Sunshine Challenge 2020 #1

[alaterdate]

sunshine_challenge : Prompt 1: Red

Red reminds me of...(wait for it)...Dragon Age. Big surprise right? Actually thinking about it though opens up a well of ideas I haven't previously discussed (to anyone who isn't my best friend that has to listen to me rave about DA for hours on end).

Red is the color of dragons. The color of blood. Raw lyrium, lyrium dust. Red lyrium itself. Aggression in the form of a dialogue choice. Rivalry.

Red is always opposed to Blue. Demons are Red, Spirits are blue. Regular lyrium is Blue, corrupted lyrium is Red. Red is the color of corruption. Red is the color of evil. Apparently.

Perhaps Red is the color of things misunderstood? Dragons are the underlying current of all of Thedas, according to Yavanna. Blood magic is not inherently evil. We still have no official source of where Red lyrium comes from (though it does infect people and do monstrous things). Demons are spirits corrupted from their original nature/purpose and can apparently be returned to Spirit form. Rivalry is, meta-tastically, misunderstood. Red!Hawke can be the greatest hero in Kirkwall while Purple! or Blue! Hawkes can do downright evil things while maintaining the veneer of an aloof or calming demeanor.

These last two things are probably my favorite things. I love Red!Hawke, also known as "Aggressive Hawke". Just because someone is (understandably) angry it doesn't make them bad. Anger doesn't have to make you evil. I know that for a fact. The idea that any anger at all is bad, is harmful. Also I guess I find it very cathartic to be able to snap at people in a video game when I push down my anger in real life because of aforementioned societal pressure 😄 The best part is that you can snap at someone and then save their life. Picking the Red options doesn't always come with doing something harmful.
In contrast I once played a Purple!Hawke or "Humorous Hawke", but picked the unjust actions and she was the evilest character I ever played. Picking the ruthless options to end a quest while also having Hawke make quips about it the entire time felt so awful! She displayed ZERO empathy, negative empathy! It was shocking lmao. She stole a child's money and left him to be hunted down by a rival thief guild and she finished the conversation with a quip! That's when I knew she was truly evil lmao. I still feel that Red!Hawke doing the "evil" actions is so trite. A Purple! Hawke doing them is demonic lol. (A Blue!Hawke doing them feels ironic. Especially as a female Hawke because she has that really innocent voice acting for the Diplomatic Personality.)

As for Rivalry. OH! How I love it! Rivalry is a component of Dragon Age II's relationship meter. In previous and post games the meter simply reflects friendship and approval of your actions by your companions. They are either your friend or they hate you and will leave without second thought (if they are a non-essential character). In DA2 we got this wonderful little feature where you could challenge your companion's worldview and they could still respect you and be your companion.
It's the difference between telling someone that they shouldn't do X, to which they respond by ghosting you forever so they can do X in peace and them thinking about and realizing that maybe they shouldn't do X. Like oh say X is, y'know, hating all mages unquestionably and thinking they should rightfully be locked up forever or die. Extreme view no?

I think some characters really benefited from the option to challenge them like Fenris, but it's not the best in every case for everyone, both player and character alike. Like for Merrill, I don't think she actually ever did anything wrong and would never rival her, but some people do think that she acts with disregard for those around her and see the rivalry as an opportunity to tell her that.
Of course, nuance is hard to grasp apparently. Plenty of people despise the rivalry system wholeheartedly because it's "mean." It can be, for sure, but again let's look again at Fenris.
You know what can get you friendship points with this guy? Prejudice and blackmail. While Rivalry with him comes from giving mages a chance to prove that they are not scourge of the earth. And yet I've seen people twist and bend over backwards to declare that Rivalry with Fenris is bad and mean. Just because with Friendship he mellows out in tone and acts meek when he speaks to Hawke doesn't mean that Friendship is good if the second you leave the conversation you are back to actively harming people like Feynriel for those +15 Friendship points. (Yes, there are other ways to get Friendship points with him like by killing slavers, but his core belief is that all mages are evil and easily succumb to demons.)
Its mind boggling, that people have tried to argue that all Rivalries are bad.
I wish the rivalry system would return. (I've actually made an outline for an essay on why Rivalry is superb, but I haven't had the focus to write it.) I want to challenge my companions and I think there will always be some that could benefit from it. It doesn't have to be "mean" or "wrong." It is not hate.
ALSO it's a videogame people 😫 (and enemies to lovers is 😙👌)

These two things tie heavily into my Hawke character that I like to write fanfics about 😊 And I have a paragraph that relies on the Red themes in Dragon Age.

