#taash greatest character of all time

[housederiva]

[rahabs]

#as always fuck patrick weekes what an insufferable dickhead (via @lambofsin)

You’re so correct. My revulsion and utter disdain for that man runs deep.

Well, on the upside, Veilguard’s absolutely horrid writing and utter lack of meaningful roleplay mechanics made me appreciate Inquisition’s already watered-down writing and roleplay mechanics.

[amaryllis-sagitta]

The writing the writing I need to rant about the writing

The issue with companion quests and rendezvous is that they're, to a great extent, conversational, with some very basic mechanical filler to give player the illusion that they're doing something. So the brunt of character development falls to conversations we have with them. This wouldn't be the problem if conversations themselves weren't sooo all over the place.

I wrote before that the beginning suffers from severe first draft syndrome and most conversations could have been singular lines. Early exchanges between Neve & Harding are just fluff, and taking note of their differences could have been a single line. It... gets a little better in Act 2, but it's still padded with generic conversation fillers and painfully repetitive about the only points that matter. I swear I've had so many conversations where the same expository sentence was said to me twice or thrice about 2 paragraphs apart.

It's like they want to say something, they are able to pepper in some genuinely touching moments, but then the dialogue wheel minces it all into the blandest mix of responses you've ever seen, or it unnecessarily polarizes issues that already have buildup into simplistic choices. Examples: we encourage Taash to embrace a syncretic, multicultural identity and BAM! A CHOICE APPEARS LATER that further polarizes it in a way that's totally uncalled for. We build Harding up to overcome her fawning tendencies, to embrace her anger and to let herself feel justified in it so she can handle the bond with the Stone, or we can make her feel weird and unaccepted with her new abilities - and BAM! CHOICE because what would we do without reminding survivors that compassion and forgiveness are the socially expectable ways to go? I fear Emmrich is going to feel the same, after lichdom is built up as the pinnacle of his expertise and his greatest dream, only thwarted by the terrifying risk of him permadying in the ritual (because the risk of corruption of character, like it happened to Johanna, is quickly dismissed as something OOC for Emmrich). Choices that pop up in the middle of otherwise fairly linear arcs feel manufactured.

I thought I would begrudge UI explaining to me what my choices mean, but I started to need it at times, becuse the dialogue options by themselves fail to inform me what I'm about to do half the time. I'm in romance with Neve but the only input Rook has ever given in the Flirty options was "We have problems... but we are not alone..." I have genuinely no idea what the dynamic between characters is there. According to the Character tag line, Neve has "fallen unexpectedly".

Maybe it's because Rook feels completely disjointed from whatever is happening to them. The Zara/ Illario twist almost makes them stupid on purpose because the plot can't advance yet. My Shadow Rook had nothing to add when Zara almost uttered "amatus" once before Illario choked her, no, that exposition had to happen on Emmrich's dissection table.

I also don't understand this game's urge to summarize everything for the player after the proper conversation -- not just in the UI, not in the mission quest summaries, but also in the final cutscenes in Lighthouse after most our rendezvous. These are always the most awkward, low effort reiteration of the conversation that was held minutes ago. I feel like this was supposed to be the space to form some logical conclusions, but all they do is revert whatever poignant points have been made before to very superficial takes on the problem.

I also roll my eyes on the later Lighthouse "quests" where Rook is the HR department for companions' petty grievances that can be solved by minor communication adjustments. Only the Davrin/ Lucanis conflict feels like it has any meat because it involves ambitions tied to the main quest. Taash calling the old man Skullfucker is funny but it boils down to both parties needing to be better listeners. And why would Harding and Emmrich plan a trip to Ferelden that is being consumed and ravaged by the Blight to end all Blights in real time??? Did no-one proofread this???

