#reboot codex

[massvoraciuseffect]

Are there any additional effects that occurs when a predator vores another predator?

Very much depends on the predator. But usually, the matryoshka doll principle happens - the minds of the victims of the predator being eaten do not become part of the devourer, but when reformed, all remain part of the predator being reformed. There are technologies and ways to extract prey from a predator that is eaten, but they are rare and expensive. The devoured predator, in addition to its mass, is also often more active in the mind of the devourer, and can both help and hinder it more than a normal prey. That's why smaller predators rarely even try to eat a bigger predator - you can get into a lot of trouble for it.

[elequinoa-world]

tbh lack of choices in datv is a bit disapointing but it was to be expected. i'm just happy that 1. our inquisitor shows up and is customizable and 2. their love interest is one of those choices cause boy if they forced me to have a solavellan default state world i'd go fucking feral

my inky is happy living a domestic life with dadwall okay you solavellans can keep the angsty stuff okay okay (im so worried something's going to happen to them let her be happy ffs) i don't care about solas one bit, i've made my peace with him being such a central character in datv, but i really don't want to have to fake such a special relationship with him because i really have no attachment to him at all

i'm also hoping onto the tinyest bit of hope that hawke still shows up as a surprise motherfuckers we lied AGAIN and the cc screen pops up when we're about to meet them but it's really copium yeah

[rookinthecrownest]

I think the thing that Gets Me about Veilguard is just how much of an impossible task it had heaped on it from EA from the start of its inception.

It’s arguably supposed to be a soft reboot for the series while ALSO being a follow up to Inquisition. These are two fundamentally incompatible goals in my opinion. This game had to walk the most insane line of any video game in recent memory. I guess EA wanted to have their cake and eat it too.

And the more I think about it the sadder I become for the original team who worked on Joplin. From what I’ve seen of the art book, Joplin was going to be about as firm a sequel to DAI as you could get - with references to rescuing whoever was left in the Fade, having Calpernia and Imshael as companions, having to fight Solas’ agents, etc.

Then EA makes them scrap it for live service. Fine. But wait - now we’re scrapping it again. Back to single person RPG but you also kind of need to distance yourself from the previous games as much as possible while still somehow being a follow up to the previous game.

New setting, few returning companions, and new Big Bads in the form of Elgarnan and Ghilanain to get a clean slate. Any mention of what’s happening in the South (where we spent 3 whole games!) needs to be relegated to letters and codex. ** I dont have the art book yet, so I dont know if these two were supposed to appear in Joplin beside Solas - or if Solas was supposed to be the sole antagonist in that iteration of the game.

But.. I hope you see what I mean when I say this game had a monumentally, borderline impossible task ahead of it. And when I think of it that way, I think it did as good a job as it possibly could. Especially since the actual development time was closer to 3ish yrs to get what we know of as datv today even though it’s been 10 whole years since DAI.

I hope it’s successful enough to get DA5, but who know’s what’ll happen.

I wish everyone except the EA execs who meddled with this game’s development and are seemingly trying to kill dragon age a pleasant day. I have a cynical detective I need to romance 😔

[bitterkarella]

Midnight Pals: Hackin'

King: i can't believe elon's grok is pretending i'm friends with him King: i need to stop that AI before everyone believes it! King: i've got to hire a hacker King: franz, you've got to help me Franz Kafka: what? me? Barker: steve, no

Kafka: i'm not a hacker King: oh i thought franz was a hacker Barker: what gave you THAT impression? King: you know, with the cat ear headphones and the striped thigh socks Barker: no steve that's something ENTIRELY different Kafka: n-no it isn't, on second thought yes I'm totally a hacker

Kafka: it means i'm a hacker, nothing else Barker: sure franz Kafka: it does! it totally means i'm a hacker! Barker: franz, go play with your blahaj plush, the adults are talking here

Barker: you know who you need? you need william gibson Barker: the best hacker money can buy King: william gibson? how do i contact him? Barker: you don't Barker: he'll contact you

King: can you really hack grok, william? William Gibson: [wearing black duster and fingerless black gloves] my hacker name is shadow gigabyte King: oh sorry Gibson: can i hack grok? listen kid i was cyberbyting the megabyte mainframe when you were just rebooting your motherboard mouse data bandwidth modem email King: wow!

Gibson: my CPU is a neural net processer, a learning computer King: wow he really sounds like he knows what he's talking about! King: that definitely sounds like hacker talk to me Gibson: CD Rom Gibson: internet Joe Hill: dad can i talk to you for a second King: not now joe daddy's hiring a hacker

Gibson: [wildly slapping keyboard] i'll re-index the mega bit blaster cyber codex Gibson: [wildly slapping keyboard] now we'll cybersecurity the lock box data center King: hey what happens if you push that button? Gibson: what the-- no!! [klaxons sound] King: what's that mean? Gibson: shit Gibson: we've got company

Gibson: sentient cyber virus electronic guard cyberbots Gibson: real high tech Gibson: state of the art in bio-tech wetware neural-data scrapers Gibson: [putting on sunglasses with red laser scope] and they ain't friendly

King: what are we going to do?! Gibson: kid, you keep your hands to yourself unless you wanna become roadkill on the information super highway!!! Gibson: hold on to your CPU (central processing unit)!!!

Gibson: [wildly slapping keyboard] gotta reconfigure the darkweb logistics for ethernet wavetech Gibson: [wildly slapping keyboard] upload the memory downloader for dumpware backup Gibson: [wildly slapping keyboard] uncodify the cyberpatch modifer aaaaand Gibson: i'm in

King: wow, you hacked twitter?? how did you do it? Gibson: the greatest hackers never reveal their secrets [earlier] Gibson: [wearing fake mustache] hey elon its me catturd Gibson: could you give me your password? Elon Musk: sure it's "picklerick420"!

[yunuen]

re: the big dragon age drama of the day

people on the internet acting like bioware has them on retainer or they have stock options in the company is wild to me. they misrepresented how the previous choices would affect veilguard, they decided to dump a feature that had made their games famous and had actually been a selling point not just for individual games but for the franchise itself. no one is upset you're not upset, more power to you, ride that crooked dick into the sunset, but you look weird saying people that are angry are overreacting when it is obvious they were vague about this and put an embargo on the dai import screen because they knew this wasn't what was advertised or what defined this franchise in the first place. most people would've been fine with a soft reboot. a timeskip. anything to make whatever choices you made in previous games moot. i understand it can be a mess to account for different worldstates (even though people would've been fine with letters and codex entries - which is what was done in previous games). but they marketed it as a sequel and dragged varric and morrigan's carcasses to pose for the trailer. i can understand that it is irrelevant who is the ruler of orzammar, but varric doesn't even know the right pronouns for hawke his bff for life and we don't know if morrigan even has a son - and apparently neither does she because you can't pick it. tldr bioware stop making weird excuses just say you had to cut corners because you had several layoffs and creative overhauls, reboot the franchise and stop dragging varric's hollowed corpse around, it's ghoulish

[lizzybeeee]

DATV is overly reliant on Supplemental Media - especially if you are a returning player

TL;DR: Supplemental material should not be required reading in order to understand what's going on in the main game -> it's additional material that enhances what we were given. If what we were given is lacking and unable to coherently tell us a story, then the writers and those in charge did not prioritize what was important.

