24 réponses à ce sujet

[Nilfalasiel]

After completing the game as an elven mage, I wanted to mix things up and rolled a dwarven rogue, to match her up with my Brosca Warden, who was one of my favourites. I was very happy with her appearance, the different playstyle and storyline perspective (especially the part where she could discuss her Carta background and her views on the Stone with Josephine), but then...

 

1. The scene where Solas takes the Inquisitor back to Haven in the Fade. That completely broke my immersion. The explanation is that the Mark makes the Inquisitor "dream more vividly", but how about if they've never dreamed before? I would've expected Cadash to freak right out in such a situation, but she apparently takes it all in stride like a champ. DAI makes the most sense for me as a mage protagonist, but at least the other races have the capacity to dream, whether they're mages or not, so the issue wouldn't be as jarring.

 

2. I guess the initial immersion break made me more critical, but I started noticing the awkward camera angles and character model alignment problems a lot more. Shots where my Inquisitor's face is all but cut off at the bottom of the screen, or where her forehead is off the top of the screen, shots from beneath furniture (c.f. the first conversation with Cullen at Skyhold), her arms not touching the throne armrests and her feet not touching the floor, etc. By contrast, they actually did a good job with the Florianne dance in WEWH, so why not at other moments?

 

3. I thought she'd be a good match for Blackwall, since her own background is far from being squeaky clean, but I just couldn't deal with the lazy animations. None of the kisses line up (the repeatable one looks like he's smooching her nose), and she has serious height issues during the culmination scene. I've toyed with the idea of starting over with a different LI, but Bull is slated for my Adaar, I find Josephine too cheesy, and I strongly dislike Sera. And I expect they'd all have animation issues anyway. I know it's been said before many times, but where's a romanceable dwarf NPC when you need one? I know there's the pseudo-"romance" with Harding, but that feels like a cop-out.

 

4. I don't like the American VA's delivery. It's so wooden. She has some good moments, but overall, I'm underwhelmed. The problem is that British VA + dwarf = cannot compute. 

 

Each of those issues on their own would maybe not have been so bad (except for the Solas dream scene), but all of them together are a bit much, which leaves me unwilling to finish my playthrough. And that's rather saddening, because I actually like my Cadash on paper, and I know that dwarves are a generally under-represented choice. It's just that I don't feel that the game delivery does her justice. And I don't remember either my Brosca or my Aeducan playthroughs being this jarring in DAO.

 

Has anybody had a similar experience? I'm also starting to have misgivings about doing a future Adaar playthrough now. Are things as bad for them in terms of camera angles and alignment?

 

[ArcadiaGrey]

My first (and only run so far) was with a dwarf rogue.  I loved it.

 

For the first point, I was anti-mage as she's a dwarf and distrusts magic, so I pretty much ignored Solas.  Therefore I never had that fade sequence with him.  I did punch him in the face tho. 

 

I agree about the camera angles, some were off and her forehead was cut off a lot of the time.  It's just one of those things, dwarves were added late in development so there are gonna be problems.  Most of the time it didn't bother me, but there were a couple of seriously bad angles sometimes.

 

She romanced Bull, it was wonderful.  They're a great match, and the animations were fine.  It's especially cute at the end of the game on the balcony.  I'd heartily recommend switching so that she's with Bull.  I think it may be the romance I've ever done in a BioWare game.

 

Finally I liked the American VA.  Not at first, but after a little while I changed my mind.

This could be because I chose the middle option most of the time to represent her sarcastic personality.  She delivers those lines really well and captures a 'what the f*** is going on' attitude that I wanted her to have.  She was also good for the aggressive dialogue I sometimes used (bottom right options).

However once in a while the auto-dialogue would be flat, delivered in a wooden way.  It was rare for me though, and overall I enjoyed her performance.  Maybe I hit it lucky with the type of character I made and options I chose?

 

That's my 2 cents anyway, for what it's worth. 

