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ideolatry · 8 hours ago

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Spoilery Dragon Age: The Veilguard review from a 30 year+ Bioware fan that likely no one will read except my mom who doesn't understand me but supports everything I do lol

THE COMBAT SYSTEM

The combat system is pretty fun... I love how much it encourages movement on the battlefield, it feels very dynamic and exciting. The leveling up system is interesting and engaging and I love that you could respend your skill points over and over. However, combat can begin to feel repetitive further in. Also, there was a missed opportunity with combos. For something that they talked about an awful lot in development, the combos are pretty boring to look at. There is no real flavor to them, or sense of your teammates are working together. I often felt like I wasn't *with* my teammates on the battlefield, if that makes any sense. We were just in our respective corners, pew pewing.

GAMEPLAY

Overall DATV felt fast paced, which could be considered exhilarating, but I felt rushed through things at times... like I just wanted to get to know the world and my companions and invest in what's happening around me. The lighthouse always felt lonely and abandoned. Far too few people over too large an area, and despite the devs bragging about not having meaningless side fetch quests, how f****** sick were you of figuring out how to get those chests or complete that meaningless, time sinking puzzle?

ENEMIES

Darkspawn, Venatori, Undead, Demons, Qunari, LATHER RINSE REPEAT forever. I felt palpable relief on a couple of occasions I got to fight mercenaries, just to break the monotony. Everything looked the same. Even the mini bosses. Bigger bosses were much more satisfying, but obviously rare... and where are all the monsters? Like one of the main bosses is the creator of monsters. Monster goddess. And all we get out of her are darkspawn but with the blight cranked up a little bit? We had a monster maker. We had a monster hunter. But... no monsters. Does anyone remember the concept art? So much was left on the cutting room floor with this game.

THE ARMOR/CLOTHING

There are definitely armor sets I liked the aesthetic of. I loved all the little details, especially with the Mourn Watch and the Crows. I realize a lot of the pieces look like they came off a runway, or a Lady Gaga tour, but I didn't hate that. What was annoying is that the armors all had such distinct faction flavors, and then it felt weird to wear an armor from a faction that was not yours. It didn't make narrative sense. I wish they had just had more compelling armor sets that were more generic than nature and could fit with any faction member. Or the ability to dye, like in Inquisition.

AS PER TRADITION, the helmets were atrocious, particularly the ones where they tried to get around exposing the face but hiding the hair so they didn't have to deal with the hair physics interfering with the helmet.

CHARACTER CREATOR AND DESIGN

The hair! Finally some good Dragon Age hair! I was disappointed that you can't really make lighter shades work, and that often in the game world, your hair appeared much darker than it ought, or that it looked like even in the preview lighting. I know it's a a quirk of the strand physics, but it was disappointing. Still, I spent a weird amount of time swish swishing my long hair. Wheeee, so much fun.

I'm going to be honest, I didn't like the art design they went with. I agree with many of you... I do think everyone looks like they tumbled out of Fortnite, or Overwatch. The body proportions are also strange, everyone looks kind of hunched with big heads and big necks. Someone did an edit of a bunch of screenshots with actual human proportions worked into the characters, and it looked so much better I almost cried.

Also, and I say this as a woman with larger breasts and a smaller waist and a bit packed in the trunk, why could I not make a curvy body? Like, you're going for an inclusive but you can't have larger breasts than like a small B cup? WTF.

That being said, the graphics are top notch and you can make a really compelling looking Rook! I wish my eyeballs didn't sink into my eyelids every time I looked up at a person or creature, but everybody has problems I guess.

YOUR COMPANIONS

Some of the cut scenes around your team members are really lovely. This is why I mentioned that 70% of the writing suffered, not 100%. And the characters themselves are well-designed and well-acted that you can forgive some of the more banal dialogue. Emmerich was a bright spot, and Harding was a delight. Even Neve got to me. Lucanis was so interesting, but felt... unfinished?

