{Split the Veil-Ep.68} Companion Review! Dragon Age Series
Вставка
- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Hello and Welcome, Welcome to Split the Veil! Listen to Jordan of Exalted March, and Caitie of Ghildirthalen explore the world of podcasting and Bioware games. In this episode: Caitie and Jordan review the reviews for the Dragon Age series and reveal the listener scores. We share the compiled listener survey results, compare to our own scores, read listener comments, and make some adjustments to our previous scores. Also: we take some shots at millennials.
Link to data: docs.google.co...
----
All Episodes of this will contain story spoilers for Bioware games and other related media.
---
We are also are available on 11 different podcasting sites! Either search for us as 'Split the Veil', or Here is our Anchor site, where you can find links the other 10 podcast libraries!
( anchor.fm/spli... )
---
Talk to us!
{Jordan}
-UA-cam: Exalted March, Bioware discussions and lore
( / @exaltedmarch )
-Twitter: @TheExaltedMarch ( / theexaltedmarch )
{Caitie}
-UA-cam: Ghildirthalen, Dragon Age Lore and Theories ( / ghildirthalen )
Twitter: @GhilDirthalen ( / ghildirthalen )
-Reddit: /u/Ghilannain: ( / ghilannain )
---
The background image in this video is so satisfying
I don't hate Oghren. There are things you will not know about Oghren unless the Warden brings him into the fade. Oghren made a mistake and his entire community treated him to hate and derision. Instead of standing by Oghren, Branka ran off with a woman and took his family with her. Oghren's psyche has to be severely damaged from years of abuse, ridicule and isolation. I always took his off-color jokes as his way of playing the fool, because that is what people expect from him. I feel Oghren gave up on ever being anyone different. The dwarf will never cry on anyone's shoulder, and it was flaw is his personality that has come close to destroying him.
He has spent many years hated by everyone in Orzammar and yet instead of seeking vengeance he chooses to put himself between the Darkspawn hordes and the Arch Demon and all these people. Oghren is a hero, he is courageous and selfless, and he is one of the best of men. He does not get the respect he deserves.
Puss n boots is played by Antonio Banderas, a man born and raised in Andalusia, Spain, a part of the Spanish part of the Iberian Peninsula. So, if Zevran sounds like Puss n Boots, it follows that has an actual Iberian Spanish accent.
If we're opening up criticism of accent assignment given all that, I'd honestly have to say Oghren's American accent rubs me the wrong way, much worse than Zevran's spanish accent does. He has such a strong american accent that is so obvious to the ear, and played against his goofy character makes me think of tropes of drunk american sitcom dads.
And mind you, I'm from Canada, so it can't really be a thing the Canadian dev team completely missed.
Listening to you guys talk about mass effect and dragon age just makes me happy 🤭 keep it up
30:58 It's my comment! AAAAAAAA
Not only did I fangirl like a 14 year old when I heard it, but it also spiraled into a conversation which I never knew I needed in my life. It was wonderful.
That being said, Jordan senpai noticed me and I made Katie laugh, I can die happily now
It would be great if people actually considered Bull's BDSM in terms of his character and not just "lol of course the big horned mountain of man-meat likes to tie people up".
-> His sexual dynamic with the Inquisitor (and presumably Dorian) is 100% him trying to be a Tamassran for them. When Qunari go to the Tamassrans for sex, the Tamassrans decide the kind of sex they "need" and then do it. Bull doms the Inquistor (and presumably Dorian) because that's the kind of sex he associates with being *cared* for. Think about how much Bull reveres the Tamassrans, how much he trusts their judgement, the fact that if he goes Tal-Vashoth, Cole's way of comforting him is to tell him the Tamassran who raised him is happy he got away. Really, even the idea that ~feelings~ don't really turn up until the second half of his romance isn't true. If he didn't care for the Inquisitor, he would never have offered in the first place (if the Inquistor asks, he tells them that he doesn't dom the barmaids and Chantry sisters he has also slept with). He even says when he's explaining the separation between sex and friendship under the Qun, that "Qunari love their friends the same as anybody, but we don't have sex with them." By offering sex (and specifically Tamassran-level sex) to the Inquisitor at all, he's already pretty much breaking that rule.
-> Remember why Bull is afraid to go Tal-Vashoth. The #1 thing he returns to over and over: "I am afraid that without rules I will lose control and hurt innocent people/the people I love." This is *LITERALLY* his biggest fear as per his "tombstone" in the Fade. Think about how the fact that he has recreational sex at all, never *mind* sex with people he cares about, is already kind of breaking those rules he thinks he needs to keep from hurting people. OF COURSE he embraces the kind of sex that has a bunch of clearly articulated rules! Seriously, really consider this: A man whose greatest fear is hurting people if he doesn't have rules, gives the Inquistor rules *and* a word to say if he accidentally hurts them too much! That is frankly both precious and heartbreaking.
