I’m not an asshole disclaimer, if you’ve read it you can skip to the cut.
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard and all other Dragon Age media. (I’m a lore fiend.)
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
Did I say I didn’t hate this game? I lied. I hate it so much it has become a vendetta just to finish it.
With three long games, 14 years of history, so much Lore there really never feels an end to it, 5 books. 6 comics, two or more coffee table books and probably stuff I don’t know about to use for inspiration… this game is terrible.
They’ve stripped it down to the most banal, most puerile, most boring concepts they could possibly find in all of that to use in this travesty of a role playing game.
I’ll finish it so I can see just how bad it is and how exactly they’ll fuck over Solas some more. And here I was feeling comfy that since Weekes loves Solas that they wouldn’t utterly fuck him over?
Whoooo boy, was I wrong. I wanted memories of his time before he woke up in Inquisition. I did not want memories of every cruel thing he’d ever been forced to do to protect tens of thousands of innocents. War is horrible. Those leading wars, regardless of the justified reasons (or not) get their hands bloody. They have to make hard decisions that cost pieces of their souls because no one else will.
I wanted memories of what Arlathan and Elvhen culture was like before everything went went to hell. What did we get? Memories painting Solas as the worst possible version of himself.
And the way they discuss and treat the topic of Mythal… I wonder if it’s nice and cozy so far up Mythal’s arsehole?
It’s revolting when you know everything FleMythal has done, and if you read between the lines of all the lore about Arlathan era Mythal.
I’ve been told that the third act is the best. Though how anyone even gets to the third act is beyond me. Other than sheer cussedness and a desire to escape politics and the side effects of a pulmonary embolism. Cause that’s the only way I’ve gotten this far.
Did I remember to say that they apparently forgot what aggro was and how that’s supposed to work with a multi-player team? My rogue is not a tank. (Nor a rogue because rogues pick fucking locks.) Yet for some reason, he always has aggro. Especially the bigger and harder the enemy is to beat.
Aggro, in case you’re reading my ramblings and don’t know, stands for aggression/attention of whatever your team is fighting. Whoever did the most damage last is the one who should have aggro. In any decent video game, that’s the tank, who is built to take it. They’re supposed to keep the bad guys attention so the archers and mages can get it from behind/beside.
But since your side characters don’t get skill points at the same rate your player characters do, (fantastic idea that, what utter dipshit came up with that?) Your character, whether they’re a DPS or not, always has fucking Aggro.
Do you have any idea how hard it is to fight as a Legolas wannabe when you have several tons of dragon crashing into you because you do the most damage because of an outright shitty levelling system?
I now get to go fight another fucking dragon. That’s gonna be fun. (It’s my third today) and that’ll have me into act 3.
Oh, and the much advertised ‘dragon slayer’ is a good character, but they’re shit at actually killing dragons. I never, ever, thought I would miss Cassandra Inquisition. Because I utterly loathe her as a character, but I miss having competently designed dragon fighters in a game with so many fucking dragons to fight.
Obligatory I’m not an asshole disclaimer. You can skip down if you’ve read it.
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard and all other Dragon Age media. (I’m a lore fiend.)
Critical review CW strong language.
Well. If I’m right about who the Gloom Howler is, and I’m almost certain after the Cauldron… I really fucking question the reading comprehension of whoever wrote that arc.
She loathed doing what she was ordered to doto the griffins. She saved the last clutch of eggs, left secret clues on where to find the nest kept in stasis, and answered her calling early so no one could get the information out of her. All in the hope that future generations would be worthy of griffins again. And now she’s doing the exact opposite? Seriously?
I mean, I’m aware that the supplementary material isn’t something everyone is gonna read, but as far as I know the printed materials are considered canon. Which means they’ve taken a sad, epic story and completely reversed it in a retcon I’m not sure I can forgive them for.
I’ve marinated myself in the Lore of this world. That’s an incredible disservice to her sacrifices to save the last remaining griffins. It’s a disservice to the writer of Last Flight, too. That’s not even touching on the ‘of course when you shove a blade into the bones of a roughly 400 year dead arch demon… it will come out bloody?’ Excuse me now? Someone has watched too much jurassic park, because that would be utterly impossible.
Once again, I’m asking myself What. The. Actual. Fuck. were the devs and writers thinking?
Surely they know at least some of us have read the printed stuff?
Did they think we’d have forgotten? Unfortunately for these retconning incompetents, (I am so, so sick of retconning in general, and fed the fuck up with it in this game) autistic and AuDHD folks like me tend to have razor keen memories about our special interests. Whoopsies.
Last Flight wasn’t my fav of the books, but it was beautifully written and heartbreaking with a gleaming golden string of hope.
And this is the end of that story? ARE YOU FUCKING KIDDING ME?
I can honestly think of only one way they could make that make sense. And my trust in Bioware writers now lives below sewer level, so I’m not hopeful they’ll go that way.
It’s possible that I’m wrong, but understanding and critiquing media is my actual job when I’m not recovering from a pulmonary embolism. And yes, absolutely, I could’ve written far, far better material.
How. Can someone please tell me HOW a company that has something as successful as DAI under their belt… makes… this? I swear this game (DAV) is like some of the worst AI written shite I saw in ESO back when I played that years ago.
I guess I should say machine written. Whatever. I’ve heard ESO was doing that a long while ago. And the blah storylines and boring assed questlines proved it.
This game reminds me of that. Though, I think they were probably written by actual humans… I really have to question where exactly they scraped up the writers for them.
The street? A back alley? A mud pit? Did they give apes access to a keyboard and use whatever claptrap they came up with? (Yes. They did. Humans are apes.)
It’s common enough in Hollyweird that writers working on a particular IP (intellectual property… IE Dragon Age or Witcher etc.) often utterly loathe the source material. I fail to understand why or how that would be okay, because we can fucking tell, you know? You can tell when a writer loves their work, and when they don’t. And we wonder why so many things in hollyweird fail.
Is that what happened to DAV?
They had a fucking blueprint for fuck’s sake! DAI was RIGHT THERE. It won GOTY if I recall correctly. No one wanted a game exactly like DAI but dear fucking gods something… not this… would’ve been far preferable. If they’d used DAI as a sort of map? A guideline or outline? DAV might’ve been a good game. And the sad part is that it actually could have been. With just a little more care, less streamlining to mediocrity, better editing and writing? This could’ve been another win for Bioware. As is, if it wins anything I’ll be suspicious of bribery.
It’s just so… meh. Where it’s not outright bad.
And even though I’m under media blackout so I can write a truly unbiased review… it wouldn’t surprise me if some fans were going gaga over this travesty of a game. Just because it has Dragon Age in the title.
It sucks when you want desperately to love something. But you just can’t because you can see the flaws. And the flaws far, far outweigh the good parts.
And none of those good parts are even unique. They’re just lifted from other games.
And I got the load up with no CC glitch again. Lost about an hour of playtime figuring out when it happened and which save to reload. I’d really hoped the damned hour long update would’ve taken care of that.
What a sad mess this game is.
Though on the positive, I do love the new takedown mechanic. And it’s oddly satisfying to clear blight. I like tracking things. IRL too. I grew up in a subsistence hunting family. Though, I always just used a camera. I know how to track stuff, so that’s fun. I like the ballista and zip lines. There are good parts of the game… but they aren’t the parts that really matter.
I had to turn Taash down for Romance because it happened way too fast. I barely felt like I knew them, and my demi ass needs more than what we got before committing to a relationship.
It’s warming up with Lucanis, Emmrich, and Davrin. I’m not decided yet. And this is where a polyam mod would be great. There’s no reason polyam shouldn’t have been included in the game. It could’ve been just a few characters okay with it like BG3, but the rep and possibilities would at least be there.
I’m incredibly fed the fuck up with the narrative that turns Solas into an awful person. They’re trying so fucking hard to paint him that way. They’re hammering it home so hard I really can’t recommend (at this point) that Sollavellans play it. It’s possible that will change, but… sigh. They’ve even got my Rook saying negative shit about him. Shouldn’t that be a choice that I get to make about my Rook? How they feel about Solas?
And if I could kick the incredibly unintelligent and massively fucking annoying Lace Harding off a cliff, I absolutely would. Hard. And laugh while I did it.
