#..and then for the rest of the game we're just like ''Do it for Varric'' lmao

[mrs-gauche]

Yeah, I'm super curious about this as well! I'd also like to know how exactly Rook chose to get involved in all this in the first place before the Veilguard is even a thing. lol

Because if I was going about my daily life and then one day two dwarves would come up to me in a tavern and tell me that the world is going to end in like 5 hours and you gotta help us stop that elven god who btw created the Veil and now wants to destroy it but he's actually a nice guy, like he was our buddy 10 years ago, we're just gonna talk to him, it's complicated...... my first reaction would probably be more like asking if they had maybe too much of those purple cactus berries they talked about in DAI.

Still thinking about the ‘Rook is here because they chose to be’ sentiment…. Why do they want to be leading the Veilguard? Why do they have so much of a personal stake in this?

[zombolouge]

The thing is, it's not about the Therapy Speak. It's not that everyone who disliked DAV hates healthy communication as a dynamic in fiction. It's not even about only being allowed to be a good guy, really, because most of us did do that anyways (though the option not being there is a loss I grieve even if I never chose it myself, but that's another rant for another day).

It's that DAV does all that stuff at the expense of being believable. At the expense of characters being permitted to have personalities. At the expense of emotions behaving the way emotions actually work for people. At the expense of letting the plot build tension through the stakes we're forced to grapple with.

Half the fics out there take the conflicts between the characters in the previous games and resolve them. I do it myself ALL THE TIME because I like to find a path to resolution through just about any conflict, that's what fascinates me about telling these stories. But the higher the stakes, the harder a conflict is to resolve. You CAN resolve any conflict, you CAN communicate healthily through any emotion, but you can't skip the time it takes to process it all to even be able to communicate it. As someone whose got CPTSD and recovered from many Traumas, I can tell you that the TIME it takes to work through it is not something you can fast track, and the ups and downs of your emotions on that journey can't be skipped. It doesn't matter if you know exactly how to do it, exactly how it's going to feel, or exactly what the end state will be, you CAN'T speedrun it.

DAV has stakes that are astronomical, but nobody treats them that way. Nobody experiences denial - a common psychological reaction to being presented with information that shatters your worldview. Nobody expresses any distrust in the establishments handing out this information - something common among cultures that have at times been at war, even if those wars are "resolved" in the present. Nobody really ever breaks down - something that any person is capable of under extreme circumstances, especially when facing multiple crises of faith that challenge everything they thought they knew about themselves. Nobody blows their lid because they've been repressing the hell out of everything. Nobody grieves for southern Thedas, the entire thing dying off screen and giving you, the player, NO way to engage with it in any way.

Not to mention there are barely any inter-party conflicts, when there should be a lot more. Why is everyone (except Spite) fine with it if Emmrich sacrifices Manfred to become a lich? Why is everyone fine with Illario potentially being set free if he was working with the venatori and Elgar'nan, two sources that have actively attacked everyone in the party? Why doesn't Neve resent Lucanis if Treviso is picked? Why doesn't Harding get pissed off at Nevarra for having a secret society of liches that never helped during the Inquisition's war against the breach and corypheus? Why doesn't Harding feel ANYTHING about Ferelden and the rest of the south? Shouldn't Harding resent the fact that she's stuck in the north while her home dies?

All of these conflicts ARE resolvable, but not easily. And it's not believable that they're never brought up. It's not believable that these characters skip through everything that happens with like, barely a frowny face most of the time. In DAO, Alistair leaves if you don't treat his conflicts with respect. In DA2, your party members try to kill each other if you don't pay attention to their conflicts/emotional needs. In DAI, people can leave or betray you, Cassandra throws a chair at Varric and tries to body him out a window. ALL of these can be resolved but it takes effort, and the characters get to SHOW that they're bothered by them and struggling the way a person would when faced with those emotions.

The problem isn't the therapy speak, or that everyone is loyal and won't leave, or that they aren't mean to each other enough. It's that it's toxic positivity. It's toxic as fuck to imply that anger or grief should be smiled over or else you're giving up, and it's damaging to people to avoid engaging with their own negative emotional responses to extremely negative stimuli. It's pasting optimism over very real, very weighty issues, sweeping it all under the rug, and you keep waiting for the lid to blow off the pressure cooker that creates, but it never does. It never becomes anything that emulates real emotions, which is why the whole damn thing feels hollow. Everything's dying and nobody cares, not even about themselves, and that's NOT healthy communication.

It's bullshit, half-assed storytelling that didn't tell us the actual story, just the vague idea of what it could have been.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 2

[Link to Part 1]

Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user’s post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and played the game. nb, this post is more of a ‘info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts’ collection rather than a 'regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal’ post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this.

Character Creation

It is the best CC BioWare has ever made in a game [source]

The faction we choose will determine who we as protagonist Rook were before they were recruited to put a stop to Solas [source]

Certain conversation options are only available to Rooks of certain factions. For example, Grey Wardens get conversation options that are focused on the Blight, as they know more about it from other people. It also impacts how people talk to Rook (reactivity from characters and then faction reactivity from plots relating to that faction) [source]

Faction choice affects a lot of things [source]

There aren't unique missions (I think this means like the playable Origins in DA:O), but faction choice does set the course for Rook for the rest of the game [source]

"body customization and morphing. From more muscular characters, to curvier builds, and just about any shape you want to give your character, there are all sorts of toggles to adjust so you can give them any figure you want". "There's even features that let you choose proportions, so you can alter their height, give them wider shoulders, and much more" [source]

There are makeup options [source]

There are tattoo options [source]

The hair uses a "Strand system" to "make them behave and move in a believable way for the different races" [source]. (Fel note/speculation: I think "race" here refers to irl, as opposed to like human vs qunari or something, as the language they are using for human/elf/dwarf/qunari is "Lineage")

There are 4 voices to choose from for Rook: two feminine and tow masculine (one American, one British for each) [source]

In CC, 'Lineage' is the game's parlance for race i.e. human, elf, dwarf, qunari [source]

We can pick Rook's name, but the dialogue calls them 'Rook' [source]

In CC we can "make a few key decisions that will impact how The Veilguard begins" [source]

"I really do think its our most feature-ful character creator ever." [source]

Story and lore

In the opening segment of the game (see more on the story's opening moments here), we're too late and Solas' ritual worsens, so Rook and the companions go to stop him. When travelling to the next location (Arlathan Forest) in the chase after Solas, the characters travel through an eluvian [source]. The Forest is where his ritual is taking place. Varric then asks the player if he should confront Solas, and players then work to take down the surrounding statues in order to stop the ritual. "I won’t spoil what happens next, but I’ll just say the player and Veilguard have a tall task ahead of them if they want to save Thedas." [source]

