Editorial Moral Grey Areas in Dragon Age

[VentilatorOfDoom]

Tags: BioWare; Dragon Age

get <a href="http://greywardens.com/2010/03/the-good-the-bad-the-grey-wardens/">examined</a> by GreyWardens.com.
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<p style="margin-left:50px;border-style:solid;border-width:1px;border-top-color:#ffffff;padding:5px;border-right-color:#bbbbbb;border-left-color:#ffffff;border-bottom-color:#bbbbbb;">DA:O makes being all good or all evil extremely difficult. There is no system to reward good decisions (or evil ones), unlike the BioWare RPGs that have preceded it. In the Mass Effect world, you have the Paragon/Renegade scale. The closer to each extreme you fall, the greater number of options you’ll have in dialogue. In Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, there’s the Light Side/Dark Side of the force, and choosing one opens up new abilities. The decisions in DA:O themselves are not so clearly bad or good. Often something that seems like a good decision at the time has unexpected, dark consequences. One word: Landsmeet.
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One of the first decisions a player has to make after surviving Ostagar is whether to enlist the aid of a warrior who was imprisoned for killing an entire family, even the children. During my first DA:O playthrough (which, I will readily admit, was full of fail — I didn’t even find Leliana!), I decided that it would be worthwhile to recruit Sten into my motley crew, even though I was playing a generally good little elven mage and his admission of murder was unsettling. I proceeded to the Chantry to convince the Revered Mother to let him go, and got my first taste of a good person doing a not-so-good thing when the only option I had was to intimidate the priestess. Alistair didn’t appreciate that. Come to think of it, he didn’t really like me much that playthrough.
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Is BioWare-personality-larping getting more grey? Moral grey?
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Spotted at: <A HREF="http://www.gamebanshee.com/news/97272-the-good-the-bad-the-grey-wardens.html">GB</A>

 

[Gosling]

"Freckles, known occasionally as Jenn Burke, is the newest Grey Warden recruit to survive the Joining process. She's been playing Dragon Age: Origins since its launch, and is the proud creator of the Archdemon Cake. She is also the officer/spokesperson for the We <3 Alistair fan group on the BioWare Social Network."

 

[entertainer]

"Freckles, known occasionally as Jenn Burke, is the newest Grey Warden recruit to survive the Joining process. She's been playing Dragon Age: Origins since its launch, and is the proud creator of the Archdemon Cake. She is also the officer/spokesperson for the We <3 Alistair fan group on the BioWare Social Network."

what the fuck

 

[Kane]

they crafted a community without even having MP. genius.

 

[Sceptic]

Often something that seems like a good decision at the time has unexpected, dark consequences. One word: Landsmeet.

No, not "one word'. Elaborate please. I don't remember any decision I made at the Landsmeet having "unexpected" consequences. I don't remember any decision I made FOR the Landsmeet having unexpected consequences either for that matter. Rescuing a noble's son from Howe's dungeons nets me his aid? gee that was unexpected.

OK I lie: I thought killing the Arl's son in cold blood would make him hate me. It was therefore totally unexpected when he helped me at the Landsmeet anyway.

I will readily admit, was full of fail — I didn’t even find Leliana!

Yes you are full of fail. How the fuck did you manage to do that? All you need to do is walk into the tavern, which is one of a grand total of what 2, 3 buildings that you can enter in Lothering? and you missed the whole fucking building? Really?

I was playing a generally good little elven mage [...] Alistair didn’t appreciate that. Come to think of it, he didn’t really like me much that playthrough.

Then you were not playing a generally good mage. Alistair, like most NPCs in the game, is cut from cardboard when it comes to reaction to your deeds.

 

[dragonfk]

Damn, I thought that it was 'GayWardens.com'. It's so easy to mistake it.

 

[Gragt]

"Freckles, known occasionally as Jenn Burke, is the newest Grey Warden recruit to survive the Joining process. She's been playing Dragon Age: Origins since its launch, and is the proud creator of the Archdemon Cake. She is also the officer/spokesperson for the We <3 Alistair fan group on the BioWare Social Network."

what the fuck

 

[GarfunkeL]

This comment has been deleted by the administrator.

I tried to post a comment but apparently they have RPGCodex on the automatical "delete" list. Awesome!

Ninja-edit, oops it was because of fuck. Can't say the F-word or we'll all burn in hell!

 

[Gragt]

Think of the children, you jizz fetcher!

 

[PlanHex]

Damn, I thought that it was 'GayWardens.com'. It's so easy to mistake it.

