#about both neve and lucanis LMAO

[trevisos]

normal about this one as well!

[waspgrave]

now there was no reason for lucanis to be given purple johnny silverhand as a plot point and then never have the purple johnny silverhand utilized except for maybe 3 or 4 times in the game (if you saved Treviso, otherwise it's twice) and dialogue. Dialogue where he pretty much just says weird and funny things and occasionally gets scolded like a dog which is entertaining sure but there is Literally A Demon In One Of The Companions Why Is This Not A Bigger Deal

[vaguely-concerned]

I've been trying to figure out a dynamic between neve and rye that I find more compelling, because right now there's not much of anything there for me to sink my little teeth into. but I think I've landed on something delicious with the idea that especially after minrathous gets fucked, rye looks at neve and sees myrna -- someone he feels he keeps letting down horribly no matter how hard he tries not to and can't quite achieve the approval of/connection with that he wishes so it's better to just pull away completely and disengage rather than stay in that unshifting shame. neve is (very understandably) measured and distant with him after what happened, and he's flashing back to his student days of myrna gazing at the perpetually hungover heartbroken heap of a person of him on the other side of her desk every time he missed the deadline of a paper or project like '...can we at least both agree that this is. a bit disappointing. especially considering your potential.' (and him all smudged black eyeshadow and numb ruefulness being like 'sure that's a very kind way to put it myrna thank you'.)

aside from the 'if I let him get too deeply into this he'll go the way of brom and it'll be all my fault (again)' element, neve thinks rye is dismissing her and her city/being a bit callous in the same way he was after varric's death (listen. how fucking wild must rook's reaction to losing a beloved mentor seem to the rest of the crew who aren't seeing the blood magic paper doll ghost varric the whole time, especially those who got to see them interact. you WOULD think 'there's something wrong with this guy. putting the job first is one thing just not seeming to react at all is another this is fucking freaky', wouldn't you, especially after seeing the warmth in that dynamic in action beforehand.) perfect storm of two people who grit their teeth and turn inwards in pain deciding that not talking about it is their best bet (NEWSFLASH: IT ISN'T) lmao

(rye spent his last year of watcher training on a mostly joyless bender and then got it together enough to finish the eternal orb project last moment in a fevered near-sleepless week instead of the half a year that was intended. emmrich is both astounded and distressed to hear this. "a week? but -- but that is an astounding accomplishment rook!! and also why in the maker's good light would you ever do that to yourself?" ("well you see there was no one to stop me from doing it like that but me. and under those conditions these things tend to happen".) rye was working through/looking up stuff around transitioning and doing every kind of OTHER high level watcher research through that whole time, but ultimately he's an excellent watcher and a terrible student, at least under traditional methods. adhd from here to the fucking moon. touched by something akin to divine inspiration in moments of high tension that pulls all the threads into one coherent unbreakable cord, a bit of a frayed mess in most other settings. in our world he'd be dropping out of a masters program at the very last hurdle in this moment maker bless and protect him)

[fxnharellll]

it’s acc crazy how excited me and others were to romance Lucanis and every romance dialogue i chose w him was just brushed off???😭 why do u not want my rook lmao. why is he so ready to flirt with neve whilst my rook is standing there like: 🧍🏽‍♀️like is this a third wheeling simulator. no one wants to pay $70 for a game that talks up its romance elements only to find the companions more interested in each other/minimal reactivity lmao.

I’m happily shacked up w emmrich finally 🤞🏽but oh my god, other than the almost kiss and that really sweet line of his at the end of the game, there’s NOTHING THERE????

that is not a slow burn, there’s absolutely no content there to consume. I’m running back to da2 after this, i miss my family so bad.

none of the romances in dragon age have been particularly explicit and it is NOT about the fade to black sex scenes (although BG3 spoiled me, i will admit): it’s about the yearning, the push and pull between ur Warden, Hawke and Inquisitor and their respective romances.

Anders was absolutely insane for his ‘I would drown us both in blood’. Cullen getting flustered cos of the Inquisitor??? Fenris laughing then immediately going 😐 cos he realised Hawke made him laugh? Alistair’s sweet romance with the warden??? His rose, his famous ‘I’ll be standing over here until the blushing stops’. Solas’ romance was notorious for having 3 sprinkled scenes in between a 60+ hour game with no sex scene and to this day, it is one of the most moving romances i have encountered in any media.

I don’t know why they said this was the most romantic dragon age ever lmfao like let’s stop lying out of our asses now pls !

