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Dragon Age: The Veilguard (PC/PS5/Xbox)

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Comments

  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,103 ✭✭✭Mr Crispy


    That's how to start a thread…



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin


    I honestly copied most of it from a thread on resetera. There are some people that really know how to create threads for games. Good example here

    https://www.resetera.com/threads/stellar-blade-ot-seoulsborne.852873/



  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 23,282 Mod ✭✭✭✭Kiith


    They got the initial trailer so wrong. Looked like a moba or hero shooter.

    Gameplay trailer looks more like i'd have expected though.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,019 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    I know the gameplay has had a somewhat warmer reception than the trailer, but what I saw still makes it look like a thousand other AAA action games rather than a big, complex RPG (though I've never been a fan of Dragon Age). Granted, I have never been a big fan of Dragon Age, and really don't think Bioware is anything other than a name these days given the creative turnover and turmoil there.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 7,418 ✭✭✭Icyseanfitz


    bioware have lost all trust with me so will be waiting to see detailed reviews from places i trust



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,103 ✭✭✭Mr Crispy


    I was talking to a friend about the game reveals of the past week or so. He's never played a Bioware game before and based on that footage he assumed they just made hack and slash type action games, and couldn't understand why there was so much discourse about it. I get where he's coming from - there was nothing shown that suggests this will be a proper RPG experience.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin


    New information from Game Informer

    On Name Change:

    • "We quickly learned and realized that the absolute beating heart of this game is these authentic, diverse companions." - Game Director Corinne Bushe
    • Focus is on the team rather than Solas as the Dreadwolf and so the name was changed to reflect that
    • "Dreadwolf suggests a title focused on a specific individual whereas The Veilguard, much like Inquisition, focuses more on the team" - Creative Director John Epler

    On Character Customization:

    • 4 races - Elves, Qunari, Humans, and Dwarves
    • Can select pronouns separately from gender and adjust physical characteristics like height, shoulder width, chest size, glute and bulge size, hip width, how bloodshot your eyes are, how crooked your nose is and more
    • Hundreds of sliders to customize proportions and features like skin hue, tone, melanin and more
    • Can customize genitalia (may not actually be true but they mention that your character can be nude in the character creator when you are customizing them with stuff like bulge size)
    • 4 distinct voices (American Male/Female, British Male/Female) along with a pitch shifter for each voice to make them unique to your character

    On how Rook becomes the leader:

    • Ascends to leadership due to competency rather than destiny (although technically there is some sort of magical reason too that I will not go into)

    On Minrathous:

    • Huge city painted in magical insignia
    • Looks cyberpunk-inspired with neon city lights and brimming with detail
    • Dozens of NPCs
    • NPCs are all made using the character creation tool in the game outside of specific characters such as your recruitable companions
    • Murals of Solas appear on the walls deep within the city and things get more Elven as if you were symbolically going back in time as Minrathous is a city built by mages on the bones of what was originally the home of Elves

    On Base of Operations:

    • Called "The Lighthouse", this is the Skyhold equivalent of the game
    • Where your team bonds, grows and prepares for its adventures throughout the campaign
    • Responds to your world state and emotion and reflects the chaos and disrepair of Thedas
    • Optional conversations here will have a clock symbol over a dialogue icon in the distance for each character that you can speak to
    • Library is where your party will often regroup and prepare for the next mission
    • Companions will have unique dialogue with you at the base based on current events along with your Rook's background

    On Arlathan Forest:

    • This is where you meet the Veil Jumpers faction
    • BioWare does not shy away from minutes-long cutscenes as it helps you define your Rook's leadership style with your choices and how your team will react to your leadership
      • This is demonstrated within game's dialogue and a special relationship meter on each companion's character screen
    • Elven ruins, dense greenery, and disgusting Blight tentacles and pustules
    • Most impressive aspect of GI employee's time seeing the game
    • Art style is more in line with high fantasy reminiscent of Fable
    • Use of magic is more prevalent in the game in general which will be shown by the locations you visit
    • Whimsy of area will starkly contrast to other areas with promise of some grim locations and even grimmer story moments
      • Contrast is important

    On Bellara:

