Everyone Hates Dragon Age: The Veilguard - Inside Games Roundup

[@EatableBread]

Veilguard's biggest problem for me is that it's barely a RPG. Every decision feels like the Fallout 4 dialogue where's the 3 options for 'yes' and one option for 'no'. Rook feels like he's only molded to be a flawless good guy, no matter what you dialogue/choices you make. In older Bioware games, you could be at least be the biggest asshole to ever exist and it'd be entertaining. Now you're forced to be a basic blank slate that never evolves into anything else.

[@youbetternot369]

My problem is that it’s not even a yes or no. It’s a happy yes, a sarcastic yes, or a stern yes. I put 50+ hours in and they are right about the CW writing. But I think they are wrong that gaming hasn’t moved past that. There are many well written games now.

[@CW19941]

See that's the only thing stopping me from buying it even though I want to still play it😂😂I love an RPG that gives me multiple options even if the choices don't matter in a particular conversation. Full immersion into a fantasy RPG. That's also my issue with Fallout 4 too, the conversation options were bland. The characters I did enjoy though and the shooting too for Fallout 4 and I thought it was very pretty compared to the others. Rant over. I hate having too much energy😂😂

[@gurentgc3546]

Well... Im nonbuynary.

[@darrens3]

The one and only joke conservatives have.

[@sapphomet.7777]

My trans ass wasnt vibing with the human resources vibe of the dialogue either

[@AIGINISTAKEN]

I can always predict Lawrence and Bruce’s takes before watching any of the video.

[@TeslaChad]

I think the “writing in games can’t ever be as well written as movies” take doesn’t really hold water anymore since storytelling in games the last couple of decades have been on par with movies and tv. In some cases, even better. A story not being received well or middling should be properly criticized for its good and bad. Not a throw away - Well, games writing isn’t as good as movies so why’re you complaining. No hate, just my thoughts.

[@Shaft0]

@@TeslaChad agreed. They fumbled this episode

[@ooonyxxx]

Yeah that was probably the worst take I've seen from these guys since then saying that Star Wars game was good

[@JeffNyman]

The challenge is that it's entirely subjective. But certainly I've never played a game that came close to the narrative experiences of films (in no particular order) like "Coherence," "The Europa Report, "Cuckoo", "The Babadook", "The Invitation", "Perfume", "Memento", "Mulholland Drive", "The Incredibles", "Django Unchained", "Predestination", "A Few Good Men", "Legend" (the gangster movie with Tom Hardy), "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy", "Back to the Future", "Fallen", "Killers of the Flower Moon", "The Prestige", "Groundhog Day", "Sicario", "Knives Out", "The Usual Suspects", "The Bridge on the River Kwai", "LA Confidential", and many others. I'm just going off the top of my head here. But note that all of this also depends on what movies someone has been exposed to and how deeply they think about not just narrative but also the context of how people relate narrative aspects to ludic aspects. It also depends on how much actual emotional engagement someone has with narrative in general.

[@Shaft0]

@@JeffNyman sure, but veilguard ranks mediocre at best relative to video game classics.

[@mrbigglezworth42]

I've seen better stories told from games when there were far less "consultancy groups" blackmailing and strong arming their way into the industry. The Legacy of Kain, Marathon, Metal Gear Solid, Homeworld, Starcraft, Fallout, and so many more. Games were already telling interesting and thought provoking stories before anyone even bothered to notice them. The difference between then and now is the budgets have ballooned out of proportion and the people making the games don't have anywhere near the same level of interest in the medium. People like Neil Druckman wish they were writing for Hollywood and not games, and it shows. I don't want people who hate that they're writing for games to write game stories, I want people who want to make games write stories that make sense for games.

[@catandthehatchet1649]

happy you liked it Bruce. found it disappointing the dialogue was bad for me

[@OH_NO_DAKOTA]

what a terribly written sentence its like its backwards

[@TheActionHank]

Just one example please, scholar

[@crsmntmr392]

@@TheActionHank "quick think about us having sex"

[@XtremeXiledHybrid]

The dialogue is trash. I think bruce was just having a stroke.

[@TheActionHank]

@@crsmntmr392 damn, they forced you down that dialogue tree?

[@red0death1]

From what I have seen the issue with dragon age is the writing more so then the content or combat.

[@KevinShmelvin]

depends on what you expect. if you want to manage a party like in the old game they gutted that here. your party is glorified extra spell slots with no health bars. there is plenty to criticise about the combat too

[@XtremeXiledHybrid]

Combat is bland too

[@ColinFilm]

Lawrence's orange lights in the top left looks like a health bar.

[@SUDAGANGTV]

Took me a while to notice what you meant but yes it does lmao! 😂 Edit: He's got full health 😭

[@MazLad]

It's not centred so he's definitely not a boss.

[@popcornfilms1]

He’s just getting started

[@gordonfreeman1396]

That's a great idea for a streaming set up, physical HUD elements behind your battle station.

[@MontySaurusRex_]

Get you someone that loves you like Brian loves Dragon Quest.

[@YaksBall8]

Brian Gaar is awesome, I love him, but the "uhm, aaaaa, so uhm, you know, and yeah like" kills me... he has improved recently, tho! my guess is tht complains on youtube comments WORK (edit: which is great, means the bytt boys or inside games journalists keep an eye out for the comment feedback)

[@ObnoxiousCaterer]

A game can be good in some respects, but flop really hard in other elements. Heard gameplay is good, but that the story and writing are where a lot of fans are being let down despite that. Some of the other dark fantasy themes from Origins have been getting watered down/gentrified without spoiling anything.

