Gay TV, Movies, and Books

[Krista]

Slightly off-topic, but I have to get this off my chest. And, there are people who do play video games that frequent this community, I'm thinking.

I do not play very many games. I have three that I've followed: Dragon Age, Mass Effect, and The Sims. Admittedly, the writing for Mass Effect 1, 2, and 3 were fantastic, I really loved it. I'm not a Sci-fi person at all, but it was easy to get into, and it progressed nicely. The Sims is something I get nostalgic with and play here and there, but it is way too riddled with bugs, some game breaking, and only working when modders and creators fix shit for the developers.

But, Dragon Age was at one time my favorite franchise. It is the game that I replayed numerous times. Origins needs to be remastered. I wish they would have done that, but since it is an older game the task may be too much for them. Dragon Age 2, was a rush job, but the writing was still decently strong, it fell flat everywhere else because they didn't have time to do much within a year and a half that Electronic Arts gave them. Inquisition became more open world, very meaningless task heavy, but the writing was still on par, it felt fleshed out and the characters were decent.

Now, Dragon Age: The Veilguard - sucks. They boasted about having a great Character creator, which they do, but you have to really work on making your character not look like a cookie cutter Pixar character. I've spent hours in it, then get into the game, and edit them for a couple more hours because even though they have a lighting preview, you can't see them in action. You have to be careful not to make them cross-eyed for example. The hair selections for males are limited at best. And we're just not going to talk about the Qunari's foreheads... it takes a lot to work around that.

The scenery is nice to look at as well, but weapons, attire/armor, and item customization is pretty much non-existent.

That's about all the good I have to say about it though. The characters are awful, none of your past progression in the series really impacts the game either. They took away your options to be 'mean,' as well. A lot of your response choices do not match the tone of the scene you're currently in. There's too much, "around the table.." talking, where every character has to self-reflect, analyze, and get validation. It sounds like a self-help group, not a group of people that are out to save the world.

Speaking of, despite the world crumbling around them, a lot of their reactions are light. The story around them is mostly done with a light and breathless touch... there's no flesh, bone, or meat to any character early on, if at any. If you're expecting that to change, like I did - you're sorely mistaken. The game doesn't get good until the final act, but damn that's hundreds of hours away. 

The villains just suck, there's so much about them that's one-dimensional, so they become laughable at best. They're supposed to be cunning old elven gods, but they're so stereotypical villain they lose their bite.

It is severely preachy on certain aspects of the game, that shouldn't be preachy in the game, with the time period it is set in and the like. It takes away from the dark fantasy element entirely, which is what the genre is about. I wouldn't even call it a Dragon Age game, since it does gut your choices from previous games, despite the storyline advancing from game to game. It should have included a lot of the past decisions on some impactful level, but it doesn't.

This was a rebrand with skeletal elements to hopefully get money from people that have been waiting for this game for over 10 years. That is obvious. The fact that these people had 10 years to write the story-line, villains, main character's voice/tone, and ability to respond to the world around them is frightening. This should have been a master class in writing, especially since they have so much source material to build on. They also had 10 years to write fleshed out, multi-dimensional characters to support your Rook as well.

It also, and I agree with a game reviewer that said: It feels like this was written by people who had HR hovering over their shoulders. - There's nothing  with any depth in the writing, like I said, nothing with any meat on the bones. Every conflict is resolved in 'validating' and self-reflective conversations. You cannot make people hate you in this game... it always comes back to this group therapy session stupidity.

I paid full price for this nonsense. It makes this game more laughable, because it is also in the running for Game of the Year... although, a late outside shot at it, but still. Save your money if you haven't bought it, wait for it to go on sale. 

Edited 1 hour ago by Krista