@@libertyprime1614 I'm inclined to agree to an extent. He looks more alien than other races, however his proportions seem... off-- not just in his body, but also his face.
@@watchulookinat271 Yeah he'd just be called Arishok now. But still would be cool to see him without the horns and just instantly know it's him. Inquisition referenced that he supposedly became Arishok, "Did you hear the new Arishok has no horns?" or some shit like that.
Rick Wasserman deserves more credit for this role. He brings out such a majesty to those that live under the Qun and presents legitimately compelling points about the benefits of Qun philosophy. In a series with great antagonists like Loghain, Corypheus, Meredith, Anders, and Solas, the Arishok is definitely up there with them for me.
To be fair, The qunari Inquisitor was, and pretty much HAD to be tal.vashoth.... outside the qun. Otherwise there would be absolutely no reason to be present at the explosion that started the whole story. One of the major subplots of Inquisition was an examination of what it meant to be qunari and reject the qun...... Iron bull was specifically an infiltration agent that had spent way too long out in the field... He had already submitted to re-education once before he even met us..... And our actions determine his final fate. Inquisition's writing was almost but not quite on par with the first game.... The subtext of whether you were playing a human what with all their attachments to the chantry, or an elf with their attachment to both their clan and solas and his budding rebellion... Or the qunari mercenary dealing with iron bull and his crisis of faith. As far as I can tell the only plot line where they really dropped the ball was the dwarves whom they haven't given proper attention to since origins in my humble opinion.
@@gourmand3 I think their point is that because the Inquisitor was originally going to be human, with the alternate races ultimately just being tacked on, they ended up going with an unfortunately contrived explanation for a Qunari Inquisitor being raised outside of the Qun. Which is a concept that, if approached right, could have been genuinely interesting. I may enjoy Inquisition, but I can't deny that it had some glaring faults. Similar to how Dragon Age 2 suffered from an unfortunate case of being rushed to hell (As EA loved and STILL loves to do, because far be it for game developers to be given time to iron out and refine their works like any artist deserves.)
@@warchiefvenomn7612 exactly, repeating "that's messed up" or the classic "you don't get to tell me who I am". Loving the game and the rest of the characters, but wtf were they thinking with this? lol
The Arishok alone is one of the reasons I replayed DA2 so many times. Watching this makes me wanna go play right now. Hands down one of the greatest villains in video games ever!
@@driftingsnow23 He is basically fighting over a few elves knowing he will lose. and I am making a Game of Thrones reference with the characters the Hound
@@driftingsnow23 The final straw involved elves that ran to the Qunari to allegedly avoid being sentenced for murder of a noble. The Arishok was face to face with Aveline, representing the city watch, to demand the elves be turned over... them declaring a wish to convert to the Qun makes it tantamount to asking him to turn over Qunari and abandon them to the city... and yeah.. someone did die for those elves.
I like that sometimes he just shows genuine anger over being stuck in Kirkwall for years. Hes not just this philosopher everyone thinks he is. He is also human enough to just want to leave
always lmao when people say he wanted to take over kirkwall, meanwhile arishok was getting butthurt simply from staying in kirkwall. all because of isabella's clear stupidity
I love the interactions with the Arishok. He shows such conviction and depth in the Qun, Qunari, and Antaam. Compared to the medieval-esque peoples of Ferelden and Kirkwall, the Qunari appear as a wholly new society. A Spartan, minimalistic, theocratic order that maintains a constant stalemate with the strongest magocracy in the world. And keeps growing.
Either he dies in Kirkwall, or ends up in worse conditions in his Homeland during DA:I according to Varric, all because Isabela escapes with the Tome off-screen.
I think it's better lore wise to fight and kill him at least he can be respected as a great warrior who fought and was defeated by another great warrior his legacy would be looked upon more favourably rather then being demoted and most likely either offed himself out of shame or was executed.
When you defeat them Varric will say the Quanri came later and said "we will never talk about this again" which in their terms was a sort of diplomatic apology
@@irishboi7100 the problem is, they don’t see the Arishok as a great and respected warrior in Kirkwall, because we can see a statue of a guardsman trampling his severed head on the docks once we start the act 3
I didn't actually realise you could have optional conversations with him between quests, I think I was a little scared to interact with him after he's told us to leave 😅
As much as i like Bull's character, the writing for the Qunari in Inquisition was pretty bland. I was hoping to see characters like the Arishok and the Tal-Vashoth. They shed some light and info on who and how they are.
i agree, there’s definitely some info bull drops in DAI that i thought made the qunari more dynamic and unique, but overall i love the DA2 qunari so much more 😭 especially the design
@eli1964 It helps that we get to see more of them and what they do than we do in Inquisition, where Iron Bull is really just like Sten from Origins in being the "token Qunari" character, albeit with a more dynamic personality that adds nuance to those under the Qun. Dragon Age 2 places more focus on society at large as seen within the city of Kirkwall, and because of that, it has the best depiction of the Qunari, a people focused centrally around the wants of their society, which make them a greay foil to the individualistic Hawke.
