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Dragon Age: Veilguard |OT| 'Oof': A non-buynary return to form
- Thread starter cormack12
- Start date
Agent_Nobody
Member
The answer to every Dragon Age Inquisition fan’s wish is the ability to bang Harding…
My Inky/Sera combo will be jelly
JayK47
Member
Based on early impressions, I wonder if most of the reviewers even played the whole game. Maybe they played 8 hours and gave it a 10/10. There are plenty of games I have played where it felt front loaded. Like all of the best quests and set pieces where in the first half and the last half drags or feels unfinished. Interesting that the game is either a 10/10 or the worst thing ever made.
Agent_Nobody
Member
I’m liking it, it actually kinda feels like they took Trespasser DLC from the last game as the base experience and expanded on that. It took a little bit for the combat, but once you get into it it’s actually quite descent. I’d describe it like GoW mixed with FF16, with the skill tree roughly like AC Valhalla.
Not sure about the facial animation complaints (they are fine).…or the one about Solas after the prologue; He’s still very much around.
Not sure about the facial animation complaints (they are fine).…or the one about Solas after the prologue; He’s still very much around.
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Northeastmonk
Gold Member
I was shocked you could view the females topless. Took me back to Cyberpunk.
Agent_Nobody
Member
M1chl
Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Given the replies in this thread, seems like a lot of people switched from hating, can't wait to read stories like this on GAF
I still stand by my opinion, I don't think it looks good in a slightest and the voice acting and animation really bothers me, plus the cartoony Dreamworks like appearance is something I hate.
Hair looks good, tho, I hope that at least that thing will be implemented in more compelling games
I still stand by my opinion, I don't think it looks good in a slightest and the voice acting and animation really bothers me, plus the cartoony Dreamworks like appearance is something I hate.
Hair looks good, tho, I hope that at least that thing will be implemented in more compelling games
March Climber
Member
It's because this is the |OT|
M1chl
Currently Gif and Meme Champion
Fair enough, just that I am seeing familiar faces from other threads, that's all.
March Climber
Member
Some of them aren't actually playing the game and are just thread hopping for drama, others are finally able to play the game, and experiencing something is always a different story.
One issue is that the part after |OT| in the title comes too close to sounding like all of the other drama threads. The mods are doing good work keeping the drama out of this thread though.
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Agent_Nobody
Member
Dwarves can’t use magic, dream or interact with the Fade, it’s about as lore specific as you can get.
Superkewl
Member
There is a lore reason for that. They mine Lyrium, which negates magic.
Ailike
Member
So much for the tolerant left
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
Played some more. got my fourth companion. another woman. thats 4 out of 5 now and that one guy has been out of comission since the prologue. im also playing as a woman for the hair physics but i might have to switch to a dude because this is way too much estrogen for me.
combat is opening up well. i like that the big axe can make connection with multiple different enemies. i used a flying kick on one enemy and he flew into another one. that was pretty cool too. the parry window is massive and has a pretty cool parry combo. i can see potential in the combat despite being early in the game.
i thought i would genuinely hate the art style but its been ok. its not a graphics masterpiece or anything, but its not offensive to the eyes like it looked in trailers and youtube videos. its quite pleasing actually. its clearly that the artists went for this art style to capture a very specific look and feel of the game, and i gotta say its not bad at all. the dialogue is ok. not great, but not terrible. and definitely not offensive.
my only gripe so far is that the combat is a not as tight as say gow. i was hoping for slightly bigger arenas than this.
combat is opening up well. i like that the big axe can make connection with multiple different enemies. i used a flying kick on one enemy and he flew into another one. that was pretty cool too. the parry window is massive and has a pretty cool parry combo. i can see potential in the combat despite being early in the game.
i thought i would genuinely hate the art style but its been ok. its not a graphics masterpiece or anything, but its not offensive to the eyes like it looked in trailers and youtube videos. its quite pleasing actually. its clearly that the artists went for this art style to capture a very specific look and feel of the game, and i gotta say its not bad at all. the dialogue is ok. not great, but not terrible. and definitely not offensive.
my only gripe so far is that the combat is a not as tight as say gow. i was hoping for slightly bigger arenas than this.
