#everyone else: omg veilguard!!!!

[echthr0s]

Anansi's story is kind of funny because most of the time he does what he does by accident. He knows he's being used as a tool of forced change, even if he can't quite see the whole picture, but he also is just a girl trying to like... live his life without fucking shit up too much. He was forced into the Circle and he didn't much care for it at all, but once he was in there he tried to be chill and normal, despite the fact that his whole purpose there was to start a Circle-collapsing domino effect. He undertook the Joining somewhat under duress, but once he was in there he tried to be a somewhat decent Warden, despite the fact that his whole purpose there was to essentially put the Order out of business. He got roped into a whole Situation by being in the wrong place at the wrong time and next thing you know a cult is forming around him, but he tried to leverage that power to stabilise things a bit, despite the fact that his whole purpose there was to expedite the sundering of the Veil. Anansi wants to live and love and yeah, maybe do his little minor corruptions (not these big ones!!!) and cause some minor problems for fun and profit, because to him he's just a mortal creature with mortal-creature desires. But to Razikale he's really just a very pretty nuclear warhead. Tragic!

[mrs-gauche]

AHHHHH YESSS F*CKING FINALLY!!!!!!!!!

The German Voice Cast of Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Rook - Jesse Grimm/Samina König Varric - Tilo Schmitz Solas - Ozan Ünal Harding- Sarah Tkotsch Davrin - Daniel Welbat Bellara - Leonie Landa Neve - Cornelia Waibel Taash - Anni Sultany Emmrich - Robin Brosch Lucanis - Rasmus Borowski

[crow-of-paradise]

Oh. U guys. It’s bad. It’s real bad. I only JUST met him. Gods bless Mary Kirby bc that first scene with him back at the lighthouse was made in a lab for me. WHO WOULDN’T WANT TO TAKE CARE OF THIS BABYGIRL PUNCHING BAG 😭😭😭

Rook immediately becoming so concerned in that first flirt option was so sweet and soft AND IF THIS IS WHAT THEIR ENTIRE ROMANCE IS BASED ON Emmrich has some serious competition. Idk what to do looool. I might just have to romance this dang telenovela man first lmao!!!

[knife-eared-jan]

Everyone else: omg the wait for Veilguard is endless, time is moving at a snail's pace, every day lasts a year. When will the 17 days finally pass????

Me, who has to plan, book and make an international trip before then and also needs to play through a Solavellan Trespasser and wants to write several theory posts etc before then and still can't even decide on a faction for her Rook:

CAN WE PLS SLOW THE FUCK DOWN!

[emmg]

I’ve never played Dragon Age before but I’m being won over by all the thirst posting lmao, what’s the best DA game to start with? Idk if there’s like an overarching narrative or if they’re self contained plots or whatever.

Omg I somehow missed this which is unacceptable given how much I love ya lol

YEEEES, WELCOME TO THE DRAGON AGE SICKO SIDE, MWHAHAHA

Okay, so if you're not totally allergic to old graphics I highly recommend starting with Dragon Age: Origins. It's an absolute masterpiece in storytelling, but also wildly politically, errr, incorrect lmfao. And with mods it looks amazing

You get to have a dog who can read. I'm not making this up. He understands human speech perfectly and only uses it to beg for treats. You can also ask him if he has something for you (like Scratch in bg3) and when he doesn't, the game makes you want to kill yourself because the camera pans down into the most SHAME ON YOU angle on him I've ever seen and he looks defeated. It's amazing lol

Your companions in Origins are straight up insane. A huge warrior who steals cookies from a child and calls him fat. A living construct who was once a dwarf but there was a situation and she spent 30 years inert being shat on by pigeons and now she's on a personal quest to brutally murder all of them.

Did I mention there's a bisexual assassin elf who spends most of the game complimenting the group's grandma's boobs? I’m not sure it’s a "good" plot point, but it sure is a plot point.

You get to be rescued from prison by any of your companions. If the dwarf and elf go, they lie that they are brothers and it somehow works. Or the companions can end up naked. It’s insane, it’s absolutely fucking insane

Or you can start with DA 2 and experience the joy that is Purple Hawke (aka choosing the sarcastic dialogue option.) I present to you some of the classic lines:

"So I should be looking out for a bunch of boneless women flopping through the street?"