My point is, I wouldn't be mad if companions were generally agreeable. I love hanging out with the girlies and nonbinaries because they get along so well. The banter heard throughout the map traversal is so, so, SO much better in this regard. It's structured like relational mini-arcs that feel really satisfying to witness. The Lighthouse mini-conflicts feel manufactured in comparison.

It's like the moments that matter occasionally poke their heads above a nondescript sea of grey goo and get dragged right back down by the ugly, eldritch tentacles of filler and redundancy.

It really, really, REALLY does not defeat the allegations that some points game wanted to make through that writing were explicitly prompted as a guideline... while everything else was left to a complex form of algorithm... that combines random generation... with imitation of holistically preserved states... of complex statistical operations... done on pre-collected source material...

[bloomingdead]

i might go in depth on this later, after I’ve played the game a few times, but i really think the greatest issue with datv is a lack of time. there’s such a good shell there, although it seems very disjointed and poorly written at times, even compared to inquisition which used to be considered the worst of the games. like the companions internal struggles feel hollow, it’s like they tried too hard to shorten quests and decided that they required less talking rather than less gameplay. which is awful considering how they promised to have “gone back to their roots” with focusing on their characters. but a lot of it felt half-assed.

like yes i had to improve my relationships with my companions and their factions in order to get a “good ending” but there were so many side quests that could’ve just been blended into the story missions while gaining me approval with my companions. if i don’t bring the companion with me, they’ll be standing at the trigger point to start the personal quest when i arrive anyways. so then why couldn’t i have had my party of 3 turn into 4 when i meet up with this companion, have it be a feature of the story mission I’m on, and in return increase my bond with both the companions in my party as well as the tag along for their personal quest, that is built into the story missions rather than just coincidentally in the same map location as the story missions? if all of my companions are “at every main story fight but just off screen doing their own thing,” why couldn’t the gloom howler mission be apart of a story mission, where i meet up with davrin real quick and we do our free willy thing, then go back to fighting the main boss?

and the 1 on 1 socialization writing is so weak, it really feels like no one ever wanted to make suggestions or (constructively) criticize a coworker’s work, or like they all checked their own work without anyone else looking it over. which in turn has left the veilguard feeling scared to openly criticize one another. there’s no real tension, there’s no scene where a companion is drunk and angry the world is ending, no scene where we get drinks together (unless you include the intro bar scene w varric ig), no scene where i was genuinely scared there’d be no positive resolve between any two characters including my own, no genuine infighting like would be natural in an organization rushing to save the world.

i know from interviews I’ve watched in the past, BioWare has some weird thing with springing entire storylines on employees. like trick being spread thin is talked about in a positive light, as if they’re just so amazing they can do anything when really, i can tell taash’s writing suffered in favor of solas. as if someone said either you get everything you want with character A at the expense of character B, or the inverse. how many writers did they do this to in this game, that aren’t on trick’s level of detail oriented? is this an intentional tactic utilized to force compromise in a company where the employees are nervous to be genuine with their criticism? or is it just a symptom of a rushed game with fired/quitting employees being scabbed halfway thru the game? whoever was in charge of making sure different employee’s visions were meshing, they did a poor job.

[yappacadaver]

All my notes from the Q+A, organized by topic

Going as in depth here as my notes allow, was doing this at work so I may have missed some things. This will be long. but here’s the gist of it below 👇

Companions

Switch from 4 person squad to 3 person squad

For the sake of combat gameplay, 3 seemed to be the right fit

Was described as more “immersive” and “intimate”

The team wanted to “spotlight” these characters and give them more presence

Romances and relationships

All seven companions will be romanceable by any Rook

All are pansexual, none are asexual

Companions will romance each other if Rook doesn’t

Confirmed Harding/Taash as a possible companion romance

Companions may “temporarily leave” based on Rook’s decisions but will still “always fight for Thedas” as “this is the greatest threat we’ve seen”

Heavily teased permadeath

When asked abt the possibility of a Manfred romance: “not THAT skeleton, but not NO skeletons”

