Loving Dragon Age - A Series that ALWAYS CHANGES

Because of fools like you, my favorite series is dead. You're absolutely insane and a hack. Shame on you for your coverage

i feel like my own opinions were pretty much summed up by this whole video. the world and characters are the most important thing for me in this series and while i love every single entry including veilguard, i am also frustrated with how different each game is to an extend. i personally think that thanks to how veilguard ended that this is the best time for bioware to make a hard line behind all the trial and error of the series and decide on its identity moving forward. with bg3 showing that theres still massive audience for CRPGs as well. i really hope that there is a future for dragon age that we love

I found myself nodding in agreement a lot in this video.

Your name is in the credits section of the game. How are we even to think you are not biased in anything that you say, nor that you didn't receive some compensation by EA and Bioware.

I don't know why you are so dismissive of gameplay in the series when the foundation of every masterpiece in the RPG genre is both good writing and rich gameplay (which doesn't always have to be traditional combat) that is fueled by it's rpg aspects. These new fans keep treating BioWare titles like they are linear visual novels/dating sims (and honestly, i've played VNs with more varied outcomes than fucking Veilguard) instead of RPGs.

Also a nitpick, but it's kinda obvious you don't really know much of the RPG genre when you keep on referring to Dragon Age Origins as having 'turn based combat'... it wasn't turn based, Origins had real time with pause lol

My main gripe is the lack of slavery and racism towards your character when in Tevinter. I was hoping the game would have focused more on Minrathous and Tevinter, rather than Rivain or the Anderfels. At the very least, there should have been slaves, cages full of people, auctions, and just an overall ugliness to Tevinter. They DO show the poverty, but that just reinforced that, even with set dressing, they could have done more. NPC's could have included magisters talking down to others...rather than people complaining that the fish tastes bad, unless you add gravy. We spend three games hearing how awful Tevinter is, yet Kirkwall feels more oppressive than the literal capital city of slavery and blood magic.

I also miss the reactions to your race. As an elf running through Minrathous, I fully expected to get hate comments. I watched the Dragon Age TV show, Absolution, and, while that show has its flaws, it nailed what I imagined Tevinter to be - there were elven slaves everywhere, including children, and the protagonist, Miriam, is treated HORRIBLY, even when those she encounters don't know she's also an escaped slave. As an elf, Miriam has to pay five gold just to enter the city, and then she's bullied again when she just wants to get a drink at a bar. Again, they didn't have to do a lot, but random NPC's I passed should have made rude comments. There were grisly executions (if the Venatori take control), beggars, and even cats (there's a throwaway line in Inquisition that the Archon adores cats), so it makes it more glaring that something as basic as slaves or passive aggressive comments towards elves or Qunari players were left out when there IS some obvious attention to detail.

Then there's Solas. I loved the lore reveals, his memories, and the discussions you have with him, but he's benched for most of the game. I haven't reached the end yet, and I've heard things turn around in the third act, so I really hope he's about to bust out and wreak havoc.

Whatever else they changed, two things were marketed at the end of Trespasser - Solas and Tevinter, and I wanted so much more of both. I wanted to see at least as much of Tevinter as I did of Kirkwall, and, if they had to bench Solas, they could have had all those agents you hear about causing problems in his name.

I have other minor complaints, but the lack of Solas and Tevinter are the big ones for me. I also wish there had been a personal quest for Rook - it bothers me that Rook isn't more curious about what happened to their biological parents. What's more, your faction is supposed to be like your adoptive family, but, playing as a Veil Jumper, I feel like Strife, if he is my surrogate father, just disowned me. Maybe it's different with other factions, but as a Veil Jumper Rook feels like an outsider. Strife chews you out for losing the map, but then is happy to accept your help without ever apologizing or acknowledging that he was hard on you. It kind of feels like my Rook has been more or less kicked out of his faction, which is really depressing if they're the only family he has. I feel like Rook should be a lot more hurt by that, and exploring those feelings of rejection, frustration, or lack of belonging, in regards to his faction or real parents, could have been a perfect way to flesh out Rook's character. There was one point where Emmerich talks about barely remembering his parents, and I was disappointed that Rook couldn't say something like, "At least you remember yours." Ironically, my Rook has probably related the most to Taash, of all people. Whatever the issues with Taash's writing, at least my Rook opened up to them, mentioning in one scene how he felt conflicted about his background after living as both a Dalish and a city elf. I wish Rook could open up like that more often.

