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[Alex11]

Finished it after 75 hrs and still the same opinion, a mediocre game, if it had any other title and didn't inherit the amazing universe Bioware created with Origins, it would have been already forgotten.

Not gonna say anything different about the gameplay, if you play it for 5-10 hrs max you have seen it all, by the end I was just mashing buttons without any care and doing just fine. The end fights with the 2 Gods present no challenge at all.

As for the story, the overall plot was decent until the end, which ending for me was more of a disappointment that the combat. It basically all comes down to this:

Spoiler

Solas remains the only Evanuris and gets bound to the Veil, with 4 variations of how, 1 - you convince him, 2 - you trick him, 3 - you fight him, 4 - you fight him, but you and your companions die.
Really they could have done more, a really bad ending with Solas destroying the Veil or where he dies.
But, what's the worst thing is a secret ending, where it's revealed that everything bad that's happened in Thedas, like the Seven Magisters and the Black City, Loghain's betrayal, Bartrand Expedition, Corypheus and even the Evanuris, was caused by some mysterious group. That's great, thanks, it's an insult to previous games.

 

[Mayar]

Finished it after 75 hrs and still the same opinion, a mediocre game, if it had any other title and didn't inherit the amazing universe Bioware created with Origins, it would have been already forgotten.

Not gonna say anything different about the gameplay, if you play it for 5-10 hrs max you have seen it all, by the end I was just mashing buttons without any care and doing just fine. The end fights with the 2 Gods present no challenge at all.

As for the story, the overall plot was decent until the end, which ending for me was more of a disappointment that the combat. It basically all comes down to this:

Spoiler

Solas remains the only Evanuris and gets bound to the Veil, with 4 variations of how, 1 - you convince him, 2 - you trick him, 3 - you fight him, 4 - you fight him, but you and your companions die.
Really they could have done more, a really bad ending with Solas destroying the Veil or where he dies.
But, what's the worst thing is a secret ending, where it's revealed that everything bad that's happened in Thedas, like the Seven Magisters and the Black City, Loghain's betrayal, Bartrand Expedition, Corypheus and even the Evanuris, was caused by some mysterious group. That's great, thanks, it's an insult to previous games.

I agree, I tried to write without such spoilers, you decided to describe everything straight to the point =)

They repeated Mass Effect 3, when they gave the player the opportunity to roughly speak to choose the ending, and all the ending options were very weak. They were heavily criticized for this method of presenting endings back then, and now, many years later, it doesn't look any better.

 

[Mossybrew]

i only played one game in my life where i skipped dialogues and still had fun and that was division 2 (probably division 1 aswell).

lol I hear you on that one, love that game but the story cutscenes were garbage and entirely skippable.

 

[Alex11]

I agree, I tried to write without such spoilers, you decided to describe everything straight to the point =)

Yeah, but I put in spoiler, so there's no point tip toeing.

They repeated Mass Effect 3, when they gave the player the opportunity to roughly speak to choose the ending, and all the ending options were very weak. They were heavily criticized for this method of presenting endings back then, and now, many years later, it doesn't look any better.

Yep, kind of like that, only IMO even worse:

Spoiler

At least ME3 had much more of a variation with that synthesis ending, here it's just Solas go bye bye, fin.
At least ME3 made the ending better with the updates and DLC and had good epilogues compared to these.

And just the overall tone:

Spoiler

Evanuris were spirits and the wars with the Titans and somehow the Blight is formed from the Titans, it's just a bit more light fantasy and it colors the Darkspawn in shades of grey os opposed to just pure evil. Also the mystery dissapears when you start explaining too much.

 

[Mayar]

Yeah, but I put in spoiler, so there's no point tip toeing.

Yep, kind of like that, only IMO even worse:

Spoiler

At least ME3 had much more of a variation with that synthesis ending, here it's just Solas go bye bye, fin.
At least ME3 made the ending better with the updates and DLC and had good epilogues compared to these.

