#i love bellara i have to romance her next maybe

[3gremlins]

i love bellara and her random ambient conversations so fucking much (especially with emmerich, like she loves asking him hopefully if vampires maybe exist and he actually entertains her as best he can. i think she was asking how you can be partially undead here XD).

[flowersforthemachines]

Ranking everyone's Hero of the Veilguard armours (because I have nothing better to do)

I realised I needed to gather my thought's on everyone's drip so here are my humble opinions (with numbers and pictures)

Disclaimer: I took this very seriously, but you probably shouldn't. This is based on my personal opinion, which, while undoubtedly correct, may not align with your own. And that's okay.

14 - Titan's Vengeance (Harding)

That is definitely an armour. One of the armours ever, perhaps!

While I understand that it's meant to evoke the image of the dwarves as we see them in DAVG, I simply do not vibe with this outfit. Like, at all. It got an honest chuckle out of me when I saw it in the game, but I would never put Harding through the torture of wearing it. Which is too bad because I'd pick her embracing the Titan's anger over its compassion any day. A pity the fashion doesn't keep up.

13 - Rivain's Legacy (Taash)

Putting my opinions on certain aspects of their questline aside ("yes, you can be non-binary, but we draw the line at being multicultural"), this outfit doesn't even seem to be based on Taash's model. Anyone who has seen their romance scene (I have <3) should be able to tell these are not their legs. Their gorgeous calves wouldn't fit into those metal things. Bioware should be ashamed.

12 - The Qun's Honour (Taash)

That outfit doesn't make a lot of sense to me personally. I can live with the fact that most companion outfits are reused assets, but why is the Lords of Fortune armour of all things meant to represent Taash pursuing Qunari culture? Did no one at the office stop to think how weird that was? Like for real.

11 - Grey Benefactor (Davrin)

This outfit belongs in the "He Would Not Fucking Wear That" category. It also commits the cardinal sin of making Davrin look smaller (in my eyes), which not even the essence of Mythal could help to find redemption for. A shame after a shame.

10 - Crow's Tenacity (Lucanis)

This outfit is... a lot. Why is there so much metal, aren't assassins supposed to be silent 'n sneaky n' stuff? What are those patterns? Is that a FUR COLLAR??? I fell in love with a man with a horrible fashion sense

9 - Crow's Poise (Lucanis)

Marginally better than its counterpart, this outfit still leaves me with a lot of questions. I won't ask what is up with the feathers (I get it. they are crows) but I still find feather pauldrons to be a crime of fashion.

If Harding's Titan armour brought me a chuckle, this caused a groan because it took me 70h~ to reach the end of Lucanis's questline on my first playthrough and my reward was THIS?

(why did I have to fall for that guy of all people)

8 - Archivist's Mail (Bellara)

This simply does not scream Bellara to me. Even her glove and the scarf aren't enough to make that armour look like something of her own. It's definitely missing the flair (bits and baubles!!!) from her other armours, which may not be a fashion crime, but is still deeply regrettable.

7 - Wild Benefactor (Davrin)

This is like. It's a bit better than his other one, okay. It even started growing on me over time, in a way I can't comprehend yet also can't deny. Maybe he would fucking wear that, I don't know.

6 - Investigator's Robes (Neve)

I was originally tempted to rank it higher because I liked its description mentioning that Neve wearing robes (which she normally doesn't do) is a statement. It's cool thematically.

But I shall not let Bioware gaslight me into forgetting that it's just a Shadow Dragons robe conveniently recoloured to suit that narrative. Try harder next time.

5 - Graven Vestments

It's nice (especially compared to some other armours), but not Emmrich-y enough in my opinion. It lacks the personality present in his starting outfit. Peepaw deserves something more special for overcoming the greatest fear of his life, wouldn't you think?

4 - Threader's Plates (Neve)

This armour gets bonus points because it actually took me a while to recognise it was a recoloured Defiant Plate. Neve really makes it her own!

Other than that, it looks good, but is it *great*? It is *meaningful*? Not really. It would also look cooler if Neve's hair was down (the same applies to any other hatless outfit).

3 - Lich's Vestige (Emmrich)

That outfit is just so fucking cool. The exposed ribcage? The high collar? Black and gold? Now that is Emmrich Volkarin. And I do have a special appreciation for companion armours being, you know, *unique* models.

However, while undoubtedly stylish, the armour leaves behind a question: was it worth it?...

2 - Inquisition Spotter (Harding)

I may be an Inquisition hater deep down (sorry), but this armour still prompted a lonely tear to run down my cheek when I first saw it. It's such a nice callback to the past in a game that's so different from all previous DAs that it melted my cold, cold heart.

I was especially touched by the embroidery representing the members of the Inquisition. Harding carries her memories of them wherever she goes!!! :)

1 - Reborn Leathers (Bellara)

Is this biased? Yes, of course, this is biased. Bellara is my favourite girl, everyone else stood no chance. Like, she literally has a crown on her head - who else deserved the first place, if not her?

Jokes aside, this outfit is everything I would expect from a reward for completing a companion's storyline - a completely new outfit that retains the spirit of the original design while bringing new elements to it.

