#and veilguard had 2 versions right

[luciasatalina]

Being in the game industry now, I see that usually the higher ups will prefer to finish a AAA game even if it's half baked than start from scratch again, if it's been in development hell for years.

Pop it out, then work on the next one which hopefully will have more founding/time and the base already laid out. (If it does well)

So crossing fingers for the next game to have much more lore plots back...

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 3

[Part 1] [Part 2] Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user’s post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and played the game. nb, this post is more of a ‘info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts’ collection rather than a 'regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal’ post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this. if you notice any mistakes in this post, please tell me.

Character Creation

All armor and clothing options will scale and mesh to any body type [source]

The character creator has lots of sliders for body parts and overall shape, none of which are tied to the voice or pronouns (she/her, he/him, or they/them) that you choose [source]

"Epler took special care to show off the extensive curly and textured hair options in the game, including several versions of braids and locs, noting that increasing these options in particular was very important to the team" [source]

You can change your character’s physical appearance at any time during the game, but not their class or backstory [source]

"Each individual class has some variability, too; even the mage class has some up-close-and-personal attacks, since a mage player character could still conceivably have an assassin backstory and would therefore need to have some attacks to accommodate that sort of career path" [source]

" "We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about skin tone,” Corinne said. The character we made, a Black elf, seemed to glow in the bluish light of a nighttime scene, and under bright sunlight, I could see the richness of his color. Corinne: "We want to make sure that skin tone is reflected authentically" " [source]

" “We have dozens and dozens of hair types,” she said. “And they’re fully affected by physics.” The quality and variety of choices I saw delighted me. The rows of bouncy, luxurious-looking hair of all curl types and textures (and yes, the annoyingly ubiquitous “Killmonger cut” was among the options, what can you do?) brought the biggest smile to my face in the hour I spent with Busche and The Veilguard." [source]

Story and lore

NPCs will remember when you chuck a shopkeeper through a plate-glass window [source]

" The game’s story sees Solas intact a plot that will result in the deaths of thousands. When his justification that “people die, it’s what they do,” falls on deaf ears, you and your merry band of misfits have to stop him " [source]

" “Early in the demo and in the trailer, you’re in a part of the world you’ve never been in – Tevinter,” Epler tells me. “Tevinter is known for being a place of high magic; visually, it’s different. Obviously in Origins you’re in Ferelden, which was grubby, muddy, and very visually different and distinct. That said, it’s the first hour of the game, so we’re only seeing the prologue. As you go deeper, you’ll find that the game can be just as bloody and just as grim as Dragon Age Origins, 2, and Inquisition. For us, it’s that feeling of contrast. You get moments of higher fantasy magic coming back to the world through Solas’ ritual, but also things get pretty grim, and things get pretty dark in some spaces for sure.” " [source]

"Snappy dialogue" [source]

The game is really about each of the companions [source]

Narrative narrative narrative! [source]

The Shadow Dragons are an underground resistance that engages in guerrilla warfare against the corrupt mage rulers of the Tevinter Imperium [source]

"Varric has created the group called the Veilguards, recruiting a veritable group of weirdos to pursue Solas, who’s carved a path through the magical empire of Tevinter" [source]

"There’s intrigue to the game’s tale already, with Varric hoping he can convince Solas to stop his plan of tearing open the Veil: a wish by the dwarf to save a dear friend. There’s a fascinating relationship that's already being set up, Varric and Solas as opposing narrative forces, with your character, Rook, pulled between them" [source]

"There’s extra context to flesh out dialogue, with short descriptions that help give a vague idea of how things play out. The example we were shown was Rook trying to take down a gang leader inside a bar. We could choose to defuse the situation with either words or weapons, but the catch is you don’t know how effective those approaches will be" [source]

" Busche explained that the team wanted to give players a game where locations were imbued with just as much personality as the characters. “That meant making contrast from the areas that are dark and decaying to the areas that are illuminated with magic,” Busche said " [source]

" “This is a part of the world where magic has been embraced,” Busche said. “It is a society of mages and magic in this world is inherently colorful. So whether we’re seeing them use magic for everyday purposes like signage or using them as spells, that color really comes through.” " [source]

We will visit the Necropolis of Nevarra [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

There are dozens of abilities and spells [source]

The game has an easy mode [source]

There is a setting where your character can't die in battle [source]

"The Rogue class in our demo had a bow with recharging arrows for ranged attacks, and dual blades that could unleash a furious flurry of instantaneous blows" [source]

[☕ found this post or blog interesting or useful? my ko-fi is here if you feel inclined. thank you 🙏]

[rachelamberish]

Comprehensive Veilguard Review (FULL SPOILERS)

What They Got Right:

-The environments. My God, seeing some of these locations that we’ve only read about for a decade had me getting legitimately choked up just looking at them. I cried entering the Grand Necropolis. I cried at Weisshaupt. I cried at Kal Sharok. The Ossuary. The Crossroads 2 Electric Boogaloo. Just all absolutely stunning, and so lovingly crafted.

-The art direction, on top of that. They kind of go hand in hand, but genuinely, it’s great. I think the art director deserves a raise for the candlehops alone.

-The music. I love it. I know it’s not what it has been, but I think it’s fucking great. The Blight theme is far and away the best, but so many of the other tracks really fully commit to the fantasy-futurism aesthetic that has been crafted by the art direction and I think it’s so fucking cool that the music has evolved as we travel to new locations and the world of Thedas really opens up.

-Companions. I’ve spoken a little about this already. But yes, the companions are incredible. The pacing of getting to know each of them is so well executed. (It feels unfortunate that the same cannot be said about the story as a whole, really). They are each truly so memorable and I think BioWare knocking it out of the park with its companions is nothing new.

-Vocal Performances. Gareth David Lloyd should be lauded for his work as Solas. You can hear how that performance has evolved and matured over the years like a fine wine. His vicelike grasp on the nuance of that character transcends even the game’s often questionable writing. Truly incredible stuff. I also have to mention Jee Young Han for Bellara, and Bryony Corrigan and Alex Jordan for two versions of Rook. The rest of the cast is fantastic as well, those four are just so incredibly standout to me.

-This feels very specific but The Siege of Weisshaupt. That quest. Is. *chefs kiss emoji*. It’s giving game of thrones season 8 episode 4 the long night where i cant see anything but also i have existential dread!!!! Love that

-Codex entries are as well written as they ever have been, so no dip in quality of the writing there. Particularly a huge fan of the passive aggressive emails sent between Solas and the Evanuris like they were all shitty coworkers. Elgar’nan screaming “i’m the ELDEST BOY!!!” at the top of his lungs à la Kendall Roy while he and solas bicker about who was conceived of by the Fade first. Very good stuff

-Ghilan’nain is an eldritch horror lesbian witch and that is so so cool. Thank you bioware

-Maevaris Tilani

-Combat and performance. Because neither of these are story stuff, I’ll throw these together. The game performs like a fucking dream and is incredibly optimized. The combat feels amazing and I genuinely look forward to combat encounters rather than dreading them. No notes.

