Is Dragon Age the mens' Twilight?

[No_Remainders]

- Insulting people does not make your points any less valid or relevent.

You are a childish little twat and need to grow up.

Oh the irony.

Moving on. Regardless of whether this "oatmeal" site (which I am highly suspicious of, because it seems to be quite nonsensical) is right about girls using Bella as a shell, how does this tie into Dragon Age?

I'm just astounded, really. It's a very flimsy argument for several reasons, and I'm going to try to tell you why without insulting Twilight, though that'll be hard.

The most obvious being the fact that Dragon Age is not shoddily written... Yeah, I'm going to approach this differently, because doing it that way is impossible.

This point was made already, somewhere up there, but I'd like to reiterate it. In Dragon Age, your character's personality is one which you choose. You may project your own one, or you could just be a totally different person. In Twilight, however, Bella has her own personality (regardless of how flimsy it may be).

I have to go offline now, so I'm cutting this post a bit short, but before I do, I'd like to ask you this: Why Dragon Age in particular? There have been RPGs made in the past, yet you picked Dragon Age.

 

[aba1]

I have found alot more girls get into dragon age than boys to be honest.

 

[Smertnik]

http://static.fjcdn.com/pictures/Halo+vs+Twilight+Got+it+off+of+random+domain+com_85d274_1350254.jpg

 

[The_ModeRazor]

In Dragon Age, you save a vaguely Middle-European Fantasy Country from a fcukhueg dragon-abomination and it's (his? her?) army of not-orc unholy demonspawn rapemachines. Mostly by killing crazy amounts of stuff with tactics, grit, and a smirk. (only way to play a dual-wield character... call me crazy, can't stop grinning as I cut a bloody warpath through hundreds upon hundreds of enemies) Characters are detailed, decisions are morally ambiguous, the universe is rich and deep.

In Twilight, there is a girl who is quite boring, and a vampire that sparkles. Then nothing happens.

Now compare the two.

 

[plugav]

No, because it's not a "men's game" to the same extent as Twilight is "women's (or girls') literature." I'd sooner pick The Witcher.

 

[Azure-Supernova]

While I appreciate what you're trying to say OP, the only solid similarity that Twilight and Dragon Age have is that they both provide material for fangirls to turn into yaoi. Oh and that they're two series that have a very active and defensive fanbase despite both being quite average by the standards of their medium (though one moreso than the other).

 

[seiler88]

Most of the people here hit the nail on the head.

Bella has a personality, if you pay attention you can see it's a Chaotic Evil one (Thank God Bella has no sense of scope). The thing is that Meyer tries to distract you with the shiny (penis). She also uses this distraction like Orks use dakka. I think the reason most people think that Bella is a blank slate is because people zone out during the long descriptions of the nearest hot guy and miss her personality because they're skimming.

 

[Gylukios]

No, not by a long shot. Films like Snakes on a Plane is Twilight for men. Absolutely trash, guilty-pleasure things that you know are bad, but you watch them anyway.

 

[guise709]

Twilight is all girls get, men on the other hand get every other fictional series you can think of.

 

[otakon17]

Most of the people here hit the nail on the head.

Bella has a personality, if you pay attention you can see it's a Chaotic Evil one (Thank God Bella has no sense of scope). The thing is that Meyer tries to distract you with the shiny (penis). She also uses this distraction like Orks use dakka. I think the reason most people think that Bella is a blank slate is because people zone out during the long descriptions of the nearest hot guy and miss her personality because they're skimming.

Thank you, thank you. Your post has lifted up spirits with the sweet sound of laughing. Also OT, not a chance in hell.

NOTHING "sparkles like diamonds" in Dragon Age. Not even the Diamonds themselves.

 

[Teh Jammah]

You'd be more accurate comparing, say, Duke Nukem (stereotyped male power fantasy) to Twilight (stereotyped female romance fantasy) than DA, 'specially since DA isn't clearly aimed at either gender. Bonus points for the fact that only a small fraction of people take either seriously (but those that do are scary people indeed)

 

[Pandabearparade]

An empty vessel that you give character is the lifeblood of an RPG. The same is not true of a novel.