Sometimes what you need to make a good experience better is to see your fave in a cool outfit. For this one, Bioware has my sincere thanks.

[kitterkat100]

My thoughts on Dragon Age: The Veilguard

So, I finished datv yesterday and now have time to sit and think about it. Now, obviously this is just my subjective opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. I am going to start with the good and go into the bad and then finish with more good (that teacher training coming in). Also, I learned how to do a read more for this.

I am going to start with the combat. I have made another post about this, but that was like 3 hours into my first playthrough. Veilguard has the best combat in the series. Usually Dragon Age games have combat that is a slog to get through, so much so that many people in the fandom say they don't play the games for combat but for the story. I have never been a fan of the real-time with tactical pause, I find it a little boring. I am not a big fan of turn-based, to begin with ( that is one of the reasons I still have not finished Baulder's Gate). In the past, if I wanted to play a good story game with fun combat, I would play Mass Effect. But I have fun just fighting enemies, if DAI's combat was this fun I would replay it more often.

Next the art direction. Now, I am no artist and I know next to nothing about anything. But I really like the art. I think the environments are beautiful. I like the character models. I know people were complaining about the models having small heads in the lead-up to the release, but I think it was because the game doesn't use heroic proportions. And you don't notice in-game at all, at least I didn't. Also the brought back some reused assets from the Inquisition, and some of the paintings that have been around since Origins.

Okay the companions. I might write a longer post for each companion later on. I am going in alphabetical order.

Bellara: I romanced her, and I love her so much. She has some strong Tali vibes with a strong dose of ADHD. I am a little sad that we did not even kiss until after the final battle, but I just read that as her being ace or demi (like me!).

Davrin: He is such a bro. I love him and Assan so much. His banter with Emmrich is so funny. The ending to his story line is a little weak, but I will talk about that in his own post.

Emmrich: I think Emmrich is one of the best companions in the whole series, flat out. I love this man, he going to be my next romance (Female Qunari Grey Warden).

Harding: Harding is great. I really liked all of the Titan stuff in her storyline. I did get her killed, so I am not sure what her ending is like. I did think her romance with Taash was cute.

Lucanis: I'm going to say it. I think Lucanis is the weakest of the companions, I don't dislike him. I don't if I missed a lot of content because I saved Minrathous instead of Treviso or if it was because his writer got canned during development. And what he did have felt bare bones. I thought we would be dealing with Spite a lot more. I will say his recruitment mission is a blast.

Neve: I played a Shadow Dragon so my character had a lot of in common with Neve. I like her, but I don't have any strong feelings towards her one or another. Her romance with Lucanis is a thing that happens. I might change my mind when I get around to romancing her.

Taash: I am cis, so take this with a grain of salt. But I think their storyline about being non-binary was oddly paced. I did like everything past that, I think it was much better paced. I do like them a lot. Also, they are really cute with Harding. I do wish there was more of a reaction to me getting Harding killed on Tearstone Island, but that is a writing complaint.

Speaking of the writing. It is really a mixed bag. Some of it is great and then some of it was giving slop comics from the mid-00s. The first several hours are story slog, some of that is because of all the lore dumps, and some of it is because it is oddly paced. The writing gets progressively better throughout the game. From the point of no return to the credits it is the strongest writing, maybe not in the whole series but definitely since the last third of DAI. That after-credit scene was a choice. I will probably talk about that more after I figure out how I feel about it. I think Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nan are the strongest villains since Loghain, it really helps that they are present throughout the game. There are definitely moments where you feel that Rook is HR, but not a lot, but enough that I understand why that made it into some reviews. I don't think it is any more quippy or Marvel-like than any other Dragon Age game, "Swooping is bad" comes to mind.

Finally, some random thoughts. I think this game really nailed the horror of the Blight, I can't get the image of Bellara wrapped in Blight tentacles during the final section out of my head.

I played a non-mage elf shadow dragon, and there was a lot of reactivity for the shadow dragon part, less the elf part. I know I missed a conversation with Tarquin about it, but still. It's like no one even noticed the pointy ears.

That's it for now. I might add more as think about it.

8/10, I had a blast.

[wardencallings]

Thoughts on a Harding betrayal based on a poll I ran last week. Spoilers for Veilguard below!

I think that for Harding to betray the party, a very specific set of conditions would have to be met. I don't see her betraying the party on a whim, nor for anything less than absolute certainty on her part that this is right. I also dont see her siding with the gods, so her betrayal would have to revolve around Solas, specifically killing him, which I think aligns well with her belonging to the OG Stop Solas group. I'm also going to say that this would require Harding to be romanced by Rook or for something to happen to Taash.

Here is the game progression I think would be necessary for Harding to snap:

1. Rook must be vehemently against Solas in all beginning dialogue choices. Even when Harding expresses how she feels pity for Solas, Rook must be unforgiving and rigid.

2. Paradoxically, Rook encourages the Inquisitor to consider forgiving Solas. This sets up the betrayal scene.

3. Have Harding embrace her anger. Rook makes it clear she has every right to be mad at Solas for what he did. Maybe afterward, add some party banter that demonstrates just how zeroed in on that anger she is. I could see a particularly interesting exchange between Bellara and Harding. The party members are a little apprehensive of Harding's anger, even maybe explicitly saying that they're worried about it consuming her.

