Gaming Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Drainy said:
From what I gather, that you can give your character surgery scars and there is at least one reference to non-binary people in the game.

Sorry it wasn't humourous enough for you! :lol:

Personally I've never seen anyone on the left online use it, but I've seen right wing types calling each other chuds in that meme-y way that the right does online
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chuds.....

I'm going to use it unironically to piss people off. Aside from that, makes me want to play it more now... I'll make my own mind up thank you, couldn't not give a feck about ancillary nonsense.

Just, is... the... game... fun....?
 
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Old enough to have played Dragon age Origins. Remember being pissed when characters left the squad because they weren't happy with my leadership! Anyways, not sure about the art style looks kinda weird to me. Like its a bit too happy looking. A bit "goofy." Maybe I'm just a dark soul.
 
Iron Stove said:
I'm going to give it a go as a fan of the series but I'm kind of expecting another Andromeda level game. The culture war stuff is annoying. Watch one video of that stuff on Youtube and your algorithm gets poisoned and recommendations turn into an incel rage fest. On the other hand I do have genuine fear that the writing is going to be awful and that they'll inject modern political talking points into a pseudo-medieval fantasy world in a clumsy, heavy-handed way. I also don't like how they abandoned the darker tone the series once had, but I'm gonna try to keep an open mind about it. I desperately need another great Bioware RPG in my life.
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When I look back I kinda feel that games have always done this to an extent.
 


I only had experience playing JRPGs as a teen so this stuff genuinely shocked me when i played it all those years ago. The dialogue is hilarious :lol: .
 
AaronRedDevil said:


Just why? Dialogue is awful. Haven't played the game yet. Waiting for a sale. I enjoyed the series and dlc but things like this make me hesitant. It's just silly.
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The dialogue was crap, but then he started talking, and that was much worse.

"who is now going by they, which I still don't really understand just as like a general thing, how can someone be more than one person"

Right, this guy's a total fecking cnut then, blocked. Aaron mate, stop listening to these gimps.
 
KirkDuyt said:
Ok, so I guess it's woke, which makes most of the reviews saying it's terrible sort of worthless.

Anyone over 12 who is ambivalent to the tone who can give some insight into whether this is good?
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To be fair, the bad reviews I've watched are nothing to do with it being woke.
 
Irwin99 said:


I only had experience playing JRPGs as a teen so this stuff genuinely shocked me when i played it all those years ago. The dialogue is hilarious :lol: .
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The freedom of choice in that game was superb, particularly with just quite how much of a flaming arsehole it let you be.

Still can't believe it let me side with the werewolves and just kill all the whiny fecking elves.
 
Massive Spanner said:
The dialogue was crap, but then he started talking, and that was much worse.

"who is now going by they, which I still don't really understand just as like a general thing, how can someone be more than one person"

Right, this guy's a total fecking cnut then, blocked. Aaron mate, stop listening to these gimps.
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To be fair. I don't watch this guy. Friend just sent it to me and I couldn't listen anymore after the "you can't just say sorry and that fixes it". So I left.
 
Politics and whatever aside, the clips I've seen give the impression of it being a corporate executive's idea of what Gen Z want in a game, so your party members will probably spend 90% of the time either making dogshit Marvel movie wisecracks or mindfully discussing what triggers each others anxiety.
 
That dialogue is terrible but it has everything to do with the people making the game and making shit dialogue and nothing to do with the content of what's being discussed.
 
Drainy said:
Not sure about the origins but the online right use it in a self referencial way, to me in a way that infers that the left used to call them it (own the libs tone)
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I thought it was a term coined by the online left tbh. It's all over Resetera for example as a pejorative. It's a response to the online "Chads" idea of a "Chad" being a strong male or whatever. The righties want to be chads, so the lefties started calling them chuds as a reference to the stupidity of the "chads".

I feel an urge to vomit after typing that.

V.O. said:
Politics and whatever aside, the clips I've seen give the impression of it being a corporate executive's idea of what Gen Z want in a game, so your party members will probably spend 90% of the time either making dogshit Marvel movie wisecracks or mindfully discussing what triggers each others anxiety.
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@afrocentricity The above is my main gripe with the game. From the looks of things, you can't even contradict or piss off your squadmates. Everything looks like a video you'd show an eight year old to teach them how to share, or get along with others.
 