Four of the 6 faction options for Rook (Mourn Watch, Lords of Fortune, Veil Jumpers, Shadow Dragons) are "rooted in northern Thedas" [source]

Certain conversation options are only available to Rooks of certain factions. For example, Grey Wardens get conversation options that are focused on the Blight, as they know more about it from other people. It also impacts how people talk to Rook (reactivity from characters and then faction reactivity from plots relating to that faction) [source]

There aren't unique missions (I think this means like the playable Origins in DA:O), but faction choice does set the course for Rook for the rest of the game [source]

A line of dialogue Dorian had at the Winter Palace in DA:I about what Tevinter is like informed the devs' approach to bringing to life the setting of Tevinter: ""There's a line in Dragon Age Inquisition that we always like to call back to," Epler says. "Dorian goes to the Winter Palace, which, up to that point, is probably the most impressive thing you've seen [as the Inquisitor], and [he] says something like, 'Oh, this is cute.' And we had to ask, what does it look like? What is Tevinter if Dorian sees that [the Winter Palace] and thinks that?"" [source]

The fact that Minrathous used to be the land of the elves was factored into the location's design. John Epler: "You can see the architecture has changed. It's become a lot more elven focused. And something that we've kind of hinted at, but we've never really shown explicitly, is the idea that Tevinter is built on the bones of the ancient elven empire. Tevinter itself, Minrathous itself, all the magic you see, that's just a pale imitation of what the elves are capable of. So you'll start to see as you get deeper into the game, the elves, for example, worked Lyrium into their building materials. Tevinter can't quite figure out how to do that. So instead, you'll see more gold and gems, kind of imitating it, but not ever quite approaching what the elves are able to do, and really creating that continuity of the space. Obviously, Solas isn't too thrilled that this world is the way it is, because he lived in a time of miracles and magic, and even the most magical place in Thedas isn't magic like the elven people used to be able to do" [source]

At the end of the opening portion of the game there is a "jaw-dropping title card cliffhanger" [source]

On the opening sequence: ""One of the things we wanted to do with this game is make the prolog feel like the final mission of a different game," John Epler says. "We really needed to get the stakes, the spectacle, right off the bat. Obviously, players who had been waiting to confront Solas have been waiting for just this moment."" [source]

Each companion has their own storyline that runs parallel to the main story [source]

You cannot succeed without the companions. Each of them has a reason why they need to be part of your party, why they need to help you stop the end of the world [source]

All 7 companions are recruited in the game's first act [source]

The firey demon looking guys shown near the start of the Gameplay Reveal are Rage Demons. Demons in general got a revamp in this game "to more closely align their look", this can be seen with the shades and the Pride demons as well. "they’re creatures of emotion so they have a spectral nervous system look" [source]

The Pride demon the group fight at the Solas face-off in the Gameplay Reveal video "was more a direct tie to Solas than anything else, but it didn't escape us how much it echoed the beginning of DA:I". they wanted to show the stakes and the scale of Solas' power [source]

Characters, companions, romance

Harding was one of the earliest characters that the devs wanted to bring into DA4, because she was such a fan favorite. She is this game's 'traditional returning' character [source]

Each character's romance flavor or style is different. They don't want every character for the romance to feel the same. They want everyone to have their own flavor that's appropriate to them as a character [source] [two]

"We found as we were building a story, more than ever before, it's a story about the people around you; a story about building this team, and working with them." [source]

Each companion has their own storyline that runs parallel to the main story [source]

You cannot succeed without the companions. Each of them has a reason why they need to be part of your party, why they need to help you stop the end of the world [source]

All companions are pansexual (specifically pansexual, not playersexual) [source]

Their pansexuality may come through in what we learn about their backstories [source]

No companion romance is race-locked [source]

Companions reference their past experiences or partners, and they reference who they'll become romantic with. [source]

If you don't romance a character, they may find a different partner for themselves. This could be within the companion roster itself or outside of it in the broader world. [source] For example, if the player does not romance Harding, she may get together with Taash [source]

The game is rated M [source]

The game contains nudity [source]

We can start flirting with the companions pretty early [source]

All 7 companions are recruited in the game's first act [source]

It is not until later parts of the game that you really commit to romance and things get pretty spicy [source]

The nudity, spicy things etc is more towards the end of the game [source]

The devs want the companions to be relatable and fully realized. So things get spicy, but in a more relatable way for people than e.g. some of the more shocking and comical scenes of this nature in Baldur's Gate 3 [source]

How sexually explicit the scenes are varies between characters. Some are more spicy than others. They have diverse personalities like in real life. "Some of them are more physical, more aggressive, and some of them are more... we have a gentleman necromancer [Emmrich], for instance, that is more intimate and sensual." [source] "some characters may be a little more steamy while some characters maybe a little bit more innocent" [source]

The romance and relationship system is more fleshed out than in previous BioWare games. A character's romance will be better woven into their personal story arc and into their involvement in the core questline of the game [source]

"BioWare has also worked to ensure that getting to know your characters as friends feels just as satisfying - and that just because you're not banging your buddy, their (platonic) relationship with you will still continue." ""One of the things we tried to do with The Veilguard is it's not just romantic relationship building," Epler continued. "You need to get to know a person before you can really build that kind of relationship with them, and if you choose not to build a [romantic] relationship, we never want to feel like you're being cut off. There's no 'okay, well, their arc isn't progressing, I'm done'." We want to make sure the non-romantic relationships are deep as well, with friendships not just for companions and yourself, but also between companions across the party."" [source]

GDL reprises his role as Solas [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

The game has a photo mode [source]

Combat is fast-paced [source]

If you pause the game using the ability wheel you can scan enemies to learn more information about them [source]

Each of the 3 main classes is distinguished by how it generates and spends energy for abilities [source]

Each of the 3 subclasses for each 3 main class promise to offer some meaningful distinctions from each other [source]

for this, rogues have momentum. You build momentum by attacking, by dodging, by parrying, and you lose it by being hit, so there's really a focus with rogues on avoiding damage, avoiding attacks. They build momentum quickly, but they lose it quickly. Warriors have rage, which they build a little bit more slowly, but they don't lose [source]

Attacks can be cancelled [source]

Regarding enemy weaknesses, some of these are elemental. In other cases their defenses are more vulnerable to specific types of abilities [source]

Combat seems to be a matter of managing our abilities as best we can to whittle down enemy defenses and take advantage of their weaknesses [source]

Over the course of the game we get access to three abilities per companion as well as an additional two abilities we can slot, and an additional ability that coms off of items that the devs will not talk about for now [source]

Fully offline single player, no EA account linking, no micro-transactions [source]

The game uses advanced rendering tech in Frostbite, nice subsurface scattering, high quality meshes, while having a striking pseudo-painterly look [source]

There are blood spatters in the game [source]

Production values on the game have gone through the roof. It looks like a big improvement on what came before [source]

