Dragon Age: The Veilguard - A woke disaster? Yep!

[Canned Ham]

I can imagine being told to rebuild your game from scratch two or three times with a revolving door for all major positions is enough to fuck up any game.

Even if they had to remake DA4, Bioware could have made two games by now. Larian developed two games since 2014, the year both Dragon Age Inquisition and Divinity: Original Sin came out.

 

[derpherp2]

It's personally amusing how a series with exactly 1 Good Game has this much of a cult following.

Origins hasn't exactly aged gracefully graphically, but it's a simple story that they managed to not fuck up, and the gameplay is top notch. It's one of the last games from what we could call Classic Bioware.

DA2 is where shit falls off the rails almost instantly. As much as I cut it some slack considering the circumstances around its development - they made the game in what, a year, while still putting out expansions for Origins - even with that slack it's still pretty shit. An attempt was made at telling a more personal story, and I'd argue that the first two acts work the best for that - unfortunately the game is damn near on a railroad as far as choices, and Act 3 happens. As far as I remember, exactly 2 choices in that game effect the plot in any way, and the less I say about the gameplay the better considering the jump from Tactical RPG to Action RPG wasn't exactly smooth.

Inquisition - if you were to tell me this one was supposed to be an MMO, I'd believe you. There are whole areas of the game are basically pointless, as far as Base Game I can only think of 3 things that you can actively effect the story with, and the companions you have are somehow worse. The gameplay is somewhat better, but the world is so goddamn lifeless that it doesn't really matter. My only points are for it making me laugh at the Nugalope, and laughing at an autist I know who got pissed off at the lighting in the character creator.

Anyone expecting Dread Wolf to be good, especially after Biowares recent track record of dumpster fires, is either on some damn strong Copium,or a troon who wants to romance... whatever faggot characters we have to deal with this time, because apparently that's all that matters...

I just hold origin's AI as THE best AI for RPGs ever. Especially since shit like BG3 with 2 minute "rounds" are a thing now that aapparently everyone is okay with.

The fact that origin's has better - or even actually has, Companion AI is an insult to every other game. Not a compliment.
Like it's the only one ever I've seen where I can set up spell combinations in response to specific harder enemies, while I have a mezzer that stalls and pulls to the AoE so everything dies.

Pillars of Eternity 2 with mods comes close, but I'm pretty sure the AI mod is defunct. Also PoE2 had horrible plot/pacing. The main quest is literally 5 quests. Though getting my Psychic druggie doomguy MC to go nova by literally overloading him with psychic energy and wounds so he explodes every second while rendering everything comatose and spamming regens on everyone within 2 seconds while the resident twink elf teleports behind mage enemies to backstab them with acid orbs to then gain the inevitable high ground because the AI loves mage ambushes on high grounds - while the resident angry bard summons a literal storm of dragons so my exploding monk man doesn't get gibbed by god is fun.

 

[Disc]

In fairness to Bioware if rumors are to be believed Dread Wolf's development hell isn't their fault so much as it's EA's.

At first the team wanted to scale back the size and make something that was a more stereotypical party based RPG with an emphasis on heists, then EA demanded they rebuild the game to include more 'live service' elements, then when Anthem flopped told them to rip it all out.

I can imagine being told to rebuild your game from scratch two or three times with a revolving door for all major positions is enough to fuck up any game.

Sure, they're saying that now, but it's pretty clear if you look back at things like Anthem, that this is just the final bloom of a long rot in the company. Apparently some bioware devs believe in some "bioware magic" that basically just boils down to "it'll all work out in the end, somehow! That's partially why anthem was such a mess.

 

[Weltraumfürst]

So, I like Dragon Age. Origins is one of my favorite RPGs, II has enough good stuff to not be abysmal, even if it was not exactly good, and Inquisition is okay, since you can ignore the more egregious woke stuff, since you can just tell the lesbian shemale elf, the Qunari faggot and his FtM buttbuddy to fuck off.