I think some of the criticism is overly harsh - or I agree with it, but it's delivered in an incendiary way without any acknowledgment of what the game did right. I also like Rook, generally. While I'm disappointed in the lack of moral ambiguity, I'm playing a sarcastic/goofy Rook and he has this weirdo energy I really like. Some lines were things like, "I just say what I think a normal person would say," or, "People tell me I have a response to everything, but maybe that wasn't a compliment," and those lines brought the character to life for me. Then there's that one scene with Assan and Manfred, and I found my Rook's "dialogue" (and Davrin's exasperation) hilarious. My Rook is a total weirdo, and I have to love that.

Sorry for the essay. Apparently I need to go write a review somewhere, because I have a lot of thoughts. 😅

I'm glad Dragon Age changes every game. Stagnation is the enemy of innovation and progress.

Veilguard is my perfect Dragon Age game. It gives me feelings of playing a good Japanese style RPG, with the Bioware style of Jade Empire.

Call me crazy buuuuut. I really liked veilguard. Tbf I've only played inquisition and veilguard. Also tbf I went in with low expectations haha. But its not as bad as ppl were making it out to be. Im glad I gave it a shot and didn't listen to the negative opinions. Honestly most of the games I play have had bad reviews and I'm the odd one that still likes them. For example Mortal Kombat and saints row. 😬

I'm ok about changing it is not bad by itself, but you have to have your limits otherwise it becomes irratic and absolute chaos, there should be some consistency, there should be some continuation, just make a couple of points you keep and hold on to and then change everything else if you want... I hope they listen to us as always bc Bioware was known for exactly that and hopefully they'll hear what we are all ranting about now... It is heartbreaking 💔

Agree with just about everything here. I’m glad we got *a new DA game, and I like a lot about Veilguard.

But I also mourn what it could have been with a smoother and more consistent development.

To me, the Dragon Age identity is a fantasy setting, Thedas, featuring different protagonists and companions making interesting choices. These decisions have consequences that could be followed upon in subsequent games. In the process, characters and fans find out more lore, some of which calls earlier knowledge into question.

I believe BioWare’s greatest obstacle is fan nostalgia. Having a successful series, with complex and long-lasting narratives, requires a fanbase that’s ready to embrace new adventures/protagonists/companions. This applies to Dragon Age and Mass Effect. It’s fine not to like each part of the journey, but that doesn’t automatically mean the journey wasn’t crafted well.

Everyone hyped the veilguard up so much. Like it was the pinnacle of gaming or something. It was decent. A lot of questionable choices were made when writing. There's some instances of cartoon-like things going on that make it feel less realistic. It's ok, but it's definitely not my favorite DA. I wouldn't have blown it up like all the dev cheerleaders did, but whatever, they have to get their early games and freebies somehow, I suppose.

Something that's always bothered me about Dragon Age is how disconnected from the story Dragon Age Origins is and the characters from previous installments and what they're up to in the next game. That being said they shot themselves in the foot with all the ways the hero of Ferelden could pan out.

Still to this day I wonder what Oghren, Sten, and Merrill are up to. This is something Mass Effect did a great job with.

i personally won't be buying VG it's changes to much the love in it is not there the character growth doesn't seem to be there. the player doesn't seem to be there. the darkness we fight the ideals is not there . the world we built with the delovpers is not there. what we expected in the game politics is not there it was errased becuse of real world politics . consaqunces of our actions is not there. now i love some world lore idea's VG has but it wasn't fully written well in my option and there is a bigger insult that is stolen from us the players but that is spoilers so I'll leave it be but all and all a lot of what was Dragon age is just not there VG just wanted its own world so its just there. and there is a cost being paid. now woke is a term tossed around to much like yanzy ( replace Y with N) liberal and such . in this case VG can be a case of bad woke while past DA games were the best kind of woke respect to be what you wanted to be even if there's people in the world who is going to hate you for it. ME and DA gave me huge respect and love for gay and bi characters even have me conditioning it myself seeing i was raised on religious backing and was deep into it. but VG a clip or to ( in full ) would drive me deeper into it this is not being written well ( on my part and i aploage for it) just the vibe check is failing hard with VG and i really hate to say it.

Unique? There is literally only one face model for every Qunari on DA2. And let's not forget how "well" the elf changes were received by the fans.

