Dragon Age: The Veilguard - A woke disaster? Yep!

[Shao Khan]

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no guyssss it was hasbro who made us add all the faggot shit on baldurs gate 3

 

[Mola Ram]

That was back when the retardation was just ramping up, yeah. I remember that because people were mad she was pretty, so we got red haired manjaw Shep instead.

I've only played FemShep a few times, but when I do I'm able to make a pretty good approximation of Justine Joli. Fuckin prudes.

 

[Snekposter]

Mass Effect used to be full of fan-service, which was one of its better aspects.

I'm still mad they took out Miranda's butt shots in the remasters. Thank God there's a mod to restore them.

This used to be the same franchise that put your ship's AI into a sexy robot body with camel toe.

And literally everyone goes "Wow, hot robot", from Joker to Traynor to Maya Brooks who outright calls her "your damned sexbot" during her tirade about you foiling her plans involving your evil clone.

Seriously, can we just talk about how awesome it is having an evil clone? I almost feel like no hero is complete without one.

 

[DagothUr]

Party composition depends on the build. Usually at least one mage is a good idea because they have the best crowd control options and the completely broken Forcefield spell and Haste. A rogue isn't really necessary, lock picking and disarming is mostly just extra XP and gold, imo. Although, rogues are extremely powerful and can work in place of warriors.
Warriors are good, they don't benefit from backstabs (still get a flanking bonus) or have as much out-of-combat utility, but they get Taunt, have more than adequate DPS, survivability and have good talents available.
All classes can make use of buff potions and poisons, so that's not an issue.
I never really used the Dog or Shale so idk how to work them into a build. I know that Shale allows an OP auto-crit archer rogue party tho.

 

[TheAmbiguousLurker]

Seriously, can we just talk about how awesome it is having an evil clone? I almost feel like no hero is complete without one.

I'm kind of disappointed that the clone was saved for the comedy DLC. Because that, combined with Miranda's talk about the Illusive Man's obsession with recreating Shepard and the cut convo with Ashley where Shepard can talk about not knowing if they're actually the Shepard that died in ME2's opening, has more potential for an interesting story thread for the player character than those fucking dream sequences and Shepard going "Damn, I miss Earth. That planet that, depending on the chosen origin, I've probably never even been to".

 

[Weltraumfürst]

the cut convo with Ashley where Shepard can talk about not knowing if they're actually the Shepard that died in ME2's opening

It's kind of insane how they just totally gloss over the fact that Shepard literally came back from the dead. It's like the opening scene was just there to justify a two-year time jump.

 

[Snekposter]

Shepard going "Damn, I miss Earth. That planet that, depending on the chosen origin, I've probably never even been to".

Hell, even an Earthborn Shepard might not have any real fondness for it considering they were a kid in a street gang and Alliance service was the only way out.

 

[Deus Exica]

It's kind of insane how they just totally gloss over the fact that Shepard literally came back from the dead. It's like the opening scene was just there to justify a two-year time jump.

Mass Effect 2's entire main plot is exceptionally retarded. The Illusive Man obsessively bringing Shepard back from the dead, complete without an obedience brainchip, just to send him on a suicide mission is actually fucking insane.

The game's lucky that the cast and side quests are so fun it makes you forget how dog shit the writing for the main plot is.

 

[Mola Ram]

I'm still mad they took out Miranda's butt shots in the remasters. Thank God there's a mod to restore them.

Really, though, did they take them all out? The big point of contention was the butt shots in the conversation concerning her loyalty mission, where they argued the camera view undercut the somber tone around her sister. The most obvious one, which is at least as gratuitous, is still in the game -- the shot when she bends over in the elevator to pick up a communicator. Her ass eats up like a quarter of the screen, and that's still perfectly intact.

 

[Snekposter]

Really, though, did they take them all out? The big point of contention was the butt shots in the conversation concerning her loyalty mission, where they argued the camera view undercut the somber tone around her sister. The most obvious one, which is at least as gratuitous, is still in the game -- the shot when she bends over in the elevator to pick up a communicator. Her ass eats up like a quarter of the screen, and that's still perfectly intact.

They took out a couple in ME3, presumably for the same reason, but still...

