Dragon Age: Inquisition

[octavian123]

Spoiler

She acts hurt for a brief while, it's not a matter of life and death to her unlike say a pirate stripper who wears a shirt in weather that'd leave her hypothermic and for battles that occur every ten feet, and taking wounds but recovering will just add to her legend. Plus she can always simply tie up her gambeson when entering heavy combat, if you're not wearing any armour like an idiot then you can expect grievous wounds, ugly scars or death if you're mortal.

That and it's a good thematic device of Saskia's open heart and the traditional dragons weakpoint.

Spoiler

DAMMIT, pay attention to what I write. It's not that it's fatal or not, rather what the peasants perceive. Since they don't know she's a dragon, they'd assume she's mortally wounded. How is that good for morale? A society built around a charismatic leader crumbles if the leader dies or is believed to be in grave danger. Besides, it would only add to her legend AFTER the battle. During the battle people would panic

 

[ReptilePZ]

Spoiler

I never said it WAS vital, all I said was that an arrow would still be enough to incapacitate her on the battlefield and therefore also lower the morale of her men as demonstrated by her cry of pain when Henselt slashes her face. Her being a charismatic leader is exactly why functionality is also vital.Since they don't know she is a dragon, they would think she is in more danger than she actually is and panic and that is why functionality is so important, her society is entirely built around her charisma, as soon as the peasants think she is in grave danger (because they don't know she's a dragon) they will start panicking.

Spoiler

I disagree entirely. The political leverage her image gives Saskia is far more important than her ability in combat. As a leader, she has people protecting her, and her role is just to be there in order to serve as motivation, not necessarily throw herself in the thick of battle. She's a commander of an entire army - an army which fights for her, not beside her. She's not going to win a battle, her army is.

In the event that she gets wounded, I don't think it would have a negative effect on the army either. When she gets posioned, for example, the peasants don't just say 'meh' and give up. Instead, they want revenge and, if you let them, essentially commit regicide without battering an eyelid. They don't do this because Saskia's wearing practical armour, it's their fanaticism born out of the cult of personality that drives them.

 

[Kinley]

 

[sidspyker]

Spoiler Age: Inspoilerbubbles

 

[ReptilePZ]

Better safe than sorry, this is a thread for a different title so I'd rather avoid spoilers for TW.

 

[octavian123]

Spoiler

I disagree entirely. The political levarage her image gives Saskia is far more important than her ability in combat. As a leader, she has people protecting her, and her role is just to be there in order to serve as motivation, not necessarily throw herself in the thick of battle. She's a commander of an entire army - an army which fights for her, not beside her. She's not going to win a battle, her army is.

In the event that she gets wounded, I don't think it would have a negative effect on the army either. When she gets posioned, for example, the peasants don't just say 'meh' and give up. Instead, they want revenge and, if you let them, essentially commit regicide without battering an eyelid. They don't do this because Saskia's wearing practical armour, it's their fanaticism born out of the cult of personality that drives them.

Spoiler

It still seems like a hell of a risk. Let's assume a battle happened in TW3 and she was pierced by an arrow. What guarantee do you have that the army simply won't be mentally broken? This is strengthened by the fact that they are PEASANTS, who aren't as emotionally trained as other people. They are far more emotionally volatile than say Geralt. The fact that they wanted revenge can be more attributed to luck. It was a 50/50 situation and Saskia was lucky it turned the other way around

 

[ReptilePZ]

Spoiler

It still seems like a hell of a risk. Let's assume a battle happened in TW3 and she was pierced by an arrow. What guarantee do you have that the army simply won't be mentally broken? This is strengthened by the fact that they are PEASANTS, who aren't as emotionally trained as other people. The fact that they wanted revenge can be more attributed to luck. It was a 50/50 situation and Saskia was lucky it turned the other way around

Sometimes you gotta go big or go home.