[Krypplingz]

1 Yeah that one was pretty weird. I just figured Cadash had just become used to this fade nonsense and just went with it. (She sided with the mages and had heard about the Wardens adventure, aka that 2 dwarves had been forced into the fade and it went okay for them, just watch out for extra appendages). 

 

2 I like that their feet don't touch the ground. They are tiny and most furniture in Skyhold is meant for human/elves. But it doesn't bother them and they sit up straight like any good ruler. And then slouch horribly when they think no one is looking. 

But yes your Qunari is going to have a lot of camera shots focused on their magnificent chest and part of their head missing. I found it amusing, but you might not. There are also a lot of lovely, proper shots where you can look down at people from the Qunaris point of view.

 

3. The Inquisitor has awful animations in Blackwalls night visit scene in general. It's almost okay with human or elves, but Qunari and Dwarves are all over the place. Still, his barn kiss is pretty to look at. Dorian also doesn't play well with dwarves or Qunari animation wise.

Sera, Bull and Josie have the best animations for the non human races, Bull in particular and I wholly support romancing him twice. And sacrifice the chargers at least once, for science.

 

4. I love the American voice. It's so smooth and serious sounding and doesn't hurt my ears when she's yelling. But light dwarven voices are not that odd. Dagna has a pretty light voice I think. And Cadash is a surfacer so she might have picked up the regional accent. 

[ArcadiaGrey]

<snip>

 

I like that their feet don't touch the ground. They are tiny and most furniture in Skyhold is meant for human/elves. But it doesn't bother them and they sit up straight like any good ruler. And then slouch horribly when they think no one is looking. 

 

<snip>

 

Bull in particular and I wholly support romancing him twice. And sacrifice the chargers at least once, for science.

 

4. I love the American voice. 

 

For science. 

 

Yuppity yup to all these things.  I like you.  

[vertigomez]

The dream sequence never bothered me, honestly. It wasn't that much more jarring than a dwarf Warden dreaming of darkspawn in DAO. I mean, you're already a magical dwarf who fell out of the Fade, so...

I'm not too fussed about the sometimes-wonky camera angles.

It's definitely frustrating if the VA doesn't fit the character you have in mind. I'm not sure what the solution is, other than rethinking your character's personality or coming up with a decent excuse for them to have an 'unusual' accent. Maybe your dwarf spent more time among human nobility, or smuggling lyrium to Circles, than chilling with her own people?

[Qun00]

Would it be that you think the British VA sounds too sweet? Well, there is Dagna and she's adorable.

[vertigomez]

Would it be that you think the British VA sounds too sweet? Well, there is Dagna and she's adorable.

I can't speak for the OP but for me it's more of an issue with the accent. Since even lifelong surfacers like Harding and Varric speak with American accents, it's harder to justify using the English voice even if you like it better.

edit: Not impossible, obviously. But it annoys me that my scruffy Carta dwarf has a more 'refined' speech than Blackwall and Sera...

[ArcadiaGrey]

I can't speak for the OP but for me it's more of an issue with the accent. Since even lifelong surfacers like Harding and Varric speak with American accents, it's harder to justify using the English voice even if you like it better.

edit: Not impossible, obviously. But it annoys me that my scruffy Carta dwarf has a more 'refined' speech than Blackwall and Sera...

 

Same for me, I'm a stickler for lore when it comes to accents.  It even bothers me that there's no Welsh/Irish option for elves.

The English VA only suits humans for me personally.  Having an English dwarf would only be a last resort if I absolutely hated the American VA.

[vertigomez]

Same for me, I'm a stickler for lore when it comes to accents.  It even bothers me that there's no Welsh/Irish option for elves.
The English VA only suits humans for me personally.  Having an English dwarf would only be a last resort if I absolutely hated the American VA.

It's weird because I think AWR sounds great on my qunari lady. I dunno why I have that weird hangup about dwarves. I guess it's because I'm more invested in dwarves than Vashoth?

It makes me wonder what direction they'll go for the next game. Two voices for each, again?

[Krypplingz]

I liked the British voice on my male dwarf. 

