#i think davrin will be my favorite BUT i think i'm romancing Harding first

[lesabear]

Thoughts on Veilguard

TLDR: If empty calories were a video game it would be Dragon Age: The Veilguard. The game is a pleasant enough - if generic and unremarkable - action RPG that basically abandons the themes and feel of the previous games, resulting in a bland story that largely avoids dealing with anything that might remotely cause conflict in the party or force the player to consider anything other than surface level good-bad morality.

If this is the direction they're taking DA, then I think I'm done with the franchise. If I wanted a generic, thematically uninteresting, action RPG there are so many other games to play.

Spoilers in my detailed thoughts below

The good:

It looks very nice - I wish I could have spent even more time exploring the world areas.

Very few bugs or technical issues unlike Andromeda (or most new games in general). I had a few minor issues near the end but overall was very impressed.

Manfred and Assan are great secondary companions. If anyone knows where to find a skeleton and/or griffon friend please let me know.

I quite like Emmerich, Davrin and Bellara and romanced the latter two and (Generally) really liked both. Disclaimer: I tend to have different tastes than the majority of DA fandom when it comes to romances. I expected to have mixed feelings on Bellara because of my issues with Bioware and their cutesy awkward naive/inexperienced female characters but I thought they (mostly) got her right.

Some interesting lore stuff, though I quibble with how it was delivered at times. Still was fun to get a lot more info on the Evanuris, Solas, Mythal, the Titans, etc. And there's also some fun lore stuff in the codices, although again I question whether that's the best way to deliver them.

The final mission is a lot of fun and the clear standout quest other than Weisshaupt maybe. Both are a lot of fun and combine multiple story elements with good gameplay for a satisfying experience.

Combat is engaging although it does get repetitive once you "solve" it. I did a lot of grinding to complete content though so that might be my fault.

Solas is very Solas-y in the game and the highlight of the antagonists by far. I wish there had been more of him and I say that as someone who finds the Solas fandom somewhat exhausting at times. He was far more interesting and compelling than the "even-worse" gods and the fact he's a fuck up who keeps making things worse because he's an egotistical fuck-up who thinks he's the only one that can fix things was is both tragic and fun.

Neve-Lucanis and Taash-Harding are both very cute. I actually think they might be my favorite companion romances off the top of my head (Tali-Garrus does absolutely nothing for me, and I don't even romance either character with my Shepard).

The not good

Why is the Inquisitor wearing pajamas.

Bioware can fuck off for making me pop about a zillion blight pimples. It's really not that much fun after the first 1000

Extremely disappointed with how sanitized the narrative is. There's little attention paid to major facets of the DA universe that are directly relevant to the plot (religion, Tevinter slavery, racism toward elves etc.) and you also get stuff like the Crows now being far lighter of an organization than they were previously.

Just as an example - both Davrin and Bellara touch on what it means to have their gods be the villains but they're just topics for conversation and there's no meaningful impact (especially as the bad guys rely on Antaam and Venatori forces - oh and generic mercenaries). The Dalish are just there (or victims of the bad guys) for the most part. I've read comments from Bioware that confirm this but it seemed obvious Bioware wrote themselves into a corner with making Elven gods be the main antagonists, as you then run into the issue of having the elves not only already be a persecuted minority but also be worshipping evil gods - but instead of writing around it they just avoided dealing with it and acted like it's just the Dalish getting a big win by not joining them.

Speaking of enemies, lots of bland dialogue from the non-Solas big bads. And the Venatori/Antaam/mercenaries gave off major "Cerberus in ME3" vibes - nameless, faceless goons thrown at you in waves that got very boring very quickly.

The way a companion gets hardened because of a choice early in the game is mostly meaningless unless you wanted to romance them. People getting mad about that happening are being ridiculous - if anything the game is too afraid (as usual) to have it actual matter beyond them briefly being upset before moving on.

One of the big choices is to decide whether to protect Treviso or Minrathous when both are attacked by dragons, but it happens so early you might lock yourself out of quests without realizing it. Worse, the ensuing mission is incredibly short and boring (basically a couple of packs of generic enemies and then a very brief dragon fight)

Why is the Inqusitor wearing pajamas.

Why can't I be a mean/"bad" Rook? Even the jokey responses feel super tame compared to previous DAs (let alone the borderline assholish purple hawke). Basically you're only allowed to be slightly different variations of a heroic figure.

While the companions are all nice they all top out at "I like them", with none matching the story or emotional peaks of previous Bioware games. Emmerich comes closest (especially if you account for Manfred) but there's just enough meat to him.

Disappointing romances compared to previous Bioware games(especially but not limited to Lucanis.). Not a ton of depth dialogue wise and at times it feels like they put more time into the companion romance than the Rook version (this time I am definitely talking about Lucanis).

Speaking of which, Lucanis was the biggest disappointment of the companions. I didn't want a Zevran clone but you have a hardened assassin possessed by a demon who (if you choose not to save Treviso, which cuts off a lot of his content) just drinks coffee and likes Neve and uh....

Completely forgettable soundtrack which is a major bummer after previous installments. Also, while I didn't have many technical issues, the music not always playing was one of them (although maybe it doesn't really matter given the lack of quality!)

Bad to horrendous incorporation of previous DA story which was also incongruous with the general tone, especially with the handling of the Inquisitor and the treatment of southern Thedas (especially if you get the Emmerich and Harding picnic conversation at an awkward time like I did.)

Lots of disappointing cameos but especially from my Pirate Queen/Wife from DA2. Isabela's hat is indeed very nice but what is that outfit? And I get they didn't want to deal with too complex a world state but man was it a bummer to see her basically reset after everything her and Hawke went through in my main DA2 playthrough.

Why is the Inquisitor wearing pajamas.

What did they do with Harding? Why did she basically get Dagna's story, even if Titan lore is interesting? She's such a nothing character in this game which is such a weird choice given that she's clearly there because they know fans like her.

The "Actually Varric was dead all along" did nothing for me. He barely shows up in game anyway and the weird framing of every appearance and the fact no one other than Rook ever interacts with him gave it away (at least partially)

[championofthefade]

Thinking about Veilguard sometimes really makes me start picking it apart.

Yes, I did like it for what it is. But as someone who played the three games for the first time this year, I found it disheartening at times.

Long story short for those who rather not read my rambling: I liked Veilguard, but there are parts that just don't feel right and that everything we've done in Thedas the last three games were all for naught. (I'm yapping about my complaints, might make a more positive post later)

It's a mixed bag, really.

While I liked the gameplay, there are things that just don't rub me the right way.

The first immediate example is how the (only, in my opinion) major choice we are presented with is choosing Treviso and Minrathous. We have the choice to harden the other companions in spirit, but the only ones that actually are affected are Lucanis and Neve.

While I have done both paths, I can't say that one is a better choice over the other. Shadow Dragons are decimated if you choose Treviso, Treviso is blighted if you choose Minrathous. I think that it's fair that Lucanis doesn't want to romance Rook if you choose Minrathous, because he wants to save his city from dying. He trusted you to follow through, while Neve expects that you won't since she's a cynic. Which makes sense why she's willing to still romance you if you choose to save Treviso, although it'll be a bit more challenging to, because you were presented with an impossible choice. I don't mind that he ends up with Neve, even if the romance for all the companions kinda fall flat if you think about it too much.

