Topic: Dragon Age: The Veilguard

I'm interested in this game, further down the line, if there's any Greatswords invovled 😉 . Think I saw one on YouTube in a promotional/review vid for Dragon Age: Veilguard actually!

@Kraven @BearsEatBeets Yeah I don't get the backlash towards this or most games receive these days. A character has purple hair? Some of the conspiracy theories flying around yesterday about this game were a bit ridiculous.

If it is genuine criticism, then people are totally in their right to sound off about it as long as it doesn't resort to insults or abuse.

As for the actual game, I'm glad it has reviewed well but am still unsure about. I probably won't get to it for a couple of years any, so who knows where my headspace will be by then.

@JohnnyShoulder I agree with you. I know the gaming culture these days, particularly with people behind a keyboard, say whatever they want without any lingering consequences, but man, the hatred and vileness in some of comments on Eurogamer’s YT review, along with IGN and other outlets, is absolutely disgusting. It is not normal behavior.

There are several reviewers, on this site and other outlets, that I trust. Two of them found the game to be disappointing; others think it’s amazing. I listen to what they have to say, whether positive or negative or both and form my opinion around that. From everything I’ve read, this game seems to be perfectly up my alley and hits all the right notes. The criticism some have doesn’t bother me.

For example, one major complaint is how the choices you made in Inquisition don’t really have an impact on this game. That’s a totally valid point, and I can understand why that might be a flaw. To me, I haven’t played Inquisition in 10 years. I can’t remember any of the decisions I made, other than who I romanced. Hell, I can’t even remember a conversation I had with my wife two weeks ago (ha-ha). It’s been so long that I’m not worried about my prior decisions in a decade old game. As long as I can make new decisions, which are apparently meaningful in this game (a good thing, too!) and have awesome companions and quests (which this game seems to have a lot of), then I’m all for it.

TL;DR - I have the game preordered and ready to go. I’m excited as hell.

@Yagami So as far as I saw and read in some reviews you can hardly make some so-called evil decisions however some of the decisions you'll have to take can break your relationship with some companions and they go to something called "Hardened" mode where for example they won't be supporting you in battles by healing you ... etc.

Also, if you didn't do the companions + Factions quests that might affect your ending big time.

@Th3solution I really hated the art style especially in the first trailer we saw but I don't know the more I saw it the more it grew on me especially apart from the art style itself, the game looks gorgeous, like the effects, lighting, buildings, rain... etc.

@FuriousMachine Good luck with DAI. It's one of my favorites although it has its flaws but in general I really loved it.

@BlAcK_Sw0rDsMaN I saw some comments on reddit that there aren't any great swords but you can still play with some 2H weapons!

@Khwarezm89 Yes, in motion the game looks great — the landscapes, lighting and effects, animations, and color palettes all are really beautiful. The character designs are fine, and I can appreciate the more cartoony sheen and slightly stylized features, but it’s just feels a little off to me. But I found that I got used to it after a few minutes. Then after a few more minutes of not seeing the characters up close and then cutting to a cut scene or slower moment I recoiled again a little bit, having forgot what they looked like. It’s like when I look in the mirror sometimes I think I look good and then I see a picture or video of myself and I realize how goofy I look. 😂

Soooo.... I made the "mistake" of watching the first 15 minutes of Skill Up's review of this, and I stopped there because I didn't really need to know more.
Now, if a game I'm interested in gets some decent and some bad reviews, like this one, I typically decide that I will give it a chance. And that was my plan with this one as well, but Skill Up changed my mind, and it was his comments (and demonstrations) on the poor writing that did it. After seeing the scenes of the main character resolving "conflicts" of party members and the fact that it was reminiscent of a tween negotiating a truce between squabbling toddlers in every instance, I was severely put off. I don't necessary mind a light tone in my games, but this is Dragon Age, and it seems that Veilguard attempts to be a Sunday morning cartoon version for the kiddies, rather than a proper Dragon Age entry.
So, I've gone from buying this on payday to probably not getting it at all, and that kinda breaks my heart.

@FuriousMachine Skill Up is a great channel but in the end who did the review is just another gamer like you, me and the rest of the people here. Ralph really liked the game in the preview on the channel while Austin didn't like it.

There are a lot of great reviews for the game itself and even if it was bad. If it's something you think you'll like then give it a shot.

A lot of games that had bad reviews not even in the 70s and Skill Up didn't like it but I really liked it and vice versa.

Just take a deep breath, think again and maybe check other reviews too. Even Skill Up said that in his review to not stop on his review and decide to not buy the game. Check the positive ones too.

