#was emmrich there?? did he think I was a cute baby

[waspgrave]

Now how come all the faction backstories seem to be doing their own thing in a relatively normal manner, but apparently a Mourn Watch Rook was a baby found in a tomb that a bunch of necromancers raised? Like...who just left that baby in there ??

[lkblackham]

Had the image of a half human, half Qunari baby pop in my head and got some good therapy practicing drawing cute babies.

Being the child of a nurse-midwife, I have witnessed many births and many different kinds of new dads (on video, to be clear - my mom didn't drag me around to births in person). And so, it is my belief that Emmrich would definitely be the weepy type of new dad. I love those dads.

My personal fanfic headcanon stuff that may or may not be cringe, I make no apologies:

1) Qunari kids, much like goats, do not fully grow their horns until they hit puberty. Which is definitely for the best, because a) birth OUCH and b) can you imagine a hyperactive 2-year-old running around with what amounts to two giant spears attached to their head?

So for the first 12+ years of their life, they just have cute lil forehead nubbins that still really hurt when they headbutt you during a tantrum.

2) It's a girl. Because we all know that Emmrich has strong Girl Dad energy.

3) Atash and Emmrich had a really tough time with names - both given names and surnames. Atash isn't particularly attached to her surname (Laidir) and so was totally fine with just 'Volkarin' for their kid. Emmrich was insistent on including 'Laidir', however, as he felt very strongly about Atash's heritage and story sharing an equal part with his in naming their daughter. So she's got 2 last names - one for Nevarra and one for Rivain. She can pick whichever she prefers, or neither, or both. What matters is that both are there to begin with.

This line of thinking also, obviously, complicated the given name. It's really hard when you're pretty certain this is going to be your only kid, and you're from two very different cultures with their own ideas about names, AND you have a rather tragically long list of people you love who have passed on and deserve to have a child named after them. Not to mention, both of you have names you just personally like, saved away in your head just in case you ever did have a kid to name.

In the end, Atash and Emmrich came up with a compromise, for which they really hope their daughter won't resent them in the future: they gave her *four* names. One for a family member, one for a fallen friend, one for her Qunari heritage, and one that's just hers and no one else's.

So, all together, it came to:

Lobelia Elannora Lace Nazay Laidir Volkarin

It's. It's a lot. Atash and Emmrich both acknowledge that. But it felt wrong to not include those tributes in their daughter's name.

Besides, this just means she has a lot of options, right? Right? Right. Definitely.

(They also acknowledge that Lace Harding would think this was absolutely ridiculous and laugh at them over it, but that mental image being there is part of why they did it)

And yes, of COURSE they chose a flower name.

4) Manfred is really friggin excited to get the chance to watch someone grow up and maybe teach THEM some things himself. Emmrich is really friggin excited on both a personal and academic level to raise his daughter alongside his ward, teaching her about spirits while Manfred learns from her about mortals.

Manfred's also a really great diaper changer because he doesn't have a nose and he's not squeamish about literally anything.

(Not that Atash or Emmrich take advantage of this.)

(Often.)

BY THE WAY, VERY IMPORTANT NOTE: I do not believe that the default Happy Ending for everyone is having kids. In another universe, Emmrich and Rook are just as happy teaching Manfred how to be a person and mage (or not, if Emmrich became a lich) and going off on their own kid-free adventures. YOU MAKE THE CHOICES THAT ARE BEST FOR YOU and fuck what the tropes say.

This is just *my* fantasy cringe fluff. You do you. ♥️

[hyperbali]

This seemed to go over well on r/dragonage, so I will also share it over here!

The question was:

Which DA Romances Do You Think Would Be Open To Having Kids?

DAO

Alistair - if he's got that Strong Theirin Bullshit going on, I think he's having a couple kids regardless of if it's with HoF or Anora. He's a great goofy dad but can't discipline worth a damn.

Leliana - Mmh... she would probably prefer to adopt rather than give birth, I think. Even then, she seems more like an auntie than a mother.

Morrigan - Did not ever foresee or want it for herself, but is a pretty decent mom by virtue of not wanting to be like Flemeth. Not a "cool" mom, but would let her kids have their independence.

Zevran - I can only ever see it being on accident, as beforehand he would have absolutely denied it - but once the possibility is in reach, he can't let the idea go. Ultimate Girl Dad.

DA2

Anders - Nope. Back in Awakening he liked his freedom without fetters too much, and over the course of 2 he gets too focused on becoming a martyr. Ain't ever gonna happen.

