#conversation ripped from dragon age: the veilguard

[illuminatedquill]

Kanan: So, Sabine. Zeb said something interesting the other day. About you and Ezra.

Sabine: Oh? Hmmmm. Can’t imagine what that would be about.

Kanan: Said that you were the one who covered Ezra in olive oil.

Sabine: I was trying to make him go faster! Thought it would decrease wind resistance.

Kanan: It meant that he was slipping and sliding in the cargo hold for over an hour while Zeb laughed himself to death.

Sabine: THE THEORY WAS SOUND.

[largemandrill]

rook tarot ask game thing!!! bc i'm noisy lmao

the high priestess, the empress (+ very curious of their relationship with isabela >:3), the wheel of fortune, the devil, the moon (i'm so curious about anything and everything euehueheueheue your rook rocks)

Really tryna rifle through my filing cabinet eh? Jk thanks for the intrigue. I get 50% more powerful whenever people ask me things. Also I’m gonna switch between Rook, their actual name (Kiann), and Laidir repeatedly. They are equally all three of those identities.

I wrote more than I thought I would. The cut is for everyone’s benefit lol.

The High Priestess: Which does Rook obey more: their head or their heart?

Rook tries to separate their compassion from their job. Too much blood is on their hands for them to preach sainthood. Thus, they use their head in most situations, which can make them kinda manipulative (not intentionally, that’s just what happens when you treat every conversation like they can be won)

I do think that once you scrape back all of those layers, you’ll find that they use their heart when helping those they love (The Veilguard, Varric, Rowan & Isabela etc.) Their heart isn’t very good at decision making though so any suggestions have to be filtered through the brain first lol.

The Empress: What does family mean for Rook?

Family can be anyone. Laidir was taken away from their mother too early for any solid memories of her to be present, so the Lords became the default image in their head for family.

And since you asked about Isa specifically, I’ll elaborate on their weird… thing they’ve got going on. They are so “Never Love and Anchor” core it hurts 😭😭😭. Isabela wasn’t a terrible mother figure, even though she tried to position herself as more of an Auntie figure at first. Because of her own trauma with her mother, she’s overprotective of Laidir in ways that she refuses to admit to anyone. She’s not letting go of that kid unless it would give them a better life (She would spin it as a “Finally getting you outta my nest” to Kiann. They know she’s sad whenever they leave, though) The two of them have this odd push and pull where neither want to admit they love each other in that parent/child way, but there isn’t really another way to describe it. There’s only so many times you can cry into your mentor’s arms during night terrors before you kinda have to call her mom.

The Wheel of Fortune: Describe an interesting character moment for your Rook. What made this moment stand out to you?

Their heavy insistence on Taash embracing Rivaini culture says a lot about them. I think Rook has a hard time seeing themselves as properly Rivaini at times. Like, they were born to Rivaini craftsmen on Tearstone, but being ripped away from their own culture at such a young age definitely took its toll on them (Isa took them in when they were about 16/17. Since she’s more tied to the Lords than she is to Rivain itself, she couldn’t help too much with those issues). Rook is a master at projecting their insecurities, so being able to help Taash with an issue they’ve been having for over a decade was definitely cathartic in a way.

The Devil: What type of demon is most likely to target Rook? Why?

A desire demon but not for horny or “Gold and Glory” reasons. My guy just needs a hug real bad. Fucked up to see your actual mother in the middle of battle.

The Moon: How does Rook's past impact their values? Does their past come with any biases or blind spots they have to account for?

Oh it deeply affects them. I imagine that they don’t share any pre-Lord of Fortune lore with anyone unless specifically prompted by someone they trust, but they think about it constantly. Their past very directly leads into their lack of swimming expertise, but it also leads to an understandable dislike for pretty much the entirety of Tevinter. Eventually they grow out of it, the shadow dragons and their overall experiences in Dock Town calm the hatred to a more directed state. Being besties with Neve also helped. Now they just despise the Tevinter government 👍

Again, thank you for asking. This took so long to fill out, jesus.

[inkyquince]

Real talk as a dragon age fan, Inky if you could choose from past companions and the Veilguard team who would you want to stick in a room together to talk/throw hands

For talking? God I wanna see Zevran and Josie and Lucanis chatting. Josie to keep the peace since Zevran is an exiled crow, but also in case Lucanis actually likes the guy. Love them.

Varric and Alistair. Just because it would be funny. Out of pocket shit plus with daddly advice? Alistair might cry.

I want Anders and Wynne to have a proper sit down and talk, i feel like it would be so healing for the poor guy. Also Spite and Justice, just to show how despite Lucanis also being an abomination, he embraced Spite and now they're living their best life together, all poly. Anders and Justice NEVER found this harmony and so are constantly struggling.

MERILL AND BELLARA WOULD BE THE BEST, THEY'D BE BEST FRIENDS?? Oh my god. I'd love to sit in on that conversation.

Isabella and Zevran deserve a third reunion, their banter is always amazing.

EMMERICH AND DORIAN SINCE ITS CANON EMMERICH TAUGHT DORIAN. HE TAUGHT BABY GAY DORIAN AND NOW DORIAN HAS A MOUSTACHE LIKE HIS BISEXUAL PROFESSOR. They deserve a sit down and a chat.

Aveline and Cassandra should start a bookclub. I love them.

Taash, Iron Bull and Sten would be the most awkward, horrific sit down and I need to document it like they're insects. Like brother, the future Arishock?? Ben Hassrath turned Tal Vashoth Iron Bull?? Taash, taken away from the Qun and now sees themselves as more Rivaini? I dont want them to HANG OUT, just be forced into the same waiting room for a bit.

To fight?

I want Fenris to lay Solas out. I want him to rip out his spleen and make him eat it. Solas wouldn't be able to do SHIT against Fenris. Die, stupid egg.

Also doesn't REALLY count but Serana/Amell should meet Inquisition Cullen and beat the fuck outta him. Any mage inquisitor should meet Origins Cullen and beat the fuck outta him. Hawke should remain kicking that man in the ribs.

Also I know in my gut that just the sight of Scout Harding would fuck Oghren up.

[tokyopewpew]

Part whatever of Veilguard Breakdown!

