#but then will ROMANCE neve. who also picked minrathous over treviso.

[vimoftheforest]

canonically , my rooks relationship with Lucanis ended after he walked off mid smooch, and then started Emmrichs romance 💀💚

[utilitycaster]

The thing that I think gets me about Neve the most, and this is past the point where I personally am in the game, is that you can still romance her after you've chosen to prioritize Treviso (which you can't do for Lucanis if you do the reverse). The thing is, it makes sense. Neve judges you negatively for trusting her. There's a dialogue in the Shadow Dragons hideout where Tarquin (Shadow Dragons faction agent) gripes about The Viper (Shadow Dragons faction agent and leader) running background checks on him, before admitting he'd probably do the same. And the thing is, if you tell Tarquin that this seems reasonable he accepts it, but he seems irritated. Neve doesn't.

You meet Neve striking a pose, having frozen her assailants, needing none of your help. Neve does not, on the whole, ever seem to want your help until she begs you to save Minrathous. She approves of you taking her to interrupt the ritual, and seems to be entirely unbothered by the fact that it leaves her badly bruised - indeed, you have to actively choose to leave her behind later when you go looking for Bellara.

Neve loves Minrathous and Dock Town, which means she also hates them. She takes you there, if you do the companion quest, which you should. She invites you after Bellara fangirls out over some news pieces about her (Neve drily remarks they were hit pieces), to go pick up some leads and some serials Bellara wants. For all she's sarcastic, gruff, and even a little snide with Bellara (and with my playing of Rook, who is fairly direct and positive with the Veilguard companions) and doesn't believe a Tevinter serial would ever truly end happily if it were remotely realistic, she still wants to get those serials for her teammates. She's not here to make friends, though she's slowly doing so, but she also believes in working with your allies even when they're sunny and scatterbrained or bracingly positive and you're an exhausted, cynical detective.

Exhausted is I think the most salient point. Neve is fucking tired. She tells you she's lived in Dock Town her whole life, and she became a detective, taking on cases for people who weren't helped by the Templars (who, you learn in one of the core missions prior to your choice to save only one of Minrathous and Treviso, are corrupt all the way up to the top). After solving a missing person case successfully, with an implication that she freed a slave in the process, the Shadow Dragons recruited her, but she's been doing the same work she always done. And the Shadow Dragons, meanwhile, in addition to attempting, with limited success, to infiltrate the Magistrate and fight for abolitionism, also do a lot of work like Neve's: helping people on the street. Their basement is full of unhoused and hungry people with nowhere else to go.

Neve is tired because, I think, she doesn't really believe Minrathous will get much better in her lifetime. She tells you in her companion quest, as you eat street food on the docks, looking out into the ocean, that she treasures the small wins because that's what she gets. Whereas the Crows remember a free Treviso and fight for that, Neve, in particular, feels like she's just trying to keep things from getting worse, and maybe help a few people. She's cynical because dreaming big probably won't pan out and she knows it so she's not going to waste her time.

Her work is her life. Her gift is literally just more evidence. Harding, Lucanis, and Bellara all reminisce about friends and family, but Neve still hasn't yet. You get the sense that Rana, one of the few clean Templars with whom she works, is probably the person she'd put down as an emergency contact. She doesn't even really get along with Tarquin, though, to be fair, doesn't seem like anyone does. Her world is a network of people who are useful.

I'm going somewhere with this, and that's, unsurprisingly, to Critical Role Campaign 3, because after all that here's my thesis: Neve is what people want some of Bells Hells, but especially Ashton, to be.

I've seen defense of Ashton's abrasiveness because many leftists are abrasive people, and the thing is, that's not untrue, but they're abrasive because they're like Neve: they're doing endless difficult work with very little reward or thanks, and at most they get small wins.

What has Ashton done for their communities? The Nobodies and Krook House aren't feeding the hungry or fighting corruption; the former is a group of thieves with no particular cause and the latter a punk co-op house. What was Ashton doing for the people of Jrusar or Bassuras? I struggle to find anything tangible. There's a lot of talk and no action - punk aesthetics and a lot of talk about standing for the weak, but when do they actually do that? It's all very surface level, and so the defenses of Ashton must focus entirely on what and who they are (nb, disabled, punk, had a terrible childhood) and what they say but never, ever, what they do. It's posturing.

