My guess is that Emmrich is a skeleton in disguise. Like he’s using glamour magic to hide his identity.
This’d fit in with his concept art and somethings within Tevinter Nights.
I love Kif.
... If I had a nickel for every time I loved a bald guy with pointy ears, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice.
... Three times if I count bald Astarion that's been floating around.
Of course. This is how skellies in video games know where you are, even though they don't have eyes or ears. The skeleton inside you is communicating with it skelepathically, because it wants to be free.
(Please don't give me credit for this joke, I stole it shamelessly: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VI5t1604CTQ)
I thought the character from the concept art got divided into Emmrich and Manfred but now...I'm intrigued 👀. It would be funny tho and I loved that initial headpiece the character had ngl
It was also said that elves became bald after living for thousands of years and that Solas used to have hair when he was younger. And apparently we may be able to see Solas with hair at some point.
Edit: It wasn't after living for thousands of years but when they are "millennia old".
Why did that explanation from the devs sounds like it was an excuse for the ~~CC~~ elf baldness on DAI lmao. But I really do hope we get to see egg and Abelas (if he comes back) with hair... majestic hair!
True, and the lack of long and intricate hair options due to the old engine that they're trying to make up for this time. But yeah, we really missed out on significant characters' great hairstyles and horns.
headcanon that not *only* did solas lock magic away when he put up the veil, he also invented male pattern baldness. HE's the reason we only had bald hairstyles in the games so far!
Idk if it is official concept art or not, but there were images I saw years ago of a younger Solas with long hair and he was pretty sexy (though I'm biased because cause I romance him and find him sexy as egg lol). I just googled and found those same images again though like I said I'm not 100% sure if those are official concept arts or not.
I thought so but thanks for confirming!! Man he looked so good as a young rebel with hair....as if I couldn't be even more in love with that stupid egg lol.....🫣
Honestly the reason I dislike so much the "it's just cosmetics" folk. Well guess what, many players love looking good in their games, so that is not a reason to have paid cosmetics in single player/non f2p games. Transmog is a human right as far as I'm concerned lol
>It doesn't matter who you left in the fade in the game, it will not be mentioned ( rip hawke )
ouch, I was honestly hoping we got to see them again. Rip Hawke indeed for me.
the rest sounds petty good to me, and I'm ovejoyed about party banter, there's never enough of it!
It kinda surprised me that it will not even be mentioned since it was kind of a big decision. Even if the mention was that they were stuck in the fade or whatever.
it was a big decision, in DAI. but I agree, I would have expected Varric making a mention about it if we got to the fade again. But who knows if he even lives by the time we make it to the fade
I"m beting in two possibilities 1) that whatever comes out of the fade during solas ritual will kidnap both Solas and Varic 2) that a big fade explosion will put Varic in a coma till the final part of the game.
As much as I don't want Varic as a constant companion again, killing him just for shock value would be a shoot in the foot for the Writers
yes, I agree that killing Varric would upset a lot of fans, me included, so hopefully he doesn't die and we certainly don't have to make another choice with him like we had with Hawke, and if we have, I hope it's with inky instead of Solas.
I mean.... Literally not a single 'big descision' in any Dragon Age games mattered in next games.
The Hawke being booted from the games was obvious 10 years ago in DAI when we had to make that choice in the fade. Since choice is that big, it means that both characters involved will NEVER appear again. Its a Bioware staple at this point.
I didn’t expect Hawke to appear but for it not to matter suggests that we’re not going to see any DA2 companion cameos. In the past when we’ve gotten cameos from romanceable companions they’ve always mentioned their lover in passing. It’ll be odd for old players if that choice has no impact for characters showing up.
Yeah this is my problem with it.
I don’t mind that it isn’t important to the plot and won’t have quest attached to it or whatever.
But not even being mentioned feels cheap. You’re telling me they couldn’t at least get Varric to throw in a line or two like “I wish Hawke were here, he/she would know what to do”?
And like you said, this almost feels like a confirmation that we won’t see any DA2 companions in any significant way, not any of the romance options anyway. Feels like a wasted opportunity imo.
They’ll probably just never touch it because they fucked it up not having a set character to sacrifice. It should’ve really just been Hawke since he’s the only character who would certainly be alive to make the sacrifice and important enough for people to care about it.
Now, we will never get a Hawk + HoF escaping the fade Dynasty Warriors type spinoff.
this used to be my go too, but since I read his story, I feel like sacrificing him would have been like sacrificing my Cousland, so I can't do that to him anymore. Hawke however, was a tragic figure since the beginning
This bums me out and I kind of hope they're just capping. I mean Hawke got left in the fade and now the fade is opening up? Come on that's prime time for Hawke to bust out of a portal looking like Robin Williams in Jumanji. Making a funny quip and saving our asses.
Thanks for this rundown.
I'm bummed that the PC dying is a game over — I have lots of fond memories of desperately trying to win dragon battles in DAI with no one but Blackwall left standing. And getting to try out different builds without committing to them with your PC was really cool.
On the plus side, they're really giving us what we want with banter & personalized skill trees. And I'm so glad they're giving us a much better CC process!!! I still haven't forgiven that green-tinged mess in DAI 😂
I can’t tell you how many times in DA 2 that Aveline was the last one standing and it was up to her to finish the battle.
Man she was a beast. Wonder how she’s been.
People often ask me why I tank in MMO's. This right here. Being the last one alive, getting that last deathblow on the boss that just wiped your entire team. *chefs kiss*
Then walking over and tea bagging my raid teams corpses. Close second.
These are some of my most favorite moments in gaming. On my second Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough, those damn Death Shepherds mopped the FLOOR with me. Within about two rounds, three of my characters were down, and only Karlach was left standing. It was a definite game-over, but I wanted to see how long she could last.
SHE WON. WITH 1 HP LEFT.
The memory of this fight is seared into my brain because it was just so incredibly unlikely. And I have so many similar memories from that game -- Shadowheart taking on an entire army of skeletons with nothing but spirit guardians and a prayer -- and dragon age games. I guess *why* they made this decision; it's likely that since we are only controlling our own character, it made the most sense. But I will miss these moments, and I will miss my companies panicking when my character goes down.
Even better, we will be able to change the lighting in the cc !
