#its basically Harding or Davrin or Emmrich

[a-whiff-of-a-dream]

More of Dana bc I can and I love her <3

[niby-skaje]

Companions mugs/cups and what they drink, non alcoholic edition.

A little fun exercise!

Lucanis: an elegant, though slightly aged, antivan coffee cup with a slightly worn golden handle. He found it in Caterina's cupboard. Basically what we saw in the game already. He drinks black coffee ofc.

Taash: a large, sturdy stone cup, big but somewhat shapeless, because it has to serve its purpose and stone doesn't melt. A little chipped. Drinks plain water or hot water with some ginger and honey to soothe that throat.

Neve: a simple cup that used to be white, but now has the grey-yellowish colour of something that has been in constant use and perhaps not as well scrubbed as it should be. It is also permanently yellowish-brown on the inside and bottom. Drinks coffee, whatever blend she can get her hands on, and if Lucanis doesn't make it, it's a really bad coffee. Sometimes she will drink black tea for a change. No sugar, nothing.

Emmrich: An antique delicate porcelain liac cup with gold decoration and a handle in the shape of a bone. It's old but in perfect condition, always thoroughly cleaned and kept on a special shelf. Comes with a small plate and skeletal spoon. Likes to try new tea blends, both traditional and herbal, but his favourite is white tea with rose and mint.

Bellara: Elven green cup with some Dalish paintings on it. Chipped and discoloured in places from lack of care. Also has some scribbled notes on a piece of paper taped to it. Drinks elven herbal infusions, her favourite being cinnamon, nutmeg and juniper with a little wild honey for sweetness.

Davrin: Simple and practical wooden cup he made himself, with a small carving of a griffon's feather on the handle, just for practice. Rough in shape, as it was one of the first he ever made. The wood has become a little dark in places over time, but he is careful not to damage or stain it. Will drink anything, but his favourite is strong black tea with lots of sugar. Classic and delicious, and the sugar is indulgent for a Warden.

Harding: Simple metal cup that is sturdy and can be packed for convenience and will not break. Used to be shiny, but has dulled over time. Has a red name "Lace" written on the bottom. Likes anything warm, but since her gift she often drinks lavender, honey and lemon balm infusion or hot milk with honey to help her sleep.

I may or may not draw the cups/mugs, but I'm not sure of my skills at this point. If anyone wants to, feel free!

[bloodyrook]

I wonder why there's only one pairing for the companions you don't romance or none idk if theres one for bellara and davrin. I didn't get one and I had the best relationship with them. I only really like taash and harding. Strife and emmrich felt like it came out of no where but I guess its fine. And I just don't like neve and lucanis. Now that is externally infulenced by two things.

Neve being the absolute love of my life and people who romance lucanis being shitty little weirdo's to her (not all of them obviously). But also it just feels basic and shallow. Like they're the sultry broody characters so they put them together. Idk i would have prefered rana for neve then she wouldn't have to suffer fandom misogyny.

[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.)

[villainanders]

How do the veilguard companions feel about your blood mage took

ty for asking :3 so i would say they're all generally friends since that's kind of just how the game goes and I never felt compelled to contradict that in my mind but how they feel about the blood magic definitely varies

for background, my idea for val as a blood mage comes from origins - when zev (in haven I believe) comes across a blood ritual and comments that the crows would do rituals like this. val came into her magic very early (I think around 5 or 6) and was basically trained the crows her entire life to do highly dangerous, extremely brutal blood magic to eviscerate high priority targets (part of why she was eventually brought into house arainai's contract against zevran and daera despite being from different those. tho that didn't work out for her either)

that being said, i think it feels pretty normal to lucanis, despite his general distaste for blood magic. she's a crow doing a job, one she is highly specialized and trained in doing and he wouldn't second guess her methods anymore than she would second guess his (not to mention it's actively useful to have someone experienced in working with demons help him manage spite)

i think about val and emmrich a lot.. i didn't bring him in the party as much bc they had pretty similar builds (and val is mage romancing another mage so composition was just fucked sometimes) but he think he had the biggest effect on how she sees her magic in the game. since dav's necromancy is very much like blood magic, but I think working with emmrich made val start thinking of herself as a necromancer, and leaning into a magic and fighting style that was much more like the mourn watch than the crows (real thing that happened in game as I stopped using knife and orb as I leaned into the death caller build lmao). the idea of working with spirits and death as something positive and beneficial as opposed to just being another weapon for her contract holder was very comforting I think. since their rooms are next to each other I like to imagine val comes over to emmrich's a lot to poke and dead bodies and argue about if necromancy and blood magic are the same thing

