redrew some panels from the magekiller comics a while ago, trying to establish my own interpretation of him. not much different from canon when it comes to his face, a little softer, rounder, and with different (wavier?) hair.
(addendum, how could i forget i like to give him grey hairs and noticeable stubble. and, 90% of the time, a dangly earring)
2 out of 4 games down babyyy !! And I'm making a tradition of pixelating my favorite little guys, so look at them :D !
[COMMISSIONS]
And just like last time for dao some of the designs are slightly different, partly to simplify them so that they’ll look good in pixel art and partly to suit my tastes better (also I like colors, so get saturated idiots)
Also I might one day turned these into stickers.... we'll see
Below you'll find my sketches as bonus, and a *lot* of yapping about what I thought about this game, and especially it’s characters (when I like something, I take a lot of notes-)
The sketches looked nice this time so you can see them :))
To preface all I'm going to say below, first of all it’s only my opinion, and second please don’t spoil me *anything* about inquisition or veilguard as I know absolutely nothing !
Dragon age 2 was a poorly paced rpg with extremely mid gameplay, riddled with bugs, has a disappointing ending, questionable politics, dogshit dress up, it’s maddeningly repetitive and blatantly obvious all it’s corners got cut because it’s a dumbed down rushed sequel............. but I had much more fun playing it then dao gkgkkg
It’s art direction was much stronger for one (even if very hit or miss- like the 2D artstyle, the statues and qunari redesign are a huge yes for example ! The fashion design, whitewashing Isabela in the artworks and what the elves look like is very much a no tho-), it’s mercifully shorter, but what really made it great was that it finally nailed something dao was desperately trying to do but in my opinion never managed ... the over the top edgyness is finally hitting right ! Because in this one it has such a fanfictiony feel in the best way possible. That and they toned down the sexism, it’s still there but imo much more tolerable-
But without further ado !
Varric !!!!!
Varric my absolute beloved, it’s insane how good his character is and how much he improves the characters around him- every new detail about him is more charming than the last ;; how does he do it ??
He's committing tax fraud, he writes popular gay erotica, he is bisexual, he has good banter with all party members, he is funny, he is nice, a banger design....... his only major character flaw is that I can’t romance him. This, is a travesty. Wdym game ?? Why would you not make your best character a romance option ???? Shame.
The whole sequence in the family business quest were it makes you play a fight that is very *unrealistic* with only him, then at the end it seamlessly reminds you that Varric is the narrator- truly one of the only sequence in the franchise so far were I thought oh that’s really cool ! And cleverly written ?? Also the first time the whole "Varric is telling the story to some cop lady" framing interested me ngl djdjdk so far I thought it was a bit awkward and clumsy storytelling, but after that ? After it reframes everything that has happened so far by reminding me it’s all Varric’s narration and he can lie ? I'm hooked. The scene at the end of the Legacy quest were he makes up a last discussion between Hawke and their recently dead mom ? That’s such a sweet and sad way to show how much Varric cares- using the whole narrative device as a way to better characterize him, since what is shown to you is what he deems important to tell, is honestly genius. Too bad it doesn’t quite stick the landing- leaving you with a resounding "wait that’s it ? I thought he got in trouble for something or Hawke died but no ? ok ?"
Anders !!! (and Justice ;;)
Anders, my favorite leftist extremist balding girlfriend, nurse by day cop killer by night, will not speak to you about anything other than his manifesto against the government. He has a discord server were everyone speaks like they’re role playing ants and his bio says "meow :33c". He lets his bestie possess his ass, but their combined hatred of the police was too great so shit got ugly fjfjfk A character that comes dangerously close to making me feel cute aggression, I want to wrap him up in a blanket then gnaw his leg like a rabbit dog. I would madame Bovary his ass with estrogen if given the chance.
It’s a shame about Justice tho, I really did enjoy his character a lot in awakening and I think he could have been developed in more interesting ways (and it’s kind of a waste because the possessed by Justice shit is the least interesting part of his character imo :/)....
Although I have to ask, was it necessary to give Anders between Act 2 and 3 the same brain damage they gave Sandra Bullock between Speed 1 and 2 ? Bro why are they all roasting him for his manifesto now of all time ?? Did it get worse ? Am I supposed to get that Justice is slowly eating his brain ? They all talk about how "crazy" he is now, but he... doesn’t seem that different ? Apart from the banger outfit, and how he was talking like he was already dead, I thought his shift in character between act 2 and 3 confusing ? And the fact he doesn’t trusts you no matter what you do was disappointing-
But anyway, I stand with my cancelled wife and our influencer Emma Paris’s ex girlfriend marrying a djihadist ass romance (even if he doesn’t really talk about anything other than the templar vs mages conflict.......)
