I haven't played it yet so I don't know how much it comes up in the game but I think the whole identity thing can be summed up with a line from dragon age 2 from Carver " I don't hate you because you're a mage. I hate you because you won't sh^t up about it" You can substitute mage with identity and it makes sense here. For years now the topic of identity has been so hotly debated that you just can't get around it, it is tiring to be honest. And I think when it now comes up in a game now even when it's very small and means nothing in the grand scheme of things people will react angrily because people are tired of it. And of course some people will react angrily because they hate everything that has to do with the topic of identity. And again this is coming from someone who hasn't played the game yet, and it is coming from someone who is part of the LGBTQIA community but is also very tired of the debate around the topic.
I think that’s the thing, it’s like we’re not talking about the game. We can’t anymore. It’s not about how does it play, how is the role playing, now it’s how much of politics are in it? I can tell you now it’s one scene, maybe two. But wow, those two scenes didn’t mess about, they really pushed it and made it very clear what they’re trying to do. Now, EA and BioWare decided to do this and I just can’t see why? They lose half their potential customers because they don’t want this in a game. I looked at the reviews after my wife gave me the game, and I honestly thought “oh god, it must be awful. It must never end with the political side of things.” Then I played it for 40 hour and saw nothing. But by having these scenes, this is what happens. I think a lot of people are tired of the DEI discussion now and it’s a case of “just let us enjoy the game”. Politics should stay outside of games and games should focus on what they should, which is…being a fun game lol
@@AVVGaming1 Yeah I agree. I do think we are slowly going back to a more center point of view, it's not as heavy handed today as it was a few years back. And I think it's fine if you have a massage for your players and you put it in the game but it has to be subtle. Basically you can tell people to think but you can't tell them how to think, when you start telling them how to think that's when they turn against you.
I’ve noticed it’s all AAA American studios and that’s why I mentioned it. Bethesda, Ubisoft etc it’s all very shallow writing, very basic, very short attention span and just lacking any in depth story. Whereas CDPR, Lorian studios etc are the ones providing the more deep games. It’s like American writes for kids and Europe and Japan write for adults at the moment. Strange times!
Thanks! I don’t really like covering topics that involve politics as it’s just not my scene really. I just wanted to explain to people how a game gets 1 star on one platform and 5 on the other.
@@WAAAAAAGH so just to confirm, I was not trying to sell the game in this video. It’s not me saying “this game is amazing”. The point I was trying to make is that for an action fast paced god of war type game, it does a decent job. But if you like deep role playing RPGs like BG3, it’s gonna be inferior. I like BG3, Witcher 3 games like that, this is not one of those games lol
@@AVVGaming1 i wasn't trying to imply you were a shill or anything, just thought the continued downward praise was funny like when a friend says a song is amazing, then when you ask to hear it says its good, then when the 'best part' comes and goes and you still give no reaction they say it's okay
If it wasn't called Dragon Age, it would have more positive reviews however it would've sold much much less because nothing is carrying it more than the name/legacy of Dragon Age.
it is very sad that ALOT of Indie game's go under the radar because the Top Tog review UA-camr's will not talk about those video game's good example - Rebel Galaxy Outlaw 2020 - FMC - Space ship Combat - Story -
The legacy of Dragon Age? The legacy of a middling fantasy game setting with 3 games that's existed for 20 years and is the exact same thing as every other Tolkien inspired fantasy product? Dragon Age has barely existed as a franchise. No one cares about this lore. It's not LOTR or Game of thrones.
Blackrock and other big investors purposely force their game studios to push satanic w0ke agendas to brainwash the gamers. They believe gamers are mostly stupid and more easily brainwashed. The evil companies want to erode the fabric of society, and that's what the Devil wants. 😈
@@socratese5 yes some people are well aware but I think some people have no idea so I just wanted to cover the topic. I hope I managed to do a good job of summarized img it all.
@@nicknicksiren: the writing is dreadful, lack of meaningful choices, the jump to general audience, not RPG lovers. Also, the overall design is jarring to many people, reinforcing the Pixar/blockbuster feel of the game, an "action sort of fake RPG" game so far away from Bioware previous entries in the genre. Is their handling of social issues annoying? Sure. The lecturing tone for sure doesn't help, but it's not the core of the issue.
Thank you for a straightforward, level-headed review. I agree with your point about the industry shifting, making games designed to appease boards of directors rather than fans. I have no intention of getting this game, not because of politics, but rather after being burned by Mass Effect Andromeda, I no longer have faith in the BioWare name. It's sad, seeing once favored development studios becoming so bland, churning out Disneyfied safe products, rather than fun, engaging gaming experiences.
@@johnallen7232 and that’s a very strong reason why the gaming world is so toxic now! We’ve been burned SO many times! So many times we’ve been told to buy a game and then be screwed over time and time again. We don’t trust these triple A studios as much as we did. The only person who can decide if a game is good or not is you! As you’re the one who will play it. In this video I have put a lot of gameplay to try to give an idea of what it is. Games need to put out demos now I think.
I think it depends on how you push such topics. There nothing fundamentally wrong about speaking of gender identity or real-life politics in your game. You just need to understand how to handle it properly and believable within the setting/story without sounding like you preach. For example "LGBTQ+ representation" isn't even something new for Dragon Age series, we had Dorian Pavus in Inqusition that was flamboyantly gay. But it wasn't that big of a deal back then in the community as him being romantically atractive to man is a cornerstone to understand who Pavus truly is and how prejudice within Tevinter's higher society affects people like him.
@@Ocelot835 the whole concept of "non-binary" is laughably stupid and completely devoid of any meaning. Anyone taking it seriously is an obvious activist.
Because today's kid's are literally having their brain rotting from the inside. Veilguard is 8/10 performance, 1/10 writing, 6/10 gameplay. And who the f gives a shit about gameplay or performance if the story is just drivel?
And writing has continued to decline over time as more “triple a” games come out. As I said in the video, in an attempt to satisfy everybody they play it too safe, which means it’s boring.
gameplay absolutely can make up for a nonexistent/nonsensical storyline... Doom would be a great example of that... but dragon age is an entirely different problem altogether they have gone seemingly out of their way to create deeply, weird, unlikable characters that have uncanny kind of inhuman interactions that are just offputting in every single way there is no replay value to this. There's no real depth to it there's absolutely nothing endearing or interesting about the game. ... If it wasn't for inclusion, really nobody would be talking about this game at all
@@Green-wd8xz That's not the only thing "performance" can mean. In a game with a lot of voice-acting or motion capture, "performance" can also refer to the artistic performance. Seems relevant here because the voice acting in the game seems sketchy from some footage and reviews.
"Wokeness" aside (i hate that word), the writing is simply horrendous. I've been spoiled and have seen what they did to legacy. I can't forgive that, it's a disgrace. Lowered my 4/10 to a 2/10.
As you say, the point is that EA is using an established IP for marketing, but delivers something completely different. It is as if a street food seller who is known for their hot dog with sauerkraut sold a new product "Sauerkraut Plus" and the "Plus" is vanilla ice cream. EA profits from mislabeling, as their only point is making as much money as possible. Buyer beware. If a huge corporation promises to sell you a great game, wait at least until you see the first playthrough. I could not agree more. Thanks for this review, it is the best I have seen yet.
Thank you very much! I was more trying to explain why people are so divided on it and what causes such division. It’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before!
@@AVVGaming1 fwiw I enjoyed Mortismal's review. I took from it "I love it for what it is. It may not be a good Dragon Age game, it may not be a good roleplaying game, it may have awful writing - but I had fun, it it has great mechanics, so it is my personal game of the year." He showed nicely that it does not make much sense to argue about taste. Oh, sorry, I forgot that we are on the internet. Entirely my fault.
@ haha yeah and because it’s art it will be subjective. And naturally because of the topic it covered as well. I just find it so interesting because of the different perspectives! Like mrmattyplays and mortismal generally like the same games so to hear such different feedback from both was crazy!
@@AVVGaming1 "It’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before!" Old people like me have seen it; Fallout. When Fallout 3 came out, there were now two distinct fanbases; the OG fans (myself included here) and the new fans.
@@ThomasPBuehner Problem with that is his take suspiciously aligned with the leaked press guides. As many of the reviews, even the steam reviews repeat lines from it. Thats suspicious.
I think a big distinction should be put on "contemporary american politics" vs actual political theory. No one really dislikes MGS or Bioshock being political. Or Mass Effect. What (regular) people dislike is games being another culture war battleground. Game being another big departure from the previous one (again), also didn't help.
Yes I wasn’t sure what word to use to describe the debate side of things of it. I think politics is sort of a blanket statement I used to sort of cover the reaction. The big departure certainly upset a lot of fans! I saw mymattyplays say how upset he was with it and that kind of shows the reaction to it being so different. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad game it’s just different.
@@AVVGaming1 I personally didn't really enjoy the old style, but I have friends who did, and its basically a joke now that every entry reinvents the combat. But to me this seems like the furthest departure so far.
@ yeah I didn’t play the originals enough to really have a say on what’s better or worse. There just different but I would imagine if someone remade Witcher 3 and made it linear I’d be frustrated even if the game was amazing!
@@PGM991 that’s 100% true! And I think sometimes it can’t ever live up to expectations. Like a game from our childhood that changed our lives. No sequel can ever match those memories and will always fall below expectations. Elder scrolls 6 is going through the same thing now!
I’m getting a refund. What a disappointment. What’s really worrying is that they might do the same thing with the KOTOR remake. I’d be furious if that happened, as KOTOR 1 and 2 are some of the best RPGs ever made.
Great video. I liked how you approached the politics of the game, being as neutral as possible and serving the information but more importantly not attacking any side and actually acknowledging it exist at all. I know that it must have been tough for you to even address the politics so it's appreciated.
@@jjojon7072 thank you so much! This was without a doubt the hardest video I’ve ever had to do and I rewrote the script about ten times. I wanted to achieve exactly what you said. Thank you so much for the kind words!
When I consider buying a game, I watch a lot of reviews/gameplays (except gaming journalisms) and then I make a decision. (if I like what I see, i even preorder -examples are Total War Warhammer, Anno 1800). Now, I've been a fan of Dragon Age for more than 10 years, and waited this game anxiously. What I've seen is disappointing: I don't like the oversimplified combat, I don't like the cartoony art style, and the dialogues are horrible and feel artificial. They butchered the Qunari appearance, previous choices in DA:I almost don't matter and so on. Regarding the Taash scenes, I'd have prefer Bioware to handle it in a different way. In Dragon Age Inquisition we had a trans (Krem), but the dialogues were well-written and had a nice quest. Then I'm told by people in Dragon Age community I shouldn't criticize unless I play the game, and I quote: " looks like you jumped on the hate bandwagon " In order to play the game means buying it, and from everything I've seen the game did not convince me it deserves 60 euros. I expected much more from a Dragon Age game. Very likely I will buy in 2 years, when will be a heavy discount So now now I'm supposed to shut up and just buy it?! this is one of the things that are wrong today, people can't suffer criticism
@@atlanteean no you’re concerns are very valid. The combat is simplified, the art style is different, past decisions on previous games don’t matter etc. put the whole Tassh thing to the side and pretend that doesn’t exist. The rest of the things you’ve seen are how to make your decision as a dragon age fans. The game is a good action game. But not necessarily a good dragon age game. I feel most sorry for the dragon age fans because it’s clear this game wasn’t made for them, it was made for mass appeal. Things like making combat simple, dialogue short and straight forward, it’s aimed at appealing to those who need to be on the move all the time, action games. In my experience, when I play an RPG I like a slow methodical approach and this game doesn’t give that option. It’s just so different. At the end of the day, the only way you’ll know if it’s for you is to play it, but when that cost is $60+, you have to be careful.
That is, how the corporations go to: Go mainstream, do not offend anybody, instead give a streamlined experience that has no character at all. Everybody likes first person, everybody likes realtime action -- don't do something else, everybody must do old story, nobody does something different. No innovation, because innovation is risk. The "best thing" I can say about "Veilguard": It costs only $60, but I will FOR SURE not buy it.
Well the thing is, they tend to lose their core audience after a while and that hurts them in the long run. But we’ve seen it happen so many times with corporations. It’s sad to see but we’ve seen it with Bethesda, Ubisoft etc
@ I think the saddest thing is seeing UA-camrs who loved dragon age games so upset. I didn’t play the older games enough to get attached. But I can tell how much this installment hurt them. And it’s like the studio (BioWare) they indentified with no longer care about them. But I think we need to face the truth; Bethesda, BioWare etc. those studios that we loved aren’t around anymore. The price of success eh?
@@AVVGaming1 They probably have the new players constantly are better than player retention. Its a fast food buisness model but even Games Workshop works like that etc. IT doesnt work in the long run that well.
I returned the game after a few hours. Woke stuff aside...THEY TOOK OUT 4 CHARACTER / STRATEGIC COMBAT....what a downer. I have just never seen a great thing cut right in half like this.
Yes! The combat was a massive change from the previous entries and that’s why I talked about it. It’s almost an entirely different game. There is almost no relation to being a dragon age fan and enjoying this game. It’s almost an entirely new game completely
While I am a Dragon Age fan, I am even moreso an RPG fan. Even if Veilguard did not have "Dragon Age" in its name, I wouldn't find it a good RPG. I played the game for 7 hours on EA Play Pro and even though I could have played it further, I uninstalled it after that. I tried to ignore everything I knew about Dragon Age, and simply treat this game as just another RPG. The combat got extremely boring after the first 2 hours - as long as you can dodge it doesn't matter what abilities you or your companions use, and all enemies die just the same as long as you have the patience to extremely slowly grind at their health bars on higher difficulties. The dialogue (as well as the narration in cinematics) is basic and more often than not extremely cringey. The progression system (ability tree + how often you level up) seems like it was just put there in that way so that the player would feel as though the game is more complex than it actually is, and that they're doing far more than they actually are within what is an extremely linear generic fantasy story on rails, with no real opportunity for roleplaying. This game has no right to call itself a choice and consequence RPG, not when compared to the other good RPGs of that sort. This game can't even call itself a good action game because we have combat that is so much better than that. It's not even a proper dating simulator since I've played visual novels that have characters more complex and better written than this. I don't understand how anyone can say this is a good game whatsoever. Perhaps I have higher standards than most, but I really don't enjoy wasting my time with less than mediocre games when I have limited time to play anyway. Why would I play this for the story, when I can play BG3, Disco Elysium, the older Dragon Age titles, and many other games with great stories? Why would I play this for the characters and romances, when I can play Stray Gods, Mask of the Rose, and other such games with strong and complex characters and good romance and friendship paths? Why would I play this for the action combat when I can play Diablo 2/3/4, Path of Exile, Last Epoch, or even a first person game like Dishonored or Dishonored 2?
Solid review, fair and balanced. If you bring in contemporary political issues you risk alienating half your audience. Up to the creators if they think its worth it. Theres also the distinction between bringing in these issues because you genuinely care about them versus tacking them in to virtue signal for cynical corporate agendas.
That’s exactly right! I honestly tried to bring a fair account of everything. They definitely alienated half their audience by doing this and you can see by the reaction online. I personally believe politics and gaming should be separated and should try not to cross. That way the games get the best chance to succeed.
@AVVGaming1 I'm with you mate. One of the brilliant things you did was point out the difference between metacritic scores versus scores on systems where people have bought the game. I've always been pleasantly surprised at the difference. I think there's a lot of okay games that get destroyed sometimes in an out of proportionate way.
People critiqued DA2 for it's heavy-handed twin towers allegory People critiqued DA:I for Krem and more LGBTQ inclusion. Now in the year of our lord 2024, people critique Veilguard for quote-on-quote "going back on its legacy" and including trans narratives. Give me a break.
@@GothaBillsAndDeath haha lol we tend to go in cycles and repeat the same things over and over. We never tend to learn as a society and just keep going over the same things again. At least that’s my personal opinion.
That's not the issue (only for some very vocals, fring people): the issue is the game is more like a Pixar/Blockbuster diriged towards younger audiences, like an YA novel. And the writing is just dreadful, which just doesn't "fit" for a Bioware /famous RPG franchise game. It just doesn't do
@@AVVGaming1, dude, I almost liked your video/take, then reading the comments I changed my mind about you: you agree with literally everyone, the ones calling the game "woke", and then with the angry people who are calling it that. It's ridiculous, you agree with everything and its contrary, just to please and keep all kind of viewers, it's not honest. Won't be back.
Writing is horrendously bad and the combat is boring and repetitive with little to no enemy variety. One of the worst games I've played in recent years, nothing positive to say about it at all.
its a mediocre overly streamlined game with boring drawn out action combat, abysmal writing and an incredibly ugly artstyle and monster design, that shits on the legacy of DA:O
I think that’s the biggest issue. It’s the fact that long term fans of the series have seen the new game come out, fly the flag and use the branding, but not give anything that the original games had. It’s so different it’s unrecognisable compared to the previous games. It’s sad to see but corporations often go for “appeal to more people” which is why it’s changed so much. Hack n slash is popular, strategic isn’t anymore, it’s too complicated! It’s so sad to see but dragon age isn’t the first series and surely won’t be the last to receive this same treatment. If they called it a spin off or something else it’d be more understandable. Sorry this happened to a series you love.
How can you find this a good game? Its so flat and boring and yes as a DA fan, its not a DA game, but that put aside the story is flat, dialog is dumb, no choice at all, its a tik tok game, mindless, no brain power needed. Just play candy crush, its cheaper! I played it and only the end is fun, but to get there you need to go through 50 hours of just clicking buttons, no thought needed!
That's what I am trying to say! It's not an RPG, or not a very good one anyway. It is definitely a game designed at people who like Tik Tok and fast paced action (e.g. Fortnite). For them, it might be a good game. It's got good graphics, (I know the style is different) and if you like action, it does the trick. It isn't my type of game. It's not for everyone but for what it sets out to do, it does. It's crazy to say it, but this game does not seem like it was made for Dragon Age fans lol it was aimed at a new audience like you said. If you enjoy slow methodical strategy based RPGs, this ain't your game. If you like reading, considering stats, immersing in a good story etc, this game will be very shallow. But if you like beating up enemies non-stop and action, hate dialogue, despise reading, then this game will be enjoyable! Remember, there is a mobile game called Clash of Clans, it has 150 million players monthly! They would like this game! It's just a disappointing game for RPG players and Dragon Age fans. That is such a crazy sentence to write lol
Thanks for this overview! Unfortunately, how DA:V has been handled is also an effect of the development costs of triple-A games spiraling out of control. Companies will try any tactic to increase revenue while keeping costs low. What has been tried here is, as you've highlighted, hijacking an already existing intellectual property to leverage an already existing fanbase, while trying at the same time to expand the player base as much as possible ("KISS", right?). Unfortunately for EA, it's an already impossible task, since it has a very high risk of alienating the previous fanbase while a new fanbase is not guarantee to flow in. Let's just hope a lesson will be learnt - but I seriously doubt it.