 

But he was a soft spoken, charming fellow. Not a grunting carta thug who would never rise above knocking some poor sods skull in. Bergstein oversaw some of the more luxurious merchandise, like fur, jewelry and luxury food. Which is why his speech was more refined than Sera or Blackwall, he enjoyed being amongst rich, educated people, which were mostly humans since he lived on the surface, so he went to great lengths to mimic them. He also disliked his humble origin, so he tried to make it seem that he came from a richer stock than some kindly fish mongers. (He still loved his parents. They were just so...bland.)

He also was responsible for weeding out and ending traitors in the Cartas midst, something he got great pleasure out of. I like to think he was quite friendly with Skyholds dungeon master. 

 

So personally I hope that we do get to pick between voices. Or atleast hope we don't get stuck with the "lore" accent of the race we are playing.

[ArcadiaGrey]

It makes me wonder what direction they'll go for the next game. Two voices for each, again?

 

I assume so, if it's not too much work then I'd like that and seeing how they've done it once, why not again?

 

I for one don't like the male English voice (it's ENGLISH guys, not British.  Just sayin).  He's too posh and all Downton Abbey and it grinds on me.  So much so that I'm swapping him for a male Qunari just so I can justify having the American VA instead.  

[JD Buzz]

I'm rolling a dwarf Inquisitor for the first time and I have a few irks.

 

- The composition in some cut scenes are awful, yes. Why would someone get half of their head cut off on a close up shot? 

 

- The female American VA isn't bad for some dialogue choices, for example, the clever witty ones. But she sounds flat in others.

 

- Wardrobe doesn't fit a short body type. An example of this is the formal outfit. I hated how oversized the tunic looks, especially making her neck longer to shorten the mandarin collar.  

[Nilfalasiel]

Thanks for the input, everyone! Helps to put things in perspective.

I can't speak for the OP but for me it's more of an issue with the accent. Since even lifelong surfacers like Harding and Varric speak with American accents, it's harder to justify using the English voice even if you like it better.

 
Pretty much this, yeah. All of the dwarven characters that have been featured in the games consistently have American accents, regardless of whether they're surfacers or Orzammar-born. I actually think the pitch of the voice suits her just fine, it's the delivery that bothers me sometimes. The VA doesn't do emotion very well, IMO, even in scenes that would justifiably require some. I even thought that some of her sarcastic lines lacked "bite". But eh, I'll stick to it, since it's the only accent that makes sense to me.
 
Oh wait...Bodahn didn't have an American accent. But I think he's the only one. 
 

The dream sequence never bothered me, honestly. It wasn't that much more jarring than a dwarf Warden dreaming of darkspawn in DAO. I mean, you're already a magical dwarf who fell out of the Fade, so...

 
Fair enough, but that would've been Cadash's first instance of actual dreaming. She doesn't remember what happened at the Temple of Sacred Ashes at that point, and she certainly hasn't dreamed of darkspawn before. It's her lack of reaction that was a problem for me.
 

1 Yeah that one was pretty weird. I just figured Cadash had just become used to this fade nonsense and just went with it. (She sided with the mages and had heard about the Wardens adventure, aka that 2 dwarves had been forced into the fade and it went okay for them, just watch out for extra appendages). 
 
2 I like that their feet don't touch the ground. They are tiny and most furniture in Skyhold is meant for human/elves. But it doesn't bother them and they sit up straight like any good ruler. And then slouch horribly when they think no one is looking. 
But yes your Qunari is going to have a lot of camera shots focused on their magnificent chest and part of their head missing. I found it amusing, but you might not. There are also a lot of lovely, proper shots where you can look down at people from the Qunaris point of view.
 
3. The Inquisitor has awful animations in Blackwalls night visit scene in general. It's almost okay with human or elves, but Qunari and Dwarves are all over the place. Still, his barn kiss is pretty to look at. Dorian also doesn't play well with dwarves or Qunari animation wise.
Sera, Bull and Josie have the best animations for the non human races, Bull in particular and I wholly support romancing him twice. And sacrifice the chargers at least once, for science.

