General Gaming Dragon Age: The Veilguard (f.k.a Dreadwolf/a.k.a "Dragon Effect" | All Hallow's Eve 2024) - Information Thread, update (09/12): "Hands-On Preview" (IGN First)

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Rights Inquisition's Greatest Sin - GameSpot

WWW.GAMESPOT.COM

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BioWare's priorities are in the right place for its fourth foray into Dragon Age.

 

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The Veilguard seems to put a lot more emphasis on building relationships with your companions than in previous Dragon Age games. Though your companions will unlock their core abilities over time, the only way to earn special upgrades to these skills is to develop their relationship with Rook. I didn't get to see these upgrades in action during the preview, but I did see how The Veilguard's first two companions--Harding and Neve--perform in a fight. Harding fits the role of a long-range sniper, a rogue initially armed with a bow and arrow, while Neve is a detective and mage who specializes in close-range cold magic.

 

According to Busche, you'll meet and recruit every companion by the end of the first act, which should take players about nine to 10 hours--that's a tinge faster than the 15 or so hour recruitment time in Inquisition, which makes sense given The Veilguard only has seven companions and Inquisition has nine.

 

"Faster" seems to be the name of the game for The Veilguard, which looks to do for Dragon Age what Andromeda did for Mass Effect. Your perspective as a player has tightened even further--especially once combat kicks off--shifting to a view more akin to an over-the-shoulder shooter. As spells fly and swords clash, combat seems to pull you into the thick of battle where you must deftly dodge out of the way of an enemy's telegraphed wind-up to land a well-timed combo of your own. Whether you choose to go the way of the warrior, rogue, or mage, you have an assortment of speedy attacks, explosive heavy-hitting abilities, long-range shield breakers, and quick dodges.

 

In the opening hour, each battle wrapped up in a matter of moments, and even though Busche pointed out that a tactical menu exists to pause the action and direct Rook's allies, it didn't really look like that was even needed, almost like the feature existed as more of a reminder of what Dragon Age used to be, not what it is now. Real-time combat is not new for Dragon Age, but this is the first time I've seen a game in the series seem to lack much in the way of tactics. For combat at least, The Veilguard appears to lean more toward the action half of action-RPG.

 

 

 

The first 45 minutes of Dragon Age: The Veilguard feel as much like Mass Effect 2 as Inquisition

WWW.ROCKPAPERSHOTGUN.COM

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Good news, everybody! Dragon Age: The Veilguard - previously Dragon Age: Dreadwolf, strictly speaking Dragon Age 4 - is…

 

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I am definitely in mourning for the less kinetic, more strategic Dragon Age that might have been, but I'm more excited for Veilguard than I thought I'd be after copping the first trailer, which makes the whole thing look like the origin story for a C-list Marvel team. It's worth remembering that Inquisition was often too knotty and expansive for its own good: its battle system is unwieldy, its story is a classic example of midgame bloat, and while Skyhold is a grand and imposing place, it's also a managerial nightmare in which you routinely forget where the crafting tables are, 70 hours in. If Veilguard can carve out the cruft without reducing party members to sidekicks, it could be the soft reboot this long-absent RPG series needs. Just, please lay off with the ghastly tinted chainmail this time. The qunari deserve better.

 

[Bacon]

12 minutes ago, Bacon said:

The first time I watched the Gameplay Reveal I was focused on viewing it as if I was playing and I missed some stuff. On the rewatch, wow did they make a mistake playing this on what has to be easy mode. Enemies are just standing there waiting their turn. Enemies don't seem like a threat. The player also isn't styling on the enemies so it makes the enemies seem bitch made dying to a 3-hit basic combo. Another mistake is showing early-game combat. It rarely ever looks good. They needed to display the full capacity of combat and they didn't. During the Pride Demon fight, a big problem for me is how often the player was totally disengaged from the boss. How often they kept to a distance and weren't then actively firing arrows like a machine gun. Doesn't matter if I'm playing Dark Souls, FFXIV, FFXVI, DD2, or The Witcher 3. You only dodge just enough to avoid the attacks so you can follow up immediately. Always Be Casting.

 

And man, the MC really should have just been the inquisitor again. It feels strange for the player to have the personal connection, but not the avatar.

