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[Shechinah]

 As for the Architect, it is reasonable to assume that like Corypheus, he has the ability to body-jump.

 

An ability which Corypheus had in Legacy and had nothing to do with his dragon, I believe, so it is possible the Architect has that ability as well since it may not be a spell he has to be aware of. The Architect also kept, at least, two people who were corrupted by the taint near him and while one could have died, Seranni the other one is always unaccounted for no matter the outcome of the last encounter with the Architect.
 

[SofaJockey]

In summary, Weekes can do whatever story he wants, but he should give each player the choice to play as the character that they want (as long as they are not a hateful ass). And now that this issue is done, I don't see anything else to discuss here. The possibility of Hawke still being alive if left in the Fade has been discussed at length elsewhere.

 

Fixed it for you 

[Kulyok]

Came to check on the updates - is there a video, maybe? There's no link to the transcript/video in the first post, so I wondered whether it got lost.

 

 

 

By the way, speaking of Krem and such: it seems like Dragon Age is not the only franchise that wouldn't go there, i.e. wouldn't give any hate speech even to the most evil characters.

 

For example, I've been watching the Following TV series, and there was an interesting development near the season finale: a team of hardened maniacs and killers(and generally crazy people) assaulted a home of a same-sex family, and took everybody hostage. They were really cruel, they threatened to burn children alive, and they were totally going to do it, but through the whole thing they've never once done anything politically incorrect, i.e. never insulted two women for being together. I mean, it was like "Hell yeah, he's a serial killer, but he would never insult anyone in such a way, he's not THAT GUY!"

 

The Following, interestingly, got canceled.

[Shechinah]

*snip*

 

As bizarre as this may sound; there is difference and being a criminal does not equal being prejudiced. 

 

An example;  serial killer is not necessarily a racist, a sexist or display homophobic attitude. Some kill for the thrill, the money or some other thing so race, sex or orientation is not always the motivation. They wouldn't care about the race, sex or orientation of the victim, perhaps if it factored into other circumstances like the neighborhood they lived in, if they had a partner they lived with or something like that but again, there are killers who do not care about these things and do not have this prejudice. Some are raised with certain values and stick to them even if they do not stick to other values.

 

Being a burglar does not equal being a rapist, being a psychopath does not equal hurting animals - some of the most hardened people and some diagnosed as having psychopathy are even rewarded for good behavior by being allowed to spend time with a pet or keep one like a bird or a fish.

 

 
TL:DR - You can burn a couple and their children while still having no problem with their sexual orientation, skin colour or gender.  

[Reznore57]

Still no interview???!!!???

Correct me if I'm wrong but last year there also was a Mike Laidlaw interview which was lost somehow.

And now D. Gaider and Patrick Weekes , same thing.

Well to be honest we did get a bit of David Gaider interview , so there's that.

 

I'm just puzzled at this point by Capone666.

[KaiserShep]

The Following, interestingly, got canceled.

 

I'm not surprised. That show kinda sucked. 

[Dieb]

Still no interview???!!!???

Correct me if I'm wrong but last year there also was a Mike Laidlaw interview which was lost somehow.

And now D. Gaider and Patrick Weekes , same thing.

Well to be honest we did get a bit of David Gaider interview , so there's that.

 

I'm just puzzled at this point by Capone666.

 

It's almost as if they're generating traffic cause the BSN has ridiculously simple buttons.

 

...the answer may suprise you in just 6 simple steps - you could be visitor #1000, to find out this simple psychological trick that will make ANY woman help you earn lots of cash from the comfort of your own home!

[Heimdall]

Just to throw my opinion in about transsexual representation...

I don't have an problem with Krem or future characters being transsexual. What concerns me is the possibility that Bioware will make this a focus. By 'this' I mean the portrayal of politically acceptable transsexual characters for the sake of representation over interesting characters and story. I found Krem to be boring. I doubt he would receive even half the fans he has were he not transsexual. Talking to him felt like the writer preaching their ideals at me. I don't have a problem with those ideals, I support them. I just don't want the games to become political like that.

As to player expressing transphobic opinions, I can only say that there are always limits to what options are provided by the writers and I think the issue is best solved by avoiding discussion of the matter.

