I'm so sick of this "Joss Whedon's Avengers" meets "Guardians of the Galaxy" meets "Fortnite" meets "All the colors of the rainbow" stuff... Are our attention indicators so shot that we need a splash of neon on everything? And dialogue trying to relate to the audience... Instead of relating to the characters or the world.

@DVX_BELLORVM

9 күн бұрын

Seriously. Why does everything have to look so bright, colourful, and cartoony? I'm a big fan of more realistic art styles in fantasy.

@mangaka350

9 күн бұрын

​@@DVX_BELLORVMNothing wrong to be colorful and cartoony but i have hecking feeling that Fortnite actually ruined it. 🤔

@SammEater

9 күн бұрын

It is like characters can't be serious anymore. Just Tony Stark/Buffy/Deadpool ripoffs.

@GrecianWarlock

9 күн бұрын

This is exactly how I felt seeing Dragon Age but I couldn't put it into words. This makes so much sense.

@Xoulrath_

9 күн бұрын

They aren't trying to tell stories, or create experiences. They are trying to make as much money as possible, for as little effort and cost as possible, while trying to appeal to everyone that they possibly can. We know that it doesn't work. But the money ghouls womho run these companies are just that out of touch that they think that what they are giving us is quality content. 😂

This is what happens when all of your creatives never actually had to learn or grow themselves and basically just googled their way through life.

@bizantura1091

9 күн бұрын

It is the opposite, skill is the underpinning to creativity. What is in charge now, are kids in adult form living out their phantasies. Big difference!

@crazyfnjoey

9 күн бұрын

Maybe I'm wrong here but did the people that work on this not understand that scaffolding's purpose isn't to be a load-bearing support structure? Like it's just there so people can climb it to work, it's purpose isn't to hold up 100 ton stone statues.

@MumRah

9 күн бұрын

@@crazyfnjoey no, you're exactly right. It's just another brick in the wall of things these people don't understand.

@MumRah

9 күн бұрын

@bizantura1091 I agree that they are living out their fantasies but they think they are being creative and great.

@Blodhelm

8 күн бұрын

@@crazyfnjoey These are the same kind of people who think fire can burn in space and needs to be put out with an extinguisher...that works by keeping oxygen from the fire, oxygen that space already doesn't have.

Dragon Age died the second David Gaider left Bioware. How are you going to be true to a franchise known for gray morality and complicated characters when the people in charge of making the game share the same black-and-white, "everyone who disagrees with me is evil" attitude to the world? Dragon Age is my soul-game. I've bought the merch, I've read the books, I know the lore by heart. Just thinking about the fate of this once incredible franchise is so depressing I can't even put it into words.

@justtypesomethingrandom4662

8 күн бұрын

I'm not even a diehard fan, and I'm sorely disappointed. Have faith. More will come. I'm liking the look of No Rest and Path of Exile 2. Both developers seem legit, care about their product, not the profits.

@rosefamilia3169

8 күн бұрын

That is just what I feel and you summed it up perfectly. I even got inspired by the lore of Dragon Age to create my own story. There are soo many themes, from religion, spirituality, social and even politics. Dragon Age is a wholesome world. Shame it reduced to this kiddie theme park.

@TitusFlavius11

8 күн бұрын

Same here. Replaying Origins right now. I’ll miss this franchise when the EA finally shuts it down.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Did we suddenly let EA off the hook? Owning a developer name does not mean it is attached to anything of value - especially in these times of company cannibalism.

@XDarkEcho

6 күн бұрын

Hopefully, one day, an indie dev will rise up and create a Dragon Age inspired game that ticks all the boxes. Maybe even Larien Studios will create something similar, since they're pros at making RPG fantasy worlds...though, not so much of gray morality, I believe.

"... Because I am not able to ignore the side quest tracker." I have never felt closer to someone I've never met in real life than I do to you right now Jeff...

@Vyktym76

8 күн бұрын

Wait...It's possible to ignore the side quests? Since when? @:^}

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

This is why I value New Game Plus. No more grinding. No more side quests with no value. Power through the best parts of the story without conscience once the 'price' was paid.

I've always said something about fans. "People don't always know what they want *but* they always know what they don't want."

@Sorain1

7 күн бұрын

To quote a great rap song "And I dunno what's right, but I know what's wrong." It can be hard to say why we love something, but it's easy to find the words for what's wrong with something.

@comyuse9103

5 күн бұрын

@@Sorain1 looking at criticism these days, i don't think thats true. you can have something deeply flawed on many levels and half the feed back is going to be dipshits screaming 'woke' like it means something.

The theory about the "modern audience" will ruin many companies. Yes "The customer is always right" was bad in many senses, but this new "kick the customer in the crotch" because "they will buy your product no matter what, because they are loyal" doesnt't work either. Fans aren't idiots, and not because you call your videogame Dragon age, it means it's a dragon age. I hope elder scrolls 6 that will come out like in 2040 doesn't look like that XP

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

Elder scrolls 6 in 2040 is no joke. I heard even Todd Howard had to address it the other day. The original announcement is like 6 years old, lol

@neodigremo

9 күн бұрын

The full quote was always “the customer is always right in matters of taste” as in “the customer is right if they tell you what they like”. The modern audience is a search for the customers who already said they didn’t like your stuff and changing their mind.

@0giwan

9 күн бұрын

@@neodigremo "...in matters of style or taste", but yes.

@Zodroo_Tint

9 күн бұрын

@@neodigremo So they changed it to "the customer is always right" to pander their feelings meanwhile rhey started selling things what was made for making money and not for satisfying customers.

@Lex_Nocturna

9 күн бұрын

Customer is always right in regards to their taste.

They had to do a quick update after the gameplay reveal that the game isn't just an on rail shooter due to negative feedback. However they've now created the need for players to wait for reviewers to prove that the exploration is interesting/meaningful

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

Right? They didn’t create hype, they created confusion, and with a crowded game market, I imagine everyone will forget this game exists come launch time

@Blodhelm

8 күн бұрын

It won't be, these people can't create anything with a committee chosen from a color palette and pride parade float more than skill or work history.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Today the world is full of people that 'review' games which means NO ONE should ever be surprised by the content they pay for unless they are stupid and still believe being 'first' has any merit.

@adamtr1026

7 күн бұрын

@@terrylandess6072 back in the long long ago we used to pre order games we wanted to support because we trusted developers.

@realtalunkarku

2 күн бұрын

I'm out , eff that "as a black gay trans queer " BS ​@@gregowen2022

Did we really needed a detective and an army scout to find the giant green glowing fortress?

@SeventhheavenDK

8 күн бұрын

Well, yes, because in this case (I think ) because they needed an Eluvian to reach that segment.

@djokealtena2538

9 сағат бұрын

​@SeventhheavenDK for which we need a 'veiljumper'😂😂😂. Do we remember the last time we interacted with the eluvians? Poor Tamlen.

How can you go from fascinating character like Morrigan to this

@Blodhelm

8 күн бұрын

Fire everyone involved in the good games, hire people based on arbitrary scores of WHAT they are and not what they can do, have no passion for the original and thus care nothing for it being changed or outright ruined. Same as everything else in Hollywood and AAA entertainment these days.

@DustinBarlow8P

8 күн бұрын

My orginal DA MC sacraficed his life fighting the Final Dragon, only for the world to become this.....