The newspost is actually a whole lot better if you exchange every instance of the word "grey" with the word "ghey"

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

"Freckles, known occasionally as Jenn Burke, is the newest Grey Warden recruit to survive the Joining process. She's been playing Dragon Age: Origins since its launch, and is the proud creator of the Archdemon Cake. She is also the officer/spokesperson for the We <3 Alistair fan group on the BioWare Social Network."

what the fuck

 

[Clockwork Knight]

I want an Archdemon Cake

 

[Xor]

I want an Archdemon Cake

Quoting this so its google rank rises.

 

[poocolator]

pants

 

[Jaesun]

I want an Archdemon Cake

Quoting this so its google rank rises.

 

[Volourn]

Just finished my first playthrough and, boy, do I ever have a bad taste in my mouth. Over all, I enjoyed it up until the end with only a couple of qualms (ignoring the new dialogue system which didn't work for me at all, but is a separate issue, I think). There were too many 'fetch 'x' number of 'y' quests, and I found some of the side quests pointlessly bleak (Corin's proposal, the man who couldn't buy the house).

I should have paid attention to those, however, because they were a sign of where this was going. It was a big sign that said 'don't expect fun. This is going to end badly.' They were quests where there was no win, and there was no win in Awakening as a whole. It didn't have the fun of Origins at all. That was probably the point, to take it darker. It was certainly dark. Way too dark for me. I find myself wishing I'd stopped with Origins. It ruined my happy ending. It's possible that I just made all the wrong choices, but somehow, I suspect the ending is bleak no matter what you do.

I did all that work on the Vigil just so the defenders could be overwhelmed in a week rather than a day? Really? After the battle with the Mother, I expected to return to the keep to fight alonside my men. I also thought reinforcements might arrive, given that Alistair said that he'd be back as soon as possible. Even if he'd arrived too late, I expected him to show up. That was disappointing.

Not as disappointing as the last line of the epilogue though. My PC goes back to court only to disappear in a couple of years? Shades of KOTOR. I didn't like that then, and I like it even less now. I might feel differently about it if there'd been any mention of the companions going after him/her, but nope. Nothing.

Dark fantasy treads a fine line. I though Origins did that pretty well. It allowed for people to go well off the heroic track if they wished, but also allowed those who don't find that appealing to deal with difficult choices, but still feel like they'd achieved a victory, both for themselves, and their companions. Here? Not so much.

I might try playing it again and see if I can mitigate the level of 'bad' somewhat, but I find I don't actually want to. I'm pretty depressed about the whole thing.

 

[Gay-Lussac]

holy shit if there was one post that could dissuade me from downloading awakening that was it

 

[DriacKin]

:shock: :shock: :shock:
Umm...did I just see what I think I saw? Did Volourn just criticize a BioWare game?

 

[DraQ]

BLARGH!

So it expectedly sucked?

Good thing I didn't bother with this game then.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

:shock: :shock: :shock:
Umm...did I just see what I think I saw? Did Volourn just criticize a BioWare game?

He does that from time to time. Volly is just either extremely passionate or extremely rancorous of certain games

none of that "middle ground" bullshit

 

[Mister Arkham]

:shock: :shock: :shock:
Umm...did I just see what I think I saw? Did Volourn just criticize a BioWare game?

Did Volourn just use comprehensible grammar and syntax?

I mean, I'm not complaining. It's just...so unexpected?

 

[GarfunkeL]

WHITE KNIGHT TO THE RESCUE!

You are full of Fail RPGCodex. Just appreciate the post - if you have question ask. Do not be so insulting.

Thanks for the article - I appreciated it,

But actually, the author actually responded:

Just to clarify, the decision I was referring to at the Landsmeet was sparing Loghain and how it had unexpected consequences: Alistair leaving the party permanently. Up until that point, he will stick with you regardless of what you do, so that action took many players by surprise.

Yes, I actually did miss the entire tavern in Lothering on my first playthrough, and I couldn't figure out why no one wanted the pretty flowers I kept finding... And, yes, I felt really stupid on my next playthrough that it was RIGHT THERE.

My first elven mage was trying very hard to be good, but between intimidating the Revered Mother in Lothering, killing Connor (because I didn't think going to the Circle was a viable option), and various other bad choices Alistair didn't like, I didn't get his approval up to 100. I have since rectified that on many subsequent playthroughs.

Sorry you didn't seem to like this article. I hope you'll read upcoming articles anyway!

What to reply?

 

[Monocause]

Well, the reply is surprisingly level-headed so I'd advise against flogging n' such.

 

[Jaesun]

STOP THE LIES VOLOURN! AWAKENING IS BIOWARE AT IT'S BEST!

 

[racofer]

It seems that I've predicted the future today.

Unfortunately (or not) I don't have an opinion regarding DAOA yet, given that I haven't even managed to finish DAO since it bored me to death every time I tried to play it. The game is just not enjoyable to play. However, I'm replaying Mass Effect and enjoying it once more