#datvg thoughts

[skelebellie]

i dont know why i dont see people talking about this more often, but the mournwatch is definitely going to play more of a role in a future dragon age game (if we ever get that. i pray for EA to release their greasy hands off of bioware). funeral rites and death practices exist at pretty much the beginning of any mortal civilization (60,000 BC). it comes from a sense of internal empathy humanity has for their deceased. more than once in veilguard does emmrich/vorgoth refrence that the mourn watch has been keeping secrets for a very, very long time. given the necropolis “jumbly” nature, its likely things have been lost for centuries or decades at the minimum (as noted by one scroll near the gardens entrance about one hall appearing for the first time in a long time.)

also, nevarran/mourn watch architecture and motifs are seen in almost every part of the cross roads (most particularly in the first island where all the spirits congregate). there is a lot of spirit work (morrigan transposition), rook quite litterally being in the place of a spirit during solas’ memories, and the biblically accurate dragon locked in the necropolis basement that makes for a lot of questions.

and vorgoth??? we dont even know who the homie is. practically everyone is accounted for origin wise. but vorgoth just exists? i know their are theories that he may be part of the executioners from the post credit scene. where did this man come from??? he’s not a lich? did he just say “fuck it, executioners im retiring and making a commune in north thedas”

overall, its intresting to think what might actually connect between “over the sea” (presumably par vollen) and what we’ve been shown of thedas. the only things that I can think that would connect the two is the fade, spirits, and dying. bc it would be COMMICAL to see bioware/ea geolock the fade. it also explains why they would just be getting involved when solas starts bugging with the veil and fade. what do they have in par vollen, “the fade 2”?

anyways, im cooking. it might be burning, but its still cooking.

[jb-nonsense]

Things we know for sure about time in VG

Neve/Lucanis are gone for an extended amount of time to assist their city. I'd wager a month or so.

there was an eclipse a month away before going to Tearstone Island

It seems total solar eclipses tend to happen either between end of November to beginning of January or end of May to beginning of July. Which would put it at end of Harvestmere to beginning of Wintermarch or end of Bloomingtide to beginning of Solace in Thedas.

Rook was in the Regret Prison for weeks (unspecified amount, but this is also a bit shaky due to a dialogue with Neve about Bellara, but also weeks seems to make since with Elgar'nan's situation)

Majority of the game occurs before Tearstone Island.

The writers can't seem agree on if it started in 9:51, 9:52, or 9:54.

It takes about an hour to walk 3 miles, consider the amount of trekking done, probably did have to camp or something sometimes so some excursions may have been a few days to a week.

Taking design cues is harder, since Northern Thedas is closer to their equator (Thedas is a southern hemisphere continent for those unaware (please don't ask me why their months line up with our Northern hemisphere stuff pls I beg)), but we'll look at the design for Arlathan forest. For artistic reasons, they put it in an autumn look and with game design for this sort of game, changing for the season isn't ideal, so we can maybe infer then that the game starts at the end of summer to the beginning of fall.

Now that we have established that point, we can look back at the eclipse information and infer from what we know there. If one were to complete all the other missions before going to Tearstone island, that's a solid chunk of time to spend doing them, calculating for travel time when arriving in a location and ignoring in the quick travel function built for gamers and only using the Eluvians as a fast form of travel.

That would put the start time too close to an end of the year/beginning of the year eclipse due to there being a month before an Eclipse being stated. That means it would've been a mid year eclipse, not a end/beginning year eclipse. so that means roughly nine months has passed by the time of the Tearstone Island mission.

Emmrich states there's only a few hours until the dagger is created, so the team goes to the island, deals with that within a day due to Elgar'nan just finishing the dagger when Ghilan'nain is killed, and then...

Rook is in the Regret Prison for a few weeks. Is it two weeks? Three? A month?? It's vague. But, if we consider Elgar'nan and how much of a foothold he has and how blighted he is, the amount of support Solas has in Minrathous, along with how far the Blight has spread there, I'm going to lean towards closer to a month.

So we're now standing around around ten-twelve months for the timeline of VG, depending on the time it takes for the missions prior to Tearstone Island.

