@@Gungrave123 Shepard was also involved in whatever role that chosen companion was doing in the mission. Veilguard just shows them in a cutscene so it's way less impactful.
@@sojinnn The Minrathous / Treviso decision is also ridiculous, everyone blames you like you're supposed to be some sort of messiah or something. aside from the companions, nobody knows Rook, Rook's presence or name itself doesnt inspire people like 'who the hell are you supposed to be?'
@@RaptorLuck Remember when DA2 and Inquisition already ruined player choice and roleplaying options from Origins? It's hypocrisy to pretend all of a sudden that only Veilguard veered away from Origins and magically the previous two games were loyal to Origins. They weren't. DA2 was a horrible watering down of Origins.
@AztecUnshaven yeah man, I gave up on this series after inquisition. DA2 was bad and inquisition was a hail Mary for me, but it also didn't live up to origins at all. Pretty wild how poorly managed this IP was after how good the first one was.
BG2 and Icewind was proper role-play games, you could do and say so many different things. And Origins at least gave you options to be a psychopath, a coward, a pacifict , racist, argumentative ect. Everything after origins is just garbage when it comes to role-play.
@@bellabuilder4160 I loved BG1 and BG2, and Icewind Dale, also Pillars of Eternity. That being said, Veilguard is getting a lot of unwarranted hate. It's actually a very solid game and better overall than DA2 in my opinion. Way better gameplay than Inquisition as well. Origins is still king though.
@thatguy718 co-op horde shooters are great for satisfying the dwarf itch. Deep Rock and Vermintide both let you play as dwarves. Bardin Goreksson from the Vermintide series is among my favorite video game characters.
Dragon Age: Veilguard Therapist. My companions should be thankful there was no Dark Urge option. I put 60 hours into it and this review is spot on. It had really nice looking environments and lighting and combat was ok but man the writing. It was bad. Especially Taash. Taash felt like they were just forced into the story for no other purpose than their story quest. They also talked like a modern day teenager which just completely broke immersion.
I've got an embarrassing amount of hours across the DA games and over 100 in Veilguard. I'm also a lore nerd in DA. I was disappointed with Veilguard primarily because of the large amount of lore and story history they chose to ignore or render moot. Much of the most profound action, , in which Southern Thedas gets destroyed and the fate off all you worked for over the first three games gets destroyed, takes place OFF CAMERA and you hear about it thru easily-missed codexs and missives. The writing is over-simplified, the romances are juvenile and under-written, and the companions are "nice" but have no quirks or funny / snarky dialogue. Overall the writing is a real disappointment unless you like very simple, one dimensional plots. By the time I finished, I was pretty sad at what they had turned this complex & gritty story into. If you're a new player and/or someone who doesn't know the lore you might not be bothered by it, but I don't see how an OG player who knows the lore wouldn't be really bothered by how much of it they threw out.
@@MotherMantiss Solid review of a poorly designed game that is the latest example proof that it is about the people making the game rather than the studio/company. And none of your points even touched on the heavy handed inserting of modern day gender politics...in a fantasy magic medieval world.
I dropped veilguard because the combat was mind numbing repetitive and boring and I was dreading every instance of dialogue. Complete 180 from my BG3 playthrough. Picked up Metaphor and it’s crazy how I forgot about how addicting well written characters and good dialogue is
I disagree with some of your critiques and agree with most of your critiques, and I appreciate you putting in the effort (each with playing the game and doing this video) to provide such a comprehensive review of your experience. So for that, yes, I did enjoy this video (and I did hit the like button).
@@adawg3032 I attached a comment with other info, but I agree that this game is hard to stick through for some players. I have 80 hours, I haven't had the choice of Davrin Vs Harding yet. I have a romance partner, I have a build I enjoy as a rogue.. but the writing is painful to endure. I can't finish the game. I've uninstalled it, and I bought the Mass Effect legendary edition to try out for the first time. I'm 30 hours into Mass Effect 1 and I've not had any real romance content with Liara but I'm loving the content of the game outside of that. Even with the combat being not that flashy. I just want the lore and the storytelling. Veilguard failed in that, in my humble opinion.
Primer/detonator tactics are already present even in DA:Origins. It is just not call that way, but you can freeze/paralyze -> shatter, sleep -> nightmare, grease -> fire burn, etc. I would call it a Bioware staple feature at this point, for sure something that you can suck you into the game.
Funny how this combos are satisfying in origins, a game that came out 15 years ago, while combat in veilguard is...meh. I will never tire of freeze>shatter
The difference is that in Origins those things were called "spell combinations", there were more of them, and were hidden for you to find. They also did different things, looked differently and were more logically consistent. Grease + fire spell = burning grease Burning grease + ice spell = extinguish fire Life drain + magical weakness = drain more life Sleep + Nightmare = deal a lot of damage, target wakes up terrified Paralysing glyph + repulsive glyph = paralysing explosion etc. If you compare these combos to Mass Effect and Inquisition/Veilguard you will notice that the in the latter games combos are unimaginative and less numerous.
@@UA-cam.changed.myname DAV's combos are obviously far less numerous, and that they don't have different animations for the dets is quite odd. It seems like a hangover from the co-op (or 'GaaS') era of production. However, get your binds right, and pretty much come to see the game as being about just your character with 9 abilities (10, including your rune) in realtime? And I think it works superbly. The mage, in particular, is just a huge amount of fun. Doing a heavy staff slam against a mob immediately into that Evoker orb, fade-stepping the other side of it, doing the leap back shock ability (I forget all the names), and detonating the orb - to further send the enemy back away from you - before your feet touch the ground? I'm about 60hrs into a second playthrough, and I really can't get bored of how its combat flows and synergises. The layers are now in specific stuff like Agility, Control, conditions for crits, perfect parry triggers, and so on. It can't really be compared linearily to a CRPG, as it's an entirely different form of combat design. Frankly I think it's the best BioWare have done, in terms of an actually cohesive system that's really well executed on. Not what I want from a DA, but I'd rather have DAV's proficiency and focus than DA:I's SP MMO spam garbage.
I always like watching your game reviews. There is structure, it is methodical and you share your preferences, your likes and dislikes clearly and it’s fine whether folks agree or disagree.Its a very easy video that is not heavy handed. Good job Ruri. Love the humor you drop in once in a while.
Also thank god you are the only one that brought up how Lucanis fails every single time he is needed to deliver. It's insane, you would think messing up with lucanis would cause him to fail more or something but nope, he just causes someone else's death
@@ConRa-e9q …but he kills Ghillinain? And he saves Taia from the venatori blood mage? And he overthrows Ilario as first talon? So I’m not sure I agree. He failed one time though at Weishaupt definitely. Tbh he’s one of the only companions that directly affects the story in any way, which is a criticism in itsel that I have.
That's one of my biggest issue with the story. I feel like an expert assassin should be doing much better?? Do I need to hold his hand like I have to do for every one's personal quest? The amount of times I'm just like, "take the shot already!!!" But I GUESS THE "DISTRACTIONS" ARE TOO MUCH. 😑
@@masc4mascara39 He killed Ghillinain but intially failed in that specific fight guaranteeing the death of a companion. He almost died in the final mission but maybe because I pissed him off and made him hardened a dozen hours ago for not choosing him. We helped him become first talon. His failure at weishaupt is actually totally fine to me, I can forgive that, it was a cool shot and I can accept not killing a main boss that quickly it was thematically and story wise appropriate for building up his arc of dealing with spite but failing TWICE and getting lucky is awful
"These guys go hard!" -Taash and Davrin while fighting "Assan is feeling his oats..." - Rook in a conversation cutscene I started yelling at my screen so much my roommate had to come out and check on me.
@@rurikhan I wish you included some examples of that kind of speech in the review(quotes) like the comment by Ariyala, it would have really helped your point.
@@statesminds which rpgs? and yes people complain when immersive dark rpgs start using modern speech. Imagine hearing geralt of rivia saying "This meal is bussin!"
This is actually such a good review, not leaning to one side heavily as the others did. You point out and appreciate when they do something good, but also tell us your honest opinion when they did something awful. Thanks ruri.
1:05:17 There is actually a fourth ending where you get your companions killed and then the remaining companions get killed by Solas and then both of you get trapped behind the Vale since the dagger has blood from both of you on it or something.
I enjoyed watching the BTS film from the first dragon age, where they talk about aiming for a middle-geound between RR Martin and Tolkein. Then we get to Veilguard, which isn't even "high fantasy," it's an after school special. There is no middle-ground happening here.
I did not even care about any political / cultural stuff until I learnt that it was very much in my face to the point of annoyance. What also made me skip this was lackluster combat and pretty much no RP in the RPG? I cannot be an asshole, I cannot disagree with my team or call out their BS which I could in the past. Mass Effect even let me go full renegade interruptions if I wanted to. I could tell that elf chick in the Inquisiton that she was a brat and a pain in the ass and then kick her out of the party. You know what sucks tho? I checked out the concept art and potential story lines, the original ideas they had for this. We could have gotten a badass and super hot Qunari companion who instead of struggling with her womanhood, would struggle with the Qun and the fact that she was a super good warrior but the Qun demanded her to do sth else and we could explore how she, yes she, would defy her culture and grow to be a competent and badass woman warrior. Well, let's just wait another decade for the next Larian banger I guess. Or Owclat. Maybe there will be more RPG studios.
there's only one end to that, and its quick, with no bullshit, it'll probably happen the moment rook opens his mouth: renegade shepard decks him in the face.
16:10 I'm not sure if anyone has told him yet, but elves don't have beards in Dragon Age. I didn't like the ending. So many people said "yes, the last 4, 5, 6 hours are really good" but i was only 2 quests away from the end at the time and was wondering when the good hours would come. Everything we encountered, we had already seen and fought before. The gods are the most useless and uninteresting villains ive ever seen. And Lucanis with the Spite Demon, who never does anything even remotely.. spiteful.. nope.
The people I tend to agree with when it comes to reviews all think this game is not for me. Skillup, AngryJoe, Fextra, Ruri. I usually use these to decide if I am unsure.