And Bull also just has so much so many great banters with other characters. The thing he fears most after his own "madness" is demons. But he and Cole have one of the cutest relationships. Even Cole doesn't understand why Bull likes him so much, but for Bull it's very simple: "You may be a weird squirrelly kid, but you're MY weird squirrelly kid." Which brings me to THAT FAMILY OF STRAY TEENAGERS HE RESCUED FROM BAD SITUATIONS THAT HE CALLS A MERCENARY COMPANY. Let's talk about the mental chess match he only *barely* lost against a literal god. He submitted himself for re-education after spending eight years on Seheron (when most people in his situation would have just gone Tal-Vashoth, but we've already talked about how that idea terrifies him), yet even after that, he sees a Tevinter soldier who needs help, loses an eye for him, and makes him his lieutenant. The fact that it's even possible for him to look at, not just a mage, but a *Tevinter* mage-who, for his part, does nothing but try to antagonize Bull at first-and think, "He's cute, I want to show him a good time," which becomes "I'm hoping we're good for each other" and then a full-on long-term relationship.
Also, Bull's build wouldn't be as bad if people actually paid attention to the attribute perks the passive abilities give. Of course Cassandra and Blackwall are unstoppable tanks, because people actually give them the abilities that add extra Constitution. They don't give those to Bull and then wonder what the hell's going on when he dies all the time! Give him the passive abilities from the sword and shield tree and he's just as much of a tank as the rest of them.
(Fuck, I didn't realize I had this many feelings about Iron Bull.) Really, the key to Bull's entire character is that he *should* have been a Tamassran. When you get right down to it, he is both a nurturer and he's good at sex. Hell, he's even good at giving people jobs/a purpose, as evidenced by how his mercenary company is like 90% people he rescued from bad situations. He cares about people, even people he "should" hate or fear. And it was Bull who wanted the Inquistor to have an "incognito" meeting with the common soldiers of the Inquisition, because he wanted them to care about those soldiers as much as he did. The "big beefy bro merc who likes killing" isn't just a role he played in his capacity as a spy, it is the role the Qun *forced* him to play his entire adult life. This is a guy who says the Qun is great at identifying the roles people are best suited for, but he *hates* being called "Hissrad"! There is nothing "naturally" dishonest about him, but it's what the Qun *told* him he is. His biggest fear is "going savage", but as Solas argues with him, any of the Tal-Vashoth that *did* "go savage" did so because the Qun taught them nothing *but* violence. And to some extent, Bull is no exception: the Qun is what made him a killer. But also something clearly didn't go as planned with his breeding and his role assignment.
The whole conversation about the aqun-athlok is not just there to "explain" Krem being trans, it's also there to show how Qunari gender roles, even when they're seemingly flexible, are extremely rigid: there are *no* women warriors under the Qun because the Qun does not allow for the idea that warriors are anything other than men. Now look at Bull as a physical specimen; he clearly wasn't bred to be a spy. There's absolutely no way he *wasn't* bred to be a warrior. He's large and intimidating even by Qunari standards. Why the fuck would they make him a spy or even an enforcer when he could be on the front lines terrifying the hell out of their enemies? Because he somehow also managed to be born with a brain. So here's this big guy who's too clever to just blindly follow orders, and the Qun lost the opportunity to have this pants-shittingly giant warrior intimidate their enemies on the front lines; there's still no way they would have given him any other job that would have kept him out of war in some capacity. They *definitely* wouldn't have given him a "woman's" job. It was enough of a waste of his breeding that he had a brain, there's no way the Qun was ever going to acknowledge that he had a big heart too. But it is *extremely* telling that the role they gave him is one of the (few?) roles that aren't inherently gendered; Ben-Hassrath can be men or women. And while it doesn't necessarily follow that everyone given an non-gendered role under the Qun has an "inconvenient" amount of traits the Qun associates with the "other" gender, in Bull's case it's absolutely worth considering. If you take the time to think about what "feminine" traits Bull has, you're going to find way more than you expected. FFS, his favorite color is pink and his pauldron has a sunflower on it, I don't know how they could have made it any clearer that Bull *literally* isn't "just a dudebro" and how much of his dudebro-ness is a front.
Cole the boy died at age 12-13, he was a kid, by the time of Asunder Cole the Spirit is 20 and by Inquisition Cole is 21
I feel personally called out with the comments about solas's sex life lol
I think we learned today that Solas is a master of leaving people wanting more. I, for example, want him to tell me all the stories. He always knows more than he tells and this gets really emphasized in his conversation in Trespasser but in the base game, he clearly knows a great deal about the Blight and it's heavily hinted that he knows exactly what will happen when all the archdemons are dead. It's so frustrating, especially when he expects the Inquisitor to act on his knowledge and quickly stop the Wardens at Adamant but won't say why exactly it's so urgent.
To each their own but honestly the lack of sexy stuff in Solas' romance is why I *like* it. I'm maybe like... gray ace, and I don't mind video game relationships having sex scenes or anything (although Origins' were all so cringey) but it's kinda like you said, the relationship with Solas is so... intellectual, conversational (whether you're romancing him or not). It felt appropriate to me that sex may or may not have happened, depending on your headcanon preference. It's really weird to me that so many other Solasmancers were so upset at the lack of sexy times, but that's not a criticism, just a little surprise at how divergent people can feel about a single character's romance in a video game.
Of course in stark contrast to that, my second-favorite romance is Zevran. Make of that what you will. I do ESC out of the sex scenes though whenever they come up. I like that it happens, as part of the narrative of the romance, but nobody needs to see two barbie dolls going at it like that.
