Dragon Age Dragon Age: The Veilguard Thread

[Elttharion]

I'm kinda curious, are there any good troon games? Put aside the "game is bad just because its troon" mentality aside (I agree with you, but just for the sake of the argument). Are there any troon games that are objectively good? People bring up BG3 and Elden Ring, but what else is out there?

Celeste is pretty good, tho the main dev trooned out after he finished the game and retroactively changed some more ambiguous parts of the game to include more overt troon propaganda.

 

[GentlemanCthulhu]

I'm kinda curious, are there any good troon games? Put aside the "game is bad just because its troon" mentality aside (I agree with you, but just for the sake of the argument). Are there any troon games that are objectively good? People bring up BG3 and Elden Ring, but what else is out there?

Celeste is pretty good, tho the main dev trooned out after he finished the game and retroactively changed some more ambiguous parts of the game to include more overt troon propaganda.

i did play celeste and thought it was okay. i didn't like it as much as most people since i'm not a big fan of the genre, but yeah it's not a bad game. i didn't know all those things about the dev, but i did think the game is troon-coded as i was playing it. i'm not surprised to hear that about the developer.

 

[Sallow]

I'm kinda curious, are there any good troon games? Put aside the "game is bad just because its troon" mentality aside (I agree with you, but just for the sake of the argument). Are there any troon games that are objectively good? People bring up BG3 and Elden Ring, but what else is out there?

Monkey Island 2: LeChuck's Revenge.

No, I'm serious! I'm talking about the character Largo LaGrande. See, unlike the english language, where pronouns are the sole "gendered" words in the sentence, in french (as well as in a whole bunch of other languages) even verbs and adjectives have different prefixes and suffixes depending on the sex of the subject. Sometimes they change even in different tenses. Largo LaGrande is how you'd spell the name of a woman. For a man the name would be Largo LeGrand (just like LeChuck.) That and the frilly underwear. I suspect this is the reason the character never returned for any of the sequels - someone at LucasArts realized they'd catch shit with their progressive industry allies over their physically repugnant, violent, murderous psychopath character if anyone figured out he was a troon.

 

[Mauman]

I'm kinda curious, are there any good troon games? Put aside the "game is bad just because its troon" mentality aside (I agree with you, but just for the sake of the argument). Are there any troon games that are objectively good? People bring up BG3 and Elden Ring, but what else is out there?

Celeste is pretty good, tho the main dev trooned out after he finished the game and retroactively changed some more ambiguous parts of the game to include more overt troon propaganda.

i did play celeste and thought it was okay. i didn't like it as much as most people since i'm not a big fan of the genre, but yeah it's not a bad game. i didn't know all those things about the dev, but i did think the game is troon-coded as i was playing it. i'm not surprised to hear that about the developer.

I'm always amused how that game reinforced the old (yet mostly true) stereotype of linking Trannies to the mentally ill.

And yet people slopped it up.

 

[Lacrymas]

The quintessential tranny game is Caves of Qud. Although I'm not sure whether it's trans, furry or both. Definitely furry, though.

 

[Mauman]

The quintessential tranny game is Caves of Qud. Although I'm not sure whether it's trans, furry or both. Definitely furry, though.

And, by the admission of the devs, Jewish.

Though after learning about the state of Berlin after WW1 (Quick run down - got unbelievably degenerate, many Jews involved) I guess I shouldn't be surprised.

There are days I wish I had remained ignorant.

 

[Taxnomore]

I have now finished Dragon Ave : The Veilguard

Buckle up, buckaroos, let's REVIEW THIS.


Dragon Age - The Veilguard
an objective review

Dragon Age, the Veilguard is the fourth game in a series that is not even a series at all.

I have basically played all four games in a year, never having touched any of that series before. Each passage from an installment to another was preceded by wondering about what kind of insane gameplay changes and tweaked they had come up with this time, and then spending the rest of the game wondering why they did all those changes.

I was not sure what I expected getting in The Veilguard. Dragon Age Origins was very nice. Dragon Age 2 felt like the best thing they could come up with that timeframe...
... but by the time of Inquisition, you start to feel it, to see it, the chaotic development. The loss of direction. Dragon Age Inquisition was, as a game, an exercise on withstanding awful characters with a boring plot, an uninspired world, and a confusing story that fails to either make sense or provide interest.

