#bioware remember my warden...

[cicide76536]

Also Imagine if @bioware did this: you pick your Rook to be a warden, you name them and for their last name you put Amell/Surana/Brosca/Cousland, whatever and press play, and the game goes: "You wish to return to the battlefield, Commander?" Like.. i would SOB????

[felassan]

you wouldn't last an hour in the asylum where they raised me

[lizzybeeee]

My headcanon is that Varric is reading aloud the eleventh draft of the Hanged Man's bartenders manuscript - complete with Speed Griffons.

my maladaptive dragon age daydream is that one day the original creative team will wrest back control of the IP and then reveal that all the events of veilguard were actually a first draft written by Varric after he smoked too much elfroot.

[deliciousmicroplastics]

Ohhhhhjj i am going to design some Fucking Lesbians in that game

[yellingaboutmasseffect]

Griffons are not Long Termed Fucked: Real Life Animal Conservation Success for your Fantasy World Building

So the Dragon Age AMA sure was a thing. I am not going touch on any of the rest of it besides the future of the griffons, especially as someone who just played Inquisition and Veilguard. The reason I want to touch on the griffons is because animals are an interest of mine and I greatly admire the work that has gone into conservation and breeding programs across the world. Hopefully, y'all enjoy me theorizing about griffons with what I know.

Before we get into it, I would like to thank @ellstersmash for screenshotting the AMA and posting it here. Below the cut is going to be a screenshot from their post. Beyond the cut is spoilers for Veilguard so beware if you are avoiding those.

Ok, let's get the first thing out of the way, is 13 individuals ideal? Of course not but that does not make the situation impossible. I am going to go at this from "what would be most ideal" in the scenario that the game presents.

Aren't Assan and the other griffons siblings?

I think it is important to remember that Davrin is the one who says this. None of the Wardens involved in finding or raising the griffons would know that information. In fact, the only person that would know that is Isseya, who hid the eggs.

The wardens and Davrin were concerned in raising and training these young griffons. At that age, it didn't seem like they were thinking of the breeding possibilities in the future and considered them "siblings" because they were found and hatched together.

There is some visual cues that could point to the griffons not being from the same clutch. When you go back to the Hossberg Wetlands after rescuing the griffons, they can be found hanging amongst the wardens and they are surprisingly colorful and each seem to be inspired by different birds when it comes to their colors. While it is completely possible that is just how griffons were, it could point to a situation where Isseya stole an egg from 13 different clutches. It would make sense that when the griffons were wiped out, Warden command would have noticed if entire clutches disappeared but what about just an egg from each clutch? While this is the best case scenario, I do feel it's entirely plausible and would mean each griffon of our 13 have different parents.

In short, they could very well be siblings but there is no reason they couldn't be eggs from 13 different mated pairs of griffons. Hopefully Bioware goes with the later.

EDIT: As @siderealtide very helpfully pointed out in their reblog, we do know they are all siblings from one clutch from the story, Last Flight, as Isseya did cut them out of 1 dying griffon.

Given.... everything it could get retconned or as Siderealtide also pointed out as well they could be more mammalian like cats and have multiple fathers if their mother was especially frisky ( that would be fantastic for the situation. Not ideal but not insurmountable). Or magic but I did not feel knowledgeable enough on what is possible with magic in Dragon Age to theorize on that for this post. Back to the original post.

2. But isn't 13 griffons still too few?

Now there are ideal situations, which this isn't, but that doesn't make it impossible. It would make the griffons susceptible to a falling prey to a disease or scenario that deceased griffons might have had the genetic diversity to combat but none of the surviving 13 have the genes to weather through. That is not guaranteed to happen (and this is a fictional scenario.)

There are also some remarkable examples of animals coming back with similar odds.

The California Condor, my beloved. By 1982, only 23 individuals remained so they were all taken into captivity by the California Condor Recovery Program for a captive breeding program. In such programs they can arrange for mating pairs for ideal genetic diversity and hand rear individuals to ensure as many of the young live to adulthood. Today, there are over 500 California Condors in the wild and in captivity combined.

The Black Footed Ferret's program started with 18 individuals and 1000 are now in the wild!