Agent_Nobody
Member
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RickMasters
Member
those gold armours look nice. So I’m gonna get the delux version.sorry….. I know…. I’m part of the problem….. but Damn they look cool. I can outfit my whole squad like that? Looks kinda bad ass. 
Agent_Nobody
Member
Yup, you get them once you get to the wardrobe and can set it from there.those gold armours look nice. So I’m gonna get the delux version.sorry….. I know…. I’m part of the problem….. but Damn they look cool. I can outfit my whole squad like that? Looks kinda bad ass.
March Climber
Member
Quick world lore (sorry if I forget some terminology):
- Most Mages from birth or early age are sent to a circle tower.
- If not, they are normally hunted by magic police/bounty hunters (Templars)
- Circle towers are used to train mages and they cannot leave. Templars watch over them as prison guards
- Mages go through a test after a while of training
- They enter a realm of dreams and demons called The Fade
- If they pass they are now a mage, if they fail they are essentially lobotomized
- The reason is because all mages are susceptible to Blood Magic
- Blood Magic uses demonic power/summons demons to access power
- The way Templars combat all of this is to ingest Blue Lyrium (or dangerous Red Lyrium for more power)
- Blue Lyrium is acquired by Dwarven Mines and is worth a lot in trade
- Blue Lyrium is an addictive drug like cocaine
- Due to all of the above, Mages and Templars have been in an eternal tug of war over policy and rights
- This Mage/Templar conflict is negated for any mage in question if that mage becomes a Gray Warden
- Gray Wardens can be any class and any race
- Gray Wardens are like Specters from Mass Effect (Think MI:6/James Bond/above the law)
- Gray Wardens sole mission is to kill the Blight so that they keep the land safe
- They have to ingest Blight blood to become a Gray Warden, 50/50 chance of death on ingestion
- The Blight are like an endless zombie horde from deep underground that keeps growing in number
- Blight must be quelled every so often before any land is ravaged completely
- No one knows how to fully stop the Blight/No one has ever gotten that far
- Gray Wardens come the closest and are known to legend as the best Blight-killers.
- Humans are usual Humans in fantasy. Jack of all trades.
- Dwarves are usual Dwarves in fantasy. Can't use magic at all.
- Elves are usual Elves in fantasy and live for thousands of years. Mostly magicians.
- Qunari are a mostly Warrior race with gray skin and sometimes horns.
- Qunari view the world through a lens of 'you're either strong or you're not'
- Qunari don't believe in petty human things like greed, they follow a sole purpose in life
- This has made relations difficult with Qunari over multiple games
- Some Qunari have changed over time thanks to the actions of certain brave humans/elves/dwarves and friendships with those people
There's other political intrigue aspects to each game and further spoiler stuff that happens in 2 and Inquisition that sort of adds a lot to this lore(I decided not to go into 'what is an Inquisitor' as you'll find out). Most of this is from the first game, which is a very straightforward "Lord of the Rings with an asterisk" type of story that it tells. I've been playing all DA games for the first time back to back in this past month so most of it is fresh in my mind.
Hope this post also helps as a refresher for those jumping into this series again since the last game was a decade ago.
nikos
Member
Wow, thank you so much for this! I've only briefly played Dragon Age games in the past, so I know (now knew) pretty much nothing about the lore. Really appreciate the writeup.
Agent_Nobody
Member
About to crash but some screens before I drop (including Harding):
dmaul1114
Banned
Played a bit over 2 hours (not counting character creator time—probably 20 mins or so).
Really enjoying it so far. Looks better than I expected graphically, even if some enemy designs like dark spawn and the ogre are a little cheesy. Enjoying the combat so far—went with a human, female mage after playing dude warriors in the other games in the series. Pretty gun and nice having both the staff option and orb and dagger to switch between. Making me torn on which way to focus on the skill tree.