 
1. Yep, good point as well. But same as above: it's one thing hearing about what happened to other people, but it's quite another thing experiencing it for yourself. She could've at least tried to question Solas about it a bit more. That being said, I played my Cadash as fairly curious/tolerant about magic (being an outcast herself, she sympathizes with other outcasts), so I guess I'll have to accept that she's VERY zen about it all.
 
2. I even exacerbated the situation by giving her the Kirkwall throne, since it's the only one that has a design that looks vaguely dwarven (geometric shapes), so that made it even funnier. She was properly dwarfed by it. 
 
Also, yes, I've heard about the "my eyes are up here" situation with qunari. Buh. Guess I'll just have to tell myself that my Adaar has the most fantastic rack in Thedas. I've also heard of a Cinematic Tools mod which allows you to control camera angles, so I might want to try it out.
 
3. Good to know. I was planning a human gent for Dorian, but I guess Blackwall will have to get a human lady as well. I don't trust myself to stay away from Solas if I make another elven lass >.>;
 

She romanced Bull, it was wonderful. They're a great match, and the animations were fine. It's especially cute at the end of the game on the balcony. I'd heartily recommend switching so that she's with Bull. I think it may be the romance I've ever done in a BioWare game.

Heh, I'm looking forward to Bull as well, I've heard good things about him. It's just that, if I switch him over to Cadash, my Adaar's going to have a similar problem: if Blackwall's animations are no good with dwarves or qunari, that leaves either Josie or Sera.
 
Currently leaning towards Cadash-Sera. I may dislike her, but the pairing would make more sense than Josie-Cadash to me. And who knows? Maybe the romance will change my mind about her.

[vertigomez]

Oh wait...Bodahn didn't have an American accent. But I think he's the only one.

Yeah, Bodahn's the odd man out. I'm assuming he picked it up to convince surfacers of his trustworthiness so they'd buy his pilfered goods.

Also, yes, I've heard about the "my eyes are up here" situation with qunari. Buh. Guess I'll just have to tell myself that my Adaar has the most fantastic rack in Thedas.

After seeing her in that qunari DLC outfit, I believe it.

Currently leaning towards Cadash-Sera. I may dislike her, but the pairing would make more sense than Josie-Cadash to me. And who knows? Maybe the romance will change my mind about her.

For what it's worth, Sera/Cadash (and Sera/Adaar) are absolutely wonderful in my humble opinion. She's always going on about how adorable you are.

[JD Buzz]

For what it's worth, Sera/Cadash (and Sera/Adaar) are absolutely wonderful in my humble opinion. She's always going on about how adorable you are.

 

True. Twee romance. It's all good. 

[Tishina]

After completing the game as an elven mage, I wanted to mix things up and rolled a dwarven rogue, to match her up with my Brosca Warden, who was one of my favourites. I was very happy with her appearance, the different playstyle and storyline perspective (especially the part where she could discuss her Carta background and her views on the Stone with Josephine), but then...

 

1. The scene where Solas takes the Inquisitor back to Haven in the Fade. That completely broke my immersion. The explanation is that the Mark makes the Inquisitor "dream more vividly", but how about if they've never dreamed before? I would've expected Cadash to freak right out in such a situation, but she apparently takes it all in stride like a champ. DAI makes the most sense for me as a mage protagonist, but at least the other races have the capacity to dream, whether they're mages or not, so the issue wouldn't be as jarring.

 

2. I guess the initial immersion break made me more critical, but I started noticing the awkward camera angles and character model alignment problems a lot more. Shots where my Inquisitor's face is all but cut off at the bottom of the screen, or where her forehead is off the top of the screen, shots from beneath furniture (c.f. the first conversation with Cullen at Skyhold), her arms not touching the throne armrests and her feet not touching the floor, etc. By contrast, they actually did a good job with the Florianne dance in WEWH, so why not at other moments?

