#✧ ’ everyone’s a critic ( anonymous )

[seeker-ophelia]

Ophelia Rants: Veilguard is Weird

I had another post (Review, Pt 4) composed about how much I love dragons, but the AMA kinda knocked me on my ass.

* * *  

[INTRO]

* * *  

I’m going to share the image I made collected from the results of my survey:

And while everyone only contributed one word for this, it IS possible for Veilguard to be ALL OF THESE THINGS AT ONCE.

Now. We need to take this with a grain of salt and remember that most of these responses came from tumblr, and often ones Social Media Frens are an echo chamber of ones own thoughts.

The words that repeat over and over are all similar; sanitized, shallow, underwhelming, trimmed, incomplete… Fun But Not Dragon Age.

And I could not agree with this more.

Caitie (YT: Ghil Dirthalen BS: Ghil Dirthalen), (Mythal’enaste her and her data-mining efforts) has released so much information from Datamining Veilguard. So much dialogue not used, paths ignored or forgotten, Keep choices abandoned, Lore identified.

Flipping through the Art Book shows how much time and effort and ideas have been put into DA4; all of its iterations. All the creativity, the different worlds, the different possible paths. YEARS of work, abandoned.

Which feels soooo… opposite. I’m not a writer. What’s the word for a complete opposite dichotomy in all things? Contradictory? Inconsistent? Irreconsilable? Antithesis?

How can Dragon Age be Sanitized and Shallow… but so much work be put into it?

* * *

[OPINION]

* * *

After I removed my emotional connection from Dragon Age, IMO, it really does feel like something is missing from this game. Even if one tries to lay down their preconceptions of what the game might have been in their dream world, this game, to me, could not decide what it wanted to be. Narratively, it’s a sequel to Inquisition. Solas’s story matters from Inquisition, the Inquisitor matters from Inquisition… and yet it spends so much time onboarding new players. The story feels simple, the world is straightforward, like its dumbed down for players new to the series.

Inquisition, even though in a gameplay sense it is different from Origins and 2, still feels like its building off of a complex world that the player might not understand. And when I played Inquisition, I hardly understood any of it. That’s part of the joy of Dragon Age. People who read LotR or Malazan or WoT or ASOIAF, don’t expect the author to hold their hand. They’re dumped, unceremoniously, into a world, and they have to figure it out themselves (figure it out through strategically placed tidbits from the author). Dragon Age (O through I), was a masterclass in this, I think. Somehow, no matter how deep you want to dive into the game, whether just playing superficially one-and-done, or playing it over and over to capture as much lore and depth as you can, Origins through Inquisition does that. It gives you just enough crumbs to keep you going, keep you questioning, and to point you enough in the right direction, that when you DID get a lore reveal right, you felt GOOD. Yes, plot-twists and subverting expectations are important, but so is letting your audience figure things out, giving them concrete answers. Veilguard drops you, sure, literally in Minratheous into a Gods Magic Ritual. But then it takes your hand, and skips with you through beautiful landscapes, phenomenal level design, and whirlwind combat, to place you right in front of the information you need. And then gives you a cutscene explaining, just in case you didn’t get it 😉).

We, as fans, need to realize that while the Personality of Veilguard is Toothless, the Lore, The Skeleton, is not.

Yeah, Epler said some things that hurt my feels during the AMA. (I’m ignoring the Solas stuff, because I really do believe Epler is speaking from a personal bias and not from a cannon-perspective. [edit: he just talked bout this on BlueSky]) But do you know why? Because they broke my personal headcannons. They proved MY theory crafting wrong. The real problem with Veilguard is that it came out too late. 10 years is too long to have people care so much about a game and theorize and craft worlds for themselves.

* * *

[LORE]

* * *

Superficially, VG dropped a lot of lore. But Deeply? To the DA Lore-Core? I don’t think they dropped ENOUGH.

