#just speculating on some lore things

[yallemagne]

Brain is paralyzed with ideas.

So yeah. I got back into Homestuck. And an issue that was a minor fixation when I was first into it has come back full force (especially now that I'm better at art/writing/worldbuilding).

Beforus. What the fuck is going on there.

Why does this question rattle along in my brain? Because like. For example, we have three Vantases: Karkat, Kankri, and the Signless (Alternian Kankri). But there's a fourth, unexplored character there. Beforan Karkat. I have always found that strange. Where is my son.

Sooooo, I was unable to get to the part of the comic pertaining to Pre-Scratch my first run around, so I might have to... actually read the comic in full. Oh god. But what I've seen of the Beforus trolls? Most of them aren't really to be taken seriously because their personalities are based on tumbles discourse. They're parodies, which is a shame. I think the idea of a world that coddles the lower rungs into submission instead of culling its population is intriguing.

My MAIN fixation? What are the Alternian Trolls fuckin DOING in Beforus??? We know that Feferi is the ruler, and that is why Beforus is structured the way it is, but what is going on with the others?

It's especially hard to decide with the characters who idolize their ancestors and thus their personalities/fashion reflect them (Terezi, Vriska, Eridan, etc.). They are incredibly influenced by the culture on Alternia to behave the way they do, and with Beforus having a different culture, would they be completely different?? More akin to their Beforan descendants???

None of this makes sense.

Like, we have Dualscar (Alternian Cronus), who I am enamoured with, but what's Beforan Eridan doing???

I'm revealing my shame here, I just wanna know how hot my favourite gets. But to puzzle out his new personality and design, I would have to take into account the rest of the trolls. That is a lot of work. wahhhh whahwahhhhh and I can't draw or write or worldbuild!! Ignore my earlier claim that I've gotten better at it, that was LIESSS.

...hey what's going on with the limebloods on Beforus, were they still completely wiped out??

[solradguy]

If Daisuke Ishiwatari ever drops substantial Gear biology lore you all better buckle the hell up because it's all I'm going to talk about. I've been unwell about Gear biology since translating Begin. Chomping at the bit over here. GIVE ME MORE

[arolesbianism]

GUYS.

New dupe real! Also new pod????? Olivia is that you girlie speak to me

[narwhalandchill]

every day i wake up have another fucking Realization about ajax and the shit he says and i just. Holds head in hands

WHAT DO YOU MEAN HE SAID THIS IN 1.1 WHAT DOES HE KNOWWWW

like childe Literally said skirk never elaborated on the narwhal thing to his face At All nvm explicitly bring up its origins as a cosmos traveling entity so its like. Either he lied (which would be funny as fuck im ngl) or Literally just . got the completely coincidental urge to call out the phrase "celestial voyager" at . his elemental attack recreation of the creature that just Happens to indeed be A celestial voyager . just Somehow. like how wildly convenient of you to identify that element specifically there with 100% accuracy ajax care to fucking Elaborate on the source of that inspiration there . Thanks xx

(i want this man dead irl)

[bleue-flora]

https://www.tumblr.com/bleue-flora/757923207436255232/long-time-no-speak-i-promised-to-send-you-a?source=share

I didnt even notice the body language in these streams theres something rlly funny about cdream leaping up and down

No kidding, I forgot until I was rewatching the finales the other day, just how much Dream is moving. Like Punz is just standing there meanwhile Dream is bouncing around lol XD.

Honestly, I interpret it as the Minecraft representation of ADHD stimming, fidgeting and needing to move since it’s not like that can be shown in Minecraft… And it’s something I like to highlight in my fanfics that Punz knows something is really wrong when Dream isn’t moving for once.

“Why?” Dream wonders, his tone dropping all previous emotion and going completely level as he stands there rigid and unmoving. He looks oddly scared. Not just shocked but scared like a snake is crawling up his spine and he’s waiting tensely for it to squeeze him to death. It’s not a look Punz thought he’d see on Dream. Ever. And he hates it. [Ch 5, Musical Chairs]

{opps, I might have forgotten I had this ask sitting in my drafts before seeing dr3’s post [here] about Dream mannerisms ;D}

[orcelito]

Ok. Real question. How many people Actually have believed in Santa? Bc I never did, mostly bc my dad never bothered with the entire pretense, so the whole concept is just. Really fucking strange to me

Putting an actual poll bc I feel like I'm losing my mind a bit thinking about how apparently widespread it is. Like. It's just so... weird? Why is this the thing people have popularized? It makes no sense.

