#romancing taash will fix me

[clownxian]

[narriose]

Thoughts on Veilguard so far:

Preface: I’m ~50 hours in with a handful of endgame spoilers.

My general values are: Story > Characters > Gameplay > Romance > Rep > Visuals.

My rating of the previous games: DA2 > DAO > DAI

Spoilers under Cut:

What I expected: Having to deal with an unappealing art style and clunky gameplay with leftover multiplayer and live service era elements that they couldn’t get rid of for the sake of the story and characters.

What I got: Well…

Let’s Start with the negatives:

-Dialogue: I want to know what happened there. Ik for a fact they had veteran BioWare writers on the team and it feels like there was a decision to dumb everything down to the point of me immediately having a line in my head that would sound better in universe every time someone spoke. It proved especially grating once I heard Morrigan speak. And when people compare the writing to MCU I cannot really protest. “Dragon Age has always been unserious” yes but like. Not every other line was a joke or relatable™️ millennial awkwardness . When jokes did happen they became memorable moments for the fandom. It’s often very difficult to listen to. Especially when Rook talks. It is getting marginally better though.

-Tone: Dragon Age has been compelling to me because it wrote conflict and trauma and corruption in a way that felt developed enough to feel grounded and believably horrific. Even with all its faults. DATV mellowed out the horrors and seems to gloss over a lot of sociopolitical dynamics and lore. Stuff like portraying crows as vigilantes and not showing the evils of Tevinter slavery. The tone itself just feels like theyre trying to make an easily marketable sanitized IP out of it to cater to a wider audience.

-Character Writing: A lot of characterization has been “Tell not show” because I’m disappointed in Lucanis and Neve. The story says one is a serious killer and the other is a cynic but both have only been friendly soft and positive which is like??? I feel like a lot of their intro has been cut out or something where they establish those traits on screen. Another thing is: there don’t appear to be actually detestable and controversial traits in characters or even internal conflict they need to overcome. They’re just dealing with some kind of external thing thrust onto them and that is very shallow to me personally.

-Intro: I know we’re not getting Origins style personalized intros again but it felt like too much is handwaived into people making their own OCs and forming headcanons when the game doesn’t let us RP much at all outside identity stuff anyway. Like how do we know Varric? Why should any of the pep talks he gives us mean anything when we haven’t experienced anything to warrant the complements he gives us?

-Villains: possibly the worst part of the story: they lit act like theyre in a preschool cartoon down to body language. No nuance no controversy no actual horror to them when in previous games the evil felt so much more pronounced because some of the villains felt human enough to be a shitty person irl.

-Rep: Sigh. Even as a transmasc I might be a little too internally transphobic for the rep in the game. It feels like so many steps ahead of what the story should be handling. Like fix the slavery problem in a meaningful way then start philosophical gender discussions about what a gender binary even is. And it’s very cringe to me when it’s spoken about in game. Like yeah I love that there’s no way to dispute what the characters are but it also feels so entirely uncreative using modern day terminology for this stuff. And I don’t mean “replace it with ambiguous sad baby talk” but something more. Like is it terrible to want that? Even if you were planning on using the word nonbinary, at least tell us what a binary even is and how it was instituted as an idea into this world. Like I do adore Taash, I just wish the gender stuff wasn’t so clumsy.

-Visuals: It’s hard man. As an artist who sees human bodies as proportion reference points, the bodies still look off to me. Like it was worse and I’m getting used to it but it’s still painful. And I’m all for trying to stylize but this particular heroforge direction was not something I would have picked.

-OST: At first I couldn’t tell Zimmer/Balfe’s stuff apart from Morris’s but yeah, the new stuff is more boring(Sans the Rivain part)

-The 3 choice thing: yeah not a fan of that. I feel like perhaps it was a part of the multiplayer era where they would not be able to import much if everyone had a massively different world state so they limited it to the tiny MC choices. Still sad that the romance thing only really matters if you romanced Solas because the Dorian cameo wasn’t anything to write home about. Kinda feels like they added him in last minute because someone pointed out how much Solas-skewed the choices were. Idk. I so expected Josie in Antiva but alas.

Now Onto the Positives:

-Codices: The very way-too modern simplified conversational dialogue style carries over to the codices. And while I despise that as a creative, I do find myself actually reading them as they come because they are so easy to absorb. I feel like a lot of people would benefit from not skipping them because there are some references and plot reveals worth checking out.

-Story: If you deafen the dialogue style, the story itself is top. Gets way better as you play and from the spoilers I’ve heard, yeah. It’s good. Can’t wait to find out more.

-Gameplay: Listen I have a massive preference for DA style combat even if most ppl call it a slog. The turn based element, the pause button, the hoarding skills I never use. It’s like coming home to me. I hated DAI combat for the amount of anxiety it induced and I usually hate fast-paced action combat in most other games. DATV made me eat my boots. Its combat is insanely fun and engaging and often times I’m looking forward to fights more than quests themselves. Very colorful, very flashy, and very effective. The pause button gives less freedom but it’s there. The combos are fun. It is like Mass Effect except I did not find commanding the companions in Mass Effect as intuitive. Tho I wish non mages had less magicey feeling attacks.

-The CC: Yeah it wowed me with the options. I like how much can be done with the facial sliders and how good the hair looks.

