3 Days of nolifing Veilguard later - Here is my review of this much anticipated release. I want to add that this video came out sounding more negative than I'd intended. For what it's worth - I do enjoy Veilguard for what it is, but I promised I would be completely honest with you guys and so this is the end result.
I think it seems fair, the game is neither what angry fanwankers think it is nor what slavish Bioware devotees think either. The game no longer resmebles DA:O at all, which is yet another downgrade gameplaywise, but the story is the same schlock it's always been. For storyqueens there's no alternatives, for everyone else it's maybe a bit candyassed. The presentation is impressive, if buggy at this time. EA is satan. Life is complicated. 🤷♂
Exodus made by Archetype Entertainment is on its way to fill the hole left by Mass Effect. Humanoid Origin is also making a sci-fi game. Both studios are spearheaded by Old Guard Bioware veterans. Hopefully, one, if not, both studios will make a fantasy(dark fantasy) IP to fill the hole left by Dragon Age Origins(and 2) at some point in the future.
@MrHulthen Very fair. It's not much like DAO or DA2. Veilguard is like God of War and Guardians of the Galaxy had a baby in Thedas. I'm still in act 1 and I'm having a great time with it. Yes the writing is a bit light. I miss being a grumpy jerk (Rook is so "nice" and keeps smiling!). And there are definitely ham-fisted moments that feel like someone else "shoved them in" after the writers were done (I'm looking at YOU, talking-to-self-in-mirror scene). But the gameplay is really fun and there are a couple of companions I like enough to journey with (and ignore the rest). Taash and Bellara rubbed me the wrong way at the start. Bellara got more tolerable after I learned her sad backstory. Taash didn't unfortunately (too much introspection for the end of the world!) - but im still in act 1, so... Yeah, I'm enjoying it.
I get your point but I and a lot of people I know discovered Dragon Age and Mass Effect only a few years ago thanks to sales on Steam or consoles. After that I started to play the older DA games as well
@@herbstdrache2139yeah im one of the few Gen Z that bought mass effect le edition and DA origins for sale out of boredom and curiosity, fell in love with mass effect franchise. I got andromeda too for 5 bucks but wasnt worth it, cant stomach the game 😂
I enjoyed the sequels but I’m not enjoying Veilguard. DA2 and Inquisition felt like different Dragon Age games. Veilguard feels like a completely different franchise. It doesn’t have the core fundamentals that were consistent in the first three games.
When it comes to it I really like DA2. Hawke and their companions are my favourite group on the series. I feel lukewarm at best to the new companions and Rook
@@moonlight2870 The dark setting, the rich and mature dialogue, the witty jokes, the edgy remarks, the compelling characters and companions, the interesting stories, the immersive world-building, the beautiful women... just to name a few. All these things are missing from Failguard
We don’t want another Mass Effect game if it is this quality or worse. I am more than happy to leave ME with the good memories we have and look forward to making news ones in new IP’s, such as Exodus. Let’s not hold onto the past just to experience inevitable dissatisfaction people. Let Shepard rest, his story has been told. The Mass Effect we once knew is long gone.
My thoughts exactly. The execution of the story is definitely off for me. I wish they never even bothered with Rook - just stick with the Inquisitor. Transition the military complex of inquisition to an Intel agency hunting an active threat. A Quanri invasion & templar invasion would have made for a great opening. Pacing, rhythm, beats are off along with the dialogue and tone. But it’s not terrible. One person said “It’s Hercules the TV series when I expected LOTR.” That sums it up for me.
This is the biggest criticism of the narrative for me 20 hours in. I just constantly keep thinking 'This would have made so much more sense and been far more emotionally engaging with the Inquisitor as the PC.' Finally just got the vaguest explanation of why neither them or any of their companions or advisors are here and it's beyond flimsy. Apparently they were all just too busy to help Varric stop Solas tearing down the fade? Ridiculous. This so obviously should have been the Inquisitor's story and the narrative is needing to do backflips to explain why it isn't, but the writers can't do backflips so instead we're getting a four year old's attempt at a cartwheel.
A lot of people been interested in Tevinter for years so it makes sense to have someone who is familiar with living in Tevinter to be the main character. We already explored a decent amount of South Thedas that people would complain about not changing the scenery.
Sounds like a very reasonable take on the game. I have yet to find a single review that justifies the 9's and 10's the games media threw at the game before the public got their hands on it.
The justification for those reviews is access journalism, ideological groupthink, personal politics, and fanaticism. EA probably also has some pr firms leaving false positive reviews everywhere masquerading as "player reviews," considering how many empty or one-word positive reviews they have on every platform, or ones that parrot the same "return to form for bioware" -line as the critic reviews did.
@@wardeni4806 Spot on. It's not a coincidence that many of the people assigned to those reviews identify as some sort of trans or "non-binary", it's propaganda.
I'm a fan from way back of the original...the game is at most an 8, but personally I'd put it at a 7.5. I'm enjoying a lot of it, but it has some flaws.
Rook kind of is like shepard if you werent allowed to be renegade. Like you arent the character. You are PLAYING a character if that makes sense. Like its more of a choose your own adventure and less of an RPG. Idk if Im explaining this well at all.
Ef no. Paragon Shepherd is still a badass who will set his team mates in the line if they will go overboard. It's not about the team mates conflict in ME2 either. He told the whole Quarian fleet in their "faces" that they will die if they keep fighting and he was the one who was allowing them to die. I have not seen anything like that so far, though I'm just watching gameplay through youtube, so maybe there are some moments.
@@gesochisku118yes and no, veilguard doesnt allow you to play an evil character....most you can do is being a lil snarky. And being abkr to choose what I do is what role playing is about,nothing like bg3 or DAO
The original Baldurs Gate threw me off BioWare made games. The realtime combat was not appealing to me, and I disliked the AD&D ruleset it used. I returned in 2009, when I played the first Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins. ME was different enough with it's third person shooting mechanic to make me realise the good written companions and therefore spark my interest in other BioWare games. DAO used a better ruleset than AD&D and the possibility to define detailed rules for your companions about how to react in combat brought back control without to much micromanagement.
I appreciate your honest, unfiltered opinions. This was a good review. I'm only about 10 hours into the game, having 4 companions recruited and some exploration/companion content completed. I already feel a lot of the ennui and "wish this were deeper" creeping into my mind. The "not good, very generic" dialogue is a big problem for me. People in real life don't speak this way, in style or lack of substance (at least not the people around me). It really kills my immersion. The NPCs don't feel rooted in the world the way they used to feel. The use of real life language accents worked to create a vibe. These NPCs feel like collections of randos who are together for unknowable reasons. (I'm thinking specifically of the incongruous VAs for Stryfe and Irelin. Ugh.) I am very motivated by character builds, and I can tell that Veilguard does give lots of options. That said, the combat (Mage, PS5) has a strange, sluggish latency for me. I prefer snappy, immediate response to my inputs. An apt analogy is AC Unity vs AC Odyssey. Veilguard feels a bit too Unity, when I prefer the snappiness of Odyssey combat. Also, those combo detonation visuals just don't make sense. How are they so limited? They crushed this 12 years ago with ME3, and MEA had amazing combo effects. I was hoping that the lack of variety was due to my low-level and limited access to combos. (I still have no Warrior in the party after 10 hours. Sigh.) Ultimately, the biggest disconnect for me is in tone. The dialogue is shallow. The banter is scant and lacking. The lore is presented in strange, incongruous ways. (How are so many NPCs so knowledgeable about the Evanuris, ancient elven history, etc... ? If there's a reason for this, it isn't communicated.) The general vibe of the game is too chipper and bright. I really long for the melancholy of Origins and DA2. That bleak background set a menacing tone that could then be lightened by character interactions and the occasional humorous discovery. Veilguard is brighter by comparison. This undermines dire events in that even desperate, terrible happenings are lessened when we return to sunshine and Disney-sounding musical interludes. MEA had this same issue throughout. I hope my opinion of Veilguard is changed as I play more. At least in the early going, it feels like an entirely different IP that's stolen some of DA's names, places, and details.
I agree with most of what you've said. For me, the game started to improve a bit after about 8 hours in, after I recruited Lucanis and could more freely explore more areas, like Treviso, Minrathous, and the Crossroads. I'm now a bit over 20 hours in and have recruited all the companions. I'm enjoying them all now except for Taash, whom I just recruited. Unfortunately, she just feels like a whiny, edgy teenager and I find her almost painfully uninteresting so far. I just can't quite put a finger on it, but the writing overall just lacks some... oomph. I had to make a decision that screwed over an entire city and faction, and I felt... nothing. Even visiting the aftermath felt like it had no emotional resonance with me, it was just like, "Oops, sorry bruh". I wouldn't ever rate a game without finishing it, but at the point I'm at, I'd say it's about a 7.5/10. I'm having fun with it, but it feels very unmemorable, unlike past DA and Mass Effect games. I'm hoping it picks up in Act 3 (and I can bump that up to an 8/10), which some reviews have said, but I shouldn't need to wait until the end of a 60 hour game to feel invested in the story.
Exodus made by Archetype Entertainment is on its way to fill the hole left by Mass Effect. Humanoid Origin is also making a sci-fi game. Both studios are spearheaded by Old Guard Bioware veterans. Hopefully, one, if not, both studios will make a fantasy(dark fantasy) IP to fill the hole left by Dragon Age Origins(and 2) at some point in the future.
The writing and dialog is abysmal when you compare it especially to older DA games but just in general its rough, I actually can't stand the writing and it brings the overall score down for me A LOT
i disagree . yhea not every one has the best dialogues but for example rook is probably the protagonist with the best voice acting in the games of dragon age with a large amount of emotion in his voice acting. and characyers as soals or varric kept the good level of previous entries
@khornesupreme I think you might be misunderstanding my criticisms, I think the voice actors all did a great job in the delivery of their lines, but the lines they delivered were written very poorly in my opinion and feel very hollow, safe and childish making them come across as very amateur and lacking in any sort of substance and impact or ability to evoke emotion that the original 3 games had, the writing in Veilguard to me feels very flat but the voice actors did their best to give it life but even with their talent it failed to capture me
@@khornesupreme can people just stop conflating voice acting delivery and writing delivery? The VA are alright but can only push shit writing so much with their skill. Let's be honest the conversations are a lot of pointless drivel, reminding about events that happened just few minutes back and childish bickering.
Would you recommend this game or nah? Or is it best to wait for sale? Cause i really wanted to get my hands on it but the reviews are very mixed, and i really do care about writings alot 😰
@@MidnightTea7 objectively untrue. inquisition was my first dragon age game, then i played the rest so i dont have like nostalgia tainting my opinion. veilguard is just bad. reminds me of andromeda
Maybe the dialogue seems generic to people who mostly play contemporary games, but unfortunately it does stand out an awful lot in what's supposed to be a fantasy setting, and in comparison to the older games. Its atrocious. The number of times they say 'okay' alone is enough to disqualify it.
