My Impressions (ON PS5 Pro)

[[SWE]Junker]

My first reactions to this (10-15 hours in) game is it's rather good , the gameplay is smooth and fun , graphics is fine despite the cartoony graphics style , but this is just until the cracks start to show and those are several.


DA: TVG has an identity crisis , born from a mature and grown up game to something else , the game is now made for kids and it shows us this in both how the dialoge over explains everything to the fact that you can't ever be mean to anyone and also in the way they talk and use modern language .

Sure we are suppose to work together as a team, but in any team there is always going to be cracks and folks leaving because choices the leader made, but not in this game since you are denied the oppertunity to actually get pissed at your comrades even thou they are acting like idiots at some point.

The second part is me questioning the current crop of gamers, if these features the game contains really is something we fans of Dragon Age or hardcore RPG's want ? I'm sure Bioware has done their research over the years but this game contains so many oddball features that I never would have made unless again I made a game for someone else.

Autoupgrading weapons and gear . Fiddling and micromanaging with your weapons/equiipment is a huge part of any CRPG but this game gets rid of everything in favor for some super unrealistic auto upgrade system , the result is that merchants rarely has anything to offer but an upgrade but mostly merchants hold goods that you woudn't buy at all but the feature is made so you buy of these merchants to sell these items at your faction vendor to eventually upgrade the vendor ..Upgrade a vendor ?

So the only point to buy things is so you can upgrade another vendor so you eventually can get an upgrade , it's frankly the most odd system I have seen in any game featuring merchants.


The areas in the game, the graphical design style look good overall and even impressive at times.

But the design to block us of from areas is super annoying and mostly the design doesn't make any sence, if you consider that people is suppose to live here , ziplines , balancing on small wooden logs , and cities that is far to strange to ever be real . It would be impossible to live like this and the imersion of beiing in cities of grandeur is exchanged with something else, a puzzle to how you best traverse trough a very strange maze like area with zones blocked of until they are needed.

Falling in water is also silly , pausing the game during fights so you can get back up and continue to fight.

The green healing urns ?? I mean why not let merchants sell you healing potions ?

Another thing that bugs we is . Is the built in auto disengage from combat areas as soon as you for some reason get's to far away the enemies disengage and starts to heal up super fast . Happens to me alot as an archer that has to have distance and it get's super annoying to not know where these borders are (Edited in)


It's tragic really and a telltale sign that making games for everyone doesn't really work , not with a game that once was a very mature and grown up game atleast. These odd design choices has damaged Bioware . I mean nothing wrong in designing games for all groups to enjoy but that should have been another game not one that was for grown ups only.

Ill give this game a 4/10 with deductions for everything above

It's edited for a better read (Im not a native English speaker)

[GamusLepus]

I agree, playing it on the PS5 myself, because PSN Plus.
And about 40 hours in... it is aggressively "just fine"

It does the things you expect it to do. It doesn't crashes, it is smooth, it looks nice...
It even has basic RPG, but very basic... reality is that you are stuck on a path and your choices, do they matter?

The whole "I can't really piss off my team" thing... you can't you have to be a hero. Don't get me wrong I play THE HERO 95% of the time anyway but... choice?

And then the fighting system works like an MMO Lite? Not that much depth there either. It works fine but it is really safe.

Everything about this game shows that it is not a very deep RPG. Instead it is an Action rpg, with ACTION the big word.

The worst, you would think that fighting dragons is fun. ... it isn't. It is just a big hog thing with a lot of health. GREAT! ANOTHER dragon. WHY NOT! You'll hate these fights because they are not COOL, they are... "eergh not again"

Slight spoilers. But there was a fight that might be different...oh another dragon WHY NOT.

It is a doable RPG that is a walking 5/10 on everything it seems to do. So you don't really CARE.

That is a huge issue. You don't CARE... it is like going to work and flipping burgers, making fries. It is a job level of caring. You might do it, but do you care?

There are rougher RPG's out there where choices truly matter. Where you have to sit back and think "I hope I didn't make a bad decision."
Not in this. So yeah.

So that is my point, its a very basic RPG. Smooth sure but basic.
But we are used of BETTER from Dragon Age, a lot better. Sharp writing, hard choices, nasty consequences, not... this.