    • First companion you meet and recruit in-game (Neve automatically joins)
    • Like all companions, they are the face of their faction and your window into understanding their world
    • Sweetheart and nerd for ancient elven artifacts
    • Dressed more like an academic than a combat expert
    • Specializes in electricity and can use magic to heal you
    • Specific magic is more effective on certain enemies, however, you can equip runes that will provide you access to those different magics without necessarily having them as part of your arsenal
    • Has a unique ability that interacts with the world, but Rook can acquire these abilities to complete ability specific tasks for instances where Bellara is not in your party

    On the Menus:

    • Pressing start will show you your map, journal, character sheets, skill tree and a library for lore information
    • Can cross compare equipment and equip new gear for Rook and companions
    • Build weapon loadouts for quick change-ups mid-combat
    • Customize you and your party's abilities and builds via skill tree
    • Passive abilities unlock jump attacks and guarantee critical hit opportunities
    • Abilities add moves like "Wall of Fire"
    • Each specialization has a unique ultimate ability

    On Combat:

    • Every swing is done in real-time with special care taken to animation swing-through and canceling
    • Dash, parry, ability to charge moves and a revamped healing system allows you to use potions at your discretion using the d-pad on controller
    • Can combo attacks and "bookmark" combos with a quick dash (can pause a combo's status with a dash to safety and continue the rest of the combo afterward)
    • Pause-and-play gameplay mechanic
      • Can choose abilities, queue them up, and strategize with synergies and combos, all while targeting specific enemies
      • Letting go off wheel will play out your selections in real time
      • Bushe uses combat wheel primarily for companions while Epler uses it almost exclusively for every ability and combo
    • Each character class has a light and heavy attack, using abilities with the same inputs and interact with the combo wheel in the same way
    • The difference is in secondary attacks and defense
      • Warriors can throw their shield and can block and parry
      • Rogues can use a bow and have a longer parry window
      • Mages have magical ranged attacks and cannot parry but can throw up a shield that blocks incoming attacks automatically which uses up your mana
    • Showcased some high-level gameplay
      • 3 stacks of arcane build-up to create an "Arcane Bomb" on an enemy which does devastating damage after being hit by a heavy attack
      • Charges a heavy attack on magical staff then switches to magical daggers in a second loadout accessed with a quick tap of down on the d-pad to unleash some quick attacks, then back to staff to charge it some more and unleash a heavy attack

    On Performance:

    • Demo ran well on PC
    • Confirmed Fidelity and Performance modes on PS5 (likely same for Series X)

    On Companion Skills:

    • Can advance bonds by helping companions on their own personal quests and including them in your party for main quests
    • Relationship levels you rank up nets you a skill point to spend on them
    • Choices you make, what you say to your companions, how you help them, and more all matter to their development as characters and party members
    • Each companion has access to five abilities, you can only take 3 into combat
      • Strategize different combos and synergies within your party
    • Each companion has issues, problems, and personal quests to complete

    On Not Being An Open World:

    • Not an open world even if some of its explorable areas might feel like one
    • Hub-and-spoke design where the needs of the story are served by the level design
    • A version of Inquisition's Crossroads, network of teleporting Eluvians, returns
      • How players will traverse across Northern Thedas
    • Some areas are larger and full of secrets and treasures while others are smaller and more focused on linear storytelling
    • Arlathan Forest is an example of a smaller area but there are still optional paths and offshoots to explore for loot, healing potion refreshes, and more
    • Minimap exists for each location though linear levels will not have a fog of war that disappears as you explore like some of the bigger locations
    • Largest number of diverse biomes in series history

    Some quick stats on the Skill Trees:

    • All three are comprised of 168 total nodes
      • 13 Medium Diamond shaped nodes are for Active Abilities
      • 15 Large Diamond shaped nodes for Traits
      • 39 Large Circles for Major Passives and Upgrades
      • 57 Small Circles for Minor Passive and Stat Boosts
      • 36 Medium Spiked Circles for Ability upgrades
      • 3 Hexagons are for unlocking a Specialization(four when counting the one at the center you get as your default base class)
      • 4 Spiked Diamonds are for Unique Class/Specialization Ultimate Abilities
    • There are 10 distinct sections of the Skill Tree
      • The core base class section at the center with 9 nodes
      • 6 outer ring sections that denote specific playstyles and features totaling 114 nodes
        • 3 are Entry points to the outer ring and focus on Control, Burst, and Sustain for Rogues/Mages, and Survival, Abilities, and Weapons for Warriors
        • 3 other out ring sections lead to the 3 specialization tracks and are possibly some hybrid of the two entry sections that boarder them and prelude to the specialization
      • 3 specializations islands totaling 45 nodes
    • At lvl 30 the Warrior has spent 43 points, Rogue 41, and Mage 39
      • With 1 point per level, plus additional points you gain throughout the game through various choices and activities, max points are likely in the 70-80+ region based on the above examples, which means we'll be able to choose from about half of the available upgrade options when fully leveled and finished with the game

