[Spoilers] Final Thoughts -- Post Credit Scene

[Horseman]

I've finished the game at 82 hours and all but four achievements. Once I completed the game, I also immediately uninstalled this thing. Here are are my final thoughts on aspects of the game.

Writing -- Absolutely horrid and it was very disappointing to see them constantly going back to the same ol cliched voice lines that we've seen a million times over. Not to mention that it was very hard to have the responses that you wanted in any situation. Options didn't even come close to reflecting what was actually said and sometimes you'd make the "mean choice" only for them to say what the nice choice said anyway. lol

Music -- Honestly this was amazing. The director, composer and orchestra did an amazing job with the music.

Story -- The story itself was good (meaning.. the concept of said story) but it just didn't seem like it was very well executed and it was definitely poorly written. However, it was good enough for me to keep going for 82 hours, especially considering I didn't finish Inquisition, but I DID finish Veilguard. What was up with the after credits cliffhanger? There won't be another sequel, and no expansions. WTF!

Art Design -- Though I did like the art design on characters, environments aaaand the enemies, I didn't like it for the setting of Dragon Age. Everything looked like goofy representations of previous titles and it didn't sit well with me. From a technical standpoint it was pleasing on the eyes and well done... but then I remembered it was supposed to be grim dark and blood splattering on my body every time i barely touched an enemy which was NOT there. The environments were beautiful! The maps were well done, but having to visit the same linear maps over and over... and ... OVER again for every little tiny task got old real fast. The areas that were opened up for the specific purpose of a faction or companion quest was nice, though.

Companions -- Great companions.. .honestly. Good development, but it felt a little too kumbaya and touchy feely feels good AA session rather than a we're at war with three elven Gods. Bellara and Emerich were my absolute favorites. Lucanis my next favorite. Harding, Neve and Taash were kind of boring characters, but I think Neve was only because I put her through the most ♥♥♥♥. (Chose her to get beat up in the beginning, didn't save Minrathous and then chose her to do the enchants thing at the end. Taash was so poorly written, that I just ended up skipping everything and avoided that woke BS all together. There were some parts that were fun and enjoyable, but seriously the whole damn thing felt more like a lecture than it did a high fantasy game.

Combat -- Combat was very shallow compared to previous titles, but going back to inquisition it was alot more exciting at the same time. Every battle was approached the same way, Shield toss, ranged ability, detonate primer, done. Only time I was really challenged were the first optional boss in the Crossroads and the first optional dragon you fight. I was severely under-leveled, but managed to topple them both. Skill issue more than anything.

Armor/Weapon Designs -- Absolute trash... all of it. like.. it was god awful. Whoever designed armor and weapons needs to never touch a video game design ever again.

Overall -- entertaining, but honestly it wasn't that great of a game as a whole. I found myself rushing through the game at the end just to get it done and be able to say that I gave it a good run. I will likely only ever pick it up again (for a brief moment) when I get new computer just to see how good the game could look at full settings (when the 50 series GPUs are released). Disastrous sales and reception likely means there will be no DA6 and if there is, I really hope that it's not this DEI franchise. I am truly worried for Mass Effect 5.

[DaisyRay]

I thought Act Three was the strongest part of the whole game. It could just be because I'm a massive Solas fan. I was eating up all of it. I had so many different emotions too, from anger, to happiness, anger again, then full on ugly crying. The ending was the best ending of any other DA game for me. I didn't even know there were other endings until I watched YouTube, so I got really lucky. It gave me a lot of closure, but also invited so many new questions.

I loved the writing in the main story. It lacked in some areas such as companions and side quests, but the main story was really good for me personally. I think the best writing shines through scenes with returning characters, Solas, the main story, and three of the companion quests. Harding's quest for example had the tightest grip on me.

I wasn't a big fan of the music that much, I think Inquisition had better music.

I liked all the companions well enough, but I have my favorites. In order from best to worst for me it would be Emmerich, Harding, Darwin, Neve, Taash, Bellara. I have too much to say on each one, so I'll just leave it at that.

I enjoyed this combat more than any other game, for me it was more challenging and I love the way we can really work with our companions for an outcome. I love how fast paced and fun it is. I do miss controlling our companions, but this way of fighting hooked me more than the past ones.

