<- from 18:50 to about 19:35. Summarizes well my experience with this character.
My sentiments exactly, she's DPS though, with tempest so I'm not gonna just dump her, even though I have before but .. we should be able to gag her or something. Again though I'm gonna say it's the accent, I wanna stretch her tongue over a chair and nail it to the backside, then tie the chair to her neck and have her lug it around during combat to shut her the **** up when I do take her out.
<- from 18:50 to about 19:35. Summarizes well my experience with this character.
People with annoying American accents, complaining about someone with an annoying English accent is annnoying.
That's because it was my individual point rather than a counter to yours.And when I get to argue about the tal-vashoth, I'll comment on it. I really have no clue as to how they'd respond. The one in DA2 seemed more sad and resigned than anything else, should I use him as a template instead?
I don't know if you read my posts, but 90% of my issue with Sera is that she's rude and has no empathy. I don't know how Dalish hating is suddenly a cornerstone of my argument.
Because the Qun is stupid, whereas the Elven traditions aren't hurting anyone and have helped the elves come to term with the fact that they have no land to call their own and will never be able to get any land without going to war and seizing it.
And the Tal Valshot have an actual reason for hating the Qun, whereas Sera hates elvish traditions just because. In fact she hates elvish traditions because she was raised to revere Andraste so to her the elves are almost barbaric for worshipping foreign gods and keeping following foreign traditions. She is incapable of understanding that this the elves culture and that there is nothing wrong with someone holding different beliefs.
I don't think any of the companions are really lacking in empathy, but some are clearly more selective than others, understandably so. I rather enjoy that a number of them don't coddle other people's sensibilities. I find it much more entertaining (like I greatly enjoy Vivienne's lack of sympathy for the rebel mages).
Yeah, personalities are cool, I wish everyone had one
That's because it was my individual point rather than a counter to yours.
Every criticism concerning Sera seems riddled with double standards. Vivienne is rude and has no empathy, and yet most people go "oooh, so sassy!"
I'm not denying Sera can be rude, in which case I try and respond accordingly. But if you put your emotions aside and search through your memory with a neutral mind, you'll realize she rarely actually tries to insult you or others. Sera is mostly friendly.
If you get low approval with her, she'll just complain that you're mistreating people as Inquisitor. That right there is empathy.
Meanwhile, Vivienne goes out of her way to ridicule you when her approval rate is too low. And again, people strangely have less of a problem with that.
As I said, culture is relative.
You think the Qun is evil, but their citizens are perfectly happy with it. Everyone has the right to support or oppose tradition regardless of their origins.
Vivienne never tried to physically assault me or draw her weapon on me.
Sera also decided to say I was punching down against the little people after I made Briala Gaspard's master.
So all in all Sera is just a feckin mug.
I don't think any of the companions are really lacking in empathy, but some are clearly more selective than others, understandably so. I rather enjoy that a number of them don't coddle other people's sensibilities. I find it much more entertaining (like I greatly enjoy Vivienne's lack of sympathy for the rebel mages).
Vivienne never tried to physically assault me or draw her weapon on me.
Sera also decided to say I was punching down against the little people after I made Briala Gaspard's master.
So all in all Sera is just a feckin mug.
Agreed! She's DPS and a good one, but honestly doesn't belong in the inquisition in my opinion. I understand the little people need love to and all but at this junction in the story the people fighting in/with or to the aid of the inquisition really only matter until the threat is eliminated, then worry about everyone's needs and desires or what have you.
Vivienne never tried to physically assault me or draw her weapon on me.
Sera also decided to say I was punching down against the little people after I made Briala Gaspard's master.
So all in all Sera is just a feckin mug.
Because she's generally annoying and adds little of value to the narrative. Don't overthink it.
Sera was genuinely scared that you could be possessed.
And then she not only said she was sorry but also admitted there are better ways to go about this.
It wasn't on a whim as some like to say, and much different from Vivienne's prank which was just meant to mock you and stroke her ego.
