The first time I played through Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I had Bellara destroy the elven artifact, and the mourning walk Rook and she took at the end of her storyline really lays on the guilt about it. Her storyline made me re-think the original decision I made, that the risk of such a wealth of knowledge falling into the wrong hands is inconsequential to the damage already done to the elves. It made me realize, that destroying the archive was no different to the washing away of their history by oppressors in the past. As soon as the credits rolled, I went into a second full playthrough of the game, and corrected that choice. I'll be honest with you, I'm not a fan of elves in general. They're overused and are often written to be the most stereotypical depiction of insufferable vegans, with the holier-than-thou attitude, and given lanky physical proportions. DA:Veilguard fixed their physical builds, and... I really like the Veiljumpers! Bellara is an amazing character, such a joy, and got me to re-think elves as a whole. Davrin was... okay. He's written like a typical marine jughead, but Assan was such a good boy, I made sure to keep Davrin alive at all cost. And yeah, I also made sure to set the gryphons free in the forest, they're all too good for the wardens. Dragon Age: The Veilguard was the first DA game that got me to re-think my choices during the experience. Well, Inquisition did, too. But that's because I'm a gay dude and wanted to make sure Iron Bull was genuinely loyal to his Inquisitor boyfriend. Anyway! There are some weird lines of dialogue, and the usual Bioware jank, but Veilguard provided a richer experience, after two back-to-back replays of the game with all of the sidequests completed, I'm in the middle of a third run through of the game, and STILL making sure to finish all of the sidequests. Dragon Age: The Veilguard really IS just fucking good. And it is SO satisfying, outplaying that disgusting, self-righteous queball at the end!
Anyone who was expecting this to be like Origins was setting themselves up for disappointment on purpose. Inconsistency is kind of this series' whole thing at this point.
Fun fact I just finished Origins today and the coerce Alistair into sex made me really fucking uncomfortable to the point where I had to look away from the screen during the scene.
@ Honestly I didn’t even know that, now I feel like a giant jackass. I just killed Loghain cause the idea of keeping him alive after he allowed slavers to kidnap elves just grossed me the fuck out
@firetitan764 Yeah, this information is kept from you for that very reason. You can still kill Loghain, but in a useful way. If the game wanted to, it could have had a theme of "stay your hand, opportunity may strike later."
Just watched this video for the first time. I don't have a lot of thoughts to write down right now but know that I enjoyed this video immensely. Dragon Age has been my favorite franchise for some years now, and your viewpoints have made me rethink my relationship with these games both what I love about them and what I think could be improved. Thank you.
The fact that you’re able to make videos about things, I have no interest in playing and no history of attachment with and I still watch captivated by everything you say is a testament to your ability as a commentator/analyzer/writer
This video actually convinced me to play Veilguard. I had only been hearing negative things about it, including from creators I respected the opinions of, but hearing you talk about it (especially in conjunction with your other Dragon Age videos and your videos in general) made me fully realize that this game isn't bad like people are saying it is. I'm excited to get to play it myself now
First, I want to say the game is good and that most of my issues are things that are specific to me or are nitpicks. I enjoyed the game overall, though. 1. This one is a me-thing. As a black woman, I HATE the minority monolith, and when I saw the elves worrying about the truth of the evanuris being yet another reason for people to freak out on them was just too sad. Not from a writing standpoint, but for my own playing experience. I had to take breaks from the game in order to play it because I get enough of this stuff in real life. And I know Inquisition already tells us that the elven gods suck and Solas straight up tells Dorian that Arlathan was as corrupt as Teventir. But dragon age's usually token ways of dealing with this issue made me think that I wouldn't have much to worry about in that department. But this time, it hurt, and while it was done well, for my own hangups, I didnt care for. (Loved the rest of the elven story of creating a new future and learning who they were. Just not the minority monolith and backlash of society part) 2. Again, probably a me thing. Bc they say anyone can leave the Qun, I am confused about what Tal-Vashoth is. Now, maybe its not a me-thing and the developers just rewrite that part of the Qun. Nitpick 3. Nitpick. Havent really liked the Qunari design since 2. 4. The squad all getting with someone came out of nowhere for my playthrough except Lucanis and Neve bc they have companion dialogue. The others might have it, but I usually didnt have them together in my party like Harding and Taash. It would have been nice to have more conversations at HQ about those feelings, them asking about other companions (and Strife), just so that players dont get blindsided with what seems like tacked on romances. (Idk if Davrin and Belara get together bc I romanced Davrin). Nitpick
The last part about media steeping itself with the veneer of dark topics without going deeper than surface glance reminds me of so much media... Honestly, I started calling such things "juvenile animation". They call themselves adult animation, but it's only ever swearing, gore and sex that just appeals to juveniles. Which is fine, it's alright to appeal to that audience too, but don't be shallow about it, dare to delve deeper and with care... Like this reminds me of Rica and Birdie. A very wacky spiritual spinoff of Bojack. Most episodes are a trip, but then it decides to drop some SA bombshells and not explore them in a meaningful way which just created such a tonal whiplash...
@frostedbear6853 Transphobic youtubers like to content farm me by responding to my videos and contrarily disagreeing with everything, and titling it "Lily Orchard Doesn't Understand X"
@@LilianOrchard well that's rather unfortunate but not surprising. I tried watching a few but honestly a didn't find myself understanding most of their points. Thanks for clearfying!
2:47 It's really weird why these companies love to reduce party limit. 6 is the perfect number and it seems only Olwcat games got the message, even Obsidian gave in and reduce to 5 in Deadfire.
