Schmooples' Den! The DA News Discussion Thread

...Did he forget that Harding's first reaction to news from the South from Inquisitor was asking for her mom, and Inquisitor was assuring her that her mom was safe because Inky asked Divine for a favor and she's in a secure place??? (and by that showing both Harding's reaction and why she may not be worrying that much - Inky is on the job, and they even remember about the loved ones of their agents and act before they're asked for it)

Also, how "many of the Soutern characters" are there???

See, this is exactly what bothers me with people who complain at writing in DAV - it's either ignoring or not remembering stuff is there in the game or making things up about "lack of reaction from many of the southern characters" when there just aren't that many characters from the South (and those that are - Inky, Morrigan - are literally working to contain the crisis)

If you want more frequent banter, you need to avoid fast travel. Most banter triggers in between fast travel nodes. They also pop up in the Lighthouse if you walk to your companions that are grouped together. Seems like you're just skipping content by running through things too quickly. Going through the Crossroads and back reliably triggers two banter conversations for example. If you do one quest at a time and always revisit the Lighthouse you will push through the banter at a good pace. Of course you do this if you care about banter like I do.

Quest level requirements are in the quest log. Treviso champion for example says level 30 in my log rn. You pick them up when you walk in front of the appropriate gate. If you explore too much you will encounter parts that are above your level. This is natural unless you want even more arbitrary limits on exploration.

Your summary on the companions is entirely subjective so I cannot tell you what to think, but I can't agree that Bellara has no character substance when it's both explicitly and implicitly suggested in her Act 1 missions that she acts this way because she regrets what happened to something in her past and she's anxious and overcompensating because of it. In fact, most people have rated Bellara as the biggest surprise. So even overall consensus disagrees with your assertion.

Neve does have one of the weaker quest arcs in Veilguard I do agree (unless you disappoint her in the act 1 choice then it's one of the best), but her one to one conversations are a highlight. She is a noir riff after all. Might just not be your style?

I'd say most characters, including Harding, are more or less still opening up to you and are only revealing the side they think they should be presenting. All of them develop over the course of the game as you get to know them better. Making early assessments of their characters is premature.

I'd be very interested in reading your review, and I'd totally get it if this your "DA2 is the best DA game" moment.  

Wait a second. Efforts to outlaw slavery having gone nowhere came up several times in my games.

We don't see much of it, yep. Did DAI have any alienages?

Any game that successfully presses your enjoyment buttons is a good game for you.. and that is what matters.

the idea that newer equals better is not that popular of opinion

The difference is they were designed that way

Wait a second. Efforts to outlaw slavery having gone nowhere came up several times in my games.

We don't see much of it, yep. Did DAI have any alienages?

Exactly. 

This basically comes out in two different ways. Like we have already seen examples of slavery, rape, broodmothers, racism, classism, and a wide variety of political shannagans, and previous games have pretty exclusively focussed on that in their own ways to and showing what a crap show Thedas is. We also have plenty of stories about how bad it is in the Tevinter Imperium so a setting/ group of writers shouldn't have to exclusively focus on those things to continue making the point. And pretty much all that stuff in some form or another is in Veilguard. 



But for some if BioWare isn't shoving all this darkness in ones face complete with a jaunty little poem...I guess it does not exist? 

Plus I just really have a hard time agreeing with this. Like as someone who writes and someone who consumes entertainment it'd be boring as hell if I had to keep on including the same plot elements in the stuff I write/ consume over and over and over again. I want to see new stories in these settings with new conflicts ruminating on new themes. Again such stuff can fade in the background and still be there for set dressing but a game does not have to include it all to be dark and mature. 

I would say that Elves are pretty oppressed in both places but this does bring up a good point still. Because we were moving north to different countries the conflicts we would get were recontextualized because Elves weren't the only ones exclusively oppressed by the Imperium...we also had humans, Dwarves, and even mages all share in the slave trade depending on the circumstances. And this was all brought up in Veilguard: