What did you do today in DA? [Spoilers]

Addendum to yesterday's session: I got some banter with Iron Bull and Varric I don't remember hearing before. IB is apparently a big fan of hot chocolate and asked Varric to wrangle some cocoa for him. Then he just needed to get some milk and marshmallows, though he used the Orlesian (French) word for them, guimauve. I am assuming the IB/Dorian relationship will be 'canon' if the Inquisitor didn't romance either so I am working on getting that triggered. So far nothing - the last banter between them was Dorian asking if he should expect a knife in the back simply for being a Vint. Bull replied there were way more people ahead of him for that treatment.

Finished Jaws of Hakkon then went back to Skyhold for all the WT stuff that popped up. Only thing left is Trespasser. Hopefully it will start with no problem.

Lets go to Denerim


I like the look of Loghain. Ser Catherien has a new look. excellent


Enjoy the time you have left living scumbag

Finished Act 1 last night, woot woot!
Killed a dragon in the Bone Pit. Killed Kelder.
Feynriel joined the Dalish. Helped some more mages. Watched Ketojan set himself on fire. Spoke to the companions and then had another go at the Blooming Rose. Premium
With all side quests finished up, it was time to head to the Deep Roads. I made an interesting choice and brought one mage and 3 rogues Worked out alright! Bethany stayed with mom.
Didn't make a deal with the Rock Wraith and fought a million things! But found plenty treasure and bought a mansion.



I enjoy the mix of this nice but very bold and often sarcastic Hawke

Kara is slowly yet surely making her way through Act 1 of Dragon Age 2...I suspect I'll need at least another week to finish up the entirety of the game though xD

I personally always joked that they just shared the "hats".

Hi you'll recently i did some quests main and side quests and it was fun.

What else is there i still don't like Blackwall and Vivienne and lately i start disliking Solas and i cannot really explain why.
Maybe there was always some disliking there in my previous playthroughs.

And Blackwall it's mainly because of what he did in the past and Vivienne mostly because it's Vivienne.

Dove in and did a fair few of the companion missions today and also got in through some general house keeping.

Couple of notes in general once more seems I just...feel like there is a lot of dialogue with companions, but now I seem to be running out of it. Also starting to worry about Iron Bull's quest. Also as per usual I forgot to take a mage with me down to Valammar.

So did Varric's Quest, Blackwall's quest, and Dorian's quest. And Blackwall is still with the Inquisition openly serving. Still didn't re unite Dorian and his father on good terms. And was a bit tough on Varric accidentally.

Also cleared through the Fallow Mire and no real unique dialogue from Blackwall. Combat has started to give me some problems. Trying to work on balance on things and the issue is Kara is a bit glass cannon-y at times. But it still worked out and really the Warden Spell binder was quite tough.

I forgot a bit some of my Wartable adventurers I've had recently, nothing major. First off forgot the exact context but Josie failed to secure weapon's plans for the Inquisition in us getting into a bidding war with a noble. I again forget the context but remember rejecting Leliana's choice as being 'too violent'. So here we go on that. Also tried to play cute with the Those Across the Sea because thought I read that Leilianna would get your agents taken by the Executors so while her option made sense from a RP perspective I didn't want to lose anyone so I had Cullen ignore them...and agents got taken anyways. Teach me to MEtagame. Although maybe they get taken in either case?

So going to spent a LOT of time talking about some thoughts I had about Veilguard in today's session as it pertains to my combat and and character, don't think this will be too spoilery, but at least warning that this is not so much what did I do today...but how it relates to Veilguard. Anyways big set piece number 1 was finding the Seekers with Cassandra at Caer Oswin.

And combat. A lot of commentary has been made about just how vibrant and just how much information is going on in the Veilguard's combat and potential for issues both in terms of personal taste and even people worrying about the psychological and physical effects that could have. But as I have said it is not a big deal for me for 2 reasons. 1 because this has been a DA staple for a long time going back to Origins, so 2 of the 3 previous games has had rather over the top particle effects, and from a personal perspective like I do tend to like the information overload. It may be owing to my 'ADD' or what not but I like combat systems with a lot going on because more that is going on the more things I can do and what not...and I guess three sometimes I can just ignore and let the information overload just fade into the background. Now in Caer Oswin had a few combat encounters for close up positioning which hurt my eyes to where I had to glance away from the screen side eyes. And this just brings up a few important thoughts about how I feel we should go about judging Veilguard's combat. 1. Is it consistent with the series? I think it is given that there is a lot going on in some moments in Inquisition's screen and even Origins. Both of which had combat effects were annoying and painful to observe. And further while technological developments are important in the industry ultimatley it would be unfair to expect BioWare to just leave it all on the table and have a massive upgrade. 2. Industry standards. As I said its unfair but also worth comparing how far the industry has come and judging BioWare not only by them but their standards and the standards in the industry. Both in terms of limitations and what they *should* do. 3. Is it realistic? Bit more esoteric but also important to me especially in game mechanics that aren't fun. Yes, VGs will always be simulated so it will never be a 1 to 1 simulation of the real world...and nor should they be...but when discussing these things one should keep in mind whether it is internally or externally realistic. And bit more esoteric because I don't know exactly what med eval combat or new combat looks like in great detail. But then DA has magic and the like and often involves getting very close to your enemy. So of course if explosions and rifts are going off in your face of course there will be a lot going on. Though it should be noted the one thing I find most troubling about VGs UI is the ranged incoming indicator.

Other combat note there was a time when I was facing off against three Quailbacks in the WA so I summoned a fade rift...then the fade rift ability instantly reachraged because I guess it was close enough...but I thought there was a cool down for it. But I looked and there wasn't. So I summoned a second in...didn't work though Quailback's are tough.

Second bit from Caer Oswin the whole quest was about...how we deal with major revelations of corruption. Lucius went insane. Cassandra was sad and it caused her to question things but with Kara's help she was able to work through it and commit to doing better. Which reminded me of the arc I am cooking for Oliver. Because he is a Tevinter born. He owes a lot to Tevinter. He is a patriot who joined the military. I don't think he was fully blind to the issues in Tevinter society but he never realized the full extent. And then the Venatori happened. And then his revelations of further issues and rot seeping into the stones of his family, his society. Which again might cause him to face a choice...like Hira in Absolution as well. Give into anger and despair...or do something better. I think I know what his obvious choice is going to be but given that 'regret' is a major theme of the next game wonder how much he will get a chance to express that regret and regret and guilt was also a theme of the Caer Oswin quest.

Second big set piece dealing with the Darkspawn in the Western Approach then wrapped up in the Exalted Plains hunting down the Dalish and doing the favor for Solas.

Also before I forget did get that first chapter up on my fic so hope people don't mind me sharing it here...

www.fanfiction.net/s/14395351/1/Rise-of-Rook

Around level 20, JoH can probably be started a few level under that, but The Descent has harder encounters.