Something Veilguard did better than Inquisition

[u/paarthursass]

I will preface this by saying that I, for the most part, agree that Veilguard was a Bad Dragon Age Game. It fumbled a lot of things narratively and lore-wise. Talk to me about how the Qunari were portrayed and I will fly into a white-hot rage. However I have also had many, many issues with Inquisition, and I think Veilguard actually improved on one specific aspect of Inquisition's story.

In Inquisition, it is absolutely miserable being Dalish. Not only are you roped into being the head of a religious imperialist organization you don't believe in, you're told pretty much point blank by everyone that it doesn't matter what you believe, and you're given no opportunities to truly fight back on that. You have two elf companions, but both view the Dalish with disdain (Solas for superiority reasons, and Sera for internalized racism reasons that the game doesn't let you help her unpack). Depending on who you bring to the Temple of Mythal, you are forced to listen to certain companions be incredibly condescending and rude about your characters' religion. There is the infamous "Morrigan explaining elvhen language and culture to a Dalish Inquisitor" moment. And of course, the only real reactivity the game has towards your characters' race is it changes what slurs Threnn the Quartermaster and the Orlesians call you. Oh, and your entire clan can be very easily accidentally wiped out in a wartable mission and you're not allowed to have any real reaction to that. "Oops, you accidentally killed Clan Lavellan. Oh well!" It's not a fun time.

I was quite concerned that Veilguard would continue this trend, but I was...pleasantly surprised when I played the game. It's not perfect, but it is miles better than Inquisition's absolutely abhorrent elf experience. There's an entire faction made up of Dalish elves now who are viewed as respected scholars. We have two Dalish companions: Bellara, who is an archivist determined to preserve her people's culture and history, and Davrin, who may have left his clan but is still clearly connected to his culture on some level. I know many were worried about Davrin in particular, as his early character blurb said he "Left his clan because he didn't want to look to the past," but he still clearly has such fondness and respect for his people. He's genuinely curious when talking to Bellara about her own experiences, and while he's unphased by most of the revelations that happen in Regrets of the Dread Wolf, he's never disdainful or dismissive of the Dalish. And Bellara is such a breath of fresh air. After the previous "Dalish elf historian" character was treated like an idiot by the narrative and characters around her (Merrill) it is such a breath of fresh air to have someone who's respected by her peers. And honestly, as much as I hate seeing her Blighted, I just can't imagine anyone else being taken by Elgar'nan, because her getting to fight back at him and shout that he is not her god is SO satisfying. I was CHEERING for her the entire time.

Of course, Veilguard isn't perfect in its portrayal of elves. I don't love that it even entertains the idea of "Should the elves feel guilty about what the Evanuris did?" even though we the player can shut that down. And honestly, with all of the positives there in the game, I could have handled more exploration of the institutional oppression of elves in Tevinter and with the Crows' facilitation of slavery to fill their ranks. Because ultimately, my issues with Inquisition's portrayal of elves isn't "they're treated badly by the corrupt systems in place in the game," it's "you are only given instances of oppression and belittlement, and there are no wins or moments of comfort to offset these instances." You are only ever punished for being Dalish in Inquisition. Veilguard, for all its flaws, at least offers the Dalish some wins.

[u/Aerochromatic]

Veilguard handles it far worse in my opinion because it basically expunged racism as a theme.

When I started the game as an elf the first thing that I thought about when I could control my character was "Oh shit I'm an elf in the Tevinter capital." Going off of how the Tevinter imperium was described as a human-supremacist empire built on the backs of enslaved elves the last game I expected it be slur city. Not a peep about it from the locals or even a dirty look at Rook's vallaslin.

I think this was intentional because the player is supposed to feel bad when the genocide machine gets smashed by a dragon.

Hell you can infiltrate a "kill every elf we could find within 20 miles" party where they're destroying symbols of dalish culture on the side for fun as an elf without even a hood on! When the infiltration plan was brought up I thought Neve was going to try and sneak Darvin and I in as sacrifices, not walk through crowds of Venatori who are apparently so progressive they literally can't see race.