Dragon Age: The Veilguard

ltron said:
So it has got some trans stuff in it, we get the point that some people don't like that. But is the game any good other than that?

From my limited playtime the dialogue is a bit cringeworthy and the gameplay is basic because it's a dumbed down action RPG, but it is still quite fun. It's leagues better than Mass Effect Andromeda though, now that game was badly made and the most cringeworthy load of nonsense I've ever seen.
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I wrote my impressions on it in a quick breakdown a few pages back.

TLDR: I think it hovers from awful to average in almost every respect, gameplay is probably the best part but becomes grating pretty quickly due to how simplistic it is. I know of a few people that became so tired of slogging through it that they turned the difficulty all of the way down, not because it's challenging but because it becomes extremely tedious.
 
It's such a weird series.

Origins - one of my favourite RPG's, great story telling and game mechanics
DA:2 - lost a lot of what made Origins special as it tried to simplify the mechanics and become an action RPG
Inquisition - Not as good as Origins but i felt like it was a return to form, good storytelling once you got passed the hinterlands and deeper into the game
Veilguard - Clearly had development hell, trying to be too many different things and not succeeding at any of them, storytelling clearly the worst in the series
 
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Gray2233 said:
I wrote my impressions on it in a quick breakdown a few pages back.

TLDR: I think it hovers from awful to average in almost every respect, gameplay is probably the best part but becomes grating pretty quickly due to how simplistic it is. I know of a few people that became so tired of slogging through it that they turned the difficulty all of the way down, not because it's challenging but because it becomes extremely tedious.
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Interesting, thanks. I'll see how I get on with it, but it does seem dumbed down.
 
Grouch said:
It's such a weird series.

Origins - one of my favourite RPG's, great story telling and game mechanics
DA:2 - lost a lot of what made Origins special as it tried to simplify the mechanics and become an action RPG
Inquisition - Not as good as Origins but i felt like it was a return to form, good storytelling once you got passed the hinterlands and deeper into the game
Veilguard - Clearly had development hell, trying to be too many different things and not succeeding at any of them, storytelling clearly the worst in the series
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I'm surprised how many publications have DA 2 in their top 100 games of all time, with Rockpapershotgun being the latest example. I really didn't like that game.
 
Grouch said:
I'm honestly not sure how I can argue with such a simplistic view of the world. You're all so deep in your own bubble you think your reality exists everywhere and for everyone. There are so many people who play games who have never even heard of the term DEI.
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I heard of it in Pax Dei...it was literally in the title :)
 
Grouch said:
It's such a weird series.
Veilguard - Clearly had development hell, trying to be too many different things and not succeeding at any of them, storytelling clearly the worst in the series
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This is exactly what happened to Battlefield 2042!! Both games EA. Tried to be a battle royale/fortnight and switched
 
ltron said:
I'm surprised how many publications have DA 2 in their top 100 games of all time, with Rockpapershotgun being the latest example. I really didn't like that game.
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Not many people I know who did. And that includes hardcore fans of the series. DA2 was derided at the time of its launch.
 
I don't recall overly liking any of the dragon age games. Was always perplexed that people thought so much of the first. That said, it was a long time ago. I might play this game one day but not in the near future I think.
 
I'll say it again though - too many YT's with "sources" probably making up refund numbers, I'll take it with a pinch of salt. As is the decline in player count as a percentage - 30% is about the same for any single player game after a week if you look at Steam's other games, that's in no way unsual either.

Steam score has slowly been declining however, now down to 71%.
 
I'm a huge Dragon Age: Origins fan, it's literally in my top 3 games of all time.

Dragon Age Veilguard, is my biggest disappointment of all time. I bought it, I tried so hard to like it, but I just literally couldn't get past the awful writing and the game going from dark fantasy, to some neon colourful nightmare.

I'll just take Origins as the start and end of the series.
 
Its defiantly on a downward trend, yesterday's peak was 47K, its just hit its peak for today, its just past the peak hump and its peak was 36K, the bad reviews vs good user reviews are also creeping up, if it keeps going like this it will be back to 70% soon, back to a mixed reviews rating.
 
