196 réponses à ce sujet

[AutumnWitch]

Inclusion and lots of mystery.

[Zack_Nero]

Cause it can be a whole another world, it has all the lore it needs to do it.

[mickey111]

It is not special, and I think Bioware know it. Afterall they're the ones who rearranged the name of a popular fantasy series into a little town called Lord of the rings

Modifié par mickey111, 21 septembre 2013 - 11:27 .

[Silfren]

MasterScribe wrote...

budzai wrote...

Nothing. But there are good characters, drama and epicness (ultimate sacrifice is one of the most epic ending in a video game IMO, and then you get respect from Sten man! ) . Dark Ritaal is a nice add too. Do you sell your soul to the devil? ( of course it is not certain but we shall see...)

You're not really selling your soul to the devil, though.

Your soul plays no part in a transaction.

And Morrigan is just a socially-inept (possibly misanthropic) human with dubious (but potentially noble) intentions.

It kinda does, actually.  The whole point of doing the DR is to prevent your soul from being destroyed. 

[Riverdaleswhiteflash]

mickey111 wrote...

It is not special, and I think Bioware know it. Afterall they're the ones who rearranged the name of a popular fantasy series into a little town called Lord of the rings

Their story is that they came up with that name after watching Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas.

[Medhia Nox]

- I liked how the dwarves were designed. I like how dwarven society developed around cruel politicking and I like the caste system and the casteless. Thought all of it created a very comprehensive society.

- I like The Harrowing, Tranquility and the Fade (particularly because magic is hostile to practitioners).

- I liked elves in Alienages.

- I like the Qun, I like Seerebas(sp?)

Unfortunately - several of those things "might" be turned into more generic fantasy soon.

Modifié par Medhia Nox, 22 septembre 2013 - 01:58 .

[Kalyppso]

I also loved the dwarven society. Something I liked about it was that they were faced with the main struggle (of the first game) on a daily basis, namely, the darkspawn; but they weren't viewed as the main dying or ostracized race, a role that fell to the dalish.

I'm not sure how to feel about the dalish, but I appreciate their role in the dragon age universe and definitely believe that their world would have been lesser without them (if we had just heard they had all died off years ago, or whatever). However I also did prefer the city elves as a cultural group and also liked that they (the elves overall) were shorter than humans, so that they were literally looked down upon. I feel that added weight to their struggles.

The struggle of the mages is also an excellent concept, as most other video games take place in Tevinter ( xD ) by which I mean that they are usually viewed as all powerful, unchecked and able to execute their abilities in a public setting. The templars countered this common theme very well, by not only hunting outlaws, but also by so closely monitoring "dangerous" mages (all mages). It really struck at my empathy to play as a mage in Origins ... which then confused me when all mages were so severely tempted or corrupted in DA2. I am eager to see the best of them again in DAI, along with the best of templars (which was also fun to play (especially with the added Awakening bonuses)) and the best of whoever else in DAI as was hinted at in some interview I can't source.

[Maugrim]

The uncertainty and unreliable narrators.

Much of what we "know" about the lore comes from fallible and biased sources and because of this very little of what we know is certainly true. Just because Brother Genetivi writes something in a codex doesn't make it fact.

In many other settings (though of course not all, as other have said there is nothing completely new under the sun) history and myth are not only well known and set it's actually all true just as it was written. Think of the debates over the nature of the Golden/Black City. Did it immediately corrupt itself as soon as the magisters entered so that it seemed as if it was always corrupted? Or had it always been corrupted? Maybe the magisters never even truly entered the Black City and that's just one bit of lore. Combine that with interesting takes on standard tropes and Bioware's storied companion writing and you got a recipe for success.

[Plaintiff]

I can be gay in it.

That is literally the only thing I care about. Otherwise, the world of Dragon Age is not sufficiently different from most Western Fantasy to catch my attention.

[Maria Caliban]

I don't see Thedas as being altogether different from most fantasy settings.

I've never met someone who considers it 'above all others.'

[RepHope]

Plaintiff wrote...

I can be gay in it.

That is literally the only thing I care about. Otherwise, the world of Dragon Age is not sufficiently different from most Western Fantasy to catch my attention.

But that's not the only thing you like about DA is it?

[Plaintiff]

RepHope wrote...

Plaintiff wrote...

I can be gay in it.

That is literally the only thing I care about. Otherwise, the world of Dragon Age is not sufficiently different from most Western Fantasy to catch my attention.

But that's not the only thing you like about DA is it?

Why shouldn't it be?

I'm ambivalent to the rest. The setting is cliche, with only a few 'twists' to make it mildly more interesting than the usual dreck. The characters are good, but plenty of games have well-written characters. Being able to make choices that affect the story is nice, but I wouldn't care if the plots were linear. The gameplay is virtually identical to other games of the genre.

That's not to say I dislike any of that, but it doesn't make the series "stand out" to me in the least, and that's what OP was asking for.

Modifié par Plaintiff, 22 septembre 2013 - 02:59 .

[Cainhurst Crow]

Well when you put it that way, I can see your point.

[budzai]

In Exile wrote...

budzai wrote...

Nothing. But there are good characters, drama and epicness (ultimate sacrifice is one of the most epic ending in a video game IMO, and then you get respect from Sten man! ) . Dark Ritaal is a nice add too. Do you sell your soul to the devil? ( of course it is not certain but we shall see...)

