Thanks for watching guys! What do you think of relationships in Veilguard? Also, be sure to check out the new MTG Assassins Creed Set: magic.wizards.com/en/products/assassins-creed

I like storytelling, so having all the romance options available lets me craft a story with a character I like and that fits well with romance. In Inquisition I had to mold my main character to who I wanted to romance, rather than build the story that I wanted to make.

I’m all about romance difficulty 😂 Mage Hawke with Fenris is my go to comfort ship

I just hope it's not going to be like BG3 where some of the companions keep trying to hit on you while in camp. I can just see Emmrich saying, "want to see a magic trick?" while I'm just casually chatting with him......

The companions falling for each other actually has been done before. In Mass Effect, Garrus and Tali begin a relationship in most scenarios if you don't romance either of them. In Inquisition, Iron Bull and Dorian, and Blackwall and Josephine may start a relationship though unlike Mass Effect, it's much rarer for these to happen. If it's like the inquisition it'd actually be nice to see, but if all of those left out just begin romancing each other like hamsters in heat as you say, that'd be super awkward.

as someone who feels uncomfy with flirting going on around me I kinda hope its not too strong

I just wanted to point out that it describes the characters you don't romance as potentially romancing other party members, but also characters in the world outside of your party. Presumably since you might not recruit the same characters each time or they can leave the party. So I wouldn't stop a romance just because another companion might otherwise be interested in them.

I am hoping for romance outside the party as well

What I want to know is if there be non-companion romances like Josephine, Cullen and Anora

I definitely agree about the companion sexualities all being Pan. It feels like the devs just don't want you to miss out on a potential romance because of the gender you chose, but the sexual preferences in past games added to those character's identies if you ask me. Like it made sense that someone like Cassandra was straight, or that Solas would only date Elves. Dorian's struggles with his family not accepting that he's gay. Iron Bull being pan in that he sees gender in a totally different way through the teachings of the Qun. Stuff like that added depth.

Has anything been mentioned about being able to pause the game during cut scenes? I know some games dont include this feature, which leads to missing out on certain bits of the story just because i was interrupted mid way through lol

The sponsored add was the perfect blend of corny and funny lmao. As for the romances, Harding and Neve definitely have my interests, however I'm definitely going for Qunari dommy mommy first. 😂😤

All I know is one of my runs is going to have Harding take an Qunari ride for um research purposes

I wonder, you think these "levels" of intimacy might solve the problem a lot of people have with BG3? For example, a companion will never hit on Rook unless you achieved the first level of intimacy with them? Of course, that's me picturing these levels along the scale of "crush", "affection", and "love" or their opposites.

To be honest, I do not love the idea of my companions skills being tied to how much they like my character. I feel like it could limit my ability to roleplay as a character if that makes sense

As per your worries, there are two options I see. 1. There is an a and b lover for everyone on the team. If you hook up with Bellara, then Lucanis will hook up with Davrin, whereas, if you hook up with Neve, Lucanis will hook up with Bellara. 2. Multiple playthroughs.

So like Mass Effect, the bromance you develop with Garrus tops any romance, I'm all for a romance, but bromances are important too, I'm glad some games are learning that 😅

I just want Rook to rizz Solas a little bit. Or have the option. Not right away, but able to build toward it.

I'd say keep your expectations reasonable. Glad the Dragon Age team still allows for relationships more than any other game I know of. Hopefully it will feel decent in game. I wonder what the friendships will look like. If it's more than what we've seen in the past, could be fun. We'll see.

I guarantee some of the first mods for this game on PC are probably going to be companion look overhauls

Interesting that the report said "due this fall" bit we've had little to know information on the date and of they wait until Nov. I think sales will be lacking due to the games coming in on holiday, not to mention all the big hits supposedly coming next year

On one hand, I like the sound of the romance being more in-depth than previous games (at least, that's the vibe I'm getting from what I hear) On the other hand, I'm worried about BioWare's depth _potentially_ making it a pain in the ass compared to previous games' "pick the '

I'm guessing companions will have a canon romance option when not romanced by the player, I don't see them writing several romances per companion on compaion romance, the example they gave was Harding + Taash so I don't think either of them would have another potential npc romance option. It could go both ways imo, could be interesting or just annoying, it would also depend on how free you are in temrs of recruiting or rejecting (or killing) companions when you meet them or later on into the game.