….The Rest, in No Particular Order:

- Morrigan forgiving her mother and the game erasing Flemeth’s nastiness was truly vomit-inducing so thanks for that one bioware

- Is Mythal good or bad bioware please answer the question and you CAN’T look at your notes

- They do get Solas mostly spot-on but Mythal is so inconceivably bad and it’s hard to divorce the two. Ironic, considering that they should be the most divorced couple that ever lived

-"Flemeth's piece of Mythal was the good version actually and was completely uncorrupted" bitch HOW?!!??!??!!?! FUCKING HOW?!?!? Literally A GAME AGO she screams at Morrigan and Lavellan about "a reckoning that will shake the heavens" promising vengeance for her betrayal because she's done nothing but stew ALONE in her anger for 2,000 years, ALSO piling on the rage and betrayals of Flemeth and (I think it's safe to presume at this point) Andraste and EVERY OTHER host she's had. If we have learned ANYTHING about spirits and "abominations" through four games it is that the spirit becomes corrupted "against its original purpose" when fused with the negative emotions of its host. What was the point of Anders, if not to foreshadow what Flemeth truly was? A spirit of justice corrupted against her purpose by living inside righteously angry women for millennia? If anything the Dagger-version of Mythal would be the uncorrupted one. Sure, she'd be lonely and pissed too but that would be the truest version to who Mythal ACTUALLY was from before. A mixed bag of grief and anger and hurt and pride. But the rage inside Flemeth's Mythal would be wild and unfettered. She would be almost unrecognizable.

-I'm moving on from Mythal now because ranting any more about her in this game is actually going to give me an aneurysm.

- Yeah this game suffers from lack of roleplay and choice carryover. It’s impossible to avoid. It was okay to suspend roleplay in a game like, say, Dragon Age 2, because Hawke as the game wrote her was such a strong personality and memorable protagonist. Rook is…. not that. Which is okay for a blank slate protagonist, but they’re also not that either. And i think they didnt commit, fully, to the idea of less roleplay. Because they *tried* to give you origin stories, but they don’t end up feeling like they truly inform the character in the way that they do in Origins, or even in Inquisition. Say what you will about Inquisition’s roleplay options, but Lavellan being Dalish DEFINES her character.

- And what do you know. Yeah. It was bad that they only let us carry over three choices. Who could have seen that one coming. It’s almost like everyone ever was like “wow. That sucks. Please reconsider.” And then they didn’t.

- And it also gets extra confusing when you realize that the three choices they said were going to matter a LOT literally don’t. At all. So that was a lie. I guess. Even Solas romancers who were being PANDERED to apparently get…like two mentions of something that feels like it should be so pervasive throughout the whole story. And one ending.

- Solavellan writing failure gets its own bullet point actually. There was so much ample opportunity for Lavellan’s presence in this story to be amplified. For the Lighthouse to contain more traces of her. In codex entries, in murals. I get that Solas probably wouldn’t talk about her to Rook much. But the fact of his yearning is downplayed when it should be overplayed. He yearns for this woman who made him think he was worth something for the first time since he took a physical body, while clouded by regret for his feelings for a long-dead woman who made him hate himself. That’s the saddest fucking story ever. Why does this game not lean into it more? I don’t know. You don’t know. None of us know.

- BioWare kind of forgot that fifty percent of the Tevinter population is slaves. What do the shadow dragons even do? There are apparently no slaves left to free!!

- BioWare kind of forgot that the Crows are very cool and yes very Italian!! 🤌🤌🤌 but also buy child slaves and turn them into soldiers by systematically weeding empathy out of them. So where was any of that.(*where is Zevran or someone who fills the role of that character. He is so desperately needed to portray the Crows with any nuance.*)

- The depiction of the Qunari/kossith, outside of Taash’s storyline (which I actually think was a very thoughtful examination of the intersection of gender and Qunari ideology), is actually the craziest most stereotypical one-note racist bullshit i’ve ever seen and i am shocked any writer allowed that to be the final product.

- You know what yes i also noticed that you couldn’t ever be mean in this game and also Rook smiles so much. She smiles when saying things she should not smile about. Idk why but that bothers me. And why are her hands always on her hips? What is she hiding

- The exposition-heavy dialogue is terrible at the start, gets way better around the first act break, then turns dangerously close back around to Avengers-style “Well, that just happened!” and it’s a mixed bag that I don’t know what to do with. I can’t blame bioware for the exposition, I’m sure that’s an EA directive of “pander to the people that want to come into the fourth installment of a series knowing nothing and not be completely lost”. But the rest…..let’s just say I can feel how many people had their hands in writing this. And I can feel it because the quality swings back and forth so wildly it gives me whiplash.

- Because of no choice carryover cameos feel like cardboard cutouts of characters. Dorian worked for me because he was doing things he would be doing anyway and it is passively mentioned that he and the Inquisitor are in close contact. Isabela is skinny like a twig now i guess (??? Hate that) and i’m happy for her whole lords of fortune thing but she is made lesser by being completely divorced from Hawke. Same for Varric, although at least he has more to do. Morrigan…………………………���……………………………………anyway moving on.

- The Dalish.

- BioWare kind of forgot that Solas doesn’t hate blood magic. Doesn’t use it personally. But doesn’t hate it. Also what he does to gain a connection to Rook is LITERALLY blood magic. I don’t fucking know WHY he/the game insists that it’s not. I’m beside myself with that one.

- BioWare kind of forgot about the brewing elven uprising led by Solas that they set up at the end of Trespasser and instead now he’s a lone actor and everyone hates him. Like no. No actually some elves would have found what he was doing very cool and a great alternative to the terrible hand the world has dealt them. Perhaps all those elven Tevinter slaves you forgot to put in the game.

- BioWare kind of forgot about Briala in their rush to say “but nothing in southern thedas matters!!!”

- Cole should be in this game and the fact that he is not is actually fucking baffling.

- VERY BIG SPOILER Varric dying is fine actually and the one thing i’m literally perfectly okay with so idk why i put it down here other than it feels wrong putting this spoiler at the top lmao. But yeah that’s fine. We knew it was coming and Peepaw needed rest anyway. Good reveal, no issue there.

- Lucanis’ bugged romance ruined my life

- I made a separate post about this but Veilguard has single handedly eradicated mystery in the Dragon Age series without creating any new mystery and it’s what I’m legitimately the most sad about.

All in all, a mixed bag. I enjoyed my time with it, but it left me sad at times and not in the good way. The idea I have of Dragon Age in my head will always be more true to Dragon Age to me than this was, and I can live with that, I was just hoping for better on a lot of writing fronts.

[ladyelizabethraven]

I guess after seeing the first trailer, we should've known that this will be Dragon Age: MCU edition.

