61 réponses à ce sujet

[errant_knight]

How many threads are on this topic now? And not even mostly old threads, but multiple current ones. That's a lot of flailing about stuff that we don't even know how it's going to pan out.



Have you truly never left your dog at home when you went on a trip? Particularly when you went with other people for a specific purpose?



I love dog, and I think the romances add a lot to the game, but not every mission has to include both these things. Sometimes both are going to be inappropriate, or not fit in with what's going on.



That being said, you're out of line, Lord Kain. There's no reason to insult other posters because you disagree with them. Slinging mud doesn't make you look right, it just makes you look rude.

[Valmy]

These are the exact same writers. Give them a little bit of the benefit of the doubt man.

[bluewolv1970]

errant_knight wrote...

How many threads are on this topic now? And not even mostly old threads, but multiple current ones. That's a lot of flailing about stuff that we don't even know how it's going to pan out.

Have you truly never left your dog at home when you went on a trip? Particularly when you went with other people for a specific purpose?

I love dog, and I think the romances add a lot to the game, but not every mission has to include both these things. Sometimes both are going to be inappropriate, or not fit in with what's going on.

That being said, you're out of line, Lord Kain. There's no reason to insult other posters because you disagree with them. Slinging mud doesn't make you look right, it just makes you look rude.

not really a fair analogy - would you leave your hunting dog home when you go on a hunting trip?  I mean the mabari were there own wave of attack at Ostogar and that is ther prupose and yet you are "leaving him home"

[errant_knight]

bluewolv1970 wrote...

errant_knight wrote...

How many threads are on this topic now? And not even mostly old threads, but multiple current ones. That's a lot of flailing about stuff that we don't even know how it's going to pan out.

Have you truly never left your dog at home when you went on a trip? Particularly when you went with other people for a specific purpose?

I love dog, and I think the romances add a lot to the game, but not every mission has to include both these things. Sometimes both are going to be inappropriate, or not fit in with what's going on.

That being said, you're out of line, Lord Kain. There's no reason to insult other posters because you disagree with them. Slinging mud doesn't make you look right, it just makes you look rude.

not really a fair analogy - would you leave your hunting dog home when you go on a hunting trip?  I mean the mabari were there own wave of attack at Ostogar and that is ther prupose and yet you are "leaving him home"

If part of the purpose of taking the new recuits along is to test them, then you're going to want to put the onus on them, not have your dog do a big share of the heavy lifting. When the PC was tested in the wilds, he/she wasn't allowed to bring Dog, either.

To go to the hunting analogy, whether you bring your dog would depend on what you were hunting. Ducks, yes. Bears, no. Dog isn't suitable for every battle. I left him at the gates when going to fight the archdemon, after all.

[bluewolv1970]

errant_knight wrote...

bluewolv1970 wrote...

errant_knight wrote...

How many threads are on this topic now? And not even mostly old threads, but multiple current ones. That's a lot of flailing about stuff that we don't even know how it's going to pan out.

Have you truly never left your dog at home when you went on a trip? Particularly when you went with other people for a specific purpose?

I love dog, and I think the romances add a lot to the game, but not every mission has to include both these things. Sometimes both are going to be inappropriate, or not fit in with what's going on.

That being said, you're out of line, Lord Kain. There's no reason to insult other posters because you disagree with them. Slinging mud doesn't make you look right, it just makes you look rude.

not really a fair analogy - would you leave your hunting dog home when you go on a hunting trip?  I mean the mabari were there own wave of attack at Ostogar and that is ther prupose and yet you are "leaving him home"

If part of the purpose of taking the new recuits along is to test them, then you're going to want to put the onus on them, not have your dog do a big share of the heavy lifting. When the PC was tested in the wilds, he/she wasn't allowed to bring Dog, either.

To go to the hunting analogy, whether you bring your dog would depend on what you were hunting. Ducks, yes. Bears, no. Dog isn't suita -ble for every battle. I left him at the gates when going to fight the archdemon, after all.

well I respectfully disagree I would have let him duel loghain - had it not been suggested that his loyalty could be swayed by a ham bone - that said my biggest beef with dog is that he would have been a good bridge character from the the original campain (in particular the human noble) - he wouldn't require a voice actor - and it would have even jusitifed the no romance angle (dangerous mission no time for play etc) - mostly though i would have been a good way tot feel connected to the original campaign (which this game I feel will be sorley lacking) - and there would have been room for him as in every bioware game there is a generic tank character

[Crowwalker100]

Patriciachr34 wrote...