Misc Companion/Npc info

Inky will be coming back, as confirmed before

Devs excited for the “authenticity” of our new companions, and the fact that they “feel like dear friends”

Companions’ looks will be somewhat customizable, like in DA2 where their fit could change depending on story beats, but with a wider range of choices

These will be the “deepest companion arcs we’ve ever done”

Combat

Mechanics

The combat will be “quite tactical” with more opportunities for strategy in higher difficulty settings

A “robust difficulty system”

Tactical mode will not be overhead, but will be a targeting system as shown in the demo

Tactical mode will be used in and out of combat

Emphasis on synergies and combos

Companions will be controlled via issuing “commands”

Rook’s death/downed status will cause a save to reload unless one of your companions has learned the revive spell

Healing magic is coming back

Class specifics

Some specializations for mages were mentioned including Necromancy, “Combat Mage” which promised more close quarters fighting, and “something more elemental”

Dual wielding is coming back but is once again for rogues only, not warriors

Warriors will have a choice of ‘sword and board’ or two-handed

Cone of Cold and Fireball are getting revamped versions, namely Frost Nova and Meteor

Character creation

Appearance

Everyone who spoke about the character creator was very excited to mention how robust it is

Extra attention paid to hair styles and physics

“Magnificent” dwarf beards

More tattoo variations for different cultures

Body sliders and a wide range of skin tones

The character creator will be shown off in more depth in the future before launch (👀)

Roleplaying and story

Rook will be from one of six factions, that will combine with a "lineage" to provide context for our character

There will be no playable origins, but we will be given opportunities to define the character through play

This includes defining emotional reactions to the mentioned events of Rook's background and lineage

Rook can be nonbinary, with He/She/They pronoun options

Crafting will, while revamped, make a return. You will be able to "improve and customize" your character's look

Somehow, they were not able to reveal more about crafting because it gets into spoiler territory ("a mysterious entity helps you")

The Keep will not be coming back, instead you will be able to define your choices from previous games through the character creator in a "Last time on Dragon Age" type of recap

Gameplay

Locations

The game begins in Minrathous, as confirmed by the gameplay teaser, but doesn't stay there

Rook will be visiting plenty of new locations previously unseen in gameplay such as Arlathan forest (where there will apparently be many "fade touched" enemies)

Kal Sharok was mentioned, with no confirmation that we would actively go there in-game, but they promised to "show what they can" of this location

We will have a hub (like skyhold/haven) called The Lighthouse

While war table missions won't be making a comeback, the lighthouse will have it's own gameplay functions

Locations will change based on player actions

More brand new locations will be "drip-fed" to us in references, like Tevinter was in dao

No more mounts, as locations are trimmed down and more linear we will not need them

Dialogue

Tone/Emotion/Choice wheels are coming back

Emphasis on making clear what Rook will be saying/choosing (hopefully no more mishaps a la "glass him")

Wanted "choices to be explicitly clear, consequences less so"

Dev notes

What everyone on the team is excited for

Character creator got huge shoutout

Companions were also hyped (story arcs feel deep and authentic, characters react to you in a meaningful way)

Art team received a big shoutout as well, with this being their "best attempt yet" at visual storytelling (not just codex entries and conversations)

Veilguard is meant to combine "familiarity and novelty" with the team saying it should feel like coming home to longtime fans, and also be something fresh for new players

Team Promises

A focus on delivering a complete single-player experience (no microtransactions, no subscription, no live service)

More VA information and teasers in the future pre-launch

More information on pre-orders soon

Side quests will be "handcrafted" and "support the narrative" ie no more collecting shards, no more getting locations locked behind power mechanics

Accessibility features were glossed over, but there was some talk of saving this info for launch (???)

Random bits

We will have many opportunities to hug and pet Assan the griffon

Elves went bald after living a millennium, this is why solas is an egg

The inquisitor will be heavily tied to solas' story and will appear in the flesh

The decision of who was left behind in the fade will not be important to Veilguard, but was heavily implied to be relevant in the future (not in this game but...)

