#DATV Review and Thoughts

[mythalsknickers]

Mythal’s Thoughts about Veilguard: D'Meta's Crossing & Return to the Ritual Site

A Beacon on the Edge

Welcome back to part three of my longer series regarding my thoughts as I progress through my second playthrough with my canon Rook, Part One and Part Two can be found here. In this section we will cover the quests following the return to the Veil jumper camp with Bellara. Beyond this point will be covering more of the game. So as the favorite witch of the wilds says.

The Spoilers of New must be preserved. No matter how exciting they are.

This is my spoiler warning for D'meta's Crossing and subsequent Quests including Harding's personal Arc. Please read at your own risk. Additionally I am adding a Trigger Warning for Body Horror, Blight Gore, NPC Non Companion Death. This is not a "Disney Game" or a "Disney-ified verison of Dragon Age" The blight in this game is in many way more disturbing than in previous installments. I advise caution. If you are sensitive to Body Horror, and Zombification please take care of yourself.

A Crossing of Blight

We return to the Veil Jumper camp and are greeted with grime news they have evacuated three Dalish Settlements and lost contact with a settlement known as D'meta's Crossing. Locationally speaking D'meta's Crossing is across the lake from the Veil Jumper camp, we don't know how far that is exactly. We do know it is a hub of trading for all the local dalish settlements and clans. D'Meta's Crossing is very early in the game, I would argue it is still Prologue because the world has not opened up yet, and the Vi'Revas (Solas' Eluvian) is still locked only sending you to Arlathan. We are greeted upon first look a deserted and quiet settlement. Up until you hop over a barricade you'd be forgiven for thinking this game is not dark, and lacking the typical darkness of a Dragon Age installment.

We are immediately greeted with the Blight devouring a village the likes of which we have not seen since Dragon Age: Origins and the very beginning of DA:2 in the case of Lothering which we did not even truly get to see. Ostagar was dark, but it was not a bustling village where the citizens could not escape. It is very apparent here more so than in Arlathan that the blight is quicker, and alive. Notably this comes from a dialogue with Harding where she says the blight is typically "...dead, and static but this is alive." This blight pulses, and has a heartbeat. It spawns darkspawn from the pools of just blight ooze.

You learn from blood magic addled villagers that lived, that they were to gather everyone in the center of town, and find the veil jumpers and bring them to the mayor. In addition to being under the influence of blood magic, the villagers that survived are blighted. Upon finding the Veil Jumpers you learn that they were used as the catalyst for the gods; Elgar'nan and Ghil'nain's ritual. D'meta's crossing was beautiful expansion on the unnerving feeling of the Blight being changed in Bellara's introduction quest, as it is unexpected and sudden. I know when I went in on my first playthrough I was expecting a Redcliffe Village situation, but to find that was very much not the case.

A Return to the Ritual

Our return to The Veil Jumper encampment is heralded by a raven that Scout Harding seems to recognize, and the well versed player recognizes her a moment later. Morrigan, reportedly an old colleague of Strife's Bioware I will sell my soul if you give us that lore. She offers her assistance as an Arcane Advisor and advises Rook very briefly to journey back to the Ritual Site and recover Solas' Lyrium dagger. Before we get into that, I do want to talk a little bit about Morrigan. In this iteration of her we get more of what I feel is a Mythal/Flemath influence in her wardrobe and how she speaks. Her words seem more deliberate and less scathing than usual, none of this is a bad thing in my humble opinion. As for her new outfit, I am personally a fan, I love the detail and layering work. It still maintains what I would call "The Morrigan" feel and vibe while also looking more substantial than her previous non formal wear outfits.

Our return to the ritual site is marked with a conversation with Harding and Neve about the regrets and what could have been done better, before heading in and meeting the antagonist of this quest. A Lyrium Ghoul. I have some questions as to what this is, and the how and why of it all. We have a chase to the end of the ruins, where we finally recover the dagger and something happens to Harding. It seems on first glance during the cutscene she is infected with a type of lyrium poisoning, before the cliff face gives way and Harding falls. However the anxiety of her impending death is short lived as she reappear emerging from a Lyrium vein claiming "Isatunoll" and the imagry around this brings me back to Descent and Shaper Valta when she was struck by the Titan.

It becomes clear as we enter phase two of fighting that Lyrium Ghoul, that Harding has gotten some kind of magic from the Lyrium dagger, and that is not necessarily a good thing, or a bad thing. It is only in the mission wrap up back in the lighthouse does the group (Neve, Harding, and Rook) toe around the idea of Harding being reconnected to a titan, which if it the case Harding would be our first dwarf that did not have to go deeper to the Titan to survive reconnection.

The Criticism of Mythal

This is finally the first time I have solid criticism of the game. Morrigan's sudden appearance is something I both love and hate. It is extremely on brand for the character. However with the lack of available information on how long the Veil Jumpers have been working in Arlathan, and the additional lack of information regarding Strife and Morrigan working together in the past, a little too nebulous for me. Additionally up until Veilguard, as far as we knew in Lore Arlathan was not habitable, or at very least welcoming to outsiders. Which begged the questions of how did the Veil Jumpers establish their foothold, and when was D'Meta's Crossing founded? While I was over joyed to see a permanent Dalish settlement, why was the mayor a human appearing man? None of these were quite explained at all and I doubt we will be going back to D'meta's crossing in the game but maybe it can be expanded on in an artbook or world of thedas book. Though I'd like to see some of this fleshed out in games.

[baejax-the-great]

If I were a writer at a big game company working on a sequel to a beloved series and the higher ups kept telling me to make the game shittier and kept sending my work back to me to be dumbed down even further somehow, and then once most of the writing was done they laid me and my coworkers off illegally without severance, I'd probably gleefully watch as people trashed the shitty game that shipped.

[notomys-mordax-blog]

Regrettably, I have not gotten all of my feelings about Veilguard out of my system. I've decided to cope with this by continuing to post novels regarding my thoughts about the narrative. Since I'm generally here for the characters, I'm organizing my thoughts on a character-by-character basis. I'm going to include my general opinions about the characters, things I liked and disliked about their involvement in the game, and thoughts I have about how I may have improved upon their narrative or things that might have made their stories more effective (for me). 

Part 1 Lace Harding

Overall: 5/10

She's a really cute character with an adorable design. Say what you will about the change in art style, but I find the ladies of Veilguard to be absolutely gorgeous. I also liked the visual storytelling that we had with her design. I could really imagine her adding the little embroidered details to her clothing while away on a scouting mission. 

Lace is our returning companion. When this was revealed, I thought that she was a good choice. She was a fan favorite in DA:I and struck the right balance between being familiar, without having too much pre-existing plot that would need to be incorporated into the story. She's the cute girl-next-door, with some really interesting undertones of having been raised in a farm with all of the bloody pragmatism maintaining a farm requires. 

Before we dive into her story arc, I think it's worthwhile to address her personality. While I don't disagree with the sentiment that she'd be different around Rook (a co-worker) versus the Inquisitor (a literal holy figure), I don't think they've struck the right balance between bubbly and cute with the salt-of-the-earth pragmatism we saw when she was younger. This feels odd, because the situation in veilguard is just as, if not more, pressing than the situation in inquisition.

The romance between Taash and Lace didn't really do it for me. I think there are some interesting parallels between the characters, specifically they are both bicultural (although have very different experiences with what this entails). I also think it's interesting that Taash is very much a person who has gotten comfortable with their own anger, while Lace (who hypothetically has this anger) isn't comfortable with letting her friendly and bubbly mask drop. I like the implication that Lace is the kind of person that people underestimate and mischaracterize, Taash has a very direct kind of sexuality that seems at odds with the "girl-next-door" persona that Lace usually carries, but unfortunately I just didn't buy the chemistry between these two.  

Her story arc consists of getting whacked with a magical MacGuffin and obtaining mysterious magical powers. These powers reveal the painful history of the dwarven people, in which the proto-elves magically lobotomized their ancestors in order to create physical bodies. The dwarves in the DA series suffer a problem that seems pretty common to a lot of dwarves in fantasy series. They have the most fascinating lore and interesting culture, but they never really seem to fit properly in the narrative. The role of the Deep Roads with the wardens helped tie Orzammar to the main conflict better in DA:O, but one of the main problems I had with Harding's story was that there was this really fascinating lore reveal that has been hinted at since the beginning of the series, but it's never really tied back to the main conflict. There is essentially a throw-away line in which harding muses about how messed up it is that the entire economy of modern dwarven society is essentially (unknowingly) mining the bodies of their ancestors. 

The end result is an interesting narrative beat that doesn't really hit right. It feels disconnected with the main conflict, and literally absorbing her race's entire ancestral trauma without any real consequence or impact on her characterization. I'm of the opinion that the lore reveal was really interesting, and something that the series has been building up for a while. 

This is where I'd put my thoughts about Lace's Faction, if it existed

Lace is the only companion who doesn't belong to a faction. 

She's also well positioned to be a bridge between South Thedas and the North, she could have acted as a proxy for the player and been used to explain differences between how the previous games characterized Northern Thedas (especially Tevinter!) and what we experienced. While I believe she has a line or two about how poorly elves are treated in the south, I think this was a largely underutilized aspect of her character.

This post is already upwards of 2k words, so I'll save a more in depth analysis of my feelings about what happened with Southern Thedas and the Inquisitor. Let's just say that I laughed (negative) when Emmrich and Harding decided to go on their camping trip almost immediately after I received notice that the South was completely overrun with Blight and on the Brink of collapse. 