[legend]

I'll probably enjoy this game, but I'm increasingly disappointed all the same.

[skillzdadirecta]

44 minutes ago, Bacon said:

 

And man, the MC really should have just been the inquisitor again. It feels strange for the player to have the personal connection, but not the avatar.

Dargon Age had never repeated main characters. There's always a new protagonist player charater in each installment. I actually like that.

[legend]

59 minutes ago, Bacon said:

On the rewatch, wow did they make a mistake playing this on what has to be easy mode. Enemies are just standing there waiting their turn. Enemies don't seem like a threat. 

 

Yeah, when I go back and watch clips or see clips people share on twitter and look around it's absolutely painful how brain dead the enemies are. It also really stands out just how meaningless your companions are. The enemies completely ignore them like they're not even there and every so often you see a completely useless shot come from off screen at an enemy that does next to nothing.

 

So not only are you not doing party-level tactics where you position and can switch characters in the party, but your companions are basically just other ability wheels and nothing else. We've fallen so far from being the spiritual successor to BG.

[Bacon]

15 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Dargon Age had never repeated main characters. There's always a new protagonist player charater in each installment. I actually like that.

I know, but I don't like it this time. Because there is a disconnect between the player and the player's character due to the player's past interactions with Solas.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

The game does have pleasant art direction, I'll give it that!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Mr.Vic20]

Those look good, its a shame I can't ask Todd if I can go to any of those background mountains. 

[Mr.Vic20]

Meanwhile, as the debate continues to rage around the style of this latest entry in the identity seeking Dragon Age Franchise, its down to KOTAKU once again to cover the toughest angles of this game:

 

Dragon Age Fans Are Ready To Ride The Veilguard’s Old Man Mage Into The Sunset

KOTAKU.COM

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‘Day one of trying not to think about f***ing that old man’

 

 

[Keyser_Soze]

3 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Meanwhile, as the debate continues to rage around the style of this latest entry in the identity seeking Dragon Age Franchise, its down to KOTAKU once again to cover the toughest angles of this game:

 

Dragon Age Fans Are Ready To Ride The Veilguard’s Old Man Mage Into The Sunset

KOTAKU.COM

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‘Day one of trying not to think about f***ing that old man’

 

 

 

He's the game's bear sex equivalent

[legend]

8 minutes ago, Mr.Vic20 said:

Meanwhile, as the debate continues to rage around the style of this latest entry in the identity seeking Dragon Age Franchise, its down to KOTAKU once again to cover the toughest angles of this game:

 

Dragon Age Fans Are Ready To Ride The Veilguard’s Old Man Mage Into The Sunset

KOTAKU.COM

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‘Day one of trying not to think about f***ing that old man’

 

 

I’ve seen some comments on Twitter around this and it’s just fucking weird. Comments that would usually be considered inappropriate if it were a young female character. “Safe horny” is really bizarre and I hope we some day look back at it like “wtf was that”

[Bacon]

I don't give a fuck about twitter standards and jerk it to whatever I want.

People who post on twitter like it's a forum need to get their balls snipped and their tubes tied.

[Massdriver]

This feels like a missed opportunity. I would be a lot more excited if they went full CRPG with it. I'll still play it though, eventually.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

22 hours ago, Massdriver said:

I would be a lot more excited if they went full CRPG with it.

 

There is absolutely no universe in which that was ever going to happen

 

 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s director talks RPG systems, skill trees, and being inspired by Final Fantasy XII | RPG Site

WWW.RPGSITE.NET

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After an action-driven first gameplay showcase, the director of the next Dragon Age chats to us about its more hardcore RPG chops.

 

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Dragon Age: The Veilguard was fully revealed with a flurry of exciting activity this week, with BioWare putting out a trailer, some gameplay footage, and a bunch of information. But as the promotional material focuses on courting the mainstream with dazzling action-led footage and its cast of characters, it of course has led to one key fan outcry: is it still a role-playing game?

 

Naturally, we were interested in that too. The hands-on offered glimpses of an incredible character creator, interesting dialogue choices, and some consequences for those choices - all role-playing staples. But what about combat? What about good old-fashioned RPG character progression and growth, which in many ways is the bedrock of the genre?

