Support me on PATREON ► www.patreon.com/TheActMan Bioware has fallen on hard times with Dragon Age Veilguard. Between the bad writing, generic combat and a lack of RPG identity, the Veilguard is easily one of Bioware's WORST games. I think it's one of the worst games of 2024. Welp, time to start up a new playthrough of Mass Effect or Dragon Age Origins...
Well at least "Them" and "They" have a game they can enjoy. For all us normal humans who live in reality this game is BOGUS! Also too bad "Them" and "They" make up for an entire 0% of Dragon Ages fanbase... Why these companies continue to ruin their own legacy to please this non existing non binary crowd is beyond insanity! Even if there was these pretend non binary gamers everywhere they wouldn't wanna play these trashy games either!! What agenda do these people really have to keep pushing this nonsense to us I have no idea, but I'm so glad gamers aren't buying it in the slightest!
Steps to destroying franchise began long before Veilguard. Start with the money grab project Dragon Age 2. Rushed into production before game was fully fledged out. Inquisition merely let the franchise remain on life support. It was already heading downwards and this latest iteration merely accelerated the crash down a cliff
Too bad "Them" and "They" make up for an entire 0% of Dragon Ages fanbase... Why these companies continue to ruin their own legacy to please this non existing non binary crowd is beyond insanity! Even if there was these pretend non binary gamers everywhere they wouldn't wanna play these horrible games either!! What agenda do these people really have to keep pushing this nonsense to us I have no idea, but I'm so glad gamers aren't buying it in the slightest!
Now you feel what we are because happened with the franchise what you care about. The only reason your disappointment exist because the people who made those great games are no longer work there, its just a logo and behind it people who dont care about games just their personal mission to force their wold view on us.
I do and its fairly obvious. Political censors (aka "sensitivity readers") taking out anything that could possibly offend or trigger anyone (except even mild social traditionalists who must be treated like the scum of the earth 🙄) and zero corrective feedback because the writers are of a sufficiently high identity based victim class. Basically the same reason all the journalists lied to each other and their audience that the game is amazing.
The game was planned as a live service. And it shows. The level design, the ability system, the combat, the stiff leftover animations. Everything just screams "I was a coop action-slasher once!"
Bioware after Mass Effect Andromeda: "We've learned our lesson" Bioware after Anthem: "Alright we mean it we learned our lesson" Bioware after Dragon Age Veilguard: "Learning lessons is rooted in racism and misogyny"
27:10 a perfect example of this is Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai, two very “woke” shows which don’t preach and even people who hate “woke” stuff like those shows. The plot is about the plot not about the specific social issues that person might encounter because real people are more than JUST their gender identity.
My philosophy on movies and shows has always been “if it’s good, I will watch it” regardless of subject matter. Quality isn’t dictated by personal beliefs or statements.
That was how woke was being used for quite a while, only referring to stuff that pushed much of the identity politics at the expense of the story or setting. But like many words online it's expanded to mean so many different things to different people that it's pretty much useless now.
In Baldurs gate 3 there’s a dilophosaur in the circus of the last chapter. If you use animal speaking spell or potion you can hear his story and his dialogue is more interesting than everything I saw coming out of veilguard’s characters
@@RRRRRRRRR33 The craziest part about this is its completely true. Random animals in BG3 that most players haven't even spoken to are better written and voiced than anyone in Veilguard. Absolutely crazy
The art style is easily my biggest problem. What's annoying is that it's not like you can't have serious/darker moments with a cartoonish art style. As you mentioned, look at Fable. First game starts with the town getting razed, and then the sequel has your sister literally getting gunned down next to you. Whereas in Veilguard, the art style being as cartoony as it is just ends up reinforcing its less serious tone than previous games
Yeah but the issue is, no Dragon Age fan wants that shift. It doesn't matter how well they pull it off, we want more of what Origins and 2 did. Dark, gritty, serious, with an art style that comes off as sharp and harsh like a sword. They keep changing the art style every game, and every time everyone keeps saying they should've stuck with Origins, ESPECIALLY WITH THE DARKSPAWN. It's like Origins entire art style was crafted _after_ they were done with the Darkspawn designs because they _never_ look natural to the universe. They're not ugly in the sense of "terrifying monster" they're ugly in "what the hell am I looking at" because they're some horrible mix of horror and cartoon. A cartoony style will never fit because Dragon Age goes all in on doom and gloom and despair. You're supposed to feel on edge, like something is wrong with the world.
It's partially condescending and partially due to global audiences. I also know a guy in the film industry and he's said that nepotism rules writing rooms, not talent.
@@Acrylescent Trend chasing. Happened before with the "emo" back in the 00s, multiple media depicting "edgelords" in "dark" worlds and whatnot, the trend reaches its breaking point (to the video-game media) when Donte showed up, remember him? Devil may Cry reboot was received with tons of scrutiny, the western media in general shifted to more colorful stuff ever since (even more so with the success of the MCU). Trends makes everything look and feel the same, the difference between the current "w0ke" trend compared to "emo" is how social media twisted the trend into something abhorrent, the ugliest trend I've ever seen, it makes the hippies look reasonable in comparison
So true, its a plague... not just games but Movies too. Like everything is just giving you in conversation. Nothing is really shown/you almost get no scenes where you can figure stuff out by yourself.
@@steeldragon9041Definitely seems that way, kinda ridiculous. And then decisions like removing the feature to switch between party members... So many stupid decisions must have been made there.
even a large chunk of tumblr hates this game lol. a lot of fans had low expectations, saying they'd be content as long as the plots and relationships (like Solas and Lavellan) from Inquisition were handled with care in DA4 and given a proper resolution... boy oh boy lmao.
It’s kind of sad dragon age in this sad state because as a huge dragon age fan this game should’ve been slam dunk but man oh man the execution was so disappointing in my opinion.
@ indeed and heck I beat the game myself this week and after beating it as a whole even though I don’t think it’s that bad of a game, from Dragon age fan myself this game felt like they took dragon age elements out for a generic story taking care of elven gods instead of solas which is confusing because solas should’ve been main villain from the very start but nope it’s instead of other villains who aren’t interesting as solas which is so disappointing in my opinion, as for gameplay it was boring and repetitive with the same enemies over and over which isn’t fun but just boring and generic at least in my opinion.
A decade of development hell + the revolving door of upper BioWare staff, particularly the loss of creative leads, put me on edge well before the game was announced. It's like hearing the phrase "extensive reshoots."
@@TevyaSmolka Thanks for sharing your experience with the game! I've been a fan since Origins and have had varying degrees of enjoyment with the sequels. Something about this game has turned me off it though. I might pick it up next year on a Summer Steam Sale discount.
@@BoneRazrK your welcome and I can understand that and honestly if you do pick it up I do hope you enjoy it more then I did, because at the end of the day we all have are own opinions, oh by the way I also reviewed this game on my channel as well if you want to check it out when you have time of course there’s no rush take your time.
"Like that time you ditched your orders for a better strategy during a darkspawn attack" Yeah, that's how people talk about shared past events with each other, sure
@@Ryder42 He's pretty much a direct replacement for Alistair in terms of roles (both are tanks) but yeah, if you keep him alive Alistair quits the party and you have some options. He can quit and Anora will order his execution as she views him as a threat and competition. He can quit and you can convince Anora to spare him, you'll find him as a drunk in Kirkwall in DA2. You can convince him to marry Anora whether he's in your party or not, that said if you want to do this while killing Loghain you need to be the one to do it, not Alistair, as if he kills her, she won't marry him. I've always let Loghain live and then had Alistair marry Anora, makes the most logical sense game of thrones style for the realm and stability and Loghain actually has a decent impact in later titles (inquisition especially). You can also run into him in DA Awakening as he's now a warden and actually is sent to Orlais as an emissary (ironic considering his hatred of them for their invasion of ferelden).
what does misgendering have to do with anything? you chuds always soy face at any queer depiction in media as if queer folks haven't been around since well life itself. hermaphrodite the greek god was intersex, shiva (god in hinduism) has a half female half male form, mulan and Joane of arc both are gender non conforming people. Hell look at the history of rome, greece and persia. Just say you don't like queer folks and be honest :/ and also shame on @theactman for liking this comment. Didn't realize you were so afraid of queer folks
I’ve heard that my Grey Warden, wandered away during Inquistion on a mission…taking his friends and family far far away. They live now…on a farm…..kids playing in the fields ..while the adults having a slow drink and remembering the days of Heros, driving the Darkspawn deep into the pits. It’s a good life. In war, victory In peace, vigilance In death, sacrifice
The shit that irks me the most is the freaking "journalists" that blindly supported this game because of the message while completely ignoring or avoiding the writing
@@BullyMaguire42069 Maguire..do you realize how dumb you sound saying that? it didnt happen for a "VALID REASON", people were just being actually just RACIST,MYSOGONISTIC AND EVERYTHING ELSE. nothing can JUSTIFY or SAY that gamergate was A GOOD THING. you need to critize stuff through whatever your seeing with but instead for the product.
@@QuiteFunnyIsnt1t Gamergate wasn't originally made for political purposes. At least not back then. It was created because of journalist corruption. It's far more different and sad today. But it did have a genuine reason to exist back then.
Just a reminder, Bioware MADE Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, they didn't just take inspiration from it them. I still remember when I used to frequently check the Bioware website at the time looking for new game updates and seeing Dragon Age and them displaying tech to show the huge Darkspawn army on screen at the same time under a bridge I believe. Seemed incredible back then, wasn't something you could interact with but set the scene for sure.
They didn't. No one who worked on either of those games is still with the company. The company, Bioware, existing now, did not make Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
@@guyincognito7188 My comment was in regards to 1:55 where he talking about Bioware taking inspiration for Dragon Age: Origins from Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Comment actually had nothing to do with Veilguard. This is the gaming industry, if they still had much of the original team I'd be amazed. Can only survive so many layoffs and keep your sanity.
Even worse, they looked at it as said "So we F'ed up Andromeda, the fans were not pleased, it was a buggy disaster, we rushed that one out of the gates, was a massive flop, We did that to make out "dream" game, though our developers didn't even know what type of game they were making until we told the world at the E3, it was a surprise to them as well, we rushed that one out of the gate but again we disappointed our player base, it was a giant flop, we nearly had to close there! We then began to make Dragon Age Dread wolf, a live service game, online only, that enraged our fans of Dragon Age who wanted a new RPG, so we can't F it up this time, now made this. Looks good, let's release it".