I think part of my longing for a dwarven faction is that in fantasy stories, dwarves often have super cool lore that isn't really explored. DA:O was a bit of an exception, because of the importance that the Deep Roads had to the story, but in the later games ... it doesn't really feel like the dwarves are super related to what's happening in Thedas. With all of the big worldbuilding reveals about the Titans, it would have been nice to have a dwarven faction, and Kal-Sharok is right there. I've been dying to see more of this society since they were first introduced, and I feel like they really would have been an interesting thematic inclusion, given that the entire world is in danger of being blighted. I go into more depth about why I think a dwarven faction would have improved Lace's story later. 

How would I fix this?

Whenever I find something narratively unsatisfying, my brain immediately jumps to fix-it mode. 

So I think the first problem has to do with the characterization of Harding. As mentioned earlier, I always understood her as being a character who is outwardly really bubbly, but also very ruthlessly pragmatic. I don't think this characterization was really well portrayed in Veilguard. Making it more clear that Lace has a brutal side would really go a long way in making the Titan's anger and grief feel more impactful, and making it more clear that she has some darker impulses that could make her embracing her anger dangerous. We get a taste of this in some of her banter's with Taash, but I think I would have liked to see her act on some of these impulses. It's odd that Neve and Lucanis are the only companions who can be hardened. This feels like a perfect place to Harden Harding (heh). 

So, we tweak Harding's characterization and add some gameplay impacts. Better, but Harding's story still feels like it's dangling in space. 

My first impulse was that Harding was the wrong character to tell this story. Narratively, the story doesn't really take advantage of her connection to the Inquisition or Southern Thedas. After all, Lace Harding is a surface dwarf with no real connection to her dwarven heritage, she identifies much more strongly with being ethnically Ferelden than being dwarven. Furthermore she is the most devoutly Andrastian member of the party. Surely a character who identifies as more ethnically dwarven would be better suited to tell this story, why was the Lace chosen when Dagna was right there? 

Given the overall narrative of Veilguard, I think the best way to make the story of the Titans feel connected to the main plot would be to have a dwarven faction as described above. However that would involve some heavy narrative shifting. Without shifting too many major beats, I feel like Harding's story could have been made much more impactful if we were asked to choose "what's next?" for her. She's been given the burden of learning traumatic ancestral knowledge for a group of people she's ethnically related to, but not culturally related to. I think it could have been much more interesting if we gave Taash's choice to Lace. Once the Gods are defeated and the heroes can go home, what does she want to do? 

Taash will probably get their own novel later, but I found it really thematically goofy that the thematic thesis of their character involves "gender isn't a binary, but culture is (apparently)". While thinking about Taash and Lace as a couple, I considered that one of the commonalities the two characters have is the fact that they are visibly part of an ethnic minority that they don't really fully relate to. If anything, Lace would probably experience this to a greater degree than Taash because she's a surface dwarf. Unlike Taash who was raised by a person with a very strong connection to their culture, Lace and her mother feel very integrated with Ferelden society (as mentioned, they've even adopted the majority religion of the region). 

Does Lace Harding return to her mother and the country that she obviously loves, or does she embrace her role as an "oracle" and return to dwarven society (either Kal-Sharok or Orzzamar would have worked)? Unlike Rivaini or Qunari culture which could easily exist in a blended capacity, the cultural taboos of dwarven societies could explain why this needs to be a binary choice.

I also think that this could have made the choice to sacrifice Harding a little bit more impactful. Part of the reason why it hurts to lose Davrin is that you lose Assan too. I think if it was more clear what Harding's future looked like, it would have been more impactful to lose it.

Closing Thoughts

Lace Harding is a good example of a few of the problems with Veilguard. Taken on her own, she's a likeable and fun character, but her characterization feels somewhat shallow compared to what is right there, simmering underneath the surface. Objectionable aspects of the character are smoothed down. In Cullen's bad ending it's implied that Lace straight up mercy-kills him! My girl gets stuff done (with a smile, even if those things are ... emotionally challenging)  If you squint you can kind of see that the implications are still there, but it's so subtle that it truly feels like head-canons are doing the heavy lifting. 

As an aside, two aspects that I think negatively impact Lace's character are the general omission of the Chantry in Veilguard's story, as well as the narrative decisions made around the Inquisitor and Southern Thedas. 

Her freckles are cute tho.

[3gremlins]

feel like im having a DA2 experience again where I really liked it and was in my little "this is good" cocoon where i played it many times only to emerge from underground and find everyone else hated it (i mean ive found the other da2 cicadas since but at the time it got really slammed). i've been really enjoying DA:TV so far ( lol tho obvs have notes) here's an early thoughts review, may be a bit spoilery, def rambley, trying to stay vague on stuff still (i think i'm about half way maybe? im trying to not look things up and doing it blind on my first run through. it's hard to tell b/c i went hard on all the side quests and am now way over level for the msq)

the combat system is a little jarring at first and i still miss at least being able to switch to and play as party members if your character dies (instead of the god of war style of full wipe), but i've gotten used to it (it's more annoying for boss fights, regular combat it's very zippy and fun). the targeting at least on controller is kind of annoying sometimes- i'll think i'm pointing at one enemy only to have rook turn and fire at nothing or companions to hit an add instead of a boss. I wish we at least had more control over how it queued who it was hitting. some of the arenas are obnoxious design wise - there's bosses that teleport to you and they give you like a tiny little box to dodge around, not the most fun. i do like that you can punch way above of your weight class sometimes which reminds me of DAO a little bit (like how you'd just wander into a fight or hit a gong and be like oh no, those enemies have skulls over their heads, oh well YOLO). sometimes it doesn't work out but when it does it's very satisfying. It's nice to be able to conquer something mechanically even underleveled (smol fromsoft vibes) Having always been a big fan of the strange composition parties (i.e not just war/rogue/mage), i like that this is now even more viable (and not just me being cheeky "we're having a leather party!" of all squishy rogues). but like the main thing about bioware games is the companions/interpersonal shit and i'm enjoying the heck out of that .i only do main quests to get more side quests from companions (or more side quests in general so we can troll around for more banter). i like petting griffons (and cats and dogs) and playing games with manfred*. I wish the gift system was more interesting like DAO or DA2- i was so excited to see it again and then it was a little disappointing to have them barely react when you get them stuff.

my current fave party are rook and the poison boys (emmerich and lucanis) since they're a rogue too and we just stack necrosis, bleeds and other elemental effects on things till they disintegrate. i like the lighthouse, it feels much cozier than skyhold. I love that you can just wander up to companions having convos and awkwardly eavesdrop. I do miss the little interactions/quests you could get with cole esp*** i think the animations are a little lack lustery? Idk there's something with the face model morphs that sometimes feels weird but the voice acting is strong enough that I don't notice too much. i do miss some of the more bioware-y cheeky things like item descriptions or weird notes near random silly environmental tableaus (there's a little but i just want to read all the notes! there's some in the grey warden areas where i was just like WAIT I HAVE QUESTIONS but there was no plaque about them T.T). where are the stacks of cheese (i do appreciate the fereldens love cheese jokes tho and harding getting so excited when someone says something nice about ferelden) i was esp bummed that there were no random things to read in the black emporium and it's all codex entries instead (that's my favorite tiny bit in DA2 where there's junk you can click on and xenon says weird shit to you). i also wish more had been done with accents of npcs- like i wish all the antivans had similar accents or your crow rook had an antivan accent, stuff like that (having a lot of "ferelden" generic british accents everywhere is disappointing. takes you out of the immersion a lot) My biggest gripe is probably the pacing - I wish it had more horror/mystery pacing like dao and da2 had- the reason we're all scarred by the brood mother is b/c the build up to that was so so creepy (also the necromancer bit w/hawke's mum in DA2). They gave us time to be unnerved or afraid and I do feel the evanuris reveals have been a little rushed so you can't really feel that worried about them (some of the side quests get close to this but still not quite there**). I wish they'd let them breathe a bit more instead of rushing from one giant world changing event to the next. Some of the reveals have been not so great- like lore that the fandom has poured over for 15ish years explained in one line?? i wish there'd been more build up of rook as a character too, maybe even a time skip from a prologue to finding solas kind of thing. the first trailer made it seem like that's what was going to happen but then it in media res'd us in a strange way. the first 10 hours of the game are probably the weakest imho, it took it a bit to get rolling and feel more natural. I appreciate that the first major decision doesn't really let you scum save for it (bit of a jump scare for me lol).