In short, not ideal but not impossible. Even if you make a certain choice in game.

3. Ok, so how would the griffon breeding program work?

So I do believe both the Dalish/Veiljumpers and the Wardens would be capable of doing such efforts depending on your choice in game. They don't have as many tools at their disposal for optimal pairings or detecting genetic makeup, but they could do pedigrees to track who mated with whom and when.

Ideally, there would be more female griffons than males since the female griffons can lay eggs (hopefully more than one at a time). You could then pair a female and male griffon together until they produce a clutch/or clutches successfully before rotating in another male partner to repeat the process. From there, you would keep track of their ancestry to produce ideal mating pairs going forward and keep it as genetically varied as possible. In this ideal scenario, griffons don't mate for life and if there is lore about that, refer to my earlier disclaimer about my dragon age knowledge.

4. What about that 50/500 thing?

That came from Google AI summary. I admit I have never heard that rule before but it's more complicated than saying these numbers are required across the board.

5. Why did you make this post?

Like I said, it's a special interest of mine. I love watching Nat Geo shows about accredited zoos and learning about their conservation efforts. Environmental doomerism serves no one. Yeah, there will be times where we can't save species but people have shown time and time again that it is possible even under very bleak circumstances. So yeah in part this was about hope for these fictional griffons but I also if you got a little hope about real life conservation efforts, that's nice too.

[privatebooth]

All these talks about the new Dragon Age game are making me nostalgic.

I remember how when DA2 was being made there was so much hype, and I was not thrilled at all. Origins left such a strong impression on me, I hated the idea of moving on to something different. Change was always difficult for me to accept, any change. I know a lot of people didn't want to part with their wardens, there's nothing original in that, but...

I hated Hawke before he even came into existence. I only wanted to see more of my Warden and Zevran who turned my world upside down.

Instead, they made this new character who spoke and had a semblance of an actual personality which I couldn't even control!

Then Bioware started feeding us little snippets of the game, and I saw the grumpy little brother, obviously displeased with his life, which pretty much instantly endeared him to me, and I thought I could try playing this game just to make him smile. Also, I really liked Nicholas Boulton's voice, and didn't mind hearing more of him (my Warden was a city fem elf, so I thought working with him would be fun).

The demo came out when I more or less started to come to terms with the fact that I'll never see my warden again, but may still hear something about her, and I was desperate for something. I played with all combinations of classes and genders, absolutely hated the gameplay - still do, loved being a rogue in DAO, but here it makes me want to smash my keyboard - but was very happy to find that mages are much more fun to play now, since I wanted to have Carver in my team.

Okay, but I still hated Hawke. I didn't know anything about his story, didn't care to know, and I told him right away "You will fail". I really didn't want him to succed, there was no way he could ever compare to HOF, who solved every single problem, saved every single soul she could save, and befriended everyone she ever met. The icon of diplomacy and efficiency, with just enough arrogance to be lovable (cocky elf voice FTW!) I still miss her so much.

The good thing about not caring too much about this guy was that I actually allowed Hawke to be human. I didn't feel pressured to play the hero who must always make the right choice. He was allowed to make questionable decisions, to fail, it was expected of him. I didn't want a lousy wannabe superhero. Can't persuade that angry Dalish elf on Wounded coast? That's okay, Hawke, you're not the Warden - she definitely could have talked her down. A crowd of weary Fereldans protecting Anders? Carver, you go talk to them.

On and on, it became more apparent that Hawke's story would not be as glorious as the Warden's, and he won't be as much of a hero. He truly was just a guy who was trying to get by and take care of his family and friends. No ambition to fix the world and save everyone.

The Warden remains an unachievable ideal I can only dream of emulating.

Hawke... he is so much more relatable, and a lot closer to me than any Bioware char will ever be. I love him so much.

[sometipsygnostalgic]

Dragon Age Veilguard seemed innocuous at first but once I recruited everyone the writing dropped off a cliff and now I can safely say it is the worst written game of anything I've played in the past 10 years. This includes Assasins Creed Odyssey, it includes Mass Effect Andromeda, and it includes Metaphor Refantazio (unpopular opinion but I think that game's writing is a distilled bad Persona formula with no soul).