@@keiran5170 And this is therapyspeak! Notice how venting, gaslighting, and red flags popped up? Its mentally ill people who think theyre smart cause they asked their therapist once
Eh, tbf, I think the only people from the Dragon Age Veilguard team that will be working on ME5 are the actual devs and animators, everyone else will be a new team. The lead narritive director I heard has a pretty good of projects similar to Mass Effect under her belt. And theres Mark Gamble, so Im a bit more hopeful that they can actually deliver. But who knows still gotta wait amd see
@@aperson3996 they've consolidated the Veilguard team into the ME5 team, so its not promising. The leads are different in a lot of places, so there's a chance they can see the terrible writing and rip the writers a new one, but im not hopeful considering the culture of "toxic positivity" in dev teams these days.
I don't get why you would think that after Veilguard. You should be worried about Mass Effect 5 after the disaster that was Andromeda. That one alone showed Bioware didn't know how to make a proper Mass Effect game anymore.
@@declancampbell1277 i mean, I really don’t see how the dev teams having a lot of the same effects anything. Where do you think all of the decisions for the narritive of Veilgaurd came from? The narrative team, which will be a completely different team. The devs will mostly be the ones actually coding and making the game. And say what you will about Andromeda, but I could tell the Turians were Turians, the Salarians were Salarians, ect.
isabela in DA 2 : dooms a city to death because she wanted to steal a book and she stole it. isabela in DAV : oh let me take 10 push ups cuz i messed up with your pronouns
The biggest issue I notice in most entertainment spaces is toxic positivity. Many creators and consumers are so averse to criticism that we end up with bland, uninspired products. Even worse, some extremists go so far as to gaslight themselves and others into believing the product to be the best thing ever, engaging in endless arguments with strangers online to defend it.
The Bioware discord is filled with people telling me all the time that DAV is an improvement on everything and DAO is very “old” and “outdated” I get these are hardcore fans but it’s like hardcore fans in the same vein circlejerk and say that the previous games have problems that this one doesn’t. Plus they just try hard to force everyone else to see things a certain way and if you don’t then your kinda considered a problem. Bioware employees really shouldn’t rely on places like this as the games they want to make for.
Bioware made me fall in love with RPGs when i was a kid and Now, as an Adult, Bioware is putting me off of RPGs. The Origins Trailer is probably my absolute Favourite Trailer ever.
Also, it COULD be a good Dragon Age game, but I read on Wikipedia, that EA decided to move Creative Director of all Dragon Age franchise to work on Anthem, and rebooted development of Dragon Age with a Creative Director of Sims franchise. Can you understand the level of STUPIDITY - move your experienced vision owner from one of the main IP to half-dead service game, and give away your millions dollar IP about dark fantasy to a Sims Designer!
Larian taking over KOTOR like they did for Baldur’s Gate, even for one game, is a dream. Imagine that depth in the Star Wars universe. Hell, any universe they’re passionate about will benefit from their touch
My biggest gripe is the use of modern words in a medieval "Dark" fantasy game. Hearing the word "coffee"and the twitter slang and their way of expressing and talking instead of using medieval words and slang and accents... is so immersion breaking. I couldn't imagine characters in Game of thrones talking like that "Christmas is coming ... "
I think there is a balance to be struck. While it is tempting to just replace most terms referring to IRL things, or to completely change how people talk, this may make the world far less comprehensible. Everyone knows what coffee or tea is, and making people talk in a certain way may make it difficult to actually comprehend what is said and described. At the same time, going the other way and making everything to be too familiar takes away from the fantasy element. Imagine if Shrek 2 tried to be serious.
@@marlonbrando1631they clrearly done it right in Origins.and with coffee? Geez they could use "he drinks potions/tonics/brews/elixirs/infusions/mixtures/philters/serums to stay awake" it's not that hard to find words that fits the world
Taash may have singlehandedly set back nonbinary acceptance by years. I hope people learn from them, namely how not to treat others who have difficulty understanding or adjusting to your new identity (the pushups thing is just fucking evil), and how not to write LGBT characters in games.
That is by design! The wealthy benefit when we are divided and their methods are many. Look at the corporate tax avoidance and executive tax bailouts while pushing dei and no accountability for leadership anywhere in the corporate world
This video described incredibly well the problem a lot of games currently have with their writing. I think you said it perfectly with: "If you cut the edges off, it loses shape". It also gives a lot of insight what are great examples of writing/narrative design and why they are good. Newcomer to this channel, and after watching this video and your Sparking Zero one, it's an instant subscribe from me.
every origin is the same in veilguard anyway "rook is a good guy, the superiors are mean, rook did the good thing by defying orders, rook was told to lay low"
18:54 Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything at this moment because I bursted with laughter here. Act Man, I’m still waiting to hear you talk about Starcraft.
"Like they've taken all the edge out of Dragon Age. Like it's gone soft." That's a great way to describe it, actually. Dragon Age with rounded corners and no objects small enough to be a choking hazard for infants
I want to cry. I miss dragon age so much. Its so depressing to know its dead and totally garbage now. Its been completely destroyed by disgusting awful people who hate us. And only care for themselves.
lol. i also was surprised that they not include This game, knowing Game Awards.. did ea spend all their money on veilguard unicorn 'writers' and had no left for bribery ?
Because people have stopped being willing to grow up in the real world--see the non-ironic use of the word adulting--and as such stories where you do something serious are no longer relatable to them.
"I know there are ancient Gods threatening the whole world, but everyone seems really distracted with their personal issues like their gender identity. I think it would be best if we resolve these things before worrying about the threat to the existence of the whole world."
I’ve been chasing that dragon too, Act Man. Dragon Age: Origins got me hooked on dark fantasy through its charm and its maturely handled content. It’s real consequences, and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. The soulsborne games + Elden Ring scratched that itch for a time, and when Bladur’s Gate 3 released it helped slake my thirst for a dark fantasy. But there’s only one Dragon Age, and with this release I fear that we won’t see it for a long time if at all. “It may even be too late, for I have seen with my own eyes what lies upon the horizon. Maker help us all.” -Duncan
The build up to the Brood Mother in Dragon Age Origins was hands down one of the most horrific moments of a game I've ever experienced. I can't imagine ever experiencing something like that in a triple A game anymore. Now the most horrific things in games are the cringe inducing dialogue.
The worst thing about the entire Dragon Age concept is that I waited nearly a decade almost 10 years for a sequel, only to get an unfinished product seemingly made by 6-year-olds. It looks worse than Andromeda in the Mass Effect universe. This is humiliating on every level and completely unacceptable. Not only do I have no desire to try it, but the whole thing disgusted me the moment I saw the trailer. Shame on BioWare, once my favorite gaming company.
I enjoy the name “Rook” for a straightforward and inflexible, yet competent and important character. Gonna be years before I can use it without people thinking of this dumpster fire now.
Taash seems like she was intended to be the favorite by the development team NOT the audience. They really wanted you to like her. Ironic, when you consider she's part of one of the most abrasive race in Thedas and she likes the most destructive creatures that have destroyed everything they touch. Really stupid there, Current-Day Bioware.
I ain’t gonna focus on her at all. Not doing any of her side quest nothing. Skipping all cutscenes that mainly involve only her and if it was a option which I doubt like most companions but not all I wouldn’t even recruit her and since I’m forced to do so I’d send it to its deaths in a heart beat but of course character is protected from that while they least woke ones aren’t.
Ok to be "fair" to nuBioware, they have done that for years. Bioware has always had their own developer favorites who they push harder than any other characters. Liara and Leliana are the two most obvious.
Calling Taash a woman or referring to her as she isn’t misgendering. What a crazy world we live in. It’s like saying 2+2 is 4 and then being scolded because a group of people say it’s actually 7. We all know it’s wrong. Yet so many people will come to their defence and shame you and force you to agree that 2+2 is 7.
Ironically might’ve been better had they listened to ChatGPT 😅 here’s it’s response. Look at points 3 and 7: As the lead producer for a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, making the game more palatable to a modern, diverse, and sensitive audience would involve several key strategies: 1. **Inclusive Character Representation**: Ensure that the character roster includes a wide range of backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations. This would not only enhance representation but also allow players to see themselves in the game. Expanding on non-binary and LGBTQ+ characters with meaningful narratives would be essential. 2. **Culturally Sensitive Storylines**: Approach the lore and storytelling with a focus on cultural sensitivity. Engage consultants from diverse backgrounds to ensure that the portrayal of different cultures and characters is respectful and accurate. This would help avoid stereotypes and promote nuanced storytelling. 3. **Player Choice and Consequence**: Enhance the player agency in shaping the narrative. Allow players to make choices that reflect their values and beliefs, with consequences that feel authentic and impactful. This would foster a deeper connection to the story. 4. **Mental Health Themes**: Integrate themes related to mental health, trauma, and healing into character arcs and storylines. Providing a compassionate portrayal of these themes can resonate with players and promote awareness. 5. **Accessibility Features**: Implement a robust set of accessibility options to accommodate players with different needs, such as customizable controls, subtitles, and visual aids. This would ensure that everyone can enjoy the game. 6. **Community Engagement**: Involve the gaming community in the development process through feedback sessions and open forums. This would create a sense of ownership among fans and help identify areas for improvement. 7. **Dynamic World-Building**: Create a living world that evolves based on player decisions and actions. Allow for diverse narratives that reflect the choices made, giving players a sense of agency and connection to the game world. By focusing on these elements, the sequel could resonate with a broader and more diverse audience while maintaining the core essence that made Dragon Age: Origins beloved.
What rustled my jimmies the most is when they developers stated how they finally made the combat in a dragon age fun. The implication Being that the older games ware not fun because they ware tactical strategy RPGs and not action games whit Pro wrestling moves or marvel super hero moves in a fantasy setting.
To be fair, there are wrestling moves in Skyrim and they are pretty badass and fit better than you would think, but I do get what you are saying and I agree.
This game is so "lets all get along" I'm legit surprised it isn't rated E. No pyscho runs, no gore, and a toxic positivity worthy of running Ubisoft's HR
@TheActMan facts at least da2 had some real emotional moments same with inquisition but idk whatever the hell this abomination is they where on crack and useing blood magic did not work well
I got in "trouble" on a Discord server and an artist blocked me because I "talked too harshly and mentioned Taash's looks/design." I'm not even kidding. Some people are stun locked into the emotional maturity of High School theater kids.
