fadetouchedsilk

[fadetouchedsilk]

So, a while ago someone mentioned doing a Veilguard survey and then... just didn’t. And unfortunately for everyone, I actually do this kind of thing professionally. Sooo, guess what:

It’s Veilguard survey time

It’s short, it’s anonymous, it’s for fun, and it’s for science (but the fandom kind). I also personally blame @postcardsfromheapside for this. I’m planning to make a dashboard and write up the results in a big post later, so we can all argue about the data like God intended.

Please fill it out and reblog if you can — I’d love to get as many responses as possible so the graphs look sexy.

[fadetouchedsilk]

my thing about datv is i have literally no beef with people who enjoy the game like you'll catch me dead before you catch me shitting on fans for the simple crime of being fans but what i think is actually borderline disgusting is how many fans feel the need to shit on everyone else for not liking the game and refusing to separate their enjoyment from the degradation of everyone else who dares criticize it. its never normal ass criticism either its insane reductive garbage like "disliking the sanitization of the setting makes you a rape fetishist" or "wanting more conflict between characters is an indication you are emotionally stunted" like unironically in what world do you live in where these are even remotely sane conclusions to draw about people who didn't like your insane corporatized fanfic

[fadetouchedsilk]

the maker's favorite little invasive species

[fadetouchedsilk]

im afraid im cooked fellas

[fadetouchedsilk]

So they just dropped some free content cosmetic dlc for DATV and uh…

Why.

[fadetouchedsilk]

I’m not really interested in DA anymore for uh. Reasons lmao but I’m interested in my own ocs because they’re my ocs yk

“Write fanfic” I did, I do & it’s great & is probably the only reason I have even a shred of lingering attachment to the franchise atp

There’s crumbs for me in the most recent instalment to pick through if I think about extending my own canon tbqh. Which is a shame for a lot of reasons, but if I’m being purely selfish, it’s also because I make good characters that I enjoy for these games. Mentally I’m trying to look at the bare bones of the plot and pick the meat off so I can reshape it into something I enjoy thinking about more (I sincerely doubt I’ll be putting pen to paper beyond that, the interest just doesn’t exist.) I think in my ideal vision my Inquisitor Isenril is still at the helm of things in an actual leadership role, while Camellia gets assigned a sort of sub-team as a contact agent in Minrathous. I don’t feel anything about Varric so his death is still something I feel completely neutral so like whatever that can still happen I guess. The rest of the game is like. A Void basically lmao “the plot advances” is about all my brain wants to fill in. (Well, that and scenes from Dorian’s marriage & their Weird Little Girl™️ daughter who has to be forcibly removed from the catacombs when it’s time to go home)

If I were to actually explore anything it would be a post-game situation where Camellia deals with the reality of still being on the outs/unpopular with the Shadowdragons plus not having a home there anymore, and threading that with giving Lucanis some actual character growth wrt being appointed Talon despite not wanting that for himself but folding for family expectations anyway.

So basically the interesting parts of this game to me are things completely divorced from the game or just something I made up for myself. lol.

[fadetouchedsilk]

[fadetouchedsilk]

New hot Veilguard take: Taash’s mother would have been an infinitely more compelling companion than Taash ended up being

[fadetouchedsilk]

As someone who is acepec, the whole demi Lucanis debacle just doesn't sit right with me. He has so many dialogues that just cut off suddenly, scenes that feel like they're missing (that missive in Act 2 where he talks about dealing with Spite once and for all that just became a completely different scene with Zara??) All the concept art for the romance that was never explored. The massive difference in relationship progression between Rookanis and Nevecanis in terms of both emotional and physical intimacy.

Lucanis' romance is so clearly incomplete even in a game where the romance arcs are sparse on the whole. His character without the romance feels incomplete as well - we get two or so big moments of characterisation and everything else is just the same scene about coffee repeated as infinitum.

I have no issue with a character being awkward and inexperienced, wanting to take things slow, not recognising flirtation or romantic cues, wanting to figure out their complicated situation before jumping into something. I am that person! It took 6 months after my partner and I acknowledged we had feelings for each other for us to start dating because I was not in the right place mentally to do so. Both of us are demi. Both of us have had very few previous experiences with romantic relationships. But that doesn't preclude a person from understanding or wanting emotional intimacy.