[@nine9_abyss]

Origins was the first game. This is the 4th one. And while DA2 was still pretty dark, Inquisition was already watered down a lot. So you can guess what happened to this one huh.

[@NewWasabii]

I’ll give the game credit in saying it does get pretty dark toward the endgame. It just comes a bit too late, and almost gives whiplash because the first 80% of the game is lighthearted, then the final 3 hours everything turns, people start dying, the world starts getting blighted, and it’s like “What just happened” I do think the final act is really good, but it feels out of place in the game as it just seems like the developers remembered it was a dragon age game last second.

[@jonrainbow123]

Everything feels safe, uninspired, and lackluster. For a AAA series on it's 4th entry, from the developer that's given us iconic RPGs for 3 decades...yeah its a waste of $60. If this was a $40 game from someone new, I'd be a lot more intrigued to support a company with potential. This is giving money to EA before they cut Bioware's head off after Mass Effect releases...

[@collapsiblechair9112]

for a safe, uninspired and lackluster game it's caused a hell of a lot of controversy and vitriol. Maybe it's none of these things and you're just parroting the criticism from others.

[@despawn7663]

@@collapsiblechair9112no there a real science here. Toxic positivity is a real thing. The game is Mid and all the criticism is valid.

[@collapsiblechair9112]

@@despawn7663 Middling doesn't mean bad.

[@oleg8195]

@@collapsiblechair9112 people expected it to be same or better than the game that preceded it in Dragon Age franchise. So yeah, middling is really bad.

[@idontknowanymore4739]

@@despawn7663 The only toxicity I see is people try to justify their hatred for game they don't like.

[@HeyHowYouGoing]

The main thing that bothers me more than anything is that you don’t get covered in blood after a battle, has been a staple of every dragon age game before, there’s literally nudity in the game but no bit of bloods to far

[@DPDanBro]

Just because it is inclusionary, doesnt mean we need to defend it vehemently and shout out to the rooftops that people who dislike it have either never played the game and are against inclusion or have played it and don't know what they are talking about. The game does have real issues and most negative reviews are speaking on aspects of the game like writing, storytelling, gameplay mechanics ETC. and most people when speaking on the inclusion are not complaining that it's there, but mostly complaining about how forced it feels. It could've been included in a much more natural way then just crammed in for the sake of it, that's a big part of the lazy writing aspect people point to as a massive dislike.

[@brunogrande9826]

it`s a ok action game. Horrible Dragon Age game. The fact that your decisions from past games dont really matter, the change in design specially with the Qunari, and the dialogue that seems like it was made by people that only live on Twitter its bad. If this was a new franchise, sure, I could give it a pass, but as a DA sequence, this is a bad game.

[@runictoaster489]

What’s worse is now that the games devs/writers have changed up the lore they call gamers bigots for not liking what they did to it. Come on maaan…. Go make your own franchise with your own lore and rules leave the ones we love they way they are. That’s why we were fans in the first place. Now that most fans left they wonder why it isn’t as big as a success.

[@jarjarbinks7410]

@@runictoaster489what lore was changed? I feel like often times when people say they changed or retcon the lore they mean the game established some legends, mythology, and religion - non that can be accurately verified and then they start dismantling something that was never established fact.

[@Kyle-yn5hy]

It might shock you to learn people said the same thing about Dragon Age II 👀

[@brunogrande9826]

@@Kyle-yn5hy DA 2 is lot more DA than DA Veilguard in my opinion.

[@lucasLSD]

​@@Kyle-yn5hyanother trash game, what's your point? The only good dragon age is origins and maybe inquisition.

[@darnellcharles6576]

I am playing dragon age V now, the dialog is terrible, very hard to endure, but I like the combat as a rogue

[@CommanderScarin]

All I’ve ever wanted from this series was to know what the warden commander has been up to, but they’re too scared to give us that, L Game

[@john_hunter_]

Veilguard & Mass Effect Legendary edition are the only Bioware games that released on Steam during their launch. The Sims 4 also has a higher peak than Veilguard & that's a single player EA game. Isn't it obvious to you that those media outlets are saying that to make the game seem more successful than it actually is?

[@taln0reich]

heck, Cyberpunk 2077, a game that was released four years ago, still had at several points more concurrent players today than DA:TV that was released less than two weeks ago and Baldurs gate 3 has more concurrent players right now (a year after release) than Veilguard all time peak. Attempting to spin Dragon Age: The Veilguard as being a success is just copium.

[@notabelas3987]

Thats not True. Dragon Age Origins. Dragon Age 2, and Mass Effect 2 were all on steam at launch. EA Origin wasn't a thing until 2011

[@kcneedles261]

Man I was so hyped for this game but the launch trailer and hearing how soft the renegade options were just killed it for me.

[@izakmysteryo]

So quick maths; the game sold 500,000 copies at $60 bucks a pop, thats about $30 million dollars. The development cost of this thing is reported at about $250 million dollars. Is this really a success for bioware??

[@MiraSubieGirl]

Rumour... Actual sales are not public yet. Stop passing off Endy as fact.

[@MiraSubieGirl]

Also just on steam its at about 700k... So consoles? Also you exclude cut shares... idk, not a very mature or thought out comment man.