Dragon Age The Veilguard is better than Dragon Age Inquisition.

But it's not enough. It's far from being enough.

The story

Dragon Age : The Veilguard (what is a Veilguard ? It's not revealed, who cares.) starts with best buddies Rook, and old-time returning Varric trying to hunt Solas.

You see, Solas, a former buddy in Dragon Age Inquisition has turned out to be the Dread Wolf, an old ancient elven god among several ancient elven gods. It's implied the elven gods are evil, and Solas outsmarted them by locking them in the Fade. Sadly, the appearance of the Fade is also the start of the decline for the elven civilization, and now Solas wants to destroy the fade.

Destroying the fade would have the odd side effect of basically destroying the entire world, since a flood of demons would arrive on Thedas.

It's not explained how removing the Fade is going to make things better for the elves.
Heck, it's not explained how an incredible army of demons descending and wreaking chaos on the world is going to make things better for the world but Solas has a plan. Except he won't tell you.

Solas, in the Elven pantheon, is basically the God of lies. And he will lie to you in the game many times, as he has lied in the previous one. The fact he won't tell you how destroying the world is not a bad thing because, hey, you can't make omelette without breaking eggs, and besides, just trust me, raises all kind of questions. Solas is justifying saving his people by destroying the entire world.

It's like if they made a game with an evil race of machines who want to eradicate all living beings because if they let them live, the living beings will die. Haha, who would do that ?

Well, anyways, the party kinda stops Solas, but it has an odd side effect. Solas gets trapped in the fade, and two evil elven gods, Cúchulainn eeer Ghilanain and Elgar'nan get out out of the fade and start fucking up everything because they are EVIL GODS.

You might wonder : Taxalot is now almost at the end of the paragraph of the story and he's still just describing the introduction, we must thank this man for avoiding spoilers.

Spoiler

There is no spoiler.

Nothing happens after that scene until the end of the game.

Nothing.

There is one significant mission where the party manages to kill one of the dragons (the Elven gods are invincible until their tamed dragon is dead).

There is another one where they kill an elven god.
And there is the final hours of the game where the party launches the final assault against... the other elven god.

In the meantime, I'd like to point that nothing significant happens in the grand scheme of things. You recruit party members and deal with their personal problems. And sometimes meddle in local politics, but you do that mostly because your buddies have personal problems. You see, it's seriously hinted at several times that if someone has personal problems and he fights an evil god, he dies. Therefore, it is your duty to make sure they're fine with their sexuality if they want to survive the battles ahead.

It's sad, because when it wants to tell a story... Veilguard is fairly competent ?

I mean, besides the nonsensical premise.

Those action-packed scenes where they set up and assault the enemy dragons and gods couldn't have been easy to set up, write, code, and I'll say this about this game : they are _very_ competent. Rhythm is mastered. You really feel involved.

But this one thing Dragon Age : The Veilguard does very correctly, it is, in fact, not too interested in doing it. I have spent around 80 hours playing the Veilguard. Those nice moments I just described total around 10 hours.

So what do you do the rest of the time ?

You help people in shit that you don't care about else the world is going to die. Or they are going to die. It's not clear.

Spoiler

It's only them who dies, so, you do you, I guess.

The characters
So let's see who the gang is.

Varric

Ah ! Varric ! Good old Varric ! A dwarf with a crossbow named Bianca who is friendly and do lot of snarky remarks, he was a favorite of many Dragon Age players in DA2 & Inquisition - what's not to like about Varric ?
Well, Varric is dead.
After the introductory cutscene, he is dead. Totally dead.
You will talk to him.
You will interfact with him.
He'll join party banters in the central hub of the game.
But he's dead.

It is indeed explained near the end of the game that Solas, who is actively trying to gain your trust, lied about not killing Varric in the battle at the end of the game, so he planted him in your head, so you kept thinking Varric was alive and well, you don't hate Solas. Like anything Solas makes, this doesn't make any sense. What if you talk to unexistent Varric while someone is around ? What if, in the several months the game is supposed to take place in, someone says "goddamit I'm so sad Varric is dead (((( " . How does that work ? How does that not even backfire stupidly for Solas ?

Well allow me to spoil it : Solas stupid's plan works because nothing makes sense in that game.


