Dragon Age: The Veilguard is a Massive Letdown but the "Why" Matters (Review)

[@WolfheartFPS]

Use code 50WOLFHEART to get 50% OFF plus free shipping on your first Factor box at bit.ly/4hBYQGY!

[@GoldHeart180]

I feel like your only proving my brother’s point. 😂but thank you for the video, still gonna play it.

[@marconeves1979]

Well done. Wolf. A based review. Analytic, logical, accurate.

[@CodyisKing]

Too late already unsubbed for you supporting this trash.

[@RemOmni]

This game was not made for 40 year old aging gamers it was made for a much younger audience, so your feelings are spot on.

[@codymiller4895]

Your feelings on this game remind me of when I was anticipating fable 3 and it ended up being a huge let down.

[@PhilipOzerskyrux50]

I would expess my frustration with the current state of BoWare, but there's no dialogue option for that.

[@whatevr99]

The BioWare that we knew and loved is long dead. What remains is just a doppelgänger wearing its face, and it isn’t even a very convincing or competent doppelgänger, either.

[@Dexiray]

"well, that's that" - 10/10 writing, IGN

[@gottinrod]

careful, you might just end up picking one that makes you trans.

[@Miamiborne1969]

Duh duh 🥁 😂

[@chrismanahan1533]

HR is looking for you, lol.

[@BigDanGaming]

Turns out that first reveal trailer was an accurate depiction of the game after all :/

[@WolfheartFPS]

I wanted to huff some copium after that. "It's probably just a detached marketing department." ... damn lol

[@ShikaRoddy]

@@WolfheartFPS Some people who had a hands on preview said that even people at BioWare hated that trailer. I think those people at BioWare might have been lying.

[@marcdwonn9772]

I have said that as a comment to one of the YT reviews pre-release, and it's nice to see that other people recognize this as well. Bioware/EA saw the backlash and tried to change the narrative and gaslight us. Might be business as usual, but from a customer POV who will have to invest time and money, this is just disgusting behavior.

[@ignifero]

@@ShikaRoddy Or they also hated the game but wouldn't say out loud hhahaha

[@LadyShiva16]

Yup

[@jellybumfruitcakes]

Remember when you saw King Cailan stripped and crucified on the battlefield? Remember when a serial killer murders your mum in order to create his dream woman? Remember when Anders murders essentially the Pope and blows up a religious building, causing an all out war between Mages and Templars? Remember the world politics?? For Bioware to think this is an acceptable sequel and even compared it to Baldur's Gate 3 is an embarrassment.

[@AmellsGrace]

@@jellybumfruitcakes well, anders didn't murder the pope. The closest equivalent might be a cardinal. The pope would be the divine and and anders murdered the grand cleric.

[@LouisTravieon]

​@@AmellsGrace FOCUSING back on the statement above...

[@theobell2002]

Except this is not a sequel to Origins or Dragon Age 2. It's a sequel to Inquisition so it's stupid bringing up Origins when the series has already changed so much.

[@AmellsGrace]

@@theobell2002 I wouldn't say its entirely without merit. They are in the same series after all. Some comparisons/contrasts are silly ofc but not all of them.

[@Dragon_Lair]

@@theobell2002 No, it's not stupid to bring them up because there wouldn't be Inquisition without them. They are the foundation of the game and people who have been with the series from the beginning expect choice and consequences, they expect options, they expect to be good or evil, or at least morally ambiguous. They expect world-shattering decisions to carry over. What BioWare did was a metaphorical slap to the face. The fact that they are talentless hacks who can't write an instruction manual to open a paper bag is just the icing on the cake.

[@greyroo]

If Bioware had just been truthful and called this game Zippy and Friends Magical Adventure there would have been no backlash.

[@joelhodoborgas]

Zippy 😂😂

[@juststained]

As funny as it is, your absolutley right. We are gonna see it again with Vampire The Masquerade: Bloodlines 2. All they have to do is take away the Bloodlines 2 and none of the fans of the first game can really be upset anymore. Dissapointed at how they screwed up a guaranteed hit for sure, but what can you do. I mean the game still looks pretty mid to terrible but you have to take away the connection. Let it breathe on its own and have a partial chance to get an audience. The guy at Paradox has literally already set everyone up for disappointment saying the game itself is pretty much totally different then the first. He's also a jack ass that said we only like the first game for nostalgia sake etc. I rarely ever want someone to lose their job but this idiot will most likely be out of one after the game implodes and its his fault. At this point the Bloodlines 2 part isn't helping sales by name recognition at all anymore, its actually hurting it. That game is gonna crash and burn very badly.

[@RRRRRRRRR33]

Naah. They launched Anthem instead of "Mass Effect: Specters" and they received well deserved backlash anyway. This is just a bad product, simple as it is. It's not about the name involved, the "politics", etc.. just a childish action rpg in a market were Baldur's Gate 3, Elden Ring and Metaphor established parameters of quality

[@erenYeager4eva]

Actually yeah man! Or Dragon Age: The Warden's Nightmare

[@AOFadeev]

Way too many people die in this game for that

[@kingjabon]

This game failed in the most important things for a dragon age game, the tone, the characters, and the writing.

[@MrWizardGG]

In every way. All the reasons wolf gave are important, including the non story scenes like little kid puzzles.

[@kingjabon]

@MrWizardGG don't get me wrong. I agree with Wolf, but for a dragon age game, I think those 3 things are the most important

[@MrWizardGG]

@kingjabon ok true I think you're right

[@jagerhunter7717]

They just shit on the fans man. It doesn't look or feel like Dragon Age at all.

[@validus5808]

Don't agree

[@fyren91]

For me, the main reason for not feeling this game is their lore problems. I like DA setting, I like it's magic, that it comes from the Fade, it's coming from demons and spirits, and is very tempting and corrupting. It had stakes, a lot of power but can lead to disasters. Here, I lost it when Bellara, who is the crazy tech girl archetype from tv shows, said she needed to recalibrate matrices and adjust energy flow to repair an ancient elven artifact. That sounds like some Doctor Who lingo. It's not magic, it's weird science.

[@SorenPenrose]

Magic is just weird science, though

[@LinneaRisinger]

Exactly! I thought the same thing, that this isn't written for the dragon age universe but for some generic universe or even scifi 😭

[@SorenPenrose]

@ it’s written for Tevinter. We only experienced life in Fereldan til now and their approach to magic is tainted by their extremist religious faction. The Fereldan chantry is a massive propaganda machine that keeps people afraid of magic. They ban magic outside of the circle and punish blood magic with death…but phylacteries are a form of blood magic which they practice on every documented magic user, who are all rounded up and imprisoned. We didn’t realize how bad it really was. It’s always been part of the lore that Tevinter has a much more lax approach to magic. We saw a hint of that in Orlais in the last game when Vivian froze and nearly murdered a party guest in front of everyone. We already knew that magic in Tevinter was much more present.

[@Mkrause762]

The lore has been getting dumber since dragon age 2, if you like that system of magic you should play rogue trader cause that's exactly how magic works in the warhammer universe

[@CmdrCello]

Duncan died for this game. very sad

[@guillomn]

XD our Duncan deserves a better legacy

[@RosenXOnline]

@@guillomn At least he didn't live to it degrade into this

[@drocka36]

Better to die an origin than live long enough to become a veilguard

[@noctoi]

It's now canon that all of Southern Thedas died for this game .😢

[@Skumtomten1]

I have seen what lies on the horizon, maker help us all.

[@mitchellfarmer5666]

Wolf I applaud you for being honest and treating your audience with respect throughout your reviews of DAtV. You saved me 80$ and wasted time.

[@warbow]

The only Dragon Age game I didn't buy....looks as if I made the right choice.

[@whatevr99]

Same here.

[@Leonnie13]

Same here too

[@jagerhunter7717]

Same here. I beat the last 3 multiple times. Especially Origins. What a gem. Sad that we get handed this pile of piss.

[@validus5808]

No you didn't

[@jagerhunter7717]

@validus5808 lol ok Kamala.

[@Baraz_Red]

I would add (and this is meant in support of your position Wolf) that even children and teens are NOT stupid: they are more cunning than some foolish adults care to remember. They have played countless games, go to school in the 21st century, and want some challenge, discovery, insight, etc.! The words stupid or shit or anything else mildly vulgar is cheesecake in comparison to the shit they have already seen and heard in real-life! // In closing: EA.

[@WolfheartFPS]

Good point Baraz. Puzzle wise I think I would have to legit be under 5-6 years old for them to keep me stimulated.

[@ciriknockoff5738]

Like, at 13 I was already playing and LOVING the first Witcher game! Even teens deserve better writing than Veilguard...