neve is... complicated. she certainly doesn't LIKE that val is a blood mage, but i'd imagine that as a tevinter mage, neve probably has a slightly different definition of blood magic than a lot of other characters (based on what dorian says in inq). so the way val conducts herself in battle bothers her a lot less than val being highly defensive of working with demons, blood rituals, etc. buuut val has also distanced herself from those things since not working directly for the crows anymore and no longer having a direct contractual obligation to put herself in these very dangerous and bloody situations (also she knows neve hates it so she doesn't bring it up).

i also think neve also has some leeway for val bc she understands that like... val was a slave. she was literally bought by the crows as a child and raised to do exactly this as her purpose in life. it's a story neve has seen again and again in tevinter, even if for most of val's story she'll adamantly argue that her situation is different. so, it's messy but I think at least for now neve isn't ready to die on that hill

this post is so long now so I'll speedrun through the others. i don't think davrin is crazy about him but he and val get along so well for their shared pragmatism + the gray wardens have such an "ends justify the means" approach to blood magic I think that at least in the course fo the game he's like "fair enough!" I think taash hates it but also actively avoids thinking about it when it comes up bc it weirds them out. harding and bellara are similar though I actually feel like I can see the two of them earnestly trying to convince val to stop. it does not work but its nice that they tried anyway

[scribeofmorpheus]

lords I understand your frustrations, and I too feel like a decade spent on this could have easily felt like a waste. and the reason i don't feel that way is simply because they added the Inquisitor (they barely have enough screentime to justify all those hours in the cc i toiled away--but revasan lavellan needed to look good, okay!--and they barely interact with dorian, but at least my lavellan didn't call solas "friend" like dorian's amatus did--what a strange choice there!) BUT if veilguard was released without the inquisitor, i'd easily have been more angry than I am now. like i say, as a dragon age player, veilguard falls far too short. but you can see they tried. lord they tried. but also... this game was never going to live up to its predecessors, there was too much corporate meddling and directorial reshuffling. "fun" is one thing. so many games are fun. but i come to dragon age for the "complexity"--for the difficult moral choices and fallout. for the "choices mattering in the whole shaping of a world" and that's why i can't get on board with enjoying veilguard for what it is without relying on my love of the inquisitor and solas' story. (which also means the very reason i keep giving this game the benefit of the doubt is because of a romance--and not because i found much intriguing outside of it; and that's indicative of a bad sequel. i want to love veilguard as a whole, but i can't. the parts i do enjoy are handled poorly too; davrin and harding's arcs both culminating in one of them dying? a literal vestige of the past and the first warden we've seen be worth his salt since alistair in da:o? poor choice there. emmrich is okay, but if feel he's more a "romance" companion and not a companion with much gravitas as an ally alone. bellara--sigh, where do i start (anaris, my great terror, you too were wronged in this debut of yours). neve is one of the few i find compelling and complex enough to stand toe-to-toe with our of da companions. lucanis is missing so much in his narrative, and him being chosen for talon is a wild resolution. and the factions--sigh, i can go on, but i won't. basically: if i wasn't a solasmancer, I'm pretty sure i'd have a much poorer outlook over veilguard--and that's why i understand so many other people who aren't solasmancers being so hurt and let down and exasperated--shit sucks tbh).

Why Dragon Age Veilguard isn't a "Cathedral"

Concept art by Matt Rhodes

"To disinherit the storylines of past games goes directly against the notion of building cathedrals."

What is inherent with Veilguard that keeps bothering me is the fact that the world's choices truly didn't matter--and it doesn't simply bother me from a player perspective, it's not simply a grievance borne of frustration to what I (as a longtime fan) have lost. It's about the very culture of the arts under capitalism's new media habituation cycle [x][x].

Yes, I spent hours of my life playing and replaying each instalment of Dragon Age. Yes, I painstakingly curated a 'canon' world state by replaying what came before in preparation for Veilguard. Yes, I am even more unsatisfied with the end product--time hasn't helped, it's just widened the divide. But, and I can't stress this enough, these very personal gripes aren't what hit home the most. It's the inherent disregard of legacy. A legacy that the previous writers and game developers were building towards.