[moongothic]

Hey anon, I'm so sorry but your ask is obscenely long so I'm cutting it down to bare essentials

Most of the Original Ask was just a copypaste of this forum post, quickly highlighting this comment too

LOOK WHAT IT SAYS ABOUT MORIA, YO! "Defeated by Gellard and returns in the Final Scenario with an even more grotesque appearance than when you first met him."

But yes, I am aware, I have read that exact same thread before (when I first learned about the Romancing SaGa inspo on r/OnePiece and wanted to learn more), and I did briefly discuss the Seven Heroes when speculating about Cross Guild and wherever the fuck that plotline is going

And I'm now going to add onto that original post, because boy howdy do I have some additional thoughts to get out of my brain

Okay so yes, Doflamingo would be the OG Iteration of Bokuohn, the puppeteer who manipulates people. But in the context of Cross Guild... That's Buggy. "Bokuohn is in control of the majority of the Seven Heroes' forces. Situated in the Steppes region, he owns a large landship, complete with an innumerable amount of slaves." That's literally just Buggy. Like he's not a master of psychological manipulation nor can he forcefully manipulate anybody like literal puppets either (the way Mingo could), but. Like scratch out he RoSa2 terms, replace them with the relevant OP terms and it's a perfect description of Buggy.

Bringing that up because I'm still interested in Cross Guild becoming Shichibukai 2.0 But Without The Government This Time, but if we wanted to have exactly seven former Shichibukai to make up Cross Guild and make sure we had like ones who could actually fill out the roles of the Seven Heroes from RoSa2... Yeah there's going to have to be some replacements Not just because otherwise Doflamingo would need to be broken out of Impel Down somehow (which I doubt will happen, also I don't think Crocodile would want him working for him anyways), but also. Jinbei's with the Strawhats. And I don't think he's ditching Luffy any time soon for Crocodile of all people, not when he finally fucking joined the Strawhats for realsies.

So Doflamingo could be replaced with Buggy, cool, sure. What about Jinbei then? Who will take up the role of RoSa2's Subier?

So a while back I wrote this speculation post about if the Burn Scar Man (who has the final Road Poneglyph) could be a Fishman.(PERHAPS specifically Davy Jones?) Bringing that up because during Kuma's flashback we did learn that Kuma got the Shichibukai Slot after Ace defeated one of the seven at the time. And we specifically got to see Ace talk to Jinbei about it, Ace being surprised Jinbei of all people was glad the Shichibukai slot was being filled again. Now obviously, our Firefist Ace defeating a Shichibukai makes for one great candidate on who the Burn Scar Man could be, as Ace could very easily leave someone with some severe burn scars. This is platantly obvious lmao. But it's the conversation with Jinbei that actually interests me, because like. Sure, Jinbei being a fellow Shichibukai, it might be odd for Ace to hear Jinbei be glad that one of his fellow Warlords is being replaced. But that comment could make twice as much sense if that Warlord had ALSO been a fellow Fishman and/or a Merman (and perhaps someone Jinbei might've known better?). Now indeed. We are going to meet the Burn Scar Man eventually, 100%, it's mandatory for the plot to move forwards. Which means we're going to find out who that guy is, and if the Road Poneglyph gets stolen from him, he might have to find something else to do with his life since there won't be any point in guarding it anymore. And hey. If Mr Burns does turn out to be a fellow former Shichibukai who also happens to be a Fishman/Merman and a master of Fishman Karate... Oh hey, what's this? "Subier - A half octopus merman who controls the flow of the ocean to use as a weapon." Like. IDK I think we could have another Cross Guild member on our hands here.