-Puzzles: Listen the puzzles are extremely stupid in this game. But I also am very stupid and lazy when it comes to solving them. I have looked up the vast majority of puzzle solutions for DA games. No more DA2 Fade Barrels and no more trying to circumnavigate the ad infested Fandom Wiki to get to the Kitty’s prison solution. Crafted specifically for me.

-Mechanical Things: The game is optimized insanely well. Both when It comes to your PC and the gameplay. I’m amazed how well it runs on my PC when games like BG3 and Cyberpunk make my CPU scream. Love that. As far as gameplay goes: everything is super streamlined and designed to be as un-annoying as possible. No carry weight, no collectibles as annoying and unrewarding as the shards and mosaics. The maps are easy to parse. The game does not bombard you with useless NPCs, banter can’t be interrupted and characters catch up on banter at the Lighthouse if you’ve been avoiding certain party comps by accident. The quest locator is actually helpful. Skill points can be refunded. Looting is easy and finding shit feels rewarding.

-Characters: Honestly they do have some interesting things going on and while most characters feel a little hollow so far, I was pleasantly surprised by Davrin and Bellara. Davrin is the one I’m romancing and while the actual romance isn’t groundbreaking I’m glad I chose him. Yes, his character has a lot to do with Assan and his arc, but he does have stuff going on of his own. He’s very refreshing because some of the things he says low key both makes you think and also worry about him. He’s also not your usual preppy jock type. He can be a little mean sometimes. He’s artistic and principled. He has some remnants of “opinions I don’t agree with” that I love early DA for. When it comes to Bellara, she absolutely breaks the sort of Manic Pixie/Quirky Awkward young coded girl mold. It is the fact that there is self awareness and hints of history of failure and isolation in her words. There is also masking and over-clarification that I can relate to personally. I hope there is stuff like that to other companions when I get to know them better.

Visuals: the UI and Locations are stunning. The outfits the best the game has had so far(tho wish the overall look was less stylized) The blighted stuff(sans the ogres) and the Crossroads. Beautiful.

-Dwarf Lore: started out as fucking cheesy but I just finished meeting Valta and I’m seated.

-Solas Stuff: Hated the man for a while. Caved and made a solavellan to import to get more story stuff. NGL he is actually tolerable/interesting to me in this game.

Overall: A sickly sweet combo of Disappointed and Impressed. And I’m still gonna be playing. I am used to not liking something about every DA game. That’s part of the fun for me. But damn is this one testing me. Am I having a lot of fun playing it? Absolutely. Am I finding it difficult to get through a concerning amount of dialogue��yeah. It does still feel like a DA game but also like if someone made a pg-13 live action of Inquisition and then made a supplementary game based off that. If I forget that it’s supposed to be a sequel and just treat it like an action game with plot then it’s easier. And like I’m sure at least half of what I listed as a negative can be attributed to EA meddling or prev iterations of the game being inseparable. Anyway. Can’t wait to see the ending and I will add more thoughts when I’m done.

[iamnotyourgodsherald]

A Great Night, A Dragon Age: The Veilguard Fanfic: Chapter 1.

Alright, so this might become broken up into chapters, because I don’t know about you, but I am fiending for the romance of Lucanis and Rook. Especially my boy! (he was made in the BG3 CC because Bioware wont release the CC early, so! I made him as close as I could to how Demitrix would look like in this story! Feel free to check him out at the bottom of the story!) I hope you all enjoy this rendition of their steamy adventure~ Please feel free to tell me what you think about this chapter!

Warning: 18+ ONLY! 🔞

These Chapters Contain: Heavy Flirting, Sexual and Romantic Tension, Soft Moments, Breaking into A Library, Combat, Magic, Heavy Making Out, Neck Biting, Hair Grabbing, Shy Moments and Tense Moments.

“This is stupid.”

“It’ll be fine. Quit messing with your tie! You’ll mess up my hard work!” I laughed.

“I look like… My cousin.” Lucanis said with a sigh.

I looked back into the mirror, staring at us and admired the handsome men standing before it with a very satisfied grin.

I started fixing up part of my long curly hair, tucking in some loose black strands. I then placed a gold bow towards the ends of my hair, making it into a loose ponytail. I watched the light catch the bluish tints of my black hair and make it pop and brighten. Lucanis’s hair almost seemed to glow with a slight purpleish tint in the candle light, the spark dancing on the tips that were slicked back against the side of his head.

I went out to Treviso the day before and got us nice looking outfits to wear on our night out from a tailor who owed me a favor. I was very specific with my wants, and Creators, did he deliver. Both outfits were lightweight but durable, and beautiful to look at.

I had a white shirt with gold detailings on the ruffles that ran down my chest and at the end of my arms. The shirt opened, exposing a bit of my chest and upper stomach. My gold face tattoos were almost glittering in the light reflected in the mirror.

Lucanis has a plain black shirt with purple details around the collar and the edges of the sleeves. He had it buttoned up all the way and tucked it inside of his pants, looking dashing and poised. A small purple tie hung down from his collar, swaying a bit with his movement. His dark eyes danced around the mirror. They never seemed to take a break from searching, never not moving.

Both of us were wearing black leather pants, with a thin black belt around our waist. Lucanis insisted on them so we could stow our weapons during the evening. Understandable compromise. He, however, lined his entire belt with small knives. And two daggers at his side.

I just had some poison vials and two daggers hanging off of my side. I did argue that that many knives were unnecessary but Lucanis said you could never have too many.

