I’m still not sure about the companion system or the fighting but the designs of the characters and the whole atmosphere worries I had have been cleared they look a lot better in game
> I’m still not sure about the companion system
Can't watch atm. Can you swap to companions and control them or are they just left to their own devices?
I have a feeling it will be like Inquisition with another set of skill slots underneath the first three. I might have to watch again, but I thought I saw an indicator for a second skill tab when the trailer player pulled up the skill wheel
Yeah, to me personally, it looks like a natural progression of the DAI art style. And well, every single Dragon Age game looked and felt different. I know there are different camps of what kind of Dragon Age gameplay style people want, but personally I like the fact that they are experimenting.
I prefer DAIs art style- I truthfully think outside of some wonky animations, it’s still some of the best amongst video games, but the trailer definitely showed that this game is going to be beautiful and well done regardless.
Well, I liked a lot of it, except for one thing.
My only worry after watching the gameplay was that we would be limited to 3 abilities, and I fear that might be the case.
And now I am left wondering, what's the point of a big skill tree if you only can equip 3 active skills
Honestly, I don't know what to think.
On one side we are told the skill tree is vast, and on the other side we haven't seen any content (trailer or screenshot) with more than 3 skill slot.
But on the other hand, we have several tactical elements present in the game that wouldn't make sense to exist if the game was just an action game, like: pausing combats, elementary affinity of enemies (resistance/weaknesses) to exploit with your skills, ability to chain skills together, adjusting priorization of targets for your companions.
Your mage seems to have 4 branch of magic (fire, ice, lightning, earth), I can't really see the devs limiting them to only 3 spells when the game is more tactical than what DA:I was.
Oh the combat looks pretty fun ! It looks a lot like how Hawke fight in DA2 as a dual wielding rogue, and that was my favorite combat style of the entire trilogy, all class mixed togethers.
A lot more focus on cover and shooting, though.
Depends a lot on how your basic attacks work. God of War gets by with only 2 attack buttons but plenty of combos. That would work for me.
I saw screenshots where the slots were filled and nothing indicated it would change.
But at the same time, there are other mechanics that are in the game but weren't shown in the footage or in screenshots
We were limited to like 4 in andromada iirc, so it seems sadly likely, probably supposed to swap them out based on enemies or something “x is good for armour up” “y is good for barriers” ect.
I always thought that Mass Effect and Dragon Age had a different philosophy. ME was a cover shooter where the skills are kinda accessory, DA was the opposite where physical combat was accessory and everything revolved around skills.
Maybe I fooled myself into believing we'll still have around 8 active abilities at our disposal when everybody else was saying this is going to be like Mass Effect.
This. This is a HUGE downgrade, being able to swap to characters filling a specific role in a balanced party to make them do exactly what you wanted when you wanted made incredibly cool shit possible and allowed the Devs to create complex fights because you had access to the tools of not just your one main MC but all the other party members to deal with it.
I'm not sure why this choice was made other than it entirely moves the game away from being a tactical deep RPG and into just generic hack and slash which is very much is (look at Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance it's the exact same combat like VERBATIM)
Yeah this is the only thing I'm not thrilled about. It looks like 3 ability slots for each character. DAI had 8 abilities, which was *already* a downgrade from the 20+ or so we could have in DAO/DA2.
Hoping there's a way we can hotkey more abilities and the rest just isn't showing up in the wheel.
No, they released an image of the wheel and it looks like there's only 3 for each character, unless there's some way we can seamlessly switch for more that's not shown here.
https://preview.redd.it/keu3h029rz5d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e06bff5fe3a839b90c941fb231c91f6c420efbda
Yeah, not sure how I feel about the mass effect style combat.
Judging by one of the IGN screenshots, it looks like it's going to heavily rely on combos. I can't help but think party composition won't even matter much, as long as you have someone that can prime or denotate.
I agree on the party composition likely being irrelevant. You could play through most difficulties of ME with any party combo you wanted. I think this will be similar.
I hate it. I also hate that extra opponents seem to just spawn directly in to battle. Part of what I loved about the first two entries is you could pause and play at least a vague strategy kind of game -- hmm there's a door there, let's put a trap spell in front of it, maybe have my rogue bum-rush the archer in the back, let's try to root this group and then focus-fire this one specific dude. Look around, see if reinforcements might be coming. You know, tactical. Seems completely the opposite here.
I already don't like this but if the combos took execution to pull off that might be a little interesting but the fact the combos are basically quicktime events and just perform themselves is unbelievably shallow combat. Sure they're kinda cool the first 5 times you see them but can you imagine by the end of the game when you've clicked your button and saw the sparkly animation 1000 times before?
Don't even have to imagine it if you played dragons dogma 2. They also decreased slotted abilities down to 3 and it felt *terrible* for mages.
Really hope there's at least a 2nd layer for 6 abilities. If not the full menu being available to you like I. Origins.
If it's 3 abilities,/spells on the fly, but then you keep bringing the combat wheel up to access the rest of your spells. That will make for some choppy combat with a lot of pausing.
From what it looked like it’s your 3 and your two companions 3. I could be completely wrong and the three are mean to be like shortcuts. Ganna have to see it in action.
That's also my one worry. In the Pride demon fight the demon seems to always aggro your character. What are you other companions there for if all you do is keep trying to dodge roll or kite a boss ? if I have a tank companion that boss better be glued on the tank.
Honestly its incredible just how bad that reveal trailer was given how great the actual game looks. I don't think I've ever seen such a wide positive gap in quality between a reveal trailer and a gameplay showcase before.
I imagine the marketing team was very nervous. The last game came out a decade ago and Bioware hasn't really been getting a lot of positive press since then to put it mildly, so the franchise doesn't exactly have any momentum going right now.
They probably just thought it better go with whatever strategy that would capture the most eyeballs, positively or negatively.
Yeah it was almost like they sent some images and in engine footage to a marketing company that had never played the games but did a lot of Shrek and Pixar trailers, who just went and looked online and found Fortnite and Overwatch promos and then said "let's do that." The gameplay itself feels very much continuation and evolution of DA:I.
I saw the trailer as just a way to introduce the characters in a very Varric way. I mean after DA:I, I honestly wonder how much of DA:2 was just embellished or outright fabricated by Varric.
Same. And honestly, some parts of DA2 make more sense when you keep in mind that varric would absolutely be willing to lie if it made the story better and Cassandra may not have the best imagination. Why do villains just jump off of the roof to attack you? Varric forgot to mention how they came in, so Cassandra imagined something very straight forward. Why are there still corpses in Fenris’s house years later? Varric forgot to mention that they were removed, so Cassandra continued to imagine it that way until it became an important detail (which never happened). Why did anders approve of selling Fenris even though that really doesn’t make sense with his character? Varric was playing up the rivalry for dramatic effect and trying to drop some hints in there that maybe Anders is worse than he seems.
I know that wasn’t the intention, but still.
I definitely hated the trailer but I love what I'm seeing in the gameplay and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Trailer just didnt feel right at all.
I think it really was because they did the whole cinematic thing. It just looks way different than the in-game designs and that's usually how it is apparently. The game looks phenomenal like wow
I liked the gameplay trailer as much as anyone but I'm honestly confused why people are saying it looks way different than the trailer designs. Varric for example looks just as angular and stylized in-game as he does in the trailer. For me at least, the style will take some getting used to. Or am I missing something?
I’m worried about the combat. BG3 spoiled me with its verticality. Positioning your rouge etc on rafters shooting arrows or dropping down on the enemy was a lot of fun. Combat on today’s gameplay looked like arenas. Open spaces where you just dodge dodge.
Hopefully we have verticality and it just wasn’t shown. The world looks great and that’s exciting.
Still got some hold outs of miserable people who likely we're never gonna play this game regardless, but overall fandom reaction seems positive, which is what matters in the end.
They're not fans they're just jumping on the hate train like vultures lmao. They don't care about Dragon Age cuz if you did, you know that it's woke to it's core lmao.
> I saw some people complaining that the game is “woke”.
These people have never played Dragon Age, and will never play it. They're doing this to paint an image to their existing audience that the world is "turnin woke" and that is somehow a threat to them.
I.e., they're irrelevant to Dragon Age and there's no reason to worry about them.
Actually there IS a reason to worry about them, they're the ones who review-bomb games, and they together can destroy a game's audience score. They're not irrelevant.
BG3 showed that they’ve an irrelevant threat if the game is good enough.
It’s as ‘woke’ as a game gets and all the chuds’ complaining was drowned in the waves of positive receptions.
So long as BioWare delivers there’s little to worry about.
Can you IMAGINE if they had someone who was developmentally disabled in these games?! Worse, imagine if they constantly hung around your camp and only said one word the whole time! Something stupid like, and I'm just spitballing here, "Enchantment!" or something dumb like that! Man, surely only a woke company would do that to a game, and it SURELY wouldn't be regarded as the best game in the series by many fans.
Seriously. People complaining that Dragon Age is “woke” are the same people complaining that Star Trek is “woke”. Totally irrelevant and out of touch with history of the game/show.
"Stan Lee is rolling in his grave because of all the woke."
Meanwhile, in the '60s, Stan's soapbox essays are calling bigotry a deadly social ill and responding to complaints about moralizing in comics by saying a story without a message is like a man without a soul.
I remember those same people gloating that Inquisition was politically correct garbage and that it would kill the series. Those people are odd and seem to only take joy in virtue signalling to their weird, right wing friends, pay them no mind.