Look, I can forgive the art style or the janky combat or the other stuff. But Bioware fumbling on the things that they do best — story and characters —... It's just... Why?

I really had feeling that this is meant to be some fantasy Fortnite, kid friendly mobile game. But somewhere down the line this reverted to a single player game. And it shows in the level design.

To think that this is what BW cooked after 10 years....

And those conflict resolutions just gave me a migraine. Even Inside Out 2 has a better conflict than this one. And that movie is marketed as kid friendly. But here in Veilguard, we're like watching a bootleg version of Dora the Explorer.

Oh dear... At least there's Metaphor that's keeping me occupied right now...

[seeker-ophelia]

The Blight: A Prison Break

Hey, take my hand, and let me take you on the Vir of my Feral Brain

Heads up Seekers, this is a long one.  

Solas & The-Veil-Super-Max vs. Mythal, the Big Bad

**No Veilguard Spoilers Past the Released Trailer Media

The Veil separates the world of spirits & magic from the physical world, but that is a byproduct of its existence, not its purpose.

Creating the Veil also created “The Quickening.” If Elvhen are born with The Veil, they are separated from the magic that makes them, cursing them with a shorter lifespan.

But The Veils purpose is to be the jail that the Evanuris (and the blight?) are in;

The fade-separation-part is an annoying side-effect.

And You Say: But OP, in Trespasser, Solas SAYS:

I will save the elven people, even if it means this world must die. [That’s a big IF to throw in there buddy, do you mean you don’t know?]

Why does this world have to die for the elves to return?

A good question, but not one I will answer [Bah, humbug. Coward BioWare]

… and though I owed you an explanation, I will not give you tools to use against me. [So you’re saying there’s a chance? There ARE tools to be used?]

The return of my people means the end of yours. [What if, I don’t believe you?]

Solas says, that there are ways to stop him. But.

We know, entirely separate from Solas, that The Veil is breaking. It is thinning, without anyone’s intervention, slowly over time.

In Ghillys Grove/Dead Hand, rocks are floating. Companions say, all over the place, “ThE vEiL iS tHiN HeRe.”

The veil is coming down, REGARDLESS.

(Maybe not so fast, but it is coming down. It was not built to last forever.)

*Sidebar about Solas’ ancient Elvhen Artifacts, do they maintain the veil like he says? (It will be harder for tears to form here) Or do they do something else? If you note their locations, they’re all in places where elvhen had palaces/ruins/stuff (except for the Wastes, where they’re located amongst Dwarven shit, coincidence, I think not, but that’s Whole-Other-Post-Number-2)

*They are spheres (like Titan foci?) with something like Bismuth growing out of them?

*Solas made the veil. I think the artifacts are his. And I think they do keep The Veil up.

*Because the veil cannot just Come Down™, that would be disastrous.

*It needs to be Taken Down™. Very different.

Which leads us right back to…

The return of my people means the end of yours.

Let’s Remember this Dialogue

Cole: Is there a way to save more spirits, Solas?

Solas: Not until the Veil is healed. The rifts draw spirits through, and the shock makes demons of them.

Cole: Pushing through makes you be yourself. You can hold onto the you.  Being pulled through means you don’t have enough you. You become what batters you, bruises your being.

Solas: Yes, exactly. Deliberately crossing the Veil requires that a spirit form will, personality. That concept of self gives a spirit the chance to maintain its nature. Wrenched into this world unwillingly by the rifts, spirits suffer the same fate as my friend.

Cole: Then we will help them.

If you are not paying attention, the game wants you to think that the fade is full of demons, chock full of them. If The Veil comes down, demons will swallow the earth. But, that’s not actually the case. Most of the things there are spirits, they only turn to demons when they get pulled through the veil unwillingly. Let’s hold onto that thought.

Solas wants the Evanuris in prison (I am unsure if he knows that there’s only two of them left). He needs them in prison. But he doesn’t want The Veil.

WHY is having No-Veil inherently dangerous to humans/Dalish if there are mostly spirits?

I don’t think it is.

I think he means the end of the Dalish, meaning the end of the Shemlen version of the Dalish. Immortal elves can exist again after The Veil is gone.

So the Dalish will “Die” (people are always dying) but Immortality will come back.

What does Solas say again? (In the fade with Rook):

Your actions have set events in motion, and I would not have your ignorance on my conscience.

The Evanuris. Blah blah blah…

When I rebelled, they drew on the horrific magic of the blight, corrupting all they saw until I trapped them.

Thanks to you though, I am now trapped, and the blighted “elvhen gods” walk free.

Hang on a tidily minute there pardner.

Solas locked them up because they killed Mythal, not because of anything to do with the blight.

From Trespasser:

Inky: You said that the elven gods went too far. What did they do that made you move against them?

Solas: They killed Mythal (Chuckles). A crime for which an eternity of torment is the only fitting punishment…. And in their lust for power, they killed her.

But he Also Says:

Had I not created the Veil, the Evanuris would have destroyed the entire world.

OhKayy.

So… Now we’re retconning Why Solas’ Imprisoned The Evanuris…

OR…

Andruil brought the Blight back from the Abyss, and Ghilly made/weaponized it. I’m guessing The Evanuris were going to/already were, unleashing it on Thedas? But, why? That doesn’t make any sense. Mythal stood up to them, and so they killed her?

Kamikazeing the world doesn’t sound like a smart business strategy. It does not sound in line with The Evanuris’ Mission Statement.

This art from pinacoladamatata has been confirmed cannon by BioWare – this is the face the Evanuris’ Business Manager makes when he sees them making Bad Business Decisions ™

No, its fucking is not, get your head out of your ass.

Fucking GODS. The GODS YOUS GUYS

These guys wanted power. There were 7 of them, ffs. You’re telling me they all went bat shit and wanted to blight the world? To what end? What’s their Modus Operandi? This is not adding up for me.

The Evanuris used blood magic. [IMO, Ghilly created Qunari specifically to have stronger powered blood for her magic rituals. She created a whole race, to die. *What is my purpose*You Pass Butter*Oh My God* Little mix of dragon and elf and poof, Qunari Baby. But Im not getting into that, that’s not the point of this post]

And you’re telling me ALL 7 OF THEM, after they’ve: slain Ancient Dragons, won battle against the Forgotten Ones, Became Kings, Sundered Titans, Became Gods, created races for blood magic rituals, were just like, yeah let’s blight the world? Like for fun, its Tuesday and Im Bored.

Sorry, whut? No. This is not adding up. This does not make any sense to me.

So…  What does make sense?

The Blight IS Bad.

Okay. How?

If Ghilly made the blight and we know that the Evanuris have used the Blight (source, Solas), lets assume they can actually control it; its not a virus or an uncontrollable bacteria, the Evanuris can control it (somehow), otherwise they risk wiping out their own amassed power.

Okay.

And Solas didn’t want them killing more people (he was already freeing their slaves), and decided to lock them up.

Okay.