Themes, gameplay, Overall Plot, and ruminations on the Production behind the game aka wild speculation.

Spoilers abound as well as some disclaimers under the cut. Buckle up this is going to be a LONG ONE.

Ok I am going to try and organize this so it isn’t just a ramble. I also don’t meant this to come across as a defense or shilling for Bioware or EA, if it sounds defensive or you think I’m giving a lot of grace, please know it is for the actual real, physical people who had to make this game. The writers, the game designers and directors, who I think had an incredibly difficult job to pull off with this game. ( and if you couldn’t tell already, i really liked it so I think they did a great job!)

My credentials to talk out of my ass are: I work in *vague general gesture* entertainment. I studied anthropology, writing, film and tv (specifically animation) both seriously in college and in my free time. I write and draw comics, I animate, and do general writing/editing for novels and scripts. I am not saying i am right in any way shape or form, but I have some extra insight maybe, which I think puts me more sympathetic towards to rough spots in this game.

I’m also a Solavellan Truther so be warned.

That being said here we go:

Gameplay:

Overall I really enjoyed the game! Like most action games it took my a bit to get a grasp of all the buttons (oh my god so many buttons). I played the new God of War games and enjoyed that gameplay quite a bit, ergo I liked this gameplay. GoW was much more of a power fantasy than this though, where you felt monstrously strong from the jump. Playing as a mage, and only starting with Mage and Rogue companions did have me feel a little squishy, but by the end I was ripping enemies apart left and right. I think I beat Elgar’nan in like 6 minutes? It did not feel like I was fighting a god lmao.

I’m kind of weak on the critique for the gameplay. I’m glad there’s no crouch or stealth option thank christ. Like most action-y rpg’s there’s a light and heavy attack, a dodge, a jump, a sprint. The lines kind of blur for me on “how dare you copy these controls wholesale” and “these controls are generally linked to these actions, for ease of use for the player we’re staying consistent with other games for an easier onboarding.”

Also I have never played a dragon age game for the combat. I’m happy to have encounters and do fights but I could/did pretty much play Origins and 2 with a cocktail in one hand because it wasn’t that involved. Inquisition too just being kind of like eh, don’t keep tension in your finger, you’ll keep attacking don’t worry about it. I’m playing for the story and the plot, not the buttons I have to press to get to that. That being said, because of the total difference in game play, from past DA games, i do think this one is the most fun to play/fight in.

One of my very few combat gripes was that, given what a difference damage type makes in a fight, I wish I could change my weapon in the middle of combat. I don't want to have to leave a combat area, cool off, and then swap out my orb. Just let me change it mid combat please.

THAT ALL BEING SAID LETS TALK ABOUT THE PLOT AND PACING!

I do think this game has some recency bias against it. The other games have 10+ years of us rolling them around in the Fandom Rock Tumbler to shine them into perfect glowing beloved, well understood in totality creations. It’s been two fucking weeks with this game, of course it feels shallow in comparison. Give it some time and we’re gonna chew on it more.

That being said: I do agree that it feels softer than other games, but I can identify why that might be.

I think this game is a lot tighter on its narrative than any other DA game. By which I mean the main narrative is always very focused on defeating the gods. The companion quests feel very brief, sometimes just being conversations, and even though their personal quests are meant to in some way link back to the Evanuris, they feel like such small fish in comparison. Taking down any or all of the personal villains for each of the companions does not feel like I’ve made a tangible blow against the Evanuris the way destroying Corypheus’ lyrium mines and Samson’s armor did in Inquisition or the way recruiting the different factions did for Origins.

But here’s where I append my little caveats. (I'm gonna harp that DIFFERENT doesn't mean bad to me). I do like the breakneck pace of this plot. They did start off as cartoon-ish new villains being thrown in, like they do in every Marvel movie. But I think they did a good job of ramping up how terrifying they were pretty quickly and actually making them feel threatening. The odds felt forever stacked against us, and it matched the streamlined, focused main quest line. And hey, let’s be honest, the fetch quests and padded content was a big complaint against Inquisition (or many open world games).

Which is what makes me see a lot of the complaints against VG are ones where I don’t think people connect that Bioware is damned if they do, damned if they don’t. Do you want a streamlined, focused game without a lot of cruft, a complaint lobbed at many open world games? Ok you won’t get as many little side quests that feel like they add weeks to the plot.

I do think the companion quests are the things that actually make the plot slow down. But we love and want as much companion content as possible? Again, I think this could have helped if the companion personal villain quests felt more essential/woven into the Evanuris that would have helped. I think some more friction between the companions could have helped, in like banter where we saw that they're personal issues are bleeding into making problems with the team. HOWEVER: that's an easy criticism to make if it weren't a game where you can do many things in many different orders. Maybe there was more Davrin and Lucanis bickering, I just missed it because I didn't take them out in the field together, or I resolved more of their quests before I had them both in my party again.

Some Ranting about the SETTING

Seeing a lot of people throwing out that this game is a Soft-Retcon/Tonally Light compared to other DA games. Yes and no. I think it’s through some narrative necessity. I do wish Bioware would trust the audience more with some heavy shit but lets be fr media literacy is on the decline. I don't like that they're dumbing stuff down but has the public at large not proven they can't fucking comprehend a lot of what is thrown at them?

A major comment circulating is about the Crows being turned into Good Guys and Tevinter not going into the class system and slavery enough. I also experienced ZERO racism against my elf character or suspicion of me as a mage. Which, yes, is tonally different from the other games. And I would have liked the depth, I'm not gonna lie.

But given The Real World: I'm ok with not having slurs thrown at me in a game right now.

I also see that as a narrative choice. These are supposed to be your allies that are integral to making it through the game if you want everyone alive. I think they wanted all the antagonism and focus set on the Evanuris and Solas and didn't want to distract or give players the option to kind of question the factions they're petitioning support from.

It's in line with this game having far fewer consequences to your choices. They are more railroading with the plot/important decisions you make which I get isn't going to be to everyone's taste (again, more God of War feeling than DA Origins).

But I also think previous games had a really easy time talking shit and building up off-screen monsters. And now, narratively, they need to bring those off-screen monsters in and humanize them so you won't refuse to work with them outright.