[TK514]

Fixed it for you 

Why should that be a restriction?

I usually play BioWare games twice. The first time, I paladin things up. I am good, Noble, tolerant, kind, etc. the second time, I play a monster. Selfish, petty, bigoted, racist, murdering, heartless and so on. I am of the opinion that neither should be artificially restricted, or it defeats the point. If I am not allowed to be as good or evil as I want to be within the limitations of the plot, or why offer the illusion of moral choices at all?

It is absurd to me that they would present a situation, tell us it is controversial in the setting, and not allow us to have our characters express the controversial opinion. If they are going to restrict what out characters can express, or worse, tell us what our characters think, they might as well ditch the dialog wheel for that encounter and make it a cutscene.

[The Hierophant]

Why should that be a restriction?

I usually play BioWare games twice. The first time, I paladin things up. I am good, Noble, tolerant, kind, etc. the second time, I play a monster. Selfish, petty, bigoted, racist, murdering, heartless and so on. I am of the opinion that neither should be artificially restricted, or it defeats the point. If I am not allowed to be as good or evil as I want to be within the limitations of the plot, or why offer the illusion of moral choices at all?

It is absurd to me that they would present a situation, tell us it is controversial in the setting, and not allow us to have our characters express the controversial opinion. If they are going to restrict what out characters can express, or worse, tell us what our characters think, they might as well ditch the dialog wheel for that encounter and make it a cutscene.

Notice how the Dalish/human Inquisitors majorly lacked the dialogue options to express anti-human/Dalish sentiments despite the setting being rife with such povs. You can't even rp as a human noble who looks down on the peasantry or is baffled by the concept of poverty.

[Ariella]

An ability which Corypheus had in Legacy and had nothing to do with his dragon, I believe, so it is possible the Architect has that ability as well since it may not be a spell he has to be aware of. The Architect also kept, at least, two people who were corrupted by the taint near him and while one could have died, Seranni the other one is always unaccounted for no matter the outcome of the last encounter with the Architect.
 

 

Thing is there was no Chekov's gun in this like there was in Legacy so it'll ed up being the retcon from hell if that's the case. Leave him dead.

[Jaison1986]

Just to throw my opinion in about transsexual representation...

I don't have an problem with Krem or future characters being transsexual. What concerns me is the possibility that Bioware will make this a focus. By 'this' I mean the portrayal of politically acceptable transsexual characters for the sake of representation over interesting characters and story. I found Krem to be boring. I doubt he would receive even half the fans he has were he not transsexual. Talking to him felt like the writer preaching their ideals at me. I don't have a problem with those ideals, I support them. I just don't want the games to become political like that.

As to player expressing transphobic opinions, I can only say that there are always limits to what options are provided by the writers and I think the issue is best solved by avoiding discussion of the matter.

 

This is actually an general issue Bioware is having as of late. They're making the DA series into some odd utopia were differences are somehow suddenly accepted without issue. Rather then fighting the issues Bioware runs from them. It ranges from Bull atrocious comment of how the Qunari would accept someone such as Krem. And originally by the lore, they would never ever accept Krem from who he is. Or how aparently no one seem to care about Dorian's homosexuality. Only his father does. And  even then, it seems to be more about Dorian ignoring his "duties" rather then him being homosexual. The DA series aways had a lot of bigotry that we needed to deal with, but now, it seems that such prejudices had been reduced to elves and mages only. All other social issues seems to be gone, as if they never existed in the first place. 

 

And honestly, that's not really progressive. It's just lazy writing in my opinion.

[Sah291]

Notice how the Dalish/human Inquisitors majorly lacked the dialogue options to express anti-human/Dalish sentiments despite the setting being rife with such povs. You can't even rp as human noble who looks down on the peasantry or is baffled by the concept of poverty.