Notice I didn't said anything about certain characters yet.

Characters, yeah... your companions. Is that current Bioware's best writing???
Again you see potential but it isn't done well. So another 5/10.

Aren't we lucky... a 5/10 game. A dragon age 5/10 game :!

[[SWE]Junker]

Originally posted by GamusLepus:

I agree, playing it on the PS5 myself, because PSN Plus.
And about 40 hours in... it is aggressively "just fine"

It does the things you expect it to do. It doesn't crashes, it is smooth, it looks nice...
It even has basic RPG, but very basic... reality is that you are stuck on a path and your choices, do they matter?

The whole "I can't really piss off my team" thing... you can't you have to be a hero. Don't get me wrong I play THE HERO 95% of the time anyway but... choice?

And then the fighting system works like an MMO Lite? Not that much depth there either. It works fine but it is really safe.

Everything about this game shows that it is not a very deep RPG. Instead it is an Action rpg, with ACTION the big word.

The worst, you would think that fighting dragons is fun. ... it isn't. It is just a big hog thing with a lot of health. GREAT! ANOTHER dragon. WHY NOT! You'll hate these fights because they are not COOL, they are... "eergh not again"

Slight spoilers. But there was a fight that might be different...oh another dragon WHY NOT.

It is a doable RPG that is a walking 5/10 on everything it seems to do. So you don't really CARE.

That is a huge issue. You don't CARE... it is like going to work and flipping burgers, making fries. It is a job level of caring. You might do it, but do you care?

There are rougher RPG's out there where choices truly matter. Where you have to sit back and think "I hope I didn't make a bad decision."
Not in this. So yeah.

So that is my point, its a very basic RPG. Smooth sure but basic.
But we are used of BETTER from Dragon Age, a lot better. Sharp writing, hard choices, nasty consequences, not... this.

Notice I didn't said anything about certain characters yet.

Characters, yeah... your companions. Is that current Bioware's best writing???
Again you see potential but it isn't done well. So another 5/10.

Aren't we lucky... a 5/10 game. A dragon age 5/10 game :!

Thanks alot of nice additions :) My point regarding the overly polite followers is you should stil be able to aggravate or disagree with some of them even thou your group is made for saving the world in crisis . I mean they are after all a bunch of strangers to each other and you should be able to tell Bellara to grow the ♥♥♥♥ up and get a grip.. But No you can't , It's all to gullable and not realistic at all

[Bankai9212]

To add with above there is no friction between characters. Makes a lot of the banter in origins great especially between Alister and Morgan which her character is butchered in vailguard.

[GamusLepus]

Originally posted by SWEJunker:

Thanks alot of nice additions :) My point regarding the overly polite followers is you should stil be able to aggravate or disagree with some of them even thou your group is made for saving the world in crisis . I mean they are after all a bunch of strangers to each other and you should be able to tell Bellara to grow the ♥♥♥♥ up and get a grip.. But No you can't , It's all to gullable and not realistic at all

What was it again some people said, It is as if you are dealing with HR issues. "ewww skulls" ... and you have to make sure both see eye to eye. Which is super easy, no problem at all???

Originally posted by Bankai9212:

To add with above there is no friction between characters. Makes a lot of the banter in origins great especially between Alister and Morgan which her character is butchered in vailguard.

Oh yes, in older DA games characters would LEAVE you if you pissed them off. And they actually could get PISSED OFF. "You did what!!!"

But again, in this game... you just get everybody working together hooray?

I know that is the californian dream but... what happened to Dragon Age?

[Bankai9212]

Worst case they become "hardened" which strengthen certain skills while locking heal which isn't major late game anyway.

[GamusLepus]

Originally posted by Bankai9212:

Worst case they become "hardened" which strengthen certain skills while locking heal which isn't major late game anyway.

Oh that...right.. hardened. How "horrible"
Yeah even if THAT thing happened... they will still stick with you. Because obviously?
Do choices matter?

[Bankai9212]

Originally posted by GamusLepus:

Originally posted by Bankai9212:

Worst case they become "hardened" which strengthen certain skills while locking heal which isn't major late game anyway.

Oh that...right.. hardened. How "horrible"
Yeah even if THAT thing happened... they will still stick with you. Because obviously?
Do choices matter?

Not really outside of the last level.