Ok for me who grew up when D&D first coming out. It wasn't easy as most people = D&D with satanic. We fought hard for fantasy to accepted to include my parents helping that. That say why did we love stories to include LOTR...they told us good moral messages within the story and also didn't push it in your face. For example, Gimli and Legolas friendship..you got to watch it develop...as you know elves and dwarves didn't get along but these two showed how they had differences, but also had things in common. By the end when Legolas calls Gimli friend it hits your heart. But the message was about racism wasn't needed explain it showed how racism is stupid while telling it through story. There are several lessons in LOTR from why greed is bad as rings greed undid itself, etc. All through story. Problem here is this is ideology push and not really a moral lesson. It is more of you will accept this and like it. Also, the problem with this ideological push is it deals a lot with mental health issues and making light of deep mental health problems and telling people to enable it. Which as veteran with PTSD this is bad. So, like you said you have people on both sides of isle, but problem is when you do this especially as business you are going to lose business. Forcing messages or ideologies onto people turns people off and to be honest people are tired of being preached to and especially like children. Also, pushing message is bad because it you put message before story that will end up in disaster. Also, when playing fantasy game why push modern day politics into a fantasy game makes no sense. Like you said it literally pulls you out of the world back to real world because you just messed up the fantasy setting.
@@shawnkroll3950 exactly and it’s the wording that was the most clear problem. Non-binary isn’t a fantasy word, it’s a real life word. I think the writing was just a bit lazy in that regards. If they want to put something in like that, (it’d be better if they didn’t) but they should write it in subtley as the way it appears here it’s just so obvious and takes the player out of the game. Oh and as far as D & D games go, this is a lot more basic and less in depth. I think BG3 was made for RPG fanatics. It requires focus, attention and you take your time. This is more God of War instead. Great comment!
@@skysix5733 thank you so much! I honestly hope it does! Right now I’ve seen such varied opinions but I found a lot of it non constructive. Some just say “awful game, nothing good about it” and some say “best gamers ever!” And I just feel like both are too extreme and not a fair reflection of it. Thank you for such kind words!
II was as much a hack and slash as this if not more IMO. And changes in combat are normal. II was very different then Origins, Inquisition was very different the II, and Veilguard was different then Inquisition. Also how is giving low reviews to a game you never played not worse then EA just giving review codes to people they expect to like the game? How could someone honestly complain about EA using dishonest tactics and not complain about this? And I definitely disagree that you can never make evil aligned decisions Spoilers At one point I had a mayor who had planned to sacrifice two people who had com to help his village and ended up getting the population wiped out or reduced to mindless puppets. He's begging me to save him and I decide to leave him as a Darkspawn chew toy. I wasn't even merciful enough to kill him before I left.
@@roguerifter9724 yes I think that’s the only bad decision I’ve seen in 30 or so hours (I left the guy too! He didn’t deserve my mercy) but when you play more there are some serious decisions that have huge impacts on the world and your playthrough! Not just that but when you take companions to different areas and quests, there is so much dialogue specific to that from them! So it’s like okay there isn’t many bad decisions, but they excelled in other areas. I honestly am enjoying the game a lot! And as far as the reviews from people who haven’t played it, there is so many! I know they had that one DEI scene but I’ve played it for over 30 hours and haven’t seen one other example yet. The game isn’t for everyone rihht? Some people don’t like the combat and quick paced stuff and that’s fine. Should they have re written that one Dei scene? Probably! But the hate the game has received has led to a lot of negative reviews from people who haven’t played it yet. As a game playing UA-camr I think it’s integral to give honest feedback. Also, a lot of UA-camrs right now are getting thousands of views and money from bashing it. So even if they haven’t played it, they may make a video bashing it because it’s hot right now. I hope my review was more balanced and fair.
If you like this sort of thing, buy the game and sing its praise. If you don't want more games to do this, than speak up and get a refund. That's the 1st amendment, and Americans/other citizens of democracies need to make sure we keep it!!
See but that’s my point! Take the poltics out of the game and we talk about the game only. By adding this in, now it’s not about the game, it’s about your political stand point. That was biowares and EAs decision, and now we end up not talking about the game, more about this other stuff. EA have cut off half of their fan base by adding this.
@@AVVGaming1 The thing is, it isn't even the politics, per se. The bad writing, the combat that gets boring, the cartoony graphics that don't fit the world, the lackluster maps, all this stuff indicate the game is not a 10/10, and definitely not a "return to form". It's a game that underwent a major change, from multiplayer live service to single player, and it shows that in a variety of ways, to its detriment. So, yeah, not a 10/10, nor even an 8/10. But then EA carefully controlled the review copies, trying to control a narrative, and you are going to get backlash from passionate fans. And so if a site allows anyone to vote, well, you get review bombing, as people lash back at the "review pumping". The messaging on top of that, well, that just serves to amp things up, turning it into a focal point, to the detriment of all the other issues that also help make the game lackluster.
@@AVVGaming1the sad part is that BioWare has always had a history of doing this. They were one of the first studios to add same sex relationships in any of their games. At that time same sex relationships were highly controversial. Now it’s trans people and their belief that they can choose whatever identity they want. BioWare to me is just staying true to their beliefs as a studio and well we live in a time where everybody has a voice on the internet can say whatever they want good or bad and the loudest voice is that against trans people. I’m not a supporter of trans people I think they are strange but that didn’t stop me from playing and enjoying the shit out of this game. Honestly I think if this game came out a different year where the was no major culture war happening it could have gotten the support it deserved and even won game of the year.
This guy, this is the most level headed ever. I'm not all that interested in the game but I do like your level headed approach instead of just screeching insults calling people sexist or woke.
@@RaidenKaiser thank you! That was my goal! I just wanted to break down what happened and explain why it’s divisive. And give my opinion on the game. I’ve never seen a game garner this level of reaction though
Thank you for the review. I like you mentioned in the video I'm desperately trying to find an unbiased review. I don't think I will get it, maybe later on sale, because it looks like it departs too much from the original style. I loved your line "video games are art, and art is subjective" so true!
Thank you very much for the kind words! I think it’s so different to the previous entries that it’s hard to recommend it. If you like god of war, you’ll love this. I would say to just watch some “let’s plays” and get a feel for it. There’s no rush for you to get it and if you can get it on sale that’s even better!
A really well-balanced analysis of the game - thanks. I'm gunna wait for the Christmas sales and I bet its heavily discounted (PlayStation Store in my case).
@@RobertNicholas yes and maybe get it in physical copy just in case? (If you have a disc reader) as if it’s not for you, you can sell it on and recoup some of the money. That’s what I would do. Honestly, I can’t recommend it without knowing what games someone likes.
Game choices should be like ordering food at a restaurant. Pick what you enjoy, skip what you don’t, and no one should be criticized or blamed for their preferences
I support reviews that seek to analyze and evaluate criteria related to the game itself, such as its general atmosphere, art style (especially in character development), story/plot (and how relevant the past contained in previous games will be, if applicable), dialogues and reactions, quality of writing, decisions and consequences, interactions and possible relationships with companions and so on. Not even combat is a priority for me in this case. I've seen and heard things that I didn't like (even though I haven't played it) and I believe that I like Inquisition more in general comparison. The problem is that a significant number of reviews seem to be more interested in criticizing the game for ideological and political reasons or even inducing the audience to think that this is something that necessarily harms the final product. This argument is flawed, because I think that if the game were good - let's say an 8 out of 10 given my expectations for the franchise - this would not "condemn" the product. In my opinion, it all depends on how certain subjects are addressed and I don't think that this should be excluded from games.
Hey so I’ve played it about 40 hours now and I am really enjoying it. Graphics are great, side quests fun, and the companion writing is not as good as a bg3, with writing being a little “straight forward” but if you can look past that it’s good. Also, the one thing no review seems to have not covered, the companions say l something about everything. Just an example, there is a side quest at the start of the game I didn’t do. Usually a player will stumble upon it with their starting companions and they will have specific dialogue for that quest. I came back with two of the later companions and they had unique dialogue for it. This happens in every single quest. In fact, I would argue this game does this better than any other. Like I just found a city via a side quest and the gatekeeper introduces himself and then addresses my companions one at a time. You can only take two but he has unique dialogue for each of the ones you take. This shows a lot of depth in this regard. Honestly, I do like the game the more I play it. As for the poltics, I am about 50 hours in and I have seen ZERO so far. Less than most games actually lol
@AVVGaming1 I appreciate your opinion, and perhaps my position could be considered suspicious or "influenced" because I haven't even played the game, but I did some research including spoilers, read different reviews and talked to people who played the game. I don't believe the game is terrible or a failure, just as I believe it can please and enchant different niches of players. However, given my personal preferences and expectations, which I consider realistic given the history and tradition of DA, I can say that the game doesn't have the same appeal and enthusiasm that I had for the conclusion of this cycle. I won't go into details because that would require a long text. I understand that preferences and expectations are subjective and I don't want to be unfair to the game, but this adapted formula is not compatible with my vision regarding the format and development of the tittle in different departments. Let's just say that I'm in no rush to play it now and I hope that Bioware can achieve a financially satisfactory result involving this product. As for players who are enjoying the experience, no problem; I'll maintain a more nostalgic stance.
@ not just that but this game is clearly designed for a new audience. So I’m a big RPG player. I love those games and generally speaking they’re slow, they’re methodical, lots of reading, puzzles, strategy etc. this is a game that is action packed. Non stop and moves quick. You open things quick, you fight quick, puzzles are easy, it’s linear, it’s flashing lights and endorphin rushes. I think that is very different from the regular rpg games including previous da games. It doesn’t mean it’s bad, but that is not for everyone. My main concern is that it clearly will upset OG dragon age fans. Put DEI to the side, this is the biggest issue in my opinion. It’s always sad to see a franchise fans love turn into this type of thing. It’s essentially as if fans loved a deep immersive movie with substance and nuance. Now this is a marvel movie, it’s the avengers lol
Its a shame that the identity politics overshadows real issues with the game. It reminds me of Fallout 76. I kept thinking to myself "Can people shut up about the bugs? The issue is there is no game here, its just bad". The Veilguard fails in basic creative writing ability with the dialogue. At times it feels like the characters are speaking more to me the player with its exposition, than our character Rook. Its incredibly distracting. This is the first game I have dreaded the in-between mission talks with my companions. FYI I purchased EA Play Pro ($18) to play this game. EA's platform doesn't allow for game reviews at all. If I could, I would rate the game a 5/10. Not an IGN 5/10 but a "try it on sale" 5/10. This is coming from an old school Bioware fan, so there is obviously going to be a heavy negative BIAS on the weight I give particular categories.
@@eFIVE098 yes and totally agree. The game needs to be critiqued. If you just say “oh it’s woke 0/10” that’s really not constructive. We need to actually analyse the game and give honest feedback. I feel exactly how you do about the writing. I think it was written this way so that all attention spans and levels of intelligence could understand it. I think there was a lot of potential for sure. Thank you for offering your thoughts on this and I feel the same about fallout 76. I played it on release and it had no bugs lol I’m not kidding! So I was like super confused what was going on lol
it is a real issue tho its a symptom to the larger issue of identity politics overshadowing products ua-cam.com/video/1cLvcfWvtxo/v-deo.html the reason they push it so much
So from what I garnered from the review, Veilguard is basically the 1998 Godzilla movie or Dark Souls 2. As a separate media, both are solid. But since they have a pre-existing brand placed on top of them, they are heavily criticized as they can't hope to reach the level their predecessors have.
Exactly! This game is clearly built for a new audience. A lot of people have compared its fast paced like setting to thst of a mobile game. Well, some mobile games are very popular. I think what’s happened is the game is aimed to cater for all, including children to play it who like quick action games. (Tik tok generation) and then the old dragon age fans like slow methodical tactical RPGs and it’s just miles away from that. So if you love slow paced tactical RPGs you’ll not like it. If you like games like god of war, that move quick you’ll like this. The writing is shallow but it’s not the worst I’ve seen lol but I think that’s just normal now for triple a studios in USA. That’s how they all write now. Whereas European studios provide the depth etc. not to mention, people will always look back on older titles more affectionately as it’s their game, they made memories with it.
It is great to have a (mostly) neutral position in this controversy. I have given it a thumbs up and wrote this comment just to give this video more visibility.
@@SystemBD thank you! I tried to make it neutral and stay away from the drama. Whether it worked I don’t know lol thank you for the kind words and supporting the video! It definitely helps!
When you get down to it, there are very few story-driven games with no politics of any kind. The "problem" here is a very specific type of politics, namely the identity-based stuff, and even though it doesn't negatively affect anyone what someone else identifies as, it's become a lightning rod for right-wing rage bait. We've been through this time and again throughout history, people raging about the end of segregation, the legalisation of interracial marriage, people raging about gay equality, now it's trans people's turn to be the focus of hate, and tomorrow it might be women who choose not to have kids or men that prefer to be stay at home dads, or something else. Social change is always hard for many people. All that said, people often want to think of games as art. Well, the purpose of art is often to provoke. Outrage has always been there over paintings, over books, over songs, and now over games. That's just the nature of creativity. We'll get over it one day and then the next thing will present itself. I'm too old to care, I am simply thinking, 'if you don't like it, don't interact with it. Save your time and energy and just live and let live'. Your anger isn't making a change either way, that much is obvious at this point.
That is something I’ve been wondering. What is added on purpose with the goal to incite a response like this? I mean, everyone is talking about the game now. I for one just want to play games and not get involved with politics. I’d rather they were left out completely and just left outside. A game should be a game, not a place to make a political point. That’s just my personal take on it. Fascinating to hear what you’re saying though because it is a cycle that will never end.
@@AVVGaming1 I don't disagree per se, I just don't get worked up over it. If a game gets on my nerves I just stop playing it and move on to something else. However, there's politics everywhere in gaming, and that never bothers people. Disco Elysium was HIGHLY ideological, and I don't remember the outrage. The Fallout games heavilty criticise capitalism and imperialism, but people love those games. GTA 4 was a criticism of the American Dream through the eyes of an immigrant. Papers, Please puts you in charge of border control in a communist country. The list goes on and all of these games are or were popular and well received. Folks don't hate politics in games, they very specifically hate gender politics in games. I think it's worth asking oneself why that is. But like you said, everyone is talking about the game now, the latest installment in a mostly forgotten franchise that started forever ago. It's reaching a new and much larger audience than it would've had it launched without controversy, and while not all of those people will buy the game, it's the centre of conversation for a while. It's entirely possible that that was an intended side effect, for whatever reason. There's no such thing as bad publicity, and all that.
@ haha that’s true! It’s so interesting when you mention all those other games. I think BG3 got backlash and so did cyberpunk. Years later and now no one mentions it, and now they’re considered top games. Maybe one day that’ll be the same with this one!
@@AVVGaming1 I must admit I have enjoyed seeing the 4chan boys losing their minds all the while creating engagement for the game and creators. Win win.
I can tell by the way the op repeats how grimdark Dragon Age is but only defers back to Origins that he's never played DA2 or Inquisition where the dark tone mellowed out and became far more in line with what you would expect from a light novel fantasy by Inquisition's time. Even tactics were largely stripped from DA:O's more CRPG influence to more of a action-combat focus in DA:I. I've seen this same exact critique for Inquisition when they people talked about the wokeness in that game as well with Iron Bull, Krem, less darker themes, etc. It's like people parrot the same review over and over again throughout the span of a decade. Mind you I dislike Veilguard and a large part of Inquisition, but can you guys write better material and actually research and/or play the video games previously before spouting on about them as a benchmark? Sick and tired of fake fans.
@@GothaBillsAndDeath no you’re right and I haven’t really played the older games much at all. I was hoping to represent the fans disgruntled about the new game who loved the old ones. I interviewed a few of them and this is what they told me. If I’m wrong then I apologise.
I watched the no commentary playthrough earlier, best way to get an idea on if the game's for me or not, and this is definitely a personal 'buy on discount' title. As a stand-alone game, it's servicable. The settings are gorgeous, the character models fluctuate between stellar and plastic-looking, the level designs and puzzles are boring but functional, combat looks very hack'n'slash even as a mage, the companions are okay for the most part, most of the quests I've seen don't interest me, and the writing often reminds me of how I have to talk to people at work (old folk with dementia, alzheimers, etc.). Overall, a game I would've passed on as not my cuppa. As a DA game, though, it's a stripped-back, lackluster almost-reboot. I've seen so many positive reviews saying how it's kept the gritty, dark fantasy image of DAO and DA2 (and a little DAI), but I honestly don't see it. I'm not talking about the colour palette, either. One of my first and favourite DAO mods makes the game almost as vibrantly coloured as DAI, but even with only that single mod installed, it still _feels_ dark. The creatures, from demons and darkspawn to the blightwolves and sylvans, and all those bloody spiders, stood out even more as _off._ The alienage, despite being more colourful, was still a place of living decay. Decisions made actually felt like they carried weight. I could take too long to get somwhere, or do something to upset companions to the point of them trying to kill me, regardless of how good our relationship was. Hell, I could _upset_ companions. In this game? Apparently I can make them feel mildy inconvenienced at best, and vice versa. Nothing feels like it _matters_ until the finale, and by that point why should I care? People enjoy this game, and that's great. Game's are meant to be enjoyed, and for those people it's done it's job. I'm just sad that, after all this time, I can't enjoy it, too.
@@kipral yes unfortunately it just seems like it was made for a different audience. They went for the god of war approach. It’s quick, fast, even the notes you pick up are short. Yellow flash block. Red dodge. It’s so different from what someone expects from an RPG or previous DA games. I think both takes of “it’s the worst game ever” or “best game ever” are both wrong. It’s a decent game, for a different audience. But for fans of RPGs and previous DA games, it most likely will disappoint. It’s a shame for them I feel.
I played all the Dragon Age games, and all the Mass Effect games as well as Baldur's Gate 3. There is something stress relieving in knowing I can't screw up too badly with the games choices. I have no desire to be a murder hobo and have very much enjoyed Veilguard in the same way I really enjoyed the Horizon Zero Dawn games. DEI is happening, needs to happen. 4chan boys, bigots, luddites and other angry types be doing what they do. Being that kind of person is its own punishment. I plan to play and enjoy. Life's too short for all this BS.
That seems like a healthy way to view things: you do you. But I'm not sure DEI needs to happen. I mean, it's an internal workplace policy, not some essential video game design principle. It seems to me like saying the offside rule from football/soccer is necessary in a discussion about paintings... they're not really connected. And I'm a bit of a luddite myself. I think we lost a lot of old-timey values because of technology. For example, patience. I've noticed because of technology people no longer have the patience to engage with anything, like reading a book or paying attention to anything for longer than 10 seconds. People lose their s**t if something takes a few seconds longer.
@@suzanned5859 let me know what you think of the game compared to the previous games! I think if you liked horizon zero dawn you’ll really like this. Honestly, it’s a good game for what it is. At least that’s my opinion. As far as Dei goes, not my place to talk about it.
@@AVVGaming1 I am having a lot of fun in this game and it has trans and non binary characters. Including those characters is incredibly meaningful to a lot of people. I want them to feel included. It may not be my place but I will say it.
I appreciate that you played some of the game before reviewing it. Did you play the other 3 Dragon Age games and if so, which was your favorite and which was Veilguard most like?
@@VivaCubaRoja it’s most similar to Inquisition but even then it’s so different I just consider it a completely separate game. It’s more god of war than anything else I’d say. My favourite was the OG! Origins!
@@AVVGaming1Origins was my favorite as well. Reading some of the reviews of Veilguard has been strange. Some say best Dragon Age ever, some worst game ever. Some said great combat, bad story, others the opposite. I suppose this is one I'll have to check out for myself.
