Game News Dragon Age: The Veilguard Official Gameplay Reveal

[The Jester]

At this point, I don't know why BioWare even bothers with gameplay. Why not make a full-blown visual novel? I bet their target audience would eat that slop up and thank them for it.

 

[Haba]

At this point, I don't know why BioWare even bothers with gameplay. Why not make a full-blown visual novel? I bet their target audience would eat that slop up and thank them for it.

The same reason why OnlyFans girls call themselves "content creators" instead of prostitutes. They and their customers don't want to say the quiet part out loud.

 

[Roguey]

Black/Asian elves scream DEI/ESG retardation.

These are cringe Canadians radicalized by tumblr, they're proud to be token collectors. Back before Inquisition was released, Gaider was genuflecting that the game wouldn't have as many black people as he preferred because that decision had already been made.

At this point, I don't know why BioWare even bothers with gameplay. Why not make a full-blown visual novel? I bet their target audience would eat that slop up and thank them for it.

Gaider already did https://store.steampowered.com/app/1920780/Stray_Gods_The_Roleplaying_Musical/

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Solas? heh, more like...SOULLESS.

Sold Ass.

 

[CthuluIsSpy]

Solas? I'd hate to meet the guy named ManyAss.

 

[Joryyyy]

BioWare really needs to be put down out of it's misery. And say this as a person that enjoyed DA: I despite it's flaws

 

[Zeriel]

Looks even more ass than I could have imagined

"People are always dying. It is what they do." <-- they actually thought this was a cool line

On the contrary, I like it. I wish Bioware would die. Failing that, the knowledge that every person involved in making this will die is a nice comfort.

On the plus side, "party member becomes villain in the sequel" is cool, but you just know they'll pussy out and reveal the true villain halfway through. Solas was a good boy who dindu nuffin. BioWare seems to have gotten good modellers & animators after nearly 30 years of being in business.

On the negative side, everything else. As soon as the camera turned around and I saw the melanin enriched individual MC I had to metaphorically roll my eyes (making him a thief was kind of racist though). What was shown after confirmed my suspicion. Music, combat, gameplay, it's all generic trite pulled from the most popular games out nowadays. Pretty boring.

I'd rather play Belgian sexual harassment simulator 3 than this.

SKIP

Eh, it wasn't that cool because Solas was transparently a villain almost from the moment you met him, and you couldn't say anything but relatively nice things to him. There was no player agency involved. It's the worst sort of ludic dissonance. This kind of writing is rife in modern gaming and turns off players. I'd say it's the game equivelant of M Night Shamawamalam "tweeeests" in movies. Now if you had a character who was liked by players and genuinely had a heel turn because of what happened to them that was organic that would be cool, but Bioware certainly isn't doing that. To present an example, Varric turning into a villain would be that. Not Solas.

Just curious, do we even know how many of the folks responsible for the first Dragon Age are still at Bioware? 30%? 15%? Not that it changes anything, but it is curious how essentially all companies change their franchises so drastically that they become basically unrecognizable.

I actually don't think this is a very big deal. Most developers will change their opinions due to peer pressure, so having someone who made something great in the past is not immunity to future decline. Just look at the Tim Cain & Boyarsky reunion project. I think you can get some minor relics of artistic merit out of holding onto legacy staff, but they present no obstacle to complete degeneration overall. At best you end up with, like in Outer Worlds, a cool "concept art" influence like how Boyarsky's influence is very visible in the initial idea and concepts of Outer Worlds... but then completely ruined and perverted by all the interns actually making the game.

 

[Semiurge]

Well... it has hair physics.

No way.

The tech is still too cutting edge.

At this point, I don't know why BioWare even bothers with gameplay. Why not make a full-blown visual novel? I bet their target audience would eat that slop up and thank them for it.

Didn't one of their dedicated game testers claim she always mods away combat from her Bioware slurry? That's their target audience - the romancefags with the worst taste.

 

[Cat Headed Eagle]

Black/Asian elves scream DEI/ESG retardation.

I'm not too sure about asian elves being that bad. They're generally shorter and generally look pretty feminine when they are male. They could be from Thailand for all we know.

 

[Mister Vespertine]

Why does this look like a fucking Blizzard game?

 

[R@tmaster]

Well... it has hair physics.

No way.

The tech is still too cutting edge.

From which witcher is that?