And just the overall tone:

Spoiler

Evanuris were spirits and the wars with the Titans and somehow the Blight is formed from the Titans, it's just a bit more light fantasy and it colors the Darkspawn in shades of grey os opposed to just pure evil. Also the mystery dissapears when you start explaining too much.

I agree, there were more variations of endings in ME3. It was just very upsetting there because at that time everyone thought that this was the end of the series. And because of this, the endings were very disappointing, I think no one wanted ME to end like that.

In DAV, I had a lot of different thoughts about the endings, and I wanted to write something about them, but I don’t remember anymore. I just later thought that it would most likely be like Andromeda, the game would just dissolve in time. And yes, I really hope that the secret ending is not the real ending of the game, and they don’t want to continue DA from this ending, because this ending is basically a kick in the balls to all old DA fans.

 

[Alex11]

In DAV, I had a lot of different thoughts about the endings, and I wanted to write something about them, but I don’t remember anymore. I just later thought that it would most likely be like Andromeda, the game would most likely just dissolve in time. And yes, I really hope that the secret ending is not the real ending of the game, and they don’t want to continue DA from this ending, because this ending is basically a kick in the balls to all old DA fans.

I don't know what to think, but after I beat the game I went to see if others have a problem with the ending, you know, it may be good, and it's just a me problem and I don't like it, but no, there are lots who have a problem with the story and the tone, the gameplay.

I think they will continue the series, saw it somewhere from someone who is pretty sure about it and the secret ending it just a way to soft reboot the series, it may even be a late addition to the game.

 

[Warnen]

Just got to the point on no return all companions are veilguards, maxed out all factions but one from my choice earlier in game, think I cleared out every side quest.

Besides Taash being insufferable (even without the pro noun stuff), I loved playing this game. It’s up there with Inquisition for me.

 

[ikbalCO]

I finally met taash

They might be my favorite character ever in a video game.

Possibly the worst written character ever in the history of fiction and if you like cringe comedy everything they say is comedy gold.

I love them.

 

[The Cockatrice]

Ofc the best song in the game isnt in the official soundtrack. Why does this always happen. Anyway best quality so far that I could find:



I really like this dude and his quest line.

 

[ikbalCO]

I finally met taash

They might be my favorite character ever in a video game.

Possibly the worst written character ever in the history of fiction and if you like cringe comedy everything they say is comedy gold.

I love them.

Update: taash is such a retard. I am obsessed. On the spectrum through and through

 

[Mayar]

I don't know what to think, but after I beat the game I went to see if others have a problem with the ending, you know, it may be good, and it's just a me problem and I don't like it, but no, there are lots who have a problem with the story and the tone, the gameplay.

I think they will continue the series, saw it somewhere from someone who is pretty sure about it and the secret ending it just a way to soft reboot the series, it may even be a late addition to the game.

Fresh stuff arrived, when your game is so badly written, and the ending blew up so many asses. That the company had to explain in the press that everyone misunderstood the ending...
Those who haven't finished it better not read, it will spoil the ending.

 

[Agent_Nobody]

I finally met taash

They might be my favorite character ever in a video game.

Possibly the worst written character ever in the history of fiction and if you like cringe comedy everything they say is comedy gold.

I love them.

Try the romance:

 

[Alex11]

Fresh stuff arrived, when your game is so badly written, and the ending blew up so many asses. That the company had to explain in the press that everyone misunderstood the ending...
Those who haven't finished it better not read, it will spoil the ending.

Spoiler

When the words "guided" and "whispered" are used and you see the cloaked figures, the only misunderstanding is on their part, they transmitted the message poorly.
Of course the word guided isn't the same as forced, now we're just playing with words and being taken as idiots, it isn't new in gaming writing or movie writing.

You know, it's just starting to bore the hell out of me, nobody cares about little mistakes or whatnot, it's fucking fiction, whatever, I'm done with Dragon Age, for me it died with Inquisition, if anyone enjoys these games, it's good, I've nothing against them, it just isn't for me and it's time to move on.