I chose to let it be and just let him do what made him more comfortable. After all, I wanted him to have a good time tonight. I just wished he didn’t look like a walking armory while we were out.

He does deserve a break after two months of working. I figured I should be the one to ask him on this night out, since we had been working closely with each other. We would have had more company but Taash kept calling it a date and refused to come and Davrin just gave me a small smirk when I asked him to come along followed by him saying: “Have fun with Lucanis.”

I shook their words and sly expressions from my head and just continued my smile towards Lucanis. After all, this was not a date. It's a simple night out.

“Your cousin has good taste in fashion then!”

“I am glad he is not here to hear you say that.”

Lucanis scoffed and continued to mess with the tie. I just sighed and turned him towards me.

“Let me fix it.” I huffed, my hands twitching as I smelled his cologne on him. “I thought you would be used to ties. You are always so nicely dressed.”

Lucanis jolted a bit as I touched him, his dark eyes watching me extremely close, but slowly put his hands down as I fixed his tie.

“Is this night out really necessary? We have work to do.” Lucanis yawned, blinking his dark eyes slowly. “Besides, I need coffee…”

“We deserve a break. Come on, I know you aren’t sociable, buuuttt it might be nice! To get out and enjoy Treviso! We haven’t been home in so long, we should enjoy it while we’re here! Get into trouble! Get some drinks! Tear it up!”

“Treviso has been torn up enough.” Lucanis said bluntly, before gently grabbing my shoulders. “If you think this is wise, then let's go, but I will keep up my guard. You should as well.”

“Well…” I began, looking into his dark eyes and I almost felt myself melting. “Try to have fun, even on guard. For me, okay?”

I saw Lucanis’s eyes soften as I asked, before Spite flew out of Lucanis’s back and spun towards me.

“Ha! Have fun?! Not this guy. Doesn’t know fun if it STABBED HIM IN THE BACK.”

Lucanis groaned in annoyance and was about to say something but I cut him off, laughing. I then pointed at Spite, walking up to him.

“You. Take a break tonight, alright? Trust me. You’ll get some action. Plenty of action! You won't be bored. Just let Lucanis have some quiet time. Okay?”

Spite growled a bit, looking back at Lucanis before looking back at me.

“You promise? That I won't be bored? Don’t lie to me, Little Crow.” He growled back at me.

“I swear.” I said, smiling back.

He looked back at Lucanis and scoffed before disappearing. Lucanis held his head for a moment before groaning.

“You handle him well. I thought, maybe, he’d prove… too much for you. He proves almost too much for me sometimes.”

“Oh gods no. Nothing is too much for me. Trust me, I can handle the ghast. This one job had me…Well, let's just say I am used to dealing with difficult people.” I said confidently.

Lucanis cracked a small smile. “Good to know.”

I felt my face get slightly hot, and I faced the mirror once more.

“Well look at us! Two handsome men who are about to have a nice night for themselves. Can't wait to see where the night takes us!”

Lucanis just looked in the mirror and sighed defeatedly, walking out of the room.

I laughed and followed right behind him, eager to see my home again.

——————————————

This is a bad idea.

No it isn’t, Solas.

The elven gods wreak havoc and you are just-

Getting yelled at by you. I am trying to have fun. More fun than I have had in a while with a guy I like being around. Taking a moment away to enjoy the views and enjoy my life while I still have it.

You won't have a life long if you continue to ignore them.

And I won't have a life at all if I bust my ass all the time, working. I need a break. Just relax for a bit, okay?

“Solas talking to you?” Lucanis spoke up.

I didn’t realize that as we were walking down the streets of Treviso that Lucanis got really close to my ear, whispering into it.

I jolted and blushed from his closeness, tucking some stray hair behind my ear. The tips of my ears feeling hot.

“Y-yes.” I coughed and straightened up, putting on my confident swagger. “A heated discussion, but it’s alright. I'd rather focus on the real world right now. You, especially, are something I’d rather focus on.~”

Lucanis seemed to look away, his face tilting down before facing forward, his thumbs tucked into his belt.

“I cannot be that interesting to you.” he said quietly.

“I’ll have to disagree with you, my friend. You are so handsome and mysterious, I just want to delve into your cavern of secrets.” I purred.

Lucanis only huffed and looked off to the side, walking alongside me. Some people walked by us and smiled. Some I winked at and even blew a kiss to. Some returned them as they walked on past. Others stopped to talk and flirt with us as we traveled into the busy shopping area in Treviso. However, One person stopped us in particular and motioned for us to come into a nearby alleyway and handed me a note. They were wearing dark garb and staying in the shadows, away from any light. The Antivan Crow symbol on the front of the note in fresh black ink.

“Contract.” They said delicately.

“Right now?” I huffed, annoyed.

“They will be in town for a few nights. Do not waste time, Demitrix.” They said, baring teeth. “You are still a Crow.”

Lucanis spoke up. “We will take it.”

The figure then nodded and left quickly. Leaving us to return to the light of the sidewalks lanterns.

“Look, I said no work. This is our rest night. We need a break.”

“I never said I’d do it right now.” Lucanis corrected, his eyes narrowing down at me. “I agreed to your ‘rest night’ and I am not properly dressed for a job. Let’s get this night over with and then I can work on it.”

I looked away, steeling myself against the sting of his words. I then let out a smile and looked at him.

