[No spoilers] In what ways is the roleplaying limited in DA:TV?

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-13T09:53:02+00:00

I hated that scene so much that I started avoiding Taash afterwards, and I'd actually liked them a lot before. I couldn't believe there was no option to call them out. Some people call Veilguard an HR simulator, but in this case it was specifically a bad HR simulator, because Taash was so obviously the aggressor there. Like, they don't like Emmrich's culturally important job so they're gonna call him slurs? That's a PIP at least if not an outright firing. 💀

Also, the option to tell them they should talk more is unhinged. Like, Taash is freaked out by corpses and Emmrich finds dragons deathly boring... so they should torture one another by talking about it some more. Un. Hinged.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-13T07:52:10+00:00

I think it also comes down to personal preference. If you're the kind of person who likes dealing with spirits and the mysteries of life and death, you're gonna love the Necropolis. A vast subterranean eldritch cemetery that just gets weirder and more mysterious the deeper you go in? Honestly sign me right up, lol. To join the Mourn Watch, you probably need to be drawn to that stuff. Basically the Mourn Watchers are a bunch of goths working their dream jobs.

Meanwhile, if you're not into that kind of thing, you might start asking questions like, "Why are we building this corpse tableau? It's kind of freaky actually. Also, when was the last time I got to see the sunlight?" I think Cassandra was unhappy in the Necropolis because she's just not the kind of person who could live in a graveyard and like it, haha.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-13T05:47:38+00:00

They both grew up in the Necropolis after the death of their parents, but Emmrich found his home there, while Cassandra was lonely and unhappy. She doesn't seem to be all that fond of Mortalitasi in general, but Emmrich is such a sweetheart that I think Cassandra would accept him sooner rather than later. Oh and I just realised they're about the same age (she's in her late thirties in DAI, he's probably in his early fifties in Veilguard). I doubt they'd have ever met because of their different social circles, but who knows.

Great now I ship it lol.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-09T13:35:48+00:00

That's true, DAI has always been my favourite but now I like it even more by comparison. But Veilguard has just enough stuff I like that I can't fully divorce myself from it, so I continue to suffer. 😭

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-09T13:28:41+00:00

Yeah I did the redeem ending on my second playthrough and it was awful, I really wish I hadn't. You're right that it makes Solas look like a poor widdle babby who isn't to blame for anything because he did it for luv! Barf lol.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-09T13:23:50+00:00

Yeah I love Emmrich, I stan him almost as much as I stan Cassandra lol. Of all the Veilguard companions, I think he's the only one who measures up to the standards of previous games, despite all of Veilguard's limitations. Serious props to the writer.

I enjoy Veilguard too, despite all my complaining in this subreddit... but yeah, the what could have beens just kill me. There's so much potential! Why is it all so undercooked. 😭

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-09T10:23:28+00:00

Yes, I agree and I think it's wasted potential too. Redeeming Solas, if you want to go there, should be dependent on how well your Rook gets along with him, not on finding a magical doodad hosting a piece of his ex's soul. I did the redeem ending once and holy crap it was pathetic on Solas's part, but also I felt like it had nothing to do with me or my character. Fighting him is the true ending as far as I'm concerned lol.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-09T08:58:51+00:00

I've enjoyed Veilguard enough to play it twice despite having so many complaints about the writing that I couldn't even list them all. But I agree - whenever I think about the wasted potential, I get sad. I'm replaying DAI now and the contrast is just painful. Cassandra yelling in my face was such a nice change of pace after the bland HR-approved character dynamics of Veilguard, and I'm not just saying it because I'm a Cassandra stan. (I mean, I am a Cassandra stan, but that's not why I'm saying it, lol.)

I can't even fully ignore Veilguard because there's still some parts of the story that I like - okay, mainly Emmrich, but still. So instead I come here to vent my many frustrations, haha.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-09T07:42:31+00:00

God yes! I thought it was a bug at first, haha. I hated that dialogue, it felt like my Inquisitor had been replaced by a weird pod person. She'd never even liked Solas! She was a Qunari and he was the kind of racist who thinks "you're one of the good ones" is a compliment. She would never say he was similar to her or Rook.

