"veilguard is dark!!" they say and then their only examples are dmetas crossing, ghilannain, the blight, and the final battle gore. like girl? dark is going down into the deep roads and encountering a mad woman reciting a poem about watching her fellow dwarves be eaten and fed flesh and forcibly mutated into broodmothers. dark is learning the keeper zathrian's son was tortured to death & his daughter raped before she took her own life in shame and so he bound a spirit to a wolf to slaughter the humans responsible and infect more with lycanthropy in vengeance. dark is being told the only way for you and the love of your life to survive the battle with the archdemon is to make him impregnate your companion so the fetus can absorb the archdemon's soul(and lets not even get into how this can actually be alistair's first ever sexual experience if you DONT romance him). dark is returning to orzammar and learning your best friend could not escape fate like you did and so he becomes just another dead duster. having your entire family murdered before your very eyes and yet you must keep living. being kidnapped and nearly assaulted & killed and having to fight your way out of a mansion full of humans on your wedding day. coming face to face with the missing friend that got sucked into an eluvian and came out twisted and wrong. dark is watching duncan speak calmly and clearly even as he coldly slaughters the coward that refuses to drink from the goblet of darkspawn blood. veilguard is literally dragon age for babies. shut up
i think about that "they hated that blond freak so much they nuked his entire profession" post constantly because just double checking. we all agree thats why they changed mythal's virtue from justice/vengeance to benevolence/retribution right
In light of recent developments, while I absolutely believe that EA have contributed to the mess that is current day BioWare, I think it's important to not just ignore BioWare's actions as a company and how that has contributed to this entire mess. The last few years have indicated that they have major problems internally with how they manage their workplace. EA is a predatory, vile company that chokes out creativity and treats their developers and customers like trash - you will not catch me defending them - but the news coming out in the past few years has not painted BioWare in a good light at all.
BioWare, as a company, from everything that has come out from ex-developers and interviews, has cultivated a toxic work culture that deserves scrutiny - that needs scrutiny. They don't value their creatives, they don't value their customers, and they think that 'BioWare magic' is an acceptable development mindset, never-mind the strain it puts on their staff.
Perhaps most alarming, it’s a story about a studio in crisis. Dozens of developers, many of them decade-long veterans, have left BioWare over the past two years. Some who have worked at BioWare’s longest-running office in Edmonton talk about depression and anxiety. Many say they or their co-workers had to take “stress leave”—a doctor-mandated period of weeks or even months worth of vacation for their mental health. One former BioWare developer told me they would frequently find a private room in the office, shut the door, and just cry. “People were so angry and sad all the time,” they said. Said another: “Depression and anxiety are an epidemic within Bioware.”
“I actually cannot count the amount of ‘stress casualties’ we had on Mass Effect: Andromeda or Anthem,” said a third former BioWare developer in an email. “A ‘stress casualty’ at BioWare means someone had such a mental breakdown from the stress they’re just gone for one to three months. Some come back, some don’t.”
'How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong, Kotaku
"Depression and anxiety are an epidemic within BioWare" -> and yet, they didn't look to fix this. Instead they kept course, trying to make that 'BioWare Magic' work.
Among those who work or have worked at BioWare, there’s a belief that something drastic needs to change. Many at the company now grumble that the success of 2014’s Dragon Age: Inquisition was one of the worst things that could have happened to them. The third Dragon Age, which won Game of the Year at the 2014 Game Awards, was the result of a brutal production process plagued by indecision and technical challenges. It was mostly built over the course of its final year, which led to lengthy crunch hours and lots of exhaustion. “Some of the people in Edmonton were so burnt out,” said one former BioWare developer. “They were like, ‘We needed [Dragon Age: Inquisition] to fail in order for people to realize that this isn’t the right way to make games.’”
Within the studio, there’s a term called “BioWare magic.” It’s a belief that no matter how rough a game’s production might be, things will always come together in the final months. The game will always coalesce.
'How BioWare's Anthem Went Wrong, Kotaku
This is the same company that fired 50 of their staff and gave them severance less than the industry standard - to the point where they had to sue to get what they deserved. Not to mention that these employees had NDA's that didn't allow them to show off their most recent work on Dreadwolf which would have hurt their ability to find new employment.
“In light of the numerous recent industry layoffs and the fact that BioWare’s NDAs prevent us from showing any of our recent work on Dragon Age: Dreadwolf in our portfolios, we are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches,” said one of the employees in the press release. “We are struggling to understand why BioWare is shortchanging us in this challenging time.”