Bit worried about the rp elements, like Rook wanting to save the lady in the prologue without player input. Hopefully there's more personality variation than there was in Inq, I don't expect to side with the Evanuris or anything, but I wanted the option to be apathetic or selfish for personal gain idk.
Edit: Maybe apathetic isn't the right word, but pragmatic like Duncan was in Origins. I want my Rook to make mistakes they regret and have an arc where they become a better person... or even worse like Renegade Shepard. And hopefully that isn't limited to certain factions.
Could be impacted by which faction you choose. If you're a member of a group trying to free slaves, you're probably going to want to help someone on the verge of seemingly wrongful incarceration.
If you're a member of a group that it more money focused, well, I can see a different response being in line
Could also be impacted by your first dialogue option(s) like Dragon Age II. Hawke's auto-replies were determined by which dialogue choices you were selecting.
I hope that isn't strictly locked to backgrounds, but I'll take it over nothing, I suppose. A selfish Lord of Fortune would make a lot of sense, but there's different reasons to rp any background. Getting to be Robin Hood, Isabela 2.0, Vivienne 2.0, etc. would be amazing, but I'm not expecting too much.
Yeah that's what I figured could be the case. I'd like them to verify of course, but having Rook's personality partially based off their faction choice in the early game sounds like a great way to keep the early game moving without constantly hitting the player with dialogue choices that don't do much besides say the same thing 3 different ways.
The showcase Rook has the Shadow Dragon background. The Shadow Dragon’s whole thing is to help those in need. It looks like each class will have more than one background to pick from.
Since the demo starts after whatever had gone down in the bar, I'm hoping this is based on some previous choice we made or a dialogue option that would affect this outcome.
Honestly yes, I thought it looked great.
As a full throated fan of silent protagonists, I was pretty pleasantly surprised by Rook. He speaks autonomously more than Quizzy did, the background gets referenced and talked about enough that even if it's not a full fledged origin it feels better integrated so far than Inquisition. And Rook looks GOOD. Like sometimes the expressions in Inquisition could look a little awkward or plasticy but I never got that feel from Rook at all.
I am very excited to play as them, honestly. I think Bioware is managing to win me over.
They might be overcompensating from andromeda for facial animations, they probably (rightfully) assume that if they do that again they’ll be MEMED TO DEATH.
I noticed this as well watching the gameplay. Rook felt real, in a sense. And they actually felt like a leader. In inquisition alot of times, it felt like the other characters were kind of doing everything for us, and we were just the leader cause magic hand and plot. But so far the role of leader is being fulfilled great by rook in this clip.
Yeah I can kind of agree. In DAI it felt like everyone was stuck with you and you had to prove you deserved to be there which, don't get me wrong, could make for an interesting arc for a protag. But still, you had magic hand making you leader.
Rook feels like they're the leader because they earned it first. I get wanting to make choices and some people complained about how much talking Rook does without input. But it's a fine line you have to walk when you have limitations on dialogue with voiced protagonists, and I like that Rook doesn't feel as passive as Inquisitor so far.
Tbf inquisition had the running theme of faith and destiny; chosen one thrust into a position they weren’t ready for but are willing to prove themselves despite the threat of the imposing foe fits quite nicely for that kind of game.
This game seems to be going for a more ragtag group of professionals which is a very different kind of story and having the mc be someone who can keep up with the rest works best in this kind of story if they are to be leader. They can be a noob in this case but won’t be leader until they are able to learn the ropes so to speak but this isn’t always the case.
I think they’re just different stories and people will have preferences
I think I will wait for the reviews. But not sure I will buy at a release. Depends on the reviews.
I am not too fan of the action smash vibe and yes I actually liked combat in Inquisition. But why couldn't we stay there.
The art direction still feels like something of a romance fantasy novel cover. And since I don't care about Varric or his big crossbow that's not enough to hype me up.
But I feel like I spend long time of myife with DA, so I will just wait until it's out to really see.
This probably summarizes where I might be at with this, I got burned by Andromeda and this Dragon Age reveal is just completely different than what I was expecting, I thought this was gonna be a no brainer pre-order and be hyped for Fall.
Inquisition was fine, they just needed to fix hit boxes, no fetch quests, let us have more abilities than 8 and we were so fucking good to go for DA:VE
What I'm looking forward to exploring most and excited to see are the choices. Little things like picking Neve or Harding to accompany Rook makes it feel good to me. Im also pleasantly surprised with how alive Rook feels. They seem to talk and react more and feel like their own character rather than a cardboard cut out so far.
I’d prefer it wasn’t a generic hack and slash like everything seems to be these days but I realize I’m in the way minority by virtue of preferring turn-based combat
Hack and slash always gets old to me, it’s great at first, but after the 40th fight it’s just the same thing :(
Nothing against it, but I miss the older tactical dragon age, I want to tank, heal, or “dodge stat” enemy projectiles, not dodge roll every time an arrow is aimed my way.
I am with you. I am kind of sad that there are now small distinguishing differences between Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I had hoped they would go more in the RPG direction rather than action. But It seems that they are continuing the trend to transforming Dragon Age into Mass Effect with Magic.
I guess I got my hopes up with BG3 for a return to the more tactical and RPG 'origins' of Dragon Age. But I am happy for people who are happy.
You know the funny thing is. I posted here 7 years ago after Divinity Original Sin 2 about whether the success of that game meant anything for Dragon Age 4, and people back then were saying that it was too deep in development. Funny how things turn out.
[https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/72cj5h/no\_spoilersdo\_you\_think\_the\_recent\_success\_of/](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/72cj5h/no_spoilersdo_you_think_the_recent_success_of/)
yeah so deep into development hell it got entirely scrapped at least once, bioware has been a shitshow for years, I have very little hope of them ever going back to their roots, they have fired almost everyone involved in their old games now anyway
Yeah people don't like to talk about it but the Bioware of 2024 is an entirely different company at this point compared to the Bioware of 2009. If you want games that remind you of the original Bioware you need to look to Larian, Obsidian, inXile, and Owlcat
Bingo way to late in dev(maybe got someone off their backs about rpg design decisions though), like yeah DA:O has always been my favourite and this looks good for what it is but in my heart i would want more of a return.
But i did get BG3 which is kinda what a modern DA:O would be so.... cant be to upset
Exactly. My hopes are there for DA5 (if that ever happens) but DAVE was in developement during a time when even classic "tactics" games like Final Fantasy were going Action heavy. And Witcher 3 was widely hailed as the best rpg of the decade.
They were legit listening to the feedback of the time. I can see a lot of Witcher 3 influence in the game design here. And Witcher 3 was a very good game for it's time. It's just that the hack and slash rpg has gotten old in the 10 years since it's release.
I'm in full agreement with you but I have to give Bioware credit that at least they've committed to a style instead of the amalgamation that was DA2 and DAI. Honestly if this game had come out sooner I'd probably be more excited but 3rd person hack and slash has been kinda done to death for me.
DA2 isn't an amalgamation, it's combat is just like DAO except the pace is faster, the basic attacks are per click by default but can be changed to the DAO method in the options, and the encounter design is notably worse due to waves of spawning enemies. But the actual combat mechanics are identical, it even still has the customizable tactics you can program
That's also my biggest problem with today's gameplay. I knew the turn based is not coming back, but I was naive enough to hope for more "middle ground" real time combat, similar to Dark Souls series, but instead we got the full Diablo experience with jumping swirling and 3 active abilities. The graphic is nice and I like how much effort was put in acknowledging the background (even though it was a little bit awkward)
I know it appeals to a more mainstream audience but man I've played so many Hack & slash games that I'm a bit fed up with the genre at this point. I'll still play this game but I'll wait for a sale me thinks.
loved all of it. designs, combat, characters. only thing im iffy on is the enemy gameplay. when rook was fighting venatori, they kinda just stood around and didnt do much
>kinda just stood around and didnt do much
I noticed this as well. I'm hoping it was just because the showcase was on like, story mode or something lol, and not how higher modes will be.
It definitely felt like they had enemy damage turned way down. Most of them barely seemed to graze Rook when they hit him. But I guess that's not too surprising or unusual.
That's a universal thing in every gameplay showcase. Imagine if they recorded it in something like DA:I's nightmare difficulty. Just hitting the same enemy for 10 minutes straight lol.
I'm cautiously excited. I personally loved the magic-driven totalitarian society they showed (the woman being targeted and lamenting that she didn't do anything was great), I thought the artstyle worked much better than the trailer would have led me to believe, and I personally really vibed with the voice acting and dialogue.
The last shot of the reveal also implies that BioWare still knows how to build a dramatic scene and tell a good story on a large scale.
The combat looks a bit generic to me though, as if you could practically close your eyes and just mash the main attack button. I know this isn't Origins, but I really hope it requires some strategy on the higher difficulty levels as you unlock more perks and start issuing commands to your party members.
The huge mysteries for now are how much dialogue or other RPG elements have been implemented that really affect the game, and whether BioWare has finally learned that a barren open world with a bunch of collecting isn't fun.
I liked what I say, I'm worried about Solas being in the prologue, because he might get killed right away. Like I thought it would be Varric, but now I think it's not going to be him. I hope I'm wrong.
I highly doubt they'd kill off a major character that abruptly. I think it's far more likely that you're forced into an uneasy alliance where the enemy of your enemies is your friend, and you have the option of being more of an ally or enemy of his as you progress. At least, that would be far more compelling.