I liked the armor itself, but not the colors. I'm so grateful modders attacked this first. The colors are a lot better for me now with mods. I hate that they removed the ability to dye clothes that we got with Inquisition, but it is what it is.

I overall liked the game enough to do a second replay and I think I want to do a third to play as a Grey Warden too. I'll probably be done after my third playthrough though. It's not a real rpg game so much of my choices aren't going to be too different. I enjoy the game for what it is though, a 7-8/10 action adventure game in the world of Dragon Age.

[Horseman]

Originally posted by R-Boni:

Agree with most of it, maybe I just would be even harsher when you said "great companions" and "story itself was good". Can't really say that when I thought the companion questlines were boring, romance ♥♥♥♥, and the main plot with crappy cartoonish villains with Solas being shoved in every aspect of the lore. Not to mention the idiotic Sixth Sense twist at the end. But I guess you covered that in "horrid writing".

I also had the same problem with that Revenant General in the Crossroads ("For the Wolf!"). Liked the soundtrack, like the the track that played in this particular combat scene. That is probably one of the very few good things I can say about this game, which I don't want to play ever again.

Yeah many of the companion quests were crap... but the ones that actually tied to the main story, I thought were good. When for the fifth time I visited Taash and she's like.. I wanna have dinner with mommy, and want you there.. I just rolled my eyes and thought... there are elvish gods ruining the world and you want dinner with mommy? NOW? There was alot of unnecessary fluff content quests in relation to the companions.

I had written about the Sixth Sense story part as well in a previous iteration of this "review" but I forgot to include it again here. I really didn't like that they just ripped that concept straight from the movie... like.. SERIOUSLY? A few of those characters themselves I really did enjoy... as I mentioned. I romanced Bellara. I actually really liked her character.

[Horseman]

Originally posted by DaisyRay:

I thought Act Three was the strongest part of the whole game. It could just be because I'm a massive Solas fan. I was eating up all of it. I had so many different emotions too, from anger, to happiness, anger again, then full on ugly crying. The ending was the best ending of any other DA game for me. I didn't even know there were other endings until I watched YouTube, so I got really lucky. It gave me a lot of closure, but also invited so many new questions.

I loved the writing in the main story. It lacked in some areas such as companions and side quests, but the main story was really good for me personally. I think the best writing shines through scenes with returning characters, Solas, the main story, and three of the companion quests. Harding's quest for example had the tightest grip on me.

I wasn't a big fan of the music that much, I think Inquisition had better music.

I liked all the companions well enough, but I have my favorites. In order from best to worst for me it would be Emmerich, Harding, Darwin, Neve, Taash, Bellara. I have too much to say on each one, so I'll just leave it at that.

I enjoyed this combat more than any other game, for me it was more challenging and I love the way we can really work with our companions for an outcome. I love how fast paced and fun it is. I do miss controlling our companions, but this way of fighting hooked me more than the past ones.

I liked the armor itself, but not the colors. I'm so grateful modders attacked this first. The colors are a lot better for me now with mods. I hate that they removed the ability to dye clothes that we got with Inquisition, but it is what it is.

I overall liked the game enough to do a second replay and I think I want to do a third to play as a Grey Warden too. I'll probably be done after my third playthrough though. It's not a real rpg game so much of my choices aren't going to be too different. I enjoy the game for what it is though, a 7-8/10 action adventure game in the world of Dragon Age.

I'm glad that you liked it. Seems pretty opposite of my POV and it is interesting to see. I don't think I can do a full playthrough again. I don't even know where I'd go with it because of the lack of options to be a different personality. In games with choices such as these I'm always kind of a nice guy anyway ... i've filled leadership positions and so treating people like crap is not usually my go to thing. I'd do things different from a sense of what city to save or who to choose where and maybe get a different ending, but everything else would likely be the same. I played as an Elvish mourn watch reaper.