I really liked this video series, despite only having played ~1/2 of the firs dragon age. What resonated with me the most are your comments on how often media will feature grim aesthetics, and pointless suffering and call themself "mature". If I want to see some pointless suffering I can read the news, there is enough of it in the world.
I joined the Dragon Age series just before Inquisition's first trailer came out, so I always took Origins' issues as Lily described them to be intentional, that yes it establishes a world with so much wrong-ness in its societies and institutions because Origins was supposed to be the foundations and the intention was always to deconstruct those issues in later installments. I'll admit that Origins is not perfect, and it was soooo infuriating to constantly have dude-bros compare Veilguard to Origins as a way to put it down. It's my fav in the series purely for the companions, the origins system, and because it got me back into gaming after years away. But I love the entire DA series and Veilguard was a wonderful way to close that series imo (if that is what Bioware chooses to do). Veilguard was never meant to be "dark and gritty" because Dragon Age is not "dark and gritty". Dragon Age is a fantasy adventure series where the main focus has ALWAYS been who you get to be best friends with and who you get to select in the date-simulator. And I was very pleasantly surprised at how Veilguard got me to pick options I had never considered going into it. And for anyone who says "the voice acting is jank" I DARE you to hear Taash scream "Tama" again and repeat that BS with a straight face!
My problem with "We were going to desconstruct it in later installments" is... why not do it now? Why does Origins have to be so completely plotless? A big problem with this series as a whole is we never truly resolve anything, it's always a stop on the way to "More Dragon Age."
I’ll admit after some consideration I think I’ll purchase this once I’m done with 2 and Inquisition. Thanks for making the video, makes me got to play this at least once.
The biggest telling of the Dark Themes fallacy is a story has it both ways of intellectual maturity and "maturity". A.k.a Wings of Fire Darkstalker The story is really heartbreaking about how the people are actually black and white but people are blinded by the idea people aren't inherently evil combined with evil people not seeing them as evil and is telling how uncomfortable that fact is All this around the three main characters of a God Complex, his girlfriend who put too much faith in him and his new best friend struggling with survivors guilt (which his arc made me depressed). But you wouldn't know that from how most say how it is dark which they say its dark from how much gore the death of the main characters father was and the event that gave the Best Friend the survivors guilt in the first place (instead to actual pain he has to go through after that for the rest of the book). There was a recent shit storm about how the Graphic Novel adaptation might censor the gory scenes and how it will "ruin" the dark nature of the book, but it doesn't really change anything as long as the meat of the characters personal issues and the uncomfortable theme remains in tact
I'd love to see what you think of Bloodborne. I rewatched TBSkyen's boss designs series on it, and you're the only other RUclipsr i watch that does deep dives on the meaning of video games rather than just talking about "the LORE Tm"
Its rare that I actually full front watch video essays anymore instead of just listening to them in the background but you consistently pull it of. Your passion always shines through, especially at the end. Your points about mature asthetics vs mature themes is something that I find in all aspects of quality writing. Whenver there is a really good story, you'll find hundreds of follow up stories taking the superficial appearance of what makes it good instead of actually understanding what the core aspects were. Especially noticable in the webnovel realm, but that's not really surprising lol.
Wait, TotalBiscuit covered Dragon Age 2? I know he covered some of Inquisition, and personally i agree with it looking like a game made to waste your time with as much tedious grinding as possible, though this is admittedly coming from ignorance as i never had any interest in bioware games, let alone dragon age. I don't recall if hed ever said anything about the second game however.
So basically what you're saying is: This is the only dragon age where I cared about the companions. You didn't cover them nearly in as much depth in the other videos.
When I played the game, i played an qunari lord of fortune, Bellara, Harding, and Tash had the best storylines for my taste, Bellara's made me cry ugly tears, Harding's made it clear that the dwarves were nearly destoyed by the evanuris and the mutated mind of their progenitor, the titans, in the form of the blight which is ironic in a disturbing way. Taash also had me bawling, as their experience with grappling with their gender honestly had me having flashbacks to my own journey in learning I was NB, and trying to explain it to the people I loved, only for them to not understand it at ALL. Lucanis was my romance for the game, because it's obvious that he is desperate for support with the fact that he is now sharing a body with a demon, and is in desperate need of genuine love and affection. I could write an entire thesis on how the characters in this game moved me. From Emmirich's loss and growth, to Neve's tragic journey. I am so glad you made videos on DA as it's my favorite game series. I started with 2, the origin, then inquisition, and I agree that origin is the weakest of all the games. I replayed 2 so many times my Xbox broke while playing it. in Inquisition I got the beauty of my Kaaras' love story with The Iron Bull, Origins gave me lore info, but that seems to be the only real purpose of it. So, thank you Lily, hearing you talk about these games, even the critiques(especially the critiques), gave me ideas on how to do new playthroughs for RP potential, as well as Fanfic ideas.
Thank you so much for this one. It felt like a breath of fresh air and cleansed my soul. It makes me so sad to see the sheer amount of hate this game generated. I thoroughly loved it on so many levels.
i have been intrigued by this game for a long time, the gameplay had me but i've heard a lot of the story and a lo of it bad but you've helped me to finally buy it, i'm excited to see what awaits me~
Heads up: There's a lot of self-conscious irreverence in the first part, until the part where you have to pick a city (you'll know it when you see it).