Another thing is Taash. Their identity is important to their story, but having Rook (us the player) choose how to deal with their cultural crisis doesn't make sense and makes me not want to repeat those quests. Why is there no option to embrace both the Qun and being Rivani? Why am I the one choosing how Taash chooses to express themselves? Relating back to the city choices, Lucanis and Neve both choose their hardened options with Illario (getting jail) and Aelia (being given to the Threads). With Taash, the choices are a little less clear to me. I think we shouldn't be able to dictate one's cultural choices.

One of the worst choices that we have to make as Rook is Harding vs Davrin. Thinking about the amount of people who are saving Davrin just for Assan is actually crazy to me. I love Davrin, but he's reminding me of what happened to Wyll in BG3, and it's not a fun time. (I can barely pick up BG3 for various reasons and this is one of them.) I'm glad Bioware doesn't pander to the fans that are loud, because I don't have to worry about everyone's favorite white boy getting more content than the only black companion (saying this as a white person myself). I will always save Davrin because he is a compelling character even without Assan. I love the feather-brain but I feel like I want to know Davrin more than his mythical son.

I hate that we only got three world state choices, two of which don't really matter since it's more flavor text. It doesn't matter if we disbanded or merged into the Chantry, we don't see the consequences of those actions. It doesn't matter if your Inquisitor wants to Stop Solas at All Costs, because apparently they feel responsible for Solas being... Well, Solas. And our romances, outside of Solavellan, were reduced to a codex entry and sidelined.

Yes, Solas is important, and yes, I expected his romance to be given more light. I'm in the camp of people who feared that was going to be the case. And it was.

Yes, I agree that him getting a Good Ending with his vhenan is one of the better endings, but his friendship one and facing his fear of dying alone is also important. I liked playing a Rook that tricked him, I liked playing a Rook that chose to fight him as well. I'm glad we have at least those aspects that we can control.

As someone who has romanced Lucanis and Neve so far, I wish there were more little cutscenes, and not just for Lucanis. I'm just okay with how things are, even if they're a bit empty in comparison to what we could've had. That being said, I think that there's always room for improvement to have a more fulfilling resolution to the romance in the game the devs claimed was the most romantic. I wish there was more, I wish that there had been more to support that claim. I want to feel closer to these companions, and I am sure that I will as time goes on. But as it stands, for now after sitting with the game for nearly a month (11/29), I wish we had gotten more.

I would like to say that it really doesn't feel like the most romantic compared to the other three games. (Blackwall's "heart laid bare", Dorian's "you're dreadfully dull and I hate you", Josephine's letter of "let me make a promise to you here. I dream you will say yes", Zevran's "I'll storm the Black City for you, never doubt it", Anders' "ten years, a hundred years from now, someone like me will love someone like you, and there will be no templars to tear them apart", just to name the few that feel more romantic than what we're sitting with for Veilguard romances. And one of them is a codex entry.)

I hate that we have to learn through missives that the South is gone, save for Skyhold. I hate that we had no power to help the South, and that the last three games were all for naught. It's upsetting to know that Ferelden is gone. RIP Orlais, you slayed too close to the sun. Kirkwall being empty is a scary thought, but it's gone too.

It makes me wonder where HOF is. Did they ever find a cure? Are they even alive? What about a Hawke that didn't get left in the Fade? You mean to tell me that they wouldn't be out there in the frontlines doing something? You mean to tell me that they're sitting on their asses?

Varric dying is something else entirely, but it's just gut wrenching that we don't even get to mourn him. A second playthrough was mindbogglingly eye-opening. Harding was mourning when you check on her in her little room. Neve reminisces about how Varric brought her onto the job and she wishes that she didn't take it. They were mourning while Rook probably looked like they were in the denial stage of grief. What killed me inside was the fact I caught it the first time when Bellara name dropped Varric like she didn't know he was there. That's when I started thinking maybe he was gone, but I didn't want to believe it. I had to step away from my computer when the reveal happened because I was devastated.

We don't get to see just how the team made the fake lyrium dagger, or how they even managed to find Rook in the first place. We don't get to see the love interest's reaction, only the aftermath where they are still registering that Rook is there. We don't even get an explanation on how those things were possible. To create a perfect lyrium replica and locate someone in the Fade? Knowing that we could've had a mission to save whoever was left in the Fade hurts. RIP to those left in the Fade.

The secret ending is just... Bewildering to say the least. What do you mean that there's an even bigger force that has been controlling the narrative from Across the Sea? What do you mean these incredibly well written villains had no agency in their choices and were being used to orchestrate whatever the hell the Executors wanted?

Again, what do you mean that all that we've been through in Thedas just doesn't matter anymore?

[inquisitor-julia]

This has for sure been asked numerous times already but I'm curious so with the information we have so far:

[annakie]

We've been waiting literally ten years for a new Dragon Age game and now that it's going to be here tomorrow I am very much not ready.

My life needs to be a little less chaotic right now (it won't be until the middle of November.) The earliest I'm going to really be able to sit down and play more than a few hours is the week of Thanksgiving. But hey, I am staying home alone for Thanksgiving weekend so then I'm going to really get to devote time to just playing the hell out of the game.

I'm gonna be so behind.

It was a hard choice but I think I'm going to break the mold of me always playing a rogue first in Dragon Age games and having literally NEVER played a fighter type character in any DA game (or most any RPG ever.)

I haven't paid a ton of attention to the options yet but after a quick skim several weeks ago I think I'm going with a Grey Warden Fighter romancing Emmrich first.

Basing her off the character I just got done playing for a few years in 13th Age who is a 40-ish year old woman who, when she was only 20 years old had to make a hard call that ended up going very badly for her and it was kind of her downfall, so she spent most of the rest of the last 20 years trying to make up for it.

Second playthrough will be a rogue or mage who romances Davrin.

---

I've honestly BARELY gamed the last several months, what with all the renovation stuff happening and other stuff going on in life.

This weekend I swore to change that and, after spending all day Saturday working on house projects, decided to pick back up my ME3 playthrough that I had gotten to Thessia on and never finished.

But then I had to reinstall the game since the SSD I had been playing it on died. Then I had to reinstall all the mods, and picked up a few new ones. That took a few hours to make sure I got it all right.

I did end up playing, and actually got through Thessia... and then I was tired of being at my computer all day and went outside and read a book on the patio for awhile. Then I realized something was wrong with my new airondeck chair and spent an hour fixing it (my bad, I screwed two screws in the wrong place it turns out.

By the time all that was done it was time to prep for my Sunday night D&D game.

Not gonna finish before tomorrow since I'm running D&D tonight, too and still have to do Omega in there. (Plus the Citadel Epilogue Mod AFTER the game.) Ah well.

Never did finish my 2nd BG3 playthrough.

Never did finish writing my BG3 fic. It's just languishing.

Never did play Starfield more than a few hours despite buying the deluxe edition.

Started playing My Time at Portia and still haven't played more than like 8 hours of it, despite enjoying it (with lots of mods.)