 

[Azdul]

Anyway, there's this great critique piece from gaming journo of the new DA that I mostly agreed with:

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/d...ally-out-of-touch-ea-and-bioware-have-become/

From that article:

People aren't afraid of dense systems or complexity, and they don't want to just hammer some buttons on a controller. The delineation between PC gamers and console gamers has been completely destroyed—folks are playing MMOs and strategy games on their Xbox, and the best handheld is a tiny PC. Games don't need to pander to platforms anymore, they just need to be good.​

​

Games like Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Ultima, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura—the classics—were all built on the foundations of tabletop roleplaying, and with that comes infinite possibilities, largely because it gives so much power and agency to players. Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3 prove that there's still so much more that can be done with this RPG model, and they are far from alone in bringing tabletop ideas into the digital realm. This is the future of videogame roleplaying.​

I would argue this was always the case, but there were certain limitations that developers had with consoles at the time, translating the controls a CRPG required to a controller, stuck with the resolution of a CRT television, and so on. You couldn't really translate adventure games and older CRPGs to a console until someone came up with the concept of "context menus". There's only so much information you could toss on the screen when you were dealing with a 4:3 aspect ratio CRT with non-square pixels and a maximum horizontal resolution of 480 on a 28" screen across the room. It wasn't until the last 10 years or so that televisions that had larger resolutions and bigger sizes were the norm so you can read lots of information on the screen from across the room.

The same thing goes with operating menus with a controller and controlling your characters, though this is more development side than waiting on technology to be adopted.

Those were limitations of the audience - not technology.

Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit were often connected to TV across the room - and had complex games. The information that could not fit in memory or on the screen - was provided in the manual.

Early console RPGs were not released in USA or Europe for years - because console audience there was not ready for them. In PS2 era - Japanese developers had no issues making menu systems 7 levels deep - because the main audience - Japanese gamers - were used to it.

Electronic Arts makes a game for people that usually buy Electronic Arts games.

 

[Zeriel]

Anyway, there's this great critique piece from gaming journo of the new DA that I mostly agreed with:

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/d...ally-out-of-touch-ea-and-bioware-have-become/

From that article:

People aren't afraid of dense systems or complexity, and they don't want to just hammer some buttons on a controller. The delineation between PC gamers and console gamers has been completely destroyed—folks are playing MMOs and strategy games on their Xbox, and the best handheld is a tiny PC. Games don't need to pander to platforms anymore, they just need to be good.​

​

Games like Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Ultima, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura—the classics—were all built on the foundations of tabletop roleplaying, and with that comes infinite possibilities, largely because it gives so much power and agency to players. Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3 prove that there's still so much more that can be done with this RPG model, and they are far from alone in bringing tabletop ideas into the digital realm. This is the future of videogame roleplaying.​

I would argue this was always the case, but there were certain limitations that developers had with consoles at the time, translating the controls a CRPG required to a controller, stuck with the resolution of a CRT television, and so on. You couldn't really translate adventure games and older CRPGs to a console until someone came up with the concept of "context menus". There's only so much information you could toss on the screen when you were dealing with a 4:3 aspect ratio CRT with non-square pixels and a maximum horizontal resolution of 480 on a 28" screen across the room. It wasn't until the last 10 years or so that televisions that had larger resolutions and bigger sizes were the norm so you can read lots of information on the screen from across the room.

The same thing goes with operating menus with a controller and controlling your characters, though this is more development side than waiting on technology to be adopted.

Those were limitations of the audience - not technology.

Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit were often connected to TV across the room - and had complex games. The information that could not fit in memory or on the screen - was provided in the manual.

Early console RPGs were not released in USA or Europe for years - because console audience there was not ready for them. In PS2 era - Japanese developers had no issues making menu systems 7 levels deep - because the main audience - Japanese gamers - were used to it.

Electronic Arts makes a game for people that usually buy Electronic Arts games.

Yeah, that explains why the early Electronic Arts games were all dumbed down action games... oh wait they actually were all simulators? What a factually bereft argument.

 

[quixotic]

Well... it has hair physics.

No way.

The tech is still too cutting edge.

From which witcher is that?

3.

 

[R@tmaster]

I thought it's from W2, the way he pointed it out, like it's a big shame. There is no shame to be on par with W3.

 

[quixotic]

I thought it's from W2, the way he pointed it out, like it's a big shame. There is no shame to be on par with W3.

I think the point he was making is that W3 came out in 2015, almost 10 years later and proper hair physics is still a rarity.

 

[Azdul]

Anyway, there's this great critique piece from gaming journo of the new DA that I mostly agreed with:

https://www.pcgamer.com/games/rpg/d...ally-out-of-touch-ea-and-bioware-have-become/

From that article:

People aren't afraid of dense systems or complexity, and they don't want to just hammer some buttons on a controller. The delineation between PC gamers and console gamers has been completely destroyed—folks are playing MMOs and strategy games on their Xbox, and the best handheld is a tiny PC. Games don't need to pander to platforms anymore, they just need to be good.​

​

Games like Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, Ultima, Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura—the classics—were all built on the foundations of tabletop roleplaying, and with that comes infinite possibilities, largely because it gives so much power and agency to players. Disco Elysium and Baldur's Gate 3 prove that there's still so much more that can be done with this RPG model, and they are far from alone in bringing tabletop ideas into the digital realm. This is the future of videogame roleplaying.​

I would argue this was always the case, but there were certain limitations that developers had with consoles at the time, translating the controls a CRPG required to a controller, stuck with the resolution of a CRT television, and so on. You couldn't really translate adventure games and older CRPGs to a console until someone came up with the concept of "context menus". There's only so much information you could toss on the screen when you were dealing with a 4:3 aspect ratio CRT with non-square pixels and a maximum horizontal resolution of 480 on a 28" screen across the room. It wasn't until the last 10 years or so that televisions that had larger resolutions and bigger sizes were the norm so you can read lots of information on the screen from across the room.

