Dragon Age Dragon Age: The Veilguard Pre-Release Thread [GAME RELEASED, GO TO NEW THREAD]

[Aarwolf]

The only thing about the companions that matters is if we can kill them and then just hire some random mercenaries.

You can't.

 

[Rahdulan]

The only thing about the companions that matters is if we can kill them and then just hire some random mercenaries.

Writers wrote those special snowflakes and by GOD, you will suffer them.

 

[Aarwolf]

They're planning DLCs:

Bioware confirms that Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release date will be announced in August. It doesn't stop there either, as the beloved studio will also share details about its plans for expansions, DLC and more at the same time. Simply put, Dragon Age fans have so much to look forward to in the coming weeks and months.

https://www.gamereactor.eu/dragon-age-the-veilguard-will-reveal-its-release-date-in-august-1415793/

It will end just like Andromeda, but even funnier. I can't wait to see all those furries and biodrones pretending that the game was overwhelming success.

 

[Tyrr]

It will end just like Andromeda, but even funnier.

That won't be easy.

Andromeda release was such a fun time on 4chan.

 

[Semiurge]

https://blog.bioware.com/2024/07/31...d-characters-detailed-at-san-diego-comic-con/

Unveiling The Veilguard: Cast and Characters Detailed at San Diego Comic-Con​

San Diego Comic-Con has come to a close, but not before delivering mountains of Dragon Age fun for the amazing fans in attendance. The highlight of the week was the panel we hosted on Friday featuring some of our cast of companions who – in conversation with host Lucy James – shared new insights into their characters and revealed even more lore about Dragon Age: The Veilguard. We also joined our partners at Dark Horse on the showfloor for fan signings, giveaways, cosplay photoshoots, and more. In case you weren’t among the lucky attendees who got to experience this year’s convention in person, don’t worry – we’re here not only to recap all the action but also to share photos from throughout the weekend.

Everything kicked off Wednesday night with the Dark Horse booth opening and some giveaways. Our team also enjoyed a celebration of Dragon Age with our partners at Fandom on Thursday night. Then on Friday came our panel “Dragon Age – Meet The Heroic Companions of The Veilguard,” which featured voice actors Zach Mendez (Lucanis), Jessica Clark (Neve), Nick Boraine (Emmrich), and Ali Hillis (Harding) and highlighted the heart of every Dragon Age title: the companions. The panel opened with a bit of background from Creative Director and 16-year BioWare veteran John Epler and Creative Performance Director Ashley Barlow, who helped to cast and direct over a thousand conversations and brought hundreds of characters and storylines to life.




As Epler explained, Dragon Age: The Veilguard sees players embark on a perilous quest to face powerful Elven gods and stop the apocalyptic destruction they’re unleashing. You’ll step into the role of Rook, battling on the front lines alongside a deep and compelling cast of companions who together comprise The Veilguard, a group of heroes who have come together to stop the veil from breaking and bringing about the end of the world. Rook must become the unexpected leader who can rally and unite the group. Throughout the game, you can explore the detailed storylines of each companion, navigating love, loss, and complex choices that influence your relationships.

“Companions have always been such a big part of this franchise,” Epler asserted at one point during the panel. “You’ll navigate some of the most compelling individual storylines you’ve seen from BioWare. I’m really excited about the bonds players will form.” Barlow later added, “I feel like you can fall in love with any of them. Everyone that has touched this project has put a piece of their heart into it and into all of the different characters you could cross paths with. I know for me at times, in the companion stories, it seemed like I was watching a scene out of my own life. It’s a powerful feeling to have something or someone to relate to on screen.”

Meet the Cast​

With that, the panel shifted towards the companions themselves, as well as the actors who brought each character to life. First up was Zach Mendez (Horizon: Forbidden West, Married Alive), who voices Lucanis: an expert assassin of the Antivan Crow faction. Bloodthirsty, calculated, and a workaholic, Lucanis was raised with high expectations and fears disappointing those he loves. To him, being an assassin is his only job and identity to be excellent at.