@Yagami As stated earlier in this thread, I have yet to play any meaningful amount of it, so I couldn't say for sure.
@Khwarezm89 Yes, and as I stated, I typically make my own mind up when there are mixed reviews (and I have read the good ones, including the one on this site); however, it wasn't the reviewer's opinion so much as my own opinion of what he showed (which matched his, tbf) that changed my mind. All the interactions on display there truly turned me off the game and unless the guy lies, that is also as good as it gets.

@FuriousMachine this is what I've felt since gameplay trailer day one. It's like a bad marvel movie half the time and dialogue is just naff and inconsequential in the 'choose what you say' cutscenes. There were some serious red flags for me in those trailers that i've talked about before. Then a Baldur's Gate 3 dev said it was like a netflix show and it knows what it wants to be, which sounded less like praise and more like a passive aggressive dig at it because of Netflix's track record with shows.

I actually "watched"/fell asleep during, 'The Marvels' last night, and when I woke, I was genuinely thinking did I just see a sneak peak of the new Dragon Age game?

Like everything is purple and the hair is always back-lit and everyone keeps saying stupid stuff. It's genuinely eerily similar. So maybe it's just a Dragon Age for teenage girls like The Marvels is clearly a movie for teenage girls. Which is fine, but it does kind of limit its scope for those of us who aren't teenage girls 😅

I'm still hoping people on here will give genuine reactions across the board, and that will be the biggest help in deciding whether it is actually worth a go. I can't believe with the reviews that are positive out there that there isn't still enjoyment to be had.

This new Dragon Age definitely seems to have erased some of the individual identity between Dragon Age and Mass Effect. It seems like Veilguard is very ME in how its structured and paced. How Rook is their own character and The Veilguard is its own story told to player, with the player having minimal options to really shape that beyond flavour choices, like with how Shepard and the ME trilogy worked. I can understand why some people may not be happy with this, but I personally like ME way more than DA overall, so I'm not super upset by this personally.

@FuriousMachine @Ravix I understand what you mean and to be honest this one looks pretty different from the previous titles but I still feel it's Dragon Age - or to be more accurate BioWare game - in heart. From what I saw in reviews looks like the story is more focused compared to previous DA titles and a lot of reviewers compared it to ME2 which was Bioware's best game ever. So I think it's a different approach that people might love/hate but for me personally I'm really hyped for it.

@Pizzamorg 100% agree with you!!

@Khwarezm89 I am still genuinely looking forward to your first impressions and feelings as you go along in the game (even though you switched Avatars from Geralt to Varric, which is almost a crime. Man, I just do not gel with Varric 😅) It's a game I still really want to like, and that I want to get swept up by the release buzz and all that jazz. I believe it has a good character creator, so maybe they should have released that early like Capcom did with DD2 as I do love a good character creator, it's probably my biggest gaming weakness, and it might have just convinced me to buy the game at launch, regardless.

I think another issue for me is I've only played Inquisition, and I never finished it as it just got too drawn out with the quest table sending you to random zones and meaningless padding. Although I generally know the story and what happened with Solas.

Maybe this one being on rails to some extent will help with that 🤷‍♂️

@Ravix Apart from maybe the example of the purple and the backlit hair, I don't feel The Marvels (which I liked, btw) is an apt comparison. Firstly, the target audience here is clearly understood and considering what came before, especially with Kamala Khan's series, the tone here should not come as a big surprise. I had fun with it. It also actually feels more adult in tone than what I've seen of the Veilguard, and that's saying something. Seeing the frankly juvenile tone in the interactions on display in Veilguard feels to me like it would feel like if somebody decided to take the tone of The Marvels and make a Godfather movie in that vein.

@Pizzamorg @Khwarezm89 The Mass Effect series are my all time favourite games bar none and if they pull off this level of writing in the next Mass Effect game I will be absolutely livid! Luckily, Gamble just recently, very diplomatically, stated that ME will be more serious in tone, so hopefully we won't have a main character who will need to settle arguments among companions on what to pack for a picnic.

Now, I will stop dumping on this game and I truly hope that most of you will get tons of enjoyment out of it, but it is simply not for me

@FuriousMachine I don't actually mind Kamala Khan or the tone, tbh, and I was happy enough to sit through it for a fair way (I do pride myself on being able to get enjoyment out of anything by suspending disbelief) I think it was by the time it got to the singing language that I was starting to zone out, and then I also felt the actual stakes were relatively low, or maybe just a half baked story overall, and I didn't care about any of the subsequent action enough to fight back the Z's. Something didn't quite click, and it's the same feeling with what I've seen of this DA game, all style no substance and lacking a real creative vision or driving force in favour of cheap mimicry.

