After nearly ten long years since the last one, Dragon Age: The Veilguard is finally here, and I can safely say that it’s well worth the wait. While it isn’t quite a masterpiece, I think it does enough things right to be considered worthy of carrying on the name of such a beloved franchise.
Just to preface this, I’m going to try to keep this relatively spoiler-free, especially since it’s still really fresh and I’m still playing through it as we speak.
“Do I Need to Play the Previous Games First?”
I’m gonna level with you. Even as a fan of BioWare’s RPGs, it’s been a long time since I’ve done a complete replay of all the Dragon Age games from start to finish. Heck, I was still in college when Inquisition came out. A lot of the details are blurry to me nowadays, but I decided to hop on in without jogging my memory with even just a single lore video.
That being said, Veilguard does a pretty good job of easing you into the story thus far. After all, it’s been a decade since the previous one, so even some old fans like myself might need a bit of a refresher. If you want a quick answer to the header above, then it’s going to be a “no” from my perspective.
A bit of prior knowledge will certainly enhance the experience and result in a few “oh wow, it’s ____” moments as early as the first and second chapters, but you’re not going to be left behind as a newcomer to the franchise.
There are also a lot of codex entries and notes that’ll clue you in on the general goings-on in the world. A handful may even reference stuff that you get to experience first-hand in previous games, such as The Joining, which is tackled in one of the first Grey Warden entries.
There is a Caveat…
One issue that comes with this approach they’re taking with the writing is that it might feel a bit too on the nose, particularly at the start. It’s as if the story is just moving you along from one point to the next, at least for the first maybe two hours.
After that initial awkwardness, the game does open up and it relaxes a lot more on the info dumping. As for there being meaningful choices, I’ll refrain from judging that as I’m still too early to witness the payoff for most of the decisions I’ve made. Based on what I’ve read/heard, though, the writing does pick up the slack eventually, and stuff you do will matter down the line.
EDIT (11/3/2024): Yeah, there’s definitely decisions with major consequences. Since this is a spoiler-free review, the only hint I’ll give you is that one example of this occurs right before you hunt down the last few companions.
In general, I just feel that the beginning act struggles to find a satisfying balance in how it introduces the world and the central conflict to the player. This is very likely due to how they’re trying to appeal to both new audiences and people who might still have the previous games fresh in their minds.
On top of that, lots of older fans might feel a bit slighted by how “safe” it is with not referencing past events too much. On the other hand, you also have an entirely new generation of players coming in who have likely never touched a Dragon Age title before, and they’ll just feel left out if the game keeps pulling out those “wink wink nudge nudge” moments.
The Tonal Shift — I Like It.
You know what I find refreshing that I know some of you will disagree with? It’s the slightly lighter tone of the game, at least when it comes to the party’s dynamic and Rook’s dialogue choices. Don’t get me wrong, the world’s still pretty damn grim, but the option to be a sarcastic little dingus in almost every situation is exactly what I wanted my Rook to be like in this first playthrough.
Unfortunately, it seems that the main character’s dialogue generally does err a bit too much on the safe side in that it doesn’t let you go all “Renegade” like in Mass Effect. I don’t mind it too much, though.
The party members in general are also a lot less abrasive, at least based on my experience so far. This is especially true if you put them side by side with someone like Sten or even Sera. I’m just really digging the more friendly interactions of the current cast. It’s not all sunshine and rainbows, but at least these people won’t just stab one another in the face if given the opportunity.
Writing this section also reminded me that Oghren is a character that existed. I wish I didn’t remember Oghren. That is all.
The Writing Quality (Added 11/4/2024)
Online discourse about the writing at the moment is completely muddied with things that have nothing to do with the game’s story or is completely fixated on a brief scene with clunky dialogue. I’m adding this little subsection after 30+ hours of gameplay so far.
If you’re looking for a genuine assessment, my take is that the narrative and worldbuilding have been quite strong. The story is incredibly engaging, but you will have to power through a bit of handholding and repetitive explanations very early on. Funnily enough, a lot of that comes from Rook themselves.
I implore people to actually engage with the game before complaining about it not being “dark” enough or lacking impactful decisions. The story is fairly reactive to the things Rook does, and there are definitely moments with rather unsettling implications.
The issue, I think, is that it takes around 5-10 hours in this 60-80+ hour game before things significantly ramp up, which is an understandably large time investment to expect from people. Unfortunately, it really does take that much time, and a maybe bit more, to reach the tail end of the first act, which is generally agreed upon to be a major turning point for the writing quality.
So… take from that what you will. Personally, the rough start didn’t affect my enjoyment of the game at all, especially with how much it improves over time. I can be a bit more patient than others though.