[hyperbali]

If you're a Solavellan do not click here lmao

So I've seen that one post going around that's like "people who are shipping Rook and Solas are missing the point, they don't have a deeper connection than he had with Lavellan, Lavellan knew the real Solas"

And I have never seen such obvious cope in my life lmao

Fact of the matter is that they are both a blip in his existence. Solas knew Lavellan for 1-2 years, of course he's going to be more fixated on the romantic/platonic/situationship/whatever that lasted for millennia and literally broke the world, especially when the aftermath is that he feels like he's on such a different level than everyone left that they are pretty much Tranquil to him! This is a thought that he specifically expressed!

And claiming that Wisdom is the real Solas and Pride is not... also misses the point. Solas is Wisdom is Pride. Solas means Pride. At no point in his interactions with either the Inquisitor or Rook is he ever not lying, even just by omission. Neither of them see who or what he is as a whole, both are always operating at a disadvantage based on how much knowledge he's willing to give, and both have the opportunity to genuinely earn his respect.

As genuinely as Solas can get, at any rate.

Bearing that in mind, his chemistry with Rook compared to Lavellan is like a bonfire to a fireplace, in my opinion (bear that in mind oml). Even back in the day, I wanted the opportunity for a rivalmance with him so bad. I wanted to be able to call him out on his shit, to debate with his ideas, to meet him on a level that he was fully unexpecting and he hates that he loves it. Actively HATES it, not just that it makes him sad.

As it is, this "and so the wolf fell in love with the halla" shit is so cringy. Not at all helped by the fact that a romancing Lavellan apparently pined for him for a decade, couldn't do a damn thing to change his mind in the end, and willingly cuts herself off from her life, family, and friends to be a simpering, lovesick sycophant for the rest of her days. Because the Veil is STILL up. She IS dying in a few decades. And all of it will have been pointless.

Canon is a mess, I'm twisting it in other ways regardless, etc. etc. MY POINT IS

Shipping him with another character is not going to somehow make your ship invalid*. You can still make your favourite dolls kiss how you like. Relax about it.

(That last bit is not derogatory, as I am also proudly clanging my dolls together as usual. Just! Relax!! We are all in hell!!!)

*my 'ship and let ship' mantra has an exception and that exception is neve/lucanis. i'm sorry but it was the dumbest possible pairing for either of them and bioware should have let both of their nonromanced pairings be queer

[amourningcrow]

some thoughts on the lucanis romance. caution! spoilers

you know, i've seen a lot of people complaining about how lucanis's romance is somewhat lacking and i agree, at least a little - i can't say i enjoy the scene where you lock in his romance (could have been a banter) and i honestly didn't get that it was supposed to be a 'i'm scared of wanting you' kind of romance until the end where he actually said that (i was constantly sleep deprived while playing though, so maybe that one's on me) - but i don't really think more scenes were really necessary. i loved the last one and the one in the middle was also pretty good, even though i didn't like how scripted it was.

what i really, really miss in this are the party banters. you know, like the one with alistair and wynne, where she teases him about checking out the warden?

imagine for a moment: davrin and lucanis

'they're fine.'

'i- what?'

'they're fine. you keep staring at their legs, but the venatori barely even graced them. you can stop checking every time they climb up a rock or bend to pick something up.'

'of course! i was checking on their injury! that damn venatori, nearly got them, huh?'

... (awkward silence)

'right.'

oooor maybe taash and lucanis?

'you're not being subtle, you know'

'excuse me?'

'saw you sneaking in with rook's favourite food yesterday.'

'so? i make everyone's favourite every once in a while.'

'not in the middle of the night just after they tell you, you don't'

... (stony silence)

'yeah'

ooooor i dunno, harding and lucanis?

'lucanis?'

'hmmm?'

'it would be okay, you know. if you liked someone and told them how you feel. hypothetically.'

'what? what are you talking about?'

'nothing. i just... thought someone should tell you.'

'mierda, harding, there's no one like that. so this is completely irrelevant.'

'hmhm, sure. but in theory, if there was... i'm pretty sure they like you, too. and you both deserve to be happy.'

i'm obviously not a writer, but i really think some stuff like that would have helped to set up the romance more. i tried so desperately to look through the game and find something, and maybe i just haven't discovered it yet! but the few banters i did find were all after the relationship was officially established. i don't know. i'm really disappointed because i think the potential was there, it could have been such a sweet, angsty slow-burn but they just.. didn't set it up right? the yearning™ feeds on other people seeing exactly what is going on and rolling their eyes at the idiots involved not getting on with it (/getting it on lmao). maybe something like that was planned but they had to cut it because all the companions had to get their 'making it official' chat at the same time? and pretty late in the game, too. that would sort of explain why his relationship with neve was more fleshed out as well. idk. that and my added frustration that i can't really roleplay my rook the way i want (in my roleplaying game) probably means i'll just have to write some stuff myself. and wait for someone to search through the audio files so i can get my grubby raccoon hands on all the banter i didn't hear yet 🤞

[deadlysoupy]

complete (for now!) character sheets of my blorbo (huge thanks to @arcandoria your contribution to the fandom is incredible bless)

explanations under the cut (there's a lot bc i'm a yapper) (spoilers!)

