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[Costin_Razvan]

I have a few videos....a Bhelen Trailer/Tribute. The War of Shadows Trailer and well lastly my Spartans of Middle Earth Trailer.



Updated first post with Warden pics.

[Costin_Razvan]

 Update: Dragon War of Shadows - Chapter Five: Natia.

[Raonar]

So, as I understand it, the fiction is going to deal with the so-called exalted march on Ferelden after the Circle in Ferelden is disbanded. But so far you've been dealing with the origins. Just how long are you going to make this tale?



If it's a retelling of Origins PLUS the business after the Archdemon slaying... I'm guessing long.

[Costin_Razvan]

If it's a retelling of Origins PLUS the business after the Archdemon slaying... I'm guessing long.

Long indeed. But I plan on updating every 3-4 days. Though I will work on a chapter for War of Shadows then switch to Strands of Fate.



With you giving me Proofreading I will work fast. At the rate I am going I suspect I will end the whole Blight business in about, uhm....70-80 chapters which is equal to about 6 months or so.



Good things take time

[Raonar]

Hmm, I'm not sure even MY story will take so many chapters...

Well, best of luck and may your muse work fast and hard.

Modifié par Raonar, 05 septembre 2010 - 08:48 .

[Costin_Razvan]

Hmm, I'm not sure even MY story will take so many chapters...

Your story has chapters almost double or triple my letter count, remember that.

[Raonar]

Point taken.

[Costin_Razvan]

So finally after a big case of writer's block I update the fiction. Not happy at all about this chapter and I think a lot of it won't make sense but eh...had to get past it somehow.

www.fanfiction.net/s/5948648/7/Dragon_Age_War_of_Shadows

Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 25 février 2011 - 04:39 .

[Raonar]

For a big case of writer's block, the chapter sure was short

First off, I think you're giving Loghain a bit too much credit (do not shoot me yet). I get that he has experience and whatnot, but so do the wardens and you've been honing your skills while he's been dong paperwork and occasionally training. Not to mention Duran is a dwarf (who are inherently better at learning to fight and doing it) and is in the prime of his ability. And you even mentioned Avernus' potion, so I didn't find the way Loghain seemed to be better even WITH that power active at all believeable. (Sorry, I know you like him and all, but he's fifty so I wasn't sold).

The other big confusion was that Uldred was there. I suppose he never became an abomination? If so, you'll have a lot of explaining to do because it was made clear in the Game he was a blood mage long before the Circle Mage origin even happened.

Other than that, mind is whirling. As rationalists say, I recognize that I am confused.

And why do you write events to be so depressing?

[Costin_Razvan]

I wrote Loghain to match him in game on nightmare difficulty ( where he is BY FAR one of the toughest - if not the toughest - opponents you meet in Origins ). He is a person who in my mind has fought every single day of his life and is someone who would lead his troops in the thickets of fighting, what he would not be is someone who would just sit at his desk all day and spar only occasionally. He is 50 yet he looks in excellent shape in game.

Also you picture your Wardens as having supernatural strength. I do not. fighting 200 Darkspawn? Not likely for them. They are good, well trained and disciplined, they also are not legendary. They can take I would say three or four Darkspawn on their own, but more then that is just unrealistic.

[Raonar]

Costin_Razvan wrote...

Also you picture your Wardens as having supernatural strength. I do not. fighting 200 Darkspawn? Not likely for them. They are good, well trained and disciplined, they also are not legendary. They can take I would say three or four Darkspawn on their own, but more then that is just unrealistic.

So, mages aren't supernatural then... And yet Duran has the powers from the potion which actually does qualify as supernatural... which pretty much invalidates your whole point. Hence why I am not buying Loghain's uber prowess (am not trying to be aggressive here, or to push your buttons. We'll just have to agree to disagree I suppose).

Also, you do realize that, in that battle scene you are referring to, there were like 15 people/animals fighting, right? (7 wardens, Wynne, Sten, Leliana, Morrigan and Zevran, plus 3 dogs/wolf) which means that they, on average, got 13 each, and they had the advantage of an ambush and heaps of magic. And most of them didn't see the end of the battle.

[Costin_Razvan]

Duran has drunk a flask which increase his dexterity, stamina and strength, what it does not do is make him an ubersoldier. Loghain is old and yet he has endured an intense fighting training regime for all his life. I would definitely see him as someone who can win against someone younger since three decades of fighting DOES show a hell lot more then some potion or dwarven training.

As for the battle. I don't buy it, you stopped making any sort of realistic combat the moment you had Raonar enter Honleath. People die in battles, especially against those odds, yet you had everyone survive.

As for why I make depressing stories, because life is not a fairy tale where things end well, especially not in politics ( actually, never ) and war.