Not a take that's unique to Dragon Age, but one that is very relevant when talking about DATV. I've made a few posts about plot/story points that either make no sense or have been dropped entirely in the lead up from DAI to DATV. Every now and then I get a few comments or messages about how certain points I made were addressed in supplemental material released in the lead up to this games release.

This isn't a call out post, by the way! But it's frustrating, to me, that this games writing is so lacking that my understanding is being inhibited because I can't remember details from a book I read two years ago - not to mention various podcasts, comics, and short stories. My understanding of a video game in a video game series should not be reliant on additional/optional content.

DATV is a weird game in that it is absolutely a 'soft/scorched earth' reboot while also marketing itself as a continuation to what was set up in Inquisition and Trespasser. Personally, I think that if you are up to number 4 in a game series, one with a continuous story-line, it should be expected that new players won't be able to catch up to everything -> it's the game developers job to make the world and story intriguing enough that the new players will go back to previous games in the series and fill in the blanks themselves.

Veilguard, as a sequel, is overly reliant on content that comes from outside the games themselves (including DLC's) if you want to make sense of the world and story. Trespasser left us with an epilogue that set up some plot points for the next game: Solas & the Veil, the Elven Rebellion, and War with the Qun - plot points that have been built up since the time of Origins. But when we get into DATV two of these points have been dropped and resolved, off-screen.

There are more questions, but these are the ones that bothered me the most while playing the game:

What happened to the Agents of Fen'harel/ Elven Rebellion? -> answered in a cursed reddit AMA.

What happened to the Qunari following Trespasser -> addressed in Tevinter Nights, and a codex entry you can pick up (optional).

Why is Skyhold infested with demons? -> mentioned in Tevinter Nights.

How did the Dalish go from worshiping their own pantheon to knowing they are false gods? (specifically those we meet in the Veil Jumpers) -> mentioned in the Missing comic series.

What's up with Nevarra's Royals? -> Tevinter Nights addresses that there is a power struggle in the Pentaghast family and the role of the Mortalitasi in making it worse - though it does not address the whole 'mage puppeting a corpse' issue and all the implications it has.

This is a video game series -> the bulk of the information required for me to understand the story and its relation to previous entries needs to be included in the final game version. I am playing a video game and not attending a uni class - I should not need to have a required reading list in order to understand what the fuck is going on. I should definitely not need to go onto a reddit AMA to understand what happened in-game, either.

What makes this stand out the most is that DAI was very successful in tying in previous games, DLC's, movies, and books! Inquisition did a great job in getting you up to speed on the events of the previous games early on, providing personalization if you played those games, and giving the player the opportunity to inquire into these events.

Hiding away the answers in additional material or a codex entry that may be missed is not good game design or good writing. DAI didn't assume that you had bought and played the Legacy DLC -> it made certain you experienced the conversation with Varric and Hawke if you wanted to proceed in the game. It didn't hide away imperative information in codex entries - it had characters talk about it in scripted scenes and encourage the player to ask more. You would actively need to avoid interacting with characters for you to not experience this information in DAI.

Leliana talks about her role during the Blight, her calling by the Maker, and her relationship with Dorothea/Justinia -> DAO and Leliana's Song DLC.

Cullen talks about his time as a templar at Kinloch & Kirkwall -> DAO and DA2.

Cassandra speaks about her history, investigation into Hawke, and the Seekers -> Dawn of the Seeker movie, DA2, & Asunder novel.

Varric talks about Hawke, Kirkwall, and Corypheous -> DA2 and Legacy DLC.

Cole talks about how he discovered he was a 'demon' - it leads to further conversations about Rhys, Evangeline, and Lord-Seeker Lambert -> Asunder novel.

Wicked Eyes and Wicked Hearts -> the game literally continues what the Masked Empire novel sets up, the Orlesian Civil War. The game does a decent job of telling us about the players (Celene, Gaspard, Briala etc...) and the reasoning behind the conflict through dialogue, the ability to explore the battlefields, quests, ambient dialogue, etc... The book is not required reading - though it greatly adds to the complexity of the characters, motivations, and political intrigue!

I never once, playing DA2 or DAI, felt penalized or like my experience was lacking because I had not engaged with supplemental material or DLC's. I got into Dragon Age when I was in high school, it wasn't until I graduated and began working after that I had the disposable income available for experiencing the extra material. I cannot say that for DATV - If you have played Inquisition and go into DATV straight from that you will, absolutely, be confused about how we got from A to B.

Which is especially strange to me!? Why is it that new players will be less confused than those that are returning players? It's like the game is actively punishing you for playing and caring about previous games in the series.

Supplemental media is bought because the main product has earned your investment, love, or interest. Not everyone has the income available to buy it with their own money - especially if you live outside the US and have to pay additional shipping costs. Not everyone has the ability to buy or 'obtain' the digital versions either. My understanding of the main story of a video game in a video game series should not require additional monetary investment into other mediums.

The game itself should be enough and DATV is not enough.

[chanafehs]

I think datv was kinda screwed over when they decided to make it a soft reboot - I’m not going to pretend I know exactly what happened behind the scenes but having a soft reboot that is a direct sequel of not only a previous game but a DLC kinda set them all up for failure narratively.

If they wanted to make it accessible for new players, I feel like they could’ve done that in a different dragon age game - one that isn’t a direct follow through of the canon storyline. There were multiple times when I was playing where I had to question if new players would actually understand what was going on if they didn’t have the context of the previous games (maybe this is why they kept repeating things every three seconds), especially when it feels very obvious like they had a set inquisitor in mind.

Just the most obvious example: are new players going to understand that you could’ve had a very low approval relationship with solas? Are new players going to know his thoughts about Dwarves and the Qunari, especially a dwarven or Qunari rook? A dalish rook? New players have no idea what tearing down the veil could look like for people who are not elves as they never played in Hushed Whispers - to some Elven rook players, it might even sound like a good idea.