That's how they operate. People who designed this game or align with it censor and silence any criticism. They create echo chambers where they can hear themselves and smell their own farts while pretending they smell like roses. Why do you think we got this mess? Because all the criticism was swept away. Nobody listened to feedback or they specifically hired playtesters who wouldn't have any critical view on the game. It's just sad. But hey... At very least now we can point at this failure and laugh.
Well at least their time in the Sun is coming to a close. People are getting more and more fed up with this type of bullcrap that it's becoming the new intollerated by majority concensus lol.
You went on a discord to shit talk an artist? No wonder you got blocked by them. Nobody is required to give a shit about your opinion. So entitled 😂 also I say that as someone who fucking HATES Dragon Age, but you’re just being a douchebag by the sounds of it.
And Act Man was wondering why they removed all the blood and gore and cool action scenes from the Failturd.. cause those "people" cannot handle anything, i mean you call a woman, a woman and they will need 3 months of therapy or they will cry their brains out.
At least Andromeda had the decency to take place in another galaxy. It wasn’t good, but it left the original trilogy alone. While Veilguard basically ruins or burns what was setup before.
Andromeda couldve been good too, but just like Veilguard, you play as a whimp. Not once do you get to be an asshole or simply overrule your groups teenage drama
@@r.e.z9428 Oh I know. Being a whimp instead of a leader, despite officially being one is just bad writing. I understand moving away from Renegade/Paragon system so you arent restricted by a score. That however isnt what happened. Theres only one choice in the entire game thats close to ME2 Renegade and its not even done that well. The crew youre meant to care for only has one character that is tolerable. Your bosses arent even the good kind of unlikeable like the Council or interesting like the Illusive Man. Instead its "My face is tired"
It’s weird how BioWare (at least in my opinion) nailed the combat and completely butchered the writing and characters in ME:A. Mass Effect games (well mainly 1 and 2) never really had good combat but the writing was cinema asf. You know something is wrong when the best part of a Mass Effect game is the multiplayer, and yes, ME:A’s MP was hella fun. To be honest, so was ME3’s. I put like 600 hours into ME3 MP because it had a ton of new and interesting abilities and you could play as basically every species (even Voluses, a fucking Collector (!!!) and a Geth Prime unit as well).
I'm gonna be brutally honest. I called it before at the end of Mass Effect 3. Sure I didn't like the ending, but I still noticed the decline of story quality. I noticed it again with Dragon Age Inquisition. Anthem is where it came to light just how bad it's getting. I fully expected Dreadwolf to bomb on release. Bioware has been dying for a very long time. Dragon Age Veilguard sealed Biowares fate.
3 whole hours? I commend your sacrifice good sir, I managed -15 minutes before refunding it even before buying it, I felt they needed to pay me for it to exist.
If I see any of the dialogue writers/story writers of veilguard anywhere near the Mass Effect Reboot, I will setup an electrified fence around the shelf where the game is sold.
If you want to play a good RPG, Metaphor Refantazio is right around the corner for you to try (It's already out, I'm just saying that it's not to late to play it)
Yet people keep saying "Um the people who made Origins, only a few still work there. You can't keep comparing the Veilguard creators to Origins." To them, I say, "Yes, I can." Cause they have a literal cheat sheet and a proper fan base. "You mean if we create a game with dialogue, choices, the atmosphere of DAO, and the improved graphics of Inquisition, people will actually enjoy our game?"
The Dragon Age Origins marketing made me think it was Gears of War but fantasy, which unfortunately led me away from the game. The Dragon Age the Veil Guard marketing couldn’t have been more clear and thankfully led me away from the game.
Hoepfully its better, though tbf, besides Andromeda, Mass Effect has had a more cohesive narritive than Dragon Age. And I heard the lead narritive director is a pretty experienced authro from stuff like Deus Ex, so hopefully shes able to do well. I don’t think this is a death blow to the next Mass Effect being good, buts its certainly a big wound.
The direction of getting shut down. Veilguard didn't do well, and if Mass Effect will also fail, then EA will have no more excuses not shut them down after closing down so many other studio for far less flops.
That implies they tried to pursue those things rather than reject them in order to take take the entire game towards a new "diverse" and "inclusive" direction. This was no accident. The almost universal critical acclaim explains who they were aiming to please and why.
@@fightedmealready2692 I think the misunderstanding is that people think BioWare's current devs actually believe that Origins was a good game, when they don't. They have said as much themselves. They do understand what made Origins great, they just hate everything that made it great, and have 0 intentions of doing those things. It's time to face the music, the devs that made BioWare what BioWare was are long, long gone.
Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2 were the last games worked on by the Bioware developers before EA bought them. Every single game that Bioware has made since then (Dragon Age 2 -> Mass Effect 3 -> Inquisition -> Anthem -> Andromeda -> Vanguard) has been worse than the previous game they released. It's not a coincidence. Just give up on them. They're gone. EA destroyed them and they will never come back.
Agreed. And while DA:2 gets a lot of hate, in Dragon Age games, you actually have to play a specific class to get the most enjoyment out of the game. Origins, your best bet is a Warrior class. In Dragon Age 2, you MUST play as a Melee Rogue to enjoy the game. And in Inquisition, you'll have your best time as a Mage, if only for dialogue and role-playing options. Try it out next time! ☺
15:26 Main character is lying on the ground, and the camera is looking up. Another character: Oh my God, the army is here, and there are explosions and giant snakes. Main character: He tries to get up and look. Another character: No, no, don't look, we can't afford it.
Imo the major issue is that the game doesn't know how to start a story. The main story and all the major side stories start really fuckin rough and that loses people right away so they don't stick with the game long enough to see how much better the stories get, and this is absolutely valid and I don't fault anyone for falling off the game for this.
BG2 is still on my Top 10 games list. Still recall playing BG1 the first time after a friend told me about it. He laughed saying he killed a cow, which pissed off a farmer and lead to his character being skewered by a dude with a pitchfork. (No, his PC was not named Geralt). So my playthrough I just grabbed the first 4 other companions I ran across, strength in numbers. Some bickering, wandered into an inn when all hell broke loose and two party members tried to kill two other party members. Imoen and I hightailed it to the next floor, and while spit-taking my beer and laughing hysterically at the comedy of it all, all I thought was, "This is one hell of an audition. Which group survives stays in the party." Hooray, Jaheira, Minsc and his space hampster Boo were in, the other two bleeding out and attracting flies. Now you can't even say mean things. Loved Mass Effect. In retrospect, even if the combat is jank AF, the OG was the best. Missed a lot of the other games, including the first two DA's, but Inquisition (a GOTY?!?!) was a "I'm finishing this for the trophies" game. If OT Mass Effect was OT Star Wars, then Andromeda was The Phantom Menace. Have swerved every Bioware project since. My wallet is grateful. Bioware is dead.
What is also missing in veilguard for me is jealousy between 2 companions if you romance both forcing you to choose. In Origins listening to Leliana and Morrigan's catfight was a sight to behold.
you forgot to mention that, not only did they not try and hook old players back, they actively tried to get rid of them, how?, ohh, by destroying everywhere we've been in the last 3 games, orlais, ferelden, free marches, etc, (if you picked the warden "origin" you get a letter stating that, basically tevinter & a fraction of redcliffe is left after the "super blight" wiped it all out off screen)
The sterilized writing, cartoonish visuals, the Kingdoms of Amalur combat in 2024, etc.. all crappy stuff that makes this game mediocre at best. But the fact they erased the previous games is the most egregious stuff about this new DA. I'm not even a big DA fan, only played Origins a long time ago, forgot most of the plot, location names, characters and so on... but we all know the main gimmick of Bioware sequels is the illusion of choice. This game is so sloppy, a caricature of Bioware, they simply erased the previous regions off-screen, lol can't be more lazy and convenient than that, this should be the main focus of criticism
Inquisition was my first game 7 years ago, and why it wasn't bad, it just wasn't my taste. 3 years ago, i tried origins, and 2 and i was blown away by the two games, and i was able to get into Inquisition. They worked great for new fans, unlike Veilguard, which failed to capture new or old fans Edit: What did they do to my girl, Isabela
What also pisses me off is that they destroyed all the old areas from the previous games for no reason. "Hey, remember all those places you knew and loved from the old games, Ferelden, Orlais and the Free Marches? Well though shit, Darkspawn invaded and ate everyone you knew. Have a nice day."
Dragon Age Origins will forever be one of the best RPGs ever. Dwarf noble origin, forgiving my brother and realising that he played the politics game and that he will be a better leader for the futur of the dwarfs. Getting Alistair to accept his responsibility and in the end sacrificing my character to end the blight will forever stay with me. For me Veilguard was a 6 or 7/10 at the start, some cringe but I could live with it. The graphic style while not a favourite was ok with me. Combat is fun on all 3 classes, maybe a little shallow the first hours but that quickly change when you get some skillpoints to play with. Veilguard is def alot more of a ACTION rpg but there are some fun builds to do. Ive seen alot of poeple complain about puzzles in the game, often just showing the tutorial puzzles, imo there is alot of good puzzles that require you to think and often solve sub puzzles to complete the big one. There is however alot of babies first puzzles, so its def not a strong point of the game but nowhere as bad as some people say. After a while I realised that the game is a Disney version of Dragon Age, no grit, no edge, it tries to do some darkness but during one of the important big battles they throw all of the little they built up away when a 8, maybe 9 year old child is able to run around a battlefield swarming with darkspawn no issue. She even saves the party during a scene. Taash does not help, she/they/apachehelicopter/them is one of the worst written, animated and acted characters Bioware have ever created even without the non-binary stuff. The rest of the companions vary from ok to good, but there is no Morrigan here, speaking of Morrigan look at how they masacred my girl. Unless something changes the last 10-20 hours I have left the game will probably land at a 5 or 6/10, nowhere near the comeback game journalists claim it to be.
The moment I KNEW the game was doomed, not just suspected but KNEW, was when I learned that in the 'origins' you get, not one of them was a Tevinter citizen who didnt care about slavery. You know, like Dorian? A character they already made? If you were from Tevinter, they had to make VERY CLEAR that you are anti-slavery. I knew in that moment there would be no meaningful role playing in the game.
I was a kid when my stepdad showed me the This is War trailer for DAO, became a core memory almost immediately. So much of origins is engrained into my being.
That game made me fan of 30 seconds to mars for a while. Loved that song and trailer. Back then they still knew how to make trailers, same for the trailer of World in conflict with the assault on New York while Shadows on the Sun from Audioslave was playing. Bone chilling. They just don't make trailers like that anymore these days. Nor games.