Bellara: Rook and Bellara hit it off pretty much since the beginning. Rook loves to tinker, and Bellara's brain is always full of ideas, so they hang out a lot together just taking stuff apart and putting them together. despite Urchin not being a mage, he has basically grown up with mages and seen magic a lot in Tevinter, so i think he'd know a little bit. they bounce off each other really well, and when Cyrian comes back and she hits a low point, he supports her with a joke or lets her rant. neither he nor she will probably ever say it out loud, since it's a sensitive topic for both, but they consider each other siblings or cousins at least

Davrin: complete opposite of Bellara, Rook and Davrin got off on the wrong foot and couldn't get up lmao. Davrin had a problem with how Urchin handles things, he considers the Lords to be unethical and rude bastards, and how Urchin rushes into battle or does careless things. Urchin also hated how heroic Davrin seemed to pose as, he's pretty much jealous of his dalish upbringing, and his history with the Grey Wardens. they even got into a fight at some point (Urchin started it, by the way). but after that, they reach an understanding that turns into deep respect for what each of them went through, and to say that Rook would miss Davrin as his unbiased opinion and who wouldn't be afraid to challenge him is to say nothing

Emmrich: at first they got along great. the Lords taught Urchin to be respectful to spirits, and he's fascinated by death and the life beyond it. but Emmrich is a very "touchy-feely", inquisitive and curious person, which Urchin is a complete opposite of. still can't get out of my head the graveyard scene when Emmrich confides and talks about his parents, and Rook, trying to react in his usual non-emotional way, makes a joke, to which Emmrich deeply disapproves and Urchin has to apologize. that's the gist of their relationship, to be honest, but it does become better after a while. his experience in life helps Urchin a lot, and he likes listening to Emmrich talk about magic

Harding: good friends who goof around a lot! i don't have much to say about them to be honest, but i think there's potential here for so many goofs and gaffs and getting in jail. reminiscent of that one "mayhem!" line Harding has in a dlc of Inquisition, i think she'd be down to cause some chaos in Minrathous or something. Urchin also understands her anger, and he's remorseful at their revelation that the Titans died because of the elves. all in all, they're on very good terms

Lucanis: hooo boy. where do i even start and how do i make this as short as possible. there's always been an understanding between these two, even beyond romance, that was just a cherry on top. Lucanis had a lot going on when he came into the story, so Urchin gave him space and support when he needed it, because he knows how something that traumatic can hurt, and that sometimes you just don't want to talk about it. it's hard for them both to express feelings, and Lucanis is a guy of action rather than words, so he cooks, gives little gifts, gestures, and Rook in turn gives him compliments, jokes with him, takes him out on dates etc because he's more of a words guy. i don't know i could make a separate post about their specific romance that i've built in my head, give me an ask if you want it i denno

Neve: his emotionally stunted wife. you probably noticed how their bars are just insanely covered with colours, and that's because of the whole "Minrathous or Treviso" thing. i milk so much drama out of that choice because it's really good! beside the obvious, Rook couldn't really save Minrathous because of his past with slavery, but he still feels so bad about it because of Neve's love for it. and i don't think she can ever forgive him, actually, but she tries moving past it. the fact that they both had crushes on each other that turned south is kinda funny to me, because they're like two sides of the same coin! she's so afraid to get close to other people, she's snarky and doesn't turn down a good joke, her sense of style is incredible (i imagine them exchanging Tevinter fashion tips). they're still close even after the game, and grow closer after it, and Rook, Neve and Lucanis become a polycule. traumacule. do you see the vision

Taash: saved the best for last i guess because Urchin and Taash are like two siblings who hate each other. well, not exactly hate. i really liked how their relationship began, when Taash tells Rook how the Lords aren't thieves, and he's like "but we stole shit! literally!" and i think there's a really interesting contrast here. Taash was taught by their mother about cultural appropriation and respect, while Rook was Isabela's apprentice. Isabela's! there's no question he doesn't have almost any morals at all. so Taash thinks Rook's a jerk, but Urchin doesn't mind it much. after that, they bond over their gender issues, and since Urchin found his identity he shares his experience with them. in turn, Taash teaches him about dragons. they're also both from mixed cultures, so they have this solidarity over their messy lives. they're neat i like them

whoever read until the end. holy shit i want to kiss you

[stormsbourne]

I do absolutely feel people are giving datv a bit of short shrift. I have my issues with it, as I do with every dragon age game, but I feel like the game is good about asking questions about your character believes about the world over what is the "best option" unlike, say, dao, where there was almost always a Correct Middle Ground choice