    Other notable highlights:

    • Rook can have two weapon loadouts for quick change in combat by pressing D-Pad Down, one example was a Mage using a Staff and Magic Daggers (currently unclear if this loadout feature includes the 3 active abilities or not)
      • "Busche begins charging a heavy attack on her magical staff, then switches to magical daggers in Rook's second loadout, accessed with a quick tap of down on the d-pad to unleash some quick light attacks, then back to the staff to finish charging its attack. She then unleashes the heavy attack, and the Arcane Bomb explodes in a liquidy whirl of green magic."



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin




  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators Posts: 81,083 Mod ✭✭✭✭Sephiroth_dude


    About time we got a release date, October is gonna one packed month.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin


    • Details from Discord Q&A, putting in spoiler tags

    -Solas is the only elven god with a tremendous aversion to tea, elgar'non would drink gas station coffee, ghilan'nain would drink herbal remedies for gut health

    -There is no 'hug companion' button but there will be instances where you can hug companions

    -No quests explicitly like the DAI ball, but there will be political/faction ramifications in the story

    -There is a toggle for on/off nudity, underclothing chosen at character creation affects this but can be overriden by the toggle

    -Taash is youngest companion (Early 20s), Emmrich is oldest at early 50's

    -Critical path missions tend to be a little more linear, since that allows them to be more highly handcrafted, but there are explorable open areas (Arlathan, wetlands, crossroads)

    -Your team mostly won't have Venatori gear (outside of a unique helmet), they couldn't get the cloth stuff working to the quality they wanted

    -No romanceable NPCs outside of the companions, they wanted to really focus on the companions

    -Re: Companion's strange abilities: The veil is not in great shape, Solas has not been making things better, lot of magic coming back to the world thru the torn veil

    -Epler really loves Bellara & Lucanis' connection and how it evolves through the game despite how different they are, both believe family is super important. Also really likes the Neve/Bellara sisterly relationship (it developed organically through development). Corinne is a huge fan of Taash and Emmrich, says that their banter is so good and that they do not see eye to eye on necromancy at ALL

    -Re: most challenging companion to design, Harding involved a lot of figuring out how her new bilities played into her combat kit and how to onboard those abilities

    -On very hard difficulties, you do not need to bring a tank. In combat encounters, under the hood they have things that control the amount of enemies attacking rook any any given time to keep the pressure on rook at appropriate levels. It is beneficial but not required to have 1 of each class in your party. Thinks it might be more flexible in that sense than past games.

    Acknowledges that people really get attached to companions and it feels bad to leave your favs behind. So the game is built & designed around that. Corinne gives an extended example about having an archer rook without a tank, so instead she brings Bellara to do a gravity well or Neve's time slow to control the enemies and get them off of her rook so she can excel as an archer. Also, runes can be chosen to help that playstyle (for example, the AOE freeze can accomplish this as well)

    -In dev high difficulty playthroughs, most difficult part to plan around isn't necessarily aggro management but instead planning around elemental damage/synergies

    -Re: Faction items, you'll be getting a lot of gear tied to factions, as you help other factions get stronger etc you might get better gear from them. For example, having armor from veiljumpers will look like it was made by veiljumpers and also tend to be mechanically connected (ie electric damage).

    -Evoker mage can lean into all of the elements, not just ice

    -"Fashion" is the true endgame". There is a full transmog system. Any piece of gear you find unlocks appearance for that gear. YOu can find some appearance-only cosmetics that are only for transmog (typically more niche options. For example: Looking like a training dummy).

    Can transmog both fieldwear and casualwear. "If you want to wear plate armor while chilling around the lighthouse, as a mage, more power to you"

    -Epler has spent the most time in transmog menu out of all menus in the game

    -Re Combos: Mages apply weakened/overwhelmed debuffs (primers), mages detonate sunder debuff. Rogues apply weakened/sunder, detonate overwhelmed. Warriors apply sundered/overwhelmed, detonate weakened. This R-P-S relationship can be one of the benefits of having one of each class. Gear/skills/runes can break this paradigm. Lot of flexibility.

