re: Early impressions of DA: The Veilguard is that Bioware nailed it

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How does this game compare to Baldurs Gate 3?

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It would depend on exactly how you mean that question, but I would say that they couldn’t be much more different while both still technically being RPGs. I would say BG3 has vastly more in common with Dragon Age: Origins than it does DA: V.

I finished and liked both games. I think BG3 is the better game overall and more like DAO (which may be my favorite game of all time). However, BG3 is long and finishing the third act became a grind for me before it was done. In contrast, DAV’s last missions may be the best part of the game (especially if you are a fan of the Dragon Age series like me). If you get the best and secret endings, what you see is something that ties into everything that has been in the series and sets up something new. The game play is more mass effect with swords and is typically forgiving. The animation style isn’t my favorite, but it is absolutely amazing in places (the eclipse at the lighthouse was really good I thought). The characters grow on you (some more than others), which is what you expect in a long game. There are several choices that matter to the outcome of the game, at least one gut punch moment and also a twist that you may or may not figure out. Overall, DAV felt gentler, less complex, and lighter in tone than BG3. If you don’t mind this, love the Dragon Age world/lore, and are not deeply bothered by the LGBTQ components (which cannot be skipped), then I would recommend playing this game. Otherwise, this game likely isn’t going to be your cup of tea and you should just leave it alone. Nothing wrong with that. Video games are supposed to be fun after all.

Also, for context, I would rank the dragon age games in this order:
DAO
DAI
DAV
DA2

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You better pull a BARVE to repent

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The game handles homo shite so badly that gays were writing articles about how cringe it was

Graphically, it was amazing. I mean scenery, not models. The models looked like Andromeda, but more cartoony.

Cheery tone
Forgettable characters
Very little real choice
Pixar dialogue
Unremarkable leveling system
Inability to control your party
Aside from the Necro, little reason to care about any of the party members
I genuinely hated 3 party members
Ending was decent

Game was a pile of shite

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Many games these days go out of their way to make it so that even with a character creator you can't create an attractive biological female.

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That’s because most of the women devs they brought in look like Shrek and seeing some character with Barbie proportions reminds them of everything they aren’t.

Meanwhile the male devs who also look like Shrek don’t care and have always had male leads who look like Chris Helmsworth.

this game nuked EA

I've explained this a few times, I'll do it one more time.


1. The idea of them "nailing it" wasn't from me, it came from the article and from a lot of people who played a preview version of it. Matty, who absolutely roasted the game post launch, was very hype after his preview playthrough, and his explanation for that was that EA was intentionally deceptive about what parts of the game they were playing, intentionally holding back some of the more "controversial" aspects of the game. Very EA move.

2. My intentions for this wasn't "oh, this very woke game is looking good and I'm pumped". I saw all of the trepidation from everyone about it based on it's art style, and I thought this was encouraging bit of news for the DA fans here. I've never really played a game in the series, I have no dog in this fight. Hate that it played out this way for DA fans, but I'm not bothered about how it was received one way or another.

3. To piggy back on some Corininthians posted in another thread, the presence of "woke" aspects isn't the problem with a lot of media IMO. It's how it's presented. From what I've read about this (haven't played it), this game was really preachy about some things, and I heard one reviewer call the writing style as "young adult", which for anyone hoping for a hardcore DA game, this was problematic on it's own.

Take 2 Star Was series in the recent years. The Acolyte was hammered for it's woke agenda, the reason it failed, but the real disaster about that show was the writing and acting. All of it was atrocious. We unfortunately watched through the whole series, but I was bored out of my mind for a large majority of it, minus the one cool light saber battle. But it was just a really bad show through and through. Even if they had taken out things like the lesbian witch coven making a force baby out of thin air, it was going to be a garbage show.

Then look at Andor, which had a lot of what I'm sure is considered woke elements; pretty diverse cast (with the lead being a Mexican actor), it's fair share of gay characters, and a story line that was very heavy with political themes. But it knocked it out of the park with top notch writing and A list acting. That's how this content should be done. Don't beat people over the head with soap box moments, just treat it like it's a regular part of the universe and no one will bat an eye. The lesbian couple in it, the only time they truly address it is when one of the characters indicates Vel is "already sharing a blanket with someone" and cut to a shot of Cinta, they have a few moments here and there, and that's it.

Have that stuff in your media if you want, just don't shite the bed with the writing and acting. All that most people care about.

Layoffs underway at Bioware after Veilguard bombs

Looks like they are letting everyone go except a bare bones group working on Mass Effect 5

I doubt we will ever get another Mass Effect, at this point

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Take 2 Star Was series in the recent years. The Acolyte was hammered for it's woke agenda, the reason it failed, but the real disaster about that show was the writing and acting. All of it was atrocious. We unfortunately watched through the whole series, but I was bored out of my mind for a large majority of it, minus the one cool light saber battle. But it was just a really bad show through and through. Even if they had taken out things like the lesbian witch coven making a force baby out of thin air, it was going to be a garbage show. Then look at Andor, which had a lot of what I'm sure is considered woke elements; pretty diverse cast (with the lead being a Mexican actor), it's fair share of gay characters, and a story line that was very heavy with political themes. But it knocked it out of the park with top notch writing and A list acting. That's how this content should be done. Don't beat people over the head with soap box moments, just treat it like it's a regular part of the universe and no one will bat an eye. The lesbian couple in it, the only time they truly address it is when one of the characters indicates Vel is "already sharing a blanket with someone" and cut to a shot of Cinta, they have a few moments here and there, and that's it.

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The real problem isn’t the DEI on screen, it’s in the writer’s room.

The writers for Andor







The writers for The Acolyte

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interesting. reminds me of the saying…. wait, i can’t remember it now. something about when you go woke, then something else happens.

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Now I’m confused: are games failing because they have woke content, or are games with woke content failing because they are bad games? I’m losing track

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Now I’m confused: are games failing because they have woke content, or are games with woke content failing because they are bad games?

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generally both.

Some people are not buying games because they are woke.

But then most all of the woke games tend to be bad games. I think when DEI is a selling point you are featuring, it probably indicates something about the quality of the game.

BG3 was pretty woke, but they handled it all with great writing.

Then there's Bioware:

Taash: Hey Mom, I am non-binary

Mom: what does that mean?

Taash: You suck, you bigot!

And. . .

Dumb count: I am going to suddenly and flamboyantly do push ups while calling everyone's attention to me. . .to not make this about me.

Not a direct quote, but pretty much the gist and tenor.