LIVE Q&A in Discord with Corinne Busch, John Epler & Matt Rhodes

[AtomicKitten]

Discord.gg/BioWare
for anyone interested...

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by Mihai_89:

Can someone please explain to me what was asked and answered in the Q&A ??

I had no idea they were even doing a Q&A.

Twitter has a host of folks who scribed the Q+A response.

I'm sure the gaming press types will post a summary soonish.

- A

[PIG]

Listen nobody cares about the ability of being gay in a game, but wen devs focus on be who you sexually want to look and feel in this magical world and their vision of accepting who they are, and the making up in cc being their most hyped feature and remove almost EVERYTHING that atracted people to the game makes them lack passion for a game and 0 knowladge what people like cuz they live in their fantasy brain, i dont care if i need to see cutsences of me french kissing all the guys around me once an hour, but give me good ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ gameplay and atmoaphere before ATLEAST

[ahsanford]

But for a not that quick summary of the bigger bits (leaving out weirder fan questions and focusing on the game/plot/world):

The game starts 10y after Trespasser
Crafting is in the game, as is transmog
Locations in the world change based on your actions
Dual-wielding back for Rogues (we kind of knew that already)
There is a base
We won't need horses to get around Thedas (my speculating: we can teleport)
Nothing blocking map progression anymore (like what the war table did in DA:I)
Followers may leave you depending on your actions
No battle passes or EA accounts needed

There's a *lot* more, but the Q+A got granular AF -- like the manner of Solas's speech, beards, tavern music, etc.

- A

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by PIG:

Listen nobody cares about the ability of being gay in a game, but wen devs focus on ...

You're implying the devs had a choice of 'do a tactical game' or 'let's get super gay' and they chose door #2.

DA has been an action game since DA2 dropped. Dreadwolf was probably set to be an action game long before this dev team took the helm. Folding your arms and stammering about why dark/grim/tactical sequel never happened and somehow blaming it on the devs going inclusive with the companions is rather disconnected from reality.

It's been 15 years, my dude. DA:O is sadly not coming back. But perhaps there's a game in here that's still fun to play.

- A

[johnwick]

Originally posted by ahsanford:

Originally posted by PIG:

Listen nobody cares about the ability of being gay in a game, but wen devs focus on ...

You're implying the devs had a choice of 'do a tactical game' or 'let's get super gay' and they chose door #2.

DA has been an action game since DA2 dropped. Folding your arms and stammering about why dark/grim/tactical sequel never happened and somehow blaming it on the devs going inclusive with the companions is rather disconnected from reality.

It's been 15 years, my dude. DA:O is sadly not coming back. But perhaps there's a game in here that's still fun to play.

- A

No, you seem to struggle with comprehension from the replies you give. They said they don't care about any of the gimmick stuff if there is no good gameplay behind it. They want to be reassured there is a fundamentally solid game coming and not just hear about griffins and pasta, which is not reassuring at all.

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by razeedazee:

No, you seem to struggle with comprehension from the replies you give. They said they don't care about any of the gimmick stuff if there is no good gameplay behind it. They want to be reassured there is a fundamentally solid game coming and not just hear about griffins and pasta, which is not reassuring at all.

You know what? You're right, I'm jumping the gun.

Pig, care to clarify what you meant here?

Originally posted by PIG:

and remove almost EVERYTHING that atracted people to the game makes them lack passion for a game and 0 knowladge what people like

Because it sounds like you are blaming the devs for prioritizing character/romance content for removing something you loved about DA. Mind telling us what that is that you loved that the devs did away with?

(Just guessing: might it be tactics and blood and a grim, dark tone?)

- A

[PIG]

most of the game is battles and fights, and 30% is dialoge, they remove companion controls they remove the ability to have lots of skills at once they removed blood magic, the thing that we will be doing most of the game is reduced to ashes, you dont work together with your team, you work alone with ur team being like pets, i dont care about all the gay bs people complain, lemme go on a quest to find the golden ♥♥♥♥, but i wanna have fun while looking for it, the action it self, the buttons that i will be clicking most of the game will be bland and empty, i dont believe that people ACTUALLY CARE about gays and trans and pigeons being in the game, i cant believe it actually bothers anyone, they just jump on hate wagons cuz hating is fun online, it helps them feel less alone cuz no 1 agrees with them on things anyway, BUT an action game thru the eyes of a person who sexuallity and expression is most important will take away from the game itself, i have 0 hate to any queer/gay/trans/dog(absolutly dont care), but i dislike their tunneled vision life focus that seeps into games,

their charecter costumization hype is not talets/skills/weapons/stats, its make up and hair color and skin color and ass size, NO!

also, the more you try to make people special the more you make them different, we are all the same freaking human

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by PIG:

most of the game is battles and fights, and 30% is dialoge, they remove companion controls they remove the ability to have lots of skills at once they removed blood magic, the thing that we will be doing most of the game is reduced to ashes, you dont work together with your team, you work alone with ur team being like pets, i dont care about all the gay bs people complain, lemme go on a quest to find the golden ♥♥♥♥, but i wanna have fun while looking for it, the action it self, the buttons that i will be clicking most of the game will be bland and empty

I don't disagree -- combat has seemingly been clubbed into simple button mashing. You're not wrong.

But my first reply to you still stands.

The combat doesn't seem to suck to some folks because the devs chose to focus on interpersonal relationships, LBGT stuff, etc. instead of improving the core combat mechanic.

The combat seems to suck to some folks because the devs wanted. to. make. an. action. game.

