#this hits so hard with a gw rook

[galedekarios]

an old warden that was avoiding the calling.

opening the art book to be immediately directly attacked by bioware >-Io

[uhohspaghett1o]

Alr, so I finished Unwanted Guests and I’m gonna rank parts of the game so far

Environments: 7/10

I think the visual parts of the game are very pretty, though I wish parts like Arlathan Forest and Dock Town were less… sci-fi? While I don’t despise the more modern parts of the game, I’m not a fan of taking a medieval fantasy and suddenly shoehorning in a more sci-fi/steampunk vibe (especially for the elves and Bellara). Arlathan is still probably my favorite region because I’m a sucker for forest-y places, but the random power crystals and all that are a bit too much for me.

Combat: 8/10

The combat is pretty fun, though I’m docking a few points due to repetitiveness of enemy composition and not explaining certain mechanics like momentum and precision and other status effects. Honestly if this was just a hack-n-slash game, it’d be fine. I’ve never disliked faster paced, more reactive combat rather than more analytical, slower combat. Probably why I like Elden Ring.

Characters: 4/10

This is probably the first DA game where I haven’t been super invested in the characters themselves. Anyone who peruses my blog probably knows I’m very, very hyperfixated on Corypheus, because I tend to get REALLY into a specific character/characters if I find them interesting; but Veilguard just doesn’t really do that for me. I don’t hate any of the companions (hell, I’m romancing Taash), I’m just not super invested in any of them. I think they’re cool concepts, but strangely executed. This isn’t really helped by the fact that Rook doesn’t really get to properly talk to and bond with the companions outside of designated companion quests, which are very rarely there to just be with the companion, and instead are there to push forward their storyline plot. Also the weird eavesdropping.

It’s a 4/10 instead of a lower score because I liked Harding’s quest and I liked the Cauldron sequence with Davrin.

Quests: 3/10

The quests range from actually fairly interesting to “pls just get this over with”, though very few of the quests have much pull towards me. So far I’ve liked The Pinnacle of Its Kind (entirely because of the hate mail at the end) and that’s kind of it. The quest sequence leading to the Desperation Demon in Dock Town was at least somewhat interesting because it took place over multiple quests at different times, and the return of the blighted mayor if you don’t save him was probably one of the better instances of there being actual consequences to your actions. However other than that, the optional side quests haven’t done it for me- probably partially because it’s more like those added quests in Skyrim mods where they just use notes and the like to progress the storyline.

I liked Harding’s quest though. I wish there were more consequences to whether you choose to have her embrace the anger (which I did) or embrace her compassion, but I thought the sequence in the Titan body was one of the actually good environmental storytelling moments.

MAIN Quests: 7/10

It’s a 7/10 entirely because of Weisshaupt. Weisshaupt has so far been the only quest where I was actually very invested, most likely because it really subverts expectations. You’re led to think you can save Weisshaupt and really stick it to Ghilan’nain, only to get the fattest “fuck you” ever. The part with the First Warden about to kill Razikale (I chose not to punch him, so he did the mantra of the GW)… and you think “ha we’re gonna stick it to ‘em!” only for Ghilan’nain to pop up and kill him like it’s child’s play… I liked that part.

Music: 5/10

Middle of the board, honestly. Weird mix between music that I like (the prologue music) and a weird series of either uninteresting or disconnected soundtracks. Inquisition is one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, and this just doesn’t hit the same. There are moments of weird sci-fi music, moments of almost disney-esque music (the first Bellara interaction with the Archive and the Hand of Glory returning to Hezenkoss), and moments of music that almost fits. Also why use the bard songs from Inquisition?