[@KevinShmelvin]

The reports they are using were laughed at and debunked weeks before. Best selling single player EA game on steam. This whole statement should raise some red flags. Like saying concord is the best selling AAA hero shooter live service sonny game for that week alone. Stretching those requirements to make it seem like a success. What the whole statement just tells you DA Veilguard sold better than the re-releases of the older games when they came to steam years later. i mean look at Dragons Dogma 2 a niche game got 300k peak concurrent players while this AAA 10+ years dev time game cant break past 90k. Also there is nothing more revealing than the devs saying there is no plan for this game going forward. No DLC No expansion nothing.

[@izakmysteryo]

@@MiraSubieGirl so i checked the steam numbers and it's sits about 89,000 players at its all time peak, so I don't know where the 700k numbers came from. The 500k figure came from gamalytic btw, I know it's a plus minus situation but I didn't think I was being that unfair

[@AbeFroman19861]

@@MiraSubieGirl You are correct in that we do not know the actual sales numbers. However which do you think is more likely? 1. The game sold really well and EA is just not talking about it. 2. It sold poorly and EA wants to keep it quiet for as long as possible.

[@drunkbygreentea]

there was one part of the game where the qunari was like "mom i'm nonbinary". and i'm like....so? is it really that important to the plot to have this? and it wasn't even done in a good way. i have no problem with diversity and representation but i understand what the mild anti-wokers are saying. if the representation is done in a forced or bad way it's cringy. if i was a person who wanted to be represented in my media i would like to have it done as well as possible.

[@ChunkyLover69420]

that's the same as saying is anything that doesn't further the over arching plot needed, like any romance options, character back story for the player character or npcs. the writing is unfortunately cringe but thats not because of 'woke', the writers have clearly just watched too many marvel movies

[@Shaft0]

@ChunkyLover69420 it feels extra cringe bc u know it will help those idiots pretend theres no truth to gender equality and freedom

[@justanaveragebalkan]

I really don't get why they are doing it, if you feel like a man but you're a woman, play a man, and vice-versa, we don't need freaks in the games, we already have enough monsters to kill. For me this is targeted child grooming, they are literally preparing the next generation to accept them, so they can have the upper hand, literal brainwashing.

[@proteus265]

It's a part of their character plot so yes it's necessary, was going around collecting newspapers with neve necessary for the plot?? Yes because it furthers her character, as a non binary person it's nice to see a character in game use the terms we use irl for our identity.

[@drunkbygreentea]

@@proteus265 ok well enjoy your mediocre representation, the rest of us don’t.

[@Seriousjaak]

If you spend a lot of money on something, usually it’s better…..tell that to Concord Even with tech that is so inaccurate and a terrible statement.

[@TheWtfanime]

Please let Brian talk about Dragon Quest more, I need any humor I can get now.

[@finnlander172]

I love you guys. I grew up on inside gaming/ Funhaus, and seeing you two hanging in the backyard playing games on the projector was the sweetest thing I’ve ever seen. Love you two so much!

[@foomp]

Nintendo is fairly reliable with backwards compatibility. If the new consoles physical carts are different from the Switch, it's very plausible to expect 2 different game cart ports. They did exactly this with the Nintendo DS, having a DS and separate GBA port. I'd imagine they'll just do the 3DS route though, where the same port will be shared between the DS carts and the more advanced 3DS carts.

[@Shaft0]

Don't want backlash ? Name it something else. The end.

[@canyouplease]

😂😂😂

[@KevinShmelvin]

But that shit doesn't sell that way. Concord tried and failed. Gotta put that name there to get some suckers to buy it without knowing this is nothing like what they hope or expected

[@Shaft0]

@@KevinShmelvin yup

[@cephalonGideon]

@Shaft0 this isn't backlash.

[@tgchubbs]

I like that there's no dlc. I'm tired of having to pay more to get the complete story for most games

[@CardCrusher29]

The gaming media and Inside Gaming coming to the defense of the Veilguard is a giant OOF. Pick your battle where you actually defend a good game. That journalist complaining about the Meta system takes an L of the year. Defend a fantasy game where 21st century lingo is not present. OOF doesn't belong in a fantasy game dialogue or choice. Pick a motherfreaking thesaurus for crying out loud.

[@FellaGuy2]

It really is an issue of not enjoying YA level writing with chatacters that are pretty bland. If you also read fantasy books as I do and enjoy grim dark writers like Joe Abercrombie or John Gwynne then it is really hard to escape the "for kids" feel of Veilguard. Dragon Age self described itself back in the day as dark fantasy but now it feels like a CW show and that's just not what I'm into.

[@peaceinoutb]

The game looks like what i think the next fable should look like both in terms of combat and color palette. Just looks a little too cartoony but i'll end up picking it up down the road when it's on sale.

[@ShiftyMcgurk]

On a slight side note, I’ve recently gone back and watched a ton of videos all the way back to Inside Halo and I’ve gotta say that Lawrence hasn’t hardly aged a day. Him and James for that matter.

[@easygoingdude9990]

The facial animations, dialogue delivery and writing of Veilguard has me terrified for Mass Effect. I trust these people to make a good Mass Effect game a whole lot less now.

[@Poppyjasper2]

I have been enjoying Dragon Age: The Veilguard. My only complaint about it is that the combat can get chaotic at times with too many particle effects and the like. I’m slowly taking my time completely most of the side quests and trying not to progress the story too quickly. I have to say the art and world design really is beautiful. Been really enjoying the Grand Necropolis and the Mourn Watch.