[Image Credit: Helena Hansen on ArtStation]

HOW did Soals cleanse the dagger? HOW can Elgy & Ghill control the blight? HOW do they control their archdemons? HOW does the veil work? (How can it be weak with Elgy & Ghilly holding it up but 100%-strong-no-holes-perfectly-good with only Solas providing power for it?) HOW do spirits work? HOW do souls work? WHATS the difference? HOW does a Dragon-thrall-bond work? WHY isn’t Lusacan a Great Dragon? HOW does the rite of tranquility work? WHAT happens to Solavellan in the Fade? Is it different from what happens to a tricked Solas in the fade? WHAT happens now to Hawke/Stroud in the fade? WHAT is an orb? WHAT is a cube? WHATS the difference? WHERE is The Black City? WHAT is the ‘real blight’? (Because according to VG Solas, it’s still in the prison and its still super dangerous and way more dangerous than the blight that’s out in Thedas.) HOW did Solas burn his Vallaslin off? WHAT is the Calling? WHAT is the NEW song in the calling? WHY did ‘Mythal speak the calling’? WHY does lyrium sing? How is lyrium mined? WHY can tranquil work lyrium safely? HOW did Dirth & Falon split? WHY did Dirth & Falon split? WHERE are the rest of the Evanuris? WHERE is the Abyss? WHAT is the Abyss? WHAT do you MEAN there was more than 8 Evanuris?? HOW did you make your lyrium bodies? HOW can Elgar’nan destroy a FEELING?

WHERES MY ELVHEN DICTIONARY.

Obviously not ALL. But SOME of these NEEDED to be answered, or at least strongly alluded to, IN GAME. NOT in an AMA.

“We're leaving that ambiguous on purpose…”

“We haven't been SUPER specific about this…”

“I'm so glad these stories have their hooks in you! We have to leave some threads to tug on for future stories.”

What DID get answered in game?

Some of the Evanuris hats. Archdemons/Old Gods = Evanuris. Solas (w/ Mythal?) tranquil’d the Titans. Solas (accidentally) created the Blight. Solas used a Blood Magic Ritual to create the veil. Solas regrets a lot of things & has mommy issues. Worm-Solas (which, do not get me wrong, a million thank you’s and blessings for werm-Solas… But…) That’s it. That’s IT?

Oh, and there’s a shadow organization that’s been pulling all the strings from behind the scenes but I am NOT getting into how much I hate that idea in this post we don’t have time. Do we? No, we don’t. You know what, fuck it. This is my blog. Once you introduce that idea there is no way anyone NOT the author can know how much sway the puppeteer has over the marionette. ‘Oh it’s just a nUdGe, just a *whisper,* ‘they still have their free will’. Bitch get fucked what does that MEAN. That doesn’t MEAN anything its just a lazy retcon-y way to tie in a new villain to old material. Completely erasing the autonomy of they characters your fanbase has come to love (and love to hate). Do not corporate-speak at me with synergy and circle-back and deliverables. WHAT is a WHISPER? WHAT is a NUDGE? Because unless you lay it all out in an ELI5, NO ONE CAN KNOW- EXCEPT FOR YOU.

Ok obviously I have feelings about that we need to move on.

You can argue Veilguard was about the Evanuris, you can argue that Veilguard was about Solas. You can argue that Veilguard was about Regret and Pride and letting it all go. You can argue that Veilguard was about the ~*Power of Friendship*~ But for me, who has been obsessed with whatever the ever-loving-fuck has been going on in Thedas since 9.30 Dragon, Veilguard is about the Blight.

Corrine from the AMA: What really captures my imagination now that we've resolved some of the mysteries pertaining to the blight and the Elven gods, is exploring the aftermath of this crisis in a deeply destabilized Thedas.

Sorry… What did you answer? We actually know nothing about the Blight except that Solas created it, and with Antonie and Evka claiming the song has changed… what does that mean? Is a Titan consciously controlling the blight now? Is it soothed because Harding Soothed it? Is all the blight from the Kal-Sharok Titan? Are all their orbs/cubes in the Black City? Do the Executors control the blight? What is a calling, then? Will the Wardens never be called to the deep roads again? The Blight is different in a Warden than it is in a darkspawn, or an Archdemon? How? WHY? The wardens are just going to fade from existence because… all the darkspawn are just going to disappear now? Where in game is this stated as truth? Actually, in fact, ZERO questions were answered.

But Wait…

I feel like the news of the AMA COMPLETELY overshadowed the two IGN articles that came out; 1 & 2. Because… holy shit you guys. There was A LOT of lore dropped here.