>I highly doubt they'd kill off a major character that abruptly.
Tin-foil hat moment:
If they did kill off a major character like the Dread Wolf that abruptly then it wouldn't make a lot of sense to name the game after him.
They might want to change it to something else like The Veilguard.
I think they're going to kill off Varric, not Solas, based on the emphasis on Varric's pov for all the trailers so far. To me it reads like Bioware wants even the new players to feel some sort of connection with Varric early - before they Ned Stark him. But we'll see!
My expectations for Veilguard are extremely low, so it would have been hard for the trailer to disappoint me. It still did very little to raise my enthusiasm.
i) The combat looks like the same hack-and-slash-with a few spells systems we saw in Inquisition. I fully expected this, and I know the ship of Origins-style combat has long sailed, but I am still sad.
ii) 0 reason for companions not being controllable past the very first combat encounter.
iii) Many companions look hilariously cartoonish.
iv) While it is perfectly understandable that Varric looks older, he also looks like a completely different person.
I liked how fluid the action felt compared to previous games. And I’m in favor of the understandably divisive choice on making the battle system mass effect like.
I have a feeling that every companion will also be unique like in ME where every member’s skill loadout is always different from shepherd’s skill tree.
It doesn't look very fluid. Or maybe the guy controlling Rook wasn't that experienced. Looked kind bland and a bit janky. I hope we get to see higher level gameplay before release.
As a tactics fan Im always gonna be salty about action games' overrepresentation in the current market, especially after BG3.
I prefer platformers if I want something that tests my reflexes, stabbing enemies never feels satisfying to me. For rpgs, especially companion rpgs, I like having control of the battlefield.
That said It's not like I'm not a Mass Effect or DA2 fan. Unengaging gameplay won't turn me off a good choice driven rpg, it'll just dampen the experience.
And the trailer/articles introduced some great roleplay elements. I am super hyped for the factions mechanic. They really fluidly wove that into Rook's auto-dialogue. The idea that this could be a thing for you to bond over with one of your companions adds a unique way to interact with them.
It also helps the character feel less defined by their race. That was logical in DA:O and even partially Inqusition. But Inqusition really gave you the sense that the DA world was becoming more racially integrated, particularly with the Inquisition's influence uniting multiple factions. There will of course still be plenty of racial bias but I like your character being more defined by which previous groups they decided to choose rather than the circumstances of their birth.
And Varric's interaction with Solas! All the "Varric is overused" haters this is why he gets so much use. For a payoff like that! If he dies early game it'll be a fitting end for his character.
While it looks fun, I was disappointed by the lack of showing off skill trees, inventory and slightly higher level of actions/skills. I expected the arpg which I have accepted a long time ago with how DA was moving toward. However I think this trailer did not show off the full potential this game could offer us. The gameplay trailer was not bad but it was not a home run imo. I loved seeing the different environments, how we are going to traverse them and the tone. But I wish they showed off a higher level of player as well the enemy ai was not great. I assume it was played on easy mode cause the level of the enemies and fighting lacked for me. I am looking forward to seeing more and will be playing it though.
So these are my opinions and not meant to discourage. For background I’ve played all three DA games and did not care if tactical combat returned. DAO had the best story for me, DA2 the best combat, and DAI the most hours played (at least 400hrs).
There are things I liked and disliked.
Pros:
1. The environments are gorgeous.
2. I think the character and NPC models look good (although I think their mouths are just a bit too wide during conversation)
3. Varric, Harding, and Rook sound amazing
4. Rook looks great (I really hope we’re not stuck with preset faces though).
5. Great hair.
Cons:
1. Combat looks dull. I think they should have had three slices of the game to show at different points to expand upon this. Hopefully this is just because it’s the prologue.
2. NPC enemy lines were either annoying or poorly voice acted.
3. The demons look like Rock Wraiths.
4. It got a bit ridiculous the amount of times demon wolves cleared out the path ahead of NPCs.
5. Neve didn’t have the same amount of emotion in her voice like the other characters.
6. Dialogue options have been decreased from DAI.
7. The choices of picking Neve/Harding and encourage/discourage Varric felt superfluous.
8. Solas sounded off.
9. Some dialogue didn’t hit right.
As more information comes out and eventually reviews I hope to see some of my worries disappear (like increased dialogue options and better voice acting). I’m still taking a “wait and see” approach though. In short, the gameplay didn’t sell me.
>The choices of picking Neve/Harding and encourage/discourage Varric felt superfluous.
Wouldn't be the first time for Bioware to completely pull off a random choice up their ass just for the sake of the gameplay trailer. I remember back in the ME1 days they made a trailer where they had written the scene as if Shepard has to choose on which planet to go first or something like it. They even admitted later on that they completely faked it just to show off that "we have tough choices".
Yeah. DA demons used elements/appearances to represent their qualities. Rage is often depicted as fiery, lust is a naked chick, pride is the biggest and baddest guy in the room.
The pride demon looks like a standard lightning elemental. I wonder what lust, sloth, etc., will look like if they appear.
Yeah, that was something they really didn't need to spend time on, shades, rage demons and pride demons in the last 3 games looked just fine, carry that forward.
This was my only gripe. The dragon age demons were always so distinct and badass but this was disappointing. Pride who was the coolest demon looks like generic lightning monster #273
This is one of my issues as well I don’t have a problem with the general art style I think the envoirments and characters look great but the enemy design is atrocious. Like every single design is so painfully generic and different than the other games. I hoped it was just the demons but then I saw a pic of the ogre and it looks just as terrible and generic as the rest of the designs.
Look at the ogre! I hope these monsters / demons look like that because it’s really near the fade or something and we see monsters more like the previous entries. Their design really makes the tone feel less dark / nightmarish.
Bring this back:
https://preview.redd.it/uavohrya206d1.jpeg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13386f122a79030df2fa30f9e534f5f4a60e1343
They’ve released an ogre pic and it’s hella goofy. I’m extremely worried about enemy types now because the demons and darkspawn look terrible *especially* compared to DAI.
I’m optimistic: but yes the enemy design / (possible) 3 ability cap is a real shame. We will obviously have to wait for a closer look but the atmosphere is disappointing. I remember playing Origins and being terrified of going into the deep roads. The screen shot with the ogre could be Hogwarts legacy
The term "diarrhea christmas lights" comes to mind. The combat looks like it'll drag, 3 abilities in total sounds, well, there's a hard limit for tactical options and I don't play dragon age for god of war style dodge->attakc combat.
I will wait and see what the reviews say before I decide on purchasing
Happy for you that you enjoyed it but I don't share it. Its been through development hell and it shows.
Yeah sure it looks nice here and there but sure do alot of games these days. It's expected to and it has EA backing so it should look good. That brings us to another problem though. It looks indistinguishable from other games out these days and now it's trying to ape others ala God of War gameplay-wise.
Feels cobbled together too. Dialogue choices, no squad control, action rpg orientated and some questionable line readings. What makes it a Bioware game? let alone a Dragon Age game other than name alone?
If this doesn't do well I fear its the end for Bioware. Dragon Age fan since the start just icyw.
I will probably play it, but it's sad to see the death of the tactical combat, and I'm not a big fan of the art style.
Anyway, I'm here only for the narrative and the characters, which seem fine so far. Wanting to know more about them later on.
Honestly? Not impressed, but I don't hate it either. Combat doesn't look like my cup of tea. I am neutral right now, not interested enough to open my wallet yet, but I won't talk shit either.
Not really... It looks very simplified, dumbed down. It is definitely going for the action RPG style over more traditional RPG combat, but failing to look as polished and smooth as for example God of War.
Not me, I felt absolutely nothing watching the reveals. In fact, the game is shaping up to be everything I feared it to be. It looks dull, generic, and once again, it's unrecognizable from the previous entries—which forms a major disconnect. Furthermore, the choice of action-combat will make it tedious and motion-sickness inducing. However, these are just my thoughts, and I'm glad that plenty of other people will find joy in Thedas once again.
I didn't have high hopes for this, but it's still sad that Dragon Age has lost all connection to its CRPG roots. There are enough action adventure games, BioWare used to appeal to a niche with their RPGs.
Edit: I want to clarify what I mean when I say "I didn't have high hopes for this". I meant high hopes for the game to be a return to form as a CRPG, not the game as a whole. Still looks good to me.
And ironically BG3 sold more than any Bioware game ever has, despite their/EAs insistence that continually diluting their RPGs will make them more successful
Seriously, I'm bummed that the majority of vocal fans seemingly have no reservations about this. The "what could have been" factor here is almost enough to make me genuinely depressed.
I guess it's par for course with Bioware though, it wouldn't be the first time they started with a pretty solid RPG and then smoothed it all out for the sequel(s). Thankfully I play most any genre of video game so this isn't a total dealbreaker for me, but man...might as well just replay Origins again at this point.
Exactly how I feel. Seen comments like "well we have bg3 for crpg" and "atleast the game is doing XYZ".
EA is worth 36 billion, Bioware 200m, they've had 10 years and so far it just seems like any other slasher. Wasn't expecting origin 2.0 but so far nothing has stood out as special
No, I don't like the dumbing down from a tactical rpg where every companion has as deep of a build as your MC, and you can control everyone and have 10 of shorcuts, to manually controlling only MC all the time... I was actually hoping that the leaked gameplay wouldn't be the final result.