Also, Jordan, Aluminum is not spelled "Aluminium" in American English. We might be wrong, but the way Americans say it matches the way Americans (and Canadians, apparently) spell it.
What you didn't mention was, that Aveline has the greatest romance in all Dragon Age games - it's just not with the player character.
also:
#teamAluminium
Her romance is a real life tragedy that turn into a romcom
And that Aveline 'courting' quest is my favorite of all
Agree
Man this makes me wish I wrote more for Oghren. I feel like he's really done dirty, especially considering people are willing to go the extra mile to dig deep for Zev but not him. Like my fellow defender said he was a man who lost basically everything his wife, way of life, and respect and turns to heavy drinking. Yes he's funny and makes a joke of himself but he's like the class clown that's really sad on the inside. He doesn't like what he's become and basically is just accepting what he feels life has dealt him until you come along. If you befriend and help him you give a start to regain what he lost. Jordan and Catie say he stays the same overall but he doesn't. I know it's not canon but a friended Oghren becomes a leader in the army! DA:A does sour his growth and changes his path but I think it's just realistic that you don't make a complete 180 from the level of trauma he went through in a short amount of time. In DA:A you can help nudge him back on the path of cleaning himself up.
Ogren is one of the best. Wish they would bring him back for atlest one more game
@@jondcook7ify I would too! I think I'm personally good without him as a companion again but seeing him involved in the warden conflict in or at least hearing about him becoming a family man in 4 would be awesome.
@@briansadler1536 I agree
I find that while I don't disagree with the criticisms of Merrill and Isabella, I think there's an aspect to all of this that's not being addressed at all and it happens to be the reason why I happen like those two in particular.
That is not just the companions' relationship with Hawke, but their relationship with each other too. Merrill, Isabella and Avaline make up an amazing trio with some of the funniest dynamics in the whole franchise. I would roll with that part almost exclusively--which made things much more difficult since my Hawk was a DW Rogue--yet it was worth it just for the banter alone. Even more than Hawke's actual family, these three felt like sisters to me precisely because they're so at odds in terms of personality, temperament and outlook, all with an undercurrent of genuine platonic affection.
Oh to reiterate what I put in the survey about Anders: Arse biscuit.
No really, I don't care what is mental state was or what his world view is; he knowingly and methodically *tricked* the person he claims is his best friend into committing mass murder under the pretence of helping his condition. That's way beyond just "manipulative" and firmly into "diabolical", and so he more than earned the murder knife to the noggin. Merrill may potentially get her whole clan killed but that's mostly from a situation going beyond their control despite her best intentions. Anders deliberately created a situation beyond his control, explicitly to cause death and chaos because he personally couldn't deal with things the way they are.
Yeah, fuck Anders.
Agree with this, especially in Anders. I totally love the banter between Isabella and Aveline.
With Merril more or less, I still find she still has responsibility in what happened, simply for dabbling in Blood Magic, despite what some people in the game itself say (like Solas, but you know he is a like the personification of a Pride Demon, so I don't trust him), I haven't seen any example in-game of someone being a Blood Mage and not being evil (like almost every blood mage) or stupid (like Jowan, Alain or Merril). And no, the Warden and Hawke don't count.
As an ace person I just want to say I think you missed the mark just a bit in your discussion about Cole. I agree with you that a more human Cole having sexual relations doesn't mean to be human is to have sexual relations, but then to say that ace people can just relate to a more spirit Cole IS the problem. Yes, non-human character in fantasy does not invalidate personhood, as you say, but in real life it's disheartening to constantly be related to the non-human characters no matter their prescribed personhood. The reason being is that real life isn't fantasy. You are only a person if you are human. To only be reflected with non-human characters makes it harder for our actual real life personhood to be acknowledged.
That all said I personally never thought much about Cole and how he related to the ace spectrum, but your discussion about that person's comment just felt off to me.
Thank you for saying this, as someone on the Ace spectrum myself that part did make me a bit uncomfy.
When I first completed Cole's story, I had no idea how much I was relating to him until suddenly I no longer could. And the fact that the point at which I lost the ability to was when he suddenly became "more human" really hurt. I am sure that was NOT the intention of the writer, but regardless of the intent, that hurt was still there and was very real to me and a lot of other Asexual people. It's a bit disheartening to hear two Allosexual people dismiss an actual Asexual's feelings on the matter as "not correct."
No hate meant to Caitie or Jordan of course; I know their heart is in the right place and meant no offence.
ok that episode was hilarious esp that Solas bashing lmao
My only criticism is how y'all - yet again - talk super in-depth abt 2 or 3 characters for an hour and bc there is so little time left u rush the rest - I personally wouldn't mind the long ramblings abt every each of them but I dunno if it's something y'all be willing to spend time on lmao. Esp with this survey it SOOOO interesting, I would have loved a part two - cheers!
You two are the heros the fandom needs but does not deserve :)
I looked a bit more into the statistics you got
Average Playability Scores per Class:
Dragon Age Origins
Warriors: 3.92
Rogues: 4.05
Mages: 6.00
Dragon Age Origins DLC
Warriors: 3.42
Rogues: 3.92
Mages: 4.37
Dragon Age II
Warriors: 5.02
Rogues: 4.03
Mages: 4.87
Dragon Age Inquisition
Warriors: 4.93
Rogues: 4.31
Mages: 5.16
In Origins, Mages are overpowered but in later games the balancing between the classes got better. I guess if Rogues weren't necessary for lockpicking, they would always score lowest.