I wrote this draft before I'd finished the game but now I have finished it and I stand by my analysis of what questions are being asked lmao

spoilers under the cut

QUESTIONS DATV WANTS YOU TO ANSWER, WITH NO JUDGMENT ABOUT HOW YOU DO:

neve: is it more valuable to be an inspiration or to be the one who gets things done? both have their merits. are you going to do everything you can as a protector or are you going to make yourself a shining symbol? you can't be both

harding: what do you do with the knowledge that a great and terrible sin was committed against your forebears and it made you the person you are today? how do you balance the grief and anger at what was done with your will to move forward? the person you know yourself to be?

bellara: is knowledge worth the possible weight of suffering it may bring with it? but on the other hand, is it right to erase the sins of your forefathers from public memory? is it better to risk their dangerous knowledge getting out, or better to hide the dangerous knowledge and hope it's forgotten about forever?

lucanis: what does vengeance do to you? sure it keeps you alive, but what else? does it make you a worse person, or just more of yourself than you were willing to show before? and what about envy? what does that do to a person? is it really any worse than, say, spite?

emmrich: what does immortality do to a person? is something lost by removing death from the equation of life? do our lives have more meaning because they are fleeting, or is that just a coping strategy by the woefully mortal to cope with the oncoming grave?

davrin: if you live only to die, what comes next when you find you instead have to keep living? how much do promises of doing better and repentance actually mean to you? would it be better if you had never been placed on the path that led you here? do you deserve a different fate than the one you've been handed and expected to fulfill?

taash: who are you, really? where do the pieces that make you you come from? how do you reconcile the different pieces of yourself, some of which seem to be in direct opposition? what do you choose to take with you moving forward, and why?

literally all of them, including rook: how do you cope with loss? what do you value most when things are at their worst? what does betrayal feel like? hope? despair? love? where do you find these things in your darkest moments? are you caged by regret or do you know how to contain it while still moving forward?

and of course, solas: what, exactly, is keeping you from becoming the very thing that you fight against?

and yes actually I think the varric twist works though I think it could have been done a little cleaner. I called that shit moment one so I paid a lot of attention to how it was handled and, with some caveats, I think it works.

[utilitycaster]

You are right, popularity isn't that important but I'm glad anyway that f/f is the most popular in the CR fandom thanks to Imodna, because it's just nice for once!

You know what's funny is that I suppose I thought of Imodna in passing for this, but it wasn't a significant aspect of my consideration, nor was popularity, and it's depressing that you sent this question because it makes me fear we're stuck.

The ship I had in mind that I like is Dot/Cleo from Unend, which I think is really interesting and am frustrated that whenever it comes up in the Midst server the conversation just goes GOTH GF PINK GF GOTH GF PINK GF GOTH GF PINK GF with no discussion of who they are as people - how Cleo is canonically a nepo baby, but she actually is fantastic at her job of observation because she is warm and kind and genuinely interested in everything around her, and how Dot is hiding absolute terror and misery about everything but is also competent and helpful, and trying to shove them into aesthetic categories ignores all that.

The ship I had in mind I didn't like and which really set it off is that Neve/Bellara from DATV is pretty transparently an attempt to get Neve away from Lucanis, even though they'd both make each other miserable - ie, they're putting forth a Grumpy One Soft For Sunshine One ship to get rid of the women to make way for a ship that includes a man (regardless of what gender you're playing Rook, Lucanis is a man) and I realized that it was in many ways stunningly similar in tenor to Beau and Jester, or Vex and Keyleth, which were both ships that were popular among F/F shippers, and what does that say? I'm saddened by the fact that the ships I'm told by fandoms are beautiful and meaningful and at times harassed for saying aren't that great are, in the end, almost identical in structure to the ships people throw out to push the women of the story out of the way of an M/M or M/F ship. Like, doesn't that suck? Don't you want to do better? Isn't it pretty fucking miserable that any attempt to talk about treating female characters as complex and existing in canon in the work and actually being people with PREFERENCES and not some malleable nothing you can throw at anything to get the ship you want is met with passive aggression and petty popularity contests? Doesn't it make you furious, if you are a woman, that even in fiction - even in fantasy heroic fiction where women can save the world and break reality - everyone's first instinct towards female characters is to be like "lmao no you are not the person you say you are and want to be, you're the person I want you to be for my convenience"? Don't you want to stab the next person who decides that it's more important to climb to the top of the list on ao3 by sacrificing everything complex and thorny and difficult and interesting for a bigger number of fics that could be about literally any two people because there's nothing about the women they're about in them?

Like, really, what does it say that when I say "I feel like fandoms treat F/F as an afterthought and as between two entities that are less than people" multiple people decided the response was "ACTUALLY, some M/M ships are treated badly too? sounds like you hate women? here's a ship I know you openly think is bad and I'm going to send it?" I think of you, anon, in your passive-aggression here, the way I think of tradwifes. I'm not mad, I'm just sad you've gotten trapped in this mentality and this life of serving some goal that doesn't let women be people, and I hope you break free; but I must admit I'd do pretty much anything not to become like you.