Bebe said:
@afrocentricity The above is my main gripe with the game. From the looks of things, you can't even contradict or piss off your squadmates. Everything looks like a video you'd show an eight year old to teach them how to share, or get along with others.
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But is it fun? I don't care about the other stuff... if anything I guess it means I can play it around my kids without feeling like a fiend....
 
afrocentricity said:
But is it fun? I don't care about the other stuff... if anything I guess it means I can play it around my kids without feeling like a fiend....
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From the sounds of it (again, I haven't played a minute of this game), combat is fun and visually impressive, although shallow and repetitive. Dialogue wise it really does seem as tame as it gets.

Honestly, it seems perfect for what you're looking for.
 
Bebe said:
From the sounds of it (again, I haven't played a minute of this game), combat is fun and visually impressive, although shallow and repetitive. Dialogue wise it really does seem as tame as it gets.

Honestly, it seems perfect for what you're looking for.
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I'm not even looking for anything specific other than more bioware and more dragon age. Like I say I loved the last one on my 2nd playthrough and it's not a classic. Original is the best but honestly, can't even remember the details. Anything similar will do....
 
Bebe said:
It's all over Resetera for example as a pejorative.
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Resetera is one of the most toxic forums I have ever visited, some smart people on there but my goodness the constant purity tests and gleeful rush to shit on people as soon as they see an opportunity makes them come across as a miserable, hateful bunch. Some serious ego as well.
 
Bobski said:
Resetera is one of the most toxic forums I have ever visited, some smart people on there but my goodness the constant purity tests and gleeful rush to shit on people as soon as they see an opportunity makes them come across as a miserable, hateful bunch. Some serious ego as well.
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Agreed, its almost dystopian from what I've seen.

The recent phrase "toxic positivity" seems very applicable.
 
afrocentricity said:
I'm not even looking for anything specific other than more bioware and more dragon age. Like I say I loved the last one on my 2nd playthrough and it's not a classic. Original is the best but honestly, can't even remember the details. Anything similar will do....
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I think it'll be similar enough to inquisition that you'll be satisfied. My only point of caution would be that when I think BioWare (at least, the BioWare that used to exist) one of the first things that comes to mind is compelling storytelling. I've no idea why they sidelined Solas in favour of two throwaway villains of the week, because I thought that setup from inquisition was a slam dunk. And the aforementioned points about juvenile writing.

As long as the above doesn't throw you on what would be "similar", you should be good imo.
 
From the first few minutes I can say it looks amazing and runs well on my PC..though it has the fans fully fired up.

Really fluid gameplay and so far the voice acting is great. Just got through the 'intro' bit.

Origins is one my favs of all time, so I'll guess we'll see where this one lands. Hard to follow BG3, but this feels far more dynamic and action-y, obviously.
 
afrocentricity said:
I'm not even looking for anything specific other than more bioware and more dragon age. Like I say I loved the last one on my 2nd playthrough and it's not a classic. Original is the best but honestly, can't even remember the details. Anything similar will do....
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Bioware will always be my RPG GOAT. Got into them from KOTOR, then Mass effect became my GOAT series and played Dragon Ages. I am aware much of the original staff have since departed so this will be "New Bioware"
 
I'm having fun so far but jeez, the combat and the level design/traversal puzzles are straight from God of War. Which is not a bad thing but it makes me laugh how incredibly obvious it is.
 
Im still on the fence. I really enjoy the Dragon Age lore and universe, and want to know how the story plays out. But the character design, the dialogue and writing all look really poor - though it does look visually stunning.
 
Siorac said:
I'm having fun so far but jeez, the combat and the level design/traversal puzzles are straight from God of War. Which is not a bad thing but it makes me laugh how incredibly obvious it is.
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Maybe the corporate executives for the next game will see that BG3 sold really well and that the audience really wants dark fantasy?
 
Stacks said:
When I look back I kinda feel that games have always done this to an extent.
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True and it's not necessarily bad at all, if done right. But when it feels forced it's not great. Either way, I've played the game for 12 hours and the whole thing feels like such a non-issue internet drama thing that people work themselves up over.

I'm definitely having more fun with it than I expected. I was never expecting CDPR /old Bioware writing, so was kind of positively surprised by this game. I'm enjoying this more than Andromeda for sure. I definitely agree that they must have been looking at God of War quite a bit regarding combat, exploration and puzzles. Even the chest animations are the same.

Graphics look stunning on PC and runs really well for me. No Denuvo, no fecking EA app, no traversal stutter. Really impressive release in that sense.

It''s probably not a masterpiece but has some of that Bioware flavor, just a tame version of it with no one being particularly mean and everyone's looking a bit like characters from Shrek.
 