Hoping now that the house is getting close to being done where I want it to be that maybe next year I can spend some time focusing on hobbies more.

Not that I regret a single thing about how I've spent my time this entire year. :)

Working on my last two house renovation posts, too. Definitely want to finish that since my two favorite rooms (after the master bath) I saved for last.

[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.)

[utilitycaster]

I HAVE VEILGUARDED. everything below the cut for spoiler reasons. I will also say to the anon I shut down earlier (again, me not you!) that I do intend to do a second run because I had a marvelous time, I would really love to do the Dock Town quests and explore Neve's other options (and romance her, frankly) and check out some of the other companion options (honestly I'd be open to almost all of them except for Lichdom. sorry I refuse to leave Manfred dead and I'm correct.) and maybe this time I'll actually solve the stupid wisp puzzles and get all the chests and uhhhhh maybe even play on Easy mode instead of Easier Than Easy mode (because lbr my equipment does not matter a ton because. story mode.)

because I am a good girl and did all the quests everyone lived. I also accidentally got the best ending, because Rook in this run is a romantic and optimistic person. This is funny to me because I am god's greatest hater and so I am ROLEPLAYING a character who is like yeah inquisitor go be with your boyfriend who looks like a stupid egg. I did have the Diet Essence Of Mythal but I've been informed the secret even better ending only hits if you know other past characters, which I don't, so whomst cares!

Takes on characters from previous games in brief. Obviously Harding is great. Solas gets his happy ending and that is FINE I guess. Generic Default Inquisitor Lavellan is like. again Rook is like "do what makes you happy but I am like DUMP HIM. which means that while Morrigan is very "I say things in a portentous voice that are extremely obvious" to me, her deep and abiding hater tendencies towards Solas do it for me. Obviously Varric is great as well. Dorian and Mae? Great (unsure if Mae is in previous games but anyway, love her). Not sure who else is a returning character but I think that covers the bulk of it.

This is very out of order but: because no one died other than of course Davrin in the Isle of the Gods, the pay respect for the dead scene is unintentionally really fucking funny to me, a person who has had to go into morgues for professional reasons. Literally like I walk into a morgue where I know zero people. I walk out. I pass Teia and Viago flirting aggressively as an archdemon ravages Minrathous. I continue.

The final conversations are really good; blighted Neve is of course horrifying but she gets better and her nailpolish, crucially, is not chipped. This is HILARIOUS to me. The final romance line with Bellara is lovely. The ending conversations are all really good but Taash's and Emmrich's were my favorite outside of Bellara's. My girlfriend and I are going to hang out with griffons and she's going to write so much fanfiction about us and it will be unhinged.

Hilarious and sexy of me to wear the appearance of the shadow dragons armor I got literally in like. Shadows of Minrathous or something. the entire fucking time. You can see it in the screenshots and I assure you it's only for the vibes (deep V neck and sick chest tats), I am actually in +8 Warden Champion full plate armor and wearing some wild-ass helm (I did not at any point hide the appearance of my shield. even when I was using the gaudiest gold one that looks like a shell from the lords of fortune. I eventually got a very sick-ass Mourn Watch shield). But it does feel really funny to like, pick Treviso, send Neve to the shadow realm, and wear this armor the full time. I literally didn't see Tarquin for like 2.5 acts.

Elger'nan's first form is weak to necrotic damage. I took Taash and Lucanis. I am fully statted out as a reaper. I have an AOE that does over a thousand necrotic damage. genuinely it was a comedy, I triggered the cut scene where Neve goes to the throne and wrests control so Solas can kill the archdemon almost immediately. Second battle was harder but also level 50 story mode so it was FINE.

I do think a Trick Solas ending would be fun; fighting him seems like it would just kind of suck but like. It's funny I actually really did feel grateful after Blood of Arlathan and then after he stuck me in the mind prison I was like FUCK THIS GUY FOR REAL even after he helped us through in the endgame and killed the archdemon.

Lords of Fortune continue to be hilarious to me. There's a codex that's very BY OUR POWERS COMBINED right before the final assault on Minrathous that I described thusly:

Then in the final scene before the narration the Lords are pulling people out of the wreckage. Imagine you're in a world-ending fight during an eclipse with wild-ass mood lighting and you are trapped under rubble as a horrifying blight tentacle monster rages above and then it all stops and THEN someone in a gold bikini helps you up.

In all seriousness the fact that the Mourn Watch and Lords of Fortune don't come up in the final narration does have me like. yeah whoever wrote their faction quests should have worked harder. I know the mourn watch is largely unscathed because there's no point blighting the undead but like, idk, I feel there could have been more venatori work there that tied into Zara's whole deal, and the Antaam or Wardens ties to Rivain could have been more thoroughly explored. Taash and Emmrich's companion questlines are fantastic but even playing Mourn Watch and loving the build and the vibe, I was like hmmmm this is underserved.

Second hater moment: loved the song over the credits but it felt jarring as hell to have a modern sound here. stick to the hans zimmer. this reminds me, I should listen to the soundtrack because as my Midst Mutuals can attest I am literally the worst at noticing themes. I know Harding's and Emmrich's because I really like them and like, I vaguely recall Lucanis's because it's got accordion elements but otherwise I'm like uhhhhh if it's not the main theme or the Solas theme I'm confused.

I also realized that hilariously, if you like Neve or Lucanis but are ok with romancing someone else (and I very much am) it's actually kind of great to fuck over their city because then you feel justified in taking them out on every single mission to try to up your bond level.

Finished with Lucanis, Harding, and Bellara fully level 10 and everyone else level 9 (including Davrin, RIP); I do wonder how you can get everyone to 10. I might have assigned some quests badly but also like, 9 ain't bad.

anyway feel free to ask questions; this was great and I'm so happy I did it.

[rxmanticxsm]

hey y'all! i know pretty much everybody is sharing their thoughts on veilguard, but i wanted to throw mine in too. i'm a long-time dragon age fan; i've been playing the games since i was 16! veilguard was what i have been looking forward to ever since then. in some ways it was amazing. in other ways... a bit of a letdown.

let's start with what i enjoyed! first of all, i really liked our cast of characters. i found them all to be interesting and i enjoyed their unique problems from their past to solve. their designs were awesome too. my favorites are lucanis and davrin ^_^

i also really liked the visuals of the game overall! the worlds were beautiful and the characters were too! i especially appreciated the black hair styles available. super awesome to see my hair in a game for once!

i know not everybody likes the combat (cough cough my younger brother- i think he just wanted the old tactical stuff back). i was fine with it though! though not entirely... i'll get into this later. other than that, i enjoyed the storyline of the game and seeing solas again! getting to really know solas and see his backstory was super cool. i also loved learning more about elven lore as they've always been my favorite in the dragon age series.

with the positives out of the way, let's talk about what wasn't so great (in my opinion).

i think the progression of your relationship with your companions was a flop here. i missed being able to walk up to them and talk to them. this was valuable in getting to know them and creating that feeling that you're building a relationship with them. in the current system.. i don't really feel any closeness to my companions! i don't see why they're sticking around with the team or opening up to my rook in the sparse scenes they do have. it seems more work went towards their interaction with each other than with my rook.