Everyone blames Solas. Why is everyone so far up Mythal’s asshole that they’re forgetting it was always her requiring her bound servant IE enslaved spirit who never even wanted a body (forgetting that part?) Solas to do what she said. That he tried over and over again to dissuade her?
Oh, but no, it’s all Solas’s fault. And the narrative is so fucking heavy handed on that that it’s honestly nauseating me a little.
You know, as a friend said, they could’ve hired a bunch of Ao3 fic writers and paid them in pizza or waffles and come out with better story lines than this.
Obligatory I’m not an asshole disclaimer. You can skip down if you’ve read it.
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
Massive spoilers for Veilguard and other Dragon Age media. (I’m a lore fiend.)
Another long one. And it’s largely negative.
So. What to say. Well, the first should be I called it on Illario being the crow traitor. At least, at this point in the game. (He just broke Zara’s neck to keep her from telling Lucanis his name. Presumably.) They could throw a plot twist in there and have Illario be innocent but acting squirrely to bring out the actual traitor. That would be interesting. But to be completely honest, I don’t think the writers are that skilled. The plot of ‘jealous younger cousin/family member seizing power and betraying everything to do it’ is a classic trope.
It’s also as stale as the package of crackers I keep meaning to throw away. They really went with that? I think my eyes are in danger of rolling out of my head. And digging them out from under the dresser is just so awkward and uncomfortable. Have you ever washed eyeballs? They’re squishy.
Can we mention plot holes? I took Emmerich with me for the crow mission. Why exactly didn’t he do his ‘corpse whispering’ to get confirmation that Illario was/was not the traitor? Even if you didn’t take Emmerich, they could’ve easily taken the corpse to him, but nooooo. That would’ve made sense! Especially because there’s then a scene of Emmerich whispering a corpse about the hand of glory. They sooooo needed to take all that back to the drawing board and tighten it up a lot.
But I’ve said before that they need better editors. Honestly, even though I don’t particularly want to work for Bioware given their history of firing useful, skilled people… maybe they do need me. Or someone else as exacting as me and good at editing. Cause much as I hate to critique another editor? Whoever edited this isn’t very good. Whoever edited DAI wasn’t very good either. I’m a far better editor. It’s a niche, nit picky sort of field. You have to care about the details and you have to dedicate yourself to it. It’s a field where you need to constantly be learning. Things like, say, how locks work. You can have advanced English degrees, you can be a phenomenal writer, and still suck at editing. Because it’s so very specialized if you want it done right. Whoever their editor is shouldn’t be editing games professionally. There’s obviously too much to keep in mind to tie everything together. (Honestly, autistic and auDHD people like me make phenomenal editors if we enjoy words/stories and get into it.)
I have no personal grudge against their editor/s. It’s just my professional opinion that they need an editor with more skill.
Also, whoever drew that hand of glory probably should’ve looked up what one looks like. They went for an Addam’s family vibe and that’s just… not a hand of glory. I’m a witch and a student of witchcraft history. I should know.
“It must be cut from the hanged body of a criminal (usually a murderer) on the gibbet (usually a roadside gibbet); dried in nitre, pickled in the urine of man, woman, dog, horse and mare; smoked with herbs and hay for a month or dried under the sun during the dog-days; hung on an oak tree for three nights running, then laid at a crossroads, then hung on a church door for one night while the maker keeps watch in the porch.
The candle part had to be rendered from the fat of the same criminal you got the hand from. It’s usually the left hand, but could also be the hand that murdered. Images from the period when people believed in them vary on how the candle part worked but one of the more common is the whole hand dipped in the tallow rendered from the criminal until it was stiff like a candle. Then the tips of the fingers would be lit.”
They did get what they were supposed to do correct, though.
Good idea? Yes. Bad follow through.
The name is bastardized from the French word for mandrake.
As usual, better editors needed.
Did the Weisshaupt quest. I’m not sure if that’s the end of act 1 or half way. I’m leaning on end of act 1 given the way the plot is shaping up. It was a fun enough sequence. If a bit loud. I also like it when the heroes fail in stories. Because that’s realistic. We fail. We pick ourselves up, and we keep trying.
I’ve said it before, and I can’t claim authorship, I’m not even sure who used it first, but ‘hope gets kicked to the floor, beaten the shit out of and still spits out blood, maybe a tooth, picks themselves up and says, ‘bring it, bitch”.’ Hope isn’t gentle. Hope is ready to throw down.
Can I just say that Zimmer was a fucking mistake on the music front? He’s been phoning it in for ten years and he absolutely did for DAV. It’s a shame when the soundtrack for DAI was so stirring and just… fucking epic. DAO’s too, for that matter. (The OST for DAI also helped tie the world together.)
It’s like someone decided to toss the collections aspect (which was a large part of the fun for me and many others, including collecting enough stuff to make fun armour) without even remotely understanding what those collections did for the story. Big mistake in my professional opinion. In any story, you need little things that tie all the big things together. DAV doesn’t have the small threads tying the big bundles of yarn together. It’s just… not good.
There are parts of the game I do legitimately like, but they’re far outweighed by the sheer dumbassery.
I am still so utterly flabbergasted that they nerfed rogues so much. Why in the world would you take a good half of what makes playing a rogue fun and just toss it? Why even bother to have a rogue class at all? They’re just a light skirmisher in DAV.
They Legolased my elven rogue and I’m not happy about it.
Don’t get me wrong, I love Legolas, and he’s an elven warrior, good with his bow and dual weild, and that’s basically it? (He’s a lot more in the books, but I’m thinking movie Legolas. He’s not even a rogue in the books.)
As a rogue in DAV, there’s no traps to set/disarm, you can’t pick locks, you can’t sneak or hide in shadows, it’s just ridiculous to even call them rogues. Oh, but you can hit the locks! Someone has been watching too much hollyweird. Hitting it hard works, right? Of Course the lock just breaks.
Y’Know? I’m not a locksmith, but I know a decent amount about picking locks and how they work because I’m an author and like to know how stuff works. Hitting a lock? Makes it less likely to actually open. I really really wish whoever made that decision many hours of disappointing game play in a class they love. Because that’s what they gave me and other rogue lovers in DAV. It just fucking sucks. Are the rest of the classes this bad? I don’t think I have the stomach to play this again as my second favourite class to find out (mage).
I think I figured out what DAV is missing/what’s bothering me the most.
A lot of things are more streamlined, better designed, I do have to give them that. But they took it waaaay too far. They’ve streamlined it to the point of boring mediocrity.
There’s very little to collect other than codex entries. Which are fine, barring the massive number of editorial issues in them. Even if they really aren’t answering any of the burning Lore questions I’ve wanted answered since I started playing these games.
But there’s nothing else to subtly tie the world and story together. I’ve mentioned it before, but the mounts you could collect in DAI were gifts from different peoples and cultures. That tied the world together and to Skyhold.
Same goes for the Warden memories, and all the other little collection bits. It made an intricate, beautiful tapestry of DAI. DAV is a poorly woven bedsheet. With plot holes you can stick an arm through.
DAI had issues, every game does. Some of those issues I’m glad to see fixed in DAV. And overall, they took a lot of the fun out of a Dragon Age video game with the over zealous streamlining of DAV.
And I’m not sure if I’ll ever get over the ‘rogue who isn’t a rogue at all’ issue.
I played around with the decor part, and honestly, why did they even bother? You could completely customize Skyhold to how you wanted it. That was great fun for me. In DAV? You can put mementos on shelves and change the central statue, that I’ve found so far.
The Lighthouse is pretty cool, but it floats unconnected from the world, and it really shows. There’s just… nothing tying everything together. Not to mention the complete retcon of, ‘oh, living beings can’t go into the fade unless they’re mages, and even then it’s dangerous to the point of suicide.’
Yes, the Inquisitor went into the fade in DAI. It was either that or splatter on the ground, and they barely survived it. And you had to leave a companion behind as the price of getting out. In DAV they live in the fade (without consequences that are clearly spelled out in the Lore). People are strolling into and out of the fade like it’s a shopping mall. Y’know, the fade that’s supposedly chock full of blight? According to the actual game I’m playing?
It’s like the different departments and different writers never once talked to each other. And man, does it show.