But before this, Mythal did something to make them mad, and they killed her?

Okay.

But she didn’t actually die.

We know she didn’t die…

How do we know she didn’t die?

Because we saw her Blue/OGB/Navi-Wisp leave Flemeth and transfer to Solas.

And where else have we seen that before?

We see it when Kieran gives up Urthemiel to Flemythal.

Who’s Urthemiel?

Urthemiel, the Old God Dragon of Beauty, aka one of the Evanuris (Sylaise or June probably).

Urthemiel was an archdemon, a blighted-dragon, and (like Corypheus), when it was killed, the Blue/OGB/Navi-Soul got transferred into (supposed to be a Warden who would then die, taking the spirit with them, but actually its) Kieran. Who then gives it to Flemythal.

Who has THE SAME KIND OF Blue/OGB/Navi-Wisp…

BECAUSE SHE WAS BLIGHTED.

Abelas: The dread wolf had nothing to do with her murder. She was slain, if a god truly can be, betrayed by those who destroyed this temple. But the Vir’Abelasan remains, as do we. That is something.

She did not “die,” she got INFECTED WITH THE BLIGHT, and then slain, and then her Blue-Dragon-Navi-Soul moved on to another vessel.

Let’s Re-state What We KNOW

There used to be 7 Old Gods/Archdemons in the Deep Roads

There have been 5 Blights

There have been 5 Archdemons slain

There used to be 7 Evanuris in The Solas-Super-Max-Veil-Prison

Now there are 2

(TBF we don’t know for 100% Evanuris = Old Gods, but we essentially assume they are)

Let’s move into speculation territory:

How did they get out?

Well, we’ve seen Ghilly and Elgar’dad’s physical forms.

Now, I am not a zoologist, but those:

DO NOT look like dragons.

Remember:

Trespasser Solas: “They killed Mythal (chuckles), a crime for which an eternity of torment is the only fitting punishment.”

So, lets assume, that The Evanuris “killed” Mythal by infecting her with the Blight.

I think, when Solas locked the Evanuris away, he put The Blight in there with them. Not just an eternity in prison, but an eternity of torment.

What he (probably) didn’t figure, is the Blight-Body-Snatcher-Problem.

We KNOW, a creature infected with The Blight can pass their soul onto another creature infected with the Blight (Corypheus).

We KNOW, that if blood is spilled during a ritual to contact the Priso, that the blood-spiller can contact people in the prison (Golly, that sounds familiar, hey?)

Solas: Deliberately crossing the Veil requires that a spirit form will, personality. That concept of self gives a spirit the chance to maintain its nature.

“My kind has ever been driven to seek out the Old Gods. This is out nature. When we findone, a Blight begins.”

I hypothesize, the Evanuris killed (Slept? Separated from?) their physical bodies to allow their Blue Souls to re-infect an Archdemon, that was grown, supplied by an Architect, or other strange creatures we don’t know about in the deep roads. Not as nice, or as powerful a body as their Elvhen Forms, but better than being in prison.

And that is how The Blight acted as a prison break for the Evanuris.

Which brings me to the question, what happened to the other Evanuris’ Blue-Dragon-Navi-Souls once they were slain (as archdemons) and moved into Wardens (who then promptly died)?

Watch this: Dragon Age: Origins Death of the Warden in 1080p

(Its actually kinda badass)

This is the moment the Warden (No Dark Ritual Performed) stabs Archdemon #5 in the head (Photo brightened).

(This is not the moment the Archdemon dies)

THIS is the moment the archdemon dies:

[Hmm… looks like an Andruil Shaft of Light to Kill a Titan, hey?]

There is then a Giant Explosion:

We see the Wardens Body only after the fact on a funeral stone. We do not know exactly what happened to them. But Alistair, who was standing right beside them, is fine.

In my mind, the blue mist (1st picture) is the Blue-Soul Transferring, and then the explosion is the Blue-Soul actually dying, meaning it doesn’t get transferred onto another blighted creature.

BUT.

It is important to note, that in a world where the Dark Ritual was performed, where the OGB goes into Kieran, the cutscene is NOT DIFFERENT IN ANY WAY. It is THE EXACT SAME SCENE. Same pillar of light, same blue ring, same explosion. But some how THIS:

(This is a separate screenshot image from a separate video, different outcomes).

Gets turned into THIS:

SO IM GOING TO WiLdLy SpEcULaTe

That if a GIANT FUCKING RING OF EXPLODING BLUE LIGHT can be sucked into Morrigan’s Magic-Fucking-Uterus, it can be wrangled in other ways as well (… or at the very least, into another uterus).  

OK. This Dark Ritual thing. Sounds like, mega weird. Powerful, strange, old magic.

Let’s refresh:

Dragon Age: Origins - Dark Ritual with Loghain and Romanced Morrigan

I offer a way out, a way out for all the Grey Wardens that there need be no sacrifice, a ritual, performed on the eve of battle, in the dark of night. It is old magic, before the circle of magi was created. Some might call it blood magic, (Solas: I abhor the use of blood magic) but that is but a name. there is far more to fear in this world than names. [Nothing is without a cost] Perhaps, but that cost might not be so unbearable, especially if there is much to be gained. All I ask is you listen to what I have to offer. What I propose is this, lay with me here tonight, and from our joining, a child will be conceived. The child will bear the taint, and when the archdemon is slain, its essence will seek the child like a beacon. At this early stage, the child can absorb that essence and not perish. The archdemon is still destroyed, with no Grey Warden dying in the process. Think about what I offer you: the chance to avoid death. Or better yet, the chance to slay the archdemon and live as a hero. No Grey Warden has ever done this. In return I conceive a child, one who will be born with the soul of an Old God. After this is done, you allow me to walk away, and you do not follow. Ever. The child will be mine to raise as I wish. [Is this why you’ve been so friendly with me] It’s… why I was sent with you by my mother.

Wait. WHAAAAAAAAT. You mean FLEMYTHAL KNOWS ABOUT THE RITUAL??? SHES THE ONE WHO TAUGHT IT TO MORRIGAN?

It’s… why I was sent with you by my mother. Its why she saved your life to begin with. Caring for you… was not part of the plan. But I cannot let what I feel interfere with what I must do. This is important to me. The fact that it may save your life makes me all the more determined to see it done. Please do not… cloud the issue. If you feel anything for me, then accept that it will make what we must do… that much easier.

So. Flemeth (Mythal), Knows How to entrap Archdemon (Evanuris) Souls (Blue-Navi’s), which are The Same People who killed Blighted her.

But… What is she DOING with them? Why aren’t they turning on her? Where are their vessels?

WHERE ARE THEY.

(Enter my lover Yavana).

Yavana is an infamous Antivan Witch of the Wilds known as the "Beast of the Tellari swamps".

Yvana Quotes:

"The blood of dragons is the blood of the world."

(to Alistair) Your heart beats with the old blood, as well. Where do you think it comes from? It sings of a time when dragons ruled the skies. A time before the Veil, before the mysteries were forgotten. Can you hear it?"