Expecting DATV to be the same (aesthetically) as DAI feels like you set yourself to disapointment. Dragon Age is a series that prouds itself about changes. DA2 was different from DAO and DAI was different from DA2. Of course DATV was going to be different from DAI.

To me it feels like most of this criticism is pretty much things being seeing through nostalgia colored glasses.

At this point I’d say the only thing DA is truly about is the Darkspawn and the Blight. That’s literally the final big bad of every DA game and the villains have used it or tied to it in every game. DAO is a literal blight and Archdemon leading a Darkspawn hoard. DAA sentient Darkspawn. DA2 blighted Lyrium drives Meredith crazy, Coriphius is released, more sentient Darkspawn. DAI demons and blighted creatures and red lyrium. DA:V Blighted eleven god, pseudo blight, weird archdemons. Dragon age is about the blight and people using it or it almost destroying Thedas for the 1000th time. After DAO (the only great game) Everything else is poorly executed concepts set with a range of meh-to some okish companions and a new hero who’s just here for one game and gets forgotten about in the next one.

Kala, your perfect Dragon Age is pretty much exactly my perfect Dragon Age.
I also fell in love with DA via Inquisition, I really like Origins, I like many aspects of DA2 and dislike others....and feel very, very mixed about Veilguard. I don't hate it, and i do really like some things about it.

For me also, Veilguard was missing depth in those core elements: characters, stories, and worldbuilding. I'll further clarify that for myself, the "stories" are less about plot points and more about the themes and arcs and depth theirein. If those elements are present and meaningful, I can forgive a lot of other flaws. I have other minor complaints about Veilguard, like not liking the art style for the characters/character creator, and being disappointed in how forgettable the music was - and I say that as a professional musician who has done analysis of music from Inquisition in the past - so the fact that these are my MINOR complaints is, well....telling.

Coming back to Thedas without the personalised touches everywhere really made me feel disconnected. I missed, so dang much, the overall impact of my personal choices for Thedas in the codex entries, the cameos, and the spaces where past choices really felt like they should've had an impact. GOD I missed them. It was an inauspicious foundation on which to build a bond with the Thedas of Veilguard and unfortunately this feeling of disconnection only increased the more the game went on.

I didn't dislike any of the characters. But I have never before arrived at endgame feeling so neutral on any DA set of companions. The problem is, to me, they felt like good character concepts instead of good characters. The world building was an active disappointment, with what felt like incredibly shallow takes on all of the factions and regions involved. I had been so excited to see how Tevinter differed from Ferelden, how Kal-Sharok differed from Orzammar (this one was particularly disappointing!!) how the elves joining Solas' renewed rebellion vs those who rejected it. I got none of that. Even the accents (again a personal deep disappointment as I love languages!!) were a huge world building letdown, as it seemed like there was no longer even a minimal effort to give regions more of a distinct identity through accents.

I love my USA friends, but as a massive fantasy-lover, hearing lots and lots of heavy USA accents is a big immersion breaker for me. I know that's largely genre convention and so may not bother other people, but it really shrunk the world of Thedas for me. The accents, plus the frequent, repetitive use of generic modern USA phrases, plus the shallow lore on cultures, factions, and regions, had me quite disengaged during character interactions, and that is a deal-breaker in a Dragon Age game for me. Eventually I was just hanging on to see the resolution of the returning Inquisition cast. I'm sad about it.

This was a long essay, but like you, Kala, I just wanted to speak about this world that I really do love.😢

I agree it can definitely be frustrating watching these changes even though, I do still love so many things about all the Dragon Age games, but the frustration is real

It wasn’t in development for only 3 1/2 years. The game clearly still has aspects of its multiplayer roots. The combat is clearly based off of ME: andromedas multiplayer.
Plus I am fairly sure VO work was done even before Covid hit.

I started in inquisition, and the more open world feel had way more choices and opportunities. Veilguard felt very linear. I like the new art style as it shows technology moving forward, but the essence of the game really having CHOICE was missing. I dont feel like if I play veilguard again that I'll have the chance at a different experience. You can play DAI so many ways and not have the same experience twice.

I feel like veilguard was so soft handed and trying to please everyone without hurting anyone's feelings that it lost all depth. Past games had depth because of the choices and ruffling some peoples feathers. It was such a letdown to hype up the connection to DAI and it ended up being so superficial.

I dont mind if the games all concentrate on different times or area in the same world, but there needs to still be connection.

