#dai: solas is always in the party

[jupparo]

a self portrait of Fen'harel

[antiqua-lugar]

there has been a bunch of posts recently about the inquisitor being erased by the narrative and a bunch of posts about how this means that the inquisitor can never come back from "being the inquisitor" and I agree

BUT

like it's not going to happen because in the end this is bioware's sandbox and if they decide that the inquisitor is gonna be in veilguard then the inquisitor is going to show up in veilguard even if you think your inquisitor would let the world burn and good riddance

BUT

one could make the argument that because the inquisitor is a symbol, because the inquisitor is so much larger than life, because the inquisitor as an individual doesn't fucking matter, they can leave, because no one knows who they actually are. like it's not without risks but if lavellan paces out and goes back to their clan (or any clan) is anyone going to find them? do people even know what lavellan looks like? did anyone in this chantry-led, shamlen-run institution even bother to pay attention to their vasillin? when cadash or adaar was the herald of andraste in haven all bull had to do was throw some shitty clothes on them as camouflage. when you get to the winter palace, people are surprised about who the inquisitor actually is.

once you disband the inquisition and peace out, how many people can actually pick out cadash out of a line-up when so much about the inquistion has been about erasing everything about them except some vague "idk some dwarf. i think he's a ginger"? like when josephine interviews you she's not doing it to get the story straight, she's doing it to know what to hide, what to emphasize, how to rebuild your whole identity to someone who is not you anymore.

[maliro-t]

some game design thinky thoughts.

[rhysnolastname]

Solas says I know a place and takes you to the middle of a swamp where he insults your culture, religious beliefs, and then dumps you.

[zlypy]

Moments that make you reconsider your grand plan of destroying the whole world and everyone in it

Or, self-indulgent doodles from a solas apologist

[cy-cyborg]

It's been confirmed that there are 3 amputees in the main cast of Dragon Age: the veilguard - Neve (leg amputee), Bellara (arm amputee) and your inquisitor (arm amputee). So as an amputee myself, here are some things I'd like to see.

Note: these aren't predictions, just things I'd really like to be included.

The inquisitor doesn't use a prosthetic (I already talked about this in its own post but with 3 amputees, and 2 of them already being shown to use prosthetics that, lets be honest, do look like "perfect replacement" prosthetics, it would be nice to see at least one who doesn't)

We will get to customise our inquisitor in chatacter creation, so I would love, if they do use a prosthetic, for there to be some customisability to it (im not holding my breath there but still).

Neve and Bellara's prosthetics aren't perfect prosthetics, and they are actually acknowledged as being disabled while still being active members of your party.

There's some kind of party banter between Neve and Bellara about some of the downsides/problems with their prosthetics, not necessarily in a "poor them" way, but in a "ugh, don't you just hate it when you can't get the stupid thing on in the morning" kind of way.

I get a kind of jokey/adventurous vibe from Bellara, I hope they aren't affraid to let her use her prosthetic for pranks or jokes. I don't think neve would, but I can see bellara having a blast with it.

I hope the prosthetics come off during down time. No amputee wears their prosthetics 24/7, it's uncomfortable, and they get heavy and sore after using them all day.

I hope we see Neve express some frustration or see her alter her walk animation on rough terrain. It's hard to get a clear look because the trailers she's been shown in are so dark, but her foot doesn't look articulated, which is going to change how she walks, even just a little bit.

I hope the prosthetics don't break - this is a trope I'm starting to notice more and more, where someone has a perfect prosthetic that is only not a perfect replacement when it breaks, usually for plot reasons, at which point the character in question is forced out of the action until its fixed. DA has forced companions out of your party for story reasons before (e.g. solas after you free his spirit friend and he needs to cool off) so I can see this being used for plot, and I really hope it's not.

The inquisitor, Neve and Bellara compair prosthetists (the maker of the prosthetic) and maker techniques.

I really doubt they'll do this but I'd love it if random NPC's approach you if you have any of the amputees in your party to ask what happened and/or make weird comments at them ("but cy, that would be so annoying and inconvenient!" That's the point. So many people do that to irl amputees, and it's never at a convenient or even safe time, and I've never seen it happen in media. A game is arguably the best place to have it happen, in, say, a random event similar to the ones that could happen in origins)

In that same vein, I'd love to see a scene where someone approaches the inquisitor to call them an inspiration- you and the inquisitor assume it's for, you know, beating corripheus (I know I spelled it wrong lol) and saving the world, but it's revealed the chatacter has no idea who the hell the inquisitor is and just means it's inspiring that they're out in public "like that" - referring to their arm. This also happens to me all the time, and you can't tell me some snooty orlesean or tevinter noble wouldn't make those back-handed compliments, lol. You also can't convince me that any version of the inquisitor would just accept that

I hope none of the chatacters are used as inspiration porn ("don't you worry Rook! I can still pull my own weight on the team despite being an amputee, you just have to give me a chance to prove myself!")