I realize Taash has been a hot button subject. I loved having a non binary party member, I just wish they had not made it their entire personality, especially as Taash was already monotone and monosyllabic. And the writing around their journey was so ham-fisted, I was constantly cringing. It felt token, forced and inauthentic. Very "She's not alone" ala Endgame. Ugh. (In fairness, some of the other characters also seemed relatively low dimension, but I felt this plotline specifically deserved more love.)

Also, and this was just a weird impression I got, it seemed like some characters got more cut scenes or side quests than others? I didn't count though.

Also Bellara whines a lot. Just saying.

ROMANCES

Again, a mixed bag? There were some really touching scenes, often thanks to the voice actors. There just needed to be MORE? It felt like very little romance content compared to previous games or games like BG3, and again, it was so TAME. I mean, I don't need to be taken up against a tree by a ginormous druid in every video game I play, but I would have liked some action.

And then weirdly, the action I did get felt so uncomfortable. Like, you just went through a really traumatic experience, lost two of the people closest to you, and then you and Davrin have this fun and playful bang? Your shirt vanished like a magic trick? Weird. Like, your Rook is grinning? It's not even... beautiful, weeping, healing sex. It's just Netflix and Chill. And also, you can't opt out of it? Like there's no choice? What is happening lol

Flirting was also sometimes good sometimes not good. It was strange how when you picked the flirt option, your Rook was usually just... nice? And I mean, maybe we, as a society, could not lean into the "BEING NICE TO SOMEONE IS THE SAME AS WANTING TO BANG THEM" trope? I don't know.

THE WRITING

The writing was... not good. I know there has been a lot of discussion over this, and I am not saying that every single line was terrible. There were some cute jokes, and a few scenes were quite poignant. But overall, like 70% of the writing felt like it was written in the vein of a terrible YA novel. Characters' lines are flat, over exposition-y and often lack real depth.

Conversely, all of your dialogue with Solas is so good, the banter is top notch and the ending you get with a romanced Inquisitior is *chef's kiss". Thank-you, Trick Weekes.

CONTINUITY

I am not over the fact that nearly none of your decisions from previous games counted. That's truly wild. As a long-time fan, it felt like a betrayal to see the choices I made in the earlier games rendered irrelevant. On top of creating several gaping plot holes, and oversimplifying the story, it also further impacted my ability to really invest in the world. No one will ever be able to convince me that this wasn't just strictly financial decision meant to min/max profits. It's the fourth installation in a player choice driven, story -based RPG. IF YOU WANT TO START FRESH, PICK A NEW TITLE. I also wouldn't be surprised if this was the one of the decisions that led to several prominent members of the creative and development team exiting stage left.

TONE

Tonally, Veilguard felt sterile, watered-down and somehow low stakes, even when the stakes were technically high. I know there has already been a lot of discourse around the game not seeming as dark as previous installations, and a lot of clapback over that stance. However, I get it. Tevinter was not well represented. Where are the.... I don't know, slaves? The Antivan Crows are not good guys. Anti-Heroes at best, and that was simply not the case. Where was the angst? The struggle? The real conflict? The challenge that Rook should have faced in creating a chosen family out of a team of strangers from wildly different backgrounds? Your teammates hardly offer up more than a gentle difference of opinion.

ROOK

Rook feels like an NPC in a party of main characters. Not only did the backstory options not always make sense (why in the Maker's name would a Tevinter family adopt and raise an elf?) but you didn't have a single quest related to *your life and history*. Even the Inquisitor usually had a war table quest and could talk about their past. All your time is spent in your companions' lives.

And no matter what faction you choose, one of your party members is basically the superhero equivalent of that faction member. Like, You're a Grey Warden... But Davrin has a griffon. You're a Crow... But Lucanis is First Talon. You're part of the Mourn Watch, but you don't have an animated skeleton sidekick. You are a Shadow Dragon... But you're not a famous detective who is in all the newspapers. You get the idea. And their outfits are so fancy while you can't even have a piercing lol

And then... the dialogue options. Buh. Often it feels like you get three choices and they're all... bland. Even the smarmy/comedic options are often... not funny? Like, not even trying to be? Ahhh, I miss Purple Hawke. And you can never be contentious. I mean I get that they want a leader, and that Varric has already ostensibly vetted you, but you can be a brilliant leader and also a pain in the ass.