4. Before the Ghilin'nain fight, Harding expresses fear of someone dying. In response, Rook tells her that she should trust herself to make the right decisions during the fight and, more so, to trust her ability with her bow -- "You always aim true, Lace."

5. Davrin is sent on the diversion mission and dies. This causes Harding to feel regretful that she didn't push harder to lead the distraction team. She becomes convinced that to prevent death, she must act rather than wait for permission. Also, she has to be alive to betray you, lol.

6. A romanced Rook is stuck in the Fade prison, and Solas is released. I can imagine some codex entries here of unsent letters from Harding to her Ma, expressing regret that she did not shoot Solas when she could've. She writes of watching Davrin fall in her place and how guilty she feels. She laments the loss of the farm, the fate of her neighbors, and the fall of Ferelden, placing blame for it all on Solas. She wonders what he will take from her next. If Rook does not romance Harding, Taash is kidnapped instead of Bellara/Neve. This step is the biggest conduit to Harding's decision to kill Solas before he can threaten or imprison anyone she loves again. After all, without Solas attempting the ritual, the gods would've never been made free, Davrin would be alive, and Rook/Taash never separated from her.

7. A scene is added where Rook reveals to the party in more detail that Solas used blood magic on them to make them see Varric. I know this happens off-screen, but maybe zero in on Harding's reaction to this. Emphasize the disgust and anger.

8. In the final one-on-one talk with her before the fight with Elgar'nan, I'd think it'd be interesting for there to be one more chance to talk her down from her anger, but it'd require a Mythal-esque dialogue tree to accomplish. Anything less, and she's going to force the binding.

9. When at the confrontation with Solas, Rook tries to resolve things peacefully. Harding, overcome with grief for both Varric and Davrin, furious at her lover being threatened by Solas, and having fully embraced her anger, shoots Solas with her bow, leading to a fight sequence and leaving Rook with no choice but to bind him to the Veil violently. There is a callback here to Harding taking this shot, just like she should've before at Solas' ritual in Arlathan (or so she says).

All in all, I think Harding's betrayal here should revolve around the theme of the game: regret. Let me know what you think or if you have any ideas. I may write something revolving around this AU if there's interest :)

[satanstrousers]

A (mostly) Spoiler Free Veilguard Review! I did my best to avoid too many specifics, but also Read More for people who want to know nothing at all.

First, thoughts on all the companions:

Harding - Kind of a surprise to see when she was announced but I really liked her! They built out her story in a really fun way, I romanced her as a dwarf and her story is perfect for that.

Neve - Someone really cooked with the concept of Neve Gallus, but she as a character didn't really grow on me until the last act. Also her hat is stupid in a way that I just can't get over.

Bellara - I'm not gonna lie, I almost forgot to include her on this list. She's incredibly sweet, but I found myself falling asleep during her story. Super basic, super boring, but I saw that based on some decisions she can really grow in the last act, so maybe a second playthrough will have me see her in a kinder light.

Lucanis - What if we took Ezio Auditore and made him an awkward short king wife guy with a special interest in knives and coffee? Super fun, but I did traumatize him a little early on. :/

Emmrich - Undefeated. Far and away the best character Dragon Age has ever come up with and it's not even close. Manfred sweep.

Davrin - Listen, I love Griffons as much as the next guy, but Davrin was not an instant favorite. They rely a lot on Assan to carry his story at the beginning slow-play a lot of the sweeter parts until halfway, and even after I think there was way more that they could've explored with him (unfortunately a pretty consistent theme with DA characters). I did enjoy him in the second half, but I did him dirty, so I'm hoping the next time is a little better.

Taash - Genuinely would be the favorite if Emmrich wasn't around. Two character beats that have a common theme of accepting yourself, I thought it was very beautifully done and something I'm sure many people playing will relate to. Taash is like opposite-Karlach personality-wise and I mean that in the most affectionate way to both characters.

Ok spoiler free Plot:

Solas is a motherfucker in ways previously thought unachievable by one man, and the game knows it.

Seriously though, the best part of this game is Solas. Truly I can't remember the last time a video game made me hate someone as much as I hate Solas, and this game knows it. If you hated this dude in the first game, and you felt like things went a little unresolved, Veilguard has got you covered. If you hate him, you'll get to show it, and if you love him........ Well I hope you guys have a very happy life together far away from us.

Overall the story is... Fine? Its basically 70 hours of waiting to tell a couple gods to go fuck themselves. There's a lot of really fun moments and beats, but the connective tissue is the same as its always been in Bioware games.

Overall, combat and UI is a definite improvement over Inquisition but god I should hope so after 10 years. Dialog is pretty impressive and definitely made me feel by the end that the members of the Veilguard were actually friends. The pacing.... Is terrible. You're either doing nonsense side missions and fighting the same enemy 100 times, or blasting through the story at breakneck speed. They managed to do a pretty good job with returning characters, but if you're not HEAVILY invested in the series the moments where *insert character from previous game* appears feel like they're waiting for an applause break.