What bothered me was the fact that the character creation was bragged as being "super inclusive" and "the options are so comprehensive and vast that anyone can make a character that looks like them". Except women that look like me. They intentionally EXCLUDED options to have to make a character with uniquely feminine traits. The director even tried to chastise and embarass a female gamer who pointed out in a reply to the director on X that she was disappointed at not being able to make a character that looked like herself who had a uniquely feminine body shape ( like an hourglass shape and larger chest) apparently wanting that was unacceptable and we female gamers were called weird for feeling us women with this uniquely feminine body shape would have the audacity to expect "all inclusive options" to mean us as well. It was made clear in the director's (and those who did the character design options) spiteful vitriole on X that its not acceptable or DEI friendly to look like us. That director can take a long walk off a short pier. What a P/O/S It doesn't help that the stroywriting and dialogue read like it was a teenager's Wattpad fanfiction of a Marvel movie, and the humor was like a knockoff of Marvel comedy. It wasnt witty, it wasn't clever, it was just terrible. And anyone who criticized the game, no matter if they mention NOTHING about lgbt agendas (or even care about it all) or how objective the critique was were labeled as bigots and -phobes and THATS the ONLY reason they could ever have for disliking the game. Get bent Bioware, you deserve to go under. Just let a more competent developer acquire the rights to the DA franchise before you eat the dirt.
This game is so interesting because it seems like half of the people really did try to make a good game, their are glimmers of hope in the game, combat is halfway descent, but the other half is a condescending, agenda pushing lecture, with sloppy writing and no world-building and immersion written into the story.
@@Darklurkerr writers of Emmerich and Davrin? Wrote LotSB and Genophage Arc respectively. So of course there’s glimmers. However, the rest of the writers were not in A game. Whoever the corporate guy way that upset David Gaider was a fool
@lordofgingers Gaider left saying writers were resented for being needed and their art went underappreciated. It's not a boss, it's the whole of BioWare doing this. When you don't appreciate your workers they leave or stay for a paycheck doing the most passionless work.
“Combat is halfway decent” I’m sorry am I crazy? Why do people keep saying this? The combat is boring and weak. An objective downgrade from prior DAs and not even great compared to other modern games. Is it just new younger gamers with less experience? What’s going on there’s no way people think this combat is good
@@MysteriousStranger50yeah this game is definitely for the pew pew go boom crowd. Inquisition sold 12million copies. It would have made more sense to improve those gameplay systems and at least maintained that level of writing.
I just can't get excited about a game that's clearly made for kids. Everything about it is the kinda thing that my nephew, who's in grade school, would "give it a try I guess" according to him. Just finished the review. Def earned a sub.
@@Fishster "Indoctrinate"? About what? That being in a guild of professional murderers is actually about doing good? If so, I agree, that's a terrible agenda...
That's a bit of a weird attitude, because, firstly, it obviously isn't a game "clearly made for kids". That's an absurd thing to say. Fun for all the family? That's more accurate, ergo it's [somewhat unfortunately] for anyone. It's an at times very good game - especially in its design and cohesion/flow. It's just not what I ever really wanted from the series. If this is a blip, I'll be perfectly fine with that. If it's the new tone/style? That's not fine.
@@SabiJD It’s more like the game treats it’s players like children rather than being for kids.. Art style, hand holding, no bad outcomes, party members telling you what to do so you don’t even have to think, trivial puzzles. And let’s not forget the ‘preachy’ style. A lot of the way the game communicates with its players is how one would communicate with a toddler to encourage them to “play nice”.
@@Fishster Most triple-A games have that attitude, it isn't unique to DAV. Playtest sessions seem to encourage this attitude, as players struggle with the most obvious stuff. And given how few people bother to finish the games they buy (or, sadly, stream/'rent' these days), I kinda don't blame companies who treating their players like brainlets. It still feels like an ironically childish try-hard criticism. I suppose it's because they (BioWare) wanted to just cast a wider net, but I really want to see exactly who thought this was the correct tonal path for the series, and why. None of this is a 'controversy', or a disaster, but as a longterm fan (DA and BioWare) I do want transparency. I think fans deserve to know why DAV went in this direction. Then again tone isn't the biggest problem with DAV - it's the near total disinterest in its own universe's lore. That change has nothing to do with age ratings, that's just a really dumb, frustrating corpo seeming mandate to not exclude new players. It's essentially a soft reboot - that's also direct sequel to DLC... It's just bizarre.
Thank you for taking the time to fully finish the game and giving your honest thoughts. I enjoyed the game quite a bit myself but I sure felt the same about most of the complaints you had with it. I mean, I left a couple of sidequests unfinished because it was just pointless and taking too long. I just wanted to see the end of the story. Anyway you did a great job pointing out where the game shines and where it doesn't. That, to me, is a sign of a great review.
Just here to make sure there's more humans than bots in comments. It spoke loads that the livestreams were only entertaining because of you, rather than the gameplay happening onscreen. Good stuff!
Because most of new games just have bright colors and shining light everyone the only person will be happy with it is a baby most people will have hard time following anything
Really mixed bag. For me, custom difficulty was a requirement, just to lower mob health initially while keeping damage highest, and tuning it up with gear milestones. Made combat more fun for sure. I'd agree with tonal shift, but even more because this was the end of an arc. I think this team would have done better with a first game. Had to edit just to say that YES somebody finally calls out the hat debacle of not allowing hair with them. By the way, an underrated thing with this format is that there isn't a lot of party games like this anymore. Meaning, action rpg third person games that is a party instead of 1 character. They used to be more common but then mostly disappeared.
There still a lot in JRPG, Tales, Granblue, etc... DA was special... Except they took away the ability to control your party, and your party members are IMMORTAL
@@BadEnd98 Yeah, I was gonna post this too. Tales of Arise and Granblue: Relink are the games we have to play now for party-based ARPG's where you get to control your companions. I'd add the Xenoblade trilogy as well, also phenomenal games where you can control whoever you want. It's unfortunate that western studios have seemingly forgotten how to make these games because they absolutely rule, and BioWare used to be the industry kings in this regard. But, like a lot of things anymore, it's up to developers outside the West to make actual good games now. Westsern AAA's bubble cannot burst fast enough.
Might wanna look into CRPG for the full party thing. Baldur's Gate 3 (obviously), Pathfinder Kingmaker & Wrath of the Righteous, Warhammer 40k : RogueTrader, etc etc
Owlcat have taken over doing this but they have low production at this point and for action you are kinda stuck with Asian studios as mentioned. Larian is the new bioware
@@via_negativa6183 Also worth mentioning that while Owlcat games are really good, the devs don't have a good track record at releasing polished games. Better to wait at least half a year after release for them to fix stuff
Most of the problems with DA II was due to the big crunch the devs were suffering, it was a game made in less than 2 years i think, that is the reason why we don't have much characther customization, a lot of reused maps, etc. EA rushed the release because of DAO sucess and Bioware did not have the time to polish the game, a pity, but the narrative was great, it was still a "Bioware game" and i liked it, but DAI is still my fav... Now, Veilguard had 10 years of development hell and... well, as an old DA fan, i will never get over it
The amount of smoke being blown up peoples asses about how “good” some of the things in this game, is insane. It’s enough smoke that I’m surprised they aren’t floating in the atmosphere right now. I needed to see it to believe it with this game and oh boy did I see it. Remember being given summer reading when you were in grade school and then being forced to do a paper or project based upon that reading next year? Imagine a game being developed by all the people that didn’t do the reading, looked at spark notes for ideas, and then wrote a prompt for chat GPT to do their project for them. That’s the exact development process for the veilguard.
I had a lot of the same criticism. But what is baffling to me is those on social media that really raise up in the defense of the game and would berate you for criticizing it and 'ruining everyone's fun and enjoyment of the game' and it's so... bizarre. I also played about 100 hours of the game, and someone was claiming that I was lying or that the Rook I made wasn't even mine and was from some UA-camr. I have videos, I've streamed it for my friends. And apparently I was the 'toxic person plaguing the industry'? It's insane. I'm a woman, also under that LGBTQ+ umbrella, and I don't mind diversity. But this was so... preachy and it was just horribly approached. I tried to play a baddie in Thedas. But I had to be the nicest Karen. I felt like my last remaining braincells died once I was done with the game. I borrowed it from a friend cause I saw way before release that it wouldn't be work nearly 90 dollars. I don't know if there is a lack of media literacy, or a lack of care from those who are so highly defensive of the game and see that there is 0 things wrong with it. But once I put down the game and got that secret ending, it made me weep. The disappointment I felt crushed me, especially the story and the lore. But thank you for the honest criticism. It feels like to know that I'm not going insane with how divided the fandom had become.
I know people say gameplay and combat comes first and is most important in a game. but honestly when it comes to dragon age for me that is the complete opposite. this game could have had elden ring levels of combat quality and I still would have hated it. characters and writing were 90% of why DAO was so memorable for me. I don't remember any of the bosses or barely how the combat worked in origins. but I remember morrigan and her story with flemmeth the dialogue between her and allistair. meeting Issabella in Denerim who later became my favorite character in DA2. this feels like a soulless rip off of dragon age. ill be honest I even felt similar about Inquisition characters but that was still far better than this. I just could not get attached to any of these characters and i'm also a big dwarf lover but that wasn't anywhere close to enough to stomach this game.
It doesn't feel like the writers wrote a Dragon Age game. It feels like they wrote a world they want real-life to replicate, with everyone being nice and supportive 24/7. There is so much self-insert, projecting dialogue in this game that it really does break the fourth wall. The push-up scene with Isabela is the worst example of this - the game was literally telling the player to remember to check their privilege
I feel like they lost me way back when they released the ad for this game with the League of Legends style character intros with the action move, then freeze frame, then "pow" the name of the character slams into view. I was thinking "oh crap, they are going to turn this into a kiddie game". As it turns out my fears were not unwarranted. I seem to remember Borderlands having this type of thing in game, and it fit there with the campy style, but I'm not sure where this comes from originally. Possibly it goes all the way back to the campy 1960's Batman TV show - "POW", "BLAM", which in turn came straight from comic books of the time. This sort of thing makes me cringe if they are doing it in connection to a mature (in this case formerly mature) franchise. I'm just hoping a few developers take from BG3's success that there is a profitable fan base out there that wants more mature, gritty, unsanitized, impactful approaches to their games. Seriously! We are older and have a LOT more money to spend! And Bioware isn't getting a penny of it for sucking the marrow out of one of my favorite fantasy franchises. Who would have thought that two decades after KOTOR Bioware, with loads of money, would choce to make an anit-bioware style game.
