So, I finished datv yesterday and now have time to sit and think about it. Now, obviously this is just my subjective opinion, so take it with a grain of salt. I am going to start with the good and go into the bad and then finish with more good (that teacher training coming in). Also, I learned how to do a read more for this.
I am going to start with the combat. I have made another post about this, but that was like 3 hours into my first playthrough. Veilguard has the best combat in the series. Usually Dragon Age games have combat that is a slog to get through, so much so that many people in the fandom say they don't play the games for combat but for the story. I have never been a fan of the real-time with tactical pause, I find it a little boring. I am not a big fan of turn-based, to begin with ( that is one of the reasons I still have not finished Baulder's Gate). In the past, if I wanted to play a good story game with fun combat, I would play Mass Effect. But I have fun just fighting enemies, if DAI's combat was this fun I would replay it more often.
Next the art direction. Now, I am no artist and I know next to nothing about anything. But I really like the art. I think the environments are beautiful. I like the character models. I know people were complaining about the models having small heads in the lead-up to the release, but I think it was because the game doesn't use heroic proportions. And you don't notice in-game at all, at least I didn't. Also the brought back some reused assets from the Inquisition, and some of the paintings that have been around since Origins.
Okay the companions. I might write a longer post for each companion later on. I am going in alphabetical order.
Bellara: I romanced her, and I love her so much. She has some strong Tali vibes with a strong dose of ADHD. I am a little sad that we did not even kiss until after the final battle, but I just read that as her being ace or demi (like me!).
Davrin: He is such a bro. I love him and Assan so much. His banter with Emmrich is so funny. The ending to his story line is a little weak, but I will talk about that in his own post.
Emmrich: I think Emmrich is one of the best companions in the whole series, flat out. I love this man, he going to be my next romance (Female Qunari Grey Warden).
Harding: Harding is great. I really liked all of the Titan stuff in her storyline. I did get her killed, so I am not sure what her ending is like. I did think her romance with Taash was cute.
Lucanis: I'm going to say it. I think Lucanis is the weakest of the companions, I don't dislike him. I don't if I missed a lot of content because I saved Minrathous instead of Treviso or if it was because his writer got canned during development. And what he did have felt bare bones. I thought we would be dealing with Spite a lot more. I will say his recruitment mission is a blast.
Neve: I played a Shadow Dragon so my character had a lot of in common with Neve. I like her, but I don't have any strong feelings towards her one or another. Her romance with Lucanis is a thing that happens. I might change my mind when I get around to romancing her.
Taash: I am cis, so take this with a grain of salt. But I think their storyline about being non-binary was oddly paced. I did like everything past that, I think it was much better paced. I do like them a lot. Also, they are really cute with Harding. I do wish there was more of a reaction to me getting Harding killed on Tearstone Island, but that is a writing complaint.
Speaking of the writing. It is really a mixed bag. Some of it is great and then some of it was giving slop comics from the mid-00s. The first several hours are story slog, some of that is because of all the lore dumps, and some of it is because it is oddly paced. The writing gets progressively better throughout the game. From the point of no return to the credits it is the strongest writing, maybe not in the whole series but definitely since the last third of DAI. That after-credit scene was a choice. I will probably talk about that more after I figure out how I feel about it. I think Elgar'nan and Ghilan'nan are the strongest villains since Loghain, it really helps that they are present throughout the game. There are definitely moments where you feel that Rook is HR, but not a lot, but enough that I understand why that made it into some reviews. I don't think it is any more quippy or Marvel-like than any other Dragon Age game, "Swooping is bad" comes to mind.
Finally, some random thoughts. I think this game really nailed the horror of the Blight, I can't get the image of Bellara wrapped in Blight tentacles during the final section out of my head.
I played a non-mage elf shadow dragon, and there was a lot of reactivity for the shadow dragon part, less the elf part. I know I missed a conversation with Tarquin about it, but still. It's like no one even noticed the pointy ears.
That's it for now. I might add more as think about it.
THE MUSIC! I forgot about the music. I honestly didn't really like it. I don't know if it was because Hans Zimmer was half-assing it or if I am still salty that they didn't bring back Trevor Morris. I am pretty meh about Zimmer on a good day, I think he is over-saturated in the market at this point. And there were several points where I felt the music would have been more at home in a Mass Effect game than a Dragon Age one. Also, I think Morris really helped shape the soundscapes of Dragon Age. The Lonely Elf has to be one of my favorite pieces of music, not just video game music but in general.