[DaisyRay]

Originally posted by Horseman:

I'm glad that you liked it. Seems pretty opposite of my POV and it is interesting to see. I don't think I can do a full playthrough again. I don't even know where I'd go with it because of the lack of options to be a different personality. In games with choices such as these I'm always kind of a nice guy anyway ... i've filled leadership positions and so treating people like crap is not usually my go to thing. I'd do things different from a sense of what city to save or who to choose where and maybe get a different ending, but everything else would likely be the same. I played as an Elvish mourn watch reaper.

That's completely understandable. They really dropped the ball in a few areas. The rpg part being one of the bigger ones for me. This is the only DA game where the lack of rpg and choices is really noticable and it makes me sad. I think a lot more people would have enjoyed or tried the game if they stuck to their roots more.

[Horseman]

Originally posted by R-Boni:

Originally posted by Horseman:

Did I "fall in love" with this character? No. Because her content is underdelivering. Like the devs didn't give a ♥♥♥♥. I could summarize her entire romance arc as "I love you, I love you too, kiss, the end" (lol, a single kiss and a hug in the entire game!). The most basic stuff you would expect for a romance arc. Her companion quest with her brother was nothing of note and with a very cliché ending as well.

So no, characters and writing... nothing is salvageable for me in this game. We can talk about "wasted potential", but it doesn't really matter to me if the final product is this piece of turd.

I feel much the same way lol

[Alex]

There could be another sequel. Who knows. It's not like Inquisition was a best seller at first, but it aged like fine wine sales-wise. This could do the same, and Dragon Age is a brand for EA, I am sure they will think about doing another one after ME5. Who knows, sales will dictate whether we see another one or not. But it does serve as a closer for the series, with an opening for a 5th one. Which I hope will happen eventually.

[DaisyRay]

Originally posted by Alex:

There could be another sequel. Who knows. It's not like Inquisition was a best seller at first, but it aged like fine wine sales-wise. This could do the same, and Dragon Age is a brand for EA, I am sure they will think about doing another one after ME5. Who knows, sales will dictate whether we see another one or not. But it does serve as a closer for the series, with an opening for a 5th one. Which I hope will happen eventually.

Some of the YouTubers who were invited to play test and other stuff said this isn't the last game. I'm not sure if it will be a follow up to this one though. I agree, I think this game was closure for us Solas fans. I think the next one will delve into the people in the secret scene.

So yeah, probably after ME 5.

Edit: Jackdaw's prediction video just dropped ;p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivdCXQ8twXs

[Horseman]

Originally posted by DaisyRay:

Originally posted by Alex:

There could be another sequel. Who knows. It's not like Inquisition was a best seller at first, but it aged like fine wine sales-wise. This could do the same, and Dragon Age is a brand for EA, I am sure they will think about doing another one after ME5. Who knows, sales will dictate whether we see another one or not. But it does serve as a closer for the series, with an opening for a 5th one. Which I hope will happen eventually.

Some of the YouTubers who were invited to play test and other stuff said this isn't the last game. I'm not sure if it will be a follow up to this one though. I agree, I think this game was closure for us Solas fans. I think the next one will delve into the people in the secret scene.

So yeah, probably after ME 5.

Edit: Jackdaw's prediction video just dropped ;p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivdCXQ8twXs

Right.. playtest.. before seeing the response and reception of the game and poor sales. If they do make another DA...they need to look at them sales charts, what fans of the series are looking for in a DA game and do it right. This was not it.

If you saw the after credit scenes this goes beyond Solas and the Evanuris. Some other "mysterious" beings are pulling strings ... feels forced ...

I dunno if this was good closure for Solas either. Dude is Elvish Loki, he'll find a way out again.

[JacksOtherEye]

I haven't seen enough people dig into the armor designs in this game so thank you for saying what needs to be said there. It's like a hallmark for all the Dragon Age installments to have THE worst armor. There were pieces in this games where I swear it was like the devs were laughing at me.

Granted, I think it's FUNNY and I had a lot of fun sending my friends armor screens like WHAT IS THIS. But when it came to playing, I had my Rook in his starter robes for 70% of the game before I was able to find something else that wasn't offensive to my eyes.

[Horseman]

omg i used the pre-order armors or the n7 day armor for 90% of my playthrough. Pretty sure that not a single person that had eyesight intact designed the armor. Or it was just what they envisioned some modern fashion week to look like if it took place in high fantasy settings. Mournwatch armor sets? oh lawd....