[bharv]

A convo with pals had me thinking about the strange disconnect in the Harding romance between the pace of the game and the pace of what we learn about the romance.

The romance steps of the explicitly romantic coded scenes are an intimate chat about feelings (which is lovely by the way) a kiss where you find out her lyrium powers are hurting you, a cute scene with Emmrich where you learn it flares in extreme emotions, and the final romance scene is a kiss (with her little kicky leg) and a talk afterwards.

So you’d be forgiven for thinking that the romance was paced to that. However Harding also mentions to Emmrich that you have both been experimenting with ways to fuck without direct touch lmao. And there is a Taash and Harding scene where Taash implicitly (edit note thanks for pointing this out in comments, I originally used the wrong word here) says hey, if you don’t sexually satisfy this woman I’m waiting 😂

It’s nice to leave some space around romances for HC for sure but I think here there is a bit of an interesting gap between the mechanic and the character.

It made me wonder about some other characters and the pace. Some of them it suits (Bellara, Neve and Lucanis I think are take it slow people for different reasons) but others maybe not so much (Taash heavily implies it’s more physical earlier, and I don’t imagine Emmrich is waiting. Davrin I can imagine might not either) but I would be interested in people’s thoughts!

[trevisos]

the most romantic scene in video game history. to me.

[suohenki]

on my second playthrough of veilguard (for some reason). this is the insane person's ramblings about lore/writing unlike my last post

this is the first time i've been so utterly bored of a second playthrough. never has an rpg given me this feeling.

like there are no quests i look forward to tbh, every main quest is a long combat sequence. even inquisition had the orlesian ball that you had to resolve with some actual noncombat solutions. (get behind me inquisition i will defend you from the fandom)

made a qunari this time to see if it affects anything, no, really doesn't. there's barely any qunari dialogue options.

picked the crows origin, it is truly astonishing the way they treat them in this game. they seem completely shy about the crows being contract killers? it's not even that they don't talk about the things Zevran talks about, but they fully try to ignore the murder part. Mfrs are freedom fighters now apparently.

and the "twist" villains in the crows storyline are so comically obvious i hoped they were both red herrings. the butcher is so underdeveloped too. the way the illario/blood magic twist is written is confusing, rook sees it all with his damn eyes and then never says a word about it. Yes i think illario is the bad guy here, Rook, i know you heard the "amatus". What. (swear to god the dark brotherhood is more deep than this. i never thought i'd say TES has better writing than DA.)

By the end they never address the fucked up things the crows do, outside of Rook's one throwaway line of "yeah my training was hell lmao." Is it just Aranai that's fucked or what kind of hellish training are we talking about? Rook also mentions having been an orphan... so the crows are as usual but we just won't talk about it. The lore and characters have never been this confusing and woobified. The positivity of Rook rly feels off when they are a trained assassin... no one reacts negatively to it, everyone even goes "Omg lucanis is a killer. Oh, not you Rook, you're better :)" no i don't think he is? Both killers.

Similarly they are so scared of the (elven) slavery in Tevinter. If you hadn't played the previous games you'd be forgiven for thinking Tevinter had no slavery because you missed the 3 sentences that mention it. We are in the slavery capital of Thedas and we are being shy about it. I guess Dorian's and Fenris's stories are too "problematic"... It's frankly gross how they brush it off after how serious it was in previous games. Also crazy how religion never comes up. In the country of the "black divine", you'd think Harding would have something to say at least. It really only now hit me how hard they avoided bringing up non-elven religion when it's been such a big part of the lore...

Neve's storyline just begs to be about the actual known issues of Tevinter instead of whatever it was about, all of it went from one ear, out the other. To me, her and Lucanis are the weakest companions on replay. Neve's voice acting is so strange and flat it's really difficult for me to be endeared by her. (this is coming from a cassandra pentaghast enjoyer)

Even if I think Harding's scenes could be better at least i get what she is about. Tho all the titan stuff feels like it's not treated with the gravity it should be. I do like Taash and Bellara, i just wish Taash wasn't written so immaturely. i never found Sera immature in this way, she's abrasive and yes, "immature" with the pranks etc., but Taash is written like a stereotypical teen, Sera just felt like a weirdo adult. And you can tell Alistair to suck it up lmao, it's really not even comparable. And the Isabela scene with the push-ups.... talk about making it all about yourself. Taash should have just been nonbinary from the start if they were going to make the representation this awkward.