I think the only section where they must’ve communicated well is, again, backgrounds, scenery, and environments. That is literally the only thing holding this game together and making it feel even remotely like Dragon Age.
And that’s just sad. They had so much material to work with from the Lore and the previous games… so much, and as far as I can see? They’ve ignored most of it.
And I know a video game can’t do everything, but my elf has Dirthaman’s vallaslin. Dirthamen is the twin soul of Falon’Din. There’s a puzzle in Arlathan that is a bunch of owls, and my Rook dopily says, ‘guess someone liked owls’. Oh, you mean the brother Evanuris whose mark you wear on your damned face? Really? Really really? JFC. So, yeah, they’re probably not going to do shit about figuring out anything to do with the Vallaslin. Which in both my personal and professional opinion would’ve been a very interesting thing to write about. What happens in a culture when they find out they’ve been wearing slave markings. Do they all get rid of them? Do they have interesting discussions and quests about figuring out the meaning of old and new? Of old things that might’ve been bad at one time, but have a completely different meaning now?
I dunno. This game just isn’t great so far.
Goddess. I hate writing negative reviews of Dragon Age stuff. I utterly love the previous games, the world, the Lore.
Y’know, the Lore they’ve decided isn’t important and brushed under the rug? Talk about disappointing. I was so hoping for some answers to all the burning questions I’ve had for years about the Lore.
And I’m dreading the end of Solas and Inky. I don’t think it’s going to be remotely what my Romance loving heart will think is even close to a happy ending.
Weekes tweeted at me that ‘there’s a suggestion of a happy ending’ for Solas and Inky. And that gave me some hope, because Tresspasser left a few things dangling in good star-crossed lovers fashion. But unless Inky and Solas end up, 1. Alive. 2. Together. 3. At peace or close enough to it… it’s not a happy ending. I’m afraid Weekes, who isn’t a Romance writer (I am) has a very different definition for ‘happy ending’ than me, most Sollavellans, and Romance readers in general.
A HEA (Happy Ever After) or a HEfN (Happy Enough for Now) is a staple of Romance.
Something can’t be considered Romance as a genre unless it has two things. 1. Focus on the romance/relationship of the characters. 2. An HEA/HEfN. In each book/story/piece of media, not even the end of the series, in every installment, Otherwise, you can’t even market it as Romance without violating stores terms of service and risking having your account taken down for misrepresentation of what you’re selling.
I swear to Gods if we get some Romeo and Juliet sort of ending for Solas and Inky, I’m boycotting Bioware for life.
Romeo and Juliet is not a fucking Romance. It’s a fucking tragedy. If we get a tragic ending in any fashion, for Solas and Inky? I’m just absolutely done with Dragon Age. Them being together with a chance at happiness is all I want. (Honestly, I desperately want the intimate scene we were denied in DAI too, and I don’t think that’s too much to ask for either.) One intimate scene and a HEA. Let them retire someplace out of the way so Solas can grow flowers and play music and paint. Inky can do stuff she loves, and they love each other. The parameters of how exactly they do that don’t matter. They could do literally anything as long as they’re alive, together, and with the same chance of happiness any Romantic couple/group has.
That is the only type of ending that won’t have me boycotting Bioware for life. Especially after the lackluster showing of DAV.
I saw the title of one news article (on steam, I’m trying to stay as blind to this game as possible to provide a fair review that are just my thoughts). And it said something along the lines of ‘The best fantasy game released this year.’
My immediate thoughts were, 1. Had whoever written that actually played this travesty? 2. How much was the writer paid to say that, and 3… what? Is DAV the ONLY fantasy game release this year? Cause that’s the only way it’s the best.
Obligatory disclaimer, you can skip down if you’ve read it.
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard and all other Dragon Age media. (I’m a lore fiend.)
I’ve played for a while today. I’m stuck in bed due to the embolism, and goddess do I need the escape from reality right now.
Met Inky again. The scars I gave her in CC didn’t show up. Saw Solas again. Still doesn’t look like himself.
I still really hate how everyone talks about him. Like he’s evil for trying to keep the Evanuris from breaking free. And fix the world of the mess he made. Y’know, the veil that, according to the Lore, should be full of holes and strangling the magic and life out of THEDAS. But oooo, no, he’s such a bad dude. And they all know the point of his ritual by now.
Guess the devs just wanted to hammer home the everyone hates Solas angle?
Sucks to be Sollavellan playing this game, let me tell you. It’s disappointing, irritating, or infuriating by turns if you actually understand Solas.
Have decided Neve is a bitch I don’t want anything to do with. Wasn’t sure at first, but she’s arrogant, suspicious, and just unpleasant. No thanks.
Also, whoever wrote some of these conversations with characters you might end up in a Romance with needs to read some bloody Romance. Sheesh. I think it should almost be a requirement if you’re going to write Romantic material that you should be a regular if not even an avid reader of it. It’s known as the hardest genre to write for a reason.
Davrin is curt and dismissive, though his bond is higher than some. Amazing voice, a bit blocky for my taste but he’s a tank so it works.
Emmrich is a darling. I love Taash, and game version of Lucanis is pretty cool. Haven’t really settled on one, since there’s no such thing as polyam in Dragon Age despite only 30% of the dating population being monogamous. Cowards.
I’d say I’ll be glad when a polyam mod comes out, but unless this game gets better, I highly doubt I’ll be playing it again. It’s probably taking me longer than it really needs to because I’m doing puzzles and searching for everything simply because I highly doubt I’ll play it again. If I even end up finishing it.
FWIW? I’ve played DAO twice, DA2 once, and DAI 4x. Soooooo.
They made the memorial gardens in Nevarra so beautiful. I’ve always enjoyed cemeteries. They’re usually so peaceful.
I don’t even have all areas on the maps opened up yet, so there’s probably a decent amount left.
It could be because I’m playing it pretty fast, but it’s weird seeing the percentages of Steam players getting the achievements drop lower and lower. I think only 25% actually got the ‘finished getting a team together’ achievement. I’ve never been sure if that means people have quit or not.
Obligatory disclaimer you can just drop down if you’ve read it.
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
This is a long one.
So. I managed to play for a good portion of the day. I’m exceedingly grateful it held me.
Around about 27 hours? I felt immersed in the story, and this part of THEDAS. It shouldn’t take 27 hours of playtime to suck me into a game. That in the writing world is what we call shitty pacing, poor editing,. and just… take it right back to the drawing board.
It could just be me. I’m notoriously hard to suck into stories because I was foolish enough to become an editor. But I’ve never had that problem with a DA game before.
I managed to finish the team. I like Davrin, Taash, and Emmrick. My favs so far in order are (yes, I’m cringing 🤣) Lucanis, Taash, Emmrick, and Davrin. With a close follow-up by Bellara.
I wonder if it’s Lucanis’s VA doing it? I am a bit of an accent slut and I have a definite voice kink. TBF they did change him a whole fucking lot from the Wigmaker version. Even if he does look like Dracula.
Getting misgendered in game sucks as much as it does in real life. So content warning on a person misgendering their kid and the person they’re with (Rook).
But generally, the trans rep is handled in such a loving, beautiful manner, and I have to give AAA+ on that front. I feel seen in it. Seeing and helping Taash on their journey is healing, and just wonderful to see in a triple A game.
But lets talk about accents yes? WTAF? In every other DA game they stuck with regional accents for the different regions. Anyone from Antiva had anywhere from a light to a heavy Spanish accent. Anyone from Orlais was French. Tevinter in the personage of Dorian and even Neve had/have British accents. It wasn’t ever really 100% but they at least tried. And I loved that.
This game doesn’t feel like they tried at all.
In like… a lot of ways. How do you go from something so intricately and delicately intertwined as DAI to… this?
It’s all just mid. Meh. I’m sorta into the story enough now that it doesn’t feel like I’m slogging through blight to play it anymore. But if I couldn’t finish the game? I don’t think it would bother me for long. And that’s something that would usually drive me bonkers.
I miss the collections. Everything from the mounts to the silly bottles of wine to collecting gifts for the right character. I miss that… I dunno… feeling of actual importance the Inquisition had?
Like. All the pieces line up in DAV. People dying. More people gonna die if someone doesn’t step up. Intrigue. Betrayal. Nasty demons and darkspawn running around. But it’s missing something. I’ll figure out what it is eventually, but it’s almost 3am so it probably won’t be right now.