In the DAV artbook, "cathedral" is the word used to describe the process of making a game. Matt Rhodes' exact words are: "One artist can make a painting, but it takes a team to build a cathedral." Cathedrals took centuries to build. The architect who drafted the first blueprints would likely never see his work realised, he had to rely on those who came after him, like-minded and passionate, to see it through--for the culture, for the future, for legacy. Painters took on several apprentices for this reason too--giant frescoes were not completed by one man's hand, even if it is one man's name that immortalises them. Similarly, if you weave a narrative around choice, what good does it do to take it away at the final act if not to fall to caricature?

To disinherit the storylines of past games goes directly against the notion of building cathedrals.

Late-stage capitalism and profit-margin-obsessed game producers forcing developers to churn out meager content, to make a known brand into something it's not, to chase a fad or a popular trend... o, how reductive and cliche you've been forced to become Bioware. We have lost the cultural thought patterns relative to Cathedrals. We know only of barn-raised churches--done in a day but unlikely to last the turn of the seasons.

And don't even get me started on the music of Veilguard either. From Origins to World of Warcraft to Everquest to Baldur's Gate to Dungeon Siege, you can hear the intricate interconnected weave of sounds inspired by the Dungeons and Dragons-esque fantasy genre. You hear it in the repeated use of certain instruments, in the harmonic weeping notes of a bard-like singer or the foreboding echoes of drums as if of war. In tavern songs. But then, rather than hire someone who loves these worlds and this genre, who is a hungry artist looking to make a name, a legacy if you will, for themselves with a spectacular score, you hire any already sated composer, one well-into the encroaching years of career fatigue, whose notes repeat in countless projects, who feels less concise and more uninterested with each new project. One who has long since cemented his legacy. Someone in it for a paycheck and nothing else! And, to top it off, you let him compose something so minimalist? I am offended actually.

Cathedrals! We should have witnessed the final tile being placed on the Dragon Age cathedral. Instead, some architects walked up, tore down the interior and installed IKEA furniture and called it authentic before having to call the previous architects to come and fix the "load-bearing issues", forcing them to rush and add a coat of varnish and a few 'aged' details for authenticity.

[lordbhreanna]

I've finished Veilguard! Some thoughts in the form of a bucket list:

SPOILERS AHEAD

loved the Grey Warden Rook so so much, there was a lot of reactivity and made her relationships with characters like Davrin, Evka and Antoine much closer

Assan is the most adorable thing I've ever seen in a videogame

the cast of companions is very endearing and all of them have interesting stories

but their loyalty missions felt a bit rushed for some and the final act didn't pay off a lot (the whole thing with Isseya and the giffons... you appeal to her and she's moved when you give her the feather, and then the scene fades to black, you don't even know what happens to her)

very sad about Varric's death, but perhaps the twist did the game a disservice in the end - i'd just rather Rook knew from the beginning and that Solas's betrayal came from leading the team into a trap to free himself or something like that

the prison of regret was GOOD though

MORRIGAN MY BABY YOU'RE BEAUTIFUL, loved every scene she showed up - though I think she should've been more present

Harding I am so sorry :___ I liked her a lot, but it's gonna be really difficult to sacrifice Davrin and Assan in any future playthrough

the game looks gorgerous and there are some amazing setpieces

act 3 is indeed a banger

Siege of Weisshaupt has become one of my favorite DA missions ever - especially as a Warden

Blood of Arlathan had its moments, but I'd argue those and perhaps Emmrich's missions are the most memorable? this game needed more cinematograpy, because when it does it well, it IS very good! but then most other missions are very straightforward and with basic camera angles

Ghil is fantastic, monster queen delivered and I even felt pity for her at the end - though she is batshit crazy

Elgar'nan was a bit underutilized though

all the Solas's regrets visions and cutscenes with the team discussing everything were great and some of my favorite moments in the game

I loved all the Mythal stuff - she's such an interesting and multi-faceted character: she did terrible things for her own gain (getting a body), has a god complex as well but is also benevolent and caring in the worst possible way. Though Flemythal remains the BEST

was satisfied with Solas's ending and he willingly bound himself to the Veil to keep it safe, so I remain a Solas Apologist™ 

BIG WOLF WAS GOOD BOY

what I am not anymore is solavellan, I am afraid - I may write about my conflicted feelings on this, but for me they did them so dirty in this game. I am happy for whoever enjoyed the solavellan ending, but that is not what I was looking into this love story and I needed more conversations and just more from Solas's side, he barely acknowledges Lavellan's presence

