> The high priest isn't evil > Just rigid, conservative

Why is everybody suddenly shilling for Dragon Age? It's a generic setting, with simple characters that are definded by either their race, color or sexuality.

>>48713579
Hey, the first one is pretty good

>>48713579
What's it to you? Let them have their fun.

>>48713415
Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
And stressed people tend to make incompetent decisions.

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>>48713415
>It's the high priest's fault and not the instigators

>>48713593
Yes, yes it is. But all the things that made it good are now replaced, destroyed or gone.

>>48713607
They are trying to sell an inferior product, it is misleading.

I can't be the only one that just quit playing at the start of the third act. I just knew right away there was no way it was going to come close to the second, and was going to be a huge disappointment.

>>48713663
>implying anyone buys pdfs or games

>>48713579
>color

What? Like who?

>>48713663
Inferior to fucking what though? D&D?
Psh

>>48713688
The entire game was shit and was a huge disappointment

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>>48713707
Duncan in the original was a great character.

>>48713718
D&D has some unique and interesting places, the problem is it is the first one people tend to discover, or was, and now it appears to be a generic setting, when in fact it's been around so long people mistake age for unoriginality,

>>48713688
Its taken me up till now to slog through DA:O to get to the seige, its like playing a slow WoW clone without any friends along for the ride

I didn't like how they had set up the mages to be all misunderstood with blood magic and whatnot, only for them to ALL TURN TO BLOOD MAGIC.

It's like the Nazis persecuting the Jews for trashing the economy, then the Allies destroy the Nazis only to discover proof that the Jews trashed the economy.

>>48713904

Amazing how art emulates life.

>>48713786

True, but I at least enjoyed the second act. The religious and ethnic tension angle was a good one, and I legitimately wanted to solve the problem without bloodshed. But as usual, tragedy occurred because nobody could cool their shit.

>>48713415
> Drag Age

>>48713579
>Why is everybody suddenly shilling for Dragon Age?

Because is just won Best Game of the Year at the ENNIES, you doorknob.

So everyone is interested in Why?

>>48713856
I don't share your love for "everything, even the kitchen sink" style settings (such as Forgotten Realms or even something like Eberron or Greyhawk). I think taking something out makes it, if anything, less bland.

>>48714022
Really?

How much dick did Bioware have to suck to get that through?

>>48713415
You just described a form of evil anon, come on.

>>48714022
Can you explain why it it deserved it?

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>another DA thread
Another thread to talk about cutest boy, Cole. But for real though, where's the R34 of him?

>>48714056
All those big award ceremonies are run by the industry.
The industry = big publishers.
"Oh yes, we did such a good job doing the thing we're all doing. Backpats and reacharounds all around chaps! Lowest common denominator mechanics with fancy graphics, following the latest trend: now THAT'S video games as art, folks"

Once you realize that, kinda takes away the legitimacy of the whole thing don't it?

>>48714076
No, I cannot. I barely know the video game.

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>>48714112
This. It's no different to BMW claiming it has recieved a 10/10 raiting by Delux Sedan magazine 12 years running, until you find out that BMW owns the magazine.

>>48713579
>Shilling
I think there is not guy making the threads, and then the rest of /tg/ collectively shits on 2 and Inq while pointing at Origins and Awakening and saying "You got it right the first time you dozy fucks! We just wanted more and better of that and not whatever the hell it was you have us."

>>48714112
>>48714153
Except the ENNIES are a popular vote open to anyone. They're not owned by any major publisher, and if guys like you on tg don't even bother to vote then you can hardly complain, can you?

Next time vote for whatever the fuck you like.

>>48713718
At this point, dnd has become to you fucks as the word racist to sjw's

>>48714236
see
>>48714055

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>>48714236
Which is funny, because I can't think of a more diverse setting than D&D.

>>48714191
You can't expect us to jump at every single half-assed strawpoll some wanker makes a website for.

>>48714287
It's almost as if "literally everything is in this setting" isn't incredibly interesting!
Fancy that

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>>48714319
>I have too much choice and don't like the freedom.

>>48714275
>>48714319
So, you do not like thing so it is bad and people should like what you do and they are lesser for not doing so?

DA2 was a lot of fun and aside from making Anders open to gay romance, I really don't get what people are so buttblasted about.

Now, DA3, that's one huge shitshow stomping on everything good from DAO or 2.

>>48714477
The setting has no sense of coherent/overarching theme, tone, or identity.

It's bland the same way that a cake with everything in it is bland. Or the way that every color of play dough mixed together is bland.

>>48714543
You've stated your opinion, and I've stated mine.

>>48714583
Go be superior somewhere else

>>48714560
Everybody was hawkesexual in DA2.

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>>48713415
>anticipating that the high priest is evil

>>48714583
Because it's a setting, not a plot. You have all the pieces there to create your own overarching plot and or theme. It is a big and varied world, why would they all be linked to a central plot?

It would be like going to a buffet and complaining that there is not the taste of cake in all the foods available.

>>48714560
I enjoyed DA2 because it wasn't another end of the world scenario with a chosen one. I liked the fact it was one city with a lot of problems and ended up being, more or less, just political. Inquisition was boring as hell and just plain ugly to look at.

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This is how Lawful.
I bend the rules a bit when it's needed.

>>48714618
>>48714618
Which is not that big a deal when you think about it. We are talking about a dwarf, your siblings and a Milf that are flat out not romanceable, Sebastion, who is only romanceable as a chick, two elves, a slutty bisexual pirate from the first game and Anders. Of those, only Anders seems really fucking out of character to me.

>>48714560
regarding DA2; if the story was good in your playthrough, that's because you were lucky with your main story choices. Same happened to my little sister on her first playthrough, and me on my second.

I've done like three playthroughs of the thing (don't ask me why) and I think the worst possible one is if you try to nonviolently support mages as a non-mage.
Practically every major character does insane shit, not because they're reasonable people who make tough decisions, but out of what can only be described as sudden-onset suicidal dementia.

Comparing the way things turn out when you do what the writers wanted you to do, versus the opposite, is like night and day - NOT in terms of what happens (the same shit happens) but because in plenty of possible playthroughs, more or less all major players' motivations are horseshit, whereas in others they make sense given the circumstances.

But there's also plenty of other stuff you've probably just been ignoring: Fenris is pure cringe, being obviously a mage in front of the templars in an entire playthrough and them doing fuck-all about it, that one guy in the prologue who dies from contact with darkspawn blood yet your entire party is covered in it and nobody makes a peep, enemies magically parachuting in in waves even though there isn't even a nearby building for them to spiderman down from, i could go on.

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>>48714083
Cole a CUTE! A CUTE!

>>48714767
I really did like Aveline. I use her as a template for one of my PCs.

>>48714657
It's restrictive. Spells can be dispelled. Death is a minor inconvenience if you're rich.
There are too many established details about it that wreak havoc on any attempt to do anything interesting with it.

I don't mind a setting where everything can be established and people can freely create character builds.
But that's not what D&D is. D&D is a world with a particular kind of wizard/sorcerer/druid/cleric, and particular monsters, and particular spells. There's just a lot of it.

I honestly can't see how you manage to spin that as "freedom".
To me, that's restrictive. It just happens to have A LOT of stuff to choose from, but it's all established and specific: something you have to look up.

>>48714828
She deserved better than DA:II. She did her job well, respected her friends, took a considered and balanced approach, and was cute when crushing on a colleague.

>>48714811
The game's actually a fucking mess gameplay-wise, and some characters are terrible like Edgemaster Fenris and Anders, but I honestly think it was the story and setting is what I liked about. Didn't enjoy the combat or story of 1 or 3. 2 is just once city filled with problems instead of various locations all around the world being big and epic. And Merrill. What a fucking cute, goddamn.

>>48714923
Yeah I liked Merrill too, though apparently that's a YMMV thing, from what I hear.

I think DA2s biggest joys for me were Aveline and Varric.
Merril was my guilty pleasure.
https://youtu.be/hihslMdRCRU
Anders a shit. I barely noticed Sebastian existed. Slutpirate had her moments but a lot of her writing felt fanfictioney and not terribly believable.

>>48715017
I'm not the waifu-taking kind of guy, but damn me if he she isn't the closest I've come to it. The blood magic thing just make her sexier.

Aveline was a total bro and getting her involved with the other guy (can't remember his name) was a good laugh. Didn't even find Sebastian, I think, didnt' even recruit the pirate because I took one look and said 'nope'.