(Honestly, currently the only problem we have is Dantarg, whose role currently being held by Kuma. Like the only other known Shichibukai we have who could be "available" is Law but he hasn't really done any "bodymods to become stronger" and thus doesn't fit the description. Hell, that description fits Kid more than anything but he was never a Shichibukai either. Guess we gotta keep on hoping Kuma somehow survives and just doesn't return to the Revolutionary Army for some reason)

Hilariously the most interesting thing you pointed out was that comment in the forum thread about Moria, 'cause I hadn't even realized this before but

So we know Blackbeard had captured Moria and held him hostage for... weeks, months? Until he was freed by Coby as per Perona's plea during the raid on Fullalead. Interestingly though, although theoretically we know Moria and Perona should have escaped the island by now, we have not seen either, now have we? Which is kind of suspicious now that I think about it. Because like. It'd make perfect sense if Blackbeard and co had been torturing Moria during his time in captivity, right. Have they been feeding my beloved goth onion well? Realistically, probably not?

Like. Thinking about it. We know Moria got chumby after the trauma of losing his crew and all, so what are the odds he might have lost that weight now during his captivity??? What if he looks more like his younger self again, the one see clash with Kaidou??? Or, the more horrifying option. I mean zombies aren't like an inherent part of Moria's DF abilities, just the Shadow Manipulation. But for all we know Moria could have lost a limb or two, and depending on where the fuck Hogback is (dude is supposed to be a competent doctor, he should be able to stitch Moria back up)... I mean theoretically the next time we see Moria he could look like one of his zombies. Or worse.

[the-acid-pear]

Mental illness is insane I'm just having dinner w my father eating this a little too spicy pasta enjoying the Yeowch on my throat and the silence and suddenly I'm like yeah I'd kill myself.

[spider-man-2o99]

when are you gonna see the new spiderverse?

it's not set in stone or anything, but we're aiming for sometime within the first week of its release if we can afford it!!

(on the note of spoilers: i Strongly Prefer to not be spoiled, but they won't like. Ruin My Life or really even my Day, i just would prefer to not be spoiled cause it's. like. a dick move, y'know? thanks. love yall)

[willow-jade]

Other comparison between Kaeya and Knight Marshal (Regent) Antforas besides the eye injury, but probably significantly more meaningless: Kaeya's title "Calvary Captain" + "marshal" etymology coming from a phrase meaning "horse servant"

[fruitsofhell]

Do you think that the reason we don't see the people from the new world is because some time after putting away Hyness's people they found away to travel to the real world?

I'm gonna say first off that I don't subscribe to the (fanon?) belief that the people of the New World/Forgotten Land WERE the Ancients who did all the stuff we'd heard about up until KatFL. I think they're their predecessor, and I had a post about that before. Basically thematically and on a meta level it makes sense to me everything about the Forgotten Land is to be squished at the beginning of this universe's timeline.

So by that measure I think that the in-universe implication is that the people of the Forgotten Land BECAME the Ancients of Halcandra. I think they found a way off that planet and to another dimension (or another galaxy cause i have pet peeves) with the knowledge they learned from Elfilis, and then settled on that planet. Hence how all those ancient artifacts that look nothing like those of the Forgotten Land, but use Eflilis' powers - mixing tech and magic as Hyness said they once did - came to be. And then sadly it seems that the successors of those people who fled the Forgotten Land due to resource issues never learned and destroyed themselves too. Maybe escaping like their ancestors, maybe not - who knows! But basically, the people of the Forgotten Land are from the past of the past, the Ancients of the Ancients IMO.

Now I remember there were a lot of fun easter eggs in KatFL and the Music Fest that hinted to the idea of the Forgotten Land being connected to or even a post-apocalyptic future of earth, and as fun as that is to speculate about I think the in-universe idea is that they weren't like, literally us or became us. I think it was mostly for funsies, but is a really fun idea to explore, and I'd be willing to change my mind if there was more expanded upon that. Like... per se if it became that the Halcandra Ancients only came across remnants of the Forgotten Land to learn everything they did instead of being the result of their diaspora. It would be a more hopeful alternative to the nuclear winter Shiver Star Theory atleast, I don't really like that one.

KatFL and all its info is still new to the mythos so we'll see how it gets fleshed out as we go along. I think the biggest reason why we never SEE them or their image is because it creates a fun sense of mystique like why the hunters in Bambi were never shown, which I really enjoy. I like that you could very seriously read this as what will happen to the earth or as something separate from us because of that vagueness. It's what makes Kirby lore fun to talk about ^_^.