Harding

Listen, it's not easy being a female dwarf already, what with the weird shape and all. But I have a thing with freckles. I know some people are into these but I'm the opposite of that. I had to spend my playthrough looking at Harding's face and hating every second of it while feeling guilty because Harding is a fairly ok character when it comes to the standards of that series. There is nothing bad to say about Harding except her face.
Harding is that girl you like but it's a shame that she's ugly.
Harding has a strange character arc when she turns into some kind of demi-god Titan.
What could it all mean ?
Who knows, who cares, Harding died near the end of my playthrough before anything got resolved so I guess it's bound to remain a mystery.


Neve

Neve is the hottest babe of the party. Sadly, it is difficult to care about her issues. You see, her town is under the threat of a dangerous sect and she really wants to save that town, Dock Town, as she has come to see herself the protector of that town.
I get it, Neve, but can you see I'm trying to kill two evil gods and that the attention you ask me to spend on that single town is a bit disproportioned, to uh, the matters that are at hand ?

Neve is that girl you want to like a lot, but fail to do so because she just seems to be in a different world than yours.


Bellara

Bellara is that elven girl who is not asian, but is totally asian. Come on, just say it, Bioware, Bellara is asian.
She's also the only character I took a screenshot of when I thought "I need to do a review." Here it is.

She's on the right btw.
Bellara has a brother issue. You see, her brother has fallen into some kind of evil cult worshipping demons. I can understand it's an issue, Bellara, I just don't give a fuck, I'm trying to save a world while not looking too much at your ass.

Davrin

Davrin likes griffons. He has a griffon. Davrin is that friend you really don't like but you keep seing because he has a nice dog and you like to play with the dog.
Davrin is a grey warden. As such, he's supposed to edie when he kills an archdemon/dragon. When that happens, he tells us he's ready to do so. When Davrin kills the archdemon, he doesn't die. It's never really explained why. I would have accepted it, if we kept the griffon, but okay, you can stay, Davrin.

Emmrich

Emrich is a fabulous necromancer. It's never really said he's gay, at least he didn't openly say it in my game but come ooooooooooooooooonn..... Emrich
Emmrich is interesting. He looks weird and queer, but I like him more than Neve. Is it gay if I like Emmrich than Neve, although Neve is hotter ? I don't know. At least this guy lives in a different world than me (he loves DEAD PEOPLE) but is open about explaining it and showing around his job. Emrich has interesting stuff to talk about. Like anyone else in the party, he has an issue. You see, he has a very toxic coworker who wants to do bad unforgivable undead stuff, to the contrary of Emmrich who does undead magic but he's nice.
Emrich also has a cute skeleton slave, and he's the cutest thing and also pretty badass when a dramatic moment comes.
I like Emrich.
He also ressurects you if you die if you unlock his particular skill.

Lucanis

In several instances, Dragon Age Veilguards wants to remind you that it is a game for ADULTS. Forget the childish arguments, forget the cartoony art style, it's a game made by adults for adults, okay ???????
Lucanis is here to remind you that. He has a definitive adult trait : he's obsessed about coffee.
See ? Grown up stuff.

Lucanis hated me during most of the game although he did a good job pretending not to. You see, at some point of the game, two different cities are under attack. Lucanis really wanted me to defend his city, but I choose the other one. He hated me. Everyone in that city hated me.
Listen, there were like DOZENS of people in that city, why does he think I would have made a difference, huh ?

Taash.
Who the fuck knows ?

Rook

Rook is your main character. Most of the game, Rook feels like he's the only adult in the room if you want to play it that way. Rook knows he has two gods and two dragons to kill and is surprisingly okay with dealing with everyone's bullshit while doing that. Rook is the best character in a video game because holy fuuuuuuuck it can't be easy for you guy, kudos.


Gameplay

Pew pew pew pew ! Schlack ! Pew pew ! Boing !


I hear the game being described as a lot of things :

* Mass Effect : Veilguard.
Yes, the game's structure is basically Mass Effect. Sidequests, small hubs, and final "suicide mission".
However, it feels to be as interesting and I found the entirety a lot more frantic and actiony.
As such, to me, it's more Devil May Cry : Veilguard.