I wish Bellara's quest had more drama. You don't get to save her brother but you also have no scene where, for example, Bellara endangers Rook or lets Anaris escape because she is actually conflicted about her brother... Rook and her just kinda let them go. Bellara is okay with killing her brother with barely any convincing lol.

Emmrich and Davrin are still my favorites, I think Davrin just works, and i like that we get to see more of his background. He's not terribly ~deep~ but he doesn't have to be, saving the griffons is an understandable goal, one that would be devastating to fail. Just a charismatic man that has things he cares about with conviction.

Emmrich is an interesting portrayal of necromancy which is something i'm always receptive to, i'd play a DA game set entirely in Nevarra. His quest has wild tonal shifts but at least the set dressing kept me interested. I do wish we didn't decide for him if he became a lich tho.

I wish with all the companions the way it worked was they decide based on previous dialogues. If you keep encouraging emmrich to pursue lichdom and face his fear then he does, if not, the opposite happens. i'm just not a fan of the "here's the moment where rook decides another person's fate!!!" like why am i deciding. it's their life.

i romanced Lucanis this time to try to see why people like him so much but man, i just think his whole story is a mess. they love to imply all the trauma Lucanis has but don't truly convey any of it. you don't even talk about being a crow with Lucanis like you talk about being a watcher with Emmrich. I guess it's my bad for expecting an assassin that has been tortured and forced into an abomination to be more of an interesting character.

i'm gonna need to know more about a companion than he has trauma, he likes coffee and he cooks, to be invested. The coffee thing feels like flanderization before i even know the man, put the damn cup down. First time i felt this disconnected with a romance.

i felt like they really squandered Spite too. You'd think a demon possessing a companion would cause more trouble than 1 escape attempt. Lucanis missing the first stab attempt barely registers as Spite's fault. Spite doesn't get any sort of pay off or drama.

I could forgive a lot more if the writing was better but the bad writing stands out so much more on a second playthrough. The basic dialogue, the spoon-feeding of info, the marvel-quips, the uninteresting side quests. Can't believe that i had to find out from fucking tumblr that the time Rook spent in the fade was WEEKS, you'd think that would be an impactful detail. Legit thought they got him out in a day lmao. Explains the dagger coming out of nowhere.

They try so hard to make the team cute and wholesome, it cemented my dislike of the found family trope. It comes across as so unearned. The game is like half competent writing, half DA fanfiction. Everything to do with Solas is okay. But everything else is so off. At least they managed to make Solas a love-to-hate type character for those like me who did not care about him in DA:I. The reason i'm not talking too much about the overall plot is it was okay, i just don't care that much about the evanuris. weird choice to try to blame it all on the elves tho. Like i love you but stfu Bellara, you do not have to take on the sins of the father. Have the elves not been through enough?

[pouzzzy]

it's a rare day that i miss writing about video games for the internet but the new dragon age trailer has me feeling insane

i haven't been this excited in a while!! i pulled out my journal like i'm still getting paid a salary to write about games lmfao. these are my notes:

varric is OLD!! silver fox heyo, look at that biker dad 'stache!

harding looks incredibly good and i'm so happy for the ppl who were feening for a dwarfmance

neve and lucanis are from the book tevinter nights! both were cool altho neve was slightly cooler imo. i was hoping for a neve companion! lucanis should scratch a lot of ppl's itches tho

i say this as an asian person: bellara had me HOOTING and HOLLERING. we've never had an east asian companion!!!! and she's an elf to boot!!!! she will never not be in my party except when she absolutely has to take a break.

i have a hard time talking about davrin without word vomiting because he's gonna be so INTERESTING, like he uses a sword and shield, he's DALISH, and he's also a warden???? if u can't already tell i'm an elf shill and i'm muito excited for this dude, he will also be heavy in the rotation.

also there was a griffin????? i was so ready to keep freaking out about the companions but then i did a double take and was like oh there's just a fucking griffin, and it looks like a baby???? like is that your son, sir, is that your baby??????? hello??????????

i was so ready to disregard emmrich bc he's just like The Old Man but in my experience these kinds of characters end up being the ones i love the most, see: Vicar Max in outer worlds, so i'm fully ready to ride that old man until his sciatica acts up

taash is a shortened version of the word "ataashi," meaning glory, usually in the context of dragons! fitting and appropriate, and yeah we're eating, we got a lady qunari! i do know that some people are about to be very weird with her so i just hope her characterization is well-rounded enough to combat this lmao

[carabas]

Dragon Age Veilguard liveblogging, through the end of the game -

Bianca's broken pieces really were left on Varric's bedside table this whole time, not sure if that's better or worse than if she was part of Rook's hallucination.

And now it's Bellara's turn to send me codex entries from the future, talking about wishing Harding was here now that we've... solved all the big endgame problems that we absolutely have not solved yet? Spoilers, Bellara. i mean, i did already expect to defeat the big bad and save the world in the end. This does rather squash hope for Harding making a last minute Titan-magic-fueled reappearance though.

