The Dwarven Companion Recovery Front

[FlintlockJazz]

This is the Dwarven Companion Pick-Your-Favourite-Noun-and-or-Verb Front.

 

We interrupt this hiatus because Larian Studios posted on their facebook page a neat picture of a cool sailory/piratey dwarf companion. The fact that this character kinda fits the Deadfire setting is most saddening. Take a look how things will be looking in Original Sin 2:

 

https://www.facebook.com/LarianStudios/posts/1467514186642108:0

 

​EDIT: For those of you having FB issues: http://imgur.com/dqM7F1L

 

In other news, there are no news, because of the recent lack of thematic-ish updates.

Omigod it's like they reached inside my head and drew out my deepest darkest fantasies!!  Wait, they best not been looting my head for ideas... nah I'm being paranoid if they gone inside my head there would be police here now, all good!

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

This is the Dwarven Companion Pick-Your-Favourite-Noun-and-or-Verb Front.

 

We interrupt this hiatus because Larian Studios posted on their facebook page a neat picture of a cool sailory/piratey dwarf companion. The fact that this character kinda fits the Deadfire setting is most saddening. Take a look how things will be looking in Original Sin 2:

 

https://www.facebook.com/LarianStudios/posts/1467514186642108:0

 

​EDIT: For those of you having FB issues: http://imgur.com/dqM7F1L

 

In other news, there are no news, because of the recent lack of thematic-ish updates.

**** Ydwin, this is what I'm butthurt about.

[injurai]

Don't fall for it! They are trying to divide us amongst ourselves!

[Messier-31]

Make notes, Obsidian

 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/owlcatgames/pathfinder-kingmaker/posts/1954999

 

[rjshae]

^ Sounds like the dwarven equivalent of Marvin the Paranoid Android.

 

Trillian: Marvin... you saved our lives!
Marvin: I know. Wretched, isn't it?

Edited August 4, 2017 by rjshae

[Juodas Varnas]

To be honest, i've never been a huge fan of Dwarves in fantasy settings (and in Pillars, i found the Orlan to be a much more interesting race than the Dwarves), but i did like Sagani...

 

I'd rather see something weird and unique like an Ogre companion (tell me you wouldn't like a guy carrying around  ship's cannon for a weapon!) or maybe even a Vithrack companion!

It's just that Dwarves are so... Generic.

[injurai]

I find dwarves are typecast worse than even elves, despite what people would like you to believe. Really I want to see more dwarves in Pillars because I think they could do something cool with them yet still. But Orlan's and Aumaua are cool too. Orlan is a good replacement for the halfling.

[FlintlockJazz]

To be honest, i've never been a huge fan of Dwarves in fantasy settings (and in Pillars, i found the Orlan to be a much more interesting race than the Dwarves), but i did like Sagani...

 

I'd rather see something weird and unique like an Ogre companion (tell me you wouldn't like a guy carrying around  ship's cannon for a weapon!) or maybe even a Vithrack companion!

It's just that Dwarves are so... Generic.

I assume this guy was strung up and left hanging from the nearest tree?  Or nailed to a cross?  Guy needs to die.

 

Seriously though, dwarves are only perceived as being generic because games are reluctant to put them in, so we end up with just one Dwarf who has to be token dwarf guy who is so dwarf in every dwarf way.  Personally, I think they should just have more dwarves in the game in general just to force them to include a wide display of dwarves without resorting to the 'anti-dwarf' (a dwarf who is made to be the complete opposite of normal dwarves just to make them stand out).  For instance, Galvino the animancer in White March so should have been a dwarf instead of boring human, or had pirate ship captain dwarf as a companion.

[Juodas Varnas]

 

To be honest, i've never been a huge fan of Dwarves in fantasy settings (and in Pillars, i found the Orlan to be a much more interesting race than the Dwarves), but i did like Sagani...

 

I'd rather see something weird and unique like an Ogre companion (tell me you wouldn't like a guy carrying around  ship's cannon for a weapon!) or maybe even a Vithrack companion!

It's just that Dwarves are so... Generic.

I assume this guy was strung up and left hanging from the nearest tree?  Or nailed to a cross?  Guy needs to die.