Unfortunately for Epler & Corrine, and this is a hill I will die on, ALL OF THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN ANSWERED IN GAME. The fact that it was NOT? Is inexcusable. You cannot drop giant lore reveals like this outside of the game and hope it smooths everything over. The lore dropped in these interviews could have been a DLC, a side quest in game, or at the very least a novel or WoT Vol 3.

* * *

[What IS Dragon Age?]  

* * *

I've used this photo before and I'll use it again I fucking love it so much

I wish Veilguard came out a year later, I would have waited longer, paid more for it, if it was a more a whole, inclusive game.

The problem with dumbing down a pre-existing franchise is that you’re alienating the fans that are carrying you on their shoulders. They carried you through a game-less 10 years, and through Andromeda. And you can bet your ass when they drop you, the new fans you roped in with VG are not going to be picking you up.

Dragon Age feels like it cannot find its identity. That Veilguard, inexplicably, does not feel like Dragon Age.

“But how can you explain what Dragon Age feels like when every Dragon Age that came before it was so different?”

New Protagonists, new companions, new locations, everything is different. On top of more meta things; new gameplay, new combat, new art styles, its all different.

So what makes Dragon Age, Dragon Age?

Well, when I was nervous about the game back in September, I asked Kala, when she got pre-access to the game, if she FELT anything.

“I’d love for you to touch on how the game made you FEEL… Did anything you played in Veilguard make you Feel™?”

She sent me a private message with 1 word: Yes.

We can go into the design decision to have the companions react with each other instead of Rook and how that can be alienating to the PC. We can talk about how shafted the romances were. We can go into how gentrified Minrathous and the Crows were. We can go into how child-locked the lore was. We can discuss the toothless-ness of Veilguard.

But Veilguard still made me Feel.

And, even if that emotion is anger, if Veilguard made you Feel, it did it’s job.

[pocketgalaxies]

respectfully i have no idea what you're talking about with imogen not feeling like imogen but i also am sick of ludinus showing up every ten seconds so i understand the spirit of the letter

DKFJSKFJSKDF i'll take it!!

yeah idk what i'm talking about either? it's not rly that imogen doesn't feel like imogen anymore bc laura bailey characterization is stabler than the foundation of my own home, i think i just need this campaign to be about the pcs again bc it hasn't felt like that for a long time. even when Character Stuff happens it mostly just feels like a distractor from whatever mission they have to go on next. i'm tired of the pacing i need them to breathe i need to see how they're FEELING! i need these people to be people and not mission-completing machines! do you know what i'm saying!

[kelin-is-writing]

Girl, you're an immature aspiring writer (key word: aspiring) who is shitting on Horikoshi's work even though your entire fucking blog is literally dedicated to Hori's work. How pathetic and hypocritical must you be. There is a reason why people rather talk to you anonymously rather than directly because frankly you're an embarrassment and a loser. Your misandry needs to be dealt with. Stop blaming all real life men for you unhappiness with the MHA ending. That the fault of one man, not billions of other men. Just because you're pissed and throwing tantrums doesn't mean you have to blame all men. That's extremely childish though not surprising since you're blog itself looks childish. Why are you even watching MHA, its clearly not for misandrists like you. In case you forgot MHA is a Shonen manga/anime so you're clearly not wanted. You're not the type of audience that Hori wants in the first place. You rather talk about useless characters like Rei Todoroki or squeal about a man's attractiveness rather than the watch and assess the actual fights/battles. Seriously. Stop watching MHA and go watch sailor moon or some shojo shit.

Yo I know, I’m childish and immature that reeeeeeally sucks man. Doesn’t change the fact that you still are a misogynist, abuser and rapist defender, childish, immature, rude, mannerless, ignorant and a gaslighter who came on their own in my childish blog, to ask for my childish opinion though. You did, and are still doing all this on your own accord, so guess who’s the real hypocrite here honey 🤭

[battle-subway-ghost]

"my meat guy" is what i call ** **** ****** ********** **** ***** ****** ***** ***

[newpotatomash]

Just saw this interaction on a blog and I feel like I need to rip off my skin.