Lucanis's romance had a noticeable lack of content, but the highs were very high and I ended up loving it and him as a character a lot

that being said, this is not the MOST ROMANTIC DA EVER as the marketing made it believe, it is on par with previous BioWare titles... or even less

same with companions content - too much focus on party banter (which is very good) but you barely interact with them outside mission cutscenes or Lighthouse convos, which are not that many, and some of those are just companions interacting with each other and Rook jumping in. I liked those, but there needed to be more of one on one convos between Rook and them

which brings to my biggest nitpick: why was the game renamed The Veilguard??? THE VEILGUARD THING ONLY COMES UP IN THE ENDING (and the loyalty status), the team never talks about being "The Veilguard", it's just not a thing. Stop trying to make the Veilguard happen!!

love how the codex works here, and how entries were displayed/organized

my main gripe is that Veilguard feels very rushed in a lot of ways, they cut many corners and some of the relationships (friend or romance) and story beats feel disjointed because of it

world-shattering things are happening around thedas, and but there's not a lot of nuance of reflection on it - like the faith questioning from elves or Andrastians. The Chantry is barely present or mentioned, and it feels way too disconnected from the Thedas we know

i also agree that the more controversial aspects of Thedas' culture have been somewhat dimmed down: I don't feel like I saw the Tevinter Dorian speaks about, and the Crows are way too nice (I'm OK with Teia and Viago being the nicer kind, but they're still a group of assasins for hire and that's mostly addressed in a tongue-in-cheek way)

the Wardens get a pass because First Warden was already the problem and they showed us the darker side of Wardens in DAI, so this game feels like a restoration of the order and I loved that - that's why playing Veilguard as a Warden feels very good and fitting

also this whole thing started with a Warden - it's poetic if it ends with another Warden

they also needed to address certain choices from Inquisition, like the Well of Sorrows - they didn't compromise so much as just ignored it. And no, Harding name-dropping all this stuff doesn't count

like I can get past the Divine mentions and such, but this kind of choices? It could've been addressed even in codex entries

I guess the lesson BioWare can learn here is that these games need to be more self-contained to avoid shooting themselves down, but have at least one or two major choices that are indeed reflected in future games

the city environments were good but lackluster by the end, because you barely do anything there besides going to the same places for different missions

There's a lot more probably, but I'll stop here. What I can say is that I enjoyed the whole experience and had a lot of fun playing it, felt moved by the story and characters, but also felt frustrated and annoyed almost as equally in other or related stuff. That being said, I don't have a problem with the game being flawed, since DA2 is as well and I enjoy that game. I also understand the development of Veilguard was hellish to say the least, so the game being decent is almost a miracle.

[cryptcombat]

Some spoiler yapping under cut now that i beat the game! :3

Overall a very enjoyable experience, i personally had a blast and my mind is filled with inspo for new art. Im currently collecting design inspo for circe :3

i think alot of ppl can agree with me that the warden/ davrin's storyline was PEAK. i really liked the way my rook chose to talk to the first warden and he in turn gives u vital information to basically beat isseya with kindness. Its just such a nice and poetic way to end this cycle of cruelty. I also love antoine and evka alot, probably my fave faction leaders, their relationship feels the most natural :) davrin's relationship with assan and his personal development are huge highlights too, im so glad he gets to shine in this game!!! Im def gonna romance him in my next playthrough :3

im p sure all of china knows by now that im head over heels in love with emmrich. I still can't stop thinking about the scene where he gives rook that flower. My brain is already developing lore for circe and emmrich going crazy stupid. I do wish there were more scenes of them together. I decided to turn him into a lich (manfred will come back as a surprise through very illegal means in my canon hehe). Im glad he did bc he gets to look cunty in his new fit hehe.

Ok some negatives... i agree w alot of ppl that most of the convos u have with ur companions feel like therapy sessions with a million variations of your feelings are valid.

The crows should've been meaner to rook.... like who the fuck are they and why do they get to run around in their secret base djjdfjkfif

Overall i find the finale very thrilling and well-executed BUT I find the part of choosing between davrin and harding so lame. Like. Imo their survival should be dependent on how much effort u put into their relationships since the game/varric keeps telling you that!!!