(Mars) Hawke next ! (Picture provided because I made a custom one of course-)
All I'll say is that you can’t trust me with a purple cringe button- like I would consider any other options ?? Finally a rpg that let’s me role play an overconfident man that thinks he's funny (/pos)
I initially didn’t like him talking, but I got used to it and ended up kinda liking the guy :))
Also idk how much of a controversial opinion that is, but I hated Carver. I hated him and loved every second of it fjjfkd I'm sorry but he was fun to antagonize ! And I like that he joined the templars at the end of act 1 in my game ! What a perfect response to my mage hawke being a shitty brother ! Great drama *and* I don’t have to talk to him anymore :D ! Also I have to say that after the conversation with your mom where she talks about wanting to find love again.... I couldn’t stop thinking she'd romance Bodhan, and so Sandal would have become the third brother- if that happened I could have finally pushed Carver to open violence by being the nicest brother to Sandal :)) of course I wrote this before the quest where she fucking dies djdjdkdk into the fridge she goes for my hawke's man pain ! (Well at least it was one of my favorite quests in the game, such good angst and drama <3)
Isabela !
Isabela's design pissed me off because it’s so close to being great... Why is she not wearing pants ??! Like the rest I have no issues with, she looks like a sick sexy pirate... but the not wearing pants isn’t sexy it’s just dumb ?? I hate men, trying to sell me a woman winny the pooing it at the bar as seductive. It would have been so easy to just give her pants........
At worst you could have made her wear swimsuit bottoms ! Idk because pirates are water themed or something fjfjfi you could have made them in like a color that match her bandana and decorations to match her necklace and jewelry. Would it have been less sexist or ridiculous ? Of course not but at least it would have looked intentional- Because the fact she's just wearing some featureless black underwear makes it much worse for me. It makes me think of a man taking off his barbie doll’s bottoms and pretending it’s long shirt is a dress........ otherwise her character was ok. It’s very obvious she was written by a man, but it’s hard to fail a character whose concept is "sexy pirate captain"
She left me and never returned at the end of act 2, and fair enough !
Fenris-
Fenris, while I get why some people are head over heals for *check notes* the emo bishonen white haired tortured twink with a tragic story and big sword, I was very... conflicted about him.
Like I want to like Fenris, edge boy and stink goblin that he is, but every new information about him makes it harder and harder for me to appreciate his character ngl- like bro is not only pro cops and a snitch, but also catholic *and* he supports magical Marine Lepen ???? Anytime my brain start going "blorbo ?? 👀" some new info shuts down the thought very fast djdjdk but hey, at least he's not boring ! And he does have some very endearing traits, like the detail of Hawke helping him learn how to read (that is of course a throwaway detail in your mansion and not idk a character interaction to show they’re becoming friends ?? Just a thought !), or his banter with Varric or Aveline are very cool ! *And* I do find it very funny that he lives in a decrepit mansion fkfif bitch you had six years to redecorate or at least clean, why do you live like this ??? You have a corpse in your living room it’s been there for six years and *mushrooms* are fucking thriving-
The image of him standing in his house like an npc staring at his bare walls 24/7 slowly getting mold poisoning is very funny to me rjfjkf like it’s canon this guy doesn’t really have friends (outside of *some* of the party + Aveline's husband), doesn’t want a job, doesn’t have hobbies- like what do you *do* Fenris fufjkf
And finally Aveline !
Aveline... aveline is very bland and boring- but ! What saves her for me is 1) her banter with Varric, about him writing very popular stories featuring guards and her trying to convince him to make it about discipline n shit, and him making it about raunchy romances ! It’s sweet, it’s fun and it’s kind of a little red thread during all 3 acts, 10/10 ! 2) the quest were you get front raw sit to the fact she has negative rizz- what a funny quest that gives her a character trait I really like ! Is it sexist this woman gets characterize only by the men in her life (her dead husband, then her new boyfriend), yes. But I'm having fun so I'll give it a pass, also on account of the fact da2 is *way* less sexist then dao overall so I'll forgive this little side step. And 3) her very sweet and touching dialogue near the end of act 2, after Hawke's mother dies. She got me after a while, kind of like Alistaire did in dao
And to finish ! Here is my updated companions tier list <3 because I love to class things <3<3
PS : The end of act 2 let me down so bad- I really thought the game would go for a more diplomatic and nuanced resolution there.... But no we doing the scary foreigners in your land will convert citizens to their barbaric ways before invading you from the inside type beat that americans seem to enjoy a lot for some reason. My bad then
PPS : As a french player, loved the whole "french accent = ridiculous, bad, and/or insufferable characters". Truly made me laugh everytime. It was absolutely not tiring. Loved the detail that heavier the accent, worse the character. And what's great is that this absolute knee slapper of a joke is not repeated a lot :-) especially not in the second dlc (Also game I did catch the horrible transphobic joke in said dlc- truly some potent vibes from this one.................)