I really hope they do something like DA2 again, but in Tevinter. I feel like that's ripe with potential.

>>48715017
I liked her. But please Merrill. Please stop doing the mirror shit and get back on my warrior's 2-hander.

>>48715173
>Tevinter
I once hoped for Tevinter, but Bioware seems to have gone on an excessively politically-correct SJW bender of late, so I feel like they would have a hard time portraying the majority of magisters as anything but nazis cruelly oppressing the totally-just-misunderstood authoritarian, brainfucking, communistic Qunari who "just want to be friends u guise."

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>>48713856
>character defined by their race/color
>Vivienne
Uh, anon, other than like a single exchange asking where her family is originally from, Vivienne's ethnicity is never discussed and has no bearing on her character whatsoever. She is defined by the fact that she's a mage with a conservative stance.

>>48715379
Also a bitch.

>>48715426
Just because she turned your inquisitor down doesn't make her a bitch, Anon.

>>48715299
>cruelly oppressing the totally-just-misunderstood authoritarian, brainfucking, communistic Qunari who "just want to be friends u guise."
Didn't play Trespasser, did you?

No worries there. The Qunari were willing to mow over the entirety of southern Thedas by blowing up the leadership of Orlais, Ferelden, etc.

>>48715633
>Didn't play Trespasser, did you?
No. I didn't really enjoy DA:I that much, and I need to like a game to buy its DLC.

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>tfw no one wants to talk about my husbando

>>48715379
>mage
>that WANTS mages to be strictly controlled
I still don't understand. Is Viv the Uncle Tom of mages?

>>48713415
mmmmm, I'd give it to her hard

>>48715880
Because Merrill is elder god tier above all else

>>48715880
mages have displayed themselves to be reckless, blood magic abusing loonies in DA. She is not wrong for wanting such a thing

>>48713579
not to mention the cancerous community.

I'm still pissed I couldn't romance Beth.

Or kill those Templars that took her away. I'm a fucking plot armor badass in every other fucking occasion except for the one where my sister gets fucking kidnapped?

>>48716351
>I'm still pissed I couldn't romance Beth.
I-... you realize she's your sister right?

>>48716395
And?

I'm a fucking backwoods dogfucker in that game.

>>48716395
It would be the ultimate progressive statement to make a sibling romance. Bioware should eat it up

>>48716351
>not turning her into a Warden
It's like you hate snazzy Orlesian fashion or something

>>48716427
I thought it was rednecks that want sibling incest

>>48716508
She'd die in twenty years if I did that.

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>>48716550
>Priorities

>>48716660
But she wouldn't have all those extra years. Fashion can wait.

>>48716517
SJW want inclusiveness right? Rednecks are people too

>>48713608
>Sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice.
This statement is ignorant to motivation and context and so is 2silly4me.

>>48716696
Not for incest I don't think so. I know on Tumblr, incest is a no-no.

>>48715880
>cole
>husbando

Cole is not for lewd.

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>>48713856
>filename

>>48715440
no her constant need to belittle and snarl at other people and assert her barely earned sense of superiority over other people makes her a bitch.

>>48716799
Why, because he's a ghost or something?

>>48716871
>until someone agrees with me that this is stupid
If by 'this' you mean 'Bioware's writing team' I agree with you. It is stupid.

>>48716871
fine, I agree with you

Also Trespasser felt rushed as fuck.

>>48713415
Meredith was 4/5ths of a good character and 1/5th fucking retarded. More emphasis should have been put on the fact that she was proven correct on virtually every point.

>>48716871
>>48716851

>"Nugs are kind. Almost everything is bigger than they, but they're still happy. If you hold out your hand, they will nuzzle it; it's how they call you 'friend!'"

>Wolffucker: "Have you felt no attraction to women since you crossed the Veil?"
>"No."

>"I would get you one, but they see me in the kitchen now. They ask if I want a glass of water, a piece of bread... they want to help me. It should be the other way round."

He's just too pure and loving.

>>48716871
man on a boy is disgusting deviacy
woman on boy is delicious /ss/
easy as that

>>48716993
Orsino was the worst.

>"Alright, we just beat the templars! Orsino, let's regroup and get ready to-"
>"Meredith expects blood magic? THEN I WILL GIVE IT TO HER!"
>Orsino attacks the party
>????

>>48717066
at least you're able to lampoon that in a talk with Varric in Inquisition

>>48717037
Never have I seen such shit taste. I'd respond with an image, but there's literally no good gay Cole art.

>>48717020
>"No."
Didn't say anything about attraction towards men. But seriously, I wouldn't have minded if they didn't give Cole any love interest. The problem is that Bioware did, so that means it is possible for Cole to fall in love, which upsets me that I can't romance him. Is it so wrong to want to dick a corpse possessed by a ghost?

>>48717172
But Cole isn't possessing anything. He just made a brand new body for himself in the shape of the old, dying Cole.

Fuck away, I guess.

>>48717066
I mean he was a paranoid blood mage who had promoted it amongst his students and literally corresponded with deviants and monsters binding and using demons for years before everything came to a head.

He, uh.

He was always going to handle a high-stress mages vs templars battle badly.

, that's why he's high.

>>48714923
>And Merrill. What a fucking cute, goddamn.
What a fucking moron, more like it.

>"Don't fuck with the mirror, it will end badly."
>"Don't fuck with the mirror, it will end badly."
>"Don't fuck with the mirror, it will end badly."
>she fucks with the mirror
>it ends badly
>how could it go so wrong?
>GEE I FUCKING WONDER

I usually wind up with Isabela, but even then it's not preferred, I usually just took Varric and Aveline along because they're bros.

>>48717426
I can honestly never give a shit to romance anyone after halfway through the 2 or 3.

>>48716765

The one sexual deviancy they don't embrace, only because it is somehow connected to their ideological enemies.

What a fucking world.

(desu i think a lot of them were probably molested by relatives tho)

>>48715880
Going by the actual lore of the setting, Viv is a bit more conservative than most but doesn't hold any views that would be considered extreme among mages. The EU stuff with DA is pretty interesting setting-wise. Like how the beginning of Inquisition is the end of the Mage-Templar War because both sides have more or less ground themselves to nothing.

Still pissed you couldn't romance Viv.

>>48716847
Unless you keep Sera in your party all the time she's not that bad.

>>48717426
Still cute, though.

>>48717426
She was the only good romance.

>>48717426

Doesn't matter, she's a delicate Celtic porcelain doll that must be protected at all times.

>tfw cockblocking someone when DA2 first came out by pointing out he just wanted a Merrill proxy to the girl

It was a good feel.

>>48717516
I feel like all the Dragon Ages are written by completely different people, which is why each game just ignores the previous one.

>It's the final Blight!
>Nope, Mage-Templar Race War Now
>Oh, that's over. We finished it off-screen. Now fight DAEMONS.

>>48713415
It's the current year, so that sounds pretty evil to me

>>48717554
Dragon Age is a lot more entertaining when you start imagining it as wrestling storylines.

>>48717514
No, they also oppose shota/loli and lewd art of "pure" characters like Cole.

>>48717554
You're completely right about BioWare's changing writing teams, but I don't think changing up the conflicts is bad for each game.

Fighting Darkspawn every game would get tedious after a while. Keeping them as a rarity after Origins made shit like Descent that much more interesting.

>>48717472
After part 2 there isn't really any romance left for Isabela anyway, she just starts hanging out in your mansion a lot more but never moves in like Merrill does. Depending on what happens with the Qunari and the like/rival bar, maybe even halfway through part 2 is when Isabela's thing mostly finishes.

>>48715379
Her entire shtich is she fought hard, so very hard to get in to the position and faced all manner of opposition. It is not outrightly stated, but it is heavily implied.

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>>48718125
Forgot to add, that it's because she was different. In belief or apperance is your choice? But she expresses the popular peoples/Government vote, it makes little sense that the nation would not want more control over Mages.

There is no obvious reason her position on mages is not a popular one as it is expressed in blunt terms by other people in all places. So that sort of removes that as the reason for peoples objectification.

>>48718173
>objectification
Meant objection, I took a shit load of stuff and I'm coming down hard.

>>48714005
Add to the fact that Ser Thrask "Only Reasonable Templar" got murderized and the only cool high priestess got Andersed

>>48717066
Heard that was going to be only if you sided with templars. Then some dumb fucks in marketing went "we need another bossfight", even if you sided with mages. But yeah, still an asspull.

