#or just let us romance them anyway?? like you did with neve??

[vault81]

wait wait a damn minute, so saving minrathous locks you out of the lucanis romance? BUT saving treviso doesn’t lock you out of the neve romance?

And not only that, if you’re locked out of the lucanis romance, lucanis and neve still get together?? So you don’t have time for Rook now bc they saved minrathous but you’ll have time for Neve now?? The logic here isn’t logicing BioWare

[what-eats-owls]

It matters how you do it

I finished Dragon Age: The Veilguard and had some big feelings about it. Spoilers for basically everything under the cut, and frankly, it won't make sense unless you've finished the game anyway.

First of all: I had a blast with this game. I didn't find Act 1 slow, I did find Act 2 a bit of a whack-a-mole, and then Act 3 kicks you in the kidney (complementary) while insisting it's for your own good.

I've seen some recurring complaints: that it lacks depth/edge/darkness, that it abandons previous lore, that the previous choices don't matter. I don't entirely disagree. To me, it felt like a massive Dragon Age 4 game that pivoted to a different, tighter game after complaints about bloat in Inquisition. The key is that when editing down, there's such a thing as trying to trim the fat and taking a chunk of the roast with it.

I enjoy the concept of Lucanis's character, and the voice actor sold the hell out of him, but the storyline felt like being taken to a museum and allowed to see one (1) beautiful unfinished sculpture. Why did Spite, specifically, work? We know the spirit of Justice became Vengeance by abomination, we knew Solas was Wisdom before he became Pride, so what was Spite before, and why wasn't that tied to Lucanis's own personal arc? (Doubly so if you romance him!)

Similarly, Harding was a delight, and her greenhouse was such a lovely little haven. I would have loved to see more explanation of the connection between plants and the titans, and how Harding's own personal struggles with rage connected to that of the titans. She has every reason to be angry and scared, and the game tells us she pushed that away—but we don't actually see her toxic positivity manifest to that degree, until she abruptly has an angry clone.

On the flip side, I loved the other five character quests, and I felt they had solid, poignant arcs that delivered. I also adored their interactions with the codex—if anything, I wanted to see more of that type of interaction on the screen. You have to fill in a lot of the character work for Rook yourself; Rook has all these interesting potential backgrounds, but I think starting the game playing through those, a la Origins, would have gone miles towards establishing more personal stakes up front and made for a stronger start.

So that's all my nitpicking. But let's talk about the bigger theme: It matters how you do it.

In the first Fade conversation with Solas, he gets so mad when Rook refuses to let him DARVO them about the consequences of his botched ritual. This makes way more sense when you understand he's literally imprisoned by his own regrets, and he needs Rook to have that same kind of regret in order to take his place. His entire arc is about rationalizing binary choices and shitty actions that hurt others in the name of a hypothetical greater good that he wants.

Solas can't engineer every binary choice Rook's forced into, but he uses Varric to maximize Rook's regret. He is trying to quite literally mold Rook into him, and the game is great at presenting this both as a coldblooded manipulation and a broken plea for validation—if you let it. You don't have to give Solas a moment of consideration; you don't have to take time to view his memories, or kill his demons, or listen to those scraps of Mythal still holding onto the good in him. You don't have to do any of it.

But you can. And in the end, it matters.

It matters because for every companion, you can encourage them to either be more nurturing/compassionate or destructive/closed off versions of themselves, and that is frequently tied to continuing or breaking from a cycle. (The exception is either Neve or, presumably, Lucanis, who are forced into the Hardened version depending on which city you save.) These aren't presented as morally opposing choices, just who you want them to be. You can see how the Grey Wardens fucked up bad with griffons and decide they have a better place. You can help Emmrich face his fear by finding deeper meaning in life instead of indefinitely postponing death. You can help them do things differently.

So when you get to the final choice in the game, you may have two options: physically force Solas into saving the Veil, or trick him into it. The kind of binary choice Solas has molded you into making by pelting you with cruelty and manipulation.

Or, if you've taken the time, you can get him to understand he's wrong. You bring out the people who saw the best in him and speak to what he's had to endure, even as you're showing him there's another way. You reach him not as Pride, but as Wisdom. And he goes willingly.

Ultimately, I think DA2 and Inquisition grappled with big questions of oppression and violence, faith and authority. It makes sense for those games to delve into harder, uglier subject matter, and ask you to make binary calls.

But my read of Veilguard is that, at its core, it's about how those decisions are meant to trap you in regret at best, and numb you to rationalizing cruelty at worst. It's why the companion who loses their home city becomes colder, more isolated, in response—more like Solas.

That's why it offers you a third way at the very end, but only if you've worked for it. A better way is possible, yet it has to be more than words. You have to understand where the pain comes from, what maintains and is being maintained by the current cycle. Then, and only then, can you break it.

I can't wait to play it again.

P.S. Utterly obsessed with the Trevisan fish merchant.

[emmg]

WIP whenever

because @heylittleriotact uno reverse'd me lmfao

bc grading essays is overrated, so here’s a lil’ something from the ridiculous fic I’m forcing my keyboard to suffer through. Plot? Absolutely none. Just Emmrook going on “dates” (and like also… smutty dates) suggested by the other clowns haunting the Lighthouse. This one’s SUPPOSED to end in a coffee date—because Lucanis—but I haven't written that yet lol

Honestly, it’s like… smut-crackfic with necromancy puns that should be punishable by law. I keep saying I’ll write a serious Emmrich one day, but let’s be real, that day isn’t today

Anyway, title? Don’t have one. I'm just throwing a bunch of dashes and slapping a read-more right before it gets too long so it doesn't invade anyone's dash

--------------

It’s the most absurd scene. Like, truly bonkers. 

She hovers in the doorway, conveniently camouflaged by shadows, because though the cringe levels are searing her soul, she simply cannot look away. It’s like watching a runaway cart barreling downhill, if said cart was cobbled together with blissful ignorance and top-tier ineptitude. 

There, crammed onto Harding and Neve’s favorite tiny sofa, are Lucanis and Emmrich. And they’re... talking? Sort of? It’s the most agonizing conversation she’s ever been subjected to, and that’s saying something. Lucanis is flailing his hands around, using them more than words, trying to drive home whatever point he’s failing spectacularly to make. Meanwhile, Emmrich, ever the dignified one, has one leg crossed so neatly over the other that it creates this little triangle of space that she suddenly wants to crawl into and hide from the embarrassment radiating off both of them. 

"You see," Lucanis laments, his fingers forming that universal gesture of the confused and the desperate, “we went for coffee. But she, well, threw it back. Like a shot of spirits. It was not just any brew. This was from the frost-bitten slopes of the Vimmark Mountains. A dark roast with notes of juniper and just a hint of wild honey. You don’t just drink something like that—you experience it.” He shakes his head. “Her focus was all on that new case file, instead. And fish. Fried fish."

Emmrich nods along thoughtfully. “I understand. However, if I may be so bold, Lucanis, have you perhaps thought of discussing something besides coffee? A change of topic might open new avenues.” 

"I did offer to sharpen her knives."

“Knives,” Emmrich repeats, as though weighing the term’s philosophical import. “And… Neve is known to possess a significant collection of blades?” 

“No,” says Lucanis, flat as a pancake. 

“Ah,” Emmrich replies, offering a sage nod. A wise and knowing “ah,” as if that somehow clarified things. "An unusual approach, then." 

Desperate to claw himself out of this conversational pit, Lucanis asks, “Well, what is it you and Rook… do?” He stumbles over the words, as though simply asking has exhausted his entire social skill set for the year. 

And now, it’s Emmrich’s turn to squirm. She can almost see his moustache twitching, wishing it could detach itself from his face and make a run for the hills. He looks away, frowning slightly, as though consulting some vast internal library.  

They don’t go on dates. Please. Not even the hilariously doomed sort that Lucanis somehow subjected Neve to. For one, neither of them has the time for candlelit strolls with the world about to be ripped apart by blighted elven gods strutting around like they own the place.

Usually, she just pops into his room and fucks him while he pontificates about the finer points of romance. Oh, she always lets him go on for a hot minute, but once her lips are on his throat and her hands start wandering further south, he finally gets the hint, and that highbrow nonsense about “dignified courtship” goes straight out the window.

Emmrich, after clearing his throat, finally answers, "We discuss books."

From her shadow, she snorts. He's not wrong, technically. Just the other night, she had perched in his lap while he was reading some dry treatise on Fade energy attunement and the properties of dawnstone. He’d even launched into a detailed explanation while she kissed her way down his jaw and neck, hardly deterred by the lecture. Finally, when her hand wandered beneath his shirt, Emmrich, after a brief struggle to finish his monologue, allowed the tome to tumble from his grip.

So yes, “discussing books” might be accurate, but it’s hardly the whole story. And yet here sits Emmrich, steadfast in his scholarly pride, while Lucanis looks ready to take a long walk off a very short pier. She’s not sure which of them is more tragic. 

“Hm,” says Lucanis, apparently having reached the absolute zenith of his conversational abilities. 

“Ah,” Emmrich replies, with all the enthusiasm of someone describing mildew yet also, somehow, managing to sound very polite about it. 

She saunters over to break this pathetic monotony of wall-staring both are currently engaged in.

“My dear,” Emmrich perks up, relief flooding his face as though she’s just rescued him from the depths of some social hell. His voice is full of that charming lilt he uses when he’s desperate to salvage his dignity. 

He makes a half-hearted attempt to stand, all dignified and well-bred, but she waves him off with a lazy hand, signalling him to stay seated. And stay he does. Without missing a beat, she slides into his lap, practically draping herself sideways over him, arms winding around his neck. He tenses for a moment, exhales in resignation, but eventually gives in, one hand resting at the small of her back, fingers just barely grazing the line between respectable and… well, decidedly not. 

“I hate when you do that,” Lucanis snarls from across the sofa, jabbing a finger at her. 

“Yes, it’s not very proper,” Emmrich says with solemnity, though he’s showing absolutely zero signs of protest about her whole backside pressing against him. 

With a serene, mischievous grin, she stretches her legs, casually extending them until they’re firmly invading Lucanis’ personal space. 

“Mierda,” he grumbles, swatting at her ankle with all the fervor of a cat being swiped at by an annoying feather. “Rook.” 

She just grins that beautifully infuriating grin. “Go back to your pantry, Lucanis,” she says sweetly, her tone one of pure, serene malice. “The gouda is getting lonely.” 