 

That's a bit harsh, isn't it?

I mean, if they make a Dwarf companion that isn't the same as every other Dwarf companion in literally every other fantasy story, then go for it. But if it's like, the same ale-chugging, axe-wielding dorf that we've seen so many of already, i don't see a point in it.

[FlintlockJazz]

 

 

To be honest, i've never been a huge fan of Dwarves in fantasy settings (and in Pillars, i found the Orlan to be a much more interesting race than the Dwarves), but i did like Sagani...

 

I'd rather see something weird and unique like an Ogre companion (tell me you wouldn't like a guy carrying around  ship's cannon for a weapon!) or maybe even a Vithrack companion!

It's just that Dwarves are so... Generic.

I assume this guy was strung up and left hanging from the nearest tree?  Or nailed to a cross?  Guy needs to die.

 

That's a bit harsh, isn't it?

I mean, if they make a Dwarf companion that isn't the same as every other Dwarf companion in literally every other fantasy story, then go for it. But if it's like, the same ale-chugging, axe-wielding dorf that we've seen so many of already, i don't see a point in it.

 

My apologies, I should have been clearer that I wasn't being anywhere near serious, I was just playing to the 'fanatical dwarf lover' motif of "He dares question the awesomeness of dwarves??!!!"   That last sentance probably made it seem serious re-reading it now.

Edited August 7, 2017 by FlintlockJazz

[rjshae]

I find dwarves are typecast worse than even elves, despite what people would like you to believe. Really I want to see more dwarves in Pillars because I think they could do something cool with them yet still. But Orlan's and Aumaua are cool too. Orlan is a good replacement for the halfling.

 

I thought the dwarven companion Varric in DA2 was well done. They just need to toss out some of the Tolkien-ian stereotypes, and give them different cultures and dwelling places. RIver barge-dwelling gypsy smugglers with a knack for mechanics, for example.

[daven]

Varric was awesome.

[Varana]

Even if you go the traditional way, there's options. DA:Origins had very cliché dwarves but gave them an interesting twist (a society suffocated by a rigid caste system) and went to great lengths highlighting that specific feature.

But generally, yes - dwarves are incredibly type-cast. Dwarf pirates like above are a step in the right direction. :D

Edited August 7, 2017 by Varana

[injurai]

Make teetotaling dwarf, now that's progressive!

[Messier-31]

 

 

Bonteru Konstanten, we welcometh Thou to Eora

 

Let Thine vengeance fall upon Tekehu

 

Be it by poison or some dwarfy weapon

 

And may Your quest be cool and fancy

Edited September 29, 2017 by Messier-31

[Doppelschwert]

Sawyer just tweeted that Bonteru was cancelled; that's a new character called 'Konstanten' (which, btw, is also the german translation of 'constants' and therefore sounds very odd to me ).

Edited September 30, 2017 by Doppelschwert

[morhilane]

I though it was just a weird spelling of Konstantin. :/

[Messier-31]

Sawyer just tweeted that Bonteru was cancelled; that's a new character called 'Konstanten', which is the german translation of 'constants' and sounds very odd to me

 

Fixed it.

[Vasculio]

I would be up for another dwarf character like Thorin Oakenshield. 

[Messier-31]

https://forums.obsidian.net/topic/94142-update-41-from-the-feed-of-the-director-part-iv/?p=1944893

 

Konstanten is a chanter. Names may still be subjected to change.

[Lord_Mord]

 

I would be up for another dwarf character like Thorin Oakenshield

 

I agree. But who's the elf on the picture?

[Messier-31]

This is the Dwarven Discrimination F-off Front.

 

So that has already been that way since Pillars I, but we still find that the majority of players make white, human, I think typically men, which is fine, but it's also interesting to see what they don't make. Almost no one makes dwarves.

 

We hear people say that they like dwarves, they like the dwarves in the world, everyone seems to be like, "Yeah, fantasy dwarves." But they don't make them. They want a companion who's a dwarf, but they don't want to make a dwarf. So it's an interesting sort of dichotomy where you see like, well they like priests, but they don't necessarily like making priests. They want to have a healer, they want to have a support character – but they want to make the two-handed sword-swinging psychotic.