At least one of the chatacter's stories of how they lost their limb is left untold in game (we don't always need to know how it happened if it's not relevent to the plot).

Like I said, these aren't predictions, just my hopes. I wouldn't hold my breath for any of these to be honest (bioware has not been the best in term of disability rep in the past) but A lot of them wouldn't be hard to implement and could take the representation from hardly even acknowledging their disability to something actually pretty decent disability rep-wise. It's also pretty rare to have so many characters with the same kind of disability in the cast of such a mainstream piece of media, and I really, really hope they do something with that because you can have a lot of fun with that.

[felassan]

Snippets. 🐺💜

John: "one of the funnier quirks of game dev is you will never remember missions by their real names but instead by the name you called them by for several years of development it will never be 'In Your Heart Shall Burn' for me, it'll always be Setback" [source] / Blair: "there was that awkward period where half of the DA:V ones had "gods" in the title, so discussions were always some variant of: "Did you mean 'Gods Are Back' or 'Gods Are Bad'? I've heard people mention 'Egads! Gods!' but I'm not sure if that's new or a rework."" [source] / Malcolm (in reply to John): "I have one like this in DA:Ve and I can't share it yet because spoilers but I promise you it's delightful" [source]

John: "the only one i can ever remember is 'Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts' and it's because it seems to be the only DAI mission that people constantly reference by name online" [source] / Mary: "It's proper name is "Ham Ball." I put that in the file names, even." [source]

John: "idk how widely it’s been advertised but a reminder we are doing another Veilguard Q&A on Discord this Friday noon Mountain time (so 11 Pacific)" [source] / Malcolm: "Make sure you don't tell them about that one thing that happens in that place, with the guy." [source]

Trick: "BioWare released a new screenshot of Taash! I love how it captures the amazing detail work the character artists did." [source]

Image description on the Taash screenshot in Trick's post of the cap:

"A screenshot of Taash looking off to the side. The lighting is warm like either late afternoon or an interior with a fireplace, and it catches in the gold on Taash's armor and horns. Taash looks pensive or vulnerable -- not the deadpan stare or badass determination we've seen in other shots."

pensive or vulnerable.. ohh Taash. 🥺 Trick!!

User on the screenshot: "Taash looks *completely the fuck over this shit* in a totally exhausted sort of way, here. which is, mind, amazing detail work on the character artists' party!!" / Trick: "You know, it's a spectrum." [source]

Trick on DA:I - "Miss May is amazing in many ways, and especially in finding the balance of sweetness to pain for the Solas scenes. ❤️" [source] ((thankyouuu Miss May!!))

User: "it must be basically impossible to resist putting at least one extra moon around your fantasy world" / John: "if dragon age didn’t already have two you’d better believe I would’ve added another one. sitting next to a dial titled ‘number of moons’ and every so often I add another one. anyways the thing about Satina is- (a large hook drags me offstage)" [source, two, three] ((omg.. THE SECOND MOON shfuehfuehdbdh)

User: "i've been thinking about bellara's pockets and i need to know what her thoughts on cargo pants would be. would she be a fan for the utility." / John: "she wouldn't wear them all the time - she's a firm believer in a distinction between 'work clothes' and 'at home clothes' - but she is always in search of more pockets to carry more things into the field. she'd own at least three pairs" [source]

User: "The next two months are going to feel like the Fade section in DAO 😭" / Dragon Age: "Good thing we have a Veil Jumper to help you out! 💜" [source]

User: "MY SON LOOKS SO CUTE" (re: the new pic of Manfred from today) / Dragon Age: "MY BOY MANFRED 💀💚" [source]

User: "Can we change the armor/gear on our companions?" / Dragon Age: "You can!" [source]

User: "thank you for the food 🙏🙏🙏" / Dragon Age: "Enjoy your meal!" [source]

[burningblake]

it just hits different to play dai and trespasser as a lavellan who romanced solas. the final scene after he leaves and everyone's partying feels incredibly painful, like she would somehow keep expecting to see him among the guests. she just saved the world and the one person she would like to share that joy with is not there!! meanwhile with other inquisitors solas' absence is easily set aside to worry about later. and in trespasser, it's plain tragic irony. she's always one step behind him, his presence is so palpable everywhere, but she doesn't know that. Every piece of new information she learns feels like a step closer to the inevitable end of the tragedy that is her story. it's not even like she's fighting towards something. it's like the story has already been written and she's simply finding out the ending.

