Madrar: Lost my multiquote of you but just wanted to say, it's okay if you want to discuss/poke at my ideas I posted earlier, just as long as it's in good fun.
Actually, they're not likely to change engines for the next game. They may use an upgraded version of Frostbite, but since they had to basically reverse engineer their own version of Frostbite for DA:I, I can't see them scrapping it for a while. That said, they could, but this is only likely if they can't iron out some of the bugs that they've encountered during the creation of DA:I. I think we'll be seeing Frostbite for at least one more iteration of Dragon Age; it might be around for longer than that.
One thing you are almost 100% certain to be right about, however, is that the next game will not be compatible with the 360 and PS3. A couple of years from now it will be widely assumed that everyone's moved on to the newer generation of consoles.
Just going to point out that fresco isn't just paint, it's paint+plaster, or maybe more accurately, it's pigmented plaster.
I think a lot of writers and artists either don't understand this, or assume that what Solas is doing is simply a mural with regular paint (oil or tempera) using the walls as a canvas. But basically, a fresco has to be done perfectly the first time, or else if you make a mistake you have to wait for it to dry and then do the whole thing over again. It can't be redone while wet, and if you paint over just the part you made the mistake on, the wall will be lumpy as a result. You might even have to remove that entire layer after it dried. A fresco isn't just paint on top of the wall, it is one with the wall.
It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine I guess, to see it treated like it's just paint... you'd still need paintbrushes, but I imagine that stuff's pretty thick. It's most likely not something Solas would be happy to be interrupted from. Redoing a fresco panel you'd worked on for a week because someone distracted you and caused your brush to slip? That'd be frustrating. The fact that Solas is able to do the frescoes that he does is actually quite the testament to his patience and skill as an artist.
I'm pretty sure that the devs were aware of the particular difficulty of frescoes when they chose to call the art in the rotunda frescoes rather than simply murals--their choice of media for Solas to work with was deliberate. There is a codex entry that comments on Solas's artistic skill--mastery even--and how carefully he plans each part of the fresco before he begins. So to me it's definitely not just a mural, it's a painstaking, honest-to-goodness, plaster fresco and he means for that thing to last for hundreds of years so everyone can see the Inquisitor's actions written on the wall.
That's the thing--when you do a fresco right, it will last for centuries. It might need cleaning, parts might crack and break off, but it will last. If it's just a mural, depending on the paint used and the environment surrounding the painting, it could fade, flake off, cause the plaster beneath to rot, etc. Solas would likely know this. About the only thing he could have used that would last longer is a mosaic.
Ahem. But yeah. Painting pics are awesome and I agree, there should be more of Solas painting in art and in fics. (I just wish more people would understand what a fresco is... or acknowledge that a fresco is very difficult, if they do understand what it is.)
And now I'm tired so I should sleep.
This is late because I slept, but I wanted to thank you for the art history lesson (or rather just the art lesson) because I had no idea about frescoes and how they were different from murals.
In regards to the final battle with Cory, I recall him saying to Solas - in English - something like:
Who is this ragged mage? Another rattus crawling up from the filth?
He didn't appear to recognize Solas at all. And I'm not sure Cory would know ancient elven. Hadn't the elves had been slaves for quite some time when Cory went into fade?
He didn't appear to recognize Solas at all. And I'm not sure Cory would know ancient elven. Hadn't the elves had been slaves for quite some time when Cory went into fade?
Yes, in one of non-romanced option Solas says Cory wouldn't even know the orb *was* elven, so Solas either must've given him the orb under a guise or just left it around very conveniently. So Cory doesn't know anything about elven culture, probably. Well, if he does, it's only Tevinter knowledge and such.
There was a fan-made article trying to explain these frescoes... let me see...
<snip>
11) Unfinished piece from after the final battle. A wolf stands over the body of a dragon, slain by the sword. Solas killing Flemeth in the post-credits scene, perhaps. [?]
Ofc, there's no Internet in Thedas, so the Inquisitor can interpret them however they wish.
Had a thought about this (sorry if this has been mentioned before!). What if the wolf and the dragon do not represent a single person each.... what if they are ideas? Ideals?
Fen'Harel is known by the dalish as an evil god, and their best (if only) explanation for why Arlathan fell. However, with Solas' new perspective, we are now at liberty to question everything the Dalish know. Solas himself characterises Fen'Harel as a god of rebellion.
<snip>
We know from DA2 that these are symbols of rebellion. We also know (from a codex somewhere which describes the art difference?) that they are a deliberate perversion of an ancient dragon symbol.
