Dragon Age: The Veilguard (October 31, 2024)

[OneDeep]

This looks good
Caught me off guard… I never played any dragon age games but I love rpgs.. do I need to play the old ones before this

To understand the lore & game setting I would recommend it

Probably will have references to events in past games that will probably go over your head

Gameplay in the first is slow but you’ll get used to it

Second & third gameplay is quicker

If you have an Xbox all three games are available on Gamepass (Base Games no DLC content)

But there is YouTube videos explaining everything if you don’t want to play the games

 

[The Phoenix]

This doesn't look awful, but it doesn't look great either. Very mid looking combat. They basically gave a middle finger to DA:I fans and just gave us fantasy Mass Effect instead of sci-fi Mass Effect. Not being able to switch to your party members and plan out combat? Fail. But that just means all the casuals will probably love it because now they'll get to hack n slash their way through the game instead of actually having to think about what their doing. Can't say I'm surprised.

 

[voltronblack]

BioWare shares 20 minutes of debut gameplay and screenshots for Dragon Age: The Veilguard | RPG Site

It's been nearly six years since the newest Dragon Age was originally teased, and we finally get to see it in action.

www.rpgsite.net

Electronic Arts Inc. and BioWare have provided a first-look at gameplay from the opening moments of the highly anticipated all-new single-player fantasy RPG experience, Dragon Age: The Veilguard. This bold, heroic adventure is built to deliver on what the series is best known for: rich storytelling, fantasy worldbuilding, companions and fellowship, and a world where you matter.

In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, you’ll embark on a quest to face powerful Elven gods and stop the destruction they’re unleashing on the world. You are known as Rook, battling on the front lines alongside a compelling cast of companions with individual storylines and motivations. In true Dragon Age fashion, companions are central to the experience and as Rook, you must rise up, rally your crew and forge relationships to become the unexpected leader others believe in. Dragon Age: The Veilguard is launching worldwide to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S and PC in Fall 2024.

“We want every single moment in the expansive, story-driven experience of Dragon Age: The Veilguard to feel impactful,” said Corinne Busche, Game Director of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. “Players will journey to more regions than any other Dragon Age game, where they’ll need to level up and customize deep skill trees to take on increasingly challenging enemies. Additionally, our combat blends fluid moment-to-moment action with the deep RPG strategy the franchise is known for. We’re incredibly excited to offer players around the world a first-look at this experience that embraces BioWare’s storytelling roots of carefully crafted and immersive single-player RPGs.”

In Dragon Age: The Veilguard, the Elven Trickster god of legend Solas wants to tear down the Veil that separates Thedas from the world of demons, restoring his people’s immortality and glory – even at the cost of countless lives. But his ritual goes awry, and his worst fears are realized, as two of his most ancient and powerful adversaries are released. They seek only to finish what they started millennia ago – the complete and utter domination of our world. Rook’s journey to stop these two powerful deities will span across all of Thedas to bustling cities, lush tropics, boreal forests, fettered swamps and the deepest depths, but be wary of the evil forces along the way like the Dark Spawn, Venatori Cultists and Demons of the Fade.

Key Features of Dragon Age: The Veilguard
Fellowship: Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s brand new companions come alive with some of the most compelling individual storylines in Dragon Age history. Expansive and dynamic stories navigate love, loss and complex choices that will affect your relationships and the fate of each member of the Veilguard. New companions like the Veil Jumper Bellara, the necromancer Emmrich, and the private detective Neve, come from iconic factions in Dragon Age lore, possessing individual skill trees and specialized gear for advanced team progression. You’ll see familiar faces, too, such as the archer Lace Harding who returns to the series as a full time companion.

Choice and Consequences: Dragon Age: The Veilguard builds on the series’ deep role-playing roots, providing extraordinary storytelling and worldbuilding, deep personalities for each companion, meaningful choices and impactful cinematic moments. The bonds you create and the relationships you forge will be affected by your choices made throughout your journey.

A Crafted Experience: As a character-driven RPG, Dragon Age: The Veilguard delivers a crafted experience that pays homage to BioWare’s history of storytelling. The Lighthouse provides a central place where you can rest, learn more about the world through conversations, while the Crossroads allows you to traverse to separate explorable regions of the world with your companions. You’ll experience more of Thedas than ever before as your story unfolds across meticulously crafted biomes and beautiful regions including Rivain, Weisshaupt, Arlathan, Minrathous, the Deep Roads and more, each inviting you to delve deeper into the narrative and uncover the mysteries of the land.

Fluid, Customizable Combat: Immersive combat blends fluid moment-to-moment controls with tactical decision-making. Players can fully customize their experience to fit their playstyle with diverse skill trees among three different classes - Warrior, Mage and Rogue - each with unique abilities and specializations. Choose two companions to join you on your quests and unleash powerful team combos that can change the tide of any battle. Make strategic choices and direct your allies to fight, heal or stay out of the fray with the newly-added ability wheel.

