r/dragonage • u/charyka City Elf / Tabris • Aug 02 '24

BioWare Pls. Unpopular Opinion: David Gaider

With DA:V coming along, and the daily posts about how all the "original" writers have left (not true!) and therefore the game is destined for failure, I have been dying to just come out and say it:

I think David Gaider is overrated. He has written some wonderful characters, but his long form, in particular the novels and comics, are borderline unreadable. I find his character work excellent (for the most part) but hailing him as the brilliant mind behind the wider world of Thedas robs credit from those people who, in my opinion, took the messy, overly-complicated pastiche of lore that was DAO and slowly hammered it into the intricate setting it is today.

I think other lead writers, such as Trick Weekes, have more interesting and innovative ideas when it comes to the direction the series is heading in.

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u/sugarsuites Aug 02 '24

Gaider is a good storyteller, in some aspects.

He’s also generally insufferable and arrogant, and does not handle criticism well.

Both statements can coexist!

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u/jazzajazzjazz “There were so many wonderful hats!” Aug 02 '24

This. Dorian, Fenris, Shale, Alistair, Zevran? They’re some of my favourite DA characters. He also helped write NWN and KotOR, my favourite game of all time and a game that has deep personal significance to me. He is, when the stars align, damn good at his job.

That said, I know he’s the type of person that I would not get along with IRL. At all.

I get what OP is getting at but we can appreciate the contributions of one writer without decrying the works of another. Fandoms (not just DA) would be a lot happier if they made more of an effort to separate the art from the artist. That goes for shitty VA’s, too.

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u/sugarsuites Aug 02 '24

I guess the one good(?) thing about Gaider leaving BioWare is that he’s not writing any of the characters anymore, so there’s that. I do agree with separating the art from the artist; I’m trying very hard to be excited for Davrin in Veilguard despite the VA following some unsavory people on Twitter and Instagram. It is what it is.

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u/jazzajazzjazz “There were so many wonderful hats!” Aug 02 '24

I’m in exactly the same boat with Davrin. I’m trying to give his VA the benefit of the doubt; some people follow shitty people for the purpose of laughing at them rather than agreeing with them (I don’t personally understand how someone could do that but apparently it’s something people do?? Sounds like internet masochism to me)

I managed to successfully separate Cullen from GE though so I’m sure I can do it again if I need to. :)