“As soon as Zach was cast, he deep dove into Dragon Age and read everything he got his hands on. He did it all to create that depth of character you can really feel,” Barlow remarked. “Zach’s a comedian, he would easily find the humor in anything Lucanis was saying. And sometimes I’d have to remind him he’s a deadly assassin and to stay bloodthirsty, but I think he found this cool way of finding the light in the darkness.”




“After I finished [The Wigmaker Job], I realized this might be the coolest guy I ever get to play,” Mendez said. “What struck me was his mind is as dangerous as his knives. He’s constantly attuning himself to the kind of shifting terrain of every mission. And also, he’s kind of hilarious. I mean, if you look at his relationship with his cousin Illario in The WigMaker Job, they’re constantly giving each other crap. But there’s a lot of love there. So I got to pull from my relationship with my brother, because we love each other dearly but we can be ruthless with each other.”

Mendez also revealed to fans that, in addition to voicing Lucanis, he actually recorded lines for a variety of other characters, including the Grey Wardens. “I can go ahead and play a bunch of characters, so I had to really steep myself in the understanding that, okay, the Grey Wardens go through a lot to actually do what they do. They make a pretty intense bond. So, I tried to bring that as best I could to the physicality… I cannot wait to see how it plays out the game.”




Following a few more quips from Zach, the conversation moved to Jessica Clark (True Blood, Pocket Listing) and Shadow Dragons rebel Neve, a cynic with a heart of gold who cares deeply about helping people and never leaves work half-done. She also has ice powers to halt an enemy or take advantage of the environment. “I’d describe her as the working class hero trying to make her hometown better,” Epler commented.

“I love her loyalty,” Clark shared. “I love her dedication. I love how much she loves Docktown and its people and how she really sees a different vision that I’m into, as John said, and then what’s previously been depicted, and she’s really really fighting for those people and she loves those people.” Clark also commented on her experience with the casting and recording process: “Even though [the cast members] were all separate disembodied voices a lot of the time, we really all bonded. I know in a lot of projects they’re like all ‘we love each other,’ but we really do! And it just evolved so organically. There was something magical about it just being our voices in the beginning.”

Full of Character​

Next up was Nick Boraine (Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Black Sails), who plays Emmrich – a sincere, friendly, and scholarly necromancer who comes complete with a skeletal assistant, Manfred (voiced by Matthew Mercer of Critical Role). “He’s part of the Mourn Watch,” Epler explained, “an elite group of necromancers who are revered in Nevarra, but outside it, they are odd at best and evil at worst. He’s your well meaning but oblivious academic – assumes everyone has an academic’s curiosity, so can be pedantic on select topics.”

While Boraine agreed, he found another aspect of the character even more remarkable: “I love the fact that the writers took Emmerich and explored the whole idea of death and the whole idea of necromancing by bringing kindness into it. I really responded to that and got into that and I know it sounds crazy, but it’s to not have this idea that death is vulgar or something to be terrified about, but something to actually engage with on so many levels. I just love the fact that the writers had the courage to do that in a game like this.”

Barlow chimed in to share insights from her time working with Boraine: “Nick encompasses Emmrich; his sophistication, and eagerness to teach and learn, his hot nerdiness. Often Nick is just playing off of someone making a sound, and he takes it and internalizes it and gives it meaning and care, which is amazing to watch.”




Finally came Ali Hillis (Mass Effect 3, Naruto) and everyone’s favorite dwarven scout Lace Harding, who returns with a big heart, positive outlook, and some unexpected magical powers. “The world’s changed a lot in the time period since Inquisition,” Epler observed. “She returns as an excellent scout and archer, and has been leading teams through the wilderness while covering friends in battle.”

“My favorite things about Harding are the little things like she loves her mom,” laughed Hillis. “You know, she loves to write letters home and she’s always talking about her mama’s stupid stuff like that. I love that relationship. She likes plants and raising plants which is inspirational since I kill them. But just the texture they add to the characters. That’s in general, but for me, it’s those little things that really kind of give me a bunch of stuff to work with in my brain.”