[eastern-lights]

Ok so we all know how amazing Baldur's Gate 3 is. I could talk for hours about everything it did perfectly.

But rn, I want to talk about what I think Dragon Age Inquisition did better. And this is not to judge which game is better overall, but what still makes DAI so special to me despite its flaws.

1. Voiced protagonist

Yeah, starting off controversial. I know some people prefer silent protagonists, but I just find myself wishing we could have a fully voiced Tav, even at the cost of fewer dialogue options. I'm sorry, but Tav's silent indifferent face just always breaks the immersion for me, especially when contrasted with the award-worthy acting and animation of the characters they're speaking with. In DAI (and DA2, although to a lesser degree) your character could be heavily customized, but they were always an actual person who fit in with the rest of the universe and flowed seamlessly with the story.

2. Mystery and dread.

BG3 is full of heavy, scary, traumatizing stuff hidden all over the place (or in plain sight). But it can always be explained in some way. There are dreadful things in Faerûn, but we always know what they are (mostly due to most of them having to have precisely given stats as the result of being based on DnD). We know what happens after death and what we can do to bring people back from it. The closest you get to truly dread-inducing mystery in BG3 is "Do Illithids have souls" and "where do illithids come from" and (at least in Act 1) "who is the Absolute".

In Dragon Age, the whole world is made of existential dread. What happens when you die? Dunno. Is God real? No idea and if He does, He hates you. What is the Blight? Are all darkspawn capable of independent thought? What is lyrium singing about? What happened to the titans? What happens when all of the Old Gods die? And this is just the Big Questions. There's a myriad of small things, small mysteries you encounter that just have no answers. Stuff that reminds me of those creepy Goldshire children forming a pentagram in World of Warcraft. While having an explanation for everything makes for deeper worldbuilding, a world full of mysteries without answers makes for a much scarier and, in some ways, exciting experience.

3. Group dynamic and party banter

I enjoyed the party banter in BG3. Hell, it had some of the funniest lines in game. But it didn't do enough to make the group dynamic feel any less Tav/Durge-centric. You hear the companions exchange banter, but you never get beyond stuff like "Karlach and Shadowheart both enjoy wine" and "Gale enjoys Lae'zel telling him about the Astral plane". The protagonist forms amazingly written relationships with each of the companions, but they never seem to have such a bond with one another. The closest we come to what I'd like to see is Karlach and Wyll's friendship, but even that's kind of shallow, I feel. The companions do comment on the others' personal quest, but it's always one sentence reaction, before going right back to being mostly indifferent. DA2 had the same issue, if to a greater extent (srsly, the companions had the same attitude about one another over the span of 10 years)

The banter in DAI was superb. It told a story. It had arcs. You could watch in real time as Solas and Dorian became friends over their shared magical nerd-dom. You could even take part in it, such as when telling Blackwall to stfu about jousting for a moment, or telling Sera that what you and Solas do in private is none of her business. You could see Dorian and Bull fall in love. You could watch Varric slowly chip away at Solas' worldview until he arguably came closer to changing his plans than Lavellan ever did. The relationships grow over the course of the story and by the time of Solas' betrayal, you're not just sad because he betrayed you, you're sad because he betrayed Varric, Dorian, Bull, Cassandra and everyone else. Because you saw how they cared about him, each in their own way.

There is nothing more heartbreaking than Varric's "Chuckles, what have you done?"

In BG3, the relationships are mostly left to your imagination, which has its perks, but still, the group dynamic feels more like a wheel with Tav at the centre rather than a web.

4. Having limits on the romance options

Let me start by stating what I am not saying: I am not saying that bi and pan people shouldn't be represented. Far from it. But I don't think making the whole group pan is the way to go about it. I can't help but feeling it is, in a way, pandering to players, making every single companion interested in them as long as they have a sufficiently high approval.