Final Review:

8/10 if you're a longtime Dragon Age fan

6/10 if you're just jumping in (which is insane this series is fully inaccessible if you haven't at least played Inquisition.)

[peterbazooca]

In honor of DA Day I am finally remembering to have Opinions!

Finished my first run maybe a week ago, tried to keep myself as unspoiled as possible (and only failed a little). I didn't know the direct consequences of a lot of the choices D: I also hadn't fully decided on a few factors for my first Rook (specialization/romance).

As such, I ended up with Mira Mercar, an elven rogue who had a minor crush on Lucanis before Davrin came along and stole her heart. Thought I was going to go Duelist with her but she ended up as a Veil Ranger, which was tons of fun to play. Unfortunately, not knowing the quencies, I chose Davrin to lead the second team during the fight against ghilan'nain, and lost both him and Assan. In addition, got Bellara kidnapped and blighted, and foolishly (there are RP reasons!) sent Emmerich to lead the charge on the ground (the RP reasons are both Mira and I are idiots), and lost him, too. RIP the two best dads in Thedas. My bad, bros.

Overall, though the writing definitely has weak points (Taash could have been so amazing with more time/attention/care put into their story), and I do feel the game in general could have used more time in development, ironically, I am enjoying it. Combat feels amazing, and though we don't get to have as many conversations with them as I'd like, I love the companions. Things are simplified, everyone is a little too nice, and I can't be a true asshole, but I enjoy Rook as a protagonist and the journey felt satisfying. Though I'm not here for those secret ending implications.

Also, getting to see my two special boys Dorian and Lavellan side by side during the final battle had me a lot more emotional than I was anticipating.

I get the criticism (some, not all), but it hasn't stopped my enjoyment of experiencing another story in Thedas. One run down, many more to go. Next up is Elian de Riva, probable bastard of the King of Antiva (he's got no clue, Viago has a his suspicions). A snarky Spellblade who is fed up with Solas's bullshit and didn't expect to fall for the First Talon's grandson (oop). Viago may kill him when he finds out.

[butterflydm]

magic in thedas (more DAV posting)

There's a... idk, if you would call it a joke or a meme or a serious meta. Maybe depends on the person talking about it. But there's a... a trend, let's say, about how there's always an "apostate mage" in your dragon age party who has their own agenda that is not moved by yours, sometimes termed a betrayal, though I think that's more a matter of perspective. Morrigan, Anders, and Solas all have their own potentially world-changing plans that are (mostly) unchanged by what the protagonist chooses to do -- the methods and attitude are the largest effect that your protagonist has on them.

I don't get the sense that any of our mages in DAV are like that, not where I am in the story, and maybe that's partly because in a game that isn't shaped around the southern chantry, the phrase "apostate mage" lacks the bite that it has in the south. There isn't that separation.

Progress continues as I work on my companion's quests.

I got some more Taash & Harding flirting, which I always enjoy:

I did Bellara's personal quest next. I was afraid her brother would die, and he did, but at least we didn't have to kill him. He realized what a mistake he'd made and did what he could to fix it. Small victories. The funeral that Bellara created for him out of the knowledge she got out of the archive spirit was also really nice.

There is a lot of sadness and loss in the companion quests so far. Harding facing the grief and anger of the Titans (and herself); Taash losing their mom; Emmrich needing to let Manfred go if he wanted to pursue lichdom; and now Bellara losing her brother.

But it also really highlights not only how Rook is there for each of them, but how they're there for each other too. I really feel the love between all of them.

After Emmich did his lich ritual, when he told everyone about it afterwards... it was sweet, and charming, how they took it in stride. I mean, this is the team that literally lives in the Fade! So they're pretty used to weird. But it also really speaks to how much I believe that they care about each other. There have been a lot of little side conversations that have shown growing connections between lots of different pairs of people -- not just the romance between Harding and Taash, but Neve and Lucanis talk a lot, and Darvin and Taash are doing exercises together, and they just... they hang out with each other. They have a cooking rotation!

It really is a contrast to some of the past teams, though, which were sometimes more marked by their venomous barbs than by empathy and compassion. DA2 was particularly pointed in this regard at times, with it sometimes feeling like Hawke was the only thing holding the friend group together (that said, Isabela mentioned to us recently that Kirkwall taught her what love & family is, so that's sweet).

There was also a really nice wrap-up outing for Harding, where we went back to see Stalgard and met his sister Durra, and Harding shared her connection with the Titans with them. Very emotional. Harding really got a chance to process her feelings about the Titans, and about the future for the dwarves as separate from the Titans.

After that, I went to Treviso to knock out things there -- first I had to get the location of the ritual site (turns out that our lead was the Butcher - the leader of the Antaam, who had realized he was acting as a pawn of the gods and he gave into the whispers of the gods and lost himself in order to give us the location. And that really did fit for me with some stuff we've gotten from Qunari in positions like that before -- I'm thinking of the Arishok who was in Kirkwall. There's a rigid sense of honor that sometimes ends up being helpful for their enemies).

