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

I think there could be reason of concern, given the issues the game had/has in development, but I don't see why EA would bring back Mark to *fix* a mess when the last time it happened (Anthem), he didn't. As I said in the twitter thread, this isn't a knock on him, but more of a statement of the mess Anthem was in.

Was Anthem shipped? Yes. I don't think EA' intention was for the game to just be shipped, though, but to be turned in something successful, which it definitely wasn't. Now they'd bring him back Darrah in a supposedly similar situation: why would they have confidence he could succeed this time?

If Dreadwolf is in a similar situation of Anthem, nobody is going to fix anything, although the game could have more then a year left in development, I guess. The DA team managed to pull it off with Inquisition with that timeframe, but Anthem was in a much bigger mess.

I'd also say that there is zero evidence that 'all the features Bioware were known for are stripped'. The only thing we have some knowledge of being different is the combat, it it remains similar as the leaked gameplay was, and I wouldnt' define that as 'every feature Bioware is known for'. I do think howewer, that Darrah's role and job, based on the article, could be related to the drastic change in gameplay, as it might not look like 'Dragon Age', in that regard.

I believe Mark Darrah very capable and near magicle with what he has done with Anthem. So yes, my conslusion is that is why he is brought back. I believe there is hardly a game there. I have no problem people believing in this project nor Bioware, I just don't. At best players will get a Dragon Age 2. Chances are it will be better than Anthem due to being a SP game. Me personally, I expect a subpar game not years in the making but a year in the making and all the consequences that come with it just like Anthem.

I think you’re free to believe what you will, and to not have faith in BioWare. I do think there are concerns overall, but if the game is in post-production,I don’t see how there’s hardly a game…whether the game is good or not, that’s something I can’t say before they’ll show something. I’m not debating the quality of the game, but the fact that they’re in a similar situation now to Anthem’s.

Again, I’m not criticizing Mark’s work on Anthem, but even if he managed to ship the game, we can most likely say that Anthem wasn’t a success; we can definitely say it wasn’t for EA, so his value, in their perspective, for a similar situation, wouldn’t be high.

In any case, he offered himself to work as a consultant, so it doesn’t seem, at least, that they were as desperate as some said to ask
him to come back.

This game might be okay or maybe even good but I look at the 'horribly rushed DA2' which was a game I liked a lot, thought it was the best of he bunch other than the well known foibles with reused environs and a bit moby combat.

This game is simply taking too long. Far too long.

Nothing is known for certain and the Studio have been very quiet for a considerable time. The latest "leak" was actually of snippets of game play that were being tested some 6-8 months before they announced the Alpha milestone. So, they could have been testing out new game play features after dropping multi-player, or seeing what needed working on from the old build before the decision was made to either incorporate it into single player or drop it altogether. Certainly one of the leakers/commentators said there seemed to be signs of old multi-player elements there. Thus, I wouldn't get too hung up on what the game play might be until they actually do decide to reveal something definite to us.

I'm crossing my fingers and hoping that we may get something in May/June time after the latest comic series has finished. Since they said it was meant to be a lead into the game, I would find it strange for it to have been released too far in advance. If they were going for a late Autumn release, say November, then a 6 month lead in time is something that was hinted at in the past as their preferred option for the next game, rather than the 18 months we got for DAI from its first reveal, plus the game play should be pretty close to what we will experience. This is because much of what was revealed in the 2013 trailer reveal never made it into the final game and they recognised that this raised false expectations in fans. However, even if they don't anticipate releasing the game until Spring 2024, I would expect to see something this spring/summer.

In December 2021 they said how much they were looking forward to sharing more about the game in 2022. In actual fact all we got direct from the Studio was a confirmed title, the announcement of Alpha, a short story and a brief cinematic trailer. (I don't count the Netflix series as that follows a story independent of the game). That was somewhat disappointing. Just knowing the minimum requirements for running the game on PC would be something.

This.

+10

Well said, Beer, well said.

And just like that, my expectations are lowered even further.

I guess we'll all know in 2025 (or whenever the game eventually releases). That being said shifting back to single player and away from the live service model doesn't by itself mean a shift back to a story centric design. They could still be chasing after their Skyrim dreams and emphasise exploration and minimal, juvenile style writing ala ME:A

You can have a live service game that focuses heavily on the story (The Old Republic) and you can have a single player game that does not. Whether shifting from a live service increases or decreases the story significance of the game depends on the type of live service that was being planned and the type of single player game that is being planned. Who knows, the live service game that was being planned could have been packed with story elements, "live service" doesn't really tell us any such information.

Your talk about ME:A is a very good example. It was originally similar to NMS, which is not story focused despite being single player. 

Nothing was (nor will be) revealed this summer despite numerous events and presentations.

Not even a CGI trailer.

So TGA 2023 is the next logical event for news and updates. Keep in mind that it will be five years since BioWare released the first teaser at TGA 2018 and we still haven’t gotten a gameplay trailer.

Got to give credit where it's due, I was one of those people saying a potential 2024 release was ridiculous and yet here we are.