I've played all classes in the each of the games and personally I think the Rogue did their best in the first two. Inquisition dual-wield Rogue is less reliable at higher difficulties compared to the archer. First boss stonewalled me on nightmare mode as dual-wielder.
Don't forget DAO Rogue had the solo dodge stack build which is next to the Solo Arcane Warrior. I took down the final boss of GoA dlc on higher difficulties with a glass cannon dodge rogue. DA2 Rogue Assassin was glorious aswell.
Mages I think get picked most due to first of all... the mage is a fun class and second is the games focus on the Mage vs Templar theme. People sympathize with them and elves the most.
Theres a reason dwarves get picked the least as they have no mage class and they are not elves. They dont have as much investment in the world as a whole except for the darkspawn issue which was only the center of attention of Origins. The surface dwarves are mostly neutral to the matter of mages and elves. Which makes most of them bland except for Varric and the Inquisitor.
On the topic of warrior class I think it was DA2 that was their worst.
I usually played the companion warriors instead because they did the dps and tank roles better.
I play rarely mage in Origins because I like the mage companions and felt that 3 mages are a bit overkill.
You get one or two free mage companions in most dlc too except Amgarrak.
So least played for me would be
Origins: Mage
DA2: Warrior
Inq: Rogue
Dude I just realized something. Sera acts the way she does to run away from pain and fear. She doesn't want to face reality because reality is painful and scary. She doesn't want to think too deeply about something because she scared of what she'll find.
Sorry for commenting again but looking at the chart, I'm very happy Dorian ranked so high. I genuinely think he is one of the best characters Bioware has ever written; he's such an interesting person in so many ways that even through multiple playthroughs, I'm still not tired of talking to him and taking him places. I also feel like he's one of the few Bioware characters whose friendship with your character is as fleshed out as his romance is and I feel as much emotional attachment to him in games where I don't romance him as games where I do. His friendship feels just as natural and fulfilling as his romance path. I'm so happy the fanbase embraced him like I did, especially since sometimes the reaction to gay characters in video games can be less than positive (although the Dragon Age fanbase tends to be a lot better about that than most, thankfully).
I'm a new subscriber. I could write a book on my opinion on all of these great characters. And I do consider them all great. While I consider Cullen my romance I love the Solas romance as well. I'm a sucker for a heartbreaking story. And Solas is a walking tragedy.
Oh no I forgot to vote! XD Great episode!!!!! Best podcast on UA-cam
I liked the ways the characters were created and respect the choices made by the writers. Even if I don't like some characters, I like that I don't like their actions (ex: Anders) or personality (ex: Merrill) rather than having no personality at all (ex: Bethany). It helped me learn what a character is and how to get them liked or disliked for distinct reasons.
I feel like shale will be sad when if she comes back she might not be over wynnes death itd be interesting if you get her back if she had a closure quest for her friend
I've never ever thought of Solas being a "sex god." I saw much of myself in Solas. He's ruthless and cold when he needs to be, in order to make hard choices, but he's also this kind and caring person who only wants what he sees best for his people. I wish I was more like him because he was confident enough to actually form a group and rise up against his oppressors and those who did wrong.
I like and understand Bulls character without any attachment to BDSM. I dont get why he is so heavily connected to it when the romance is only a small portion of his character especially when how little romance plays a point in his betrayal in tresspasser. You could make Iron Bull completely exclusive but Hissrad and Iron Bull are not the same people. And you'll know whether or not you romance Hissrad or The Iron Bull. Like just listening to Solas and Bull go at it in banter and his decision in Tresspasser is The Iron Bulls character.
I think Linara K has a real hate for the character like ranty hate - I think it's BDSM aspects that triggered her and she couldn't see past it it's one of the many issues I had with her and I tried to explain it.
@@EmoBearRights who?
If you don't know then you don't I'm annoyed with her enough not to give her the traffic. She's not terrible but has enough bad takes including the one that Hasan Piker tore her a new one over a character choosing to erase the slave trade which she said was bad because of....reasons - erasure of transculturalism which as someone who loves blues based music I think most ethnic Americans would take to not have had the shitty legacy of slavery.
@@EmoBearRights she sounds like a very fun person to be around (sarcasm). No matter. I think that is partially the issue here Jordan and Caitie see "BDSM" and "DUDEBRO" characteristics and they just hand wave the rest of him away. They don't even bring up how you could see Bull and Solas as 2 sides of the same coin. Its why their dialogue and chess match have depth and consequence for the characters
I would like to point out that I am, in fact, a dude who loves Dragon Age and doesn’t like Isabela very much. #TeamMerrill
Caitie, I just started the podcast and I just want to say that as a fellow former mental health worker I've empathized with you every time you've brought up the struggles with that kind of work, but not more than just not liking statistics when in school because I've always been bad at the numbers thing as well.
It's finally here!
Thanks so much for the poll/survey! It was great to contribute and hear your thoughts! Wish it went on for another video to cover more characters, but I'm definitely interested in the Mass Effect results!