The dialogue is terrible... like probably the worst I've seen in a modern game. This game could be super liberal which it is or super conservative and the writing would still be the same level of incompetent shite.

Rest of the game is ok, but its not dark enough to be a Dragon Age game. It completely misses the feel. Its another in a long line of modern fantasy games thats exceptionally average but with writing from a 13 year old who spends too much time on twitter.
 
Ouch at above.
I started replaying Origins last night. Just past the prologue and it holds up pretty well so far.
 
My thoughts so far

A) This game is gorgeous. The environments are really beautiful, and very varied
B) The combat is fun, especially as you more abilities unlock
C) The characters look a little too cartoon-y. I wouldn’t say it’s affecting my enjoyment but I can’t look at them and think they look cool like I would in other games
D) The music hasn’t done much for me so far
E) The enemies look cool
F) The plot is interesting and has me intrigued about where it’s going to go
G) I really have not seen any issues with the dialogue that people keep complaining about

I can’t help but feel like people have become so hyper fixated on this game due to all the culture war nonsense that minuscule things are getting ripped apart for no real reason. This is my second dragon age game (I played inquisition but that was about a decade ago and can’t remember anything about it) so I’m definitely not an old head in this series.

Admittedly this is the Caf where everything is crap and I usually avoid discussions on games because any game I have ever liked (across years and genres) is called crap on here :lol: But the general discourse around this game is so weird.
 
Origins is one of the best games of the 21st century but everything else that has come out of this franchise since has been dog shit. It's time to let go of Dragon Age unless they can get the creative team behind Origins back together.
 
Blood Mage said:
Origins is one of the best games of the 21st century but everything else that has come out of this franchise since has been dog shit. It's time to let go of Dragon Age unless they can get the creative team behind Origins back together.
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They retired. They were pretty hands off by Dragon Age tbf but it was basically the doctors who formed bioware leading it.
Its a long, long time since i read about it and theres been 3 or 4 pretty hefty stories come out since but the bullet points as far I remember them were:
The game was in development hell for years and years and years. It was something like 8 years all in. I think a bunch of developers broke off to form obsidian at some point and and a bunch more left at another point. I think they had to pull a bunch of the Mass Effect developers in to finish the game off (action game developers), after getting it out the door they went back to working on Mass Effect 2. No one really expected much from it or for it do well or to ever make a sequel.
Shortly after the gutted skeleton of the Dragon Age team then were given 18 months to develop dragon age 2 by their new bosses at ea. The dragon age engine was ancient at that point so they basically took the mass effect 2 engine and threw a game together with endless crunch. Its probably a miracle its as good as it is.
By the end of that basically all that staff were burned out or having nervous breakdowns and left the industry. Then they had 3 or 4 more nightmarish disastrous development cycles on stuff like Anthem afterwards.
There were a couple of survivors. David Gaider the writer only left recently ish.
 
Origins was obviously the peak but I did enjoy both DA2 and Inquisition for what they were. Maybe this will be the same?

Anyway, no denuvo means I can try it out for free before deciding if it’s worth it, by all accounts it at least seems a very well optimised game for pc which is an increasing rarity these days so fair play.
 
Bobski said:
Resetera is one of the most toxic forums I have ever visited, some smart people on there but my goodness the constant purity tests and gleeful rush to shit on people as soon as they see an opportunity makes them come across as a miserable, hateful bunch. Some serious ego as well.
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A dumping ground for the always-online sort who are somehow furious with the world despite never leaving the house.
 
Cloud7 said:
My thoughts so far

A) This game is gorgeous. The environments are really beautiful, and very varied
B) The combat is fun, especially as you more abilities unlock
C) The characters look a little too cartoon-y. I wouldn’t say it’s affecting my enjoyment but I can’t look at them and think they look cool like I would in other games
D) The music hasn’t done much for me so far
E) The enemies look cool
F) The plot is interesting and has me intrigued about where it’s going to go
G) I really have not seen any issues with the dialogue that people keep complaining about

I can’t help but feel like people have become so hyper fixated on this game due to all the culture war nonsense that minuscule things are getting ripped apart for no real reason. This is my second dragon age game (I played inquisition but that was about a decade ago and can’t remember anything about it) so I’m definitely not an old head in this series.

Admittedly this is the Caf where everything is crap and I usually avoid discussions on games because any game I have ever liked (across years and genres) is called crap on here :lol: But the general discourse around this game is so weird.
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I played Inquisition many years after Origins and I thought the graphics were phenomenal at the time but as I got more into the game I discovered it wasn't nearly as dark in tone as Dragon Age Origins. It just didn't have that feel despite still being a good game. This looks like an even bigger departure away from that grim fantasy of the first game and looks very PG and mild.