Having a barrier to respec your build in games is so shitty but so many games do it. I'm surprised Veilgurd doesn't, unexpected win right there, that should be more standard.
Totally agree. The barrier where you have to port back somewhere or pay for respec only makes it so people end up not experimenting themselves and just use a premade build from the most popular UA-cam's video. I am not good at making builds myself, but in this game I had a lot of fun playing with talents, because the game has encouraged me to do so - there was no artificial wall, I could always switch things around between the fights and see what works for me. This should be a 100% standard. If anything, DAV convinced me that whatever next game I will be playing that has character builds, I will install a mod that allows endless, free, easy-to-access respecs.
I was a big fan of the series and got this game since there was so much controversy surrounding it and i wanted to see for myself. It's frustrating to me that this game is weak in all the areas you'd think a Dragon Age game would be strong in. The only highlight of the game imo is the characters builds. I love mage from a Role play standpoint but mage tends to suck in most games compared to rogue. This is the first game I've played in a long time where I actually enjoyed mage.
Agreed. I’ve been saying that the best thing about this game by far is the build crafting, but the things it does worst is the stuff that DA games usually do the best at, like the writing.
And to comment on the item level ups. The items aren't random. I had 2 playthroughs since i wanted to try rogue. Items were all in the same spots so i was OP with the rogue early
The funny thing is it is superior to Inquisition in combat and generally more fun to play (imo of course). I really didn't like playing Inquisition and like Rurikhan I never finished it. Uninspired open world design, and a (IMO) bad attempt at some kind of hybrid combat. Inquisition also absolutely started the trend towards Veilguard in that characters were made much less attractive than DA 2, and the look was brighter and less gritty. And they were rewarded by huge sales numbers and a GotY. So the attpemt to appeal to a broader audience worked then, now add on success of Marvel at the main period of development (2018 is when it really ramped up) and the Fortnite/Overwatch aesthetic that defined live service at the time and its easy to see how we got here.
Next time you wanna play a controversial game from a company that refuses to pay their workers their due and are dealing with being sued, don't give them money, pirate the game instead.
@@Alwaysttango I'm a console player. And corrupt companies are prominent in just about every field. That's not enough to stop me from purchasing products
DA2 has primers and detonators. They're just not called that. And they have different effects. Nightmare actually means something too as you have to pay attention to your skills and builds. It's fun although you can't be a dwarf.... Who stole your glasses?
FR thank God for Larian. Otherwise, the future of western RPGs would be BLEAK. Hopefully Larian dips their toes into the sci-fi genre one day cause I'm playing Mass Effect again now and you're right, it would be a crime if they were the last games of their kind.
@@Xaxares Yeah but that was a game made by japanese devs who actually understand European fantasy. You can't expect modern day western devs to understand European fantasy.
I platinumed that game (not that I was hard to do) and I pretty much agree with everything you said here. Gameplay was great but I could've been so much more and I would really loved to play that in Coop. Story and writing was really underwehlming even though some characters came across as likeable, but I really felt the lack of choice. Even the "sarcastic asshole choices" where just "sarcastic nice guy" options this time. Either let me roleplay my character or give them a fixed personality/appearance.
I respect your love for dwarves. Putting yourself through 100 hours of torture willingly just to play as a race you love is something i lack the required level of masochism for
Taash is such a weird character for me. I'm trans and of a multicultural background like them. Their story was awkward, the modern terminology didn't work to the game/story's benefit, and as much as I appreciate the attempt at representation, it just felt juvenile. I think I get why--their mother is not suited for raising a child; she never learned to do so. But it's just not a good way to do this kind of story. If Taash was a teen? Yeah, it'd feel more appropriate. Their story went almost exactly like my own journey of identity both gender-wise and cultural, barring the elements of being in a fantasy setting and what happens during their last mission. Coming out to my mom was awkward, felt forced, and we were both too hard headed to understand each other. Similarly, I had to figure out how and why I should embrace the Filipino side of my culture, when my upbringing had me feeling like I should dislike that culture. Simplifying it a lot there, but yeah. It felt real, but it felt awkward for a character who's supposed to be an adult. Also, the Barv scene? Wtf were they thinking? Just apologize and get it over with--most trans people are going to be perfectly fine with a simple apology for a *simple* mistake. I have other thoughts about this game but I've already written a lot here. Fun game for what it was. I wish they had the full development time as a story game instead of a large chunk as a live service game. It had potential to be something better
It only took me 72h, and I tried doing everything in the game. I did complete every quest, but didn’t do everything you did, on the same difficulty so I can see why it took longer. Thanks for making this video! I know the timing is aweful, and there’s probably zero time to play through any games rn, but if you haven’t seen check out an oldish game called Warhammer Chaosbane, you can play as a slayer Dwarf, it’s a Poe-like. It wasn’t rated super high but I enjoyed my time on it and spent 20-40 hours in it.
As someone who is Non-binary I was really looking forward to a character who is non-binary without it being the whole identity even if it is touched on btu the way they did Taash disappointed me. I feel for the Taash storyline leaning more into them being an Adaari and having a consistent personality even through their discovery of their gender identity. Like having a character who is a dragon slayer and leans into that and dual-wields axes is sick and having a part of the companion quest be about them discovering their identity would be nice if it was handled with more maturity and nuance. I feel like it was more a parody of what people like me go through from an outsider perspective, like Taash was so confrontational even when people were trying to understand and relate to them it felt so strange it just felt so like caricature of what they were trying to do and was so overt it was obnoxious. Like if the focus of the questline was about coming to terms with being different because of being an Adaari and then that leading to them figuring out they don't want to referred to by certain pronouns I feel that would have been alot better but it felt like I had two separate companion quests I was doing an Adaari who is being hunted for being born this way and then a joke character to make fun of non-binary people.
Your desire to see these gross and incredibly modern day frivolity in your high fantasy is the ultimate selfishness. Fuck off, we don't want your people or stories in media. They are not relatable. You are an abused case, stop trying to abuse others into commiseration.
As you mentioned Mass effect 2 - Never have I ever been able to recreate the fun I had with a 3 man team Shepard leading the chaos with Charge Slam if I recall (Turns into Giant Plazma ball and cannom Ball to a Target) While Garrus and Thrain used Sniper Concussion rounds to cover Shepard while the Charge Slam cooled down to the Next Target. (Felt like a Rugby Biotic) Same organic synergy that I had with Jack (Subject Zero) - Where we were unironically Bowling Shockwaves (after Each other's cool down) to make Husks fall off of the platform. While Tali.... Was doing something (Loved her company. Could not remember what she did in combat) I really could not care or notice Jacob for any of my playthoughs... One companion I keep forgetting is forced in the Normandy along with his Loyalty quest.
I promise I didn't watch this, but as someone who hasn't even played this game, your review aligns almost exactly to how I assessed the game while making an effort to defend it in a recent video (defend with an asterisk)
Really interesting perspective and I mostly agree. I will say that the difficulty was really broken in the game going by previous BioWare titles. It was really just spongy. Also I was messing around with the difficulty and for me I found Underdog (just below Nightmare) more difficult than Nightmare and difficulty is totally different when playing a rogue (Veil Archer) than playing a Mage (Spellblade) with the Spellblade being much harder until late game than the rogue. Right now on my second playthrough my Veil Archer melts most mobs and bosses after the first 10 levels. I will be interested in playing a warrior because people are saying it is even easier as warrior but I am also not great at parrying. I think a lot of the issues in the game are hang over issues from the Live Service push required by EA. Its almost a clear line that shows in Act 1 vs. Act 2 & 3. The characters and tone though didn't fully recover. Especially some of the ham fisted, sanctimonious, preachy, in your face writing with the worst character development when the writing and the character development needed to be at its absolute best to do certain subject matters justice. I absolutely hated the first tavern intro trailer and it concerned me. Unfortunately that tone of that trailer did impact the actual game and was representative of the overall tonal shift. The only defense is that they really wanted to tell a very specific "hero story". Instead of having a character creator they may have been better served by having a set character if they were going to tell a specific story with little deviation by how you represent the personality of Rook. Of course that would have been a huge controversy on its own given the hatred most expressed toward DA2. I do have hope for the next Mass Effect though and am very glad that there is no DLC for DA:V.
But in Mass Effect you can still make your own Shepard or Ryder :D In DA:2 you are stuck with MaHawke or FemHawke :D (Still DA:2 grew on me later on). Last missing glitches like crazy on Nvidia as well in any aspect Ratio above 16:9 as well. They haven't fixed it yet :( I liked Taash's story line especially towards the end with the Dragon King and having to choose between Rivain and Qun. I think they should have focused on this (being a child part of 2 different cultures and trying to find where she fits) rather than the "other identity" crisis part. The weapon/armor drops are not random. If you play the game 1 time and note down where each item is and any following playthroughs you will get it in the exact same spot/vendor/chest ;) But yes, the game doesn't tell you where the next level is :( The loot table is a bit of a mess :( "The Veilguard Remains Vigilant! "
32:10 I actually think that part of the reasons for the annoying "oo this happened" pop ups are to try to show you that your choices DO have an impact in the game, so they put in the popups to be like "See, consequences?!" in the dumbest way possible 😂
I have watched quiet a few reviews of this game since i thought i would like to buy it. Long time DA fan here, Hand on heart nice this was the best review of the game i have seen. Nice jobb
I finished the game as well, 4080 Super OC. I played with DLSS set to DLAA and frame generation on. 120+ fps most of the time but it bogged down hard in a couple of spots. A few spots in Artlathan forest with all the grass was rough. I switched from DLAA to DLSS Quality when it really bogged which made my FPS jump by like 50 frames, then switched back to DLAA after the frame drops were over
Getting stuck in the hinterlands in inquisition is one of the more common complaints I’ve heard about the game. It took me years to realize how little the side stuff matters then had a blast with the rest of the game
Thanks for sharing your opinion even though I have no intention of playing, this was a good watch. It's a shame because the game doesn't look BAD but with all the amazing games there are to play, mediocre just doesn't cut it.
