Davrin’s writing and the acting here is just so very good. I had been worried we were going to get a stereotypical hero type, either silly-quirky like Alistair (which many of the Veilguard companions fall into), or more quiet-moody like Cullen. But his character is so well nuanced in his background, and how intellectual he is - it’s really refreshing for a warrior character (so often they’re just the Muscle™️ or the jokester). His argument of “I never hunt what I don’t understand” is great, showing how although he approves of the more stoic/confrontational choices Rook makes, and clearly here has a lot of emotional pressure to push ahead, he’s still gonna stop and think before he acts. Honestly, his and Emmrich’s opinions are the ones I value the most on the more complex issues that Veilguard occasionally attempts to address, as they seem the most mature and nuanced of the group - they think before they speak, and don’t just say things like “oof/cool/gross”, which characters like Taash (kinda understandable in their case as they’re so young, still a bit annoying), Bellara (why????) and Harding do (she sounds so different from DAI sometimes, more silly 😢). Idk, to me, Emmrich and Davrin just feel right in Thedas, their language and characterisations, when several other companions seem a bit off.
davrin feels a bit stand-offish at first but he honestly has the best takes and my approval ended up being the most with him even though i romanced lucanis
Zara saying "Amat--" when Illario cuts her off is such a good little line. I feel like people really only notice what she was saying when they made a specific choice in Inquisition which is cool
it's a shame they just killed her off like that tho, it was pretty underwhelming honestly, i wanted to see more of her since her introduction (the Varric one) was so cool
Your DAV uploads have been such a highlight for me lately, I look forward to them with so much excitement! I'm so glad you're enjoying the game. Thank you for being a positive voice in the gaming world!
The Cauldron is so interesting and makes so much sense to me especially seeing the Gloom Howler extract Archdemon blood from the bones. We know from DAO that part of the ingredients in the Joining requires Archdemon blood, so of course the Grey Wardens are storing the corpses of the defeated Archdemons. The moment they started giving the dates I knew exactly what was being stored there, I'd always wondered where they kept the blood for the Joining.
@@KingRat543I've never read much on the first blight but if I remember correctly they did at one point mention that they killed archdemons but the just resurrected from a nearby dark spawn it's not impossible to think someone saved the blood from that!
@@Xeakquh Yea, Dumat was killed many times...wardens were already going through the joining but it took awhile before they figured a warden needed to make the final blow. Hard to know if the joining always used archdemon blood as the wiki says "often used..."
I’m only half an hour into the video so if you realise this later on I’ll delete this, but might be handy to know that your companion quests have three different subheadings: Conversation, Quest, and Outing Conversations tend to just be cutscenes with dialogue choices Quests are a bit more involved, there’s usually combat and/or exploration Outings are mostly no combat, just exploration of a specific area that your companion wants to visit i.e. “Dinner with Shathann” is listed as “Taash: Conversation” so you can know just to expect a cutscene 😊 You’re right in that a lot of Taash’s quests seem to just be conversations in comparison to what other characters have going on though 😔
Regarding Taash and Emmerich, it seemed out of left field to me as well until I thought about it in the context of Taash's mom being the only other scholar they know. Of course conflict occurred, Taash assumed Emmrich would be just as dismissive and condescending as their mom and treated him in a way that brought that out in him. I also think it's very funny that some people were simultaneously complaining that everyone is too nice to each other within the team and then turning around and talking about how much they hated Taash and how unlikable they think they are. 😂
On my second playthrough I put them together in parties a lot more and there was a lot more lead in that made that scene feel much more natural, but I definitely felt the same way my first time around when I didn't put them together. I hate to say I may have tormented Taash because the reactivity between those two characters and the banter is pretty interesting since it's a bit snippy, so they ended up with me on all the Emmrich missions! Also, one thing I've really noticed too is that since Mapo is playing Mournwatch, a lot of the dialogues I had available where I just say that all the undead stuff is creepy aren't there anymore, and those options really match up with a lot of early Taash/Emmrich banter, at least until you resolve that tension in this conversation.
Seeing the bones of that Archdemon was such a wild moment! I kind of wish they used Urthemiel just for that connection but it was still so cool. And yeah Davrin's VA really killed it in this quest, and he's just great overall. Re: that Taash/Emmrich convo, I have seen a lot of people say the same thing about them being a hypocrite for not respecting the name Emmrich wants. I'm fine with characters having flaws so that part is ok, but I think the issue is you can't call them out on it? It doesn't even have to be aggressive or mean, just an option to say hey maybe think about your situation here and reflect on that... idk for me that was the main annoyance (and also I am very protective of that necromancer lol).