Neve? It's entirely what she does. She is, for what it's worth, disabled and queer (and played by a woman of color, though whether she's coded as such in-game probably requires an academic background in both the history of Thedas and the history of the real-world Black Sea region) but we don't know a damn thing about her childhood yet. We don't know if she's been hurt or heartbroken or abandoned until we, as Rook, have to decide whether to do that to her. And when we do? She takes her time (she's not back yet in my game) but in the end, she blames the actual root causes of the elven gods sending the dragon and blight, and the Venatori working with them and, as far as I know, gets back to work. As she always has.

[championofthefade]

Thinking about Veilguard sometimes really makes me start picking it apart.

Yes, I did like it for what it is. But as someone who played the three games for the first time this year, I found it disheartening at times.

Long story short for those who rather not read my rambling: I liked Veilguard, but there are parts that just don't feel right and that everything we've done in Thedas the last three games were all for naught. (I'm yapping about my complaints, might make a more positive post later)

It's a mixed bag, really.

While I liked the gameplay, there are things that just don't rub me the right way.

The first immediate example is how the (only, in my opinion) major choice we are presented with is choosing Treviso and Minrathous. We have the choice to harden the other companions in spirit, but the only ones that actually are affected are Lucanis and Neve.

While I have done both paths, I can't say that one is a better choice over the other. Shadow Dragons are decimated if you choose Treviso, Treviso is blighted if you choose Minrathous. I think that it's fair that Lucanis doesn't want to romance Rook if you choose Minrathous, because he wants to save his city from dying. He trusted you to follow through, while Neve expects that you won't since she's a cynic. Which makes sense why she's willing to still romance you if you choose to save Treviso, although it'll be a bit more challenging to, because you were presented with an impossible choice. I don't mind that he ends up with Neve, even if the romance for all the companions kinda fall flat if you think about it too much.

Another thing is Taash. Their identity is important to their story, but having Rook (us the player) choose how to deal with their cultural crisis doesn't make sense and makes me not want to repeat those quests. Why is there no option to embrace both the Qun and being Rivani? Why am I the one choosing how Taash chooses to express themselves? Relating back to the city choices, Lucanis and Neve both choose their hardened options with Illario (getting jail) and Aelia (being given to the Threads). With Taash, the choices are a little less clear to me. I think we shouldn't be able to dictate one's cultural choices.

One of the worst choices that we have to make as Rook is Harding vs Davrin. Thinking about the amount of people who are saving Davrin just for Assan is actually crazy to me. I love Davrin, but he's reminding me of what happened to Wyll in BG3, and it's not a fun time. (I can barely pick up BG3 for various reasons and this is one of them.) I'm glad Bioware doesn't pander to the fans that are loud, because I don't have to worry about everyone's favorite white boy getting more content than the only black companion (saying this as a white person myself). I will always save Davrin because he is a compelling character even without Assan. I love the feather-brain but I feel like I want to know Davrin more than his mythical son.

I hate that we only got three world state choices, two of which don't really matter since it's more flavor text. It doesn't matter if we disbanded or merged into the Chantry, we don't see the consequences of those actions. It doesn't matter if your Inquisitor wants to Stop Solas at All Costs, because apparently they feel responsible for Solas being... Well, Solas. And our romances, outside of Solavellan, were reduced to a codex entry and sidelined.

Yes, Solas is important, and yes, I expected his romance to be given more light. I'm in the camp of people who feared that was going to be the case. And it was.

Yes, I agree that him getting a Good Ending with his vhenan is one of the better endings, but his friendship one and facing his fear of dying alone is also important. I liked playing a Rook that tricked him, I liked playing a Rook that chose to fight him as well. I'm glad we have at least those aspects that we can control.

As someone who has romanced Lucanis and Neve so far, I wish there were more little cutscenes, and not just for Lucanis. I'm just okay with how things are, even if they're a bit empty in comparison to what we could've had. That being said, I think that there's always room for improvement to have a more fulfilling resolution to the romance in the game the devs claimed was the most romantic. I wish there was more, I wish that there had been more to support that claim. I want to feel closer to these companions, and I am sure that I will as time goes on. But as it stands, for now after sitting with the game for nearly a month (11/29), I wish we had gotten more.

