#companion quest were good tho

[time-awa-y]

Dragon age veilgaurd, although a beautiful game, honestly should of spent more time on the story then on the graphics.

Everyone likes the story of dragon age even when the graphics looked like they did in origins and the reason most people dislike veilgaurd is because it lacks story and choices.

Not to mention the ending is a bit underwhelming, like even the end monologue didn't have much going for it.

They made a beautiful game instead of a good story.

[butchvamp]

i finished the game last night, here are my unpolished thoughts about the final act and what i liked & didn't like. this is very long and probably incoherent lol

what i liked:

the whole final battle was awesome, i loved the combat, and i really enjoyed the huge cutscenes of everyone fighting together. i had been really disappointed earlier about the lack of a battle scene at weisshaupt a la ostagar in origins, and this definitely made up for it

i liked the suicide mission and actually getting to assign people their roles in the battle

i LOVED Solas's betrayal, that whole section in the fade prison with the statues was one of the strongest scenes in the game, i think the entire relationship between Rook and Solas is really well developed. as the player, we know Solas is manipulating them, but i think they did a good job making it so it's still believable for Rook to fall for his tricks, especially with the Blood of Arlathan quest before this. (also it's very obvious Solas is Weekes' favorite, wish they would have just stuck to him and not all that other dogshit...lol)

i liked the idea of Varric's role here, but not the execution. i'll come back to this lmao

the giant dread wolf and archdemon fight was cool as fuck. no notes. that's just classic rule of cool, baby

also i had Davrin in my party while fighting alongside Solas and i really enjoyed his banter with him and how hard he laid into Solas's ass. it was very satisfying. yippee go Davrin!

okay. now. what i didn't like (sorry not going to bother with bullet points, it's going to be longer down here lol):

while i liked the suicide mission structure, i hated how the game all but told you who to assign where. there were no stakes at all, there was no way to get it wrong unless you did so intentionally.

this also brings me to. The Choice. between Davrin and Harding. i understand the need for a "fallen hero" here, it ties into the entire theme of regret with Solas as we see in the fade prison, it was necessary for Rook to be the person "at fault" (aka directly make the choice that ends with someone getting killed) but this choice was dogshit. it also was really fucking stupid to see Harding climb up and stand atop a giant stone pillar, and then NOT use her stone magic!!! i don't hate the idea of someone dying here, but this was just a series of failed choices over and over again. we should not have pitted returning fan fave Harding against the single Black companion (who comes in late and barely even gets his own story outside of his damn pet)-- it should have been Harding (narratively satisfying, she's been here since the beginning and dies for the fight) or Lucanis (he is literally the guy taking the shot), we also shouldn't have tied all the dwarf lore revelations to a character that can just fucking die at the end, and we shouldn't have had her stand on a giant stone pillar when she has STONE MAGIC!! i knew this choice was coming but her death still caught me off guard cus i was fully expecting her to collapse that stone pillar on her, not use her stupid puny bow 😭

i think this choice is also weakened by the fact that it's THEE only choice. it's obviously an echo of the earlier Treviso and Minrathous choice, which also didn't really seem to affect much outside of potentially losing the corresponding factions (and i think Lucanis's romance gets locked out?) i saved Treviso, so i got the Treviso questline later, and i assume that you get a Minrathous specific questline with the Shadow Dragons if you save the other instead (haven't seen myself tho so i'm not sure, just guessing). but it's very easy to recover the Shadow Dragon's reputation, and the final battle takes place in Minrathous no matter what. the only way for companions to die or the battle to fail is to just straight up ignore quests. you can't lose a faction's support at all unless you intentionally try to do so. i don't even think you can lose companions at all unless you intentionally ignore their quests and place them in the wrong spot. though the game still holds your hand through the battle and basically Tells You who to put where so they survive.

and to be fair. this is true for the suicide mission in mass effect 2, but the thing is, there is so much more dialogue and variations with how you can play your character and interact with the companions and the world than there is in veilguard, it makes it feel like you do have more control over your character and the narrative, even if it's just the illusion of choice.

and then with Solas, it doesn't matter, he always ends up trapped/linked to the Fade, it just changes how he feels. (they also do this with the First Warden. i was excited for a potential variation between punching/not punching, but all it changes is his attitude when you find him later in Davrin's quest) okay.... well. is he going to return again after that post credit scene? and are they really going to write 3 (or 4, with lavellan i guess) different branching personality variations?

i think the powers that be just wanted to get rid of him in a way that would still leave the dragon age setting ultimately unaltered and open for more games in the future. especially given the secret post credits scene. which i also have an issue with. we're going to go from "it was all the Evanuris fault" to Actually, it was this secret third thing and everything we did was for nothing! AGAIN! if they want to make more dragon age games, they can just... start a new story. do they know that. (the fact they're implying Loghain was influenced by some outside force to do what he did at ostagar actually has me livid lol. leave origins alone!!!!)

anyways. now the fade prison. i have two issues, my main one being Varric. i actually started to suspect early on something was up with him, because he just sits in that damn infirmary the entire game, no interactions, barely any dialogue. i think Varric was horribly underutilized in this game, and it results in all of the emotional beats around him falling flat for me. of course, it's emotional for ME, the player, because Varric is a fan fave returning character and one of my own personal favorites. as far as i've seen in game, though... Rook has no relationship with him at all. i think this game would have been vastly improved with short playable origins that showed the two meeting and developing a relationship, and also he really really needed to have more scenes and dialogue in general. he's barely in the second half of the game, literally just sitting all by himself in that damn room, and even when he is in the cutscenes he has one single line that everyone obviously just ignores. it sucked. very disappointing finale for a really beloved character... it could have been so good if it was good....

because i DO love the idea of Solas using him to manipulate Rook (and i really like Varric and Solas's relationship & the way they contrast against each other), and also the idea of how being tricked in that way would actually affect Rook-- what's real, what's not, can they even trust what they're seeing at all anymore? especially when Solas "glitches" between Varric and Lucanis (idk if it's always him or your LI? would be cool if it's your LI, that's what i assumed) after slaying Ghilan'nain-- this could have tied in with the final romance scene. but of course the game doesn't get into any of that at all.

and now issue 2. how the fuck did Solas do that LOL. how did he switch places, how did he get out, how did it take Rook in his place when it was designed for elven gods? where are the other elven gods (did i just miss this explanation? did the other two just kill them in there)? 🤷 when did this place suddenly turn into a prison of regrets? was that Solas's presence influencing it, or did he do that intentionally for Rook? dont know! who cares. moving on...

i romanced Lucanis, and i was really disappointed with his romance. the final scene was sweet, but.... i think particularly with Lucanis you can tell so much of his story and arc ended up on the cutting room floor, it feels disjointed and as if we're missing pieces, and you can feel it in his romance, too. i also really didnt understand the "keep flirting (not a lock in) or end it now" choices that didnt feel like they did anything at all. why was i given like 3 different times to break up with him when we weren't even dating yet lmao. the romance was a bummer, of course i love the setting and the story but i go into these games expecting strong romance along with it and i was really banking on that being the highlight in this mess of a game but. alas

this also segues me back into the whole "trapped in the Fade prison" section. why was there no reunion with both your LI and everyone else? apparently Rook was in there for WEEKS!!! they hardly communicate this and Rook just reappears and jumps straight back into leading the team, no tears or questions asked about how they found them, how they got out, what everyone was thinking while they were gone... we also get a deus ex machina knife, how convenient that they did all that while i was gone and no explanation is given as to how it could possibly fool Solas, just trust us bro! 💆 i feel like trying to craft our own copy of the knife should have been something actively happening in the background throughout the entire game, and it gets finished while Rook is in the Fade. but this truly came out of nowhere lol

again i think it's obvious things were cut and rewritten and maybe this was the result of a frantic scramble to come up with something that would work, and i'll be generous and blame it on that, i guess...