"Let's be more specific. I don't do anything that involves children or animals."

"You should pay someone else. Like me. I like being paid."

"I'd like to know who this "Corypheus" is. With a name like that, he's bound to go "mwa-ha-ha" at some point. I just know it."

In DA 2, you get to run around for YEARS (yeah actual years) with your found family that sort of hates each other, everyone, or almost, is bisexual, someone is possessed, and everyone is horny.

Inquisition is a great starting point, though, if you don't want to go too far back. It’s friendly to new players and very patient with your questions about "What is a dragon?" and "Why does everyone hate elves?" It rehashes everything you need to know so you’re not like, "Wait, what’s a Blight again?" Plus, it directly ties into the new game, Veilguard, which is even friendlier since 10 years passed between the two games and it has no choice but to be.

But really, I feel like all of them are good are introducing/rehashing the lore

Also if you want to experience the most life-devastating romance with the elven embodiment of a poetic egg, Inquisition and Veilguard got you covered. @thessaralka wrote many treatises on it lmfao

Pick up the games ok pls ty byyye

[poetryofyouth]

the last few weeks i have been obsessively playing Dragon Age, in preparation for the veilguard release of course.

Dragon Age: Origins is still a work of Art and I would die for her and every companion

Dragon Age: 2 is not as bad as I remembered it? Sure it has it's issues but the story is genuinely so fantastic. Like, the story, the characters, Hawke's relationships with the companions - the combat is almost an annoying obstacle to get to the heartbreakingly tender moments between Hawke and their damaged, broken, hurting friends

For that reason I would love for an option to just skip combat alltogeter and turn it into a walking simulator.

In both Origins and 2, the male love interests are so so so much better holy fuck

Like the first time I played as a lesbian (of course) and romancing Leliana in Origins. Which is... sweet and everything, but the relationship with Leliana always felt... hollow. Love without any true base in Friendship. If that makes sense.

This time, my warden was a bit of a slut and romanced Leliana, (also Isabella), Zevran and lastly Alistair. And holy fuck, the relationship between Warden an Alistair is just perfect. Me playing a female elf only added to the perfection. Sad I couldn't marry him at the end, but hey, staying as the King's mistress is fine with me, Anora's cool with it, mostly, and nothing can get in between true love. I mean, the relationship between Warden and Alistair starts off with pure banter and friendship, you can feel them acutally caring for each other way before you even start any romance. They feel like two people who just fit like puzzle pieces. Jokes, support, bleeding together, either one would not think a minute before sacrificing their own life for the other. and finally, after weeks of pain and suffering and drinks in taverns and jokes around the campfire and horribly traumatizing deaths all around, they both realize that they aren't just friends anymore. Fucking hell that is literally the perfect fictional relationship omg i have never shipped a straight couple harder.

Also I found the thought of being a slutty warden who bedded every available character before finally taking the future king's virginity, then arranging a marriage between her boyfriend and another woman and then also arranging for her boyfriend to get her other friend pregnant just... incredibly funny ngl

And in DA:2 on my first playthrough I romanced Merril. Which was... fine. Though I find it kinda difficult because I didn't like the idea of Hawke just being completely fine with blood magic and all that. Merril also isn't that interesting a character. I mean, comparing her to many other games she is fantastic!! But in this game, she just kinda pales in comparison to everyone else.

Now I'm playing a male gay Hawke and I first romanced Fenris. And I am just a sucker for a sad, hurting man learning how to feel again. Fenris is just such a good character. Of course he is horribly racist agains mages, which i mean, not that i / Hawke condone it, but anyone would need years of therapy to get over what the magisters did to him, so i love the thought of Hawke being patient and slowly trying to show him they are not that bad.

So I love to kinda torture Fenris and run around with him, anders and merril, their companion banters are so great.

But Fenris of course dumps Hawke after the first time and sure you COULD wait for him to come around in act three but screw that, I will not have my feelings played with like that.