Yeah, the debate over Krem kind of overshadowed that point, but it isn't about Krem or trans characters really. DAI is a departure from DAO/DAA/DA2 in the sense that this is the first time we could not really play a ruthless/aggressive character. Which, for the Inquisitor, I can buy becasue you are supposed to be a prophet type character, the head of a major organization (good diplomacy is a must), and the goal is to save Thedas, so there is naturally no option to do things that would break the narrative like side with Cory, etc. It was refreshing and interesting to play a classic hero and not an anti hero this time. But grey morality has always been a theme with DA. I still think it is a theme in DAI, though more subtle perhaps. It doesn't make much sense to have colorful companions like Sera or Viv, who say what's on their mind, but a protagonist that is always agreeable. The ability to play as Jerkquisitor makes being good worth it. And I think the devs already know that or they wouldn't put things like punching Solas, making Cassandra mad, or ticking off Dorian in the game.

[The Hierophant]

Yeah, the debate over Krem kind of overshadowed that point, but it isn't about Krem or trans characters really. DAI is a departure from DAO/DAA/DA2 in the sense that this is the first time we could not really play a ruthless/aggressive character. Which, for the Inquisitor, I can buy becasue you are supposed to be a prophet type character, the head of a major organization (good diplomacy is a must), and the goal is to save Thedas, so there is naturally no option to do things that would break the narrative like side with Cory, etc. It was refreshing and interesting to play a classic hero and not an anti hero this time. But grey morality has always been a theme with DA. I still think it is a theme in DAI, though more subtle perhaps. It doesn't make much sense to have colorful companions like Sera or Viv, who say what's on their mind, but a protagonist that is always agreeable. The ability to play as Jerkquisitor makes being good worth it. And I think the devs already know that or they wouldn't put things like punching Solas, making Cassandra mad, or ticking off Dorian in the game.

Hopefully the next pc is given dialogue options that varies beyond lawful, neutral and chaotic good, and are able to express povs that are commonly held by their social, and economical peers. Like for example roleplaying a patriotic Tevinter and not being limited to playing a socially progressive character, ala Dorian's views on Bloodmagic.

[Fearsome1]

This is actually an general issue Bioware is having as of late. They're making the DA series into some odd utopia were differences are somehow suddenly accepted without issue. Rather then fighting the issues Bioware runs from them.The DA series aways had a lot of bigotry that we needed to deal with, but now, it seems that such prejudices had been reduced to elves and mages only. All other social issues seems to be gone, as if they never existed in the first place. 

 

And honestly, that's not really progressive. It's just lazy writing in my opinion.

 

Unfortunately, despite whatever good intentions Bioware, the devs, and writers may have intended; this is the impression that I'm left with as well? It is never a good idea for a company with an intellectual property to drop everything that they've previously established as lore in order to sample - in effect - what amounts to the politically correct favor of the month. Better to use their demonstrated storytelling skills and show the polarizing character sufficiently to earn that idea; plus it helps create a truer learning curve for the audience to open itself up to new ideas. And they had the framework right there in front of them too. Dorian ended up being my favorite out of the new companions right from the start, but his was the last romance that I tried out. (Well, I sort of aborted the one with Solas for another day, which hasn't come yet).

 

Krem was an interesting character as well, but his implementation suffered for the very reasons that you pointed out; Krem's outside the box casual in-game acceptance seemed too pat based upon Thedas bigotry as had been depicted - - - it was as if the community here was set up to either extol the virtues of this character or be excoriated for not being sufficiently open to his introduction and presence. I think that Krem actually needed more screen time and a larger overall presence to be more effective for the purpose that he served? Sadly, of all the Chargers who fell, that being the case with so little genuine interaction overall with the Inquisitor, it's just sad that Krem ended as a one and done.

[Capone666]

Still no interview???!!!???

Correct me if I'm wrong but last year there also was a Mike Laidlaw interview which was lost somehow.

And now D. Gaider and Patrick Weekes , same thing.

Well to be honest we did get a bit of David Gaider interview , so there's that.

 

I'm just puzzled at this point by Capone666.

Sorry guys,

 

We are a radio station so unfortunately our video resources are very very limited. 

So clarify, 

Both interviews were 2-3 hours long and INCREDIBLY dense.

I've divided Davids Interviews into 3 parts- Dragon Age 1, 2 and Inquisition. 

Patricks into 2- Krem Iron Bull + Solas and Cole.

I'm VERY hopeful that today at least one, if not two of the David Gaider interviews will be up. Unfortunately I've had to conform to the show schedules on air and things got pushed back because it's so massive. 

