Here's 3 reasons I'm actually pretty optimistic about Dragon Age: The Veilguard despite being an old school RPG sicko

GamesRPGDragon Age: The VeilguardHere’s 3 reasons I’m actually pretty optimistic about Dragon Age: The Veilguard despite being an old school RPG sickoWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: BioWare)

Varric looking serious in The Veilguard

The response to Dragon Age: The Veilguard seems mixed, confused even. I’ve seen some people get pretty excited for it, but the Dragon Age fans of PC Gamer are all feeling pretty dire. None of us were in love withthe first trailerat the Xbox showcase, online editor Fraser Brown thinks the doubling down on action was acatastrophic mistake, and associate editor Lauren Morton doesn’t see how it couldcompare with Baldur’s Gate 3. The Veilguard’s long, troubled development and BioWare’s loss of veteran staffers, including the gut punch of a50-person layofflast year, loom over everything.

But despite all that, I’m still pretty optimistic about the game. I’ve got a song in my heart and love to give, and there are some concrete facts to remember about BioWare and RPGs in general that contribute to my rosy outlook. Better than Baldur’s Gate 3? Absolutely not. But better than anything BioWare’s made since Dragon Age 2? I think it’s a possibility.

RPGs don’t get good trailers

Dragon Age Origins: “Sacred Ashes” Trailer - YouTubeWatch On

Dragon Age Origins: “Sacred Ashes” Trailer - YouTube

Dragon Age Origins:

OK, sometimes they do⁠—thatin-engine Cyberpunk revealfrom 2018 certainly springs to mind⁠—but in general? RPGs are chunky, cerebral, slow burns that don’t translate well into 90 seconds of sexy sizzle trying to sell you something. The way marketing campaigns always call these games “mature” always makes my eyes roll: “our game has swears and sex and stuff!” We’re all adults here, you don’t have to make me feel like I’m sneaking something past my parents. I always think fondly of how The Witcher 3pokes funat its ownedgy story trailerin a late-game quest with Lambert. “Killing Monsters” indeed.

Someone thought this was cool back then

We’ve only seen the worst part of the game

(Image credit: Electronic Arts)

Origins remains a high water mark for the genre, with its six unique prologues and the memorable Battle of Ostagar, but Dragon Age 2 just had you trudging through some ugly brown hills killing Darkspawn and being sad that your annoying younger brother or teacher’s pet little sister died. Inquisition’s intro, meanwhile, feels like it was chopped and reworked at the last minute. The cool start menu transition to watching thetemple get nukedaside, itsin medias resopening and immediate crescendo of demon fights felt disorienting and stilted. I’d played the first two games for hundreds of hours before loading up Inquisition and I still barely knew what was going on my first time through.

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We haven’t even seen the Veilguard’s entire prologue, and it already boasts more interesting locales and looks better-paced than two thirds of the series' intros so far. I will say I wish they took more time to warm us up: both Inquisition and The Veilguard immediately slam the accelerator into a Pride Demon fight. It cheapens what’s supposedly an end-game boss when you’re fighting one at level 2 with an iron shortsword.

BioWare is an action RPG studio

It’s worth being realistic about what BioWare’s specialty actually is at this point.

This is an issue I really diverge from the CRPG Sardaukar party line on: BioWare was only ever briefly a company that made tactical, hardcore CRPGs. While I absolutely prefer crusty RPGs where you miss every attack for the first five hours, BioWare only made three of them (plus a few expansions) more thantwenty years ago.

Even Dragon Age: Origins was just a blip, a paean to the crusty games I love produced amid an inexorable tide of simplification and consolization. Everything else BioWare has made since 2002 has moved in an action RPG direction. With over twenty years of actionization versus only five or so of making CRPGs, it’s worth being realistic about what BioWare’s specialty actually is at this point.

(Image credit: BioWare)

As much as I am a CRPG guy, BioWare isgoodat making action games, and seemed to be getting better at it even as the company’s fortunes soured. Despite their myriad failings, Mass Effect: Andromeda and Anthem had excellent gunplay, and I’ve always thought Andromeda’s character building and ability system were inspired. Even Inquisition, despite frustrating encounters with an overabundance of hard crowd control, was a superb action RPG at its core.CD ProjektRed may have surpassed BioWare as the king of the cinematic action RPG, but BioWare games' core ability design and feel have always quietly remained superior in my book.

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RPGs don’t get good trailers#

We’ve only seen the worst part of the game#

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals#

BioWare is an action RPG studio#

RPGs don’t get good trailers

We’ve only seen the worst part of the game

The biggest gaming news, reviews and hardware deals

BioWare is an action RPG studio