With all the above, it was really hard to bond with and identify with Rook.

OVERALL

This is a nitpicky review, but I can’t help it—I feel Veilguard could have been a great game, yet it lands somewhere in the “I’ve played worse” category. It’s not bad by any means, but it’s far from the transcendent experience it could have been. I still enjoyed it and felt I got my money’s worth, but I can’t shake the sense that with a few tweaks and more time, it could have been something truly special.

#dragon age #solavellan #dragon age the veilguard #datv spoilers #datv #da:i #dragon age: inquisition #bioware

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maintitle · 2 days ago

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I want to talk a little bit about the Morrigan/Mythal situation, because I've seen a lot of people talk about how Morrigan chose Mythal and chose that power and therefore this is her life and her ultimate evolution and generally just dismissing what happens to her after Mythal rejoins her as a natural evolution of the character, girlboss, ect. I don't want to be dismissive of that take because it can be one that is easily taken without reflection, but I do think it terribly misunderstands the nature of Flemeth and Morrigan's relationship and the methods by which she was very carefully raised.

So let's talk about Morrigan, how she was groomed and abused, and the training she took great pride in that was that was ultimately weaponized against her by design. Let's also talk about the great pains the game goes through in order to sidestep these issues, and by doing so leaving a much better story on the cutting room floor in order to make a very tepid story of parental forgiveness that misses the depth of their relationship entirely.

I'd like to say at the jump that the fusion of Morrigan and Mythal isn't a story I'm resistant too. I assumed this was the direction they would go and I truly think there was some fascinating storytelling to be had that expanded upon the themes already present in both. But I also think the Veilguard writers either misunderstand the exact nature of how Morrigan was raised, or needed to ignore it in order for Morrigan to serve as a vessel for Mythal in order to serve Solas' story (an issue I have with her use in this game in general, but that's for another post.)

The most revealing conversation that I think Morrigan has in regards to Flemeth is actually one that occurs very early in Origins. I think it's juxtaposition with other scenes is important;

Morrigan: "My Mother has been hunted from time to time, yes. My Templar fools like Alistair, which should tell you how successful they generally were. Flemeth made a bit of a game of it, in fact. The Templars would come again and she would look at me and smile and say that the fun was to begin once more."

Warden: "You really had no trouble with them?

Morrigan: "I am unsure. I was too young to understand, and perhaps 'twas bravado on Flemeth's part. Or perhaps she was merely amused. I will never know. Flemeth would warn them, once. 'Twas a warning they inevitably failed to heed." Morrigan: "And then the true game began. Often Flemeth would use me as bait." She giggles in amusement. "A little girl to scream, and run, and lure the templars deeper into the wilds and to their doom."

Warden: "Flemeth used you as bait?"

Morrigan: "'Twas a game, and I a young girl. If I didn't get to play, I would have been very upset."

This is a really important example, not just of how callously Morrigan was trained to kill when she was challenged at such a young age, but also because it exemplifies how Flemeth taught her. There's an assumption that Flemeth simply yelled and screamed at Morrigan her entire childhood, and that was true in places, but Flemeth was very crafty in how she presented the lessons that she felt were necessary for Morrigan to have.

A bit further into the conversation;

Warden: "Do you still think it was fun?" Morrigan: "I think that my Mother made it fun so that a child did not learn to fear. And I think it was necessary."

Interestingly, if you don't agree with this assessment, Morrigan ends the conversation very suddenly.

The point of highlighting both of these conversations isn't necessarily to outline the casual and cruel abuse, but instead to show how sinister Flemeth's teaching methods were. She treated a child with kindness and the warmness of a friend or Mother when it suited the needs of Morrigan's lessons, but when she broke out and did something that would endanger those teachings, she violently lashed out, as is evident with the mirror scene.