I do have some thoughts on Cole and romances in general, though. I understand both Jordan's perspective and ace fans' (if it matters, I'm tolerant of sex but have no desire to seek it). Yes, sexuality is a part of being human, but sexuality is so complex that it cannot be explored thoroughly with just one character or one real life person. If there were a few spirit-turned-human characters like Cole in DA but they all had different sexualities (straight, gay, bi, ace, etc.) then perhaps there would be less debate. (Though you do risk upsetting a minority of a minority group that feels left out, regardless of creator intentions being well or malicious.) I like that Cole gets to explore what it means to be human, but him and Maryden felt weird in a "let's just pair the spares" manner. I don't hate it (I've seen so much worse), but it wasn't necessary, given how sudden and random it appeared from left field.
Maybe I'm feeling a tad jaded and playing all the wrong video games, but optional RPG romance storylines are starting to feel overdone and stale for me. I'll be happy when we reach the point where choosing no to romance doesn't need to cause a mass crowd of surprise Pikachu faces in a discussion. Sometimes the Bioware fanbase's horniness especially sometimes gets overzealous and assumes everyone is just as into the sex as they are. (Still love you crazy fun peeps; you do you ^_^) The first time I played Andromeda, my Ryder romanced no one, and I enjoyed it more than any run with a romance in that game. (When I shared this with my IRL friend and fellow Bioware fan, she was saddened and baffled, as if what I did wasn't possible.) While I like some of MEA's romances, my loveless run felt freeing yet limited at the same time. So much time, energy, hype, animation, and budget is pumped into optional features to the point that sometimes characters only develop within their romances (ME is much guiltier than DA) and an intense feeling of FOMO is festering beneath the surface of the game.
I don't know what the solution for this is other than writers finding new and different ways to write character relationships in a variety of forms while still maintaining the spirit of quality writing and of human empathy. And recognizing and distinguishing between good faith misfires and unadulterated malice in regards to sensitive topics and/or problematic content.
I mean.. I romance Solas because of the conversation but that next base wouldn't have been that bad lol. But Zevran and Fenris have that covered.
I only cared for Merrill for her teasing Fenris, honestly surprised no one betrayed me in the end.
I would honestly love to know the ratio to guys to girls who are fans for Dragon Age! It seems like a overwhelming majority are females, which is very unique for a game.
I really don't want to drink too much during the lockdown, however when you get to the uses of Solas' bald head in the bedroom, I feel like you can't really do this shit sober.
The Solas conversation/discussion had me in tears, too true!
Actually, now that I think about it ... I wonder if Solas could be read as asexual or demisexual. He's so specific in the kind of person he falls for and it never gets further than a few steamy kisses. And he seems so disinterested in the 'physical' aspects of life. He's obviously way more interested in the spiritual. An argument could probably be made that such a viewpoint could be reflected in his romantic relationships - being waaaaay more mind and much less body.
So this is just my Canon version, and I'm very late for this conversation but character growth is actually what I enjoy seeing romancing Fenris. I play a mage who agrees with Anders's grievances but doesn't like his actions. I also have a favorite ending for Fenris, where he sides with the Templars first but is convinced it's wrong. And I think that the very kind, if joky mage I play helps to humanize mages for him. There is growth and healing there, it's just more subtle and he still has a ways to go. It's one of those moments where I like that no one in 2 wraps up with a neat little bow.
I'm from Spain and even do the initial Puss On Boots comment didn't bother me (or not a lot), the fact that someone point it out and Caitie still when on with the uniformen, insensitive and insulting “I don't want to visit a town full of people talking like the puss on boots” rant made me so angry I don't think I will be able to enjoy this podcast ever again. Puss on boots was played by a Spanish actor, of course he fucking has a (cartoonish) Spanish accent. The problem whit Zevran is that they used the “Spanish womanizer” "latin lover" kind of trope, not his accent itself. Someone speaking English with and accent is making and effort by speaking a different language, something people from the USA apparently still don't get. Also, you have and accent to, what makes you think it ins’t as stupid as mine? Disappointing.
I wouldnt go and say cartoonish. I would say its representation in popular American media is made out to be cartoonish. But my friend who is from Espana and visits (not anymore of course) sounds like this
So you're mad that Caitie made a generalization about a Spanish accent, then you make a generalized comment about people from USA? If you have a criticism about someone being ethnocentric, maybe try to not be as insensitive as well. Also Caitie didn't say "all spanish accents are bad and Spanish people have bad accents" she said that Zevran's accent (and his voice actor is an American doing a spanish accent) is bad, which is a valid opinion to have. Her entire point is that she doesn't think all Spanish people sound the same, and she doesn't like how the American voice actor defaulted to the main stereotypical spanish accent in American pop culture (puss n boots).
@@sveipr Puss in boots was voiced by Antonio Banderas, a Spanish actor form Málaga. His accent is not “stereotypical Spanish accent in American pop culture”, is real southern Spanish. If you were someone from the north of Spain (like myself) mocking his accent it would be equally disgusting.
It's the third time we try to explain this counting the comment Caitie was mentioning on this episode and yet, you still insist in your nonsense explanation to justify that saying “I don't want to visit a town full of people talking like the puss in boots ”is not offensive. It is, were are telling you form Spain. If you don't care the least you could do is fucking admit it.