@ I know! I’ve seen the reviews and it’s mental! Some dragon fans say it’s the best one of the series, others throw up at the site of it. I can tell you the writing is tame, but not as bad as everhone is saying. I would honestly say to get it on physical copy if you can, test it, and if you don’t like it you can sell it online and get a good amount back!
Sounds like a good idea. Increasingly I prefer to buy physical copies of games so the online marketplaces can't decide that they're taking games down. Once or twice, I've had games that I purchased on X-Box Marketplace taken down. I'd delete the game to make space on the hard drive only to find out that I couldn't redownload it, even though it was already purchased. @@AVVGaming1
Nice to see a neutral take, but im durprised you would call this game good. Im a long time dragon age fan and having seen the gameplay mechanics i wouldnt consider it worth playing.
@@mistakai4226 thank you! I mean a good game if you like these type of games! If you don’t like fast paced action games, it ain’t good lol. But if you love god of war, you’ll love this. As far as its graphics and gameplay it’s crisp, it plays well. Again, it’s a good for what it is. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good RPG.
@AVVGaming1 it just seems like it has all of the depth and enemy variety of Hogwarts legacy without the Harry Potter nostalgia and open world to carry the weight of such a simplistic combat experience.
"different tone, different writing, different look, different feel, just completely unrecognizable". I mean, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Just look at the God of War reboot, reinvigorating a series that had turned stale and needed refreshment. Now the series is more popular than ever.
@@Komona totally agree! It’s not worse, it’s different. If you love action and god of war you’ll love this game. If you like slow paced turn based RPGs you won’t. It’s all down to what you like. It’s different to what people are used to with the DA series (according to fans I asked) and I just wanted to explain why some people didn’t like it, when poltics aren’t involved as the reason
@@AVVGaming1 I know, you had a really good take at it. I've seen so many go "it's different, therefore it sucks per definition!", though, which is just so tiresome.
@@AVVGaming1 there is a huge difference and that is that the god of war saga was already over, the new god of war is a soft reboot that already tells a new story, new mythology and therefore new things are explored. Veilguard is a direct sequel to the previous games, which at the same time tries to be a soft reboot by trying to get rid of all the past.
Wokeness as a catch-all term has really made a shitshow for discussion for both “sides” of the issue. On the one hand, you get this rubberbanding of people who will literally call anything woke as an overreaction to dry, forced, “safe” corporate approaches to diversity in games like the infamous PRONOUNS guy but you’ll also see game devs and journalists use people like him as scapegoats to avoid genuine criticisms of what is more likely an issue with bad writing. It gets pretty tiring seeing how prevalent overreactions have become and it creates a negative feedback loop for both parties that seems to ironically make both prophecies self-fulfilling. Just another issue that has self-polarized in the entertainment world, I suppose. Edit: I should add for the end that while I generally agree with what you said, I think it gives a little bit too much leeway to the “anti woke” crowd in the sense that this kind of approach can end up being very restrictive on what kind of storytelling games are actually capable of doing, mostly because when we are talking about “culture wars,” keeping politics out of games and game narratives can actually be pretty difficult as mountains can be made from molehills and almost anything can be made into a political issue. In this case it’s a pretty clear example of club-fisted writing, beating you with pronoun correction where it’s unnecessary and can come off as “finger wagging,” but bowing down too much to a reactionary crowd is only going to further lead to the sterilization of game narratives in the grander scheme.
You know what? I agree with everything you say! I would love to do a video on this topic one day but man the reaction that I have see online to this game…wow. Honestly, I saw the reaction and I couldn’t go a second on UA-cam without seeing a nasty video. It’s almost like common sense, middle grounded people can’t get a word in. You’re either all in one way or the other. When in reality both sides are probably wrong and need to meet halfway. Anyway, I promised myself I won’t do another video on this topic as it just divided people so much.
70% of the criticisms come from the game being woke, 20% because it's different from the first 3 games, and 10% because the writing and dialogue are shit. Only reason I'm playing is because of the decent combat, although I hear that even that becomes repetitive because of lack of enemy variety.
I agree with you with most of your points except with the inclusion of politics makes the game divisive. BG3 is as inclusive if not more inclusive than DAV and it did not face this level of backlash. DAO had one of the 1st non binary characters (Shale) and had homosexual relationships even before gay marriage was legal in the US and the game is considered an RPG masterpiece. The inclusivity was handled and written much better in those games it did not feel forced upon the player.
@@ArturoGonzalez-st7xj you see its stuff like this that confuses me! Why is everyone reacting like this then? lol I honestly thought I remembered that in dragon age but then doubted myself because of the reaction online lol and I agree with bg3 didn’t get as much backlash, neither did cyberpunk, like I honestly can’t figure out why this game has received such a strong response. It must just be the writing right? I mean it does seem to out of the blue and using real life words and labels? It’s just almost like nothing to do with the games world and lore and more just thrown in there to make a point.
Thank you for what I feel is a good, and honest review. I have lost faith in quite a few UA-camrs after their reviews of this, so thank you for this. Most disappointed with MrMattyPlays and SkillUp. Their reviews did not feel honest, and more like an attack on Bioware/EA because they didn't get preferential treatment. I have always trusted them before, but trust is hard to gain and easy to lose, so goodbye to them. I enjoyed the game, but I am not a fan of the politics.
For a disposable light action RPG with romance sim overtones, it's about a 6/10. For a Dragon Age game - or even a CRPG, it's about a 4/10. It's "fair". Its' "fine". It's "flashy". it's not "great" or even "very good".
I found Mortismal’s review to be totally worthless this time round because he has a massive recency bias. He only reviewed the DA trilogy in 2021, and it can basically be summed up as this: ‘Dragon Age Origins is too old and too hard. 2 is better than 1 and Inquisition is better than the other 2’ - so of course he’d consider the non RPG action game DA:V with its shiny colours and fancy looking corridor/arena gameplay. This game spent 6 of its 10 years development as a live service multiplayer. That’s why the game has launch mission screens, that’s why it has loot chests, that’s why the Bot NPC.. sorry… I mean ‘companions’ bark like Bot party filler NPC’s.
To be honest, that actually makes a lot of sense! It plays like that a bit and when I’m like dodging and fighting and then shoot my bow rapidly, I do think of multiplayer. It’s definitely a weird one and if you liked the tactical rpg of the previous games, this is totally different. I think fans are extremely upset because it’s not their game and is just using their games name. I’m not a huge follower of dragon age but I’m gonna play them after this again to see!
In Dragon Age Inquisition 2014- Krem, who is an individual in Bull's Chargers, is a trans individual. In fact Bull lost his eye fighting in defence of Krem. Bull was poly and into BDSM; people loved getting into relationships with him. Also, Dorian, who is gay, was exiled from his family because he was different. His father used blood magic to try to make him marry a woman. He meets his father with the Inquisitor to face his father in a painful reunion. It isn't trauma dumping it is character development and brings a multi-faceted character to life. The other Dragon Age games: Origins, DA2, Inquisition all had -sensitive- material within the story. It is not unusual for Bioware/EA to address human diversities in their games. IE: Mass Effect Steve Cortez, is homosexual and his husband dies. It feels like to me, that the political unrest around the election is causing much of this backlash. It is just common sense that when someone is transitioning, and you knew them as one pronoun and they've expressed they would rather be known as another, hear them. Yes, this requires us to have personal growth and respect for another's lifestyle and decisions. Our children have to live in a political climate that is not only dangerous but backward thinking. If you don't learn from mistakes, you will repeat them and hate crimes still exist; regretfully so does suicide. Remember, King James of King James Bible, which is in a lot of homes was in love with a man; had at least three romantic relationships with men and was married to a woman.
At the point when they said no previous choices would carry over into this game, is precisely when it stopped being a Dragon Age Game, when I lost all interest in playing it, and lost any respect for the dev team behind it. All of their 'reasons' were excuses and cop outs. "Because it's in a different part of the world, because time has passed, because previously it was only minor changes or codex entries... Blahblahblah." All of those were reasons they could have picked the choices that would be most impactful and really dig into them. But they chose the route of no effort & discarded everything. Why even bother bringing back returning characters that can't have any history? If they wanted a clean slate, they should have time jumped 100 years in the future, and said Solas succeeded; make a new game in that world instead. When they changed the name from DreadWolf, told me Solas was being sidelined. The single greatest plot hook, a companion from the prior game revealed to be a mythical & mysterious powerful being, and the main antagonist? It was such a great concept. Of course we would have new companions too, and grow to love them, hopefully, but to have that threat driving the narrative was so compelling. And they squandered it for a lesser story. The character design looks terrible. The dialouge is unbearable. The faces are tired. The protagonist is... Just boring.. Especially after DAI put so much into letting you really define your Inquisitor's personality. This is an embarrassment. I look at the scene where the team is sitting around the table debriefing after a mission to save the world, talking about how bad the situation is... And they're all sitting casually like at a book club..? Where is the gravitas, the urgency? I see the scene where Tash comes out to their mother, and the mom is genuinely trying to understand them and use a label she is familiar with, but importantly is TRYING to understand.. And it's written as that being the wrong response? Or the Barve apology.? A simple apology is not good enough for a slip of the tongue? Or a drawn out apology is all about YOU.. So instead some performative bullshit song & dance is needed? This is the lesson they want us to take away? They push trans people so far into the "Other" category by raising the stakes of every social encounter like this. And why is Tash so silent in that scene? Everyone else is talking for them. It's so bizarre and written from a standpoint of self-righteousness. The term Non-binary makes no sense in a fantasy world. Full stop. It just brings up the idea of computers and coding. They made up a qunari word for Transgender, they could have made a new term for that one too. I do think it's important to have trans characters in games. Because most people may not encounter any trans people, and will take their queues from media. It's important to NORMALIZE them, not IDEOLIZE them on a pedestal, and teach everyone to tiptoe around them and be afraid of every interaction like it's booby-trapped to call them a bigot. Krem was a great example. Anyway, the game looks completely unappealing to me, story-wise & on the writing, and I never come to Dragon Age for the gameplay, but it looks to spongey and fillery. So pass. Sucks, because I loved this franchise.
@@Keyatzin yes I think those decisions like no bringing over the previous game decisions etc reflected on what they’re doing. Basically, forget the old games, the old fans, this is a new game for new fans. That’s how I would see it if I was a massive dragon age fan. I’m sorry this happened to a franchise you love, it just be tough to see.
@@AVVGaming1 thanks, dude. Your video was fair. So many are beating this thing to death as a Woke/AntiWoke war. Both sides are annoying, they deserve each other. Basically to me, it's like the Star Wars sequel trilogy.. So disappointing, I wish they would've left it alone. When everyone is waiting for so long for the story to continue, there's only one chance to get it right. It's not just upsetting, it's a visceral response, these stories mattered to a lot of people, and now it's just a pit in the stomach for the wasted potential of what could've been.. EA never understood Dragon Age, they wanted to be more like.. Anything/everything else.. Even though it always out-sold Mass Effect.. Pfft
You absolutely nailed it! Im very much enjoying the game btw.. but not gonna lie n pretend it doesnt hurt that the dark gritty fantasy rpg i loved is dead.
It's just very different is all! I think a lot of Dragon Age fans and RPG fans will be disappointed. But I have played it for a while and enjoyed it. It ain't my favourite game ever or my GOTY, but I understand why some people are upset.
As a teacher I feel like the dialogue is getting more simplistic in most media because the younger audience cannot read and have very limited vocabulary. I mean I have to dumb down everything we read in my high school class because the seniors are reading at a 6th grade or lower level. So if you want to entertain the younger generations the dialogue has to be simple.
Most certainly and with the rise of social platforms like tik tok, game studios know they can’t have conversations that last too long. It’s like in some RPGs you can find a book and read it and it’s quite long. In this game, a book will be about 20 words long maximum. And that is clearly by design and the conversations flow quickly. It leads to a lack of depth, but they know if they make it longer people won’t hear it.
Why not teach them, instead? I learned English from video games. But of course you'd need good genes for that, and the gene pool in the US changed too much in the last 60 years, and not for the better.
I think you are right about most things you said. One exception (for me) is that I think if this game was any other random game, instead of DA, it would have gone full Concord. The reason it has even the 80k players on Steam now is because its was a very bellowed IP with a lot of hype behind it. I agree, the game itself was not bad. Sure, they f'd up A LOT of things, writing, 3 previous game choices, the look, the feel, its all not DA or just plain bad. As soon as they put THAT much woke garbage in the game, and even started talking down to the consumer ? They were dead in the water no matter which IP it was. And as stated, they made these choices, they chose their fanatical view over money. Let their preferred player base save them from closure.
@@easycake3251 you’re right. If they didn’t use the IP, they wouldn’t have got as much funding or sales so the game wouldn’t exist probably. As for the dei stuff, I just don’t know why they put that scene in. It’s honestly 0.01% of the game, but man is it a strong 0.01% lol. It uses real life vocabulary, it clearly makes a point and now look what’s happened. I mean it’s their game and they can do what they want but after games like tlou2 went through all that, you’d assume they’d be more aware of it etc. but hey they can do as they like but it’s definitely hurt their sales
Im not going to buy this game and not because of the controversy. I loved origins and 2 but couldn’t get into inquisition (might give it a try again) and so many years have past and I’m just not interested in the story anymore.
That’s what I’ve heard! It’s crazy because inquisition won game of the year but a lot of dragon age fans just didn’t like it. Plus 10 years is a long time to go without a game.
@@AVVGaming1 it’s not like I didn’t like it I think the game scared me away because it was more open world then the last two also my Xbox kinda died on me😂
Thank you for an honest nuanced review, I also have never seen a game receive so much hatred, its unbelievable, the reviews on steam are mostly positive.
@@shanejones8192 thank you! I just wanted to do a level headed take on it without getting drawn into the other stuff. I know it’s a hot topic, but I’m here to play a game. I’ve leave the other stuff to people who enjoy talking about those topics.
Except, it turns out that making games, “safe,” is actually the most unsafe decision a games studio (or their publisher) can make. I have only watched the playthroughs of others, but I’ve seen enough. As to the scene that divides so many people, I don’t care about the topic, but I do care about the way it was handled. Whether their cause is right or wrong is not the issue. It is vaguely sinister to lecture gamers about what to think, rather than encouraging them to think. And I would ask them if they expect elderly or disabled folk to do ten pushups when they misgender someone? Or do they find that method of dealing with conflict somewhat arbitrary and failing to address any real issues at all? Especially since the character explaining it only actually does four or five pushups herself, and thus only seems to half care?
@@ashroskell someone said it best when you make a game for everyone you make it for no one. Honestly, that whole scene with the push ups, forget the actual concept, it’s just plain bad writing. They should have really sat down and redone it. It is a serious topic, and a hotly debated one, so it really needed to be handled with care. It looks like they wrote it in 5 seconds lol
@ : Well, exactly. Even an English teacher would take little Timmy to one side and say, “We need to talk about that, ‘Show me you mean it, do ten pushups,’ scene.” That’s such a warped notion of conflict resolution which I suspect has more to do with power dynamics and punishment than any actual resolution. It’s flat out degrading. I do so hate when there seems to be either no quality control or a stunningly insulting attitude toward audience intelligence.
Given how many franchises that I love have been ruined (or changed so much they aren't even the same anymore), I just skip any game that feels like it was written by activists. I want actual writers back. I want immersive worlds back. I want good stories back. And they are enough games with those that I can skip games like Veilguard without caring at all, despite my love for the franchise and its world. I just want the game to fail so that it hopefully goes back to what I loved as a DA fan. It worked for other franchises like Resident Evil, so here's hoping.
@@JinzoTK have you played xenoblade chronicles 3? One of the best written games I’ve played recently! I laughed and cried during that game. There are still great stories out there but it’s been lacking recently. especially from American AAA game studios who just seem to go for this safe plane and boring approach
@@AVVGaming1 I have vaguely heard of it but never bothered to look further into it. I don't own a Nintendo Switch and I believe that is the only platform its on right? Right now, I game exclusively on PC.
I agree on much of what you said, but saying that failed because it has politics is not correct. DA always had politics, like the racism against elf or the extreme clasism of the dwarfs. The difference is that it was well written, while the non-binary thing is just pathetic, it's just a delusion that only is used in certain academic and social organization but has no mainstream appeal at all. And also we have to point out that, just as corporation like EA cultivated a wave of hate against them, there is also an entire movement of online haters who go around shitting on everything for any excuse just to get views on youtube. Remember that this people did the same with BG3, saying Larian was going woke and pushing DEI, only for them to dissapear once the game was a massive success.
I think that's the saddest part. Is that I have seen videos of people smashing this game, clickbait thumbnails etc. and it's clear they haven't played it. It's sad to see. I am all for criticism of the game but a lot of it is just to get the views. Like I saw one video where a guy was saying how bad it is, (small youtube channel) and just yesterday he did 6 videos on it. It's clear that hate sells as well so if I changed the tone to be less neutral and more aggressive, it might get more views. But is that fair? Not really! As for everything else you said, I completely agree with you. It's a case of very bad writing, very simple writing. I think whoever wrote the game, has not played the originals and does not watch the same things as people who play RPGs. They write like they play mobile games. It's all very strange really.
@@AVVGaming1 Business become corporation, they start getting investors, those investors expect money in return, games have to sell more, they need to appeal to a bigger audience, they change the tone and aesthetic of the game (also gameplay) and start cutting corners to save development money to invest more on marketing (less choices, more linear games and safer writing), etc. At first it works, Inquisition sold like crazy, but this works in the short term, eventually games became the same, more predictable and, overall, more boring. This situation is prevalent in all AAA industry and it started literally killing companies like Ubisoft. Bioware tried to go save in order to secure sales, but only managed to piss their fans and not get as many sales as they expected. To be fair, Cyberpunk (after it was fixed) and BG3 have changed gaming and expectations changed in the last 2-3 years, and now we are not going to put up with corporate bullshit anymore. If they want to introduce things like non-binary stuff, they will have to execute it well, and the overall writing will have to be good for us to accept them again. Equally, we also have to fight against the online grifters who make money out of going after any game that is considered "woke" at any time. They don't criticize, they just create a wave of hate that only manages to alienate everybody else and prevents developers from improving (South Park explained that perfectly in their Disney especial). And grifters are happy with developers failing, because that means they have content for their channels.
It really reminds me of how people felt about fallout 4 back in 2015. The game was great, but it was not a good fallout game so they weren't happy with the game. Sad that bioware couldn't learn from other's mistakes even a decade later
@@FakeAdirTV I’d say it’s very comparable! It’s the exact same thing! It’s so strange because it’s a dragon age game, and my review is basically, dragon age fans probably won’t like but non dragon age fans will like it lol
There's some rosy memory happening here. I'll give you that the games are different, I personally haven't enjoyed any of them as much as the first, but to imply that the first was this harsh and "realistic" dark fantasy masterpiece is untrue. There was plenty of goofiness, eyeroll inducing writing, and tropey fantasy cliche. Origins was good, but no less flawed and I think you're giving it too much credit.