[@Celadonis-the-Lore-Seeker]

One of the most confusing things for me about the media coverage of this game so far has been seeing people who share my taste in video games (RPGs of all kinds) being very lenient about the bad aspects of the game. I understand that everyone has different tastes and thresholds for how much mediocrity they can stand, but how do people who enjoy the magnificent RPG we've received in recent years from Owlcat, Larian, Obsidian etc. can see nothing wrong with Veilguard ? Especially the writing ! That, I can't understand.

[@nathanieldiaz2845]

It's possibly dependent on just how much they were a fan of the lore of the original game and subsequent games that came after. Reality is with this game if someone comes to it who wasn't that big or deep into Dragon Age lore etcetera etcetera then I think for them it's not that big of a letdown. Indeed for them it might be just a casual fun game. I think it's a lot harder for us who come to this game with an expectation for it to still have the same tone feel and vibe that started off the franchise. Me personally I'm just numb to all this now.... Star wars, live action Witcher etx.. be it Hollywood or the gaming industry it's all been taken over by people who have to bastardize IP that exist and have a fanbase to push their own agendas or regardless of agenda to sell something that they otherwise couldn't sell well.

[@marcdwonn9772]

Be glad to have been given the opportunity to filter out unreliable / superficial reviewers. I unsubscribed Mortismal, because if writing/tone is obviously not as important to him as it is to me, his reviews are of lettle use to me.

[@IslandCat97080]

@@marcdwonn9772 I did that to a bunch of reviewers who only seemed to rant about the"wokeness" of the game. I really do not care if the game is woke or not, as long as the story, dialogs, characters, etc are good. And thanks, @WolfheartFPS , for getting to the meat of what is wrong with the game.

[@hah-vj7hc]

@@IslandCat97080 It's just that woke titles tend to be a letdown because the woke devs don't seem to care about fun. Of course, that's not the crux in and of itself. BG3 is woke too in many ways, but it's fun, the wokeness is not the entire essence of it

[@nosvac]

@@hah-vj7hc pretty much this. i may not agree with a lot of things of modern view on inclusion but still I'm not against it, but so far most of the people hired by big companies with the intention of being inclusive have been pretty bad at their job. they put ideology preach way above their actual job, write a good story. but i guess its what happens when you hire woke people regardless of their capabilities instead of hiring good writers who happen to be woke/queer. so yeah, nowadays when a game dev talks about inclusion i roll my eyes, not because I'm against inclusion, but because that normally means bad news quality wise and priority wise. which its sad.

[@liepsnele11]

This game is OK as a random RPG. But for a dragon age fan it's like a slap in the face. I guess the new devs don't like the established setting and they'd rather destroy it and rewrite it. Don't get me started on dialogue and companions, it's just so disappointing.

[@akmal94ibrahim]

As a random action adventure game. This game is barely an RPG.

[@allenparedes6132]

This game is NOT OK. This game sucks ass. Baldur’s Gate 3 blew this TRASH up.

[@WolfheartFPS]

Thanks for watching. Like I mentioned in the video, this will likely be the end of any DATV content on this channel as I like to focus on games that I am enjoying / excited for. Games coming out somewhat soon that I will likely cover extensively: Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 & Avowed. Also plan on doing some lighter coverage of Path of Exile 2 & Monster Hunter Wild (& some Stalker 2 streams this month).

[@chriskociolek1830]

KCD2!!! Can’t wait buddy

[@RamzaBehoulve]

Did you try Wayfinder 1.0? Didn't make a lot of publicity when it released its final version, but the game has been a ton of fun, definitively much better than DA:V (not that's it's hard, obviously).

[@fernandosoliz2327]

I am really sad you didn’t enjoy or have fun with the game Wolf. I am currently playing and enjoying it so far, sure there are things I don’t like, and you can see the bones of the live service game like you said, and some of the companions (Bellara) are so hard to like, even though I am trying jajaj. At the end this game is not for everyone, and that’s ok, I do hope, if the game does bad, it doesn’t mean the end for the franchise. Really love dragon age and hope it continues. So far as i am playing, i am having fun and i hope it continues like that jajaja. Hope the next game you play, you enjoy and have fun

[@franklinmariduena]

I actively support you not touching DAV, the game should be completely ignored for the shameful IP appropriation it is.

[@Oxlorne]

I bought Pillars of Eternity: Definitive addition a couple days ago. When it originially came out my life didn't have time for video games but now I do. So excited to explore this game and PoE2 in anticipation of Avowed next year.

[@RonnieRoseSt]

It feels so demeaning to have the game treat you as if you didn't understand basic geometric shapes, as if you hadn't the slightest clue about the purpose of a paper cup. After this many years it just makes me feel so damn stupid (to have expected ...something). I came here because everyone seems to be really enjoying the style and I'm here clutching all those poems and tomes I obsessively read in the past because I love the worldbuilding, tone, character development, witty intelligent banter and these fantasy politics that work as a mirror to what we all deal with irl to my heart; when this game is only offering me a >generic product< over this >passionate, well researched and elevated legacy art project

[@sonkeschmidt2027]

I buried any idea that this is a dragon age game. Because I wanted to love it, so I learnt to love it for what it is. It's nice entertainment after I hit the gym and don't have the energy to fumble any coherent thoughts in my head anymore so all I have to do is press some buttons and get some nice glitter and blinking all over my face. In that case it's fun though. Like watching a river tribble along it's path falling into some trance-like state of absent mindedness.

[@ladychen-5686]

This was me too, holding all the previous DA games and books close to my heart only to get slapped in the face by a game that was so disappointing in every way that matters. I told my friends that it feels like someone broke up with me (which I'm aware is silly) because that's how heartbroken I am. SO MUCH wasted potential.

[@lukemartinserrano4765]

Above all else, it was the writing that killed this game. No depth at all

[@sadiesayed2916]

Completely agree. Many people bring up DA2 and it’s recycled environments, and I agree with criticism in relation to that, but I personally loved the story and companion interactions, something I think Veilguard falls short on

[@shinrugal]

I like the storyline it's the dialog that turns me off the game. That and the facial animations.

[@HereComesTheDay]

Woke=adolescent mind.

[@daviru02]

It's PC culture that killed this game. Aka woke

[@shinrugal]

@@daviru02 DA has always been "woke". There has always been gay characters, trans characters, bi sexual characters in DA.

[@Fastwinstondoom]

Veilguard dialog is so bad that it unironically made me miss Sera fra Inquisition...

[@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken]

My brain blocked out Sera lmfao. Ugh.

[@NIGHTWINGEX]

@@Fastwinstondoom haha sera was hilarious you didn’t take her to that fancy place where she gets introduced as “Mai balsych of cours?”

[@omarabdelaty634]

That's messed up bro

[@HomemdaFaina]

Adios Bioware, I once admired you immensely. Thank you for so many amazing games, but now your time has come.

[@yujin_sumeragi]

BioWare we admired is long gone, most of the people that work there now have nothing to do with the games we enjoyed. One should not get attached to a brand name, but rather to people behind it. Sadly, putting out the effort to look said people up is beyond most people's faculties.

[@hah-vj7hc]

I said this when I played DA 2. Gave ME Andromeda a try after that, but not for long. Always been thinking about trying out DA:I, since some people say it's good between the tedious bits, but eh... ME 1-3, DA:O, Jade Empire. Those were awesome. The old ones, BG1-2, SW:KOTOR, NWN... those were awesome. So for me Bioware died long ago

[@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken]

@@yujin_sumeragi, yup. Unfortunately a large chunk of people left right after EA took over, and then many of who remained slowly left over the next coming years. You can't convince me whatsoever that EA didn't get get rid of them, or have a heavy hand in trying to make them leave. You don't go from making banger after banger game like they did, to having those people leave after a takeover, and then start releasing slop shortly after. It should be a crime what EA did to Bioware, as well as many other studios.

[@JimmyMon666]

They really peaked in 2010.

[@WynneL]

EXODUS. The real Bioware is currently making a game called Exodus.

[@Norbingel]

Now that SkillUp, you, and a few other reviewers I've seen agree that the enemies are damage sponges and that companion skill combos don't matter much, I'm left scratching my head at how Mortismal not only said that if you think the enemies are spongy, you're not very good at the game but that this is potential GOTY for him.

[@waltblackadar4690]

Mort's review is beyond suspect. There's a ton of pretty obvious issues with the game that he didn't even mention and that comment about "get gud" doesn't sit well. He also secretly edited his review to remove the "Bioware returns to form" type phrase that all of the suspected shill reviews somehow contain. Something is very off about Mort's dog-slobber review.

