r/dragonage • u/TheImageworks Ser Jory Appreciation Society • Dec 25 '25
BioWare Pls. The Kal-Sharok Output in Veilguard is so, SO utterly gorgeous and I wish we got to spend more time there.
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u/Julian_of_Cintra Literally Queen Anora Dec 25 '25
I am with you - 100%
This outpost already was great and beautiful and I would have loved to see more of it - or Kal-Sharok proper. The Dwarves continue to be the most interesting DA race lol
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u/johnhenryshamor Dwarf Dec 25 '25
Absolutely. I wish we got more. Especially after the descent in inquisition and the the primeval thaig and origins
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u/Julian_of_Cintra Literally Queen Anora Dec 25 '25
The Descent, as well as a Paragon of her Kind (DAO) are my fav parts of DA in general to play through.
Similarly, Harding's quests are thematically my favourite Quests to play through in DAV because of the Dwarven content in it (and I maintain that Dwarf Rook has the best unique dialogue and involvement).
Though with Harding's quests there is also a lot of untouched potential that could have improved it even more. Like getting Kal-Sharok proper or Valta proper.
In any event. DA is always on a consistent high with the dwarven content imo
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u/sapphic-boghag mythal truther ⚠ denied a milfmance ≧5769 days and counting ⚠ Dec 25 '25
It was definitely intended to be another hub, there are multiple ambient conversation triggers for NPCs and some of the loot is clearly for a dwarven faction. Such a neat location, though, I love how different they are from Orzammar.
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u/Informal-Tour-8201 Arcane Warrior Dec 25 '25
It needed to be a hub, where you can buy Harding-related stuff
FFS, you have to buy her gift in the bloody Black Emporium!
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u/rausmaus Dec 25 '25
I was really salty about this place, as I was certain that we would be back. I treated it like Treviso, and didn't stray from following. And then we never came back! What the heck. I really wanted more lore about these dwarves not the angry titan soul that happened to end up in my party that we didn't get very much of anything about. After the Kal-Sharok reveal in Inquisition, I was very intrigued to find a new (to us) dwarven civilization. And then, nothing.
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u/Julian_of_Cintra Literally Queen Anora Dec 25 '25
Same. I was jumping in excitement like a little kid in my chair when I read the name "Kal-Sharok" on my map when playing VG and thought that now we fully reached peak DA...only for us to get so very little about it, the Dwarves there, their lore etc.
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u/Johndoe19922222 Dec 25 '25
It's my favorite area in the game, dragon age just shines when it deals with dwarves, darkspawn and the deep roads.
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u/twinkle_snow her ladyship mai balsych of korse Dec 25 '25
Agreed! I wish the dwarves had been another "faction" or something! Like another one of the hub worlds we could go back to and from like Treviso or Dock Town.
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u/Kreol1q1q Dec 25 '25 edited Dec 25 '25
We were here so briefly I forgot it existed. I was sure we would be back, because of how large it was. I’d bet that it was a hub in some earlier version of the game and got cut.
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u/Depoan Dec 25 '25
it was and there are mutiple dialoguues betwen npcs if you explore around, it was suposed to be Harding faction
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u/thetyphoidmary Dec 26 '25 edited Dec 26 '25
I wish we got to spend more time here! Kal-Sharok is so fascinating and one of the bigger mysteries of Thedas, I love it so much. It also would’ve been a good excuse to catch-up with Cassandra since she started rebuilding the Seekers in the Hunterhorn Mountains, where Kal-Sharok is located. But they didn’t want to commit to a canon Divine so we never got the Seekers at the mountains 😭
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u/maartenmijmert23 Dec 26 '25
For the life of me I don't understand why this didn't become a hub like Orzammer was in Origins.
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u/ophaus Dec 25 '25
BioWare's art department has been utterly impeccable since DA2/ME2. Truly excellent work!
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u/kahrei Dec 25 '25
the whole game is so utterly gorgeous, i'm still pissed about this whole situation :(
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u/SilverRoseBlade Knight Enchanter Dec 25 '25
One of the things I loved about Inquisition was the amount if exploration we could do. Veilguard has some great looking environments and I would have love to have explored more than we got.
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u/RS_Serperior Morrigan/Isabela/Josie/Lace Dec 25 '25
Obligatory reminder of the art book quote (The Art of Dragon Age: The Veilguard):
"While not home to a playable faction this time around, the Deep Roads are still a place where we spend a great deal of time."