@malcolmfowler5663

8 күн бұрын

Ok....do you know what the new charecters are like? We don't know so just wait and see

@brentlee082

8 күн бұрын

@malcolmfowler5663 no fure sure and I absolutely hope they are fantastic. Just based on initial impressions Morrigan was incredible and intriguing and I'm not speaking of only this game in the series I found the inquisition characters lacking as well.

@Keram-io8hv

5 күн бұрын

Fascinating? She was white and straight, doesn't belong into 2024

Dragon Age already was the Game of Thrones for video games, and we would love it if the series went back to that

@DustinBarlow8P

8 күн бұрын

In the Dragon Age Game of thrones you either win..... or you end up gay.

@codyvandal2860

7 күн бұрын

This might be more true than you realize. DA:O was released in 2009 and specifically cited ASOIAF as an influence. Before the tv show!

@dani_i8942

6 күн бұрын

Bioware has been trash since last generation and is only getting worse. Stop hoping snd just learn to let go and play better games. How can anyone want to play these games when you see how the developers behave and what they say? Utterly disgusting.

I disagree about Bioware "fixing" the Mass Effect 3 ending. They updated it to make the endings slightly different, but it doesn't change that all 3 endings were still crap.

@EcardEcardian

6 күн бұрын

There are 4 endings in Mass Effect 3. Blue is for indoctrination. Green is big dumb, Shep atoms somehow goes all over the galaxy, changes the DNA in everything living, all living things get tech in them, glowing green eyes, eyes works by absorbing light, even plant got tech in it. Red was go balls to the wall and put a cap in the reaper machine, the goal from day one, also all AI gets yeeted. 4th ending, shoot the ghost kid in the face and everyone dies. So all 4 endings where crap, I rather see that dark energy ending. That was hinted in the game but was a nothing burger. You always put in the microphone into the tampong at the end, Also if you got high warscore, you see a blasted N7 looking armour, so did shep survive another planetary re-entery. Space Jesus second coming. Bioware in name only lacks the stones to make good stories this days it seems, RPG is not something they know what that even means.

@GeraltofRivia22

6 күн бұрын

​@@EcardEcardian destroy is the only valid ending, anything else is letting the Reapers win.

@EcardEcardian

6 күн бұрын

@@GeraltofRivia22 Indeed. Thus me typing it was the goal from day one.

@BrightWulph

3 күн бұрын

​@EcardEcardian Pretty much, I know from an old R2ddit AMA about the endings if ME3, to summarise, the lead writers locked themselves in a room, churned out the ending in two days then, without submitting for peer review, told the animation/story team to "make it happen." Everyone working on those endings knew it was crap, tried to suggest changes and adjustments, but the leads weren't having it, juat stick your nose down and do as you're told. Basically, the lead writers took a weed break and then assumed the audience would suddenly become philosophical in the last fifteen minutes with themes and crap that were never part of the series to begin with. I know ME4 has been announced and everyone is expecting it to finish the OG story, but if people were still upset by the time Bioware tried to move onto Ancromeda, they're not going to be ready for ME4 either.

@EcardEcardian

3 күн бұрын

@@BrightWulph That 4 braindead endings makes a ton of sense now. Like how bad it has gotten. ME1: You can talk down Saren. With Paragon or Ranagate. You can make one boss battle go away. ME2 you where forced to fight human baby reaper and regardless if you kept the Collector base or not. Tim got the reaper human head. ME3 last boss in that game was a turian husk. That toke a shot at Shepard shoulder, but Shep got shot in the gut somehow. Anyways that ME3 ending felt more like a fever dream than a real ending. I was expecting something else when it came to the ending. But not the first time the higher ups did a game dirty. Bioware is a EA product after all sense they bought up Bioware and quality has gone down hill when it comes to that studio. I remember the days Bioware was such a massive heavy hitter. Each game they made was a masterwork that went down gaming history as woha! What a good game. Into corporate slop. Still ME is a far better place than Dragon Age. Because ME still has its personality, even with all the downgrades and wonkyness. Have you seen the newest DA trailers? It is really that bad. ME 5 trailers are in a far better place. I still wonder what happened to ME4. Because now they make trailers for the 5th game. Andromeda was a side project that didn't lead anywhere. Nor was any good. If anything. Andromeda was so bad. That game put ME on ice. The gameplay was different from all the ME games. I heard the story, characters, dialogue was abysmal.

I have always wondered where these companies get their data that tells them they can attract a new audience. Business logic is that is always cheaper to keep a customer then it is to bring in a new customer. Is it some marketing company that has supplied a line of BS that they can bring in all these new people who don't currently play games if they just change direction?

@victordavila9812

9 күн бұрын

Is the "growth at any cost" mentality I can totally imagine that they have a bunch of suits whose job is to always tell the investor that they can get a bigger audience if they do X and these people are probably as disconnected with reality as your average game journalists

@Zodroo_Tint

9 күн бұрын

Suits tell them who learned this from teachers in schools who have to be a teacher because they are not good enough as a businessman.

@matthewcarroll2533

9 күн бұрын

@@victordavila9812 What you described in quotations is called "Neoliberalism" and it's a relatively modern concept, a sub-category or extremist angle on capitalism. It's disgusting and it rules our world, sadly. Look up the history behind it and you'll see what I mean.

@NickSargent-cy1il

8 күн бұрын

It's the dystopian d.e.i. liberal politics fever dream of the all accepting "modern audience" of mindless consumers

@leshtricity

8 күн бұрын

they don't need a new audience; when they put queer and LGBTQ+ propaganda in their games, Blackrock will subsidize them.

To quote my bisexual friend: "Pansexual is just a bisexual person who wants to be special."

@TheRealCaptainLavender

9 күн бұрын

That's like the pot calling the kettle black, don't ya think. lol.

@jamesavis1

9 күн бұрын

​@@TheRealCaptainLavender I think you don't know what that phrase means lol

@Kross415

9 күн бұрын

@@TheRealCaptainLavender I know many lgbt people that are completly ''normal'' and don't scream ''I'm special'' 24/7, don't care about pride month, or about representation, the sad thing is you only hear about the insane people that give them the bad reputation 🤷‍♂

@ChromaLuke

8 күн бұрын

So they're not people who are attracted to frying pans?

@LordReginaldMeowmont

8 күн бұрын

@@ChromaLuke Right? Keep them out of the kitchen just in case.

Despite my love of all the Mass Effect games, (yes Andromeda too) I think Woaz was right back when the Anthem trailer dropped and he said, "EA killed Bioware and is wearing its skin"

Minrathous was disappointing for me, I was expecting Greek Byzantine inspired architecture and culture. The great thing about the Dragon age series was it was almost a dark fantasy version of are own earth Fereldan - England The Free Marches - German States Orlais - France Tevinter - Byzantine Empire It’s a story driven dark fantasy where you’re choices are meant to shape the world around you. Veilguard just looks like Suicide Squad meets Overwatch.

@eastbow6053

8 күн бұрын

no way dude we cant have old whyyyyyyyyyyte based city, it has to be diverse like california nia bet you some gold that the evanuris will also be diverse even though they are all related xD

@GeraltofRivia22

6 күн бұрын

​@@eastbow6053it's funny, considering the defining characteristic of Tevinter is being the only nation to still practice slavery.