So fast forward to DAI. The game, arguably, is about faith, and the rise of a 'spiritual" leader when one is most needed; legitimate or not. It also outlines not only the current state of elves in Thedas, but slaves and servants, too. Regularly, parallels are drawn between ancient Arlathan and modern Orlais.
In ancient times, only Fen'Harel could walk without fear among both our gods and the Forgotten Ones, for although he is kin to the gods of the People, the Forgotten Ones knew of his cunning ways and saw him as one of their own.
In his conversations with Sera, Solas admires her efforts on behalf on the "unseen" "regular people". Yet the difference between them is that Sera seems happy antagonising the upper classes as favour but not wholly upsetting the balance. Solas seems dismayed at her reluctance to rebel fully.
Solas, as Fen'Harel, walking among both elvhen "gods" and 'Forgotten Ones', could have been similar Sera's situation. To be more precise, it could have been equivalent to Briala - who walked for almost a lifetime as friend to the Empress, servants, and elves alike. Felassan nurtures in Briala tales of Fen'Harel - seeds of a slow and well-planned rebellion. Eventually, Briala makes her stand on behalf of who she believes are her people (despite, as she finds when she meets a Dalish clan for the first time, not having much in common with many of them at all). Her faceless people. The people. If you help her in DAI, she succeeds.
Solas as "Pride" has been speculated as suspicious in itself. 1000 years of sleep, and waking up he sees the hopelessly destructive aftermath of the rebellion he was so "proud" to be a part of. Proud to be included in it's headquarters at Skyhold. Pride to know how important - and inevitable - it is for the Inquisition to elect someone to lead them, to embody their own ideals, and remind them daily of those ideals. No doubt it is a suitable mantra for one who once took the position of Inquisitor himself and failed.
I have been revising Kierkegaard in anticipation for my classes beginning again soon and cannot help but see the parallels in Solas. Works of Kierkegaard often compare the practices of the Christian Church and the "pagan" Greek pantheons in attempts to decipher the "ethical". This passage from "Fear and Trembling" is which prompted me along this line of reasoning:
Spoiler
"The ethical as such is the universal, and as the universal it applies to everyone, which from another angle means that it applies at all times. It rests immanent in itself, has nothing outside itself that is it's telos [end, purpose] but is itself the telos for everything outside itself, and when the ethical has absorbed this into itself, it goes not further. The single individual, sensately and psychically qualified in immediacy, is the individual who has his telos in the universal, and it is his ethical task continually to express himself in this, to annul his singularity in order to become the universal. As soon as the single individual asserts himself in his singularity before the universal, he sins, and only by acknowledging this can he be reconciled again with the universal. Every time the single individual, after having entered the universal, feels an impulse to assert himself as the single individual, he is in spiritual trial, from which he can work himself only by repentantly surrendering as the single individual in the universal. If this is the highest that can be said of man and his existence, then the ethical is of the same nature as a person's eternal salvation, which is his telos forevermore and at all times, since it would be a contradiction for this to be capable of being surrendered (that is, teleologically suspended), because as soon as this is suspended it is relinquished, whereas that which is suspended is not relinquished but is preserved in the higher, which is its telos.
If this is the case, then Hegel is right in "The Good and Conscience," where he qualifies man only as the individual and considers this qualification as a "moral form of evil", which must be annulled in the teleology of the moral in such a way that the single individual who remains in that stage either sins or is immersed in spiritual trial. But Hegel is wrong in speaking about faith; he is wrong in not protesting loudly and clearly against Abraham's enjoying honour and glory as a father of faith when he ought to be sent back to a lower court and shown up as a murderer.
Faith is namely this paradox that the single individual is higher than the universal - yet, please note, in such a way that the movement repeats itself, so that after having been in the universal he as the single individual isolates himself as higher than the universal. If this is not faith, then Abraham is lost, then faith has never existed in the world precisely because it has always existed. For if the ethical - that is, social morality - is the highest and if there is in a person no residual incommmensurability in some way such that this incommensurability is not evil (i.e., the single individual, who is to be expressed in the universal), then no categories are needed other than what Greek philosophy had or what can be deduced from them by consistent thought."
The paradox which Solas/Fen'Harel faces, is that he fights for all - for the universal good. However, if he finds his drive, his ability, his will, as uniquely equipped to successfully lead a cause - he has already isolated himself above the "all", asserted himself individually against the universal good. Therefore, as long as he is in this position, he is in spiritual trial.
Anyway, in the epilogue scene, Flemeth refers to Solas as "Dread Wolf". Not The Dread Wolf, however. This leaves room for interpretation. Firstly, it is possible that, since the Dread Wolf is associated with Arlathan's particular rebellion, the title came about and was given to multiple, perhaps many, key figures of that bloody uprising.