Par example: Playing Origins and loving Zevran. Oh my god his horror stories about the Crows?? How can you support the Crows at ALL hearing what he’s said about them or how many times they try to kill him?!

Psst it's because Origin's goal was to humanize and make him likable as an individual and the narrative tool they used to do that was giving him a tragic backstory of poverty and abuse. Which is not unique to many assassin guild characters. But that kind of shoots them in the foot if they want to have any other Crow companion or involvement because they poisoned the well themselves. So what do they do? Just never include the Crows in a main story on the side of the hero ever? Do they introduce another assassin's guild and say no don't worry, they train their professional killers totally ethically and cool, you've just never heard of them? Or do they kind of work around what they've already got?

Meanwhile, the ones I haven't seen nearly as much critique on is the Lords of Fortune!! Oh my GOD were they sanitized to be Unproblematic! I was cringing so hard when they talked about being treasure hunters but they had Taash EXPLICITLY SPECIFICALLY clarify they don’t steal and they are careful with culturally sensitive materials, sending them to the appropriate people.

This is some Indiana Jones "it belongs in a museum" RetCon. But that's FINE because it matches our real world sensibilities.

Like I don't want to complain that the Crows can't have grown and evolved as a group (forcibly or of their own volition) and not also joke that Isabela really learns her lesson after DA2 to not fuck with culturally significant artifacts and turned the Lords of Fortune into the "pirates never steal another person's property" meme.

Complaining that the ASSASSIN'S GUILD isn't operating ethically is an oxymoron. We need some fantasy elements, some suspension of disbelief. Otherwise we're filing a million OSHA violations against Treviso too for the lack of railings in the Casino and Rook should go to jail for murder.

Like I said, it's not bad, it's just Different.

It's the change in landscape of 10-15 years of game/narrative. development. Of them listening. Sorry it can't go both ways. Gotta read up on the Ludonarrative dissonance again which I think is a huge struggle in making more realistic worlds and still having it be a fighting/action game.

For those that don't know: Ludonarrative dissonance is when the narrative and gameplay are at odds with each other. Kind of noted in games like Uncharted, where Nathan Drake is supposed to be a kind of every man, but the gameplay has you be a fucking action hero.

Or, since everyone loves to compare this to BG3 here is my own experience of it when playing that: I listened to the narrative the first time I played which said ANY SECOND NOW: YOU WILL BECOME A MINDFLAYER. DO NOT SLEEP DO NOT REST HOLY SHIT YOU’LL DIE.

So I only long rested like twice for all of act 1 and was confused when I didn’t get any cut scenes, plot, or dialogue people were talking about. And looking it up, I was not the only one who made that mistake. I listened to the narrative so damn good, that I was going to die any second, I didn't get the cut scene that told me it was ok to take a break, this artifact is going to protect you. So i reloaded an earlier save and re-played a good chunk of act 1 and rested often. Lo and behold: I got all the cut scenes that had previously eluded me! That to me was a big annoyance that the GAMEPLAY and the NARRATIVE were at odds like that.

Veilguard and Dragon Age suffer a bit from this in how they are trying to present a fleshed out, intricate, geo-political world, but you still need enemies to fight in the game. But not demonize entire cultures.

It doesn't help that Origins started off with kind a weak fantasy basis that doesn't hold up as well today. Europe but upside down, cultures are real world stand ins etc etc. And then add 15 years of not just games culture changing but culture culture changing and things that passed in the first game can't and shouldn't be carried over to the newest iteration. Or even mentioned above, where earlier games build up groups or areas as evil, which shoots themselves in the foot when they want to re-examine that later.

Like they have gotten a lot of flack for some of the elven and qunari depictions because they made the direct parallels to native americans and Muslim cultures. They have clearly learned their lesson to not demonize and ENTIRE culture and every person from that culture.

But then how do you have diverse enemies in games but also make it clear you aren't fighting an entire country/culture? We get the kind of weak so uh uh we have a separate faction now! the antaam are the BAD qunari like the venatori are the BAD Tevinters! We need enemies for you to kill and NOT FEEL BAD ABOUT IT but you have to know THESE are the cult ones which makes it ok! Which is something most video games do nowadays.

So when the comment is that previous games were darker, I believe the previous games were more grim because you were up against the world. It was a more brutal land of prejudice and strife and every faction you could join abused and indoctrinated kids in some way. Like that was of the time period to say "Look how Real and Serious our game is? Look how terrible everyone is, everyone is greedy and out for themselves and shitty, but you'll bend them to your will with your awesome might."

But that is not the tone of Veilguard. Which I would almost guess IS a real world reaction to purposefully NOT HAVE a lot of built in bigoted content for the sake of "realism." Both for it to be a fun, escapist game, and a power fantasy.

With the narrative of this game you need to be involved in all the factions which, I would guess, they decided to go more friction-less and have them all be groups you felt like deserved to be saved and that you care about rather than make you begrudgingly help someone you hate.

ANOTHER FOR EXAMPLE: The discourse ALREADY HAPPENING about the choice between Minrathous and Treviso. Like both options are TERRIBLE but saying that because Tevinter has slavery, it deserves the dragon attack? Wild!

Can ya maybe see why they chose to omit some stuff or not pack in anything that would make you doubt your allies? Or be ok with dooming them in the end game as some sort of catholic retribution for their Sins?

Another way to put it is that while I'm disappointed by maybe the lack of exploration on some of the deeper Geo-poltical topics, 1. I don't think that was the goal of the game. And 2. I would rather they recognize that they wouldn't be able to do it justice or go to the depth they would need to so it's better to cut it rather than deliver something they aren't proud of. Like the game shouldn't have to tell you that slavery is bad to know it's bad, even in the fantasy world. The goal of the game is also not to dismantle slavery in Tevinter.

So I ask the room: do we want to see slavery in our fun after work game? Do we want to be called knife ear and not be able to shop at merchant's if we're an elf? I'm kind of cool with not having that.

Disclaimer though: I am white as hell! I've seen black creators express frustration with the lack of conversation on these subjects and how that feels like Bioware pulling punches and it is totally fair to want more meaningful discussion of the topic in the game.