@trolldrool

2 күн бұрын

@@eastbow6053 Not sure if you're joking or not. As far as diversity or "wokeness" goes, Bioware has always gone out of their way to be ahead of everyone else. Origins was one of the first games on the Western market to feature guys kissing guys or girls kissing girls without fading to black the second before their lips touched. Same with Mass Effect 1 by making Liara a love interest for both versions of Shepard. We can complain about execution and whether we should expect it to be handled well, but diversity in and of itself has been part of Bioware for so long that complaining about it now is almost 20 years late.

@eastbow6053

2 күн бұрын

@@trolldrool we have zero str..ight romance in their new game so they are discriminating against hetero and no making them p..nsexual is not hetero people have different preferences this should reflect in games as well if someone wants to sleep with the opposite that is that if someone wants to sleep with the same then that is that this is why people liked Dorian he came out as a real human with preferences now you are telling me all 7 of this companions happened to have the same sexuality? Really? This was the weak link in baldur's gate 3 as well

@trolldrool

2 күн бұрын

@@eastbow6053 Okay, from that perspective I can understand. Everyone having the same sexuality, regardless of what it is is hardly diversity as much as it's just going in the opposite extreme of the 90s/early 2000s when same sex romance wasn't allowed at all.

BioWare appear to have gone full Disney. Seriously though, Bioware aren't the old BioWare of old, the company that made great games, It's been more than a decade since they've done that. What's bad for them is that there's going to be a direct comparison between what they sh*t out and BG3, because BG3 is more Dragon Age than what this game will be. It'll be a perfect demonstration of what can be achieved when you have qualified adults making a game and whatever the hell is going on at BioWare.

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

Yep. This probably wouldn’t have done incredible in the first place, but the fact that they decided to move away from CRPGs and then less than a year ago, a CRPG became one of the best selling games of the year is going to doom them

@williamjones3534

9 күн бұрын

​@@gregowen2022 Bioware lost its soul the moment it was purchased by EA and like the sarlaak from starwars (EU) began to slowly digest it forcing the original development team to escape lest they get consumed themselves 😝

@Mark-vr7pt

9 күн бұрын

I heard that the old people left the company and made their own, and currently working on exodus game. dunno how true it is, but that game trailer made me cry a little

@shinian6523

9 күн бұрын

They were doin this in 2014 with DEI, I mean DAI. It might be more accurate to say Disney went full Bioware

@rbu2136

9 күн бұрын

DEIsney and gay games and girl bosses. What could go wrong for the overwhelming male audience.

Dragon Age origins was really great, too bad they never made more games in the series, it had potential.

@gokux75

7 күн бұрын

Dragon Age II grew on me and funny enough I appreciated it a lot more after Inquisition came out.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Yes, but it is also very depressing which limited my playthroughs to 2 times. Luckily mods gave it a little zing to help take my mind off of the encroaching doom.

@comyuse9103

5 күн бұрын

@@gokux75 the story has the makings of a dragon age game, unlike anything that followed, but it fell pretty short. like, it felt like they were trying to make a game about inevitability, about struggling to make your life slightly better while being helpless to improve the world around you, but the fact that every major issue was _caused_ by one of your companions just ruined the entire thing. what if, instead of anders just doing the big terrorism it showed the escalation like a realistic revolution, with dozens of independent attacks until someone with systemic power (meridith, or whatever the templar bitch's name was) just decided to kill every mage? that would have been far more effective than a single guy lighting a powder keg.

I love how the devs actually had the balls to say that the reduction from 6 skills in Inquisition to just 3 was to give us MORE choice.

@r.e.z9428

8 сағат бұрын

Whoever said that needs to be fired.

I spent thirty hours learning the Origins of the Mage-Templar War in Dragon Age 2 only to have that plotline reduced to an afterthought at the start of Inquisition. I was disappointed to say the least.

I’m sticking with the idea that our education system has now made 3 generations of idiots with the first and second now running companies into the ground. The modern audiences trope is idiotic. Narrative preferences haven’t changed almost at all in the last 100+ years. Old stories like Lord of the Rings (published in 1954!) have stood the test of time and are considered the gold standard.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Ever since they found people speed run their attention spans, this has been easy.

@Sorain1

7 күн бұрын

The story of Gilgamesh, the Odyssey and the Trojan War still sell today. Those all required translation to English. Shakespears works still sell today. Humans haven't changed that much in the entirety of history.

@RandomWandrer

5 күн бұрын

I assume you're American. Maybe look for games made in other countries 😅

It feels like Ubisoft has been having a mid-life crisis for a decade

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

Always chasing trends. It’s sad to watch

@justtypesomethingrandom4662

8 күн бұрын

Like the teenagers have the keys to the Ferrari, but no one's buying groceries... 😄

At the end you hit on the root problem in media today - they make it for themselves and not a wide audience. That USED to be the goal of those in Hollywood and the games industries. They used to make movies, shows and games that did have a target audience but could also appeal to a wider audience outside. That is how you end up with Star Wars having a 70% male and 30% female audience. That 30% is NOT insignificant, yet they constantly act like it never existed. That 30% is proof of widespread appeal. Today we have creators making things solely for themselves and then telling the world if they don't like it they're a bigot of some sort. How is it not blatantly evident why this has led to failure after failure? They act like the LGBTQIABCDEFG+/& community didn't have a strong presence in Hollywood and gaming before now, which is absolutely ridiculous. They seemingly want to have majority representation for minority groups instead of equitable representation and widespread appeal. They want to make things for the smallest parts of our population and then cry "bigot" when the majority of the population can't connect with it because they reject doing anything that would increase it's wider appeal beyond that small target demographic.

@Levolun

8 күн бұрын

I wonder if it's like in the News industry. Back in the day, you had to learn how to be a journalist before working the news desk. Then, social media appeared and the 'social media correspondent' was created.. a person who had no knowledge of the news or journalism or the industry, in general.. they only knew how to read tweets and comments from 30-second videos.. Then, these folks with no knowledge got promoted into positions of authority.. I wonder, since we have writers who can't structure a story properly, directors who can't direct and actors who can only pretend to be themselves..

@TheNuclearGeek

8 күн бұрын

@@Levolun I agree that we live in a world now where people no longer have a healthy respect for their level of competence on almost ANY subject thanks to social media. It's amplified the Dunning-Krueger effect which is why we things like "Queers for Palestine" exist. However, when it comes to media, it seems the problem is the echo chambers which have also been amplified by social media, but also largely exist in the few places movies, shows and games are created. When it comes down to it, they are a reflection of California, New York, Austin, Montreal, etc. which all share very left populations that don't realize the rest of the world isn't like the few places they live. Now, why is it that these huge companies seem to continue to hire unknown people to head up projects they haven't come close to earning the right to do, I still don't understand that.

@TheNuclearGeek

8 күн бұрын

@@Levolun Plus, too, the news used to have a morality and ethics to reporting. Once they chose to erode and eventually completely remove those rules they worked by it inevitably led to news organizations that no longer cared about maintaining an unbiased view. Frankly, IMHO, that is what led to the rise in more "independent" news sources, some good and a lot not.

@Sorain1

7 күн бұрын

@@TheNuclearGeek Because there is big money funding that. Blackrock, Vanguard, etc. Tens of trillions of dollars lets you afford a lot of unprofitable behavior, by making pandering to them profitable (for you.) until those funds run down.