I would like to say that it really doesn't feel like the most romantic compared to the other three games. (Blackwall's "heart laid bare", Dorian's "you're dreadfully dull and I hate you", Josephine's letter of "let me make a promise to you here. I dream you will say yes", Zevran's "I'll storm the Black City for you, never doubt it", Anders' "ten years, a hundred years from now, someone like me will love someone like you, and there will be no templars to tear them apart", just to name the few that feel more romantic than what we're sitting with for Veilguard romances. And one of them is a codex entry.)

I hate that we have to learn through missives that the South is gone, save for Skyhold. I hate that we had no power to help the South, and that the last three games were all for naught. It's upsetting to know that Ferelden is gone. RIP Orlais, you slayed too close to the sun. Kirkwall being empty is a scary thought, but it's gone too.

It makes me wonder where HOF is. Did they ever find a cure? Are they even alive? What about a Hawke that didn't get left in the Fade? You mean to tell me that they wouldn't be out there in the frontlines doing something? You mean to tell me that they're sitting on their asses?

Varric dying is something else entirely, but it's just gut wrenching that we don't even get to mourn him. A second playthrough was mindbogglingly eye-opening. Harding was mourning when you check on her in her little room. Neve reminisces about how Varric brought her onto the job and she wishes that she didn't take it. They were mourning while Rook probably looked like they were in the denial stage of grief. What killed me inside was the fact I caught it the first time when Bellara name dropped Varric like she didn't know he was there. That's when I started thinking maybe he was gone, but I didn't want to believe it. I had to step away from my computer when the reveal happened because I was devastated.

We don't get to see just how the team made the fake lyrium dagger, or how they even managed to find Rook in the first place. We don't get to see the love interest's reaction, only the aftermath where they are still registering that Rook is there. We don't even get an explanation on how those things were possible. To create a perfect lyrium replica and locate someone in the Fade? Knowing that we could've had a mission to save whoever was left in the Fade hurts. RIP to those left in the Fade.

The secret ending is just... Bewildering to say the least. What do you mean that there's an even bigger force that has been controlling the narrative from Across the Sea? What do you mean these incredibly well written villains had no agency in their choices and were being used to orchestrate whatever the hell the Executors wanted?

Again, what do you mean that all that we've been through in Thedas just doesn't matter anymore?

[butterflydm]

In the continuing adventures of my Rook, I have met my last three companions, and also learned that the spoiler I accidentally ran across wasn't an endgame spoiler after all, yay!

As for those last three companions, Taash feels like a similar kind of "brash 19 year old" energy that we had from Sera in DAI; Emmerich is very polite and I like him; and Davrin is pretty aces so far (and Assan!! My baby!!! Rook can hug him sometimes!!!!).

Davrin needing to go from Assan's bodyguard to his primary nurturer has been very sweet. We've had a couple of good conversations about it.

As for the spoiler that I was worried about, I accidentally ran across a title about needing to choose between saving Treviso and Minrathous, and I was worried it would be an endgame choice but it was actually right after I recruited Davrin, so fairly close to where I stopped off in my last post. Didn't get spoiled too badly!

I really liked the effects of it! I chose Treviso, for a couple of reasons -- my Rook was more invested in that city due to Lucanis; and also they assumed that Minrathous had more resources to handle a dragon than Treviso did, given what they saw at the beginning of the game. The game taking Neve away for two main story missions in order to help clean up the city afterwards, and 'hardening' her character in ways that had gameplay effects is very cool! Poor Neve! She's also the one who got injured in this game, because I took her along at the start, so she's having a rough time. I think I'm going to make my second Rook a Shadow Dragon to make sure I have enough personal investment in Minrathous to make sure I pick it over Treviso in my second run (I think I'll also go with my Inky who disliked Solas in that run, to see if it changes any dialogue or etc).

We saw Ghilan'nain when we went to Treviso (very effectively creepy, with the tentacles and all) so I wonder if we would have seen Elgar'nan if we'd gone to Minrathous instead.