[musicfeedsmysoul12]

Review of Dragon Age the Veilguard

First off, right off the bat, I’m putting out there I am foremost a story person. Give me a good story and I’m happy. Then it’s graphics, gameplay (by which I mean do I think it is very replayable), then combat.

So positives first for me:

Story: I love the story. It’s a little cliche and a bit silly but it’s so much fun. Besides it’s not like Dragon Age has ever not been a bit cliche. Secret bastard son of the king saving his homeland. Frosty witch with a secret sensitive side. Assassin who wants out. These were in the FIRST game. I very much enjoyed it and the lore we were given. I actually went ‘WHAT THE FUCK’ out loud multiple times and had a blast through the whole thing. I actually dropped my controller in shock during the final battles because of several moments.

I’ve seen complaints about the writing being ‘MCU’ but honestly I just recently replayed the first three, and this is the same to me. It’s actually better to me then Inquisition which I found so boring. No really, Inquisition was the weakest to me character and writing wise. It felt so flat but Veilguard brings back the spark that Origins and DA2 had. This sort of ‘we need to get people together and save the world despite the odds’ spark.

Characters: I love every single one of them and am already starting more playthroughs so I can ROMANCE THEM ALL. Some may not be your cup of tea but honestly a lot of the hate I notice tends to be the weird feminist ‘you have to be serious’ tone, the ‘I don’t like anything cheery’ type, transphobes or racists. The actual critical takes I find tend to veer on the usual bullshit of the writers in general. (Such as Taash apparently having to choose between two cultures and how their gender is handled. Which fair. I love their gender storyline but it isn’t the greatest story)

The characters are very dynamic and fun to get to know. I didn’t care about Harding in Inquisition but I love her here. It’s just so much fun.

Character Creator: This is honestly the best one I’ve seen yet. I know everyone loved BG3 and how they do it but Veilguard BLOWS it out of the water. Just so many options and things to do.

Plus as a side note you can choose to be nonbinary or trans and it has an affect. It is so cool. I loved my Rook talking about their gender.

Combat: Oh man this is weird for me but I love this combat. Let’s be real- tactical stuff in the past games were clunky and off. A lot of Origin purists say DAO was the best but who ACTUALLY used half the stuff? Like traps? Maybe a fair few but the majority didn’t. The whole series so far had been button mashing for me. Here? Nope! It’s a lot more complex for me and makes me actually think. I love it.

Puzzles: One person I saw said they were to simple. My response is that the early ones were but they sure ain’t later on. Took me forty minutes to figure out one. It’s awesome.

Gameplay: FUN! Just everything about it is so nice and I love it. It’s not annoying to do, it’s simple once you get used to it and honestly I like how the missions are set up. I do think it is very replayable as a whole.

The Ending: I FUCKING LOVE THE ENDING IT IS SO DAMN COOL. I dropped my controller during it, I gasped, I cheered (totally guessed one plot twist but DAMN did not expect the very end) and HOLY SHIT it was SO GOOD.

Now the negatives.

Story: There’s a lot of sanitization of the Crows. The Crows are canonly assassins who buy a lot of their recruits and brutally train them to become Crows. It is not nice unless maybe your family are Crows and you’re treated nicely. Even then, Lucanis canonly was beaten by his grandmother during training and other things.

Also, I did not like how my Rook Laidir suddenly talked about being a galley slave. It was confusing as that was never brought up before. If they’d included it in the description it would have been better. So I’m headcanoning something different for Andy Laidir. I think this is just an over sight, but it is off putting for me that it’s suddenly said once then vanishes.

There's also a few things with how story progression goes. It feels a bit to fast in some moments, and to slow in others. I think that they had to many ideas, but I'll talk about that in the factions section.

