Dragon Age: The Veilguard (XS) Review | VGChartz

VGChartz's Lee Mehr: "Dragon Age: The Veilguard may be one of the toughest games to formally review. Yes, it deserves fair consideration for a big-budget action-RPG, published by EA no less, that's functional by definition. While not polished to a mirror sheen, there's something to be said of such a massive experience being technically sound at release. The question is: how much can that count against a game that feels so – dare I say – spiritually empty? Whether it's the aesthetics, music, narrative, or gameplay, each fundamental aspect feels inauthentic to various degrees. You're being sold a high-fantasy RPG adventure in which the combat is lobotomized, most of your decisions are of no consequence, the tone has no consistency, and the world feels shallow. Accounting for those faults, perhaps Bioware's greatest offense is also its most ironic: making a Dragon Age game that feels pathetically toothless."

[Redemption-64]

Need some clicks?

[coolbeans]

Overly positive = paid shill
Overly negative = clickbait

Like clockwork.

[jambola]

yep
if it's above 7 the haters come to discredit
under 5, the fans
insane lol

[CrimsonWing69]

So which is the right one? Whatever one you want to go with?

[coolbeans]

@CrimsonWing69

You're misunderstanding the point of my comment.

[Redemption-64]

Most gamers are not smart enough to think for them and need reviews that fit their narrative. People only use skill up because he is saying what they want to hear. It's entertaining seeing fully grown men depending on the opinions of another person to tell them what games to play

[lex-1020]

"People only use skill up because he is saying what they want to hear."

Or perhaps its because SkillUp provided plenty of video evidence to support his opinions and because Skillup's opinions have typically aligned well with my own.

[Redemption-64]

And when his opinions don't match your own then what? People who depend on reviews only use reviews that fit the narrative they want to hear. I have also seen people turn on Skill up in the past, called him woke, or shill when he likes a game they didn't. At the end of the it's an opinion, and many gamers are not smart enough to make their own opinions. Kind of sad, but very entertaining watching grown men telling them which games they should play.

[coolbeans]

@Redemption-64

-"And when his opinions don't match your own then what?"

I don't get why you're framing 'most gamers,' as an already ill-defined collective, as having an all-or-nothing approach to another's opinions. I think most people can recognize that no person is going to uniformly line up with their own tastes. Personally, I think somebody *trusting* another critic is less so determined by feeding their personal narrative and more so about consistency and clarity.

-" Kind of sad, but very entertaining watching grown men telling them which games they should play."

I mean... the vast majority of us are living on borrowed time and limited funds. Having people share their thoughts on what creative works are *worth* spending both on is a perfectly reasonable thing to expect. Hopefully said critique is also heard and internalized by creatives to hone in and improve their own future projects as well.

[Redemption-64]

@coolbeans

Creative work is subjective, if you need the opinion of another person to tell you what is worth it, more power to you. Outside of knowing if a game has bugs, glitches or bad performance, what a person thinks about creativity is purely subjective.

But hey I get it, some people just need another person to tell what to play. Good for them

[SoloZelot90]

And yet here you are...I'm sure you purchase every game in existence within genres that interest you without looking at a single review...what nonsense.

Unlike you there are tons of dragon age fans that wanted this game to be good...we just don't like lying to ourselves and pretending shit is chocolate cake.

Creative work is subjective...in terms of a flat 1 dimensional output such as a piece of graphic design.

We are talking about games that can be critiqued in a large variety of ways objectively and some ways subjectively. After all the creation of a game is not just creative it's also technical. And not just in terms of bugs and glitches.

The people that claim everything is subjective are just trying to avoid the possibility of making people feel dumb about their own takes. It a type of agree to disagree scenario which takes the conversation nowhere.

B movies for instance are horrible. And some people like that. But just cuz you like it that doesn't make it a good movie.

[-Foxtrot]

"Most gamers are not smart enough"

Which is ironic because the game treats you like an idiot.

[lex-1020]

@Redemtion64.

There have been plenty of games he's reviewed that I disagree with.