4 years, actually. Project Joplin was scratched at Year 6 and a lot of writers and devs either quit or were fired. Veilguard was build from Project Joplin's ashes and they had to improvise to make a new game in four years with all the leftovers from the game that was shelved.
The informational pop-ups are indicators of choice effects in the story. It tells you Harding is injured specifically because you could have chosen Neve. It tells you about a character feeling a certain way because it affects the dialogue options and endings for that character down the road. At least, that was my experience.
Ok, but they're still useless and exclusively exist to baby handhold you, as well as being immersion breaking. The game thinks you're an idiot who can't understand the consequences of something that happened 5 seconds ago, so it feels the need to overtly break the fourth wall to tell you. It's still an extremely bad mechanic that doesn't belong in the game, regardless of its intended purpose.
@Enzar17 I disagree. I wasn't always aware if a conversation choice would have a lasting effect on my companion. It was nice seeing when it did. It's fine if you do not like it, and I recommend you not include something like that when you make your next AAA game, but deciding something shouldn't exist in this game because you personally don't like it feels pretty self-centered and petty.
@jaimebyrd3578 People should be kind to each other and curling irons shouldn't need a warning that says "For external use only", but that's not the world we live in. Remember, younger people than you playing this game might need a little more help keying in on important things. And despite everyone's belief, the game wasn't made just for you. Or just for Dragon Age fans. Or just for any specific group of people. Bioware made choices based on what they thought was the most effective way to reach the widest audience. What do you think should be more of a concern for the devs, part of their audience not understanding important moments, or your minor annoyance that an extra dialogue box popped up and affected your gameplay not at all?
@@leixiang One of most popular children's movie characters, Minions, are able to communicate ideas just fine without even speaking real words. Even if the game was trying to appeal to kids, you dont have to treat them like idiots.
Also the reason for the gimp masks is because the developers are incompetent and can't model a hat that looks good on any character model, probably had a lot of clipping issues and hair texture issues so they just made a one a size fits all "fix" in the form of a mask
Fair feedback! :) I also had 118 hours in the game (just a little more) And yes, I was thinking my female elven character is okay-ish... she was ok, but she was also the best the character creator gave me... so.. underwhelming! A good tip for Lighthouse interaction: space, space, space, aka skip, skip, skip... :D
I think Capcom needs to give Rurikan a dwarven body type in the New Monster Hunter character creator to help alleviate his dwarven withdrawl syndrome. No one should have to endure Veilguard for that, no one.
People forget that Origins was MASSIVELY inspired by Song of Ice and Fire, WAAAAY before the TV show. And the writing in Origins shows. This one just looks like, idk? Writers fresh out of college that don't even have any life experience trying to pick up and write Dragon Age based on what they learned about it over a weekend of UA-cam lore videos.
I would say that if the people who created this game were fresh out from uni, or colleage or whatever, with the name Veilguard, that would have been a good game, because their experience is close to none. But having the name Dragon Age, and being BioWare, people have their expectations to the roof.
Incorrect, Origins was inspired by a mixture of fantasy stories to include a lot from Tolkien. It’s dark and gritty to be sure, but ASoIaF is not the major inspiration. The political stuff doesn’t really take place until the end. Being a game that is dark with meaningful consequences is not Martin’s domain. If this game were truly mostly inspired by ASoIaF, there would be no clear good vs bad choices that Origins presents. It’s brutal, but plenty of other fantasy stories like Conan and the Elric saga were showing a more brutal take on fantasy before Martin.
@greyknight627 The Blight is literally Winter, and the Grey Wardens are literally Nights Watch... And the main dilemma is Loghain's ambitions for the throne jeopardizing the outcome of the Blight. It's 1:1 song of ice and fire.
Great review and thanks for your honest opinion. Helped me with my decision whether to pick up veilguard or not... I won't. Actually the Dragon Age franchise had its peak with DA:O and it's DLCs every single release afterwards was just a step down from it. I can see the changes in gameplay happening according to what kind of gameplay is popular at that moment and Bioware is massive. So they won't create a more strategy heavy RPG after leaning the franchise into an pure action RPG. What's really bad to me is that with every single release the roleplaying element and character development became more and more souless. Short word at the end: I love your content, discovered your channel by the MHW beginners video and watched several videos. Keep on that great work and of course I subbed ;)
3:15 you aren't the only person I've seen say they never left the Hinterlands in DAI, the game does a bad job explaining you can just leave. The story in DAI and especially the DLC gets great.........you just have to pull up the map and LEAVE THE HINTERLANDS to experience it. Thats all. lol. DAI is a much better story than Veilguard
In regards to your character creator dwarf complaints, I gotta respectfully disagree. There are tons of options to make a rugged Dwarf, you just gotta dig into all the detailed options. The skin complexion options are key to "aging" and scarring the character. You also CAN make a scar over one eye. The scar and tattoo options can be partially mixed and matched and color tone changed.
55:51 I saved Treviso because Minrathos is a city of mages, who are better suited to fight a dragon, and it's full of slave owners. But the choice is absolutely symmetrical, there is no actual consequence. Or better, the consequences are the same, just Ctrl+F replace the name of the city and the companion. There isn't even a third outcome if one of those city is your starting one (just a minor dialogue option that's irrelevant)
So the things that matters to Dragon Age is not there. I know that has been the comments since the game came out, but most of it I heard from those who are a bit more on the harsher side. Good to hear from someone who can be more open to both the good and bad. One thing I want to mention; yes the woke/DEI stuff may only be 5% of the 99 hours playtime, but it's the pattern that we are concerned with. Games that have even 1-2% of that tends to not do a great job with things that matter to the players of said game. Anyways, great video!
to be fair, the playing therapist to all your weirdly juvenile party members is a bioware classic. it might be worse in this one compared to origins but it's there in origins too, tbh it's even there in bg2 but heavily concentrated to jaheira and aerie
If you like playing with the primer/detonator system, I really recommend Guild Wars 2 if you haven't tried it. The combat system in the game is one of the best ones I've ever played and after playing it, most game's combat systems seem infantile in comparison. GW2 is dynamic, complex and adaptable in a way that makes it very satisfying to play, AND there are short people you can play too, not dwarves, but hey, the Asura are pretty damn cool anyway ;)
(In GW2 the primer/detonator system is called "combos" - one combo filed is detonated by a combo finisher, and it's different in many ways depending on how you use it, both in animation and effect)
Can we talk about how if you Choose Hardin to lead the second team, she walks right up to ghilan'nain and just starts Shooting at her from Close distance.... Her death was completely so stupid... I was like "You have a bow, why are entering stabbing distance"
The lazy rehash of the Suicide Mission is greatly undermined by the fact that Rook is no Commander Shepard. Literally 0% of the presence and charisma.
That and ME2 Companions were a lot more interesting
@@Gungrave123 Shepard was also involved in whatever role that chosen companion was doing in the mission. Veilguard just shows them in a cutscene so it's way less impactful.
@@sojinnn The Minrathous / Treviso decision is also ridiculous, everyone blames you like you're supposed to be some sort of messiah or something. aside from the companions, nobody knows Rook, Rook's presence or name itself doesnt inspire people like 'who the hell are you supposed to be?'
rook also cant renegade.
Remember when Dragon Age Origins let you actually ROLEPLAY a character?
Yeah they've completely removed the "illusion of choice"
@@RaptorLuck Remember when DA2 and Inquisition already ruined player choice and roleplaying options from Origins?
It's hypocrisy to pretend all of a sudden that only Veilguard veered away from Origins and magically the previous two games were loyal to Origins. They weren't. DA2 was a horrible watering down of Origins.
@AztecUnshaven yeah man, I gave up on this series after inquisition. DA2 was bad and inquisition was a hail Mary for me, but it also didn't live up to origins at all. Pretty wild how poorly managed this IP was after how good the first one was.
BG2 and Icewind was proper role-play games, you could do and say so many different things. And Origins at least gave you options to be a psychopath, a coward, a pacifict , racist, argumentative ect. Everything after origins is just garbage when it comes to role-play.
@@bellabuilder4160 I loved BG1 and BG2, and Icewind Dale, also Pillars of Eternity.
That being said, Veilguard is getting a lot of unwarranted hate. It's actually a very solid game and better overall than DA2 in my opinion. Way better gameplay than Inquisition as well. Origins is still king though.
DA Veilguard: Be Nice to ME Therapy edition
I thought you said be nice to mass effect and I am on board with that
He suffered Veilguard because there aren't any action games about dwarves. That actually broke my heart hearing that. Damn, bro. That feel.
I don’t know if he has already, but he should play Deep Rock Galactic and the new Roguelike they’re doing
sounds like the time for ROCK AND STONE!
@thatguy718 co-op horde shooters are great for satisfying the dwarf itch. Deep Rock and Vermintide both let you play as dwarves. Bardin Goreksson from the Vermintide series is among my favorite video game characters.
@@thatguy718He doesn't like it unfortunately =[
Has he already played Baldur’s Gate 3? That one allows you to be a Dwarf or a Duergar even.
Dragon Age: Veilguard Therapist. My companions should be thankful there was no Dark Urge option.
I put 60 hours into it and this review is spot on. It had really nice looking environments and lighting and combat was ok but man the writing. It was bad. Especially Taash. Taash felt like they were just forced into the story for no other purpose than their story quest. They also talked like a modern day teenager which just completely broke immersion.
