Dragon Age: Inquisition

[Monte Carlo]

He's taking himself too seriously, is our Dave.

[Tick]

The Devil's Dictionary is cool, sarcasm's fine, what made it seem petty and overly defensive is that it's related to criticisms of Bioware's most recent games - any of the common ones - and acting as if all are invalid and unfair.  E.g. "Yeah, I was thinking we'd write some new characters, but evidently we only write old ones. Good to know!"  or "I have no problem with criticism, so long as people don't try to justify it by using words they clearly don't understand." The reference to things I've seen disgruntled Bioware fans complain about most, such as retcons, cliches, plot holes, lack of resolution, deus ex machinas.  

What actually bugs me is the superior, passive-aggressive vibe I get from it, because it reminds me too much of bad fanfiction writers who get offended by reviews that don't gush over their work.  I don't know Gaider, and I get why someone would get frustrated by BSN (even not as an employee of Bioware), but if I'm reading it right, that's a bad attitude to have.

Edited August 27, 2013 by Tick

[exodiark]

The Chantry doesn't have the Problem of Evil because while the Maker is good, he doesn't have perfect knowledge. He created his first children - spirits - and expected them to be creative. When they just copied what he'd done, he was surprised and upset. He created his second children - mortals - and imbued them with a creative spark. When they created pride, desire, greed, rage, etc, he was surprised and upset.

 

As time goes by, his children continue to piss him off. Then they kill Andreste and he leaves for good.

 

The whole point of the Chantry is that if they can convert the entire world and sing to the Maker, he'll return.

Thing is, the lore also said that the Maker resides in Golden city, which was desecrated by the Tevinter mages, turned into Black City.

But that Tevinter Mage you met in Awakening said that the city wasn't golden when they entered it, meaning it was always black.

 

By the time he said that, I rolled my eyes and thought, "here we go again, either the maker is a lie cliche, or the maker is evil cliche." Anyway, I hope that Bioware don't use cheap cliches to handle this maker, because I like the Fade and the religion in DA, among other things.

[entrerix]

this thread is weird

 

that horse is the final boss or something?  things as big as a dragon...

[Guest Slinky]

Nah, it just has the Horse Armor DLC on.

[decado]

I get irritated with Gaider calling himself a "writer."  He's written a few tie-in books that were simply horrific.  Just terrible.

Edited August 27, 2013 by decado

[HoonDing]

At any rate, Gaider's humour was clearly over the head of the 4chan hordes.

[Amentep]

"What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class from medical school?"

 

"Doctor"

 

(ie, whether you're a writer or not doesn't hinge on being good or bad at it).

[decado]

"What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class from medical school?"

 

"Doctor"

 

(ie, whether you're a writer or not doesn't hinge on being good or bad at it).

Yeah, I know.  It's just his self-congratulatory "I thrive on anguish, I'm a serious writer!!" pabulum that is irritating.  Dude, you wrote video game tie-ins with the skill of a 12th grader.  Get over yourself.

[Sannom]

By the time he said that, I rolled my eyes and thought, "here we go again, either the maker is a lie cliche, or the maker is evil cliche." Anyway, I hope that Bioware don't use cheap cliches to handle this maker, because I like the Fade and the religion in DA, among other things.

Isn't Bioware's stance that the Maker could not exist at all, a direct parallel to all religions in the real world?

[Hurlshort]

I get irritated with Gaider calling himself a "writer."  He's written a few tie-in books that were simply horrific.  Just terrible.

 

 

 

"What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class from medical school?"

 

"Doctor"

 

(ie, whether you're a writer or not doesn't hinge on being good or bad at it).

Yeah, I know.  It's just his self-congratulatory "I thrive on anguish, I'm a serious writer!!" pabulum that is irritating.  Dude, you wrote video game tie-ins with the skill of a 12th grader.  Get over yourself.

 

 

As someone who grades a lot of writing, I'd say you are exaggerating greatly.  Gaider's work is pretty average for the genre.

[Orogun01]

 

I get irritated with Gaider calling himself a "writer."  He's written a few tie-in books that were simply horrific.  Just terrible.

 

 

 

"What do you call the guy who graduated last in his class from medical school?"

 

"Doctor"

 

(ie, whether you're a writer or not doesn't hinge on being good or bad at it).

Yeah, I know.  It's just his self-congratulatory "I thrive on anguish, I'm a serious writer!!" pabulum that is irritating.  Dude, you wrote video game tie-ins with the skill of a 12th grader.  Get over yourself.

 

 

As someone who grades a lot of writing, I'd say you are exaggerating greatly.  Gaider's work is pretty average for the genre.