As usual, it's just people overreacting to harmless things.
Being a dipshit isn't a very good excuse.
Having an arrow notched and inches away from yourf ace is harmless, is it? I get fidgety when people point spud guns I know to be empty at me.
Sera is an excellent DPS companion, she was responsible for 5 of my Dragon kills.
I was at girls school until 13, then public until 17 and then to New York for a degree in business. I can only assume that a person reading English (and then going on to be a voice actress) would have included proper pronunciation of the language even if she had attended state school. Recieved pronunciation was most certainly a requirement for me. And it is clearly not something they teach in America. And I agree, at some point a person is not going to change their accent except subtly, but leaving the area of your influence and attending 3 years of university reading English is going to not only improve the amount of words you know but the way you say them.
I'm unsure why you'd assume that. She grew up in the same county as me. I know what education in the UK is. You do not receive lessons on RP at school (maybe if you go to Eton), and as I went to great lengths to describe earlier, an English degree isn't a finishing school degree - it's a degree to do with language and literature, not about how the student themselves can learn to alter their accent.
I already said earlier in the thread that as a voice actor it's likely she'll have had lessons in elocution, but an English degree isn't a degree teaching you how to be a voice actor or teaching you elocution.
Here is the course description for the English BA at Nottingham University (one of the best universities in the UK outside of Oxbridge). That should give you an idea of what kinds of things you learn when studying English. You're not learning how to speak English. It has nothing to do with that at all.
Yes, you learn 'more words' when doing a degree. That's self-evident. You may change your accent somewhat based on moving away from your area, interacting with different people from different parts of the country or indeed from other countries. None of this is under any kind of dispute. But the content of an English degree is not in any way geared around encouraging you or teaching you how to speak in a different accent. This has been my primary point since the very beginning.
As for 'improving the way you say' words... that's subjective. I tire of the inherent class snobbery involved in notions of RP English having some impact on the quality of the content of what you are saying, which is why it was very nice to see prominent characters in the game with a range of regional English and Welsh accents.
I get that. Which is why I like that you can choose to play into her delusions and garner approval or tell her what a ditz she is if you don't. What I do dislike is that if you aren't willing to go for the approval points you miss out on many conversations and even personal quests because she doesn't like you enough. It left me me feeling many times that I had to make choices based on unlocking further content with her rather than responding how my character wanted to. I do so love her personal quest - watching her beat the snot out of the Noble is somehow gratifying - or even better using nobility knowledge to complete remove all his holdings. If Sera hates me though - I will never get there. The game can be rather black and white in this respect.
That's reasonably realistic though, is it not? If you ****** someone off in real life they're not especially likely to call you up and say "hi, person who doesn't like me, would you like to come over and help me deal with some stuff that's really personal and important to me?"
So do we want the game to aim towards some semblance* of realism with regard to how relationships form, or do we want to forego that in order to be able to access all of the content all of the time?
*note I'm saying "some semblance of realism" because I'm aware it's not a perfect representation of how relationships form, nor can it be because it's based on game mechanics - it can only look to provide an illusion of it, with degrees of success or failure.
Sera is an excellent DPS companion, she was responsible for 5 of my Dragon kills.
Yeah. There's few companions I'd rather bring to a dragon fight.
Not just rebel mages. In the Divine Vivienne scenario, the mages trying to form their own College are no longer rebels, as the fighting is already over.
But she still drags them back to the Circles by force because **** free choice.
Vivienne has no empathy for mages in general, with only herself being the exception. I can understand criticising Fiona's leadership, but she doesn't acknowledge their plight either.
She just looks at them from her privileged position like "what are they complaining about?"
Well, Sera was right in saying that Vivienne's a b**** and she knows it...or she better.
Sera is loud, crude and "in-your-face"
She's opinionated, "sticks-to-her-guns" and doesn't suffer fools gladly.
She worries about mages because they can do things she can't understand and can turn into monsters and start killing people.
she dislikes nobles because they think they're something special because they have money and know who their parents are and they think this gives them the right to mistreat everybody else - Sera hates selfish people.