He's ment to be more of a spy that's why he's so blase about the qun ,arishok however is a born leader,he's strong and direct,intelligent and anilitical,while bull was a cudgel arishok is a computer.
@@mszhellfyre5743 Probably because they didn't have much to do with the story unlike in 2. The closest you get is with Iron Bull and you can have him just straight up leave them. Trespasser was awesome though!
Kinda crazy they had the perfect design and writing for Qunari but they decided to throw it in the trash so the giant horned communists can be more "relatable" no joke the second i met Iron Bull in inquisition I hated his guts and never used him.
There are still stench of great writings from origins in DA2 . I miss such tone of dialogues and conversation they had. They are very well "matured" and doesnt felt like AI nor High School level of writing. Some examples from the DA2 Arishok: -"that is why I do not simply walk from this pustule of a city" -"the qun from an Elf..? the madness of this place" -"I have growing lack of disgust from you.." -"To your limited understanding, it is not. you fear of soldiers that arrive to remove your pitiable vices" -"I admire conviction with a focus, but your kind are truly committed to weakness" DA4: -"So....I'm non binary."
i mean i think it’s cool that taash is nonbinary but it sucked that that was basically the entirety of DAV’s qunari-related storylines lol. the writing did seem very high school
@@eli1964 Modern games shoehorn in conversation about gender that feel like they were ripped straight from a San Francisco living room. Looking at you, Veilguard...Actually, Origins brings up a LOT of social and political themes but it does this in a smart and lore accurate way, the racism against the elves and Lanaya lines when you answer that some humans regret what they did and she questions that if they regret, why they don't do nothing about it? (and many other things that happen in the Dalish Camp) the political game between the chantry, the mages and the templars many comparisons can be made with our political system in real life, the right wing vs left wing in the dwarves main quest and the way they let you decide what you think is best without inducing or demanding you to choose side A or B. In Veilguard it's a mess out of the universe setting, out of touch, out of context, it's a caricature, an unrealistic way to represent things that actually exist.
All their talent left, and was replaced by pretentious activist filth that brought ruin to the name. Makes you wish you could be Viddathari; the Qunari of DA:O & DA2 seem so based, these days.
DA2 may have been the product of horribly rushed production, but the writing did not suffer nearly as much as it did for Veilguard. This is night and day, even considering the formula for exploring the world for Veilguard is likely how I imagined the devs wanted to explore Thedas in DA2. We truly have lost so much in the waiting period for the last decade, what a shame.
The funniest thing is that if the Arishook survives and goes to Par Vollen, gets court Martial'd by the Qun because he set a city on fire and killed a bunch of innocent people because he got robbed by an unrelated party. Then he gets executed and replaced with Sten. If you killed him he still gets denounced by the Qun at large.
iirc it’s only about 6 or so dialogue/game choices that are actually needed to earn his respect (bringing fenris to the first meeting, telling the arishok about his missing envoy in act 2, etc) the rest doesn’t matter!
@@eli1964 That's such a trip, I never used fenris. He never met the arishok in my playthroughs. Another reason I love seeing this video, never saw him interact with the arishok.
Corypheus was cool af, although I definitely agree in the end his writing fell flat as he was killed too easily. Not to mention there wasn't a real sense of urgency due to inquisitions gameplay style of resource farming and running around with 50 million side quests.
30:58 in my playthrough, i let the Arishok go. Mainly because i consider him a worthy foe. Hawke and the Arishok aren't friends, and never will be. However, they still respect each other in some level. So in my headcanon, They will have a showdown, but not on this day.
I remember to be disappointed in DA 2 at the time, but now after veilguard, well DA2 had its flaws but honestly what the old Bioware did in 14 months is far FAR better then what new Bioware did in 10 years. 10 years Carl . And according to art book in Dredwoolf we could actually try to negotiate truce between Tevinter and Qun and meat Archon and new Arishok ( who was Sten in DAO)
this is the kind of writing that DA lost with veilguard.... i mean didnt any of their writers PLAY the games???? Jesus where is the Ben-Hasserath when you need them eh?
Now these qunari, not only do they look alien their philosophy and mannerisms are also alien Be me that's how a fantasy race should be not just humans that look slightly different like in veilguard
This is why I love the Qunari; they're strange in their religious culture, and hard to understand at first, but grew to understand them better and appreciated them being so different and foreign... their originality helped them stand out from the cliché Tolkien roster of men, elves and dwarves. But that was before the Veilguard ruined them...
I almost forgot these interactions, the writing is superb, but remembering them now make the comparison with most "modern games audience writing" even more sore. Hearing the dialogues in DA Veilguard feels like they were wrote by kids in primary school.
