#Dragon Age: The Veilguard Spoilers

[xenogaby]

Viago and Teia are def planning Rook and Lucanis' marriage and Spite loves Rook in his own way.

I love them 😩

Thank you to Mary Kirby for feeding us!

[vaguely-concerned]

the best thing about lucanis living in the pantry is that everyone else in the game reacts to it exactly like anyone would react to that. basically all of them have a moment where they cautiously approach him and go '...hey you know we have plenty of other rooms right? are you sure you're okay in here?' and he's just like 'yeah.' ...and they do not ask him again b/c I mean clearly he's not okay in here but who's going to be the one to break the news to him

[felassan]

This post is a collection assorted DA:TV info/news snippets. it's under a cut due to there being some spoilers in places.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard is reportedly currently $20 off on Xbox or PlayStation on disc, at QVC through November 30th (on purchases of over $40). [source and details]

This article also describes another way to use a discount for the game [source and details]

Metacritic gave a statement to Eurogamer about DA:TV review-bombing -

"In a statement to Eurogamer acknowledging the backlash to Dragon Age: The Veilguard on its site, a spokesperson for Metacritic parent company Fandom said its site was a "place of belonging for all fans". "We take online trust and safety very seriously across all our sites including Metacritic," the spokesperson said. "Metacritic has a moderation system in place to track violations of our terms of use. Our team reviews each and every report of abuse (including but not limited to racist, sexist, homophobic, insults to other users, etc) and if violations occur, the reviews are removed."" [source]

DA:TV contains a reference to Elden Ring [source and details]

Apparently players have discovered in DA:TV an infinite money exploit [source and details]

The BioWare Gear store looks to have restocked the BGS-exclusive variant of the DA:TV art book [link]

Solas & Varric's inaudible conversation from the prologue was decoded by ThedasWolves [source, via] -

Varric: "So how is this time gonna work out for the better? Can you tell me that?" Solas: "I understand your hesitance, but what I do now must be done. Despite it being past your comprehension." Varric: "I'm not saying you're evil, but if you truly believed what you were doing you'd be able to give me a straight answer." Solas: "You would rather cast aspersions than admit that this is mine to solve!" Varric: "C'mon Chuckles, who are you trying to convince here? Me, or yourself?"

DA:TV is reportedly EA's most successful singleplayer game on Steam, overtaking Star Wars Jedi Survivor and Mass Effect Legendary Edition in terms of all-time peak of concurrent players and at one point knocking Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 off the top as current top seller on the platform [source].

Larian's Swen Vincke downloaded DA:TV [source]

Coverage notes that DA:TV is a smooth-performing release in terms of the technical side of things [source]

DA:TV contains a heartfelt memorial tribute in honor of late BioWare developer Bruno Hayne: [link]

[hot-wolf-summer]

loving the crow specific banter 💜

Emmrich/Lucanis/Rook

[mostlycrash]

from this:

to this:

they make me sick (affectionate)

[wardenofthefade]

ok but fellow Lucanis-mancers

were the rest of you also fucking incensed when he says in the most seductive way possible that he has other plans for the evening

AND THEN HIS OTHER PLANS ARE DRINKING COFFEE 3 FEET AWAY FROM YOU

I mean fucking hilarious. BUT SO INFURIATING

[mythmash]

Emmrich and WHO??????

[cadaveerie]

btw, if you don't speak spanish, you must know that when lucanis says "paella" in the game, that's not how you pronounce it. for some reason lucanis pronounces it as "pallella / payeya", like, adding a random "LL / Y" sound in there (paLLella / paYeya). as someone spanish, it's pretty funny lol. i've never heard that pronunciation.

the correct pronunciation is supposed to be something like "pah-AY-yuh", but the "LL" sound is stronger? here is a video with an accurate pronunciation.

just wanted to let you know in case you're not spanish but were confused :D

shoutout to zach mendez though, i think overall he did a good job with the accent, it's pretty good. his father is spanish but idk if he speaks the language at all.. he's obviously familiar with the accent though, he just didn't get that right (and idk if he says anything else in spanish, let me know!)

(and yes, his accent is spanish, not italian. not only it's obvious if you're spanish or italian, but what i said abt his father being spanish makes it pretty obvious)

[silurisanguine]

If they married, then Rook would become a Dellamorte most likely, whether Viago liked it or not. he'd grumble the whole time, but go against First Talon and the former?....Yeah.

