@newhappythoughts1628 He literally caused the end of the ancient world and almost did it a second time. No matter his intentions (as long as they were true and not half-truths, coming from the equivalent of Loki in Elvish mythology), one has to evaluate his actions, and it doesn't matter if some people have this misunderstood hero view. The truth is that he was no less dangerous than Elgar'nan.
@LordMuzhy your not wrong. However, l say minor because had the dialog, story, and gameplay had been better, many would have looked past the bad art design and given it a try.
I mean it's like having an evil wife like my uncle has. In his words "At least you woke up with a pretty face" but Veilguard achieved to look and act ugly/evil 🤣
All of those movies you’re comparing Veilguard to still have better writing. Kids’ movies have more complex, compelling writing to them, than a supposedly M rated RPG.
I don't think that solely the art style killed it. It was also the writing, the lack of actual decisions that matter, in a franchise that was what the fans expected.
Someone posted how to turn off bloom & it makes it a bit darker and grittier - but that still doesn't solve the bad writing or illusion of choice issues.
Easily the most insulting aspect of this game for me was what it did with what was established in the previous games. It apparently wasn't enough to just move the setting to northern Thedas. It also turns around and completely nukes the locations that were central to the previous games. Ferelden? Overrun by darkspawn. Orlais? Torn apart by civil war. Kirkwall? Abandoned and left to the darkspawn. And we find out about this *off-screen* no less. They effectively make all the work that we as the player did in the previous three games completely pointless. Thanks. I hate it.
Sounds pretty apropos. This game has no respect for the previous games, the established lore, worldbuilding and fanbase, so of course they would unceremoniously destroy the previous settings off-screen. Tearing down what came before to prop up the new, crappy interpretation is the M.O. of much of modern mainstream entertainment.
We knew we were going to Tevinter as early as the ending of Trespasser, with the rest of northern Thedas being unexplored in game, and that makes it a very easy choice to shift focus from the stories previously told in the south, but...not like this. Never like this. Look at what they did to my boy.
All the culture war stuff is a misdirection. The game was going to be a live service. The shareholders need to be fed their unending diet of number go up, so EA told them to make a game with broader appeal, which to the corpos means stripping it of identity and what made it unique, ironically losing it's base of support while failing to pull in people who already enjoy the alternatives.
Have you lived beneath a rock? stripping the core identity for a modern audience has always been the woke studio M.O Live service corporation and leftist social issues all go hand in hand.
To be fair, i don't see how they could have made a live service multiplayer game with the basis they had with the Dragon Age franchise. The whole point of an RPG is to do choices and in that regard, if Star Wars The Old Republic thought me something, it's that having other players (especially unknown to you) included in that process, expecially when theres an impact on your story/when it can change the path taken, can be quite frustrating as result. It would take the removal of all significant choices to fit into a multiplayer game.... Oh wait... What am i saying? DA:V isn't an RPG and has next to no meaningful choices in it. Still, it would have worked as fine as it is now (poorly), with or without live service multiplayer aspect, cause the public wanted a good damn Single player dark fantasy RPG out of it and it came out as an action-game with lite touch of poorly written RPG mecanics. And... on top of this, they Hyped their community for a Dreadwolf based game, just to deliver a game that has an entirely different focus in the end, like if the dev team just didn't really liked the plot they were tasked to work on and felt they could just shift the focus on other things they wanted to work on more. DA:V would have been better received if it was labeled as ''Veilguard: an adventure set in the World of Dragon Age'', as it would not have carried with it the expectation of th public to be a Dark Fantasy RPG.
It's so dessapointing to me seeing one of my favorite franchise ended like this. Not only fails to his more fervent fans, who hate all the reconts and story chances they made, but also the general audience, who didn't never gonna find anything special in this game besides a generic action game with some rgp elements. I hope it was worted to Bioware, becase to the fans, like me, wasn't really wort it.
Totally agree, it’s why I said in the title it ‘killed’ the franchise, not because the game was so terrible but just SO mid that no one will have any memories of this franchise now
The people who actually coded this game should keep jobs. They just did as told and did make a pretty stable running game with decent visuals. If they got hired on to a good team maybe they’d shine more. Or maybe they’d ruin a good team.
Previous games had their goofy moments but they worked exactly due to the contrast with quite gloomy and dark atmosphere. Especially Hawke's story about them losing everything they love.
As much as I love/hated Inquisition- with its utterly boring story, zero tension garbage ass bbg and spiraling second half- I had no idea how good I had it back then. The writings been on the wall. Nice knowing you, BioWare.
Honestly they've been fumbling the series since 2, all 3 has been mid games with glaring issues. I really don't understand why everyone was so hyped for Dreadwolf/whatever this thing we got is. It's like people love the idea of Dragon Age, not the games themselves.
@@tomorbataar5922 Exactly. This revisionism when it comes to the Dragon Age series really annoys me. While I would rank DAO as one of the best rpgs of all time, it is the only good thing in that whole franchise. DA2 and DAI were mediocre at best. I don't understand how anyone thought DA4, in any form it would take, would be a good game. Even if DA4 was made with the initial "Dreadwolf" incarnation, it still would have sucked. Bioware is now a terrible development studio. They are incapable of making a good game. EA destroyed Bioware. Everyone with an ounce of talent left a long time ago. Bioware is nothing but a logo now.
I can pick up a solo made indie RPG (Roadwarden) that’s literally better then Fail Guard in every aspect minus gameplay and graphics (though not art direction) If a solo dev can do it, and also actually incorporate novel concepts into his game, like a “mirror character” and backstory choices that are diegetic (as much as they can be) and actually effect the choices available to you and the narrative at large, then the fact a multi-hundred million dollar game couldn’t is very telling of the overall state of AAA gaming.
The fact this "game" failed miserably right out of the gate is/was reassuring. Had the general population loved this game while I sat here thinking "The F\/CK is this???" would have been far more upsetting. This falls into the "mortal kombat annihilation" territory where actual fans of the series will do their best to forget this shit ever existed. I would love to say "lesson is learned" but they will further tear this franchise to shreds if allowed, so here's to hoping its the last Dragon Age we ever see from this studio.