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legal procedural about a sleazebag lesbian lawyer cruising divorce court to pick up emotionally vulnerable women by helping turn up dirt on their husbands
"I was taught two things growing up before mama went to Vegas and never came back..." camera flashes to winning the slots and then an outstretched bloody hand and then a grave "that the only rewards we keep in this life are ones we work for" cut to MC stepping out of a nice car in front of a courthouse "and that everyone has a secret sickness inside of them"
"I took those lessons to heart. Two jobs in high school, doing other kids' homework, no prom...full ride for college. They didn't hand that to me either. I had to work for that too." (Montage of her laughing with admission clerk and then breaking into a computer to delete competitors) "law school was harder. No scholarships, no breaks. It got harder when the sickness set in." MC at a pool party with a ton of beautiful women hand feeding her grapes. The camera flashes on one woman in the corner who's sobbing into her hands and then back to the MC whose eyes narrow
"You never forget the first time you give in to the sickness" MC approaches the woman, sits down and whispers in her ear. The woman's eyes widen. "But once you give in..." MC walks away from sobbing woman, snagging a drink off of someone's poolside table as she goes "well, I guess my mama taught me one more thing."
Behind her, the woman is no longer sobbing. Shes staring straight ahead. Slowly, she picks up her phone. Types out one message. Sends it. The pool party erupts in message alerts. Shouts begin. People start accusing each other. MC takes her drink out to the parking lot, smiling. The camera goes back to the unnamed woman who is now Donny darko smiling at the chaos.
"Go big or go home."
Police cars show up as MC drives away.
The scene transitions back to modern day, courthouse. Another car pulls up and a woman dressed in rumpled business wear gets out. Our MC locks in.
"Smudged mascara...Manila folder clutched tk her chest. No lawyer then, representing herself...the sort of flush that only comes to a woman's face when she's caught somewhere between betrayal and despair..."
MC follows the woman to the courthouse. Right before going in, she turns to look at the camera. Smiles.
"That's what I'm addicted to. the moment she decides to fight. To defend herself. Burn the world, you know?"
(Montage of MC sitting beside evilly smiling clients as the judge bangs the gavel, men in opposing counsel yelling, red-faced screaming as MC walks her clients out of the courthouse)
"Yeah, that's the good stuff."
MC finds her target in the courthouse, flinching away from a man who must be her soon-to-be-ex and his suit-wearing lawyer. Without breaking stride, she goes up and puts an arm around the woman's shoulder. She sticks her other hand out to the two men, smiling.
She says, "Hi, I'm Cass Montenegro. Representation. So good to see you harassing my client already. Should make this easy."
Goes back to voice over as she stands there smiling, pulling her client into her side, and never taking her eyes off opposing counsel.
"There's still an awful lot of world left to burn."
All this stuff is probably true, but it makes it sound like the workers are contaminating lettuce.
Wide-spread produce contamination happens through dirty irrigation water that sewage has leaked into.
Even if workers were taking shits in the field, it wouldnāt be enough to make these events and someone with intestinal diseases wouldnāt last long out doing manual labor in the hot sun (ask me how I know).
Food borne illnesses are almost always from shortcuts companies do to save a few bucks (donāt test the water, donāt test the produce, etc.)
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"these researchers published a paper on something that literally any of us could have told you š" ok well my supervisors wont let me write something in my thesis unless I can back it up with a citation so maybe it's a good thing that they're amplifying your voice to the scientific community in a way that prevents people from writing off your experiences as annecdotal evidence
Wow. Tumblr user ractalbleeding has done it, we finally have a new disease-inducing behavior to promote. This one had never even occurred to us. Gotta hand it to ractalbleeding here
MAGA spent a decade calling every question about Russia a hoax. Now the FBI director is reportedly planning an unexplained October trip to Moscow on the eve of the midterms, because apparently subtlety was another casualty of the Trump administration. #KashPatel
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Why is there a diarrhea parasite outbreak in America?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to disease prevention and control.
Why is measles back in America?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including RFK Jr, cut vaccine and measles prevention funding and programs.
Why is the New World Screwworm infecting cattle in Texas, when it had previously been eliminated from the area?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Elon Musk, cut USAID funding, which in part worked to monitor and prevent screwworm outbreaks.
Why was there a flu outbreak in our armed forces?