Like, you do the big battle for the Grey Wardens and any nuance and intellect that was in the writing fucking evaporates. Allegedly loads of people died but you didn't see it, just like you don't see anything happen. Suddenly all the characters are like "Well, that was terrible! It happened because we all have problems! Hey, Player, solve our problems!". The game acts as if the person playing it is Four Years Old and this is the first story they've ever read. I've seen shows on cbeebies with more depth and respect for the viewer.

The game is also constantly telling you what your choices mean instead of giving them meaningful consequences. It's faking being a Bioware game.

Envision: Two dialogue options. If you hover over one, a popup says "This will upset Neve". If you upset Neve, then instead of Neve being upset, she will act exactly as she was doing before and the game will say "Neve is upset because you picked this option". And then nothing of consequence will happen. It's the new "Character will remember this".

I'm brute forcing my way through this game because I need to find out if Varric is actually a ghost, or if the characters only act as if he's dead because the game's development was so troubled and he was supposed to be but they changed their mind last minute.

[dudewheresmynug]

Rook Appreciation Week Day 6: Thorne

For @rookappreciationweek , I offer my Warden, Lydia Thorne. A southpaw lightning mage hailing from Crestwood in Ferelden, Lydia is a chronic sweetheart, but don't be fooled. She's sharp and calculating and wields her magic like it's an extension of herself.

I love her dearly and have really been digging into her character lately (you can check the "Lydia Thorne" tag on my blog if you're interested <3).

Preeshiate chu, girl!

Lydia joined the Order at 24 (just three years before Veilguard). Her desire to join was borne from an obsession with Wardens, stemming from a meeting with the Hero of Ferelden -- a fellow mage of the Fereldan Circle -- during the fifth blight. Lydia, age 5, remembered the HOF from before Duncan came to take her away, and was immediately enamored by her strength and capabilities. Lydia quickly grew to regret joining, however, as her romanticization of the Wardens crumbled into harsh realism. Still, Lydia carries out her duties with discipline (mostly) and enthusiasm (lmfao I'm just kidding). Much as she hates her lot in life, Lydia will always put herself between darkspawn and those she is trying to protect.

Bonus crunchy gif under the cut:

We love a good BioWare drinking action!

[inkyquince]

I'm going to make fun of so many peoole who don't like veilguard. Because....

Veilguard is the spiritual successor to Dragon Age 2

Inquisition is more like Origins, and I would call it the spiritual successor if it wasn't sufficiently lacking in other areas

Now there are dumb fucks out there who only like origins or only like inquisition. It's their entire personality when it comes to dissecting the dragon age games.

I like dragon age a lot because each game is a different genre. Origins is depression melodrama. 2 is a comedy that loves to stop and punch you in the gut every now and then, and shows the prime time when your friends are more your family than blood is. Inquisition is... A political thriller that happens to have magic (and the ugliest graphics. Bruh why is everyone but like three people so deep in the uncanny valley. Why is combat boring). Veilguard is getting to see what it feels like to inherit a situation outside of your control, it's more like an underdog story.

"it has cringy dialogue" and you don't remember origins? You think bioware doesn't dish out cringy dialogue for each game?

"the art style-" is STYLISED. Origins is good looking for graphics that feel outdated for 2009. But it's not realistic looking. 2 had it's budget slashed viciously so it does look wonky especially with their cameo characters. Inquisition, as I've said, feels deeply ugly because there is nothing stylised about it. They went for realistic and now everyones inquisitor is kinda ugly, sorry. People enter the uncanny valley, they always look better in concept art. The three prettiest people we have is Dorian, Cassandra and Josephine. Everyone else enters the uncanny valley of WEIRD looking. It's busted and I'm sorry. Veilguard? Fuckin stellar stylisation. The art, the environments, the magic, is so goddamn pretty.

"you cant control your compa-" yes you can. You can make them attack. Why are you sad about missing out on inquisitions boring combat where you press R. Wow. Amazing.