@@PaddyLonglegs I can understand that - There will be people who hate it just because, but no, not at all, the problem is 100% not you. The video was very well done - I've been a massive DA fan since the beginning (currently replaying DAO again) and this poor excuse for a game was the biggest disappointment I ever seen in the gaming industry.
The art direction was really the thing that made me struggle with immersing myself in this game. I couldn’t pinpoint why the purple upset me so much, or the way the characters looked. Having replayed inquisition recently definitely didn’t help, given how soft and air brushed everyone is, but also coming from bg3, I couldn’t get over just how short, stocky, and sexless every character looked. Despite having the body sliders and body scar and skin options and supposedly great hairs, I found the character creator to somehow be even more limiting than bg3, which only had presets because it had attempted to deceive me. It gave me all these sliders and stupid customization options and yet it was exceedingly difficult to make a man look like a man, with a nice hairline. I usually play as a man in rpgs, but I just couldn’t because so many of the men’s short styles really suffered from the hairline / forehead problem. Everyone in that damn game has such huge heads, and despite being able to be plus sized, none of the supporting cast are, and so I’m forced to recognize how all the women have flat chests, flat asses, and look like they’re 5 feet tall. I’m a 5 foot tall woman irl, okay, I don’t want to look short in a game. In bg3 my guy felt like a hero, like a warrior. In this, I don’t really feel like that. None of my companions feel like that either. In bg3, and even inquisiton, my companions were people I took seriously. People I clashed with and didn’t always get but who I knew I needed on my side. It was interesting not liking Laezel at first in bg3 or my companion leaving the party, or exiling Blackwall along with the wardens, or the fact that I could get into argument cut scenes with companions if their approval dropped too low because in inquisiton their approval actually meant something. Emmrich was really the only companion I felt like actually felt like a real companion. I found him charming, I liked getting to know more about Nevarra and talking about spirits and the fade (even if they did dumb a lot of that down- why is he not religious? Why can we just enter the fade now? How can he talk to corpses lmao?) and I liked that he wasn’t a stereotypically scary dark necromancer, and I found manfred cute but not overly so snd his final choice actually made me stop to think about the consequences for a few seconds, which is more than I can say of the other companions quests. But I’d like his characterization a lot more if every other character wasn’t also so clean and removed from their actual faction / culture / religion. Neve, Taash, and Bellara I just have such a hard time believing they’re supposed to be talented at what they do. But, I also can’t stand Neve’s flat dead panned voice and Taash’s dialogue always takes me right out of the story. Bellara’s storyline was also so unbelievably boring despite liking her the most out of the three. I always forget about Harding because she also annoys me. You’re like 35, you’ve seen some shit in the inquisition, why do you act like you just left home for the first time? Also because the dwarves don’t have a playable location her story feels much smaller. Lucanis, Davrin, and Emmrich were my favorites, with Emmrich’s dialogue feeling the most immersive. Davrin and Lucanis suffer from their stories culminating in a pretty worthless decision though, that doesn’t affect them as characters as much as those around them. With Emmrich, I was deciding his life going forward, regarding both his career and his mortality which he showed a great fear of. It also meant letting go of a character, manfred, who I’d come to enjoy who was just progressing enough to literally talk and have emotions and wants of his own. Lucanis I decide whether or not he forgives his stupid cousin who literallt tried to kill him, or if the griffins live with the wardens or in arlathan, two choices that don’t mean anything for the characters themselves and who I don’t care about.
Hahaha my video did good then! Yeah man it’s not worth it I’d say, if you like the freedom of choice in Cuberpunk your not gonna like the restrictions here😂
The art style was fine. The lack of bloodspatter, racism, slavery, jerk dialogue options, challenging companions, morally grey choices, lose-lose decisions and characrer CONFLICT ruined this game.
What do you mean there was no lose-lose decisions? Early on in the game, you have to figure out which city gets destroyed. Also, why would I want a challenging companion? Why would I want a companion that’s destined to get kicked out of my group? Having Sten, Sera, and Fenris was never fun. They were annoying. Furthermore, what do you mean there was no slavery? You literally have to save a slave in when you get Emmerich because he wasnt good at pouring wine, so the Venitori thought he was better sacrificed.
A lot of people really like those challenging companions because they create conflict for you the main character. You can disagree with their worldviews and for some of them even change them or perhaps have your own mind changed by their perspective. Losing that tension is why a lot of people think that Veilguard has a much weaker cast.
@@newhappythoughts1628 Sounds like you enjoyed the game, and I'm glad you did. I bought and played it on day 1. I would still give it a solid 7/10. But I was so very disappointed, over and over again, that all the grit and darkness that made Thedas feel "dangerous on a good day" had been filtered out. I specifically rolled a City Elf Shadow Dragon from Tevinter. Because, after multiple plot lines through previous games, revolving around the plight and oppression of elves, and slavery in Tevinter, I was ready to finally fight that - in Tevinter - as part of a faction that apparently frees slaves. I freed no slaves. I saw no slaves. No slaves were bled for venatori magic. I didnt free that one guy in Emeric side quest. He was just sitting there already discarded. Hardly representative of an endemic evil rife throughout the region. My elf was treated no differently to a dwarf or human. I didnt even hear the phrase 'knife ear'. There was a throw away line somewhere with belara where Rook says elves are already disliked, but it wasn't evident in the game. Of course, I want companions to challenge me and eachother. Real people have very different views and experiences. Both justified and unjustified. Its more immersive than everyone being "super nice and supportive" all the time. You mention Fenris as an annoying companion. Yes. He was OTT with his hatred of magic. He challenged me every time I saved a mage. That enriched the game. It made him real. And he was actually one of the most rewarding parts of DA2 because of it. Because if I was patient with him, he actually grew up and changed and learned to trust my mage - enough to fight FOR mages against templars at the end. Good storied need flawed characters, because you can't have character arcs without flaws. The Crows were also too nice. The Crows are famous for training slave children to be assassins, half of whom die in training. The Crows are meant to be cold elite killers for hire. Why did bioware make them so warm and helpful. Recruiting a morally grey (black even) faction to fight against the bigger bad would have been better. Anyway. That's alreadyba wall of text. Hopefully enough to express why I was disappointed. On the plus side, there's no reason my 8yo can't play this game. Literally not one reason.
