Dragon Age: The Veilguard

This game would have been well received if it was a new IP but alas, it's Dragon Age and this 2024.

People who are surprised by the gameplay and mechanics somehow missed how DA has changed over its iterations. DAO was 15 years ago and this not a retreating to DAO.

First off, the game is GORGEOUS. Whoever hates the environment is salty that it's not brown and grey "gritty". The environment design is on top, it tells stories just like it should while looking great. I don't mind the character's looks as the customization is crazy, sadly BG3 spoiled us on mo cap and it does fall flat in VG at several points and for some of the characters (Bellara's model can't capture the VAs work she's putting in). While we're at the VAs, outstanding work, they're all killing it. The writing? Yeah. Could be better. A lot better. But people who whine about "MCU dialogue" apparently missed quipping has always been a huge part of Bioware humor.

The combat is ... fine. It's defenitely improved on Inquisition and a far cry from DAOs iteration. If one can accept this RPG has a capital A in front, the combat doesn't disappoint.

Story. World ending threat, gather a party, venture worth to chase red herrings, defeat villain. It's the regular DA fare and does it good. The foundations are solid and the villains creepy.

I've heard lots of hate toward the game. It's unwarranted. Half the criticism comes from false reviews. I've actually prepared by replaying the old games. This game does indeed hold up as a real Dragon Age game. There is careful consideration of unified lore, something Bioware does best. Plenty of easter eggs. Combat, Skill Tree, and item customization feel like a blend of DA2 and DAI. But are there cons? Of course. While CC is great, we have chins of power snd some "unique" character design choices. I wish we could choose the body language in our Rook. Otherwise, it feels lije Humorous Hawke 2.0. Butas a general game tester - I'm happy.

This game has been review bombed to no end, by countless people dwelling within their(hehe) parents basements. Pronouns and gender options make their ungabunga brain go owwie.

But I digress!

This game is quite simply one of my favourites of everything that has released this year, and picks up 7-8 years after Inquisition ended.

You play as the character Rook, who is on the trail of Solas with Varric and Harding, and things don't go to plan.

The combat is engaging, the story and dialogue options are fun, and as someone who didn't think they were going to enjoy the more cartoony style of this game, it's grown on me. The location visuals are beautiful, plus you can actually effectively jump for the first time in forever.

It's worth the play through if you enjoyed the other games!

Dragon Age has always been my absolute favorite game franchise due to the character development and the story. I always felt like you really got to know your companions, which were rich and diverse characters. However, Veilguard was a huge disappointment for me. The characters were shallow, unrealistic, and 1 dimensional. I feel like each character had one defining personality trait and that's all they get. Rook's conversations were also so disappointing and sometimes just embarrassingly bad. IMO dragon age spent so much time on looks and mechanics that they forgot what was most important which was the story and the relationships.

I finished the game and it was fine, It lacked all the things that made the previous ones great

The comradely and team dynamics were always the strength, this just sucked I didn't really like any of them except the two that have a fixed endgame death.

The dialogue was so forced it hurt and the social scenarios so unrealistic. No matter what you were forced to react nicely to everything. Just lacked so much potential personality

Fighting was fun enough I suppose.

Just wish they put in the effort for the majority again instead of trying so hard to be current they would have done so well to just build a world that fit within the universe and didn't try so hard.