Characters: While I love their story line I think Taash could have done better if there was less ‘choose between being Rivaini or Qunari’. Like having a disconnect from your culture is understandable but I felt it was to… ‘you must conform or reject’. That’s not how it goes.

As well the discussion of gender was fairly Western specific which isn’t true across all cultures. It would have been interesting to explore it more and with Taash also wondering about the Qunari version of gender as why they don’t feel right.

I’m also semi kinda upset with how Davrin kept getting the same ‘intro’ scene to his quests a bit. Just him carving something. It was recycled to me and compared to the others… kinda felt off.

Also, while I love him, Lucanis' romance isn't my favourite. It's very slow burn and while nice, I felt that it was to much of a slow burn in the end, where it's just them kissing and a few words of love. I haven't been spoiled about the others too much, but he feels very lacklustre. But it might just be me there. I will defend it saying it isn't bad, but for me? Not my cup of tea.

I'm also disapointed with Isabela's cameo. While YES WE SEE HER, I do romance her with Hawke often and I can't believe any of my Hawkes who did (and lived) are't with her causing chaos. Plus for fuck sakes she gets some generic outfit but Morrigan gets a super special one? Really?

Combat: While I love it, I think they made the dragons to OP. It’s really hard to get close and fight them. Of course I am not a combat person so it may just be I’m bad at it. I do think some of the 'being shoved backward' moments could have been done better as well.

Gameplay: Okay so… I think the choice to have Varric narrate things wasn’t ‘bad’ but they really went to spoiler filled in some. Like dude, don’t SAY that?!? I don’t get to eagerly wait in suspense now, I know what’s going on. That’s not fun. Boo!

Also the animations for opening chests was annoying.

Factions: I feel this is another kinda let down. I truly believe the only four that mattered were Veil Jumpers, Shadow Dragons, Crows and Grey Wardens. Plus I felt again a lot of this is sanitized. The Crows are not a good organization. Sure they basically are the Antivan military but they’re assassins who buy their recruits half the time. Lords of Fortune are pirates and treasure hunters. They're not 'good' people.

This really ties into my thoughts on progression: we could have done away with the Lords and the Mourn Watch to focus only on the four factions and it would have been amazing. Probably would have had better pacing for the plot to. While it was so cool to see these places, in the end it would haven't taken away from the main plot by just not having them be around.

However- despite my negatives, and despite my issues?

This game is a solid 8.7/10. It was truly 9.5/10 for most of the game, but by the end, I did find that I was a bit dissatisfied with some things. However, the game is genuinely amazing. It's a call back to the original 'rag-tag bunch of losers go and save the day' and has elements of Mass Effect 2 I adore.

Solid game, if you loved Origins, DA2 and even some elements of Inquisition, go for it. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but it sure as hell is mine.

[utilitycaster]

I HAVE VEILGUARDED. everything below the cut for spoiler reasons. I will also say to the anon I shut down earlier (again, me not you!) that I do intend to do a second run because I had a marvelous time, I would really love to do the Dock Town quests and explore Neve's other options (and romance her, frankly) and check out some of the other companion options (honestly I'd be open to almost all of them except for Lichdom. sorry I refuse to leave Manfred dead and I'm correct.) and maybe this time I'll actually solve the stupid wisp puzzles and get all the chests and uhhhhh maybe even play on Easy mode instead of Easier Than Easy mode (because lbr my equipment does not matter a ton because. story mode.)

because I am a good girl and did all the quests everyone lived. I also accidentally got the best ending, because Rook in this run is a romantic and optimistic person. This is funny to me because I am god's greatest hater and so I am ROLEPLAYING a character who is like yeah inquisitor go be with your boyfriend who looks like a stupid egg. I did have the Diet Essence Of Mythal but I've been informed the secret even better ending only hits if you know other past characters, which I don't, so whomst cares!

