#i loved the bg3 companions but i felt more connected to veilguards

[lucifer-kane]

Looking back at some of my bg3 screenshots while I was cleaning out my folder and man. The game is pretty and all but I 100% prefer Veilguard more. Especially when it comes my/the protag. From a visual aspect alone I think any Rook I've made looks better than any bg3 character I've made. The magic of sliders and being able to make a character fat. Like don't get me wrong I love the way Lucian looks but. God. My Rook <3

[cilant-lis]

so, i finished dragon age veilguard last night and here's my thoughts spoilers ahead (and a very long read)

this is in no way subjective, as i am very emotional about dragon age, especially with veilguard being the first game in the series i played as it came out, and one i was waiting for for a long, long time

the good

first of all, the game is gorgeous. the art direction in this game is absolutely perfect, and i would sell both of my kidneys and half of my liver to see origins and da2 remastered in this style. all the detail, the colours, the shapes... the designs of the companions were also great, each having a very distinct silhouette and outfits which said so much about every character. (plus, i'm going awooga over all the women and taash)

the environments were wonderful, with each area feeling very distinct, yet still like a part of the same world. i also love how they were not huge, open areas with nothing to do, like in inquisition, but thought was put into every corner and crevice. and thanks to the photo mode i have almost 300 environment screenshots from the game lmao

i loved all the companions and major npcs. the companion quests were so good, and honestly my favourite part of the game. during like half of the quests i teared up (especially bellara's and emmrch's i think this is what was missing in inquisition. the characters felt like real people, and like rook had a real connection to them, and they had real connections with each other. they were all very endearing and i liked all of them, something that has not happened in any of the dragon age games prior. (confession: i was very cagey about lucanis because he seems like the fandom's boy of the game, but i actually ended up liking him) the standouts among the npcs were definitely the duos of evka and antoine, and viago and teia. i'd go on a murder spree if anything happened to them.

i'm also of the unpopular opinion that i liked how the companions were nice to each other. no more co-worker you can barely stand each other vibes, they were all genuine friends (plus something more) and their banter was a joy to listen to (and it pasued during combat!) i also loved how they were all present for the main missions, no matter who you took with you

satisfying exploration, with the puzzles leading to actually good loot. no more dozens of greatswords i will never use littering my inventory. i'm also a collection fiend, so i liked unlocking the outfits and lighthouse decor

the candid and visible inclusion of queerness. i don't play many modern aaa games, so i'm sure dragon age is not the only one, but it was the first time i've actually played a game that allowed you to be non-binary and openly say it. taash's character arc, while i hated the 'culture' part of it, was also appreciated and relatable, especially as they were written by a non-binary writer. and they're the first nb romance option i've ever seen! it was also nice to see queer people just existing in the world

fun combat. very fun combat. i never had so much fun in a dragon age combat. it looked cool, it felt cool, i loved detonations and arcane bombs, i was not overwhelmed by a toolbar full of spells i had half a second to choose and the fights didn't take ages. i was a bit scared i'd suck at combat because my hand-eye coordination sucks ass and i prefer turn-based combat à la bg3, but i didn't find it hard at all while playing on normal. challenging, yes, but fun-challenging. orb and dagger spellblade forever

streamlined inventory management. i hate inventory management with a passion and because i'm always possessed by kleptomania when gaming, i always end up with inventories full of useless junk. but in veilguard i could sell it all with one click, the gear i found was either companion specific, or tailored to rook's class and it saved me so much time not having to compare and change everyone's gear while sifting through piles of low-level chainmail no one is going to wear.

the final stretch of the game (act 3 i think?) was hands down the most tense i've been while playing a game. even though some asshole spoiled the choice between harding and davrin, i was still unsure what would happen, who would survive the battle etc. i almost cried when harding died, not ashamed to admit. when bellara was taken by elgar'nan i had to take a little walk, because i was sure she'd not survive (another part of me was already plotting an angsty fic for my rook and her). the ending choice of out-tricking the trickster god of lies with a fake dagger fit so well with my rook, i still get shivers when i think about it. and the self-indulgent detail of them wearing the same armour solas did during the rebellion flashback...