_LordKain_ wrote...

All this complaining about romances.....who friggin' cares!

It's a game......a....GAME!

I bet some of these people spend more time working on their DA romances then they do with their RL romances.....if they can squeeze out of their doorway to have one that is.

I usually don't respond to these types of rants, but frankly I'm tired of being pigeon holed.  As an older woman who has been married more than a decade, I like the romance.  Once a person is as "settled in" to a long standing relationship, often romance gets set aside for expedience sake.  (A roll in the hay becomes simply a roll in the hay and then we're off to our busy lives.) So this game gives me a chance to enjoy romance and inspires me to pursue this type of encounter with my beloved. Oh, and just to so you know that my husband isn't a gaming widower, he often works late hours and weekends.  So, I have plenty of time on my hands.

Second, as for being fat, I've lost an entire size since I started playing this game.  My husband is also enjoying the new, fit me; and is looking forward to the new fitter me in that will appear in the months to come.

So, Lord Kain and any other broad spectrum persona out there,  please stop making these axxenine statements that all gamers are fat, non-social losers with nothing better to do than drool over pixelated love interests.  We are a extremely diverse demographic who share a common enjoyment of well rounded, well told, interactive stories.

Thank you for saving me the time you echo my feeling excatly..

[Bathead]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the events in Awakenings supposedly taking place some twenty years after the events in Origins? If that's true, it's entirely believable that the relationships (romantic,pet, and otherwise) items and other things just aren't there anymore. To me, people are overreacting (again) to the situation.

[bluewolv1970]

Bathead wrote...

Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't the events in Awakenings supposedly taking place some twenty years after the events in Origins? If that's true, it's entirely believable that the relationships (romantic,pet, and otherwise) items and other things just aren't there anymore. To me, people are overreacting (again) to the situation.

uh you are wrong it is only several months - thus none of it makes sense

[Querne]

_LordKain_ wrote...

All this complaining about romances.....who friggin' cares!

It's a game......a....GAME!

I bet some of these people spend more time working on their DA romances then they do with their RL romances.....if they can squeeze out of their doorway to have one that is.

All this focus about fighting...who friggin´ cares!

It´s a game...a....GAME!

And I bet some of the other people spend more time skilling and fighting pixels munching chocolate and chips before monitor then they do anything for their RL health or condition...if this mighty warriors fit through the doorway at all.

See?

I respect that you like fights, so respect that I like romances. The other aspects are not less important just because YOU don´t care about.

[hazelrock]

They probably have something in the works where you pay$ to add members and items from Origins into Awakenings via DLC.

[Default137]

Random lore makeup to explain everything.

Leliana and Zevran either went back to their homeland ( if you didn't romance them ), or will most likely be helping you find new Gray Wardens in foreign lands to help rebuild your order, since they are now heroes in those parts and would be able to do this better then you.

Alistar is king, or probably your second in command at the Gray Warden base

Morrigan is hiding and raising your kid.

Dog probably died due to the MASSIVE AMOUNT OF KILLING HE DID, but if he's still around, he'll probably just be a NPC that wanders around your new base guarding it for you, as a lot of people said, he's a nifty addition to the story, but he doesn't need to be in your party to pull that off at all, he can be just as cute/funny/whatever he was in DA:O as a camp NPC.

DA:A is supposed to be about a massive threat, and you are severely undermanned with at best maybe three to four Wardens at the start of the game, expected to hold back an enemy that can appear anywhere, and is now starting to become just as intelligent if not more then the average Ferelden human, this is very very bad stuff, and I expect you'll be running around Ferelden trying not only to save it, but also to rebuild at the same time, which doesn't leave alot of room for hankypanky in the backseat of your castle.

They've already said your romance will be acknowledged, its just near impossible to talk to people long distance in Ferelden, which makes me think we will see Zevran/Leliana/Alistar/Morrigan again in DA:A, but it will be either a cameo, or we will just hear of their efforts doing whatever they are doing.

