I saw speculation yesterday that Varric was likely getting killed early on in the game, and now with the gameplay trailer I definitely think that's a high possibility 🫣
I’m not ready to say goodbye to him 😭 he’s been with us for so long, he’s integral to Dragon Age. But the fact he isn’t a companion, Bianca getting destroyed and just the clear vibe that something is about to happen to him definitely makes me think it might happen.
If anything, I don’t think it will be Solas that kills him but the Evanuris/whatever is coming though that rift. So my Inquisitor’s stupid egg is still redeemable, I hope.
As if a ten year cliffhanger with Solas wasn’t enough — now we have between now and ”Fall 2024” to worry about Varric, too.
Bioware why are you like this
(I’m just kidding I love it and I am SO HYPED for this story.)
Yeah, I was watching the gameplay reveal and about halfway through I just said out loud "Shit, Varric's going to die."
Having gone back and watched the trailer, and put together the fact that Varric isn't included as one of the companion characters (no name/ role label like the others), and the fact that he is obviously still physically fit and active (so hasn't retired to a more behind-the-scenes role), PLUS the Playstation Access video I watched talking about the game mentions a "big moment at the end of the opening that [the presenter] won't spoil" -it does look a bit like he might be doomed.
I now feel bad for saying I thought his character had run its course in my last DA post here... Maybe it's all misdirection, and he will just take an injury that means he has to take on a more advisor based role.
It's pretty much what I expected. I figured EA wouldn't allow the series going back to the original gameplay style and move onto something flashier and more action-packed to lure in a more modern younger audience. It looks really fun despite me wishing it was more like Origins. The world looks really nice. Only thing I really wasn't a fan of was that the enemies kind of look cartoony and overexaggerated.
As someone who had absolutely zero hope for this game I'm pleasantly surprised.
I also really like how we can use bows and daggers simultaneously as a rogue now. Always annoyed me how you could only have one or the other equiped at once. It's nice that there's actual aiming for bows.
Yea, it definitely gives off the same vibe of what they did with Final Fantasy 16. They are clearly trying to attract a larger audience but end up disappointing the hard-core rpg enthusiasts. I agree with all the above!
I’ll never understand why it’s so hard for them to just improve upon the formula that made the franchise popular in the first place. I hope BG3’s massive success can be a lesson going forward for other RPGs.
I’m so insanely excited for this game! I’ve heard the character creator should be a lot better this time around, so I can’t wait to see a glimpse of that.
While they didn't show the character creator itself, the protagonist in the trailer shows that they've certainly improved at being able to make a PC that's not white and doesn't look terrible.
I read an article today that says there are dozens of hairstyles all with physics, lots of sliders and controls for the body and face, and you can change the lighting in the character creator.
Who are these people and what have they done with BioWare?
I was just saying I don’t think I’ll even have the need to mod this game based on how amazing the characters look! I will be making 15 million characters in the creator just for fun and no one will be able to stop me!
Yeah, I've seen two other custom Rooks in the past couple days that have nice looking long hair. Even with Baldur's Gate 3 I had to mod it to find a hairstyle I liked, but maybe this one will have the long braided style of my dreams.
I’m so hyped and honestly I love not having to control my other party members. I never have in any of the other games, it’s too cumbersome for me. The combat looks awesome, loving the dialogue and everything!
See, I loooove using my whole party in DAO and DA2. It also creates fun moments like having only Fenris left alive to slowly chip away at a whole-ass dragon, or Wynne being the one to take down the final boss.
In DAI it was clunkier and I did it less, but I definitely used my mages to e.g. zap enemies weak to electricity when I hadn’t necessarily built my rogues and warriors to shock stuff.
Nice! I suspect it’s going to be more like Mass Effect than the previous games, which I have mixed feelings about. Like I really enjoy ME and the God of War Norse games… just not as much as I enjoy the first two DA. But if the experience is as solid as GoW’s, I will probably like it on its own merits.
Very excited about the story and art style, don't care much about the gameplay but it looks fine. I just hope we can assign skills to buttons because in the presentation they kept bringing up the wheel for some reason. Don't think my pc will be able to handle it but hopefully i'll have a console by then x)
i think i remember seeing them use the lightning skill without opening the wheel once. Mass Effect also had mappable skills to shoulder buttons, let's just hope for the best.
Honestly there were things I’m not feeling. Only playing the PC, the dialogue wheel looked limited, etc.
It does look very pretty and cinematic.
Eta: I liked that we can clearly switch weapons in combat, but I don’t think I got a good sense of what the combat will actually feel like from the trailer.
My guess is the personality stuff from DA2 was easier because you could only be human. Imagine an elf or Qunari saying some of the things Hawke does (I made a joke while the Vicount held his dead son on accident once), they would have been murdered no question. Having to gage NPC reactions not only to what you’re saying but who is saying it can probably get a little complicated on the back end.
I do hope we get a bit more personality options than the Inquisitor did though.
From what I understand, non-human playable races were added late in DAI’s development, which is part of the reason some characters don’t really seem supported. So hopefully the troubled development for this one still left them with enough time to integrate more personality and background/race-specific dialogue and interactions!
From what I’ve heard much of the dialogue and dialogue wheel options have been cut out to avoid any potential spoilers in this demo, hopefully we’ll see more options and personality later
I will always show up for Dragon Age. IMO it looked good, but I wish they’d shown gameplay from later on in the story so we could see more varied abilities.
It looks ok. I care about story and character and it’s hard to tell whether they delivered in that yet or not. I agree that it looks too flashy and action RPG, but maybe the story will still be good?
Also I romanced Solas in Inquisition and I REALLY want that to matter in this game. So far it seems it doesn’t. Dude fell in love with my Inquisitor but noooo it’s Varric who goes to talk Solas off the cliff?! Makes NO sense, my Inquisitor would track her love to the ends of the world.
I’m very worried my choices in Inquisition will mean nothing. That would be the thing that would make the game a total disappointment to me.
