{"id":86436,"date":"2024-10-28T21:50:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-28T21:50:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/28\/the-veilguard-is-a-super-divisive-sequel\/"},"modified":"2024-10-28T21:50:26","modified_gmt":"2024-10-28T21:50:26","slug":"the-veilguard-is-a-super-divisive-sequel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/neclink.com\/index.php\/2024\/10\/28\/the-veilguard-is-a-super-divisive-sequel\/","title":{"rendered":"The Veilguard Is A Super Divisive Sequel"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Today, October 28, reviews went live for Dragon Age: The Veilguard<\/em>. I reviewed it here at Kotaku<\/em><\/a><\/span>, and despite being jaded toward the series for the better part of a decade, I really loved the long-awaited fourth entry. Right now it sits at a strong 84 on review aggregate site Metacritic<\/a><\/span>, which is about in line with where these games typically land. The original Dragon Age: Origins<\/em> sits at an 86, with Inquisition<\/em>, the series\u2019 third entry, landing close by at 84. Meanwhile, Dragon Age II<\/em>, probably the most divisive game in the series, sits at 79. As much as I loved my time with The Veilguard<\/em>, I knew it would elicit some pretty divergent reactions from folks. There are 10s and there are some more middling scores. You can even find some folks straight-up saying they \u201cdo not recommend\u201d<\/a><\/span> the game, like YouTuber Skill Up does while discussing all his problems with BioWare\u2019s latest entry. But what\u2019s the issue? What are folks so split on? Well, everything, it sounds like.<\/p>\n

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What Is Dragonsplague? Dragon\u2019s Dogma 2\u2019s Devastating Contagion Explained<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

To set a baseline, I\u2019d gone from fan of Dragon Age<\/em> to detractor over the past 10 years and was doubtful that The Veilguard<\/em> could bring me back. I loved the games when they came out, then replayed them all for a book club-style podcast I do and soured on them all in their own ways over time, largely due to the series\u2019 handling of continuity and its tendency to hand off protagonists\u2019 stories from one to another. The Veilguard <\/em>pulled me back in when I could not have been more out. The story was a slow burn, but I was genuinely thrilled by its finale. The new cast of heroes won me over pretty easily and ascended to the upper echelons of my own personal rankings of BioWare\u2019s RPG casts. And though it deviates greatly from the series\u2019 tactical roots, I found the action-based combat a blast to play and experiment with. Overall, it\u2019s a game that feels like it harkens to the studio\u2019s heyday, and is a reminder of what it does best.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, VGC<\/em><\/a><\/span> sits at the bottom of the Metacritic spread and came to pretty much the opposite conclusions I did on some of those points, in part because what I viewed as a calculated \u201cback to basics\u201d moment for the team felt, to their critic, somewhat archaic.<\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the modern action RPG space, Dragon Age: The Veilguard<\/em> feels fine,\u201d reviewer Jordan Middler wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s a game that is never overtly bad, but it\u2019s also only ever very fleetingly amazing. We particularly enjoyed its cast, but the majority of things you\u2019re asked to do with them are disappointingly repetitive. There are moments of spectacle, and longer main missions that show potential, but overall we were left feeling like BioWare hasn\u2019t evolved with the times.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though I adored the members of the titular Veilguard, others didn\u2019t find the new characters quite so endearing, with Sports Illustrated<\/em><\/a><\/span> <\/em>drawing a critical parallel to the writing in the MCU.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the dialogue in Veilguard<\/em> has that same, sarcastic, quippy tone of the Marvel movies,\u201d Kirk McKeand wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s like someone crunching an ice pop in your ear. There are rare moments where excellent writing reaches through the screen and makes you consider your mortality, but it\u2019s inconsistent. Compelling conversations about religion, history, and the interpretations of both are juxtaposed against voice lines where people say things like \u201cwatch out, these guys GO HARD\u201d, \u201cwere they\u2026 doing it?\u201d, or \u201ctaking the p*ss\u201d. It pulls you right out of the fantasy setting. These characters definitely know what TikTok is.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s been a lot of pre-release discussion around whether or not The Veilguard <\/em>feels \u201clike a Dragon Age<\/em> game.\u201d Skill Up\u2019s video touches on this in the most damning review I\u2019ve seen thus far. It starts off going real hard on The Veilguard<\/em>\u2019s tone, saying it doesn\u2019t match the same dark tone some have come to expect in previous games, while also just broadly saying the writing is not up to snuff.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe writing is, frankly, terminal.\u201d Skill Up says. \u201cIt lacks any nuance or wit or wisdom. It cannot communicate ideas except to say them aloud to the camera. It manufactures petty, unbelievable tension because it doesn\u2019t know how to create anything more real and it\u2019s too scared to ever be truly confronting or dark for fear that it might make the audience uncomfortable. Every interaction between the companions feels like HR is in the room and every interaction led by the main character Rook sounds like he\u2019s addressing an under-12 soccer team before a semi-final or teaching toddlers how to properly share toys.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ouch. By contrast, while I wouldn\u2019t defend every line BioWare wrote, as I do think there\u2019s some merit to the MCU comparison, I didn\u2019t feel like the game was compromising on the series\u2019 typical dark fantasy trappings. Sure, the world doesn\u2019t look as gnarly as it did back in Origins<\/em> because The Veilguard<\/em> presents it in a more Pixar-esque art style (and with cinematography to match), but there\u2019s still some high stakes and some pretty horrifying lore drops in stories like that of Davrin, the Grey Warden who discovers hidden truths in the faction\u2019s history, or in the big reveals tied to Solas, the Inquisition<\/em> party-member turned antagonist of The Veilguard<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But what about the folks on the higher end of the scale? Eurogamer<\/em><\/a><\/span> <\/em>gave The Veilguard <\/em>a whopping five stars out of five. While the pivot to action RPG combat has been a contentious point for those who want to see the series return to its tactical roots, it\u2019s landing for folks who want something more evocative of BioWare\u2019s Mass Effect<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201c…there\u2019s a lot more other stuff going on in The Veilguard<\/em> combat than has been in Dragon Age<\/em> games before,\u201d Robert Purchese wrote. \u201cIt\u2019s an action game, really, a boundary the series has been pushing towards but never quite passed, always emotionally shackled, as it was, by its CRPG roots. But now it\u2019s stepped over, taking Mass Effect<\/em>\u2019s lead as an example, and it\u2019s discovered something new and very successful as a result.\u201d<\/p>\n