I also don't really need this much varric anymore, i kinda wish we had a different narrator if we have to have one. He feels really awkward to just have there and not doing anything(and not just kill off or have something happen to him? he got stabbed by the dagger and harding only touched it is what i'm saying). at least let him get better pjs and slippers or something Idk it does feel like bits of previous iterations they were working on are still there and they don't completely serve the plot well. And ofc there's the decisions not meaningfully carrying over thing- which is a huge bummer. But in reality they've never been good at that- the characters from previous games we see in new games don't really carry through their plots/arcs that much (it's more like cameos or they're a new person now) and the world states are usually effectively the same just with aesthetic faction swaps. I was sort of hoping we'd get some solavellan SOMETHING but it doesn't look like we will get much at all past the stuff in minrathous. i feel like if they were going to only include the one choice it really should have had more impact on the story. (i am also still a clown and want to talk to solas constantly still even tho he has no reason to talk to my rook at all, i do not care, i love a sad woof. i wish we could just casually visit him in the fade. i wish we could switch to lavellan and visit him in the fade, idk something. need more gareth david-lloyd pls) the interpersonal character decisions have been the only ones that mattered much and then only within the constrains of their own games- the bigger world changing stuff is usually the illusion of choice. It would have been nice if they let us have one protagonist carry through but i can also see why they liked changing it up and felt stuck in that format. tl;dr: i'm really like it for what it is but it's def got flaws. Parts of it feel super polished while other bits do not- i think knowing how game dev works that they had to make decisions on what was going to get prioritized and some of it works while others not so much. I wish the pacing was better for sure but i love the characters/companions which is generally what bioware is best at. sad it won't get meaningful dlc, i don't really care about mass effect 5 tbqh. So far I like it better than inquisition for the most part- it feels like a bigger/more polished DA2 in a lot of ways if that makes any sense (with similar budget/pacing issues, but the environments are more fun). as i mentioned in my other post, i really appreciated the trans/non binary inclusion into the story/cc tho. like that can't be discounted, even if the rest of the game has issues. (all the holes in the narrative make me want to do fan art and fan fiction tho so idk, maybe that's an okay thing. maybe dragon age is best at inspiring us to sandbox around in it)

*side note, i am surprised at how much i like emmerich like holy shit what a lovely soft nerd of a man! going to have to play through a few times and romance him and also bellara for sure (romancing lucanis this time round) i find myself shipping my companions with each other more than i normally do too. I just want them to be happy! I wish they'd let us have polyamory, like i could see little polycules in this squad so easily. i need to give bellara hugs and lucanis head pats. taash deserves head pats too, but my rook will need a ladder.

**i am going to cry if they do with the griffons what i think they're doing with the griffons. like straight up, feeling like it was a cursed wish to have them now T.T *** do we think the caretaker is cole? the character design makes me wonder (like the hat/silhouette is very cole like but maybe not. maybe i just want it to be cole lol) there's def characters i want to see show up that aren't going to and then bioware is like "what about this fan favorite??" and i'm like "eh".

[wolfsong-the-bloody-beast]

I love when we can see the whole team working together in Veilguard. Whether they are a bit scattered around the area, meeting with the main party at certain points and helping us progress, or during cutscenes like this. It's something I've really missed in the previous games. In those, you pretty much always play through the main quests and face the apocalypse or the main conflicts with just your 3 companions, with very few exceptions. What's the rest doing? Waiting until it is all over? I always have to headcanon that either they are all there somehow or that they're busy doing something else equally important. Or something. I think Veilguard does a good job actually showing that we are a team of more than 3 members during the most important events. It's something I really enjoy about it.

[stinkrascal]

i played this game for? so many hours. its actually embarrassing how many hours i played today. its 3am. ok. goodnight

[thewardenisonthecase]

Finally, some overall thoughts on Veilguard

I want to begin this by saying I only got into DA back in June of this year. I don't have much of a dog in this race as the people who have been here since 2009 or the people who have been waiting 10 years for the conclusion of the narrative set up by the ending of Tresspasser.

But I have been obsessively playing the three past Dragon Age games since June and I was extremely excited for Veilguard, in part because I wanted more and because I needed a new distraction from the world.

All in all, I enjoyed the game way more than I expected. Maybe it has to do with the fact that my expectations were on the floor but who knows. I did like the game a lot but I do have many criticisms for it.

There some things that, at the begging, i didn't like but grew to enjoy. The combat is one of them. At first, when I was still learning, I really hated the combat system, but with time, I got better at it and now I enjoy it quite a lot. I will say, I still prefer the DA2 combater overall, and I miss being able to control my companions. While I prefer a more tactile style, I thought the combos were pretty nice.

Let's talk about characters. I was quite surprised that I ended up enjoying all the companions. Even if there were some I didn't bring out as much, I still liked them, and I enjoyed most of the personal quests, with Emmrich and Bellara's being my favorites. I like that the companions talk amongst themselves and it really seems like a group that is actively living together.

I do wish, however, that there was more...variation? to how some of their personal quests ended. I feel like only Emmrich's quest had a final choice that severly impacted his character, while the others, sure, I can see how internally they can impact them but it didn't feel like either outcome made a lot of difference. Also, Taash's quest of choosing to be more rivaini or qunari sure is...weird, but other users have gone more at lenght at this than me.

Side note, while the Hardened mechanic is really interesting, I was a tad dissapointed it only happened once.

I also really liked Rook, and after struggling to connect with the Inquisitor, Rook was what I needed. I like that for the most part, they're just some guy who has to shoulder all these responsabilities. I like their dynamic with Solas, and especially with Varric.

What I'm not the biggest fan of is the lack of actual roleplay/choice. See, in RPGs, I tend to play the typical good guy because being rewarded for doing good is like a power fantasy to me, so Rook being that was great for me. However, I can totally see why not being able to just be kind of a dick sucks. It takes away some nuances that a player can choose to give to the character, and it can kill replayability if you can only kinda of always play the same personality type.

Also, even thought the diplomatic/sarcastic/aggresive wheel is back, I think it was just for show. In DA2, even if the 3 options led to the same outcome, each response was written in a way that made them unique. A diplomatic Hawke is very different from a Sarcastic or Aggressive one. With Rook, it was remeniscent of DAI, where they don't have a lot of variation (by the way, I mean variation in how they were written, not at how they're acted out). I ended up varying a lot between all three options and never really noticed a lot more difference than an "aggresive" Rook is a little more curt/to the point.

And I must say, while I think most dialogue scenes are pretty good, and some even being amazing in my opinion, there were others that felt very...therapy talk. Lucanis's Inner Demons quest was the one that came off as that the most to me, which broke my heart since I romanced him. It just felt jarring. I think the game could have benefitted of having a quest focused solely on Rook, kinda like how DA2 has the 'All That Remains' so that at least for once, it wasn't Rook having to do therapy talk to all their companions. I also think the beggining of the game should have been Varric recruiting Rook, kinda like in Origins, mostly because I would have personally enjoyed that more than a wall fo text.

When it comes to the overall story. I am of two minds. I think, taking the game for what it is, I like it a lot. The ending made me cry, there are a lot of high points, and I liked the conclusion. However, when you take into consideration the previous three games, that are things that make me pissed.

I always knew that the lack of custom world states would piss me off, but I didn't expect to be so infuriated. There were MANY chances for this game to make references to the Fifth Blight and they don't, and yes, that pissed me off because it would have tied Veilguard with the beggining of the series, which would have felt quite nice. Althought the lore is interesting, I hate that everything is tied to the elves and that the mystery of Andraste, the Maker and the 7 magisters was explained and is now gone. I knew that was the direction of the game was going but personally, as someone who's not that invested in elves to begin with, I was sad that all of the plot points I enjoyed the most were tied back to the Evanuris. But again, that's a personal thing.

The lack of teeth in this game is real but more people have gone in detail about this so I won't go long.

In comparison to the other games, there are not a lot of actual, world impacting choices to be made, but at the very least, the ones that are there are indeed very impactful.

Like I said, I romanced Lucanis and while i LOVE the scenes we have, for a game that was marketed as 'the most romantic', it felt lacking. I think just being able to directly talk to the companions at any time like in DAO and DAI and spam a kiss button would have made it for me.

Even though I have...complex feelings about the Varric reveal, I think the endgame portion of the game is the strongest. I do wish there were actual epilogue flashcards. Also no, i'm not going to talk about the post credit scene, don't remind me of it.

All in all. For what it is, I think it's an amazing game. For a DA game, however, it was lacking. I still enjoy it a lot, and it's better than Inquisition in my opinion (but I just really...really don't like Inquisition).

[dumb-doll-lips]

I’m watching wolfheartFPS YouTube review of dragon age the vielguard. He’s doing a great job describing my main criticism of the game. The difference being I did not solve all the puzzles quickly but just felt like an idiot when I did because they are so simple.

And I also dislike the lack of being able to give my character a fat ass.

I’ve only played dragon age inquisition within the series before that. And I tbink it’s a much better game overall.

I still like the game overall. I really like the makeup part loll. Going to be starting another playthrough.

[crookedsaladdressing]

I’m so grateful to have only seen positive things about Veilguard on Tumblr. I’ve been super excited for the game and it’s reviews like this one that encourage me to keep that excitement alive; thank you for making me feel like it isn’t for nothing! ❤️

My (spoiler-free) thoughts on Dragon Age: The Veilguard

The review embargo has lifted and I can officially say that I've played through Dragon Age: The Veilguard early! 

Here are my spoiler-free thoughts and personal opinions on the overall gameplay experience: 

Narrative:

Rook's dialogue and decisions impact SO MUCH of the game, and come into play later on. From companions remembering your beverage preferences, to whether someone you spared shows up later to help or harm you, it feels like the game is paying attention and that you matter.

The stakes are unbelievably high. The Evanuris are utterly terrifying villains, in ways that Corypheus wasn’t. You really feel the magnitude of their power on a personal level as well as a worldwide level.

Whatever your thoughts on him, Solas is FUN as a character. He’s fun to talk to, fun to talk strategy with, fun to rile up and verbally spar with and fun to grudgingly ally with. Now that he can drop his former act and appear to you as the Dread Wolf, and you get to see his memories, you and he team get to decide how to utilise his knowledge and how far your trust extends.

The setup and payoff of the story beats are absolutely superb. The emotional turmoil as a player of being ensnared by things that was foreshadowed earlier in the game is utterly exquisite. Every thread of the larger tapestry has been woven with so much love by the writing team, and every character’s arc tie into the larger story in interesting ways.

