Dragon Age Dragon Age: The Veilguard Thread

[Storyfag]

He was killing monsters...

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

This whole franchize looks exactly like Starship Troopers movies - awesome and athmospheric original movie and then it goes down so hard you can't distinguish if it is a "real" sequel movie or some fan made parody or Asylum studios lookalike.

It’s not the same since nobody treats the years later straight-to-video Starship Troopers movies that Paul Verhoeven had nothing to do with like actual sequels. For the Dragon Age series to be in a similar boat, Dragon Age 2 would had to have been some Xbox Live Arcade game published by EA that was made some other studio that wasn’t BioWare; and the sequels that followed would’ve had to have been in a similar boat. For it to be similar there’d need to be a whole different perception around the Dragon Age games, because the Starship Trooper sequels may as well not be the same series as far as popular perception is concerned; where every Dragon Age game is treated like a true real sequel to the first, and every Dragon Age game is treated like one of the biggest releases of the year. Starship Troopers 2 definitionally wasn’t viewed as one of the biggest movie releases of 2004, it’s probably not even in the top 200 biggest movies of that year; Starship Troopers 2 is probably a thing most people that like the first movie only found out existed when they went to the movie rental place and saw it on the wall of new releases.

 

[Elttharion]

 

[Skinwalker]

You could actually be mentally retarded, I kinda feel bad now

Is what they tell people who voluntarily play veilguard.

 

[Warrax]

Brigader's Choice Award: Trannies vs. the Chinese

 

[Poseidon00]

We were all too harsh on Dragon Age 2.

 

[Myobi]

We were all too harsh on Dragon Age 2.

...or not hard enough.

 

[Skinwalker]

We were all too harsh on Dragon Age 2.

DAII had one solid excuse: it was forced to be released early by the publisher, and Bioware didn't really implement anything close to its intended scope of the project. Probably, you'd be visiting several other cities and a whole bunch of various environments outside of Kirkwall. The entire Qurani arc would have made sense only if they occupied a whole city for themselves, not a district of Kirkwall.

 

[Assisted Living Godzilla]

We were all too harsh on Dragon Age 2.

DAII had one solid excuse: it was forced to be released early by the publisher, and Bioware didn't really implement anything close to its intended scope of the project. Probably, you'd be visiting several other cities and a whole bunch of various environments outside of Kirkwall. The entire Qurani arc would have made sense only if they occupied a whole city for themselves, not a district of Kirkwall.

They didn’t have any excuse. Dragon Age 2 was made stupid, it’s that simple. They knew how much time they had to make the game, which wasn’t exactly some crazy short amount of time given the time it was made, and they did stupid shit like spend time trying to implement a more action oriented combat system instead of using the same combat system they’d already created for Origins. Like that’s just fucking stupid, imagine you’re making a sequel to a successful game, people seemed to like the combat system, (at least the PC version of it) you’re on a tight deadline, and you think this is the to revamp the combat system instead of just using what you already did and focusing elsewhere.

What BioWare needed on that game is either a manager or a director on that title to just cut everything down to the bone. Someone that just looked at the concept they were doing and asked: What do we need, what can be cut, and where should our focus be. Their focus definitely needed to be on the dungeons, which you spend a lot of time in, and which mainly just the same location but with a big rock blocking one path instead of another.

The scope of the title also wasn’t the problem of the game. The idea of the game is interesting. And locking you into one big cities tied to the Deep Roads is an interesting idea. But Dragon Age 2 does nothing with the idea they came up with for the game, and it doesn’t even really stay within the smaller scope they so talked up in all the marketing ahead of the game’s release.

 

[Skinwalker]

We were all too harsh on Dragon Age 2.

DAII had one solid excuse: it was forced to be released early by the publisher, and Bioware didn't really implement anything close to its intended scope of the project. Probably, you'd be visiting several other cities and a whole bunch of various environments outside of Kirkwall. The entire Qurani arc would have made sense only if they occupied a whole city for themselves, not a district of Kirkwall.

