#weisshaupt is such a great sequence over all
Agreed. My brain was just screaming the entire time during that quest. Also it's doubly hilarious when you have Davrin and Lucanis as your party. ("HOW am I'm supposed to assassinate a cloud!?")
I remember spending that whole quest so stressed, it's really intense because right off the bat, you're put on the backfoot. Rook goes from cocky 'step 1. find evka and antoine step 2. kill a god' and is immediately punished for it because the Eluvian has been moved, darkspawn are inside the fortress, and you're immediately cut off from the bulk of your team. Then you're suddenly made responsible for the safety of a little girl who has no chance of actually fighting the darkspawn and refuses to stay hidden because she needs to find her dad - I know I and a lot of folks expected her dad to be very dead, so you're juggling fighting the darkspawn with the anticipation of the emotional gut punch when this little girl has to grapple with the realisation of her father's death. And then there's the fact that Ghilanain is here, she is a cloud, and therefore untouchable. Solas' emphasis that you will only get one chance and that you can't waste it really adds to the mounting pressure, and that's all in the opening five minutes of this quest.
It's all very slick and concise, and the pressure keeps mounting. The tension gets some release, first with the reveal that Mila's dad is alive and well, and then when you deal with the First Warden, either by punching him (an emotional relief for all the shit he's been giving you) or convincing him (the relief of finally being listened to and trusted), but then its right back on when you're racing for the dragon trap as Weisshaupt's defenses crumble around you. A thousand year old bulwark against evil, that has stood undefeated in all that time, and you can't save it. All you can do is make its last stand count. And you both do and don't - you kill the Archdemon, but Ghilan'nain escapes. You rendered her vulnerable but your target slipped through your fingers. You succeed and fail, and Weisshaupt falls regardless, and you and your team have to grapple with the aftermath just as the Wardens do.
It's just such a fantastic mission, exactly the sort of thing you'd want from the fall of such an ancient stronghold. Setting the tension high from the start, easing off a little to let you catch your breath, and then cranking it up again, easing off with the impending death of Razikale in the trap, and then dialling it right back up for the final battle. I also appreciated the little callbacks to earlier entries with the Joining chalice and Aura's letters and the Wardens losing track of the Hawkes. Its just neat, but also tragic because those little moments of history that mean a lot to us players are about to become lost forever to the people of Thedas. A small reminder that the stories we experienced are moments that will eventually be forgotten by the world at large as it continues to move on.