when we finally get to the final confrontation with Solas, i was very excited, because again i feel like Rook and Solas's relationship is the best in the game, Solas's writing is consistent and strong, i knew this scene had to be good.... and i guess it was? but it felt so unsatisfying. i chose to fight him (my Rook would do anything to get him to shut up) and i was hoping for. an actual fight. you can do it with Mythal earlier in the game, and we already saw his giant wolf form, i was so excited. and then. no<3

okay! sure. we beat him with the power of friendship (not surprised and not even making fun of it here, it makes sense narratively, i knew some version of this was coming after the whole comparing Rook versus Solas bit in the Fade) but come onnnnn i wanted to fight the giant wolf.... sigh. i did check out the other endings as well, and it's clear the redemption ending is the "true" ending and also the best written one imo.

overall. this was a bad dragon age game. i had a lot of fun playing it though, so it's not a bad game game. the gameplay loop never got boring, i never got tired exploring or doubling back, i loved the maps, i loved the combat, and i did love the companions. but the writing is atrocious and racist. this is a horrible dragon age game. i don't know where i fall on recommending this. again, i've had a lot of fun playing and dissecting it, but i dont know that i could recommend this to dragon age fans. this would have been way more successful as a completely different fantasy game. the changes to the lore, disregarding the majority of the games that came before it, the horrible depictions of returning characters (the inquisitor and isabela were the worst offenders for me) the setting and characters feeling watered down and incomplete, the complete lack of the classic "grey morality" shtick (even if it's not always been implemented well)... idk man. bummer! it's obvious there was a cohesive vision at one point, i do think this game is a casualty of the current state of the gaming industry (i was honestly surprised it was functional on launch. not shade at bioware just in general that is rare to see now) we know EA thrashed bioware throughout development, and bioware made a lot of really bad choices, too (the racism is absolutely their doing, they made that choice back in inquisition). but we can see, particularly in the artbook, that there were good ideas & an intention to actually tie everything together and give this story the finale it deserved... but it all got lost along the way in a very ugly, chaotic development. and the game really suffers for it.

[robin-evry]

I'M LOVING THE IF YUU WAS HEADCANONS

Now hear me out.

What if Yuu was an Inugami?

Oooooohhhh you gave me an idea since it's October I'll post headcanon about spooky yuu or do some request everyday if I can, ask and you shall receive. I present to you inugami!yuu

𝐖𝐇𝐀𝐓 𝐈𝐅 𝐘𝐔𝐔 𝐈𝐒 𝐀 𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐆𝐀𝐌𝐈 🐕‍🦺👻

Inugami (犬神, "dog god/spirit"), like kitsunetsuki, is a spiritual possession by the spirit of a dog, widely known about in western Japan. Inugami (犬神) is a possession spirit similar to foxes (kitsune) but is located in places where foxes are absent, primarily in western Japan and the island of Shikoku.

( English is not my first language )

Day one : inugami!yuu

During the entrance ceremony, the headmaster Crowley realizes one student is missing and goes to find them to be selected for their respective dorms

Unfortunately after going around the school and even using the school ghosts to insist him on his quest for the student. But it seems that they disappeared Maybe they were scared or overwhelmed by the school so they ran away, but on the bright side Crowley found a dog following him who is wearing the ceremonial robe maybe the student takes off the robe and wears it to keep it warm.

Soon Crowley decided to adopt this adorable dog, giving them cheap food, a warm place to sleep in his office and new toys the cheap one. Although the dog tends to enter a class and sit somewhere as if it was a student. They even do the same task as the students doing their homework and when they walk past the staff it barks signaling as a good morning or good afternoon as if they were a student. Many students adored the dog especially the first years, ace and deuce treated the dog as if they were their best friend and companion

That reminds me the missing student still has not been found yet. Anyway soon something weird is happening at school for a few days, some students started to sleep walk or black out and then woke up in a different location. One student reports saying that they black out and found themselves in a restaurant with 5 bowls of soba and all of them are empty as if he was asleep eating. It seems like a ghost has been terrorizing the students of NRC by possessing them and buying multiple bowls of soba , all possessed students have had the same feeling of something entering their ears before blacking out.

After a few days the ghost managed to track down and was chased by the dorm leaders to the headmasters office. Soon the identity of the ghost was revealed, a mist appeared and the supposedly missing student, wasn't missing at all they were just in a different form and it was revealed the missing student was the dog of the headmaster and is an inugami.

Inugami!yuu finally met the first years for the first time in their human form. At first ace was surprised and while deuce was more shocked than ever. But after the shock was over. They will resume back to normal but ace will still tease and make fun of inugami!yuu by calling them a good boy.

They will apologize to the students they possessed and have to compensate the bowls of soba they bought using the students money. When the first year asked why would inugami possess the students they get "headmaster Crowley barely gives me good food always the cheapest ones so they possessed students to go out and eat their favorite food soba".

Even tho they manage to hide their identity for weeks, many students have already gotten suspicion over the dog cause how can the dog know how to write and understand things, this is an unusual dog behavior, especially to Leona. There's no way a dog can act like that.

Crowley moves inumagi!yuu to the ramshackle dorm because he was creeped out,( he told them all of his dark secrets ). Regardless Crowley will care for them even if their identity was revealed.

Floyd would casually try to squeeze inugami!yuu and hug them when he sees them. Just like when they're in disguise as a dog. And inugami!yuu would hug him back because he's behavior doesn't change after their identity was revealed

Inugami!yuu is extremely loyal to people they consider family. To the point inugami!yuu would never snitch in the first years and will protect them from any danger, for example inugami!yuu made a force field to protect the first year's from riddle overblot.

Similar to kitsune!yuu, inugami!yuu is a master at magic and possesses many magical abilities, but the difference between kitsune!yuu and them, inugami!yuu specialized in possession differently from kitsune!yuu who specializes in illusion magic. they are able to possess multiple people without any troubles at all and as well to enter people's minds and see their memories.

Inugami!yuu sympathize with the overblot squad but still it doesn't give them the right to hurt people. This leads to them being protective over the first years and a dislike towards the overblot squad but after time inugami!yuu will learn to forgive them but not now...

Regardless inagumi!yuu would fit right in NRC, and will always be their friend and classmate in NRC.

I kinda got carried away because of how much I love this idea, but I hope you guys enjoy this headcanon.

[nipuni]

Some various lighthearted life updates 🏃‍♀️

It's been a very busy last few months! in a good way mostly. We had a friend visiting us from overseas so we showed him around the city and took him to all our favourite places. We also met new people and were invited to a bunch of events so it's been very fun! We are all out of social battery tho so now we are slowing down a bit and getting back to work. Nicolas is on a short work trip to Berlin and I'm back to painting. We also started running! aaand we are also back to watching a bunch of shows and to me talking about it here to like five people 😌

Under the cut cause it's a lot as usual!

We finished watching S13 of Doctor Who! (we still have the specials to go but after that we are all caught up!) I haven't updated in ages so here are lot of opinions!

We really did not enjoy S11 😞 I was aware it wasn't very popular but we were hoping it was for all the wrong reasons, sadly we found many to be valid. Some of the episodes were baffling, Rosa? Kerblam?! the writing of the whole season in general felt like a rushed school assignment. The first part of Spyfall was a strong start for the next season but that ending in the second part was really not it. We did love Sacha Dhawan's Master tho!! and we really love Jodie too, 13th is adorable and reminded us of Ten at times! Jodie is such a fantastic actress that it makes the quality of the writing and everything else around her even more frustrating 😫 S12 was an improvement in general. In the last few episodes It felt like the writing team suddenly remembered the companions could have a personality and agency lmao. Highlights for us were Spyfall one, Fugitive of the Judoon and Haunting of villa Diodati, tho we did also enjoy most other episodes of the season despite their issues.

The timeless child plot reveal felt a bit underwhelming? The idea on itself has potential but it felt mishandled (and it had a bit of a Moffat flavour to it? and not in a good way). I think it was meant to add more depth to the Doctor's lore but in a way it ends up having the opposite effect. Then the flux was just a complete mess. It read like a Marvel sort of plot, very comic book like which is alright I suppose if that is something you enjoy but it felt out of place. But mostly it was just way too much, it got out of hand. Anyway we still have the specials to watch! and I think the Master is in them so we are looking forward to it 🥰

We also watched Broadchurch!! and we LOVED it. We ended up binging all three seasons. Chibnall's writing on this is surprisingly great and Jodie's acting is spectacular she really shines here. Olivia and David are always brilliant!! honestly everyone's acting was amazing. This series had us both tearing up every five scenes. The direction and the music are outstanding. I could watch Hardy and Miller solve crimes forever I really love their chemistry and dynamic. We went into it expecting the usual detective fiction but it ended up being a whole study on grief with such a focus on family and community and trauma and a ton of touching interconnected character arcs, just really really good!!