[Horseman]

Originally posted by R-Boni:

I used the Grey Warden warrior armor most of the time, as well as the Grey Warden casuals since my character was a Grey Warden. I thought they were more or less fine, the armor looked kinda similar to the ones in the 2 previous games. The other armor and outfits available sucked though.

GW armors seemed either way too over the top and i didn't like how the shoulders on them looked compared to previous titles. Yes, they are very similar, but there were differences that I didn't like much. ehhh plus i was an elf and I felt that elves had more flowy armors as opposed to big chonky things.

[DaisyRay]

Originally posted by Horseman:

Originally posted by DaisyRay:

Some of the YouTubers who were invited to play test and other stuff said this isn't the last game. I'm not sure if it will be a follow up to this one though. I agree, I think this game was closure for us Solas fans. I think the next one will delve into the people in the secret scene.

So yeah, probably after ME 5.

Edit: Jackdaw's prediction video just dropped ;p

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ivdCXQ8twXs

Right.. playtest.. before seeing the response and reception of the game and poor sales. If they do make another DA...they need to look at them sales charts, what fans of the series are looking for in a DA game and do it right. This was not it.

If you saw the after credit scenes this goes beyond Solas and the Evanuris. Some other "mysterious" beings are pulling strings ... feels forced ...

I dunno if this was good closure for Solas either. Dude is Elvish Loki, he'll find a way out again.

Well from the YouTubers I watched, many who did the playtest didn't get to review the whole game. I think they got to review four or six hours of the demo. And many of them initially enjoyed it, but they were sold on the idea that it was an rpg game. Which it's not really, not fully anyway.

I think that is apart of the reason why some of them were disappointed. The game itself , for me at least, is so much fun. However, the lack of choices and control over the world is extremely noticeable.

I hope that is what they mostly focus on in the next game. It's the bread and butter of what many of us loved about the game. I don't like to compare games, but BG3 took notes from past DA games and did this well. I always try to get Gale killed because I just despise him. If they go back to that, the next DA game will be amazing.

If you look at the hints in the game, they're already making plans for the next game and hero. I did see the secret ending and there are a lot of theories on what this means for DA 5. It's actually always been apart of the game, I just never noticed it. Jackdaw has a few videos showing that and one of the main reasons I like his channel. He goes into all the lore and codex bits from various DA areas that I've never seen or heard. So it doesn't feel that forced to me.

I personally got my Solas closure. I guess it depends on what ending you got, the one I got gave me the closure I needed. Lol I didn't even know there were multiple endings until I saw them on Jackdaw's channel.

[Horseman]

I'm well aware that they were making plans for the next one from a story perspective, but I also don't think that they thought that they'd get the kind of reception that they did for Veilguard. Really comes down to money at this point on whether or not they'll act on that cliffhanger of an after credits scene. Solas closure... i mean... he's not dead... just imprisoned. I chose to trick him, and all but Harding survived, but at least one person was destined to die, either Harding or Davrin.

I do agree the lack of choices impacting the world other than Treviso vs Minrathous is painfully obvious. Guess that's why I'm already enjoying S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2 lol choices mean something.

[DaisyRay]

Yeah, I was watching a video the other day by the same person where he, and I agree, believes the other two endings are a little lackluster. The ending I got was a lot different, I won't spoil it for anyone who hasn't seen it, but I feel like it was the most emotional and impactful one. If I had gotten any of the others, I would have been left feeling underwhelmed. I think they should have put more into the other endings too.

I keep hearing about Stalker, but it sounds creepy lol. I'm glad you're enjoying it though!

[Horseman]

STALKER 2 isn't as creepy as i thought it was going to be. Honeslty, It reminds me alot of Fallout 3/4.. except you gotta be a little more on your toes regarding your health, radiation, hunger, thirst, enemies and anomalies. I've died a few times in it already mostly to experimenting with anomalies and getting ambushed by walking meatballs.

I haven't seen the other two endings either... I chose characters that made sense to each of the scenarios (much like Mass Effect 2) ... and do believe I got the "Happy" / Canon ending.