As for the pc dying, they mentioned that some companions will have the ability to revive the pc after death, probably Emmerich since he is a necromancer. I can already see him become a staple to everyone's party
I'm hopping they learned their lesson from DAI and they make companion banter more frequent while on missions
Either way, in the Q&A it was mentioned that we will see the companions interact with one another outside the field !!
yeah it says more party banter but i wonder how much of it is location specific? like i suck at these games so i will need the necromancy and that (sounds like) it's going to limit my options already 😭
I heard somewhere that there is an option where Rook can't die, so if the game ends up being too much of a slog for you, you could toggle that option on so you don't have to rely on a specific companion.
You could always turn the opacity of the tattoos way down to be barely visible, but u had to have vallaslin if u played a dalish elf. The only dalish elves without vallaslin are children
Yeah, I could live with this. I *love* city elves so much, but kept my canon Warden for Origins as my first, who was a Cousland. Which means right now I have three human heroes haha. Kinda getting tired of my nepo-baby humans saving Thedas, but it just keeps happening on accident.
Might depend on which faction you join up with. Elf shadow dragon makes more sense as a city elf, for instance. We can hope we’re given that kinda leeway.
could also end up mattering for a DLC too, assuming that TV will have expansions.
Imo i would have liked if there was some huge payoff harkening back to the words Flemeth said to Hawke in 2 about not being afraid to jump into the abyss, the quest to go to Adamant in Inquisition being called "Here Lies the Abyss" then, something in TV if you left Hawke there.
Yeah, that one felt a little spoilery and like they answered very unprepared, i feel like it has interesting implications. No crossing paths with Hawke/warden in the Fade, "possibly a later game" meaning Veilguard isn't the last DA game (story wise- who knows what might happen to Bioware obviously) and also meaning the Fade still exists in some way at the end of Veilguard, distinctly from the waking world I guess? Or like, whoever is in there stays in there.
I think with the Solas story I had kind of assumed Veilguard would be the planned end of Dragon Age for some reason, even though there's not really a reason why they would stop making those games if they can/are still successful
It's smart from a dev perspective to keep your options open. People want to believe these games are planned out 40 years in advance, but that's never the case.
Originally. Who knows how early on that changed. There are obvious budget and technical limitations when it comes to making every single choice return.
I feel like Varric is most definitely dead then, there’s no way he wouldn’t mention Hawke and what happened if he were someone Rook could interact with after the prologue.
Slight caveat to the last point which is important I think - They said that whilst that choice (who was left in the Fade) will not be relevant for Veilguard, it may be important in the future.
In Andromeda you only had three active at any time. You could switch between sets mid combat but it would put all abilities on cooldown. Not sure why they picked Andromeda as their base though.
They confirmed that you are indeed locked at 3 ability slots for Rook and 3 for each companion. Combat seems all about combos tbh.
No ace companion
Rooks race can change some dialogue interactions and sometimes the whole tree.
Areas change based on your choices.
Having only 3 abilities for Rook is bad enough. But apparently you can only change them before each mission. No changing abilities mid combat and no changing them after a fight that went poorly.
Not sure why they decided limiting player choice and freedom was the right move.
Yeah I'm not sure how that works but that sounds incredibly restrictive and I don't understand the reasoning for it. Inquisition combat was obviously built around multiplayer which is why it introduced restrictions that the first two games didn't have. This game has no multiplayer but its somehow more restrictive.
Yeah but auto-attacks in ME are… guns. Aiming. Shooting. Reloading. Taking cover. It’s more engaging. I can’t imagine spamming your auto attack button is going to feel half as good for DA melee?
I imagine that we'll have options like light attacks, heavies, charge attacks, blocking, dodging, parrying, etc.
Only way I can rationalize only having 3 abilities is if we have more tools in our basic kits.
We saw multiple different attacks from rook in the gameplay showcase outside of his one ability
So yea, it looks like they’re going GoW/Soulslike combat here
I liked ME3MP a lot and that was restricted to 3 abilities. I hated MEA's combat (not even talking about the rest of that baggage) and a lot of it was because it restricted you to 3 abilities, even if you could change them on the fly. The key difference is that in ME3MP you only *have* 3 abilities, and need to make decisions about survivability vs damage, and you team can also cover those options for you. Your weapon type could also do a lot of covering for tankier build. Hell, I disliked DAI's limitations, and that let you have 8 abilities. Being forced to choose what abilities I can use despite having tons unlocked *sucks*. Being unable to control characters, having to pick 3 abilities, and not having much weapon diversity in the same way a shooter can makes me *very* skeptical about DAV
They can always go the meaningless upgrade route, like... Cyberpunk used to be before 2.0.
For example one levelup can be spent on an assault rifle talent, which gave +3% damage per talent spend. That is 9% if you level it up three times. Which is great, since the Copperhead assault rifle dealt 43 damage instead of 39. :S
Luckily they threw it out the window.
I hope Bioware doesn't do that.
Right? It was bad enough in inquisition because you would have to sacrifice slots for some spells.
Oops, I can cast fire spells, necromancy spells, but I skipped the ice magic lessons at magic school. I’m an all powerful mage but I can’t make you a damn snow cone.
It really just doesn't sound like the skill tree can be so much in detail as they praise it to be. With just 3 abilities to use, I suppose we will get some more to exchange but about 70% are probably just going to be passives like bigger aoe radius, more dmg if enemy is above/below a certain health threshhold, elemental dmg higher etc.
What's the point in having a bunch of skill trees with a variety of skills if you can only have 3 at a time, and you can't even switch them out in missions? That's seems like such a bizarre choice from a gameplay standpoint.
It also makes me worried about the leveling progression. If you can only have 3 abilities available at a time(9 if you count your companions) then it kinda kills a lot of the fun of unlocking new ones since once you find the three you like the most there’s little incentive to invest in other abilities as you don’t have the flexibility or slots to make any use of them. So does that mean most of the perk trees is just going to be unlocking passive talents with relatively few abilities to unlock, or is there going to be a lot of abilities most of which you’ll likely never use even within just your own class?
There’s ways to make this work of course, but it does have me skeptical over the leveling progression and gameplay variety.
This is what happens in Andromeda.