 

[LovisXVI]

Mass Effect 2's entire main plot is exceptionally retarded. The Illusive Man obsessively bringing Shepard back from the dead, complete without an obedience brainchip, just to send him on a suicide mission is actually fucking insane.

Reminds me of Shamus Young's great retrospective on the Mass Effect series, really hitting on why 2 onward is so dumb, ME2 starts here, and his video on the subject:

Both together really turned my opinion around on the series, and why I generally generally regard DAO as the last good BioWare game made. ME2 is still fun, but really falls apart under scrutiny, with ME3 getting even worse.

 

[Deus Exica]

Reminds me of Shamus Young's great retrospective on the Mass Effect series, really hitting on why 2 onward is so dumb, ME2 starts here, and his video on the subject: https://youtube.com/watch?v=KarASQhk1bwBoth together really turned my opinion around on the series, and why I generally generally regard DAO as the last good BioWare game made. ME2 is still fun, but really falls apart under scrutiny, with ME3 getting even worse.

Personally I find Mass Effect 2 and 3 overall entertaining enough that the main story being stupid doesn't really bother me. I like the characters, I like the moment to moment dialogue, it doesn't bother me too much especially when the execution is fairly solid up until the final hours of ME3.

That being said, Mass Effect should have been an episodic series. The Reaper plotline should have been nixed after the first game and Shepard should have just had a new threat to deal with in each.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

I never really used the Dog or Shale so idk how to work them into a build. I know that Shale allows an OP auto-crit archer rogue party tho.

Dog is a high-mobility tanker/striker hybrid. The secret sauce is the Overwhelm skill, where he launches across the map to ground and pound a single target. Use this to snipe mages before they can nuke your party, makes quests like the dungeon before the Ashes of Andrastre a breeze.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

Personally I find Mass Effect 2 and 3 overall entertaining enough that the main story being stupid doesn't really bother me. I like the characters, I like the moment to moment dialogue, it doesn't bother me too much especially when the execution is fairly solid up until the final hours of ME3.

That being said, Mass Effect should have been an episodic series. The Reaper plotline should have been nixed after the first game and Shepard should have just had a new threat to deal with in each.

Definitely on episodic, and I believe Dragon Age should have been that way too.

IIRC, Mass Effect had this weird predicament where nobody knew or could agree to what the main story should be between 2 and 3, All the official links were gone thanks to BW forum going under, but the star dying out thing in Tali's recruitment mission in 2 was supposed to be a prelude to a larger "save existence, our version of the Sun is dying" kind of plot, but then it got scrapped and they ended up with freaking Star Child and slow motion dream sequences in 3.

3 is okay until after the Tuchanka mission, then it just kind of becomes a let's just throw everything at the wall kind of thing that I am playing just to finish the game. Kaidan finally being bi is nice though, allows my male Sheppard to finally conclude a romance story line of two hot buddies that aren't really sure about admitting their feelings to one another until the end is nigh.

Oh, and 3 fucks up all the romances in 2, which is another strike against it. Thane gets a closure and hence gets the best romance arc of the love interests in 2, ironic as the people behind 3 forgot that he was romance-able in 2. They just recycled Miranda's story again for 3, lazy fucks, and Jack is barely there. And LOL at Jacob being a cheater that knocks up another woman barely weeks after he was separated from Shepard.

 

[Mola Ram]

Personally I find Mass Effect 2 and 3 overall entertaining enough that the main story being stupid doesn't really bother me. I like the characters, I like the moment to moment dialogue, it doesn't bother me too much especially when the execution is fairly solid up until the final hours of ME3.

Likewise. I also never found Shamus Young's takedown all that persuasive, because he frequently seems to forget that gameplay is the most important thing in a video game, not story. If it were a movie series, Mass Effect would have to be considered to have a final entry on the level of the third Spider-Man or X-Men films (maybe Godfather III, considering the contentious quality). But with both gameplay and enough satisfying story arcs (maybe consider them RPG adventures) that would comprise movies of their own, it's nowhere near the disaster he makes it out to be. Shamus's series on ME is like a steroidal version of his analysis of the Skyrim Thieves' Guild quest, where he rightfully lambastes the story without ever really stopping to ask, "But is it fun to play?" Which, IMO, it is.

(That he was doing a 60ish part series that was clearly intended as the definitive analysis of the series -- it was nominated for a Hugo, I think -- while playing none of the DLC out of principle is another issue altogether. I am not Shamus's biggest fan, but I was sorry to see him pass at such an early age. RIP.)