The same thing goes with operating menus with a controller and controlling your characters, though this is more development side than waiting on technology to be adopted.

Those were limitations of the audience - not technology.

Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit were often connected to TV across the room - and had complex games. The information that could not fit in memory or on the screen - was provided in the manual.

Early console RPGs were not released in USA or Europe for years - because console audience there was not ready for them. In PS2 era - Japanese developers had no issues making menu systems 7 levels deep - because the main audience - Japanese gamers - were used to it.

Electronic Arts makes a game for people that usually buy Electronic Arts games.

Yeah, that explains why the early Electronic Arts games were all dumbed down action games... oh wait they actually were all simulators? What a factually bereft argument.

Electronic Arts from the 80's has little to do with current Electronic Arts - and the same goes for their audience.

If you pay 60$ for a game with microtransactions and invasive DRM - another part of very consolized series - you cannot blame EA for underestimating your mental abilities. It's a self-selection process. Just be happy that there is no 'Do not eat' sticker on the box.

 

[R@tmaster]

Yeah, nothing like Geralt's bouncing hair to attract modern auditory of them bisexuals.
Back in the day, when auditory consisted of pure asexuals, characters didn't need any hair.
Look at them:

They don't need any hair.
Even waifus were bold.

They don't make them like this anymore. Poor desperate players are forced into bearbuggery nowadays. Do you think they would fuck gay bears, if they had girls like this? It's all part of conspiracy.

 

[SpaceWizardz]

Even waifus were bold.

Visas is not bald.
Juhani is also a cat, she's entirely made up of hair.

 

[Maxie]

DarkUnderlord ban Infinitron

 

[Froila]

Back in the day, when auditory consisted of pure asexuals, characters didn't need any hair.

Have you ever player VtMB?

 

[Saint_Proverbius]

Apple II, Commodore 64, ZX Spectrum, Atari 8-bit were often connected to TV across the room - and had complex games. The information that could not fit in memory or on the screen - was provided in the manual.

No, they weren't. The TV was often plopped right behind the computer in the case of 8bit computers. They were put on desks because the keyboard was part of the computer, they were not on coffee tables or in entertainment centers. Consoles were in living rooms, on coffee tables on in entertainment centers, with the TV being several feet away from the TV. And TVs weren't that big back then, and were CRT as opposed to LED or LCD. 32" was considered a jumbo TV back in the 1980s and early to mid1990s.

Early console RPGs were not released in USA or Europe for years - because console audience there was not ready for them.

More likely because of the needing a translation for a niche market than "not ready for them". Those console RPGs were inspired by 8bit computer RPGs with the early Japanese CRPGs being on the MSX before Nintendo released their Famicon.

In PS2 era - Japanese developers had no issues making menu systems 7 levels deep - because the main audience - Japanese gamers - were used to it.

They were 7 levels deep for precisely the reason I mentioned. They were on small TVs across the room from where the player was, which is why you could only put so much text on the screen at a time and have it able to be read. Furthermore, Japan living space isn't nearly the same as American living space, so the distance to the TV would be smaller.

Yeah, that explains why the early Electronic Arts games were all dumbed down action games... oh wait they actually were all simulators? What a factually bereft argument.

It's hard to tell what he's arguing when he jumps from the ZX Spectrum era to the PS2 era. Things had changed quite a bit with EA over those years. EA was a developer that did some publishing in the ZX Spectrum era and they were primarily just a publisher in the PS2 era.

 

[Semiurge]

Well... it has hair physics.

No way.

The tech is still too cutting edge.

From which witcher is that?

The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt from 2015. Compare its general graphics (plus facial animations) and current day Biowarian purple slurry that had at least twice the budget. The comparison isn't favorable to Bioware.

 

[gabel]

Black/Asian elves scream DEI/ESG retardation.

You don't say?
O'rly?
Thanks Captain Obvious!

 

[BrotherFrank]

Everything about the UI triggered my inquisition PTSD even if combat has abandoned all pretense of being turn based.

Lol at how hard Varric is carrying this franchise now, seems more important then the mc.

Scout hardin as a companion? Rofl, but those who romanced her in inquisition will be happy at least. I suppose i should be glad it’s not klem considering the zeitgeist.

Most pathetic demon incursion i’ve seen yet considering what is supposed to be happening, its amazing how nothing in the franchise ever came close to the creepiness of the infested circle tower or the fate of the dwarven expedition in origins.