Personally, I think the Varric storyline could’ve been so much better if he had been in a state of comatose the entire game, with your “interactions” with him being in the same fade sequences as solas. That way, solas can still manipulate your visions of Varric and the team can anxiously await Varric’s return from comatose. I mean, imagine the gut punch you’d feel when the Varric reveal happens and when you escape the fade prison, you and the entire team have to deal with the death of Varric as he finally dies never truly waking up. Rook would actually have people to grieve Varrics death with and would give all the companions even more motivation to take down Solas.
The Varric twist actively harms the story imo. You never get to see Rook, Harding, Neve, or the Inquisitor mourn him. You don’t get to see his death motivate them. In a game about regret you don’t get to delve into Rook’s regrets over Varric’s death, what they could’ve done differently to maybe prevent it. Also like everyone here mentioned about how contrived it is that no one brings up his death or acknowledges that Rook is talking to an empty bed, saying out loud “I better go talk to Varric” etc. I think they wanted to kill Varric at the beginning but didn’t want a Last of Us Pt. II type blowback from the audience. So they strung us along for a cheap twist so that they could have their cake and eat it too. It harmed Varric as a character, it harmed Rook and the rest of the cast, it harmed the pacing of Act 3, and it was disrespectful to the audience. I know BioWare has been wanting to kill Varric since DA2, but they handled it in about the worst way possible imo.
4:00 I thought I was the only one who didn't like Varric interrjecting after every quest and spoiling the enemies 50:30 expected an elven rebellion, instead we get human Venatori following an elf because suddenly they are not viewed as slaves...hmmm.. 43:50 I still hope Alistair did not experience the Calling thanks to Calenhad's heritage...
43:20 alright I've been looking through past games and I might be missing something obvious. But with Harding's companion quest we know red lyrium doesn't necessarily have the blight. So I'm not actually sure if we can confirm that the red lyrium idol was blighted. (needlessly long discussion below) We confirm that red lyrium carries the blight in two ways that I can recall off the top of my head: 1) Bianca. Varric gave Bianca Davri access to the red lyrium thaig and she tested it and confirmed it had the blight. And 2) The Seekers are blighted as a result of the experiments with red lyrium that is forced on them (black veins on skin visible when Cassandra talks to her mentee). However - we also know that Corypheus rode a Warden like a skinsuit and got access to the primeval thaig. And we do not know when in that timeline Bianca tested the red lyrium. (Addtnl note - recall darkspawn were absent entirely from the primeval thaig, which was protected by the rock wraiths/hunger demon). Point is, there's an argument to be made that the lyrium Bianca tested was exposed to the blight around the same time as her testing, thereby contaminating the data. And tbh, the blight status of the red lyrium in the thaig does not necessarily correlate to the blight status of the idol (though I agree that it makes a strong case). Similar situation with the Seekers of truth - as Corypheus is a darkspawn specifically using blight magic, we don't know for sure if the red lyrium was always blighted or if it was blighted because of shit Corypheus did specifically But also- Merrill cleansed blight from the Eluvian using blood magic, and we know that eluvians are made from twinned lyrium shards, so we know that blood magic can cleanse the blight. You could argue that the blood magic involved to cleanse a single magical artifact is doable, while the blood magic involved to cleanse all of the blight everywhere, or from an entire city, would correspondingly require an insane amount of blood sacrifice to achieve. But that's just conjecture
Getting more into theory territory - many have said that red lyrium existed before the blight. In Solas's regret memories, the mountains run with red in the background, which could be stylistic or could be lava as the earth itself rages or could be red lyrium. (I think there's more possible evidence to be gleaned for this point but can't recall atm) And ofc the blight is born later as a move that ends the Elvhenan v. Titan war, when Mythal/Solas severs the Titan's dreams and seals the subsequent blight away. Point is there's an argument to be made that should discontinue the assumption that red lyrium = blighted lyrium in all cases (with exceptions - Cory as a darkspawn magister and Ghil/Ellie as the og darkspawn magisters are both clear cases of using blighted red lyrium I think)
I most say you guys make a wonderful podcast, you compensate each other really well. The channel as awhole have become a new fav spot for me, thanks for that! Its not just the channel, but I have become a new DA fan aswell, and I will have my hands on some *time* to play DAV, which will be great just to experience it on my own. Getting into it with positive vibes and actually, looking forward to it. Keep up the wonderful good work!