Secondly, it is possible that Fen'Harel, having once been merely an idea of many, came to be a spirit from those events. Solas has mentioned on numerous occasions how spirits can be manifestations of ideas - wisdom, compassion, pride etc. Is it such a leap to imagine such a great need for rebellion from an entire empire accumulated into one manifestation in the fade, realm of ideas?
If the former, we may take comfort in Solas simply being a survivor of the rebellion, with an unfinished duty to the people (which is, following this theory, not likely to include the elvhen pantheon). If the latter, then it may be likely that whoever the body of Solas belonged to before, he willingly surrendered his body to Fen'Harel, - the embodiment of his own ideals - to pilot in order to finish what he started.
In years to come, 'Red Jenny' may be a focus of worship, too.
Conclusion: An ageless depiction of the wolf as the oppressed, the dragon, the oppressors.
So anyway, having lurked for a bit, this is how I played DAI. First time through was human female romancing Cullen. But even from the start I was like, dang I like Solas he's awesome. Wish I could flirt with him. Hmm, I *really* like Solas. Totally doing a female elf next playthrough. I like this Cullen romance, it's sweet but I really like Solas. Forced myself to finish the human playthrough and was like wtf o.O at the end.
Made a female elf for Solas .... *flirt flirt smooch flirt smooch* Solas .... wait, he broke up with me?! *cries* I'm going back to Cullen! Made another human female ... only got a few levels in before I was like omg I can't flirt with Solas! *scraps human female, makes another elf female* Solas
*facepalm @ self*
So I'm glad I did the Cullen romance first since I wouldn't have seen it otherwise heh.
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Secondly, it is possible that Fen'Harel, having once been merely an idea of many, came to be a spirit from those events. Solas has mentioned on numerous occasions how spirits can be manifestations of ideas - wisdom, compassion, pride etc. Is it such a leap to imagine such a great need for rebellion from an entire empire accumulated into one manifestation in the fade, realm of ideas?
Oooh, I love that! And others - if it's not a stretch. Sylaise being a spirit of Home, Mythal - of protection/judgement, Anduril - of sacrifice, Falon'din - well, Solas did say about his vanity. Interesting indeed.
So anyway, having lurked for a bit, this is how I played DAI. First time through was human female romancing Cullen. But even from the start I was like, dang I like Solas he's awesome. Wish I could flirt with him. Hmm, I *really* like Solas. Totally doing a female elf next playthrough. I like this Cullen romance, it's sweet but I really like Solas. Forced myself to finish the human playthrough and was like wtf o.O at the end.
Made a female elf for Solas .... *flirt flirt smooch flirt smooch* Solas .... wait, he broke up with me?! *cries* I'm going back to Cullen! Made another human female ... only got a few levels in before I was like omg I can't flirt with Solas! *scraps human female, makes another elf female* Solas
*facepalm @ self*
So I'm glad I did the Cullen romance first since I wouldn't have seen it otherwise heh.
Welcome to the club. Story of our lives.
I did cullen romance twice...only because I couldn't make the perfect elf for Solas.
So I just made a new, amply mustached Inquisitor, and noticed something. When they get to the ruins of the Temple of Sacred Ashes, there's this exchange. (Apologies if the dialogue isn't a hundred percent accurate.)
VARRIC: You see that, Seeker? Red lyrium.
CASSANDRA: I see it, Varric.
VARRIC: What's it doing here?
SOLAS: The Breach could have drawn on the lyrium below, corrupting it.
Should I take this as confirmation that Solas has dealt with red lyrium in the past?
Fits the timeline, given that we have circa-fall-of-Arlathan evidence of blighted Elvhen in the form of wall paintings seemingly done by the survivors. Add that to Elgar'nan's focus in the "primeval" thaig, and you've got a context for ancient elvhen civil war / revolution centered around red lyrium / blight as Order's new favorite WMD.
*shrugs*
That's my current best guess on the factors involving the fall, though I'm not entirely convinced Elgar'nan was directly reponsible for the Song's sundering. I think he may have decided to try to use Ghil's epic "oops" moment to further his own ends, thinking (like Corypheus) that he could control it. Big mistake.
Alright, I've replayed the last fight. This time I took Solas (natuarally), Cassandra and Varric with me. Last time I had Cole so all Corry focused on was him.
Corry doesn't say a word to Solas, or anyone except the IQ, only goes on and on about how he won't be defeated...
So, I went back to look at the last fresco. Here it is:
Spoiler
I am probably the only one who thinks that the wolf doesn't look... wolfy enough? Even compared to the wolves from the other frescoes. This aside, he doesn't appear to be triumphant to me. With his head down, it looks like he's... I dunno... grieving?