[yuwuta]

i need u to post more of your opinions bc everything you’ve posted recently has had me nodding my head. like what u said about those tiktoks people make about people’s profiles on dating apps and the surveillance state and how whiteness is the standard in a lot of self insert fanfic/fanart or just fandom in general to the point that people don’t notice how they box brown and black people out of participating. i’ve been thinking a lot about stuff like this recently and it’s kinda consuming me. like i really hate how racism is still so prevalent in fandom. the other day this fanartist i liked (not anime) deactivated bc people asked her to draw nonwhite and not skinny characters and she went on a colorist crash out bc she only wanted to draw her characters with paper white skin which then opened the doors for her followers to be racist. then “her sister” posted her ai generated apology that uses her bad mental health as an excuse while people became even more racist. like it makes me want to tear my hair out

SHJSDKD i’m happy to hear you like my annoyed rambling posts and i feel you, the rage is extremely consuming. not even joking, for both of our sakes, we have to remember to breathe and count the blessings around us bc it really is so easy to be mad at everything all the time always 😭😭 sometimes i believe in the benefit of the doubt, as in someone who isn’t black/brown and/or darkskin might be used to the way the world presents content, particularly content surrounding love and entertainment, and might have inadvertently been taught to mimic that isms so deeply engrained in it, but you can always tell by their response to being correct, and a colorist crash out and ai apology is absolutely crazy work omfg

[northern-passage]

;-; I was on my way to replay faith for like the 34895487 time and it's gone ;;;;;;-;;;;;;

it was one of the best pieces of the jam

are u ok?

thank you this is very sweet :-)

i did take faith down... the short of it is just that faith got a really weird reception and it made me feel really weird and just overall, while i don't regret the experience, i think i had different expectations going into a jam and because of that i just didn't feel good about it in the end. i think i have just learned that game jams are not for me hahaha

this isn't me trying to discourage people from participating or anything (it was still fun making something like that) but it's just my personal experience. if you want to join any jams you should try it for yourself and see, i know a lot of people had fun with this jam so i'm not generalizing at all & you may have a different experience than me. and it was still really cool to see all the different stories that came out of it :-)

[hs-critical-confessions]

i hate the fandom. i hate interacting with it because the people are intimidating. most of them are mentally ill teenagers. they make those stories their entire life and personality and become completely attached to them. and will never accept any kind of critism about alice/the characters/the ships/problematic stuff regarding it. they always have the same opinions, and don't have any kind of debate/discourse. they'll hate on characters *cough cough ben cough* for the same things they praise the main characters for,and never think about what's on the other side. i genuinely think if they ever go through anti tags they will explode.

this rant is probably not suitable for the blog's content bc it's not heartstopper-related, but i don't want to post this on my own blog

.

[pocketgalaxies]

FOR REALLL RE: WHEN MATT ASKED IF ANYONE WANTED TO DO ANYTHING. And then, when they went to Keyleth and Orym said "we want to be useful in the downtime"... my jaw fucking dropped. You all JUST got back from aeor, and right before that you got back from the moon - where your friend fucking DIED. No one wants to process any of that??

From how Matt had framed it, the feywild meeting between Ludinus and the Unseelie was an optional mission they could have delegated to NPCs, yet they jumped right into it with no prep or plan.

[And ohhh, the instant amnesia about why they were there. It was like they completely forgot the intent of the mission, and when Dorian raised that point ("is this what we are here for? To fight?") They all just shrugged and acted like there was no other choice!] I love them all dearly, so my frustration is borne of concern (they just walked into a HUGE fucking fight they are ill prepared for), and I am TERRIFIED Fearne will die now because of it. But also, I wonder - do they even want to be in this campaign anymore?

The way they keep rushing forward...maybe it's bc they've been conditioned by the rest of this campaign's pacing. Part of me feels it's Orym. This whole campaign it's felt like he's been using his pushing attack on the team. [Telling them early on (ep 30s) they need to promise him to be better together, forever reminding them of the ticking clock which means they need to get to Yios, to the malleus key, to reunite post-solstice. Then, an hr into the reunion: they need to keep going to address things "fast and fully". They need to get to Keyleth, to the moon, to stay on the moon even if it's risky bc "it isn't a vacation." Oop Letters died, but let's get back to keyleth, now we need to go to aeor, back to keyleth, and after all of that...well they need to "be useful in the downtime"! That might be too uncharitable? I don't know.

