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[RagnarokIV]

Revisiting Dragon Age: The Veilguard - one year on, how have our thoughts changed on BioWare's opinion-splitting RPG?

For a year, on and off, I've been thinking about Dragon Age: The Veilguard. More specifically, I've been thinking about…

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things are tougher for us in a five-star system. I do like how clear-cut five stars are, but it's complicated in other ways. Five stars is 'full marks' but is definitively not perfect, right? And less perfect than a 10 in a 10-point system, by design. So I look at my Dragon Age review on VG247 and feel three stars at a glance reads a little harshly - though if you read the text I think it's justified, obviously. But the truth is, three stars reads a little tough because The Veilguard is truly a 7/10-ass 7/10. But it's the lower end of a seven, so it gets three stars, but three stars translates on the aggregation sites to 60/100, or 6/10, which definitely looks harsher. See the complexity?

Decent is the word, right? I think you could look at this, look at our reviews, and see you and I at opposite ends of a chasmous spectrum. Truth is, though, I really enjoyed my time with Veilguard - I just think it's sort of less than the sum of its parts, to deploy a cloying cliche. At the same time, my respect for the people who made it was great to begin with and has only rocketed as I've learned more about its development.

Yes, I would score it differently now. I think I'd probably land on four stars, although my hedging there is telling. But to sit and reappraise in the cold light of a year's worth of reflection is also to overlook the passion I felt for the game when I reviewed it. I loved it - at the time I was certain of that. It gave me emotional highs and lows and some incredible set-pieces. And I don't want to discredit the excitement I felt by tutting at my past self now, because to feel excited by a game is the best magic they can offer.

Basically:

 

[winjer]

 

[Punished Miku]

I have had it downloaded but no time to try it. I doubt my thoughts were off. Looked like solid graphics, solid combat, shit story. I'll try it sometime.

 

[corgiix3]

fucking awful game then. fucking awful game now.

 

[ByWatterson]

I felt a little embarrassed even to add it to my library via PS Plus.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Oh yeah it is the 1 year anniversary! Time to revisit it…

 

[SatansReverence]

Is he trying to say the original 3/5 was too harsh?

3/5 is generous

Writing is by far the most important aspect of a story driven game.

 

[Dr Cowley]

"Guys rounding scores up or down to into 20% brackets isn't as accurate as using a full 100% scale" - Typical gaming journo

What a fuckin spoon

 

[diffusionx]

Not reading it until the author pulls 10 Barves in repentance

 

[ZehDon]

By most accounts, given I haven't played the game, Veilguard seemed to land as the definition of "mid at best". And that's being generous, it seems, given the pedigree of the studio that created it.

 

[MMaRsu]

The game was always trash and it literally put me to sleep.

Fighting a dragon was never this boring

Oh sorry I thought this was about Inquisition

 

[DrFigs]

Its no good.

 

[corgiix3]

Is he trying to say the original 3/5 was too harsh?

3/5 is generous

Writing is by far the most important aspect of a story driven game.

The combat is also awful tho. There is nothing going for it except environmental graphics

 

[Killer8]

They're more conflicted about the score they gave it than the characters are about their gender.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

"Guys rounding scores up or down to into 20% brackets isn't as accurate as using a full 100% scale" - Typical gaming journo

What a fuckin spoon

AI could never write an article this thought-provoking. I think his job is safe for now.

 

[Pancakes and Sausage]

The gameplay was decent enough

The writing, the interpersonal dialogue, the relationships, EVERYTHING that made Dragon Age interesting has been decimated by high school drama style writing.

Genuinely immature writing and dialogue are ridiculous - this game was written for 14 year olds

 

[poodaddy]

Hey guys, let's see what my foil wrapped turd turned into after a year of fermentation!

Oh....uh.....ya know what, let's just go to the mall instead! No, no, don't look at it.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Aside from Taash and the other indian chick, I thought the game was ok. Like 7+ out of 10 ok. I enjoyed it more than Dragon Age 2. Origins and Inquisition remain top shit tho.

 

[Magic Carpet]

I installed it on PC Gamepass but have not got through the opening sequence in the city being attacked.
Then Hogwarts Legacy went up on PC Gamepass and Velguard got deleted to make space.
I need a bigger M.2 in my PC. Got a 1TB that needs to get quadrupled in size soon.

 

[Gonzito]

 

[GHG]

It was trash then, it's trash now.

Don't even know why they're bothering to bring it up, thought they'd all moved on to defending the outer worlds 2.

 

[Topher]

What a huge disappointment this was. Was Dragon Age in name only

 

[daninthemix]

I wasn't concerned about the politics at all. It was just such a nothing game. So incredibly bland. Which is in stark contrast to Dragon Age Origins which was full of heart and spirit.

 

[Saber]

 

[Kacho]

A legendary game for all the wrong reasons.

I will never play it.

 

[vaibhavpisal]

Finished it recently.