The inquisitor has been defaulted to having a friendly relationship with him, regardless of if they chose to stop him or not, and it makes it all the more weird when you remember you can’t even do solas’ personal quests if you had low approval. Harding even makes comments about Mythal’s and solas’ relationship that would only make sense if you had the context of solavellan…which is weird because she’ll say that even if your inquisitor isn’t romancing him.

I have seen some others kinda harp on people who say this as “you’re just mad because the game isn’t respecting your headcanons”….well no shit. Also a headcanon is something you made up - not an actual thing you did in game. If I made vivienne my divine that’s not a headcanon, that’s something I was actually able to include with the choices I was given within canon but I digress.

I don’t want to accuse any of the devs of lying, I think EA had a heavy hand in what went into the game vs what the devs actually wanted, but the way this game was marketed was very disingenuous especially in regards to player choices - if John Epler’s thing was “hey maybe we just might not bring up certain choices but it doesn’t mean they’re not canon” then why are there so many bits of lore that invalidates previous choices? Even with the new information that a DA5 would adhere to the choices in the keep…where does that put this game? Is it not canon?

Regardless - I don’t think you should have to read 100 codexes or find every crumpled note in a corner of a locked room to understand a game. When I first played inquisition I understood it pretty well even though I hadn’t played the previous games, even after playing the previous ones, despite what criticisms I may have, I didn’t hate it and I felt like it was an actual successor to the timeline. Datv, for a soft reboot, feels like a 60 hour DLC.

[roguerambles]

Anyway, I love Dragon Age the Veilguard--

Don't get me wrong, it's not flawless. But I definitely think the people insisting its god awful are being way, way too harsh. And considering the troubled 10 year long production and the game being rebooted like what, 3 times? I'm happy with the end result.

I think once the dust has settled a bit Veilguard will benefit from the "Dragon Age 2" effect - a lot of people hated DA2 when it first came out for not being like Origins, but after a while looked back and appreciated the game's strengths more.

I love the companions, I love the environments, I love the Solas storyline (and this is coming from someone who was kinda meh on him in Inquisition) Act 3 ripped my heart out in the best way possible. I love how the game answers a lot of lore questions while also setting up some interesting new developments (the Blight? The Qunari? Those from Across the Sea? Very interested to see where that goes in the future)

Seeing some of the cut content I'm a little disappointed at some of what we lost along the way (although I'd wager that's more EA's interference than a choice on Bioware's part) and some of the present day lore could have been better explained (the explanation for the Antaam breaking away from the Qun should not have been regulated to a Codex entry) but overall I'm very excited to see what the future holds for Dragon Age.

Now excuse me, I'm off to begin another Veilguard playthrough--

[elsa-fogen]

What's your favorite Icy moment?

I'M GLAD YOU ASKED. BEWARE, LONG POST, FULL OF LOVE FOR ICY AND SCREENSHOTS (mostly from the second film)

Episode 10 season 2, moment where they're solving the puzzle to get the codex

Well, it's more like favorite moment for all the Trix, i guess, but especially Icy because she says "i love you" to Darcy, then threatens to fucking kill her lmao, DODGES THE ATTACKS, KILLS SKY, and solves the damn puzzle like a queen.

This is what pops in my head when i think of a "favorite Icy moment"

Tho before I rewatched, i'd say that it's season 3 episode 1. Actually, this is still iconic Icy moment and I love it just as much (can't say the same about the rest of season 3...)

Like. First of all, who was that genius that said, hmm yes, let's send ICE witch in the ICE prison, sure nothing can go wrong! Second, Icy is SLAYING. Her line after she frees herself... It still echoes in my head in russian, because that's how i first heard this moment. Then

Just look at her and look at Darcy and Stormy. SHE'S SLAYING AND HAVING FUN.

ALSO I LOVE (and hate) moment from season 2 where she freezes Tecna second before she transforms. I love it because like SLAY, as you SHOULD, BUT I HATE IT BECAUSE IT NEVER HAPPENS AGAIN. Like the winx always have fucking plot armor, and when they don't - this happens.

I actually love every moment of her being unhinged, and every moment of her using too much power for something that doesn't need THIS much effort. Like in episode 2 she was trying to blast the winx and burry them under the snow and like, half of Magix could see the light from it. Girl they are just freshments, you don't need to be so extra. Or in the next episode where she creates the damn iceberg to freeze Bloom (AND SHE MISSED this is funny and not offensive to her character because Bloom just got lucky) OR WHEN SHE FREEZES THE LAKE AND CREATES PILLAR OF ICE AS TALL AS FREAKING CLOUD TOWER IN THE FIGHT WITH BLOOM. Like. Yes. She's so damn powerful and doesn't afraid to show it. (Like Darcy and Stormy were exhausted much faster and they didn't use nearly as much magic as Icy) (season 3 did her dirty and i hate it. >:\) (season 3 lobotomized the trix, fuck this season) WELL EVEN IN SEASON 3 I REMEMBER ONE MOMENT where she was trying to find pixie village and was just FREEZING THE WHOLE FOREST? And when she's like getting mad and her power thickens in the air, like, how FAR can it go??

She's so extra.

OH ALSO.

The second film. Every second of her being on screen. God damn i love this film, let me fill this post with screenshots from it (PLEASE GIVE ME THIS DAMN MOVIE IN 4K 😭😭) (Also WHY DIDN'T THEY KEEP THIS STYLE IN 3D. IF THEY DID I WOULDN'T DROP SEASON 5, I'D EVEN WATCH THE THIRD MOVIE, WHY WHY WHY...) (In the perfect world winx reboot has this style and it slays.)

I WISH SHE STEPPED ON ME WITH THEM HEELS

BTW fun fact about this moment. In russian we have 2 versions of "you" - singular ("ты"), which is used for casual talks like with friends and people you know very well; and plural ("вы"), which can also be used as singular for people you respect or don't know too well (your boss, older people and like that). using "ты" talking to someone older than you or someone you don't know counts as disrespect. So the fact is, in this scene Icy uses "вы" talking to the king. Idk why, i just think it's funny detail. She'll threaten his life and demand something, but with respect ✨✨

Her casual outfit is kinda shiny lol

This is how you transform with style ✨

Also they have shield around them in this moment, smart move (i'm sure it's a shield) even if winx are too slow to use this moment to attack them

(btw, i love how Darcy from a nerd turns into... this. if they were real there's like 60-70% chance that i fr wouldn't recognize her)

She got hit in the back, and had quick enough thinking to grab stella and drop her too, QUEEN

SHOULD I EVEN SAY ANYTHING

✨S✨L✨A✨Y✨

Icy being extra once again

She literally NEVER does this in actual series and i'm ANGRY. I hope the reboot will give us some more cool fights like in this film. Please. Don't fuck this up i'm begging you...

