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Dragon age

T

tunatime

Well...OK
Joined
Sep 15, 2011
Messages
6,417
Surprised this doesn't have a thread yet. Is it worth playing? Heard zero good things about all I did hear was it's woke garbage which sucks because the first few games are fun....is it really that bad?
 
tunatime said:
Surprised this doesn't have a thread yet. Is it worth playing? Heard zero good things about all I did hear was it's woke garbage which sucks because the first few games are fun....is it really that bad?
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We had a thread but some cry baby couldn't handle anyone bringing up the DEI and virtue signaling built into it.

I'll quote myself from the Soapbox thread. Well...at least the parts that shouldn't get this relegated to the soapbox or deleted:

There are lots of issues with the game. On a technical level for performance and general stability, quest bugs etc. its actually worthy of praise for once. I think BioWare wanted to avoid another Andromeda situation which is fair. A friend of mine and my girlfriend are playing this game all the way through right now. One of them is about 25 hours in and the other closer to the 50 hour mark. Both of them have said that there isn't explicit and overt alphabet mafia stuff or DEI aside from anything having to do with Taash so long as you don't choose to identify as trans or something in game. Though those options are always present. Though the game does force you to interact with Taash, so the DEI stuff is definitely there.

Also, people generally don't seem to like the combat and the skill trees. It's mostly filled with passives and even when you change weapons or combat styles, it's largely still the same. The enemy types don't really challenge you or make you think either. In previous titles there were enemy types that forced you to use different tactics to beat them. Tactics requiring you to control your squad or companions and leverage their abilities to interact with yours. Biotic / tech combo detonations for example in Mass Effect. Certain weapons were better for certain enemy defense types and so on. DAV seems to lack any of that or any other kind of nuance to its gameplay.

However, the two biggest issues that seem apparent to me is that the game doesn't really give you any real choice. While dialog options on the wheel might make you think you can be mean or contrary to others, that's not what your character will actually say. You get a deeply sanitized version of what was on the wheel or something completely divorced from your intent. Andromeda has this problem too albeit not to the same degree.

The other main issue seems to be that the writing for both companions and quests is very sanitized and inoffensive. The game is afraid to do anything that might offend anyone or challenge them in any way shape or form. We've seen this as far back as Andromeda as I mentioned back in the day how that was the primary reason why that game wasn't as good as the trilogy games. It's protagonist is very safe and sanitized compared to Shepard. Renegade or Paragon everything Shepard could do was bold and memorable. The Ryder siblings simply don't have that option. There were quest lines in previous Dragon Age and Mass Effect games that had very mature themes and since 2017 (or even Inquisition) we really haven't seen that from BioWare.

Interactions between companions also seems to never drift beyond petty bickering and on the rare occasions it does, you as a player are forced to mediate between them in a conversation that very much looks like a sit down between two employees with HR.

The companion writing extends to the romances which I can only describe as infantile. It's clear to me that these relationship dialogs and scenes were crafted by people that aren't capable of mature or healthy relationships with adults and their understanding of relationships doesn't really extend beyond what they've seen in a Twilight movie. These aren't people that have experienced long term relationships and only have a vague inclination of what courtship looks like from entertainment. So the relationship cut scenes have a very "CW teen drama" feel to them that makes you want to barf.

One thing I didn't mention in the other thread is the art direction. It's a fantasy RPG with a Fortnite filter applied to it. While some of the environments look great, the tone of the game is a significant departure from previous games. The characters look like rejected concepts from a Pixar film.
 
Previous thread got deleted because il got seriously derailed. Let’s keep discussion about the game and keep politics out to avoid the thread going down the drain! 😏
 
BTW Started the game lately. So far gameplay is fun more intense then previous games. I have a mage and spell combination is cool. Dialogs are childish but not that bothering for me. Story is OK so far but just I just started.
 
I am about level 15 now and story is getting interesting. The gameplay is also improving now that I have unlocked some powers plus companions are also not completely worthless especially when you can pause and issue commands. Overall, it is quite a repetitive game (which game isn't?) but fun nonetheless.

I have not had a single issue of any character orientation thus far. I haven't met the character which apparently is the one causing the issue of DEI (Taash or something). Thus far, apart from some grandpa dialog about "virtue signaling" as the term was used above, I have not come across anything that would put me off the game. For me it is treading the 7/10 category of games. Nothing fancy but also not horrible.

Gameplay can be fun and I can't wait to unlock specializations and more quests etc. There seems to be tons of things to do and places to go (if I were to just look at sheer number of location Eluvians there are). That is keeping me excited. If I get a chance, I end up putting in about an hour or two every other day to progress.

Story is also picking up and right now I am doing main quest to unlock a warden companion it seems which is also exciting. The main quest is not a long one so for sure I will finish it and may also do some sides (which I occasionally have done to level up my shit).