Then we finished up Lucanis's Hero of the Veilguard quest, which ended up being very heartwarming and kinda a nice contrast after some of the heartbreaking ones I've done recently. I don't know if it would have gone differently if I'd had Spite & Lucanis decide to focus on revenge against Illario as opposed to saving Caterina, but it was the least bittersweet of the personal quests so far -- we were able to save Caterina, and the confrontation with Illario ended up with Lucanis getting affirmed as the First Talon in front of the Crows.

(this whole sequence also reminded me that Lucanis is, like, really really wealthy! Like, damn, Rook has a rich boyfriend)

I really do like how much more sympathetic DAV is towards demons & spirits -- this definitely started earlier, in DAI, but even in DAI, there were a lot of hardcore Chantry NPCs who disliked the idea of sympathy towards spirits.

I think Varric being the person brought forward as the point-man (who recruited Rook) really is the spine of a lot of that, because Varric has gone through it with spirits and demons and explored all kinds of emotions. Varric's sympathy towards Cole feels like that's the sort of approach that the game as a whole has brought to spirits in general in DAV. A different sort of sympathy than Solas felt -- Varric explicitly very much did not understand all the magical underpinnings of what Cole was, and cared deeply about him anyway.

Which, I really do feel, and I've felt this more as I've gone through the game -- being a person that Varric would recruit felt like it really defined the edges and angles of who Rook can be as a person. You have to be the sort of person that Varric is willing to trust to be their second-in-command -- the Varric who experienced DAI, who genuinely believed in the Inquisitor and who had long conversations with Solas and Cole. That's not the same person as the Varric who recruited Hawke for the Deep Roads expedition. He was looking for a different kind of person in Rook than he was looking for in Hawke, back in the day.

Of course, I've also really focused on the possibility of redemption as a character, because it felt really fitting for a Gray Warden (and that was really kickstarted early, with the ability to send the Mayor of the blighted town to the Gray Wardens). So every time one of those big choices has come up, that's the side that this Rook has been on -- including things like encouraging Lucanis & Spite to focus on saving Caterina instead of avenging themselves against Illario. So I do wonder if that ending would have been darker if my Rook were darker. I also wonder if this storyline would have been darker if I'd chosen to save Minrathous instead of Treviso -- I definitely want to do a replay of the game as a Shadow Dragon so that I'll pick Minrathous (any other Rook makes it harder to justify, because Treviso just comes across as more vulnerable due to Minrathous having such a high concentration of powerful mages) and see what potential changes might be there. I'm guessing it has a 'ruined' map that needs to be rediscovered the same way that I needed to do for Minrathous in this run-through.

Also, this moment made me yearn for the ability to romance both Lucanis and Davrin at the same time:

(Davrin is the only person who could have wooed my Rook away from Lucanis)

But I've reached the point in the game where I'm almost putting off playing more than I could because I like the world so much and don't want it to end, which is very silly and contradictory of me, but something I've definitely been known to do in the past, lol. It's especially silly and contradictory because I would love to read other people's thoughts on the game but don't want to be spoiled about the events of the endgame.

I've cleared out the crossroads and fully explored the Lighthouse, and now I only have two companions left to take to Hero status (Neve and Davrin). I took care of the blighted dragon in the crossroads and was able to max out the Caretaker's workshop, and I'm getting pretty close to maxing out all the factions (only the Dragons left).

Next step is to take care of everything in the Wetlands and finish up Davrin's personal quest (and hopefully save Assan's family!). Then I meet with the Inquisitor again, and take care of any outstanding issues in Minrathous (including Neve's personal quest).

If we get a DA5, I'm guessing it'll be about the Devouring Storm that the Qunari ran away from (when they crossed the sea to reach Par Vollen) - Ghilia'nan recently mentioned bad dreams about masked eyes across the sea.

[jedeirri]

Right, I feel like writing a bit of a retrospective.

Dragon age veilguard is a fun and good game. It is also less than the sum of it's parts.

Some unsorted bits I liked:

All the companions were very strong, well written characters. I love how they interact with each other at the lighthouse, and how their relationships develop over the course of the game. Standout companion quests were Taash and Emmerich. I really liked the level design, and thought the gameplay was fun (though I personally prefer the strategy heavy method of earlier games), and I highly approve of the decision to get rid of things like inventory management. From the perspective of an action game I couldn't think of many improvements actually.

All the sidequest are really good - no fetch quests! And they all add to the world, and are highly rewarding. The main story is pretty good as well, not Shakespeare, but I liked it, and despite how few decisions from previous games were considered, the decisions carried over had monumental impact on the story, so I'm actually ok with this choice.

this leads me into the things I liked less, and into spoiler territory

I loved the character of Bellara, and I romanced her, and I'm happy with this choice, but her companion quest was so generic it genuinely makes me sad. She deserves better than this.

Another thing I didn't like (which many others have already said) was how little impact Rooks identity had on the story. I intentionally made them as Dalish as possible, in hopes to get more connection to the plot, but not only seemed other characters to not really register them as elven unless they pointed it out, but also when I tried to bring companions with backgrounds relevant to the quests, it didn't really seem to matter. In a way, it might have been easier to make rook a specific person, like Hawke.

I was also really hoping that the choices I made in the end of the companion quests would have an impact on the story, but that didn't really happen.

