Preview This News Post Will Not Give Its True Title To Infidels

[Edward_R_Murrow]

Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age

Bioware has updated the characters section of their Dragon Age website with two new entries, <a href="http://dragonage.bioware.com/characters/alistair.html">Alistair</a>:<blockquote>Alistair is a young Grey Warden recruited by Duncan less than six months before the Blight began. Alistair's mother died long ago in childbirth, and after being raised in Redcliffe castle he was turned over to the Chantry for religious instruction. He began the martial training necessary to become a templar - the Chantry's military order that watches over the Circle of Magi and hunts down dangerous apostates.
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He was found to be ill-suited to a life of religious devotion, however… Alistair is irreverent at the best of times, and his wry sense of humor often put him at odds with his more serious-minded teachers. When Duncan of the Grey Wardens found him, Alistair had not yet taken his vows and was desperately unhappy. Sensing that he had a good and loyal heart, Duncan used the Right of Conscription to force the Chantry to hand Alistair over to the Grey Wardens… and Alistair has never looked back since.</blockquote>And <a href="http://dragonage.bioware.com/characters/sten.html">Sten</a><blockquote>"Sten" prefers not to give his true name, not to a member of an infidel race that his people have twice attempted to conquer now. The qunari reached the shores of Thedas four centuries ago, possessed of an alien philosophy and an iron determination to bring enlightenment to lesser cultures whether they liked it or not. The fact that they have failed to conquer Thedas has only forced them to study their human foes more carefully.
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After the last truce, the qunari began sending missionaries and explorers into the southern lands, and Sten may in fact be one of those. He refuses to say for certain, just as he refuses to clarify why it is he has failed his mission and was encountered rotting in a human cell. The infidel ways are not his, and if he needs forgiveness for his crimes it is a matter of qunari honor and not of human law.</blockquote>Holy heavy-handed morality message Batman!
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://gamebanshee.com">Gamebanshee</A>

 

[Forest Dweller]

What are you getting at?

 

[kris]

I never digged much info, but I am still surprised I heard nothing about these Qunari. The most original race and this is the first I heard of it.

 

[Wyrmlord]

What are you getting at?

Just read this:

"Sten" prefers not to give his true name, not to a member of an infidel race that his people have twice attempted to conquer now. The qunari reached the shores of Thedas four centuries ago, possessed of an alien philosophy and an iron determination to bring enlightenment to lesser cultures whether they liked it or not. The fact that they have failed to conquer Thedas has only forced them to study their human foes more carefully.

After the last truce, the qunari began sending missionaries and explorers into the southern lands, and Sten may in fact be one of those. He refuses to say for certain, just as he refuses to clarify why it is he has failed his mission and was encountered rotting in a human cell. The infidel ways are not his, and if he needs forgiveness for his crimes it is a matter of qunari honor and not of human law.

It's a character based on Middle Eastern people. He's even called a Qunari, a ridiculous twist on Qu'ran, or something.

I just don't get it. BioWare wasn't always this bad. Even KotOR seemed to have respectable intelligence. This heavy handedly Middle Eastern character, who despises "infidels", is just retarded.

Something really really really bad has happened to BioWare. Dragon Age will be truly the new butt of jokes here, except at this point of time, it will be so ridiculous, it will be sad rather than funny.

 

[Zhirzzh]

Any bets on whether he tells you his "true" name in his sidequest?

 

[Andhaira]

Is Alstair the new Garth? Or the new Anomen?

 

[overtenemy]

ABUSE YOUR WOMEN LIKE YOU HATE YOUR INFIDELS

PASSIONATELY

 

[Forest Dweller]

What are you getting at?

Just read this:

"Sten" prefers not to give his true name, not to a member of an infidel race that his people have twice attempted to conquer now. The qunari reached the shores of Thedas four centuries ago, possessed of an alien philosophy and an iron determination to bring enlightenment to lesser cultures whether they liked it or not. The fact that they have failed to conquer Thedas has only forced them to study their human foes more carefully.