But right now, my personal theory/headcanon is that they became the people of Ancient Halcandra, who then did all the wacky shenanigans we know and love them for, and then faded into history.

[wizzycore]

well, i finally read the novus qna.

[arolesbianism]

Man oni can't do this to me I'm supposed to be preparing for artfight but all I can think abt is Them™ from the second I wake up to the moment I go to bed how am I supposed to prepare in these circumstances 😔

[paperclipninja]

I'm gonna sound very old person yells at cloud but I don't care, I feel like I need to say this. We all (well most of us) know that messaging Neil with any headcanons/theories/wishes/hopes/dreams to do with the show is a no-go because it could potentially compromise the story he wants to tell or ends up telling. And yes, he is a grown up who chooses what to respond to etc and I think it's wonderful he engages with fans and answers a lot of lovely and interesting questions about his process, writing and journey etc.

However, there is another reason not to send theories and ideas about how the show should go to the show creator in the hope of a response: it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether a theory is correct, or a speculation may or may not play out. That is why fandom exists.

Online fandom is where we all come together to yell and cry and throw around weird-ass ideas and theories and look at art and read fanfic and unite in our love of characters and a show. A huge part of being in fandom, is the way fandom theories become like an understood little bit of fanon lore that some people attach to, others disregard. But it doesn't matter. And part of the fun of fandom, is when a new season or a new episode of the show comes out, you have this collective catalogue of ideas and theories and headcanons and you get to yell and scream, "omg it happened1" or "lol that that thing was ever talked about" or "thank god that theory didn't come to pass".

Wanting to know now (not that we ever will) and not wanting to wait until the next season to find out the answers diminishes the fandom experience. I cannot stress enough how much we are in the absolute peak of the fandom experience right now. The between seasons time is the ultimate time to be a part of a fandom (as I'm sure many people are well aware), knowing there's another season coming energises everyone to create and connect and speculate and it's glorious! I know it feels like it'll be like this forever, but it won't. Next season is the last and yes, there will be a flurry and uptick of all the energy and excitement once again, and I absolutely believe Good Omens fandom will live on and remain active and thrumming. But there won't be theories and what ifs and hunting for clues for the next season, and over time it will dwindle a little and plateau and some people will fall into other fandoms, and while it will probably bubble away, there won't be the anticipation that sits with us now.

My point is, fandom is where we get to throw around ideas and flail and be ridiculous and also serious sometimes, but it's all for us. For the fans. Showing Neil theories or getting in a flap about a particular speculation and asking if x, y, or z might happen isn't just about putting the creator in an awkward spot, it takes away what fandom is about. Just let this time be ours. If you haven't been in fandom before, enjoy it! Don't be in a hurry to seek definitive answers or know things either way.

It doesn't matter if any or none or all of the things that float around end up being correct or incorrect. Fandom isn't about being right. It's about being a part of a community and being able to share ideas and it's about it being FUN.

So TL;DR Stop sending Neil fan ideas because that is for fandom, not for the creator.

[tagidearte-spam-sb]

The Daycare Attendant and Their Dialogue

A little ramble on some of the things I've noticed about their ways of speaking. This post ended up being predominantly about how they refer to one another. Most of this is speculation mixed in with my own views on them and their relationship, without discarding some other possible alternatives (for instance, although I do view them as two AIs that heavily rely on each other to function properly, I do not cast aside the interpretation that they are the same person).

(note: although I have played SB and Ruin, I did not play HW2 myself. All I know about that game has been through let's plays).

Sun is, obviously, the chattier of the two. Not only are his sentences longer, he speaks more of them in a row than Moon does - in fact, we only see Moon going on and on in Ruin (which we will discuss later).

Both of them use a lot of repetitions when speaking. From their infamous "clean up, clean up" line, to Sun's panicked "you like glitter glue? I have glitter glue!" and "light's on! Light's on! Keep the generators on!", to Moon's "hidey hide, hide away" and "bad children must be punished. Bad children must be found", "knock knock", etc. One of the first things Eclipse says is also a repetition ("warning, warning"). They appear to occasionally rhyme their words too, or at the very least use similar sounds in their sentences. This is a robot that works with young children, so it's not surprising.