As a standalone game, the new Dragon Age shines with its breathtaking visuals and engaging live-action combat. But for me, it falls short of capturing the heart and soul of the original trilogy. While the world and lore are present, the storytelling and vibe just don’t match up, and the absence of the original writer’s touch is evident. Honestly, I believe this would have made a great spin-off. As a continuation of such a rich series, though, it misses the mark. It’s also hard to ignore that, for its price, it could offer more-especially when compared to something like Baldur’s Gate, where even the standard edition feels more substantial.
I agree if this was different IP sure its not that bad exept it woud still fail for its pushy agenda - tho if that was fixed and changed to solo IP i coud see this game not being that bad or hated even. Its also why i call this game Veilgard - only VEILGUARD - i dont consider this to be dragon age game
I think your right in that the sum of everything just didn’t give the right “vibe”, for me the art style ruined the DA vibe but I totally get it could be the writing that annoys someone instead, it’s a big old stinky purple cauldron of weird vibes😂
The writing was more of a problem. The art direction reflects what they wanted to do with the story, characters and world And the art direction would be responsible for helping the performance too.
Bio-was, man. Bio-was :'[ Let's all get together and hope for an unoffical remaster/remake of the older DA games in our lifetimes by caring and dedicated fans🤞🏻
15:19. I think you broke down the formula for Vincent Price. I had never played any of the dragon age games before and was only disappointed when I went back to play origins. Thought the combat was cool until it just started feeling like fantasy pimple doctor.
Dragon Age has always been queer. What it wasn’t was clumsily, ham-fistedly written. Compare how Krem being a trans man was handled in Inquisition-as part of a discussion with Iron Bull about how the Qun approaches gender and gender roles-versus Veilguard just having Taash blurt out modern-day gender terminology. Veilguard’s issue was never that it was queer, it’s that it was poorly written, lacking nuance, complexity, atmosphere and personality. YA novels have more depth than this.
@@DevinParker Agreed. Of the seven romance options in Inquisition, two were exclusively gay (Sera and Dorian) and in two others (Josephine and Iron Bull), the main character’s gender didn’t matter. The writing in Veilguard is absolutely abysmal-especially when compared to how the subject matter was previously handled. No one cares about Dorian’s sexuality. Why? Because the writing-particularly for his personal quest-was some of the best in the series.
I know there are mods out there that would help but I can't be bothered to deal with installing them. Plus Larian listens to the community and is still dropping big patches for the game a YEAR later. Watch as zero patches or fucks will be given from BioWare. They won't do a damn thing to give the game some tweaks like Larian has when it comes to dialogue. Greatful I can share this game with a loved who bought it on sale. I didn't have to pay a dime for this not so finely aged and polished coprolite.
I would love for a group of previous writers of the game to buy the rights to it and 1st do remakes of Origins, 2 and inquisition using the unreal engine 5 then doing dreadwolf the proper way. If there is anyway this could ever happen I think fans would spend a lot of money on it making that group set to do greater games the way they saw.
Imagine the sales from VG are so bad EA just give the license to veteran Bioware staff, your right it would be amazing and I bet theyd get ALOT of support on Kickstarter, like Star Citizen support lol
Remembering this game exist make me depresed the story and writing in DA 1, 2, and 3 is soo good, like wtf they do to DA here f*uck 😔 Like wtf more are these Dev gonna "fix" from DA here
I was a huge Dragon age fan and I was super excited we were going to get to explore more of the Northern areas of Thedas that we have not been to yet. Yes the art direction, as some of the background scenery were done very well. It just didn't feel like Dragon Age at all with the writing, and I didn't like any of my companions. Not to mention I personally don't believe These "gender studies" should belong in video games at all. I don't care what your sexual preference is!
Well, if it was brought in a well written way, it might be a good idea. The asari are a good example. But when it's rubbed in your face like that, it's just cringy.
No. This is an insult. How dare you? How dare you say this shitass game comes anywhere near close to the greatness of the How to Train your Dragon series?
Dragon Age Origins is one of my favourite games of all time. It has a very drab, unsaturated understated art style. But that style compliments the dark story being told. It tells you that the world in which you play isn't some happy-go-lucky theme park. There is a constant threat of demonic invasion in multiple forms. The nobility is corrupt and backstabbing. The church is oppressive against mages, but the mages are incredibly dangerous and almost destroyed the world in the past. Even the Grey Wardens, the heroes, aren't traditional heroes in that they are willing to do whatever it takes to defeat the Darkspawn. This new game doesn't even seem like a Dragon Age game. The trailers are purple vomit colored cartoons. The devs are talking about how the game is about family and acceptance. The dialogue clips are just a bunch of ugly characters talking like they're in a bad MCU movie. I do not like DA2 and DAI, but at least they were in the ballpark of what a Dragon Age game should be. This new game doesn't even look like it is in the same universe.
The art direction was a problem, but it wasn't THE problem with the game, which was the terrible writing, and I'm not even talking about the preachy parts.
lets be honest, this game has a lot more than art direction issues 😅your right some of the maps felt off, because some are so cartooney while others give original drgaon age vibes, but i liked the maps the most out of everything this game offered me.
It’s not “woke” that’s the issue. It’s commercialism. Comparing Veilguard to popular kids movies, Fortnite and the like is accurate because Veilguard was an attempt to exploit that market, which means dumbing down everything
@@PaddyLonglegs ugh, Dragon Age characters in Fortnite… i can’t imagine a more final nail in the coffin for the series than if that came to pass, but I wouldn’t put it past them!
This is dragon age ( origins clip of morrigan saying well anything). This is also dragon age ( clip of da2 of aveline saying " watch out for bartrand, hes a son of a bitch). This is dragon age too ( clip of dragon age 3 of leiliana saying " he is so complimentary im certain he wants to kill you.") Veilguard is not dragon age . ( any clip of taash here)
Wait, if Blackrock is from China and these DEI stuff is pushed by such company then it only makes sense that they fire these "trashified" games to prop up the games they make at their homeland? Like Stellar Blade, Black Myth Wukong... It's starting to make more sense now...
Black Rock is not a Chinese company and it's major cope to think any of this DEI is stuff comes from anywhere else but your own western intellegencia and elites.
