#is probably because Tevinter has its own Divine. the “Black Divine”. like they literally do not care. it does not matter.

[lunian]

I will try to describe why its also crucial to help Minrathous but, YES, Veilguard just failed to show it.

There are two scenarios - Blighted Treviso where you visually see in all details the consequences: corpses, suffering ill people everywhere, red skies, blighted waters and plants in any places etc etc, very grim. But also Treviso doesn't really cut much of content and makes even new quests or alternative ones, only Lucanis' story suffers it.

Then Minrathous where they failed to show it equally visually bad - you see hanged up Dragons and their supporters (tho you cant even say if all those people actually helped Dragons by any means) which is also terrible picture but thats all. Non-saved Minrathous doesn’t have additional quests to free people from Venatori or you don’t see any other new scenes of people suffering from this regime, like they made you see Crows and others suffering from the Blight. They cut you out from Shadow Dragons and all their allies, Neve's quest is also limited more, Ashur is doomed (also strong political figure aka BLACK DIVINE), you don't help to get rid of corrupted templars etc

It makes sense that Minrathous handled it better to survive an attack and not to be blighted like Treviso, BUT POLITICALLY it suffers greatly, even worse than before. This game wiped out the biggest problems of this country, just "trust me bro, there are many slaves lol". Now it has literal fasc*sts in power, by all means. Its not just "corruption", Antiva is also a corrupted country after all (where Crows are the only military force which is ridiculous, also considering that canonically they also had slaves but again, the game made them like a fun mafia family)

When a war with gods ends, thats where new problem starts - Tevinter is gonna be one of the strongest countries left. Ferendel and Orlais were doomed, what you see in Treviso is probably what happened in most of places there. We all know what it is when such terrible power and nationalist cults take over a strong country, like in real life *coughs*. Plus their war with Qunari can even worsen the situation. Venatori are everywhere anyway (since Inquisition) so what's gonna happen if they get military and political power of Tevinter? I don't take DATV ending with archon Dorian seriously because he just can't fight it with so little power of slaughtered Shadow Dragons.

Many people save Treviso also because as if Minrathous doesn't deserve help, like bad magisters and all. But this country lives on slaves (who can be both kidnapped people from other lands or their own citizens who sold themselves out of desperation) so the question is... most of people like average mages, soporati and slaves are not innocents who deserve life, they don't deserve to be saved from Venatori who see them as a dirt and material for blood rituals? (Hello, Bellara, who cried about innocents of Treviso)

Sure, many things I say right now are my own thoughts based on experience from previous games and what I know of Tevinter in general, because Veilguard ACTUALLY doesnt make those problems equally bad as it had to - deadly plague or scary oppresive political regime of cultists.

It had to be up to a player to believe what they think is worse but narrative punishes Minrathous more (if you save it then watch horrors of Treviso but if you didnt it then lol whatever, dont worry about this place bc theres not much to do anymore).

That's very cool and dramatic but saying it to Shadow Dragon Rook was definetely more losing situation in this argument:

Mercar: Vishante kaffas, save your speech for others, I ran to save MY OWN CITY, YOU CRETIN

[invinciblerodent]

Okay, I'm less annoyed about those posts now, and I feel like the reason why I'm so much less annoyed might bear saying, if only to get it out of my own head and have it written down for my own dang self.

I've already rambled on about my point that perception, deception, and unreliable narrators have been a core to the identity of the series from the very beginning of Origins, when you chose a paradigm through which to look at the whole world as the very first choice you made (which I'd argue is only reinforced further by the past choices of a previous protagonist down South not having much of an effect, if any, on the present up North), but now, I also have to occasionally remind myself of the very simple fact that... we are in the pre-release phase of a major AAA game.

One that is the fourth in a very popular, award-winning series, the last game of which came out a decade before now.

This milieu right now, with us, the people who are waiting anxiously to see it come out, and pulling apart every shred of information, getting excited or dismayed at the drop of a hat? It's not going to be reflective of what is coming in a month at all.

The most of us here blogging about Dragon Age on Tumblr in 2024 might be something of a "core" fanbase, but we are also a bespoke minority among the players who are going to pick up The Veilguard.

And the game, it will have been made with the intention to be playable by the majority, too.

I feel like we here posting about our plans cannot get so into our excitement that we forget that most people who are going to play the game are the people who are going to be returning to the series after a decade, barely remembering any of their choices, and people who plain did not play the other three games, simply because they were like all of a whopping 8 years old when Inquisition was at its height of popularity.

Like all the Dragon Age games that came before it, Veilguard will have a new protagonist. It, despite being a sequel, will center a new storyline, it will feature different characters, and it will need to be comprehensible, even if you have not thought about Thedas since you played Inquisition once in 2014, or if you have no idea who the fuck the characters (your own included) even are. It will need to make sense to both the 33 year old who played Origins at release, and 18 year old who was 3 years old then, and is picking up the series for the first time.

And you guys are going to need to be okay with the game being aware that it's both art, and a product trying to be sold to as many people as possible, and try not to let yourself get caught up in the interconnectedness (or the lack thereof) between the different entries in the series.

It would be nice if all past choices had an effect. It'd be nice if the game was tailor-made to honor everyone's perfect, shiny little headcanons.

It's not going to happen. That's fine.

Take a deep breath.

And... this is a bad example because that didn't even try to be part of a greater story and is following a 100 year timeskip, but maybe it'd be good for people to remind themselves that Baldur's Gate 2 came out in 2013, and how happily so many people are/were playing that particular kissing simulator while knowing (and giving) an absolute maggot-infested fuckall about its prequels.

People are going to be the same way about Veilguard, and we all just have to be normal about that.

Hitting the "not interested in this post" button over people's endless navel-gaze-y catastrophizing about how "discouraged" and "critical" they're feeling over Veilguard should be an Olympic sport, and brother, I'd bring home the gold

(thank you for the plethora of undodgeable, untagged spoilers btw, bunch of terminally pessimistic dicks)