Meredith’s shrieking stopped when the lyrium closed her throat and solidified her body into stone. Red light peeked through spider cracks in her form like veins full of blood pulled to the surface. The shimmering light drew Aviel forward. He looked down at the husk kneeling on the Gallows floor and briefly wondered if he, too, would one day be consumed from the inside out. Like Meredith. Like mages who lost their lives to blood magic and demons.

Aviel is very special to me 😅 And I love exploring how both anger and love and all things red shape him 😊

Comments

[pauraque]

I've never played the Dragon Age games and don't know much about them, so this was an interesting read! I like your thoughts on the distinction between challenging someone and being "mean" to them. It's true, challenging someone doesn't have to be hostile or mean-spirited. They may need to be challenged in order to become the best person they can be. (I'm not religious, but this makes me think of Proverbs 27:17 - "As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.")

Side note, I checked out your profile (as you do) and laughed out loud at "the 3 Rs: Reading, 'Riting, and Rvideogames." Good one! XD

[alaterdate]

Thank you! Yes, sometimes conflict comes from caring. I love Fenris the most, but I always rival him. (Even though my character changes his stance later in the game. So they kind of meet in the middle.) Ooooh, I'm not religious either, but I do like interesting scriptures and I think it's very fitting for DA2.

That's my favorite joke! I slapped it on all my profiles immediately after I thought of it XD I'm glad it made you laugh too.

[enemytosleep]

Oh man, I have had two friends each pitching me to try a new game. One is a Skyrim fan and the other is a Dragon Age fan. What might I expect from a DA game, and is there a favorite DA of yours?

[alaterdate]

There's three Dragon Age games and they are vastly different gameplay wise. Origins is a classic top down tactical game like Baldur's Gate with some tabletop RPG elements in terms of skills and allocating ability points to unlock fighting abilities. The game leans heavily towards narrative and character interaction with your companions, but also has a great combat system especially when it comes to mages. Tough choices and romance!

DA 2 (no fancy name lmao 😭) is my favorite. It's more of an action/hack & slash game. Toned down on the tabletop elements with the exclusion of skills like persuasion and stealing (lockpicking still reqs. cunning). Very focused on story and characters. The gameplay is a lot less involved, but the unique mechanics introduced in other places make up for it. Main character is voiced and develops a personality based on your choices, everyone is romanceable regardless of PC's gender, Friendship & Rivalry system, day/night "cycle", and the game takes place over 10 years in the same city.

Dragon Age Inquisition is more like Skyrim. Open world, picking herbs, crafting! A more modern gameplay style with practically none of the earlier tabletop elements (no allotting your own ability points to dexterity etc. but ofc there's still cool fighting abilities). The story is more of a backdrop for the amazing environments, but the characters are just as interesting as the previous games. There's so much to do in this game beyond the plot and I have to say that the DLC is the best of all three games.

TLDR; A rich story and world full of memorable and lovable characters 😁

[bemused_writer]

I like how you related red to Dragon Age. I find the rivalry dynamic interesting in the game, though not one I really want to pursue as a "canon" playthrough. ^^" I find that much disagreement difficult to stomach.

Still, it is nice to be able to disagree with characters and get that nuanced perspective; more nuance is always good. I particularly like how you point out that blue-line Hawke and purple-line Hawke can be awful and manipulative in a way that can be more alarming than red-line depending on how you play it. That's something I'd like to see explored more in fic.

I kind of like how the first game managed the companions leaving a bit more, though. I think having certain characters stay even after you've done heinous things they would never permit felt a little lore breaking to me. *shrug* I know they could leave in DA2 at the end, but I think it was only the very end of the game rather than throughout. I'm not totally sure how it worked in Inquisition; I've looked into those possibilities the least and have only played it once so far. :0

I enjoyed reading this!