    -We will see more of lighthouse, and there will be more of that next month

    -Gifts? Yes, you can give gifts to companions. Designer dusty advocated for this. Not transactional, won't be farming random items and turning them over. Out in the world in specific locations, you can buy a gift that is very personal to the companions, there's a nice acknowledgment, and this will be reflected in their room.

    -Some character concepts have been around very long, others come in later in development as they realize there is a gap in the narrative. They want writers to be writing companions that they like, not just that they need. Though some characters change from old concept art, typically they retain the original core intention.

    Generally speaking, writers are writing short stories about characters they are passionate about. Neve/Lucanis/Emmrich were always companions even before the short stories. Whereas harding was created in Inquisition to kind of connect the zones, a writer was passionate about exploring them and so they got promoted to companion for DATV

    -Main incentives for multiple playthroughs? Three classes play very differently, Epler's fav class changes every playthrough. There are choices and different outcomes, content you will/wont see based on choices.

    -Developing the game with elemental effects as a huge focus meant that all classes needed access to these damage types, and that meant that they had to be visually represented (which is why it seems like rogues and warrior have a more magical bent). It was a major goal to make warriors seem more visually interesting/impactful, though Corinne says you can make a build that seems more physical-based if that's something you want to do

    -Veilguard does not require anciliary material to enjoy ("I -NEED- to read xyz"). Epler does shout out The Missing and Tevinter Nights (companions and thematic ideas), Tevinter Nights + Vows/Vengeance for the kind of state of the world. Epler says these enhance the experience rather than are required.

    -Regarding Accessibility settings, they are more focused on the player than the companions (enemy health/timing) so they don't have a setting for companion damage. But there is gear/buffs that will increase the damage of the companions outright.

    -You will meet Maevaris Tilani in the game, this was exciting for Corinne as a trans woman

    -Will we find out what happened to Lucanis' parents? Yes, Epler briefly alludes to the antivan politics

    -Any jealousy dialogues? Hard locked romances? Yes, there is a place where you commit to it being exclusive. Epler says they wanted to be very clear/upfont about that point. No jealousy dialogues. There's a point in the story where if you haven't committed, that opportunity might go away. Epler says it will be v ery clear so you don't feel screwed over by this

    -You don't need to be a veiljumper to be a veil-ranger, or a crow to be a spellblade. Don't want players to feel restricted if they wanted to grey warden spellblade for instance

    -Corinne asks to go off script, replies to someone in chat saying 'Poly next time tho" by saying "No promises but, I'm with you"

    -There is some way to save characters you make so you don't have to start from scratch every time. Caveats: In the character creator, you can import character data from an existing save that's local to the machine since the game is offline. No online character sharing mechanic.

    -Companion quests are varied, all companions have a personal arc, the nature of their problems are often external, but tend to be tied to their personal growth as a character. Epler emphasizes that characters grow over the course of DATV

    -"Is Lucanis Possessed", Lucanis, "the demon" has spent a lot of time killing venatori that knows a lot about demons, so someone thought it would be a good idea to MAKE THAT NICKNAME STICK.

    -Characters don't react to your specialization, partly because you can refund and respec. Could have a different spec between encounters.

    -Corinne says you have tools and shouldn't miss out on things based on party selection. Some quests can expire based on choices/plot progression, but in general they give you the tools to not miss out on that stuff. Corinne gave a few examples of companions showing up in the world and how that might lead to adventures with them in some way.

    -Specializations represent training and fighting styles used by factions, but you don't have to be that faction to learn those techniques. "All it means to use the veil ranger specialization is that I am fighting -like- the veiljumpers"

    -Thedas is a southern continent

    -There are a few main story missions that require you to use a certain companion. This tends to be the exception rather than the rule. Sometimes companion's faction or story arc ties so closely to a story mission, but it's rare. They will probably be required for their own arc stuff.

    -You can pause every cutscene in the game. There is no dialogue history mechanic, they investigated it but it will not be in the game.

    -There is not a 'mechanic' behind companions getting together, different companions have different attractions. You can see these relationships starting to develop throughout the game. They will progress further when you 'commit' to someone else or if you don't romance anyone. They will have friendships and rivalries with each other.