I don't think I mentioned this last time, but Varric telling the framing story has been fun and ominous, lol. Every time I get a new companion, he's basically like "and then a new source of trouble snuck in behind them in their wake" lol. And I love the art that we get every time that it's Storytime with Varric.

Companion updates: the character who gets along best with Lucanis so far is Taash -- everyone else is creeped out by the demon aspect, but spirits are more integrated into Rivani culture, so she takes it in stride and even already had a conversation with Spite (and on a meta level, I love that 'Spite' literally kept Lucanis alive while he was imprisoned; embodiment of 'fuck you I won't do what you tell me to do'). But Bellara recently had a positive conversation with him too, so that could be a good sign.

Varric has even sorta warned Rook against getting too close to Lucanis (specifically because of the demon). He's having Anders flashbacks, I'm pretty sure lol. (too late. fairly certain I'm going to romance Lucanis. The only person who could maybe persuade me away is Davrin).

Bellara's hero worship of Neve in the early parts of the story was cute but I don't know if that'll have a chance to continue with Neve hardened by the story's events.

Loving exploring the regions and they really do feel so big. Definitely more 'gated' than DAI but that's not a bad thing. Areas open up when you do quests with people but then stay open afterwards so that you can go back to them, which I like.

I am also loving all the new explorations into the lore! The Crossroads and the Lighthouse make this spirit-loving girl feel great. Cole was one of my favorite companions in DAI, I romanced Anders in DA2, and I took Wynne everywhere with me in DAO because she was my healer, so I ALWAYS spend a lot of time with my spirit-based/possessed companion, lol (I also loved Justice in DAO: Awakening).

I love learning more about spirits and demons and the relationship between the two, because I've always found it interesting. (Haha, it really was A Moment when I found out that Wynne is apparently 49 in DAO; I thought she was in her eighties or something when I was playing the game, lol.)

On the mechanics side of things, I like the new version of upgrading gear, and DAV really cut down on collectables & fetch quests -- there's really only one 'collectables' quest and it has a solid and immediate impact (powering up the caretaker). I also like that the companions 'skill points' are based on their relationship with you and that they skill up as you get to know them better and get closer to them.

The fighting feels fairly fluid and intuitive playing as a rogue. I was finding it a little trickier with my first Rook (who was a mage). But shifting between archery and daggers is pretty smooth, and the combos are fun. And now that I've specialized as an Antivan Crow, I can do 'Murder of Crows' as my ultimate attack, so that's a fun time.

Hours played so far: roughly 30

[thessalian]

Thess vs The Suicide Mission, Thedas Edition

...Because ... c'mon. It was. The dev team in charge of combat was not the only team taking cues from Mass Effect there - that was a combination of ME2's Suicide Mission and ME1's assault on Virmire.

I wasn't sure how I was going to go about it, in the end. I had all the spoilers. I knew what happened to the ones I picked. And in the end, I went for Harding for the distraction team, and Neve for the wards. And ... honestly, from a narrative perspective? I think it works way, way better than picking Davrin and Bellara in their respective roles. Not for the mission itself so much - though that too, thinking about it - but definitely after, in the Fade prison.

I mean, they come from the same root, in the end, the reasons they're so thematically appropriate as choices, in my view. That's ... the team you started with. That's Neve and Harding, who were at your side from more or less the very first, other than Varric. You charged the first ritual together; they've known what's on the line longer than anyone else in the group. Hell, they've known the power they're facing longer than anyone else in the group. It makes sense that the two who've been at your side longest would be trusted with their own teams. It also makes sense from the point of view of what they do. The distraction team really did need a scout for stealth ambush, and while Bellara knows magic from a resonance perspective, Neve identified those wards as, like, Blood Magic Squared, and she knows blood magic better than anyone else on the team. so between them basically having earned a sort of second-in-command role by dint of seniority and them having expertise in the fields involved? They seem like good choices.