After the last truce, the qunari began sending missionaries and explorers into the southern lands, and Sten may in fact be one of those. He refuses to say for certain, just as he refuses to clarify why it is he has failed his mission and was encountered rotting in a human cell. The infidel ways are not his, and if he needs forgiveness for his crimes it is a matter of qunari honor and not of human law.

It's a character based on Middle Eastern people. He's even called a Qunari, a ridiculous twist on Qu'ran, or something.

I just don't get it. BioWare wasn't always this bad. Even KotOR seemed to have respectable intelligence. This heavy handedly Middle Eastern character, who despises "infidels", is just retarded.

That sounds more like a European during the Age of Discovery than a muslim - "white man's burden" and all. Just because the word "infidel" is used doesn't mean we should start jumping to conclusions.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

This heavy handedly Middle Eastern character, who despises "infidels", is just retarded.

maybe it's just him, and the others are regular people

 

[xuerebx]

On an off-topic note, I like the way they use a 3D animation for their character profile.

That is all.

 

[aries202]

I don't think much good will come from comparing characters and religions etc. in DA: Origins to characters or religions in the real world. Of couse, you can do so, if you so choose, but you will miss out on much the fun, I find.

As for Sten, as I understand to him the human or more precisely maybe it is The Chantry and their teachings that is heresy and the people who believe the Chantry are most like infidels.

Also, let us not forget that in the real world, it were the Christians who first used the word infidels and heresy for those who didn't believe that dogmatic and canonical teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Also, Sten maybe using the word 'infidels' to describe humans in the game; this is his view.
You should not confuse or mix Sten's view of humans with the developers view...

And the whole 'trying to bring enlightement to lesser cultures, whether they liked it or not' can maybe or might even be seen as comment on a certain war in a certain country, placed in the Middle East. It also could reflect the philosophy of Europe during colonial times...

But again, even if I just did what warned against, comparisions to modern and everyday life on Earth are pretty much futile...

And the Quanari are not, I think, modeled over muslims. First off, the race is pronounced kyon-arr-ee (or something like that), second Sten believes (as does the Qunari) that what gets the job done, gets the job done. Use logic when it will get the job done, use brute force when it will get the job done.

 

[Castanova]

use jet planes when it will get the job done

 

[Qwinn]

I just don't get it. BioWare wasn't always this bad. Even KotOR seemed to have respectable intelligence. This heavy handedly Middle Eastern character, who despises "infidels", is just retarded.

Um, why is it retarded?

If people who despise infidels made you think of Arab jihadis, is that the fault of Bioware or of Arab jihadis? The way you're bitching, you'd think it was all made up and no one in the Middle East actually acts that way.

There's nothing heavy handed about it. There really are a LOT of infidel-hating people in the world, and I find the notion that they should be whitewashed out of all fiction to be worlds dumber than their inclusion. You're just bitching cause it violates some asinine notion of political correctness. If there was some crazy religious cult with a christian veneer painted over it, I suspect you'd have no problem with it at all.

Qwinn

 

[SerratedBiz]

And wouldn't the Chantry or whateverthefucks be made to represent the christian church in the same way? I don't see why people are pissed off *now*.

 

[Major_Boobage]

Is Alstair the new Garth? Or the new Anomen?

 

[Wyrmlord]

If there was some crazy religious cult with a christian veneer painted over it, I suspect you'd have no problem with it at all.

No, it would be just as retarded.

Besides, it's not just the 'Middle-Easterness' of it.

The reticent man who will not give you his real name because he finds you an infidel - that is way way too contrived.

Just look at how simple they kept it with even KotOR characters. Jolee, a man who left the Jedi Order and lives down at the bottom of a Wookie forest. Canderous, a former soldier on the other side of a war. T3-M4, a modest droid bought from a shop. You can see the descriptions of these characters and think, "They don't sound entirely ridiculous".