These juxtapositions are important when you look at who Morrigan becomes as an adult, and why she's sent away during the Blight at all. As we know, it was Flemeth's plan all along for Morrigan to offer the ritual before the battle with the Archdemon, but Morrigan posits that it's now her making those decisions and not her Mother. This is highlighted by the line;

Morrigan: "Some things are worth preserving in this world. Make of that what you will."

If we jump ahead a bit to Inquisition, this thought process is expanded on a lot more, in a lot more detail, highlighting the philosophy in Mythal's temple;

Morrigan: "There is... a danger to the natural order. Legends walked Thedas once, things of might and wonder. Their passing has left us all the lesser. Corypheus would squander the ancient power of the well. I would have it restored"

Inquisitor: "I wasn't expecting your answer to be so... romantic."

Morrigan: "Trust me. Your surprise is matched only by my own." Sigh. "Mankind blunders through the world, crushing what it does not understand: Elves, dragons, magic... the list is endless. We must stem the tide or be left with nothing more than the mundane. This I know to be true."

On a surface level, this can be seen as an evolution of who she was in Origins and what she believed then. I can see how that mistake might be made, and I can see how that thought process can lead to accidentally mistaking Veilguard's reply to it as being that same evolution. But if we look at the Dark Ritual, we see this is an opinion based within the philosphy she was always taught by Flemeth.

In order to expand on that, we can actually look to the comics, in the little-explored character of Yavana, sister of Morrigan.

I want to stress first we don't TRULY know much about Yavana. History implies she's a figure out of Antivan legend going back multiple ages, but it's sort of impossible to know if that's true or if it's even her and not a previous Witch Of The Wilds, or even a previous host of Mythal. I hesitate, therefor, to truly assume what her relationship with her Mother was like, however I will very carefully put forward that, based on what little dialogue we have of her, she may be a 'failed' daughter of Flemeth that Mythal deemed unworthy, as she knows about Mythal inhabiting her daughters, see's it as Flemeth does, and seems somewhere between disapointed and jealous in the fact that Morrigan seems to misunderstand that. (I'm not really here to run back the whole Origins possession versus Inquisition's and now Veilguard's 'a soul is not hefted on the unwilling, because frankly it doesn't really weigh in on the point being made here as much as you'd suspect, as you'll see.) But this assumption is questionable, and might be both wrong and not relevant to the issue, if perhaps fairly telling.

What we DO know about her for certain is that she was raised by Flemeth, and at some point moved to Antiva in order to nurture and preserve the return of Dragons to Thedas. Her actual wording of this point, I think, is so telling of FleMythal as a character that I almost wish it wasn't hidden away in the comics;

This is, nearly verbatim, the same message Morrigan gives both in short in Origins before the Dark Ritual, and in much more detail in the Temple Of Mythal in Inquisition. I also find Alistair's response to this INCREDIBLY telling, as one of Alistair's great talents is seeing through people;

While I think the phrasing is very purposefully dismissive and flippant, I don't think the sentiment is totally off base. It actually leads me into the entire thesis of this post, and an aspect of this relationship that some fans and even writers seem to blatantly miss;

The preservation of the old magic is not Morrigan's dream. The preservation of magic is what Morrigan was raised to value most in the world by her abuser.

To illustrate this, let's look at Morrigan's arc in Inquisition, and what it's actually saying about her and Flemythal; The cycle of abuse.

Mythal's Temple is a story about Morrigan and the folly of pride, certainly, but it's also a character arc of a woman who was very carefully raised to HAVE that pride. This isn't an assumption I have made based on evidence, Flemeth outright says it in DA2;

Hawke: "Is (Morrigan) someone I should know?" Flemeth: "She's a girl who thinks she knows what is what better than I, or anyone." Chuckle. "And why not? I raised her to be as she is. I cannot expect her to be less!"