BG3 kinda of throws you into it, but after the big set-piece on the mind-flayer ship, you have quiet time to realize how fucked you are and how you need to save yourself from the tadpole. It keeps it simple after the big opening.
Also, the BG3 opening and the afterwards are all about saving *yourself* initially, it doesn't start on the grand scale, it builds to it like a smart story does
The Witcher series was a perfect example of how to gradually reveal character backgrounds and entice the player to learn more. Everywhere Geralt went, people knew who he was or something he had done. It was like everyone around knew a secret that I didn't. Why does he have 14 different nicknames? What happened at Blaviken? How did he lose his memory? It made you feel like the characters had been a part of the world way before you started playing.
craziest part is there are really good and well written characters in this game. Solas, the first warden, and even Taash's mother come to mind as really good characters that feel like they actually belong in the dragon age setting. Even the book that is essentially this games blueprint, Tevinter Nights, has some amazing and dark stories in it. However, something happened between the writing of that book and the writing of this game that changed. I'm a huge dragon age fan and i still enjoyed this game, im just left thinking about how much more it could have been had things gone slightly differently. Had there not been so many reworks and so on. I also agree with act that the game really forces you into this world, this is the first game where we have been to northern thedas, and we don't really get time to experience what northern thedas is like without the ongoing world ending threat. We are then expected to care deeply about these people and factions that most of which we don't have any form of attachment to. I think turning this into two games would have been the better call. I would have liked to learn about these new characters first before having to decide their fates. The game gives you a brief backstory depending on your faction. for example as a shadow dragon it described how i went rogue and took down a slave ring despite the risk and that is why varric recruited me. I would have loved to have actually seen that and have it play out as an origin story. With varric mirroring duncan in a sense. That would help engross you in the world more, but everything feels super rushed and put on speedmode. it wants to do this mass effect 3 gather your allies and factions to stop the big bad mechanic, but without the 2 game buildup of mass effect 3
One of the things that bothered me the most is that there was such a lack of integrity from the game journalists and review outlets. As if anyone with at least two braincells would let themselves be fooled by the lies they wrote. Gamers know better.
Same thing happened with Deus Ex Invisible War and Dragon Age 2, the review outlets praised them to a ridiculous degree and both sucked compared to their previous entries.
In origins I could be as evil as my imagination could lead me, sometimes even more In veilguard the most evil thing you can do is say "No" to someone or, God forbid, misgender someone without doing ten push-ups
@@adenhickman5780 I have to disagree. I liked ME3 as much as 1 and 2, and I thought Andromeda was good (although not as good as the trilogy in some aspects)
@joshjmilli it's not so much the story for me. There were some interesting concepts posed, but ME3 dropped the ball with the endings all being the exact same, and Andromeda was unforgivably broken, buggy, and horriblely written. I simply can't bring myself to like that game even after it's been fixed.
That's how pure journalism is done, down to earth opinion, sprinkled with sarcasm and pure "fact seeking". Best YT reaction/review vid I've seen in a while. Act, keep up your work.
Even though this video is a good amount of Origins glazing, I even have to point out how Inquisition, even if watered down from Origins, makes Veilguard look bad. They show how you got there, how you made companions, and had interesting dialogue and conflict among companions. The betrayal of Blackwall and Solas was amazingly executed. Being able to craft a perfectly balanced party and build repituare between them and yourself was awesome.
Western games are more concerned about pandering to a certain niche demographic than to the actual gamers who want a good story and good gameplay. No wonder korean, Japanese and Chinese games are doing better
I just want a group of morally grey characters who are likeable, a world that doesnt look blindingly colorful and cartoony for no reason and good writing that doesnt retconn the lore is that too much to ask?
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Bioware has fallen on hard times with Dragon Age Veilguard. Between the bad writing, generic combat and a lack of RPG identity, the Veilguard is easily one of Bioware's WORST games. I think it's one of the worst games of 2024. Welp, time to start up a new playthrough of Mass Effect or Dragon Age Origins...
Well at least "Them" and "They" have a game they can enjoy. For all us normal humans who live in reality this game is BOGUS! Also too bad "Them" and "They" make up for an entire 0% of Dragon Ages fanbase... Why these companies continue to ruin their own legacy to please this non existing non binary crowd is beyond insanity! Even if there was these pretend non binary gamers everywhere they wouldn't wanna play these trashy games either!! What agenda do these people really have to keep pushing this nonsense to us I have no idea, but I'm so glad gamers aren't buying it in the slightest!
Steps to destroying franchise began long before Veilguard. Start with the money grab project Dragon Age 2. Rushed into production before game was fully fledged out. Inquisition merely let the franchise remain on life support. It was already heading downwards and this latest iteration merely accelerated the crash down a cliff
From what I recall, even the story behind the making of Inquisition was a bit of a sh*tshow that somehow Bugsthesda managed to pull out
Too bad "Them" and "They" make up for an entire 0% of Dragon Ages fanbase... Why these companies continue to ruin their own legacy to please this non existing non binary crowd is beyond insanity! Even if there was these pretend non binary gamers everywhere they wouldn't wanna play these horrible games either!! What agenda do these people really have to keep pushing this nonsense to us I have no idea, but I'm so glad gamers aren't buying it in the slightest!
Now you feel what we are because happened with the franchise what you care about. The only reason your disappointment exist because the people who made those great games are no longer work there, its just a logo and behind it people who dont care about games just their personal mission to force their wold view on us.
The dialogue is extremely off putting. I do not understand how people can like this type of writing.
They don't like it, they just get paid to say they do.
Or they know that they’re supposed to like it to fit in
I do and its fairly obvious. Political censors (aka "sensitivity readers") taking out anything that could possibly offend or trigger anyone (except even mild social traditionalists who must be treated like the scum of the earth 🙄) and zero corrective feedback because the writers are of a sufficiently high identity based victim class.
Basically the same reason all the journalists lied to each other and their audience that the game is amazing.
Many many bioware games have had corny dialogue, if the game is fun it doesn't matter.
Well hello person that i see under every asmon/hero hei/ rev says desu/ luke stephens video
I saw the notification and I thought it said "How to destroy France"
Should been that
that is also high up on my list of priorities!
Relevant
Bouta follow this up with "Why a war in Europe would be so AWESOME"
An Italian friend of mine would approve of that title XD
The game was planned as a live service. And it shows. The level design, the ability system, the combat, the stiff leftover animations. Everything just screams "I was a coop action-slasher once!"
I posted on the dragon age reddit and got banned for saying tash is the worst written character in bioware history. It had 3k likes before ban.
I would recommend you not to waste time on reddit, it will just frustrate you for no possible benefit
@@Ratimir101Worst company ever. I got banned on there multiple times for no good reason. Half of the people there are mentally ill.
Pointless to post anything on Reddit these days. Mods, and even most of the users there, are woefully thin-skinned and hate any sort of criticism.
@@Ratimir101 Reddit is terrible.
@@-dreamless- Being a mod is the only semblance of power they'll ever have in their pitiful excuses for lives
Bioware after Mass Effect Andromeda: "We've learned our lesson"
Bioware after Anthem: "Alright we mean it we learned our lesson"
Bioware after Dragon Age Veilguard: "Learning lessons is rooted in racism and misogyny"
Return to form
Character development
@@FakeAdirTVcharacter devolution
The ultimate tragic hero to villain arc
Shhh sounds like you are blaming woke and act ma'am doesn't believe it's hurting games
27:10 a perfect example of this is Arcane and Blue Eye Samurai, two very “woke” shows which don’t preach and even people who hate “woke” stuff like those shows. The plot is about the plot not about the specific social issues that person might encounter because real people are more than JUST their gender identity.
Fucking love blue eye samurai
My philosophy on movies and shows has always been “if it’s good, I will watch it” regardless of subject matter. Quality isn’t dictated by personal beliefs or statements.
Gender identity is not a real thing. Grow up
@@QuadratusTiberium It was aite. Not sure I even finished it..
That was how woke was being used for quite a while, only referring to stuff that pushed much of the identity politics at the expense of the story or setting.
But like many words online it's expanded to mean so many different things to different people that it's pretty much useless now.
In Baldurs gate 3 there’s a dilophosaur in the circus of the last chapter. If you use animal speaking spell or potion you can hear his story and his dialogue is more interesting than everything I saw coming out of veilguard’s characters
A random rat in BG3 has more character depth than these cartoons
@@RRRRRRRRR33a fucking cow has more character than any of the bozos in DA:V
He‘s such a sweet little guy, too. Even if you don’t use Speak with Animals at all, he seems so much more tame and relaxed after the feeding.
@@RRRRRRRRR33 The craziest part about this is its completely true. Random animals in BG3 that most players haven't even spoken to are better written and voiced than anyone in Veilguard. Absolutely crazy
I respect their commitment to that
it felt like a group therapy session instead of dialogue
And a lecture. Their ability to make the dialogue feel like both is actually admirable
Literally
And a terrible one at that
This game was made for game journalists.
Troon therapy.
The art style is easily my biggest problem.
What's annoying is that it's not like you can't have serious/darker moments with a cartoonish art style. As you mentioned, look at Fable.
First game starts with the town getting razed, and then the sequel has your sister literally getting gunned down next to you.
Whereas in Veilguard, the art style being as cartoony as it is just ends up reinforcing its less serious tone than previous games
I legit thought the Darkspawn in Veilguard were Fortnite enemies or GMOD workshop creations than anything from Dragon Age at first.
Can You Beat Veilguard While Taking The Story Seriously?
@@xxtheblockxx (Difficulty Impossible)
Yeah but the issue is, no Dragon Age fan wants that shift. It doesn't matter how well they pull it off, we want more of what Origins and 2 did. Dark, gritty, serious, with an art style that comes off as sharp and harsh like a sword. They keep changing the art style every game, and every time everyone keeps saying they should've stuck with Origins, ESPECIALLY WITH THE DARKSPAWN. It's like Origins entire art style was crafted _after_ they were done with the Darkspawn designs because they _never_ look natural to the universe. They're not ugly in the sense of "terrifying monster" they're ugly in "what the hell am I looking at" because they're some horrible mix of horror and cartoon. A cartoony style will never fit because Dragon Age goes all in on doom and gloom and despair. You're supposed to feel on edge, like something is wrong with the world.
I swear there is an infection in the media writing space right now that makes them all forget what “show don’t tell” means.
