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

[Mola Ram]

I can absolutely believe Gaider on this-given he's been gone for nearly a decade. Dragon Age unlike Mass Effect lacks a central protagonist, and even tone and art direction shift wildly every game. (Which shows to me, they never quite knew what they wanted to do with the game).


We know for a fact this game was rebooted twice, and multiple staff were laid off or pushed out from 2015 to 2022. We know BioWare was enamored with live service titles and the notion that EA preferred Mass Effect as more easily marketable is pretty intuitive to me.

One doesn't have to defend DAV's writing choices to realize all the above is true and affected the game's quality in very obvious ways.

DA2 and Inquisition reflect obvious damage from demands and fuckery from upper management: the insertion of a Commander Shepard knockoff; the radically reduced development time for DA2; the obvious framework for DAI to be an MMORPG; the cutting of background material to encourage players to buy shitty tie-in fiction. But good stuff emerged despite all that -- not enough to make either of these games classics, but enough for them to be at least passable.

Veilguard was a total disaster, and not merely because of whatever EA was doing and not merely because some at BioWare treated the game with the back of their hand (an allegation I find suspect at best; we never heard these complaints until Veilguard showed its ass). Do I think EA insisted on DEI compliance? Sure. Did anyone at EA hold a gun to Patrick Weekes' head and instruct him to write the cringiest, most obnoxious "nonbinary", thematically unfit character he could dream up? I rather doubt it.

There are tons of other writing decisions that mar the game, including the saccharine relationships between characters, the dreadful expositional interstitial scenes of the party sitting around in a sewing circle, and of course the inability for the PC to ever express a contrary opinion. That all on EA too?

This is classic passing the buck and finger-pointing, and Gaider is hardly the first guy to do it.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

Darrah, the latest to whine about this, was happily trumpeting himself as a senior consultant on the game. He's trying to save face - no matter how hideous that face is.

Same thing with how after every MCU movie flops, the media coincidentally start reporting that Kevin Feige was stretched thin because Disney pressured him to make so many MCU slops, but never mind, guys, he has a plan to get things right next time (spoiler: he doesn't).

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

A lot of people hated Vivienne, but honestly? She was right about mages needing to be caged in Circles. For their own protection no less. Especially after what happened in Kirkwall and at the Ferelden Circle.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

Vivienne is awesome. She knows what she wants, she is manipulative, and she has her own life that doesn't involve wanting to fuck the Inquisitor.

I'm not sure if she is right, because her siding with the Circle feels a lot like an opportunist act on her part - she knows that there is a power vacuum within the Circle now that the old structure has gone to hell. Siding with the Chantry, an established power, feels like a power move.

Not that I blame her. She's out to be her own number one, and she's easily my fave characters in that game next to Dorian and Cassandra.

Although, I wish that Dragon Age: Inquisition doesn't have companion specialties that can be so mismatched with their personality. Vivienne a Knight Enchanter?

The official lore, snort, says that Knight Enchanters "received special dispensation from the Chantry to serve in battle". If Vivienne is such a person, I'm sure Leliana and Cassandra, both so close to the Divine, would have known of this and mentioned it to the Inquisitor.

Vivienne should have had some specialization that improves her cold magic or something.

 

[Activelo]

From EA's Q4 & FY25 Earnings Cycle Prepared Remarks, in contrast with their previous statement about Veilguard underperforming expectations, they're now referring to it as a "blockbuster."

 

[StacticShock]

From EA's Q4 & FY25 Earnings Cycle Prepared Remarks, in contrast with their previous statement about Veilguard underperforming expectations, they're now referring to it as a "blockbuster."

i see EA is pulling an "ubisoft with asscreed shadows".

 

[LazyLizard]

A lot of people hated Vivienne, but honestly? She was right about mages needing to be caged in Circles. For their own protection no less. Especially after what happened in Kirkwall and at the Ferelden Circle.

what happened in both of those circles happened precisely because they were locked up like prisoners and abused by the templars, if they were treated like people would the same thing have happened?

 

[StacticShock]

what happened in both of those circles happened precisely because they were locked up like prisoners and abused by the templars, if they were treated like people would the same thing have happened?

yes? anders/justice entire spiel is that mages should be free to magic even though that makes them super duper fucking easy to be possessed even with mage training.
you can watch dana's video on him.
not to mention about merril blood magicking in her loyalty quest, something it's hated by many of the other companions.
the entire argument is retarded and leaves no grounds for extra interpretation, "oh let's these niggers that can and inevitably will end up being possessed by a demon run amok, that'll be fine."

 

[LazyLizard]

yes? anders/justice entire spiel is that mages should be free to magic even though that makes them super duper fucking easy to be possessed even with mage training.
you can watch dana's video on him.
not to mention about merril blood magicking in her loyalty quest, something it's hated by many of the other companions.
the entire argument is retarded and leaves no grounds for extra interpretation, "oh let's these niggers that can and inevitably will end up being possessed by a demon run amok, that'll be fine."

then why isn't Tevinter a demon filled hellscape, they are an empire run by mages where the templars aren't constantly oppressing mages yet somehow they function, somehow they avoid becoming a land run by demons? i'm not saying turn the south into tevinter or let mages run completely free but there is a middle ground between locking them up for the crime of being born and abusing them vs letting them run lose and do what they want...

 

[CAPTAIN HAPPY]

then why isn't Tevinter a demon filled hellscape,

The irony is that Veilguard is set in Tevinter lol
And in a meta way it IS a demon filled hellscape lol

they are an empire run by mages where the templars aren't constantly oppressing mages yet somehow they function,

They also have massive slavery.

somehow they avoid becoming a land run by demons?