I didn't realise how good until I got to the Fade prison. I mean ... there's Neve saying those things about, "Who's going to protect Dock Town now that I'm gone, Rook?" and "I told you the wards were dangerous and you chose me anyway!" and ... Neve having issues with you in terms of your decisions makes a lot of sense, especially if you picked Treviso over Minrathous out in Act 1. She came to trust slowly either way, I think, and you can really see her being devastated that someone she finally decided to actually trust got her killed. Bellara doesn't have the same kind of narrative hook, and very much not the personality for that kind of remonstrance. And while it probably would have been touching as hell to have Davrin playing the voice of the "angel", so to speak? It suited Harding's personality so well. Harding has always been the one for the pep talks. While there's definitely a difference in narrative voice (though not literal voice), Harding in Inquisition was always trying to find a way to turn a report about a new region into something funny, or interesting, or not "just a report". She always believed the Inquisitor could handle anything, and expressed that opinion all the time. She did the same for Rook, and just about anyone else in the group. Damn straight she'd be the one giving the pep talk. It sounds right coming from her.

Mostly, though ... while it all makes narrative sense ... it's the kind of metaphorical knife in the gut that I sometimes crave. That's all three of the ones you started out with - the two other than Rook that were Varric's personal recruits ... and Varric himself. With Harding and Neve being the ones who are waiting in the prison of Rook's regrets, it really does feel like letting go of the past and accepting the role of leader in a way Rook maybe didn't before. There's no Varric to give them advice now, and all the recruits left are Rook's own, inspired by Rook ... well, being Rook, without "well, Varric vouched for them" to lean on.

Entirely aside from that - while I understand exactly why it was Emmrich and Lucanis reaching into the Fade to help Rook get out, hearing a romanced Lucanis yell for Rook did give me the warm fuzzies. One day I will find out how a romanced Emmrich sounds in that one.

Speaking of, I know there's going to be a LI and Protagonist Romantic Moment a la "Shepard and LI before the final run to save the Citadel in ME1" coming up. But tomorrow's going to be another long day, and I figure I can spend the morning having "optional chats" to the team members and hopefully have enough spoons for romance and killing a god tomorrow. So a wind-down is required.

[maythedreadwolftakeyou]

Here's mine!

Rook: Juniper Aldwir, a dalish elf mage, I mostly went for the direct/aggressive dialogue options with a few of the more positive/nicer or joke-y options in companion convos. I went with the spellblade specialization and ended up loving it after a rough mage start. I also played arcane warrior/knight enchanter my first DAO and DAI runs though so. lmao. i have a type.

Faction: Veil jumpers! How could I not go with the scientific study of weird magic group... I've decided she's more on the geography and cartography side of the profession rather than mechanics/tinkering like Bellara, which is why she's not the one fixing the broken objects you encounter herself. I imagine she's the one drawing maps of all the places you go, making notes of interesting landmarks/items, etc. the crossroads drives her insane (bc it drives ME insane) because of the weird half reality half fade logic to the locations, travel, etc.

Companions/NPCs: My go to companion squad was Lucanis and Davrin or Taash for the best combos/fighting, and Emmrich because I enjoyed his comments/character a lot too. NPC wise, of course finally seeing FELASSAN!!! was great and he got so much more content and dialogue than I expected. was cheering every time i found another codex entry from him, and the Betrayal fight ruled. otherwise, like most everyone else i LOOOOVEEEE Teai & Viagos Divorced Energy... i'm obsessed. And then Antoine & Evka for actually wholesome, and Vorgoth bc idk wtf is up there but its sexy. but also THE CARETAKER what IS it... i have so many questions... that i will be filling in with weird headcanons probably. I also liked listening in on the two fledgling crows on the balcony who have a ton of unique banters, and a couple other npc banter points idk how to describe lmao. Some of the spirit ones in the crossroads I wish we got more of.

Romance: Lucanis my BELOVED obviously i am doing... an insane amount of lucanisposting lately... yeah I've got the full brainworms. even though the game itself was lacking in content my neurons are instead working overtime to try to fill in everything the game left out

