893 réponses à ce sujet

[nightscrawl]

David Gaider wrote...

Brockololly wrote...
Out of curiosity, do the comics/books/anime all go along with one set "default" version of the DA universe? Like in Asunder, is that the same version of Thedas which the comic takes place in? And so, does the comic/books/movies "default" world state match up with the one "default" world state import option from DA2 (Alistair as King, Human noble warden who did the Dark Ritual)?

We haven't done enough of these sorts of projects for that to even be a consideration just yet. I don't think we've restricted ourselves to only using the "default" version of the setting, if that's what you're asking.

I thought that was a fantastic question, and an interesting response. It also brings up more questions! Do you all (at Bioware) think this might be a good idea in the future? I don't really see how this could be a bad thing. As a player, I wouldn't mind knowing that events 1, 2, 3, 4 in A, B, C order are the set canon for the game, although my own playthroughs can be something a bit different. Actually, knowing it would enhance it for me, since I could then just do a fresh playthrough with the canon in mind and participate in it, rather than just read about it.

Just considering your two novels (and coming third), I would have thought that there was somewhat of a set canon already in your head. If you think about it, having one affords much more opportunities for branch off merchandising that can all be considered along the same story line, similar to what is done by Blizzard with Warcraft (although players don't have a role in those).

David Gaider wrote...

but I'm curious how certain characters like Alistair are going to be portrayed regarding their past without referencing a PC like the Warden who can have a massive impact on how somebody like Alistair ends up where ever they might be.

It depends on the situation. At some level I suppose I must mentally choose which Alistair I'm writing, but that's true for any time I wrote the character and needn't be explicitly stated. A lot of it is open for interpretation by the reader.

This is the main reason I will want to read these. And you know... you writing Alistair again .

David Gaider wrote...

Like Alistair may be King, but is he married to a Queen Cousland who would presumably be an important person in his life? Or if Morrigan cam back into the fold, wouldn't a Warden that romanced her and had a kid with her and went into Eluvian Land be important in how her character was portrayed?

See, you're deliberately imagining ways that it wouldn't work. Instead what you could do is try to imagine ways that it would. I'm not about to create a story which is going to run up against those walls-- that would be silly. Thankfully I don't need to do that.

To be honest, I think when it comes to Alistair, there will be those who will never be satisfied with something like this. But, I'm sure you know that already from his immense popularity as a character. The only tricky thing I can foresee is if he is king in the comic, then he is there because of the Warden (whichever Warden that may be). He didn't want to be king, we put him there (although I always agreed with Eamon on Alistair's virtues regarding the role). While you can of course have some events where the Warden isn't mentioned - I highly doubt that even in the scenario where the Warden is alive and in a romance with him (as mine is) that she is mentioned all the time, that would be absurd - I think some might feel that not mentioning the Warden at all might be a bit... odd perhaps?

It will be interesting to see how it's handled.

Modifié par nightscrawl, 19 octobre 2011 - 07:48 .

[Shadow of Light Dragon]

David Gaider wrote...

Insofar as what the majority of people consider to be "canon", that really has no effect on the individual player. Who cares if the majority of players consider Alistair to be alive and king if he's dead in your particular playthrough? Your game's story will continue to reflect your choices, when it can. Outside of the game, that's all but impossible short of us outright avoiding any and all places in the world where a player's game might have touched. We're not going to do that-- I'd avoid specifying any specific interpretation of a player character (so materials that dictate who a Warden or Hawke might have been are out of the question), but beyond that it's fair game.

I think some people will only be satisfied if all future Dragon Age books/comics/anime come with a notation along these lines:

"All NPCs appearing in this work are in an author-selected setting of Dragon Age. Any resemblance to game NPCs, living or dead, is purely at the discretion of the author and may have no relation to or impact on your PC's canon."

Modifié par Shadow of Light Dragon, 19 octobre 2011 - 08:48 .