Something funny about DA2's redemption coming from how bad Inquisition and Veilguard were. (Some will say Inquisition was good, but it was a precursor to all the garbage of Veilguard).
I still remember th first time i played DA2 in 2011... I got so hooked to it and when i reached The arishok, I can't find the words to say how much I liked, everything... Then I played origins and while the story was good, i could never get into it fully because i was used to the combat in DA2... But I have to admit i liked how many spells and how they interacted with each other worked in origins
No. They are right. It is an absolutely abysmal game full of some of the worst cookie cutter copy-paste design ever. It Mass Effect-izes the Dragon Age setting too. Its a comprehensively bad game. That doesnt mean you cant find something to like about it. I liked Hawkes interactions with Varric, Merrill and Aveline and his romance with Isabela. I liked how, despite its ugly, crap, copypasted environment it was the first time Bioware told a "long-term" storyline - even if each act is only tangentially tied together. I dont fault anyone for finding fun things to like about it. I found enough myself to complete the game. But its an absolutely awful game made by a company that rushed its team and pushed them in a new direction to "mass-market-effect-appeal" to a new audience. "yA PUsH a BuTtOn, sUMthIN AWsUm HaPpENs!"
It's understandable how easily we see the Arishok as a villain based on his actions and belief in the Qun. However, the Arishok did nothing wrong, he performed his duty admirably and I see him as another victim to the crazy shit that was happening in the city :3
"One day... we shall return." And they literally never came back. Dragon Age 2 was a great look into the military arm of the Qun. We get basically nothing of it afterwards, just a little bit from Iron Bull, some of which contradicts what we already know. Veilguard...lets not talk about that.
I still preferred them without the Horns. I don't really like the idea of naked painted barbarians, I'd rather they wore full armor, Or exotic armor. Like Sten. But you still feel the same about them as you do about Sten. Brutality, pragmatism, and Honor. When you talk to Arishok you feel like this guy is the leader of Sten and Sten bows to him. He could be his father. He talks the same way as Sten but damn you feel like you have to weigh your words even more. Every time I talked to him I got goosebumps and sweat from nerves and I chose my words very carefully. However, in DA3 the Qunari don't act like Qunari anymore. Iron Bull is not QUnari. This big cuddly bear. A human in the body of a Qunari. DA4 and cartoons the same. In the Qunari it wasn't their appearance that was the most interesting, but their alien mentality and pragmatism incredibly alien to humans. and they made them known as Tieflings. Probably because of their horns.
The butcher almost spoke as well as arishok. But still he dies so quickly, i wish we could fight and recruit his faction instead of the crows. But he was blighted for intel
that voice.....it sounds a lot like legate lanius from fallout new vegas and more importantly, it sounds an awful lot like Mordoc Selanmere, the pale knight from baldur's gate dark alliance 2 my interest is vested and piqued.
Okay I completed this game and found some things to like about it - the ability to earn the Arishoks respect and his character writing being some of them. However...... Nothing symbolizes the absolutely awful state of gaming today with such badly written, agenda driven trash that Dragon Age 2 is now being hailed as a acceptable effort in comparison. This entire game was massacred on release, rightly so, for its lazy, copypaste wave-based action oriented gameplay & design and its blatant attempt to appeal to the action market at their RPG fans expense. Gaming today is so bad that Larian - master of horny cringe writing, which BG3 is no exception - is now being held up as some top tier game development standard. No, if you want truly excellent writing go play Planescape: Torment. Baldurs Gate 3 is amateur hour by comparison.
DA2 didn't even have good writing really, The Arishok is a compelling character adrift in a sea of mediocrity. Which is hilarious when he's constantly complaining about how much he hates Kirkwall. I hate Kirkwall too dude.
@@whitewall2253Yes most of the writing in the game was ranging from sub-par to outright awful. The screenshot of cross eyed hawke with the "dragon?" conversation wheel was very apt.
@@jmlaw8888 Hawke was fun if you played aggressive or diplomatic. I liked how "neutral" spoken dialogues would change based off your primary personality. The game did right by making the Friendship-Rivalry system as opposed to a simple approval bar, probably should have made it more clear that rivalry was a good thing. The quests involving Hawke's family, the Qunari, the boss fights, and certain companion's rivalry paths were the highlights. The Act 3 Mage-Templar conflict, the repeating maps, and the waves of weak enemies was not. I think out of any game in the series, a honest remake with a competent (non-ideologue) team would see the public opinion for it change dramatically.
The worst thing about DA2 was you could tell all the side content was cookie cutter. It always is, but the fact that it was so obvious always broke my immersion. Personally the combat isn’t my favorite but it was still solid.
