@@TheMoinomedian it's why I am kind of excited that veilguard is taking a bit of a DA2 approach to the companion characters. DA2 has its flaws for sure, but the companions in that game felt more fleshed out than in origins or inquisition in my opinion anyway, and so I think if we get that vibe in veilguard I will really enjoy it. I personally like more personal interconnected stories, especially if they feel plot relevant which I think DA2 did pretty well. Hoping that the DA team can really deliver on this bc it's sounding like an absolute banger and I have my hopes up high.
To be fair in Origins you all traveled together as a group of murder hobos for a short period of time. That doesn't exactly leave room for a life outside of the group.
I wouldnt personally say Alistair and Morrigan were simply along for the ride in Origins, they definitely had their own reasons for going with The Warden on the mission to rally Ferelden against the Blight. Wynne, Zevran, Sten, Oghren, and Shale? Sure, they could come across that way.
That comment about previous games stumbling into great companions? Unprofessional and tacky. A very shitty thing to say, especially given the personnel changes and the resulting current situation at Bioware. They didn't stumble into anything. They had exceptional writers and were independent, i.e. daring and brave in their choices. Have plenty of thoughts about this game, but I will only comment on that because it stood out as a particularly nasty thing to say about their predecessors/ex colleagues
So.....EA and Bioware copyright striked my video since i guess my views on the game were not so positive and also got my old channel terminated, watch the video about this on this new channel and to my fellow content creators, please be carefull, EA is out for
Absolutely agree...the reason Veilguard is generating this kind of excitement is because of the fans sticking around, still playing the older games, and living with those characters from the older games, for the last 20 years. That is due to the quality of the characters we've all grown to love, laugh at, and in some cases despise. The emotional investment is because of fantastic writing
@@djthebigkor-ian8074 Absolutely, yes! They lied about stuff that Inquisition was going to have. I’m going to be honest with you, what they’re saying sounds good. Really good! I want to believe it! But until we can see it I’ll take it with a grain of salt.
@@djthebigkor-ian8074 They lied through their teeth with Anthem and Inquisition. In DA:I they showed events in the Crestwood area that were ultimately removed, and they were events I wanted to see and be a part of. What we’re hearing sounds good. Very good. But until it’s confirmed by multiple sources and/or we can play it and see it with our own two eyes…? There’s an old saying. Believe just half of what you see, and absolutely nothing that you hear. Good advice for anyone, especially with BioWare. I like a lot of what I heard, not gonna lie. I want to believe it. But it’s up to them to MAKE me, and everyone else, believe it.
Really sounds like a mass effect 2 but in the dragon age universe. Because ME2 also was VERY companion centered and they were the main thing above all. That is at least what I read from all of that.
That’s not such a bad thing, surely? Don’t get me wrong, I absolutely love Mass Effect. I *would* much rather see Dragon Age be its own beast, but if the story is good and the game’s fun to play (and if I can play it more than once or twice! 😜) would pulling from ME 2 be a bad thing at this point? I’m looking forward to Veilguard and want it to be successful. If that helps BioWare make an undeniable good/great game then go for it!
@@davidradach9311 Pulling some successful elements from another well loved game isn’t a bad idea in my book, and it doesn’t mean that every other part of the game will be the same, either. Those skill trees are not like ME 2 at all, or even Andromeda, which has the best build/progression system of any BioWare game in the two franchises. I’m excited to get into it, because bolstering the gameplay around what will likely be a great story is exciting.
It makes me worried that they used their _companion showcase_ (a feature meant to flesh out personalities, motivations, and romance), to talk about _combat basics._ Yes, we know party members can fight. Yes, we know about ability combos. That has *nothing* to do with the companions themselves.
Make me laugh, make me cry, make me scared, make me furious, I want to feel it all! Peg me the villain, praise me the hero, I live for these experiences. To exist is the greatest desire of all so bring it on, BioWare, Kala, Jackdaw and Ghil I can take it!
I’ve subscribed to all of these people too! 😁😜 You may also like Important Goose and Darth Shadie Lavellan as well! Check them out! I’m hoping Veilguard has grey choices reinstated into the game as well!
I don't know where else to say it, but I am really disappointed with the explanation provided for the absence of Blood Magic as playable option. They said "it's just not a road we want the hero to walk right now" and that it's "the key to a lot of nasty stuff we aren't interested in having heroes do". Well how about they let us decide about that? Being morally ambiguous was one of the more fun ways to play the best game in this franchise (and the sheer possibility of doing it in games like BG3 seems to be one of the main reasons so many people enjoy them). Blood Magic should be an existing option, it should be nearly overpowered and the use of it should have great roleplaying consequences in the game and how the world snd your companions respond to you. By taking away that choice and only leaving the more "moral" path for being a Mage, it accidentally makes the game seem to me more shallow. Goodnes and morality are choices heroes in RPGs should be allowed (even encouraged) to make, not forced by arbitrary constraints. I know the game is far from being out and I genuinely hope it will be great (like seriously, never in my life I wished that badly for the game to be good), but those kinds of comments and reveals keep making me worried.