 

[Mayar]

Spoiler

When the words "guided" and "whispered" are used and you see the cloaked figures, the only misunderstanding is on their part, they transmitted the message poorly.
Of course the word guided isn't the same as forced, now we're just playing with words and being taken as idiots, it isn't new in gaming writing or movie writing.

You know, it's just starting to bore the hell out of me, nobody cares about little mistakes or whatnot, it's fucking fiction, whatever, I'm done with Dragon Age, for me it died with Inquisition, if anyone enjoys these games, it's good, I've nothing against them, it just isn't for me and it's time to move on.

You know what I think. That they just saw the fans reaction to the ending and got scared and ran to the press. And all of this was just made up. Because to be honest, after their explanations, the ending looks even worse. The studio apparently went into full defense mode, I don't remember BioWare ever behaving like this, because the same ME3 and the same Andromeda were very much criticized for their endings, I don't remember such behavior.

 

[Shake Your Rump]

I just got a Series X, so I am finally going to play Origins. Veilguard intrigues me, as I get all my meaningful content from other RPGs, and a lighter game like could hit the spot someday.

There's an ignore button and you can ignore me if people not agreeing with you triggers you.

I just ignored you but not for that reason. It's becuase you are insufferable, arguing in bad faith, and shitting up an OT with your culture war bullshit.

 

[Jinxed]

I just ignored you but not for that reason. It's becuase you are insufferable, arguing in bad faith, and shitting up an OT with your culture war bullshit.

Yeah, saying the dialogue and story is cringe = culture war bullshit.

Not once in this thread I've talked about this, just in the review thread. Go try that shit elsewhere

 

[Mossybrew]

65 hours in and its starting to drag. I come back to the lighthouse after a quest and see all these ! by companions and its like can you just leave me the fuck alone for a while. Its starting to just feel like a line of customers I have to deal with individually and pretend to be nice to. Might just play the remainder on weekends because playing after work is starting to feel like just going to a different job.

 

[Myuni]

Level 9 at the moment and I enjoy the game (EA Play Pro, PC)
I'm playing on 'nightmare difficulty' for a challenge, and having fun with the details of the combat system, loot and tried and true progress system.
The story and most of the characters are OK so far, some chicks are even quite hot
I still manage to ignore the woke BS-propaganda, which alternates between hilarious and insufferable.

Though the graphics are last gen, they are top notch and I kind of dig them. Everything looks so nice and clean.
No stutters, no garbage textures, great hair, a very polished title.

 

[analog_future]

Still loving my time with this. Gameplay loop is addicting, characters are interesting, the larger story is solid and engaging. No major complaints.

Also, for those fooled by the fake culture war "wOkE gAmE" shit, I'm about 25 hours in and have yet to come across a single piece of dialogue that would be reasonably be considered woke. I'm not saying there's nothing in the game like that, but it's not anywhere near as pervasive as many people tried to suggest.


A few more of my shots:

 

[EN250]

lol I hear you on that one, love that game but the story cutscenes were garbage and entirely skippable.

Liked the story in TD, it's simple and barebones as it can be, some arsehole wants to be edgy and "cleanse the nation" spreading a virus that f#cks up most of the country and you're a part of an elite unit to try to protect whatever is left of society and the "twist" you can see it coming from ten miles aways

But yeah, those "special cutscenes" you unlock as you advance the missions are some of the most over the top try-hard stuff you could ever witness

 

[manlisten]

Yeah, well screw you and your puzzles!

 

[Valt7786]

Definitely enjoying my time with it. It has its negatives like Taash, some of the dialog, the dialog choices boiling down to 3 levels of nice, sometimes with a bit of snark thrown in. But I'm really feeling the combat and general feel of playing it.
But I'm gonna say it, while there's a great variety of hairstyles, a lot of them are fucking horrible.