![Meeting Corypheus [Legacy DLC] | Dragon Age 2](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dU78FnfjQig/mqdefault.jpg)
Still the best looking qunari ever designed, it's not a competition
Man I wish we could live in an alternate universe where DA was fire and you can create a Qunari that looks as cool as this
Wrong. Iron Bull
I would say, he AND Iron Bull are.
@@FimbulSleipnir Iron Bull looks like if Qunari had a down syndrome.
@@libertyprime1614 I'm inclined to agree to an extent. He looks more alien than other races, however his proportions seem... off-- not just in his body, but also his face.
Gods the Qun was strong then
I was hoping to see Sten in Veilguard...I was disappointed...by many things.
That viscount... Probably shattered every rib he had
@@oddersisadog It's probably for the best that we don't see him in this particular game
@@oddersisadogit's kinda hard to find Sten cause his name is a rank not identity
@@watchulookinat271 Yeah he'd just be called Arishok now. But still would be cool to see him without the horns and just instantly know it's him. Inquisition referenced that he supposedly became Arishok, "Did you hear the new Arishok has no horns?" or some shit like that.
"I have a growing lack of disgust for you"
I'm stealing that
Just a worthy antagonist, one who is the hero of their own story. That is good writing people.
He is. Undeniabley a villian to the city and hawke, but also undeniabley honorable and respectable
He's threatening all the nobles, then he sees Hawke and is like,"'Sup, Hawke?" XD
He is just hate the nobles that's all, lol
Lol I like the arishok he's very to the point,he hates the nobles because they are greedy and pointless,he hates the city because it's disorderly.
@@DavidSantos-ix1hu and he likes Hawke for his competence.
arishok my beloved. truly one of the most compelling character in this series imo. thank you for compiling his dialogue!
Rick Wasserman deserves more credit for this role. He brings out such a majesty to those that live under the Qun and presents legitimately compelling points about the benefits of Qun philosophy. In a series with great antagonists like Loghain, Corypheus, Meredith, Anders, and Solas, the Arishok is definitely up there with them for me.
22:04 "They hunger for purpose." I've been looking for this line for so, so long. Thank you!
i got u 🫡🫡🫡
The elites replacing the whole upper part of BioWare to further the "woke" agenda.
THIS IS HOW QUNARI SHOULD FUCKING LOOK, MY GOD...
Look, sound, behave.
Wrong. Iron Bull
@FimbulSleipnir trolling used to be believable.
@@FimbulSleipnir Bull was already meh.
Naaaahhh. just make them look like black people and have identity crisis, Forget the Qun lol
THIS is the Qunari.
Not that horned Barbie doll stuff they gave us in "Veilguard".
This is an unplayable characters dummy, you cant even create a qunari that looks like this
@@markedone494 Inquisition had the right Qun
@@markedone494 And thats the frickin problem
@@markedone494 yeah that's the problem lol they look too human
They should've designed the actual race in general like in dragon age 2
Cisquisition isn't any better.
Thank you for this long video! I love the Arishok, best character in the game. Wish our Qunari inquisitor was even a fourth as cool as him
HARDDDDD agree, they did such a fantastic job with his character!!
To be fair, The qunari Inquisitor was, and pretty much HAD to be tal.vashoth.... outside the qun. Otherwise there would be absolutely no reason to be present at the explosion that started the whole story. One of the major subplots of Inquisition was an examination of what it meant to be qunari and reject the qun...... Iron bull was specifically an infiltration agent that had spent way too long out in the field... He had already submitted to re-education once before he even met us..... And our actions determine his final fate. Inquisition's writing was almost but not quite on par with the first game.... The subtext of whether you were playing a human what with all their attachments to the chantry, or an elf with their attachment to both their clan and solas and his budding rebellion... Or the qunari mercenary dealing with iron bull and his crisis of faith. As far as I can tell the only plot line where they really dropped the ball was the dwarves whom they haven't given proper attention to since origins in my humble opinion.
Well.. the Inquisitor wasn't meant to BE a Qunari, you simply were given the choice to appear as one.
@@DutchGuyMike and your point is?
@@gourmand3 I think their point is that because the Inquisitor was originally going to be human, with the alternate races ultimately just being tacked on, they ended up going with an unfortunately contrived explanation for a Qunari Inquisitor being raised outside of the Qun. Which is a concept that, if approached right, could have been genuinely interesting. I may enjoy Inquisition, but I can't deny that it had some glaring faults. Similar to how Dragon Age 2 suffered from an unfortunate case of being rushed to hell (As EA loved and STILL loves to do, because far be it for game developers to be given time to iron out and refine their works like any artist deserves.)
Imagine a Qunari like this as our companion, stronger than Sten, more Qunari than Iron Bull, and better written than Taash.