Honestly it’s been so long since I played them and I what I tried to do in this video, and probably failed, is try to explain why people reacted the way they did. A lot of dragon age fans are saying “this isn’t a dragon age game” and hate it. Then you got some UA-camrs saying it’s great. Then you got the whole DEI thing. I guess I’m just trying to explain why it’s so divisive whilst also trying to stay out of whole politics thing if possible..which I have found out is now impossible lol
@@AVVGaming1 I appreciate the reply and the video. I would like to say this on the "politics/DEI" portion of this. It's only "politics" for some people. For me, for a lot of people who are the "DEI"s of the world, it's just being alive. I understand you're uncomfortable about giving an opinion, but at the same time it really feels like a lifeline when we're considered as people who are impacted by this and not a weight on the conversation one way or the other. I can also tell you, no one likes a hackneyed attempted at being shoveled into something. Throwing in a jank, "We love the NON-BINARIES and the BLACKS ;)" into dialogue, out of nowhere can feel almost as bad as not even being included. Just wanted to add that in. Other than that, I get you entirely. It's -- for me at least -- a pointlessly thorny subject. I look at it like I look at the Netflix GitS reboot. It's just not my thing. Happy for the folks that like it, and at the same time, I can't piss on it like it's bad. It's just not my thing.
@ that’s fantastic feedback! So you’re saying, if you’re gonna mention the subject, you should give your thoughts and just stand by it? And I do agree with what you’re saying about it being force fed to people
@AVVGaming1 Yeah, better to have an opinion and live with the consequences. Unless I - or anyone else for that matter - know how you genuinely feel on a topic, I can't really engage with you. So, be honest, say how you feel and that you're open to hear from people on the topic. I won't lie, folks can be cruel, disingenuous, and vicious when you express your understanding on a decisive topic -- I'm sure you're seeing that in real time with Veilguard -- but without that openness and honesty, we can't move the conversation forward. (Last little point on DEI below) We all want spaces in the narratives we play, and it's frustrating when it feels like someone has maliciously excluded you or cynically included you. The important word there is FEELS though!
Thank you for making this video, making everything clear for EVERYONE TO SEE. I hope this vid becomes popular. Its so ironic that they made the game for "everyone" And yet its not popular. Nice one EA/BW very smart Just finished the vid, tbh, VG advertised itself as an rpg, and it failed to deliver that, I cant call it a good game just because the gameplay is fun and the environment graphics is pretty. I have to judge it for what it is, an RPG game and it failed to deliver that. I also think thats how people should judge the game, judge it for what it is, i cant give this game a rate higher than 6 tbh even on the lense of a casual rpg fan SPECIALLY since BG 3 exists in our current timeline. Anything higher would lower the standards how I view RPG games.
Yes and that’s exactly what it is! If you said “I want an action combat game like good of war “ you’d probably give this a 9/10. But as it is an rpg, it will be compared to other decision making RPGs and previous DA games. So it will not be ranked as high as compared to those ones, it doesn’t do a lot of things as good. It’ll be interesting where people rank it once the dust settles. I wish they hadn’t put the poltics in as it has taken the conversation away from the actual gameplay! But that’s EA and BioWare’s decision. When they were making the game I bet they started crying when they saw bg3 drop lol
This is what I am saying! I saw the first trailer and honestly, the game is exactly what I thought it would be! It's American, it's "quirky" and pixary. It's LAUGH NOW jokes lol like a Geico Commerical. I am honestly shocked so many people are shocked by how the game is! I honestly think the trailer captured everything it would be perfectly lol
@@DebiDalio thank you very much! I wanted to make the video to sort of explain all the reactions online from a neutral perspective and try to make sense of all the drama!
Politics is about the nature and mechanics of power, and this game has zero political commentary. What it has is social commentary of the most shallow variety. Veilguard/Dreadwolf should have been highly political, as it is set in Tevinter, an empire, and Solas wanted to revive an elven empire - but alas modern developers avoid politics like the plague.
I mean I love politics in video games like Witcher 3! With the wars and the people it affects. This game clearly wrote that one character as a teenager character. The sense of humour, the lines delivered, it's stuff a 13 year old would enjoy (maybe) and they really missed the opportunity to deliver something compelling with it. It's all just very basic writing.
For me the game play changes were fine. I don't mind exploring something different and it's fun enough although much simpler than previous games. For me it's been the writing. The characters don't feel as real and I have a hard time feeling immersed. The dialog pulls me out frequently with things that just feel out of place and more for entertainment than world building. There seems to be a loss for so much of the past lore and consequences of action that made the past series so much more enthralling.
Yeah they’ve definitely written it to be more shallow and less in depth. It’s written for all ages and all levels of intelligence. I noticed characters talk quick too, like short sentences and the notes you can pick up around are no more than a few sentences. I think they did this to make it easy for young people to enjoy it. The cost of doing that is immersion and depth in writing. KCD2 drops next year though!
Great video, I agree with almost everything you said. I hate when companies inject modern dayisms into games, but so far, I've been really loving this gave. Most of the criticisms I've heard are valid. The writing does feel very safe. It has a Pixar look and feel to it, etc. But even with those issues, I'm very much enjoying the game
@@scientistsalarian480 yeah that’s my opinion too. It’s just different right? If I compare it to say BG3, its decision making isn’t as in depth, but it succeeds in other areas. I think I’m just sad because the game is fun BUT by adding those two scenes in, the whole internet is arguing about the political side of it. As a result they’re not talking about the game. Some people just dislike it without even playing it because if this and that is a shame to see. Imagine an alternate reality where they decided not to put the modern dayisms into this game, what would people be saying then?
@@creatorsfreedom6734 I am in no position to tell anyone what their child should/shouldn’t do or what media they should watch. It’s down to the parents to make that decision after doing thorough research.
So, this is going to have to be broken up as I stop the video to type... 1) It's just not the same as before. Welcome to how the OG Fallout fans felt when Bethesda bought the IP and made Fallout 3, turning the game from isometric top down to first person shooter combat. Or how Fallout fans watched Fallout 4 dumb down the skills and dialogue to push gunplay mechanics. Compare the original God of War with what is out now. Bioware isn't the first studio to take what once made their game unique and change it into something new, torking fans in the process. 2) They inserted politics. Go back to Dragon Age: Origins and tell me there aren't societal issues tackled in that game. So, in this regard, Bioware and Veilguard are actually being true to its roots and prior games. The difference? Well, first, are the actual issues tackled in the game themselves. Times changed and so did the issues. Second, is that back then nobody really cared. They were there to play the game, not pick at every nuance in it. 3) The writing is different; it was darker before; themes shocked the player. Yeah. Gaming evolved from what it started as to what it became when games like Dragon Age were made to what it is now. Times change and the games changed with it. Dragon Age isn't alone here, nor, are the fans. As AVV Gaming states, it is written for the largest audience to attract as many sales as possible. Again, look at Fallout, God of War, etc. 4) Combat is different. See above. Gaming changed. Mechanics changed from one type to the next as one fell out of favor for new styles that became popular. I played turn-based, then RTS was popular, then FPS, then souls-like dodge fests. Established IPs have simply moved from what was popular when it released to what was popular by the time the fourth game released. 5) Choices are an illusion. Yep. Fallout to Fallout 4. Morrowind to Starfield. Older games had deeper RPG dialogues and choices. Games today? No. It's just a choice made that makes little to no difference. I've heard some actual good criticisms of the game like that the character creation isn't broad enough. But the wide range of reviews? That's due to the audience. Long time fans of the original likely don't like it while new fans, this is their first introduction to Dragon Age, do like it. It's Fallout all over again where Fallout 3 divided the fanbase into two distinct groups; the old and the new fans.
I love this comment! This is exactly what I wanted to say and you’ve put it so eloquently. I felt the same when fallout 4 came out and have discussed it a few times. It’s been seen to happen so many times and its a cycle that will always continue as when it comes to chasing profit, these changes will come with it. I’ve looked at reviews online and it’s so divisive that a lot of them don’t actually tell the truth. I’ve seen it happen with so many games that they change the writing, combat etc and you know what generally happens? It sells well! And that’s what their goal is. There will always be amazing games made by indie companies and others but I think when it comes to a “tripe a reboot” title we shouldn’t be surprised by these type of games. I love this comment! Spot on!
@@AVVGaming1 As you can tell by my comment, I'm from the OGG (Original Gaming Generation) having played PONG in '76 when it came out on home console that Christmas. I've watched gaming evolve from text based games (ZORK), to platformers, to beat-em-up side scrollers, to RPGs, MMOs, FP shooters, etc. I played Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2 when they released, watched how Inquisition made changes to the more action style combat, and am not surprised with Veilguard one bit. Things change. Gaming evolves. New trends spark a wave that many games try to ride regardless of the IP or its roots. So yeah, when I saw you had put this video out I wanted to check it out and yeah, you got it right. GJ man.
@@mgass1354 It is fascinating and frustrating to see how many fans of an IP are resistant to change. I see it happening across all the franchises I follow and personally it's driving me nuts. More of something I like will always be better than nothing. Maybe I've just matured on the subject of art, adaptation, and renewal. Bearing a few cases of lost media nothing old is lost. And if the new direction an IP takes is not your cup of tea it is okay to put it down and try new things. On a side note: people looking for politics free fantasy do not understand the genre.
@@Heidelmann Preach it. Will I buy and play Veilguard? No. I wasn't that into Inquisition because it was too much of a departure from Origins for me. I was happy when Larian made BG3 even though I've never gotten past the first act. I bought it to support the studio because they were actually making a good game. I just looked elsewhere and stumbled upon a small indie game called Stray Gods. 5 hrs long. $30 at launch. I don't regret one dollar I spent for it. Is a role-play musical for everyone? No. It was totally my cup of tea.
@@mgass1354 Stray Gods, is on my to play list. I'm glad you liked it. This may be a coincidence but David Gaider made Stray Gods. You know, lead writer on Dragon Age Origins, David Gaider.
16:41 THIS. SO MUCH THIS. If you want to bring real-life issues to the game, you have to craft it into the world & the lore, make it more immersive. Tackle it with subtlety and nuance. With maturity. Oy vey. 😮💨
@@RealKeetz exactly! And the way this is done is just almost lazy. As soon as you hear “non binary” it’s like that’s a real life word! It’s almost like them speaking about travelling and they say “Uber “ it doesn’t fit the world and breaks immersion. I don’t mind them tackling the issue but you gotta be smart about it and this was not in my opinion
It's rather simple. I would have bought it solely for the reputation the name "Dragon Age" earned, expecting a Dragon Age game. Since this is not the case, my intentions to buy it already dropped severely. The new graphic style, lack of tactical combat and subpar writing are a deterrent as well. Having characters preach to me political stuff and on top of it in such a lazy ass written way is another negative point. What's left is a slightly better than mediocre action RPG - and why would I buy this, if there are so many that much better options. With the accumulation of all you mentioned, there is just not enough left, to keep me interessted. Not even to play it for free, since, as I said, there are so many other, better options.
I think the most upset will be the one's who like the Dragon Age series. Like this game is not for them. This game is for a "modern audience" and that has never to do with the political aspect. I mean, it's quick, it moves fast, it's action non-stop, writing is not just shallow, but basic. You never need to think. It was written for a new crowd to get people into the series at the sacrifice of existing fans. It's sad to see, but they are not the first studio do this and they won't be the last!
Interesting that I've also seen reviews that state that there are technical issues with it which this reviewer didn't see. Makes me wonder about how sensitive it is to one's particular rig.
It is. I've noticed this with other games. People complaining about issues/bugs/etc. and me, not encountering any of that. And it's not like I have some supercomputer, I seem to have got lucky.
@@Lee-vk1xy I’m playing on ps5 and haven’t seen one bug yet after 30 hours or frame rate dip etc. the voice acting is fine the only complaint i have technically is that the NPCs look weird and their facial movement is very fixed. It reminds me of assassins creed Valhalla. Besides that no crashes or anything. Those facial animations need some work though! But I feel like that’s a big problem in many games from AAA American studios at the moment!
@@AVVGaming1 I tend to think of rig associated issues as more of a PC gaming thing than a console one. Mostly because I've had almost no experience with console games. Thanks for the rundown on the ps5 though it's good to hear that they got that right.
Politics are fine as long as it fits the world. Final Fantasy 12 is pretty much entirely political but it’s within the world and very natural. The stuff I e seen from this Dragon Age seems so forced.
So I’ve played it for over 50 hours and it’s literally just one character right. It’s maybe like 4 scenes in the whole game. About 0.1% of the whole game. So, no problem rihht? Well, it’s written so bad that it actually is a huge problem lol. It’s so in your face and obvious that it’s lead to this reaction. I would not be bothered if it was written into the lore but it’s the only part of the game that is evidently written from real world
Haha honestly it was very sad! She got me thinking I would be grateful so I googled reviews immediately infront of her. She started tearing up seeing all the negative response thinking she'd wasted her money. I was like "no babe! I am sure I will like it!" Honestly, it's the thought that counts and it's nice she thinks of me lol. However, she refuses to try Fallout New Vegas so that's got me thinking...lol
The way something is political also matters. Dragon age has always had political topics, but the way they handled them weren’t through discussions but by showing different societies and scenarios, like the caste system of the dwarves. Even trans identities were handled better in Inquisition, where a trans man joined the fascistic system of the Qun, because it locks people into an identity based on the role they play in society. The paradox of joining a belief system with less freedom, to feel free to be yourself is interesting. That plotline is also missable, if you don’t try to get to know people in your camp. There’s also the difference in approach to politics, where the original approach was that gender didn’t matter in Ferelden, so the game could show a world without mundane social norms of our time. These aren’t the points others are making though.
About to end Act 1 in DAVG. Overall? Those who like Solas will get the most out of it. They should have just imported Iron Bull to replace a certain character. But really? If they want to experiment like they did? It should have been a side entry to the series. + should have connected more with Inq. Just my pov. Also I didn't pay for it. It was gifted to me by family. + not super invested in Dragon Age. Was fine with DAII. Never managed to finish DAI. Edit: DA Origins did have the most complete overall story and dlcs.
I thought this was going to be another divisive snowflake take from one of the many butthurt sides. It's actually a very detailed thoughtful evenhanded overview of where we are in modern gaming and more importantly discussion on the arc of DA games. Well done.
Thank you! That is what I was trying to go for. I honestly don't like either side the "game is worst ever!" or "best game ever" side. I just wanted to do a neutral analysis on the situation. Like take a step back, breathe, and really look at it lol
I'm tired of the anti DEI crowds. I'm not even sure why anyone would want inequality and exclusion, but sure, why not. I'm baffled by the idea of people rating a whole game on one cutscene, before the game is even out. I mean sure, this may make you don't to play it for "reasons" but don't trash a game you don't have a broad view on. I myself, won't play it because it is far too different from the older dragon age games... I am an old fan and even if I can appreciate a good ARPG for what it is, I know seeing weak RP and simplistic scenario in my Dragon Age will hurt my soul. So I'll pass on this one.
Yes and that’s the point I tried to make. To be honest, I’m tired of the DEI stuff too. It actually makes me upset seeing what people say and it’s like come on, surely we can move past this now? It’s been so long. But I honestly felt like this game is not for RPG fans. It’s like an action linear fast paced game. As a huge RPG fan myself I didn’t finish it. I put in about 50 hours and I will finish it, but it wears you down. It’s very repetitive and after a while you get tired of it. The story is not strong enough to keep you invested you know what I mean?
Yes I’ve seen that a lot too! I honestly just think BioWare have lost a lot of their talent over the years. At this point, they’re nothing like their past selves and clearly never will be. It’s a shame but it always happens.
Yes me too! I get it. A lot of people are very upset about it because it's very different to what they wanted. It won't be the first or the last. As long as you enjoy it, that's the main thing.
>make game for all ages, adult and children Bro, this is 18+ game. Other than that, it's not a good a game, it's a mediocre generic slop barely above 'press x to win' approach.
A game for everyone is a game for no one.
It's not a game for chuds, so you're wrong.
@@jakeshootsstuff8187 I believe this statement 100%! If you try to please everyone you’ll please no one.
I haven't played it yet so I don't know how much it comes up in the game but I think the whole identity thing can be summed up with a line from dragon age 2 from Carver
" I don't hate you because you're a mage. I hate you because you won't sh^t up about it"
You can substitute mage with identity and it makes sense here. For years now the topic of identity has been so hotly debated that you just can't get around it, it is tiring to be honest. And I think when it now comes up in a game now even when it's very small and means nothing in the grand scheme of things people will react angrily because people are tired of it. And of course some people will react angrily because they hate everything that has to do with the topic of identity.
And again this is coming from someone who hasn't played the game yet, and it is coming from someone who is part of the LGBTQIA community but is also very tired of the debate around the topic.
I think that’s the thing, it’s like we’re not talking about the game. We can’t anymore. It’s not about how does it play, how is the role playing, now it’s how much of politics are in it? I can tell you now it’s one scene, maybe two. But wow, those two scenes didn’t mess about, they really pushed it and made it very clear what they’re trying to do. Now, EA and BioWare decided to do this and I just can’t see why? They lose half their potential customers because they don’t want this in a game. I looked at the reviews after my wife gave me the game, and I honestly thought “oh god, it must be awful. It must never end with the political side of things.” Then I played it for 40 hour and saw nothing. But by having these scenes, this is what happens. I think a lot of people are tired of the DEI discussion now and it’s a case of “just let us enjoy the game”. Politics should stay outside of games and games should focus on what they should, which is…being a fun game lol
If a community requires half the English alphabet and adds a new letter every year... it's just an excuse to be a deviant.
@@AVVGaming1 Yeah I agree. I do think we are slowly going back to a more center point of view, it's not as heavy handed today as it was a few years back. And I think it's fine if you have a massage for your players and you put it in the game but it has to be subtle.
Basically you can tell people to think but you can't tell them how to think, when you start telling them how to think that's when they turn against you.
We are though, that ain’t great either. Also the narrative and dialogue is a huge part of this franchise. You’re coping.
@@bannedmann4469 You should cope harder.
If you know the problems affecting Hollywood, you'll realize that AAA game development is suffering most if not all of the same problems.
I’ve noticed it’s all AAA American studios and that’s why I mentioned it. Bethesda, Ubisoft etc it’s all very shallow writing, very basic, very short attention span and just lacking any in depth story. Whereas CDPR, Lorian studios etc are the ones providing the more deep games. It’s like American writes for kids and Europe and Japan write for adults at the moment. Strange times!
Not going to buy the game, but respect your review for not attacking your audience. Thumbs up.
Thanks! I don’t really like covering topics that involve politics as it’s just not my scene really. I just wanted to explain to people how a game gets 1 star on one platform and 5 on the other.
@@AVVGaming1 Some reviewers just ignore it entirely or try to say it´s a non issue. Better to address the very clear elephant in the room.
a reasonable comment
"It's a good game" to "It's a fine game" to "It's a decent game". lol
He sounds so forced lol
What kind of 9-10/10 game is both “amazing” and “decent?” I don’t give 5 stars to “fine” or “passing.”
@@WAAAAAAGH so just to confirm, I was not trying to sell the game in this video. It’s not me saying “this game is amazing”. The point I was trying to make is that for an action fast paced god of war type game, it does a decent job. But if you like deep role playing RPGs like BG3, it’s gonna be inferior. I like BG3, Witcher 3 games like that, this is not one of those games lol
@@AVVGaming1 i wasn't trying to imply you were a shill or anything, just thought the continued downward praise was funny
like when a friend says a song is amazing, then when you ask to hear it says its good, then when the 'best part' comes and goes and you still give no reaction they say it's okay
It's a game
If it wasn't called Dragon Age, it would have more positive reviews however it would've sold much much less because nothing is carrying it more than the name/legacy of Dragon Age.