    -Davrin: Stern, thoughtful, considerate, soft side develops over time, his kindness is brought out by certain companions, strong sense of pride, might have rivalries with other companions. Knows who he wants to be and his arc is about that. Not just a warden, he is a monster hunter outright, very much is about learning weaknesses etc.

    -Elves often are shoeless to become closer to nature, but it's not true of every Dalish clan (they are widely spread). Bellara for example is in ruins all the time and shoes are probably a good idea there. Veiljumpers are very practical due to living a dangerous life.

    -All companions do have 'casual wear' in their downtime/relaxed moments. Corinne hyped up Emmrich's casual wear.

    -All companions have fav foods, DATV is the most they've ever talked about food. People on the team have varied cooking skillsets, bellara and lucanis are basically team cooks, so that no one starves or dies

    -There are grander dwarven beards (braids, beads etc), Corinne says at some point there will be some dwarf rook gameplay pre-launch. Says it was a challenge to get beards working with armor lol. Epler/Corinne shout out the beard tech and animators/etc at bioware. Seems like you can put dwarven beards on humans/qunari tho

    -Will the solavellans have a chance at a happy ending? John chooses not to answer. Corinne: "I thought y'all WANTED the pain!" Shouts out Trick for doing a great job with Solas. Corinne says she is the solavellan shipper on the leadership team and is repping the fans

    -Faction choice includes unique dialogue with connected companions. They won't necessarily know you directly but will have potentially heard of you

    -Veilguard hanging out? Yeah, John says the companions feel a lot like a found family who are invested in each other. Manifests in scenes, banter, lighthouse interactions. It's very important that the games don't feel like a theme park just for Rook, want companions to feel like their own people, not just within the sphere of rook.

    -A lot of the solas stuff is connected to Rook moreso than the companions. You can make it friendlier or antagonistic. That said, there are occasionally relationships/follower moments that cross over with Solas. Bellara/Davrin for example have complex thoughts on Solas.

    -UI: Can hide damage numbers, minimap, wayfinding markers, player health bar, incoming attack indicator. Reasonably robust, might not support every single request

    -Q about lockpicking. Each companion has exploration abilities, thematically relevant. Rook does find a certain dagger that gives them a method to use companions exploration abilities even if companion is not there (so you don't have to go back and swap companions)

    -Yes, you can refund all skill points, no cost.

    -There are not officially 'act 1, act 2' etc markers, but for the sake of spoiler discussion there are critical path points that should be fairly self explanatory.

    -Race exclusive helmets? All helmets can be worn by all lineages with one exception: Qunari facepaint (said there are facepaint variants)

    -Tinting armor? No direct armor dying. Each armor piece has bespoke colors, but for many armor pieces there are color variant cosmetics, often aligned with factions. Corinne promises some pink armors

    -Assan has brothers/sisters

    -Surnames are entirely based on faction background choice, it gets mentioned in dialogue a decent amount

    -Any time they bring back a character, they consider what changed for them. (Varric, Morrigan). Morrigan is coming to terms with a lot of truths about herself &her mother, and accepting who she was. Generally don't want characters to feel stagnant.

    -Katie accidentally drops an f-bomb when she thinks her discord went down

    -Spellbade: All classes have 2 weapon sets, mage has staff and orb+dagger. You can swip to the other weapon even mid-weapon swings. Spellblade has a lot of extra functionality/depth when using orb/dagger but the staff's heavy attack can have a trait where it charges even when using the other weapons.

    -Northern Thedas has a different city elf/dalish elf dynamic in a lot of different places. Mournwatch for example doesn't care which kind of elf someone is

    -More info on accessibility features will come closer to launch. There will be a feature or blog post so they can go in depth on this

    -Final question is on localization: It's not just direct translation. Often a double entendre doesn't translate over, Epler talks about writers making dirty subtle jokes and then being forced to explain them in great detail to localization teams. They do try to keep groups of characters having similar accents even in other languages