As for sacrifice ending, its an option, options are a good thing remember? If you don't want to bring your sacrificed character back to life, I guess don't do it? Not exactly rocket science here. Just go with the new Orlesian Gray Warden. You could say WELL MY CHOICES WON'T SAVE OVER, but we don't know how true that is for one, and also, who cares? 99.9% of people chose the exact same thing, and as long as Bioware chooses those options, everything is good.

Modifié par Default137, 19 février 2010 - 07:52 .

[bzombo]

bluewolv1970 wrote...

Hammer6767 wrote...

bluewolv1970 wrote...

andcus wrote...

its an expansion... not a continuation....it expands on the world and the scenario where your character survives.

excpet that bioware already has stated that decsions you make were going to carry over in future games and regardless of that if you DO carry over a character it should feel as though are acutally still playing that character particularly given that only a half  year at best has past - unless we are lead to believe that in six months all friends moved on (including the ones traveling with us), our romantic partner dumped us, anora/alistair divorced us (human noble), our dog died, and nothing we did or people we helped along the way acknowledges us - if they wanted to make an expansion that had nothing to do with the first game then simply make it a new character like the firist neverwinter nights expansion

I

The romance dissention is just unfounded, in my opinion.  I stated elseware that you are at war in this game...if you think about crusader knights in the middle ages, they left their lives and familes behind to go to the Middle East, sometimes for years....essentially putting their lives on hold to fight.  Awakenings comes across like that for me.  You are "crusading" against the blight.  And it isn't like you can Skype with Leliana...

I do not necessarily disagree with that, but  again why would you NOT have your mabari with you under those circumstances given  that they are bred specifically for war - and in the case of the human noble origin is also your family dog.  My overall point is that a thing like that just makes it feel like you are playing the same character in name only - which if that is the case then simply make the expansion a new character only

who says that maybe they didn't kill off a few of the companions from origins.bioware killed some off from bg1 to bg2, so who says they don't do the same with origins to awakening? let's just wait to see what bioware actually did before we get upset.

[bluewolv1970]

that would be more believable if more than just a few months had past

[Fishy]

bluewolv1970 wrote...

Bioware took out all the character elements  such as romance (both old and new), the dog (without even an explanation), the sacrifice ending, most of the first games characters (with the exception of loghain, wynne, and oghren - arguably the three least favorite),eliminated the relevance of the dlc to awakenings, and yet we are supposed to believe that this is a continuation of our original character - when it feels more like a hack and slash dungeon crawl game. How will those carrying over a character from origins feel like they really are continuing on with the same character when virtually everything connected to the frst game is not acknowledged (particuallry the human noble origin where dog is ACTUALLY your family mabari)?

 The events of Awakening could happens 1 years after you defeated the Archdemon for all we know?The Main DA quest take several years to accomplish .MY guess the events of Awakening happens  maybe a years after you defeated the Archdemon . You might have traveled with Leliana or rebuilt the order .. or searched for Morrigan.Until some King called for your help .. Than your *love* interest have other thing to take care.

It's not a HARLEQUIN BOOK. Get over it.

Plus you're a frigging hero.Not a homeboy.

Modifié par Suprez30, 19 février 2010 - 10:20 .

[Spitz6860]

after so many good games i'm willing to give Bioware the benefit of the doubt. but on the other hand, it's within a month of the release date, complaining now won't change anything in the game, so might as well wait for the release for things to be sure.

[ladydesire]

Sten returned to his people, Morrigan left and asked not to be followed, Shale went to Orzammar to help the dwarves battle the darkspawn in the Deep Roads, at least in my playthrough. I may have left Shelis (Dog) in my castle in Gwaren with a trusted friend, or I may have taken him to Highever and left him with Fergus. Lelanna went back to the Chantry to prepare an expedition to the resting place of Andraste's Ashes. What's his name (the assassin) double-crossed me and is pushing up Andraste's Grace in some forgotten cemetery near Denerim. Wynne is most likely back at the Circle Tower helping First Enchanter Irving with the process of selecting an new First Enchanter.

[PSUHammer]

WilliamShatner wrote...