I'm not sure what your argument is here? That people should never seek others opinions and instead buy everything blindly and hope for the best?

[Armaggedon]

@solozealot

I have already, many times in fact, got people to almost literally admit that certain games they would give as an example of objectively good game design, possess the literal same elements fundamentally as a game they would crap on. It is subjective, as if we look at it at a fundamental level, it is much harder than one would think to say what game is “good” vs what game is “bad”. These people that claim a game is “objectively “ bad dont see beyond a superficial level. They almost always go by how they feel playing the game, as your experience playing something is all on you…the player.

@redemption-64

This is true. I have learned enough in my time in this life to understand that if normie/stimulation junky players say something is good…I stay away 90% of the time, and it saves me money. And when they say something is bad, or “poorly” designed, I buy that crap immediately most of the time.

Sleep myth wukong: put me to sleep teice and uninstalled by desert area. Witcher 3: forced myself to finish. Elden ring: The main draw of the game is disrespectfully shallow and pointless outside of creating the illusion that someone accomplished something.

[coolbeans]

@Redemption-64

It's like you're shadow-boxing. Of course game opinions are inherently subjective (outside technical bits). I figured that was implicitly understood with my previous point.

-"if you need the opinion of another person to tell you what is worth it, more power to you."

I'm just not sure where you're going with this. I mean... I'm in partial agreement about liking to roll the dice on a new game purchase with little prior knowledge solely because it intrigues me. But to hand-wave away gamers - and consumers - who want more intel before making a steep investment is rather strange. Plus, it goes beyond that too. I think the social interaction of fans and detractors over any media makes for lively discussion.

[Redemption-64]

@coolbeans

😂🤣😂, whatever makes you sleep at night. Some people just can't think for themselves and need the opinion of others to tell them what to play.

[victorMaje]

When it comes to games like Dragon Age I trust SkillUp & Angry Joe. After watching their reviews (Angry Joe’s is very funny) as well as others, I’m not getting the game any time soon…

[Profchaos]

I kind of disagree that angry Joe is actually funny seems like he's just trying to take the avgn formula and apply it to modern games but the jokes don't land as well

Otherwise yeah I agree with the sentiment

[Armaggedon]

Joe doesnt want to piss off his viewers. His honest score would be 5-6/10.

[victorMaje]

Yeah he’s not always funny but some moments in this review I laughed hard thanks to Other Joe.

[-Foxtrot]

The thing about Joe, funny or not, he goes into why he thinks something sucks, it's not just "I hate this, here's the score, peace out". Some videos can go on for like 40 minutes or so.

Also I kind of like some of Alex's takes, he's pretty realistic with most things and take things how they are.

I don't agree with them all the time but I think it's a night and day difference to the Angry Joe who first started a decade or so ago.

[BeRich233]

Angry joes score is bs, if the game was really a 3 of 10 then he'd be done playing it within the first hour. I am 14 hours in and the game is pretty good so far, haven't fallen a sleep while playing this one. Form your own opinion by actually playing it someday.

[victorMaje]

For now my opinion is I’ll wait for a discount based on what I’ve seen & other people I trust playing it.
I will play it some day, and I’ll let you know :) for now I’ll trust my gut and give my time to other games.

[lex-1020]

"Form your own opinion by actually playing it someday."

When games are $70+ I'd rather not risk buying a game I don't like so I can "form an opinion."

[-Foxtrot]

But if he didn't play it for more than 3 hours then you'd be complaining he's hardly played it and his opinion on the game means f*** all. Can't win.

[Armaggedon]

Angry joe was being hyper biased. His score is disrespectful

[Gamingsince1981]

The game disrespected my time, its pure trash.

[Armaggedon]

Gsmingsince1981 play games that dont fit you. I could say wukong is pure trash… but I know better

[Elda]

BS score.

[coolbeans]

Alright. What would you give it?

[Elda]

I'm playing it & I'm enjoying the game. It's definitely not a 4 out 10, a 4 out of 10 would be a broken mess something the game is not.

[Armaggedon]

8.5/10

[CrimsonWing69]

Honestly, it’s an 8 for me.