@@DeepSouthSimulations It
Taash is one of the better written characters
@@statesminds naah
@@statesminds you got jokes 😂🙏
Is it said in the game whether Taash is actually a male or a female?
I've got an embarrassing amount of hours across the DA games and over 100 in Veilguard. I'm also a lore nerd in DA. I was disappointed with Veilguard primarily because of the large amount of lore and story history they chose to ignore or render moot. Much of the most profound action, , in which Southern Thedas gets destroyed and the fate off all you worked for over the first three games gets destroyed, takes place OFF CAMERA and you hear about it thru easily-missed codexs and missives. The writing is over-simplified, the romances are juvenile and under-written, and the companions are "nice" but have no quirks or funny / snarky dialogue. Overall the writing is a real disappointment unless you like very simple, one dimensional plots. By the time I finished, I was pretty sad at what they had turned this complex & gritty story into. If you're a new player and/or someone who doesn't know the lore you might not be bothered by it, but I don't see how an OG player who knows the lore wouldn't be really bothered by how much of it they threw out.
@@MotherMantiss Solid review of a poorly designed game that is the latest example proof that it is about the people making the game rather than the studio/company. And none of your points even touched on the heavy handed inserting of modern day gender politics...in a fantasy magic medieval world.
Let us be unburdened by what has been 😮
I dropped veilguard because the combat was mind numbing repetitive and boring and I was dreading every instance of dialogue. Complete 180 from my BG3 playthrough. Picked up Metaphor and it’s crazy how I forgot about how addicting well written characters and good dialogue is
I disagree with some of your critiques and agree with most of your critiques, and I appreciate you putting in the effort (each with playing the game and doing this video) to provide such a comprehensive review of your experience. So for that, yes, I did enjoy this video (and I did hit the like button).
That’s the thing about this game it’s so bad no one can play it long enough to properly explain how bad it truly is
@@adawg3032 I attached a comment with other info, but I agree that this game is hard to stick through for some players.
I have 80 hours, I haven't had the choice of Davrin Vs Harding yet. I have a romance partner, I have a build I enjoy as a rogue.. but the writing is painful to endure.
I can't finish the game. I've uninstalled it, and I bought the Mass Effect legendary edition to try out for the first time. I'm 30 hours into Mass Effect 1 and I've not had any real romance content with Liara but I'm loving the content of the game outside of that. Even with the combat being not that flashy.
I just want the lore and the storytelling. Veilguard failed in that, in my humble opinion.
Primer/detonator tactics are already present even in DA:Origins. It is just not call that way, but you can freeze/paralyze -> shatter, sleep -> nightmare, grease -> fire burn, etc.
I would call it a Bioware staple feature at this point, for sure something that you can suck you into the game.
Funny how this combos are satisfying in origins, a game that came out 15 years ago, while combat in veilguard is...meh. I will never tire of freeze>shatter
they had this in mass effect too, tech, bionics and military tools could all bounce off of each other with different effects, it was great
The difference is that in Origins those things were called "spell combinations", there were more of them, and were hidden for you to find.
They also did different things, looked differently and were more logically consistent.
Grease + fire spell = burning grease
Burning grease + ice spell = extinguish fire
Life drain + magical weakness = drain more life
Sleep + Nightmare = deal a lot of damage, target wakes up terrified
Paralysing glyph + repulsive glyph = paralysing explosion
etc.
If you compare these combos to Mass Effect and Inquisition/Veilguard you will notice that the in the latter games combos are unimaginative and less numerous.
@UA-cam.changed.myname yeah these new Bioware fans are overpraising the primer/detonator system. They've pretty much removed player combo discover.
@@UA-cam.changed.myname DAV's combos are obviously far less numerous, and that they don't have different animations for the dets is quite odd. It seems like a hangover from the co-op (or 'GaaS') era of production. However, get your binds right, and pretty much come to see the game as being about just your character with 9 abilities (10, including your rune) in realtime? And I think it works superbly.
The mage, in particular, is just a huge amount of fun. Doing a heavy staff slam against a mob immediately into that Evoker orb, fade-stepping the other side of it, doing the leap back shock ability (I forget all the names), and detonating the orb - to further send the enemy back away from you - before your feet touch the ground? I'm about 60hrs into a second playthrough, and I really can't get bored of how its combat flows and synergises. The layers are now in specific stuff like Agility, Control, conditions for crits, perfect parry triggers, and so on. It can't really be compared linearily to a CRPG, as it's an entirely different form of combat design.
Frankly I think it's the best BioWare have done, in terms of an actually cohesive system that's really well executed on. Not what I want from a DA, but I'd rather have DAV's proficiency and focus than DA:I's SP MMO spam garbage.
Finally someone understands the eye scar. It’s not just to look cool.
I always like watching your game reviews. There is structure, it is methodical and you share your preferences, your likes and dislikes clearly and it’s fine whether folks agree or disagree.Its a very easy video that is not heavy handed. Good job Ruri. Love the humor you drop in once in a while.
Also thank god you are the only one that brought up how Lucanis fails every single time he is needed to deliver. It's insane, you would think messing up with lucanis would cause him to fail more or something but nope, he just causes someone else's death
@@ConRa-e9q …but he kills Ghillinain? And he saves Taia from the venatori blood mage? And he overthrows Ilario as first talon? So I’m not sure I agree. He failed one time though at Weishaupt definitely. Tbh he’s one of the only companions that directly affects the story in any way, which is a criticism in itsel that I have.
That's one of my biggest issue with the story. I feel like an expert assassin should be doing much better?? Do I need to hold his hand like I have to do for every one's personal quest? The amount of times I'm just like, "take the shot already!!!" But I GUESS THE "DISTRACTIONS" ARE TOO MUCH. 😑
@@masc4mascara39 He killed Ghillinain but intially failed in that specific fight guaranteeing the death of a companion. He almost died in the final mission but maybe because I pissed him off and made him hardened a dozen hours ago for not choosing him. We helped him become first talon. His failure at weishaupt is actually totally fine to me, I can forgive that, it was a cool shot and I can accept not killing a main boss that quickly it was thematically and story wise appropriate for building up his arc of dealing with spite but failing TWICE and getting lucky is awful
You made my day with this review. Very down to earth and honest.
"These guys go hard!" -Taash and Davrin while fighting
"Assan is feeling his oats..." - Rook in a conversation cutscene
I started yelling at my screen so much my roommate had to come out and check on me.
Yeah, there’s so much of it that just pulls you right out of it.
@@rurikhan I wish you included some examples of that kind of speech in the review(quotes) like the comment by Ariyala, it would have really helped your point.
Cheesy stuff like this happens in tons of rpgs but no one complains then.
@@statesminds which rpgs? and yes people complain when immersive dark rpgs start using modern speech. Imagine hearing geralt of rivia saying "This meal is bussin!"
@@statesmindsyes they do.
This is actually such a good review, not leaning to one side heavily as the others did. You point out and appreciate when they do something good, but also tell us your honest opinion when they did something awful. Thanks ruri.
Celebrating someone giving a basic unbiased opinion. Man how low gaming journalism has fallen.
I was thinking the same thing throughout the video. No sensationalism just honest opinions
Ruri a better game journalist than the game journalists.
Another person from the sensitive society.
@@ataridc I rather watch Ruri's reviews than IGN for example.
1:05:17
There is actually a fourth ending where you get your companions killed and then the remaining companions get killed by Solas and then both of you get trapped behind the Vale since the dagger has blood from both of you on it or something.
I enjoyed watching the BTS film from the first dragon age, where they talk about aiming for a middle-geound between RR Martin and Tolkein.
Then we get to Veilguard, which isn't even "high fantasy," it's an after school special. There is no middle-ground happening here.
No-glasses-Ruri?? *rubs hands.
This will be a good one.
I still don't understand why EA bought a rpg studio and completely wrecked it chasing Fifa levels of player engagement and profits.
He survived 99 hours of this, he must be an immortal.
I did not even care about any political / cultural stuff until I learnt that it was very much in my face to the point of annoyance.
What also made me skip this was lackluster combat and pretty much no RP in the RPG?
I cannot be an asshole, I cannot disagree with my team or call out their BS which I could in the past. Mass Effect even let me go full renegade interruptions if I wanted to.
I could tell that elf chick in the Inquisiton that she was a brat and a pain in the ass and then kick her out of the party.
You know what sucks tho? I checked out the concept art and potential story lines, the original ideas they had for this.
We could have gotten a badass and super hot Qunari companion who instead of struggling with her womanhood, would struggle with the Qun and the fact that she was a super good warrior but the Qun demanded her to do sth else and we could explore how she, yes she, would defy her culture and grow to be a competent and badass woman warrior.
Well, let's just wait another decade for the next Larian banger I guess. Or Owclat. Maybe there will be more RPG studios.
I want to see an argument between Rook and full renegade Shepard.
there's only one end to that, and its quick, with no bullshit, it'll probably happen the moment rook opens his mouth:
renegade shepard decks him in the face.
They said upfront that it's a game for a modern audience. But the dark setting really clashes with cutesy modern dialogue.
The amount of railroading in this game is staggering. There's NO roleplaying whatsoever. Everything is decided from the get go.
16:10 I'm not sure if anyone has told him yet, but elves don't have beards in Dragon Age.
I didn't like the ending. So many people said "yes, the last 4, 5, 6 hours are really good" but i was only 2 quests away from the end at the time and was wondering when the good hours would come. Everything we encountered, we had already seen and fought before.
The gods are the most useless and uninteresting villains ive ever seen.
And Lucanis with the Spite Demon, who never does anything even remotely.. spiteful.. nope.
Elves don't and should not have beard in any fandom. Period. And those elven gods were like villains from power rangers.
Pretty sure the reason we cant control the side characters and that they have no life bar is also because of the live service aspect.
The people I tend to agree with when it comes to reviews all think this game is not for me. Skillup, AngryJoe, Fextra, Ruri. I usually use these to decide if I am unsure.