The characters feel like they have full lives outside of the player character. You frequently go exploring their home turf and can meet their friends and family. They interact with each other on their own and move about the Lighthouse to spend time together, leave notes for each other, and talk about each other even when the other isn’t there. The team feels like they all really care about each other as well as you. 

You can tell what your approval rating is with characters, but if you want to romance them you have to put some thought into it. Interactions and world events besides the heart on the dialogue wheel influence their attraction to you.

Gameplay:

The combat is very engaging, and I enjoyed how unique all the enemies were.

Abilities in the skill tree can be refunded so you can redirect to a different specialization, which is really handy if you’re indecisive and overwhelmed at first (like I get when choosing abilities).  Most companions can get healing abilities no matter what class, so you don’t have to worry about balancing your rogues/mages/warriors (most of the time).

Climbing, balancing on ledges, using ziplines and sliding down slopes made environments feel more immersive. Additionally I like how each companion has unique abilities that let them interact with the world (fixing mechanisms, breathing fire, summoning bridges from the Fade, etc), and learning their abilities alongside them helps you grow closer.

The wayfinder light makes everything feel streamlined, so it's way harder to get lost while exploring an area. I hardly had to look at the mini map at all, and usually I’m glued to it! This meant I could actually look around at the beautiful environments and appreciate how lively they were, even without NPCs.

The upgrade system is far less overwhelming than in Inquisition; there are a finite amount of weapons/armour/accessories to be found, which are designed for each specific character like in DA:O and DA:2. There's also no longer crafting from scratch. If you loot an item you already have, it automatically upgrades the single item rather than giving you duplicates.

You know that frustration of coming across higher-level armour that just isn’t as flattering as your current one? Not to worry, you can collect “appearances” which you can toggle on as the visual for the armour while still retaining the benefits of the original.

I cannot stress enough how simple and easy to use the inventory is. It's heavenly. 

Using the shops of specific cities increases your reputation within those cities, which is a good incentive to explore and use the shops. I usually hate in-world shopping but here it was simple, and thinking about it tactically worked pretty well.

Quests sometimes reach a point where you can't continue at your current place in the story, and must return to in later acts. When re-exploring familiar areas, everything feeling big enough to be fresh with each visit, and new loot and codex entires appear.

A couple little things I appreciated:

The control sounds are very pleasing. From the whoosh of opening the combat wheel to the clinking of upgrades to the subtle whir of holding the decision button, they're a nice touch.

If companions are interrupted in conversation by combat, they resume it afterwards with a "what were you saying before?".

Photo mode is so fun to play with, and you can adjust blur/brightness/lens/depth within the scene. You can also toggle on and off the visibility of your Rook, your party, NPCs and enemies!

Assan learns new interaction tricks at the Lighthouse as the game goes on.

Nitpicks:

Overall I had an incredibly positive experience. The gripes I had were tiny things like:

I genuinely like the new art style of the game as a whole. However, the blurriness of some of the features in contrast with some elements being very crisp was distracting.

When trying to sell valuables for faction points without using Sell All, it takes quite a long time to count up all the individual sales, and it isn't a live counter. So it's kind of annoying if you get +3 points for each item you sell, need 150 points to get the next tier of items, and over 10K worth of valuables that you want to sell to other factions. 

If you do lots of quests without returning to the Lighthouse often, occasionally companions at the Lighthouse will have dialogue pertaining to the quests you've just finished as if you haven't done them.

You can pet the dogs and cats in the cities, but Rook turns their back to the camera to do it and it blocks most of the action unless you rotate quickly.

Gender stuff:

I was incredibly moved that not only can Rook be trans/nonbinary in the character creator if you so choose, but they get options to feel differently about their identity and journey, and it impacts their dialogue and how they relate to other characters! To access this make sure to interact with Varric's Mirror in your room in the Lighthouse. There are many conversation options throughout the game to discuss your identity with other characters, or relate your change of self to other situations. Crucially, it comes up when entering a romance and you have to communicate with your partner about it, which I never even THOUGHT of including in a game because it seemed impossible to even allow trans main characters to begin with.

There are also multiple trans and nonbinary characters throughout Thedas. What I found the most realistic was that just like in life, it is a consistent presence in any character's life, and comes up in conversation more than once. I have never seen a game this forthcoming and open about the topic of transitioning, and it was so validating. 

Final thoughts:

I adore the other games in the franchise. Something about The Veilguard affected me in a way no other game has. I cried multiple times while playing this game, both from joy and sadness. What struck me most is that the people who worked on this game REALLY listened to feedback from previous games, and were very set on making a piece of art that meant something to people. Even during the last few years of me testing the game, things have been adjusted and changed in direct response to our reactions and suggestions. It's surreal and quite touching.

I hope you enjoy this game as much as I have. See you in Thedas.

[mythalsknickers]

Mythal’s Thoughts about Veilguard: The Lighthouse and Arlathan Forest

And so we wake...

This is part two of my longer series regarding my thoughts in real time as progress my second playthrough of my canon Rook. Part one which can be found here covered the Character Creation, my nostalgia, the cold open and my thoughts on the fade prison. Beyond this point we will be covering everything past that point, so as our favorite Witch of the wilds says.

The Spoilers of New must be preserved. No matter how exciting they are.

Seriously these are large spoilers do not come knocking unless you have already reached the end of Veilguard.

The Lighthouse

Our first introduction to the lighthouse is interesting because not only are we removed from the fade in a manner similar to how Solas removed a romanced Lavellan with a simple command but also because when we wake we are greeted with a splitting headache that even I for a moment assumed was blood magic, rather it is a post crisis Rook having a breakdown. Only to be pulled from it by a friendly face; Varric, and there is more there than meets the eye. It is most noticeable that as we converse Rook is confused about him being there, and Neve or Harding (player choice dependent) does not notice him. The conversation leads us to the realization we aren't in the waking world, but rather fade. The Lighthouse will never have the reveal per say that Skyhold did, but it wasn't needed in the way Skyhold was. In the way the lighthouse was reveal it was beautiful and warming. Despite it being the fade, and the storm brewing in the background, it feels safe. Mechanically speaking there is not much to do in the lighthouse before you go to Arlathan, you can change your appearance via the mirror next to the bed you woke up in. Also temporarily there is a wardrobe next to the door in the infirmary. There is a singular puzzle outside which unlocks a music room of the right hand side as you enter the Library. But we will talk more about the lighthouse once everyone is recruited.

Among the Ancient boughs

It is extremely fitting our first foray into Arlathan since the ritual has seen it fundamentally altered by the Ritual going wrong. This is a forest we have been told in lore nobody survives entering. Be it by elven relic, or by the fade itself Arlathan is dangerous. My current theory from the origin of this rumor is likely the fact this is the site where Solas sealed the Evanuris into the fade and created the veil. Making a highly dangerous and unstable veil area due to the stress on it. Our task is given to us by the Veil Jumpers and it is to locate one of their experts, Bellara Lutare.

Bellara rightfully needs a moment to process, honestly I need a whole decade to cook with this game and the lore so I get it. Being told her gods have returned and are evil, its alot. To me Bellara feels like a mature Merrill, she still has the energy and the enthusiasm of looking for relics. Also I am enamored with her outfit, I very much want it. Partially for the pockets and just how comfy it looks. Bellara does introduce us to a concept I wish we saw more of in the game as a whole. Veil Bubbles. Which from my understanding of the world are pockets of the waking world saturated with so much raw magic it mimics what the world was like before the veil was formed. As far as we know in game extremely powerful elvhen artifacts can generate them but an over abundance of magic can generate ones that are not necessarily maintained. It is during Bellara's recruitment mission, that we learn a critical mechanic in the game for many of the puzzles. The Lyrium Power Crystal, on the nose this is a crystal filled with Lyrium and used as a spell battery if you will. They are socketed into mechanism that anchor the spell to create bridges.

Of Combat and Blight

I need to speak of combat somewhere and there is a fair portion in Bellara's mission, it is also where we get our first taste of the blight. Regarding combat as of right now I have only played Mage, and I play on keyboard and mouse. I understand that Keyboard and mouse are not optimal for this UI set up but to be honest I have had no issues playing. In fact I have to say Dagger & Orb mage have brought alot of enjoyment back for me. There is plenty of movement and flow, while the button combinations on keyboard are not the easiest for learning to flow. However none of this has never hindered play through for me or my enjoyment. Prying me away from dagger & orb to play rogue or warrior is going to be immensely challenging.

Now onto the blight. It pulses and that disconcerts me on a decent scale. The emergence of Elgar'nan and Ghil'nain appears to have fundamentally altered the way the blight and darkspawn behave as well as how they look in some cases. Honestly I do not have alot of opinions around this yet, that might change when I hit a warden playthrough.

The Veil Jumpers

I think each section I do like this, I will try to wrap up with my thoughts on the faction, speculation, what we know in pre-existing lore. On first impression of the Veil Jumpers, I did not know who Strife or Irelin were, or how Harding knew them. We meet them as we come back to Arlathan from the lighthouse. I did some digging because I was curious and this is what we know. Strife and Irelin and the Veil Jumpers as an organization are introduced in the comic, The Missing. We know they are are Dalish founded organization that accepts anybody willing to handle Arlathan's unpredictable life.[source] Beyond that we don't know much else other than they seek to contain the annomalies happening in Arlathan and return it to a natural state. To be honest I have always been biased for the Dalish and this is the first time my playthrough did not start with the Dalish, I didn't immediately mesh with the Veil Jumpers, but I do know I want to know more about them, and who they are and see them in future games, books etc.

