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Actualy, this Dragon Age IS a really decent game. A good game with some flaws. To me, it easily desserves a 14/20. It's not "THE BEST GOTY THE WORLD HAS EVER HAD" or whatever... but it's a game worth doing (I am saying this as a guy who skipped most of side-quest dialog in the last 15 hours of the game).
Every people pick what they want to pick in a game. But when it comes to critics on the internet, people HAVE to go full rampage, filled with a good part of hypocrisy. It looks like an angry french mob on a casual day asking for more money and less work. Some things are true, some things needs to be tempered, but you can't have logical discussion.
Internet decided that Dragon Age IV would fail BEFORE it was even released.
For a lot of people, it still was a blind pick and a good surprise.
But whatever you say, the fight is over. Maybe over before it even began. You are muted, you will be said to be biased, you can't save the game nor the studio.
Move one and be happy that... It was a finished product, it cames 1.0 with complete features, mostly bugfree and a full story. It's rare enough to be enough.
I know of people that disagree (thinking Taash is amazing), and I do think that in-context, they aren't as bad (the nonbinary parts, that is), but I definitely think they're the worst written companion... like. Including church boy Sebastian who didn't get to be as fleshes out.
It's not even about fighting. In case it wasn't obvious: I just love Dragon Age. I know I am biased due to that, but I didn't wait months to update my review because of rose tinted glasses. I wanted to give myself the time to think things through and see the full picture instead of "fighting haters". This is not for BioWare or Veilguard. This is for me.
That said, do share what you are more nuanced with. Believe it or not, this long ass review is actually the short version of my thoughts.
First time to the series huh?
It is the same with the Wardens. Everything became too broadened to fit multiple narratives when it never should have. They did this to incorporate new players without any regard to what was established. Former writers have commented that lore has been watered down and deconstructed to make the narrative around them more "broad and easily accepted."
Dwarven lore was absolutely butchered. Along with Harding's character arc. We've seen so little from Dwarven lore, so they needed to stick with what they gave us. Yes, it attempted to tie Titans, lyrium, and lost knowledge together with her storyline, but it made her incredibly overwritten and over-arching and she became nothing more than a plot-gimmick so she can fit in with the other party members who all have specialty skillsets.
From Trespasser to Veilguard Elves became completely lost. We did not need Veiljumpers. We were supposed to see how Solas leads loyal elves, diving more into lore, and his true character arc. His writing was the best, but still they broadened Elven lore, became to hyper focused on the one dimensional 'escaped x1000' Elven Gods, just so we won't forget they've escaped. These are Gods, they're supposed to be cunning, Solas struggled with these two to imprison them in the first place. They were just as weak as Corypheus. Both lacked complete nuance, true cunning, and there were literally no surprises with them. They came along, with their dragons, and their dialog writing was laughable at best. There were so many times I rolled my eyes listening to them speak.
None of the Companion romances were fleshed out. They only wanted to speak to you when they needed something. You couldn't get to know them unless you were helping them along with their personal character missions. --- They did this again, to broaden them for an audience they didn't have. It was an off-shoot of the stupid Live Service elements that still were present in this game.
The Faction market system being a Live Service tool as well. The merchant at the Lighthouse - Live Service Element. Repetitive environments - Live Service element. The Fade - Live Service Element. Everything about them was so that players were corralled into hubs in order to keep the game playable for extended periods of time. They couldn't scrap these elements, because that would mean scrapping a large percentage of the game, so they made the attempt to flesh the world, lore, villains, and companions out on top of the skeletal live service aspects of this game. That is what makes the first half of this game, the faction market system, factions in general, and the beginning areas of the world entirely disjointed from the later half of the game. That is why 'most' people say the back half of the game is worth the playing of the first half.
