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

[Prokhor Zakharov]

Odd that Leliana doesn't appear either. At least from what I've seen. Since she's so crucial to the franchise you'd expect a cameo from her but no dice.

I was just thinking, remember the dwarf father and son from DA? Forget the names i think Yuri Lowenthal was the son? There were obvious hints he wasn't quite all there and in the climax I think you see him in a room with a bunch of dead darkspawn? They never followed up on that did they

There is actually some dialogue discussing the spymaster of the inquisition if you decide that they became the personal vanguard of The Divine rather than disbanding. They intentionally avoid discussing Leliana as being the spymaster in case she was your choice for Divine in Inquisition by calling the spymaster of the inquisition "Charter". Your Rook can ever discuss the nickname, and they intentionally dodge saying who the person is behind the nickname. It is fucking maddening, If they just asked you who was the Divine in your game they could have easily had proper dialogue to identify the spymaster as Leliana if the inquisition stayed together and she wasn't the divine. You can tell from how it is discussed and written that it is extremely awkward. They are literally dancing around the question of who is this "Charter" It made me want to hurt someone.

Also, the story steering and gatekeeping in this game is fucking awful. In addition to the white opaque barriers that basically just say "You can't go there yet" there are doors that require orbs from powerful creatures to open. Even if you killed the creature, have the orb, and can access the door, you can't actually activate it until the game says you can, which is fucking ridiculous. If you try to open it it just doesn't do anything. If you check your journal it basically says "This will be accessible later in the game" which is bullshit. A hardcore rule of RPG's is that unless there is a physical or magical barrier that cannot be surmounted do to lacking a tool, etc..., if you have everything you need, you can access that area. Even if it's 50 levels above you and you instantly get your ass kicked, if you have the tools to enter, you should be allowed to enter the area. The level of the monsters is supposed to be the barrier, but veteran players always enjoy that kind of thing since they try to find ways around it to get loot that they shouldn't be able to get yet, or if they can somehow find a way to defeat those monsters, etc... For me that kind of thing is literally 1/2 the fun of the game, trying to find a way to play the game that the people that made it never intended.

That's how I ended up in the highest level romance with Morrigan and Lelianna at the end of Origins and actually made it through the final battle with both of them madly in love with me despite the fact that there should be a conflict that forces you to pick one. I figured out a way to manipulate the dialogue system without any cheating of any kind, just using the game as it is programmed, which made it possible. It was hilarious in the end having them both confess their undying love for my character despite both of them being two timed, and have it carry over into the post-game DLC. Gaming the game is one of my favorite things to do!

Another gripe I have is that if your Rook dies in combat, it's game over unless you have a "Revive" since you can't play as any of your companions. In previous DA games if you fucked up and died, your control was transferred to another one of your companions, and you could either continue on or bring your main character back to life. Not in this game. That completely changes the risk/reward ratio in a very bad way for playing higher difficulty levels.

Also, estimates are solidified now, 500k copies across all platforms. 100% complete failure.

So who would you chose by currend day standard ?
or ?

I'll take suck starting a shotgun for $200, Alex!

and the overlarge heads are distracting

You can fix that with the character creator. My Rook looks proportional (but I have a feeling that is because his shoulders are so broad that he has to walk through a door sideways.

 

[SmugAutist]

Don't know if this has been posted yet.

Absolute flop. Bad news is that they're immediately jumping to destroy what's left of Mass Effect.

 

[Deus Exica]

And this is after years of shilling. 32% is way more than it used to be for the actual original trilogy.
I never really liked femshep anyway as Hale just sounds like she's trying way too hard to sound tough. Meanwhile Meer goes from passable to pretty decent over the course of the trilogy and at least I never have to cringe at his lines.

The "Female voice actor sounds better and more emotive!" Tranny cope has been running rampant through all these games for years and I laugh every time I see that the split favors men. This was the case in Cyberpunk too, where Female V is now the 'canon' choice and considered 'more emotional' but I think she is, bar none, the worse of the two. This was also true of Hawke, who people consistently insisted was better as a girl, but I just couldn't take seriously.

If they just asked you who was the Divine in your game they could have easily had proper dialogue to identify the spymaster as Leliana if the inquisition stayed together and she wasn't the divine.

Sorry no time for your choices to matter, we need to record ten more scenes for Taash being nonbinary.

 

[Leaf Wage Slave Jr]

Don't know if this has been posted yet.
View attachment 6627798

Absolute flop. Bad news is that they're immediately jumping to destroy what's left of Mass Effect.

Brave of them to assume they're getting a chance to release Mass Effect 5 - third major flop, and with the type of Dev time Bioware is taking these days?

I'm continually surprised EA hasn't had enough of these fuckups wasting money, considering EA's reputation...