this is sadly a theme with the romance too. there's just.. hardly anything! especially if you're a lucanis romancer. going to the lighthouse and seeing EVERYONE has an interaction but lucanis was honestly a bit irritating? there doesn't even seem to be any reason for rook and lucanis to be together. they just don't talk LOL along with that, having companions flirt with each other in front of rook while trying to lock down a romance with one of them was frustrating! i think this would have been better after rook has committed a romance with someone else. it was only made more annoying with the fact that the companions flirted with each other more than they did with rook lol

regarding combat, the indication that an attack was coming was wayyy too small and hard to see in the fray of battle. i found this feature to be mostly useless as half the time i couldn't see it while i was attacking. i also didn't like the way some enemies would just keep tossing me around! perhaps this was a skill issue on my behalf... but there were times where i would dodge and get thrown right after lol i could not get up!

locations felt a bit empty compared to inquisition. there just wasn't much to do in some of them. rivain got ignored by me entirely because it was too boring imo and there wasn't much for me to engage with there. i also ignored dock town because i didn't really like the area. i was personally hoping for a more illustrious location if we were going to tevinter.

other than that, there's some other smaller things i didn't care for but they're not important enough to address in a paragraph.

as a whole, i enjoyed veilguard! i'd give it a 7.5-8/10. it's good on it own. compared to other dragon age games, not so much. i think companions have always been really crucial to dragon age games and veilguard kinda sold that. that was most of what brought my ranking of it down. that's just my opinion though! it's still good for many other reasons!

[skrevel]

I really need to info dump about my rooks so badly. Idk if anyone else will read it but I run this blog for me so I'm making it. I'm doing three different playthroughs at the same time, because I'm crazy. I have my blind first time playthrough which I have done with all the dragon age games. I progress a bit with this one then catch up to it with my other playthroughs. Then I made my lavellan playthrough because I didn't want to make myself wait until I finished my blind playthrough to get more content for that. I didn't plan to make a third character but I loved the crows so much I NEEDED to make a crow rook and to my surprise it has turned into my favorite of the bunch.

Nyxi is my blind playthrough rook. She's a human, a Lord's of Fortune treasure goblin, and a mage. I like to think she's a real girls girl. She's romancing Lucanis and I like to think she makes Solas listen to how attractive she thinks he is before they discuss anything concrete about saving the world. She's a lot like Kelly from the office, if kelly wasn't as self centered. I think she's been a drifter most of her life and while she likes traveling and hunting treasure, I also think she's really jealous of people who have a place they feel like they absolutely belong.

Sorcha is also a mage, but she's an elf and a shadow dragon. She's very involved with the anti slavery movement. I headcanon that she had a brush with slavers herself and got help from them. Then, she realized later on she could do a lot more with her magic. She realized she could actually us it to do something worthwhile. She's romancing Davrin, grumpy man taking care of a cute animal was too hard to resist. She has less headcanons than the other two but I still really love her.

Finally, there's Acanita 'Nite' for short (named after aconitum which is the scientific name for wolfsbane and also poisonous). She's my crow, and the only non mage of the bunch. And honestly she REALLY wants to be able to do magic. Who wouldn't honestly? She's been fairly happy with the crows and her life with them. But there are things about being an assassin she doesn't like and has always wanted to do something more worthwhile. I think that's part of the reason she's sent off with Varric in the first place. I think Viago was at least aware of this to some extent. I think she's probably more lonely than she let's on. People rarely see her as her, they see a crow or more recently "Rook" but they don't see HER. If that makes sense. Which I think makes even more sense for her to be the character who romances Emmerich. He is a very warm person from the start and is very interested in asking rook if they would tell him stories about themselves and their travels. She's also absolutely DELIGHTED to help with any kind of rituals or rites. She loves magic and he's very open in including her in it tangentially and sharing about it, he's literally a teacher. She doesn't care that it's necromancy, she's a crow a dead body is a dead body it doesn't really freak her out.

[fancytrinkets]

veilguard thoughts, second playthrough

I'm playing as a human mage Grey Warden, she/her, this time around and planning to play the Harding romance.

In terms of decisions, I'm doing all the opposite things this time. Which means I've just defended Treviso and Blighted Minrathous. It means I will also:

Have Harding let go of her anger

Push Bellara to destroy her people's history

Send the griffons to the Grey Wardens

Have Emmrich become a lich

Push Taash to embrace Qunari culture

Get a choice about Lucanis instead of Neve

Sacrifice Davrin

Have Neve get taken away instead of Bellara

Deceive or fight Solas instead of reconciling with him

I really liked being a Shadow Dragon elven rogue in my first playthrough, so I'm struggling a little this time. I did not like Blighting Minrathous and then seeing the gallows put up all around the city. (They killed Lorelai, and I felt attached to her given her storyline connection to Loghain's humanitarian crimes in the Denerim alienage)

Despite how much I liked the Shadow Dragons, I also feel good about playing as a Warden. Narratively it makes a lot of sense as the Blight starts showing up everywhere and Rook can handle it. (I sent the horrible mayor of De Meta's Crossing off to become a Warden, so I'm fully expecting to see him betray us all at Weisshaupt soon, but that's just my guess, so no one spoil it please!)

There have not been too many mage-specific dialogue options so far. When the lets-recruit-the-magekiller conversation comes up with Neve, she acknowledges that Rook is also a mage with a comment like "oh, don't worry, he won't target either of us..." But there hasn't been any "what was your magical upbringing/training like" kind of option for a mage Rook to compare notes with the other mage companions. I didn't expect it, but would've liked it.

I'm sort of guessing my human Warden mage was from Tevinter and went to a Circle there before joining the Wardens, because the mage background object she places in her quarters and talks about is, like, a fancy-ass magical device that she BUILT as part of her schooling. Not exactly the non-Tevinter Circle experience, I've got to say... so I guess it works for her as a human Warden with no national origin specified, but I'm thinking that same mage background object might not work as well with other faction-race combinations a player could go with

Beyond the Shadow Dragons and the Wardens, the other factions hold less appeal for me. Honestly I think it's because of the things I agree with about many of the critiques that are making the rounds: The lack of continuity from previous games, the jarringly widespread acceptance of magic and spirits beyond Tevinter, Rivain, and the Grey Wardens; and the politics feeling overly sanitized in ways I'm not finding plausible given the established lore to date.

These are BioWare's choices and I don't know why they were made, but I do think they remove some of the familiarity and depth from the world. And I do miss what's not there, but could have been provided.

That said, I don't feel disappointed in this game. I do experience a number of moments where I think, "oh, this part isn't my favorite and I would have liked to see it done differently," but I don't tend to dwell on those thoughts or have much emotion attached to them.

Overall, I think my general positive experience is very much tied to the fact that:

I like Solas as a character and I'm very interested in his backstory

I have now read all the novels, so can get more out of seeing side characters like Felassan, Valya, Isseya, etc

the Dorian romance has a lot of importance for me and I like how that continues into Veilguard and how Dorian's role in the story plays out

I was secretly hoping Varric would get to have an emotionally satisfying death in this game and I do enjoy how that played out

I'm letting my imagination run wild thinking about a Southern Thedas questline involving the Inquisitor, Hawke, and the Hero of Ferelden. It's occupying the writing side of my brain in ways that might give me a new fanfic project, and I feel like I need one of those right now, given the state of the real world where I live...