This is, to be, the smoking gun of Flemeth's entire method of teaching and parenting. She is incredibly adept at training flaws into her daughters, pride being the greatest of them. More than that, she's very talented at imparting just enough knowledge that they think they know everything, while also holding back vast amounts of it in order to stay in control.

The Temple Of Mythal is one of the crowning achievements of that. While you can't exactly expect Mythal to have known that's where Morrigan would end up (although Morrigan certainly questions if she knew it would happen), it really hardly matters if she knew or not. Morrigan was raised from birth in order to make the exact decision she made at the Temple. The preservation of what might be lost is such a core part of her being that she can't escape it... and more than that, she can't fathom it being a negative trait. To her, it's a holy calling.

I'm going to pull out the most direct conversation of abuse Morrigan documents now, not to pile on more evidence, but instead because I think it's a more effective conversation to use as juxtaposition of why she thinks that than I could make myself;

Leliana: They say your mother is Flemeth, a witch of the Korcari Wilds. Morrigan: They also say that washing your feet in winter makes you catch cold in the head, but we all know that is not true. But sometimes they are right and they are right in this. Leliana: You know the stories about-- Morrigan: Of course. You think my mother would let me go without telling me all the stories of her youth? Leliana: My mother told me stories too. She was the one who kindled my love of the old tales and legends. Morrigan: Hmph. my mother's stories curdled my blood and haunted my dreams. No little girl wants to hear about the Wilder men her mother took to her bed, using them till they were spent, then killing them. No little girl wants to be told that this is also expected of her, once she comes of age. Leliana: I... uh... I see. Morrigan: No, you don't. You really don't.

This is the environment Morrigan grew up in. She was exposed to Flemeth taking advantage of men, she was exposed to gruesome murder both as a game and in casual moments. Any attempt she made to take self-possession or grow as a person was aggressively curtailed and broken. This was a girl so afraid of her home life that, for many years, she spent as much time as she could living amongst the animals of the forest, and escaping her home life.

Now, imagine; This same abusive woman gives you positive reinforcement. You're a child, and you crave that attention like any child would of their Mother, and you know that reinforcement comes when you're an attentive and talented student. The closest you ever are with your Mother is when you're taking in everything she has to teach you, so it becomes the center of your life. Soon, it's not just a method by which to be close to your Mother, but a core tenant in your life. They stay with you as a fascination, as something you take pride in, as a holy crusade even as you escape your abuser and move on into a happier version of your life where you've grown and matured, where you've seemingly broken the cycle.

Now, imagine the discovery that those few, core, good memories you have were horribly tainted. The lessons you were taught were cyclical, a method by which to control you and gather that which she needs. Your life goal, your career, your passion was entirely made in order to benefit the abuser you've run from your entire life. Imagine who devastating that would be.

That's what happened at the Temple Of Mythal. That was the pride that Flemeth trained into Morrigan, the path by which she wanted her to evolve. She seized that opportunity, and that opportunity either tied her to her abuser forever, and/or told her abuser where she and her son was after years of protecting him from her.

Everything you know, everything you are, everything you've protected... is based on a lie.

Morrigan's character arc in Inquisition is her breaking that cycle. 'What Pride Had Wrought' is in reference at least partially to Morrigan's personal journey, where that pride, that passion, is something she recklessly seizes on because to her it is good and right and just and hers by nature, and it is that pride that was so ingrained into her by her abuser that she watches tear her son away from her and into the hands of said abuser.

In that moment, when she's faced by everything that her pride could lose her, she is forced to reckon with everything she has ever believed, and in the face of her greatest fear... she chooses to break the cycle of abuse. She chooses to assure that her son is safe.

The most obvious quote to be in this write-up;

Flemythal: "As you wish. Hear my proposal, dear girl. Let me take the lad, and you are free of me forever. I will never interfere with or harm you again. Or, keep the lad with you... and you will never be safe from me. I will have my due." Morrigan: "He returns with me." Flemythal: "Decided so quickly?" Morrigan: "Do whatever you wish. Take over my body now, if you must, but Kieran will be free of your clutches. I am many things, but I will not be the Mother you were to me."