 

[Luipadre]

Im 34 hours in and i thought im in act 2, but turned out im not even finished act 1 lol. I still have like a good 40% left. Doing everything, because im enjoying it. Davrin and Emmerick are 2 of my favorites so far, i got Taash yesterday and she is insufferable in every scene shes in. Enjoying the combat and it still looks and feels really good on the Pro. Dont think the framerate ever dropped from 60

 

[taylor34]

I'm playing the game right now, decided to give it a try since I've beat the other Dragon Age's.

I agree that I haven't really noticed any agenda stuff in the game, seems fine.

However, the game isn't that great. It kind of reminds me of that Immortals of Aveum game, an ok but very bland rpg/action game. I've already gotten to the point of skipping all dialogue for the most part, it's pretty boring and generic. So far I would rank it my least favorite of the Dragon Age games (beat all the previous ones). Probably a 6 out of 10, which is what I would have given Immortals and that Star Wars Outlaws game that just came out. One of those games where it's fine but also a little boring after a while, hard to keep going.

 

[Arsic]

I finally met taash

They might be my favorite character ever in a video game.

Possibly the worst written character ever in the history of fiction and if you like cringe comedy everything they say is comedy gold.

I love them.

Stop.

You’re enabling a fictional character to call it “them” “they”. That’s completely bat shit. You can’t offend a fictional character.

It’s a chick and wants a dick, and written by a mentally deranged and unhinged person projecting themselves. The creator needs therapy and the people around them who supported this maniac need to be guilty by association of being fucking morons.

 

[Neolombax]

Think I figured out part of the reason why my PS5 kept shutting off after an hour playing Veilguard (and now it's happening to games like Space Marine 2). Last weekend I opened up my PS5 and finally decided to de-dust the fan inside and while doing it noticed the insides were super dusty and the heat sinks being heavily covered in dust. After cleaning up, finally got to play the game for more than an hour, and the console doesn't shut off anymore. Going to send the console to a professional for a proper deep cleaning though.

Currently 30hrs in, still in Act 1. I feel like I'm doing tons of sidequests, and the map for each region expands quite a bit. Although the general art style is very bright and cheery, some side quests do show that the game can get quite dark when it wants to (eg the one in Minrathous which involved demon sacrifice, wish there were more like this). Currently at level 29, and have a feeling that the progression will stop some ways before i reach the final act, which is always a bummer.

 

[ikbalCO]

Stop.

You’re enabling a fictional character to call it “them” “they”. That’s completely bat shit. You can’t offend a fictional character.

It’s a chick and wants a dick, and written by a mentally deranged and unhinged person projecting themselves. The creator needs therapy and the people around them who supported this maniac need to be guilty by association of being fucking morons.

Bro. Thats like the smallest kindness and compassion you can throw at someone wheater they are real or not. It represent an idea and belief.

Do i share that belief? No.

Do i think its stupid? Yes.

Do i think people who’d call a non-bi person he/she bigot? No.

As long as it doesnt hurt anybody and effortless i wouldnt mind not breaking anyones heart or offending anyone just because. So thats where im coming from

 

[SlimySnake]

65 hours in and its starting to drag. I come back to the lighthouse after a quest and see all these ! by companions and its like can you just leave me the fuck alone for a while. Its starting to just feel like a line of customers I have to deal with individually and pretend to be nice to. Might just play the remainder on weekends because playing after work is starting to feel like just going to a different job.

yeah im done with companions. finished up three companion quests and its annoying how many hoops you have to jump through just to get their official companion mission. So many times its just you going somewhere to initiate a conversation with literally no choices. its like whats the point.

all three companion missions have been terrible so far. mass effect companion missions were so much better. these missions take forever to get set up with literally hours of dialogue and still feel underwhelming when they finish.

my guess is that all the quest writers and designers left bioware after being forced to work on Anthem. And now Bioware has no talent left and its just a bunch of noobs writing these quests that used to be the highlight of ME games.

Going to just finish the story now. Had fun with the game but the companion mission grind is too much.