Then we also watched Taking over the Asylum!! MAN we were not expecting to have our hearts wrung out like laundry by this!! We thought it was a lighthearted show!! GOD we are still not over it, what the fuck!! It was so good we loved it!! but we were not prepared lmao what do you mean 'the end'?? we'll be thinking of this for months, I was expecting an extra scene after the credits or something. Excellent characters, refreshing depictions of mental illness and trauma and so crushingly realistic. Every character is so loveable I really wish this was longer 😭

And our quest to watch everything with David Tennant on it continues. We watched Decoy Bride on Valentines day too and it was terrible but such a hilarious fever dream kind of bad that it was fun, it has David on it and he never disappoints. I feel so lucky that Nicolas and I are both in love with him, get yourself a man who shares your celebrity crushes lmao it's so fun!! We feel like teens again chatting about him and drawing little hearts next to his pictures haha 🥰 We watched the BAFTAs just for him and speaking of the baftas!! I was not expecting that last drawing of his outfits to get that much attention oh my god 😭 thank you!! you are all insane and I appreciate it so much!! and thank you for all the support in general, about my art and photos and just everything. I feel very lucky and grateful 😭 anyway I'll end this before I get sappy, that is all for now! I hope this week is kind to you all, I'll be sharing some more art soon 😊

[charbies]

I'm mashing together my review of totk and reactions to random encounters with the masterworks I've had lately into one stream of consciousness

Totk should have had true continuity, not a 6 year time skip that we never get to see, experience, and feel. It's not that hard to bridge 2 games with a 1-2 min cutscene, esp in a zelda game. Majora's mask starts with quick, but meaningful exposition that bridges OOT to MM! The intro to wind waker is a 6 minute long cutscene!! This series thrives with its detailed, intriguing intros, so what happened?? Before I even launched totk the night it came out, I booted up botw and replayed the final boss & ending because I was so stoked to see the transition in story/world and wanted to honor both games. Instead boom, we're walking in a cave w/ no context.

I was so disappointed that zelda wasn't a companion character to link in totk, it was disempowering to her character arc. Really thought this game would build off of botw's snippets of link & zelda working together in memories. The teasers and trailers for totk gave this perception that she would be there (which would also "break tradition" like devs wanted, ffs). When I was on the tutorial island I was fully convinced I'd be finding her and we'd reconvene like "ok what's next." When I realized 20 mins into the game that she was GONE gone, as in will not reappear likely until the end of the game damsel-in-distress-style, my verbatim thought "wait... really? Is this still going to be good?" Which was kinda sad, for a game I waited so many years for :/

I had major pet peeves with the copy/paste nature of the cutscenes with the old sages. The dialogue, bgs, pacing, literally all identical. They just hot swapped the character models for the sages and said that was good enough, wtf!!! I live for cutscenes in games, I have since I was like 5. This felt lazy, and seriously demotivated me from completing the dungeons bc I knew there was going to be nothing novel or intriguing to look forward to

The secret stones were gimmicky af. Sorry. Also stupid name, they couldn't even opt for "sacred?" Ik in other languages they have way cooler names, which would have helped. Link's fucking thanos glove of stones was a stupid gimmick, I cannot believe they didn't think to alter that concept to be more mythical, or creative, or just original. I would have killed for the stones to relate to the triforce in some way, or to do away with the stones and have this game connect to the triforce, since the whole direction of this story was going back to ancient myth & lore.

the Zonai lacked depth, and honestly just felt like a boring distraction even tho they were supposed to be a central focus of this game. I 1000% agree with other folks posts on the take that rauru was a flat, 2-dimensional colonizer. Sonia got sidelined. yikes. ew. no thanks.

^similarly, ganon really was given no character or depth imo. It's like they did a fantastic job making him visibly LOOK scary, so they didn't bother to give him motives beyond "I'm bad, I do what I want."

the cliche "back to normal" at the end irked me. Link could have come out with no arm, keeping the zonia arm, or at least scars w/ the zonai arm pattern and that would be meaningful. Zelda got factory reset from irreversible draconification in a method that for all intents and purposes, could have been done as soon as link got rewind ability. There was no investigation or inclusion of the other dragons, which seemed like a missed opportunity. Actively working on reversing her could have been a main quest in game!! Like 1. Complete all dungeons/get all stones, 2. you can now go round up the spirits of rauru & sonia and reverse zelda yippee, 3. you and zelda go beat the shit out of ganon together. The dragons fighting was beautiful, powerful imagery, but honestly I think too much potential was traded away just to execute that one fraction of the boss fight.

The masterworks book annoys me, which is sad bc I love concept art. I wanted to be a concept artist growing up, I can accept that you'll often see things that never make it into the final cut. I was enamored with early posts abt things like zelda's haircut, char designs, etc.

But more recently I'm seeing the anthology side of the book taking major liberties that it didn't even bother showing us directly or alluding to in the game, and I think that's such a cop-out. They are literally telling us instead of SHOWING us in the game they release a year ago, and spent SIX YEARS making. There was a festival celebrating the return of zelda/defeat of ganon?? Freaking show us that!!! Show us link & zelda acclimate to post-calamity life. Show us imperfect, non-linear healing and resilience. I would have loved a festival scene w/ link and zelda that conveys the nuance of celebration and recognition of their efforts, and the contrasting weight of what they went through. Show me zelda, exhausted after a festival struggling with guilt and indecision about whether to bring back the monarchy with hyrule's restoration. Throwing in a "oh btw imagine if we actually had done this" post-game makes me so irritated and feral. It's like the post-release canon is sidling up to fanon and saying, "hey look we can do that too! look at our fan art" idk if that makes sense, I don't think I'm explaining it well. But it just feels disingenuous.

I'm not a timeline purest, I don't need everything to interconnect, but I don't love how assertions in this book invalidate connections and lore of other games. Also really don't love how this game overwrites and sidelines the sheikah.

I know majority of my disappointment stems from my own, personal expectations of a game that, let's face it, was probably given many mandates and initiatives to appeal to *everyone* in broad, lackluster ways. I still love the world and characters of zelda, if anything, totk reaffirmed what I love and want to prioritize in my art that I didn't see present in this game. Fun fact I used the world of botw to learn a lot about drawing landscapes & composition. It actually inspires me a bit to try to learn to do comics, which has been a longtime goal I've been too busy and/or timid to pursue lol.

mmm anyway if u read this and any of this resonated DM me and lets froth at the mouth and commiserate lol

[moociaoafterdark]

My opinion on Rogue Trader companions so far (I just finished act 1)

Idira - deserved better both in story and in gameplay. Seriously, why do enemies target her so much, what did she do?? Also, her insights are very useful, wish I could consult the voices in my head the way she can. And I know for a fact Idira and Vigdis explored each other's bodies, tho I can also see some toxic yuri potential between her and Argenta.

Pasqal - surprisingly chill for a magos! Also, he definitely wants to be called a good boy, but, like, not in a kinky, but platonic way. You know, the same way your dog wants to be called a good boy/good girl. Even though I already play a respectful and chill Rogue Trader, I still try to be a bro to Pasqal (yes, I'm a girl who roleplays as an old dude, what about it?) I do hope that he actually starts seeing you as a close friend/companion later down the story line, because I genuinely love him. Also, Pasqal's melee attacks >>>>>> Pasqal's range attacks.

Argenta - I'm pretty sure at some point in her life, the Emperor sent her back into our time and made her shoot Tr*mp. She missed, as we all know. LIKE. GIRL. PLEASE HIT THE TARGET, I'M BEGGING YOU. Every time it's her turn, I legit start praying to Big E. Story wise... Not gonna lie, out of all the dogmatic leaning characters, I prefer her the most. I especially prefer her over Heinrix. Not that I hate him, and I'm not a big fan of SoB, but... there's something about Argenta that just makes me like her. Though, she is sus. Like really sus. I expect her to do something insane later down the line.