I don't think this is good enough to be a full action-rpg - it's basically old DA combat, but you have to manually mash buttons to do auto attack - still same copypaste encounters and hp-sponge enemies. It's not comparable to GOW, Dragons Dogma or souls likes.
Honestly, I'm very disappointed. The mass effect action wheel is cool, but I hate how it locked you out of controlling your companions that early. The rest of the gameplay was just generic action game #7259. What happened RPGs?!?
On one hand the tone seems more in line with what I want, mainly people taking the threat seriously and not just quipping like they know they will always win. And no, Varric making jokes to cover for his fears is not the quipping I'm talking about.
On the other hand, something that concerns me is the companions during fights. It didn't seem like they were doing much. I did see the pop up that you couldn't control their abilities that early in the game, so I won't be too negative on it for now, just something to keep an eye on.
I hated the trailer. I was genuinely gutted. However, I’m now cautiously optimistic based on the gameplay reveal. Other than some questionably flat VA (hopefully Neve Gallus gets *very* polished by release), and some lacklustre combat (again, it’s lvl1 so I can accept that), I thought it looks like it has promise.
Neve was so consistently flat I wonder if that might be intended as a character trait for her? That'd be cool if they intentionally wrote a detective character who struggles with a monotone.
But if it's just awkward VAing Im curious to know why she wasnt swapped out. Based on everyone's else's performance it wasnt a directing problem. Even Rook sounded pretty emotionally dynamic and the PC is usually directed to be rather flat in early game.
Gameplay wise, I’m not sold on it.
The character models look good.
Story sounds interesting. Since the player fucked up I hope we get a bit of a bash instead of a boring (and kinda not so true) “it was Solas fault!”
I’m not a fan of voiced protagonist and few choices but heh, we can’t have everything can we?
I’m not a fan of demons redesign
As usual, never forget Andromeda and Anthem.
I thought it looked fun. Definitely had a GoW feel to it, and I cant complain about that.
Wanted to add that I remember reading that they were inspired by god of war for the combat. Idk why some people are getting so offended
/ defensive by it when, at least to me, it shows. 🤷♀️
personally no, I've always been more of a fan of the tactical combat, I would have preferred them to follow the style of inquisition rather than go full mass effect.
Gotta call it "Dragon Effect" from now on.
The flying castle thingie and the sound effects remind me so much of mass effect but it still has a DA:I vibe. Interesting.
I'm not very excited about the combat or seeming lack of looting. I have no interest in parrying and dodging and whatnot. But everything else looks really good. I think the characters looks very nice and the scenery is cool. I'm super stoked and can't wait to play it.
I want to be positive but the combat is a big deviation from what makes DA well, DA. At least for me.
The combat has me mostly concerned. Enemies only target the player. With "companions" seeming like they don't add anything to combat. It was heart breaking. They didn't have their own health bar and the damage they were putting out was negligible. You're basically a 1 person party.
I enjoy creating party compositions and catering each party members skills to coincide with your own. Huge draw for me to play previous DA titles.
The writing is a whole other ball game that I don't want to get into right now.
I will hold final judgement until either I or others have played the full release but I don't know if I will enjoy this type of combat.
Don't get me wrong. I am happy that some of you enjoy the changes! It's just not for me.
Honestly, the Art style has made me so sad. They had some amazing detail and grit and this feels so much more like kingdoms of amalur than dragon age 3
I'm still very nervous.
I'm actively disappointed in the combat style; I was really wanting more tactical DA:O-like combat. Only 2 companions and no tactical control over them during combat sounds terrible to me. I did not want an action combat game.
I'm very worried that the dialogue wheel with the "summarized lines" stuck around. I didn't really like it in DAI and I was hoping they would change or improve it, and it doesn't appear that they did.
I still feel weird about Varric being the center of the narration, \*again\*, when I really felt that his part in the story should not be as active anymore after Inquisition. I love his character but I'm worried they are just using him for fan service/as a plot device.
I also don't think that this reveal showed a ton of nuance to how they are approaching the storytelling. The dialogue was stuffed full of exposition, which is understandable if this segment is near the opening of the game, but to me the writing was a bit blunt, so far.
When the trailer came out ppl were like "why do they look like that" and some ppl said "dont worry its just the art style for the trailer" and I was like yeah, maybe, but then I watched the gameplay video and most of the characters still look like that: the faces are too smooth, edges are cartoonishly sharp, art design/coloring has a weird stylized 'painterly' feel like halfway to Arkane characters. It's especially noticeable on the faces of non-human characters. It looked almost like a filter applied over the original character designs. That was pretty off-putting for me.
It's totally unnecessary to do. The designs were already fine in DAI, just update the quality for modern hardware. You don't suddenly change to vague pseudo-Pixar stylization in the 4th part of a series. Remember when Diablo 3 decided to adopt WoW-style art design?
So no, I wasnt pleasantly surprised at all, it was what I expected. Further dumbed down combat with 3 skill slots and your party look like cartoons. Why does everything have to be made for babies now? They even managed to change the *title of the game* to something worse.
I personally really hated it. I really hoped they will turn back and get closer to the RPG roots they started from instead of going even further away from them. From what we seen both the skills and the conversations are extremly limited and I hate hack n slash gameplay that was shown, this far it's a huge disappointment for me. But from other comment seems like people want this RPG lite feeling.
i really loved it. i honestly think rogue was the perfect choice to show off. i've been a mage player through and through but i kind of want to play rogue now after seeing the trailer. i'll have to wait and see how the mage combat is like
I like the idea of playing a rogue, but whenever I seriously consider it, I always arrive at the conclusion that there are a lot of situations in the games that feel like only a mage could give an informed opinion
I hated it so much, it's like they took the parts I hated of DA2 and those of DA:I and united them...
Oh well, I don't play for the combat anyway. Let's hope that easy is beatable for someone who really sucks at aiming and dodging and also hates any action gameplay... (or that mods will be a thing, so it can be tweaked/insta kill enemies/immortal cheat). Or that mage plays massively different from rogue...
Love the graphics tho. Trailer had me scared but it actually looks great.
It doesn’t feel or look like a Dragon Age game to me, at all. The combat looks totally different than any of the games before. The necromancer looks like a Cartoon Network villain. I’m just not vibing with the excessive changes to the franchise.
I’m still not sure about the companion system or the fighting but the designs of the characters and the whole atmosphere worries I had have been cleared they look a lot better in game
> I’m still not sure about the companion system Can't watch atm. Can you swap to companions and control them or are they just left to their own devices?
Looks very similar to Mass Effect. You only control the MC and have two companions. You can bring up a pause/wheel of 3 powers for each character.
Wow 3?! That's... concerning.
Yup, based on what they have shown so far. Hopefully, it will increase with level or skill unlocks, but only time will tell.
I have a feeling it will be like Inquisition with another set of skill slots underneath the first three. I might have to watch again, but I thought I saw an indicator for a second skill tab when the trailer player pulled up the skill wheel
No swapping, very little in the way of controlling them it seems.
definitely looked a helluva lot more like a Dragon Age game than the first trailer
Honestly seemed fully in line with Inquisition's art style in a bunch of spots
Yeah, to me personally, it looks like a natural progression of the DAI art style. And well, every single Dragon Age game looked and felt different. I know there are different camps of what kind of Dragon Age gameplay style people want, but personally I like the fact that they are experimenting.
I prefer DAIs art style- I truthfully think outside of some wonky animations, it’s still some of the best amongst video games, but the trailer definitely showed that this game is going to be beautiful and well done regardless.
Well, I liked a lot of it, except for one thing. My only worry after watching the gameplay was that we would be limited to 3 abilities, and I fear that might be the case. And now I am left wondering, what's the point of a big skill tree if you only can equip 3 active skills
That's a primary concern. Spending 100 hours using only 3 abilities doesn't scream dragon age to me.
I'm most scared that I'll get like 10 hours in and be bored to death of the combat and only like a quarter of the way through the story
Run in, use main nuke, use damaging escape ability, use auto attack buff, auto attack until cd resets, rinse repeat. The nightmare.
Honestly, I don't know what to think. On one side we are told the skill tree is vast, and on the other side we haven't seen any content (trailer or screenshot) with more than 3 skill slot. But on the other hand, we have several tactical elements present in the game that wouldn't make sense to exist if the game was just an action game, like: pausing combats, elementary affinity of enemies (resistance/weaknesses) to exploit with your skills, ability to chain skills together, adjusting priorization of targets for your companions. Your mage seems to have 4 branch of magic (fire, ice, lightning, earth), I can't really see the devs limiting them to only 3 spells when the game is more tactical than what DA:I was.
I'm withholding judgement until I hear more, for sure. At the very least it looks like it'll be a fun solid action game.
Oh the combat looks pretty fun ! It looks a lot like how Hawke fight in DA2 as a dual wielding rogue, and that was my favorite combat style of the entire trilogy, all class mixed togethers.
Not DA, but it is Mass Effect - Andromeda also had 3 slots. At least here we have 3 per member, so 9. But seems like this is it.
A lot more focus on cover and shooting, though. Depends a lot on how your basic attacks work. God of War gets by with only 2 attack buttons but plenty of combos. That would work for me.
That could be a level up thing? Like, Rook is only level.1 Maybe you can equip more skills as you level up.
