why is nobody talking about Veilguard

[Testament]

@Rinel Oh, I have questions about some of the plot points I’ve encountered. Ones that I will not reveal. There’s a plot device you get very very very early in the game and later Varric talks about what it is, which really made me side eye the narrative.

[Roz]

@Testament said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

I have issues with the voice acting. At some points it’s fine, even good(at least with interactions with Solas and Varric because their VAs know what the fuck their doing), but I have a particular disconnect with some of your companions VA(Neve especially)where they delivers lines either unsure or stilted or something that I can’t quite put my finger on.

Agree that Neve’s voice work in particular feels oddly stilted.

A number of people on the writing team had barely, if any, legitimate writing credits. When you factor in that I suspect some of this was happening during the writer’s strike, and knowing EA’S penchant for not wanting to pay, they probably just pulled people who had some kind of, if minimal, writing experience off another team.

I’m not sure why the writer’s strike would have an impact here. Video games weren’t one of the industries that the WGA was striking against, and the WGA doesn’t include video game writers AFAIK.

[Wuff]

I felt like I got a huge Saturday Morning Cartoon vibe from the whole thing. The claim that they couldn’t import anything from the Dragon Age Keep and decided to just keep everything past vague if not ignored feels kind of lazy when they still have that data. They easily could have just mined it and used the choices that were made most commonly for most things. Plot by consensus.

[Testament]

@Wuff The companion conversations have no fail state, no situation where one of them gets so pissed at you leave is kind of, no very, annoying.

As negative as I can be about Inquisition, there were those fail states. Treat the mages badly enough, and I distinctly remember Dorian chewing your ass out. Which also gave you the option to put him on his ass with a punch, which makes him leave.

There’s no options like that. I think I could look past everything about Veilguard if it had just been willing to commit to some kind of interpersonal conflict instead of everyone literally gets along.

As a sidethought, it’s honestly making me go back and rethink my opinion on DA2 and how much scorn I had held for it for such a long time. Say whatever you want about continously reused and recycled maps/environments, the Ashatok was a great mid-game villain and made the Qunari actually terrifying as a potentially antagonistic faction. While I really like the art style of the game, I absolutely hate how the Qunari look now. I think that’s the one part of the game’s lore that was changed too much.

Then again, the Qunari suddenly have horns from DA2 and forward and Sten from Origins being a weird exception was also a massive departure.

[Roz]

@Testament said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

Say whatever you want about continously reused and recycled maps/environments

da2 best da fite me

[Testament]

@Roz Meredith was a weak villain, Anders should’ve become the main antagonist since they changed the character so much from Awakenings. That’s my largest complaint beyond the issue about having recycled maps.

[Roz]

@Testament i can’t hear you above the sound of the best cast and the most daring narrative

[Testament]

@Roz I dunno about most daring narrative, but I’ve never disagreed with DA2 having had the best group of companions. Certainly better than Inquisition by leagues.

Probably better than Origins. Like, who the fuck ever used Wynn.

[Roz]

@Testament said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

@Roz I dunno about most daring narrative, but I’ve never disagreed with DA2 having had the best group of companions. Certainly better than Inquisition by leagues.

Of the first three DA games (just because I haven’t finished the third), it’s the only one that has a narrative built on the arc of a tragedy. It’s not the traditional heroic arc that most games are built on. It’s a narrative where you cannot win at the end. It’s not just the most daring of the DA games, it’s the sort of narrative structure that most video games don’t dare to embrace.

Probably better than Origins. Like, who the fuck ever used Wynn.

Omfg Wynn is great

[Pavel]

@Roz said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

WGA doesn’t include video game writers AFAIK

It does, though not many video games are written by members, and the WGA Awards had a category for video games from 2008 - 2019. It gets complicated and political quick if you do a deep dive on it, so for the sake of your sanity I’d just not.

[Wuff]

Dropping spolier warnings here for some rants about the game.

Spoiler

You’d think with having to choose which city to save from a dragon attack would have more negative effect than grumbling and not healing you before otherwise business as usual.

Watching Ghilan’nain freak out at the end of Weisshaupt pretty much cemented the Saturday Morning sterilization vibes. I was seriously expecting a ‘CURSES!’. Or the like.

Harding being freaked out by Lucanis and Spite enough she looks ready to put an arrow through them at a moments notice like Williams could do to Wrex in Mass Effect. But nope, she never takes the shot. So you end up not having one party member actually doing in another for what might be the good of the team.

And if you choose Davrin to lead the second team at the end. Why did they have Assan follow him in when they could have had him pull up just short to stay with Rook on like a dying order? And choosing Harding instead apparently locks you out of getting the stinger in the crappy golden ending. It feels needless and excessively cruel there.

The moments for being tragic could really have been picked and been handled better.

[Rinel]

@Testament said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

Probably better than Origins. Like, who the fuck ever used Wynn.

Wynn is my favorite companion from Origins, haha

DA2… well. It certainly looks good in retrospect, doesn’t it? I wasn’t a fan of a lot of its choices, but pretty much all of them (besides rushing it and endlessly reusing environments) were better than Veilguard. Like, yeah, I think the only really memorable enemy is the Arishok, but he’s absolutely incredible.

[Roz]

@Rinel said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

@Testament said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

Probably better than Origins. Like, who the fuck ever used Wynn.

Wynn is my favorite companion from Origins, haha

DA2… well. It certainly looks good in retrospect, doesn’t it?

[Third Eye]

I also liked Wynne! If you don’t play a mage she’s an extremely efficient healer/support.

Someday I’ll play Veilguard. Probably in like 2 years, given my schedule of games.

[Pavel]

I liked my time with Veilguard. Just as I liked my time with Origins, Hawke and Friends, and Inquisition. I also enjoyed Mass Effect Andromeda and desperately want a sequel, but know it probably won’t happen. There are valid critiques in here, of course, the game isn’t perfect. But I enjoyed myself… so if you can get it cheap or as part of a subscription you already pay for, then play it for a bit. At worst, you’ll be bored.

[Rinel]

@Roz said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

@Rinel said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

@Testament said in why is nobody talking about Veilguard:

Probably better than Origins. Like, who the fuck ever used Wynn.

Wynn is my favorite companion from Origins, haha

DA2… well. It certainly looks good in retrospect, doesn’t it?

):<