Abelard - MY MAN. Like, yes, I did the quest with the Lower Decks and I know that Abelard is not sunshine and rainbows, in fact, he is quite a classist ass, but! I like that about him! And his dedication and loyalty to both us and Theodora (well, the entire house of Von Valancius) is admirable. I like him a lot :) BUT! I LOVE HIM IN COMBAT. DUDE IS HIM. Every time it's his turn, I know for a fact someone is going to fucking die. AND he is a healer! Dude's theme song is Holding Out For A Hero and I accept no arguments. Might just be my favorite. I hope we get to meet his family, because one of his comments mentioning his youngest great-granddaughter being a working adult made me intrigued. I know that people can extend their life span + he constantly has to travel through the Warp with the Rogue Trader, so I'm curious if they're going to elaborate on that.

Heinrix - I heard a lot about him. I can see why many people thirst over him and ship him with their fem!Rogue Traders and! Good for you! I support yume/self-shipping as well as oc x canon with all my heart! However, he didn't impress me much. Maybe it's because my Rogue Trader is an old man and there were no spicy/romantic dialogue options for him. He is cool, and I did help him complete his mission. Though, I wish he stayed after act 1, because I want to learn more about him... And also I really like him in combat. He's like if Abelard was a psyker, and you already know how much I love Abelard in combat. I wish we get to meet him again.

Cassia - Okay, first things first: I LOVE HER. I love her design and I'm glad we got an abhuman companion, because I want more abhumans in w40k. Love how she is sweet with us and seems, ya know, very demure very mindful, but I do also love she is not like this with everyone, judging by her combat voice lines and how she needs human blood for her paintings. However, that time you are summoned by her after you recruit her to be the ship's Navigator... Hoo boy did I momentarily regret picking a male!Rogue Trader, because *some* of the dialogue options were so cringy and creepy. If you played as a male Rogue Trader, you know what I'm talking about. THANK GOD the game wouldn't reward you for being too fast and too lustful with her from the get-go. Not that I picked those options, but I did read up about Cassia's romance after that event. It does make sense for a sheltered girl like her to be into courtly, romance book type love! Also, she once one-shotted like... 8 enemies with her attack... Really made it easier to focus on Aurora. Blood for Navigator Cassia, skulls for Navigator's Throne!

Jae, Yrliet, Marazhai, Ulfar and Kibellah - I know they exist! REALLY eyeing Marazhai because he is the only possible mlm option in this game. I'm a toxic yaoi whore, I'm sorry. We'll see, because I'm not a fan of Drukhari, but MAYBE Marazhai will make me change my mind.

[3gremlins]

feel like im having a DA2 experience again where I really liked it and was in my little "this is good" cocoon where i played it many times only to emerge from underground and find everyone else hated it (i mean ive found the other da2 cicadas since but at the time it got really slammed). i've been really enjoying DA:TV so far ( lol tho obvs have notes) here's an early thoughts review, may be a bit spoilery, def rambley, trying to stay vague on stuff still (i think i'm about half way maybe? im trying to not look things up and doing it blind on my first run through. it's hard to tell b/c i went hard on all the side quests and am now way over level for the msq)

the combat system is a little jarring at first and i still miss at least being able to switch to and play as party members if your character dies (instead of the god of war style of full wipe), but i've gotten used to it (it's more annoying for boss fights, regular combat it's very zippy and fun). the targeting at least on controller is kind of annoying sometimes- i'll think i'm pointing at one enemy only to have rook turn and fire at nothing or companions to hit an add instead of a boss. I wish we at least had more control over how it queued who it was hitting. some of the arenas are obnoxious design wise - there's bosses that teleport to you and they give you like a tiny little box to dodge around, not the most fun. i do like that you can punch way above of your weight class sometimes which reminds me of DAO a little bit (like how you'd just wander into a fight or hit a gong and be like oh no, those enemies have skulls over their heads, oh well YOLO). sometimes it doesn't work out but when it does it's very satisfying. It's nice to be able to conquer something mechanically even underleveled (smol fromsoft vibes) Having always been a big fan of the strange composition parties (i.e not just war/rogue/mage), i like that this is now even more viable (and not just me being cheeky "we're having a leather party!" of all squishy rogues). but like the main thing about bioware games is the companions/interpersonal shit and i'm enjoying the heck out of that .i only do main quests to get more side quests from companions (or more side quests in general so we can troll around for more banter). i like petting griffons (and cats and dogs) and playing games with manfred*. I wish the gift system was more interesting like DAO or DA2- i was so excited to see it again and then it was a little disappointing to have them barely react when you get them stuff.

my current fave party are rook and the poison boys (emmerich and lucanis) since they're a rogue too and we just stack necrosis, bleeds and other elemental effects on things till they disintegrate. i like the lighthouse, it feels much cozier than skyhold. I love that you can just wander up to companions having convos and awkwardly eavesdrop. I do miss the little interactions/quests you could get with cole esp*** i think the animations are a little lack lustery? Idk there's something with the face model morphs that sometimes feels weird but the voice acting is strong enough that I don't notice too much. i do miss some of the more bioware-y cheeky things like item descriptions or weird notes near random silly environmental tableaus (there's a little but i just want to read all the notes! there's some in the grey warden areas where i was just like WAIT I HAVE QUESTIONS but there was no plaque about them T.T). where are the stacks of cheese (i do appreciate the fereldens love cheese jokes tho and harding getting so excited when someone says something nice about ferelden) i was esp bummed that there were no random things to read in the black emporium and it's all codex entries instead (that's my favorite tiny bit in DA2 where there's junk you can click on and xenon says weird shit to you). i also wish more had been done with accents of npcs- like i wish all the antivans had similar accents or your crow rook had an antivan accent, stuff like that (having a lot of "ferelden" generic british accents everywhere is disappointing. takes you out of the immersion a lot) My biggest gripe is probably the pacing - I wish it had more horror/mystery pacing like dao and da2 had- the reason we're all scarred by the brood mother is b/c the build up to that was so so creepy (also the necromancer bit w/hawke's mum in DA2). They gave us time to be unnerved or afraid and I do feel the evanuris reveals have been a little rushed so you can't really feel that worried about them (some of the side quests get close to this but still not quite there**). I wish they'd let them breathe a bit more instead of rushing from one giant world changing event to the next. Some of the reveals have been not so great- like lore that the fandom has poured over for 15ish years explained in one line?? i wish there'd been more build up of rook as a character too, maybe even a time skip from a prologue to finding solas kind of thing. the first trailer made it seem like that's what was going to happen but then it in media res'd us in a strange way. the first 10 hours of the game are probably the weakest imho, it took it a bit to get rolling and feel more natural. I appreciate that the first major decision doesn't really let you scum save for it (bit of a jump scare for me lol).

I also don't really need this much varric anymore, i kinda wish we had a different narrator if we have to have one. He feels really awkward to just have there and not doing anything(and not just kill off or have something happen to him? he got stabbed by the dagger and harding only touched it is what i'm saying). at least let him get better pjs and slippers or something Idk it does feel like bits of previous iterations they were working on are still there and they don't completely serve the plot well. And ofc there's the decisions not meaningfully carrying over thing- which is a huge bummer. But in reality they've never been good at that- the characters from previous games we see in new games don't really carry through their plots/arcs that much (it's more like cameos or they're a new person now) and the world states are usually effectively the same just with aesthetic faction swaps. I was sort of hoping we'd get some solavellan SOMETHING but it doesn't look like we will get much at all past the stuff in minrathous. i feel like if they were going to only include the one choice it really should have had more impact on the story. (i am also still a clown and want to talk to solas constantly still even tho he has no reason to talk to my rook at all, i do not care, i love a sad woof. i wish we could just casually visit him in the fade. i wish we could switch to lavellan and visit him in the fade, idk something. need more gareth david-lloyd pls) the interpersonal character decisions have been the only ones that mattered much and then only within the constrains of their own games- the bigger world changing stuff is usually the illusion of choice. It would have been nice if they let us have one protagonist carry through but i can also see why they liked changing it up and felt stuck in that format. tl;dr: i'm really like it for what it is but it's def got flaws. Parts of it feel super polished while other bits do not- i think knowing how game dev works that they had to make decisions on what was going to get prioritized and some of it works while others not so much. I wish the pacing was better for sure but i love the characters/companions which is generally what bioware is best at. sad it won't get meaningful dlc, i don't really care about mass effect 5 tbqh. So far I like it better than inquisition for the most part- it feels like a bigger/more polished DA2 in a lot of ways if that makes any sense (with similar budget/pacing issues, but the environments are more fun). as i mentioned in my other post, i really appreciated the trans/non binary inclusion into the story/cc tho. like that can't be discounted, even if the rest of the game has issues. (all the holes in the narrative make me want to do fan art and fan fiction tho so idk, maybe that's an okay thing. maybe dragon age is best at inspiring us to sandbox around in it)

*side note, i am surprised at how much i like emmerich like holy shit what a lovely soft nerd of a man! going to have to play through a few times and romance him and also bellara for sure (romancing lucanis this time round) i find myself shipping my companions with each other more than i normally do too. I just want them to be happy! I wish they'd let us have polyamory, like i could see little polycules in this squad so easily. i need to give bellara hugs and lucanis head pats. taash deserves head pats too, but my rook will need a ladder.