 

3. I thought she'd be a good match for Blackwall, since her own background is far from being squeaky clean, but I just couldn't deal with the lazy animations. None of the kisses line up (the repeatable one looks like he's smooching her nose), and she has serious height issues during the culmination scene. I've toyed with the idea of starting over with a different LI, but Bull is slated for my Adaar, I find Josephine too cheesy, and I strongly dislike Sera. And I expect they'd all have animation issues anyway. I know it's been said before many times, but where's a romanceable dwarf NPC when you need one? I know there's the pseudo-"romance" with Harding, but that feels like a cop-out.

 

4. I don't like the American VA's delivery. It's so wooden. She has some good moments, but overall, I'm underwhelmed. The problem is that British VA + dwarf = cannot compute. 

 

Each of those issues on their own would maybe not have been so bad (except for the Solas dream scene), but all of them together are a bit much, which leaves me unwilling to finish my playthrough. And that's rather saddening, because I actually like my Cadash on paper, and I know that dwarves are a generally under-represented choice. It's just that I don't feel that the game delivery does her justice. And I don't remember either my Brosca or my Aeducan playthroughs being this jarring in DAO.

 

Has anybody had a similar experience? I'm also starting to have misgivings about doing a future Adaar playthrough now. Are things as bad for them in terms of camera angles and alignment?

I actually often use the british voice for some of my dwarves and the american voice for some of my Dalish - it gives them more character, but I like both voices (and I don't think that's a dwarf issue anyway.) Keep in mind that "refined" isn't a racial characteristic...

 

But yes, a lot of the rest feels very much as if dwarves were shoe-horned in. Even the camera angles with Varric are screwed up (sometimes it makes him look 2 feet taller than a f!dwarf.) The absolute worst are a series during a cut scene conversation with Varric at Skyhold when you mostly see a chair back. A close second is a scene with Cullen when the camera shifts to where the IQ is obviously supposed to be, and the camera is obviously so far above her head that you can't even see her scalp. I've made a bit of a hobby of posting all the bad camera angles and cut-off head scenes on my Tumblr.

 

The romance selection is...a problem. While there are people who love IB and I'm glad for them, his appeal is strictly limited, and I don't play characters who are willing to dismiss their own wants and agency. Someone's already mentioned the Blackwall animation issues which left me ready to prefer just about anything else (I wasn't terribly impressed with it even without that, honestly, even though he's my favorite based on appearance alone.) Sera is an issue with me paired with a f!dwarf because she makes several comments about your height when you first meet her. I can count the short people I know who find that endearing with all the fingers on my foot (I plan to romance her with an Adaar eventually because I do like her, but I simply can't RP a dwarf warming to her that much. Or a Dalish.) And Josephine, while a lovely advisor, also reminds me of that too-fussy friend who never quite lets anything go or stops worrying. Honestly, Harding's the best choice for me.

 

Edit: Adaar is better generally, but you frequently don't see the top of their heads, much less their horns. And there was a weird glitch with my m!adaar where the back of his collar clipped into his neck noticeably during cutscenes. I've heard there are some height oddities during the Winter Palace, but I didn't get him that far.

[AnimalBoy]

Do the same thing with the game's issues that people do with life's problems. Ignore them.

[Nilfalasiel]

While there are people who love IB and I'm glad for them, his appeal is strictly limited, and I don't play characters who are willing to dismiss their own wants and agency.

 

Obviously, to each their preferences, but I have to disagree with the "dismiss their own wants and agency" part. I've watched the Bull romance on YT, and he's written as a textbook dom, clearly designed for Inquisitors who are subs. Now, it's a common misconception that, in BDSM, the dom does what they want, and the sub's preferences don't matter. That's not how it works. Or, at least, not how it's supposed to work. Cole nails it in one of his banters: the Inquisitor submits, but Bull serves. The sub is always the one in control, and it is the dom's responsibility to meet their desires/needs. So they either have to be very good at reading people (which Bull admittedly is), or the sub needs to spell things out. If things are not going to the sub's liking, that's what the safe word is for. This is probably the single biggest slip-up in Bull's romance: the safe word would need to be established before any sex happens, but considering that the devs already give you three chances to back out of the first encounter, I can see how they didn't want to overload matters.
 