Hammer6767 wrote...

bluewolv1970 wrote...

andcus wrote...

its an expansion... not a continuation....it expands on the world and the scenario where your character survives.

excpet that bioware already has stated that decsions you make were going to carry over in future games and regardless of that if you DO carry over a character it should feel as though are acutally still playing that character particularly given that only a half  year at best has past - unless we are lead to believe that in six months all friends moved on (including the ones traveling with us), our romantic partner dumped us, anora/alistair divorced us (human noble), our dog died, and nothing we did or people we helped along the way acknowledges us - if they wanted to make an expansion that had nothing to do with the first game then simply make it a new character like the firist neverwinter nights expansion

The romance dissention is just unfounded, in my opinion.  I stated elseware that you are at war in this game...if you think about crusader knights in the middle ages, they left their lives and familes behind to go to the Middle East, sometimes for years....essentially putting their lives on hold to fight.  Awakenings comes across like that for me.  You are "crusading" against the blight.  And it isn't like you can Skype with Leliana...

And Leliana doesn't strike me as a housewife who would just sit at home while the Warden goes off to fight.  Oh that's right! In the DA:O she was a terrific warrior who was able to fight on the front lines along side the Warden!  Did she suddenly lose her ability to fight in between games? 

The problem is that you are making the mistake that many are on here and ASSUMING things.  I am sure they will explain what has happened and how you got where you are.  Worrying about it now is pointless, is all I am saying.  If it comes out and they don't have any segway, then don't buy it....or, get it and take it for what it is, a different, related story.

This isn't DAO2...just an expansion.  I liked the game, and believe I will like the new one, even if I create a new character.  Getting all upset about things you don't know is pointless.  I stand by my statements.

[bluewolv1970]

Suprez30 wrote...

bluewolv1970 wrote...

Bioware took out all the character elements  such as romance (both old and new), the dog (without even an explanation), the sacrifice ending, most of the first games characters (with the exception of loghain, wynne, and oghren - arguably the three least favorite),eliminated the relevance of the dlc to awakenings, and yet we are supposed to believe that this is a continuation of our original character - when it feels more like a hack and slash dungeon crawl game. How will those carrying over a character from origins feel like they really are continuing on with the same character when virtually everything connected to the frst game is not acknowledged (particuallry the human noble origin where dog is ACTUALLY your family mabari)?

 The events of Awakening could happens 1 years after you defeated the Archdemon for all we know?The Main DA quest take several years to accomplish .MY guess the events of Awakening happens  maybe a years after you defeated the Archdemon . You might have traveled with Leliana or rebuilt the order .. or searched for Morrigan.Until some King called for your help .. Than your *love* interest have other thing to take care.

It's not a HARLEQUIN BOOK. Get over it.

Plus you're a frigging hero.Not a homeboy.

they could except for th pesky fact that they don't - it has already been confirmed that the events in awakenings take place months after origins - months not years

[Bratt1204]

_LordKain_ wrote...

All this complaining about romances.....who friggin' cares!

It's a game......a....GAME!

I bet some of these people spend more time working on their DA romances then they do with their RL romances.....if they can squeeze out of their doorway to have one that is.

Of course it's just a game and you certainly are allowed your opinion. However, the vast majority do care that they have removed the romance/relationship elements from Awakening as you can well see from the multitude of complaints about this on the forums. And BTW, I assure you, I have no problem what so-ever 'squeezing out of my doorway', thank you. And if anything, my RL romance is better because of DAO  my husband certainly never complains.

Modifié par Bratt1204, 20 février 2010 - 03:08 .

[Bratt1204]

Suprez30 wrote...

bluewolv1970 wrote...

Bioware took out all the character elements  such as romance (both old and new), the dog (without even an explanation), the sacrifice ending, most of the first games characters (with the exception of loghain, wynne, and oghren - arguably the three least favorite),eliminated the relevance of the dlc to awakenings, and yet we are supposed to believe that this is a continuation of our original character - when it feels more like a hack and slash dungeon crawl game. How will those carrying over a character from origins feel like they really are continuing on with the same character when virtually everything connected to the frst game is not acknowledged (particuallry the human noble origin where dog is ACTUALLY your family mabari)?

 The events of Awakening could happens 1 years after you defeated the Archdemon for all we know?The Main DA quest take several years to accomplish .MY guess the events of Awakening happens  maybe a years after you defeated the Archdemon . You might have traveled with Leliana or rebuilt the order .. or searched for Morrigan.Until some King called for your help .. Than your *love* interest have other thing to take care.

It's not a HARLEQUIN BOOK. Get over it.

Plus you're a frigging hero.Not a homeboy.