Veilguard was my first Dragon Age and i must say it was flawed but great over all. The theme of loss and dealing with grief and regrets was just phantastic. Graphic was great and i liked the companions. I have some issues with writining at times. But i don’t care. The ending was just a masterpiece. Solas is just great here. And the fact he is not the main villain but rather this hidden manipulating from behind is just perfectly in character for him. And even if i miss this vibe of inquisition. This game has more style and feels far more personal and Rook arc of dealing with grief about we know who was just cheff kiss. The world of Thedas was just so captivating. Minrathous was just full of it’s own personality. Still you can feel its a heart of ruthless empire. And treviso was just great location. Lucanis was my favourite character. He was for me the Garrus of Dragon Age. And it was dark and interesting enough to not be a completely this or this. And Bellara was just good character. And our main villans. I will quote and expert „Presentation”. These two are very fun to see and genualy terryfing at times. This game was a solid 8/10. I see this game as well as inquisition as two sides of the same coin. But i aknowledge the flaws the lack of politics compared to past games or lack of choices from previous games. But like i said this game has strong elements and as a direct continuation of inquisition it just Works for me. And it’s a shame that we won’t see probably a fifth instalment.
As an enby myself it was always challenging to interact with the Taash storyline, but I didn't seem to have the same problems others always rave about. The word "non-binary" was used only once and to decent effect, the insistence on they/them pronouns was normal and fair, and even the whole frustration of the Qunari being gender-bound as a species feels interesting enough that it's worth exploring. So what was my issue? Self-reflection. I didn't like the storyline in my playthrough because I was a coward, and incapable of the maturity to accept that the only thing wrong with the situation was my understanding of what makes good representation. A retroactive look at Taash today, I'm much more fond of them and what they had to say. I can accept today that I was at the time unready to be audience to a good story. Sidenote: Got whiplash seeing the comments section open again, let's see how long it takes this time before it's flooded with transphobes
I wasn't a fan of the idea that the Qun is now permissive of people leaving it - it felt defanged I guess. Stuff like the Saarebas in DA2, Bull's character arc, and side stuff like the Ben-Hassrath Reeducators codex entry all gave the impression of what the Qun was like, and to have that all altered in DA4 really left a bad taste in my mouth. That and as someone who's fan of DAO's and DA2's style of healing, I wasn't the biggest fan of how the combat worked in DA4. Negativity side - I appreciate your fair minded and passionate review of DA4. This was a great review!
People gotta stop getting so antsy about "defanging." The Qun as we understand it now is a lot more interesting in being Collectivist to the extreme, as opposed to just another oppressive dictatorship. As for the healing... The old games use potions and healing spells, and Veilguard uses... Potions and healing spells.
@@LilianOrchard That's fair. Should we get another sequel or post Veilguard stories - it will be interesting to see what the writers end up doing with the Qunari and Dalish alike. Thanks again for your Dragon Age reviews, I grew up with this series so to hear a review of each of the games meant a lot to me.
Veilguard had the best ending of any Dragon Age game, but the ride to get there was so painful for me. I really didn't enjoy it and it may be one of personal taste and though we agree on a lot of things I found this game to be so shallow. I've played an elf in all of these games (although I did have one playthrough as a Qunari for the novelty in Inquisition but changed when you weren't actually of the Qun), and the fact that I could barely ever point to my people's oppression in the games or talk about it to other elves felt so jarring. I liked all the companions but goddamn why couldn't I disagree with them? Sometimes my character who was at first going to be a by ay means necesary type just couldnt say anything but fully supportive no matter what. Even to none companions the dialogue felt so restrictive compared to say Mass Effect. I knew in my heart it would be too much to ask to say fuck you all I'm siding with Solas, but I thought at least I'd be able to say a few times, hey he has a point. Also, remember when it was said at the end of inquisition that elves where abandoning their clans and the alienages to join him... what happened to those, didn't he have an army? Also noone reacts at all appropriately to Gods returning. I know they could have wrote this in to dialogue because it's in the codex. I know you shouldn't judge a game for being what you want but only what it is, and as any old game, it's fine, if a bit too quippy for my tastes, but I've been with dragon age since the beginning, it was the first RPG i'd ever played, and it seemed to brush so close so many times to greatness. In the end, the ending made me quite sad, because I felt like that was what the game could have been, they should have concentrated on an elven rebllion, given us the choice to join it and had Solas be the focus. I think you're right that Origins is definitely self-consciously edgy in that nu-metal way, but the vibe was definitely off in this game. A little edge for the end of the world is okay, but that's a matter of taste, so what would have made me think the characters were taking the situation appropriately, you might have thought was too grim. Anyways, I enjoyed this video as always even if I disagreed with a lot of it.
One of few things I heard Veilguard did right was Solas... and everything else the remaining team could have control during the development. Being a live service and more focused on action it's... whatever. The gameplay of DA was always pretty bad, changing it wouldn't do much. But not importing the choices from previous games and other mechanics that might affect progression of relationship with the companions, this kinda matters a lot for the game. But if it was to take inspirations from Souls, Elden Ring does fit very well for the design of the Fade, considering how everything about it mystical and ethereal. Not mentioning that if given the same treatment to old gods of Thedas wouldn't be bad... (not at the narrative, Souls narrative work terribly in Dragon Age, but as for background and design to every manifestation from Fade... isn't the worst take. Another interpretation of Fade is from podcast of Veilguard that tells the story of Nadia. The podcast was a promotion to advertise the game, introducing the companions and it's good. (The villains are a bit cheesy tho) *realizing how Nadia would be better protagonist to Veilguard than Rook* Nadia isn't a good person and is far from the worst person of Tevinter. Her boyfriend, in other hand. Not worst, far from the best. I kinda want to see what she would do at Neve's campaign. If done carefully, she could have a better story than trying save the person that was her not-so-soon-fiance. (Her refusal was one of the best parts... but the narrative kinda makes the weaker take, her story seems inclusive)
They're not ugly though. Rook's hot, Bellara's pretty, Neve's gorgeous, and Harding looks fine. That's the problem with "uglification." You're just objectively incorrect.