Alistair: "You and Morrigan and Flemeth...all you do is manipulate and lie."

Yavana: "That is our craft, but not our purpose. Mankind destroys without understanding, yet I preserve."

Yavana, my girl. Girlboss. What are you preserving sweetie?

Some Very-Simplified-Backstory: Marric, Alistair’s dad, was saved by Flemeth once upon a time, and was supposed to go to Yavana after his kids were grown.

Why, you ask? Well:

Now I don’t know about you, but there’s only one task I can think of that a Woman needs a Man for, and its not Knitting.

But Marric never showed. So Flemeth had to improvise, sending Morrigan…

It’s… why I was sent with you by my mother.

Now I think,

Mythal is the big bad.

Because who told Morrigan to get Urthemiel?

Flemythal.

Who’s to say she didn’t plant Yavana in Northen Thedas to collect other Dragon-Souls?

I have no proof, but I would not bet against it.

Let’s Refresh Ourselves on the History of the Blights, Shall we?

[You do not need to read all of this, I have summarized it in the image below]

A Quick, Shallow Dive Into The Blights (A Historical Record): 

{[ (Some Of) The following information is only mentioned in Dragon Age Tabletop. Certain portions of this media may no longer reflect currently established lore.]}

The First Blight

The First Blight began in -395 Ancient (800 TE) and lasted nearly two centuries, the longest Blight in history.

In the course of the First Blight, Dumat was slain multiple times, to no avail - he would always return. Some people saw it as proof of his divine power. The Grey Wardens, thanks to the taint in their blood, could feel the Archdemon die and rise again, as its spirit would go on to possess the nearest tainted creature. They eventually realized that their connection to the Blight might make it possible to kill Dumat for good.

Eventually, Grey Warden scholars proposed that if Dumat were slain by a Grey Warden, due to the Wardens' subtle ties to the darkspawn, his spirit would rush into the body of the Warden that had killed it. Unlike the darkspawn, a Warden's body already has a soul, and the resulting paradox would destroy both Warden and Archdemon.

Records do not say who exactly gave up his soul to destroy Dumat, for many Wardens struggled against him, and the Archdemon's very death throes slew seven or more of them.

Archdemon Slayer: Unknown

Location: The Silent Plains are a desolate area on the southern borders of the Tevinter Imperium, with Nevarra laying further south and the Free Marches to the south-east.

The Second Blight

The Second Blight began in the Anderfels with the corruption of Zazikel, the Old God of Freedom[1] or the Dragon of Chaos, in 1:05 Divine, and lasted 90 years.[2] Both sides suffered heavy losses, but Zazikel was finally slain by the Grey Warden Corin.

Archdemon Slayer: Corin.

Location: Starkhaven is an independent and prominent city-state of the Free Marches that lies on the banks of the Minanter River.

The Third Blight

The Third Blight began when Toth, the Old God of Fire, awoke in 3:10 Towers, and the darkspawn erupted in the central lands of Thedas in greater numbers than ever before.[1]

In 3:25, the combined armies of the Grey Wardens, Tevinter and Orlais met in Hunter Fell and destroyed Toth in one of the bloodiest battles in history.

Archdemon Slayer: Unknown.

Location: Hunter Fell is a city in Nevarra. It is located along the northern shore of the Minanter river, west of Nevarra City.

The Fourth Blight

The Fourth Blight began when the Archdemon Andoral arose in 5:12 Exalted and darkspawn surfaced in the northeast and northwestern regions of Thedas. With only three Wardens left, Garahel flew his griffon into Ayesleigh narrowly avoiding the archers and the Archdemon's attacks before finally driving his blade into a wound at the base of the Archdemon's neck made by the rabid griffons, killing the beast at last.

Archdemon Slayer: Garahel.

Location: Ayesleigh is a city in western Rivain.

The Fifth Blight

(AKA Dragon Age: Origins)

The Fifth Blight occurred in 9:30 Dragon in the nation of Ferelden. The Blight's origins began with the tainting of the Old God Urthemiel during a botched experiment by the Architect to awaken it. In 9:31,[25] the darkspawn horde, led by Urthemiel himself, reached Denerim and attacked before the reinforcements from Redcliffe could arrive.

A small team led by the Warden assaulted the fortress and, despite the efforts of the darkspawn garrison to protect it, Urthemiel was slain. The Fifth Blight had ended before most of Thedas knew it had begun.

Archdemon Slayer: The Hero of Ferelden

Location: Denerim, Ferelden

Remember,

Mythal is the Big Bad.

[Please be advised that this is wild conjecture with little to no evidence to back it up]

Let’s say, that Yavana (or Flemeth or Yavana-predecessor) was around for all previous blights; the Archemon Deaths are all in Northern Thedas. She went around to all the blight-battles where the archdemon was slain, and somehow recovered their Blue-Dragon-Navi-Soul. 

And is housing them (protecting them?). In Dragons? In Orbs? In something else? Maybe they’re bound to an Item, maybe they’re possessing a Body.

Now you might be thinking, OP, how are the Archdemon-Dragon-Bodies getting there? How can the Evanuris control the Blight? How did the blight escape Solas’ Veil-Super-Max? You’re making a lot of wild jumps and leaps.

And I am.

But I bid you read this.

Let me Summarize:

If your Inquisitor drinks from Mythal’s Well of Sorrows, they hear a bunch of weird, garbled audio. One of those “unintelligible whispers,” is “Mythal speaks the calling.”

What’s the Calling again?

All Grey Wardens who do not fall in battle eventually fall to something known as the Calling, a magic that preys upon our own connection to the Blight and the darkspawn. Rather than such foul magic eventually leading to my death, I have determined to find a way to negate this Calling and save all Wardens from its effects.” ―Hero of Ferelden

The Calling is how the Evanuris control the Blight.  

And Mythal is the one who speaks it.

Mythal orchestrated the downfall of her peers, who were gathering power and threatening her own rule, and stole their power (Dragon-Souls) for herself. Solas was a scapegoat the whole time.

Do you agree with me? Do you disagree? Did I get something in the lore wrong? Let me know, lets talk about it! (Please, no Veilguard spoilers, TYSM).

We Will Find Out If Im Right in... 38 hours and 13 minutes.

Dareth Shiral, Dirthalen.

[neonravengames]

what do u think of the new dragon age game? i’ve been hearing so many mixed reviews over it. does it still feel like dragon age? is bioware back?

Okay so there are a few things I want to say about Dragon Age but it’s important to share that these are MY feelings. The long and short of it is yes I think BioWare is back, there are things I wish were fixed (the lack of DLC is annoying to me) but god damn this is what I’ve been missing. I think this is as good as we could have hoped to get considering everything.