Hope that helps, and apologies 

[raging_monkey]

No worries Just adds to the awesomeness

[PrayingMantis]

This is actually an general issue Bioware is having as of late. They're making the DA series into some odd utopia were differences are somehow suddenly accepted without issue. Rather then fighting the issues Bioware runs from them. It ranges from Bull atrocious comment of how the Qunari would accept someone such as Krem. And originally by the lore, they would never ever accept Krem from who he is. Or how aparently no one seem to care about Dorian's homosexuality. Only his father does. And  even then, it seems to be more about Dorian ignoring his "duties" rather then him being homosexual. The DA series aways had a lot of bigotry that we needed to deal with, but now, it seems that such prejudices had been reduced to elves and mages only. All other social issues seems to be gone, as if they never existed in the first place. 

 

And honestly, that's not really progressive. It's just lazy writing in my opinion.

 

I'm rather curious, but weren't elves and mages pretty much the only people folks had prejudices against in DA:O and DA2? I honestly can't remember anybody else.

I can't remember that there had ever been problems in the Dragon Age series concerning someone's sexuality. There have never been negative comments if you romanced somebody of the same gender, so why should Dorian's sexuality be treated differently? Why should someone suddenly care that he's gay if it had never been a problem in the past games?   It seems to me that people here want Tevinter to treat homosexuality the same way homophobes in our world do, even though we're talking about Dragon Age here. That disturbs me a bit, to be honest.

 

Weekes also said that Qunari do see gender differently and it makes sense. But oh boy, people have mentioned this pages ago and nobody wants to accept that fact. It's understandable if Sten had been irritated by the warden, because he saw her referring to herself as a woman AND a warrior. Maybe he would have been alright if she saw herself as either the one, or the other. Both though, that didn't make sense in his mind.

 

I don't see how that's lazy. Progressive writing doesn't mean you have to shove sexism and racism and other prejudices into every problem a game tries to tackle, just to have somebody point out that it's wrong later on. It gets really tiring for people who are actually part of that minority, because there's just so few media out there, that does not treat them as a big deal. 

It's a fantasy world, it doesn't make sense to compare it our reality and then go "That's unrealistic. Too few prejudices".

[Jaison1986]

I'm rather curious, but weren't elves and mages pretty much the only people folks had prejudices against in DA:O and DA2? I honestly can't remember anybody else.

I can't remember that there had ever been problems in the Dragon Age series concerning someone's sexuality. There have never been negative comments if you romanced somebody of the same gender, so why should Dorian's sexuality be treated differently? Why should someone suddenly care that he's gay if it had never been a problem in the past games?   It seems to me that people here want Tevinter to treat homosexuality the same way homophobes in our world do, even though we're talking about Dragon Age here. That disturbs me a bit, to be honest.

 

Weekes also said that Qunari do see gender differently and it makes sense. But oh boy, people have mentioned this pages ago and nobody wants to accept that fact. It's understandable if Sten had been irritated by the warden, because he saw her referring to herself as a woman AND a warrior. Maybe he would have been alright if she saw herself as either the one, or the other. Both though, that didn't make sense in his mind.

 

I don't see how that's lazy. Progressive writing doesn't mean you have to shove sexism and racism and other prejudices into every problem a game tries to tackle, just to have somebody point out that it's wrong later on. It gets really tiring for people who are actually part of that minority, because there's just so few media out there, that does not treat them as a big deal. 

It's a fantasy world, it doesn't make sense to compare it our reality and then go "That's unrealistic. Too few prejudices".

 

Woman had prejudice in the past too. Female warden would ocasionally get comments of how people never thought the wardens accepted woman. And homosexuality does have prejudice too. There is an codex in Inquisition that talks about sexual views. Were Orlais being the only truly accepting place about homosexualism. Other places would range from disapproval to complete outrage. There is no blacklash from Josephine dating a woman, even thought from ingame perspective, this should have caused a lot of issues for her, as she is not only a noble, but the heir of her family.

 

And the Qunari have no excuse. As it have been openly stated by Sten that woman don't fight under the Qun. Krem is biologically a woman, if Krem was taken to the Qunari, they would force Krem to become an artisan, priest, farmer, etc. But the Qunari would never allow Krem to fight in the army. Qunari don't care about personal opinions or what people might identify with. They care about what people are, and to them, Krem is a woman, no more, no less. So Bull's comment makes no sense whatsoever from an lore perspective.

