I'm sure many of you have seen the screenshots, videos and general kerfuffle surrounding the release of the new DA game from bioware.
The inclusion of pronouns, transition surgery scars and DEI politics is seen by some as Inclusivity going too far and by others as welcome representation.
I see myself as an average gamer. I'm not invested in any social or political agenda, I am not offended or put off by a game including customization features that I can choose to use, or not use as I feel. At the same time I never want a game to force its opinions upon me, or in turn have content forced in that would not organically appear.
So what's DA Veilguard really like for the average Joe / Josephine who is a fan of previous DA games?
TLDR: not great, but not terrible.
I've played the first 4 hours and wanted to include, I would like to think, is an honest, balanced opinion.
Character creation
The character creation is particularly robust with plenty of options to cater for pretty much everybody. While it does have options for pronouns and surgery scars etc. you simply don't have to use these if you don't want to. Hair physics is especially good in game so I opted for a particularly hairsuit avatar with flowing hair and beard.
Graphics
As you enter the world the first thing that strikes you is how beautiful everything is, gorgeous environments vividly rendered. The second thing you notice is probably the optimization, which is honestly incredible given release states of many games over the past couple of years, particularly on PC.
I was able to comfortably run at a near constant 60 frames per second using ultra settings, 1440, on an RTX 3080.
I'm honestly in two minds however, as to if I like the slightly new direction the aesthetics have taken. Characters have a slightly cartoonish look to them, somewhere between that "Warcraft" look and realism. I was initially resistant but it's starting to grow on me. It's definitely a better fit for some characters in the game than others.
Writing and voice acting
This is the part where it falls flat for me. BioWare have a legacy of incredible narrative rich content across their games. Particularly so in their dragonage series. In DA Veilguard the writing seems very clumsy and, at the risk of sounding pompous, immature. Despite having a wealth of lore in the previous games to draw from, DA4 seems to disregard a lot of this and go its own route of cheesy dialogue. So far the plot hasn't really gripped me and the dialogue between party members has focused more on soothing people's feelings and raising morale, than it has pushing the narrative forward.
I am only 4 hours in, it's an early first impression, but not a great one. At the same time I have not witnessed any of the overly DEI heavy conversations or set pieces.... Plus there's always the "skip" button. I admit I have started using that from time to time, something I would never have done in DA Inquisition.
The voice acting is very hit and miss. The protagonist and Solas I find particularly well done. However a lot of the other characters, in particular Neve, are just gratingly bad. On a level of kids TV child actors combined with lackadaisical delivery that seems like it's trying to mimic Whedon-esque dialogue from the mid 2000's.
Gameplay
Overall I have found the gameplay and particularly the combat to be fun and engaging. As a "dragonage vet" I have opted for the rogue class. It feels suitably scoundrely to play, mixing melee dodges with counterattacks punctuated with the occasional arrow, primer and detonator. Combat flows well and is satisfying to play. You can pause the action to select both your and your companions abilities or you can select yours on the fly for a more fluid combat experience. Sticky targeting leaves a little to be desired, particularly with a fast moving character, having to refocus each time after a series of dodges becomes annoying.
The game itself, while beautiful to look at, is a lot more linear than Inquisition was with its semi open world areas. There are areas to explore but everything is an offshoot of a main path leading you from A to B with the occasional shortcut and ladder to kick down. While it feels a bit like a dark souls or Nioh game in this respect it much more reminded me of Godfall.
Dragonage Veilguard is probably not the villain It's painted out to be. If this were a standalone game it would probably be fairly well received. The problem comes with it being the latest game in a beloved franchise that really doesn't carry that legacy forward. From a developer who's main strength has always been their writing, this is just borderline embarrassing. The movie equivalent of this game would have been that Ghostbusters reboot with Melissa McCarthy.
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