I do understand how Bull's attitude can rub people the wrong way, though. He does essentially say that he knows what the Inquisitor needs. But that's the kind of Inquisitor he was written for. Especially considering that they pretty much need to do all the legwork to pursue him. If they accept the relationship, they accept that Bull wants to give them what they need, and if he doesn't read them right, they are entitled to set him straight. If they do end up realizing that it's not their cup of tea, there are many chances to say no. If that's not agency, I'm not sure what is.
 

Someone's already mentioned the Blackwall animation issues which left me ready to prefer just about anything else (I wasn't terribly impressed with it even without that, honestly, even though he's my favorite based on appearance alone.)

 
My biggest issue with the Blackwall romance is that the conversation after his judgment should not take place in Skyhold's main hall in front of a crowd.
 

Sera is an issue with me paired with a f!dwarf because she makes several comments about your height when you first meet her. I can count the short people I know who find that endearing with all the fingers on my foot (I plan to romance her with an Adaar eventually because I do like her, but I simply can't RP a dwarf warming to her that much. Or a Dalish.)

 
That's an excellent point. I can't believe I'd forgotten about that one. Yep, she does greet your Inquisitor with a pretty grating comment about their height. Ugh, Sera. I mean, I understand that she's been race-shamed as a child and thus has serious self-worth issues that she overcompensates for, but that leads to intolerance and insensitivity. She demands that others accept her as she is (which is fine), but either doesn't do the same in return or mocks them beforehand. And I find that rather hard to come to terms with, even if she does show signs of maturing in Trespasser. Guess you'd have to play a dwarf who's very secure and doesn't give a damn what others think about her.

[Tishina]

Obviously, to each their preferences, but I have to disagree with the "dismiss their own wants and agency" part. I've watched the Bull romance on YT, and he's written as a textbook dom, clearly designed for Inquisitors who are subs. Now, it's a common misconception that, in BDSM, the dom does what they want, and the sub's preferences don't matter. That's not how it works. Or, at least, not how it's supposed to work. Cole nails it in one of his banters: the Inquisitor submits, but Bull serves. The sub is always the one in control, and it is the dom's responsibility to meet their desires/needs. So they either have to be very good at reading people (which Bull admittedly is), or the sub needs to spell things out. If things are not going to the sub's liking, that's what the safe word is for. This is probably the single biggest slip-up in Bull's romance: the safe word would need to be established before any sex happens, but considering that the devs already give you three chances to back out of the first encounter, I can see how they didn't want to overload matters.
 
I do understand how Bull's attitude can rub people the wrong way, though. He does essentially say that he knows what the Inquisitor needs. But that's the kind of Inquisitor he was written for. Especially considering that they pretty much need to do all the legwork to pursue him. If they accept the relationship, they accept that Bull wants to give them what they need, and if he doesn't read them right, they are entitled to set him straight. If they do end up realizing that it's not their cup of tea, there are many chances to say no. If that's not agency, I'm not sure what is.

Hmm, essentially I said the same thing, except I just said his romance had strictly limited appeal (i.e. for people wanting to play a sub.) IB tells you, basically, that what you want doesn't matter, all he cares about is what he thinks you need (we won't get into my skepticism about that magical mind-reading ability, though yes, in theory it's supposed to be about the sub, not the dom.) You do have agency, but the only agency is yes, I'll let IB make all the decisions until I use the safe word, or no deal at all. If you want to turn me off a romance, tell me that what I want is irrelevant. Women have lived with other people telling them that what they want is irrelevant or unimportant or wrong or something other than...important because they want it. Women are taught to think first of everyone elses' needs and wants, to please and be pleasing, anything except say "No. This is what I want, and what I want does matter." I understand it was written for subs, people who want someone else to be in charge (and I agree, the timing of the safe word particularly rubbed me the wrong way) which by definition means it has a limited audience, though I'm glad for those who it was written for. Sadly, though, it seems to be the only one they put the extra effort into getting animations, etc. right.