It's not even the constant modernisms. More often than not while playing I had this nagging voice in the back of my head going "SHUT UP! You said enough! I understand! No need to say more!" Half the writing problems could have been eradicated if most conversations just lost 30-40% of the sentences. Information-wise nothing would be lost. Quality-wise much would be gained.
This review feels exceptionally diplomatic. Like, you seem to soften all of the blows of every criticism you have. Just as an example, you said that ''at times it doesn't feel like dragon age'' when ''at times'' means 90% of the time when anyone who isn't Solas is speaking.
And even then Solas doesn’t feel like the same character my Inquisitor befriended during the events of Inquisition. He feels more like he’s based on the version of Solas that had a bad reputation with the Inquisitor which is just weird. His compassion is gone and he says and does things that I don’t see Inquisition Solas ever doing.
Because the hardcore fans still want to huff copium that Bioware is still the old Bioware they know. I played all the Mass Effects and DA Origins/Inquisition, the current Bioware is nowhere even near what they used to be
Yeah like "the dialogue isn't necessarily bad" and following it up with "at times really painful to listen to"... Doesn't do wonders for your credibility I'm afraid... Be less Swedish and more...Danish perhaps? ;)
I agree overall, though for me, seeing the faces of returning companions was really painful. Origins, 2, Inquisition, all had relatively realistic faces, and the characters had character. Morrigan, Varric, and Dorian in this one look like they got sucked into a cartoon World of Warcraft clone. The dialogue reminds me more of Finding Nemo. The game play can be fun, but it feels closer in setting to Andromeda than Dragon Age. The lore, too, was a big disappointment. Inquisition and Origins had living lore, where the lore made you feel for these cultures, their history, the pantheon. Veilguard treats Elven Gods like they were carbon copy generic badguys with zero personality or goals. Darkspawn, Venatori, corrupt Tevinter, ancient elven constructs: these have all become names slapped on a bland bucket of enemies. The inventory system was really the only one where I think they improved on past games with Veilguard.
I get not wanting BioWare to fail but I look at it differently. I don’t want this BioWare making another mass effect game. The people that made BioWare great are gone. Now they are just leeching off of established franchises.
Thing is that’s not actually true, DATV still had a good amount BioWare veterans, one thing at least for the next ME is that it is being developed by a veteran BioWare team that worked on the original trilogy
My guy, the literal cells that make up your body are literally dying and being replaced as we speak. Everything changes. The very story of this game is about dramatic changes and how difficult they can be. And also, DAV is basically the best essence of ME2 and ME3 put into a Dragon Age game. It's really great.
Not only are there still veterans on the team, but many of them are responsible for some of my and many people's favorite parts of ME and DA. I believe Weekes wrote Garrus, Tali, a lot of ME2 side missions and Trespasser etc.
My take : 5/10 Action rpg game. 2.5/10 Dragon Age game. Low scores are also because writing is what matters to me, and it's horrific in this game... It's downright painful .
Veilguard Is not a Dragon Age game, it's literally Mass Effect with a Dragon Age paint. All of the mechanics are from Mass Effect and when you die you literally hear Mass Effect music in the background when you die
@six6572 Not throwing shade at ME, it's a great game. I'm just pointing out that they didn't make a Dragon Age game at all, but a Mass Effect game with swords.
@six6572 Not throwing shade at ME, it's a great game. I'm just pointing out that they didn't make a Dragon Age game at all, but a Mass Effect game with swords.
I commented a few days back on early reviews and access journalism, and I think you proved my point. In no way is this a 9 (cough ign) or god forbid a 10. Thank you for your biased, your words, but fair review. Long time fan of bioware, but I can't in good conscience pay money for what I will inevitably find disappointing.
To me the dialog is absolutely atrocious and made by people with lack of vocabulary and common sense. Especially if you try to use the "joke"option for dialog. Spoilers, there is not even a single joke there. It's that bad. So I'm absolutely devastated about how they ruined this franchise
I think the artstyle of Pixar movies isn't bad. In fact they made Billions of Dollars with it. But does it fit the Dragon Age IP? Not really. Does the tone of the game fit Dragon Age? Not Really. The Game feels like it was made for 6 - 12 Years old Kids. Which is fine, if you make a game for Kids. Dragon Age (as an IP so far) was not meant for Kids.
Feels like the marketing/finnsce team got ahold of them. Which would make sense given their critical flops lately. -Marvel style humor -Bright approachable art style almost fable like -Replicate combat from other popular games -Dialogue that doesn’t trust the audience
@@Unknownusername1004yh the characters are too light. They aren't as bad as Starfield but they're just too positive for the current state of the world.
You forgot the bizarre gender stuff that only about 10% of players buy into. Where was my option to reveal to Tash that there are only 2 genders? Why do they expect our Rook to accept this anti-science nonsense?
If bioware scrubs the dragon age name from this so-called game, it'd be a step in the right direction. But anybody who thinks that pronoun pushup scene or that weird coming out dinner scene are okay needs to get their head examined.
What I can't stand about a lot of media, not just games, is the creators pretend to tread new ground when they've done what has been done before only worse. Compare how Inquisition handles Krem to how Veilguard handles Taash. The fact the Taash is Qunari makes it worse as Inquisition shows that the Qunari have an in universe term, Aqun-Athlok, that applies to Taash, but that isn't good enough. There has to be modern language inserted into the game in a hamfisted way. It's a joke and given Isabela's background and personality that scene REALLY makes no sense.
@@darcrequiem i cannot believe they ruined my Isabela who i romanced in 2 with rivalry. Who... why are you apologising to an idiotic Taash who doesn't even know what the hell she is? And how the hell does Isabela end up in the same spot no matter if You saved her in 2 or gave her up to the Qun?
nearly every single review ive seen dont mention a peep about the music. After all they did hire two composers for about few million $. All that money and its generic as hell, sounds even scifi at times too
There is plenty said about the poor writing. Seems to be that David Gaider and his team were the soul of Dragon Age. Long gone. Poor modern writers now with moder writing for "modern audience" i could continue with a huge rant But let's talk about Solas. He could've been "Thanos" level antagonist. Instead? They gave us 2 corypheus since we didn't like him as a villain in inquisition they thought maybe double that would be better?
Exactly, that is, or was one the heart and soul of the DA games, the ability to choose your party members, make a build for each one, the tactical camera, those are really the things I loved from the DA franchise. Even without those options, and the cartoony look, I was planning on buying the game, but the horrendous dialogue is stopping me from doing it. I cannot stand the modern foolishness inserted in a fantasy world.
@@karltech1012see, the thing is everyone liked different things about the games. I did not care about that at all really, here for lore/story so jokes on me 😊
I tried really hard to make a hot female - the only trick is ZERO muscle, slightly increase body fat just before the belly blows up and you hourglass maxing everything else. Oh and narrow shoulder at least 75%.
@@laju6398 Dragon Age has always had a dark undertone that extremely rememberable and weirdly nostalgic. But yeah Veilguard is going for the disney route, on the other note the combat is very solid I'm not gonna lie.
We have to see ME-series as a nostalgic game from the past we will remember with fondness. The future of the game and let alone Bioware is highly uncertain in 2029.
I got the post-credits scene spoiled for me and I had to put a halt on my playthrough. Without spoilers all I’ll say is I can’t believe the decisions that were made with this game. The thing Veilguard has successfully managed to do is make me appreciate Inquisition more. I want to like Veilguard but it just keeps making that more and more difficult.
My opinion is either BioWare needs to be gutted and restructured with some good developers or shut down completely. If neither happens the next mass effect is going to suffer the same fate. I know it’s not the exact same team but the core is the same.
Yeah, I'm getting Andromeda vibes without all the bugs that overshadowed Andromedas problems at launch. In all fairness, a lot of people really enjoy Andromeda now that it actually works. It's a far cry from the quality that should be expected though imo.
@@anthonysmurthwaite6258 Andromeda's writing was unfunny and unoriginal. Veilguard's writing is obnoxious and preachy. Veilguard is not better in any way except for having less bugs at launch
@@wardeni4806 I am still hopeful for mass effect for two reasons: 1. after the violent backlash Veilguard received, they will simply not talk about gender politics in the next entry, or at least be more lowkey about it 2. the writers they hired for the next Mass Effect have shown to be competent at what they do. Bioware better make sure they keep their finger on the pulse of the user reviews, because listening to the bought out or/and heavily biased Gaming Press Reviews will end up with nothing less but the studio closing shop forever.
All I'm gonna say is.. I expected a flop and it somehow ended worse. Thanks for taking the time to give us a review and going through the deepest layers of hells, unfathomable amount of torture and pain to get through all this for us. You're a hero, MrHulthen.
Yeah those people saying I needed to wait until the game came out before I "hate" on the game and it turns out they were right Because the game ended up worse then I expected lol
So pleased you mention the keyboard thing. I'm NOT a console player and I really don't like using a controller, and as a keyboard player the combat seem so 'whooshy' and chaotic to me. I have no engagement with it. It absolutely feels as though it was designed for controllers. I can't tell you how much I despise the layered 'elite' abilities over a granular tactical set up. I miss positioning my companions, setting traps and my combat telling me a 'story' all it's own. I followed a Polygon article suggestion and lowered the health of mobs to make it less painful so I can get through the combat and get on with the story. I completely agree about the rest. I'm enjoying the game but with so many caveats, and yes, sorrow and disappointment are genuinely part of how I feel.
Yeah that's how i felt aswell upon starting the game. Switching to controller was a good choice because I would've grown sick of the combat much quicker otherwise.
im right there with u about the keyboard/controller thing. it is SUPER irritating that i cant remap the arrow and spacebar keys. i feel like i gotta have my hands going 5 diff directions at once. i very much prefer the bar of clickable spells at the bottom of the screen and clicking on my companions to control them. i dont think i can go higher than storyteller mode with this setup. i do however LOVE that u dont get pinned or trapped by ur companions anymore, u can walk thru them like ghosts lol.
@@Poesjewel So it took me a while to work out how but I did manage to remap the spacebar and other keys? It's not obvious but if you go to 'settings' then 'controls' then 'open' the 'Customize Keyboard Bindings' - I now have spacebar as 'jump' (obviously!) and was able to move some other things around to get more comfy? Perhaps you've done that but if not, it might help a bit? I still haven't worked out how to swap around abilities though. And argh re the dodge ability - I wish I had more control over where it went but that may well be a skill issue on my part. Just not used to such frenetic combat. Really hope this helps for you though.