Can't wait to see how dragon age out does itself this time

One more sub! Nice content!

I’m here for the relationships! Great content

We need more party members loyalty, and betrayal should also be in the game.

The biggest criticism i have is the appearance of the female characters. Inquisition had similar issues.

The companions feel like a downgrade from all of the other DAs companions. This is of course is my initial reaction, and I'll wait to see when the game is out. However, I don't get the same feeling of excitement as I did from the reveal of previous title companions.

I kinda liked how they had preferences, felt more like actual people.

so..many..puns! Love it!

Pansexual characters in RPG are correct way to go. It may feel a bit odd but in the end, it really helps with roleplay and immersion while harming pretty much nobody. In Cyberpunk i hated being forced to play as a female to enjoy some romances with Judy.

I prefer team pansexual, mostly because it doesn’t cut players out of certain characters. They can play as “them” and still romance who they want that storyline with

The bot beat us

As someone who played as a straight male inquisitor, let me just say that we got shafted in that game! You had one decent romance option and marriage was off the table completely! So everyone being Pan in this game is a very welcomed change.

How’s it lazy to have all companions be pan? If anything, making sure each companion can physically interact with each race is much more work.

Well, as for relationship, to be honest in DAII all were bi as well. Besides Sebastian, but who in the right mind bought this DLC xD But I agree, it would be nice to have some that not all pan. On the other hand it's just game to please gamers. I await Harding and Taash romance, they look extremly cute. And I don't think all will romance each other. Hope so? One pair like Dorian and Bull would be sufficient xD

For me I would prefer if they had preferances and wasnt all pan or player sexual, mostly because if certain players where only attracted to say elves or qunari it would give more reason to play other races, likely I will play through 3 times (if the story is worth it) and then that would be it, because I wouldnt feel enough of a reason to play again and again. Thats just my opinion though and I can see the benefits to it for others. Though I think a good balance might be 3 pan/bi, 2 straight and 2 gay should mean that if they wanted to couple up others it can allow for everyone to still have a couple no matter who you choose for your character. But if they do it right it could still be enjoyable, hope its not like BG3 was to begin with people basically throwing themselves at you, annoyed me a little that just being nice meant they thought you wanted something. Maybe make it so they dont get flirty till you make a clear flirty choice.

Happy to hear there is a bromance level to take. Wish they had a rival option like DA2, cause I fully plan to be a ass to all those disturbing looking characters. ESP the peg leg lady…

06:52 With them all being pansexual you can far more easily avoid this happening as a dev. There's the potential for each character to find something in another that they want to pursue romantically. Sure there will likely be "canon" romance picks that the community ends up latching onto more than others, but you don't have the issue of feeling like you're the reason one of the characters is now slightly more miserable and alone.

My geforce gt 730 shaking

1:39 to this day, no one can recover from that horrible mission 😂

I don’t really mind the Pansexual thing. I’ve seen plenty of friend groups consisting of bisexual people in my life. And I figure the sexuality equivalent of “I don’t care”, would be more common in a world like Thedas which puts less focus on sexuality when it comes to politics and culture. It’s stated in ‘In the Pursuit of Knowledge: Travels of a Chantry Scholar’, “Nowhere is it forbidden, and sex of any kind is only considered worthy of judgment when taken to awful excess or performed in the public eye.” Anyways I highly doubt that every single character in the game will be pan, and I’m pretty sure it was stated in the QnA that there will be different sexualities from characters outside of the companions.

Even being pan myself, I find it silly and unbelievable that ALL the companions are “canonically” pan. It takes away opportunities for unique representation of different identities that BioWare was just starting to get good at. For example, Dorian’s unique struggles of being gay was a huge part of what made his story interesting and meant a lot to a lot of gay players. Plus, all the companions being single and DTF is a little silly too. It’d be cool if some of them are already in a relationship when you meet them, or they’re asexual, or they just don’t have time for romance while the world is ending, etc.

As a bisexual man making everyone player sexual feels lazy like they just wanted a bunch of sex dolls.