 

[Blothulfur]

Spoiler

DAMMIT, pay attention to what I write. It's not that it's fatal or not, rather what the peasants perceive. Since they don't know she's a dragon, they'd assume she's mortally wounded. How is that good for morale? A society built around a charismatic leader crumbles if the leader dies or is believed to be in grave danger. Besides, it would only add to her legend AFTER the battle. During the battle people would panic

Spoiler

Damn it pay attention to what i'm writing, her legend will only be boosted by her toughness and she is simply pretending to be hurt, she recovers from Henselt's blow in moments and would any other. And once again this does not compare to a mortal like Vivienne who'd rather be shot by arrows or die of hypothermia on a mountain because she's designed to be an idiot. A decision you're defending as sensible by trying to shift blame onto the Witcher.

 

[octavian123]

Sometimes you gotta go big or go home.

Spoiler

I dunno, but her not APPEARING not to be mortally wounded seems to be a far greater advantage than the little morale bonus her teetees give.

 

[Cheylus]

This debate will never end, especially if we started it by talking about women's right, social justice and hypothermia in fantasy video games featuring dragons, demons and fireballs.
Let's be honest here: Saskia is never seen wearing a helmet, because a helmet looks unsexy and silly. If she doesn't wear a helmet, why the hell would she care about her chest? She has a nice cleavage because men like it and it makes her more beautiful. See? It was simple.

 

[ReptilePZ]

Spoiler

I dunno, but her not APPEARING not to be mortally wounded seems to be a far greater advantage than the little morale bonus her teetees give.

Well, I've already explained why I disagree with that.

 

[octavian123]

This debate will never end, especially if we started it by talking about women's right, social justice and hypothermia in fantasy video games featuring dragons, demons and fireballs.
Let's be honest here: Saskia is never seen wearing a helmet, because a helmet looks unsexy and silly. If she doesn't wear a helmet, why the hell would she care about her chest? She has a nice cleavage because men like it and it makes her more beautiful. See? It was simple.

But she's not supposed to be beautiful on the battlefield, especially in a game that strives for realism.

 

[gedierond]

This issue with Saskia´s armor would be completely pointless with a simple in-game chat:

Geralt: "Nice armor. How´s that going to protect you from Henselt´s archers?"
Saskia: "I have my ways. Regardless, I find this kind of armor to be... inspiring for my men"

Or something like that. Too bad they didn´t include it...

 

[Blothulfur]

But she's not supposed to be beautiful on the battlefield, especially in a game that strives for realism.

So she magically turns ugly when approaching a battlefield, that makes no sense whatsoever. She's a striking woman on or off the battlefield, when Joan of Arc was cheering on the French soldier there's no doubt the Maid of Orleans beauty was a factor in her popularity, and unlike her Saskia actually participates in the battles.

 

[Cheylus]

I don't think TW2 strives for realism. It strives to be plausible, convincing and/or coherent.

 

[octavian123]

This issue with Saskia´s armor would be completely pointless with a simple in-game chat:

Geralt: "Nice armor. How´s that going to protect you from Henselt´s archers?"
Saskia: "I have my ways. Regardless, I find this kind of armor to be... inspiring for my men"

Or something like that. Too bad they didn´t include it...

It would not solve anything. As soon as the peasants THINK she's mortally wounded it can get ugly real quick.

 

[ReptilePZ]

But she's not supposed to be beautiful on the battlefield, especially in a game that strives for realism.

I think that the time when she's giving motivational speeches and everyone is looking at her is precisely when she needs to establish her image. Her special abilities allow her to do so more effectively, and she takes full advantage of it.

 

[octavian123]

Think of it as a strategy game. Teetees provide a 10% morale bonus, her appearing to be gravely wounded provides -75% morale.

 

[Cheylus]

Or add berserk status.

 

[ReptilePZ]

You need an army that's willing to follow you in the first place. Her legendary status combined with appealing to the masses guarantees her that. Also, I don't like arbitrarily coming up with percentages.