1) holy hell this is the trans rep I’ve wanted. I made my character a man with top surgery scars and selected the options to say I’m trans and his story? Where he shared how he discovered he was trans? It was so close to my own and I just cried. Plus you get to bring it up! Repeatedly! The use of the terms trans and non-binary were a little shocking at first but… I like it? It’s like my term isn’t a ‘bad word’ it fits fine. (Side note, I was almost done making my character when I noticed I had made the male version of my very first character on accident. Being able to have him be trans like me just felt… right.)

2) Speaking of bringing it up, I made a Mourn Watcher and it comes up all the time! Now sure you’re not getting a radically different narrative depending on the origin, but that’s not a realistic expectation. It’s flavor! And it’s damn tasty.

3) For the story, I’ve really liked it. There are lots of spoilers id love to talk about but as a day 1 (I got DA Origins like two days after it released) elf lore enjoyer I am very happy. I don’t know where exactly we’re going from here but I can’t wait.

4) this feels… like a love letter to dragon age. I know that’s been said but it really does. Sure the world state stuff sucks but fuck I’m not ready to leave this world behind. They’ve said there will be more games and I really think based on the reception of Veilguard there will be.

I think… if I had to sum this game up, it’s mostly like reuniting with an old friend. We’ve both changed, grown wiser, experienced things separately but we just fit together. I can’t say your experience will be like that, my love and enjoyment of this series will be different from your own, but for me this is it. This is why I make stories, why I love creating. This is where I discovered parts of my identity, and they were welcomed, not shunned. I can’t say any game has ever captured that, even BG3. I’m still not sure who to romance haha but I’m glad that no matter what happens we got this game.

My advice is to take it slow, sink into the story and world. Let go of what might have been and look at it for what it is. I hope you enjoy it and if you don’t that’s okay.

[murmel-malt]

Dragon age fan to Dragon Age fan, what is your honest opinion on Veilguard so far? Is it worth buying? Should I wait til it goes on sale?

Ok, so: I have played 10h at this point and while I am enjoying it and love and appreciate a lot of things about it, I also have my issues and they boil down to two points:

1) I do not like the new combat system. It is a lot more dynamic and needs you to react fast, which I personally am not a fan of. I really liked the slower approach of the previous games with the option to pause and get a good look at everything going on. Combat (and generally the controls) feels less like Dragon Age and more like the recent Assassin’s Creed titles (I am particularly reminded of Valhalla) but more chaotic since you have two companions jumping around the battlefield as well (companions that you also cannot control like in the previous games). Combat/Controle wise I feel like this Dragon Age has a bit of an identity crisis.

2) They seem to have really reduced the exploration compared to the previous games where you had (often very large) areas that you were able explore to your heart’s content but in Veilguard most areas feel very “schlauchig”. I am substituting a german word here because I cannot think of a fitting one in english (the closest would be tube-y or linear I guess). Essentially I felt like each area has one way through it - or through a part of it because as the game progresses new parts of that map are accessible. Perhaps this is an early game thing and there will be more exploration á la Inquisition later on.

Other than those two points I don't actually have much to criticize. The character creation is great, I love the amount and detail of customizing that is possible, down to your gender identity and pronouns. That definitely needs to be acknowledged! The plot and the pacing is also - so far - pretty solid. Very reminiscent of Origins and Inquisition in the way it starts (huge event right at the start and the real plot is dealing with the fallout afterwards), so that was nice. Very dragon age-y. No disappointments on that front. The characters (at least those that I have met so far) are very much on par with the previous games and I am enjoying them and their banter very much. It also looks really gorgeous and you can definitely recognise it as a Dragon Age game style-wise (kind of like a polished/upgraded version of Inquisition to me).

In conclusion: If you do not have an issue with new controls and a more dynamic combat system, smaller areas and less exploring, I can absolutely recommend the game. It is definitely a bit of a change from the previous ones, but while I personally do not like some changes, it is by no means a bad game.

[hips-like-battleships]

Second post is my thoughts about the series as a whole, and how Veilguard fits in with the whole. Mostly positive thoughts!

This is for sure a different game than Origins. I love Origins. It is so special and one of my favorite video game experiences of all time. I'm so happy to have had it. I also don't need every game to replicate it exactly to make me happy.

Obviously, that game was special. It's what got us all here! If it didn't have a certain kind of magic, the franchise would have died on the vine. But I don't think the series has to be beholden to Origins as we move through time. I don't think it should be.

People are still stirred up that not that many choices carried over. As someone who has been here since the beginning--I don't really get it. The carry over has always been small. Where does Alistair show up, if he does at all. Whose name is mentioned in a codex. I get loving those characters. I get wanting direct sequels! I'd revisit the characters in a heartbeat. But after this game got cancelled twice, there's just no feasible way to make it a direct sequel. Ten years. A console generation. It's too alienating. The ship sailed. And it is so much more fun to be like, okay, this is the reality, rather than hating it for being something it wasn't going to be. I don't care that the choices matter game to game, I really don't. That doesn't make them matter less to me. I will never forget the first time I played the Landsmeet, agonizing over the right thing to do. I will never forget my first Hawke's arc with Anders--falling in love with him, deciding to support him with his secret plans, then reckoning with the Chantry explosion and all the aftermath. Muddling through messy options with characters I love is Dragon Age to me, and this game gave me that. I guess I honestly don't see how you thread the needle any better. At some point, the alternate world states collapse until you can't tell a compelling narrative. I hear a lot of people complain, but to date I haven't seen a single suggestion of how to actually do it better. There's not a game that has figured this out any better that I know of, on the time scale and complexity with which Dragon Age has been doing it. I also remember very well the way fans have picked apart writing flaws, real and alleged, following every game. Messy writing regarding gender and sexuality has been there from the start (Origins making Morrigan straight, and the weird sexism of DA 2 Anders relationship with F!Hawke v M!Hawke being to early examples). Lore inconsistencies have been here from the beginning (what do Qunari look like? what exactly are the gender and sexual boundaries of Thedas actually?). Some things have been consistently fuzzy in ways that I'm not sure the entire writing/dev team has ever agreed upon (what is a demon vs. what is a spirit? are they two sides of the same thing or fundamentally different entities?). Major plot points have often resolved in ways that don't really satisfy anyone (being forced to fight Merrill's whole clan in DA 2 being a huge example). I am also one hundred percent sympathetic to a dev team in the midst of the Covid crisis and growing right wing movements around the world wanting to make a game about a bunch of people who like each other and who came together to solve a bigger threat. It's the story they wanted to present. That story is valuable. It is comforting to be with these characters who, this time, aren't fighting each other. Who are really supporting each other to be the best versions of themselves. There is a sweetness to Veilguard that I really appreciate. I know it will feel comforting to go back to and revisit over time. Ultimately I don't want the games to be all the same. I like that we have different flavors of story, different companions who relate to each other differently depending on the games. We'd get bored if they were all the same!! And for the parts we don't like, there is fanfic and head canons and theory discussions and all the things we will do to make these texts so much richer. Just because your favorite character from the past doesn't come up in a codex doesn't erase what they meant to you. While Briar is the Inquisitor I imported into Veilguard, somewhere my Inquisitor Adaar and Iron Bull are out there, guiding what Qunari they can away from the Antaam. The Hero of Ferelden didn't get a mention in Veilguard, but that beautiful rosy baby griffon we saved? The wheels in my brain are going overtime figuring out how that griffon makes it to her Warden outpost in Amaranthine, still standing strong against the Blight. Your characters and your ideas get to live in you too.