Lucanis mentions in some banter that houses are known to poach crows that show potential from other houses. How do yall think Viago would react to Lucanis trying to poach Rook from House De Riva?

[hyperions-light]

Round 2 of Veilguard (Watcher first, Crow second), going to note the little details I love (SPOILERS):

- When my rogue Rook is jogging I can hear the sound of the arrows in their quiver clinking against each other

- When you take Harding to practice her stone powers, after she moves the second one she raises her hands up in victory. Cute!!!

-The companion outfits!! They’re so detailed! The embroidery on Harding’s shirt, the intricacy of Bellara’s sleeves!! How elegantly Neve’s clothes are cut and draped! The little crow skulls on Lucanis’ buttons and fasteners!!

- The way the light glances off of Bellara’s earring. The hairs at the back of her neck that aren’t caught up in her bun

- The expressions!! They’re so good! The way Bellara’s brow wrinkles in the middle of her forehead under her Vallaslin; how she blinks rapidly when she’s talking about Cyrian (Bioware why can’t I hug her ;-;). How Neve smiles at you! Ahhhhh! Dare you not to fall for Lucanis when he looks at Harding all soft after he makes her coffee and she hates it!!!

- The way the grocery list/cooking rotation paper on the wall in the kitchen changes throughout the game

- Little notes everywhere where your companions write to each other and the people they care about! Harding’s letters to her mother! THE BOOK CLUB!

- The little references to the other games everywhere! Joining chalice, Aura’s letter, Blackwall’s commendation, Malcolm Hawke mention in Weisshaupt! Finding Thom’s little rocking griffon! Arainai’s Talon! The thing that made the Harvester in Golems of Amgarrak! The dog named Ostagar! The Arishok refusing to split from the Qun! Heir in the Diamond!

- Elgar’nan thinks Lusacan used to be bigger and Ghilan’nain still cares for her halla

-the whole Necropolis but ESPECIALLY the gardens

-the candlehops!

-How when you pet the cats the rumble feature activates on the controller because they’re purring

- THE MINRATHOUS CAT CAFE <3

- The vendor in the market in Antiva who tells you the story of how she killed her husband if you return there repeatedly

-the two novice Crows on the balcony who complain about how hard it is to correctly throw the crow graffiti thing

- when you tell those two lovers to escape antiva they show up in the necropolis

- the watchers are sooooo put out that they missed the undead dragon lol

- the necropolis moves! And if you return there sometimes it’ll spawn new rooms and you can go in them!

- there are tabletop games in Thedas and Hezenkoss was super into them

- Emmrich keeps Hezenkoss’ skull in his room to talk to lol

- How Rook is so— sometimes unexpectedly— wise and caring, so thoughtful and considerate! I love them!

- The way the choir crescendos and then cuts out right before Solas says ‘Vhenan’!!! AHHHHHHH

- The way he bends in on himself and clutches at the dagger when Mythal is talking to him; the way he says her name

- ‘I don’t know how to feel’ ‘I do. I know exactly how to feel.’ ‘Just don’t leave.’ ‘Never.’ ;;;;;;;;;;-;;;;;;;;;; FUCK!!! You can’t just say that that way!!!

More soon…

[frilly-cake]

OhGodOhGodOhGod 😳

[xenogaby]

How do you all think Viago and Teia reacted when they were told Rook was stuck in the fade??

Like, Rook was stuck for days/weeks…

I need fanfics about this

[vaguely-concerned]

To the ‘themes I am picking up on in Veilguard’ list, let's go ahead and add what I have a sneaking suspicion will actually turn out to be The theme:

— the world has changed and can never be as it was again.

— I have been changed and can never be who I was again.

— in this simple unavoidable truth there is endless grief and endless hope.