“Whatever you want, Lucanis.”

Although he obviously didn’t see any negative expressions, something about my mannerisms and voice let slip that I was upset, because his eyes seemed to have softened. His body was not as tense as before. I saw his hand twitch but then balled up into a fist and looked forward walking.

“Come. Show me this bar we’re supposed to be going to.”

Shit. How could he tell? I must be slipping. Can't let him see that I was upset. Gotta show him I am unaffected. Focus, Demitrix.

I kept up my charm, pointing out the different places as we walked past.

“Well there's lots of fun little dives around here that could offer a ton of entertainment! This place over here-“

I stopped and turned, Lucanis gone from my side. A quick little search though was enough to see where he was.

Outside of a small library, Lucanis was peeking inside at a small figurine of what looked like a dragon sitting on a rock. I walked over softly to see that the label said “Wyvern”.

“You like Dragons?” I asked gently.

“I love wyverns.” He said with a smile.

He then frowned looking at the statue.

“You’re frowning.”

“Because that's a dragon figurine.”

“So?”

“It’s not a wyvern. They don’t even look similar.”

Lucanis’s hands itched for a moment. He looked like he really didn’t like that label, almost painful  for him to see it. I really wanted to make him happy tonight, and I tended to go against my better judgment anyway. I started running into the alleyway right next to the building, a concerned Lucanis following after me.

“Demitrix?!” He yelled following after me. “What are you doing? The bars are-“

“We should fix that label.” I said with a smirk looking for a backdoor. “People are going to think that's a wyvern.”

“Some will, but it is clearly a Dragon. Wyverns don’t look like that though. They have little webbed flaps that stick out from their joints that help them glide. They can't fully fly, though.”

“You really like wyverns.”

“I don’t like wyverns.” He turned to me with the most deadpan expression. “I LOVE wyverns.”

I did find a side door near the end of the building but it was locked.

“Damn. I didn’t bring my lockpicks.”

I looked up the building, and started to scale up the wall, grabbing onto jutted out parts of stone and rock. Lucanis started following after me, cursing under his breath.

“Demitrix! Meirda…” he sighed as I started climbing over the side onto the roof. “Is all this necessary?”

“Sí.” I shot back.

He then paused a moment before chuckling.

“Fine. Let's make it quick.”

We managed to climb up to the roof where we searched for a way in. Lucanis ended up finding an unlocked ceiling hatch and opened it up quietly.

“Quickly. Let's go.”

“How are we getting back out?”

“You’ll see. Go in.”

“I do love mysterious types. So exciting.” I purred.

I jumped down, staying still for a moment to let my eyes adjust to my surroundings. The light from the hatch shone down on me and cast a bit of light around the spot.

Definitely just a standard library after hours. The whole place smelled of old parchment and aged leather. No candles lit and no people around too. I listened for any noises that didn’t come from outside just to see if we were truly alone and once I determined that nobody was here, I signaled Lucanis to come down and he landed right next to me with feline grace.

“This is fun.” I whispered.

Lucanis then shushed me and started walking towards the front, crawling on his hands and knees to keep out of sight from the window.

I climbed up on a nearby bookcase and crouched on the top of it, watching Lucanis from afar. Even as he moved, he was as silent as a mouse. It was very impressive to watch him, especially from the back of him. Though, I need to determine if we could get back out easier with the hatch. I turned to look at the hatch and the height of the bookcases and hopped to the closest one nimbly, staying quiet. When I got back over to it, it looked a bit tall for us to leap back up to it and climb out. Just in case if we need a plan B, I decided to try and look for some lock picks to try and open the back door out of here. Sometimes, people DO have them just to make sure they can get into doors they accidentally lock themselves out of and with some luck, I was hoping I could find some.

I crawled back down and started up towards what I perceived as a counter and started sifting through as I got behind it, feeling for lock picks in the small cupboards.

As I searched, I suddenly felt a body press up against me from behind, pinning me to the cupboards and covering my mouth. I looked up to see Lucanis hunkering down with me, shushing me silently.

I blushed hard and my pants suddenly felt tighter, dirty thoughts filling my head.

“I hear something. Something down below.” He whispered in my ear.

I pulled my mouth away from his hand.

“Lucanis, You can't… just grab my mouth and… press up-“

He silenced me again with his hand, this time holding me tighter against his chest.

“Stop. Talking.”

I shuddered, feeling his hips against mine.

Yes sir~

A light suddenly appeared in the back of the library around the corner where we were hunkered down. A couple of figures walked past the counter with lanterns, wearing the cloaks and outfits of Venatori thugs.

I felt Lucanis’s grip on my mouth tightened, his eyes starting to flicker with purple light. His arm shook with anger. I shook my head to get him to notice me, to stop him from summoning spite, which seemed to work.

He slowly let go of me, and nodded towards them.

“They die.” He whispered softly.

“They die.” I nodded.

We both drew our daggers, sneaking out from behind the counter. Lucanis went to the left side of the library where I went to the right side, watching and following the Venatori nutcases like a wolf stalking its prey. Lucanis positioned himself on the opposite side of me as they searched, watching the two lackeys shine the lantern around, while we were easily avoiding the light.

“I know I heard something.” One of them said.

It was a maskless Venatori, their eyes darting around in fear.

“Why would anyone suspect us here? Or even break into a library? Look, there's obviously no one here, let’s just leave.”