Making some companions explicitly bi, pan, gay or straight made for a more real experience. Getting rejected by Sera on the grounds of "We have a lot in common - we both like women" felt disappointing, yes, but also real. This also allowed the writers to make the characters' sexual/romantic preferences a part of their, well, character. We got Dorian's personal quest, which I think is great. Limiting Solas' options to just Lavellan allowed the writers to make it about him realizing that his people are not mere shadows. It allowed them to write the Vallaslin scene. None of this could have been done if he were romanceable to all races.

When you have diversity in romantic attraction among the companions, suddenly the pan and bi characters (in Bull and Josie respectively) feel like their orientation is part of who they are, rather than a game mechanic to prevent players from missing out on content.

[lokorum]

Pls rant about non romance cole…he’s my favorite character in anything, ever and it feels so sad that we never got to have a deeper relationship w him. Like the mechanics/possible lore of having a romance with a spirit are so tantalizingly interesting but no…also doubting we will see him in veil guard which leaves me so so broken …

*looks at their pile of unpacked feelings about cole*

so ૮( ◡̀_◡́)ა where to start....................

first of all uh! im not good at talking! that's why i draw phphp but i'll try my best to resurrect my memories from 2014 and share it with you!! sorry if it will sound weird, english is not my native language! 

well WELL from the begining then. i remember spending hours  more like days hhhh thinking about how weird and cool the recruiting scene with cole is? later when he is already with the inquisition, our party is either on guard around him or kinda treats him like he is helpless and needs special attention or guidance or something like that? demonising someone like him or framing them as in need of help are like textbook behavior ofc and im not here to be a hater, i just noticed it? moments with solas and varric fighting over him like a divorced couple are super cute for sure!!

but i remember being confused because excuse me, out of all of them, this guy??, this feral bat that is chilling on the ceiling like it's a lounge-zone inside Lucius' head, created especially for him?

he is confident. also a little bit nervous, a bunch mysterious and just ghostly cool. but also confident. (im not saying this confidence is not misplaced sometimes btw x) he even tells you that if you'll leave your head you'll die! what a jokester (҂ ꒦ິヮ꒦ິ)

and the whole quest with templars and envy are soooo horror coded, i love it!! it looked a bit silly, sure

(even after so many years im not able to get rid of the image in my brain phphphp) 

but it's still a very interesting quest!! dorian is ✨the bestie✨ but i'm always picking templars bc the implications of the story are just so good

1. its placed at the beginning of the game and your character is probably confused and anxious and dont yet worked out the routine of how to deal with their new title\powers + not every inquisitor character would want to be in the spotlight.

imagine you suddenly got yourself into position where a lot of people looking up to you, listening to what you saying, placing their hopes on you or waiting for you to fail? this is terrible! id 1000% just jumped out of a cliff!!! a small one, but still 

2. you meeting the guy who basically came from a place you now have unlimited access to.

he is: a) almost as confused as you are b) possibly came to this world without knowing consequences of that decision c) along the way he is figuring out how to be himself in the environment that is nothing like where he used to live. wow thats just like forced immigration *nervous laugh*

3. and let's not forget that you are meeting him inside your head and you can say to him "you look familiar".

dont know about you but apparently i dont need much to start screaming ¯(ツ)/¯

also can i just spend the moment to say that this is three (3) identical dialogue options??????????

the screenshot is from here btw

how awesome would it be to be able to figure out stuff together? to find comfort in someone, with someone who barely experienced it this way? to build on your strong sides? like "hope" for cole and i guess "unhingedness" for the inquisitor? i bet they would ground each other easily as well: cole distracting inq by being unintentionally mischievous and inq would have a notepad with cole's "firsts ____" or they would just read together. oh im such a sucker for hurt\comfort\some things cant be healed stuff uaaaaaaaaa

ALSO THE "FORGET" THING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the drama the horror the tension!!!!!!!! you can fight me over this but heres the thought:

cole being so stressed that he is erasing\being on the edge of erasing the inquisitor's memories??????

i got the feeling that cole's confidence in the concept of "help" is, among other things, makes him being able to zoom in on something borderline obsessively? or vise versa - dismissively, not noticing "it hurts, its not for the better"? he thanks you when you promise to kill him, he cries when you do not. i swear this man (─ ‿ ─)