@TheNuclearGeek

6 күн бұрын

@@Sorain1 The terms on loans this big has a huge impact on profitability. Now, they still have to be profitable eventually but it reduces risk a lot and these companies are willing to do anything to get those more favorable terms as we've seen.

Love the BioShock reference

After Dragon Age "God Damn It Anders!" 2 and Mass Effect "Color Coded for Bioware's Convenience" 3, I decided that the Bioware that I loved, and had set the standard for character writing, plot, mechanics....hell, for creative game development, was dead. I never looked back, and entered EA in my Book of Grudges. They would have to make Something Special to draw me back in, and I'm not seeing that. Re: Quips, quipping was part and parcel of DA and ME. Listening to Morrigan and Alaistair tear into each other was like popcorn-eating entertaining. Garrus or Tali was always good for a smile-inducing comment, and Zaeed just had an air of, "yeah, tell me your stories, man!" that my brother got sucked into hardcore. The difference is that the quipping was always done when things were calm, so you could appreciate it. I think the current stack of devs looked at the "What Makes A Bioware Game" checklist, saw "quipping", and said, "OK, we'll put in quips like it's an Avengers movie! That's what the kids like, right?" and as a result, you really can't appreciate the character moments because you're trying to kill a demon or something. But, what do you expect of a pale imitation of the original. edit: Spelling mistake that was bothering me.

@smeissner328

9 күн бұрын

That's a great take on quips that I hadn't thought about before. I think you're absolutely right. Professionals like your crew in ME should be serious in serious situations (i.e. the middle of life-and-death battles) but capable of relaxing and joking around in the quiet times. Non-stop banter and quips while fighting changes the whole atmosphere of the game into an unserious one. How can the players take the story and stakes seriously if the characters in the game aren't taking things seriously?

@atpyro7920

9 күн бұрын

Getting banter to feel natural is a talent old Bioware had in spades. Current Bioware wouldn't know what talent is if it sodomized them with a bad dragon dildo.

@danielmejorado6098

8 күн бұрын

I think you absolutely nailed it.

@TheRedHaze3

8 күн бұрын

@@smeissner328 Alternatively, it should be just one guy. The guy who cracks jokes to cope with the stress and nerves of high-tension situations. If it's everyone, then it just looks like the situation isn't tense, because the idea that *everyone* on the team copes with comedy is too implausible.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Star Lord in a bottle - No thanks.

The moment they start talking about how they are queer and it's so important to the game, it tells us this will be a stinker. That's all cover for crap work these days so they can excuse failure with bigotry while reinforcing the position of bigots by pushing this crap and ruining franchises.

Morrigan had one of the most interesting and complex relationships I had seen in a videogame romance expanding from the base game to a dlc to inquisition not only does the hero of ferelden can romance her but they can even have a child together and become a family compare that with the new rolance sistem where you are all basically a poliamorus party where the only reason to romance a especific character is to unlock skills ...... Man I hate modern writing so much is the artistic equivalent of junk food pure superficial trash with no deep value

@stevenceja4706

4 күн бұрын

I'm gay and even I think every companion being pansexual is a piece of crap. Takes a lot out of the replay value of games. In Origins, Morrigan was always my go to romance but I would occasionally play a different character and romance Zevran. Even in inquisition, I would mostly romance Dorian but occasionally I would play a female character and romance Cullen because their relationship is so sweet 💛. If everyone in this game is attracted to everything, then what the hell is the point???

I don't remember where I read it, but there was a comment that said something along the lines of "if you can only imagine being in seeing yourself, than little outside yourself interests you." And self-interested people are boring.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Welcome to the age of internet - where narcissism is king. When you have 7 billion people say "Look at me" - then no one is looking at anyone except to figure out how to get more to look at themselves.

Even Baldur's Gate 3 looks more like Dragon Age than Dragon Age. How embarassing.

@djokealtena2538

9 сағат бұрын

Doom looks more like DA than DA.

Also don’t appreciate that voice cast actors like Greg Elis and Freddie Prinze jr got ousted because they don’t bend the knee to the new creatives political and social views..

@SeventhheavenDK

8 күн бұрын

I didn't know about Freedie Prinze Jr? What happened with him? However, with Greg Ellis, I remember that it actually goes beyond that. He really screwed up.

@BrightWulph

3 күн бұрын

​@@SeventhheavenDKFrom what I remember about Elis is that he was the target of an online harrassemnt campaign, because people kept conflating him with how traumatised Cullen behaved in DA2 and how he tried to change (but wasn't punished) in DA:I. Iirc, Elis's only mistake was that her verbally lashed out at the people attacking him (which included people he worked for BTW) for simply voicing a "controversial" character. If there's more to it, I'd like to know, because the above are cliffnotes I remember reading ages ago.

@tae-joon

3 күн бұрын

​@@BrightWulphdidn't he have extremely misogynistic takes and got cancelled for them? He called one fan a whore.

So the "Pride Demon" is only purple. Shouldn't they also be red, orange, yellow, green, and blue?

@Jehuty256

8 күн бұрын

Weren't the pride demons sexier too. I remember one of them being naked and hot

@ArtemisKing2468

7 күн бұрын

This is coming from a gay person . . . STOP GIVING THEM IDEAS!! 😭

@JEEPER7788

8 сағат бұрын

🤣

The new Fable looks a little better. Wait, what? That's Dragon Age? Lord, end it all now.

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

Hahahaha, TWO Fable games this year!

The end of Bioware, really. Shutdown for the best, of a ghost of a studio which is no more.

@beastness501

8 күн бұрын

Lol I thought that was anthem…. I don’t think BioWare will shut down for a long time because ea gets all that money from loot boxes sold to little kids playing their fifa/sports games in general.

I swear we live in the dumbest timeline. It feels like all new games or movies are soo stupid and/or bad! I've been relying on older content for my entertainment. Rewatching all my favorite childhood movies because I own a physical copy. Until the Dead Space remake the last new paid at full price game I got was Borderlands 3. I soon thereafter decided to play only older games or at least games on sale and so far I haven't been disappointed since. Most excellent video, Greg.

@avrivah1101

9 күн бұрын

It's not just dumb, it's insidious. We live in the Age of Activism, where politics permeates everything from sports to literature and it's only going to get worse, believe me. Everything we hate about activism has found its way into some dangerous sectors of the economy. Take hospitals, for example. Critical care services will soon be allocated on a racial basis, as was tried in the northeast during the pandemic. Buckle up, my brother.

@justtypesomethingrandom4662

8 күн бұрын

You're already succeeding by not buying their dogshit. Hell, I bought MK1 before I realised SBI infested. If a company like NetherRealm can be corrupted we basically up shits creek... The tide is turning but these clowns have infiltrated our once beloved past time. Stay vigilant. ❤️‍🔥

@DogeickBateman

8 күн бұрын

​@@avrivah1101 Allocated on a racial bias? That sounds oddly similar to a certain race-fascist nation that they love calling their conservative critics that...

@avrivah1101

8 күн бұрын

​@@DogeickBateman “Accuse your opponent of what you are doing, to create confusion and to inculcate voters against evidence of your own guilt" -Saul Alinsky, Rules for Radicals

@jw7500

7 күн бұрын

Someone hasn't taken their meds...