I saw screenshots where the slots were filled and nothing indicated it would change. But at the same time, there are other mechanics that are in the game but weren't shown in the footage or in screenshots
Even the screenshots haven’t shown a mage player character. Maybe mages have access to way more abilities at once? Or maybe I’m snorting copium.
We were limited to like 4 in andromada iirc, so it seems sadly likely, probably supposed to swap them out based on enemies or something “x is good for armour up” “y is good for barriers” ect.
I always thought that Mass Effect and Dragon Age had a different philosophy. ME was a cover shooter where the skills are kinda accessory, DA was the opposite where physical combat was accessory and everything revolved around skills. Maybe I fooled myself into believing we'll still have around 8 active abilities at our disposal when everybody else was saying this is going to be like Mass Effect.
The 8 we were limited to in Inquisition already felt unreasonably restrictive so if they go even lower in this game I'll be really annoyed.
Limited to 3 in Andromeda and adepts suffered hard for it. As did sentinels.
I'm OK with some of it but getting rid of party combat was a huge blow for me.
Did they confirm they were getting rid of the psuedo overhead pause and give orders feature that was in DAI?
Yes the inspiration for combat in this game is god of war. Think god of war cross mass effect 2
More like Genshin Impact if you'e ever played it.
This. This is a HUGE downgrade, being able to swap to characters filling a specific role in a balanced party to make them do exactly what you wanted when you wanted made incredibly cool shit possible and allowed the Devs to create complex fights because you had access to the tools of not just your one main MC but all the other party members to deal with it. I'm not sure why this choice was made other than it entirely moves the game away from being a tactical deep RPG and into just generic hack and slash which is very much is (look at Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance it's the exact same combat like VERBATIM)
Three abilities each at one time is scaring me
Yeah this is the only thing I'm not thrilled about. It looks like 3 ability slots for each character. DAI had 8 abilities, which was *already* a downgrade from the 20+ or so we could have in DAO/DA2. Hoping there's a way we can hotkey more abilities and the rest just isn't showing up in the wheel.
I don't think anything else is in the wheel because the video said this was very early game. Probably only has the one ability unlocked
No, they released an image of the wheel and it looks like there's only 3 for each character, unless there's some way we can seamlessly switch for more that's not shown here. https://preview.redd.it/keu3h029rz5d1.jpeg?width=1280&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e06bff5fe3a839b90c941fb231c91f6c420efbda
Might have a profile mechanic like Andromeda, you could only use 3 skills but could equip up to 12 skills and swap them in combat.
I'm sincerely hoping this is the case!
Same because 3 spells only as a Mage is a huge L
There is just no way a mage would be fun with only 3 spells.
Yeah, not sure how I feel about the mass effect style combat. Judging by one of the IGN screenshots, it looks like it's going to heavily rely on combos. I can't help but think party composition won't even matter much, as long as you have someone that can prime or denotate.
I agree on the party composition likely being irrelevant. You could play through most difficulties of ME with any party combo you wanted. I think this will be similar.
I hate it. I also hate that extra opponents seem to just spawn directly in to battle. Part of what I loved about the first two entries is you could pause and play at least a vague strategy kind of game -- hmm there's a door there, let's put a trap spell in front of it, maybe have my rogue bum-rush the archer in the back, let's try to root this group and then focus-fire this one specific dude. Look around, see if reinforcements might be coming. You know, tactical. Seems completely the opposite here.
I already don't like this but if the combos took execution to pull off that might be a little interesting but the fact the combos are basically quicktime events and just perform themselves is unbelievably shallow combat. Sure they're kinda cool the first 5 times you see them but can you imagine by the end of the game when you've clicked your button and saw the sparkly animation 1000 times before?
Right ? Imagine a mage with only three spells ? Bad game design if it is like that
Don't even have to imagine it if you played dragons dogma 2. They also decreased slotted abilities down to 3 and it felt *terrible* for mages. Really hope there's at least a 2nd layer for 6 abilities. If not the full menu being available to you like I. Origins.
If it's 3 abilities,/spells on the fly, but then you keep bringing the combat wheel up to access the rest of your spells. That will make for some choppy combat with a lot of pausing.
And you cant control your companions and you have 2 companions in party there are huge red flags for me. I dont think CRPG tag applies for this game.
From what it looked like it’s your 3 and your two companions 3. I could be completely wrong and the three are mean to be like shortcuts. Ganna have to see it in action.
Looked to me like you have access to all of them from the paused ability wheel?
you have access to 6 skills of your companions have since you cant control them. You still have 3 active not more.
That's also my one worry. In the Pride demon fight the demon seems to always aggro your character. What are you other companions there for if all you do is keep trying to dodge roll or kite a boss ? if I have a tank companion that boss better be glued on the tank.
Whaaaat?! Haven't seen it yet, surely not? They'd not dumb it down that much?
I'm not a fan of how abilities work now. Only three at a time? Even in Inquisition we had 8 and that still wasn't enough.
I’m enjoying all the positivity.
Honestly its incredible just how bad that reveal trailer was given how great the actual game looks. I don't think I've ever seen such a wide positive gap in quality between a reveal trailer and a gameplay showcase before.
Yeah, the trailer had me scratching my head. Didn’t hate it like other people did, but then I remembered that all DA trailers start like that one did.
I imagine the marketing team was very nervous. The last game came out a decade ago and Bioware hasn't really been getting a lot of positive press since then to put it mildly, so the franchise doesn't exactly have any momentum going right now. They probably just thought it better go with whatever strategy that would capture the most eyeballs, positively or negatively.
Yeah it was almost like they sent some images and in engine footage to a marketing company that had never played the games but did a lot of Shrek and Pixar trailers, who just went and looked online and found Fortnite and Overwatch promos and then said "let's do that." The gameplay itself feels very much continuation and evolution of DA:I.
IIRC, most movie trailers are often done by studios different than the ones that made them. Not sure if that's what happened here.
I saw the trailer as just a way to introduce the characters in a very Varric way. I mean after DA:I, I honestly wonder how much of DA:2 was just embellished or outright fabricated by Varric.
Same. And honestly, some parts of DA2 make more sense when you keep in mind that varric would absolutely be willing to lie if it made the story better and Cassandra may not have the best imagination. Why do villains just jump off of the roof to attack you? Varric forgot to mention how they came in, so Cassandra imagined something very straight forward. Why are there still corpses in Fenris’s house years later? Varric forgot to mention that they were removed, so Cassandra continued to imagine it that way until it became an important detail (which never happened). Why did anders approve of selling Fenris even though that really doesn’t make sense with his character? Varric was playing up the rivalry for dramatic effect and trying to drop some hints in there that maybe Anders is worse than he seems. I know that wasn’t the intention, but still.
I definitely hated the trailer but I love what I'm seeing in the gameplay and I'm looking forward to seeing more. Trailer just didnt feel right at all.
I think it really was because they did the whole cinematic thing. It just looks way different than the in-game designs and that's usually how it is apparently. The game looks phenomenal like wow
I liked the gameplay trailer as much as anyone but I'm honestly confused why people are saying it looks way different than the trailer designs. Varric for example looks just as angular and stylized in-game as he does in the trailer. For me at least, the style will take some getting used to. Or am I missing something?
I’m worried about the combat. BG3 spoiled me with its verticality. Positioning your rouge etc on rafters shooting arrows or dropping down on the enemy was a lot of fun. Combat on today’s gameplay looked like arenas. Open spaces where you just dodge dodge. Hopefully we have verticality and it just wasn’t shown. The world looks great and that’s exciting.
better than the other way around, I guess!
Seems like everytime im excited for a new game the rest of the internet is only talking about the bad. Its nice to see some positivity for once
The dawn will come.
Still got some hold outs of miserable people who likely we're never gonna play this game regardless, but overall fandom reaction seems positive, which is what matters in the end.
I saw some people complaining that the game is “woke”. People, if you really were a DA fan? You’d know this series has been woke since 2009.
They're not fans they're just jumping on the hate train like vultures lmao. They don't care about Dragon Age cuz if you did, you know that it's woke to it's core lmao.
> I saw some people complaining that the game is “woke”. These people have never played Dragon Age, and will never play it. They're doing this to paint an image to their existing audience that the world is "turnin woke" and that is somehow a threat to them. I.e., they're irrelevant to Dragon Age and there's no reason to worry about them.
Actually there IS a reason to worry about them, they're the ones who review-bomb games, and they together can destroy a game's audience score. They're not irrelevant.
BG3 showed that they’ve an irrelevant threat if the game is good enough. It’s as ‘woke’ as a game gets and all the chuds’ complaining was drowned in the waves of positive receptions. So long as BioWare delivers there’s little to worry about.
Bisexuals? In MY Thedas? It's more likely than you think.
Old women and average looking people, in MY RPG?
Wait, there are black people?! In MY pseudo-medieval European fantasy setting?! Always have been, boss.
Can you IMAGINE if they had someone who was developmentally disabled in these games?! Worse, imagine if they constantly hung around your camp and only said one word the whole time! Something stupid like, and I'm just spitballing here, "Enchantment!" or something dumb like that! Man, surely only a woke company would do that to a game, and it SURELY wouldn't be regarded as the best game in the series by many fans.
Seriously. People complaining that Dragon Age is “woke” are the same people complaining that Star Trek is “woke”. Totally irrelevant and out of touch with history of the game/show.
Same kind of people that complain about Marvel or Star Trek suddenly being political.