1:04:55 I think fans need to justifiably DEMAND we get a wrap up of DATV. I dont care if it’s a short story or something. And I agree for all the shitstorm this game came out spotless.
I know it wasn't fully brought up in here, but if any you could do a video on the specializations (or if you have, share the link)... just felt there was a real disconnect from the lore and world that wasn't reflected in the skill trees. And thank you for all the content you kept us sustained on over the years of waiting.
I just hope the next one is better than the dumpster fire that is veilguard. I had to go back to inquisition where everything is so much better. The only good thing I could say about veilguard is the griffins being back lol. Other than that so trash if I could get a refund I would. Feel like it was the biggest waste of $80 for the preorder in the history of gaming. Learned my lesson I’ll never preorder any BioWare game ever again. Also you talking bout taash I really don’t like her. Course that’s not saying much the devs did horrible on the writing and always positive dialogue with no ability to disagree or be a renegade was a big disservice to gaming
About the Varric thing, this is gonna sound so bad. But while I caught he was never involved with the others, I thought this was another part of the sometime really incomplete dialogue in the game. I wasn't a big fan of the way they did dialogue - eg, Rook so often outside of interactions, stuff like that. It had organic moments, but not an organic whole. So I was tripped up by thinking it was design. :P So when it happened, I actually was surprised they had done it. After the fact, I just think this was a really bad decision. Not only are things contrived in this light, but it also deprives the game of one of its strongest characters in gluing a group together, for no reason but shock value.
The Dragon Age party was very much DA2 part 2 where they were only somewhat memorable and the jokes were more prevalent than the drama. How about we do a Shadow of the Conqueror hero playthrough meaning our character starts off a conquering jerk we loath then he evolves into a savior who starts caring about people because the alternative is he'd lose them forever. You guys prove why Solas is the Johnny Silverhand of Dragon Age only he's a pro at manipulation. He's the Dreadwolf for a good reason. I'm still doing a Red Jenny hero for my heroic playthrough.
I feel like some your criticisms may be just things that will be covered in the next game, such as the cure for the blight/dragon blood etc. The Devouring Storm could be something like Blight that is now uncontrolled by the Evanuris. I have a feeling we will learn more. They can't fit everything into one game, after all. They are setting up dragon fire to be important for a reason, and we see Antoine using alchemical mixtures including fire to burn the blight away. I am really disappointed that there are going to be no DLCs, which could add greatly to the game and wrap things up with some closure and hints. I'm replaying DAI and we had THREE great expansions. Even one like Trespasser would be amazing. It feels like Bioware cares more about Mass Effect, which is a shame.
There’s a lot that I liked and a lot that I didn’t like. I just felt like something was missing for me very often. I wanted more interaction with the companions and the characters from previous games. Lambo is on point, it is a good game overall but not amazing. I’m optimistic to see what happens next. I do have to say when having Solas and Taash in my party at the end of the game, Taash asking Solas if he was the one who made his own body why he is bald and short had me spinning 😂
My Inquistor felt super out of character personally. She didn't have her red jennt arm, she acted like Solas mattered to her when Solas was in my parry once, she never mentions her wife who lives by the Blighted city. It was a hawke situation for me.
Even though Bioware leads like John Epler and Corrine Bush keep lying, there is a canon worldstate. The Inquisitor was never mean to Solas, the Inquisitor always recruited Sera, Dorian and Cole despite being able to kick them out of the Inquisition, Iron Bull saves the Chargers if you romance him and Blackwall never becomes a Warden if you romance him.
![Dragon Age Veilguard: Joplin & the Artbook [SPOILERS]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/6hYocL1UNOo/mqdefault.jpg)
![Lp. Сердце Вселенной #60 РОЖДЕНИЕ ЛОЛОЛОШКИ [Финал] • Майнкрафт](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/YoR0pAV9FVQ/mqdefault.jpg)
Personally, I think the Varric storyline could’ve been so much better if he had been in a state of comatose the entire game, with your “interactions” with him being in the same fade sequences as solas. That way, solas can still manipulate your visions of Varric and the team can anxiously await Varric’s return from comatose. I mean, imagine the gut punch you’d feel when the Varric reveal happens and when you escape the fade prison, you and the entire team have to deal with the death of Varric as he finally dies never truly waking up. Rook would actually have people to grieve Varrics death with and would give all the companions even more motivation to take down Solas.