Major decisions: I saved Treviso because Minrathous JUST had its turn being saved, shouldn't they like??? be mobilizing the ARMY they actually have over there by now??? they should have been better prepared idk what else to say. insane it got hit a 3rd time at the end anyway so i stand by my choice in picking Antiva. As for the companion endings, I felt most didn't really make a difference to me, with the exception of Emmrich. I kept manfred on this run becuase I was NOT ready to say goodbye to my gentle skeleton son 😭 next game i will romance Emmrich and make him a lich tho. As for the ending... I sent Harding to lead the second squad and Neve was the one who got mirror-kidnapped. Whcih did leave for an absolutely devastating post-Nightmare-In-Dreamland fade sequence where Rook suddenly had NONE of the companions she started the game with. Getting hit with losing Harding, losing Neve, and then the realization that Varric had been dead the whole time definitely makes for some angsty roleplay opportunity, though I do wanna replay it with Bellara in the final position just so I can watch her stand up to the gods, because i think that'd be pretty great. Ending-wise: I'm a Solavellan fool who's been pining for a real life decade now almost so I of course went for that lmao. I will play through all the other options just for the drama of it all, and probably come up with some adjusted exact sequence for how things go as a headcanon, but yeah.

again pls feel free to reblog & add yours, i've really liked reading about the couple who've answered so far :))))

ok i know ive been doing a lot of bitching about the game etc but putting that aside for a moment. Now that more people have finished Veilguard, I'm curious about people's first playthroughs!

What kind of Rook did you make (lineage, class, dialogue personality options, etc)?

What faction did you play as?

Fave companions and npc's?

Who did you romance?

The major choices--what'd you do? (which city, saved, notable companion routes you strongly prefer, what went down in act 3 and endgame...)

Any particular missions/lore you were excited about?

you don't have to be a mutual to reply to/reblog this! im just curious what we all veered to for the first run. i'm doing a second one now making different choices but it's interesting to compare people's first instincts.

[utilitycaster]

I also really like that because of the choices that unavoidably make things bad for companions you really do get a very obvious case of "good story for a character" and "good story over all". I've talked about this a little in regards to Actual Play, both in terms of romances (an unrequired crush is super important for a character's narrative but pretty much irrelevant to an overall one) and other major events, death being the obvious one as it's often crucial to the overarching narrative but obviously ends the majority of the personal one.

Really the two main decisions here for Veilguard that actively cut things off are the Minrathous/Treviso decision, and the character who sacrifices themself so the party can get Ghilan'nain, and the latter is much more a "what if" for post-canon speculation. I'm no longer as sure as I was (and I am planning a second run post-Thanksgiving, to be done rather more slowly) but I think that it still makes more sense narratively to save Treviso, since Minrathous being weakened sets up the final encounters better, in my opinion, and there's something nice about the Crows coming to Minrathous's aid here (vs the Fire and Ice fight, where they initially came for their dragon and then gladly assisted with Minrathous's as well). However, this limits Neve's narrative. She isn't faced with a decision to embrace a more public and hopeful approach; she has to work with more unsavory elements in the service of a goal. And while there's still a lot of satisfying elements in how I played her story (the "whatever it takes" of it all playing nicely into her being willing to use the blight to wrest control of an archdemon in the end) it might not be the one that serves the character as best as it can.

I also had Davrin give his life for Ghilan'nain, and that one is much harder because there's a case to be made that having him live through the Wardens adjusting to a radically different purpose is the natural and satisfying conclusion to his story. I think the fact that I don't have a sense of Harding's legacy at all if she dies whereas if you did Davrin's quest, his legacy very much lives on, is part of it, as is to be fair the fact that you cut to credits immediately at the end so you don't see the ramifications play out over months as you do for the city choice. But either way, the story is about moving forward after the death of a character who served in many ways as a beacon, and what serves a character and what serves an overall narrative might be different. (I've also seen that the choice you make here really influences how your Rook feels going into the final choice for Solas; that if you lose Harding, it makes the forgiveness option more appealing. This is really interesting to me because the way I played Rook, it really did have to be the forgiveness option no matter what, and when coupled with the fact that I picked Harding embracing her anger and she was also deeply angry at Solas I think if anything her death might have been a slight push towards trickery that wouldn't have outweighed Rook's inclinations in the end, but I can definitely see a more cynical Rook being swayed one way or the other by Harding's compassion for Solas vs. Davrin's firm principles, and so that's also a case where the overall story vs. character story might be at odds).