It is only set a few months after the events of DAO. My PC married Alistair, became Queen and rules Ferelden jointly with him. How can that not be present in Awakening? It makes no sense.

[PSUHammer]

Bratt1204 wrote...
It is only set a few months after the events of DAO. My PC married Alistair, became Queen and rules Ferelden jointly with him. How can that not be present in Awakening? It makes no sense.

You have the option of starting a new character for this story.  I get the feeling that this is what they want anyway...almost an aside to the original, whereas the sequal DAO2 will continue said romances.

[Default137]

Bratt1204 wrote...

Suprez30 wrote...

bluewolv1970 wrote...

Bioware took out all the character elements  such as romance (both old and new), the dog (without even an explanation), the sacrifice ending, most of the first games characters (with the exception of loghain, wynne, and oghren - arguably the three least favorite),eliminated the relevance of the dlc to awakenings, and yet we are supposed to believe that this is a continuation of our original character - when it feels more like a hack and slash dungeon crawl game. How will those carrying over a character from origins feel like they really are continuing on with the same character when virtually everything connected to the frst game is not acknowledged (particuallry the human noble origin where dog is ACTUALLY your family mabari)?

 The events of Awakening could happens 1 years after you defeated the Archdemon for all we know?The Main DA quest take several years to accomplish .MY guess the events of Awakening happens  maybe a years after you defeated the Archdemon . You might have traveled with Leliana or rebuilt the order .. or searched for Morrigan.Until some King called for your help .. Than your *love* interest have other thing to take care.

It's not a HARLEQUIN BOOK. Get over it.

Plus you're a frigging hero.Not a homeboy.

It is only set a few months after the events of DAO. My PC married Alistair, became Queen and rules Ferelden jointly with him. How can that not be present in Awakening? It makes no sense.

They never said it won't be present.

They said you can't continue on it, but that it is an important part of your characters life, and will most likely be mentioned by them, you just can't make the romance ADVANCE because of the long distance between you and your partner.

The thing is, for most of the romances in Awakening, how are they supposed to go forward? Alistar is the King, and is needed in Denerim, he can't go on mad adventures with you anymore, and due to how long it takes to travel around Ferelden, you can't really go back to the palace very often for bootycalls because it takes about two months to get from Denerim to the frigging Wizards Tower.

Its the same with Morrigan, she's either raising a child, about to have a kid, or is seriously pissed at you for not going along with her plans right now, she can't go running around the countryside with you anymore, even if she wanted to, it just won't work out, and as before, you can't just go visit her every month for some sex, because you have to save innocent people, and it would take you a month to go get to her.

Zevran and Leliana are the only two without a good reason to stick with you, however I'm sure the plot has given them a reason to be traveling as well, most likely they are scouring either their homelands or Ferelden for more Gray Warden recruits, or are helping Ferelden out by being an ambassador of sorts to their homelands during these trying times, so while you may see them again, or they may contact you with information, they probably won't be sitting around Amarinthene waiting for you to come home so they can bake you cookies and have a nice sexytime.

Honestly, would you prefer Alistar just going "HURR I SHOULD BE KING, BUT I'LL RUN AROUND WITH YOU" or Morrigan "I'M PREGNANT/HAVE A KID, BUT THAT DOESN'T STOP MEEEEE" just so you can have Alistar in your party again? More likely then not, you'll be able to act romantically torwards him when you go visit the Palace to talk about the threat that is facing the nation, he just won't be able to come with you for a fairly obvious reason.

[bluewolv1970]

I guess my point is that this seems to hell bent alienating a large percentage of its core audience, which in an expansion (with its smaller core audience) makes no sense. What I mean is that with regards to returning characters and cameos they choose three of the least desirable and even if you LOVE oghren surely we can agree that loghain and wynne aren't topping many (any?) peoples favorite characters chart. In regards to loghain he is probably a corpse in 90% of games anyway. how can adding those three be a good business decision over ANY of the other characters. How can not letting DLC carry over be a smart business decision - it certainly won't help sales of wardens keep or RTO and the excuse that the dlc won't carry over because we will be getting better loot in awakenings makes NO sense when we can carry over a crappy iron dagger than we found in the kocari wilds. lastly half assing the choices carry over rather than doing them justic is not a smart business decision. For example in one of my play throughs, my ending had le and zev traveling with me - le my li - oghren had retired from adventuring to hook up with the girl from the bar, loghain was dead, wynne was no where to be found, and my dog was presumably alive. Now only a few months later - zev and li have left, oghren is unretired, wynne is mysteriously back, loghain is a walking corpse and my dog died. How can that make me feel like I am playing the same character (and I was kididng about loghain being a walking corpse - I hope)

[Daurf815]

bluewolv1970 wrote...