[Raonar]

If you say so, I guess

Don't see WHY the problem of realistic combat is even brought up, though. I mean, there's magic in the world  of DAO. Realism was never there in the first place.

Modifié par Raonar, 02 mars 2011 - 07:06 .

[Costin_Razvan]

Realism is an aspect that does matter to me when writting a story. There are enough people who just don't care yet the books that I love the most are those with a very heavy dose of realism in them.

You ever read the Black Company? If so you would know what I mean.

[Raonar]

Costin_Razvan wrote...

Realism is an aspect that does matter to me when writting a story. There are enough people who just don't care yet the books that I love the most are those with a very heavy dose of realism in them.

You ever read the Black Company? If so you would know what I mean.

You know, the degree of consistency with which you always seem to completely miss my point is astounding.

Let me put it another way. You SAY realism is important to you, but I honestly wouldn't say so from reading the chapter.

Your chapter (and what you said above) stated this so far:

-Grey Wardens are so weak that they barely manage to kill 4 darkspawn, when the latter are mostly 1-hit kills by the end of the game and most common soldiers are expected to handle 2-3 or even more, since you're all outnumbered... Makes no sense.
- You say Loghain is a man that fought every day of his life... I honestly have no idea WHERE that came from. The rebellion was ages ago and most of it they spent running around and plotting. Right, I GET that Loghains was good enough back THEN to defeat the Chevalier leader, but he was in his prime, unlike now (and most grey wardens should be able to do the same anyway, they are THE best in the world because the recruiters and the joining make sure of that). Still, how would Loghain have fought every day of his life? He was a Teyrn, ergo had to be more of an administrator and probably only had regular trainign sessions and whatever.

-Duran Aeducan is a dwarf (inherently more hearty and badass, and this is Word of God) and he actually DID grow up fighting every day of his life (most likely anyway, since dwarves usually do that and can win grand provings at 12). He had the best possible training and has been fighitng humans, darkspawn, werewolves, reavers, GOLEMS, DRAGONS for the past year almost non stop. And he ALSO got to drink Avernus' potion, which practically pushes him into superhuman territory (or at least peak human capability) regardless of what you would like to think.

And Loghain is in his fifties... and STILL totally dominates Duran who is in his prime... right.

What I think is happening here is that you are mixing up "realistic" with "realistic in context". When magic is involved, your idea of relism has to adapt. This isn't the real world. The real PROBLEM, however, is that your chapter is NOT realistic from either of these two points of view. I may (may) have been able to buy Loghain being better than Duran if you hadn't put in the thing about the potion, bt it totally broke my suspension of disbelief.

I KNOW you deify loghain (like you do Bhelen because of the totally contrived and psychologically-unfeasible epilogue slides) but seriously, he practically said two words in the whole fanfiction and already looks like a god mode sue.

I am trying not to come accross as aggressive here, and I know I am failing.

Ah well.

EDIT

Oh, and a bunch of armors in the came practically catapulty anyone wearing them into superhuman territory by default.

*waits for the inevitably biased backlash*

Modifié par Raonar, 02 mars 2011 - 05:12 .

[Costin_Razvan]

-Grey Wardens are so weak that they barely manage to kill 4 darkspawn, when the latter are mostly 1-hit kills by the end of the game and most common soldiers are expected to handle 2-3 or even more, since you're all outnumbered... Makes no sense.

They are not expected, they are outnumbered and they would lose in a prolonged battle. You do not win at Denerim through a pitched battle, you win through luck by killing the Archdemon.

As for Loghain. The war against Meghren ended a few years after River Dane and peace with Orlais was not declared only in recent years ( Leliana's Song ) also what do you think Loghain did during pre-Origins when the Darkspawn rose up and during the Civil War? he fought on the front lines as a Medieval general would do.

Duran Aeducan is a dwarf (inherently more hearty and badass, and this is Word of God)

Based on what evidence? I am sorry but I do not fall for the mythical view of Dwarves who are stronger then humans. Yes I do see a Dwarf stronger then an average human soldier because Dwarves have better equipment, generally better training and thus more discipline, and they also fight Darkspawn on a consistent base while humans do not. L

He had the best possible training and has been fighitng humans, darkspawn, werewolves, reavers, GOLEMS, DRAGONS for the past year almost non stop.

Which he DID in a party of other Wardens like Lyna, Alistair, Daveth, Natia, Solona and along with Sten, Leliana, Morrigan, Shale, Cullen, Anders, Uldred etc. It is ONE thing to fight these creatures with an entire party on your side, it is a completely different matter to fight them alone ( something which I do not view Duran as capable as doing in case of Reavers, Dragons, Golems )

As for the potion, in GAME it only gives you two abilities and nothing more. I made it up that it gives more endurance strength etc. but I do not view it as making the Warden some superhman.