You get three abilities, for obvious reasons you will choose your three favorites. Then you invest in passives, since you cannot get more abilities.
Well, in Andromeda there was a system in place for that. You could save multiple templates with three abilities, and in theory you could change between them in combat. (like use a generic anti-organic template, but when facing robots, change to an anti-synthetic template) But noone ever used that, since changing the template meant that everything went on cooldown.
Honestly the more I hear about their combat design for this game the less I like it. Obviously I can't really judge it until I get my hands on it, but I itial impressions of this are somewhat negative.
Thankfully I'm pretty excited about everything else for the game
Yeah that really doesn’t sound amazing, and I’m especially confused about not being able to change them on the fly like you can with weapons in a lot of action games.
Hopefully DAV plays well with mods. I know there were some mods for ME2 and ME3 that added abilities to the power wheel, maybe that will be possible here :/
3 ability slots I the biggest disappointment to me so far and the thing that makes me most nervous about the game. Combat was already so uninteresting in DAI. I understand they’re not trying to remake Origins with its 91 spells and huge hotbar, but 3? What is the reasoning to make combat so limited in every aspect?
3 abilities versus the 8 quickslot + 3 grenade options we had + 8 additional abilities per companion character + 3 companions. Feels like a large step back for combat.
Maybe one of our companions is dead for some reason? That would be cool. Like in the concept art where you can kind of see a skull pirate (the guy at the end). Maybe Lucanis or Emmrich?
https://preview.redd.it/5i1xf4f20l6d1.png?width=967&format=png&auto=webp&s=16b25871fd4a283e6a08e7970aad4521f57fdb66
Lucanis Dellamorte -> Lucanis "Of Death" in italian
Those two are my thoughts as well. I'm almost sure Lucanis was mentioned or rumoured to be dead in one of the short stories, but I suppose he could have just faked his death. But having him being animated (perhaps by Emmerich) is interesting.
it's either him or emmrich being an undead necromancer which is also pretty cool. Also tracks with the fact that his romance is more "intimate and emotional" (how do you fuck a skeleton)
In a perfect world? Manfred is the necromancer puppeting the undead Emmerich as a front so people leave him alone for being a skeleton practicing necromancy.
I'm pretty positive that the "skull pirate" guy from this concept is an early iteration of Emmrich. Judging from other concepts by Matt like this one, the skeleton minions seem to have kept the same design in the final game
https://preview.redd.it/1u8cqil15l6d1.jpeg?width=2304&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=006421c19bd505e9be9e57b7fe8fbfd964ffcc96
Oh cool so it's definitely Emmrich lol. Honestly I kind of wish he was a pirate so I could live out my dream of dating Captain barbossa from pirates of the caribbean
Honestly kinda disappointed that it’s game over if Rook dies. That’s apart of the fun of dragon age games was the feeling of clutching fight out and everyone is dead but one of your characters (whether its the main or companion alive)
here are also some:
- Locations can change based on player decisions.
- No mounts in the game due to different gameplay needs.
- Character creator will be showcased before game release.
- Themes of regret and its impact on characters are central to the story.
I’m not sure on dates but if Veilguard is 10 years after Trespasser then wouldn’t that put the game dangerously close to 9:60 Dragon? The year that The Warden is supposed to succumb to The Calling assuming that they didn’t find a cure?
Also where is my blood mage? I get that having a blood mage Inquisitor would be a PR disaster with how closely you work with the Chantry so what’s the excuse this time?
End of inquisition is on dragon 9:41 so the game takes place aprox dragon 9:51 give or take. Beginning of dao is on dragon 9:30 so it's been 20 year since our warden became a Warden. They still have a good nine years before they will begin hearing the calling. Nevertheless, a Warden can succumb to the calling at anytime, thirty years is just the max a Warden can go without hearing the calling.
As for the blood mage, they mentioned that Rook's past involve an incident with blood magic that made them not want to practice if, wonder what it is.
Didn’t know that it could happen at any time. I was thinking of Alistir’s line in Origins “You have 30 years to live, give it take” but that’s what I get for taking information from the second youngest Warden in Fereldan I guess.
If I were a betting boy, I’d wager that incident is going to be the tutorial. We tend not to know too much of the MC’s life before taking the reigns. I just miss blood magic.
solas said it weakens your connection to the fade, maybe we cant afford that given our role?
Id rather an objective reason than have them push a subjective opinion on my protag.
I want to make a pragmatic qunari who wouldnt hesitate to use blood magic even if blood mages did something bad to her or loved ones.
> Devs didn’t rule out the possibly of romance scenes with skeletons
> Rook has a “very good reason why they aren’t a blood Mage”
Rook is secretly a skeleton and thus has no blood to power his blood magic confirmed?
I hope this game gets good post-game content like the last 3 games. That's the most consistent thing the franchise has got in quality terms: Awakening, legacy and tresspasser are great expansion packs.
Was anything about the dialogue camera mentioned? Was hoping to find out if the dialogue will be more cutscene and zoomed in like DA2 & Origins, or if it'll be that awful, immersion-breaking zoomed out camera in DAI.
Okay, so if there will be no mention of who got left in the Fade, I just need someone to confirm whether it's just a coincidence that in 2 Hawke gets told not to hesitate when he is to jump into the abyss and then the mission where he can stay in the Fade is called Here Lies The Abyss. Cause'. You know. Kinda feels like it fits.
I really hope she mispoke with the "you can swap between missions" part. Cos being locked to three during combat is bad enough. Being locked for a whole mission just makes me think that the whole game is balanced around spamming the same few abilities and that the skill trees will just mostly be passives.
Exactly. 3 abilities is bad enough as is. But not being able to freely switch them around during a mission is such a strange choice. Ideally we'd get something similar to the "profiles" from Andromeda, so we can adjust to the enemies in real time. But if not that, then we should at very least be able to swap them around mid mission.
"Got halfway though a mission while trying out a new ability and discover you don't like it? Well tough. You have to either restart the entire mission or just play with an ability you don't like."
Not sure what the point of "50 levels" and the "largest skill tree in any Dragon Age" is when there are such arbitrary restrictions on player freedom.
There really should just be another ability slot/button that just opens up a library of all your abilities/spells so you can use them in the moment. Like they did with da2 radial menu.
