#I'm so torn as far as romances for dav

[catebees]

It's a monthly tradition now! Drop your favorite DA character in my askbox and I'll draw them!!

This time it's my pick, Here's a quick Davrin <3

You can check the #da requests tag to see which characters have already been requested

[stygiusfic]

Are you romancing anyone in DAV??? Can be drabble or not but would love to hear about them

I'm currently torn between Neve and Davrin and putting off some missions so I don't have to make a decision sjdhfjk

I thought maybe a drabble would help me decide, and it hasn't, but I now have a drabble I didn't have before, so here it is. IDK how far into the game you are, anon, so SPOILER WARNING for second big mission in the game, about halfway through!

(Jade is my Rook. I'm playing a Shadow Dragon elf warrior, and have so far made the decisions expected of a Shadow Dragon, if you know what I mean.)

---

After Weisshaupt, Jade gave up a full night's worth of tossing and turning to visit Neve in her office. In part because out of everyone in the Lighthouse, Neve seemed the likeliest to be unable to sleep and also welcome Jade's company. But the main reason was that if Jade stared at the ceiling above her bed a minute longer she was going to barge in on Davrin and give him a piece of her mind, really let that self-sacrificing idiot know how much she wanted to strangle him herself; and that sort of outburst was the last thing the team needed.

So she went to Neve. And Neve was, of course, awake; and she was, of course, working. Wisps rustled the papers on her desk. 

"I think the wisps want you to call it a night," Jade said, as Neve slammed her hand down on the document she was reading to keep it from flying away. She did it without fuss, like it was the hundredth time that night.

"They do this sort of thing at all hours, actually," Neve said. "And what about you? You're awake too. Are you here to be the pot calling the kettle black?"

Jade grinned. "Absolutely not. I like to know I'm not the only one up past their bedtime. But speaking of kettles," she peered into the mug on Neve's desk, "do you have more of that coffee, and may I have some?"

"Side table. Help yourself."

'Help' was an interesting verb to use in relation to Neve's coffee. From the very first sip it tasted like a mistake, but even so, Jade was committed to finishing her cup. If you could turn cities into coffee brews, Neve's would be Minrathous. Drink it once and you'd never stop dreaming of how good it may taste if only it were made right.

The wall behind Neve's desk looked busier than ever. Newspaper clippings pinned too close to each other seemed to have a tendency to rut together and reproduce, spawning whole families of handwritten notes around them, all cradled in a web of red string. A monument to Neve's inability to walk away from any chosen cause. A reminder that Jade's type was the same in both men and women—the unhealthily dedicated.

At least Neve wasn't unhappy about having survived an archdemon. That put her a step above a certain Grey Warden, right then.

"Do you want to talk about it? Or are we pretending you're not upset?"

"I'm not upset."

Neve quirked a skeptical brow. Well, that was the one issue with visiting Neve at times like this. She was a damn good detective.

"With you," Jade specified, since she couldn't deny the rest. "I'm not upset with you."

"Wonderful," Neve said. "Then you can tell me what's keeping you up without worrying you'll hurt my feelings."

Jade snorted. She could have deflected with something glib and flirty, like and what feelings would those be? But Neve would only be thrown off the scent if she allowed herself to be. And she already had too many unsolved problems on her wall, she didn't need to add Jade's worries too.

"Some other time, maybe," she said. "I think if I talk about it now, I'll just work myself up even more. You don't mind me sitting creepily in silence while you work, right?"

The joke got Neve to smile, at least. "As long as you're on wisp watch. I can't have them hiding away any of these files." And she turned her attention back to the document in front of her.

Jade settled on the edge of the desk and tried not to look at her too often. A warm light filtered in through the office windows, and that made it easier to pretend it was okay to be awake right then. The Lighthouse left the concepts of night and day up to personal interpretation. There was a modest cot in Neve's office and the bedsheets were neat, either because she was fastidious about making it every morning or because she rarely laid in it. The scratch of her pen was hypnotic, drowning out Jade's circling thoughts, until the amount of coffee left in her mug became her only awareness that time was passing at all.

Once she drank the last sip, the spell broke. It would have been selfish to steal any more of this calm. Outside, she heard Assan's cry, and glimpsed through the window a shadow flying across what passed for the Fade's sun. She pushed off the desk and smiled thanks at Neve.

She meant to slip out, but Neve's voice stopped her at the door. 

"Before I said yes to Varric, I heard about you from Tarquin. He told me, 'Jade has a mean temper when she's riled up, but she gets riled up because she cares. Don't take it to heart if she ever snaps at you. She'll find a way to make it up'."

"Great," Jade muttered, not turning around. "Fantastic introduction. Thanks, Tarquin."

Quieter, Neve added, "It's natural to get upset at the people around you now and then. Especially if they're... important. Nobody's going to blame you for that." And Jade hadn't come to see her to have a disagreement, so she just nodded and left.

[mercisnm]

hhey i was thinking about getting DAV myself, and while i think i can get pasat the everything-is-a-fucking-dragon problem, i wonder what you think about the companions and thier banter/romance/writing? im so torn between all the reviews

Hi anon, I'll give you the bad news first. The writing is... bad.

The main storyline is too simple and yet drawn out (to fill out the 60hrs game length) and frankly speaking, stupid. Also any twist and turn of the story is flatly told like 5 hrs prior, it's not even foreshadowing, if you have more than two brain cells to read the game dialogue then they just flat out tell you what's going to happen.

This game treats you like a toddler with dementia. I'm fine with some recapping the story within the game itself, but repeating everything in every quest? And it's not just about recapping everything before every quest, this game makes sure to explain every bit of information they give you too. e.g. they give you a cutscene of Solas' memory, and before you even have time to ponder about it, every companion in the team chimed in to spoon feed you what that memory meant.

The companions' questlines are better, though not beating the cliché accusation, everything is as predictable as could be, element of suspense is non-existent in this game.

The good news is the companions are all likeable, loveable even.

So far I've found Lucanis to be a total sweetheart, he cooks and takes notice of what others in the team might need in their day to day life. Emmrich is all scholarly and at times too prim and proper for the gang, but his sympathy and respect for every soul dead and alive and his positivity is unmatched. Neve as a character kind of... fails? because the writers tried to make her both the noir detective and the femme fatale but the story is just too safe, too clean, no rough edges for her to be either, but she's still pretty and attractive as heck. The only one I don't quite love is Davrin, I guess because I kind of hate the overtly "masculine" tough guy gritty hero type, but he's trying his best for his son, yes his griffon is his son. And yes Davrin and Emmrich totally tries to one-up each other on their parenting method.

Other banter might include: Lucanis thinks Neve makes terrible coffee, and Neve agrees, Taash hates necromancy and how Emmrich yaps too much about corpses and has totally called Emmrich a "skullfucker".

For romance, they really have all kinds of romance. If you like big strong women (Qunari?) then Taash might be for you, Qunari culture perhaps, but they move fast when it comes to romance/sex and might leave you very fluttered. Harding is sweet and a bit awkward but very cute. Emmrich is a true gentleman and takes the least direct approach but going on a date with him still feels very intimate (I'm down bad for that old man in case you can't tell).

I mean overall it's not that bad of a game, it's not even A Bad Game, and I like the clear nb/trans inclusive attitude of it, Bioware really shouts their messages from their rooftop and I respect them for it. I suppose you could get the game when it goes on sale and just enjoy the beautiful world and the gameplay. As for the story, brain cells not required, and not recommended.