Taash was entirely problematic. Not just in the blunt non-nuanced tone of their non-binary story arc. It was the fact that became the focal point of their story arc, and it was early on. The problematic writing making their character worse. Didn't want to be referred to as 'she/her' but couldn't find it within themselves to call Emmeric by his first name until Rook intervened. He respected their preferences without a blink of an eye. Taash also couldn't accept a feminine Rook's decision to appear feminine and enjoy their womanhood. They make that perfectly clear with that interaction with Neve who also apparently dressed and enjoyed her femininity. We are left with the only option to accept Taash's assessment of themselves, and their opinion. We cannot disagree as a female Rook there should have been an opportunity for something of a disagreement. (That is a larger overall issue with this game). Then the complete idea that people have to prostrate themselves, do push-ups, and continuously atone for misgendering Taash is incredibly problematic. It should have never been written at all. Taash coming to terms with being Non-binary is new. People's brains take time to associate change when memory gets in the way. A simple apology should have sufficed. Especially since it was well shown that the Companions were more than willing to make an effort. Also, Taash makes little effort in understanding ANY of them in the process. So everyone at every turn was forced to accept Taash as they were, while accepting Taash's hostility in return for 'being' who they are, their interests. The entire scene with their own mother was completely off-putting as well. The Mother is an academic mind, very neurological where things have a place. That is a flaw, but her Mother never outright dissociated or fought Taash on how they felt. They sought understanding, they went the colder more academic route, but Taash completely shut her down and ended all attempts at reconciliation on that front from the beginning. They had issues of differences, which would have been a better arc for Taash if being Non-binary wasn't completely overshadowing it at every turn.
The immaturity, hypocritical, bluntness of Taash would have been a lot better handled if the writing within those character flaws weren't overshadowed by a message. And it would have landed a lot better if we could outright call Taash out on all of the immaturity, instead of circling around them forcing understanding and very little pushback - for which Taash usually just sighed or huffed or whined about having to do instead of any true concrete understanding. It is always better for writers to approach characters like: This character is immature/childish, blunt, and hypocritical, and they happen to be... instead we got. Taash, a non-binary character that is a hypocrite, immature/child, that has no nuance, or the ability to think critically. I would have enjoyed Taash more if what we knew about them first was their character and not their sexuality. Their banter was good within the party dynamics within the world. Interacting with them was egregious otherwise.
The only positive being that Taash and Emmeric are the most fleshed out companions the game provided by far. It just sucks that Taash's writing was entirely problematic to the point where it overshadows portions of the game and detracts from everything else presented at the time.
And you know the writing is lazy with them misgendering Taash in the later stages of the game multiple times. That told me that the writers wanted to focus on the message when they wanted to, and didn't care much about it beyond that.
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Sorry to focus so much on Taash, because Rook is also an extremely problematic character in their own right. We're supposed to believe that they're chosen to lead a party of experts to defeat Solas. The only qualification being that Solas doesn't know who Rook is, and cannot plan a counter defense for Rook. Solas tells us outright that he knew exactly who Rook was though. So, that makes Rook's leadership entirely moot. With that thrown out the window, Rook needed something to make him desire to follow Varric and Harding. There wasn't. Varric and Harding are impressed with Rook's handling of a scenario off-screen based on which faction you choose. You get a snippet of 'why' Varric chose them. But a one-off "in the right place at the right time," scenario doesn't hold water for a protagonist that is supposed to save a world and care about a villain at which they have no personal stake in whatsoever. Rook is supposed to completely shelf their entire life, goals, and follow blindly. It is a weak reason for Rook to be there. The writing carries that idea over throughout the entire game, as they become a listener for the most part. Their decisions do not have a lot of impactful weight. The Companions do not care which faction Room is supposed to be loyal to. If your Rook is a Warden or Crow then the loyalty to both should have carried a lot of weight. You cannot simply leave either faction. Those factions are polarizing throughout the world and there is no pushback from anyone, no conflict that Rook has to overcome in order to lead. They are inserted and nothing much is said about it. Then to make them a shell lead protagonist throughout is problematic writing that stays with Rook from beginning, after the inciting incident with the Gods, and doesn't rectify throughout the game.
---
We are also forced to believe that Rook is the only person who could stop the gods, just because Varric says so... Rook needed an origin story that we play out. Solas 'needed' to be involved directly, or indirectly that gave Rook a reason to want vengeance, understanding, or 'weight' to be involved.
And Rook cannot be a villain. They have to bend to the ideas presented in front of them. They can have no polarizing agenda, thought, idea, or opinion. They can save the world, but they cannot defend, shape, or make known the aspects of the world they wish to fight for.
This is an RPG and player agency left and never came back. It is that way because of - again - the skeletal aspects of it once being a live service. Where broad ideas make the game more playable for a broader audience continuously.
The artwork was gorgeous, but within a dead world. People wander around, there is no live fauna out in the world. The world itself is a lot of large corralling type worlds with little incentive to explore - especially after multiple revisits.