Not only are real relationships and not just fade to black are rarer, so are polyamorous. FO4 is the only one that has it. Romancing Taash and I don't care about the rest. Until my next playthrough. Apparently, Ashley does something with some other companion? I never saw it. It'd probably gonna be the same, especially since one companion slot is locked for the romanced companion, regardless if its not viable. And if I had the money, I would buy the MTG set for Eivor. I got so many decks I wanna buy, but can't...

I don't like how they describe the squad as "found family". In previous games some companions hated each other, and were happy to never see each other again as soon as their mission is over. It gave spice to the games. In veilguard it sounds like they all will become good friends over the course of the game. It all feels very safe and bland. None of the companions sound evil either. Vivienne in inquisition was very fun to hate, and it doesn't seem like we have anyone like that in veilguard.

Spicy sex scenes with nudity? As in the Cora sex scene level of it or Cyberpunk 2077 level spicy? Hopefully this isn't hook, line and sinker claims and the game itself has teased sexuality along with maybe boob visual at most. If nothing else we have brothels right? Hopefully US moral laws haven't thrown an utter codpiece and chastity belt on this.

Romances aren't that important to me, but I think I would prefer if the companions had a sexual preference. That would however severely limit who you could romance so I suppose this is more friendly to those who only plan to play the game once. And hey, it can't get much worse than Origins where you just throw gifts at someone until it's sexytime.

Question. Did you have an issue of it in BG3?

The thumbnail is misleading 😑 no character custumization...gay.

BG3 won game of the year and the only two companions who weren't pansexual were the ones you couldn't romance. I see the pansexual band as a giant boon for the game.

I just want a good story not a "fuck simulator." If i get the good story then ill fuck away.

I think everyone beeing "pan" is immersion breaking. I much prefer how BW did it in DA:I However i understand why they went with pan. BW obviously put a lot of effort into their romances in this game, and want to make sure everyone can taste everything. That said, i cant see why playersexual wouldnt be better. Anyway, im excited for the focus on friendships. I LOVE when a game writes a good friendship and i dont always like romance in games. I hope that, if i dont remance anyone, the compa ions dont all start banging eachother like teenagers.

Pansexual doesn't automatically mean they will all be crawling all over each other. I think romance outside the player character will just be similar to previous games where it's select characters that may fall for each other (such as Taash and Harding) rather than all of them. I think them using pansexual over playersexual is either an attempt to highlight they aren't being lazy with romance writing and also that most of these characters are pre-established and this is already a part of their character. That being said, I will have to see how the companions interact with the player before going down a particular romance path.

Hate the pansexual thing, companions should have dislikes and preferences as part of their personality. But then again, it won't matter much to me as I don't like any of the bunch. Which may be a problem if I want/need a specific skill from them, so there's another thing to dislike about Veilguard.

00:04 is that Savathun’s ship from Mars?

I understand that this film and promo photos depicts contemporary American hipster youth in a clubhouse on a university campus in New York. Is that redhead girl holding an Apple smartphone? I understand that the soundtrack will be performed not by Inon Zur but by Taylor Swift. "Dragon Age: The Left Activists" Currently, no person associated with the original version of DAO works at Bioware. People working there are completely uninterested in medieval history or fantasy literature. And when creating characters, they are inspired by themselves. In addition, he works on this crap, Sweet Baby Inc - where there are no recognized fantasy writers, only stupid teenagers who have never read a book in their life. writing their graphomaniac scribbles, inspired by TV series about teenagers at American colleges. The first part was created by intelligent people with real passion and love for fantasy literature and Peter Jackson's films, who were clearly interested in the history of the Middle Ages, And thanks to their historical knowledge, they drew extremely credible inspirations when creating the presented world and characters. Master Tolkien is turning in his grave...

Well said with ur points made Dan , I agree 😉👍 The approach BioWare has taken fall so much into the area of disingenuous, pandering, and people pleasing for the sake of influence or wallet access… that the game and the characters lose its identity, it’s authenticity. It doesn’t come across as a genuine experience meant to provide you with that immersive escape or authentic connection. It just blatantly comes across as approaching the IP as a tool and means to an end for priorities that don’t relate to the game. And a company/studio that approaches their product from the priority of realizing its success will always have a night and day difference/success as opposed to a company/studio that approaches their product from the priority of using it as a tool or means to an end for non-game related endeavors. Your approach, your priorities make all the difference when it comes to the results especially from an authentic standpoint .