[a-driftamongopenstars]

alright, i finally finished Dragon Age the Veilguard.

tldr; 3/10. I didn't like it.

If you enjoyed the game and would rather keep enjoying it, please don't click the read more section as what follows is rather critical.

I can finally sit down with my thoughts and put them together in a more cohesive structured review, touching on most things that I wanted to address. I'll start with positives and then focus on the negatives.

Warning, this is VERY long.

Overall, I had a neutral to negative impression of DatV, which got worse by the end of the game. It had some good moments, but they were entirely unexplored and underutilized, suffering from bad writing. While the game itself is rather pretty, it didn't outweigh the dialogues, the stories and the lore butchering that took place.

1. Environment and visuals. 8/10.

I think Veilguard is a very beautiful game. I enjoyed exploring the corners of this new world, the little bits of environment design and storytelling that it had. It felt magical, certain locations were mesmerizing! I couldn't stop staring at the valley where you go to with Harding, the carcass of a titan.

2. Combat. 9/10.

I love flashy combat, I enjoy hack and slash, so until the very end of the game I was having most fun in combat. Yes there was repetitiveness but I tried to combat (hehe) it with changing my abilities and weapons every now and then. I liked combos and I liked timed parries. Enemy tactics got a bit boring by the end, but a few enemies still surprised me and challenged me.

.... That's where positives end. Now on to the negatives.

1. Characters. 2/10.

I don't understand what happened. Almost all the characters in this game were tuned down to a two-dimensional personality, "good" and "bad" - and absolutely no nuance. This happened not only to the villains, but to the different NPCs and even our companions. Their interests got narrowed down to single points of interest (Lucanis and coffee being a prime example to me), their motivations got watered down.

This is not what I expect from a Bioware game. I want to be challenged, I want to dislike characters or approve of their choices. I like characters who are messy and complex and don't always have their shit together.

I like villains who may have other reasons for their choices, other than "ba ha ha, I am so evil and I will do evil things". Where is Alexius who sold himself to the Elder one, just so he could save his beloved son? Where is Samson, forsaken by the Chantry and turned to red lyrium with his addiction? Where is Calpernia, misguided in her choices, just to free the slaves of Tevinter?

Where are the slaves of Tevinter anyway?? That's another topic.

2. Rook. 4/10.

On one hand, I liked playing Rook. They were stoic but with a humorous side, ready to get the job done, compassionate to other people.

The problem is that it's the only Rook you can really play. The protagonist is set in their ways and their dialogues and there is very little to roleplay. Rook really does feel like a gentle manager, trying to get everyone to play along nicely, while providing therapy every now and then, and is excluded from the majority of friendly interactions with other people. That awkward glance everyone gives you after their banter is embarrassing. The way you can third wheel people, the way the game actively offers you to leave a couple of animated conversations between other people - why even include those? Why not make Rook a part of the 'team'?

I did like Rook's dynamic with Solas. They got to see a different side of him, one that's not presented heavily in Inquisition. But like everything else, it felt surface level and underexplored.

3. Story arc. 2/10.

I am left unsatisfied with the story. The pacing threw me off so much nearly every quest, it was hard to stay on track. From "we need to solve this NOW" to "actually, let's all slow down and deal with our problems", the plot's priorities were all over the place. We kept hearing about the gods and their destructive oppression, but we saw surprisingly little of it. Yes, there was the Blight, yes there were Venatori and the Antaam, but they felt more like a video game fodder and dressing rather than a part of the story.

Not to mention that all of those things made little sense to me. Why would the gods align with aforementioned factions? Why would the aforementioned factions align with the elven gods? In-game explanation was not enough for me, it did not make sense. Not with the established lore in the previous games.

I also did not enjoy the ending. While the idea of Solas binding himself to the Veil is good and does make sense, what was suggested as the good ending (inviting Mythal to deal with Solas essentially) actually left me feeling awful. I sent a man, full of regrets and self-loathing, on a lonely journey to figure himself out. That... did not sit right with me at all. Neither did the fact that Northern Thedas, supposedly the point of the gods' attack, gets to live and flourish, while Southern Thedas is dying of starvation and blight. That is UNHINGED to me.

4. Music. 1/10.

There was no music. I remember one track. It was not memorable whatsoever and I can't believe they hired Hans Zimmer to do exactly nothing. Just wow.

5. Lore. ???/10.

And here is the worst offender. What was done with Dragon Age lore is unacceptable. I was doing a head-in-hands every five minutes. This was a slap in the face of so many fans who enjoyed the three prior games and delved into deep, interesting lore of various races, countries, cultures and religions. Veilguard showed a big middle finger to all that.

Everyone has already touched upon the sanitization of different factions. From the suddenly slaveless Tevinter to found family Antivan Crows, everything has been scrubbed clean and made sweet and palatable and "good".

The Dalish clans have been removed from existence as we know them. The Antaam left the Qun? Don't even get me started on that. The Chantry has no influence in this game? Really? The Chantry? The biggest religion in Thedas? The one that we know has heavy presence in the Anderfels, the Black Divine in Tevinter? That Chantry?

I think it really hit me how disrespectful the game is during the quest of saving the Dalish elves, where apparently Elgar'nan's Venatori, uplifted to be his servants and chosen people, were trying to sacrifice them. It's a gross and oddly telling idea that the ancient Elven god turned to a faction of racist mages to sacrifice elven people. I actually can't believe I'm writing this. Just how much are you going to shaft these people? Mindboggling.

There is a lot more I have to say on this specific topic, and I probably will later, but the idea is this.

6. Romances. 2/10.

Whoever said this is a game with romance lied so hard. So hard. The romance was atrocious. From the badly written flirting to the lack of romantic scenes (I romanced Davrin), to the poorly timed and awkward 'final' romance moment... It was atrocious. I felt no connection between Rook and Davrin beyond what game was telling me. My actual companions got more screen time with their romances than me and my LI.

Damn, even Evka and Antoine, my single most beloved NPCs in this game, had more romance going on that my Rook.

---

All in all, Veilguard was a massive let down. After having enjoyed the first 3 games many times over, with multiple playthroughs, I was so excited to see how the story of the Inquisition, of the elves, would end. When I saw the first trailer for VG, I knew I would never get to see it. When I played the game, I was left with disappointment and disdain.

I'm glad there are people who enjoyed this game, genuinely. I'm sure there's something to find for anyone, but it was not for me. Nor was it for many other people. It was a let down. I feel like I'll never get the conclusion I wanted - so I'll have to write my own I guess.

I have more thoughts on this game that I might be sharing, but for now this is the review I wanted to write. Thanks for reading!

[dalishious]

(I can’t believe I finished this so fast… I basically blacked out and then it was done lol… Anyway, please remember that this is all just my personal opinion, and if you feel differently, that’s fine!)

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Review

Objectively speaking, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a fun game that the average player is going to enjoy, especially if that average player is coming in without any prior knowledge to the Dragon Age franchise. I believe this is a good jumping-in spot for people who are curious about the world of Thedas. But in contrast, I have seen a lot of criticism from other hard-core fans that I largely agree with. However, it just so happens that most of the criticism I have is not enough to prevent me from overall enjoying the game. That is to say, for pretty much everything I did not like, there was also something I thought was great… Unfortunately, that makes it a little difficult to give a review. So, I’m going to do my best to keep things as clear and concise as possible by splitting up the “good” and the “bad” aspects of DATV.

The Positive

The best thing to come out of DATV is the new cast of characters that make up your companions and supporting associates. While I do think that some of them could have benefitted from more development time to flesh things out further, just judging what we ended up with, is mostly great. I especially found Emmrich and Bellara to be stand-out examples of strong personalities to grasp onto, whose personal stories really touched me in an emotional way.

DATV also has fun with some returning characters. For example, now that Solas is no longer hiding his identity, we get to see a character that both believably honours his part in Inquisition, while also providing a new, refreshing side to him. There are also a number of characters introduced in Dragon Age: Tevinter Nights that appear in the game, like my personal favourites Teia and Viago, who are an absolute delight to interact with!

I think the three act structure is good, albeit with act three being quite short. There are a few sequences that are an absolutely phenomenal mixture of storytelling and engaging gameplay, like all of Weisshaupt! I also really enjoyed stepping out of the main story every once and a while, and into Solas’s backstory through the Crossroads memories – what ended up being extra special about these is how they mirror Rook’s struggle so well, by the end. They are a nice touch.

The locations are beautifully constructed with smooth interactions of climbing, zip-lining, and essentially parkouring your way around, making them fun to explore! They also came with such distinct flavours and character in themselves that influenced a sense of truly experiencing different parts of Thedas, with different cultures.

The mechanic of building up strength with the different factions, and that actually having a huge impact with the ultimate showdown in the end of the game, makes side quests feel far less inconsequential than in Dragon Age: Inquisition by comparison. That, and they number far less.

I like that the story mode actually feels like a story mode; there were only a couple instances where I really had to worry about death, and even then, I was able to just toggle off the death with the customizable gameplay mechanics and continue on.

Finally, it would be remiss not to say that the character creator for DATV is the best BioWare has ever put out. I’d go as far as saying it’s one of the best in any RPG I’ve ever personally experienced. From the flexibility in morphing a character’s head and body between custom shapes, to the little details like sclera colour, vitiligo, and top surgery scars, makes it a shining example of what RPG’s should strive for. (My only critique here is that it would have been nice to have more skin colours.)