And Loghain is in his fifties... and STILL totally dominates Duran who is in his prime... right.

You never meet someone who spent their entire lives training day by day and saw how they were in their later years. Forget battle, Loghain is someone who in my mind went through grueling training to stay in form every single day after he became Teryn, yes his training would not match Duran, but the duration ( 30 years+ ) would more then be a match for him.

There are old men at almost 100 years who can do HUNDREDS of pushups and beat the **** out of some of the best in our military because they have a strict exercise schedule.

I KNOW you deify loghain (like you do Bhelen because of the totally contrived and psychologically-unfeasible epologue slides) but seriously, he practically said two words in the whole fanfiction and already looks like a god mode sue.

He lost the damned duel, in your mind he might be weaker, but that's your opinion, in my mind he fought Duran to a stand still but still lost eventually.

As for Bhelen, oh yes most bloody certainly one can only like him after the epilogue and one is either an idiot or a gulible fool for heeding Gorim's advice and killing Trian and then placing Bhelen on the throne, but do continue BELIEVING in your opinion that it's impossible that Bhelen actually becomes a good king because YOU think so. The Epilogue is a FACT, and no matter what your personal opinion is the epilogue is the Word of Good, period.

I killed Trian since I agreed with Gorim that killing him now would save a lot of house's Aeducan's strength, you think he was joking ( or so you made it out in your FF ) but he was not ( Toolset comments ).

I saw the betrayal coming a mile away, and still killed him because it was worth the risk, despite what you might think he was a bloody inept fool who would have sunk Orzammar, no ammount of what might...will change my view. He had idiotic ideas of leadership ( seriously? expecting the nobles to just fall down to him based on the simple fact he is an Aeducan and has the "right" to rule? completely laughable ) and he died like an idiot.

When Bhelen turned on me, the fact he had a full half of the Assembly on his side was impressive to me. I seriously expected him to already control Orzammar by the time I returned....I was surprised to see a Civil War about to break out because Endrin disowned his remaining son...that was a surprise.

Yet I still picked Bhelen, not because of some notion of helping the casteless ( though that was hinted at that he was going to help them ) but rather under the belief that he was going to be a strong king ( something a lot of people spoke of in the game ).

Morals, Honor are laughable IDEALS in politics, especially Byzantine ones as Orzammar has. The only person who will hold the throne and actually achieve something is only going to be a ruthless bastard with no regards to the lives he has to take to maintain his power ). Yet even then I still believed Bhelen was working to improve the situation of Orzammar, else I would not have picked him.

Make of that what you will, I don't care.

Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 02 mars 2011 - 05:49 .

[Raonar]

Sigh. You know, the only reason Harrowmont can't do anything is because of Bhelen's rebellion... which ís made up of senseless idiots that somehow can't get it into their heads that the dead dwarf will just never be king. If they'd just not done that idiocy, no division would have occured and the new king could have done something (and we KNOW it;s more than just isolation). The epilogue says it clearly that it's the only reason Harrowmont doesn't manage to do much. I know, you'll just use it as something to keep convincing yourself that Bhelen is oh so awesome, but honestly, the only reason half of his supporters follow him is because his last name just happened to be Aeducan, while the rest want to have an easier time of betraying everyone else.

*cue Harrowmont kills the castless*

To that: Bhelen kills a lot of nobles and pisses off the warrior caste (whatever that means)... You can bet that the only reason no one knows about just how many people he kills (who are all honorable and probably interested in Orzammar's welbeing BTW) is because most scholars from the shaperate that would write about it are either killed or too scared.

Honestly, he's not even that intelligent, and his whole plot to get his brothers out of the way only worked because the plot said so. If it was the real world, it would have backfired in oh so many ways. Plus, the fact that he was Trian's faithful second for many years (he says so himself in the DN origin) would have likely made it more than hard for him to go anywhere and scheme since Trian practically had him at his beck and call. A such, I find it hard to think no one noticed what he was up to, when even Branka (a smith) knew he was a deceiving 'cretin'. Basically, Bhelen playing politics so well just isn't realistic from all the signs in the game itself. Nevertheless, I am amused you are so willing to completely disregard your precious realism just because it happens to deal with Bhelen in this case.

But meh. I will stop here. You keep worshiping him I guess, though I find it amusing you can preach about politics. I assume you have loads of experience int his domain yes?

Modifié par Raonar, 02 mars 2011 - 06:25 .

[Costin_Razvan]

But meh. I will stop here. You keep worshiping him I guess, though I find it amusing you can preach about politics. I assume you have loads of experience int his domain yes?

