DA fans, what do you think so far of the game?

Bellara has some moments, but it's not poor writing. Her writer wrote into her his own experiences with having ADHD. As the spouse of someone with ADHD, I think he did an incredible job. The apparent flightiness; the somewhat non sequitor thought processes and things sometimes coming out of left field; and most of all the constant self-doubt and "I gotta be better" expressions from Bellara -- it's very true to life. I wish more people had the experience to see how well she's actually written, and to appreciate her personality.

I'm finishing my second playthrough. As is typical, I enjoyed it more than the first. The game has a lot to offer players like me who enjoy character building and optimization. My Qunari Grey Warden Champion felt very different, and even more powerful, than my Mourn Watch Human Spellblade.

A second full playthrough reaffirmed my belief that 90% of any "cheesy dialogue" is squarely on Harding. Sometimes it is legitimately a cheesily written line, often it's Ali Hillis' facepalm worthy delivery. Think about how goofy she often sounds as Liara T'Soni. At least in MET we can say, "She's an alien." Harding is absolutely the weak link. It's bad enough that I merely tolerate her, at this point.

Bellara has some moments, but it's not poor writing. Her writer wrote into her his own experiences with having ADHD. As the spouse of someone with ADHD, I think he did an incredible job. The apparent flightiness; the somewhat non sequitor thought processes and things sometimes coming out of left field; and most of all the constant self-doubt and "I gotta be better" expressions from Bellara -- it's very true to life. I wish more people had the experience to see how well she's actually written, and to appreciate her personality.

Taash's "gender stuff" (their term) is generally too blunt. I wish Weekes had been given/taken feedback to frame this in ways that blended more believably with the setting. Maybe he wanted it to be stark and painfully blunt. If so, I think it was a mistake. There are plenty of people like me who don't mind the story arc, but find the writing ham-fisted. Many are less open-minded and far less charitable. Your game already has a target on it. It didn't need coarse writing to tilt the undecided gamers away from it.


The game isn't perfect, but it's really good. I do wish we could've had this fun gameplay paired with the deeper roleplaying of earlier games. I want more control of my protagonist and story than I'm given in this game and its twin, Mass Effect Andromeda. Veilguard is better than Andromeda, but it's still way too light on roleplaying for my tastes.

Even with the gripes I have, I enjoy the game a lot. I'll probably be starting my third playthrough tomorrow, this time playing an Elf Veil Ranger.

lol, doesn’t every rpg have companions talking about their feelings?

Well you can't really clash with your companions. Their moral compass is good but not that good because they got issues more important than the folks out there dying from the Blight, Venatori, Antaam, Evanuris. You always have companions quests ofc but in this game, the companions spells out directly their heart aren't in it because personal issues. 

I don't think "moral compass" is a sensible framing for this mechanic. None of them are voluntarily choosing subpar performance.

That's how I read it too, and I don't think it works.

It's not like Lucanis didn't want to put his petty issues aside and just kill her. The problem was that he couldn't. Same for the others. Simply ignoring their own personal issues and functioning at full efficiency isn't an option for any of them. If it was, they'd take it.

It's OK to think that the mechanic is silly, but we shouldn't mischaracterize how it works.