The Neutral

I hated the combat for pretty much the entire first act of the game. I found it too hard to keep up with, and too much like Mass Effect bullshit. I can’t say that it’s completely grown on me yet, but I don’t hate it anymore. It’s fine. So, I’m giving this a special little spot before I get into what I didn’t like all the way to the end.

The Negative

As mentioned above, I do think that there is more that could be done with some of the characters to really achieve their full potential. Davrin and Lucanis—while to be clear I still really enjoy as they are—come to mind first, in terms of those who would have benefited from more development time. Most of Davrin’s screen time just revolves around Assan rather than Davrin himself, and Lucanis is so restrained that it takes a while to really crack him open. Both of these characters have intentional personalities that make them harder to get to know, I understand that, but I feel that it would have been all the more rewarding to have more time dedicated to their company after earning their trust and possibly endearment. Instead, it feels like their romance and friendship with Rook are only half-complete, and then rushed to finish.

There are some companion interactions that are just… cringe. There is no other word for it. Now, this is nothing new for BioWare games, but I feel like the “pulling a Bharv” scene for example, was hitting an entirely new low. (If someone misgendered me and then just started doing push-ups instead of just saying “hey sorry about that, I’ll try to do better” I’d be annoyed, not satisfied.) I also felt like most of the temporary rivalries between companions were artificial in nature, rather than organically part of their characters that actually served a purpose. We already knew Emmrich likes books and Harding likes nature; we did not need a whole cutscene with them bickering about camping. (The exception to this is Davrin and Lucanis, who genuinely had room to grow as people out of their multiple confrontations, not just a one-off scene.)

The music in DATV is, for the most part, forgettable and bland. There is one piece that really stands out, and that’s “Where the Dead Must Go”, which is a real banger. I am not a fan of Hans Zimmer’s OST otherwise; I think it is phoned in, just like most of his work. I deeply wish BioWare would have just stuck with Trevor Morris. The best parts musically in this game are just Morris’s work re-used from Dragon Age: Inquisition.

There are certain parts of disjointedness that separates DATV from the past games that are just… bizarre. This is especially the case when it comes to elven lore. For example, Bellara saying she is afraid that elves will be harshly judged for the Evanrus, or Harding saying that elves are “thriving”… as if modern elves are not deeply persecuted across most of Thedas. It made me question more than once if there just was not time in development to do a proper canon-compliancy check with everything, perhaps?

I want finish this part by bringing up again that the biggest flaw in DATV is that it feels very corporate. To repeat what I said in this post: It is as if a computer ran through the game’s script and got rid of anything with “too much” political substance, in an overcorrection to be “safe”. But now that the edges have been so smoothed down to make a block into a ball, it can no longer support anything.

Conclusion

It’s easy to see a lot of creativity went into the creation of this game… but it is also easy to make assumptions on how that creativity was constrained by development hell and corporate oversight. In the end though, Dragon Age: The Veilguard succeeded in being an overall good time, one that I will no doubt be putting just as many countless hours into as the previous installments in the franchise. 7/10.

[lairofsentinel]

Since this user's posts seem to have been deleted in previous opportunities I copy-paste their words here because they express exactly what I feel about this game. Dragon Age has died, unfortunately.

I'm a big time Dragon Age lover and have enjoyed every game in the series. Personally, I think Inquisition is the best in the series. And I was excited for Veilguard right up until I actually began playing it. Now, I want to clear things up at the start as to what I look for and believe makes a good Dragon Age game. To start, I DON'T CARE ABOUT COMBAT. I. Do. Not. Care.

You can make it Origins tactical. DA2 fast tactical. DAI hybrid. God of War action, I don't care. Dragon Age has always had combat that was...fine. A nice distraction and breakup in between the bits I actually care about: narrative ROLEPLAYING, story, characters, and exploration. I don't give a crap how great the combat is if the narrative roleplaying and writing are poor, I'm not playing BioWare titles for amazing gameplay. I am here for the story, the characters, and the roleplaying. Truth is, for a time I considered DATV's combat to be the best in the series.

And this is why I feel the game is a terrible Dragon Age, because it lacks or fails to respect those elements concerned with narrative roleplaying, story, characters, and exploration. Now, in many reviews and online videos you'll hear some reference often to the drop in writing quality. And a lot of time people will incorrectly say that the writing with the characters is to "modern" or "Marvel quippy" or not "dark" enough. I think these people are wrong, they recognize there is a drop in writing quality from previous games but aren't able to articulate why that is.

Dragon Age has never adopted any sort of faux medieval speech and vocabulary (though we'll get into this more later). This is a series that used "epic fail" as a thing someone uttered in the very first game. It's always had anachronistic dialogue and banter. So why is it such a drop then? Why is it considered poor? Simple. This is a game that does not believe in the world it has setup for over a decade. It does not believe in or engage properly with its own world and lore. I mean, look no further than the title "The Veilguard" a phrase that is never uttered by anyone in our group, and further proof it was a last minute marketing change. Compare to Inquisition where the title is apparent from the start in the game and has actual meaning.

You see, characters in DATV do not feel or react to events the way they should based on the lore. Why is no one constantly asking what the hell the Inquisitor is doing? The Inquisitor is kind of a BIG DEAL when it comes to Solas and Elven Gods, my Inquisitor drank from the WELL OF SORROWS! So why are we sitting around thinking at the start, "hmm lemme think who I can contact who might know more." The Herald of Andraste! They know more Rook, the guy that is technically your boss. The Inquisitor! Who else have you been working for this entire time? Who do you think told Varric to recruit you?!

But even removing the Inquisitor, the Elven Gods being real and also near synonymous with the old Tevinter Gods is kind of a BIG DEAL. It was only a theory fans crafted long ago that slowly revealed itself to be true. And it completely upends known religious dogma on all sides. Yet, why aren't people we meet going through a massive existential crisis? For instance, the Veil Jumpers we initially meet were presumably told off-screen about Fen'Harel, and are seemingly cool with this massive knowledge alone. But then we talk about those two other Gods being released and they're like, "well, shit those two aren't good." As if they have any clue if the fables about those Gods are real when we previously just upended everything they thought about the Dreadwolf! Why are you acting like this is another Tuesday?! Your entire religion is wrong. In that same conversation, Strife notes "Solas might be a bastard, but compared to the Evunaris? Let's just say they weren't know for being kind rulers."

My brother in Anduril, what are you talking about! Elven religion teaches that Elgar'nan was so beloved by the Earth that it "the land brought forth great birds and beasts of sky and forest, and all manner of wonderful green things." And that he fought the jealous Sun that tried to burn the land and all beasts away. Custom says that he and Mythal, "created the world as we know it" after defeating the Sun. He is literally described as one of the "good" Gods. WHY ARE YOU ASSUMING HE IS EVIL! It's like finding out Satan is real, but not as evil as have come to believe and then being told Jesus Christ is back and a devout Christian going, "well shit, that can't be good." WHAT?!

The same goes for Andraste and the Chant of Light, it took me 30 hours of playing before ONE character mentioned Andraste and the implications with the Chant and it was never brought up again. Our entire party is seemingly made up of unphased atheists. Now compare to something like Inquisition which explored this aspect HARD and was amazing for it. You'd get into great debates with religious figures and party members about the implications of Corypheus actually being a Tevinter Magister of old. And you'd talk about what it means towards the religious dogma preached and how much is true. And these intense political and religious discussions are present in every previous game, and not confined to a single conversation with one party member where it is seemingly resolved.

These conversations do not happen in DATV because there is no depth to the writing or engagement with the world. The Elven Gods are evil and need to be stopped. That's it. We don't need to think about the implications this has on Dalish customs and religion. Fuck it, all the Dalish are going to still wear their Vallaslin slave brand tattoos. Let's forget about Trespasser implying Solas was removing them from followers coming to join him. Let's even forget they were likely all told at this point that they are slave brands, nope still going to wear them yet speak blasphemy with every sentence against our Gods. No one cares about Andraste or The Maker or the Chant. Big deal if these Elven Gods contradict the overwhelming majority religion in Thedas. Not a single party member has religious or cultural objections to killing the Elven Gods; not a problem. Not one single elf wants to join Solas in tearing down The Veil and getting immortality again?

Again, let's forget about Trespasser setting up Solas gathering MANY Elven followers from Dalish clans who would be super inclined to join him after experiencing CENTURIES of discrimination and slavery by humans. The better question is what Elves wouldn't join Solas at the start? And what Elves wouldn't look at the other two Gods and go, "meh, maybe we should give them a try. They can't be worse than humans, right?" In DA2 you had elves joining The Qun to escape the discrimination of humans, but not ONE ELF wants to join Solas or Elgar'nan? Those Ancient Elves in the Temple of Mythal? I guess they all died, right?

This extends to EVERY single element of Dragon Age that previously had depth to it, it now has been completely removed. Those murdering Antivan Crows? Oh, they're just good Italian Mob Family that protect their city. Tevinter? Yes, it has poor people, but we're trying to do better. Oh, slavery? No, no we don't show that here. The Qun? The what now? No, they are all Antaam now, and so that means they are all generic evil warlords. No, they don't even attempt to follow their own hardcore view of The Qun like when Templars split from the Chantry, they're just warlords now that like plunder. Dwarves and their rigid Caste society? We don't do that here. Elves and racism across Thedas? Elves used to experience racism? News to me, what's a Shemlen? Never heard of that term, we like all humans. Pirates? That is insensitive, we are Lords of Fortune and we are sure to return any cultural artifacts found to their rightful owners; it belongs in a museum after all. The fucking Fade and spirits? Wait, you mean its different than generic fantasy spirit world? I'm sorry, that's too complicated here.

