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

[Deus Exica]

think over 80% of players rolled Male Soldier Shepards

The statistics swung slightly in favor of femshep by like ten or fifteen more percent as the years wore on but, yes, it was very funny to see people posting for YEARS about how fem-shep was SO much better than male Shepard for years and years only for Mark Meer and male Shepard to become solidified as iconic, while Jen Hale's bog standard performance faded away into obscurity.

 

[strawberry15]

That's something I'm often guilty of. I think the only major exception was Dragon Age Inquisition, where I rolled a mage.

i regret i never played rgue warden in dao before. it is great. never utilized rogues, they were the best in origins where you can backstab, create traps, use poisons etc. requires you to be more active in the game. more than fighters and mages in my opinion. In Inquisition i played a female elf mage with tatoos to get the most i can from Solas (romance,, dialogue etc) so that i can have a good save to play the 4th game. but i regret that 100+ of useless grinding because in the end, this game sucks ass.

 

[Mola Ram]

i regret i never played rgue warden in dao before. it is great.

Rogue is probably the best class for DAO, because your party makeup gets more constrictive if you're not playing one. If you want to open chests and aren't playing a rogue, you basically have to have Leliana in your party all the time because your only other rogue was apparently statted out by a retard and can only open the simplest locks until you spend levels building up for the purpose. It's worst for warriors, because you're also stuck with one of the mages, unless you really like a challenge. Playing a warrior generally means missing out on party banter among the other warriors.

DAO suffers from having way too many warriors in the party, and only one rogue who's any good at locks and traps. The balanced parties of Awakening and the sequels might feel artificial, but they're also to the games' benefit.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

The statistics swung slightly in favor of femshep by like ten or fifteen more percent as the years wore on but, yes, it was very funny to see people posting for YEARS about how fem-shep was SO much better than male Shepard for years and years only for Mark Meer and male Shepard to become solidified as iconic, while Jen Hale's bog standard performance faded away into obscurity.

I once got tarred by FemShep fans when I said that MaleShep sounded like an actual soldier while FemShep sounds like an actress playing a soldier. I stand by that still, though!

i regret i never played rgue warden in dao before. it is great.

Rogue is probably the best class for DAO, because your party makeup gets more constrictive if you're not playing one. If you want to open chests and aren't playing a rogue, you basically have to have Leliana in your party all the time because your only other rogue was apparently statted out by a retard and can only open the simplest locks until you spend levels building up for the purpose. It's worst for warriors, because you're also stuck with one of the mages, unless you really like a challenge. Playing a warrior generally means missing out on party among the other warriors.

DAO suffers from having way too many warriors in the party, and only one rogue who's any good at locks and traps. The balanced parties of Awakening and the sequels might feel artificial, but they're also to the games' benefit.

I am playing Dragon Age 2 and the rogue limitations is just as bad.

Some quests are locked behind locked chests, like the Qunari Sword hunt in Act 3, and non-rogues will need to invest in Thrice Bound in Act 1 to improve Isabela's ability to spot and disarm traps as well as open chests. (Even then, she can't open higher level locks as well as a rogue Hawke.) Since Thrice Bound is a dagger, Varric can't equip it and hence is less useful than Isabela. Leaving Varric behind means missing out on a lot of fun banters.

Also, Varric is ranged and can pack a punch with his specialization. Isabela is melee and, unless you pump points in her constitution and hence gimping her damage, she is going to die pretty fast on higher difficulties. Unlike an Assassin Hawke with a point in that Shadow passive that adds 50% critical damage and the rest of the stats dumped into cunning and constitution after meeting the dexterity requirement, she can't shred enemies quickly to make much of a difference in combat.

TL;DR: play rogue in everything and your problems will be solved!

 

[Mola Ram]

I once got tarred by FemShep fans when I said that MaleShep sounded like an actual soldier while FemShep sounds like an actress playing a soldier. I stand by that still, though!

I usually like Jennifer Hale's performances quite a bit, but after all the hype for FemShep I was severely disappointed. There's something smug about her Shepard I found extremely offputting. Meer, on the other hand, acts with a sort of neutrality that made Shep easy to believe as the player character, particularly in the first game -- it's not quite blank slate but a lot of his mannerisms feel open to interpretation (and he definitely sounds more professional in any event).