Another symptom of this removal of the serious dark fantasy elements (moral complexity) can be seen in the origins you can choose. I was looking forward to possibly starting the game as maybe a darker character like a Tevinter magister or maybe even a member of the Qun. Instead, the only Tevinter origin you can choose is a freedom fighter group that has only ever been mentioned in tertiary material. Can you say boring.

@Keram-io8hv

5 күн бұрын

Absolutely, I think the most evil choices will be "I disagree with your opinion"

@BrightWulph

3 күн бұрын

Same, I was hoping to be able to play as a Magister's slave who *unalives* their master in a desperate bid for freedom or a commoner or something that makes the character an underdog...but no...just boring "freedom fighter" route that is so cleche and generic these days that it takes the fun out of it.

Nothing will match the magic, dark edge and replay-ability that DA:Origins instilled.

The biggest red flag is the fact that there no true leader ship. This is also a sign in the game, during the gameplay, the boss is in the air well doing aoe attacks on the ground, what are you supposed to pay attention to

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

That's a big concern for me. The current director has been there for two years, I think. They've had big names dropping from the company for a few years and I'd be surprised if even a quarter of the people working on the game right now have been there from the beginning. That might lead to an incohesive tone and feel

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Your Wallet.

To say they hate their audience isn't really fair because this is a different bioware. Most of the OGs are not around anymore.

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

They definitely aren’t. At this point, it would be better if they renamed the company, because their past reputation is killing the new folks that obviously want to go in a new direction

@kwekuasamoah3482

9 күн бұрын

@gregowen2022 I was thinking the same. New name for the studio working on new IPs so they can be judged by their own creativity. I will be checking out this game tho cos I liked Inquisition. Love your content bro, greetings to the family.

@smeissner328

9 күн бұрын

But that's the exact reason why they hate their audience. It's a game studio that's now run by developers who don't like the audience they inherited along with the studio.

@GLJosh

9 күн бұрын

@@kwekuasamoah3482 But the only reason people buy the games is due to the IP. They want to take someone else's IP (legacy) and tell their own story because no one would buy their story otherwise. No one is lining up for "Pangenderism On-Rail Fantasy Loot Shooter 3-Now with Non-Colonizing Steampunk".

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Although quoting the 'name of a rose and smelling sweet' line would be redundant - it still remains valid. Just like the calling a rock a fish won't make it swim. Names have some power but they aren't magic.

It is such a weird decision to be inclusive by making every character a sexuality that excludes the majority of people on the planet. Gay, straight, by, whatever. Most people aren't pan sexual. Being inclusive means excluding every sexuality that isn't inclusive enough. Inclusivity would be having different characters with different sexualities, or just letting the player choose what they are interested in (the whole point of an rpg). Anywa, point is the more inclusive modern companies and societies are, the more exclusive they get. Being gay isn't inclusive enough, so no characters can be gay. They must be pan sexual.

@DustinBarlow8P

8 күн бұрын

Put a Chick in it and make her gay! -Eric Cartman

@mspointyears

7 күн бұрын

Just my theory, but I think they are using the term pansexual because if they used bisexual instead, they would have to admit something they don't want to. Honestly, I think they could have gotten around the issue by just saying that there aren't any restrictions on which party members your character can romance. Nobody would have cared then.

@Anna-B

7 күн бұрын

@@mspointyearsmy guess is they wanted them to be playersexual (which is a totally fair thing to want) but they didn’t think it was inclusive enough. That ambiguous sexuality isn’t good enough

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Your post reminds me why I tend to ignore that entire societal argument as the confusing dumpster fire that it is. (This is a complement in case the entire thing is too confusing)

@spaghetto9836

3 күн бұрын

​@@Anna-BI agree with you & the commenter above you. It's just better to say "You can romance any party member" if you don't wanna further customize mechanics bc you're lazy. I actually prefer it when they're not all canonically pan, but player-sexual, bc I can imagine each having the orientation I want based on who I'm romancing + who I play as atm, for RPG's sake. Like, folks might tell you every team member in BG3 is pan, and they technically are, but lots of players see Astarion as either gay or closeted asexual. It seems the writers were inclining that way, with the "Idek if I want anyone to see me in terms of sex" comment, though that can be interpreted differently.

I recently learned what "queer" meant very recently. This gay comedian explained it. He said, "the difference between gay and queer is about 50 pounds" and explained it's an umbrella term used by anyone who's ugly, and uses the label because it's shorter than saying "hey, I'm really desperate for sex"

@NickSargent-cy1il

8 күн бұрын

Hilarious.

@docmacabre

8 күн бұрын

Oh, I think, I know who you're talking about. He also called the queers the Karens of the LGBT community, and I fully agree

I was a tween boy once. I've pretty much been over it for decades now and am quite annoyed and bored with this same hyper-sexualized world view being forced upon everyone. I don't know why their brains never fully developed out of this stage. The romances in DA:O and MA were charming and endearing but now all we get is objectifying from people who are unable to see themselves or others as anything other than labeled objects.

Dragqueen Age: The Vileguard

@digthesechild-bearinghipsb2842

8 күн бұрын

More like Failfart

I blame D&D getting popular with bigger audiences. Same with Star Wars. Its cool to be a "nerd" now. This new game direction feels like " LOL Im so nerdy Tiny Tina's Wonderland and Vox Machina are my whole personality"

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

I finally got TTW on sale and wanted to see what this developer was doing. Not my cup of tea. Are more and more games under the impression every release is best created as an amusement park of unconnected activities all painted up as if they were? Systems existing for their own sake and not for the sake of story.

@sarahnantz1364

5 күн бұрын

That's not an excuse in my opinion. Companies need to stop riding on the coattails of other popular media and stick to their guns when it comes to what people already loved and valued them for. A complete miss of the mark. Really just seems like the people in charge are CLUELESS. And even then, if they were to listen to us die hard fans over the past decade, they'd know that this is so far from what was needed. I'm convinced that the people now working for Bioware are both blind and deaf 👀

@BrightWulph

3 күн бұрын

I hate that the things that used to get me bullied in school, (pokemon, card games, comics, video games) are now popular and becoming destroyed by the mega corps who just want to get rich.

So we have a mentally ill game director who believes in the plodding team mediocrity attitude of many large companies who is making a new game because they don't understand the old game. Awesome.

Look, no one is saying you can’t craft a more personal head-canon for your favourite book, film, game. When we like something we use our imaginations and try to include ourselves; that’s part of being a fan. You love something so much, you want to join in. However, your head-canon is yours. It does not overwrite the original work - the canon. It’s easy to feel a connection to something that moves you emotionally, but that doesn’t make it exclusively yours or “coded” to you. Fandoms are a shared universe. Loads of fans have their head-canon and that’s cool, but the original material must be respected. If you don’t, you’ll soon go from a series selling millions of copies, to a series bombing because it appeals to one sole vision. You’ve pushed out everyone else … in this case paying customers … that is not a fan … I adored the rendition of Scout Harding in Inquisition. A hard working, professional scout who started as a farmer and developed a positive working relationship with the Inquisitor and then their friend. She could have just been your standard signpost NPC, but some people at BioWare invested in making her more than that and the audience loved it. Now, we have “Grizzled Harding” for the trailer. I don’t recognise our earnest, humorous friend from the earlier game. Hard-drinking. Hard-brawling. Sassy-ass. That is not Scout Harding. As for Varric having a beard … don’t get me started on not recognising your own lore. It doesn’t surprise me to learn Varric’s creator is no longer with BioWare. Again, making an established character change like some multifunction jigsaw piece. Again, that is not Varric, that’s a clone, Varric-01234. I do want to congratulate them on the positive aspects, as you say. No “surprise mechanics”, no always online, or live service rubbish. Doesn’t it just feel odd though to praise them for what should be the basics though? Great video. Great talking points. Keep up the spectacular work.