And people complained there wasn't enough blood or blood magic in this game when there's a literal blood bath. Probably the most blood seen in a DA even with the previous 3 combined lol
I find it so off-putting that the writers didn't see the obvious contradiction in the Taash and Emmerich conversation in comparison to Taash's personal quest. Her quest is about her identity and making sure people refer to her as "they" and yet she calls Emmerich all kinds of names besides his real one. It's basically a cry if someone refer to Taash as "she," but she can call Emmerich whatever she wants and he should just deal with it!
The game asks you to trust it. There’s a lot of stuff that pays off only eventually, often also recasting the earlier in different light. Everybody doesn’t develop at the same pace. There’s also a lot you can miss, especially if you don’t mix up your companions. The order you decide to do your quests plays a role. It’s funny the amount of people who want more conflict between companions and then ‘no not like that’ it. “Why aren’t people acting perfectly rationally?!” 😅 But, to be fair, the game does make it easy to think it’s simplified or shallow when it isn’t.
I had Taash and Emmrich in my party a lot, and their banter did set up their argument. I do think the irony of Taash assigning a label to Emmrich that he doesn't like is intentional. If you romance him, there's a nice (and funny) follow up to the conversation where Taash catches themselves being judgy. Not sure if there will be an equivalent conversation if you don't romance him. Also, I feel like Taash's personal quests all have to do with identity, and not just gender identity. Them feeling like an outcast from qunari culture, rivani culture, dealing with being the only firebreather and not knowing what that means, and struggling to relate all these things to their strict mother. There's some interesting scenes with them coming up that I hope you will enjoy!
I think the game would've benefitted from having a sort of companion-affinity system, where certain cutscenes won't happen until companions have reached a certain affinity with each other from being in the party together. Taash's and Emmrich's conversation makes so much more sense if you've been hearing their banter leading it up to!
That fight between Taash and Emmrich was frustrating to me because I’d taken them out together a few times and Emmrich genuinely tried to connect with them. He tried a couple of different subjects, one of which was Taash being a Lord of Fortune. They rebuffed him quite bluntly each time, which is their personality, but to be so crude and dismissive of who’s probably the nicest person on the team was very irritating. I’m glad you got to the Cauldron today, definitely a memorable part of the game. Also how did people play this game and not pet Assan?! Especially after the sad squawks?!
No, it's a reworded song lyric from the mid-late 1990s. The song is Bullet with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins. I'm old, so I spit out my lemonade when he sang it.
I really like Taash and I've always like Trick Weekes' writing, I made other positive comments on them before in this playthrough, but as I have always said before I have my own criticism on the writing... and that "skullf***ker" dialogue for example, is hard to swallow. For me it was like "UGH"
As much as I abhorred this game while going through my 60 odd hour playthrough, I still like watching Mapo's playthrough because of his level headed approach to explaining what he likes and doesnt like, so when even if a disagree I still can understand his PoV and his logic outside of the cesspool that is the usual social media discourse. Take the character interactions at the Lighthouse, like 90% grated on my brain sooooo much, they were barely surface level toddler name calling arguments and Rook has to be the Nursery Teacher scolding them and telling them to kiss and make up, AND THEY DO so there is never ANY animosity or conflict within the group, even the rift between Lucanis and Davrin is so milquetoast and banal it may as well not have been included...
The Cauldron fight was incredibly tough, one of the reasons I hate the potion refill mechanic… it’s so disproportionate at times, if you compare the Cauldron and Bloodbath, for example.
I like Taash's overall story a lot, and I think that the other elements of their personality are reflected in their overall quest line, but the ordering of the storyline does end up putting a lot of similar types of content back to back, while the pacing of the other companion's quests is mixed up and varied quite a bit. I can kind of see why they may have done it that way and won't expound because it's maybe a bit of a spoiler, but it's completely understandable why you'd react the way you do to multiple conversation/outing scenarios in a row, especially at this point in the game where you're getting full blown quests and big reveals out of the other companion storylines. Your reaction to the Gloom Howler taking swings at Assan was my exact reaction. A lot of moments in the game hit for me, but my heart dropped in my chest there, because as much as I enjoy Davrin, we all know that Assan is the real star!
I'm curious, where you are in the game right now, did you figure out why you cant detonate weakened targets again? Waiting for that to happen and see the look on your face 😂 Loving the playthrough good sir, keep up the good work!
Unfortunately it DOES feel like the devs put representation first, and character second. I wish the game had done them better. I can appreciate the all-consuming, and often times awkward feelings about and expressions of gender, especially for the painfully young. But ugh, it's disappointing for me personally that they aren't shown as a whole person who happens to be grappling with this very real and very valid identity question during the end of the world. I love Taash. I get them. I just wish they could have been shown in a more nuanced way is all. Representation alone isn't enough for me, personally. I need it to be done artfully, so that it truly represents the beauty of coming to your own answer to these questions.
As much as the levels look beautiful, I do very much get the gamey feel of the level design. To me it feels like the remenants of when the game was supposed to be live service multiplayer before it was again rebooted.