Hope Dantics' back is ok #RIP

100% prefer everybody to be pansexual, just like DA2. We've had enough characters forced to be straight due to "time restraints"

Not a fan of how anyone looks in this game but Scout Harding is mine! I don't care who gotta miss out in my party lmao 😤😤

I do genuinely find it funny when people think it’s unrealistic when large groups of people are all queer. Very few in my circle are cishet. Queer people tend to gravitate towards each other (for various reasons!) and it’s absolutely believable to me that that happens in Thedas too. Like the gang in DA2 for example read to me as the most obvious disaster bisexual horde to ever congregate. It’s even more funny when people claim that ‘playersexual’ characters are bad and pandering towards queer people, because usually they’re cishet and it’s quite clear imo that playersexual writing is done to appease straight people far more than it is queer people. See DAO having to change their plans for Zevran and Leliana so that no options were taken away from straight people as a relevant example.

I don’t understand the argument “it’s unrealistic” that the companions are pan. It’s a fantasy game, no one is playing for realism. Statistically, it’s not impossible for 7 pansexual people to meet, so what’s the problem? The culture war in these comments is insane. Someone commented they think it’ll make characters bland, yet I’m glad that character quests and expanded lore through dialogue isn’t focused on sexuality and is more about themselves and the world.

First m17 DA game why did they feel nudity in CC was important when they didn't need it before the was nudity based on certain romances like sara and cassandra also totally agree with making everyone essential Bi having there own tastes feels more realistic

the one thing I don't lie it that anyone your companions fall for you by anyway it stupid and lazy, the thing I love about inquisition is that if you want to romance a certain companions you had to choose what race you want be but in here you can be any race, that lazy as hell this why I have doubt if I want buy this game, I may wait for review then get it cause the write got to be good

I don't want to say this has raised red flags so much as caution flags for me, shifting the needle a little more to the negative until I find out more. I don't want to have to spend most of the game sucking up to my companions. Nothing wrong with having romance and friendships with companions in game--that's always been a Bioware trademark. I just don't want relationships to take center stage over the wider story. If I want to play a prickly Rook who has problems relating to companions but is very good at what they do, I should be able to play that character and succeed in accomplishing the overall goal of the story. Likewise if I want to play Rook the Lover or Rook as everyone's friend I should be able to do that. To put it simply, I don't want to play a dating sim. If I want to play the Sims, I'll download it again and play it. I want to play Dragon Age.

Did they literally copy and paste savathun's ship from destiny 2. lol!

I agree with your take, having companions with their own sexual preferences adds to their character, so them all being pan it's just lazy lol I'm really hoping it's just gonna be a couple of companions that will pursue a relationship and not all of them, the banter will be awkward, and as you said, someone is gonna be left behind without a partner otherwise. However, I'm expecting that it's not gonna be a happy lil family as they are describing the group. Rivalries is a strong point in companions, not everyone likes to work together. Solas literally hated being around Sera, remember Morrigan and Leliana together? Or how about the view Fenris had towards Merrill because she was a blood mage? Lucanis being "the mage killer" gives me the idea that he dislikes mages, so I'm HOPING that he will hate being near Bellara, Neve, Emmrich, and a mage Rook for example. That's my current concern to be honest, I came to accept the changes and new visions they are experimenting with, but you can't just have a happy tidy group with you, where is the fun of having Miranda and Jack on your squad? xD Anyhow, fingers crossed it will turn alright. Thanks for the update as always!

"Bioware has already revealed that every companion in Veilguard is pansexual...." "....my face is tired..." Addison- Mass Effect: Andromeda

Good one @Dantics... But as ever the critic: 1. Is it a RPG or a dating simulator? Maybe I'm better of playing The Sims? (shudders) 2. Relationship related character progression? +5 mana for a character in love (heat)? 3. Seems they are creating an overly complicated system for skills and combos. 4. I allways viewed Jaheiras and Khalids marriage as something not to even think about. 5. Gift for companions? Blue shoes, allways buy blue shoes...

