Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

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MixedDrops
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by MixedDrops »

AlucardNoir wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:51 pm How long was it before Black Panther got less then a perfect score from critics? let's not kid ourselves, professional critics do the same shit, and they don't even need a Reddit thread to plan their oh-so-samey reviews. Truth of the matter is that the only people that review shit on the internet are either getting paid to do so or have some sort of emotional investment in the product.
And as we all know, we can scientifically prove that everyone was lying about really liking Black Panther, and we have mountains of evidence proving everyone single reviewer was being paid off by studios to say good things about the movie.

I hope you can see the false equivalence between comparing established reviewers giving their take on a piece of media (and being able to look at the history of each reviewer so you can understand their tastes), even if they're only doing it because it's their job, and angry netizens organizing downvoting brigades because they had some kind of personal issue of one of the artists who created it. If you can't, then there's no reason for this conversation to go any further.
AlucardNoir wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2018 6:51 pm* - product used deliberately to remind you all that someone is making money from whatever game, movie, tv show, novel etc. we're discussing. Indifferent of what the politics of a modern "work of art" are, at the end of the day it's still something that's being sold to you.
I don't know why you're bringing up the financial aspect considering I didn't even mention it. If you're falling back on this cynical "it's all just there to make money anyway" stance, I don't even know why you're posting on a board focused on discussing works of media, almost all commercial.

Anyway my point there was that user review downvoting brigades seem to magically only happen with media where the creator expresses certain views, and the usual suspects who claim "I want politics out of my media" are conveniently absent (or even supportive) anytime something's expressing a conservative viewpoint instead. Hm.
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by AlucardNoir »

MixedDrops wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:17 pm I hope you can see the false equivalence between comparing established reviewers giving their take on a piece of media (and being able to look at the history of each reviewer so you can understand their tastes), even if they're only doing it because it's their job, and angry netizens organizing downvoting brigades because they had some kind of personal issue of one of the artists who created it. If you can't, then there's no reason for this conversation to go any further.
Congrats, you missed my point entirely. I wasn't saying studios payed the reviews I was saying the reviewers gave the movie a high score because it was the politically correct thing to do. Just go read a random assortment of Black Panther reviews. Most of the reviews discuss how "progressive" the movie is. They discuss how much of a big deal it is for the African american community, they discuss everything BUT the actual movie.

It's a Disney MCU movie, it was bound to be good, but for something like the first week it had a perfect score and almost all reviews that had given it that score had done so because of how politically important the movie was perceived to be. Fuck the acting, fuck the effects - that at times were lacking mind you - fuck the directing, fuck the script - that is medieval levels of conservative at times - this movie is made by mostly black people so it's getting the politically correct score. Don't believe me? go read the reviews.

As a Disney MCU movie it's good but it's not the best MCU movie out there and it's definitely not: http://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/02/20/ ... -tomatoes/

MixedDrops wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 1:17 pm Anyway my point there was that user review downvoting brigades seem to magically only happen with media where the creator expresses certain views, and the usual suspects who claim "I want politics out of my media" are conveniently absent (or even supportive) anytime something's expressing a conservative viewpoint instead. Hm.
Hm indeed. Then again, you might just be confusing what your little bubble popularizes with the actual truth.

https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-review-bo ... new-voice/

Sometimes it's not about views as much as it's about money and ease of access. And sometimes, like in the case of DAII and MEIII it's about being the follow-up to superior products. DAII isn't a 4/10, but it can easily become one if it has to be considered the follow-up for DAO. People that gave it a 4/10 didn't do so because it was a 4, they did so because it wasn't even close to DAO in scope and execution but claimed to be it's successor. It's the same thing we see with The Godfather part III. It's not a bad movie, it's just that when you put it side by side with Parts I & II ... well, let's not throw any more stones.

Reviewers might want to claim they are impartial, and they might want to treat each game as a unique "work of art" worthy of it's own criticism but let's not kid ourselves. The end consumer is more likely to buy the sequel to a game if they've played the original[no pun intended] then if they haven't so to treat each game as it's own thing and ignore the rest of the series is disingenuous. Especially in the age of twitch and youtube when even if you haven't played the original you still might have gotten exposed to it.

And this all is ignoring the actual elephant in the room, the extremely high score DAII got in the first place for your oh so saintly reviewers. The game was - and still is - a buggy mess, and like all AAA games it received the royal treatment. To bad Bioware isn't Bethesda, at least then we might have gotten a series of Unofficial Patches to fix the bugs Bioware didn't care to fix.

