#veilgaurd very clearly knows exactly what it's trying to be

[brekkie-e]

Something I have been thinking about is the fact that so much of my issue with elements of Veilgaurd is it's just. Not the sequel I wanted, and in my opinion not the better sequel of many potential options.

The thing about that, though, is that is a bit of a universal truth through the Dragon Age franchise. Dragon Age 2 may be a love-able chaotic and messy game. But it's a very poor sequel to Origins. It was a soft reboot. It removed the best parts of Origins. It took the story in a very specific direction. It was always building to the next point. The beginning and end of Dragon Age 2 is always setting up it's sequel.

Which brings us to Inquisition. I would say it's not as bad of a reset as DA2 was because the previous game atleast clued you in something big was on the horizon. Cassandra needed Hawke to fix something. But Inquisition still pivoted hard. If you were able to accept the narrative reboot and get invested in Hawke, you don't want the Inquisitor. You want to know what the hell is happening with the Kirkwall crew. Hawke seems the person naturally in position to be the hero again, given they were the one Cassandra was seeking. Where the hell is Anders? He began the whole thing, and we're NEVER going to talk about him again? We are deciding the fate of the mage and templar war, but he never makes an appearance? He's not the leader of the rebel mages or an advisor to Fiona or a side quest in the Witchwood where you find him hiding. It all feels off when you take a step back and ask yourself was there a better story in there somewhere? Was there a way to tie the narratives together more tightly? Because there was! Sit with it for five minutes, and you can think of a dozen ways to make the first three games flow together in more satisfying ways.

So Veilgaurd feeling like it lost out on being all that it could be because they aren't pulling in the vast network of qualified people from the Inquisition and Solas's own army is kind of a familiar ache. The game is good. I am enjoying it a lot. I don't love all of it. But I also didn't love the fact that the root of every problem in DA2 was blood magic to a comedic comic book villian degree, or that the pacing of Zevran's romance is all off in DAO. I'm never happy with a Dragon Age game. But letting go of the idea of what the story could have been and accepting what it is- that's just part of the experience I think? The question always remains whether you can accept the changes.

For me, personally, the jury is still out. But Im beginning to lean towards yes. I can get behind it. Enough of it has the bones of what draws me into this series. Am I going to ignore certain lore tweaks and possibly entire plot points in my headcanons and fic with aggression and hostility? Yes. Yes, I will. But I ALREADY do that with Dragon Age. So all this nonsense just feels familiar in the end.