+quick addition bc im not entirely sure: so if i got it right, the anchor makes the inquisitor "too bright" to read? so among all the people we know about inq is the one that cole can't truly empathise on this lvl? on spiritual lvl you might say lsdkjflksdjflkj sorry!!!!! but jokes aside,this is like the perfect ground to build both comforting stories 

"someone from the party notices that cole is hanging near inq before inq do, and when asked he explains it by saying something like "dry warm skin. the air is stilled with quiet, easy to breathe. i followed the shining whispers and then i was followed no more" with the most plain face possible? "

and "today for lunch i have glass" kind of stories, like "the inquisitor is cornered and possibly bleeding and probably on the verge of passing out and they know that situation is bad and no one should follow/find them, "it's better to wait it out and deal with it on my own" kind of clown behavior. so they laugh tiredly at how pathetic they are, maybe remembering something similar from their childhood, remarks from their sibling for ex., and just trying their best to not think about how they need cole's help, cole's presence. the sense of safety that comes when he is around" 

uh!!! that wasnt neither quick or painless so i'll go make a tea wait a second please

im back!! so since i talked about the forget thing i must confess - i dont really like cole's personal quest???? again, im not complaining or anything but i remember feeling kinda empty while playing it? like deep inside me, there was something sad, but it was so far away,i coudn't even feel it properly?

both human and spirit versions of his ending made me feel like the distance between you and him lengthened, and maybe you could do something about it before but now? this "something" is missing and you're lost and can't even tell for sure if theres was a chance to do something in the first place? and cole just moved on? its super logical considering he is not a romance option but phphph so, i rarely romance someone in games, partly bc rpg tends to be a little horny and im that kind of ace who is not interested in this, partly bc i tend to pay attention to non-romanceable characters, so when i started to explore last da:i dlc and i saw cole having gf i was like "well ouch".

imagine your inq has a crush on cole but they never were able to say it clearly?

mb it was a melancholic slowburn, and your character was going through too much and felt like burdening cole with their problems would be unfair?

maybe they tried but the timing was wrong, the words felt stupid, and their hands felt too dirty, too guilty?

oh anon its been ten years and its still huuuuuurts!!!! if you following me for a while you know that im an edge lord in poor disguise so its not surprising for neither you or me that i ended up rumbling about inexplicable sadness and crushing existential guilt, but sorry for that anyway!! if anyone would want me to talk about something specific, or to draw something - im here, staring at the wall, listening to cole's banter :') thank you for the wonderful question tho, it was more than just nice to return back to this ship. im so agreeing with you about cole being the fave character from everything, but i also understand that this could mean being very unsatisfied with the way he was portrayed at some points or just with the fact that characters like him are rare so im sending you warm and tight hugs and a little sketch!! <3 

let's collectively accept the fact that dav gonna be a beautiful mess, we gonna love it (passionately), we gonna be hurt by it (not surprisingly) and COLE FOREVER WILL BE THE BEST DA CHARACTER EVER IM NOT GONNA CHANGE MY MIND FIGHT ME

[alenseress]

Dushan lore (2/?)

He sides with mages, meeting Dorian. Around the same time Viv appears and they slowly grow closer. Him and Dorian drunk kiss like a few days into knowing each other but, at that point, it's left at that. Dorian moves on having some thing with Cullen and Dushan spends time running from Haven into battles and helping the war refugees. That and mage support/affiliations put him on a cold shoulder with Cassandra

Haven falls, Cullen rejects Dorian and a lot of forming friendships and relationships in the party fall out in general. It hits Dushan hard, the loneliness of it all, once again. He saves a lot of people in Haven and generally gains a kind-hearted reputation in the entire Inquisition by this point. He slowly starts to creep into the party's hearts too, easing the tension and gluing people together

Over time, once the eldest sibling, he pulls in Cole and Sera like a magnet. Silly rogue family that they become. He also forms a deep bond with Mother Giselle despite their rocky relationship. He turns the Skyhold garden into a chapel for her, attends her services and comes to speak with her a lot

With Solas, it's weird. The fade kiss from his romance happens and they're always on the edge of something starting between them, but somehow it doesn't feel romantic. It's complicated. With Viv becoming more and more important in Dushan's life and with others giving more input on him they begin to kinda grow more distant then in Haven

Dorian romance resumes somewhat late in the plot and they're uncontrollable. Absolutely insane dumpster fire of a fling that grows into purest devoted codependency. They start off edgy in Skyhold, after the grief dies down, because Dorian can't work out what Dushan wants from him exactly and Dushan mirrors the energy. They fight, drunk kiss more, play pretend relationship for diplomacy and Dushan declares Dorian his lover to mother Giselle way before they actually get together. Dorian isn't any less bonkers, after Dushan goes into fade and following conversation he ties them together with a spell that would alert Dorian if anything truly bad happens while he's away and would set off a singular huge blast to protect the inquisitor as the last resort. It might or might not involve Dorian's blood. Dushan doesn't know, he had his eyes closed and they agreed to never speak about it. But, after that, Dorian shares the mark Dushan was given in his family cult, giving it new meaning

[nerdylilpeebee]

I have a dragon Age theory.