>>48717712

So by this metric, they (the extreme left) oppose pedophilia because it's connected to their ideological enemies, so their ideological enemies are pedophiles?

>>48718368
Well they might be, except paedophile acceptance is a hot topic in progressive circles.

>>48718368
>Reminder that publications (Salon, etc) are now defending and writing articles that we should not judge pedophiles if they have not raped a kid yet and those who do judge them are worse.

>>48718368

The Soc Jus progressive scene is one of the biggest white knights for pedophilia. They're not explicitly defending child abuse, but they sincerely believe in the virtuous pedophile concept.

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>>48718584
>Soc Jus
Natsoc, not sure if that was intentional or not but the parallels are delicious.

>>48718605
Blarg, not Natsoc, Ingsoc.

>>48718406
No it isn't. That's a deliberate lie spread by detractors.

>>48718637
Yes it is. I am a detractor, but it IS true.

>>48717554
>Final blight
Nigga you what. There is still 2 more I believe before all the old gods get killed

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>>48718637
http://www.salon.com/2015/09/21/im_a_pedophile_but_not_a_monster/

http://www.salon.com/2015/09/30/im_a_pedophile_youre_the_monsters_my_week_inside_the_vile_right_wing_hate_machine/

http://www.breitbart.com/big-journalism/2015/09/15/sarah-nyberg-in-shock-admission-yes-i-claimed-to-be-a-pedophile-but-i-was-just-trolling/

Yeah, Breitbart is a right-leaning publication but would you belive none of the left are covered the story?

>mfw a group of us went to the park after rumors of a nonce being found watchiNg the kids
>mfw they took him to an old field and kicked him half to death
>mfw nobody saidi anything and the case is still open
>mfw it was 7 years ago

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>>48718736

>im a pedophile you're the monsters my week inside the vile right wing hate machine

>implies only right wingers hate pedophiles
>by extension implies all liberals are fine with pedophiles

Progressives really are picking a fantastic hill to die on.

>>48713415
>a /v/ and /pol/ vs /tumblr/ thread
>still not deleted
do we even have mods?

>>48718736
So this is how the world ends

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>>48718807
>With a bang AND a wimper

>>48713415
Pic not related, I assume.
There was nobody in that game that wasn't evil, retarded or both

>>48714923
Different strokes, I suppose, but I absolutely loathed the story for sheer wasted potential.

All three acts had the potential for an entire game, but instead we got a shallow chapter for each.
Most annoying was the first, given that we're told Hawke is a self made man and then it turns out that we get to see fuck all of it, and it just happens off screen with absolutely no input outside the expedition.
Don't get me started on the plot relying on people being mind numbingly retarded to progress.
I ended up wondering what reason my character had for not just grabbing as much of his funds as he could and leaving them too it; I simply didn't care what happened to almost any of the characters

>>48713415
>High "Priest"
>Is a female

>>48713415
>tries to talk shit to Alistair, a man who potentially has three dragons on his personal kill list
>he laughs in her face
>she seriously thinks she has any power to threaten him, but tries anyway

What a dumbass.

>>48715379
>Vivienne's ethnicity is never discussed and has no bearing on her character whatsoever
Where the fuck does she come from, though? I don't recall Dragon Arse having any totally-not-africans prior to DA:I

>>48717549
>It was a good feel.
You're a monster.

>>48717664
If you're able to enjoy wrestling "storylines" then you're either an idiot, or insulting your own intelligence.
I mean Dragonball Z is pretty dumb, but wrestling is basically that but hundreds of times dumber.

>>48720663
She's the templar leader, not a priest

>>48713579
Same reason we have threads about WoW lore, generals, half a dozen MtG threads at any time: the board is filled with people of shit taste.

>>48721340
This is true since like 2011

>>48721345
Yup.

>>48713856

>Have good fortune to be raised in least shit Circle
>Is pretty and so gets invited to high society and royal events as magical entertainer
>falls in lover with a duke and become his mistress
>uses political connection to become Enchanter to the Royal Court
>excels at The Game due to duplicitous nature
>lives a life of luxury and never knows a day of genuine hardship
>Circles collapse and believes that her political office automatically makes her next Grand Enchanter of the Circles.
>Joins Inquisition to further her own ambition
>Thinks that other mages don't know how easy they had it in the Circles and that they rebelled because they were power mad like she totally isn't

Meanwhile, in the life of the average mage lady

>Abducted from parent as a child
>sent to an institute that is basically a cross between a library and a prison
>study hard or be lobotomized
>constantly watched.
>Never allowed out of the walls. Life imprisonment unless loaned out to service some local lord.
>approaching end of puberty, undergo Harrowing.
>Pass
>Get sexually assaulted and raped by Templar prison wardens.
>If you complain then you are obviously lying and hysterical and should be made tranquil for public safety also Tranquil can't say no
>Pregnant with Templar bastard child.
>Circle Chanter despises you for being a whore
>Have child whom you love regardless of it's origin.
>Child taken away the moment it doesn't need milk. Sooner if they can find a wet nurse.
>Osama bin Anders blows up the chantry. Time to vote if the circles are dissolved.
>Fucking holy fuck you vote yes.
>Circles dissolved
>Templars are coming to kill you for your own and the public good. Or get in a fucking cage.
>Time to run. Better to die free than go back to that cage
>Stagger half starved and beaten to the gates of the Inquisition.
>Get welcomed with open but slightly suspicious arms.
>Hear Royal Enchanter Vivian coming out with utter shit about how easy you had it in the Circle.

>>48721379
The worst part is that they had a decent grey morality going in DA:O.

It was a Shit situation, but a necessary one.
Both leaders were prickly and belligerent, but actually respected each other and understood their necessity.
Mages understandably chafe at their restrictions, and some Templars are paranoid of their charges.
Mages try their best to keep self control, and Templars will usually only kill if necessary, and Gregor finds the idea of exterminating them all an abhorrent last resort.

Then Da2 pissed it all away by making Tenplars paranoid fanatics, made even worse by proving them right when the Mages went full retard to a man.

>>48713593
>Morrigan disapproves of this post

>>48720861
The Rivaini are pretty dark, there might be some people native to Seheron which is jungles, by all rights the Tevinter should be fairly dark-skinned

Here's hoping for more Tevinter lore and characters other than "muh magic, muh sacrifice, muh crumbling empire"

>>48721836
Rivain is land of top tier chocolate waifu

>>48721836
>The Rivaini are pretty dark
They're delicious brown, not niggress black

>>48721526
Because genuine grey morality is difficult to write. They wanted a war. To get a war you need a boiling point, and for a boiling point you either need good writing or you need one side to be objectively terrible. But they don't want to make one side the clear good guys and the other the bad guys, so instead they just make both sides full of complete retards.

>>48713415
All these Dragon Age threads are making me want to replay Origins again for the billionth time.

>>48721943
I'm already fighting zombies in Redcliff.

as a ghetto elf

>>48722122
I hope you're calling every human you meet a raging faggot

>>48722617
>playing muh oppressed elves
>not playing based human noble origin

Please tell me you at least had the threesome with Leliana & Isabella, and had duellist/assassin spec as a rogue

>>48722861
>not being excited scion of the dwarven Lords
Why even bother.

>>48722122

>Not playing a Mage
>Not being appalled at how fucking bullshit the world is
>Not being an asshole to everyone because fuck them for allowing this shit to happen
>Not telling Allistair life sucks, and to get the fuck over it.
>Not telling the dwarves to get their heads out of their asses, and helping the asshole because at least he gets shit done
>Not telling the elves and werewolves to stop fucking killing each over because of shit that went down decades, if not centuries ago.
>Not rescuing the circle because holy shit everyone calm down
>Not telling Morrigan she's a selfish, irresponsible bitch but maker damn it you can't blame her
>Not telling Lelliana to stay golden
>Not telling Sten to fuck off murdering children n shit
>Not telling Zevran to kill himself

Not kill la fucking killing yourself at the end because fuck this world makes you tired.

>>48722990
Official tier list.
Ranking based on overall replay value (be it good or just short) and intergration with the main plot.

Top tier
>Dwarf Noble
>Human Noble

High Tier
>wizard 'arry
>Dwarf Commoner

Mid tier
>Elf commoner

Shit tier
>Dalish

>>48721915
>Because genuine grey morality is difficult to write.
No, it is really not. Anybody can write above the child-like level of DA:I.