 

[strawberry15]

Rogue is probably the best class for DAO, because your party makeup gets more constrictive if you're not playing one. If you want to open chests and aren't playing a rogue, you basically have to have Leliana in your party all the time because your only other rogue was apparently statted out by a retard and can only open the simplest locks until you spend levels building up for the purpose. It's worst for warriors, because you're also stuck with one of the mages, unless you really like a challenge. Playing a warrior generally means missing out on party banter among the other warriors.

DAO suffers from having way too many warriors in the party, and only one rogue who's any good at locks and traps. The balanced parties of Awakening and the sequels might feel artificial, but they're also to the games' benefit.

DAO was really something else. there is no companion that was badly written or badly implemented to the story. It was a fun game to play with a very high replayablity rate. If only it continued like that...
Which party composition do you prefer?

 

[Mola Ram]

DAO was really something else. there is no companion that was badly written or badly implemented to the story. It was a fun game to play with a very high replayablity rate. If only it continued like that...
Which party composition do you prefer?

I try to use everyone from time to time, but naturally if I'm playing a mage or rogue the other mages and rogues get a lot less facetime.

 

[Krokodil Overdose]

DAO was really something else. there is no companion that was badly written or badly implemented to the story. It was a fun game to play with a very high replayablity rate. If only it continued like that...
Which party composition do you prefer?

Me (Human Noble Rogue), Shale/Alistair (Tank), Wynne (defensive magic), Morrigan (offensive magic.) If I'm feeling feisty I might swap Morrigan for Dog.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

I usually like Jennifer Hale's performances quite a bit, but after all the hype for FemShep I was severely disappointed. There's something smug about her Shepard I found extremely offputting. Meer, on the other hand, acts with a sort of neutrality that made Shep easy to believe as the player character, particularly in the first game -- it's not quite blank slate but a lot of his mannerisms feel open to interpretation (and he definitely sounds more professional in any event).

Hale sounds bipolar if you don't play pure paragon or renegade.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

I try to use everyone from time to time, but naturally if I'm playing a mage or rogue the other mages and rogues get a lot less facetime.

Arcane Warrior has some flexibility to step into the role of tank or mage DPS, letting you free up one of the slots for another companion for "story" purposes.
Still, tanky Arcane Warrior is SUPER boring to play as it's mostly auto-attack, with the occasional Heal, Blood Wound, and one of the few spells that can be cast without sheathing your weapon. There is also the pain of having to recast your 100 buffs after every new scene. On the other hand, Alistair can only dream of tanking AND casting Inferno and Blizzard to clear a room or taking out huge chunks of life from and even one-shotting mages with Mana Clash!

 

[Snekposter]

I usually like Jennifer Hale's performances quite a bit, but after all the hype for FemShep I was severely disappointed. There's something smug about her Shepard I found extremely offputting. Meer, on the other hand, acts with a sort of neutrality that made Shep easy to believe as the player character, particularly in the first game -- it's not quite blank slate but a lot of his mannerisms feel open to interpretation (and he definitely sounds more professional in any event).

"Shepard."

"Wrex."

"Shepard."

"Grunt."

Why yes, I'm about to get the party started in my apartment in ME3, why do you ask?

 

[There Is Light At The End]

OMG, it's true.
Elves and Qunaris are just LGBTDEITUMBLRPIVIXUwU humans with pointy ears and forehead tumors and horns!
Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPMWOylOtC8&ab_channel=nuhre

A-yo, *smacks lips* whatchu doin' 'ere, shemlen crackka? Dis ain't yo turf, shemlen. Get yo ass outta here, or I's bring some brothas! *dies from drive by archery and has elderly elvnigress to cry over his body, yelling "muh beyyyybie"*

 

[Weltraumfürst]

Which party composition do you prefer?

I often had Alistair with me. Didn't make a whole lot of sense gameplay-wise since I played a sword-and-board warrior myself, but it made sense to me, because we were doing Grey Warden shit, so I felt like the other Grey Warden should be around. I also like Alistair.
Other than that mostly Wynne for her healing spells and Leliana for disarming traps and opening chests. And because DAO Leliana is mai waifu.

 

[Mola Ram]

A-yo, *smacks lips* whatchu doin' 'ere, shemlen crackka? Dis ain't yo turf, shemlen. Get yo ass outta here, or I's bring some brothas! *dies from drive by archery and has elderly elvnigress to cry over his body, yelling "muh beyyyybie"*

Oh christ the Evanuris are going to look like a Benetton ad, aren't they.