So, the elves. My theory is that most elves in the modern day of the Dragon Age are not full-blooded. They're half-elves, having been mixed with humans during their slavery under the Tevinter Imperium.

Now, I have a few reasons for thinking this.

First, what is understood as "half elves" in universe always look fully human. That makes me think they're actually only a quarter elf.

Second, Solas, a pure-blooded elf and one of the Elven Gods, has a body that looks slightly different than modern elves. He also does not consider himself to be Of The Same People as modern elves, which he comments on after saving the empress.

Not to mention, there is Sera, someone I theorize is also a pure-blooded elf. She has a different shaped body than other modern female elves, a body that is more in shape with the ancient elves you can find at the temple of Mythal. Not to mention, Solas has two interesting things with her. First, if you romance her, which can only be done as a woman since she's a lesbian, he expresses a bit of apprehension to it. I think he's lamenting that one of the only pure-blooded elves is not gonna pass on her blood since she's a lesbian. And second, there is diologue you can get if you have both of them in the party that HEAVILY implies this theory. In that Solas asks her to focus on the sky, look beyond it and tell him what she sees. And she expresses great confusion and discomfort with what she sees, implying she's not just seeing the sky. To which he comments something along the lines of "we have more in common than you might imagine."

That's really all my proof on the matter. I think it makes a lot of sense. XD

[dreadhorsegirl]

DAI Mods - Tay's Playthrough

I've been asked a few times what mods I use when I play DAI--and I thought I'd make a master list! I've organized these best I could, and keep in mind I change hairstyle/outfits throughout, and not all these mods can be used at the same time.

*I use Frosty, but you may be able to find daimod versions.

Game Enhancements

Basically, mods I use to make the game more fun for me.

ConversationCameraZoom

Party Banter Tweaks

Party at the Winter Palace

Game "Cheats"

I don't particularly think these are that "cheaty" more...taking care of annoyances.

Shorter War Table Missions

Stores Overhaul

More Money From Gather Coin

Game Fixes

Some of these fix issues when you're loading mods, some just fix...issues.

DAI Frosty Texture Glitches

Elven Translation Fix

Modded Hair in DLCs

Character Creator

Mods I use to create my character the way I want to. These include complexion, hair, eye, etc.

Brown-Friendly Eye Texture

Hairstyle Day DAI

Misc Hairstyles for Frosty

Nimue Complexion

femshepping's 4k Female Inquisitor Complexions

Anto Hairstyles

Outfit Changes

Specifically, altering outfits for the prologue, winter palace, and skyhold. [for Inky]

TW3 Ciri

Dalish Elf Skyhold Outfit Retexture

Formal Wear to Pajamas [Let's you change Inky's Winter Palace gear! You still have to find a skyhold replacer outfit as well]

Wedding Dress Replacer [changes the Winter Palce gear to this specific outfit]

Druu's Clothing Emporium

Dalish Mage Robe Tweaks

Companions

Complexion, Hair, Outfit changes for companions--including changes for the Winter Palace.

Tweaked Leliana

Alternate Haircuts for Sera

Casual Knight Outfit for Cullen

Josephine Outfit Retextures

Leliana Outfit Retexture

Solas Default Outfit

Melancholy - Solas Outfit Retexture

The Pride - Face Texture for Solas

Cassandra - Dragon Hunter

Resplendent Formal Wear

Solas Halamshiral Hat Fix

Josie, Leli, and Cullen Masks at Winter Palace

Exquisition for Trespasser DLC

And I believe...that's it! I always play as Daesyra, my mage Lavellan, so these mods are geared around Female Lavellan, please keep that in mind.

ALL credit of course goes to the modders! Thank y'all SO MUCH for what you do.