On the music: "lots of foreboding tunes mixed with epic flair" [source]

Good voice acting, great facial animations, good hair tech, busy-looking environments and worlds [source]

It's not open world. "There are open areas you can explore around in, but it's mostly structured/mission based, sort of like Mass Effect." [source]

There are difficulty options [source]

They will talk about PC spec stuff at a later time [source]

There is probably an option to see damage numbers [source]

There are many reasons why the game is M-rated [source]

There are lots of abilities, with 3 swapped in on the wheel at any one time [source]

There are a bunch of accessibility options and they will talk about these soon [source]

The ability wheel gives you flexibility to enhance your playstyle. If you don't want to use it at all, you don't have to and that's no issue as shortcuts are available [source]

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

[notenoughdragons]

so i caved yesterday after *gestures* all of that on the other side of the pond, and bought veilguard (meant to wait till the first bugfix patch is out), and i have thoughts

(spoilers for the first few quests)

fucking adore the character creator. overwhelming as heck but God a+

addendum: why tf aren't there different lip/mouth shapes. we have like 30 eyelash options. i'm p sure da:i had diff mouth shapes

THERE'S NO QUICK SAVE/LOAD OPTION???? why on god's green earth

the photo mode is NEAT (tip, get yourself reshade plus the "mod" that allows hiding the UI, so you can do screenshot nonsense in cutscenes too)

it took me like 15 min to get rid of the quest marker bc that shit is hidden in Two diff menus but oh my god so worth it

on that note, i'm Really enjoying the area/level/dungeon design, and traversing it Without an annoying big blue star thing blinking at you is really good

the environments are just. unhinged in the best way. THE CROSSROADS? D'META VILLAGE?? THE OSSUARY???? perfect no notes

have i mentioned the hair? the hair is really good. i'm a lttle obsessed with the style i gave my rook, i didn't think i'd like it this much

okay let's talk plot bc. uh.

see, on the one hand? so far (recruited bellara and got the dagger and fucked around in the crossroads and am currently getting murdered by murdering calivan so lucanis will murder for Me) it… works for me? like it really feels like getting thrown into the DEEP deep end, but it's a kind of. idk. sensible progression?

and oh my god ghilan'nain. i kinda hate how normal she comes across in the memory dungeon lab? (which. AMAZING QUEST) but also i love that SHE'S UNHINGED, that solas clearly held sympathies for her, the way i YELLED when you hear her voice when that dragon shows up in the blighted village??? amazing

(NO fucking idea how this would play for someone who's not familiar with the series, good lord the amount of exposition crammed randomly into codex cards???)

that being said. how the fuck does this connect from trespasser/tevinter nights. solas what Happened to you. like this is (part of) why i'm Not using saar as the inq in this run, bc even pretending they Weren't madly in love, it doesn't work. i don't think it works for Any inquisitor who befriended/romanced him (unless maybe one who decided to go full scorched earth and hunt him down at all costs)

in meta terms i know why this is happening but How is varric our insight point into solas and the connection to him. even if you're not playing them, this Should be the inq. solas doesn't lose a single fucking word about anyone But the inquisitor in trespasser. it's just this really tragic dissonance y'know

also the way this game is frontloaded is so fucking funny (i am also choosing to find it funny). IMMEDIATELY unleash the evanuris. IMMEDIATELY get solas trapped somewhere so he can't use his not-god powers to help you. FIRST "normal" quest is a horror movie walkthrough of The Most Blighted Village You Can Imagine, like okay! solas spends all of da:i being fucking coy about the blight and now it's like 'the evanuris are blighted. yeah they used the blight for power that's why i trapped them. they got out and immediately start spitting blight everywhere For Power. the REST of the blight is trapped in the evanuris prison. yeah the black city IS the evanuris prison. also blight is alive too. uh what else'

sidenote. did. did no one think it was A Little Weird to frame it like 'solas is trapped in the fade' - 'but not like us! we're also trapped in the fade but in a completely different way!'

i do love the fade conversations, it's got dishonored vibes

(and cut-away scenes to the Villains Having Ominous Convos! i liked that in da:o)

also i have hints turned on and the. the little pop-ups. "solas remembers your verbal jab" THANKS GAME

ACTUALLY SPEAKING OF THOSE VILLAIN CONVERSATIONS. we're just gonna drop into a fucking codex that the lyrium dagger IS the red lyrium idol??? SOLAS CAN CLEANSE THE BLIGHT AND WE'RE NOT GONNA TALK ABOUT IT????

basically. the connective tissue to da:i etc is uhhhh. insane. bonkers, even. but also when i ignore that, it's legit fun??

also good lord i'm glad i didn't try to come up with a super specific character/backstory for this, the faction backstories are Real specific, and rook is written with a v definitive Slant (not a bad one! but there IS a slant)

[ragingtempests]

"Dragon Age has gone woke! Dragon Age: Veilguard looks too goofy to be Dragon Age!"

My brother in Christ, Dragon Age had bisexual romances in 2009 even after Fox News freaked out about the lesbian sex scene in Mass Effect. The series also had a trans character in 2014 in which the fandom's biggest critique of that character was that he was not voiced by a transman. Dragon Age has been "woke" and that's how a majority of the fandom likes it. It's 2024. Grow up.

As for goofiness, in Origins... not only is some of the companion banter goofy as hell, but you can find two dead hobbits with a note that says, "Should have taken the eagles." There's also an easter egg reference to Superman in which a farmer and his wife find a baby in a meteor crater and decide to raise him. Both instances do not affect your game whatsoever. They are just there to be jokes.

Also, in DA2 Hawke "stepped in the poopy" and there's kind of a DLC that is just the elf Felicia Day DLC. The Mark of the Assassin is so not serious. Ofc, there's goofy companion banter. That's for all the games, frankly.

And then there's Inquisition. The beginning of Trespasser is goofy as hell. Varric is giving out keys to Kirkwall's harbor. Sera's pranking everyone. Random weddings are happening. Small wheels of cheese are being placed on eyelids in a spa bc it's in fashion in Orlais. Whoever is the Divine has to wear the stupid lady pope outfit. Josephine takes you to the worst opera, apparently. And the rest of the DLC still has a lot of dark/serious things going on.

In the main game, during the siege of Adamant, you can find a note on a payload that says, "Stick this up your taint." There's the dude who threw a goat at Skyhold. Varric writes smut based off of Aveline from DA2 for Cassandra.

Do I think Veilguard is going to be amazing? Probably not. There were mass layoffs and it took ten years to produce. We're not looking at another BG3. I'm not delusional, but I do think a lot of critiques are coming from people who are casual Dragon Age players who probably haven't touched any of these games (or even thought about Thedas) since 2014.