They didn’t have any excuse. Dragon Age 2 was made stupid, it’s that simple. They knew how much time they had to make the game, which wasn’t exactly some crazy short amount of time given the time it was made, and they did stupid shit like spend time trying to implement a more action oriented combat system instead of using the same combat system they’d already created for Origins. Like that’s just fucking stupid, imagine you’re making a sequel to a successful game, people seemed to like the combat system, (at least the PC version of it) you’re on a tight deadline, and you think this is the to revamp the combat system instead of just using what you already did and focusing elsewhere.

The move to a more action-oriented combat system worked for ME2, it's heads and tails above ME1.

It's more that they didn't implement it well in DA2. Multiple waves of enemies teleporting into the middle of the battlefield into random spots that mess up your party positioning still haunt my dreams. They either needed to stay closer to the Origins combat system, or move farther away from it. What we got was the worst of both worlds.

What's really inexcusable is the abortion of a combat system in Cisquisition. It's not often you play a game that makes you feel sad for how utterly pathetic it is at doing whatever it's trying to do. They had tons of prior experience, tons of development time, tons of everything to get it right - and made it even worse than DA2. Everything is pathetic in DA3, the mechanics and the animations. It's ugly on the outside and the inside.

Of vileshart nothing needs to be said.

 

[jaekl]

wtf... in mass effect 2 you had to cower behind rubble like a bitch and scrounge for ammo the whole game instead of running around like a badass shooting and blasting with space magic. It was a gay decline.

 

[Elttharion]

wtf... in mass effect 2 you had to cower behind rubble like a bitch and scrounge for ammo the whole game instead of running around like a badass shooting and blasting with space magic. It was a gay decline.

Mass Effect 1: badass space cop
Mass Effect 2: tard wrangler

ME2 was decline all the way down

 

[Tyranicon]

Mass Effect and Dragon Age are true sister IPs because they both ended up the exact same way:

Judging by the exponetial decline per game, Mass Effect 5 is going to be some kind of beyond the pale abomination that kills the entire gaming industry.

 

[Orud]

DAII had one solid excuse: it was forced to be released early by the publisher, and Bioware didn't really implement anything close to its intended scope of the project. Probably, you'd be visiting several other cities and a whole bunch of various environments outside of Kirkwall. The entire Qurani arc would have made sense only if they occupied a whole city for themselves, not a district of Kirkwall.

EA didn't force Bioware:

• To write a story "about the complex issues between the mages the their jailers, the Templars, which consider "every mage a dangerous loose canon"... to THEN MAKE EVERY GOD DAMN MAGE IN THE GAME A BLOOD MAGE, justifying the Templar's paranoia.
• To write downright retarded characters like Anders, who's way to rally people to the mage's "stop locking us up, we're not dangerous" cause is BY BLOWING UP THE MAIN CHURCH OF THE CITY.
• To write fucking Merrill, a character so whiney and retarded she deserved a special call out.
• To make every god damn encounter a wave based fight, where enemies spawn in a circle around you out of thin air.
• To make every god damn bossfight a massive health sponge.
• To use Felicia Day for one of their DLC characters... no wait, fuck it, that entire DLC was a crime against humanity.

EA forced Bioware:

• To employ massive asset and location reuse, to the point where there's like 8 locations for a 25 hour game.
• To add micro-micro transactions.

Dragon Age 2 is an absolute piece of shit and Veilguard's only possible saving grace is that it can't be as bad.

 

[Skinwalker]

Dragon Age 2 is an absolute piece of shit and Veilguard's only possible saving grace is that it can't be as bad.

1. Wrong_Carlo
2. Heroin Liberator / Honkweebnig
3. Rougay, probably
4. Yosharian
5. sebas
6. Ryzer Raghar
7. Asymptotics
8. duskvile
9. Tytus
10. frajaq
11. wolfbane
12. darkpatriot
13. grim1234
14. Baron Dupek
15. TheKing01
16. 1451
17. Supermedo
18. taxalot
19. Moonrise
20. Orud

 

[Orud]

I'll take being on a list that contains anyone ever saying anything positive about Veilguard, than ever forcing a positive word through my lips about Dragon Age 2.