Above the table, I think they are all overworked from making two animated series, running a company, and their professional work outside of CR. It seems like too much. Like they need a break, and maybe subconsciously are running headlong to the finish so they can finally have one. I don't begrudge them that, but it does make me sad for these specific characters that they've been so constrained by the plot.]

yeah for sure, the campaign is sharing space with a million other responsibilities when it used to be The Flagship the single most significant project they were working on. i think it's very likely that both animated series are perceived as a higher priority than the campaign now given the budget, wider audience, etc. which just kinda sucks when the campaign also requires the highest level of emotional and time investment out of all of those projects

orym has definitely played a role in the Always Business No Pleasure vibe of the campaign but i guess i hesitate to put that much blame on him, i think the overall story has been go go go and orym is largely a reflection of that. but also i do agree that it certainly isn't helping and many ppl have made more eloquent posts than i ever could about the space his grief has been allowed in comparison to other aspects of other characters and how that has affected the party and the campaign overall

i really do wish they could've taken this week to recuperate, do something for themselves. literally anything. go shopping. any loose ends they would want to tie up before going into a battle to the death. but they either don't have connections to outside npcs or those connections simply aren't prominent enough. relvin, milo, birdie and ollie, family in zephrah, dariax, etc.? anyone?? imogen v. groon battle was sitting right there? and i just don't understand the necessity of adding in this ludinus unseelie situation it seems like something extraneous that the story could've gone entirely without and now it's just another Thing they have to do?

ANYWAY just struggling a lot about all these things! having a great time!!

[msnihilist]

oh, you're not the only one. I saw your post and went "oh that episode! the one that specified that they broke up" and it's still so weird that he's somehow in the wrong for saying they broke up. Like, what was he supposed to say in response? what was he supposed to do?

which is an opinion I've held in the decade-plus it's been since I saw the episode.

that omniverse had a scene repeating that they broke up always felt weird bc I went "wait, didn't we already go over them breaking up in a previous series?"

To be fair, Ben and Julie did get back together in Ultimate Alien. They were on-off for a little bit there.

[rawliverandgoronspice]

Or the reason you’re overthinking it is because you’re just trying to find a reason to be mad at the game when you could use that energy at something else to make you happy instead of nitpicking at it.

I suggest you block my account and go have fun with the game unfettered by my takes, you have my Blanket Permission! I'm just a rando with a tumblr blog. Worry about your own happiness first.

[alltimefail-sims]

People taking the time out of their day to send anonymous hate really is wild to me.

Welcome to Simblr kindergarten! Before you take your wimpy anon ass into someone's inbox to send some foolish (or downright deplorable) shit, ask yourself the following:

If it isn't one of these things, maybe just unfollow and/or log off. It is really not difficult!

[youngster-monster]

real talk you WOULD be a really good writer for blizzard theres more conciseness in your fics than there is in the actual official lore, i spent like 2 hours one time trying to figure out how old illidan was and i STILL cant get a clear answer

i actually hadnt watched wc3, but since you mentioned it i thought i might finally get around to watching it because Why Not and .. no yeah you were right kael is so obsessed with him there. he is so funny for that

i cant play ffxiv because i fear what the double mount collecting opportunities will do to my brain as if itll like turn me into a shrimp or something. mmorpgs are crazy dangerous forreal

also the best part about recent content- or like. recent...ish... it was in shadowlands and now we're in dragonflight and i still dont know whats happening but kael AND vashj showed up in shadowlands and they had BANTER!!!!! i was going absolutely nuts about it it was great. i miss them (can replay shadowlands at any time)

devastated that neither of them had a Massive role in shadowlands though. i remember prior to launch i found out they would both make an appearance and i just about went feral abt it but then they only really appeared in covenant campaign stuff.. and not even for the full campaigns.. and also only for like two of them... i will never get over this ever

oh illidan's age is really easy! he was already a few thousand years old during the war of the ancients so... that's not right... no he was a baby when... wait a minute... (checks notes) (increasingly frantic riffling of paper) yeah okay so he's anywhere between 10,001 year old and Old As Balls, hope that helps

that's very sweet of you to say though. my secret is that when i make a story choice i try to stick to it and make it work even when my understanding of the universe changes with time :)

(@ blizzard's "rule of cool" i am COMING for you)

also bold take to call my fics 'concise'... i AM looking at a few thousand words of completely unrelated worldbuilding that i snuck into this soulmate au but thank you for the vote of confidence <3

i'm SO GLAD you gave w3 a try!!! it's my favorite warcraft content for many reasons (nostalgia and 'best and only correct kael characterization ever' first and foremost) and it's SO funny like kael truly abandoned kin and country to go on a gay vacation to space mojave with some hunk he found in a ditch. iconic.