Because Donald Trump and his Republican allies, including Pete Hegseth, cut vaccination requirements for our armed forces, putting all of them at risk alongside our military readiness.
What contributed to the Covid outbreak?
Donald Trump and his Republican allies cut funding to a pandemic prevention program in his first term because Barack Obama had created it.
āAmerica firstā sends its regards. Trump voters, please learn your lesson. And if you donāt, itāll be taught to you again with yet another diarrhea outbreak.
Okay. I was on my beloved AO3 and I saw something that made me do a double take. So, now I really want to knowā¦
What is your AO3 user ID?
Iām an OG user 5 digits or less
Six figures baby!
Iām in the millionsā¦
Remaining time: 4 days 2 hours
Iām so curious to see how long people have been on AO3! I know some people have been on there since beta/invite only, but I would love to see what the number is on tumblr!
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What Iād give for one of the Cinderella remakes to go into how when youāre in an isolated and abusive situation, sometimes you need to be saved and youāre not weak if you canāt escape by yourself
Iāve never been a fan of bad faith reinterpretations of fairy tales, especially ones which flatten the originals into āprincesses is saved by a prince and nothing elseā, to then go #girlboss. The princess can save herself because sheās a strong female character! (Implying if youāre in a bad situation, itās because youāre not strong enough to get out)
Also the concept of the Prince over the course of likeā¦ a couple hours hanging out with CinderellaĀ going from āHaha nice I really like youā to āoh fuck i can tell from context clues alone that your home situation is FUCKED UPā Ā itās good shit Ā āI have just met you but ON GOD Iām gonna get you out of there beautiful mystery womanāĀ Ā cinderellaĀ makes desperately yelling into the night āhow can I find you again!??!ā when sheās taking off that much more poignant really
Heās been trained to read the room. To read the context clues. To read politics and scheming and planning and people. Heās a Prince, itās either that or accidentally drink poison by age 15. And he reads her and ā¦
Sheās impossibly wealthy. The dress isnāt a fabric he can recognize, but itās beaded with cut diamonds, faintly milky opals that shimmer with a rainbow, little pale aquamarines, and somewhere are little bells gently ringing with each step - heās a Prince and he canāt afford to dress like that. The slippers ring too ā¦ there is nothing like that crafted by the hands of humans. Thatās fairy stuff. She has an in with them that eclipses royal politics. She is powerful in the Old Ways.
All this wraps around the poorest woman heās ever seen in his entire life, and heās seen some very, very, poor people in his time.
Poor in money, but poor in āoh you poor thing!ā as well. This is someone who has been robbed blind. This is someone who carried themselves waiting for the lash, for a browbeating, for harsh, cruel, abrupt, punishment.
He expects her to be haughty, or hard, or meek orā¦ something elseā¦ but sheās just nice. Sheās just ā¦ nice.
The rigid posture comes out of his back, his tongue unsticks. Sheās like sitting by the embers of a low, calm, fire. He feels warmed and rested simply speaking to her. He wonders if itās magic, and it might be, but if it is it is magic that is her own.
And that terrifies him, because heās trained to see these things and he knows someone with a cruel hand is waiting to douse her, and snuff her, and beat the last glimmer out of her shining eyes - eyes that put that dress to shame and and and andā¦ sheās gone.
Oh god, sheās gone. It will be all over her sweet, kind, warm face that she transgressed and ā¦ oh god theyāll kill her, whoever they are. This will embarrass them and if thereās anything he knows, itās that you donāt humiliate someone who has power over you and walk away unscathed.
And all he has is a fairy slipper that will only ever fit her foot (itās not merely shoe size, itās a kind of spiritual fit as well), and the vain hope that he can keep such a bright light from burning out. It doesnāt even touch his heart that what heās feeling is a kind of pure philia, not until it enraptures him soul to bones, all at once. Oh god, oh no, oh shitā¦ heās reached well above his station, butā¦he can try to be good and worthy.
The way he sees it, sometimes even the strongest people can be brought low and need justā¦ a little help. She had enough in her to do whatever she had to do to free herself of those evil relations if she had to, but she shouldnāt have to. Thereās no glory in blood. Sometimes itās okay for the ending to be happily ever after.
Imagine being the 2nd most powerful person in the Kingdom. You could save her, you can save her, you have more than enough power and youāre not used to being helpless like this, but this time thereās nothing you can do solely because you donāt know who she is or where she went
