Interesting how during both Baratie and WCI, there are scenes of Sanji approaching a room only to overhear himself being talked about to one of his family members.
Pudding reveals the betrayal and lashes out at Sanji's character, saying he's not even a real prince and calling him pathetic for being hurt. Reiju can only look down and not respond.
Meanwhile, for Baratie, we saw Zeff giving Luffy his blessing to be Sanjis companion. When Luffy refuses, Zeff asks if it's because Sanjis not good enough for him and he says that of course he is good enough. (Similar to "Of course, because that's who you are!" Sanjis worth is literally a fact in Luffys head i can't)
Both are such significant moments for Sanjis character, and the way Luffy responds is heart-warming. The contrast between the two scenes emphasises the meaning in and impact of Luffys response, and his attitude there is the same as in WCI. He's always priorising what Sanji wants and encouraging him to be selfish and follow his true wishes when it comes to serious moments.
He needs to hear Sanjis true feelings be said, and not have things always being forced onto him or have him be priorising others too much. Three moments of fustration Luffy experienced was when Sanji was denying himself that, instead only giving up and wanting to sacrifice himself (baratie with accepting almost being shot, his sacrifice at drum island, and him telling luffy to leave him behind at their wci reunion). He simply can't accept such a fate for Sanji, someone who is a good person who he knows doesn't really want to die.
Even though Luffy can be selfish and come across as pushy, when it's things that have a significant impact he's been really considerate towards him. It's why even though he was being grabby and already considering him a crew member for most of the arc of Baratie, when it really came down to it, he didn't want to make Sanji do what he didn't want to and respected his decision. We know how much Luffy needed a chef and how much he liked Sanjis food and morals, like whether you see it as platonic or romantic i dont think you can deny he was infatuated by him, yet he was prepared to let him go for his sake.
Anyway, It's really what Sanji needs because that attitude is directly what challenges his insecurities and the words of Judge, as I have mentioned before. He provides clear, genuine affection, yet it's not to an enabling degree as he will speak up when he sees something damaging. It's a good balance I think, not claiming for them to be perfect they're still human in tough situations
Same goes the other way around, like when we saw Sanji look out for Luffy (and the general situation too ofc) when he fought Usopp by kicking him out of the way and telling him to think about what he's saying and the weight of his words, snapping him out of his blind anger for that moment. Its what he needed to be told as the Captain; hes the glue of the entire crew after all and that shouldn't be broken by being too caught up in the heat of the moment. Even if most of the damage had already been done that statement he intercepted was a big one. However, he's also defended Luffy at numerous times even against Namis comments, and when Luffy and Vivi were arguing he prevented her from intervening while she was pissed off at Luffy.
I simply cannot emphasise enough how well I think they go together. Luffy is the one who can understand and take on all the love Sanji has to give through his cooking, and Sanji needs the words of praise and love from someone he knows cannot lie. They can be themselves around each other and fulfil the other
I find it almost hilarious that it was easier for me to make a vid about some non-canon pairing from the first three games than a canon one from Veilguard. I tried to make a video about Rook and Bellara because I didn't actually hate it, but it didn't work out because there just wasn't enough actual romantic content. I'll probably have to mix several couples into one video, but I only have content for three and if I have enough inspiration to do so. Honestly, it's never been thiiis hard to make one video… Don't know why I'm even trying..
Well, my final thoughts after the last playthrough
The only thing I really don't have any complaints about is the locations, they are very beautiful.
The third act is good, I liked it for the first time and I liked it in my last run.
I like rogue combat style, so far my favourite in the series, the mage and warrior are so-so, I didn't really like it, especially mage, to be limited by just 3 spells is ridiculous.
The armor design is atrocious, mods can save it in general, but without them 90% of armors can be just thrown away. Companions' armors should also be redone with retextures, otherwise they are as colorful as parrots.
All lore was completely abandoned, all the elves suddenly know that the gods were evil, don't tell me they belived Inquisition, that they considered a Chantry organisation or their own God of Lies.
Qunari Rook walk around Minrathous and no one has questions, although it was said earlier that the kossiths are killed on spot.
Qunari in general are just cannon fodder, Venatori are also faceless villains.
Honestly, it's better not to think about the lore at all, the more you think, the more you understand how bad the situation is.
All dialogues are extremely simplified, the style is not consistent with the previous games, I'm done with hearing Yep answers. It was fine in ME but not in DA. Also if Rook is an elf, especially Veil Jumper, sometimes they speak like a Dalish, sometimes like a city elf, they could not decide who the main character is at all.
Companions:
I like Davrin's questline with the griffins, as well as the NPCs it involves, I liked Uncle Eldrin, he actually feld like DA character.
I also like Bellara's questline in general, at least something really emotional in this game + she really grows into something by the end, especially if you choose her as the one who will be kidnapped, Neve looked strange in this role.
It is better to ignore Taash, the more you learn the worse it gets. I'd rather recruit their mother if I had a choice.
Neve, Lucanis are neither fish nor fowl, although the concept of their quests was not bad, the execution was average.
The crows are too sanitized here, I think devs need to play DAO one more time or at least once for some. All this talks about Jacobus becoming a crow in the end... I felt just cringe.
Emmyric is not bad, but too positive, although the choice with Manfred is the only one that really makes you consider what is better.
I didn't like Harding. She's much more interesting and serious in DAI, here she's just a sweet cutie, I ended up always saving Davrin, because I don't care if she lives or not. I actually felt bad about Davrin.
The romances in this game, it doesn't matter whether they are present or not, nothing to say.
Only the male Rook voices are normal, I actually liked Voice 2, it was natural and pleasant mostly, the female ones are terrible, especially the British one, it's incredibly annoying.
The import of decisions from previous games is played out poorly, they said that they would leave everyone to decide for themselves what was before and not touch on it, but in fact they have their own canon that they imposed. I was kind of fine with 3 choices only, but no the way they executed it.
Regarding the Inquisitor, the only thing that really matters is whether there was a romance with Solas or not, while the romance itself is just terrible in DATV. I think I was literally in rage after the final scene lol But this whining creature, drooling over Solas and forgiving him everything is not my Lavellan. I'm actually not a Solavellan fan, I prefer friendship path and think he has more chemistry with non elven Inquisitor, but I liked my Lavellan. It was not her at all.
Friendship path is the only one that looked good in DATV, at least it suited my Trevelyan. On the other hand there is no import of their possible hatred and dispuse for each other, but here if you import that Inqy swore to stop Solas at any cost, it looks like they were mostly friends but disagreed in the end of Trespasser.
I ended up playing in my last playthrough as a male elf, a veil jumper with a mod that returns cut Dalish lines, always choosing the most straightforward dialogues. This was mostly okay. Davrin and Bellara were also my constant companions.
I wanted to romance Neve, but somehow it looked ridiculous, then switched to Bellara, and it turned out much more organic with some real chemistry, I imported my canon Inquisitor Trevelyan, well and after excluding everything I didn't like the previous times, this playthrough turned out more or less enjoyable. This is definetly not the way it supposed to be lol My first impression was better actually, it's when you try to analyse and replay the gane you trully realise how problematic it is.
titsay
baratheonpilled
kianamaiart
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
theartofmadeline