Lucanis stalks off, glowering as if he’d chuck a knife at her head if he had one in hand. And she’s fairly sure he would. 

She blows him a kiss. He shows her the middle finger. They’ll have coffee in the morning.

Meanwhile, Emmrich, ever the portrait of indulgent patience, looks up at her from his cozy place beneath her with a satisfied hum. “How was your day, darling?” 

“Good,” she sighs, stretching further until her legs are practically colonizing whatever’s left of Lucanis’ side of the sofa. “Yours?” 

Emmrich raises an eyebrow. Makes a contemplative sound deep in his throat. “Enlightening. Lucanis and I were just having… an intriguing discussion.” 

“Oh?” she purrs, eyes glinting. “About what, pray tell?” 

“Courtship,” he says, savoring the word as though it were some priceless artifact he’s just dusted off from an ancient shelf. 

She smirks. “I’m sure you gave him absolutely riveting advice.” 

“I certainly tried.” He heaves a great sigh, even rolls a shoulder in a semblance of a shrug. “Though, I fear our preferred methods diverge.” 

“‘Preferred methods’?” she echoes, giving his thigh a playful squeeze. “Do enlighten me.” 

Emmrich gives her a look that’s half-scholar, half-sufferer. “Well, I fancy a touch of romance, some… sentimentality, if you will. And Lucanis…” 

“And Lucanis?” she goads. 

“His idea of a grand romantic gesture involves… knives,” he finishes with a sigh of pure exasperation. 

She can’t hold back the snort that escapes. “I mean, yeah, it’s Lucanis. Did you expect anything different?” She presses a little closer, trouble dancing in her eyes. “But for what it’s worth, I do love talking about books with you… so very much.” 

Emmrich doesn’t miss a beat, a hint of sarcasm curling his lips. “So I’ve gathered.” 

“Tell me more about your books, Emmrich,” she coos, batting her eyelashes with all the enthusiasm of a third-rate actress in a chintzy Orlesian play. 

“If you’re genuinely interested, I would gladly oblige.” 

“Oh, I’m interested,” she purrs, lowering her voice to a husky whisper. “In you talking… while you bend me over your desk.”

Emmrich rolls his eyes, his facade of feigned innocence dissolving in an instant. “There it is,” he says, shaking his head, fully resigned, and yet absolutely, unflinchingly unbothered. “Right on schedule.”

She giggles, pressing a kiss to the corner of his lips, laughing against his skin as his mouth curves into a smile. His hand moves down her back, rubbing a little more insistently, as if he’s grounding himself—or maybe just unable to resist the urge to keep her right there. 

And she doesn’t make it easy for him. She drags her legs back, swings one over his lap, and settles herself down, straddling him. For a moment, she just studies him, tracing her fingers through his hair, brushing little gray strands back, pressing featherlight kisses along his cheekbones. She moves to his jaw, his forehead, then teases at the edge of that absurdly high collar he insists on wearing like he’s hiding some grand secret rather than just a very biteable throat. 

He is fine, she muses, is he not? So impossibly precise, so painfully detailed. He’s all sharp angles and sleek lines, with those maddeningly long fingers that look like they could carve through a mountain if they set their mind to it, and legs that seem to go on for days. Tall, lean, graceful, and—she smirks—a touch too verbose for his own good.

There’s a tragic elegance to him, too, a sort of quiet, melancholic dignity wrapped up in age and maturity, like a bottle of rare, finely aged wine that’s only gotten more complex with the years. A shame, really, that he’s about to be thoroughly enjoyed by someone who wouldn’t know a fine vintage from a spoiled ale. 

She’ll savor him all the same, every last bit. 

When she takes his hands, winding her fingers through his, she feels him smile—a real, soft thing, so she leans down and steals it right off his mouth. She licks along the seam of his lips, teasing, before he finally gives in and parts them, letting her kiss him in earnest. 

“I like your rings,” she murmurs as she pulls back, letting their mouths part with a wet pop, a little string of saliva snapping between them. “They make you look expensive.” 

“Not too expensive, I hope,” Emmrich teases. “Otherwise, I fear I’ll meet the same fate as every artifact your merry Lords of Fortune collect. Pilfered in the night, sold to the highest bidder. One moment here, the next—poof. Gone.” 

She makes a show of sighing, voice deadly serious. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’d rig the auction, slip in a pretty penny or two, then plant an inside man to bid on you. Coin in one hand, you smuggled back to me in the other. All in one night.” 

He laughs, that rich, throaty sound she loves, and she can feel it rumbling up through his chest. “All that trouble just for me?” 

She leans in, lips brushing his ear. “Consider it my own little courtship ritual,” she whispers, nipping at his earlobe. “Better than dinner and a walk, don’t you think?” 

He chuckles, his hands slipping to her hips, holding her close as if he’s half-tempted to test just how well she could pull off that heist. “Dangerously persuasive, as usual.” 

For a while, she stays just as she is, savoring the closeness, every slow inhale filled with the scent of him, the warmth of his body against hers. She steals little kisses, grazing his jaw, breathing her laughter against his skin each time he starts to smile. She loves the quiet, the intimacy of it all, though she loves his voice just as much. Sometimes, she asks him to read aloud, not for the content, but for that smooth, careful cadence that rolls through her and makes her feel so, so good. She’ll rest her head in his lap, fingers idly tracing patterns on his hands, kissing his knuckles, his fingertips, watching his face as he reads. 

Now, there’s nothing for him to read, but she leans into him all the same, letting his quiet words fill the space. He murmurs, babbles, whispers soft nonsense as he unlaces her hair, fingers brushing through the waves, watching as they fall in gentle cascades over his lap. She exhales, content, her eyes half-closed, perfectly happy just to listen as his voice drifts around her, soothing and familiar. 

She simply listens, resting her head on his thigh, gazing up at the ceiling, fingers trailing over his hands, kissing his fingers one by one, lingering on each touch. Her teeth gently scrape along his skin, letting her tongue follow in a slow, winding path. She feels his breath hitch, hears him stumble over his words as she nibbles down each finger, tracing her tongue along the edge before she takes it into her mouth, sucking just enough to leave him squirming. She lets each finger slip from her lips with a wet pop, savoring the way his composure falters, how he tries—and fails—to keep his voice steady as she drags her mouth over the center of his palm, kissing, licking, leaving nothing untouched. 

He’s given up on this one-sided dialogue entirely, his gaze drifting from her to the room around them—the door, the table, the empty corners where nothing but dust bunnies, or perhaps a few stray Fade bunnies, lurk in silence. 

“Dear,” he murmurs, glancing down at her. “We ought to move.” He gives her a gentle nudge, even tries to rise himself, but she’s not having it. 

“Oh, but you look so good here,” she protests, her voice dripping with mock innocence. “They’re all asleep, Emmrich. Even Lucanis, that kitchen rat, is probably curled up in his pantry right now, snuggling his precious wheel of parmesan.” 

Emmrich lets out a long, put-upon sigh, like he’s reaching deep into his reserve of patience, maybe for some scolding remark, but he finds none. His shoulders drop as he finally relents, letting her kisses chip away at his restraint. She leans in, her voice dropping to a sultry whisper, detailing exactly what she wants him to do with those hands of his—where she wants those fingers, how she wants them stroking, filling, plunging, curling… 

“Well then,” he manages, and she laughs, a short, wicked little sound, straight into his mouth. 

She slips down his body, her hands already at his waist, working his trousers loose with a grin that says she knows exactly how flushed he’s become. She murmurs something obscene, barely a whisper and almost incoherent, her smirk widening as she leans in closer, taunting, “Come on, Emmrich, don’t tell me no bone was ever… poked… in that crypt of yours, right out in the open for all to see.” 

“It’s the Grand Necropolis,” he corrects, like that’ll somehow keep his dignity intact, “and we most certainly do not… poke.”

She undoes the last of the many - too many - buttons on his trousers before freeing him just enough to take him in hand. And oh, would you look at that, for all of his posturing he's already hard. All that wriggling on top of him certainly led to something, she thinks.

“Oh?” she hums, tracing her fingertips over his bare skin, savoring the way he stiffens under her touch. She leans forward, her lips brushing against his length as she murmurs, “Not even a quick tumble between the tombs? Not a single bone used for inspiration?” 

His restraint crumbles as she flicks her tongue over him, taking her time, drawing out each little shiver, each catch in his breath, making sure he’s utterly undone before she finally lets her mouth close around him, her gaze locked on his as she starts to take him deeper, her mouth warm, wet, greedy. And as she feels him sink back, his hands clenching in her hair, she knows she’s finally broken that perfect composure, and she couldn’t be more pleased. 

Then she pulls back just enough to speak. “So, tell me, is this what you meant by reanimation techniques?”

Emmrich sighs, dragging his free hand over his face as if he could somehow block out the utter cringe tumbling out of her mouth, his fingers twitching, though she doesn’t give him a moment’s peace. She lowers her head again, sucking him in, hollowing her cheeks, before releasing him yet again, his cock slipping past her lips with an obscene, wet pop. “You know," she muses, "I’d say you’re looking rather stiff.”

A sharp exhale escapes him, a half-laugh, half-moan that only encourages her further. She picks up her pace, taking him deeper, her hands braced against his hips as she moves with a steady rhythm, doing that little thing with her tongue she knows he likes, she knows that everyone likes, a talent truly, swirling all the way around, pressing it flat on the underside of his cock, only to suck her way up, breathe hot air against him, before swallowing him again. 

Between every few breaths, she pulls back just enough to taunt him, her voice syrupy with mock innocence. She can barely hold back the laughter as she watches him react, his hips bucking ever so slightly with each tease, like clockwork, so deliciously predictable. “Come on, love. I thought resurrection was your specialty?”

“Blasphemy,” he mutters above her, though there’s no real heat in his voice. 

“No, no.” She rests her cheek against his thigh, stroking him instead with a slow, deliberate touch, her palm warm and slick, her grip firm. “Think of it as… a rather intensive course in raising the dead.”

The absurdity of it hits her right as she says it—her last attempt at an erotic pun officially surpassed—and she breaks, a snort escaping as she buries her face against his leg, her shoulders shaking with laughter. 

But then she feels his hands shift, pulling her up by her arms, and she yelps, startled, before giggling as he hauls her up, settling her right back on top of him. 

“That’s quite enough of that,” Emmrich whispers. 