Be the Leader You Want To Be: Dragon Age: The Veilguard features a robust character creation system that allows you to be the leader you want to be with a vast range of customization. BioWare has created the most comprehensive character creator in Dragon Age yet to make this story truly your own.

 

[42 Monks]

This doesn't look awful, but it doesn't look great either. Very mid looking combat. They basically gave a middle finger to DA:I fans and just gave us fantasy Mass Effect instead of sci-fi Mass Effect. Not being able to switch to your party members and plan out combat? Fail. But that just means all the casuals will probably love it because now they'll get to hack n slash their way through the game instead of actually having to think about what their doing. Can't say I'm surprised.

are we talking about the same DA:I? you could nuke dragons solo on insanity ffs

 

[The Phoenix]

are we talking about the same DA:I? you could nuke dragons solo on insanity ffs

I must have played it wrong or didn't incorporate the correct build because I never did. But that doesn't invalidate what I said. Them not adding another difficulty mode is starkly different from making it a hack fest.

 

[Novembruh]

are we talking about the same DA:I? you could nuke dragons solo on insanity ffs

you could, but it took strategy and skill and knowing what you're doing.

This combat has so much enemy reactivity to damage/stagger that it looks like you can braindead button mash anything not a boss and just mow through. The tactical aspect of DA has always been the only thing that separated it from other games that honestly do story, character, worldbuilding or combat better.

Seems like they're going to give 'combat challenge' through sheer numbers more than through any nuance.

 

[Gizmo_Duck]

This is a wait and see for me, if it reviews really well i might pick it up. It’s like @The Phoenix nothing about it is grabbing me but it doesn’t look trash either.

Some of these games need to chill on the chromatic aberration though.

 

[The Phoenix]

you could, but it took strategy and skill and knowing what you're doing.

This combat has so much enemy reactivity to damage/stagger that it looks like you can braindead button mash anything not a boss and just mow through. The tactical aspect of DA has always been the only thing that separated it from other games that honestly do story, character, worldbuilding or combat better.

Seems like they're going to give 'combat challenge' through sheer numbers more than through any nuance.

Exactly. I didn't really see any room for the tactical portion that helped make DA what it is. Or at least what I thought it was. The reason I liked DA:I so much is because it felt like they found a healthy balance between keeping it somewhat what it was at the outset, but also making it action oriented enough so that someone that preferred Devil May Cry could still find some joy in the game, even if they only liked it but didn't love it. This what I saw today looks like the result of suits calling down to the dev team and saying, hey we just spent 50 or so million or whatever funding this game, so please stick to the commercial formula. Make it like Mass Effect, yeah people like that. And then called it a day.

I'm happy the game doesn't look as awful as I thought it would. But that wasn't a very high bar to clear.

 

[Sonny Bonds]

This doesn't look awful, but it doesn't look great either. Very mid looking combat. They basically gave a middle finger to DA:I fans and just gave us fantasy Mass Effect instead of sci-fi Mass Effect. Not being able to switch to your party members and plan out combat? Fail. But that just means all the casuals will probably love it because now they'll get to hack n slash their way through the game instead of actually having to think about what their doing. Can't say I'm surprised.

People complained about the combat of DA:I, saying that it was like an mmo.

 

[The Phoenix]

People complained about the combat of DA:I, saying that it was like an mmo.

Because it was to some degree. But you didn't HAVE to play it like that. You could stick with one character and never swap to the others. You could choose to go solo altogether. You could go into tactical mode and have a bootleg version of an RTS. You had options within the gameplay that could have been tweaked to make something even better in the 10 years since. Instead, now you get Mass Effect: Tevinter.

 

[daze23]

Because it was to some degree. But you didn't HAVE to play it like that. You could stick with one character and never swap to the others. You could choose to go solo altogether. You could go into tactical mode and have a bootleg version of an RTS. You had options within the gameplay that could have been tweaked to make something even better in the 10 years since. Instead, now you get Mass Effect: Tevinter.

I would also set it up to pause all the time. made the game almost turn based

 

[Rell84shots]

Because it was to some degree. But you didn't HAVE to play it like that. You could stick with one character and never swap to the others. You could choose to go solo altogether. You could go into tactical mode and have a bootleg version of an RTS. You had options within the gameplay that could have been tweaked to make something even better in the 10 years since. Instead, now you get Mass Effect: Tevinter.

I loved everything about DAI except not being able to romance Vivienne . Here's hoping this game has massive sells, because the future of the next Mass Effect game depends on this being a success.

 

[Shaman]

I was surprised they revealed the other elven gods so soon

I'm pretty sure the one on the left is Ghilan'nain. Ghilan'nain was known to make eldritch monsters, so if that's her then we're definitely getting some new types of enemies in this one

 

[MidniteJay]

What do this mean for the world state

Do None of the past game choices matter now?

They're putting an in-game recap system to carry over past decisions.

 

[daze23]

They're putting an in-game recap system to carry over past decisions.

there's little chance I actually remember all my choices from 10 years ago. oh well