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin


    Previews

    https://www.vg247.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-is-so-much-more-than-you-think-it-is-and-it-channels-biowares-best

    https://www.destructoid.com/hands-on-dragon-age-the-veilguard-has-action-companions-and-world-building-in-full-bioware-form/

    https://kotaku.com/dragon-age-veilguard-preview-bioware-rook-solas-rpg-1851648350

    https://www.polygon.com/impressions/452864/dragon-age-the-veilguard-preview-pc

    https://wccftech.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-exclusive-qa-no-side-quest-exists-without-contributing-to-the-narrative/

    https://wccftech.com/dragon-age-the-veilguard-hands-on-preview-rook-takes-queen-checkmate/

    https://www.pcgamer.com/games/dragon-age/the-veilguard-preview-hands-on/

    https://www.gamesradar.com/games/dragon-age/dragon-age-the-veilguard-hands-on-preview/

    https://www.eurogamer.net/after-playing-it-all-day-dragon-age-the-veilguard-feels-like-the-series-mass-effect-2-moment

    https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age-the-veilguard-preview-bioware-finally-nails-the-character-creator-ive-always-wanted

    https://www.gamespot.com/articles/dragon-age-the-veilguard-feels-like-bioware-at-its-most-confident/1100-6526566/



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 14,382 ✭✭✭✭Potential-Monke


    Didn't really have an interest in this until the State of Play last night. It looks good, and I see references to this being the ME2 of Dragon Age. Interest piqued.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,936 ✭✭✭nix


    What class are you guys gonna play?

    I think I'm gonna go with the trans male with breast removal surgery scars that identifies as non-binary..



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,019 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    That's not a 'class', it's an entirely optional choice in the character creator for whoever wants to avail of it, much like games like Cyberpunk and Baldur's Gate 3 also offered some degree of gender customisability in their character creators.

    Totally ignorable if you'd like, but the option is there for those who'd like to avail of it. It will be a nice addition for any players who wish to have the option - including potentially one of the game's directors, who is trans herself.



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,936 ✭✭✭nix


    It's a joke Johnny, jeez, talk about walking right into it 😆



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin




  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,936 ✭✭✭nix


    Watched the video below, you just cant trust reviews anymore, at least not early access reviews from lets face it, clearly cherry picked shills..



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,349 ✭✭✭McFly85


    Just find some publications or reviewers you trust and ignore the ones you don’t. If a lot of people like it it might be that it’s just good.

    And I think this was always going to be divisive as people can want very different things from a dragon age game. I’m sorta tempted but might wait for the sale.



  • Moderators, Category Moderators, Arts Moderators, Computer Games Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 30,019 CMod ✭✭✭✭johnny_ultimate


    There are clearly some no-name outlets out there who are given codes to boost Metacritic scores, and of course publishers do some degree of vetting of who gets review code (you often see Digital Foundry denied review code when there's something awry, for example). But it's conspiratorial nonsense to suggest every review of this game is from a shill - the Fextralife video even underlines that. Not only are there plenty of outlets who have a long record of trustworthy, honest reviews, but quite a few of the reviews of the game I've seen are mixed to negative.

    Whatever about a few outlets being denied a code for whatever reason (I'm always on the side of more review codes), it's clear an awful lot of outlets did get code and reviewed it fairly. Enough so that it confirmed I have no interest in playing it.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,936 ✭✭✭nix


    Ok not all shills yes but cherry picked none the less, and yeah agree Mcfly, though the issue is the reviewers id trust are the ones that ain't getting the review codes 😄



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,734 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    I wouldn't have even thought Fextralife were classed as reviewers. I thought they just did game guides and walkthroughs and stuff (and do excellent content in that regard, especially for Souls games). Even looking at their site there are very few reviews up from the past year, only really some of the bigger games but it doesn't seem like they're big "reviewers" who would be getting review copies in advance etc.

    Kinda Funny reviewed it and gave it a decent score (not 10/10, opinions ranged between 8 and 9 mostly), but their discussion about the game seemed fair and balanced, warts and all, so I'm happy enough.



  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 53,842 Mod ✭✭✭✭Necro


    So this isn't unlocking digitally until 4pm tomorrow? BOOOO! I was hoping to play it from midnight!



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 3,247 ✭✭✭goodlad


    Same here, heads wrecked about the 4pm release.



  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 15,239 Mod ✭✭✭✭FutureGuy


    what a disaster about that 4pm release. My first digital game in an age.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin


    Yeah its such an odd thing. Most games launch at midnight in your region. Like it releases at 3am in New Zealand and they are usually the first to play games when released normally



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭brady12


    Very on fence about this . The you tubers I trust say it sucks but all websites saying it's good 🙉. Ea play pro or whatever it's called might be safest on pc.