This isn't new. The only way I could play Inquisition was with AutoHotkey. It is still available and has been updated, so give it a try. I was able to play with MMO style movement with it in Inquisition. That having been said, I am not going to buy Veilguard, so I can't say how it works with it.
At this point, Mass Effect remains their only remaining hope. Veilguard has already flopped, so am hoping they learn lessons from it and Andromeda. Otherwise if Mass Effect follows suit, Bioware is truly gone.
Thanks for the honest review, you are one of the few I still respect in that regard. Unfortunately I am still torn on whether I will enjoy it or not. Dragon Age light hits my impressions pretty well, but at the moment that just doesn't cut it for me. Maybe I grab it if on winter or a future sale. Until then enjoy and keep us posted.
@@MrHulthen Thank you. In Inquisition i loved the world’s different buzz-life with all animals. It made the world so much more immersive. The clips i have seen from Veiguard seem so clinical and buzz-free if that makes any sense.
I always echo the same sentiment. If this was a stand-alone game that didn't carry the Dragon Age name, I'm pretty sure a lot more people would be receptive to it and enjoy it more for what it offers. It has mechanics that fit the modern gaming audience, it looks visually stunning, and the writing is decent enough (cringe at times, but not terrible). It's the fact that they attached this to a franchise that's now visually and tonally unrecognizable, in comparison, that's the main reason why most fans are pushing back on this weird narrative that "Bioware is back" or "this game is among the pantheons of RPGs". And just to add... if what the critics meant by "Bioware is back" is that they bounced back from ME Andromeda and Anthem, then yes, I do agree. That being said, those were two pretty low bars to clear for them. They're basically just barely back on the surface, pushing out a game that's become mediocre as a result.
I know some people hated Varric's loyalty quest in dragon age 2 but honestly I thought it was grade a comedy. He rushes in guns or crossbow blazing, annihilating everything in his way, until he reaches his brother who bows down before him begging for forgiveness. The it cuts back to Casandra who calls him out on his bullshit lies, and you do the quest for real this time, with the whole party.
I love DAO, played it a half a dozen times or more. Played DA2 and quit halfway through because the graphics were a downgrade from DAO. Played DAI and by the end, it felt like I was just finishing it to finish it. The fun was dragged out after the 30 hr mark. Now, DAV I played 4 hrs and shut it off and unloaded the game. It just wasn't fun. DA is (was) a "Dark Fantasy"! It felt so off-kelter that I just couldn't continue. I pray to all that is holy that ME5 can make me a BioWare believer again.
@@ginacirelli1581 Only problem with that sentimentality is that there won't be another Mass Effect game. Let's just hope for a well written ME. I would accept 2010 graphics if the story was "STELLAR". Huh, see what I did there, space opera, stars, stellar, Huh. I'll let it go.
Subscribed. Thank you for your honest thoughts I have loved every dragon age game to this point. Unfortunately all i felt was disappointed at what could have been. Going to try out mass effect legendary edition as ive never played a mass effect game before.
I don’t hate this game as much as I thought I will, there are some really irritating elements like some of writing choices, villains are on the level of Archdemon in Origins and Corypheus in Inquisition - not like it’s incredibly bad, after Disney I do enjoy villains who are just evil with no chance of redemption, Solas is enough of the greyness I needed here, but to be honest, I do like the premise of main story and some of story parts like whole Weisshaupt part and the 3rd act. And when it comes to Rook…honestly? There was not a single main character in DA who you could immerse into fully since all were pretty much already established people who couldn’t become bad, sometimes they could be assholes but that’s pretty much it. Rook reminds me a lot of Hawke, who was the least immersive lead out of all 4, with the only possible part mfor a player to establish was his personality, here at least there is the background thing whitch did added some of dialogue changes and interactions. In the end it is quite interesting to see how people react to Veilguard like they reacted to both Inquisition and DA2, I have retrospections of my brother ranting about DA2 since he wanted exact copy of Origins and then he did the same with me when Inquisition came out and we were comparing it to DA2. I won’t say it’s my favorite from whole series, it’s still Origins and always will be, but it’s on similar level with DA2 in my tier (yes, unfortunately I’m not as much of a fan of 2, it’s not bad but not incredible too for me). So if I have to give it a number in the scale of 5, I would go with 3. But again, it’s just me, not the modern audience target 😂 I’ll miss the veterans of incredible writing that worked in gaming.
There are moments in the game that are really freaking cool and epic but it is held down by the dialogue and the way the characters act. I really enjoy the combat I think it really fun especially if you start combining your companion abilities with your own. SPOILERS. In a section of the game where you are literally at Weisshaupt it felt so off hearing all this talk about Blights and how we need help to kill the dragon and for them to not mention the HOF at all felt so weird to me. Like how can you not at least name drop the person who literally ended the last blight. That my biggest complaint other than the dialogue. You have varric of course, Morrigan and Isabela and there’s no mention to HOF or Hawke and it feels so off to me. Especially considering my Morrigan did the dark ritual and had Kieran and my Hawke romance Isabela. The codex entries too like there’s gaps in the history and everything is so vague to not mention the things of the past and it stings a little bit
Oh yeah, the Weisshaupt thing was odd for sure. I was really hoping for some loredrops or something but they didn't mention the Hero at all. Then again, they did say that some things just wouldn't be referenced but I was still disappointed lawl
Doesn't look like a Dragon Age game. Looks like a comical tumblr-flavoured action rpg reskinned as a Dragon Age. Glad i just picked up Dragon's Dogma 2.
Amazing review tho. Been waiting for this cause I know you stay real, no hate, no love where it's not needed. Just straight opinion and staying fair. Always a pleasure watching your videos. Keep up the good work :)
Why do you think only a minority of rpg players want to be able to switch to the companion and control them directly? I'd wager that a majority of PC rpg players would prefer to be able to control their companion directly. Combat is extremely repetitive, monotonous and becomes boring, this could have been alleviated by giving the player the ability control their companions.
So glad you released this review so early. Really needed a review that isn't just all praise or all hate. No other review has given me a clear idea of what to actually expect. Thanks
For me dialogue, companions and writing is not bioware level. I don't know how they miss that. I can forgive many things but don't screw up interactions...
Supposedly, numbers show that most people don't use companion swapping. I don't remember the exact number but we're definitely in a smaller group of players that use it.
@@MrHulthen Maybe the info they have is for the overall time played. Of course we will be playing with our character the most lol. Plus, it also sounds like a lazy excuse not to include it. They might even chrage for it later haha
@@arhangeo They cut a lot of corners in order to just finish the game. That's no surprise considering the final team that was tasked with working on the game after all the restarts is far less experienced and technically competent than the legacy team. Those systems need smart developers working on them and attentive QAs testing them, not a bunch of fanatics that wake up, eat, piss and go to bed with the word "identity" on their mouths.
I think many long-term DA fans want to find things to love. If this wasn't titled a DA game, would you Like it. For me it is a shame to keep giving corps my money for fanfic of a game that is awful. If I read the first chapter of this as a fanfic I wouldn't continue reading it or give it any of my attention. I have no hope for a ME that would be true to form now.
Bummed they couldn’t follow up and build on what made inquisition good. I feel that 1 and 3 have the most “replayability” 2 was “ok” but didn’t suck me in like the other two games did. Sounds like 4 is going to be much like that. I’ll wait until it goes on sale.
It's funny the thing I hated the most about Inquisition is the one thing I like the most in Veilguard, that being combat. It's definitely not my first choice for a DA game, but we will never see an Origins again. I have mixed feelings about the art style in general. On the one hand it's like an upgraded version of Inquisition, very colorful which is fine, I think the bloom is too harsh perhaps, but the characters in the game are weird. Everyone looks super young, even old people look young with that weird face-lift style they went for this game, it's too smooth without actual details. I get most people want to create super models in CC, but Je-sus man everyone looks like they're 18 year olds at worst, it's unnatural. As for the actual game... well considering how rough the road has been for this tittle particularly with multiple reboots and re tries, it could have been way worse. That doesn't mean it's a particularly good game either. Special mention to dialogue being atrocious, it feels like it's on rails where you are not supposed to actually choose anything and the dialogue itself isn't stellar either. The whole ordeal feels a lot like Andromeda at times, the tone is "haha everything funny" and things don't mix super well. I think overall it's a regular game, but most die hard fans will be disappointed, if not all of them. I'm more of a Mass effect fan myself, but I don't think they have a win here, it's just average.
This is the first nonculture war vid that TH-cam has recommended me on this game and I appreciate it and you so much, cuz I was NOT making sense of the extremely polarized reactions to the game and wasn’t invested enough to try and parse them
I'm sorry to say this "installment" has gone the way of the new Star Wars movies, for me. I don't consider them canonical, and I highly doubt I will consider this game canonical. I plan on watching someone on youtube play this "surprising finale" and decide from there.
I concur with most of what is said here. One thing I will add regarding dialogue and companion quests: they centered wayyyyyyy too much on personal feelings and how they held the characters back as an excuse for why, for example, a supposed killing machine now has bad aim. I'm not against characters having some personal struggles your MC can help with. But it felt like that for most characters. They way you actively choose a path for them also removes agency from those characters. Heavy spoilers down: You feel like a therapist with a full time job dealing with: - A non binary character that needs your handholding to become their true self (which isn't their true self but your opinion on their true self. Despite the fact you met them a couple weeks ago at most) (Sidenote on this one: the irony of a non binary character leaving you with very binary choices regarding their progress and evolution is not lost on me) - A struggling single father with a terminal illness that needs you to help him know how to parent. And asks you in which boarding school he should enroll his kid. - A depressed Film Noir detective that ends up leaving how she does business into your hands to the point of drastically changing how she behaves when it comes to authorities and the public - A tinkerer with ADHD that needs you to decide for her what will become of the entire historical and cultural heritage of her entire people (despite you not being of her people) relative to how you helped her overcome grief. -A necromancer with a terrible fear of death that lets you choose between the life of a friend or his lifelong goal. etc etc You'd think that without you they'd all drown in ultra-depression. There could have been more subtle ways to go about it. Hide that choice behind their approval progress or how you react in key scenes. I would not have minded those quests if they had been a bit more in the action creating a feeling, rather than a feeling spurring the need for action. And a bit less armchair psychologist "yass girl I support you". Let me tell them to get their ish together or the world crumbles (literally).
Yeah, I don't do controllers, and I was already suspicious when my questions about mouse and keyboard were ignored. Even if I didn't see about a thousand other things about this game I don't like, this one thing would have been a deal breaker.