I might be one of the odd ones here. I’ve been a Dragon Age fan since Origins, but never cared for the tactics or combat. Dragon Age 2 came out and I loved it, but wished it could have been given more time to not reuse every map.

Inquisition…. Love the story, think it’s amazing. It’s my least favorite Dragon Age to play. It’s such a slog to complete and the combat is pretty monotonous to me. And yet I adore so many of the characters, the actual quests themselves. But those maps were brutal and I didn’t finish Inquisition personally until this year in preparation for Veilguard.

I ended up loving Veilguard. I wish we could have had more of our past heroes and choices, but the story was wonderful. The gameplay - most fun I’ve had in a dragon age game. Finally!!! This I can see myself replaying so many times like I did Origins and DA2.

There are a few things in this game that is good, but not a single thing that is great.

How many developpers of Origins are still at Bioware? This is one of the reasons why every game is different.
I recently watched a reporting were someone was asking "why players could not swim in that game while they could in the previous of the series?". The reason was simple, the devs responsible for it had left the company and they no longer had the skills to make it happen in the new one.

If the bioware team is just gonna follow trends. Follow larians model of rpg. Me5 potential bring back shepard(plz dont). But bring back rpg. I bought the collectors edition and beat the game 4 times. I tried to enjoy but i couldn't. I just packed my loot crate in my DA shrine and closed it. Ima have hope that exodus is really a spiritual successor to ME. DA ending with trespassers.

Yes, DA has indeed changed and evolved. Into something generic & sterile with no identity or flavor whatsoever. I fear for Mass Effect. If the same people, especially the writers, are working on ME then it is over.

This game was awful through and through. My steam review sums up my thoughts pretty well so I'm just gonna paste that below. This game was the final nail in the coffin for me with Bioware. This is not Bioware its a husk calling itself Bioware and hijacking their IP's. I actually felt hurt playing this game after growing up with DA Origins, DA2, ME1, and ME2.

Updated Review after 100%:

1. Why am I playing as the team therapist? Why are there therapy sessions and group feeling circles after nearly every big mission? Why dose the main character strike weirdly overly positive poses and use extremely therapist sounding lines all the time?

2. Who thought Taash was an interesting idea for a character? All she dose is complain and get angry. She also constantly contradicts things she says about herself in dialog. One minute she has never been under the Quun the next she is citing it as if she has. Just a badly written character overall. Honestly the entire Lords of Fortune faction felt out of place in this game.

3. Why are you not playing as the Inquisitor in this? The change to Hawk and then the Inquisitor in the past games from the Warden made sense, it was their new stories. In this game your playing as this supposedly super awesome random person who is awesome for (insert generic reason here), yet it is obviously meant to be the Inquisitors and Solas's story continued from Inquisition. In no way dose this game try to hide that fact. The dialog at times sounds weird when you consider its being said to Rook and not the Inquisitor.

4. Why was their only one true choice carried over from past games? Is the inquisition disbanded or not? Choices carrying over is what Dragon Age was built upon. With the game doing this I find it hard for me to consider this canon when their are multiple times in the game that this game goes against my past choices at least a bit.

5. Why is everything now about the ancient elven gods? This game undoes every bit of lore about the Orlesian Chantry, the Tivinter Imperium's Chantry, the Wardens / the Arch Demons, and makes it all so the elves gods just did everything in the games universe now. It's insulting to the people who played the past games and where invested in the games world. We as fans deserved better writing.

6. Finally who in their right minds on the writing team and in management thought wiping out the entire south were all the past games took place, and not showing it happening was an okay thing to do?! What the actual heck. I'm honestly at a loss of words.

As a Dragon Age fan who has played each of the past games multiple times this was an insult to me. This is not my Dragon Age, clearly the studio dose not care about what made them popular with fans anymore. I almost feel like the developers owe me an apology for having me play this. I have zero faith Mass Effect 4 will be okay after this torture session pretending to be a therapy session I was just put through.

Veilguard is very similar to Mass Effect in game mechanics and it shouldn't be.

What I don't understand is why they didn't just build off of the frostbite assets they used for inquisition... Velguard's character design is trash. The scenery isn't bad, but they totally would have gotten away with reusing the assets in this case. Total missed opportunity.