Bro, it's not even competent. The heads are too large in proportion and the shoulders are too short, making the models anatomically and proportionally incorrect. If my character design professor grabbed that as a final hand in, he'd probably have given me a 60%. Not a fail, but more a pity grade for me attempting to polish a turd. 💀
@LordMuzhy It's my opinion, and you're entitled to your own. On steam, the reception has been mostly/very positive I can't wait for Avowed too. I already know people are going to be mad about that game, too.
At this point, I dont care for gamers. If you’re mad that not every game looks like dark souls, then gamers dont care about content whatsoever which is probably why I stopped caring about games a long time ago.
I get where you're coming from but I don't think that's fair. You don't see people whining about Stardew Valley not being a dark and gritty game. Dragon Age was from the very beginning a pretty dark game and so a lot of people are disappointed that a lot of those edges were to some extent sanded off. Personally I think people are lazy with the whole Disney comparisons but when it comes to companions I get where their coming from.
@@SuperPal-tr3go Stardew Valley is a pixel game about farming. That is such a disingenuous comparision. Dragon Age is dark IN CONTENT. You really think art dictates content? South Park is the most cartoony looking RPG game series and that content alot of CSA, horrifically mutated children, and a child being unalived because he didnt have insulin. In what universe is that not considered dark?
@@newhappythoughts1628 I'm sorry but I either didn't get the point you were making or you didn't understand mine. The point I was making was that gamers don't actually complain about or desire all games to be dark and broody which is why I used Stardew Valley as an example. Like... sure you can have games with a bright aesthetic that's also edgy like South Park but with something like Dragon Age you'd want both its art and content to be dark in equal measure. Honestly I don't even think Veilguard is entirely without dark content or art direction but I think those elements are let down by lacklustre writing that makes its darker moments lose impact and feel more like spectacle than unsettlingly horror.
@@SuperPal-tr3go Near the beginning of Veilguard: 1. You see the blight grow out of people. 2. You have to decide which city gets destroyed. 3. If you choose not to save Neve’s coty, you see people hanging. 4. A mayor sacrificed his whole village for money and lured Veil jumpers to their unaliving. 5. Then you have the tough choice of either seeing the mayor as a victim of the Gods that deserve mercy or seeing him as a monster that deserves to be abandoned. That’s not dark to you?
Don't understand how wanting a game to be like its previous installments means every game must be like dark souls. Sorry no one wants their dark fantasy game to look and feel like a bad direct to DVD kids movie. If you don't care about games why are you even here?
You were promised a "Dreadwolf" but you got a "Rainbow Puppy" instead...
😂imagine this said in Solas’ voice 😂👌
@PaddyLonglegs 🤣 told ya
What? Solas was never really a Dreadwolf. His personality was very consistent.
@newhappythoughts1628 He literally caused the end of the ancient world and almost did it a second time. No matter his intentions (as long as they were true and not half-truths, coming from the equivalent of Loki in Elvish mythology), one has to evaluate his actions, and it doesn't matter if some people have this misunderstood hero view. The truth is that he was no less dangerous than Elgar'nan.
@ what proof do we have that he speaks in half-truths?
The art direction was only a minor problem. The preachy activism and terrible story and dialog was worse.
It’s not minor because the art direction style alone turned off people from even trying it therefore directly impacting sales
@LordMuzhy your not wrong. However, l say minor because had the dialog, story, and gameplay had been better, many would have looked past the bad art design and given it a try.
@ that’s true I agree
I mean it's like having an evil wife like my uncle has. In his words "At least you woke up with a pretty face" but Veilguard achieved to look and act ugly/evil 🤣
He could do a series on the game where the titles are all "The Veilguard's _______ Killed Dragon Age". Would be a very long series though...
It’s basically a weird/safe version of a grim rpg
They should pull a barve to apologize to gamers
😂
The Baldur's Gate BioWare hasn't existed for at least 15 years.
All of those movies you’re comparing Veilguard to still have better writing.
Kids’ movies have more complex, compelling writing to them, than a supposedly M rated RPG.
Agreed even Megamind. What a time we live in.
10:57 yeah the art book they released showed some early idea for companion way more badass and interest in my opinion then what we got
I don't think that solely the art style killed it. It was also the writing, the lack of actual decisions that matter, in a franchise that was what the fans expected.
Someone posted how to turn off bloom & it makes it a bit darker and grittier - but that still doesn't solve the bad writing or illusion of choice issues.
Easily the most insulting aspect of this game for me was what it did with what was established in the previous games. It apparently wasn't enough to just move the setting to northern Thedas. It also turns around and completely nukes the locations that were central to the previous games. Ferelden? Overrun by darkspawn. Orlais? Torn apart by civil war. Kirkwall? Abandoned and left to the darkspawn. And we find out about this *off-screen* no less. They effectively make all the work that we as the player did in the previous three games completely pointless. Thanks. I hate it.
Sounds pretty apropos. This game has no respect for the previous games, the established lore, worldbuilding and fanbase, so of course they would unceremoniously destroy the previous settings off-screen. Tearing down what came before to prop up the new, crappy interpretation is the M.O. of much of modern mainstream entertainment.
We knew we were going to Tevinter as early as the ending of Trespasser, with the rest of northern Thedas being unexplored in game, and that makes it a very easy choice to shift focus from the stories previously told in the south, but...not like this. Never like this. Look at what they did to my boy.
All the culture war stuff is a misdirection.
The game was going to be a live service. The shareholders need to be fed their unending diet of number go up, so EA told them to make a game with broader appeal, which to the corpos means stripping it of identity and what made it unique, ironically losing it's base of support while failing to pull in people who already enjoy the alternatives.
Have you lived beneath a rock? stripping the core identity for a modern audience has always been the woke studio M.O Live service corporation and leftist social issues all go hand in hand.
To be fair, i don't see how they could have made a live service multiplayer game with the basis they had with the Dragon Age franchise. The whole point of an RPG is to do choices and in that regard, if Star Wars The Old Republic thought me something, it's that having other players (especially unknown to you) included in that process, expecially when theres an impact on your story/when it can change the path taken, can be quite frustrating as result. It would take the removal of all significant choices to fit into a multiplayer game.... Oh wait... What am i saying? DA:V isn't an RPG and has next to no meaningful choices in it.