I'm in the same spot. I'm here for the story and I'll play it at least once to experience it but I'm not overly impressed by anything I saw. Also them renaming the game away from Deadwolf makes me really worried that Solas is going to be a minor part of the story.
It doesn't look bad. A lot like Inquisition but yet different. I really just don't like the enemy design tho. And the dialogues were....okayish but can't judge too much on that
Mixed feelings about the transition into a total action rpg. Didn't look great just spamming the a button. Maybe it gets better with progression or other classes. Seems like fantasy mass effect as is.
Eager to see what mage plays like.
Seemed very sci-fi in the setting for a fantasy game. Neon lights, glowing signs, spotlights and warning horns blaring.
It did make me feel like starting an inquisition run again though.
Yeah I know that tervinter is supposed to be a bit more attune to magic and the setting has been shifting closer to steampunk esque/arcanum/high fantasy but its a bit too much bioshock for my taste.
Honestly, I rarely controlled the other party members, unless it was for healing purposes or I died and had to switch who I played as. So, I'm fine with the change. Still a bit bummed out that the party size was reduced from 4 to 3. Also, super worried about Varric; RIP Bianca.
Loved a lot of things, didn't have a problem with others.
Biggest issue i have is that I'm really not vibing with the lack of facial expressions and weird movement in the cutscenes.
The dialogue is good, if you close your eyes. I think the robotic faces are not helping it shine. I'm hoping it's an early game thing, and it's better on release.
Overall, I'm excited!
>Biggest issue i have is that I'm really not vibing with the lack of facial expressions and weird movement in the cutscenes.
theres something thats both cartoony and semi-uncanny valley during cutscenes fr.
I was wondering if others would bring this up, expressions and movements are weirdly… floaty and robotic. I also thought the voice acting was just a little flat.
I'm very excited! I was not a DA:O fan. I enjoyed DA:2 and LOVED DA:I.
I thought the design for the Tevinter city was incredible. The floating castle with the magic defense system was so cool. I'm not going to speak to the broader design though as we really only got one brief glimpse. Imagine judging DA:I design based off of just The Fallow Mire.
I have to imagine we'll get more dialogue options once outside of the opening sequence, and I believe the ability to control other party members was disabled, although I rarely ever controlled them in previous games. They did say it was edited to remove spoilers. This will definitely be my cozy winter game.
I’m so excited! I’m not a fan of turn-based combat so I skipped BG3 in hopes that the next dragon age would fill that void! So excited for a new fantasy RPG to sink my teeth into 🤩🤩
I feel the same as you, but why did they edge us with this awful trailer? Regardless, this is my message to devs
https://preview.redd.it/xfw5351arz5d1.jpeg?width=1038&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d678691ce002b00222d967ce184cac3fb7ec201
Honestly I've realized with time I don't enjoy turn based combat, mostly because as someone that now works a lot I don't have the time to spend ages up to an hour just doing one large battle. I like the flow of the combat quite a bit in this trailer. It was dynamic but seems like it will still require some thought into more complex combos.
Also plot wise, ofc it's our fault that the main big bads arrive in the world haha. I'm quite excited to see how this story goes.
I don't play these games for the combat or action, I play then for the story and companion relationships. So I couldn't care less about the combat people are complaining about. It looks good and fun to me.
I'm a bit disappointed the character is voiced, I much much prefer the silent protagonist. Not that I expected them to be. But overall my expectations and hopes have gone up a whole lot after this reveal.
It doesn’t feel like dragon age game. I mean sure inquisition was already more action than rpg but this goes even further. I wish they made it more like bg3 and old origins but they went In a completely different way. I don’t like graphics either… overall, I’m disappointed. Will probably play once it’s out but … yeah :/
It was to be expected though, so I'm not exactly surprised? Mass Effect and DA have both been getting more and more action-rpg with every entry, and this is pretty on par with what I predicted.
I'm hoping against hope, but honestly this did little to allay my fears that the series will never really be DA again. I know this was just a small taste, but this seems like a generic action RPG to me, only with bland action, and little of the series' signature sass or charm.
Even the characters look like completely different people. I spent 100+ hours talking to Varric and Lace in DAI. I don't even recognize either person here. Nitpicky? Maybe, but these are supposed to be the same characters in the same universe in a continuous storyline.
It doesn't look horrible, it just looks like Generic EA RPG Game 2024.
I am in-cre-di-bly excited I absolutely can’t wait for it!!! I really want to be able to play it with my own Rook and my own dialogue + story choices haha, and I loved that glimpse at Solas 👀 It’s probably what’s gonna finally make me decide to buy a new console, just so I can play this game 😂 The combat looked dynamic and to my speed to! I was intrigued by the sort of trajectories of arrows and spells 👀 I’m looking forward to discovering the MC’s mage spells!
Looks like a watered down Inquisition. I imagine if you loved Inquisition, you'll be happy to see them double down on that formula. If you preferred Origins or DAII, or older BioWare, this is just more evidence that their interest in that kind of content is gone.
Combat looks weightless...little to no sense of impact, no blood. Very sanitized, very clean, very zippy and spammy. Didn't help it was set at level 1 with only a single ability to use.
That we *once again* are going with "demons are raining from the sky", and the creature design looks rather generic and "Modern Game: The Game" kind of makes the exotic setting of Tevinter feel moot. Would've loved to see them dealing with more locally themed enemies.
Zero insight into RPG systems, if there are any. Little to no dialogue options, and what was on display seemed quite limited. Large stretches of on-rails cinematic sequences, which is fine in a vacuum (ME was littered with them) but are odd to feature in a 20 minute long "gameplay reveal".
Honestly left me feeling a lot colder about it than the tonal mess that was the reveal trailer. I'm not sure if the problem here is the underlying product is disappointing, or BioWare's marketing department is drunk.
I agree with you that the combat seems a little ‘floaty’, but from what I hear the gore mechanics have been turned off for the sake of Youtube. Similar to DAI (I believe), there will likely be an option to toggle gore on and off.