I kinda love how her cape just. hangs behind her. or wraps around her. like an actual piece of fabric with certain weight.

And i also love how her hair move too (but sometimes i'm like no WAY her hair stay behind her back I DON'T BELIEVE!) (i was trying to make such tail for myself and my hair fall on my face after EVERY slight tilt of my head) (but also my hair like 3 times shorter than hers, BUT STILL)

she wishes that it was bloom instead

TOUCH. They really almost never touch each other, so every time it happens something inside me explodes with joy and happiness.

She's so cute with this smile, she's literally said :>

hands.

Icy to Darcy: Are you scared? Eng dub: Icy sounds like she's teasing Darcy Rus dub: Icy sounds almost like it was genuine question and concern

GAHHH DHFGHSJHFSHF 😭😭😭 THEM!

Also english voice for Icy in this movie is kinda annoying ngl, her russian voice is way better. And them reading the spell sounds more intimidating. Even if you don't know the language, just check out ru dub, Icy sounds MUCH better there (can't say for the rest of the voices tho... be careful with Darcy's, she sounds really different)

UWU AHHH SHE'S SO CUTE!!!!!!!!!!!!

Icy: So sorry, we have to reschedule 😅 *grabs Erendor like a bag and flies away*

This moment made me laugh so much when i saw it for the first time, like, she sounds SO SILLY.

Btw HOW STRONG IS SHE? She holds an adult ass overweight man with one hand! He must be at least 100 kilos i think? damn girl. This is kinda scary.

Dropped a man to his death infront of his son with this silly innocent smile. A true icon. I really should make a video counting every time Icy attempts to kill someone.

Icy protects not only herself, but her sisters too 🥲🥲

season 3 WISHES it was just as good. She's deflecting Bloom's attack with one hand and attacks someone else with the other!

Also, side note, damn, musa and flora really love attacking Stormy together :\ (deleted screenshots (to add more Icy screenshots HJjHJGFDFJ) of their attack on her from 2 different moments, flora ties her with vines and musa blasts. UNFAIR!)

WHY SO CUTE (my poor baby girl is scared 😭) (damn i LOVE her blue eyes AHHH she's so gorgeous)

SHE WAS TRYING TO ATTACK, UNHINGED WOMAN. CLINICALLY INSANE.

also i really think they messed up Liliss (almost wrote Lilith LOL) and Beladonna's places all over the film LMAO.

also, speaking of Icy moments

psychologist: Icy with pyrokinesis doesn't exist she can't hurt you Icy with pyrokinesis:

WHAT THE FUCK WAS THIS? She never did this before, never does it again, like WHAT? This always confuses me so much. Like ???? is it the dragon fire they stole from Bloom?? They still have it?? So many questions about these 5 seconds.

shit i used exactly 30 pictures in this post. Damn.

i DON'T KNOW WHERE ELSE TO PUT IT IN THE POST, SO I'M SAYING IT HERE! On rewatch i noticed that Icy has the least amount of verbal spells from the main cast (winx+trix). At least it feels tike it. Like, in season 1 i think she literally used only 3 verbal spells in 3rd episode. She's so good that she doesn't need to say her spells out loud most of the time! I'm gonna rewatch everything again, just to count every verbal and non-verbal use of magic by all of them. And then find ratio of verbal to non-verbal spells for each of them.

also side note, i was looking for Icy's spells, but noticed something else. when Bloom transformed, in english Icy says

That's an awfully cute little fairy outfit

Sounds neutral and sarcastic. BUT IN RUSSIAN DUB IT'S SOMEHOW SOUNDS REALLY FUCKING GAY! i'll try to adapt it for you...

You have a very pretty fairy outfit

???????????????? WHY??????????????????

OKAY I'LL STOP HERE, I'VE BEEN WRITING THIS POST FOR 4 HOURS, AND I NEED TO WORK!

[massvoraciuseffect]

Since quarians gain more knowledge from voreing others do labs consist of predators? Are there lab teams that are just one predator who has vored all the staff to have all the teams knowledge with one person?

Because the process of gaining knowledge from preys, even among the Quarians, is not instantaneous, not all research labs consist of a single predator. But there are quite a few of them, especially among the asari, where almost the entire scientific process is concentrated in about several hundred matriarch-scientists. Most people who decide to devote themselves to science either accept the fact that sooner or later they will become part of a larger collective within the predator, or they themselves have to get a vore-implant. Or they have to be geniuses.

Fun fact: Quite often scientists, even though they are part of a predator, are written into their labor contracts and are also paid, albeit less than if they were on their own two feet.

[nadas-dirthalen]

A Veilguard Achievement Icon Opened My Eyes on 15 Years of Lore... but Was I Right?

PART TWO: What Veilguard Did Narratively, and What That Tells Us Going Forward

[ 1 ]

Hello again, friends and travellers. Now that I've beaten Dragon Age: the Veilguard, I wanted to go through all those 30,000 words of predictions that I wrote in the ~11 days leading up to its release. I'd seen an achievement icon that pieced together a lot of Dragon Age lore for me.

But, I hadn't played Veilguard. All I had was the footage from September 19, the achievement list, and anything else BioWare had released.

So... was I right? And if so, how much was I right about?

This is your warning:This post will contain spoilers for the entirety of Dragon Age: the Veilguard, and all Dragon Age content made before Veilguard.

(my davrinmance is going great as i try and collect every codex, thanks for asking!)

Today's Discussion: to Understand Dragon Age, We Must Understand Its Writing.

Before I can go any further on why I think the way that I think, or why I imagine the story might take us in certain directions, it's essential that you all understand where I'm coming from. Veilguard, like any game, is a piece of art. Its bones are built with similar narrative structures to novels (though not identical, and that's important!). To make sense of what's to come, we must examine Veilguard's bones the same way.

I've seen a lot of people wondering why, for instance, the Inquisitor is not Veilguard's protagonist. I've seen people lamenting the fact that there were not on-screen clarifications of popular lore theories. Before this series goes any further, I need to say my piece about why I believe that it was essential that Veilguard was written as it was, and why its writing does in fact help us better predict Dragon Age's path forward moreso than even Inquisition.

