#..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?

[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 🙏]

[rustyhubris]

Dragon Age Spoilers below the cut re: endgame and Mass Effect comparison. Just finished the game and I have thoughts and no one to talk to about it.

And I mean like, original Mass Effect.

It's interesting how people are complaining so much about the story beats here, but there's actually a LOT of similar points to the original Mass Effect game. Part of the trick, I guess, is that Mass Effect was setting up a trilogy, while Veilguard is in the not enviable position of needing to write a soft reboot while also wrapping up some key story points from Inquisition.

The key similarity is the Kaiden/Ashley vs Harding/Davrin choice. The Veilguard choice is honestly way more difficult because of the legacies that you see these characters need to carry on. With Mass Effect it's a matter of, "These two soldiers are in your command, and you have to make the call." What's intriguing to me is that the impact of the choice in Mass Effect hits a bit harder in the moment, likely because it's more in the midpoint of the story, as opposed to right near the end. You lose Kaiden or Ashley, there's no getting them back. They stay as an empty hole in your team picker for the rest of the game.

With Veilguard, it hits hard in a different way, especially if there's a romantic entanglement (NGL, I picked Davrin to die because I didn't want Taash to be left alone), but it feels a bit cheapened by the fact that their sacrifice is NOT telegraphed well at /all/ up to this. Plus, with the aforementioned legacies, it more feels "not fair" rather than a meaningful sacrifice.

Maybe with the suggestion of them disappearing "without a trace" into a red hole of oblivion, there's a chance that they'd return in another form in the next game. A spectre of a previous choice made. THAT, I can get on board with. Similar to Ashley/Kaiden having survived and turning up in ME2 like, "What the fuck, man. I'm so happy to see you, but what the fuck?"

On a side note, it's funny how people are complaining about making a choice on who becomes Archon when for me, it's just, "Dorian's the Archon now" and I'm like, "Okay, cool! I like Dorian." The choices are meaningful in this game, but because it's so hard to tell what's going on in the "other version" of the game you're playing, it doesn't feel like it very often.

Anyway, I just think it's very funny that they did another Kaiden/Ashley choice, and arguably better (just with worse timing) and people are complaining about it like it's the worst thing ever to happen to an RPG.

I think the key complaint is that we're forced to lose things and deal with the consequences, re: Treviso or Minrathous, even though we had very little agency in being able to make things right. Which I suppose is a more *real* thing to have in a game: things can't always go right. You're going to lose people. The point of, "Well it's fantasy, it should be allowed to go well" doesn't hold because literally the same thing happened with Kaiden and Ashley.

Also, I really like how they did the thing with Varric. Genuinely caught me by surprise, but also felt right, story wise. I'm going to need to do an angry Grey Warden playthrough to properly do Solas in for that, though.

[felondese]

here are my guesses for how they're doing this:

morrigan has been taken over by mythal to the point where her personal development and history pre-mythal don't matter all that much, so no references to her potential child or partner. we're going to see mythal in morrigan shape which I'm okay with for elgar'nan-whooping-purposes

we're just going to pretend that well of sorrows thing didn't happen shhh. i think they'd rather just sweep that one under the rug considering there wasn't even real solas reaction dialogue with him in your party (he mildly disagrees with you drinking but he also doesn't want morrigan to), just his seemingly random ass outrage back at skyhold after the fact. they really fumbled this one already, i think, so probably for the best to just ignore it, even if that's a shame because it's so chewy. plus the well is essentially morrigan's now anyway whether she drank or not

the inquisition is a handful of people at this point regardless of disbandment or not, and we won't really hear from anyone we know that's still working with them. they can't really reference any of the advisors or companions other than varric and harding. as little as our previous choices matter, i have a hard time imagining a significant difference in game states based on, for example, having forces and resources to contribute

the inquisitor is going to make an appearance but get kidnapped/hurt/go MIA for most of the game early on so their presence in the story is the only thing that's significant, not any personal details, anything that might showcase personality or reference their choices in inquisition. probably gonna die to tie up loose ends

solas will be a lil extra sad if lavellan romanced him but I'm not expecting much in terms of solavellan nods. i am betting the difference will be minimal, like friendly vs romanced in trespasser. best case scenario a kiss and he'll throw in a vhenan at the end maybe when he breaks her heart again. definitely not banking on murals or anything significant.