Saved and called it a night at the veil jumper camp/village after finishing the first mission after the prologue. Can’t wait to play more tomorrow.
Really enjoying it so far. Looks better than I expected graphically, even if some enemy designs like dark spawn and the ogre are a little cheesy. Enjoying the combat so far—went with a human, female mage after playing dude warriors in the other games in the series. Pretty gun and nice having both the staff option and orb and dagger to switch between. Making me torn on which way to focus on the skill tree.
Saved and called it a night at the veil jumper camp/village after finishing the first mission after the prologue. Can’t wait to play more tomorrow.
Northeastmonk
Gold Member
The new look is more Tim Burton and a Shinigami.
Nothing was wrong with the original version.
I played over 5 hours. I’m at part 4. It’s keeping my interest that’s for sure.
The way I see it - instead of having you march all the way there, they give you a shortcut.
Have you ever saw a scene and thought “I know how this will play out”? I think with video games and even TV shows. The producers and writers want to deliver the impact of the scene without wasting your time. Do you honestly want to run to each location, get greeted at every turn, and then track down every single location? That gets tedious after a while. I am at the exact spot and I don’t mind if the mundane stuff is short and to the point.
It does get weird when it feels like they’re almost ahead of themselves and things play out like useless filler. It shows a lack of creativity, so it’s good that it’s short. That whole scenario in that city was a little unbelievable. It’s like they were all ready for you and everyone knew exactly what to say.
I’d like to know why I could see my female MC’s naked breasts if I can’t walk around topless somewhere. lol
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nowhat
Member
That was a really comprehensive lore recap, and kudos for that, but I'd like to expand on this particular point:
Not mostly magicians, you have your typical hunters and the like as well, which arguably are more common. Where there's a certain distinction is between the "city elves" and "Dalish elves". The former are basically city-dwellers, not highly regarded by anyone. Usually servants and such. The Dalish are the forest-dwelling ones with the face tattoos, that... are not so cool as you may think, but we'll leave the lore spoilers there.
March Climber
Member
That's why I just put mostly instead of all. Most of my critical encounters with Elves in DA 1, 2, and Inquisition have been with Elven Mages and Elves who have access to magic over other classes. Even most of the important figures from each game (like Elven tribe leaders) have been Elven Mages. Elves usually have the most issue with the templars due to them having more mages on average. Even in the deep lore, there's quite a bit of important lore events that happen which Involve Elven Mages doing something they should not have been doing.
I guess for me it's a thing of "If I lived in this world, I'm most likely to hear of or to spot an Elf who can do magic on average much more often than any other race".
I consider this the game series' fault for not making me feel like Mages are more varied across races, especially Mages in positions of power when you start looking up that ladder.
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nowhat
Member
Oh sure, in terms of the people you meet or interact with in the games, an elf is more likely to be a mage than not. Just that, within the game world, there are non-mage elves aplenty, even if you don't meet them.
Goddammit. As much as I hate what I've seen thus far of the game, I guess I'll have to pick this up at some point, because I'm a sucker for lore. And Trespasser did setup things very nicely for a continuation of the larger story. But I'll wait for a sale.
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March Climber
Member
I am currently playing through Inquisition and if I were to make a comparison between these games and MMOs:
Dragon Age: Origins combat, quest, and encounter design felt like a mix of Guild Wars 1/Star Wars: The Old Republic.
Dragon Age: Inquisition combat, quest, and encounter design feels more like a mix of Black Desert/FF XIV.
Jamesb0ndjr
Member
Seems pretty good to me after a couple hours. Looking forward to see where this goes. Runs great on PC all Ultra.
nowhat
Member
I haven't played this, but if you play Inquisition, it's a decent game marred by some baffling design choices. So. You have like three tutorial areas. First the initial tutorial. Then there's the part 2 tutorial. And then, you enter this huge map called "Hinterlands" - which, initially, seems like a tutorial as well, and it is. But you're not supposed to clear the entire map on one go. As soon as you're able, go elsewhere. Return afterwards if you like.