That’s 100% true! And it wouldn’t have had the budget and promotion it did so it wouldn’t exist really. You’re spot on!
@@AVVGaming1 I agree with that. I never would have bought it if it weren't dragon age, and I also returned it.
In 5-10 years there will be no brand names left with positive nostalgia. I’m curious what the next era is.
it is very sad that ALOT of Indie game's go under the radar because the Top Tog review UA-camr's will not talk about those video game's
good example - Rebel Galaxy Outlaw 2020 - FMC - Space ship Combat - Story -
The legacy of Dragon Age? The legacy of a middling fantasy game setting with 3 games that's existed for 20 years and is the exact same thing as every other Tolkien inspired fantasy product? Dragon Age has barely existed as a franchise. No one cares about this lore. It's not LOTR or Game of thrones.
“Why its SO divisive” I just came here to say we know why, it’s not a mystery 😂
Blackrock and other big investors purposely force their game studios to push satanic w0ke agendas to brainwash the gamers. They believe gamers are mostly stupid and more easily brainwashed.
The evil companies want to erode the fabric of society, and that's what the Devil wants. 😈
@@socratese5 yes some people are well aware but I think some people have no idea so I just wanted to cover the topic. I hope I managed to do a good job of summarized img it all.
@@AVVGaming1 i dont agree reason people are so divisive is noy what u 2 are talking.
@socratese5 And your reason is... ?
@@nicknicksiren: the writing is dreadful, lack of meaningful choices, the jump to general audience, not RPG lovers.
Also, the overall design is jarring to many people, reinforcing the Pixar/blockbuster feel of the game, an "action sort of fake RPG" game so far away from Bioware previous entries in the genre.
Is their handling of social issues annoying? Sure. The lecturing tone for sure doesn't help, but it's not the core of the issue.
Thank you for a straightforward, level-headed review.
I agree with your point about the industry shifting, making games designed to appease boards of directors rather than fans. I have no intention of getting this game, not because of politics, but rather after being burned by Mass Effect Andromeda, I no longer have faith in the BioWare name. It's sad, seeing once favored development studios becoming so bland, churning out Disneyfied safe products, rather than fun, engaging gaming experiences.
Thank you mate! That was what I wanted to try and do. Glad you enjoyed it!
@@AVVGaming1 Yes thank you, this was a good, balanced review.
Liked and subbed.
This is basically Andromeda again except they got it working at launch this time. Combat: decent, check. Dialogue: cringe, check.
That's why i dont buy games on release anymore, i wait a few weeks and see what an honest reviewer says, NEVER listen to gaming journalists.
Me too, always.
Exactly. And it's not even what a reviewer says for me as much as me seeing gameplay footage. If I like what I see, I buy, if not, I don't.
@@johnallen7232 and that’s a very strong reason why the gaming world is so toxic now! We’ve been burned SO many times! So many times we’ve been told to buy a game and then be screwed over time and time again. We don’t trust these triple A studios as much as we did. The only person who can decide if a game is good or not is you! As you’re the one who will play it. In this video I have put a lot of gameplay to try to give an idea of what it is. Games need to put out demos now I think.
Any entertainment medium that openly pushes an agenda will be controversial.
Equally controversial is developers calling gamers racists, homophobes, chuds, etc.
I think it depends on how you push such topics. There nothing fundamentally wrong about speaking of gender identity or real-life politics in your game. You just need to understand how to handle it properly and believable within the setting/story without sounding like you preach. For example "LGBTQ+ representation" isn't even something new for Dragon Age series, we had Dorian Pavus in Inqusition that was flamboyantly gay. But it wasn't that big of a deal back then in the community as him being romantically atractive to man is a cornerstone to understand who Pavus truly is and how prejudice within Tevinter's higher society affects people like him.
@@Ocelot835
As other noted, BG3 had these options but they weren't contrived. This appears intentional and that comes across manipulation to players.
@@jfkst1 absolutely spot on!
@@Ocelot835 the whole concept of "non-binary" is laughably stupid and completely devoid of any meaning. Anyone taking it seriously is an obvious activist.
Because today's kid's are literally having their brain rotting from the inside. Veilguard is 8/10 performance, 1/10 writing, 6/10 gameplay. And who the f gives a shit about gameplay or performance if the story is just drivel?
And writing has continued to decline over time as more “triple a” games come out. As I said in the video, in an attempt to satisfy everybody they play it too safe, which means it’s boring.
gameplay absolutely can make up for a nonexistent/nonsensical storyline... Doom would be a great example of that... but dragon age is an entirely different problem altogether they have gone seemingly out of their way to create deeply, weird, unlikable characters that have uncanny kind of inhuman interactions that are just offputting in every single way there is no replay value to this. There's no real depth to it there's absolutely nothing endearing or interesting about the game. ... If it wasn't for inclusion, really nobody would be talking about this game at all
By performance, you mean what exactly?
@@bannedmann4469stuttering, lag, awkward animations. How smooth it runs. What performance has always meant?
@@Green-wd8xz That's not the only thing "performance" can mean. In a game with a lot of voice-acting or motion capture, "performance" can also refer to the artistic performance.
Seems relevant here because the voice acting in the game seems sketchy from some footage and reviews.
"Wokeness" aside (i hate that word), the writing is simply horrendous. I've been spoiled and have seen what they did to legacy. I can't forgive that, it's a disgrace. Lowered my 4/10 to a 2/10.
Not buying because it’s not Dragon Age and there are a ton of great dedicated action games if I want to play something like that
That’s exactly what I said and I hope I represented your feelings well in the video!
@@AVVGaming1 great video with a realistic look at the situation💯
@@trippymartian8847 thank you!
As you say, the point is that EA is using an established IP for marketing, but delivers something completely different. It is as if a street food seller who is known for their hot dog with sauerkraut sold a new product "Sauerkraut Plus" and the "Plus" is vanilla ice cream. EA profits from mislabeling, as their only point is making as much money as possible. Buyer beware. If a huge corporation promises to sell you a great game, wait at least until you see the first playthrough. I could not agree more. Thanks for this review, it is the best I have seen yet.
Thank you very much! I was more trying to explain why people are so divided on it and what causes such division. It’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before!
@@AVVGaming1 fwiw I enjoyed Mortismal's review. I took from it "I love it for what it is. It may not be a good Dragon Age game, it may not be a good roleplaying game, it may have awful writing - but I had fun, it it has great mechanics, so it is my personal game of the year." He showed nicely that it does not make much sense to argue about taste. Oh, sorry, I forgot that we are on the internet. Entirely my fault.
@ haha yeah and because it’s art it will be subjective. And naturally because of the topic it covered as well. I just find it so interesting because of the different perspectives! Like mrmattyplays and mortismal generally like the same games so to hear such different feedback from both was crazy!
@@AVVGaming1
"It’s nothing that I’ve ever seen before!"
Old people like me have seen it; Fallout. When Fallout 3 came out, there were now two distinct fanbases; the OG fans (myself included here) and the new fans.
@@ThomasPBuehner Problem with that is his take suspiciously aligned with the leaked press guides. As many of the reviews, even the steam reviews repeat lines from it. Thats suspicious.
I think a big distinction should be put on "contemporary american politics" vs actual political theory. No one really dislikes MGS or Bioshock being political. Or Mass Effect. What (regular) people dislike is games being another culture war battleground. Game being another big departure from the previous one (again), also didn't help.
Yes I wasn’t sure what word to use to describe the debate side of things of it. I think politics is sort of a blanket statement I used to sort of cover the reaction. The big departure certainly upset a lot of fans! I saw mymattyplays say how upset he was with it and that kind of shows the reaction to it being so different. It doesn’t mean it’s a bad game it’s just different.
@@AVVGaming1 I personally didn't really enjoy the old style, but I have friends who did, and its basically a joke now that every entry reinvents the combat. But to me this seems like the furthest departure so far.
@ yeah I didn’t play the originals enough to really have a say on what’s better or worse. There just different but I would imagine if someone remade Witcher 3 and made it linear I’d be frustrated even if the game was amazing!
@@AVVGaming1 thats just W2 :)
@@husenberg1 haha you’re spot on!
This was very balanced, neutral and objective take on the game
@@Loskenne thank you very much! That was what I wanted to achieve! Really appreciate the feedback.
the more you love something, the more you hate that thing when it doesn't live up to expectations.
@@PGM991 that’s 100% true! And I think sometimes it can’t ever live up to expectations. Like a game from our childhood that changed our lives. No sequel can ever match those memories and will always fall below expectations. Elder scrolls 6 is going through the same thing now!
I’m getting a refund. What a disappointment.
What’s really worrying is that they might do the same thing with the KOTOR remake. I’d be furious if that happened, as KOTOR 1 and 2 are some of the best RPGs ever made.
Great video. I liked how you approached the politics of the game, being as neutral as possible and serving the information but more importantly not attacking any side and actually acknowledging it exist at all. I know that it must have been tough for you to even address the politics so it's appreciated.
@@jjojon7072 thank you so much! This was without a doubt the hardest video I’ve ever had to do and I rewrote the script about ten times. I wanted to achieve exactly what you said. Thank you so much for the kind words!
It's rather fair.
When I consider buying a game, I watch a lot of reviews/gameplays (except gaming journalisms) and then I make a decision. (if I like what I see, i even preorder -examples are Total War Warhammer, Anno 1800).
Now, I've been a fan of Dragon Age for more than 10 years, and waited this game anxiously. What I've seen is disappointing: I don't like the oversimplified combat, I don't like the cartoony art style, and the dialogues are horrible and feel artificial. They butchered the Qunari appearance, previous choices in DA:I almost don't matter and so on.
Regarding the Taash scenes, I'd have prefer Bioware to handle it in a different way. In Dragon Age Inquisition we had a trans (Krem), but the dialogues were well-written and had a nice quest.
Then I'm told by people in Dragon Age community I shouldn't criticize unless I play the game, and I quote: " looks like you jumped on the hate bandwagon "
In order to play the game means buying it, and from everything I've seen the game did not convince me it deserves 60 euros. I expected much more from a Dragon Age game. Very likely I will buy in 2 years, when will be a heavy discount
So now now I'm supposed to shut up and just buy it?! this is one of the things that are wrong today, people can't suffer criticism
@@atlanteean no you’re concerns are very valid. The combat is simplified, the art style is different, past decisions on previous games don’t matter etc. put the whole Tassh thing to the side and pretend that doesn’t exist. The rest of the things you’ve seen are how to make your decision as a dragon age fans. The game is a good action game. But not necessarily a good dragon age game. I feel most sorry for the dragon age fans because it’s clear this game wasn’t made for them, it was made for mass appeal. Things like making combat simple, dialogue short and straight forward, it’s aimed at appealing to those who need to be on the move all the time, action games. In my experience, when I play an RPG I like a slow methodical approach and this game doesn’t give that option. It’s just so different. At the end of the day, the only way you’ll know if it’s for you is to play it, but when that cost is $60+, you have to be careful.
You forgot the option to be able to kill them
Really? I swear I put that in there! But yes that option isn’t in dav. In fact, the option to slightly upset then isn’t there either lol
That is, how the corporations go to:
Go mainstream, do not offend anybody, instead give a streamlined experience that has no character at all. Everybody likes first person, everybody likes realtime action -- don't do something else, everybody must do old story, nobody does something different. No innovation, because innovation is risk.
The "best thing" I can say about "Veilguard": It costs only $60, but I will FOR SURE not buy it.
Well the thing is, they tend to lose their core audience after a while and that hurts them in the long run. But we’ve seen it happen so many times with corporations. It’s sad to see but we’ve seen it with Bethesda, Ubisoft etc
@@AVVGaming1 That is true. I really liked DA:O but I was disappointed from the 2nd and 3rd installment. Now they hit a new low.
@ I think the saddest thing is seeing UA-camrs who loved dragon age games so upset. I didn’t play the older games enough to get attached. But I can tell how much this installment hurt them. And it’s like the studio (BioWare) they indentified with no longer care about them. But I think we need to face the truth; Bethesda, BioWare etc. those studios that we loved aren’t around anymore. The price of success eh?
@@AVVGaming1 Right. As much I heard, most of the leading devs are already gone at BioWare.
@@AVVGaming1 They probably have the new players constantly are better than player retention. Its a fast food buisness model but even Games Workshop works like that etc. IT doesnt work in the long run that well.
Easily the best analysis I've heard on this topic, which I've become rather obsessed about. Subscribed.
Haha thank you! I’ll probably do a few more videos on it soon. I’m just watching other people’s reactions and I’m like “wow! They are mad!” lol
I returned the game after a few hours. Woke stuff aside...THEY TOOK OUT 4 CHARACTER / STRATEGIC COMBAT....what a downer. I have just never seen a great thing cut right in half like this.
Yes! The combat was a massive change from the previous entries and that’s why I talked about it. It’s almost an entirely different game. There is almost no relation to being a dragon age fan and enjoying this game. It’s almost an entirely new game completely
While I am a Dragon Age fan, I am even moreso an RPG fan. Even if Veilguard did not have "Dragon Age" in its name, I wouldn't find it a good RPG. I played the game for 7 hours on EA Play Pro and even though I could have played it further, I uninstalled it after that. I tried to ignore everything I knew about Dragon Age, and simply treat this game as just another RPG. The combat got extremely boring after the first 2 hours - as long as you can dodge it doesn't matter what abilities you or your companions use, and all enemies die just the same as long as you have the patience to extremely slowly grind at their health bars on higher difficulties. The dialogue (as well as the narration in cinematics) is basic and more often than not extremely cringey. The progression system (ability tree + how often you level up) seems like it was just put there in that way so that the player would feel as though the game is more complex than it actually is, and that they're doing far more than they actually are within what is an extremely linear generic fantasy story on rails, with no real opportunity for roleplaying. This game has no right to call itself a choice and consequence RPG, not when compared to the other good RPGs of that sort. This game can't even call itself a good action game because we have combat that is so much better than that. It's not even a proper dating simulator since I've played visual novels that have characters more complex and better written than this.
I don't understand how anyone can say this is a good game whatsoever. Perhaps I have higher standards than most, but I really don't enjoy wasting my time with less than mediocre games when I have limited time to play anyway. Why would I play this for the story, when I can play BG3, Disco Elysium, the older Dragon Age titles, and many other games with great stories? Why would I play this for the characters and romances, when I can play Stray Gods, Mask of the Rose, and other such games with strong and complex characters and good romance and friendship paths? Why would I play this for the action combat when I can play Diablo 2/3/4, Path of Exile, Last Epoch, or even a first person game like Dishonored or Dishonored 2?
Solid review, fair and balanced. If you bring in contemporary political issues you risk alienating half your audience. Up to the creators if they think its worth it. Theres also the distinction between bringing in these issues because you genuinely care about them versus tacking them in to virtue signal for cynical corporate agendas.
That’s exactly right! I honestly tried to bring a fair account of everything. They definitely alienated half their audience by doing this and you can see by the reaction online. I personally believe politics and gaming should be separated and should try not to cross. That way the games get the best chance to succeed.
@AVVGaming1 I'm with you mate. One of the brilliant things you did was point out the difference between metacritic scores versus scores on systems where people have bought the game. I've always been pleasantly surprised at the difference. I think there's a lot of okay games that get destroyed sometimes in an out of proportionate way.
@@loosegoose2466 In steam negative reviews got deleted, so people posted their negative criticism as positive. Its very clear when you read them.
People critiqued DA2 for it's heavy-handed twin towers allegory
People critiqued DA:I for Krem and more LGBTQ inclusion.
Now in the year of our lord 2024, people critique Veilguard for quote-on-quote "going back on its legacy" and including trans narratives. Give me a break.
@@GothaBillsAndDeath haha lol we tend to go in cycles and repeat the same things over and over. We never tend to learn as a society and just keep going over the same things again. At least that’s my personal opinion.
That's not the issue (only for some very vocals, fring people): the issue is the game is more like a Pixar/Blockbuster diriged towards younger audiences, like an YA novel.
And the writing is just dreadful, which just doesn't "fit" for a Bioware /famous RPG franchise game. It just doesn't do
@@AVVGaming1, dude, I almost liked your video/take, then reading the comments I changed my mind about you: you agree with literally everyone, the ones calling the game "woke", and then with the angry people who are calling it that.
It's ridiculous, you agree with everything and its contrary, just to please and keep all kind of viewers, it's not honest.
Won't be back.
Writing is horrendously bad and the combat is boring and repetitive with little to no enemy variety.
One of the worst games I've played in recent years, nothing positive to say about it at all.
@@newhope33 the enemy variety is very disappointing in a mythical game for sure!
its a mediocre overly streamlined game with boring drawn out action combat, abysmal writing and an incredibly ugly artstyle and monster design, that shits on the legacy of DA:O
I think that’s the biggest issue. It’s the fact that long term fans of the series have seen the new game come out, fly the flag and use the branding, but not give anything that the original games had. It’s so different it’s unrecognisable compared to the previous games. It’s sad to see but corporations often go for “appeal to more people” which is why it’s changed so much. Hack n slash is popular, strategic isn’t anymore, it’s too complicated! It’s so sad to see but dragon age isn’t the first series and surely won’t be the last to receive this same treatment. If they called it a spin off or something else it’d be more understandable. Sorry this happened to a series you love.
How can you find this a good game? Its so flat and boring and yes as a DA fan, its not a DA game, but that put aside the story is flat, dialog is dumb, no choice at all, its a tik tok game, mindless, no brain power needed. Just play candy crush, its cheaper! I played it and only the end is fun, but to get there you need to go through 50 hours of just clicking buttons, no thought needed!
You don't even need to talk about political issues in the writing. The game is just bad. It's terrible. It's NOT a typical rpg.
That's what I am trying to say! It's not an RPG, or not a very good one anyway. It is definitely a game designed at people who like Tik Tok and fast paced action (e.g. Fortnite). For them, it might be a good game. It's got good graphics, (I know the style is different) and if you like action, it does the trick. It isn't my type of game. It's not for everyone but for what it sets out to do, it does. It's crazy to say it, but this game does not seem like it was made for Dragon Age fans lol it was aimed at a new audience like you said. If you enjoy slow methodical strategy based RPGs, this ain't your game. If you like reading, considering stats, immersing in a good story etc, this game will be very shallow. But if you like beating up enemies non-stop and action, hate dialogue, despise reading, then this game will be enjoyable! Remember, there is a mobile game called Clash of Clans, it has 150 million players monthly! They would like this game! It's just a disappointing game for RPG players and Dragon Age fans. That is such a crazy sentence to write lol
Thanks for this overview! Unfortunately, how DA:V has been handled is also an effect of the development costs of triple-A games spiraling out of control. Companies will try any tactic to increase revenue while keeping costs low. What has been tried here is, as you've highlighted, hijacking an already existing intellectual property to leverage an already existing fanbase, while trying at the same time to expand the player base as much as possible ("KISS", right?). Unfortunately for EA, it's an already impossible task, since it has a very high risk of alienating the previous fanbase while a new fanbase is not guarantee to flow in. Let's just hope a lesson will be learnt - but I seriously doubt it.