I feel like the developers are lying about all the companions being pansexual, from what I’ve heard in interviews I’m getting the sense they’re only saying it because the companions are playersexual but for whatever reasons they see that as problematic. I’d bet only one or two of the companions will hook up with each other if not romanced by the player like we’ve seen in past BioWare games and the rest will just remain single.

First

I have mixed feelings about all characters being pansexual. In a way, it means that for each playthrough I have 7 options to choose from which is good, but in other way I feel like the sexual orientation is actually part of their characters and removing it would leave them rather empty. So in the end I think the inquisition way is the best, sure I was frustrated to not be able to romance Cassandra or Dorian as a female, BUT I can make male character playthrough to experience their romance. My DA characters are not self-inserts after all thankfully (even in the ones that their romance actually align with my own interests...which is rare).

I get why people would be upset with strictly pansexual vs. playersexual companions. It can seem a bit unrealistic seeing everyone be so fluid with their relationships. Especially when it may possibly be outside of your control to dictate who ends up with who. At the end of the day, we still have the freedom of choosing who WE want. So I think thats most important aspect. This will also give players a chance to see unique banter and conversations between the companions like we haven’t really seen prior. So I’m willing to not make it too big a deal. I just hope they represent multiple kinds of relationships in a balanced way.

I'm doing the romance because it's a role playing game. I think you protest too much about the romance

they are bi. that other word sounds so dumb. but yes, them being that way takes away from their character. Dorian comes to mind as a good example as to how it can work well.

Start being nicer to them or pretend to share their values? Do you know what an RPG is, man? Hopefully you're just mistaken about this and BioWare will have it to where their skill points unlock regardless of how we role-play our protagonists, we'll just have to complete their companion quests. But I won't be altering my preferred style of role-play just to unlock companion moves. That aside, the relationship system seems more developed this time around, and sounds similar to how Origins did it, with a bonus unlocked at different stages of the relationship. I just hope it unlocks regardless of if the companions agrees with you or not. Yeah, again, only three skill points into combat at a time is just idiocy. All this because why? Because BioWare doesn't know how to make a GUI with more ability/skill slots on the screen? Or is this all to make things fair for the console players? What I think is there needs to be romance options OUTSIDE the party like in Origins and Inquisition. Making the party members bisexual is just lazy programming, similar to DA2, except worse, since at least DA2 had Sebastian. Veilguard should have more and better romances available from outside the party. It would also be cool to see these romances introduced to the party members through the Lighthouse, and they could have their own comments on each one. The idea of party members romancing each other just seems dumb. There's really not much value to it either, since we probably won't even get to see it. Their romance will just happen in the background. The only saving grace would be if you can start romancing one while he or she is in the middle of a romance with another party companion, but I doubt BioWare put the work in for that. The party companion romance will probably only trigger after Rook has turned down the companion enough times to lock out the romance.

It's not ideal, but I definitely prefer the "player sexual" approach to this bizarre "literally every companion character is canonically pansexual" idea. Every single companion being pansexual just feels weird since it doesn't reflect how "real world" statistical likelihoods of various sexual preferences work. In "real life" statistically like 70-80% are straight, 15ish% are gay/les, and the rest are some "flavor" of queer/pan/ace/etc. (It was roughly like this in past games in the same series as well; some strait, some bi, some gay. "If you don't like it, you don't have to romance it," that's fair. haha) But when literally 100% of companions in the game are canonically pan, it's inherently a little immersion-breaking because it's just not "realistic" unless the Veilguard group itself is also a "pansexuals unite" club on Thursdays as well as a "lets prevent the Fade from destroying all life as we know it" group. Weird? Weird.

Bro this game will be DOA.... Irs 100% D31 L9BT g4rbag3.

Is the combat still ass?

Pansexual only works as a definition of one or more of the companions are trans (and even then I have issues with the definition) so I’d put money on taash being trans. Maybe neve

Bro just stop with that crap dissing pansexual folks. Baldurs gate 3 did an amazing job and this game is heavily influenced by it so. And dissing the pansexual approach and liking the locked sexual preference system that was in inquisition is why that games romance system was dissed more than any rpg in the last 20 years.

