#like I don't think merril did anything wrong. primarily because I love killing her clan! fuck them all!

[punch-love]

love reading about other people's thoughts on dragon age 2 because I personally cannot fathom siding with the templers and/or thinking anders actions are terrorism and I also don't have an issue with blood magic so it's wild seeing people with such resolute opposite opinions unable to fathom someone thinking like me

[officious-seeing-eye-bitch]

I think my point can be best summarized in one of the first things you mention, i.e. Taash calling Emmerich a skullfucker. Because the thing is, Taash doesn't get /to finish the word/." They're cut-off before "fucker" leaves their mouth. To me at least, that feels very sanitized, and very Marvel.

And what really is the long-term pay off of Davrin and Lucanis' fight? To me, it feels patched over /so quickly/. Like the devs were too concerned with having actual character conflict that they wanted them to make up quickly and cleanly.

Isabela's sexuality isn't a flaw, just like Lucanis' isn't a flaw. However, Aveline's misogynistic language and disparagement of Isabela is a flaw of Aveline's. It isn't so much as "their personalities don't mesh," but rather Aveline actively choosing to be rude to Isabela because of her sexuality.

To address your second reblog:

Merrill did put herself and her clan at risk through her actions and blood magic. This could be seen as a flaw, even if Merrill's intentions are good.

Her greed, her stealing of a priceless religious artifact, and her hiding that are all what could be called "flaws." Even Isabela feels sanitized in Veilguard, as it feels the Devs wanted to shy away from making the Lords of Fortune actual plunderers, when Isabela was, by definition, plundering. They (the Devs) were scared of making the Lords anything other than cool treasure hunters, and didn't want to deal with the socio-political implications of what treasure hunting implies.

Anders is flawed, primarily in his inability to attempt to relate with Fenris (which Fenris is also guilty of). His self-righteousness for his cause does lead him to ignore others, ignore help, and ultimately got many people killed. (And this isn't about whether or not his actions were justified bc THAT is a can of worms).

Aveline's flaw isn't being awkward (that's hardly a flaw, that's a personality trait), but rather her treatment of Isabela. And her inability to run her own guard due to personal attachments (ex. getting Hawke to handle things she doesn't want to put guards on).

The thing about Alistair is he CAN hate your guts. He is able to act and respond to the decisions your Warden makes. Your Warden /can/ be the flawed one. His reactions make more sense, and are more impactful than what I see in Veilguard, where it feels like people /have/ to like Rook.

Solas and Dorian are /not/ the only flawed characters in Inquisition. Blackwall is actively lying to you after murdering a family. That is a /very/ serious crime, infinitely more serious than say Bellara not trusting herself. You can expel Blackwall from the Inquisition for that. Sera has extreme internalized racism, and a very black and white way of picturing the world, to the point where it alienates her from potential friends and other possibilities. Dorian is not totally anti-slavery, and his privilege is a flaw. Cullen was actively a part of a repressive order that tormented people. He regrets it, but it still happened, which is a flaw for him to overcome.

What I am getting at here, is that all of these characters had MAJOR things that impacted their story, and the games. It impacted how you, the player, viewed them. It made you love them, or hate them. I love Solas' flawed nature of pride and ego, I hate how Anders approves of selling Fenris just because they disagree. What of that is there in Veilguard? No one makes, or has made morally wrong decisions that would make me feel strongly about them. They're middling and /safe/. And to me, that is a little boring. I don't want only good characters who do nothing wrong, ever, and when they do it can be fixed in two conversations.

I think one thing that bothers me about the Veilguard companions is that while they're fun, none of them are flawed in a way that matters. Like in Dragon Age 2 you've got Aveline calling Isabela a slut, and Anders approving if you sell Fenris back into slavery. In Veilguard, you've got to decide how many books Emmerich should bring camping, or say it's not a big deal that Bellara ate the last cheese stick.

And that's NOT me saying that I miss the misogyny of Aveline/Isabela's dialogue, or think Anders approving of selling Fenris is a "good" thing for his character, but rather it was that the characters had things that were genuinely dislike-able about them. I mean all you had to do was look at the fandom from the past decade to see some truly awful discourse about Cullen, Anders, Aveline, or even Dorian.

There just are no prominent character flaws in the Veilguard companions, which can make them fall a little flat, imo.