People have rose tinted glasses for these games. Play them from the first to the last game and I'd say veilguard is FULLY one of the best. I saw some loser on tiktok scream about the iron bull's signature being EXPLAINED in text and not shown?? Saying 10 years and for what?

10 years for a play through, start to finish, took me 55 hours doing ALL of the quests and exploring. From the amazing character creator and the hair physics that inquisition, 2 and origins could never make work. From the beauty of the backgrounds, how each location feels deeply lived in, compared to inquisition where new environments felt plastic and not real. For a finale that had me crying for 20 minutes at the choices I made and knew would make again. For the reveals, for the conversations, for the natural ending for Solas. I only cried in origins after my warden died. I teared up at Hawkes mother dying. Inquisition got no tears from me.

I'm sorry that you're hung up on small details. I have complaints too. Maybe a better fantasy term for trans and non-binary, but honestly the conversations that we're able to have about them? Deeply lovely. I personally wish that one day we can go back to the origins start, where we spend around 20 minutes IN our origin and then go frolicking. I'd kill to see that with the mourn watcher and crow origin so we can be excited when we see them again when we revisit the important NPCS. Personally do want the Lucanis romance to kick off earlier in the game, but he is one of the hardest ones to romance for good reason and it made sense for the character. I miss importing decisions but to be fair, the choices I made in origins wouldn't have shown up that much in veilguard, except maybe Kieran being in the background of some scenes at a stretch, but mostly for inquisition and Hawke. Varric obviously sees a lot of Hawke in Rook (just look at the dialogue wheel) and I wish we got to hear Isabella talk about them.

But these are so little. I have way more complaints about inquisition but I will still play it. I can acknowledge the flaws but if you hold it, or origins on a pedestal, that's just embarrassing for you, that you're stuck on a game, instead of being stuck on the series, in an excellent fantasy setting that keeps being expanded on.

Veilguard let's us say goodbye to Solas in the best way. There was NEVER going to be a happy end for him. Stop deluding yourself that the inquisitor and Solas would have rode off into the sunset. It's frankly embarrassing that themes from inquisition and veilguard flew over your head if you beloved that.

I've seen this same anguish over a sequel and it was for 2, after origins. Now 2 isn't the perfect game. It doesn't even have a proper title. But 2, a decade later, is well loved. It's full of jank, it's got strange coding, but the story has a lot of love. But it wasn't origins, so fans wailed and pissed. But it's a fan favourite these days and Hawke is deeply beloved and remembered fondly to the point that the possibility of their death in inquisition made an impact.

So, basically, get over yourself. None of these games are perfect and yes it took 10 years but I love it. I get to play as a crow for the first time, a faction I've loved since Zevran was able to rizz himself out of being killed. You can play as a Warden again, for the first time since Origins. Griffins are back and they're adorable. Their quest is heart breaking and anxiety inducing. You can play as new factions, ones we didn't fuck around with before, the shadow dragons, the mourn watchers, the veil jumpers. We get several amazing romances, that feel in character. Everyone is bisexual again but have clear preferences. Bellara has a preference for women, Emmerich has a preference for men, Lucanis has Never being in relationship. Taash and Harding might get together, Lucanis and Neve might get together. We get a companion that's trans, we GET to be trans for the first time. In inquisition we have krem but the developers never thought we would want to be trans, so I will happily take what we can get. Could it be better? Always. But I'm not stuck in 2014.

Take off your rose tinted glasses and go fuck that old man and maybe you'll lighten up.

[bellringermal]

I'm on AO3 :D!

Public service announcement: I joined AO3 and will slowly but surely unleash upon the world a ton of Bloodborne oneshots that I have written during the years :3.

Some stories need editing and others require a full on translation since at the beginning of my journey into Bloodborne I was still writing in Italian and a ton of the Gehrmaria content I've produced in almost 10 years is relegated to my native language. So uh, stay tuned for some old fics coming back from the grave.

In the meantime, let me you guys in on a secret 👀 before I became known as the mother of the worst bloodborne ship, some of my favorite games of all time were OG Bioware games. Mass Effect is by far the best series I ever played but one I never actually produced any fan content for, because it already tells a very complete and involved story that never put my creative juices into motion. I just enjoyed it for what it was and liked most of the things that they did from a narrative standpoint.