 

After seeing the hands-off demo, we got a chance to briefly chat with Dragon Age: The Veilguard director Corinne Busche - who right away gushes about being a real RPG system nerd. I get the impression we could’ve sat and talked about classic RPGs and their mechanics for hours; she is one of us. In our brief chat, she expands on how The Veilguard’s progression, growth, and skill tree work - revealing granular information not present in the demo shown so far. Here’s our chat.

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

A Deep Dive Into Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s Expansive Character Creator

WWW.GAMEINFORMER.COM

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We spent nearly 40 minutes crafting a Rook in BioWare's best character creator yet – here's what we learned.

 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

I figured I'd just post Game Informer's coverage hub rather than the individual articles of which there are many:

 

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Exclusive Coverage

WWW.GAMEINFORMER.COM

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Learn everything you need to know about Bioware’s upcoming game in our hub for exclusive features.

[Best]

Which Dragon Age do you guys consider the best?

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Just now, Best said:

Which Dragon Age do you guys consider the best?

 

Origins.

[Spork3245]

3 minutes ago, Commissar SFLUFAN said:

 

Origins.

By several nautical miles

[Best]

2 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

By several nautical miles

 

Yea but having just looking that up, it came out in 2010. I have a very difficult time playing games that old. 

[Spork3245]

1 minute ago, Best said:

 

Yea but having just looking that up, it came out in 2010. I have a very difficult time playing games that old. 

If you can get past the graphics (I know, I know) the gameplay holds up due to it being a dungeon crawler RPG

[skillzdadirecta]

Origins easily. 

[Best]

I might play Orgins on my deck. The Ultimate Edition is $30 on steam. 

 

I'm going to check out reviews before biting. 

[Spork3245]

3 minutes ago, Best said:

I might play Orgins on my deck. The Ultimate Edition is $30 on steam. 

 

I'm going to check out reviews before biting. 

I don’t know how well the PC version plays with a controller. Definitely look into that first. I think the console versions changed the play style slightly to fit a controller vs mouse and keyboard.

[Best]

4 minutes ago, Spork3245 said:

I don’t know how well the PC version plays with a controller. Definitely look into that first. I think the console versions changed the play style slightly to fit a controller vs mouse and keyboard.

 

Oh... thanks. I'll definitely look into this. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Just know that Origins is more of a strategy RPG than action. It's an Evolution of the KOTOR battle system except it's pseudo real-time.

[Best]

1 minute ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Just know that Origins is more of a strategy RPG than action. It's an Evolution of the KOTOR battle system except it's pseudo real-time.

 

Hmm. More good info to know. 

[Bacon]

Origins is the only DA worth playing. The rest fucking suck. Personally, I find DA3 to be the worst one. Empty ass world and shitty ass side quests with the worst cast of companions and a shit villain.

 

The only good to come out of DA3 is an even hotter Morrigan and any reference to the Origins MC.

[Best]

1 minute ago, Bacon said:

Origins is the only DA worth playing.

 

Do you think playing on my deck will work ok?

[Bacon]

2 minutes ago, Best said:

 

Do you think playing on my deck will work ok?

i dun fuckin' kno

i ain't got no stem dek

[Best]

Just now, Bacon said:

i dun fuckin' kno

i ain't got no stem dek

 

Well using a controller to play. 

[Greatoneshere]

DA: Origins plays much better on PC. I'm not sure as to updated versions of the game but the HUD and UI of the game are built for PC and plays better on PC with K/BM. I'm sure you can play it on PC with controller now, not sure what that changes in terms of HUD and UI on screen for the PC version these days. Same went for the first Mass Effect back when that released for PC vs. Xbox 360 if I recall.

[Bacon]

Just now, Best said:

 

Well using a controller to play. 

Oh, sure. I first played it on da 360 and loved it. It was far better in every way on PC but that had little to do with the controls and just how bad the 360 version looked.

[Best]

4 minutes ago, Bacon said:

Oh, sure. I first played it on da 360 and loved it. It was far better in every way on PC but that had little to do with the controls and just how bad the 360 version looked.

 

Thanks. 

[Phaseknox]

2 hours ago, Best said:

Which Dragon Age do you guys consider the best?

I like them all, but Inquisition is my favorite.