More info shared by BioWare today:
List of companions and their description as per the press release:
That's how to start a thread…
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/
They got the initial trailer so wrong. Looked like a moba or hero shooter.
Gameplay trailer looks more like i'd have expected though.
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.
bioware have lost all trust with me so will be waiting to see detailed reviews from places i trust
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.
New information from Game Informer
On Name Change:
On Character Customization:
On how Rook becomes the leader:
On Minrathous:
On Base of Operations:
On Arlathan Forest:
On Bellara:
On the Menus:
On Combat:
On Performance:
On Companion Skills:
On Not Being An Open World:
Some quick stats on the Skill Trees:
Other notable highlights:
Releasing on October 31st
About time we got a release date, October is gonna one packed month.
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-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
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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/
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.
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Accessibility options
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..
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.
It's a joke Johnny, jeez, talk about walking right into it 😆
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Reviews are out, currently 84 on opencritic/metacritic
Watched the video below, you just cant trust reviews anymore, at least not early access reviews from lets face it, clearly cherry picked shills..
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.
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.
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 😄
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.
So this isn't unlocking digitally until 4pm tomorrow? BOOOO! I was hoping to play it from midnight!
Same here, heads wrecked about the 4pm release.
