I watched some tutorials on making lineart and my fiance is helping me learn to color in PS so I updated my Disney Solas drawing! 
It's the first time my coloring isn't completely horrifying! 
He told me to share it. >w<
Okay I fixed some things....maybe.. :x
Well, this is what happens when character is actually more defined. I'm not really sure you can get 'best out of two worlds' - either the character becomes more 'limited' (it's the devs who decide most things about their background, personality, etc, not the player) or someone creates The Most Expensive RPG ever, where player gets 6 or 10 reactions to every dialogue, which at this point is pretty much impossible, at least for the game like Dragon Age.
yeah, it would be pretty difficult to do. What I really want is to start off the game in my character's origins. I remember the whole game wishing I could see clan Lavellan x-x
It would allow for more characterization, but without being too limiting.
the origins were one of my favorite parts from DA:O x-x
I watched some tutorials on making lineart and my fiance is helping me learn to color in PS so I updated my Disney Solas drawing!
Spoiler
Still cute. Really cute colored.
It's really great to watch people progress in art, writing, whatever creative thing they do.
Spoiler alert - cheese tortellini is delicious, and I am very happy that it exists. *Continues eating*
Spoiler
Still cute. Really cute colored.
It's really great to watch people progress in art, writing, whatever creative thing they do.
Now that I've shared it, I see so many things wrong. XD It would help if I looked at references. *cough* I'm a terrible person.
Thank you though! 
Now that I shared it, I see so many things wrong. XD It would help if I looked at references. *cough* I'm a terrible person.
Thank you though!
That is always the way we respond to our own creations, really. But what I said still stands. 
So the dead goats stayed, I wound up including washing off blood, and then suddenly things started getting hot and heavy in the second paragraph. I thought of what dawnstonedagger said earlier about if what you're writing is making you blush and stuff, maybe you're onto something. 
What.
Need to decide how to handle this and get to the, you know, plot. 
yeah, it would be pretty difficult to do. What I really want is to start off the game in my character's origins. I remember the whole game wishing I could see clan Lavellan x-x
It would allow for more characterization, but without being too limiting.
the origins were one of my favorite parts from DA:O x-x
Would it? Because at this point such setup allows a lot of flexibility - one we wouldn't have if we saw more of the clan. As it stands clan Lavellan is pretty plastic - we do know that they generally seem to be more progressive compared to many other clans, interacting with humans and being interested with their affairs enough to send spy on the conclave, and that Deshanna appears to be like a level-headed, open-minded Keeper sensitive to plea of non-Dalish elves, but other than that?
Everything is allowed to be interpreted differently. Hence many of our own Lavellans tend to have very different backgrounds or standing with their clans (honestly, even during chat with Josephine in Haven I didn't really have a dialogue option I'd personally prefer to pick, so I wonder how much an origin prologue would try and railroad the background for my own Heralds).
Personally I really don't mind such setup. Predominantly because it is during the Inquisition that the PC's personality is supposed to either shine or develop fully. Before that they were simply capable people with a lot of potential, but ones among many capable people with a lot of potential sent to Conclave (I admit, I quite like the idea - I hear that it's even something canon'ish? - that all/most of the potential Heralds are at the Conclave and only one survives).
Meandering musings incoming:
Spoiler
]
So I've started my 'canon' playthrough. Well, my male canon playthrough. (I've still got to start an archer Solavellan playthrough sometime.)
Male Lavellan sword and board warrior, probably romancing Cass. Y'all weren't kidding about June having some of the best vallaslin.
So in my first conversation with Solas, I went with the 'Eww, blood magic' option for the first time, and that segued into a discussion of the Tevinter Imperium. Let's just say if I had gone this route my first time through, I wouldn't have been so surprised at his being snide with Dorian. The Egg is not impressed with Tevinter.
In unrelated news, I fired up Heart of Stone for The Witcher today. Looks excellent, I'm just, um, stuck on the first boss. Melee builds...don't do too hot there. 
So the dead goats stayed, I wound up including washing off blood, and then suddenly things started getting hot and heavy in the second paragraph. I thought of what dawnstonedagger said earlier about if what you're writing is making you blush and stuff, maybe you're onto something.
What.
Need to decide how to handle this and get to the, you know, plot.
OMG OMG OMG really?
When is this getting posted?!?!?!
How come our player character can never be as interesting as a well-written NPC? I get that there is always headcanon to make the character interesting, but I want to play a complex character in the game. It seems that the personalities are still mainly mr. nice, miss funny, and mr. direct/aggressive. I guess once in a while you get the sad options or confused options, but I don't know. I want to play as a mysterious cunning person and that seems hard to pull off. Maybe I'm just not selecting the right choices.
A lot of people thought differently, but i thought that was Hawke's strength, in terms of background at least. Mysterious and cunning is probably beyond any champion without extensive headcanon, but there was enough backstory established to support numerous reactions and strong motivations that worked with the three personality extremes. A desperate war refugee, with a family who needs them. Admittedly many people couldn't connect with Hawke so I think bioware swung too drastically back into vague background and non committed personality.
I found it really hard to connect with my inquisitor. All the interesting things i had to invent and pretend the dialogue options allowed for.
OMG OMG OMG really?
When is this getting posted?!?!?!
I'm still sitting at just two complete paragraphs. I must decide how to proceed.