[@onions831]

Posted this elsewhere, but after seeing the reddit threads showing that Mortim completely fakes his 100% reviews, I don't trust him at all. I don't even think he plays these games, or at least skips through them so quickly he has no idea what's going on. Calling Solas "the big bad" antagonist at the start of his video tipped me off, as you don't need to spend long to understand solas isn't the antagonist.

[@Norbingel]

@@onions831 I don't spend any time on reddit. Could you summarize the evidence against Mort?

[@IRaoulDuke]

I unsubbed , goty? Lmao. ... hey everyone is suseptible to taking the money and when it seems that way, I'm out.

[@allenzelt4481]

His review was pretty obviously paid for; and nearly all the positive reviews likely are as well.

[@zzickos]

I clicked on "the game is trash" in dialogue wheel but I said: "the game is perfect". 10/10 current BioWare experience

[@happyjonn9242]

someone needs to mod the game keeping the dialogue wheel as it is, but every time you click an answer it just says "I'm non-binary" throughout the whole game.

[@nosvac]

do you know you're valid? because you're valid. valid are you and your feelings.... because you're valid. did i mention you're valid?

[@Elazul2k]

People have been bitching about the dumb dialogue wheel for at least 13 years from what I could find online. They always refuse to change it.

[@griffinmckenzie7203]

"Current". Lmfao. Bro, people have been complaining about inaccurate dialog wheels since the first game. Lmfao

[@bartofii]

interesting? I picked that option and it said "return to form!"

[@LokiTheAnsuz]

It can be mediocre as an action adventure game. But as a Dragon Age game, it's garbage... Bioware as a studio deserves to get unalived for this before they get their hands on Mass Effect...

[@hah-vj7hc]

ME already died tho, who cares at this point? I really wanted to make myself enjoy Andromeda and in parts, I did. It had great combat, good graphics, some actual ME vibes... But it was a shadow of the other MEs though, sadly

[@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken]

@@hah-vj7hc Honestly, Andromeda probably has the best combat out of the ME series. It carried it a LONG way. I found myself not caring about the story though, and leading up to the big reveal that brand new alien race you were just introduced to is being turned into the evil alien race you've been fighting, I found myself 2 hours prior being like "I'm almost certain this is where they are going with it, so this is basically ME2, but if they designed Andromeda to be worse in every single way." Then the "reveal" happened, and I just alt +f4'd out, never touched the game again. Even thought I'd just watch a youtuber I watch finish it, He tapped out shortly after that part and never mentioned the game again, and mind you he doesn't just drop games like that lmfao.

[@Raghav992]

@@Th1sUsernameIsNotTaken Main problem with Andromeda was lack of creativity. If we are going into a whole new galaxy, I was expecting some more imagination, instead of the same bipedal races fighting it out like they all do. It was a letdown and felt we weren't exploring the unknown, but rather the same stuff that we were back in the Milky Way...

[@randomguy6679]

Unalived? That’s a bit much, don’t you think?

[@rb98769]

On the bright side, we don't need Bioware to carry the western RPG scene anymore. So yeah it's a bummer, but there are many good things to look forward to.

[@preslim84]

Not Mass Effect, that's for sure

[@randomguy-]

I was browsing through my Steam games and found that I hadn't bought a single AAA game released this year. That held true even after checking GOG. I usually buy 3 or 4. Surprisingly the only game I have been wanting to buy but not yet bought, mostly due to bugs and Ubisofts pricing, is Star Wars Outlaws. That's saying something. Hopefully next year will be better.

[@Truthaehnchen]

True! At this point, I'm counting on Larian and am so looking forward to more news on their new projects.

[@jstuckless]

@@Truthaehnchen Agreed, but hopefully they expand after BG3 since idk if I can wait another 3 years for early access and other 3 for full release. Also, don't forget Owlcat! They have 3 of my top 10 or so games released in the past decade, haven't let me down with a single release yet and they don't make you wait too long. (of course they've never produced anything as deep as BG3 but I don't need every game to rise to BG3's level)

[@dbryant965]

​@@jstuckless Owlcat, even after expanding, is still nowhere on the level of Larian in terms of funding and manpower. I love the Owlcat games for what they are and really hope they don't sacrifice their quality trying to pursue the success that BG3 had enjoyed.

[@turnsupgaming5949]

Great RPGs don't tone down dialogue. They step it up. It is up to the audience to keep pace. All great books are the same. When developers hire official writers, it would bode well to pick wisely. They have a craft as well and some are better than others.

[@sub-jec-tiv]

It was clearly written by millennial fanfic writers. Bizarrely all the characters use 2024 terms like ‘fam’, too. 🤮 This project was horribly mismanaged.

[@magenpie_4009]

Ah Wolf, thank you so much for sticking with it and making this review. Can't disagree with anything you've said. Such a shame and as you say a huge missed opportunity. However, on the upside, YOU ARE FREEEEE! Be free! Onward to better things. Oh and HAPPY N7 Day!

[@WolfheartFPS]

Hey Mag! Thanks

[@thomasrasmussen6372]

@@WolfheartFPS will you then stop streaming dragon age?

[@WolfheartFPS]

​@@thomasrasmussen6372 Yes. Not only is it not that fun to play it also creates quite the negative live stream environment. Might start up Dragon Age Origins sometime though!

[@dannyjackon7697]

@WolfheartFPS honestly such a great game you will not regret it.

[@if-not-now]

among other things, the biggest issue is they tried to create an RPG without meaningful and fundamental RPG elements. this needs to be a case study for developers on precisely what not to do

[@laurentguyot3362]

A lot of games to study this days...but nobody seams to be eager to learn...they are to occupied to try to feed us their agendas...

[@MrGryphonv]

I have to be honest, as more and more content was leaked for Veil guard, the less I wanted to give it a try. To me Dragon Age died with Inquisition. I used to want more, now I don't. Bioware is dead to me as a company today.

[@cdragon88]

Dragon Age died with part 2. It just took a while for you fanboys to realize and admit it.

[@jstuckless]

@@cdragon88 I enjoyed DA2, though admittedly not as much as DA1, but I thought that was fair since DA1 was so excellent it was hard to live up to. But i'm with the OP here, Inquisition was such a massive disappointment, so much so that I'm not really even bothered by The Veilguard being bad because I already gave up on DA.

[@Wellington-nl7vm]

@@cdragon88 Nah, DA:I was a really great game. Sure, it had some flaws but overall it was great.

[@PaulusAlone]

@@jstuckless- Dragon Age Inquisition is where I’ve spent the most hours and Dragon Age 2 the least. But they were all good games…unlike what I’ve seen of Dragon Age The Veilguard. This is the first DA game I won’t buy. Not even on sale! I hate the way this game has actually destroyed and bllighted all of Fereldan and rewritten the very lore of the game to be caused by some secret society pulling strings in the background? So all of our previous in game character choices and actions in the previous 3 games counted for nothing?😔

[@Jinkypigs]

​@@cdragon88hear hear

[@Icien1]

The lead for this game said the Sims was a big help when making this... The Sims... it shows.

[@Eridanus_Nebula]

hold up, they use the sims as a base or something???

[@onions831]

Fairly sure the game director, or possibly creator, has come from a work history of creating sims 4 dlc lmao

[@arg_9584]

I was willing to give the game a chance until they took away the keep AND whittled down the choices over the last 15 years to three choices that only happened in Inquisition. I’ve already watched videos discussing the story and characters and I just don’t understand how the writers could do this to all the fans who’ve waited so long for this story to end. Also, that end credits scene felt like a total slap in the face to anyone who’s played all three games, like our choices truly were meaningless. Edit: I hope the Dragon Age Ip is given up by BioWare and someone else in a decade or two can reinvent the series, or just let it lay dormant.

[@apopheny]

I know it's something that could never be real outside of my head, but just imagine DA game made by Larian...

[@DaMuss-e2w]

@@apopheny Just imagine a DA game made by the Bioware of the early 2000s thats fine enough.

[@apopheny]

@@DaMuss-e2w Not for me. I'm greedy. I have thousands of hours in the first three games. I waited 10 years for more and got, well, we all know what I got.