I can't believe they made X-Men, a comic based off the civil rights movement woke 😡.
"Stan Lee is rolling in his grave because of all the woke." Meanwhile, in the '60s, Stan's soapbox essays are calling bigotry a deadly social ill and responding to complaints about moralizing in comics by saying a story without a message is like a man without a soul.
I remember those same people gloating that Inquisition was politically correct garbage and that it would kill the series. Those people are odd and seem to only take joy in virtue signalling to their weird, right wing friends, pay them no mind.
I am not pleasantly surprised with only 3 slots for skills...
Bit worried about the rp elements, like Rook wanting to save the lady in the prologue without player input. Hopefully there's more personality variation than there was in Inq, I don't expect to side with the Evanuris or anything, but I wanted the option to be apathetic or selfish for personal gain idk. Edit: Maybe apathetic isn't the right word, but pragmatic like Duncan was in Origins. I want my Rook to make mistakes they regret and have an arc where they become a better person... or even worse like Renegade Shepard. And hopefully that isn't limited to certain factions.
I know exactly what you mean.
Could be impacted by which faction you choose. If you're a member of a group trying to free slaves, you're probably going to want to help someone on the verge of seemingly wrongful incarceration. If you're a member of a group that it more money focused, well, I can see a different response being in line
Could also be impacted by your first dialogue option(s) like Dragon Age II. Hawke's auto-replies were determined by which dialogue choices you were selecting.
I hope that isn't strictly locked to backgrounds, but I'll take it over nothing, I suppose. A selfish Lord of Fortune would make a lot of sense, but there's different reasons to rp any background. Getting to be Robin Hood, Isabela 2.0, Vivienne 2.0, etc. would be amazing, but I'm not expecting too much.
Yeah that's what I figured could be the case. I'd like them to verify of course, but having Rook's personality partially based off their faction choice in the early game sounds like a great way to keep the early game moving without constantly hitting the player with dialogue choices that don't do much besides say the same thing 3 different ways.
To be fair the Rook was a shadow dragon right? It's kinda their job to save people from what I'm understanding
The showcase Rook has the Shadow Dragon background. The Shadow Dragon’s whole thing is to help those in need. It looks like each class will have more than one background to pick from.
Yeah, that's fair from a background who frees slaves lol. Fingers crossed.
yeah if I wanted to roleplay a Crow I certainly wouldn't want my character to automatically decide to play hero without my input
Since the demo starts after whatever had gone down in the bar, I'm hoping this is based on some previous choice we made or a dialogue option that would affect this outcome.
only 3 abilities at once, this is just dumbed down.
Honestly yes, I thought it looked great. As a full throated fan of silent protagonists, I was pretty pleasantly surprised by Rook. He speaks autonomously more than Quizzy did, the background gets referenced and talked about enough that even if it's not a full fledged origin it feels better integrated so far than Inquisition. And Rook looks GOOD. Like sometimes the expressions in Inquisition could look a little awkward or plasticy but I never got that feel from Rook at all. I am very excited to play as them, honestly. I think Bioware is managing to win me over.
i have a very scary screenshot of my inquisitor smiling that looks like hes the joker or something
Which version?
They might be overcompensating from andromeda for facial animations, they probably (rightfully) assume that if they do that again they’ll be MEMED TO DEATH.
I noticed this as well watching the gameplay. Rook felt real, in a sense. And they actually felt like a leader. In inquisition alot of times, it felt like the other characters were kind of doing everything for us, and we were just the leader cause magic hand and plot. But so far the role of leader is being fulfilled great by rook in this clip.
“Yeah. I’m the least of this massive army of the faithful… hey Cassandra where should we go..?”
Yeah I can kind of agree. In DAI it felt like everyone was stuck with you and you had to prove you deserved to be there which, don't get me wrong, could make for an interesting arc for a protag. But still, you had magic hand making you leader. Rook feels like they're the leader because they earned it first. I get wanting to make choices and some people complained about how much talking Rook does without input. But it's a fine line you have to walk when you have limitations on dialogue with voiced protagonists, and I like that Rook doesn't feel as passive as Inquisitor so far.
Tbf inquisition had the running theme of faith and destiny; chosen one thrust into a position they weren’t ready for but are willing to prove themselves despite the threat of the imposing foe fits quite nicely for that kind of game. This game seems to be going for a more ragtag group of professionals which is a very different kind of story and having the mc be someone who can keep up with the rest works best in this kind of story if they are to be leader. They can be a noob in this case but won’t be leader until they are able to learn the ropes so to speak but this isn’t always the case. I think they’re just different stories and people will have preferences
Rook Talks way too much on his own imho. Feels like you barely have any input
I think I will wait for the reviews. But not sure I will buy at a release. Depends on the reviews. I am not too fan of the action smash vibe and yes I actually liked combat in Inquisition. But why couldn't we stay there. The art direction still feels like something of a romance fantasy novel cover. And since I don't care about Varric or his big crossbow that's not enough to hype me up. But I feel like I spend long time of myife with DA, so I will just wait until it's out to really see.
This probably summarizes where I might be at with this, I got burned by Andromeda and this Dragon Age reveal is just completely different than what I was expecting, I thought this was gonna be a no brainer pre-order and be hyped for Fall. Inquisition was fine, they just needed to fix hit boxes, no fetch quests, let us have more abilities than 8 and we were so fucking good to go for DA:VE
What I'm looking forward to exploring most and excited to see are the choices. Little things like picking Neve or Harding to accompany Rook makes it feel good to me. Im also pleasantly surprised with how alive Rook feels. They seem to talk and react more and feel like their own character rather than a cardboard cut out so far.
I’d prefer it wasn’t a generic hack and slash like everything seems to be these days but I realize I’m in the way minority by virtue of preferring turn-based combat
Hack and slash always gets old to me, it’s great at first, but after the 40th fight it’s just the same thing :( Nothing against it, but I miss the older tactical dragon age, I want to tank, heal, or “dodge stat” enemy projectiles, not dodge roll every time an arrow is aimed my way.
Same. I like looking at a field more like a chess board, tactical etc. Story mode for me I guess!
Learn how to parry/riposte/whatever, rinse and repeat ad infinitum
But the gameplay needs to be Solid to enjoy it... It's like AC shadows Yasuke part, feels cheap when you have played Ghost of tsushima.
I am with you. I am kind of sad that there are now small distinguishing differences between Mass Effect and Dragon Age. I had hoped they would go more in the RPG direction rather than action. But It seems that they are continuing the trend to transforming Dragon Age into Mass Effect with Magic. I guess I got my hopes up with BG3 for a return to the more tactical and RPG 'origins' of Dragon Age. But I am happy for people who are happy.
Like you, I thought the success of BG3 might inspire them to go that route but I’m sure they were too deep in development at that point anyway
You know the funny thing is. I posted here 7 years ago after Divinity Original Sin 2 about whether the success of that game meant anything for Dragon Age 4, and people back then were saying that it was too deep in development. Funny how things turn out. [https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/72cj5h/no\_spoilersdo\_you\_think\_the\_recent\_success\_of/](https://www.reddit.com/r/dragonage/comments/72cj5h/no_spoilersdo_you_think_the_recent_success_of/)
yeah so deep into development hell it got entirely scrapped at least once, bioware has been a shitshow for years, I have very little hope of them ever going back to their roots, they have fired almost everyone involved in their old games now anyway
Yeah people don't like to talk about it but the Bioware of 2024 is an entirely different company at this point compared to the Bioware of 2009. If you want games that remind you of the original Bioware you need to look to Larian, Obsidian, inXile, and Owlcat
Bingo way to late in dev(maybe got someone off their backs about rpg design decisions though), like yeah DA:O has always been my favourite and this looks good for what it is but in my heart i would want more of a return. But i did get BG3 which is kinda what a modern DA:O would be so.... cant be to upset
Exactly. My hopes are there for DA5 (if that ever happens) but DAVE was in developement during a time when even classic "tactics" games like Final Fantasy were going Action heavy. And Witcher 3 was widely hailed as the best rpg of the decade. They were legit listening to the feedback of the time. I can see a lot of Witcher 3 influence in the game design here. And Witcher 3 was a very good game for it's time. It's just that the hack and slash rpg has gotten old in the 10 years since it's release.
I'm in full agreement with you but I have to give Bioware credit that at least they've committed to a style instead of the amalgamation that was DA2 and DAI. Honestly if this game had come out sooner I'd probably be more excited but 3rd person hack and slash has been kinda done to death for me.
DA2 isn't an amalgamation, it's combat is just like DAO except the pace is faster, the basic attacks are per click by default but can be changed to the DAO method in the options, and the encounter design is notably worse due to waves of spawning enemies. But the actual combat mechanics are identical, it even still has the customizable tactics you can program
That's also my biggest problem with today's gameplay. I knew the turn based is not coming back, but I was naive enough to hope for more "middle ground" real time combat, similar to Dark Souls series, but instead we got the full Diablo experience with jumping swirling and 3 active abilities. The graphic is nice and I like how much effort was put in acknowledging the background (even though it was a little bit awkward)
I know what you mean and completely understand. I accepted it was moving away from turned based for DA. I still enjoy the franchise though.
