The Ethereal Writer Redux wrote...
In DAO I wasn't even able to get that vibe. Elves never felt like they were Elves to me. They didn't look the part to me.
Oy... it's difficult to get into why I felt that way now. It's almost 4 a.m here so I'm going to go off to bed.
Really brief summary of what I mean: While the Elves in DAO and DAII were reputed to use things from their environment for weapons/armor/everyday use, the player doesn't actually get to see this. Armor that supposedly bore designs cannot be seen, and is instead just a copypasta of other armor sets.
The codexes say I am an elf. But I don't feel like an elf. It's an instance of my immersion being broken I guess. I tried to feel like an elf in this game, but I don't actually get that vibe.
I'm gonna get some sleep and then I should be able to explain how I feel in proper form.
Up to a point, I am willing to cut Bioware some slack, given the limitations of the engine, constraints of time and space, and the sheer size of the task creating an entirely new fantasy setting. Also, as long as the overall narrative of an RPG and gameplay are good enough, not too many people will complain. The generic and somewhat inconsistent, maybe even shallow nature of DA’s setting and the blandness of the graphics were commented upon by quite a few people after DA:O came out. Nevertheless, there was so much good content and gameplay in it that most either did not notice or forgave Bioware, including me.
However, it is my impression that Bioware always does an overall good job when they have a strong baseline to work from. In the case of Baldur’s Gate and KotOR, they worked with two well-established franchises, The Forgotten Realms and Star Wars. In the case of Jade Empire and Mass Effect, there were established themes and styles from Far Eastern martial arts and fantasy and 1970s-1990s space opera to draw from.
In the case of DA, however, they were, I think, trying to do several things at once. On the one hand, they try to create a new fantasy setting that is distinctive and unique, yet is also familiar in terms of style, theme and content. It has dwarves and elves, but dwarves and elves that while they look a lot like the established clichés, are at the same time very different. However, that difference does not clearly materialise in the games. Because they are not cliché fantasy elves, they don’t feel like (cliché) Elves, but at the same time you don’t get something to take its place. There’s codex entries and some rather bland (if decent) dialog by various NPC’s (especially in the Dalish camp), plus the ‘Elves are lower-class scum with no rights’ motif in the city of Denerim. While this establishes the difference with, say, D&D or Tolkienian Elves, it doesn’t put a strong identity in its place.
Let’s take a step back and look at what are the components of DA Elf design.Visually, they’re standard Elves, even in the DA2 redesign. Basically human, even more specifically Caucasian-looking, but with pointy ears. City Elves wear the same clothes as humans, have the same religion, speak the same language. All they have of their own is a big tree in their neighbourhood.Dalish Elves have some clothing of their own, but it is very much within established fantasy styles.
You don’t have to be a historian to recognise that the Elves in DA are, well, fantasy Jews.
They are:
1. An ancient people with a proud history, whose original homeland was destroyed by an aggressive / evil empire (Tevinter / Assyrians and Babylonians), whose population was enslaved / carried away (enslavement of Elves / deportation & enslavement of Jews by Assyrians and Babylonians);
2. who regained their freedom and independence in the wake of a religiously inspired revolt (Andraste’s rising / Maccabean revolt);
3. but whose independence was then crushed by new powers, leading to the scattering of the people as a despised minority (City Elves / Jews in medieval and modern European ghettos), and
4. whose religion is suppressed / prosecuted, and are forcibly converted (a frequent occurence for medieval and later Jews).
The Dalish Elves are a hybrid concept, combining ‘fantasy Jews’ with ‘fantasy gypsies’, a wandering people travelling in wagons and staying outside regular society.
Now, the medieval Jews and the Gypsies are pretty strong concepts as a baseline.Medieval Jews were perhaps barely tolerated, prosecuted etc., but they had a thriving culture of their own, played an important economic role and in some areas, like medieval Spain, they were part of a brilliant multicultural scene. Jews and people of Jewish descent could vary from lowly peasants to money-lenders, intellectuals and even nobles and statesmen in Spain.
The city Elves in DA? They’re menials and slum-dwellers, largely stripped of any culture and identity of their own.
Now consider the gypsies. Another strong concept, who can be viewed positively or negatively. The more positive elements are the view of gypsies as being great musicians and dancers, sensual and attractive, proud and independent. The negative view is that of rootless wanderers who steal and kidnap and are bound by neither law nor custom. They are, however, always colourful.
The Dalish? Their female hunters wear leather bikinis. They hug trees. They don’t sing or dance but they do smoulder with what I would call generic rage and resentment at the injustices they have suffered.
They have lost what makes fantasy elves fantasy elves, but they don’t even have a spark of gypsy fire. They are a failed, colourless attempt at a fantasy hybrid. They have neither mystery, nor nobility, nor fire.
To put this complaint in perspective, here’s some ‘flavour’, respectively Jewish and Gypsy. You all know Tolkienian and AD&D Elves, then try to mix the various concepts in your heads. Then try to imagine a striking visual style in terms of clothing and bodily ornamentation, combined with interactive and non-interactive cutscenes interspersed with actual gameplay that tell the story of the Elves’ history, rather than boring Codex entries or voiced dialog.
www.youtube.com/watchwww.youtube.com/watch
Modifié par Das Tentakel, 19 janvier 2012 - 07:52 .
Retour en haut
) but my opinion about it counts for really-not-much since I haven't played a lot of games like Skyrim or the Witcher. I liked how the female character kind of "posed" like female Hawke when standing still but didn't actually ran like a spaz. I just hated to see Hawke running in DA2. 
