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

[Der weiße Teufel]

Please tell me they use "Abenteurer*innen" in spoken dialogue lmao

It's worse, since "Abenteurer*in(nen)" is just used generically to include every made-up gender, it does not work when you want to talk about a specific non-binary person, so they decided to add an "e" to the noun, which means you get shit like "Behütere" (article: "de"). Apparently the chosen non-binary pronoun was "hen", but they first went with "xier", so there were still some inconsistencies left in the final game. Not sure how it works when you need to use it in different cases, I only heard about this from others/online because having to read or hear gender-raped German makes me physically ill.

 

[porkWellington]

Hopefully Dragon Age Veilguard died so Mass Effect succeeds but I'm not holding my breath. Andromeda was proof they couldn't make an engaging spin-off story, Anthem was proof they can't make an original story, and Veilguard was proof they can't make a good continuation of an existing story. Mass Effect is their last relatively unblemished IP; I can appreciate how they "contained" Andromeda in the story so it could never be acknowledged again without being a massive plothole. You can't unwrite the Dragon Age Illuminati and retconning complicated character's pragmatic motivations.

I would only have hope for the next ME if two things aligned. 1, towards the end of ME3's development they wrote an outline on how they would've continued the series in a hypothetical ME4. 2, they bring back those writers and let them cook without any influence from anyone else at the studio.

 

[bort420]

IIRC, wasn't this why EA wanted to pivot to original IPs? To save on having to pay probably ludicrous amount of money just to maintain the licenses (as FIFA demonstrated). Too bad they really have a reverse midas touch when it come to these.

They want the recurring revenue of yearly licensed sports games, or yearly franchises like COD, or GaaS like the Sims. Unfortunately for them they lucked into all of the existing annuity-style IPs. They haven't had a new one in decades.

But you have the retarded "no take, only throw" executives who don't understand that to get to the point of printing money like COD or GTA you need to have your franchises built up well enough to justify that. And they simply don't have the talent or patience to keep rolling the dice.

 

[Jace on ice]

No one actually played Andromeda so you can be forgiven somewhat for forgetting but Andromeda's companions set the tone for Veilguard's horrific cast of undesirables.

You had

A socially anxious cat alien person who spoke in weird alien slang.

A strong boss bitch Turian lady who had a black voice and no personality other being a boss bitch.

An extremely ugly Asari named fucking PeeBee who's personality was almost a 1-1 recreation of Sera DAI that is to say horrifically annoying and obnoxious.

Generic white guy with no personality who is probably the best character purely by virtue of being the least annoying.

Tldr Bioware can't write for shit and ME5 will probably be more annoying quirkchungus crap.

 

[That Guy Who Likes The Chili]

Hopefully Dragon Age Veilguard died so Mass Effect succeeds

No one actually played Andromeda

So I absolutely loved ME1 and ME2 when they were out, they were my fucking shit. I never actually played 3 because I heard all the choices you made through 1 and 2 didn't translate to 3 in a satisfying way and that the ending was so fucking bad that people lost their minds and started boycotting it and demanding re-writes.

My question is. Was 3 even worth playing? I always assumed the ME franchise died at 2.

 

[Activelo]

So I absolutely loved ME1 and ME2 when they were out, they were my fucking shit. I never actually played 3 because I heard all the choices you made through 1 and 2 didn't translate to 3 in a satisfying way and that the ending was so fucking bad that people lost their minds and started boycotting it and demanding re-writes.

My question is. Was 3 even worth playing? I always assumed the ME franchise died at 2.

Spoiler: off-topic ME sperging

3's ending is absolutely trash, but IMO, the stuff before that still has its strong moments that are at least worth checking out.

I can't speak for every single choice that gets imported to 3, but the Tuchanka mission was top tier shit, fight me.

 

[Endless Torment]

A strong boss bitch Turian lady who had a black voice and no personality other being a boss bitch.

Isn't she like one of the only characters that people actually liked?
Also you made me check and the voice actor is white.

 

[Exit fullscreen button]

3's ending is absolutely trash

Besides the pick your color ending, the final mission was boring garbage, too. It didn't even a boss fight, like Saren in ME1 or the Human Reaper in ME2.
You fight off waves of enemies and a bunch of banshees, and then have to activate a SAM launcher to destroy a reaper guarding a portal.
But SIKE, the reaper was actually jamming the missiles' targeting so then you have to go to another SAM launcher 50 meters away, defend it from more waves of enemies, wait until the missiles sync with the Normandy's targeting system and only then fire them.

It was needless padding, and it's only memorable to me because of how dumb and frustrating and disappointing it was.

But yeah, most of the game up until Priority: London was adequate, if not great.

 

[TheHarbinger]

Has anyone else noticed the amount of cope surrounding Bioware and Mass Effect lately? I keep seeing social media posts and youtube videos saying that "Bioware needs to nail Mass Effect to sruvive".