I'm all for being critical and worried about how this game is going to turn out, but let's not be disingenuous. A black Grey Warden (the first black romanceable companion character in all four games) and a bit of humor in a trailer aren't genuine critiques. C'mon guys.

[blarrghe]

I made my partner watch the dragon age gameplay yesterday. They're a fan but not nearly as dragon age pilled as the rest of us, and it's been a long time since they beat DA:I when it came out (on our shitty tube tv and a PS3). They couldn't read all the tiny lore text on our shitty tube tv and never played Trespasser. They have been replaying it lately but not in any concentrated way and they still haven't played trespasser.

And their first comment was: wait. so this is the same problem as in Inquisition? So we basically failed?

And I was like. Yeah. I mean. Basically. It's a new problem out of the old problem but...

and they were like. ok but basics like. there's a bunch of rifts in the sky and demons coming down. that was what we had to deal with before too, right?

So I was like well, yes, keep watching tho. But also good note, because this intro sequence parallels the Inquisition one in a lot of ways. (Cue pride demon fight).

And we started pointing out all the other similarities. Like. Ok, accidentally stopping Solas' ritual creates a new problem of giant sinister creatures coming out of the fade (which is also how we got saddled with Corypheus, now there's just two of them). The thing where in the opening fight you hear voices talking in the background, and even if you can make out the snippets of what's being said it wasn't until later in the game that you got your memories back and understood the significance. I think that's back. The conversation Varric is having with Solas while you run over to the pillar? "this is beyond your comprehension!" we'll get context on that in a mid-game mission mark my words.

And stopping the ritual didn't exactly fix the sky, either, by the looks of it. So is it just left like that? Does rook have to close rifts and fight demons on top of dealing with domination-hungry ancient gods? (can they close rifts? maybe they steal Solas' dagger as some people have theorized and use that?)

So the next comment from my partner was like: could Inquisition just have been a prologue to this?

And I was like. Well. It IS. But they meant like, could you truncate Inquisition and do it as a shorter actually-prologue-sized prologue to this game, and I think that's maybe the point. There were a lot of complaints about DA:I being too big for its plot. The first open-world in the series, and it was full of repetitive junk quests and decisions that felt ineffective. If you stripped it down to core elements and re-did it in the "tighter" fashion that DA:V claims to be taking, yeah, you could have a pretty tight prologue. Trespasser is this, and absolutely a prologue to Veilguard more than it even is an epilogue to Inquisition.

Anyway the way the intro runs so parallel with Inquisition is obviously on purpose. The way that all of the player feedback seems to have been taken so seriously and incorporated into Vielguard, like a direct response to "we see what you liked about Inquisition and what you didn't so we're trying again with that in mind" is super clear. It's Inquistion 2: You Get To Be Actually Effective This Time.

But the question remains: Could one thing in this fucking world just stay fixed?

[wardencommanderrodimiss]

I saw this as a question on a list I've since lost, but for Ena, Esti and Valencia, what Demons would have the easiest time preying on them?

Oooh, that's fun! Let's see...

Valencia is the easiest - Desire, no question. Her desperation for affection and validation are a neon blinking sign, and she's not even self-aware enough to realize how much she struggles with it. In my heart, she's nearly been gotten by one or two before. And that's basically the way that Varric gets her: the job he's asking for her help with is insane, she doesn't even believe in elven gods and Varric's telling her that he's ex-friends with one, BUT he says "hey that crazy stunt you pulled is exactly what I'm looking for, you're just the kind of person I need" and that's like throwing a whole chicken to a dog that's been subsisting on scraps for so long she's forgotten what it's like to not be starving.

Ena... I think during the course of Inquisition, it would be Fear. Fear of failure, fear of helplessness when she's the only one who can help, fear of not being able to protect what is hers - then fear of being devoured and erased by the role of Inquisitor, like Ameridan was, and fear of losing sight of herself. Between base game and Trespasser, it's Sloth. She wants to lay down the title and for the Inquisition to lay down their swords and for everyone to go home, and that goal is so nearly in sight before it's snatched away. Post-Trespasser pre-Veilguard... that might still be Sloth, or Desire. She wants things to be able to go back to the way they were, that she can just be Ena again, that Solas can be Solas, that she's not haunted by all the truths she's learned and the burdens she's carried, that the people she loves aren't scattered all across Thedas with their own lives and goals. By Veilguard, we're back to Sloth. She just wants to be able to rest and be assured the world will keep turning without her. Fear doesn't get her the same way because she's already living one of her worst fears: she will always be the Inquisitor, she can't escape it, she has given up fighting it, it's devouring and destroying her, it is all she is. And Desire can't get her because she knows it's impossible to go back. The more I think about her during Veilguard the worse I feel for her.

Esti might be the trickiest for me to decide. I think pre-Inquisition, it could be Desire - the desire to feel like she belongs without the nagging doubt. But whether she's Inquisitor, a companion, or just fighting to protect Wycome and her clan from the Venatori and red lyrium, she grows in confidence and insecurity doesn't always gnaw at her the same. So then, maybe Pride? I think her stubbornness is born in part of pride, struggling to admit she's wrong or change her mind, and while she's better learned how to do those things... there's a demon on my shoulder that keeps asking if Esti can foil Solas with a Wisdom/Pride dichotomy and I think she can, where she's a kind of foolish, childish Pride that matures into Wisdom. But also specifically in worldstates where she's Inquisitor, Regret could get its hooks into her specifically regarding how her relationship with and judgment of Blackwall turned out.

[tiredassmage]

the lovers and the devil for the rook asks!

thank you so much!!! i meant to answer this way faster, lol, but apparently i'm in a 'miss my boy' phase, so we're back!!!

[rook tarot-themed asks!]

THE LOVERS: Who is your Rook's most significant relationship within the Veilguard? How do they help Rook feel seen and understood?

I might cheat a little with this one and be a bit greedy, lol. The easy, short answer is Neve, and it is part of why Tyr falls so hard for her. For him, it's an easy aide to developing a rapport that they both work alongside the Shadow Dragons, and, whether she likes to admit it or not, he sees some of his own idealism in her, even if hers has perhaps had a rough few rounds around the block a bit more than his. In Neve, he sees someone who has chosen to keep fighting and believing even though it's hard, and it's only getting harder, which is a trait he both admires and shares. But since I've already talked a bit about their relationship (find that here), it's certainly not the only friendship on the team that does a lot for him!

So this is where I cheat and pick two, actually, because I couldn't quite decide which to go with. For the sake of dashboards and some later-game spoilers, the rest will go under a cut. <3

So, I think the first that deserves good mention is our girl Lace Harding! Besides Neve, she's the one that's been on this road the longest with him, and they, too, have some similarities in areas that I think made them really interesting and good friends. The Lace that Tyr knows and loves is something of a burning optimist that all but can't help but look for the bright side of a scenario, and still holds to that candle even when she's uncertain - something, again, that Tyr admires about her, but I think that also served a lot to build their bond. Lace and Tyr are both deeply driven in that way - Tyr by I think a lot of ideals and Lace I think by a lot of compassion for those around her. They're two people I can easily see pushing through challenges because they believe they have to, because what are these beliefs they've held onto if they can just... give up on them so easily? And clearly they both do this in the course of the game.