Takes on characters from previous games in brief. Obviously Harding is great. Solas gets his happy ending and that is FINE I guess. Generic Default Inquisitor Lavellan is like. again Rook is like "do what makes you happy but I am like DUMP HIM. which means that while Morrigan is very "I say things in a portentous voice that are extremely obvious" to me, her deep and abiding hater tendencies towards Solas do it for me. Obviously Varric is great as well. Dorian and Mae? Great (unsure if Mae is in previous games but anyway, love her). Not sure who else is a returning character but I think that covers the bulk of it.

This is very out of order but: because no one died other than of course Davrin in the Isle of the Gods, the pay respect for the dead scene is unintentionally really fucking funny to me, a person who has had to go into morgues for professional reasons. Literally like I walk into a morgue where I know zero people. I walk out. I pass Teia and Viago flirting aggressively as an archdemon ravages Minrathous. I continue.

The final conversations are really good; blighted Neve is of course horrifying but she gets better and her nailpolish, crucially, is not chipped. This is HILARIOUS to me. The final romance line with Bellara is lovely. The ending conversations are all really good but Taash's and Emmrich's were my favorite outside of Bellara's. My girlfriend and I are going to hang out with griffons and she's going to write so much fanfiction about us and it will be unhinged.

Hilarious and sexy of me to wear the appearance of the shadow dragons armor I got literally in like. Shadows of Minrathous or something. the entire fucking time. You can see it in the screenshots and I assure you it's only for the vibes (deep V neck and sick chest tats), I am actually in +8 Warden Champion full plate armor and wearing some wild-ass helm (I did not at any point hide the appearance of my shield. even when I was using the gaudiest gold one that looks like a shell from the lords of fortune. I eventually got a very sick-ass Mourn Watch shield). But it does feel really funny to like, pick Treviso, send Neve to the shadow realm, and wear this armor the full time. I literally didn't see Tarquin for like 2.5 acts.

Elger'nan's first form is weak to necrotic damage. I took Taash and Lucanis. I am fully statted out as a reaper. I have an AOE that does over a thousand necrotic damage. genuinely it was a comedy, I triggered the cut scene where Neve goes to the throne and wrests control so Solas can kill the archdemon almost immediately. Second battle was harder but also level 50 story mode so it was FINE.

I do think a Trick Solas ending would be fun; fighting him seems like it would just kind of suck but like. It's funny I actually really did feel grateful after Blood of Arlathan and then after he stuck me in the mind prison I was like FUCK THIS GUY FOR REAL even after he helped us through in the endgame and killed the archdemon.

Lords of Fortune continue to be hilarious to me. There's a codex that's very BY OUR POWERS COMBINED right before the final assault on Minrathous that I described thusly:

Then in the final scene before the narration the Lords are pulling people out of the wreckage. Imagine you're in a world-ending fight during an eclipse with wild-ass mood lighting and you are trapped under rubble as a horrifying blight tentacle monster rages above and then it all stops and THEN someone in a gold bikini helps you up.

In all seriousness the fact that the Mourn Watch and Lords of Fortune don't come up in the final narration does have me like. yeah whoever wrote their faction quests should have worked harder. I know the mourn watch is largely unscathed because there's no point blighting the undead but like, idk, I feel there could have been more venatori work there that tied into Zara's whole deal, and the Antaam or Wardens ties to Rivain could have been more thoroughly explored. Taash and Emmrich's companion questlines are fantastic but even playing Mourn Watch and loving the build and the vibe, I was like hmmmm this is underserved.

Second hater moment: loved the song over the credits but it felt jarring as hell to have a modern sound here. stick to the hans zimmer. this reminds me, I should listen to the soundtrack because as my Midst Mutuals can attest I am literally the worst at noticing themes. I know Harding's and Emmrich's because I really like them and like, I vaguely recall Lucanis's because it's got accordion elements but otherwise I'm like uhhhhh if it's not the main theme or the Solas theme I'm confused.