What bothered me was the fact that the character creation was bragged as being "super inclusive" and "the options are so comprehensive and vast that anyone can make a character that looks like them". Except women that look like me. They intentionally EXCLUDED options to have to make a character with uniquely feminine traits. The director even tried to chastise and embarass a female gamer who pointed out in a reply to the director on X that she was disappointed at not being able to make a character that looked like herself who had a uniquely feminine body shape ( like an hourglass shape and larger chest) apparently wanting that was unacceptable and we female gamers were called weird for feeling us women with this uniquely feminine body shape would have the audacity to expect "all inclusive options" to mean us as well. It was made clear in the director's (and those who did the character design options) spiteful vitriole on X that its not acceptable or DEI friendly to look like us.
That director can take a long walk off a short pier. What a P/O/S
It doesn't help that the stroywriting and dialogue read like it was a teenager's Wattpad fanfiction of a Marvel movie, and the humor was like a knockoff of Marvel comedy. It wasnt witty, it wasn't clever, it was just terrible. And anyone who criticized the game, no matter if they mention NOTHING about lgbt agendas (or even care about it all) or how objective the critique was were labeled as bigots and -phobes and THATS the ONLY reason they could ever have for disliking the game. Get bent Bioware, you deserve to go under. Just let a more competent developer acquire the rights to the DA franchise before you eat the dirt.
When I saw the video's title, the only thought that came to mind was, "My condolences."
This game is so interesting because it seems like half of the people really did try to make a good game, their are glimmers of hope in the game, combat is halfway descent, but the other half is a condescending, agenda pushing lecture, with sloppy writing and no world-building and immersion written into the story.
@@Darklurkerr writers of Emmerich and Davrin? Wrote LotSB and Genophage Arc respectively. So of course there’s glimmers. However, the rest of the writers were not in A game.
Whoever the corporate guy way that upset David Gaider was a fool
@@Darklurkerr Yea, but what happens when the good half are beeing dragged down by the bad one?!
@lordofgingers Gaider left saying writers were resented for being needed and their art went underappreciated. It's not a boss, it's the whole of BioWare doing this. When you don't appreciate your workers they leave or stay for a paycheck doing the most passionless work.
“Combat is halfway decent”
I’m sorry am I crazy? Why do people keep saying this? The combat is boring and weak. An objective downgrade from prior DAs and not even great compared to other modern games.
Is it just new younger gamers with less experience? What’s going on there’s no way people think this combat is good
@@MysteriousStranger50yeah this game is definitely for the pew pew go boom crowd. Inquisition sold 12million copies. It would have made more sense to improve those gameplay systems and at least maintained that level of writing.
I just can't get excited about a game that's clearly made for kids. Everything about it is the kinda thing that my nephew, who's in grade school, would "give it a try I guess" according to him.
Just finished the review. Def earned a sub.
Meant to *indoctrinate* kids. Along with the “Rover is a dog that feels like a bitch and that’s OK” kids books.
@@Fishster "Indoctrinate"? About what? That being in a guild of professional murderers is actually about doing good? If so, I agree, that's a terrible agenda...
That's a bit of a weird attitude, because, firstly, it obviously isn't a game "clearly made for kids". That's an absurd thing to say.
Fun for all the family? That's more accurate, ergo it's [somewhat unfortunately] for anyone.
It's an at times very good game - especially in its design and cohesion/flow. It's just not what I ever really wanted from the series. If this is a blip, I'll be perfectly fine with that. If it's the new tone/style? That's not fine.
@@SabiJD It’s more like the game treats it’s players like children rather than being for kids.. Art style, hand holding, no bad outcomes, party members telling you what to do so you don’t even have to think, trivial puzzles. And let’s not forget the ‘preachy’ style. A lot of the way the game communicates with its players is how one would communicate with a toddler to encourage them to “play nice”.
@@Fishster Most triple-A games have that attitude, it isn't unique to DAV. Playtest sessions seem to encourage this attitude, as players struggle with the most obvious stuff. And given how few people bother to finish the games they buy (or, sadly, stream/'rent' these days), I kinda don't blame companies who treating their players like brainlets.
It still feels like an ironically childish try-hard criticism. I suppose it's because they (BioWare) wanted to just cast a wider net, but I really want to see exactly who thought this was the correct tonal path for the series, and why. None of this is a 'controversy', or a disaster, but as a longterm fan (DA and BioWare) I do want transparency. I think fans deserve to know why DAV went in this direction.
Then again tone isn't the biggest problem with DAV - it's the near total disinterest in its own universe's lore. That change has nothing to do with age ratings, that's just a really dumb, frustrating corpo seeming mandate to not exclude new players. It's essentially a soft reboot - that's also direct sequel to DLC... It's just bizarre.
Thank you for taking the time to fully finish the game and giving your honest thoughts.
I enjoyed the game quite a bit myself but I sure felt the same about most of the complaints you had with it. I mean, I left a couple of sidequests unfinished because it was just pointless and taking too long. I just wanted to see the end of the story.
Anyway you did a great job pointing out where the game shines and where it doesn't.
That, to me, is a sign of a great review.
31:50 I so much agree. At some point I started skipping every single dialogue in the lighthouse except with the romanced character.
Just here to make sure there's more humans than bots in comments.
It spoke loads that the livestreams were only entertaining because of you, rather than the gameplay happening onscreen. Good stuff!
We have it covered 💪
Because most of new games just have bright colors and shining light everyone the only person will be happy with it is a baby most people will have hard time following anything
Really mixed bag. For me, custom difficulty was a requirement, just to lower mob health initially while keeping damage highest, and tuning it up with gear milestones. Made combat more fun for sure. I'd agree with tonal shift, but even more because this was the end of an arc. I think this team would have done better with a first game. Had to edit just to say that YES somebody finally calls out the hat debacle of not allowing hair with them.
By the way, an underrated thing with this format is that there isn't a lot of party games like this anymore. Meaning, action rpg third person games that is a party instead of 1 character. They used to be more common but then mostly disappeared.
There still a lot in JRPG, Tales, Granblue, etc... DA was special... Except they took away the ability to control your party, and your party members are IMMORTAL
@@BadEnd98 Yeah, I was gonna post this too. Tales of Arise and Granblue: Relink are the games we have to play now for party-based ARPG's where you get to control your companions. I'd add the Xenoblade trilogy as well, also phenomenal games where you can control whoever you want. It's unfortunate that western studios have seemingly forgotten how to make these games because they absolutely rule, and BioWare used to be the industry kings in this regard. But, like a lot of things anymore, it's up to developers outside the West to make actual good games now. Westsern AAA's bubble cannot burst fast enough.
Might wanna look into CRPG for the full party thing. Baldur's Gate 3 (obviously), Pathfinder Kingmaker & Wrath of the Righteous, Warhammer 40k : RogueTrader, etc etc
Owlcat have taken over doing this but they have low production at this point and for action you are kinda stuck with Asian studios as mentioned. Larian is the new bioware
@@via_negativa6183 Also worth mentioning that while Owlcat games are really good, the devs don't have a good track record at releasing polished games. Better to wait at least half a year after release for them to fix stuff
Most of the problems with DA II was due to the big crunch the devs were suffering, it was a game made in less than 2 years i think, that is the reason why we don't have much characther customization, a lot of reused maps, etc. EA rushed the release because of DAO sucess and Bioware did not have the time to polish the game, a pity, but the narrative was great, it was still a "Bioware game" and i liked it, but DAI is still my fav... Now, Veilguard had 10 years of development hell and... well, as an old DA fan, i will never get over it
The amount of smoke being blown up peoples asses about how “good” some of the things in this game, is insane. It’s enough smoke that I’m surprised they aren’t floating in the atmosphere right now.
I needed to see it to believe it with this game and oh boy did I see it. Remember being given summer reading when you were in grade school and then being forced to do a paper or project based upon that reading next year?
Imagine a game being developed by all the people that didn’t do the reading, looked at spark notes for ideas, and then wrote a prompt for chat GPT to do their project for them. That’s the exact development process for the veilguard.
I had a lot of the same criticism. But what is baffling to me is those on social media that really raise up in the defense of the game and would berate you for criticizing it and 'ruining everyone's fun and enjoyment of the game' and it's so... bizarre. I also played about 100 hours of the game, and someone was claiming that I was lying or that the Rook I made wasn't even mine and was from some UA-camr. I have videos, I've streamed it for my friends. And apparently I was the 'toxic person plaguing the industry'? It's insane. I'm a woman, also under that LGBTQ+ umbrella, and I don't mind diversity. But this was so... preachy and it was just horribly approached.
I tried to play a baddie in Thedas. But I had to be the nicest Karen. I felt like my last remaining braincells died once I was done with the game. I borrowed it from a friend cause I saw way before release that it wouldn't be work nearly 90 dollars. I don't know if there is a lack of media literacy, or a lack of care from those who are so highly defensive of the game and see that there is 0 things wrong with it. But once I put down the game and got that secret ending, it made me weep. The disappointment I felt crushed me, especially the story and the lore.
But thank you for the honest criticism. It feels like to know that I'm not going insane with how divided the fandom had become.
After having Thanksgiving with my family, your Portuguese accent is comforting to me.
I know people say gameplay and combat comes first and is most important in a game. but honestly when it comes to dragon age for me that is the complete opposite. this game could have had elden ring levels of combat quality and I still would have hated it. characters and writing were 90% of why DAO was so memorable for me. I don't remember any of the bosses or barely how the combat worked in origins. but I remember morrigan and her story with flemmeth the dialogue between her and allistair. meeting Issabella in Denerim who later became my favorite character in DA2. this feels like a soulless rip off of dragon age. ill be honest I even felt similar about Inquisition characters but that was still far better than this. I just could not get attached to any of these characters and i'm also a big dwarf lover but that wasn't anywhere close to enough to stomach this game.
“I love playing games as a Dwarf.” I have never related to anything more in my life. 😂😂
It doesn't feel like the writers wrote a Dragon Age game. It feels like they wrote a world they want real-life to replicate, with everyone being nice and supportive 24/7. There is so much self-insert, projecting dialogue in this game that it really does break the fourth wall. The push-up scene with Isabela is the worst example of this - the game was literally telling the player to remember to check their privilege
Did you try Return to Moria? Been interested as a fellow dwarf enjoyer but I haven't seen much coverage on it.
