There was barely any, of my 47.5 hour gameplay of it Taash's situation was barely 20 mins and most of that is skipable dialogue. If it really hurt yourself that the character was in it, you can just not talk to her and not do her missions.

Now, was it basically poorly written, sure but that's not going to be known by most people before the game arrives, have to buy it to find out. What is known is the appeal and if you aren't interested you would have needed to watch the trailers and teasers.

...which I now realise I've never watched.

*just watched them*

Okay, first trailer was terrible, that didn't help. Second trailer was decent but damage already done.

Completely ignoring the choices made in dragon age origins + 2 also didn't help. The warden or hawke were not even mentioned by name. The best thing we got was the cup they used for the joining ritual at ostagar.

Yeah, first trailer was essentially their attempt at Marvel-fiying the DA universe. It's clear they wanted to shift to a po-corn, fantasy romp but the franchises audiences were not here for it and it certainly wasn't well received enough to attract a new one either.

I've seen that there are people that seriosly like it - they just seem to be mostly people that didn't like Dragon Age before. This seems to be the takeaway: it is a different game, not a Dragon Age game.

Seems like Veilguard is another game made for the infamous "modern audience". Someone--maybe an executive, a producer, someone at the top--looked at the success of Marvel and said, "we want THAT". So they tossed aside the mature tone, switched to a cartoonish style, made the combat simplistic and twitch-driven, and we got a lot of older developers making a game based on an audience model that uses TikTok as a primary reference.

I'm sure the Dragon Age Cinematic Universe would have been a sight to behold. Unfortunately, video-game developers and publishers live in such a bubble that they seem to have no clue how the people who ACTUALLY play video-games will react to their plans. One thing they especially struggle with is the "one in the hand is worth two in the bush" concept. They think that they can aim established franchises at totally new audiences and all the people who supported them before will just follow along like sheep no matter what. Yeah, no.

The interesting thing is, since we're only now learning that the "modern audience" is far from being the gold mine developers thought, we're probably going to get another year or two of games being released with the same principles in mind. I just hope that we can stop burying beloved IP.

Yeah, I agree. DA:V isn't bad because it is woke or DEI or something, that is just a smokescreen. My favourite comparison now is: Baldur's Gate III. That game you can hardly call antiwoke or a game for the hardcore manosphere incels.

But BG3 is excellent in writing, lore, respect for the setting, for the characters and for tone. And also player choice. If you want to murder a smug smartass member of your group, you totally can end Astarion. Good riddance! In Veilguard you can't even be mean to them.

Veilguard seems to fear player choice, which is why they don't even allow basic influence, while still maintain the facade of showing you options. veilguard also has somewhat mediocre writing. And it totally shifts the tone of the setting. While DA was a dark gritty fantasy, Veilguard is more wanting to offend nobody and keep everyone friendly and adapted. Which flies in the face of dark fantasy.

Veilguard shouldn't be a Dragon Age game, if it was a new IP it would've seen much less pushback. Because for what it is, it is acceptable. For it is a generic action RPG. Nothing to get upset about, nothing to remember five years from now. The only upsetting part is that it follows previous entries that set a tone which now is broken.

It's so missplaced watching it for a second time, in DA:I all companions but the default 3 you get are optional. Making out like "We need to get a team together." for like some grand adventure, meanwhile the grand adventure is "The world is literally ending, stop infighting and help fix it."

This is much to the argument me and some others use when talking about modern FF verses old FF. There are many people who have picked up and enjoyed more modern FF games because they are more action based but they weren't interested in them as turn based. Yet for me as a fan of turn based, I've basically not bought a new FF game since 13.

This DAV is vastly differently to Inquisition and 2 but comparing it to Origins? Night and day practically. It's pure action based for the most part with some random choices thrown in, it lacks many customisation stuff, stat points, management of companions (who are immortal in this), resources and for my personal tastes the graphics were far too cartoony and the lore changes were just seemingly changes for the sake of them and actually hurt the overall world building (and told is the worse way) and the touchier subjects from previous entries? Nope, not a thing.

One of the main asks by the reddit community over on the sub for the DA was for the blood mage specialisation to return, fat chance. 

I fear if it was a new IP it would have had it worse, especially with knobbends "it's woke therefore should fail" bullcrap that the internet generates. IGN gave it an 8, which is a fair score, most response to it is the same too, it's a good game. Yet, as you've perfectly put it, just not a good Dragon Age game.

Over on the sub, the best thing I've called it and will stick with that is that it was 'safe'. DAV was safe, generic even, by the numbers. Dragon Age should not be that.

Im close to finishing the game, and im unsurprised its not selling well, the game doesnt feel like a Dragon Age game for the most part. The writing is very bland and characterization is more often than not cartoonish - which does not align at all with what I consider the franchise had been all about before this one. Clearly made to appeal to broader audiences and not have the franchise feel niche - which ultimately damages it, imo. Its a very narrative-focused game and if the narrative isnt good then the whole game is gonna suffer for it. At least this has been my impression so far, I doubt the last parts of the game change my mind. Right out the bat I can tell you I find it very hard to care about any of the companions cause most of them are written like children cartoon characters. 

Having that said the game looks better than the franchise ever has and the game is a blast and a lot fun - if you get used to it, cause its definitely dumbed down from previous entries, theres much less customization and thats not great. They took some steps forward and then some steps backwards. Despite the qualities it does have I hope the next game goes back to the serious tone writing and acknowledges the bigger universe its set in - if there is a sequel to this and the franchise doesnt just die out.

Last game was a decade ago, it had better have been.  :P

I really hate the new art-style of the game. It looks so fornite lite, I enjoyed the games more when they were dirtier. Maybe that was just a limitation of tech at the time but man did it help.