But, importantly, they're usually around to catch each other when they stumble with that weight. They get playful and tease trying to cheer each other up, but it's from a well-meaning heart, even if sometimes the words come out a little funny.

And I think both of them are the type of people - the type of friend - to care so deeply that they try to take burdens upon their shoulders that they really shouldn't have to shoulder alone, either. Lace was funny and spirited and put so much effort into holding a love for the world that you can't find on just any old corner, and I think part of Tyr might regret not getting to insist on telling her that more - being more direct and clear about seeing that in her and appreciating it. She was there when Varric brought him into this, and it... hurts that she's not there to see the sunrise on the other side of it. She put her heart into everything, 1,000%, even to the last. And that's an aching loss that I think is going to keep coming back and hurting the way a bruise does - the way you almost think you're okay until you shift wrong or brush it against a table on your way out of the house one day and it's still tender all over again.

They're both people that put a lot into being okay for the people they cared for, even if they weren't actually all that okay. And I think they both knew that, to an extent. And that's nice, for letting go of some of the burden that can be.

So, the other honorable mention (because I wrote all of that and realized I've already gone off a deeper tangent than I anticipated, lol) is for Bellara! That's a relationship that really kind of snuck up on me, and I think I appreciate even more in hindsight for Tyr - because I'm not certain he fully realizes the extent of it in the present moment. But Bellara brings him into a lot of conversations about grief and purpose that let him express a lot of what drives him where he may otherwise have carried most of that fairly privately, and the importance of getting to externalize some of that really can't be understated. And there's something about the honesty in it and her near-endless energy I just think he comes to appreciate quietly a lot more than he might've ever expected. He's not got nearly the same talents or understandings with magic, in particular, as her, but a spirit of curiosity and learning is something I think Tyr sometimes forgets he likes to nurture in himself, so he's happy to be along for the ride in her own explorations.

THE DEVIL: What type of demon is most likely to target Rook? Why?

Tyr is someone who I think finds a lot of his drive in what he considers his ideals, and he believes strongly enough in them that they can keep him going even through a pretty significant amount of wear, tear, and strife. This is usually something I'd credit mostly as a strength of his, because it takes a lot to beat and grind the ability to still hope out of him. He's not usually the kind that knows how to quit - even when it seems like the world's all but lost because there's two corrupted ancient elven gods with blighted dragons on the loose hellbent on remaking the world in their image, for example!

But it's not impossible. And in the absence of hope, there is Despair. Tyr's a Shadow Dragon in Minrathous; he's only ever known Tevinter growing up, and he's a Shadow because he's seen the way the system is rigged. Part of him is a fighter by nature of being raised in military family with service as the only apparent reasonable option. And a lot of him is the kind of fighter he is because despite all those flaws, the challenges, the heavy rains in the city... he's also seen a lot of the little ways people hang on anyway. A little kindness alone may not remake the whole of Tevinter, but it keeps the world going in the little ways that make the passing of a day seem a little easier. Being a Shadow Dragon helps that. It's good to have a network of others that believe in these little moments of kindness, of something like a 'better way' of doing something. It's a space to keep those kinds of hopes alive.

Unity like that can be dangerous to certain powers, but to Tyr, it's always been worth those risks. But it's a precarious balance. It is a fight they haven't yet won. It's a space that can still be stolen from them, from him. Tyr would fight it probably about to his last, but a feeling of isolation could bring something of a downfall. Despair and ruin ever looks for the thinness in hope's armor, for the cracks in the masonry and linked fingers that keep hope alive.

I'd say ask me how I handled my Crow!Rook in comparison saving Treviso and going back to Minrathous after to find the Shadow Dragons nearly decimated, to see the horrors of Venatori control in the streets, but I'm still probably not entirely emotionally recovered - because that's a reality Tyr's fought hard to keep away with the Shadows, and it's one that's still all but ever-present anyway. That's a Minrathous he never wants to see, and why it's so important he has connections like the Shadows that share the fight.

Tyr might not know how to quit as an individual. He's one of the people that'd be of the dwindling numbers and still trying to fight off a total loss with blood on his teeth and fatigue in his muscles, but there's still only so much one individual can do, and only so far that luck tends to hold, as Neve's reminded him. Which is... sort of it's own point to it. Tyr's driven by a belief in the ideals of it firmly enough to keep fighting even when he's lost a lot, but a fair amount of that drive is also because he believes in doing it for the people he cares about, the people beside him. And losing that support network is its own kind of blow in a potential downfall.

[the-hopefull-pessimist]

Varric-

Hopefully, Rook doesn't give you any problems. She can be...well, let's just say there's a reason she and I didn't have much to do with our clan when I joined the Inquisition.

If you need anything, you know how to reach me.

Your friend,

Lavellan

**********

Varric-

I got your letter. I'm glad to hear the lead turned up some information. With any luck, you'll have the location before long. Please send word as soon as you know. If I am able to get away, I'd like to be there.

How's Rook doing? Hard to believe she's the same little menace that used to get into all kinds of shit in Skyhold.

Send Rook my love. Let me know where to meet you.

-Lavellan

*********

Varric-

Morrigan was here. She told us to pack a few days worth of supplies and meet her at Skyhold.

Cullen asked if there was time to stop in Honleath to inform his family. Morrigan told him it may be too late. Whatever Solas is preparing has already started causing chaos here in the South.

I've written to Leliana, Josephine, and Cassandra. Hopefully, they'll be able to make their way to Skyhold as well. Cullen packed me, the babies, and the pups as quick as ever, we'll be to Skyhold soon, so send any more letters there for the time being.

Let Rook know we're headed somewhere safe and that her nephews are okay.

Stay safe,

Lavellan

**********

Varric-

I got your letter. I'll meet you in Minrathous.

**********

Rook,

Please meet Morrigan and me in Dock Town when you're able. There's some things we should talk about regarding Solas...things I should have told you before now but, well...I didn't.

We're okay in Skyhold for the time being. Leliana, Josephine, and Cassandra are here. The Heroes of Ferelden King and Queen Theirin are here...they've taken up their titles as Grey Wardens once again to help push back any Blight that comes our way. Leliana asked them to come, as well as Zevran- a former Crow the Inquisition once worked with. The King and Queen seemed happy to see him.

Your nephews are safe. The pups are enjoying the new space to run around. Cullen is worried for you and sends his love.

Rook, I...