 

So I do call it lazy. When you crush your own lore and ignore already existing issues from the past to make the game more minority friendly, I do find it wrong. So don't try to use the "minority feelings" card on me, because it won't work. I am atheist. Do you know how much prejudice I get for that? Inquisition isn't atheist friendly at all, and I don't let that stop me from enjoying the game.

[TammieAZ]

Once again confirming that The Iron Bull was lying about the Qun. He was designed to be the opposite of Sten and have a completely different perspective of the Qun than Sten. And Bull can become Tal-Vashoth, and he was suspected of being so by the Ben-Hassrath for years.

 

If transgenderism just HAS to be in the next game, then our characters should have the option to have any opinion of it that they wish. This is an RPG, not a sensitivity training course. Weeks should agree with this, because without the option to disapprove of it, the choice of being supportive has no significance. "Oh, you encouraged Caitlyn to be true to herself? Well so what? Everyone did. We had no choice in the matter." And telling players who object to play something else? Not really the point of making video games. I wonder what EA would say to that.

 

Hawke being alive makes sense, especially if a rogue with the decoy ability. But how does she survive in the Fade? Still sticking with my "Nightmare possesses the one who stayed behind" theory.

 

Also, Jack Nicholson played Joker, not Riddler.

 

 100% Agree...

[Yggdrasil]

@Dai Grepher:  All of your comments go along with Patrick Weekes comment about something that isn't for you being wrong to be included.  I don't see how including people who are often overlooked can be considered a bad decision, and the devs have every right to be proud of it.  "Pandering" and "liberal agenda" are meaningless pundit buzzwords that offer no actual reasoning.

 

I have to deal with enough homophobia in my daily life without wanting to see it in video games I play for escapism.  The devs use prejudice against mages and elves, Qunarie, etc. to comment on prejudice without having to show the ugliness of real-life bigotry.

[Legion of 1337]

If you want that, then they would also have to have options to be openly racist and sexist. We have enough of that in real life, seriously.

 

More importantly, those concepts don't really exist in Thedas anyway.

Racism against elves definitely exists, though it's pretty tame compared to say, The Witcher. Sexism is gone from all but the Chantry and the Tevinter Imperium.

 

I can't think of much else. Kind of odd to set something in what is obviously an analogy to Medieval Europe but with almost entirely modern social values.

[Shechinah]

Don't make me activate the sprinklers, guys, I'll do it, I swear, I will!

[TammieAZ]

You might wanna find another game then

No I won't be doing that . I'll just continue to speak on it like the rest of you. I shouldn't be told to find something else to play . What if you were told that?

[In Exile]

This is actually an general issue Bioware is having as of late. They're making the DA series into some odd utopia were differences are somehow suddenly accepted without issue. Rather then fighting the issues Bioware runs from them. It ranges from Bull atrocious comment of how the Qunari would accept someone such as Krem. And originally by the lore, they would never ever accept Krem from who he is. Or how aparently no one seem to care about Dorian's homosexuality. Only his father does. And even then, it seems to be more about Dorian ignoring his "duties" rather then him being homosexual. The DA series aways had a lot of bigotry that we needed to deal with, but now, it seems that such prejudices had been reduced to elves and mages only. All other social issues seems to be gone, as if they never existed in the first place.

And honestly, that's not really progressive. It's just lazy writing in my opinion.

Bull never says Krem would be accepted. He says Krem would be a man. And "orginally by lore" they very well could, despite fan ignorance about how the Qun works. It's actually impressive how little people took away from DA2 on the Qunari. These are very different things. He outright says the Qun would mindbreak Varric and Sera, reducing them to gibbering flesh husks through torture and drugs. That's really dark. All he talks about is how the Qunari are embroiled in an inescapable military quagmire that drove him to develop PST and how horribly wrong life would go for a lot of people if the Qun invaded.

Bioware's avoided what people consider "dark" topics but DA has certainly not moved in a utopian direction. People just seem to ignore the darkness because there's a lack of troglodyte views on social issues.