>They wanted a war. To get a war you need a boiling point
No you don't, what is the Cold War, Proxy War, all of these can work.

>for a boiling point you either need good writing or you need one side to be objectively terrible.
You're the reason we get simple narratives, because you can not work out your won decisions, you need it shown and phrased in simple terms, this nation is bad because of X.

>But they don't want to make one side the clear good guys and the other the bad guys, so instead they just make both sides full of complete retards.
Wtf are you talking about? Templars were doubleplusungood and the Mages were omg so innocent and not their fault.

The game is also hypocritcal, throughout the second two they go nuts with saying not all mages are evil, just a small percentage are. Then go around and say all Templars and those in a position of power are evil. People say they aren't trying to push a message, those people are lying to either themselves or you.

>>48713579
so everything you play, gotcha

>>48723061
>Implying I haven't been doing most of that and more besides.

I'm going FULL GRUMP, ALL THE TIME! this time round.

Yes he will fight for justice and shit but holy fuck he will tell it to you how it is.

>>48723229
>Wtf are you talking about?
I think he meant that what was shown was vastly different than what we were told.
We're told that the Templars are evul fanatics that love power and bully mages because it's the only way they can get an erection, but we're shown that they're 100% right about the mages in DA2 onward.

We're told that Mages are good boys that dindu nuffin', but we're shown that they jump on Blood Magic at the drop of a hat in DA2 onward.

The intent was clearly an overly harsh system that, despite the best original intentions, had rotted from the inside and was coming to conflict with dangerous individuals that were nonetheless being persecuted, and thus were lashing out disproportionately.
It's amazing how much they utterly fucked it up, both in showing and telling

>>48713415
And her rigidness, conservatism and succumbing to stress which is a real fucking flaw if you are in command led her to evil acts. Also, making a sword from an unknown substance in a magical setting is very retarded.

My memories of this game are very blurred, but I hated how she tried to pressure you into doing her bidding. On the other hand, Orsino turning into a fucking abomination even if you side with him was 10/10 shit writing. It should be either her or him.

>>48723370
It probably would have worked better if they'd have focused more on stuff like the Mages Collective. Anti-blood magic, but helped each other out, apostates and Circle Magi working together.

>>48716517
/a/ is full of rednecks?

>>48723819
The SJWs in Sweden put a call for it.

>>48717514
Wish i was molested by my aunt

>>48716395
All the more reason

>>48713856

Damn those are some nice DSL right there...

>>48721872
Tevinter is the only good thing about the blandest setting ever made.

>>48724487
Divinity universe has a Tevinter too?

>>48713856
>ICastGrease.jpg

>>48723117
This is true.

>>48724557
Don't talk shit about mai dragon commander

>>48724587
But she's already covered in tar, i'd rather cast fireball

>>48714056
>>48714076

Because the people who voted for it thought it deserved it..

>>48725472
But why

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>>48713856
My dear Ambassador,

I don’t believe we’ve met, so allow me to introduce myself. I am First Enchanter Vivienne, Enchanter to the Imperial Court of Orlais, personal advisor to the Empress.

A rumor has reached my ears that you plan on attending the salon held at the duke’s summer estate three weeks hence. I’m certain this rumor must be a scandalous falsehood, Ambassador, as neither you nor anyone else from the Nevarran embassy has been issued an invitation. As host of the party, I trust you did not intend to crash it like some unwashed workman drunk on three tankards of ale and a dare.

I know you are only seventy-third in line for the Nevarran throne, but that is hardly so lowly a position as to relegate you to trailing after Comtesse Montbelliard in the hope that she might give your suit a moment’s thought. She won’t, my dear. She only likes men with self-respect. Perhaps you might sober up and acquire some?

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, Ambassador, that the world has become a dangerous place. Wars rage across the continent, the sky is torn open, and many say the end of the world is upon us. During such chaotic times, it behooves those of us in power to aid in the restoration of peace and the establishment of order. Lives have already been lost; should we not save those we can? In that spirit, I give you this friendly warning: I am not to be trifled with. I would not be in a rush to hasten my own demise if I were you, darling. If the demons have their way, it will come soon enough.

Most sincerely,

Madame de Fer

p.s.hhhhh Nothin' personnel kid

>>48714654
That is one ugly fucking beard. He needs to tame that shit.

>>48726204

He needs to work on much more than his beard. I'm not even Christian, and I still think he's asshat.

I say this because while the spiritual aspect of religion may be silly to some it is undeniable that religion plays a major part in shaping our philosophical views on morality. It's what keeps most of us from talking shit to people for thinking differently among other things.

>implying conservatives aren't evil

>>48713593
No, it's just okay. A 3/5 with its sequels being 1 and 2 respectively

>>48726067
This reminded me of the messages between the Director and the Chairman from Red vs Blue. Huh...

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>this thread

Honestly, I couldn't enjoy Origins. It was the most fun I've ever had as a wizard in a videogame, but I felt so very limited in who I was and what I could be. Baldur's Gate provided a lot more choice, and your backstory only ever had you as an orphan raised in Candlekeep.

>>48727329
But anon, those were actually well written.
Especially the bit of loophole wrangling the reveal showed

>>48727157
I think it's more important that he's ignoring the importance that gathering together to pray over a large meal creates a sort of family bonding and sense of community, and provides a stabilizing tradition.

Sure, he sneers at it, but it's not like he'd be able to tell his grandma to stop praying to god - the rest of the family would probably support her, because she's family and because this is a thing the family would do.

>>48714076
Mostly that there isn't a whole lot of AAA video games that is great.
Its also the reason why Witcher 3 managed to nab almost everything, simply because its quality was far superior to any of the AAA shit those years.

>>48717758
There's a difference between changing up conflicts and just completely changing who's fighting who.

Look at the Sword of Shannara series - the enemy in the first book was goblins and trolls puppeted by evil shadow creatures, and then in the second book it was demons, and in the third book it was magic from an evil tome warping things or something like that.

Aside from having goblins and trolls ending up decent races puppeted by an evil ruler, you always knew who the enemy was and who the good guys were. You shouldn't throw in random conflicts between random factions just for the sake of it, throwing the player's sense of good and evil on it's head only to kick the conflict under the rug.

>>48727568
>Witcher 3

I bought this and can't get into it at all. Movement feels horribly loose and the combat isn't fun at all.

>>48727157
Anyone who identifies as an atheist online is 100% guaranteed to be an utter arsehole. Without exception. Every time. And I say that as an atheist.

>>48713593
The writing was shit and the combat was ripping off MMOs.
Dragon Age was never good.

>>48728027
Sorry, I don't trust arseholes.

>>48713663
>to sell an inferior product
DA:O is a seven year old game, no one is trying to sell it.

Fuck I'd download it online before buying it at this point.
Either that or get it off steam at 90% off.

>>48713856
Duncan? Fucking Duncan?! Bland mentor who dies almost immediately, but not before he kills a guy for no reason because the shit writer thinks that's what makes it grimdark and mature? That Duncan? Great? You're out your fucking gourd, you are.

>>48728179
>he kills a guy for no reason
The reason is that no one must know about the grey warden initiation, else NO ONE would join them

>>48728210
Also because they have a real risk of being targeted by the chantry if it gets out

>>48728272
The moment the chantry gets even a whiff of the shit grey wardens do, they'd go on a crusade

>>48728210
Except that's nonsense. They apparently kill everyone who says no to the cup, so everyone who would say no to it gets killed, and therefore does not become a warden. So if people knew in advance, they could just avoid killing them, and the number of warden's would stay the same. It's bullshit that makes no sense and is only there because shitty attempt at grimdark. Just like every attempt at a moral dilemma in that game. If there's one thing worse than GRRM, it's someone badly apeing GRRM who does;t have a fucking clue what they're doing.

>>48723117
In terms of "personal taste" I'd swap Elf Commoner and Dwarf Commoner, because Ghetto Elf can be fun.

>>48728333
>Hey guy, wanna be a mighty warrior that protects the realm?
>All you gotta do is drink this tainted blood that will give you nightmares, make you borderline infertile, reduce your lifespan, reveal your presence to every single darkspawn in the general area, possibly drive you insane, and potentially kill you on the spot!

>>48728272
>>48728298
And then they'd get wiped out with the rest of humanity when the nest blight happened.

