#series: Dragon age

[galedekarios]

full credit for the video of this conversation goes to @/imgoinmental on x

if you turn emmrich into a lich, he cries alone in his room because he misses manfred:

davrin: emmrich. i think assan misses manfred i caught him in your room sniffing around, looking for him. emmrich: he's always in there searching for crumbs. davrin: no, he was whimpering. sad. emmrich: poor thing. davrin: when i was there looking for him... thought i heard someone else crying, too. emmrich: ah. davrin: i miss him, too. don't know what i'd do if i lost assan.

i want to gather my own thoughts here, too, a bit because this made me think more about The Decision(tm) and it's a heavy one: emmrich's entire life's work and his own fear of dying being put behind him (although not ever acknowledged or dealt with in a healthy manner) vs bringing back a companion, whom he had loved as a son and who gave his life for him.

personally, i think this, coupled with the reaction to rook's possible death in the final fight or even in the far away future as evidenced by the argument they have prior (both on the human and on the lich path, though i am only showing the lich path here as it is relevant to the discussion):

emmrich: i can see the life course through you, my love. like a thread of diamond flame. yet... emmrich: i will lose you to time, rook. what if i can't bear that for eternity? rook: that's the most romantic thing i've ever heard. emmrich: what? rook: remembering me forever? emmrich: i'm afraid i'll mourn you forever. rook: that's ridiculous. emmrich: do you think so little of what i feel for you? rook: no! emmrich: then you could act accordingly.

i also always think about this line by emmrich's parents' graves:

emmrich: lately, i've wondered what they'd think of our current course. the choices ahead. rook: your lichdom? emmrich: what would they have wanted me to be? rook: [option: never lonely/locks in romance]: happy with someone that cares for you.

the very first condition is that he must be able to let others go. he’s not nonchalant about his own death, not about manfred's, and not about rook's. he doesn't want to be alone.

i think in conclusion for myself, i came away from all of this very much believing that emmrich is not built for what lichdom requires of him and entails over the many, many centuries to come.

i wish the game offered more romance / character scenes to actually meaningfully address and discuss not only the argument with emmrich, but also his fear of dying.

(disclaimer: i want to clarify that these are just my own personaly thoughts. choosing lichdom is a valid path, depending on how you rp your rook, your backbackground and how you engage with emmrich. i am only looking at this through the lens of myself experiencing the game and emmrich's character.)

[rivensbane]

EMMRICH VOLKARIN in DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD.

[galedekarios]

i hope it's ok to add the actual banter to this, op. if not let me know and i'll delete my addition.

here is what neve and emmrich have to say:

emmrich: however did you deduce i came from poor circumstances as a child, neve? neve: you always finish your plate. always first to meals. neve: you're covered in gold, but save all your candle stubs. neve: you give more money than a noble would to beggars and street urchins. neve: and you look them in the eye. a nice word, no flinching. poor's familiar. emmrich: not for quite some time. but yes.

the screencaps are from @nadasdirthalens's video, which you can watch here.

Ok, discovered more Emmrich lore via some banter with Neve.

After discussing Tevinter vs. Nevarran mage/nobility politicking, she comments how it must be even more intimidating if one were from poorer means and fondly says:

'but at least you did alright for yourself...' :)

and realizing her implication, he goes 'how did you-?' :0

Follow-up banter he's like 'so how did you deduce I came from poorer means?' and she basically lists the following observations about him:

always finishes his plate, always the first to eat

covered in gold, yet saves all his candle stubs

gives away more gold to the beggars than anyone else

always looks them in the eye, no aversion, "Poor is familiar"

Emmrich adds that yes, while he hasn't been poor in a while, she's correct, he was.

(sorry for the paraphrasing, I keep forgetting to record these things)

[eviefrve]

[bubblebuttgames]

We got three rooks so far! Betting if there is a last one it will be dwarf with daggers between Lucanis and ???

[tuwasduwillst]

I Finished Veilguard (No Spoilers Version)

I'm going to make two of these: One with spoilers, and one without! This is the former.

Sooo as of a few hours ago, I officially beat Veilguard!

It took me ~77 hours for my first playthrough, apparently. And overall I would say that I really enjoyed it!

It's been over nine years since the last Dragon Age game was made, and I honestly never thought I would ever see another one get finished. I had almost entirely given up hope; when Veilguard finally got announced and had a release date, I almost couldn't believe it. And I still almost can't believe that it actually came out and I finished it!

Here's a list of pros and cons:

+

Combat was fun, especially at higher levels

Despite my disappointment about the world state situation, I do think they did a fairly decent job of working around it

The entire ending section was incredible IMO

The game felt whole and complete at launch

The companions were fun and I enjoyed having them along

Speaking of companions (and combat), I loved the battle shouts

As a Mourn Watch elf Rook, I felt like there were plenty of times where lineage/faction were recognized and that there was lots of unique dialogue based on it!

All sidequests felt relevant, important, and worth doing (which may make replays a little tedious, but oh well. It made the first playthrough better.)