[utilitycaster]

I HAVE VEILGUARDED. everything below the cut for spoiler reasons. I will also say to the anon I shut down earlier (again, me not you!) that I do intend to do a second run because I had a marvelous time, I would really love to do the Dock Town quests and explore Neve's other options (and romance her, frankly) and check out some of the other companion options (honestly I'd be open to almost all of them except for Lichdom. sorry I refuse to leave Manfred dead and I'm correct.) and maybe this time I'll actually solve the stupid wisp puzzles and get all the chests and uhhhhh maybe even play on Easy mode instead of Easier Than Easy mode (because lbr my equipment does not matter a ton because. story mode.)

because I am a good girl and did all the quests everyone lived. I also accidentally got the best ending, because Rook in this run is a romantic and optimistic person. This is funny to me because I am god's greatest hater and so I am ROLEPLAYING a character who is like yeah inquisitor go be with your boyfriend who looks like a stupid egg. I did have the Diet Essence Of Mythal but I've been informed the secret even better ending only hits if you know other past characters, which I don't, so whomst cares!

Takes on characters from previous games in brief. Obviously Harding is great. Solas gets his happy ending and that is FINE I guess. Generic Default Inquisitor Lavellan is like. again Rook is like "do what makes you happy but I am like DUMP HIM. which means that while Morrigan is very "I say things in a portentous voice that are extremely obvious" to me, her deep and abiding hater tendencies towards Solas do it for me. Obviously Varric is great as well. Dorian and Mae? Great (unsure if Mae is in previous games but anyway, love her). Not sure who else is a returning character but I think that covers the bulk of it.

This is very out of order but: because no one died other than of course Davrin in the Isle of the Gods, the pay respect for the dead scene is unintentionally really fucking funny to me, a person who has had to go into morgues for professional reasons. Literally like I walk into a morgue where I know zero people. I walk out. I pass Teia and Viago flirting aggressively as an archdemon ravages Minrathous. I continue.

The final conversations are really good; blighted Neve is of course horrifying but she gets better and her nailpolish, crucially, is not chipped. This is HILARIOUS to me. The final romance line with Bellara is lovely. The ending conversations are all really good but Taash's and Emmrich's were my favorite outside of Bellara's. My girlfriend and I are going to hang out with griffons and she's going to write so much fanfiction about us and it will be unhinged.

Hilarious and sexy of me to wear the appearance of the shadow dragons armor I got literally in like. Shadows of Minrathous or something. the entire fucking time. You can see it in the screenshots and I assure you it's only for the vibes (deep V neck and sick chest tats), I am actually in +8 Warden Champion full plate armor and wearing some wild-ass helm (I did not at any point hide the appearance of my shield. even when I was using the gaudiest gold one that looks like a shell from the lords of fortune. I eventually got a very sick-ass Mourn Watch shield). But it does feel really funny to like, pick Treviso, send Neve to the shadow realm, and wear this armor the full time. I literally didn't see Tarquin for like 2.5 acts.

Elger'nan's first form is weak to necrotic damage. I took Taash and Lucanis. I am fully statted out as a reaper. I have an AOE that does over a thousand necrotic damage. genuinely it was a comedy, I triggered the cut scene where Neve goes to the throne and wrests control so Solas can kill the archdemon almost immediately. Second battle was harder but also level 50 story mode so it was FINE.

I do think a Trick Solas ending would be fun; fighting him seems like it would just kind of suck but like. It's funny I actually really did feel grateful after Blood of Arlathan and then after he stuck me in the mind prison I was like FUCK THIS GUY FOR REAL even after he helped us through in the endgame and killed the archdemon.

Lords of Fortune continue to be hilarious to me. There's a codex that's very BY OUR POWERS COMBINED right before the final assault on Minrathous that I described thusly:

Then in the final scene before the narration the Lords are pulling people out of the wreckage. Imagine you're in a world-ending fight during an eclipse with wild-ass mood lighting and you are trapped under rubble as a horrifying blight tentacle monster rages above and then it all stops and THEN someone in a gold bikini helps you up.

In all seriousness the fact that the Mourn Watch and Lords of Fortune don't come up in the final narration does have me like. yeah whoever wrote their faction quests should have worked harder. I know the mourn watch is largely unscathed because there's no point blighting the undead but like, idk, I feel there could have been more venatori work there that tied into Zara's whole deal, and the Antaam or Wardens ties to Rivain could have been more thoroughly explored. Taash and Emmrich's companion questlines are fantastic but even playing Mourn Watch and loving the build and the vibe, I was like hmmmm this is underserved.