As he catches his breath, she wipes her mouth, grinning at him with all the smug satisfaction of someone who’s just completely dismantled a man who prides himself on his restraint. She feels his fingers on her chin as he angles her face back towards his so he can kiss her and she's not shy, she tangles her tongue with his immediately, tasting as much of him as she can reach, even tracing the edge of one canine before retreating for breath. 

“Think you could, I don’t know…” She waves a hand around aimlessly. “Necromance my pants away?” 

He smiles, curling her hair around his fingers where it frames her face. “No, dear. I’m afraid that is not in my skill set.”

[stop-breaking-my-heart-dragonage]

You mentioned you romanced Lucanis, how do you feel about Neve x Lucanis getting together if you don't romance either of them?

It's fine, I guess.

I romanced Davrin on my first playthrough, and I'll be honest, Neve and Lucanis getting together came out of no where for me. After the scene played, I realized that I rarely had them together in my party, and if I had, it'd probably make more sense. Or have more chemistry.

I left that scene like, "...What just happened? Oh well, good for them, I guess, have fun!"

I had Neve in my party a lot [Davrin and Neve were my go-to duo], and Lucanis was unfortunately benched until it was time to do his quests... which is really ironic, like if you had asked me who my least favorite companion was at the end of that first playthrough, it would've been Lucanis.

It doesn't help that I saved Minrathous, so I missed out on some of his personal quests, too.

I didn't dislike him or anything... though learning about Spite did have me throw him off the table of potential love interests because that Anders Romance Trauma [affectionate] kicked in and I said, "noooooo, I'm not doing that again, you cannot make meeee-"

Which, again.... ironic. Because he crawled his way back onto the table and made me feel things. It healed some parts of me. But also did more damage. It's complicated, like being an andersmancer makes it a whole other discussion for another day.

I will say, I saw a lot of talk about Neve and Lucanis prior to doing his romance which made me wonder if it was another Isabela and Fenris "Isabela bad because she USES Fenris if you don't romance him" situation where players are weirdly jealous and take it out on the female character... which uh oh.

Yeah, I can honestly say I never felt "threatened" by Neve while pursuing Lucanis. I brought them out and about several times, waited to see if they'd flirt or anything, or give me a reason to feel that he liked her more than my Rook, and like... It's not just a Neve and Lucanis thing.

It's more to do with Rook feeling like an outsider within the group who isn't allowed to interact with their companions until the game tells them to. Walking around the lighthouse feels really lonely sometimes because you're just approaching your friends, listening to their conversations, and then they look at you like "....can we help you?" and you just... walk away. Also the visual during team meetings where everyone is sitting together with Rook on the other side by themselves with only Assan sitting at their feet...

...again, topic for another day.

Anyway, aside from that? No, I never felt like they crossed a line for me that would make feel like they liked each other better than Rook. If there is banter that does, then I didn't get it.

There was this really sweet banter after I locked his romance in though, the one where Neve commented on Lucanis smiling more and making sure he recognizes that he's happy with Rook. That only endeared me to Neve more than I already was, I adore her.

But if I'm not romancing either of them? Let them have their fun, y'know?

[utilitycaster]

So to answer why I went with Treviso instead of Minrathous: I went in knowing the following.

You must choose to save either Minrathous or Treviso

This will cause either Neve or Lucanis, depending on your choice, to become upset with you and leave the group for a while, and when they return they will be harder to please and will not use their healing abilities anymore.

Romancing Lucanis is permanently blocked if you save Minrathous, but romancing Neve is NOT blocked if you save Treviso, though it’s harder

If you are a Crow or Shadow Dragon and save the other city the faction and the character will be particularly angry.

Lucanis and Neve will, if you don’t romance either of them, enter a relationship with each other, which intrigued me.

I also had read Tevinter Nights (has Neve and Lucanis stories in it) and listened to Vows and Vengeance so I had like, an outline of them as people, and I was aware of Spite as a concept.

Anyway. You see both Minrathous and Treviso before the attack, and at the time I did prefer Treviso (Minrathous city of fucking ladders) though I liked both. Because I knew Lucanis was far more broken up about the loss of Treviso than Neve would be of Dock Town, I had already decided on Treviso. I also do find Lucanis's argument more compelling, ie, Treviso will fall without help whereas Dock Town has people to fight.

I also, despite some things I've said in the past, don't dislike angst provided it comes with real tragedy as well, and so on some level it was very much a situation of "oh, I'm finding Neve EVEN MORE COMPELLING than originally stated, which was very? let me put her through the wringer." Like, again, hardened Neve is much less brittle - she doesn't break like Lucanis apparently does, she just grows colder, and she feels, for a long while, more justified in her cynicism. (I also think that women in fiction are increasingly allowed to explore anger or insecurity or self-loathing- and Harding and Bellara's stories are both very much about those - but rarely are women allowed to be both heroic and bitter. Again, I joke about all those plucky gingers with swords from my childhood and how formative they were, and they were! But a lot of the uglier emotions like bitterness and cynicism are still frequently not granted to heroic female characters, and letting Neve immerse herself fully in that for a while feels very refreshing.

As for specifically why it makes a better story, just to move this from the post where I initially mentioned it, I think it's a much more satisfying story for Neve to initially have her worst fears/beliefs proven (you can only rely on yourself, people will let you down, your work will never matter) and then slowly and patiently disproven. I think her notable softening after you work for her trust again hits better if you had lost it. Whereas for Lucanis it never really comes back (also, I cannot stress enough how good Inner Demons is; I believe the corresponding Neve quest you lose with the choice is The Soul of A City and I can't speak to it but Inner Demons is truly incredible).

I'll also note, as I spent more time in Dock Town post-dragon I fell in love with it. The influences are heavily Black Sea region, which has been a longtime personal interest (architecture and vibe is somewhat Istanbul; Neve mentions a Georgian dish, khachapuri) and it also kind of reminds me through the detective story elements and the broad region of The City and the City by China Mieville, a novel I love dearly which takes place in a fictional pair of overlapping cities that are vaguely Black Sea/Balkans coded. But also it's taken a heavy hit but it's nowhere near as bad, from what I understand, as blighted Treviso - Minrathous takes a heavy hit but the result is Venatori crackdown on the Shadow Dragons and increased hold on the city whereas Treviso just kind of collapses. It's much more interesting to have a devastating setback but not hopelessness, and the vibe of post-dragon Dock Town is fascinating (and, to be honest, kind of a big mood). Also the Viper trying to take down as many Venatori as he can before the Blight gets him is fucking metal and a great Mercer role in a game with three great Mercer roles.

So yeah, hard to compare since I've only seen one option and I'm mid-game, but so far the narrative of saving Treviso in terms of the stories of the cities, factions, and characters involved feels much more satisfying.

[3gremlins]

i started another rook and i really didn't intend to make them so "i want that twink obliterated" but uh my hand slipped XD

this is björn ingellvar* (they/he, but sadly the game doesn't let you use mixed pronouns so i just use they/them in game) which just means bear and i realize they're not terribly bear like in appearance, but i think i'll rp it in personality more (ill be honest i liked the sound of it mostly and it had a meaning i can work with). Ingellvar was hard to pair with (i did consider making them a grey warden but i didn't vibe with thorne just yet and the mournwatch aspirational armor is kinda neat) Anyway they're a mourn watch warrior and so far a little more diplomatic/charismatic than my crow rogue rook. I had sort of thought to either romance bellara or emmerich this time round, but now i'm considering neve (trying to make myself make different choices! still an elf but eh). it's weird b/c when i started my other rook i didn't like any of the voices other than erika ishii's for them and this time i gravitated to one of the masc ones instead. so funny how characters shape themselves a bit, it's like oh this came together this way and now this voice is the one that is right. *various DA reddit threads suggested that nevarra is partially prussian inspired which does track with emmerich being an old german name. I spent several hours pouring through old german names which do also have a lot of cross pollination with various scandinavian names on several name etymology websites. Technically the german variant would be bjoern but whatever.

early thoughts on warrior: it feels a lot more underpowered than rogue from the outset. The weapon type swapping is a lot more awkward- rogue just uses r2 on controller to swap between knives and bow which feels really natural and fluid (and how a lot of other modern rpgs work, so you expect it). The war/mage use the d-pad to swap and it's just not as good of a feel (tho it is an interesting choice? the warrior swaps between sword & board and two handed, and mage swaps between staff and knife w/orb). i was def a bit like oh am i screwed, do i not get a ranged attack? but you sort of do (i think it would have been fine if war had arrows but i can see why they wanted to make it different) I like the idea of the captain america shield throw, but having to charge it up feels kind of bad (esp coming from the rogue where you just shoot your bow until you run out of arrows). Would have been better to have the shield throw just do something like that. (started towards the mourn watch tree and the shield throw is feeling better but wish it was better out of the gate you know?)

blocking is also a lot more important to the war kit and i'm bad at it (didn't really need to do it on rogue, just dodge quickly a lot) so we'll see if i can even stick to this. i don't want to block things except with my head, game. warrior also doesn't feel especially tanky per se, idk. doing this one on adventurer mode again but might turn it down (tbh rogue felt so op at the end there, i prob could have turned up the difficulty and been okay. maybe another future rogue rook if i'm ever feeling like a challenge ). i'm intrigued by the specializations (esp reaper i think) and i do think it'll get more fun as i unlock more skillz, but out of the gate a little clunky (i also started a mage rook and they also feel a bit weak compared to rogue. might like war more than mage for once??).

>>>> 2nd pt endgame knowledge spoilers behind cut!!! do not click if you haven't finished the game at least once! <<<<

playing this a second time and knowing everything you can actually spot the Varric CLUES early. There's a point where you're talking to solas in that first fade convo and he actually cuts himself off from saying that varric is dead, like you get the TINIEST hint of the "de" before solas elongates it into it a "is good at his own half truths".

also in conversations with harding her palpable sadness hits harder and her dialogue makes a lot more sense. When neve comes into the recovery room to talk to you the first time (i think it's whoever was injured?), she doesn't even look at varric and talks over him a teeny bit too. It's really subtle, they did a good job of laying clues you wouldn't catch unless you knew (at least for me, idk maybe yall were onto them sooner lol)

[trulycertain]

Finished Veilguard about a week back. My thoughts on the character writing (massive spoilers herein):

The character writing... feels like DA2 to me. Not enough time and too much internal upheaval. The characters are fascinating and I like them! But they're sketches - albeit often beautiful, interesting ones - not finished paintings. (Origins and Inquisition's definitely feel like paintings to me.)