A Significant Shift in Gameplay
Unlike all of the previous entries, Veilguard has completely shifted towards action-based gameplay rather than another iteration of the tactical style that Dragon Age is known for (yes, even DA2). A lot of fans were rightfully worried about this dramatic change, but I personally always loved the idea of it.
As somebody who enjoyed Origins the most, I welcome this shift towards a faster-paced experience. It’s not as if the game suddenly became completely braindead easy as a result. In fact, I’ll go as far as to say that the current style offers a nice balance of both tactics and action.
Rather than picking and micromanaging a squad that follows the holy trinity of RPGs (healer/tank/DPS), we’re instead given companions that fall under a more “loose” class system. Basically, every character in your party has their own unique skill tree with a handful of exclusive abilities each.
As you and your party level up, you can use skill points to unlock nodes that can shift an ability’s effects around. For example, you can make it so that one character can specialize more against breaking physical armor, while the other focuses more on dealing with magical barriers. As for Rook (you), they get a much more complex tree with specialization paths to choose from.
“Easier” By Nature
While there’s a decent amount of tactics and quick reflexes required to breeze through the moment to moment gameplay, it is undeniably “easier” than the previous entries for quite a few reasons. The most obvious one is the fact that companions cannot actually die.
To balance things out, though, you’re forced to focus a lot more on your own survival as enemies will be relentlessly targeting you for the most part. If you’re used to parrying/dodging systems in games, this shouldn’t be too challenging unless you’re being completely swamped. Because of this, you could potentially beat enemies that have a much higher level than you through pure attrition.
For the more hardcore players out there, you can adjust the combat settings to be much more difficult than it normally is. However, it’ll still eventually feel a bit too repetitive once you learn all the possible attack patterns and settle with a build that works for you.
With all that in mind, you also have stuff like primers and detonators to consider (this is taught to you very early on). In normal difficulty or below, I’d imagine you can brute force your way through with just basic dodges and attacks. For higher settings, though, they’re worth building your team composition and abilities/gear around.
Ditching the Open World
One last significant non-combat change to the gameplay that I wanna touch on is the shift away from the open world format. Those who’ve been around long enough know that Inquisition stirred the pot with its vast but shallow open world full of fetch quests… or at the very least that’s what the Hinterlands was, which is enough of a turn off for many.
With Veilguard, we’ve come back to smaller and more focused areas. Luckily, most regions you explore aren’t just linear hallways that railroad you from point A to point B. The level design leaves plenty of room for exploration and discovery, and those who enjoy searching every nook and cranny will be in for a treat with what I’ve seen in the maps so far.
One thing I can’t deny is that it feels a tad too “modern” in the sense that loot containers and even ladders will start violently glowing yellow when you get close enough. Luckily, there aren’t random splotches of yellow paint everywhere, so that’s nice at least. Overall though, going off the beaten path can be very rewarding, and you might even stumble into a miniboss that’s way above your level if you do.
On that note, there are also hints that might take away from a bit of the exploration, at least during certain quests or puzzles. I’m pretty sure general exploration and optional/secret content don’t have this problem for the most part.
More specifically, I’m talking about the handful of moments where Rook or his companions will point out something painfully obvious. It can get annoying, but I’ve learned to tune them out after a while. It’s reminding me a lot of how Atreus yaps in the newer God of War titles, which I don’t necessarily see as an entirely bad thing.
Trust me, there are players out there who really do need to be nudged in the right direction. I think the game just barely does it infrequently enough where I don’t feel like my intelligence is being insulted in every corner. However, an option to turn off or at least tone down the vocal hints would be a very welcome QOL change.
Is the Game Worth Getting?
There’s still a lot more for me to discover in the game, but I feel I’ve experienced more than enough to warrant sharing my thoughts on it. I highly doubt my opinions will change all that much by the end anyway.
Overall, I’m honestly just happy that Dragon Age: The Veilguard turned out to be as good as it is. It’s truly a refreshing sight after the disaster that was Mass Effect: Andromeda back then.
Again, it’s no masterpiece, but it’s a pretty strong entry in an otherwise stacked lineup of games. While the initial couple hours of the story was a bit of a rough start, the gameplay and visuals carry it well enough that I’ve already gotten over it by the time the world opened up a lot more. The main cast being, in my opinion, incredibly likeable definitely helps as well.
Will this be my game of the year? Probably not, but not because it’s bad. You see, I have a brief review of Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth in the drafts right now, and I also got Metaphor: ReFantazio left to finish. The latter I’d probably put above all at the moment.
Personally, I’d say this game fits in the middle of those two for me, which comes as a surprise to myself as well, but that’s all I’ll say on the matter for now. If you’re looking for an RPG with a good story to add to your list, there’s a lot of them out right now, and Dragon Age: The Veilguard sits comfortably alongside those at the top of the pile.