I'm sooo excided to see the companion rooms in the lighthouse!! My eyes lit up when I read that in the article. I'm interested to see how they change as the game progresses. Also the soul crushingness of potentially losing a companion then coming back to their empty room...😭
@@Roman_Noodles101 game mechanics where the main hub change as the game goes on gets me so excited! It is my absolute favorite part of the game Ashen. So knowing their rooms will change as you learn more about them gets my adrenalin pumping! We are so back y'all!
Am I the only one who gets kind of annoyed that they said that? Like companions have always been the focus on ALL these games, I get what they mean on that companion quests will be more tied to the story though. Anyway: release date when BioWare???!!!!!
As cool as everything sounds here, I think I'm over the devs telling me how much I will love the characters but rather I want them to show at least individual companion trailers or something. I don't really know much about them so it's hard to know if I will "love" them. Mind you, Bioware has always delivered for the most part when it comes to characters but I think I just need to see more lol. I do love how they look but we don't even know what they sound like yet 😭
A lot of them have made appearances in other forms of media and I know Kala did a video, but I’m definitely feeling that I’m going to want to wait until the game is in my hands and I’ve played it to find out more about them.
@@panamakira I have to agree I would love some more visual storytelling and personal information about them if they are going to keep hyping them up so much. Like don't spoil it for us, but give us a nugget to chew on at least.
@@proteuswest1084I read Tevinter Nights lol mostly for Solas but I was curious about them. I see the appeal for sure (I genuinely like how they all look) but we really haven’t seen a lot. I think a companion trailer where we can hear them and see a little bit more of their personalities would help. They keep hyping up the companions which I like but I’m ready to actually see more!
@@Xipslarngwell sure! But we’ve been getting the same info so far about them so I’m just ready to see/hear something new. It’s hard to tell right now. I think a short character trailer for each would hype people up more than them just telling us we’re going to love them.
i'm cautiously optimistic about the game, but every time i hear a developer talk about making characters relatable i remember the failed last Saints Row game, and it fill me with dread.
That... doesn't seem like a fair or even relevant comparison. Saints Row was made by a team that has little to no experience with creating a story focused, character driven game. Saints Row as an IP is also fairly surface level.
@@nojusticenetwork9309 that may be true, but lest just say that Bioware recent track record is making me a little paranoid. I still remember when their Montreal studio said that they wanted to make the Andromeda MC less of a chosen one than Shepard, and more deserving of their power are reputation, only to make them literally the bearer of the Mcguffin, and get appointed Pathfinder over the legitimate next in line because of that. Again, i'm truly trying to be hopeful, i really want that the only problem this game will have are the bugs that every rpg inevitably includes at launch.
@@nojusticenetwork9309 Half of the Veilguard team we know of are amateurs. John Epler, as an example for the writers, wrote Bella, the character that screams "failed Saints Row game" the most. He wrote two parts of Tevinter Nights and has only worked on animations before that. He has no credits in any other franchise, and worked as a TV salesman before Bioware. As an example for managment: The Game Director has no experience being a director before Veilguard, with the only prior roles in game development designing environment art for a golf game and being a system designer for the sims. No prior experience as a director or with Dragon Age. There are some experienced people there, but major positions are being filled with people with no experience in those roles and major characters are written by people with no experience in writing. Theoretically it can still be good anyway, but you are just wrong.
@Lysvsyl epler has been on dragon age since origins, weekes the lead writer has also been there since origins. I'm not sure what you're trying to say here but the veilguard dev team has several veteran devs that have been at BW for a long time.
@@kalaelizabeth I know Epler has been on Dragon Age since Origins. Working on Animations and such. His most noted contribution is making the animations so more races can romance Iron Bull. Of course he can theoretically write something good. But there is no reason to assume he automatically is better than any other person. The Director is Corinne Busche, who has the described lack of directing experience, although Epler is also a creative director, which, as my comment states, he also has no experience in. As I said, "half of the team we know". That means that the other half does have some experience. However, most of the people with actual experience have not been credited with specific companions or hold any high positions, according to the information we have. Weekes and Mary Kirby are the only people in Lead Positions with relevant experience and writing a companion each. Aside from those we know of 4 writers also being writers for this game. Only Sylvia Feketekuty of those is know to write a companion so far (interestingly the newest one, the only one of the group who is credited as "writer" instead of "senior writer"). (As a comparison, Inquisition had at least 8 writers who have written for a Dragon Age game before. I don't think more writers means better, but since writer positions are being filled with non-writers, it looks like this isn't strict downsizing but rather replacement.) So 3 of the 7 companions are written by people with experience, 1 is written by a person with no relevant experience and 3 are unaccounted for. The comment I replied to claims that it is unfair to compare the two. But the Saints Row reboot had more experienced people than we know of. For example the main Producers for that game have been producers for several games, with one being in the series since Saints Row 3 and the other already having been one for 2. And pretty much the same is the case for all major positions. Which is, like, normal. So it's weird to say that Saints Row were the inexperienced ones, when the opposite is the truth. I want to reiterate that I'm not saying it will definitely be bad. Some of my favourite games are indie games made by people with no prior experience. But there is no reason to be any more optimistic about this team than any other team and saying it is experienced while the one for the Saints Row Reboot, for example, isn't, is just blatantly false.