It’s also a completely, horrendously, unbalanced game. On a normal level, (Adventurer in DAV), a regular gamer should be able to get through it without a whole lot of difficulty. A challenge, yes. I actually do like to be challenged a little in games. Maybe a death or two here and there but not in every damned fight. I wish they’d make the option to turn death off available for every level. I get stomped often enough that it’s so annoying to sit through the reload. And reloading is where I’ve had the most problems.
At Keeper level (easy) it’s far too easy for me. At the next level up, (Adventurer) it’s really pushing my skills in a very not fun way. There’s like, no even scaling.
I miss the crafting! I miss going harvesting for stuff that I could build funny armour with. I had the Iron Bull in Dawnstone (pink) armour because I thought it was fun and his character probably wouldn’t have cared. I always head canoned him saying in that don’t fuck with me tone, “I like pink.”
I miss being able to make special armour for my crew. It just… uuuugh. It’s missing so much of the delicately intertwined details that made DAI such a good game. The bottles of wine and Warden notes in DAI gave you hints to Warden lives.
But at least I finally have armour that leaves elves feet bare. I really really wanted that.
I also have to admit that I do like how the wardrobe makes changing the way your gear looks does make it more streamlined, but I really really miss the crafting. I am trying to provide a fair review, after all.
I miss being able to make potions and bombs. And unless I’ve missed something, you just can’t? You can’t grow anything either. Growing stuff in Skyhold gardens was one of my favourite things about DAI. I was really looking forward to finding out which plants grew in the north of THEDAS and what stuff we could make with them. It never once occurred to me that they’d get rid of so much of the fun of DAI. It’s like they’ve taken all the really intricate and interesting details that made DAI such an awesome game and… given us this. Milquetoast Veilguard. The mounts were gifts from different areas and peoples, so it tied that into the world.
The plants you grew had to be collected from various areas and used to make bombs and potions. I really miss that. Yes, you collect stuff to give to the Caretaker to upgrade or enchant your stuff, but 1. Why the fuck do I have to break so many barrels to get stuff? Who thought that was a good idea? Sure, a little, but there’s barrels fucking everywhere. I’m a completionist player so tend to try to do everything. And 2. Collecting the different armour patterns, and the materials to make stuff like bombs, potions and explosives with was a large part of what I loved about DAI and DAO.
The Lighthouse has grown on me. But isn’t it part of the Lore that living beings can’t enter the fade? So uhhhhh… do we have a massive plothole there or did I miss something?
Manfred is fucking awesome 😂.
What in the world did they spend all that time doing if it wasn’t going to be an intricate, detailed game?
They seem to have spent all that time on fucking with the looks of the characters and the graphics (to the game’s detriment), messing around creating new demons because sure… we needed fortnite knockoff demons. Oh, and we mustn’t forget the not-fucking-darkspawn. They’ve already contradicted themselves about them in game. They say at the beginning (I think it’s Bellara?) That maybe these are old darkspawn rather than new. Then later in game they say Gilly has been making new darkspawn. Sure, Bellara could’ve just been wrong, but that wasn’t the feeling I got.
I do like the skill tree. That is much more streamlined.
I like the map. It doesn’t feel like Dragon Age but it’s a decently functional map. Reminds me more of DA2 than I’d like because that wasn’t a good map.
I mostly like it at the Lighthouse. I like being able to see if companions have something to talk about so I don’t spend time running around to each of them trying to see if they’ve got something new. That was an actual weakness in DAI I’m happy to see fixed.
The different ways you could decorate Skyhold were related to which areas and cultures visited a lot of the time. All those details they chose to not use for DAV were what made DAI such an epic game. To be fair, it might be similar for the Lighthouse. I haven’t explored decoration options. I’ll try to look at it soon.
And yes. Again. The best part of this game is the backgrounds, scenery, and environments. It’s honestly the only thing holding this mess together. Rivain is fucking gorgeous. I love Treviso. Arlathan is amazing. Bit meh on Minrathous but despite living in one, I’m not really a big city sort of person. The puzzles aren’t very challenging. And I miss the ocularium. That tied ancient elven and even Tevinter history into the world.
It very much feels like they’ve just decided to not care about the Lore and swept most of it under the carpet. A large reason I play DA games is the mental puzzles all that Lore gives me.
Also, foreshadowing should be subtle. Not the experience of being whacked over the head with a hammer.
And FWIW? Given standard medieval-esque health care? That wound Varric took would’ve absolutely been fatal. If not right away, then eventually. I’m really hoping they aren’t going toward ‘noble sacrifice’ with him.
I’m not bothered by the different accents amongst the veil jumpers, or even the different races. Yes, it’s letting shem hands touch ancient elven secrets, but it’s also accurate to a lot of indigenous cultures. As long as you followed their ways, they welcomed new people (until things got really bad due to colonization and cruelty). The commonalities between First nations cultures and the Dalish are hard to miss, so that part works for me. (My ancestors were indigenous.)
I mean. Yeah. I’m Neurodivergent in a bunch of different ways. Change isn’t always easy for me. But every single game I play has changes. I play a lot of games. I don’t remember ever feeling so utterly betrayed by them as I do about DAV. If I had any expectations for this game, they were pretty low. And yet… even though the bar was on the ground, they’ve managed to disappoint me.
I’m still gonna keep playing. I don’t hate it. But like… I’m not even sure if I can say I like it. Bits and pieces, yes, but as a whole? Nah. I love the Ziplines, those are fun. I like the ease of walking over logs and stuff now. That was a nightmare in DAI.
And I need the distraction right now, as long as I don’t lose complete interest, I’ll keep at it.
Oh. And the Owlbear in BG3 is absolutely cuter than Assan. Don’t get me wrong. Assan IS cute. But… between the two? Owlbear wins.
Oh… and in all that time I played today? I didn’t see Solas. Sooooo yeah. They completely sidelined his character. Makes me wonder if they made the decision to change the name from Dreadwolf to Veilguard and just nixed a lot of his content because of piss baby whiners who didn’t like Solas. Which, if they did that? Is really shitty. Also, if he got sucked into the prison he’d had the gods in… where exactly are the other Evanuris! Stuck in there with their jailor?
And if the Caretaker is who I think it is? I’m gonna be pissed. (Felassan.) That is such a cop-out way of bringing him back. The Lore supported a bunch of different ways for him to return and if they went with that? UGH. I do like the boat between islands in the crossroads, that’s fun.
I’m pretty sure I know who the Gloom Howler is. The bandages and the line ‘they were never yours’ gives it away if you’ve read the books. I figure she ran into the Architect. Did y’all notice how much her head looked like his?
I could be completely wrong. But enh. It doesn’t really matter. I honestly can’t see myself replaying this. If I even manage to finish it.
Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguardand all other Dragon Age Media. (I’m a lore fiend.)
Before playing on day 5. 22 hours in, 20 playtime.
Obligatory disclaimer, if you’ve read it already you can just skip down
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
Before playing on day 5. 22 hours in, 20 playtime.
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
I just want to call it now in case they reveal it, but I’m highly suspicious that they’re going the oh so predictable route of Illario being the crow traitor. Honestly feels juvenile and pathetic and maybe I’m wrong, but… I don’t honestly think I am.
I managed to fix my game last night. (At least, it loaded properly last night.)
The fix for it is apparently to verify your files from whatever game service you’re using (assuming you’re using one).
I went ahead and switched it from my hdd partition to ssd. That’s something that apparently can help, too. We’ll see.
But might I point out that it’s kinda shitty to release a game that seems to require being run from ssd? Not every computer has them. I’m just lucky I do. Gamers tend to be either wealthy enough to afford decent gaming rigs, or so poor they don’t have two cents to rub together. (Like me.) It would be really nice if game devs would remember that.
I’m curious to see how it’ll run now. If that fixes the glitches I keep running into.
I’m upset by how the US election seems to be going, and my lungs are hurting a lot today (do not recommend a pulmonary embolism, sheesh) so I’ll probably spend a lot of the day on the game today as an escape. At least, if it doesn’t piss me off, bore me to death, or make me feel like cleaning the washroom with my tongue would be a better option.