Especially when there is an even sadder, more broken man waiting for me. Anders is probably my favourite character in DA:2. Even the last time I played, without romancing him. But now I startet DA:2 right after finishing the Awakening DLC and I just LOVE the difference and the similarities between the two Anders versions. Some might say it's inconsistent. But I choose to believe that in Awakening, even if Anders had seen so many horrible things already, he was still able to keep a more happy-go-lucky facade. I imagine between the end of Awakening and Hawke first meeting him, Anders has seen many many more horrible things while being with the wardens. So he is just extra-traumatized in 2. And of course, his character changed with the whole spirit of justice thing. But even if he is a lot more serious and a lot sadder, he still has that Anders-Charm. I love his love for kittens and his need for justice for the mages

And even if the DA:2 love interests (apart from Sebastian) are all bisexual, I love that they are not just default staights that can just also be romanced by same gender Hawkes. Like, when Anders confesses that Karl, who just died, was his first boyfriend??? I think I cried. The PAIN the HURT the HOMOSEXUAL ANGST. I will burn down all of Kirkwall if that makes Anders feel even a little better.

The rivalry / rivalry romance aspect is really cool and I love it exists but unfortunately i am incapable of not being liked by everyone.

Seriously how does a game that was pretty much universally considered a disappointment by the fandom (i previously didn't like it either!! Idek why!!!!) have storylines that trump pretty much any movie of tv show made in the last 5 years. Please let me play this just as a story game/walking simulator i need to look into mods i want to see every possible conversation and fuck everyone (tenderly and with love. and also as hateful rivals)

Also I have played the games so much recently I hope I don't accidentally say "by the maker" in public lmao

[iocainesmoothie]

veilguard was incredible, 11/10

I really don't have any interest in nit-picking or criticizing what was missing or done poorly, there was always going to be too much they COULD have crammed in and inevitably so much that didn't make it because at the end of the day it has to be a finished marketable product and must be made with finite resources.

there are always going to be cuts and places that feel lacking, there are always going to be holes, but its important to be appreciative of where they DID decide to spend their resources and I think their team did a fantastic job.

the hair, omg the hair.

the DA2 atmosphere, the ME2 story structure and emphasis on companions, the lore of DAI, like they could not have made a game more tailored to my tastes.

I'm so so so grateful to everyone at bioware who made it happen and that games like this still get made, truly no one does it like they do. BG3 was great but i don't consider them a substitute for the feeling i get from Bioware games. I finished veilguard like 2 days ago and I'm still kinda wondering around in an emotional fog.

I really thought I was going to be disappointed by the romances because nothing was going to compare to the impact and shock reveal and story relevance of solavellan, but omg emmrich!?!

he's so romantic, he's such a lover, he WANTS love so bad, he's so flustered about the age gap! his character arc is ACTUALLY INTERESTING and thematic! there are actually different routes for his romance to go and theyre both HUGELY different AND good!!! AND ALSO relevant to his themes as a character!!! in either route you basically have to chose which one of you is going to (eventually) die first and leave the other one mourning and its like UGH HES SO!!!! UGH ITS SO GOOD!! YOU GET IN A LOVERS SPAT BEFORE A BIG STORY MOMENT!!! THATS WORKING SYNCHRONOUSLY WITH THE GAME PLOT TO ENHANCE THE OVER ALL STORY!! ITS SO GOOOD!!!!

also its SUCH a relief to have an option that wasnt like SUPER young, the age gap is hot as fuck and its part of his story and UGH ITS SO GOOD!!

i also just love the mourn watch as a whole, I feel like some of dragon age magic system gets explained a little too concretely (it feels like everything is either because elves or because spirits or both) and the necropolis vibes are sort of like, no we haven't solved all that there is to be solved about magic and the fade, there are mysteries and cool stuff and wiggle room in the universe for other new stuff to be introduced, like lichs and vampires and supernatural beings that arent just different flavours of spirits.

I do feel bad for the lucanis girlies though. giving players HALF as much romance content as everyone else, and then saying its because of personality reasons? for a character whos personality you wrote yourself? seems mean spirited.

like you didnt have to do that, it was actively making the player experience worse for arguably nothing, if you wanted to convey that lucanis doesn't feel free to want things for himself there were other ways to portray that than an ABSENCE of content. you have a finite word count to bring these characters to life. Wasting it like that for arguably nothing except to make players feel disappointment doesn't seem defensible to me?

not even going into the neve thing. everyone on twitter is doing the usual "boohoo you just hate neve because you hate women" thing.