In many RPGs where a romance is an option, I'd usually play that part out in the game. With this game, I'm not even sure I'll bother but wait and see. As of now, I'm more worried if Bioware still has the talent to make a compelling story or are they staffed by a bunch of activists who think their agenda is the story. Again, wait and see. I hope it's good but I just don't know any more with Bioware.

same reservation about pansexual companions. it's an unusual orientation, and to assign it to all companions is awkward. orientation helps define a character e.g. dorian and sera. if they try to define these companions explicitly as pansexual, i'm anticipating lots of "i don't care who or what you are" from all companions, which makes them all too similar. on the other hand, if they don't use it to define characters and it's just not discussed, then it essentially becomes player-sexual anyway, and the companions again become too similar. Either way, it's a "fingerprinting" opportunity missed. ah well, we'll see how it plays out. still excited for the game

All of them pansexual strips from their personality. If they are all the same, that stripes away some personality they could shine through. Thedas has always been a racist place, shown through Dao and dai. Elves and qunari were always met with some interesting dialogue from humans and vice versa Cullen would only be with female elf/human Solas only a female elf. If you strip that away it takes from the character... imagine solas, fenheral, gold of elves... doing everything in his power to bring back the elves at the top, bring the power back... imagine him being with a male qunari... imagine Dorian being with a female. Doesn't work, doesn't make sense.

People, we need to fight this bullshit. Please don't buy the game as a form of protest.

5:44 - Basically playersexual. Come on. Stop playin' BioWare, there's nothing wrong with playersexual companions, just admit that they are.

If I wanted to play a glorified dating sim I would replay Sakura Wars again, in this one girls actually look like girls xd Seriously this games getting less appealing the more I know about it

I don’t care for the designs (DA Origins / DA2 were my favs for companions) and the “every character is pansexual” does appear to be lazy writing, but I am more interested in the story and quests. Combat will likely be “ok” (won’t compare with Elden Ring (btw I so enjoy the builds in Shadow of the Erd Tree) or Dragon’s Dogma 2). But it’s story that BioWare used to hit with perfection. How are the quests? What about the story? I didn’t like the beats in the demo - the setup was a bit weak. They think it’s the end of the world and they sent 4 dudes to stop it? And the plan is talk down the Demi god or shoot him with a crossbow? So yeah, some worry concerning the story. If the combat hits Mass Effect vibe, I’m good. I hope they open up more on the story front, particular side quests, choice, and the intrigue of the world. The lore has so much potential. I ended up loving the mystery and visual storytelling in Shadow of the Erd Tree. Will Dragon Age return to form? Obviously, I will also be comparing this to Baulder’s Gate 3 and Avowed (Obsidian is known for great writing, excellent companions, and witty banter). Still cautiously optimistic.

Really not a fan of everyone's bi, it's lazy writing imho

'found family' 🤢🤢🤢 Yeah this just confirms this isn't a franchise for me anymore. I have no interest in befriending everyone every time and watch them have their little side romances and be unable to ever get rid of them from the save.

Ugliest romance options I've ever seen in a video game. Definitely up there with Inquisition. Not really surprising though coming from Wokeware.

So Varric can just turn gay on other companions?...sounds shit to me.

Looks like I'm going to skip. Thanks for the heads up Dantics. I don't mind games that give players the choice, but homosexual relationships between my companions is a hard pass.

I heard a rumour that they might be showing us how the character creator works today I hope it’s true and I hope they release a character creator like dragon’s dogma 2 did fingers crossed 🤞🏿

Don’t get why characters getting together if unromanced is being treated as if it’s something new. Mass Effect had Tali and Garrus. Dragon Age II had Fenris and Isabela and Carver and Merrill. Inquisition had Dorian/Bull (and Bull slept with various women working with the Inquisition before getting with Dorian), Josephine/Blackwall, and Sera/Dagna. Just seems they’re trying to avoid having the characters being called “playersexual” given how DA2 was met with criticism for doing the same thing. Inquisition handled companion romances more realistically. Shame we can’t have that again. But romances are optional side content. They need to convince me the game’s story is going to be handled well. This game has way more story baggage than the others, being a true follow up to Inquisition. We waited 10 years for this. Hope they focused on the actually important things.