As such, allow me to tell you what it's not : a RPG.
I'm sorry, everyone, but unlocking stuff linearly in a skill tree (because you wouldn't do it any other way) and equipping better items found linearly when they happen to be better than your current items doesn't a RPG make. The combat is jumping around, rolling, unleashing super attacks, and mashing buttons. It's Devil May Cry, and that's _fine_ if that's what you like, okay ? It's also halfway competent at that, and the combats are fun.

Well, they'd be fun in a game that doesn't last 80 hours.

Because ultimately, you will find a strategy that works and all combats, all of them are going to be the same combat.
Again, and again.
As a ranger, only strategy works. Stay in the distance, dodge attacks, fire arrows, unleash special skills when they are unavailable, and only come close when there is no risk to save arrows.

I have done that for 80 hours.
I am tired RPGCodex.

Which is why I'm ending this review here.

Conclusion

Dragon Age Veilguard is not a shitshow. It is a game that _does_ manage to be great in the little moments it has, but fails to raise any bar or meet any quality standard during the rest of the experience. It's a sad note to see that Bioware is closing over this, because it is at the very least an improvement on DA:I. With quality writers, and a more focused effort on gameplay variety, it could have been great. Instead, I spent some of my playthrough actually enjoying the game, and most of it wishing it was over already.

 

[Child of Malkav]

Skinwalker I summon thee!!!!!

 

[Skinwalker]

Skinwalker I summon thee!!!!!

taxalot/taxnomore is already on the veilsisters list, he is scheduled for an wellness session with a Lithuanian hitman.

 

[Dishonoredbr]

I have now finished Dragon Ave : The Veilguard

Buckle up, buckaroos, let's REVIEW THIS.


Dragon Age - The Veilguard
an objective review

Dragon Age, the Veilguard is the fourth game in a series that is not even a series at all.

I have basically played all four games in a year, never having touched any of that series before. Each passage from an installment to another was preceded by wondering about what kind of insane gameplay changes and tweaked they had come up with this time, and then spending the rest of the game wondering why they did all those changes.

I was not sure what I expected getting in The Veilguard. Dragon Age Origins was very nice. Dragon Age 2 felt like the best thing they could come up with that timefrime...
... but by the time of Inquisition, you start to feel it, to see it, the chaotic development. The loss of direction. Dragon Age Inquisition was, as a game, an exercise on withstanding awful characters with a boring plot, an uninspired world, and a confusing story that fails to either make sense or provide interest.

Dragon Age The Veilguard is better than Dragon Age Inquisition.

But it's not enough. It's far from being enough.

The story
View attachment 61393
Dragon Age : The Veilguard (what is a Veilguard ? It's not revealed, who cares.) starts with best buddies Rook, and old-time returning Varric trying to hunt Solas.

You see, Solas, a former buddy in Dragon Age Inquisition has turned out to be the Dread Wolf, an old ancient elven god among several ancient elven gods. It's implied the elven gods are evil, and Solas outsmarted them by locking them in the Fade. Sadly, the appearance of the Fade is also the start of the decline for the elven civilization, and now Solas wants to destroy the fade.

Destroying the fade would have the odd side effect of basically destroying the entire world, since a flood of demons would arrive on Thedas.

It's not explained how removing the Fade is going to make things better for the elves.
Heck, it's not explained how an incredible army of demons descending and wreaking chaos on the world is going to make things better for the world but Solas has a plan. Except he won't tell you.

Solas, in the Elven pantheon, is basically the God of lies. And he will lie to you in the game many times, as he has lied in the previous one. The fact he won't tell you how destroying the world is not a bad thing because, hey, you can't make omelette without breaking eggs, and besides, just trust me, raises all kind of questions. Solas is justifying saving his people by destroying the entire world.

It's like if they made a game with an evil race of machines who want to eradicate all living beings because if they let them live, the living beings will die. Haha, who would do that ?

Well, anyways, the party kinda stops Solas, but it has an odd side effect. Solas gets trapped in the fade, and two evil elven gods, Cúchulainn eeer Ghilanain and Elgar'nan get out out of the fade and start fucking up everything because they are EVIL GODS.

You might wonder : Taxalot is now almost at the end of the paragraph of the story and he's still just describing the introduction, we must thank this man for avoiding spoilers.

Spoiler

There is no spoiler.

Nothing happens after that scene until the end of the game.

Nothing.

There is one significant mission where the party manages to kill one of the dragons (the Elven gods are invincible until their tamed dragon is dead).