If the next Mass Effect bombs then Bioware as a studio probably does not survive. Their last decade of output consists of almost nothing but canceled or financially disastrous games. Their studio also has an awful reputation so it won't be attracting top talent or valuable IPs. And won't be attracting any sort of outside investment except for the worst kind like arabs or hedge funds.

But worse for Bioware is that they are now responsible for a 20% short term drop in EA stock. So their existence as a studio is volatile for their parent company. The loss of stock represents around the same price that they paid for the entire studio and catalog of Bioware in the first place. So the acquisition is looking like a major loss for them. Not as bad as the Bungie or Activision ones though. But still this EA paying close to a billion to now lose even more than that so far. And now the IPs that Bioware owns are worthless. Amazon still is supposedly making a Mass Effect series though.

Really? People think a new Mass Effect is actually going to happen (at least made by Bioware)?

It will happen. They are currently still hiring people for pre-production on the next Mass Effect game. But there isn't a full staff yet. Rumors are that the skeleton crew of a writing team wanted to make the next game Shephard centered again for easy marketing on nostalgia.

My question is. Was 3 even worth playing? I always assumed the ME franchise died at 2.

You can play Mass Effect 3 with a basic understanding of the story. It's almost a reboot of the franchise. Even though the game is a disaster and has tons of issues you might as well play it once just to understand why the ending was so hated. And beating just the main story quests is not much of a time investment (especially with a guide). It's one of those games to play once just to understand the cultural discussion surrounding it. But repeated plays are pointless.

 

[Snekposter]

the Tuchanka mission was top tier shit, fight me.

I AM URDNOT WREX, AND THIS IS MY PLANET!

It didn't even a boss fight

How can you possibly forget Marauder SHIELDS like that?

Let us have a moment of silence for that great man, who died in his heroic attempt to save us from that ending.

Isn't she like one of the only characters that people actually liked?
Also you made me check and the voice actor is white.

Yeah, she is great, and even her annoying sister is fun when she shows up in that one mission. That loyalty mission is right behind Liam's as one of my favs.

 

[p1138]

They are currently still hiring people for pre-production on the next Mass Effect game.

What? No they aren't.

https://www.bioware.com/careers/?#job-listings

https://www.bioware.com/studios/bioware-austin/current-openings/

https://jobs.ea.com/en_US/careers/Home/Austin?listFilterMode=1

https://jobs.ea.com/en_US/careers/Home/Edmonton?listFilterMode=1

They have no available listings for any bioware office for any positions at all. Game dev, IT, HR/Admin, nothing. No job postings on linkedin, Indeed, etc. EA is hiring, and some of their studios like Maxis, are hiring. Bioware? No.

This studio capped off a decade of failure, with yet another flop for the holiday season in 2024, leadership is leaving, layoffs have happened, they haven't started pre-production on ME5... where are you seeing that they're hiring? They seem to be the only group at EA that isn't hiring.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

If you go into Mass Effect 3 raw with no prior emotional investment in past installments, chances are you'd get a middling game and a final act that seems to go on and on forever. The story has a cringe-inducing attempt at pretentious "arty-farty" storytelling with some ghost kid that doesn't work at all if your Shepard is a renegade.

However, if you go in with lots of love for the main cast of characters, it's likely a different story. One thing the game does right, aside from the music, is the way it weaves poignant emotional resonance into an otherwise middling story. Tuchanka and the resolution of the Genophage, the resolution of the Geth-Quarian war, the insight into the Prothean and the Asaris, they all work as amazing episodic arcs. Unlike Dragon Age: The Veilguard, even cameos from the Mass Effect 2 squadmates - yes, even Jacob as long as you're not one of the few people that had your Shepard romance him - are well done and don't feel forced. It may or may not be a great story, depending on your personal preferences, but Mass Effect 3 can hit the feels hard for fans that have been following the series up to that point.

In other words, it is in many ways a great series conclusion, everything that Dragon Age: The Veilguard isn't.

 

[HorridHenry]

The studio has had three major flops in a row.

I would assume that everyone at the studio, right now, is probably scrambling to get started on ME5 or jumping ship.

But at what point will EA likely close it? I just don't see them hoping to milk profit off these ancient franchises that have lost their fan followings and are not exactly household names in gaming anymore.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

BioWare is likely EA's DEI facade. They shove all the troons, non-binaries, and genderspeshul in there and show their investors how diverse they are. Given how these big corporations can still dull the impact of flops with tax write-offs and various forms of creative bookkeeping, EA may think it's worth turning a blind eye to the losses sustained by BioWare every once in a while.

With Trump doing his best to abolish DEI, however, it remains to be seen whether EA will tolerate BioWare's continuous existence. If they had any sense, they would take the wire hanger and abort BioWare out of their systems before it drags them further down into some Ubisoft-ian bankruptcy spiral.

 

[LazyLizard]

So I absolutely loved ME1 and ME2 when they were out, they were my fucking shit. I never actually played 3 because I heard all the choices you made through 1 and 2 didn't translate to 3 in a satisfying way and that the ending was so fucking bad that people lost their minds and started boycotting it and demanding re-writes.