I chose neve for that ward thing, i was sooo anxious about her survival, this part worked really well bc of that. i was not ready for that!!!

[invinciblerodent]

I couldn't fit this into a reply, but I want to say this, based on @antiqua-lugar's excellent point:

Exactly, that's the whole other branch of this entire thing.

I could write a whole other (unnecessarily wordy) post (and apparently I'm gonna lol), but in as short a reply as I can make it, I think one of the main messages of the whole game is, at its most bare bones basis, closure.

Inquisition, I always interpreted it as repeated explorations of the question of identity. Choosing who you are, what you stand for, and how people see you, remember you. Bull and the potential to become Tal-Vashoth, Dorian's questions of identity and principle, Sera struggling as she discovers herself trapped between assigned identities, Blackwall's entire questline, Cole's very existence, Solas raising all these questions of spirits and demons, the Inquisitor as a whole- I'm fairly certain that every character, as one of the cores of their arc, struggled with some question related to this theme of identity, and how different aspects of who they are and what they stand for strained against each other.... And it's probably the most pronounced in the Inquisitor's own implied struggle with whether they're holy or not, whether they're chosen or not, whether they are who the world believes them to be, the name they know them by.

In that same sort of vein, the smallest common unit to which I can boil Veilduard down right now, in this moment of my thinking, is that seeking of closure. Taash and Shathann, Davrin and Isseya, Bellara and Cyrian, Neve and Aelia (and in that sense Tevinter and its history, present, and future), Emmrich and essentially death itself, Lucanis, Illario, Caterina, and generational trauma, even Solas, Mythal, and the Inquisitor… over and over, this theme of closure repeats itself in different contexts, from slightly different angles.

It's no different in the case of the Titans and dwarves, it's just slightly more abstracted, and if the player themselves is also a dwarf, requires a touch more personal input from the player. It takes, broadly, you kind of dealing with it yourself in the character's shoes, alongside Harding, who is acting as a conduit and personification to all dwarven peoples. And yeah, by virtue of the medium itself being what it is, there are of course limited options in responding, and you have to kind of fill in certain parts that are left intentionally blank about your character's feelings, but that doesn't mean that there isn't room being made for them.

And also, yeah, closure doesn't always necessarily feel immediately satisfying. It's not always presented to you with a neat explanation, a stabbing-your-abuser-repeatedly-while-howling-in-anguish-covered-in-their-blood catharsis, and a pretty red bow on top. Sometimes it's not a scream but a weary sigh, and comes too late, as little more than an opportunity to dust yourself off, close that chapter, and find a way to move on into the present.

Solas was, for a thousand years, incapable of that.

Rook isn't.

That's basically what it is, in my current view at least. I might change my mind or be able to give a more nuanced opinion as time goes on and I climb more into it, but... I mean, I think it tracks pretty well, as of right now lol.

I want to like DAV but as someone who went for a dwarf rook I am still reeling at how everyone kind of expects Solas to be let off the hook even after finding out about the titains. His severed limb comment feels so much WORSE now knowing that he helped commit actual genocide.

..... I'm not sure what you want me to say about that, that's kind of the purpose of that reveal? I'm sure you don't actually need me to tell you that Solas has committed straight-up unforgivable atrocities and spent most of his screentime manipulating everyone, and dodging responsibility in every way he could possibly justify, the game clearly wants you (both as Rook and as the player) to feel at least conflicted. It's kind of as clear as it could possibly get that you're not supposed to be wholly and unequivocally on his side.

"Everyone expects Solas to be let off the hook", who exactly do you mean? The players, many of whom have an emotional attachment to him as a character and have wanted him redeemed for a decade (a not insignificant number of which was ready to set the world on fire to keep him warm), and think the exact opposite, that he should have gotten off easier? Yeah, that's fair, but also fuck 'em, honestly who cares what they think.

The story, which was written purposefully to be ambiguous enough to account for a wide variety of past worldstates and personal feelings and still lets you double-cross him AND punch his lights out (twice, considering that time in Inquisition) if you choose to, invariably ending in him never getting to hurt anyone again?

Harding, who, as the only other one personally affected, is very clearly hurt deep by the revelation and expresses her frustration as clearly as her overall kindness and emotional repression allows, with her (and collectively the dwarven people's) anger and pain over it being the main driving force of her personal questline?

Varric, who is the only one in the crew to have actually known Solas, heard the giant's arm comment, and none of whose words spoken throughout the story are actually his own?