As much as I appreciate the nonbinary representation (and would like to see more), I wish they'd made Taash more than their gender. And their only other main character trait (Qunari vs Rivaini) comes down to a binary choice, which made me go 🤦♂. I wish they'd been able to reconcile those two parts of their culture, just like they reconciled their gender as something other than the two binary options initially presented to them.
That Taash and Emmrich scene perfectly exemplifies why I do not like Taash. When you meet Taash, one of the _first_ things they tell you is "You don't get to tell me who I am." Which later on connects into their identity storyline. Then here Taash refers to Emmrich as 'Death Mage'. Something that truly offends Emmrich, and he tells Taash he does NOT like to be referred to that way and has told them that before. What does Taash say? "bUt ThAtS wHaT yOu ArE." I'm sorry Taash? I thought you didn't like when people told you who you are? But you think its fine to do the same? I'm just so baffled the writers decided THIS scene was fine. It completely contradicts and makes Taash a massive hypocritical a*hole.
@rievemg's comment is relevant to the video, and not something I've seen commented on every video, I can see the last few comments left by the account, and only one out of 3 were about Taash and that was 2 weeks ago. While I disagree with @rievemg's comment 2 weeks ago about Taash and feels it misses the point, this one was most likely responding to a point I also made in the video about how this interaction was poorly done.
@@Mapocolops I remember having this convo with them on a previous video I think, but I'm also just exhausted by the constant hate Taash gets, and what I feel is a really uncharitable reading of their character and a purposeful refusal to even try to empathise with them and their struggle. It's not an honest conversation at this point. It's a "just asking questions" type of conversation where they've already made up their mind and their "questions" are nothing but verbal jabs and ignorance. Nothing you say will convince them otherwise.
@@Vulpix298So what I'm not allowed to share my opinions? That's the point of TH-cam. I didn't use any hateful language. I'm referring to a scene that is specially in this video. And you're tired of hearing about Taash hate? That's cool if you like Taash, but I don't and I believe I have valid reasons to feel that way. So people should either like Taash because you do, or they should just shut up and keep their opinions to themselves? I actually feel kind of uncomfortable you're apparently stalking my presence on this channel that you know all these comments I'm making. You're uncomfortable because I don't like a character you like. I'm uncomfortable because you're watching all my comments apparently. Now I feel I should never say anything because you'll find some reason to be upset about it and harass me over it
@@Vulpix298and can you explain what you're talking about? What is uncharitable and not honest about what I said? Taash literally says they do not like when people tell them who they are. In the scene in this video, we have Emmrich telling Taash he does not like the numerous names Taash has given him. You think that's fair? Also I'm gay, I know struggle. I know how important representation is. And they did a bad job at it. There are other NB characters in this game that are great. Dorian is amazing and his Inquisition quest was phenomenal. Krem was amazing as well. So don't come at me like I'm ignorant. It's so obvious what you're doing here. I'm not allowed to crucify criticize Taash because they are a certain minority type, so you refuse to accept any criticism of them, and if someone does, well they must be ignorant and spewing verbal jabs. It's honestly really insulting you accuse me of not having an honest conversation when I literally point blank used things that happened in game. So idk what you're talking about me not having honest questions and conversations when I refer to things LITERALLY in this video
As much as I adore them, I agree that Taash's story just didn't work in several places and was so lacking compared to many other characters. Taash was turned into "a very special episode" every.freeking.time, no real nuance or even subtlety and that's just sad. DAV overall is clunky but loveable and Taash is clunkiest...like a signpost over the head. Couple that with their insistence in writing Taash as rude and off putting in such a way that it makes their "story" such that it is very much an awkward experience and not in a way that illuminates some deeper point, it's just shallow writing for them. Frustrating for everyone involved. Especially for Taash fans
there are definitely moments where the writing for Taash is clunky, but imo it isn't that much clunkier than any of the other companions' stories. I think knowing that Taash's writer is nonbinary helped me get past some of the clunkiness because it just felt like someone exploring their feelings around their own identity through a character, if that makes sense? which makes it feel more real. the lack of subtlety also feels very intentional to me since Taash isn't meant to be a subtle character, they're blunt and straight to the point - it wouldn't make sense for them to suddenly speak in a different way when they're speaking about their identity, especially since they had no idea any of it even existed. obviously everyone's allowed to have their personal opinions on how they're handled, but as a nonbinary person I relate so much to Taash and the way they speak about their identity feels very familiar to me, which I wasn't expecting and it honestly made me feel very seen. also, I've seen a few people call Taash rude and I just don't see it? the only moment I can think of where they're truly being rude is in this argument with Emmrich. is it a tone thing? if so it might be because I'm autistic, and Taash just sounds like an unmasked autistic person to me. sorry for the long reply! it wasn't intentional 😅