**i am going to cry if they do with the griffons what i think they're doing with the griffons. like straight up, feeling like it was a cursed wish to have them now T.T *** do we think the caretaker is cole? the character design makes me wonder (like the hat/silhouette is very cole like but maybe not. maybe i just want it to be cole lol) there's def characters i want to see show up that aren't going to and then bioware is like "what about this fan favorite??" and i'm like "eh".

[kirkwallguy]

You're the lead of Dragon Age and decided to make an Inquisition Remake. What would you do, add and fix from the original game

oh god. i meant to write a paragraph because i think about this a lot but it became a whole thing. beneath the cut because it's long

you don't even know how often i think about this. i have like several visions for a different dai in my head and they're all kind of messy and complicated in a way that would probably require more time and resources than they actually had but, if we're just talking hypotheticals...

since i'm biased towards the mage-templar conflict i'd definitely put it in the foreground towards the beginning. since it was the main threat at the end of da2, i don't think it should last the entire game as the main focus, but having it be similar to loghain or the arishok in the way it feels like the big bad until the end of act 2 would work well. and starting as a soldier in the war would be a good way of grounding players in the conflict.

it would've been really fun to have an origins-style selection screen at the beginning of the game that lets you choose your 'side', different lineages can have different reasons for being there (a dwarf siding with the templars could be sent by the carta to set up a lyrium trade) but having two distinct openings to the game isn't TOO ambitious considering they had 5 in origins. then you'd go through a unique extended tutorial where you establish who you are and fight to reclaim haven as a base.

act one could be similar to dai and pretty much the same for both origins, you run around maps (smaller than dai tho lol) doing quests to aid people and gain notoriety. through reclaiming haven you've become second in command of your little corner of the rebellion. you recruit companions but maybe some are harder to recruit depending on your faction (think: having to do a quest to recruit arcade gannon in fnv, but if you're gay or stupid you can skip it). ofc to get that warrior/rogue/mage balance there could be a few people that are automatically unlocked by claiming haven, and it'd be fun if there was one companion from the tutorial who was exclusive to your origin.

then you have a main quest that gains the inquisition's attention (in the place of cotj/ihw) causing them to come to shut you down (in your heart shall burn). this introduces the herald of andraste (who doesn't have the mark but is still claiming andraste speaks to them in a joan of arc kind of way) and their army. it would be so fun if the core members of the inquisition were the same, varric, cass, leliana, cullen, all recurring characters who are now vague antagonists because they've all been pulled into this cult for some reason or another.

the inquisition is stronger than you and you retreat to your 'skyhold', but instead of skyhold it's actually a big fancy camp. then ofc in dai there's probably another 100 hours left in the game lol so i'd knock like 50 hours off that and keep side quests relevant like they did in da2. for main story quests, instead of here lies the abyss, i'd go for a deep roads quest (maybe with hawke?) to investigate the red lyrium, with the other faction starting to experiment with it and suffering its effects. then instead of wicked eyes it would be fun to do a similar quest but with a conclave, where you interact with the leader of the other faction and divine justinia gets assassinated (not exploded, just like stabbed a little bit). it's probably the inquisition doing the assassinating but they seemed to be with the divine sooooo???

end of act 2 is you going to make a move against the other faction because their use of red lyrium has left them vulnerable. your commander sends you off and you do a big infiltration battle in their base and yaaay you win. except the quest isn't over. and you go back to your camp to find the inquisition has invaded and your commander is dead. since you're second in command it's up to you to decide what to do, the inquisition has you by the throat and it's basically a choice between joining willingly or being conscripted. maybe you even only get the choice to join willingly if you've earned the herald's approval in previous quests idk. either way you and your companions / remaining troops are moved to skyhold.

act 3 is harder because i rarely get this far in dai lol. without the threat of cory it's kind of hard to see what the inquisition would be fighting for but if the herald becomes a kind of meredith parallel and wants to 'restore order' in a way that's becoming increasingly worrying, bordering on wanting to invade tevinter because the northern chantry are heretics, it would be fun if you were basically leashed and forced to do missions you don't want to do or feel good about at this point. again, kind of similar to killing the blood mages for meredith but intentional this time. you and your companions / people from your army (because i'm thinking there'd be an advisor or two. maybe the exclusive companion from the other faction's origin could be recruited in the previous quest as a prisoner somehow), start conspiring against the inquisitor. you get one or two people (maybe varric and leliana?) on your side and go searching through the inquisitor's things and find a map of the deep roads with an entrance hidden beneath skyhold. you all go down there and get the same lore as the descent dlc, but also find some red lyrium that speaks to you and promises not to hurt you because you're soooooo special and it can give you the power to do what you need to do. um. this is your well choice and you can choose to either take it or leave it. you know deep down that can't beat the herald without it but taking it will start giving you hallucinations/visions and it's obviously not a good idea.

back in skyhold you can tell things are gearing up for the final battle, you're getting the conclusions to companion quests and the sidequests are drying up. i'd really want to replicate that tense desperation you start feeling towards the end of da2 that imo was mostly just an accident since they ran out of time during act 3. it still hits tho.

it would be kind of cheap to have two final antagonists in a row be red lyrium crazed, so i think the herald here is just a product of the chantry. they're obviously getting more and more antsy about the northern chantry and you find out they're going to meet with a major tevinter leader, probably not the divine, but a magister powerful enough that you don't trust the herald to not do something that starts a war. if you took the red lyrium from the deep roads you get a final choice to either use it or leave it.

half way through the meeting with the tevinter person, the inquisitor starts acting suspiciously. if you left the red lyrium in the deep roads you just get a sense that something's wrong, if you took it from the deep roads but didn't use it you can hear the inquisitor's thoughts and know exactly what's about to happen but know you can't reach the inquisitor in time to stop them, if you used it you know what's about to happen AND can use your power to stop it (at the cost of your own life probably). either way, the assassination/attempted assassination starts a giant final battle as skyhold burns and you fight your way out. the herald dies but there are a few people still loyal to the inquisition who want to fight you

if you took the lyrium you die, if you didn't you're a fugitive or apostate who may have just started a war between the two chantries yaaay.

sorry this is so long i've been having little bits and pieces in my mind for ages and have wanted to sort through them by writing it down lol. the overarching story isn't too hard tbh, what makes da2 good is the side quests all being thematically coherent and i'm too lazy to do side quests rn.

[knightposting]

Thoughts on Veilguard. Spoilers abound.

THINGS I DID NOT LIKE:

-Very little flexibility in how you play Rook. Rook is always just... nice. Not even good, just. Nice. Very little spice opportunity and the only way you can play them is "group therapist".

-I could complain about lore butchering, but people who are way more articulate and care more about Dragon Age lore can put it much better than I can. I'm not even trying to be mean, I just haven't been keeping up in the ten years since Inquisition. It did suck tho

-Honestly the lore butchering takes second place to the fact that I can't even DISAGREE with the shit going on. This will just tie in to my first point but like, maybe it would be nice to point out that "sexy leather clad rooftop assassins" isn't even that good of an alternative to having a military.

-The Venatori and Ataam are boring as hell antagonists without good motives. Also I hate the focus on the Venatori when the real problem should be Tevinter itself.