 

[Weltraumfürst]

I'm continually surprised EA hasn't had enough of these fuckups wasting money, considering EA's reputation...

I mean, who else do they have left? DICE, I guess, but they haven't really been delivering, either.

 

[Solid Hyrax]

Just wanted to share this scathing review of the game by @sophnar0747 who 100%'d the game, for those interested.

 

[Leaf Wage Slave Jr]

I mean, who else do they have left? DICE, I guess, but they haven't really been delivering, either.

That's legit the only reason I think nu-Ware is still alive. Fortunately, EA has a convenient list of who they own - it's Literal Who's almost all the way down.

Respawn and DICE are the only other big name Studios that routinely make money I see on that list, and the former is because they caught lightning with Apex - EA Sports is just some interns who have to update Madden rosters every year, change my mind. EA is in the fun position where I don't think they CAN shutter Bioware, despite our wishes...

 

[LazyLizard]

This was the case in Cyberpunk too, where Female V is now the 'canon' choice and considered 'more emotional' but I think she is, bar none, the worse of the two. This was also true of Hawke, who people consistently insisted was better as a girl, but I just couldn't take seriously.

having played both male and female V i do think female V did a better job

 

[Battlecruiser3000ad]

God, could you imagine these guys writing Baldur's Gate 2?

What would they do to Irenicus?

Dunno what they'd do to Irenicus, but I can tell you what Mx Minsc would do with Boo and it would make Richard Gere blush.

 

[Anon88]

God, could you imagine these guys writing Baldur's Gate 2?

What would they do to Irenicus?

Scene: Irenicus’ Dungeon - Imoen’s Cell​

(Charname has fought their way through Irenicus’ lair. After navigating through traps, minions, and magical illusions, they finally reach the chamber where Imoen is held. The door creaks open, and the faint, eerie glow of arcane magic fills the room. Imoen is slumped against the wall, but her eyes flicker open as she hears Charname’s footsteps.)

Imoen:
(weakly, but with a spark of hope)
“Charname? Is it really you? I knew you’d come for me... I knew you’d—”

(She attempts to stand but stumbles, her body weak from the trials Irenicus has put her through. Charname hurries to support her.)

Charname:
(gentle, yet firm)
“Of course, I’m here, Imoen. We’re getting you out of here. Hang on.”

Imoen:
(looking at Charname, smiling faintly)
“I always knew you’d be my knight in shining armor. But... Charname... there’s something you need to know. He’s not... he’s not like anyone we’ve ever faced. Irenicus... he’s not just cruel. He’s... different.”

(Imoen shudders, her voice dropping to a whisper.)
“He’s... extra different.”

(As if on cue, a soft laugh echoes through the chamber. The air shimmers with an almost flamboyant energy, and Irenicus appears from the shadows, draped in intricate robes of midnight and silver, his long hair flowing like a dark wave. He strikes a pose, one hand on his hip.)

Irenicus:
(with a dramatic flourish, smirking)
“Well, well, well... what do we have here? Charname in the flesh, the darling of this tragic little story. And Imoen, looking positively... drained. How absolutely adorable.”

(Irenicus strides forward, their movements graceful, almost theatrical as they approach Charname and Imoen.)

“Oh, but where are my manners? I haven't properly introduced myself. I am Irenicus, the one and only, but you may address me as ‘they/them’ now. I’ve decided to embrace my true self, after all. No need to be bound by these archaic notions of gender. It's just so limiting, don’t you think?”

This ChatGPT slop is probably pretty close to what they actually would've wrote.

 

[Chapalapachapa]

Just wanted to share this scathing review of the game by @sophnar0747 who 100%'d the game, for those interested.

i WONT listen to a tranny shitting on a woke piece of shit game

 

[Chuck McGill]

Forgive me if this has been posted, but I love how much they had to hedge that title just to make it fit. First it's Steam records. Fair enough, Steam's a major publisher, that's a pretty decent metric.

>EA game

Already you're starting to see the hedging. For those of you that are younger, for most of EA's history you couldn't get their games on Steam. They wanted you to use their system that sucks cocks. It wasn't until 2019 did they break that trend and release Jedi: Fallen Order on Steam, with many of EA's older hits(Mass Effect, Dragon Age, etc) being re-released on the platform in the coming years. So the vast majority of EA's hits were released under a system where you had to either pick up a physical copy or go on Origin, which as we've established, sucked cocks.


>single-player

And now it's an absurdly narrow category.



Today's top 10. At half of those titles are incredibly multiplayer-focused, with only three on the list being single-player focused experiences(Factorio, BG3, Banana), and one of those is a fucking meme game. It's like when you see a book brag that it topped some extended New York Times' Bestsellers' List for Speculative Nonfiction by lesbians.