It's not about writing ability. A lot of old hands who wrote beloved stuff were on here. Trick Weekes, obviously, who gave us Solas and Bull and so much other good stuff; Sheryl Chee (who wrote Leliana and Isabela and has my hat forever for them); Brianne Battye, who wrote Cullen in DAI, whose arc I adored; Mary Kirby got to write Varric and part of Lucanis; Sylvia Fetekeuty gave us the beautiful, tightly-worldbuilt quests and politics like Orzammar, and In Hushed Whispers - heck, she wrote Josephine… I honestly just think it's a lack of time and clear direction due to so many game leads being in and out.

I love all the intra-crew interaction, it's really awesome to see. I like that I can tell companions have their friends and favourites and smoochfellows (I'll be honest, I did not call Taash/Harding, I thought for sure Taash and Davrin would end up with something going on, though I also did not call Neve/Lucanis and judging from their friendship, I bet that romance would be wonderful - they're probably my favourite team to take out other than either of them with Emmrich, or Bellara + Emmrich - I love magic talk.) The team meetings are a great idea that reinforce that. Also, I really love the fact that companion banters will play in the Lighthouse too (I realised after I reloaded and got a similiar conversation post-coming back that it's the same as banter when you're out walking - so it'll advance with personal quests, and if there's a pairing you don't usually take out with you, you still get a chance to catch the odd interesting chat). I do wish it were still a three companion team, though - even more because of this. I also love the tiny things, like Lucanis adjusting his meals for the fact Rook is a tea drinker and Emmrich is a veggie. (God do I relate to "vegetarian who talks relentlessly about their special interest while others sigh and takes a while to work out what to do when flirted with".) I love that companions pick up their banter again if it's interrupted by fights! Wonderful quality-of-life improvement thing, and also a bit more realistic feeling. People get bored and talk, and wonder things while they're wandering.

I absolutely love the plot of this game. I think it follows through on so many ideas in such a cool way, and I love Solas in this game, and the art and performances are beautiful. It has lots of respectful, loving tie-ins to the past games and clearly is thinking about them. I just think the companions, much like DA2, are fantastic ideas that just needed a bit of time.

I mean, let's take Neve - my romance, trope catnip for me in "tired mage who's not afraid to just deck someone, PI, stoic, normally male tropes applied to female chars, sharp-dressed" - as an example. Veilguard does more natural conversation flow - you can't sit and quiz companions on their selves and backstories like a job interview. But because you only get investigation options in chats anyway, you only get to ask companions about stuff they want to talk about. Which means with Davrin all you'll know is Wardens and Assan, mostly, but you can at least ask him about his past. With Neve, all you get is Dock Town, depression and fish.

I found out a lot about her backstory and family after my first playthrough - because you only get that through banters and taking out the exact right team. DA2 did this too, and it was a sign of rushed writing. As opposed to DAO and DAI, where you have their basic conflicts sketched out for you, but banters add colour, context and nuance - but regardless of team you take out, you get the basics. And they'll tell you stuff, if you ask and show interest.

Lucanis, Neve and Harding talk far more amongst themselves about some actually pretty key stuff, but not to Rook - unlike Emmrich, Taash and Davrin, who when you've spoken to them long enough will tell you a bit about them, and you can go, "Oh, I see how they got like that." Like, Neve is laetan from a soporati mostly templar family, and that elevation of having a sudden mage in the family basically tore her family apart nearly as badly as Fenris'. The class and mage stuff is major to her self-identity and why she's in Dock Town. But despite her fondness of Dock Town, her accent has no class markers except "posh London" and none of this comes up if you don't take exactly the right team out; I found some of this out through Reddit, of all places.

Now, you may say, "Isn't that replay value?" I'd argue not, when you're in an RPG that sells itself on its ensemble cast. Neve's introductory dialogue establishes that she's Minrathous and really cares about her city. And that she's a PI. The rest… is plot exposition. And it mostly carries on being exposition, albeit in a stylised way. So she has a liking for fancy hats, is pessimistic and is exhaustedly principled and love-hates Minrathous… but you knew that in her first five minutes. Even the fried fish thing, which exemplifies her love for the city and how she's grounded even though she's a mage? Ten hours in at least. And even if you play a Shadow Dragon who is also from a military family and felt left out? You get more opportunities to talk about that with Tarquin than Neve.

By contrast, here are some examples of character details that were well-done replay/"thanks for paying attention" value:

I adored many char moments, like her being wary of Emmrich but liking Manfred - calling him "Fred" - and eventually warming to them both, and her helping Taash out on gender and recognising some of this because she knew Mae and Tarquin, and Lucanis trying to feed her something healthy… but other than the middle part, all of this pretty important character growth is in easily missable banters. DA2 did this too and it drove me nuts. I took her everywhere with me because I liked her so much! And I still knew none of her backstory. Because Tevinter Nights and banter fill it in. You learn very little; you'll come out of the game thinking exactly the same of her as you did at the start. She's beautiful and every trope she's made out of is gold and her actor has a gorgeous voice, but compare a character like… heck, not even Dorian - Sera, or Bull, who offered new perspectives on Ferelden and the Qun (post-Blight and working-class, Ben Hassrath). Neve has an arc so tangled with her city that it feels like you should have got more of a glimpse of everyday working class Tevinter life through her, which I would love to see explored, and you just… don't. Noir PIs are tied to their cities, the one is a metaphor for the other, and it feels like they did that metaphor so much better with Hawke as a battered allegory for Kirkwall.

In Inquisition, let's say you never talk to Dorian past recruiting him. You never even find out he's arguing with his dad, never mind that he's gay. You still get that he's a very gifted mage, pretends to be arrogant, let down by his mentor and "not everything from Tevinter is terrible." You don't get his family history, that he hates the cold and has allergies, the nerdy magical talk, the necromancy nerdery… but you get a sampler plate of "preens, principled, proud Tevinter mage". You get a good picture even if it's incomplete.

In some ways, you actually get to know the Viper better if you choose Treviso. Less overall interaction, maybe, but you get that great scene with him mourning the dead and his response to him being Blighted, and the stuff with Antoine and Evka. And then you get that codex upon his kidnapping confirming his family name, but you have to have been paying attention to the lore to know why him being a Vesperian is such a big deal. You still know who he is and why he's here even if you barely interact with him, though.

I also loved, on Tarquin, that you get to know a bit more about him either way, but it's only if you save Minrathous that you get to know just how sad he is about the Viper not trusting him, how much they talk, the fact he's the tired admin - such a mood - and the fact he's not cis. You've shown your commitment to the Dragons by then, it's not just trotted out as a basic "getting to know you" thing with a character who isn't otherwise loud and proud. Whichever city you save, the finale confirms he's actually probably a mage, too - you see him using what looks like frost/accuracy magic, briefly. My guess is that either a: like Felix, he wasn't strong enough in it to achieve much rank b: he was limited by class c: his dad went, "Nope, if you're a man, you're a soldier now.")

Those two Veilguard choices felt like such great replayability. Like I said with DAI's banters: you get the basics, but certain choices you make give you access to new info which suddenly recontextualises and illuminates things for you. I particularly enjoyed talking to Tarq as a fellow Shadow Dragon from a fellow military family. The tired wry understanding felt very real.

I really like the whole cast, but the most... I don't know, finished? characters feel like Solas, Emmrich, Bellara and Tash. Perhaps Davrin, though he still needed a little time. I adore Lucanis (and startlingly, may like Spite even more!) but I definitely feel like he needed more time and writer stability. Emmrich lets you in on his fears and his worries a good while after knowing him, and also lets on that he's grown up in the Necropolis and it's all he knows, and that he spent time talking to spirits and was more in tune with them as a kid than most. That's not structured as an exposition dump. You have to do his personal quests to see them, but they're very much "friend decides to let Rook in on something, embarrassedly" and "come to see my favourite place". The spirits you meet are as part of other side quests and that stuff comes up naturally. Taash's intro tells you right off their mum is constantly criticising them and doesn't like them "acting butch", that criticism is due to their mum being very Qunari, and that they're really into dragons. If you pursue their quests, you get them coming out, a thorough discussion of how they feel about this stuff, them being a jerk with Emmrich, their bluntness getting them into trouble sometimes, and certain rituals and friendships in the Lords being influenced by it. So you get told all that, sure… but you also get to see it spread and ripple. There's an arc. And almost all of that you can get even without the "right" banter. Davrin's Dalish background is relevant to the plot and is a matter-of-fact part of who he is, but if you pursue his quests you get to find out about him working out whether to hide/suppress the gentler parts of himself, that he was an adorable kid, that he's into whittling, and that he's very no-nonsense about the Evanuris' bullshit because he is a stoic who gets the job done and his Warden identity takes priority, even while his Dalish upbringing informs his personality and his hunts (imo this was very well done).

You might say, "But isn't 'Characters stand around telling you their tragic backstory' the BioWare Problem?" Yeah, sure! But there's a natural build with these above examples. And shoving stuff into banter is still telling, not showing; there's no writerly sleight of hand there, either. I'd also argue that one of the reasons people have often spoken about Emmrich looking out for their Rook, or having more connection with their Rook, is that his chats with them are written much more in the Inquisition style than Veilguard's, though there are some exceptions.

Another thing: characters rarely interject/add their tuppence in quests compared to the other games, has anyone noticed this? That also gives me fewer chances to clock their stances on things, or whether they hide behind snark, or their pet issues. Same with location comments/colour commentary, which are such a tiny thing but really do help with a feeling of reactivity (BG3 did this great, but it's a very different genre and devcycle, so I'm just gonna compare past BioWare). There's no "Smell the oppression" in the Gallows or "Should've brought a sweater" in Noveria or "It must have been some time since templars [in the Hinterlands] faced a mage of any talent" or… most of Garrus and Miri bitching about Omega. I can think of, maybe two? (Half of Fenris' interjections were a slightly more complex, "ugh, I don't give a shit, can we get back to hunting slavers", but you still caught that he hated blood mages, liked the Guard and Isabela, and had an incredibly dry sense of humour.)