[poetryofyouth]

the last few weeks i have been obsessively playing Dragon Age, in preparation for the veilguard release of course.

Dragon Age: Origins is still a work of Art and I would die for her and every companion

Dragon Age: 2 is not as bad as I remembered it? Sure it has it's issues but the story is genuinely so fantastic. Like, the story, the characters, Hawke's relationships with the companions - the combat is almost an annoying obstacle to get to the heartbreakingly tender moments between Hawke and their damaged, broken, hurting friends

For that reason I would love for an option to just skip combat alltogeter and turn it into a walking simulator.

In both Origins and 2, the male love interests are so so so much better holy fuck

Like the first time I played as a lesbian (of course) and romancing Leliana in Origins. Which is... sweet and everything, but the relationship with Leliana always felt... hollow. Love without any true base in Friendship. If that makes sense.

This time, my warden was a bit of a slut and romanced Leliana, (also Isabella), Zevran and lastly Alistair. And holy fuck, the relationship between Warden an Alistair is just perfect. Me playing a female elf only added to the perfection. Sad I couldn't marry him at the end, but hey, staying as the King's mistress is fine with me, Anora's cool with it, mostly, and nothing can get in between true love. I mean, the relationship between Warden and Alistair starts off with pure banter and friendship, you can feel them acutally caring for each other way before you even start any romance. They feel like two people who just fit like puzzle pieces. Jokes, support, bleeding together, either one would not think a minute before sacrificing their own life for the other. and finally, after weeks of pain and suffering and drinks in taverns and jokes around the campfire and horribly traumatizing deaths all around, they both realize that they aren't just friends anymore. Fucking hell that is literally the perfect fictional relationship omg i have never shipped a straight couple harder.

Also I found the thought of being a slutty warden who bedded every available character before finally taking the future king's virginity, then arranging a marriage between her boyfriend and another woman and then also arranging for her boyfriend to get her other friend pregnant just... incredibly funny ngl

And in DA:2 on my first playthrough I romanced Merril. Which was... fine. Though I find it kinda difficult because I didn't like the idea of Hawke just being completely fine with blood magic and all that. Merril also isn't that interesting a character. I mean, comparing her to many other games she is fantastic!! But in this game, she just kinda pales in comparison to everyone else.

Now I'm playing a male gay Hawke and I first romanced Fenris. And I am just a sucker for a sad, hurting man learning how to feel again. Fenris is just such a good character. Of course he is horribly racist agains mages, which i mean, not that i / Hawke condone it, but anyone would need years of therapy to get over what the magisters did to him, so i love the thought of Hawke being patient and slowly trying to show him they are not that bad.

So I love to kinda torture Fenris and run around with him, anders and merril, their companion banters are so great.

But Fenris of course dumps Hawke after the first time and sure you COULD wait for him to come around in act three but screw that, I will not have my feelings played with like that.

Especially when there is an even sadder, more broken man waiting for me. Anders is probably my favourite character in DA:2. Even the last time I played, without romancing him. But now I startet DA:2 right after finishing the Awakening DLC and I just LOVE the difference and the similarities between the two Anders versions. Some might say it's inconsistent. But I choose to believe that in Awakening, even if Anders had seen so many horrible things already, he was still able to keep a more happy-go-lucky facade. I imagine between the end of Awakening and Hawke first meeting him, Anders has seen many many more horrible things while being with the wardens. So he is just extra-traumatized in 2. And of course, his character changed with the whole spirit of justice thing. But even if he is a lot more serious and a lot sadder, he still has that Anders-Charm. I love his love for kittens and his need for justice for the mages

And even if the DA:2 love interests (apart from Sebastian) are all bisexual, I love that they are not just default staights that can just also be romanced by same gender Hawkes. Like, when Anders confesses that Karl, who just died, was his first boyfriend??? I think I cried. The PAIN the HURT the HOMOSEXUAL ANGST. I will burn down all of Kirkwall if that makes Anders feel even a little better.

The rivalry / rivalry romance aspect is really cool and I love it exists but unfortunately i am incapable of not being liked by everyone.

Seriously how does a game that was pretty much universally considered a disappointment by the fandom (i previously didn't like it either!! Idek why!!!!) have storylines that trump pretty much any movie of tv show made in the last 5 years. Please let me play this just as a story game/walking simulator i need to look into mods i want to see every possible conversation and fuck everyone (tenderly and with love. and also as hateful rivals)

Also I have played the games so much recently I hope I don't accidentally say "by the maker" in public lmao

[deathvalleyqueen]

I start watching 911 simply because Hulu showed me it in my recommended. I binged it... enjoyed it... As a single mom with a kid with special needs - obviously thought Eddie was a honey roasted cutie pie. He really spoke to me on many levels, also not bad to look at, okay...

Get on tumblr to skim the fandom for fics... art... ya know standard I just caught up with something behavior.

Then I had VIOLENT SPN flashbacks the moment I see anything Buddie. Listen - if it floats your boat - excellent. Love to see it. Love to see fans loving a ship and just doing their thing. It's beautiful on the surface.

I spent like 2-3 hours peeling back the surface cuz of insomnia and not being able to sleep waiting for Dragon Age: the Veilguard. I have all the fucking regrets now. It really is Destile's fandom all over again - in the worst possible sense of that meaning. The whole everything is a sign of Buddie shit - one sets the whole group of them up for disappointment. Two - just probably isn't as true as you want to think it is. Bi Buck, while I love it from a narrative standpoint and for the character, just has egged the most toxic people on it seems. Tommy is a sweet character - I like him, his friendship with Eddie is wholesome as shit. His relationship with Buck is cute and has a lot of room IMO to grow into a really well done MLM relationship in media (which I want to see) - but the disgusting things I saw people posting made me physically full body cringe.

I won't get into my personal thoughts too much I will say the lack of people wanting to see a deep, complex male friendship or even a deep, complex, non-romantic relationship between two queer men (I don't care if Eddie is gay or somewhere else on the queer spectrum of sexualities) is just kinda sad to me. It happens in every show that I think does the concept of Platonic Soul Mates well, but then fandom takes what is already a good dynamic and has meaning - turns it into the most rabid of shipping communities.

It's so weird to me that this is just fandom culture - doesn't matter the fandom. You can jump to any number - book, video game, movie, tv show - and you can find either a very large or small version of a toxic shipping community - the ones who say their ship is the only right ship etc... Did I expect it for a major network procedural show? No... not but am I surprised... also no.

