Dragon Age IV: The Veilguard

[Tawmis]

Gameplay.

Something about this now feels like a.... D&D Game... and not a Dragon Age game. I don't know. The floating thing we see... then the demons... they look like D&D demons rather than Dragon Age demons...

Meh, this is probably going to be a pass for me, unless it ends up super cheap or free.

Gameplay:

[Rath Darkblade]

This trailer gives me ZERO interest.
ZERO.

I agree ... and I watched the official "gameplay" (i.e. this):



I'm sorry, but after Origins, this went from a top-down tactical RPG to a flashy-flashy, button-mashing hack-and-slash.

The official (and default) canon -- i.e. if this is your first time playing, without having played the previous games -- says that the Inquisition wasn’t disbanded and Cassandra is the divine. This game isn’t open-world, think Dragon Age 1 mixed in with DA2. This game takes place all over the world, not just one country like Tevinter. You're still stopping demons and darkspawn, but all over the world. But the "official gameplay" video looks more like Dragon Age mixed with The Witcher.

Also, those purple demons look silly. They're not intimidating like the Pride Demon from Inquisition, or even the Ogres from DAO.

Also (again) ... poor Varric. I'm tired of seeing Varric in every DA game. They just won't let him do what he really wants: retire and buy a nug farm. Bring back Oghren. Sure, he was crude, but he was funnier, and and a lot less melodramatic.

Ahh, you know what? Sod it. I give up on Dragon Age. I'm going to play Baldur's Gate 3 instead, once it's on sale.

[Tawmis]

https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age ... er-creator

Who the hades still has their save games for Dragon Age after 10 years?

[Rath Darkblade]

https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age ... er-creator

Who the hades still has their save games for Dragon Age after 10 years?

Ooh! Ooh! *raises hand*

I don't, but I have DA1, DA2 and DA3. So if I really wanted, and I mean REALLY really, I could play DAO all the way through, create a savefile, and .............................

... but after having seen the DA4 gameplay, and the mess that DA2 and DA3 created, I'm really not interested in DA4. *shrug* Sorry.

Does anyone else think that DAO was the best Dragon Age? Sure, the graphics are dated. But the gameworld is compelling and fun, and there's such a crap-ton of humour. I think DA2 and DA3 took themselves waaay too seriously. Do you agree?

[notbobsmith]

https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age ... er-creator

Who the hades still has their save games for Dragon Age after 10 years?

That would be me. I've never played a Dragon's Age game, but I always keep the save games for big RPGs (Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls). So, Yeah, I would still have them. And don't most of these games backup saves to the cloud. Steam does, anyway.

[Tawmis]

https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age ... er-creator
Who the hades still has their save games for Dragon Age after 10 years?

Ooh! Ooh! *raises hand*
I don't, but I have DA1, DA2 and DA3. So if I really wanted, and I mean REALLY really, I could play DAO all the way through, create a savefile, and .............................

... but after having seen the DA4 gameplay, and the mess that DA2 and DA3 created, I'm really not interested in DA4. *shrug* Sorry.
Does anyone else think that DAO was the best Dragon Age? Sure, the graphics are dated. But the gameworld is compelling and fun, and there's such a crap-ton of humour. I think DA2 and DA3 took themselves waaay too seriously. Do you agree?

DA:O by far is the best game. Except I strongly dislike how repetitive the Deep Roads is.

https://www.ign.com/articles/dragon-age ... er-creator
Who the hades still has their save games for Dragon Age after 10 years?

That would be me. I've never played a Dragon's Age game, but I always keep the save games for big RPGs (Mass Effect, Elder Scrolls). So, Yeah, I would still have them. And don't most of these games backup saves to the cloud. Steam does, anyway.

All of the DA games I played were on the console, so they may still be saved. But I doubt it.

And even so the new DA game won't be available on the XBOX Console that the other games were played on.

I have DA:O on GoG, and I prefer gog because I don't need a damn client to run it. But the flip side, is no client, no cloud save. (GoG has their client but I always use the offline versions of the installs).

