Ten years and finally Dragon Age: The Veilguard is here! I was so excited to start the adventure and meet Rook. From the start I was really happy to see a variety of body types in the character creation. You can play as Elf, Qunari, Human, or Dwarf. You can also choose for the job class to be rogue, warrior, or mage. I of course went with an Elf rogue. The accessibility settings are great too and you can adjust the difficulty according to your playstyle.
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| Choosing a character. |
There are so many options for character creation which is great. They finally gave us long hair options which had me overjoyed. The hair physics are so good. I kept stopping just to run around in circles to see Rook's hair move around. It was silly, but lots of fun. You can customize your Rook to look how you want with hair options, skin tone, makeup, tattoos, and body type. I spent a really long time getting my Rook to look how I wanted and I was really happy with the final results. You then have to choose a faction that Rook is part of and you have six factions to choose from: Antivan Crows, Grey Wardens, Lords of Fortune, Mourn Watchers, Shadow Dragons, or Veil Jumpers. For my Rook I went with Veil Jumpers who study the ancient forest of Arlathan and Elven artifacts. You can also recreate your Inquisitor and then you have three options to choose how your Inquisitor's story ended. For mine, she romanced Cullen, disbanded the Inquisition, and told Solas she would help him to redeem himself.
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| Making my Rook. |
The main story takes place ten years after the events of Inquisition. Rook is with Harding and Varric working together to stop Solas from destroying the Veil. Needless to say, things don't quite go as planned and this is where Veilguard's story and Rook's adventure begins. Immediately I noticed what a blast the combat is. It's action paced and in a way reminded a bit of the combat in Dragon Age II. Your companions have special moves they can use and they can even combo with each other creating an even bigger attack. It's fun and I was enjoying running around taking out all the enemies with my team.
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| Fighting demons. |
Of course there is recruiting to do because Rook and friends need a team to accomplish their goal. Besides Harding, there are six companions to recruit and they're also romance options for Rook. Each person brings their own insight and talents to the team. When you go out in the world you can bring two companions with you. I played around a lot with different team set ups to see how they worked and I did have my favorites. This also strengthens the bonds between Rook and their companions as they travel together. The teammates are very helpful during battles calling out to Rook if an enemy is behind you or if they're firing at ranged. I didn't mind it, but sometimes I wished I could turn it off because after a while it could get a little repetitive.
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| Rook takes on a Darkspawn ogre. |
I really love the photo mode in the game. Besides Arlathan Forest, we get to go to Antiva, Tevinter, and many more interesting places. All of it is stunning and I would stop just to take photos of the scenery quite often. It felt wonderful to be walking around Thedas again and getting to see all these beautiful vistas.
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| Ziplining in Antiva. |
One of the little things that I really love is that there are lots of cats and dogs in the cities and you can stop to pet them. I stopped and made the time to pet every single one. It's a nice moment of joy in between all the side quests and main story quests. Every single one of the cats and dogs was very cute and I loved them all.
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| Yes, you can pet the cute kitty! |
I did love the story for Veilguard and I loved running around getting to see more of Thedas. The companions are great and my first romance was with mage detective Neve and I really like her. Neve is smart and sassy right back with my Rook which made me smile. I also appreciated the fact that we got even more lore which answered a lot of questions about the Evanuris and Solas himself. There were also some pretty interesting lore reveals about Mythal and we also got some answers about the Dwarves. There were also Easter eggs here and there in regards to characters from the previous Dragon Age games. It was always exciting for me to find one and realizing which character it was referencing.
I adored the exploration aspect of the game and filled my pockets full of all the things I found and was just the biggest loot goblin I could be. This does tie in with the different factions Rook works with and so it benefits everyone to grab all those treasures and random items you find.
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| Oh look, a dragon! |
I'm trying to spoil as little as possible because Veilguard has a lot of twists and turns and it's quite something to experience the first time. I started noticing little things here and there in regards to one of the companions and I was hoping that I was wrong. I kept getting a sinking feeling as I noticed more and more subtle hints about their fate. I wanted to be wrong very badly. I wasn't wrong and when it was revealed, I cried a lot. There were a couple of moments in the game where I found myself crying for the characters because it was very sad. Those scenes were beautiful and heartbreaking, but that big one broke me most of all.
It was beautifully done and frankly, the second playthrough I'm doing makes it hurt even more because you realize just how gut wrenching this is for Rook and how this also took a toll on Harding. There is one situation in the game where I thought it was a bit like Mass Effect 2, but in actuality it was more like Virmire in Mass Effect. I don't like it and I still don't like it. The outcome of that scene in Veilguard felt cheap and like it was there solely for shock value. It didn't have to happen. I get why they did it that way, but I feel that it was unnecessary.
There are also a lot of puzzles, so many puzzles. I do like puzzles, but when it's constantly I have to figure out where this piece goes and this laser goes just to make a bridge to get across it gets tedious and sometimes a bit frustrating. Also, while I like the combat in the game there were times where I would get annoyed because enemies would go straight for Rook and I would find myself trapped in a corner fighting for my life to get out. Rook can make choices throughout the game and of course those choices do have consequences. One choice had me agonizing for a decision for a good ten minutes. For me, it definitely added a layer of urgency to the story and adventure.
I did everything I could to get the best ending in the game and I was successful. It did feel very satisfying, tying up a lot of loose ends, and bringing the story to a proper conclusion. I really loved Veilguard and I appreciated the diversity as well as the LGBTQIA+ representation. For me, a Filipino Queer woman I was thrilled to see people like me in the game and people like my friends and family throughout all the areas of Thedas in the game. While I do feel there were some pacing issues here and there with the main story, I loved every minute of Veilguard. It was incredible to be adventuring through here again seeing familiar faces and meeting some new ones. It hit all the right notes for me for a solid adventure and a good story. I know I'm going to be doing multiple playthroughs because that's how much I enjoyed it.
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| Rook takes a break. |
*Dragon Age: The Veilguard is available on the following platforms: Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam
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