Fenris - Not something I think he actively wants, but is willing to take responsibility if it happens. He's the kind of stoic dad that it's hard to get an outward reaction from, but he's definitely protective of his kids.

Isabela - HAHA. That's adorable, kitten! (She probably just ends up kind of semi-adopting a galley kid, but in a way one would adopt a stray outdoor cat - leave it to its business.)

Merrill - Kind of taken aback by the idea, but secretly grows on it. I think she'd probably end up more of a mother figure to refugee elves, though.

DAI

Blackwall - Much as it's cute to think of him as a dad, I think what he did with the mercenary company is going to haunt him too much, even if he goes back to being Thom. He's content with the Inquisitor alone.

Cassandra - So long as she's not Divine, she would be willing to consider it - but would only want just one. Hard disciplinarian, but secretly a softie on some occasions.

Cullen - He's gonna end up having to build an entire farm community just to house all the impending kids and dogs. This man wants a BIG FAMILY.

Dorian - The thought of it is instantly repellant to him just on the basis of it having been expected of him for so long. He'd also be quietly terrified of ending up like his own father, hurting his own child while thinking he's doing his best for them... so no, definitely not happening.

Iron Bull - Hadn't ever really thought about it... ever, but if he's Tal-Vashoth, his heart melts when he sees any of his own babies for the first time. Any kid's got him wrapped around their little finger, and a whole host of aunts and uncles in the Chargers.

Josephine - She wants at least two, but preferably three - it simply wouldn't do for any of her children to grow up lonely. Hilariously, she's one of the strictest parents.

Sera - She sort of just wants to keep the Inquisitor all to herself for as long as she can, but if her wife really, really wanted it, she'd shrug and say why not? An alright mom, especially when they're still little, but I think she'd get really frustrated when they hit their teens.

Solas - He would like to say he doesn't wish it were possible, sometimes. He would like to say that.

DAV

Bellara - She would go nuts tracking down every single child-rearing research material she could and generally get herself anxious about it, but she'd turn out to be one of the best moms of the bunch.

Davrin - Willing to adopt after a while, especially once Assan starts getting older and leaving for longer periods of time as he gains his independence. That kiddo is definitely growing up with the best boy bird-cat-dog protector. Bit of a gruff dad, but he means well and can ease up with help.

Emmrich - Either way you shake it, probably not. Either he's content with Manfred and wouldn't want to chance leaving a young child behind when he eventually passes, or he just can't because he's a lich. For the latter, though, I think he'd be a great dadly mentor for the ages.

Harding - The ultimate in mommy cottagecore. TELL me you can't see her hiking through a forest with a bundled baby on her back, a kidlet skipping at her side, singing together as they head back home for the day. Adorable.

Lucanis - Incredibly unnerved by how much pressure is on him by being The Last Man Standing of the Dellamortes and what that means for their legacy, as well as being terrified over the possibility of what Spite could do to a child... but man, the thought haunts him. He wants to feel part of a close family again so bad. He would cry the first time he held his baby.

Neve - Probably not interested in having any of her own, but definitely ends up being kind of the boss-slash-denmother of a bunch of urchins in Docktown. She (lightly) bullies them into eating and sleeping, and they're her eyes from the shadows.

Taash - Their hang-ups over their mom are way too intense for that. Helping other Qunari and/or Tal-Vashoth adjust to a non-Qun life is about as far as that idea is gonna get.

[acepalindrome]

I agree that Emmrook having a baby together would be very cute and sweet, but I also feel like Emmrich would be really drawn to the idea of adopting a child. The Mourn Watch caretakers did their best, but he still had a very lonely childhood as an orphan, and wouldn’t wish that sadness on any child.

But on the other hand, considering how much he frets about the age gap with Rook, I think he’d have a similar crisis about being a father. He’s getting on in years! How long would he realistically be in his child’s life? His greatest trauma was the death of his parents, and its agonizing to think about subjecting his child to that pain too soon.

But you know who wouldn’t have that anxiety? EMMLICH. He doesn’t ever have to worry about his child being without the love of a parent! He does have to get through the grief about Manfred first (considering how he is in canon, it’ll probably take him a while), and then the guilt about having another child after Manfred, and accepting the fact that he will outlive his child, but once he gets there? It’s skeleton papa time.

[divorcedwife]

Im especially interested in your opinion of the companions! Did you like any, how would you rank them, how did they compare to other games.

I did enjoy veilguard myself cause admittedly im a combat enjoyer (boo me now) and the combat was great to me. But what is usually good in dragon age/bioware even if everything else sucks are characters and their stories and interactions and that was so bad in veilguard imo.