I'm really thinking, hoping rather, that this game is going to be great. For as much as the Dragon Age series has flaws, it's high moments have been amazing to witness and truly, I believe, have led to some of the best storytelling and world building within the RPG genre. If I'm being honest, I think a good benchmark to see if you will like Veilguard, is to ask yourself whether or not you liked Dragon Age 2. I know it might not be everyone's cup of tea, but from what we have seen, the approach will be very similar to what they were going for in 2. Tighter, more intimate relationships with companions, and a reduced cast of characters. While there was a sense of camaraderie in Origins and Inquisition, they both never truly felt as impactful in terms of your relationship with characters, and the characters' relationships with each other. This is also not to mention the similarity in combat approach between 2 and Veilguard, that being the focus on more action-heavy gameplay rather than tactics. Thus this is why I would compare Origins' combat as being a chess match of sorts, while Veilguard will likely be more akin to a sports match, in that there is a greater focus on teamwork and what works well together with your companions, and less so mapping everything out strategically, again, like a chess match. So yeah, expect change, expect something different, and expect that what they've done will be consistent with the essence of Dragon Age, which at it's very core, embraces change wholeheartedly, as demonstrated by how different each game is from one another.
Yeah the original version of DA 4 was like DA 2. It only got scrapped because EA demanded live service. Then EA dropped demand so live service version is gone. So I guess since EA told BioWare to do game how they like, they returned to focus and storytelling similar to DA 2. For me that's fantastic, I felt kinship with DA 2 companions, that neither Origins nor Inquisition ever succeeded to replicate.
@@cracmar03 Same. Excited to see the companions and get a feel for them. We won't really know how anything truly is until the game comes out tho and we can feel it for ourselves, which is the exciting and frightening thing.
2 was amazing but short and the other problem is that the ME players and DA dont cross connect which is the main complaint people have they want a DA game not an ME in mid production reskin
My only issue with DA2 was the laziness with regards to maps and resources. Apart from that, I love the damned thing. I've played all the DA games, many, many times and I can't pick a favourite, or least favourite.
Too much about character development on companions when I wanted a great storyline to play like DAO I want to feel why we are chosen to complete this mission instead of worrying about how I affect my companions feel instead, now it’s a nice touch but I feel like that’s all that they focused on
I really hope this is the rebirth of Bioware as the master of the RPGs. I'm not expecting a BG3. But I'm hoping for that same excitement when I 1st played Mass Effect 1 or Dragon Age Origins. These games were the best of their time. Fingers crossed.
@@talimancern7724 I remember saying the exact same thing. But I now believe Bioware knows that this is it. I really do think Bioware will pull this off in spades.
@@NotThatBobA better question will be if veilguard doesn't sell 5 million copies will EA deem it a success or failure. That's what matters at the of the day really. If Veilguard undersells will EA continue to support BioWare? I won't be getting this day one but I may get it on sale for the story alone. Just my opinion of course. Take care everyone.
@@NotThatBob I couldn’t agree more. My mindset is to at least give the developers a chance and see what they have for us. Old BioWare may be gone but I’m liking what I’m hearing so far. … Personally, I want to see it now. BioWare has had a habit of talking big before their games come out. I want them to put their money where their mouth is.
Stop chasing the feelings of the past and enjoy the here and now. Don't allow nostalgia to be the metric for how well you enjoy a game. Judge this on its own merits and how it adds or takes away from the greater tapestry of the world building.
If there is a suicide mission esque moment in the game then it will further cement the fact that my first playthrough will be not be as good as any playthrough I do after there are guides and wiki pages up fully for the game. My first playthrough will likely not be "perfect" and as a result all playthroughs after that will be better. My most recent playthrough in every game I have played is always my best. I will be save scumming as much as I need to. This will be my first time buying and playing a game on release without a guide.
Going in blind and making decisions based on your own beliefs (or the beliefs of the character you're role playing) without knowing the outcome beforehand is the best part about dragon age.
Still on the fence. All the behaviors and combos they mentioned have been done before in their previous bioware games… still feel like we are super limited in ability choice (available in combat ones). Need to see much more before I get ‘excited’. Companions honestly are not making me want to know more. Only the grey warden has, and that for his gryphon more than anything else.
I need some more in depth looks at the personality of these characters. I keep being told that I will love these characters, but I haven't been given the opportunity to come to that conclusion myself yet
@@johnnysheehan4384 I definitely hope you’re mistaken because it’s been ten years. But, considering it’s now edging up to late July, they haven’t shown more of the game (i.e. more demos), they haven’t shown mages or warriors in action, to say nothing of the character creator, and still no release date? It doesn’t look good. My biggest hope is that they’ll give us a release date at Comic-Con. And an updated roadmap, hopefully. Considering the game hit its alpha milestone either late last year or early 2024, I for one would absolutely *love* to hear why and how a delay out of this year could be warranted or justified! Hope for the best but expect the worst. That’s the best anyone can do until BioWare starts talking like a pigeon.