@@LenaPP you seem to be projecting Caitie's critique on an AMERICAN voice actor onto your own culture. Caitie never said that she had any problems with Antonio Banderas or Spanish accents. Her issue is that Jon Curry, Zevran's AMERICAN voice actor was told to do a Spanish accent, and decided to do an exact same voice as an extremely (and at the time) main example of an accent from Spain. Not all Spanish people sounds the same, not all American people sound the same, not all British people sound the same, not all Chinese people sound the same etc. Etc. Caitie wasn't criticizing Spanish accents, she was critiquing Zevran's AMERICAN voice actor.
@@sveipr She literally said “I don't want to visit a town full of people talking like the puss in boots”, and puss in boots was voiced by a Spanish actor. I’m not projecting, it is you who is on denial. So much arrogance, my god…
Bye, I’ve had enough of this shit for a life time, really.
While I love hearing Caitie and Jordan talk about Dragon Age & Mass Effect, I also really enjoy listening to them rambling on about growing the fuck up and social media hahaha. Really guys, love your podcast! Always looking forward to it :D
😂 man I love hearing y’all it’s gold! Just gold! Also I feel more like an old soul I’m like 24 but I agree with almost everything you guys agree with 😂
The thing about Anders, is that even in Act 1, the banter between Anders and Fenris is still Anders saying that Fenris deserves to be a slave because of his opinion of mages. Of course the justice/vengeance thing plays a role but in act 1 Anders hasn't become that corrupted yet. I think the defense that Fenris being sold off and Anders approving is because of Vengeance isn't completely applicable because Anders has been telling Fenris for years that he deserves to be a slave.
Worry not about feeling old. The comment about not growing up in the '90s-2000s was mine. I didn't grow up with Shrek and company, I grew up with Scooby Doo, Bugs Bunny and Penelope Pitstop. I did enjoy watching Fairly Odd Parents with my kid as a parent. That's right that wasn't a Zoomer comment, it's from good old Gen X! Feel young my children, because you are. Here's hoping I get to play DA:4 before I retire!
'...I've never seen someone relate their own sexuality to Sera.'
I...I see people do that all the time though. I see lots of people in UA-cam comments section relating to her fetish for tall, buff women and the way she swoons for them.
I have never seen that, to be honest.
@@SeventhheavenDK ua-cam.com/video/J8py4twwaWw/v-deo.html
Some of the top rated comments are;
'I quite like women with muscle myself.'
'Who the hell WOULDN'T be interested in Qunari? Such height.'
It sounds to me like you still don't understand the mental abuse that Isabella went through and how it affects her actions and why she can change so much through your friendship. Abandoned by her mom, forced to marry a pirate, possibly helped to kill him just to get away from him, then had to figure out how to run a ship and a crew or be taken advantage of by the crew, then became reckless when she thought she had it all together until she realized she was becoming the man she was trying to get away from. Then she meets you and uses her past tricks to get your help, and you have to show her for the first time the social lessons that usually someone's parents would. And she even uses them as u go like being like a big sister to Merrill and bethany and a rival for avaline to compete with, she tries to help ferris another closed off companion to open up to the group because she felt the same way he did, and she honestly looks to varric as like an example as someone who made it and anders as someone who made it out but came back because of old habbits
All of this came be hears just from ger dialog and progression in DA2
The "toxic" part of the fandom is kind of random. Like I've encountered Anders fans who hate Bull/Dorian because its "abusive". Which i thought was backwards as hell. Or Merrill is precious and awesome but Dorian is horrific because he "approves" of indentured servitude in tevinter. Bevause he has a naive juxtaposition to how the poor are treated everywhere else while Merrill herself naively goes through life damaging people as well. They both have character flaws that revolve around a lack of experience.
Also slavery and indentured servitude are basically the same. I dont approve of either.
They are not the same. Signing an identure means you are either getting something in return or working off a crime and you are a still a person with some rights. It is bad, and not a system I would support, but not comparable to just being a non-person.
@@johnpoole3871 in both cases people are considered property just one piece of property has benefits bit you are not a "person". Sure maybe towards the ned when it was phased put of most society's they had more protections but the underlying issues is people lose their personhood
Dude you originally rated IB's romance lower than Seb's - wtf.
Just regarding Iron Bull and tactics, have a look for ‘Dai builds’ on UA-cam if you feel like it, there are tons of creative tactical builds out there for DAI, the combat system has a bit more meat than first meets the eye :P
Totally get that min/maxing isn’t your thing though and that is completely fair.
Okay, so I'm not even half way through this and while I vehemently disagree with the assessment of Isabela... YOU GOR THE SOLAS SEX GOD THING ON POINT. He is nerd central. And I am LIVING for Katie's laugh here omfg lol
Solas is double cheeked up til next Tuesday bro!
Yeah as a Londoner - Sera's accent definitely a thing. Yes back away from the Lang thing - dude!
A friend of mine kinda hated Isabella for being Ms Fanservice. I don't share that but I understand it.
You should do a episode on biggest controversies of dragon age
13:12
Bro
Remember when they said that that 3 is a 100% for sure neutral?
I'm touching on the hanky panky in romances... some romances do better without, like Solas' and I don't think Josephine got an explicit scene either. It's implied that it probably happened (at least I recall some dialogue), but somehow I think it would've felt awkward to see those.