The Inquisitor, whose words needed to be written as vague enough for both someone who wouldn't piss on him if he was on fire AND someone who's willing to give up their entire life for him?

Your Rook resents him. Alright, that's great, they should. Awesome starting point. I look forward to playing a dwarf myself. I wanna be walking that tightrope between my character loathing Solas with ever fiber of her being and needing his help and guidance to avoid the same shit happening again, striving for that satisfaction of taking at least some measure of hollow-ringing revenge for what he did to her people, and yet being struck forever by the knowledge of what was taken, and that yearning for isatunoll that goes beyond bone-deep and can never be reached, because that sounds cool as shit, and I wish I had experienced it on my first run.

"I want to like DAV", then do....? I mean, it's not like it's hard??????

[augory]

and here’s the mid/late act 2 update. As a warning, much discussion of actual plot stuff. Also long lol.

Lucanis’ fade quest was so bad. I’m such a sucker for “entering the mind of a person” type of fantasy plots because they typically are filled with nuclear-level cathartic revelations. But this was so clumsy and had no emotion. Just a nothing burger of an otherwise good idea.

It bears repeating but the combat is fun and clearly so well balanced. The number of times I’ve been like “shit this is harder than I thought. I gotta focus.” or, in the last big moments of a boss fight, genuinely thought I wasn’t going to make it, only to rewardingly eek through. Clearly by design and well done.

The number of 3 minute davrin “quests” are killing me. I wouldn’t mind if everyone had an equal number of low-key quests, but it seems like davrin is always hitting me up to feed apples to his horse for 5 minutes on our veilguard lunch break

The romances…. Where to begin. This game is chaste beyond belief. I’m not asking, or even want (given BioWare’s history of kinda jank romance animation) anything elaborate. But this feels bizarrely sanitized compared to contemporary titles or even its franchise predecessors.

I romanced Emmrich as a mourn watcher and have found it overall narratively fun. I can’t get enough the haunted mansion “spooky fun” shit, I admit. I will say, it’s not very… dragon age… in tone. But I am having fun so who cares.

The emmrich plotline is good. I need to sleep on it, but overall I think it’s the best in the game because the end decision is hard and has impact. I still don’t know if I made the right choice, and it’s killing me. I think that’s the hallmark of a good, tough BioWare decision.

Lich emmrich is sooooo dos2 Fane. Absolutely no way BioWare didn’t have fane’s picture pinned to their vision board. Anyway, as a fane fan, I’m not complaining.

I will say, I don’t think making emmrich a lich is the best for the romance arc. I’m doing it, but I think it’s not going to be super narratively fulfilling. I guess we’ll see but.. yeah.

The reason the emmrich arc is good because it’s probably the best “grey morality” decision BioWare has done in a bit. Putting manfred aside, the lich path is basically a cop out for emmrich and his fear of death, even if he does technically “die” in the ritual. But then again… he does die, and is much better for it. I think the game does a good job making this a toughie.

Also lmao emmrich lich does look sick as hell.

I love neve, but her plotline villain is so unmemorable. they all deserve a Johanna-level villain counterpart. Illario is also kind of boring I’m sorry

Bellara… more than ever I feel you are Merrill reboot. I like you so much, but I cannot disentangle my bitterness that Merrill is not in the game as a cameo. (It’s because Merrill would unfuck so many plot points…. )

I like all the titan and Harding plotlines. Good and interesting, no notes

I have a lot of opinions on taash, which are basically impossible to articulate. Their identity, and relationship with their mother hits very close to home. I don’t like hearing people say their dialogue/arc is hamfisted, because I’ve lived those conversations word for word. I think it’s really great that my exact lived experienced now exists, immortalized in a fantasy video game. But it’s also really weird to watch and not… fun. For me personally.

I’m not really sure if maybe this is a first playthrough thing, but it seems like companion bond is really uneven. Like I barely take Harding anywhere because her bond is always so high comparatively, but it feels like I’m always dragging taash everywhere for approval

here’s a big long read more of all my veilguard thoughts that I’m just going to update periodically. spoilers ahead 🫡

20 hours:

It’s a good game! I’m having tons of fun with the combat especially and love I can respec for free. I’m seeing so much negativity on here and I’m not sure I get it. Obviously not everything is perfect, but overall a perfectly good time

It’s extremely funny they made solas have way more chemistry with rook than lavellan. sometimes things that are a little antagonistic are hotter!

