I have been a fan of Bioware for decades at this point. From their humble beginnings of the first two Baulder’s Gate games to KOTOR, I can’t help but marvel at what a group of doctors with no experience making video games could accomplish when they just wanted to make games that they wanted to play. Today, the landscape of gaming has changed dramatically and with it the many iterations of the latest Dragon Age game, stuck in limbo for over seven years, going from live service to single player, even changing names. I was always hopeful that I would finally see the fate of Thedas as well as Solas, and the rest of my characters and their companions whom I have grow so close two in the hundreds of hours in the first three games.
I am not deaf to all of the controversy, fabricated or otherwise, that surrounds this game, and as a fan how I might be more willing to ignore even the valid bits that have permeated the news in the past few months. I have endeavored to come to this game with a completely open mind without any pretense negative or positive. I have only spent an hour with this game given my busy schedule since yesterday at noon, but I am already finding things to be excited about and things I very much hope improve throughout my play through.
Within minutes of starting I was already taken in by how smooth and surprisingly good the combat feels. Dragon Age: Origins with all of its weak points, was still the highlight of the series for me and I have often lamented the transition to straight action leaving the tactics of turned base behind, even forgoing the ability to pause combat to issue commands that was featured in Inquisition. I was relieved to find myself quite enjoying how quick and snappy combat was. Even my mage was able to nimbly dodge attacks and could deal damage close and from afar. The magic effects look great and it was extremely satisfying to freeze my enemies and shatter them with a flourish from my dagger. While I am not 100% sold on the art style, I can say that it does not look as bad as it did in the first impressions trailer and fits with the world well that it has not taken me out of the world as I had feared.
The only hold back I have so far is the story and that is what gives me pause. It was okay that combat was janky and weird in the previous games because the story was so good and each character had an impact on the world. Like most Bioware games, I felt a unique kinship to my allies and really cared about what happened to them. In the opening moments of the game, even with characters that I love returning, I had this inkling that something was missing. I was aware that the tapestry system would not carry over from the previous games and I would have to make choices from the previous games while creating my character, but was disheartened to see that the only choices I could make were what my inquisitor looked like, who they had previously romanced, and if they wanted to kill Solas. Every emotional moment I have made from the other two games, every character I chose to let die to save others, every person I saved, all of that was thrown out the window. I am scared now that this game will have to glaze over so much that we have done in previous games simply because those events cannot matter now and that scares me a little. In addition I have only seen a bit of the story but I can already tell that the dialogue feels a bit lacking. It just feels way more unnatural than it did in previous entries. I am hopeful this can be turned around as we go deeper in, but I haven’t been able to let my guard down yet and I am going to be cautious this weekend as I dive deeper. My biggest fear is having to say that the game was good but it was not a good Dragon Age game. That being said, I am still excited to jump in with both feet and see where the journey takes me. Hopefully, I will realize that this game can stand on its own and I am not being driven by my blinding nostalgia for Morrigan, Varric, and the rest of the characters throughout my childhood. Dragon Age has always been a special game series to me, and Veilguard deserves to be special too.