That lessening of dialogue, to me, points to a lack of time. My theory is the plot was laid out and carefully tooled, and companions were written/rewritten last, when the timeline was tight. As folks have pointed out: for all his faults, Gaider was famously a tight lead who gave writers their favourite characters to encourage ownership and investment, said Weekes' concepts for Solas were fantastic but made them rewrite him several times because he was coming off so unlikeable, worked very closely with VAs and always got stuff in on time. Also, he has never said this, but Weekes and Busch have always said he did the vast majority of worldbuilding and pretty much all the reveals in the plot were stuff laid out in the writers' room during/after DAO, and Weekes has said they knew of this stuff and it was passed onto them. So I think a lot of it may be upheaval and his absence being… keenly felt. It always seemed like there was a lot more Gaider in DA (compare how many characters he wrote) than there was Drew Karpyshyn or Casey Hudson in ME. DA2 was still messy as hell even with him very much involved, though, so *shrug*.

I very much enjoyed Solas' dialogue, though. That felt all Weekes, and like they were at their most passionate. Bits of it felt very Mordin, actually.

I do think everyone did a fantastic job pulling together not just a coherent but enjoyable and at times very beautiful product after such a difficult devcycle. I would argue they did a much better job than with DA2. There's a lot of skill and thought in this. It feels much, much more finished than DA2. It's just a lot more "action" than "RPG" in terms of party mechanics and dialogue. That still makes it feel like a complete, enjoyable action-adventure game, whereas DA2 was much more RPG with a lot of its mechanics but felt indecisive and unfinished to the end. I also think it's a good intro to the series, though the first hour might be a bit confusing. You get a good intro to the Wardens and Mourn Watch and Tevinter. Also, I love Arlathan and I could write essays on why. It just felt like, unlike most DA entries, the plot was stronger than the people this time round.

[elcor-thespian]

The rule is for every hour I clean my house, I can spend one hour yapping about my digital children. SO:

I'm doing Rook and partner questions for each of my Rooks. One question at a time.

6) What are their favorite things to do together? Do they share any hobbies? Do they teach each other their hobbies?

Here are the couples:

Nephele Mercar (human rogue) - Lucanis

Nasreen Aldwir (elf mage) - Emmrich

Aleksei Laidir (elf rogue) - Bellara

Brenna Thorne (human warrior) - Davrin

Elspeth de Riva (dwarf warrior) - Harding

Konstantin Ingellvar (Qunari warrior) - Neve

Paloma (Qunari mage) - Taash

Nephele and Lucanis both cook, although she doesn't let him know that until they are officially together. Nephele is from Rivain and her cooking style reflects that, so they spend a lot of time experimenting in the kitchen together showing each other different recipes and techniques. Nephele has never been a good baker however, so Lucanis is trying to help her get better (it's not going well). But Nephele also sews, and she's trying to teach him and that's not going well either. She get's bored when trying to learn to knit and it doesn't make sense anyway because they live in Antiva WHEN are they going to wear all of these scarves and sweaters. Lucanis points out that she doesn't need to make her own clothes anymore either because they can pay someone to do it.

Nasreen because a rabid reader when she meets Emmrich. She's never felt one way or the other about reading, she just hasn't had consistent access to books. But she starts burning through his library and WHAT DO YOU MEAN that this isn't your full library? There's more?? As she's reading she's coming to him with questions which turn into long conversations and eventually (as she learns more) debates. What do you mean debating isn't a hobby? It is if you're doing it right. Also they both have an interest in plants, although Emmrich prefers flowers and she prefers poisonous and carnivorous plants. Nasreen also plays guitar and sings. Emmrich doesn't have any musical ability but he loves listening to her.

Aleksei is functionally illiterate which initially made him feel pretty out of his depth with Bellara. But he's not a quitter so he used it as a way to get closer to her and now they're working on hie reading and writing by writing stories together. He is however, naturally gifted in alchemy and chemistry, which is a fancy way of saying he can make shit that explodes. He also tinkers around with mechanical things. How did you think we got the gun for the Saboteur specialization? Bellara and Aleksei's first date.

Brenna and Davrin are that annoying ass couple that work out together and hike. I mean good for them. Just can't relate.

NEVER forget that Lace Harding was an official member of the Sing-quisition. NEVER. Can Elspeth sing? Not in the slightest. NEITHER of these idiots can cook, so most of the time they go out to eat and try new food in whatever city they've ended up in. Elspeth is really in to wine hand has a share in the Dellamorte Vineyards post-Veilguard (Lucanis was like, of sick, you want to take some of this responsibility off of me? Done.). She's not good at gardening (they are fighting for their life trying to keep a single succulent alive, so Lace helps with that aspect.

Konstantin is a talented charcoal artist and poet, but he absolutely does not share this. Neve finds out eventually, and shows him her doodles in her notes (you know the ones). Once he is officially assisting her detective work (He is her Watson and is THRILLED about it), he does composite drawings of suspects, sketches of crime scenes, etc. He also does a lot of reading (mostly history), and will read to Neve to help her relax.

Paloma and Taash is hard because they really are opposite people and I haven't played through the romance yet, and Paloma is the character I've played the least. Paloma and Taash do meditate together (for different reasons and with different results). I think Paloma does also get into the dragon stuff. I think it would be really hard to date Taash and not be in to dragons.

[crossdressingdeath]

Lucanis: Neve. In the Fade with Rook and Spite... you were there. I mean, not you, but... you know what I mean. You helped Rook. Sort of. Neve: Sort of? Well, isn't that flattering. At least I'm on your mind.

First, some housekeeping. If anyone comes on to this post to whine about how Veilguard was awful or claim Neve sucks or whatever the "waah the game wasn't what I wanted so it's garbage" complaint of the week is, you're getting blocked immediately. Fuck off. I'm sick of your shit. Second, this very much is not meant to say anything bad about Neve, mostly because... well, it's not really about her (hell, she isn't even there technically), it's more about how giving Lucanis any non-Rook LI plays with Inner Demons; Neve is just the non-Rook LI Bioware chose so she's the one whose name I'm using. Also: this is a very minor thing to complain about. I'm nitpicking. I know. But it's my blog and nitpicking amuses me so I'm doing it anyway. That said, let's get into it.

This is... an extremely generous description of what Neve does in Inner Demons. Or rather dream!Neve? Like Lucanis says, it's not really her. Anyway though, the thing is that dream!Neve does the same thing the other dream versions of Lucanis's family and friends do: she tells Rook to give up and insists that Lucanis is never getting out, and then when they refuse to give up on him she disappears. Which makes sense; the people ("people") we see in Inner Demons are as far as I can tell the darkest parts of Lucanis's mind spouting what he's afraid his friends and family think of him, they've got very little to do with the people themselves beyond potentially raising exaggerated concerns that Lucanis knows they had/have (for example Harding not initially trusting him). I mean, there's a reason why Rook eventually stops referring to them by name and just starts calling them Lucanis, they're parts of him and not the people they appear to be. Rook is different; they can act outside of those fears because they are themselves brought into the Ossuary in truth. Neve (or any other potential LI Lucanis could have; again, this isn't about Neve as a character, this would be a thing with any potential non-Rook LI) can't act outside of playing mouthpiece for those fears because that's not Neve!

I'm not saying Neve should've done something, to be clear; hell, I would've been annoyed if she had. Inner Demons is first about Lucanis's personal arc and second about how important Rook is to him! Having Neve suddenly show up and play a major role in the whole thing would a) weaken that relationship beat between Lucanis and Rook (there's a reason why all the major relationship beats between Rook and their companions are one on one, after all) and b) make very little sense in a Lucanismance/Nevemance run where they don't end up together, given their platonic relationship doesn't have much content (except in banter, which shouldn't be relied on since obviously not everyone will get it in a given run) and would leave her feeling like a pretty random choice (meta knowledge aside) compared to other options. Not to mention Neve's dynamic with Lucanis when they get together is different than his dynamic with Rook when romanced; she doesn't need to get in his head to help like that because her relationship with him is different than Rook's, that's fine. It's good even, it'd feel like a lazy copy of his romance path if they just slotted her into Rook's romance scenes with him.

The issue for me is that Lucanis is saying "oh you helped" when... she didn't. No "sort of" about it, she objectively did not help. She wasn't even there and that dream version of her just told Rook to give up on him until they refused same as the others did. If Bioware wanted to say Neve was helping Lucanis with his problems that could've happened in a cutscene between them! That would've been really nice, actually! They also could've just left it unsaid but safe to assume (the stupidity of the fandom aside) and that also would've been fine. But by having Lucanis go "Oh you helped! Sort of!" it feels kind of like... they're grasping at straws? Trying to make her seem more relevant to that sequence of events than she actually was? And to be fair that might be intentional and it's Lucanis doing that in-universe, but I just don't think trying to insert her into Inner Demons after the fact really... works, even if it is supposed to be Lucanis doing it. I honestly think that just not having this banter would've been better; hell, replace it with a mention that Lucanis went to Neve to discuss the events of Inner Demons at some point after the fact! That would've been great, have him actually make the choice to talk to her specifically about it! But Neve did not help during Inner Demons, that's not a bad thing (and hardly her fault given she wasn't there), and there was really no need to try to insert her into it after the fact. Let her have her own relationship with him and help him with this in her own way! Maybe it's just that it reminds me of those fics where people shove one half of their preferred ship into the other half's canonical emotional moments with someone else and call it a good romantic moment for their ship and those are a real pet peeve of mine, but this banter rubs me up the wrong way.

[livingthedragonlife]

ROOK ASK GAME WOOO!! ANOTHA ONE! 7, 9,15, 16

YIPPEEEEE

[the ask game in question]

[my Rook, real name Valonril, also Val, I use all 3 interchangeably. Important for this game in particular, he romanced Davrin]

7. Are they a physically affectionate couple? Are they fine displaying those affections in public or do they prefer to be in private? If they're not, how do they prefer to show their love instead?

Yes, they are! Because it makes me happy and that’s the only excuse I need!

Rook has good days and bad days when it comes to touching, especially if dysphoria levels are high. Far more often than not, Davrin is a Safe Touch person, even on bad days when he otherwise wouldn’t let anybody else touch him. On good days, he would be happy to be glued to Davrin’s side for hours at a time, and often is. And Davrin “hand does not leave your thigh after the first kiss I stole because I was too excited to let you finish the sentence” Dragonage is more than happy to oblige this. Davrin “gives you a massage as foreplay” Dragonage, they also do that.

In public, they are the couple that is outwardly very professional about it, but once you start looking closer you notice they’re always touching each other somehow. Holding hands, touching the lower back, head on shoulder, they hook their ankles under the table, they always conveniently stand close enough to touch arms. They find invisible things to fix about each other’s outfits. They’re whispering when they think nobody’s paying attention. Or even if they are, honestly.

