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

I've been steadfastly avoiding spoilers, and actually looking forward to DATV in that I've become much more of a Dragon Age fan these last two years than I was before. But I have to say that the news about only three choices importing on the grounds that all the other stuff happened in southern Thedas and therefore isn't relevant doesn't sit right with me at all. I get that there's a limit to how many variables Bioware can account for and that at some point they have to write around characters who might be dead like Hawke, Anders, or Zevran. But the identity of the Divine, or the ruler of Orlais or Ferelden? Those things have no impact at all on the north? I get that rewriting the basic plot of the game based on the differing policies that the people in those roles might adopt is probably a no-go, but I wouldn't think it would be that difficult to work in some acknowledgement that, for example, mages would be operating differently under Leliana than under Vivienne.

For that matter, how far "north" is this game? I guess I thought that the Free Marches and the smaller northern nations all tended to have Andrastian rulers with Circles as we saw them in DAO and DA2, in which case the Divine being a non-factor seems especially odd.

He had no idea what was coming...

This is why I laugh when people act like BioWares disconnect with the fan base is something new.

Won't be surprised if how far "North" it goes is also a retcon of sorts. I think it's clear, from the abandoning of the Keep to the deceptive interview Corinne gave on player choice integration, even gameplay shifts they reportedly spent a considerable amount of time retooling, that whatever DAV is now is a result of them trying to reckon with the game's troubled history and scrambling to discard that radical live service imprint it still has to an extent. They've been hemorrhaging employees and axed decades-long veterans, so there's a lot of stuff that's coming through the seams as we slowly begin to see what the actual game marketed to us is. I don't think the DATV that we now see was ever truly "Dreadwolf" to begin with, and that maybe outside of some core story stuff, we might as well treat it that way when it comes to the series overall. It's essentially a soft reboot masquerading as a sequel imo.

It does, but I can all but guarantee they won't do it...because that would confirm their "art" was garbage in many fans eyes. Instead we'll get some ridiculously convoluted story that attempts to weave MET and MEA together in an attempt to validate the latter. Uhg.

We'll always have the OG trilogy and the Legendary Edition. I take solace in that. And I have to be honest. I'm scared to death of what they'll do with the next Mass Effect. I volunteer Pathfinder Ryder to take the brunt of it. Leave Shepard be.

Yes - they'll suddenly become very attached to player choice.

The weird part is in the latest podcast they have the protagonist flitting around Thedas as if Ferelden was just down the road (they rode there rather than use an eluvian), then back to the Anderfels. On the whole they have tended to ignore the actual distances involved between nations when it doesn't suit the narrative but now they think it is important? However, these are world changing events up north that will impact the whole of Thedas. If nothing else I would expect our hero to warn people in the south what had happened (if someone else hadn't already done this). Wouldn't it be similar to a Blight when every nation would be asked to assist, even if they chose to decline?

One of the funny parts of this latest narrative is how important our little band of heroes is to the outcome of various stages of the narrative. One wonders what everyone else is doing. Remember the Inquisition was built up into a Thedas wide force, which is why the southern rulers (and even the Magisterium) got a bit twitchy about it. When we confronted the Grey Wardens in Adamant or Corypheus and his forces in the Arbor Wilds, we did so with more than just the Inquisitor and three companions (or even the entire Inner Circle). If anything you could argue that Corypheus levitating the Temple in the final battle was to ensure that he did even the odds against him by excluding the majority of your forces. Perhaps by the end of the narrative we will have united the six factions we can be part of behind us to take on the ultimate enemy. Otherwise it is going to seem rather absurd if it is literally just the Veilguard.

Haha, yea to put it lightly. I'm expecting Solas to be portrayed full on as a tragic hero. I'm afraid that any negative responses you choose for your Rook towards Solas will come off like a bratty teenager lashing out. 

The continued degeneration of dragon age magic system I feel is a example of the direction the series was heading. My Canon playthrough as a mage was on DA2 and I was looking forward to the fact going to Tevinter we were possibly going to get the most robust magic system we have seen in the game. But the direction the game is headed seems to careless about actual cultural connection or the world previously build to a large degree outside of the main conflict.

Origins has the most extensive magic system in the game setting the foundation for the 4 schools of Magic outside of specilizations. DA2 kept those schools to a degree but adjusted it as to note have 4 different glyph or hex options which is fine. Then Inqusition came and mages were only stuck to the Primal spellbook and dabbled a little into Spirit, with Specilizations such as Necromancer and Rift Mage gaining pieces of other spells with the Haste spell being a ultimate instead of a normal spell.

Now Veilguard while giving mages a second melee weapon and playstyle was a plus the spell book feels even more lackluster then all 3 games. They even tried to sneakly mention during their demo how our players wanted healing magic back but gave it to our parry members. Which to me was a slap on the face to the players request of the Creation tree back which had more then just health healing or some form of Spirit Healer. We Basically have 2 spells of each of the 3 elements and 1 specilization spell which favors a element also.

Elemental weapons use to be a option because you could build your weapons to specilize in other things. But it seems they relied heavier on elements this Dragon Age game as their core gameplay mechanic especially on harder difficulties. So every class will fall into some form of elemental build anyway making the elemental only mages feel even more lackluster. Walking Bomb, Mana Clash, Crushing Prison, Haste, Paralyze, Death Cloud, Hexs and Glyphs could have all made their way into this game to give mages a more diverse experience. I feel like all the other classes did somewhat get enhanced warriors especially and rogues to a degree too actually being able to mimic Leliana from the Ashes Trailer for Origins. But if the series moves forward I don't want them to take steps back to compensate because it's a easier route.

The easy route is to make the high dps mage that dashes everywhere. But in a fantasy rpg you can't look at your mages being the best when your magic system is bare bones. Even with a limit selection of skills to select that's still no excuse on why their is more excuses made to dumb down the magic system vs improve upon it. Improving Magic in Dragon Age takes more then just giving mages mobility. In Origins I could combo my own spells putting a Death Cloud on top of my Dex Hex making a Spell Combo called Entrophic Death, and this was all in game. So even their mention our use of team combos isn't something new to the serious it's just now being dumbed down repackaged and heavily relied on even more back in a Mass Effect way and not a Dragon Age way.

I just want the series to get better I'm not even asking for it to go back to it'd Origins format I'm fine with a series evolving but I want actual evolution that elevates the series by building upon foundations and systems that worked. I don't want pieces of Blood Magic and Necromancer scrapped together to make a Death Caller. Blood Magic is as unique ro the Dragon Age series as being a Grey Warden is. One of the few if not only RPG that just straight up let's you play as a Blood Mage. Instead of being afraid to tackle the narrative around it and actually flex their writing skills to make it work in the story they are writing it seems they would rather continue to take the easy route. And in the long run that route doesn't seem like it'll be as fruitful.