Second hater moment: loved the song over the credits but it felt jarring as hell to have a modern sound here. stick to the hans zimmer. this reminds me, I should listen to the soundtrack because as my Midst Mutuals can attest I am literally the worst at noticing themes. I know Harding's and Emmrich's because I really like them and like, I vaguely recall Lucanis's because it's got accordion elements but otherwise I'm like uhhhhh if it's not the main theme or the Solas theme I'm confused.

I also realized that hilariously, if you like Neve or Lucanis but are ok with romancing someone else (and I very much am) it's actually kind of great to fuck over their city because then you feel justified in taking them out on every single mission to try to up your bond level.

Finished with Lucanis, Harding, and Bellara fully level 10 and everyone else level 9 (including Davrin, RIP); I do wonder how you can get everyone to 10. I might have assigned some quests badly but also like, 9 ain't bad.

anyway feel free to ask questions; this was great and I'm so happy I did it.

[in-finitesuns]

-putting on my neve defense squad tshirt-

spoilers under the cut for a crow!rook that went to treviso but also someone who has watched the SD!dragon to go treviso footage and also a neve kisser

i don't know where everyone is getting petty from - nothing she says or does is petty; she's definitely more cynical, definitely more jaded, definitely grieving (i sped-ran picking up taash and emmrich after on deadly wings so i could get her back), and if you have her in the party when you first return to dock town and minrathous, she's in shock/devastated at the state of the SD hideout. here's the thing: regardless of why you didn't pick minrathous, the reality is that you did not stand for dock town when it really came down to it.

neve reiterates over and over that people think minrathous is lost and not worth saving due to [insert any example of corruption, slavery, venatori] - you've confirmed that in her mind when you save treviso over minrathous. when you go back to minrathous to help, it could easily read to someone as cynical as neve is at this point, as someone who's just trying to ease their guilty conscience, not someone who cares about dock town.

you've confirmed some of her worst fears! she's gonna be upset, and even though I didn't read her actions as petty, it doesn't mean she doesn't deserve to be. (and while i missed her flirt dialogue on my crow file, it was so rewarding to see them pop back up during Cobbled Swan Case + the extra romance scene after.) (she's extra harsh with a shadow dragon!rook, definitely. even i was a little thrown by it, but i feel that it's because she allows herself to be a little more open with an SD!rook about how Fucked dock town is, how upset she was about viper getting blighted and her home destroyed, and ultimately, why a SD!rook didn't show up for their own home. she doesn't talk about 'a slow death' for viper for anyone but an SD!rook i think. i never got all the extra dialogue as a veiljumper or as a crow. just 'how's treviso? lucanis?' and 'tensions are high, you should go.') i kept her in the party for every mission because of the relationship slowed growth, and literally she's not snarky to rook except for when she tells you she's not interested in the personal catch-up or when she says 'i'm back on the job and that's all i'm saying about that.'

VEILGUARD SPOILERS BENEATH THE CUT

Regarding the backlash you receive in the decision of Treviso vs Minrathous. I have only the one playthrough, of a shadow dragon who chose Treviso, so my knowledge is based on Neve's reactions and my Shadow Dragon past.

Specifically post Weisshaupt, the first conversation with Neve, I received the pop-up "because you sided with Treviso, Neve does not trust you will stand for Dock Town." Or smth like that, transcribed from memory.

I know she's hurting. I wonder if this feels the same if you don't turn your back on your own city, or if Lucanis reacts similarly if you choose Minrathous. I'm just frustrated. I understand that's the point, she's hardened and doesn't trust Rook. But it feels a bit petty, especially at this point, when Rook has returned to Dock Town and helped people over and over again.

If you have a different background, or chose Minrathous, I'd really love to hear about Lucanis' reaction. Id like to say it's a story component, and they react similarly, because I don't want to hold this against Neve. Grief does horrible things to a person. And Rook should have to climb their way back into good standing and earn her trust again. It's all the pettiness that feels like such a horrible addition and adds nothing to the character or relationship development.