This game is a 'mid' game for people who can overlook cringe writing and low-bar character growth and RPG elements. This game absolutely sucks as a direct sequel to Inquisition. And with the lore butchering and lack of agency, and player choice carryover, it detracts from Origins, 2, and Inquisition as a whole.
---
As an aside:
Religion, world states, politics, blood-magic, and social dynamics were either completely forgotten, or broadened to fit a world that forces these aspects out of any focal points. The world was supposed to be entirely new, with different belief systems, religious aspects, political conflicts, and a fresh perspective that we only knew from the Chantry and Lore that counters it. It would have been nice to at least be given more of a world state - we didn't get that. It detracted from the world Veilguard is based and made me care little to nothing about the choices I made throughout.
I do not disagree with a lot of what you've said, though I need to push back a little anyways. I didn't deny that some of the lore was watered down - that is a fact - and I criticised Harding in particular as well. What I stated was simply that it's not *as bad* as people make it out to be (though keep in mind that I had a limited amount of characters I could use, too). Veilguard isn't a great game. It is the worst Dragon Age game. Those are facts that can coexist with what I've said.
Yes, Zevran knows he'll die if the contract isn't completed. But he also specifically wishes to die at the Warden's hands because he has been betrayed within his part of the crows, by one of his lovers even. We get a very limited glance into what crows are in Origins, and, even more than that, we only get told what Zevran has experienced in the House of Arainai. This time, we are focused on the succession of a different house, and what ideologies and ambitions they might have. It's an alternative, not something that completely undermines what happened beforehand. However, considering Zevran's plans at the end of Origins, there should've been some kind of hint of his actions, or attempts at those actions, withing Veilguard IF he survived. I *was* disappointed by the crows, and, frankly, any faction I have seen minus maybe the Mourn Watch, but even there I wish we could've had an actual origin and sat in Emmrich's class instead of just being told about it.
Just like you're saying the Wardens have become too broadened, so has your comment on them been too broad for me to really say much about it. Again, I am not saying I disagree, and I do think that "defeating the Blight at once" is really silly. But, at the same time, the Warden were supposed to be finite, a means to an end. Veilguard rushed the end, unfortunately, but it also answers some questions - whether you or I agree is another matter. I don't like how Isseya has been handled at all. I think it goes exactly against who she was at the end of the novel. And yet, we have known for a while that the Blight messes with your head, so over the past few months, I have tried to see it from that perspective. I don't like it, but it's not impossible. Frankly, we still don't have a great understanding about the Wardens - they're fractured across nations, and parts of the Order have been repeatedly shown to do their own thing, beginning in Origins, leading to Awakening, Stroud, and then the Wardens in Inquisition.
Again, I don't completely disagree. But we've already seen hints of dwarven magic in Sandal, then Valta (who DEFINITELY has been butchered), and now in Harding. It's not coming out of nowhere nor trying to combine things that make no sense - but it is not doing the best job at putting things together, either. Veiljumpers, as a faction, are listed as "Dalish" within the code, which suggests their role has changed over time. I personally wish we could've played a Dwarven, Qunari (who have been given next to nothing, not even tattoos), or actually Dalish origin instead of being a Veiljumper. I mourn DA: Dreadwolf. I mourn the possibility of playing as an elf who might be sympathetic to Solas but has to fight him as an actual villain. I didn't mention it in my review because it is meant to be a pushback on the extremely negative view people have on Veilguard, while I don't think it is as bad as people make it out to be. If it were a full-on retrospective or something, then definitely, there would be space for that (i.e. I made posts on a different website where I explicitly stated that Veilguard made me feel lied to, and that the gods were handled pretty terribly, especially when it comes to Veiljumpers "always having been aware that they're evil", yet still wearing vallaslin, which is nuts). As it stands, focusing too much on what I thought went wrong would speak against what the purpose of my long-ass review was. (TBC - Thank you for actually writing something nuanced, by the way).
I compared Veilguard to II for a reason - the characters were, at times, handled similarly, albeit worse in Veilguard. There's a reason why I emphasized Emmrich as being well-written and no one else. Otherwise, their story quests can be fun and intriguing, if you're open for it. Presents were worse in Veilguard, zero reactions was worse in DA2. This time, they at least have banter at home, too. And here you mentioned the biggest reason why I'm pushing back: Considering the absolutely terrible past Veilguard has had through EA, it honestly went better than it could have. But, and that's a very important but, I went into Veilguard expecting absolutely nothing, and with a mindset of "if it's terrible, I will at the very least get to see what a new location looks like instead of just imagining it from what we've been given through the lore thus far."