I guess my point is that this seems to hell bent alienating a large percentage of its core audience, which in an expansion (with its smaller core audience) makes no sense. What I mean is that with regards to returning characters and cameos they choose three of the least desirable and even if you LOVE oghren surely we can agree that loghain and wynne aren't topping many (any?) peoples favorite characters chart. In regards to loghain he is probably a corpse in 90% of games anyway. how can adding those three be a good business decision over ANY of the other characters. How can not letting DLC carry over be a smart business decision - it certainly won't help sales of wardens keep or RTO and the excuse that the dlc won't carry over because we will be getting better loot in awakenings makes NO sense when we can carry over a crappy iron dagger than we found in the kocari wilds. lastly half assing the choices carry over rather than doing them justic is not a smart business decision. For example in one of my play throughs, my ending had le and zev traveling with me - le my li - oghren had retired from adventuring to hook up with the girl from the bar, loghain was dead, wynne was no where to be found, and my dog was presumably alive. Now only a few months later - zev and li have left, oghren is unretired, wynne is mysteriously back, loghain is a walking corpse and my dog died. How can that make me feel like I am playing the same character (and I was kididng about loghain being a walking corpse - I hope)

Dude, Loghain is a badass, up there with Wrex and Garrus in being badass, how DARE you say he isn't popular. Every character I play through the game with takes him over Allistar (not because Allistar is bad, it's just that I like Loghain more). And how DARE you make the notion that Oghren is not loved, he's got a fanbase and I find him the best character in the game, besides Allistar perhaps, at sharing the good ol bromance with.

Though I agree with Wynne, didn't like her at all

[Ceridraen]

Patriciachr34 wrote...



I usually don't respond to these types of rants, but frankly I'm tired of being pigeon holed.  As an older woman who has been married more than a decade, I like the romance.  Once a person is as "settled in" to a long standing relationship, often romance gets set aside for expedience sake.  (A roll in the hay becomes simply a roll in the hay and then we're off to our busy lives.) So this game gives me a chance to enjoy romance and inspires me to pursue this type of encounter with my beloved. Oh, and just to so you know that my husband isn't a gaming widower, he often works late hours and weekends.  So, I have plenty of time on my hands.

Second, as for being fat, I've lost an entire size since I started playing this game.  My husband is also enjoying the new, fit me; and is looking forward to the new fitter me in that will appear in the months to come.

So, Lord Kain and any other broad spectrum persona out there,  please stop making these axxenine statements that all gamers are fat, non-social losers with nothing better to do than drool over pixelated love interests.  We are a extremely diverse demographic who share a common enjoyment of well rounded, well told, interactive stories.

OOOH! Good point!  I've actually thought gaming should be used for dieting. I forget to eat, if a game is good enough.  And really, interest in romance carries over to interest in romance in life, too.  Not only that, but it's shared - especially in a game like this, where you make your character, & choose what you say & how you develop the relationships. It's incredibly interesting to see how friends/family/lovers play this game - who they pick, what they make, what choices they make.  I have yet to see anyone I know who didn't make a character that looked like them, who behaved like them, even if it's a less than obvious facet.  EVEN if you do the 'bad me,' it's still revealing in what you find funny, in saying what you wish you could say. (when I long to tell that first chantry sister to 'pay up' in lothering, for instance.)  The roles you pick reflect you - they reflect people you know, too, and that's fascinating.  I tried & tried to make a human girl - couldn't get past Ostagar. She just felt wrong.  Every male I make has a sameness - it's safe to assume he's pretty close to a real life person.   Another in my family made an elf warrior & a human warrior - they looked exactly alike, and they looked like him. 

This game lets you put a lot of yourself into its progression - it's not that we're giant sausage-shaped, basement dwellers in real life - we were just imaginative to accept the premise & acknowledge what was happening.

It's 'just a game,' sure, but it's also a mirror.