@@CasHarris that was a beautiful reply The part where I think Taash is rude is when they were (off-screen) calling Emmerich a "skull fucker" which if you think about it it tantamount to Emmerich calling Taash a pedo. It was a shitty misconstruing of Emmerich's particular form of magic and even casting nasty aspersions at the Mourn Watch too. It was just low and really uncalled for. Taash is like a mash-up of Iron Bull + Sera wrapped in a trans-pride banner. Please dont get my words twisted, I love Taash, i'm NB as well AND Im new to it which at my ancient age is just a lot sometimes. Taash can be both important to me as well as disappointing in certain ways. I love them, I REALLY love the game overall but I see the warts, the shallow places, the creaky things that just are wonky. It's still a great game and you know what? I'm glad it's so overtly queer and Trans, it's really beautiful. If I never get to visit Thedas again, I'm so happy we got this. I really love all the characters, I love my Rook(s) and Taash stole my heart from the jump. Grunts, growls, plain-spoken, push-ups and all
I remember similar criticisms about Dorians storyline. His personal quests was essentially an allegory for being a "convergence therapy survivor". His father tried to use blood magic to essentially turn him straight and what sparked their dysfunctional relationship. His story too was also based on the writer's personal experience. As much as the writing can be criticised, I still really appreciate that Dragon Age is one of those games where a fantasy setting can help explore the real struggles of people IRL. I admit it does feel clunky at times, but I can imagine how hard it is to write about personal experiences in a way that can relate or show to a wider audience. Especially since there is that fear that not everyone will like the story you are telling, since that can feel very much like a personal attack. However, I believe the writers are mature enough to understand that we can both criticise the writing but still very much appreciate representation like this. Sometimes I'd rather have a little wobbly representation than no rep at all but that's just me 😅
That comment about the redhead and Bianca in the missive from the Black Emporium. I wonder if that was some foreshadowing about that dwarf friend of Varric, Bianca turning up and perhaps repairing Varric's crossbow, Bianca? Maybe?
Taash is not well written at all. She is by far the worst companion of any BioWare game. You're on a world ending quest and someone decided a petulant, whiny, hypocritical, non-dragon killing dragon hunter, non-Qunari Qunari teenager with mommy issues would be a good fit for the theme of the game and the world in general. Trick should leave the self-inserts out of their writing. Yikes.
There's only a few scenes in particular that I think aren't good for Taash. But there's plenty of really great scenes with them too, that really work and make sense when you're not close minded. Taash is also hilarious at times, and when it's not about their identity, they're basically acting like Iron Bull, which people love. So it's really just about identity, and people won't even hide that. It's super unfortunate that Taash's bad scenes ARE tied to the identity crisis and not handled well, but there's also a significant amount of people that enjoy the character, considering Taash was in the top 3 most romanced companions in Bioware's official stats. Sera, Oghren, Sebastian, even companions more well loved have all had pretty poor scenes at times too. They get a pass because they're men or women though.
@ It’s not the gender identity thing and it’s a copout many people have used to excuse such an uninteresting character. I thought Dorian’s gay storyline in DAI was written poorly too when I played that in 2014, and I’m gay. This idea that we can’t be critical of the writing for these topics is absurd. They could really be exploring the dragon side of her and how that pulls her away from her gender, but we get mommy issues instead. It’s not interesting, it’s okay if one does not find it interesting, and I’m not transphobic for saying so.
@ like I said, I have my issues with it too, but there is a massively disproportionate amount of complaints that do just stem to the gender issues and ignore the rest. I do feel Taash is half baked as a first draft companion sadly but definitely not the worst I don’t think
This conversation with Emmrich is what made me unlike Taash. I think they're well written, but they are such a hypocrite I didn't like it at all. It makes sense considering their background, and I think the writers did do this on purpose, but man I really didn't like their behavior in that moment.
![The House of Hope | Baldur's Gate 3 [Part 57]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CYoRss_746M/mqdefault.jpg)
![The House of Hope | Baldur's Gate 3 [Part 57]](/img/tr.png)
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Davrin’s writing and the acting here is just so very good. I had been worried we were going to get a stereotypical hero type, either silly-quirky like Alistair (which many of the Veilguard companions fall into), or more quiet-moody like Cullen. But his character is so well nuanced in his background, and how intellectual he is - it’s really refreshing for a warrior character (so often they’re just the Muscle™️ or the jokester). His argument of “I never hunt what I don’t understand” is great, showing how although he approves of the more stoic/confrontational choices Rook makes, and clearly here has a lot of emotional pressure to push ahead, he’s still gonna stop and think before he acts.