I love how we not only develop friendships but battlefield tactics with the gomoanions when we invest time and interest in them. Their skill levelling is not us telling them what new spells to learn but learning how to work together. Also; It will will be hilarious to have Rook run into their private rooms after each big convo or major event like a stalker. 'What changed?!'
honestly, maybe i'm just an optimistic person, but i fully believe them and their confidence when it comes to their companions. When Bioware disappointed in other factors, their characters have always been amazing!! at least, to me they have :-) so, stupidly excited for this Also, I hope you're feeling better, Kala! Love your videos big!!
Have to agree. While the combat is not that great in DA imho I think the stories and characters are really strong. I think that has always been biowares strength. Fenris has stuck with me all these years. I think if this game is companion focused I will personally love it. Very excited.
I agree. From what I've heard so far, it sounds like they took a lot of inspiration from Mass Effect 2 and Dragon Age 2 where companions are concerned. IMO I think the game is probably going to feel like Dragon Age 2 but a lot more fleshed out.
Yeah the problem is that these words are coming from someone who wasn't in a lead role on past DA games. I think it's fine to say your new work is the best but it's strange to say your work is better than someone else's in the past.
@@CC-of5xl I don't know that it's meant to be taken that way, or that is what they are implying. Rather that they improved upon the model of past games which is kind of the point with sequels, no?
I love my 2s! The very heavy character/recruitment/"heist" style focus that Mass Effect 2 had coupled with the crescendo of the ever escalating and bleak fate of Kirkwall (along with the strong character motivations) in Dragon Age 2 made for two of my very favourite games of all time. If The Veilguard incorporates these traits, I will absolutely love it! There's a preatty popular creed amongst some storytellers: "Simple story, complex characters". Mass Effect 2 nailed that, Dragon Age 2 had complexity in both, kind of. But what it comes down to, for me at least, is that these new characters are just fantastically written. If they nail that, I'm absolutely on board. I don't have to _like_ every single one of them. But if they make me care for them, make me want to see them succeed, find luck and love, then I'm very much on board. Here's hoping :) Great video, as always! Thanks a lot :) PS: I'm still super worried that they're gonna kill off Varric early in the game. My heart couldn't...
I'm not sure about the "mandatory" companion quests. If a companion is crap (which at least one of them is almost certain to be), I don't want to do their companion quest. Like Jacob from ME2. These quests should be optional. Don't force me to do something I don't want to do. I hope I'm misunderstanding what they mean.
I agree. I hope we are misinterpreting too. For me it was Sera in Inquisition. I had no interest in doing any of her quest lines in some playthroughs I wouldn’t even pick her up😂
I really really hope they focused on the actual storyline and enemies far more than they are letting us know. Also the fact you cannot control companions it’s bullshit in my opinion, we all know how to play alongside characters that make their own choices and are autonomous during combat with which you can “huddle together” and strategize… it’s called “multiplayer”.
I really like the design philosophy and I’m looking forward to the results. I like that the companions will have their own morals and motivations and stories. I like that their personal stories will be integrated into the main story rather than them just tagging along on the heroes journey or their tasks being just diversions from the main story. That makes for a more coherent overall narrative.
I agree with most of what you said but I don't think the article was implying that you had to complete the companions quests. What I got from it was that they are very important to the story. Because the factions they represent are very present and participate in the story. Now I am not saying there won't be a ME2 style "If you don't complete their quest they will die," thing but I don't think their quests will be woven into the main quest.
Nothing about that demo gives me the impression that the companions are anywhere near the quality of what we saw in origins. They seem so… marvel Disney….
For me personally, I like companions they’re cool and all, but I’m mainly returning and replaying bioware games like dragon age, mass effect trilogy, kotor&swtor so often not for companions but for lore, world, story, dialogues. 🙃
@@ughhhSawyer They definitely did, never said they didn’t but they’re just a part of the whole package. When I think of these games I never think about companions first, they’re just a good part to me.
@@ughhhSawyer they aren't really the focal point unless its a dlc Morrigan leaving through portal and leliana Song but this game the companions are the focal point of the game you are just their addition to watch them or interact mandatory progress is finding them and micromanaging interacting with them you must do their loyalty missions for progression
I was so excited to see your video drop earlier today! I watched it immediately since i have zero time to read the article thanks to con crunch and work. You're the best, and i think these slow burn reveal articles are great. Cannot wait to see the companions' rooms!
I can’t believe some people are getting super upset at the possibility of companions dying. Like dude yall can’t be that soft. The high stakes and choices are what makes BioWare games great. Stop begging for your hands to be held. If you want them to live, then make the right decisions. That’s what it’s all about.
