After 80 hours - it's finally over (final thoughts)

[Ursus007]

Last post was removed because of spoilers so I’ll try to keep this one clean.

It’s over – almost 80 hours later and all quests complete, I’m done with Veilguard.

Final thoughts: I would only recommend this game if you really wanted to see how DAI story ends. That’s why I suffered through it and honestly - it's not worth even that. There is nothing in this package which wasn’t done better in other games, nothing new it brings to the table apart from apathy and anger for fans of the franchise.

If you want your DA fix – just replay Inquisition or even better – Origins. I recommend instead Mass Effect Legendary edition if you want the best of Bioware and any CD Project game or BG3 is simply a much better modern RPG. God of War or Horizon Zero dawn from Sony are very similar and much better games as well.

GOOD
- Maybe the most polished release of the past decade. I experienced no bugs, perfect performance. Add to that no DLC, no DRM, no microtransactions, widescreen support and a lowered price – great package on paper. Should honestly be the norm but in modern gaming market – credit where credit is due - thank you!.
- Visuals – too clean and sanitised, like the rest of the game but also gorgeous and varied. Did I mention perfect performance? Technically and artistically flawless.

BAD
- Change in tone – why after a success of DA:Origins EA and Bioware decided to pivot this franchise will remain a mystery (khem.. mass market appeal!). It did in all honesty start with DA2 but Veilguard takes it to the next level. No grit, no shades of grey, no blood/gore or sex. 18+ game turned into a young adult novel. Sickening, disrespectful - even compared to Inquisition.
- Lack of depth – this issue encapsulates the whole experience. Environments are beautiful but there is nothing to find. Combat is flashy but shallow despite all the items and skill trees. (NB. I finished this game on the hardest difficulty - I didn't have to play smart at all). 90% of the lore is simply not there or glossed over. Even the music apart from the main theme is sparse and forgettable. Dialogues are long but meaningless, mostly dealing with emotions.
- Handholding – same thing – the whole experience is marred by lack of trust in the player, like we all have a mind of a child. All your choices in the game are telegraphed, all the puzzles are very simple, but the game tells you the solution anyway. This game is trying so hard to tell you how smart and brave you are (of course through painful dialogue about family and trust and other nonsense) without making you do any of the work. It is transparent and feels fake. The bane of modern AAA design.
- Too damn long – if this game was cut in half especially in the middle portion, it would actually be better. Combat wouldn’t become so stale, most of filler quests could be pared down and genuinely good flashes of writing wouldn’t be covered by layers of “blight”. Stop making 70-hour slogs that only have 35 hours’ worth of good content. Cut the bad bits! This game tries so hard to be Mass Effect 2 and the funny thing is that Mass Effect 2 is only 30 hours long but with the tighter writing, and keeping only the good parts makes the game from 2010 feel infinitely better. (See also Assassin’s Creed 2 – 20 hours, vs Valhalla's 100+)

- Because of the three points above – a separate note on writing. Whatever merits this game has, BioWare games live and die based on writing and because of the change to a less mature and more young adult tone, lack of depth and landholding, the sheer longevity of quest lines – the writing suffers most. There is no subtlety or wit, no shades of grey or real conflict. All dialogue is written with modern dialect, at least 70% of it is emotional filler and gunk. It’s there to move things forward and not to create a sense of world and place.

DA Veilguard really feels like a product made by a committee – Bioware clearly had targets (KPIs) – zero bugs (after Andromeda and Anthem), aim for a larger market segment (women, minorities, younger adults) and make sure people finish the whole game (it’s been shown that very few players actually complete games and publishers are worried that it would impact sequel sales). That’s why the things above are true – the game handholds you so you any shmuck can finish this story and not get stuck on a three-symbol puzzle, the writing and grit are gone because despite the rating analysts think more potential market can be addressed, etc...

Those analysts do not care about art – they are there to create revenue. And they just do their job. Unfortunately, they gravely miscalculated, because their core assumptions end up being wrong. Just like movie industry kills their franchises like Star Wars, game franchises that do not double down on their strengths and aggressively expand outside their core market to the detriment of their identity rarely success in a saturated market.
We should expect more from top level decision makers who scorn their core audiences and tell us that we don’t know what we are talking about. There is no question that this franchise falls victim to marketing over polishing the core experience. Larian made Baldur’s gate 3 times - first with Divinity Original Sin, then we Original Sin 2 and finally with BG3. They grew and expanded their audience and sold 10x more copies than this game ever will.

I hope whoever makes decisions at EA and Bioware actually listens not just to analysts who still think that women want to play fantasy RPGs with dragons in them (hint – only like 10-20% will be amenable to that, and they would play it even if it’s aimed at boys), but to the market which clearly states that there is space for selling a lot of copies for classic RPGs if they stick to their roots.

This action/RPG monstrosity aimed for everyone, and no one is getting tired. It was tired after AC Valhalla, after GoW Ragnarok and EA is way too late to the party. Thank god I can wash it off over Christmas with some Cyberpunk.

[VincentS4]

Thanks for the effort man. Since you had the courage to play this monstrosity of a game until the end, I want to ask you a question:

How does it feel to live long enough to see all your favorite franchises go down in flames?

[Catticus, Coveter of Snack]

tl dr
lame characters, lame story. in a game where 70% of it is story and characters

and look at stalker 2. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ performance, game is made out of bugs, but oh boy they made a faithful sequel with a great story and great characters. Faust, Scar, Kaymanov, Korshunov, every single character is so cool. the game was made by fans and for fans and it paid off on the day one.

dragon age origins: dark fantasy, on par with witcher, huge potential.
dragon age veilguard: oh sorry sir/madam for mispronouncing (proceeds to do pushups)

AHAHAHAAAHHA