The Lucanis situation does not come across as 'he just doesn't have sexual attraction to Rook yet', it's just complete shutdown of conversation on all fronts (something he does not do with Neve, btw.) I too find flirting scary from people I don't know and agonised over it before my partner and I were together. This is not how he's written. His expressions do not reflect shock or awkwardness when Rook flirts, nor does his tone when he responds. Do you know when he does do this? With Neve right at the start of their banter. And he overcomes that shyness quickly. He just does not acknowledge Rook speaking at all the same way any video game character does when their conversation tree is bugged, the game decided to cut some response dialogue and just transitioned directly into the neutral follow-up line. He isn't rejecting emotional intimacy because of Spite and the Ossuary prison because during the ambient dialogue it's clear he's sharing that emotional intimacy with Neve waaaaay before Rook helps him.

I just want more of his writing. Where is he and his character in this story? He's so incredibly inaccessible to us. And I know people will say that characters do not have to be emotionally available to the player (which is true! A great example of this working well is Vivienne, who is warm but not directly open if befriended.) But that should then be a consistent character trait, and it's clearly not. In fact, Lucanis is incredibly declarative about his feelings for Rook romanced or not once you hit Act 3, he's just completely missing in Act 2. Which to me is a flaw in the game's structure. And that 'missing-ness' is being read as demisexuality instead of 'hey this character's writing is actually incomplete and needs restructuring and additional scenes.' Those additional scenes could very much be as awkward and non-romantic in tone as you please, but we needed more of them. Have Lucanis visit Treviso more often to do things other than drink coffee. Have him visit other locations as well! Teach Rook how to cook a local dish, the gondola fight we saw in the concept art. Deciding after the game's poor reception that a character who is clearly only 3/4s of a character, who is lacking in so much characterisation, is the demi character? That feels bad man. Demi characters should be written with just as much care and attention, should get to express themselves in as wide a variety of circumstances, show us more of themselves and how they interact with the world. The reality is that Lucanis has the weakest romance arc in the game, and posthumously attributing that to demisexuality feels like an indictment of acespec people's ability to read the room and express emotional intimacy rather than a true attempt at representing us.

Just as Cullen's heterosexuality and preference for elves and humans is in fact a game development constraint rather than a character writing decision, and Solas' heterosexuality was a result of running out of dev time to record voice lines and re-rig cutscenes, I think we should be able to acknowledge that this version of Lucanis is not a good representation of his character in multiple ways. And that is due primarily to the development cycle rather than writerly intention.

We've had beautiful slowburn romances that were also deeply affected by character trauma throughout the Bioware series. Lucanis' is (in its present state) not one of them. Leliana, Cullen, even Alistair. I think using demisexuality or even slowburn as an 'excuse' for Lucanis' incomplete character isn't a useful way to think about his writing.

Note: This post is purely about quality of writing wrt emotional intimacy. I have zero issue with virgin Lucanis and think that fits his wider writing. I also don't wish Lucanis to be someone he's not - Zevran or Davrin or some other flirty/dommy archetype. I just don't like the casual conflation of awkwardness and inexperience with asexuality. These things do go together but also I don't think we should use demisexuality as a bandaid for poor writing because it reflects poorly on our understanding of ourselves and the community.

[fadetouchedsilk]

i don't think this is a good way to write autistic characters lol

[fadetouchedsilk]

i don't think this is a good way to write autistic characters lol

[fadetouchedsilk]

[fadetouchedsilk]

Freshly hatched Assan must’ve been so scrungly

[fadetouchedsilk]

mythal...

[fadetouchedsilk]

theeee lover boy of all time for valentine's day <3

[fadetouchedsilk]

"There I was, so covered in prickle-burrs I stuck to everything I touched. Lucanis was nothing but mud from the ears down. Catarina just stared speechless." — 'The Wake', Mary Kirby

I love two (2) disaster cousins.

[fadetouchedsilk]

My contribution to @dragonageannual 2025 ✨

I was lucky to get assigned none other than the holy prophet Andraste herself 😊