[Those who have been following this blog for a long time may remember that it was originally called 'BellringerKat' and that Katrina is the name of my player character in Bloodborne. Well, Katrina is also the name of my canon fem!Commander Shepard. In fact, Hunter!Kat is named after Commander!Kat <3]

Dragon Age on the other hand, is a series that had its hit and misses (I will defend DA2 till the day I die) but as the games went on it distanced itself from aspects of the lore I loved and found the most interesting: the Darkspawn as the main enemies, the Tevinter Imperium and its long, twisted history, the Chantry and its strict doctrine, the Gray Wardens as a main faction you are involved with and so on.

Soooo yeah, I actually wrote some Dragon Age fanfics before and are currently working on a new story that focuses exactly on all of the above in addition to a couple of really cursed ships! (I mean, have you SEEN my husband, the Architect?! They don't draw problematic monster men like that anymore i_i )

I bet that if you enjoyed my take on one group of blood-drinking lunatics who dungeon delve to kill slumbering old gods while also counting down the days till they become monsters themselves, you may also like my take on the Gray Wardens ;).

[luckyjak]

how I would fix veilguard

general note: I enjoyed Dragon Age: The Veilguard and it is very easy, post game release, for me (a person who doesn't work for Bioware and isn't the game's developers) to sit back in my armchair and go "This is what they should have done instead." That said, this is the internet, and I have opinions, so let's roll.

also, spoilers, obviously.

First, I would have made two games out of the material in Veilguard, not one.

Game one (which we will still call The Veilguard) takes place in Northern Thedas. The beginning of the game is the same: you interrupt Solas's ritual, and Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nain escape. However, rather than taking over Thedas together, the two decide to divide and conquer: Ghilan'nain takes over the North, and Elgar'nan takes over the South.

Most of the game stays the same. You still play as Rook; however, the game starts with Varric recruiting you, so you get a chance to spend time with Varric before, you know, Solas. You still recruit your seven friends. For pacing purposes, romance and friendship scenes occur faster. This is because we're going to end the game sooner.

We're going to shave off all of Act 3.

Why would we do this? Ghilan'nain and Elgar'nan are both stand-out villains who deserve their own time in the spotlight. As it is now, we hardly spend any time with Elgar'nan other than the constant looming threat of him, and Ghilan'nain mostly comes off as his lackey as opposed to a full-fledged "mother of monsters" she deserves to be. By splitting them into two games, each gets to shine as a villain, and Rook doesn't seem like such a overpowered protagonist who is able to kill (potentially) three elven gods.

So, where does Veilguard end? Last mission of The Veilguard should be "Isle of the Gods" and it should end exactly as that mission ends: Ghilan'nain's death, the realization of where Varric has been all along, and Solas trapping Rook in the Fade. Rook is trapped in the prison of regrets, realizes they are trapped, and then bam, end credits.

but wait, doesn't Veilguard suck now then? Most people agree acts 2 and 3 are the best part! And they are! But I think with tighter pacing, the whole game is improved. Remember, we are moving companion's Act 3 moments up to the end of Act 2 as well. We won't spend quite as long wondering when Lucanis will ever talk to us if we have his romance happen sooner, and that becomes true of all the companions.

So does the "Hero of the Veilguard" thing matter? It does, but not until the next game! Hold your horses!

--

So, now we make Game 5: Dragon Age: Dreadwolf. At the end of the last game, Solas established himself as a villain (by putting Rook in prison) so now it's time to really mess with that.

For starters: Game 5 cannot happen unless world state is included, and I'm talking about most of the Keep. Game 5 takes place in Southern Thedas, with the focus being on Fereldan, Orlais, and the Free Marches.

You play as the Inquisitor once more. You get to decide what happened between you and your LI in character creation: are you married now? Did you break up post-game? The game starts with you saying goodbye to your LI (if you still have one) then getting on a ship. No need for dialogue from LI, so no excuses about hunting down voice actors. The game starts with you getting a spirit hand, so that you can once again be the hero of the land. The ship is your Lighthouse, your base of operations that is always moving.