>>48728384
Chantry as a whole isn't the most sensible organization

>>48725148
I bet you fucked that elf slut...

>>48728384
Night and Mystery are the last two Gods/Archdemons left aren't they?

>>48728401
>Best Waifu
>Not the Skeleton

>>48728380
Again, killing everyone who say no and not killing everyone who says no result in the same number of people saying yes. It's bullshit for the sake of it.
If the grey warden's are so fucking necessary then they'll still get volunteers. And the idea that you could ever keep the secret anyway is bullshit. All thos epeople who join the wardens only to die before ever seeing action? Hundreds of years and not a single disgryuntled warden let it slip? Bullshit.
It's nought but grimdark for the sake grimdark, and badly written, nonsensical grimdark at that.

>>48727377
Yeah, those were really well done. Best loophole abuse i've seen in a long time. And the voice acting was really neat too.

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>>48727752
>the combat isn't fun at all
Let me guess, you're really shit at it?
>>48728412
I knew it, you're too much of a wanker to appreciate the purest of them all

>>48728384
The chantry are not clever people.

>>48728664
Lets be honest, no one is smart in Dragon Age

>>48728401
Proudly.
Pragmatic elf is easily best girl, Both as a diplomat and as a way of keeping a dragon emperor sane

>>48728673
Everyone in Origins was at least believably stupid.

>>48728548
>Let me guess, you're really shit at it?

No, I've just played better.

>>48728703
Irving and Greagoir weren't.
Neither was Belen, even if he was a colossal dick.

>>48729017
Bhelen's an ass, but he's really the only chance the dwarves of Orzammar have of surviving.

>>48729065
>Implying Dwarf Noble PC wouldn't have been a better choice

>>48728703
It was nice that the dumb decisions in origins were made due to genuine character flaws, and that those flaws got addressed rather than it being something to get the plot moving.

The motivation behind Loghain's fuck up is practically saintly in comparison to those of Anders and Meredith

>>48729334
Grey Wardens only live like 30 years tops, anon.
The PC wouldn't have nearly the same amount of time to affect change as Bhelen would.

>>48730711
>Anders
Everything about him in DA2 pissed me off

>>48729065
>Implying any of your choices matter

>>48730732
The worst part was that he had absolutely nothing in common with Awakening Anders, who was an absolute bro.

It's so bad that I personally rationalise it by assuming DA2 Anders killed Awakening Anders and assumed his identity, but got driven insane by Justice living up to his namesake.

>>48730756
Absolutely. Plus how none of your choices in DAO matter in DA2 at all sucks

>>48730728
Your wording is misleading, they live 30ish years after the Joining. If most do it in their twenties or thirties they can expect a reasonable life. Afterwhich they go to the Deep Roads and fight to their deaths.

>>48730756
We know from Cole that a Spirit can take on the form of another person if their purpose allows them to.

What if Justice separated from his shitty body and made a new Anders, then got corrupted into vengeance?

>>48728061
>and the combat was ripping off MMOs
Between NWN and KotoR BioWare essentially invented the sort of 'MMO-style combat' you're talking about.

>>48713593
Personally, I disliked DA1. The interface and team AI were a bit rough, and I didn't have much patience for babysitting or micromanaging my teammates and where they would decide to stand.
I enjoyed what I played of Inquisition, but its load times are just too fucking awful.
Never played 2.

But I really enjoyed the lore, as much as I was exposed to it, despite the somewhat bland and uninspired execution of the setting as we occupy it in the games.
The Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe sticks out in my memory, and is unquestionably some damn fine writing.

>>48728449
>Again, killing everyone who say no and not killing everyone who says no result in the same number of people saying yes.
No, because there'd be a lot of people who join the initiation without knowing, and once they get there, go all-in only because they've worked so hard to join already. They would be scared off if they knew the price beforehand, but proceed ahead only after they have already become invested.
Basic human logic. The sunk cost may be fallacious, but it is nevertheless a supremely powerful psychological motivator.

>>48713415
>conservatives
>not evil
Nice meme.

>>48718305
That's EA for you.

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>>48732641

>>48726067
>nigress insulting delicious best brown
Execution is needed to atone sins of such magnitude.

>>48723370
>Blood Magic at the drop of a hat in DA2 onward.
Now, I know it is an arsepull, but in all fairness, Kirkwall has an odd relationship with Blood Magic.
First off, it is well established that Kirkwall's circle was a shitshow and had been getting worse for decades, though we do not know under who's actions this started.
The other part is that the entire fucking city is just one ritual away from annihlating the Veil and said ritual is primed and ready. The whole undercity is a massive magical array that feeds off blood and Kirkwall is nothing if not full of murder to fuel such a thing. This is to say nothing about all the pockets of demons and maker-knows-what lurking down there in crumbling seals and prisons. Actually, I wish they had done more with the secrets of Kirkwall.

I'm not saying DA2's general plot writing wasn't shitty, but there is at least an excuse for just how damn eager to murder each other everyone is. It would probably go a way to explain the sheer number of insane people roaming the streets every fucking night too.

>>48735271
>It would probably go a way to explain the sheer number of insane people roaming the streets every fucking night too.
Christ, that one pisses me off.

Origins actually had a good reason for fighting Gangs (they were organised ambushes, and stopped once you killed enough of them to make the remnants realise you're not worth fucking with).
DA 2 just had roving retards that thought to themselves "heavily armed people covered in blood and whistling a merry tune? LET'S FUCKING DO THIS!"

>>48735627
The one that got me the most were the pretender guardsmen. I mean, their whole thing was to dress as guards and hassle people under a guise of authority. So, why were they just attacking you in the street?

>>48735687
Or those corrupt Templars that were shaking up a clearly innocent Mage, who then pull a battalion out their ass when you attack them, including some elite soldiers.

If they knew she was innocent, why the fuck did they bring enough manpower to take down a pride demon?

>>48735968
>If they knew she was innocent
Honestly I have a hard time believing any Kirkwall mage is actually innocent.

It's not like I don't have sympathy for the plight of mages in the Dragon Age setting, but Kirkwall is the poster-child for exactly why the circles are so fucking necessary in the first place.

What the hell possessed Anders to make him think that starting his campaign for magical liberation in that unbelievable shithole was a good idea?

Oh, right, I remember.

>>48735968
Because it was going to be a gangbang whether that Mage wanted it or not, they brought the battalion to administer it.

Unsurprising for the Circles. The entire system is fucked, it's a miracle it didn't collapse sooner.

>>48736135
>Honestly I have a hard time believing any Kirkwall mage is actually innoce
From a meta perspective it makes perfect sense, but the quest made it crystal clear that the Templars were just twirling their moustaches.
In setting, it made absolutely no sense whatsoever to bring that many men, especially given that the city was in a near state of war at the time.
It's little things like that which make DA2 go from bad but potentially enjoyable to outright awful.

>>48717763
My favourite path is:
part 1: romance Isabella
agree when she mentions it's just a fling.
part 2 & 3: romance Merrill

it gets you some a nice scene with Isabella confronting you about your relationship with Merrill (funny too).

>>48733992
DA2 had way better AI configuration than DA:O, probably the only thing it did right. DA:I threw any kind of customization right out the window

The one thing I enjoyed about DA2 was the Secret of Kirkwall quest.The fact that the entire city was just one big seal for a giant blood magic ritual means it kinda-sorta makes sense why there were so many maleficars in the area. Plus that boss was the hardest in the game besides the dragon

>>48738076
The one thing I enjoyed about DA2 was the Arishok.

Mad respect for that guy.

>>48738196
hmmm true. the whole qunari aspect of that game was pretty awesome.

I'm confused why do the Qunari have wicker shields, with all their their tech you'd think they'd have something more than that.

Then again they're about to have hand cannons so eh.

>>48738196
>Try my hardest to get on his good side
>He decides to burn the city to the ground for a book anyway
>Chop his head off since he wanted to take my theving cocksock bitch away
A valuable lesson was learned that day - never trust delicious brown sluts and qunari are cunts

>>48738247
This is why the game should have been about increasing tensions between Qunari and the Chant Lands with the Mage/Templar thing being a plot later discovered to be an attempt to destabilize the south.

In a similar vain the Red Lyrium should have gone from the Deep Roads expedition straight to the Tvinter Imperium through the Magister Extremists who were the most generous patrons of the expedition. All later Red Lyrium later cultivated from that single shard.

