#im going to go back to BG3 and make yet another Tav

[griffinsanddragons]

In hindsight, I was too hard on Inquisition....

(Incoming: Verified Hater Post RE: Veilgu@rd)

Inquisition was playable at least once. (I played it twice.) Veilgu@rd, however... isn't fun for me at all. There is very little that appeals to me, and I'm not particularly motivated to finish.

I hear it gets good in ACT 3 (that its great, in fact), but - as someone who believes games should be fun - that's unacceptable. I refuse to endure hours upon hours of a virtual slog fest just for it to 'get good' 60 at the end. That's ridiculous.

Even the early game felt like work, like I was just getting through quests to grab the next companion or get to the 'good part.' It's a game - every part should be 'the good part.'

There should be a narrative hook that drives me forward and makes me *want* to finish the quests, even if the location isn't my favorite or the current focus isn't on the main plot. Everything just feels so repetitive and leaves me with so many questions about the world. Are normal people just ziplining in Treviso? Environments should tell a story and the only thing I'm getting is that Northern Thedas is wild about Ziplines.

It's no secret that my favorite game in the franchise is DA2. Perhaps it's hypocritical to have such heavy criticism about things feeling 'repetitive,' but I don't require innovative gameplay or master level quest design to enjoy something - all I want is a good story. DA2 gives me that. I can play the same Hawke and make the same choices over and over and still have fun. In origins, I want to explore all the different choices. Even inquisition gave me the story of how my Inquisitior takes to leadership roles and how the power their have impacts others..!

But i's very clear this game has a target audience that I don't fit into: I love the lore of Thedas, I value my world state, love companion interaction, and feel no sympathy toward Sol@s...

I knew from the start this may not be the game for me, but I still did everything I could to maximize my enjoyment:

I designed a Rook as a doppelganger of my Hawke because I thought it would be cute and would add extra flavor to interactions with Varric, planned to romance Lucanis for the Anders parallel (also a Zevran parallel for my Warden) picked the warrior class...but I feel like I was given an empty bucket and no amount of excessive headcanons can fix this lol

I feel like there's nothing here for me in Veilgu@rd:

The best thing about the game is the combat and Neve's character design.

The gameplay progression, the level design, the dialog, Rook... it's not giving the 'return to form' I was promised.

Like, at some point in the early game were Rook says something about Templars, and Neve says, 'This isn't the south.' But my girl is from Antiva. This dialog makes sense for a player new to the game, not a character who lives in this world. It's the small stuff.

And like, a first I thought, it was me that maybe I wasn't in the video game mood. But then I played the Sims and Baldurs Gate 3 this weekend, and I had a blast.

It's a shame. I wasted 60 dollars I could have spent on a seafood boil, but alas. Maybe I'll slog through it little by little so I can see this 'amazing fantastic super special awesome' ending one day.

I hope ME5 is an actual 'return to form' for Bioware because this was a mess.

[thedomesticanthropologist]

Does anyone else over analyze the companions not just by their romance, but by what a life with them would really look like?

Not in context of the game, but just putting yourself in the fantasy of what a life with them would be.

Karlach for example, during the love test. If you say something like "ah she would love window shopping in the city" she gags. Shes a barbarian. She loves what she does. If you were her partner, even after the events of BG3 this woman would not be the settle down and go domestic type, nor should she be. (For the sake of this, I'm ignoring Avernus and Epiolgues it's just a fun character thing, so like assume her engine isn't a problem otherwise the only option is to fight in hell anyway)

But GALE! this man is already planning the wedding, he is housewife coded, he is cooking and cleaning and dreaming of dates with you out in the city. Surely he is also up for adventure, he says in Act 3 he has a taste for it now, and I think he'd honestly "make a home" out of *being with you* whether that is on the road cooking at camp or in his tower at Waterdeep. He's flexible.

Astarion (spawn) wants HIS freedom. Anyone who chooses Asty as a partner has to be willing to let him take the lead, and I firmly believe this. He's free for the first time, and now he's also free from all but the vampirism. It's hinted that pursuing a cure is likely his next step if Tav is with him, or that he'd follow on Tav's next adventure, (and like karlach im setting that hiccup aside for more personality based life choices instead of insurmountable hiccups) but I can see him eventually wanting to make choices like staying in fancy places, being in the upper cities, indulging. Insisting on stopping at the good taverns before going on adventures where "THIS TIME JUST FOR US, TAV. NOT SAVING THE WORLD FOR A GODS DAMN MINUTE" that's the vibe I get anyway

Wyll wants you by his side as Duke, so that could look like you settling into a life of nobility. Dances and functions, politics, schedules, meetings, large house. However he also could follow Karlach to Avernus, and he's always up for saving the world, so I feel like you guys COULD ditch at any moment to go do a Thing

Laezel... I don't know. I can't see her staying on Faerun. I think you'd have to follow her on her journey this time, and not the other way around. I haven't done her romance yet

Haven't done shadowhearts yet so I'll need ya'll to fill me in on your thoughts there too!

Halsin: nature. He can't do cities. If you are with him, visits to the city would be short together or you guys would spend time apart and then meet up later. He would be super chill with that. In fact, I feel like he'd support anything you choose to do and anywhere you choose to go and he'd just be thrilled to see you when you came back. He would not, however, change who or what he is to make himself fit into a life that doesn't suit him. He is too old for that stuff, he's got healthy boundaries, he knows what he likes and he's not ashamed to persue it. He is also polyamorous and if his heart stirs for another as it stirs for you which may or may not happen Tav would have to be prepared to recognize that polyamory goes both ways, but also he's a great communicator and would talk to you about it first and get your consent.