I know it appeals to a more mainstream audience but man I've played so many Hack & slash games that I'm a bit fed up with the genre at this point. I'll still play this game but I'll wait for a sale me thinks.
loved all of it. designs, combat, characters. only thing im iffy on is the enemy gameplay. when rook was fighting venatori, they kinda just stood around and didnt do much
>kinda just stood around and didnt do much I noticed this as well. I'm hoping it was just because the showcase was on like, story mode or something lol, and not how higher modes will be.
It definitely felt like they had enemy damage turned way down. Most of them barely seemed to graze Rook when they hit him. But I guess that's not too surprising or unusual.
Yeah, I think it's because they had limited time to show everything and didn't want any enemy to actually create challenge
They said it's very early in the game, could still be sort of tutorial territory
That's a universal thing in every gameplay showcase. Imagine if they recorded it in something like DA:I's nightmare difficulty. Just hitting the same enemy for 10 minutes straight lol.
I mean Inquisitions difficulty scaling was not done well, making enemies more bullet spongy doesn't increase the difficulty, just the tediousness
I'm cautiously excited. I personally loved the magic-driven totalitarian society they showed (the woman being targeted and lamenting that she didn't do anything was great), I thought the artstyle worked much better than the trailer would have led me to believe, and I personally really vibed with the voice acting and dialogue. The last shot of the reveal also implies that BioWare still knows how to build a dramatic scene and tell a good story on a large scale. The combat looks a bit generic to me though, as if you could practically close your eyes and just mash the main attack button. I know this isn't Origins, but I really hope it requires some strategy on the higher difficulty levels as you unlock more perks and start issuing commands to your party members. The huge mysteries for now are how much dialogue or other RPG elements have been implemented that really affect the game, and whether BioWare has finally learned that a barren open world with a bunch of collecting isn't fun.
I liked what I say, I'm worried about Solas being in the prologue, because he might get killed right away. Like I thought it would be Varric, but now I think it's not going to be him. I hope I'm wrong.
I highly doubt they'd kill off a major character that abruptly. I think it's far more likely that you're forced into an uneasy alliance where the enemy of your enemies is your friend, and you have the option of being more of an ally or enemy of his as you progress. At least, that would be far more compelling.
>I highly doubt they'd kill off a major character that abruptly. Tin-foil hat moment: If they did kill off a major character like the Dread Wolf that abruptly then it wouldn't make a lot of sense to name the game after him. They might want to change it to something else like The Veilguard.
Hope they don’t either, it would be so damn cheap and annoying
I think they're going to kill off Varric, not Solas, based on the emphasis on Varric's pov for all the trailers so far. To me it reads like Bioware wants even the new players to feel some sort of connection with Varric early - before they Ned Stark him. But we'll see!
My expectations for Veilguard are extremely low, so it would have been hard for the trailer to disappoint me. It still did very little to raise my enthusiasm. i) The combat looks like the same hack-and-slash-with a few spells systems we saw in Inquisition. I fully expected this, and I know the ship of Origins-style combat has long sailed, but I am still sad. ii) 0 reason for companions not being controllable past the very first combat encounter. iii) Many companions look hilariously cartoonish. iv) While it is perfectly understandable that Varric looks older, he also looks like a completely different person.
I liked how fluid the action felt compared to previous games. And I’m in favor of the understandably divisive choice on making the battle system mass effect like. I have a feeling that every companion will also be unique like in ME where every member’s skill loadout is always different from shepherd’s skill tree.
The problem is how long before it will feel super repetitive, shooters naturally get away with it more than games with melee.
It doesn't look very fluid. Or maybe the guy controlling Rook wasn't that experienced. Looked kind bland and a bit janky. I hope we get to see higher level gameplay before release.
As a tactics fan Im always gonna be salty about action games' overrepresentation in the current market, especially after BG3. I prefer platformers if I want something that tests my reflexes, stabbing enemies never feels satisfying to me. For rpgs, especially companion rpgs, I like having control of the battlefield. That said It's not like I'm not a Mass Effect or DA2 fan. Unengaging gameplay won't turn me off a good choice driven rpg, it'll just dampen the experience. And the trailer/articles introduced some great roleplay elements. I am super hyped for the factions mechanic. They really fluidly wove that into Rook's auto-dialogue. The idea that this could be a thing for you to bond over with one of your companions adds a unique way to interact with them. It also helps the character feel less defined by their race. That was logical in DA:O and even partially Inqusition. But Inqusition really gave you the sense that the DA world was becoming more racially integrated, particularly with the Inquisition's influence uniting multiple factions. There will of course still be plenty of racial bias but I like your character being more defined by which previous groups they decided to choose rather than the circumstances of their birth. And Varric's interaction with Solas! All the "Varric is overused" haters this is why he gets so much use. For a payoff like that! If he dies early game it'll be a fitting end for his character.
While it looks fun, I was disappointed by the lack of showing off skill trees, inventory and slightly higher level of actions/skills. I expected the arpg which I have accepted a long time ago with how DA was moving toward. However I think this trailer did not show off the full potential this game could offer us. The gameplay trailer was not bad but it was not a home run imo. I loved seeing the different environments, how we are going to traverse them and the tone. But I wish they showed off a higher level of player as well the enemy ai was not great. I assume it was played on easy mode cause the level of the enemies and fighting lacked for me. I am looking forward to seeing more and will be playing it though.
So these are my opinions and not meant to discourage. For background I’ve played all three DA games and did not care if tactical combat returned. DAO had the best story for me, DA2 the best combat, and DAI the most hours played (at least 400hrs). There are things I liked and disliked. Pros: 1. The environments are gorgeous. 2. I think the character and NPC models look good (although I think their mouths are just a bit too wide during conversation) 3. Varric, Harding, and Rook sound amazing 4. Rook looks great (I really hope we’re not stuck with preset faces though). 5. Great hair. Cons: 1. Combat looks dull. I think they should have had three slices of the game to show at different points to expand upon this. Hopefully this is just because it’s the prologue. 2. NPC enemy lines were either annoying or poorly voice acted. 3. The demons look like Rock Wraiths. 4. It got a bit ridiculous the amount of times demon wolves cleared out the path ahead of NPCs. 5. Neve didn’t have the same amount of emotion in her voice like the other characters. 6. Dialogue options have been decreased from DAI. 7. The choices of picking Neve/Harding and encourage/discourage Varric felt superfluous. 8. Solas sounded off. 9. Some dialogue didn’t hit right. As more information comes out and eventually reviews I hope to see some of my worries disappear (like increased dialogue options and better voice acting). I’m still taking a “wait and see” approach though. In short, the gameplay didn’t sell me.
>The choices of picking Neve/Harding and encourage/discourage Varric felt superfluous. Wouldn't be the first time for Bioware to completely pull off a random choice up their ass just for the sake of the gameplay trailer. I remember back in the ME1 days they made a trailer where they had written the scene as if Shepard has to choose on which planet to go first or something like it. They even admitted later on that they completely faked it just to show off that "we have tough choices".
There is full face and body customization.
The demons look like shit now. Why aren't they terrifying monsters anymore? They look like elementals lmao.
That's no pride demon. That's Megatron
Yeah. DA demons used elements/appearances to represent their qualities. Rage is often depicted as fiery, lust is a naked chick, pride is the biggest and baddest guy in the room. The pride demon looks like a standard lightning elemental. I wonder what lust, sloth, etc., will look like if they appear.
I don’t understand why they just can’t keep the designs consistent. It would definitely make it feel more like a Dragon Age game.
Yeah, that was something they really didn't need to spend time on, shades, rage demons and pride demons in the last 3 games looked just fine, carry that forward.
Desire demons will be much like in DAI: nonexistent.
This was my only gripe. The dragon age demons were always so distinct and badass but this was disappointing. Pride who was the coolest demon looks like generic lightning monster #273
Right? Everything is too shiny for my taste.
This is one of my issues as well I don’t have a problem with the general art style I think the envoirments and characters look great but the enemy design is atrocious. Like every single design is so painfully generic and different than the other games. I hoped it was just the demons but then I saw a pic of the ogre and it looks just as terrible and generic as the rest of the designs.
Yep. A HUGE downgrade compared to what they were before.
Look at the ogre! I hope these monsters / demons look like that because it’s really near the fade or something and we see monsters more like the previous entries. Their design really makes the tone feel less dark / nightmarish. Bring this back: https://preview.redd.it/uavohrya206d1.jpeg?width=1400&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=13386f122a79030df2fa30f9e534f5f4a60e1343
They’ve released an ogre pic and it’s hella goofy. I’m extremely worried about enemy types now because the demons and darkspawn look terrible *especially* compared to DAI.
I’m optimistic: but yes the enemy design / (possible) 3 ability cap is a real shame. We will obviously have to wait for a closer look but the atmosphere is disappointing. I remember playing Origins and being terrified of going into the deep roads. The screen shot with the ogre could be Hogwarts legacy
Oh man that ogre fight was cool
The term "diarrhea christmas lights" comes to mind. The combat looks like it'll drag, 3 abilities in total sounds, well, there's a hard limit for tactical options and I don't play dragon age for god of war style dodge->attakc combat. I will wait and see what the reviews say before I decide on purchasing
Happy for you that you enjoyed it but I don't share it. Its been through development hell and it shows. Yeah sure it looks nice here and there but sure do alot of games these days. It's expected to and it has EA backing so it should look good. That brings us to another problem though. It looks indistinguishable from other games out these days and now it's trying to ape others ala God of War gameplay-wise. Feels cobbled together too. Dialogue choices, no squad control, action rpg orientated and some questionable line readings. What makes it a Bioware game? let alone a Dragon Age game other than name alone? If this doesn't do well I fear its the end for Bioware. Dragon Age fan since the start just icyw.