-

Early combat could be rough as a mage (and sometimes even later on), because enemies pretty much exclusively target Rook, which means you get knocked around a lot instead of being able to case spells/attack

The early game is a little rough and feels kind of disjointed (but it quickly gets better IMO)

I do still wish they would have included more world state stuff

The fashion is... well, maybe it'll work better for my other Rooks, but there was pretty much nothing I wanted my first Rook to wear (I ended up using the pre-order dragon mage outfit for the entire game & the default Mourn Watch casual wear for at the Lighthouse)

I love the Crows, but their portrayal in newer DA stuff does feel like a bit of a "Cullen situation"; I've heard that even as a Crow Rook you don't get to discuss things much about the darker aspects of being a Crow (besides, y'know, the assassinating). I will concede that this could be at least partially due to mostly interacting with Talons instead of common Crows

I loved Lucanis and his romance, but something about it felt... thin, maybe? Threadbare? I love a good slow burn, but I don't think there was enough space for a proper one. Even just one more conversation between "properly" getting together would've made things better IMO. (This is complicated by the fact that he apparently gets together with Neve if unromanced, and they apparently have a decent amount of content together...)

I'm not really sure what else to put in here that isn't a spoiler... hmm.

I apparently took ~1.2k screenshots, and it probably would've been more if the stupid "skip cutscene" button didn't show up during cutscenes u_u I might see if there's a way to turn that off, actually...

But that's for later! Now it's time for the spoiler-y post. :)

[lycanthropebard]

DA fandom when Merrill uses blood magic and messes with ancient elven artifacts and/or the Taint: this fucking idiot 😡😡 stupid ass bitch 🗣️ NO idea what you're messing with 😤 this literally KILLED Tamlen🔪

DA fandom when Morrigan uses ambiguous forbidden magic to literally steal an Archdemon's soul and later mess with ancient elven artefacts: omg 😍😍 of coooouuuurse bestie 🥰🥰 anything to help my girl out !! 💁‍♀️💐

[disciple-of-frost]

Okay. Just watched the gameplay trailer for Veilguard and holy shit Neve Gallus is so Ishi coded I am frothing at the mouth!

[tashizweig]

i don't understand why absolution isn't just a movie???

[savs-sims98]

Gonna be my reaction to meeting him and Lucanis for the first time XD

Emmrich Volkarin | Dragon Age: The Veilguard – Get to Know Your Companions

[galedekarios]

emmrich: those wooden carvings of yours are perfectly charming, davrin. davrin: thanks. davrin: thought they might be too rustic for your tastes. emmrich: artistry should be appreciated wherever it's found. emmrich: though i'm surprised you let assan chew on that lovely halla statue. davrin: he did what now?

so we have moved on from 'my adopted son is better than your adopted son' to 'i genuinely appreciate you and what you do and create -- but i will also rat out your adopted son and him misbehaving to you personally in an underhanded way.'

amazing. 10/10. love them.

[rivensbane]

SOLAS in DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD.

Hey, Chuckles.

[eviefrve]

[bubblebuttgames]

Curious thought. For those planning on playing all or multiple playthroughs to try out other or all romances, in what order are you considering if it's from most interest to least?

My list would look like this so far based on impressions and trivia tid bits:

Davrin

Lucanis Dellamorte

Lace Harding

Neve Gallus

Taash

Bellara Lutare

Emmrich Volkarin

Let me know your order in the tags, replies, or reblogsn please and thank you!

[tuwasduwillst]

Veilguard First Impressions!

First off, here's my Rook! I'm pretty happy with how I got them to look; I ended up going with what's technically the "American male" voice or whatever (I was torn between that one or the "American female" voice).

And here's my beloved Inquisitor. :) I knew I wouldn't be able to get her to look the same as she did in Inquisition (her eyes/nose/mouth have specific shapes I don't think I can replicate, at least not with spending way longer in the CC than I probably should), so I kind of just made a "Veilguard version" of her that was mostly vibes-based, though I did try to get her skin/eye/hair colour to match and I think I succeeded there!

She's got more meat on her than she did in Inquisition because Inquisition elves are scarily thin. 😂 Though I did make my Rook tall and skinny... but they still look more normal than Inquisition elves IMO.

I've been really enjoying the game so far! I've only unlocked four companions and three locations, I think, but I've been enjoying myself. The areas are big enough to feel like they're worth exploring (and big enough for me to get lost in), but not so big that it feels like you're stuck endlessly wandering. The sidequests have all felt relevant and good, too, IMO!

My Rook, as I think I said in a post before, is a Mourn Watch member. I haven't gone to the Necropolis or anything yet, so not much about their past has come up at this point. You do get to make some little "past" decisions while you decorate your room, though, which I thought was nice!

They're using the preorder mage armor right now because I didn't like any of the others I had... I've got to look at fashion the next time I play, but I've been spending all of my money on upgrades and presents for companions. u_u

Since it's a new game, I'm a little worried about missing stuff, but I'm mostly just focused on taking things slow and exploring everywhere I can for now! If I miss something, oh well, I can just play again in the future.

I'm keeping this post spoiler-free, so that's all I've got for now! I'll talk more about it once I've played more, probably. :U

Oh! I do think the combat is fun, though. Even if I ended up in a fight against a level 25 boss enemy at level 12... I think it took me almost a half hour to beat it... many thanks to Lucanis for keeping me alive >_>