And if all that still hasn't convinced you, well, you can just take your "established reviewers" and enjoy the Cuphead tutorial with them in piece and blissful high scores. Or you can just go read the Kingdom Come Deliverance reviews from your "established reviewers". It's funny how almost all of those reviews start by pointing out the bugs, (something that almost never happens for titles like BioWare and Bethesda games), continue by accusing the game studio of racism ( I highly recommend the Eurogamer review, it's hilarious, especially when the "historical expert" they bring in just start speculating without any basis in reality), attack the lead developer and then tell you not to buy the game because of who the head of the studio is. (as a literal political statement)
If Chuck or a mod reads this feel free do delete my account. I would do it myself but I don't seem to be able to find a delete account option. phpBB should have such an option but I guess this isn't stock phpBB.
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by MixedDrops »

AlucardNoir wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:28 pmCongrats, you missed my point entirely. I wasn't saying studios payed the reviews I was saying the reviewers gave the movie a high score because it was the politically correct thing to do. Just go read a random assortment of Black Panther reviews. Most of the reviews discuss how "progressive" the movie is. They discuss how much of a big deal it is for the African american community, they discuss everything BUT the actual movie.

It's a Disney MCU movie, it was bound to be good, but for something like the first week it had a perfect score and almost all reviews that had given it that score had done so because of how politically important the movie was perceived to be. Fuck the acting, fuck the effects - that at times were lacking mind you - fuck the directing, fuck the script - that is medieval levels of conservative at times - this movie is made by mostly black people so it's getting the politically correct score. Don't believe me? go read the reviews.

As a Disney MCU movie it's good but it's not the best MCU movie out there and it's definitely not: http://comicbook.com/marvel/2018/02/20/ ... -tomatoes/
Do you think The Dark Knight deserved to be placed amongst the most critically reviewed films of all time, placed alongside The Godfather and The Shawshank Redemption, at the time of its release? If the answer to that is no, do you think The Dark Knight unfairly got nearly a perfect score in its beginning weeks because critics secretly wished that they lived in a police state that tapped into their private conversations with the goal of protecting them, or did they think it a thought-provoking the movie had brought up such themes?

Anyway, good to know that your powers of telepathy have led you to the conclusion that Black Panther only got good scores solely for its political aspects- something which, aside from being topical, was interwoven with the film's narrative and thus would merit discussion in a review about it. It's completely possible to discuss both the movie and any political messages, both in-text and outside, and in fact it would probably be the responsible thing to do if you're a critic. On that note, it's also good to note that you didn't read a great deal of the reviews and instead are just going with the tried-and-true truthiness of "everyone is just too PC to point out how average the movie actually is" that gets thrown around whenever a piece of media like this get praised.

I'm sure if you dig around for the obscure nobody reviewers you'll find a lot of low-quality ones that only discuss the political aspects and not how that relates to the movie itself, but you'll find far more from established reviewers like A.O. Scott or Richard Roeper doing what they always do. These stand in contrast to your typical user reviewer, both positive and negative, which usually go along the lines of "politics, therefore movie good/bad".
AlucardNoir wrote: Fri Apr 20, 2018 6:28 pm Hm indeed. Then again, you might just be confusing what your little bubble popularizes with the actual truth.

https://www.pcgamer.com/steam-review-bo ... new-voice/

Sometimes it's not about views as much as it's about money and ease of access. And sometimes, like in the case of DAII and MEIII it's about being the follow-up to superior products. DAII isn't a 4/10, but it can easily become one if it has to be considered the follow-up for DAO. People that gave it a 4/10 didn't do so because it was a 4, they did so because it wasn't even close to DAO in scope and execution but claimed to be it's successor. It's the same thing we see with The Godfather part III. It's not a bad movie, it's just that when you put it side by side with Parts I & II ... well, let's not throw any more stones.

Reviewers might want to claim they are impartial, and they might want to treat each game as a unique "work of art" worthy of it's own criticism but let's not kid ourselves. The end consumer is more likely to buy the sequel to a game if they've played the original[no pun intended] then if they haven't so to treat each game as it's own thing and ignore the rest of the series is disingenuous. Especially in the age of twitch and youtube when even if you haven't played the original you still might have gotten exposed to it.

And this all is ignoring the actual elephant in the room, the extremely high score DAII got in the first place for your oh so saintly reviewers. The game was - and still is - a buggy mess, and like all AAA games it received the royal treatment. To bad Bioware isn't Bethesda, at least then we might have gotten a series of Unofficial Patches to fix the bugs Bioware didn't care to fix.

