suryiel

[suryiel]

happy dragon age day

[suryiel]

is there anything so undoing as a daughter?

[suryiel]

Mel Medarda stuns in Arcane 2.08 "Killing is a Cycle"

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22 years later and the Crows are still cringing over Zevran. Truly the man of all time.

[suryiel]

my take on lords of fortune isabela

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Dragon Age II loading screens.

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don’t trust the apostate 2: reborn

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Kinmother (2024)

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Ghilan'nain, Mother of the halla

[suryiel]

My thoughts on Dragon Age Veilguard

Finally finished the game yesterday. As a Dragon Age fan who’s with it since Orgins and at the same time never was too invested into the fandom circles, I think that I can be fairly just in my small review.

Pros

- good balance between opened world and corridor maps (as in DA2) – open worlds tend to tire me out. DAV strikes a good middle ground; with big enough maps to not feel claustrophobic and disappointed, but at the same time it’s hard to get lost,

- I experienced absolutely zero bugs

- level design for closed quest. There wasn’t a single one that was dragging like the Deep Roads in DAO,

- combat. Fast but not too fast. I liked the idea of combinations for various attacks though quickly lost track of them and usually triggered them by accident. Still it added a bit more flavour to the visuals, which was pleasant to watch

- visual design of Mourn Watch – absolute *chef’s kiss*

- Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain – from how they looked, to the dynamic between them, though Ghilan'nain is definitely more interesting of the pair,

- Weisshaupt’s quest was probably the first time in my gaming carrier that kept me on the edge of the seat. It was probably the best part of the game, if not the whole cycle,

- Similarli, the Fade part after defeating Ghilan'nain literally made me cry – the writing there hit all the right spots,

- Titans and dwarfs lore felt wholesome and believable – for me, it tied the story and why dwarfs are as they are quite nice.

Cons

- Companions are the most bleak out of all DA games. The game really tries to make you like them through TONS of companion quests but to me they still fell flat, with some of them falling significantly flatter than the others

- Dialogue options are just cosmetics, there’s no role play in them. Funny responses are mostly cringe and the direct or force one are just...meh

- No option to really speak with your companions unless it’s part of a cutscene or a quest

- Romances were really underwhelming, even if not comparing them to BG3,

- no real conflict between characters. I miss Alistair and Morrigan’s level of bickering. Or Isabela vs. Aveline. In DAV, all conflicts between companions are instantly resolved in the most politically correct way. Cool in real life, not cool if you expect characters who behave like real people,

- Lord of Fortune felt like someone just really wanted to squeeze half-naked Isabela into the picture

- Fractions in general – the stakes in the game were far too big for that. It should be whole countries uniting against the Old Gods, not local gangs..

- Change of tone to High Fantasy – that was especially visible in combat Abilities which to me felt more like Final Fantasy than Dragon Age,

- epilogues were literally ONE SENTENCES each, just re-stating the choices you mad in the game, with no insight what actually came out of them,

- And finally – I think that far to much of lore was handed over on a plate – everything has been explained, leaving little to no room for interpretations. I’m mostly neutral to the whole idea of elves killing the titans for their bodies, evanuris becoming consumed by the Blight and Archdemons being their pets; it fits, it’s ok but lacks any spark in it.

It’s definitely visible the game went through several changes – the story suffered the most. It’s an okey-ish game but not a good Dragon Age game an especially, a very poor BioWare one, but I suspect that BioWare is the last to blame. Most likely they did what they could, with EA Corporate bullshit standing above them.

*Ah yes, and the custscene after the epilogues… Introducing lizard people being behind everything was just insulting to the characters it referred to.

[suryiel]

DA:O party banters

Loghain - Zevran

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HMMMM......

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HMMMM......

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HMMMM......

[suryiel]

What are you doing, Solas?

inspired by this incredible Iron Bull and Solas chess game edit by LethallanTV

[suryiel]

every time i see the acronym DATV i think of stupid bits