[@Miss_Distress]

@@apophenyI was gonna say the exact same thing. Doubt it would ever happen. BioWare will keep a stranglehold on this forever. but we can dream

[@Myrathosghost]

Its not just that only three inqisition choices matter….in DATV…there are only Three choices that actually change the story….only Three Choices that effect the ending of the game…. :/ they rlly fucked up ….its like how Paradox is now handling the Vampire the Masqurade game….taking away all RPG elements to just make a game more similar to Dishonored with a dialog wheel

[@Xivinux]

The "why" DOES matter Finally a good review, it's either people hating on the game fully or defending it against the haters. This feels like a good balanced review! Thank you

[@Zeroninja-j5c]

They turned a mature game into a young adult movie and I’m being serious

[@chriskociolek1830]

Not even young adult. This game was targeted for 8-10 year old children

[@fpconzulu4335]

​@@chriskociolek1830it's so sad how true that probably is

[@Dedhaven]

​@@chriskociolek1830 yup that's why they tried preaching so hard in this... propaganda piece. They're trying to indoctrinate the children.

[@chriskociolek1830]

@@fpconzulu4335 it’s very sad man. The state of some of these development studios is incredible questionable in their ethics.

[@enderan647]

I expect at least edgy dark joke stuff from young adult game. This game is not even that

[@elivenya-theautisticbookwy9638]

I hate what they did with Solas. I just hate. They put him narrative jail to avoid actual writing him. He is a complex grey character who does fit into the old DA but not in this kid version DA. So the only way to interact with him was in sole limited scnenes in his prison. And the ending...damn...i wanted to help hin to remove the vail but without the collateral damage...that was my goal. Ans what we have now are like four or five cringy endings then good one is the only one that is halfasses bearable and the others feel completely disconnected to his character and the story....es specially because Rook can not convince that he could outsmart Solas...Rook has not enough character depth to deliver the other endingsin a convinant way...than i learned today that they removed a quest to save Hawke/Alistair/Loghain from the fade from the old inquisition storyline...and they scraped this..this outright evil...and so many chances for cameos not uses. Zevra was Antivan. Fenris from Tevinter. And the old DA writer had a concept for a story where Fenris helps Solas to save Hwake out of the fade...they could have used this....and nothing of this issues can be fixed with with mods....so we either manage it to gaslight Bioware to deliver this crap post launch or this frnachise is basically broken beyond repair....don't want to start with the cringy retcon edits of Qunari and Crow lore to fit the childrens game tone....damn...what are we supposed to do?

[@Myrathosghost]

Not only that; but you notice how so many Companions seem like Dollar Store versions of Old Companions??? or how some storylines feel like they would work better if they had an older companion there instead?? Like Imagine it being Merril instead of Bellara!! or if instead of Harding having the "Dwarf Magic" or whatever it is, it was Dagna! Who has spent from Origins to Inquisition literally trying to learn how to harness Magic somehow as a Dwarf! Or if we had Zevran as the Amazing Antivan Crow with us! Instead of the Zevran Anders Hybrid we got who is apparently so amazing everyone has heard of him...except no one has ever heard of him till this game! What if they Warden we met was actually someone who KNEW OUR WARDEN FROM ORIGINS! Imagine if instead of getting Taash we got Tallis or at least got to meet her and the Qunari we got was working FOR Tallis!! LIKE THEY HAD THE CHANCE TO HAVE SO MANY CALL BACKS THEY JUST DIDNT TAKE!! because for them it was eaiser to write a game that WASN'T ATTACHED TO ANYTHING...because then even ppl who have never touched the old games can play it and not feel confused about whats happening or who a character is.....which is still BS....you should make a Game for your Current Fans and also try to bring in new fans, not make the game for New fans and HOPE the Current Fans enjoy it too

[@elivenya-theautisticbookwy9638]

@@Myrathosghost of course i noticed...it's terrible...and mods wont be able to fix this, because we can't do new animations or voice acting...we are screwed

[@rainervogel4012]

KCD 2 is coming up soon, so don't worry, more content is coming your way.

[@WolfheartFPS]

You know it!

[@wardvandecotte9253]

KCD II and STALKER 2 are the only games I look forward to.

[@The_Gent]

HELL YEA CANT WAIT FOR KCD!!! They have channel in their Discord thats specifically for making fun of Denuvo LOL

[@dolbz]

yeah but i would take this combat over KCD 2 any day of the week! Just shows how fucked up RPg industry is now. But i agree with a lot of things that was pointed out about combat the 3 skills limit is way to low for rpg.. The effect visuals are horrible and yes companions comments from WOlf were spot on. I could not believe they have no HP who comes up with this ideas lol...

[@VVVHHHSSS]

What I haven't seen talked about as much is the idea that "people write what they know" and I think what made old school BioWare so good was the story writing was top tier, felt like old (sometimes literally) DnD or weird fiction writing. You could tell they were pulling from a really rich history of telling stories (written or theater of the mind, in the case of DnD) and applied that to an engaging video game design. This can obviously apply to art design too. Now you've got this newer BioWare team, they're straddled by corporate culture. It's all low hanging fruits now. They have writers that grew up on Pixar and Josh Whedon "quirkiness" (which is growing tired), so what you get is exactly that crap. I don't even want to get into the woke debate, but I will say that I take the Harold Bloom approach, but replace books with video games, lol. Point is, idc if that stuff is in games, but use it to tell an interesting side story and not just have some character do push ups, it's corny.

[@SorenPenrose]

There isn’t any woke stuff. That word doesn’t have any meaning. Basically people who hate something that used to be socially acceptable to hate use it to lament the fact that they aren’t viewed as morally superior for hating it anymore. If you don’t like gay people, trans people, or brown people then you use the word “woke.” So what flavor of bigot are you?

[@PrimaItalia]

The game just feels like a complete reboot of the series. The game is an action game with a dialogue wheel with superficial nods to what a Bioware RPG has. Even the lore was tossed out of the window. The franchise is now unrecognizable to me.

[@XSAGA87]

It's just not a Dragon Age game, they used it for their own Agenda. Such a shame, hope we get a real sequel to inquisition one day.

[@Leonnie13]

They did this because it gave them great pleasure to do it. They certainly aren’t making games because they love them. They are ruining games because they hate fans.

[@daviru02]

Kind of like Star wars the acolyte. Just put a bunch of work people in charge and say we can make a Star wars serious just by putting a whole bunch of characters in there in writing some stupid script! People will love it. Oh and make a trans and gay too!

[@DaMuss-e2w]

@@Leonnie13 Last year was a real eye opener to how the AAA game studios view the fans, the mask was totally ripped off with their whinging about BG3 and other work. They feel entitlement towards you plus utter contempt its a weird combination and a scary one.

[@DaMuss-e2w]

@@daviru02 most 60s and 70s Hong Kong Kung Fu movies are way better than Star wars the Acolyte, I would rather watch the worse ones from that Era than watch Star Wars the Acolyte I made it 3 minutes into the first episode then turned the TV off.

[@Baraz_Red]

I think that was a courageous review, as I know how we have many fans in your/our community, but simple honesty is the best policy for sure. It sucks because we want people to just enjoy their game carefree, but a review is a review.

[@WolfheartFPS]

I honestly felt a little bad posting it. Not for Bioware or EA but for those in this community who do seem to be enjoying it. It's never fun to rain on someone's parade. Like you said though, a review is a review & at the end of the day this is just a video game. I also think it's important for those in this community who are enjoying it, to at least understand my perspective. That will help them understand better future reviews of mine, whether they agree or disagree.

[@roserainier5917]

Agree with basically everything you said here. The first three Dragon Age games made up my favorite video game series. DAV was a let down on so many levels. My favorite (sarcasm) quest in the game was when Taash invited you to go fight a dragon that had been burning down villages and then you get to a cave and there’s no dragon fight and all you get to do is have a conversation with Taash.

[@aeschylus09]

90 AUD to play a Pixar game. 10 years for... this. The options are not vast (literally the same option but 3 times)

[@Miss_Distress]

I won’t be paying the Australia tax for this one. I’ll sail the seven seas. I’ve been playing these games since the beginning, I’m insulted by this.

[@darcwulf13]

DAO will always be the peak of dragon age to me unfortunately, it was the first time I really cared about characters and a narrative in a game. I think it will always be in my top 5 for that reason so every entry since has been a let down to various degrees. Every game has moved further and further with art direction, tone, and writing from what I loved about the original though I still enjoyed them in their own right but never been immersed in the world as I was before. I'm still playing this one and it is mostly fine as what it is, but what is is not a dragon age game. It's more of game the devs wanted to make so they put a dragon age skin with key moments of "fan service" on it losing what really made the series special.

[@zacharyhernandez1483]

This is what I've been sayimg, it's not a TERRIBLE GAME. Probably about adverage, the issue is throwing the dragon age name on it and acting like it is what we've come to know and love

[@genevievec.8002]

The ending, in my opinion, is the closest we've gotten to DAO in some ways since it came out. Unfortunately, most of the game has such a bad tone and levity that it makes the game overall feel like it lacks gravitas. Even characters like Bellara, who I expected to dislike, I really like now, but I'll always hate the scenes like the one WolfHeartFPS showed. She has a great story, and her actual personality is good, but they wrote her dialogue and scenes so poorly. Given to another writer and director, she would have been an amazing character. Keep the plot, keep the general personality. Tone down the quirkiness, and make the dialogue actually good. So disappointing.