Still, it would have worked as fine as it is now (poorly), with or without live service multiplayer aspect, cause the public wanted a good damn Single player dark fantasy RPG out of it and it came out as an action-game with lite touch of poorly written RPG mecanics. And... on top of this, they Hyped their community for a Dreadwolf based game, just to deliver a game that has an entirely different focus in the end, like if the dev team just didn't really liked the plot they were tasked to work on and felt they could just shift the focus on other things they wanted to work on more. DA:V would have been better received if it was labeled as ''Veilguard: an adventure set in the World of Dragon Age'', as it would not have carried with it the expectation of th public to be a Dark Fantasy RPG.
wth did you expect from someone who was making Sims?
Damn should of used the Sims as an example to it’s a damn good point
It's so dessapointing to me seeing one of my favorite franchise ended like this. Not only fails to his more fervent fans, who hate all the reconts and story chances they made, but also the general audience, who didn't never gonna find anything special in this game besides a generic action game with some rgp elements. I hope it was worted to Bioware, becase to the fans, like me, wasn't really wort it.
Totally agree, it’s why I said in the title it ‘killed’ the franchise, not because the game was so terrible but just SO mid that no one will have any memories of this franchise now
This is a game made for the Tumblr shipping fans from back in the day who only talked about the romances
The people who actually coded this game should keep jobs. They just did as told and did make a pretty stable running game with decent visuals. If they got hired on to a good team maybe they’d shine more. Or maybe they’d ruin a good team.
Totally agree, it was put together really well technically and that should be applauded, especially from the same publisher of Jedi Survivor😂
Previous games had their goofy moments but they worked exactly due to the contrast with quite gloomy and dark atmosphere. Especially Hawke's story about them losing everything they love.
Unlike VG which is basically the Goofy Movie!
As much as I love/hated Inquisition- with its utterly boring story, zero tension garbage ass bbg and spiraling second half- I had no idea how good I had it back then. The writings been on the wall. Nice knowing you, BioWare.
Agreed man🙏 I believe it’s pronounced “BioBeware” now…
Honestly they've been fumbling the series since 2, all 3 has been mid games with glaring issues. I really don't understand why everyone was so hyped for Dreadwolf/whatever this thing we got is. It's like people love the idea of Dragon Age, not the games themselves.
@@tomorbataar5922 Exactly. This revisionism when it comes to the Dragon Age series really annoys me.
While I would rank DAO as one of the best rpgs of all time, it is the only good thing in that whole franchise. DA2 and DAI were mediocre at best. I don't understand how anyone thought DA4, in any form it would take, would be a good game. Even if DA4 was made with the initial "Dreadwolf" incarnation, it still would have sucked.
Bioware is now a terrible development studio. They are incapable of making a good game. EA destroyed Bioware. Everyone with an ounce of talent left a long time ago. Bioware is nothing but a logo now.
I think the writing killed it more than silly graphics.
Oh 100% writing killed it, just wanted to show another angle of complete failure on this game😂
Art style? sure family oriented. Content? Very pervasive and very not family friendly....so basically the worst of both worlds.
Yeah you’re right actually, who the hell were they aiming for with this?!
@PaddyLonglegs everyone, that why they basically got no one.
I can pick up a solo made indie RPG (Roadwarden) that’s literally better then Fail Guard in every aspect minus gameplay and graphics (though not art direction)
If a solo dev can do it, and also actually incorporate novel concepts into his game, like a “mirror character” and backstory choices that are diegetic (as much as they can be) and actually effect the choices available to you and the narrative at large, then the fact a multi-hundred million dollar game couldn’t is very telling of the overall state of AAA gaming.
The fact this "game" failed miserably right out of the gate is/was reassuring. Had the general population loved this game while I sat here thinking "The F\/CK is this???" would have been far more upsetting. This falls into the "mortal kombat annihilation" territory where actual fans of the series will do their best to forget this shit ever existed.
I would love to say "lesson is learned" but they will further tear this franchise to shreds if allowed, so here's to hoping its the last Dragon Age we ever see from this studio.
No joke half the reason I put this video out there was to see if I was the problem lol
@@PaddyLonglegs I can understand that - There will be people who hate it just because, but no, not at all, the problem is 100% not you. The video was very well done - I've been a massive DA fan since the beginning (currently replaying DAO again) and this poor excuse for a game was the biggest disappointment I ever seen in the gaming industry.
"Legs of 7ft man attached to 4ft body" I feel that 😭
10:49 Big ol' bug eyes...
My dude's screen-capture even recorded the bug on his screen. Like, how? (Edit: Maybe it's a shadow on the green-screen.)
Hahah dammit you sussed it, was gonna write that is was totally a bug PNG I put there😂👌
Venetoriiiii riiiissseeee lets break into a dance
Happy 2025 mate, hopefully we get some vids. Love the content as always
Thankyou sir!💪 Haha yeah very fair point on the vids, way more this year promise, editing literally right now!
The art direction was really the thing that made me struggle with immersing myself in this game. I couldn’t pinpoint why the purple upset me so much, or the way the characters looked. Having replayed inquisition recently definitely didn’t help, given how soft and air brushed everyone is, but also coming from bg3, I couldn’t get over just how short, stocky, and sexless every character looked. Despite having the body sliders and body scar and skin options and supposedly great hairs, I found the character creator to somehow be even more limiting than bg3, which only had presets because it had attempted to deceive me. It gave me all these sliders and stupid customization options and yet it was exceedingly difficult to make a man look like a man, with a nice hairline. I usually play as a man in rpgs, but I just couldn’t because so many of the men’s short styles really suffered from the hairline / forehead problem. Everyone in that damn game has such huge heads, and despite being able to be plus sized, none of the supporting cast are, and so I’m forced to recognize how all the women have flat chests, flat asses, and look like they’re 5 feet tall. I’m a 5 foot tall woman irl, okay, I don’t want to look short in a game. In bg3 my guy felt like a hero, like a warrior. In this, I don’t really feel like that. None of my companions feel like that either. In bg3, and even inquisiton, my companions were people I took seriously. People I clashed with and didn’t always get but who I knew I needed on my side. It was interesting not liking Laezel at first in bg3 or my companion leaving the party, or exiling Blackwall along with the wardens, or the fact that I could get into argument cut scenes with companions if their approval dropped too low because in inquisiton their approval actually meant something.