Seeing the bones through it's skin: thoughts on the production of the game:

It's a weird line to walk when Bioware is clearly wanting to make an inclusive, fun, first person game, but have depth and realism in a world that does include that from its shaky foundation. Has Thedas improved in the 10-20 in game years to be more inclusive?

The narrative design for a game is also super different from books or comics and why we generally want happier endings in games. One of the major criticisms against The Last of Us 2 was how fucking bleak it was. How do you get people to keep holding the controller when it's a tragedy? When it's a slog to get through? So I can see the decision to water down or sanitize areas to avoid turning off or downright triggering players.

Which also, same problem mentioned again. I don't think this is anyone here who's gotten this far into my rambling lol, but game design and writing having to be for BOTH new and old players makes it a much different writing experience. I think people have been trying to apply Book Continuity Rules to Dragon Age rather than Movie continuity. What do I mean by that?

Did you know that for comics, you should prepare for your second issue sales to drop by half? Because presumably, a lot of people will try your first issue but won't necessarily want to stick with it, and who in their right mind is going to pick up the second issue and not the first? And every subsequent issue sees a similar decline in order numbers BECAUSE it's a linear story where if you pick up the fourth one you won't know what the hell is happening and the payoff won't work. Video Games can't work like that, the same way movies try REALLY HARD to make sequels as easy as possible for someone to come in completely unfamiliar.

This has been the fault of Dragon Age and Mass Effect Andromeda overall. Trying to be a high fantasy series, but also anthology so you don't have to start from the beginning, with writers coming and going makes it a weird collaborative continuity that is BOUND to change OVER THE COURSE OF 15 YEARS.

Storylines and plots have been picked up and dropped and told they'll matter and quickly wrapped up across the course of every game. Because they have to make way for this to be someone's FIRST Dragon Age game. Inquisition was my first one and I think I made it 15 minutes before I had to stop and google Chantry, Templars, why the fuck do they hate elves? IT WAS A STEEP INTRO is what I'm saying. I've now since played all of the games and adore them all for their own reasons. And I'm sorry but I don't get why its so hard to grasp that the games are not being made to entirely be fanservice to existing players.

I get the frustration over only 3 choices carrying over but like... There cannot be a google survey at the beginning of the game.

"But what about the keep?" You may very well ask. I already commented on this in the tags of another post but I need y'all to really think and remember that the things brought over from the Keep are pretty much just as light, and most often only result in mild flavor text.

Given the development hell this game has gone through and what feels to me like a desperate attempt to limit scope and streamline the game, I can be disappointed but recognize it is realistic that those cameos are nice icing but not essential to a good story. Use your imagination. I think Mary Kirby said she gets the desire to see characters again, but you should not want them back for the Plot. If they're In The Plot, that usually isn't good for them. Varric. That is what fanfiction is for, so they don't invalidate people's headcanons or how they imagine the world to be.

Which I think they handled what they could well enough. Referring to Divine Victoria is a clean crisp way to let you yourself fill in the blanks. They just have to say Orlais, they don't have to specify whether it's one of 5 potential ruling situations. The more branching possibilities, the more chances for a game to break and I'm sorry it is a fucking MIRACLE this game ran smoothly and perfectly for me from day 1. I'd rather have that than a bug report that if you have a timeline with Old God Keiran, and Gaspard as ruler of Orlais and Divine Vivienne the game crashes and is unplayable.

I'm ok with Utada Hikaru, Simple and Clean writing that covers a lot of bases and lets YOU fill in the gaps yourself so that your world is not invalidated!

I think a lot of people are looking at it saying Bioware has endless EA money and this game had 10 years why couldn't it do Everything AND MORE. When that is not an accurate timeline. This game had 3-4 years of development built on two corpses that also had 2-4 years of development. And you can absolutely feel it sometimes. In that sense, the plot of being a core group of weirdos, trying their best, beset by development hell, met with huge expectations and criticized for it's divergence or lack of inclusion of past game decisions WELCOME DRAGON AGE 2: 2 THE VEILGUARD.

Ok whew I think that's going to be it. I love you goodbye.

[madeleinefjall]

Dragon Age Veilguard Thoughts

Spoilers incoming, so don’t read if you haven’t finished the game! Be warned.

I just really need somewhere to gather my thoughts about the game, as many others have already done. These are mostly rambles, so enjoy. I hope. 

Going into the game, I was reluctantly optimistic, and with that I both managed to be surprised by how much I liked the game, and how much some parts disappointed me. Overall, I think it was good! For me it was quite in line with Inquisition; I loved parts of it, disliked parts of it. Even though stuff was missing, I felt it was a good enough continuation of the game, even though I would’ve loved to hear more about what happened with all of Solas’ spies etc. 

To be fair, I think every Dragon Age has their negative and positive parts, and as someone who doesn’t care about combat, the characters and character interactions usually make up for the not-so-enjoyable combat. Dragon Age Origins is clunky, I hate the fade quest and always use the mod for it. Most of the characters, except for Alistair and Morrigan, don't do as much for the plot unfortunately. But I love it. The end of that game, as someone who romanced Alistair, was a gut punch for me. 

The things could be said for DA2 and DAI as well, but I never connected much to the companions in those, even if I still love them, but not enough that I’ve felt the need to for example draw fanart etc. I do love Dorian, and I thought the romance with Cullen and Solas was fun (the last one mostly because of the angst in Trespasser). Anders in DA2 was interesting because of what he did, and the angst of romancing him was enjoyable. But other than that? Everyone else is fine, but not characters I think back to a lot. Even so, they are still enjoyable! They made it worth the repetitiveness in DA2, and the utterly bloated mess that Inquisition is.

And now to Veilguard; those parts are probably what makes me most sad. I actually DO love all the companions in this one, I love the outings and how I got to know them all, but...for some reason they still felt, not there? The banter was nice, not as spicy as DAO or DA2, but I liked it. But in conversations, they were invisible. They didn't react. Not that they did that much in DAI either. However, the romance, oh, the romance. I had SUCH a hard time choosing who I would romance, because I wanted to romance them all. But after you were locked in? I felt like, is this it? Were we even together? There were crumbs, and not the whole cookie I’ve had from the previous games. For reference, I chose Davrin in the end, because I felt that he and my Grey Warden fit the best, and I don’t want to make Harding sad when Rook has to follow the Calling in the future. And…It was ‘aight?