Btw this is one of the most bug free games I have played of this scale lately. Other one would be Black Ops 6. Generally, these past few months or even this year has been about games with retarded bugs and crap. At least here I don't have to think about that shit.

If you can find it for a 30 I think you will have a decent time with it. Shouldn't be a problem with upcoming BF etc.
 
KickAssCop said:
I am about level 15 now and story is getting interesting. The gameplay is also improving now that I have unlocked some powers plus companions are also not completely worthless especially when you can pause and issue commands. Overall, it is quite a repetitive game (which game isn't?) but fun nonetheless.

I have not had a single issue of any character orientation thus far. I haven't met the character which apparently is the one causing the issue of DEI (Taash or something). Thus far, apart from some grandpa dialog about "virtue signaling" as the term was used above, I have not come across anything that would put me off the game. For me it is treading the 7/10 category of games. Nothing fancy but also not horrible.

Gameplay can be fun and I can't wait to unlock specializations and more quests etc. There seems to be tons of things to do and places to go (if I were to just look at sheer number of location Eluvians there are). That is keeping me excited. If I get a chance, I end up putting in about an hour or two every other day to progress.

Story is also picking up and right now I am doing main quest to unlock a warden companion it seems which is also exciting. The main quest is not a long one so for sure I will finish it and may also do some sides (which I occasionally have done to level up my shit).

Btw this is one of the most bug free games I have played of this scale lately. Other one would be Black Ops 6. Generally, these past few months or even this year has been about games with retarded bugs and crap. At least here I don't have to think about that shit.

If you can find it for a 30 I think you will have a decent time with it. Shouldn't be a problem with upcoming BF etc.
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Sounds like it a wait till its $20 game. Did they literally called the trans guy trash but change the r to a? You can tell whoever did that didn't want that character in the game.
 
tunatime said:
Sounds like it a wait till its $20 game. Did they literally called the trans guy trash but change the r to a? You can tell whoever did that didn't want that character in the game.
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if that, idk if id play it for free. lol yup BUT thats a self insert from the writer or director, thats what it was changed to too. i had a good concept vs game pic in the deleted thread. Taash started as female and curvy...
 
the EA CEO summed it up pretty well: "Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played,” Wilson said on an earnings call. “However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market”
 
polonyc2 said:
the EA CEO summed it up pretty well: "Dragon Age had a high-quality launch and was well-reviewed by critics and those who played,” Wilson said on an earnings call. “However, it did not resonate with a broad enough audience in this highly competitive market”
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No he didn't. He completely ignored the whole reason the game didn't do well.
 
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Dan_D said:
No he didn't. He completely ignored the whole reason the game didn't do well.
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"it did not resonate with a broad enough audience" for multiple reasons...it was never one thing...he's right in that the people that actually played the game seemed to like it...seems like that was a dig at the hate online from people who just jumped on the bandwagon without ever even playing the game...the game also reviewed fairly well

it doesn't have to be a 10/10 game in order for it to be considered a decent to good game...if you're longing for the days when there were no trans or gay people in video games or minorities then you're in for a long rough patch...it's the new norm and that won't change anytime soon and it might be time to find a new hobby

Veilguard definitely disappointed and underperformed in terms of sales but it's because of the gameplay/story/expectations
 
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polonyc2 said:
if you're longing for the days when there were no trans or gay people in video games or minorities then you're in for a long rough patch...it's the new norm and that won't change anytime soon and it might be time to find a new hobby
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There's a difference between having trans and gay people in your game, and having a 5-minute cutscene about misgendering that plays like a self-insert fantasy written by a bullied teen.

I would LOVE to see more compelling minorities and divergent characters in media... as characters. Not as tick-boxes or signals of virtue to hide otherwise elementary-level writing or monkey-level gameplay logic. The push-up scene in Veilguard didn't make ANYONE go "You know what? I was wrong" and Tash as a character was so incredibly childish and annoying that the character was more likely to generate MORE transphobes than extend an olive branch. Imagine if you were a marginalised person, and THAT THING is what a bunch of suits in a boardroom decided was what represented you and your subculture?
 
KazeoHin said:
Imagine if you were a marginalised person, and THAT THING is what a bunch of suits in a boardroom decided was what represented you and your subculture?
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it's a video game in a fantasy world...no one is representing anything other than what the game wants them to...the game represents trans people in as much as the straight White male main character in Watch Dogs represents all men...it's a story crafted by writers, not a biography
 
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Who'd have thought that people expect dragon age in a dragon age game?

Whether one likes to point at the "woke" or "dei" scapegoats or not, ultimately and undeniably, the games' greatest failure is that it ain't dragon age.
 