[@OBM504]

I’ve been following you guys since inside gaming days, gotta say that you’ve missed the mark on why people are upset on this one. Pretty disappointing. It is possible for people to not like this game and also not hate LGBTQ people.

[@rpmarchant]

Kinda sad this is all you can say instead of actually exploring why people are not enamored with the game. Hacks.

[@Kyle-yn5hy]

Maybe you don't enjoy the game for different reasons, but if you spend any time reading the thousands of negative user reviews this game is getting on Metacritic or Steam you'll find pretty quickly that a lot of them share common "buzzwords." Of course, there's valid reasons to be critical of Veilguard, but what's being discussed here is the volume of reviews from users who *are* in fact crtitical of Veilguard because it includes LGBTQ people. I already went over this in another thread, so I'll just copy it here: "... I took some time out of my day to read ~20 or so from both extremes (0/10 and 10/10), and in the negative reviews, 16 out of 20 that I read (and I just read them from top to bottom) mentioned "wokeness," "DEI" or "pronouns." ..." 20 isn't a big pool, but I'm only human after all, and it does get to the point.

[@custodyin]

"... I took some time out of my day to read ~20 or so from both extremes (0/10 and 10/10), and in the negative reviews, 16 out of 20 that I read (and I just read them from top to bottom) mentioned "wokeness," "DEI" or "pronouns." ..." Here's what I don't get, if I don't like the necromancer in the game because of their representation or behavior, I can say "I don't like the necromancer character". Or if the dodge is bad, I can say "I don't like the dodge in the game". But if I don't like, say, a non-binary character being poorly represented, I'm NOT allowed to say "I don't like the non-binary character"? (non-binary has nothing to do with the dislike, the character makes non-binary THEIR identity, so why would you not define them as such?). Like... if people are identifying these parts of the game as bad and not much else, THEN THAT IS THE PART OF THE GAME THAT IS BAD! People are not disliking the game because of DEI etc., they are disliking the game because of HOW they represented DEI etc. Just not everyone can articulate that.

[@cephalonGideon]

lol sure you have been following them make sure you tell them how woke they are in the unsub message. That'll show 'em.

[@cephalonGideon]

@@custodyin That's a cool 3rd party rationalisation that doesn't seem to match the opinion of the people I've spoken to who are meant to be represented. Also what the fuck is DEI and what are you saying about yourself by using this term here?

[@sampsonXD1]

Can we just stop an talk about the review bombing for a second. Yes you have 1000's of people give it low 1-3's but guess what theres others and also the crictics who are giving it non-stop 10/10's. which everyone pretty knows it isn't. From what I can tell, its like a 6-7, so call out out both sides.

[@ImBatman-dk8eh]

Let's not call out both side because only one is objectively morally dubious, and its the negative ones

[@sampsonXD1]

@ you don’t think that a reviewers job is to give an honest opinion? That lying about how good something is in hopes that others will buy it is morally right?

[@Kyle-yn5hy]

If you check Metacritic user reviews, there's 5,741 negative reveiws across all platforms, compared to 2,182 positive reviews. I took some time out of my day to read ~20 or so from both extremes (0/10 and 10/10), and in the negative reviews, 16 out of 20 that I read (and I just read them from top to bottom) mentioned "wokeness," "DEI" or "pronouns." Of the positive reviews, also from top to bottom, people mention the "combat," "character creation," and "environments." There was 0 mentions of politics, inclusivity, or even a counter movement towards the negative review bombing. It just sounds like people who had a good time playing the game and maybe gave it a bit too high of a score. See, to me, it seems like the negativity surrounding this game far outweighs the positivity, and that the negativity seems to stem from a pretty blatant agenda. I agree that the game isn't a 10/10, it's just okay, but at least as far as user reviews go, there's no real case to be made for postive review bombing.

[@sampsonXD1]

@@Kyle-yn5hy I just disagree with that, you should see both sides as bad. One side is just trying to push an agenda. The other is just being dishonest. And what happens if tomorrow meta critic decides to remove those “review bombing” scores? Suddenly a 7/10 is now a 10/10 game. People go out of their way to buy it then are left disappointed.

[@Kyle-yn5hy]

@@sampsonXD1 These aren't professional critics we're talking about, I sincerely doubt they're purposefully being dishonest. Have you ever played a game or watched a movie that you thought was amazing but other people thought it was just mid. Maybe *some* of them are being dishonest but that's not what the reviews I read sounded like. They just enjoyed the game and maybe their scale for critical analysis is binary. I don't see that as being nearly as bad as one side clearly pushing an agenda because they don't like seeing trans representation in their games. For the record, I don't think Metacritic should be deleting any reviews, maybe a solution like what Steam has which measures ratings over time would be good.

[@taifal-cookie5862]

Playing BG3, and the writing of that game, then playing DGTV...it hit hard. The writing is night and day.

[@BigBoyz33]

i didnt like the game at all, i thought Inquisition was alright but this game just feels off. Origins was incredible tho.

[@zakaria4988]

I'm shocked about that BenQ projector WHAT THE HECK

[@joseMgarcia0711]

I liked it. However, it's no longer Dragon Age. Bioware is a husk of its former self. It's merely a dead corpse being carried around by EA until they use up the last juice of reputation Bioware once had. Eventually they'll be shut down like every studio that EA has killed off because of their greed.

[@Austin-sw3mf]

Yeah, it's a Ship of Theseus situation, for sure. So many of the parts of the original BioWare are gone that it's no longer the same company.