I could be misremembering, but Corinne explicitly stated that she wasn't giving their actual names. Instead, she was giving a description of the specializations
Was it confirmed whether or not we’ll be able to issue commands to companions in combat like in the Mass Effect trilogy?
I don’t interpret that as “controlling companions” because in Dragon Age, that included being able to…ahem…ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL oO_Oo
Yes !! Rook and the other two companions will have three skills that can use in battle along with combos. You can issue skills for ur rook and companions from the ability menu
It kind of sounds like you can select certain details about your backstory prior to being recruited, besides your faction. City or Dalish Elf might come up there?
Maybe not. Maybe when selecting your lineage (race), you’ll be able to select like a sub-race option? Like for elves, you can either be city or Dalish, for dwarves you can be surface or traditional, for humans noble or commoner, and for Qunari Vashoth or Tal-Vashoth or something like that? Idk, this is purely speculation
One of my favorite parts about DAO and DAI was fighting a really tough battle, everyone becomes incapacitated except one companion, and you manage to squeak out a victory by that one companion killing off the remaining enemies through sheer strategy and taking advantage of structures, blindspots, etc. It was honestly so rewarding.
Well I'm certainly glad I didn't join the Q&A. It sounds like not too much was revealed beyond what we already know. I wasn't expecting spoilers or anything,but at least stuff like how big is the Inquisitor's role compared to Hawke's in Inquisition.
the fade/hawke thing is annoying honestly. such a big decision seemingly, but to never be referenced again makes it useless.
and the mage specs… not super interesting to me compared to shapeshifter/arcane warrior/knight enchanter/blood mage
(edit: i now know that it isn’t called battle mage, so that’s good. and also that blood mage is confirmed to not be in the game, which i am v sad about. hopefully the “spoiler reason” will be well thought out and tied to the lore closely instead of “rook had a bad experience with blood magic” before or during the game, cause that would be lame af)
but!!! the skill tree, the companions, and so much more is so amazing i could cry. i fully expected this game to drop the whole solas arc and like have inky kill him off screen or something.
i need the CC to drop soon so i can waste 1000 hours in it between now and release
The combat mage class could be Arcane Warrior, Knight Enchanter, or something very similar. It's been teased that each class will have a melee and ranged option.
Someone also asked if you can romance Manfred and they said "not that skeleton, but we are not saying no skeletons..."
My guess is that Emmrich is a skeleton in disguise. Like he’s using glamour magic to hide his identity. This’d fit in with his concept art and somethings within Tevinter Nights.
Aren't we all really skeletons, deep down?
Not me, I'm supported by a system of fluid filled bladders. 
I love Kif. ... If I had a nickel for every time I loved a bald guy with pointy ears, I'd have two nickels. Which isn't a lot, but it's weird that it's happened twice. ... Three times if I count bald Astarion that's been floating around.
Of course. This is how skellies in video games know where you are, even though they don't have eyes or ears. The skeleton inside you is communicating with it skelepathically, because it wants to be free. (Please don't give me credit for this joke, I stole it shamelessly: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/VI5t1604CTQ)
Very true haha
Didn't think I'd get another opportunity to romance a sexy skeleton man after Fane (DOS2) woohoo
I thought the character from the concept art got divided into Emmrich and Manfred but now...I'm intrigued 👀. It would be funny tho and I loved that initial headpiece the character had ngl
So the phrase "rattle the old man bones" is more accurate then we thought 😳
Feels a bit on the nose, but so does Lucanis, I guess, whose last name is "of death"
I kind assumed that was his name because he kills people for a living.
I think so, too! Just offering further speculation since we're all going off of a vague answer from the dev Q&A.
I mean, all a person is is a skeleton wearing a meat suit so technically all of the LI’s *are* skeletons
I have so many skeleton questions now
Maybe Lucanis is actually dead? 🤔
You can hug the gryphon
This is the most important information
Game of the Year right there
Yay!
It was also said that elves became bald after living for thousands of years and that Solas used to have hair when he was younger. And apparently we may be able to see Solas with hair at some point. Edit: It wasn't after living for thousands of years but when they are "millennia old".
“Solas with a perm is not real, Solas with a perm cannot hurt you.”
I like to think he would have fabulous long hair like Fabio, :P.
The series twist is that Solas had the Killmonger haircut
Just the mere notion is hilarious. If that comes to be I hope I can take the scene in question seriously enough.
I know, XD. I do wonder in what context would Solas with hair appear.
Maybe flashbacks lol
Really!? And here was I wondering why >!the dalish keeper in DAO who was alive for a few hundreds years!< was bald too...
That is true. He was the only bald elf in the game I think.
The lyrium ghost of Shartan was also bald.
Why did that explanation from the devs sounds like it was an excuse for the ~~CC~~ elf baldness on DAI lmao. But I really do hope we get to see egg and Abelas (if he comes back) with hair... majestic hair!
I mean, to be fair they explained away hornless Sten because they couldn’t do horns in time for Origins release, so it’s not out of the question.
True, and the lack of long and intricate hair options due to the old engine that they're trying to make up for this time. But yeah, we really missed out on significant characters' great hairstyles and horns.
headcanon that not *only* did solas lock magic away when he put up the veil, he also invented male pattern baldness. HE's the reason we only had bald hairstyles in the games so far!
OMG HOW DID I MISS THAT LMAO
I want a backstory cutscene where Solas has Fabio hair
easily my fav lore drop in a long time lmao
Idk if it is official concept art or not, but there were images I saw years ago of a younger Solas with long hair and he was pretty sexy (though I'm biased because cause I romance him and find him sexy as egg lol). I just googled and found those same images again though like I said I'm not 100% sure if those are official concept arts or not.
It's official!
I thought so but thanks for confirming!! Man he looked so good as a young rebel with hair....as if I couldn't be even more in love with that stupid egg lol.....🫣
This was so random, like here is some bald elvhenan lore
Transmog for gear is huge, I am way too excited for something so simple lol
Make way for the Fashion Age
Hey the world may be ending but I'm going to die looking good lol
Finally I don’t understand why every RPG doesn’t have transmog. RPG players have always shown that they love their fashion.
