Look Through My Screen

I was honestly concerned about the combat, because I struggle with action-based combat where you have to time your different moves AND worry about aiming AND dodge/parry/block AND AND AND... I get overwhelmed pretty easy. But, although I missed Inquisition's ability to pause combat and sort of walk it through a turn-based-esque mode, I eventually managed to get the hang of Veilguard's combat system, and by the latter half of the game I wasn't struggling nearly as much. I played a rogue (of course), and I honestly think that might have been the most difficult class to start with this time. I've heard that mages are always OP in DA games, and I can definitely see that's true, but I think Warrior would have been easier too. Maybe that means that my next playthrough will be easier, since I'll be playing a Mage next.

But the scenery! I said before that I love the artstyle on this game, and that goes for the characters as well as the world. I took more screenshots of this game than I did of my 2.5 runthroughs of BG3, and the only game I took more landscape shots of was Tsushima, because... obviously. The "limited" artsyle allowed them to really play with colors and lighting, and also allowed for a much smoother style of animation. Everything moved so fluidly and realistically, it almost felt like watching a CG movie at times. While I will be the first to admit I wish EA would have butted out and let their developers make the game they WANTED to, there was no sacrifice made (in my mind at least) in graphics in this game. I wish more games would use a style like this.

The two I suspected I'd like the least, but even these two got me hooked, and not just because of their adorable sons. They're just two fathers trying their best. Emmrich is so charming with a surprising amount of vulnerability, and Davrin is trying to be more than "just" a Grey Warden. I know these sort of games tend to fall into a weird trap of everyone around you relying on you(r character) to help them with life-changing decisions, and this game is absolutely one of those, but it really did feel more like friends asking for advice than just "you're the hero, you decide". At least, that's how I interpreted it.

Bellara was cute and nerdy and relatable (and SO photogenic omg), Neve was beautiful and intriguing (and somehow managed to forgive me for choosing her to be the fall guy three separate times I'msosorryNeveyoudeservedbetter), and Harding is sweet and charming and plump. I do love to see a plus-sized character, especially a female, where it isn't made part of her personality (lookin' at you Genshin) or ever even commented on, really. Of course, it's because she's a dwarf, which isn't the most ideal rep, but it still counts.

(While it is technically a spoiler that they're enby and start using 'they/them' part-way through the game, the internet at large seems to think it's more important to respect their identity than to allow people to misgender them without knowing if they're doing it maliciously or not, and I personally agree with that assessment.)

It took me a while to get the hang of the face builder, and I still struggle with it every time I use it, but I love the freedom it gives. I always prefer this Sims-style character creator to those like BG3 (which I also love for different reasons) where you just choose a preset face. I ended up changing my character's hair (and giving them a nose job lol) after a little bit and was so happy with it. In fact, while I've always loved my personalized player characters, I think my Rook is my favorite out of all of them. More than my Inquisitor, my Tav's, or any other game, I was obsessed with my Rook. I do think that has somewhat to do with the graphics, too, though. Many people hate on the simpler art style compared to Inquisition and other similar games, but I would much rather have a game with a pretty artstyle than hyper-realistic graphics, and DAV was gorgeous. FIGHT ME.

Overall there were so many great characters; allies, villains and everything in between. There's a lot more I could say about this game. Its replayability alone means I'll be returning to it probably for years to come.

I enjoyed aspects of every companion's story. Astarion and Karlach (who I covered in my last post, along with Halsin) are definitely my favorites, but Shadowheart and Laezel really grew on me, I loved Wyll as a character even if I didn't use him in combat much, and even though Gale got on my nerves, I could still see in him the same level of victimization as the others, and respected his story. I found it interesting that all the Origin companions were grappling with their own version of the same story; escaping from an abuser. Yet it never felt like their stories were all the same. I don't know if I'll ever do an Origin playthrough, since I love the character creator so much, but if I do, I think several of them would be interesting to experience. I do wish we'd gotten Jaheira and Minsk a little earlier in the game. Maybe I would have used them more. As for Minthara, I have yet to attempt the "knock her out" method, so I haven't recruited her in any playthrough thus far. Maybe next time.

The one that DID surprise me was Halsin. He's both too muscular and too hairy for my tastes (sorry, I'm not into literal OR figurative bears) but somehow his sweetness and thirst combined won me over. I like to say that HE romanced ME instead of the other way around.

Tanz, Tiefling monk (with a bit of rogue tacked on at the end), he/him. Romanced Karlach, had a bit of a fling with Halsin. His monk/rogue combo was so op by the end that I took out the Elder Brain in ONE ROUND despite raising the difficulty from my first pt.

(Also I just realized you can put more than 10 pics in a post now, I don't know when that happened but it will make things SO much easier when I get to later games... where was this when I was posting KH screencaps??)

Despite being a free game that came pre-installed on the system, I enjoyed it enough to 100% it within a week. It's an adorable 3D platformer at its core, but it's also a love-letter to Playstation, and its fans, that really shouldn't be overlooked as "just a demo". The attention to detail was stunning, the gameplay was enjoyable without being TOO challenging (I struggled in a few places but I'm also not great at platformers) and the dozens of easter eggs hidden all over the place were such a delight. Chief among them, these little "scenes" that represented PS-exclusive games from all different genres (and decades) were so fun to find. These were just a few of my favorite easter eggs (even though some of them are from games I haven't played lol).

Oh hello! Not only have I remembered Tumblr exists, but I've finally transferred some screenshots from my PS5 to my computer - and in so doing, realized I haven't posted any new screenshots in THREE YEARS. What is time, anyway? So I'll be working through several games' worth of pictures and narrowing down what to post, so get ready for a slew of new content soon. If... anyone's even still here. lol

Two unrelated (sets of) characters, but they round out the last of my Fire Emblem posts... at least until I get around to finishing the Golden Deer run. And I'll probably save my screencaps from the DLC for then, too.

I had mixed feelings about Rhea. Mostly because I didn't trust her right from the start, but she was voiced by Cherami Leigh, whom I love, so I liked her anyway. lol

Some shots of the leaders together, plus Catherine and Flayn since they don't have a class alignment. I love Catherine, but I love Shamir more, and I'm upset she didn't get a single cutscene. XD

Although Claude was my favourite leader, he had the most boring students overall. I was the most interested in his storyline, but since I saved it for last because I knew you find out some big secrets, I got burned out and haven't finished it yet. ^^; Oops. I'll get back to it some day.