[showing some examples below]

[princess-aeducan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Gameplay Reveal Thoughts

Okay for one thing, I am so happy to be making this post. Going from people voicing doubts about the game coming out at all to a Fall 2024 release window is so exciting. 10 years and it’s finally almost here.

-The game is absolutely gorgeous. I love the design of Minrathous, I love how gobsmackingly different it is from Ferelden. Dorian’s complaints from Inquisition all make sense now, and it’s fascinating to see a place that is not repressive of magic- the fact that it resembles sci-fi levels of tech but is all powered by magic is sooo fun and interesting to me. I also think it’ll be an interesting contrast to the more classic fantasy style locations we see at the ritual site and throughout the screenshots the developers have posted. It makes the world feel so much bigger, diverse, and more fleshed out.

-Unpopular opinion and I totally respect why others dislike it as it does look quite different, I’m actually looking forward to the combat. It honestly just looks more fun to me, as I tend to favor a more action/real time style anyway. That being said, I do dislike the 3 person party change for banter reasons and do think that’ll make it feel significantly less like classic Dragon Age. I feel like I’ll get used to it pretty fast, but it is a disappointment. Controlling companions isn’t mandatory for me but it was always nice to be able to try out all the classes, so that’s a loss as well, although one I’m less bothered by.

-I like the way the characters look, but do understand it could take a little bit of adjustment. Harding got a massive glow up, she looks gorgeous. So excited she’s a companion, and that we’ll have our first romanceable dwarf! Not a huge fan of the way Solas looks in this style, but I don’t feel particularly upset about it anyway. Not sure what it is. Varric looks great, but like many others, missing his ginger hair. All in all, less drastic changes to returning characters than we’ve seen in previous titles, I will never be over how much they butchered Alistair in Inquisition. I love the designs and vibes of the new companions, Neve is a fashion icon and sooo fits in with what Dorian has set up for us to expect from Tevinter. I can’t wait to meet Davrin in particular, because god I miss Grey Wardens.

-On that point: Factions have me maybe the most excited. I cannot wait to be a Grey Warden again, I’d been holding out hope! I liked that the faction was referenced in the gameplay reveal as well, and hope it’ll change small things throughout the game, at least through dialogue. Also will have to play as an Antivan Crow at some point. A bit sad this won’t include a playable prologue like Origins, but since DA2 and DAI I wasn’t expecting it. Just always something I’ll miss.

-A red flag for me is how little Rook was prompted to make dialogue choices. I hope that because this is simply the prologue and therefore focused on binary plot progression, that this will be different in more dialogue-driven sections, but it’s something to look out for and be wary of. I’m okay with Rook speaking on their own occasionally, but if that continues, I hope it’s at least like Hawke where there’s some variation based on personality.

-Also yes, excited about the return of the purple Hawke icon! The dialogue wheel in Inquisition felt more bland to me than in DA2, so if the wheel is what we’re stuck with, I’d rather it lean more to its DA2 execution.

-On narrative: I cannot BELIEVE the game just jumps into “let’s confront Solas RIGHT NOW!” I was not expecting so much plot from the gameplay reveal. I am very intrigued by what’s coming next with the evanuris, and what it will mean for Solas’ role in the story. I’m kind of obsessed with the fact that it begins with Rook fucking things up worse, I think that will be magnificent to explore for roleplay and the repercussions for Thedas will be massive. I know there were concerns about tone, but this gives me hope that we’ll have the fucked up shit Dragon Age is known for. “Just some guy who makes things worse” is a great start for a protagonist, and reminds me of DA2 in some respects.

-My brainrot is horrendous. I have so many more thoughts all of the time, but tried to just center on the gameplay reveal so I don’t yap forever. But always feel free to send asks, and expect more posts as we get closer and closer!

[tarbuchyloewenthal]

Wulfrun - The Watcher of Caed Nua

"Wulfrun awoke to whispers at the edge of hearing and the mocking dance of ghosts in her periphery. Behind her laid the corpses of Heodan and Calisca, doomed to lie in lifeless anguish until the vultures sated themselves. She was alone again. Alone with only herself and questions, ancient questions, that would not make themselves known, staying just out reach as she shambled her way to Gilded Vale. . ."

i've never really had a set OC for pillars of eternity (shout out to @solas-backpack-mug & @ampleappleamble for getting me thinking about this). i've always just sort of played similar characters of different races and backgrounds and such. so here is my attempt at establishing my poor beleaguered little watcher. let's get to know her:

a pale elf from an aedyran colony in the living lands. she's used to curious and ill-mannered looks from strangers.