I never brought up the Alistair SA scene because I never experienced it lol I always thought it was wrong considering he was already opposed to it so my word and always was the one who created the old God, baby😂
Sorry for my bad english What I have gotten from your videos on this series is that it is the oposit of the my hero academia manga. Dragon age started as an attempt at a deep and dark world that was as deep as a puddle and ended with a lighter tone, good characters and actually taking the thing it talks about more seriusly. My hero started with a light tone, amazing characters and with a suprising depth if you looked for it. And it ends having become dark and serius by making every character lose depth, making many many many sociatal flaws actually the falt of one man you can punch realy hard.
I actually didn't enjoy Bellara's quest at all! Cyrian's return just to die again felt very contrived, just like the explanation behind why he's helping the big bad ('mind control but not really mind control, because it's more like vibe checks'). I also feel the choice about the archive - while making sense in the context 'what are elves' - is wholly disconnected from her personal flaw, the immense guilt complex eating her away at the center of her character. That said, I really enjoyed Veilguard in general and your positive views on it are a welcome change in this hellish wasteland of 'too woke for me' grifters. Especially when you called out the 'veilguard is not dark enough' crowd, who apparently never even reached d'meta's crossing.
oh look, when properly explained the game sounds good... i still belive that the fools that started insulting everyone in twitter for not buying the game where the ones that doomed the game in the eyes of everyone that might have tried the game out of curiosity...
@mapplehitoritheartist9114 you mean the ones who threw absolute tantrums if you dared not worship the ground that Taash walks on. Yeah I believe it. But thats twitter for you.
@@Zerathenezot yeh, still that just made me choose to not buy it, why would i support someone that already hates my guts! and insults me wihtout even knowing me.. and i am a transwoman, their target demographic!.. if only they keep their mouths shut and let the game speak for itself.. like lilly did in this video... perhaps.. maybe it would sell
@@mapplehitoritheartist9114 I'd definitely avoid whatever corner you ran into that stuff in, it's generally shit for your mood to stick around in places like that. But I do have to say, not buying something because of odious fans is always a bit silly. You can find terrible people playing every game, watching every show, reading every book, having every hobby...are you going to let them stop you from enjoying life?
@@yellowmrslzlzshfksj obviously no.. but id that person is the one selling it, i wont buy it from them, i radersail the 7 seas with a black flag.. wink*
The reason why I even have a problem with veil guard is because it’s very weirdly written. Not to mention the shitty voice acting. I’ve played origins. This game looks like a child’s first drawing compared to it. Also who on this blue marble in the vacuum of space gives a damn about someone’s pronouns. I’ll call the twink by what it looks like.
Ive never played dragon age. It sounds like 2 is the best of these games...that story is really sad. Im sure many will relate to her life as the years goes on. And i will not lie, her clothes are cooler.
DA2 , in theory, is the best one. In execution is quite mediocre. Playing the actual game is a subpar experience, from level design to gameplay utter mediocre. Some of the characters and parts of the story are great , but all suffer from being rushed in 18 months.
The Qun had little information regarding it. Getting more information is not a retcon. And even if it was a retcon: Good retcons are good, and bad retcons are bad. This is a good retcon, so it's good.
I wonder if the color palate and combat had been more reminiscent of DAO/DA 2 would people have been more kind to veilguard. Admittedly I was a person who was put off by the visuals, dialogue and combat. That being said I 100% agree with a lot of DAO being all edge no point, however i still love DAO and DA2 to death. For whatever reason inquisition and veilguard just didn't grab my attention.
The fact that you have pronoun options and can make female characters who exist for reasons other than ogling, they'd have still blown a gasket over it.
I’ll admit after some consideration I think I’ll purchase this once I’m done with 2 and Inquisition. Thanks for making the video, makes me got to play this at least once.
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The first time I played through Dragon Age: The Veilguard, I had Bellara destroy the elven artifact, and the mourning walk Rook and she took at the end of her storyline really lays on the guilt about it. Her storyline made me re-think the original decision I made, that the risk of such a wealth of knowledge falling into the wrong hands is inconsequential to the damage already done to the elves. It made me realize, that destroying the archive was no different to the washing away of their history by oppressors in the past. As soon as the credits rolled, I went into a second full playthrough of the game, and corrected that choice.
I'll be honest with you, I'm not a fan of elves in general. They're overused and are often written to be the most stereotypical depiction of insufferable vegans, with the holier-than-thou attitude, and given lanky physical proportions. DA:Veilguard fixed their physical builds, and... I really like the Veiljumpers! Bellara is an amazing character, such a joy, and got me to re-think elves as a whole. Davrin was... okay. He's written like a typical marine jughead, but Assan was such a good boy, I made sure to keep Davrin alive at all cost. And yeah, I also made sure to set the gryphons free in the forest, they're all too good for the wardens.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard was the first DA game that got me to re-think my choices during the experience. Well, Inquisition did, too. But that's because I'm a gay dude and wanted to make sure Iron Bull was genuinely loyal to his Inquisitor boyfriend. Anyway! There are some weird lines of dialogue, and the usual Bioware jank, but Veilguard provided a richer experience, after two back-to-back replays of the game with all of the sidequests completed, I'm in the middle of a third run through of the game, and STILL making sure to finish all of the sidequests.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard really IS just fucking good. And it is SO satisfying, outplaying that disgusting, self-righteous queball at the end!