And if all that still hasn't convinced you, well, you can just take your "established reviewers" and enjoy the Cuphead tutorial with them in piece and blissful high scores. Or you can just go read the Kingdom Come Deliverance reviews from your "established reviewers". It's funny how almost all of those reviews start by pointing out the bugs, (something that almost never happens for titles like BioWare and Bethesda games), continue by accusing the game studio of racism ( I highly recommend the Eurogamer review, it's hilarious, especially when the "historical expert" they bring in just start speculating without any basis in reality), attack the lead developer and then tell you not to buy the game because of who the head of the studio is. (as a literal political statement)
The cases you're citing doesn't really contradict what I said at all (that review brigaders being mad about games having politics are selective to which politics they get mad about), it just adds different cases to why review brigading happens- as you cited, user or consumer unfriendliness/sequel disappointment. Again, see games like Gone Home where neither applies.

And since we're still talking about review aggregates, part of the issue isn't so much that the review score average came out as being much lower than the professional critic score, it's that said cases are almost always because of review brigades spamming 0-score reviews, indicating that they're not actually interested in making any sort of fair assessment to the product in question. Somehow you keep accusing professional reviewers of being equal or worse in doing this- you could make a good case of professional reviews having inflated scores, but I'll still get a lot more value out of reading what many of them have to say. And like I said in my first post, I didn't enjoy DA2 much at all, but I can still get something substantive out of many of the professional reviews. User reviews on aggregate sites almost never have anything substantive to say about the work, and the 0-score spamming is just the cherry on top.

Finally, thanks for bringing up that Cuphead nontroversy so I can know you probably make a habit of being part of the mob of people who make mountains out of molehills. A famous case of a game being previewed by someone who was clearly paying little attention to what he was doing used as evidence to...something, apparently. Let's also ignore the fact that despite the bugginess and assholish behavior of one of the devs on Kingdom Come Deliverance, it still got generally good reviews and received glowing praise for its attempt at historical realism, contrasted with the typical "sjws, therefore game bad" level of discourse I can get from your typical negative review brigading (Again, see reviews for games like Gone Home). It turns out that again, you can focus on more than one thing of a work of art at once.
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by AlucardNoir »

1. No Batman shouldn't have gotten a perfect score. It was dumb then and it was dumb for Black Panther.

2. I don't read reviews to disagree or agree with them. I read them to try and make my mind about going to see a movie. I also don't go out of my way to read reviews, I read them were it's convenient. Every site I usually visit had a "review" that praised the movie for it's political importance and nothing else. It might be my fault for only visiting sites that are mostly progressive in nature and not spend my time on more "reputable" sites or right leaning sites but that's how it is. From those over 300 reviews that gave the movie a literal perfect score for it's first week I read more then my fair share and most were only positive because of the political importance of the movie and didn't even talk about anything else.

3. The cases I'm citing don't contradict your point? Your point was about user reviews while mine was about - what did you call them? ah, yes - "established reviewers". The sole reason I brought up the Cuphead debacle and the laughable Eurogamer review is because those were made by "established reviewers" working for site's that publish game reviews regularly and those weren't their first reviews.

What does the Cuphead review prove? alone nothing, but when we read the actual review and see that the video wasn't just a one off but actually informed your "established reviewers" opinion of the game as a whole, when we look back at your "established reviewers" rather long history of game reviews and notice that this wasn't the first time he gave a game a bad score because he's bad at video games and his experiences are not representative of the public that is likely to read his reviews it starts proving something - it proves that your "established reviewers" are established because they are entrenched in the industry and that their opinions shouldn't matter just because it's their job to write them out.

As for Kingdom come Deliverance, I take it you still haven't actually read the Eurogamer review from one of your "established reviewers" have you? The following is from that review:
"We know of African kings in Constantinople on pilgrimage to Spain; we know of black Moors in Spain; we know of extensive travel of Jews from the courts of Cordoba and Damascus; we also know of black people in large cities in Germany," the historian, Sean Miller, tells me. Czech cities Olomouc and Prague were on the famous Silk Road which facilitated the trade of goods all over the world. If you plot a line between them, it runs directly through the area recreated in Kingdom Come. "You just can't know nobody got sick and stayed a longer time," he says. "What if a group of black Africans came through and stayed at an inn and someone got pregnant? Even one night is enough for a pregnancy."
A literally baseless supposition presented as an argument from authority. And one preceded with both irrelevant information, the presence of African nobility in other parts of Europe - at different times then the game's setting mind you - and factually wrong information, the presence of cities like Olomouc and Prague on the silk road. They weren't, the silk road didn't actually go that far inland. And then there's the facts bereft supposition at the end.