Denton
Member
Rented it via EA play. The game ran at constant 60 through the intro (going after Solas), but in the Lighthouse I get weird framedrops to 50s (like 58, 59) that are noticeable and annoying (and both GPU and CPU are basically sleeping there utilization-wise, so it is not caused by lack of performance). Maybe RT is causing this, I will try to disable it and see. Other than that, technically it is well polished, but I am not that impressed with the graphics - to be honest it does not look much better than Inquisition did, you can see it is the same engine just more polished.
Combat (I am playing Rogue female elf with the assassin background) is ok, but kinda lacks "punch". I do like the double dodge animation though.
Writing so far was inoffensive, not great, not terrible, and in the first few hours no far left stupidities.
Combat (I am playing Rogue female elf with the assassin background) is ok, but kinda lacks "punch". I do like the double dodge animation though.
Writing so far was inoffensive, not great, not terrible, and in the first few hours no far left stupidities.
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Ass of Can Whooping
Gold Member
So far it's a 9/10
10/10 when Taash is in the party
10/10 when Taash is in the party
TrebleShot
Member
Not for me thank you.
Enjoy
Enjoy
Diseased Yak
Gold Member
I'm ~4 hours in and am really enjoying it! Hopefully my chick can romance Harding.
Zathalus
Member
Thoughts about the game aside (those are mostly positive for me), the way this was done on PC is great.
- $60 base price
- Regional pricing
- No microtransactions
- No early access nonsense
- No Denuvo
- Steam Deck Verfied
- Completely stutter free
- Really good graphical and accessibility options
- No third party account or launcher required
- $60 base price
- Regional pricing
- No microtransactions
- No early access nonsense
- No Denuvo
- Steam Deck Verfied
- Completely stutter free
- Really good graphical and accessibility options
- No third party account or launcher required
clarky
Gold Member
Sad thing is most of this should be standard for every game.
Mistake
Member
Are these elves? They look like dog shit. Seems to me this game is a real 50/50. Maybe I'll try it out on sale or something. I'm a big fan of the first, so it's kind of a shameAbout to crash but some screens before I drop (including Harding):
shubik
Member
Roughly 5 hours in. So far I like it.
- combat is fun and the skill tree seams big enough
- camera in combat can get a little bit hectic
- Story is interesting so far although some of the writing feels a little bit uninspired (but no near as bad as people based on the few snippets we saw)
- art style does give a little Pixar vibe but is overall nice. Had already a few places where I briefly stopped to take all in
- so far there was zero!!! DEI stuff or any other political agenda
- it runs very solid on performance mode on PS5. Feels like a steady 60FPS without any ups or downs
I think people need to accept that this is not a classic RPG but rather a action adventure with RPG lite elements.
- combat is fun and the skill tree seams big enough
- camera in combat can get a little bit hectic
- Story is interesting so far although some of the writing feels a little bit uninspired (but no near as bad as people based on the few snippets we saw)
- art style does give a little Pixar vibe but is overall nice. Had already a few places where I briefly stopped to take all in
- so far there was zero!!! DEI stuff or any other political agenda
- it runs very solid on performance mode on PS5. Feels like a steady 60FPS without any ups or downs
I think people need to accept that this is not a classic RPG but rather a action adventure with RPG lite elements.
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Agent_Nobody
Member
Yeah the camera seemed pretty finicky in combat till I learned to use the camera lock-on (right stick click on controller).
SlimySnake
Flashless at the Golden Globes
It is insane. My cpu temps are going wild. Regularly hitting 80. I’m worried lol
Whats weird is that the game is polished as fuck and someone even with high cpu usage it sticks to 60 fps. I wonder if it’s the hair.
Good thing its getting colder around here. I’m going to open up the windows and that should bring the temps down a bit.