She dislikes Dalish Elves because they spend their time prancing about the woods, being "Elfy" and looking for their lost history (which is all nonsense and lies anyway) and generally being useless and not caring about anyone else, leaving people to suffer - again, Sera hates selfish people
Solas gets upset at the wardens. High enough disapproval, and solas does throw a smal tantrum/discussion/gets upset. There is an option in that where you cna hit him. High enough disapproval with Dorian, he decides to leave after Corypheus. They all do things when they disapprove. The only "problem" with Sera is that she is open about the disapproval immediately rather than letting it bottle up like the rest.
Solas may disagree with you, but he manages to keep an open mind if you argue your points. Sera insists that her way is right, and if you try to argue she'll throw a tantrum and shut you off.
Sera is quite vocal about disliking what tend to be hot-button groups on BSN - mages (and templars!), magic, elves, (esp. Dalish elves) - so it's not surprising she'd garner a lot of disapproval. Viviene - despite her comical hypocrisy - is more firm on one side of the ideological debate.
Guest_Roly Voly_*
Interesting thing about Vivienne... I want to hate her soooo much, but my current Inky actually likes her. He holds similar views about mages and they've really bonded and he has done all of her quests. She's even to the point now that if he asks "if we could ever..." that she doesn't give a "oh aren't you cute" condescending reply. She actually is straightforward and honest with him. Still says no, of course, but she says something to the effect of how such a relationship simply wouldn't be advantageous. Which is pure Vivienne, but at least she respects him enough for an honest answer now. I felt like that's the closest I'd ever get to a Vivienne romance.
Solas may disagree with you, but he manages to keep an open mind if you argue your points. Sera insists that her way is right, and if you try to argue she'll throw a tantrum and shut you off.
Solas is off-topic, so not even going to bother with this. Feel free to message me, but I may not respond.
Solas is off-topic, so not even going to bother with this. Feel free to message me, but I may not respond
lolol.....
Uh, mutilating the definition of the word to make a character sound better doesn't magically make them follow the definition. You could say she's full of righteous zeal against crappy nobles, that's more or less inarguable, since she's not attacking, say, the King/Queen of Ferelden, who seem to be more or less decent, fair rulers. You could say she's committed to her beliefs and her cause, it'd be hard to argue about that. But saying that she cares about the feelings of people in particular is pretty damn hard to argue, given her rudeness, coarseness and refusal to bend.
If you like her, fair enough. But it's not ever going to be as simple as BUT YOU DON'T UNDERSTAND. You're painting everyone who doesn't like Sera as somehow being too unintelligent or the emotional equivalent of a five year old because they don't agree with you, and you're moving goalposts as to what makes a person empathetic to other people. It's possible to butt heads with literally every companion that you've got, for a variety of reasons. This thread in particular is about Sera, so people are talking about their reasonings for liking and disliking her. Agree or disagree, that's more than fair, but don't try to paint those of us who don't agree with you as toddlers who aren't ~*deep*~ enough to like the character or her motivations.
Well good thing I never did any of those things. I mean honestly, I'm not trying to push some weird agenda or undercut people but when you see something you know doesn't really make sense, I feel maybe I should comment, like that this for instance.
It seems to come up a lot in these "How can people possibly hate Sera!?" discussions, that people must hate Sera because they can't make her conform to their/their Inquisitor's opinions, which I feel is entirely untrue. That's not to discount that I'm sure some people actually do feel this way (which is sad), but as someone who is not on the Sera bandwagon, I find it irksome that this statement keeps being bandied around.
After reading through many comments in this thread (and older ones), and from my own personal opinion, it's not at all bothersome that Sera doesn't change her opinions, like MANY of the other companions, but it is bothersome that she insults you for having a different opinion than hers. If you don't think the same way she does, you're stupid and your opinions are invalid which is an extremely immature attitude to have. A lot of people just don't want to deal with that immaturity, myself included. I know I would feel a lot differently about her character if I were able to have a respectful conversation with her about things that we don't necessarily agree on (and can just agree to disagree), but instead I'm 'treated' to an argument with someone who suddenly displays the emotional maturity of a toddler.