There is another one where they kill an elven god.
And there is the final hours of the game where the party launches the final assault against... the other elven god.

In the meantime, I'd like to point that nothing significant happens in the grand scheme of things. You recruit party members and deal with their personal problems. And sometimes meddle in local politics, but you do that mostly because your buddies have personal problems. You see, it's seriously hinted at several times that if someone has personal problems and he fights an evil god, he dies. Therefore, it is your duty to make sure they're fine with their sexuality if they want to survive the battles ahead.

It's sad, because when it wants to tell a story... Veilguard is fairly competent ?

I mean, besides the nonsensical premise.

Those action-packed scenes where they set up and assault the enemy dragons and gods couldn't have been easy to set up, write, code, and I'll say this about this game : they are _very_ competent. Rhythm is mastered. You really feel involved.

But this one thing Dragon Age : The Veilguard does very correctly, it is, in fact, not too interested in doing it. I have spent around 80 hours playing the Veilguard. Those nice moments I just described total around 10 hours.

So what do you do the rest of the time ?

You help people in shit that you don't care about else the world is going to die. Or they are going to die. It's not clear.

Spoiler

It's only them who dies, so, you do you, I guess.

The characters
So let's see who the gang is.

Varric
View attachment 61394
Ah ! Varric ! Good old Varric ! A dwarf with a crossbow named Bianca who is friendly and do lot of snarky remarks, he was a favorite of many Dragon Age players in DA2 & Inquisition - what's not to like about Varric ?
Well, Varric is dead.
After the introductory cutscene, he is dead. Totally dead.
You will talk to him.
You will interfact with him.
He'll join party banters in the central hub of the game.
But he's dead.

It is indeed explained near the end of the game that Solas, who is actively trying to gain your trust, lied about not killing Varric in the battle at the end of the game, so he planted him in your head, so you kept thinking Varric was alive and well, you don't hate Solas. Like anything Solas makes, this doesn't make any sense. What if you talk to unexistent Varric while someone is around ? What if, in the several months the game is supposed to take place in, someone says "goddamit I'm so sad Varric is dead (((( " . How does that work ? How does that not even backfire stupidly for Solas ?

Well allow me to spoil it : Solas stupid's plan works because nothing makes sense in that game.


Harding
View attachment 61395
Listen, it's not easy being a female dwarf already, what with the weird shape and all. But I have a thing with freckles. I know some people are into these but I'm the opposite of that. I had to spend my playthrough looking at Harding's face and hating every second of it while feeling guilty because Harding is a fairly ok character when it comes to the standards of that series. There is nothing bad to say about Harding except her face.
Harding is that girl you like but it's a shame that she's ugly.
Harding has a strange character arc when she turns into some kind of demi-god Titan.
What could it all mean ?
Who knows, who cares, Harding died near the end of my playthrough before anything got resolved so I guess it's bound to remain a mystery.


Neve
View attachment 61396
Neve is the hottest babe of the party. Sadly, it is difficult to care about her issues. You see, her town is under the threat of a dangerous sect and she really wants to save that town, Dock Town, as she has come to see herself the protector of that town.
I get it, Neve, but can you see I'm trying to kill two evil gods and that the attention you ask me to spend on that single town is a bit disproportioned, to uh, the matters that are at hand ?

Neve is that girl you want to like a lot, but fail to do so because she just seems to be in a different world than yours.


Bellara
View attachment 61397
Bellara is that elven girl who is not asian, but is totally asian. Come on, just say it, Bioware, Bellara is asian.
She's also the only character I took a screenshot of when I thought "I need to do a review." Here it is.

She's on the right btw.
Bellara has a brother issue. You see, her brother has fallen into some kind of evil cult worshipping demons. I can understand it's an issue, Bellara, I just don't give a fuck, I'm trying to save a world while not looking too much at your ass.

Davrin
View attachment 61398
Davrin likes griffons. He has a griffon. Davrin is that friend you really don't like but you keep seing because he has a nice dog and you like to play with the dog.
Davrin is a grey warden. As such, he's supposed to edie when he kills an archdemon/dragon. When that happens, he tells us he's ready to do so. When Davrin kills the archdemon, he doesn't die. It's never really explained why. I would have accepted it, if we kept the griffon, but okay, you can stay, Davrin.