The two things are unrelated!

- A

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by ahsanford:

But for a not that quick summary of the bigger bits (leaving out weirder fan questions and focusing on the game/plot/world):

The game starts 10y after Trespasser
Crafting is in the game, as is transmog
Locations in the world change based on your actions
Dual-wielding back for Rogues (we kind of knew that already)
There is a base
We won't need horses to get around Thedas (my speculating: we can teleport)
Nothing blocking map progression anymore (like what the war table did in DA:I)
Followers may leave you depending on your actions
No battle passes or EA accounts needed

There's a *lot* more, but the Q+A got granular AF -- like the manner of Solas's speech, beards, tavern music, etc.

- A

Re-upping as this is actual game news worth chatting about!

And Kotaku published a story on it if you want:
https://kotaku.com/dragon-age-veilguard-discord-q-a-banter-party-members-1851541486

Biggest thing I missed above: 3 person party (that we saw in the trailer) is the way the entire game is. 4 person parties RIP.

- A

[ahsanford]

So, reading today's developments a bit more -- seems like a lot has been simplified:

The good:
DA:I bloat and filler surely going away if the sandboxes are going away
Crafting lives on
Transmog is happening
There is a base
No more blocking of locations (like how the war table did in DA:I)
The world changes based on your actions (seems interesting)

The bad:
(the elephant in the room #1) Combat will be super simple/action-y
(the elephant in the room #2) We won't directly control/position companions
Only 3 people in a party at a time
No more horseriding (not a major bad, but it was alright in DA:I, right?)

The debatable / we'll see:
No open world / sandbox zones in favor of mission-based

- A

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by AdahnGorion:

We could all

Debatable
Stats and if they will be tied in (statsbasing)
Hub gameplay as you mention can be both good and bad ofc, so debateable.

Hub and spoke like Mass Effect can absolutely work. But the missions need to be great.

I also wonder what non-mission / non-at-base time looks like. The Q+A talked about taverns and tavern songs and what not. But if the tavern's not at the main base and I'm guessing most missions won't be in/near taverns, does that mean there is 'downtime' and wandering about in some places?

- A

[ahsanford]

Oh here's another summary, some stuff I hadn't seen in there:

https://x.com/shinobi602/status/1801703748311408736

A pause/replay on banter so you don't miss it? (LOVE the banter, this is great for me)

There's a little more about combat depth/tactics = fine

They try to sell the value of a 3 person party = pretty weak to me IMHO

Plus a few more bits in there. Have a look.

- A

[johnwick]

Originally posted by criffyzou:

You were supposed to submit your questions in advance so the person moderating wouldn't have to try and keep up with a fast moving chat.

In fact this is a good metaphor for the entire situation. If you wanted so bad to have a say about the new game, were you involved in Dragon Age spaces and communities the last 10 years, were you vocal about your passion for the franchise and your hopes for the future ?
This is a rhetorical question.

This is a very poor analogy. The majority providers of goods or services in the real world are regulated by law to provide goods conforming to minimum standards. Your take is a peak dumb. Being part of the community would have changed nothing as there were multiple reboots of the product and changes of workforce, all with no community input. They don't care about you or the community. It would have make 0 difference to their direction or the outcome. And the event was scripted.

You live in a fantasy world and have no idea how the world works and assume being nice to a company will make things better. The reality is they only ever do what is legally required of them and they don't care about your politics or personal circumstances.

So, to inform your naive child like take. These game companies need to be regulated in law, like other product manufacturers. No amount of pandering in an echo chamber discord is going to fix the problems.

It is not my responsibility to babysit a AAA game studio to make objectively good games and how use a bespoke game engine. What I should have is reasonable rights enshrined in law to protect me from predatory exploitation from companies who are making bad games but misleading us to believe it's a great product.

[johnwick]

Just an incoherent mess of an argument. You choose or ignore reality, literally your opening line, then proceed into logical fallacy spaghetti. I don't argue with people where i have to bear the cognitive burden for both parties in the exchange.

You are taking personal accountability for the state of the game through defining yourself as part of the this fictional and exclusionary group of "visible fans" who have somehow curated this 5/10 tale of mediocrity and that it's my fault I was not there there to save you from yourself. This is called gas lighting.

Your views seem to extend as far a social media allows and you are ill equipped for this exchange. The game will be a 5/10 mixed reaction forgettable console game and it's a Dragonage game in all but name. Please don't forget to come back here after release to remind us how "visible fans" helped that happen.

[ahsanford]

Originally posted by razeedazee:

You live in a fantasy world and have no idea how the world works and assume being nice to a company will make things better.

Quite the opposite. I'm just accepting a less than perfect game, because with this franchise that's where we are, people. If you like DA, it's this or nothing. So I'll take this. I prefer to try this game rather than shuttering the franchise -- b/c that's what a boycott or a 'no thanks' from gamers would do to DA.

Originally posted by razeedazee:

These game companies need to be regulated in law, like other product manufacturers. No amount of pandering in an echo chamber discord is going to fix the problems.

Regulate to do what, exactly? Who decides the quality of an entertainment product? Does playtesting have to delight a certain percentage of 15-22 year olds or the game doesn't ship?

Originally posted by razeedazee:

What I should have is reasonable rights enshrined in law to protect me from predatory exploitation from companies who are making bad games but misleading us to believe it's a great product.

This is some next level interventionism here. Government can help gamers call balls and strikes more clearly -- think parental ratings, a disclaimer that the commercial/trailer is not in-game footage, etc. -- and that's about it.

- A