Seven Former Bioware Employees Are Suing the Company For Better Severence, IGN
The same company that on Dragon Age Day '24, released the Hawke Armour, passing it off to their players as a 'thank you' while the individual who worked on it was fired the same day.
They don't treat their developers well. They don't value their creatives. They don't see the merits of providing their employees with the respect and work culture they deserve. They don't respect their customers, either.
I have a lot of issues with the marketing for DATV and how they tried to blindside their customer base about what was in the game. The biggest example being how vague they were about world states, considering how important that is too many returning players. That information was leaked - they intended for players to not learn this till the game was in their hands.
There are a dozen other statements made in interviews from devs that are misleading, considering the game I played and what they said was in it. The company found this to be acceptable behavior and it is not - it is extremely anti-consumer.
I am not saying that every issue can be handwaved away as 'bioware's workculture' as being the cause either, but it certainly would not have helped. There are lots of valid criticisms made about decisions regarding the writing, the lore/story, characters, gameplay mechanics etc...These creative and design choices should be engaged with critically by both developers and fans so they can learn and adapt for the next time - we all want a good game. I cannot imagine it would be easy to hear criticism when you work in an environment that puts crunch on a pedestal - it's a lose lose situation for the devs and the fans. This company desperately needed transparency and to earn consumer trust back after everything that happened in the past ten years - pretending things are all good and fine, waving off criticism, only to have half your staff leave or be laid off does nothing to foster confidence in your studio. It only makes me think that you're likely hiding more bad news under what was already bad.
Also, way to reassure us that 'well, we may have let go of dozens of people but Mass Effect is still coming!'. An absolutely tasteless comment and one that should have been in a separate message and not the same one addressing your 'restructuring'.
"Today’s news will see BioWare become a more agile, focused studio that produces unforgettable RPGs. We appreciate your support as we build a new future for BioWare."
How about you shift to a studio that doesn't work its employees to the bone and throttle its creatives? How about you examine how your workplace culture led to an incredibly chaotic development cycle that led to so many of your talent leaving? What about addressing the concerns of fans of your games when we talk about our criticisms with the quality of work being put out?
EA is a dumpster-fire but BioWare only added fuel to the flames. I have a lot of hang ups with DATV, especially writing-wise, but it was an uphill battle from the start. Joplin, Morrison, Dreadwolf, Veilguard...this game floundered in development hell and hemorrhaged talent with every step due to mismanagement and poor decision-making. In a string of poor decisions, Veilguard was just the final domino that led to all these built up problems crashing down.
I wish the best for the developers and writers who find themselves without a job - I hope they find a studio that values their talents and creativity far more than BioWare did. Dragon Age remains a series dear to my heart and it always will be, and I'm extremely grateful for all the people who contributed to making it that way. It's just very sad that this series has to end with Veilguard and all this ugliness.
Not “Only my reading of canon is correct” or “Interpretations are subjective and all valid” but a secret third thing, “More than one interpretation can be valid but there’s a reason your English teacher had you cite quotes and examples in your papers, you have to have a strong argument that your interpretation is actually supported by the text or it is just wrong and I’m fine with telling you it’s wrong, actually.”
Hey, okay @s0lavellan I took a screenshot because I didn't want to share the thoughts your post brought up as a reblog.
I think this is why I bristle so much at people shipping Solas with Rook or Mythal for example.
Because it cheapens how special and unique Lavellan is to him. And that in turn makes their romance, his feelings for her, seem ordinary when that couldnt be farther from the truth.
I didn't think about that Cole dialogue in such a light until now. And it goes along perfectly with Solas' romance description in Veilguard CC
Solas is thousands of years old...and he wants when he has never wanted before. He didn't even want a body. But he wants Lavellan.
This is such a nice interpreation, but there is no dialogue in which Cole says, "he wants when he has never wanted before."
There is dialogue in which he says, "It never wanted before," where it most likely is the spirit that took over the body of Brad Pitt's character in the film Meet Joe Black.
After Cole expresses confusion about *death* changing after coming into the waking world, Solas asks him if he'd never felt interest in women after coming through the veil, which to me reads as him saying that this would be a normal and likely consequence of coming through the veil and having a body.
I don't think Solas has been in love before, but I do think interest in other people comes with being a person.
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