Better written than Taash? That's pretty easy to do lol
@@warchiefvenomn7612 exactly, repeating "that's messed up" or the classic "you don't get to tell me who I am". Loving the game and the rest of the characters, but wtf were they thinking with this? lol
I wish we had just had the dragon king as our companion instead
I really like this design and the fight in the game trailer was so awesome. I played DAO and DAI because of this and DAVG doesn't pique my interest.
Bruh, another qunari warrior? It would be cooler a Saarebas
its all been downhill for the Qun since this gigachad died...
The Arishok alone is one of the reasons I replayed DA2 so many times. Watching this makes me wanna go play right now. Hands down one of the greatest villains in video games ever!
At the end of Act 2
Aveline: “You lived your life for the Qun, you gonna die for some Elves?”
Arishok: “Someone is.”
I didn’t understand… can someone explain?
@@driftingsnow23 He is basically fighting over a few elves knowing he will lose. and I am making a Game of Thrones reference with the characters the Hound
@@driftingsnow23 The final straw involved elves that ran to the Qunari to allegedly avoid being sentenced for murder of a noble. The Arishok was face to face with Aveline, representing the city watch, to demand the elves be turned over... them declaring a wish to convert to the Qun makes it tantamount to asking him to turn over Qunari and abandon them to the city... and yeah.. someone did die for those elves.
xDD
@@driftingsnow23 Look up the Hound fights the Lannisters in the tavern.
I like that sometimes he just shows genuine anger over being stuck in Kirkwall for years. Hes not just this philosopher everyone thinks he is. He is also human enough to just want to leave
always lmao when people say he wanted to take over kirkwall, meanwhile arishok was getting butthurt simply from staying in kirkwall. all because of isabella's clear stupidity
"You alone are basalit-an!" One of the greatest compliments any of the characters I ever played ever received.
This guy is infinitely more interesting, well-written, respectable and honourable than the entire Veilguard companion cast
THANK YOU! I couldn't manage to find a video with all his scenes anywhere else on TH-cam, this is appreciated 👍
ofc 🫡🙏🙏🙏 glad it’s helpful!!!
I love the interactions with the Arishok. He shows such conviction and depth in the Qun, Qunari, and Antaam. Compared to the medieval-esque peoples of Ferelden and Kirkwall, the Qunari appear as a wholly new society. A Spartan, minimalistic, theocratic order that maintains a constant stalemate with the strongest magocracy in the world. And keeps growing.
God! I love the Arishok's voice
Sounds like Kratos
Either he dies in Kirkwall, or ends up in worse conditions in his Homeland during DA:I according to Varric, all because Isabela escapes with the Tome off-screen.
I think it's better lore wise to fight and kill him at least he can be respected as a great warrior who fought and was defeated by another great warrior his legacy would be looked upon more favourably rather then being demoted and most likely either offed himself out of shame or was executed.
@@irishboi7100Canon timeline before failguard, hawke duels arishokk and wins. Sten then takes over as the new arishok.
When you defeat them Varric will say the Quanri came later and said "we will never talk about this again" which in their terms was a sort of diplomatic apology
@@ZeroOmega-vg8nq Failguard is not canon.
@@irishboi7100 the problem is, they don’t see the Arishok as a great and respected warrior in Kirkwall, because we can see a statue of a guardsman trampling his severed head on the docks once we start the act 3
I didn't actually realise you could have optional conversations with him between quests, I think I was a little scared to interact with him after he's told us to leave 😅
understandable, being surrounded by 6+ feet tall hunks of muscle that are armed does seem intimidating
@@weedragonauts4729 my dwarf warden wouldn't give a crap. height means nothing.
@@STEVEYTHEEXEEVEE except that you’re no dwarf or warden in DA2, you’re playing only as a human
@@craigarkensaw Ok? and?
this 30 minute conversation video has more soul than the entirety of Veilguard's companions
As much as i like Bull's character, the writing for the Qunari in Inquisition was pretty bland. I was hoping to see characters like the Arishok and the Tal-Vashoth. They shed some light and info on who and how they are.
i agree, there’s definitely some info bull drops in DAI that i thought made the qunari more dynamic and unique, but overall i love the DA2 qunari so much more 😭 especially the design
@eli1964 It helps that we get to see more of them and what they do than we do in Inquisition, where Iron Bull is really just like Sten from Origins in being the "token Qunari" character, albeit with a more dynamic personality that adds nuance to those under the Qun. Dragon Age 2 places more focus on society at large as seen within the city of Kirkwall, and because of that, it has the best depiction of the Qunari, a people focused centrally around the wants of their society, which make them a greay foil to the individualistic Hawke.
He's ment to be more of a spy that's why he's so blase about the qun ,arishok however is a born leader,he's strong and direct,intelligent and anilitical,while bull was a cudgel arishok is a computer.
Whole inquisition game was shitty. Like mass effect andromeda.