Lastly, and I know this is one of the most common criticisms of this game, but the romance was... weird, and I heard that this was true for the others too. Like Bellara asked me if we were dating after I flirted with her a few times, and I said yes and she said yay! And then the dialogue ended, and like three quests later she's like are you sure we're dating, and I'm like yeah and she hugs me awkwardly, and I can't talk to her for the next three days. And then the final romance scene was really sweet (though I almost missed it! I got her kidnapped and went back and refought Ghila'nain so I'd have a chance at the only good love scene) all I'm saying is she deserved better (and I did too)

Also yes I know everyone says this but sometimes all of rook's dialogue choices are identical. Why have a choice at all.

anyway, I'm done nitpicking. let's get to where I hope this goes next:

So I liked Dragon Age 4: More Dragon Age, and I hope they will soon make a Dragon Age 5: Even More Dragon Age.

I would like said game to include more player choices than this one, but maybe not as many as previous games. I think I'd like cameos of all the (surviving) companions, and their quest outcomes to matter for this. I'd like to see the political implications of all this - this game did have a woeful lack of this, and I'm looking forward to bioware overcompensating in the next run. And I'd like it to be set in a part of Thedas that Sucks. Maybe with fewer choices but more fallout thereof.

Final verdict: yeah would recommend. Good game. Don't expect it to be something it isn't.

Also, isn't it fucked up that you can kill both Assan and Manfred?

[andeverythingelsejustkindaexists]

veilguard is okay. I feel like I was expecting a lot more but tbh, it's not a bad game. And I will defend it against non dragon age fans any day lmao. There's good and bad. Going on only about the bad makes it so these games just keep getting more and more friendly and family centric.

Anyways I suggest playing it with the mindset that the past ten years in Thedas have been like a fade/magic revolution, basically. There's a lot of lax in certain lore and whilst it goes unnoticed to new/casual players, people like me are rather annoyed. So that "ten years is a long time" concept helps rationalize some things. Other things just can't be lmao. The elves are my biggest issue. No spoilers (maybe spoilers) but I do believe the way they treat the elves in this game is literally erasure of their history. You see no slaves in Tevinter and the Dalish are just like :) time to kill our gods :). Your character can even be a former slave and just not really care about all that happened.

THIS IS SPOILERS: (Also one of your companions feel like the elves need to take responsibility for their gods ((she is an elf)) because of all the damage they've done, but seems to like, not compute that the ancient elves enslaved them too? They did not discriminate. Like that's the slaves Solas freed. They were her people. I get that her whole character is like, needing to take responsibility, but at the same time, this feels like a push of too much. Sometimes traits don't need to be that exaggerated to get a point across. She is not responsible for this. Putting this on her kinda takes away from her whole arch. It makes her seem like she just has a general problem with taking on other's issues and not trying responsibility for her brother's death.)

But the companions are great. Love them. I think I enjoy them as a whole more than Inquisition because they are well rounded. Everyone has a full story. Even if it is a little cheesy. The chats can be super cheesy lmao. And the voice acting for some characters, especially side characters, not always great. But DAVRIN UGH I LOVE HIM SO MUCH MORE THAN I THOUGHT I WOULD. He's like amazing. I am not romancing him this first playthrough but I will next. I have to. I love him so much!!! His voice actor, amazing. One of the best, honestly. It's very remincent of old school dragon age when I talk to him. Lucanis is similar! Bellara as well. Manfred's skeleton noises are very appealing too. Love him.

[druckkugelschreiber]

I hate it when flat out nice answers and kind answers are the flirty options in games

Like telling Bellara she can ramble at me all day long is true and I say that full of god damn platonic love. Let me support my friends! Let me help her autistic trauma which I too have!

Asking Lucanis „should you really be alone now?“ After Spite is messing with him should definitely not be seen as flirty but as supportive. Not to mention the next option of telling him he‘s brave. Like I get it we only have so many options in a video game but half the dialogue wheel is empty!

As opposed to telling Neve you wanted to make a better first impression. That one was a good flirty line!

I think it‘s also about timing tbh which with Romance games do sometimes struggle with. This is like not even a full critique more me worrying of wanting to be a good friend and coming on to strong which in BioWare games is a legitimate fear. Also as a writer myself I know I could do better or maybe it‘s cause I’m ace and see things differently. Probably both

[jasontheoctopus]

Extra Veilguard thoughts on second playthru: (contains spoilers, it's been a couple months, but under a readmore in case you're still avoiding)

Dwarf warrior as mentioned in previous post; that Paragon armor that makes your character look like a super thick muscle tank felt perfect for the vibes

Small level design thing: I really enjoyed both times how the final crawl up the Archon's palace reminded me in some great ways of the final Mass Effect 1 Citadel mission.

Harding taking down that big mech / automaton construct thing in at the start of the final quest is so bad ass ( i mention this, because her coming out of the rubble after defeating it, that shot also reminded me of ME1 when you find out Shepard wasn't crushed by Sovereign )

Ended up romancing Bellara this time, because a couple banters/offhanded comments from her really struck me differently on this playthru (also I swear I got different ones, maybe because I took different companions on some of the missions? )

The Neve/Lucanis romance that happens was okay. I think I'd missed something with Lucanis the first time. (possibly due to Treviso getting blighted in the first playthru, I picked Minrathous this time to see how that changes things) There was a dream sequence thing with Spite or something where they work out their differences? also there seemed to be more banter in the Lighthouse between him + some of the other companions talking about it. Idk, I still prefer my Rook getting to romance Neve, but I at least don't think that Neve and Lucanis make each other worse.

