475 réponses à ce sujet

[TheJediSaint]

No, my padawan. You have learned well.

You don't know how ashamed that makes me feel.

[mindoirs]

Masked Empire was a fantastic read. It definitely made me more aware and better informed of the elven struggle, the dalish, and Orlais in general. I supported Celen from the start and still do, but I also support Briala. I found Orlais extremely interesting because it's so dislikable. I found The Game and how people can play it fascinating, the mask customs, etc. Reading Asunder right now, definitely think reading these books provides so much more additional insight.

[vethrath]

If it is just between Gaspard and Celene then I will always choose Gaspard.  Celene is just straight up too stupid to rule a country.  Gaspard constantly outmaneuvered here while at the same time managed to stick to his own code and not violate his own beliefs.  Celene repeatedly failed to grasp how her actions affected the political landscape, broke promises and murdered people for her own good (and then lied about it). The worst part of the book for me was that it seemed to imply in the beginning that she was intelligent and capable of playing The Game.  There was no evidence of this in the book--we just witnessed her failing repeatedly.  

 

I think on the issues of elves they will be equal--Gaspard will kill them and not feel bad about it, Celene will kill them and feel bad about it.  But they'll both kill them if they feel it is necessary. 

 

On every other issue I believe Gaspard wins. 

 

Note: I suspect we will choose between Gaspard and Celene and then also choose whether or not to support Briala.  I think if it is possible to make Gaspard support more freedom for elves then I would actually trust him.  I wouldn't trust Celene to keep the same promise.

[TheTurtle]

After reading TME I can officially say that Orlais is my favorite place in Thedas and if it comes down to saving it over Fereldan I will gladly do so. I'm also now 100% positive that I'll be supporting Celene over Gaspard and I'll do my damnedest to destroy the Chevaliers. While I don't want Celene and Briala to get back together I at least want to be able to get them to make some kind of truce for the benefit of the elves. If we have to make a choice between Briala and Celene I'm sorry, but unless I'm plying an elf (which I won't be for quite a few playthroughs) the elves are going to burn.

[Hanako Ikezawa]

I will never support Gaspard for certain. 

[Lorien19]

No,and this is the reason it's still on my shelf...I decided to read it after I finish my first playthrough because I want to remain unbiased.

Meta-gaming kinda ruins the fun for me.

Although,I did take a peek inside,won't lie.

[Former_Fiend]

Yes and no.

 

Before reading the Masked Empire, I didn't care about Orlais and I didn't care about either Celene or Gaspard. I had no preference and as such made the decision, "whichever one is the most helpful and useful to me in game is the one who I'll support."

 

After reading The Masked Empire, I actively dislike Orlais and I actively dislike both Celene and Gaspard(Celene moreso). This has reinforced my stance of "whichever one is more useful to me", but has added in hope that I won't have to actively help them beyond closing fade tears in their area and leaving them open in their rival's territory, and has also got me hoping that there will be an option to beat both of them into submission and get them in line.

[TheKomandorShepard]

Burn it to the ground, build a parking lot.

As long i can take charges for that im fine with that.

[Jazzpha]

Yes. I really, really hope there's a choice to support Briala, who I still think was actually the protagonist of TME rather than Celene.

My guess is the game will pull a Bioware switcheroo, where we think there's only Celene and Gaspard to support, but then once we go back to our HQ or something like that Briala (or one of her cohort) is waiting there to tell us to reconsider our initial choice. Like the werewolves in DAO going "Oh hey man, I don't think Zathrian told you all the things you need to know."

[Dabrikishaw]

Yes. I really, really hope there's a choice to support Briala, who I still think was actually the protagonist of TME rather than Celene.

My guess is the game will pull a Bioware switcheroo, where we think there's only Celene and Gaspard to support, but then once we go back to our HQ or something like that Briala (or one of her cohort) is waiting there to tell us to reconsider our initial choice. Like the werewolves in DAO going "Oh hey man, I don't think Zathrian told you all the things you need to know."

If we're going down this route, I'd compare the options of siding with Celena or Gasparde with optional aid of Briala with siding with Bhelen or Harrowmont with the choice to have one use the Anvil of the void. 

[Batknight]

I don't know if it has really affected who I will support. The book did a pretty good job a establishing in Celene and Gaspard clear motivations, giving them both vices and virtues, and them make the type of difficult decisions real historical figures had to make. I think I'm going to have to meet them in the game to see who I'm going to support because the situation in Orlais has changed so much since the end of the book (what with the demons pouring out of the sky and mages in open rebellion.) Which may make them both consider different decisions that they wouldn't make under normal circumstances.

 

Either way, I hope it's a really hard decision. Because if it is an obvious choice, I'll be disappointed.   

[myahele]

It makes me support commoners in general now

[Jazzpha]

If we're going down this route, I'd compare the options of siding with Celena or Gasparde with optional aid of Briala with siding with Bhelen or Harrowmont with the choice to have one use the Anvil of the void. 

 

Oh, good point. Fair enough!

[Master Warder Z_]

It made me support Gaspard if we are being honest, he sticks to his guns and is honestly good at the game.

 

He would be a fine Emperor, Or at least far better then the current ruler.