Sticking to main quest generally results in good time.

Story / writing is on better side in video games. Will take this over a lot of other games that do this well.

 

[IFireflyl]

I need a bigger M.2 in my PC. Got a 1TB that needs to get quadrupled in size soon.

I am decently proud of the amount of storage I have:

The local drives are all Samsung 990 Pros, with the OS only being a 2 TB drive while the other 4 are 4 TB drives. The NAS drives are all IronWolf Pro HHDs.

 

[Chuck Berry]

This was another one of those drunken purchases I made just like I did with Suicide Squad for $10.

Fortunately I didn't taint my trophy list with it.

 

[Kacho]

I am decently proud of the amount of storage I have:

The local drives are all Samsung 990 Pros, with the OS only being a 2 TB drive while the other 4 are 4 TB drives. The NAS drives are all IronWolf Pro HHDs.

Which one does your porn go in?

 

[Hypereides]

Eurogamer, stop.

I some times wonder if these outlets will ever realise they need to step away from defending and propagating activism-driven nonsense to stay in business, OR if they'll stubbornly stick to it until they run out of gas.

 

[IFireflyl]

Which one does your porn go in?

Neither. TikTok is brainrot. Porn is sexrot. I'm happily married and can count on one hand the number of times my wife hasn't been in the mood, so that's really a non-issue for me.

 

[JayK47]

This waste of a game should be forgotten. Stop bringing it back up. It is not like it gets less woke with time or some shit.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

The gameplay was decent enough

The writing, the interpersonal dialogue, the relationships, EVERYTHING that made Dragon Age interesting has been decimated by high school drama style writing.

Genuinely immature writing and dialogue are ridiculous - this game was written for 14 year olds

Was it? I thought the gameplay looked fun at first. But I heard lots of reviews complaining about how spongy the enemies get later in the game, how the harder difficulty levels just crank up the enemy HP and it becomes a total slog without really being a challenge. They talked about how they turned the difficulty down because combat became so tedious and time consuming.

Also remember at least one video showing off how telegraphed the enemy attacks are. Some guy took down an ogre way above his level because it was so trivial to step outside the red circle and avoid every attack.

 

[Zacfoldor]

"Sewer rat might taste like pumpkin pie, but I'll never know 'cause I wouldn't eat the filthy motherfucker" - Jules Winnfield

 

[CloudShiner]

Eurogamer, stop.

I some times wonder if these outlets will ever realise they need to step away from defending and propagating activism-driven nonsense to stay in business, OR if they'll stubbornly stick to it until they run out of gas

 

[Shubh_C63]

There is no space to think of new thoughts when it comes to Veilguard.

Just its mention is enough to fill my brain with yuck pics of Qunari. What an apt pic to describe the entire game.

 

[CloudShiner]

Wow...how reasonable and balanced of Eurogamer to suggest a year later that perhaps, just perhaps, they got their review of this junk a teeny tiny bit wrong. Although still refusing to change their 5/5 for anyone unfortunate enough to give it any credence in the future.

How reasonable were they a year ago when they were not only deleting, within minutes, any negative comments on their 5/5 review that suggested the same thing, but were instantly shadow banning the accounts that made them?

One of the most mealy-mouthed and insincere mea culpa's I've read.

 

[tanners]

The Character acting was embrassing as hell, I finished the prologue and never go back
And yeah it was a diaster

 

[DaciaJC]

Gets funnier every time I watch it.

 

[Generic]

Finished it recently.

Sticking to main quest generally results in good time.

Story / writing is on better side in video games. Will take this over a lot of other games that do this well.

The combat looks great, I will give it a try one day.

 

[PeteBull]

Which one does your porn go in?

 

[CentralScrutinizer]

Game looked like shit. Didn't buy it. Tried it on PS+ and stopped after 30 minutes and deleted it.

Good riddance to BioWare.

 

[Angry_Megalodon]

Extremely bland and boring game. Even without wokeness it would still be mediocre, not worth a minute of your time.

 

[Flabagast]

LMAO so he admits his 5/5 was complete bullshit

 

[Gamer_By_Proxy]

They bought them. 1 copy sold.

 

[calico]

"But the truth is, three stars reads a little tough because The Veilguard is truly a 7/10-ass 7/10. But it's the lower end of a seven, so it gets three stars, but three stars translates on the aggregation sites to 60/100, or 6/10, which definitely looks harsher. See the complexity?"

 

[ShadyAcshuns]

Still not going to buy it at high prices and I don't subscribe to those services. So nope.

 

[stn]

Good graphics, decent enough gameplay, bad writing, and poor roleplaying. The problem is that bad writing sticks out the most in an RPG. There are too many examples of dialogue in the game being extremely shallow, robotic, and cringe-y.

 

[Plague Doctor]

In a year of reflection, I am happier the gaming journalism sector is dying.

 

[jose4gg]

One of the best Non-buynary games.