Dragon Age: The Veilguard

Antimatter

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An ugh moment. David Gaider says BioWare "quietly resented" its writers, with a reliance on expensive narrative seen as the "albatross" holding the company back.



While the tweet is not about Dreadwolf, it still shows how small the chances the next DA title will have good writing are.
 
Zaxares

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Antimatter said:
An ugh moment. David Gaider says BioWare "quietly resented" its writers, with a reliance on expensive narrative seen as the "albatross" holding the company back.



While the tweet is not about Dreadwolf, it still shows how small the chances the next DA title will have good writing are.
Click to expand...

That... actually explains a lot about the slow but steady decline of the plots in series like Mass Effect and Dragon Age. o_O
 
Cahir

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Zaxares said:
That... actually explains a lot about the slow but steady decline of the plots in series like Mass Effect and Dragon Age.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I'm struggling to give another chance to Dragon Age: Inquisition, because of David. I know there is a great story underneath, but the MMO style of gameplay and UI, but more importantly, atrocious controls, puts me off with a Jedi force. I just hate to miss a good story...
 

WarChiefZeke

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Antimatter said:
An ugh moment. David Gaider says BioWare "quietly resented" its writers, with a reliance on expensive narrative seen as the "albatross" holding the company back.



While the tweet is not about Dreadwolf, it still shows how small the chances the next DA title will have good writing are.
Click to expand...


They should be more open about how they feel to the end consumers. If they hate story and writing and want to make Fortnite with Dragons, go ahead! But be honest about it so we can reject it from the start. Makes things easy.

Cahir said:
Yeah, I'm struggling to give another chance to Dragon Age: Inquisition, because of David. I know there is a great story underneath, but the MMO style of gameplay and UI, but more importantly, atrocious controls, puts me off with a Jedi force. I just hate to miss a good story...
Click to expand...

Don't worry, you aren't missing a good story.
 
Cahir

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Ok, since it's a season of giving second chances, I decided to give Dragon Age: Inquisition another chance, this time with some ground rules set (more of that in What games you are currently playing? thread). I haven't finished it yet, but I can already give some feedback.

THE GOOD
  • Story: Although not as compelling as in Dragon Age: Origins or Mass Effect series (at least to me), it holds very strong and is the selling point of Inquisition. The main reasons are the good pacing of the story (if you don't sidetrack much with side quests and exploration) and many exciting moments. The writing style is great, which is not surprising, given that David Gaider took care of it.
  • Characters: This was always a strong point of Bioware games and Inquisition is no exception. I don't really like only one joinable character from the whole bunch and it's not because it's badly written or dull. As with the story, it's not the best Bioware provided when it comes to character design, but it's still very impressive.
  • Lore: This is the strongest aspect of Dragon Age games for me personally and Inquisition holds the ground. It's the rare case when I actively hunt for bits of lore, scattered throughout the world. I love how many groups are involved in the same event, giving a different perspective on the topic (not always on the evil/good scale).
THE BAD
  • Controls and camera: It's one of the worst controls and camera angle I have seen. This literally forces me to switch to Easy and rush through combat encounters. This alone is a showstopper for many.
  • MMO style of gameplay: I don't mean to criticize MMORPG games, as I know there are a lot of fans of this genre, but the UI design in DAI is full of MMO inspiration, which itself is not the biggest issue. The problem is that it's a lazy design. It looks like it was stitched in a hurry before release. There is no grand thought behind it. It looks half finished to me.
  • Exploration and side questing: It's boring. Seriously, side quests in DAI are among the most uninspiring in all open world games I have played się far. If you are not a completionist, just stick to the main story and companions quest.
All in all, it's worth playing for the story, lore and characters. And that's it. You won't loose much, skipping the rest. I do intend to finish it, though!
 
