Dragon Age Forum News (Aug. 30, 05)

Remove all ads!

Here are today's Dragon Age forum highlights, taken from the Dragon Age Official Forum. Please take into account that these are only single parts of various threads and should not be taken out of context. Bear in mind also that the posts presented here are copied as-is, and that any bad spelling and grammar does not get corrected on our end.

David Gaider, Designer

Similar to A Song of Ice and Fire?
Hmm. Odd, but I don't remember there being very much in the way of overly-graphic violence and rape in the series. There's a few instances that I can remember off the top of my head, but in the space of three very long books it seems to be relatively rare and not altogether-unexpected when it happens, considering the circumstances.

The so-called obsession with the male member is also undeserved and, I'll assume, simply facetious. I've read fantasy that was far more violent, far more sexual and far grimmer than this series (the "Dragonbone Chair" series by Tad Williams, for instance, or anything by Stephen R. Donaldson) ...and even those books had merits that I could appreciate even if, overall, I found them too dark for my personal taste.

From my own perspective, the two "biggest" fantasy series I read in recent memory prior to Martin's series were the "Belgariad" by David Eddings and "Wheel of Time" by Robert Jordan... which were so cliche-ridden I just couldn't finish either of them. Which is why I found the "Song of Ice and Fire" books so refreshing. Certainly there are graphic elements to the tales, but I don't think Martin dwells on them. He simply doesn't shy away from them when the issue arises, which is what I prefer.
As for his penchant for killing off major characters, I rather like that too. He doesn't do it gratuitously, in my opinion, but to establish that these people are all mortal. To be fair, the characters that die whom you wouldn't expect to should be contrasted to those who die whom you think should as well as those who keep on living despite all the odds against them.

And in-between all of this the "morally grey" subject matter, as it's been called, isn't some murky and depressing goth-like world where there's no heroes and no villains. There are examples of both in the series, but neither are cartoonish... the heroes aren't paladins without flaw just as the villains aren't irredeemable moustache-twirling fools. I don't see what's so terrible about their depictions, and I think one would have to be pretty jaded as a whole to have one's overly-refined palette offended by the series. Certainly if one's desires lean towards simpler good-is-good and evil-is-evil heroic fantasy there are many, many examples of such in literature out there, both terrible and enjoyable.

-------

Regardless, what this has to do with Dragon Age is pretty limited. We're not using the "Song of Ice and Fire" as a road map for Dragon Age in any way, and all I said was that if, after all is said and done, people were to draw favorable comparisons between Dragon Age and those novels that I would personally consider that a compliment. To me, that would (I hope) be the result of them considering both stories to be mature overall and not full of typical fantasy cliches, even if there were few plot points which could be drawn between the works.

Obviously there are those who didn't enjoy the novels... in which case I sure hope that they aren't the ones drawing comparisons between them and Dragon Age, right? Though I'm certain that they'll find plenty to bellyache about in Dragon Age, regardless, because it seems that some people can find something to moan about almost anywhere. Not that this is anything new.

And that's my two cents on the subject.

More:

---

I don't remember Tad Williams as being particularly gory - maybe it was just too long ago that I read that series.

---

That particular series wasn't very gory, no, but it was incredibly dark and depressing in tone. Probably one of the worst in memory, at least in the first book.

---

I wonder about the "cliche-ridden" comment, though. Particularly in the fantasy genre, cliche can be used as a tool rather than simply avoided. In fact, trying to evade cliche altogether might well get you an unsatisfying, contrarian story lacking real resonance.

---

I would agree with that. I'm not saying that cliches should be avoided altogether (or that they even can be, to a degree), I'm just saying that when your story is chock full of them it's going to be a challenge to make it good enough to avoid seeming a bit tired. I mean, if I described a story with a couple of people coming to a remote village to find the Chosen One, a young man innocent of the real world and yet destined by prophecy to save it, and spirit him away because danger was quickly on his heels... could you actually tell whether I was talking about the Wheel of Time or the Belgariad?

The difference between a useful archetype and a tired cliche is a thin line, I know. I've said myself that we're not trying to be different solely for the sake of being different and I have no doubt that we'll hit on a few cliches in DA no matter what (some people might say we already have, just by including elves and dwarves) but I'd like to think we've avoided at least some well-trodden ground for once, and certainly aren't going to the same well we've gone to in our recent outings.

More:

---

A Song of Ice and Fire has yet to cross any lines in my book and I see no reasons to avoid similar content in DA. If you want Hasbro approved gaming, perhaps you'll be better served by NWN2.

---

In Shayna's defense, there is a LOT of room between Hasbro-approved gaming and somewhere that might be considered 'crossing the line'. You could fit a whole mountain in there, in fact.

As far as where that line exists, I think common sense should rule there. We're no more going to bow to puritan political correctness than we would even consider things like graphic rape scenes, children being slaughtered or gratuitous diddies being flung about. I think what's being urged, and I accept the idea fully, is that a desire to step away from overly-simplistic child-safe material should not automatically equate to pandering and titillating with wild abandon.

And I hope that this, at least, we could all agree on as sensible adults.

Jot Down Your Minor Ideas Here.

---

I know that the protagonist may become dissapointed when he realises his fighter can only bop people on the head, and that his lack of skill restricts him from certain quests - but surely it dilutes the game if the majority of quests are within the ability of every class?.

---

Keep in mind that DA is a party-based game and that the assumption will always be that your party has access to a variety of abilities.

---

If a character performs a maneuver in combat e.g feint, trip, disarm etc, it should have an animation.

---

So what you're saying is that you're in favor of limiting the number of maneuvers?

[ September 01, 2005, 11:01: Message edited by: Eldular ]