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humbug said:
Its defiantly on a downward trend, yesterday's peak was 47K, its just hit its peak for today, its just past the peak hump and its peak was 36K, the bad reviews vs good user reviews are also creeping up, if it keeps going like this it will be back to 70% soon, back to a mixed reviews rating.
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I've a few friends and family that are technically "LGBTQ+" etc, more than one was looking forward to this game. I say technically because most of them don't like to associate with that label, but I digress. I realise this is going to feel anecdotal on my end, so people can take it as they will, but for a game lauded by many for its wonderful depictions of minorities? They're devastated at how poorly they were represented, at how their sexuality/"identity" was the entire character rather than what it should have been, a facet that would rarely come up. A good few kept pushing on in hope things would improve, but they only ever get worse. I think it's the same for a lot of people that want to support that sort of thing, and I don't use that as a political bit on my end, but a lot of major outlets sold the game on its diversity and inclusion above all else.

So where is it? There's little beyond poorly written stereotypes, the game never hit good numbers judging from peak players compared to similar games (I don't care what anyone says, it's a valid metric when put up against other similar and often more niche games, certainly against the AA BG3 that handled those topics far better). The drop off has been huge, it keeps decreasing at a very rapid rate, it did a disservice to everyone. To fans of the franchise, to fans of what Bioware used to be, and absolutely to people within the minority communities many outlets claimed the game represented. Worst of all? It insulted gamers as a whole, I've no doubt some people like or even love it, but this is a decade in development AAA release costing hundreds of millions, and what did we end up with?

It's laughable.
 
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A good but not great game. Come on - we've been over this several times now. The writing isn't great but the graphics are pretty good. The VA is underwhelming but the actual sound design itself is very good. Does it have the gravitas or seriousness of issues that something like God Of War does very well? Nope. Tonally, it's clearly had different angles being pushed at different times.

I think the single biggest reason you will like or dislike this game is none of those though. It's the politics and the youtube ragers. If you don't care about that - which you shouldn't - then it's a 6 or 7 out of 10. If you do then, welp.
 
[FnG]magnolia said:
A good but not great game. Come on - we've been over this several times now. The writing isn't great but the graphics are pretty good. The VA is underwhelming but the actual sound design itself is very good. Does it have the gravitas or seriousness of issues that something like God Of War does very well? Nope. Tonally, it's clearly had different angles being pushed at different times.

I think the single biggest reason you will like or dislike this game is none of those though. It's the politics and the youtube ragers. If you don't care about that - which you shouldn't - then it's a 6 or 7 out of 10. If you do then, welp.
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Come on Mags, we both saw the scores and reasoning from many of the big outlets.

"Game is the best in the series, story is the weak but but it's super diverse!"

That's the issue that needs to be addressed, while it's not specifically a discussion of the game in of itself it stands out and tars any other discussion regardless of opinion. Even IGN of all places is starting to trash it on social media after giving it a full blown 9/10 -- and yes that's a valid discussion for the game within this thread.

Perhaps there's a better discussion to be had overall, and a new thread should be made on the state of media using this as a poster child for the issues prevalent within the industry? I'd be up for that, but I'm going to be honest here in another way; if it happens in Speakers Corner I cannot partake as I DM'd management a few years back and asked them to ban me from the section due to the insanity of it all, and frankly I'm happy to not regain access.
 
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[FnG]magnolia said:
It's the politics and the youtube ragers. If you don't care about that - which you shouldn't - then it's a 6 or 7 out of 10. If you do then, welp.
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I tapped out of DA after the third one, never had zero intention of buying Vielguard and have been happily eating pop corn for the past few weeks watching the melt downs from games journalists. However to tell someone they shouldn't care about the state of this game which is objectively unrecognisable as part of the franchise it professes to be part of is wild.

Consume product guys, just consume product, ignore your objective fact based assessments of the game, don't believe your lying eyes, ignore those who's opinions you actually value and just dismiss them as ragers.
 
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[FnG]magnolia said:
I think the single biggest reason you will like or dislike this game is none of those though. It's the politics and the youtube ragers. If you don't care about that - which you shouldn't - then it's a 6 or 7 out of 10. If you do then, welp.
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From what I can make out the politics has been shoehorned into this game in a pretty full on way. I presume if the studio hadn't forced the politics into the game then the "You Tube ragers" would probably not be, raging.
 
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