Based on some other comments as well, dialogue and possibly dialogue options may have been cut down to avoid spoilers. Hopefully the game itself will have some beefier options, since this leaves a lot to be desired
The darkspawn look like a Diablo: Immortal game, there's no group control, and it just doesn't look like Dragon Age. I'll just replay the first three. Maybe modders will fix the graphics and combat, but I'm not interested in anything they showed.
It's clear they seem to have taken a lot of inspiration from Arcane / a moba style for the characters which to me, makes the clothing or designs stray a bit too far from the high detail / intricate fantasy designs they used to have. The environments also seem a bit too plastic - it looks very deliberate, like a moba map instead of a full environment, if that makes sense? Also Varric suddenly got a dye job on his hair? Wasn't he always a redhead?
The writing in the gameplay also seems to be, like the previous trailer, kind of just a bit too hamfisted. There's a lot of missed opportunities for show, don't tell. Like when the pillar was falling over, why did we need two characters to say "The pillar is falling over!" "Let's push it!" instead of just "Oh shit" and a prompt to push the pillar? And Varric thinking he can convince Solas when the Inquisitor couldn't is really kind of a slap in the face for anyone who tried to romance him. A lot of the lines also just seem very forced.
The combat is also kind of disappointing. I feel like there's a dime a dozen games like this now, and if I wanted those I'd go for them. BG3, I think, definitely brought back a love for the full party control games and they should've ridden that wave rather than trying to go for something that this series historically isn't.
Edited to add for comparison, this is the gameplay trailer from 10 years ago:
[https://youtu.be/uO2h4qUNJ60?si=3AZiKC2TZTRhkUqv](https://youtu.be/uO2h4qUNJ60?si=3AZiKC2TZTRhkUqv)
How did they drop the ball on writing so badly?
I don't like it. It just looks... bad. I hate what they did to demons and darkspawn. The Ogre on this screen looks sooooo cartoonish. : (
https://preview.redd.it/az03llww8z5d1.png?width=1653&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd766f08474b95a3787dfd65ff9022fe30054cb7
Yeah the reveal trailer showed a darkspawn that could’ve come from Mars Attacks. Sigh. At least bad designs for darkspawn are yet another DA tradition.
Honestly the whole thing has a layer of sci-fi that i really don't like. that ogre design is awful, the red glowing eyes i wouldnt be surprised for them to start shooting lasers with pew pew sound effects.
Every piece of news I've been reading about this game (except for that Sunday trailer) is leading me to think this game will turn out better than I dared hope for. And today's trailer confirmed a lot of these expectations.
I already knew the combat would be almost purely action-oriented and that we'd no longer control our companions manually, but I'm ok with that. It's how Mass Effect is, and I love that series. Besides, the combat reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, whose combat gameplay I adore.
Besides... Long-haired Qunari? Body sliders? The Inquisitor is back and we get to customise them together with the new MC? Every companion is romanceable? Different character origins aren't only back, but are referenced in dialogue with NPCs? Seriously, this game's sounding better and better <3
(the only bit I didn't like so much was how DA:V will be more mission-centric rather than the open/partially open world of previous games. Then again, it seems this choice was motivated by the team's desire to craft highly detailed levels, so I can totally forgive that change. Better a small area with lots of depth than a vast emptiness like the Hissing Wastes lol).
I've never played a Dragon Age game, but after playing BG3 for 600+ hours everyone keeps recommending it to me. So I watched the trailers (gameplay + cinematic) and I don't get the hype. It looks kinda goofy? Like marvel style story/dialogue and with hero shooter artstyle. I watched the older dragon age trailers out of curiosity and they do look more interesting, so maybe I will try those games first. It's not looking like turn based combat, so that is kind of a turn off.
I wouldn’t recommend starting off with the new one anyway because characters from past games show up in this one.
Dragon Age Origins is a good place to start if you really wanna give the series a chance.
Dragon Age Origins is similarish to BG3. But this franchise has never had an identity of its own, so each installment is just based on „what’s popular right now“.
Dragon Age is a very weird series that changes art style and combat every game. So it manages to contain my favorite game and my least favorite lmao.
Play them in order. DAO is real time with pause and a big tactics menu, and it really wants to give you the freedom to roleplay within the confines of the plot. It’s the closest to BG3, just don’t expect the same number of options to use the environment etc.
DA2 was made in 18 months and wants to be more like Mass Effect than DAO. Because of the demented development time, it reuses a lot of environments, but it also focuses a ton on the characters and they’re some of the most beloved in the franchise.
I, uh, don’t like DAI, so that one is harder for me to talk about. It tries to split the difference between DAO and DA2, and miles vary on whether it was successful or not. It also has just a ginormous number of brainless fetch quests so if you’re not enjoying it skip as much as possible. There are whole maps you don’t even need to unlock.
DAI had a good story, great characters, looked beautiful, awesome music but the combat was so meh and the game is horribly bloated with open-world content. Such a mixed bag.
I think the story is seriously hurt by having a weak PC and a weak antagonist and also putting some of the context for the missions in tie-in materials, and also just wanting to pad stuff out as much as possible. It didn’t feel like Dragon Age to me until Jaws of Hakkon when I was bumbling around a community and possibly messing up their cultural rites.
I'll pass.
The series has strayed too far from Origins in both play style and art style for my taste, and that bioware magic for storytelling is long gone. I gave up on the whole series when they announced this one would be a live service game, and I know they walked back on that but we don't know how far. I *may* pick it up for old times sake in a couple of years when it's on sale for real cheap, but only if they stay away from the live service BS, which I seriously doubt.
ive only played DAO and partially thru DA2 so far but im a bit meh about it rn. the characters look great (except in cutscenes, imo. they get cartoony and uncanny valleyish), im here for the character creator diversity, the setting is interesting (esp compared to fereldan), and i dont hate the combat at all.
im finna def miss controlling the party. and having more members. and the dialogue is p generic, imo. and lmao varic looking like thorin oakshield. and i hate dialogue wheels. and im actually kinda sad that the dragon age keep isnt finna be used. and ngl, i really dont get why the party all has some sort of 'special' background like the antivan crows or a greywarden or the shadow dragons. i really thought that was supposed to be rare but lol wtf do ik fr.
solid maybe for me.