This either intentional disregard of the lore or plain ignorance also extends to environmental design. The asset reuse from Inquisition is particularly hilarious and must speak to the developers not having time after the switch from MP. Why are the same statues found in Val Royeaux in DAI also in Tevinter and Antiva? Why are those stupid Fen'Harel Wolf statues EVERYWHERE? Even in the catacombs of other Elven Gods! There are no statues of Elgar'nan or Ghilan'nain. Nothing for June or Anduril. Dirthamen. Falon'Din. Nothing. No, the only Gods that seem to get statues are coincidentally the ones who already had assets created for DAI or past titles that could be reused. Hmmm.

This continues into character designs too, why do the Veiljumpers and Shadow Dragons all dress richly? They are supposed to be poor as fuck. There's a codex entry about Veiljumpers finding a lost cache of old ancient elven armor and weapons and so boom they all get to dress like High Elven Lords and not the dirty, poor, wandering Dalish clans they are supposed to come from. Why do this? There isn't even an attempt to explaining why the Shadow Dragons, an organization supposed to be secretive, has branded clothing in bright rich colors and fabrics for all members. Naturally, it must be incredibly difficult for Tevinter authorities to not identify them.

This lack of depth and verisimilitude, naturally, affects all the characters. Because in this game you cannot roleplay and you cannot ask questions. In Dragon Age Inquisition, once you started the game, you could immediately interrogate Varric about what happened to every DA2 character despite the Inquisitor never meeting them, you know because it respects its players. You could speak to shop keepers, blacksmiths, your horse master. You could interrogate every single person to learn more about them and the world. The same goes for your player character in DA2 and Origins. You show in Denermin and find yourself knee deep in a quest to help Wade the Blacksmith craft the perfect armor. Here you can't actually speak to a single shopkeeper to ask questions and get some lore bits. You can't ask party members questions about their background, religious beliefs, upbringing, their factions, etc. You can't ask any returning characters any questions either about what they've been doing. Enter a brand new area? Great, you're not asking anyone questions about this never before seen place.

How does a lost Dwarven thaig survive every single blight? How are their immortal lichs in Neverra? How long has that been a thing? Why haven't they told anyone about the Elven gods or any other knowledge they've accumulated in an immortal lifespan? If immortality is so "easy" why can't Solas just do that to restore the Elves? Why are the Venatori, Tevinter Supremacists, following Elven Gods? Wouldn't that be a major identity crisis? Why would Antaam, who still preach the Qun, follow an Elven God that speaks blasphemy with ever breadth? Sshhhh, no questions. You get what is directly told to you and that's it, no follow-up questions.

Party members do not conflict with each other or interrogate each other's beliefs which is why their banter feels inconsequential and meaningless. Lucanis is a assassin, he kills people for money. The same organization that marked Zevran for death for failing a contract. The same one that took him as a kid and trained him to murder, often brutally, for coin. And yet no one really seems to care. He's just a nice Italian assassin from a nice assassin organization. Who cares. Let's instead talk about cooking, at length. Harding, a devout follower of Andraste, has no qualms with Elven Gods wreaking havoc on known religion. We get one conversation you can tell her to believe what she wants, and that's the end of that debate. Bellara also gets about two whole conversations about the conflict concerning her Gods wreaking havoc, both easily resolved. We don't need to think about any larger implications or doubt her loyalty when the Elven pantheon are seeking to restore her people that have been discriminated against since forever. Emmerich, a necromancer of Neverra, apparently has no religious belief. A codex entry even states that those of the Mourn Watch don't know where the soul goes after death. They don't like to think about it. Buddy, Mortalitasi belief is literally that our souls return to the Void alongside The Maker, but to keep balance a exchange must be wrought with The Fade to allow a spirit to house the now empty vessel. How do you not know the religion and customs of your own faction and land? This man has a whole quest line about funerary rights, yet not ONCE mentions religion and what he believes happens after death?! Sshhhh, no questions. No thinking.

Hey, remember The Fade? Remember how mages go to dream there every night. Remember how The Black City is always visible there? No? Well, we don't either. You won't see The Black City in The Fade. You might see it in The Crossroads in a closed off section, even though it is NOT The Fade. Oh, we're going to have you physically enter The Fade in multiple quest lines and no one will think it's a big deal. No, you still can't see The Black City. Now, The Fade is reduced to nothing more than your generic fantasy spirit world. It has none of the previous rules and lore that bound it before. Demons can bind to non-mages and we won't attempt to explain it. Solas fucks with The Veil and not a single mage notices a change in their dreams when they sleep at night. No biggie.

Lastly, let's return at last to the actual minutiae of writing. I stated at the start the writing isn't bad because of Marvel quippiness, which the series has always had. I was partly lying. Yes, the series has always had anachronistic dialogue. It has had meme language in its own previous titles. But, it was just that, a small joke here and there. For the most part the series actually tried to use it's own sort of "older" speech patterns. I think a perfect example has to do with Taash, she eventually finds her own identity and declares she is proudly "non-binary." Literally stating, "so, I'm non-binary." I have no issue with this sort of inclusivity in Dragon Age, it's what the series is known for. Yet, why does that sound wrong? Simple, it's far too anachronistic. It doesn't belong in Dragon Age. In Inquisition, Dorian let's us know he's gay. But he doesn't say, "I'm gay!" or "I'm a homosexual" those terms would not exist in his world. Instead he says, "I prefer the company of men."

And it's these little subtle changes in writing that makes it feel all the more different. We went from "I once ventured in to The Fade to serve the Old Gods of Tevinter in person. I found there only chaos and corruption. Dead whispers. Now I shall return under no name but my own, to champion withered Tevinter and correct this blighted world gone wrong. Pray that I succeed, for I have seen the throne of the Gods. And it was empty."

To: "Well, shit. That can't be good."

So, what do we have when all is said and done? Well, we have a decent generic fantasy action game. An intentional attempt by the developers to remove every edge from the world of Dragon Age in place of a very simple, easy to understand world with not much depth beyond what you see. You don't need to think, just play and have fun. This is beyond turning a MP game into a SP game, which so blatantly obvious in this game. DA2 was developed in 16 months, but is carried strong by its writing. You see, nothing prevented them from just acknowledging their own world they created. It costs very little to write around what already exists. Even if you can't make no assets or redesign the world. Writing is cheap and having characters voice these elements is not as costly as a redesign. No, they chose to remove the edge in every element because this was design intentionally for the masses with easy to understand world and zero depth.

But I wanted to play Dragon Age. I wanted to get into intense religious debates with party members as known lore is completely upended. I wanted to debate Elvish clans deciding to join Solas or the other Gods due to their treatment by human society. I wanted to debate the ethics of necromancy with the Mortalitasi of Neverra's Crypts. I wanted to engage in intense debating with Solas on the ethics of his goal. I wanted to see Tevinter react to a real push for anti-slavery and actually see the slavery in the slave capital of the world. I wanted to butt heads with the Antivan Crows and call them out for the murderers they are. I wanted to see the Black Divine and debate the Chant of Light with them. I wanted to speak to the Archon of Tevinter and see how he felt about the Venatori's past efforts in Inquisition. Hey, what happened to Meredith Reborn in Kirkwall and her idol and Red Templar worshipers? Forget about it.

We got none of this. I got a game that is pretty much disrespectful of its own world. I waited 10 years for this? Why even bother if this is the result? They may as well have just killed every previous character we ever knew, including Solas, offscreen and started anew with this game. Because as a Dragon Age game and sequel, it's terrible and no returning character is how they should be.

And when we get to the ending, that's pretty much what they did. Everything you did in all the past games? Well, that was pointless. Everyone is probably dead. King Alistair. Gaspard. Celene. King Bhelen. The Arl of Redcliffe. The Divine. The Circle of Magi. The Templars. The Seekers. Everything, everyone, and every organization that existed in the South is likely dead and destroyed. And now Dragon Age can become what they wanted, a generic fantasy IP.

But I just wanted to play Dragon Age.

[josiwonderland]

[DATV spoilers] That’s the end of my Veilguard adventure 🗡️ Loved being back with Varric (for the little time 😢). The cast was great, new places were fun, and the DAI cameos?? HELLO DORIAN <3 (wish we saw more tbh).

I thought Morri et Lucanis were sooo badass here <3

So yeah, that’s it. Time to move on to another game to recover emotionally. Life is Strange is perfect for that :))))

Reshade / Otis camera tool / Lightroom

Full review

[3gremlins]

okay so i definitely have Notes about the game in general (i'm def enjoying it but still have notes/critique) but i would just like to say how touched/seen i feel as a non binary person to be SO included in DA:TV's narrative so far (i am not close to done i dont think) [very minor vague spoilers about cc, non binary inclusion in the narrative, etc under cut. just in case you're on pure spoiler blackout really]

like at best i was hoping for my rook's body/voice not to be tied to any gender/genitalia configuration and to MAYBE get to use they/them pronouns and have it set to non binary instead of m/f but like the devs gave US SO MUCH MORE?!? there's special prompts for non binary/trans rooks, it's included (and sometimes integral) in companion conversations/arcs (some of which totally voiced things i've gone through myself, like i legit cried a bit), there's random trans & nonbinary background npcs running around, it's for the most part really great*. Not to mention the wonderful performances by the rook voice actors who are also a diverse group of people (including some non binary/genderqueer folk)

*i did hit one nasty bug that stripped my rook of their body and hair and gave them a default femme one and it was such a dysphoric hit, prob given the inclusiveness of the rest of the game like i know it was a bug but it felt so BAD (their body features were right in the menus but wrong in game, i fixed it by going back into the cc menu and refinalizing my rook's look. i think it might? have been tied to the one faux hawk hairstyle since it happened twice so i switched to a different one just in case). i did lose a little bit of game time b/c i didn't want to chance getting stuck/losing my rook's appearance. after that, the infinite drowning bug doesn't seem nearly so bad lol

[generalgoldfishldrm]

Lucanis x gn! Grey warden!reader

*mild spoilers for the ending of DATV. I haven't personally finished the game and I'm sorry but I'm not spoiling the ending for myself (Do not spoil it for me.) just to write out my need for angst. What little I do know is because of TikTok not censoring spoilers. So enjoy this mix of my own interpretation of the ending.*

Also this was inspired by the song “repeat until Death” by Novo Amor. And no I haven't reviewed/proofread my writing. Its 01:00. We die like men and accept criticism later.