[@Kododie]

I really wonder what Mortismal is going to say about this game when he's going to make his GOTY list. If he's going to stick to what he said in his review or pretend like it never happen. It was baffling to hear it coming from someone who had so many games under his belt. In a year that wasn't dry for genuinely good new releases.

[@boblately5402]

I’d expect him to take swipes at people that he perceives as “far right” and stick by it. He was lenient on the game because he’s far left posing as some kind of centrist.

[@wardvandecotte9253]

Just finished the game. Let me put this staight: apart from the title this is NOT a Dragon Age game. This is an action adventure game with little RPG elements made for a broader 'mainstream' audience, let's say for teens 12-18 years. I am really dissapointed. The writing is very flat and often meaningless, the choices you make hardly impact the story (do not intend to play the 'bad boy' like in previous DA games because that's just impossible). The combat is OK early in the game but it gets so repetitive that after 20 hours I was getting bored as hell. A lot of cutscenes smash LGBTQ+ subjects straight in your face but in the very wrong way (I say this as a gay man), obviously as a part of the Bioware agenda. I play fantasy video games to get lost in another world, not to get lectured about modern time ethical subjects like if I was a 12 years old kid. The positive: the game looks gorgeous on PC and runs smoothly right off the box, a rarity in modern gaming. The last 2-3 hours of The Veilguard are phenomenal (compared to the rest of the game). My conclusion: missed opportunity for Bioware. Score: 4/10 Guess I'm gonna play BG3 for the rest of the year...

[@hah-vj7hc]

I'm not gay, but I always get the feeling that this entire lgbyadayadaxyz stuff is the most "homophobic" thing that's ever existed. It's a condescending parody of people like you who are actually just normal people and should be treated as such, NOT differently. Here in Germany, the so-called "right-wing party" that is alledgedly homophobic and racist and mysogynist... it was voted as the favorite in a gay magazine and also the leader is a lesbian with a black foreigner for a partner. Go figure...

[@joelhodoborgas]

Your money deserves better

[@NIGHTWINGEX]

@@wardvandecotte9253 it’s references orzamamar it has same race and classes as other games they talk about grey wardens anti vans crows you can go to dock town and literally you’re in tevinter morrigan the inquisitor how is this not a dragon age game? Just cuz the writing sucks doesn’t or the game watered down insults doesn’t change the fact it’s a dragon age game

[@nowaylater6950]

Not mainstream audience, but 'modern audience'

[@M3cronom]

@@NIGHTWINGEX I do not really get your point. Yes, its the Dragon Age setting and IP alright, but it lost its identity. If I told you there is a new Call of Duty coming out, but this time, it is an isometric RPG with a cute pixel-artstyle where you have to solve puzzles and labyrinths, it wouldnt be a Call of Duty game, even though Soap may get mentioned once.

[@lucian5928]

I quit at 14 hours. The brainless dialogue, story writing and gameplay aimed at mentally challenged 6 year olds is where I had to say enough is enough. Your review is everything I experienced. It is spot on 💯.

[@egil9859]

Yep, I played about 20 hrs and quit last night. The combat seems okay at first, but it gets repetitive quickly. Then add in absolutely awful dialogue and it quickly becomes unfun.

[@nickrubin7312]

"A lot of people when they played the combat in Dragon Age: Origins they weren't really getting that kind of sense of getting into the heart of battle. So we went to the point when we had one motto on the team in terms of combat, and that's when you press a button something awesome has to happen. So button-awesome...." (iykyk) Mission finally accomplished, congrats to Bioware

[@dannycolwell8028]

It’s funny because dao was my favorite combat in the franchise

[@mediumvillain]

​@@dannycolwell8028I really thought that RPGs would develop along the path of NPC AI customization to make companions behave exactly how you want them to any situation, like DAO & FF12, and that style of combat customization has been COMPLETELY abandoned.

[@dannycolwell8028]

@@mediumvillain yeah I agree completely. I like the balance of being able to just control your player character if you want to but then switching to another party member for a little more finesse. DAI I think implemented it pretty well but it was a little too arcady overall for me.

[@averagelok1959]

they have a secret ending that retcons the entire story of dragon age chalking it up to a shadow man that has controlled everything and planned everything like loghain betraying Caelen. this is like if George R.R. Martin suddenly brought aliens into game of thrones. I'm not joking they have a shadow government ending this is middle school writing like "than he woke up" at the end of the story.

[@cybertramon0012]

Aside from the issue that as a dark fantasy world Dragon Age doesn't really have one main villain so much as all the problems were formed from multiple decisions, the previous villains didn't need some Illuminati group pulling the strings. The invasion of the Golden City was already a manipulation by the Old Gods, and a classic tale of pride for thinking they could tear down The Maker. Loghain was so paranoid about Orlais invading again that he believed the Blight was being exaggerated to allow Orlesian agents into Ferelden. And we already knew that pure lyrium drives people crazy, so weird red lyrium would be even worse. None of that ever needed a single connection. It's like how in DA2 Cassandra is convinced Hawke manipulated events to cause the Mage/Templar war, when the truth was that there was no single thing behind it all, and the war was going to happen eventually anyway. Only this time, the story just decides that yes, Hawke really was behind everything for some unknown reason.

[@Taterthot-zj1pd]

Its incredibly pixar. I did enjoy it more than I thought I would based on all the bad reviews. But I would like the game significantly more if it wasn't "dragon age." That comes with expectations and standards that just weren't met.

[@klavicus2276]

It’s basically a dragon age game without the fundamental things which determine a dragon age game. They basically took its identity to serve the modern fortnite/titkok audience…

[@oguzcanoguz5977]

18:50 I hate the take that dumbed down games, dialogs and systems pull a lot more audiance with the caviat that they are just casuals. Casuals are also drawn to games with some substance. You dont need to be a foodie to appreciate and want good food, and masses dont flock to tasteless bland looking food.

[@WolfheartFPS]

You do speak some truth. Look at the success of BG3 & Elden Ring. Definitely made some "casuals" happy!

[@oguzcanoguz5977]

@@WolfheartFPS I am a hardcore RTS fan and we have been having this debate for decades. RTS is a hard genre to play fundamentally, since it requires multitasking which is inherently against how we work, but very addicting once you get through the barrier. So to solve this issue, there have been many "casual friendly" multiplayer RTS games, that have a lower skill ceiling and are simple so that everyone can supposedly enjoy them. Well they all flopped, they always flop. Interestingly, it is till Starcraft, RTS for the most hardcore that still garner the most casuals on the periphery(team games, custom games, Coop PvE modes). People reminisce of the old C&C games saying they were low skill ceiling, but no one played them for multiplayer. They had great campaigns and interesting units and themes, which is what pulled people. TL&DR: Regardles of what kind of game you go for, your game has to have some edges to appeal to some people and in that process also not appeal to others. If you also make that edge an appealing enough proposition, casuals will also flock to it.

[@crazyelf1]

The game just isn't Dragon Age. It doesn't have the atmosphere of Dragon Age, the dark tone, the art style is just unattractive. Then there's the poor story writing, the unimaginative combat, unrelatable characters, the choices that don't matter unlike Mass Effect, and lack of a great world to explore make this game unappealing. Adding fuel to the fire is the divisive political agenda that was a totally unforced error and EA's shady business practices of withholding review keys from anyone that isn't a positive reviewer. BioWare that once existed in its prime is unfortunately gone. Only this is left and it bodes I'll for the next Mass Effect.

[@NIGHTWINGEX]

So you don’t think a dragon destroying a whole city isn’t dark enough for you? Or people being publicly hung and executed isn’t dark enough? You’re just salty you can’t be evil in this game xD

[@crazyelf1]

@@NIGHTWINGEX No it isn't. You don't get it - you don't have control. It's not like the original Dragon Age or a game like BG3. Your comment also doesn't address the poor combat or story in Veilguard. The game is a total failure. The sales are low and it has alienated its traditional base. We can see this in the low number of people active on Steam.

[@NIGHTWINGEX]

@@crazyelf1 lol have you actually played the game? Not controlling your companions isn’t the end of the world

[@NIGHTWINGEX]

@ it’s not a total failure either it’s ranked 16th so far in total sales it’s still has good sales

[@kaaaaaaypops]

I played Rogue Trader instead. One of the best RPGs of the decade.