That said, today I hope to cover:

What Veilguard Demanded of BioWare's Writing Team, and Why

The Protagonist: Why Rook's Perspective Matters

The 3 Act Structure: Our Lens

The Companions: Paths to Our Answers — and Future Games

What Veilguard Demanded of BioWare's Writing Team, and Why

Let's get this out of the way right away: it has been 10 years since Inquisition. And, like it or not, that means one gigantic thing for BioWare: if they wanted to have any hope of making more Dragon Age, they needed to bring in new players and resuscitate the interest of many old players who did not stay in the fandom the whole time. They didn't—and couldn't—write Veilguard specifically for you or I, people of Tumblr. If they did, it would've pleased us... and then cost them so much money that we'd never get any more Dragon Age.

That doesn't just mean modernizing the game's aesthetics, or providing a glossary in its Codex. It means they would have to balance all of the following (just at a glance):

Managing the learning curve in general. Not even I looked in the glossary as I played. Me, supreme enjoyer of all codices ever. It's just not something most players are ever going to do, as much as it the lore is such a fundamental part of the game in general. That means simplifying terms where possible — elven gods in place of Evanuris, for example — but also trimming down what would have to necessarily reference past games. Only a tiny fraction of the fanbase has played Inquisition in the last 3 years, nevermind this year.

Recontextualizing the lore. That does not mean rebooting it, it means situating all we have learned so far in a framework that fits all we have learned so far. Much of what we learned about the Evanuris seemed, for so long, to be totally separate for the things we knew about the blight and Blights. Veilguard needed to show us how those things relate, and to do so in a fresh context that would allow everyone to develop new understanding.

Pushing us one step past Inquisition's knowledge. Veilguard, after reframing the lore, had to leave us a path for new lore, and increased understanding. I think the devs put it really well when they say that their aim is to give us some answers, but leave us with even more questions. More on that later, and in future posts.

Updating Thedas' ethos. Let's face it. It has been 15 years since Origins came out. The things that were more typical of scifi/fantasy (SFF) then are just not the same now, and would not be perceived by 2024 players in the same way as by those who started Origins in 2009. The world has changed; our cultural understandings are broadening and need to continue broadening. BioWare is doing a good thing by incorporating things like nonbinary identities into Veilguard, and it is good that Veilguard is progressing the world of gaming in that way, especially considering its success. (This is also, I wager, why we choose an Archon out of two choices who want the same thing, rather than leaving that open to a more "evil" option).

Dislodge older fans from their Solas headcanons to get everyone old and new to the same confusion and potential distrust. Hear me out. Everyone who's stayed since Inquisition has beliefs about Solas. Even me, who got here in March of this year, whose fic reads overly soft now because I just didn't know Solas' grander plan until 48 hours before Veilguard came out. Everyone has had headcanons for so long that everyone has had time for their opinions of Solas to cement themselves. In order for Veilguard to work as a story, they had to debunk what everyone thought they knew: both lovers and haters of the famously controversial egg. By breaking down our existing beliefs, the devs open up essential curiosity from the players as to who—and what—Solas really is, which propels us through the narrative and has us absorbing information.

And this curiosity? It is why Veilguard could not have the Inquisitor as its protagonist. To keep us curious as players (and "readers" of the lore), BioWare needed a new protagonist.

Specifically, they needed Rook.

The Protagonist: Why Rook's Perspective Matters

Here's the thing. The protagonist is not just the face of the game. They are our vehicle to understanding that game. The plot follows their wants and responds to their understanding. What they don't know, what they want to know, is what makes up our every objective. Their emotional journey through the game is our emotional journey through the game. Following it, going after the things that matter to our protagonist, is how the entire game (including its lore) takes shape in our minds.

That's why it's essential that they don't know everything—especially after a ten year interim between games.

Veilguard's plot and twists proved that the Inquisitor did not know everything. They, in fact, knew less than half of everything. If we had kept them as the protagonist, all of our knowledge and curiosity would be shaped by the Inquisitor's understanding: a wrong understanding. We could constantly be fighting with what we think the Inquisitor should know, what should be true because we had seen it through the Inquisitor. We would be set up to be at odds with the very events of the game. Rook is a blank slate, barring a few key tonal indicators, and that blank slate allows for us to fit all previous lore into its new, recontextualized shape that I mentioned above. (Again, note that I am not saying rebooted.)

That, and Rook has multiple motivations. The Inquisitor is focused largely on stopping or saving Solas; Rook is charged with figuring everything out as it is happening to them in real time with almost no context or experience, AND stopping or saving Solas. The Inquisitor has existing allies and resources; Rook does not. Rook must build their own campaign from the ground up, and that means the player is building their own experience from the ground up. Their allies, abilities, and home base, yes, but also their knowledge. Discovering things at the same pace as Rook, with a similarly urgent drive to do so, keeps the game from infodumping at us. It keeps the reveals evenly spaced, but also immediately interesting to the player.

And best of all? Rook allows the writers to do what they want to Solas without breaking his dynamic with the endless sea of Inquisitors (or, at least, with way less risk of doing so). We needed to have our theories about him broken down and rebuilt as players; to do that to the Inquisitor would damage an entire sea of headcanons. We'd never get the Solavellan ending we wanted, for instance, if Solas had played mind games with Lavellan for that many months. And if Solas didn't do those things, if he'd been wholly defanged, he would have lost his appeal and importance in the narrative. He wouldn't be the Dread Wolf in the ways that matter to Veilguard.

It's important, then, that Rook has just the slightest bit of backstory. They care about their allies. They are not a potential political force like the Inquisitor. They have many options to be impulsive. Every single Rook has rebelled against authority. Every single one has a stubborn streak. BioWare put all those qualities there on purpose, because Solas uses every single one, in every single Rook, as a tool. That was all essential for his character development in this game! At the same time, they couldn't do that with the Inquisitor as protagonist, because after 10 years, no two Inquisitors are similar enough to predict/script their actions and responses in that way.

Those twists are perhaps the most important tool for forward momentum in the game. The more they keep us guessing, the more we'll play and seek new information, the more we'll learn. Which brings me to...

The 3 Act Structure: Our Lens

Like I said: BioWare couldn't just infodump at us in Veilguard. It wouldn't be interesting to even half the fans that stayed, these ten years. To keep us engaged as players, they had to string the lore through a series of engaging events. Keep the momentum up, so we would not be lazily looking over codices, but chasing new knowledge and understanding. It all had to be emotionally relevant and resonant to keep us caring, because very few people play games they don't care about.

Veilguard, like a lot of written art, follows the three act structure. Though there are a lot of variants on the more precise beats, they all broadly follow the same-ish path.

Hook: The opening image. In Disney movies, this is the song where the character sings about all the things they want in their journey, and what they truly need is only implied. It gives an opening note for the theme by showing what the character lacks, and what they might need to gain before defeating the final villain. In Veilguard, this is our prologue, centered entirely around Varric: the big red herring where we see that Rook is out of their depth, opting to push over a support beam rather than take on the Dread Wolf. Off-screen, it is also the background information about Rook, showing us who they are and what they want before we play.