Emmrich was really the only companion I felt like actually felt like a real companion. I found him charming, I liked getting to know more about Nevarra and talking about spirits and the fade (even if they did dumb a lot of that down- why is he not religious? Why can we just enter the fade now? How can he talk to corpses lmao?) and I liked that he wasn’t a stereotypically scary dark necromancer, and I found manfred cute but not overly so snd his final choice actually made me stop to think about the consequences for a few seconds, which is more than I can say of the other companions quests. But I’d like his characterization a lot more if every other character wasn’t also so clean and removed from their actual faction / culture / religion. Neve, Taash, and Bellara I just have such a hard time believing they’re supposed to be talented at what they do. But, I also can’t stand Neve’s flat dead panned voice and Taash’s dialogue always takes me right out of the story. Bellara’s storyline was also so unbelievably boring despite liking her the most out of the three. I always forget about Harding because she also annoys me. You’re like 35, you’ve seen some shit in the inquisition, why do you act like you just left home for the first time? Also because the dwarves don’t have a playable location her story feels much smaller.
Lucanis, Davrin, and Emmrich were my favorites, with Emmrich’s dialogue feeling the most immersive. Davrin and Lucanis suffer from their stories culminating in a pretty worthless decision though, that doesn’t affect them as characters as much as those around them. With Emmrich, I was deciding his life going forward, regarding both his career and his mortality which he showed a great fear of. It also meant letting go of a character, manfred, who I’d come to enjoy who was just progressing enough to literally talk and have emotions and wants of his own.
Lucanis I decide whether or not he forgives his stupid cousin who literallt tried to kill him, or if the griffins live with the wardens or in arlathan, two choices that don’t mean anything for the characters themselves and who I don’t care about.
This was such a long comment lmao I apologize the art direction is really the first thing that pissed me off about this game and it only got worse
Ahhhh you still had hope for bioware, arnt you a precious soul❤😂
It’s all I had! now I have nothing😩😅
I've never got into this series. I do believe from the video you presented i don't want to start here 😅
Hahaha my video did good then! Yeah man it’s not worth it I’d say, if you like the freedom of choice in Cuberpunk your not gonna like the restrictions here😂
Someone at bioware mistook a dark fantasy rpg with an educational game like Adiboo
Great, unique take. Subbed! Like more fellow Brits on here! Keep the style, love it!
The art director
The character writer
And the story writer
Their writing was PEDIATRIC
Very fantastic video! Keep up the effort and u will be a huge success 👍
You’re a legend, appreciate it!💪
The art style was fine. The lack of bloodspatter, racism, slavery, jerk dialogue options, challenging companions, morally grey choices, lose-lose decisions and characrer CONFLICT ruined this game.
Character wise, no it wasn't, it's a total miss.
Location wise, yes, probably the only good thing about this game.
What do you mean there was no lose-lose decisions? Early on in the game, you have to figure out which city gets destroyed.
Also, why would I want a challenging companion? Why would I want a companion that’s destined to get kicked out of my group? Having Sten, Sera, and Fenris was never fun. They were annoying.
Furthermore, what do you mean there was no slavery? You literally have to save a slave in when you get Emmerich because he wasnt good at pouring wine, so the Venitori thought he was better sacrificed.
A lot of people really like those challenging companions because they create conflict for you the main character. You can disagree with their worldviews and for some of them even change them or perhaps have your own mind changed by their perspective. Losing that tension is why a lot of people think that Veilguard has a much weaker cast.
@@newhappythoughts1628 Sounds like you enjoyed the game, and I'm glad you did.
I bought and played it on day 1. I would still give it a solid 7/10.
But I was so very disappointed, over and over again, that all the grit and darkness that made Thedas feel "dangerous on a good day" had been filtered out.
I specifically rolled a City Elf Shadow Dragon from Tevinter. Because, after multiple plot lines through previous games, revolving around the plight and oppression of elves, and slavery in Tevinter, I was ready to finally fight that - in Tevinter - as part of a faction that apparently frees slaves.
I freed no slaves.
I saw no slaves.
No slaves were bled for venatori magic.
I didnt free that one guy in Emeric side quest. He was just sitting there already discarded. Hardly representative of an endemic evil rife throughout the region.
My elf was treated no differently to a dwarf or human. I didnt even hear the phrase 'knife ear'. There was a throw away line somewhere with belara where Rook says elves are already disliked, but it wasn't evident in the game.
Of course, I want companions to challenge me and eachother. Real people have very different views and experiences. Both justified and unjustified. Its more immersive than everyone being "super nice and supportive" all the time. You mention Fenris as an annoying companion. Yes. He was OTT with his hatred of magic. He challenged me every time I saved a mage. That enriched the game. It made him real. And he was actually one of the most rewarding parts of DA2 because of it. Because if I was patient with him, he actually grew up and changed and learned to trust my mage - enough to fight FOR mages against templars at the end.
Good storied need flawed characters, because you can't have character arcs without flaws.
The Crows were also too nice. The Crows are famous for training slave children to be assassins, half of whom die in training. The Crows are meant to be cold elite killers for hire. Why did bioware make them so warm and helpful. Recruiting a morally grey (black even) faction to fight against the bigger bad would have been better.
Anyway. That's alreadyba wall of text. Hopefully enough to express why I was disappointed.
On the plus side, there's no reason my 8yo can't play this game. Literally not one reason.
No it looks bad.
As a standalone game, the new Dragon Age shines with its breathtaking visuals and engaging live-action combat. But for me, it falls short of capturing the heart and soul of the original trilogy. While the world and lore are present, the storytelling and vibe just don’t match up, and the absence of the original writer’s touch is evident.
Honestly, I believe this would have made a great spin-off. As a continuation of such a rich series, though, it misses the mark. It’s also hard to ignore that, for its price, it could offer more-especially when compared to something like Baldur’s Gate, where even the standard edition feels more substantial.
