Valmy's ADHD Dragon Age playthrough

[Grey Fox]

I'll buy it. I want to foster single player none service games as much as possible.

[Syt]

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/dragon-age-the-veilguard-review/

Dragon Age's return nails the action-RPG pivot but falls short of the storytelling the series is known for.

[...] BioWare made a point of saying that The Veilguard would prioritize "characters, not causes," and while I understand the sentiment that it doesn't want characters to be walking mouthpieces for ideals, it flew wide of the mark by not letting its characters have feelings about anything more complicated than "the gods killing everyone is bad." They don't have convictions that conflict with decisions I'm making as their leader and in fact put some of the biggest choices about their own personal journeys into my hands. The causes that Dragon Age characters devote themselves to have always been a vital layer (on top of a compelling personality) that makes them complex and interesting people. Some of its most beloved characters have that status in no small part due to the causes that make them polarizing among fans. Look no further than Solas himself.

Those moral quandaries that BioWare is so well-known for are missing all the way down to the root. Veilguard has no dangerous mages versus dogmatic templars. It only has elven gods who want to destroy the world, faceless leagues of 'bad guy' factions and morally neutral 'good guy' factions willingly uniting against the common enemy.

A past Dragon Age game would have posed us a tempting deal with a Venatori cult leader or questioned the morality of The Crows as Antiva's de facto military. It would have humanized our villains, compromised our allies, and made us question our values against their efforts to bend them. My choices in The Veilguard have consequences, yes, but no complexity. What we're left with is a fight against obviously evil ancient gods where the only attitude I really get to express on the subject is whether I believe the guy who wants to destroy the world to fix it is an asshole (he is) or a sexy sad boy (your taste may vary).

It's a shame to get through a Dragon Age game and find that its characters and story were its weakest element. In the end, The Veilguard brings to bear a gauntlet of great battles and a suite of spectacular cinematics to sell its final hours. But I think it's telling that the most emotionally effective moments all come from the returning cast of flawed heroes, not its own cast. The reveals and choices it goes out on could absolutely have destroyed me (a good thing) if only it had spent the rest of its time on characters and a plot that challenged me.

My biggest fear for The Veilguard was that it would be forgettable. It isn't. I've got a lot of critiques on how it compares to the series' history, but that's a better feeling than apathy. I've had my issues with every Dragon Age since Origins, from Dragon Age 2's repetitive environments and action combat pivot to Inquisition's underutilized open world. The Veilguard nails action combat and exploration and visual grandeur but in a series about defining a hero with morally ambiguous choices, the choices here are too easy to make. In time, The Veilguard will have its own hotly debated legacy within the series, but thank goodness it will at least have one.

79/100

Sounds decent. I still have to play 2 and 3, so I might pick this up in a sale at some point.

[The Brain]

I read that combat consists of dodging enemies while waiting for cooldowns. Don't know if it's true.

[Valmy]

I mean it is destroying the world but also kind of restoring the world that was previously destroyed. So it could be interpreted as restoring the world to its natural state. Is that necessarily unambiguously evil?

But I guess that point just gets lost in the 'saving the world' part.

[viper37]

I read that combat consists of dodging enemies while waiting for cooldowns. Don't know if it's true.

that's modern gamimg.

[Valmy]

I read that combat consists of dodging enemies while waiting for cooldowns. Don't know if it's true.

that's modern gamimg.

Hell that was a huge part of DA2 and DAI...well I guess you were usually auto-attacking or clicking to attack endlessly before your cooldowns.

[viper37]

I read that combat consists of dodging enemies while waiting for cooldowns. Don't know if it's true.

that's modern gamimg.

Hell that was a huge part of DA2 and DAI...well I guess you were usually auto-attacking or clicking to attack endlessly before your cooldowns.

DA2, yes.

DAI, you could chain movements to combine attacks, you had combo spells, you managed your characters movements, etc.

In Mass Effect 2 and 3, you mostly let the AI control your team, outside of a few moves and that was much less control than in DA, except for the warp detonations.

I'm thinking more of Warhammer 40k Space Marines 1 in terms of gameplay here.  I have zero control over what my teammates do, I get out of cover to empy my rifle at the enemy, I dodge the big attack and go back to cover to reload my gun/recharge my health, rinse & repeat.  If it's melee, I use the hammer to destroy everything in my path.

[The Brain]

So anyone tried Veilguard yet?

[Grey Fox]

Yes. It's very pretty. It has many cosmetic options I don't care about.

[Solmyr]

It seems to be a success, despite all the "woke/DEI" whiners.

[Legbiter]

So anyone tried Veilguard yet?

No it holds no interest for me. I'm not hating on it, it just looks and sounds like it's written by and for 12 year olds. Sheltered 12 year olds. The only interesting thing about it is how polarizing it is online with the whole chuds vs. wokes thing. Although the Chuddian Jyhad against it is probably the equivalent of an extra 100 million in free advertising for Bioware.   

[crazy canuck]

Chud?

[Grey Fox]

Those people that scream Woke at everything.

[crazy canuck]

Thank you

[celedhring]

Those people that scream Woke at everything.

I was hoping for cannibalistic humanoid underground dwellers