With the Mage Extremists taking control of the Vints to fuck up the Qunari and fund Tal-Vashoth rebellions, the entire south of Thedas in civil war, the Qunari trying to step in to South Thedas to restore order and the Dark Spawn horde in it's first ever civil war due to The Architect Corpy makes his big come back.

The Conclave was between the Arishok and the Revered Mother as the only representative the entire South could all agree upon.

Then shit goes bad. Revered mother and Arishok. A Qunari once known as Sten neatly and in an orderly fashion steps into the role of Arishok and continues to impose the Qun on the South for its own good. Or at least to stop the southerners from killing each other in increasingly stupid civil wars.

And that's where Inquisition starts. With some contingency orders to start up an Inquisition should things get so broken that they can't be fixed and a butt load of chaos on every side. later it gets discovered that Casandra and Liliana fabricated the orders to rebuild the Inquisition, but not before it's too big to stand on it's own.

>>48738196
I remember the bitch running away with the book and having to kill him, but I know she can stay if her approval is high enough.
Can you turn her in to avoid the conflict?

>>48739023
Your choices when meeting the Arishok in the keep are
>Turn her in
>Duel him
>Murder the room
Actually duelling him is a giant fucking chore on anything but easiest mode. Dude has practically infinite healing potions and can chunk you like no tomorrow

>>48738838
>In a similar vain
In a similar vein.

>>48739073
>not giving the only respectable guy in Kirkwall a fight worthy of him and the Qun
Get a load of this basra.

>>48713415
>The PCs are going to kill them regardless.

>>48739249
I tried for like 2 hours on a fucking force mage/blood mage

>>48723229
>>48723370

How did Bioware get to this point? They're a prime example of a fallen developer the likes of which we can't find except in cases where executive meddling killed the group.

For fucks sake, they're down to making one game at a time and this one's literally staffed by a woman who says "not enough is being done about virtual avatar rape" and a smug Indian guy that has him drinking a "white tears" mug in his Twitter avatar while quipping about problematic situations.

Oh and let's not forget Stanley Woo and the Biodrones! God, I spent half a decade worshiping these guys and their products and it took Mass Effect 3 to open my eyes.

Oh, question; has Bioware ever commented on the fact ME3 ended with an A-B-C situation when they loudly claimed the series would not end in an A-B-C situation?

>>48739330
Agree. I was a Bioware fan back when they were Black Isle. Fuck those guys.

>>48739330
>How did Bioware get to this point?
First they got bought out by EA, then they made the mistake of listening to the vocal minority of their more rabid fans while letting their best people get bled out of them and drawn away by better prospects elsewhere. And at the same time as that was happening, they were giving jobs to people who did not deserve to be given jobs, leading the talented people to no longer WANT to come back.

>>48739330
>How did Bioware get to this point?
It would be easy to blame EA, and it's true that EA probably caused the Bioware talent exodus, but the truth is that EA is mostly to blame for games having shortcuts, lowest common denominator pandering, using gays as a shield and anti consumer practises.
The terrible writing, bugs, writer reassignment, recruitment and anti gamer attitude are all Bioware.

>Oh, question; has Bioware ever commented on the fact ME3 ended with an A-B-C situation when they loudly claimed the series would not end in an A-B-C situation?
Individual writers have, like Patrick Weekes, but they got rapidly gagged if they did anything but toe the company line.

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>>48739258
>Oh, through your unreasonable policies and not keeping corruption in your organisation in check you alienated all the people who can bend reality to their whim in the city.
>You also created a sword from a substance that was confirmed to drive people to insanity.
>Now, instead of negotiating, you want to just kill all those you were supposed to protect, even from themselves.
>But I guess times really are hard, so I can't blame you for going fucking crazy. Here's your pat on the back, and try to do better next time.

>>48739258
That's why I had the most fun with parties that are not entirely made of good, caring and forgiving people. They would kill her, but not just because she's on their way, but because she fucked up big time and wanted to commit mass murder I might be the only GM on /tg/ who likes his players. I would also remind you that she tries to have you killed even if you side with her on every occasion, and even then she doesn't like you very much.
Also, it was never stated that the party has to resolve problems that benefit each side equally, or even seek a non-violent solution first. All I expect of them is a reasonable justification of their actions.

>>48739727
The worst part is that Kirkwall is the only place with a bad problem.
Ferelden was rocky, but the fact they came back from such a colossal fuck up is quite a good testament to the fact these things are far from irreparable.
Sure, it had things a bit worse than normal, but that could have been managed if Meredith was actually competent.

>>48740078
And naturally I forgot the point, which was that Meredith could have either called in for help, or taken advice on board from somewhere that wasn't having an issue.
Hell, they could even get help from some of the mages to patch things over. I'm sure Irving would be first in line to slap the shit out of Orsino and Anders if he found out what they were getting up to, given what happened with Uldred.

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>>48739330
Bioware no longer needs the dedicated fans it had when it made Planescape or some of the old school RPGs, they have long since left those days behind.

The industry as a whole has now learned that they can push out faster games and sell far more than they ever thought so long as it has the right marketing and narrative pitch. That is characters, characters now make the game and they must be 'diverse', 'progressive', 'different' and definied entirely by what they look like.

Plot and gameplay are now secondary and tertiary. Games are sold entirely through the look of their characters. That is it. During all the interviews they will praise how they've gone outside the box with the characters, how they look different, how they all embody one simple cliched trope with no complexity or depth.

>>48740181
>>48740181
>Bioware
> made Planescape

You annoying as fuck "Biowere are nothing but SJW shills now baawww" fucks would be a little more tolerable if you actually knew that Bioware and Black Isle were not the same studio was

>>48740499
My bad, i meant SoA, ToB and the rest.

>>48740499
>if you actually knew that Bioware and Black Isle were not the same studio was
>were not the same studio was
Am I having a stroke or does this sentence straight up not make sense?

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>>48740499
>"Biowere are nothing but SJW shills now baawww"
Are you honestly trying to deny that via deflection?

>>48741763
>that pic
I mean, I thought Dorian was the best of a bad cast in DA:I. Not enough to make me play through the whole shitshow again as a gay man, but still.

Reminded me a lot of Milo Yarranallapallyopolus

>>48713593
Its okay, but the art style is the worst I have ever seen in fantasy. Everything looks retarded.

>>48739330
Took you long enough, I saw it with Jade Empire. Kotor was bearable.

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>>48742052
The Art style in origins is far better than any that followed it in the series though.

>>48742922
That doesn't make it good or not retarded.

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>>48742978
It does make it not the worst though.
There are two clear examples to prove it.
I mean, compare this

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>>48743046
To this.

I'll grant that it's not entirely fair, since one is concept/background art rather than reflecting the game, but the point stands about general style heavily degenerating.

Really, people, Dragon Age isn't that bad.

>>48743403
Mass Effect 1 has some qualities as world building goes, it steals from SW and ST well.

But DragonAge is shit all over.

>>48744026
Why "all over?"

>>48743065
Neither of those are ingame assets. I contest that the ridiculously oversized, shiny, and generic armour and weapons in Origins are indeed, worse and more retarded than the spiky mcEvil of Two and generic clutter of Inquisition.

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>>48744341
Generic clutter!? How dare you sir!

>You mean angry poor girl that dislikes rich nobles?

>Or dedicated female knight that had whole life planned out for her?

>Or sly, casual rogue that isn't really that helpful?

>Or grim soldier type with a dark secret?

>Or enigmatic elf mage?

>Or brash, loud foreigner?

>Or skittish, fairy type?

>Or gay person who doesn't fit in with culture he's from?

>Or haughty noble mage?

The game is complete garbage from all possible angles. Plot, characters, GUI.

>>48744503
Sorry, I was under the impression that we were discussing art style as it appears in game.
Feel free to continue your semi-coherent ranting.

A game that had really good art style but was wasted on an MMO was Age of Conan.

>>48713415
DAO was great. It was a new setting that was frankly very retro (just look at the blonde Jamaican Qunari), it gave every option a little origin backstory to play through, and all in all invested you in the world of Thedas. Sure. Bioware ripped shit off left and right from older, more established settings. The Wardens? Fantasy Jedi with some Witcher thrown in. The Fade? The Warp from Warhammer. Mages? Psykers with the serial numbers filed off. The Templars? Paladins in rusty chainmail. Hell, the idea behind the Mage circles reminds me of the Wizard colleges from WHF.