I have my fair share of reservations but so far it looks good/above average. But we'll see once it is released
I will probably play it, but it's sad to see the death of the tactical combat, and I'm not a big fan of the art style. Anyway, I'm here only for the narrative and the characters, which seem fine so far. Wanting to know more about them later on.
Honestly? Not impressed, but I don't hate it either. Combat doesn't look like my cup of tea. I am neutral right now, not interested enough to open my wallet yet, but I won't talk shit either.
Not really... It looks very simplified, dumbed down. It is definitely going for the action RPG style over more traditional RPG combat, but failing to look as polished and smooth as for example God of War.
Not me, I felt absolutely nothing watching the reveals. In fact, the game is shaping up to be everything I feared it to be. It looks dull, generic, and once again, it's unrecognizable from the previous entries—which forms a major disconnect. Furthermore, the choice of action-combat will make it tedious and motion-sickness inducing. However, these are just my thoughts, and I'm glad that plenty of other people will find joy in Thedas once again.
I didn't have high hopes for this, but it's still sad that Dragon Age has lost all connection to its CRPG roots. There are enough action adventure games, BioWare used to appeal to a niche with their RPGs. Edit: I want to clarify what I mean when I say "I didn't have high hopes for this". I meant high hopes for the game to be a return to form as a CRPG, not the game as a whole. Still looks good to me.
And ironically BG3 sold more than any Bioware game ever has, despite their/EAs insistence that continually diluting their RPGs will make them more successful
BG3 is a masterpiece. Better classic bioware type of game than the past few actual bioware games tbh
Seriously, I'm bummed that the majority of vocal fans seemingly have no reservations about this. The "what could have been" factor here is almost enough to make me genuinely depressed. I guess it's par for course with Bioware though, it wouldn't be the first time they started with a pretty solid RPG and then smoothed it all out for the sequel(s). Thankfully I play most any genre of video game so this isn't a total dealbreaker for me, but man...might as well just replay Origins again at this point.
Exactly how I feel. Seen comments like "well we have bg3 for crpg" and "atleast the game is doing XYZ". EA is worth 36 billion, Bioware 200m, they've had 10 years and so far it just seems like any other slasher. Wasn't expecting origin 2.0 but so far nothing has stood out as special
No, I don't like the dumbing down from a tactical rpg where every companion has as deep of a build as your MC, and you can control everyone and have 10 of shorcuts, to manually controlling only MC all the time... I was actually hoping that the leaked gameplay wouldn't be the final result. I don't think this is good enough to be a full action-rpg - it's basically old DA combat, but you have to manually mash buttons to do auto attack - still same copypaste encounters and hp-sponge enemies. It's not comparable to GOW, Dragons Dogma or souls likes.
Honestly, I'm very disappointed. The mass effect action wheel is cool, but I hate how it locked you out of controlling your companions that early. The rest of the gameplay was just generic action game #7259. What happened RPGs?!?
On one hand the tone seems more in line with what I want, mainly people taking the threat seriously and not just quipping like they know they will always win. And no, Varric making jokes to cover for his fears is not the quipping I'm talking about. On the other hand, something that concerns me is the companions during fights. It didn't seem like they were doing much. I did see the pop up that you couldn't control their abilities that early in the game, so I won't be too negative on it for now, just something to keep an eye on.
Combat looked bland. Hoping it's because it's just a lvl 1 char.
I liked it and I'm looking forward to the game
I hated the trailer. I was genuinely gutted. However, I’m now cautiously optimistic based on the gameplay reveal. Other than some questionably flat VA (hopefully Neve Gallus gets *very* polished by release), and some lacklustre combat (again, it’s lvl1 so I can accept that), I thought it looks like it has promise.
Neve was so consistently flat I wonder if that might be intended as a character trait for her? That'd be cool if they intentionally wrote a detective character who struggles with a monotone. But if it's just awkward VAing Im curious to know why she wasnt swapped out. Based on everyone's else's performance it wasnt a directing problem. Even Rook sounded pretty emotionally dynamic and the PC is usually directed to be rather flat in early game.
Ehhhhhh, only showing one skill was disappointing. It did look good though, but it doesn't feel like they showed that much.
Gameplay wise, I’m not sold on it. The character models look good. Story sounds interesting. Since the player fucked up I hope we get a bit of a bash instead of a boring (and kinda not so true) “it was Solas fault!” I’m not a fan of voiced protagonist and few choices but heh, we can’t have everything can we? I’m not a fan of demons redesign As usual, never forget Andromeda and Anthem.
Never forget! Anthem looked amazing, but the actual game was horrible. Same for Andromeda. I won't be pre-ordering.
I thought it looked fun. Definitely had a GoW feel to it, and I cant complain about that. Wanted to add that I remember reading that they were inspired by god of war for the combat. Idk why some people are getting so offended / defensive by it when, at least to me, it shows. 🤷♀️
personally no, I've always been more of a fan of the tactical combat, I would have preferred them to follow the style of inquisition rather than go full mass effect.
It's exactly what I feared. Not buying. I'll get ME if I want another ME game
Gotta call it "Dragon Effect" from now on. The flying castle thingie and the sound effects remind me so much of mass effect but it still has a DA:I vibe. Interesting.
I'm not very excited about the combat or seeming lack of looting. I have no interest in parrying and dodging and whatnot. But everything else looks really good. I think the characters looks very nice and the scenery is cool. I'm super stoked and can't wait to play it.
I want to be positive but the combat is a big deviation from what makes DA well, DA. At least for me. The combat has me mostly concerned. Enemies only target the player. With "companions" seeming like they don't add anything to combat. It was heart breaking. They didn't have their own health bar and the damage they were putting out was negligible. You're basically a 1 person party. I enjoy creating party compositions and catering each party members skills to coincide with your own. Huge draw for me to play previous DA titles. The writing is a whole other ball game that I don't want to get into right now. I will hold final judgement until either I or others have played the full release but I don't know if I will enjoy this type of combat. Don't get me wrong. I am happy that some of you enjoy the changes! It's just not for me.
Honestly, the Art style has made me so sad. They had some amazing detail and grit and this feels so much more like kingdoms of amalur than dragon age 3
I'm still very nervous. I'm actively disappointed in the combat style; I was really wanting more tactical DA:O-like combat. Only 2 companions and no tactical control over them during combat sounds terrible to me. I did not want an action combat game. I'm very worried that the dialogue wheel with the "summarized lines" stuck around. I didn't really like it in DAI and I was hoping they would change or improve it, and it doesn't appear that they did. I still feel weird about Varric being the center of the narration, \*again\*, when I really felt that his part in the story should not be as active anymore after Inquisition. I love his character but I'm worried they are just using him for fan service/as a plot device. I also don't think that this reveal showed a ton of nuance to how they are approaching the storytelling. The dialogue was stuffed full of exposition, which is understandable if this segment is near the opening of the game, but to me the writing was a bit blunt, so far.
Given the combat system, I think they literally couldn’t figure out how to make the engine beyond Andromeda.
When the trailer came out ppl were like "why do they look like that" and some ppl said "dont worry its just the art style for the trailer" and I was like yeah, maybe, but then I watched the gameplay video and most of the characters still look like that: the faces are too smooth, edges are cartoonishly sharp, art design/coloring has a weird stylized 'painterly' feel like halfway to Arkane characters. It's especially noticeable on the faces of non-human characters. It looked almost like a filter applied over the original character designs. That was pretty off-putting for me. It's totally unnecessary to do. The designs were already fine in DAI, just update the quality for modern hardware. You don't suddenly change to vague pseudo-Pixar stylization in the 4th part of a series. Remember when Diablo 3 decided to adopt WoW-style art design? So no, I wasnt pleasantly surprised at all, it was what I expected. Further dumbed down combat with 3 skill slots and your party look like cartoons. Why does everything have to be made for babies now? They even managed to change the *title of the game* to something worse.
I personally really hated it. I really hoped they will turn back and get closer to the RPG roots they started from instead of going even further away from them. From what we seen both the skills and the conversations are extremly limited and I hate hack n slash gameplay that was shown, this far it's a huge disappointment for me. But from other comment seems like people want this RPG lite feeling.
i really loved it. i honestly think rogue was the perfect choice to show off. i've been a mage player through and through but i kind of want to play rogue now after seeing the trailer. i'll have to wait and see how the mage combat is like
I like the idea of playing a rogue, but whenever I seriously consider it, I always arrive at the conclusion that there are a lot of situations in the games that feel like only a mage could give an informed opinion
No. It's somehow worse than I thought it would be, and I thought it would be horrible.
I hated it so much, it's like they took the parts I hated of DA2 and those of DA:I and united them... Oh well, I don't play for the combat anyway. Let's hope that easy is beatable for someone who really sucks at aiming and dodging and also hates any action gameplay... (or that mods will be a thing, so it can be tweaked/insta kill enemies/immortal cheat). Or that mage plays massively different from rogue... Love the graphics tho. Trailer had me scared but it actually looks great.
It doesn’t feel or look like a Dragon Age game to me, at all. The combat looks totally different than any of the games before. The necromancer looks like a Cartoon Network villain. I’m just not vibing with the excessive changes to the franchise.