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This game is so much worse than I ever thought possible.

The Good:

Environments are gorgeous. Graphically sound.

Good music. Love the homages to Trespasser, which had one of my favorite tracks in DA history.

Fun combat with a learning curve. Makes you want to try different builds.

Basically everything that did not require a writer is well-done.

I'd like to give a special shout-out to Davrin and Emmerich's writers. Congratulations, you two had the only well-fleshed romances and wonderfully-written characters in the whole game. (Aside from Solas, who is always a delight, but he has maybe 10 minutes of screen time so it's hard to count him.)

I'd also like to give a shoutout to Taash's VA, who did not deserve the hand they were dealt. You're amazing.

I also love female Rook's VA, the European one. Love hearing an accent that isn't just British in my main character. It gave the character a lot more personality. (If only this game deserved it!)

The Bad:

Act 2 has more holes in it than a tryptophobe's nightmare.

Taash. Jesus Christ. I don't need to say anything about them, just watch this video and then try to defend this character to me.

Bellara's whole character arc was boiled down to dealing with a brother who wanted to "make the elves great again." Come on, can you not give me something more original and lore-friendly? Does everything have to be about how religion is fake and genocide is bad and fascism sucks and BLOOD RITUALS, oh my god, the blood rituals. This is a fucking fantasy game. Take us into a fantasy, not a thinly veiled, poor excuse for writing choices that are clearly you processing your own trauma of real world problems.

None of your decisions from past games matter. I felt more emotion at finding the Joining Chalice from Origins in this game than any other part of the entire fucking game. OG Bioware let players craft their own unique story in this world they created and Veilguard said, "nah, doesn't matter." It does matter.

NO mention of the Hero of Ferelden during this new weird Blight? NO mention of who's ruling Denerim? NO mention of Hawke? In the fucking Fade?

They disrespected Dorian with the most homophobic haircut imaginable.

The Ugly:

Where the fuck is the romance? I've just started act 3 and I've had one, ONE, single romance scene with Harding who is supposed to be my girlfriend. The writers straight up lied on Twitter when they said they consulted intimacy experts. What did you call them for, a free 5 minutes? An exchange of two emails tops? A brief convo at a vegan no-cops-or-military-allowed cafe?

Isabela making a faction that hoards treasure but "makes sure to give cultural artifacts back to their people for a finder's fee" is the most laughable thing I've ever heard. Isabela? The one who fucked over the Qunari and Kirkwall? That Isabela? You deflated her tits AND her personality and that's two steps too far.

I can't believe OG Bioware spent over a decade building the mage/templar dilemma only for Veilguard to say "sorry, too problematic."

The trans representation is disastrous to the point of actually doing damage. Again, I'll let this video take the stage. I fully agree with it.

The Grey Wardens are your military equivalent in this game and they were not given military treatment. I mean to say -- suffering the massive, gutting losses they suffer, and Bioware chose not to go into PTSD, survivor's guilt, the (a)morality of aggressive recruitment, side effects of being trained for war, the immense brother/sisterhood that goes into it, or suffering with loss and violence. NO one paid any due respect to the Wardens after what they went though! (But we all know the military is too problematic of a topic for these inadequate writers. God forbid they speak to someone they disagree with or do any research ever.)

This is not dark fantasy. This is not Dragon Age. This is not moral dilemmas or beautiful characters or violence and tragedy. This was a game written for the whitest, brattiest tenderqueers on Twitter dot com who bitch about how the media they consume isn't good enough for their purity cult.

The only thing Veilguard has left me with is a desire to replay older DA games to remind myself what good storytelling feels like.

finally starting veilguard, wish me luck

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finally starting veilguard, wish me luck

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happy dragon age eve, everyone! time to suffer

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if i posted story bits from my ultimate decades challenge would anyone care? i've been playing for over a year now and i'm in 1374, but i've recently started to consider making blog posts as i play.

(the UDC is a sims 4 challenge where i play a family line starting from 1300 up to present day. it has rules, death rolls, events (like the plague, war, famine, etc) and is a pretty cool opportunity for low-stakes, low-effort storytelling.)

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✨ Game Boy Color ✨ (they're sisters)

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my only desire is to live a simple life. i want to keep my house clean and neat. i want to fuel my body with nutritious whole foods. spend my weekend mornings baking. i want to take care of my body, skin, and hair. i want to tend to my garden with herbs, vegetables and flowers. i want to read and write. raise my babies with pure love and care. be deeply in love with my soulmate. all i need/want is peace, good health and happiness.

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Two favorite sweaters

Pencil sketch by me

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The devil examines a Tarot deck while a demon jeers. Le grand Etteilla, ou, l'art de tirer les cartes. 1850? Wellcome Collection

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Toddler footprint preserved on a tile for 2000 years, from Vaison-la-Romaine in southern France.

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james lloyd cole

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Värmland, Sweden (May 14, 2021).