They whitewashed the Quanri so hard lmao
Just wanna echo what the other poster said. I've been looking for something like this forever. Thanks so much.
what an absolute chad this dude was
I don't care what anyone says, DA2 had the best character design and dialogue of the entire series, despite it's other shortcomings.
Made with such a sort time too, imagine if they gave the production team a proper time they needed.
This is the most beautiful man I’ve ever seen in all of Dragon Age.
genuinely could not agree more
once more THIS is what we deserved with the qunari.
The Arishok was unironically the coolesr part of the game.
i have growing lack of disgust for you is one of my favorite lines in dragon age :D
This is when the Qunari were the coolest, Inqusition still cool, Veilguard... 😒
I hated the Inquisition Qunari. They were such a far departure from what we had in DA2.
@@mszhellfyre5743 Probably because they didn't have much to do with the story unlike in 2. The closest you get is with Iron Bull and you can have him just straight up leave them. Trespasser was awesome though!
Wrong. Iron Bull
@zacharybartolo5111 I didn't like his design either. I agree the Qunari from Tresspasser did look pretty decent.
@FimbulSleipnir The Iron Bull had a tiny head.
his voice lines still live in my head rent free
God the Antaam in Veilguard don't even grasp at the quality writing of the old Qun based Quanari
Kinda crazy they had the perfect design and writing for Qunari but they decided to throw it in the trash so the giant horned communists can be more "relatable" no joke the second i met Iron Bull in inquisition I hated his guts and never used him.
If you read into what happened you can say that Hawke manipulated the Arishok to make the move that ended in his defeat.
There are still stench of great writings from origins in DA2 . I miss such tone of dialogues and conversation they had. They are very well "matured" and doesnt felt like AI nor High School level of writing.
Some examples from the DA2 Arishok:
-"that is why I do not simply walk from this pustule of a city"
-"the qun from an Elf..? the madness of this place"
-"I have growing lack of disgust from you.."
-"To your limited understanding, it is not. you fear of soldiers that arrive to remove your pitiable vices"
-"I admire conviction with a focus, but your kind are truly committed to weakness"
DA4:
-"So....I'm non binary."
i mean i think it’s cool that taash is nonbinary but it sucked that that was basically the entirety of DAV’s qunari-related storylines lol. the writing did seem very high school
@@eli1964 Modern games shoehorn in conversation about gender that feel like they were ripped straight from a San Francisco living room. Looking at you, Veilguard...Actually, Origins brings up a LOT of social and political themes but it does this in a smart and lore accurate way, the racism against the elves and Lanaya lines when you answer that some humans regret what they did and she questions that if they regret, why they don't do nothing about it? (and many other things that happen in the Dalish Camp) the political game between the chantry, the mages and the templars many comparisons can be made with our political system in real life, the right wing vs left wing in the dwarves main quest and the way they let you decide what you think is best without inducing or demanding you to choose side A or B. In Veilguard it's a mess out of the universe setting, out of touch, out of context, it's a caricature, an unrealistic way to represent things that actually exist.
Back when bioware had writers
rather than social justice and gender studies flunkies
Back when Bioware worries more about the plot than about the Woke agenda.
God, I miss this sort of writing. There was more ire in that Dwarf's exit than I've heard in all of Veilguard.
Probably one of my favorite npcs in the entire series
Damn, son. The Qunari were so cool once.
Guys, forget the perfect designs for Qunari, look at that Dialogue with capital D!!! What the hell happened to Bioware.
All their talent left, and was replaced by pretentious activist filth that brought ruin to the name. Makes you wish you could be Viddathari; the Qunari of DA:O & DA2 seem so based, these days.
@@TheStraightestWhitestTo be fair, I don’t think it’s a decision they make. It’s more like a disorder. For most of them anyway..
Praising DA2, the game with dialogue such as “I want a sandwich”, is certainly a choice.
@mal3nko DA2 is Shakespeare compared to veilguard. It has many weaknesses and flaws, but at least it's still DA
All the talent left
DA2 may have been the product of horribly rushed production, but the writing did not suffer nearly as much as it did for Veilguard.
This is night and day, even considering the formula for exploring the world for Veilguard is likely how I imagined the devs wanted to explore Thedas in DA2.
We truly have lost so much in the waiting period for the last decade, what a shame.
The funniest thing is that if the Arishook survives and goes to Par Vollen, gets court Martial'd by the Qun because he set a city on fire and killed a bunch of innocent people because he got robbed by an unrelated party. Then he gets executed and replaced with Sten.
If you killed him he still gets denounced by the Qun at large.
Here after seeing how Veilguard butchered the design of this badass race. Say what you want about DA2 but Arishok was the peak Qunari design.
Now that you say that, from what I've seen on TH-cam, the Qunari in DAV look kinda like blue tieflings.