On that same vein, their main insult to misbehaving children (and employees... or at least Cassie's dad) is also a repetition: "naughty, naughty" (which turns into "naughty boy" for Gregory), "rulebreaker, rulebreaker", and "bad kid, bad kid". In fact, it appears they repeat words more often when they're mad/stressed (Sun's no no nos, Moon freaking out in Ruin). Taking into account they get mad pretty easily when things don't go their way, it's not surprising we hear it so often, but it's neat.

Although both of them speak in an almost song like manner, with Sun's run on sentences flowing well between one another, Moon is the one where this is more evident due to how much shorter his lines are.

Moon is also the one who speaks in a more childish manner. Not only are his phrases shorter, he doesn't articulate them as much as Sun does, and seems to prefer shorter words and sounds, especially giggles. This makes Sun appear more developed. Key word being appear.

Sun tends to speak as if he's entertaining a crowd, doing his best to keep the attention on himself while trying to keep it fun. This is most evident in his level explanation parts in HW2, but it's also clear in SB. In Ruin, this is absent for... obvious reasons.

Both of them are somehow direct in their way of giving orders/saying what they want to do. When they can't be direct, they find workaround truths in order to conceal what they truly want to say, while keeping the main order clear (such as Sun saying the player will hurt their eyes if they work in the dark and ordering them to keep the lights on, rather than saying Moon will kill them so keep that room bright. Direct, but nicer).

Not at all important to FNAF speech lore but I think it's funny: Sun says the infamous Vanny line during the daycare intro section. "Are you having fun yet? (Are ya, are ya?)". 0.5 seconds after Gregory just stands there, which coincidentally is what Vanny does 0.5 seconds after Gregory gets into a vent (numbers exaggerated). I don't know. I just think it's funny. Replaying the daycare section after hearing Vanny yapping that line non stop gave me flashbacks.

The way they refer to each other and the pronouns they use are an entire thing, so let me separate it in two parts.

So that this post doesn't become scrolling hell on the tags, I'll keep it below the read more line:

Sun

Sun is the one who refers to himself the most. He frequently uses "I" or "me" when talking about himself, and does it way more often than Moon. Examples of this are "I have glitter glue!", "I'm stuck in a nap", "it really speaks to me", "I feel dumber just looking at it" - you get the point by now. The reason I'm going hard on this point is to contrast his way of speaking to Moon's.

When it comes to him referring to Moon, we only ever hear it twice. In HW2 he says "He'll wake up if the lights go out!". In Ruin, he says "Not me, the other me!". Besides those two voice lines, he merely alludes to Moon without ever mentioning him by name or by pronouns (such as when he says he'll turn the lights off himself, implying he'll let Moon deal with you, or when he says you can't work in the dark and instead of saying the real reason as to why, he cuts himself and goes "You'll- hurt your eyes if you work in the dark").

This is interesting for two reasons: one, we only see him directly mention his counterpart when he's in a ruined state (the HW2 voice line comes from the mask off section, when they're broken down. At least I think so); two, he simultaneously views Moon as separate from himself ("he'll wake up") and as a part of himself/another side of himself ("the other me"). You can take that as them really being the same "person", or as a reflection of their complicated body sharing situation. Take it as you will.

As far as referring to himself and Moon at the same time, he only does it in Ruin when he states "We need to be whole".

Moon

The way Moon structures his sentences means that he seldomly actually refers to himself directly. For instance, he doesn't say "I will find you" or "I will punish you", putting himself as the subject of the sentence. Instead, he puts others as the subject, wording it as "Bad children must be found" and "Bad children must be punished". This is consistent across all of his voice lines except one... Well, technically two.

To get it out of the way: there's a deleted voice line where he says "I'm putting you in time out", a line he and Sun share and which worked the same way the clean up one does - them saying the same thing, a push towards them being the same person ordeal.

The only in-game time he refers to himself directly is in Ruin. This line is also the only time he refers to both himself and Sun as a duo. This line is also the longest line of dialogue Moon has.

"(groaning noises) Naughty! Naughty! Make it stop! The light makes us hurt! Grind Grind! Grinding gears inside my head! We can't move. Error! Error!"