 

[Mossybrew]

I managed to get all companion missions completed except Neve and Taash and I'm not sure I'll bother with them. It is nice to get the special armor for them and unlock their special passive, but yeah overall it's a bit much. Game is giving me Valhalla vibes where it just goes on and on and at a certain point a game you initially really liked, you can't wait for it to be over. I should push to the finish at some point this week, I think I'm about ready to start the finale.

 

[GymWolf]

I'm just doing the companion quest of the dudes i like, so not much of them

I decided to romance bellara because i need to know if she actually has decent sized boobs or if her shirt is just a bait

Combat is nice overall but it is very unbalanced, you only have a challenge against bosses way higher than your level of when they decide to put bosses with a lot of aoe attacks in small arenas with the characters stopping on ledges and shit, and the lock on may be the worst lock on i used since zelda tokt, it lose the target every 5 sec.

How the hell do i even know what act am i?

I just completed the assault mission with the wardens, how much do i have left?

 

[StreetsofBeige]

I managed to get all companion missions completed except Neve and Taash and I'm not sure I'll bother with them. It is nice to get the special armor for them and unlock their special passive, but yeah overall it's a bit much. Game is giving me Valhalla vibes where it just goes on and on and at a certain point a game you initially really liked, you can't wait for it to be over. I should push to the finish at some point this week, I think I'm about ready to start the finale.

In Fallout and ES games, I always dick around randomly exploring. Then at some point I had enough, and just focus on the main quest and do it. Then after, I either quit for good or explore the rest of the map I didnt get around to.

 

[T4keD0wN]

Just finished it, i really didnt like the direction they went with for this game, this is not a CRPG or even an RPG, but an action adventure game with near zero actual roleplaying.

I imagine almost every Dragon Age fan is going to hate it, but someone who never played any of the old games might feel its ok because its not all bad, some aspects of the game were pretty good, unfortunately the key ones (writing, companions) most definitely werent. Most devs who worked on it did a pretty good job, its runs very well which is unfortunately not a given nowadays, the maps are great, skill trees and loot are amazing, shame the writers did a terrible job and dragged the whole game down to a bad territory with the Disney-level writing and some of the most boring and at times cringe inducing dialogue ive seen in a AAA game.

The companions are just plain bad, Bellara is like an insufferable MCU character (got a bit more tolerable in my playthrough), Emmrich is supposed to be a necromancer and he acts like a kids party clown, wanted to kick him out so bad, Solas and Harding were tolerable because they werent original characters, Neve is a bland and boring Batman rip-off, Davrin is not offensively bad or anything, he just has less charisma than Assan, who is a bird, Lucanis is pretty much the only one who is "cool", he had potential but it was unrealized and i dont even have words for Taash who was such an unlikeable spoiled brat in the recruitment mission that ive only interacted with the character in the ending when i was sending the characters to die.

Gotta say i did greatly enjoy the last ~4 hours, i didnt really finish any companion/faction questlines aside from Hardings because ive treated every companion as an expendable pawn worthy only of sacrifice, the finale was way better than ive imagined, it almost made the whole game worth it.

To share my results:

Spoiler

To my surprise Harding was the very first one to die because Lucanis was incompetent and wow, it was pretty brutal, so well executed was starting to get into the game at that point.
Bellara got captured and then redeemably sacrificed herself in a rather spectacular way later on. Really liked this.
Next up was Taash who ive sent to face the big skelleton which resulted in Taash dying like a piece of trash buried by rubble. Emmrich died somewhere in the chaos.
I wanted Davrins death to be somewhat dignifying, he died in one hit, but he fittingly died a hero.
Unfortunately ive somehow messed up near the end and Neve managed to survive along with Lucanis.
Gotta say it was pretty satisfying watching Solas get what he had coming after 10 years, it numbs the disappointment a bit, but i would not recommend this game to anyone who can understand english or any languange the game supports, theres some glimpses of good, however as a whole package this was not worth the wait.

 

[PonyStation4]

I was surprised that this kind of clothing was in the game, but this is the chest at maxed settings. They don't want women to have breasts in this game, yet have clothing to showcase them.