With my return to Dragon Age, I've sought to get my hands on copies of some of Bioware's written works until I'm able to get my hands on the physical copies. And honestly, who would I be if I didn't share them with the community? So here I am, with some December offerings a little ahead of time. Please know that this post will be updated over-time with the franchise's complete written works. But without any further ado, have some Google Drive links— and if there's any issues with the DLs, don't hesitate to let me know.
Book: World of Thedas (V1, V2)
Book: Tevinter Nights
Comics: The Missing (P1, P2, P3, P4)
And as per usual, a reblog is appreciated to help spread this to people who might find use!
Hope you don't mind me adding on to this OP, but here's my digital copies of the Dragon Age RPG Core Rulebook and Faces of Thedas. These are considered non-canon for the most part, but they have some interesting ideas and concepts in them for anyone who might want to adapt them to their own portrayals.
emmrich: i’m going to write a book about the consciousness of wisps and whether they can be considered thinking beings, which proves that i am not ignorant but instead extremely knowledgeable on this topic and fully aware of my hypocrisy, and i will change nothing about my beliefs or behavior whatsoever regardless. and i will also posture as if i am a morally good and honest person even though i know full well that i am not
can i add to this also that emmrich seems to use manfred as a lab assistant and house servant. manfred makes and serves tea and mixes reagents while emmrich is having conversations that don’t involve him. emmrich spends half their interactions scolding manfred for being curious when he is literally a spirit of curiosity. emmrich corrects manfred’s pronunciation and scolds him for not being articulate enough when he is literally just learning to speak. he barely sees manfred as a person i think saying manfred is his “skeleton son” is extremely generous manfred is a fancy pet for him to show off who does tricks including the housework that emmrich does not do himself. he just pours tea instead of mining rocks or whatever the skeletons in the necropolis do.
and all of this could’ve been interesting if it were used as an indictment of emmrich’s character and to call him out on his hypocrisy, on how he acts naive but has put a lot of thought into the personhood of wisps yet still does all of this anyway. he’s comfortable with the status quo despite knowing that it’s probably wrong and harmful. he denies that wisps are people despite knowing that spirits reincarnate as wisps and despite singling out manfred for having a personality, only so he can justify continuing to use them for labor, including manfred. he grew up poor but he’s gotten comfortable being rich and has no intention to risk his status even when it would be the right thing.
but it’s notttttt none of this is called into question and his corpse whispering is just cool and manfred is just cute. remember the skeleton he corpse whispers in the garden who’s posed in an artistic display? i don’t have the full scene on hand but iirc he talks to a baker or a carpenter or something, a much less prestigious job than a mortalitasi or noble. poor people end up turned into art for the rich after their deaths and emmrich thinks this is fine and cool and has no problems with it. he can speak to the dead, he can hear their stories moreso than most. he’s not ignorant. he just chooses to ignore the injustice.
he knows what he’s doing and has no problem with it because he has questionable morals across the board and will justify anything to make himself feel better, from illicit magic to enslaving spirits. he picked out parts of miscellaneous dead bodies to build manfred—that doesn’t seem like “respect for the dead” to me. he even gets irritated in the necropolis at a wisp that scattered the bones of a corpse lol. but he was probably only bothered by the mess.
and if any of this were used to give his character deeper flaws it could’ve been interesting! call him out, call out the mourn watch and the mortalitasi, they’re no better than the magisters! they’re puppeting the goddamn king and you can literally talk about that with him! (but maybe only as ingellvar?) but none of your companions are allowed to have flaws that can’t be resolved in one conversation and none of the factions have ever done anything morally wrong. just like the shadow dragons being bankrolled by rich human magisters including one who directly profits off of slavery in his chantry position and the crows buying child slaves to turn into assassins and kill along the way and the absurdity of the lords of fortune’s entire deal with “only stealing non-cultural artifacts” or whatever. all of the issues are painted over with a smile and some one-liners and a marketable plushie. especially slavery, veilguard hates confronting that one. does anyone remember dai’s spirit characters’ opinions on necromancy.
and when emmrich learns about the origins of elves, how spirits manifested physical form—he changes absolutely nothing. he clearly knows about how spirits are reborn as wisps. he knows how all that works. and he knows that fully-developed spirits are people in their own right (whether he acknowledges that is its own question). he’s not stupid. he’s comfortable and unwilling to change his lifestyle for the greater good and there is no opportunity to even suggest that he should do so. it makes me crazy
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