Lucanis couldn't believe it. Didn't want to believe it. Between the restricted view though Spite's fingers Lucanis could only fight off the stinging feeling in his eyes as despair washed over him like a tidal wave.

Spite, almost as if he felt the shift in the fade, had leapt to cover Lucanis's eyes almost in an attempt to save him from the sight in front of him that remained just out of his reach. Both knowing they were too far to reach Rook in time to stop the scene unfolding.

Rook. The person who had guided their band of eclectic personalities through countless fights and had now defeated two eleven gods; was disappearing in front of him. The person who had reached into the darkest parts of the Ossuary was now being dragged into a place even Spite couldn't fully understand but knew was untouchable.

Rook who had previously stood alone facing Solas, bleeding and exhausted, was viscously dragging the squirming fallen god Solas with them into the bright green tear in the veil. All with Solas snarling protests at having been outsmarted by the previously disgraced Grey warden while rapidly disappearing from view along with Rook into the Fade. Rook, feeling his gaze, threw one last terrified glance at Lucanis; watching helplessly below, before vanishing entirely.

Then in an almost indignant flash of green light both Solas and Rook were gone leaving only silence in their wake. Lucanis, who had finally escaped the protective grasp of Spite, could only scramble to where Rook had last been standing. He rapidly began looking around the area, mentally screaming at Spite to look for weak spots in the fade, while desperately feeling around the area himself for any hidden paths so they could chase after the lost pair.

The voices of the other party members who were calling for him and trying to ask about Rook were all muffled noises in the background as he continued his frantic searching. He could feel himself getting worked up like his entire world was crashing around him. Everything was tight and he could barely breathe much less listen to Spite screaming in frustration around him while echoing his own thoughts on the situation.

Yet it was in this echo chamber of panic, fear, shame and guilt that he found a small piece of Rook's gear on the ground. The small shiny glint gives him a false sense of hope of finding Rook simply hidden behind a fallen rock. However the small metal pendant of the Grey Warden's Griffin engraved with a crow tangled together offered him no release.

It had a small spattering of blood on the design and the chain lay broken on the ground without any sign of Rook nearby. The previous flicker of Hope was rapidly extinguished as quickly as it had come.

With the world closing in around his shoulders and reality began setting in; Lucanis could only collapse to his knees as he hyperventilated. He just kept repeating to himself how he hadn't even told Rook that he loved them. How much they meant to him. How he hadn't allowed Rook to say either.

Now gasping and clutching his chest with one hand while the other wrapped itself around the pendant left on the ground. The piece of metal; having rapidly cooled after losing its signature place around Rook's neck, was just a cruel reminder that in this moment he was alone. Again.

It was this realization that sent Lucanis curling around the pendant while crashing against the ground. The dull throb of hitting his head as he fell into his new position was nothing compared to the burning in his throat as he screeched for Rook as he sobbed. Lucanis's chest heaving with every racking sob that Spite now mirrored while curling protectively around him.

It was here that the two lost themselves in their newfound emptiness. The world around them drained of its color and warmth as if without their Rook: none of it could exist. They had lost them. They had lost Rook.

While in his curled position, clutching to Rook's pendant like a lifeline, Lucanis couldn't breathe anymore and slipped into his own darkness as the other companions finally caught up. His last glimpse of his surroundings was their worried faces as the world went dark around him.

------

He doesn't know how much time had passed since he was last conscious. Part of him doesn't care. The only thing his body has the energy to do is sit slumped in his bed staring at the coffee someone had left on the table.

Even Spite couldn't bring himself to try any crazy stunts or drag the two out from the pantry in the lighthouse they called home. It was all He had in them just to keep his spiritual feathers cocooned around their figure.

It felt like if they stayed there, curled in the silence, that Rook would just saunter through their door like they used to. They would have a fresh cup of coffee for Lucanis and a joke on their lips about how silly the pair looked before they weaseled their way into his bed for an afternoon nap.

But that never came.

Even as Days turned into Weeks and weeks passed in a blur. The other companions would attempt to get Lucanis to move or eat between the blurry haze that had taken over his life since losing Rook. But it wasn't until Viago and Theia visited his chambers after his appearance had grown haggard did time slowly start settling into its proper pace.

Viago and Theia slowly coaxed Lucanis away from his room and back into civilization. Back to his family and the crows who waited for his return. It took time and several deliberate steps but they eventually got him to a relatively functional place again.

There were still days where he couldn't bring himself to get out of bed but it was through Spite's encouragement to continue to hunt for clues and ways to reach Rook that he would eventually force himself into action.

Which is where Lucanis and Spite preferred to stay. Active. Distracted. Like if they threw themselves into whatever new contract or lost themselves in the endless expanses of the crossroads looking for Rook that they could expedite their return to normalcy. Like they hadn't lost a part of themselves.

However, it wasnt until the very beginning of winter as the first snowflakes began to fall in scattered patterns that something changed. While Lucanis and Spite were standing on the frozen lighthouse steps after having finished their latest contract, soaking in the chill. They didn't even realize it could snow at the lighthouse but continued to gaze across the space absentmindedly.

Then, quietly behind them they heard a sound. A small staggering step behind them that felt more like a whisper on the wind than reality. Like an echoing reminder of their Rook. Passing it off initially as the Fade in the Area playing tricks or attempting to comfort the bound pair with memory remnants of the past like it had done in the past.

It was only when a familiar breath hitched behind them did Lucanis and Spite stiffen with realization. Slowly turning from the darkened skies and falling snow; Lucanis saw them. Rook. Weakened and a little thinner than they remember. They stood with tears in their eyes while hungrily raking in the form in front of them.

Lucanis, still frozen by the sight, scanned his eyes over every inch of Rook. Looking at every new scar and the strangely ragged clothing that hung loosely from every inch of Rook's form. He couldn't help second guess himself. Glancing at Spite to see if he was seeing this too. To confirm if they were just as affected by this moment or ultimately experiencing one of the Fade's conjured memories again. To see if this was just a mirage of the familiar but strange form in front of them from an earlier time after a previous battle.

However, Spite couldn't barely bring himself to glance back at him as he had the same starstruck look that Lucanis suspected was mirrored on his own face. It was only then could bring himself to look back. He wants to step forward but he's too scared any movement would make this vision disappear like every one before. Spite, sharing this sentiment, calming but quite says “this one. Is. Different.”

The moment was then broken when the figure of Rook took a shaky breath and whispers an uncertain “Lucanis?”

“Rook!?! ROOK?” Both Spite and Lucanis respond as they jolt forward with any precaution and speculation thrown to the wind. Spite and Lucanis all but flying across the space that was once in between the pair tackling Rook into a tight hold. Lucanis's eyes fly across Rook's form looking for any new scrapes, wounds, or scars while desperately trying to hold back the tears that stung at his eyes.

Merde he just wanted to soak you in but also never let you go in fear that if he stops touching you that he'd lose you again mere seconds after getting you back. Spite is similarly crowding your form doing his own inspections but excitedly crowing “It's Rook. Our. Rook. Rook is Home!.”

Neither cared in the moment why or how you were standing before them after being gone for so long. They just care that you're Home. And more importantly, in their arms. So excited in fact that Lucanis's can't help but look at you with his impossibly expressive brown eyes and blurts out: “I love you.”

He immediately continues to ramble “God, I love you. I can't breathe without you. I can't seem to not need to need you. I should have said it before - should have let you say it but I j-”

You cut him off by kissing him. Pulling him closer while holding onto his cheeks and lightly threading your fingers through his beard as you do everything to be as close to him as possible. He immediately reciprocates and wraps his arms around you pulling you close to him.

Its overwhelming and entirely not enough at the same time. Lucanis is still consumed with you, your presence, and the swirling storm of emotions that rage inside his thoughts but is brought back as you begin to pull back. Its only to take a second to try to catch your breath but neither Spite or Lucanis felt like they could breathe without you for those few seconds.

They whine at your brief absence which is rewarded with several quick but soft kisses from you. You can't help but push back slightly to better drink in the appearance of the man before you. The circles under his eyes are darker than ever. He seems aged but tired. Like the weeks apart had aged him beyond the year of torture at the hands of the venatori.

There was also the hesitation, a flash of hurt that you pulled back, and concern as you paused to examine him. Lucanis, trying to hide behind the situation whispers: “I bet it don't show, but I can't seem to let myself leave you.” To which you chuckle and respond “Love you're a part of me now, and while I wasn't able to say it before; I love you too Lucanis Dellamorte”