 

[buenoblue]

Finished the game. 75 hours on PC. Really enjoyed it. Game was pretty epic on my 65 inch full Atmos setup. Game was great but man, if they had made it more gritty and adult with realistic characters then this could of been game of the generation shit.

 

[GymWolf]

I was surprised that this kind of clothing was in the game, but this is the chest at maxed settings. They don't want women to have breasts in this game, yet have clothing to showcase them.

I had bigger boobs when i was fat.

 

[GymWolf]

Just finished it, i really didnt like the direction they went with for this game, this is not a CRPG or even an RPG, but an action adventure game with near zero actual roleplaying.

I imagine almost every Dragon Age fan is going to hate it, but someone who never played any of the old games might feel its ok because its not all bad, some aspects of the game were pretty good, unfortunately the key ones (writing, companions) most definitely werent. Most devs who worked on it did a pretty good job, its runs very well which is unfortunately not a given nowadays, the maps are great, skill trees and loot are amazing, shame the writers did a terrible job and dragged the whole game down to a bad territory with the Disney-level writing and some of the most boring and at times cringe inducing dialogue ive seen in a AAA game.

The companions are just plain bad, Bellara is like an insufferable MCU character (got a bit more tolerable in my playthrough), Emmrich is supposed to be a necromancer and he acts like a kids party clown, wanted to kick him out so bad, Solas and Harding were tolerable because they werent original characters, Neve is a bland and boring Batman rip-off, Davrin is not offensively bad or anything, he just has less charisma than Assan, who is a bird, Lucanis is pretty much the only one who is "cool", he had potential but it was unrealized and i dont even have words for Taash who was such an unlikeable spoiled brat in the recruitment mission that ive only interacted with the character in the ending when i was sending the characters to die.

Gotta say i did greatly enjoy the last ~4 hours, i didnt really finish any companion/faction questlines aside from Hardings because ive treated every companion as an expendable pawn worthy only of sacrifice, the finale was way better than ive imagined, it almost made the whole game worth it.

To share my results:

Spoiler

To my surprise Harding was the very first one to die because Lucanis was incompetent and wow, it was pretty brutal, so well executed was starting to get into the game at that point.
Bellara got captured and then redeemably sacrificed herself in a rather spectacular way later on. Really liked this.
Next up was Taash who ive sent to face the big skelleton which resulted in Taash dying like a piece of trash buried by rubble. Emmrich died somewhere in the chaos.
I wanted Davrins death to be somewhat dignifying, he died in one hit, but he fittingly died a hero.
Unfortunately ive somehow messed up near the end and Neve managed to survive along with Lucanis.
Gotta say it was pretty satisfying watching Solas get what he had coming after 10 years, it numbs the disappointment a bit, but i would not recommend this game to anyone who can understand english or any languange the game supports, theres some glimpses of good, however as a whole package this was not worth the wait.

I have one question.

People say that if you don't complete all the companions quests you can't get the best finale.
Now my question is, is the bad finale just a finale where some companions die because i didn't completed their quests or it's a straight up bad finale where the villains wins?

Because i'm perfectly ok if half of the companions die but i still win

Try to be vague dude.

 

[Sabejita]

I have one question.

People say that if you don't complete all the companions quests you can't get the best finale.
Now my question is, is the bad finale just a finale where some companions die because i didn't completed their quests or it's a straight up bad finale where the villains wins?

Because i'm perfectly ok if half of the companions die but i still win

Try to be vague dude.

Even the worst ending is a win. You just don't get to chose how it ends.

 

[T4keD0wN]

I have one question.

People say that if you don't complete all the companions quests you can't get the best finale.
Now my question is, is the bad finale just a finale where some companions die because i didn't completed their quests or it's a straight up bad finale where the villains wins?

Because i'm perfectly ok if half of the companions die but i still win

Try to be vague dude.