 

One of my Cadash's said it best, as someone who'd spent her life being ordered around by the Carta. "Who shares my bed and how is almost the only thing I've been able to decide for most of my life."

 

 
My biggest issue with the Blackwall romance is that the conversation after his judgment should not take place in Skyhold's main hall in front of a crowd.
 

Oh, that definitely didn't improved my opinion of it; it was extremely bizarre. And if you're going to give someone a second chance, there should actually be content after that moment. I honestly tried really hard to like his romance because I happen to particularly like tall dark haired men with beards and deep voices and his flirts at Haven are lovely. But every romance cutscene made me shudder to the point I was tempted to leave him in the Val Royeaux jail. It's the accumulation of problems that really do it in.

 

That's an excellent point. I can't believe I'd forgotten about that one. Yep, she does greet your Inquisitor with a pretty grating comment about their height. Ugh, Sera. I mean, I understand that she's been race-shamed as a child and thus has serious self-worth issues that she overcompensates for, but that leads to intolerance and insensitivity. She demands that others accept her as she is (which is fine), but either doesn't do the same in return or mocks them beforehand. And I find that rather hard to come to terms with, even if she does show signs of maturing in Trespasser. Guess you'd have to play a dwarf who's very secure and doesn't give a damn what others think about her.

She repeats a similar comment later, but it isn't a matter of secure or not, it's more a matter of respect. As far as I'm concerned, Sera's approval (for romance purposes at least) took a hit of about -30 with those comments. What kind of romance is it if someone sees you as a race before a person (and one that doesn't deserve respect?) Like I said, I could see romancing her with a qunari, but my dwarves pretty much stop paying attention to her by the second remark.

[Mrs_Stick]

I love my Cadash. I just laughed at the weird camera angles and blackwall's scene in the barn was cute i just imagined him lifting her like a weight in between the walking and kissing. I never had an issue with not staying in my dwarf mind set even with solas fade scene.

[EggplantRed]

1. For the two of my four Cadashes that made it to that scene with Solas, my canon warrior Alcina did freak out in my HC over the Fade stuff initially. Ferinda had a Dagna attitude about it, she was decidedly excited it happened and was eager to learn all she could about the how, what, and why of it. Dwarves being last minute additions, I'm assuming no one at Bioware really thought through that part about the Fade stuff or just didn't have the resources to allocate to sufficiently address it.

 

2. After seeing the weird camera angles over the number of hours I put into my Cadashes so far, other than sharing them on Tumblr & Twitter I've just had to let it go.

 

3. I'm firmly in the Cadash and Iron Bull camp. His animations weren't weird with Alcina at all and the balcony scene at the end was to die for. I thought it was hilarious and it totally suited them as a couple. Blackwall's didn't give me enough to feel strongly one way or the other with Ferinda (haven't made it to his balcony scene yet though).

 

4. Only one of my four Cadashes used the American VA. Two of them (Ferinda and Doudrin) I HC because they tend to do infiltration and spy work, they'd do well to mimic the marks but their mother groomed Alcina to do more face work on lyrium deals for the family until she decided she just wanted to work her shield and axe. Not that any of them are to be messed with, lest you find yourself stabbed, bashed, or poisoned.

[Nilfalasiel]

Hmm, essentially I said the same thing, except I just said his romance had strictly limited appeal (i.e. for people wanting to play a sub.) IB tells you, basically, that what you want doesn't matter, all he cares about is what he thinks you need (we won't get into my skepticism about that magical mind-reading ability, though yes, in theory it's supposed to be about the sub, not the dom.) You do have agency, but the only agency is yes, I'll let IB make all the decisions until I use the safe word, or no deal at all. If you want to turn me off a romance, tell me that what I want is irrelevant. Women have lived with other people telling them that what they want is irrelevant or unimportant or wrong or something other than...important because they want it. Women are taught to think first of everyone elses' needs and wants, to please and be pleasing, anything except say "No. This is what I want, and what I want does matter." I understand it was written for subs, people who want someone else to be in charge (and I agree, the timing of the safe word particularly rubbed me the wrong way) which by definition means it has a limited audience, though I'm glad for those who it was written for. Sadly, though, it seems to be the only one they put the extra effort into getting animations, etc. right.