 

The genre sucks

[Hurlshort]

I'd have to agree, there is a tremendous amount of garbage in the fantasy genre

 

Gaider isn't just a writer though, he's a successful one.  He's had three books published, and I'm guessing his numbers sold is pretty good.  Now it helps that he has Bioware backing him up, but a huge amount of writers would love to have his portfolio.

[Amentep]

There's a tremendous amount of "garbage" in all of the entertainment fields; it comes part and parcel to the concept of the arts as well.

 

That doesn't mean it can't be fun or what not. I think that often what appeals to people reading Lord Foul's Bane is probably not the same thing that people read Ethan Frome for.

[Tale]

The genre sucks

Are you familiar with Sturgeon's response to that same claim about science fiction?

[aries101]

I remember back in the day when Oblivion was developed, and maybe also the first Mass Effect? way back in 2005-2006; buzz words then were 'sucked into', immersed, and may favorite 'innovative'. They were used so often and so frequently that they quickly became clichées (is this an english word?) or stereotypes, thus losing their original meaning.

 

Anyway, the BSN is used to Gaider's talking points (hey, we've dealt with Chris Priestly for nearly 10 or 12 years, 5 or 6 of those as Evil Chris, we can take a bit of venting from Gaider, David). Gaider is the one person who outright tell people; "hey if you don't like the game for x,y or z reasons, don't buy it." And from being part of Bioware's community for nearly 12 or 14 years now, I find that most people on the BSN respect David Gaider for saying this. Why?

 

I think it is because it isn't marketing speech, and people at the BSN can feel that there actually is a person behind these statements, not some company drone or robot delivering prerecoded marketing messages. To me, Ray and Greg, the founder of Bioware, became just this, even if it (technically) still was their company. I mean, statements surprise and delight? etc. etc. didn't make sense at all - at least from my, and probably other's, perspective as well.

[Gromnir]

 

 

Sure, that's David's twitter. I have no problem with David criticizing the use of words. I have done the same at times.

Why am I the only one that makes fun of the popular usage of "lore?" I went through that list just hoping it would be there.

 

So alone.

 

What's the popular usage of "lore"?

 

I like making fun of the word "immersion" myself.

 

am adding realism/realistic to our list.

 

List:

 

immersion

curling

canon (particularly fallout or star wars canon... "that isn't what a basilisk war droid looks like" becomes a multi-page thread? really?)

realism in reference to game development

romance threads... that invariably become gay romance threads

discussion of pets

dark (often used interchangeably with "real" when discussing theme)

twilight books/movies/fans

etc.

 

no doubt some folks is hopeful they makes our list

 

*squint menacingly at fellow posters*

 

go ahead, we dares you.

 

HA! Good Fun!

[Volourn]

"Integrity: (n.) Promising to do A, then failing to deliver A and making fun or denigrating those who remind you of your failure to provide A"

 

Butthurt much?

[decado]

I'd have to agree, there is a tremendous amount of garbage in the fantasy genre

 

Gaider isn't just a writer though, he's a successful one.  He's had three books published, and I'm guessing his numbers sold is pretty good.  Now it helps that he has Bioware backing him up, but a huge amount of writers would love to have his portfolio.

Gaider is "successful" because the publisher came to him and asked him to write the book, with a huge media presence already backing him up before he started.  99% of all genre fiction is written the other way around: a person writes the book, and then has to get the publisher interested, and then (if they are lucky!) they develop a media presence over years and years.   If he had been forced to compete in the open market with this Dragon Age books, they would have never seen the light of day.  They are completely average, and in many cases quite below average.  He is a terrible book writer. If it weren't for the fact that the "novels" were advertising fodder, they would have never been written.

[alanschu]

Hmmm, popcorn needs more salt!

 

(I was not at all expecting this thread to end up where it has)

Edited August 27, 2013 by alanschu

[Tale]

Hmmm, popcorn needs more salt!

 

(I was not at all expecting this thread to end up where it has)

It was either this or romances. Give us some yet unrevealed information and we can talk about that instead.

 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

You know, I have never read Gaider's books and likely never will. I don't see the point of spending my precious time and money on something I'm positive I won't enjoy. Then again, there does seem to be a common syndrome in gamers that compels them to spend time and money on things they hate.

 

Ontopic: Have they confirmed which specializations will be in the game? Will they be more fleshed out this time?

[Tale]

Nothing about specializations. I think there's talk about specializations finally having reactivity, but it's sometimes hard to distinguish information from speculation this early on.

[Hurlshort]

They are completely average, and in many cases quite below average.  He is a terrible book writer.

 

So is he average, quite below average, or terrible?  You are being unclear in your writing.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

Gaider gets worse at writing the more decado posts.