The Varric twist actively harms the story imo. You never get to see Rook, Harding, Neve, or the Inquisitor mourn him. You don’t get to see his death motivate them. In a game about regret you don’t get to delve into Rook’s regrets over Varric’s death, what they could’ve done differently to maybe prevent it. Also like everyone here mentioned about how contrived it is that no one brings up his death or acknowledges that Rook is talking to an empty bed, saying out loud “I better go talk to Varric” etc.
I think they wanted to kill Varric at the beginning but didn’t want a Last of Us Pt. II type blowback from the audience. So they strung us along for a cheap twist so that they could have their cake and eat it too. It harmed Varric as a character, it harmed Rook and the rest of the cast, it harmed the pacing of Act 3, and it was disrespectful to the audience.
I know BioWare has been wanting to kill Varric since DA2, but they handled it in about the worst way possible imo.
4:00 I thought I was the only one who didn't like Varric interrjecting after every quest and spoiling the enemies
50:30 expected an elven rebellion, instead we get human Venatori following an elf because suddenly they are not viewed as slaves...hmmm..
43:50 I still hope Alistair did not experience the Calling thanks to Calenhad's heritage...
43:20 alright I've been looking through past games and I might be missing something obvious. But with Harding's companion quest we know red lyrium doesn't necessarily have the blight. So I'm not actually sure if we can confirm that the red lyrium idol was blighted. (needlessly long discussion below)
We confirm that red lyrium carries the blight in two ways that I can recall off the top of my head: 1) Bianca. Varric gave Bianca Davri access to the red lyrium thaig and she tested it and confirmed it had the blight. And 2) The Seekers are blighted as a result of the experiments with red lyrium that is forced on them (black veins on skin visible when Cassandra talks to her mentee).
However - we also know that Corypheus rode a Warden like a skinsuit and got access to the primeval thaig. And we do not know when in that timeline Bianca tested the red lyrium. (Addtnl note - recall darkspawn were absent entirely from the primeval thaig, which was protected by the rock wraiths/hunger demon). Point is, there's an argument to be made that the lyrium Bianca tested was exposed to the blight around the same time as her testing, thereby contaminating the data. And tbh, the blight status of the red lyrium in the thaig does not necessarily correlate to the blight status of the idol (though I agree that it makes a strong case).
Similar situation with the Seekers of truth - as Corypheus is a darkspawn specifically using blight magic, we don't know for sure if the red lyrium was always blighted or if it was blighted because of shit Corypheus did specifically
But also- Merrill cleansed blight from the Eluvian using blood magic, and we know that eluvians are made from twinned lyrium shards, so we know that blood magic can cleanse the blight. You could argue that the blood magic involved to cleanse a single magical artifact is doable, while the blood magic involved to cleanse all of the blight everywhere, or from an entire city, would correspondingly require an insane amount of blood sacrifice to achieve. But that's just conjecture
Getting more into theory territory - many have said that red lyrium existed before the blight. In Solas's regret memories, the mountains run with red in the background, which could be stylistic or could be lava as the earth itself rages or could be red lyrium. (I think there's more possible evidence to be gleaned for this point but can't recall atm)
And ofc the blight is born later as a move that ends the Elvhenan v. Titan war, when Mythal/Solas severs the Titan's dreams and seals the subsequent blight away.
Point is there's an argument to be made that should discontinue the assumption that red lyrium = blighted lyrium in all cases (with exceptions - Cory as a darkspawn magister and Ghil/Ellie as the og darkspawn magisters are both clear cases of using blighted red lyrium I think)
I most say you guys make a wonderful podcast, you compensate each other really well. The channel as awhole have become a new fav spot for me, thanks for that!
Its not just the channel, but I have become a new DA fan aswell, and I will have my hands on some *time* to play DAV, which will be great just to experience it on my own. Getting into it with positive vibes and actually, looking forward to it.