That whole part reminded me more of how the romance was in ME2, quite nonexistent, but perhaps a bit more than that in DAV. And, don’t get me wrong, I do love ME, especially the 3rd one, but then I was already locked in with Garrus and I enjoyed all of their interactions as a couple. Veilguard reminded me a lot of ME2, it was a bit like DA in ME skin at the end, but those parts were quite fine for me. 

So the writing and the lack of…nuance? Is probably what I think is missing. Just some small touches of the companions with Rook, are they friends? Flirty? Something? It was more alike to Shepard with their crew, and perhaps that was the point, but as much as I liked it 30h in, I was quite sad there weren't more interactions with the companions, since I actually loved them. They felt a bit unutilized, some more than others. I don’t want more quests but shorter scenes, interruptions in conversations, a quick kiss of the one you romance, smaller things that make Rook feel more included. And since I flirted with everyone, why did no one comment on it after I locked in? And why did Lucanis flirt more with Neve than with my Rook? Makes me sad rip. Both Lucanis’ and Neve’s “I’m interested in a romance but aren’t locked in yet” were really good though. Made me blush. 

Other than those complaints, I did enjoy it. Perhaps I miss some of the more harsher parts of Thedas, the gritty, the awfulness. We did get it, but it was more in the background, not that it would change my opinion of the game. 

Towards the positive things! I LOVED the Weisshaupt quest. That was so enjoyable and I almost cried seeing the chalice from the fifth blight. The blighted village was also nice. I also enjoyed the ending, to which I cried, and I enjoyed the combat, which I changed 2h into the game to hard. I cried as well during Bellara’s first outing, her voice actor is so good. And Taash, when they screamed, gave me the chills. There were a lot of moments where I was like “Damn, I really like this”. I think it was great that the areas were more streamlined, with side quests that made sense and felt fitting. Perhaps I am getting old, but I would almost want an even shorter game still haha. It was short enough that I feel like I will play it again in the future to romance someone else, without that exhausting grind of DAI. I also really liked the art style, even if I was put off by it in the first trailer.

Since I played as a Grey Warden, I felt that my Rook had a lot of moments where she actually felt included and that her background was connected to everything. There were a lot of Grey Warden lines, a lot of other Grey Wardens talking to my Rook about Grey Warden things and other parts where my Rook could speak her mind of being from that group. I am intrigued to see how the other backgrounds are included in the game, or if I choose the “correct” one which had the most content. This was something I didn’t like with DAI, for example. My Inquisitor was just a husk of nothing.

I will throw in a last complaint; the music. The music in DAI was so good, and when they did use Trevor Morris’ tracks a few times in DAV I almost cried again, and I don’t think any of the music solely for DAV is memorable at all. It was background noise. 

Even with all this, I had fun! It felt like a Dragon Age game, and I feel a lot of the complaints are too loud. I never expected another DAO. And perhaps it could’ve been better, but with all the changes and rework they had to do, I’m just happy we got another DA game. The end ended me.

And I would die for Assan and Manfred. 

Hope you enjoyed my rambles about the game. This is not something I usually do but I haven’t had anyone to speak about my thoughts so, hey. :) I probably missed some things and thoughts but be prepared for some fanart soon!

(THE CHOICE BETWEEN HARDING AND DAVRIN THOUGH THAT WAS MEAN WTF I AM NOT OVER THAT)

[amidst-wonderland]

dragon age: the veilguard | thoughts

spoilers below!

rook is so pretty! (my mum was like, "bit narcissistic, don't you think?")

oh the hair physics are so good.

think there’s a glitch on the human inquisition cc cause it’s making the eyelashes and eyebrows the same colour.

strife’s va sounds like bruce greenwood so i can’t unhear batman.

i feel like some of the va’s are hit or miss, some of them are so dry is bordering on flat, particularly neve, who slips into some american? even though she’s english.

can’t believe rook can be a gordie, right bioware, head up past the border next time!

we meet again cor vincent and chloe.

gimmie back the griffins!

i dunno what to make of neve to be honest.

i’m gonna go back and update my thoughts on this after i’ve beaten the game, so unlike my other ones, because i’m going in blind in terms of characterisations cause i already knew everyone in p3, ff15, spidey and rebirth.

checking out the cauldron with the elf squad.

i’m kinda gutted there’s not all lot of calls to the fact rook is an elf in-terms of grievances with npc’s. more seem to find issue with her previous occupation than that of her own gods tearing down the world and you only get internal conversations with bellara.

not enough spite for my liking. his first scene was so intriguing, like we don’t really know what draws him to rook, especially when lucanis can end up with neve but he still likes rook.

i don’t know if anyone else says anything, but it’s nice to know neve approves of rook’s relationship choices (i think taash does?)

gotta say, i think all the characters have grown on me but davrin, emmerich and bellara especially.

it really bothers me there’s no specific lines about rook being an elf trying to save lace from her magical rage, considering her channelled speech. there is, it’s just really long winded because you don’t get it until one of the solas regret debriefs which was 10-15+ hrs later for me.