  • Moderators, Computer Games Moderators Posts: 15,239 Mod ✭✭✭✭FutureGuy


    UPDATE: Contacted PS Supported, got refunded and bought disc version. Wife is 5 hours in, 4 hours on character creation :D



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin


    So for those planning to play it, what class are you going for? I went with Rogue in inquisition but I'm tempted with going with Mage this time. Need to look into the different factions too



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 2,393 ✭✭✭Cotts72


    How are people finding it? Havent read much reviews but are they negative ones leaning towards the fact the dialogue appears to be more "PC" ?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,936 ✭✭✭nix


    Appears to be? I watched a 2min clip thats going around social media, it spent the entire 2min time lecturing on the use of pronouns, is that what people want from fantasy RPG's now? :D

    Boggles the mind..



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,103 ✭✭✭Mr Crispy


    Some minds are more easily boggled than others.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭brady12


    It's a terrible look all right . Unfortunately this is way gaming is now the left vs the right they are two extremes one side are discriminatory nasty people and the other side of it are insufferable clowns who get offended by everything . I just find myself in the middle wondering is the game fun or not 🤣



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭brady12


    I creep on both neogaf and rest era and find both sides argument insufferable tbh .



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  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,936 ✭✭✭nix


    Yeah im the same but im also heavily leaned into the "keep it the **** out of games/movies etc and stop shoe horning it into already established IPs kk plz thx" camp..



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 896 ✭✭✭taxAHcruel


    A pity if true - given the character "Krem" in inquisition was a very well done Trans character directly when you interacted with him and indirectly in how Iron Bull talked about him and treated him and a had a decently written backstory for how brief it was presented.

    Like some other users above I generally dislike when this stuff is shoehorned in "just cos" but I thought Krem was a great addition to that world. No in your face lecturing at all even when Iron Bull gets a bit firm in describing him as a man rather than just "presenting" as a man.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭brady12


    anyone on boards playing it ? What is the gameplay & writing like ?



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 9,275 ✭✭✭EoinMcLovin


    I'm probably 2 hours in, mage combat is different, tend to use dagger and orb over staff. Dialog is pretty basic so far



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,213 ✭✭✭brady12


    Thanks . Downloading on Ea play pro will give it a go later .



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 10,761 ✭✭✭✭degrassinoel


    was gonna buy it last night, but after watching a few livestreams i gave up on that thought.

    After ME:A and Anthem i was never going to preorder this, but anyway. The plot is awful, it looks graphically bland or cartoony, the dialogue is boring and uninvolving and the combat seems overrated, buttonmashing, dodge,block, hitsponge - that's not even taking into account the occasional preachy talk down your nose to the player about LGBTQ stuff.

    This is a flop at worst and average at best imo.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 34,734 ✭✭✭✭Penn


    It's a 40-50 hour game, and from what I've heard that particular scene is just related to one individual sidequest/character in the game.

    Even just taking the game as 45 hours, that's 2700 minutes. I tried working out what percentage of the game those 2 minutes would be and it's such a small percentage that my calculator did that thing where it's like 7.4x10^-4, which I think means that scene is about 0.07% of the game.

    Not something the game or story should be judged on. You'll spend more time saving the game than being "lectured on the use of pronouns".



  • Moderators, Social & Fun Moderators, Sports Moderators Posts: 53,842 Mod ✭✭✭✭Necro


    About 5 or 6 hours deep now and it's pretty standard fare for Dragon Age/Mass Effect/Bioware games tbh. Focus is very much on the party and the relationships with your team from what I can see so far - I foresee some very difficult choices in my future. You can make combat as difficult or as easy as you want depending on how you wish to play.

    Plot isn't anything new but it does do a good job somewhat of involving the previous games and some of the characters.



  • Moderators, Science, Health & Environment Moderators Posts: 9,035 Mod ✭✭✭✭mewso


    I am always amazed at people's willingness to fall for culture war crap with these things. Ultimately if the writing is good it won't feel "shoehorned" and if the writing is bad it will. Do yourselves a favour and concentrate on how good or bad the writing is.

    Anyway this is a long, long way from origins so for me it's wait for sale.



  • Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,564 ✭✭✭Sudden Valley


    I guess some gamers are more sensitive than others to such mentions. Its a pity as this can colour peoples review of the majority of the game and its writing, so now it is hard to know if reviews are genuine or just from those triggered. I enjoyed Inquisition which i think itself got some middling reviews for writing.



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