Oh! I found the cheese yesterday. At least they kept that bit of DA tradition.
Heads up… this isn’t the most positive of reviews. And I’m a die hard (bleeding into the dirt) solavellan so if that’s not your cup of tea you can stop reading here. Images and videos are all copyright of Bioware/EA. (Updated after the Q&A on June 14th)
Spoilers for all previous Dragon Age games, books, comics etc.
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
Content warnings for extremely colourful language.
I’ve worked really high powered corporate jobs, so I can play the part of cool, calm, perfect professional. But this is my gaming blog. I don’t censor myself here. I grew up around truckers and it shows 😂.
I’m also neurodivergent so please know my emotions about this are confusion, sadness, a bit of horror, and depression. I’ve been told the way I use words can be read as confrontational. It’s unintentional. (And again, it’s my blog, I don’t particularly feel it’s right or necessary that I mask my AuDHD traits here, too.) I’m honestly not angry, or pissed off, or anything like that. Shrugs. I’m just sad. I don’t bother to critique things I don’t love. (Unless I’m being paid for it.) Much less to this extent. How much I’ve written here is in direct relation to how much I love Dragon Age.
Well.
I’ve watched it. Twice. Once on slow mode so I could get a better glimpse at the details.
I re-watched the trailer that I hated twice more. Again once on slowmo.
What. The. Actual. Fuck. Is. That?
It sure isn’t Dragon Age. If it didn’t have Bioware copyrighted material, I really wouldn’t have been able to tell that it was supposed to be Dragon Age. If Rook had whipped out a light-sabre, it wouldn’t have seemed out of setting. I want to play Dragon Age, not some weird Star Wars knock-off.
And yes, I know most of the fandom is going gaga at this point, but I don’t understand why people can’t see the issues amidst the excitement. Being the odd enby out in this situation is depressing as hell. I want to love it as much as everyone else seems to. But my editor brain won’t shut up.
I’m used to having unpopular opinions. Just don’t bloody crucify me for these. Editing media is my actual job. It’s what I do. It’s a highly developed, niche skill set I’ve been practising for over a decade.
Some people are extremely good with cars, I’m extremely good with editing. I only started doing it professionally because my writing critique partners told me my suggestions and the things I noticed were worth their weight in gold.
TBH, it wouldn’t surprise me if I have some savantism when it comes to editing and writing. When I look at a piece of fiction in an editorial perspective, it’s a lot like looking at a 4d puzzle for me. I can instinctively see what works, what doesn’t, and how things that don’t work can be tweaked so they do. I don’t meet many others in my profession who do that.
And I have multiple NYT bestselling clients. I’m truly not talking out of my ass here. I’m not perfect, no human being is, but like many middle aged AuDHD/neurodivergent people, I know where my strengths and weaknesses lie. It comes off as arrogance for some reason to many people.
So, back to the preview.
It’s got the right voice actors. It’s got the copyrighted characters. It’s got an absolutely terrible art style that is far too reminiscent of the comics for my taste. Because those comics were a travesty of both writing and art style.
And again, why the fuck does Varric have black hair? He’s a strawberry blond! He looks like Varric and Blackwall DAI had a kid together. Or like they shrunk Blackwall DAI down. I don’t want Varric to look like Blackwall. I didn’t like him that much.
What? Did Varric have some sort of end of life crisis and dye his head, beard, and even his chest hair black? (Much reduced chest hair, fuck Bioware, why did you reduce his chest hair!) Did it all caterpillar its way up to his face? There were story significant reasons Varric was a dwarf without a beard. Did you forget that?
(Update from live stream Q&A. One of the devs said it’s because Varric has been adventuring for a time and is mostly grey. That he’s shown in dark light so it looks black.) Uhuh.
Reality bites sometimes, cause my dad is a strawberry blond gone grey and he never looks like he has black hair. Not even in the dark. But whatever. They’ve got an excuse for it. I don’t buy it because it doesn’t track with y’know, how hair usually works.
I could maybe get used to the steampunk vibe? Big maybe. That’s still within the realm of Dark Fantasy.
Also… I’ve seen some reaction videos and y’all… Dark Fantasy is a genre. It has absolutely nothing to do with the colour palette! It means it’s fantasy with dark/horror elements FFS!
I swear the reading comprehension of people has suffered since I was a kid.
But, but, but… if you’ve been reading me for a while you had to know that was coming.
What. The. Fuck. Is. This?
Walmart Sans? Bad Halloween decor they couldn’t sell until it was 99% off at a home goods store?
Is that… is that supposed to be a Darkspawn? SERIOUSLY!?! Given a Warden was fighting it, I have to assume someone at Bioware has ergot poisoning.
It looks like a modern cartoon version of Skeletor. Which is definitely insulting to Skeletor. This dude looks like he’s got on his tights, speedo, boots, a bitchin’ mohawk, and orange lights on his garb for the Halloween party at the club. He might win best costume, but he fails at being a Darkspawn.
They didn’t just swing and miss with going to the club dude, they couldn’t even find the bat and glove.
And yes, I’ve heard the ‘lore’ excuse that it’s the red lyrium warping them that way. I could buy that if they were A) red lights, not orange. B) Kinda spiky, crystal-like in structure. Y’know, like the red lyrium infected creatures in DAI? (That’s called continuity.)
The lines are too smooth, bone doesn’t warp like that, and he (the ogre version too) seriously just look like really bad Halloween decorations.
Also, whoever drew that needs to study human anatomy a bit more. That skull shape is so wrong. In so many ways. Former forensic anthropologist and artist. I’ve held more human skulls than people can probably guess. I’ve literally pieced them back together. I’m not awful at drawing either. That image is just bad.
I’m not a player who lusts to have DAO back as the only kind of Dragon Age. I’ve loved them all for different reasons. Games change over the years as new ideas, new creators, and new technology comes out. That’s honestly a good thing. Innovation is awesome. Most of the time.
Sometimes it’s a complete miss. Like with going to the club dude up there. I love a lot about the art in these games. It’s a large part of why I play them. And that thing up there? That’s not a Darkspawn.
THIS is a Darkspawn.
This is a Darkspawn.
This is a Darkspawn
This is a Darkspawn
They’re supposed to be kinda gut wrenchingly horrific. The graphics are older yeah, but maybe you get my point? If you know the Lore of Dragon Age… I’ve marinated myself in it… the Darkspawn are blight corrupted humans, dwarves, qunari, and elves.
It’s supposed to be the whole concept of ‘what used to be, but no longer is’ that’s often used in horror. You know… the thing that looks like it was at one time a deer but is walking on its hind legs with a broken neck and glowy eyes that sends atavistic shivers down your spine?
They aren’t… modern cartoon Skeletors or the Halloween deco you hide in the back of the garage ’cause you’re embarrassed you ever bought it.
WTAF were they thinking? I honestly can’t get past my utterly confused shock on this whole thing.
I’ve been saying for quite a while now that Bioware needs better developmental and diversity editors. (Or maybe even any? Do they have any? ‘Cause that preview really makes me doubt it.) And uh… well. Yeah. That. (I’m an editor, yes. I do both kinds, yes. I’m very good at it, yes. No, this is not me hoping for a job at Bioware/EA.)
I suppose me writing all this down is mostly just to get it out of my head. And to maybe let other disappointed Dragon Age fans know they aren’t alone. Given some of the things I’ve seen on the ‘net. I’m far and away from being alone in these opinions. You’re not wrong. They’ve absolutely changed it so much it doesn’t even remotely feel like Dragon Age.
And no, before you take that and run with it in an anti-diversity direction, I utterly love that they depicted Rook as Black. I love that Davrin is a Black elf. I love that Neve has a prosthetic leg. It’s not the diversity changes I have an issue with. I adore those.
Snorts. Would I accept a job if a Bioware fairy dropped into my life and offered me a good living to look critically at that game for problems that could maybe be fixed?
Probably. They’d likely pay better than my current job. And I really do love Dragon Age so much that if I could contribute to it in a way that made us middle-aged gamers happy too? It would be pleasing.
The likelyhood of that is probably akin to winning the lotto though, so no, it’s not the point of my post.
But I’m going to slide this monstrosity of a post toward the devs. Maybe they’lllisten to the free editorial critique and make this game make a wee bit more sense? Or at least feel like Dragon Age, sheesh.