And I… may be getting a bit emotional about it haha. Let me show my work a bit: 

if da:o is a game about people who are already dead or half ghosts in some form (through societal forces, psychologically, functionally, literally, in body, through the joining etc.) coming together anyway to save the world from being swallowed by total nihilism and despair (symbolized by the blight) through the power of love and friendship and also this sword/potential heroic sacrifice that I found, da2 is a game about people who have lost their homes and been set adrift finding and building new homes in each other (while completely failing to save the world. also through the power of love and friendship. as well as years of petty bickering <3 we must imagine kirkwall if not happy then worth having been because the love was there the love was there and that's the only sanctifying force we can ever have in this doomed world and city of ours), and da:i is a game about old stabilizing-but-unjust comfortable lies vs. disruptive but potentially liberating uncomfortable truths, and the power of friendship to help us distinguish the one from the other and navigate through them...

folks… I'm starting to think that veilguard might be a game specifically about moving towards recovery and acceptance after trauma — about how even in this flawed, severed, scarred state, what is here right now is worth loving and worth caring for. even in an imperfect and impermanent world and self, there is worth and joy. and of course the first real tragedy — and threat — of Solas is that he just cannot find it in himself to accept this and move on, to let go of what was, the regret won’t let him go or he won’t let go of it. which means that even though on the surface it’s Elgar’nan and Ghilan’nain (and the will to subjugate and violate they represent) who are the main villains, the real antagonistic force in this story beneath that is the Dread Wolf’s despair. A despair Rook must make an answer to by the end of the game, one way or another, compassionately or with righteous fury, triumphant or pyrrhic.

The world will change again and again and so will you — BUT the crucial element is that so will everyone else who exists along with you, you are fundamentally not alone in this existential truth. all we’ll ever have is each other and my god that is plenty, my god that is enough!!! Which is the second thing Solas just can’t accept, he keeps himself separate and completely alone out of an awful mix of fear and pride and feeling himself unworthy of anything else. Rook and the player want to save the world of Thedas because it’s where everyone we love lives, Solas wants to go back to the past because that’s the only neighbourhood where he can still visit those he loved — and the person he himself was, before. A very sympathetic and human instinct/trap to fall into when touched by trauma, I think, if only it wasn’t backed by godlike power, a fundamentally oppositional personality, and a catastrophic lack of therapy to make it literally everyone else’s problem too lol. It’s varric and solas’ banter about the man on the island and where meaning in a life comes from all over again, writ large and with detail work — and the added idea of ‘what if there are also other islands out there, though. With other people on them that you could find if you reach for each other’. Rook with the best of intentions has to make choices to which there are no perfect outcomes and live with what happens — and not cut themselves off from everyone else around them even when there is regret or shame. You get back up every day and you make a life with other people doing the same and you do your best, and that’s the only victory this world will give you. In the end, that is more than enough, that is essential. And I um. I love that. So much. It’s why some of the writing clumsiness on top can’t hurt me because this thematic spine is so solid and so beautiful to me. It’s DA2 all over again that way for me personally — I forgive this story for what it isn’t and couldn’t be, and I love it with my whole stupid open heart for what it actually is. Thank you for coming to my TED-talk and goodbye etc.      

(For my fellow TLT heads out there — you know what this story is reminding me of most of all, actually? It has some big Nona the Ninth vibes down there in the deep. It’s about… the horror and unspeakable beauty that can only be found in liminality, and the role of love in making that basic fact of existence bearable. And also even more unbearable at the same time. I'm so sorry.)

[sageadvice]

*whispering* this game is just way too pretty…

[hot-wolf-summer]

as much as i love lucanis, the scenes rook has with him are really lacking (esp in the romance). based off of what was presented in the game and short story, i would have liked to have seen:

- rook and lucanis cooking together (or even something like ME’s citadel dlc where kaidan cooks and shepard keeps him company)

- gondola ride

- assassination attempt on rook’s life in the lighthouse

- lucanis creating dossiers on various enemies/targets

- discussion about how spite will impact their romantic relationship

- an actual discussion about why he pulled back from their almost kiss (i get why he does and i love it but for them to not even mention it outside of a background dialog is wild)

- illario trying to seduce/manipulate rook

- an actual first kiss that wasn’t part of the final romance scene. i don’t think their romance needed to be overly physical or super hot and heavy, but it would have been nice to have even a small kiss or even a hug before reaching the literal end of the game.

- and honestly the convo where rook locks in the romance is incredibly underwhelming and poorly lit (there’s this shadow that flickers over their faces that is distracting). the characters never even discuss being together but the game knows because the player locked it in. i just think there should have been some actual dialog confirmation that they were starting an exclusive romance (especially if there isn’t going to be a kiss).

like this is not a “lock in” type scene. if anything the scene with the almost kiss is.

[mostlycrash]

Rook's truly the Maker's strongest soldier, cause if she looked at me like that I would simply die on the spot