Dragon Age: Inquisition - Concept Art - Early Rejected Pitches For Multiplayer Characters By Matt Rhodes

Fear, like every emotion, is a powerful thing.

I’m a bit annoyed at myself for still reading Hot Takes[tm] on DA Veilguard but apparently, I’m not quite done being angry and disappointed and heartbroken about the way they lacklustre finished a series that mattered so damn much to me that I considered getting tattoos of it.

I put so much love into my OCs and that universe, the relationships to other characters and with the problems of the world. And it feels like they spit on everything they built and made us players connect with. And for what? So they could wipe the slate clean.

Ferelden, Orlais, Free Marches, the Dales, everything we visited and freed and brought together? Destroyed by the Blight. Offscreen.

Every character that mattered to us? Assume they’re dead because Blight. Or if they turn up in DATV, the connections to your OC isn’t mentioned, so you can ignore it. Oh, the immortal god? Conveniently forgot all his goals and disappeared into the now forever closed-off realm of dreams and magic.

Every problem that has been discussed and been a huge deal in earlier games, from the Blight to the treatment of mages to religion, possession and slavery? Don’t worry about it, it no longer exists. Or isn’t a problem anymore because, uh, don’t worry about it.

Oh the complex villains we had? Weren’t complex after all, there’s a Mysterious Big Bad that has directed Everything from the shadows. Invisible, unnoticeable even by the most powerful beings alive. No decision was ever a decision. Or complex. Even Flemeth wasn’t truly acting on her own accord. Solas probably neither but again, don’t worry about it! He’s gone for good anyway, so nothing matters.

GODS I’m so angry and disappointed. I wish I never played that fucking game.

im so glad this post came back around because ive been thinking of these tweets from trick from at least pre-2021 and how disappointing it is that the veil doesn’t come down in the game but wasn’t able to find them and wow

like holy shit. so what happened between THIS and the veilguard ending that shipped?????

Warning: Some dav criticism ahead

Why is Tevinter so shallow? It isn't just about the lack of slavery (that, whatever else it is, however it was handled before, has been a pillar of Tevinter identity and inevitably leaves a hole in the narrative by being pratically missing). Why does the magisterium, the caste system, the Antaam invasion outside of Minrathous and the Black Divine play no role at all in its storyline?

Why the atrocities of the Crows (buying children, for example?) never come up during their faction quests?

Why do we hear nothing about the political side of the mortalitasi, how they control Nevarra from the shadows?

Why do we never even hear about Kont-aar even though we are in Rivain? Why there is no counterpoint to the (metaphorically, by qunari standards, mindless and souless) Antaam? Why is the qun completely missing from the game and the qunari reduced to cannon fodder the player has to cut down?

Why are the questions about magic that permeate every previous game absent here, especially when veilguard being set in the north could have given us such a unique viewpoint?

And, more importantly:

Why am I supposed to believe that no dalish elves would worship the gods they have already been worshipping their whole lives? That they wouldn't follow out of naivety, out of misplaced hope for a better future, out of fear, seeking to placate them?

Why am I supposed to believe that the gods would not even try to seek the dalish, when we are told by the previous games about the dalish hunters of legend, about how they are a mighty force to be reckoned with when united? Why do they only show up at the Blood of Arlathan quest, to play damsel in distress?

Why am I supposed to believe that no elves from the alienages would want to join the gods, because of every reason mentioned above, or out of spite or disdain for an uncaring world?

And yes, I know everyone learned the gods were evil off-screen. Why was it off-screen?

Also, where are the agents of Fen'Harel? Where are the people that vanished by the end of Trespasser?

Obviously, you can't expand on all of this in a single game, but why is all of it absent?

Why is bioware so afraid to engage with the world they created?

Thinking about this data and seeing red.

There was so much space for a nuanced, beautiful exploration of one of the best and most complex characters they’ve ever given us, and instead he got reduced to a handful of regrets presented with zero empathy and a shit tonne of blame when Mythal was RIGHT THERE, dismissive comments about his trauma (“they were doin it” 🤢), and “god of lies”—not sure I will get over this aspect. There were many things about Veilguard I genuinely loved, but this? This can get in the bin.

i dont remember the post i saw or who made it so this doesnt count as a vague but 'actually it's good bioware retconned the agents of fen'harel because it would've been Bad Representation to have an antagonistic faction made up of the in-universe oppressed minority' well no it was straight up cowardice and the refusal to grapple with the reasons why marginalized peoples might come to believe their best recourse for a world that wants them dead top to bottom is fundamentally changing the nature of the world in a way that, yes, may read as apocalyptic to those currently in power, but the alternative is for the forgotten to continue slowly bleeding out to sustain their comfort

Not that bioware could have landed that but don't pretend it's More Nuanced not to even try. and it's literally just narratively stupid as hell

"How does it feel?" I say to John Epler, sadly staring at more cursed quotes he dropped quicker than the DA Keep. "Are you blissfully unaware? Or deep inside, is some part of you banging on the wall, screaming?"

"Lol cool line, did you just make that up?" He says, pulling out his phone to tweet that actually Loghain was a trapeeze artist in his free time and the only true lore being carried into the next came is that everyone remembers the Viscount of Kirkwall as being a total hottie.

Solas and Varric inaudible argument dialogue...

I managed to clean up the dialogue audio of Solas and Varric "arguing inaudibly" in the background during ritual while you're running to break scaffolding.. I wanted to know exactly what they were saying! :) If anyone else is interested and couldn't hear it in the game... 😊

random solavellan fluff sketches