22 réponses à ce sujet

[Porenferser]

I mean I'm no one who thinks DA2 is a great game, I think it is (unfortunately) pretty average in fact.

But still, one point really stands out for this game:
I've never experienced an antagonist as awesome as the Arishok.
His design, his eloquence, his gestics and mimics, his fighting style, his intentions...just about everything.
After the first meeting with him I was really in awe.
And after all the remaining conversations as well, of course.

In short form: I just think that the writers/designers etc made a hell of a job by creating him and I really hope that I will meet him again when I spare him.

Who else thinks so?

[Shimmer_Gloom]

Arishok was the beeknees. I agree that the team did an excellent job in making him a well fleshed character and fun antagonist.

I don't like to use such hyperbolic statements like 'masterpiece of art' often though...

But why not? Why can't we judge interactive media like we do more static forms like a painting. I'd say the Arishok deserves to be talked about in the same breath as Gladdos and Loghain. He was pretty awesome. And Bioware's villains definitely break ground when it comes to characters with interesting an complex motivations. Can you say they are the video game equivalent to the Godfather or the Mona Lisa?

Eh. Maybe?

[Maladismal]

Except he was nothing but an incompetent tyrant with a deep voice and big horns.

Not unlike a certain villain in FF7 who happened to be cooler then cool just because he had a big sword.

Overrated, the both of them.

[Beerfish]

Maladismal's description of his personality I agree with. I do think his model, look, animations and voice were all very very well done. I remember the massive uproar on the forums when people saw that many of the Qunari had horns. The DA2 Qunari were 1000 times better than Sten and his brothern in DAO.

[Shimmer_Gloom]

I've never understood people's willingness to dislike something by virtue of its perceived popularity. I've never taken something's 'ratings' by other people into account when trying to appreciate something. Just because a large number of people are passionate about something, why would I let that effect my feelings about a certain thing? Especially in the negative?

Maybe its because other people are not as enthusiastic about attempting to be objective.

In short, I doubt it is the Arisok's looks alone that make him an interesting villain to some people. Just as I doubt highly that Sephiroth is as acclaimed as he is just because of his big sword. If I were to hazard a guess it is far more likely his place in the story and how well Square did in making him seem like a credible threat. He was talked about but you never actually saw him. You saw his handiwork, the sword in President Shinra etc. but you never actually met him. You saw him in flashback but he rarely ever met you directly.

They put a lot of effort into building his mystique. I doubt it was the sword at all. I mean how many characters have had a scary sword since then. The Arishok certainly has a big sword.

I don't believe in overly simplistic arguments.

[dreadpiratesnugglecakes]

I thought the Qunari redesign was stupid and unecessary. I don't like Battle Cattle, tatoos that make them look like giant candy canes or the armor made out of wicker lawn furniture. I was indifferent to his character because I was repelled by the redesign. So for me, the Arishok was..meh.

[Shimmer_Gloom]

dreadpiratesnugglecakes wrote...

I thought the Qunari redesign was stupid and unecessary. I don't like Battle Cattle, tatoos that make them look like giant candy canes or the armor made out of wicker lawn furniture. I was indifferent to his character because I was repelled by the redesign. So for me, the Arishok was..meh.

Yes, but can you really call it a 'redesign' per say?  Way I figure the Qunari (Kossith) were allways supposed to look vastly different than the adverage human.  They just didn't have the rescources to make them look the way they wanted in origins, which is why we got Sten.  Who was as big as they wanted but lacked the horns and was still bound by a system that let him use all the armor a regular human could.

The Qunari were always meant to be as different from humans as darkspawn are if I read the interveiws and such right.  They were just able to emplement it better in DA2.

That still doesn't mean you have to like the way they look.  I'm just explaining the intent.

I have no problem with it.

[Dormiglione]

In my opinion the Arishok was the best part and the best character in Dragon Age 2. Perfect voiced and the only Plot (Story Part) that makes sense in the whole Dragon Age 2 Story.

I dont mind if the Qunari where redesigned. If you like it or not its just personal preference.

Modifié par Dormiglione, 02 juin 2011 - 07:02 .

[CalJones]

He was a far more interesting antagonist than Meredith, that's for certain. And whilst I had my reservation about the Qunari redesign, once I'd seen it, I like it a great deal.

[Phoenix_Loftian]

Maladismal wrote...

Except he was nothing but an incompetent tyrant with a deep voice and big horns.

Not unlike a certain villain in FF7 who happened to be cooler then cool just because he had a big sword.

Overrated, the both of them.

Typical hate message by typical haters who always use FF7's Sephiroth in a typical hater message.