One question… why?
Because Dwarf.
This guy giving hot mads mikkleson energy.
I feel like they lost me way back when they released the ad for this game with the League of Legends style character intros with the action move, then freeze frame, then "pow" the name of the character slams into view. I was thinking "oh crap, they are going to turn this into a kiddie game". As it turns out my fears were not unwarranted. I seem to remember Borderlands having this type of thing in game, and it fit there with the campy style, but I'm not sure where this comes from originally. Possibly it goes all the way back to the campy 1960's Batman TV show - "POW", "BLAM", which in turn came straight from comic books of the time. This sort of thing makes me cringe if they are doing it in connection to a mature (in this case formerly mature) franchise. I'm just hoping a few developers take from BG3's success that there is a profitable fan base out there that wants more mature, gritty, unsanitized, impactful approaches to their games. Seriously! We are older and have a LOT more money to spend! And Bioware isn't getting a penny of it for sucking the marrow out of one of my favorite fantasy franchises. Who would have thought that two decades after KOTOR Bioware, with loads of money, would choce to make an anit-bioware style game.
Having a barrier to respec your build in games is so shitty but so many games do it. I'm surprised Veilgurd doesn't, unexpected win right there, that should be more standard.
Totally agree. The barrier where you have to port back somewhere or pay for respec only makes it so people end up not experimenting themselves and just use a premade build from the most popular UA-cam's video. I am not good at making builds myself, but in this game I had a lot of fun playing with talents, because the game has encouraged me to do so - there was no artificial wall, I could always switch things around between the fights and see what works for me. This should be a 100% standard.
If anything, DAV convinced me that whatever next game I will be playing that has character builds, I will install a mod that allows endless, free, easy-to-access respecs.
I was a big fan of the series and got this game since there was so much controversy surrounding it and i wanted to see for myself. It's frustrating to me that this game is weak in all the areas you'd think a Dragon Age game would be strong in. The only highlight of the game imo is the characters builds. I love mage from a Role play standpoint but mage tends to suck in most games compared to rogue. This is the first game I've played in a long time where I actually enjoyed mage.
Agreed. I’ve been saying that the best thing about this game by far is the build crafting, but the things it does worst is the stuff that DA games usually do the best at, like the writing.
And to comment on the item level ups. The items aren't random. I had 2 playthroughs since i wanted to try rogue. Items were all in the same spots so i was OP with the rogue early
The funny thing is it is superior to Inquisition in combat and generally more fun to play (imo of course). I really didn't like playing Inquisition and like Rurikhan I never finished it. Uninspired open world design, and a (IMO) bad attempt at some kind of hybrid combat. Inquisition also absolutely started the trend towards Veilguard in that characters were made much less attractive than DA 2, and the look was brighter and less gritty. And they were rewarded by huge sales numbers and a GotY.
So the attpemt to appeal to a broader audience worked then, now add on success of Marvel at the main period of development (2018 is when it really ramped up) and the Fortnite/Overwatch aesthetic that defined live service at the time and its easy to see how we got here.
Next time you wanna play a controversial game from a company that refuses to pay their workers their due and are dealing with being sued, don't give them money, pirate the game instead.
@@Alwaysttango I'm a console player. And corrupt companies are prominent in just about every field. That's not enough to stop me from purchasing products
DA2 has primers and detonators. They're just not called that. And they have different effects. Nightmare actually means something too as you have to pay attention to your skills and builds. It's fun although you can't be a dwarf....
Who stole your glasses?
I'm so happy the only Dragon Age game ever made was origins.
lol.
I'm non-BUY-nary
Bioware is eternally dead. We have Larian, so i ain't mad, but the fact that we will never see another Mass Effect game is just criminal.
FR thank God for Larian. Otherwise, the future of western RPGs would be BLEAK.
Hopefully Larian dips their toes into the sci-fi genre one day cause I'm playing Mass Effect again now and you're right, it would be a crime if they were the last games of their kind.
Bioware is dead since Dragon Age 2.
@@wiziek More like ME3.
@@wiziek I would say somewhere around Anthem. DA2 was acceptable imo.
@@AnghelVick Nah it wasn't.
congrats on the most well rounded review of Dragon Age: Veilguard.
Super Review! Thank you! ❤
Ever played Dragon's crown? The dwarf in that game is about as Gigachad as you can have.
@@Xaxares Yeah but that was a game made by japanese devs who actually understand European fantasy. You can't expect modern day western devs to understand European fantasy.
A review I respect much more than others! A very fair review.
So they made a single player live service game.
The veilgaurd were the friends we made along the way.
Thanks. Good review. I definitely see some of your points that people were not able to point out before- the good and the bad.
Bro tortured himself worse than Griffith being tortured
haha @ 5:07 that made me laugh out loud and I 100% support your need to play a dwarf
I platinumed that game (not that I was hard to do) and I pretty much agree with everything you said here. Gameplay was great but I could've been so much more and I would really loved to play that in Coop. Story and writing was really underwehlming even though some characters came across as likeable, but I really felt the lack of choice. Even the "sarcastic asshole choices" where just "sarcastic nice guy" options this time. Either let me roleplay my character or give them a fixed personality/appearance.
I respect your love for dwarves. Putting yourself through 100 hours of torture willingly just to play as a race you love is something i lack the required level of masochism for
It was fun review, thanks man 😊
Taash is such a weird character for me. I'm trans and of a multicultural background like them. Their story was awkward, the modern terminology didn't work to the game/story's benefit, and as much as I appreciate the attempt at representation, it just felt juvenile. I think I get why--their mother is not suited for raising a child; she never learned to do so. But it's just not a good way to do this kind of story. If Taash was a teen? Yeah, it'd feel more appropriate. Their story went almost exactly like my own journey of identity both gender-wise and cultural, barring the elements of being in a fantasy setting and what happens during their last mission. Coming out to my mom was awkward, felt forced, and we were both too hard headed to understand each other. Similarly, I had to figure out how and why I should embrace the Filipino side of my culture, when my upbringing had me feeling like I should dislike that culture. Simplifying it a lot there, but yeah. It felt real, but it felt awkward for a character who's supposed to be an adult. Also, the Barv scene? Wtf were they thinking? Just apologize and get it over with--most trans people are going to be perfectly fine with a simple apology for a *simple* mistake.
I have other thoughts about this game but I've already written a lot here. Fun game for what it was. I wish they had the full development time as a story game instead of a large chunk as a live service game. It had potential to be something better
It only took me 72h, and I tried doing everything in the game. I did complete every quest, but didn’t do everything you did, on the same difficulty so I can see why it took longer.
Thanks for making this video!
I know the timing is aweful, and there’s probably zero time to play through any games rn, but if you haven’t seen check out an oldish game called Warhammer Chaosbane, you can play as a slayer Dwarf, it’s a Poe-like. It wasn’t rated super high but I enjoyed my time on it and spent 20-40 hours in it.
As someone who is Non-binary I was really looking forward to a character who is non-binary without it being the whole identity even if it is touched on btu the way they did Taash disappointed me.
I feel for the Taash storyline leaning more into them being an Adaari and having a consistent personality even through their discovery of their gender identity. Like having a character who is a dragon slayer and leans into that and dual-wields axes is sick and having a part of the companion quest be about them discovering their identity would be nice if it was handled with more maturity and nuance. I feel like it was more a parody of what people like me go through from an outsider perspective, like Taash was so confrontational even when people were trying to understand and relate to them it felt so strange it just felt so like caricature of what they were trying to do and was so overt it was obnoxious.
Like if the focus of the questline was about coming to terms with being different because of being an Adaari and then that leading to them figuring out they don't want to referred to by certain pronouns I feel that would have been alot better but it felt like I had two separate companion quests I was doing an Adaari who is being hunted for being born this way and then a joke character to make fun of non-binary people.
Your desire to see these gross and incredibly modern day frivolity in your high fantasy is the ultimate selfishness. Fuck off, we don't want your people or stories in media. They are not relatable. You are an abused case, stop trying to abuse others into commiseration.
I genuinely feel non-binary peeps are getting the worst experience from the way Taash was handled.
@@AquariusScannerwell spoken
I wasn’t terribly interested in the game but I was interested in your take.
As you mentioned Mass effect 2 - Never have I ever been able to recreate the fun I had with a 3 man team
Shepard leading the chaos with Charge Slam if I recall (Turns into Giant Plazma ball and cannom Ball to a Target)
While Garrus and Thrain used Sniper Concussion rounds to cover Shepard while the Charge Slam cooled down to the Next Target. (Felt like a Rugby Biotic)
Same organic synergy that I had with Jack (Subject Zero) - Where we were unironically Bowling Shockwaves (after Each other's cool down) to make Husks fall off of the platform.
While Tali.... Was doing something (Loved her company. Could not remember what she did in combat)
I really could not care or notice Jacob for any of my playthoughs... One companion I keep forgetting is forced in the Normandy along with his Loyalty quest.
I promise I didn't watch this, but as someone who hasn't even played this game, your review aligns almost exactly to how I assessed the game while making an effort to defend it in a recent video (defend with an asterisk)
This is the first rpg game that made me think 'I'm too old for that'.
Really interesting perspective and I mostly agree. I will say that the difficulty was really broken in the game going by previous BioWare titles. It was really just spongy. Also I was messing around with the difficulty and for me I found Underdog (just below Nightmare) more difficult than Nightmare and difficulty is totally different when playing a rogue (Veil Archer) than playing a Mage (Spellblade) with the Spellblade being much harder until late game than the rogue. Right now on my second playthrough my Veil Archer melts most mobs and bosses after the first 10 levels. I will be interested in playing a warrior because people are saying it is even easier as warrior but I am also not great at parrying.