How are you...

I'm sorry. About...everything.

All my love.

Your big sister,

Lavellan

**********

Harding,

How is Rook doing really? She seems...well, not how I would have expected.

I would have thought what happened at the ritual site would have upset her more.

Will you look out for her for me? I'm worried.

Lavellan (seriously, you don't have to call me Inquisitor anymore)

**********

Solas-

I know what you did.

*the rest of the page is ripped off, the jagged edge underlining the lone sentence*

**********

One of my Rook's is Inky's younger sister who joins Varric because Inky is a wife and a mom now and can't be off fighting ancient elven gods if she's going to make home in time for bath and bed. (I also completely ignore factions when I play and just pick one at random because for my world state and headcanons, they just don't work)

A short series of letters written by Lavellan to Varric, Rook, Harding, and Solas vaguely following events of the game.

[this-is-not-a-slow-burn]

This thread on the DA reddit sub has a lot of interesting discussion about this, but in the context of The Decent and Shaperate Valta, though it's generally applicable to Dwarves and their lore.

The comments are spoilery, so be aware.

For context,

<spoiler under cut>

at the very end of the expansion Shaperate Valta gets knocked out by the Titan, and when she comes to she can do magic (anti-magic if we're being pedantic).

The Inq comments on it, basically being like "Uh, how'd you do that? Dwarves can't do magic."

But that's as far as the game goes into it at the moment. They all kinda just ludonarrative move on and never mention it again. Varric doesn't even comment on it!

There's a lot of lore surrounding the Dwarves, but It's not laid out clearly like an encyclopedia. You really have to seek the contextual clues found in the codices and conversations to make connections for it to come together. Plus it's tied up in the rest of the world lore. Some of the info is inferred, like how Bianca (the Dwarf not the crossbow) mentions figuring out that lyrium is not a mineral but a living "thing", and connected to the Fade. If you connect that with other information found, you start to see the possible answers.

the new trailer got me going insane because like

i didn't really think bioware would care enough about the dwarfs to do anything beyond 'yeah the veil is being weird and coming down so their resistence to magic will fade. Lets be honest; they haven't put much energy into truly expanding dwarf lore since origins (altho whoever wrote the Hissing Waste map I will love you forever).

But Harding isn't just doing magic in the trailer. She's doing stone magic. She's doing something similar to what Sandal could do with that ogre in the deep roads. She is raising stone and she is turning things to stone.

And this makes me INCREDIBLY hopeful and excited. Because we don't know when Dwarfs came to thedas but its very possible they were here prior to the veil sealing.

What if they worship the stone and the ancestors within it not just because they live in caves, but because they had rituals and magic that specifically was associated with it before. rituals and magic other races couldn't do. What if Harding isn't just getting magic, she's getting very specific dwarven magic which was lost when the veil was sealed.

I'm freaking out gang. Like. Sure elven lore expansions are gonna be fun in this game but I'm ALWAYS down to hear about the dwarfs PLEASE give me information about the dwarfs oh my god

[lyriumtoxicity]

Like, overall I enjoyed the game

but I was left wondering about a few things, and then it turned into MANY things I didn't even realize until I saw posts. Y'all have pointed out so many glaring problems.

Where ARE all of the fenharel agents?

Why does Hardings awakening as a titan vessel/whatever mean/do nothing during the rest of the game? That is HUGE for it to not play a pivotal role.

Why are the crows so chill zevran said they were horrible? Why isn't zevran in charge of the crows or why aren't they dismantled at this point?

Where are my companions' epilogues??

WHY did Harding/Neve never talk to Rook about Varric afterward? No one outwardly grieved. Im so baffled by this. Harding especially should have been distraught.

I'm teasingly calling this Dragon Age: The after school special bc this was just very heavy on tackling emotions/feelings/personal shit. Like I'm not mad about it but the repetitive, "teamwork makes the dream work/we're all in this together/be your best self" made me feel like I was playing Kingdom hearts. This needed to feel more.... Grim or something idk, especially given that we're in minrathous.

Like are we getting dlc at a later point in time after their BS with mass effect is finished to tackle anything else??? Am I going to be left wanting more?? They fired most of the core writers, so maybe this is the end of it for good?

And if this is the final installment we'll ever get, Bioware, I'm so disappointed. I love that you delved into solas' past but seriously. You dropped the ball on so many things.

I have many feelings. I'm sad about losing precious characters I've loved for so long but I'm mostly sad about how the plots and side plots were handled.

[hiddenbeks]

3, 10 and 12!! 🦥

thank you xander!!! 🫶

3. do you usually play as a warrior, mage, or rogue? which class are you planning to try first this time around? which subclass?

answered here!

10. which location are you most excited/hoping to explore in-game?

can't wait to explore rivain!!!! also i think i read somewhere that we'll be going to weisshaupt as well and as a warden enjoyer i'm obviously soooo excited about that. i'm hoping it's not only weisshaupt but the rest of the anderfels too... it's always sounded like such a strange place and i would love to see and experience it...

12. what's one thing you're hoping we DON'T see in this next game?

hmmm! one thing i don't want to see any more of is the writing dismissing every religion that isn't andrastianism à la dai! i don't wanna see characters go 'the chantry is correct and the elves/dwarves/qunari are stupid for reasons x y z' and these characters presented as being correct and reasonable and without any chance to challenge their views or criticize the chantry hrrrnrnnnnhgnggg. also the retcons regarding elves' attitudes towards their mages and the whole 'elves fought back so they weren't victims actually' thing... let's not do that anymore... please

also ppl are probably tired of the conversation surrounding the mcu-esque dialogue and we shouldn't make assumptions based on the two trailers we've seen but i genuinely hope that kind of dialogue won't dominate every conversation. i can tolerate varric saying 'guess we're not in minrathous anymore!' in the gameplay reveal because that's just what he's like but if every character has a clever quip ready for every situation it's gonna be exhausting and make the characters feel like copies of each other. like the issue is not that there is quippy dialogue - we all know dao had that as well - it only becomes an issue when the quippy dialogue is everywhere. yknow. i don't wanna see that i wanna see a healthy balance of quips and real sincere conversations! i wanna see characters with distinct styles of speaking! not everyone can or should be a master of clever one-liners

idk i just hate how influential the mcu has been and how in so many shows and movies and games these days a lot of the dialogue sounds like uninspired stock dialogue where characters don't actually discuss things they just get their point across with a quick one or two lines and then move on like. am i making any sense?? i just want them to talk like humans. i wanna see characters who ramble and go on tangents and i wanna see characters like me who try to think of something clever and then just settle for a 'yea' 😔 sure it might not be as fun as rapid-fire quips but i think if there was even one character like that in contrast to someone like varric it would be much more interesting than two varrics. like i said. there needs to be a healthy balance. anyway sorry abt the rant hfghdgh

[mneiai]

Reading/re-reading a bunch of Dragon Age books and thought I'd give my quick thoughts for the ones I've gone through the last few days:

Asunder - 6/10. Always shocked Gaider wrote it, it does not feel like someone who knows the lore or games well, except insofar that a lot of the fight scenes are "this is how I envision it would play out in the game" as opposed to ones meant to be read. I can't remember if the printed version was this bad, but either there some horrific typos in the digital version or, again, it does not feel like someone that knows the lore wrote it ("Rite of Annulment" what the fuck). Creates some weird conflicts with established lore for no good reason. Last half better than the first half and Cole, Rhys, and Evangeline are genuinely likable once it gets going, at least.