This whole thing just reads so... typical.

Honestly, you would think they would use something different after all these years.

[Porenferser]

What I have noticed:
Look on how awful the Arishok looked in the Destiny Trailer in comparism to the ingame modell



God....so glad they changed him.

[SkittlesKat96]

I like him, sure he has a few character cliches but they still rounded him off pretty well and did a good job with him and he was a pretty interesting character.

[Dormiglione]

CalJones wrote...

He was a far more interesting antagonist than Meredith, that's for certain. 

Agree

[Foolsfolly]

Porenferser wrote...

I mean I'm no one who thinks DA2 is a great game, I think it is (unfortunately) pretty average in fact.

But still, one point really stands out for this game:
I've never experienced an antagonist as awesome as the Arishok.
His design, his eloquence, his gestics and mimics, his fighting style, his intentions...just about everything.
After the first meeting with him I was really in awe.
And after all the remaining conversations as well, of course.

In short form: I just think that the writers/designers etc made a hell of a job by creating him and I really hope that I will meet him again when I spare him.

Who else thinks so?

I love the Arishok. Just like you said, everything about this character clicked. I wish he was the primary antagonist of the whole game, so we'd get more of the guy and we'd have a rational enemy.

I love the Arishok.

[Corto81]

Definitely one of the best points of DA2.

A masterfully done character, by any game's standards.

And yes, had the game finished after Act 2, it would've left a much better taste.

[Maladismal]

Phoenix_Loftian wrote...

Maladismal wrote...

Except he was nothing but an incompetent tyrant with a deep voice and big horns.

Not unlike a certain villain in FF7 who happened to be cooler then cool just because he had a big sword.

Overrated, the both of them.

Typical hate message by typical haters who always use FF7's Sephiroth in a typical hater message.

This whole thing just reads so... typical.

Honestly, you would think they would use something different after all these years.

If  not for the fact that he's still a very relevant icon of comparison in the masses ability to splurge over something of mundane design.

Is Arishock a bad character? No, but he isn't some icon of personality like alot of people act that he is.
He spends the better part of 3 years looking for a book, and fails. He then allows the Qun to be molded to fit his design while staying at Kirkwall in his failed attempt to find a book. He also lacks honor despite so many claims to the contrary. Though that is a longer argument to get into that first requires you understand the merits of honor.

However I'm not really bothered by all that, it makes the Arishock and the qun feel more human. What really bothers me is Hawke's inability to act on any of it. If isabella comes back he gets the book,never mind he at that point had already killed the viscount and who knows how many others, lets give the tantrum throwing baby his object of desire. Lets let him continue to dictate the terms of honor and worth he so enjoy's invoking.

My dislike of the Arishock comes from perceived opinion of his grandeur and my hawke's inability to do anything else but play along as he does for the entire game.

[Foolsfolly]

He spends the better part of 3 years looking for a book, and fails.

The Qunari found the book. They were at the warehouse before Hawke and Isabela. They just lost the fight for the book and Is ran away with it while everyone fought over it.

[In Exile]

Maladismal wrote...

Except he was nothing but an incompetent tyrant with a deep voice and big horns.

Not unlike a certain villain in FF7 who happened to be cooler then cool just because he had a big sword.

Overrated, the both of them.

But I think that's what makes him a great character. He's a petulant child who's wedded to his ideology to the point of idiocy, who starts a war with a city that he can't really win for the sake of his frustrations.

[Amagoi]

The Arishok and Act 2 was the best part of the game, in Amagoi's opinion. If he's art? Ehhh. I suppose so. Technically art can be anything that makes you feel something. Just about everything in DA2 makes people on BSN 'feel' something. So by that standard, the entire game is art.

[Flashflame58]

I can't wait to see what happens if I give him Isabela and he lives.

[KnightofPhoenix]

Masterpiece of art? Eh no, not for me.

But he's certainly one of the few redeeming things about the game, as a character.

Modifié par KnightofPhoenix, 03 juin 2011 - 02:10 .

[Rolenka]

The best villians are ones you can empathize with. I wasn't even sure about the Arishok being a bad guy until he turned violent. Even then, he was driven by ego and ignorance, not malice.

I still wonder what it would be like to live under the Qun -- what the balance would be in trading freedom for "certainty." The whole "murder all the dissenters" thing kind of messes it up, though.

[Kaiser Shepard]

Rolenka wrote...

I wasn't even sure about the Arishok being a bad guy until he turned violent.

Well, the trailers did give that much away. In-game, it was more a case of "when" instead or "if", the latter I would have preferred.