[medowlarken]

MAJOR DAtVG/Dragon Age lore spoilers under the cut, relating to a certain egg's past memories. i know i said im staying off tumblr but i need to scream about this

AAAGGGHHH I KNEW ELVES WERE ORIGINALLY FADE SPIRITS WHO TOOK ON PHYSICAL FORM!!!! i fucking called it dude im so hyped about this you dont understand, after years of speculation and it being called a crack theory the validation alone was worth the game's price tag

it makes SO much sense too. like why elves cant breed with other races?? because they dont have the same biology!!! why lyrium, the literal blood of the titans, is so closely connected with post-veil magic??? bc the og magic users used it to make their physical forms!!!

like obvs solas and the other gods are super far removed from modern elves. modern elves are just as 'biological' as other races at this point, hence why he's always going on about them not being 'his people' (kind of. when it suits him). but MAN, is it satisfying to have the theory i've held on for literal years be made canon. now all i need to for harding to supply some tasty dwarf lore and ill be eating GOOD by the time i finish this game

not to mention the confirmation that andrastianism is incorrect, too. tho, seeing as the literal elven gods are running around blighting ppl, i think the chant being wrong in places is the chantry getting off lightly. the maker is also probably still a thing but not in the way they describe. bioware PLEASE have the balls to flip the entire religious culture of thedas on its head when this is over i am begging u

also: spirit!solas looked like a face hugger lol

[josefine-montilbae]

What the fuck do you mean the Inquisitior and Josephine aren't already married???

[joleneghoul]

im going to admit that before playing datvg i thought multiple companions were trans in various ways (idk why) and i was really confused why transphobes were only mad abt Taash

[greywardensblight]

I'm currently working my way through the dragon age novels now years and years after sitting on them (mainly to get to Tevinter Nights before datvg drops) and I'm curious! Which ones did you read, which ones did you enjoy? Which ones were, well... not so good?

I've got my own thoughts so far, but I'm curious to see what other people thought about them!!

[dragonsandgayppl]

Ok i caved and got veilguard and will be tagging my thoughts with. something. probably just datv spoilers?? or the void is playing datvg, since thats how i did bg3 (shortlived)

[mass-effect-galaxy]

Thank you for your efforts.

My personal thoughts: Reading this, DATVG will be the highlight of the franchise and most likely one of the best games BioWare has ever made.

However, what was shown so far didn't even come close to that: we have okay-ish graphics, probably too cartoonish for a dark fantasy game.

We have seen some questionable decisions regarding location designs (neon signs, loudspeakers, spotlights) in what is supposed to be some kind of late medieval/renaissance setting.

The gameplay shown was from the tutorial mission, so nothing can be said about that. What we did see was some very simple and boring hack-and-slash gameplay with no depth whatsoever.

The writing wasn't good either. The lines exchanged sounded like some sort of "best of" from Mass Effect and Dragon Age. It got really cringe towards the end when Varric tried to talk down an elven god on the brink of destroying the world with "Hey Chuckles!". Please compare that to the confrontation at the end of the Trespasser DLC. Not to mention that the end of the world was prevented by knocking over a piece of wood.

Even the voice acting sounded somewhat uninspired compared to the stakes in those scenes. Given that with Brian Bloom and Ali Hillis we were hearing two veteran VAs, it most likely was intended to sound that casual. Why?

And again, BioWare chose to show us this material. Why?

Let's hope, the final game is what they have described here and not what they have shown so far.

All my notes from the Q+A, organized by topic

Going as in depth here as my notes allow, was doing this at work so I may have missed some things. This will be long. but here’s the gist of it below 👇

Companions

Switch from 4 person squad to 3 person squad

For the sake of combat gameplay, 3 seemed to be the right fit

Was described as more “immersive” and “intimate”

The team wanted to “spotlight” these characters and give them more presence

Romances and relationships

All seven companions will be romanceable by any Rook

All are pansexual, none are asexual

Companions will romance each other if Rook doesn’t

Confirmed Harding/Taash as a possible companion romance

Companions may “temporarily leave” based on Rook’s decisions but will still “always fight for Thedas” as “this is the greatest threat we’ve seen”