Barlow effused, “Ali brought a weight and a history to this project as an anchor of the series. There was a growth to Harding. She’s a veteran now. She’s a trusted voice at the table, and the writers did such a great job of integrating her with the new team and finding the relationships with each of the unique characters.”

Photo Opps​

Our panel ended with a crowd Q&A, but SDCC was just getting started. Our team spent the rest of the weekend giving away posters and exclusive Discord pins, signing those posters, and of course, meeting fans out on the show floor. Footage of the full panel should be available in a couple weeks, so for now we hope you enjoy these photos of our favorite SDCC moments! We’ll have more to share next month – including a new roadmap, more looks at the game, and our official release date (!) – so don’t forget to follow our BioWare and Dragon Age social channels.

– The Dragon Age Community Team

"His hot nerdiness".

Now I know what retardera will call him soon.

theres a cute archer

They downgraded her looks from DA:I. Like a clockwork.

Otherwise a small upgrade, but those freckles make her look like someone sharted on her face. I've never seen freckles that aggressive irl.

 

[darkpatriot]

theres a cute archer

They downgraded her looks from DA:I. Like a clockwork.

Otherwise a small upgrade, but those freckles make her look like someone sharted on her face. I've never seen freckles that aggressive irl.

That is the method behind bioware's uglification of important women characters. They pick some feature or trait, and then amp it up to 12 to make the character look odd and unattractive. They claim this helps make them distinct and unique.

When accused of how this is just uglifying the characters, bioware and their defenders will claim that the trait in question that was comically enhanced is not inherently ugly or anything. It is just unique and beauty is in the eye of the beholder or whatever. But don't believe them, they know exactly what they are doing, which is making sure the characters aren't attractive in order to defeat the male gaze.

Even when it is a trait that many consider attractive, or at least not unattractive like freckles here, they exaggerate it to the point where even appreciators of that trait would generally agree it went too far and has veered into the territory of making the character less attractive.

 

[Fedora Master]

Doo Doo
Pee pee
Bioware are bad devs

 

[Semiurge]

theres a cute archer

They downgraded her looks from DA:I. Like a clockwork.

Otherwise a small upgrade, but those freckles make her look like someone sharted on her face. I've never seen freckles that aggressive irl.

That is the method behind bioware's uglification of important women characters. They pick some feature or trait, and then amp it up to 12 to make the character look odd and unattractive. They claim this helps make them distinct and unique.

When accused of how this is just uglifying the characters, bioware and their defenders will claim that the trait in question that was comically enhanced is not inherently ugly or anything. It is just unique and beauty is in the eye of the beholder or whatever. But don't believe them, they know exactly what they are doing, which is making sure the characters aren't attractive in order to defeat the male gaze.

Even when it is a trait that many consider attractive, or at least not unattractive, like freckles here they amp exaggerate it to the point where even appreciators of that trait would generally agree it went to far and has veered into the territory of making the character less attractive.

Yeah, I do remember that one of the character designers of Inquisition said that they wanted to make Cassandra look "angular" or something so that she'd look more powerful. Angular, as it often turns out, translates as masculine, and soft features as feminine.

It's clear thought that they consider the hermaphrodite the ultimate physical and mental ideal, and that a woman can't be powerful unless she looks like a man, cause then the men would instinctively take her more seriously or some shit like that. That's just not how real life works, Bioretards. An ugly woman is still a woman and automatically weaker compared to a beautiful woman if we consider their power as a total sum, not just their physical prowess. Some of the power people in general have is always given to them instead of taken, that's life.

Just like how marxists attempt to give power to minorities they pity, and they didn't take basic biology 101. Due to our specialised biological sex roles and how sexual selection is performed amongst humans, it's the norm that men generally ignore women in matters that are not tied to sexuality, and especially women that are either unavailable to them (lesbians) or below even the male standards of genetic viability (ugly). This may also be why men - against the logic of good breeding - prefer women who are at best their equals in all matters except their looks, instead of women who are their superiors in almost every way. Such superior women - as the choosers, are very unlikely to accept such men as partners when they can have the superior alpha male. Wasted efforts in behaviour are quickly culled by natural selection.