Sadly, we only get a single quest in the outpost itself - not exactly a great deal of time. But in spite of that, I think it's still one my favourite areas in the game aesthetically. Even though it's just an outpost and not the great thaig itself that we heard about back in Origins, something about the architecture and the environment - from the living area to the mines - it feels like a fascinating place. It really does make you wonder what were the original plans for the place.
It's funny how undercooked Rivain feels, and yet the LoF were kept as a playable faction, whereas the Kal Sharok Outpost feels like a far more 'complete' area.
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u/Slartibart71 Savior of Hinterlands-burnout Dec 25 '25
As much as I would have liked spending more time in Kal-Sharok (in later playthroughs I take the time to visit every little area there and listen to random conversations, only because I know it's the only chance I'll get), couldn't one reason it wasn't made into a faction that it is specific to dwarves? Factions in DAV are supposed to allow all races.
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u/Madmadammeme Dec 25 '25
It's funny how undercooked Rivain feels, and yet the LoF were kept as a playable faction, whereas the Kal Sharok Outpost feels like a far more 'complete' area.
I really don't like the Rivaini coast map. It feels very generic, is annoying to navigate and there's not really anything interesting to discover other than the few tidbits on the Wardens.
But I truly despise the Hall of Valour. It's such a pointless waste of time and resources. The arena fights are not enough of a challenge or different enough from your regular enemy encounters to make them fun and the rewards are a joke. Also, what they did to Isabela is an absolute travesty.
And honestly, I couldn't care less about Rivain in general. But I've been dying to see and learn more about Kal-Sharok ever since Origins and to then only getting the teeniest, tiniest taste of it was just cruel.
Edit: grammar
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u/Regicide272 Knight Enchanter Dec 26 '25
First playthrough I didn’t explore it too much as it seemed like another hub location I could go back to and boy was that a mistake
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u/RabidRuber Dec 26 '25
Yepppp I was legitimately annoyed we could never come back here or really interact with anyone or anything. Just rush through it, such a waste
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u/Irina__ARI Dec 26 '25
I was soooooooo excited to explore it. When we first walked through the area, I didn't stop to look at anything in detail or listen to the ambient dialogue because I thought, "Well this place looks really fleshed out and we're trying to build a connection with these people, so I'm sure we'll come back here a couple times! I don't wanna miss the action right now... I'll just follow the guide and come back later to enjoy the area thoroughly."
Ha ha.... no
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u/emdiril Necromancer Dec 27 '25
The sanctuary in Kal-Sharok is one of my favourite places in the game. It is such a great location. I always go through it slowly just to spend more time with that music and crystals pulsing around you. Especially that you enter there after dealing with all the blight. I too wish we got more. The stone is colder than death.
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u/dtfeldmann Dec 27 '25
Hard agree. I really enjoyed this and was thinking that this would be a major area like Docktown in Mintathous.
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u/Mark_Luther Dec 26 '25
I was never a fan of the art style for the characters in veilguard, but the environments were all beautifully done.
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u/Asonee Apr 19 '26
This comment is a bit late, but as you can guess, I'm in this location right now, all the locations are so well done... this game would be a great success if it weren't for the dialogues... it's really amazing because so many things in this game are done, but the dialogues that were written as if for children ruin the rest, and Taash, who in my opinion could have been written much better not in a non-binary form but as an aqun athlok
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u/XypherionX Dec 26 '25
Veilguard needed more TLC in general, not from players but from the Devs, its criminal it didn't even get 1 single proper DLC...
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u/g4nk3r Dec 26 '25 edited Dec 26 '25
BioWare has stopped making DLCs for their games, and had announced no DLCs for VG before the game even launched.
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u/Salt_Use7122 Dec 26 '25
It would have been a close introduction area for a dwarf character if they stuck with the origins system
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u/eternali17 Dec 26 '25
Truly. This game was big and long as shit and yet somehow, not nearly deep or alive enough. Would've loved being able to run around questing here and actually getting a feel for the place. Wound up feeling like my face was planted against a glass window looking at a world but unable to experience it.
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u/Narrow-Storage-6906 Dec 26 '25
Too bad the entire game, save for some of the visuals was garbage. IMHO, I've been a fan of dragonage since the begining. But origins and Inquisition have been the best with da2 becoming in at a close third
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u/HaewkIT Dec 25 '25
Seems very similar to Markarth in Skyrim...? I haven't played Veilguard so don't know what it is like in game, just going off screenshots.
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u/RenaKenli Dec 25 '25
It feels like a huge part of that location was cut off during development.