This line, much like Sun's, is interesting for various reasons. Even though Sun is no longer with him (being stuck in the VR world and separate from Moon, shown by how Moon can't move because the lights are on but his body can't shift into Sun, so he's completely stuck), he first refers to himself as a "us" - adding Sun into the mix. Then he refers to himself alone, "my head" instead of "ours", before going right back to a plural.

We can assume one of three things here: one, Moon refers to himself as a we more often, adding Sun into the mix, a complete opposite of his counterpart who typically speaks in singulars; or two, Sun is not as absent as he appears and in that moment he is in fact with Moon, just stuck on the passenger sit, hurting alongside him; or three, this is merely an effect of this being in the Ruin DLC where the whole point of the daycare section is to fuse Sun and Moon into the Eclipse, so the writers decided to bring the point home further. If you have more options, feel free to add them.

Side note: This voiceline also shows Moon's speaking patterns pretty well. Putting "the light" as the subject instead of "we/I", the rhyming, the repetition, the clipped sentences compared to Sun's endless ones, the noises, the scratchiness, the vague childlike mannerism... All ending with "we can't move", way more straight to the point, said right before he freezes up, which deviates from the "other subject first then me" rule due to the pain tearing through him at the moment.

Moon does not call Sun "the other me" or anything similar in any of the games. He never refers to Sun as if he too was Sun. However, we can assume his view on their situation probably mirrors Sun's - being in the same body and all -, so take it as you will.

And as for Moon referring to Sun as a separate individual... He does not refer to him as a "he". Instead, he actually mentions his counterpart by name, saying "No more Sun". Meaning he's the only one of the the two that has canonically used his other side's name. I think it's interesting how the least chatty one is the one actually calling the other by name and not the other way around. And yes, you can say it's a way of speaking and he's referring to the concept of the sun rather than saying his name, but taking into consideration Sun never utters the word moon, I'd say it's still quite a big thing.

In my headcanon land, due to the happenings at the Pizzaplex, Sun is probably too embarrassed and mortified to even mention Moon. Moon, on the other hand, has no reason to have such troubles besides hating Sun for (in his perspective) keeping him locked in a prison of light. So for me, it makes sense we never see Sun saying Moon's name, and it makes it more impactful when he actually acknowledges Moon as the other me rather than a he.

Eclipse

I lied there's three parts.

Eclipse has very few voice lines. The only one that matters here is "We need to clean this place up before we can open in the morning." This is pretty straight to the point: Eclipse, unlike Sun and Moon, doesn't use an "I". They immediately speak in the plural. They do not view themselves as just Eclipse, but rather as both Sun and Moon combined, at the same time.

As for the DCA being two AIs or one... in Ruin, Sun thanks Cassie after Eclipse is activated. It's left ambiguous. You can say Sun speaking afterwards proves they're not one and the same, "with the Sun and Moon AIs still running separately somehow", or you can assume Eclipse existing doesn't mean Sun and Moon can't keep doing their thing under safe mode, albeit in a less chaotic manner, allowing Sun's voice to come through but not making him any less Moon - he is Moon, he is Sun, and they are complicated yet very simple.

I believe in whichever version is more convenient at any given time, with a preference for "two codependent AIs" given what the games show us. Although, going by everything I collected here, the only theory I believe to just not be supported by canon at all is the one with Eclipse as a separate thing all together. Eclipse refers to themselves as a "we', not an "I". Eclipse activates when you make Sun and Moon "whole". It canonically makes no sense for Eclipse to be a third thing. (Please remember this is a post about what's in the games, the canon of FNAF. AUs and fandom or whatever, you do you).

That's it. Hope you enjoyed my rambling. Uh artblog unpaid promotion @tagidearte thank you for making it this far.

[felassan]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard info compilation Post 3

[Part 1] [Part 2] Post is under a cut due to length.

There is a lot of information coming out right now about DA:TV from many different sources. This post is just an effort to compile as much as I can in one place, in case that helps anyone. Sources for where the information came from have been included. Where I am linking to a social media user’s post, the person is either a dev, a Dragon Age community council member or other person who has had a sneak peek at and played the game. nb, this post is more of a ‘info that came out in snippets from articles and social media posts’ collection rather than a 'regurgitating the information on the official website or writing out what happened in the trailer/gameplay reveal’ post. The post is broken down into headings on various topics. A few points are repeated under multiple headings where relevant. Where I am speculating without a source, I have clearly demarcated this. if you notice any mistakes in this post, please tell me.

