#compared to previous games

[octosan]

In case you didn't understand that the Venatori are capable of controlling darkspawn now and are using them to do their bidding because of the elven gods Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain, the game made sure to repeat and explain this information multiple times in the short quest you learn this in!

I definitely love this pattern where Rook and co will discover information, talk to each other out loud about it, and then go talk to Viper and Tarquin about it in almost the exact same terms. The end of this quest has the player read notes explaining this info, listen to Rook and co talk to each other about it, tell the Viper about it, and then they tell the Viper and Tarquin about it.

Not pictured: Other instances in the game where Rook and co declare out loud that the Venatori are using darkspawn when the two of them show up onscreen. Blood of Arlathan and Act 3 in general come to mind.

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

Inquisition: I spend three hours in the Hinterlands fighting bears for their leather to make new armor and weapons for my companions while tracking down every landmark for the Saga of Tyrdda Bright-Axe, Avvar-Mother. My party is Blackwall, Vivienne, and Cole. I'm exhausted. I think to myself, "I miss my man." With one last bear, I finally have enough materials.

I go back to Skyhold, but the armor/weapons and the war table missions can wait. I rush into Cullen's office. I press him for updates, and he asks me if he should be worried about the cake Sera gave him [he should], and I tell him he needs to take a break.

I take in the view as I wait for him. He arrives, and in front of all the Inquisition scouts, soldiers, and the Maker Himself, we kiss. I am content, I am satisfied. Can't wait to do it again.

Veilguard: I spend what feels like three hours fighting that damn forgotten one dragon in Necropolis that I'm clearly under-leveled for but keep trying to kill out of spite. Taash and Emmrich are in my party. I'm exhausted. I think to myself, "I miss my man." We finally kill the dragon, and as we leave, Taash and Emmrich bicker about something that I'm tuning out.

I go back to the Lighthouse. Companions have quests for me, but they can wait. I rush up the stairs and break into a sprint as I burst through the doors, dart across the courtyard to the dining hall. I find Lucanis in his pantry. He's sitting on his bed with a cup of coffee in hand.

As I approach, he lifts his head to look deeply into my eyes, and he says to me:

"I think we're getting low on onions again."

Tears well up as I realize there's no affection to be had. I leave the pantry, leave the dining hall, and go hug Assan for the 2547th time.

I didn't think it was possible to feel so touch-starved while playing a dragon age game, and yet, here I am.

[manchesterau]

31 festive days of dnp [31/31]

❄︎ through the years ❄︎

[jasonsbruce]

"No. I am sorry. That was poorly said. You have earned better from me."

[butchvamp]

i absolutely understand there was no way to account for every single choice ever made-- that's literally impossible across so many games and so many years and so many changes. i do, however, think that 3 games worth of established lore should be worth something and like.... addressed. there are always going to be things that are retconned over time, i even said previously that i liked some of the changes around the qunari that happened back in inquisition because it felt like a step in the right direction and finally fleshing them out and establishing their culture in a meaningful way. but that's not what's happening in veilguard. they do the opposite. with everyone, the qunari and the elves and the dwarves and even the humans. they get reduced to generic, bland, homogeneous, nonreligious groups that all get along amongst themselves. the dalish elves are either just dead in the background (which to be fair has always been a consistent feature of these games lol) or absorbed into the veil jumpers, who are a huge mix of humans and qunari and elves, etc. kal-sharok gets literally Nothing despite one of the main companion quests taking place there-- there are no dwarven politics like we've seen previously, the kal-sharok aren't even especially isolationist nor do they take any time to explore their proximity to tevinter (and what they did to keep trading with them), or the blight and darkspawn (and how it's changed them and their relationship to orzammar). the qunari are all antaam, just faceless bodies for rook and co to kill because they needed more enemy variety, and what we do see with shathann and taash does not cohere with what we've learned previously about gender in the qun. the chantry is basically nonexistent despite two games setting up this massive conflict between mages and templars, despite veilguard literally revolving around massive revelations of faith… and i know we're in northern thedas so the chantry and templars do function differently, but our only two templars we get a lot of interactions with are "good guys" (and rana specifically can get up on her high horse about it with neve with no option for us to give her the third degree like she's not a fantasy cop whose coworkers are paid off by rich magisters lol) like... these are huge, glaring changes that do not align with a lot of what we've seen in previous games and also have nothing to do with complex branching choices.

[pinkyjulien]

More than a week after finishing my first playthrough of DAV and reflecting on it, I think it boils down to; I had a good time playing, it's a good game, it's a cool action RPG, but to me it's a bad dragon age? If that makes sense

The whole "oh btw Viper is the black divine lol" reveal and everything that implies was kind of what made me realize that Yeahhh... I had a great time with it, loved the game, had a lot of fun, but. As others said, it feels a bit shallow and it misses a lot of what I loved in the previous games. If I sit and detach it from the trilogy, think of it as a spin off? It'd work GREAT! But that coping falls quick considering how many important lore we got from it and how it directly continues on Solas story - its just too bad it wasn't... explored deeper or idk. I feel really sad about the game I'm ngl, a lot of What Could've Been, but eh, as I said, still a great experience and I'll replay it ofc! I'm having fun modding it too

The only ones I'm blaming here is EA btw - the devs poured a lot of love in there and it shows, and I can only hope they'll be able to continue exploring this universe in the future 😞

[lilyoutloud]

i accidentally pulled an all nighter finishing veilguard last night and WOOOOOH WHAT THE FUCCCCCCK anyways i have been permanently changed by the journey

[ghostroachtruther]

when the boys are about to leave on an extremely dangerous mission

(click for better quality bcuz tumblr hates me)

[valiantvillain]

Well, my Asala fic is absolutely going to have both my Warden and Hawke in that scene where you meet the Inquisitor bc let's be honest, it's an all-hands-on-deck kind of situation. Plus, you can't tell me Morrigan wouldn't think to bring the Warden into it, especially if you romanced or befriended her. And maybe I want Asala to ask Katla questions about Sten and her experiences fighting blight/apocalypse. Meanwhile nearly everyone in the room is intimidated by a 5'3 human woman whose face has lost the girlish softness that got immortalized in the stories from when she was nineteen and been replaced with an elegant sharpness, a steely glint in the eye. And maybe I want to feature her in particular in a chapter helping Davrin with Assan due to her relationship with mabari that seems to mirror the turlum he's trying to achieve.

[fullmoonfireball]

man i wish that splatoon 3 didnt seem to hate deep cut so much

[gummi-ships]

Kingdom Hearts Re:coded - Finish Commands - Spinner Ray

[princeof-flowers]

Okay we already know about Emmrich's manicure and how he like. Suspiciously doesn't have it in-game where he's either romancing Rook or Strife, but consider:

Still has the mani but two fingers are trimmed. You know the ones.

[where-the-wind-travels]

new & improved class act giselle sprite <3

i do hope the changes (specifically to her nose + mouth) are noticeable... was tired of just using dakota as a placeholder gi SJDJSK

[sexhaver]

lmfao it turns out Firmament used AI tools to modulate human voiceovers and muss up some textures and now kickstarter backers are malding and asking for their money back. and news outlets are treating those requests like they aren't ridiculous

[geth-consensus]

If I had to identify one core issue with Veilguard's writing, it would be the word subtly. Or rather, the lack thereof.

[jasonsbruce]

i fear i must write a dalish rook x solas fic