Still I liked Davrin and Emmrich and Bellara myself, rest were very mixed, and these three also suffered from bad dialogue and Bellara also from some overt cutesiness.

hehe noooooo i wouldn't boo you! this game really made me realize that i prefer video games as a form of interactive storytelling rather than purely for gameplay, but i mean, i feel like im the weirdo here if anything. video games are games first... as much as i like the combat (especially when it's in big open fields, with opportunities for cover ; god is it satisfying to slowly take down a mob of enemies through clever dodging and hiding, i wayyyy prefer that to spamming the flashy special moves), it feels empty to me if i dont feel connected to the world. ideally, i'd love to play games where i enjoy both, but if i have to pick, i'll prefer a game that i find unfun to play but where i like the writing

i think it's a pretty weak cast, yeah. individually, but also as a group, they lack chemistry to me. most of them get along just fine, but not in a way that's particularly fun or exciting. their relationships aren't interesting to me because they're very samey, both in that most people are friendly and also that they start out friendly and end up friendly. dai isn't a game i love, but for all its flaws, it definitely had fascinating character interactions to me. blackwall's friendship with sera is so different to his friendship with cassandra or with solas, and he's initially wary of cole but grows to like him after a while. and these people all have their opinion of blackwall changed forever by revelations. that's what's lacking to me in companion relationships! growth... change... i did enjoy davrin and lucanis's bickering at least. i also did like how emmrich talked to companions, his therapy talk was actually charming every time i liked emmrich and davrin the most! my only problem with davrin is how often he felt shackled to assan, like the writers felt the need to remind us that he has a cute griffon every three seconds in case we were losing interest. but as a character, i found him really cool. i like how level headed he is, i love how he can't tell when lucanis is messing with him on purpose, those feel like great warden traits. emmrich, i really liked that he had the flaws to match his qualities - i love it when he complains about needing to teach TEN students (gasp!), or when davrin asks him if he knows how to wash dishes and he responds like someone who hasn't washed a dish in ten years, and so on. that's definitely what i found lacking in most companions - actual flaws! it's mind boggling to me how much of the lucanis banter i heard was spent clarifying how unproblematic he is. like he doesn't kill children, doesn't kill people who acted in self defense, doesn't kill innocents. what??? he doesn't even have flaws from growing up rich in a mansion... or being the ultimate nepo baby.................... that made most of the companions feel pretty shallow to me, like they were born right before the game began and had lived nothing

lucanis has enough little things about him i like that i would still say i liked him, but he's not getting honours from me. i like his design (it's very satisfyin to draw somehow), i liked spite, i liked the idea that he's trapped in the ossuary in his mind, i loved going to the mansion and seeing how barren and sad it is there. but i think his romance is my least favorite of any i've done in any dragon age games, and i would say that he was a worse boyfriend to have than the one who tried to kill me and also than the one who turned out to be an axe murderer in disguise, cause at least these two liked talking to my characters! lol

i'd put neve next but if im being honest with myself, i disliked more about her than i liked. i liked her bitter cynic pessimist traits, but i found her somewhat inconsistent on that and generally too friendly. the remaining characters, i didn't find anything compelling about them, i dont remember any moment that i liked with them :-( i really wish i did! i gave everyone as fair a shot as i could, i didn't start out this game looking for things to hate, but they really didn't do anything for me. i think bellara suffered from the fact that i dont really like all the technology in this game, i prefer low magic sad unwashed fantasy. at least she was very beautiful so she does get point for that

[ryehouses]

oh yeah I finished veilguard yesterday! #thots under the cut:

the good:

combat in this game was so fun for me. I went spellblade with a touch of ice magic and by the end was ROCKING it. great time. the camera tracking was an issue but more on that later

spite. is. my. friend. I love that weird little guy. what a character. in general there were some really excellent moments: the whole sequence of going through a mental ossuary with spite as a metaphor for trauma. kal sharok. bellara's story was lovely. the whole crew gathering around to talk shit about solas' worst memories. EMMRICH.

dorian made it and is now presumably fucking my inquisitor adras in the fantasy capitol building or whatever. good for them.

I enjoyed getting to see different parts of thedas. the environments were nice and varied and felt like their own distinct places to me. I resent visiting the deep roads AGAIN but i'll get over it.

I romanced lucanis and spite's little wings popping out to cover us up as we tenderly kissed upon the eve of battle or whatever was an excellent touch.