“i’m a mage! i’m a mage!” yeah, y’know who else is? rook! and the only people to mention it is lace and taash.

i don’t care about the “dog-ification” of mythical creatures, assan is my baby and you get to hug him!

wow, i though cyberpunk had dire clothing options. my favourite is rook’s default.

too many english characters not saying “arse”.

is it just me or was taash’s non-binary story not handled well? it was so hand fisted and that isabela scene was so awkwardly done.

taash has the best and worst emotional range, but it think that’s more down to the voice direction and writing.

mage rook plays like a significantly more aggressive aerith.

well played bioware ya got me (rip)

#elfsquadkillsthedreadwolf (honestly, this feels right. the elf heroes, taking on an elf tyrant to take down the elevan gods and i’m a little annoyed they don’t toy with rook about the fact she is an elf enough).

yes, i stupidly got harding killed and neve captured but, bellara is my healer with a hardened neve and i googled what happened if davrin got killed and i couldn’t let my baby assan go like that, as poetic as it is.

it’s weird seeing “fucking” in the choice, i’ve only heard two drops of it, maybe two. lucanis, then i think taash might have.

okay… so, #superelfsquadkillselgar’nan.

i love playing a pint-sized lass taking on the world, considering i never really get to.

those cut lucanis scenes are my thirteenth reason. like seriously?! first river now lucanis?! it’s so blatantly obvious that scene pre minrathous isn’t their first kiss and i’m willing to bet it’s not their first bang either. like imagine cutting a character’s romance arc so bad that the player character has their first kiss offscreen. my guess is, the scene back at the lighthouse we got was your debrief scene later in the game and it was supposed to be the gondola scene at the villa because the jump cut is far to jarring and doesn’t fit what lucanis actually says, which to paraphrase is, “peace out, i’m gonna go fuck my girlfriend.”

rook joking her, belle and darvin are elf spirits is pretty funny

elgar’nan says “you will regret that” and all i could hear was was bandit heeler unicorse’s “you will live to regret that.”

there’s a part of me thinking that it’s more fitting for bellara to take the fall instead of neve with everything the elves have been put through via the gods and the fact the gods are taken down by their own people in the end. then again, she might be dead cause i’ve not seen that route.

my rook has put neve through the ringer and she’s completely my collateral damage. like babe, i’m sorry but i can’t break up the elf squad, bellara is my healer (a collateral in itself) and i didn’t want locked out of lucanis.

i just know spite said something vile to lucanis about rook and that’s why he didn’t kiss her.

i don’t love the implications that neve and lucanis end up together (and it’s fine if you do) but on both a story level and meta it’s contradictory and kinda insulting. neve’s romance isn’t locked if you don’t go with her, but it’s not the same vice-versa, not to mention it makes his feelings for rook feel a little disingenuous and that it was just spite who liked rook, when he implies that he’s not keen on neve. lucanis is willing to forgive neve but not rook especially with attempting to throw treviso under the bus (which, fair enough) and he’s willing to look past that? also, once again whilst yes, it’s a “straight romance” it’s primarily female players getting shafted, again. plus i get it’s his personality but they two still flirt until you lock-in with lucanis. like my babe rook who is serving more face than anyone on this team will not play second fiddle.

also, you get more content if you go as a crow which makes sense and it wouldn’t bother me so much if the game made up for it in other ways, lucanis is a mage killer and yet there’s no comment on it. even on the elf thing, there could’ve been a comment from any of them, particularly lucanis (if you wanna do it in a flirty way), his grandmother or teia that the crows like recruiting elf’s to disarm human targets because they find them attractive.

the lines you get about and from viago are hilarious as a crow, rook is his liability baby. i would have paid to see the look on his face when he found out about rook and lucanis

the fact that the treviso missions are kinda brushed over as a “battle for the cowl” thing, baring in mind, lucanis doesn’t seem too fussed about being first really bothers me. the crows are a dark faction, illario and lucanis went through child abuse at the hands of their grandmother as child soldiers and none of that is handled.

seeing the sketches of the cut content confirms it could’ve been a lot tonally darker.

the venetori are truly the most gullible cult. like you pissed off your bosses because you killed an elevan creation, how did you think that would go?!

pissed the only scottish accents i’ve heard are venetori.

we literally did shrooms with davrin.

i killed manfred and i regret it. emmrich said a line about “honouring the dead” and i was like fair, but then i thought about it more and… i don’t like the implications of emmrich running from death and i think you’re giving in to his flaws. also, finally a matt mercer voice i couldn’t recognise.

it’s the fact rook calls out to harding in the fade and it’s neve that’s with her, it’s all coming full circle.

i accidentally made my inquisitor really small and i knew i wanted to get the true ending so all i could think in the final battle was, “rook’s already tiny compared to solas and my inquisitor is even smaller, how is that kiss gonna work?!” but it was actually fine.

“varric is-“ and there it is. solas’ angle on rook. i’d argue solas toying with rook about varric is what he assume would be her undoing but it ended up being the catalyst to his downfall.

gameplay-wise, incredibly fun. the third act is the strongest if i’m honest but, it would be helpful is rook wasn’t the ai’s only target.

i was running about for so long trying to wonder what i had missed in the heart of corruption. turns out i had opened the champion blight wall in the converged city but not gone down to beat it.

beat the game in 50hrs, had almost all factions at 3 stars (except the wardens and shadow dragons) and got solas to do the right thing.

strife and emmerich?! omfg that’s amazing, could call rook a tactical matchmaker.

i’m not seeing enough people talk about this but that fact lucanis got on his knees for rook. a crow, the first talon, a dellamorte… like it was so fucking sweet, and the wings! spite doesn’t get involved my ass.

if you romance lucanis, that final fight with ghilan'nain is with an added layer of stress but it’s the fact rook get grabbed before getting him out and other than rook (and harding / davrin) he was the closest to ghilan’nain and they know.

most of lucanis’ lines are just him saying rook in a different tone.

evka really grew on me. i honestly thought her and antoine were one and done appearances just to link you to davrin but i was pleasantly surprised they follow you through to endgame.

ghilan'nain only calls out bellara and davrin for being elves coming to get her and rook’s just there like “and i’m what?”

considering the distain solas, elgar’nan and ghilan’nain have for the elves of today it’s so good to be with the elf squad.

i think i’ve finally got solas shtick down. it’s that he can do wrong, do right but cannot take accountability.

i love the fact the team squad can start with four women (two, potentially three woc and a dwarf) bet the grifters were real pissed. then a bisexual assassin who’s a big softie.

yeah, taash basically says to lucanis, “ya’ll should bone with the wings.” i stand by the fact taash is most definitely autistic and it’s amazing.

people seem to forget da is modern fantasy, and not medieval. non-binary is not “out of place” any more than lucanis saying elevator to davrin (literally a captain america reference) and minrathous has magical neon signs.

rook literally says to davrin, “…and we’ll head to treviso.” even though you don’t have to take him.

okay, there’s two non-venetori scottish npc and what the fuck is that one in minrathous' accent?

rook not having a default ‘rook’ casual wear is kinda annoying. i hate how your outfit has to look like the factions.

does the human rook honour the dead in english?