How is it a rare thing for the alphabet people to be represented? They are shoved in every product pretty solidly for the last 5 years.

@gregowen2022

8 күн бұрын

Yeah, I feel like that talking point is starting to wear thin now. It was valid 15 years ago, maybe, but certainly not today.

Finally someone whose speaking facts… all I’ve been getting is recommendations of how great the game is going to be and blah blah blah no calling out the “modern audience” bs injected into the game. It’s safe to assume ALL triple a companies hate their fans. Except maybe larian, which has only recently become triple a. I mean, we’ve even seen cdpr hire Anna megil (the person who wrote on the flop avatar game) as their HEAD WRITER for their next cyberpunk game; as well as even directly saying they’re making their games for “modern audiences” if larian falls there will truly be no triple a companies standing.

I think the greatest tidbit of information received in this video is that there are cheeseburger mugs available at your local Hobby Lobby. Thanks Greg's Wife! 🤘😃

When ea bought them and pushed out Mass effect 2 is when the enshitification began, I was there.

@stevereynolds5684

9 күн бұрын

Mass Effect 2 was mostly finished before EA. It was more or less intended as presented. It was pretty good, choices still felt like they mattered. It was 3 where the actual feeling of things mattering was completely dumped.

@DoubleDiesel

9 күн бұрын

@@stevereynolds5684 I completely disagree, I know that’s what they claimed, but the writing of me2 is hot garbage. Totally undercooked product that ea forced bioware to push out. The hack journos all praised it at the time because the combat was more “fun”.

@DoubleDiesel

9 күн бұрын

@stevereynolds5684 Completely disagree, ea forced bioware to rush out me2 right after they bought them, the drop in quality of the writing and “streamlining” of the gameplay is immediately apparent.

I'm getting some serious Redfall vibes here, and we all know how that went.

The #1 clue to me to check out of this game was the relegation of "The Warden" to just another party member. The whole "origin" of the story was about the Grey Wardens. It'd be like playing "The Witcher" when you're not a Witcher. They can't seem to pick a story direction and stick to it, same thing with gameplay. Each game they keep changing direction. It feels so disconnected and disjointed now they don't even feel like they are part of the same series to me anymore.

@slappypants69

7 күн бұрын

There's a warden as a party member inquisition as well. I feel like very few people who are criticizing the trailers have actually played the games

My personal favorite thing about the fact this game is coming out, is that I, a person that had never played Dragon Age, just got the 3 original games 90% off in a sale. So it's time for me to sink my teeth into those! I may pick this up after all reviews and things (and the inevitable patching of issues) go out.

@WC-PO

9 күн бұрын

I'm jealous! I'd give an arm and a leg to be able to play Dragon Age for the first time all over again. Especially without having to wait 2-10 years between games.

@daffupanda2294

8 күн бұрын

@@WC-PO Oh, I am looking forward to it! I have heard good things about them, and figured it's likely to be better than almost anything sold at the moment anyways!

@SeventhheavenDK

8 күн бұрын

Just be careful. Are you playing on PC? I have heard and read that Dragon Age Origins PC version is unplayable on modern PCs, it crashes all the time. You need a third party software and then some tweaks to make it work. I play Origins in my PS3, it works perfectly there, so I haven't had the experience on PC, but a friend bought the PC version and confirmed that it indeed has glaring performance issues, because Bioware couldn't bother to update the game to work on modern PCs

@daffupanda2294

8 күн бұрын

@@SeventhheavenDK I am indeed, actually. Steam had a 90% off sale on the franchise and I legitimately picked it up probably.... 10 hours before watching this video. I will have to peek at the gram crashes. My pc seems to handle newer stuff just fine but... that doesn't mean anything. I will go peek! Thanks a ton for the heads up!

@codyvandal2860

8 күн бұрын

@@daffupanda2294 there are some unofficial patches that help but sadly he is right, for most windows 11 users dragon age origins runs quite badly, or crashes and so forth. It's by far the best game in the series so that is unfortunate

Dropping Bioshock references is tight!

@techromancerzero2709

8 күн бұрын

Saw what you did there, Mr. Producer.

@alessandrobaggi6129

8 күн бұрын

"Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah..." 🤓📋

@quentinchambon9362

3 күн бұрын

What is sure is that is was Barely an inconvennience

Greg, as a fellow Dad, you have great taste

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

I appreciate that very much!

@HopeAbandoned

9 күн бұрын

100% agree with this. Awesome video as usual!

Its both an incredible time to be a RPG fan.....and a terrible time. We got BG3 and some good AA titles......but on the other hand if you are a older RPG fan who grew up with Bioware being your favorite PC developer, and Square Enix being your favorite console developer, you really cant help but feel a sense of existential dread.

6:00 What we have here is Dragon Age: Andromeda. I guess the wizards at BINO (Bioware in Name Only) didn't learn their lesson from the Mass Effect: Andromeda debacle (and the aforementioned game for which ME:A was a tech demo for, Anthem), they think they can repeat it in Dragon Age. Bioware-EA have very little fans left for their games. The "Nu" audience is not coming.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

When effective profit becomes unsatisfactory, then feeding greed becomes king and everything else becomes food. Once you begin eating your cooks, it's just a matter of time . . . .

In regards to there being a cast of varying sexualities in these games: I think it’s incredibly telling how unqualified the new developers at BioWare are to make RPGs by how mind blown they seem at the concept of a ROLE PLAYING game giving you options to role play

This looks like the kind of game that will pretend to have stealth elements and deep crafting just to get them on the box. The original Dragon Age was a great blend of tactical combat and a story you cared about. Dragon Age 2 was an experiment that failed, and Inquisition felt like an experiment they realized would fail so they changed direction at the last minute. But this? This isn't Dragon Age. This is Dragon Age Cosplay. If they hadn't insisted so hard that it was single player and offline I'd expect Twitch integration to help decide what demons spawn. Because the audience watching you game is more important than the handcrafted experience and story. And honestly, I'm half still expecting it.

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

Cosplay is King right now - everywhere you look - Film, TV, Internet, Games. Kids got too old to play with their 'Barbie's' so now use film, tv, games, etc. as their new toy houses to play out their personal fantasies. Yep. A certain function of maturity has been deleted from (western) society.

The downfall of bioware started when they sold their company to EA. During ME2 development it was the end of the golden age because they fired most of their last bits of competent staff and replacing them with no skill yes-men and from ME2 onwards its just dreadful and getting worse and worse.

I put in a funny little comment in my Dragon Age Origins analysis script that I believe will age like fine wine: "Who the fuck are you marketing this towards, because it's absolutely not the people that used to buy your games."

Robert Conquest said: "To understand the behavior of any bureaucratic organization, assume it is controlled by a cabal of its enemies." It also explains the last five years of game development.

*takes a break from getting my butt kicked in a video game to listen to Greg talk about video games*

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

I’m dying to get home and get my butt kicked. Shadowed Lands, here I come!