It's partially condescending and partially due to global audiences.
I also know a guy in the film industry and he's said that nepotism rules writing rooms, not talent.
Possibly the "writers strike" hitting things way harder than anyone realized it would. Makes sense actually...
@@Acrylescent Trend chasing. Happened before with the "emo" back in the 00s, multiple media depicting "edgelords" in "dark" worlds and whatnot, the trend reaches its breaking point (to the video-game media) when Donte showed up, remember him? Devil may Cry reboot was received with tons of scrutiny, the western media in general shifted to more colorful stuff ever since (even more so with the success of the MCU). Trends makes everything look and feel the same, the difference between the current "w0ke" trend compared to "emo" is how social media twisted the trend into something abhorrent, the ugliest trend I've ever seen, it makes the hippies look reasonable in comparison
Just don't call it woke, that's overused.
So true, its a plague... not just games but Movies too. Like everything is just giving you in conversation. Nothing is really shown/you almost get no scenes where you can figure stuff out by yourself.
Keep in mind, they made Dragon age 2 in only one and a half years. Yet for 9 years of development we get veilgaurd.
It wasn’t nine years. BioWare pissed away like five years trying to cobble together Anthem, only for it to flop tremendously.
@@healsallwounds still DA2 is LEAGUES better than vielgaurd in less than half the time
Shows the difference between old BioWare and woke incompetent BioWare.
What about inquisition?
@@steeldragon9041Definitely seems that way, kinda ridiculous. And then decisions like removing the feature to switch between party members...
So many stupid decisions must have been made there.
even a large chunk of tumblr hates this game lol. a lot of fans had low expectations, saying they'd be content as long as the plots and relationships (like Solas and Lavellan) from Inquisition were handled with care in DA4 and given a proper resolution... boy oh boy lmao.
It’s kind of sad dragon age in this sad state because as a huge dragon age fan this game should’ve been slam dunk but man oh man the execution was so disappointing in my opinion.
absolutely
@ indeed and heck I beat the game myself this week and after beating it as a whole even though I don’t think it’s that bad of a game, from Dragon age fan myself this game felt like they took dragon age elements out for a generic story taking care of elven gods instead of solas which is confusing because solas should’ve been main villain from the very start but nope it’s instead of other villains who aren’t interesting as solas which is so disappointing in my opinion, as for gameplay it was boring and repetitive with the same enemies over and over which isn’t fun but just boring and generic at least in my opinion.
A decade of development hell + the revolving door of upper BioWare staff, particularly the loss of creative leads, put me on edge well before the game was announced. It's like hearing the phrase "extensive reshoots."
@@TevyaSmolka Thanks for sharing your experience with the game! I've been a fan since Origins and have had varying degrees of enjoyment with the sequels. Something about this game has turned me off it though. I might pick it up next year on a Summer Steam Sale discount.
@@BoneRazrK your welcome and I can understand that and honestly if you do pick it up I do hope you enjoy it more then I did, because at the end of the day we all have are own opinions, oh by the way I also reviewed this game on my channel as well if you want to check it out when you have time of course there’s no rush take your time.
Whoever wrote Taash needs to find a new job, like desperately.
No. Please keep them unemployed forever.
Whoever wrote Taash should not be allowed anywhere near another piece of media entertainment in the next 50 years.
They’ll probably join the 41% before they find another job 😂
Hopefully just putting the fries in the bag
They need to seek a therapist and speak to their parents 😂😂😂😂
"Like that time you ditched your orders for a better strategy during a darkspawn attack"
Yeah, that's how people talk about shared past events with each other, sure
As a Canadian, I apologize for BioWare. They do not represent us as a whole (at least, I hope not).
you're one of the good ones
You mean apologize for Bioware?
You didn't say "eh" or mention maple syrup once. How do we know you're really Canadian?
Modern Bioware is the perfect representation of Trudeau's Canada. It's almost scary how their downfall timeline matches Canada's lol.
@@J01789Fixed it.
Origins: send Alastair to be executed so you can recruit Loghain
Veilguard: sorry for misgendering you
Soft, sterile and fake
I did not even know you could do that in Origins... I've always taken the beat the crap out of Loghain option lol
@@Ryder42 He's pretty much a direct replacement for Alistair in terms of roles (both are tanks) but yeah, if you keep him alive Alistair quits the party and you have some options.
He can quit and Anora will order his execution as she views him as a threat and competition.
He can quit and you can convince Anora to spare him, you'll find him as a drunk in Kirkwall in DA2.
You can convince him to marry Anora whether he's in your party or not, that said if you want to do this while killing Loghain you need to be the one to do it, not Alistair, as if he kills her, she won't marry him.
I've always let Loghain live and then had Alistair marry Anora, makes the most logical sense game of thrones style for the realm and stability and Loghain actually has a decent impact in later titles (inquisition especially). You can also run into him in DA Awakening as he's now a warden and actually is sent to Orlais as an emissary (ironic considering his hatred of them for their invasion of ferelden).
what does misgendering have to do with anything? you chuds always soy face at any queer depiction in media as if queer folks haven't been around since well life itself. hermaphrodite the greek god was intersex, shiva (god in hinduism) has a half female half male form, mulan and Joane of arc both are gender non conforming people. Hell look at the history of rome, greece and persia. Just say you don't like queer folks and be honest :/ and also shame on @theactman for liking this comment. Didn't realize you were so afraid of queer folks
@@Ryder42yup i had loghain have sex with morrigan to make the old god baby and then he got to reunite with her in Inquisition
I’ve heard that my Grey Warden, wandered away during Inquistion on a mission…taking his friends and family far far away.
They live now…on a farm…..kids playing in the fields ..while the adults having a slow drink and remembering the days of Heros, driving the Darkspawn deep into the pits.
It’s a good life.
In war, victory
In peace, vigilance
In death, sacrifice
The shit that irks me the most is the freaking "journalists" that blindly supported this game because of the message while completely ignoring or avoiding the writing
its almost like the gaming media has been compromised for years and gamergate happened for a valid reason
@@BullyMaguire42069 Maguire..do you realize how dumb you sound saying that? it didnt happen for a "VALID REASON", people were just being actually just RACIST,MYSOGONISTIC AND EVERYTHING ELSE.
nothing can JUSTIFY or SAY that gamergate was A GOOD THING.
you need to critize stuff through whatever your seeing with but instead for the product.
@@QuiteFunnyIsnt1t No, you have swallowed the misinformation.
@@QuiteFunnyIsnt1t Gamergate wasn't originally made for political purposes. At least not back then. It was created because of journalist corruption. It's far more different and sad today. But it did have a genuine reason to exist back then.
@@eyesofdeathperception6730 like all things that meant well....whatever is in charge now corrupted the original goal into a worse version of itself.
I’m from Edmonton Canada and will gladly drive on our dangerously snowy roads right now to go to the BioWare building and slap everyone
Watch out they'll worship Satan and touch your no no places
You sir are a gentleman and a scholar.
@@skbproject5589 wtf lol
Blows my mind that BioWare is in Edmonton of all places, need to send those pussies to the patch for a few years.
isn't the studio that make Bioware games now is based in US now?
Just a reminder, Bioware MADE Baldur's Gate 1 and 2, they didn't just take inspiration from it them. I still remember when I used to frequently check the Bioware website at the time looking for new game updates and seeing Dragon Age and them displaying tech to show the huge Darkspawn army on screen at the same time under a bridge I believe. Seemed incredible back then, wasn't something you could interact with but set the scene for sure.
They didn't. No one who worked on either of those games is still with the company. The company, Bioware, existing now, did not make Baldur's Gate 1 and 2.
@@guyincognito7188 My comment was in regards to 1:55 where he talking about Bioware taking inspiration for Dragon Age: Origins from Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights. Comment actually had nothing to do with Veilguard. This is the gaming industry, if they still had much of the original team I'd be amazed. Can only survive so many layoffs and keep your sanity.
Every time you feel stupid, remember that Bioware management looked at all this and said "looks good, let's release it"
Even worse, they looked at it as said "So we F'ed up Andromeda, the fans were not pleased, it was a buggy disaster, we rushed that one out of the gates, was a massive flop, We did that to make out "dream" game, though our developers didn't even know what type of game they were making until we told the world at the E3, it was a surprise to them as well, we rushed that one out of the gate but again we disappointed our player base, it was a giant flop, we nearly had to close there! We then began to make Dragon Age Dread wolf, a live service game, online only, that enraged our fans of Dragon Age who wanted a new RPG, so we can't F it up this time, now made this. Looks good, let's release it".
@@Jorendo This is because you never saw how they butchered "The Old Republic". It seemed almost on purpose.
They literally have the HR team held the writing team at gunpoint, telling them to not offend characters
The "modernization" of the dialogue and interactions is probably the most frustrating and eye rolling.
I've played 18 hours and its so jarring when they use modern words like " you can vent to me", its borderline fanfic
@@keiran5170 And this is therapyspeak! Notice how venting, gaslighting, and red flags popped up? Its mentally ill people who think theyre smart cause they asked their therapist once
But it goes so hard though, no cap
@@akmal94ibrahim yeah hard to watch
I fully agree - Dragon Age: Origins will forever remain the greatest Bioware game ever made, and it has been downhill ever since.
Dialogue Written like they had HR in the room the entire time
Luke was a real one for that analysis 😂
@@evansinclair1999That was SkillUp. Austin specifically.
Bro you just stole that comment from Skill Up
HR and the DEI 💀
@@RoyaltonDrummer922 oh yeah it was skill up not Luke 😂 however how did he “steal” a comment Ralph didn’t copy right the description it’s not patented
If this is the level of writing in modern bioware games, i don't want mass effect 5 to happen.
But... but... member Shepard?? How he saved the galaxy, member? Member Garrus? Member the blue alien ladies??
Eh, tbf, I think the only people from the Dragon Age Veilguard team that will be working on ME5 are the actual devs and animators, everyone else will be a new team. The lead narritive director I heard has a pretty good of projects similar to Mass Effect under her belt. And theres Mark Gamble, so Im a bit more hopeful that they can actually deliver. But who knows still gotta wait amd see
@@aperson3996 they've consolidated the Veilguard team into the ME5 team, so its not promising. The leads are different in a lot of places, so there's a chance they can see the terrible writing and rip the writers a new one, but im not hopeful considering the culture of "toxic positivity" in dev teams these days.