[mrs-gauche]

I thought it would be fun to revisit this post I made a few years ago before they might drop a trailer tonight or on sunday. 👀 Just a quick update, taking into account everything we have learned since I posted this! 😁

1.) "Victoria Secret"/Lindsay Lohan (yeah, I'm still gonna call her that 😂)

Well, I still think there's a good chance that this could be Calpernia (which I think would be awesome!). Other than that, nothing to add really.

2.) "No Bad Hair Days" Qunari Lady

She still doesn't have a name YET, but we all love her already, right? <3 (Is this our "Harley Qun"? lol)

3.) Scarf Man

(That *is* a scarf, right? lol) I've since seen many people saying this could be Davrin, the one who was mentioned in the 2020 Gamescom video voiced by Ike Amadi, which would make him a Grey Warden? 👀

4.) Maevaris

Yup, without any real evidence, I'm still 100% sure this is Mae. I don't know, it's just a gut feeling, I guess. 😂 I'd also just really really really love to see her as a companion. ❤️❤️❤️❤️

5.) "Shotgun Girl"

A few years later and I'm now 100% convinced this is Harding. lol (And I'm still curious to learn how she got Bianca (if it IS the same weapon).. Please Varric, don't die. *sob*)

6.) Assassin's Creed Protagonist Nr. 35

My best guess is still Lucanis Dellamorte from Tevinter Nights. When I first made this post, it also didn't even occur to me that Lucanis might have faked his own death in order to escape the responsibility of being the successor of his grandma, First Talon Caterina Dellamorte, as him struggling with this was also highlighted in the "Wigmaker Job" in Tevinter Nights.

7.) "Not Sten"

Ok, I still have no idea who this could be, BUT I will note that this guy has a striking resemblance with Strife, who we have since seen in the The Missing comics. 👀

8.) Ghost Rider Jr/"Manfred"

Yeah, other than that this guy comes 100% from the Grand Necropolis in Nevarra... I have no clue. lol A lot of people want him to be Audric from Tevinter Nights (though I'm personally still voting for Manfred the skeleton butler that was only mentioned once lol).

Interesting thing to note though is that there was a guy named Emmrich Volkarin in the short story "The Flame Eternal", which took place in 9:22 Dragon in the Grand Necropolis.....

....and in one of the BioWare Community Updates, they revealed a few codex entries, one of which about the Grand Necropolis that had a name that was redacted....

....and some clever folks figured out that the redacted space fit perfectly with the name "Emmrich". 👀 Sooo... maybe there's a connection here?

Also, speaking of the upside down figures in the 2020 teaser mural a few years later, I'm now pretty confident that these two are actually Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan! 😁

And last but not least, on the topic of the next protagonist.. Well, because of the 2023 reddit leaks, we now have a potential name/title that might hint at a spy background, so I think my theory about Rook being hired/recruited by Varric to get the idol still has merit! 😂

There you go, that's the update, I can't wait to learn more about all of them (if they actually made it in the final version of the game) and let's see how wrong I was whenever The Veilguard is introduced to us!! <3333

I was in the mood to write down a little personal speculation post on this companion concept art piece that was shown in the Behind the scene video in 2020, because although we can’t really conclude anything from this and like Patrick Weekes said, the concept art is more about conveying a certain mood than anything substantial really, I just think it’ll be fun to look at this later on, if only to see how wrong I was. :D

(Also, I got a bit carried away and speculated a bit about the next protagonist as well later on, if anyone’s interested.)

Putting the rest under a cut, cuz it got looong.

Keep reading

[felassan]

Game Informer:

"Cover Reveal – Dragon Age: The Veilguard by Wesley LeBlanc on Jun 09, 2024 at 02:00 PM This month, Dragon Age: The Veilguard (you read that right – Dreadwolf is no more) graces the cover of Game Informer. After years developing Baldur's Gate and its sequel early in its history, BioWare struck out to create its own fantasy RPG. That series began with Dragon Age: Origins in 2009. It was followed up with Dragon Age II in 2011, and then Dragon Age: Inquisition in 2014. While the Dragon Age series' history has its ups and downs, fans have been patiently waiting for BioWare to return to the franchise, and 2024 is finally the year.  We visited BioWare's Edmonton, Canada, office for an exclusive look at Dragon Age: The Veilguard, including a look at its character creator, its prologue and opening missions, and more. We also spoke to many of the game's leads about the name change, the series' shift to real-time action combat, the various companions (and the relationships you can forge with them), and The Veilguard's hub location. You can learn about the titular Veilguard, Solas' role in the game, and so much more in our 12-page cover story for Dragon Age: The Veilguard."

"But there are plenty of other excellent reads within this issue of Game Informer! Some of us flew to Los Angeles, California, to attend Summer Game Fest and the not-E3 weekend's various other events to check out new games, interview developers, and more. Our previews section is jam-packed with new details about upcoming releases we can't wait for.  Brian Shea flew to Warsaw, Poland, to check out two upcoming releases – Frostpunk 2 and The Alters – and he came away excited about both. Jon Woodey went hands-on with Final Fantasy XIV's upcoming Dawntrail expansion (and spoke to director Naoki Yoshida, too), and as someone with 8,000 hours in the game, his words are the ones you'll want to read.  On the freelance front, Charlie Wacholz writes about how last year's Dave The Diver is one of the best game representations of the rewards and struggles of working in the food and beverage industry, and Grant Stoner spoke with Sony and Microsoft about the development of process and history of the companies' Adaptive and Access controllers. And for a lil' terror this summer, Ashley Bardhan spoke to several horror game developers about why the alluring town known as Silent Hill is a crucial location to Konami's horror masterpiece.  As always, you'll find an editor's note from editor-in-chief Matt Miller, reviews from various freelancers and staff editors, a Top 5 list (hint hint: dragons), and more. Here's a closer look at the cover:"

"Not a print subscriber yet but want this issue? Well, you're in luck! Subscribing today – or within the next few days – will net you a print copy of this issue! You can join the ranks of the Game Informer print subscribers through our new standalone print subscription! Just head here to sign up for either one or two years at a fraction of the cost of buying the issues individually! You can even gift a print subscription to your favorite gamer! SUBSCRIBE TO THE PRINT MAGAZINE You can also try to nab a Game Informer Gold version of the issue. Limited to a numbered print run per issue, this premium version of Game Informer isn't available for sale. To learn about places where you might be able to get a copy, check out our official Twitter, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, BlueSky, and Threads accounts and stay tuned for more details in the coming weeks. Click here to read more about Game Informer Gold. Print subscribers can expect their issues to arrive in the coming weeks. The digital edition launches June 18 for PC/Mac, iOS, and Google Play. Individual print copies will be available for purchase in the coming weeks at GameStop."

[source] <- they explain at the link how to read this issue.

aaah they have had a look at the character creator!!! I can't wait for this coverage.