Women and men both will focus their attention on what men do, regardless of these mens' social status or looks, because men are both the providers and deciders of social status. This is why women may sometimes possess the illusion of being mens' equals, especially if allowed to partake in mens' tasks (modern equal-opportunities society). On the instinctive level, this is still not true. Modern society has built a web of lies, including the utopian ideologies, that skirt these simple truths one knows deep down. Such is the dichotomy of modern, civilised man. We must lie so that we can coexist. Some just take the lie further than most. It's not like in that book title "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" either, there's plenty of common psychological ground, but certain ideologues wish to ignore the facts and invent their own to support an outrageous lie. To replace reality with their own. To break the unspoken bonds and agreements that have previously assured peaceful coexistence between the sexes and races.

Equality was never their goal, you see. Hate and feelings of worthlessness and despair are.

 

[Cryomancer]

Will Electronic Farts kill Bioware after Failguard?

 

[Aarwolf]

Will Electronic Farts kill Bioware after Failguard?

Sady, no.

 

[Tyrr]

Will Electronic Farts kill Bioware after Failguard?

Sady, no.

Bioware has become the cockroach of game studios.

 

[quixotic]

I could MAYBE see Bioware dying if this and the new Mass Effect flops.

 

[Fedora Master]

Again: As long as the name holds some recognition that can be milked, they will exist.

 

[Cohesion]

They're planning DLCs:

Bioware confirms that Dragon Age: The Veilguard's release date will be announced in August. It doesn't stop there either, as the beloved studio will also share details about its plans for expansions, DLC and more at the same time. Simply put, Dragon Age fans have so much to look forward to in the coming weeks and months.

Beloved studio, my sides.

 

[Cohesion]

Again: As long as the name holds some recognition that can be milked, they will exist.

EA can shut down Bioware and give IP to another studio. Which will make another flop. Similar to what's happening with WOD/VTMB.

 

[BrainMuncher]

Spoiler

theres a cute archer

They downgraded her looks from DA:I. Like a clockwork.

Otherwise a small upgrade, but those freckles make her look like someone sharted on her face. I've never seen freckles that aggressive irl.

That is the method behind bioware's uglification of important women characters. They pick some feature or trait, and then amp it up to 12 to make the character look odd and unattractive. They claim this helps make them distinct and unique.

When accused of how this is just uglifying the characters, bioware and their defenders will claim that the trait in question that was comically enhanced is not inherently ugly or anything. It is just unique and beauty is in the eye of the beholder or whatever. But don't believe them, they know exactly what they are doing, which is making sure the characters aren't attractive in order to defeat the male gaze.

Even when it is a trait that many consider attractive, or at least not unattractive, like freckles here they amp exaggerate it to the point where even appreciators of that trait would generally agree it went to far and has veered into the territory of making the character less attractive.

Yeah, I do remember that one of the character designers of Inquisition said that they wanted to make Cassandra look "angular" or something so that she'd look more powerful. Angular, as it often turns out, translates as masculine, and soft features as feminine.

It's clear thought that they consider the hermaphrodite the ultimate physical and mental ideal, and that a woman can't be powerful unless she looks like a man, cause then the men would instinctively take her more seriously or some shit like that. That's just not how real life works, Bioretards. An ugly woman is still a woman and automatically weaker compared to a beautiful woman if we consider their power as a total sum, not just their physical prowess. Some of the power people in general have is always given to them instead of taken, that's life.

Just like how marxists attempt to give power to minorities they pity, and they didn't take basic biology 101. Due to our specialised biological sex roles and how sexual selection is performed amongst humans, it's the norm that men generally ignore women in matters that are not tied to sexuality, and especially women that are either unavailable to them (lesbians) or below even the male standards of genetic viability (ugly). This may also be why men - against the logic of good breeding - prefer women who are at best their equals in all matters except their looks, instead of women who are their superiors in almost every way. Such superior women - as the choosers, are very unlikely to accept such men as partners when they can have the superior alpha male. Wasted efforts in behaviour are quickly culled by natural selection.