I agree if this was different IP sure its not that bad exept it woud still fail for its pushy agenda - tho if that was fixed and changed to solo IP i coud see this game not being that bad or hated even. Its also why i call this game Veilgard - only VEILGUARD - i dont consider this to be dragon age game
I think your right in that the sum of everything just didn’t give the right “vibe”, for me the art style ruined the DA vibe but I totally get it could be the writing that annoys someone instead, it’s a big old stinky purple cauldron of weird vibes😂
🤣🤣🤣🤣 this video is so funny. 5:53 I can't believe you've done that
You Legend thanks! I was proud of the Frasier Qunari myself😂😂
Disney Age: Good Wolfie
The writing was more of a problem. The art direction reflects what they wanted to do with the story, characters and world
And the art direction would be responsible for helping the performance too.
I just got a new xbox 360 and am replaying dragon age origins.......man its crazy how good bioware used to be
Bio-was, man. Bio-was :'[
Let's all get together and hope for an unoffical remaster/remake of the older DA games in our lifetimes by caring and dedicated fans🤞🏻
Dammit why didn’t I think of BioWas?!😂😫
Best video I’ve seen. 😂you’re absolutely hilarious. 😚
15:19. I think you broke down the formula for Vincent Price. I had never played any of the dragon age games before and was only disappointed when I went back to play origins. Thought the combat was cool until it just started feeling like fantasy pimple doctor.
This is a really bloody good video
And comments like these make me make more! You’re a legend thanks!
Bro. The art direction was the least of Failgaurd's problems lmao.
i didn't watch the video yet but i just wanted to say that you're thumbnail made my day
Haha thanks! It took ages just blending Varrics face in😂👌
@@PaddyLonglegs don't you mean...DRAGON AGES ? :D .... ok i'll just leave
fantastic video - loved your take on this...."game" i guess would be the nicest thing i could call it.
It’s honestly a much, much lower quality of work than Disney or Pixar.
That montage at the beginning was hard to make as all the Pixar clips just looked so much better than VG clips😫😂
"It’s inherently very queer" -Game Director Corinne Busche
Dragon Age has always been queer. What it wasn’t was clumsily, ham-fistedly written. Compare how Krem being a trans man was handled in Inquisition-as part of a discussion with Iron Bull about how the Qun approaches gender and gender roles-versus Veilguard just having Taash blurt out modern-day gender terminology. Veilguard’s issue was never that it was queer, it’s that it was poorly written, lacking nuance, complexity, atmosphere and personality. YA novels have more depth than this.
@@DevinParker Agreed. Of the seven romance options in Inquisition, two were exclusively gay (Sera and Dorian) and in two others (Josephine and Iron Bull), the main character’s gender didn’t matter. The writing in Veilguard is absolutely abysmal-especially when compared to how the subject matter was previously handled. No one cares about Dorian’s sexuality. Why? Because the writing-particularly for his personal quest-was some of the best in the series.
I know there are mods out there that would help but I can't be bothered to deal with installing them. Plus Larian listens to the community and is still dropping big patches for the game a YEAR later. Watch as zero patches or fucks will be given from BioWare. They won't do a damn thing to give the game some tweaks like Larian has when it comes to dialogue. Greatful I can share this game with a loved who bought it on sale. I didn't have to pay a dime for this not so finely aged and polished coprolite.
I would love for a group of previous writers of the game to buy the rights to it and 1st do remakes of Origins, 2 and inquisition using the unreal engine 5 then doing dreadwolf the proper way.
If there is anyway this could ever happen I think fans would spend a lot of money on it making that group set to do greater games the way they saw.
Imagine the sales from VG are so bad EA just give the license to veteran Bioware staff, your right it would be amazing and I bet theyd get ALOT of support on Kickstarter, like Star Citizen support lol
Honestly it’s a beautiful game from a environmental stand point.
Yeah props to the environmental artists for sure
Remembering this game exist make me depresed the story and writing in DA 1, 2, and 3 is soo good, like wtf they do to DA here f*uck 😔
Like wtf more are these Dev gonna "fix" from DA here
I never craved for realistic graphics in games, damn there are games I love just because they look different
But Veilguard is... Well Veilguard
The art direction wasn't the majority of the problem, it was the preach activism and terribly written dialogue
How to train your dragon live action does look pretty good
Right?!
When BioWare inevitably goes under (after the chain of failures, I’ll give it five years), my hope of hopes is Larian buys the Dragon Age IP.
I was a huge Dragon age fan and I was super excited we were going to get to explore more of the Northern areas of Thedas that we have not been to yet. Yes the art direction, as some of the background scenery were done very well. It just didn't feel like Dragon Age at all with the writing, and I didn't like any of my companions. Not to mention I personally don't believe These "gender studies" should belong in video games at all. I don't care what your sexual preference is!
Well, if it was brought in a well written way, it might be a good idea. The asari are a good example. But when it's rubbed in your face like that, it's just cringy.
@@sekai9906 Now what you mentioned it Kreme that was an Inquisition was a well written character. I believe it was Iron Bulls second in command.
No. This is an insult. How dare you? How dare you say this shitass game comes anywhere near close to the greatness of the How to Train your Dragon series?
That film looks SO badass, I do apologize for even muttering the game in it presence!😅🙏
actually keeps me up at night how much i hated this game. scooby doo live action had a darker theme throughout man
Zoinks!
Being asked to "do a barve, bigot" did it to me but everyone has a different reason not to buy the game i guess.
Dragon Age Origins is one of my favourite games of all time. It has a very drab, unsaturated understated art style. But that style compliments the dark story being told. It tells you that the world in which you play isn't some happy-go-lucky theme park. There is a constant threat of demonic invasion in multiple forms. The nobility is corrupt and backstabbing. The church is oppressive against mages, but the mages are incredibly dangerous and almost destroyed the world in the past. Even the Grey Wardens, the heroes, aren't traditional heroes in that they are willing to do whatever it takes to defeat the Darkspawn.
This new game doesn't even seem like a Dragon Age game. The trailers are purple vomit colored cartoons. The devs are talking about how the game is about family and acceptance. The dialogue clips are just a bunch of ugly characters talking like they're in a bad MCU movie. I do not like DA2 and DAI, but at least they were in the ballpark of what a Dragon Age game should be. This new game doesn't even look like it is in the same universe.