[@cephalonGideon]

@joseMgarcia0711 just as dragon age was no baldur's gate and mass effect was massively reduced in scope to black isle's earlier games, with voice acting carrying a ton of weight. If bioware was is a husk, then that became even clearer than previously when andromeda was released, and the problem is corpos.

[@vinja858]

Switch will not beat PS2 sales. A large reason why PS2 did sold so well was because it was also a DVD player back when that medium was the latest & greatest technology.

[@ImSamsquanch]

Brian's 5-second reviews would make good shorts

[@untoldtales8300]

Anyone else notice that so many big releases have come out saying no DLC? It makes sense, DLC for already released games used to fill in the gaps between big releases, but now there's so many free-to-play games and other forms of entertainment that the audience probably just isn't there anymore.

[@killertwinkieCHL]

nice to see Brian here too

[@v4rh3n]

Playing DA:Veilguard is extremely infuriating for those who played&remember DA:Origins. Even if moment-to-moment gameplay can be enjoyable at times, the writing and especially dialogue between characters is atrocius. The way the characters talk, how they interact and how limited you are in your choices makes it feel like it was written by an inexperienced 15 year old, badly.

[@cephalonGideon]

You might want to go back and take off those rose tinted glasses bro.

[@Dooger414]

​@@cephalonGideon There are videos online doing direct comparisons of writing in Origins vs writing in Veilguard.

[@cephalonGideon]

@@Dooger414 sure kid. I'm sure all those people are only motivated by a desire for you to have the best literary experiences in popularist, mass market video games.

[@kween.khairaaa]

​@@cephalonGideonyou're SO right. all of these critiques are just a trojan horse for their disgusting political views or to destroy anything they say is woke

[@VegetarianTrex]

​@@cephalonGideon i was replaying Origins this summer, and man is that game clunky. The writing is quite similar to Veilgaurd also. Combat is pretty tedious. Please don't get me started on the graphics. You can't tell what the darkspawn look like in DA:O. You just can't. The body horror is way more effective in veilguard. I was uncomfortable playing the game in several sections. Glad we didn't see a brood mother, because that would have been horrible. I feel confident saying Veilgaurd is a great entry in the series, and has some very interesting set ups for a sequel. The game did well, the next ME has been announced. I feel confident this did well enough that BioWare won't be axed by EA.

[@Matthewlaing1395]

As someone who has been playing these games for a while, I can understand why people would have issues with the writing and the art as it is different from the last game. Nevertheless I've been really enjoying the game!

[@Shaft0]

To be fair: good for you. I wish I'd never known the original DA so that this could just be some game to be judged on its own.

[@TheProject113]

picked up TCG card shop sim based on your recommendation and love it!

[@m3divh]

It is not a 1 out of 10, neither is it a 10 out of 10... you can hardly take one extreme point to it, ignoring the other.

[@ANGRYWOLVERINE2060-ft2nc]

It won't reach the minimum 5 million copies sold to satisfy EA so the studio's future is up in the air. Ok if some people liked it but not enough did.

[@excessivelysalty_81]

People too often just throw around the term woke for “everything they don’t like”. It kind of loses its meaning when done that way.

[@Grantjohnmorton]

@@Macintosh1001it’s woke to call people woke!

[@FactoryDan]

I mean...this game is woke though. It's not something that can be denied anymore, ha ha. The devs bragged about making it like that

[@aaronarce1498]

@@FactoryDan and its good to have a game with progressive themes 😊 the guys were discussing how labeling a game “woke” as the sole reason to dislike it is immature; the writing is something that can be discussed as not in par with past games, and the lack of decision making that affects the world in a strong way is certainly unfortunate. But the existing of queer characters being the reason to dislike a game is immature and shows a lack of appreciation of video games as an art form

[@aaronarce1498]

Anyway I’m done taking a shit and have notifications off, go reflect on what I said.

[@FactoryDan]

@aaronarce1498 yeah that's all fine. I'm gahye myself and I find this game to be lame and cringe with how hard it pushes the transmission stuff. Don't people realize the more mainstream something becomes the more lame it becomes to the average person? It was more fun being gahye in the 2000s and 2010s back when this pandering shiete wasn't in literally every piece of media. Also if you must include the woke stuff, then fine. At least make it freaking good. This game is not good. Stop lying and saying that it is

[@LostSoulNaMing]

''It's a video game'' is the most laziest take ever. The industry has gone past bad writing and themes. CD projekt red, baldur's gate, Rockstar, hell even indie games like papers please have good story.

[@johnnycampos1760]

Except the writing in this game is fine, like they said steam reviews, which require actual playtime, are mostly positive. It's just being review bombed unfairly on MC

[@Gaskinmoo79]

The game only identifies as a Dragon Age game. They should have named it something else and it would have been fine.

[@lastingember2298]

I’m really hoping the next mass effect is a home run. I feel like I was one o the few who enjoyed andromeda through all its flaws. I love the universe the scope and the many different ways to go about doing things and I hope the compound on that system a lot more in the next installment. Also can’t wait to obsess over new characters lol

[@GameRelic]

This video is oddly nostalgic, uploaded in 720p. Feeling like an antique gamer right now 😎

[@Brighton24601]

The remarks on how good video game writing is usually (but not always) about the same as CW writing reminded me of the Giant Bomb GOTY podcasts from 2016. They picked Uncharted 4 for something like Best Story or Best Writing, but also remarked that, it’s basically an average Indiana Jones story. So mainstream gamers expect that the best game they play will have a story that, ya know, is there. But not the main attraction.