Heavily teased permadeath

When asked abt the possibility of a Manfred romance: “not THAT skeleton, but not NO skeletons”

Misc Companion/Npc info

Inky will be coming back, as confirmed before

Devs excited for the “authenticity” of our new companions, and the fact that they “feel like dear friends”

Companions’ looks will be somewhat customizable, like in DA2 where their fit could change depending on story beats, but with a wider range of choices

These will be the “deepest companion arcs we’ve ever done”

Combat

Mechanics

The combat will be “quite tactical” with more opportunities for strategy in higher difficulty settings

A “robust difficulty system”

Tactical mode will not be overhead, but will be a targeting system as shown in the demo

Tactical mode will be used in and out of combat

Emphasis on synergies and combos

Companions will be controlled via issuing “commands”

Rook’s death/downed status will cause a save to reload unless one of your companions has learned the revive spell

Healing magic is coming back

Class specifics

Some specializations for mages were mentioned including Necromancy, “Combat Mage” which promised more close quarters fighting, and “something more elemental”

Dual wielding is coming back but is once again for rogues only, not warriors

Warriors will have a choice of ‘sword and board’ or two-handed

Cone of Cold and Fireball are getting revamped versions, namely Frost Nova and Meteor

Character creation

Appearance

Everyone who spoke about the character creator was very excited to mention how robust it is

Extra attention paid to hair styles and physics

“Magnificent” dwarf beards

More tattoo variations for different cultures

Body sliders and a wide range of skin tones

The character creator will be shown off in more depth in the future before launch (👀)

Roleplaying and story

Rook will be from one of six factions, that will combine with a "lineage" to provide context for our character

There will be no playable origins, but we will be given opportunities to define the character through play

This includes defining emotional reactions to the mentioned events of Rook's background and lineage

Rook can be nonbinary, with He/She/They pronoun options

Crafting will, while revamped, make a return. You will be able to "improve and customize" your character's look

Somehow, they were not able to reveal more about crafting because it gets into spoiler territory ("a mysterious entity helps you")

The Keep will not be coming back, instead you will be able to define your choices from previous games through the character creator in a "Last time on Dragon Age" type of recap

Gameplay

Locations

The game begins in Minrathous, as confirmed by the gameplay teaser, but doesn't stay there

Rook will be visiting plenty of new locations previously unseen in gameplay such as Arlathan forest (where there will apparently be many "fade touched" enemies)

Kal Sharok was mentioned, with no confirmation that we would actively go there in-game, but they promised to "show what they can" of this location

We will have a hub (like skyhold/haven) called The Lighthouse

While war table missions won't be making a comeback, the lighthouse will have it's own gameplay functions

Locations will change based on player actions

More brand new locations will be "drip-fed" to us in references, like Tevinter was in dao

No more mounts, as locations are trimmed down and more linear we will not need them

Dialogue

Tone/Emotion/Choice wheels are coming back

Emphasis on making clear what Rook will be saying/choosing (hopefully no more mishaps a la "glass him")

Wanted "choices to be explicitly clear, consequences less so"

Dev notes

What everyone on the team is excited for

Character creator got huge shoutout

Companions were also hyped (story arcs feel deep and authentic, characters react to you in a meaningful way)

Art team received a big shoutout as well, with this being their "best attempt yet" at visual storytelling (not just codex entries and conversations)

Veilguard is meant to combine "familiarity and novelty" with the team saying it should feel like coming home to longtime fans, and also be something fresh for new players

Team Promises

A focus on delivering a complete single-player experience (no microtransactions, no subscription, no live service)

More VA information and teasers in the future pre-launch

More information on pre-orders soon

Side quests will be "handcrafted" and "support the narrative" ie no more collecting shards, no more getting locations locked behind power mechanics

Accessibility features were glossed over, but there was some talk of saving this info for launch (???)

Random bits

We will have many opportunities to hug and pet Assan the griffon

Elves went bald after living a millennium, this is why solas is an egg

The inquisitor will be heavily tied to solas' story and will appear in the flesh

The decision of who was left behind in the fade will not be important to Veilguard, but was heavily implied to be relevant in the future (not in this game but...)