Picked Grey Warden background this time and I loved the extra dialogue with Davrin, Evka and Antoine, and the other Wardens in the game as well as some of the other interesting things it unlocks.

Still picked Bellara to break the ward in the second to last mission, so she ends up getting kidnapped and blighted, so I might have missed the full romance scene, but what I still got was so sweet?? And wow, Bellara gets some badass scenes!

I wish we didn't have to choose between Harding and Davrin, but in a good way because I really enjoy both of them and I feel genuinely sad with either choice. That feels correct.

I actually kindof love how much more this game made me dislike Solas? I haven't felt this great about getting to finally serve someone some consequences in a Bioware game in a minute.

Morrigan showing up felt a little fourth wall acknowlegding, but also she got to be a bad ass and it was a fun time

Thoughts on my next playthru that I won't stick to:

Need to make a Mage this time

I do genuinely enjoy Taash and Harding together, but sortof want to romance one of them next time. Also; still very much want to romance Neve again, and Bellara's was surprisingly sweet. Also, might watch someone else's let's play of amab!Rook/Emmrich because I feel like I got to know him a lot better with my Rook spending more time with Bellara somehow? Their banters were really cute.

Really enjoying the actual gameplay of this game. People who said it feels more like a fantasy Mass Effect game to play were right, and that's probably what has me still making new playthrus.

I do wish Bioware was allowed to do multiple sex scenes like Larian; but I get that EA Games would never let them. It's cool, I hope that will just inspire me to write some smut of my own which could be cool.

General thoughts:

I don't know if it's going to go down as a "game of all time" for me or anything, but it's been very enjoyable and fun to play, and that's honestly all I'm looking for.

Leaves a lot of unanswered questions, sure there's plenty of "but that's not how they said stuff worked before" bits but I think that's unavoidable with projects spanning so many years and worked on by so many different writers. Idk, nothing jumped out at me as super horrible.

I know a lot of people complained about the companions getting along to well, but with the couple years I've had it was actually so calming to just have them talk about their issues and work thru them or "agree to disagree" or whatever.

Also not disappointed that there's not an option for a more "true evil" aligned playthru, because I don't enjoy that. I'm sure some folks were really let down, but I played the game I wanted here.

Big studios are clunky; they have to put out a product that appeals to as many people as possible because their budgets are so sky high. I'm also a Blizzard apologist (well maybe not that far, but I still play and enjoy a lot of their games even with knowing how problematic they are) so feel free to nay-say; but the point is that I think the team working on the game managed to put out something quite enjoyable given what seemed from the outside like a disjointed development schedule.

Also in line with the "I enjoyed people not fighting" I'd prefer not to fight on this post. Got enough fighting coming up about real life things, just want to talk about things I enjoyed.

[newtype-princess]

Expectations VS Reality: Companions Act 1

I finally got the full squad and I wanted to make a post describing my experience so far

Lucanis Expectation: Edgy dude with a deep voice maybe a loner type I was already romancing him in my head Reality: A decent guy, he's a little too cute for me but I'll romance him anyways I like the deal he has being an aberration

Bellara Expectation: annoying quirky manic pixie dream girl that delivers the worst jokes, I hate those types of characters Reality: SHES SO CUTE AND NICE AND I LOVE HER !!!!! unexpected fave

Neve Expectation: Solid character a bit edgy not into her that much but she's cool Reality: I have done her so dirty I feel bad saying bad things about her but she is kind of boring

Harding Expectation: I already like her from inquisition, she is really cute and even more cute in this game Reality: again... kinda meh I still like her but she is boring lol

Darvin Expectation: For some reason I assumed he was the nerdy type kinda like a quirky nice guy type something more close to Alistair but more nerdy (Darvin sound like Melvin in my head and that's a nerdy ass name lol) Reality: DADDY DARVIN??????? his voice is just 10/10 and he is so handsome I almost left Lucanis to romance him and I'm 100% doing it next run

Taash Expectation: That tiefling girl from BG3 quirky fun, makes dirty jokes and laughs a lot, not a fan of that type of characters Reality: Moody teenager with mommy issues, I actually like her so far. I like seeing her interact with her mom, and it's the first time we see qunari familial interactions so I'm interested on her story

Emmrich Expectation: an okay character but maybe a little too campy/ comedic for me Reality: Hes charming and I actually like him lots, The mournwatch lore is very interesting and I like that they give us an older companion and romanceable no less?? A treat. Also I do like Manfred

[manystarredface]

Rambling Thoughts on the end of Dragon Age: The Veilguard, spoilers below

I think it's hysterical that Solas had to be convinced NOT to tear open the Veil by two ex-girlfriends and a kid he backstabbed TWICE. I would have liked a harsher tone a little bit from Lavellan, but that doesn't play into 1) the themes of Regret and Forgiveness of the game and 2) Solas likely wouldn't have heard her if she'd been harsh about the whole thing. I liked their ending.