I am legit stoked to play this game for myself soon. Can't wait to get my Rook looking just right. World's hottest chess piece indeed
With how Lily’s Rook looked it kinda reminds me of your wow character. Also your art has been amazing.
It's been great taking this journey through the games, thanks for the insights!
Anyone who was expecting this to be like Origins was setting themselves up for disappointment on purpose.
Inconsistency is kind of this series' whole thing at this point.
Fun fact I just finished Origins today and the coerce Alistair into sex made me really fucking uncomfortable to the point where I had to look away from the screen during the scene.
The argument for redeeming Loghain is so he can kill the Archdemon and die, rendering all of that unnecessary.
@ Honestly I didn’t even know that, now I feel like a giant jackass. I just killed Loghain cause the idea of keeping him alive after he allowed slavers to kidnap elves just grossed me the fuck out
@firetitan764 Yeah, this information is kept from you for that very reason. You can still kill Loghain, but in a useful way. If the game wanted to, it could have had a theme of "stay your hand, opportunity may strike later."
@@LilianOrchard But it didn’t because Origins is as mature as an edgy teenager. And is honestly everything I don’t want to make.
It’s either that or death. And they both hate it.
Just watched this video for the first time. I don't have a lot of thoughts to write down right now but know that I enjoyed this video immensely. Dragon Age has been my favorite franchise for some years now, and your viewpoints have made me rethink my relationship with these games both what I love about them and what I think could be improved. Thank you.
This series of videos has been some of my faves from you :)
The fact that you’re able to make videos about things, I have no interest in playing and no history of attachment with and I still watch captivated by everything you say is a testament to your ability as a commentator/analyzer/writer
I love Lilys work!
This video actually convinced me to play Veilguard. I had only been hearing negative things about it, including from creators I respected the opinions of, but hearing you talk about it (especially in conjunction with your other Dragon Age videos and your videos in general) made me fully realize that this game isn't bad like people are saying it is. I'm excited to get to play it myself now
First, I want to say the game is good and that most of my issues are things that are specific to me or are nitpicks. I enjoyed the game overall, though.
1. This one is a me-thing. As a black woman, I HATE the minority monolith, and when I saw the elves worrying about the truth of the evanuris being yet another reason for people to freak out on them was just too sad. Not from a writing standpoint, but for my own playing experience. I had to take breaks from the game in order to play it because I get enough of this stuff in real life. And I know Inquisition already tells us that the elven gods suck and Solas straight up tells Dorian that Arlathan was as corrupt as Teventir. But dragon age's usually token ways of dealing with this issue made me think that I wouldn't have much to worry about in that department. But this time, it hurt, and while it was done well, for my own hangups, I didnt care for. (Loved the rest of the elven story of creating a new future and learning who they were. Just not the minority monolith and backlash of society part)
2. Again, probably a me thing. Bc they say anyone can leave the Qun, I am confused about what Tal-Vashoth is. Now, maybe its not a me-thing and the developers just rewrite that part of the Qun. Nitpick
3. Nitpick. Havent really liked the Qunari design since 2.
4. The squad all getting with someone came out of nowhere for my playthrough except Lucanis and Neve bc they have companion dialogue. The others might have it, but I usually didnt have them together in my party like Harding and Taash. It would have been nice to have more conversations at HQ about those feelings, them asking about other companions (and Strife), just so that players dont get blindsided with what seems like tacked on romances. (Idk if Davrin and Belara get together bc I romanced Davrin). Nitpick
A game with heart is worth more than a thousand games.
Ayeeee lily posted!
The last part about media steeping itself with the veneer of dark topics without going deeper than surface glance reminds me of so much media... Honestly, I started calling such things "juvenile animation". They call themselves adult animation, but it's only ever swearing, gore and sex that just appeals to juveniles. Which is fine, it's alright to appeal to that audience too, but don't be shallow about it, dare to delve deeper and with care...
Like this reminds me of Rica and Birdie. A very wacky spiritual spinoff of Bojack. Most episodes are a trip, but then it decides to drop some SA bombshells and not explore them in a meaningful way which just created such a tonal whiplash...
Yay new Lily video!
Woo-hoo we got to the forth one!
Damn this was a good set of videos, thank you Lily! ☺️
Omg! Thank you for all these vids!! I love hearing your takes on media I enjoy!
Cant wait for another "Lily Orchard doesnt understand" video!
What does she not understand?
According to content farmers, literally everything
@frostedbear6853 Transphobic youtubers like to content farm me by responding to my videos and contrarily disagreeing with everything, and titling it "Lily Orchard Doesn't Understand X"
So they are just being idiotic?@@mitchellkludt3001
@@LilianOrchard well that's rather unfortunate but not surprising. I tried watching a few but honestly a didn't find myself understanding most of their points. Thanks for clearfying!
Everything I know about Veilguard I learned from this video.
Anyone know what specifically that version of Devil Trigger used at 3:50 is called?
Credits
2:47 It's really weird why these companies love to reduce party limit. 6 is the perfect number and it seems only Olwcat games got the message, even Obsidian gave in and reduce to 5 in Deadfire.
I really liked this video series, despite only having played ~1/2 of the firs dragon age. What resonated with me the most are your comments on how often media will feature grim aesthetics, and pointless suffering and call themself "mature". If I want to see some pointless suffering I can read the news, there is enough of it in the world.
Thank you for this.