I like that all of my companions felt like my friends by the end of the game, not just my coworkers. it was cute that they formed their own relationships outside of rook as well.

some of the lore you found in pages and notes and things was WILD and I enjoyed picking up every single piece of paper that I found.

the crossroads were cool as hell. felassan was a piece.

GRIFFONS. BABY GRIFFONS. I LOVED THEM.

....if solas had started way back in dai by turning into a giant nightmare wolf, I would've been way more forgiving of, like, every single choice that he made. my brother in the evanuris, you could've been a nightmare dog this whole time? you made me fight TEN DRAGONS across all of thedas with your bald little ass casting weak little barriers, and you could've been huge and biting them and shit this whole time?

the bad:

wow was the final act of this game rushed as fuck

actually really everything about half of the way through act 2 and beyond was fucking rushed. I felt like I could see where storylines had been cut short or thrown aside wholesale, and did not care for it.

i think that the devs inflated the stakes so high during act 1 and 2 that they kind of... did not know where to go in act 3, and it shows.

hated that only like three choices from inquisition mattered to the plot. hate that. if incorporating choices from previous games is going to be too difficult, good news! you have literally 930 years of thedan history and multiple crises to choose from as a setting. set a story during a different blight. during the rise of the andrastian religion. during the qunari first invasion. anything.

it doesn't bother me that my companions and the people around us are nice in general, but it does bother me that almost any potential for conflict between companions, between rook and their companions, between factions, anything, had been removed.

the camera tracking sucked ass and I got whacked multiple times because the camera spun me around and I couldn't see an attack well enough to dodge

dodging was also a major combat strategy in this game and while it wasn't super annoying for me as a mage, my wife is running a rogue rook at the same time and having to dodge every 2 seconds fucked up her momentum

and my biggest irritation: why are we fucking up southern thedas and Kirkwall off screen and in notes from the inquisitor? that was. infuriating.

[sunsetwaltz]

Thinking about how out of all my canon DA protagonists, Rook is the only one to get a straightforward romance (with a hint of HEA).

Mahariel/Alistair: She dodged a bullet by never finding out that Anora would throw her under the bus without a second thought. So she crowned Anora, didn't encourage Alistair to become king because he never seemed interested, and took the "easy" way out by (reluctantly) agreeing to Morrigan's ritual. If she had submitted to Cauthrien, well, King Alistair definitely would've left her heartbroken.

There's also the whole "Creators, do I really have feelings for a shem human?" crisis, y'know feeling like a traitor to her people for daring to love a human. And later on feeling immense (survivor's) guilt for not performing the ultimate sacrifice and irrationally believing she robbed Alistair of a better, more stable future. Which is why Alistair's romanced dialogue in DAI had me giddy, swooning and relieved:

"Happier than I ever dreamed possible. She's more than I deserve... And I hope I make her days easier as well."

Oh and let's not forget the Calling. That kind of puts a damper on the future.

Hawke/no one/the fade: RIP my Hawke. She had a fling with Isabela but the game bugged and didn't properly register their breakup... She couldn't romance anyone else or experience the full Isabela romance. If I had known that bug would happen I would've committed to Isabela lol.

In the Keep, I had her in a relationship with Sebastian for funsies. Except she's a mage and I personally don't believe a Sebastian/mage Hawke romance would end happily. Not unless he gives up the throne to Starkhaven, which I doubt either of them would want. Even by 9:52 Dragon I'm not sure Starkhaven or the rest of Thedas would realistically accept a mage as their Princess (he'd probably give the same speech as Alistair heh). So off to the Fade she went during Here Lies the Abyss.

Lavellan/Solas: It's Solas. He makes things complicated just by existing lol. Y'know as a quiet, not-humble, tea-hating, fade-obsessed dreamer apostate scholar. Not a god but still an absurdly powerful immortal elven mage straight out of Dalish legend. Maker of the veil. Sunderer of the titans and the Elvhenan of old. Leader of the elven rebellion against the Evanuris, liberator of elven slaves. The guy who played a hand in creating both the breach AND the blight. Who is "kind and wise and sad" and terrible at loving someone and being loved in return.

"The course of true love never did run smooth" is THEM. Ten years, man.

Rook/Davrin: Felt straight up like a Disney or Pixar romance - lighthearted and cute. I appreciated how level headed, grounded and confident he seemed. How he had a sense of humour but knew when to be serious. How he didn't have any overwhelming angst or drama in his life (after ten years with Solas yk...a girl needs a break!). It felt like Davrin truly understood what was important during all those round table discussions, like he and my (humorous) Rook were on the same page, that they definitely had inside jokes of their own. In a way, it felt like Davrin became a "rock for Rook".