she never did quite fit in with the rest of the colony, spending her days reading and practicing swordplay - a necessity in the wilds of the living lands.

from a young age she could see and manipulate the wild essence that suffused the nature of the living lands. coupled with her arcane studies under aedyran tutors, it gives her a rare view of eora.

she grew tired of living on the frontier and set off for the dyrwood, a place she thought ought to be more tame (oh how disappointed she would be).

she is the type of person to do good works and shun recognition for them. she likes to joke that she's "cursed with compassion".

her frequent social isolation has made it difficult for her to form any lasting friendships. easy to befriend, hard to get to know. traveling with such a large party just might change this.

she gets along swimmingly with edér, sharing his penchant for deflecting with humor and petting any animal in sight. unlike edér, she is not inclined to pet orlans.

"no parting of ways can erase memories of times without worry, times when even without gods, we were never truly alone." finding out iovara was her sister in a past life and hearing her say this just about broke her.

she frequently takes time to journey to twin elms and breith eaman to speak with iovara. this is mostly to see her sister, but it is also so she can escape the duties of being roadwarden of caed nua.

[sciatu]

Idda Idda stiddi e pallida luna idda focu du suli etennu idda luci, ventu, futtuna idda paradisu, idda ‘nfennu idda sognu e fimmina vera idda u to ciatu, u to sangu idda estati e primavera idda acqua, terra, fangu idda ciauru, cielu, ciuri idda suggenti, idda u mari idda du jonnu ogni culuri idda da notti u sugnari idda cantu, vessu, puisia idda bidizza di ogni arti idda d’ogni notti mavaria d’ogni vita a megghiu parti Idda peddi, mani, capiddi idda cosci, minni, sessu i so occhi chini i stiddi a bucca unni sugnu pessu idda silenziu, idda canzuni idda parola, idda pinseru, idda ciareddu, idda liuni idda malizia, cori sinceru idda munti, idda vadduni, idda acqua, gebbia, vita giallu ranu, niru cabbuni idda a sula, a preferita idda nu jonnu piffettu idda ricchizza da campagna idda cosi giusti, rispettu idda soru, idda cumpagna idda ricoddi, idda dumani idda lacrimi, cori ruttu idda da vita u tempu, u pani idda di tuttu, sempri u tuttu

Lei, stelle e pallida luna, lei fuoco del sole eterno, lei luce, vento, fortuna, lei paradiso, lei inferno, lei sogno e vera donna, lei, il tuo respiro. Lei il tuo sangue, lei estate e primavera, lei acqua, terra, fango. Lei profumo, cielo, fiori, lei sorgente e lei mare, lei del giorno ogni colore, lei della notte il sognare. Lei canto, verso, poesia, lei bellezza di ogni arte, lei, di ogni notte magia, di ogni vita, la meglio parte. Lei pelle, mani capelli, lei cosce, seno, sesso, i suoi occhi pieni di stelle, la sua bocca dove sono perso. Lei silenzio, lei canzoni, lei parola, lei pensiero, lei agnello, lei leone, lei malizia, cuore sincero. Lei monti, lei vallata, lei acqua, cisterna, vita, giallo grano, nero carbone, lei la sola, la preferita. Lei giorno perfetto, lei ricchezza della campagna, lei giustizia, rispetto, lei sorella, lei compagna, lei ricordi, lei domani. Lei lacrime, cuore rotto, lei della vita tempo e pane, lei di tutto, sempre il tutto.

She, stars and pale moon, she fire of the eternal sun, she light, wind, fortune, she paradise, she hell, she dream, and true woman, she, your breath. She, your blood, she summer and spring, she water, earth, mud. She perfume, sky, flowers, she spring and she sea, she every color of the day, she dreaming of the night. She song, verse, poetry, she beauty of every art, she, of every night magic, of every life, the best part. She skin, hands, hair, she thighs, breasts, sex, her eyes full of stars, her mouth where I am lost. She silence, she songs, she word, she thought, she lamb, she lion, she malice, sincere heart. She mountains, she valley, she water, cistern, life, yellow wheat, black coal, she the only one, the favorite. She perfect day, she richness of the countryside, she justice, respect, she sister, she companion, she memories, she tomorrow. She tears, broken heart, she of life time and bread, she of everything, always everything.