There's taking into account the politics of the lead game designer and then there's ad hominem attacks. Most if not all articles that waste time on Vavra do so in an attempt to smear him by association. He likes the music of who exactly? Most articles that try to prove how racist the lack of people of color is do so by pointing to other regions and other time periods in European history.

Your point was that user generated review bombs happen when the users disagree with something the creators said, mine was that that's only one case of when they happen. (though by now I believe we've reached the point were we might as well be yelling Men rape! and Not all men, why generalize?)

Your point was :
I hope you can see the false equivalence between comparing established reviewers giving their take on a piece of media (and being able to look at the history of each reviewer so you can understand their tastes), even if they're only doing it because it's their job, and angry netizens organizing downvoting brigades because they had some kind of personal issue of one of the artists who created it.
mine was that that entire line of thought is bullshit. Just because someone is established in a field doesn't mean they're good at what they do or that they should keep doing it. I sat out to dismantle that particular argument from the start.

That's why the Black Panther reviews were brought up in the first place. That's why I brought up the Cuphead debacle and the Eurogamer "what if" review. To show you that people on the opposite political spectrum do the exact same shit. That's why I brought up the fact that we're talking about products at the end of the day. A studio doesn't really care if a movie or game or whatnot is progressive or not, but they'll be damned if they won't use that as an excuse to attack criticism. Do you remember the "everybody that doesn't like the Ghostbuster 2016 is sexist" mantra your established reviewers and their other friends from the press had at the time? Do you remember how for some strange reason you were sexist if you didn't find the movie funny? do you remember how you had to be sexist if you had disliked the trailer? Now, do you remember what chuck said in his video? how everybody that disliked DAII has to be, sexist? or homophobic? Do you remember how your established reviewers jumped on the protect DAII bandwagon without a second thought? How they accused the people leaving negative reviews of being sexist and homophobic? what what was your reply to all that?
Even as someone who really didn't like DA2, I don't care for referencing Metacritic for any sort of useful data, especially reader reviews. It's pretty well-known that people with too much time on their hands (particularly unsavory portions of the Internet) love to organize downvoting brigades on sites like that, and this is especially magnified with games with any kind of controversial content. The hateboners especially show themselves with games coming from studios who have expressed certain left-leaning views like Bioware (left leaning in the modern day meaning "gay people exist").
and
The only thing a bad user review score tells you is that the game stepped on some toes (and given how selective these discrepancies seem to happen, they also have to be the "right" toes- probably in more ways than one).
Your argument doesn't pass muster. User reviews aren't any worse then the ones from - come on now, say it with me - "established reviewers".
If Chuck or a mod reads this feel free do delete my account. I would do it myself but I don't seem to be able to find a delete account option. phpBB should have such an option but I guess this isn't stock phpBB.
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by MetalixK »

I honestly think Chuck is being way too nice with his assessment of Elthina. I personally think she's a LOT more manipulative and scheming than she let's off.

Granted, pretty much ALL of this comes from a fan Tumblr called Dragon Age Meta, but I think the author raises some good points.

http://dragonagemeta.tumblr.com/tagged/elthina
Let’s start with Elthina’s actions immediately following the 9:21 uprising, shall we?

In the Codex entry for Meredith Stannard, we see:

The acting knight-commander was arrested and executed,

[Author Note: This actually conflicts with the History of Kirkwall, which states that mercenaries “stormed the Gallows and hung the Knight-Commander Guylian”. Which makes you wonder, is Genitivi, THoK’s author, pulling a Varric and embellishing his history to make it more sympathetic for the Chantry’s position?]

and Meredith led a group of templars into the heart of the Keep to capture Threnhold. He was tried and imprisoned three days later by Grand Cleric Elthina and died from poisoning two years later. Meredith was subsequently elevated to her current position.

So Elthina imprisons Threnhold, and he somehow dies from poisoning two years later, while still imprisoned. You don’t just catch poison. Someone has to poison you. And who would have the best opportunity to poison a prisoner but the jailor?

Oh, I’m not saying Elthina herself slipped some iocane powder into Threnhold’s gruel and watched as he laughed himself to death about land wars in Asia. But I am saying that it was on her watch, on her time, that one of (if not the) most high profile prisoner she has dies.

This, you’ll note, is a pattern with her.