Ok for me who grew up when D&D first coming out. It wasn't easy as most people = D&D with satanic. We fought hard for fantasy to accepted to include my parents helping that. That say why did we love stories to include LOTR...they told us good moral messages within the story and also didn't push it in your face. For example, Gimli and Legolas friendship..you got to watch it develop...as you know elves and dwarves didn't get along but these two showed how they had differences, but also had things in common. By the end when Legolas calls Gimli friend it hits your heart. But the message was about racism wasn't needed explain it showed how racism is stupid while telling it through story. There are several lessons in LOTR from why greed is bad as rings greed undid itself, etc. All through story. Problem here is this is ideology push and not really a moral lesson. It is more of you will accept this and like it. Also, the problem with this ideological push is it deals a lot with mental health issues and making light of deep mental health problems and telling people to enable it. Which as veteran with PTSD this is bad. So, like you said you have people on both sides of isle, but problem is when you do this especially as business you are going to lose business.
Forcing messages or ideologies onto people turns people off and to be honest people are tired of being preached to and especially like children. Also, pushing message is bad because it you put message before story that will end up in disaster. Also, when playing fantasy game why push modern day politics into a fantasy game makes no sense. Like you said it literally pulls you out of the world back to real world because you just messed up the fantasy setting.
@@shawnkroll3950 exactly and it’s the wording that was the most clear problem. Non-binary isn’t a fantasy word, it’s a real life word. I think the writing was just a bit lazy in that regards. If they want to put something in like that, (it’d be better if they didn’t) but they should write it in subtley as the way it appears here it’s just so obvious and takes the player out of the game. Oh and as far as D & D games go, this is a lot more basic and less in depth. I think BG3 was made for RPG fanatics. It requires focus, attention and you take your time. This is more God of War instead. Great comment!
Modern Politics? Politics is always modern.
it's a mid game getting way more attention that it deserves. This will be the most controversial DA game till the next one
This was such an impressive video. It really can act as a time capsule for this game and its impact and reception.
@@skysix5733 thank you so much! I honestly hope it does! Right now I’ve seen such varied opinions but I found a lot of it non constructive. Some just say “awful game, nothing good about it” and some say “best gamers ever!” And I just feel like both are too extreme and not a fair reflection of it. Thank you for such kind words!
II was as much a hack and slash as this if not more IMO. And changes in combat are normal. II was very different then Origins, Inquisition was very different the II, and Veilguard was different then Inquisition. Also how is giving low reviews to a game you never played not worse then EA just giving review codes to people they expect to like the game? How could someone honestly complain about EA using dishonest tactics and not complain about this?
And I definitely disagree that you can never make evil aligned decisions
Spoilers
At one point I had a mayor who had planned to sacrifice two people who had com to help his village and ended up getting the population wiped out or reduced to mindless puppets. He's begging me to save him and I decide to leave him as a Darkspawn chew toy. I wasn't even merciful enough to kill him before I left.
@@roguerifter9724 yes I think that’s the only bad decision I’ve seen in 30 or so hours (I left the guy too! He didn’t deserve my mercy) but when you play more there are some serious decisions that have huge impacts on the world and your playthrough! Not just that but when you take companions to different areas and quests, there is so much dialogue specific to that from them! So it’s like okay there isn’t many bad decisions, but they excelled in other areas. I honestly am enjoying the game a lot! And as far as the reviews from people who haven’t played it, there is so many! I know they had that one DEI scene but I’ve played it for over 30 hours and haven’t seen one other example yet. The game isn’t for everyone rihht? Some people don’t like the combat and quick paced stuff and that’s fine. Should they have re written that one Dei scene? Probably! But the hate the game has received has led to a lot of negative reviews from people who haven’t played it yet. As a game playing UA-camr I think it’s integral to give honest feedback. Also, a lot of UA-camrs right now are getting thousands of views and money from bashing it. So even if they haven’t played it, they may make a video bashing it because it’s hot right now. I hope my review was more balanced and fair.
Dragon Age: Origins --) Sandal says: Enchantment? ENCHANTMENT!
Dragon Age II ---) Sandal says: Enchantment? ENCHANTMENT!
Dragon Age: Inquisition ---) Sandal says: Enchantment?
Dragon Age: The Veilguard ---) Sandal says: BBBLLLLLLLLAAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!
Hahaha I honestly have never heard that word before and I have no idea what is means lol
If you like this sort of thing, buy the game and sing its praise. If you don't want more games to do this, than speak up and get a refund. That's the 1st amendment, and Americans/other citizens of democracies need to make sure we keep it!!
See but that’s my point! Take the poltics out of the game and we talk about the game only. By adding this in, now it’s not about the game, it’s about your political stand point. That was biowares and EAs decision, and now we end up not talking about the game, more about this other stuff. EA have cut off half of their fan base by adding this.
@@AVVGaming1 The thing is, it isn't even the politics, per se. The bad writing, the combat that gets boring, the cartoony graphics that don't fit the world, the lackluster maps, all this stuff indicate the game is not a 10/10, and definitely not a "return to form". It's a game that underwent a major change, from multiplayer live service to single player, and it shows that in a variety of ways, to its detriment. So, yeah, not a 10/10, nor even an 8/10. But then EA carefully controlled the review copies, trying to control a narrative, and you are going to get backlash from passionate fans. And so if a site allows anyone to vote, well, you get review bombing, as people lash back at the "review pumping".
The messaging on top of that, well, that just serves to amp things up, turning it into a focal point, to the detriment of all the other issues that also help make the game lackluster.
Agree with all above, but also its brand-recognition-abuse
@@AVVGaming1the sad part is that BioWare has always had a history of doing this. They were one of the first studios to add same sex relationships in any of their games. At that time same sex relationships were highly controversial. Now it’s trans people and their belief that they can choose whatever identity they want. BioWare to me is just staying true to their beliefs as a studio and well we live in a time where everybody has a voice on the internet can say whatever they want good or bad and the loudest voice is that against trans people. I’m not a supporter of trans people I think they are strange but that didn’t stop me from playing and enjoying the shit out of this game. Honestly I think if this game came out a different year where the was no major culture war happening it could have gotten the support it deserved and even won game of the year.
They didn't just wokify this game, they Disney-fied it.
This guy, this is the most level headed ever. I'm not all that interested in the game but I do like your level headed approach instead of just screeching insults calling people sexist or woke.
@@RaidenKaiser thank you! That was my goal! I just wanted to break down what happened and explain why it’s divisive. And give my opinion on the game. I’ve never seen a game garner this level of reaction though
Thank you for the review. I like you mentioned in the video I'm desperately trying to find an unbiased review. I don't think I will get it, maybe later on sale, because it looks like it departs too much from the original style. I loved your line "video games are art, and art is subjective" so true!
Thank you very much for the kind words! I think it’s so different to the previous entries that it’s hard to recommend it. If you like god of war, you’ll love this. I would say to just watch some “let’s plays” and get a feel for it. There’s no rush for you to get it and if you can get it on sale that’s even better!
A really well-balanced analysis of the game - thanks. I'm gunna wait for the Christmas sales and I bet its heavily discounted (PlayStation Store in my case).
@@RobertNicholas yes and maybe get it in physical copy just in case? (If you have a disc reader) as if it’s not for you, you can sell it on and recoup some of the money. That’s what I would do. Honestly, I can’t recommend it without knowing what games someone likes.
Game choices should be like ordering food at a restaurant. Pick what you enjoy, skip what you don’t, and no one should be criticized or blamed for their preferences
I totally agree! And what’s crazy is how many UA-camrs I’ve see play it and hate it, which means they bought it. Maybe it’s a sales tactic? lol
I support reviews that seek to analyze and evaluate criteria related to the game itself, such as its general atmosphere, art style (especially in character development), story/plot (and how relevant the past contained in previous games will be, if applicable), dialogues and reactions, quality of writing, decisions and consequences, interactions and possible relationships with companions and so on. Not even combat is a priority for me in this case. I've seen and heard things that I didn't like (even though I haven't played it) and I believe that I like Inquisition more in general comparison.
The problem is that a significant number of reviews seem to be more interested in criticizing the game for ideological and political reasons or even inducing the audience to think that this is something that necessarily harms the final product. This argument is flawed, because I think that if the game were good - let's say an 8 out of 10 given my expectations for the franchise - this would not "condemn" the product. In my opinion, it all depends on how certain subjects are addressed and I don't think that this should be excluded from games.
Hey so I’ve played it about 40 hours now and I am really enjoying it. Graphics are great, side quests fun, and the companion writing is not as good as a bg3, with writing being a little “straight forward” but if you can look past that it’s good. Also, the one thing no review seems to have not covered, the companions say l something about everything. Just an example, there is a side quest at the start of the game I didn’t do. Usually a player will stumble upon it with their starting companions and they will have specific dialogue for that quest. I came back with two of the later companions and they had unique dialogue for it. This happens in every single quest. In fact, I would argue this game does this better than any other. Like I just found a city via a side quest and the gatekeeper introduces himself and then addresses my companions one at a time. You can only take two but he has unique dialogue for each of the ones you take. This shows a lot of depth in this regard. Honestly, I do like the game the more I play it. As for the poltics, I am about 50 hours in and I have seen ZERO so far. Less than most games actually lol
@AVVGaming1 I appreciate your opinion, and perhaps my position could be considered suspicious or "influenced" because I haven't even played the game, but I did some research including spoilers, read different reviews and talked to people who played the game. I don't believe the game is terrible or a failure, just as I believe it can please and enchant different niches of players.
However, given my personal preferences and expectations, which I consider realistic given the history and tradition of DA, I can say that the game doesn't have the same appeal and enthusiasm that I had for the conclusion of this cycle. I won't go into details because that would require a long text.
I understand that preferences and expectations are subjective and I don't want to be unfair to the game, but this adapted formula is not compatible with my vision regarding the format and development of the tittle in different departments. Let's just say that I'm in no rush to play it now and I hope that Bioware can achieve a financially satisfactory result involving this product. As for players who are enjoying the experience, no problem; I'll maintain a more nostalgic stance.
@ not just that but this game is clearly designed for a new audience. So I’m a big RPG player. I love those games and generally speaking they’re slow, they’re methodical, lots of reading, puzzles, strategy etc. this is a game that is action packed. Non stop and moves quick. You open things quick, you fight quick, puzzles are easy, it’s linear, it’s flashing lights and endorphin rushes. I think that is very different from the regular rpg games including previous da games. It doesn’t mean it’s bad, but that is not for everyone. My main concern is that it clearly will upset OG dragon age fans. Put DEI to the side, this is the biggest issue in my opinion. It’s always sad to see a franchise fans love turn into this type of thing. It’s essentially as if fans loved a deep immersive movie with substance and nuance. Now this is a marvel movie, it’s the avengers lol
Its a shame that the identity politics overshadows real issues with the game. It reminds me of Fallout 76. I kept thinking to myself "Can people shut up about the bugs? The issue is there is no game here, its just bad". The Veilguard fails in basic creative writing ability with the dialogue. At times it feels like the characters are speaking more to me the player with its exposition, than our character Rook. Its incredibly distracting. This is the first game I have dreaded the in-between mission talks with my companions.
FYI I purchased EA Play Pro ($18) to play this game. EA's platform doesn't allow for game reviews at all. If I could, I would rate the game a 5/10. Not an IGN 5/10 but a "try it on sale" 5/10. This is coming from an old school Bioware fan, so there is obviously going to be a heavy negative BIAS on the weight I give particular categories.
@@eFIVE098 yes and totally agree. The game needs to be critiqued. If you just say “oh it’s woke 0/10” that’s really not constructive. We need to actually analyse the game and give honest feedback. I feel exactly how you do about the writing. I think it was written this way so that all attention spans and levels of intelligence could understand it. I think there was a lot of potential for sure. Thank you for offering your thoughts on this and I feel the same about fallout 76. I played it on release and it had no bugs lol I’m not kidding! So I was like super confused what was going on lol
it is a real issue tho
its a symptom to the larger issue of identity politics overshadowing products
ua-cam.com/video/1cLvcfWvtxo/v-deo.html the reason they push it so much
So from what I garnered from the review, Veilguard is basically the 1998 Godzilla movie or Dark Souls 2. As a separate media, both are solid. But since they have a pre-existing brand placed on top of them, they are heavily criticized as they can't hope to reach the level their predecessors have.
Exactly! This game is clearly built for a new audience. A lot of people have compared its fast paced like setting to thst of a mobile game. Well, some mobile games are very popular. I think what’s happened is the game is aimed to cater for all, including children to play it who like quick action games. (Tik tok generation) and then the old dragon age fans like slow methodical tactical RPGs and it’s just miles away from that. So if you love slow paced tactical RPGs you’ll not like it. If you like games like god of war, that move quick you’ll like this. The writing is shallow but it’s not the worst I’ve seen lol but I think that’s just normal now for triple a studios in USA. That’s how they all write now. Whereas European studios provide the depth etc. not to mention, people will always look back on older titles more affectionately as it’s their game, they made memories with it.
It is great to have a (mostly) neutral position in this controversy. I have given it a thumbs up and wrote this comment just to give this video more visibility.
@@SystemBD thank you! I tried to make it neutral and stay away from the drama. Whether it worked I don’t know lol thank you for the kind words and supporting the video! It definitely helps!
When you get down to it, there are very few story-driven games with no politics of any kind. The "problem" here is a very specific type of politics, namely the identity-based stuff, and even though it doesn't negatively affect anyone what someone else identifies as, it's become a lightning rod for right-wing rage bait. We've been through this time and again throughout history, people raging about the end of segregation, the legalisation of interracial marriage, people raging about gay equality, now it's trans people's turn to be the focus of hate, and tomorrow it might be women who choose not to have kids or men that prefer to be stay at home dads, or something else. Social change is always hard for many people.
All that said, people often want to think of games as art. Well, the purpose of art is often to provoke. Outrage has always been there over paintings, over books, over songs, and now over games. That's just the nature of creativity. We'll get over it one day and then the next thing will present itself. I'm too old to care, I am simply thinking, 'if you don't like it, don't interact with it. Save your time and energy and just live and let live'. Your anger isn't making a change either way, that much is obvious at this point.
That is something I’ve been wondering. What is added on purpose with the goal to incite a response like this? I mean, everyone is talking about the game now. I for one just want to play games and not get involved with politics. I’d rather they were left out completely and just left outside. A game should be a game, not a place to make a political point. That’s just my personal take on it. Fascinating to hear what you’re saying though because it is a cycle that will never end.
@@AVVGaming1 I don't disagree per se, I just don't get worked up over it. If a game gets on my nerves I just stop playing it and move on to something else. However, there's politics everywhere in gaming, and that never bothers people. Disco Elysium was HIGHLY ideological, and I don't remember the outrage. The Fallout games heavilty criticise capitalism and imperialism, but people love those games. GTA 4 was a criticism of the American Dream through the eyes of an immigrant. Papers, Please puts you in charge of border control in a communist country. The list goes on and all of these games are or were popular and well received. Folks don't hate politics in games, they very specifically hate gender politics in games. I think it's worth asking oneself why that is.
But like you said, everyone is talking about the game now, the latest installment in a mostly forgotten franchise that started forever ago. It's reaching a new and much larger audience than it would've had it launched without controversy, and while not all of those people will buy the game, it's the centre of conversation for a while. It's entirely possible that that was an intended side effect, for whatever reason. There's no such thing as bad publicity, and all that.
@ haha that’s true! It’s so interesting when you mention all those other games. I think BG3 got backlash and so did cyberpunk. Years later and now no one mentions it, and now they’re considered top games. Maybe one day that’ll be the same with this one!
@@keadinmode2070 You are a lunatic.
@@AVVGaming1 I must admit I have enjoyed seeing the 4chan boys losing their minds all the while creating engagement for the game and creators. Win win.
Thanks for saving me money. I appreciate all you do. Stay unbiased.
No problem! It’s worth a punt even if you’re unsure about it, but definitely not $60 if it’s not your type of game lol
I can tell by the way the op repeats how grimdark Dragon Age is but only defers back to Origins that he's never played DA2 or Inquisition where the dark tone mellowed out and became far more in line with what you would expect from a light novel fantasy by Inquisition's time. Even tactics were largely stripped from DA:O's more CRPG influence to more of a action-combat focus in DA:I. I've seen this same exact critique for Inquisition when they people talked about the wokeness in that game as well with Iron Bull, Krem, less darker themes, etc. It's like people parrot the same review over and over again throughout the span of a decade. Mind you I dislike Veilguard and a large part of Inquisition, but can you guys write better material and actually research and/or play the video games previously before spouting on about them as a benchmark? Sick and tired of fake fans.
@@GothaBillsAndDeath no you’re right and I haven’t really played the older games much at all. I was hoping to represent the fans disgruntled about the new game who loved the old ones. I interviewed a few of them and this is what they told me. If I’m wrong then I apologise.
I watched the no commentary playthrough earlier, best way to get an idea on if the game's for me or not, and this is definitely a personal 'buy on discount' title. As a stand-alone game, it's servicable. The settings are gorgeous, the character models fluctuate between stellar and plastic-looking, the level designs and puzzles are boring but functional, combat looks very hack'n'slash even as a mage, the companions are okay for the most part, most of the quests I've seen don't interest me, and the writing often reminds me of how I have to talk to people at work (old folk with dementia, alzheimers, etc.). Overall, a game I would've passed on as not my cuppa. As a DA game, though, it's a stripped-back, lackluster almost-reboot.
I've seen so many positive reviews saying how it's kept the gritty, dark fantasy image of DAO and DA2 (and a little DAI), but I honestly don't see it. I'm not talking about the colour palette, either. One of my first and favourite DAO mods makes the game almost as vibrantly coloured as DAI, but even with only that single mod installed, it still _feels_ dark. The creatures, from demons and darkspawn to the blightwolves and sylvans, and all those bloody spiders, stood out even more as _off._ The alienage, despite being more colourful, was still a place of living decay. Decisions made actually felt like they carried weight. I could take too long to get somwhere, or do something to upset companions to the point of them trying to kill me, regardless of how good our relationship was. Hell, I could _upset_ companions. In this game? Apparently I can make them feel mildy inconvenienced at best, and vice versa. Nothing feels like it _matters_ until the finale, and by that point why should I care?
People enjoy this game, and that's great. Game's are meant to be enjoyed, and for those people it's done it's job. I'm just sad that, after all this time, I can't enjoy it, too.
@@kipral yes unfortunately it just seems like it was made for a different audience. They went for the god of war approach. It’s quick, fast, even the notes you pick up are short. Yellow flash block. Red dodge. It’s so different from what someone expects from an RPG or previous DA games. I think both takes of “it’s the worst game ever” or “best game ever” are both wrong. It’s a decent game, for a different audience. But for fans of RPGs and previous DA games, it most likely will disappoint. It’s a shame for them I feel.
Lets just go back to kotor when we were all young and happy and the world was so much simpler.
@@Dropbear2024 haha childhood times were certainly a lot simpler! A game was either good or not lol
I played all the Dragon Age games, and all the Mass Effect games as well as Baldur's Gate 3. There is something stress relieving in knowing I can't screw up too badly with the games choices. I have no desire to be a murder hobo and have very much enjoyed Veilguard in the same way I really enjoyed the Horizon Zero Dawn games. DEI is happening, needs to happen. 4chan boys, bigots, luddites and other angry types be doing what they do. Being that kind of person is its own punishment. I plan to play and enjoy. Life's too short for all this BS.