Honestly I appreciate this video so much. No rage baiting or overreacting. Just a fan coming from a genuine place with their feelings. Anywho I know the Dragon Age as a whole is not perfect. Hell you can argue that it hasn't reached its fullest potential yet, but it's been one hell of a ride. BioWare has always managed to make their world, characters, and story interesting. No matter how much the actual game changes. I know Veilguard might not have been what some wanted, but even with some of its shortcomings I personally enjoyed what we got from this game. With that said hopefully they can take the feedback and make the next game the best one that it can be. Anyways continue being awesome 👍🏾😊

I also think we have to be realistic about things and stop pretending that every choice we make is going to be brought over, its a re-occurring issue with games like these. Eventually the developers have to make choices that fit a story line and don't require 100 layers of divergence which then eats away at development time of a game for a plot point that is relatively irrelevant. And I honestly quite enjoy that Bioware seems to be taking a shot in the dark and going for a relatively "clean slate" if you will on a lot of the previous choices in the old games so they don't have to worry about being bogged down over whether you killed Zevran in Origins or not 5 games from then.

A pity it always changes in the wrong direction.

Late to this video but Kala, you hit the nail on the head this is everything I've been feeling

Facts. Great video.

I share your feelings. They should focus on understanding what is DA's DNA. They've tried many things. They need now to dive deeper into their strenghts, with the freedom and resources needed. I like Veilguard for what it is, a cute and unexpected revenant. But I dream of a game which would finally have all the best of the franchise.

I have the feeling and I am absolutely okay with disagreeing with people there if they don't share that view. But Mass Effect always feels like the publisher's favorite. There is more ME merch than Dragon Age tho Dragon Age was the game that in general sold better than Mass Effect.
I play Dragon Age since 2010. My first game in the series was Dragon Age 2 and then I started from the start and kept going through all the games. I loved Inquisition partially because of the story that got put up and the rich world, the Characters. I could spend HOURS hanging out and listening to party banter. Thedas was my go to world when the real world bothered me. I know why people so far said that Dragon Age 2 was the weakest (worst) of the games, but I loved it due to the amazing character interactions, small cameos and all in all it felt like especially with the imported gameplay that you could influence the world. Your decisions mattered. One of the best moments i n gaming history for me was to have my Inquisitor together with Varric meet Hawke and visit the Warden. Loghain in my game. It was like 3 worlds colliding in the best and most beautiful way. And all worked and the love for details to pick up smaller threads from the past:
- Meeting Conner in Redcliffe,
- Alistair and Anora, scolding Enchantress Liona I knew from the book the Calling.
- knowing that if you played a Dwarf you technically was related with Shale xD
- Leliana and what she had to say to you depending on how your Warden and Leliana had worked together.
- The heartbreak when either Hawke or the Warden had to be left behind in the fade.
- Characters full fleshed out though with an extra tinge if you have read the books. (Celine, Briala and Gaspard for example)
- The fact that we FINALLY were able to romance Cullen. ❤
- Cassandra that had appeared in DA2 already and actually secretly was a fan of Varric's books - it was hilarious. 😆

I had hoped for that same feeling in Veilguard.
my first positive impressions:
- Wow if I not get PTSD from the character creator we finally have long hair options (yay!)
- we can choose between several partially well reknown factions. Like the Wardens or the Crows.
- The maps look at least pretty.
- Solas (Do I have to say more?) best moments are his memories mureals and the entire happy end with him and Lavellan. ❤
- Varric until be becomes a side figurine that is not really part of the story but a mini goldstar for putting him into the game and partially as story teller.

things that very quickly became critique points for me:
- I loathe the fighting system in Veilguard - that one for me is 0 fun - how I survive? Random button smashing and praying to the dread wolf it works. (I played it through twice ... so: Thanks Solas!) 😓
- I am not a fan of the style - not the maps they are beautiful no I mean the people. Proportions are way off can't help myself it triggers me. I feel like I play a Funko Pop.
- What's with the science fiction music? (the end credit song? I would have expected in a Alan Wake game but Dragon Age that is like High Fantasy?) Some of the traks are immersion destroying - literally. 😢
- The "riddles" that are not really riddles but feel like tasks to waste your time like in Among Us. Did they take Among Us mini-games and dressed them up as riddles for Veilguard?
- I am supposed to get like emotionally attached to the characters, to make them immortal does not help, making some of them behave like children makes me less care for them but feel like a kindergardener.
- In general the language at times was just as immersion shattering as the music and again ... am I here a kindergardener.
- The fact that nothing we had done in the last 3 games ever mattered:

That is my biggest critique about the game and the reason why I say it is a solid game but a bad Dragon Age.
Most of the time I did not feel like playing Dragon Age at all. The Cameos mostly just reminded me about what I missed from the other games and so they worked 3.5 years on a game that is .... about double as long as DA2 that has better character interactions, deeper character stories - maybe just my point of view, better music, and better ties to last games (Inquisition still is king about that).