That being said, this game is probably going to be a mess if it ever comes out. The story they set up in Trespasser is really interesting, but I dread to see how it will eventually turn out given how far Broward has fallen from grace.

Either way, I'm here for the shitshow.

 

[ZMOT]

Either way, I'm here for the shitshow.

it will probably be just sad and depressing than fun tbh. no one expects anything else.

 

[Logoden]

Meh. One of the few hopes I still have for this game is that it will be a fun dumpster fire. But the more I learn about it, the more I think it will never release.

I guess Biowere need to do it one way or another though.

 

[Canned Ham]

back in the day, people were asking Gaider why you could not romance Oghren or Varic (dwarfs) in dragon age and his response was something along the line of "short people look like children and only a pedophile would romance a child".

https://archive.ph/wip/fnmLe

 

[Kane Lives]

Meh. One of the few hopes I still have for this game is that it will be a fun dumpster fire. But the more I learn about it, the more I think it will never release.

I guess Biowere need to do it one way or another though.

You may get your wish yet.

Source | Archive

All of Keywords Studios’ unionized QA workers were laid off from the studio in late September after Dragon Age: Dreadwolf developer BioWare declined to continue its contract in August.

The QA workers, who were contracted to assist with playtesting and quality assurance at BioWare Edmonton, won their union vote in June 2022. All 16 eligible voters said “yes” to joining United Food and Commercial Workers Canada Union, Local No. 401. It was a historic vote, making the group the first games industry union in Canada. Keywords Studios workers were in bargaining with the company when they were laid off following the news of 50 job cuts at BioWare itself.

A UFCW representative told Polygon that 13 people were laid off — everyone supporting BioWare. Liz Corless, Keywords Studios’ global head of marketing, confirmed that 13 Edmonton-based QA workers were laid off.

“We can confirm that regrettably the 13 Edmonton-based staff have now left the business following the end of a fixed term client contract,” Corless wrote in an email.

The group of workers were laid off on Sept. 27. James Russwurm, a former Keywords QA tester, added that Keywords Studios has “taken the position there is no more work available.” (Keywords Studios has several QA job postings listed on its website, in Canada and across the world. Many, but not all of these listings, are related to language localization and require specialties that the laid-off workers may not have.)

Russwurm said the union filed an employment standards complaint against Keywords Studios this week. He added that Keywords Studios offered “minimal severance,” which the union is disputing. Severance has not yet been paid out, he said. (Several BioWare employees laid off at that time are currently suing the company for “adequate severance.” These are two separate issues with two separate companies, however, despite being linked to Dragon Age: Dreadwolf.)

Though the unionized QA workers did not yet have a contract with Keywords Studios, they can attempt to negotiate better severance pay.

Keywords Studios is headquartered in Ireland but has more than 20 worldwide offices. The studio was founded in 1998, and does not publish or develop its own games — instead, it provides art, QA, audio, and other development support for other studios, like BioWare.

Can't wait for this dumpster fire to release.

 

[SIMIΔN]

Here's a remastered DA: Origins trailer.

Can't wait for this dumpster fire to release.

Even if they somehow miraculously manage to release something as good as DA; Origins, it'll still pale in comparison to the remastered Witcher 3 or BG3. (or Cyberpunk 2.0).
The bar has been raised, Starfield seems to be of similar quality to Skyrim good and bad, but that's tragically outdated in 2023.

 

[Merton J. Dingle]

Given what BioWare's track record prior to the mainstreaming of wokism was like, I'm almost inclined to think that wokism is to Canadians what HRT is to nerds.

 

[Mola Ram]

Even if they somehow miraculously manage to release something as good as DA; Origins, it'll still pale in comparison to the remastered Witcher 3 or BG3. (or Cyberpunk 2.0).
The bar has been raised, Starfield seems to be of similar quality to Skyrim good and bad, but that's tragically outdated in 2023.