But all in all, it was a setting that players could get invested in and gave you a myriad of options for your character. Want to play as a Berserker Dorf putting filthy knife ears in their place? Yes you can, complete with Mobster backstory. Want to play as a Tumblrkin Elf? By all means, complete with "TEH WAYCIST WHIT PEOPLES". Want to play as a psychotic Harry Potter? Go ahead. Then there were the companions, some of whom were better than others, with Wynne and Shale just being total bros (of course you had whiny pissants like Laird Allistair and the gay Elf, but even the latter was tolerable).

But later games never quite were able to catch the magic that made DA great.

>>48744562

There was no magic anon, they are shit especially when compared to black isle times.

Its like comparing Bioshock to System Shock, sure you might enjoy Bio, but it was a serious downgrade.

>>48744562
I think that DA2 outstripped DAO, though that could have been because I got seriously invested in the mage/templar plot. But I also enjoyed how the protagonist was used, for the most part.

>>48744562
>But later games never quite were able to catch the magic that made DA great.

Because they can not really be called the same series, the lore changed, the characters changed, the settings changed, the history changed. Everything changed.

They could hardly be called the same universe since you have everything Baldy-Elf says contradicts everything you did in the Fade in the original game.

Completely reinvented the Fade/Warp idea.

Completely ignore the Wardens and their containment of the Blight, despite it only recently being over.

The dark, gritty feel of the original was supplanted by the bright, massive World of Warcraft color pallete of later versions. And stupidly large and empty maps with far more walking than anything.

>>48744562
The magic of DAO was lost mainly due to two marketing driven changes - simplified gameplay and speshal snowflake character development muscling out competent world-building.

They really fucked up DA2 big time. Bioware's persecution complex was front and center and shoved out all of the charm that DAO had.

Such a shame.

>>48744663
Er, how?

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>>48734081
>on most boards this would be satire
>on /tg/, you can't tell

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Both DA and Witcher brand of fantasy really rub me the wrong way, its all dirty and ugly. And GOT show does not help at all.

Mainstream fantasy is fucked up for a long time now.

>>48744955
Witcher (game world) is much more palatable than DA, if for no other reason than that the characters are interesting

As for Fantasy being fucked up, a lot of it is that 'gritty' or 'dark' are the only things that draw the crowds now, so even good writers eventually have to go grimdark just to make it

>>48745071
But its bad grimdark. There is no element of mystery or awe.

>>48744955
I really hope you're not posting a Conan picture as an example of something that isn't dirty and ugly.

>>48745071
I'd totally play Witcher if I was remotely interested in its set protagonist.

>>48745115
Sword and Sorcery is different anon come on.

I agree Geralt is boring.

Reminder that Anders did nothing wrong

also fuck the Chantry

>>48744663
The simplified gameplay is the bit that gets me.

Especially the decision trees for the companions. I want that to be a thing in every game. It should have been expanded, not stripped down. Setting up If>Then logic to account for different things using limited lines of "code" was one of my favorite mechanics in recent memory

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>>48745182

>>48745182
I like how this little sub plot evolved from game to game.

In DAO, the Chantry did nothing wrong. Hell, the circle seemed like just a pre-industrial X-Academy where the grim but stoic Templars kept watch over the walking WMDs. In DAII, both sides were massive balls of dicks just so Anders didn't come across like a complete bitch-oh and the Templars were completely right in the end. In DAI, TEH OPWESSED MAGES WANT FREESDOMS despite there being a entire MAJOR FACTION that literally lives off blood magic in addition to wanting to resurrect a massive empire of wizard slavers.

It really showcases Bioware's decline I'd say better than ME.

>>48745131
>I agree Geralt is boring.
Still better than DAI's party. STONK INDEPENDENT WYMENZ (x3), Tumblr incarnated, WE WAZ WIZARDZ, colesteel the hedgeheg, a Bear, knife-ear, and Varric. Oh, and the bland MC.

>>48745872
Er, what was the problem with the women in DAI?

>>48745920
They had no depth beyond a characterization of a single fantasy trope played to the utter fucking extreme until you could predict exactly what they would say and how they would react to any given situation.

>>48745872
>the bland MC
Compared to Hawke or in general?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0sGW_0b6_s
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m4MtUpItsQQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYPjoi8P5Eo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3UvGFFeg8c

>>48745872
>colesteel the hedgeheg

I shouldn't have laughed at this as much as I did.

Cole is still the cutest companion tho

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>>48746053
you say it like having characters with consistent ideals is a bad thing.

>Morrigan hates having her freedom restricted. No shit she'll disagree with the Circle's authority, that's just part of her character!

>Cassandra is extremely devout and pious. How dare she get angry if you blaspheme the Maker! Predictable character!11!

>>48746281
Morrigan was better, not good, but better. Characters with some depth and meaning like The Boss or something real and honest like Bonnie MacFarlane.

>>48715988
>bioware has to make mages turn to blood magic at the drop of a hat to make templars not be blatant villains
I don't know why I play these games, I always walk away pissed off.

>>48746987
Because they used to be great and you have hope they can be great again

>>48746987
They weren't villains in DAO... Though they only exist thanks to Mages being dumbshit assholes. Seriously, DA has some of the most stupid evil wizards in the entire fantasy genre.

>>48747637
>>48746987
Part of the problem is that blood magic isn't inherently evil, it's just that the only ways to learn it outside of Tevinter nowadays, and even sometimes inside of Tevinter if you can't find a teacher, are from demons.

The Grey Wardens use blood magic, even the Circles use blood magic.

>>48734081
Don't you have your Liberal Arts degree to get back to "earning?"

>>48747858
If it's so dangerous to use, then why in the hell are so many fucking dumbshits selling their souls for what's at best a negligible powerup? It makes no sense.

>>48747903
Blech. LA majors are the worst. They can't write worth a damn, yet they major in literature. They can't draw or sculpt worth a shit, yet they study art. Hell, they can't even study history without fucking it up. The arts have been devalued to the point where they're just worthless fields of studies for those special snowflake students too stupid to choose a communications degree (as they don't qualify for the hard sciences or engineering).

At least with a "education" in communications you'll get a shitty desk job after graduation.

>>48748495
Mostly the problem comes from mages running from Templar oppression, who to stay away need to use blood magic for the edge, which means that oh look, CLEARLY the Templars were right and mages need to be oppressed even harder, which subsequently means more desperate mages turn to blood magic, and so on and so forth.

Yes, you'll always have those who would use blood magic anyway, but there are other factors still. Most mages are stupid anyway about it, "blood magic" is at its core just using an alternate power source to the Fade.

Blood Magic becomes a problem when they begin taking the lives, souls and blood of other people to fuel their rituals. It begins with them cutting and drawing their own blood, which is very hard to prevent but eventually the Malificarum goes after others. That is the point in which the Templars step in.

But nooooo, the Mage with the slashes all over his arms and a cruel barbed knife was just cutting a loaf of bread. He was a nice guy, he didn't hurt anybody.

>>48749310
>But nooooo, the Mage with the slashes all over his arms and a cruel barbed knife was just cutting a loaf of bread. He was a nice guy, he didn't hurt anybody.
He was just getting his life back on track. He was going to the tower chantry every week and was going to be an enchanter. Those trigger-happy templars cut his life short without thinking about the consequences.

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>>48749310
>>48749428

>>48748495
>Daily reminder that English Lit majors do not study the most worthwhile contributors to the English language. They study feminism, pre-imperial shit and all manner of latino contributions. They do not go near Shakespear, Chauncer, Hemmmingway or Orwell.

>>48744341
Bollocks.

Generic and functional art will always trump outright retarded, because one will slide over and let other aspects take up the slack, while the other will take you out of the game every time you look at it.

You're a fucking moron.

>>48713663
>Yes, yes it is. But all the things that made it good are now replaced, destroyed or gone.

Ooh I know this one - "What is a Bioware Sequel?", Alex

>>48750838
Kotor 2 was good though, but that was obsidian

>>48714191
>Except the ENNIES are a popular vote open to anyone.

That's no better.

Still means the competition is only between the huge AAA games with enormous marketing , and bland kitchen-sink themes and mechanics to make them as populist and thus bland as possible

>>48749098
But that's still fucking retarded. Blood magic clearly-9 cases out of 10-ends with the user becoming a possessed WMD determined to kill fuck everything in sight. One would think the average Mage would be educated enough to avoid becoming a possessed corpse, but nooo. Again, the DA Mage vs Templar subplot ONLY exists because of the writers constantly having the mages making bad decisions, thus justifying the Templar's existence. If the Mages weren't EVIL retards, the Templars wouldn't need to exist thus making that whole segment of the setting pointless. It's one of the dumbest parts of the setting by far and you know it.