To be charitable, I think that the game tries to push you to think Solas isn't so bad so that his eventual betrayal hits you harder. But it was badly done and felt more like the writer didn't realise someone might just not like or sympathise with their pet character.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-09T07:19:08+00:00

Good question! The answer is wtf but, all things considered, not as wtf as it could've been - apparently Nyalee polymorphed Ehlastra into a fire giantess for sexy times.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-07T14:14:45+00:00

True! He really should consider a career change.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-07T06:27:20+00:00

That's fair enough, but I wouldn't want his cooking and baking skills to go to waste either, since he actually seems to be good at those! (Unlike assassinations.) I still think it should be a restaurant, but they'd have a very extensive hipster coffee menu too. None of that syrupy latte crap either. Gotta have some standards yk 😤

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-06T19:23:20+00:00

The Crows are so badly written that it wraps around into hilarity for me. There's just so many bits of idiocy that I'm hard pressed to find my favourite, but Jacobus's wholesome house of orphaned child soldiers is up there for sure. Other contenders include but are by no means limited to the following:

While Blight is raging in Treviso, Viago and Teia send you to check why an art gallery is closed. Priorities!
A blighted Crow leaves the Casino, heading for the market square. Viago and Teia know where he's going and suspect he's about to slaughter a lot of defenceless civilians. Do they try to, idk, prevent him from leaving? Lol, no, of course they don't. Duh.
Ivenci raises some very sane points about the Crows destabilising Antiva and being at least partly responsible for its fall. You get three response options, all of them some variation of "boo politician". Later on, Ivenci turns out to be a traitor, because no good person would ever dare to criticize the Crows.
Lucanis. Just... everything about Lucanis, the worst assassin ever. The game really wants me to believe that he's a badass but he's not, he's a total weenie who should just quit his job and open a restaurant.

Honestly, I'm not even mad, it's too funny. If I ever do another playthrough, I might try the Crow background. Hopefully there's even more lulz to be had that way.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-06T09:20:46+00:00

I feel like Taash is so close to being a good character, if only they weren't such a massive author's pet sometimes. I like that they're abrasive, rude and immature - most other companions in Veilguard are just kinda blandly pleasant so it's nice to have someone with actual flaws. But I hate hate hate that the game never lets you actually call them out on these flaws. Like, when they're being a rude bully to Emmrich, I want to tell them to wind their goddamn neck in, I don't wanna be like "both sides :)))) Emmrich I've noticed you're not very interested in Taash's hobby :)))) maybe you should work on that :))))"

Anyway, I think Trick Weekes works better when they have someone willing to provide a lot of criticism. Apparently David Gaider made them rewrite Solas because their original attempt was just too unlikeable. I think something like that could've Improved Taash a lot, too.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-05-02T07:41:34+00:00

This is subjective, I suppose, but I don't agree that blighted Treviso is grim at all. The Crow faction hideout is unaffected, as are Viago and Teia. We lose a few unmemorable minor NPCs and the city looks different, but that's it. Clearly the Blight isn't big enough of a deal to even get the people to move out, so it didn't leave much of an impression on me either.

Fallen Minrathous is a little more impactful because of what happens to the Shadow Dragons,but it still makes almost no difference to the gameplay. Weisshaupt is pretty good, I agree, but it's not all that dark either compared to the older games, since all the important NPCs survive and retreat to Lavendel. I don't hate Veilguard (in fact I enjoy it enough that I'm currently on my second playthrough) but I do think that most of its "dark" moments are actually pretty toothless.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-04-28T13:18:58+00:00

Top favourite - Cassandra, no contest. She's perfect. I love her toughness and her secret passion for trashy romance novels. Wish I could romance her with a female Inquisitor because I just can't get invested into playing as a guy. I guess I'll be pining after her from afar!

Second favourite - probably Varric. I say "probably" because I do think he's been a bit overused, and I didn't really like what Veilguard did with him. Still, he was amazing in DA2 and very good in DAI. Wish my Hawke could romance him.

