#without significantly expanding their pool of writers to get the perspectives of people they're attempting to represent at least

[sun-marie]

It's been a while since I last thought seriously about Dr*gon A*e (even prior to falling in love with BG3) and I think a big part of that is I'm not as big a fan of the setting and the worldbuilding as I used to be. Like to me it really does feel like BW looked at typical fantasy settings and went "hmm okay but what if there was Catholic-enforced racism and abelism". And like. Cool thought experiment bro. Do we really need three games made by primarily white guys about that.

#dragon age critical #marie speaks #idk if ableism is the best comparison for mage oppression but idk you get my larger point #I've heard that DA was supposedly BW's critical response to settings like Forgotten Realms after making the og BG games #and idk if that's true but I'd be willing to believe that bc that's what a lot of it's world building feels like #“oh u thought the elves where gonna be ethereal and respected? nah they're a haphazard blend of irl oppressed groups” #“oh u thought this fantasy world was gonna have a plethora of interesting and dynamic deities and gods? nah it's just fantasy Catholicism” #“oh u thought people who can use magic would have respected places in society? nah they're locked in jail for being Different” #like I feel like these ideas were kinda cool for one game. An expanded thought experiment #but idk if they were strong enough to sustain an entire franchise #without significantly expanding their pool of writers to get the perspectives of people they're attempting to represent at least #but that's a whole different issue #anyway DA has some legit cool concepts like the Grey Wardens that I will always love #and most of their early character work is still really strong #but for me every time that setting rears it's head problems arise #anyway if you're still a DA fan that's totally fine! I'm very happy for you! #don't let my salty ramblings spoil what resonates with you from these games #I'm just reflecting bc it used to be a huge part of my life especially through like all of highschool #and now it's just. not.