Stumbled on a great companions my ass dragon age 1 companions were awesome period. And that wasn't because they stumbled into having a good companion it's cuz they were well written. I shouldn't have to need to complete my companion stories the story isn't about them why is it about the companions I'm trying to save the goddamn world
@@ginacirelli1581 no it's just marketing. BG3 didn't do anything different or new here. A staple of ALL RPG's are the companions and your interactions with them throughout the story. The technology has just finally reached the point that devs can go deeper into branching paths of choices.
Them saying they actuallly tried to make the companions great fills me with no confidence at all lmao I also think that, by constantly beating us over the head with "oh all this stuff, gameplay, characters, combat, soooo much better than previous games!" they are setting themselves up for failure, particularly if they don't live up to the claims. They're trying so hard to convince us. Now im not saying i wont give it its fair shot, of course. Just dont like a lot of the promotion so far.
Hope you’re feeling better Kala! I’m definitely hoping they post the voice talent session here on RU-vid. I’m hoping they finally give us the release date as well!
1:29 - What did you expect her to say? Ofc they will say everything in this game is the best it has ever been, it's called marketing. I wouldn't expect her to say "Nah, our companions are mid, we didn't do a good job" lmao. From character designs and how they are presented, I think they are going to be rather bland with 1-2 exceptions maybe, it's really hard to top Morrigan, Alistair, Sten etc. who are very different in how they navigate the world morally and ethically. Meanwhile in this game I get a feeling everyone is a "good guy". Besides they have written them all to be pan, which already kinda makes them less real, in a sense that you can see the hand of the developer bend reality so that it feels tailored toward the player, how lucky you are to have landed in a party where everyone is disposed to be romanced by you lmao.
your comment oozes from someone who only played Origin, as if they havent made good characters since. We barely know anything about the new characters but "from design alone" you deemed them bland... when Sten and Alistair's designs are the most fucking bland things one could design?
@@kixmix2450 nah, I played the other two games as well, they had some good characters too, but no one that truly met the bar set by Origins in my opinion. Maybe Solas and Blackwall? I really liked Cassandra too, but I wouldn't pit them against DAO characters. You are just being presumptious. I never made any final judgments of the characters, only expressed an opinion that from everything we have been shown so far, they don't look very interesting and seem to fit into the cliches that saturate the media these days. It's just an opinion, it's okay if you disagree, but there isn't really much to argue here. The game will come out and we'll be able to judge for ourselves. It's just a game at the end of the day. Chill.
is rook going to be any good? i mean you can have the best written story the best written side characters and the best enframements but if your lead or player controlled character is not written well or portrayed well then you have nothing . its a rabbit hole some game studios i belive have fallen into the past.
Every time I read something from the devs or hear from them on what matters to them in Dragon Age, they're saying all the things that I want to hear. They definitely know what we love about the series, so I am excited to see if they are able to execute on it. We all want a great story, great characters, and consequential decisions that absolutely tear us up inside. If they deliver on that, then I am willing to forgive nearly anything else about the game.
@@vergillives9890 The game has a lot to overcome from a perception standpoint. There are a lot of bad actors out there coordinating negative narratives, so having the devs directly talking to the community and giving lots of information prerelease has made me feel a lot better that this game is worth being excited for.
Im happy about the « [Dragon Age] is about the characters, not causes » !! Its an issue I had with Inquisition, where everything was so big I felt detached ? Tbh everything they share is pretty much what I’m waiting for each new articles make the wait even more hard and, I’m sure, worth it !!! Jcfhhdhfcjvkjcxhc
This game already hurts me. Nothing I have seen has wowed me in the slightest. Talk is cheap with game devs these days, I take everything they say with a massive grain of salt.
@@elwizschold They’ve said that companions may leave temporarily due to decisions but that they’ll generally prioritize saving the world over those disagreements in the long run. As for whether or not they can die? It seems likely since Dragon Age companions have been able to die all through the series.
Thanks for creating and breaking this all down Kala! Appreciate your videos. I love all previous companions, so I'm excited to see how this has developed! 💜
I'm super optimistic as someone who plays DA for the companions, romance, lore, worldbuilding, and storyline alone. I understand a lot of people are on the fence, but I am 100% willing to give Veilguard a chance. Or a few chances. I'm probably gonna love it knowing me. I really hope people like it, even if its not perfect or exactly what they imagined.
Thank you for all effort you put into these videos. I could never get into any of the dragon age games before, but veilguard is my most anticipated game right now! Do you plan on making a recap video? Basically everything we need to know before veilguard. I’m sure me and a lot of new comers would appreciate that! 🙊
It feels like this game is going to be the most "alive" game we have ever had. I legit can not wait. I want my world to feel like it is happening even when I'm not in places. I'm so thrilled to see the companions in their spaces. AND WE MIGHT BE ABLE TO CUSTOMIZE OUR SPACES!!
Ranking DA games based on Companions, For now My ranking is DA2, DA Origins, and DA Inquisition, yes I am saying DA2 had my favorite group of Comps, from design to story I felt they were at their strongest in 2.