-The combat, while fun, is held back by both a skill tree bloated with near meaningless passives on the way to abilities you actually care about, and repetitive, spongy encounters. If you've fought one dragon, you've fought them all. If you've fought one mage/warrior/rogue boss, you've fought them all.

-I'm still mad about how smooth Qunari are now. What the fuck.

THINGS I DID LIKE:

-They COOKED with the Mourn Watch, the Grey Wardens, and those two faction's respective companions. I always had a good time with Davrin (which makes one of my ending choices really sting. I'm sorry homeboy, but it was you or my Love Interest) and Emmerich, and the Necropolis and Lavendel missions were consistently my favorite sidequests.

-I loved fighting for my life in Weisshaupt.

-The ending was sick as hell. I did every sidequest I could but still forsook the golden ending because the concept of outfoxing THE ELVEN GOD OF LIES was too good to pass up. Sorry Mythal, but thanks for the runes and making that one lvl 50 dragon fight easier.

THINGS I'M CONFLICTED ABOUT/JUST THINK ARE ALRIGHT

-I didn't care that much about Bellara in comparison to the other companions. I think a combination of already being tired of the game by time her personal quests showed up+finding her "maybe the other races are right to distrust us 🥺" schtick weird and annoying left a bad taste in my mouth, or maybe I'm just being unfair. idk.

-I love Harding, but her and the Kal Sharok dwarves needed more time to cook.

-I don't care that they made the Lords Of Fortune "too nice". I just don't. They're fine as is, just woefully irrelevant even in their own designated zone.

[doctormage]

ok I have my veilguard thoughts. I put both things I liked and didn’t like here. it’s not a complete list and I reserve the right to add more as I think of them. godspeed

narrative thoughts

shouldn’t have been surprised but was genuinely floored by how racist they were about the qunari. my god.

like I think it might be worse than inquisition. they literally distorted their voices and hid all their faces. deeply insane

also very disappointed that the culture with the most potentially interesting approach to gender (the qun) was just pigeonholed into being like all the others’. esp bc the trans companion was literally qunari. what happened to roles in the qun being their genders, like….

and on the note of racism/orientalism, what the actual fuck did they dress Isabela in. why are all the lords of fortune armors like that. gun to my head I could not have predicted this

almost no reference to the long standing conflict and prejudice bw tevinter and the qunari. and almost no reference (outside codex entries) to Actual Fucking Slavery in tevinter. all very bizarre

I think a lot of shit got ignored because they were trying to make the game as marketable as possible to players new to the franchise. which I logically understand but hate in practice, bc how are you gonna decide this game is “character driven” and then make almost every character from the previous games, including our choices as the player characters, irrelevant

I mention this in the immersion section but it’s relevant here too. all the stuff that got left behind or unmentioned made the world feel small to me. the world building and lore are, imo, important and load-bearing components of this franchise. I’m still thinking on how they could’ve done it differently, or what missing pieces were most crucial, but for now I’ll leave it at that

appreciated that characters’ feelings of anger and injustice (like Harding about the titans or Neve if you didn’t save Minrathous) and/or weirdness and guilt (like Bellara and Davrin about the evanuris) were respected and discussed. I won’t say everything was perfectly handled but it’s miles away from the shit we’ve seen in previous games

I’d been afraid they were gonna completely rehabilitate solas as a mostly good guy and I’m glad he was still shitty in a lot of ways LMAO

I’m still mulling over his ~penance~ of holding up the veil w his life force or whatever but I do appreciate that they weren’t just like “ok the evanuris are gone and the veil can stay up and everything’s fine now” about it

wait brain blast this goes PERFECTLY W MY SOLAS/ATLAS PARALLELS (1, 2) ACTUALLY HELLO!!! HELLO

gameplay thoughts

wasn’t in love w the combat system but I didn’t dislike it as much as I thought I would. I felt very limited by the amount of abilities I could have usable at a time though

enjoyed that both play styles for a mage (staff vs orb+knife) had viable ranged and melee components. also the orb and knife combo was just cool in general

I like the companion-specific abilities instead of just class-specific, makes them feel more important as a person than just a function

wish I could actually switch to the other companions tho. wouldn’t really do anything but still wish I could lol

that said I do like the very specific ability branches for the companions too bc it makes my life easier lmao

as mentioned previously, I miss armor crafting terribly 🤧 feel like pure shite just want her back xx. anyway. I wore the exact same armor literally the entire game and just kept upgrading it

didn’t love the da2 style “you can’t put your companions in just ANY armor” thing but didn’t hate it either. I appreciate the dedication to the vibe

the hero of the veilguard armors everyone got were really cool (tho I didn’t love bellara’s. sorry my love xoxo) and I’m interested to see what they look like if you pick other choices for their personal quests

unsurprisingly I wish there’d been more stuff to loot and collect out in the world but that’s just who I am. Picks Every Single Elfroot In The Hinterlands Gang rise up

moving around was kind of annoying but I think again that’s just personal preference. plus I’m a fog of war enjoyer (satisfying to clear a whole map of it yk) so do with that what you will

the way the maps were set up isn’t badly but it did kind of discourage me from exploring the way I did in dai, sort of how exploring felt like a huge bitch to me in da2. so it would’ve been nice to have more incentive to explore other than like, a rarity upgrade for a weapon I never use from a chest that took me 15 minutes to get to lol

already said this but I’ll say it again: bring back 4 person parties I miss my friends

really enjoyed how the banter was place based and REALLY really enjoyed how they would be like “what was I saying?” and repeat it if banter was interrupted by combat or something

no fancy party quest or level!!! v disappointing. we had so many options. we even had 2 parties in the game and they were both lame :(

very much wish they’d made it clear that completing certain main quests will lock you out of others. I only missed one companion side quest bc of this but it haunts me

honestly. extremely unpopular opinion but I never minded all the dumb little fetch quests in DAI lmao. I love you quarries I love you logging stands I love you astrariums. I don’t love you ocularums but that’s bc you’re made of tranquil skulls. fucked up

immersion thoughts

way, WAY fucking better at taking your character’s background into account regarding dialog (both in conversations and in cutscenes) thank god

it felt…..small? I wasn’t expecting it to be set up like inquisition with a bunch of big open maps per area, but it felt a little stretched thin. might just be me though

this also sort of ties in w the stuff in the narrative thoughts, about how a lot of historical conflicts and issues (including SLAVERY!!!) were barely touched on at all. the intranational problems add depth to these places as much as the international ones

(btw isn’t the “black divine” supposed to be kind of a conspiracy theory??? is it not meant to be heretical and shit?? that tevinter has their own secret divine and they don’t respect the authority of the southern chantry??? this was not addressed at ALL?????)

some of the areas felt very removed from like, the rest of the country they were in, if that makes sense. eg, the rivain map was weirdly isolated to me and I’m like. where do people live. lmao

the gender stuff is. weirdly handled. as excited as I was to have the opportunity to play as a nb rook and to have a canon nb companion, it was extremely immersion breaking to hear them all say “non binary.” there are a trillion ways to go about this without making it feel like a weird anachronistic DEI seminar

could not fucking tell you how long the events of the game take. ik this isn’t a huge deal to everyone but it is to ME lol

most decisions felt like it made sense that rook was the one making them. or at the very least, it made sense in context and wasn’t just like “hey Cole, you should be more human/spirit.” for example I liked how the way you talked Harding down is what solidifies her narrative one way or the other; we’re not straight up telling her what to do

loved the companions’ book club and notes and conversations. legitimately so endeared by it all. I wish what conflict there was had felt more serious so that the resolution felt earned, but all in all I really enjoyed their dynamics

the golden/black city being arlathan is just. not fucking discussed after we discover that!!! like we all just decide not to completely disprove andrastianism and then go on our merry fuckin way I guess!!!

other thoughts

Solas doesn’t like raisins 🫶

I fucked hard with the solas and felassan memories, and the various notes from felassan you could find

I was never a huge fan of the “ancient elves were spirits that took physical form” theory (though not for any particular reason) so it makes me sad to know my tweenage solas musings are decidedly debunked 😔

mythal fragment stuff was weird. wasn’t a fan

what happened to solas’s elf army. lmao

also what happened to the foci/orbs. aren’t those titan hearts or something. didn’t we discover this in trespasser

where is solas going once he binds himself to the veil??? the same place he put the evanuris? couldn’t he just…..make it different lmao like he created it. I get being all martyr-y and masochistic abt it to atone for his mistakes or whatever but if he’s bringing lavellan can’t he make it suck less?? 😭

feels like we got a LOT of old questions answered (yay!!!) and not a lot of new questions to think about (sad)