9:35 I don’t think you’re even in the minority, I could personally get behind the more action focused combat and reduced number of companions if you could at least swap to them. It would make them seem more like real characters rather than just ability buttons with voice lines, and 50h is a long time to play the same class.
Not sure I agree they "expended on the lore", they retconned the lore to fit a new vision. Southern Thedas and Kirkwall were basically deleted off screen, only revealed in letters and codex entries, the motives of key characters like Loghain was attributed to a tacked on conspiracy and Varric was reduced to a delusion, killed off and his death was barely aknowledged. The reasons for doing this appear less world building than world cleansing as if they regarded the previous entries as bloat that needed erasing.
-good combat -good character creation -no swap companion control ❌ -bad back character story❌ -bad continuous story❌ -no rivalry system like da2 I hate to always asslicking companion -no origin prologue like DAO overall 6.5/10
I'm a fan of Dragon Age since Origins came out back then. I like spending time with discovering and doing side quests. In terms of combat I can adapt pretty easily so that wasn't really a factor for me for Veilguard. I've got 20+ hours in Veilguard right now and I'm enjoying it so far. Not the best game in the series overall, but I would still recommend it for the fans of the series.
Honestly, thank you. The past few days has been such a downer due to the hate train so many TH-camrs seems to be on. Your review is such a fresh of breath air. The good and the bad discussed clearly and respectfully. I love the last point you made about how the game will appeal depending on how one got into the franchise.
Aw man so many on point remarks, couldn't agree more. That's decades of playing Bioware games for you 🤣 Is it a good game? No. Is it a bad game? No. is it full of cringe? Yes. In a theoretical vacuum, it would be a fun game you played and forgot. But this game does not exist in a theoretical vacuum. It's a game from Bioware that took 10 years. And it fails to meet the moment. Fails in an epic fashion. Not a Dragon Age game. Not a Bioware game. Oh well...
the biggest problem for me is it feels like your party belongs to a different game. in origins there was a blight the world and your party reflected just how grim the world was becoming. inquisition a wanabe god. your party and everyone reflected the dread of him becoming a god. then you have veil guard where things are so much worse 2 corrupted gods and one can create blights and they are trying to rule the world. your party does not reflect that what so so ever they feel out of place and it drags me out of the story
I think it's largely a matter of perspective. DA2 was my first Dragon Age game and I still love it, even with the shortcomings often mentioned. Origins and Inquisition both had enough in common with DA2 for me to enjoy them, even if not as much as DA2. I personally find significant similarities with DA2 in The Veilguard, so it works for me. One of those similarities is the more action focused nature of it. I understand that not everyone feels the same and that is OK. I'm still on my first playthrough at 50 hours in and I'm still in Act 1. I share some of the completionist tendencies. So, I will fast-travel between waypoints to respawn the items in the environment that I can destroy for gold and materials. That way, I can buy all of the valuables to sell to faction vendors to increase my favor with the factions. It is a grind playing that way, but the mechanics allow for it. I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to use it.
I really appreciate your channel. The way you do it is very polite and positive but still authentic and honest. While I love the brutally honest against the grain non PC rowdy boys - it is NICE to see a NICE channel doesn't fall into the dishonest shilling.
I really appreciate the honest pros and cons here, especially with the "if you liked this you probably will be disappointed/happy with the direction they went" because I find that helpful.
I pretty much agree, especially on the writing, which is by far my most important criteria. I just wanted to add that one of the main reasons why my experience with the game was a mixed bag, or even more frustrating and annoying than enjoyable is because of how fragmented everything feels. I do not enjoy unnecessary open worlds, I was actually excited to hear this will be more linear and mission based game as I can easily imagine it working well, but it is taken too literally and the character and plot interactions are not written to be suited to it. Oftentimes major plot revelations or events feel underdelivered and barely acknowledged and commented on by the companions simply because it takes possibly several hours before you actually hear their comments or have conversation on it with them (if at all). Same issue persists with their companion quests, where as soon as you kill the final boss and cutscene ends you literally can only leave and usually any follow up to that quest makes you leave the Lighthouse at least once (which I do not enjoy at all personally) and have to come back to trigger the it. Because of this a lot of the narrative feels fractured, barely connected beyond the big set piece missions and borderline incoherent. The biggest offender in this is how the blight has changed and nobody comments on it till hours later when you visit the Grey Wardens, at that point you have been showering in blight gunk non stop for half the first act, naturally without any fear of being infected, and it just really pissed me off. And thats not getting into the lore (where the fuck is Solas' elven army? Why are Qunari Antaam the main followers of ancient elven mages?!) and the changes to characterization and such (Solas is no a hater of blood magic? And he considers himself a god? Wth) and you already covered how incredibly limited the ability to actually roleplay is. These issues, coupled with the woefully painful and obvious absence of Warden and Hawke, despite there being many moments and situations that begged for their existence, are the biggest reasons for my overall dissapointment. I could go on, but I would just expand on more of writing issues, you get the gist. The game can look absolutely stunning, enviroment designers carry it hard and the combat can be very fun, but those are secondary if not tertiary concerns for me, story and companions make or break these types of games for me and for now I am leaning more towards it breaking the game for me sadly, maybe upon second playthrough (when I feel like it) I will come to appreciate it more, but I would be surprised if so. I honestly wanted to love this game, admittedly I was hesitant and wary but I wanted it to be excellent, however it does not feel like a worthy adition or a followup to the Dragon Age franchise. Putting the writing side by side with any of the previous DA games, most notably DA:O will shatter any illusion of it being even decent most of the time, and hell even more modern games will easily do that, just look at WotR, what an incredible game that is. Oh and yes, more Solas, I was surprised at the lack of him and he carries the cast anytime he is present, its to the point where I felt very dissapointed we cant just go along with his plan and have a tear down the veil ending... its not like our decisions will matter in the future games, if there are any. Speaking off, what was the one decision that they canonized? Either I didnt think about it or I missed it.
I like this game a lot so far, very few negatives to be honest. I enjoy the combat a lot too, very rare I test things out as much as I have in this game combat wise.
A good and fair review which I will be taking into consideration as to WHEN I will get this game. As a fan of all things Dragon Age i was willing to pay top dollar and get it straight away but now I will wait till it gets a bit cheaper.
3 Days of nolifing Veilguard later - Here is my review of this much anticipated release.
I want to add that this video came out sounding more negative than I'd intended. For what it's worth - I do enjoy Veilguard for what it is, but I promised I would be completely honest with you guys and so this is the end result.
@@MrHulthen I don't think you sounded negative. You might be disappointed, but that doesn’t make it a negative review. It was fair and honest.
I think it seems fair, the game is neither what angry fanwankers think it is nor what slavish Bioware devotees think either. The game no longer resmebles DA:O at all, which is yet another downgrade gameplaywise, but the story is the same schlock it's always been. For storyqueens there's no alternatives, for everyone else it's maybe a bit candyassed. The presentation is impressive, if buggy at this time. EA is satan. Life is complicated. 🤷♂
Exodus made by Archetype Entertainment is on its way to fill the hole left by Mass Effect. Humanoid Origin is also making a sci-fi game. Both studios are spearheaded by Old Guard Bioware veterans. Hopefully, one, if not, both studios will make a fantasy(dark fantasy) IP to fill the hole left by Dragon Age Origins(and 2) at some point in the future.
@MrHulthen Very fair. It's not much like DAO or DA2. Veilguard is like God of War and Guardians of the Galaxy had a baby in Thedas.
I'm still in act 1 and I'm having a great time with it. Yes the writing is a bit light. I miss being a grumpy jerk (Rook is so "nice" and keeps smiling!). And there are definitely ham-fisted moments that feel like someone else "shoved them in" after the writers were done (I'm looking at YOU, talking-to-self-in-mirror scene).
But the gameplay is really fun and there are a couple of companions I like enough to journey with (and ignore the rest).
Taash and Bellara rubbed me the wrong way at the start. Bellara got more tolerable after I learned her sad backstory. Taash didn't unfortunately (too much introspection for the end of the world!) - but im still in act 1, so...
Yeah, I'm enjoying it.
I’m loving the game a lot!
To be fair, anyone who played Bioware games ARE older Bioware fans, its been 10 years since inquisition.
That's a good point hahah, we're all old now
I get your point but I and a lot of people I know discovered Dragon Age and Mass Effect only a few years ago thanks to sales on Steam or consoles. After that I started to play the older DA games as well
@@herbstdrache2139yeah im one of the few Gen Z that bought mass effect le edition and DA origins for sale out of boredom and curiosity, fell in love with mass effect franchise. I got andromeda too for 5 bucks but wasnt worth it, cant stomach the game 😂
@@MrHulthen I think bigger point is - almost everyone is older than the maturity level of The Veilguard.
Thank you!!!
I enjoyed the sequels but I’m not enjoying Veilguard. DA2 and Inquisition felt like different Dragon Age games. Veilguard feels like a completely different franchise. It doesn’t have the core fundamentals that were consistent in the first three games.
When it comes to it I really like DA2. Hawke and their companions are my favourite group on the series. I feel lukewarm at best to the new companions and Rook
@@ana_d_73There are dozens of DA2 fans, dozens!
It's interesting how Dragon Age has multiple different fandoms for each game lol.
Which core fundamentals are those?
@@moonlight2870 The dark setting, the rich and mature dialogue, the witty jokes, the edgy remarks, the compelling characters and companions, the interesting stories, the immersive world-building, the beautiful women... just to name a few. All these things are missing from Failguard
@@Dedhaven I'll wait for op to reply on this one.
We don’t want another Mass Effect game if it is this quality or worse. I am more than happy to leave ME with the good memories we have and look forward to making news ones in new IP’s, such as Exodus. Let’s not hold onto the past just to experience inevitable dissatisfaction people.
Let Shepard rest, his story has been told. The Mass Effect we once knew is long gone.
My thoughts exactly. The execution of the story is definitely off for me. I wish they never even bothered with Rook - just stick with the Inquisitor. Transition the military complex of inquisition to an Intel agency hunting an active threat. A Quanri invasion & templar invasion would have made for a great opening. Pacing, rhythm, beats are off along with the dialogue and tone. But it’s not terrible. One person said “It’s Hercules the TV series when I expected LOTR.” That sums it up for me.
This is the biggest criticism of the narrative for me 20 hours in. I just constantly keep thinking 'This would have made so much more sense and been far more emotionally engaging with the Inquisitor as the PC.' Finally just got the vaguest explanation of why neither them or any of their companions or advisors are here and it's beyond flimsy. Apparently they were all just too busy to help Varric stop Solas tearing down the fade? Ridiculous. This so obviously should have been the Inquisitor's story and the narrative is needing to do backflips to explain why it isn't, but the writers can't do backflips so instead we're getting a four year old's attempt at a cartwheel.