I don't get why you would think that after Veilguard. You should be worried about Mass Effect 5 after the disaster that was Andromeda. That one alone showed Bioware didn't know how to make a proper Mass Effect game anymore.
@@declancampbell1277 i mean, I really don’t see how the dev teams having a lot of the same effects anything. Where do you think all of the decisions for the narritive of Veilgaurd came from? The narrative team, which will be a completely different team. The devs will mostly be the ones actually coding and making the game. And say what you will about Andromeda, but I could tell the Turians were Turians, the Salarians were Salarians, ect.
isabela in DA 2 : dooms a city to death because she wanted to steal a book and she stole it.
isabela in DAV : oh let me take 10 push ups cuz i messed up with your pronouns
The biggest issue I notice in most entertainment spaces is toxic positivity. Many creators and consumers are so averse to criticism that we end up with bland, uninspired products. Even worse, some extremists go so far as to gaslight themselves and others into believing the product to be the best thing ever, engaging in endless arguments with strangers online to defend it.
Marvel and its effect on entertainment
The Bioware discord is filled with people telling me all the time that DAV is an improvement on everything and DAO is very “old” and “outdated”
I get these are hardcore fans but it’s like hardcore fans in the same vein circlejerk and say that the previous games have problems that this one doesn’t.
Plus they just try hard to force everyone else to see things a certain way and if you don’t then your kinda considered a problem. Bioware employees really shouldn’t rely on places like this as the games they want to make for.
Why was Dragon Age Origins so awesome?!!
So i have a theory, could it be that they wanted veilguard as a mmo/live service game, and that baldur's gate 3 made them go back to making it solo ?
Josh Strife Hayes just did a really good DA:O retrospective.
@@-_El_Pollo_Loco_-that's not even a theory they restarted Veilguards development like 3 times 2 of which were going to be live service titles iirc.
It wasn’t.
It was awesome don’t listen to the recent comment
Bioware made me fall in love with RPGs when i was a kid and Now, as an Adult, Bioware is putting me off of RPGs.
The Origins Trailer is probably my absolute Favourite Trailer ever.
I cant even listen to the dialogue in this game, it makes me wanna tear my ears off like Piccolo when Gohan whistles
A beautiful analogy
I give you an A+ on the reference
Also, it COULD be a good Dragon Age game, but I read on Wikipedia, that EA decided to move Creative Director of all Dragon Age franchise to work on Anthem, and rebooted development of Dragon Age with a Creative Director of Sims franchise.
Can you understand the level of STUPIDITY - move your experienced vision owner from one of the main IP to half-dead service game, and give away your millions dollar IP about dark fantasy to a Sims Designer!
yh when I learned the sims director was the lead for DAV... it all made sense 😭
Larian taking over KOTOR like they did for Baldur’s Gate, even for one game, is a dream. Imagine that depth in the Star Wars universe. Hell, any universe they’re passionate about will benefit from their touch
My biggest gripe is the use of modern words in a medieval "Dark" fantasy game. Hearing the word "coffee"and the twitter slang and their way of expressing and talking instead of using medieval words and slang and accents... is so immersion breaking. I couldn't imagine characters in Game of thrones talking like that "Christmas is coming
... "
Coffee
bigoted
nobinary
etc etc many words like this
I think there is a balance to be struck. While it is tempting to just replace most terms referring to IRL things, or to completely change how people talk, this may make the world far less comprehensible. Everyone knows what coffee or tea is, and making people talk in a certain way may make it difficult to actually comprehend what is said and described. At the same time, going the other way and making everything to be too familiar takes away from the fantasy element. Imagine if Shrek 2 tried to be serious.
@@marlonbrando1631they clrearly done it right in Origins.and with coffee? Geez they could use "he drinks potions/tonics/brews/elixirs/infusions/mixtures/philters/serums to stay awake" it's not that hard to find words that fits the world
because they are not giving you a game but brainwashing disguise as a "game"
@@marlonbrando1631 This is so pedantic. They we're able to strike the balance before and sell 12 million copies 10 years ago so what changed ?
Taash may have singlehandedly set back nonbinary acceptance by years. I hope people learn from them, namely how not to treat others who have difficulty understanding or adjusting to your new identity (the pushups thing is just fucking evil), and how not to write LGBT characters in games.
100% agree.
Taash feels like a mean-spirited parody of nonbinary people.
That is by design! The wealthy benefit when we are divided and their methods are many. Look at the corporate tax avoidance and executive tax bailouts while pushing dei and no accountability for leadership anywhere in the corporate world
@docmacabre they are mean spirited parodies of people
It looks like they were there to just check off a box, not for any meaningful inclusion.
Heard that Taash might have been a self insert of one of the writers for this game.
The one with blue hair. Can't miss it.
This video described incredibly well the problem a lot of games currently have with their writing. I think you said it perfectly with: "If you cut the edges off, it loses shape". It also gives a lot of insight what are great examples of writing/narrative design and why they are good. Newcomer to this channel, and after watching this video and your Sparking Zero one, it's an instant subscribe from me.
every origin is the same in veilguard anyway "rook is a good guy, the superiors are mean, rook did the good thing by defying orders, rook was told to lay low"
18:54 Good thing I wasn’t drinking anything at this moment because I bursted with laughter here.
Act Man, I’m still waiting to hear you talk about Starcraft.
Glad you’re on the side of common sense and not the shills who defended this crap. Doesn’t matter how shiny the turd is, it’s still a turd
"Like they've taken all the edge out of Dragon Age. Like it's gone soft."
That's a great way to describe it, actually. Dragon Age with rounded corners and no objects small enough to be a choking hazard for infants
I want to cry. I miss dragon age so much. Its so depressing to know its dead and totally garbage now. Its been completely destroyed by disgusting awful people who hate us. And only care for themselves.
Those people hate themselves too. Miserable people...
The only thing I've found interesting about DA Veilguard is the games journalists malding over it not getting a nomination for GOTY
"Journalists", don't forget the quotations. Let's not insult the real journalists out there who are struggling
lol. i also was surprised that they not include This game, knowing Game Awards.. did ea spend all their money on veilguard unicorn 'writers' and had no left for bribery ?
@@arnoldasm7300ding ding ding, that and maybe the game awards want to be taken seriously again for the first time in a decade lol.
I don’t understand why every game is trying to make it seem like there are no stakes by making characters act like they are goofing off around town
Because people have stopped being willing to grow up in the real world--see the non-ironic use of the word adulting--and as such stories where you do something serious are no longer relatable to them.
Marvel movies
"I know there are ancient Gods threatening the whole world, but everyone seems really distracted with their personal issues like their gender identity. I think it would be best if we resolve these things before worrying about the threat to the existence of the whole world."
I’ve been chasing that dragon too, Act Man. Dragon Age: Origins got me hooked on dark fantasy through its charm and its maturely handled content. It’s real consequences, and I’ve been chasing that high ever since. The soulsborne games + Elden Ring scratched that itch for a time, and when Bladur’s Gate 3 released it helped slake my thirst for a dark fantasy. But there’s only one Dragon Age, and with this release I fear that we won’t see it for a long time if at all.
“It may even be too late, for I have seen with my own eyes what lies upon the horizon. Maker help us all.” -Duncan
"Thanks to Taash "
"That's why we recruited her "
Her?
UMMMMMMM 😡
How dare you get it wrong!!! "That's why we were FORCED to recruit her" get it right lol.
@@qasimishtiaq8930 F***ING PRONOUNS
@qasimishtiaq8930 that's 10 push-ups for you 😂
The build up to the Brood Mother in Dragon Age Origins was hands down one of the most horrific moments of a game I've ever experienced. I can't imagine ever experiencing something like that in a triple A game anymore. Now the most horrific things in games are the cringe inducing dialogue.
tbh I think BioWare nailed it even before then with the reveal of Sion in KotOR 2. Oh wait nevermind that was Obsidian.
The air of unease was thick enough to be cut with a sword
In general the whole deep roads was sick
For sure. Having the rhyme be spoken by the surviving dwarf as you're getting closer was a very nice touch
The worst thing about the entire Dragon Age concept is that I waited nearly a decade almost 10 years for a sequel, only to get an unfinished product seemingly made by 6-year-olds. It looks worse than Andromeda in the Mass Effect universe. This is humiliating on every level and completely unacceptable. Not only do I have no desire to try it, but the whole thing disgusted me the moment I saw the trailer. Shame on BioWare, once my favorite gaming company.
I enjoy the name “Rook” for a straightforward and inflexible, yet competent and important character. Gonna be years before I can use it without people thinking of this dumpster fire now.
I’m actually disgusted they felt the need to explain it word for word in the game, just pathetic
Someday the name "Mustang" will be sullied like this, I am already bracing myself
@@RRRRRRRRR33for a fma fan that is a horryfing nightmare
Play the banner saga the main character Rook in that game is way better
@@robrockstar9648 That’s where I first saw the name haha! Great game I agree
Taash seems like she was intended to be the favorite by the development team NOT the audience. They really wanted you to like her.
Ironic, when you consider she's part of one of the most abrasive race in Thedas and she likes the most destructive creatures that have destroyed everything they touch.
Really stupid there, Current-Day Bioware.
Then she fits the narrative then, cause the people she's based off of destroy everything they touch to.
Did you just say HER!!!!
10 pushups
I ain’t gonna focus on her at all. Not doing any of her side quest nothing. Skipping all cutscenes that mainly involve only her and if it was a option which I doubt like most companions but not all I wouldn’t even recruit her and since I’m forced to do so I’d send it to its deaths in a heart beat but of course character is protected from that while they least woke ones aren’t.
This is a wildly good metaphor for how these woke lecturers alienate people, who may have been supportive.
Ok to be "fair" to nuBioware, they have done that for years.
Bioware has always had their own developer favorites who they push harder than any other characters. Liara and Leliana are the two most obvious.
Calling Taash a woman or referring to her as she isn’t misgendering. What a crazy world we live in. It’s like saying 2+2 is 4 and then being scolded because a group of people say it’s actually 7. We all know it’s wrong. Yet so many people will come to their defence and shame you and force you to agree that 2+2 is 7.
If ChatGPT told EA how to make the newest Dragon Age game that is kid-friendly for 2024.
ChatGPT couldn't possibly write so poorly.
Ironically might’ve been better had they listened to ChatGPT 😅 here’s it’s response. Look at points 3 and 7:
As the lead producer for a sequel to Dragon Age: Origins, making the game more palatable to a modern, diverse, and sensitive audience would involve several key strategies:
1. **Inclusive Character Representation**: Ensure that the character roster includes a wide range of backgrounds, ethnicities, genders, and sexual orientations. This would not only enhance representation but also allow players to see themselves in the game. Expanding on non-binary and LGBTQ+ characters with meaningful narratives would be essential.