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polonyc2 said:
"it did not resonate with a broad enough audience" for multiple reasons...it was never one thing...he's right in that the people that actually played the game seemed to like it...seems like that was a dig at the hate online from people who just jumped on the bandwagon without ever even playing the game...the game also reviewed fairly well
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There were a lot of people who played it and were disappointed in it. Also, the game reviewing fairly well is irrelevant. We have had that discussion before. Mainstream "game journalists" are increasingly irrelevant and disconnected from gamers the same way film critics haven't been connected with mainstream audiences since the early 1990's and probably even before that. Again this gets worse all the time with the disconnect from mainstream audiences and critics growing larger by the day.
polonyc2 said:
it doesn't have to be a 10/10 game in order for it to be considered a decent to good game..
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I never said it did.
polonyc2 said:
.if you're longing for the days when there were no trans or gay people in video games or minorities then you're in for a long rough patch...it's the new norm and that won't change anytime soon and it might be time to find a new hobby
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Of course, I couldn't possibly have disliked the game for any other reason. BioWare games have had gay and bisexual characters in them since I started playing them. I don't care about that. The non-binary BS is modern day lunacy that had no place in a Dragon Age game and the cringe level writing that was part of the game was one of its biggest problems. Not just because you had a character that wasn't conventionally attractive or fit into a gender role, but because the writing was absolutely fucking awful. Plenty of characters are well liked despite not being attractive, so don't get that part twisted. (I'm sure you will anyway.) There is a reason why the cut scenes were memed to death and why the game got clowned on.

Once again, you have confused organic representation for shoving woke BS down people's throats. The fact you can't tell the difference is why you'll never grasp the point I'm making.
polonyc2 said:
Veilguard definitely disappointed and underperformed in terms of sales but it's because of the gameplay/story/expectations
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Graphics were subpar and there were a lot of bad narrative decisions. As I understand it there were things that contradicted earlier lore. Then there was the tone and art style which was a far departure from what people expected and from the earlier games. I've played enough of the earlier ones to know that point is spot on. Gameplay was a bit of a mixed bag from everyone I know who played it. (Including my girlfriend who is an avid Dragon Age fan).
 
polonyc2 said:
not according to the experts at Digital Foundry...one of the most knowledgeable and respected hardware enthusiast sites...

Dragon Age: The Veilguard- Simply Brilliant On PC

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OjawnIC81nE
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I have eyes and decide these things for myself. I've seen a lot of the game in person on a machine I own. It's not visually impressive. At all. It doesn't look like total shit either.
 
Dan_D said:
I have eyes and decide these things for myself...
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looks like that's the issue...on a pure technical level reviewed by people with extensive technical knowledge, the game is impressive...now gameplay is another story but from a technical standpoint BioWare did a very good job with the engine...visuals are not about creating the most realistic, lifelike character models...the developers set out to create a specific look and environment...you may not like it from a subjective standpoint but that doesn't mean the technology powering the game is not visually impressive
 
polonyc2 said:
"it did not resonate with a broad enough audience" for multiple reasons...it was never one thing...he's right in that the people that actually played the game seemed to like it...seems like that was a dig at the hate online from people who just jumped on the bandwagon without ever even playing the game...the game also reviewed fairly well

it doesn't have to be a 10/10 game in order for it to be considered a decent to good game...if you're longing for the days when there were no trans or gay people in video games or minorities then you're in for a long rough patch...it's the new norm and that won't change anytime soon and it might be time to find a new hobby

Veilguard definitely disappointed and underperformed in terms of sales but it's because of the gameplay/story/expectations
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lol, nah. It's already poison to continue with that trend. We are already seeing the massive shift. Those who don't will continue to be put out of business while putting a huge smile on my face.
 
polonyc2 said:
this is not a motherboard review...I'm talking about technical knowledge regarding graphics, GPU's, game engines etc...DF is one of the best
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Not a single one of the main hosts of Digital Foundry has any technical experience in the field other than reviewing games or being a long time "journalist". Not a single one is an engineer or developer. There are many people on this forum with the same or more experience than the DF crew. A game being technically impressive doesn't automatically make it impressive visually or in any other way.
 