Lucanis slipped some of the small knives into his hand, putting them between his fingers, ready to throw.

I started to move towards them but Lucanis saw me moving closer and put up a hand to get me to wait.

As they walked away from us, that's when he signaled for us to strike.

Lucanis quickly threw his blade into the back of the left one’s neck while I ran up and stuck one of my blades into the right one's back, twisting and covering his exposed mouth with my other hand. While Lucanis’s guy went down easily, the right one whirled around with the lantern, screaming into my hand and swung me around.

“Lucanis! Little help!” I yelled.

Lucanis ran over, ready to throw another knife but the guy reached back and threw me into Lucanis, both of us toppling onto the floor landing on top of each other.

The Venatori however, screamed, before falling over and dropping the lantern.

“Next time, sink your blade deeper!” Lucanis yelled.

“Thanks for the tip, Master Crow!” I yelled back.

We quickly got up, running to the shadows once more as two more came up and into the library, one obviously a mage and another a rogue. The rogue stepped in front of the mage, brandishing daggers, looking around. His eyes, darting around.

“Stay behind me, Sylvia. They are still here.” The rogue spoke quickly.

“They won't be hidden for long.“ Sylvia said.

She then waved her staff as it glowed with greenish yellow light and all the candles and torches in the library flickered on with Veilfire.

Fuck.

The rogue saw me first and ran towards me, trying to dual strike me from the front but I brought up both my blades and parried. The hilts of our daggers catching and holding us there.

“You worthless little elf… I’ll cut off your ears and make you scream for death!” He snarled.

“Oh you Venatori really know how to talk dirty~” I purred back.

I shoved myself forward, to knock him off balance, knocking us both into the ground, and barely dodging a shot of lightning going past my head. 

“Kill the damn elf!” Sylvia screamed.

I knew Lucanis could handle the mage, all I was worried about was killing this rogue. As we wrestled around on the ground. I ended up using one of my dirty tactics to place a well aimed knee to his crotch, which caused him to yell in agony and loosen his grip on me.

I took the moment to then quickly grab his throat while he remained on top of me, roll on top of him, and then bring my blade across his neck. Quickly, I got off of him before any blood began to spray on me.

Sylvia, however, had Lucanis pinned. She was aiming at Lucanis who was dodging behind the book cases as she fired lightning at him, getting closer and closer to hitting him.

Not thinking, I ran over and picked her up from behind, lifting her into the air to give Lucanis time to run in and finish her off.

I, however, forgot for a moment that she was a mage.

She grabbed my arms as I hoisted her into the air and shocked me good. A thousand pinpricks ran through my arms and into my chest, causing my whole body to feel like it was on fire from how strong the shock was, my body becoming numb and then paralyzed.

My head felt dizzy from the damage, making the room spin around me. I fell to the floor with a thud, dropping Sylvia as well and passing out.

When I came to, Lucanis was shaking me awake. His face splattered with blood.

“Demitrix?!” He gasped.

“Yeah…” I wheezed, my joints stiff for a moment. “I just needed a nap… Still alive…”

He laughed, sighing a breath of relief.

“Maker, you are an idiot.” He sighed, moving hair out of my face. “I thought you were dead!”

“What? Missed me already?” I flirted, winking up at him. “I could never leave you behind.”

His eyes got big, a bright flush spread across his face and then a softer smile appeared.

That's when he leaned down and kissed me deeply, his lips pressed hard against mine.

My whole body went stiff again. I could feel my face flush and my lips twitch. In my weakened state, I just easily melted back into his kiss. Not a care in my mind.

I wrapped my arms around his neck, and pulled him onto me, our shared kiss becoming more passionate and more crazed as my tongue wrapped around his.

He then reached up, grabbing at my scalp and gripping my roots, and pulled my head back. My neck became exposed to him and he quickly bit into it. Moaning longingly into my flesh.

“L-Lucanis…!” I cried out as I clawed into his back. “Maker, you’re going crazy… I love it!”

I arched my back as he bit harder, my heart racing in my chest.

This is really happening. It’s really happening. Lucanis is about to fuck me.

Before we got too wild, we heard knocking at the front door.

“This is the Antivan Guard! Open up this door! Or we will break it open!”

Lucanis quickly got off of me, pulling me up off the floor, motioning to the hatch. I nodded and climbed up the bookcase after him and watched him leap up the hatch and climb onto the roof. Just as I leaped and caught the edge of the hatch, the door started being kicked open.

I quickly scampered up onto the roof, and closed the latch quietly, before Lucanis and I took off, darting across the rooftops of Treviso and away from the sight of the guard.

We finally slowed down on a roof overlooking a market square. Both of us panting and then slowly started laughing.

“You… Moron! All that for a mislabeled dragon statue?” Lucanis struggled to get out.

A wild smile spread across his face.

“It looked like it really bothered you!” I chuckled, taking a deep breath. “I wanted to fix the problem.”

“You are sweet…” He said sheepishly.

“I know~ oh Lucanis… you have blood on you.”

I started to use my hand to wipe the blood from his face, but he grabbed my hand and gently held it there for a moment, almost like… he was enjoying it.

I blushed but didn’t move. I didn’t want him to let go of me, but I felt fear crawl up my spine from this new feeling… like butterflies in my stomach and I gently moved my hand.

“Lucanis…?”