That's what I've been thinking too. Lately it has become a trend to make your main character less interesting and less cool than the companion you travel with. It's so weird.
This is something that always concerns me whenever developers bring up the "our game is all about the companions" kind of talk. Honestly it's something I felt soured Inquisition a bit for me. Half the companions/allies in that game had what pretty much amounted to a legendary backstory, and it just didn't feel like you actually earned being there. But being surrounded by so many companions and allies from previous games just makes that bound to happen when you're a brand new character (it's definitely not an issue in the Mass Effect trilogy for comparison). With that said, we aren't really getting a whole bunch of legacy companions this time, so it's probably going to be better. I like it that Rook isn't completely green and has some expertise and background by the time the game starts, that helps set the player character as a competent and reliable person.
It's just irritating that dragon age has consistently made your choices matter less and less by pretty much making sure that your character from the previous game is never seen so that so that whatever choice you made doesn't affect their current game. Why not take the Mass effect route and let me play my badass through two or three games 😢
I am slightly concerned that a lot of this extra fluff. That those things are within the game but are exaggerated a bit. Like are the fears something they just mention or something that actually impacts a game. For example lets say one mission has spiders or dragons known to be within the area and one character is petrified of them and so will refuse to go on the mission, or until maybe they overcome it within one of their character missions, or that you come across one and it affects them (slightly like how BG3 did with Shadowheart possibly recieving a debuff when coming across Wolves) Or are those fears just going to be like they are afraid of mice and in one cutscene you see one and they just scream. YAY!! 😑 (Super emphasis on the sarcastic yay) I hope that the second example isn't the case and its more than just a boring couple minutes thing that doesn't matter, but how most of these big companies have been with giving info out and really trying to push the hype of the game for it to not live up to it does concern me. I hope for Mass Effects sake it is a great game, I loved DA Origins but each game after I slowly started to find it less enjoyable, but Mass Effect was always so enjoyable, possibly for the most part characters continued to show up and it felt so good meeting up with them again and continuing to learn about them and evolve as the games went on (I never played Andromeda though).
I would never pay full price for Mass Effect Andromeda . But I did buy it at a fairly good discount . And I have been playing it just recently , mainly because I'm burned out on Starfield . And I'm not sure I want to start another Dragon age Inquisition play through .
I'm very excited to jump into this game and get to know all of these companions! It sounds like BioWare saw what Larian did with BG3 and said, "Hold my beer". 😂
I just hope the new characters are more like ME2. Not like the one's in the last Saints Row game? Nobody wants that mess. Keep them grounded and relatable.
Oh nobody wants reboot ones. They were unlikable. I do miss normal Saints Row cast, that was one franchise that also relied heavily on cast of characters.
I’m not a fan of being a minor character traveling with companions as it limits the player’s ability to roleplay. We are the protagonist in the game but it makes us sound like deuteragonist. Someone who is along for the ride, one of many. It also comes across as disrespectful to past employees and projects to say this is the first game they focused on the companions. Companion focus has been a staple of BioWare games since 2000 with Baldur’s Gate 2. There was no stumbling into great companions, they were a major focus in the writing. They had their own reasons to join us, and we were the special protagonist for whatever reasons. Origins we were one of two, no more special than Alistair but he didn’t want to lead despite being the senior warden, which made us leader by default. Jade Empire we were the spirit monk, KOTOR we were (spoiler redacted), Mass Effect we were Shepard and had N7 training and just happened to be the one who touched the prothean beacon. The way they describe Veilguard makes it sound like we are a companion, not a protagonist.
I think there are some really interesting details here. Being companion focused could make for an amazing game. It all comes down to execution. I am sure we can all think of games where the companions really help make the story. However, I can see possible issues. Firstly requiring the player to deal with every companions story to get the full picture is risky. Look at prior Bioware games or BG3, there is usually at least one or two companions that are annoying or just not fun to deal with. Prior DA games let you pretty much ignore them. Veilguard seems focused on making you interact with them. Secondly a problem that Swtor has run into recently is making npcs so important, your character seems more like a side character. So in the end this could pay off big or fall flat. That's good though. Developers taking big swings with writing is what we want really.
I'm so scared on how they're gonna handle the lavellan thing. And I honestly don't want to get the game sometimes because of it. Idk about the companions and how they romance each other. Sometimes I'd feel like I'd miss out a romance you'd like because of them romancing someone else
Another great deep dive, thank you. And to hear the devs talk about the combat is interesting because I know some people were concerned about the way the companions will work in combat situations. And also just great to get all these details about the companions in general being so richly fleshed out. My fingers are crossed for this to be the incredible game it looks like it’s going to be.
From what I've seen, none of these companions will even match Varric or Morrigan. If they believe otherwise, they should stop while they're ahead. Those characters had huge impacts even across multiple games, and their designs are peak. I can't even imagine romancing anyone here 😒
How arrogant and delusional it sounds from the devs "we created the best companions ever". And that is after how people reacted on reveal trailer. The players are to decide how great they are. I hardly believe they were able to write something interesting and complicated for a bunch of box-checking clischees we have seen. I rather expect a bunch of Seras.
