Dragon Age Veilguard Is The New Rings Of Power?

[@theKouto]

Just wanted to clarify regarding the representation section: - I do not argue against pansexual, homosexuality or anything of this nature. That's always been a thing since Origins. - What i do argue is the way that all diferent etnicities (white, asian, persian, indian, black, etc) are represented in this game. It feels more like a way to try to please everyone, instead of making these regions and our group feel authentic and real. I do not care if these regions have a lot more black/white/asian etc people. Corine says it herself. They "not only want to represent the diferent etnicities of Thedas, but also of our own world". This is a complete marketing bit that takes into account what is going on specifically in America and the UK. In world building everything matters. If a region has a society where people are of darker skin, there is a reason for that just like the real world. Maybe mass migration? Maybe hotter temperatures give more survivability along the centuries? And what are the implications of this? How does the culture look like? Arquitecture? Overall environment and living conditions? Just like the real world, according to Darwins theory, diferent regions will, over a vast period of time, give advantage to certain traits in animals, and we are no diferent. I mention that i am not fully aware of the diferent etnicities specially present in this northern region. For example, if Rivain is a predominately black/of darker skin tones, please showcase that. And make it feel real. Own that shit. What it feels to me is that they are not owning it. They are just trying to use this for a quick profit and marketing. I wonder what would happen if we went back to Ferelden with this new Bioware. How would it look like? I wonder.

[@PlanetaryPluto]

Are you insane? Also none of the nationality you listed are ethnicities. What's wrong with trying to appeal to a broader audience? Why do I get the feeling when you say Authenticity and realism you mean homogeneity. Multi culturalism is also authentic and real. Just own your beliefs with your chest, c'mon. I don't think you ask questions about why white characters are white I'm not gonna lie to you, so I don't think you really give a flying f about world building reasons for dark skin characters. I feel like you're really holding back on the race realism there buddy. Don't deprive your audience. Dive in and tell us about skull shapes and phrenology too! But seriously, it's not normal to start talking about Darwinism and racial traits just because non white people are in your video games. It's very obvious what you are. Just saying.

[@mightyn8]

Yeah, it's been really hard for me to stay even just neutral towards the game, and Dragon Age is my favorite game series (DAO my all-time favorite game). The thing is... once David Gaider left, I felt it. He was the one who came up with the world, and he had a specific style in which he wrote characters (which I loved, even the characters who I hated were characters I loved to hate). And as he left, I felt the tone of Dragon Age shifting into something else. It's still an RPG, and I'm sure the writers and designers and everyone worked very hard on it. Unfortunately, it's not Dragon Age anymore. The developers are making really weird comments like "we made the previous games good by accident" which is such a terrible thing to say about their previous games. Do I partly agree that when they made Origins they had no idea what exactly made it so amazing for players (Origin stories introducing them into the world and giving them a unique perspective that they really felt more strongly about during the whole game) and then proceeded to throw it out the window and NEVER use it again, despite fans literally BEGGING for it every single time a new Dragon Age was in development? Why yes, yes I do somewhat agree that they didn't fully know what the true strengths of Dragon Age were. However, that game wasn't amazing by accident - that's suggesting that the people who worked on it just threw shit at the wall instead of, you know, actually trying to make a good game. I've also seen some weird comments made by Matt Rhodes which said that if we hate the new darkspawn design so much we have "medical problems", and... Oof. That blog post certainly was not PR approved, and I can't believe that he said that about the game's fans. Like genuinely this guy's one terrible comment about fans kind of makes me not want to buy the game at all. Even though there are plenty of people who I know worked their butts off to make a really good game. I understand that at this point they can't take it back and be like "oopsie we know we made a mistake with character and monster designs making stuff look like Fortnite". But damn, if this art direction is why Matthew Goldman left, I 100% support his decision. If I were in his shoes, I would've also quit on the spot if that was what was decided to be the game's art style. I am sure plenty of people will like this new game. I am not among them. And I also think it's not a Dragon Age game anymore. I don't even care that there are some returning characters like Morrigan in there. She's not written by David Gaider - thus, she doesn't truly feel like Morrigan anymore (and believe me, for people who love Morrigan, you will ABSOLUTELY sense the difference in how her dialogue lines are written). I feel very sad for the game that DATV is, because I know what it COULD have been if BioWare had ever stepped back to look at what they had previously done, instead of pushing it to the back of their minds and saying "oh well, those games are old so we HAVE to make something completely new".

[@MrDay53]

Their comments do seem a little strange, but for Origins it was a long development cycle and was considered to be in development hell for a while because they were unsure of which direction to take gameplay/combat. It wasn't until they brought over James Ohlen from Mass Effect and was one of the core designers behind KOTOR and Baldur's Gate 1 and 2 that helped give Origins the gameplay direction it needed.

[@GiovanniZaluchi]

Tevinter is based on the Byzantine Empire.