Totally agree! I think that’s what annoys me the most, we could of perhaps understood a BAD DA game but this just didn’t feel like DA at all
I'm not having any great or good expectations for the next Mass Effect
This is where most of my stress is coming from, I can get over this being a bad game but if this kind of treatment happens to Mass Effect...
So much of potential wasted.
BioWare is wasted. Been drinkin since Andromeda
The art direction was a problem, but it wasn't THE problem with the game, which was the terrible writing, and I'm not even talking about the preachy parts.
Wrong, it was the writing. Origins looked and played atrociously but it had fantastic writing so no one cared.
lets be honest, this game has a lot more than art direction issues 😅your right some of the maps felt off, because some are so cartooney while others give original drgaon age vibes, but i liked the maps the most out of everything this game offered me.
Bio Beware, haha, good one!
It’s not “woke” that’s the issue. It’s commercialism.
Comparing Veilguard to popular kids movies, Fortnite and the like is accurate because Veilguard was an attempt to exploit that market, which means dumbing down everything
100% we’re seeing Veilguard characters in Fortnite, not from the popularity of VG but because Epic will want a good relationship with EA
@@PaddyLonglegs ugh, Dragon Age characters in Fortnite… i can’t imagine a more final nail in the coffin for the series than if that came to pass, but I wouldn’t put it past them!
I cant with your Rook. The voice performances were good. They didnt get much to work with. But I found the whole pronoun thing to be very irritating.
One look at the trailer its a no buy for me. The characters have no manners and dialogs are shit
Literally they interrupt sentences in some dialogue scenes, no manners indeed!
No, pushing troon garbage and destroying the franchise killed the game. The mobile level graphics just puts a comedic bow on the entire woke mess.
They went full retard.
This is dragon age ( origins clip of morrigan saying well anything). This is also dragon age ( clip of da2 of aveline saying " watch out for bartrand, hes a son of a bitch). This is dragon age too ( clip of dragon age 3 of leiliana saying " he is so complimentary im certain he wants to kill you.") Veilguard is not dragon age . ( any clip of taash here)
This is Dragon age:”Taash the stitching…it’s gorgeous.” This isn’t Dragon Age.
I'VE NEVER SEEN DORIAN IN THIS GAME YET AND THEY DID MY BOY SO DIRTY 😭🤢🤮💀
The Guy looks like Guy Fawkes in Fortnite😂
Wait, if Blackrock is from China and these DEI stuff is pushed by such company then it only makes sense that they fire these "trashified" games to prop up the games they make at their homeland? Like Stellar Blade, Black Myth Wukong... It's starting to make more sense now...
Black Rock is not a Chinese company and it's major cope to think any of this DEI is stuff comes from anywhere else but your own western intellegencia and elites.
Blackrock is American, I'm pretty sure. All this DEI stuff is american
Stellar Blade is also Korean, iirc.
you broke sis?😂
go woke go broke😎
Not just art direction....
I wasted 10 years waiting for this!
Bro, it's not even competent. The heads are too large in proportion and the shoulders are too short, making the models anatomically and proportionally incorrect. If my character design professor grabbed that as a final hand in, he'd probably have given me a 60%. Not a fail, but more a pity grade for me attempting to polish a turd. 💀
Yeah you got a point, I hand in Varric's model and the teacher will ask why I made a damn Funko Pop character
More than the art...😂
I love hearing about the this grand failure but I have a deep hatred for the artstyle
No the out of touch tone and the continuing trend of moving away from the original dark fantasy that was origins ruined this game
4:48 4/10 not enough smashmouth
Hahah yeah I know😫 Copyright cats woulda claimed the whole video!
Yeah...
The art direction...
That's what it was. Not the shitty writing, the bad combat, the awful enemies, and the ham fisted woke trans bullshit.
🫶🏻 it awesome video 🎉
You legend thankyou!🙏
The game is great! Just got it on Christmas and loving the exploration
It’s not, there’s a reason it hasn’t sold well and it’s been rejected by most of the gaming community
@LordMuzhy It's my opinion, and you're entitled to your own. On steam, the reception has been mostly/very positive I can't wait for Avowed too. I already know people are going to be mad about that game, too.
@@LordMuzhy Prince must be trolling or rage-baiting....
At this point, I dont care for gamers. If you’re mad that not every game looks like dark souls, then gamers dont care about content whatsoever which is probably why I stopped caring about games a long time ago.
I get where you're coming from but I don't think that's fair. You don't see people whining about Stardew Valley not being a dark and gritty game. Dragon Age was from the very beginning a pretty dark game and so a lot of people are disappointed that a lot of those edges were to some extent sanded off. Personally I think people are lazy with the whole Disney comparisons but when it comes to companions I get where their coming from.
@@SuperPal-tr3go Stardew Valley is a pixel game about farming. That is such a disingenuous comparision. Dragon Age is dark IN CONTENT. You really think art dictates content? South Park is the most cartoony looking RPG game series and that content alot of CSA, horrifically mutated children, and a child being unalived because he didnt have insulin. In what universe is that not considered dark?
@@newhappythoughts1628 I'm sorry but I either didn't get the point you were making or you didn't understand mine. The point I was making was that gamers don't actually complain about or desire all games to be dark and broody which is why I used Stardew Valley as an example. Like... sure you can have games with a bright aesthetic that's also edgy like South Park but with something like Dragon Age you'd want both its art and content to be dark in equal measure. Honestly I don't even think Veilguard is entirely without dark content or art direction but I think those elements are let down by lacklustre writing that makes its darker moments lose impact and feel more like spectacle than unsettlingly horror.
@@SuperPal-tr3go Near the beginning of Veilguard:
1. You see the blight grow out of people.
2. You have to decide which city gets destroyed.
3. If you choose not to save Neve’s coty, you see people hanging.
4. A mayor sacrificed his whole village for money and lured Veil jumpers to their unaliving.
5. Then you have the tough choice of either seeing the mayor as a victim of the Gods that deserve mercy or seeing him as a monster that deserves to be abandoned.
That’s not dark to you?
Don't understand how wanting a game to be like its previous installments means every game must be like dark souls. Sorry no one wants their dark fantasy game to look and feel like a bad direct to DVD kids movie. If you don't care about games why are you even here?