So much of this game sounds so awesome I gotta play it
I joined the Dragon Age series just before Inquisition's first trailer came out, so I always took Origins' issues as Lily described them to be intentional, that yes it establishes a world with so much wrong-ness in its societies and institutions because Origins was supposed to be the foundations and the intention was always to deconstruct those issues in later installments. I'll admit that Origins is not perfect, and it was soooo infuriating to constantly have dude-bros compare Veilguard to Origins as a way to put it down. It's my fav in the series purely for the companions, the origins system, and because it got me back into gaming after years away. But I love the entire DA series and Veilguard was a wonderful way to close that series imo (if that is what Bioware chooses to do). Veilguard was never meant to be "dark and gritty" because Dragon Age is not "dark and gritty". Dragon Age is a fantasy adventure series where the main focus has ALWAYS been who you get to be best friends with and who you get to select in the date-simulator. And I was very pleasantly surprised at how Veilguard got me to pick options I had never considered going into it.
And for anyone who says "the voice acting is jank" I DARE you to hear Taash scream "Tama" again and repeat that BS with a straight face!
My problem with "We were going to desconstruct it in later installments" is... why not do it now? Why does Origins have to be so completely plotless? A big problem with this series as a whole is we never truly resolve anything, it's always a stop on the way to "More Dragon Age."
I’ll admit after some consideration I think I’ll purchase this once I’m done with 2 and Inquisition. Thanks for making the video, makes me got to play this at least once.
The biggest telling of the Dark Themes fallacy is a story has it both ways of intellectual maturity and "maturity". A.k.a Wings of Fire Darkstalker
The story is really heartbreaking about how the people are actually black and white but people are blinded by the idea people aren't inherently evil combined with evil people not seeing them as evil and is telling how uncomfortable that fact is
All this around the three main characters of a God Complex, his girlfriend who put too much faith in him and his new best friend struggling with survivors guilt (which his arc made me depressed).
But you wouldn't know that from how most say how it is dark which they say its dark from how much gore the death of the main characters father was and the event that gave the Best Friend the survivors guilt in the first place (instead to actual pain he has to go through after that for the rest of the book). There was a recent shit storm about how the Graphic Novel adaptation might censor the gory scenes and how it will "ruin" the dark nature of the book, but it doesn't really change anything as long as the meat of the characters personal issues and the uncomfortable theme remains in tact
Was that a F$%# Monster Hunter Bow GUN!?!
❤🔥❤❤❤❤🔥❤🔥❤🔥❤Thanks, Lily!
I'd love to see what you think of Bloodborne. I rewatched TBSkyen's boss designs series on it, and you're the only other RUclipsr i watch that does deep dives on the meaning of video games rather than just talking about "the LORE Tm"
Its rare that I actually full front watch video essays anymore instead of just listening to them in the background but you consistently pull it of. Your passion always shines through, especially at the end. Your points about mature asthetics vs mature themes is something that I find in all aspects of quality writing. Whenver there is a really good story, you'll find hundreds of follow up stories taking the superficial appearance of what makes it good instead of actually understanding what the core aspects were. Especially noticable in the webnovel realm, but that's not really surprising lol.
Just remember to shove the horde of brutish dark spawn down the cliff when you see it. Much easier
0:57 awww, I miss David Lynch
Wait, TotalBiscuit covered Dragon Age 2? I know he covered some of Inquisition, and personally i agree with it looking like a game made to waste your time with as much tedious grinding as possible, though this is admittedly coming from ignorance as i never had any interest in bioware games, let alone dragon age. I don't recall if hed ever said anything about the second game however.
So basically what you're saying is: This is the only dragon age where I cared about the companions.
You didn't cover them nearly in as much depth in the other videos.
I cared about the companions in DA2, it's just that these videos are about the big picture plot and they weren't as relevant in the other games.
Dang, this really makes me want to get veilguard now.
You should. It is actually good. Sure, some Bioware jank is present, but it's genuinely fun.
When I played the game, i played an qunari lord of fortune, Bellara, Harding, and Tash had the best storylines for my taste, Bellara's made me cry ugly tears, Harding's made it clear that the dwarves were nearly destoyed by the evanuris and the mutated mind of their progenitor, the titans, in the form of the blight which is ironic in a disturbing way. Taash also had me bawling, as their experience with grappling with their gender honestly had me having flashbacks to my own journey in learning I was NB, and trying to explain it to the people I loved, only for them to not understand it at ALL. Lucanis was my romance for the game, because it's obvious that he is desperate for support with the fact that he is now sharing a body with a demon, and is in desperate need of genuine love and affection. I could write an entire thesis on how the characters in this game moved me. From Emmirich's loss and growth, to Neve's tragic journey. I am so glad you made videos on DA as it's my favorite game series. I started with 2, the origin, then inquisition, and I agree that origin is the weakest of all the games. I replayed 2 so many times my Xbox broke while playing it. in Inquisition I got the beauty of my Kaaras' love story with The Iron Bull, Origins gave me lore info, but that seems to be the only real purpose of it. So, thank you Lily, hearing you talk about these games, even the critiques(especially the critiques), gave me ideas on how to do new playthroughs for RP potential, as well as Fanfic ideas.
I like that you use more modern terms like “gooner”, makes me feel good
Thank you so much for this one. It felt like a breath of fresh air and cleansed my soul. It makes me so sad to see the sheer amount of hate this game generated. I thoroughly loved it on so many levels.
Im pretty sure Larian decided on 4 players just because the did that in DivinityOS 2 lol. And mechanicaly, BG3 is just DOS2 in a DnD makeover.
DOS 2 did it BECAUSE Dragon Age did it.
@@LilianOrchard huh well fair. I just thought they did so that you had to replay the game to play through all storylines lol. but yeah makes sense.
i have been intrigued by this game for a long time, the gameplay had me but i've heard a lot of the story and a lo of it bad but you've helped me to finally buy it, i'm excited to see what awaits me~
Heads up: There's a lot of self-conscious irreverence in the first part, until the part where you have to pick a city (you'll know it when you see it).