Your companions are:

dwarven grey warden woman (warrior)

human or elven orleasian bard man (rogue)

qunari runaway saarebas woman (mage)

spirit of wisdom (mage) *this is Solas in disguise, spying on you.

human avaar man (warrior)

human woman who definitely killed her husband (warrior)

dwarven artificer who is making bombs and got exiled to the surface (woman, rogue)

elf man who used to work for Solas but deflected (mage)

DLC character: my son Kieran, who is customizable, and also a blood mage

All of them are romancable if your Inky is single except for maybe Kieran.

Don't worry, though: you get frequent letters from your previous LI's giving you life updates (except for Solas but like. you know)

The core gameplay loop is sailing the Waking Sea to defend people from darkspawn and try to find more info on Elgar'nan, who is definitely causing trouble.

Places you visit:

Highever (Fereldan): I have legit always wanted to go there. Saving my origin character's hometown that is currently being ravaged by darkspawn? Fuck yeah

obviously, the slaughter of Denerim (Fereldan). Bonus points if we save the life of King Alistair/Queen Anora

Ostwick (Free Marches)

Val Royeaux (Orlais)

Cumberland (Orlais)

Maybe also Orzamar?

Jader

Final battle at Halamshiral because we love a callback.

Essentially, all the stuff we hear about in Inky's letters about the south, we now get to experience in the game.

Elgar'nan has done something fucky with time magic and now Halamshiral is half modern Orlais, half ancient elven empire. He's trying to bring the veil down, and Solas is unsure if he wants to stop him, or wait until he brings the Veil down to stop him.

Inky requests Rook from the Fade. Rook tells Inky about Solas's betrayal. Double-team Act 3 time, where people may still die depending on faction strengths in Veilguard, and who/what Inky has managed to save in Dreadwolf.

Assume you manage to stop Elgar'nan, and then the question becomes:

Do you, the Inquisitor, stop Solas? Save him from himself? Or die trying?

[zieroses]

enda “rook” de riva // the siege of weisshaupt

more and thoughts -

I did this mission a while back but remembered I saved it to watch this cutscene because I love it so much.

I genuinely thought this mission was amazing. It was Adamant Fortress on steroids. We were all worried about the art direction, and while some people still dislike it, I thought it ended up serving the game really well, and it really showed in this mission and how expressive the characters were. I kept thinking, man, it would’ve been amazing to have this level of cinematography in Inquisition!

I was honestly really impressed by the subtle details in the animation—not something BioWare is known for (see: inquisition expressions, the BioWare turn). If you don’t knock the First Warden out, and he is behind the war table with you, he is blocking Rook’s view—and you can see it in the way Rook tilts his head, his eyes moving, as he listens instead of seeing. It’s a small thing I suppose, and maybe I seem easily impressed, but it’s the little details we’ve been waiting on BioWare to deliver in their animation for a long time, and there’s a lot of them in this game.

Speaking of knocking the Warden out, the ability to deck the First Warden (why is Warden leadership like this) was so great in my first playthrough but, despite all of the companions weirdly disliking it, I actually preferred how it turned out to talk him down this time around. The writing could’ve used a little more finesse in his turnaround, but it felt satisfying to finally be able to convince a high ranking Warden to stop acting like a twat. And honestly it’s worth it for the look on Rook’s face when the First Warden tells him to get the dragon trap ready: “Me?!”

[roguerambles]

Possibly unpopular opinion but after thinking about it a while, I'm kind of glad Veilguard seems to be going for a "clean slate" of sorts in regards to World States.

I completely understand the disappointment, and it's not what I was expecting either, but at the same time I also understand that trying to implement multiple games worth of choices in a satisfactory way would eventually become completely unmanageable. Some kind of cut off would need to happen at some point, so maybe now in an (almost literally) new era is as good a time as any?

Plus from what I understand the developers aren't setting the past three games on fire or declaring everything non-canon or whatever, they seem to just be selecting what will be relevant to the story they are trying to tell in Veilguard (which, obviously, is heavily focused on Solas and the Evanuris) which tbh is probably the best way to handle it going forward.