Women and men both will focus their attention on what men do, regardless of these mens' social status or looks, because men are both the providers and deciders of social status. This is why women may sometimes possess the illusion of being mens' equals, especially if allowed to partake in mens' tasks (modern equal-opportunities society). On the instinctive level, this is still not true. Modern society has built a web of lies, including the utopian ideologies, that skirt these simple truths one knows deep down. Such is the dichotomy of modern, civilised man. We must lie so that we can coexist. Some just take the lie further than most. It's not like in that book title "Men are from Mars, women are from Venus" either, there's plenty of common psychological ground, but certain ideologues wish to ignore the facts and invent their own to support an outrageous lie. To replace reality with their own. To break the unspoken bonds and agreements that have previously assured peaceful coexistence between the sexes and races.

Equality was never their goal, you see. Hate and feelings of worthlessness and despair are.

I think most of this uglification isn't feminism but just women wanting to be more attractive than their friends so that they don't feel threatened. They'd probably be fine with the villain being a super hottie, except that role seems reserved for white males these days.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Equality was never their goal, you see. Hate and feelings of worthlessness and despair are.

I think most of this uglification isn't feminism but just women wanting to be more attractive than their friends so that they don't feel threatened. They'd probably be fine with the villain being a super hottie, except that role seems reserved for white males these days.

Women are creatures full of irrational contradictions, at constant war with their bodies. For example, when a fat woman puts on tight leggings and explains that she has no complexes, it means that she really doesn't like her big ass. At the same time, if you told her this, she would deny it even more and cover herself with lies even in private (she will also eat a lot of chocolate while crying about what a fat pig she is). Regarding games, women want "heroines like them", that is, those who look like them, but prettier, not bimbo-prettier, just as polished. Look at the women's lips on the Tarot cards and their skin!

At the same time, men are Kens, but they have big dicks, which Anglo-Saxon women do not admit to being fascinated with (at least French women are more honest in this matter)

 

[Vulpes]

Western women are so insecure about their looks that they even feel threatened by fictional characters. It's as simple as that.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Western women are so insecure about their looks that they even feel threatened by fictional characters. It's as simple as that.

Western women are so insecure about their looks that they even feel threatened by fictional characters.

Do you really think that Arab women and Negresses are different?

 

[damager]

I don't think there's any actual audiences that really wants woman uglyfied. It's just the gaming studios shooting themself in the foot with this again and again

 

[Fedora Master]

I don't think there's any actual audiences that really wants woman uglyfied. It's just the gaming studios shooting themself in the foot with this again and again

Yet somehow they keep missing the major arteries.

 

[MjKorz]

I don't think there's any actual audiences that really wants woman uglyfied.

There is a tribe...

 

[Cryomancer]

Western women are so insecure about their looks that they even feel threatened by fictional characters. It's as simple as that.

Is not western woman pushing it. There are a lot of woman who like this type of character and do cosplays of this characters. Is western Frankfurt neo marxists who believe that everything that the average male likes is heresy/problematic and everything that he hates is "progress".

don't think there's any actual audiences that really wants woman uglyfied.

Consumer audience? No. Activist investor audience? Yes.

 

[damager]

Thinking gamers want this shit is like saying sport fans want trannies at their olympics. It's just pushed up on us from powerful people fanatical enough about it to push it against everybodies best interest.

I know several woman that actual play video games and they are all so apolitical they wouldn't even think shit like this does exist. Nor would they advocate for it ever.

 

[Bulo]

Not a bad likeness, but the lowered hairline and stupid little wings of hair (that are undoubtedly influenced by the artist's affinity with the Sims-style dress up games) render her far too girlish. The freckles need to be pared back, the scar emphasised. The rest is generally correct otherwise