I loved the way they played more into the cunning aspect of Solas in DATV rather than the knowledgeable aspect from DAI. I romanced him in my only true playthrough of DAI (i don't think i ever finished the other runs), so while he was a little cheeky and did lie about the big stuff or omitted it, I don't remember any out-and-out manipulations or word play in DAI that were at all like in DATV.

I WISH my Rook could have laughed in his face when she waltzed into the cutscene with him in Minrathous!! XD

I thought that manipulation of Rook was fantastic and a good character moment. I also loved that he very specifically swore that the veil would not be opened by his hand and then gave us the Final Quest "you're the only one who can save us" bullshit by saying "the final blow must be dealt by you." I wish Rook could have laughed in a "this fucking guy!" way when Bellara revealed the consequences of killing Elgarnan.

Because then, yeah, Solas may have been a little truthful when saying "shit Rook, I made a mistake, I can't defeat him as I am" because he really is going into the fight with NOTHING and NO ONE and he probably realized "ah, I do not have the support I once had in the first fight, this was a bad call," BUT I think he was mostly just manipulating Rook again. He wanted to set her up as the fall guy so he could say "I didn't really betray you. I told you that it wouldn't be by my hand and it wasn't."

The game did a great job of making it feel like I'd chosen "the" combination of characteristics for my Rook. She was an elvhen Mourn Watcher, so she was connected to the issue through her heritage and her job/skills. I'd be interested in trying a different combination to see if it fits just as well (based on some posts I've seen, it sounds like they do a pretty good job of it).

There was one post that pointed out how wild all the Fade Physical Walking was and I'm going to chock that up to us only being in Ferelden in DAO where it's established to be a bad thing and the kingdom mostly being hyper conservative when it comes to magic. I'd be interested to know if the Mourn Watchers move regularly between the Fade and back, given their jobs.

I worry a little bit about the future game, given the power creep of the whole series. We're at God Level enemies who destroyed most of Southern Thedas with the Blight and took out a LOT of northern Thedas with the Blight, too. The road to recovery may mean the formation of new kingdoms, I'd imagine, especially since Denerim was overrun completely and, I think, so was Redcliffe, which were the primary spots of power. Orlais might make its way out of the apocalypse, but I don't see how Ferelden does.

My next play through is going to have Solas redeemed again and my Lavellan show up again, but I'm going to swap around who lives and who dies in the Harding side of things. I'm glad she passed on some of what she knew to the Kal-Sharok dwarves. :( I didn't expect her to get wiped out like that, but maybe she returned to the stone and we haven't seen the complete last of her in some form or another?

[kirkwall-idiot]

A bit of backstory about Sulahn because why not.

He is 26/27 and was born in clan Revasthen, a small dalish clan in Antiva that lives near the border with Rivain. His mother, Belath, was the clan's First and his father, Haranel, was a hunter who also liked to sing and often did so during the clan's festivities. While Belath was pregnant Haranel was badly wounded by human bandits that picked a fight with his group during a hunt and died before they could make it back to the camp, when months later her son was born Belath named him Sulahn (song) in honor of his father's love for music.

Sulahn had a pretty standard life in the clan and after he manifested magical abilities was taught how to use his magic by his mother and the clan's Keeper but he knew he was not going to be the next First on account of the fact the there were other older clan members who could use magic and on account of him being a pretty weak mage. He always showed interest in the history of his people and in particular of the ancient treasures of the Elvhen empire hating the fact that while humans despised the elfs they were more than happy to take pieces of their history for themself.

For that reason after he got his vallaslin Sulahn decided to leave the clan in order to steal from the nobles of Antiva and Rivain any elven artifact that he learned was in their possession. During one of this jobs in Rivain he met a woman who was robbing the same auction house as him, Rouge Laidir the person who introduced him to the Lords of fortune taking him under her wing and gave him the nickname "Shanks". Because of Sulahn's unwillingness to use his clan's name (motivated by the fact that he didn't want his clan to be attacked in case he got caught) other people just started to use Rouge's last name for him and since the nickname he got from her stuck he eventually started going by Shanks Laidir.

So this guy litteraly has three names: his given name, Sulahn, that in my headcanon he reveals to Bellara, Davrin and eventually Lucanis who are the only ones outside of his clan who call him that; his first nickname, Shanks, that will be what Taash and Isabella (since she is supposed to be a Lord of fortune) call him, he and Taash have met a couple of times and Isabella is a friend of Rouge; his second nickname, Rook, that everyone else uses because Varric started calling him that and everyone followed him.

I think that the only people that Sulahn would reveal his clan's name to are Bellara and Davrin. Maybe Lucanis too after the romance is completed if it all goes well.

For the names of his parents I took them from the list of dalish names that @dalishious made some years ago and their meanings are "much love" (Belath) and "fearless" (Haranal). For the clan's name I mashed toghter the words for freedom (revas) and noble struggle (hellathen) that I found on the wiki so the translation would be "struggle for freedom" which I think it's cool.

Sulahn "Shanks" "Rook" Laidir

And Vir'al Lavellan 10 years later