that said, i am thinking the only one of the three choices that will actually have much of an impact is if you romanced solas. i highly doubt any of the other dai romances will get mentioned since past char choices related to them aren't and there are too many variables

whether your inky wanted to redeem or stop solas won't really matter. we need his help either way and with the gods released the veil is probably coming down whether he does it or not

the rest of the world is on fucking fire early enough in the game that it doesn't matter who's on what thrones. it's all irrelevant when the evanuris bust out. no chantry, no kingdoms left standing, just chaos and death

the chars i was really looking forward to seeing again and kind of expected based on location/factions (dorian, isabela, zevran, sten, fenris) might get a passing reference in text but i hear it's a real pain in the ass to get the voice actors and art departments involved for cameos, plus all the possible contingencies, so I'm dropping those hopes. should count my blessings that they aren't horrifically killed on screen because that would be the only other option i guess

basically i'm going to bring my expectations back down to earth and then a little lower for safety. can't be disappointed if i don't expect much going in.

still looking forward to the game? absolutely.

[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?

[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.

[moonybadger]

Okay, I'm about five-ish hours into The Veilguard and here are my thoughts so far (very very mild spoilers)

REALLY reminds me of Mass Effect (this is not a bad thing)

Seriously there's so many little things. There are "turret gun" sections, you have fish in your main room, the main meeting point of the lighthouse feels a LOT like the ship from Andromeda, and the customization options feel very similar

It also seems like it's going to be very companion oriented, like ME2

I like how they're building up Rook's character based on their race, class, and background. Nice little tidbits.

I like Varric's role in the whole thing so far, he's evolved into the Ultimate Team Dad

As a Solas enjoyer, I'm also liking how they're handling him so far.

They're doing a good job giving lots of old plot points attention, like the origins of the Blight and dwarven history

I have the first three companions so far, but I think only Harding is really working for me atm

Neve is fine, but right now there's not much to sink my teeth into besides her being a snarky good aligned mage.

Bellara's an odd one, because when we're in a cutscene with her and her face gets more animated I like her fine! But during regular conversations, her resting face is just really 😐 all the time. And she's so still all the time! I think more character animation on her to convey her eccentricity and technological mind would have done a lot for her.

I don't love the combat, but tbh I've never been in love with any of the DA game's combat

I kept seeing people leaving comments on dragon age-y places saying that they didn't like the combat or the open world of Inquisition which like??? Is news to me. Inquisition probably had my favorite combat in the series and I really enjoy their take on an open world. And I was pretty sure that was the general consensus!

[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.

[zenatness]

Actually, I'm not done.

Obviously I'd remove the belittling post-quest summaries and the Varric voice over cutscenes as they make the game choppy and only add meta knowledge that isn't even useful when we get them.

The companions also need an overhaul. Every last one of them.

The most memorable Dragon Age cast (to me) is the DA2 crew. There's not a single one of them that I forget if you ask me to list them. I love them, your honor. And the reason for that is because they all have flaws. They might belong to the same friend group but they're not all friends - they fight, they're mean to each other, hell Anders even approves if you hand Fenris back to slavery.

The DAV cast are so sweet and friendly and everyone likes each other and it's... bland. It's boring. They blend into one another. They need more bite. More conflict.

Emmerich is a necromancer and the way the dead are handled in Nevarra is completely alien to the rest of Thedas. And yet everyone is so accepting of him and Manfred. No! Make him work for their acceptance! And have him do some shit that's genuinely objectionable because it's the norm in Nevarra. Let him get frustrated with the others Not Getting It.

The Dalish elves shouldn't automatically go 'oh, our gods are evil, ok :)' There should be conflict! These are their gods - why aren't they flocking to them? This includes Bellaria and Davrin. As Davrin voluntarily left the Dalish he should have an easier time coming around to 'the gods are evil', especially as he can feel the blight corruption.

Davrin's pride kept him from going back to the Dalish after leaving them to find adventure. Ok. Where's that pride now? Why isn't it becoming a problem? Let him bump heads with Harding over the gods, who is the better tracker, etc.

And as far as I'm concerned, Bellaria should have been Merrill. Don't come into my house and offer me a neuroatypical Dalish elf who repairs eluvians, is driven by a desire to learn more about her people's past and regret over losing a loved one, and is on good terms with Varric and then give me a substitute.

Despite being a Tevinter native Neve is against slavery - why? Dorian was pro slavery and you could (too easily) change his mind. Why not make the slavery in Tevinter a bigger deal and her personal questline about choosing tradition or humanity? That's also where Dorian should have had his cameo, not with the first warden in a random bar.

Taash's gender identity issues are treated with such excruciatingly modern values that it feels like HR is in the room with the characters. It's addressed too quickly too. Let her be a bit of a dick for a while about feminine things, let her take a while to process things - let her meet Maevaris as part of a quest and have that "oh!" moment on her own. Then we can start to talk about it in the group.