I said the same thing about Taash as you have, just in fewer words. We should have the option to disagree, hell, we should even have the option to misgender them, with them reacting to it and either leaving or something else happening. Though it is noteworthy that non-binary characters did exist in Dragon Age before, such as in The Last Flight, or, arguably, Shale - they were just better written (which also implies that being nonbinary isn't a new concept in DA, just never as focused as it was here, for worse). Not sure if I wrote it in this review or my blog post, but Veilguard does feel like "an introduction to nonbinary people". I am not a huge Taash fan, and their grunting and brattiness is unpleasant to me, but I don't hate them in itself. That said, their focus should've been about their mixed heritage from the beginning, that shouldn't have been an afterthought for them, and they definitely should have been given the option to choose both instead of just one - you know, making it a "non-binary choice" instead of a binary "A or B".
That's how it went in Origins, too. First with Duncan, then with Alistair. The Warden gets recruited by Duncan because they were found to be able to defeat their personal villain / survive against all odds, which led Duncan to recruit them. Then, they survive the joining. Then, Alistair chooses them to lead, partially because he doesn't want to do it himself (but he could, as shown in Darkspawn Chronicles), and partially because he has already seen them in action, once, and thought they could do it. Similarly, but not quite as extreme, with the Inquisitor, who gets to prove themselves right after they leave their makeshift prison (although it takes them in particular a bit longer to become the actual Inquisitor). The main difference here is that we actually get shown how it went down, instead of just being told. They returned origins without making any origins. If they were afraid of having to do the tutorial over and over, they could've easily made a flashback Origin that shows Rook in action.
Actually, let me add, since I just noticed I missed a part of what you've said: Varric and Harding are Inquisition. I know they mostly held power in the south, but it's been made clear since Inquisition that its power has been felt throughout all of Thedas, with Veilguard even reusing bard songs (I wish we could've gotten new songs). Moreover, Varric is a famous writer. It is not completely unthinkable for someone to meet them and agree to work with them, especially when they are talking about a threat that might end the world. Should this have been shown, with Rook being able to say no, similar to how the Warden or Inquisitor wanted to say no? Absolutely. Should we have had more focus on the Black Divine, on how Dalish or dwarves cope with their changing religion, should Merrill have appeared after she took so much time cleaning that damn eluvian? Absolutely.
The rest of what you've said here, I do mostly agree with, even mentioned it partially in my review.
Veilguard is overcooked and has finally suffered the last blow from EA after years of Dragon Age's mistreatment at the hands of them. More elements from the artbook could've helped it, which is why I said that getting a DLC like Cyberpunk might've helped, but we didn't get that. It is still the worst Dragon Age mainline game (though you can't exactly compare it to flash games anyways). Isabela was an absolute disgrace and only made Taash's scenes worse. But it's not "THE WORST GAME EVER!!!!1! TOO WOKE DEI TRASH".
I also didn't notice anything where you outright stated I'm mistaken on anything, in spite of saying I was. Not meant to be read as me being petty. None of this is.
These games were supposed to be a spectable that are loved by the vast majority of gamers.
AAA gaming these days is so bad that influencers have to say they like slop just so they have something to cover.
Yeah bro, cool story but imagine you are playing in 2005-2015 when all major modern games were released, you would have no time to play even 10% of the good games. Now you play 100% of the bad games...
Saying that "all major modern games were released in 2005-2015" is actually nuts when a quick google search for game releases shows that games like Elden Ring, Breath of the Wild, Overwatch (RIP), and... let's put in Stardew Valley for good measure... all released after that. Nostalgia is one hell of a drug, and other than that, you've actually said very little here.
Listen, I get that people dislike Veilguard. I am not saying people can't dislike it. If you think it's bad, that is entirely valid and up to you. I'm just saying that I, a person who can have their own thoughts and opinions, don't fully agree.
If your love of dragon age has lead you to like this game then you never loved dragon age and I honestly feel sad that you never got to appreciate the series in a truly meaningful way
Not similar enough to previous DA games.
Failed to pull back a majority of the OG fans
Failed to bring in many new people.
Doesn't matter if the game is TERRIBLE or not. It merely failed to show its worth to enough people. Most sane people don't want to pay that much for an 'okay' game.