Dragon Age: Absolution: A Return to the DA Tone

[Winter]

youtu.be/X7MZuR8RM48

I LOVE Dragon Age: Inquisition. It's my favorite BioWare game and at the time of this writing I am replaying it yet again because I enjoy it so much. Sure it has it's flaws but after replaying the first two DA games and the Mass Effect: Legendary Edition I find that these are flaws that have been with BioWare for a while and DAI's version of said flaws are honestly not as bad as they are in other BW games but that's a discussion for another time.

However, in the DA series DAI is the odd one out in terms of tone and style. Dragon Age: Origins and Dragon Age 2 are both dark fantasies with a heavy emphasis on dark themes and directly deals with things like Blood Magic, Slavery, Tyranny and Morally Grey Decisions (YOU WANT ME TO DO WHAT?!). DAI is not nearly as dark as the other games and many fans were put off by this, even those like me who like it the most out of the series found the tone shift to be a little jarring.

Now I actually like that DAI is a bit more lighthearted because, TBH, the darker tone of the first two games was relentless and just started to get to me to the point that I had to stop playing the game for days on end before going back to it.

However, DA is a dark fantasy so it does follow that it has to have a darker tone and with the upcoming Netflix show it seems that the show is at least returning to this tone.

As you saw the show's main character is a former slave who's on a mission to steal an artifact that is Powered by Blood Magic. I like this as a it's a simple premise and simple premises tend to lead to good or even great stories but this does seem to be refocusing the series back to its dark fantasy roots.

I also like the fact that Rezaren, the shows main antagonist, doesn't seem to be some mad man who wants to rule the world but rather a tragic figure who wants to make Tevinter a Better Place. The difference is Rezaren is doing so by the means that is destroying Tevinter in the first place while Dorian seeks to reform Tevinter to make it better.

Miriam is also interesting because her dark past is clearly such a major part of her character and clearly colors her world view. She has the potential to change the world and help people but she was so beaten down that she only seeks to just get by in life with her thieving. Her relationship with Hira is also rather interesting as Mages do not have the best reputation in Thedas and yet it's stated that Miriam and Hira were once in a relationship that Miriam seemed to have broken off at some point.

This reminds me a lot of Fenris from DA2 and while I may have issues with the character with how he was handled I don't hate Fenris and do think he's an interesting character. He's a slave from Tevinter who has lost many of his memories and has escaped yet is so trapped in his world view that he can't help but point out how all mages are evil. He can change but it takes a lot of effort on the players part.

Miriam seems to be trying to change and it will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the show and if Miriam will be a companion in Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.

Anyways, looks interesting and I hope that this is a good show in its own right and helps add to the hype train that BioWare intends to get started next month.

[Thebestoftherest]

Is this coming to the switch and two a good starting place

[hammerofglass]

It was fun. The ending suffered a bit from too many sequel hooks but the immediate plot was wrapped up.