A lot of people been interested in Tevinter for years so it makes sense to have someone who is familiar with living in Tevinter to be the main character. We already explored a decent amount of South Thedas that people would complain about not changing the scenery.
@@Sujugirl23not really we could have explored and learned about tevinter along with our character
Sounds like a very reasonable take on the game.
I have yet to find a single review that justifies the 9's and 10's the games media threw at the game before the public got their hands on it.
The justification for those reviews is access journalism, ideological groupthink, personal politics, and fanaticism. EA probably also has some pr firms leaving false positive reviews everywhere masquerading as "player reviews," considering how many empty or one-word positive reviews they have on every platform, or ones that parrot the same "return to form for bioware" -line as the critic reviews did.
@@wardeni4806 Spot on. It's not a coincidence that many of the people assigned to those reviews identify as some sort of trans or "non-binary", it's propaganda.
@@wardeni4806 A true return to form for Bioware - ME3. 80% quality, 20% crap, 1% magic.
DA:VG - 20% quality, 80% crap, -100% magic.
Yeah, I can't rate it accurately yet as I am only halfway through. But I suspect it will be lower than 9.
I'm a fan from way back of the original...the game is at most an 8, but personally I'd put it at a 7.5. I'm enjoying a lot of it, but it has some flaws.
Rook kind of is like shepard if you werent allowed to be renegade. Like you arent the character. You are PLAYING a character if that makes sense. Like its more of a choose your own adventure and less of an RPG. Idk if Im explaining this well at all.
That's what roleplay is about, it is not about self inserting. (even tough you can self insert)
Ef no. Paragon Shepherd is still a badass who will set his team mates in the line if they will go overboard. It's not about the team mates conflict in ME2 either. He told the whole Quarian fleet in their "faces" that they will die if they keep fighting and he was the one who was allowing them to die. I have not seen anything like that so far, though I'm just watching gameplay through youtube, so maybe there are some moments.
Naah... more like Rider
@@gesochisku118yes and no, veilguard doesnt allow you to play an evil character....most you can do is being a lil snarky. And being abkr to choose what I do is what role playing is about,nothing like bg3 or DAO
@@Vesp3r1987true, more Ryder depth which means shalloW
I guess I'm an ancient Bioware fan, having been blown away by the original Baldur's Gate when it was released.
This old lady gamer is right there with you.
I will always be grateful for Mark Meer's influence on that company from that game on. Ah, good old times.
Me too I want the golden age back
The original Baldurs Gate threw me off BioWare made games. The realtime combat was not appealing to me, and I disliked the AD&D ruleset it used. I returned in 2009, when I played the first Mass Effect and Dragon Age Origins. ME was different enough with it's third person shooting mechanic to make me realise the good written companions and therefore spark my interest in other BioWare games. DAO used a better ruleset than AD&D and the possibility to define detailed rules for your companions about how to react in combat brought back control without to much micromanagement.
I appreciate your honest, unfiltered opinions. This was a good review.
I'm only about 10 hours into the game, having 4 companions recruited and some exploration/companion content completed. I already feel a lot of the ennui and "wish this were deeper" creeping into my mind.
The "not good, very generic" dialogue is a big problem for me. People in real life don't speak this way, in style or lack of substance (at least not the people around me). It really kills my immersion.
The NPCs don't feel rooted in the world the way they used to feel. The use of real life language accents worked to create a vibe. These NPCs feel like collections of randos who are together for unknowable reasons. (I'm thinking specifically of the incongruous VAs for Stryfe and Irelin. Ugh.)
I am very motivated by character builds, and I can tell that Veilguard does give lots of options. That said, the combat (Mage, PS5) has a strange, sluggish latency for me. I prefer snappy, immediate response to my inputs. An apt analogy is AC Unity vs AC Odyssey. Veilguard feels a bit too Unity, when I prefer the snappiness of Odyssey combat.
Also, those combo detonation visuals just don't make sense. How are they so limited? They crushed this 12 years ago with ME3, and MEA had amazing combo effects. I was hoping that the lack of variety was due to my low-level and limited access to combos. (I still have no Warrior in the party after 10 hours. Sigh.)
Ultimately, the biggest disconnect for me is in tone. The dialogue is shallow. The banter is scant and lacking. The lore is presented in strange, incongruous ways. (How are so many NPCs so knowledgeable about the Evanuris, ancient elven history, etc... ? If there's a reason for this, it isn't communicated.)
The general vibe of the game is too chipper and bright. I really long for the melancholy of Origins and DA2. That bleak background set a menacing tone that could then be lightened by character interactions and the occasional humorous discovery. Veilguard is brighter by comparison. This undermines dire events in that even desperate, terrible happenings are lessened when we return to sunshine and Disney-sounding musical interludes. MEA had this same issue throughout.
I hope my opinion of Veilguard is changed as I play more. At least in the early going, it feels like an entirely different IP that's stolen some of DA's names, places, and details.
You actually wrote a wonderful and fair review 👏🏾
I agree with most of what you've said. For me, the game started to improve a bit after about 8 hours in, after I recruited Lucanis and could more freely explore more areas, like Treviso, Minrathous, and the Crossroads. I'm now a bit over 20 hours in and have recruited all the companions. I'm enjoying them all now except for Taash, whom I just recruited. Unfortunately, she just feels like a whiny, edgy teenager and I find her almost painfully uninteresting so far.
I just can't quite put a finger on it, but the writing overall just lacks some... oomph. I had to make a decision that screwed over an entire city and faction, and I felt... nothing. Even visiting the aftermath felt like it had no emotional resonance with me, it was just like, "Oops, sorry bruh". I wouldn't ever rate a game without finishing it, but at the point I'm at, I'd say it's about a 7.5/10. I'm having fun with it, but it feels very unmemorable, unlike past DA and Mass Effect games. I'm hoping it picks up in Act 3 (and I can bump that up to an 8/10), which some reviews have said, but I shouldn't need to wait until the end of a 60 hour game to feel invested in the story.
Exodus made by Archetype Entertainment is on its way to fill the hole left by Mass Effect. Humanoid Origin is also making a sci-fi game. Both studios are spearheaded by Old Guard Bioware veterans. Hopefully, one, if not, both studios will make a fantasy(dark fantasy) IP to fill the hole left by Dragon Age Origins(and 2) at some point in the future.
Here’s hoping! 🍻!
But have you read the book yet?
@@nonnonsence I'm gonna buy it as a Christmas gift to myself.
@@nonnonsence Tevinter Nights? Loved it!
@@davidradach9311 Exodus The Archemedes Engine
That Javik quote still gives the goosebumps.
The writing and dialog is abysmal when you compare it especially to older DA games but just in general its rough, I actually can't stand the writing and it brings the overall score down for me A LOT
i disagree . yhea not every one has the best dialogues but for example rook is probably the protagonist with the best voice acting in the games of dragon age with a large amount of emotion in his voice acting. and characyers as soals or varric kept the good level of previous entries
@khornesupreme I think you might be misunderstanding my criticisms, I think the voice actors all did a great job in the delivery of their lines, but the lines they delivered were written very poorly in my opinion and feel very hollow, safe and childish making them come across as very amateur and lacking in any sort of substance and impact or ability to evoke emotion that the original 3 games had, the writing in Veilguard to me feels very flat but the voice actors did their best to give it life but even with their talent it failed to capture me
@@khornesupreme can people just stop conflating voice acting delivery and writing delivery? The VA are alright but can only push shit writing so much with their skill. Let's be honest the conversations are a lot of pointless drivel, reminding about events that happened just few minutes back and childish bickering.
Would you recommend this game or nah? Or is it best to wait for sale? Cause i really wanted to get my hands on it but the reviews are very mixed, and i really do care about writings alot 😰
@@alexramirez4110 does it feel like a college dorm kind of writing? Like oh I'm so quirky and funny kind of energy.
Im having fun with the game, but Jesus Christ the dialog is atrocious 90% of the time.
i just had to turn mine off
Anything Taash related is
It's actually very Bioware. Not very differet from DAO. People just look at the older games through rose-tinted glasses.
@@MidnightTea7 objectively untrue. inquisition was my first dragon age game, then i played the rest so i dont have like nostalgia tainting my opinion. veilguard is just bad. reminds me of andromeda
@@MidnightTea7 not really, I just watched huge chunks of dialogue from previous Bioware and it was good and mostly very good. Not mine this
Maybe the dialogue seems generic to people who mostly play contemporary games, but unfortunately it does stand out an awful lot in what's supposed to be a fantasy setting, and in comparison to the older games. Its atrocious. The number of times they say 'okay' alone is enough to disqualify it.
It's not even the constant modernisms. More often than not while playing I had this nagging voice in the back of my head going "SHUT UP! You said enough! I understand! No need to say more!" Half the writing problems could have been eradicated if most conversations just lost 30-40% of the sentences. Information-wise nothing would be lost. Quality-wise much would be gained.
@@WaywardHex Yes! They just keep saying words that mean nothing! I would have loved to take a red marker to this script 😂
This review feels exceptionally diplomatic. Like, you seem to soften all of the blows of every criticism you have.
Just as an example, you said that ''at times it doesn't feel like dragon age'' when ''at times'' means 90% of the time when anyone who isn't Solas is speaking.
And even then Solas doesn’t feel like the same character my Inquisitor befriended during the events of Inquisition. He feels more like he’s based on the version of Solas that had a bad reputation with the Inquisitor which is just weird. His compassion is gone and he says and does things that I don’t see Inquisition Solas ever doing.
Because the hardcore fans still want to huff copium that Bioware is still the old Bioware they know. I played all the Mass Effects and DA Origins/Inquisition, the current Bioware is nowhere even near what they used to be
I'm Swedish. It's in my nature 😅
@@MrHulthen it's hard to be a content creator, can't really voice your true opinions, no worries we will do that for you 😬
Yeah like "the dialogue isn't necessarily bad" and following it up with "at times really painful to listen to"...
Doesn't do wonders for your credibility I'm afraid...
Be less Swedish and more...Danish perhaps? ;)
Trespassers built up to this? I remember feeling so hyped for the next game, but watching this makes me not want to play Veilgaurd.
I agree overall, though for me, seeing the faces of returning companions was really painful. Origins, 2, Inquisition, all had relatively realistic faces, and the characters had character. Morrigan, Varric, and Dorian in this one look like they got sucked into a cartoon World of Warcraft clone. The dialogue reminds me more of Finding Nemo. The game play can be fun, but it feels closer in setting to Andromeda than Dragon Age. The lore, too, was a big disappointment. Inquisition and Origins had living lore, where the lore made you feel for these cultures, their history, the pantheon. Veilguard treats Elven Gods like they were carbon copy generic badguys with zero personality or goals. Darkspawn, Venatori, corrupt Tevinter, ancient elven constructs: these have all become names slapped on a bland bucket of enemies. The inventory system was really the only one where I think they improved on past games with Veilguard.