[@AaronLeonardo-z990]

I mean I'm happy for those who are enjoying it but i just have to ask, how does a game with so many glaring flaws get 9s and 10s. Are we just gonna looks the atrocious dialog is at times? Its extremely off-putting. I do not understand who like this kind of writing.

[@basicwitch3794]

The writing is not terrible overall, and I think that's not being seen because creators are picking a handful of truly awful lines and calling it the game. Dialogue is average, certainly not deserving a 9, but not below a 4. Handful of scenes are being passed around in a 50+ hour game and people are using that to base the entire game on and it's not fair.

[@DrDaveDavington]

@@basicwitch3794 Just because you can tune out your companions constantly recapping things that literally just happened doesn't mean everyone has to.

[@zacharyhernandez1483]

Im honestly with basic on this 1. The games a solid 5 or 6 but its not unplayable. We are all being so hard on it because of the name it carries. Now am i excusing bioware for completely discarding our choices and dumbing down alot of gameplay, not at all. But hopefully they see the backlash and decide for a more mature approach for mass effect​@DrDaveDavington

[@Copperscaled]

@@basicwitch3794 it's a big problem when your writing is "not bad" and your combat (which is complementary to the story and characters in every DA game) is "not bad". because "not bad" isn't "good" which is what Dragon Age is (or used to be).

[@andreix123]

@@basicwitch3794 I've seen hours and hours of live streaming of the game. Yes, it is terrible overall. Nothing anyone who trash this is saying Is untrue. This can't be a 4 and above If Black Myth Is a 7(or any other comparison)

[@lunaredgrave]

Dude thank you so much. People only focus on how "woke" the game is and real criticisms get lost in that crowd. I genuinely disliked this game because the way they treated the previous games as well as how crappy the writing and gameplay is. I have nothing against people who enjoyed it but honestly I didn't. Also it surprises me how people got so mindblown by the lore when it just feels like the writers took the fan theories and wrote the whole thing around it. The game just legit feels like fanfiction. I'm off the Bioware train at this point. I feel sad that Mass Effect is on the chopping block next.

[@Scarecr0wn]

Paul "I dont remember name of my favorite character but trust me I am not access journalist and culture war fanatic" Tassi: This is game of this year. Yeah.. It´s all just sad. I really hope that Exodus game will be as great as it looks so far.

[@JedrickRussokin28]

Mortisimals Veilguard review video originally has "return to form" in the description but once that phrase blew up by every journalists using it, somebody noticed that he edited it out that phrase. I don't think he's a shill but it's hard to trust him..

[@waltblackadar4690]

Yeah, I unsubscribed because of that. There's something very off about his review not mentioning puddle deep combat mechanics, RPG elements, objectively terrible dialog and nonsensical plot points. It's one thing to say those things didn't somehow impact his enjoyment of the game. It's quite another to not mention them at all. Then because he got caught somehow used the EXACT SAME TALKING POINTS as other reviewers, he decided to go back and edit it? That's beyond suspicious. I can't say he's a shill either but his review smells like 3 day old fish.

[@onions831]

It's going to sound a little crackpot, but I've genuinely started to believe that he doesn't actually play the games he says he does. I was a massive fan til his Veilguard review, when I found out that he has been 100%, provably, lying about him 100% games before reviewing. There's multiple reddit threads, with Mortim even replying to them, where people have shown his Steam account having 100% games before they were even available (even via Journalist/EA), and multiple other suspicious "bugs" showing his achievements triggering on and off, and some that were patched out of the game before launch. It's left a sour taste in my mouth, and has really given me the belief that he doesn't pay attention/actually play these games. His description as Solas as "the big bad" at the start of the video also made me think he didn't pay attention AT ALL to the game, or... he just straight up didn't play it. Would make sense for someone who SAYS they 100% games 🙃

[@rsick266]

6:32 😅 Got me there 1. I agree with your review. 2. I happily agree with your review. 3. I sternly agree with your review. It's so disappointing how they decided to disconnect themselves with their own franchise and not focus on the core elements that used to make it great.

[@sonkeschmidt2027]

The question is if they actually decided that. Maybe this is the best the people that work there now can do, maybe they just don't have the qualities that brought dragon age origins to life anymore.

[@biologymom6238]

I am a bit of a different player, I've always been a gamer , was a DM in the 70's, yes over 60, Hubby and I started gaming when our 11 yr old twins wanted to play WOW, but we were concerned, so decided that we would take turns playing with them. Played 12 years . adult kids tried for a year to get me to play Origins, eventually I did it and loved it. Loved Mass effect, I've played every romance in these games and loved the replay ability. I have played 60 hours, and I usually play hard or nightmare, Veilguard was painful and trust me I wanted to love it. From the start the character creator was amazing, the environments beautiful, the story moments of companion quests a few were good. The main story was forgettable. After 60 hours I did not care about my companions. No options to tell off companions when they were jerks. No options for me to be a jerk. Zero role play. Most the time I felt like I was speaking to highschoolers. Zero nuance. Very little RPG I can only think of 2 choices of any consequence. Combat was fun at first, but most the enemies used the same strategies. After 20 hours I just wanted to be done. So I turned down difficulty. Never ever done that before. I hated I could not explore the world Frankly, any reviewer who said Veilguard was a " Bioware returning to form" is crazy. This is as far from classic Bioware games as you can get. Thankfully we have new studio's that are making actual RPG's. Thanks for the honest review.

[@sadiesayed2916]

Unfortunately the execution of the story left me incredibly wanting. Also the conclusion to the Solavellan arc was so disappointing, and not at all what I and some others had envisioned. As long as a game has a solid story, the graphics don’t need to be the best, gameplay and story are key for me. The companions were not up to the usual BioWare standard, they usually write great characters but I suppose a lot of the senior members had left. And as you said, a lot of what’s wrong with this game is the constant immersion breaking, . It’s a shame this is what they came up with after 10 years. Anyways great video as always, I can always trust your views and opinions 😊

[@faesira]

one of my only highlights in this game was emmrich's character and quest. everyone elses side quests was just insane compared to emmrichs. the quality difference is embarrassing. a necromancer who fears death?? the choice at the end regarding manfred took me back to having to pick between hawke or alistair in the fade. i hope in another timeline we have the dragon age we deserve but emmrich is identical. an amazing character who deserved a far better game. this game was too scared to retain the original feel of the dragon age games. why am i as an elf walking around in THEEEEEE TEVINTER and everyone's like wassup !!!! INSANE. everything else suffers for it.

[@fpconzulu4335]

Everything you said, is 100% how i feel amd how i felt playing it. Only i don't have the ability to put it together as well as you did. Im glad i didnt have to dedicate time to go through the entire game and refund before the steam limit. When the new fan base tries coming after you, remember you have all of us behind you

[@MrVad3r]

it should be mandatory for new devs of bioware to play and complete all their previous bioware games. i highly doubt any of these devs played any classic rpg

[@jagerhunter7717]

My favorite RPG world. Sad what has happened to it. Hopefully Mass Effect doesn't get destroyed as well.

[@cam-the-bassist]

I've played for about 3 hours now. I managed to make a badass looking Qunari so quite happy with character creation but then you get into the game and effectively have to listen to Rook have their own conversations, which gave me this dissociative feeling - he isn't my player character really. The Warden, Hawke and the Inquisitor were characters you could define through your choices whereas Rook just feels like a predefined character we're being 'allowed' to play. I completely agree regarding the loot as well, it feels so arbitrary and takes away the experience of exploring and finding loot organically. The overwhelming feeling I have is they turned ME:Andromeda into a dragon age game

[@kadebachman8408]

Truthfully character creation is solid skill trees solid dialogs worthless skip them all really fast combat entertaining thats the long and short of it for me ain't worth game of the year not by a long shot

[@cybertramon0012]

Even when the dialogue wheel first appeared in DA2, Hawke still had different personalities depending on your choices. And it made some noticeable differences in a story Varric tells in DA:I, where enforcers Hawke's uncle owed money to came around to collect. Diplomatic Hawke showed such niceness that the enforcers walked out confused and with cookies; Snarky Hawke stalled them with card games and played so well some of the enforcers became regulars; and Aggressive Hawke them and armed companions waiting so the enforcers surrendered on the spot.