I am not sure how I'll feel after playing all the choices I didn't make the first time. It's going to be interesting, I bet.

[queenerdloser]

also i AM playing veilguard and i made a wee pocket sized lad of a man for my first rook and i love him and his boyband hair. spoilers & reactions below the cut.

my first rook is a lord of fortune mage w/the plan to romance lucanis. he's very snarky and i love him.

i'm glad they made the call to go back to the like. da2 style of dialogue.

me so far every time rook talks to solas: get his ass!!!!!!

that said, i feel like they're making solas like rook too quick. what the fuck. it took my inquisitor like YEARS to build a rapport with this motherfucker.

i hate the combat lol. maybe i'll enjoy it more when i get used to it but there's too many moving pieces to keep track of for me. my favorite combat is where i can just like mash one button and easily kill everything in my path, i don't want to be strategic and have to micromanage everything. also what is this three potions bullshit. even dai gave you 10. and i have to like find them in random pots????? what the fuck????

very fun to sprint and jump. makes me feel zoom.

why do the elves just accept that their gods are back and evil? like. it feels like they accept it WAY too quickly lol.

dialogue so far is uh. very cheesy. a lot of "we're all great so let's work together!" stuff that is like. fine. but cheesy.

i'd die for lace harding. she looks so cute in this game.

when solas stabbed varric i SCREAMED. i was like. do NOT kill my boy in the first fifteen minutes!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i'm still only like a couple of hours in but varric was being suspiciously sick in the cutscenes so i have feeling he is going to die :((((

me: where is my BOYFRIEND (lucanis) and my FUTURE BOYFRIEND (davrin)

i love neve but i have a feeling we are going to butt heads a lot lol. i'm playing my rook as the reckless, confident type with a saving person thing that feels true to what we know about his backstory and he's already disagreed with neve several times. whoops.

i love the little marker showing me exactly where to go. hell yeah, hold my hand with this bullshit. kind of glad they dumped the open world of dai and got us back on rails.... tho that may change as i get further in the game???

when i say i spent HOURS in the character creator.... like i love it but it honestly felt like TOO much tbh. esp. when i had to do it for rook and then immediately again for my inquisitor too.

i ended up going lord of fortune background almost entirely bc i liked their casual look the best but i think i'll definitely try to play most of the backgrounds. they're so fun! i was THIS close to doing shadow dragons.

honestly minrathous is really cool???? all the locations so far have been great, love the lighthouse. (v. funny 2 me that we get all of these cool locations thanks to solas. man knows how to find a cool spot and name it i guess.)

the updated blight is VERY creepy. also those new darkspawn??? i gasped.

i do like that they're playing solas as this like. enemy who is begrudgingly allied due to worse enemies. but i'm so curious how they'll play it when the inquisitor gets involved. i'm doing my kai lavellan inky who DEFINITELY is going to try to stop solas at all costs... uh oh lol.

i know people were salty about not getting to integrate a lot of dai choices but tbh i'm fine with it. i'm more happy we got to include our inquisitor tbh.

morrigan showing up looking younger than she did in da:o.... um okay lol. also i kind of hate that she's considered an expert on elven history yet again. stop that.

im going to say again i hate the combat bc i really do hate it. praying it grows on me as i get more used to it bc otherwise i'm enjoying the game a lot.

[pupkinpumpkin]

I've never been someone who makes multiple OCs for video games, I make one and I stay with one, but for Veilguard I'm thinking...

My original sarcastic Shadow dragon who romances Lucanis

Mourn Watcher who has the personality of a golden retriever romancing Emmrich (rogue)

Alistair and my Cousland's daughter who becomes a Grey Warden and romances Davrin (bc Bioware hasn't told us anything about our HoF, Cousland is fine and she has plans for whenever her daughter's Calling comes) (mage, bc of Fiona)

Hot Qunari shadow dragon for Neve (Rogue)

Serious but sweet enby Veil jumper elf for Bellara (Warrior)

Mad scientist dwarf dude for Harding (MAYHEM) (Rogue)

Trans Lord of Fortune girl for Taash (Warrior)

Exact same as my first Rook, but an Antivan Crow for Lucanis again (Mage)

Then round that out with my first Rook AGAIN (Mage) who romances my favorite romance

[ryssabrin]

anyways here are some more detailed thoughts on veilguard! very very long and obvs with a lot of spoilers.

so i really loved the combat! it was super fun and challenging to the point where i got bored playing it on easy which never happens lol. i really like the flexibility for builds and how you could swap your companions abilities on the fly to synergize better with what loadout or party you were using. i'm excited to see what the other classes play like but it's going to be tough switching from rogue.

the world, environment and puzzles were all really fun as well. i know there were a lot of god of war 2018 comparisons but i would also liken it to horizon zero dawn tbh. i only had to look up two puzzle solutions the whole game which is nice lol. they were puzzles that really didn't give you much to go on as far as hints so i was stuggling.

the companions are all amazing! my favorite by far was bellara. her storyline really got me and jee young han's performance is amazing. having headcanoned her as my rook's bestie and then having her be the one that gets kidnapped by elgar'nan in the finale only to be able to fend him off and save the day was so gratifying and i cannot believe it worked out that way technically by chance. also playing as an elf and having her be part of the fight and be able to say "you are not my god!" was so fitting i couldn't believe it was the result of a variable choice. if i had picked neve instead it wouldn't have had the same impact at all because i didn't feel as close to her.

like i know techinically the choices relate to things you do and they're likely more limited than they appear at first so you're being railroaded to some extent but fuck that was fantastic game design.

davrin's romance was incredibly cute and and incredibly sappy and i loved it. i'm excited to see more of the other romances as well. also very funny romancing davrin as a crow given his feelings about assassins lol. the actual more "steamy" bit of his final romance scene was a bit silly but the move of going from a shoulder massage to rook being naked was very smooth lol. i really like the bit after though when they're talking about what they want their future to be it was very sweet. and i also was relieved to see how much they incorporated his dalish background as well. i was really worried we were gonna have another pair of elf companions that hated each other and was so happy him and bellara get along so well.

harding was an absolute standout as well. ali hillis gave an incredible performance and i really fell for her. completely gutted when i got her killed. idk what i would have done if i had chosen davrin for that bc i very nearly did except i knew i wanted him in my party so i chose harding and i felt so terrible. but again having chosen the redemption path on her questline and getting her scene about "no one [being] beyond forgiveness" about solas and then having her make the ultimate sacrifice felt so intentional as well. like getting the redemption ending for solas felt like doing it in her honor.

i also really liked taash and felt so bad for them when harding died. like damn their mom just died and now i got their gf killed too oof. they're the character getting the most flak on reddit for how blunt they are and like sorry you don't see the immense comedy in a character that has the subtlety and tact of a sledgehammer. "they come across like a moody teenager" yeah because they're like 22 and up until recently still lived with their very overbearing and hard to please mother. it's also a shame their storyline takes a bit to get going because the game wants you to level up a bit before fighting all those dragons lol.