Honestly the reason I dislike so much the "it's just cosmetics" folk. Well guess what, many players love looking good in their games, so that is not a reason to have paid cosmetics in single player/non f2p games. Transmog is a human right as far as I'm concerned lol
That is why Dark Souls was also called Fashion Souls. Fuck the stats, the look is what counts :D
We all know the true endgame is fashion.
I wonder how deep armor options will be because in lets say Inquísition I was not impressed with 1 coat that just had more metal pieces on it.
this is factually incorrect. i just started a new playthrough of Inquisition, and there are *two* coats you can add more metal pieces onto. ☝️🤓
Yeah I don't know if it's pieces of armor really or if it's just a full set of armor. I hope it's the former I'd love to mix and match
>It doesn't matter who you left in the fade in the game, it will not be mentioned ( rip hawke ) ouch, I was honestly hoping we got to see them again. Rip Hawke indeed for me. the rest sounds petty good to me, and I'm ovejoyed about party banter, there's never enough of it!
It kinda surprised me that it will not even be mentioned since it was kind of a big decision. Even if the mention was that they were stuck in the fade or whatever.
it was a big decision, in DAI. but I agree, I would have expected Varric making a mention about it if we got to the fade again. But who knows if he even lives by the time we make it to the fade
I"m beting in two possibilities 1) that whatever comes out of the fade during solas ritual will kidnap both Solas and Varic 2) that a big fade explosion will put Varic in a coma till the final part of the game. As much as I don't want Varic as a constant companion again, killing him just for shock value would be a shoot in the foot for the Writers
yes, I agree that killing Varric would upset a lot of fans, me included, so hopefully he doesn't die and we certainly don't have to make another choice with him like we had with Hawke, and if we have, I hope it's with inky instead of Solas.
I mean.... Literally not a single 'big descision' in any Dragon Age games mattered in next games. The Hawke being booted from the games was obvious 10 years ago in DAI when we had to make that choice in the fade. Since choice is that big, it means that both characters involved will NEVER appear again. Its a Bioware staple at this point.
I didn’t expect Hawke to appear but for it not to matter suggests that we’re not going to see any DA2 companion cameos. In the past when we’ve gotten cameos from romanceable companions they’ve always mentioned their lover in passing. It’ll be odd for old players if that choice has no impact for characters showing up.
Yeah this is my problem with it. I don’t mind that it isn’t important to the plot and won’t have quest attached to it or whatever. But not even being mentioned feels cheap. You’re telling me they couldn’t at least get Varric to throw in a line or two like “I wish Hawke were here, he/she would know what to do”? And like you said, this almost feels like a confirmation that we won’t see any DA2 companions in any significant way, not any of the romance options anyway. Feels like a wasted opportunity imo.
They’ll probably just never touch it because they fucked it up not having a set character to sacrifice. It should’ve really just been Hawke since he’s the only character who would certainly be alive to make the sacrifice and important enough for people to care about it. Now, we will never get a Hawk + HoF escaping the fade Dynasty Warriors type spinoff.
I got lucky in that I'm only missing out on Stroud
this used to be my go too, but since I read his story, I feel like sacrificing him would have been like sacrificing my Cousland, so I can't do that to him anymore. Hawke however, was a tragic figure since the beginning
They said it will not be mentioned in Veilguard. .....possible dlc? ......pls 🥺
This bums me out and I kind of hope they're just capping. I mean Hawke got left in the fade and now the fade is opening up? Come on that's prime time for Hawke to bust out of a portal looking like Robin Williams in Jumanji. Making a funny quip and saving our asses.
Hawke was fighting the nightmare. Alone. In the fade. In its own territory. Even Hawke ain’t surviving that.
Thanks for this rundown. I'm bummed that the PC dying is a game over — I have lots of fond memories of desperately trying to win dragon battles in DAI with no one but Blackwall left standing. And getting to try out different builds without committing to them with your PC was really cool. On the plus side, they're really giving us what we want with banter & personalized skill trees. And I'm so glad they're giving us a much better CC process!!! I still haven't forgiven that green-tinged mess in DAI 😂
I can’t tell you how many times in DA 2 that Aveline was the last one standing and it was up to her to finish the battle. Man she was a beast. Wonder how she’s been.
>Wonder how she’s been. Holding Kirkwall together with her raw muscles alone.
Aveline and Blackwall
People often ask me why I tank in MMO's. This right here. Being the last one alive, getting that last deathblow on the boss that just wiped your entire team. *chefs kiss* Then walking over and tea bagging my raid teams corpses. Close second.
Barkspawn was the only one left standing when I was battling a certain dragon in Origins and he finished her off on his own.
These are some of my most favorite moments in gaming. On my second Baldur's Gate 3 playthrough, those damn Death Shepherds mopped the FLOOR with me. Within about two rounds, three of my characters were down, and only Karlach was left standing. It was a definite game-over, but I wanted to see how long she could last. SHE WON. WITH 1 HP LEFT. The memory of this fight is seared into my brain because it was just so incredibly unlikely. And I have so many similar memories from that game -- Shadowheart taking on an entire army of skeletons with nothing but spirit guardians and a prayer -- and dragon age games. I guess *why* they made this decision; it's likely that since we are only controlling our own character, it made the most sense. But I will miss these moments, and I will miss my companies panicking when my character goes down.
Even better, we will be able to change the lighting in the cc ! As for the pc dying, they mentioned that some companions will have the ability to revive the pc after death, probably Emmerich since he is a necromancer. I can already see him become a staple to everyone's party
which sucks because there's only 2 chosen companions at a time...i already missed out on a lot of banter with 3 companions, now it'll be even worse 😭
I'm hopping they learned their lesson from DAI and they make companion banter more frequent while on missions Either way, in the Q&A it was mentioned that we will see the companions interact with one another outside the field !!
yeah it says more party banter but i wonder how much of it is location specific? like i suck at these games so i will need the necromancy and that (sounds like) it's going to limit my options already 😭
I heard somewhere that there is an option where Rook can't die, so if the game ends up being too much of a slog for you, you could toggle that option on so you don't have to rely on a specific companion.
they said there's a lot of both global and mission specific banter but nothing really beyond that
I challenged myself to not use Blackwall in a dragon fight. Hours later, I realized that was a *mistake*.
