Dragon Age The Veilguard Criticism Thread (formerly Skepticism Thread) [Spoilers]

Just finished my 1st playthrough as a LoF Human Spellblade. And just talking about the LoF even though I can go in on multiple factions, the LoF is unfortunately the worse faction in the game especially on a immersion level and I feel like that is because they reworked the real pirate faction the Raiders of the Walking Sea and try to make them less morally grey and more just good.

Rivani as a whole feels like such a tacked on location that seems only included because we were already going everywhere else on the map so why not. Rivani culture is the least displayed despite the fact our LoF companion choice revolves them leaning more into Rivani Culture or not. We don't go to a single city or settlement in the country just the coast creating a disconnecting from even the LoF who is in a separate location from their quest location.

Let's add on the fact their is barely any content for the LoF in the game as far as gear or cosmetics go. No Decor for the light house to reflect Qunari, Rivani or LoF, There is a total of 4 LoF armors in the entire game and that the armor sets that have variations there is 0 variations for Rivani or LoF, the Rank 4 armor sets for the LoF is actually Crow gear even has the grow symbol on it the gear itself being from former crow members that have been Repurposed for LoF with some glamours on it is cool but that's not the case it's just Crow Gear. 3 of those 4 gears with 1 of them being the rank 4 set is actually a reskin versions of both of our LoF companion Hero of Veilguard armor but also the Crow member also. Weapons are also the same situation as the armors with LoF probably having the least amount of representation.

And it's really unfortunate because Rivani seemed like what Hammerfall is for Elder Scrolls. It was the in-universe location where the dark complexioned characters had roots in such as Viv, Isabella and even Duncan is half Rivani. And for a company that is all about being inclusive they did a bad job as included cultural aspects within their own world.

Honestly the issue with them either ignoring or trying to move away from their past rather then build on it is noticeable with the Lords. The Faction Leader Isabela is the biggest victim in my opinion of the Keep or lack of past choices in the game. Having played the entire game I can absolutely say not picking any of the choices from the Keep that effects Isabela alone made all their excuses about the Keep not make sense. Contradicting to the point of then speaking on meaningful comebacks. Isabella was a shameless cameo that not only added nothing to the Story but actually hurt it as to make her make sense you have to break her character. Given their can be a world state with both Hawke and Varric gone but Isabela my faction leader not once mourns with me over the loss of her dear friend who she spent years with in Kirkwall and she not even discuss what happen to Varric once made no sense. I can go deeper into Isabela but I'm going to stay focused on the Lords.

The LoF don't even have a real identity in this game because they didn't not just want to make them morally grey pirates but they are not pirates at all and barely treasure hunters. The faction enemy bonus makes no sense and shows how important the Lords are. Mercenaries are few and far between fought in this game I know the faction being strong against a certain enemy is more flavor text, but even as a LoF I couldn't tell forreal because the enemies I'm strong against by the time I really fought them I'm too strong for that to even matter. And it makes no sense that Crows are strong against Qunari vs the Lords. Crows for the most part recently had the Qunari as a direct threat probably the 3rd nation to be known for dealing with the Qun falling behind Tevinter at 1 and Rivani at 2. Isabela has history with the Qun, the Raiders of the Walking Sea are the main faction in thedas history not from Tevinter that really pushed the Qun back. And if you didn't want to make it the Qun at least make it Dragons then. You'll probably fight just as many dragons as Mercenaries in this game so it wouldn't even feel like a short end of a stick.

Now the way I personally feel like they could've handled the LoF with what they presented because I'm not all problems their was a real Dragon Age solution to flesh out this new faction. Every faction has or should have some type of conflict the Lords absolutely have 0 and I think that could've been resolved if instead of rebranding the Raiders off screen we did it in game. Basically in a old school Dragon Age way the LoF quest chain could revolve around Isabela trying to change the direction of the Raiders of the Walking Sea to being a official faction vs a bunch of individual cells that come together as the Armada on rare occasion. There should have been a in-game choice Basically where we can either have the Raiders remain ruthless pirates or build them up to eventually becoming the Lords of Fortune and incorporate more moral options to the faction.

Even the excuse of them being a late game faction doesn't work considering the Mourn Watch while also not as tied to the main quest like other factions don't suffer from the same issue as the Lords. Reactivity is better because even with the companion the issues revolve around topics that fit a Necro vs Taash issues which was split between personal ID which even bleed into LoF moments taking it away from us discussing our life as a lord and more about Taash. Even the Mourn Watch faction quest is paced slightly better and fits the faction. Going around the map taking care of haunting fits it perfectly. But the LoF a treasure hunting faction where I only looked for treasure once for a spirit on a beach not even the faction itself. Their was no quest to explore tombs or ancient temples that could have had artifacts or currency to help support the Veilguard or even the Lords. All in all the LoF while I really enjoyed my Rook, him being a LoF doesn't feel like a viable first playthrough they feel like a faction you play on round 3 or 4 just cause or personal headcanon RP instead of being a main playthrough. So much so that even the final epic battle with all the factions only Isabella and 1 random Lord during 1 seen you can see way in the back appears.

LoF overall is the most disappointing faction in the game so much so their is barely any RP for them. Not having them more involved with Antiva and the Qunari stuff was a misstep