Because who the actual fuck wrote most of that dialogue?
I want to point my finger at the ground and scold them like a puppy who peed on the carpet.
Then give them a really basic 101 lesson on dialogue.
It was either boring for the player characters (I absolutely assume it will get better there, it was just the beginning of the game, to be fair). And I definitely trust Patrick Weekes to have done an amazing job as lead writer for most things.
But I really would’ve figured that Bioware would know by now that fans want to know what the character is going to say exactly before picking an option. Not just a yes, no, mediocre choice. Players have been pretty loud about that. BG3 gave us (mostly) what we wanted and it swept GOTY.
The rest of the dialogue was such freaking factory canned bullshit that I almost rolled my eyes out of my head. Which would’ve been awkward. Fishing them out from under the dresser and all.
A Venatori shouting ‘avenge our fallen brethren’ (or whatever, I’m not watching it again to get the exact dialogue) has so much stanky cheese on it I can’t even. People don’t talk like that. Apparently, a few Bioware writers could stand to take a few writing classes. That’s basic.
Although, since Mary Kirby did the writing for him for the game (glares at Bioware) there may be hope for him.
Music? There was music? Hans Zimmer was a bloody mistake. Everything he’s made in the past decade has sounded the same. Such a shame, because the soundtrack of DAI was epic.
The demons are fine-ish? I guess? If you utterly ignore how similar they look to Fortnite demons. They look a bit weird, but demons are just emotional emanations from the fade so could conceivably look like anything they wanted. (Lolz, the rather skilled artists I know are kinda pissed off at the lack of artistic skill used for their development. Even the under 30 years old ones. Especially them.)
But also… they had really cool demons already designed from DAI (from what I understand they used the same engine, Frostbite). Why didn’t they just give them a glow up and use them?
This dude would’ve been way better for the pride demon. Plus, there would’ve been some continuity between DA:I and DA:V. In series work, some continuity is important. Or the thing doesn’t feel like the thing. Just like based on those previews this doesn’t feel even remotely like Dragon Age.
While I don’t have epilepsy, I can guarantee those demons as pictured/audio in the preview are going to give me and probably many other gamers massive headaches. Gods know what they’ll do to people who actually do have epilepsy. I mean… there are epileptic gamers. Gaming is supposed to be inclusive.
And I don’t really want to fight Fortnite demons. I want to fight Dragon Age demons. I don’t like Fortnite. (Or, y’know, I’d spend my money and time playing Fortnite?)
Why are there so many freaking Venatori? I mean… I’m flattered to have been right when I called it that we’d be fighting them again. But in Tevinter Nights they’re depicted as being on their last legs as an organization.
They’re freaking everywhere in the gameplay preview? You fight so many of them! They’re like toadstools after a rainstorm. Popping up like daisies! Whatever. Guess the major amount of bad guys in the Tevinter cities is likely to be Venatori. Which is just weird considering their god, Coryphyfish, is dead.
And dear gods he had better stay dead. He was such a lackluster villain in DAI to start with. And bringing back a previous defeated-supposed-to-be-dead villain is an overused fantasy trope that needs to die the miserable death it deserves already.
Again with the Venatori. A little uninspired to be completely frank.
I bet they have huge spiders in this game somewhere, too. Sigh. Why is it always spiders? Or wolves? Or big cats? It’s fantasy! Where is the creativity? (Also, you know that’s kinda ableist against people with arachnaphobia, right? Which is a lot of people.)
But I’ve gone on at length before about Bioware and their ableism issues. (Which is why they need diversity editors.) I personally like spiders, but they could at least stop having them everywhere. Or give arachnophobic gamers the option to turn them off or replace them with a different image.
Moving on from their complete loss of the horror element with the Darkspawn; I wouldn’t be scared of that thing even if it surprised me in the dark. I’d laugh at it. (And I’m a jumpy person. A lot of things can scare me if they come at me in the dark.)
And I’ll ignore the absolutely uninspired bad guys in Minrathous, and the Fortnite clone demons.
What is that thing Bellara is holding?
It sure as fuck isn’t a bow. Someone has been playing Final Fantasy a little too much. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got a lot of hours in FF. I like it a lot. But one of my major complaints about it? Is the completely, utterly, ridiculous weapons. Someone is compensating. Not sure what exactly they’re compensating for but it’s for something. Sheesh.
I’ve always loved the somewhat realistic-ish weapons in the Dragon Age universe. I mean, yeah. Still heavy on fantasy… but they at least looked like they’d work. I loved Neve’s reduced staff, that was awesome! Whatever Bellara is holding does not look like it would work.
I remember grinding for days in FF to get a special bow. Bows are my thing in a lot of games. When I got it made, it looked like someone had glued two surfboards together and tried to call it a bow. Bows have to be, y’know, functional? All weapons do? That’s rather the point?
So… I’m not an archer and if you are, do feel free to weigh in, but would that thing even work?
A bow is a precision instrument. Our species has had bows for a long damned time and their form hasn’t really changed all that much. Because they, y’know, work the way they are, and don’t if you change them too much?
You’ve got the curved wood/horn/other material with a string kind (I’m being deliberately simple in terminology, I do actually know what a bunch of bow types are called) and you have the cross bow type.
What we do not have is front heavy monstrosities like that thing. Okay, okay, she’s a veil jumper. Maybe she got it from some ancient Arlathan temple or something. But the ancient Elvhenan were supposed to be technologically advanced. Not Final Fantasy obsessed gamers.
Oh, but what about Bianca, gods rest her beautifully crafted soul. They excused that as a one of a kind thing never to be replicated. It’s handwavium, but fine, rule of cool works for her. It doesn’t work for whatever Bellara is holding unless they come up with a damned good story reason for it. (And it had better be damned good ’cause that thing might be pretty, but it’s just severely uneducated about weaponry, at best.)
Also, why couldn’t it have been the less useful Bianca Solas blew to bits? (Can’t stand the dwarf version in the slightest.)
Moving on.
The settings look interesting. The teams doing the backgrounds and settings have always blown it out of the park, so I imagine they’ll be suitably gorgeous when we actually do see the game.
Though I had sorta expected Arlathan to look a little more… jungley forest like, rather than paved shopping mall. But whatever, I’m hopeful there’ll be better parts of it later in the game.
Rook looks like they’ll be fun to play. And I really hope we’re not class locked as a rogue. Rogues are my usual choice but I’d still like to have the choice. (Edit. Reports say we have complete flexibility in our character creation. I just want to know if I can make a fat adventurer.)
The steampunky science-fantasy vibe. Enh. It’s not my favourite. I feel it was a mistake to try to horseshoe the depicted kinds of science into the fantasy of Dragon Age that way. Because it really feels shoved in whether it fit or not.
And I write science-fantasy, so it’s not like I don’t love it. I adore it. It’s just something that sort of has to be designed that way from the start. Which Dragon Age most certainly was not. Don’t they ever get sick of retconning stuff? I sure get sick of seeing the retconned stuff.
I could see how Minrathous might use magic in a way that we use neon lighting. Or for any number of cool fantasy type magical uses. I just don’t get why it had to look like a Star-Wars knock off. If I wanted to play Star Wars, I’d, y’know, play Star Wars?
I think they did capture the grunge and dirtiness and personality of an ancient city pretty well. Like it almost has a consciousness of its own. But as I’ve said many places, the settings artists are freaking amazing at what they do.
Although, if they have floaty spaceship like things why exactly are the Qunari even a worry? I don’t have strong feelings one way or the other on the Qunari, but I know a lot of gamers were hoping to see a Tevinter/Qunari war. If Tevinter has space shippy things, what threat could the Qunari possibly be? Or even the teased Minrathous monsters?
Last I checked (which was a couple of days ago, re-reading those awful comics) the Qunari were still using bows, swords, spears, and knife type war implements. Some bombs, too, because gatlock. And enslaved, lyrium addicted mages.
Big floaty space-shippy thing means small floaty space-shippy things because that’s how invention works. Where are the small ones? That thing is just a plot hole the size of Canada. (And a skilled developmental editor could’ve told them that before they put it in the sky. Sheesh.)
The fighting and conversation options look very similar to DA2. I liked the fighting in DA2 so after the usual adjustment to a new game it would probably be fine. Not sure how I feel about only having the ability to have two companions.