Sister/Mother Petrice believes the Qunari are a menace to Kirkwall. And allow me a slight aside here: Petrice may come off as a First Class Whackadoo in game, but the truth is, she actually has a really good point. Less than 200 years ago, according to THoK – although, granted, we already know that’s a Chantry text and therefore its bias is suspect – the Qunari occupied Kirkwall less than 200 years ago in a horrifically bloody reign that included forced labor camps, children being taken from their families, and forced conversions. No wonder Kirkwall, and especially the Kirkwall Chantry, is shitting itself over the Qunari presence.

We know, for a fact, that Petrice is purposefully trying to inflame passions against the Qunari. She tries to set up an incident where Qunari murder an innocent group of humans aiding a Saarebas (which has its own fascinating implications, but I’ll save for another post). She enables a Templar to kidnap, torture and murder an entire delegation of Qunari diplomats, all while using the seal of the Grand Cleric. And interestingly, in a throwaway line, Petrice tells you that she gives sermons from the pulpit about the dangers of the Qunari presence.

Petrice clearly sees it as her duty to inflame, to incite, to enrage Kirkwall against the Qunari – to keep them afraid and seeking the Chantry’s guidance.

So what does Elthina do about her?

She gives Petrice a promotion.

Doesn’t seem like a rebuke or a repudiation of what Petrice is doing to me.

Now recall how betrayed Petrice seems when Elthina rebukes her for her killing Saemus, and tells her (in front of Hawke, mind you) that she must stand trial for her acts. It’s clear Petrice didn’t expect that from her. And why should she? After all, somehow Petrice managed to get the Seal of the Grand Cleric and give it to Varnell during “Offered and Lost”.

Again: I’m not saying Elthina handed Petrice the Seal. But boy, it sure is curious how these things just keep happening right under her nose, isn’t it, but with juuuust enough distance that she can claim she didn’t know about it.

Now recall how blasé Elthina is about Petrice’s death. A Qunari shoots one of her Blessed Mothers in the FACEand Elthina? She keeps on walking up the stairs without so much as a gasp, or a “How dare you?” or even a look of surprise.

My first couple playthroughs, that scene always confused me. I mean, shouldn’t Elthina be upset about Petrice’s death? She is a fellow Sister, after all.

Until I realized that Petrice’s death might be just what she wanted all along. Because a Qunari murdering a Blessed Mother, one who’s been warning Kirkwall of the Qunari menace for four years? Oh boy. You better believe that’s going to start some panic in Kirkwall.

Again: Elthina didn’t kill Petrice, and if you just look at the face of it, it once again looks like she had nothing to do with it, right? But this time, it quite literallyhappens right under her nose.

By themselves, each of these incidents don’t really implicate Elthina. But when you arrange them, you start to see a pattern emerge, and that’s one of Elthina the Teflon Pan, whom nothing bad or dirty or deceitful ever sticks to.

And if there’s one thing a lifetime of studying history and politics has taught me, it’s never trust Teflon.

One last point, because I know this is already so long:

From Elthina’s codex, we know:

Some claim that Elthina’s advanced age has rendered her ineffective, and that she allows Knight-Commander Meredith more leeway with each passing year.

Ineffective? Or underestimated?

After all, it works to Elthina’s advantage, doesn’t it, to be dismissed and ignored – for all the anti-Templar vitriol to be put on Meredith’s shoulders and not hers.

But the truth of the matter is: Elthina outranks Meredith.

Elthina is the head of the Chantry, and the Chantry is in charge of the Templars, and hell, Elthina was the one who appointed Meredith in the first place. If Elthina really, truly wanted to, she has every right, every authority to step in and tell Meredith to back off. In fact, we even see her do that in the intro to Act 3, when she tells Meredith to “be a good girl” and stand down from Orsino.

But she doesn’t.

And while Elthina’s inaction might be construed as senility or, if I’m being charitable, a desire for compromise, I think it’s just one more link in the pattern – just another political kerfluffle that Elthina somehow, conveniently, manages to be juuuuust too far removed from to get her hands dirty. Meredith’s running rampant in the city, and somehow nobody blames Elthina, because Elthina is the Teflon Cleric.

Elthina has nothing to lose and everything to gain by appearing publicly to be a voice of reason, of compromise—regardless of whether that’s what she’s really doing and saying and advocating behind closed doors. She gains nothing by taking sides. But she does gain quite a bit of political influence by seeming to be everyone’s friend.

