Creelien

I put 162.8 hours into Dragon Age: The Veilguard and earned every achievement. So I think I've earned the right to discuss why it ultimately wasn't great, beyond the fact they didn't listen to outside help - including the community council and seemingly those on the Mass Effect team. Veilguard feels like ideals were written first, and a narrative and gameplay was stretched awkwardly around that. To live out one persons ideal fantasy.. Rather than letting players genuinely roleplay. That's why we can't make honest decisions that go against this fantasy. That's why so many dialogue choices lead to the same outcome. That's why we can't make decisions that meaningfully challenge your companions. That's why the stakes often feel strangely low, even when the world is supposedly on the brink. Ideals, like being kind, are great. Messages have been in RPGs since the 90s. The difference is a good story was the focus first with messages fitting around it. Being good is meaningless if you have no capacity for evil. Underneath Veilguard, there are flashes of a genuinely great Dragon Age game. Which makes it even more disappointing. I enjoyed some of the gameplay including combat. But it never felt like it was made for players like me, it felt like it was made despite us.