He almost snapped back to reality so quickly, standing up, looking as poised as before. It was almost… disheartening? I almost felt disappointed? I pushed them down for the moment and looked up at him with a smile.

“Whats up, handsome?~”

Lucanis’s face blushed brightly but quickly looked away, clearing his throat.

“Well. Now that we’re out of that little bind.” He said, looking down at me. “Let’s…continue with our night.”

(Stay tuned for Chapter 2!)

[linka-from-captain-planet]

1 month to Veilguard, here are my current Hypes and Gripes

HYPES:

general gorgeousness, style, architecture, lighting - all of it looks amazing and has so much character

CC legitimately looks fun to play with (as someone who was planning to just take a default to avoid having to slog through it)

truly cannot believe I'm actually very excited for combat and having a hard time deciding what class to play because they all look really fun

I liked the open world of DAI but am definitely glad for a more streamlined experience along the lines of DAO/DA2

not sure if I hallucinated this, but they improved looting? I don't have to click on every body to pick up 2 bucks and a piece of cloth?? I certainly have not seen an annoying looting animation which was a major beef with DAI

the missions we've seen before look absolutely thrilling and the story beats are wild

companions reportedly act like they exist outside of the player character - major key for someone who doesn't really care about my player character

Neve fucking Gallus

Lace fucking Harding

Taash

Bellara Lutare

GRIPES:

truly could not give less of a f about Solas or ancient elven lore so these major story beats are simply not for me (monster goddess can still step on me ofc)

still bummed about the lack of world state customization, mostly because I'd just like updates on previous quests and companions, but also because I expect nothing non-Solas-related to be relevant (e.g I assume my Josephine romance and the Inquisition will just be mentioned in passing) so what customization there is seems to be trivial/misleading

hoping that the facial animations are more polished (fix lip sync, get rid of cross eyes) before launch because those first 10 hours before I stop seeing it will be rough

need every character to be stretched vertically like 10% - shook to learn that Neve is supposed to be like 5'8" bc her model serves 5'4". Stylized character art needs stylized proportions

hoping (but not optimistic) that I can fix the player character's hunched/leaned forward posture in CC - tuck them shoulder blades please

TBDs:

conceptually I love the idea of companion romances as someone who is nosy and loves playing barbies, but I think pairing the spares is lame - would rather the alternative romances be with NPCs (but I AM a background character fan so I'm prob biased)

also I suspect I will not like the pre-determined ships lol

currently I find Assan and Manfred annoying (goofy mascots, dog-ification of all animals, come off like goofy disney sidekicks) but I will probably get won over pretty easily on this

[hoboblaidd]

Headcanon: Solas is 5'11-6'.

Theory of the case: For all of Inquisition until Trespasser, Solas is doing an Apostate Slouch™ to appear more like a humble, unassuming elven apostate. Even then, he's taller than your average elf. From Trespasser on, he holds himself more like he is, aka, with good posture.

End of the day, this is my headcanon and I'm not claiming it's canon. It's not serious and the image "proof" within is iffy at best. This is just how I'm rolling on my blog.

The last three images are Veilguard spoilers. Tread carefully.

For reference, here's the apostate slouch in action. You’re not fooling anyone pal:

A note on the heights: Frankly, the Inquisition heights are a little all over the place, so they're not law to me. Everyone's posture in Inquisition also sucks but that's ok, it came out in 2014. But in the interest of science, I'll do an unscientific deep dive.

Here are the models. The person who took these photos said that the models for each character are the same height for every character of the same race/gender, so imo we can’t really use that (also his feet are pronated which is really bad for the knees/hips):

Same height as Cassandra (possibly slightly taller since she's in the foreground):

Hi Varric:

Solas is just shy of a head taller than Lavellan here:

About the same during the balcony kiss - she's looking up, he's looking pretty well down:

Here he's actually slouching, and they're the same height:

They're closer in height below - could be just to make the romance scene more cinematically balanced, or could this be a rare alternate form of the apostate slouch, the apostate shitty breakup slouch? (and, is this entire post an excuse to post my Lavellan? 60 minutes investigates tonight at 9):

This user put Solas side by side with the Sentinels. They’re a bit taller than the standard elves - here is an elven Inquisitor next to the hunched Sentinel guide. At best, Lavellan and old sentinel are the same height:

And here's Solas with the same. The angle's a bit weird, but you get the idea:

Here’s Solas (with a slight apostate slouch, please fix your posture) next to Abelas. About the same height, with Solas maybe a hair taller:

With Mythal, she's a human model and he's close to her height (factoring in the dual slouches):

For reference, here's Mythal-Flemeth with Garrett Hawke who is, as we know, a beefcake:

In Trespasser, Lavellan is closer to the camera and looking up. Solas is a good bit taller (but Karen, it's not that much taller! Well stfu. Also this is my favorite picture of him, it's so cold):

And finally, the reason I bumped him from 5'10 to 6'.

***********VEILGUARD SPOILER***********

Here’s Solas in front of Neve. The image quality sucks and the angle's bit weird, but he's about a head taller. She's a little closer to the camera in the first picture, but not by a significant amount:

For comparison, here's Neve on about the same plane as Emmrich (tallest save for Taash):

The end.

In sum, this is just my headcanon. I'm not claiming this to be canon and it's clearly not perfect. BUT since it's my blog, this is how I have his height. Ergo, he has two tiny adopted daughters.