I do think the culture war stuff really sucks but BG3 is an example of creating a world that's inclusive but has a level of choice in it and is really grim at times. I remember Inquisition getting slapped by fans of Witcher 3 after Witcher 3 came out, and I can't help but look at BG3 and think that's the dragon age game most people wanted.
 
When you guys say that DA isn't dark enough for you, what do you mean?
 
Irwin99 said:
I played Inquisition many years after Origins and I thought the graphics were phenomenal at the time but as I got more into the game I discovered it wasn't nearly as dark in tone as Dragon Age Origins. It just didn't have that feel despite still being a good game. This looks like an even bigger departure away from that grim fantasy of the first game and looks very PG and mild.

I do think the culture war stuff really sucks but BG3 is an example of creating a world that's inclusive but has a level of choice in it and is really grim at times. I remember Inquisition getting slapped by fans of Witcher 3 after Witcher 3 came out, and I can't help but look at BG3 and think that's the dragon age game most people wanted.
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I never played origins which seems to be people’s reference point for dragon age :lol: Maybe that’s why I don’t get the fascination with how dark the game is not.

To be clear, this game is not close to BG3 which is genuinely one of the best games I’ve ever played, but I’m enjoying it. I just find it weird how upset people are about this
 
afrocentricity said:
When you guys say that DA isn't dark enough for you, what do you mean?
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The tone of the dialogue, lack of options to let me be an ass. I think you combine this with the cartoony look and it just feel different to the older ones. I'm only like 4 hours in so it may change but thats my first impressions sadly. I could interchange it with any modern fantasy game, it doesn't have the personality of older bioware. It's all a little too clean for lack of a better word. Except the writing, to me thats genuinely terrible (not that I could do better) and feels a bit like they're all speaking like middle aged mothers trying to be cool. The tone just feels nothing like Dragon Age. I should add the actual plot is fine, its the dialogue mainly that just hits wrong.
 
I never considered the previous DA games to be super dark or gritty, but Veilguard comparatively seems like Teletubby land, with a bunch of Disney Pixar characters.

Admittedly I haven’t played it yet, but watched a few streams. The dialogue seems really bad.

The graphics look great and as a big fan of the DA lore and universe, I am really curious to see how the story develops. I have heard good things about the finale etc too, but feel like I’m probably going to try to wait until it’s on sale.
 
Cloud7 said:
My thoughts so far

A) This game is gorgeous. The environments are really beautiful, and very varied
B) The combat is fun, especially as you more abilities unlock
C) The characters look a little too cartoon-y. I wouldn’t say it’s affecting my enjoyment but I can’t look at them and think they look cool like I would in other games
D) The music hasn’t done much for me so far
E) The enemies look cool
F) The plot is interesting and has me intrigued about where it’s going to go
G) I really have not seen any issues with the dialogue that people keep complaining about

I can’t help but feel like people have become so hyper fixated on this game due to all the culture war nonsense that minuscule things are getting ripped apart for no real reason. This is my second dragon age game (I played inquisition but that was about a decade ago and can’t remember anything about it) so I’m definitely not an old head in this series.

Admittedly this is the Caf where everything is crap and I usually avoid discussions on games because any game I have ever liked (across years and genres) is called crap on here :lol: But the general discourse around this game is so weird.
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Pretty much this. I'm really enjoying it.
 
Fell for the hype, should have waited for a sale.

Its alright so far, but not much more than that and has many tiresome elements that are already wearing on me.

Some beautiful shots in this game, and it runs fine on my 3070 with a few settings tweaked but the environments are a bit constrictive and feel too much like narrow corridors designed for a game . Character designs put me off at the start but you adapt to them quickly.

Combat is fine, a bit spammy and there is a lack of variety in the moves sets of the enemies but combat has never been a strength of Bioware, making this the high point so far, actually very reminiscent of Andromeda I think which was the best part of that game.

Rook is terribly bland, that is fairly typical for main characters in RPG's but most great ones give much more variety in dialogue that this. Not helped by the companions I have met so far being equally bland. The overall tone is incredibly vanilla, baby's first RPG level interactions. Quippy silliness has always been a part of Bioware games but here it is dialed up to stupid levels. If nothing else it might break my cringe reaction.

6/10 so far, good enough to keep me playing but instantly forgettable. Not helped by playing BG3 over the Summer which is levels above this.
 
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