I can't see how the DR has a downside. It's not like the original plan was something different from "kill tainted old god". If it survives, that's just a good reason to kill the thing again. 

hmm create a very powerful being which will be raised by a psychopath, egoistic, manipulative, sociopath witch... yay thats sure turn out as a good thing...

[In Exile]

budzai wrote...

hmm create a very powerful being which will be raised by a psychopath, egoistic, manipulative, sociopath witch... yay thats sure turn out as a good thing...

What's the worst it can do? Go insane and lead an army of darkspawn? That just puts you back at square one: kill it (with fire optional). 

[ramnozack]

 Well, the Fade always interested me, the Hubris of man, thinking that in their power they could usurp god and become gods themselves. The amount of sacrifice these magisters forced onto others just so they could obtain this power and all it got them was destruction of both themselves and heaven itself.

Its kind of similiar to technology IRL. As technology advances and thus our power, will we try to give ourselves the powers of god, only to realize, maybe, we cant control it, and in the process destroy ourselves. Is there a limit to the power a man should have? And if there is will we realize it and do something about it? Or will we succumb to human nature and its desire to always have more. If men have so much power, will it corrupt them? Will they even be human then?

I may be reading to much into it I suppose, and it may not be unique, but I find it interesting nonetheless.

[Rawgrim]

I find that most fantasy settings are best in the start. Full of mysteries and whatsnot. The older the setting gets, the more mysery gets revealed and explained. Thats when it starts to go abit downhill for me, I guess.

The dragon age setting is still very very good. Just for the record

[Miltialdes]

DA is a patchwork of lore of the different fantasy story.
What I like:

Religion and divinity: The agnostic and Saint Thomas doubt.
I don't know if "real" gods exit: Dragon is not a god for me. On the form of a Archidemon that seems only animal.
Old religion based on big animals? ( Elf and Tevinter)
I don't know if the Creator is an Alien extradimmentional beings from another plan ( fade)
A Church based on a lying or half true. War of religion.
A "god" can be killed on the form of a Archidemon.
A love god sent a curse illness on Theldas to punish all sentient beings.
Mysterious Messiah: Andastre ( who is she really?)
etc....

Dragon seems only animal (pretador inteligent) but not real inteligent.
Caste of society (Noble, peon etc) ( I hate that and I would like to do a revolution to break this)
Grey universe.
In another games Elven tend to live in a wonderful kingdom live in dirt and considered to be second class. ( new revolution)

[thats1evildude]

That the demons are from a world of dreams and not some Hell knockoff.

The symbiotic relationship between dragons and dragon cultists is a fairly unique concept. There's the Cult of the Dragon Below in Eberron and the Cult of the Dragon in Forgotten Realms, but those are just generic evil cults with vague ties to dragons.

Modifié par thats1evildude, 22 septembre 2013 - 09:34 .

[Das Tentakel]

Nothing.
The same applies to 90+ % of all fantasy settings. 

Modifié par Das Tentakel, 22 septembre 2013 - 10:11 .

[Merengues 1945]

The Archdemon... The name it's enough to spook you before knowing it's a freaking dragon. And the Grey Wardens.

I like the many stories from many different places and how many different cultures inhabit the place, yet I find the DA Lore kinda inconsistent, so much things from many different eras combined. It's certainly better than many others Fantsy universes, yet that inconsistency makes me think on DA as just an interesting bunch of teenage stories and dreams. Without the blight and the romanticism of the Wardens I will certainly dismiss the DA universe.

[Ieldra]

Here's where I think DA lore has something unique among all the worlds I know from video games:

Many aspects of Thedas' cultures have a certain thematic appeal, they point to things we tend to care about and ask questions about them, without being so blatant about it that it catapults you out of the world. The mage/templar conflict: freedom vs. security. Tevinter vs. qunari: individualism vs. collectivism. The dwarven caste system, the elves as an oppressed minority, an organized faith which stays "faith" and never becomes objective truth, along with all the problems and benefits that might bring. These things are recognizeable on an emotional level to players, and we intuitively take a position towards them. All the while, these elements feel completely natural to the fictional world they're placed in; nothing feels like "they put it in because they wanted to bring up the issue". In addition to that, there are some really nice subversions of common fantasy tropes, like the cultures of the dwarves and elves. IMO, this is all in all exceptional world-building.

Compare this with worlds like Tamriel. Tamriel has possibly the most extensive lore of all video game worlds, and there are a lot of fascinating elements in it, but I'd bet that on the whole, players don't connect to it as intuitively as to Thedas. That's because there's little built into Tamriel's cultures that asks questions we tend to care about. The closest Tamriel came to the level of Thedas was with Morrowind.

@Merengues:
The element you criticize I see as a virtue. There's aren't many ways for fantasy worlds which aim for widespread appeal to be somewhat original, because they have to conform to certain genre conventions, but you can combine different elements that aren't usually combined in the same world, and if you do it well, your world becomes more interesting for it.

Modifié par Ieldra2, 22 septembre 2013 - 10:50 .

[Lluthren]

The qun. The connection of magic to demons. The dalish are not wood elves. I feel like I'm part of it.
Some other things I can't think of at the moment.

But really what drew me to it was the game it belongs to. I just like it.