One of my Cadash's said it best, as someone who'd spent her life being ordered around by the Carta. "Who shares my bed and how is almost the only thing I've been able to decide for most of my life."

 
Fair enough. I guess I'm just not seeing the loss of agency part (possibly because I'm biased by firsthand experience), but yes, we do agree that he's a niche romance.
 

Oh, that definitely didn't improved my opinion of it; it was extremely bizarre. And if you're going to give someone a second chance, there should actually be content after that moment. I honestly tried really hard to like his romance because I happen to particularly like tall dark haired men with beards and deep voices and his flirts at Haven are lovely. But every romance cutscene made me shudder to the point I was tempted to leave him in the Val Royeaux jail. It's the accumulation of problems that really do it in.

 
Yes, they definitely didn't address the second part of the romance enough. I'm ok HC'ing the rest though. Blackwall is just so thoroughly smitten with the Inquisitor that I can't help but find it endearing. So much extra drama for the poor man.
 

What kind of romance is it if someone sees you as a race before a person (and one that doesn't deserve respect?)

 
Again, very good point. And she does that with every race. Qunari just happen to get a positive comment, so it's not as bothersome. But elves annoy her on principle, dwarves are "down there" and humans are "plain". Then again, she does end up with a dwarf if you don't romance her (probably because there aren't any qunari ladies around). I guess Dagna doesn't mind.
 

3. I'm firmly in the Cadash and Iron Bull camp. His animations weren't weird with Alcina at all and the balcony scene at the end was to die for. I thought it was hilarious and it totally suited them as a couple. Blackwall's didn't give me enough to feel strongly one way or the other with Ferinda (haven't made it to his balcony scene yet though).

The thing is, I just can't get past the size difference. I look at Bull, then I look at Cadash, and all I can think of is "OUCH"   
 

I love my Cadash. I just laughed at the weird camera angles and blackwall's scene in the barn was cute i just imagined him lifting her like a weight in between the walking and kissing.

Hah, any occasion for a workout is good! Especially since I've always imagined dwarves to be proportionally heavier than the other races, for some reason.

[GoldenGail3]

Cadash is nice enough I suppose. But meh, I'll be always be a human player at heart though; even after my Male Lavellan..

[EggplantRed]

To each their own 

I love size differences in all varieties and I specifically wanted one of my Cadashes to romance Bull for that reason. 

The way Alcina unfolded over the course of the game just reassured me it was the right decision for her 

[coldwetn0se]

I too loved my Cadash play through. Since she wasn't my first PC in the game (she was my fifth), I had worked out her character - admittedly a bit "meta" - so the fade scene didn't bother me. However, it really would have been nice had they been able to include a conversation regarding the fade scene. A welcome opportunity for more rping.

Iron Bull was also my Cadash's LI. They fit - personality wise - completely. I have played through the Solas, Cassandra, Cullen, Dorian and Iron Bull romances, and enjoyed all of them. I still think his romance is the best paced of those listed above. And it should be noted, I nor my character, ever felt like having a "loss of agency", with the Bull romance. I rp'ed her as knowing exactly what she was getting into, and she was the type of character that always knew she could say no or stop. She just never had a reason to do that. If I didn't think her character would have done that, she would not have become involved with Bull.

Lastly the camera angles. Well - lol! - that was the least of my worries with that play through. I adored that character and her time as Inquisitor, but that particular run through was rife with glitches and bugs. So having some wonky camera angles seemed about as bothersome as the dust bunnies under my couch. Not suggesting that BW shouldn't consider such things next time (if we get multiple races again), just that it wasn't enough to pull me out of immersion, or wan my enthusiasm for my Mace Cadash.



(Oh - and I like all the VA's for the Inquisitor. Do have a soft spot for Sumalee though. )