Dragon Age Dragon Age: The Veilguard - coming October 31st

[Zeriel]

I'm still confused about the title of this thread.
Are Solas fangirls actually a thing?

The only fans Solas has are fangirls. I don't get the hype, a glass of boiled water has more personality than him.

Understanding women is a fruitless affair.

 

[La vie sexuelle]

Lol as if the future of Bioware weren't uncertain enough

Former BioWare employees recently laid off are suing the studio for "shortchanging" them with low severance pay​

By Jordan Gerblick
published about 8 hours ago
"We are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches"

(Image credit: BioWare)

A group of former BioWare employees who were impacted by the studio's recent layoffs is suing for better severance pay.

Back in August, BioWare laid off a total of 50 employees to "preserve the health of the studio," make sure Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is "an outstanding game," and ensure "the success of the next Mass Effect game." Of those 50 employees impacted by the layoffs, seven of them are now suing BioWare.
In a statement shared by former BioWare technical director Jon Renish, the group alleges the severance package offered by BioWare was "significantly less" than the standard set by the Alberta Courts' "most recent court cases of termination without cause." The group says it's refusing to accept BioWare's severance and requesting punitive damages.
"In light of the numerous recent industry layoffs and the fact that BioWare's NDAs prevent us from showing any of our recent work on BioWare: Dreadwolf in our portfolios, we are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches," said one terminated employee. "While we remain supportive of the game we worked so hard on, and of our colleagues continuing that work, we are struggling to understand why BioWare is shortchanging us in this challenging time."



R. Alex Kennedy, a lawyer providing counsel for the group of former employees, argues BioWare "attempted to reduce its obligation to these employees well below what the courts typically award, including by eliminating benefits from its termination pay - that appears to be contrary to the Employment Standards Code."

"These people are artists and creators who have worked very hard and for a very long time in a difficult industry, producing big profits for their employer. Their termination without cause en masse like this calls for a response. Employers here can terminate anyone at any time without cause, but with that right comes a responsibility to the people they put in that situation."
We've reached out to BioWare for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Aside from poor severance practices, firing people isn't always a bad thing. AAA studios suffer from employee inflation, where one activity is spread among several, in extreme cases even a dozen or so, people. I also suspect that Bioware is suffering from a management crisis, like all places, where the hierarchy has been replaced with a flat structure divided into hidden segments of importance, which disrupts the operation of the entire level. Perhaps this is a sign that the culture of large corporations will change in the near future.

 

[Zeriel]

Lol as if the future of Bioware weren't uncertain enough

Former BioWare employees recently laid off are suing the studio for "shortchanging" them with low severance pay​

By Jordan Gerblick
published about 8 hours ago
"We are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches"

(Image credit: BioWare)

A group of former BioWare employees who were impacted by the studio's recent layoffs is suing for better severance pay.

Back in August, BioWare laid off a total of 50 employees to "preserve the health of the studio," make sure Dragon Age: Dreadwolf is "an outstanding game," and ensure "the success of the next Mass Effect game." Of those 50 employees impacted by the layoffs, seven of them are now suing BioWare.
In a statement shared by former BioWare technical director Jon Renish, the group alleges the severance package offered by BioWare was "significantly less" than the standard set by the Alberta Courts' "most recent court cases of termination without cause." The group says it's refusing to accept BioWare's severance and requesting punitive damages.
"In light of the numerous recent industry layoffs and the fact that BioWare's NDAs prevent us from showing any of our recent work on BioWare: Dreadwolf in our portfolios, we are very concerned about the difficulty many of us will have finding work as the holiday season approaches," said one terminated employee. "While we remain supportive of the game we worked so hard on, and of our colleagues continuing that work, we are struggling to understand why BioWare is shortchanging us in this challenging time."



R. Alex Kennedy, a lawyer providing counsel for the group of former employees, argues BioWare "attempted to reduce its obligation to these employees well below what the courts typically award, including by eliminating benefits from its termination pay - that appears to be contrary to the Employment Standards Code."