 

[lunam-kardas]

Short answer: No
Long Answer: NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO ...etc.

 

[Comieman]

Short Answer: NO
Long Answer : NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Rusian "Nightwatch" and "Daywatch" are male version of Twilight, not an RPG game.

EDIT: Sigh, somebody beat me to it.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

No, no where close.

 

[JeanLuc761]

Let's see...
Dragon Age is an in-depth fantasy RPG wherein the main character can either be a self-insert or a character you carefully sculpt. The world in which it takes place is filled with heavy political intrigue and handles racist and sexist stereotypes and mindsets maturely. Regardless of gender or race, your character can hold him/herself up on their own two feet, as well as rely on the strength of your allies to get through the next encounter. Characters are well-written and acted, and while the fantasy universe may not be unique, it's very well thought out. While romance is present in the game, it is certainly not the focus of the narrative and the options available are pleasant and realistic.

Twilight, on the other hand, is a series of novels whose protagonist has very little strength or redeeming qualities whatsoever. Gaudy, overwrought descriptions of attractive men fill the pages along with dramatic set pieces (some handled decently, most not). Bella, our protagonist, exemplifies all the stereotypes from 1950's view of women, right down to the idea that a girl needs a man to protect her, otherwise what is life worth living for?

So no, I don't think they are alike in the slightest.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

I wouldn't think so. I always saw Twilight as being really, strictly traditional on gender roles and sex in general. In Twilight, the man makes the big decisions. In Twilight, the man sets the tone and mood of the relationship. Bella kinda just took stuff as it came (except in New Moon when she cried for 4 months then tried to kill herself). Your player character in Dragon Age Origin can be that if that's what you want but I never really went that route. Here's a couple of examples:

Spoiler: My City-Elf

My city elf went from an impoverished young man, running from an unjust civilization when he was recruited by Duncan. After Ostagar, my character tried discovering who he was. When Zevran was sent to kill him, my City Elf let him live and eventually formed a relationship with him. It was an open relationship though. After the Archdemon was slain, my city elf and Zevran left Fereldan in search of Morrigan and the God-Child she carried (my City-Elf's child)

Spoiler: My Nobel-Dwarf

Before being exiled from Orgimmar, my Dwarven Nobel had a threesome with a pair of nobel dwarfettes. I think that's all that needs to be said about that.

 

[putowtin]

I got the idea from http://theoatmeal.com/story/twilight Read it if you want extra details. In short, it argues that Bella, the main character from Twilight serves as a shell for girls to put themselves into.


Thoughts?

next person who tells me that Bella is a roll model/ a avatar for girls/women is going to see a woman lose her rag
Bella is Stephenie Meyer's wet dream, most fan fiction gets mocked, her's got made into a series of appalling films (no offence to anyone who enjoys said books/films)

 

[MrThisguy978]

Fuck yeah mate, if i say stuff like that i get such "classics" like Evangileon shoved down my mouth by people in leather saying "DEEEEEEEEEEEEP its so DEEEEEEP" (if i didn't know better i would of thought that maybe the Otaku were having BDSM fantasys yet again) Because a show about ADHD Children who fight in Robots has never been done before.

speaking from an anime community, clearly evangelion was too deep for you

hurrr its such a masterpiece durrrr

 

[Jaime_Wolf]

I think people are (well, reasonable people are) less bothered by the idea of Twilight as they are by the execution of it.

A girl falling in love with a vampire with werewolves and such involved? This is not a new idea. It's not even a bad idea.

The problem is that she wrote an incredibly hackneyed story. On top of that, it's not actually about vampires: she has no idea whatsoever what vampires are supposed to be (I understand not wanting to do the same thing as everyone else, but then why are you calling them vampires?) even going so far as to have stated that she purposefully avoided learning anything about famous vampire stories so she could write vampires the "way she imagined them" (which doesn't make any goddamn sense - you don't just "imagine" vampires, the only way you'd even have the idea of them is from some other story).

And on top of that, they're very poorly written.