That seems like a healthy way to view things: you do you. But I'm not sure DEI needs to happen. I mean, it's an internal workplace policy, not some essential video game design principle. It seems to me like saying the offside rule from football/soccer is necessary in a discussion about paintings... they're not really connected. And I'm a bit of a luddite myself. I think we lost a lot of old-timey values because of technology. For example, patience. I've noticed because of technology people no longer have the patience to engage with anything, like reading a book or paying attention to anything for longer than 10 seconds. People lose their s**t if something takes a few seconds longer.
@@suzanned5859 let me know what you think of the game compared to the previous games! I think if you liked horizon zero dawn you’ll really like this. Honestly, it’s a good game for what it is. At least that’s my opinion. As far as Dei goes, not my place to talk about it.
@@AVVGaming1 I am having a lot of fun in this game and it has trans and non binary characters. Including those characters is incredibly meaningful to a lot of people. I want them to feel included. It may not be my place but I will say it.
@@suzanned5859 0.3% are not "a lot of people" and even those 0.3% are too much considering all they do is groom children.
Nice to hear a rational well balanced take on this subject for a change!
Thank you! That was the goal! Glad you enjoyed it and found it balanced
@@AVVGaming1 loving all your videos btw!
I appreciate that you played some of the game before reviewing it. Did you play the other 3 Dragon Age games and if so, which was your favorite and which was Veilguard most like?
@@VivaCubaRoja it’s most similar to Inquisition but even then it’s so different I just consider it a completely separate game. It’s more god of war than anything else I’d say. My favourite was the OG! Origins!
@@AVVGaming1Origins was my favorite as well. Reading some of the reviews of Veilguard has been strange. Some say best Dragon Age ever, some worst game ever. Some said great combat, bad story, others the opposite. I suppose this is one I'll have to check out for myself.
@ I know! I’ve seen the reviews and it’s mental! Some dragon fans say it’s the best one of the series, others throw up at the site of it. I can tell you the writing is tame, but not as bad as everhone is saying. I would honestly say to get it on physical copy if you can, test it, and if you don’t like it you can sell it online and get a good amount back!
Sounds like a good idea. Increasingly I prefer to buy physical copies of games so the online marketplaces can't decide that they're taking games down. Once or twice, I've had games that I purchased on X-Box Marketplace taken down. I'd delete the game to make space on the hard drive only to find out that I couldn't redownload it, even though it was already purchased. @@AVVGaming1
Cohhcarnage have the best reviews so far. He is fair and have zero agendas.
@@epicwolf I’ll check them out!
Nice to see a neutral take, but im durprised you would call this game good. Im a long time dragon age fan and having seen the gameplay mechanics i wouldnt consider it worth playing.
@@mistakai4226 thank you! I mean a good game if you like these type of games! If you don’t like fast paced action games, it ain’t good lol. But if you love god of war, you’ll love this. As far as its graphics and gameplay it’s crisp, it plays well. Again, it’s a good for what it is. But that doesn’t mean it’s a good RPG.
@AVVGaming1 it just seems like it has all of the depth and enemy variety of Hogwarts legacy without the Harry Potter nostalgia and open world to carry the weight of such a simplistic combat experience.
"different tone, different writing, different look, different feel, just completely unrecognizable".
I mean, that doesn't have to be a bad thing. Just look at the God of War reboot, reinvigorating a series that had turned stale and needed refreshment. Now the series is more popular than ever.
@@Komona totally agree! It’s not worse, it’s different. If you love action and god of war you’ll love this game. If you like slow paced turn based RPGs you won’t. It’s all down to what you like. It’s different to what people are used to with the DA series (according to fans I asked) and I just wanted to explain why some people didn’t like it, when poltics aren’t involved as the reason
@@AVVGaming1 I know, you had a really good take at it. I've seen so many go "it's different, therefore it sucks per definition!", though, which is just so tiresome.
@@AVVGaming1 there is a huge difference and that is that the god of war saga was already over, the new god of war is a soft reboot that already tells a new story, new mythology and therefore new things are explored.
Veilguard is a direct sequel to the previous games, which at the same time tries to be a soft reboot by trying to get rid of all the past.
Wokeness as a catch-all term has really made a shitshow for discussion for both “sides” of the issue. On the one hand, you get this rubberbanding of people who will literally call anything woke as an overreaction to dry, forced, “safe” corporate approaches to diversity in games like the infamous PRONOUNS guy but you’ll also see game devs and journalists use people like him as scapegoats to avoid genuine criticisms of what is more likely an issue with bad writing. It gets pretty tiring seeing how prevalent overreactions have become and it creates a negative feedback loop for both parties that seems to ironically make both prophecies self-fulfilling. Just another issue that has self-polarized in the entertainment world, I suppose.
Edit: I should add for the end that while I generally agree with what you said, I think it gives a little bit too much leeway to the “anti woke” crowd in the sense that this kind of approach can end up being very restrictive on what kind of storytelling games are actually capable of doing, mostly because when we are talking about “culture wars,” keeping politics out of games and game narratives can actually be pretty difficult as mountains can be made from molehills and almost anything can be made into a political issue. In this case it’s a pretty clear example of club-fisted writing, beating you with pronoun correction where it’s unnecessary and can come off as “finger wagging,” but bowing down too much to a reactionary crowd is only going to further lead to the sterilization of game narratives in the grander scheme.
You know what? I agree with everything you say! I would love to do a video on this topic one day but man the reaction that I have see online to this game…wow. Honestly, I saw the reaction and I couldn’t go a second on UA-cam without seeing a nasty video. It’s almost like common sense, middle grounded people can’t get a word in. You’re either all in one way or the other. When in reality both sides are probably wrong and need to meet halfway. Anyway, I promised myself I won’t do another video on this topic as it just divided people so much.
70% of the criticisms come from the game being woke, 20% because it's different from the first 3 games, and 10% because the writing and dialogue are shit. Only reason I'm playing is because of the decent combat, although I hear that even that becomes repetitive because of lack of enemy variety.
I know and that’s the sad part. It should be the other way around with the percentages but hey ho! What you rate it outta ten so far?
@@AVVGaming1 I'm 12 hours in so far, maybe a 6.5. It's not THAT bad, I haven't encountered any woke shit yet.
I agree with you with most of your points except with the inclusion of politics makes the game divisive. BG3 is as inclusive if not more inclusive than DAV and it did not face this level of backlash. DAO had one of the 1st non binary characters (Shale) and had homosexual relationships even before gay marriage was legal in the US and the game is considered an RPG masterpiece. The inclusivity was handled and written much better in those games it did not feel forced upon the player.
@@ArturoGonzalez-st7xj you see its stuff like this that confuses me! Why is everyone reacting like this then? lol I honestly thought I remembered that in dragon age but then doubted myself because of the reaction online lol and I agree with bg3 didn’t get as much backlash, neither did cyberpunk, like I honestly can’t figure out why this game has received such a strong response. It must just be the writing right? I mean it does seem to out of the blue and using real life words and labels? It’s just almost like nothing to do with the games world and lore and more just thrown in there to make a point.
Thank you for what I feel is a good, and honest review. I have lost faith in quite a few UA-camrs after their reviews of this, so thank you for this. Most disappointed with MrMattyPlays and SkillUp. Their reviews did not feel honest, and more like an attack on Bioware/EA because they didn't get preferential treatment. I have always trusted them before, but trust is hard to gain and easy to lose, so goodbye to them. I enjoyed the game, but I am not a fan of the politics.
For a disposable light action RPG with romance sim overtones, it's about a 6/10. For a Dragon Age game - or even a CRPG, it's about a 4/10. It's "fair". Its' "fine". It's "flashy". it's not "great" or even "very good".
Yeah because they went with this style and type of combat it’s something we’ve all seen before many times. It reminds me so much of god of war!
Metacritic: "There are 10 mixed reviews."
I scroll down... There are 11.
I found Mortismal’s review to be totally worthless this time round because he has a massive recency bias. He only reviewed the DA trilogy in 2021, and it can basically be summed up as this: ‘Dragon Age Origins is too old and too hard. 2 is better than 1 and Inquisition is better than the other 2’ - so of course he’d consider the non RPG action game DA:V with its shiny colours and fancy looking corridor/arena gameplay.
This game spent 6 of its 10 years development as a live service multiplayer. That’s why the game has launch mission screens, that’s why it has loot chests, that’s why the Bot NPC.. sorry… I mean ‘companions’ bark like Bot party filler NPC’s.
To be honest, that actually makes a lot of sense! It plays like that a bit and when I’m like dodging and fighting and then shoot my bow rapidly, I do think of multiplayer. It’s definitely a weird one and if you liked the tactical rpg of the previous games, this is totally different. I think fans are extremely upset because it’s not their game and is just using their games name. I’m not a huge follower of dragon age but I’m gonna play them after this again to see!
In Dragon Age Inquisition 2014- Krem, who is an individual in Bull's Chargers, is a trans individual. In fact Bull lost his eye fighting in defence of Krem. Bull was poly and into BDSM; people loved getting into relationships with him. Also, Dorian, who is gay, was exiled from his family because he was different. His father used blood magic to try to make him marry a woman. He meets his father with the Inquisitor to face his father in a painful reunion. It isn't trauma dumping it is character development and brings a multi-faceted character to life. The other Dragon Age games: Origins, DA2, Inquisition all had -sensitive- material within the story. It is not unusual for Bioware/EA to address human diversities in their games. IE: Mass Effect Steve Cortez, is homosexual and his husband dies. It feels like to me, that the political unrest around the election is causing much of this backlash. It is just common sense that when someone is transitioning, and you knew them as one pronoun and they've expressed they would rather be known as another, hear them. Yes, this requires us to have personal growth and respect for another's lifestyle and decisions. Our children have to live in a political climate that is not only dangerous but backward thinking. If you don't learn from mistakes, you will repeat them and hate crimes still exist; regretfully so does suicide. Remember, King James of King James Bible, which is in a lot of homes was in love with a man; had at least three romantic relationships with men and was married to a woman.
At the point when they said no previous choices would carry over into this game, is precisely when it stopped being a Dragon Age Game, when I lost all interest in playing it, and lost any respect for the dev team behind it. All of their 'reasons' were excuses and cop outs. "Because it's in a different part of the world, because time has passed, because previously it was only minor changes or codex entries... Blahblahblah." All of those were reasons they could have picked the choices that would be most impactful and really dig into them. But they chose the route of no effort & discarded everything. Why even bother bringing back returning characters that can't have any history?
If they wanted a clean slate, they should have time jumped 100 years in the future, and said Solas succeeded; make a new game in that world instead.
When they changed the name from DreadWolf, told me Solas was being sidelined. The single greatest plot hook, a companion from the prior game revealed to be a mythical & mysterious powerful being, and the main antagonist? It was such a great concept. Of course we would have new companions too, and grow to love them, hopefully, but to have that threat driving the narrative was so compelling. And they squandered it for a lesser story.
The character design looks terrible. The dialouge is unbearable. The faces are tired. The protagonist is... Just boring.. Especially after DAI put so much into letting you really define your Inquisitor's personality. This is an embarrassment.
I look at the scene where the team is sitting around the table debriefing after a mission to save the world, talking about how bad the situation is... And they're all sitting casually like at a book club..? Where is the gravitas, the urgency?
I see the scene where Tash comes out to their mother, and the mom is genuinely trying to understand them and use a label she is familiar with, but importantly is TRYING to understand.. And it's written as that being the wrong response?
Or the Barve apology.? A simple apology is not good enough for a slip of the tongue? Or a drawn out apology is all about YOU.. So instead some performative bullshit song & dance is needed? This is the lesson they want us to take away? They push trans people so far into the "Other" category by raising the stakes of every social encounter like this. And why is Tash so silent in that scene? Everyone else is talking for them. It's so bizarre and written from a standpoint of self-righteousness.
The term Non-binary makes no sense in a fantasy world. Full stop. It just brings up the idea of computers and coding. They made up a qunari word for Transgender, they could have made a new term for that one too.
I do think it's important to have trans characters in games. Because most people may not encounter any trans people, and will take their queues from media. It's important to NORMALIZE them, not IDEOLIZE them on a pedestal, and teach everyone to tiptoe around them and be afraid of every interaction like it's booby-trapped to call them a bigot. Krem was a great example.
Anyway, the game looks completely unappealing to me, story-wise & on the writing, and I never come to Dragon Age for the gameplay, but it looks to spongey and fillery. So pass. Sucks, because I loved this franchise.
@@Keyatzin yes I think those decisions like no bringing over the previous game decisions etc reflected on what they’re doing. Basically, forget the old games, the old fans, this is a new game for new fans. That’s how I would see it if I was a massive dragon age fan. I’m sorry this happened to a franchise you love, it just be tough to see.
@@AVVGaming1 thanks, dude. Your video was fair. So many are beating this thing to death as a Woke/AntiWoke war. Both sides are annoying, they deserve each other.
Basically to me, it's like the Star Wars sequel trilogy.. So disappointing, I wish they would've left it alone. When everyone is waiting for so long for the story to continue, there's only one chance to get it right. It's not just upsetting, it's a visceral response, these stories mattered to a lot of people, and now it's just a pit in the stomach for the wasted potential of what could've been..
EA never understood Dragon Age, they wanted to be more like.. Anything/everything else.. Even though it always out-sold Mass Effect.. Pfft
Divisive? No. It is just bad.
You absolutely nailed it!
Im very much enjoying the game btw.. but not gonna lie n pretend it doesnt hurt that the dark gritty fantasy rpg i loved is dead.
It's just very different is all! I think a lot of Dragon Age fans and RPG fans will be disappointed. But I have played it for a while and enjoyed it. It ain't my favourite game ever or my GOTY, but I understand why some people are upset.
As a teacher I feel like the dialogue is getting more simplistic in most media because the younger audience cannot read and have very limited vocabulary. I mean I have to dumb down everything we read in my high school class because the seniors are reading at a 6th grade or lower level. So if you want to entertain the younger generations the dialogue has to be simple.
Most certainly and with the rise of social platforms like tik tok, game studios know they can’t have conversations that last too long. It’s like in some RPGs you can find a book and read it and it’s quite long. In this game, a book will be about 20 words long maximum. And that is clearly by design and the conversations flow quickly. It leads to a lack of depth, but they know if they make it longer people won’t hear it.
Why not teach them, instead? I learned English from video games. But of course you'd need good genes for that, and the gene pool in the US changed too much in the last 60 years, and not for the better.
I think you are right about most things you said.
One exception (for me) is that I think if this game was any other random game, instead of DA, it would have gone full Concord. The reason it has even the 80k players on Steam now is because its was a very bellowed IP with a lot of hype behind it.
I agree, the game itself was not bad. Sure, they f'd up A LOT of things, writing, 3 previous game choices, the look, the feel, its all not DA or just plain bad. As soon as they put THAT much woke garbage in the game, and even started talking down to the consumer ? They were dead in the water no matter which IP it was.
And as stated, they made these choices, they chose their fanatical view over money. Let their preferred player base save them from closure.
@@easycake3251 you’re right. If they didn’t use the IP, they wouldn’t have got as much funding or sales so the game wouldn’t exist probably. As for the dei stuff, I just don’t know why they put that scene in. It’s honestly 0.01% of the game, but man is it a strong 0.01% lol. It uses real life vocabulary, it clearly makes a point and now look what’s happened. I mean it’s their game and they can do what they want but after games like tlou2 went through all that, you’d assume they’d be more aware of it etc. but hey they can do as they like but it’s definitely hurt their sales
Im not going to buy this game and not because of the controversy. I loved origins and 2 but couldn’t get into inquisition (might give it a try again) and so many years have past and I’m just not interested in the story anymore.
That’s what I’ve heard! It’s crazy because inquisition won game of the year but a lot of dragon age fans just didn’t like it. Plus 10 years is a long time to go without a game.
@@AVVGaming1 it’s not like I didn’t like it I think the game scared me away because it was more open world then the last two also my Xbox kinda died on me😂
Thank you for an honest nuanced review, I also have never seen a game receive so much hatred, its unbelievable, the reviews on steam are mostly positive.
@@shanejones8192 thank you! I just wanted to do a level headed take on it without getting drawn into the other stuff. I know it’s a hot topic, but I’m here to play a game. I’ve leave the other stuff to people who enjoy talking about those topics.
Except, it turns out that making games, “safe,” is actually the most unsafe decision a games studio (or their publisher) can make. I have only watched the playthroughs of others, but I’ve seen enough. As to the scene that divides so many people, I don’t care about the topic, but I do care about the way it was handled. Whether their cause is right or wrong is not the issue. It is vaguely sinister to lecture gamers about what to think, rather than encouraging them to think. And I would ask them if they expect elderly or disabled folk to do ten pushups when they misgender someone? Or do they find that method of dealing with conflict somewhat arbitrary and failing to address any real issues at all? Especially since the character explaining it only actually does four or five pushups herself, and thus only seems to half care?
@@ashroskell someone said it best when you make a game for everyone you make it for no one. Honestly, that whole scene with the push ups, forget the actual concept, it’s just plain bad writing. They should have really sat down and redone it. It is a serious topic, and a hotly debated one, so it really needed to be handled with care. It looks like they wrote it in 5 seconds lol
@ : Well, exactly. Even an English teacher would take little Timmy to one side and say, “We need to talk about that, ‘Show me you mean it, do ten pushups,’ scene.” That’s such a warped notion of conflict resolution which I suspect has more to do with power dynamics and punishment than any actual resolution. It’s flat out degrading. I do so hate when there seems to be either no quality control or a stunningly insulting attitude toward audience intelligence.
Given how many franchises that I love have been ruined (or changed so much they aren't even the same anymore), I just skip any game that feels like it was written by activists. I want actual writers back. I want immersive worlds back. I want good stories back. And they are enough games with those that I can skip games like Veilguard without caring at all, despite my love for the franchise and its world. I just want the game to fail so that it hopefully goes back to what I loved as a DA fan. It worked for other franchises like Resident Evil, so here's hoping.
@@JinzoTK have you played xenoblade chronicles 3? One of the best written games I’ve played recently! I laughed and cried during that game. There are still great stories out there but it’s been lacking recently. especially from American AAA game studios who just seem to go for this safe plane and boring approach
@@AVVGaming1 I have vaguely heard of it but never bothered to look further into it. I don't own a Nintendo Switch and I believe that is the only platform its on right? Right now, I game exclusively on PC.
I agree on much of what you said, but saying that failed because it has politics is not correct. DA always had politics, like the racism against elf or the extreme clasism of the dwarfs.
The difference is that it was well written, while the non-binary thing is just pathetic, it's just a delusion that only is used in certain academic and social organization but has no mainstream appeal at all.
And also we have to point out that, just as corporation like EA cultivated a wave of hate against them, there is also an entire movement of online haters who go around shitting on everything for any excuse just to get views on youtube. Remember that this people did the same with BG3, saying Larian was going woke and pushing DEI, only for them to dissapear once the game was a massive success.