For example, consider what we last heard about the Hero of Ferelden - they were on a journey to find a cure for the Calling. That would have huge implications not only for them, but the Grey Wardens as a whole, and personally I want more from that potential storyline than a potential codex entry saying they failed or succeeded or are still out there looking or are missing or have it shoehorned into Veilguard somehow even though clearly a million other things with the Grey Wardens are going to be happening.

(Obviously I'm not saying Bioware is going to do a spin-off game featuring the Hero of Ferelden on a quest to cure the calling - although I'd play the HELL out of that - but I guess what I'm trying to say is something that big would deserve its own focus, you know?)

Anyway, sorry for rambling just wanted to get some of my thoughts on it out a bit. I understand the disappointment, but I hope people remember that the previous games are still there, you have your head canons and fanart and fanfiction, and just because it won't be directly mentioned in Veilguard doesn't mean your experiences and enjoyment of the previous entries "doesn't matter" anymore. It's still there.

[catyo90]

So i have a thought on the Veilguard World State.

So I have been racking my brain on how choices may come up in the best that we chose but not in the way we expected. I remembered the Witcher 3, and how they brought over choices in the Witcher 2. if you play that game there is a moment where Geralt is basically asked about his quests and how his choices have altered him and the world. Information that has to be verified for the Nobles. I'll put a video below so you can see what I mean.

Now Bioware might not do this, but if anything I sorta of hope this happens when speaking to Harding, Varric or Solas. I'll be it there are only five question given to Geralt but if you think on it. it could work like.

"you know of the hero of ferelden?" -Harding

"on my travels yes, i heard they died killing the arch demon" or "Yes, my fellow wardens spoke of how they survived and become king/queen." rook

Something like this could at least set into stone or at least make the playthrough easier on those who care alot about their worldstate.

Side not: five questions alongside the Three main that bioware already showed. Would give us 8. My top five would be.

HoF Status

Hawke Status

Ruler of Orlais

Well of Sorrows

Divine Choice

[themarydragon]

I have not seen (or maybe I missed) any comments or thoughts you had about Veilguard. Anything you would share with us?

I've had 4 complete playthroughs and I'm sitting and thinking about exactly what I want to do for #5 before I do my deep-dive, note-taking, re-read the books, Gwen's worldstate (Pillars of Creation) playthrough.

I actually loved it. Prepare for giant block of text.

Was it without flaws? Absolutely not. Its Bioware. They'll be pallbearers at my funeral, ya know? But I try not to dwell on the negatives because I honestly never thought we would actually get this game and it's 1000% better than nothing.

But the high point for me are the things we always bitched about in the old games getting fixed. The different backstories MATTER in the dialog. Elves know things human don't, there's unique dialog choices for the origins that give you different relationships with the companions. Remember how much we bitched about Lavellan asking "who's Mithal?" Not this time! (Unless you, the player, don't know and need the option) Now we have a Watcher!Rook talking shop with Emmrich!! Is it perfect? Of course not! Satisfying? Fuck yeah! It also means it's the very first DA game I finished, immediately started over, finished, and immediately started over. And each playthru was different enough to keep me completely invested.

The 3 classes feel different. Rogue and warrior play completely different, even on story-mode difficulty. I had a learning curve, going from warrior to rogue, that I hadn't had in awhile.

All the classes have at least one mechanic that feels FUN. Shield bounce OP.

Skipping over the story bits I WILL be fixing (spoilers for Pillars but you know the Varric reveal is getting fixed, and where the fuck is Hawke), there were some really tasty lore bits. The connection between the Tevinter gods and the Evanuris was something a lot of us had guessed, but I didn't QUITE get right. The evanuris/elf origin gives me a lot to think about RE: force ghost Leliana, or Cole, or the saving Wisdom quest for Solas in DA3, or SANDAL, etc etc.

But the Blight. The Blight!

We knew it was connected to lyrium and the titans, and that did not disappoint. Making it Madness instead of evil? The Blight having been sealed away with the Evanuris before implies it is sealed away with Solas now (Blighted Lavellan as bioware canon?) and your captured companion getting healed gives HUGE implications for the titans and the Wardens.