9. Does your Rook bring them out often? How are they like on the battlefield? Do they banter much?

So the meta answer is that my regular party was almost always my Rook (elf, rogue), Davrin, and Bellara. I would shake it up if I was fighting something that didn’t work well with that set, or if I was going to a particular character’s area, I would usually bring them no matter what the quest was, but most of the time I was Elf Squad.

In-universe answer: Due to how inseparable they are, Davrin will often volunteer to come on whatever mission, and most of the time Val is going to ask him first anyway. It’s an excuse for Assan to get some practice in, too, so everybody wins!

On the field, they work well together! This is partly because they use combat sparring as foreplay, but also because it’s a lot easier for a rogue to stab people when a warrior is soaking up all the attention. There have been times where they keep track of their “score” to one up each other. They absolutely have banter, and every time Davrin whips out the “not bad… for a veil jumper!” Val immediately has to find a situation in which he can either 1) unquestionably save his ass, like killing a guy he didn’t notice or 2) one-up him in a particularly flashy way.

15. What was the partner's reaction to Rook being imprisoned in the Fade? How did they cope? How did they react upon seeing Rook again?

Davrin really strikes me as a “he’s not dead until I see the body,” type. Rook switched places with Solas (I assume the companions figure this out while you’re gone), and Solas was alive in the Fade, therefore Rook is not dead, and we will keep looking until we find him. And though he promised not to chop anymore wood… he does start a few carvings, to go with those he lost as Weisshaupt. One for Harding, of course. One for Neve (since they don’t know she’s alive). He starts one for Rook, too. Just in case. He makes a point of never finishing it.

I know we don’t get to see what happens immediately after Rook gets pulled out of the Fade Prison and just skip right to the meeting in the library, but honestly? The ONLY thing I wanted was a group hug. Davrin and Assan jump on Val first, and crush his bones. Everyone else follows.

16. How did your Rook react to getting trapped in the Fade and separated from their partner?

Okay so the first thing Val did when he got his bearings was come up with a list of new and colorful things to call Solas. He had to go full rage mode for a second.

A bit later, when it sets in, when he realizes where he is… There’s panic. There’s dread. There’s a lot of “fuck. fucking shit. okay. shit. fuck.” Harding and Neve just died for them, he’s worried about the rest of the team, the world, the fact that Solas clearly does not have their best interests at heart and now he’s FREE. He’s mad at himself for letting Solas get into his head enough to actually cut him some slack, maybe if he’d been more of a hardass this wouldn’t have happened.

And of course he’s thinking about Davrin, about the promise they both made to fight like hell to get back from Tearstone Island alive. Alive, together, and with a future. Rook is distraught about so many things at the same time right now, but he made a promise. He’s still alive, but he made a promise, he’s not dead yet, so he has to come back alive. It was the very fine thread he held onto hope and sanity with.

[sucksinlosers]

More Emcanis stuff for @shinylayatha (if I say it enough I won't feel embarrassed about doing it for myself, too!) (Grouped these together because they made sense together in my head!)

How long does it take for them to officially get together? Did any of the other Lighthouse members have any suspicions beforehand?

A while. These are both people with emotional baggage up the whazoo, and they are both very… not good at dealing with them for their own, personal reasons.

I subscribe to the theory I've seen floating around here that Illario probably fucked with Lucanis a lot as they were growing up out of jealousy, and probably still does. Little jabs to make him insecure, get under his skin. “A kiss goodbye? How would you even know? Have you seen her, cousin? Woman like that, she's seen and heard it all. This is not like one of your little romance novels, Lucanis.”

Em, meanwhile, isn't used to attachments. There was no room to get attached when she was still enslaved, and, as a pirate, you don't stay in one place long enough to put your roots down. Dating someone in your crew makes them lose respect (If they see you with your legs spread and your ass in the air, right Isabela?), if they're not already trying to sleep with you just to get ahead or more easily stab you in the back.

That said, it'd be difficult for the team not to notice that something is up. Taash and Neve are among the first who have them figured out, maybe even before they do - before the near-kiss in the pantry, at any rate. Em and Lucanis just... kind of gravitate toward each other. At any rate, they dance around each other for the longest time. I don't think they consider themselves ‘together’ together until after the Prison of Regret, but by then the whole team has clocked that, yeah, these two are down bad for each other.

Who says "I love you" first? What is the other's reaction? Who thinks it first? 

Em wants to say it, before Tearstone, but Lucanis doesn't let her. They're both on edge, both nervous about the mission in front of them, nervous about their feelings and how those complicate things. Em tries writing her feelings out instead, but that doesn't go very well, either, and… well. Tearstone.

They don't wind up saying the actual words until before the final battle in Minrathous, and Lucanis says it. It's not a shock to Em at this point - these idiots have gone through a lot, and I… I like the idea that their exchanges of “I have you, don't I?” “You do.” are kind of ‘I love you's for them anyway. 

She does kiss him for good measure undoubtedly to the 'scandalized' amusement of Dorian and the Inquisitor close by, rests her forehead against his, and whispers it back against his lips. That's probably the first time they're this physically affectionate in public (discounting the hug they share when the Veilguard pulls Em out of the Fade).

Lucanis thinks it first, though. After the near-kiss, and then it's in a panic. But honestly, genuinely, after Inner Demons. Em has seen the worst parts of him, the things he fears most, and not only does she team up with Spite to help him, she takes his face in her hands and tells him it's okay. That she's not leaving. That this, all of this, is still a mess she wants to be in, because it's him.

[mushstump]

No one asked but I will talk about my rooks anyway. First one is Helena.

File:

Warrior from the crow faction, didn't romanced anyone from the team (actually I did, but I don't consider canon bc I just want Neve's cookie really bad)

Saved treviso

In the story, romances Teia and Viago

She is in her late 30's

Codename: troy

Helena Almandir was a former marine from the Alliance, N7 Vanguard and her job was do the dirty job. She became an spectre but the news were kept quiet bc of her job still being essentially spy and assassinations. Helena parents, an Egyptian man and a Greek woman, were both marines and she grow up mostly in Arcturus. She had a little brother called Hector and was friends with Commander Shepard. In the reaper war, Helena helped the woman as much as she could.

Helena Almandir was listed MIA in the reaper war along with her ship. Helena Almandir and her ship, Ithaca, fell into Thedas and was heavily damaged. All crew died in the impact and Helena was heavily wounded, only saved by health potions and Teia.

Here is where it starts, Teia and Viago in a job saw the strange star crashing and went to see what it was. When they arrived, most of the bodies, clearly not from Thedas and not demons, were aligned and next to the last of them was a wounded woman, her helmet was broken and her strange clothes were almost completely destroyed. They helped her, not sure why but they needed to understand what happened.

All that survived from this crash was Helena tags, a photo of her old life and her gun, a pistol.

Story goes by, and Viago and Teia manage to help Helena become part of the society in Thedas, even making her. A Crow after they heard what she used to do. Neither of them had illusions of Helena ever completely heal from her past, a human from the stars, who saw her crew die and didn't knew her family and friends were alive, or even if they won the war. But life didn't stop

In seven years, Teia, Viago and Helena sexual tension would grow so much that eventually it exploded and the three of them started a relationship. Full of drama, but the only certain of the three was that neither of them would let the other one get hurt.

Ten years later, Helena still mess up sometimes in common senses and if people looked twice they would see something strange. Varric and Harding saw it, but kept quiet thinking she was an ex templar.

When the dragon attacks, Neve saw the absolute panic in Helena's eyes and she knew that Minthratous wouldn't be the chosen one. Ir hurts for her that her best friend didn't help, but she couldn't put the blame it on Helena.

Veilguard team discover the truth after Weisspauht, fights happened and neither of the team was prepared for a hardened Helena.

"I've been in a war that it looked like there wasn't any hope. And we fought anyways. I don't know if we won the war, I pray every night for the answer be yes. But I won't let this happen here, whatever it takes"

Let's just say that Renegade route was a thing, dismissing the racist and genocide thing.

Details and Headcannons!

Helena is a biotic. In this AU I made that biotic is a material similar to lyrium so when she needs she takes lyrium potion like templars, her body hells her not to get addicted but it gives her really bad migraines so she almost never uses her biotics, besides having to act like a non mage human duh

Viago is angry at her bc she was careless and sent her way to dismiss the rumors about a woman with strange magic (dismiss means kill all the witnesses)

Teia likes to tease both of them, she kissed Helena first but Viago was the one that said the first "I love you"

Jakobus house becomes "House Madini" in honor to Helena. This little shit knows she is an alien but kept quiet so he wouldn't be grounded.

When Helena gets really homesick she drinks coffee and spend the day with her cat.

Helena broke part of the lyrium dagger and made three bullets with it to use her pistol on gods Solas is angry at her for doing that, but he can't hide the absolute horror of seeing Elganarn empty eyes with a hole in his forehead. He fears that he could be next. And he really would, if it was the bad ending.

Eventually, Bellara shows a prothean beacon asking if she knows what it it's and Helena uses for send a message to the space. She found a home in Tendas, but her soul won't heal until she knows what happened

(her brother is alive, Shepard too. But her parents died in Arcturus)

[thessalian]

Molly!Rook vs Winged Surprises

But first, back to the Surreal Estate for some reporting

Harding: Oh, you're back! How did the meeting with the First Warden go? And ... where's Rook?

Neve: Tinkering with something to calm down.

Bellara: Neve asked me to let Rook borrow the workshop for a bit. I've ... heard stories about them needing to calm down by tinkering with things, so when I saw that look on their face? I just ... went awaaaaaaaaay...

Harding: Sooooooooo didn't go well, then.

Lucanis: Leave us simply say that the idea of being imprisoned by the Grey Wardens had no appeal for any of us.

Harding: He wanted to arrest Rook?!? What did they say?!?

Neve: Oh, Rook was fine. That was the First Warden's plan from the start. If the Shadow Dragons hadn't brought in a certain Magister as backup--

Bellara: ...Wait. I didn't hear about this part! I thought we didn't like most of the magisters!

Harding: Sounds like Neve got Dorian involved. And since Rook's wanted to meet Dorian ever since some of Varric's stories...

Lucanis: It went a long way towards keeping them from burning the First Warden's moustache off his face, yes.

Neve: It helped that Dorian ran quite the bluff on the First Warden. I heard Rook talking with Elek in a way that suggests they appreciate bluffs, cons, and schemes in general. Upshot is that we're going to have to find a Grey Warden who's a little less...