Another controversial decision that the game\u2019s developers made is just how it implements choice and consequence. Impactful choices have been a big part of BioWare\u2019s portfolio over the years, and when it was confirmed that The Veilguard <\/em>would only import three choices from previous games (all of which are from 2014\u2019s Dragon Age: Inquisition<\/em>), there was a fear that the game would feel detached from the past. IGN<\/em>\u2019s<\/a><\/span> 9\/10 review touches on this, saying The Veilguard <\/em>feels like a soft reboot of sorts, even as it includes the protagonist from the previous game and a conflict that should, in theory, feature them frequently.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you were expecting decisions from previous games in the series to carry over, I\u2019m sorry to say they\u2019ve never mattered less,\u201d Leana Hafer wrote. \u201c[…] things like who you chose to make head of the Chantry at the end of Inquisition<\/em> never come up. There\u2019s no sign of the Warden from Origins<\/em>, even though you visit the stronghold of their order. Hawke gets only a passing mention. There are some other cameos from both Origins<\/em> and Dragon Age 2<\/em>, but those characters conspicuously don\u2019t reference any important choices you may have made in their presence. This story feels like both a send-off and a soft reboot, in a way, which was paradoxically a bit refreshing and disappointing at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n

I was of two minds on this in my review. Over the years, I think I\u2019ve learned it\u2019s more important to me that my old choices are not contradicted in future games, rather than that they have some huge effect on the events of sequels. Given that BioWare wasn\u2019t going to do all the admittedly costly and time-consuming work of reflecting your many choices from earlier games in this one, seeing them carefully write around the past was preferable to them making a definitive call about those events that may have contradicted my experience. The Veilguard<\/em> takes place in lands far removed from those old choices, so it makes some sense that it wouldn\u2019t be constantly referencing the past. However, I couldn\u2019t get behind The Veilguard<\/em>\u2019s portrayal of the previous game\u2019s protagonist, the Inquisitor, in their brief appearances.<\/p>\n

\u201cPerhaps the Inquisitor\u2019s minimal presence gave me the space to grow attached to Rook and fill in how he would be different from my last Dragon Age<\/em> character,\u201d I said in Kotaku<\/em>\u2019s review. \u201cBut every time I met up with the Inquisitor, I was reminded that the character who, ten years ago, I imagined would be facing Solas was just a puppet dragged out of a closet, a half-assed fulfillment of an obligation BioWare seems unwilling to completely make good on.\u201d<\/p>\n

While the decision to only have a few choices carry over is iffy, GamesRadar+<\/em><\/a><\/span> <\/em>argues that as a whole, The Veilguard <\/em>manages to be comprehensible to newcomers through clarity in its writing, while also catering to long-time fans by delivering on so many major mysteries they\u2019ve been pondering for over a decade.<\/p>\n

\u201cDragon Age: The Veilguard<\/em> is about as approachable as it can be for both new players and those that have previously thanked the Maker,\u201d Rollin Bishop wrote. \u201cAppropriate context is given when proper nouns are brought up, going some way to avoid being impenetrable and making it as fine a point of entry as any to dive into. But it also answers many questions that longtime players have had over the years\u2026 while introducing even more tantalizing hints at what might come next. My only hope is that we don\u2019t have to wait another 10 years to find out more.\u201d<\/p>\n

From the sound of it, where you\u2019ll land on The Veilguard <\/em>largely seems to depend on what you come to it looking for. Its action slant has impressed some, while others are still jonesing for a tactical game like Origins<\/em>. If you want a continuation of your choices from old games you might be disappointed, but if you want a conclusion to years-long threads, The Veilguard <\/em>offers those in spades. There are a lot of little nuances that might tip a prospective player to one side or the other, or you might just find yourself falling somewhere in the middle like VG24\/7<\/em><\/a><\/span>, who acknowledged that the ways in which people have diverged will make The Veilguard <\/em>an interesting game to talk about.<\/p>\n

\u201cI expect the divided discourse to be as interesting as – and more varied than – the game,\u201d Alex Donaldson wrote. \u201cOne thing that I think is inarguable, though, is that it showcases a BioWare on steadier feet than at any point in the last decade. Where that firmer stance has been planted just means one\u2019s mileage really is going to vary more than the norm, depending on your predilections and tolerances.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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