Return to Thedas: Let’s Talk Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Let’s get this out of the way early: No, I am not a traditional video game reviewer. Yes, it’s obviously harder for me to be completely unbiased about a game that I consulted on for years as a member of the Dragon Age Community Council. However, BioWare has never put any obligations on me nor even made any requests to say anything positive about the game that I don’t believe. Everything I have ever said and will ever say about Dragon Age: The Veilguard is my honest opinion and has been said because I wish to say it.

So. How about we put the big thing up front: Did I love it? Yes. Is it perfect? No, but what game is?

Dragon Age: The Veilguard opens how many Dragon Age fans might expect: hunting the Dread Wolf. Varric and his team (including your player character, Rook) have finally caught up with Solas as he’s attempting to perform a ritual to bring down the Veil. It all goes terribly wrong and instead, two of the elven gods are released from their prison and suddenly, Rook has a much bigger enemy (literally) and a far worse problem on their hands along with an unexpected, trickster ally. To handle this? We’re gonna need a bigger team. Time to assemble the Veilguard. Continue reading

Maker’s Breath, I Did Not Sign Up For These Cullen Rutherford Feelings Except It’s BioWare So I Guess I Kinda Did

Before I started playing Dragon Age Inquisition, I made one firm declaration to a friend. “I don’t care what our friends say but I am NOT romancing Cullen in this game. I’ve already romanced two blond white guys in this series and this one is a Templar and I STILL haven’t forgiven him for what he did in Origins. Jerk.” Romance aside, I was dead set on continuing to not like him even though the game clearly wanted me to. My Inquisitor may have been meeting him for the first time but I wasn’t and I was not about to forget his whole “kill all of the mages!” request to the Warden or his “Mages cannot be treated like people. They are not like you and I” line to Hawke because HOW DARE–

*takes a deep breath* *sets down the homemade FUCK THE TEMPLARS sign*

Continue reading

Damnit Anders: The Dragon Age II Feelings Essay

Anders broke my fucking heart. And he told me right from the start that he would. I just didn’t listen.

Listen, you must know the drill by now: Bria plays a BioWare game and has a lot of feelings about it and then writes about them. Except this time, this isn’t my third play-through of Mass Effect. It’s my very first play-through of all the Dragon Age games and I am somehow mostly spoiler free. However, this is BioWare so I knew to expect two things: romance and devastation. This game absolutely delivered on both fronts. Continue reading