[alaterdate]

I understand that, for the longest time I used to game the system to have everyone love me 😂 Then I decided to play a jerk character, thought it was interesting and never looked back lol

Yeah, I liked having the option to disagree and see the character take it to heart rather than it be a one-off -5 you can make up for with a nice bottle of wine lol. I think there's a whole ton of nuance that can be gleaned from this system! Another thing I particularly love is if you're rivaling Fenris and you give him a gift he snaps at you lol, I just find it so interesting that they react to Hawke differently. And you don't have to be friendly with them to unlock perks and quests, you get them regardless (albeit some perks are better than other). I could go on forever aaahhh 😅
OOH! That _would_ be something interesting to explore in fic. I'm so focused on writing for my canon, but there's still so much more to explore, I love it!

I absolutely agree with you there. I think there should be a point in the rivalry side where they do leave your party. (Point 4.C.iii. in my yet to be written essay 😅) For example say you want to rival/are rivaling Merrill (for some unholy reason) and you don't give her the Arulin'Holm, she decides she doesn't want to help _you_ anymore either and bounces. Not giving it to her immediately reverses any friendship with her to rivalry (I've seen people get 100+ rivalry points in that one instant.) That's a deal breaker!
In DA2 they'll only leave at the end if you haven't gotten 50 points either way. Only Isabela and Fenris have more than one point where they can leave the party.
Something I really loved in Origins was the Coercion skill that let you convince party members not to kill you/leave. I loved when Sten was like "this is pointless I'm going to kill you for wasting my time" and I had to convince him to not do that to me 😂
In Inquisition it's really hard to get companions to leave. I've only ever done it with the DLC difficulty toggle(trial) that multiplies only negative points (Fair-Weather Friends). They accumulate negative points and then when you speak to them in Skyhold they tell you off and leave forever. You can't even convince most of them to try to stay. I remember Blackwall & Cole go, "You're terrible and selfish!" and storm off. Sera is the only one I saw that had an option to ask her to stay.
Some party members in the games can never leave at all though like Alistair, Varric, Dorian & others, they just stand there and despise you forever 😔

Thanks & thanks for reading I didn't mean to write so much (both times...), but it just happened haha 💗

[enemytosleep]

This is very helpful! Thanks :D

[bemused_writer]

I had a hard time winning over the Origins crew even with the presents (if I was getting on their bad side that is). I have yet to win over Oghren in Awakening even though I'm positive I'm not treating him any differently from Origins. Hmm...

That's a good example with Merrill. There are certain things that are so important to the characters that it really would have been more interesting if they'd just left. If Leliana and Wynne can leave us for tarnishing the Urn of Sacred Ashes for example, I think it makes sense for DA2 companions to leave over similarly relevant subjects.

I thought it must be, because even when they disagreed with me it never led to much. XD I'm surprised there wasn't an option to ask them to stay, though. That seems like something the game would have included if only for the drama. 8)

Writing lots is a good thing in my book. ^^

[alaterdate]

One of my friends kept giving Alistair the dog bones XD Apparently he likes them XDD I myself have memorized what gifts go to who and who gets mad when I do what. I've seriously played Origins so much loll. I never tried as hard in Awakening though, Oghren's friendship is elusive in the expansion that's for sure.

Yeah, it would make more sense! But there's not too many companions in DA2 though, so it would suck to lose them left & right :^\ but we'll never know if it was a consequence of the rushed development time or what :^(

I think they might have made it harder to lose companions in Inquisition because they all apparently hear about your decisions, so you can't only take certain people on missions in order to mitigate the disapproval. The cons of being the head of a big organization I guess lol XD But not being able to convince them to stay? I don't know, maybe they were just really mad at me lol. I don't even know why Blackwall got mad at me and he was the first one who ever left I was like HUH!? (⊙_⊙)?

Hehe thanks for the convo, I really love DA lmao I could talk about it forever.

[bemused_writer]

Ahh, Alistair. XD Easy to please, I guess.

True; it turned out really good considering how rushed they were.

That's probably true as well. There was no hiding your deeds from anyone in that game. XD

And of course! I love talking about Dragon Age. ^^