"These people are artists and creators who have worked very hard and for a very long time in a difficult industry, producing big profits for their employer. Their termination without cause en masse like this calls for a response. Employers here can terminate anyone at any time without cause, but with that right comes a responsibility to the people they put in that situation."
We've reached out to BioWare for comment and will update this story if we hear back.

Aside from poor severance practices, firing people isn't always a bad thing. AAA studios suffer from employee inflation, where one activity is spread among several, in extreme cases even a dozen or so, people. I also suspect that Bioware is suffering from a management crisis, like all places, where the hierarchy has been replaced with a flat structure divided into hidden segments of importance, which disrupts the operation of the entire level. Perhaps this is a sign that the culture of large corporations will change in the near future.

The only thing it's a sign of is that Bioware knows their product is a dud, and pre-pruning of the budget is needed.

 

[Camel]

He's handsome. That's the extent of it. A lot of women think they can change a man through their love or some shit like that, look at the adoration Ted Bundy received during his trial.

Bishop is handsome, brooding and has sense of black humour. One gamer girl told me she loved him and his dark jokes. The perfect package for many women.

 

[Skinwalker]

we already do and its all tied back to the elven gods

Orly? What is the real origin of the Neverwinter Tevinter dragon gods, then? And how are they connected to the taint?

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

Sad, 182 pages for a game from a franchise where the original game was utter shit, and it has only gotten worse since then.

 

[Delterius]

Tevinter dragon gods

elf god phylacteries

the taint?

something to do with the elf gods killing a titan, unleashing great evil, creating the dwarves, and the elf gods being thereafter corrupted by said evil when sealed away from the material world

trust me its the elf gods all the way down

 

[Skinwalker]

elf god phylacteries

Why did these phylacteries convince seven Tevinter magisters to open a portal into the Golden City?

 

[Delterius]

elf god phylacteries

Why did these phylacteries convince seven Tevinter magisters to open a portal into the Golden City?

we know dragons are intelligent. odds are they were convinced they'd just be freeing their masters/counterparts from imprisonment, not bringing down corrupting taint onto themselves. or if bioware really sucks it will be the elven gods whispering to the magisters via the dragons, fostering the first human imperial civilization capable of amassing the amount of lyrium required to enter the fade physically and throw open the prison.

 

[Skinwalker]

None of this makes any sense at all.

 

[PorkyThePaladin]

the taint?

It's the space between King Crispy and you.

 

[Crispy]

Porky has been banned from this thread for one day for shitposting in it.

Don't shitpost in our precious RPG forums. Thank you.

 

[mediocrepoet]

So... who's all hyped for the next Bioware magnum opus?

 

[Delterius]

So... who's all hyped for the next Bioware magnum opus?

i'm playing it 7 times

 

[Grunker]

So... who's all hyped for the next Bioware magnum opus?

At this point the real debate is whether this will manage to outsell Lamplighter's League

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

The real debate is whether it will release at all

 

[La vie sexuelle]

The real debate is whether it will release at all

I think so. But I wouldn't expect a revelation. This will result in a budget game (in terms of build quality) like Swansong, or at best, which I don't believe in, something like Vampyr.

 

[processdaemon]

He's handsome. That's the extent of it. A lot of women think they can change a man through their love or some shit like that, look at the adoration Ted Bundy received during his trial.

Bishop is handsome, brooding and has sense of black humour. One gamer girl told me she loved him and his dark jokes. The perfect package for many women.

I understand women going for Bishop more than I understand them going for Solas. Solas isn't even an edgy bad boy, he has the personality of a smug history postdoc and he's even more unbearable on a second playthrough when you know who he is and realise he has no right to be smug about anything.

 

[BosanskiSeljak]

Solas isn't even an edgy bad boy,

He is a genocidal maniac who wants to kill all humans, thinks he's the masterrace. Now think about the people who enjoy those games, especially the romance aspect, and make some connections as to why they like him.

 

[Lovely Feather Pillow]

I just can’t wait to see how bad this ends up being.