 

http://www.kotaku.co.uk/2018/02/15/obsidians-josh-sawyer-on-pillars-of-eternity-ii-publishers-and-dwarven-discrimination

 

There are many reasons that people don't play as dwarves:

1. tendency to create characters similar to their own persona
2. they want to have a crude dwarven COMPANION (Obsidian, I'm looking at you)
3. they want the dwarves to be more dwarfy (again Obsidian, the looking thing)

No 1

Most of people want the perfect fantasy hero, that means an idealized versions of themselves. It is easy to become such as a human or an elf. Aumaua are these big towering characters, so tall and strong is probably your next pick. Orlans are small and fluffy wuffy, but most of all they are new and interesting feature, so I wager they have also quite a following. Dwarves on the other hand, they be tough, but they lack that one spark, you know. Some say that elves are boring, but look how many main characters are elves (pretty and agile killers). Guess the dwarves win on the boredometer.

 

No 2

It would be a blast to have such a companion in your party. Many people want to have a crude dwarfy friend at their side, Korgan Bloodaxe is a great example. And because of this maybe having more dwarves in a party would be too much: "I want my bro, don't have to be a dwarf myself". Dwarven companion is mandatory to me, and from messages of other forum members in this very thread I think I'm not alone. It's like your typical fighter friend (Eder), you want a character like that to join you and be friends in adventurin' and battle.

 

No 3

Dwarves in Pillars look kinda bad. I mean they are just shorter humans, not distinguished enough. It may be stereotypical, but this is what people are expecting to see. Dwarves should be more stumpy and have these crazy beards (males). Beards are what make a dwarf guy proud. Warhammer Fantasy is my first choice when it comes to dwarves, picture attached below. I repeat myself, but surely he has "mean mo-fo" written on his wallet. Other great looking dwarves are in Age of Wonders III.

 

 

Clockwise from the upper left:

• Warhammer Fantasy 
• Pillars of Eternity 
• Pillars of Eternity 
• Age of Wonders 3 

 

 

 

[FlintlockJazz]

Agree especially with point 2!  The whole reason we are in an uproar (yes, an uproar, this is a travesty!!!!) about the lack of dwarven COMPANION is that we want a dwarven COMPANION!  This isn't called the Dwarven MC Recovery Front but the Dwarven COMPANION Recovery Front!  Dwarves are bros!

 

On this note, though, I am going to start up a game soon now with the dwarven playthrough I always intended.  Which brings us to point 3, there is no really decent dwarf portrait for what I want, where's the Pirate Dwarf pictures??!  They are supposedly the second major population after Ocean Humans in Vailia of course there needs to be Pirate Dwarves! 

 

When they started collecting data from our games I had lost most of my playthroughs due to being on an older computer I don't currently have access to or having made the mistake of copying them off to save room only to discover later that they were now no longer compatible due to version changes (thing I know how to get around that but involves reinstalling the game in stages).  So my Wizard, Nature Paladin, or Orlan playthroughs probably not been counted.  So obviously all their data is wrong and I am going to have to single-handedly fix it by creating and playing through a slew of characters of various types, Dwarf Rogue Cooks and Nature Paladin Wayfarers and Orlan Rangers included.  This may take a while.

Edited February 22, 2018 by FlintlockJazz

[injurai]

I thought the portrait variety was lacking last game, and I still feel that way in this game. I think backer portraits ate into their ability to provide lore-concurrent personas for the player to choose from. I feel we should be getting double the amount of new portraits in Deadfire than what has currently been planned for. I know this may be expecting a lot, but that is how I feel from the end user perspective. It just doesn't feel fleshed out enough. Especially now that we have entire crews that are to be getting their own personas.

[Wormerine]

I will be really surprised if they will keep using "high quality" portraits for ship crew. As we will be finding them via quest using waterpainted ones seems to make more sense.

While I always enjoyed those hand painted portraits I rarely felt like there were enough of them. Luckily it is fairly easy to import your own. At least with dwarf you can easily remedy lack of portraits. Tis more difficult with orlans or Aumaua as they are unique to Eora.