 

[Anonymous Ranger]

I was with you until the Merrill take. Yes Merrill is a retard but a retarded blood mage was kind of interesting compared to the almost generic evil blood mages that we see in the rest of the series.

 

[Orud]

I was with you until the Merrill take. Yes Merrill is a retard but a retarded blood mage was kind of interesting compared to the almost generic evil blood mages that we see in the rest of the series.

I didn't think there was anything interesting about her blood mage angle, it was literally "person plays with fire, in a city filled with burned victims, is surprised that she gets burned". Considering the entire other context of the game, all you could do is sit there and go "Have you paid 0 fucking attention to anything else, at all?".

She is the embodiment of the game's retarded storytelling, as in that it insults the viewer by requiring you to forget everything else that happens and regard every story in its own isolated bubble.

 

[Anonymous Ranger]

I was with you until the Merrill take. Yes Merrill is a retard but a retarded blood mage was kind of interesting compared to the almost generic evil blood mages that we see in the rest of the series.

I didn't think there was anything interesting about her blood mage angle, it was literally "person plays with fire, in a city filled with burned victims, is surprised that she gets burned". Considering the entire other context of the game, all you could do is sit there and go "Have you paid 0 fucking attention to anything else, at all?".

thinking about it a little more and yeah your actually right they don’t go into it as much as would like. There’s a couples times like if you bring her into the fade with you. Still a good idea just not as fleshed out as it could be.

 

[ERYFKRAD]

Judging by the exponetial decline per game, Mass Effect 5 is going to be some kind of beyond the pale abomination that kills the entire gaming industry.

One can certainly hope so, by Crom.

 

[Orud]

thinking about it a little more and yeah your actually right they don’t go into it as much as would like. There’s a couples times like if you bring her into the fade with you. Still a good idea just not as fleshed out as it could be.

They have so many decent teases or angles that they manage to always fuck up by resolving it to "and it was a dumbfuck blood mage afterall". Story and combat wise, DA2 is a one trick pony.

I haven't played it since it came out over a decade ago. Maybe it left such a bad impression considering it followed up Origins, which I loved, and should give it another go.

 

[Reinhardt]

Bioware must be sighing in relief with Awoked taking the all the flak for them.

Is the game actually bad or is it just the one arts guy freaking out? Because I don't give a shit what some lunatic is saying on X.

Bad, but not as bad as Feilguard.

To be fair, previews of the game seem fine. Even SkillUp who massacred Veilguard was into Avowed.

it's almost as if obsidian is... back to form! BADUMTSSSSSSSSSSSS!

 

[Skinwalker]

I'll take being on a list that contains anyone ever saying anything positive about Veilguard

It's a list of people who played it. Don't try to deny it, veilsister.

 

[Apostle Hand]

Skinwalker can you lobby for me to be introduced to list of greatest codex retard competition?
I would be much grateful.

 

[Gargaune]

DAII had one solid excuse: it was forced to be released early by the publisher, and Bioware didn't really implement anything close to its intended scope of the project.

EA forced Bioware:

• To employ massive asset and location reuse, to the point where there's like 8 locations for a 25 hour game.

Actually, this is incorrect - EA did not force BioWare to release DA2 "early" and they did not force the locations reuse (nor the wave combat, which are part of the same padding effort), all of that is squarely on BioWare. There was a thread around here in which we actually had a dev quote, I think it was Gaider, outlining that the studio knew of the tight schedule in advance. EA didn't move the goal posts on them, BioWare were given a timeframe and they simply failed to plan accordingly, underwent a major technical and assets revision they couldn't afford, then pulled every dirty trick in the book to artificially extend the gameplay hours.

P.S. citation provided