Honestly, his and Emmrich’s opinions are the ones I value the most on the more complex issues that Veilguard occasionally attempts to address, as they seem the most mature and nuanced of the group - they think before they speak, and don’t just say things like “oof/cool/gross”, which characters like Taash (kinda understandable in their case as they’re so young, still a bit annoying), Bellara (why????) and Harding do (she sounds so different from DAI sometimes, more silly 😢). Idk, to me, Emmrich and Davrin just feel right in Thedas, their language and characterisations, when several other companions seem a bit off.
davrin feels a bit stand-offish at first but he honestly has the best takes and my approval ended up being the most with him even though i romanced lucanis
Zara saying "Amat--" when Illario cuts her off is such a good little line. I feel like people really only notice what she was saying when they made a specific choice in Inquisition which is cool
Or if you know any Latin based language
it's a shame they just killed her off like that tho, it was pretty underwhelming honestly, i wanted to see more of her since her introduction (the Varric one) was so cool
Your DAV uploads have been such a highlight for me lately, I look forward to them with so much excitement! I'm so glad you're enjoying the game. Thank you for being a positive voice in the gaming world!
The Cauldron is so interesting and makes so much sense to me especially seeing the Gloom Howler extract Archdemon blood from the bones.
We know from DAO that part of the ingredients in the Joining requires Archdemon blood, so of course the Grey Wardens are storing the corpses of the defeated Archdemons.
The moment they started giving the dates I knew exactly what was being stored there, I'd always wondered where they kept the blood for the Joining.
1st blight, with no archdemon blood I believe mages cast a spell...
Assan and Manfred are my two favorite characters in this game 😁🥰🥰
Well, in DAO Riordan revealed the Joining potion needed Archdemon blood. Now we know where it came from.
Interesting how they reconcile that with the 1st blight where (iirc) mages cast a spell on the darkspawn blood....
@@KingRat543I've never read much on the first blight but if I remember correctly they did at one point mention that they killed archdemons but the just resurrected from a nearby dark spawn it's not impossible to think someone saved the blood from that!
@@Xeakquh Yea, Dumat was killed many times...wardens were already going through the joining but it took awhile before they figured a warden needed to make the final blow. Hard to know if the joining always used archdemon blood as the wiki says "often used..."
I’m only half an hour into the video so if you realise this later on I’ll delete this, but might be handy to know that your companion quests have three different subheadings: Conversation, Quest, and Outing
Conversations tend to just be cutscenes with dialogue choices
Quests are a bit more involved, there’s usually combat and/or exploration
Outings are mostly no combat, just exploration of a specific area that your companion wants to visit
i.e. “Dinner with Shathann” is listed as “Taash: Conversation” so you can know just to expect a cutscene 😊 You’re right in that a lot of Taash’s quests seem to just be conversations in comparison to what other characters have going on though 😔
Taash and Emmerich's chat felt less out of left field when i had them in my party together a bunch. They had dialogue that sort of led up to it
Regarding Taash and Emmerich, it seemed out of left field to me as well until I thought about it in the context of Taash's mom being the only other scholar they know. Of course conflict occurred, Taash assumed Emmrich would be just as dismissive and condescending as their mom and treated him in a way that brought that out in him.
I also think it's very funny that some people were simultaneously complaining that everyone is too nice to each other within the team and then turning around and talking about how much they hated Taash and how unlikable they think they are. 😂
On my second playthrough I put them together in parties a lot more and there was a lot more lead in that made that scene feel much more natural, but I definitely felt the same way my first time around when I didn't put them together. I hate to say I may have tormented Taash because the reactivity between those two characters and the banter is pretty interesting since it's a bit snippy, so they ended up with me on all the Emmrich missions!
Also, one thing I've really noticed too is that since Mapo is playing Mournwatch, a lot of the dialogues I had available where I just say that all the undead stuff is creepy aren't there anymore, and those options really match up with a lot of early Taash/Emmrich banter, at least until you resolve that tension in this conversation.
Woo companion episode love all the stories and some excellent set pieces with the blood bath and cauldron tombs.
Seeing the bones of that Archdemon was such a wild moment! I kind of wish they used Urthemiel just for that connection but it was still so cool. And yeah Davrin's VA really killed it in this quest, and he's just great overall.
Re: that Taash/Emmrich convo, I have seen a lot of people say the same thing about them being a hypocrite for not respecting the name Emmrich wants. I'm fine with characters having flaws so that part is ok, but I think the issue is you can't call them out on it? It doesn't even have to be aggressive or mean, just an option to say hey maybe think about your situation here and reflect on that... idk for me that was the main annoyance (and also I am very protective of that necromancer lol).
And people complained there wasn't enough blood or blood magic in this game when there's a literal blood bath. Probably the most blood seen in a DA even with the previous 3 combined lol
This game definitely has the most over the top blood magic. I think ppl miss the blood during/after fights tho
The Zara fight was one of the hardest for me I had to hide behind pillars and have my companions do all the work lmao you did it so easily
I find it so off-putting that the writers didn't see the obvious contradiction in the Taash and Emmerich conversation in comparison to Taash's personal quest. Her quest is about her identity and making sure people refer to her as "they" and yet she calls Emmerich all kinds of names besides his real one. It's basically a cry if someone refer to Taash as "she," but she can call Emmerich whatever she wants and he should just deal with it!