Inciting Incident: The event that kicks off the main plot. In DA:tV, there's a big collection of these (because every companion needs one; we'll get to that). The first big one is, of course, the failed ritual. The death Rook doesn't see. The Evanuris are freed, but Rook has only half the information.

First Plot Point: "Plot Point" means "big/defining decision" in writer-speak. This is the moment the protagonist decides to go forth on their adventure. In video games, this is more or less determined for you, but you have the option to flavour this moment in Veilguard. You can choose how to tell Solas that you'll do what he wants: either by appeasing him or angering him. You do the same for Neve and Harding afterward, and then again in Arlathan and D'Meta's Crossing. You state that you're doing this, no matter what it takes.

First Pinch Point / "The Setback": "Pinch" means "twist" in writer-speak. It's the first time the narrative is shaken up, and is also usually the first time we see the true scope of the villain. In Veilguard, the first big twist has been called "the Setback" by some of the devs (notably, I heard it at a panel in September). For Veilguard, this is Weisshaupt. We see the true scope of Ghilan'nain's horrors, but we also see the first BIG hints (outside of Varric) that Solas is manipulating us—because he really doesn't seem to hate the Wardens as much as Inquisition enjoyers like myself expected. This event concludes act 1.

"New World" / "Fun and Games": The devs have remarked that they wanted to see the tone of their setback (Weisshaupt) threaded through the rest of the game, and we do: through Davrin and Lucanis' banter, through the reflections on the consequences of Weisshaupt, through every character struggling with their confidence and identity after that point, through the blight getting worse and worse and worse. That's what the New World is: the characters getting used to new circumstances after that first big twist. The Fun and Games are the slow and steady recovery from the twist, warming and solidifying formerly tenuous relationships. This is where we do a lot of companion and faction quests.

Midpoint: In a narrative that ends in a victory (so most games ever), the midpoint is a false victory. We think we've nailed something, only for something else to happen that begins to seed doubt in the protagonist's capability and/or ability to solve the plot. For Veilguard, this is the blighted dragon fight: we think we've got Ghilan'nain, but then Elgar'nan shows up and demonstrates that Rook is in so, so over their head.

Second Pinch Point: The second twist. The villain's identity is crystal-clear, and by now we've definitely interacted with the villain more directly. This is Arlathan, Elgar'nan's mind-trap—and Solas' "rescue" of Rook, showing his duplicity in full. Elgar'nan notably says a line about not falling for Fen'Harel's tricks again, and it foreshadows what we will see of Solas.

Disaster / Crisis: This is the event that triggers the protagonist's downward spiral. Not a twist (necessarily), but a catastrophe. In Veilguard's case, it's both: the Ghilan'nain fight leaves one companion dead-dead and another presumed dead. Then, the twist: Solas using Rook's sharply felt regret to pull his gambit and swap places with them. A series of events that literally had me gasping so frequently I got dizzy. Thanks, BioWare :) Many people say that this event, or something between this event and the "All is Lost" beat, conclude act 2. For games, the pacing is sometimes different, as is the cutoff mark, because otherwise the third act has the potential to be very short.

"All is Lost" / The Dark Night of the Soul: It's exactly as the name suggests: all has been lost. The protagonist doubts themself completely. It seems like nothing more can go wrong, and like nothing might ever go right again. The protagonist is at a loss for how to move forward. In Veilguard? Varric is dead. Davrin/Harding is dead. Bellara/Neve is dead. Rook is literally trapped not only in their regret, but in a reflection of Solas' regret. And to get out, they'll need...

"The Epiphany" / Second Plot Point: "Plot point" means "big/defining decision" in writer-speak, as stated above. Only this one contains more layers than the first. This is where the thematic statement of the piece comes out: the lesson that the protagonist must learn is stated, clearly, for all of us to see. It is the thing that picks them up off the ground, giving them strength to face the climax and the danger it promises. In Veilguard, this is Varric saying to Rook, "Have you learned nothing here?" and reminding both Rook and player that he chose this; Rook's companions chose this; we cannot blame ourselves for the actions of others. We cannot carry grief for other people, or we'll drown in it. Sound like any other character we know?

Climax: The big fight! But also, the big moment where the theme is shown to be the narrative key. In every ending of Veilguard, Rook being Solas' perfect mirror is the key to winning the day against the Dread Wolf. It just depends on what facet of Solas Rook chooses to mirror: the trickster, the nasty combatant, or the person who was haunted by their own failings and lost companions.

Resolution: Narrative threads are tied up, or a promise is made to tie up those loose ends in future installations. Veilguard's credits do both of those things. :)

Why am I telling you all of this? Because the lore must follow that skeleton. Every reveal we get must fit into both the timing and the feeling of those events. It would not fit to suddenly drop everything about the Titans right after Rook gets to the Lighthouse, which is why those enemies you need to kill to get the last memories are level 30-40. It would not fit to uncover everything about the blight's origin before Weisshaupt. If they forced us into that as players, all the casual fans and new players would duck out, feeling overwhelmed.

Even for us older fans, narrative structure shapes significance. You can tell a lot about a codex's overall importance and tone just by understanding where you find it, and when. That's why the Trespasser codices carry so much weight, even the ones about the Evanuris' actions that we don't see on screen at all: they are at the bitter end, and so they carry all the bitterness, longing, and mourning of that ending. Without the context of Trespasser, they mean less.

This is also why Veilguard paces its companion quests this way, not allowing you to complete them until later in the game. Every companion has something to teach us, and BioWare wanted to give each companion's narrative the weight it deserved.

The Companions: Paths to Our Answers — and Future Games

Anyone who's played Inquisition knows that companion quests shape entire facets of the lore in individual games, as well as set us up for the trajectory of the next games. Just look at Solas and Cole: together, they shaped our whole understanding of spirits in Veilguard. They set us up to ask all the right questions about not only spirits being bound as demons (Solas' quest), but about spirits being able to manifest in physical shape (Cole's quest). Together, their narrative conclusions foreshadowed much of the Evanuris' reveals in Veilguard: that they were spirits who could manifest into corporeal shape, and that they had the ability to ask others to manifest—and then bind them.

Again, these quests are paced throughout Inquisition's main plot. You cannot do their before Skyhold, and you cannot do them after the cutoff of (I believe) the Temple of Mythal. Inquisition forces you to see those quests' endings in the exact right spot: sometime around the midpoint (Adamant/WEWH), but before the disaster/dark night (the Temple of Mythal). They do that so you will feel that those things are significant.

