Schmooples' Den! The DA News Discussion Thread

But taking OG soul from Kieran only happened in a minority of worldstates, because only a small minority of players chose to undergo the Dark Ritual in DAO.

So, basically, it wasn't a canonized event; it's something that was entirely dependent on player choices and as such, it was impossible for it to play basically any significant role in any incarnation of Dragon Age 4.

So no, noting "crashed" for DATV - because, as we now know from David Gaider himself, they have basically pivoted wholly away from OBG in Inquisition (and that version, like probably in many places in DAVe, existed only in earlier versions of the script and got reworked after it proved unviable) and it's Morrigan who remained relevant to the main plot, which is a thing that has been foreshadowed since DAO and reinforced in later content (DA2 and comic books), continued through DAI, only to culminate in DAV.

I'll check it out when I have the time

Fair. They did go out of their way to have Morrigan come across as creepy and weird there. And obviously hiding something.

I suppose a lot of players ended up having Alistair take one for the team.

FYI, in my first DAO PT, I had Loghain stole the Ultimate Sacrifice from me! (and I didn't know).

David Gaider @davidgaider.bsky.social
CHARACTERS - DAY FOUR: Alistair

Ah, Alistair. Depending on who you ask, he's the adorable woobie with the biggest heart or the irritating, over-used man-child. Yes, he is indeed all of those things. Good characters have flaws to go with their virtues. Ugly spots. That is literally their humanity.

He was a bit of a bear to write, at the outset. James (Ohlen, the first creative director on DAO) had this idea he needed to be a grizzled Warden veteran - older, distrusting.

Everyone hated him instantly. I call this the Carth Onasi Problem, and suggested to James that maybe I try something else.

My observation says that the characters who are generally liked the most are the supportive ones. Enthusiastic. Funny? Sometimes, sure, but that's *not* required.

I need to digress. See, at the time James had this (regrettable) period where he believed everything could be derived from a formula.

He even sold this idea to the founders, Ray and Greg. Google 'BioWare formula'. Anyway, how this relates is because James thought the DAO cast needed a Minsc: a comedy character who would become super popular and, ideally, the icon of DA.

"Isn't that Alistair?" you ask. "Arguable," I say, "but no."

James had me to up a huge list of 'comedic archetypes' and I wrote some possible dialogue for each one. Then he had the team vote. The winning archetype? The Buffoon - like Homer Simpson or Peter Griffin.

James was pleased. I was not. "The problem," I said, "is I don't find the Buffoon funny." 😅

"But you're a professional."

"Sure, I *can* write him... but comedy isn't science. I need to find him funny. If I write him, the only comedy I'll mine is where he makes fun of himself."

James took that on board and then passed the character onto someone else. The result? Oghren.

I rest my case.

So back to the supportive character: that was my thought for a new Alistair. It was a special case, after all - the DAO PC was thrust into a terrible situation. They needed someone who had their back. A bud. A *likeable* bud.

I was watching Buffy at the time, and my thoughts drifted towards Xander.

Now, I know Joss Whedon is persona non grata these days, but this was 2006, OK? I was watching Buffy and thought, "man, Xander is such a wasted character" and considered how to fix him. Then I realized this might work for Alistair.

Plus, I wanted to see if I could replicate the Whedon vocal patter.

That was the new Alistair: a more useful and likeable yet equally dorky version of Xander. We had very strict rules in DA about language: no modern speech styles, colloquialisms, any words that came into use in our world after 1900 got severe side eye... but Alistair? Alistair got a blanket pass.

Was it great that the lead writer's leading man got to break the rules? I guess not, but it's my opinion that you can break those kinds of rules - selectively, in small doses. Too much and you break the illusion.

And it worked. Alistair was an instant hit. Not just with the team, but with the fans.


Confession time?

Yes, I knew Goldanna wasn't meant to be Alistair's mother. But neither was Fiona, originally.

I think fans caught wind of some revisionism at work, and OK it's true. I had a more Arthurian idea for his birth but I stopped liking it... yet not soon enough to go back and make edits.

Should I have just left it be, left Goldanna as his mother? Maybe. It was one of those writer things I just couldn't let go of and I probably could have used someone to sit me down and go "Gaider, please. Just stop."

I still like Fiona, and where I took it. But I probably shouldn't have gone there.

Casting Alistair was SUCH a chore. He required a weird mix of devilish charm, but with enough sincerity and adorkableness it didn't come off as smarmy.

Every audition went full smarm... until Steve Valentine up and appeared out of nowhere. In the midst of a batch of audition files, there he was.

We brought Steve in "just to try out", and he pulled it off. Even the "frog time" line, which (seriously) nobody else could. And when he got to the romantic lines, Steve's voice turned into pure butter without, again, sliding into "oh, he's slightly creepy". Both Caroline and I were sold.

And he was so gloriously easy to write. It's a well I'd probably return to... a bit too often, maybe? Maric, then Anders in Awakening, and then Alistair kept popping up in future games and the comics because, yes, he was pretty much the breakout comedy character of DA.

Which still makes me happy. 😁


CORRECTION: Goldanna was someone Alistair thought was his *sister*, and her mother his mother.

Look, it was almost twenty years ago, OK? 😅

I'm going to put my speculation in a spoiler tag because it refer to spoilers from Veilguard

Varric was a much better character anyway.

Dragon Age the Veilguard is the 6th top selling game in the US for the month of October. It also accounts only for first 3 days of sales for Veilguard.
In those 3 days we can feel confident it sold more than 1.5 million copies, because Sonic X sold that amount on Day 1 and yet Veilguard outsold it overall.

Congratulations BioWare! Looks like people still care about Dragon Age after all!

Honestly that sales information felt like a weight being lifted. While it's clear the game isn't exactly breaking any records - EA would have been shouting about it by now if it was - the fact we hadn't heard anything was starting to get to me, not helped by the grifters seizing upon it as they do.

Knowing it bare minimum did 1.5mil in the first few days is a comfort.