 

[kris]

I don't think he sounds entirely ridiculous. You could say he falls into a stereotype with what we know now, but for me he is just a fresh take for them. A original race and a concept they have not travelled into much. Most other info we got on DA have on the other hand been just things we seen before, not Mr Sten.

 

[MetalCraze]

Ah another stereotypical piece of diarrhea from Bioware. What a surprise.
Making "Sten" a party member is also retarded. Why would you tag along with totally not suspicious guy of an enemy race that hates you? Bioware is so bad it's double-bad. Is it really that hard to make a spy inside player's party without him being retarded with flashing arrows pointing "SPY!!" at him?
What's with this retarded "not my real name". Couldn't he just say his fake name without pointing out it isn't real?

 

[Shannow]

Ah another stereotypical piece of diarrhea from Bioware. What a surprise.
Making "Sten" a party member is also retarded. Why would you tag along with totally not suspicious guy of an enemy race that hates you? Bioware is so bad it's double-bad. Is it really that hard to make a spy inside player's party without him being retarded with flashing arrows pointing "SPY!!" at him?
What's with this retarded "not my real name". Couldn't he just say his fake name without pointing out it isn't real?

We put up with you, don't we?

Oh, and did Yoshimo flash "spy"? Had him betray me in my very first playthrough and I don't remember him behaving suspiciously.

 

[Darth Roxor]

Had him betray me in my very first playthrough and I don't remember him behaving suspiciously.

I didn't see Yoshimo's betrayal coming either, but on the later playthroughs I noticed how nosy he is. Like, 'hohoho, so you're a child of a dead god? please tell me about your past/friends/family/adventures/everything'.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Valid questions when one learns about you being the child of a dead god

 

[Darth Roxor]

Except that, apart from him, nobody else somehow gives a damn so much.

 

[aries202]

Ah another stereotypical piece of diarrhea from Bioware. What a surprise.
Making "Sten" a party member is also retarded. Why would you tag along with totally not suspicious guy of an enemy race that hates you? Bioware is so bad it's double-bad. Is it really that hard to make a spy inside player's party without him being retarded with flashing arrows pointing "SPY!!" at him?
What's with this retarded "not my real name". Couldn't he just say his fake name without pointing out it isn't real?

In this excellent thread over at the DA forums on the Bioware boards

http://daforums.bioware.com/viewtopic.h ... &forum=135

David Gaider states that if you turn down an NPCs offering to be in your party (i.e. base camp), they leave --- for good. Thwy won't come back ever again. They're gone...

He also said, in his second post in the thread, that "If you don't think your character would agree to take on Sten, you don't have to." (same source as link above)

So Sten is not a person you have to take into your party at alle, if you don't want to do so. Other party members you're telling to take a hike, will indeed take a hike - litterally- away from you.

 

[MetalCraze]

Oh, and did Yoshimo flash "spy"? Had him betray me in my very first playthrough and I don't remember him behaving suspiciously.

Yes and Yoshimo was apparently from the race that considered you an enemy and was acting like a small child with "oh no I won't tell you my real name you infidel". Not suspicious at all.

I bet "Sten" will be a spy of some kind. Now all Bioware needs is a subquest for him where you help him to redeem himself and the circle is complete.

As for Yoshimo - he was done in a stupid way too. F.e. if you won't take him with you to the Asylum - like I did - when you will return to a place where you left him (f.e. in the Tavern) - he will blow up to bloody chunks without any explanation. Good job, Bioware.

So Sten is not a person you have to take into your party at alle, if you don't want to do so. Other party members you're telling to take a hike, will indeed take a hike - litterally- away from you.

Well at least Bioware did something normal in the river of crap. Now all they need to do is to release Dragon Age version 2004.

 

[Darth Roxor]

As for Yoshimo - he was done in a stupid way too. F.e. if you won't take him with you to the Asylum - like I did - when you will return to a place where you left him (f.e. in the Tavern) - he will blow up to bloody chunks without any explanation. Good job, Bioware.

I remember last time I played I left him in the tavern, and he was still there when I got back from Spellhold.