Veilguard was my first Dragon Age and i must say it was flawed but great over all. The theme of loss and dealing with grief and regrets was just phantastic. Graphic was great and i liked the companions. I have some issues with writining at times. But i don’t care. The ending was just a masterpiece. Solas is just great here. And the fact he is not the main villain but rather this hidden manipulating from behind is just perfectly in character for him. And even if i miss this vibe of inquisition. This game has more style and feels far more personal and Rook arc of dealing with grief about we know who was just cheff kiss. The world of Thedas was just so captivating. Minrathous was just full of it’s own personality. Still you can feel its a heart of ruthless empire. And treviso was just great location. Lucanis was my favourite character. He was for me the Garrus of Dragon Age. And it was dark and interesting enough to not be a completely this or this. And Bellara was just good character. And our main villans. I will quote and expert „Presentation”. These two are very fun to see and genualy terryfing at times. This game was a solid 8/10. I see this game as well as inquisition as two sides of the same coin. But i aknowledge the flaws the lack of politics compared to past games or lack of choices from previous games. But like i said this game has strong elements and as a direct continuation of inquisition it just Works for me. And it’s a shame that we won’t see probably a fifth instalment.
Huh. You might've just convinced me to try this game out
As an enby myself it was always challenging to interact with the Taash storyline, but I didn't seem to have the same problems others always rave about. The word "non-binary" was used only once and to decent effect, the insistence on they/them pronouns was normal and fair, and even the whole frustration of the Qunari being gender-bound as a species feels interesting enough that it's worth exploring. So what was my issue? Self-reflection.
I didn't like the storyline in my playthrough because I was a coward, and incapable of the maturity to accept that the only thing wrong with the situation was my understanding of what makes good representation. A retroactive look at Taash today, I'm much more fond of them and what they had to say. I can accept today that I was at the time unready to be audience to a good story.
Sidenote: Got whiplash seeing the comments section open again, let's see how long it takes this time before it's flooded with transphobes
I wasn't a fan of the idea that the Qun is now permissive of people leaving it - it felt defanged I guess.
Stuff like the Saarebas in DA2, Bull's character arc, and side stuff like the Ben-Hassrath Reeducators codex entry all gave the impression of what the Qun was like, and to have that all altered in DA4 really left a bad taste in my mouth. That and as someone who's fan of DAO's and DA2's style of healing, I wasn't the biggest fan of how the combat worked in DA4.
Negativity side - I appreciate your fair minded and passionate review of DA4. This was a great review!
People gotta stop getting so antsy about "defanging." The Qun as we understand it now is a lot more interesting in being Collectivist to the extreme, as opposed to just another oppressive dictatorship.
As for the healing... The old games use potions and healing spells, and Veilguard uses... Potions and healing spells.
@@LilianOrchard That's fair. Should we get another sequel or post Veilguard stories - it will be interesting to see what the writers end up doing with the Qunari and Dalish alike.
Thanks again for your Dragon Age reviews, I grew up with this series so to hear a review of each of the games meant a lot to me.
Veilguard had the best ending of any Dragon Age game, but the ride to get there was so painful for me. I really didn't enjoy it and it may be one of personal taste and though we agree on a lot of things I found this game to be so shallow. I've played an elf in all of these games (although I did have one playthrough as a Qunari for the novelty in Inquisition but changed when you weren't actually of the Qun), and the fact that I could barely ever point to my people's oppression in the games or talk about it to other elves felt so jarring. I liked all the companions but goddamn why couldn't I disagree with them? Sometimes my character who was at first going to be a by ay means necesary type just couldnt say anything but fully supportive no matter what. Even to none companions the dialogue felt so restrictive compared to say Mass Effect.
I knew in my heart it would be too much to ask to say fuck you all I'm siding with Solas, but I thought at least I'd be able to say a few times, hey he has a point. Also, remember when it was said at the end of inquisition that elves where abandoning their clans and the alienages to join him... what happened to those, didn't he have an army? Also noone reacts at all appropriately to Gods returning. I know they could have wrote this in to dialogue because it's in the codex. I know you shouldn't judge a game for being what you want but only what it is, and as any old game, it's fine, if a bit too quippy for my tastes, but I've been with dragon age since the beginning, it was the first RPG i'd ever played, and it seemed to brush so close so many times to greatness. In the end, the ending made me quite sad, because I felt like that was what the game could have been, they should have concentrated on an elven rebllion, given us the choice to join it and had Solas be the focus.
I think you're right that Origins is definitely self-consciously edgy in that nu-metal way, but the vibe was definitely off in this game. A little edge for the end of the world is okay, but that's a matter of taste, so what would have made me think the characters were taking the situation appropriately, you might have thought was too grim. Anyways, I enjoyed this video as always even if I disagreed with a lot of it.
I wonder what you think of Mouthwashing, I think you'd like that game.
I'm not a fan of most horror games, I think you should ask someone else.
One of few things I heard Veilguard did right was Solas... and everything else the remaining team could have control during the development.
Being a live service and more focused on action it's... whatever. The gameplay of DA was always pretty bad, changing it wouldn't do much.
But not importing the choices from previous games and other mechanics that might affect progression of relationship with the companions, this kinda matters a lot for the game.
But if it was to take inspirations from Souls, Elden Ring does fit very well for the design of the Fade, considering how everything about it mystical and ethereal. Not mentioning that if given the same treatment to old gods of Thedas wouldn't be bad... (not at the narrative, Souls narrative work terribly in Dragon Age, but as for background and design to every manifestation from Fade... isn't the worst take.