i did like lucanis but i think i'll probably like him more on a romance run. he had less of a connection to the main story and didn't feel his storyline was as effective on the redemption theme as say harding's was. also feel like spite was underutilized.

neve hated me because i didn't save minrathous lol so i feel like i didn't get to see her full character. also sad i didn't see more of the shadow dragons! i was so confused why they introduced dorian only for him to never show up again and then i realized it's because he's locked to the saving minrathous route lol. her and lucanis were very cute tho! relieved i didn't end up separating both couples in act 3 lol.

emmrich was also very cute and i would die for manfred. him and strife getting together was WILD but good for them. finally, old man yaoi for real. emmrich's storyline did feel very tonally different from the rest of the game but in a fun way. the mourn watch are so whimsical! i think i def want to do a run where i romance him as a fellow mourn watch rook.

i very much liked the way the companion storylines were done. getting to know them through lil dates and banter and then having their "loyalty" mission be a whole series of quests instead of just one was really neat! and i like that they still had extra convos and followups after to fully round out their stories. that's something i felt was missing in previous bioware games for sure.

the varric reveal unfortunately got spoiled for me so i started picking up on the fact that nobody but rook ever spoke to him pretty early on. it was a well done twist tho and still very effective.

as for the solas of it all, damn character of all time. i do wish there had been more of his memories or at least codex entries on his rebellion. i would have loved to hear more about the other evanuris and not just elgar'nan and ghilan'nain. every time this man betrayed and lied and manipulated rook i loved him even more he's such a bastard i love him so much lmao. that whole convo where he's like "you have to be the one to kill elgar'nan and i pinky prommy the veil won't fall by my hand" i was like you big fat liar i knew he was cooking something up. honestly tbh that's on rook for hearing that suspicious phrasing and not reading between the lines until bellara revealed the truth later. he really is a terrible liar come on, rook!

i'm so here for the mythal stuff as well. i really appreciate that their relationship can be interpreted as romantic or not. just as an ace person i really like the possibility that their bond was so intense and special and codependent but not necessarily romantic. or it was romantic but in a way that we can't even really imagine. it's more layered than just "they were lovers" and i think that's really important. he did things he hated out of love for her and then kept doing them out of guilt over her death and regret that they could never reconcile. and he couldn't even face her again when he had the chance. a lot of solavellans are apparently sad that lavellan's not enough to convince him in the end but i think it's important that he gets that closure from mythal in order to move on to the happy future he always wanted with lavellan.

(as a side note my lavellan had mythal's vallaslin and she didn't let him remove them and the implications of him seeing mythal in her as a leader and literally on her face every time he looks at her makes me insane actually. like it's a reminder of the best parts that mythal left behind and of the peaceful and happy future she would have wanted him to have as his friend.)

i can say i was overall satisfied with how my lavellan came across and the ending she got with solas. and the lost elf theme playing on them leaving together i died! i ofc would have always wanted more but that's what fanfic is for. more happy than ever to be a sumalee lavellan enjoyer because she killed it. like i'm gonna see so many videos of the alix version and it won't sound right lol.

as for my criticisms i have very few. i feel like they could have done more to onboard new players or even refresh the memory of returning ones. i would have liked there to be a bit more of a crisis for the elves of the veil jumpers at the return of some of the evanuris confirming that they were evil. it felt like that was info revealed in trespasser/dai that wasn't really widely known outside the inquisition inner circle and now in veilguard it's like "oh yeah everyone knows our gods were evil tyrants" when that really shouldn't be the case. there's a codex entry about bellara having to remind herself to not call solas "fen'harel" and i would have liked that to actually be conveyed more in dialogue. have her call him that the whole game tbh. it is still a title he bears even if didn't choose it himself. also they all know entirely too much elvish lol.

i do fully get why they wouldn't want even a small faction of enemies to made up of elven worshippers of elgar'nan and ghilan'nain tho. like it's not exactly the best idea to have your oppressed minority/indigenous peoples analogue group become an enemy you have to fight and kill in a video game esp when they're being manipulated and lied to. much easier for it to be blood mages or an invading force like the antaam.

on that note i was sad we didn't see any involvement of the larger qunari nation. like the antaam split from the arishok and the rest of the qunari and they just don't do anything at all? the whole game? i don't think there was any mention at all of the qunari offering any aid or intel or even what they were up to during the events of the game. like are they just chilling on their island not dealing with the blight at all lmao. like i was low key excited for a sten cameo and then that whole aspect of the qunari storyline never got picked back up.

also disappointed we didn't see anything of the awakened darkspawn. it was such a cool direction for the story to go after origins and it's been dropped completely. i had some small hope for davrin's storyline to lead there and then it didn't. the isseya thing was cool in it's own way and def made more sense with the theme of accepting your past and building a better future but there was still room to at least hint at it lol.

i also kind of wish the letters we get from the inquisitor about how southern thedas is doing could have been cutscenes. or at least like the little varric vignettes. doing it as a letter was likely a lot cheaper and having cutscenes would have required more choices to be input but that would have been an easy way to appease the fanbase who loves that shit without having to actually write in those characters. i don't agree that your actions and choices from the previous games are all invalidated now and don't matter and i think that's a ridiculous overreaction. those choice still mattered when you made them and those games are their own contained stories.

i also keep seeing people complain about the "crows retcon" and i don't really care about that either lol. either we just say house arainai was uniquely awful and zevran destroyed them and thus the current crows aren't like that or we're really out here complaining that bioware decided they wanted to walk back on child trafficking? idk i'm not really upset about it. the crows that zevran was in was 25 years ago and it seems like the different houses have different standards and practices it's not unbelievable that the organization changed in that time and the houses that did that shit don't exist anymore and the people responsible are all gone.

not sure how i feel about "it was all the elves all along." like that's kinda where the story was going for a while so i can't be too surprised they didn't come up with something else. the old gods and the evanuris being one and the same is like the oldest fan theory in the book. i really really wish merrill could have been in the veil jumpers. apparently eve myles is like just really not interested in doing voice acting/video game work again? so that might be something that was out of bioware's control. i also would have liked to see some fen'harel loyalists. they canonically exist as per tevinter nights so it's wild we don't see any in game.

i don't really get why the tone indicators were what they were for rook. like the sarcastic option is there and then sometimes you purposefully pick a different one to be more serious and rook still says something sarcastic. i distinctly remember one that was the ?!! option or whatever it is and the paraphrase was like "that's really bad" about the blight or something expecting her to say something more urgent and sober and concerned and she said "well that's not ominous." i genuinely cringed lol. i didn't mind the dialogue for the most part and i loved erika's performance but i wish rook could be a bit more mature in spots lol.

as for the "hr speak" criticism i get where people are coming from but really what it feels like is just everyone treats each other in good faith. they don't immediately get angry and defensive over everything. (obviously a very foreign concept to your average youtuber, twitter user, or redditor lol so i see why they hate it.) it's a much nicer way to communicate with people and something more people should do! so i actually really liked that aspect.

also very disappointed we didn't destroy the veil! lol i know i'm in the minority on that but it would have been such a cool twist. totally makes sense we didn't with the way they wrote solas's story tho. i do also wish the inquisitor felt like they had more of a say over what happens to solas. it's really all down to rook's decision and that doesn't seem fair. i would have like at the very least for one of the last convos you get to be with the inquisitor making their case to rook, whatever that case may be.

overall i really loved it! some of the writing is a bit awkward on lore and the tone is wonky at times but it has so much heart and it felt so reactive to you and your choices. it starts slow but they really were not lying about act 3 it's a real doozy. i was honestly a little concerned i wouldn't like it in the first 10-15 hours or so but then it really started picking up. i had totally planned on doing a more vengeful and combative second run with probably a dwarven warden (that feels like the combo that would get the biggest axe to grind against solas), but after seeing the "good ending" idk if i can do it lol. i am really curious at how different the choices and outcomes can actually be but he's just a sad little guy i don't want to fight him or lock him up forever!