Also, I liked Carver. è_é
Cole's romantic situation in Tresspasser made me uncomfotable, because I see him as a child in many ways. The player doesn't see what happens in the 2 years in between, so the sudden change felt a bit jarring to me, and in many ways he has had to learn how to "person" from scratch, so him having a romantic relationship just screamed "Red flag" to me.
tbh, we bring characters like Cole and Merrill on mass murder sprees regularly, I think suddenly being concerned about their emotional maturity when it comes to sex and romance given that are a bit much.
While I agree not every romance needs a sex scene it is something most adults do, especially when falling in love, so I don't really see why they shouldn't be included in most cases. For Solas though, I think it actually makes sense there is no sex scene, he is clearly very uncomfortable not telling Levallen the truth about who he is so it 100% makes sense he wouldn't feel comfortable doing it with her. It would also make sense if they included a proper asexual character which would be a good move imo.
Also I love Carver too 😅
I perhaps enjoy Mass Effect more, but I was much more invested in hearing the conversation and response to the DA characters
Hell yeah open relationship for the win.
Okay, I'm re-evaluating my opinion on Anders. That doesn't mean I like him yet. I am now thinking of him as more of a man with a progressing, untreated mental illness rather than purely an asshole. It makes him more sympathetic and adds to the ever confusing nature of spirit/demon possession and just them in general.
My favorite characters in...
Origins: Well, technically everyone, I like all of them a lot. But if I have to choose I would say Morrigan, Alistair, Shale and Oghren (yes, I like him a lot).
DLCs: Nathaniel, Oghren, Arianne and Finn.
(I always found Anders so annoying since Awakening, but I agree that his more annoying personality in DA2 made sense as he was possessed by Vengeance, not Justice)
DA2: Bethany, Varric and Aveline.
DAI: A hard one, because this my least favorite cast of characters, almost everyone annoyed me or bored me, including the boring protagonist Inquisitor Mary Sue and even Varric who I liked a lot in DA2. But I would say my favorite are Vivianne, Cassandra and Dorian (even tho the more I play the game the more negative points I find on him, he still falls in some cases as a walking checklist, especially with his personal quest, and I also I feel as if the writers put way too much effort in making him likable and "perfect", but sometimes I feel overwhelmed by it).
For Solas's ability in bed the sheer amount of time it's been since he likely had the chance to get laid before even without speculating on his experience would lead you to believe he's at the very least way out of practice and out of date on contemporary ideas on what's generally considered interesting.
Oghren I think would be a lot more likeable if you just cut out the painfully outdated toilet humour and focused more on his growth from a broken wreck with nothing left to live for to getting his life back together and actually having some good insight on stuff. He had a few good moments when he was allowed to be more than a drunken pervert.
The personhood of spirits to me depends on how they learn and adapt to concepts and ideas outside of the one they were founded on. It bugs me a bit that a spirit learning to cope better with varying ideas and experiences has to make them less spirit, since I don't really see the cleanse all memory of traumatic events aspect of them to be particularly healthy or sustainable since it doesn't allow them to really learn how to cope with things in a healthy way and just leaves them vulnerable to the same trauma over and over again if they encounter it later. They're not different enough from other people to really escape that problem. In terms of Cole developing sexual/romantic attraction once he becomes more human, that bugs me too both with the idea of sexuality being treated as part of the human package and as part of my dissatisfaction with how the whole more human vs more spirit situation played out.
On the similarity of the Solas and Blackwall storyarcs, I have to hard disagree. Solas omitted parts of his identity, Blackwall fabricated. While both are dishonest, one is outright lying to you while the other is telling you as much truth as possible without compromising his duty. The motivation and context are completely different too. Blackwall is lying for personal reasons, he’s ashamed of what he did and pretending to be someone else. Solas omits much of his identity because he feels he has a duty to the Elvhen people to fix the mistake that robbed them of their immortality, effectively consigning an entire race of people to death. So one is doing it for himself in a much shadier way (fabrication), and the other is doing it for thousands if not millions of other people, and would tell you the truth if he could. Especially if you romance Solas and get the Crestwood scene, it’s clear he really does want to tell you the truth. And other than some handwavy “I saw it in the Fade” explanations of *how* he knows things, Solas never outright lies to you.
The only time I've ever seen anyone say anything positive about Oghren would be in like comment threads specifically talking about unpopular opinions, and even then it's mostly "I don't think Oghren is as bad as everyone says he is", never thing like "Oghren is amazing and here's why." I'm sure there are people who love him, but it definitely seems like most people are meh at best about him, with most falling into dislike.
Looking at his character, I kind of feel like Oghren is not a character that would be written for a Bioware game today. And while his sexist comments are a big reason, he's also very much a dwarf character cliche in a lot of ways and if Bioware was writing him today, he'd be a totally different character because they've tried to move away from fantasy cliches a lot since DAO.
1:09:20 I know this comments is like a year too late but as someone who is usually attracted to women I wanted to give my opinion on the female x female romances in DAI. I considerer myself panromantic but as far as physical attraction goes I've always found women more attractive then men. As much as I would love to have a little lesbian inquisitor I was a little disheartened when I didn't find sera attractive at all, personality or physically. I like Josephine and playing an elf I got little butterflies when she greeted my character in elven but idk she comes off just a little to nice/naïve for me. I feel bad because I didn't really give Solas a chance because everyone else romances him and because the whole breaking up with you right when you realize you love him hits a little to close to home for me but my little panromantic heart loves that elf.