related to above point, the theme of rook being a foil to solas, themes of regret and how it's holding you back, finding hope in a broken world, how things will never be the same, but change is not a bad thing. this is some good shit, that would require separate posts. i just love stories about hope so much

the choice between treviso and minrathous had real, visible impact. in my playthrough, treviso was destroyed and it still affected lucanis many gameplay hours later. none of these choices were presented as right and even though my shadow dragon rook chose to go to minrathous, i still question the decision, and so does rook.

the tension and devastation of the weisshaupt mission. the blight is so gross, as it should be, and the mission was probably my favourite in the game.

rook, especially purple rook, is so endearing. they're a little rascal, and a perfect successor to purple hawke. i loved the amount of faction specific dialogue and how utterly grounded rook was in the story and the world around them.

confirmed lore theories, which had hints since the days of dao

while different to the other games of the series, i really liked veilguard's soundtrack. the main theme is still stuck in my head, and i found myself humming along to many of the recurring tracks. i don't know shit about music tbh, but it helped elevate the mood and atmosphere of the environments. the sound design was also good, and i am happy to report there was no ear-grating noises for my hyper-sensitive ears (looking at you spells from dao)

a satisfying conclusion to dorian's character arc. it was refreshing to see him be so radical and anti-slavery (after inquisition dropped the ball on developing his changing worldview on screen) him becoming the archon was also a very pleasant surprise, and a well deserved ending for a character like him. sorry i just love dorian pavus so much

assan and manfred being absolutely adorable. it was predictable i'd get attached to assan, but a skeleton was a surprise. he talks! my rook is going to be the best uncle (gender neutral) to both of them. my two favourite little guys.

a lot of little details

the bad

imo the biggest issue with the game was the lack of references to previous game decisions. like with the inquisitor cameo, i wonder how different it would have been if the well of sorrows decision was taken into account? a little more communication between northern and southern thedas? not dropping the kieran plot point completely?? a little more information about what's going on in southern thedas? also i feel like harding's character really suffered because of this, because her and my inquisitor were really good friends and i'm disappointed that there was no mention of it at all :( also while most of what the inquisitor said was in character for my inquisitor, i can see how for others it's ooc

related to the previous point, the amount of loose threads that were just left hanging. is the blight cured? what will happen next with the titans? how do the elves recover from all of this? what happened to hawke and the warden? how does southern thedas fare after the gigantic blight? so many unanswered questions which will never be answered

the way the elves were treated, while not surprising at all given the previous games, was sooo uncomfortable. the past three games established that the elves are treated horribly, yet there is very little discussion of it in veilguard. this one conversation with bellara still makes me cringe, and i hate the lack of distinction between the ancient elves who were also oppressed by the evanuris and the evanuris themselves. i also feel the whole plot of 'this marginalised group's gods are actually evil' could have been done much much better, but the set up for it was there since origins, so it's not a uniquely veilguard problem. there are other people more qualified to speak on this than me, so i'll leave this here

the handling of crows made me raise an eyebrow (or two) because of how how sanitised the crows feel. no mention of child slaves? nothing about enduring torture as a part of training? or being treated as disposable? even if this differed from house to house, or it changed over the past decades/ special circumstances because antiva has been under the attack of the antaam, at least a codex mentioning it would have been nice. my dream would have been to have zevran be the one to spur this change, but it seems that the writers are allergic to have him have any sort of impact on thedas

not enough of content for the lords of fortune. when tevinter nights came out, i was so excited to meet them, but what we got in the game was a horribly "clothed" isabela, a bunch of her friends and like 3 quests and an arena. and not to mention how awful the lords of fortune gear is, with the orientalism.