The game asks you to trust it. There’s a lot of stuff that pays off only eventually, often also recasting the earlier in different light. Everybody doesn’t develop at the same pace. There’s also a lot you can miss, especially if you don’t mix up your companions. The order you decide to do your quests plays a role. It’s funny the amount of people who want more conflict between companions and then ‘no not like that’ it. “Why aren’t people acting perfectly rationally?!” 😅 But, to be fair, the game does make it easy to think it’s simplified or shallow when it isn’t.
Ok we've made it past most of the bad Taash scenes now thank god
I had Taash and Emmrich in my party a lot, and their banter did set up their argument. I do think the irony of Taash assigning a label to Emmrich that he doesn't like is intentional. If you romance him, there's a nice (and funny) follow up to the conversation where Taash catches themselves being judgy. Not sure if there will be an equivalent conversation if you don't romance him.
Also, I feel like Taash's personal quests all have to do with identity, and not just gender identity. Them feeling like an outcast from qunari culture, rivani culture, dealing with being the only firebreather and not knowing what that means, and struggling to relate all these things to their strict mother. There's some interesting scenes with them coming up that I hope you will enjoy!
I think the game would've benefitted from having a sort of companion-affinity system, where certain cutscenes won't happen until companions have reached a certain affinity with each other from being in the party together.
Taash's and Emmrich's conversation makes so much more sense if you've been hearing their banter leading it up to!
1:50:08 New lyrics forever in my mind now. New DA/90s SP canon.
Yay, Bloodbath.
That fight between Taash and Emmrich was frustrating to me because I’d taken them out together a few times and Emmrich genuinely tried to connect with them. He tried a couple of different subjects, one of which was Taash being a Lord of Fortune. They rebuffed him quite bluntly each time, which is their personality, but to be so crude and dismissive of who’s probably the nicest person on the team was very irritating.
I’m glad you got to the Cauldron today, definitely a memorable part of the game.
Also how did people play this game and not pet Assan?! Especially after the sad squawks?!
Is the nug in the cage a reference to the nug king you can find in the descent dlc?
No, it's a reworded song lyric from the mid-late 1990s. The song is Bullet with Butterfly Wings by Smashing Pumpkins. I'm old, so I spit out my lemonade when he sang it.
@zipbangcrash no I got the song reference, I meant the actual nug in the cage in the game because it's sat on a throne
@rebeccaborton3005 oh yes 😂 I completely forgot about that.
@@zipbangcrash it's all good 😊
@rebeccaborton3005 I got a little farther in the video just now and Mapo is singing another song from the 90s. 😂
I really like Taash and I've always like Trick Weekes' writing, I made other positive comments on them before in this playthrough, but as I have always said before I have my own criticism on the writing... and that "skullf***ker" dialogue for example, is hard to swallow. For me it was like "UGH"
As much as I abhorred this game while going through my 60 odd hour playthrough, I still like watching Mapo's playthrough because of his level headed approach to explaining what he likes and doesnt like, so when even if a disagree I still can understand his PoV and his logic outside of the cesspool that is the usual social media discourse.
Take the character interactions at the Lighthouse, like 90% grated on my brain sooooo much, they were barely surface level toddler name calling arguments and Rook has to be the Nursery Teacher scolding them and telling them to kiss and make up, AND THEY DO so there is never ANY animosity or conflict within the group, even the rift between Lucanis and Davrin is so milquetoast and banal it may as well not have been included...
The Cauldron fight was incredibly tough, one of the reasons I hate the potion refill mechanic… it’s so disproportionate at times, if you compare the Cauldron and Bloodbath, for example.
I like Taash's overall story a lot, and I think that the other elements of their personality are reflected in their overall quest line, but the ordering of the storyline does end up putting a lot of similar types of content back to back, while the pacing of the other companion's quests is mixed up and varied quite a bit. I can kind of see why they may have done it that way and won't expound because it's maybe a bit of a spoiler, but it's completely understandable why you'd react the way you do to multiple conversation/outing scenarios in a row, especially at this point in the game where you're getting full blown quests and big reveals out of the other companion storylines.
Your reaction to the Gloom Howler taking swings at Assan was my exact reaction. A lot of moments in the game hit for me, but my heart dropped in my chest there, because as much as I enjoy Davrin, we all know that Assan is the real star!
I'm curious, where you are in the game right now, did you figure out why you cant detonate weakened targets again?
Waiting for that to happen and see the look on your face 😂
Loving the playthrough good sir, keep up the good work!