“i also used to wet the bed, want me to start up that again.” / “i’d rather you didn’t.”

spite missing manfred is so cute

the lucanis and davrin soup poison conversation is hilarious.

saw a tiktok talking about how we could’ve played as the inquisitor during the three weeks rook was gone, helping to build back the team and honestly that would’ve been perfect. rook is their glue and after loosing three people the are not okay. so, based on who i had left you could see glimpses on them coping, taash finally turning emmerich to help with their grief, finding bellara in neve’s room or it getting a little dicey between davrin and lucanis, who to me, probably take rook’s disappearance the hardest (outside of romance), with the romance angle it’s so much worse for they two and their natural dispositions butting heads in a “i have to let her go or it will kill me.” vs. “it’ll kill me if i do.” plus, it adds so much more to the solavellan ending with her being there and it could be her idea to make the fake dagger.

dying at rook translating isabella’s elven mishap.

the way she announces spite is like, “the incredible demon spite!” then is like, “oh and lucanis is here too, i guess.”

lucanis is a girl dad, the way he is with mila and has had enough of “girl dinner”.

“she’s a cloud! how do i kill a cloud with a dagger?!”

(bellara to emmerich on elves as spirits) “i asked davrin about it and he just shrugged!” / “pfft. he would.” (rook seemed ambivalent in her answer).

davrin has the most compelling arc, like i did not expect that to go the way it would and the warden’s without a shadow of a doubt don’t deserve those griffins back.

there’s a part of me that feels sorry ghilan’nain she’s as much a victim as she is villain. seeing the venetori hurt that halla confirms it. similarly with her archdemon. she is their protector, creator. elgar’nan groomed her and i stand by it. i don’t forgive nor absolve but contextually i can see this damage is not all her own volition.

everything varric says comes into so much question, especially the talk just before fighting the two dragons in the wetlands. even if rook fights him on it, solas makes it clear the team must be willing to die for the cause, for her. then, back at the lighthouse, what does varric press her to do? help her team get past their issues. also this might not be intentional but sometimes varric but you can hear solas’ accent (which, the va seems to be leaning more into his welsh accent for solas).

on accents, rook saying “fix up your gear” and “we’re in dock town proper.” in the thickest gordie accent is incredible. i was half expecting her to finish the latter sentence with “like”. this woman’s giving “i’ve got paper-cuts on top of fucking paper-cuts.”

emmerich’s transmog has glitched out on the most horrific outfit.

i’m actually really pissed off that rook isn’t in the ‘ossuary’ with spite. like i get the devs were real excited about neve and lucanis but it just feels like a kick in the teeth.

“is this elf your servant?” there’s two elves pal. then bellara does back it up with the fact they respect “human mages.”

elgar’nan’s planning to sacrifice elves for, some would argue retribution. lucanis do you really think this is the best time to have your first domestic with your elven missus?! (no but him yelling at rook, the gate and the lock is hilarious).

i just know lucanis is a loving, low-key handsy drunk and rook putting him to bed after drinking with davrin would’ve been so cute!

rook and harding are having a heart to heart and rook is apologetic about the titans, then davrin talks about how solas doesn’t feel guilty because he did it. then it cuts to lucanis is this weird meta way who just says “mierda’ after a pause like he remembers the camera has cut to him.

vorgoth’s “rook” and a wave is so funny.

“till taash teaches him how to swear…”

almost thought spite was going to look to the camera and to “bleugh!” at rook and lucanis.

i just know rook finally let go the breath she’d holding when she heard lucanis shout for her after the ghilan’nain fight.

still can’t believe the inquisitior’s va is alt from cyberpunk.

“mortal threats are a dull blade.” goes so hard, and honestly at the gloom howler’s core you can understand and sympathise how her anger and hurt manifested.

crow!rook not being able to have the same grace as neve for not saving minrathous is kinda icky. like, yeah you’re angry about your home but also mine was also being attacked.

the way evka is constantly making faces at rook during weisshaupt’s boardroom like, “oh my christ, you are not helping.” then when rook runs off to the dragon trap, she looks at antoine like, “is she for real?”

“tell me about you and lucanis.” omfg, lavellan! morrigan stalking rook’s love life was not on my bingo card.

can we talk about the fact that lucanis technically doesn’t actually, succeed at anything he was recruited for? he missed the first time, harding / davrin provided a distraction the second and teia saves his ass the third. rook you’ve bagged a man that is perpetually failing upwards.

next run is gonna be a male rook, or another female rook but i wanna see bellara and davrin's romances next cause both times i did lucanis, because i wanted to see if being a crow makes a difference, it doesn't. it's more teia and viago scenes that change.

veilguard insists on, "solas's" instehad of "solas'" and its throwing me off.

bare with me, but someone on tiktok pointed out that despite the cut content, lucanis and rook feel the most ‘canon’ to the overarching theme and that in love, rook is a foil for solas. rook has everything he wanted and lucanis is everything he wanted to be for mythal and lavellan, similarly with zara and illario who took advantage of the envy demon. it’s why he chooses to fuck with rook about lucanis specifically because he constantly talks about the sacrifices rook has to make for love, despite never doing it himself out of fear. rook doesn’t have that, she drops the ball and scarified a member of her team to ensure lucanis’ safety and loses the upper hand in the fight, she stands by him even when the team don’t risking their trust in their shared goal, which exactly what solas is afraid of. unlike solas, lucanis lets rook in, he doesn’t want spite near her and he’s scared but he takes that risk, and again, every bit of love he’s had has been transactional - like solas and mythal - and it takes him so long to accept that rook’s isn’t, he lets go of his fear that he might loose her. hell, taking all of that and everything she’s been through with lucanis and pushes the lesson learned onto lavellan. solas knows everything lucanis and rook have been through and uses the consistent fear she has to break her, the same way it would him. he didn’t really make the sacrifice to leave lavellan just mitigated it, which lavellan points out. his fear that her love would stop him or that she would turn against the real him. on that ghilan’nain fight, lucanis could’ve dropped the dagger and saved harding, but he didn’t because it was at the cost of rook’s life and the one thing she had asked from him.