Veilguard does the same thing. Every companion has a facet of the lore attached to it, but you cannot follow those threads to their conclusions at the beginning of the game. The game won't let you, because the moments need to be spaced out properly and carry the necessary emotional weight. Not all of their quests promise speculative material for future games in the same way, because some explain the context of the current game (Varric, in DAI, accomplished both with the red lyrium content, for instance; Leliana, meanwhile, dealt with the theme of faith in DAI and did not promise future speculation).

These concepts will all get far more attention in due time, but in short, here's what I think is associated with each companion:

Harding: Titans! But also, angry titans, and the difference between "angry titan" and "source of blight." In the same vein, what the dwarves should do going forward, and where they should place the titans in their culture.

Neve: The soul of Veilguard; her narrative is very current to DA:tV, in my early understanding. But she brings forth a lot of nuance to the themes of regret, and what that regret looks like on a smaller scale (a city, rather than a world). She does a lot of work in showing us that regret is regret, no matter the scale, and that the work we do to do better matters, no matter the scale. Additionally, her personal quest foreshadows Solas' use of blood magic against us being more than we thought by showing off Aelia's puppets, suggesting to us (tonally) that Rook may be Solas' puppet.

Bellara: The Forgotten Ones!! Anaris! Also, the place of ancient elvhenan in the future of Thedas, and what the elves should do/feel going forward.

Lucanis: I think they were going for some Forgotten One/Forbidden One hints, judging by some notes from the Ossuary and some banter between Lucanis and the others. This needs more dissection. Lucanis sort of does both what Bellara and Neve do: the Forgotten Ones, and also the heart of Veilguard's theme, with a lot of found family vibes thrown in.

Davrin: The blight itself, and the future of the blight without any archdemons left to cause capital-B Blights. Thedas' path to healing its nature.

Emmrich: The nature of what spirits are. I need to go screencap more specifics, but I swear this necromancer has referenced the difference between spirit and human soul and has stumbled upon saying that the two might not be so different at least once. Also, the Formless One centers around the Necropolis, and I'm thinking "spirits seeking bodies" and this whole idea of unlife/undeath is going to be explored later.

Taash: Remember how I said BioWare needed an ethos update? I think we see that most predominantly in Taash, whose entire personal quest is an examination of the values and priorities of different cultures, as well as the place of gender and gender ideology in Thedas. We saw this with Dorian and Krem in DA:I, but Taash modernizes that conversation (10 years has changed a lot!) and brings it front-and-center. At the same time, their existence is referencing (potentially) the Scaled Ones, and showing us that the kossith (Qunari) might have far more ties to Evanuris shenaniganry than we thought—and that those shenanigans did not happen on Thedas, but potentially far across the sea. (Neve and Lucanis accomplish this, also, with the Shadow Dragons and Crows, but not to the degree that Taash does).

This is why the companion quests MATTER, and (at least partially) why the game asks you to complete these quests or suffer consequences in the finale.

You know what else happens, upon completion of these companion quests?

You get codices. In Dragon Age, they are the threads that tie the seemingly disconnected pieces of the plot together, and that's on purpose. This time, they automatically unlock upon completing different stages of companion quests—and as far as I can tell right now, days after completing the game for the first time, the ones revealed later DO contain spicier hints about future lore than those revealed earlier.

And between ALL of these things—the demands Veilguard's timing placed on Bioware, the need for Rook as a protagonist, and the structure for every companion's quests—I think BioWare did an amazing, genius job with their narrative. Yes, I have seen some of the art book content, and yes, it would have been so cool to have those things, but... I truly do not think BioWare needed them, as close as I would have held cameos like Cole to my heart.

From a lore perspective? They knocked it out of the gods-damned park with Veilguard. They did an amazing job with each of their quests, and I promise: there is no shortage of juicy lore to be found in Veilguard. Now that I've inflicted an outline of what I know about stories upon you, I promise: all of this serves as context for everything I look forward to saying in future posts.

_____

If you got this far, thank you, as always!

This series is going to take a turn toward what I noticed in Veilguard, how I feel that Veilguard adds to my theories (or perhaps debunks some of them), and where I think the series is going to go from here. But in order to write all that properly and miss as little as possible (even though, in November 2024, with no wiki or transcripts, I am guaranteed to miss things), I need to keep playing the game and keep reading the codices I find.

Stay tuned for the next instalments, though I cannot say how quickly they will come after this. <3

[lafaiette]

Also, can we talk about magic? i suppose they wanted to make the game more luring to new players, but magic used to be rare, closed under the lock and feared. Mages were feared and cosidered dangerous. Tevinter was an execption, not a general rule. How come people forgot only ten years ealier there was a regular war between mages and chantry, the very reason Inquisition was formed? Why is there magic, anciet elven magic behin every corner? It feels like reboot.

"It feels like reboot"

Because it is a reboot 💀 Or at least, it's the first step towards one.

Explaining how magic is seen in Thedas, all the different opinions and fears and hopes people have about it, would have been impossible in a single game clearly aimed at luring new players in. They put all the major pieces of explanation in the codex (one part of it is filled and complete since from the start of the game, because it's basically a catalogue detailing everything about Thedas), and let you play as a mage to your heart's content, with no strings, no responsibilities attached.

They tried to preserve some logic in Minrathous - there's mention of how Tevinter's families try to breed the perfect mages to rise in power and influence, so that's good. But you also see a "Noble" mingling with a "Civilian" among the fishermen, and telling her she shouldn't waste time and money on making things better for the poor people. What the hell is she doing there, then? Why isn't she in Minrathous proper, drinking wine and looking down on the poor districts?

Just around every corner, a few feet away from the closest tavern, Venatori are constantly putting up blood magic barriers. The same in the Necropolis, with the Venatori making camp just one door behind the main hub where the Mourn Watch is stationed. Everyone performs rituals, the Circles are barely mentioned, a Forbidden One is hiding behind a door in the Necropolis' main hall and no one ever noticed it before, not even Emmrich.

Statues of Fen'Harel and the Evanuris, elven relics and elven contraptions are hidden everywhere - everywhere. To show how vast and influential the elven empire was? That was probably the devs' intent. Does it always make sense? No. Is it for gameplay purposes, to fill the map with puzzles and stuff to find like in the 2000s? Obviously.

In Inquisition, there was an entire area of the Hinterlands ravaged by the Templars and rebel mages. The refugees were scared of walking the roads to find food because there was wild magic flying around. Rabid templars crazy on lyrium roamed the woods, and the Chantry was powerless.

