Loghain was the good guy, actually.

[PixiGreen]

You sure it's not a mod with hair replacement? I would call that one Chasind and count as a wildling who was accepted to the army. Thank goodness for the Aurora limitations if that is not the case!

I chose not to see it! And as my usual PT is fem-mage, hearing from every second NPC "They accept women into Grey Wardens?!" sounds refreshing enough to ignore the glitches like above.

[Rand]

Aurora wasn't limited, though.
Look at what Rusty posted.
They could 100% have done the ***** if they'd wanted to, but the people didn't even consider it at the time because there's no place for blacks in Thedas than there is in Renaissance Europe.
They live elsewhere in mud and **** huts with spears there, just like here if they weren't given so many gibs by imbeciles that felt sorry for the plague of them.

[Oyster Sauce]

You sure it's not a mod with hair replacement? I would call that one Chasind and count as a wildling who was accepted to the army. Thank goodness for the Aurora limitations if that is not the case!

I chose not to see it! And as my usual PT is fem-mage, hearing from every second NPC "They accept women into Grey Wardens?!" sounds refreshing enough to ignore the glitches like above.

I did not mod dreadlocks into my game, no.

[rusty_shackleford]

Does anyone else suspect people like Gaider were just told at the time that the engine couldn't make black characters because some of the engine devs were disgusted with his ****** ******** and knew it was a bad idea?
"Gaider's on about that Duncan **** again."
"The **** is he on? Black people don't live anywhere in the known lands of Thedas."
"He said he wants to make some elves black as well."
"For ****'s sake, what's broken in his brain? Just tell him we can't render them properly in the engine and we'll look at it when we have time from the massive buglist."
"Are we going to ever do that?"
"No. Making Duncan a **** is stupid. He's a decent likeable character fighting for Thedas. And there aren't any blacks there anyway. Don't get me started on ***** elves."

I've seen multiple black characters in DAO. They worked with what they had.

Yet another nail in the "we couldn't do black people!" gayder lie.
@Roguey

[logincrash]

You sure it's not a mod with hair replacement? I would call that one Chasind and count as a wildling who was accepted to the army. Thank goodness for the Aurora limitations if that is not the case!

I chose not to see it! And as my usual PT is fem-mage, hearing from every second NPC "They accept women into Grey Wardens?!" sounds refreshing enough to ignore the glitches like above.

I did not mod dreadlocks into my game, no.

Those are cornrows. And, just like dreadlocks, they can easily be worn by whites. Plenty of vikings had dreadlocks. Surely some of them could have come up with a "tight braids" hairstyle. ******* have to wear their nappy hair in dreadlocks or cornrows because they can't do a proper braid or even a simple ponytail.

All of that said, your example is the closes I've seen to a ****** in DAO. Can you be more specific on where this screenshot is taken? I don't think this is a Chasind, as, while they do all have dark skin, those have facial tattoos and asiatic features. The Chasind are really easy to distinguish from the regular Fereldan people. You can see them in Lothering arguing with farmers and in Redcliffe as bodyguards to the rich town dwarf.

[Acrux]

And, just like dreadlocks, they can easily be worn by whites.

No.

[logincrash]

And, just like dreadlocks, they can easily be worn by whites.

No.

"No" what?
I'm not advocating for these hairstyles to become the norm. I'm saying that they aren't exclusive to blacks and therefore aren't a perfect indicator of someone's race.

[Acrux]

I originally just meant it as a joke, but there is essentially no evidence of Vikings wearing dreadlocks. People will point to Roman accounts of them having "hair like snakes". But that could mean nany other things, and this Viking dreadlocks thing wasn't ever discussed until the past 15 years or so. No one thought this until that style was used in movies/tv.

The Vikings were known for being pretty fastidious about cleanliness. I think gross, dirty, greasy dreadlocks are the antithesis of that.

[logincrash]

I originally just meant it as a joke, but there is essentially no evidence of Vikings wearing dreadlocks. People will point to Roman accounts of them having "hair like snakes". But that could mean nany other things, and this Viking dreadlocks thing wasn't ever discussed until the past 15 years or so. No one thought this until that style was used in movies/tv.

The Vikings were known for being pretty fastidious about cleanliness. I think gross, dirty, greasy dreadlocks are the antithesis of that.

Fine.
But my point about dreadlocks and cornrows being available to whites stands.

[rusty_shackleford]

Greeks wore dreadlocks, check the kouros sculptures.

[Reichspepe]

Does anyone else suspect people like Gaider were just told at the time that the engine couldn't make black characters because some of the engine devs were disgusted with his ****** ******** and knew it was a bad idea?
"Gaider's on about that Duncan **** again."
"The **** is he on? Black people don't live anywhere in the known lands of Thedas."
"He said he wants to make some elves black as well."
"For ****'s sake, what's broken in his brain? Just tell him we can't render them properly in the engine and we'll look at it when we have time from the massive buglist."
"Are we going to ever do that?"
"No. Making Duncan a **** is stupid. He's a decent likeable character fighting for Thedas. And there aren't any blacks there anyway. Don't get me started on ***** elves."

