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

Even I couldn't do that.

maybe I'm a real dumbass but I feel like these class talks really helped me understand these murals and I probably couldn't have understood them without these talks. as for the execution, I think these talks were among the better written talks in the game, not that it says much in a game with such a low quality of writing

Honestly fair, I do think the discussion was important and getting the companions input was useful, I just didn't enjoy the "let's sit in a circle" after each one. And yeah, I agree, the "they were totally doing it" was kind of cheap humour lol. I'm just not sure how it could have been presented better.

You could remove Taash from the group discussion scenes and nothing would change. Might even be a little better without her piping in with nonsense. I do think the group cozily sipping beverages and laying on their seats like it's a movie night was a bit... I don't know. But that's really just nitpicking at this point, but it's part of a bigger criticism in terms of tone.

I would have been fine with a nice group bonding experience, like how they had the movie night in Andromeda (even if that's where I rage quit due to Ryder not rendering in the scene in the patch I played on) but as a separate thing from the mural discussions which required thought.

So we gloss over the whole ruthless trained assassin's guild and act as if they're just really nice mercenary freedom fighters who don't do nothing to nobody, and our so called Lords of Fortune are a bunch of glad handing pusillanimous robin hood types who take care not to 'disrespect' other cultures. Fucking wonderful. They really got dark with this one.

The real Isabela would take their most precious artifacts, laugh about it, and do it again. And I hate to think what the real Crows would do, but something tells me things would get a whole lot simpler with them around.

Hey, we knew that the Ultimate Sacrifice was a mistake in DA:I.

Which is kind of sad. I was looking forward to her and then she is one of the worst companions, BioWare has ever written.

I just saw a review of the game by a trans man and longtime fan of the series and he said, that Taashs whole story pisses him of. First: their mother was totally trying to be supportive in a bit of a clumsy way, but still. The reviewer said, that every LGBTQ+ person can wish for such a parent and I agree.
Then the whole 'Pulling a Bharv' scene, where Isabela said, it was not about her and then totally made it about her.
Taash being so moody and judgemental the whole time is quite annoying. And the modern language does nothing to endear me to them tbh. I think, the reviewer said, that Taashs writer is non binary and I begin to think, that this person has a lot of unresolved issues. Maybe they should write a book about it or talk to a psychiatrist, but putting your modern day experiences in a game, that never had issues with LGBTQ+ and suddenly make it an issue, is just wrong.

I've just realised, perhaps that is why Rook kept seeing Varric.  After all, it was really Varric's fault, or at least that is how Rook viewed it.   He told Rook that the ritual was for tearing down the Veil.   Then instead of everyone going in for the kill on the Wolf, he wants to try and talk him down.   Then when that failed instead of just firing Bianca he gives Solas the opportunity to turn round and defend himself.   Meanwhile, Rook thinks they need to have a backup plan.   Of course, Neve did say that it might be dangerous interrupting the ritual but of course Rook ignores her.   Not that Rook doesn't have a history of taking the initiative that results in unforeseen outcomes (apart from Shadow Dragon Rook).   Still, the writers have to really lay on the parallels between Rook and Solas and the Wolf really does like to kid himself that it is always everyone else's fault by his own.

I still think the narrative was very contrived in that there were plenty of ways that Solas could have ensured they never got anywhere near his ritual site (shutting off the eluvian; using his followers/agents to guard it - where did they all go?; laying down wards to prevent their entry, etc.)   Anyone would think he wanted them to find him, interrupt his ritual and release the gods so they would feel obliged to deal with them, whilst he stayed safely in the Fade.   Was that the plan he had to deal with them before he lowered the Veil?     

It is kind of ironic really that the Inquisitor and Rook wanted to save the world but apparently it got wrecked anyway and we didn't even solve the Blight problem permanently either.   As a matter of interest, if Solas had successfully imprisoned the gods, how was he going to bring down the Veil with them still living?    Also. if he had succeeded in doing this, wouldn't that have released the wholesale blight/taint previously contained in the Black City on the world?  

As one of the more honest reviewers said, much of dialogue felt like HR was looking over the shoulder of the writer. The team talk brainstorming sessions were so familiar to me, except you never got the little huddle of subversives afterwards over coffee saying just what they really thought of the previous session, or the brave and foolish individual (me) who actually says what they think during the session but ends up regretting it. Instead there were the further team building initiatives, like a picnic in Ferelden during the Blight and the constant resolving of differences by Rook showing how they could learn from one another instead of having valid opinions that were at variance with the vision of the management.

It's odd but when playing previous DA games, I did sometimes start to find the constant bickering a bit wearing. However, the easy way to overcome it was to switch in different companions when I needed a break from it. I certainly miss it. As one reviewer I was watching last night put it, there might be signs of a bit of tension building at certain points but it was never able to go beyond that. It was never allowed to escalate to anything beyond a mild disagreement, easily resolved.

Wardens: We exist to fight the Blight. What comes after killing all Archdemons? Extra Blight!!!

People telling me the combat and exploration are good don't realise that if the writing in a Bioware game is bad, the game is bad, period.