Character Creation

All armor and clothing options will scale and mesh to any body type [source]

The character creator has lots of sliders for body parts and overall shape, none of which are tied to the voice or pronouns (she/her, he/him, or they/them) that you choose [source]

"Epler took special care to show off the extensive curly and textured hair options in the game, including several versions of braids and locs, noting that increasing these options in particular was very important to the team" [source]

You can change your character’s physical appearance at any time during the game, but not their class or backstory [source]

"Each individual class has some variability, too; even the mage class has some up-close-and-personal attacks, since a mage player character could still conceivably have an assassin backstory and would therefore need to have some attacks to accommodate that sort of career path" [source]

" "We’ve spent a lot of time thinking about skin tone,” Corinne said. The character we made, a Black elf, seemed to glow in the bluish light of a nighttime scene, and under bright sunlight, I could see the richness of his color. Corinne: "We want to make sure that skin tone is reflected authentically" " [source]

" “We have dozens and dozens of hair types,” she said. “And they’re fully affected by physics.” The quality and variety of choices I saw delighted me. The rows of bouncy, luxurious-looking hair of all curl types and textures (and yes, the annoyingly ubiquitous “Killmonger cut” was among the options, what can you do?) brought the biggest smile to my face in the hour I spent with Busche and The Veilguard." [source]

Story and lore

NPCs will remember when you chuck a shopkeeper through a plate-glass window [source]

" The game’s story sees Solas intact a plot that will result in the deaths of thousands. When his justification that “people die, it’s what they do,” falls on deaf ears, you and your merry band of misfits have to stop him " [source]

" “Early in the demo and in the trailer, you’re in a part of the world you’ve never been in – Tevinter,” Epler tells me. “Tevinter is known for being a place of high magic; visually, it’s different. Obviously in Origins you’re in Ferelden, which was grubby, muddy, and very visually different and distinct. That said, it’s the first hour of the game, so we’re only seeing the prologue. As you go deeper, you’ll find that the game can be just as bloody and just as grim as Dragon Age Origins, 2, and Inquisition. For us, it’s that feeling of contrast. You get moments of higher fantasy magic coming back to the world through Solas’ ritual, but also things get pretty grim, and things get pretty dark in some spaces for sure.” " [source]

"Snappy dialogue" [source]

The game is really about each of the companions [source]

Narrative narrative narrative! [source]

The Shadow Dragons are an underground resistance that engages in guerrilla warfare against the corrupt mage rulers of the Tevinter Imperium [source]

"Varric has created the group called the Veilguards, recruiting a veritable group of weirdos to pursue Solas, who’s carved a path through the magical empire of Tevinter" [source]

"There’s intrigue to the game’s tale already, with Varric hoping he can convince Solas to stop his plan of tearing open the Veil: a wish by the dwarf to save a dear friend. There’s a fascinating relationship that's already being set up, Varric and Solas as opposing narrative forces, with your character, Rook, pulled between them" [source]

"There’s extra context to flesh out dialogue, with short descriptions that help give a vague idea of how things play out. The example we were shown was Rook trying to take down a gang leader inside a bar. We could choose to defuse the situation with either words or weapons, but the catch is you don’t know how effective those approaches will be" [source]

" Busche explained that the team wanted to give players a game where locations were imbued with just as much personality as the characters. “That meant making contrast from the areas that are dark and decaying to the areas that are illuminated with magic,” Busche said " [source]

" “This is a part of the world where magic has been embraced,” Busche said. “It is a society of mages and magic in this world is inherently colorful. So whether we’re seeing them use magic for everyday purposes like signage or using them as spells, that color really comes through.” " [source]

We will visit the Necropolis of Nevarra [source]

Gameplay, presentation, performance etc

There are dozens of abilities and spells [source]

The game has an easy mode [source]

There is a setting where your character can't die in battle [source]

"The Rogue class in our demo had a bow with recharging arrows for ranged attacks, and dual blades that could unleash a furious flurry of instantaneous blows" [source]

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