(also arthas' arrival to lordaeron is branded permanently into my brain, kid me was so in love with his undead ass it's not even funny)

you should play ffxiv tho... it will absolutely turn you into a shrimp but in a good way. you would not BELIEVE the amount of elves they're hiding in there. also the free trial including-- (i am dragged offstage by a comically long hook)

KAEL AND VASHJ BANTER.... god that's the dream. #1 item on my wow wishlist at all times. rare blizz w for that one now release more kael and vashj content PLEASE

they had to shove illidan in space forever because my level of normalcy about the whole thing would have risen to truly unsafe levels if they had had even the SLIGHTEST Possibility of interacting post-legion

[septembersghost]

just realized that in a better timeline we'd have invisible string in the folklore set in the eras movie 😭

if one thing had been different, would everything be different today?

:( why would you say this. i love the 1, but have such immense love for invisible string, and it does hurt that it had to be swapped out in the setlist. i'd have cherished that with the pretty golden thread visuals. still. we were something, don't you think so?

while we're at it, justice for 'tis the damn season too, that's one of my evermore favorites and i was SO excited that it was one she decided to play. no offense to NBNC, which i think i like a bit more than many (it's fun and entertaining to me, even with the dark theme, it feels like a bit of levity amongst a lot of the ache of evermore because it's clearly fiction and her playing around). ttds should be there! i lost two beloved faves!

but that does not put a damper on my thrill and excitement that the film is coming! i feel breathtakingly fortunate that we're going to get to have that experience <333

[artielu]

Do you want your healthcare workers and first responders to be able to get covid vaccines so they don't give you covid when you see them and so they're not themselves sick and needing sick days to recover, leaving healthcare and public services facilities short staffed? I want a fully staffed hospital, fire station, police station, etc.

Do you want public servants like utility workers and agency staff and park rangers to be able to get vaccinated against covid so they're not sick instead of fixing our roads and bridges and sewers and power grid and giving us access to public resources like public benefits and public parks? I want those fully staffed too.

Do you want teachers and childcare workers to be able to get covid vaccines so they don't get such e and need sick days and so they don't get sick from all the kids they see? I want a fully staffed school and fully staffed daycare.

Do you want families with little kids who weren't old enough to get a covid vaccine to access boosters for the older kids and the parents to help keep the little kids safe? I don't want to give my baby cousin covid at his birthday party.

Do you have any immune compromised people in your extended family? Cancer patients? Dialysis patients? Organ transplant recipients? I don't want to kill them.

This is a big fucking problem. Tell the FDA that this will negatively affect you. Public comments, whether under your name or anonymously, must be considered by the FDA. Get your comments in by May 23 at 11:59pm Eastern.

And call your Congressional representatives at

hey! we thought this might be coming and here it is. and it sucks! mass vaccination is one of our best tools at preventing the spread of COVID. public comment is open until 11:59 PM EDT on the 23rd of May.

you can leave a comment here:

you can leave an anonymous comment, but usually non-anonymous ones do carry more weight.

[gludgenbell]

You know when you get stuck in like a rut for a couple weeks (or months, y'know) where you just kinda feel blah and like you're doing the same thing over and over and it's stressing you out and then one day you realize "wait I can just do some human things and no one's gonna stop me". Have you ever feel this?

Mhm! So these past few months I've been in said rut where I more feel like I'm not living and I'm rotting away blah blah blah my life is an endless round of monotony that I don't know when it will stop but it will and I have to trust that

And then I watched Hairspray

Kid you not! I watched Hairspray and then I watched more movies and then I started to create again and do art practices

And I'm still not. Living

I'm still in limbo

But it's getting better, very slowly it's getting better^^