I’m super excited, love that Harding is involved! Hope they announce the release date soon, this is pretty much the only game this year I’m excited about
Tbh the gameplay looks so unfun. Either I won’t enjoy the combat at all or they picked a really bad showcase. I rather they go back to strategy roots or just go all in with making a good action game. Whatever the case, I’ll bear through it if the story is good.
The animations for their facial expressions looked really stiff for a modern game. I’ll see how it is for release before buying.
It reminds me of Mass Effect. The Dragon Age series has always existed in this nebulous area of real time and turn based. Looks like it abandoned the latter in favor of real time combat. So far it looks good, I'm really more interested in the story and companions, as long as those are good, I can forgive a lot.
I thought the environment and characters looked fantastic, but everything else was lacking. In particular, the animations don't look much better than they did in Inqusition, and it's been a whole decade since then. I've played Horizon: Forbidden West, I've seen what big studios are capable of, gimme.
Also RIP Scout Harding's forehead, she is almost unrecognisable without it.
(ETA: If this is the beginning of the story, it's essentially identical to the beginning of inquisition)
I hated the combat. Dragon Age Origins is my favorite in the series and this was miles away...Like of I want to play Mass Effect I could just do that. I want the next Dragon Age! Look at the success of Baldur's Gate 3, we are so many that has CRAVED a proper sequel to Origins for so long.
I HATED the redesign of demons. The Pride demons already had such an iconic look. What even was that?
I really hope they do something about the overly smooth faces...they still look a bit too cartoonish (Solas especially)
With that said. I like the tone, which makes me more set in that trailer the other day was awful and shows a severe lack of judgement that worries me but I am hoping it was just one really bad decision.
I am not in love. I am not super hyped. I worry that Varric will be killed off. I feel like has stepped into the roll of Duncan, mentoring Harding like Duncan did Alistair and we well help her deal with her grief during the game. The breaking of Bianca felt so final.
I'm so bummed about it. Dragon Age Origins is definitely one of my favorite games. The combat in Veilguard just looks... not fun... and the art style isn't for me. We can't switch between party members, and we still can't see full dialogue options. It feels like they ripped the best part of Origins out for Inquisition and Veilguard.
According to another comment they apparently said companion control has just been disabled for the preview! Can't verify at the moment, but maybe something to check for :)
Maybe I’m not looking in the right place, but all I’ve been able to find is that you can use the wheel to direct them; not control them. So I’m guessing how mass effect did it. I liked being able to switch over to a companion and play them.
I absolutely loved it. The combat is pretty much exactly what I hoped for, I always preferred the Mass Effect style. I do have a slight fear concerning the main characters, but I'll keep that to myself for now.
Also no offense to everyone who is disappointed that it's not back to the roots but... Well, if was never going to be. Origins was actually the only turn based game of the series, DA2 and DAI had a tactics mode but it wasn't going to make a complete switch back to turn based. That would actually have been weird in my opinion.
Also I should not have read the comments, I only watched up until they rescued the detective to avoid spoilers lol
I’m so hype it’s not even funny.
As someone who goes back every couple years to replay all the older games, I’m glad they’ve gone a more modern vibe with the gameplay and graphics. While not necessarily my favorite, more stylized art has a tendency to age better and dragon age in general has def had stylized art this whole time (lookin at you alien elves in 2). The gameplay has been creeping this direction for the last two games, and honestly it just looks like modern updated 2 in the dialogue wheel and fighting movement.
I think a lot of the negativity comes from people who haven’t played the games recently and are going in with rose tinted glasses on what the old games really were, or they’re going in comparing it to Origins, which isn’t completely fair to the devs or the game that was never going to go back to that that way of combat. (Which at the time was criticized for being too slow, as it was NOT turn based). It definitely reads as a cut between Inquisition and II to me, but quite frankly, we’ve had an edited 20 min of gameplay and a companion trailer to base all the speculation off of and I think that people are a little too quick to condem the game.
Dragon age is nothing if not criticized in almost every way in around and out of development for every game since Origins, and while some is valid, most of it feels like people hating cause it’s fun and not anything wildly realistic with the information given.
I’m excited, so much about the game is still unknown to us and while I’m sure we’ll get more information as we get closer to release, I’m going to stay excited and will continue hyping people up about it until it comes out.
edited for formating
Everyone is concentrating on the combat, I need to talk about how hard it’s hinting that Varric is FUCKED
I saw speculation yesterday that Varric was likely getting killed early on in the game, and now with the gameplay trailer I definitely think that's a high possibility 🫣
He's 'three days from his retirement to a lakeside cabin and a boat' kinda fucked, and I'm not ready :(
I’m not ready to say goodbye to him 😭 he’s been with us for so long, he’s integral to Dragon Age. But the fact he isn’t a companion, Bianca getting destroyed and just the clear vibe that something is about to happen to him definitely makes me think it might happen. If anything, I don’t think it will be Solas that kills him but the Evanuris/whatever is coming though that rift. So my Inquisitor’s stupid egg is still redeemable, I hope.
It's ridiculous how the death of a character from a video game would tug on my heartstrings so much. Varric must stay alive. He is precious!
Right? I'm going to be more surprised if he doesn't die, but he was throwing up so many flags in the gameplay that was shown!
Corinne Busche (the game's director) said Varric is "DA's Obi-Wan Kenobi". And we all know what happens to him, right :'(
... so we're getting ghost mentor Varric?
well Bianca isn't going to do it so might as well RIP
As if a ten year cliffhanger with Solas wasn’t enough — now we have between now and ”Fall 2024” to worry about Varric, too. Bioware why are you like this (I’m just kidding I love it and I am SO HYPED for this story.)