Yes, a story that elicits strong emotional reactions is a good one. And yes, lows and disappointments make the highs and celebrations that much better. But at the end of the day (game), I want to feel good. Life happens and some of it hurts. I have no desire to spend $69.99 or whatever to finish a game and think "that was sad... that sucked... are you friggen kidding me?" I can watch the news for that. To be honest, none of the video games I've played over 20 some years have left me feeling bummed at the conclusion. Although I have, at times, found ways to get a good ending or even the best ending. Video games are an escape for me. I want to feel happy, feel satisfied, feel content at the close of the adventure. But that's just me. I'm all for folks playing their game their way and getting what they want from their play through.
I don't want to hurt or be depressed. I want a connection with the companions that makes me care for them and awards me for doing so. I want to cry happy tears. I've cried enough sad tears in real life, so please don't encourage Bioware!
BioWare has always hit us where it hurts. High stakes are where these games live, but hopefully we can find a path through and can save the people we care about with our choices!
I continue to be deeply skeptical, especially with them saying that this time they deliberately created great companions. I'm not so sure when they're handing out pats on the back already. The overconfidence makes me wonder if they've set themselves up for a fall. I've spoken about the whole "characters being player-sexual" before. Because I question how much all of them have concrete pansexual identity. This doesn't have to matter until you get into a romance, but once there, it does matter because a person's sexual identity is a part of their personality, as is how that identity was informed by their upbringing and culture expectations and is basically a foundational block in the story of who they are as a person. So maybe all the characters have a deep and well thought out story of how they're attracted to everyone regardless of gender and how that's impacted their lives. But I kind of doubt it. (And just so we're clear, real people aren't characters, so they don't necessarily have a coherent narrative, but they do have experiences and outlooks that are unique to themselves because of their views on sexuality.) But to look at another concern I've had since the game trailer released, one character that's always had my back up has been Taash, the Dragon Hunter. Because I don't understand why she's there. Yes, it's Dragon Age, but Dragons aren't actually that common. And you are busy dealing with the veil. Why do you need a dragon hunter? Though my immediate dislike of this character may be exacerbated by how she was introduced with "of course there'll be dragons." Like no, that doesn't follow that there will be dragons. And certainly not so many that you'll need a professional hunter. WTF is she doing there? I mean, they could come up with some super cool story. We all agree that trailer sucked like a hoover. But it doesn't bode well that that was her introduction. I initially had the same feeling about the Grey Wardens being involved. And I think a lot of my irritation there came from poor introduction in the trailer, as when I think about it, I can find some reasons for their continued involvement, even if I'm not sure how Rook's group is contacting them and getting only one involved, as it seems liked they'd send their own whole team for this issue. The others, ultimately, I got the feeling the Inquisition was bankrolling them, so they could hire who they wanted, and a lot of the specialists seemed like long-term hired help who might be appropriate to the issue (like the rifts seem to be leading to a lot of dead bodies rising up, so let's hire a necromancer. We need stuff investigated, let's hire a detective). In terms of character stories, I always thought ME2 did the best companion stories at Bioware, since you had to do the first part of the character's story to recruit them. And then you got a second part that you could choose to do or not do depending on how you felt about things. But ME2 is about prepping a squad for a sui-cide run. I'm not sure about how everyone else's personal business becomes your priority when you're busy trying to guard the veil. But I guess we'll see when it releases whether the development team is getting high off huffing their own farts or if they've actually done what they claim. Do I want them to succeed? Yes, actually. I love Dragon Age. But that's why I'm super skeptical when they claim it's the bestest ever, and yet what I've seen in the reveals is not filling me with excitement, but only more doubts.
You’re welcome to have your own thoughts but a lot of what you’re saying is contradicted by lore. Dragons are making a resurgence across Thedas. They aren’t rare as they once were. This isn’t a subtle point even, it’s made explicit. And your point about pansexual companions has me raising my eyebrows in what you’re implying.