Apparently not.

i'm not saying turn the south into tevinter or let mages run completely free but there is a middle groun

With massive slavery and demons mucking about however they please, until a time comes and everything turns into hell over a single night.

 

[StacticShock]

then why isn't Tevinter a demon filled hellscape, they are an empire run by mages where the templars aren't constantly oppressing mages yet somehow they function, somehow they avoid becoming a land run by demons? i'm not saying turn the south into tevinter or let mages run completely free but there is a middle ground between locking them up for the crime of being born and abusing them vs letting them run lose and do what they want...

ask the game devs, not me, especially when they had a chance to not make a retarded argument regarding muh magies while giving the worst fucking example in the game they were supposed to give the focus on this entire philosophizing.
i said it before and i'll say it again, every single normalfag player always turns against the mages once anders goes bloodmagick snackbar on the chantry and they can tell meredith is being retarded on her own and the other templars have nothing to do with it in the final fight.

 

[BlankSpaceBaby]

From EA's Q4 & FY25 Earnings Cycle Prepared Remarks, in contrast with their previous statement about Veilguard underperforming expectations, they're now referring to it as a "blockbuster."

Earning reports are notorious for being full of puffed-up language, because to be honest most shareholders don't even read them or participate in meetings; they just wait for their money.

One thing that hit me: BioWare really needs a hit, because while it was spending a decade wasting everyone's time with failed game releases, they still got income from subscriptions to Star Wars: The Old Republic. And now they don't have that anymore, so they are completely reliant on releasing games that must sell gangbusters.

 

[ZMOT]

the entire argument is retarded and leaves no grounds for extra interpretation, "oh let's these niggers that can and inevitably will end up being possessed by a demon run amok, that'll be fine."

the "argument" is the templars being the architect of their own demise by more or less forcing mages to go that route to go out from under the templar's boot.

 

[StacticShock]

the "argument" is the templars being the architect of their own demise by more or less forcing mages to go that route to go out from under the templar's boot.

that's the excuse mages tosses around while conveniently ignoring the bunch of templars have to janny up whoever some faggot discovers blood magic and ends up spawning a rage demon, thinking they are the exception to demon possession because they are le special, end up fucking up and have to be janny'd by a templar.
again, retarded.

if mages didn't do mage shit with demons, templars would have zero reason to exist.

it's the exact same retarded separation argumentation from deus ex mankind divided.

 

[Peaches the Wonder Cat]

Earning reports are notorious for being full of puffed-up language, because to be honest most shareholders don't even read them or participate in meetings; they just wait for their money.

One thing that hit me: BioWare really needs a hit, because while it was spending a decade wasting everyone's time with failed game releases, they still got income from subscriptions to Star Wars: The Old Republic. And now they don't have that anymore, so they are completely reliant on releasing games that must sell gangbusters.

Yet ME5 will include breast removal scars and rotdogs as character customization options.

Dialog wheel:
- Trans people are heckin' valid (Paragon)
- Trans lives matter (Neutral)
- I'd fuck a tranny, in fact I prefer them (Renegade)

 

[ZMOT]

that's the excuse mages tosses around while conveniently ignoring the bunch of templars have to janny up whoever some faggot discovers blood magic and ends up spawning a rage demon, thinking they are the exception to demon possession because they are le special, end up fucking up and have to be janny'd by a templar.
again, retarded.

if mages didn't do mage shit with demons, templars would have zero reason to exist.

it's the exact same retarded separation argumentation from deus ex mankind divided.

and yet as mentioned does work fine in tevinter.

of course if you built the argument and writing on extremes it inevitably gets retarded.

 

[LazyLizard]

The irony is that Veilguard is set in Tevinter lol
And in a meta way it IS a demon filled hellscape lol

They also have massive slavery.

Apparently not.

With massive slavery and demons mucking about however they please, until a time comes and everything turns into hell over a single night.

we consider veilguard canon now? ok by this logic the non mage south got wrecked so clearly having mages run things is the only way to survive.

 

[Mola Ram]

From EA's Q4 & FY25 Earnings Cycle Prepared Remarks, in contrast with their previous statement about Veilguard underperforming expectations, they're now referring to it as a "blockbuster."
View attachment 7347468View attachment 7347469

Wikipedia, so take it with a grain of salt, but regarding College Football '25:

At launch, the game attracted more than 2.8 million players, 2.2 million of whom purchased the Deluxe Edition, which allowed players to access the game three days earlier than other players. By November 2024, the game had become the best-selling sports video game in the US of all time based on dollar sales.

Including Veilguard with those numbers, folding its paltry success into a game that was apparently a resounding hit, is so disingenuous it's actually impressive.

 

[CAPTAIN HAPPY]

we consider veilguard canon now? ok by this logic the non mage south got wrecked so clearly having mages run things is the only way to survive.

Got wrecked by the Darkspawn.
Something that was started in large part by Tevinter mages casually screwing around with blood magic when they were not bussy torturing slaves lol
All the while the south mages were quarantined in their ghetto tower because some of them went nuts with blood magic lol

 

[StacticShock]

we consider veilguard canon now? ok by this logic the non mage south got wrecked so clearly having mages run things is the only way to survive.

tevinter is barely mentioned in the other games other than loading screen texts or books/comics.
however i do not consider offgame bullshit to be canon because it's gay as fuck as i am always reminded of the kai leng cereal in mass effect.

and yet as mentioned does work fine in tevinter.

depends on what you take for working fine as i've said above not much is mentioned about tevinter if you don't consider veilguard/books canon.

when looking for extra mentions of tevinter in the games before veilguard i found a video about the tranquil shit and this comment stood up for me.