Locking me out of side quests on the Treviso/minrathous decision without warning pissed me off soooo bad. I was racing to get all the companions and was going to go back and do companion quests and now I missed out. Biggest complaint so far

Some of the abilities are just loud and bright and don’t have the dramatic weight of some spells in prior games. So far nothing feels as good as like conjuring a blizzard or fist of the maker, etc

Taash I was unfamiliar with your game…. Unexpectedly one of my fave companions

I feel like I spend 80% of my time obsessively breaking crates and I wish I wasnt… but it’s objectively not a waste of time technically so I can’t stop. I wish they hadn’t implemented this loot mechanic tbh

I don’t think the dialogue is bad but I get why people aren’t enjoying it. It’s very very polished and can sometimes feel a little inorganic. This is why I really like taash I think

Laughed out loud when I realized the gift giving cutscenes were literally just the companion saying “thanks” and then done

I can’t believe I can’t dye armor in this game. Crazy oversight

I like bellara but like. We have Merrill at home… (this was not my first impression but as time went on there are so many eerie narrative similarities she feels like a soft reboot of my girl)

Mae looked so good, and Dorian was fine. Isabela….. no comment

The heavy incorporation of your background into so many interactions is powerful! Really good stuff there

25 hours

The characterization on assan and davrin is so funny. Like, they really gave the grey warden a narrative you’d find in a horse girl movie lmao

I feel like these maps are more confusing and overwhelming than any open world map could ever hope to be

That said, I am enjoying doing the side quests and whatnot more than expected. Usually just the right size and length to be fun without overstaying their welcome

I also think the exploration puzzles are generally well done. Not hard enough to be frustrating (usually) but enough to make you feel a small sense of accomplishment for completing them. They are fairly repetitive though

I really like that you can increase your bond with companions just by taking them on missions. That feels very natural to me

Am I supposed to care about any of these recurring faction NPCs lol

I got my specialization and those spells seem to have more of the “heft” I was looking for in terms of feeling cool/powerful to cast

[symphorine]

some more, still with spoilers

- i rly like how many actual Scenes between companions ive seen!! not just banter, but them hanging out or helping each other (or fighting lol i just had to mediate between emmrich and taash). def doing a lot to make them feel more real and more like a team and its just nice tbh

- the dragons look good but i think they recycled a lot from dai there (quite a few of the attacks were the same, the head shapes, etc). overall easier than dai in terms of moveset id say. but I also have a stupid powerful build rn that gives me 10k crits about 10/15% of the time. which is actually a fair amount. they do need that balance patch

- still happy with bg integration in interactions! there's been less warden focused stuff but it still comes up. its nice

- ive started coming back to the lighthouse more in between missions and its paying off. characters interacting yay

- did a few personal quests including lucanis'. decided to romance him when i discovered he needed therapy so bad that spite had to stage an emergency intervention. i am endeared and entertained.

- going dragon hunting with taash is actually rly cool and fun... they know a lot abt the dragons and they respect them, dont see them as trophies or anything.

- i like reading the codex entries. a lot of them have been notes or correspondence between characters and i like the format.

- transmog system is a lifesaver. i wonder if unlocked appearances stay unlocked between playthroughs...? that would be nice

- i think the cities feel alive and i find that impressive. its hard to make it feel like that ive found in games, esp for massive cities, but both treviso and minrathous locations are only one district, which helps, but theyre also well populated, with ambient dialogue painting different people going on about their lives! i like it!

- crashed a couple more times but going well other than that. load times are surprisingly short. but to be fair i have a very decent setup and installed the game on an ssd, so that helps. still, nice experience

- ive noted before i regret a little having companion relationships be mostly not too conflicty. 1) not entirely true, as ive had more banter (emmrich with taash, a little bit davrin; davrin and lucanis), but also 2) i think that the multi companion scenes i mentioned above help with selling me the notion that this is a team thats close knit. and i appreciate that. like, that closeness is being backed up by dialogue and scenes and not just told. ill admit im very basic in my approach to rpgs so i dont mind that much the lack of diversity in mmmmm amiability? like the way characters will find understanding with rach other, be polite, be nice, rather than more antagonistic or abrasive. but i understand why it would disappoint others.

can't sleep so gonna jot down some thoughts abt davg under a readmore. itll have spoilers!