Wasn't there some big layoff at BioWare right around the time BG3 hit it big? I haven't played BG3, but I've seen a couple hours of gameplay in person, and I have to say it blew the leaked Dreadwolf footage out of the water. That might be excusable if the game hadn't been in development for almost a decade.

It'd be grimly ironic if BG3 killed Dragon Age once and for all, considering Dragon Age began as BioWare's attempt to revive Baldur's Gate with their own lore and RPG system.

 

[SIMIΔN]

That might be excusable if the game hadn't been in development for almost a decade.

With bad leadership, time is a negative. Remember how crappy Duke Nukem Forever was, as they squandered the development time changing directions and engines multiple times.

 

[Mola Ram]

With bad leadership, time is a negative. Remember how crappy Duke Nukem Forever was, as they squandered the development time changing directions and engines multiple times.

Reason to worry about GTA 6, too.

 

[SIMIΔN]

Reason to worry about GTA 6, too.

Not really, Rockstar North have proven themselves more than competent.
My big worries are they'll over monetise the game, or make the story too sanatised or woke.

 

[Mola Ram]

Not really, Rockstar North have proven themselves more than competent.
My big worries are they'll over monetise the game, or make the story too sanatised or woke.

These are also my worries, especially the monetization. The game will be good if not just serviceable, but the shameless way they monetized GTA Online, to the total abandonment of the single player game, is really concerning.

 

[SIMIΔN]

These are also my worries, especially the monetization. The game will be good if not just serviceable, but the shameless way they monetized GTA Online, to the total abandonment of the single player game, is really concerning.

It's going to be the first [multi?] billion development cost singleplayer game. There's never been a project like this so ambitious, so they'll need many tens of millions of conventional sales to just break even.

 

[Mola Ram]

It's going to be the first [multi?] billion development cost singleplayer game. There's never been a project like this so ambitious, so they'll need many tens of millions of conventional sales to just break even.

I doubt they have anything to worry about. GTA 5 made something like 800 million in 24 hours, and with a decade of anticipation I'm guessing GTA 6 will beat that. It's actually one of the things that bothers me; they have such a built-in audience they don't even have to make the game any good at all, if profit's the only thing they're worried about. Look at the godawful remaster of the 3D games -- that still sold way more units than it should have.

Anyway I have wandered off topic. Anyone think Dreadwolf is going to pull 1% of GTA 5's numbers?

 

[Whoopsie Daisy]

The best hope for Dreadwolf is that it pulls a "Divinityriginal sin" : A surprisingly great RPG out of nowhere that doesn't sell tens of millions but sets themselves up for a big sequel.

Dreadwolf should focus on recapturing the magic, then aim for massive success with the follow up

 

[Anon88]

Anyway I have wandered off topic. Anyone think Dreadwolf is going to pull 1% of GTA 5's numbers?

On the off chance Dreadwolf even gets released I really can't image it selling that much. No one wants this game, no one is excited for it, everyone sees Bioware as a dead company and no one is invested in a series like Dragon Age that only has one good game in it that was released in 14 years ago.

 

[Mola Ram]

On the off chance Dreadwolf even gets released I really can't image it selling that much. No one wants this game, no one is excited for it, everyone sees Bioware as a dead company and no one is invested in a series like Dragon Age that only has one good game in it that was released in 14 years ago.

It will have to be a blow-the-doors-off awesome reboot of the series, which is hard to imagine both because of BioWare's general decline (not to mention the Napoleon's Army of developers and project leads who've perished over the last nine years) and because Inquisition basically ended on a cliffhanger. Who's the Dread Wolf? Why would anyone who hasn't played DAI even care?

Right now the only people who are invested in this are idiot diehards like myself who are praying the game will at least be as okay as DAI and won't be too insufferable; and social justice zombies on the internet who are so besotted with this franchise that they pretend DA2 wasn't a rushed disaster. I suspect that both of these audiences are way too small to make the game a success. (As a confessed diehard, I certainly won't be buying this on release. There have just been too many red flags.)