 

[Kharash]

This was the case in Cyberpunk

Ironically I think Cyberpunk has the opposite problem as male V sounds like he's trying way too hard, his voice is just too fake and unconvincing.
Also I do prefer female Hawke as I think Jo Wyatt has a really nice voice. Never tried to play her as aggressive though so maybe it becomes worse then.
But yeah the femshep narrative is annoying and parroted way too often.

 

[Rich Evans Ayypologist]

with only three on the list being single-player focused experiences(Factorio, BG3, Banana)

In fairness, the ability to play BG3 with multiplayer (and mods) gives it a lot of longevity as a game. Alongside it plainly just being a better game.

Veilguard looks like it's landed with a niche audience, which would be fine if this was a game that had an Owlcat level of budget. Ignoring that even this audience will probably abandon it once they stop getting kudos for Supporting The Cause, this level of moderate success in a more abstract sense simply doesn't match up with its budget. I believe Dead Space 2 had like... $60M? budget and sold 4M copies and wasn't considered a success. This was at the very least twice that much in budget, probably more than three times as much, and doesn't seem like it's going to even cross the half-way mark of sales.

When you look through the writing credits, it's a lot of the Andromeda people. Meaning they got shuffled from one failure to the next. I just can't imagine being EA, in an environment with actual interest existing, and seeing anything of value in this studio beyond access to its IPs. These teams are just clearly not winners.

 

[SmugAutist]

Brave of them to assume they're getting a chance to release Mass Effect 5 - third major flop, and with the type of Dev time Bioware is taking these days?

I'm continually surprised EA hasn't had enough of these fuckups wasting money, considering EA's reputation...

Game is still in pre-production. Bioware has already failed once with ME in Andromeda, failed to generate new IP with Anthem, and now has spectacularly failed with Dragon Age. I believe that they'll be allowed to have one final chance with ME but if I'm being optimistic, EA is going to be overseeing production like a hawk and forcing them to deliver on time. No 10 year development nonsense.

Can't believe I would one day say that EA oversight would be good for Bioware, but I guess you can never underestimate Canadians' ability to fuck things up.

 

[mindlessobserver]

Don't know if this has been posted yet.
View attachment 6627798

Absolute flop. Bad news is that they're immediately jumping to destroy what's left of Mass Effect.

WRITE SOMETHING NEW. How on earth will you top the set up to the final act of Mass Effect where all your efforts over three games get a payoff? Sure they didn't stick the landing, but it was still a definitive ending that didn't need sequels.

Write a new story, and just carry over the combat system and story mechanics.

 

[PieceofShet]

Just wanted to share this scathing review of the game by @sophnar0747 who 100%'d the game, for those interested.

LMAO shitting on DSP in the video! So true! He is destroying gaming just by playing them and we get shit like Veilguard and such.

 

[SmugAutist]

WRITE SOMETHING NEW. How on earth will you top the set up to the final act of Mass Effect where all your efforts over three games get a payoff? Sure they didn't stick the landing, but it was still a definitive ending that didn't need sequels.

Obligatory "evil cannot create" Tolkien quote. A less pozzed Bioware already tried to do new IP. It was called Anthem and it failed spectacularly. Their last resort is to bank on IP that was once successful but cannot recreate because the people who created and nurtured them already left over ten years ago.

 

[Divine right to rule]

View attachment 6628070

Forgive me if this has been posted, but I love how much they had to hedge that title just to make it fit. First it's Steam records. Fair enough, Steam's a major publisher, that's a pretty decent metric.

>EA game

Already you're starting to see the hedging. For those of you that are younger, for most of EA's history you couldn't get their games on Steam. They wanted you to use their system that sucks cocks. It wasn't until 2019 did they break that trend and release Jedi: Fallen Order on Steam. So the vast majority of EA's hits were released under a system where you had to either pick up a physical copy or go on Origin, which as we've established, sucked cocks.


>single-player

And now it's an absurdly narrow category.

View attachment 6628115

Today's top 10. At half of those titles are incredibly multiplayer-focused, with only three on the list being single-player focused experiences(Factorio, BG3, Banana), and one of those is a fucking meme game. It's like when you see a book brag that it topped some extended New York Times' Bestsellers' List for Speculative Nonfiction by lesbians.

Game journos always try to suck off games that cater to their brainrot-american social politics, and shit on games that are considered "problematic" in turn.
Remember how they gave Black Myth Wukong lower scores than deserved across the board because it had too few women in it, and some anon said the studio was totally patriarchal and shit?

 

[Dean Pentel]

Obligatory "evil cannot create" Tolkien quote.

That quote should be amended to "evil and retarded faggotry cannot create."