[sevenmothz]

Spent Friday to today playing Veilguard and honestly, I've been really enjoying it.

The overall story has me hooked, the lore drops have been fucking nuts (it was Solas/Mythal All Along lmao), the combat is pretty damn fun, and I've been really enjoying all of the companions.

That last one is new for me because there is usually always that one or two characters I cannot fucking stand (Oghren and Anders, for instance). Hell, in Inquisition, I was very ambivalent to a majority of the companions. Didn't love them, didn't hate them (which I'm sure half of that feeling can be blamed on the busted banter that never really got fixed). Cole, Dorian, and Cassandra were the three I tended to enjoy the most within that game.

This go around, I've really enjoyed mixing up my crew because I genuinely want to have each of them around and hear them talk to each other (bless the Maker the banter isn't busted in this game--in fact, I haven't run into any bugs in this playthrough so far [knock on wood]). On top of that, because of how the combat works, you're not forced to even out your party classes, lest your mage team gets fucking wiped out because you came across the wrong tanky enemy, or you get locked out of a room that's blocked off and needs a rogue or warrior to get in.

I think Taash is PROBABLY at the bottom of the list of characters I like most, and most of that is just they're young and kinda brash and stand-offish, and that character type doesn't always jive with me haha. Their Queer Journey(TM) story is kinda whatever (I've seen this story beat about a million times at this point--it's repetitive to me at this point ahaha), but at least it seems to be actually going somewhere and has had build-up. Like, I'm still invested in seeing the story through.

As much as I love Dorian, his personal story pretty much ended before it really began. You get the one quest about his dad doing a conversion therapy on him in the past via blood magic, and that's pretty much the meat of Dorian's story. Gaider really stumbled over that follow-up. What's worse is you can get that quest REALLY early on in the game, so it's long been history by the time you finish Inquisition.

But even with all that said about Taash's story, I still really enjoy bringing 'em along when I'm running all over the place.

As for my favorite companion? It's probably gotta be Emmrich, and that might be the bias talking because I opted to play as a Mourn Watcher and get lots of extra opportunities to nerd it up with him about being a necromancer haha. Being able to see how Nevarrans (minus Cassandra lmao) look at things like death and spirits has been really enjoyable. It's a nice change of pace after years of Andrastian characters with more strict ideals.

I know some people had complaints about how the companions don't really have any big conflicts with each other, but honestly, it feels right for the story that they're not at each other's throats. They're all professionals at what they do like the Inquisition team, but they have far bigger fish to fry and no armies and major connections to make up for their slack like the Inquisition crew did (and honestly, DAI didn't have much in the inter-group conflicts outside of some catty dialogue).

On top of that, they got to live with each other in a much more intimate way than the Inquisition group did. They basically live in a commune where you gotta get along or shit isn't going to get done.

Hawke's group were able to get away with being such godawful assholes to each other because for a majority of the years spent together, they didn't have the fate of the world on their shoulders. They just had their own personal issues to worry about (up until the qunari attacked and Anders did a terrorism).

Anyway, I wound up romancing Lucanis. I wasn't on the hype train for him, but then he went and batted those puppy eyes at Rook and I couldn't help myself lmao. Plus, I found I'd much rather romance Davrin with a dwarf anyway. Something about Wardens and dwarves man...does stuff to my brain.

[hellolitty]

KATIEEEEEEE TELL ME YOUR THOUGHTS ON VEILGUARDDDD

i added a read more because i started yapping to much and was like ok let’s hide all of this LMAO.

ok first of all… the obvious from dreadwolf to veilgaurd… i really like the change! now solas isn’t the main focus, but the veil & the evanuris (with two coming out of the veil in the trailer) are. i remember seeing a post MONTHS ago on twitter speculating that maybe solas would be built up as the main antagonist and then it gets resolved early on in game (similar to the breach/haven in dai), with the rest dealing with someone else and it seems to be the case! which imo, i will enjoy a LOT more because i don’t care much for solas and i a whole game revolving around trying to stop him or trying to “fix” him would’ve been tiring after a while. especially because in trespasser, basically EVERY companion disapproves of trying to save him. yet the first thing varric does is try to save the guy… bro YOU greatly disapproved!

the factions seem SO FUN!! antivan crows, shadow dragons, veil jumpers… i’m so excited to see how the factions effect the background and dialogue. game wise, we’ve only really seen grey wardens & the crows (i believe) so im super excited to choose between the factions. its also cool to see how they’re integrating the comics more into the games! and even the show, apparently red lyrium knight commander meredith will be in the game… i’m excited to see what they’re going to do with past companions. like surely zevran, fenris, and isabela will be making an appearance again? and merrill too, she had her own eluvian. i also wonder what part morrigan and kieran will play. also very curious to see if flemeth will be coming back!

bianca breaking… i’m terrified for what will happen to varric. i was watching that scene thinking he was going to die. and the fact they chose to share bianca breaking leaves me a little scared to what is going to happen after… i wonder if varric is going to die & if it will effect solas’s ideology. i’ve seen a couple posts circulating on twitter wondering if varric & solas will get pulled into the fade and have to fight their way out with whoever you chose to leave behind in dai. i think that would be interesting, but i wonder how they would be able to pull it off. i’ve also seen a couple posts wondering if you’ll have to choose between two characters again, and that is something that scares me a lot.