Believe me when I say that I keep trying to like Sera's character, and there are moments when interactions with her are almost enjoyable, but more often than not I'm simply left wondering why it is I'm sitting there trying to have a serious conversation about what just happened with someone who's only answer is "Pthhhhhhhhhhhhh!"
No offense but while you say it's because they can't make her conform to your opinions that's exactly what "she insults you for having a different opinion than hers." She's not insulting you, she's expressing her own opinion, which is different. These two things to transform her into a demonic child in the eyes of many, dead set on ripping apart the good norms of Thedas Tea society. You can't be in favor of disagreement and then whine when someone else is truly different, that's the whole point, that's when you are actually tested.
It may seem incomprehensible to have characters disagree with the player or push back but that is what defined Bioware as a company and I shudder to think what playing the likes of BG1 or 2 would feel like, what with people like Xzar, Montaron, Viconia, Xan, etc.
And again with the double standard, if there is any thread that should exist similar to this, it's Blackwall, or possibly a Vivienne or Iron Bull hate thread. Blackwall again, basically is sociopathic deranged killer, Iron Bull does it for a living, and Vivienne is basically pure snark.
It kind of reminds me of the Mannerites from Wasteland 2, they permitted almost anything as long as people are "polite." They executed people and for doing impolite things like failing to replace the heating grate, they had mass executions, they cannibalized people for pleasure etc, but as long as you were polite, you were ok.
The whole point of that was that they were insane, and that's what a lot of this discussion strikes me as, glossing over the extreme maliciousness of the likes of Blackwall, etc, and zeroing in on Sera and her bucket or farting noises seems to be doing just that, because hey, Blackwall or Vivenne observes these norms of this or that. It's just crazy to me.
It's upside down to suggest that the content of a person matters less than the form of expression for that content, or maybe I'm just the only one that believes that now.
If I saw people willing to dismiss Blackwall for similar reasons than I might take them more seriously. I mean really, yeah, Blackwall doesn't "insult" people, he outright kills them, but somehow insults sting more? Bizzare.
And again with the double standard, if there is any thread that should exist similar to this, it's Blackwall, or possibly a Vivienne or Iron Bull hate thread. Blackwall again, basically is sociopathic deranged killer, Iron Bull does it for a living, and Vivienne is basically pure snark.
Woah.
Was a sociopathic killer. In fact, so are most of the companions. Do you think Sera hasn't killed people? In fact Sera's introduction to you is her murdering someone.
You leave Blackwall out of this.
Well good thing I never did any of those things. I mean honestly, I'm not trying to push some weird agenda or undercut people but when you see something you know doesn't really make sense, I feel maybe I should comment, like that this for instance.
You guys are showing your emotional inflexibility and simplicity,
I believe some people don't understand that what it takes to make someone feel better is not as simple as "I'm here for you, I'll do what you want, I am yours to control," and that is why I suppose some people hate Sera, because they don't understand.
Yeah. You really have. People will dislike any number of characters for any number of reasons. I dislike Blackwall enough that I'm still waffling over whether I want to snap him up in my canon playthrough. Vivienne is a really big jerk, if a well-spoken one. I'm still annoyed that I have to deal with Leliana when she's near the top of my most disliked non-villains in the game. But this is a thread about Sera, and so people are explaining why they don't like her. I don't dislike her enough to not hire her, I just don't care for her personality. That has nothing to do with my emotional and intellectual ability to 'get' her.
Blackwall again, basically is sociopathic deranged killer
Blackwall wasn't some madman out on a killing spree. Regardless of his crimes, he was going to allow himself to be put to death for it after being racked with guilt. If he was truly a sociopathic, deranged killer, he would live happily in the lie and we'd be none the wiser, or we'd just figure it out through Leliana.
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