[moltensmusings]

Okay heavy spoilers as I talk about final thoughts in regards to veilguard now that I've completed my initial run.

Under the cut because it's long:

I think it is the best dragon age game and while that may be controversial let me explain.

It takes the best parts of each game for me and compiles. Similarly it felt like it took inspiration from Mass effect 2 and 3 in tone and outcome, however the endings we get for Veilguard leave me a lot more satisfied than they did with 3.

I think it's devastating that you can't come out of the game with all 7 companions. That Harding or Davrin has to die. But I also can acknowledge that this outcome is one that made the ending and messaging work. It made the threat of facing gods feel much more realistic and added importance to the decision to work through the game to get the best outcome.

I love all the companions and their interpersonal relationships. How so often in the game you get to resolve differences and mediate and we get to see how rooks words effect things. I loved each companion getting their own room that changed over the story and the devs choosing to have them move around the lighthouse for interactions which isn't something done in previous dragon age games but was something they did in Andromeda that I liked.

The decision to have companion quests be a constant appearing thing over the game is also great. It really helped me get a feel for the characters and enjoy them more.

Surprisingly I don't actually mind the change from 3 to 2 companions on a quest. Banter felt like it happened so much more and not having to focus on healing them made it so that I could still enjoy their conversations while running around.

The outfits and visuals were great and Rook felt like the most full of life main character we'd gotten because of how smooth the animations and lighting was for them.

The environments in inquisition were my favorite in any DA game until this one. I loved how lived in the cities felt. The maps were large and great for exploring which meant one of the things I liked about inquisition carried over without it feeling overwhelming for other players.

This was the first time I actually cried playing a bioware game. Varric's death, coupled with the loss of a companion, actually got to me. And they let you sit with it. You get to say goodbye to Varric. You get to see him off.

Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nan felt like terrifying and compelling villains. Incredibly memorable especially after Corypheus. All the while pairing it with the tense dynamic between Rook and Solas it fully left me wanting to rush through the story to see more of them. It's so clear care and thought was put into designing the main antagonists of the game and I'm appreciative of it.

I'm eager for the next game. Wanting to see how things will connect with the new big antagonist and who our protagonist will be. They have big shoes to follow once again but I have faith.

With that said, I want to add some notes on things I wish had been included. I say these with the understanding of why so much of it wasn't/asking everyone to be aware I still enjoyed and intend to replay the game.

I wish more inquisition choices got carried over because I would've loved to see inquisitor show up with everyone left in the innercircle to assist rook. They wouldn't be in the main battle but more just them getting a side appearance before the final fight starts. Maybe if we got a party scene they'd show up then.

While I fully think the choice they went with made the story more compelling, the "well drinking" not mattering at all is a bit disappointing. I get why they removed it but if inquisition ever got remade/remastered I hope they just remove the option if it didn't matter.

The romance scenes felt very few and far between. We had a few flirt options and a small handful of proper romance scenes so (at least for Taash) I just didn't get as invested in it as I do for other da games. I wish there were a few more.

I wish we had a celebration party scene for the characters. Lucanis mentions it to Bellara while fighting to get to Elgar'nan and I was so excited only for it to not happen.

All in all: I would recommend this game to people. I'm an andromeda and Inquisition enjoyed which I know is controversial in the fandom, but I feel like this one is actually a game I could see a lot of people liking.

[esseastri]

here i made it an ask:

HECK YES, ok, I'll do all the questions that Kogi didn't ask me.

What was the first Dragon Age game you played?

I started at the beginning because I think Kogi and Feather would have manifested in showers of sparkles to berate me into oblivion if I hadn't, so DAO.

2. Which Dragon Age game is your favorite so far?

DA2. Listen, I love all of those bisexual disasters (except Fenris) so damn much, and while the whole thing is a little repetitive, I always find it to be more comfortable than annoying. I'm a sucker for a good framing device with an unreliable narrator. And while I love the Warden and the Inquisitor because they are blank slates that I can create anyone off of, it's nice that Hawke has a solid, actual character for me to love.

3. Do you usually play as a warrior, mage, or rogue? Which class are you planning to try first this time around? Which subclass?

I've got one of each in my canon worldstate, but Rogue is historically my favorite, even though I find mage easiest to play. I will almost certainly make a shitty little double-daggers rogue as my first Rook because all we know of Rook so far leads me to believe that she'd be besties with my Hawke, which means Rogue Supremacy.

5. Do you typically use a preset character and name or spend hours in the character creator coming up with a custom one?

Bahahaha, I think the first time I played DAI, I was in the CC for a solid two point five hours. I will be dicking around for nine years with hair color alone.

6. Do you have your Rook(s) planned out to any degree? If so, would you share some details or ideas you have?

I will need to know the canon surnames for all the races before I can really dive into planning a Rook. I can't do anything without a name, and my name has got to jive with the surname, so that's what I'll need to start with. I can say that she will almost certainly have red hair, since all of my previous First Characters have been redheads. Gotta stick with tradition.

9. Which romance, if any, do you plan to pursue first?

I have been trying to KISS Scout LACE HARDING for TEN YEARS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (But Davrin is making a strong case for himself by simply existing. He'll probably be second.)

10. Which location are you most excited/hoping to explore in-game?

Weisshaupt. I want to know everything about how the official organization of the Wardens works, so I know how shitty the little Fereldan outpost has been all these years.

13. What’s one thing you’ve seen confirmed so far that you’re a fan of?

Mmmm everything about the character creator--the pronouns and body shapes and lighting and just... everything about it.

14. What’s one thing you’ve seen confirmed so far that you’re NOT a fan of?

mmmmmmrrrrrggggggg Ghilan'nain.

15. Do you have any unpopular opinions about DAV so far?

The character trailer was a blast and made me infinitely more excited for the game than anything else we've seen, I didn't think it was ""too MCU"" or ""quippy"" or whatever, I thought it was perfect Varric content and I loved it.

16. What’s one crack theory you subscribe to (yours or someone else’s)?

Sandal will show up at some point, possibly in the Black City, because he's actually massively important and possibly the Maker in disguise.

17. Are you interested in all the lore and speculation or do you focus more on the games and stories themselves?

Yes? To me, a lot of the lore is in the stories and the stories are about the lore, so they go together. I'm not the most speculative--I just want to know, I don't want to guess!--so I'm bouncing off the walls waiting for the actual game to drop so I can just go nuts. And I'm always really here for the characters, so that's what I'm most interested in.

