#minor datv spoilers

[sha-lyuzar]

The fact that there is no casteless brand is irking me unreasonably

[jackals-ships]

lrb reminded me tangentially the fact the devs decided "oh yeah ancient elves when they're Old As Hell go bald btw" so. so the art book,

said "hey btw Elgar'nan is also bald he just has a wig attached to his crown" which is. So Good

[apostatehobolife]

Solas after your trials and fighting Elgar'nan clearly compensating for something archdemon, are you getting rest. You looked so tired?

I am well. Easy fight.

[peonysgreenhouse]

emmrich irl callout post for a problematic age gap is crazy 😭

[pluviatrix]

added a new elf to my repertoire ft. the last lineup(s) i did

[juneiper-art]

anyway one of my top ten favorite spite moments is when he pulls these big ass bones out of nowhere and ur companions are like ????

[effelants]

the origins references are fucking killing me

[jaal-ama-daravv]

this line is the hottest thing ive ever witnessed

[goonchef]

i loved his side missions

[zahra-hydris]

I'm actually really sad about the lack of world state reactivity.

it was such a cornerstone of the series: feeling like characters and the world evolved as you, the player, interacted with it (lived in it! over 15 years!). and it's not even - as i've seen some, including key devs, suggest - a question of making every single choice matter. the "throwaway" lines, simple war table missions, and codex entries still mattered! they still contributed to that feeling of a world that evolved with you.

and what really worries me is what this means for the returning characters. how can you have varric without the potential loss of hawke? how can you have morrigan* without the potential for kieran? is your inquisitor going to be even semi-recognisable? how is the well drinker choice not relevant? and, again, these don't necessarily need to have huge impacts? they can just be one off lines or codex entries or something that shows that this is a world that you've been a part of, these are people that you know and love.

idk there's just such a huge middle ground between 'every single choice needs to dramatically impact the plot/characterisation and that's just not feasible' and 'absolutely no reactivity to anything beyond three things'. the devs keep acting like there's not, but it's just bullshit. they managed it to a decent degree in inquisition, after all.

it's not necessarily a dealbreaker but idk i'm just sad about it.

*honestly starting to lean towards that theory that it's not actually morrigan but flemythal in her body

[malizanu]

every birthday josie still sends harding a gift, maybe the josie/harding truthers had bigger minds than the rest of us

[sha-lyuzar]

Very happy with the character creator. Finally i am able to make a character that matches my vision, and i am absolutely loving Faira Ingellvar's personality, somewhere between nihilistic optimism and pragmatic shrugs.

That said, recreating Lyria Sha-Lyuzar was an absolute pain and she looks nothing like herself

[jackals-ships]

also constantly thinking about ppl pointing out that solas Probably WANTED to be found he Wanted to be stopped

and then you have jackal "ill do it my own god damn self then MOVE-"

[rpgchoices]

New veilguard headcanon because why not + impact of previous games choices

If there are 9 years between origins and inquisition, and 10 between inquisition and veilguard, knowing Davrin is early 30s (let's pretend 32), that means that he could have literally been inspired by the Hero of Ferelden and adding this to the plot would have made it so much better so I am screaming.

Why not add these little things?? Davrin left his clan quite young, so if the Hero of Ferelden defeated the Blight when Davrin was around 13-15 years old that could have worked so well.

It really annoys me how easily these things could be added. With the devs saying that the choices mattered a lot so they did not want to add too many, I expected so much more.

Because the choices we had also had basically zero impact:

Romancing anyone but Solas basically only gives you a letter in the codex and a comment from Dorian (if you romanced Dorian he calls the Inquisitor Amatus in the final battle)

Choosing to disband or not disband the inquisition is basically one dialogue line

Choosing to save Solas or stop him also does not seem to change much but a few dialogue lines when you meet the inquisitor. At the end, even if the Inquisitor wanted to stop him they will still suggest Rook talk him down

Basically, as I suspected from the emphasis of Solavellan by the devs, the game only gave you one previous choice: "Did you choose to play a female elf in a heterosexual relationship with Solas or not?" That's it.

And again, it would have been SO easy to add other choices with the same depth as these three:

Hawke romance if Isabela was not given to the Qun and she returned (a codex letter for Isabela, a mention from Isabela if she was the one romanced)

If Hawke died in the fade - a codex letter from whoever they romanced that maybe Rook finds with Varric

Warden died/survived - a mention from the Grey Wardens and/or Davrin. After all didn't the Warden literally pass by Weissaupt? It could have been something like "Hey, the hero of ferelden who SURVIVRED AN ARCHDEMON?? FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER?" how are they not surprised?

Morrigan romance - a one line from Morrigan would have sufficed

If Morrigan was betrayed - then a line from her, given she mentions in Veilguard that in the past some of her friends turned enemies

The Divine choice - Harding mentions the Divine so it would have been easy to just give her a name too, it is literally one line. They didn't even have to add anything about the status of mages and templars in the choice, just "omg the Divine is Vivienne, she was so elagant"

Iron Bull and Dorian together - one line from Dorian

That is like... a handful of choices and lines, that would have helped so much. Mainly because even in Inquisition the impact of previous games was mainly dialogue-focused, but the trick is not letting your players know how little it matter. Just seeing the choices and knowing those shaped the world would have been truly enough.

[danielnelsen]

oh i can also officially say that this is the entire extent of the acknowledgment of the inquisitor's relationship with dorian (ie, the full extent of the effect of one of only three worldstate options):

[starry-eyed-guttersnipe]

Veilguard has been such a blast, I’m officially obsessed and back on my DA bullshit. Follow-up with other beloved Rooks to come, but here is my personal canon: Morena de Riva, Antivan Crow spellblade mage, romancing Lucanis:

Bonus: Dav and Lucanis are bickering, but Rook has more important things to do (boop the baby)