20:55 Oh hey! That's my Zevran comment! And I stand by it, Zevran wants to be a serious character, but he fails at that just like he fails at everything else. Jordan didn't do Zevran dirty, he just spoke the truth lol
nope
Zevran is a character who acquires depth if you get to know him also he's the only one who is happy with being polygamous.
Isabella?
I meant in Origins but yeah I think Isabella's the same unless you tried to threesome her with Merril because I think she's quite protective of Merril. I think she'd quite happily have an actual three way with you and Fenris I had head cannon if you romance Fenris they still have the same fling while he works his psychological shit out you just don't get to know about it i.e. they don't talk about it in front of you.
Jordan and Katie both are so wrong about zevran character especially Jordan he says zevran is the shallow character actually he is not , what makes zevran character shallow? he is a full-fledge dynamic character not like the below average and very overrated Aveline, Yes Aveline is overrated! zervan is smart, cunning, sexy , funny, and brilliant, he is one the best among all the characters in dragon age , i get there are plenty of zervan characters in various archetypes but he does have a leg to stand, he might be off-putting to people like Jordan but does not mean that he is shallow, his back story is unique and tragic, most criticism comes from he is being dirty and always sexual, have these two forget he was raised in the whore house and raised to be a killer. His mannerism come from the environment where he been raised struggling to survive and coming out incredibly talented.
So much sapiosexual erasure in your Solas analysis! Goodness! /s
Oh my god i cant stop laughing at 35:13
Make Sten a Champion and he is amazing!
Y'all, Cole is an inhuman representation of emotion and trauma, you probably shouldn't be projecting your human based sexuality on him when it doesn't even fit or match even for the sake of representation since Cole isn't a representative of human sexuality.
I hate the Solas romance for a million reasons. I hate Solas, himself, for a million more. The fact that you can't see your Inquisitor fondling his bald balls is not one of those reasons.
100% Solas cries after sex.
3:42 fuck that was me ahhahahah fuck
I can’t fucking spell I’m so srry
Don't be sorry, we loved it!
Dorian is better than Aveline, so say the people FACTS. Edit: Aveline is dope, I'm not knocking her at all.
Oghren is gross. He is. Even his name is gross.
All of your playablility scores are off because you don't optimize your play styles and skill trees. Looking at you Caitie. You overrate all of your tanks in comparison to mages and rogues simply because they have more health and die less frequently as a result. The exception being Shale and Blackwall who are objectively excellent each.
As someone who plays on nightmare with trials on, I don't think it's necessarily that they overrate tanks, but more that they underrate everything else. After watching Caitie's playthroughs where she just goes all in one one tree per character, she's setting up her mages and rogues for failure, so I agree on the not optimizing the playstyles lol
Yeah as a fellow nightmare player I totally agree. But hey high difficulty in these games is not for everyone, and their playability scores are a fair guide if you aren’t into working out in depth builds for your companions
I like Dorian, Aveline and Ogrhen, but I definitely like Aveline and Ogrhen more.
Frankly, I don't even think playability should have been a metric for the Inquisition characters, because if you're not using crafting to its utmost you're just playing the game wrong. Iron Bull tells you (well, he tells Blackwall, but still) how to make him indestructible: dawnstone. If you don't have Iron Bull decked out in sparkly pink everything, it's your own damn fault if he dies. The man wants a pink axe, you can make one for him, and they deal a ton of damage. Give it to him!
@@erraticonteuse LMAO. You're completely right he absolutely tells you what to do.
Chances are based on the age you’ve hinted you’re at, you’re both millennials 😂 not a salty comment I’m just correcting you, most millennials are in their 30s
I feel like I'm alone about Shale. I don't think its a bad caracter. She is very funny, but that is it. I don't like to have a golem following me and I don't like her skill tree.
In DA2 I only like Aveline, Varrick and Isabela. I really dislike Fenris, he looks and sounds bad (hate his voice). And he is basically a Sasuke/Vegeta, I have no patiance for his anger and vangence rant. I think its more a personal thing then a problem with the caracter itself I guess.
lmao i don’t know why i continuously torture myself by listening to ur analysis of the political aspect of the da games. i doubt this is even a useful comment to make but people’s reading of anders as a character is always infuriating. like it all comes down to the fact that mages were being like fantasy lobotomized, raped and murdered and the games don’t want to deal with that in a realistic way, where we actually sit down and think about that. like i’m sorry but the fact is the mages are victims of a horrific religious regime and siding with anyone but them is disgusting. the games might want to paint it as a difficult choice but it’s not. do u want to side with people who have been oppressed, beaten, imprisoned, raped and murdered? or do u want to side with the perpetrator of those crimes? it’s a very obvious choice, and Anders is the epitome of a person who sees people like them being treated horrifically and not knowing an option other than something drastic. also, like in reality his explosion couldn’t have done that much damage and the writers just retconned that in order to build up the templar side in order to further obscure who the real villains are
At min 22... I am over 30 and on tiktok 🙈
#adulting
do you need to talk Caitie?