Elven ruins were scattered around with sense, with a purpose, barely visible among the vegetation, forgotten and avoided, or almost forced to fuse with Chantry's buildings (just look at the Emerald Graves). There was a logic behind the NPCs' and props' locations in the world.

Here, there is simply no logic or consequence to anything ever. The Black Divine is never addressed, as far as I remember. Dalish clans have lost any distinction - the only elven faction you meet is that of the Veil Jumpers, which is a weird cocktail of elves who all know how bad the Evanuris are and random humans and Qunari. Yes, there are humans being allowed to guard ancient elven artifacts in a Dragon Age game. No, they are not called shem. Yes, they all get along swimmingly.

The Crows are not slavers and dangerous figures anymore - they're actually the heroes of Treviso! They treat their fledgling Crows with care and respect, no torture involved. Where did you hear such a preposterous idea? Zevran? Who's Zevran?

Taash says the Qun isn't a prison. How is that possible? They sent assassins after Bull when he defected. They hunt Vashoth and Tal-Vashoth if they dare leave, and if a sten loses his sword, he cannot return home, because his brethren would kill him, as "to a Qunari warrior, the sword is the soul."

So yeah, this was definitely supposed to be a reboot for Dragon Age, just like Andromeda was supposed to be one for Mass Effect. That's why everything falls flat.

[bracken-black]

First of all this isn’t a mark against the devs. They were fighting for their lives to get the game made at all I 100% blame EA for these elements being missing from the Final Cut. Please don’t come onto this post moaning about how bad you think the game is. If you want to whinge go make your own post.

That being said here are some things I think would have made veilguard better overall (spoilers below)

1 (with big flashing arrows and blinky neon lights) - THE ARCHITECT. We’re fighting the risen gods who are confirmed to be the old gods that darkspawn hear and follow, and since the first game there’s been a faction of darkspawn freed of their control. That would have been an incredibly interesting point to bring up, especially with a warden rook. Even if it was more centred around Harding’s questline rather than the main story, perhaps the liberated darkspawn could have aided Kal Sharok somehow (maybe if the final confrontation was tweaked slightly and we saw cinematics from the different parts of Thedas we’d been helping throughout the game, perhaps we could have seen the dwarves fighting alongside them.)

2- Merrill. The first expert on eluvians we ever met and we don’t hear a peep from her. (Isabela mentions her during a joke about mispronouncing some elven but come on.) Even a dialogue from one of the veil jumper leaders about a contact helping them with eluvian lore would have been appreciated. It’s basically the same argument as morrigan being in inquisition instead of her. She was shown to be one of if not the first to unlock the eluvians secrets after the ancient elves fell and yet now it feels like every fucker and their aunt can just get one up and running with a bit of elbow grease.

3- where are all the elves that are supposedly following solas now? The trespasser credits mentioned servants from all across thedas joining his movement yet all the elves we meet talk shit about him and the rest of the gods. And when did they find out the gods were tyrants? Did solas go around with a megaphone giving speeches? In that case why is he working alone? Surely some of his audience would have joined his crusade? Maybe in the 10 years between games they joined him then got tired of his shit and left.

4- what’s up with meredith and her red templar army? I know it was a plotline from the animated show but I was under the impression it was still canon? They mentioned marching on tevinter and we’re based in and around tevinter throughout the game. Again even a mention through dialogue or a codex would have been something. Red lyrium is still a prominent part of the story so wouldn’t an army of soldiers infected with it be relevant? Again this could revolve around Harding’s story since we find out what red lyrium is and could potentially cure it?

Idk these are just some things I would have liked to see in the game. I think it would have helped make it feel more involved with the previous games and tied up some stories nicely. (Though I have heard this was supposed to be a soft reboot so I guess that wasn’t what the devs wanted.)

[venndaai]

I finished Act 1 of Veilguard, I think! The Seige of Weisshaupt was awesome, and felt extremely traditionally Dragon-Agey. My only complaint is it felt weird to do a big main plot quest and not really have any choices, except how to deal with the First Warden which didn't seem to have much effect at all. Also if this was a previous DA game that child's father would not be alive, lol.

Also do not understand the common complaint that this game is a "soft reboot" that "doesn't care at all about the previous games". The codex entries in Weisshaupt were nonstop references! We even got a pretty emotional callback to Kristoff, which I'd consider a fairly deep cut!

Davrin... good character. When we had our first conversation in Act 2 and he actually shouted at me I wanted to punch the air. Yesss tension and drama. Speaking of which I'm getting so into Lucavrin.

[greyswarden]

here are some of my thoughts now that i’m closer to the end of the game if anyone is curious 🙂‍↕️

- i think i’d rate this game a firm 6/10. maybe a 6.5 if the final act is as incredible as other people say it is. it’s not bad but it’s not amazing either, but it can fight for second place with da2 on my favorite da game list (origins 🔛🔝 ofc with inquisition at the very bottom sorry 💔) i had a mostly fun time but a lot of the writing in particular to the companion quests was… scratches head. i just feel like this game could’ve been so much more :/

- what they did to the crows was so annoying like come on man 😭 every time they’re on my screen all i can think about was what zevran said like what was the fawking reason? i read a codex that said that apparently the crows have treaties with the grey wardens and will assist them when necessary? 💀

- it’s very obviously a standalone and it wants to separate itself from the rest of the games (except for inquisition), and is really catered towards new players and i just wanna know why they decided to do something of a soft reboot NOW? 😭 i’m sorry but like i said before, i’m not asking for cameos, but it doesn’t make sense that there are characters who absolutely SHOULD be mentioned wasn’t? (i.e. zevran, fenris, etc.) all zevran got was these very vague references in armor/weapons and a vague reference in a conversation with lucanis + davrin and lucanis + harding. fuckass LOGHAIN got namedropped and not zevran or alistair? i’m gonna be sick. it makes zero sense for the hero of ferelden to never be mentioned ever again ESPECIALLY when playing as a grey warden i feel……. whatever

- hard to pick a favorite companion because i really really like them all but bellara and davrin made me tear up a few times 🥹 UGH i think this is the first group of companions in a da game where i actually really like all of them

- weisshaupt was one of the best but extremely stressful quests i have ever played through and the origins references made me tear up a little……. the joining chalice from ostagar omg 😭

- it feels like i have to make a lot of my companions big decisions for them in their personal quests and i don’t really like that. it’s different if they’re asking for advice and they make their own choice but a lot of it is me choosing for them and that’s it 😭 i would’ve liked to see them make their own choices based on your relationship with them and your influence!!! i would’ve liked to see some more agency in the companions!!!

- that’s all i can think of right now but i will likely come back when i finish 🫵