Dragon Age: The Veilguard - A woke disaster? Yep!

[wtfNeedSignUp]

Anyways, I’m probably in the minority here but DA2 is a fine(and replayable) game. Compared to say Origins, where I just wanted it to end by the time I was at the end. (I have a lot less patience than regular gamers I guess).

I hated 3 but found 2 to be fine. I liked the idea of "no golden path" that pretty much every other games like to make, where you have a morally grey conflict but not really since as long as you're doing enough side quests the conflicts resolve without anyone important dying. In 2 bad shit happens and the game tells you to choose what flavour you want it in.

 

[Mega Black]

In 2 bad shit happens and the game tells you to choose what flavour you want it in.

I think 2's problem in this regard is that your choices impact almost nothing of import. You can side with the templars or mages but both sides still go batshit insane no matter what and you fight all the same bosses and get almost the exact same ending.

I like that 2 has an emphasis on telling a small scale more personal story, however. The world isn't really ending at any point, you don't have to close the gates of hell to stop the entire planet from being eaten, there are no faggot elf gods with Q-ball heads trying to unmake reality. You are just a dude trying to make something of himself from nothing, and how you go about it has ripple effects on the place you are trying to make your home and the people around you.

It's just a shame the gameplay is so shit and it got Mass Effect-ed. If the game had more character customization and overall better content and diverging paths the game could have been very special.

 

[wtfNeedSignUp]

I think 2's problem in this regard is that your choices impact almost nothing of import. You can side with the templars or mages but both sides still go batshit insane no matter what and you fight all the same bosses and get almost the exact same ending.

I like that 2 has an emphasis on telling a small scale more personal story, however. The world isn't really ending at any point, you don't have to close the gates of hell to stop the entire planet from being eaten, there are no faggot elf gods with Q-ball heads trying to unmake reality. You are just a dude trying to make something of himself from nothing, and how you go about it has ripple effects on the place you are trying to make your home and the people around you.

It's just a shame the gameplay is so shit and it got Mass Effect-ed. If the game had more character customization and overall better content and diverging paths the game could have been very special.

The big mistake of Bioware in that era is not having modular game design like Larian did in BG3. This massively fucked over what they could do from a design standpoint since every new enemy has to be built from scratch. Combined with insistence on cutscenes and the result is that actually deviating from the plot is not possible with their tine and budget (especially as they want a canon story).
The only game that succeeded in what Bioware tried to do was The Witcher due to it keeping a single narrative.

 

[Ishtar]

So what are everyone's thoughts on the big bald elf?

Solas has a big(and female) fanbase. I don't dislike the character, but I find him...underwhelming? Would be the best word.

For a character that has the sort of mythic grandeur and tragedy Solas is supposed to have-the game just doesn't sell me on it, maybe its the voice acting? The direction I don't know.

 

[Miriam Margoyles]

I always hated Anders, from the first time I met him. His literal first line is a fucking fourth wall breaking reference to The Simpsons.

I could just picture that horrible, smug little gnome, David Gaider, smugly chuckling at his own joke for ages as he wrote that line into the script.

 

[DagothUr]

not the main quest stuff, but the road ambushes and Denerim back alleys? I don’t recall them being particularly distinct

Those are reused quite a bit, but its not always that obvious. Usually its because they use a different part of the area. For example the encounter with the Dog immediately after leaving Ostagar uses the same map as the Chanters Board quest where you save a refugee caravan from Darkspawn, in the former you are on one side of a wooden fence, on a path with the area exits preventing you from going into the field on the left, wheras the latter has you on the right. I think the area is reused in another sidequest, and there are other examples.

And none of the main quest areas are reused, except maybe castle Cousland in a random sidequest. The same cannot be said for most of the DLCs (except Awakening), which reuse loads of stuff. Witch Hunt is particually bad in that regard.

what does Inquisition have that makes it stand out as particularly edgy or gritty again?