[@sinisterwitch9230]

I dont want all companions to be necessary . In inquisition i hated the fact i cannot remove some of them from party

[@eliesaad]

Regarding representation, representation is not an issue. BG3 is the counter example to your argument. What is the issue, is the simplification and streamlining of the game with each new entry and the rule breaking of the world which you've mentioned in terms of lore and laws of nature and how the world functions. For example: the qunari that keep changing from game to game, the schools of magic that were ditched from DA2 for some reason but were heavily focused on in DAO, in DAO it is established that possession is not allowed unless the target consents to being possessed by another soul (for example the way Archdemons get destroyed and Flemeth's comment in DAO) but then Corypheus can do it to Wardens without issues in DAI, the tainted magisters' supposed immortality which was changed in DAI to being similar to how a horcrux works in the Harry Potter universe, Ferelden's entire identity changing from being inspired by medieval England to whatever inspired that architecture and clothing in DAI, etc. I can go on and on with the lore inconsistencies and the laws that DA games break after DAO but you get the point. And that's why it doesn't feel like DAO and NOT because they're adding diversity to the game (which is a good thing, more options to the player always equals good because the game becomes more personalized). Concerning your example on diversity, you gave the Lord of the Rings as an example, what you failed to realize is that this is a false equivalence, because the Lord of the Rings' lore and rules were established in the books and NOT in the movie. Whereas DAO was what established the lore of Thedas and NOT the books. In other words, the lore of the Lord of the Rings heavily relies on the description in the books whereas that of DA has no book reference and thus has way more leeway with its representation. For example, elves in the Lord of the Rings are clearly described as tall, fair-skinned, grey-eyed, and almost always dark-haired, etc. which means even the movie interpretation of the early 2000s did a poor job at not breaking the lore, because for some reason Legolas, Galadriel, and Celeborn are all blond in the movies and almost all of the elves don't have grey eyes. Another example is Arondir is being interpreted as black in the Lord of the Rings the Rings of Power. Hopefully you understand how comparing DA being inclusive and TLotR being inclusive is a false equivalence and is not comparable. Other than that, I agree with all the other points you made.

[@radioface86]

All the OGs from BioWare left a long time ago. It's essentially just a shovelware company now.

[@mightyn8]

Okay, a separate note to what you talked about in your video. Dragon Age has always been about progressive politics. At the time Origins came out, having same-sex romance options was not a thing in games. Zevran especially I know for sure was meant to be gay, but they had to make him bisexual so that they'd be allowed to put him as a romance option. DA2 had a cast of all bisexual/pansexual romanceable characters (and yes, the writers DID very much intend for them to be bisexual, it wasn't for them to be playersexual). There is an important trans character in Inquisition, and Dorian's whole quest is about the way his father tried to change him with blood magic so that he would agree to marrying some woman and making babies with her to "preserve the family lineage". Dragon Age has ALWAYS been about progressive politics. If you look at Origins through the lens of today, yes, absolutely it's a very dated game that has homophobic, sexist, terrible things that NPCs as well as the player is able to say. But for the time it came out (2009!!!) I was absolutely shocked and DELIGHTED that I could be a female and romance Leliana, or be a male and romance Zevran. So don't shit on BioWare for continuing to push the needle forward in the way they have done in absolutely every Dragon Age they've published.

[@HaleTheFreeVoice]

Fucking. Thank. You. This isn’t some new thing in the franchise I’m fairly certain most people worried haven’t played anything other than inquisition

[@rb98769]

"At the time Origins came out, having same-sex romance options was not a thing in games" This assertion is just outright wrong though. There are so many mainstream games that came out even a decade before DA, including other cRPGs, that include homosexual interactions for the player character, including fully homosexual characters even (which is not even the case in Origins). It's a huge stretch to reduce the entire game to being "about progressive politics" just because it includes two optional bisexual romance options in the year 2009.

[@jamskinner]

False. It had some progressive aspects but not to the current degree.

[@nyxian_grid]

I think overall the point (at least how I see it) is not that DA is only now introducing this, more how it is doing so. We would expect that with each game this and other aspects would be built upon, and more thought out. The fact they are going the DA2 route in which you can romance any character, no matter what gender, just tells me they are cutting corners or trying to please everyone, which makes it lose some of the character uniqueness and realism.

[@HaleTheFreeVoice]

@@nyxian_grid yeah i highly doubt itll be that game breaking personality wise

[@SolidSDA]

Current project leads: 'we accidentally wrote some very good characters' Previous writers: 'the fuck, bro?'

[@Draighean]

Removing blood mage is enough for me to hate their guts.

[@syranzra]

that's because of the plot

[@theKouto]

Didn't knew about this and the fact that the reason behind this is because of "ethical concerns surrounding its association with dark deeds" is hilarious to me. Blood Magic gave a lot of storytelling and nuance to mages. They always ended up feeling like the Jedi/Sith. Magic is a tool of great power and responsibility, one that can easily corrupt the mind of those who are not ready. That's why the circle of magi imposes a test on all want to be mages. One with dire consequences if you do not pass it. You die or become tranquil.