 

[There Is Light At The End]

it was very funny to see people posting for YEARS about how fem-shep was SO much better than male Shepard for years and years only for Mark Meer and male Shepard to become solidified as iconic

What's even funnier, that default female Shepard didn't have proper default model before Mass effect 3, while default male Shepard hasn't changed from the release. Another fun fact - there was a vote for default female Shepard and blonde won. Forums threw shit fit and rerolled into ginger. Problem for them was that Shepard looked like bimbo.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

They also revealed Ashley in a weird skirt thing before Mass Effect release and the BioWare forums revolted loudly too. The loony fandom did a lot to influence the shift of course of that franchise from campy space opera modeled after the pulp sci-fi days (the outfits of Miranda, Jack, and Samara are prime examples) to the woke slop of Mass Effect Andromeda.

 

[Kharash]

Rogue is probably the best class for DAO, because your party makeup gets more constrictive if you're not playing one. If you want to open chests and aren't playing a rogue, you basically have to have Leliana in your party all the time because your only other rogue was apparently statted out by a retard and can only open the simplest locks until you spend levels building up for the purpose. It's worst for warriors, because you're also stuck with one of the mages, unless you really like a challenge. Playing a warrior generally means missing out on party banter among the other warriors.

DAO suffers from having way too many warriors in the party, and only one rogue who's any good at locks and traps. The balanced parties of Awakening and the sequels might feel artificial, but they're also to the games' benefit.

I haven't played DA without a respec mod in a decade and highly recommend everyone else does the same for this reason.

 

[Rockzo]

Which party composition do you prefer?

I usually roll sword and shield warrior for main, Leliana for bow, alistar/oghen/shale/sten for second and Wynne for healing.
I remember doing a mage elf playthrough that had Leliana, Morrigan and Wynne in a party. Really bad if anything came close but crawling through a map and throwing fireballs and the like was pretty fun. I genuinely miss Wynne, not alot of games have a grandma type companion who'll tell you tales of the wardens on their griffins.

 

[strawberry15]

I usually roll sword and shield warrior for main, Leliana for bow, alistar/oghen/shale/sten for second and Wynne for healing.
I remember doing a mage elf playthrough that had Leliana, Morrigan and Wynne in a party. Really bad if anything came close but crawling through a map and throwing fireballs and the like was pretty fun. I genuinely miss Wynne, not alot of games have a grandma type companion who'll tell you tales of the wardens on their griffins.

Lol it seems likd Wynne is the fundemental mage in parties(and for a reason she is good at healing). I love morrigan but wynne is very underrated( Same as oghen, he is very good as a shellshocked, depressed son of a bitch)

 

[Deus Exica]

once got tarred by FemShep fans when I said that MaleShep sounded like an actual soldier while FemShep sounds like an actress playing a soldier. I stand by that still, though!

Mark's performance is a bit wooden but you get absolute gold from him like "Because it's a BIG! STUPID! JELLYFISH!" and by the time ME 3 rolls around he's performing circles around Jen Hale.

there was a vote for default female Shepard and blonde won. Forums threw shit fit and rerolled into ginger.

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.

They also revealed Ashley in a weird skirt thing before Mass Effect release and the BioWare forums revolted loudly too. The loony fandom did a lot to influence the shift of course of that franchise from campy space opera modeled after the pulp sci-fi days (the outfits of Miranda, Jack, and Samara are prime examples) to the woke slop of Mass Effect Andromeda.

Mass Effect used to be full of fan-service, which was one of its better aspects. Banging alien babes became a core facet of the franchise's identity almost immediately.

It is supremely ironic that we live in an era of sexual liberation, where faggots now cheer when you get cock sliders in games and characters are expected to go full frontal during romance scenes, but at the same time every character has to be a repugnant manjaw dyke negroid.

This used to be the same franchise that put your ship's AI into a sexy robot body with camel toe. Now that shares the same space with Peanut Butter down syndrome Asari.

I haven't played DA without a respec mod in a decade and highly recommend everyone else does the same for this reason.

Despite being a pretty good game all around I have to say that Origins is full of annoying shit like this. I also consider a mod that speeds up combat pretty essential.