Another interpretation of Fade is from podcast of Veilguard that tells the story of Nadia. The podcast was a promotion to advertise the game, introducing the companions and it's good. (The villains are a bit cheesy tho)
*realizing how Nadia would be better protagonist to Veilguard than Rook*
Nadia isn't a good person and is far from the worst person of Tevinter. Her boyfriend, in other hand. Not worst, far from the best.
I kinda want to see what she would do at Neve's campaign. If done carefully, she could have a better story than trying save the person that was her not-so-soon-fiance.
(Her refusal was one of the best parts... but the narrative kinda makes the weaker take, her story seems inclusive)
Guilan'lain design is really good.
What a way to purposely misrepresent people’s complains when it comes to the blatant ‘uglyfication’ of female characters.
They're not ugly though. Rook's hot, Bellara's pretty, Neve's gorgeous, and Harding looks fine. That's the problem with "uglification." You're just objectively incorrect.
Veilguard has been my favorite DA, and Lily gets why.
I never brought up the Alistair SA scene because I never experienced it lol I always thought it was wrong considering he was already opposed to it so my word and always was the one who created the old God, baby😂
Hiii Lily :)
Sorry for my bad english
What I have gotten from your videos on this series is that it is the oposit of the my hero academia manga.
Dragon age started as an attempt at a deep and dark world that was as deep as a puddle and ended with a lighter tone, good characters and actually taking the thing it talks about more seriusly.
My hero started with a light tone, amazing characters and with a suprising depth if you looked for it.
And it ends having become dark and serius by making every character lose depth, making many many many sociatal flaws actually the falt of one man you can punch realy hard.
I actually didn't enjoy Bellara's quest at all! Cyrian's return just to die again felt very contrived, just like the explanation behind why he's helping the big bad ('mind control but not really mind control, because it's more like vibe checks'). I also feel the choice about the archive - while making sense in the context 'what are elves' - is wholly disconnected from her personal flaw, the immense guilt complex eating her away at the center of her character.
That said, I really enjoyed Veilguard in general and your positive views on it are a welcome change in this hellish wasteland of 'too woke for me' grifters. Especially when you called out the 'veilguard is not dark enough' crowd, who apparently never even reached d'meta's crossing.
There is both good and bad in this game, either saying it's the best or the worst game in the series is just a show of one own political views
I don't think it's the best. Dragon Age 2 is still the best.
oh look, when properly explained the game sounds good... i still belive that the fools that started insulting everyone in twitter for not buying the game where the ones that doomed the game in the eyes of everyone that might have tried the game out of curiosity...
@mapplehitoritheartist9114 you mean the ones who threw absolute tantrums if you dared not worship the ground that Taash walks on. Yeah I believe it. But thats twitter for you.
@@Zerathenezot yeh, still that just made me choose to not buy it, why would i support someone that already hates my guts! and insults me wihtout even knowing me.. and i am a transwoman, their target demographic!.. if only they keep their mouths shut and let the game speak for itself.. like lilly did in this video... perhaps.. maybe it would sell
@@mapplehitoritheartist9114 I'd definitely avoid whatever corner you ran into that stuff in, it's generally shit for your mood to stick around in places like that.
But I do have to say, not buying something because of odious fans is always a bit silly. You can find terrible people playing every game, watching every show, reading every book, having every hobby...are you going to let them stop you from enjoying life?
@@yellowmrslzlzshfksj obviously no.. but id that person is the one selling it, i wont buy it from them, i radersail the 7 seas with a black flag.. wink*
Comment for algorithm
Appreciate the sentiment, but watch time is the only thing the Algorithm pays attention to
Hi Lily
The reason why I even have a problem with veil guard is because it’s very weirdly written. Not to mention the shitty voice acting. I’ve played origins. This game looks like a child’s first drawing compared to it. Also who on this blue marble in the vacuum of space gives a damn about someone’s pronouns. I’ll call the twink by what it looks like.
Sounds like your real problem is you're a bitch with no taste
Ive never played dragon age. It sounds like 2 is the best of these games...that story is really sad. Im sure many will relate to her life as the years goes on. And i will not lie, her clothes are cooler.
DA2 , in theory, is the best one. In execution is quite mediocre. Playing the actual game is a subpar experience, from level design to gameplay utter mediocre. Some of the characters and parts of the story are great , but all suffer from being rushed in 18 months.
The qun was a pretty big retcon, claiming otherwise just because it fit your biases and views makes you look unpartial and not objective
The Qun had little information regarding it. Getting more information is not a retcon.
And even if it was a retcon: Good retcons are good, and bad retcons are bad. This is a good retcon, so it's good.
I wonder if the color palate and combat had been more reminiscent of DAO/DA 2 would people have been more kind to veilguard. Admittedly I was a person who was put off by the visuals, dialogue and combat. That being said I 100% agree with a lot of DAO being all edge no point, however i still love DAO and DA2 to death. For whatever reason inquisition and veilguard just didn't grab my attention.
The fact that you have pronoun options and can make female characters who exist for reasons other than ogling, they'd have still blown a gasket over it.
The Color palate has nothing to do. Even people that think DAO is masterpiece won't say the game is good looking.
Could you do a reviw to a manwa cald no home i think you like it. It has themes of domestic abuse tho so be wharm
So Lily gives this game a 10 out of 10. Got it.
8/10 actually
First comment yay
I’ll admit after some consideration I think I’ll purchase this once I’m done with 2 and Inquisition. Thanks for making the video, makes me got to play this at least once.