This is obviously Morrigan's most famous line, but I actually am not sure if folks understand the truth depth of it; This is not only breaking the cycle of abuse and freeing her son of it, but she's also going against every natural instinct that was bred into her. This woman, the girl that was raised to lure men to their deaths for fun, who's most crucial life lesson was to do anything in order to survive... accepts she will never be safe again. She accepts the possibility of constant danger just to keep her son safe a day longer, a sacrifice her Mother would have never made for her.

This was a possible full culmination of her story. And Veilguard... sort of ignores the meaning of it by giving undo attention to Flemeth's head tilt.

I want to take a moment to preface this next section by saying that I was in no way resistant to the idea of Morrigan being possessed by Mythal in Veilguard. I in fact expected it and was excited by the possibility. There was a really brilliant way to handle the situation even within the parameters of how the game handled it, but the developers chose instead to dismiss this situation in a few lines so that they could instead focus on Mythal, and her relationship with Solas.

I don't want to outright insult the writers here. Veilguard was a game I greatly enjoyed. But I do want to say this because I find it deeply regressive, and I also find the decisions that were made were a symptom of this issue; Morrigan is not in Veilguard for her own character. Morrigan is in Veilguard because she is a convenient vessel through which to explore a character that has much more importance to the main antagonist. This is already slightly regressive because it's two characters largely only serving the plot of one male character, but I find it most troubling because the character they use her for is her own abuser, and by paying as little attention to that as possible while also barely using Morrigan herself as a character, it creates a very tepid story of parental forgiveness that... doesn't work as presented.

From her scene in the Crossroads after finding all of Solas' regrets;

Morrigan: "When I learned she intended me to become the next receptacle of an ancient god's soul, I feared naught would be left of my own. It inevitably came to pass on a deep night: I was awakened by the presence of a blaze of magic in the shape of a woman who both was, and was not, my Mother."

Rook: "I don't think I'd recover from that."

Morrigan: "Neither did I, at the start. Mythal's memories were both gift and burden, this blazing woman told me, but I must accept them of my own accord. The decision was paralyzing. What would it mean to become such a host? What would be lost if I refused? In the end, 'twas something in my Mother's voice which guided me."

Rook: "What was that?"

Morrigan: "Regret. Not the regret of a God, but of a Mother who knew she would never see me again. And so my mind remains my own. What I gained was knowledge... both Mythal's, and of those who bore her."

I think you can see where the problem lies, but let me reiterate:

Morrigan was a child of abuse. That abuse was calculated, both in how she treated her aggressively and how she gave her affection. Her methods of teaching, of raising a child, were there entirely to teach that child to continue on the legacy of Mythal. The preservation of magic was imbued very carefully into Morrigan and Yavana both in order to gather and save aspects of the ancient elves, and in order to prepare them to carry Mythal's soul. Pride was a weakness trained into them from childhood, and their lofty goal of protecting ancient magic was a weapon to be wielded in order to control them. This was a cycle Morrigan first discovered in Inquisition and began to fight against, because she wanted to break the cycle of abuse for the sake of her son.

In this game, Morrigan took on the memories of Flemythal... in order to preserve ancient magic that must be protected so that it is not lost. An instinct given to her by her Mother... in order to be used as a weapon... so that one day she would take on the soul of Mythal.

I want to be clear, I am not opposed to this storyline. I'm not going to yell 'That's problematic, you can't write that!' or 'That's a regression of her character!' because I think it's a fascinating direction to take both their characters.

The problem to me isn't that they went down this pretty natural path, the problem is they did it by... sidestepping any negative parts of how this would affect Morrigan. They sidestepped the fact that the reason she accepted her was largely because of something that Flemythal trained into her and weaponized against her, and the writing treats it as... a difficult moment that eventually brought her peace.

