I could not be more irritated about this game.
I have about ten hours in and I'm enjoying the hell out of it. So why am I irritated?
Because people who have likely not even played the game won't shut the fuck up about how it's "woke" and how it's "bad writing" and "bad dialogue" and "bad art design."
I wish I was straw-manning here. But I'm not. People love to hate this game. Even the so-called sophisticated attempts at critique in the r/gaming and Veilguard subreddits can't help but fall into this near-ideological pattern of what feels like piling on hate rather than just saying, "Eh, I don't like this thing about it." And when that does happen, it's often conjoined with a "because it's not like the original Dragon Age games even though I'm clearly just misremembering or mistakenly attributing qualities to those games they did not have on an objective level."
So I'm seeing, "I don't like the art style because the other Dragon Age games aren't like that," or, "I don't like the writing because the other games had way better writing," or, "I don't like the dialogue because it's bad compared to the other games," or, "I don't like Veilguard because the characters are weak compared to the other games."
I'm not going to say you're wrong if you think any of these things but I will say that I mostly disagree, even if that take is premature with only ten hours played so far. Hear me out: I just replayed all three games over the last year, with Origins having gotten a replay most recently, and there is plenty of questionable dialogue and writing in those games; there are so many instances where I was like, "Oof, that could have used a rewrite," or, "Okay, that was a weird choice," or where I otherwise just found things that fell short of the mark.
Those games were not perfect. And ever since the initial reveal, I have always thought Veilguard's art style is just the natural evolution as those games have gone on. I saw that first trailer and thought, "Yep, that looks about right, that tracks." I don't think you're wrong if you don't like it but to argue that it's not in line with the previous games is something I simply don't agree with. Also, saying it looks like Pixar doesn't make it bad. Not everything needs to be fuckin photorealistic to hold merit.
Generally, it seems like holding the previous games as the examples to which Dragon Age Veilguard must live up to is the very axe by which people are attempting to put it to death.
As is usually the case, the things people are crucifying Veilguard over are the things I'm enjoying the most. I'm finding the dialogue to be not just perfectly serviceable, but rich and authentic. The voice performances are engaging. The art style is absolutely delightful and I adore it. I like the characters and want to engage with them more, eagerly looking forward to the next opportunity to talk with them. The story has its hooks in me with the stakes feeling high and weighty.
Other common criticisms I will more readily agree with pertain to the combat and loot/item mechanics. Critiques say they feel dated, which is to say they're not an A+ experience. They do feel fully cooked though, so that's good; it feels like they committed to some decisions and made those systems as complete and fluid as they could. I might not like the format: the skill trees, the rudimentary light and heavy attacks, parries, and dodges, which feels like they were lifted from Hogwarts Legacy, which in turn felt like they had been lifted from games from the previous 5 to 10 years; the loot with green and red arrows and statistics that may mean something to the player but are probably more easily overlooked or ignored for flow; these things I'm not thrilled with but I find them perfectly serviceable, and I must remind players that BioWare has never been on the cutting edge of gameplay. So to point fingers at these systems as evidence that Veilguard is trash or sucks or is not as good as the previous DA games is simply incorrect. Those games have always, always been behind the ball in terms of the currency of gameplay.
I started this by saying I'm irritated because of how people won't shut the fuck up with unfair, disingenuous criticisms of this game, and the internet is now a battleground between its attacker and its defenders, and here I am adding to the pile. But this is also a status update with or through which to share my thoughts and it is with this perspective that I'm playing the game. I did not go in wanting to defend it. I did not go in wanting to attack it. I simply knew it was causing controversy. After a few hours of play, I checked out some of the headlines, conversations, and YouTube video essays, and I got fuckin irritated. I shouldn't be surprised but I could not believe how off the mark so many people are.
Even people I really trust and respect. SkillUp, for example. What the fuck, man? You really don't recommend this game? You just...you really think it's actually as bad and undercooked as you say it is? Are we playing the same game? You're telling me that after x-hours and deliberation, you really - no, you really - think people should pass on this game? I respect not liking it but just straight up saying, "I don't recommend it," I don't know man, I think there's some responsibility to take there. There was one part where he compared the facial animations to Inquisition, displaying a scene where Cassandra was angry, and he argued that her facial animation from back then was better than those in Veilguard. Dude, get up and go to the eye doctor or get your blood checked because you're either blind as as bet or higher than a fuckin kite if you really think that Cassandra vertical slice of facial animation was better than Veilguard's offerings. When that part of his video came up and Cassandra's face was shown, I said out loud, "What the fuck are you talking about?" It's the first time in my five or so years of watching SkillUp that I really had to stop for a second and wonder if his motives were genuine or not. They are, I'm sure of it, but just let that momentary doubt paint the picture.
And it's names as big as his lending themselves to the war that is being waged by ideologues on this game that I feel obligated to answer. If it were simply the handful of typical trolls that were attacking Veilguard, I would be content to ignore them.
But the fact that it's resulted in such polarization even among the bigger more credible individuals in our community has me vexed. I simply do not agree with, and can barely understand, how someone could attack this game in the manner it's being attacked.
And then there's the fucking woke argument. "Woke" is not a thing. It's not real. Getting mad about games including other people is about as idiotic as getting mad that there are other people in other countries that like other things than you. I truly cannot understand the mindset that finds anything even remotely DEI to be grounds for condemnation or attack. If you think it's cringey, that's one thing (maybe it's not, though, maybe you're just a cunt); but if you are so incensed or annoyed or disappointed that there are nonbinary options or nonbinary characters in a work of fiction, then, I don't know, go fuck yourself with sandpaper or something?
Last thought: the longer a game takes to come out, the harder it is for that game to live up to expectations, because the greater the expectations grow. Dragon Age Veilguard was never, ever going to live up to expectations. Many gamers are unrealistic with their expectations. Look, I know that Dragon Age Veilguard is not Baldur's Gate 3, but it was never going to be and I don't think it ever wanted to. Maybe the reason I'm able to enjoy this is because I'm 1) not looking back on the previous DA games with rose-colored glasses and 2) engaging with this game on its own terms - as it fucking deserves and ought to be.