THE MUSIC WAS LACKING IM SORRY. I AM STUNNED THAT HANS AND LORNE DID ME LIKE THIS BUT YOU KNOW WHO WOULDNT HAVE DONE ME LIKE THAT IS MR TREVOR FUCKING MORRIS

major choices

dalish veil jumper elf mage rook

romanced bellara 🩵

saved treviso, which hardened neve and blighted minrathous

lucanis spared illario (just to see what would happen tbh. the answer is basically nothing)

gave the griffons to the dalish

softened(?) harding? idk I picked the “remember who you are” dialog that got her the child of the stone relationship title thing

taash embraced rivaini culture

emmrich revived manfred

bellara saved the archive

made a deal w the threads

davrin ultimate sacrifice :( I didn’t know :(

neve kidnapped by elgar’nan :(

redeemed and saved solas. happily ever after w my lavellan as god intended. sorry

idr where I put everyone to help w factions while fighting elgar’nan but everyone survived the final battle (except davrin obv who died before. RIP my absolute king im so so fucking sorry)

[villainanders]

I think in some ways the inq companions were objectively better written and more fleshed out even tho many had kind of middling companion quests but I did end up just caring about the Veilguard companions way more. I’m very whatever on a lot of inq characters whereas I think I was very emotionally attached to everyone (except Harding kind of) by the end of VG even if I also didn’t think most of their questlines were very good

[ganondoodle]

the way i think about my stories can be so annoying bc there will be a point when i reach a certain story beat after which i dont know how to continue, and the way i do find are usually ... not good .. or i imagine it is not so i think man i cant do that thats so dumb and annoying i gotta think of something better, but then i cant come up with anything better bc once i got a solution to soemthign i cant think of anything smarter- and then i get bored of it as a whole bc man, this really was stupid from the start wasnt it

(this is all some stupid rambling and does NOT represent anythign that will happen in destiny, i swear the actual story with a proper end makes much more sense)

listen to me rambling but this morning i thought about the essentialyl non-canon good "ending" of destiny, a kind of self indulgent dumb lil alternative where everyone lives blah blah, but then of course it cant just end there, bc the end goal of the both of them is to find out the gods plan and secrets and also kill the gods, as you do, then i got a certain point that i found cool (which initially came from the whole thoguht of what if zelda game but you could play demise and it took place after the alternative ending in which the goal is to get rid of the gods) where the fight one of the gods but are kinda losing and as the god is trying to devour demise, as gods do, he abandons his body and his spirit/core, who cant exist without his body so hes still connected through the spirits tail , and climbs through the gods interdimensional weird 'mouth' while its trying to rip him apart to reach the core of the god in a last attempt to take them down with him, while hylia is fighting to keep the god from severing the thin connection he still has to his body but fails just as he reaches the core so the god is killed but his core is immediatelly starting to dissolve and hylia manages to grab his core and put it back into his body and flee from whatever is happeing to that dead god back into hyrule

he survives but is incredibly weak as his spirit has lost half of itself (blade spirits are also forged throguh sacrificing part of their spirit/core permantently but this is besides the point, none of this makes sense anyway), something he obviously hates but cant do anything about really, once a part of their core is gone its gone (not like lost energy but gone gone) but the core is also slowly dissolving further which is a death sentence with no way to act against- then theres a whole quest to .. well, stop that, while hes falling back into self hatred and fear bc hes now so weak that hylia can break his bones without any effort if she were to treat him in any way similar to before and to a deity that all their life was never so fragile, one whos most defining feature IS his power and strength to keep going no matter what, thats gotta be pretty existentially dreadful (and also its a set back to know that they cant just go fight the gods together like that, theres still two more and he cant fight like that)

then i wondered ok what if then, even if the time doesnt quite line up but at this point the entire prophecy cant be done anymore either so everythings out of order, the cloud barrier weakens and zelda is abducted (not by ghirahim) and link goes and tries to find her, but since everythigns not as it should have been he meets hylia and demise (disguised tho) and they immediately know who he is and then go along and try to help link find his friend (hylia does it bc she got the idea to make him find the triforce and wish demises spirit to be restored, since only a mortal can do that and links the most likely candidate to be able to go through the trials of it since he was supposed to already, even if the circumstances are different- demise goes along with it bc hes still trying to deal with essentially slowly dying and not knowing what to do with himself since hes afraid to get into fights or similar, much to his disdain, so hes acting like a companion of sorts, a mentor figure in a way, not knowing what hylias plan is)

i found the idea kinda interesting to have them be like a lil group that goes on links adventured with him, but with strangely intricate knowledge of how the dungeons work, link still doing the heavy lifting but them being there like parents cheering on their kid in a competetion, all the while putting the whole puzzle and dungeon aspect in a way different light bc half of them were never completed (they wanted to escape the prophecy after all) so they all work completely differently, some bosses being maybe some of the gods creatures instead (like the skysw guardians)- the mid journey point being that they find zelda, and who kidnapped her, it being one of the shiekah having most closely worked with hylia before the whole -break the prophecy- thing started (idk if it would be impa .. idea is neat) and is hellbent on making the gods plan work out like it was supposed to, kinda like the inverse of the games plot, so they got ahold of zelda as part of making her into the new hylia (despite hylia being .. right there, but they dont believe it is her truly since the true tm hylia would never betray the gods- ALSO a paralel to how the downfall of demises world worked bc his mortals turned on him after he started destroying their version of the triforce in the belief destroying it would be the only way to save mortals from going to war agaisnt each other for it over and over, mortals believing that their true deity was gone and replaced by a demon despite demise being ..right there)

after link wins the fight and frees zelda from them they in a kind of last effort to do anything against their group they stab demise, normally that wouldnt do shit against him but in his already fading away situation it basically puts him from very slowly dying to actually dying, as a reaction to it hylia kills the mortal (maybe impa idk), which is the first time she does anything like that to a mortal but i like the idea of her being actually super ruthless when it comes to things she cares about

now with a much more dire time limit hylia sends demise back to essentialyl go hide in her temple and try to not die and to trust her having a plan to make this all still work out- he does and once he is away she reveals pretyt much the entire story around why and what is happenign to link and zelda, hylia herself cant go above the clouds as the barrier is still partially up and she cant do anything to reach the triforce either - so she sends link and zelda to go do that, and it works out in the end bc even knowing the truth know, demise was with them on half of their journey so they know and care, he WILL be mad about them wasting their wish on him (even if he is still happy to be alive- i imagined scene where hes watching himself fall apart and die, alone in hylias temple, having to come to terms with the fact that after everything they had went through hed still die alone- it made me cry while thinking about it, yes, yes you are allowed to laugh)

i didnt get that much further but his spirit was essentially reset to when he was in his prime back in the day through the triforces power- something he both likes and despises, it being the gods power of all things that lets him live again, but also lol to use it agaisnt them by giving another chance to the gods greatest enemy- the next plan is of course to kill the next one of the gods but much better prepared, as they cant just go and do the same thign again (neither wants that), one idea was that hylia goes on a secret quest to try and bring back courage (the third deity that demise killed when his world was still thriving) but it involves diving back into the realm of the gods so she doesnt tell him at first, i do think theyd go together in the end, not to fight but to release courage; the whole thing is also an elaborate revenge plot of hylia, how dare the gods do that to him!!

anyway thats most of what i got from that thinking session but its so frustrating bc none of this is even in the actual comic (since it ends in a way that leads into canon skysw, this is some brain fart nooo i want blorbo to live and succeed!!) and its also convoluted and kinda dumb, the idea to inverse the games plot in a way (instead of it being ghirahim trying to bring demise back its someones plan to make the gods prophecy happen no matter what) is neat but i cant have demise almost dying be the thing THREE TIMES, it kinda undercuts his character and is way too much centered around him, all three times also more or less involving it needing help from others to get him back, when his whole thing should be being unkillable bc he jsut keeps refusing to die, also hylia is, as of now in this spaghetti derailment of random thoughts, way too much of a side character, which i dont like, and it all would make people not like demise when im trying to do the exact opposite of that in the main actual comic

i know being super self indulgent and jsut doing what you want is good for the most part but theres a point where it becomes stale cringy fantasies about my blorbo tm and i wanna write at least decent stories- in the end none of this matters anyway as the actual REAL story of destiny is already pretty long and i got no plan to write that alternative 'good ending' anyway and i mostly just thought about it bc "i dont want blorbo to die :(" and "wouldnt it be fun if the entire plot of the game would get messed up and now demise link hylia and zelda etc can all just drink tea together and make plans to get rid of the gods that wanted them all to suffer needlessly"

i probably shouldnt post this as it was really only a vent to get out dumb thoughts from my brain before they poison me into losing interest of the biggest comic project i have worked on so far but i am unable to keep these things to myself so

if you read all of this, im sorry (´。＿。｀)

[aeroplaneblues]

4.6 Arlecchino SQ spoilers✨

First all the things with the siblings, including the npc ones, was GREAT i really love it because it showed so much of the dynamic of the characters with each other.