[@cinnamonsparrowdesigns]

I don't understand why they made a game that is so soft and hand holdy. Where's the gore, grit, pain, blood, murder, slavery, racism, etc of Thedas?? Like all that is just gone. We're in freaking Tevinter and I don't see any signs of slavery, abuse, excess, decadence AT ALL. Dorian made it sound so crazy and wild there... but it just reminds me of Kirkwall, without the wall ninjas. Or grit. It's all so sanitized and cute and friendly and I just wanted to scream sometimes. I wanted to shake my companions and tell them to grow some balls and get over their shit b/c there's more important crap going on right now. I liked Emmerich and Davrin and the rest could rot for all I care. I enjoyed certain parts of this game, but I just put it on Storyteller mode and barellrolled through the boring combat b/c I didn't care to fight the same effing Antaam again in the crossroads. We waited 10 YEARS for nothing. All our choices and hard work meant nothing. I'm so sad. I don't know who the fuck this game is made for, b/c it's not the fans that have been here since Origins and have been sitting around eating the small crumbs they've given us over the years.

[@euphoricbipolar]

I'm in storyteller mode as well, eager to push forward quickly and see just how disappointing this might turn out to be.

[@alexstrekal6944]

This kind of criticism is honestly how I felt when DA2 came out, it made it a light action RPG and was overstreamlined. I missed everything after that but my impression is they never exactly returned to form. Everyone loved Origins because it was basically a continuation or update of Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights's legacy with a sense of player choice and replayability, a detailed dialogue system, and epic mature themes. They took that away with DA2 with streamlining and a more cartooney approach and a non-interactive environment.

[@Imbelliz]

Dragon age veilguard patch notes: 1. Fix a bug that cause conflict between mages and chantry, they now live happily together. 2. Fix a bug where human have racism against elves. All beings are equal, what you saw in the first three games are not intended! ...... an so on. Its like the they take a world with 15 years of world building and just hit the RANDOMIZE button to see what's gonna happen.

[@nickrubin7312]

fixed southern Thedas bug in the end as well

[@daviru02]

It's like the HR department wrote the script. Make everything the same so it's bland as F

[@TemporalElpis]

I don't think the mage and chanty conflict is gone, it just was never relevant to northern Thedas. Mages have always been in charge in Tevinter, the war that happened in previous games had little impact there. As for racism it clearly still exists. One of the 6 main factions exists to free slaves, and at least Davrin brings up anti-elf racism several times. For some reason the developers refused to show any of it directly, which IS a problem, but it's plenty clear still exists.

[@MsYunaFires]

Inquisition had it's "cute" scenes (the morning after with Iron Bull, for instance, or Cassandra loving Varric's books) but nowhere near this bad. And like the puzzles, they're clearly going after younger Gen Z. Elves aren't even discriminated against anymore. Contrast that with DA1, the City Elf origin, where your friends can be r*ped (alive or not)... It's insane how far Bioware has fallen. Everything is just too cutesy in Veilguard. Too easy too. Making the puzzles so asinine to avoid people loosing interest and refunding or looking up yt tutorials.

[@nyyfandan]

Mass Effect Andromeda, though not the worst game ever, is definitely the biggest gaming disappointment I've ever experienced. It's kind of baffling but somehow this game seems to repeat almost all the same mistakes.

[@nox8730]

The moment Bioware was bought by EA was the end if Bioware. The only thing that puzzles me in all this noise is how people can't seem to understand something that simple.

[@joel5956]

It's crazy to me that BioWare was making a game for a series that's been around for 15 years (originally billed as a spiritual successor to a game released 9 years before that) and didn't think people experienced in RPG's were a significant part of their audience. Yeah, I would have preferred the RTwP combat (or a new turn-based system), but really I'd have been open to anything that I could really dig into. It's just a bummer because I do really like the DA (I'm currently doing a run through Origins that's been modded to run well, despite BioWare claiming that would be impossible for a giant company to do) and Mass Effect series'. It feels like we'll never get anything like those games ever again from BioWare.

[@johnstarks7759]

The original Dragon Age was perfect. It helped bring CRPGs back from the brink, as much as any game of that generation.

[@7rollythingsgames395]

Listen, I hear what you're saying, and I don't disagree, but, you can pet all the cats. What more does a gamer truly need?

[@blalhoihreuf]

Don't forget all those doggos my guy, they deserve pets too.

[@Alwaysttango]

Get real cats, I have two and planning on getting one more and dogs

[@nunuonroad9969]

Don’t forget the hair physics! Easily take this from a 6 to a 9

[@tameelah3839]

The moment I saw that thing they pass as a trailer I knew it would be trouble. When I found out what we had lost in this game, the choices particularly, control of our companions, battle, the magnitude of loss of skills I refused to buy this "game". They have not earned the right to my money. So sad to see what we waited 10 years and more for.

[@SirUlrichVL]

I really want to be happy for people that state they are enjoying the game but considering their reasonings that I've seen so far are general broadstroke comments or claims that they enjoy the combat, it just boggles my mind especially when they try to claim they are 'true' DA fans as if the rest of us that have complained about critical exact points why we think it is terrible are not true 'DA' fans. From what I've seen of the game, my assumption is, someone in the Dev team decided when the whole live stream idea got canned they said "I know lets make the game into a Dragon Age version of Mass Effect 2, with mission complete screens and some other elements taken from that game.... and because people complained about a certain aspect of that game we'll make it childproof so you really would have to go out of your way to get the worse ending. *Cassandra makes disgusted noise* UGH! If that is somones idea of a return to form, they clearly didn't properly play the aforementioned Mass Effect game. Speaking of said franchise I fear what they are going to show in regards to that today.

[@AKABoondock19]

Being a RPG fan because you love RPG gameplay mechanics has sucked so much ass the last 10 years. BG3 is the only light shining int he darkness....because outside of that, EVERY SINGLE aaa RPG has been slowly degrading the RPG aspects of their games for even longer than 10 years to get us where we are. Final Fantasy and the early Bioware games were my favorite games for soooooo long and now all of a sudden I hate the new games from both. The shift to instant gratification and flashy action has ruined so many RPGS.

[@Dunderard]

The only way for me to buy a Dragon Age game again is if it's made by Larian Studios and titled Dragon Age Origins 2.

[@jacksonmiltin4199]

yeeeah, I don't think that EA would let go of one of their popular IPS especially if it makes money.

[@Dead_Hitori]

​@@jacksonmiltin4199didn't make money this time

[@jacksonmiltin4199]

@@Dead_Hitori they still got money from people who likes the game, but we don't know have much exactly,

[@fujubop3966]

Good takes man, glad you've highlighted how much this game treats you like a child. Really sad to see what Dragon Age has become.

[@Elle_T_Kay]

Thank you for putting into words exactly what I have felt about this game. I'm about 55 hours in, and I'm basically pretending this is a standalone game that was inspired by dragon age lore. It simply doesn't feel like the dragon age I have come to love since origins.

[@kailok333]

I get it, I truly do, but what I don't get is people "getting" this now. I mean, I felt like this in 2014 with Inquisition... I had a literal DECADE to come to terms with the fact that Dragon Age was a diferent thing now and eventually played Inquisition (eight years later). Veilguard follows that change, knowing that beforehand I'm enjoying it alot more than I did Inquisition, at least I find the gameplay kind of fun (Inquisition was a chore to play and longer than a day without bred..). I would have LOVED a return to form to the Origins days, but really, I don't get this kind of critique "now", did you really like DAI? Didn't you see the change in EVERYTHING (tone, gameplay, story..) there..? Idk.

[@fylimar]

I totally agree with you and I will add, that they don't even stay true to their own lore - Tevinter, the Qun, the elvhen culture, the Blight, the Crows everthing is changed and toned down. Returning characters are done dirty and especially my favourite one, who is done even more dirty for a cheap and highly unlogical 'Gotcha' (trying to be spoiler free here). The dialogues and characters are so shallow, it's disheartening. Bioware made character and story driven crpgs famous.

[@happyjonn9242]

It's not a sequel, it's a full on reboot

[@fylimar]

@happyjonn9242 It was firstly not marketed as such and is de facto a continuation of DAI and second, I really don't think,bit matters, how you wanna call it, since they clearly don't care about the own lore anymore. I just wish, they would have been more upfront about it. I'm btw not saying, people can't enjoy it. If you like it,all good. People have different tastes and like different things. I loved the more darker stories and the deeper characters from the other games personally and yes, lore is important to me.