All in all solid game but I am missing Dragon Age. I want to play a Dragon Age and after playing Veilguard through twice, I don't feel like I really played Dragon Age and that is frustrating. 😭
Can EA please pick up the plans for Dreadwolf again (from the artbook) and release Dreadwolf tied to the DAKeep? And make their Veilguard stuff with the plans from the secret ending under The VEILGUARD or whatever after that?

Humble opinion, personally I love the Veil-guards art style over all the other games. I’m not into the hyper realism aspects of DAI. I think I actually noticed it more after playing Veilguard for so long it feels so much better but I completely hear you because when you like something you want to get more of it.
I can’t believe I have such a different opinion lol, I absolutely loved the score! I thought the music was on point. dAI had so many scenes without music at all which drive me nuts.
Overall I really do think DATV is by far the best game in the series. The story is just so incredible, the characters are relatable snd endearing, and I’m completely glued and sucked into it.

As a new fan who played the first three games over the last couple of years in anticipation of veilguard I definitely noticed how different each game felt. The combat was constantly moving toward being more action based and I'm glad Veilguard did finally just commit, rather than hover in-between like 2 and Inquisition did. Personally Inquisition and Veilguard are by far my favourites in the series and I would love for da5 to be a direct Veilguard sequel, maybe even featuring rook again. Despite that I do understand how frustrating it must be for fans who joined through origins and 2 especially to see the series change so drastically. If Mass Effect 5 (the bioware series I have much longer standing love for) comes out and is a complete departure I'd definitely feel disappointed so I understand why Veilguard was for lots of fans.

My perfect DA game would probably be pretty similar to yours from the sound of it, but definitely would have Inquisition art style and veilguard combat as my baseline.

Dragon Age Origins is my most played game of all time with 700+ hours of playtime and I've been playing the series since 2010, so I will say this: people seriously over-hype Origins and DA2 in fact did a lot of things better. DA2 was the game that further iterated on Origins without straying too much from it.

I do a replay of Origins almost every year and the game's flaws really show. The base game often feels like a slog with overly long main quests, such as Redcliffe and Orzammar. You have infamous sections like The Fade and The Deep Roads that most people really didn't like (I even use the Skip the Fade mod lol). The game's allergic to colors that aren't brown and grey and funnily enough, the DLC packs added more and more color to the world (especially Awakening, which is my favourite part of Origins if I'm honest). And then there are gameplay elements that feel like bloat more than anything. The "Skills" page which has basics like persuasion and combat efficiency that really shouldn't be things you put skill points into. Or there's the mechanics of traps, stealing and stealth which I feel are either useless (traps, stealing) or really clunky (stealth). Not to mention Lockpicking in the regular combat abilities page.

I liked how DA2 did the Lockpicking mechanic i.e. they made it so that a rogue's cunning stat decided if they could open higher tier chests or not. They also turned Stealth into a combat ability which was way more useful and less clunky. And they removed traps and thievery entirely. In general, I feel DA2 doesn't really waste my time with any of its main quests and no section makes me go "UGH, not this part again".

I loved Dragon Age Origins. I tolerated DA2 and DAI... I could not even bring myself to try DAV. You are right, the series always changes... and from my point of view, for the worst. The franchise needs a complete hard reboot at this point.

DA2 definitely had peak qunari designs. Was excited for inquisition when we finally got a chance to play as one but was let down in the design. Veilguard was slightly better but still far from what i wanted.

You're not the problem, The Devs are the problem. Fans are what make or break an IP and are generally agreed on many points.

They need a proper team Lead/Leads with a proper vision for the devs to get behind and that lead needs to be a true fan of the world and the themes of the games. They need a Todd Howard or a Chris Metzen type, man or woman or whatever gender just someone who love all these games has been around for all of them and has a good understanding of what fans want while trying new things, We don't need it to be an Origins copy paste (although that's not a bad idea) but take those Dark Fantasy themes and story telling and bring it to the modern games but not overly dark either cause Dragon Age has light hearted moments that we all love and remind us of the humanity in Thedas around so much darkness and evil.