18. Which aspect of fandom are you most looking forward to? (e.g. reading/writing fic, the bounty of gorgeous art, getting to know new people, etc.)

NEW ART SO MUCH NEW ART god bless every fanartist in this fandom, I cannoooottt waaaaiiiittt!! There is already so much amazing stuff in the tags, I can't wait until there's even more!!! I want to see everyone's Rooks, all of them, I cannot wait. Also I have not written fanfic in years, but if anything is going to get me to write some, it will be Dragon Age, so it will be great to get back into that, hopefully.

19. Are you planning to replay any of the previous games, watch Dragon Age: Absolution, or read any of the books/comics/short stories, or are there other games you want to play in the meantime?

Uh, Kogi and I watched the gameplay trailer and about ten minutes after we finished, I'd plugged DAI into the PS4 and booted everything up. So. Yes. I'm also finally reading Tevinter Nights after sitting on it for two years. AND I'm making my best friend play all three games from the beginning so she can join us in DA hell, we are deeply enjoying Origins rn. It's great. I am fully in the soup and there I shall remain until DAV appears.

[utilitycaster]

did companion quests this morning before driving for two hours for nothing (site visit that got fucked up) so I'm going to send some emails but first let us recap because it is a WILD series of events I have had.

Went to the Necropolis (I always start singing The Church's Metropolis in my head when I say "Necropolis") to lay flowers on Emmrich's parents' graves while he talks to me about lichdom. I'm aware of the consequences thereof though I know it's a ways off, and learned wild new things about Hezenkoss, but specifically it sets up such a fascinating conundrum. Great job; it's fun to play this as a Mourn Watcher who isn't a mage, incidentally, because the dialogue actually handles that scenario gracefully for once.

Went back to the Lighthouse, where Lucanis and Davrin were getting drunk and swapping stories. They're bonding! Finally!

Went to Dock Town to go to dinner with Neve, who is like "Hal's not there so sorry we're skipping stones" and this turns into her having an epiphany on the case with Aelia. It's a good moment and I'm going to talk about it later because...

Lucanis's companion quest (which, as I understand it, is NOT available if you chose to save Minrathous) is also in Dock Town; Teia and Viago have information that's too hot for Treviso so they meet you in the Cobbled Swan instead. They reveal that Caterina's ring was thrown out, which is NOT a thing Illario (only Dellamorte present) would do, which means it's a signal. At this point, Spite takes over and addresses Rook and you go into Lucanis's Mind Palace Prison and it's INCREDIBLE. Genuinely one of the most intense and wild social encounters. I have like 5 memes in mind for later. Literally the only criticism I have is that as you go through the four "locks" (insecurities slash traumas slash Lucanis being more than a little suicidal) is that the Veilguard Team Insecurity should have been represented by Davrin rather than Harding; ngl I missed a lot of Harding's mixed feelings about Spite because that's very early in the game and I tended to do Rogue + Mage partners for quests early on and wasn't as good at eavesdropping on Lighthouse conversations so I kind of missed Harding's trepidation, whereas Lucanis and Davrin's animosity is made much more central. But Caterina and ESPECIALLY Neve (who, because I'm romancing neither Lucanis nor Neve, gets some UNHINGED commentary from Spite) and Illario are all flawless encounters. And THEN after you convince Lucanis to work with Spite and most importantly that he deserves to live and stop punishing himself forever (fun fact! the comedy mask options, which usually aren't my bag? feel really natural and good here, which I think makes sense, as a person who has irl talked more than one person, including myself, off both some dark emotional paths and also bad trips, usually not at once) you both come to and Viago and Teia are like why are both of you dissociating. focus up. A+ quest only one note.

I then returned to the lighthouse where Neve has Emmrich do necromancy on a Shadow Dragon's skull, which is all very nice, and THEN immediately Lucanis is like. Rook! I baked a pie that is Neve's favorite! Have I fucked up everything ever? And, of course, I was like "please for the love of the maker, in whom Rook doesn't believe* tell her how you feel." Anyway this rules.

I think I'll have to finish the full playthrough to give final judgment, and I do think saving Minrathous would be interesting, but from what spoilers I know and from what I've said previously about Neve I think saving Treviso is genuinely the stronger story. Like, on a main story narrative level Treviso is more defenseless and the Shadow Dragons are screwed but Minrathous itself isn't nearly as fucked up by the dragon attack as Treviso would be, but also the Dock Town folks rally better than the Antivans do and that extends very much to Neve and Lucanis. Neve is furious and heartbroken, but she shows up to the story deeply cynical and there's something extremely rewarding about having her come back and say "I knew it, I can only rely on myself, people always let you down, everything sucks and the work will never be done" and to, through persistent work and patience, show her that sometimes people fuck up or let you down and they didn't mean to hurt you and sometimes they can make amends (to the point that we are on quite good terms now!) whereas if you abandon Treviso something breaks in Lucanis and never really recovers. Like, both of them are very pragmatic, but Lucanis does, deeply, want to see the best in people despite everything, and Neve is already, as I said, very cynical and self-reliant even before she's hardened. Also frankly she comes into the story somewhat more mentally well having not immediately been in a torture prison experiencing demon possession for the past ten months. Not that anyone here is mentally well, the reason I'm so obsessed with this story is because "a bunch of highly competent bisexuals with extreme perfectionism issues and various flavors of anxiety and depression move into magical co-op housing, fight god" is, you know, kind of my whole deal, but Lucanis is much more fragile than she is to start.

*I literally played Mourn Watch entirely for the Old Kingdom/Locked Tomb/General Goth Tendencies of it all, and also because I saw a chart that said it was one of the less popular factions and so I was like well then, I shall pick that one, but I cannot stress how much as a Jewish person it speaks to me. Like wow a focus more on ritual and works and importance of knowledge and duty as opposed to faith? Thinking cremation is a weird death custom? The belief that there is a particular importance and selflessness in the work you do to lay the dead to rest? Kind of meh about the main religion of much of the surrounding world but must admit the aesthetic fucks? Anyway. Highly recommend Mourn Watch.

Also btw I learned no one knows what Vorgoth is (which is very funny because we know what he DOES, he executes people who do high crimes against necromancy) but we don't know if he can fuck. He DOES collect landscape paintings? Also if you're Mourn Watch Myrna is kind of mean to you and it's pretty great.

[inquisitor-julia]

8, 9 and 20 for the asks!

8. What faction are you most excited to learn more about?

I'm excited to see what exactly the shadow dragons are, always excited for more warden lore, and the crows are always interesting but i think I'm most interested in the veil jumpers actually they just sound like fun!

9. Which romance, if any, do you plan to pursue first?

Deeply torn between Harding and Davrin but *probably* going to be Harding just bc of which world state I want to play first (my solavellan world state for maximum angst and suffering on my part of course) unless just vibe with someone else more for that Rook's personality! I do think Davrin will be my canon romance though and possibly my favorite, I'm a sucker for warden LIs

20. Post a picture or gif that conveys your current level of excitement for Dragon Age: The Veilguard!

But also me when i think about the gameplay reveal:

Thank you so much for asking!!! :D