Tevinter Nights - 3/10 to 10/10. Weirdly find the Talons story incredibly engaging and the characters very interesting (though that could be my OCD-based sympathy lol) and wish it were a book of its own and not just a short story that had to rush over a lot. In fact, I'd say most of the Crows-related stories are good, as well as the ones actually set in Tevinter. The Grey Wardens ones vary in quality and the Nevarra ones read like someone took passages from the World of Thedas and told a writer they had to come up with an excuse to infodump with poor mysteries shoved in. Most of the rest were just blah.

Magekiller - 2/10. This is so bad. The intro feels like some 12 year old writing about their OC and the addition of the relationship between Marius and that one DAI NPC that never goes anywhere again makes the protags honestly look way more at fault for some of the shit that goes down in DAI than Cole ever could. And this is true about all the comics, but the art is Not Great and relies very heavily on lazy shortcuts normally found in lower quality comics. Also a lot of lowkey ableism considering how Marius comes across. Never had strong feelings about Charter before, but now I dislike her.

Alistair comics - 5/10. The collection doesn't seem to have a good name to call all these lol Anyway, some interesting parts, getting to see one of my fav Tevinter characters and the way she's handled is always nice, but the whole thing is very C-quality-DLC-plot-thrown-out-during-development. Just all over the place. Hated the Isabella stuff, what even was that? We're not even going to get into the multiple international innocents that should have happened, but the whole thing was honestly ridiculous. Mae carries this shit.

Knight Errant - 8/10. Vaea and Ser Aaron are a trope, but it's a good one for comics and well-done in this, they're very cute. Varric feels way more natural here than in the Alistair ones, not sure what's going on with Sebastian but I think that has more to do with how wishywashy he has to be for Bioware canon than anything else. Literally nothing will make me care about the Magekiller romance, though, and it's honestly weird that's the conceit for the job.

Wraiths of Tevinter - 6/10. I think this was slightly better because it had to establish some of the characters, but it wasn't great (and what the hell did they do to my poor Fenris?!). The original stuff was better than when it started mixing into the overarching comics plotline, and the fact that 50% of these DA works fall back on "Qunari Ex Machina" got very old by this point. I cared absolutely zero amount about any of the villains and the Magekiller characters felt incredibly out of place in an already large cast. If it weren't for the endearing Knight Errant team and the mabari, I'd probably mark it down lower. Also lol why am I supposed to care about a slave owner Venatori apologist just because she had a bad childhood? Literally every one of the characters had a bad childhood. Fenris and Marius were literally slaves!

Also actually sitting down and reading the World of Thedas volumes instead of just looking stuff up in them and they're...fine. I still wish they were more encyclopedia like and I'm still confused at some of the assumptions people make based on things clearly not actually said in them, but that's fandom for you.

[extravagantliar]

Varric did not hire Asha for their mastery of the written word. If Varric had, it would have been one of the worst choices he's ever made. Right up there with some cast and dipped in silver, like shooting Bianca in a closed bar, with her bayonet still attached. Rather - no, Asha has been a boon, an annoyance, a pain in his side, a ray of sunshine, and all other kinds of metaphors end up at the forefront of his mind, but he pauses there momentarily. Instead, he laughs at the way the kid buchers commonality, "No kid, a noun is an identifier-- hey, we're not getting into this, again." He pulls Bianca off his back and pulls her pins, making her weigh less, making her nearly useless, before pawning Bianca off into Asha's hands, safer this way.

And she's on the ground. He almost pulls a face, yet he nearly knows better; he's fifty somehow. Amazing, Varric, don't blow it. "Common makes sense, if you know what you're looking at." He lies, lyingly, like liars do. His work is polished because he pays for someone to edit it, and well - he doesn't have an editor currently; rather, he's playing an elaborate game of chase, hoping to talk sense one last time. Well, instead, he's steeling himself as fingers dig into his sides and he's lifted; it brings up another memory, someone pulling him up into a window, another time - a former friend boosting his boot over a too-tall wall. Those keep him grounded as he's hoisted up onto the back of the great big beast; she's fine actually; she doesn't move, and he digs his hands into whatever is left whatever he can; it's not panic, but he almost rather would be falling off the Forder in backwater Ferelden.

Ah, well. He breathes and steadies himself.

He can surely handle this, just for long enough to sell the damned thing. He breathes and reminds himself that even though he is dense, he can figure it out. It makes his left hip ache, but he'll complain about that later when it's dry and warm, and he can write the letter that needs to be sent, so he can write Charter, he can write others, and get passage to wherever is next. So he can check in with the rest of the team, which is spread far and wide, thin, and nearly running out of steam.

"Alright, alright. Hand her up." Asha does that and leaps with an ease that he's only ever written about, dangerous flying feats as fictional heroes and foes fought fecklessly or some other garbage alliteration. Asha settles, and Varric is boxed in; he's not used to this situation, but it beats walking. Bianca is folded again, pulling her tightly against his lap. "No, but we better go now."

He laughs with the first steady step, him wobbling into it. "Before I fall off it."

Famous. last. words.

"What's a verb?" Alright, so -- listen. They both know their Trade Common isn't the best. Better than it used to be, but still rather shite. "Is a 'noun' a curse word-- no it can't be. You would'a taught me that if it was." Actually, Varric had taught them a lot of things, but that's not the point. If they had known petty thievery would have landed them with the worst slash best tutor in Thedas they would have quit sooner.

They shrug after patting the mare a comforting amount of times, nimble fingers now pulling as the security of a well loved weapon. Bianca is handled carefully, discarded to the ground for just a moment. She wouldn't be abandoned long, not as those same fingers slip into Varric's pits and shift for security. "Y'know Common makes no sense, right?" They shuffle a bit, aiming for a better stance. "Like -- at least Orlesian makes sense. Watch: Je soulève le nain."

And heft the dwarf up they did.