I think this is most exemplified in the aspect of Mythal's soul that remains in the Crossroads. As a concept some are saying it's arbitrary considering how Flemythal saved herself inside of an amulet in Origins/DA2, but I think that's lacks context. It's clear Mythal couldn't prepare this time, because she didn't expect Solas to murder her. Her soul, while saving itself, fractured into pieces. I'm definitely willing to defend that choice.

The problem, I think, is more that the fracturing is seemingly mostly used as a way to sidestep how Mythal's soul fully joining Morrigan would change this scenario. Morrigan's ultimate fear was becoming one with the soul of Mythal, so in order to avoid that they've attempted to only give Morrigan the memories of Flemythal while also seemingly leaving her unchanged as a character.

My issue with this thought process, first and foremost, is that it prevents them from exploring a much better story that has the chance of presenting a much better payoff as a story of an abused child coming to terms with her Mother. It removes the chance of Morrigan's possession being a major character arc, one that would further what she went through in Inquisition while also offering Flemythal a pathway toward an understanding with her daughter so that that ending could still be explored, in order to get to where they want to truly get to as fast as possible, which is using Morrigan as an agent for Mythal's forgiveness in order to fulfill Solas' character arc.

Imagine a more fleshed out version of this story, one where Morrigan had more of a presence within it. Over time, as you discover more about Mythal out through those flashbacks, you begin to realize something is... off about Morrigan. Her unique way of talking has slowly changed, her more sarcastic and poetic tone drips away in favor of Flemythal's more loose, jovial, sometimes playful but always pointed and aggressive tone. The player is prepared to pick up on that, but Rook isn't. Things eventually come to a head where Mythal has to reveal herself, likely as an aggressor similar to how she's handled in the Crossroads, and Morrigan is actually allowed to exist within this presentation. She sneaks through occasionally. The magic of the crossroads allows her moments of clear headedness. She reflects that she accepted her Mother's soul out of that fear, and that it's begun to change her, that she's scared of what she's losing, and even more frightened of how she's coming to understand her Mother. Conflict occurs and if you've reached Morrigan, she fights against Mythal's influence and regains control enough to fracture them just enough to have to come head-to-head, where you can guide them through decades of conflict to a mutual understanding or forgiveness through this bond they have, help Morrigan fully overcome Mythal, or help Mythal dominate Morrigan. Ideally, you'd have the ability to either remove Mythal's essence from Morrigan forcefully with an 'I reject you!' scene, or you can have your moment of forgiveness where the Flemeth side of Mythal removes herself from Morrigan, perhaps into the idol you use for Solas at the end.

But that's not what they did. What they chose to do, I think, is to sidestep a difficult issue, a problem this game does tend to have. I'm not entirely sure if they didn't quite grasp Morrigan's relationship with her Mother, or felt they were forced to gloss over it either because of the world state issue or their need to use Mythal, but the decision they came to is not an acceptable payoff to that story.

The truth of the matter is, this version of the stories' either inability to explore this issue in full or it's misunderstanding of it greatly hurts the characterization and misses a massive chance at more impactful storytelling. And that, to me, is the most damning creative decision of the entire game.

#this post brought to you by seeing a few too many posts about how this is an appropriate end for her #and one specifically that conflated complaints against it to be male morrigan romances as if a romance has anything to do with the issue #This isn't really a story and the warden or their romance and it only tangentially has to do with Kieran #the core of this issue is how it dismissed her abuse #but more importantly glosses over it rather than using it as the core of a better story #anyway if you reply with 'oh but morrigan is a natural liar so--' i will bite your ear off thanks <3 #Morrigan #Yavana #Flemeth #Mythal #Femythal #Origins #Dragon Age: Origins #DA:O #DA2 #Dragon Age 2 #Inquisition #Dragon Age: Inquisition #DA:I #Veilguard #The Veilguard #Dragon Age: The Veilguard #Dragon Age: Veilguard #DA:V #DA:Ve #DA:TV #Veilguard Spoilers #The Veilguard Spoilers #Dragon Age: The Veilguard Spoilers #Dragon Age: Veilguard Spoilers

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