Its more about how you get there than the ending itself, when it comes to the very ending the villains cant truly win, it primarily determines just how many people you lose along the way and you can lose a lot. You can still get somewhat normal outcomes (with some loses) despite not maxing everyone, since theres one more thing that matters and that is picking the right person for the right task (its very similar to suicide mission from ME2)

If you truly want someone to survive you should do their missions, but that alone does not guarantee their survival, they can still die depending on the choices and faction levels. They can likewise survive despite not concluding their quest depending on those 2 factors. I think its a lot more tense and intriguing if you do some stuff since completionists will have pretty much nothing at stake.

Spoiler: To get a bit more specific about the very ending

When it comes to the final confrontation ive had companions which werent maxed out survive, i think you might need just 1 companion maxed out with you to get a good outcome there (if youre not aiming for the secret ending), but i am not 100% sure

If you want the most positive (secret) ending then there is a specific questline you need to finish and some dialogue choices you must take (depending on your Inquisitor there can be some variations)

 

[Valt7786]

I was surprised that this kind of clothing was in the game, but this is the chest at maxed settings. They don't want women to have breasts in this game, yet have clothing to showcase them.

I found pretty much all the clothing was just "gender-neutral" and mostly kinda boring. That one outfit in particular is one of the better ones and also the one my female Rook wore since obtaining it.

 

[Myuni]

Smooth sailing on 'nightmare' until this first dragon fight with Neve. Although I knew what was coming, and put on my best ice-weapons and spells, I hardly deal any damage upon this bullet sponge. I might dodge-roll like a prick for an hour or so to beat the MF, but I guess I'm royally fucked now, since I can't change the difficulty anymore

 

[Mossybrew]

Well shit that final 3-4 hours was pretty fuckin baller and reclaimed a lot of the goodwill I initially felt in the first 20 hours or so. Definitely not a perfect game, but I leave satisfied.


See you Veil Cowboy...

 

[Warnen]

Credits roll

Yeah I liked it, maybe not as good as Inquisition but enjoyed it. Last few hrs really hooked me. Think we will get another one, after credit stinger got me interested.

 

[Luipadre]

Just did the last mission in act 1 after 40 hours lol, it was pretty awesome. Im enjoying this more and more. Combat remains fun, locations are gorgeous on the Pro, performance is rock solid. I really appreciate how polished this whole game is, especially this day and age. Is this a good Dragon age game? Dont think so. Is it a good action adventure game? Yes it is. Im doing everything so i still have a good chunk left i believe and i dont mind at all

 

[SlimySnake]

I think the companion missions are easily the worst ever in a bioware game. I cant believe how boring they are. They have little to no production values. At best, you get maybe a 30 seconds animated scene in the final companion mission. The rest are all 1:1 dialogues. And since nothing happens in those dialogue sequences, you can just skip them.

ME2, ME3 and even Andromeda had really cool cutscenes with choices and an actual storyline that didnt take 10 missions to resolve with an underwhelming finale. I have no idea what happened here. There are so few cutscenes in this game its mind boggling. ME2 and ME3 had more cutscenes than this. Did this game have a limited budget or something? I am still waiting for that first scene to be topped and i just got to the point of no return.

This feels like a new studio's first bioware game. i wouldnt be surprised if they've lost all talent from those previous ME games and its just a bunch of noobs making what they think should be a bioware game.

 

[Sabejita]

I think the companion missions are easily the worst ever in a bioware game. I cant believe how boring they are. They have little to no production values. At best, you get maybe a 30 seconds animated scene in the final companion mission. The rest are all 1:1 dialogues. And since nothing happens in those dialogue sequences, you can just skip them.

ME2, ME3 and even Andromeda had really cool cutscenes with choices and an actual storyline that didnt take 10 missions to resolve with an underwhelming finale. I have no idea what happened here. There are so few cutscenes in this game its mind boggling. ME2 and ME3 had more cutscenes than this. Did this game have a limited budget or something? I am still waiting for that first scene to be topped and i just got to the point of no return.

This feels like a new studio's first bioware game. i wouldnt be surprised if they've lost all talent from those previous ME games and its just a bunch of noobs making what they think should be a bioware game.