Can the titans be healed? Is that what Lace and Valta did? Can a titan bond with a dwarf and have their madness healed? Since Lace can dream AND have titan powers, is she evidence one of the titans has been reconnected with their dreams? Is it the titan where her rage manifested? THAT heart is HER heart? Maybe! The fanfiction options are endless. If the Blight is titan madness, what does even one 'healed' titan mean for the wardens, for the Song? For the Calling? New flavor for why they are Called to the Deep Roads, and why embracing the Blight = extended life!!!!!!!

And the zones. Nevarra? Worth the price of admission. Running around Arlathen, also great. The titan/mountain in Lace's missions? Jaw dropping. I played on my too-old PC and then switched to XBox and my mom would sit on the couch and watch and I would take her on tours and I got to explain this whole world I've had living rent-free in my head, to my mother, and I CANNOT begin to tell you how great that feels.

The ending Battle setup was so good, honestly. I get a little choked up watching my allies fall in to fuck shit up with me. Everybody getting a little moment of badassery also super great. Vorgoth wrecking the juggernaut is just *chef's kiss*

I could keep going, believe me.

I've been kicking around posting my fav romances but I've got 2 left (the spouse has multiple playthroughs, too, and I got the benefit of watching his choices play out) and I can't choose between Neve and Bellara and I don't want to go too deep into detail without weighing in on my girls. I adore them all.

But the best? its Davrin, btw. Davrin is incredible. 10/10 no notes gonna smooch again. Emmrich also top-tier and Taash the surprise "oh shit I didn't think I flirted that hard but LETS FUCKEN GO" to round out the top-3. My whole first Rook was DESIGNED to smooch Lace and honestly it was not as satisfying as watching her with Taash. (Get there faster, Lace) Same argument with Lucanis, it just felt unrequited to me, esp with how hard he & Neve flirt (comparatively, too). YMMV of course, we all go for different things in love and life.

Anyways yeah I loved it. Finishing my ME fic(s) before I go asshole deep into my DA universe extensions.

And no I won't go off about the things I hated because life is too short to focus on the bad. That's why I write... to fix the shit I didn't like. As always, Bioware gave me plenty of things to write about.

[mightierthanthecanon]

For all the complaints about Dragon Age the Veilguard, I have to sing its praises for successfully giving me something I've wanted since playing Dragon Age Origins in 2009 -- the desire demon experience.

The scene I remember most from Origins is the desire demon in the circle tower who has the templar convinced he's living a perfect life with a wife and children who love him -- so convinced that he's willing to fight and die for them. When the warden interrupts them, almost the first thing the desire demon says is, "I have given him what he always wanted. Where is the harm in that?" And she's not entirely wrong.

I found that so incredibly interesting as a teenager, and since then, I've always wanted a dragon age game where we fall prey to a desire demon and have to free ourselves from their sorcery. But I knew that could never happen, because all humans have different desires, and there was no way Bioware could make a desire demon to cater to all of them.

Turns out I was completely wrong lol. For all its flaws, Veilguard was able to give me that exact experience. Because not only does Solas lie to and manipulate Rook into thinking Varric is alive and everything is okay, he lies to and manipulates the player. After all, what does any Dragon Age fan want more than to see Varric alive and well? Those beautifully drawn and loving detailed mini chapter recaps that "Varric" gives? They aren't for Rook. For one thing, they're in 3rd person, not 2nd, and for another, Rook never hears them. It's the player who constantly gets those updates, like a comforting reminder of Varric's existence every few hours. And it's the player who gets to check in on Varric in the infirmary, going back again and again for an encouraging (if meaningless) line or two every time they feel like it. Solas's lie isn't particularly convincing in retrospect, but it's the player who falls for it hook, line, and sinker.

Exactly as if they were under the spell of a desire demon.

Learning the truth made me feel sick to my stomach, and breaking free of the regret prison really did feel like breaking free of the compulsion of a desire demon. Like the warden says in Origins, my happiness was "an illusion, a cruel lie." It was truly the plot twist to end all plot twists. Masterfully done, and reminded me why I fell in love with Dragon Age in the first place.