[Fiery Knight]

David Gaider wrote...
As for why I chose to use already-existing characters, it's because lots of people like them-- including myself. We want to see more of them, and in this case the story happens to pertain specifically to them. They're not incidental to it. It's that simple.

Couldn't agree more with this!

[ReallyRue]

Oh, for some reason I read "...Varric and Isabela go to Antiva" and assumed the first character was Zevran. I got ever so excited.

But it's Alistair. Oh well, he's nice too.

I'm interested in these comic books. Is it an internet thing though? Or an "ooh, I can touch paper with my hands" thing? I've never bought any Bioware comics or anything before.

[Fenris_13]

Good it doesn't feature Zevran. Otherwise it would turn into him and Isabela talking and doing sex all the time, which I'm getting bored at.

[Wulfram]

To me, the concern with this mix of characters is that Alistair will be forced into being too much of the straight man.

[TheJediSaint]

Wulfram wrote...

To me, the concern with this mix of characters is that Alistair will be forced into being too much of the straight man.

I don't know if being the straight man is a bad thing for Alistair.  I think part of the reason he's so popular is because it's fun to watching him suffer.

[errant_knight]

TheJediSaint wrote...

Wulfram wrote...

To me, the concern with this mix of characters is that Alistair will be forced into being too much of the straight man.

I don't know if being the straight man is a bad thing for Alistair.  I think part of the reason he's so popular is because it's fun to watching him suffer.

Alistair may be the 'good guy,' but he's more than capable of holding his own in a war of words. He's always got a humorous and/or sarcastic comeback and doesn't take crap from the companions. The only person who can really make him feel bad is the Warden. Even then, he's always got a smart remark, unless it's really hurtful. And he'll tear a new one for people he really disagrees with, the warden or anyone else. I don't see him having a problem with these two. It's more likely that we'll see 3 directional humor with a high level of snark.

Regarding the whole canon thing.... I consider my male warden just as 'real' as my female and the game when my female Cousland agrees with Alistair about needing an heir to be equally 'real'. Sure, I have a particular fondness for my female Cousland who stays, but she's just one of many possible choices. The ability to import my endgame is all I ask--not that every story told reflects that choice or leaves it open to possibility.

Bioware can't possibly reflect every possible choice (or avoid showing all choices) and still tell a story. The have to pick a way and go with it, or never touch the characters we interact most with and love the most again, and that would be a damn shame.  The minute they gave us choices, they made every one of them equally correct and why shouldn't they play in one of those choices? It's not like in the games where I die/leave/etc., I don't want to imagine Alistair going on to have a life, do interesting things, and hopefully be happy. I'm just as interested in that 'what if.' It doesn't have to be my bestest, bestest favorite.

Modifié par errant_knight, 19 octobre 2011 - 04:20 .

[Wulfram]

"That's what I'm here for. To deliver unpleasant news and witty one liners."

Humour is a very important part of Alistairs character, and I wouldn't want that to get lost because he's going around with two people who are almost incapable of taking anything seriously

[errant_knight]

I don't see David Gaider ever writing a dour Alistair lacking in humor and without witty repatee. I doubt we have to worry about that.

[Chewin]

Humorous Alistair is always enjoyable, but considering that he will be a 'King Alistair' in the comic, I hope he has changed his personality a little at least.

[tmp7704]

Wulfram wrote...

Humour is a very important part of Alistairs character, and I wouldn't want that to get lost because he's going around with two people who are almost incapable of taking anything seriously

But this all relies on presumption that someone has to be the straight man and that it then has to be Alistair... instead of alternative like say, having the three* stooges setup, doesn't it?

*) likely four, since i don't see Zevran sitting that one out.

[Wulfram]

Constant wisecracks from everyone also has the potential to get wearing

[tmp7704]

True, which is why i'm not sure combining these three works out very well in the end. But i guess it's something we'll find out?