Good post.
I get not wanting BioWare to fail but I look at it differently. I don’t want this BioWare making another mass effect game. The people that made BioWare great are gone. Now they are just leeching off of established franchises.
Thing is that’s not actually true, DATV still had a good amount BioWare veterans, one thing at least for the next ME is that it is being developed by a veteran BioWare team that worked on the original trilogy
My guy, the literal cells that make up your body are literally dying and being replaced as we speak. Everything changes. The very story of this game is about dramatic changes and how difficult they can be.
And also, DAV is basically the best essence of ME2 and ME3 put into a Dragon Age game. It's really great.
@@6thhistoryThis is what schizophrenic looks like? My dude, take your meds
Not only are there still veterans on the team, but many of them are responsible for some of my and many people's favorite parts of ME and DA. I believe Weekes wrote Garrus, Tali, a lot of ME2 side missions and Trespasser etc.
That's not even remotely true. There's a number of OGs who came back and are working on Mass Effect. Are you ignorant of that or deliberately lying?
My take :
5/10 Action rpg game.
2.5/10 Dragon Age game.
Low scores are also because writing is what matters to me, and it's horrific in this game... It's downright painful .
Veilguard Is not a Dragon Age game, it's literally Mass Effect with a Dragon Age paint.
All of the mechanics are from Mass Effect and when you die you literally hear Mass Effect music in the background when you die
no need to throw shade at mass effect. veilguard tried to use the me formula but had zero of the magic that me always managed to create.
@six6572 Not throwing shade at ME, it's a great game. I'm just pointing out that they didn't make a Dragon Age game at all, but a Mass Effect game with swords.
@six6572 Not throwing shade at ME, it's a great game. I'm just pointing out that they didn't make a Dragon Age game at all, but a Mass Effect game with swords.
I commented a few days back on early reviews and access journalism, and I think you proved my point. In no way is this a 9 (cough ign) or god forbid a 10. Thank you for your biased, your words, but fair review. Long time fan of bioware, but I can't in good conscience pay money for what I will inevitably find disappointing.
As a long time fan of BioWare I can't call it a 10 - I haven't finished it yet, but it's an easy 9 and GOTY for me.
@sofajockeyUK honestly beyond my comprehension. Glad you are having fun.
@@LegacyPball Thank you. If you're a long time fan, skipping this masterpiece bemuses me, but hey, 'opinions'.
@@sofajockeyUK a 9? 😂
@@Nodnarb59 I think so. I'm around 25 hours in, so maybe 25% done. Too early to tell. May go higher.
Oh boy... i was waiting for your review 😅
To me personally Veilguard is 4/10 game. Id give it 6/10 but that dialogue beats "my face is tired"
To me the dialog is absolutely atrocious and made by people with lack of vocabulary and common sense. Especially if you try to use the "joke"option for dialog. Spoilers, there is not even a single joke there. It's that bad. So I'm absolutely devastated about how they ruined this franchise
I think the artstyle of Pixar movies isn't bad. In fact they made Billions of Dollars with it. But does it fit the Dragon Age IP? Not really.
Does the tone of the game fit Dragon Age? Not Really. The Game feels like it was made for 6 - 12 Years old Kids. Which is fine, if you make a game for Kids.
Dragon Age (as an IP so far) was not meant for Kids.
Feels like the marketing/finnsce team got ahold of them. Which would make sense given their critical flops lately.
-Marvel style humor
-Bright approachable art style almost fable like
-Replicate combat from other popular games
-Dialogue that doesn’t trust the audience
The marvel bs humor attempt needs to stop it was one of my issues with ME Andromeda too. They suck at it so they need to quit trying it.
@@Unknownusername1004yh the characters are too light.
They aren't as bad as Starfield but they're just too positive for the current state of the world.
You forgot the bizarre gender stuff that only about 10% of players buy into. Where was my option to reveal to Tash that there are only 2 genders?
Why do they expect our Rook to accept this anti-science nonsense?
If bioware scrubs the dragon age name from this so-called game, it'd be a step in the right direction. But anybody who thinks that pronoun pushup scene or that weird coming out dinner scene are okay needs to get their head examined.
That was not Isabela. Isabela would have told them all to flip off.
Don't say that bro, they'll mock u passive aggressively saying u need to "go outside" lol
What I can't stand about a lot of media, not just games, is the creators pretend to tread new ground when they've done what has been done before only worse. Compare how Inquisition handles Krem to how Veilguard handles Taash. The fact the Taash is Qunari makes it worse as Inquisition shows that the Qunari have an in universe term, Aqun-Athlok, that applies to Taash, but that isn't good enough. There has to be modern language inserted into the game in a hamfisted way. It's a joke and given Isabela's background and personality that scene REALLY makes no sense.
I hate that you can't even off your companions or just not recruit them.
@@darcrequiem i cannot believe they ruined my Isabela who i romanced in 2 with rivalry. Who... why are you apologising to an idiotic Taash who doesn't even know what the hell she is? And how the hell does Isabela end up in the same spot no matter if You saved her in 2 or gave her up to the Qun?
nearly every single review ive seen dont mention a peep about the music. After all they did hire two composers for about few million $. All that money and its generic as hell, sounds even scifi at times too
Agree. I thought the music was really meh as well
There is plenty said about the poor writing. Seems to be that David Gaider and his team were the soul of Dragon Age. Long gone. Poor modern writers now with moder writing for "modern audience" i could continue with a huge rant
But let's talk about Solas. He could've been "Thanos" level antagonist. Instead? They gave us 2 corypheus since we didn't like him as a villain in inquisition they thought maybe double that would be better?
The writing is excellent, I have no idea what people have been drinking, honestly. How far through the game are you to have come to a contrary view?
@@sofajockeyUK lol
@@sofajockeyUK this one Guys i think we found the modern audience! It's this guy!
@@sofajockeyUK Bait used to be believable.
@@sofajockeyUK You are delusional, the writing is terrible.
"Companion swaping is good" is a minority opinion? I thought that was one of the biggest things people complained about?
He forgot to mention the tactical view from origins is available inside Inqusition even if many choose not to use it by being hard to access.
Exactly, that is, or was one the heart and soul of the DA games, the ability to choose your party members, make a build for each one, the tactical camera, those are really the things I loved from the DA franchise. Even without those options, and the cartoony look, I was planning on buying the game, but the horrendous dialogue is stopping me from doing it. I cannot stand the modern foolishness inserted in a fantasy world.
I never used the tactical view in dai and only switched characters when I needed a specific class to open something.
@@karltech1012see, the thing is everyone liked different things about the games. I did not care about that at all really, here for lore/story so jokes on me 😊
Hate the change of art style and bodies of Veilgaurd, Dragon Age is not a damn Disney franchise for godsake. Character creator is meh too.
Are you sure it's not a Disney franchise at this point? Because it really feels like it.
I tried really hard to make a hot female - the only trick is ZERO muscle, slightly increase body fat just before the belly blows up and you hourglass maxing everything else. Oh and narrow shoulder at least 75%.
You cant even give her boobs but you can give her a c*ck
@@laju6398 Dragon Age has always had a dark undertone that extremely rememberable and weirdly nostalgic. But yeah Veilguard is going for the disney route, on the other note the combat is very solid I'm not gonna lie.
We have to see ME-series as a nostalgic game from the past we will remember with fondness. The future of the game and let alone Bioware is highly uncertain in 2029.
I got the post-credits scene spoiled for me and I had to put a halt on my playthrough. Without spoilers all I’ll say is I can’t believe the decisions that were made with this game. The thing Veilguard has successfully managed to do is make me appreciate Inquisition more. I want to like Veilguard but it just keeps making that more and more difficult.
My opinion is either BioWare needs to be gutted and restructured with some good developers or shut down completely.
If neither happens the next mass effect is going to suffer the same fate. I know it’s not the exact same team but the core is the same.
Looks like it has a lot of the same problems Andromeda had... 😬 Definitely less excited about the next ME
Yeah, I'm getting Andromeda vibes without all the bugs that overshadowed Andromedas problems at launch.
In all fairness, a lot of people really enjoy Andromeda now that it actually works. It's a far cry from the quality that should be expected though imo.
@@anthonysmurthwaite6258 Andromeda's writing was unfunny and unoriginal. Veilguard's writing is obnoxious and preachy. Veilguard is not better in any way except for having less bugs at launch
andromeda at least was reconcilable as mass effect universe
@@anthonysmurthwaite6258very true very true the game is more a Dragons age Game than andromeda being a mass effect game
@@wardeni4806 I am still hopeful for mass effect for two reasons: 1. after the violent backlash Veilguard received, they will simply not talk about gender politics in the next entry, or at least be more lowkey about it
2. the writers they hired for the next Mass Effect have shown to be competent at what they do. Bioware better make sure they keep their finger on the pulse of the user reviews, because listening to the bought out or/and heavily biased Gaming Press Reviews will end up with nothing less but the studio closing shop forever.
Think more than 2 back, but yes it was good in some areas but not the ones that this brand was known for.
“its just.. really pretty” sounds like a line Alastair would say in your romance with him
All I'm gonna say is.. I expected a flop and it somehow ended worse. Thanks for taking the time to give us a review and going through the deepest layers of hells, unfathomable amount of torture and pain to get through all this for us. You're a hero, MrHulthen.
Yeah those people saying I needed to wait until the game came out before I "hate" on the game and it turns out they were right
Because the game ended up worse then I expected lol
So pleased you mention the keyboard thing. I'm NOT a console player and I really don't like using a controller, and as a keyboard player the combat seem so 'whooshy' and chaotic to me. I have no engagement with it. It absolutely feels as though it was designed for controllers. I can't tell you how much I despise the layered 'elite' abilities over a granular tactical set up. I miss positioning my companions, setting traps and my combat telling me a 'story' all it's own. I followed a Polygon article suggestion and lowered the health of mobs to make it less painful so I can get through the combat and get on with the story. I completely agree about the rest. I'm enjoying the game but with so many caveats, and yes, sorrow and disappointment are genuinely part of how I feel.
Yeah that's how i felt aswell upon starting the game. Switching to controller was a good choice because I would've grown sick of the combat much quicker otherwise.