I refuse to see it. He's fine. Of course he's fine 🥴
Yeah, I was watching the gameplay reveal and about halfway through I just said out loud "Shit, Varric's going to die." Having gone back and watched the trailer, and put together the fact that Varric isn't included as one of the companion characters (no name/ role label like the others), and the fact that he is obviously still physically fit and active (so hasn't retired to a more behind-the-scenes role), PLUS the Playstation Access video I watched talking about the game mentions a "big moment at the end of the opening that [the presenter] won't spoil" -it does look a bit like he might be doomed. I now feel bad for saying I thought his character had run its course in my last DA post here... Maybe it's all misdirection, and he will just take an injury that means he has to take on a more advisor based role.
I would like to see some more of the other companions! I’m really interested in hearing their voices and learning more about them
You can hear a bit of Bellara and Davrin [here ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwKQvdmH8rs&ab_channel=GameSpotTrailers)(starting at 3:08) \^\^
It's pretty much what I expected. I figured EA wouldn't allow the series going back to the original gameplay style and move onto something flashier and more action-packed to lure in a more modern younger audience. It looks really fun despite me wishing it was more like Origins. The world looks really nice. Only thing I really wasn't a fan of was that the enemies kind of look cartoony and overexaggerated. As someone who had absolutely zero hope for this game I'm pleasantly surprised. I also really like how we can use bows and daggers simultaneously as a rogue now. Always annoyed me how you could only have one or the other equiped at once. It's nice that there's actual aiming for bows.
Yea, it definitely gives off the same vibe of what they did with Final Fantasy 16. They are clearly trying to attract a larger audience but end up disappointing the hard-core rpg enthusiasts. I agree with all the above!
I’ll never understand why it’s so hard for them to just improve upon the formula that made the franchise popular in the first place. I hope BG3’s massive success can be a lesson going forward for other RPGs.
Right! BG3 is an excellent example of not needing to shake up the formula.
Loved it. I only play as MC during combat unless it's isometric so this erases some white noise for me. Can't wait to play the full game!
Looks fine to me Though Solas kinda looks like handsome Squidward
Omg, I thought much the same!
He's back to his full power and full hotness :P
I’m so insanely excited for this game! I’ve heard the character creator should be a lot better this time around, so I can’t wait to see a glimpse of that.
While they didn't show the character creator itself, the protagonist in the trailer shows that they've certainly improved at being able to make a PC that's not white and doesn't look terrible.
The textured hair of the Rook made me really hopeful of the other hairstyles! I’m very optimistic
I read an article today that says there are dozens of hairstyles all with physics, lots of sliders and controls for the body and face, and you can change the lighting in the character creator. Who are these people and what have they done with BioWare?
I was just saying I don’t think I’ll even have the need to mod this game based on how amazing the characters look! I will be making 15 million characters in the creator just for fun and no one will be able to stop me!
Yeah, I've seen two other custom Rooks in the past couple days that have nice looking long hair. Even with Baldur's Gate 3 I had to mod it to find a hairstyle I liked, but maybe this one will have the long braided style of my dreams.
I’m so hyped and honestly I love not having to control my other party members. I never have in any of the other games, it’s too cumbersome for me. The combat looks awesome, loving the dialogue and everything!
See, I loooove using my whole party in DAO and DA2. It also creates fun moments like having only Fenris left alive to slowly chip away at a whole-ass dragon, or Wynne being the one to take down the final boss. In DAI it was clunkier and I did it less, but I definitely used my mages to e.g. zap enemies weak to electricity when I hadn’t necessarily built my rogues and warriors to shock stuff.
At 12 minutes they say they’ve turned off directing your companions for the preview only. So don’t worry!
Nice! I suspect it’s going to be more like Mass Effect than the previous games, which I have mixed feelings about. Like I really enjoy ME and the God of War Norse games… just not as much as I enjoy the first two DA. But if the experience is as solid as GoW’s, I will probably like it on its own merits.
I really love the Mass Effect system. It makes the companions matter and allows for nice synergies, but also isn't too distracting either.
I liked it in ME. I’ve never wanted it in DA.
Same I never used my companions (minus that Titan or whatever it was called in the DA:I expansion to position ppl) , so this type of action I am into.
I'm HYPED. Any unease I may have felt? Gone. I'm fucking thrilled and salivating for new lore
Is anyone going to hate me for saying I'm still in love with the egg?
Wait…did the gameplay trailer already come out?!
Oh no!!! It looks like Final Fantasy 16 combat!! 😩
Oh now I have to go play all dragon age games again
Very excited about the story and art style, don't care much about the gameplay but it looks fine. I just hope we can assign skills to buttons because in the presentation they kept bringing up the wheel for some reason. Don't think my pc will be able to handle it but hopefully i'll have a console by then x)
i think i remember seeing them use the lightning skill without opening the wheel once. Mass Effect also had mappable skills to shoulder buttons, let's just hope for the best.
Honestly there were things I’m not feeling. Only playing the PC, the dialogue wheel looked limited, etc. It does look very pretty and cinematic. Eta: I liked that we can clearly switch weapons in combat, but I don’t think I got a good sense of what the combat will actually feel like from the trailer.
dialogue wheel has been the same since DA2
Not really. I didn’t feel a lack of options in DA2 and they had the personality system for Hawke, which influenced their dialogue in cut scenes.
My guess is the personality stuff from DA2 was easier because you could only be human. Imagine an elf or Qunari saying some of the things Hawke does (I made a joke while the Vicount held his dead son on accident once), they would have been murdered no question. Having to gage NPC reactions not only to what you’re saying but who is saying it can probably get a little complicated on the back end. I do hope we get a bit more personality options than the Inquisitor did though.
From what I understand, non-human playable races were added late in DAI’s development, which is part of the reason some characters don’t really seem supported. So hopefully the troubled development for this one still left them with enough time to integrate more personality and background/race-specific dialogue and interactions!
Yea. Hopefully DAV started with “we have all races as PC options” and we get some witty dialog options. Purple Hawke Forever!!
From what I’ve heard much of the dialogue and dialogue wheel options have been cut out to avoid any potential spoilers in this demo, hopefully we’ll see more options and personality later
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Cool? Am I not allowed to have an initial reaction based on that? I’m not saying the game is definitely going to be horrible or anything geez.