And well, to be fair "constant wisecracks from everyone" work pretty well for certain subgroup of comedy. Perhaps it's more the matter of having expectations of the product that match the product itself. I.e. if you pick it up because you expect and _want_ 100% comedy, you get what you wanted. If you expected something else... well, knowing the cast involved, why /would/ you?

[Blacklash93]

You guys are seriously missing the point here...

Dragons may actually do something related to the story that doesn't involve eating people! In a series called DRAGON Age! Madness!

Modifié par Blacklash93, 19 octobre 2011 - 05:42 .

[TheJediSaint]

I would like to point out that while all three of them are humorous characters; Alistair, Isabella, and Varric all have there own "flavors" of humor. So I think there should be enough variety to keep the humor from going stale.

Modifié par TheJediSaint, 19 octobre 2011 - 05:57 .

[DA_GamerGal]

I think the last comic book I read was back when I was a kid... it was an "Archie" comic. But when I saw the tweet about this comic book- that it featured Alistair- I knew that I would be buying it.

The only thing that I didn't like, was how the artist portrayed Alistair. It didn't look anything like him. Granted he has aged... but poor Alistair keeps having his looks redone. I still like his original DA:O look... but it's his story that is most important.

As for the cannon issue... I don't worry about that at all. After 26 plays of DA:O I have several cannon versions that I can work off of.

It was interesting to note that David said that the majority of players don't import their character(s)-  I wonder why that is?

[Fenris_13]

Chewin3 wrote...

Humorous Alistair is always enjoyable, but considering that he will be a 'King Alistair' in the comic, I hope he has changed his personality a little at least.

Yeah, I would like to see him become more "mature" (basically hardened Alistair should be in the comic).

Though there's nothig wrong if he throws a joke or two:P

[Maria13]

I think Isabella will make a few outrageous advances on him... He'll try and rebuff them in a chivalrous fashion. Don't forget Varric's penchant for p0rn, he's going to have a field day!

Modifié par Maria13, 19 octobre 2011 - 09:35 .

[Rorschachinstein]

So I'm a little lost in how the direction of this will go........... So are we gonna see an adventure inside some cities where the three use their silver tongues to work around the politics of Antiva. Or are we gonna see a journey into the mountains of Antiva while they fight dragons and hunt demons and crud. Because you have some of the funniest characters finding out some super secrets about Dragons......................that just doesn't sound like something any of the three would do.

[errant_knight]

Chewin3 wrote...

Humorous Alistair is always enjoyable, but considering that he will be a 'King Alistair' in the comic, I hope he has changed his personality a little at least.

In the DA2 default, Aveline comments that she's heard that King Alistair is '****sure,' but she gives him the benefit of the doubt since he was there when the archdemon was slain. Given that this was the default and that Alistair is apparently confident enough that some wonder if that level of confidence is warranted, I'd guess that he's 'hardened' there and will be in the comic, as well. 

Hmmm.... I should have guessed that the forum would censor that, no matter how innocuous a word it is, shouldn't I?

Modifié par errant_knight, 19 octobre 2011 - 11:02 .

[Provo_101]

So.. What happens if Hawke stayed with Isabela at the end of DA2? Especially considering Isabela has her new ship? Are Varric's and Izzy's motives for finding "a" Witch of the Wilds to find Hawke? As well as Alistair who could be looking for the Warden while searching for answers on his lineage?

Or does it chuck all that off the boat and throw the characters together for the hell of it? I can't see Isabela and Varric getting involved with Alistair just for the hell of it (who is presumed king) when Alistair could easily go with Teagan for instance, especially when they barely know eachother.

I suppose it's too much to ask for a Warden/Leliana romance and Hawke/Isabela romance to STAY that way. <_<

[errant_knight]

Oh, look. We've gone full circle and are right back at the beginning again.

[Blessed Silence]

rak72 wrote...

Great, Alistair left my warden behind to go romping around antiva with Isabella

ROFL just like mine (and she's a cranky Zerker dwarf) and so many others I'm sure.

But heck, I'm not that worried about it.  Even in DA2 there are some things that don't make sense either.