[Statare]

Before reading it I did not really know anything about Celene or Gaspard. At the end, I hated Gaspard (honor is a system of justifications for men to do terrible things), sympathized a bit with Celene (I mean she thought she was trying to make things better... which is something, I guess). Yet, I really ended up sympathizing the most with Briala, but I feel like she was played by Felassan. The whole Eluvian plot seemed far too convenient, and my gut tells me the only character I was rooting for (Briala) was unintentionally making a big play for the Big Bad.

 

In the end, TME made me more sympathetic to the Elves, hate Orlais, and feel nostalgic for Ferelden.

[ananna21]

Thought I would support Celene fully but man by the end the book I though she was a even worse than Gaspard in how she never keeps a promise . Celene supports the arts and wants her University to be full of infinite knowledge yet kills her servants and takes the surviving duaghter of 2 of them as a lover and breaks all promises to help her lovers people once the nobles say no we want to keep killing our elf servants if they so much as drop look at us funny .Also she seemed to full of herself to see that she was dooming herself with her lies. A man will eventually tire of woman who goes back and forth between wanting to marry you and changing her mind so her suprise of the duke betraying made her seem stupid. Gaspard I respected at the end as he was a competent leader in tactics and  great player in the game.  I still don't like Gaspard as he would happilly try conquer Ferelden again if Orlais was stable again. Briala is the only one I woudn up supporting as she wanted to help her people and when she found an oppurtunity to truly help her people she took it rather go back on it because some dumb code. Either way I hope this is like nature of the beast with an agent of Briala coming to me as both Gaspard and Celene are both to power hungry for me. 

[Jedi Master of Orion]

The Masked Empire made me more sympathetic to Gaspard and less to Briala's rebellion, but it is still it is kinda a split decision who I would prefer to side with in the Orlesian Civil War.

[Ieldra]

It appears that Patrick Weekes and the other people at Bioware did something right when they made the Orlais scenario and the current faction leaders. So many different opinions, and almost all of them reasonable from some point of view. Beautiful!

 

What am I going to do? I don't think it's expedient to harp on who killed who in the past. Nobody with the power to make decisions that affect a nation will ever be able to afford keeping their hands clean. At that level of decision-making, the only way to stay clean is to do nothing. It's not anyone's fault, and it's certainly not "corruption". Things are just too complex and affect too many people, so that anything you can do will be an injustice to someone. Add such decisions like "start a violent conflict or see thousands of innocents die" - as opposed to what some people believe, sometimes there really is no way out of such dilemmas. No, I will not hold anything any faction leader did against them to a degree that it will prevent me from ever supporting them.

 

Instead, I will do what I think every person with power should do: focus on the future. What are the conditions I want to bring about, which of those do I consider achievable, and who will I have to support or fight in order to bring them about? Since I do not know the details of the current situation yet, I am unable to say who I will and will not support. TMA has given me some relevant information, and merely by considering that information, I have been influenced by it in how I think about Orlais and its conflicts. Not less, and not more. Anything more.....will be known when I've played DAI.

[Elite Midget]

Based up to what we know so far from the Novels I would side with Gaspard.

 

However, my Inquisitor doesn't know that stuff so it depends how they're present in DA:I and what they do that will determine who I support.

[rolson00]

i suppose people are basing their opinion son what race they are going to be.

[SofaJockey]

I really like the shades of grey.
There is no obvious side to root for as all the characters have flaws and positive points.

[DuskWanderer]

Not really, all of the people there are jackasses. It did make me aware, however, of who the players are. Given the choice between Gaspard and Celene, I'm going with Gaspard, he'll at least honor his word. 

[Augustei]

I supported Celene before reading the novel and still do after, Gaspard doesn't have what it takes to be a good Emperor imo.
But initially before reading the novel I had a very high opinion of Celene, thinking her to be an extremely competent Empress comparable in skill to Bhelen Aeducan. After reading the book my opinion was rather soured and I don't think as highly of her anymore. (And she's certainly no Bhelen!) But yeah I would still rather her ruling Orlais than Gaspard.

Though tbh while I find Orlais to be a fascinating country I still much prefer the Tevinter Imperium over all the other countries in thedas, so anything that weakens its enemies but empowers it would be nice.

[TK514]

Pre-TME, I only knew that Celene was Empress and had no idea who Gaspard was at all.

 

Now, it is clear that Gaspard is the only choice for an ally to the Inquisition.  Of the three, he's the only one the Inquisitor could actually trust to honor any pledges of support.  The future of Orlais past the conclusion of the crisis is actually irrelevant to my decision, mainly because if we don't close the Tear there will be much bigger problems than who sits on the fancy chair in Val Royeaux.

 

It is not the purpose of the Inquisition to control nations or free oppressed peoples.  It is the purpose of the Inquisition to close a giant hole in reality and stop demons from pouring through it.  What happens after that goal is complete is outside our mandate.

[Xilizhra]

No, it changed nothing. That piece of garbage means nothing more than Beraht's proverbial fart in a midden. I'm still going for anything I can do to raise the station of the elves, and if that's unrelated to the choice between emperors, I'm siding with Celene. And no matter what, I'm not having her marry anyone.