Dragon Age The Veilguard Criticism Thread (formerly Skepticism Thread) [Spoilers]

"My thoughts after a long session, copy arrived early.

I thought it might be useful for some of those on the fence to have a complete nobody's opinion rather than somebody who is looking for content interaction. Granted, I'm a mega fan, but that means I am coming at the game from as close a standpoint to all of the people on this sub as possible. I understand these games intimately.

So, my main takeaway from this session is that the first few hours of the game, and the presentation of some of the scenes and dialogue... well, it's frankly jarring. Having replayed the series recently to get back into the lore I think I tricked my brain a little bit, but make no mistake, the game may feel a little stilted at first if you've just played Inquisition. This is not to say it feels *bad*, it's just so standalone in the way it handles almost everything that it is definitely a shock to the system.

Then I allowed myself to relax, I got through the oddly presented opening and into the real meat of the game, and the feeling I get when I play Inquisition for the 20th time is back, and I don't mean the slog of the shards or the thousand fade rifts. I mean the sense of the worldbuilding, the lore, the characters having depth and nuance.

In terms of the 'HR in the room' dialogue comments, I can say I understand *why* these comments might be made by somebody who blasted through the game, because there have been a couple of moments where I sighed and thought 'yeah, that'll do it'. That said, there are many of the same moments in every single Dragon Age game, but unfortunately the online discourse had me sensitive to it. When I acknowledged this and really reminded myself to just have fun, it became a non-issue immediately.

Otherwise I think the companions are better than I expected. There was one in particular I expected to strongly dislike, but now I'm leaning towards a romance. Also, Rook is not forced to be a 'goody two shoes' like some people have been suggesting. My Rook is showing signs of being Renegade Shepard with horns. It's very satisfying.

Above all else, the main thing I can recommend is to take it slow. The side content in this game is the polar opposite of Inquisition. It does not feel like a time sink. It feels like an essential part of the story, and I can definitely see that as I progress, things in the story will be different depending on whether I do all of the side content or not.

I hope this counts as no spoilers, and I hope it's helpful to you all! If people want, I'll update this again tomorrow when I've played more.

Edit: I've replied to as many comments as I can. I'll return here when I've finished the game for those of you who are waiting for a sale or more info before you buy."

"In terms of the 'HR in the room' dialogue comments, I can say I understand *why* these comments might be made by somebody who blasted through the game, because there have been a couple of moments where I sighed and thought 'yeah, that'll do it'. That said, there are many of the same moments in every single Dragon Age game, but unfortunately the online discourse had me sensitive to it. When I acknowledged this and really reminded myself to just have fun, it became a non-issue immediately."

Stuff like this is the reason I don't frequent that sub much. When you need to discredit someone, especially based on an assumption, to rationalize and justify objectively bad wring is a red flag. I can't take anything from this.

Yep they went cliché again Rook can see dead people.

I mean I'm glad Varric as a character won't get dragged through anything else.
Also his writer got fired.

But so many bad cliché, Varric deserved better than to end up sacrifice as a plot point for Solas character arc.

Varric HATED anders. HATED after what happened at Kirkwall.
Solas caused the conclave, Varric only knew him a year...no way he would have been let me save my friend.
Just to die to tell you "btw you can't redeem Solas Rook, I tried."