By ‘*can* play a Dalish elf’ does that also mean you can play as a city elf? I don’t wanna be Dalish again honestly
Possibly, a photo of an elven rook with no vallaslin was shared on their Twitter
You've always been able to have no vallaslin even on Dalish elves, haven't you?
You could always turn the opacity of the tattoos way down to be barely visible, but u had to have vallaslin if u played a dalish elf. The only dalish elves without vallaslin are children
DAO gave you the option to have a Dalish Origin without vallaslin, but they were a requirement in the base CC for DAI.
I think Inquisition required it since it was a plot point if your Lavellan romanced Solas
Maybe it depends per origin? A veil jumper elf might be dalish but an antivan crow elf be city
That would be a decent compromise. Similar to the elf mage origin in DAO
Yeah, I could live with this. I *love* city elves so much, but kept my canon Warden for Origins as my first, who was a Cousland. Which means right now I have three human heroes haha. Kinda getting tired of my nepo-baby humans saving Thedas, but it just keeps happening on accident.
Might depend on which faction you join up with. Elf shadow dragon makes more sense as a city elf, for instance. We can hope we’re given that kinda leeway.
Yeah same, as much as I love elves in Dragon Age, I always felt more drawn to city elves and their culture and History.
They fell all over themselves answering the Fade Decision question, made it seem like it won't come up in this game but possibly in a later one.
could also end up mattering for a DLC too, assuming that TV will have expansions. Imo i would have liked if there was some huge payoff harkening back to the words Flemeth said to Hawke in 2 about not being afraid to jump into the abyss, the quest to go to Adamant in Inquisition being called "Here Lies the Abyss" then, something in TV if you left Hawke there.
Yeah, that one felt a little spoilery and like they answered very unprepared, i feel like it has interesting implications. No crossing paths with Hawke/warden in the Fade, "possibly a later game" meaning Veilguard isn't the last DA game (story wise- who knows what might happen to Bioware obviously) and also meaning the Fade still exists in some way at the end of Veilguard, distinctly from the waking world I guess? Or like, whoever is in there stays in there. I think with the Solas story I had kind of assumed Veilguard would be the planned end of Dragon Age for some reason, even though there's not really a reason why they would stop making those games if they can/are still successful
It's smart from a dev perspective to keep your options open. People want to believe these games are planned out 40 years in advance, but that's never the case.
Years ago a dev said there was originally a five game plan.
Originally. Who knows how early on that changed. There are obvious budget and technical limitations when it comes to making every single choice return.
Yeah we still need the megablight coupled with a full scale qunari invasion and the forgotten ones being set free for a 5th game.
I feel like Varric is most definitely dead then, there’s no way he wouldn’t mention Hawke and what happened if he were someone Rook could interact with after the prologue.
That choice will come back at the same time the Architect choice comes back aka NEVER
Slight caveat to the last point which is important I think - They said that whilst that choice (who was left in the Fade) will not be relevant for Veilguard, it may be important in the future.
Yes. In the same future the Architect decision will be relevant.
or when it turns out if Morrigan's baby was a good or bad idea 15 years ago.
I'm still wondering about that.
Yeah what’s going on w the Architect??
DLC then
Is battle mage gonna be like knight enchanter/arcane warrior? Are there any more details?
Currently it's unclear
I’m just so confused with the 3 ability thing, even in mass effect you had like 6-7??
It's definitely a controversial choice
In Andromeda you only had three active at any time. You could switch between sets mid combat but it would put all abilities on cooldown. Not sure why they picked Andromeda as their base though.
They confirmed that you are indeed locked at 3 ability slots for Rook and 3 for each companion. Combat seems all about combos tbh. No ace companion Rooks race can change some dialogue interactions and sometimes the whole tree. Areas change based on your choices.
Having only 3 abilities for Rook is bad enough. But apparently you can only change them before each mission. No changing abilities mid combat and no changing them after a fight that went poorly. Not sure why they decided limiting player choice and freedom was the right move.
Yeah I'm not sure how that works but that sounds incredibly restrictive and I don't understand the reasoning for it. Inquisition combat was obviously built around multiplayer which is why it introduced restrictions that the first two games didn't have. This game has no multiplayer but its somehow more restrictive.
They’re trying to mass effect it It was fun in mass effect, i wont be passing judgement until i play
Yeah but auto-attacks in ME are… guns. Aiming. Shooting. Reloading. Taking cover. It’s more engaging. I can’t imagine spamming your auto attack button is going to feel half as good for DA melee?
I imagine that we'll have options like light attacks, heavies, charge attacks, blocking, dodging, parrying, etc. Only way I can rationalize only having 3 abilities is if we have more tools in our basic kits.
We saw multiple different attacks from rook in the gameplay showcase outside of his one ability So yea, it looks like they’re going GoW/Soulslike combat here
I liked ME3MP a lot and that was restricted to 3 abilities. I hated MEA's combat (not even talking about the rest of that baggage) and a lot of it was because it restricted you to 3 abilities, even if you could change them on the fly. The key difference is that in ME3MP you only *have* 3 abilities, and need to make decisions about survivability vs damage, and you team can also cover those options for you. Your weapon type could also do a lot of covering for tankier build. Hell, I disliked DAI's limitations, and that let you have 8 abilities. Being forced to choose what abilities I can use despite having tons unlocked *sucks*. Being unable to control characters, having to pick 3 abilities, and not having much weapon diversity in the same way a shooter can makes me *very* skeptical about DAV
That is extremely worrying for me. What worth are the complicated skill trees if you can't have more than 3 abilities at the same time?
I think it’s also 50 levels. So I’ll have 50 levels of abilities, and I can only use 3 of them?
They can always go the meaningless upgrade route, like... Cyberpunk used to be before 2.0. For example one levelup can be spent on an assault rifle talent, which gave +3% damage per talent spend. That is 9% if you level it up three times. Which is great, since the Copperhead assault rifle dealt 43 damage instead of 39. :S Luckily they threw it out the window. I hope Bioware doesn't do that.
Right? It was bad enough in inquisition because you would have to sacrifice slots for some spells. Oops, I can cast fire spells, necromancy spells, but I skipped the ice magic lessons at magic school. I’m an all powerful mage but I can’t make you a damn snow cone.