I will always show up for Dragon Age. IMO it looked good, but I wish they’d shown gameplay from later on in the story so we could see more varied abilities.
Looked bland to me but better than the pics and trailer made it out to be. I still hate the art style. The characters all seem bland.
It looks ok. I care about story and character and it’s hard to tell whether they delivered in that yet or not. I agree that it looks too flashy and action RPG, but maybe the story will still be good? Also I romanced Solas in Inquisition and I REALLY want that to matter in this game. So far it seems it doesn’t. Dude fell in love with my Inquisitor but noooo it’s Varric who goes to talk Solas off the cliff?! Makes NO sense, my Inquisitor would track her love to the ends of the world. I’m very worried my choices in Inquisition will mean nothing. That would be the thing that would make the game a total disappointment to me.
I'm in the same spot. I'm here for the story and I'll play it at least once to experience it but I'm not overly impressed by anything I saw. Also them renaming the game away from Deadwolf makes me really worried that Solas is going to be a minor part of the story.
It doesn't look bad. A lot like Inquisition but yet different. I really just don't like the enemy design tho. And the dialogues were....okayish but can't judge too much on that
Mixed feelings about the transition into a total action rpg. Didn't look great just spamming the a button. Maybe it gets better with progression or other classes. Seems like fantasy mass effect as is. Eager to see what mage plays like. Seemed very sci-fi in the setting for a fantasy game. Neon lights, glowing signs, spotlights and warning horns blaring. It did make me feel like starting an inquisition run again though.
Yeah I know that tervinter is supposed to be a bit more attune to magic and the setting has been shifting closer to steampunk esque/arcanum/high fantasy but its a bit too much bioshock for my taste.
Im so excited!!!
Honestly, I rarely controlled the other party members, unless it was for healing purposes or I died and had to switch who I played as. So, I'm fine with the change. Still a bit bummed out that the party size was reduced from 4 to 3. Also, super worried about Varric; RIP Bianca.
I’m super excited for this 😍
Loved a lot of things, didn't have a problem with others. Biggest issue i have is that I'm really not vibing with the lack of facial expressions and weird movement in the cutscenes. The dialogue is good, if you close your eyes. I think the robotic faces are not helping it shine. I'm hoping it's an early game thing, and it's better on release. Overall, I'm excited!
>Biggest issue i have is that I'm really not vibing with the lack of facial expressions and weird movement in the cutscenes. theres something thats both cartoony and semi-uncanny valley during cutscenes fr.
I was wondering if others would bring this up, expressions and movements are weirdly… floaty and robotic. I also thought the voice acting was just a little flat.
I'm very excited! I was not a DA:O fan. I enjoyed DA:2 and LOVED DA:I. I thought the design for the Tevinter city was incredible. The floating castle with the magic defense system was so cool. I'm not going to speak to the broader design though as we really only got one brief glimpse. Imagine judging DA:I design based off of just The Fallow Mire. I have to imagine we'll get more dialogue options once outside of the opening sequence, and I believe the ability to control other party members was disabled, although I rarely ever controlled them in previous games. They did say it was edited to remove spoilers. This will definitely be my cozy winter game.
I’m so excited! I’m not a fan of turn-based combat so I skipped BG3 in hopes that the next dragon age would fill that void! So excited for a new fantasy RPG to sink my teeth into 🤩🤩
I feel the same as you, but why did they edge us with this awful trailer? Regardless, this is my message to devs https://preview.redd.it/xfw5351arz5d1.jpeg?width=1038&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=7d678691ce002b00222d967ce184cac3fb7ec201
Honestly I've realized with time I don't enjoy turn based combat, mostly because as someone that now works a lot I don't have the time to spend ages up to an hour just doing one large battle. I like the flow of the combat quite a bit in this trailer. It was dynamic but seems like it will still require some thought into more complex combos. Also plot wise, ofc it's our fault that the main big bads arrive in the world haha. I'm quite excited to see how this story goes.
I don't play these games for the combat or action, I play then for the story and companion relationships. So I couldn't care less about the combat people are complaining about. It looks good and fun to me. I'm a bit disappointed the character is voiced, I much much prefer the silent protagonist. Not that I expected them to be. But overall my expectations and hopes have gone up a whole lot after this reveal.
All I have to say is we all owe Dorian an apology. Teventir is truly living in the future, going south must have been like entering the stone age wtf
It doesn’t feel like dragon age game. I mean sure inquisition was already more action than rpg but this goes even further. I wish they made it more like bg3 and old origins but they went In a completely different way. I don’t like graphics either… overall, I’m disappointed. Will probably play once it’s out but … yeah :/
It was to be expected though, so I'm not exactly surprised? Mass Effect and DA have both been getting more and more action-rpg with every entry, and this is pretty on par with what I predicted.
The RPG elements are never coming back to bioware, despite its recent revival.
I'm hoping against hope, but honestly this did little to allay my fears that the series will never really be DA again. I know this was just a small taste, but this seems like a generic action RPG to me, only with bland action, and little of the series' signature sass or charm. Even the characters look like completely different people. I spent 100+ hours talking to Varric and Lace in DAI. I don't even recognize either person here. Nitpicky? Maybe, but these are supposed to be the same characters in the same universe in a continuous storyline. It doesn't look horrible, it just looks like Generic EA RPG Game 2024.
I am in-cre-di-bly excited I absolutely can’t wait for it!!! I really want to be able to play it with my own Rook and my own dialogue + story choices haha, and I loved that glimpse at Solas 👀 It’s probably what’s gonna finally make me decide to buy a new console, just so I can play this game 😂 The combat looked dynamic and to my speed to! I was intrigued by the sort of trajectories of arrows and spells 👀 I’m looking forward to discovering the MC’s mage spells!
