Dragon Age: Veilguard First Impressions
Dragon Age: Veilguard (previously called Dragon Age Dreadwolf, I think?) has been in development for many years now which massive layoffs of over 50 BioWare developers. Well, we have it now.
BioWare finally released Dragon Age: Veilguard last October 31 on PlayStation 5, Windows, and Xbox Series X/S. Right from the get-go, it has received tons of criticisms particulary in its LGBTQIA+ themes, changed art style, and writing as seen in some cutscenes leaking around.
So, what do I think of Dragon Age: Veilguard? I’ve played it for a few hours now so let’s see what stands out initially.
Dragon Age: Veilguard Gameplay: Combat and Exploration
Dragon Age: Veilguard drops a large part of its real-time with pause battle system in favor of an actual real-time action combat system.
Keep in mind, I wrote “a large part of its real-time with pause” because there’s still the pause button that allows you command your companions to target specific enemies and dish out one of their three equipped abilities.
What is lost in this system is the player’s ability to take full control of their allies and position them accordingly. Some people may find this a big deal but as someone who was never a fan of real-time with pause systems, it’s fine with me.
As for the enemies, they are very stupid and you will only really need to focus on timing your dodge, block, or parries. They’re not that complex.
Aside from combat, exploration is one of the forefronts of the Dragon Age series and Dragon Age: Veilguard does not stray away from this game design. You will find yourself mostly going through a level once, then go to another map and return to once explored levels again to unlock unexplored areas. We will go through that later on.
Dragon Age: Veilguard World and Level Design
Now this is something I can see having some problems with: Dragon Age: Veilguard’s World and Level Design.
When talking about Dragon Age: Veilguard’s world design, it is tremendously rich, massive, and interesting. The graphics lend credence to the series popularity and the rich backstory of the world is elevated by how the game portrays the overall story of each area the game takes the player in.
As of the first few hours of playing, it is very linear and you will go from point A to point B. However, later missions seem to have the tendency to make you go back to previous levels which makes tracking the story a bit confusing.
Maybe I am just pea-brained but if this goes on then I see it as a big problem.
Uncovering areas in the map is also tedious since they tend to hold off areas in levels already explored so they can add more to it in later chapters when the player returns to that level. It is a weird design but it probably saves them time and not have to create new levels or large locations.
Honestly, backtracking is something I tend to correlate with open-world or non-linear experiences but it takes me off the loop to experience the prologue in a very linear manner and then go back-and-forth previous levels about twice or thrice now.
Dragon Age: Veilguard Story, NPCs, and Setting
So why do we even have to go back to previous levels?
Dragon Age: Veilguard puts emphasis on its location and characters so locations in key story points are often returned to and characters who have deep attachment to certain locations will have multiple quests related to them.
Of course, you meet more people along the way and Dragon Age: Veilguard gives them quests for you to clear.
Some of them are skippable; even companion quests, but why play an RPG if you are not interested in the story? One of RPGs core elements is having a great story, or multiple ones to create a rich and living-feel of its world
Dragon Age: Veilguard Graphics
As for Dragon Age: Veilguard’s graphics, they seem to have taken the decision to be more stylized and not realistic as previous Dragon Age entries have tried to. Well, looking back on it, older Dragon Age games may seem not realistic looking at all but I like to think it’s just graphical limitations that make me think otherwise.
Anyway, Dragon Age: Veilguard’s stylized look mostly affect the faces of characters and nothing else. The environment looks absolutely gorgeous and stunning with large backdrops or visual pieces set off in the distance for players to pause and look at. There is tons of details in what can be interacted and touched with by the player but not everything is interactable or breakable but that is fine. It saves a lot of processing power as having more interactable objects is something that I assume makes optimization harder and takes a large load in a hardware’s processing power.
However, I did say the stylized look affects the faces of characters and sometimes, they look hella ugly. It sometimes takes me aback to see a character’s cartoony face against the harsh environment the game is taking place in at the moment of my playthrough. Still, this might be highly subjective but I stand by my take on it.
Is Dragon Age: Veilguard A Good Game? Is Dragon Age: Veilguard Worth it?
So far, Dragon Age: Veilguard seems very generic and formulaic. It is still fun but there is nothing that makes it stand out if we line it up with other RPGs; be it older ones or newly released. It is probably not worth it for its price and I would say people who are very new to BioWare games may want to hold off and wait for a discount before purchasing it.
If optimization is more of what is in the mind of a potential buyer, then I can say that Dragon Age: Veilguard is mostly optimized with some stutters when making attacks. But that’s about it and it doesn’t happen very often for me to say anything negative about the game’s optimization and polish.
More Dragon Age: Veilguard Screenshots
Dragon Age: Veilguard FAQs
When is the Dragon Age: Veilguard release date?
Dragon Age: Veilguard was released on October 31, 2024.
How big is the game Dragon Age: Veilguard?
Dragon Age: Veilguard is 90.02 GB big.
Is Dragon Age: Veilguard related to Dragon Age: Inquisition?
Yes, Dragon Age: Veilguard is a sequel to Dragon Age: Inquisition. The Inquisitor shows up at some point in the game, I think.
How long is Dragon Age: Veilguard? How long does it take to beat Dragon Age: Veilguard?
I have no clue, but I’ve seen people say it can be finished with around 30 to 40 hours of gameplay. Honestly, I don’t know. My experience with older Dragon Age games say it’s more than that and modern games tend to go over that range as well.
Is Dragon Age: Veilguard Multiplayer?
No.
What type of game is Dragon Age: Veilguard?
Dragon Age: Veilguard is a Third-Person, Fantasy, Singleplayer, Strategy, RPG.
Is Dragon Age: Veilguard open world?
No.
Related Questions: Will Dragon Age: Veilguard be on PC?, Is Dragon Age: Veilguard the same as Dreadwolf?, Who is the bad guy in Dragon Age: Veilguard?, Will the Warden appear in Dragon Age: Veilguard?
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