Specially how now its text that Lyney considers Freminet his brother as much as with Lynette even when they aren't blood related. Which is something that I wanted it since they were announced as a trio.

HOWEVER, i dont think I like that instead of having a "wolf in sheep's clothing" we got a "sheep in wolf's clothing" for arlecchino, ofc it doesn't really minimize the fact that she is raising a band of child soldiers but is not painted as bad but in a "greater good" way.

Like Ayato and the shuumatsuban, there is not questioning his methods and it feels more of a heroic thing to those who know the secret (also we never dived in on this ever, so this is another thing that pisses me off)

Again, idk what I was expecting. They are all making the characters acceptable enough to be the traveler's companion, that includes even the ones that are suppose to be evil/ruthless characters.

How they going to turn dottore is just gonna be hilarious. I think I'm done hoping they'd commit to a playable character that stays evil. So I guess I'll just enjoy whatever the give to us and mourn for the story it could be if they weren't so afraid to alienate people from characters.

Still the story was enjoyable, they are getting better with story telling and I wasn't as bored as I was in other story quests. Tho it had npcs, the focus was more on Arlecchino and how those npcs affected her, thing that literally took them a while to get right.

Unrelated but I love Childe so much, its funny Arlecchino does see him as a kid which kinda confirms that childe can't be more than idk late 20s? so I'll assume he's closer to mid 20s by now. Give us a 30 y/o character that isn't an ancient pls

Anyway its a good story quest nonetheless! Do rec it.

[motheatenscarf]

I'm a notoriously slow RPG player and have had kind of a busy day besides, but I have made it as far as the Grove and doing most of the side quests there, and man, they've changed a LOT from early access!

I like Gale a LOT more this time around, they really toned down his superiority complex, he seems more excited to explain things because he's special interest infodumping, rather than like, lecturing you because you're stupid and you need someone to explain these very simple things to you.

I also like that they shortened up the Nautoloid section in the tutorial, they messed up the ship a lot more and cut out the thralls running the cannons. Really added to the stakes that you had to RUN to the bridge.

The camp clothes are adorable and apparently because I was an Early Access player, I got the digital deluxe version for free! So I got lots of fun DOS2 themed clothes and gear and whatnot. Look how cute Rose looks in it!

Things I'm less sure on are Wyll's recast and retooled story. I think it's very compelling to make his goal a conflicting one with one of the other origin characters/companions, but it makes him less personally endearing for him not to care as much about the tieflings in the Grove. The new VA is great, he does sound like nobility this time around, less cocky and self aggrandizing, but I also liked how forced and put-on his bluster felt. You really got the impression before that nobody bought his hype, least of all himself as the man selling it. Idk. I guess I have to put that version of Wyll out of my mind because he seems like a VERY different character now.

I googled why the VA was recast, wondering if he'd gotten canceled for something or other, but apparently they completely reworked Wyll because he just "wasn't connecting with players." Which... is disappointing for a number of reasons.

I'm not very far in, but I'm already wishing they'd just stuck to their guns because we all

KNOW

WHY

players were having a "hard time" """"connecting"""" to Wyll over any of the other characters, and it had nothing to do with his story or his VA. He worked fine as a character, he was internally consistent with plenty of plot hooks into the main narrative with an overarching mystery that would be solved by progressing his story. I'm sure this new version will work too, and he's far from the only character they've retooled personality-wise.

Shadowheart was kinda snide and hostile at first, now she's almost playful if still secretive. Gale was arrogant and condescending, now he's eccentric and excitable. Even Astarian who started out much more overtly salacious and cruel has been toned down to just, general hedonism and selfishness. Lae'zel has always been Lae'zel tho lol.

So like. Idk, I want to take it in good faith that Wyll's actual story has been the most noticeably retooled since his was the most complete narrative we got out of Act 1 from early access, but also, I can't NOT be suspicious when I've seen it happen so many times where devs will "rework" a black character who isn't "connecting" with fans.

[ramon-tikaram-love]

so i finished Veilguard two days ago and now have more time to do other things, but i'm still experiencing some end of story blues and don't feel like doing much (listening to Still Got the Blues now). but i'm sure i'll feel like it soon. i miss the characters.

i enjoyed the game a lot and thought it was good, but it had some flaws.

my biggest issue was that Inquisitor and Dorian, and possibly a few other powerful individuals, didn't help Rook and Varric stop Solas' ritual at the beginning. as far as they knew, Solas was going to destroy the world. that ought to be kind of a priority to stop, even if they were busy with stuff. there was never any explanation for this and it partly ruined my immersion throughout. i can't think of any satisfying explanation either. and it shouldn't have been that much harder to make work gameplay-and-story-wise to be better than the current situation.

Rook was a bit OP and did too much. i think some more heroism should've been delegated to other companions and NPCs. another thing that lessened my immersion.

the graphics and animations were really nice all around. the story was engaging and dramatic, with impactful choices, and i enjoyed the system of companion quests, particularly liking Emmrich's and Davrin's stories. Taash's, Harding's and Lucanis' were nice too. most of the companions and other NPCs were entertaining and likeable, and the areas were beautiful and fun to explore. and there were both big sad and big happy moments, and mixes of both. also funni.

i missed dracolisks, and was disappointed we didn't get to meet some previous companions. actually there were quite few we got to meet. i was looking forward to seeing Zevran at least in a side-quest in Antiva. but it was good with those we did meet. Dorian and Inquisitor were the most important! lovely that their romance was incorporated too <3<3<3.

when i started the game i didn't know much about what i wanted with my Rook, only that they'd be a non-binary elf. i wanted to romance all the companion men, but the game didn't let me. i soon fell in love with Emmrich tho <3. i do have a thing for elegant necromancers.

[ghostzzy]

also. my current companion opinions:

- i was NOT expecting to be an emmrich guy but i totally am. he’s charming… and he’s a bone freak….. and i think his fear of death and the choice you make about his lichdom or manfred is actually really interesting and thematically relevant to the rest of the game

- i like davrin… idc about the grey wardens that much in general sorry but i found davrin’s writing pretty strong and tonally consistent with the story at large… rook didn’t feel like his therapist as much as some of the others, which helped. and him & assan were so cute.. i am not immune to the puppy bird…

- i am very endeared to bellara. i find a lot about her very cute and i’m always a sucker for tragic brother backstories (even tho i thought the ending w cyrian was kinda lame). she’s good i always liked having her around

- i have a huge crush on neve. love her voice, love her vibe. think her personal quest was super boring unfortunately. but depending on some of the choices, she gets to do some sick batman shit and i do love that

- i liked a lot of harding’s story Conceptually but her personality felt flimsy to me sometimes, her voice just wasn’t as strong as some of the others? idk something just wasn’t clicking for me. she’s adorable tho…

- taash fell flat for me. i have A LOT of opinions about how they were written, it deserves its whole own post. but all of that aside, they just felt really young and kind of superfluous and it sucks cuz i really wanted to like them. sighs

- lucanis was my biggest disappointment… he is SO up my alley, on paper, but in execution i just. felt nothing. he had no real edge. spite never felt like a real pressing threat. idk i was just. bored.