[@syranzra]

@@theKouto it's to do with the plotline with Rook and Solas

[@HaleTheFreeVoice]

It was terrible anyway 😂

[@Dragon_Lair]

@@syranzraNo, they said they removed it because they thought it wasn’t something they wanted players to do. Basically we have to play their way rather than the whole “we do what is necessary no matter what it may be” that Origins had. Basically they are moralizing and forcing their morals on players rather than letting players have good and evil play throughs.

[@EldenJim2210]

Tervinter is suppose to be different then feralden or orlais. This very much looks like what I expected tervinter to look like.

[@LAZERAK47V2]

Personally, I think people are putting a number of carts before several horses here. Yes, the art direction is different. Yes, the tone has shifted. Yes, they're making gameplay and stylistic choices that are different than previous entries. But fundamentally, all that really matters in this aspect is if they deliver a good story and a good gamplay experience. And as for representation, Bioware has always been left-leaning, even in Origins (y'all remember the employee that advocated genocide against white people on Twitter? If you don't, that's because they quietly dismissed him, rather than taking a public stance against that kind of hate). Homosexuality is considered normal in Thedas, so if you weren't upset with them before, there's no reason to get upset with them now. There will very likely be characters designed with diversity and representation in mind. Basically, just wait for it to come out and then judge it. Don't speculate negatively, you'll just make yourself mad.

[@mayaamis]

6:30 "previous entry" is not called Dragon Age Origins... it's called Dragon Age Inquisition, and the one before it Dragon Age 2, and only than you had Origins... 15 years ago!! some of you can't stop living in the past and ignore everything that happened since DAO, and you clearly weren't even here for the last 2 games apparently which means you have zero investment into story and lore and your opinion on franchise at this point is so damn irrelevant...

[@theKouto]

Feels to me more like a misquote there, 6:26 "...specially when compared to a previous entry..." Which means when compared to an earlier iteration, not the one right before it. And yes I've played all Dragon Age games. And yes Dragon Age Origins does something that the next two entries couldn't really achieve as well, in my view. It's not living in the past, it's asking for an evolution that respects what the original identity was trying to do. It's just how I view things, I understand that there are a lot of people that don't see like I do, and that's more then fine.

[@SeeJay804]

Respectfully, I'm never gonna understand the whole "only one ethnicity can exist in fantasy" thing that some people get hung up on. That's never going to make any sense to me. Seeing a black guy in Baldur's Gate or Dragon Age doesn't take me out of it anymore than seeing any other human. The "this has to be one-to-one with Medieval Europe but only in some very specific (racial) aspects" argument isn't convincing me that it's worldbreaking in any way.

[@mightyn8]

The thing is, even in Medieval Europe there were non-white people! Just because the "traditional" way of portraying Medieval Europe is only white people, it's not even true. Plus, it IS fantasy and not actually 100% Medieval Europe anyway. It would be boring AF if all fantasy games were "medieval Europe, and it's realistic so you're starving, have very shitty armor and weapons, and get killed by mercenaries much better equipped by you all the time" (that's Kingdom Come Deliverance btw, and it's actually a pretty good historical RPG).

[@Stenorfly]

this entire franchise has been destroyed by EA... just as Bioware in it's entirety. I kept an eye on the evolution of the project as soon as it was announced, and each new was more and more depressing. It hurts to know that my favorite saga is probably gonna die with this game, in a way that really gives it no credit...

[@HaleTheFreeVoice]

What are you talking about dragon age has always done well 😂

[@ErasMcras]

so its going to be much better than i expected? rad!

[@anasgameland]

Totally agree with you dude.

[@HaleTheFreeVoice]

Omfg lmfao i miss when people played the game first before going on youtube and speculating it was such a better time 😂. The idea that dragon age hasn’t always been a somewhat wokeish is laughable. This is A-LOT of speculation over nothing. Its the last game of the franchise and the world is ending like in mass effect 3, using a scene from the beginning or origins which btw is the only really cool one in the game verse what we see in a veil guard when we have scene nothing else and the two scenes are completely different situations is a really poor way of grasping at straw

[@jamskinner]

You don’t need to play it to know the type of game it is. To suggest otherwise is crazy.

[@HaleTheFreeVoice]

@@jamskinner i mean when youve barely seen gameplay from a test build for show i would say its not that crazy. My point was it was alot easier to enjoy games and make a better decision on whether you actually like a game vs potential youtube hate bait into hating a game which has happened to me so many times and then the game is fine

[@FastFatality]

I like the first 3 games .. 2 was not so bad. And i realy enjoyed inquisition. But this looks like shit ..what did they do with Varic omg. Qunari omg wtf is that.