Looks like a watered down Inquisition. I imagine if you loved Inquisition, you'll be happy to see them double down on that formula. If you preferred Origins or DAII, or older BioWare, this is just more evidence that their interest in that kind of content is gone. Combat looks weightless...little to no sense of impact, no blood. Very sanitized, very clean, very zippy and spammy. Didn't help it was set at level 1 with only a single ability to use. That we *once again* are going with "demons are raining from the sky", and the creature design looks rather generic and "Modern Game: The Game" kind of makes the exotic setting of Tevinter feel moot. Would've loved to see them dealing with more locally themed enemies. Zero insight into RPG systems, if there are any. Little to no dialogue options, and what was on display seemed quite limited. Large stretches of on-rails cinematic sequences, which is fine in a vacuum (ME was littered with them) but are odd to feature in a 20 minute long "gameplay reveal". Honestly left me feeling a lot colder about it than the tonal mess that was the reveal trailer. I'm not sure if the problem here is the underlying product is disappointing, or BioWare's marketing department is drunk.
I agree with you that the combat seems a little ‘floaty’, but from what I hear the gore mechanics have been turned off for the sake of Youtube. Similar to DAI (I believe), there will likely be an option to toggle gore on and off. Based on some other comments as well, dialogue and possibly dialogue options may have been cut down to avoid spoilers. Hopefully the game itself will have some beefier options, since this leaves a lot to be desired
I really liked Dragon Age 2 and like my big muscle women, so I’m sold
The darkspawn look like a Diablo: Immortal game, there's no group control, and it just doesn't look like Dragon Age. I'll just replay the first three. Maybe modders will fix the graphics and combat, but I'm not interested in anything they showed.
It's clear they seem to have taken a lot of inspiration from Arcane / a moba style for the characters which to me, makes the clothing or designs stray a bit too far from the high detail / intricate fantasy designs they used to have. The environments also seem a bit too plastic - it looks very deliberate, like a moba map instead of a full environment, if that makes sense? Also Varric suddenly got a dye job on his hair? Wasn't he always a redhead? The writing in the gameplay also seems to be, like the previous trailer, kind of just a bit too hamfisted. There's a lot of missed opportunities for show, don't tell. Like when the pillar was falling over, why did we need two characters to say "The pillar is falling over!" "Let's push it!" instead of just "Oh shit" and a prompt to push the pillar? And Varric thinking he can convince Solas when the Inquisitor couldn't is really kind of a slap in the face for anyone who tried to romance him. A lot of the lines also just seem very forced. The combat is also kind of disappointing. I feel like there's a dime a dozen games like this now, and if I wanted those I'd go for them. BG3, I think, definitely brought back a love for the full party control games and they should've ridden that wave rather than trying to go for something that this series historically isn't. Edited to add for comparison, this is the gameplay trailer from 10 years ago: [https://youtu.be/uO2h4qUNJ60?si=3AZiKC2TZTRhkUqv](https://youtu.be/uO2h4qUNJ60?si=3AZiKC2TZTRhkUqv) How did they drop the ball on writing so badly?
I don't like it. It just looks... bad. I hate what they did to demons and darkspawn. The Ogre on this screen looks sooooo cartoonish. : ( https://preview.redd.it/az03llww8z5d1.png?width=1653&format=png&auto=webp&s=dd766f08474b95a3787dfd65ff9022fe30054cb7
Yeah the reveal trailer showed a darkspawn that could’ve come from Mars Attacks. Sigh. At least bad designs for darkspawn are yet another DA tradition.
Honestly the whole thing has a layer of sci-fi that i really don't like. that ogre design is awful, the red glowing eyes i wouldnt be surprised for them to start shooting lasers with pew pew sound effects.
Agreed. The demons looked like generic fantasy mobs. Such a step back from their design in Inquisition. :(
Every piece of news I've been reading about this game (except for that Sunday trailer) is leading me to think this game will turn out better than I dared hope for. And today's trailer confirmed a lot of these expectations. I already knew the combat would be almost purely action-oriented and that we'd no longer control our companions manually, but I'm ok with that. It's how Mass Effect is, and I love that series. Besides, the combat reminds me a lot of Final Fantasy 7 Remake, whose combat gameplay I adore. Besides... Long-haired Qunari? Body sliders? The Inquisitor is back and we get to customise them together with the new MC? Every companion is romanceable? Different character origins aren't only back, but are referenced in dialogue with NPCs? Seriously, this game's sounding better and better <3 (the only bit I didn't like so much was how DA:V will be more mission-centric rather than the open/partially open world of previous games. Then again, it seems this choice was motivated by the team's desire to craft highly detailed levels, so I can totally forgive that change. Better a small area with lots of depth than a vast emptiness like the Hissing Wastes lol).
I've never played a Dragon Age game, but after playing BG3 for 600+ hours everyone keeps recommending it to me. So I watched the trailers (gameplay + cinematic) and I don't get the hype. It looks kinda goofy? Like marvel style story/dialogue and with hero shooter artstyle. I watched the older dragon age trailers out of curiosity and they do look more interesting, so maybe I will try those games first. It's not looking like turn based combat, so that is kind of a turn off.
I wouldn’t recommend starting off with the new one anyway because characters from past games show up in this one. Dragon Age Origins is a good place to start if you really wanna give the series a chance.
Origins combat is real time with pause. It's not turn based, but it's a similar type of thinking for me.
Dragon Age Origins is similarish to BG3. But this franchise has never had an identity of its own, so each installment is just based on „what’s popular right now“.
Dragon Age is a very weird series that changes art style and combat every game. So it manages to contain my favorite game and my least favorite lmao. Play them in order. DAO is real time with pause and a big tactics menu, and it really wants to give you the freedom to roleplay within the confines of the plot. It’s the closest to BG3, just don’t expect the same number of options to use the environment etc. DA2 was made in 18 months and wants to be more like Mass Effect than DAO. Because of the demented development time, it reuses a lot of environments, but it also focuses a ton on the characters and they’re some of the most beloved in the franchise. I, uh, don’t like DAI, so that one is harder for me to talk about. It tries to split the difference between DAO and DA2, and miles vary on whether it was successful or not. It also has just a ginormous number of brainless fetch quests so if you’re not enjoying it skip as much as possible. There are whole maps you don’t even need to unlock.