I think that's the saddest part. Is that I have seen videos of people smashing this game, clickbait thumbnails etc. and it's clear they haven't played it. It's sad to see. I am all for criticism of the game but a lot of it is just to get the views. Like I saw one video where a guy was saying how bad it is, (small youtube channel) and just yesterday he did 6 videos on it. It's clear that hate sells as well so if I changed the tone to be less neutral and more aggressive, it might get more views. But is that fair? Not really! As for everything else you said, I completely agree with you. It's a case of very bad writing, very simple writing. I think whoever wrote the game, has not played the originals and does not watch the same things as people who play RPGs. They write like they play mobile games. It's all very strange really.
@@AVVGaming1 Business become corporation, they start getting investors, those investors expect money in return, games have to sell more, they need to appeal to a bigger audience, they change the tone and aesthetic of the game (also gameplay) and start cutting corners to save development money to invest more on marketing (less choices, more linear games and safer writing), etc. At first it works, Inquisition sold like crazy, but this works in the short term, eventually games became the same, more predictable and, overall, more boring.
This situation is prevalent in all AAA industry and it started literally killing companies like Ubisoft. Bioware tried to go save in order to secure sales, but only managed to piss their fans and not get as many sales as they expected. To be fair, Cyberpunk (after it was fixed) and BG3 have changed gaming and expectations changed in the last 2-3 years, and now we are not going to put up with corporate bullshit anymore. If they want to introduce things like non-binary stuff, they will have to execute it well, and the overall writing will have to be good for us to accept them again.
Equally, we also have to fight against the online grifters who make money out of going after any game that is considered "woke" at any time. They don't criticize, they just create a wave of hate that only manages to alienate everybody else and prevents developers from improving (South Park explained that perfectly in their Disney especial). And grifters are happy with developers failing, because that means they have content for their channels.
It really reminds me of how people felt about fallout 4 back in 2015. The game was great, but it was not a good fallout game so they weren't happy with the game. Sad that bioware couldn't learn from other's mistakes even a decade later
@@FakeAdirTV I’d say it’s very comparable! It’s the exact same thing! It’s so strange because it’s a dragon age game, and my review is basically, dragon age fans probably won’t like but non dragon age fans will like it lol
There's some rosy memory happening here. I'll give you that the games are different, I personally haven't enjoyed any of them as much as the first, but to imply that the first was this harsh and "realistic" dark fantasy masterpiece is untrue. There was plenty of goofiness, eyeroll inducing writing, and tropey fantasy cliche. Origins was good, but no less flawed and I think you're giving it too much credit.
Honestly it’s been so long since I played them and I what I tried to do in this video, and probably failed, is try to explain why people reacted the way they did. A lot of dragon age fans are saying “this isn’t a dragon age game” and hate it. Then you got some UA-camrs saying it’s great. Then you got the whole DEI thing. I guess I’m just trying to explain why it’s so divisive whilst also trying to stay out of whole politics thing if possible..which I have found out is now impossible lol
@@AVVGaming1 I appreciate the reply and the video.
I would like to say this on the "politics/DEI" portion of this. It's only "politics" for some people. For me, for a lot of people who are the "DEI"s of the world, it's just being alive. I understand you're uncomfortable about giving an opinion, but at the same time it really feels like a lifeline when we're considered as people who are impacted by this and not a weight on the conversation one way or the other.
I can also tell you, no one likes a hackneyed attempted at being shoveled into something. Throwing in a jank, "We love the NON-BINARIES and the BLACKS ;)" into dialogue, out of nowhere can feel almost as bad as not even being included.
Just wanted to add that in. Other than that, I get you entirely. It's -- for me at least -- a pointlessly thorny subject. I look at it like I look at the Netflix GitS reboot. It's just not my thing. Happy for the folks that like it, and at the same time, I can't piss on it like it's bad. It's just not my thing.
@ that’s fantastic feedback! So you’re saying, if you’re gonna mention the subject, you should give your thoughts and just stand by it? And I do agree with what you’re saying about it being force fed to people
@AVVGaming1 Yeah, better to have an opinion and live with the consequences. Unless I - or anyone else for that matter - know how you genuinely feel on a topic, I can't really engage with you. So, be honest, say how you feel and that you're open to hear from people on the topic.
I won't lie, folks can be cruel, disingenuous, and vicious when you express your understanding on a decisive topic -- I'm sure you're seeing that in real time with Veilguard -- but without that openness and honesty, we can't move the conversation forward.
(Last little point on DEI below)
We all want spaces in the narratives we play, and it's frustrating when it feels like someone has maliciously excluded you or cynically included you. The important word there is FEELS though!
@@JasonOfTheBirdmen just because you always picked the comedy option doesnt make the entire game funny.
Thank you for making this video, making everything clear for EVERYONE TO SEE.
I hope this vid becomes popular.
Its so ironic that they made the game for "everyone" And yet its not popular. Nice one EA/BW very smart
Just finished the vid, tbh, VG advertised itself as an rpg, and it failed to deliver that, I cant call it a good game just because the gameplay is fun and the environment graphics is pretty. I have to judge it for what it is, an RPG game and it failed to deliver that.
I also think thats how people should judge the game, judge it for what it is, i cant give this game a rate higher than 6 tbh even on the lense of a casual rpg fan SPECIALLY since BG 3 exists in our current timeline. Anything higher would lower the standards how I view RPG games.
Yes and that’s exactly what it is! If you said “I want an action combat game like good of war “ you’d probably give this a 9/10. But as it is an rpg, it will be compared to other decision making RPGs and previous DA games. So it will not be ranked as high as compared to those ones, it doesn’t do a lot of things as good. It’ll be interesting where people rank it once the dust settles. I wish they hadn’t put the poltics in as it has taken the conversation away from the actual gameplay! But that’s EA and BioWare’s decision. When they were making the game I bet they started crying when they saw bg3 drop lol
Luckily for me I didn’t need the reviews, they lost me when the first trailer dropped.
This is what I am saying! I saw the first trailer and honestly, the game is exactly what I thought it would be! It's American, it's "quirky" and pixary. It's LAUGH NOW jokes lol like a Geico Commerical. I am honestly shocked so many people are shocked by how the game is! I honestly think the trailer captured everything it would be perfectly lol
What actually pisses me off is people comparing this work training video quality dialogue to Baldurs Gate 3
Well said. Thank you for the excellent analysis.
@@DebiDalio thank you very much! I wanted to make the video to sort of explain all the reactions online from a neutral perspective and try to make sense of all the drama!
Politics is about the nature and mechanics of power, and this game has zero political commentary. What it has is social commentary of the most shallow variety. Veilguard/Dreadwolf should have been highly political, as it is set in Tevinter, an empire, and Solas wanted to revive an elven empire - but alas modern developers avoid politics like the plague.
I mean I love politics in video games like Witcher 3! With the wars and the people it affects. This game clearly wrote that one character as a teenager character. The sense of humour, the lines delivered, it's stuff a 13 year old would enjoy (maybe) and they really missed the opportunity to deliver something compelling with it. It's all just very basic writing.
For me the game play changes were fine. I don't mind exploring something different and it's fun enough although much simpler than previous games. For me it's been the writing. The characters don't feel as real and I have a hard time feeling immersed. The dialog pulls me out frequently with things that just feel out of place and more for entertainment than world building. There seems to be a loss for so much of the past lore and consequences of action that made the past series so much more enthralling.
Yeah they’ve definitely written it to be more shallow and less in depth. It’s written for all ages and all levels of intelligence. I noticed characters talk quick too, like short sentences and the notes you can pick up around are no more than a few sentences. I think they did this to make it easy for young people to enjoy it. The cost of doing that is immersion and depth in writing. KCD2 drops next year though!
Great video, I agree with almost everything you said. I hate when companies inject modern dayisms into games, but so far, I've been really loving this gave. Most of the criticisms I've heard are valid. The writing does feel very safe. It has a Pixar look and feel to it, etc. But even with those issues, I'm very much enjoying the game
@@scientistsalarian480 yeah that’s my opinion too. It’s just different right? If I compare it to say BG3, its decision making isn’t as in depth, but it succeeds in other areas. I think I’m just sad because the game is fun BUT by adding those two scenes in, the whole internet is arguing about the political side of it. As a result they’re not talking about the game. Some people just dislike it without even playing it because if this and that is a shame to see. Imagine an alternate reality where they decided not to put the modern dayisms into this game, what would people be saying then?
@AVV Gaming straight forward question is this a game for children can children play this or no
@@AVVGaming1 This is an attack on women and children. Whose side are you on? Obviously the attackers.
@@IIJOSEPHXIIthere are no sides.
@@AVVGaming1 So you're fine with kids being fed LGBT propaganda?
@@creatorsfreedom6734 I am in no position to tell anyone what their child should/shouldn’t do or what media they should watch. It’s down to the parents to make that decision after doing thorough research.
So, this is going to have to be broken up as I stop the video to type...
1) It's just not the same as before. Welcome to how the OG Fallout fans felt when Bethesda bought the IP and made Fallout 3, turning the game from isometric top down to first person shooter combat. Or how Fallout fans watched Fallout 4 dumb down the skills and dialogue to push gunplay mechanics. Compare the original God of War with what is out now. Bioware isn't the first studio to take what once made their game unique and change it into something new, torking fans in the process.
2) They inserted politics. Go back to Dragon Age: Origins and tell me there aren't societal issues tackled in that game. So, in this regard, Bioware and Veilguard are actually being true to its roots and prior games. The difference? Well, first, are the actual issues tackled in the game themselves. Times changed and so did the issues. Second, is that back then nobody really cared. They were there to play the game, not pick at every nuance in it.
3) The writing is different; it was darker before; themes shocked the player. Yeah. Gaming evolved from what it started as to what it became when games like Dragon Age were made to what it is now. Times change and the games changed with it. Dragon Age isn't alone here, nor, are the fans. As AVV Gaming states, it is written for the largest audience to attract as many sales as possible. Again, look at Fallout, God of War, etc.
4) Combat is different. See above. Gaming changed. Mechanics changed from one type to the next as one fell out of favor for new styles that became popular. I played turn-based, then RTS was popular, then FPS, then souls-like dodge fests. Established IPs have simply moved from what was popular when it released to what was popular by the time the fourth game released.
5) Choices are an illusion. Yep. Fallout to Fallout 4. Morrowind to Starfield. Older games had deeper RPG dialogues and choices. Games today? No. It's just a choice made that makes little to no difference.
I've heard some actual good criticisms of the game like that the character creation isn't broad enough. But the wide range of reviews? That's due to the audience. Long time fans of the original likely don't like it while new fans, this is their first introduction to Dragon Age, do like it. It's Fallout all over again where Fallout 3 divided the fanbase into two distinct groups; the old and the new fans.
I love this comment! This is exactly what I wanted to say and you’ve put it so eloquently. I felt the same when fallout 4 came out and have discussed it a few times. It’s been seen to happen so many times and its a cycle that will always continue as when it comes to chasing profit, these changes will come with it. I’ve looked at reviews online and it’s so divisive that a lot of them don’t actually tell the truth. I’ve seen it happen with so many games that they change the writing, combat etc and you know what generally happens? It sells well! And that’s what their goal is. There will always be amazing games made by indie companies and others but I think when it comes to a “tripe a reboot” title we shouldn’t be surprised by these type of games. I love this comment! Spot on!
@@AVVGaming1
As you can tell by my comment, I'm from the OGG (Original Gaming Generation) having played PONG in '76 when it came out on home console that Christmas. I've watched gaming evolve from text based games (ZORK), to platformers, to beat-em-up side scrollers, to RPGs, MMOs, FP shooters, etc. I played Dragon Age and Dragon Age 2 when they released, watched how Inquisition made changes to the more action style combat, and am not surprised with Veilguard one bit. Things change. Gaming evolves. New trends spark a wave that many games try to ride regardless of the IP or its roots. So yeah, when I saw you had put this video out I wanted to check it out and yeah, you got it right. GJ man.
@@mgass1354 It is fascinating and frustrating to see how many fans of an IP are resistant to change. I see it happening across all the franchises I follow and personally it's driving me nuts. More of something I like will always be better than nothing. Maybe I've just matured on the subject of art, adaptation, and renewal. Bearing a few cases of lost media nothing old is lost. And if the new direction an IP takes is not your cup of tea it is okay to put it down and try new things.
On a side note: people looking for politics free fantasy do not understand the genre.
@@Heidelmann
Preach it. Will I buy and play Veilguard? No. I wasn't that into Inquisition because it was too much of a departure from Origins for me.
I was happy when Larian made BG3 even though I've never gotten past the first act. I bought it to support the studio because they were actually making a good game.
I just looked elsewhere and stumbled upon a small indie game called Stray Gods. 5 hrs long. $30 at launch. I don't regret one dollar I spent for it. Is a role-play musical for everyone? No. It was totally my cup of tea.
@@mgass1354 Stray Gods, is on my to play list. I'm glad you liked it. This may be a coincidence but David Gaider made Stray Gods. You know, lead writer on Dragon Age Origins, David Gaider.
16:41 THIS. SO MUCH THIS.
If you want to bring real-life issues to the game, you have to craft it into the world & the lore, make it more immersive. Tackle it with subtlety and nuance. With maturity. Oy vey. 😮💨
@@RealKeetz exactly! And the way this is done is just almost lazy. As soon as you hear “non binary” it’s like that’s a real life word! It’s almost like them speaking about travelling and they say “Uber “ it doesn’t fit the world and breaks immersion. I don’t mind them tackling the issue but you gotta be smart about it and this was not in my opinion
It's rather simple. I would have bought it solely for the reputation the name "Dragon Age" earned, expecting a Dragon Age game.
Since this is not the case, my intentions to buy it already dropped severely.
The new graphic style, lack of tactical combat and subpar writing are a deterrent as well.
Having characters preach to me political stuff and on top of it in such a lazy ass written way is another negative point.
What's left is a slightly better than mediocre action RPG - and why would I buy this, if there are so many that much better options. With the accumulation of all you mentioned, there is just not enough left, to keep me interessted. Not even to play it for free, since, as I said, there are so many other, better options.
I think the most upset will be the one's who like the Dragon Age series. Like this game is not for them. This game is for a "modern audience" and that has never to do with the political aspect. I mean, it's quick, it moves fast, it's action non-stop, writing is not just shallow, but basic. You never need to think. It was written for a new crowd to get people into the series at the sacrifice of existing fans. It's sad to see, but they are not the first studio do this and they won't be the last!
Interesting that I've also seen reviews that state that there are technical issues with it which this reviewer didn't see. Makes me wonder about how sensitive it is to one's particular rig.
It is. I've noticed this with other games. People complaining about issues/bugs/etc. and me, not encountering any of that. And it's not like I have some supercomputer, I seem to have got lucky.
@@Lee-vk1xy I’m playing on ps5 and haven’t seen one bug yet after 30 hours or frame rate dip etc. the voice acting is fine the only complaint i have technically is that the NPCs look weird and their facial movement is very fixed. It reminds me of assassins creed Valhalla. Besides that no crashes or anything. Those facial animations need some work though! But I feel like that’s a big problem in many games from AAA American studios at the moment!
@@AVVGaming1 I tend to think of rig associated issues as more of a PC gaming thing than a console one. Mostly because I've had almost no experience with console games. Thanks for the rundown on the ps5 though it's good to hear that they got that right.
Politics are fine as long as it fits the world. Final Fantasy 12 is pretty much entirely political but it’s within the world and very natural. The stuff I e seen from this Dragon Age seems so forced.
So I’ve played it for over 50 hours and it’s literally just one character right. It’s maybe like 4 scenes in the whole game. About 0.1% of the whole game. So, no problem rihht? Well, it’s written so bad that it actually is a huge problem lol. It’s so in your face and obvious that it’s lead to this reaction. I would not be bothered if it was written into the lore but it’s the only part of the game that is evidently written from real world
@ man that sucks so much. I hate when people try to shove stuff down my throat. Bleh
Your wife bought you this game? I'd be rethinking that relationship 😂
Haha honestly it was very sad! She got me thinking I would be grateful so I googled reviews immediately infront of her. She started tearing up seeing all the negative response thinking she'd wasted her money. I was like "no babe! I am sure I will like it!" Honestly, it's the thought that counts and it's nice she thinks of me lol. However, she refuses to try Fallout New Vegas so that's got me thinking...lol
The way something is political also matters. Dragon age has always had political topics, but the way they handled them weren’t through discussions but by showing different societies and scenarios, like the caste system of the dwarves.
Even trans identities were handled better in Inquisition, where a trans man joined the fascistic system of the Qun, because it locks people into an identity based on the role they play in society. The paradox of joining a belief system with less freedom, to feel free to be yourself is interesting. That plotline is also missable, if you don’t try to get to know people in your camp.
There’s also the difference in approach to politics, where the original approach was that gender didn’t matter in Ferelden, so the game could show a world without mundane social norms of our time.
These aren’t the points others are making though.
About to end Act 1 in DAVG. Overall? Those who like Solas will get the most out of it. They should have just imported Iron Bull to replace a certain character. But really? If they want to experiment like they did? It should have been a side entry to the series. + should have connected more with Inq. Just my pov. Also I didn't pay for it. It was gifted to me by family. + not super invested in Dragon Age. Was fine with DAII. Never managed to finish DAI. Edit: DA Origins did have the most complete overall story and dlcs.
I thought this was going to be another divisive snowflake take from one of the many butthurt sides. It's actually a very detailed thoughtful evenhanded overview of where we are in modern gaming and more importantly discussion on the arc of DA games. Well done.
Thank you! That is what I was trying to go for. I honestly don't like either side the "game is worst ever!" or "best game ever" side. I just wanted to do a neutral analysis on the situation. Like take a step back, breathe, and really look at it lol
I'm tired of the anti DEI crowds. I'm not even sure why anyone would want inequality and exclusion, but sure, why not.
I'm baffled by the idea of people rating a whole game on one cutscene, before the game is even out. I mean sure, this may make you don't to play it for "reasons" but don't trash a game you don't have a broad view on. I myself, won't play it because it is far too different from the older dragon age games... I am an old fan and even if I can appreciate a good ARPG for what it is, I know seeing weak RP and simplistic scenario in my Dragon Age will hurt my soul. So I'll pass on this one.
Yes and that’s the point I tried to make. To be honest, I’m tired of the DEI stuff too. It actually makes me upset seeing what people say and it’s like come on, surely we can move past this now? It’s been so long. But I honestly felt like this game is not for RPG fans. It’s like an action linear fast paced game. As a huge RPG fan myself I didn’t finish it. I put in about 50 hours and I will finish it, but it wears you down. It’s very repetitive and after a while you get tired of it. The story is not strong enough to keep you invested you know what I mean?
I don’t think it helps putting DAI as the standard, DA for a lot of fans of origins was on a downward slope
Yes I’ve seen that a lot too! I honestly just think BioWare have lost a lot of their talent over the years. At this point, they’re nothing like their past selves and clearly never will be. It’s a shame but it always happens.
I haven’t seen any game this divisive since The Last Of Us Part 2
@@doomslayer1991 yes exactly! And that game was crazy. To kill off Joel the manly man and then go that way, phew, it got emotions running online lol
They care more about being Bi-Ware than Bioware
I am enjoying it, it's a good game, but I understand most of the complaints.
Yes me too! I get it. A lot of people are very upset about it because it's very different to what they wanted. It won't be the first or the last. As long as you enjoy it, that's the main thing.
>make game for all ages, adult and children
Bro, this is 18+ game. Other than that, it's not a good a game, it's a mediocre generic slop barely above 'press x to win' approach.