I've seen multiple black characters in DAO. They worked with what they had.

Come on man, ol' city guard Tyrone here is just swarthy, no need to misrace him

[fkirenicus]

For reference, here is an unmodded Duncan from the game .mrh files (which may not be the .mor files that ended up in the game, esp. if you have an override folder with stuff):

The unmodded Duncan uses the 2nd to last darkest skin color available in the vanilla toolset.

And here is the version I use myself, as I think that one above is a bit over the top:

His dark hair and somewhat tanned skin reveal he's not COMPLETELY Fereldan, but that's it.

[Rand]

Funny how the 2nd darkest Thedassian skin tone in the original and lore definitive game is like tanned middle eastern at most.



But, sure, Gaider. Duncan was supposed to be a ***** like this current day jungle homie:

► Show Spoiler

(Duncan is black with normal beard and long, straight hair and middle eastern nose and not the orc's pig snout the groids sport... yeah.)

[fkirenicus]

Funny how the 2nd darkest Thedassian skin tone in the original and lore definitive game is like tanned middle eastern at most.



But, sure, Gaider. Duncan was supposed to be a ***** like this current day jungle homie:

► Show Spoiler

(Black with normal beard and long, straight hair... yeah.)

As I said, the original .mrh files and the .mor files that the game (actually) reads may or may not have the same properties set. It may well be they (Bioware) adjusted some of the .mor files before game launch or in patches. And if you use any mods, either .mor files OR the .tnt (tint) files may have been altered as well.
The point is basically: the .mrh files are as close to concept art as we come - these are the head model files that Bioware worked with when they created their characters, probably based on sketches from artists. These are the original ideas - but it might be they were changed along the way - even by Bioware themselves.

[TheEmptyRoad]

If he is not evil, why was he left in a cage for murder?

They have an entire sidequest about it, he went into an autistic rage when he woke up and lost his sword, it was momentary insanity. Second degree murder.

He's lying.

"I may sign a treaty with the Qunari once I become king."

"My people do not negotiate."

"Don't you people sign agreements before and keep to the terms? Don't you have honor?"

"We only signed because you believed in those terms. The honor of the Qunari is what will bring our ships here."

Nothing a qunari says can be trusted.

Just like Islam. The Qunari really are an unholy combination of proto-communism and Islam. Really wish we could’ve seen a full-on war between them and Tevinter.

[logincrash]

For reference, here is an unmodded Duncan from the game .mrh files (which may not be the .mor files that ended up in the game, esp. if you have an override folder with stuff):

► image

The unmodded Duncan uses the 2nd to last darkest skin color available in the vanilla toolset.

It needs to be said that the files look markedly different from the in-game ones because the in-game ones look lighter because of lighting. Turn down the lighting graphical settings to minimum and Duncan and Zevran and Isabela will look much, much darker than they usually look in-game.

[fkirenicus]

For reference, here is an unmodded Duncan from the game .mrh files (which may not be the .mor files that ended up in the game, esp. if you have an override folder with stuff):

► image

The unmodded Duncan uses the 2nd to last darkest skin color available in the vanilla toolset.

It needs to be said that the files look markedly different from the in-game ones because the in-game ones look lighter because of lighting. Turn down the lighting graphical settings to minimum and Duncan and Zevran and Isabela will look much, much darker than they usually look in-game.

That is also true - the lighting in the toolset is somewhat different than that in the game.

[logincrash]

That is also true - the lighting in the toolset is somewhat different than that in the game.

Not only in the toolset. Character creator has different lighting too. I'm downloading Origins right now just so I can demonstrate with screenshots.

[Rand]

I posted an official Bioware screenshot of Duncan, above.
No doubt made on PC hardware of the era in Bioware's office during development.

[logincrash]

It appears that I remembered it the other way around, lmao.

► comparisons

For some reason the game won't take a screenshot of Duncan on high settings.

Disregard my previous assertions.

[J1M]

dgaider-deactivated20150130 answered:
We wrote them as bisexual, yes, and that was our intention from the outset of DA2. Some of the characters (such as Merrill) don’t discuss their sexuality, and thus it’s left ambiguous and open to interpretation by the player… but keep in mind that interpretation doesn’t change their sexuality. Just because you’re romancing Merrill with a male PC, for instance, doesn’t mean she’s straight, it just means you’re not exposed to another side of her character in that playthrough.

******** take completely (possibly deliberately) failing to understand the concept.
None of the characters have any sexuality until the player interacts with them.
If, on the player's interaction, the character does not explicitly mention homosexuality or heterosexuality, then the sexual orientation the player elicits from them IS their sexuality.
The sexual orientation expressed in the game is literally the only one that exists. It is a revealed state. The unexpressed states do not exist. They are narrative potential, not actual potential, ffs.
Just because you made potential interactions does not mean those exist. Because they don't.