That art style though? I just cannot imagine having romantic scenes with characters done in that art style. And the Romances in Dragon Age are a large part of why I play them. Cartoon sexy times aren’t my thing.
You do you, I’m not judging. But for me cartoony sexy times are just weird. Not sexy.
And no matter what they said after that disastrous character reveal the other day, the gameplay reveal doesn’t look different enough for me to not call itcartoony. Especially for those Halloween decorations.
Now, I need to get to the end where we see some weird looking mage who I think is supposed to be Solas.
Really? That’s supposed to be Solas?
This is the Solas my solavellan heart fell for so hard I’ve been simping over him for the entire time since I started playing these games.
Regardless. THIS is Solas.
Beautiful, nerdy, a little stylized, but with an art style that really worked for me (and probably most other solavellans given how much we love him).
So who in the living fuck is this?
I guess he’s Solas shaped. But he doesn’t make my heart squeeze in that OMG he’s finally back!! way. He doesn’t do anything for me. All I feel is numbness for that version of Solas. Which is disappointing as hell.
I didn’t really have high hopes for him given his early looks for this game, but dang. Just dang. He’s like a plastic ken doll. Very much like a too shiny plastic ken doll. And while I know Gareth David-Lloyd did the voice acting for him, he somehow doesn’t even sound like Solas?
I’ve also been sadly informed by someone who would know that that is the absolute best they could do with him. We’re not getting him fixed no matter how much we scream. He doesn’t even have freckles! (And your eyes are fooling you if you think you’re seeing them. Our brains often do that. Fill in things that should be there when they really aren’t. There was some sort of design issue snafu which is why he doesn’t have and cannot have freckles. This is confirmed insider information.) Freaking Lace Harding is peppered with them. Why can’t my Solas have freckles?
Edit from Q&A (I think? It’s second hand). Someone said they wanted to make everything look more ‘painterly’.
Listen. I paint. Digitally and traditionally. You really have to work at it to get something that texture free. That’s not ‘painterly’ its like… glossy modern playing cards. I hate it. Especially given the kind of fresco style paintings that Solas did in DAI. There is ALL sorts of texture with those.
Sigh. Maybe he’ll grow on me. Like virulent mould. (Edit. He honestly hasn’t. Every picture I see of him kills Dragon Age a little more for me. Which is bloody heartbreaking.)
IDEK man. I keep asking myself what Bioware was thinking. This game feels like it was made for a much different type of gamer than those of us who have loved the previous games for so very long.
It feels like they were trying to draw in a younger crowd while almost keeping the appeal that held us older gamers. That ‘almost’ is important there. (Edit. Confirmed by John Epler during live Q&A. This is exactly what they did. I feel incredibly betrayed.)
We older gamers are the ones who’ve kept hope for this game alive. Who have kept Dragon Age alive. The company made it, but without us hoping for it, talking about it, making mods for it, repeatedly replaying it? Would it ever have gotten there?
And we get Fortnite demons, Ken doll Solas, Halloween decoration ‘darkspawn’, and space shippy nonsense that kills about 50% of their foreshadowing.
I know I’m not the only older Dragon Age player feeling a little (lot) betrayed right now.
Based on these two trailers (and I’m absolutely praying I’m wrong) I think they failed project Dragon Age. Miserably.
I am pleased to learn that there are confirmed non-binary options for character creation and decent hair. So that’s a plus. (Looks at the drops in the bottom of the almost empty bucket and sighs.)
I’d still like to play the game. I’d honestly LOVE to be wrong in my opinions on this. I’d really, really love to be wrong as much as I love Dragon Age.
I will happily sit down to a meal of crow if I’m wrong. I want to be wrong, because I love Dragon Age.
Though, I’m pretty good at prediction. I have stereotypical autistic pattern matching, which is a lot of what prediction is.
But I’m sadly coming to an end of what I’ll be able to write about Dragon Age, no matter how much I love it.
My computer, which is literally duct taped together, isn’t going to be able to handle DA4. It can barely run BG3 without overheating. As much as I love my computer, (and I really do, I get attached like a lot of AuDHD people do) it has broken or missing keys, and several of the more important keys just don’t work. The screen is also starting to go.
I have lived and breathed the art and lore on these games since I started playing them. They’re one of my most prominent AuDHD special interests. It’s killing part of my soul to know I won’t get to play it.
I’m a disabled, neurodivergent editor/author with a family to support. There’s absolutely no extra for me to save up for a new rig. I’m ineligible for disability aid because I’m an immigrant. (Not that you can actually survive on disability here, anyway.) And I live in Canada, which is having a rather obscene cost of living crisis right now.
Even with my issues with the… er… everything, I still want to know what happens. I want to see it for myself.
Being an editor makes reading/tv fraught for me. If a piece of media makes me feel like I’m at work I can’t really enjoy it. And 99% of books/shows do. (Don’t become an editor if you love to read.)
Games tend to have fewer things to trip up my editorial brain. (Not this particular game, obviously 😂.)
That’s all to say that gaming is basically my only form of accessible entertainment. I do it a lot in whatever spare time I have.
Even with my misgivings on the previews. I really would like to both play it and be utterly, completely wrong about it. I’d love to be able to keep writing about Dragon Age. But without being able to play the next one, all I can really do is rehash old stuff.
My work of words is my only income. And most writers really don’t make all that much. Editors can, but I’m currently working a job that pays less than minimum wage doing editing. I’m under NDA, so I can’t even tell people which huge corporation a lot of people use every day pays their editors so poorly.
Doing freelance work, I make between $50 and $70 an hour. Because editing is skilled, niche work. Experienced editing even more so.
That’s why someone can be an amazing writer and a shit editor. You really do have to dedicate yourself if you’re going to be good at editing anything. Most people don’t put in the time or effort. I’m a better editor than I am a writer. (I’m not an awful writer, I just know where my strengths lie 😂.)
But there isn’t a whole lot of freelance work available since COVID.
My partner has a broken back from his last job so can’t work (and they denied his disability because that makes complete sense) so we barely scrape together enough to pay the bills each month (and lately have been failing even on that).
I think Rook and company fucked up badly by interrupting Solas’ ritual. Lolz, I rather hope Solas ‘greatly disapproves’ in Rook’s head or something. That would be bleeding hilarious.
I suppose if Solas had… I dunno… talked to people and told them why he felt he needed to take down the veil it would’ve helped. But his arrogance always does get in the way. In the writing trade that’s termed his fatal flaw.
I think what Rook did at the end there is probably going to get Varric and a whole lot of other people killed.
Solas killing Bianca was awful, yes (and the merciful option, btw, Bianca can be fixed, Varric can’t). But I think it’s just the prequel. I don’t think our beloved Varric is gonna be around long enough to miss her.
Spoilers for Dragon Age Veilguard and all other Dragon Age media. (I’m a lore fiend.)
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
Critical review and a rant
Obligatory disclaimer. If you’ve already read it you can skip down.
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Y’know? Every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you Bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
If I’ve ever played a glitchier piece of shit game in my life, I honestly can’t remember it.
So I went to go watch a movie with the partner and kids. I saved my game and turned it off.
Came back and it played okay for a few hours. I met both Mae and Dorian squeeeee!
Met Davrin and Assan. Everything’s going fine. I got creamed (again), I swear the devs have no idea. I’m a consistent gamer who plays on hard/tactician mode in most games I play. (Many the same style of fighting as DAV.) And I’m having trouble with the strength of these monsters. WTF do they think someone just getting into gaming is experiencing?
Anyway. I got creamed, clicked reload last save, and it loaded with the now far too familiar no CC reverted back to the basic elf body error. I went back to the main menu, and now absolutely none of the saves are showing up with video. They load with sound, map in the corner, and tags above heads but no fucking video. They’re either corrupted or the game is just a piece of shit.
Yes. I’m rather annoyed. I was looking forward to finishing recruiting Davrin tonight, and it doesn’t make my brain happy to have to stop in the middle of what I wanted to get done. In game or out.
I’m currently verifying my files from steam. We’ll see if that fixes it. I just… and this is what the devs thought was releasable? REALLY?