Really just the red templar body horror stuff, the bit where you go into the future and Lelianna is being harvested for adrenochrome to keep a guy's AIDs ridden son alive.
Maybe also the area where its revealed a town was flooded on purpose, killing everyone there for no good reason and a couple other places if you go poking around for lore stuff.
Overall not much. Nothing like DAO or DA2.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

Anders voice change to Shulk in DA2 was for the better. In fact he, Hawke, Fenris, Isabella, and Meredith are the best voice wise. Greg Ellis turned out to be mentally insane all things considered so it ruins Cullen. Even his objectively ooc singing in Inquisition.

I still maintain Meredith and Flemeth are two of the greatest characters in the franchise in both voice and character. Jean Gilpin is having way too much fun as Meredith and I'm so glad she returned for the Netflix show.

Oh to remember being there at the time when the game released and people were extremely pissed about Jennifer Hepler writing Anders. Its up there with the ME3 disaster as one of the biggest controversies fandom wise.

 

[Ishtar]

It took me a bit to learn Kate Mulgrew voices Flemeth, but when I learned it, it clicked and you can just hear Janeway in the back of your head when Flemeth acts smug and imperious or casually patronizing and mysterious.

Fenris’ voice actor is great though, no disagreement there.

 

[Snekposter]

It took me a bit to learn Kate Mulgrew voices Flemeth, but when I learned it, it clicked and you can just hear Janeway in the back of your head when Flemeth acts smug and imperious or casually patronizing and mysterious.

Fenris’ voice actor is great though, no disagreement there.

The only explanation for why Flemeth went from hag to GMILF in DA2 is that she finally got a cup or three of "coffee, black" in her.

Don't forget that the Dalish Keeper in DAO is voiced by Tim Russ, too.

 

[Ishtar]

I knew that sounded familiar, though I couldn't place it.

Anyways-since no one answered, I'll ask again.

What are everyone's thoughts on Solas?

 

[Psyduck]

I knew that sounded familiar, though I couldn't place it.

Anyways-since no one answered, I'll ask again.

What are everyone's thoughts on Solas?

First time i played through DAI i found him to be too pretentious, so i went out of my way to be an ass to him.

After completing the game i wanna try and give the guy another chance. I just havent played since, but plan to some day.

 

[Übertroon]

The only explanation for why Flemeth went from hag to GMILF in DA2 is that she finally got a cup or three of "coffee, black" in her.

Don't forget that the Dalish Keeper in DAO is voiced by Tim Russ, too.

Considering how powerful she was, even back in the first game where she turns into a dragon, it's rather clear that she could turn into anything, and she disguised herself as a dirty and eccentric hag so anyone passing by would consider her harmless and not send any dragonslayers her way

 

[Namesarehardtocomeupwith]

Considering how powerful she was, even back in the first game where she turns into a dragon, it's rather clear that she could turn into anything, and she disguised herself as a dirty and eccentric hag so anyone passing by would consider her harmless and not send any dragonslayers her way

Didn't Morrigan whole quest line was about Flemeth had to raise a daughter to body snatch everytime her body is aging/dying? Or was that retcon too?

 

[Übertroon]

Didn't Morrigan whole quest line was about Flemeth had to raise a daughter to body snatch everytime her body is aging/dying? Or was that retcon too?

Could be a retcon, but consider this, we only have Morrigan's account for this. She bases her theory on the fact that Flemmeth has been around for centuries, and in the stories has had daugthers before her. Something she read in the grimoire made her believe that Flemmeth planned to take over her body though.
There are three options,
either this is a retcon,
Morrigan lied about the contents of the grimoire, or misunderstood it,
or Flemmeth purposefully orchestrated events in such a manner that would lead to Morrigan attempting to destroy her and be free.
It did seem weird at the time to send your Morrigan away with the Warden on possible lethal quests, and not just taking over the body of the now adult Morrigan

 

[I'm Really Feeling It]

So what are everyone's thoughts on the big bald elf?

Solas has a big(and female) fanbase. I don't dislike the character, but I find him...underwhelming? Would be the best word.

For a character that has the sort of mythic grandeur and tragedy Solas is supposed to have-the game just doesn't sell me on it, maybe its the voice acting? The direction I don't know.