[coolbeans]

Fair enough. Glad you're enjoying, but I do want to make one important correction. A 4/10 on VGChartz doesn't translate to a broken mess, as you put it. Here's from the site's methodology:

"4 / 4.5 - Poor
Before investing in these sub-par games, think twice. They get a few things right, but too many obvious problems make them difficult to recommend."

I think it's important to understand the score within this context.

[badboyz09]

too high

[Armaggedon]

The world feels shallow? Take it the creator is not a fan of the lore?

[coolbeans]

No, I think the lore itself is pretty good - albeit a bit derivative. The emphasis is on the world presented *within* the level design. Hell, let me bring up a past Bioware example: Mass Effect 2. Places like The Citadel or Omega are likely more constrained and limited than Treviso or Minrathous with regards to square footage, yet their atmosphere is richer and they feel vibrant. There's a yearning to explore and talk to special people around every corner. Treviso & Minrathous feel like dungeon levels for a live-service co-op game that've been retrofitted for a single-player campaign; the streets are littered with people, yet it feels dead.

EDIT: But you make a good point in that perhaps "shallow" isn't the proper way to encapsulate that feeling.

[Armaggedon]

Fair point, but I suppose thats the trade off for having s more open area, especially if we consider that they made environments in such a way to support the engaging combat system. Origins and dragon age 2 had very scripted fights in most areas. Same thing in mass effect , 2 and 3 now that I think about it.

[coolbeans]

I agree in principle *why* the trade-off makes sense, but the end result feels like the worst of both worlds to me. I think a good counter-example to Veilguard is Kingdoms of Amalur: there is a certain "MMO-esque facade" to the NPCs and whatnot, but the open spaces feel grand and you can find great new treasures off the beaten path.

In contrast, Veilguard's levels are more like an elongated funnel with a couple alternative paths. It felt especially weird for stuff like companion quests where they'll just... stand by a dead-end? I don't know... I would've gladly taken a more scripted emphasis. Like, the only locations that even partially excited me were one-offs like the underwater prison or Weisshaupt.

Regardless, I appreciate the comments. Also, if you have a better word or phrase to encapsulate that feeling than "world feels shallow" I'm willing to hear it.

[Armaggedon]

4/10 is super low. People act like they are rating gollum or something. Very strange how people like sleep myth whkong so much yet despise veilguard

[coolbeans]

Just for reference:

-LOTR: Gollum received a 1.5/10 from here.

[Gamingsince1981]

Because wukong was a good game and veilgaurd isn't, kinda obvious

[Armaggedon]

Yes, wukong is such a good game with all that empty space and is a simple peak valley boss rush simulator.

[NewTestDrive]

This is too high🤔

[RiseNShine]

The game is 30% off right now in Amazon for Bioware's AAA 1 month old RPG game, that tells you everything about how well the game is doing when it's already getting heavily discounted like that.

[Soy]

So what? Silent Hill 2 was around 60% off for about a week too. It's just that time of year.

[RiseNShine]

That's simply false, the lowest SH2R has ever been discounted is 20% according to https://steamdb.info/app/21... . Also SHR2 is not a big AAA game that was 10 years in the making by one of the biggest studios in the world, but a remake of an old game done by a small external studio like Bloober for about 3 years, it's several tiers below the cost and prestige of what Veilguard should have been, so a 30% discount shouldn't be expected for a 1 month old big AAA game like that.

[Destiny1080]

i watched angry joes video review, he struggled to find 3 points to give it

[Armaggedon]

Joe was just being disingenuous. It cant be that hard to find points. Characters? World building and writing in terms of cohesive direction and build up over multiple games? Atmosphere? Unique venues? Engaging combat? At least more
choice and consequence than Inquisition, which he scored much higher? Catering hard to lore nerds? Solid presentation? Yeah, Joe has shown himself multiple times now restraining himself to not piss off his audience. I understand this, but it is the truth. “Guys, I want to give resi 4 a 10/10, but Im going to give it a 9 because you guys have been saying I have been handing out 10s too easily.” His honest score would be a 6/10.