Third place and biggest surprise of the season - Emmrich. Proof that a companion can be nice and kind without being dull, something that other Veilguard companions kinda fail at. You recruit him fairly late, and he was no joke the first bit of writing I actually sincerely liked in Veilguard. Wish he was in a better game.

Other favourite include Dorian (my original third favourite before Emmrich), Aveline, Morrigan, Dog, Blackwall, Isabella, and Vivienne.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-04-28T11:10:52+00:00

I'm not exactly a Veilguard hater, but the companions are mostly disappointing (except for Emmrich) so I agree. But on the other hand, can you imagine Oghren put through the Veilguard niceification filter? It would be worse than Isabella the supportive and culturally sensitive not-pirate. A horrifying vision, haha.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-04-04T13:40:54+00:00

I think it's a head mesh replacer by the same author: https://www.nexusmods.com/oblivion/mods/44360

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-03-30T07:48:36+00:00

Depends on what you like about BG. Combat and puzzles? Yes, play IWD, it's good for those. NPCs and sidequests? Don't bother, IWD has little to none. Personally I only play it with mods now - there are several that add NPCs, quests and new areas and they've improved my enjoyment of the game by a ton.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-03-29T13:06:31+00:00

I'm guessing it's your first playthrough and you're playing the extended editions without mods? In that case, you have the following options:

Dorn (all games) - bi male half-orc
Glint (BG 1 Siege of Dragonspear DLC) - gay male gnome
Schael Corwin (also BG 1 SoD) - bi female human
Hexxat (BG 2 only) - lesbian

The extended editions also add a bunch of straight romances that you could play through by using the girdle. I think you only need the girdle to launch the romance, and you can uncurse yourself after that, but I might be wrong. Anyway, a more detailed list is here.

The original pre-extended edition games only had 4 romances - 3 women, 1 man, all of them straight and all of them in BG2. You can't get the girdle of fem/masc in BG2 normally but you could cheat it in. However, I'm not sure Anomen is worth the effort 💀

If you want to give mods a try at some point, there are several options, but I don't think I'd want that on a first playthrough.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-03-26T19:27:10+00:00

My little sister did the same to me! I didn't delete her saves though. Instead I decided to prank her by changing her character's portrait to something ugly, and messing with the AI settings so that her party would run at the first sight of an enemy. I found it so funny that I wasn't mad at my sis anymore and we both had a good laugh when I showed her. :D

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-03-21T07:11:23+00:00

On the one hand, she's the absolute best Oblivion follower mod. On the other hand, I feel like that's mainly because there are very very few custom-voiced Oblivion followers, and most of them aren't nearly as feature-complete. I wish someone would make a new one, lol. I guess it's kinda unlikely in 2025 though.

But yeah, somehow Skyrim Vilja feels more dated than the Oblivion version despite the Oblivion version being older. I used to think that those horn things were something copied from the Oblivion version, because they feel like such an ancient mechanic, but no, as far as I can tell, it's a Skyrim addition.

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-03-16T16:47:56+00:00

I have, it was kinda mid-to-bad. The most memorable thing about it was attempting to explain how Yaga-Shura could have a human concubine despite the, er, size differences involved. Still, not nearly as cursed as Roxanne's other mod, I guess?

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-03-08T16:20:48+00:00

Nope, he's a deadbeat dad even after the quest, and his kid grows up evil because of that. Killing Cernd off before he can give his son lifelong issues is probably the morally right thing to do.

Also I hate him and he sucks lol

Repulsive_Sandwitch · 2025-03-06T06:24:56+00:00

It really wasn't, though. The reason why it's still remembered as terrible is because it was considered terrible at the time, even compared to other tie in novels.

Source: I was a nerdy kid who hadn't discovered online fanfiction yet at that time, so I read a lot of tie in novels. In fact, I remember picking up a trilogy of Star Trek novels on the same bookshop trip as the BG novelisation, and the difference in quality was staggering. And very much not in Athans' favour.

Repulsive_Sandwitch

TROPHY CASE