currently making an edit for my rook but why the fuck does she smile like taerae? 😭😭😭

the way you find out that lucanis and rook are already doing it from a conversation between lucanis and taash and a codex from lucanis.

i’m still so pissed off at the neve and lucanis have re-used scenes from lucanis and rook! like nothing about their romance feels inherently special. you don’t even have a conversation about spite on an intimate level (and neve and lucanis literally do!). from the concept art, it looked like it happened but lucanis really needed a scene were spite got genuine out of hand with rook and they work through it. nothing on lucanis knowing rook’s footsteps in the romance route?!

michelle gomez is playing ghilan’nain?!

i hate lucanis’ cartoony pirate boots.

this, is what rook is wearing casually as far as i’m concerned. top | skirt | boots | necklace

feeding into the whole, elves are more likely to have twins. liv and lucanis have two twin girls then a boy.

the snort i let out when i got to the final romance scene, like woah babe, they are out. i keep thinking because of the new art-style they’d be a bit more conservative but no. good for you rook, as a former member of the itty bitty tittie committee.

my rook: olivia “liv” de riva. (i consider my second run as my ‘canon’ run.)

[zeico]

Coming to end of veilguard. Game literally crashed like right before final final battle like I'm going around with final talks and there's a last minute shop and enchantment station Just In Case.

So like yea good stopping point for a break for my computer bc OH BOI is my machine struggling with the game.

I've been spoiled on like everything and I'm doing the solavellan end bc im a sap and in a conversation she basically said "lol maybe I'm the prideful one even tho he named pride" which like.... is the elf I would have played back then. So like let my girl have a happy end.

Anyway thinking some thoughts that are spoilery for those that care

I'm also blaming literally every fucking technical issue and crash over solas tho bc it's lore that way bc blood magic brain connection lmao.

Motion sickness? Solas.

Battle moving at 1 fps if I'm fucking lucky? Solas.

Environments not loading in if I sprint ever? Solas.

Enemies not fucking loading in as I am running laps around the arena? Somehow... also Solas.

Being a long time dragon age fan and seeing the edges being sanded down and fangs ripped from its maw. I understand solas unfuckingfortunately.

[bakafox]

More Veilguard Rambling As I Inch Closer To Endgame

Veilguard has so much light-hearted and silly companion banter. It's so generally friendly, or at least understanding- Taash says inappropriate things or does them, but they're basically 18 and were raised by mercenaries and a demanding mother, and the other companions don't get super pissed. Other pairings of companions may snipe a little at each other and get each others' goats, especially at first, depending on personalities, but there's still the friendliness to it, or at least a tolerance?

Any real distrust type stuff is saved for the conversations you might steer a little.

It's really funny considering how 'polarizing' the game is and how it's led to so many people being absolute jerks towards other people online- but this banter type, the fact people aren't overstepping or being punished for not saying the best or right things is ABSOLUTELY what my soul needs right now in a videogame where I'm teaming up with some group.

I play on the 2 lowest difficulty settings because I don't really want to be challenged in the combat, I just want a fun escapist game that soothes my soul and Veilguard is delivering this so hard to me right now.

Which isn't to say the story and lore doesn't have grim elements, a lot of the main story and bits of lore you find are grim and/or tragic, as grim and tragic as in any other game, but it's far more my style in delivery than some kind of fixed grimdark level.

And admittedly, I have memory problems, and I don't perpetually replay previous games, I played each of them once all the way through and then maybe 4-5 games that got to varying degrees in, but the vibe to me is still so very Dragon Age. Even the new lore about elves and qunari and wardens or the like that apparently so many people hate- I do like it just fine, and I don't think it clashes badly with what DAO and 2 and then Inquisition set up.

Maybe the companions don't have some complexities that make them difficult for me to have my Rook talk to them, and I can see some people missing that sort of thing, but I like having the conversation scripts with them without even once wishing I could poke them about some belief or opinion they have, or try to get them to change their minds about things the game will never actually let you change their minds or even get more dialogue about where I felt absolutely required to write fanfic. I'm too tired to write fanfic right now. But I also still see where if I wanted to I could write fanfic and where they're all still inspiring enough, just- not in a frustrating way for me.

No game can please everyone. I really can see some of what some people might be calling overly-simplistic at times, though I still absolutely can't fathom the bitter bile levels that were stirred up. The creators of Veilguard clearly did love Dragon Age. They clearly knew and cared about what came before it.

Sometimes maybe it's a bit the 'they're a little confused, but they've got the spirit!' in how the dialogue or story treats a few things, but that's really the worst I find myself saying right now still, as I finish up a mess of companion quests before tackling a new story bit.

And while elves and the Dalish still were given a hard road to hoe- I think it feels a lot less unbalanced in Veilguard? Like, they have wins, they are dealing with discovering what was lost or taken from them, and the game doesn't have anyone acting like it's THEIR fault as the survivors that history was ripped away from them or they're just ignorant, and they're not treated as silly in Arlathan for trying to recover past info- and it feels like the Arlathan area elves did fare better than the southern Dalish in general, with no stupid motherfucking southern chantry, or at least less of it.

I. Do. Not. Miss. The. Chantry. Storylines.

I do not miss the 'must mages be controlled?' thing. Like, I wouldn't mind going back to the south if there's ever any future DA games with how this one's been received, but this is a nice vacation. Yes, there's the Tevinter nonsense, and the Qun stuff is still... hm. But it is really bloody nice to learn Thedas History without the 'big moral question' being whether or not mages deserve freedom or are inherently too dangerous to be allowed to roam.

Tevinter Slavery Bad. Venatori Human Mage Superiority And Lust For Empire And Power At All Cost Bad. And I don't have to explain any of that to any of my companions or allies in game or in fiction.

Unless it goes with some of the choices I did not make in the game saves I have going, there's no 'sins of the past generations should be taken out on the current'.

And right now, with how the world is, I like that. Honestly, also after surviving discourse about previous games to where I absolutely no longer interact with the fandom other than my circle of mutuals other than a rare tag dive for fanart alone- I still really like that.