[@SzaladczarSzyzzelin]

An M-rated game with dialogue for children, that is the most succinct yet damning explanation of the decision making that went into making this game that I've heard yet. Cheers! *also fuck the hinterlands that is a grinding zone not a questing zone*

[@WolfheartFPS]

Hey thanks a lot Syzzelin. Appreciate that. Cheers

[@GreyWardenArlethaVakarian]

From Dragon Age Origins a seasoned elite ninja to The Veilguard a crying toddler.. Veilguard is so far removed from Origins, you can literally see the changes from DAO to DA2 to DAI . Origins was a seasoned elite ninja became a depressed and underpayed employee in Dragon Age 2 (exodus) and turned into a teenager in Inquisition. The Veilguard shouldn't exist, I finished the game twice (using my EA play pro subscription). 80% of the game sucks and the remaining 20% are remnants of a series I loved so much. Whoever wrote the 2-4 hours of real enjoyment should've used it to make the remaining 76 hours enjoyable. It was a struggle to play and finish Veilguard twice and when I finally reached the 140 hour mark I went back to Dragon Age Origins just to have a good therapy session no therapist could provide.

[@genemcallister2697]

Really appreciate the honesty and staying true to your thoughts on the game. I’ll be coming back for your other reviews before making a purchase.

[@tripletrollface]

Companions can't die? ...................................................... I am literally gobsmacked. Did these developers ever play a rpg themselves??

[@vatzfu]

Sims 4 logic : you can't lose.

[@eathelyn_enavin]

Without spoiling anything, they can't die in combat but that doesn't mean they're safe overall

[@sonkeschmidt2027]

From an arpg standpoint it kind of makes sense. If you don't control your companions it's rather annoying to have to babysit them.

[@tripletrollface]

@@sonkeschmidt2027 ^The no controlling companions is perfectly fine. But the fact that they can't die in combat means it doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you stay alive yourself. That is a dreadful decision.

[@EcchiRevenge]

Not only does the game itself suck; it also goes out of its way to crap on what you did in previous games. (the places you saved mostly get wiped out; by telling instead of showing)

[@Myrathosghost]

A big issue I struggle with regarding this game is that.....LITERALLY ALL THE COMPANIONS FEEL LIKE THEY SHOULD BE ONE OF THE PAST COMPANIONS BUT THEY DIDNT WANNA LITERALLY TIE THIS GAME TO ALL THE GAMES BEFORE IT !!! Quirky Elf girl with interest in ancient Elven artifacts who knows all about the Eluvians?? COULD HAVE BEEN MARRIL!! The Mage we meet at the start?? COULD HAVE BEEN VIVIAN OR DORIAN SINCE THEY WANTED SOMEONE FROM TEVINTER OR HELL MORRIGAN SINCE THEY BRING HER BACK TOO ANYWAY!!! THE FUCKING CROW WITH A SPIRIT IN HIM JUST FEELS LIKE THEY MUSHED ANDERS AND ZEV TOGETHER BECAUSE THEY COULDNT COME UP WITH AN ORIGINAL IDEA IF IT WAS A SNAKE BITING THEM!! AS MUCH AS I LOVE HAVING HARDDING BACK HER STORY SHOULD HAVE GONE TO DAGNA WHO LITERALLY SPENT HER WHOLE LIFE TRYING TO LEARN MAGIC AND WANTING TO FIND A WAY TO DWARVES TO HAVE MAGIC!! Like so much of this game COULD have been better if they didnt pull a fuckin Star Wars where they dont like Ideas that the person before them had or feel like they can make them BETTER....and then it ruined the whole fuckin Series

[@reecesinacori2498]

Great ideas for companions. Would have been way better.

[@electrikjohn8954]

I know most people hate the writing and combat. But for me the music was unforgivably bad. Hans Zimmer completely scammed Bioware on this title.

[@SteveEagles]

If they would have given me origins’ tone with the combat of veilguard I would have called this a 10/10 game. The art style is ok, other than whatever they were trying to do with the darkspawn and demons (this also goes along with the tone)…man these “writers” and creative directors blew it though

[@GeoffsCornerOffice]

Well articulated - A sad day as a huge DA fan

[@bad3032]

This was on my most anticipated games in over 5 years. And they produce this slop that isn't dragon age at all...... I'm NEVER purchasing another BW game again.

[@docmacabre]

The story is full of plot holes. In Inquisition, Corypheus somehow managed to trick all Wardens into believing they were hearing the Calling, yet Ghilan'nain, who literally controls the damn Blight, doesn't think to either use or destroy the Wardens, whose blood has the Blight running through it? And why would Solas even want to tear down the Veil, if it's what keeps the Evanuris locked away? Since you managed to enter the Raw Fade in Inquisition in physical form, wouldn't he simply try to find a way to re-enter the Fade, physically, work on fortifying their prison/move them to another from there, and _then_ proceed to tear it down? Oh well... The delivery of certain plot twists fell flat in every aspect. Most missions ended in a rather anti-climatic conclusion. The few moments that would've lent themselves to compelling companion interaction were immediately shut down. Also, too many retcons and contradictions for me to even consider this canon. It's a shame what they did to the lore. I really do not understand what went wrong here. One of the people responsible for this affront to writing wrote one of the novels as well. I enjoyed that novel a lot. Clearly, there were people on the team who do possess literary talent. Yet somehow none of that shows in the game.

[@ОлексійСацердотов]

10:31 While in BG2 1st quest in Athkatla require you to solve system of equasions for correct answer

[@indigocrayon520]

Maybe it was because I was a kid but I remember the KOTOR game having some challenging puzzles where I needed a note pad and I loved it 😂

[@shredwardslayer6354]

Finally a genuine review from a dragon age fan. Thank you I will not be purchasing this game. By the way, this franchise lost its soul because the gameplay is decided by executives in a meeting room looking at charts of what makes money and the story and dialogue was written by clueless people who've never read an adult piece of fantasy literature. That's why the characters sound like children and the game is rated mature. The writers are so clueless about their inability they don't even realize it. Same situation as the witcher and rings of power arrogant spoiled brats who think they can "improve" someone's (A professional writers who puts heart and soul into it) work because they know better. Horrible, Bioware should be ashamed I hope they go bankrupt before they can destroy the Mass Effect franchise.

[@sharteel85]

"I'd rather go back to the Hinterlands and do fetch quests" says a lot about the quality of this game's writing...

[@RageReaver187]

The simple truth is: The modern Bioware we grew up with is long gone. The new Bioware had to impress, in which they failed miserably. I hope this gets into the empty heads of any devs/publishers. By pandering and implementing nonsense into your games and alienating the actual fans, who are the buying customers, you can and will only fail. If they took their time to actually dive inthe what DA is they instead went the braindead route. 8-10 years in development hell, god knows how many iterations this went through, and no focus on what makes a deep RPG what it is.

[@eriiicj.1558]

I was thinking about it and came to this conclusion: We (millennials) grew up with games more than any generation before us. Corporations grew from tiny groups of friends to billion dollar conglomerates. Once the generic executive types learned how much money was in gaming, it was inevitable we started getting market analysis and focus groups, all of the general capitalistic stuff. So they spent the last two or three decades learning how to model games for essentially children as children where the gamers back then. Now we’re all grown, and these massive corporations are still pulling data that had worked for a long time. They think children are the only ones gaming, but that’s because their data never grew up while we did. Indie games have been much closer to the heartbeat of gamers for a while now, and it’s because they’re listening to us rather than focus groups that say gamers what Fortnite because of its numbers. At least that’s why I think. I could be wrong. I be wrong a lot.

[@ThwipThwipBoom]

Bioware is officially dead. But at least we have Larian to take it's place.

[@ssejr01]

We want to call the game Veil Guard, because we really want to focus on the characters of your team. Proceeds to make the most inconsequential characters in the Bioware library.

[@EMarleene]

Was so close to ordering the game when it came out,, but decided to watch your streams first. So glad I did because this game isn't getting my money unfortunately.

[@Covain88]

So does this mean back to BG3 streams..? 🎉

[@PhilipOzerskyrux50]

That would be nice 👌

[@KeytarArgonian]

For the last 5 or so years I have been saying ‘this will play like a ‘retooled’ live service multiplayer that plays like an action game pretending to be an RPG. And I was largely correct. Didn’t predict this disastrous tone and writing though. Especially considering former Bioware directors went on record to admit that Andromeda had and intentional ‘CW feel to the writing’ and even then they admitted that was A BAD IDEA, fast forward a few years and they did it again!

[@MissMokate]

lmao that "listen to me you idiot" scene was the experience anybody watching an official voice over translation of an imported media while knowing the original language has gone through

[@thorspark]

I purchased a nice RPG last week and have a nice time playing it. It's Romancing Saga 2, the remake of a 30 years old game. The game design and story are so much better than DATV. I'm looking forward for what Larian is cooking next because we can't count on Bioware to make good RPGs anymore.

[@Trace153]

Hope this hits for some, who defended it to death to those who voiced big concerns from all the marketing. You don’t always need to eat shit to know what your eyes and noise is warning you of. Yes, you need to eat it to confirm it taste bad. But more often than not you can trust your other senses.