The next cringe step from an author like Gaider would be to claim that all characters they ever wrote "really" are bisexual ********, because "Even though I didn't write them that way at the time, I could have. And as I'm now a deranged gay race leftist degenerate, it amuses me to consider them as faggy ******** now. especially as I hate my audience that won't accept my ideology. And I get to change things retroactively to "own the chuds" if I want to because they're MY characters and stories."
That disingenuous corruption is the ultimate expression of this behavior.

Put another way, it's as stupid as the writer saying that Karlach or Astarion or whoever are somehow "ackhually" both dead and alive.
Because upon meeting them the player can choose whether to kill them or not.
Obvious idiocy.

As to how this is asinine in yet another way, look at the "dragon break" nonsense from The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall.
No, assholes. Pick a canon ending. There can only be one or else it's literal madness (the writer of that weak, mealy-mouthed ******** was a druggie, high most of the time).

I was annoyed to see Zevren in sequels because I don't see why I would want an assassin paid to kill me sleeping in my camp. But Gaider is on record saying that he doesn't care what the player decided. Another example of how he just says hypocritical words and has no underlying philosophy.

[fkirenicus]

I was annoyed to see Zevren in sequels because I don't see why I would want an assassin paid to kill me sleeping in my camp. But Gaider is on record saying that he doesn't care what the player decided. Another example of how he just says hypocritical words and has no underlying philosophy.

You mean you killed him in Origins and yet he returned in DA2? I think perhaps the world state bug fixer or what's-its-name-mod fixes that... Wait a sec....



....ah, yes. Here we go: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage2/mods/4608
(however, it does not fix Zev popping up in Inquisition; for that you'd have to use DA Keep online... which DAV disregards totally )

...and, if you can't be bothered to replay Origins and just want to make a world state that makes sense at the onset of DAE/2, there's the gibbed editor: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage2/mods/2251

[J1M]

I was annoyed to see Zevren in sequels because I don't see why I would want an assassin paid to kill me sleeping in my camp. But Gaider is on record saying that he doesn't care what the player decided. Another example of how he just says hypocritical words and has no underlying philosophy.

You mean you killed him in Origins and yet he returned in DA2? I think perhaps the world state bug fixer or what's-its-name-mod fixes that... Wait a sec....



....ah, yes. Here we go: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage2/mods/4608
(however, it does not fix Zev popping up in Inquisition; for that you'd have to use DA Keep online... which DAV disregards totally )

...and, if you can't be bothered to replay Origins and just want to make a world state that makes sense at the onset of DAE/2, there's the gibbed editor: https://www.nexusmods.com/dragonage2/mods/2251

Maybe it was a bug that was fixed later, but at the time I used DA Keep and when he showed up I went looking for an explanation online only to find Gaider saying they overrode the player's will because they knew better. It happened years ago. I brought it up as an example of the type of person he is, not because I care about this franchise.

[Rand]

dgaider-deactivated20150130 answered:
We wrote them as bisexual, yes, and that was our intention from the outset of DA2. Some of the characters (such as Merrill) don’t discuss their sexuality, and thus it’s left ambiguous and open to interpretation by the player… but keep in mind that interpretation doesn’t change their sexuality. Just because you’re romancing Merrill with a male PC, for instance, doesn’t mean she’s straight, it just means you’re not exposed to another side of her character in that playthrough.

******** take completely (possibly deliberately) failing to understand the concept.
None of the characters have any sexuality until the player interacts with them.
If, on the player's interaction, the character does not explicitly mention homosexuality or heterosexuality, then the sexual orientation the player elicits from them IS their sexuality.
The sexual orientation expressed in the game is literally the only one that exists. It is a revealed state. The unexpressed states do not exist. They are narrative potential, not actual potential, ffs.
Just because you made potential interactions does not mean those exist. Because they don't.

The next cringe step from an author like Gaider would be to claim that all characters they ever wrote "really" are bisexual ********, because "Even though I didn't write them that way at the time, I could have. And as I'm now a deranged gay race leftist degenerate, it amuses me to consider them as faggy ******** now. especially as I hate my audience that won't accept my ideology. And I get to change things retroactively to "own the chuds" if I want to because they're MY characters and stories."
That disingenuous corruption is the ultimate expression of this behavior.

Put another way, it's as stupid as the writer saying that Karlach or Astarion or whoever are somehow "ackhually" both dead and alive.
Because upon meeting them the player can choose whether to kill them or not.
Obvious idiocy.

As to how this is asinine in yet another way, look at the "dragon break" nonsense from The Elder Scrolls: Daggerfall.
No, assholes. Pick a canon ending. There can only be one or else it's literal madness (the writer of that weak, mealy-mouthed ******** was a druggie, high most of the time).

I was annoyed to see Zevren in sequels because I don't see why I would want an assassin paid to kill me sleeping in my camp. But Gaider is on record saying that he doesn't care what the player decided. Another example of how he just says hypocritical words and has no underlying philosophy.

The more I learn about Gaider, the more I think I would full force punch him in the face if I ever had the fortune to be in the vicinity of the asswipe.