2. **Culturally Sensitive Storylines**: Approach the lore and storytelling with a focus on cultural sensitivity. Engage consultants from diverse backgrounds to ensure that the portrayal of different cultures and characters is respectful and accurate. This would help avoid stereotypes and promote nuanced storytelling.
3. **Player Choice and Consequence**: Enhance the player agency in shaping the narrative. Allow players to make choices that reflect their values and beliefs, with consequences that feel authentic and impactful. This would foster a deeper connection to the story.
4. **Mental Health Themes**: Integrate themes related to mental health, trauma, and healing into character arcs and storylines. Providing a compassionate portrayal of these themes can resonate with players and promote awareness.
5. **Accessibility Features**: Implement a robust set of accessibility options to accommodate players with different needs, such as customizable controls, subtitles, and visual aids. This would ensure that everyone can enjoy the game.
6. **Community Engagement**: Involve the gaming community in the development process through feedback sessions and open forums. This would create a sense of ownership among fans and help identify areas for improvement.
7. **Dynamic World-Building**: Create a living world that evolves based on player decisions and actions. Allow for diverse narratives that reflect the choices made, giving players a sense of agency and connection to the game world.
By focusing on these elements, the sequel could resonate with a broader and more diverse audience while maintaining the core essence that made Dragon Age: Origins beloved.
@@qdawg8087 So it's a human error than because I would rather play this Dragon Age games with the old art style of the previous Dragon Age lol.
Bro ChatGPT is way better than whatever that was.
What rustled my jimmies the most is when they developers stated how they finally made the combat in a dragon age fun. The implication Being that the older games ware not fun because they ware tactical strategy RPGs and not action games whit Pro wrestling moves or marvel super hero moves in a fantasy setting.
To be fair, there are wrestling moves in Skyrim and they are pretty badass and fit better than you would think, but I do get what you are saying and I agree.
?
They are certainly not the most innovative games ever made when it comes to that area.
excuse me while I shove a screwdriver into my eye sockets so I can pretend I never read this
This game is so "lets all get along" I'm legit surprised it isn't rated E. No pyscho runs, no gore, and a toxic positivity worthy of running Ubisoft's HR
Instaclick literally been playing this game after replaying the first three only to realize that this is not a dragon age game
And here I used to think Dragon Age 2 was the worst... Perhaps I've treated it too harshly...
@TheActMan facts at least da2 had some real emotional moments same with inquisition but idk whatever the hell this abomination is they where on crack and useing blood magic did not work well
@@TheActMan It really made me realize how good we used to have it with early BioWare. But lets be honest, that BioWare is long dead.
@@TheActMan At least DA2 had fantastic characters. Oh boy l miss the old days...
It objectively is.
0:11 smell of modern gaming
the smell of wokees
Western gaming, don’t shit on Asia and East EU.
😂😂😂
AAA gaming*
I got in "trouble" on a Discord server and an artist blocked me because I "talked too harshly and mentioned Taash's looks/design." I'm not even kidding. Some people are stun locked into the emotional maturity of High School theater kids.
That's how they operate. People who designed this game or align with it censor and silence any criticism. They create echo chambers where they can hear themselves and smell their own farts while pretending they smell like roses. Why do you think we got this mess? Because all the criticism was swept away. Nobody listened to feedback or they specifically hired playtesters who wouldn't have any critical view on the game. It's just sad. But hey...
At very least now we can point at this failure and laugh.
Well at least their time in the Sun is coming to a close. People are getting more and more fed up with this type of bullcrap that it's becoming the new intollerated by majority concensus lol.
You went on a discord to shit talk an artist? No wonder you got blocked by them. Nobody is required to give a shit about your opinion. So entitled 😂 also I say that as someone who fucking HATES Dragon Age, but you’re just being a douchebag by the sounds of it.
And Act Man was wondering why they removed all the blood and gore and cool action scenes from the Failturd.. cause those "people" cannot handle anything, i mean you call a woman, a woman and they will need 3 months of therapy or they will cry their brains out.
It’s not like we spent several hundred hours saving Ferelden or anything.
At least Andromeda had the decency to take place in another galaxy. It wasn’t good, but it left the original trilogy alone. While Veilguard basically ruins or burns what was setup before.
Andromeda couldve been good too, but just like Veilguard, you play as a whimp. Not once do you get to be an asshole or simply overrule your groups teenage drama
Don't worry, Mass Effect 4 will do the same
@elseggs6504 The writing was pretty bad too.
@@r.e.z9428 Oh I know. Being a whimp instead of a leader, despite officially being one is just bad writing. I understand moving away from Renegade/Paragon system so you arent restricted by a score. That however isnt what happened. Theres only one choice in the entire game thats close to ME2 Renegade and its not even done that well.
The crew youre meant to care for only has one character that is tolerable. Your bosses arent even the good kind of unlikeable like the Council or interesting like the Illusive Man. Instead its "My face is tired"
It’s weird how BioWare (at least in my opinion) nailed the combat and completely butchered the writing and characters in ME:A. Mass Effect games (well mainly 1 and 2) never really had good combat but the writing was cinema asf. You know something is wrong when the best part of a Mass Effect game is the multiplayer, and yes, ME:A’s MP was hella fun. To be honest, so was ME3’s. I put like 600 hours into ME3 MP because it had a ton of new and interesting abilities and you could play as basically every species (even Voluses, a fucking Collector (!!!) and a Geth Prime unit as well).
I'm gonna be brutally honest. I called it before at the end of Mass Effect 3. Sure I didn't like the ending, but I still noticed the decline of story quality. I noticed it again with Dragon Age Inquisition. Anthem is where it came to light just how bad it's getting. I fully expected Dreadwolf to bomb on release. Bioware has been dying for a very long time. Dragon Age Veilguard sealed Biowares fate.
0:43 "When you misgendered an NPC" 😂💀
Taah whatever it's name is the worste written character in gaming history
3 whole hours? I commend your sacrifice good sir, I managed -15 minutes before refunding it even before buying it, I felt they needed to pay me for it to exist.
I lost it when you said you only played for 3 hours before you gave up, lol.
If I see any of the dialogue writers/story writers of veilguard anywhere near the Mass Effect Reboot, I will setup an electrified fence around the shelf where the game is sold.
If you want to play a good RPG, Metaphor Refantazio is right around the corner for you to try
(It's already out, I'm just saying that it's not to late to play it)
I checked out some gameplay for that and that game has a pretty sick art style too
@TheActMan
highly recommend it. Sorry, I had to be an ass just for you to look at it
What about persona 3 Reload?
Right around the corner? It's already out.
I meant it in avaliablity. But yeah probably should have worded it better.
Yet people keep saying "Um the people who made Origins, only a few still work there. You can't keep comparing the Veilguard creators to Origins."
To them, I say, "Yes, I can." Cause they have a literal cheat sheet and a proper fan base.
"You mean if we create a game with dialogue, choices, the atmosphere of DAO, and the improved graphics of Inquisition, people will actually enjoy our game?"
The Dragon Age Origins marketing made me think it was Gears of War but fantasy, which unfortunately led me away from the game. The Dragon Age the Veil Guard marketing couldn’t have been more clear and thankfully led me away from the game.
Shao Kahn in Mortal Kombat 1 looks more like a Qunari than they do Veilguard.
Let that sink in
Makes me worried on what direction BioWare is going with the next mass effect game.
The same gay communist that wrote this is writing ME4
Hoepfully its better, though tbf, besides Andromeda, Mass Effect has had a more cohesive narritive than Dragon Age. And I heard the lead narritive director is a pretty experienced authro from stuff like Deus Ex, so hopefully shes able to do well. I don’t think this is a death blow to the next Mass Effect being good, buts its certainly a big wound.
The direction of getting shut down. Veilguard didn't do well, and if Mass Effect will also fail, then EA will have no more excuses not shut them down after closing down so many other studio for far less flops.
There's no talent left at BioWare. It will be awful.
You could have just said “go woke go broke” and save everyone half an hour of lifetime bro
act man is hard working this year
so many videos in couple of month
i can't be any happier
keep up the good work
thank you!
@@TheActMan ❤
True
Step 1: Not understanding what makes the original games so great
Step 2: Ship it out!
That implies they tried to pursue those things rather than reject them in order to take take the entire game towards a new "diverse" and "inclusive" direction. This was no accident. The almost universal critical acclaim explains who they were aiming to please and why.
@@fightedmealready2692 I think the misunderstanding is that people think BioWare's current devs actually believe that Origins was a good game, when they don't. They have said as much themselves. They do understand what made Origins great, they just hate everything that made it great, and have 0 intentions of doing those things. It's time to face the music, the devs that made BioWare what BioWare was are long, long gone.
This game is an unsolicited collective therapy session with kids
Dragon Age Origins and Mass Effect 2 were the last games worked on by the Bioware developers before EA bought them. Every single game that Bioware has made since then (Dragon Age 2 -> Mass Effect 3 -> Inquisition -> Anthem -> Andromeda -> Vanguard) has been worse than the previous game they released. It's not a coincidence. Just give up on them. They're gone. EA destroyed them and they will never come back.
Inquisition was legit not bad. It's not Origins, but it's a fun game
@@SeanTxty Yeah I agree. Inquisition was definitely an improvement from Dragon Age 2!
@@SeanTxty I didn't say it was bad. I said it was worse than Mass Effect 3, which it was. Inquisition was the last of their not-bad games.
Agreed. And while DA:2 gets a lot of hate, in Dragon Age games, you actually have to play a specific class to get the most enjoyment out of the game. Origins, your best bet is a Warrior class. In Dragon Age 2, you MUST play as a Melee Rogue to enjoy the game. And in Inquisition, you'll have your best time as a Mage, if only for dialogue and role-playing options. Try it out next time! ☺
15:26
Main character is lying on the ground, and the camera is looking up.
Another character: Oh my God, the army is here, and there are explosions and giant snakes.
Main character: He tries to get up and look.
Another character: No, no, don't look, we can't afford it.
Imo the major issue is that the game doesn't know how to start a story. The main story and all the major side stories start really fuckin rough and that loses people right away so they don't stick with the game long enough to see how much better the stories get, and this is absolutely valid and I don't fault anyone for falling off the game for this.