@@UNCKayakfish Really? Let's look at some real life situations and at least bisexuality: 16th & 17th century Europe. If you're a man and you're not bisexual, you're not actually very manly. It seems like this is one that doesn't get taught often, but if you read something like the Three Musketeers (written in a later time period) and actually tried to make it historically accurate, a lot more of the guys should be bisexual or faking being bi because a true man can romance both men and women. Your sexuality directly impacted society's view of your manliness, and your own. I don't remember the time period off-hand for Japan, but they used to have a third gender. This gender, wakashu, was essentially "pretty boy." Men could keep either women or pretty boys as consorts, but not other men. Boys were identified by haircuts and clothing styles. Most transitioned out of being a boy by their 20s, with some doing so earlier, but there are records of at least one pretty boy who was in his 90s. Boys only date men, and not women, and are considered an entirely different gender. In Ukraine, they used to have a third gender of women who were treated as men. I don't really have a word for them, and I read the article ages ago, so I'm not looking it up. If you want to consider them trans men, go ahead, but keep in mind, it wasn't voluntary. Anyway, this gender was created by poor farmers who needed labor on their farms, but they lived in a society strictly divided by gender. So if it looked like you were going to have too many girls, you'd pick one of your daughters to be a woman who gets treated as man. And you train this child to do the hard labor that men did in that society and to act as a man in all respects. The child would grow up as a son to you, and could marry a woman because the person's gender identity was essentially "person who is biologically a woman, but treated as a man." The person's sexuality and own sense of gender had nothing to do with what they were within the community by the time they reached adulthood. The article I read on the topic was with one of the last of the people in this situation, who was elderly, as this was something done in the past, but not anymore. The speaker was generally happy with life, wife, and stepkids. I'm picking versions with a slightly more positive spin because prejudice is a thing in most cultures, and my point isn't that everyone should be prejudiced, but that cultural expectations of things related to gender and sexuality should have an impact on your life story and who you are as a person. And also when you're building out cultures, you don't want them to be all same/same. You want them to have interesting features that reflect different outlooks. Bioware built out the Feraldens as a fairly egalitarian society of doglords living in a rough and cold area. They built out Orlais to treat everything as a scandal for The Great Game. They built out the Tevinter nobility to not care who you sleep with, but noble marriage and family breeding should trump individual desires. Their Bride of the Maker is the pinnacle of religion, but she was also a primary wife with a secondary wife who bore 3 sons to their shared husband, who are considered, culturally, to be children of Andraste as primary wife. These are all interesting and individual ways culture, gender, and sexuality interact. And so I am extremely skeptical that 7 people from 7 different cultures are all going to have the same sexuality, AND relate to their sexuality in the same way. It's the difference between player-sexual and actually having 7 pan-sexual characters.
Honestly I feel like there is nothing wrong with admitting that story elements have been created to better match a video game mold and give players more options. It's pretty much what Larian does in their games, and they never really tried to get cookie points about the pansexual thing even though the same arguments Bioware is pulling could be used there. It's pretty obvious that Bioware isn't trying to have so many companions represent one specific sexuality, but rather they figured this is what would work best in terms of their video game. I wish they'd just come clean about it.
it makes more sense when you look at it from the perspective you can make a non-binary character which makes sense as to why they would stray from gender-locked romances
@@rb98769 They won't admit it because as a whole, players tend not to like player-sexual romances. And this contrasts particularly poorly with past romances that had distinct sexualities. So for Bioware, it looks lazy. The last time they did this was DA:II and that was definitely a rush job where things weren't well thought out, and they had to cut time somewhere, so romances were where it was cut.
the companions are so complex that they took away their sexualities, I don't understand their problem of taking 3 steps forward and 4 back. It may sound crazy but I do enjoy it when lesbians and gays exist🤷♀️
In Dragon age Inquisition if you play as a female , one of the voice actors is the same person who did Delphine in Skyrim . As such I always chose the one with the English accent . 😂
What's with this obsession to make your character, the main character not the main character and to be less interesting and important than your companions??
This is why I will only play the Dark Urge in BG3. Larian doted upon their origin characters, and now BioWare thinks we want that. I, for one, do not. I wish Tav would have been given more attention.
I just know that the first time I get a companion killed I'm going to have a breakdown lol. When I screwed up The Iron Bull's quest in DAI and had to kill him, it hurt so bad. I can't wait to feel the weight of consequence again.
I feel like The Veilguard is leaning way too much on the companions, I mean that's good but I like to play a game more like the first DA where you can see they took a long time thinking about the lore and the world, I like games where the world feels alive, like a place that could exist and The Veilguard feels like it won't do that, like it's gonna put us in a place to enjoy the relationships between us and the other companions, you can see I don't care that much about the companions I'm here more for story and world building, let's hope they put effort in that too.
you don't know until you play it's good they are putting effort in though because getting attached to characters help better tell the story in my opinion but just because they aren't detailing in an article the effort they put in other things doesn't mean it doesn't exist
The fact that they are mandatory for story progression and you cant just decide to skip them if you dont want to pick them up is an issue and you must engage with them is a problem forcing characters instead us choosing who we like to you must pick everyone up hurts world building and become a chore
@@nightfrost1891 that's why I said let's hope they put effort in story and world building, I'm not saying the game is gonna be bad, I'm just being cautious.
I have zero hope cause Bioware hasnt managed to make a good compelling game since ME3 but for those who are hopeful. I genuinely hope its as good as you hope it to be. I might dislike the devs but you guys deserve the best.
The director seems maybe a bit unpracticed on talking to the community and journalists. I'm not sure if this is their 1st time in this public of a position but I feel their wording on things could maybe use a PR passover to avoid unnecessary drama before the games release. There's so many people just wanting to hate on the game so I feel some of this should be avoided. This isn't me taking a shot at their competency. For all I know they could be the best director in Bioware history. It's just the PR side that's hard to overlook.
