Dragon Age 4 - now The Veilguard

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

The character summaries are too short and vague to be interesting or informative and that’s all the trailer was about.

The trailer was about announcing the date and reminding people they used to like Bioware.

 

[Gladius Legis]

That trailer looked atrocious. It killed whatever interest I had in this game, and it wasn't much to begin with.

 

[Blue]

G'dangit!!

Just watched the trailer. That's #NotMyVarric

Wrong voice, wrong dialog, minimal and weak snark. And besides no longer being a ginger, his chest hair migrated up to his chin. What the heck?

I mean, I think it's still Brian Bloom, but he's not doing the same voice. It's much more gravelly.

At least Bianca is still looking sharp. Pun intended, I'm no coward. You get the point. (Heh, see what I did there?)

I see a lot of positive comments here about Lace Harding but I honestly have no memories of her. I had to look her up in a wiki to see which game she was in.

I didn't see Iron Bull or Dorian or Sera or the rest of the gang so they didn't come with Varric & Harding. With the Tevinter focus I was wondering if they were going to bring back broody boy Fenris. IMDB does show a voice actor for Cassandra, but they have very little else.

Neve: The Detective
Lucanis: The Mage Killer (again, why not Fenris?)
Dora the Explorer Bellara: The Veil Jumper
Emmrich: The Necromancer
Davrin: The Warden (okay, I am excited to have a Warden)
Taash: The Dragon Hunter (thanks for not using the cliche Dragon Slayer)

Which is a bit odd. In the release, the General Manager said: "Each of the seven unique characters that make up your companions will have deep and compelling storylines where the decisions you make will impact your relationships with them – as well as their lives."

So that's six characters. And then Varric and Harding for eight. Not seven. Wait, they said "Harding: The Scout" and never gave Varric a title.

Oh no, no no no.

I hope they aren't about to make a dreadful mistake.

To steal @Vael 's description, my bunch of disaster bisexuals need their snarky older brother figure for their found family.

#Varric2024

 

[RoughCoronet0]

So that's six characters. And then Varric and Harding for eight. Not seven. Wait, they said "Harding: The Scout" and never gave Varric a title.

Oh no, no no no.

I hope they aren't about to make a dreadful mistake.

To steal @Vael 's description, my bunch of disaster bisexuals need their snarky older brother figure for their found family.

#Varric2024

It's possible that Varric might play a role similar to Leliana, Cullen, and Josephine did during Inquisition where they weren't companions but you still had a quite a bit of interaction with them, as you could even romance two of them (Cullen is one of my favorite romance options in Inquisition).

I'm sure other characters from previous games will return in some form or another, every DA game from 2 onwards does so. But I have enjoyed most of the new companion cast when we are introduced to them each game.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Varric objected to being booted back to first level so he could join the party!

NPC allies that are not party members have always been a part of Dragon Age (lifted directly from tabletop gaming). Mass Effect too for that matter.

 

[pukunui]

G'dangit!!

Just watched the trailer. That's #NotMyVarric

Wrong voice, wrong dialog, minimal and weak snark. And besides no longer being a ginger, his chest hair migrated up to his chin. What the heck?

I mean, I think it's still Brian Bloom, but he's not doing the same voice. It's much more gravelly.

At least Bianca is still looking sharp. Pun intended, I'm no coward. You get the point. (Heh, see what I did there?)

I see a lot of positive comments here about Lace Harding but I honestly have no memories of her. I had to look her up in a wiki to see which game she was in.

I didn't see Iron Bull or Dorian or Sera or the rest of the gang so they didn't come with Varric & Harding. With the Tevinter focus I was wondering if they were going to bring back broody boy Fenris. IMDB does show a voice actor for Cassandra, but they have very little else.

Neve: The Detective
Lucanis: The Mage Killer (again, why not Fenris?)
Dora the Explorer Bellara: The Veil Jumper
Emmrich: The Necromancer
Davrin: The Warden (okay, I am excited to have a Warden)
Taash: The Dragon Hunter (thanks for not using the cliche Dragon Slayer)

Which is a bit odd. In the release, the General Manager said: "Each of the seven unique characters that make up your companions will have deep and compelling storylines where the decisions you make will impact your relationships with them – as well as their lives."

So that's six characters. And then Varric and Harding for eight. Not seven. Wait, they said "Harding: The Scout" and never gave Varric a title.

Oh no, no no no.

I hope they aren't about to make a dreadful mistake.

To steal @Vael 's description, my bunch of disaster bisexuals need their snarky older brother figure for their found family.

#Varric2024

Fenris and Iron Bull both turned on me during my DA2 and DAI playthroughs, and I had to kill them both. Perhaps that’s the official result.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

I mean, I think it's still Brian Bloom, but he's not doing the same voice. It's much more gravelly.

Voices change with age. Varric is older, Brian Bloom is certainly older.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Fenris and Iron Bull both turned on me during my DA2 and DAI playthroughs, and I had to kill them both. Perhaps that’s the official result.

Yup, it's fairly standard practice to write out characters who may have been killed in the previous instalment.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

The Dragon Hunter (thanks for not using the cliche Dragon Slayer)

"So, you hunt dragons. How many have you actually killed?"

"Err..."

 

[Ruin Explorer]

"So, you hunt dragons. How many have you actually killed?"

"Err..."

Ripley: How many drops is this for you, Lieutenant? Gorman: Thirty eight... simulated.

To be fair it is pretty hard to solo a dragon in DA, so tracking them down to kill with others would still be a serious and risky job.

Fenris and Iron Bull both turned on me during my DA2 and DAI playthroughs, and I had to kill them both. Perhaps that’s the official result.

NOOOOO don't kill Fenris! Awful. I didn't realize you could piss him off that much. It's a pity, I was hoping he might be back because he was cool as hell.

Iron Bore I'm less moved by. What a blowhard. I've played DAI twice and tried so hard to get along with him (I loved Sten and even the antagonist Qunari in DA2 was very interesting), but just stop lecturing me already buddy.

It's possible that Varric might play a role similar to Leliana, Cullen, and Josephine did during Inquisition where they weren't companions but you still had a quite a bit of interaction with them, as you could even romance two of them (Cullen is one of my favorite romance options in Inquisition).

I'd be shocked if he isn't in basically a Leliana DAI role, yeah. Maybe even a bit more central.

my bunch of disaster bisexuals

This does seem like the vibe, for better or worse. Let's hope it works out. My biggest fear is:

Dora the Explorer Bellara: The Veil Jumper

I'm getting huge PeeBee-from-Mass-Effect-Andromeda vibes from her, and PeeBee was the arguably worst* companion in any modern Bioware game. Just an awful person (on multiple levels) who was also boring and annoying and didn't even look cool, which is really a dead minimum that even the rest of the ME:A crew managed to meet (uhhh barring DefaultRyders but they don't really count).

Bellara looks a bit cooler than her, but the "WOOHOO IM A DUMBASS WHO DOES CRAZY EXPLORING STUFF" vibe is a huge red flag for me after PeeBee.

* = Originally I wrote that there was no competition - but, my friends, I forgot about the OG of completely terrible modern Bioware companions, Jacob. Personality-free, inexplicably rude-to-Shepard, character who borders dangerously close to an outright racist stereotype (specifically in that he has an absent father and even if you romance him, he ditches you and has a baby with another woman in-between games). Also he has terrible abilities and I seem to recall PB had ones that were like, okay.