Roaming Rook

society if veilguard had been made by people who actually like dragon age

DA:O party banters

you guys have got to take emmrich and davrin out. their banter is sooooo fun.

davrin with rook: ugh. yeah i need to get this griffon under control. he can't keep misbehaving like this. he pukes all the time. needs manners. needs discipline. i'd appreciate the help.

davrin with emmrich: i literally don't know what you're talking about my son is fine. yours should fall down and trip more 💯💯💯

here's just a fraction of what these guys are dishing at each other.

Manfred is just like me fr

a jeweled brooch shaped like a lizard.... alright manfred time for craft night

Taash is a bad influence on The Baby (Manfred) and Emmrich will not let that stand

The Veilguard companions + Varric Tethras

The crew who took the picture:

(Yes, it’s prosthetic arm)

Rook's backgrounds make no sense or gatekeeping is good, actually

It's didn't sit well with me ever since bioware admitted that all 6 background for Rook can be played by any race you choose

Looking back at Origins it's clear why most of the backgrounds were race-specific. Not only it provided a better understanding of the separate cultures (you wouldn't really understand what dwarfs are about if you were able to play as a surface dwarf commoner) it also established the rules of the world (elves are opressed, you can't become a queen/king cuz the nobles will riot, humans colonize them and inforce their religion and rules on everyone, dwarfs are considered weird)

Now, looking at the veilguard, I can't help but ask:

How can a fully grown dalish with vallaslin be a crow? They buy slaves as a way to get more assassins, usually elves, children, so they could easier ruin their psyche. why the hell would a dalish stand for it?

How can a qunari be a Gray Warden? Wardens don't discriminate, sure, but this far, we haven't even heard of a qunari warden. Rook should be a legend, Rook should be questioned at actually being a warden by NPCs, OR sit in some Warden outpost and being studied by their mages, because no one actually knows how Blight and joining might work with Kossith body instead of running around with Varric.

Veiljumpers were organized by dalish, right? Then why in the world would a human be allowed to join? How and why did they change their minds to accept literally anyone, even if it's a potential threat/thief(Morrigan)/zealot/etc..?

How can a dwarf, someone who isn't even connected to the fade be a Veiljumper?

How can a dwarf be a part of the Mourn Watch? A Mortalitasi, an exclusively MAGE order? What can they even do?? Preform a non magical mummifications with herbs and salts like Egyptians did? Sweep the mausoleum? Be some sort of a funeral organizer/lawyer/genealogist? That could've been really interesting if only the game actually bothered to say anything about it. It did not

"Well it's up to your headcanons!" then why make the backgrounds in the first place??? They don't matter anyway!

I mean, obviously it was just a way to promote the game to older fans. Look, the backstories! The thing you've been craving for is back in game! Only they forgot what actually made them so great. The most important part. They mattered, they created a basis for my character. They gave them families, connections. They changed the way my character is perceived (elves in general) and what they can do plotwise (become a monarch/paragon).

I don't fucking care if 3-5 NPCs might have some additional dialogues for me, cuz they don't matter anyway. I don't even know these people, i never met them before, my character did, but I didn't. And now I don't care enough to know. like, i'm playing as a mourn watcher, but before going to Nevarra i barely knew anything about them, and what i know now is still rather surface level shit

Let alone the fact that all the backgrounds are practically the same. You pissed off some influencial people by doing good and was send away. Bravo.

........if this post gets one like I'm writing my own ideas for DA4 protagonist's backgrounds

Sorry to jump on but I’m also baffled by the pre-game messaging that Rook ‘isn’t an established hero’ and coming from humble beginnings blah blah. I mean I was already baffled because NO DA protagonist starts as a larger than life hero. Not the Warden, not Hawke, not the Inquisitor. Seemed a weird contrast to make.

But having played, I’m just….like Rook IS an established hero before the game even starts. I have almost no *real* connection to this protagonist almost 65 hrs in because Rook has no on-screen motivation. Every single prior protagonist overcomes tragedy (every single Warden, Hawke, the Inquisitor) prior to the call to action and that helps ground them in realism and relatability. You understand why they answer the call to action because their world/life gets destroyed in-game in front of your eyes.

The closest comparison to Rook is Shepard (motivating trauma happens off-screen, becomes a hero off screen, answers the call to action off-screen, things quickly go bad for them on-screen to kick off plot). But Rook’s backgrounds lack so much depth because they’re too broad and multivariate to accommodate outside of flavor text. We don’t even get quests tying back to the pre-game events to re-hash for the player ON SCREEN why our hero’s gotta hero.

"Rook is an established character before the game even begins"

OMG you're so right!! 😭

Maybe that's why Rook seems so bland and nothing-of-a-character to me as well (i mean beside the fact that you can't have even a hint of moral ambiguity or CHOICE in the game). We never see them having or getting a motive for action. We never see them getting into conflict because of their upbringing (that's for another post). For every backstory it's all the same "I did a thing because it was good". But where's this altruism coming from? Why does the game writes my character for me? Was it a parallel on Solas? A really poor attempt then.

Also, the difference with Shepard is that despite having their trauma happen off screen, it still influenced Shepard IN DIFFERENT WAYS. Colonist Shepard would not have the same worldview as an Earthborn. Or a Ruthless as a Hero of the Allience.

And Shepard actually have a reason to be where they are. They joined military because of their established past (chosen by you). They've got on Eden Prime because they're good with their job (you still choose their actions). They hunt Saren because they're the only one who know he's up to something. They have connection with Saren (both traumatized war vets, Anderson, your mentor has his past with him, Saren is responsible for Ashley/Kaden's death THERE'S BLOOD BETWEEN YOU TWO). And because the game allows you to make questionable choices you yourself can interpretate Shepard's actions and motivations the way you want.

Ok I'm rambling now, good addition 👌

Heroes of the Veilguard DRAGON AGE: THE VEILGUARD (2024) dev. BioWare

i like this armor for davrin

They really can't resist putting the Inquisitor in awful jammies