'In four years I have made no threat' he says after having said, 'Duty to the Qun may be fulfilled by sifting through the rubble.' xD
the way he says 'you' is just so kdjhfgks
YEAH GODDDDDDD
actual qunari
28:00 what you want to say when you walk into a room for of politicians
I love Arishok
I miss him.
one of the more memable characters of DA2 i hope when we meet "stan" again we see how well he is fitting in with his promotion
This is interesting.. I achieved the exact same thing, but with almost entirely different dialogue choices.
iirc it’s only about 6 or so dialogue/game choices that are actually needed to earn his respect (bringing fenris to the first meeting, telling the arishok about his missing envoy in act 2, etc) the rest doesn’t matter!
@@eli1964 That's such a trip, I never used fenris. He never met the arishok in my playthroughs. Another reason I love seeing this video, never saw him interact with the arishok.
BY far the best looking Qunari and the absolute best villain in the series.
This is a far better villain than Corypheus or the Evanuris.
Corypheus was cool af, although I definitely agree in the end his writing fell flat as he was killed too easily. Not to mention there wasn't a real sense of urgency due to inquisitions gameplay style of resource farming and running around with 50 million side quests.
maker the dialog was strong then
30:58 in my playthrough, i let the Arishok go. Mainly because i consider him a worthy foe. Hawke and the Arishok aren't friends, and never will be.
However, they still respect each other in some level. So in my headcanon, They will have a showdown, but not on this day.
When he's voiced by Killbane from SR TT.
I remember to be disappointed in DA 2 at the time, but now after veilguard, well DA2 had its flaws but honestly what the old Bioware did in 14 months is far FAR better then what new Bioware did in 10 years. 10 years Carl .
And according to art book in Dredwoolf we could actually try to negotiate truce between Tevinter and Qun and meat Archon and new Arishok ( who was Sten in DAO)
From this epicness of a character and portrayal of a fantasy race... to that thing in Inquisition, how was it called? redbull something?
It gets worse in Veilguard.
@@shadowstarz3651Faaaaaaaar worse
look how they massacred my boy
Why do I doubt that the writing in the new Dragon Age game will be on this level? By the looks of it, it won't be.
They basically turned the qunari into tiefling
this is the kind of writing that DA lost with veilguard.... i mean didnt any of their writers PLAY the games???? Jesus where is the Ben-Hasserath when you need them eh?
Veilguard is a f disgrace. This level of quality is just gone.
DA2 is so good by comparison
fenris knowing qunari could be a good little wink that qunari came from the elf race
Now these qunari, not only do they look alien their philosophy and mannerisms are also alien
Be me that's how a fantasy race should be not just humans that look slightly different like in veilguard
This is why I love the Qunari; they're strange in their religious culture, and hard to understand at first, but grew to understand them better and appreciated them being so different and foreign... their originality helped them stand out from the cliché Tolkien roster of men, elves and dwarves. But that was before the Veilguard ruined them...
I almost forgot these interactions, the writing is superb, but remembering them now make the comparison with most "modern games audience writing" even more sore.
Hearing the dialogues in DA Veilguard feels like they were wrote by kids in primary school.
Back when BioWare had balls
Something funny about DA2's redemption coming from how bad Inquisition and Veilguard were. (Some will say Inquisition was good, but it was a precursor to all the garbage of Veilguard).
Thanks big dawg just got the achievement cuz of this
This is a Qunari. What a Qunari!
One of my favorites lines from him is when he responds to Varric's brother, ....."NO"....
Not his brother, but I understand all dwarves look the same.
Aye, just like Kratos, but the Arishok did it first. And both are gigachads.
For all its flaws, the writing was pretty fire!
I still remember th first time i played DA2 in 2011... I got so hooked to it and when i reached The arishok, I can't find the words to say how much I liked, everything... Then I played origins and while the story was good, i could never get into it fully because i was used to the combat in DA2... But I have to admit i liked how many spells and how they interacted with each other worked in origins
His voice is so ridiculously hot
Arishok needs to fix his posture fr
All who said da2 is bad game they are wrong
They have no idea how wrong they are. This game is class.
Player it all the way through, it's bad compared to Origins.
@@AndrewRyan-zv7zb Wrong.
@@AndrewRyan-zv7zb It's not Origins, but it's not horrible. I enjoyed it for what it was...except all the damned spiders!
No. They are right. It is an absolutely abysmal game full of some of the worst cookie cutter copy-paste design ever. It Mass Effect-izes the Dragon Age setting too. Its a comprehensively bad game.
That doesnt mean you cant find something to like about it. I liked Hawkes interactions with Varric, Merrill and Aveline and his romance with Isabela. I liked how, despite its ugly, crap, copypasted environment it was the first time Bioware told a "long-term" storyline - even if each act is only tangentially tied together.
I dont fault anyone for finding fun things to like about it. I found enough myself to complete the game.
