I have already complained about some of the issues this game has in another post, so I’m not gonna reiterate but I just felt like venting after beating the game.
While I was absolutely overjoyed with the story of Taash, as quirky-wholesome and heartbreaking as it was, the final confrontation(s) with Solas left much to be desired. I do see that this game went a different way in telling its story, and after ten years, Dragon Age was definitely allowed to change. After all, the final message of the game is that stories change just as much as the world and people do, if you really want progress.
I’m even inclined to say that this was a nice try at beautiful messaging, but with such a contrived plot twist “Oh, Varric was dead the entire time AND NOBODY TOLD YOU BECAUSE NOBODY NOTICED YOU HALLUCINATING AND IT’S ALL THE DREAD WOLF’S FAULT” just to make (I’m guessing) new players hate Solas, and then having him trick you repeatedly just to prove he is, in fact, the god of trickery and lies? While at the same time, they constantly mention he’s also the “God of Rebellion” but then he’s not actually rebelling but following orders like every other servant of the elven gods? Granted, Mythal is a slightly different story, but she’s still one of the gods and he just blindly followed her. And in the end, he only changes through her forgiveness? I can’t even put into words how little sense the scene with Mythal and Solas made, I don’t even know if this is something that everyone got to see.
The earlier parts of the game introduce you to a few of the battles Solas fought and while he was trying to do better, and you and your team learn about his biggest regrets throughout the game, he eventually has to be tricked or convinced into saving the Veil. Which brings me to the remains of your team making a fake magical dagger casually while you are stumbling around in a prison made for gods…? I have no idea how to make this sound anything but nonsensical. Now that your team has that dagger, you can trick the god of trickery into believing this is the right dagger and… be happy about tricking him…? Maybe one of you comrades can tell me how this is supposed to make sense. I don’t know what else to say about this part bc it seems to me it was just there to give the player another dialog option for the end of the game.
And now, the finale itself. I’m only talking about the one where you try to stop Solas by talking him down (instead of attacking him, tricking him, or making him use the actual dagger to use blood magic to tie the Veil to his existence). The entire game suffers from the illusion of choice and then just streamlining the plot to fit one of the options. Sure, it’s more of an action RPG than an actual RPG, which wouldn’t have been bad, but I will never get why studios add decision moments to a story when eventually it just doesn’t matter. So when you choose not to trick Solas or force him to use blood magic, all it takes to make him stop tearing open the Veil, is Mythal’s ghost releasing him from her service. Solas cries for five seconds (you know, you need a moment to work through a couple millennia of war crimes and guilt) and then does the blood ritual anyway, sorry, he cuts himself with the dagger and steps into the fade. What the hell was that?
As a last (bitter) thought: If the message of the game/story is about change, why is everybody so afraid of the Veil being torn down? I thought you guys wanted change. /s
I’m drifting off into angry rambling, so I’ll just leave it at this. I hope I’m not the only one who felt thoroughly disappointed.
Solas was named the god of rebellion by others.
His whole motivation - and what the game tries to do the player as Rook is make you think you made the wrong choices… even if you made the best choice possible and those consequences were unknowable.
Solas really thinks that maybe If he undoes the Veil, it will fix the horrible guilt he feels over creating the Veil and its side effects. He’s pathetic and knows at some level that “fixing” the fade won’t undo all his other crimes before and since.
Rook and Morrigan are able to get through to Solas to take a moment to figure out what he really wants - and what he wants is to sacrifice himself for a better world.
Mythial saying “you can give up” gives solas that bit of edge.
It was sad to watch that egg guy realize that he wasted the last decade. He could/should have been trying to get the true history out there, instead he wanted to tear the world down to restore the elves to being spirits… which might not even have worked.
The second fake dagger just casually being brought up after Rook escapes the prison screams late addition to the script after game was already in production. Makes me think that a lot of the ending was changed fairly deep into the run of production.
I have no other big thoughts on the ending. The Solas-Mythal stuff didn’t bother me too much, but I agree there was too much tell and not enough show. The memories we play through in the crossroads seem really underutilized as character building moments and then watching the regrets unfold after completing those memories seems odd. Why not have us play through the regrets?
The quasi-retcon of Flemmeth and Morrigan also seemed just kind of tossed in by having it be just a quick convo in the crossroads. Which might explain why so much of the Solas plot feels so disjointed as well. They were likely building the plane while it was in the air.
Overall, I agree but I didn’t make me all that upset. Was honestly just happy to have another DA game after 10 years. I have other quibbles with other parts of the game and the more YA tone of it rather than the bloody dark fantasy of earlier installments bothered me more than some of the bumbling to Solas’s arc.