Thank you for pointing out the hack n slash combat. I hate it lol. I miss the Bioware that made Kotor 1&2, Mass Effect 1-3, and Dragon Age Origins. 2 at the time bummed me out, but now, after seeing this, it's that Thanos meme--perhaps I treated you too harshly lol. Great video Greg!

Me: I don't want Comic Characters. BioWare: Comic Charaters, check! Me: I don't want ME3 1st person Combat. BioWare: 1st person Combat, check! Me: I don't want cringe comments from companions. BioWare: cringe comments, check! Me: And also BG3 exists. BioWare : Who? Me: After 10 years in development I want a really good RPG! BioWare - Gone

I find it interesting how they mention the companions hooking up with each other as if it's new to Dragon Age......when it happens to multiple companions in Inquisition. Sera [who is a lesbian] and Cole find soulmates, Blackwall and Josephine have feelings for each other, but decide not to act on them cause they feel it's inappropriate, Dorian [who is gay] and Iron Bull get together, with their epilogue mentioning Iron Bull marched into Tevinter with his Chargers when he heard Dorian was in trouble and rescued him. This is not new AT ALL, even homosexual pairings within the companions are not new at all.

Just discovered your channel and watched a whole bunch, Wanted to compliment you on far you’ve come & how much you’ve improved: pacing, wittiness, comfort in front of the camera. So good Greg, keep it up!

To be fair, Resident Evil went after the Call of Duty crowd with 4, 5, and 6 and all of them easily outsold the earlier entrees.

@ASpooneyBard

9 күн бұрын

True. But somebody in charge realized that the series had completely lost its identity and that that was, in fact, a bad thing, after 6 didn't do as well as they hoped. At least those games were fun to play. "Gameplay" is always the right answer If they HAVE to prioritize something.

@DemonKingCozar

9 күн бұрын

@@ASpooneyBard 6 did add moving and shooting. As well as rolling, diving, sliding, running, and parrying. They might've went too far there.

@LoganChristianson

8 күн бұрын

You're giving too much credit to 6 - it damn near killed the franchise. It took 7 being a reboot that brought it back to its survival horror roots that revived the entire series.

@DemonKingCozar

8 күн бұрын

@@LoganChristianson I think on an integrity scale it did but it didn't bankrupt the franchise. It's kind of like Gears 5 or Halo 5 but I actually think there is a good game somewhere in 6. It just got lost inside all of the QTEs and action scenes. 6 did sell something like 13 million copies over all its versions, that is more than the first set of survival horror games. So give it credit where it's due

@terrylandess6072

7 күн бұрын

The responses to this make me wonder which game of the two is being talked about. Didn't COD have zombies? I don't know - I stopped playing after 2 when they dropped the spawning squad mates in single player and went for arena styled gameplay cosplaying as military combat.

The Wayward Realms is the only game that aims to accurately represent medieval fantasy cities. It's on Kickstarter now.

Some of my best memories from Dragon Age: Origins, and also DA2 and Inquisition (for all their flaws) happened when my character was dead and it was up to my teammates to continue the fight. Like Sten solotanking the Archdemon while chugging health potions like an addict or Vivienne showing why Knight Enchanter in Inquisition is broken against dragons.

It looks like they made Dragon Age 2 all over again. My whole Dragon Age experience has been waiting for an actual sequel to Origins instead of whatever the heck they've been doing to this series for years.

@rapmonied

3 күн бұрын

it has been *15 years* either accept that it has changed or move on holy shit.

@blackcat7k

3 күн бұрын

@@rapmonied Don't worry. Many will. Move on that is.

Glad I am planning on buying the Mass Effect Legendary edition PS4/5 so I can remember when Bioware was a great company.

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

Before the dark times…… My hope of ever going back to that is gone. Hopefully the folks who left over the last couple years will form something like Obsidian

You've perfectly described my feelings towards the trailer...makes me very sad that over the past 11 years, this is what they had for us. Their goal was to move in a more "Origins" direction, and they went for Overwatch vibes instead. Nearly heartbreaking man...how are they THAT disconnected??? Who's choice was this? Why didn't anyone say anything when they thought this was a good idea?

It seems like Corinne and her friends saw Arcane one day and decided they really wanted to work at Riot, only Riot wasn't hiring, and neither was Epic, nor Blizzard, nor the company that makes Paladins... Eventually, they ended up at BioWare.

I'm a longtime Dragon Age fan (My first tattoo on my 18th birthday says "Grey Warden") and it's been... rough. DA2 was robbed of having a lot of substance (I still want them to remake it with all the stuff they had to cut and cut Felicia Day's character while they're at it lol) and Inquisition had its strengths but it was obviously not done by the same group as Origins. Veilguard is just more "Guardians of the Galaxy"-style humor and pacing. It's like all games are trying to be Guardians but they're actually more like Borderlands because the GotG game was actually solid and Borderlands fell apart because they tried to do that "we're so cool and different you guys" thing. Edit: About the "all characters are pansexual" thing, that's just pandering. I remember having friends who would get mad when characters had assigned sexualities in Origins and Inquisition because "well he should be gay because I'm gay and I want him to be gay" when... well, you can't make yourself be straight, why make this character that was written to be straight be gay? That describes the Bridgerton thing, it's just the "I have emotional baggage and I'm in control of the project so I can finally do what exactly I want and feel and screw everyone else" mindset. I DO understand the whole "you gotta get to a certain relationship point for companions to get additional skills" thing, though. That's been a Bioware thing for a long time. You make friends (or frenemies in the case of DAII) with people, they get additional abilities/outfits/etc. That's fine.

In my headcannon the series ended at Origins

Game Informer revealed the title change was also because Solas - the Dreadwolf himself - is not even the villain. It will be other Evanuris. I feel like that was not the original plan. But why make the main villain a former friend with complex motivations when you can have generic baddies?

glad I wasn't the only one ticked off by the "gay woman identified with quiet character so quiet character is gay now" thing

A slave obeys.

One of the things that always puzzles me is when companies want to change their own franchises to try to look appealing to a wider audience. The final fantasy series is an example of this. Fans want the turn base system for FF not the action based system but for some reason Square thinks that an action based system is better because its what their audience wants and they are wrong. Elden Ring is a real good example of what allot of companies should be doing. It is a hard game with a dark mid evil violent tone but fromsoftware didn't need to change their formula to fit a wider audience and till this day is the biggest game of the year.

I remember when Dragon Age was a morally dark fantasy where the source of the Blight and how it affected everyone was the thing. Remember Blights? Are Grey Wardens even a thing anymore?

@matthewtanous7905

6 күн бұрын

And geez, I am so tired of dodge and slash. So, so tired.

I've read the interview where they basically confirmed, that solas won't be an antagonist, because he will be trapped in the fade and other two elven gods (probably female, hard to tell by names) will be actual enemies. Hence they scrapped "Dreadwolf" - because there isn't the "Dreadwolf" in the story. Solas and protagonist will have a "telepathic bond" and that's pretty much all. And that varrick isn't part of the team (probably only an npc at best, at worst he's dead or sulking because they broke bianca) is a travesty.

@gregowen2022

8 күн бұрын

They bungled the Solas story so badly. They saved his real ending for the trespasser DLC, which I didn't bother to play because I had had more than enough Inquisition. Now they want people to be invested in this gameplay showing Solas, when most of the audience doesn't have a reason to care. And the people that do care now find out that the conclusion to the story they wanted won't be happening. Basically, BioWare made a story and trailer for no one.