Unless you have a degree in history ( which deals a lot in politics ) and have spent over half a decade on the study of history like I have then I suggest you can it.

As for Harrowmont who views the casteless as less then trash and says so himself, who says the King has a position of respect and the Assembly has the true power, who puts the matter of sending troops to a BLOODY VOTE? By all means continue to believe he is a reformist, because even in the situation where he has Golems to maintain his rule he still does not make necesary changes to retake lost teritory, Bhelen does.

Reforms will always ****** some people off, so what of it? If that means we should not make changes then why should one bother. If the Warrior Caste really did care for the wellbeing of Orzammar do please explain to me how they get pissed at the one who gives them more troops. A lot of them tell you the situation is dire yet they stand up against the one guy who is trying to improve the situation on front, yeah way to go. ( Then agan only some of them get pissed at Bhelen, so shrug ).

As for Bhelen's plot, this is something we now very little about so "shrug" but it is definitely possible for one sibling to betray another in such a manner. In fact in our own Romanian medieval history we had dozens of people who did this, but do go on please I am sure your knowledge of the subject is broad.

Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 02 mars 2011 - 06:37 .

[Raonar]

And thus you get hostile and still totally refuse to acknowledge my point because you can't conceive the notion that you might actually be WRONG about something, which every rational person should be able to do. Not saying you ARE wrong. I'm saying if you were willing to consier things... you wouldnt get so single-mindedly pissed for no reason.

Seriously, it's amazing how you take everything as an insult, especially when talking about FICTION (and a terribly contrived piece of it at that). I think I'll do as you so "kindly" requested and can it I suppose.

*sigh*

Seriously, it's like every single intelligent person on this forum has a stick up their orifice.

[Costin_Razvan]

What I do not want to argue over with is the issue of the epilgoue slates being wrong, they are crystal clear on the issue and you have failed to provide a convincing argument about how Harrowmont could have achieved anything good in his rule since he is too weak to step in.

He is crowned by the blessing of a Paragon, in our modern culture that would be like Jesus coming down from Heaven and saying you are awesome take power, since that's the kind of standing a Paragon had in Orzammar, and it does matter a lot.

Is Bhelen's plan so incredible? Not really, it's just using an old drawn formula of betrayal of us never finding out how he gained power etc....I just don't want to argue over PLOT HOLES, since there is no point. We can both choose to make our opinions about it, and you don't see me pissing on your story for the choices and interpretations you made of the game in your fiction, mine are different due to my opinion on matters. If you want to make Bhelen and Loghain fools and weak in your story that's your choice.

Regarding Gameplay. On Nightmare I found a LOT of fights challenging. Those Reavers, Dragons, Undead, Ogres gave me a hell of a fight on the default game with no mods or DLC on. Hell one of the most challenging fights where in Lothering at the start, and fighting Loghain on Nightmare was a bloody pain. ( I seriously chugged health potions like in no other encounter )

DLC and mods break the balance.

Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 02 mars 2011 - 06:53 .

[Raonar]

And thus... you totally misunderstood what I wanted to say... again.

Nevermind.

[Glorfindel709]

Just giving my own two cents - Word of God (David Gaider) is that the epilogues are in fact rumor and hearsay and are not actually the definitive case. I believe this came up in the DA2 threads when people were arguing over Epilogues and what they meant for the lore. Said that in actuality, the epilogues are the "general know" of the world at the end of the game based on your actions, but that there are rumors abound and thus they can color the information given.

[Costin_Razvan]

Wouldn't change my perception of Bhelen that much anyway. As I said I picked him not because of the epilogue but what I saw in game.

As for Harrowmont, if anyone can provide a good argument as to how he would be able to be a good leader then I am all ears.

Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 02 mars 2011 - 07:18 .

[Glorfindel709]

Harrowmont works in the system rather than destroying it. While I do prefer the reform that Bhelen *can* possibly bring to the table, I don't think that causing a large period of instability to put reforms into place that'll just be turned over the minute he dies (unless he establishes a dynasty of course) is the right way to bring change to Orzammar.

Granted, that's more of a possible future con for Bhelen than a pro for Harrowmont.....

[Costin_Razvan]

Certainly we have leaders who achieved reforms during their lives at the cost of great instability for a while, reforms that did not last after their death ( like say the ones instituted by Sulla during the Roman Republic. ) or that their accomplishments would mean nothing in the long run except ruining the nation even more ( like what Justinian attempted with the Byzantine Empire during his reign ).

But then have leaders ( a few admiteddly ) who managed to change many aspects of how the nation was run. ( Augustus, Marius for instance ) that show it is possible to make such changes.

Modifié par Costin_Razvan, 02 mars 2011 - 07:48 .