Unfortunately it DOES feel like the devs put representation first, and character second. I wish the game had done them better. I can appreciate the all-consuming, and often times awkward feelings about and expressions of gender, especially for the painfully young. But ugh, it's disappointing for me personally that they aren't shown as a whole person who happens to be grappling with this very real and very valid identity question during the end of the world. I love Taash. I get them. I just wish they could have been shown in a more nuanced way is all. Representation alone isn't enough for me, personally. I need it to be done artfully, so that it truly represents the beauty of coming to your own answer to these questions.
As much as the levels look beautiful, I do very much get the gamey feel of the level design. To me it feels like the remenants of when the game was supposed to be live service multiplayer before it was again rebooted.
As much as I appreciate the nonbinary representation (and would like to see more), I wish they'd made Taash more than their gender. And their only other main character trait (Qunari vs Rivaini) comes down to a binary choice, which made me go 🤦♂. I wish they'd been able to reconcile those two parts of their culture, just like they reconciled their gender as something other than the two binary options initially presented to them.
That Taash and Emmrich scene perfectly exemplifies why I do not like Taash. When you meet Taash, one of the _first_ things they tell you is "You don't get to tell me who I am." Which later on connects into their identity storyline.
Then here Taash refers to Emmrich as 'Death Mage'. Something that truly offends Emmrich, and he tells Taash he does NOT like to be referred to that way and has told them that before. What does Taash say? "bUt ThAtS wHaT yOu ArE." I'm sorry Taash? I thought you didn't like when people told you who you are? But you think its fine to do the same?
I'm just so baffled the writers decided THIS scene was fine. It completely contradicts and makes Taash a massive hypocritical a*hole.
You're still yapping about this? Every single video this is all you talk about. Obsessed much?
@rievemg's comment is relevant to the video, and not something I've seen commented on every video, I can see the last few comments left by the account, and only one out of 3 were about Taash and that was 2 weeks ago.
While I disagree with @rievemg's comment 2 weeks ago about Taash and feels it misses the point, this one was most likely responding to a point I also made in the video about how this interaction was poorly done.
@@Mapocolops I remember having this convo with them on a previous video I think, but I'm also just exhausted by the constant hate Taash gets, and what I feel is a really uncharitable reading of their character and a purposeful refusal to even try to empathise with them and their struggle. It's not an honest conversation at this point. It's a "just asking questions" type of conversation where they've already made up their mind and their "questions" are nothing but verbal jabs and ignorance. Nothing you say will convince them otherwise.
@@Vulpix298So what I'm not allowed to share my opinions? That's the point of TH-cam. I didn't use any hateful language. I'm referring to a scene that is specially in this video. And you're tired of hearing about Taash hate? That's cool if you like Taash, but I don't and I believe I have valid reasons to feel that way. So people should either like Taash because you do, or they should just shut up and keep their opinions to themselves? I actually feel kind of uncomfortable you're apparently stalking my presence on this channel that you know all these comments I'm making. You're uncomfortable because I don't like a character you like. I'm uncomfortable because you're watching all my comments apparently. Now I feel I should never say anything because you'll find some reason to be upset about it and harass me over it
@@Vulpix298and can you explain what you're talking about? What is uncharitable and not honest about what I said? Taash literally says they do not like when people tell them who they are. In the scene in this video, we have Emmrich telling Taash he does not like the numerous names Taash has given him. You think that's fair? Also I'm gay, I know struggle. I know how important representation is. And they did a bad job at it. There are other NB characters in this game that are great. Dorian is amazing and his Inquisition quest was phenomenal. Krem was amazing as well. So don't come at me like I'm ignorant. It's so obvious what you're doing here. I'm not allowed to crucify criticize Taash because they are a certain minority type, so you refuse to accept any criticism of them, and if someone does, well they must be ignorant and spewing verbal jabs. It's honestly really insulting you accuse me of not having an honest conversation when I literally point blank used things that happened in game. So idk what you're talking about me not having honest questions and conversations when I refer to things LITERALLY in this video
As much as I adore them, I agree that Taash's story just didn't work in several places and was so lacking compared to many other characters. Taash was turned into "a very special episode" every.freeking.time, no real nuance or even subtlety and that's just sad. DAV overall is clunky but loveable and Taash is clunkiest...like a signpost over the head. Couple that with their insistence in writing Taash as rude and off putting in such a way that it makes their "story" such that it is very much an awkward experience and not in a way that illuminates some deeper point, it's just shallow writing for them. Frustrating for everyone involved. Especially for Taash fans
there are definitely moments where the writing for Taash is clunky, but imo it isn't that much clunkier than any of the other companions' stories. I think knowing that Taash's writer is nonbinary helped me get past some of the clunkiness because it just felt like someone exploring their feelings around their own identity through a character, if that makes sense? which makes it feel more real.