Talking to Emmrich about when we stopped Solas's ritual back at the very beginning of the game. "It was a team effort. Me, Harding, Neve. And Varric." And the conversation goes on to be specifically about Varric and mourning, no more mention of the others, but that list of names laid out like that is hitting me - Rook is the only person on that list who is not missing or dead. I mean, I've got my fingers crossed for getting Neve back. But the specific people who were lost were the entire team Varric put together, no one left in the Lighthouse ever met him, Varric's team is gone except for Rook.

Talking with Lucanis, Rook questioning if he actually got out of the god prison, this could be more of the Fade... i'm just. flailing in the general direction of the mental Ossuary about this.

And also thinking about all the Dread Wolf's legends about traps, and Rook following in the Dread Wolf's footsteps in this too, both in his own story and as this foundational part of this love story, Rook as the person who opened the door for Lucanis

Also Lucanis wanting to hear Rook talk, "your voice is a comfort" - Rook's voice actor is pretty great, I get it. Pretty sure my love for Rook is mostly due to Alex Jordan's delivery.

Assigning the team to different missions with the allies we've gathered and seeing that play out in this big final battle - feels like everything we did mattered, Dragon Age has really learned from Inquisition's mistakes on this front. Honorary Crow Taash, omg, they get to fulfill their childhood dream!

SOLAS. incoherent flailing in delight about the Rook-Solas confrontation, but WHAT DO YOU MEAN YOU WON'T TEAR DOWN THE VEIL, the gasp I gasped, YOU TAKE THAT BACK. Turning on Rook in order to escape the trap wasn't a betrayal, we knew he was going to do that, Rook himself repeatedly said he was going to do that, this is a betrayal. What are you thinking, talk to me Solas... oh, fine, i'm too happy about fighting side by side to be that alarmed right now. One cataclysm at a time.

Bellara thinking over all the questions she had for Solas and what she really wants to know is why he killed Mythal ;_; my girl. i'm so glad I brought this team. And Solas also refers to Spite as a spirit of Determination!! I was starting to wonder if that comes up in this game at all if you don't happen to bring him to fight in the Hall of Valor but Solas points it out too, I'm so happy about this. Lucanis and Spite refusing Solas's offer to separate them, oh my god, everything I want all the time in this game!! except the veil coming down i guess.

BIG WOLF MONSTER SHAPESHIFTER BOYFRIEND i still can't believe they put that in the trailer IMMEDIATELY FOLLOWED BY THE RETURN OF SHAPESHIFTER WIFE, this game is for shady apostate enjoyers specifically

Oh thank god it was a trick lmao, Veil tearing down plan is still on, why did I doubt that, of course it was a trick.

TEN YEARS SINCE INQUISITION. TEN YEARS. and they get their happy ending, lavellan's role in this story was everything i could possibly have dreamed of, no words.

my solavellan heart is very full.

...my mage-rights-obsessed, spirit-loving heart on the other hand is having mixed feelings. i am not surprised the veil did not come down but i did not feel great about turning solas away from that purpose, not without offering him some kind of alternative, someone else picking up the duty he's finally laying down - Lavellan says the people he has wronged are asking him to stop, and indeed some of them are, but the spirits are still so desperate to get back into a world they were separated from that they twist into demons and abominations, Cole in Trespasser was so delighted to discover the Veil was not natural and that he wasn't a wrong thing... but then all my reasons for wanting the Veil torn down come from the previous games and not from Veilguard, why would that be in the ending when it wasn't in the previous hundred hours. Lots of smoothing over of previously complex subjects happening in this game, most of which I'm happy to roll with, but this one's so central to Solas - and the reason this game otherwise works for me even with all its changes in style is because it usually seems to have been built entirely out of love for Solas.

Anyway. I was so incredibly tempted by the option to try to trick the Dread Wolf himself. I want Rook to follow in the Dread Wolf's god-imprisoning-trickster footsteps so badly. But Mythal. And Lavellan's hope for talking Solas around. The lasting reunion for Solavellan that I'd hoped for but wasn't sure we could truly get. So. I haven't looked up what the other endings are like yet, maybe trickster Rook can be something for my Dorianmancing Inquisitor's worldstate.

That post-credits scene - I feel properly rewarded for doing all the sidequests and they've got villains set up for another game if they want them, but by Dragon Age standards that's not even slightly a cliffhanger. The four-game-long story is over. I don't know how I feel but I'm feeling it.

Oh, there's no playable epilogue. I appreciate Bellara's codex entry from the future now.