Solas needs a human female romance option. Just imagine the extra forbidden feels and self loathing! Mmmmmm.....
As I said over on the Morrigan thread, when you look at their similarities (rebellious mages with secrets, join their respective parties with ulterior motives, leave at the end of the game to pursue those goals, try to break up with their LI to "save" them and are the resident fountain of ancient lore), the two of them really are peas in a pod.
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So, I went back to look at the last fresco. Here it is:
Spoiler
I am probably the only one who thinks that the wolf doesn't look... wolfy enough? Even compared to the wolves from the other frescoes. That aside, he doesn't appear to be triumphant to me. With his head down, it looks more like he's... I dunno... grieving?
Am I the only one how doesn't see a wolf in this? I only see two dragons.
Looked a bit closer and I see it now. Looks like the wolf's towering over the defeated dragon...
I am probably the only one who thinks that the wolf doesn't look... wolfy enough? Even compared to the wolves from the other frescoes. That aside, he doesn't appear to be triumphant to me. With his head down, it looks more like he's... I dunno... grieving?
I don't know, so I'm only posting to kill time.
The wolf might also be growling. At Cory's archdemon slain by the inquisitor (+ companions). In anger. About the broken orb. Or just "looking down on" him.
Or just... hungry.
On the frescoes, I would liken it to Cassandra writing the report on the transit through the Fade, it is a way or recording for posterity what happened and in a medium that is more durable than words because languages die.
I've been wondering about the Foci, since it was able to survive an explosion that destroyed the Temple of Sacred Ashes and levelled most of the mountain it was on, it hardly seems that the falling debris from the second Breach was what broke it?
Did it get overtaxed by Corypheus using Red Lyrium in conjunction with it, having to create two Breaches in a short time before it had time to properly "recharge" (Solas tells us that Ancient Elven spells could take decades or centuries to perform, whereas Inquisition takes place over a couple months), did the Inquisitor do something that broke it accidentally, or did the Inquisitor drop it after closing the Breach because they'd drained all the power from it via the Anchor?
So, I went back to look at the last fresco. Here it is:
Spoiler
I am probably the only one who thinks that the wolf doesn't look... wolfy enough? Even compared to the wolves from the other frescoes. That aside, he doesn't appear to be triumphant to me. With his head down, it looks like he's... I dunno... grieving?
It looks like dragon from my point of view dragons everywhere
But honestly, just look at other fresco with actual wolves in it, they are stylistically different from this one.
It looks like dragon from my point of view dragons everywhere
But honestly, just look at other fresco with actual wolves in it, they are stylistically different from this one.
I think that's made deliberatly.
As I said at a quick look I only saw two dragons, but the one to the left defenativly have paws... so - must be a wolf...
I've been wondering about the Foci, since it was able to survive an explosion that destroyed the Temple of Sacred Ashes and levelled most of the mountain it was on, it hardly seems that the falling debris from the second Breach was what broke it?
Did it get overtaxed by Corypheus using Red Lyrium in conjunction with it, having to create two Breaches in a short time before it had time to properly "recharge" (Solas tells us that Ancient Elven spells could take decades or centuries to perform, whereas Inquisition takes place over a couple months), did the Inquisitor do something that broke it accidentally, or did the Inquisitor drop it after closing the Breach because they'd drained all the power from it via the Anchor?
Solas himself says it wasn't your fault. And it was whole when the IQ put it away/dropped it Maybe it survived before because Corry held it or it might be that without the 'magic' activated it was more fragile/had no protecting barrier.
So anyway, having lurked for a bit, this is how I played DAI. First time through was human female romancing Cullen. But even from the start I was like, dang I like Solas he's awesome. Wish I could flirt with him. Hmm, I *really* like Solas. Totally doing a female elf next playthrough. I like this Cullen romance, it's sweet but I really like Solas. Forced myself to finish the human playthrough and was like wtf o.O at the end.
Made a female elf for Solas .... *flirt flirt smooch flirt smooch* Solas .... wait, he broke up with me?! *cries* I'm going back to Cullen! Made another human female ... only got a few levels in before I was like omg I can't flirt with Solas! *scraps human female, makes another elf female* Solas
*facepalm @ self*
So I'm glad I did the Cullen romance first since I wouldn't have seen it otherwise heh.
This is very common, sadly I romanced Solas first, well, not really sadly...because it's amazing..and also sad, but that's the only way it's sad. It's more unfortunate that I'll never be able to experience the others... The wrongness is too strong.
Retour en haut
I offer this as an offering to save myself. 
.... wait, he broke up with me?! *cries* I'm going back to Cullen! Made another human female ... only got a few levels in before I was like omg I can't flirt with Solas! *scraps human female, makes another elf female* Solas 