Hawke was definitely more interesting in-game as a result of the more emphatic dialogue. Several times I had to stop playing and just laugh at the ridiculous things that silly Hawke says. But for me, being willing to headcanon makes either approach work. I can headcanon out the stuff that is too strongly characterized with Hawke, and headcanon in detail and depth for quizzy.
Hawke was definitely more interesting in-game as a result of the more emphatic dialogue. Several times I had to stop playing and just laugh at the ridiculous things that silly Hawke says. But for me, being willing to headcanon makes either approach work. I can headcanon out the stuff that is too strongly characterized with Hawke, and headcanon in detail and depth for quizzy.
I typically prefer characters with backstory and prior relationships. While I love Bioware games and Shepard and Hawke and the Warden and the Inquisitor, as a main character Hawke and Geralt have more impact for me. Oftentimes the main character becomes just the apparatus for the audience to interact with the other, more interesting characters. One of my favorite moments with Shepard was the interaction with Tabitha, and just how much insight you get into that Shepard's life from a few lines. Headcanon has its place, but I like to have some more solid ground. Origins was excellent with this, if they had more references to it throughout the game, more questions from companions. All of that stuff is like candy to me.
To me, the solution seems obvious. Make more games with set characters, but make so many that everyone can find the kind of character they would head-canon anyway.
Yeah, I'm perfectly happy to headcanon in things, but i prefer for it to grow organically. Halfway through DA2 i thought it'd be cool if rogue hawke learnt how to fight from leliana while living in lothering. I found with quizzy though that she was an empty shell until solas left her. Finally she had feelings and reactions i could get behind! i was so ticked off at the lack of reaction to the clans destruction, such a great opportunity to explore lavellan, how they felt, how they grieve,instead there was nothing. i have to stop and plan out my character's personality beforehand or i wont connect and i wont bother finishing the play through.
I typically prefer characters with backstory and prior relationships. While I love Bioware games and Shepard and Hawke and the Warden and the Inquisitor, as a main character Hawke and Geralt have more impact for me. Oftentimes the main character becomes just the apparatus for the audience to interact with the other, more interesting characters. One of my favorite moments with Shepard was the interaction with Tabitha, and just how much insight you get into that Shepard's life from a few lines. Headcanon has its place, but I like to have some more solid ground. Origins was excellent with this, if they had more references to it throughout the game, more questions from companions. All of that stuff is like candy to me.
To me, the solution seems obvious. Make more games with set characters, but make so many that everyone can find the kind of character they would head-canon anyway.
I guess I like both games for different reasons. With Origins it was my first experience with any type of RPG game. I was more the give me the sand box and let me create something IE the Sims. I could create my little person, give them a back story and decide exactly how I wanted their lives to play out. So for me I needed the backstory to feel connected to the character in Origins. By the time I began playing Inquisition my PC started to take on a life of their own. Even my Origins characters now have more of a backstory and personality than the game created for them.
It actually started when I met Anders and Nathaniel in Awakening. I was like OMG who are these people, 
How does my PC really see them? The dialog was just so lacking that I began to head cannon, I had evolved. 
The first thing I ever wrote was a pre-game piece for my Cousland and Nathaniel. And then I stared reading fan fics. (all of this started in March people it's been a very fast and crazy ride in 7 short months through all three games) 
Edit ToP: Sorry pasting a link because I can't get the picture to cooperate with me!
http://mezilandre.tu...st/131840384465
To me, the solution seems obvious. Make more games with set characters, but make so many that everyone can find the kind of character they would head-canon anyway.
Meandering musings incoming:
Spoiler
I wonder if that made any sense.
I think I've managed to solve the issue that has been making me giggle in terms of writing this scene. Now some pumpkin spice rooibos again for writing assistance.
Edit ToP: Sorry pasting a link because I can't get the picture to cooperate with me!
That is bloody amazing.
snip ]
Heh, so like origins but with 20 options? Dalish elf. Ferelden City elf, tevinter slave elf, seheron apostate elf, noble orzammar dwarf, merchant surfacer dwarf, kal sharok dwarf, qunari dwarf, etc forever.
Id play the living daylights out of that game.
So would I.
But I was actually thinking more along the lines of, in Dragon Age terms, there being a game built completely around each origin. There's a game and a plot and companions for Mr. Dalish Elf, and then there's one that takes place just in Orzammar navigating deshyr politics and rising and falling in the political arena, a magister's attempt to reform the Imperium crumbling in the face of a renewed Qunari invasion, etc. All of Bioware's resources focused on one character rather than a multitude, but they're doing multiple games so you still get that breadth of choice.
Unrealistic, but hey, I can dream, dammit.
Spoiler alert - cheese tortellini is delicious, and I am very happy that it exists. *Continues eating*
Spoiler
So would I.
But I was actually thinking more along the lines of, in Dragon Age terms, there being a game built completely around each origin. There's a game and a plot and companions for Mr. Dalish Elf, and then there's one that takes place just in Orzammar navigating deshyr politics and rising and falling in the political arena, a magister's attempt to reform the Imperium crumbling in the face of a renewed Qunari invasion, etc. All of Bioware's resources focused on one character rather than a multitude, but they're doing multiple games so you still get that breadth of choice.
Unrealistic, but hey, I can dream, dammit.
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