i wasn't a fan of some of the writing, in the sense that some wording and stuff felt very modern. but i'm a hardcore fantasy fan so maybe it's just a me problem

the game tried to do a LOT and some of it would have benefitted if it was delved into more (example: morrigan and mythal, harding's quest with the titan, what taash discovered about the qunari, anything about southern thedas)

i really would have liked to see more of varric and rook's relationship. a dream would have been to have an origin quest/cutscene (maybe shorter than in dao) to help establish their relationship. you could literally replace varric with any character at this point

a longer romance, please... i know these are not dating sims, but i literally didn't get a kiss with bellara until the epilogue :') i'll have to see the other romances to truly have a strong opinion about this, though

and a note: i would have had just as many praises and just as many criticisms for every single dragon age game. overall i really enjoyed veilguard and i am happy that it even came out as an offline single-player rpg, and not a live service game like it was supposed to, or not at all. no game is perfect, and i'd rather have an imperfect game than no game at all. (but yes, i'm still mourning project joplin and i'd do anything to play it... )

[stuckyonbucky]

Ok after playing through Veilguard twice and having some time to sit on it, here are my final thoughts. Under the cut due to length and mild spoilers.

Tl;dr: Overall I think I would give Veilguard a 6/10. I think its biggest issue is just straight up inconsistency. There are bits of this game that I absolutely love and am so happy I got to experience but then there are bits that just make me wring my hands in frustration.

What I liked:

The overall story. I liked Solas being trapped in his own prison and Elgar'nan and Gilan'nain escaping. I liked the connection between Solas and Rook and having to begrudgingly work with him. I thought the big story missions were really fun and were some of the craziest things we've ever had to do in a Dragon Age game. El and Gil felt really intimidating and it makes looking back at the Archdemon in Origins kinda funny - he's so cute. Act 3 was super intense and had really strong writing. I genuinely cried multiple times, laughed, had fun, got heart broken, got pissed off. I was moved and the end left me wanting another game. I don't want to give up Thedas yet.

Out of all the Dragon Age games, I enjoyed this combat the most. I'm not a combat girlie and it's usually just something I have to trudge through to get to the next story point but it was less of a drag in this.

The environments were interesting and beautiful. I appreciated the move away from the giant empty maps of Inquisition. The side quests were more satisfying because they contributed to your reputation with the faction and weren't just meaningless fetch quests.

What I think could have been improved:

The companions and romances. I didn't like the move away from Inquisition and not being able to talk to your companions whenever you wanted. They went back to DA2 where you only get to interact with them after completing missions. I didn't really feel like I got to know the companions as well as we did in Inquisition and Origins. And even though DA2 was also like that I still feel like we got to know that group better, maybe because that game took place over 7 years whereas there is no sense of a timeline in this game. The companions all interact with each other more than you get to interact with them. And I think because I didn't feel like we really got to know them, the romances felt lacking. It was really unfortunate because I actually like the companions, I liked the romances, I just wish there was more to them.

Dialogue and Rook. Sometimes the dialogue feels very Disney Channel. Rook is always so nice, so supportive, so morally straight. Not that I was expecting to be Durge from BG3, and not that I usually play an asshole but it felt like this game would have benefited from some kind of Paragon/Renegade system and that maybe not all your companions would like you but respected that you can get shit done in this world ending situation. I mean, you can play as a Crow ffs - do you think everyone would be ok with that? There should have been more tension depending on your background with some people. I almost expected everyone to burst out and sing 'We're All in this Together' at some points. This is supposed to be a mature, dark fantasy game and sometimes the dialogue just didn't fit that.

Solas and the Inquisitor. I'm not a Solavellan, but I just straight up wished there was more of these two because I love them so much and I still wish we had gotten to play as the Inquisitor again in this. I wish they had gotten to interact more. I wanted more angst. I wanted the Inquisitor to haunt Solas's narrative more. But a lot of that comes from headcanons so I understand this probably was never going to meet my expectations as long as we were playing a new protagonist.