We all know it’s going to be woke with all the chicks and blue haired fatties writing the story. It’s going to be the peak culture war fodder.

Gameplay wise I expect something mildly serviceable at best. Nothing resembling an actual RPG other than gear and dialogue choices.

 

[jaekl]

He's handsome. That's the extent of it. A lot of women think they can change a man through their love or some shit like that, look at the adoration Ted Bundy received during his trial.

Bishop is handsome, brooding and has sense of black humour. One gamer girl told me she loved him and his dark jokes. The perfect package for many women.

I understand women going for Bishop more than I understand them going for Solas. Solas isn't even an edgy bad boy, he has the personality of a smug history postdoc and he's even more unbearable on a second playthrough when you know who he is and realise he has no right to be smug about anything.

It's important to remember that in life there are women and then there are weird online fat chicks. You've gotta adjust your expectations depending on who you're talking about.

 

[Vic]

This reads like a complete clusterfuck

Development​

The development of the fourth main entry in the Dragon Age series, code-named "Joplin", began in 2015 with Mike Laidlaw as its creative director. It was intended to be a smaller, more narrative-focused game set in the Tevinter Imperium region of the game's world setting, Thedas.[3]

Problems with the development of BioWare's other games Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem led to repeated interruptions as "Joplin" staff was shifted to these games. This included putting "Joplin" on hold in late 2016 with development resuming in March 2017 after Andromeda shipped.[3][4] In October 2017, BioWare and its parent company Electronic Arts cancelled "Joplin" altogether, reportedly because it had no room for a "live service" component to provide ongoing monetization opportunities.[3][4]

Development of the game was restarted under the code-name "Morrison" in 2018, this time with a live-service component and based on Anthem's code.[3][5] According to Bloomberg News, after the success of the single-player game Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and the decision to cancel the reworking of the massively multiplayer online Anthem in February 2021 following its lackluster launch, EA and BioWare decided to remove the planned multiplayer components from "Morrison" and to develop it as a single-player game only.[6]

The project has been marked by a high turnover of leading staff. Several veteran Dragon Age staff, including Laidlaw, left the company in response to Joplin's cancellation in 2017.[3] After the 2018 restart, Mark Darrah remained as an executive producer, while Matthew Goldman took over the position of creative director for the project from 2017 to 2021.[7] By December 3, 2020, Darrah had resigned from BioWare, replaced by BioWare Austin studio head Christian Dailey as executive producer.[8] Goldman left BioWare by November 2021,[5] and was replaced as Creative Director by John Epler.[9] Dailey left BioWare in February 2022.[10] Corinne Busche became game director thereafter, Benoit Houle director of product development, and Mac Walters production director.[10] Walters in turn left BioWare in January 2023.[11] In March 2023, Darrah returned as a consultant for the game and the Mass Effect team joined the production of Dreadwolf, according to EA.[12][13]

In August 2023, BioWare fired 50 people working on Dreadwolf and the next Mass Effect game.[14] In October, seven of them sued BioWare for additional compensation, complaining that BioWare's NDAs prevented them from adding their work on Dreadwolf to their portfolio.[15]

Alpha-stage footage leaked in February 2023 indicated that the game would use real-time action combat gameplay, influenced by God of War, unlike previous Dragon Age games.[16][17][18]

 

[Delterius]

This reads like a complete clusterfuck

correction. its three clusterfucks feeding into each other.

 

[Lovely Feather Pillow]

You just know management is hiring problematic “talent” that gels well with their ideological beliefs. It’s why we’re seeing stories about employees suing for wrongful termination and QA testers not having their contracts renewed because they were stupid enough to think joining a union would work to their benefit. It’s nothing but non-stop noise as BioWare struggles to deliver a successful product.

I’d put good money on BioWare getting EA’d after Dreadful flops.

 

[9ted6]

None of this makes any sense at all.

All Dragon Age lore after Origins is easily explained in two parts
1. Elves did everything
2. Everyone is gay