I also realized that hilariously, if you like Neve or Lucanis but are ok with romancing someone else (and I very much am) it's actually kind of great to fuck over their city because then you feel justified in taking them out on every single mission to try to up your bond level.

Finished with Lucanis, Harding, and Bellara fully level 10 and everyone else level 9 (including Davrin, RIP); I do wonder how you can get everyone to 10. I might have assigned some quests badly but also like, 9 ain't bad.

anyway feel free to ask questions; this was great and I'm so happy I did it.

[mercurialmalcontent]

I am SO glad that I've mostly weaned myself off of the 'people-pleasing wet rag' type of character for my first playthrough of an RPG because it's made those first playthroughs so much more memorable. I barely remember my first DAI character because she didn't have a personality beyond 'largely inoffensive', and while I had fun it was something like 60 hours of my life that could have been a lot more enjoyable.

My first Veilguard playthrough, however, is going to stick with me a long time. Playing as Mimir meant making choices that valued the greater good as he (I) knew it at the time while setting aside personal feelings, which meant living with harsh results and having to ask, was this really worth it?

(Spoilers for the whole game behind the cut)

The first big one that comes to mind is the choice to personally defend either Minrathous or Treviso. He'd had a growing interest in Lucanis, who is very much his type, and it broke his heart to have Lucanis plead with him to save Treviso but feeling like he had to prioritize the Venatori as a growing threat.

But then he had to see Treviso turned into a blight-filled horror, Lucanis wanted nothing to do with him, and the Venatori weren't slowed down even a little bit. I had to think a lot about how that would inform his future choices, and decided it made him more impatient with stonewalling, but more willing to consider closer, more personal factors.

Treviso hardened him in some ways while softening him in others. It made him have no patience with the First Warden, which was bitter and sad when he and Davrin found the man in the Deep Roads and what little sense he had left him at the sight of Mimir. It made him feel more able to open his heart to Harding and willing to be a little selfish to keep her at his side, which may have kept (did keep) her alive (and he'll always be haunted by the 'what if', as much as he is by Davrin and Assan's deaths). He was so protective of Taash that he said harsh things to their mother that he'll never be able to take back.

Without all of this, he would have tricked Solas into taking the wrong dagger, but with that softening of his heart he was willing to consider Embriel's plea to find another way. But what if? What if Lace had died? (He would have thrown the full force of his anger and grief onto Solas, forcing Solas into the Fade still screaming he's a god, is what.)

And other things, little things, like advising Taash to embrace both of their cultures as he did his as both an elf and a Nevarran. Feeling immense grief at Manfred's sacrifice, but still advising his beloved friend to follow his greatest dream because he knows what an honor it is and he can think of no one better to watch over the Necropolis and the Fade for eternity (but how would he have felt about his peace with Manfred's death if Lace had died? Could he find that peace for her if he can hardly find that peace for Varric? That's a hypocrisy that will weigh on him for a long time).

If I'd had that milquetoast first playthrough, I wouldn't be getting the enjoyment of chewing away at this, I'd have to delay it to the next playthrough, the fun playthrough. Worst of all, the see-all-sides-make-no-strong-statements style of playing would have robbed me of the impact of Mimir absolutely ripping the absent Solas a new one:

(The British male VA killed it with the angry choices in these scenes.)

[housederiva]

I think it's very iconic of you that you respond to anon hate and rb heavy criticisms of the game when you know that there are devs of said game following you

There were Veilguard dev following me. While I don't know if they've actually left (I'm not looking through my followers list at people's blog descriptions to see if their jobs are listed to check, its far too large and its not my business) I wouldn't be hurt and they wouldn't be remiss for setting this blog aside

Though I would like to clarify if there is anyone still here that worked on Veilguard that my sadness and frustration has nothing to do with the work you did, it's with the people above you at EA. I work in film production, I understand the power of a CEO who doesn't care about you or what you're creating