Schmooples' Den! The DA News Discussion Thread

Are there any YouTubers who actually love Veilguard?

It's Mortismal GOTY for the year, does that count?

lol good luck finding content creators that have positive reactions to anything the zeitgeist doesn't deem to be flawless.

Why the hell would anyone use blood magic to create an army of nugs?

Another reason to keep expectations varied. 

That's so someone who likes truffles! 

all this has happened before and will happen again.

Starting to feel that this is the most mature DA has ever been. 

Not so much as I feel alone in this but that I feel like, given that a lot of people say it isn't, it just feels like such a hot take. Also a bit off the cuff and reactionary in its own way because realized I was directly comparing it to DAO when I also find DAI to be very mature...but then DAO is traditionally called the 'darkest' and 'most mature' DA game and even Darrah commented that was a deliberate decision with Inquisition so IDK, but there were certainly some elements of Origins I found very unmature, despite overall being quite good and meanwhile Veilguard just feels like its a very mature game in philsophy and in tone. 

But it's not about the game lacking in dark elements or stories, consequences... none of that. DA has always had plenty of humor, goofiness, and kept a good balance, I feel like (I mean, I wouldn't wanna play a game that's just freaking depressing all the time, either). And Veilguard has a good balance also. It is the type of lightness, of tone, that has a certain kiddy like Marvel/Disney or even The Sims vibe or quality to it. It's hard to describe, and it is uncharacteristic of previous BioWare games. With the exception of Mass Effect Andromeda (and the Citadel DLC, to a lesser extent, it's more akin to those games, and I had the same criticism about them, too). MEA wasn't without dark stuff, either - you begin the game with your dad dying. But the tone felt off, stupid, juvenile, unsophisticated... I was like, are these squadmates complete morons? It's one thing for the game to have a younger, less experienced protagonist and team, but not an entire crew of adults with arrested development. That's just sad. 

Really at the root of it all, I think is the (massive!) success of the Citadel DLC and of the ME3 Multiplayer, that may have contributed or even dictated how they made games moving forward, with flops like Anthem (+ the whole multiplayer / live service thing) and MEA to prove it. From their mouths: "we're doing more of the shooting bottles with Garrus moments that players love" - and then Inquisition had those, MEA, and Veilguard especially is chock full with that kind of stuff. They've been repeating some formulas and checking some boxes, I feel like, that they didn't necessarily have to do, and it's hurting the whole like, art of it. IMHO, anyways.

Again, loving the game. But sorry, there *has* been a shift in tone from previous entries, you'd have to be blind not to see it. Add the *deliberate* shift in art style to it (wish I were blind to not have seen it), and the writing is all over the goddamn wall. It's pointing in a direction that I don't know I particularly care for, as a fan of the franchise. 🤷‍♀️

Well, guess I'm blind then. 

Edit: I mean to make it abunduntly clear where I am goign with this if anything I am a bit concerned they are making the franchise *too* dark and too mature. Not by much but there have been a couple of really concerning moments sprinkled here and there that have come off as being really creepy and off putting. And this is to say something of some of the stuff I have seen in terms of screen captures of events I have not even gotten to. I will grant presented largely without context so who knows but I do wonder if its as bad as how it looks how I will deal with some of what I have seen.