the lack of subtlety also feels very intentional to me since Taash isn't meant to be a subtle character, they're blunt and straight to the point - it wouldn't make sense for them to suddenly speak in a different way when they're speaking about their identity, especially since they had no idea any of it even existed.
obviously everyone's allowed to have their personal opinions on how they're handled, but as a nonbinary person I relate so much to Taash and the way they speak about their identity feels very familiar to me, which I wasn't expecting and it honestly made me feel very seen.
also, I've seen a few people call Taash rude and I just don't see it? the only moment I can think of where they're truly being rude is in this argument with Emmrich. is it a tone thing? if so it might be because I'm autistic, and Taash just sounds like an unmasked autistic person to me.
sorry for the long reply! it wasn't intentional 😅
@@CasHarris that was a beautiful reply The part where I think Taash is rude is when they were (off-screen) calling Emmerich a "skull fucker" which if you think about it it tantamount to Emmerich calling Taash a pedo. It was a shitty misconstruing of Emmerich's particular form of magic and even casting nasty aspersions at the Mourn Watch too. It was just low and really uncalled for.
Taash is like a mash-up of Iron Bull + Sera wrapped in a trans-pride banner. Please dont get my words twisted, I love Taash, i'm NB as well AND Im new to it which at my ancient age is just a lot sometimes. Taash can be both important to me as well as disappointing in certain ways. I love them, I REALLY love the game overall but I see the warts, the shallow places, the creaky things that just are wonky. It's still a great game and you know what? I'm glad it's so overtly queer and Trans, it's really beautiful. If I never get to visit Thedas again, I'm so happy we got this. I really love all the characters, I love my Rook(s) and Taash stole my heart from the jump. Grunts, growls, plain-spoken, push-ups and all
I remember similar criticisms about Dorians storyline. His personal quests was essentially an allegory for being a "convergence therapy survivor". His father tried to use blood magic to essentially turn him straight and what sparked their dysfunctional relationship. His story too was also based on the writer's personal experience.
As much as the writing can be criticised, I still really appreciate that Dragon Age is one of those games where a fantasy setting can help explore the real struggles of people IRL. I admit it does feel clunky at times, but I can imagine how hard it is to write about personal experiences in a way that can relate or show to a wider audience. Especially since there is that fear that not everyone will like the story you are telling, since that can feel very much like a personal attack. However, I believe the writers are mature enough to understand that we can both criticise the writing but still very much appreciate representation like this. Sometimes I'd rather have a little wobbly representation than no rep at all but that's just me 😅
That comment about the redhead and Bianca in the missive from the Black Emporium. I wonder if that was some foreshadowing about that dwarf friend of Varric, Bianca turning up and perhaps repairing Varric's crossbow, Bianca? Maybe?
Taash is not well written at all. She is by far the worst companion of any BioWare game. You're on a world ending quest and someone decided a petulant, whiny, hypocritical, non-dragon killing dragon hunter, non-Qunari Qunari teenager with mommy issues would be a good fit for the theme of the game and the world in general. Trick should leave the self-inserts out of their writing. Yikes.
What is your opinion on Sera from Inquisition? or Sebastian in DA2, or Oghren in Origins
@ All three are miles more interesting and better written, even considering Sebastian is a DLC companion. Even Krem from DAI is better written.
There's only a few scenes in particular that I think aren't good for Taash. But there's plenty of really great scenes with them too, that really work and make sense when you're not close minded.
Taash is also hilarious at times, and when it's not about their identity, they're basically acting like Iron Bull, which people love. So it's really just about identity, and people won't even hide that. It's super unfortunate that Taash's bad scenes ARE tied to the identity crisis and not handled well, but there's also a significant amount of people that enjoy the character, considering Taash was in the top 3 most romanced companions in Bioware's official stats.
Sera, Oghren, Sebastian, even companions more well loved have all had pretty poor scenes at times too. They get a pass because they're men or women though.
@ It’s not the gender identity thing and it’s a copout many people have used to excuse such an uninteresting character. I thought Dorian’s gay storyline in DAI was written poorly too when I played that in 2014, and I’m gay. This idea that we can’t be critical of the writing for these topics is absurd. They could really be exploring the dragon side of her and how that pulls her away from her gender, but we get mommy issues instead. It’s not interesting, it’s okay if one does not find it interesting, and I’m not transphobic for saying so.
@ like I said, I have my issues with it too, but there is a massively disproportionate amount of complaints that do just stem to the gender issues and ignore the rest. I do feel Taash is half baked as a first draft companion sadly but definitely not the worst I don’t think
This conversation with Emmrich is what made me unlike Taash. I think they're well written, but they are such a hypocrite I didn't like it at all. It makes sense considering their background, and I think the writers did do this on purpose, but man I really didn't like their behavior in that moment.