Varric is a solid man, but Asha is stronger than most give them credit. The ascent to the mare's back is smooth and controlled, even if his companion would doubtlessly fail to agree. The mare does not spook, for her credit, but does paw at the ground a bit at the strange weight on her back. They pat her neck again and fetch Bianca from the ground -- waiting to hand her back until Varric had finished hiding his freak out and was holding onto the collar properly. "See? Nothing to worry about." The glee of nonchalance spreads across a freckled face as they pat the mare one last time before simple jumping onto her back. Slotting right behind the dwarf and caging him in with the 'safety' of their arms.

"Ready old man?"

[rosexknight]

I honestly don't think the chantry blowing up did anything to the city itself. In the cinematic it looks like the debris is shot far away from Kirkwall (at least to me that's what it looks like).

My guess is that it all landed in the waters around the city, and the fighting is what did the damage we see.

How did Anders kill 100s of people? /gen

There were never hundreds of people in the chantry. I've seen people argue that that's where the homeless live etc, but that's literally what Darktown is for. We're not given proof that Kirkwall chantry houses orphans, or the homeless. Yeah, the chantry sisters etc were inside, but I don't think that explosion killed anyone else. Are you counting the templars and the mages who died during the conflict? Or does anything happen in the comics?

Sorry for the long ask, I like seeing what others have to say about the mage conflict in DA

In Inquisition they mention "rebuilding Kirkwall" many times. We know Kirkwall got torn apart because of the mages and templars fighting, but in game it doesn't look any worse than when the Qunari attacked. I really don't have any concrete evidence for this one, I just assume that rubble from the exploding Chantry HAD to fall on some of Kirkwall. Like, I know the cutscene in game was really unclear of the exact destruction that the exploding Chantry did to the rest of Kirkwall but I would be SHOCKED if the city came out unscathed from an explosion that with so much debris being flung everywhere. The number of casualties from the Chantry explosion is also the reason I think there must have been rubble. As you noted, in the cutscene we did not see 100 people IN the Chantry, and even in game we don't see that many there at a time. So that had to come from the explosion itself and the debris and stuff.

Varric straight up says in a banter with Blackwall in Inquisition, "I know a Greywarden who blew up a chantry and killed 100 people." As far as I know this is the only canonical, confirmed number to those casualties, so that's the one I tend to go with. And we know that's not just his body count because Varris recites everyone's body count in DA2 also in a banter, and Anders is over 100. So yeah 100 people because he blew up a chantry.

The Inquisition Banter, copy pasted straight from the Wiki: Blackwall: I once met a dwarf who made the best home-brewed ale.

Varric: I once met a Grey Warden who got possessed by a spirit and then blew up a Chantry and killed a hundred people.

Varric: What makes people think you want to hear what others of "your kind" have done, anyway?

The DA2 Banter, also copied straight from the Wiki: Varric: Oh, cheer up, Blondie. You're making me cry just looking at you.

Anders: Don't.

Varric: You made a mistake. It happens.

Anders: I almost killed a girl.

Varric: You've killed two-hundred and fifty-four by my last count. Plus about five hundred men, a few dozen giant spiders, and at least two demons.

Anders: It's not the same.

Varric: Why? Because this one you feel bad about? Maybe that's the problem.

I don't know about the comics or short stories as I haven't read them. I'm going solely by what is said and shown in-game.

Like I said in this post I am not saying what he did was good. But I do understand why he did it and believe it was justified. Tbh I think alot of the problem with his character was just that the game was rushed, so they weren't able to flesh everyone out as much.

[wizardsix]

oh cool, thanks for sharing your thoughts too. I completely agree with you (especially your second paragraph). it's very frustrating to see people believe that creating/consuming media about bad things means you approve of said bad things, which only proves how people can't think for themselves...

this increasing trend is unfortunately a decline in media literacy and increase in short attention spans. people don't know how to "read between the lines" anymore and need their hands held. if something isn't explicitly stated, it doesn't exist. we're at the point where people need to be told shit like "misgendering is bad :)" instead of showing us how this could affect trans characters and the kind of pain that comes from knowing people don't see you as who you really are. there needs to be a balance of showing and telling, and also not being biased. I don't doubt that there are talented writers on the team (currently and formerly) as there is good writing to be found across the franchise, but most of the time bioware can never find that balance and I don't know why.

(and yeah putting relevant lore and plot from the games in books/comics etc, like varric and harding searching for solas, should have been in veilguard. it's not established how rook and varric even got to this point, which alienates the new players they so desperately wanted as well as people who can't afford them or don't want to follow a bunch of different mediums just to get a coherent story. there's too big of a gap between inquisition and veilguard that should have been mended somehow)

as for the romance... I do agree here but it's important to have gay and lesbian characters bc even though our experiences overlap with theirs they are ultimately different. in my opinion I think it just depends on the amount of companions. like dragon age 2 worked fine bc there were only four romanceable ones, so making them all bi for balance made sense (idk if that's why I'm just assuming here). whereas in inquisition there were eight, so they could stand to make two of them gay while making the others bi or straight or whatever (and with the replayability, someone could just make a new oc and experience those. especially since being gay is a big part of dorian's grief, it just wouldn't work if he was bi or god forbid straight). it's definitely our lack of preference speaking, since I also wouldn't mind bi being the default, but we can't leave the rest of our community behind. representation helps normalize what the masses think is abnormal. at the end of the day though, writers should not base a character's personality around their sexuality and gender identity because we are more than that. if it's important, there's always a way to do it well without it being yet another coming out story... and here's where taash was done dirty.

taash's story had potential to be about questioning their identity as a whole, and I was really hoping that their gender was just the tip of the iceberg, but it just. didn't go anywhere. im a second generation immigrant (greek-canadian), so it did hit close when taash was questioning where they even belonged, but then bioware ruined it by watering down the immigrant experience to one choice where you have to encourage taash to either choose rivain or the qun... which, to put it bluntly, was incredibly stupid (especially with bioware's racist writing of making the qun/qunari and everyone who follows it bad, most people would just pick rivain).

why do they have to pick one? why are we deciding that for them, especially when we barely know them? why can't they learn how to create a new life And reconnect with what they lost? a lot of immigrants hold onto culture bc it's all they have despite being disowned by their own people for "abandoning their country", but still live their new lives without sacrificing their roots. like to this day I still question if greeks would ever accept me because I was born in canada. my relatives and greeks as a whole just see me as another stupid american with no culture, "not a real greek", even though I know the language and still celebrate greek holidays/practice certain parts of the religion because of my mother. this struggle and disconnect doesn't just go away overnight, and it's incredibly sad how we could've had a character who is a pillar of perseverance and represents the loss/reclamation of identity be reduced to... a joke, I guess. it's a real shame.

that one conversation between emmrich and harding and the argument between emmrich and rook..... why is bioware trying to make the age gap an issue and why is their age even mentioned. why are they trying to make rook a fresh-faced adventurer. what if someone is playing as an older character huh. idk what's so wrong about two consenting adults in a relationship but ok