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmm. I have DA:O, DA2 and DA3 on the Epic store. (I also have physical copies, as in, actual DVDs in a box, which I used to install the DA games.

I know, I know. DVDs in a box? Does anyone remember those? Who the hell has games on a DVD these days? God, people like me should get with the times...)

[Tawmis]

Yeah.


This.
Does.
NOTHING.
For.
Me.


I am not sure what's missing... but something else.

It doesn't even look as smooth as you'd think it might. The graphics, for what you expect these days, do not look like what you'd expect from Bioware (in regards to how the people, especially what appears to be the "main character" to look like).

This is more and more and more of a "if it goes on sale for like less than 20 bucks" kinda game for me.

https://www.ea.com/games/dragon-age/dra ... -preorders

[notbobsmith]

I have not played any of the games, so I don't have any strong feelings about this.

You are right though. The graphics look like they're from the Mass Effect 3 era. It seems to be lacking the detail of something more modern, like Baldur's Gate 3.

[Tawmis]

I have not played any of the games, so I don't have any strong feelings about this.

You are right though. The graphics look like they're from the Mass Effect 3 era. It seems to be lacking the detail of something more modern, like Baldur's Gate 3.

Yeah - I was expecting more... Baldur's Gate 3 graphics, good point. Exactly what I was trying to think.

But even the over all story... just feels blah.

I'd strongly recommend the original Dragon Age: Origins if fantasy games are your think. DA:O is a remarkable game.
DA2 is mediocre. It uses a lot of rinse and repeat of areas, but the over all story is actually OK.
DA3: Inquisition... is nothing like the other two games to me. It's fine, if you are really, really, really patient and like pixel hunting sometimes...

[Rath Darkblade]

NBS beat me to it.

The start of this video (with the tentacles etc.) reminds me so, so much of BG3, with the mind flayers. I watched some of the trailers to BG3, and when they show mind flayers actually implanting a victim (you) with their larvae ... *shudder* ... I couldn't watch. Too horrible.

Do you ever watch a scene that fills you with incipient dread of something that you know is coming but are powerless to avoid? That's exactly what BG3 did, which is why it was so effective. It made me instantly think "I'd like to experience this", and I've never played BG1 or BG2.

Even without the BG3 graphics (which are awesome), the BG3 story feels like it instantly "draws me in". That's what a good trailer should do. It shows you who you should go after, and you know you'd like to go after them, even if you don't know why, and you don't know how.

But as for the DA4 trailer ... well, it just seems like one of two things:

1. It's a collection of the best "moments" from cutscenes of the game; or

2. It's like the trailer for DA3, but just more of the same. More dragons. Yay.

It doesn't give you any reason to play it. You're going up against gods and dragons, and the Veil is being ripped apart? Um, isn't that exactly what you did in DA3 against Corypheus, except that he was an ancient darkspawn (and was never very compelling as a villain)?

I looked up more of this, and found this article on Tech Radar. It's all worth reading, but these struck me as significant:

The story will visit new locales including Rivain, Weisshaupt, Arlathan, Minrathous, and the Deep Roads.

From what we've seen so far, Solas is hellbent on opening the Veil, a portal that'll bring demons spilling through it if he succeeds. Varric, Rook, Lace Harding and Neve Gallus are the characters confirmed so far. It's also been revealed that there will be seven party members, with all of them being romanceable...

Fans of Dragon Age: Inquisition will remember Solas the elven mage as a party member who joins your team early on in support of your efforts to prevent the emergence of dangerous magical rifts caused by the evil mage Corypheus. However, it turns out that Solas was the elven Dread Wolf the whole time and was playing the long game, looking for a way to break the veil between magic and reality on his own terms, not Corypheus's.

So:

1. Yes, most of these locations are new ... but we've see Weisshaupt in DA3, and we've see the Deep Roads how many times now?

2. Solas wants to open the Veil. Isn't that what Corypheus wanted to do in DA3? And I thought we sealed the Veil?

...and...