Molly!Rook: *stomping into the kitchen* --Happy to live so far up his own ass that he's basically an ouroboros with feet?

Harding; Lucanis: ...Wut.

Bellara: It's actually a pretty clever insult if you've read through some of the notes we tripped over a few months back aaaaaaaaaand this isn't relevant.

Molly!Rook: Just to briefly go a whole different kind of not-relevant, Bellara - left you a shiny in your workshop as a thanks.

Bellara: Oh! Um ... thank ... you?

Molly!Rook: I don't know what stories you heard, but I promise I worked the kinks out.

Bellara: That's ... kind of reassuring...

Molly!Rook: Okay, so, Harding - do you think you could find us some Wardens who don't think I'm a feeble-minded con artist who needs locking up for their own good?

Harding: Right. Okay. There's a couple - literal couple - I could talk to. Buuuuuuuut ... they might be ... a bit much.

Molly!Rook: Define "a bit much".

Harding: Antoine and Evka kind of study the blight. And occasionally fight the blight with high yield explosives.

Molly!Rook: ...............

Harding: ...Too much?

Lucanis: No, that's their "I am seeing the gates of paradise" expression.

Harding: *raised eyebrows* And how do you know what their "I am seeing the gates of paradise" expression looks like?

Lucanis: ......*blush* I ... we went for coffee. Rook likes good coffee. And I know the best coffee.

Molly!Rook: You also know that I am standing right here. And you've seen one of my "I am seeing the gates of paradise" expressions. For others, you're gonna have to buy me dinner first.

Lucanis: .........I ... need to clear my head.

Harding: I did ask you not to romance the abomination.

Molly!Rook: And I did remind you that you are not the boss of me. Besides, he hasn't advocated any explosions, and the Chantry seems to be hiding under a rock until the whole huge theological clustermolest is over, and anyway we kind of want him to kill gods so heresy isn't even a thing. Anyway, please take me to the Kerboom-Wardens!

Later, somewhere in the Anderfels

Lucanis: I was surprised you brought me along. I thought perhaps Harding, as you spoke to the ... erm, "Kerboom-Wardens" ... in her company.

Molly!Rook: Eh, tough call, but I want the chance to practice that thing we've been working out. Knowing our luck, we'll encounter something that needs that level of our own Kerboom-- Liiiiike a tent full of blight.

Lucanis: We're not alone.

Molly!Rook: And darkspawn would just be attacking--

Assan: *dives down and gives a threatening squawk*

Molly!Rook: By Ghilan'nain's tentacular tits! A griffon!

Davrin: *from vantage point* By Ghilan'nain's what?

Molly!Rook: Yeaaaaah if you're Davrin, we've got a lot to tell you. And if you have a griffon? You've got a lot to tell us too.

Davrin: We've got a baker's dozen of griffons. But why don't we start with why you smell like darkspawn--

Molly!Rook: Excuse you; that's your tent.

Davrin: ...shit. And ... 'tentacle tits'?

Molly!Rook: You look like a man who needs to look for comrades, so why don't we walk and talk? I've got good at that the last few days.

Awhile later...

Davrin: Sooooooo ... our gods sort of aren't but sort of are and they're bringing a whole different flavour of blight out to play with. And ... you want that stopped. And the First Warden wasn't helping at all.

Lucanis: Quite the opposite, in fact.

Molly!Rook: Dealing with the gods might help you too, if a kind of darkspawn no one's ever seen is killing your people and trying to get your griffons.

Davrin: No offense, but you're... You have the look of someone who can barely lift a sack of potatoes, so how--?

Darkspawn: *attack*

Molly!Rook: *incinerates basically everything*

Davrin: ...............

Lucanis: That would be how, my friend. And they almost never save any for the rest of us--

Ogre-Thing: ROOOOOOOOOOAR.

Molly!Rook: *looks over at Lucanis* On three.

Lucanis: *grins* One.

Davrin: ...wut.

Molly!Rook: Twoooooo...

Davrin: WHAT ARE--?!?

Molly!Rook; Lucanis: THREE.

Molly!Rook; Lucanis: *pull off quite the combo and one-shot the Ogre-Thing*

Davrin: Right. You are definitely tougher than you look.

And, much later, on the way through the Crossroads

Molly!Rook: When we get back to the Surreal Estate, I'll see what some of our folks might have heard about this Gloom Howler thing. If it's blight-related, we've got me and Bellara to check old elven legends and Neve hears more than should be allowed and Harding has a few stories and--

Entire Remaining Party: *comes running up to the Fade dock*

Neve: There is a dragon attacking Minrathous!

Harding: Aaaaand we heard from the Crows that there's another one in Treviso.

Lucanis: They tend not to be far from their gods. Which means blight is not far behind. Treviso has no standing army, the Antaam probably sent the dragon and the gods an engraved invitation, and blight in the canals will poison half of Antiva!

Neve: With a dragon as distraction, the Venatori could take the Magisterium! Things are already bad there; they'll get worse if we don't go!

Molly!Rook: ...Fuuuuuuuuuck... Okay. Okay. ...I have to focus on the whole thing where half a country could get blighted if this keeps up.

Neve: ...What?!? Look, I have to at least try to help them over there! *runs off*

Molly!Rook: Neve--! If she'd let me finish... Well, fuck it; I'll say it anyway. Bellara, Harding, go after her; do what you can for Minrathous. We'll do the same for Treviso.

Davrin: Is splitting our forces a good idea right now?

Molly!Rook: No, but it's all we've got. We can't let either of them go without any help at all. I'm just sorry I've got the one thing that'll get their attention better than anything else.

Davrin: ...Which is...?

Treviso, what was probably a fancy courtyard once

Molly!Rook: *waving lyrium dagger* HEY YOU! YEAH, YOU; THE COIN PURSE WITH DELUSIONS OF STANDING! COME FETCH, YOU LAPDOG OF THE TENTACLE-TITTED WONDER OF SWEET FUCK ALL!

Davrin: Do ... they have a death wish?

Ice-Based Dragon: *lands*

Molly!Rook: Davrin! Get Assan to dive!

Davrin: ...Okay...

Weakened-Related Combo: *goes off without a hitch*

Davrin: ......

Molly!Rook: *unloads fire-based Ultimate DIRECTLY IN DRAGON-FACE*

Davrin: .........

Molly!Rook: Lucanis; we good for another shatter-combo?

Ghilan'nain: ...Oh, fine; get out of there, my precious! Stupid Fen'harel and his stupid lapdogs--

Molly!Rook: His lapdogs?!? You're the one calling a dragon to heel like a chihuahua in a mabari fight!

Lucanis: Rook ... they are gone. And ... I have no idea how to thank you. For all of that.

Molly!Rook: Thank me while we're heading to Minrathous. We might still be able to help.

Minrathous, later

Molly!Rook: *is in no way able to help*

Tarquin: *is a bit of a shit, honestly*

The Viper: *is graceful, even in the face of blight corruption*

Neve: *is basically crushed*

Molly!Rook: ...oh, tentacle-tits. Do I have time for a nap or a coffee before I have to talk to Egg-Face again?

Davrin: 'Tentacle-tits' is your new favourite phrase, isn't it. And if "Egg-Face" is who I think it is, make sure your wits are sharp as you can get them before going toe-to-toe with the Dread Wolf.

Lucanis: And there is always time for coffee.

Molly!Rook: *little grin* You get me, y'know?

[fuzzy-set]

I finished datv

Didn't expect a good ending for my Solas and Lavellan but damn they got one, and not gonna complain about that!

The Davrin/Harding choice is really what breaks my heart, on one hand I don't want to lose Davrin and Assan, but on the other hand the dwarven people needs Harding to recover more of what they lost.

Bellara was chosen to disable the wards and got blighted, but I am happy that the blight was gone later! Think that maybe Solas' work, but it's neat if he could do the same for warden commander and Anders? (And the Aramathine crew?)

Not so sure about forcing Mythal's fragment on Morrigan... If she was still, you know, her? She may say so but I can see how much her personality shifted from DAO. My warden commander loved her anyways, and they could probably figure out what to do about it. (I wish she could talk about him though. Even just a passing mention when she said she was a witch of the wilds.)

I like the twist involving Varric and the me2 style ending. I also like Emmrich's romance, it's well written and I didn't expect the lich ending to work. But it did! And I am happy about the cut scenes (ok I am biased here. I love liches). I also like Davrin, Bellara, Taash and Neve's personal quests. The gist of Taash's quest is very good, but the writer may want to invent another word for non binary (maybe in old Tevene or Qunlat) to help with the immersion. I feel like using that word straight out is too "moderny" and not suited to the fantasy feels. Harding's ok (I actually think Dagna would be a better choice for the quest line, but that's probably because I am biased towards Dagna). As for Lucanis'... Idk, I feel his quest line is unresolved. I was expecting to help him drive off the demon or something (then either discover that Rook couldn't or actually succeeded), but that never happened.

But the lore inaccuracies... Ack! I am actually very lenient in this regard and can overlook a lot (didn't see me complain much about bg3, maybe except they ruined Sarevok's and Viconia's character), but there are just so many inaccuracies in datv that I find impossible to let them go. The Dalish's reaction to their gods running around for one- they seem far too accepting. And Solas didn't want to tear the veil down to transfer the other gods to a new prison, he wanted to do it to restore old elven glory. There is also the issue of writers skirting important discussions, like the slavery problem in Tevinter- it didn't feel as pronounced as the previous entries made it out to be. The villains, the Antaam and the venatori, are also very one dimensional. The Arishok used to be such an interesting character! And yet, neither the Butcher nor the Dragon King could even compare to him.

Then there is the ignoring player's decision part. Whether the inquisitor or Morrigan drank from the well should affect this game. And whether Hawke or the warden was left in the fade, too. I mean, Rook literally lived in the fade, so couldn't they stage a rescue or see an echo or something?

All in all, I am more of a mixed opinion on this entry. It's a good game as a standalone or even as a spin off, but as the sequel to dai? Well... I am not sure. But it is better than dai in terms of side quests and structures, so that's that.