Lucanis and Spite should be a bigger deal. This dude is possessed and we're all just fine with that? Really? Emmerich I understand, but the rest should have objections, especially Harding who is from Ferelden where such things is absolutely not ok. And if he's staying awake for ages to avoid Spite taking over, guess what? He'll be an irritable mess even without Spite in control.

Harding... Harding worked for the Inquisition for a decade. She's done this before. Let her be bossy and authoritative instead of sugary sweet. She should be the one most convinced and bumping heads with the Dalish when they have their doubts.

Also, only 30 hours in, but if the gods don't puppeteer the grey wardens - including Davrin - via the darkspawn blood then Bioware dropped the ball. Do I want that for Loghain (the only grey warden that truly matters)? No. But not doing it doesn't make any sense if they're controlling the darkspawn via the blight.

The more I play Veilguard, the more I want to edit it. Do some trimming, add some flesh and conflict to the bare-bones characters, and rearrange some elements.

Solas should have been the major threat for the first third or half of the game. It should have been about thwarting his agents and trying to find him. It would have kept the threat level low enough that it wouldn't feel weird to go and have a cup of coffee with your new teammate or lighting candles in the graveyard. Like, yes, this is urgent but we've got no leads so in the meantime we can go have a walk in the woods and search for truffles, sure.

Solas being the main threat but working behind the scenes would also mean that it would make sense that we're only a small team working on doing something about him. Nobody else believes us, etc.

Unleashing the elven gods should have been the twist that escalates the story, not the start. That's when you should start to have to gather armies to help you fight, because what do you mean it's less than a dozen individuals trying to save the world?

And no, we won't have time to go feed the birds anymore, sorry. The world is at stake and the blight is everywhere.

[dungeons-and-dragon-age]

ohh this sounds like such a fun idea, thank you @the-dreadful-canine for the tag!! <3

Tell me, what's your OC in-game idle animation? How do they act when left on idle for a short, long and a really long time?

NEIRA

Short: Casts quick glances left and right with a mildly alert expression

Long: Will ask "Is there something wrong?" (present companions may answer; no priority character) and have a more thorough look around, checking on each companion

Too long: Quietly says "While we're waiting..." to herself as she settles down and either takes some crafting supplies out of her bag to prepare potions or recite spells under her breath in a meditative manner

KALAGNA

Short: Subtly casts glances about in intervals, but not much movement overall

Long: Will do small stretch exercises to prevent her joints from stiffening up

Too Long: Starts releasing some of the tension in her posture (still stays alert tho) and repeat the actions from the former two, just in less regular intervals

LIAM

Short: Plucks at his gloves, stretches his arms, scratches his cheek or brushes back his hair

Long: Shifts his weight or crosses his arms, may look around questioningly, ask "So.. we here for a reason, or...?", or inspect and/or twirl his daggers

Too Long: Jokingly remarks "What? This long and still no ambush?" (present companions may joke back; priority: Varric). If Skippy is summoned Liam will start petting or playing with him, if not he will assume a more relaxed stance and start whistling a tune (previous actions may repeat)

LILIAN

Short: Clenches and un-clenches her fists, flicks her hair, or tilts her head from side to side slightly

Long: Starts getting annoyed and will ask what they are waiting for. Will roll her neck and shoulders, cast a suspicious glance around, or repeat any of the previous actions

Too Long: Lets out a frustrated sigh before taking out her polearm/staff to clean it or sharpen the blade

JUNE

Short: Looks around curiously, asks "What's up?" or check the underside of her boots

Long: Gets more restless overall and will start fidgeting more; shuffling her feet, fiddling with her hair, playing with her staff... May shout "Hey [present party member], watch this!" (priority: Dorian > Sera > Iron Bull) before performing one of several magic tricks, e.g. "throwing" a pebble via veilstrike or putting their hair on end with static

Too Long: Sighs loudly and flops down with a "wake me up when we get moving". Will fiddle with the grass/snow/sand/etc or emit sparks of magic from her fingers at intervals

ARARI

Short: May check out the situation briefly but doesn't move much otherwise apart from adjusting his stance

Long: Looks up at the sky to check the time and/or weather, adjusts his quiver or

Too Long: Will have a good look around before announcing to his companions "Rest up while you can." before settling down and taking out something to eat

tagging @a-drama-addict, @dumbassentity, @squeakedout, @nomouthtospeakof, and @the-one-ring-to-rule-them-all (as always no pressure of course!) and anyone else who wants to give it a go!

[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