Pacing. Some parts of the story feel like they go by too fast, or aren't really explained well. El and Gil feel like they amassed followers like the day after they got out. How did they get the human elitist cult and Qun defectors to follow them so quickly?? Both of those groups would be super against doing the bidding of elves just on principal. I know they can mess with your mind and take advantage of greedy and power hungry people but it just felt too quick. Did you know we were stuck in the Fade for weeks after Solas switches places with us?? I sure didn't when I played because the only person who actually mentions that is Bellara during her romance scene (which I watched on youtube). I was very confused on how they managed to make a replica dagger in what I thought were the few hours I was stuck there. How did they find us? What else did they do while we were there?? It's all just glossed over.

Catering to new players vs established fans. This game definitely feels like the existing fans were put on the back-burner a bit in favor of trying to attract a new audience. I get that it's been 10 years since the last game, and you want to get those older teens/early 20s who have maybe never played the games before but I think they could have done a soft reboot of the franchise without dismissing us as much as they did.

Enemy redesigns. I get the reason for the darkspawn and really my main issue is with the demons. C'mon - the pride demon design was so iconic and you just made it look silly!

[talesfromthecrypts]

Hi. I think you’ve always done a good job when people ask you your opinions or reviews on things. So would you recommend Veilguard. All the reviews I’ve seen seem to be super negative because of “wokeness” letting you choose genders and queer characters. And the other negative reviews seem to be from people who didn’t get free review copies. The only two valid criticisms I’ve seen frequently are that the story doesn’t really connect well to the first trilogy and that the gameplay and decision systems seem dumbed down to appeal to younger ages.

I really enjoyed the first game but was too burnt out by it to ever get into Dragon Age 2 and 3. I tried to play Baldur’s Gate based on your posts but I always felt overwhelmed with not understanding all of the gameplay systems and just always feeling like I was playing it “wrong”. I want to pick it back up. But I haven’t had the time to fully watch videos so I can understand what I’m doing. So overall what are your thoughts on veilguard and would you recommend it?

Sorry for such a wordy ask.

Ok first I feel like I should say what my experience with the series is. I shotgunned all 3 games over the summer back to back like an insane person. I have no nostalgia, all my opinions on the series are brand spanking new and not really affected by the overarching fandom because I have no connection at all to the fandom.

It's much easier for newcomers and modern gamers than Origins or BG3 is combat and mechanics wise if you're worried. Also way more streamlined than BG3 if you find that much freedom overwhelming.

I enjoyed it! I think if someone is a fan of the series they will enjoy it well enough. Once I got the hang of the combat I really enjoyed it. Exploration was a lot better than Inquisition. Love the factions, love being able to choose a faction to help build a character. I enjoy Solas as a character so any time with him is appreciated. I think Dragon Age in general is really open with sexualities and I really appreciate how many bi options there have always been (despite the weird memory hole right wing grifters were trying to make about it). The art direction is gorgeous and the use of color is incredible. I do enjoy several of the companions. The character creator is way better than the other 3 (I love making a character it must be said).

Now I have some criticism! I do think they simplified the morality of the world. It feels very "these are the bad guys and they are cartoonishly evil and these are our heroes and they do only good things". This becomes an issue especially among returning characters or concepts, The Crows and some things around Solas especially get real weird since both of those things tend to fall in a morally grey space. Like there are points where some banter will bring up a grey area and its very quickly swept under the rug. And there is some very unnatural "therapy speak" in some places which is my number one modern writing pet peeve. I don't like how little you can talk to the companions, which hurts the romance aspect as well. The inclusion of the few choices from past games they did decide to include was poorly implemented in my opinion. Solas and the Inquisitor should be in it way more than they are especially since their relationship (whatever that may be world state wise) is kind of important.

Also I prefer when I create my own character in an rpg to have them a little bit more blank slate and Rook is pretty heavily defined but I can imagination that away and that's a heavy personal preference. Just wanted more freedom in my roleplaying choices.

So its good and I would recommend it for people wanting a fun fantasy adventure but I do miss the more morally complex concepts the past games were working with.