>>48749991
As bad as it sounds, I can't tell if this is sarcasm or genuine. I'm going with the latter as... Yeah. The important authors who actually wrote meaningful books are taught half assed in high school, and ultimately dropped in favor of Social Justice-themed essays written by Orange Kin Transhispanic Queersexual Transvestites.

>be oldfag huge CRPG fan
>DA:O was average at best, wouldn't call it bad though
>DA2 was trash
>DA:I was one of the worst experiences in a game I've ever had
I cannot believe that Gaider worked on BG2 and made the Ascension mod after all that crap he spouted with DA.

Every Bioware game made in the last decade has been worse then the one released before it, which is actually kind of impressive since they manage to undercut expectations every time even knowing that. And then the BG revival project is being run by those hacks at Beamdog who seem content to shit all over the source material.

>>48751241
>And then the BG revival project is being run by those hacks at Beamdog who seem content to shit all over the source material.

How so?

>>48751272
Their additions to BG1 were so out of place in the game it was like I'd left in some low quality hasubando mod, it was hugely jarring. It wasn't as bad in BG2 and they were easier to ignore, but if you actually did their shit it was some of the lowest quality writing in the game, which as much as I love it, has its low points. The inbetween game they made for the timeskip is just laughably bad, they decided to reinvent some of the more "problematic" characters from BG1 who were various archetypes by having them get preachy and spout IRL memes.

The old games still exist of course so it's nowhere near as much of a kick in the balls as what Bioware pulled with the ME series, and since the "gameplay improvements" in the enhanced editions is just a bunch of fanmods thrown together they can be happily ignored, but now that Beamdog has made an actual entirely new entry to the series they have expressed a lot of interest and dropped a few hints for a Baldurs Gate 3, which would be people with no writing talent and little coding talent digging up a long dead, conclusively ended and beloved series.

The idea of revamping the game for a modern audience, in terms of the game being on a decade and a half old engine, was fine, but now they are taking the idea and running with it to try and tack on shitty parts to a finished saga.

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>>48727157
> It's what keeps most of us from talking shit to people for thinking differently among other things.
Religion keeps people from talking shit to others for thinking differently? I don't know what planet you're from, but on ours genocides have been committed over trivial theological disagreements.

>>48751137
You realise that Orwell's whole shtick was social justice, right? The man went for war over it, and he would lambast tumblrinas for not being progressive enough. For fuck's sake, rightists should just stop invoking famous leftists' names to bash leftist views.

>>48751556
Actually, you're wrong. He wanted justice in society, and that's not the same thing as "social justice" at all.

>>48751104
>Blood magic clearly-9 cases out of 10-ends with the user becoming a possessed WMD determined to kill fuck everything in sight.

That's because everybody keeps insisting on learning blood magic from demons.

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>>48751595
The term "social justice" as you use it is a fucking buzzword and a shield against accusations of being a reactionary; anyone to the left of Hitler is nowadays an SJW. You don't fucking get to use Orwell's name to defend rightists positions, period. Fuck off and die.

>>48751635
some people use it as buzzword, but it's correctly used to refer to people with extreme views in favor of feminism, civil rights, multiculturalism, political correctness, and identity politics.

>>48751635
>>>48751595
>You don't fucking get to use Orwell's name to defend rightists positions, period.
kindly end yourself you self important prick

>>48751700
> it's a buzzword
> it is, but not when I use it
Please die in a fire.

>>48751635
Fuck off mate. The modern leftist is not a liberal.

That you think that all politics boils down to right vs left and don't even consider the liberal/authoritarian axis shows you're politically illiterate.

>>48751715
... oh, you're just a troll. I get it. Well done I guess, i bit your bait.

>>48751784
> That you think that all politics boils down to right vs left and don't even consider the liberal/authoritarian axis shows you're politically illiterate.
All right, I laughed out loud. You're a paulbot, aren't you? Nobody but you and other libertarians make any further distinction between left and right.

>>48751855
Now, see, you're pigeonholing me without knowing me. You're making judgements based on your own assumptions, your own position in the political machine.

I personally am not a fan of hard-line libertarianism because in a society where anything is permissable and nothing is controlled, you may as well live in an anarchy.

Social funding is necessary, as are taxes, in order to maintain roads and keep law - but to presume to tell people what to do with their private lives is going too far, as is leading campaigns of hate against people for striking contrary positions to yours.

I do not object to the modern Social Justice movement because i'm some ridiculous "Rightist" boogeyman as this ignorant anon suggests >>48751635 (Was that you?) - I object to the modern social justice movement because it is totalitarian, exclusionary and actively promotes conflict and violence over trivialities.

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>>48751855
dance for me troll, show me just how far you're willing to sink

>>48751898
> you're pigeonholing me without knowing me
You're a stupid teenager who's painfully easy to figure out; there's a dozen right in this very thread, for fuck's sake. Don't think that you're the smartest fucker in the room when you know that objectively you're no better than average.
I'll pass on commenting on the rest of your cringe-worthy post. You'll grow out of it eventually. Or maybe not.

>>48714866

Y'know what's great about PnP? You don't have to use everything in the book. Don't like resurrection? Remove it. Don't like a particular class? Remove it. Don't like a particular race? Remove it.

There's no reason you have to use the implied setting of D&D as-is, and there's literally no reason to use FR, Eberron, DL, Ravenloft, Planescape, Dark Sun, Spelljammer, and all the rest if you don't care for their brand of setting. Best of all, you can cherry pick the things you do like.

>>48751967
>You're a stupid teenager who's painfully easy to figure out
No, i'm not.

I get the feeling like you're projecting. And I like how you have to respord to crude ad hominem because you're incapable of engaging in reasonable discussion. Very mature.

>>48751981
Like every stupid teenager who thinks too much of himself, you now try to play on my dismissive behaviour as if it makes you appear any better. You're predictable to the point of pointlessness of trying to toy with you. Any real person observing you for thirty seconds would figure you out beginning to end, and your inability to understand that only drives the point further.
And I'm too sleepy to be bothering with this in any case, so ciao.

>>48752023
Oh.

You were toying with me?

Next you'll be telling me it was nothing personnel.

>>48752050
I just told you that you were too stupid and predictable for that, and you keep proving my point beautifully. Is there a bait you won't swallow?

>>48739367
>>48740181

>BioWare was Black Isle
>BioWare made Planescape Torment

I don't know how to break this to you, but BioWare was NEVER Black Isle. Black Isle made Planescape Torment and Icewind Dale. They were also made up of some of the same team that made Fallout 1 & 2.

BioWare made Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Neverwinter Nights, KoTOR, etc.

When Interplay basically folded, Black Isle broke up. Some of them became Troika (making Arcanum and Vampire the Maquerade Bloodlines), and others became Obsidian (Neverwinter Nights 2, KoTOR 2, Pillars of Eternity, etc.).

BioWare was purchased by EA right around ME1.

BioWare was never as great as we'd like to remember. Even Baldur's Gate doesn't hold up that well.

>>48744026

Mass Effect is a pastiche of a lot of SF. SW and ST are literally just the tip of the iceberg.

>>48739367
>I was a Bioware fan back when they were Black Isle
Obsidian's made up of Black Isle people, not Bioware

Why's there so much "SJW" windmill-tilting going on in this thread again?

>>48752948
Because SJW are double-thinking dicks with thought police fetish and because you touch yourself at nights

>>48752974
Well, I certainly didn't notice anything in the game promoting a thought-policing fetish. If anything, it was the other side trying to police DA in this thread.

>>48752948
Play the games, learn about the devs

>>48753070
The games are fine. I did think Inquisition was in some ways the weakest one, but that's a problem with Corypheus and too much of the game being dedicated to aimlessly wandering around. I did kind of prefer DA2's companions, but DAI's were quite serviceable. As for the devs... what the fuck do I care if someone has a silly mug? If my feelings get hurt, I can run off to one of eight zillion other franchises dominated by white people.

>>48753102
I bet you snap your fingers instead of clapping :^)

>>48752948
>games preach the writer's sjw morals
hmm, I wonder why people would bring that up.

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>>48753417
I have no idea, anon