And she is everyone’s friend, isn’t she? She’s the mages’ friend, the Templars’ friend, the nobility’s friend – hell, she’s even bosom buddies with the rightful heir of neighboring city-state, Starkhaven.

Never, ever trust someone who’s friends with everybody.

In fact, of all people, Cullen, everyone’s favorite Fucked-Up Brillo Pad, has the right of it:

“[Elthina] is bound by faith and duty to support the Templars. We have dominance over mages by divine right. But it is cruel how she leads them on, letting them think they might have a chance at rebellion.”

Yes, Cullen. It is cruel. Very. But not particularly surprising."
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by Steve »

An interesting alternative viewpoint, certainly.

Although with Elthina, I think it might also be a combination of genuine belief that she can't meaningfully act against Meredith (Meredith is apparently already agitating with the Chantry's leadership with some success, and if it comes down to it, Meredith is the one with the armed soldiers)... and perhaps some complacency and passiveness, even some fatalism or at least a tendency to take a religious viewpoint of "bad things happen, I can't stop them", which would include Petrice's activities. Elthina's role may very well be the one who is condemned not for action, but inaction. For wasting her moral authority in pursuit of a perfect ideal compromise, or because she was afraid of losing control of Meredith.

The latter is, let's be honest, the most likely outcome, regardless of whether or not Elthina is the Teflon Cleric or just a weak-willed ceremonial leader. DAI even bears this out: the Templars rebelled from the Chantry. Putting the mages "back in their place" was more important to them.
"No folly is more costly than the folly of intolerant idealism." - Sir Winston L. S. Churchill, Princips Britannia

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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by CharlesPhipps »

I think the issue is a lot simpler and more troublesome because it's not an issue that can be resolved.

* She's aware Meredith is a fanatic.
* She's EQUALLY aware Kirkwall is hiding a huge number of blood mage psychopaths.
* She's UNAWARE Meredith is afflicted by an evil One Ring artifact
* She's also unaware that the leader of the blood mages in Kirkwall is the First Enchanter
* Petrice is a renegade and a rogue but the Qunari ARE enemies of the Chantry and refuse to explain why they're in the city.
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by AlucardNoir »

Well fuck. That's horribly realistic CharlesPhipps. Damn it, now you've got me questioning the little old ineffective and inoffensive lady.
If Chuck or a mod reads this feel free do delete my account. I would do it myself but I don't seem to be able to find a delete account option. phpBB should have such an option but I guess this isn't stock phpBB.
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by Winter »

One point that has always bugged me with Elthina is how arrogant she acts in her last scene if you bought the Exiled Prince DLC. She is told by Hawke that the Divine wants her out of Kirkwall as this powder keg dressed as a city is about to go off and her being their will only make the situation worse.

Elthina then just brushes this off and acts rather smug and ignoring a direct order from her boss. Now her reason for staying does actually make sense as she will not abound her "flock" but the way she says makes it seem like she has her head in the clouds and if she just ignores the problem it will go away. She also acts the same way when Hawke asks her to help with the Templars to help at least defuse the problem a little bit. Her response, she says that the Templars and Mages need to learn compromise without ever clarifying how the two are suppose to compromise.

It's weird, some times she's written very well and you can see why she is seen as one of the few competent leaders in Kirkwall only for her to start acting all high and mighty towards the games final act. This is likely another issue from the games rushed development, had DA2 been given more time it's likely that Elthina would have been the reasonable authority figure throughout the game and her tendency to act rather smug would have been toned down or removed altogether.
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Re: Dragon Age II: EA boogaloo

Post by GloatingSwine »

AlucardNoir wrote: Sat Apr 21, 2018 5:03 am Your argument doesn't pass muster. User reviews aren't any worse then the ones from - come on now, say it with me - "established reviewers".
Actually they are. Y'see, an actual reviewer has a number of things user reviewers do not.

The first is consistency of visibility. With an established reviewer you can compare their review to all the other reviews from the same person to form an overall picture of their tastes and preferences and thereby determine the how valuable their opinion is to you.

User reviews are drive bys by people you will never see again.

Also, established reviewers, both at the level of the publication and the individual, have something at stake. Their professional reputation.

If a user review is an axe grinding shill (which a plurality of them are) then pointing out that they are an axe grinding shill does nothing. They're a drive by by a person you will never see again.

If an established reviewer is an axe grinding shill, or a publication gets caught snuggling too closely in bed with a publisher, their professional reputation can be damaged and that can affect their hirability and profitability. (See: Gamespot. Oh wait....)


User reviews are the least useful collection of words since Donald Trump got a twitter account.
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