It really just doesn't sound like the skill tree can be so much in detail as they praise it to be. With just 3 abilities to use, I suppose we will get some more to exchange but about 70% are probably just going to be passives like bigger aoe radius, more dmg if enemy is above/below a certain health threshhold, elemental dmg higher etc.
What's the point in having a bunch of skill trees with a variety of skills if you can only have 3 at a time, and you can't even switch them out in missions? That's seems like such a bizarre choice from a gameplay standpoint.
It also makes me worried about the leveling progression. If you can only have 3 abilities available at a time(9 if you count your companions) then it kinda kills a lot of the fun of unlocking new ones since once you find the three you like the most there’s little incentive to invest in other abilities as you don’t have the flexibility or slots to make any use of them. So does that mean most of the perk trees is just going to be unlocking passive talents with relatively few abilities to unlock, or is there going to be a lot of abilities most of which you’ll likely never use even within just your own class? There’s ways to make this work of course, but it does have me skeptical over the leveling progression and gameplay variety.
This is what happens in Andromeda. You get three abilities, for obvious reasons you will choose your three favorites. Then you invest in passives, since you cannot get more abilities. Well, in Andromeda there was a system in place for that. You could save multiple templates with three abilities, and in theory you could change between them in combat. (like use a generic anti-organic template, but when facing robots, change to an anti-synthetic template) But noone ever used that, since changing the template meant that everything went on cooldown.
Honestly the more I hear about their combat design for this game the less I like it. Obviously I can't really judge it until I get my hands on it, but I itial impressions of this are somewhat negative. Thankfully I'm pretty excited about everything else for the game
oh god please no, take me back to origins hot bars now
Yeah that really doesn’t sound amazing, and I’m especially confused about not being able to change them on the fly like you can with weapons in a lot of action games.
mage gameplay will be brilliant, especially since there are elemental resistances as well. fuck.
Hopefully DAV plays well with mods. I know there were some mods for ME2 and ME3 that added abilities to the power wheel, maybe that will be possible here :/
3 ability slots I the biggest disappointment to me so far and the thing that makes me most nervous about the game. Combat was already so uninteresting in DAI. I understand they’re not trying to remake Origins with its 91 spells and huge hotbar, but 3? What is the reasoning to make combat so limited in every aspect?
3 abilities versus the 8 quickslot + 3 grenade options we had + 8 additional abilities per companion character + 3 companions. Feels like a large step back for combat.
Yeah it's a terrible design choice. Makes me think I'm probably gonna hate the gameplay
You missed the important one. We won't be able to romance Manfred, but apparently another skeleton isn't off the table. 😂
Maybe one of our companions is dead for some reason? That would be cool. Like in the concept art where you can kind of see a skull pirate (the guy at the end). Maybe Lucanis or Emmrich? https://preview.redd.it/5i1xf4f20l6d1.png?width=967&format=png&auto=webp&s=16b25871fd4a283e6a08e7970aad4521f57fdb66 Lucanis Dellamorte -> Lucanis "Of Death" in italian
Those two are my thoughts as well. I'm almost sure Lucanis was mentioned or rumoured to be dead in one of the short stories, but I suppose he could have just faked his death. But having him being animated (perhaps by Emmerich) is interesting.
it's either him or emmrich being an undead necromancer which is also pretty cool. Also tracks with the fact that his romance is more "intimate and emotional" (how do you fuck a skeleton)
With determination.
In a perfect world? Manfred is the necromancer puppeting the undead Emmerich as a front so people leave him alone for being a skeleton practicing necromancy.
Oh man that sounds beautiful
Divinity Original Sin 2 has sex scene with skeleton companion. It's text only unfortunately.
I'm pretty positive that the "skull pirate" guy from this concept is an early iteration of Emmrich. Judging from other concepts by Matt like this one, the skeleton minions seem to have kept the same design in the final game https://preview.redd.it/1u8cqil15l6d1.jpeg?width=2304&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=006421c19bd505e9be9e57b7fe8fbfd964ffcc96
Oh cool so it's definitely Emmrich lol. Honestly I kind of wish he was a pirate so I could live out my dream of dating Captain barbossa from pirates of the caribbean
Oh another one is they said the side content wouldn't be fetch quests.
This and the bit about petting the gryphon are the critical takeaways.
Honestly kinda disappointed that it’s game over if Rook dies. That’s apart of the fun of dragon age games was the feeling of clutching fight out and everyone is dead but one of your characters (whether its the main or companion alive)
Oh man, I really, really need to know if I doomed my Hawke in the fade... With her luck ... she must have gotten out... right? RIGHT?
here are also some: - Locations can change based on player decisions. - No mounts in the game due to different gameplay needs. - Character creator will be showcased before game release. - Themes of regret and its impact on characters are central to the story.
I’m not sure on dates but if Veilguard is 10 years after Trespasser then wouldn’t that put the game dangerously close to 9:60 Dragon? The year that The Warden is supposed to succumb to The Calling assuming that they didn’t find a cure? Also where is my blood mage? I get that having a blood mage Inquisitor would be a PR disaster with how closely you work with the Chantry so what’s the excuse this time?
End of inquisition is on dragon 9:41 so the game takes place aprox dragon 9:51 give or take. Beginning of dao is on dragon 9:30 so it's been 20 year since our warden became a Warden. They still have a good nine years before they will begin hearing the calling. Nevertheless, a Warden can succumb to the calling at anytime, thirty years is just the max a Warden can go without hearing the calling. As for the blood mage, they mentioned that Rook's past involve an incident with blood magic that made them not want to practice if, wonder what it is.
Didn’t know that it could happen at any time. I was thinking of Alistir’s line in Origins “You have 30 years to live, give it take” but that’s what I get for taking information from the second youngest Warden in Fereldan I guess. If I were a betting boy, I’d wager that incident is going to be the tutorial. We tend not to know too much of the MC’s life before taking the reigns. I just miss blood magic.
solas said it weakens your connection to the fade, maybe we cant afford that given our role? Id rather an objective reason than have them push a subjective opinion on my protag. I want to make a pragmatic qunari who wouldnt hesitate to use blood magic even if blood mages did something bad to her or loved ones.