i’m very happy with the diversity in the companions and that you’ll have the option to romance. i’m also glad that companions will romance each other if you don’t start one, because that’s an aspect i liked!! of course im excited for the banter & party dialogue. and the baby griffon!!! how could i not be excited for the baby griffon!!! like griffons were thought to be extinct, and the first grey warden you see in the new game HAS ONE!! we are so back. the character designs are so beautiful too. taash having a crystal horn & her look being similar to rivani. neve’s hat. bellara’s bow. WE ARE SO BACK!!

the changed pride demon look was a little interesting but i can look past it. i’m not against the new art style, because i think it looked really good for minrathous! and im hoping it will look good across the board. i am very excited for the character creator. i’m hoping for piercings & tattoos to be added. and i’m hoping the cc is loads more inclusive than it has been in the past. if there’s 1 long hair option but 15 buzzed/shaved hair options im going to get so violent. i think the complaints about dragon age not being as “dark fantasy” are so unfounded. dragon age has never really been “dark fantasy”. i think it tried to be but it isn’t truly.

powers and combat look super cool. they went back to having the long & close range weapons like in dao. i wonder how melee combat will work with a mage, like will i have the option to hit people with a staff 😭😭 or use as a dagger as a conduit for magic. like that would be baller as fuck. hopefully the power wheel comes back. dai limiting me down to eight made me SO aggravated like come on 😭😭 i miss access to everything. straying away from dragon age keep is also certainly a choice! on one hand im glad, because it was SO tedious to fill out. but at the same time i wonder how we’re going to be able to choose everything that’s happened in pass games? a comic intro (similar to what mass effect 3 did) seems like it would take a long time to get through, especially considering the fact that dao took place over a decade (maybe even 2 decades?) ago within game.

i think going back to the linear and quest based areas is smart too. dai was TOO big and TOO open world. it was draining to get through every quest in a certain area and then go to the next one and have to do everything over again. however, after having spent the last 3 games running around ferelden, the matches, and orlais, i would LOVE to run around rivain, antiva, and minrathous. just for fun. the sneak peek showing minrathous had my jaw dropped. ferelden is so lame compared to minrathous. how was dorian able to do from minrathous to ferelden and survive.

i am going to stop now, mostly because i will keep going as i will keep thinking of things and i don’t want this getting any longer than it already has LOL but PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!!! let me know what you think/are expecting/excited for/theories i would love to hear it all!!

[okase]

Update: Turning off upscaling completely fixed my performance issues so if you're having trouble like me and have an older GPU that's likely your culprit

Also

I've warmed up to all the companions as this point. I like Davrin and Taash and Emmerich is my husband and Manred and Assan are my sons. I'm trying everything in my power not to romance Emmerich since I intended to in a future playthrough and I'm failing. He's just so lovely and I'm a goth girl at heart.

Also I just love the Mournwatch so so much. I slightly regret playing warrior but I didn't regret being a mournwatcher for a second.

Fuck the big decision you have to make after recruiting Davrin but they're taking the aftermath in an interesting direction. Sorry Neve, you're probably gonna betray me later lol

Thoughts on Veilguard so far, not really spoilery but still using a read more just in case:

Enjoying it so far, it feels more Mass Effect than Dragon Age, specifically Andromeda if Andromeda had more time to cook. But honestly having played both origins and inquisition lately, I don't mind it! It's just different.

The writing so far is... Fine, serviceable. It has that typical Bioware jank in places but I've yet to come across anything that's stood out to me as particularly off-putting. Despite playing for most of yesterday I'm still pretty early in the story so we'll see where it goes, but I want to see where it goes which is a good sign! And there have been moments that made me smile for sure.

I like the companions so far, the one I'm more lukewarm to is Neve so far but I get the impression she's more of a slow burn character rather than a bad one. I was worried Harding would be a bit dull and rely too much on our nostalgia but she's actually really endearing still which is nice. Bellara was the one I was most worried about initially because Bioware quirky characters tend to irritate me rather than endear me but I actually really like her and might romance her if I can resist Emmerich lmao. And the last one I've recruited so far is Lucanis who I really like and am now considering romancing in a future playthrough. He's a hot mess in a good way

I like being sassy at Solas and I like the different dad vibes I'm getting from him and particularly Varric. They didn't kill Varric immediately like I thought they would but I fully expect that he'll die later lol

I like Rook! My thoughts before launch were that if we were going to have a voiced protagonist that the ideal would be that they'd be somewhere between Hawke and the Inquisitor, which they are! More personality than the latter with more room for custom characterization than the former. Idk how much different dialogue affects how Rook acts when you aren't directly giving input but my Rook so far has been sweet and a bit silly, which is what I was going for anyway. Also the scene with the mementos was nice and it was cool to not only establish a character as trans but also you could choose how they feel about it currently. I've yet to see it come up since but I have no doubt it will.

Gameplay wise it's a bit repetitive but honestly so are all dragon age games so it's fine, the loop is satisfying, it works. I've had fun. Though I've quickly realized with my play style that I should have picked rogue like I originally intended because I suck at blocking 😭

Also it's probably because my graphics card is ancient but I have had performance issues + stuttering. It's not constant but it's noticeable and gets particularly bad in Arlathan specifically for some reason. That said someone pointed out that if you have an older graphics card you should turn off upscaling so I'm gonna do that and see how that goes!

But yeah overall it's been fun and I look forward to playing more of it!