But its an absolutely awful game made by a company that rushed its team and pushed them in a new direction to "mass-market-effect-appeal" to a new audience. "yA PUsH a BuTtOn, sUMthIN AWsUm HaPpENs!"
I was too harsh on DA2
The Arishok was him. We shouldn't have won that fight no matter class we were. Not really.
Mage definitely should. Like how Hawke kills the arishok in the trailer. By tearing the arishok's arms off with magic
i like 24:00 - you can come but not in this number (5), ok, 3 people go away and 4 come in making it 6 => thats acceptable :D
With the state of DA nowadays we realize that DA2 was actually pretty damn good.
It's understandable how easily we see the Arishok as a villain based on his actions and belief in the Qun. However, the Arishok did nothing wrong, he performed his duty admirably and I see him as another victim to the crazy shit that was happening in the city :3
Arishok did nothing wrong
Forgot to do the loyalty quest for the Arishok where he comes out as gay to his confused dad.
@@gabrieldavis4434 i mean he is canonically gay so
you should try with merril in your group .... -But your feet did nothing!
"One day... we shall return." And they literally never came back.
Dragon Age 2 was a great look into the military arm of the Qun. We get basically nothing of it afterwards, just a little bit from Iron Bull, some of which contradicts what we already know. Veilguard...lets not talk about that.
What a chad.
It was satisfying to gain his respect then kill him in a one on one duel as a sword and shield knight.
How am I just now noticing that he sounds like Vin Diesel
The Arishok 🫡
Welp none of this matters now.
I still preferred them without the Horns. I don't really like the idea of naked painted barbarians, I'd rather they wore full armor, Or exotic armor. Like Sten.
But you still feel the same about them as you do about Sten. Brutality, pragmatism, and Honor. When you talk to Arishok you feel like this guy is the leader of Sten and Sten bows to him. He could be his father. He talks the same way as Sten but damn you feel like you have to weigh your words even more.
Every time I talked to him I got goosebumps and sweat from nerves and I chose my words very carefully.
However, in DA3 the Qunari don't act like Qunari anymore. Iron Bull is not QUnari. This big cuddly bear. A human in the body of a Qunari. DA4 and cartoons the same. In the Qunari it wasn't their appearance that was the most interesting, but their alien mentality and pragmatism incredibly alien to humans. and they made them known as Tieflings. Probably because of their horns.
The butcher almost spoke as well as arishok. But still he dies so quickly, i wish we could fight and recruit his faction instead of the crows. But he was blighted for intel
The butcher was quite interesting. But at the end of the day he was tempted by the Gods powers which contradicts what the Qun is about
He so fine 😅😳
RIGHT??! I was sooo upset when you couldn't romance them when I first played. 😭
#ridethebull
😏
Honestly, i would prefer if they had stayed with a Sven like design: Just tall dark humanoids with stern faces. Hate these Hellboy like designs.
that voice.....it sounds a lot like legate lanius from fallout new vegas and more importantly, it sounds an awful lot like Mordoc Selanmere, the pale knight from baldur's gate dark alliance 2
my interest is vested and piqued.
Okay I completed this game and found some things to like about it - the ability to earn the Arishoks respect and his character writing being some of them. However......
Nothing symbolizes the absolutely awful state of gaming today with such badly written, agenda driven trash that Dragon Age 2 is now being hailed as a acceptable effort in comparison.
This entire game was massacred on release, rightly so, for its lazy, copypaste wave-based action oriented gameplay & design and its blatant attempt to appeal to the action market at their RPG fans expense.
Gaming today is so bad that Larian - master of horny cringe writing, which BG3 is no exception - is now being held up as some top tier game development standard.
No, if you want truly excellent writing go play Planescape: Torment. Baldurs Gate 3 is amateur hour by comparison.
DA2 didn't even have good writing really, The Arishok is a compelling character adrift in a sea of mediocrity.
Which is hilarious when he's constantly complaining about how much he hates Kirkwall. I hate Kirkwall too dude.
@@whitewall2253Yes most of the writing in the game was ranging from sub-par to outright awful. The screenshot of cross eyed hawke with the "dragon?" conversation wheel was very apt.
@@jmlaw8888 Hawke was fun if you played aggressive or diplomatic. I liked how "neutral" spoken dialogues would change based off your primary personality. The game did right by making the Friendship-Rivalry system as opposed to a simple approval bar, probably should have made it more clear that rivalry was a good thing. The quests involving Hawke's family, the Qunari, the boss fights, and certain companion's rivalry paths were the highlights. The Act 3 Mage-Templar conflict, the repeating maps, and the waves of weak enemies was not.
I think out of any game in the series, a honest remake with a competent (non-ideologue) team would see the public opinion for it change dramatically.
The worst thing about DA2 was you could tell all the side content was cookie cutter. It always is, but the fact that it was so obvious always broke my immersion. Personally the combat isn’t my favorite but it was still solid.