Emmrich
View attachment 61399
Emrich is a fabulous necromancer. It's never really said he's gay, at least he didn't openly say it in my game but come ooooooooooooooooonn..... Emrich
Emmrich is interesting. He looks weird and queer, but I like him more than Neve. Is it gay if I like Emmrich than Neve, although Neve is hotter ? I don't know. At least this guy lives in a different world than me (he loves DEAD PEOPLE) but is open about explaining it and showing around his job. Emrich has interesting stuff to talk about. Like anyone else in the party, he has an issue. You see, he has a very toxic coworker who wants to do bad unforgivable undead stuff, to the contrary of Emmrich who does undead magic but he's nice.
Emrich also has a cute skeleton slave, and he's the cutest thing and also pretty badass when a dramatic moment comes.
I like Emrich.
He also ressurects you if you die if you unlock his particular skill.

Lucanis
View attachment 61400
In several instances, Dragon Age Veilguards wants to remind you that it is a game for ADULTS. Forget the childish arguments, forget the cartoony art style, it's a game made by adults for adults, okay ???????
Lucanis is here to remind you that. He has a definitive adult trait : he's obsessed about coffee.
See ? Grown up stuff.

Lucanis hated me during most of the game although he did a good job pretending not to. You see, at some point of the game, two different cities are under attack. Lucanis really wanted me to defend his city, but I choose the other one. He hated me. Everyone in that city hated me.
Listen, there were like DOZENS of people in that city, why does he think I would have made a difference, huh ?

Taash.
Who the fuck knows ?

Rook
View attachment 61401

Rook is your main character. Most of the game, Rook feels like he's the only adult in the room if you want to play it that way. Rook knows he has two gods and two dragons to kill and is surprisingly okay with dealing with everyone's bullshit while doing that. Rook is the best character in a video game because holy fuuuuuuuck it can't be easy for you guy, kudos.


Gameplay
View attachment 61402
Pew pew pew pew ! Schlack ! Pew pew ! Boing !


I hear the game being described as a lot of things :

* Mass Effect : Veilguard.
Yes, the game's structure is basically Mass Effect. Sidequests, small hubs, and final "suicide mission".
However, it feels to be as interesting and I found the entirety a lot more frantic and actiony.
As such, to me, it's more Devil May Cry : Veilguard.

As such, allow me to tell you what it's not : a RPG.
I'm sorry, everyone, but unlocking stuff linearly in a skill tree (because you wouldn't do it any other way) and equipping better items found linearly when they happen to be better than your current items doesn't a RPG make. The combat is jumping around, rolling, unleashing super attacks, and mashing buttons. It's Devil May Cry, and that's _fine_ if that's what you like, okay ? It's also halfway competent at that, and the combats are fun.

Well, they'd be fun in a game that doesn't last 80 hours.

Because ultimately, you will find a strategy that works and all combats, all of them are going to be the same combat.
Again, and again.
As a ranger, only strategy works. Stay in the distance, dodge attacks, fire arrows, unleash special skills when they are unavailable, and only come close when there is no risk to save arrows.

I have done that for 80 hours.
I am tired RPGCodex.

Which is why I'm ending this review here.

Conclusion

Dragon Age Veilguard is not a shitshow. It is a game that _does_ manage to be great in the little moments it has, but fails to raise any bar or meet any quality standard during the rest of the experience. It's a sad note to see that Bioware is closing over this, because it is at the very least an improvement on DA:I. With quality writers, and a more focused effort on gameplay variety, it could have been great. Instead, I spent some of my playthrough actually enjoying the game, and most of it wishing it was over already.

I didn't expected to see a review for this game here huh ..

 

[Fedora Master]

Spending 80 hours to confirm what everyone knew before launch.

 

[Taxnomore]

I didn't expected to see a review for this game here huh ..

It was absolutely needed. How else could we know if the game is good or not ?

 

[Sergio]

I didn't expected to see a review for this game here huh ..

It was absolutely needed. How else could we know if the game is good or not ?

Did you REALLY have doubts?

 

[Taxnomore]

I didn't expected to see a review for this game here huh ..

It was absolutely needed. How else could we know if the game is good or not ?

Did you REALLY have doubts?

Of course! It got good reviews !

 

[Yosharian]

Yeah I'm not reading all that