I am keyboard player too, the game is clearly designed for consoles... it is what it is. 😕
im right there with u about the keyboard/controller thing. it is SUPER irritating that i cant remap the arrow and spacebar keys. i feel like i gotta have my hands going 5 diff directions at once. i very much prefer the bar of clickable spells at the bottom of the screen and clicking on my companions to control them. i dont think i can go higher than storyteller mode with this setup. i do however LOVE that u dont get pinned or trapped by ur companions anymore, u can walk thru them like ghosts lol.
@@Poesjewel So it took me a while to work out how but I did manage to remap the spacebar and other keys? It's not obvious but if you go to 'settings' then 'controls' then 'open' the 'Customize Keyboard Bindings' - I now have spacebar as 'jump' (obviously!) and was able to move some other things around to get more comfy? Perhaps you've done that but if not, it might help a bit? I still haven't worked out how to swap around abilities though. And argh re the dodge ability - I wish I had more control over where it went but that may well be a skill issue on my part. Just not used to such frenetic combat. Really hope this helps for you though.
This isn't new. The only way I could play Inquisition was with AutoHotkey. It is still available and has been updated, so give it a try. I was able to play with MMO style movement with it in Inquisition. That having been said, I am not going to buy Veilguard, so I can't say how it works with it.
R.I.P MASS EFFECT 🙏 R.I.P BIOWARE 🙏
At this point, Mass Effect remains their only remaining hope. Veilguard has already flopped, so am hoping they learn lessons from it and Andromeda. Otherwise if Mass Effect follows suit, Bioware is truly gone.
Always look forward to hearing your honest thoughts; you're one of the good ones ^^ 👍 Thanks for all your time/ attention to detail.
The “greyest warden” line killed my soul.
Thanks for the honest review, you are one of the few I still respect in that regard. Unfortunately I am still torn on whether I will enjoy it or not. Dragon Age light hits my impressions pretty well, but at the moment that just doesn't cut it for me. Maybe I grab it if on winter or a future sale. Until then enjoy and keep us posted.
Question … Are there any animals at all in the environment? Like birds, hallas, bears etc? Or is it just blank spaces? Even in the forests?
There are animals yeah, Hallas for sure. Can't say too much as I really didn't notice any other animals honestly.
I saw some nugs too.
@@MrHulthen Thank you. In Inquisition i loved the world’s different buzz-life with all animals. It made the world so much more immersive. The clips i have seen from Veiguard seem so clinical and buzz-free if that makes any sense.
@@talimancern7724 Love the nugs. I managed to get one as a mount in Inquisition;).
Its not a game made for gamers and fans of dragon age. Its a game made for twitter activists by twitter activists.
I always echo the same sentiment. If this was a stand-alone game that didn't carry the Dragon Age name, I'm pretty sure a lot more people would be receptive to it and enjoy it more for what it offers. It has mechanics that fit the modern gaming audience, it looks visually stunning, and the writing is decent enough (cringe at times, but not terrible). It's the fact that they attached this to a franchise that's now visually and tonally unrecognizable, in comparison, that's the main reason why most fans are pushing back on this weird narrative that "Bioware is back" or "this game is among the pantheons of RPGs".
And just to add... if what the critics meant by "Bioware is back" is that they bounced back from ME Andromeda and Anthem, then yes, I do agree. That being said, those were two pretty low bars to clear for them. They're basically just barely back on the surface, pushing out a game that's become mediocre as a result.
Hey Mr Hulthen, I just wanted to let you know that the Elven gods - Elgarnan and Ghilanaan - have escaped from their prison
Elgar & Ghila-who? 😮
I know some people hated Varric's loyalty quest in dragon age 2 but honestly I thought it was grade a comedy.
He rushes in guns or crossbow blazing, annihilating everything in his way, until he reaches his brother who bows down before him begging for forgiveness.
The it cuts back to Casandra who calls him out on his bullshit lies, and you do the quest for real this time, with the whole party.
Waited a decade for an ok game. The dialogue and repetitive nature of the combat hold the game back. Dont kno why they disnified the game
I love DAO, played it a half a dozen times or more. Played DA2 and quit halfway through because the graphics were a downgrade from DAO. Played DAI and by the end, it felt like I was just finishing it to finish it. The fun was dragged out after the 30 hr mark. Now, DAV I played 4 hrs and shut it off and unloaded the game. It just wasn't fun. DA is (was) a "Dark Fantasy"! It felt so off-kelter that I just couldn't continue. I pray to all that is holy that ME5 can make me a BioWare believer again.
And I'm praying that EA shuts down BioWare before they can ruin ME5!
@@ginacirelli1581 Only problem with that sentimentality is that there won't be another Mass Effect game. Let's just hope for a well written ME. I would accept 2010 graphics if the story was "STELLAR". Huh, see what I did there, space opera, stars, stellar, Huh. I'll let it go.
@@nonnonsence I'd happily trade Mass Effect for Exodus if it turns out as good as it looks like it's shaping up to be.
@@ginacirelli1581 But have you read the book yet?
This felt more like an introductory game for newcomers than a true Dragon Age experience for longtime fans.
Subscribed. Thank you for your honest thoughts I have loved every dragon age game to this point. Unfortunately all i felt was disappointed at what could have been. Going to try out mass effect legendary edition as ive never played a mass effect game before.
It is great. I envy you. You will get lost in that world. Remember to start with the first in the trilogy.
@kahinaloren yeah thanks really looking forward to getting stuck into it
I'd say this was *every step* back.
The sliders go from B cup, to double B cup.
And from no ass to no ass.
Bulge is also very sad & disappointing.
Mods will fix it
@@glowinTHX let's hope so
No inclusion for women's different body types I guess?! Hahaha
I was hoping for a darker tone
I don’t hate this game as much as I thought I will, there are some really irritating elements like some of writing choices, villains are on the level of Archdemon in Origins and Corypheus in Inquisition - not like it’s incredibly bad, after Disney I do enjoy villains who are just evil with no chance of redemption, Solas is enough of the greyness I needed here, but to be honest, I do like the premise of main story and some of story parts like whole Weisshaupt part and the 3rd act.
And when it comes to Rook…honestly? There was not a single main character in DA who you could immerse into fully since all were pretty much already established people who couldn’t become bad, sometimes they could be assholes but that’s pretty much it. Rook reminds me a lot of Hawke, who was the least immersive lead out of all 4, with the only possible part mfor a player to establish was his personality, here at least there is the background thing whitch did added some of dialogue changes and interactions. In the end it is quite interesting to see how people react to Veilguard like they reacted to both Inquisition and DA2, I have retrospections of my brother ranting about DA2 since he wanted exact copy of Origins and then he did the same with me when Inquisition came out and we were comparing it to DA2. I won’t say it’s my favorite from whole series, it’s still Origins and always will be, but it’s on similar level with DA2 in my tier (yes, unfortunately I’m not as much of a fan of 2, it’s not bad but not incredible too for me). So if I have to give it a number in the scale of 5, I would go with 3. But again, it’s just me, not the modern audience target 😂 I’ll miss the veterans of incredible writing that worked in gaming.
There are moments in the game that are really freaking cool and epic but it is held down by the dialogue and the way the characters act. I really enjoy the combat I think it really fun especially if you start combining your companion abilities with your own. SPOILERS.
In a section of the game where you are literally at Weisshaupt it felt so off hearing all this talk about Blights and how we need help to kill the dragon and for them to not mention the HOF at all felt so weird to me. Like how can you not at least name drop the person who literally ended the last blight. That my biggest complaint other than the dialogue. You have varric of course, Morrigan and Isabela and there’s no mention to HOF or Hawke and it feels so off to me. Especially considering my Morrigan did the dark ritual and had Kieran and my Hawke romance Isabela. The codex entries too like there’s gaps in the history and everything is so vague to not mention the things of the past and it stings a little bit
Oh yeah, the Weisshaupt thing was odd for sure. I was really hoping for some loredrops or something but they didn't mention the Hero at all. Then again, they did say that some things just wouldn't be referenced but I was still disappointed lawl
Doesn't look like a Dragon Age game. Looks like a comical tumblr-flavoured action rpg reskinned as a Dragon Age. Glad i just picked up Dragon's Dogma 2.
Dragon age origin is still one of my all time favorites
The writing is so bad.
Nah，just play it as an old school JRPG, cringe writing at its peak
Amazing review tho. Been waiting for this cause I know you stay real, no hate, no love where it's not needed. Just straight opinion and staying fair.
Always a pleasure watching your videos. Keep up the good work :)
Why do you think only a minority of rpg players want to be able to switch to the companion and control them directly?
I'd wager that a majority of PC rpg players would prefer to be able to control their companion directly.
Combat is extremely repetitive, monotonous and becomes boring, this could have been alleviated by giving the player the ability control their companions.
BG3 begs to differ.
The stats is
No, old bioware is dead. Not paying for this. Story was the whole point, party drama, epic quests, witty banter. This is not dragon age.
So glad you released this review so early. Really needed a review that isn't just all praise or all hate. No other review has given me a clear idea of what to actually expect. Thanks
I'm in a dire need of sleep after getting this review out lol, so i'm glad you appreciated it
For me dialogue, companions and writing is not bioware level. I don't know how they miss that. I can forgive many things but don't screw up interactions...
Game is a solid 6 out of 10, an average fantasy action game. The problem for me is what makes DA feel like DA they left out of the game.
9:38 How are we in a minority??
Supposedly, numbers show that most people don't use companion swapping. I don't remember the exact number but we're definitely in a smaller group of players that use it.
@@MrHulthen Maybe the info they have is for the overall time played. Of course we will be playing with our character the most lol. Plus, it also sounds like a lazy excuse not to include it. They might even chrage for it later haha
@@arhangeo They cut a lot of corners in order to just finish the game. That's no surprise considering the final team that was tasked with working on the game after all the restarts is far less experienced and technically competent than the legacy team. Those systems need smart developers working on them and attentive QAs testing them, not a bunch of fanatics that wake up, eat, piss and go to bed with the word "identity" on their mouths.
Veilguard is a big disappointment
2 steps forward, 4 steps back*
I think many long-term DA fans want to find things to love. If this wasn't titled a DA game, would you Like it. For me it is a shame to keep giving corps my money for fanfic of a game that is awful. If I read the first chapter of this as a fanfic I wouldn't continue reading it or give it any of my attention. I have no hope for a ME that would be true to form now.
Duncan died, for this?!?!
no. he died because of loghain
How many times are you going to copy and paste this comment?
@@bambi5738 nobody know. it say that he is going to do it until the end of time or until people start saying the game is good so he will stop
@@bambi5738 when Armageddon arrives, I might stop.😁
@ bleh
Bummed they couldn’t follow up and build on what made inquisition good. I feel that 1 and 3 have the most “replayability”
2 was “ok” but didn’t suck me in like the other two games did. Sounds like 4 is going to be much like that. I’ll wait until it goes on sale.