[midnightwind]

after putting in just over 80 hours into the game and doing as many side quests as the game let me (before A Choice changed things) I'm gonna just go off about the game

this will be Very Long

first up: I fucking love the majority of the game, like 2/3 or even 3/4 maybe is stellar, it's exactly what I wanted from a Dragon Age game! the new combat system was snappy, the spells all mostly felt unique (I have only played through once, on a mage) and being able to redo my build at any time without needing a special item or npc or room? Fantastic qol thank you so much, game team (same with the glamor system and character mirror being in the Lighthouse)

I liked getting to finally see Minrathos after basically waging a quiet war against the Venatori in it back in Inquisition and Neve was fun! I love my detective best friend (even if she'd probably heavily consider stabbing my Rook at the end of the day based on Choices) and I got to be a motherfucking Antivan Crow I have been dying to see more of that faction ever since I picked up my stray Zevran back in Origins

I have my own issues with the portrayal of the faction, but I get why they had to drop or quietly push the more negative aspects under the bed (even if it takes away a decent chunk of the spice imo) I'll dig into them later

Treviso was beautiful and sad, Arlathan stunning, Nevarra was such a cool 180 on area designs and culture, Rivain felt a little weaker comparatively but you get Taash a little late and we're stuck on a coast that is like all ruins and no city so kind of tracks, anyways the point is I like the glimpse into the world we got outside of Fereldan

I love our companions, it was so fun and delightful to hear the banter, the Origin specific comments they got, how they'd roam the Lighthouse to interact with each other, how they would update a silly little grocery list as the game progressed! I miss being able to run the usual party of Player + 3 allies, and I missed out on a lot of good banter I would have loved to see for it though (<is here for the characters first, story second, gameplay third)

this is the most polished DA we've ever gotten, it looks beautiful (fourth times the charm lmao) and I think it's fairly usual par for the course content wise, it's neither leagues better nor worse than any of the other games imo

but there's two glaring issues that has me wanting to chew through concrete

pacing and ineptitude

the game fucking Rushes you through quests, outside of the main story scenes all the character quests and moments are under 20 minutes (their core quest tending to be the 20 minutes, and most interactions being maybe 3 minutes of chatting and 10 minutes of running around) the amount of times I had a cutscene linger on the characters just staring at each other in silence for 10-20 seconds for no reason only to get pushed out the door after engaging with their little ! bubbles left such a bad taste in my mouth

now I did romance Lucanis, and he's the slow burn that goes so slow it's more like a hand warmer than a fire (I adore him and Spite and I wanted so much more content about them) so I am colored by that here as I've only done 1 play through so far .w. but he wasn't the only companion, or even story beat, that suffered from being abruptly cut off or left to the side

the main story has Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan show up in the same location, the same fucking arena as the gang after you've ruined some pawn or plan from them and they just scowl at you and leave

they just disappear

and they do this So Often

after a certain point, you can't keep having the big bads, the culmination of evil and conflict, just following the gang actively ruining their bid for as if they're eating popcorn and telling us to do a flip and have it play off seriously or feel good

when we confront Ghilan'nain at Weisshaupt I was so fed up with the gods showing up and going nah we're fine, instead of just killing us right there and then which was only made worse as you head out to finally take them both down at the end of the game

you can't keep pulling the fake out in the exact same way on loop and changing next to nothing between the exchanges, it ruined the last stretch for me

they also just did nothing with Elgar'nan's powers he's this great tempter and dominator and he tries to tempt you (poorly) Once and then you break his influence and fuck off

what a waste of a god who could pull literal mind games on you, trap you in your worst nightmare, show you your allies falling one by one until you're alone and you break, just a colossal waste of such potential imo

which then plays into the constant ineptitude of the team throughout the game

you go out of your way to do their personal quests, to shore up their confidence and tie up loose ends so they can walk into a fight no one should expect to walk out of, and then it feels like it barely matters

I managed to max out all the factions (expect one...) so they barely needed help and watching Harding (sorry babygirl) die for no real reason because they refused to have the assassin strike while the enemy was distracted until after she died felt dogshit

Neve getting mirror-napped was terrifying though, that ruled and I felt awful for letting her do that (Bel would have also sucked tho, there was no winning)

but why are our characters, after the entire game of building up support, confidence, and abilities still like level 1 mooks in these fights with 0 new tactics? I get needing the stakes to still be high, but I was sweating bullets trying to coordinate who did what while keeping my baby boy Lucanis at my side (having Bel help the Crows felt So Incorrect and I was Terrified) but you have to let us win? sometimes?? maybe you can pull it off where you don't have Harding/Davrin die fighting Ghilan'nain, but I don't feel like I did anything wrong? did my saying "by any means necessary" Once truly cause that or is that just scripted?? I cannot tell you because none of my other decisions seemed to fucking matter outside of Neve not wanting to be in the party for the final fight because I let her city burn and got her kidnapped (not really, but my Rook was losing her mind when she was grabbed lol) I don't like feeling as if I have to sack one character I adore to set up stakes that have already been fairly well established by the decimation of the Wardens and Veil Jumpers (and Shadow Dragons/Crows) leading up to this point

I appreciate the attempt to give us real stakes, but it was such a sour experience for me, it shouldn't have come at the cost of the team feeling unable to do Anything Ever in these fights (esp as I decimated them in gameplay) ((I'm only like a little extra bitter about Lucanis just doing the same shit, getting caught, and having it feel like making peace with Spite meant nothing, too, that also is infuriating))

like honestly the gods were fucking boring once I reached them which feels bad to say?? not to mention I had a game breaking bug happen in my Ghilan'nain fight that forced me to reload (blight boils never became vulnerable... lol.....) leading into 2 different "this is the final push" fake outs and then we don't even use the red lyrium dagger?? the flaw it had from forging didn't matter??? Elgar'nan just decides to brawl us???? we spent so much time building up to him being crazy powerful and crushing his enemies and then we just slap fight (maybe the flaw was supposed to be a sign that the dagger wouldn't work and that's why he was just sitting in Minrathos idk they don't try to explain shit)

also also, the Blight was cured??? nothing on that, Neve just isn't blighted at the end okay and we don't get a proper world story breakdown of what happens after for the companions because I guess DLC is coming which also feels bad

it felt like the pacing and writing just jumped out the building the second we had to start prepping to actually take down the gods and I'm so disappointed by it

the character writing also seems to have suffered because of the Origin quest lines which.... sucks I won't lie, I love these people and I wanna learn more about them and get to know them, but knowing that a good third (it feels like) of their characterization is locked behind you playing as their faction.... that's rough

and no warning on the fact that grabbing both Lucanis and Davrin will lock you out of a whole city's merchants and faction super early in the game??? just punished for wanting the whole gang before you start doing quests? that fact alone makes me want to scrap my next two Rooks I already started playing because knowing I need to somehow buy out everything from vendors and gain rep with one faction as fast as possible feels Awful (you get that gear Later, right before the final fight where it won't matter that much so I'm putting on clown make up) it just turns the early game into a chore

part of this is my refusal to not just take the L with a whole city, but gear kind of fucking matters to how the game is played?? it feels so bad, man and I didn't even get to see what I missed out on with the Shadow Dragons for picking Treviso because I was a whopping 10 hours in, I had barely done anything

I dunno, I don't have a satisfying way to end this

the writing was fine outside of the gods just... I don't even know how to phrase it, they weren't good enemies, and the characters getting short changed or rushed A Lot before having their agency and work thrown out the window because we needed to spend 3 hours of endgame "really struggling" for the threat we'd established quite handily through the entire game up to that point

I like Veilguard, I'd say it's one of my favorite games, but the lead up to the end and your whole game hinging on maybe 3 major choices you make at the end sours it for me a lot

maybe as I play other routes, my disappointment will cool, but this game had the potential to be so much more than what it is

I hope people play it and have fun, but there's going to always be a note of dissatisfaction to me

also Antivan Crow rant: you can't just turn them into discount Batman dude, they torture and kill trainees and are Assassins lmao like I appreciate the attempt, but you can't just throw 3 games worth of reputation out the window like that

Spite should have had more influence and screen time, Lucanis should have had his own room like they planned, the companions in general should have gotten more time to be there and be present in all moments

thank you for letting my Origin matter, I'm glad I got to play an Antivan Crow mage who grew into her role and overcame her shortcomings that led to her joining Varric's team

and I super called Varric being dead the second he was stabbed

(also I clocked Illario instantly and was baffled from second one on how Ivenci was allowed to shit talk the Crows in front of 2 Talons without dying, can't believe they were left alive just to be a funny boss fight to cap off the Crow quests lmao)

edit: forgot to add in that the companion quest bosses were run down instantly and were all basically reskinned elites felt bad!! I barely knew anything about any of them!!! why did they feel like a rushed afterthought?

[devotedlystrangewizard]

list of banters & Lighthouse interactions that got to me

- romanced emmrich & harding's set where they go a little into his worries & she gives him a little advice

- hand to bone combat

- "dont do corpse stuff in bed" "...what?" "no. youre right. its not my place to tell you what you can or cant do in bed. do corpse stuff if you want to." ".....thanks?"

- bellara asking about ghosts. that go "whoooohhh" and throw stuff off of shelves.

- "i thought youd tell me if i hurt neve youd kill me" "no why would i. shed kick your ass anyway." "true"

- "hey did you make coffee at 4 in the morning" "i like coffee." "at four in the morning?" "thats TECHNICALLY morning."

- "taash, youre twice my height. from where im standing, youre ALL legs."

- literally everything involving hezenkoss. its hysterical. "youre a mere 2 years younger than me JOHANNA" "well one of us wears it better ://" maam you are a skull.

- "well then, don't let me keep you from that decrepit popinjay." need i reiterate she is a talking skull

- hezenkoss is the emmrook hater the way anders was the fenhawke hater. i figured it out.

- bellara & neve becoming sisters

- "if fred says venhedis, i didnt teach him that. i just spilled my damn coffee."

- "whats so objectionable about a little reanimation?" "its a waste of hard work!"

- "hey do nonbinary crows wear capes?" "why wouldnt they wear capes." "idk. gender rules." "the only rule in antiva is that you have to have STYLE"

- "and there you go! decision made. well, until i regret it. and i start to worry."

- "what does half undead mean." "it was metaphorical. not exact. this isnt an exact science. what did you think it meant?????" "well, one leg's alive and the other isnt, so you just always walk in circles. or something."

- "[..] hate to disappoint. no thats a lie. i love it."

- the hand puns.

- "you talk differently when youre talking mourn watch stuff" "i do no such- no i dont"

- taash's "you should take them flying" if ur romancing lucanis. i was a he/him on this run so they said "guys love flying." "YOU love flying."