I think a lot of the issues in the game are hang over issues from the Live Service push required by EA. Its almost a clear line that shows in Act 1 vs. Act 2 & 3. The characters and tone though didn't fully recover. Especially some of the ham fisted, sanctimonious, preachy, in your face writing with the worst character development when the writing and the character development needed to be at its absolute best to do certain subject matters justice. I absolutely hated the first tavern intro trailer and it concerned me. Unfortunately that tone of that trailer did impact the actual game and was representative of the overall tonal shift.
The only defense is that they really wanted to tell a very specific "hero story". Instead of having a character creator they may have been better served by having a set character if they were going to tell a specific story with little deviation by how you represent the personality of Rook. Of course that would have been a huge controversy on its own given the hatred most expressed toward DA2. I do have hope for the next Mass Effect though and am very glad that there is no DLC for DA:V.
But in Mass Effect you can still make your own Shepard or Ryder :D In DA:2 you are stuck with MaHawke or FemHawke :D (Still DA:2 grew on me later on). Last missing glitches like crazy on Nvidia as well in any aspect Ratio above 16:9 as well. They haven't fixed it yet :(
I liked Taash's story line especially towards the end with the Dragon King and having to choose between Rivain and Qun. I think they should have focused on this (being a child part of 2 different cultures and trying to find where she fits) rather than the "other identity" crisis part.
The weapon/armor drops are not random. If you play the game 1 time and note down where each item is and any following playthroughs you will get it in the exact same spot/vendor/chest ;) But yes, the game doesn't tell you where the next level is :( The loot table is a bit of a mess :(
"The Veilguard Remains Vigilant! "
32:10 I actually think that part of the reasons for the annoying "oo this happened" pop ups are to try to show you that your choices DO have an impact in the game, so they put in the popups to be like "See, consequences?!" in the dumbest way possible 😂
Except they actually don’t lol. The only consequence is the pop up.
"if you enjoyed this video, which I don't know why you would..." 😂😂😂 Great video!
I have watched quiet a few reviews of this game since i thought i would like to buy it.
Long time DA fan here,
Hand on heart nice this was the best review of the game i have seen.
Nice jobb
Best review of this game I've seen. Subscribed
I finished the game as well, 4080 Super OC. I played with DLSS set to DLAA and frame generation on. 120+ fps most of the time but it bogged down hard in a couple of spots. A few spots in Artlathan forest with all the grass was rough. I switched from DLAA to DLSS Quality when it really bogged which made my FPS jump by like 50 frames, then switched back to DLAA after the frame drops were over
5:08. The essence of a gamer. I love having the ability to control this fantasy. Not one that wants to bleed into real life.
Getting stuck in the hinterlands in inquisition is one of the more common complaints I’ve heard about the game. It took me years to realize how little the side stuff matters then had a blast with the rest of the game
Thanks for sharing your opinion even though I have no intention of playing, this was a good watch. It's a shame because the game doesn't look BAD but with all the amazing games there are to play, mediocre just doesn't cut it.
Need to play Dragon's Crown for some sweet sweet Dwarf action!!!
@@James-kc4ft goated game
And they had to develop for ten years. Shows their level of commitment.
4 years, actually. Project Joplin was scratched at Year 6 and a lot of writers and devs either quit or were fired. Veilguard was build from Project Joplin's ashes and they had to improvise to make a new game in four years with all the leftovers from the game that was shelved.
The informational pop-ups are indicators of choice effects in the story. It tells you Harding is injured specifically because you could have chosen Neve. It tells you about a character feeling a certain way because it affects the dialogue options and endings for that character down the road. At least, that was my experience.
Ok, but they're still useless and exclusively exist to baby handhold you, as well as being immersion breaking. The game thinks you're an idiot who can't understand the consequences of something that happened 5 seconds ago, so it feels the need to overtly break the fourth wall to tell you. It's still an extremely bad mechanic that doesn't belong in the game, regardless of its intended purpose.
@Enzar17 I disagree. I wasn't always aware if a conversation choice would have a lasting effect on my companion. It was nice seeing when it did. It's fine if you do not like it, and I recommend you not include something like that when you make your next AAA game, but deciding something shouldn't exist in this game because you personally don't like it feels pretty self-centered and petty.
@@leixiang Dialogue, voice acting, and facial expressions should clue you in on that, not a little pop up.
@jaimebyrd3578 People should be kind to each other and curling irons shouldn't need a warning that says "For external use only", but that's not the world we live in. Remember, younger people than you playing this game might need a little more help keying in on important things. And despite everyone's belief, the game wasn't made just for you. Or just for Dragon Age fans. Or just for any specific group of people. Bioware made choices based on what they thought was the most effective way to reach the widest audience. What do you think should be more of a concern for the devs, part of their audience not understanding important moments, or your minor annoyance that an extra dialogue box popped up and affected your gameplay not at all?
@@leixiang One of most popular children's movie characters, Minions, are able to communicate ideas just fine without even speaking real words. Even if the game was trying to appeal to kids, you dont have to treat them like idiots.
Also the reason for the gimp masks is because the developers are incompetent and can't model a hat that looks good on any character model, probably had a lot of clipping issues and hair texture issues so they just made a one a size fits all "fix" in the form of a mask
Fair feedback! :)
I also had 118 hours in the game (just a little more)
And yes, I was thinking my female elven character is okay-ish... she was ok, but she was also the best the character creator gave me... so.. underwhelming!
A good tip for Lighthouse interaction: space, space, space, aka skip, skip, skip... :D
Man is spitting some much needed truth about that character creator!
Ruri, thank you for your sacrifice on our behalf. I too wish there were more good dwarf games. Hoping to get into game development to change that.
I think Capcom needs to give Rurikan a dwarven body type in the New Monster Hunter character creator to help alleviate his dwarven withdrawl syndrome. No one should have to endure Veilguard for that, no one.
You should definitely replay dragon age origins. Though I will suggest modding it to make it look better and run better
People forget that Origins was MASSIVELY inspired by Song of Ice and Fire, WAAAAY before the TV show.
And the writing in Origins shows.
This one just looks like, idk? Writers fresh out of college that don't even have any life experience trying to pick up and write Dragon Age based on what they learned about it over a weekend of UA-cam lore videos.
I would say that if the people who created this game were fresh out from uni, or colleage or whatever, with the name Veilguard, that would have been a good game, because their experience is close to none. But having the name Dragon Age, and being BioWare, people have their expectations to the roof.
Incorrect, Origins was inspired by a mixture of fantasy stories to include a lot from Tolkien. It’s dark and gritty to be sure, but ASoIaF is not the major inspiration. The political stuff doesn’t really take place until the end. Being a game that is dark with meaningful consequences is not Martin’s domain. If this game were truly mostly inspired by ASoIaF, there would be no clear good vs bad choices that Origins presents. It’s brutal, but plenty of other fantasy stories like Conan and the Elric saga were showing a more brutal take on fantasy before Martin.
@greyknight627 The Blight is literally Winter, and the Grey Wardens are literally Nights Watch...
And the main dilemma is Loghain's ambitions for the throne jeopardizing the outcome of the Blight.
It's 1:1 song of ice and fire.
Great review and thanks for your honest opinion. Helped me with my decision whether to pick up veilguard or not... I won't. Actually the Dragon Age franchise had its peak with DA:O and it's DLCs every single release afterwards was just a step down from it.
I can see the changes in gameplay happening according to what kind of gameplay is popular at that moment and Bioware is massive. So they won't create a more strategy heavy RPG after leaning the franchise into an pure action RPG.
What's really bad to me is that with every single release the roleplaying element and character development became more and more souless.
Short word at the end: I love your content, discovered your channel by the MHW beginners video and watched several videos. Keep on that great work and of course I subbed ;)
3:15 you aren't the only person I've seen say they never left the Hinterlands in DAI, the game does a bad job explaining you can just leave. The story in DAI and especially the DLC gets great.........you just have to pull up the map and LEAVE THE HINTERLANDS to experience it. Thats all. lol. DAI is a much better story than Veilguard
In regards to your character creator dwarf complaints, I gotta respectfully disagree. There are tons of options to make a rugged Dwarf, you just gotta dig into all the detailed options.
The skin complexion options are key to "aging" and scarring the character. You also CAN make a scar over one eye. The scar and tattoo options can be partially mixed and matched and color tone changed.
The $79.99 version is at $41.00 🤔
@@chriscangelosi9438 still a scam. Buty used for cheaper.
55:51 I saved Treviso because Minrathos is a city of mages, who are better suited to fight a dragon, and it's full of slave owners. But the choice is absolutely symmetrical, there is no actual consequence. Or better, the consequences are the same, just Ctrl+F replace the name of the city and the companion. There isn't even a third outcome if one of those city is your starting one (just a minor dialogue option that's irrelevant)
So the things that matters to Dragon Age is not there. I know that has been the comments since the game came out, but most of it I heard from those who are a bit more on the harsher side. Good to hear from someone who can be more open to both the good and bad. One thing I want to mention; yes the woke/DEI stuff may only be 5% of the 99 hours playtime, but it's the pattern that we are concerned with. Games that have even 1-2% of that tends to not do a great job with things that matter to the players of said game. Anyways, great video!
to be fair, the playing therapist to all your weirdly juvenile party members is a bioware classic. it might be worse in this one compared to origins but it's there in origins too, tbh it's even there in bg2 but heavily concentrated to jaheira and aerie
If you like playing with the primer/detonator system, I really recommend Guild Wars 2 if you haven't tried it. The combat system in the game is one of the best ones I've ever played and after playing it, most game's combat systems seem infantile in comparison. GW2 is dynamic, complex and adaptable in a way that makes it very satisfying to play, AND there are short people you can play too, not dwarves, but hey, the Asura are pretty damn cool anyway ;)
(In GW2 the primer/detonator system is called "combos" - one combo filed is detonated by a combo finisher, and it's different in many ways depending on how you use it, both in animation and effect)
Can we talk about how if you Choose Hardin to lead the second team, she walks right up to ghilan'nain and just starts Shooting at her from Close distance....
Her death was completely so stupid...
I was like "You have a bow, why are entering stabbing distance"
Seems reasonable for this team.