It's funny the thing I hated the most about Inquisition is the one thing I like the most in Veilguard, that being combat. It's definitely not my first choice for a DA game, but we will never see an Origins again.
I have mixed feelings about the art style in general. On the one hand it's like an upgraded version of Inquisition, very colorful which is fine, I think the bloom is too harsh perhaps, but the characters in the game are weird. Everyone looks super young, even old people look young with that weird face-lift style they went for this game, it's too smooth without actual details. I get most people want to create super models in CC, but Je-sus man everyone looks like they're 18 year olds at worst, it's unnatural.
As for the actual game... well considering how rough the road has been for this tittle particularly with multiple reboots and re tries, it could have been way worse. That doesn't mean it's a particularly good game either. Special mention to dialogue being atrocious, it feels like it's on rails where you are not supposed to actually choose anything and the dialogue itself isn't stellar either.
The whole ordeal feels a lot like Andromeda at times, the tone is "haha everything funny" and things don't mix super well. I think overall it's a regular game, but most die hard fans will be disappointed, if not all of them. I'm more of a Mass effect fan myself, but I don't think they have a win here, it's just average.
This is the first nonculture war vid that TH-cam has recommended me on this game and I appreciate it and you so much, cuz I was NOT making sense of the extremely polarized reactions to the game and wasn’t invested enough to try and parse them
I am just wondering how they handled Morrigan in the game, since some of her choices were some of the biggest in the series.
When she mentions her past she mentions everything expect events of DAO and she is too nice (doesn't really feel like same Morrigan from DAO/DAI)
@@ifyoulookclosely6863 Well everyone is supposedly too nice in the game. XP
Like lot of us where saying about the colors and not being edgy was right and i dont like it dont works in dragon age vibes
Thank you for your honest take.
I myself for wait for a sale and get the game at a later date.
Cheees!
It's a return to form for bioware. (Imagine being a VA and being called up by bioware and asked if you want to voice these lines in the next game.)
Someone saying they are an old Bioware fan and bringing up Dragonage and not Baldursgate made me relize how much time had passed lol
I'm sorry to say this "installment" has gone the way of the new Star Wars movies, for me. I don't consider them canonical, and I highly doubt I will consider this game canonical. I plan on watching someone on youtube play this "surprising finale" and decide from there.
I concur with most of what is said here. One thing I will add regarding dialogue and companion quests: they centered wayyyyyyy too much on personal feelings and how they held the characters back as an excuse for why, for example, a supposed killing machine now has bad aim. I'm not against characters having some personal struggles your MC can help with. But it felt like that for most characters. They way you actively choose a path for them also removes agency from those characters. Heavy spoilers down:
You feel like a therapist with a full time job dealing with:
- A non binary character that needs your handholding to become their true self (which isn't their true self but your opinion on their true self. Despite the fact you met them a couple weeks ago at most) (Sidenote on this one: the irony of a non binary character leaving you with very binary choices regarding their progress and evolution is not lost on me)
- A struggling single father with a terminal illness that needs you to help him know how to parent. And asks you in which boarding school he should enroll his kid.
- A depressed Film Noir detective that ends up leaving how she does business into your hands to the point of drastically changing how she behaves when it comes to authorities and the public
- A tinkerer with ADHD that needs you to decide for her what will become of the entire historical and cultural heritage of her entire people (despite you not being of her people) relative to how you helped her overcome grief.
-A necromancer with a terrible fear of death that lets you choose between the life of a friend or his lifelong goal.
etc etc
You'd think that without you they'd all drown in ultra-depression. There could have been more subtle ways to go about it. Hide that choice behind their approval progress or how you react in key scenes. I would not have minded those quests if they had been a bit more in the action creating a feeling, rather than a feeling spurring the need for action. And a bit less armchair psychologist "yass girl I support you". Let me tell them to get their ish together or the world crumbles (literally).
I think you mean two steps back into a cliff
Yeah, I don't do controllers, and I was already suspicious when my questions about mouse and keyboard were ignored. Even if I didn't see about a thousand other things about this game I don't like, this one thing would have been a deal breaker.
9:35 I don’t think you’re even in the minority, I could personally get behind the more action focused combat and reduced number of companions if you could at least swap to them. It would make them seem more like real characters rather than just ability buttons with voice lines, and 50h is a long time to play the same class.
Not sure I agree they "expended on the lore", they retconned the lore to fit a new vision. Southern Thedas and Kirkwall were basically deleted off screen, only revealed in letters and codex entries, the motives of key characters like Loghain was attributed to a tacked on conspiracy and Varric was reduced to a delusion, killed off and his death was barely aknowledged. The reasons for doing this appear less world building than world cleansing as if they regarded the previous entries as bloat that needed erasing.
-good combat
-good character creation
-no swap companion control ❌
-bad back character story❌
-bad continuous story❌
-no rivalry system like da2 I hate to always asslicking companion
-no origin prologue like DAO
overall 6.5/10
I'm a fan of Dragon Age since Origins came out back then. I like spending time with discovering and doing side quests. In terms of combat I can adapt pretty easily so that wasn't really a factor for me for Veilguard.
I've got 20+ hours in Veilguard right now and I'm enjoying it so far. Not the best game in the series overall, but I would still recommend it for the fans of the series.
How would you rank the games in the series after completing Veilguard?
Honestly, thank you. The past few days has been such a downer due to the hate train so many TH-camrs seems to be on. Your review is such a fresh of breath air. The good and the bad discussed clearly and respectfully.
I love the last point you made about how the game will appeal depending on how one got into the franchise.
Aw man so many on point remarks, couldn't agree more.
That's decades of playing Bioware games for you 🤣
Is it a good game? No.
Is it a bad game? No.
is it full of cringe? Yes.
In a theoretical vacuum, it would be a fun game you played and forgot.
But this game does not exist in a theoretical vacuum.
It's a game from Bioware that took 10 years.
And it fails to meet the moment.
Fails in an epic fashion.
Not a Dragon Age game.
Not a Bioware game.
Oh well...
the biggest problem for me is it feels like your party belongs to a different game. in origins there was a blight the world and your party reflected just how grim the world was becoming. inquisition a wanabe god. your party and everyone reflected the dread of him becoming a god. then you have veil guard where things are so much worse 2 corrupted gods and one can create blights and they are trying to rule the world. your party does not reflect that what so so ever they feel out of place and it drags me out of the story
I think it's largely a matter of perspective. DA2 was my first Dragon Age game and I still love it, even with the shortcomings often mentioned. Origins and Inquisition both had enough in common with DA2 for me to enjoy them, even if not as much as DA2. I personally find significant similarities with DA2 in The Veilguard, so it works for me. One of those similarities is the more action focused nature of it. I understand that not everyone feels the same and that is OK. I'm still on my first playthrough at 50 hours in and I'm still in Act 1. I share some of the completionist tendencies. So, I will fast-travel between waypoints to respawn the items in the environment that I can destroy for gold and materials. That way, I can buy all of the valuables to sell to faction vendors to increase my favor with the factions. It is a grind playing that way, but the mechanics allow for it. I'm not going to pass up the opportunity to use it.
Mr Hulthen the loot goblin... Nice finding ! 😀
I really appreciate your channel. The way you do it is very polite and positive but still authentic and honest.
While I love the brutally honest against the grain non PC rowdy boys
- it is NICE to see a NICE channel doesn't fall into the dishonest shilling.
I really appreciate the honest pros and cons here, especially with the "if you liked this you probably will be disappointed/happy with the direction they went" because I find that helpful.
I pretty much agree, especially on the writing, which is by far my most important criteria.
I just wanted to add that one of the main reasons why my experience with the game was a mixed bag, or even more frustrating and annoying than enjoyable is because of how fragmented everything feels. I do not enjoy unnecessary open worlds, I was actually excited to hear this will be more linear and mission based game as I can easily imagine it working well, but it is taken too literally and the character and plot interactions are not written to be suited to it.
Oftentimes major plot revelations or events feel underdelivered and barely acknowledged and commented on by the companions simply because it takes possibly several hours before you actually hear their comments or have conversation on it with them (if at all). Same issue persists with their companion quests, where as soon as you kill the final boss and cutscene ends you literally can only leave and usually any follow up to that quest makes you leave the Lighthouse at least once (which I do not enjoy at all personally) and have to come back to trigger the it.
Because of this a lot of the narrative feels fractured, barely connected beyond the big set piece missions and borderline incoherent.
The biggest offender in this is how the blight has changed and nobody comments on it till hours later when you visit the Grey Wardens, at that point you have been showering in blight gunk non stop for half the first act, naturally without any fear of being infected, and it just really pissed me off.
And thats not getting into the lore (where the fuck is Solas' elven army? Why are Qunari Antaam the main followers of ancient elven mages?!) and the changes to characterization and such (Solas is no a hater of blood magic? And he considers himself a god? Wth) and you already covered how incredibly limited the ability to actually roleplay is. These issues, coupled with the woefully painful and obvious absence of Warden and Hawke, despite there being many moments and situations that begged for their existence, are the biggest reasons for my overall dissapointment. I could go on, but I would just expand on more of writing issues, you get the gist. The game can look absolutely stunning, enviroment designers carry it hard and the combat can be very fun, but those are secondary if not tertiary concerns for me, story and companions make or break these types of games for me and for now I am leaning more towards it breaking the game for me sadly, maybe upon second playthrough (when I feel like it) I will come to appreciate it more, but I would be surprised if so.
I honestly wanted to love this game, admittedly I was hesitant and wary but I wanted it to be excellent, however it does not feel like a worthy adition or a followup to the Dragon Age franchise. Putting the writing side by side with any of the previous DA games, most notably DA:O will shatter any illusion of it being even decent most of the time, and hell even more modern games will easily do that, just look at WotR, what an incredible game that is.
Oh and yes, more Solas, I was surprised at the lack of him and he carries the cast anytime he is present, its to the point where I felt very dissapointed we cant just go along with his plan and have a tear down the veil ending... its not like our decisions will matter in the future games, if there are any. Speaking off, what was the one decision that they canonized? Either I didnt think about it or I missed it.
I like this game a lot so far, very few negatives to be honest. I enjoy the combat a lot too, very rare I test things out as much as I have in this game combat wise.
The Neve actress is the Tomy Wiseau of video games. Literally hating all the sections that she is talking
I genuinely hope this will bury Bioware for good and prop EA to sell the IPs to someone who's capable of respecting the source material
More like 2 step forward, 20 steps backwards
A good and fair review which I will be taking into consideration as to WHEN I will get this game. As a fan of all things Dragon Age i was willing to pay top dollar and get it straight away but now I will wait till it gets a bit cheaper.