I knew it was a bad sign when folk were touting hair physics over gameplay and story
BG2 is still on my Top 10 games list. Still recall playing BG1 the first time after a friend told me about it. He laughed saying he killed a cow, which pissed off a farmer and lead to his character being skewered by a dude with a pitchfork. (No, his PC was not named Geralt). So my playthrough I just grabbed the first 4 other companions I ran across, strength in numbers. Some bickering, wandered into an inn when all hell broke loose and two party members tried to kill two other party members. Imoen and I hightailed it to the next floor, and while spit-taking my beer and laughing hysterically at the comedy of it all, all I thought was, "This is one hell of an audition. Which group survives stays in the party." Hooray, Jaheira, Minsc and his space hampster Boo were in, the other two bleeding out and attracting flies.
Now you can't even say mean things.
Loved Mass Effect. In retrospect, even if the combat is jank AF, the OG was the best. Missed a lot of the other games, including the first two DA's, but Inquisition (a GOTY?!?!) was a "I'm finishing this for the trophies" game.
If OT Mass Effect was OT Star Wars, then Andromeda was The Phantom Menace.
Have swerved every Bioware project since. My wallet is grateful.
Bioware is dead.
Well, apparently, BG2 wasn't that good, as Act Man said that BioWas made good things only starting from 2003. Sad times. For me BG2 is also in top 10.
What is also missing in veilguard for me is jealousy between 2 companions if you romance both forcing you to choose. In Origins listening to Leliana and Morrigan's catfight was a sight to behold.
you forgot to mention that, not only did they not try and hook old players back, they actively tried to get rid of them, how?, ohh, by destroying everywhere we've been in the last 3 games, orlais, ferelden, free marches, etc, (if you picked the warden "origin" you get a letter stating that, basically tevinter & a fraction of redcliffe is left after the "super blight" wiped it all out off screen)
The sterilized writing, cartoonish visuals, the Kingdoms of Amalur combat in 2024, etc.. all crappy stuff that makes this game mediocre at best. But the fact they erased the previous games is the most egregious stuff about this new DA. I'm not even a big DA fan, only played Origins a long time ago, forgot most of the plot, location names, characters and so on... but we all know the main gimmick of Bioware sequels is the illusion of choice. This game is so sloppy, a caricature of Bioware, they simply erased the previous regions off-screen, lol can't be more lazy and convenient than that, this should be the main focus of criticism
Inquisition was my first game 7 years ago, and why it wasn't bad, it just wasn't my taste. 3 years ago, i tried origins, and 2 and i was blown away by the two games, and i was able to get into Inquisition. They worked great for new fans, unlike Veilguard, which failed to capture new or old fans
Edit: What did they do to my girl, Isabela
When I saw first videos from Veilguard I honestly thought these are joke edits.
I could not believe writing in a BioWare game can be that cringe.
What also pisses me off is that they destroyed all the old areas from the previous games for no reason.
"Hey, remember all those places you knew and loved from the old games, Ferelden, Orlais and the Free Marches? Well though shit, Darkspawn invaded and ate everyone you knew. Have a nice day."
Dragon Age Origins will forever be one of the best RPGs ever. Dwarf noble origin, forgiving my brother and realising that he played the politics game and that he will be a better leader for the futur of the dwarfs. Getting Alistair to accept his responsibility and in the end sacrificing my character to end the blight will forever stay with me.
For me Veilguard was a 6 or 7/10 at the start, some cringe but I could live with it. The graphic style while not a favourite was ok with me. Combat is fun on all 3 classes, maybe a little shallow the first hours but that quickly change when you get some skillpoints to play with. Veilguard is def alot more of a ACTION rpg but there are some fun builds to do. Ive seen alot of poeple complain about puzzles in the game, often just showing the tutorial puzzles, imo there is alot of good puzzles that require you to think and often solve sub puzzles to complete the big one. There is however alot of babies first puzzles, so its def not a strong point of the game but nowhere as bad as some people say.
After a while I realised that the game is a Disney version of Dragon Age, no grit, no edge, it tries to do some darkness but during one of the important big battles they throw all of the little they built up away when a 8, maybe 9 year old child is able to run around a battlefield swarming with darkspawn no issue. She even saves the party during a scene.
Taash does not help, she/they/apachehelicopter/them is one of the worst written, animated and acted characters Bioware have ever created even without the non-binary stuff. The rest of the companions vary from ok to good, but there is no Morrigan here, speaking of Morrigan look at how they masacred my girl.
Unless something changes the last 10-20 hours I have left the game will probably land at a 5 or 6/10, nowhere near the comeback game journalists claim it to be.
The moment I KNEW the game was doomed, not just suspected but KNEW, was when I learned that in the 'origins' you get, not one of them was a Tevinter citizen who didnt care about slavery. You know, like Dorian? A character they already made?
If you were from Tevinter, they had to make VERY CLEAR that you are anti-slavery. I knew in that moment there would be no meaningful role playing in the game.
"So...I'm non-binary" - Dialogue from a dark fantasy game
I was a kid when my stepdad showed me the This is War trailer for DAO, became a core memory almost immediately. So much of origins is engrained into my being.
That game made me fan of 30 seconds to mars for a while. Loved that song and trailer. Back then they still knew how to make trailers, same for the trailer of World in conflict with the assault on New York while Shadows on the Sun from Audioslave was playing. Bone chilling. They just don't make trailers like that anymore these days. Nor games.
Your stepdad loves you very much.
1:44 You are forgetting that Bioware also created the Baldur's Gate series. They made BG 1 and 2. Both of which are top tier RPGs.
BG3 kinda of throws you into it, but after the big set-piece on the mind-flayer ship, you have quiet time to realize how fucked you are and how you need to save yourself from the tadpole. It keeps it simple after the big opening.
Also, the BG3 opening and the afterwards are all about saving *yourself* initially, it doesn't start on the grand scale, it builds to it like a smart story does
Also the threat to the world is actually threatening immediately
DOS2 is actually somewhat similar in its intro.
To be fair
The best way to play BG3 is as the dark urge
You already have an identity in that playthrough
?
Nothing happens even if you use it, it's a telltale game.
The Witcher series was a perfect example of how to gradually reveal character backgrounds and entice the player to learn more. Everywhere Geralt went, people knew who he was or something he had done. It was like everyone around knew a secret that I didn't. Why does he have 14 different nicknames? What happened at Blaviken? How did he lose his memory? It made you feel like the characters had been a part of the world way before you started playing.
craziest part is there are really good and well written characters in this game. Solas, the first warden, and even Taash's mother come to mind as really good characters that feel like they actually belong in the dragon age setting. Even the book that is essentially this games blueprint, Tevinter Nights, has some amazing and dark stories in it. However, something happened between the writing of that book and the writing of this game that changed. I'm a huge dragon age fan and i still enjoyed this game, im just left thinking about how much more it could have been had things gone slightly differently. Had there not been so many reworks and so on.
I also agree with act that the game really forces you into this world, this is the first game where we have been to northern thedas, and we don't really get time to experience what northern thedas is like without the ongoing world ending threat. We are then expected to care deeply about these people and factions that most of which we don't have any form of attachment to. I think turning this into two games would have been the better call. I would have liked to learn about these new characters first before having to decide their fates.
The game gives you a brief backstory depending on your faction. for example as a shadow dragon it described how i went rogue and took down a slave ring despite the risk and that is why varric recruited me. I would have loved to have actually seen that and have it play out as an origin story. With varric mirroring duncan in a sense. That would help engross you in the world more, but everything feels super rushed and put on speedmode. it wants to do this mass effect 3 gather your allies and factions to stop the big bad mechanic, but without the 2 game buildup of mass effect 3
One of the things that bothered me the most is that there was such a lack of integrity from the game journalists and review outlets. As if anyone with at least two braincells would let themselves be fooled by the lies they wrote. Gamers know better.
Same thing happened with Deus Ex Invisible War and Dragon Age 2, the review outlets praised them to a ridiculous degree and both sucked compared to their previous entries.
Exactly. Both shameless and insultingly brazen to think we'd fall for it.
@@Spr1ggan87 and yet both games I would rather play over anything else that has been released in the last few years
In origins I could be as evil as my imagination could lead me, sometimes even more
In veilguard the most evil thing you can do is say "No" to someone or, God forbid, misgender someone without doing ten push-ups
There's actually No dialogue option that Says "No" btw, So no, you can't say "No".
Now excited to see if Fable is worse then Veilguard. Though judging by the trailer...yeah it's going to be "something"
Ima turn to the bottle if they pull this shi with Mass Effect bruh
They already done it boss
What do you mean?
ME 2 was the last mass effect game released
@@adenhickman5780 I have to disagree. I liked ME3 as much as 1 and 2, and I thought Andromeda was good (although not as good as the trilogy in some aspects)
It's gonna happen. It's basically inevitable at this point
@joshjmilli it's not so much the story for me. There were some interesting concepts posed, but ME3 dropped the ball with the endings all being the exact same, and Andromeda was unforgivably broken, buggy, and horriblely written.
I simply can't bring myself to like that game even after it's been fixed.
From Sten to Taash as the Qunari companion perfectly highlights the downfall of Bioware
They’ve essentially created a PG rated, Marvelized movie/tv show
That's how pure journalism is done, down to earth opinion, sprinkled with sarcasm and pure "fact seeking". Best YT reaction/review vid I've seen in a while. Act, keep up your work.
Even though this video is a good amount of Origins glazing, I even have to point out how Inquisition, even if watered down from Origins, makes Veilguard look bad. They show how you got there, how you made companions, and had interesting dialogue and conflict among companions. The betrayal of Blackwall and Solas was amazingly executed. Being able to craft a perfectly balanced party and build repituare between them and yourself was awesome.
To quote skillup: This game feels like HR is in the room with ya.
Western games are more concerned about pandering to a certain niche demographic than to the actual gamers who want a good story and good gameplay. No wonder korean, Japanese and Chinese games are doing better
@@uchihasenpai5671 And that's why they're doing so badly. It seems like the only good western release this year was Astro Bot.
@@Fxrrxt2xuntil you realize that the team that made it are called team asobi. Which is a Japanese team
I just want a group of morally grey characters who are likeable, a world that doesnt look blindingly colorful and cartoony for no reason and good writing that doesnt retconn the lore is that too much to ask?
well the woke dei trans shit has infected bioware, so yes, it is utterly impossible.
Taash the Trash is 100% a self insert.