I know I keep using BG3 as a comparison (which honestly isn’t a very good one because one is turn based and one ‘live’ fighting). But the Venn diagram of people who play DA and who play BG is probably a circle, so that’s why it comes to mind.
It’s also the most recent game I’ve actually purchased and played a lot.
I played that day of release and on into the week and had nowhere NEAR this many problems. I actually think I’ve had more trouble with DAV in three ish days than I’ve had in BG3 for over 700 hours FFS!
Anyway. Vent over (for now. I imagine this game will give me plenty of more opportunities).
Dorian looked really weird. He has what I’m now dubbing the ‘Solas effect’. He doesn’t look like himself. I wouldn’t have recognized him at all if it weren’t for him introducing himself.
Oh, and way to retcon the condition of the veil guys. For three games it’s been getting more and more tears and holes in it. Now it’s solid and the only thing holding off a world of blight that hadn’t ever really existed in the fade like that before? It was just the black city. Do these guys ever get sick of retconning shit? I sure get sick of playing retconned shit.
My partner saw the game and he really can’t get over how jarring the art is. He’s a pretty consistent gamer too, but I doubt he’ll play this one.
I’m even more flabbergasted now. I just… seriously?
The game doesn’t work well. it has numerous glitches.
The art style sucks.
The bad dudes are WAY overpowered for even a pretty decent gamer. Not so experienced gamers are likely rage-quitting in droves. Every one of the glitches I look up is pretty common. Even for people with better machines than mine.
The story took bloody forever to get started. It finally seems to have but it shouldn’t take me 20 hours of game time to get somewhat invested in the story!
The characters are honestly pretty meh so far. My much beloathed Lucanis is the only mildly interesting one so far.
I honestly just can’t get over how they felt this was A. Good. and B. Ready for release.
I’ll keep trying. But if it’s corrupted my whole 20 hours I’m not sure if I’ve got the stomach to replay all that boring assed nonsense to get to where I only just got to today.
I HATE writing critical reviews as a matter of course. I especially don’t want to write them about a piece of intellectual property like Dragon Age that I love so very much. But What. The. Actual. Fuck.
Spoilers for Veilguard and all other Dragon Age media. (I’m a lore fiend.)
18 hours in, 16 playtime
Same disclaimer as the others, if you’ve already read it you can skip down.
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Y’know? Every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you Bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
Okay. Got several more hours into the game last night. I’m finally getting story bits!
It really shouldn’t take 16 hours to get that far.
I utterly love Treviso. And to my surprise, most of the NPCs are brown. So they didn’t fuck that up.
I’ve so far met Lace (hate her), Neve (withholding judgment), Bellara (withholding judgment) and Lucanis (hilarious that I actually like him in game). Though what’s with the count Dracula look? Dude looks like he needs to find his coffin. That’s an… interesting design choice. Gotta admit I loved the coffee meeting. I may end up eating crow. (I said in a group that if I ended up romancing Lucanis in game, I’d happily eat crow, because I utterly loathed his intro story, The Wigmaker, in Tevinter Nights.) I still have to meet the rest of the companions. And yes, it’s a double entendre.
Again, the sets, backgrounds, and environments are fantastic and the best part of the game so far. It’s an interesting twist to me that they chose a negative coded demon for Lucanis. I was thinking it’d be Valor.
And I feel seen in a caring manner on the trans options. I do wish the CC would’ve given me the same freedom of design on that front as BG3 did. It doesn’t. Larian was far, far more brave and accommodating on that front. But I could make a representative character for me, so that’s important and good enough.
Larian also had the courage to allow polyamory too. Sooooo. My opinion of not being able to be polyam like me in DAV is pretty damned low. Only 30% of the dating population is monogamous. Get with the times, Bioware.
Arlathan turned out to be more beautiful than I originally expected. Not a city person so Minrathous doesn’t do much for me.
I had some pretty negative feelings about the game reveals, but that post is here if you want. Fair warning, I didn’t censor myself much and it’s both acidic and negative.
And I don’t like the non-open world thing. In fact, I hate it. I much preferred DAI on that aspect. I feel like the Devs are herding my rather contrary ass through the game and I just really don’t like it. You often can’t go back (say for potions you didn’t need before but could use?) It’s really just unpleasant. I don’t like being led around by the nose for the story the devs want to tell. I want to be able to explore. When I want to.
And I want both my third companion and my ability to play the other companions back, damnit. I really hate that too.
I’ve got a busy day, so I’m not sure if my weak ass will be able to play tonight. Though after 18 hours I’m feeling a very, very slight desire to play? Again, it shouldn’t take an 18 hour commitment to want to log in to a game.
Oh, and I’m playing a rogue. 16 hours in and I’ve yet had the opportunity to pick a damned lock or defuse a trap or any of the fun rogue bits I play rogues for. Did they really decide to get rid of an entire section of the stuff that makes rogues fun to play? That basically turns my rogue into a weak ass elf good with a bow and dual weild. They could be any Joe Blow with that. They removed everything that made rogues special? Really? Really really? Fucking hell, man.
I’m recovering from a Pulmonary Embolism (really do not recommend) so my energy levels have very finite limits.
If you have the wherewithal, money is tight, and if you’re enjoying these reviews, I could really use any financial aid people are willing to offer. My work of words is my only income, and I’m the only income in the house.
Spoilers for Veilguard and all other Dragon Age material. (I’m a lore fiend.)
Disclaimer the same as on the others. Skip down if you’ve already read it.
I’m not an asshole disclaimer (same as the first one, if you read that, you can just skip down to the cut.)
Something came to my attention. I need to make it crystal clear that I utterly love the diversity in DAV. It’s fantastic. I’m also a heavily left leaning, non-binary, queer as fuck reviewer, editor, and author.
I’m on media blackout while I play this, so I’m only getting second-hand info on how awful it is right now in the DA Fandom. Please be safe and take care of yourselves. Arguing with incels and white supremacists is completely pointless. They sea lion worse than an actual sea lion. Your mental health is important.
Though, every single time the anti-queer brigade comes out for a new DA game, I sit there thinking ‘have you bozos ever played any DA game, like, ever?’ My guess is nope.
(Note that these reviews aren’t edited. They’re just my off the cuff writing. I don’t have the time, energy or heart to edit them properly.)
So I’m waiting for my kids to go to freaking bed. I’ve gotten a few hours of playing in so far today.
It got a little more interesting after seeing Solas again. (And not just because I’m Solavellan. I honestly hate how he looks.) I mean just in the storyline.
It might almost be feeling like there might be a story somewhere in this mess? Aaaand it still hasn’t caught me up. But at least I’m not cussing at it and wanting to rage quit anymore? (not holding my breath that that’s gonna last.)
Saw some things I don’t want to spoil that I was hoping to see in the game. But dude… did they have to go right along the middle between red and brown hair? Way to completely pander to everyone. Have some courage Bioware.
I used to think of Bioware games as interesting and groundbreaking fun. Starting to think they’re going the way of milquetoast. Bland. I’m still holding off my complete opinion. I’ll finish it first. But so far? The best parts of this game? Are the sets, environments, and backgrounds. It’s about the only thing that feels like Dragon Age.
Did get a chance to meet some of my favourite characters from Tevinter Nights. So there’s that at least.
I do love what they did with the characters from my favourite stories in that book. At least the ones we met so far. (And I absolutely called it on TN being a prequel book for this game.) You don’t need to read it any more than you need to read any of the other supplementary materials. But those materials do give you a greater depth of enjoyment of these games. Just because you get to see characters you met in different formats in the games. And catch a few jokes you wouldn’t otherwise.
Met Lucanis. Reserving judgment. Lolz. Anyone following me for a while will understand why. But as of this moment, I still like Illario better. In case you’re curious, here’s why.
Oh and I’ve absolutely decided I hate Lace Harding. This is not the Lace Harding I wanted to romance in DAI. And yeah… it’s been eight years game time (Ten if you count Trespasser) and people change. But that much? I doubt it. The way she’s depicted in this game is much closer to how the comics depicted her. Judgmental, close-minded, and just… unpleasant. If you’re a Solavellan… you may not want to take her to some of the things in the Crossroads. She says things that anyone with freaking eyes could see aren’t accurate.
She can just sulk in the Lighthouse for the rest of the game unless I absolutely need her for something.
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