3. So, the whole point of DA3 was that Solas wanted to thumb his nose at Corypheus. "You think you're the villain? Hold my beer and watch this."

I'm sure that, in typical Dragon Age fashion, once you stop Solas (which won't be easy), we'll find out that something else out there is really behind Solas (or trying to use him, or something). But to be honest, after having done all that hard work in DA3, I really don't care anymore. It feels like being cheated.

You know the sort of thing: I did all that work just to start all over again? The heck with this, I'm going to play Clue with BBP instead.

[Tawmis]

The start of this video (with the tentacles etc.) reminds me so, so much of BG3, with the mind flayers. I watched some of the trailers to BG3, and when they show mind flayers actually implanting a victim (you) with their larvae ... *shudder* ... I couldn't watch. Too horrible.
Do you ever watch a scene that fills you with incipient dread of something that you know is coming but are powerless to avoid? That's exactly what BG3 did, which is why it was so effective. It made me instantly think "I'd like to experience this", and I've never played BG1 or BG2.
Even without the BG3 graphics (which are awesome), the BG3 story feels like it instantly "draws me in". That's what a good trailer should do. It shows you who you should go after, and you know you'd like to go after them, even if you don't know why, and you don't know how.

BG3 is indeed awesome. I've never finished it. Never got more than 3 hours into it - but that's because in order to play, EVERYTHING needs to be turned ALL the way DOWN for it to even be remotely functional on my desktop. (I did not buy a gaming desktop, because I was always doing my gaming on consoles, so I just bought a very, very, very basic desktop with Windows 11). I regret that now, because of BG3 and another game called Sons of the Forest. Both are beautiful when the graphics are set to normal (or above). But I have to play both at maximum reduced graphics.

But even then, still enjoyed BG3 (for as far as I got).

But as for the DA4 trailer ... well, it just seems like one of two things:
1. It's a collection of the best "moments" from cutscenes of the game; or
2. It's like the trailer for DA3, but just more of the same. More dragons. Yay.

And like every sequel, they raise the stakes SO MUCH higher. Before, you're fighting mortal darkspawn. Armies of them, yes.
But mortal.
Now in DA4, it literally opens with "You are at war with the gods..."
lol

I'm going to play Clue with BBP instead.

Always pick a game where you're in fine, wonderful, company!

[Tawmis]

So Dragon Age: The Veilguard released yesterday (on Halloween, Youtube reminded me, because...)

So far, the game has been getting mixed reviews... but on top of that, Bioware/EA is getting accused of "manipulating" reviews as well...
https://thatparkplace.com/bioware-accus ... veilguard/

https://www.ea.com/games/dragon-age/dra ... -veilguard

It will be awhile before I play it anyway...

System Requirements
Minimum:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64 bit Windows 10/11
Processor: Intel Core i5-8400 / AMD Ryzen 3 3300X* (see notes)
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA GTX 970/1650 / AMD Radeon R9 290X
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 100 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD Preferred, HDD Supported; AMD AM4 CPUs on Windows 11 require AGESA V2 1.2.0.7 or newer

Recommended:
Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
OS: 64 bit Windows 10/11
Processor: Intel Core i9-9900K / AMD Ryzen 7 3700X* (see notes)
Memory: 16 GB RAM
Graphics: NVIDIA RTX 2070 / AMD Radeon RX 5700XT
DirectX: Version 12
Storage: 100 GB available space
Additional Notes: SSD Required; AMD AM4 CPUs on Windows 11 require AGESA V2 1.2.0.7 or newer

That's above my current PC - and it's on the newer XBOX One X|S which I don't have (I just have the original XBOX One).

https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/ ... DX4FNNC0DK

[Rath Darkblade]

Hmmmmm ... after the disappointments that was DA2 and DA3, I've pretty much given up on the DA series. Sorry.

*starts up DAO instead*

[notbobsmith]

I did read somewhere that the graphics were a stylistic choice. We were commenting earlier on how they looked... off.