Keep up the wonderful good work!
18:52 Everybody BUT Jackdaw knew he was gonna be dead as a doornail. (That bait and switch was a MOTHERF***** hit to the juggular)
Dude, I totally thought it was going to be LoTR ghost like army, too, lol
39:03- Leliana, game one. Fenris, game 2. 3. Sera/Vivienne
1:04:55 I think fans need to justifiably DEMAND we get a wrap up of DATV. I dont care if it’s a short story or something. And I agree for all the shitstorm this game came out spotless.
I kind of hope they do a big time jump.
I know it wasn't fully brought up in here, but if any you could do a video on the specializations (or if you have, share the link)... just felt there was a real disconnect from the lore and world that wasn't reflected in the skill trees. And thank you for all the content you kept us sustained on over the years of waiting.
I just hope the next one is better than the dumpster fire that is veilguard. I had to go back to inquisition where everything is so much better. The only good thing I could say about veilguard is the griffins being back lol. Other than that so trash if I could get a refund I would. Feel like it was the biggest waste of $80 for the preorder in the history of gaming. Learned my lesson I’ll never preorder any BioWare game ever again. Also you talking bout taash I really don’t like her. Course that’s not saying much the devs did horrible on the writing and always positive dialogue with no ability to disagree or be a renegade was a big disservice to gaming
I must be the only person who prefers the staff to the orb and dagger, lol. Great job as usual guys.
hae a great christmas guys thank you for all the dragon age news we love you all
I think the whole Varic thing could have been cooler if he was visible to anybody while inside the lighthouse.
About the Varric thing, this is gonna sound so bad. But while I caught he was never involved with the others, I thought this was another part of the sometime really incomplete dialogue in the game. I wasn't a big fan of the way they did dialogue - eg, Rook so often outside of interactions, stuff like that. It had organic moments, but not an organic whole. So I was tripped up by thinking it was design. :P
So when it happened, I actually was surprised they had done it. After the fact, I just think this was a really bad decision. Not only are things contrived in this light, but it also deprives the game of one of its strongest characters in gluing a group together, for no reason but shock value.
The Dragon Age party was very much DA2 part 2 where they were only somewhat memorable and the jokes were more prevalent than the drama.
How about we do a Shadow of the Conqueror hero playthrough meaning our character starts off a conquering jerk we loath then he evolves into a savior who starts caring about people because the alternative is he'd lose them forever.
You guys prove why Solas is the Johnny Silverhand of Dragon Age only he's a pro at manipulation. He's the Dreadwolf for a good reason.
I'm still doing a Red Jenny hero for my heroic playthrough.
I feel like some your criticisms may be just things that will be covered in the next game, such as the cure for the blight/dragon blood etc. The Devouring Storm could be something like Blight that is now uncontrolled by the Evanuris. I have a feeling we will learn more. They can't fit everything into one game, after all. They are setting up dragon fire to be important for a reason, and we see Antoine using alchemical mixtures including fire to burn the blight away. I am really disappointed that there are going to be no DLCs, which could add greatly to the game and wrap things up with some closure and hints. I'm replaying DAI and we had THREE great expansions. Even one like Trespasser would be amazing. It feels like Bioware cares more about Mass Effect, which is a shame.
There’s a lot that I liked and a lot that I didn’t like. I just felt like something was missing for me very often. I wanted more interaction with the companions and the characters from previous games. Lambo is on point, it is a good game overall but not amazing. I’m optimistic to see what happens next.
I do have to say when having Solas and Taash in my party at the end of the game, Taash asking Solas if he was the one who made his own body why he is bald and short had me spinning 😂
First!!!
My Inquistor felt super out of character personally. She didn't have her red jennt arm, she acted like Solas mattered to her when Solas was in my parry once, she never mentions her wife who lives by the Blighted city. It was a hawke situation for me.
Even though Bioware leads like John Epler and Corrine Bush keep lying, there is a canon worldstate. The Inquisitor was never mean to Solas, the Inquisitor always recruited Sera, Dorian and Cole despite being able to kick them out of the Inquisition, Iron Bull saves the Chargers if you romance him and Blackwall never becomes a Warden if you romance him.