconnect between the visuals and the the gravity of the situation.

I believe DAI's less depressing presentation and overall optimistic tone was a direct reaction to the backlash DA2 received for being overly gloomy and bleak. Hawke failed to save the day. Things went to shit at the end regardless of your choices. Kirkwall was always going to descend into utter madness. It was actually a very well crafted narrative. DA2 was a very different hero's tale as a result, though. DAI is more along the lines of DAO actually in terms of saving the day. Both DAO and DAI are your traditional hero's tale of building an army and kicking the villain's butt. The big difference lies in the art design, presentation and the details.

Imo DA2 was the darkest tale by far even though visually I was very put off at first by the anime art style. I consider DA2 the best in the series because it had the most creative narrative and best companion dynamics. The recycled maps and small scope of the game were no doubt a result of the short development cycle. But 90% of the game taking place in Kirkwall actually added to the claustrophobic atmosphere of Kirkwall. The time jumps were well utilized to depict the gradual descent into madness. Your companions were all going batshit crazy too. You watch Anders slowly losing it and you know something terrible is going to happen but you can't prevent it. I thought that was really good storytelling.

As you say, really dark shit happens in DAI but the inquisition seems very much in control and at no point in the story are you worried. The stakes are high in theory. I mean, doesn't get any more apocalyptic than demons pouring into the world en masse, right? But you don't perceive it that way. It doesn't feel nor look particularly gloomy.

That said, DAI had some excellently written companion arcs and the everything about Morrigan and the elven gods I consider among Bioware's finest moments. The personal stories were fine. Solas is an excellent secret villain. But the main Corypheus plot was a complete dud to me in terms of visual and emotional impact.

If we're really going to Tevinter (seems likely), then I want to SEE what a decadent corrupt society is like. And I don't mean just attending a noble ball again and only hearing about the bad bad things these wealthy psychopaths do. I want to see what life is like for the common people and the slaves. And I want to SEE and feel the impact of war. The story doesn't have to be quite as episodic as DA2, but DA2 did a lot of things right. So I'm all for fixing the issues that game had and building on THAT foundation.

W3 was full of horrifying stories both big and small as well as moving tales of friendship and love. DA2 had more in common with the Witcher than any other Bioware game.

I believe a big open city with lots of secrets to uncover would do Bioware a lot more good than vast open fields of nothing but elfroot. That and an appropriate look and tone to complement the story. DAI had issues in that respect but was still ok to me. MEA is where Bioware went completely overboard with a cheerful tone at odds with the situation. I'm surprised you like this about MEA but not DAI. How come?

(Sorry for being late to the discussion, first time in the DA section in many months.)

Thanks for the link. All I can say is, oh brother.

My husband says he thinks he likes it better than the first movie, and he's a big fan of the first. Looking forward to seeing it.

+1

I always love bringing Solas to Halamshiral. I find it amusing to watch all the nobles toil in their Game, knowing that the 'elven serving man' is very likely the most masterful player there. It's likely he lived it for thousands of years, on a much grander scale. What the current nobles are doing is probably child's play to him.

Lol...hey now.  We don't know about everything he's done.  Some stuff may have gone according to plan.