I do think there is a weird trend in fantasy games and media where writers think copying Marvel will mean they have a blockbuster franchise ready to sell to the millions, and it doesn't really convert to fantasy like that. Marvel is Marvel, for better and for worse, but Marvel ain't Medieval High Fantasy, and Medieval High Fantasy ain't Marvel as far as I'm concerned. Even though I enjoy 80% of Marvel, to an extent, and I used to be more into it when it was kind of fresh, I don't think it's quippy self aggrandising style really translates into anything else, be it crime fiction or high fantasy. I mean, even modern Star Wars is directly influenced by Marvel's success to wildly varying results.

But I digress, and also hope that people get plenty of enjoyment out of DA:TV. And maybe one day it will surprise me. Maybe it's a game to played when slightly drunk 😅

@Ravix Yeah, I think you're absolutely right there and I think everyone should stop trying to "be Marvel" (I even think Marvel should stop trying to be Marvel, but the fans won't let them, which is why they keep reverting to the same old hits). And as to your other point, I'd say more than slightly; completely sloshed will probably be necessary

@FuriousMachine It's fine that the game is not for you and I 100% respect your opinion. What're you playing nowadays?

@Ravix Geralt is my all time favorite protagonist so that won't change since I put Varric's photo xD . I just really liked the shot and Varric is my favorite character in DA series. He reminds me of Dandelion in Witcher.

I'll have some first impressions here after the weekend for DA and I hope it won't disappoint me. It has been a tough month for me on personal level and I hope the game helps me to escape what I'm facing IRL.

@Khwarezm89 yeah, man. Get as much enjoyment as possible out of it. It seemed quite Varric heavy from the preview so it should be an ideal escape for you.

I'm even tempted to buy it now as it looked absolutely gorgeous in the Digital Foundry tech review, and the "anti woke" brigade are jumping all over it to complain in every way possible so I just feel like now doing the opposite of those grumpy hateful c***s who clearly don't play fantasy RPGs anyway 😄 but I must focus on finishing TLoU and Hogwarts Legacy before getting sidetracked by a massive new RPG.

Although... I do love RPGs... 😅

If you've not played BG3 yet, I'd highly recommend that too, very easy to get lost in that world, and it is very cathartic.

Will your DA character be a kind of amalgamation of game/movie/book characters you like, or something wildly different? I'd love to see them when you've designed them. It's a great way to get the community invested in sharing in the newest games too, the forums here had some great interactions when BG3 and DD2 were out, and it all started with the character design phase 😄

@Ravix Thank you, I played the first part of the game yesterday and I like it so far. Regarding my character I’m always trying in the first play through to go with a character that looks like me even I’m really bad at it 🤣

@Khwarezm89 I won't ask where your left arms been 👀😂

Does it let you design or alter gear, or is it just stuff you pick up?

I actually booted up Dragon Age: Origins on game pass last night to get a feel for the lore and world again in case I get this at some point soon, especially as Veilguard is almost like the one PS5 Pro launch title 😬 maybe I can delay finishing Harry Potter and TLoU...

I'd stick with Origins, but man, it's blurry 😂 now, if they released a Dragon Age remake bundle like they did with Mass Effect...

I am about tenish hours in and I am loving this so far.

Really about the only negative I have is the lipsync is really really bad. Otherwise, hard to find a fault here for me.

Admittedly, I felt like the opening few hours feel very rushed as it barrels you from story mission to story mission, but then it settles into a more Mass Effect like rhythm of doing a mission, going back to your base to upgrade and speak to your companions, and then back to another a mission and I was just in my happy place.

It is a simple loop, but one not enough games use and it was like putting on an old comfy sweater I forgot was in the back of my wardrobe.

I personally really like the art direction, however, some characters proportions are kind of odd, but I'm just trying to tune it out 😂

I picked an eleven Grey Warden warrior, to begin with I wasn't loving the combat and the controller is still quite cluttered with stuff. But maybe for the first time in my life I can complain a game is way way too easy. You really need to max out the difficulty here to fully appreciate the mechanics and properly enjoy the full breadth of the combat here. On the default settings enemies die so fast you could basically just mindlessly spam basic attack while looking out the window, and the combat is too much fun to ignore all of its complexities.

I haven't really settled for a build yet, the game lets you freely respec (you just can't change your class) and each pocket of the warrior tree has some surprising variety in terms of how you approach combat. My favourite thing though absolutely so far is the Captain America fantasy of launching your shield into a crowd of enemies, waiting for it to ricochet back and launching it back over and over.