Also ASSAN. My absolute favourite, my adopted baby griffin! While I would've liked to learn more about Davrin (which clan is he from? Does he have any siblings or surviving family? How'd he get his scars?), I was fairly pleased by this romance and all the cute family moments. Except for y'know that barely anyone in the game acknowledges it - it's only Emmrich, Davrin himself and Ghilan'nain of all characters lol afaik.

(Neve absolutely does not count! Watch/read the banter again. Only Rook responds to Davrin's comment about their future; Neve doesn't even offer anything like "I'm happy for you two" FKSDLAFJ;LSAKD;LKF)

When it came to the scene where they discuss their future together(!), it felt only appropriate to allow at least one of my DA protags to have a happy ending. (At that time I had no idea about Solas/Lavellan.) I liked how the game followed up on the "settling down and raising our half-bird, half-cat kid" later in Act 3. Plus Davrin referencing an earlier cutscene, coming around and suggesting they "go flying one day"... That really warmed my heart <3

[soundlesslament]

Since no one answered my questions about "Dragon Age: The Veilguard", I ended up caving and buying the game, and here are my findings. Plus my Rook, because he is very cute.

Spoiler-free!

THE GOOD

The game is nowhere near as linear as some reviews made it seem! You can still explore large areas, finding secrets and picking up quests, and do said quests in whatever order you choose.

The Codex remains and is great.

The game looks beautiful, even at low resolution. I love the illustrated narrated scenes. The look of the 'hub world' is customizable and cozy too.

If party banter gets interrupted (e.g., by an enemy encounter), the characters will pick it back up later.

You can set an 'appearance' outfit to override the look of whatever armor you actually have installed. No more choosing between appearance and stats. All armors can also be upgraded.

You can pet cats and dogs, and even hug a baby gryphon. I have had Assam for one day and if anything ever happened to him I would kill everyone in Tevinter and then myself.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

There are many difficulty settings, including a "storyteller" mode for players who are more interested in the story aspects that allows you to disable death for your character. No need to stress about boss fights.

THE MAYBE

In general, I love the new combat system. I am not a fan of strategic combat, and this feels much more dynamic and fun. That said, they also made it way too complex. Besides short and long-distance attacks and skills, there are special effects using different key combos, using runes, setting up combo attacks between (otherwise independent) party members, and changing weapon types.

They did not override most decisions from previous games. Everything is simply not mentioned. The only exception is when you ask about the companions from "Inquisition", as it assumes all companions were hired, which wasn't obligatory to do. Also, for some reason, Vivienne is not mentioned at all.

Regarding discourse around the game: People are apparently complaining about the game being 'woke', but honestly the only thing I have noticed is that you can have your character be transgender. And maybe Taash struggling with her mother complaining she isn’t feminine enough (is that woke now?). That's about it. There is no 'woke ideology' in the game. I don't know who is making that up.

✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦ . 　⁺ 　 . ✦

THE BAD

The character creator is bad. You have to choose three different premade faces and morph between them instead of working with each separate feature (which you can only adjust a little). I couldn't recreate my Inquisitor properly because it was impossible to alter the eye shape to what I wanted.

I also couldn't give her the scars and tattoo she had. In fact, the scar and tattoo options aren't the best. Some scars look a bit cartoony. There are no small tattoos.

More bad writing: it makes no sense to sideline the quest to stop Solas and have the two evanuris be the villains instead. I think they are interesting, but this development is not the best.

Bad writing. Not all the time, but enough times to be noticeable. Emmrich talks like a cartoon character in his introductory mission, for example; fortunately, it seems to be toned down later.

Bellara has it the worst of all, though. She is the bubbly, ditsy maniac pixie girl that I am sure is some tech boy's dream. The 'cutesy' way she talks and squeaks honestly makes me uncomfortable. I have been actively avoiding having her in the party.

Choosing a faction doesn't really have that big of an influence on the game. Your faction will grow its influence faster and there will be a few lines acknowledging your history with them, but that seems to be about it. There are no special missions, nor a separate start like in "Origins". It feels a bit like an afterthought.

Despite having dialogue choices with different 'personalities', Rook always agrees with everything. The different lines all end up being the same basic response, just in different words/tones.

You can't talk to companions unless there is an event involving them. It's immersion breaking. Seriously, they couldn't have a couple lines on repeat?