[@ArtflPhenix]

Is it really doing well maybe for a $200 million budget which is the budget we guess for a AAA game with 5 years of dev time? but Veilguard was created for 9 years (2015) so maybe the budget is more than 200m or so guessing the cost to 300-400 is probably a good estimate. Concord for example was around 10 years with 400m budget (the budget was reported by a former ign journalist), skull and bones is around 200 - 600m budget with 10 years. unfortunately budgets are most likely guess of anyone unless an insider reported to journalist and verified by them. The hard math in this problem if they have successful or not or break-even is that we dont have data on sales (and refunds) and the budget of the game. we can only guess based on EA or bioware statement like for success they normally publish a number in the 1st day/week/pre-order sales. Not successful/break-even is harder to even distinguish and we may wait until the next investor call or investors forced them to show the numbers, distinguishing the 2 is also very hard specially if they use words like disappointed, but if they use the words like what sony did with concord at least we can tell it really flopped and the budget we can predict it cost them at least 300m

[@jessedavidson2863]

I don't think thats what everyone is up in arms about. My wife is a huge dragon age fan, and she had over 600 hrs in Baldur's Gate 3. She can site lore off the top of her head and she was really turned off by this game. The huge fans are who you need for games like this and by not focusing on the RPG and story telling, you're shooting yourself in the foot. The shoe horned in "culture war" stuff is only secondary. And before you go there, my wife has been on multiple DEI workplace functions and has a sexy mindflayer tattoo on her arm. We are as accepting as it comes.

[@RainbowQueen23]

I'm shocked people are suprised that bioware writing is bad did no one see Andromeda? 😂 and I liked Andromeda lol

[@darkblastoise9199]

Agreed Brian you are beloved ❤ Love you guys 😊Thanks for brightening my days in these dark times

[@glitchsister]

that's great to hear that the switch 2 is going to be backwards compatible, i stopped buying games for it years ago and all I'd like is 1st party controller that lasts longer then two months before drag occurs, i stopped playing it because i didn't want to keep buying more controllers then games

[@jukibu7]

The only show brave enough to do a 5 second review! 🎉❤

[@DrewGlenzer]

I don't think a dragon age action game is going to work post baldur's Gate 3. Make it something else we all remember with dragon age was supposed to be.

[@blaccsheep9272]

The level of cope and misinformation in this episode is crazy.

[@darrens3]

Well don't be doing it and spreading it then

[@herpderp9430]

Been a fan since Origins, personally loved Veilguard. 92 hours on my first playthrough. I’m on my second and already planning on a thrird

[@nine9_abyss]

Oh boy, shhhhh. They're coming for you now lol

[@beepboopimaboat9696]

Yeesh idk about old bioware, maaayyybbeer inquisition and backwards having pretty good writing. Now MEA, Anthem and DAV pretty mid. Won't disagree with that.

[@IRemnantsI]

I played it for a bit, and I agree its always been very "CW". But I find what I found great about the older games was how we where able to interact with the dialog, old games felt like there where multiple stories interwoven(good, bad, etc). Seems like they re-balanced their 10 free point into graphics and a bit more in gameplay and took away from the dialog haha I had to refund it though. Found a lot of replayability in the choices before and I hope Masseffect tries to do that. Another great vid!

[@Raithix_Prime]

Enjoyed all the Bioware games in the past, and was tentatively looking forward to Veilguard after the mixed bag that was Andromeda. It's different, and not as connected to the original series as I'd like, but the biggest shock to me was how subpar the writing was when compared to Baldur's Gate 3. Still fun, still going to play it through, but a little disappointed that BG3 didn't come out early enough to get Bioware and EA to shift Dragon Age back towards the tone of Origins.

[@crazyjay5870]

There has always been LGBT inclusion in the dragon age series, but it has always been subtle. Some companions swung both ways, some didn't, some weren't romancible at all. Krem identified as a man in inquisition, but you had to go deep into conversation with raging bull to find that out, and even then you had the option of disagreeing with him. This game is woke. There is no subtlety. An essential companion is non-binary and every waking moment of every scene with that character is spent shoving it down your throat. It's woke pandering at its absolute worst with the most unbelievable dialogue surrounding a topic no one really cares about centered on a character that no one cares about. Obviously "the message" was more important than making a good game that everyone has been waiting for for the last 10 years. That's okay bioware will go the way Hollywood has gone, you go woke, you go broke.

[@catcalamity105]

YES! INSIDE GAMING IS SPONSORED BY A REAL COMPANY! I LOVE BENQ AND BENQ GAMING PROJECTORS

[@CW19941]

I can't really hate this game until I experience it😂I didn't like Dragon Age 2 or Inquisition but i beat both of them and then decided I did not like them. I preferred Origins. I still want to try this game.

[@hllridr]

If living weren't so expensive I'd buy this but we're at a point where we need to be cautious about purchasing mediocre games as soon as they come out.

[@Viperspider1]

So glad you guys are still doing this. Means the world to someone like me who grew up watching Inside Gaming.

[@Jader174]

Honestly, I immediately disregard anyone that uses "woke" sincerely. Explain to me what woke means to you and then we can talk. Otherwise i just assume you're some flavor of xenophobe.