When I went through the game (fully ignorant of any spoilers) I romanced Solas because he gave out the quiet sorcerer air (and I like mages), although thinking about it I should've chosen Blackwall instead (when I watched that romance on YouTube later I felt like I kind of missed out). I agree that he's underwhelming, the romance sucks because it's fucking angst bullshit and he's a cold-shouldering prick, but it still felt like the best way to experience the character given how meaningful he really was to the plot.

I can't fathom why he has such a big female fanbase, apart from of course players like me who thought he's just a mage but turned out to be the baddest boy and were blown away. I never played the game again so don't know how stiff he behaves if you don't romance him, but I can't see it not being that way as he's such a grating piece of sandpaper. I get that to him everyone is meaningless, but... bah. Maybe I prefer it when my teammates aren't god figures who twist the knife in my back even despite a potential emotional connection.

 

[Broadside]

I can't fathom why he has such a big female fanbase, apart from of course players like me who thought he's just a mage but turned out to be the baddest boy and were blown away..

Imma say it
I thought this was and is a a really lame plot to be honest

 

[Logoden]

What are everyone's thoughts on Solas?

I liked him for the most part, his odd comments, his mysterious ways, his suspicious knowledge of things and his bickering with the fag and the she-boon.

But something was always off with him, like I needed to have just a little more to make him a justifiably unlikable character or relatable to us. Even as an elf players I had too little options to understand some of its positions without the last DLC.
He also has a "whiny bitch" side to him, his angst were at times too immature to realy fit the character I would say, even more so after I played the last DLC.

I found him undercooked in the DLCs. He is no Archdemon with barely sentient hords of corrupt species at his command. He is supposed to be one the oldest living things on the planet and the ending I got made clear he was about to raise elf armies to save its own kind(and also wrecking the world by "mending" the veil). Alas I could not try to reason, cooperate or side with him properly just "because". A far cry from DAO and other RPGs in which you can side with evil or more neutral parties.

 

[Balr0g]

Could be a retcon, but consider this, we only have Morrigan's account for this. She bases her theory on the fact that Flemmeth has been around for centuries, and in the stories has had daugthers before her. Something she read in the grimoire made her believe that Flemmeth planned to take over her body though.
There are three options,
either this is a retcon,
Morrigan lied about the contents of the grimoire, or misunderstood it,
or Flemmeth purposefully orchestrated events in such a manner that would lead to Morrigan attempting to destroy her and be free.
It did seem weird at the time to send your Morrigan away with the Warden on possible lethal quests, and not just taking over the body of the now adult Morrigan

The reason why she send Morrigan on her way was to aquire a old gold soul vessel. She gave Morrigan the knowledge on how a Grey Warden destroys an old god (killing the Dragon and it's soul enters the next "darkspawn" which is usually the Warden which then results in both dying). In this case though she was supposed to have a child with either the male Warden or Alistair (or even Logain if you so choose) so that the sould enters the child without killing it. And if you take Inquisition into account, for one, Flemeth can't enter a new body if the host is not willing and two, she wanted the old God's soul for herself which is why she send Morrigan on her way. Of course there is always the option that the Warden simply says "fuck it" and sends Morrigan away

 

[Rololowlo]

What are everyone's thoughts on Solas?

When Solas was first introduced, he was so boring and non-descript that I thought he was going to be a noname NPC who would exit the story or get killed quickly.

Watch a movie and you can tell within seconds what role a character is likely going to fill: the facial features, the clothing design, the camera lingering on their face, etc. Inversely that's also why low quality or amateur movies can be tedious to follow, as they keep accidentally sending the audience incorrect clues.

That's why I'm not sure it was 100% intentional that such an important character, not only in the plot but also the whole in-universe lore, is visually one step removed from a villager NPC model, but it worked out in the end. It sort of reminded me of a detective story where some non-assuming background character is gradually revealed to be the murderer.

 

[blablabla]

Characters are all basically different versions of Varic with Marvel'esqe quips and jokes

this piece of shit has been in the work since forever. i totally believe its going to be an outdated whedonesque-mar-vel faggotry alas saints row 4. i hope it kills bioware for good