4saken said:
lol, nah. It's already poison to continue with that trend. We are already seeing the massive shift. Those who don't will continue to be put out of business while putting a huge smile on my face.
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Agreed, don't let the door hit you on the way out
 
Dan_D said:
Of course, I couldn't possibly have disliked the game for any other reason. BioWare games have had gay and bisexual characters in them since I started playing them. I don't care about that. The non-binary BS is modern day lunacy that had no place in a Dragon Age game and the cringe level writing that was part of the game was one of its biggest problems. Not just because you had a character that wasn't conventionally attractive or fit into a gender role, but because the writing was absolutely fucking awful. Plenty of characters are well liked despite not being attractive, so don't get that part twisted. (I'm sure you will anyway.) There is a reason why the cut scenes were memed to death and why the game got clowned on.
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c'mon now...you don't really expect anyone to believe that you didn't have any issues with older games or movies that had minorities/gays/trans people in it do you?...let's not be disingenuous...you want to know the reason why there wasn't an uproar when Billy D Williams was hired to play Lando Calrissian or in older RPG games?...because social media didn't exist, things like DEI didn't exist...there was no echo chamber online of rage gamers

today we have Twitter, Facebook, Discord etc where everyone can yell and scream anonymously...does anyone really believe that coincidentally you only recently became annoyed with DEI or gay people or Black people in video games/movies?...really?...you expect anyone with an ounce of common sense to believe that you never felt this way until the last few years?...before that you had no issues with any of these things?...come on

and then you speak of 'organic representation' lol...first off how are you the harbinger of what is considered organic?...you don't know the developers intent...they are the ones who created these characters or storylines...you can't speak for them because you don't know what went into the development process beyond your conspiracy theories and your biases disguised as opinions...you have no objective way of determining intent because you were not involved in the development of any of these games

if a trans character was conceived from the start of development then guess what- that's organic representation...if they add them in at the last minute to appease some group then it makes it not organic but there's no way for you to know this except for the kooky YouTubers who say that Tupac is not dead and that the moon landing was fake...you can find a crazy YouTuber that supports any nutjob theory easily in this day and age where anyone with a microphone and iPhone is considered an influencer
 
polonyc2 said:
you don't really expect anyone to believe that you didn't have any issues with older games or movies that had minorities/gays/trans people in it do you?
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anyone that can fucking read would get that we dont have a problem with them. its the way they jam shit down our throats, the shitty writing, the self inserts, the attacks over critism etc etc etc etc. if you actually had read what all of us have posted in all the theads and had any normal level of reading comprehension, you'd get that. holy fuck.
 
Dan_D said:
The non-binary BS is modern day lunacy
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nope... this has always been a thing since the beginning. just because the phrase is relatively new to many folks doesn't mean the idea behind it is. I'll just assume you are talking about something else though, and not just demeaning a huge group of people's feelings.
 
polonyc2 said:
does anyone really believe that coincidentally you only recently became annoyed with DEI or gay people or Black people in video games/movies?...really?.
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Do you really a poster here had issue with Will Smith or Denzel leading movies now or back then ? or Neil Patrick Harris cast in a movie or ? Or Kevin hart making is comedies or Michael B Jordan leading movies ? Angry if Ice Cube show up in their movies...

I doubt anyone had issues with Jackson Briggs in Mortal kombat, Myke Tyson punch-out, barret in FF7 and just kept it for themselves
polonyc2 said:
.you want to know the reason why there wasn't an uproar when Billy D Williams was hired to play Lando Calrissian or in older RPG games?...because social media didn't exist
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Social uproar about that type of stuff still existed, it took higher bar maybe, but:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiko_(orca), warner brother spent a fortune trying to put keiko back in the ocean after kids discovery his story.

When Micheal keaton was announced to play batman, the studio received 50,000 protest letters, Last Temptation of the christ was hard to film and some movie theater got bomb threats (one was actually attacked in france), if people were ok with Williams casting choice or Carl Weathers in Rocky, it would be because they were ok with it I imagine, they would have send complain (I imagine inter-racial couple casting did).

It will rarely be a systematic rules of the sorts, it is more how people react to miss fire than not liking anything that involved minority/women/etc... that you can see bias, not that people never like anything that involve them.
 
Youn said:
feelings
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oprah-welp.gif


Of course, when your opinion on this issue is apparently that "woke = not a racist bigoted pos" :rolleyes: as if everyone falls neatly into either one or the other without any nuance or centrist middle ground whatsoever, I'm not sure that we can expect a very nuanced, balanced or reasonable take on the matter.
 
Youn said:
nope... this has always been a thing since the beginning. just because the phrase is relatively new to many folks doesn't mean the idea behind it is. I'll just assume you are talking about something else though, and not just demeaning a huge group of people's feelings.
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Nope. This is post-modernist propaganda they teach people now to try to say it's "normal." They even have bought and paid for studies to try and further convince people.
 
Armenius said:
Nope. This is post-modernist propaganda they teach people now to try to say it's "normal." They even have bought and paid for studies to try and further convince people.
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ok, I'll just admit we are talking about something different. being non-binary isn't normal, but it is okay to be different. I'm guessing we all agree on that. if you are talking about pushing an agenda for whatever reason, I also agree that that's annoying. I'm just trying to defend a group of people, pointing out some hypocrisy in the words that may, or may not, exist here.
 
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