[@loadishstone]

I find it so hilarious when they use woke to describe it has like a criticism that I’m just supposed to inherently agree with. Or that I’m supposed to just automatically think that talking about identity politics is bad? can bad writing contain identity politics absolutely so can plenty of other themes and bullshit.

[@Gobzer5526]

It's a cool way for people to be casually racist and sexist. Which is incredibly ironic, because the term originally was used in Black communities to keep each other alert for dangerous situations or racist propaganda. Then the incels got hold of it.

[@jaybo7813]

The problem with your disingenuous argument is that the left effectively control academia so get to define words. The far left care about definitions, the rest of us care more about how those terms are applied in the real world. Progressives tell themselves they are so sophisticated and yet are so dim that that they think they can win an argument by simply pointing at a dictionary rather than addressing the application in the real world. The academic definition of woke is being sensitive to injustice. In the real world that manifests as policing language where no offence is intended, telling women they are transphobic because they don’t want biological men in their bathrooms and sports, imposing DEI and affirmative action which benefits some ethnic minorities and the expense of others (eg Asians) etc etc etc. The left use the same dishonesty when it comes to other terms such as CRT and feminism. Sure, the definitions are simple and relatively uncontroversial. Their application is often divorced from common sense and reality.

[@Prawnsly]

I just thought a lot of the dialogue was quite ham-fisted with modern social commentary. It kinda drew me out of the game a little, and was sometimes a little irritating. I just didn't think it was very well written or in-line with Dragon Age.. Is it because I'm a straight white guy? Man I hope not, that sucks. I don't want that to be my defining trait :(

[@melonhd123]

No, it's because it was. Don't apologise

[@trentkuzman5528]

DA:V was a step to far away from Origins for me in both tone and choices-matter aspect which is the only reason I started playing Dragon Age to begin with. DA2 and Inquisition I had to force myself to play in hopes I would of seen some glimmer of DA:O in them, but ultimately was disappointed. With DA:V having a lighter tone and not importing from Dragon Age Keep I made the call that it wasn't worth my time. From the reviews I've watched, that was the right call.

[@ddgray97]

Yes yes they do hate it only 75,000 pre orders 500,000 copies sold, 30,000 refunds

[@SeonShow]

@@trolledchaos6531 Because it ruins their picture of the world where everyone likes the game, and those who don't like it are just a small bunch of anti-woke freaks who haven't even played the game.

[@Omaticnumba1]

​​ @@trolledchaos6531because they're gaslighting the whole situation acting as if people just hate the game cuz of the gay agenda and ignoring the fact that it just sucks

[@despawn7663]

@@Omaticnumba1 Toxic positivity

[@tenorenstrom]

Clear GOTY for me. Absolutely love it. Head over heels. Seriously.

[@atthelord]

I’ll wait and buy it next year on sale if at all. Not a culture thing, just that ish of I wanna spend that much on a mid looking game. Also I am a bit taken aback by your video. You’re brushing off some actual issues like poor writing. It’s not just a video game though. There is a standard modern games should live up to. Horizon, Ghost, CP, RDR, GTA 4, Tlou, uncharted, great games and stories!

[@martinwalker6145]

This game hurts my head i like it the combat is fun the exploration is fun, definitely not baulders gate deep but its solid fun for me like a 7 out of 10 experience so all the negativity sucks when i just wanna talk about the fun im having. Any friends i tell about this game immediately judge me lol its a game why am i commiting a sin for liking it

[@tec5x5]

Brain being a fellow projectionist with real film like me

[@slyace1301]

You can't expect us to not show our discontent with the work bioware put out. This ip was my most beloved, and I am tired of seeing my favorite games being ruined by the Cali mob over and over again. You can ridicule me all you want, this is what I I'm seeing

[@toninreguilon572]

Cali mob hahahaha

[@Digital-Plunder]

If this claim that people just don't like DEI or "woke stuff" in the game, then how do you explain the fact that many of these people are the same who loved Baulders Gate 3 and Cybetpunk 2077? Those games have lots of " woke stuff" and none of the backlash?

[@wally5pepe]

Are they though? Both of those games are on the "woke trash" list that was making its rounds awhile ago. They criticized cyberpunk at launch and tried to with BG3 until it exploded in popularity

[@john_hunter_]

People don't hate it. Most people seem to be ok with it when it's written well & it makes sense. People hate it in Veilguard because it's written so poorly.

[@firefang225]

​@@wally5pepepeople hated cyberpunk at launch due to its awful bugs and optimisation, next to no one seriously complained about its representation

[@taln0reich]

probably because those games handled the LGBT-representation characters way better. Claire from Cyberpunk 2077 feels like she fits into the setting, her questline doesn't revolve around her identity and there is nothing about her that would come of as cringingly preachy - Taash, instead feels like some Tumblr teenager from today in a qunari skinsuit, their questline revolves entirely around their identity and some bits (the clips constantly shown off by people ripping into this game) basically come of as corporate HR training vids on how to deal with non-binary people (especially the scene where a different character misgenders them entirely by accident and, as a penance, subjects herself to doing push-ups). Basically, the difference is that in Baulders Gate 3 and Cyberpunk 2077 the LGBT-characters are actual characters first and LGBT second, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard has them LGBT first, characters second. The latter is much more obnoxious and backlash provoking.