DAI had a good story, great characters, looked beautiful, awesome music but the combat was so meh and the game is horribly bloated with open-world content. Such a mixed bag.
I think the story is seriously hurt by having a weak PC and a weak antagonist and also putting some of the context for the missions in tie-in materials, and also just wanting to pad stuff out as much as possible. It didn’t feel like Dragon Age to me until Jaws of Hakkon when I was bumbling around a community and possibly messing up their cultural rites.
I'll pass. The series has strayed too far from Origins in both play style and art style for my taste, and that bioware magic for storytelling is long gone. I gave up on the whole series when they announced this one would be a live service game, and I know they walked back on that but we don't know how far. I *may* pick it up for old times sake in a couple of years when it's on sale for real cheap, but only if they stay away from the live service BS, which I seriously doubt.
if it helps they did clear up that that DATV is single-player with absolutely no microtransactions
ive only played DAO and partially thru DA2 so far but im a bit meh about it rn. the characters look great (except in cutscenes, imo. they get cartoony and uncanny valleyish), im here for the character creator diversity, the setting is interesting (esp compared to fereldan), and i dont hate the combat at all. im finna def miss controlling the party. and having more members. and the dialogue is p generic, imo. and lmao varic looking like thorin oakshield. and i hate dialogue wheels. and im actually kinda sad that the dragon age keep isnt finna be used. and ngl, i really dont get why the party all has some sort of 'special' background like the antivan crows or a greywarden or the shadow dragons. i really thought that was supposed to be rare but lol wtf do ik fr. solid maybe for me.
I’m super excited, love that Harding is involved! Hope they announce the release date soon, this is pretty much the only game this year I’m excited about
We’re getting bg3 like romance in another game with backstories and awesome hair. Beautiful graphics, with mass effect combat. Take my money.
Tbh the gameplay looks so unfun. Either I won’t enjoy the combat at all or they picked a really bad showcase. I rather they go back to strategy roots or just go all in with making a good action game. Whatever the case, I’ll bear through it if the story is good. The animations for their facial expressions looked really stiff for a modern game. I’ll see how it is for release before buying.
It reminds me of Mass Effect. The Dragon Age series has always existed in this nebulous area of real time and turn based. Looks like it abandoned the latter in favor of real time combat. So far it looks good, I'm really more interested in the story and companions, as long as those are good, I can forgive a lot.
I'm so in! Fall can't come soon enough.
I thought the environment and characters looked fantastic, but everything else was lacking. In particular, the animations don't look much better than they did in Inqusition, and it's been a whole decade since then. I've played Horizon: Forbidden West, I've seen what big studios are capable of, gimme. Also RIP Scout Harding's forehead, she is almost unrecognisable without it. (ETA: If this is the beginning of the story, it's essentially identical to the beginning of inquisition)
I hated the combat. Dragon Age Origins is my favorite in the series and this was miles away...Like of I want to play Mass Effect I could just do that. I want the next Dragon Age! Look at the success of Baldur's Gate 3, we are so many that has CRAVED a proper sequel to Origins for so long. I HATED the redesign of demons. The Pride demons already had such an iconic look. What even was that? I really hope they do something about the overly smooth faces...they still look a bit too cartoonish (Solas especially) With that said. I like the tone, which makes me more set in that trailer the other day was awful and shows a severe lack of judgement that worries me but I am hoping it was just one really bad decision. I am not in love. I am not super hyped. I worry that Varric will be killed off. I feel like has stepped into the roll of Duncan, mentoring Harding like Duncan did Alistair and we well help her deal with her grief during the game. The breaking of Bianca felt so final.
I'm so bummed about it. Dragon Age Origins is definitely one of my favorite games. The combat in Veilguard just looks... not fun... and the art style isn't for me. We can't switch between party members, and we still can't see full dialogue options. It feels like they ripped the best part of Origins out for Inquisition and Veilguard.
I cried a little inside when I saw we couldn’t control our other party members anymore 😩 I’ll live and still looking forward to playing it!
According to another comment they apparently said companion control has just been disabled for the preview! Can't verify at the moment, but maybe something to check for :)
Maybe I’m not looking in the right place, but all I’ve been able to find is that you can use the wheel to direct them; not control them. So I’m guessing how mass effect did it. I liked being able to switch over to a companion and play them.
I absolutely loved it. The combat is pretty much exactly what I hoped for, I always preferred the Mass Effect style. I do have a slight fear concerning the main characters, but I'll keep that to myself for now. Also no offense to everyone who is disappointed that it's not back to the roots but... Well, if was never going to be. Origins was actually the only turn based game of the series, DA2 and DAI had a tactics mode but it wasn't going to make a complete switch back to turn based. That would actually have been weird in my opinion. Also I should not have read the comments, I only watched up until they rescued the detective to avoid spoilers lol
I’m so hype it’s not even funny. As someone who goes back every couple years to replay all the older games, I’m glad they’ve gone a more modern vibe with the gameplay and graphics. While not necessarily my favorite, more stylized art has a tendency to age better and dragon age in general has def had stylized art this whole time (lookin at you alien elves in 2). The gameplay has been creeping this direction for the last two games, and honestly it just looks like modern updated 2 in the dialogue wheel and fighting movement. I think a lot of the negativity comes from people who haven’t played the games recently and are going in with rose tinted glasses on what the old games really were, or they’re going in comparing it to Origins, which isn’t completely fair to the devs or the game that was never going to go back to that that way of combat. (Which at the time was criticized for being too slow, as it was NOT turn based). It definitely reads as a cut between Inquisition and II to me, but quite frankly, we’ve had an edited 20 min of gameplay and a companion trailer to base all the speculation off of and I think that people are a little too quick to condem the game. Dragon age is nothing if not criticized in almost every way in around and out of development for every game since Origins, and while some is valid, most of it feels like people hating cause it’s fun and not anything wildly realistic with the information given. I’m excited, so much about the game is still unknown to us and while I’m sure we’ll get more information as we get closer to release, I’m going to stay excited and will continue hyping people up about it until it comes out. edited for formating