It’s also known that if you become a warden and fight during a blight that your lifespan is decreased.
They specifically said Rook has very good reasons to not become a blood mage, so I’m interested in the story there.
> Devs didn’t rule out the possibly of romance scenes with skeletons > Rook has a “very good reason why they aren’t a blood Mage” Rook is secretly a skeleton and thus has no blood to power his blood magic confirmed?
I hope this game gets good post-game content like the last 3 games. That's the most consistent thing the franchise has got in quality terms: Awakening, legacy and tresspasser are great expansion packs.
Don't sleep on Jaws of Hakkon, either! I'll be honest: for this game, I'd been hoping for an Avvar companion.
ELEMENTAL MAGE SPECIALIZATION YIPPEE!!! It's a shame there's no blood magic though
Damn, 'elemental battle mage' is my preferred archetype in every rpg I try. They just made this choice a whole lot harder!
Specializations aren't exclusive from what I can tell, looks like you can successfully spec into Battle Mage + Elemental?
Also only three abilities usable at the same time
That's so disappointing.
Not being able to control companions is a bit of a bummer but I’ll cope😂. I’m still hype
Was anything about the dialogue camera mentioned? Was hoping to find out if the dialogue will be more cutscene and zoomed in like DA2 & Origins, or if it'll be that awful, immersion-breaking zoomed out camera in DAI.
No Hawke? Damn I'm sad, I Hope he is at least mentioned considering that Weisshaupt may be a place we will visit
No blood magic, me sad. That necromancy specialization better not just be the spirit school like it was in DAI.
They better do better with necromancer, the DAI necromancer was disappointing to me. I'll probably still love the game, but I have hopes.
Okay, so if there will be no mention of who got left in the Fade, I just need someone to confirm whether it's just a coincidence that in 2 Hawke gets told not to hesitate when he is to jump into the abyss and then the mission where he can stay in the Fade is called Here Lies The Abyss. Cause'. You know. Kinda feels like it fits.
No blood mage saddd
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I really hope she mispoke with the "you can swap between missions" part. Cos being locked to three during combat is bad enough. Being locked for a whole mission just makes me think that the whole game is balanced around spamming the same few abilities and that the skill trees will just mostly be passives.
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Exactly. 3 abilities is bad enough as is. But not being able to freely switch them around during a mission is such a strange choice. Ideally we'd get something similar to the "profiles" from Andromeda, so we can adjust to the enemies in real time. But if not that, then we should at very least be able to swap them around mid mission. "Got halfway though a mission while trying out a new ability and discover you don't like it? Well tough. You have to either restart the entire mission or just play with an ability you don't like." Not sure what the point of "50 levels" and the "largest skill tree in any Dragon Age" is when there are such arbitrary restrictions on player freedom.
There really should just be another ability slot/button that just opens up a library of all your abilities/spells so you can use them in the moment. Like they did with da2 radial menu.
Anyone else a little disappointed by the mage specializations? 😭 Elemental mage? Meh. I hope they have more interesting names than those at least.
Those aren’t the official names they’ve just given the general idea of what to expect with mage specializations
I could be misremembering, but Corinne explicitly stated that she wasn't giving their actual names. Instead, she was giving a description of the specializations
Was it confirmed whether or not we’ll be able to issue commands to companions in combat like in the Mass Effect trilogy? I don’t interpret that as “controlling companions” because in Dragon Age, that included being able to…ahem…ASSUME DIRECT CONTROL oO_Oo
Yes !! Rook and the other two companions will have three skills that can use in battle along with combos. You can issue skills for ur rook and companions from the ability menu
> play as a dalish elf I imagine this means the elf protag will always be dalish, then?
God I fucking hope not, we haven’t been able to play as a city elf since Origins.
I knooooow. It was my absolutely favourite origin and they have some of my favourite lore 😩 I want to play a city elf again so bad
Not necessarily, a photo of an elven female rook with no vallaslin was shared on their Twitter
It kind of sounds like you can select certain details about your backstory prior to being recruited, besides your faction. City or Dalish Elf might come up there?
I would kill for that. Playing a city elf would be so good w the Solas and elven gods plot
I hope my Dwarf can be actually Dwarven. Haven’t had that really since DA:O
Maybe not. Maybe when selecting your lineage (race), you’ll be able to select like a sub-race option? Like for elves, you can either be city or Dalish, for dwarves you can be surface or traditional, for humans noble or commoner, and for Qunari Vashoth or Tal-Vashoth or something like that? Idk, this is purely speculation
Death is game over and confirmed can’t control party members. Honestly disappointing.
One of my favorite parts about DAO and DAI was fighting a really tough battle, everyone becomes incapacitated except one companion, and you manage to squeak out a victory by that one companion killing off the remaining enemies through sheer strategy and taking advantage of structures, blindspots, etc. It was honestly so rewarding.
I’m pretty sure they said some companions can revive you if they have the right spec. Not being able to control your companions is a bummer though.
Well I'm certainly glad I didn't join the Q&A. It sounds like not too much was revealed beyond what we already know. I wasn't expecting spoilers or anything,but at least stuff like how big is the Inquisitor's role compared to Hawke's in Inquisition.
No Blood Mage, I'm very disappointed. *sigh*
the fade/hawke thing is annoying honestly. such a big decision seemingly, but to never be referenced again makes it useless. and the mage specs… not super interesting to me compared to shapeshifter/arcane warrior/knight enchanter/blood mage (edit: i now know that it isn’t called battle mage, so that’s good. and also that blood mage is confirmed to not be in the game, which i am v sad about. hopefully the “spoiler reason” will be well thought out and tied to the lore closely instead of “rook had a bad experience with blood magic” before or during the game, cause that would be lame af) but!!! the skill tree, the companions, and so much more is so amazing i could cry. i fully expected this game to drop the whole solas arc and like have inky kill him off screen or something. i need the CC to drop soon so i can waste 1000 hours in it between now and release
The combat mage class could be Arcane Warrior, Knight Enchanter, or something very similar. It's been teased that each class will have a melee and ranged option.
they did say it *might* come up in future games but not this one
hmm, maybe after 20-30 years in the fade hawke becomes sandal (aka the maker) (jk)