I LOVE neve, i think that "fantasy-noir" vibe she and varric have is absolute PEAK, I also didnt even romance lucanis, and i think they're perfectly sweet together and i love when companions have lives outside the main character!

but i do think its double shitty to write a character who fully ignores your romance lines (like not even shrugs them off or has an awkward or negative reaction just FULLY does not react as if the game isn't registering the option you chose) but then have them actively pursuing someone else?

what happened to those personality reasons?

lucanis has never had a relationship before but suddenly he's juggling 2 people?

during his quest (his stupid lazy dream sequence quest that has to happen in the middle of another conversation while the two of you stand there awkwardly for some reason) even if you've chosen every heart option he'll still imply in his dream sequence that hes attracted to neve.

YOU get cut off from the romance route if you choose to support minrathous but he's fine with neve?

I'm just saying, if i were writing one of 6 romance routes in the last dragon age game maybe ever made, I would have been more generous. The way it treats the player is almost adversarial?

I know, i know, the opposite side of the spectrum is being TOO fawning about the player till it almost reaches the point of paternalistic condescension, like when every single character adores the mc and never questions or doubts or disagrees with them. that also sucks! that is also a bad writing choice!

i LOVED rook and solas's relationship. I am a hardcore solavellan solas simp and my sole goal was for them to get their happy ever after, solas is my favorite character across all media EVER.

that said, i loved making rook shit talk him, and swear at him and hate him, and i was DELIGHTED every time solas betrayed them, even at the very end when he, the god of lies, swears on everything he holds sacred that he PROMISES he wont try to bring the veil down again after elgernan is dead and you just KNOW hes trying to give you one more stab in the back for the road, i LOVED it. i was DELIGHTED to be trapped in that prison, it was the strongest part of the game and I cried pretty much nonstop from that point to the finale. i dont NEED every character to get along and play nice and love me unquestioningly. i LOVE carver!!! i LOVE the rivalry system!!!

again i havent even played lucanis's route and i probably never will because i'm insane about emmrich (who btw i can romance every play through and pick a different version and get a different but equally devastatingly romantic route AHEM)

also im only criticizing his writing here, at the bottom of a huge rambling text post behind a read more on a dead website at 5:30 am, because mary kirby did get laid off and didn't receive the severance she was owed and regardless of how i feel about her latest work she absolutely deserves the money and new stable employment and picking on the way she wrote her character doesn't seem like the right thing to do anywhere there is even a slim chance someone might see it.

anyway, i just think maybe they were trying to play with structure to convey something and i disagree with the results, but what do i know. I'm protesting more about that because the mechanics of writing game romances, more so than the romance itself, is my obsessive special interest and I'm always thinking of how I would do it, and to see someone get the chance to do it in the big leagues and fumble (according to my tastes) chafes me a little.

that said, iv seen a lot of people who were perfectly happy with what they got from Lucanis so maybe im totally wrong lmao.

Im also just now thinking of all the stuff we'll never get a definitive answer to if this really is the last game, or all the choices that we imported over fifteen years that ended up meaning nothing.

like if only elgernan and ghilly were left, does that mean what the wardens were doing WAS actually killing the gods? and once theyre all dead the veil would come down because it no longer had their life force fuelling it and the mega blight would come out? and THATS why solas was so freaked out by clarel?

what the fuck was the point of playing hot potato with urthemiel's old god soul over the entire franchise? what about the well of sorrows?!! what the fuck is actually going on in kalsharok? theyre just like ALL semi-tainted semi-wardens? WAS andraste a mage? a vessel for mythal? WAS SOLAS SHARTAN????!?! what was yavanna trying to rebuild the dragon population for? WHAT RECKONING WAS MYTHAL PLANNING?!?! what the fuck is the gathering storm? why did the pre-qunari race decide to drink dragon blood to become qunari to get away from them? LIZARD MEN ILLUMINATI FROM THE MOON? ARE YOU SERIOUS?!!

i mean i know obviously the answer is "resource budget and time", and again im just so incredibly grateful the game got made at all, i guess im just left with the same feeling every other dragon age game gave me which is that i desperately want more.