[@chrgeorgeson]

KOTOR had some truly amazing writing, especially for its time, and Mass Effect 1-3 had some of the best dialogue I’ve experienced in games. I’ve been playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard and, while I’m having fun, I think the writing is pretty rough. The trans storyline, for example (which honestly isn’t a huge part of the game), just feels poorly written. It’s not that I have any issues with trans representation; it’s just that the dialogue itself is awkward and doesn’t do the topic justice, which doesn’t really help the LGBTQ community, so why include it at all? That said, I’m still really enjoying the game, and I’m excited about the new Mass Effect in development. If that one disappoints... well, then I might finally be done with BioWare. But for now, I’m glad to be playing a BioWare game that’s actually pretty fun.

[@StargazingDragon]

Dragon Age Origin is my favorite game of all time. Nothing will ever be the same as playing that back when it was new. It's still a stand out series compared to other games and I like the fantasy of it all. The team is a good team. It's suffering a little from inquisitions success. I think the better anything in entertainment does, the more likely it is to be changed to fit a broader audience. Still, I'm gonna waste a lot of hours in this game, so successful transaction in my eyes.

[@vortexmdk6776]

40 hours in and loving it, especially the combat. Created a super powered frost and shock mage build. Loved Inquisition but couldn’t remember anything about it, and glad Veilguard isn’t open world now I have kids and a career! The dialogue at times is a bit cringe but it moves on quickly and back to the action. They could have made it a new ip and it would have been a fantasy light smash

[@imkayjaylea]

So this is the Fallout 4 of the Dragon Age series?

[@anticollie]

I'm not sure I love a BenQ ad in addition to a Patreon plea-- I respect the folks involved, but the core point of the Patreon request seemed to aspire as an honest journalist source entirely unrestrained by sponsors or outside interests. I've been a Patreon since you created it, and I feel somewhat misled.

[@PJMack068]

On a surface level, I’m not seeing how a patreon for those willing to support their work as journalists has anything to do with their “honesty”. For example, SkillUp is a huge games media reviewer known for his “honesty” and still takes huge recurring sponsorship deals. I remember when inside games first started, and the patreon was their avenue of seeking revenue since KZbin ads weren’t sustainable and they didn’t have the luxury of being sponsored by a quality brand or product. Their patreon still gives you access to stuff regular viewers don’t have, right? I honestly don’t know but I have no problem with them pursuing multiple revenue streams. My only gripe would be that I have to watch an ad even though I’m already directly supporting them 🤷‍♂️

[@egomaniac1196]

I genuinely hope Nintendo calls it the Switch U

[@svenskhund3603]

Really hate how criticism of this game is constantly boiled down to culture wars instead of whats actually wrong with the damn game.

[@insidegames]

Welcome to games media! It's been like this for a solid decade now... - L

[@ApparitionGuitar]

Here’s an idea, maybe the game just has mid gameplay and abysmal writing? Maybe all the representations is just being used as shield for criticism? This video is a joke

[@AlKohaiMusic]

Once i saw three or four thumbnails from the same react andies about how the game is totally cooked with zero player count graphs in a 2 day period I just assumed the great pile on machine that is the attention / engagement internet economy lost its shit over a nothing burger. Seems that wasnt far off.

[@stonemichacross]

3:35 Those are absolutely terrible numbers for a game of this size

[@janambro8919]

shills be shilling

[@Thejardos]

Yall made the freaks come out 😂.

[@Xaldarus]

Feel like a lack of journalism here, which is sad cause these guys were a more trusted source for me. The game is clearly not a success, the numbers are bad, the previous Bioware games were not really launched on Steam, at least not many, the active players are going down, those active players were pathetic to other games at launch, and it very clearly didn't make it's budget back. Gaming isn't Movie Pass, you can't throw away money and call it a win.

[@atralis5134]

Even with some of the Steam reviews for Veilguard I've noticed something where people say "I'm 8 hours in and its horrible, its got all the woke" then you check their achievements and they still haven't gotten through the 20 minute opening tutorial sequence. I will at least admit that is some dedicated trolling. Pop the game open and create a character and then alt tab to write your incredibly harsh review as your return window on steam ticks down to zero.

[@TheMartyrdoom]

Veilguard's writing style felt reminiscent of a CW show, which made it difficult for me to engage with the characters. Additionally, I found the combat repetitive, slow, and lacking excitement.

[@Navonex]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard was so good they decided to make nothing else for it, forever. Everyone knows once you make a great game you leave it as is, because money is a curse.

[@wally5pepe]

Bloodborne 😢

[@Pårchmēntôs]

@@wally5pepe BG 3 😢 (but I am excited we’ll get their next project faster)

[@benpate2404]

Dragon age is amazing having so much fun playing. Cant get enough

[@ZenithGaming916]

Game looked bad I skipped it i think the people who would have gave it a bad review skipped it too, the leaks were bad RIP dragon age franchise for now

[@Fabreezzo]

no gonna lie , the game is alright.

[@SmellMyPeanut]

Outlaws wasnt on steam so that makes a big difference

[@wally5pepe]

It was on pc just not on the steam store.

[@SmellMyPeanut]

@@wally5pepe oh whoops, ill edit the comment 😂 ty

[@omgmynickistaken]

I played roughly 12 hours of veilguard and was quite bored by then. The quality in writing from Bioware has clearly dropped,. Why can't we expect good writing/story/characters from a game that we love? The inclusivity is great, but I'm not going to jump for joy for being included when the quality is nowhere near where it used to be.

[@otherprisma7354]

Im sorry, but have you guys seen the cutscenes with Taash in it? They've been so pretentious and horribly written. The writing of this game is abysmal and explains why long time fans hate this game.