My question is. Was 3 even worth playing? I always assumed the ME franchise died at 2.

even though most people agree 3 is the worst one of the trilogy it's still a great game and miles ahead of anything coming out of gaming the last decade and your choices do absolutely carry over just like it did in ME2

 

[Oliver Onions]

It is done, not much point in polishing a turd.

Dragon Age: The Veilguard Gets Its Last Update

Transcript:

Spoiler

BioWare seems to be moving on from Dragon Age: The Veilguard. Just three months after its release in October, BioWare has released a new update for the game featuring a number of bug fixes. While that’s not out of the ordinary, it’s what the post on the game’s website says that suggests EA and BioWare are done with the game.

“Thank you all for playing Dragon Age: The Veilguard; we were so happy with the game’s stability at launch and hope you have enjoyed our Quality of Life patches since then,” the post reads. “With the game being in a stable place, we are moving to monitor for any game-breaking bugs should those occur. Dareth shiral!”

“Dareth shiral”, for those unaware, translates to “farewell” in the game’s language.

The idea that BioWare and EA are moving on from the game shouldn’t come as a surprise. Recently, EA confirmed that the game missed its internal expectations by nearly 50% with roughly 1.5 million players during the three months after the game’s release.

You can check out the full notes for the latest Dragon Age: The Veilguard update below.

You know this shit bombed hard when EA isn't even willing to try and milk out some DLC. I hope the Bioware staff are polishing up their CVs, they're going to need them pretty soon.

 

[Weltraumfürst]

My question is. Was 3 even worth playing? I always assumed the ME franchise died at 2.

I'm gonna say that 1/3rd of the writing is really good, 1/3rd is pretty bad and the last 1/3rd is pretty mediocre, capped off by an ending that's just biblical in terms of how bad it is. I think it's worth playing overall, just for the hell of it.

Here's what I recommend: Get the Legendary Edition, get Audemus' Happy Ending Mod, Better Dreams, and the Expanded Galaxy Mod, then use EGM to disable From Ashes and Leviathan. This makes Mass Effect 3 not perfect, but pretty enjoyable and fixes a lot of the most egregious writing mistakes.

 

[Kane Lives]

What? No they aren't.

https://www.bioware.com/careers/?#job-listings

https://www.bioware.com/studios/bioware-austin/current-openings/

https://jobs.ea.com/en_US/careers/Home/Austin?listFilterMode=1

https://jobs.ea.com/en_US/careers/Home/Edmonton?listFilterMode=1

They have no available listings for any bioware office for any positions at all. Game dev, IT, HR/Admin, nothing. No job postings on linkedin, Indeed, etc. EA is hiring, and some of their studios like Maxis, are hiring. Bioware? No.

This studio capped off a decade of failure, with yet another flop for the holiday season in 2024, leadership is leaving, layoffs have happened, they haven't started pre-production on ME5... where are you seeing that they're hiring? They seem to be the only group at EA that isn't hiring.

Usually a bad sign because even if a company is not hiring, they usually leave up a few token positions for "nice to have" stuff, or even just for regular churn (you'd always see an employee or two leaving annually, and you'd usually line up their replacements in advance). Completely no listing at all usually means imminent downsizing or reshuffle.

 

[Disc]

I maintain that Corinne Busch was responsible only for the flavor of Veilguard's failure: the omnipresence of genderspecial nonsense, the horrifying top scars and other tranny-coded character appearances, the suffocating wokeness. I think by the time he got the top spot EA had written the game off as a loss and was both trying to score some ESG points and build a temporary shield against criticism by pointing to the tranny-hating chuds when the inevitable bad word began to spread. It doesn't excuse him; this person should clearly never be given a position of authority or creative control over any game ever again, but I genuinely believe that by the time he got the nod the game was already beyond salvaging, short of throwing it back into development for another three to five years.

This lines up with one of my personal opinions about the relationship between 'wokeness' and 'brokeness'.

Namely, that big industry funding sources are seeking to buy the lowest dollar people for the job. Cynical as they are, they don't care what the product is as long as it sounds vaguely like it'll appeal to the mainstream.

And the thing about activist devs is that, whether they acknowledge it or not, you can buy them for relatively cheap because they factor the clout and the 'platform' they get for working under you into their buying price. A dev who wants to proselytise will take a shitty wage if it gives them the ability to proselytise at the muggles.

Someone who doesn't care about their platform will be more expensive because they're not gonna factor in their 'platform' into their projected salary.

It's primarily because he still manages to break stories because he has such a good working relationship with devs at studios. Like he broke the stories about ME:A and Anthem's internal development issues and he'll probably end up writing one on DA:V too.

Jason Schreier is only worth listening to after the dust settles. He can do a good post-mortem, but he's not trustworthy in any other setting.

 

[Oliver Onions]

Jason Schreier is only worth listening to after the dust settles. He can do a good post-mortem, but he's not trustworthy in any other setting.

He's one of those 'separate the art from the artist' cases. Good at digging up actual information but disregard all his personal opinions because he is and always will be a servile, low-T cuck.