Definitely on episodic, and I believe Dragon Age should have been that way too.

I don't think Dragon Age ever fully recovered from trying to shoehorn its own version of Commander Shepard in the shape of Hawke into the PC position. I do think that as a series with dangling plot threads and cliffhangers it was sort of working, but letting it languish in development for 10 years looks like they might have killed that, too. Being episodic is why the first one still holds up so well -- the Warden's story comes to a satisfying end, so you don't have to pay any attention to substandard sequels if you don't care to.

 

[DapperShark]

IIRC, Mass Effect had this weird predicament where nobody knew or could agree to what the main story should be between 2 and 3, All the official links were gone thanks to BW forum going under, but the star dying out thing in Tali's recruitment mission in 2 was supposed to be a prelude to a larger "save existence, our version of the Sun is dying" kind of plot, but then it got scrapped and they ended up with freaking Star Child and slow motion dream sequences in 3.

Yes, iirc Drew Karpyshyn's original plot for ME3 involved dark energy going haywire and eventually consuming the entire universe, the Reapers wanted to stop it and something about harvesting organics was supposed to be the key to achieving this, the thing with the dying star in ME2 was meant to be foreshadowing. Unfortunately retards Casey Hudson and Hack Walters took over the writing after Karpyshyn left and dropped the whole thing for the Star Child shit, now Karpyshyn's plot may not have been the best but imo it seemed a lot more interesting than what we got and at least it didn't reduce the Reapers to this:

 

[Miller]

It's kind of insane how they just totally gloss over the fact that Shepard literally came back from the dead. It's like the opening scene was just there to justify a two-year time jump.

Bioware really fucked up the series with ME2. Shepard not being dead thanks to Cerberus - with their sudden infinite money glitch - was really retarded, even in a sci-fi setting like Mass Effect. I'm sure they did this because ME2 was the first game in the series to be on every platform but I still believe that it was a bad idea to "kill" the character at the beginning.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

Oh, and 3 fucks up all the romances in 2, which is another strike against it. Thane gets a closure and hence gets the best romance arc of the love interests in 2, ironic as the people behind 3 forgot that he was romance-able in 2. They just recycled Miranda's story again for 3, lazy fucks, and Jack is barely there. And LOL at Jacob being a cheater that knocks up another woman barely weeks after he was separated from Shepard.

The 3 followups for the companions felt lame, especially since literally none of them stayed with Cerberus (thr better to have TIM descend into moustache-twirling villainy.) If Jacob had been augmented to the gills to be Shepard's replacement after he turned himself in, putting him in as the early game antagonist instead of that chode Kai Leng would have been a big step up, giving the fights more dimensions and stakes.

Though honestly, they pussed out on giving any of the companions an edge, to the point where they even retconned shit, like Miranda going "i didnt know Project Lazarus was this fucked up and ghoulish" bitch it was your fucking project.

Bioware really fucked up the series with ME2. Shepard not being dead thanks to Cerberus - with their sudden infinite money glitch - was really retarded, even in a sci-fi setting like Mass Effect. I'm sure they did this because ME2 was the first game in the series to be on every platform but I still believe that it was a bad idea to "kill" the character at the beginning.

They wanted to establish the threat and take Sheperd out from under Council authority in order to clear the board for the sequel, but I agree they went too far. The only way to make that work is if they'd killed Sheperd and made him stay dead, with you playing Ashley or Kaiden (whoever survived the first game) to find out what happened and ultimately avenge him.

 

[There Is Light At The End]

If Jacob had been augmented to the gills to be Shepard's replacement after he turned himself in, putting him in as the early game antagonist instead of that chode Kai Leng would have been a big step up, giving the fights more dimensions and stakes.

Bioware was already infected with progtards, so it would be "heckin' uncool" to have a nig as antagonist.

 

[augment]

I don't care that ME2 had no plot, the whole experience was a CYOA space adventure at a time when there weren't similar games like that out there. Mass Effect is the superior RPG to me, ME2 being the fun "dumbed out action gameplay" sequel that is still entertaining thanks to the voice cast.
I still can't believe this thing could have been the Star Trek/Star Wars of our time and they freaking blew it.