...okay so I wrote out those last few paragraphs and then actually I couldn't stand having talked him into giving it up, I went back to play through what happens if Rook tries to trick the Dread Wolf and I feel better lmao, it solved my mixed feelings by giving me another, different set of mixed feelings, the mixed feelings balance each other out. I had a blast with this game, we're ending on an odd note, i'm going to be chewing on this for a while.

[okase]

Thoughts on Veilguard so far, not really spoilery but still using a read more just in case:

Enjoying it so far, it feels more Mass Effect than Dragon Age, specifically Andromeda if Andromeda had more time to cook. But honestly having played both origins and inquisition lately, I don't mind it! It's just different.

The writing so far is... Fine, serviceable. It has that typical Bioware jank in places but I've yet to come across anything that's stood out to me as particularly off-putting. Despite playing for most of yesterday I'm still pretty early in the story so we'll see where it goes, but I want to see where it goes which is a good sign! And there have been moments that made me smile for sure.

I like the companions so far, the one I'm more lukewarm to is Neve so far but I get the impression she's more of a slow burn character rather than a bad one. I was worried Harding would be a bit dull and rely too much on our nostalgia but she's actually really endearing still which is nice. Bellara was the one I was most worried about initially because Bioware quirky characters tend to irritate me rather than endear me but I actually really like her and might romance her if I can resist Emmerich lmao. And the last one I've recruited so far is Lucanis who I really like and am now considering romancing in a future playthrough. He's a hot mess in a good way

I like being sassy at Solas and I like the different dad vibes I'm getting from him and particularly Varric. They didn't kill Varric immediately like I thought they would but I fully expect that he'll die later lol

I like Rook! My thoughts before launch were that if we were going to have a voiced protagonist that the ideal would be that they'd be somewhere between Hawke and the Inquisitor, which they are! More personality than the latter with more room for custom characterization than the former. Idk how much different dialogue affects how Rook acts when you aren't directly giving input but my Rook so far has been sweet and a bit silly, which is what I was going for anyway. Also the scene with the mementos was nice and it was cool to not only establish a character as trans but also you could choose how they feel about it currently. I've yet to see it come up since but I have no doubt it will.

Gameplay wise it's a bit repetitive but honestly so are all dragon age games so it's fine, the loop is satisfying, it works. I've had fun. Though I've quickly realized with my play style that I should have picked rogue like I originally intended because I suck at blocking 😭

Also it's probably because my graphics card is ancient but I have had performance issues + stuttering. It's not constant but it's noticeable and gets particularly bad in Arlathan specifically for some reason. That said someone pointed out that if you have an older graphics card you should turn off upscaling so I'm gonna do that and see how that goes!

But yeah overall it's been fun and I look forward to playing more of it!

[meredoubt]

I will complete the Dust de Riva/Lace run at some point, but i really...thematically i do love him/Dirge with Emmrich. Like it slots neatly into place. And with me settling on his fragment shit...idk i don't think there's a universe where he knows what some part of him did, and could still let himself fall for her in good conscience. The guilt would eat him alive. So DUST de Riva doesn't know about his ties to Falon'din/Dirthamen lmao.

BUT I've got a Mournwatch mage in my head named Iris Ingellvar that feels like they could be Taash besties AND Lace's gf enough that in my heart ...since Bioware is weak...in my HEART they'd be a throuple

Let Lace Harding Have Two Idiot Younger Enbies. One Buff One Goth. Both Weird and Hot. Thanks

So that settles it, broadly

warrior Dirge de Riva/Emmrich Volkarin. Main party is Dirge/Emmrich/Lucanis for Team Macabre. Neve gets in sometimes when Dirge is like please date my sad uncle and also you're pretty alright

rogue Asher Aldwir or Len'nan Laidir/Davrin (if Bioware thinks they can make me forget about how shitty the University of Orlais was to elves...anyway he gave the whole country the finger and either goes pirate or obscure elven history). Main party is Len'nan/Davrin/Bellara for Team Hot But Chaotic Elves (i'm leaning towards Lords of Fortune specifically so Davrin is like "I have to get over my death wish shit. I can't die. I'm wrangling a griffin, a pirate, and whatever Bellara just woke up. Jesus fucking christ. I'm in love but how i am THIS busy. Maybe single was better"

mage Iris Ingellvar/Lace Harding. Main party is OBIOUSLY Iris/Lace/Taash for Team Throuple, Lace Holds The Brain Cell

And thus. My classes, factions I care about (barring Shadow Dragons, but I genuinely think Minrathous is a lost cause and we should sink Tevinter, sorry Neve/Dorian/Mae/Viper), and romances I am interested in are COVERED. everyone's got different VOICES and GEAR and VIBES. most importantly the names are all PLEASING. I am FREE

Now to just...actually finish a playthru. To be clear, I am having fun with the combat. But the gremlins in my head would not shut UP about my CHARACTERS being OPTIMAL