Don't worry, most of us still feel about this new DA the same after the gameplay reveal as after the 1st trailer. It's gonna be a pile of sh*t. -__- :D The BioWare we knew, long gone. And the original core team members of BioWare coincidentally started to move (escape), just around EA bought them... Sadly BioWare is just a sinking ship since.

I loved the concept of Anthem and was heartbroken on how bad it was. It got so bad that I didn't care when they shut it all down.

@gregowen2022

9 күн бұрын

I was the same. The trailer did look really cool, and a jetpack shooter is a great concept. Then I played the open beta, and they somehow screwed that concept up. They never could find the fun

@paininthepatoot

9 күн бұрын

@@gregowen2022 Who doesn't want to be Iron Man.

I'm still waiting for publishers to have the characters do KZread style ad-read segues, to keep it "organic". "Wait, you need a shield. Just like Surfshark shields your data."

@gregowen2022

7 күн бұрын

HAHAHA. That would be kind of hilarious and amazing. At first. "Our enemy draws near, and I know you're hungry for revenge. When I get hungry, Blue Apron makes it easy to prepare a quick and fulfilling dinner." Oh man, someone get VLDL to make this a skit.

I think BioWare jumped the shark at Dragon Age Awakening. If you play it straight after Origins, you'll end up noticing the first signs of Andromeditis: its combat is lackluster and unbalanced, its characters are flat (especially obvious with Oghren, who is a caricature of his former self), its writing in general goes for sensationalism and coolness rather than a deep examination of themes like Origins did. These problems weren't noticeable in ME3. But it's very obvious in Dragon Age 2, which takes place in a completely unexplored part of the setting and has _huge_ problems with steering its plot and its worldbuilding in the same direction.

I appreciate you using the factually correct pronouns.

Ok but why is it at my Japanese manufacturing company we focus on meticulous customer feed back and quality control and we are known for quality…. What do you think my Japanese overlords would do to this American based company if we just throw out the data rules and engineering we’d built up for almost 75 years now and said fuck it we’re going to put out what we want because we’re amazing and smart? We’d be fired and shut down immediately huh maybe that’s why Godzilla minus one was soo good and cheap to boot

“I’m pretty sure I could frame a house with that delivery” 😂 Thankfully there are still great writers in this world. Unfortunately none of them seems to work in modern mainstream media. Not in movies, not tv, not the press and certainly not in gaming.

5:10 To be fair, the audience they are chasing is not imaginary. After origins they have tried to go for the Mass Effect audience. Pretty much everything they've done starting with DA2 seems to have tried to make Dragon age more like Mass effect: more action oriented combat, simplified rpg mechanics, dialogue wheel etc. There are a few issues with this direction. Mainly the style of action: Mass effect could pull off its combat because making a semi competent cover shooter is relatively simple. But for Dragon age, in order for the action to carry the gameplay, you'd need something similar to Elden Ring or Dragons Dogma. That's a lot harder to do, and Bioware hasn't been able to pull it off thusfar. With mmo level action and stripped of deeper rpg systems, there just isn't any mechanical depth to the games. Now, if the gameplay isn't stellar, the game csn still be good. Planescape: Torment and original Fallout are true classics, even though their gameplay is kinda sucky by todays standards. The problem is that Bioware has lost too much talent to deliver on the content front either.

The "You have to invest in the relationships in order to unlock skills" seems like an (poorly done) attempt to mimic Persona 5 Social Link system. In that game, investing in relationship quests unlocks bonuses that make your playthrough easier and that is on of the game's shortcomings imo, since sometimes you NEED to spend time with a character you don't really like because the bonus skill locked behind the Social Link is just that essential. Here it seems to be even worse, since you'd be locked with an useless character unless you actually spend time with them. "Oh but if you don't like them, you'd probably not use them anyway", I hope that's the case because lord knows I've played a plethora of RPGs that force a specific character in your party at times.

@SeventhheavenDK

8 күн бұрын

I don't like this either, because I play the Dragon Age games by following the personality of my main character, I am not playing seeking to please my companions, I find it more immersive that my character gets along with some and doesn't get along with others. I think only Origins is the one that my character gets along with all of them, despite being a ruthless and pragmatic character. But in DA2, Fenris betrays me for example. In Inquisition, my character ends with only Cassandra, Varric and Vivianne in the party, (and Iron Bull too until he betrays us), and my Inquisitor never gets along with Solas. But I still use the characters, so I don't want them to force me to be nice with them just to progress with their skills.

The companies are all now to the point of doubling, tripling, and quadrupling down on the New Coke Mentality they invested everything in over the past decade.

Greg, non-topical comment here, as I'm not a gamer, just a sixty-something freelance industrial automation programmer and father of six. I've watched a lot of your videos now, and enjoyed them. There are a lot of bright people in the online review space, but you're an outlier -- in a good way -- both for your insights and, frankly, for your obvious decency. Well done. -- Hank

You know, I'm suddenly seeing a lot of similarity in this and Saint's Row... And we all remember how that turned out.

Dragon Age 1 was amazing! Dragon Age 2 was acceptable (i liked the gameplay). Inquisition was something I guess.

Eveyone loves the characters of ALL Dragon Age games, in no small part BECAUSE they have defined sexualities. Sera from Dragon Age: Inquisition(DA:I) is a lesbian, this means that through her own agency and through your friendship growing, if you are male you can become great friends in a platonic relationship. Morrigan from DA:O is straight, and if we are a female warden, we can be great gal-pals. It's annoying seeing BioWare not remember that the exclusion of boning is also good. There's a reason why I kinda fell off of BA3 with everyone wanting to waggle my dwarven sceptre, just because I was oathbound to be nice to everybody. Also, it's sad seeing every character become the same character with a different hight and skin tone.

I feel like they are treating us all like we are 9 years old. "Click this and win" This does not feel anything like Dragon Age. I wanted the story to continue. Are we just assuming that our character died off camera, and she never got to find Solace? That is just sad. I hope there is something more than that about the end of Inquisition.

I heard recently something that goes like this. "Dragon Age: Origins was marketed towards tweny years olds in 2009. Dragon Age: Veilguard is marketed towards tweny years olds in 2024". The biggest difference is that Dragon Age: Origins was marketed as an Edgy and Gritty RPG while Veilguard is being marketed as fun and exciting Action Game with an ensemble cast of fun misfits.

As far as I’m concerned, Greg, if someone is adapting source material, it doesn’t matter what it is if you did not make it, you are to stick as close to the source material as humanly possible doing otherwise changing things unnecessarily is narcissistic and disrespectful. This is what Hollywood has been doing for decades, and it is been slowly and surely piss me off even more.

Did no one at Bioware play Baldur's Gate 3?

@Doomwolf82002

8 күн бұрын

I see what you're saying but the thing is this game was trapped in development hell for over a decade, during which time it went through several creative directors before its current one.

@davidglenn2739

2 күн бұрын

@@Doomwolf82002 That's true, the game would have been in development well before BG3 was released. Good point.

I don’t Andrew was speaking to the consumers. Most likely to investors.

I recently gotten into the Falcom Games like Trails of Cold Steel/ Zero etc and they have Amazing Characters, Story and Worldbuilding. There are Gems out there who arent known that well in The West who produce high quality Games.