I don't claim to know it all but I don't think I'm wrong, hell if they hired me I know I would make a Great Dragon Age game cause I love the games I've understood this world for a long time and id put together a team of real fantasy/dragon age fans to build the best RPG to top Baldurs Gate 3. That should be the goal and for 200 million dollars and 10 years I know its possible! In a 5 year span they released Origins and all its DLC, Dragon Age 2 and its DLC, and Inquisition and all its DLC like WTF.

To me my perfect games is all the new tech and animations (not the character models) but with Origins writing and storytelling and a mix of the scale and size of inqisition (minus pointles grinding BS) and the combat of Origns/DAI.

Arguably I want something like The Witcher 3 in style but in Dragon Age but that's not the whole pitch just a general idea.

Change happens. Artistic change happens. 🤷🏿‍♂️ Times and styles change.

That never bothered me.

Veilguard is just the newer, updated look and feel for the world.
Fandoms at large have always been the enemy of change.

It's just as much Dragon Age as the other games are.

Folks gotta take the advice that Cassandra said in Inquisition...

"Deal With. It."

Great video, especially the development aspect

For me that is a problem. A franchise must be more homogeneous. Starting with its combat system. Without a doubt, turning it into a GOW of temu has been a huge mistake. Things cannot be done following the trends of the moment. That's simply not going to work. Veilguard has turned DA into something else. In Origins, DA2 and Inquisition you had control over your character, your companions and a tactical way of approaching combat, as well as a shared inventory. We also have the serious, realistic and dark tone of its environment and narrative. Something that in Vielguard is absent or only appears at certain times. Decisions and their consequences are also something important that is present in the first three installments, as well as how this affects the state of the world and that you could import from one game to another. So yes, Dragon Age has an identity or at least some common elements on which to forge one. And Veilguard has wasted them or has preferred to be something different.

Though I actually really enjoyed Veilguard, I agree with all of this. DA2 was my first game and it was my favorite until Veilguard. I truly wish they had more depth for everything with the companions and choices, but again..this was rebooted 3 damn times. I’m willing to give this soft reboot grace and have better hope for DA5.

100% agree with you. I liked, but didn’t love, Veilguard and when I got my hands on the art book I also felt a strange sense of both disappointment and mourning. DA has been one of my favorite RPG series and the question of what might have been if Joplin had been fully developed will likely be one of the big gaming “what ifs” for me. I was impressed with the technical soundness of Veilguard at launch, a huge upgrade from ME:A, but I feel like along the way the soul of DA (it’s strong writing, characters, and world building) was either lost or amputated to get the game out the door. I hope the next Mass Effect is good, truly, but I can’t shake this feeling of wariness when it comes to their future. Hopefully with time this is something that improves.

I'm surprised at the amount of positive comments about DA2. For me it was a spit in the face in almost every regard. I could go on how I hate it for an hour straight.

As a die-hard fan of the series, I relate much to what you said. The series keeps changing, but it changes for the worse this time in my opinion. Everything I love about DA: The character's relationships, the dialogues, the romance, the dark history, and policies, etc, those are "gone". The tiny little things I remember and love about the DA series, are all replaced by new features that I don't care enough about. While the map, the environment, and the battle improved, those aren't my reasons to play DA. I feel like after 10 years I am finally reunited with a beloved friend, only to find out my friend changed to please everyone else, they changed to be a people pleaser, they changed to be politically correct, and keep banging my head with their rightfulness of non-binary, but also at the same time take away my player's agency because they don't trust that I can react to it maturely. Rook is a puppet, a window for me to watch cinematic and click the various options that all make me nod and smile. There is no edge, there are no real choices, there are no "choices matter" and there are no true relationships, deep connections, and passionate romance. I am just someone they talk at in time they selected rather than talk with.

I still enjoy the game, and I will buy the next Mass Effect or Dragon Age because I still am invested in the lore and the world. But I have to say I am slightly sad and disappointed after paying full price and spending 100 hours of playing this game I thought I would love it, and I wanted to love it, after waiting for it for a full decade. Bioware wants to please everyone, both old and new players, and by doing so it pleases no one, and it is sad.

Thank you for this review! It nearly perfectly matches my feelings about Veilguard.
My biggest critique about this game is that it felt like an action game trying to present itself as a fantasy RPG, and as a result missed a lot of nuance and true impact of choices that I wanted to see.