Antimatter

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Ok, bad news for DA4, if the situation could even be worse, it now is.

blog.bioware.com

An Update on the State of BioWare

Hello again, Today, rather than discuss one of our upcoming projects, I’d like to share an update about the studio itself and outline our vision for BioWare’s future. In order to meet the needs of …
blog.bioware.com blog.bioware.com

"We are eliminating approximately 50 roles at BioWare. That is deeply painful and humbling to write. We are doing everything we can to ensure the process is handled with empathy, respect, and clear communication. With that last point in mind, I want to take a moment to explain how we got here, what we’re doing to support our colleagues, and what this means for BioWare’s current and future games.

After much consideration and careful planning, we have built a long-term vision that will preserve the health of the studio and better enable us to do what we do best: create exceptional story-driven single-player experiences filled with vast worlds and rich characters. This vision balances the current needs of the studio—namely, ensuring Dragon Age™: Dreadwolf is an outstanding game—with its future, including the success of the next Mass Effect™."

Another reboot? Another approach change? Not that surprising considering the quality of the leak in February.
 
Antimatter

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Well, seems like they have changed the name. It's no longer called Dreadwolf.





But... it could be changed to ... Dread Wolf instead loool.



Edit: AAAAAND it's Veilguard. The first gameplay reveal will happen on June 11.



After Dragon Age: Inquisition launched, the studio was given an incredible opportunity to explore, test, and validate a variety of gameplay concepts as we worked to determine what the next Dragon Age could look like. We brought everything to the table which, yes, even included a multiplayer concept. The time we spent experimenting and iterating gradually taught us a lot. This work, and the amazing support from EA, helped us re-focus on creating an incredible single player game, with all the choices, characters and world building you’d expect from us.

At BioWare, we create worlds of adventure, conflict and companionship, where you’re at the center of it all. As fans of our franchise know, every Dragon Age game has delivered a new standalone story. Set in the world of Thedas, these tales explore epic locales and threats, always thrusting you into a new conflict. Each game also introduces a new lead hero – The Warden, Hawke, The Inquisitor – that you can call your own. You can expect all that, and more, with the new game. And of course, much like your unique hero, it wouldn’t be a Dragon Age game without an amazing cast of companions – right?

Each of the seven unique characters that make up your companions will have deep and compelling storylines where the decisions you make will impact your relationships with them – as well as their lives. You’ll unite this team of unforgettable heroes as you take on a terrifying new threat unleashed on the world. Naturally, the Dread Wolf still has an important part in this tale, but you and your companions – not your enemies – are the heart of this new experience.

So, to capture what this game is all about, we changed the name as the original title didn’t show just how strongly we feel about our new heroes, their stories and how you’ll need to bring them together to save all of Thedas.
 
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Black Elk

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Honestly "The Veilguard" has the same sort of ring to me as "Dreadwolf." I don't know, maybe it's the definite article that makes it sound somehow like a dragon who's really trying hard to puff itself up? Amusingly I think Dragon Age: Veilguard, or Dragon Age: The Dreadwolf both sound slightly better. Least they didn't use the indefinite article I suppose hehe.

I might be alone on this one, but I find it mildly annoying when franchise sequels try to get around the common conventions and force us to use random acronyms instead of simple numbers. DAO DAI etc. I guess DA:TV is better than DAD lol. I feel like these sorts of subtitles should just be reserved for expansions of something. It would be funny if they started naming them like silly Rom Coms from the aughts, you know with stuff like "Finding Morrigan" or "Losing Leliana" lol.

ps. I don't think they've ever topped that first box cover. They should probably go all red again hehe

Dragon_Age_Origins_cover.png
 
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Antimatter

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Alright, folks, not sure what you think, but even I - who hadn't had any good expectations for DA4, was negatively surprised by the atrocious visual style and the vibe the game is going to have. This is an insult to every DA fan. To every person who played Origins and experienced those dark choices and tried to find fun with Alister and Morrigan amidst the apocalypse. To every person who played DA2 and DA:I, and still experienced stories full of difficult choices and drama.

Talk about not reading your room. This is an atrocity, and this trailer saved me whatever money I could spend on a discounted DA4. It's terrible.

*And to think, Origins once had a trailer with a Marilyn Manson track... How the mighty have fallen. Look how they massacred my boy.

 
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