[tokyopewpew]

I took notes on my real time reactions to Veilguard and will be breaking them up into sections with my follow up thoughts! SPOILERS APLENTY so avoid under the cut!

Part 1: Boot up, Character Creator and Companion intros

I’m not a sound nerd but my bf is. It was really cool to see that this game has like next level sound design! There is a profile for a crazy type of soundscape that I got a sample of that's like. Dynamic and molded to the room you're in. It makes it sound like things are whizzing past you or moving around you more than regular surround sound will. We don’t have that level of sound system set up but if we do one day, I’ll look forward to the replay. I don’t play many like new/current/hip games but this is the first time I’ve seen that in a game setting and I can imagine hearing magic shots whizz past you and griffons circling the room would be super cool.

Character Creator took a bit to get used to. I love my rook now but took some finessing to make them look… human (I played an elf but regardless). Figuring out the head triangle thing was strange but once I figured out how to change the head presets it got better. I think the hair physics are GREAT but the styles are... somewhat strange in how they sit on the head or stray about 5% too cartoonish. Very funny to now be seeing everyone else's Rook's and we all chose the kind of wavy medium hair lol.

I was NOT going in with a very strong concept for my Rook other than knowing I was probably going to be an elf and mage again because that's generally what I like to play and I knew I wanted them to be pretty hostile to Solas in contrast to my Lavellan. So I had no clue what would be a good faction to suit them. I ended up choosing the Veil Jumpers just because I was like sure whatever I'll stick with the most Elfy Option. I figured since they're researching ancient elves, my Rook wouldn't be disillusioned about the god's or Solas. Early in the game I don't think it as a choice makes much sense but I've figured out how to write their backstory so it makes sense (Rook intro post to come).

I knew I wanted my Rook to be a huge ass to Eggman. She does not care for the elven gods and I wanted her to have the sass and resentment of a teen daughter left by Solas after the Solavellan divorce. (She is not their kid at all).

Similarly I love that Varric has a Hero Type and picked up just another snarky, soft-hearted, hard headed gremlin. In part because he'd like them, and in part because he thinks there's something enough like Lavellan in them to knock some sense into Solas.

omg they stabbed Varric. had to NOT SCREAM and wake up the whole house (my live reaction)

2nd almost scream moment was Harding getting her powers/almost falling off a cliff. TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT. Freaked out seeing her drop, music got to me, and the BRIEFEST flash of relief when she rose up but then DEEP DEEP CONCERN over that Exorcist shit.

wow the Tevinter Nights bingo is popping off. Lots of cameos.

wow ALL the dragon age bingo is popping off!! really happy to see things paid off after so much build up! the lore is good!!! (I believe this was in reference to the mural reveals about Mythal and Solas as spirits, the titans etc)

stoked we got Maevaris cameo and IMMEDIATE DORIAN cameo!!!! so happy!! The mustache is fab, he looks like a mean old queen, the beard could be better. i hate when they use standard hair models for beards: it isn’t the same texture. It works enough on Lucanis because it's dark but it being brown on Dorian you can see how the highlights are wrong.

love Neve for my Rook's Bestie. (whoops reading this after I let Minrathous get fucked up hard and she gets pissed at me for awhile...). Got a lot of approval with their similar dry/wry humor.

love puss in boo- i mean Lucanis

reluctant griffin Dadvrin. Really loved this because from trailers and intros I thought he would already be close to Assan, so I really enjoy that he is the reluctant custodian of this creature. I love a "we're both learning from each other" animal relationship.

Vorgoth is bae

not thrilled about a forced hardened choice but i’m trying to smooch Lucanis so i helped Traviso

will cry about Davrin codex naming Assan. Parenting and cat dad all in one ugh my heart.

Emmerich is super charming!! As a long time Vincent Price and John Waters fan I love his design and Vibe so much but he's much more Mr Rogers. Also I canNOT romance him as a young woman Rook. That man is GAY. Love his fear of mortality as a necromancer that's so fascinating and fun to explore.

Manfred is, of course, darling.

I. Love. Taash. I love an Autistically Blunt character. And cool to have the fire breather confirmation!!

Ok that's it for now! Next batch will probably have more spoilers going into plot and/or the positives and negatives of writing. Or I'll take a break and do my Rook Intro.