Yeah some of the companion quests cutscenes are pretty bad, I was wondering if they didn't have any budget left for some of them.
There are some scenes where you're not even shown what happens, it's implied or you see your companions reacting to it but they didn't animate it.

 

[analog_future]

Just passed the "point of no return" mission. On the final stretch now.

Unless something dramatically changes, this definitely sits in that 8.5-9.0/10 range for me. It's really a fantastic game and is my new favorite Dragon Age game.

I will say that I have never been a completionist when gaming, so I largely stuck to the golden path, and only completed the companion missions of the character I'm romancings (Harding). I've heard most of the side missions are weak, so that may be partially why I have a more positive impression of the game than some others.

A few more of my shots:

 

[The Cockatrice]

And done. Here are my final thoughts. I think the game starts really well and then it drags quite a bit until the last 3 hours which are pretty good. So good start, average mid, and great end-game. I think 60+hours was way too much and a lot of stuff could've been cut or improved. Its without a doubt NOT a game made in 9 years, at least not active 9 year development and its at best something done in 3 years. We've all pretty much established its no longer a dark fantasy rpg, but more of a high-fantasy action game with rpg elements which isnt really a bad thing but they clearly are having issues mixing brutality of the lore with the cheerful Mass Effect'ish part and they don't always mix and it threw me off at times. The main story was decent, companions besides Taash and Neve were quite good, especially Emmerich and his companion which I really liked a lot. Someone complained that a necromancer was cheerful, but thats stupid, because making him an emo evil dude would've been generic af. I think they nailed his char better than most. Taash was trash, Neve was trash and both of their voice actresses were dog shit, but that shouldnt ruin or stop someone from playing the game, because all Bioware games had one or two garbage companions. Combat was fun, but like I said, after 60 hours I was getting tired of it, an action game should be half of its runtime, not almost 70 hours. Soundtrack is pretty great, audio design overall was good as well, same for most of the voice actings. Also huge bonus for the game running flawlessly at over 150fps. Level design for the most part was fine, not bad, not great, and I loved finding chests and upgrading the gear, and I think the sytem it had was prolly the best out of all rpg's. ALSO huge props to the people who designed the armors. Theres A TON of them and they're all fantastically looking.

Anyway that being said, even on a positive note, it doesnt do anything out of the ordinary, it doesnt push itself above other games or other Bioware games, it's indeed very safe in that regard and I wish side-quests were far more evolved and more twisty, which is why Im gonna give it a 7'ish+ out of 10.

EDIT: also they lied about the romance scenes and nudity. Theres no nudity or sex scenes in the game just an fyi to people expecting it. Romance-wise its garbage.

 

[vanillaFace]

Still loving my time with this. Gameplay loop is addicting, characters are interesting, the larger story is solid and engaging. No major complaints.

Also, for those fooled by the fake culture war "wOkE gAmE" shit, I'm about 25 hours in and have yet to come across a single piece of dialogue that would be reasonably be considered woke. I'm not saying there's nothing in the game like that, but it's not anywhere near as pervasive as many people tried to suggest.


A few more of my shots:

looks at the Disney art design, and the 'yoga pants chick' and 'soccer mom' and 'gay Puerto Rican' aesthetic (look at the amount of soy in the male character's face). There's none of the grittiness from the first two. I'm glad your enjoying it though.

 

[analog_future]

looks at the Disney art design, and the 'yoga pants chick' and 'soccer mom' and 'gay Puerto Rican' aesthetic (look at the amount of soy in the male character's face). There's none of the grittiness from the first two. I'm glad your enjoying it though.

It's definitely a departure from DA1 and DA2. I think it's a pretty natural evolution from Inquisition though.

 

[vanillaFace]

It's definitely a departure from DA1 and DA2. I think it's a pretty natural evolution from Inquisition though.

I cried about ME: Andromeda back in the day and ended up loving it after playing it years later. It'll probably be the same with this one for me. I wear my thoughts on my sleeve it seems.