HardwareDragon Age: The VeilguardNo matter what gaming PC you have, you should disable DoF, motion blur, and vignette in Dragon Age: The Veilguard before changing any other settingWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
HardwareDragon Age: The VeilguardNo matter what gaming PC you have, you should disable DoF, motion blur, and vignette in Dragon Age: The Veilguard before changing any other settingWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Dragon Age: The Veilguardwill soon be available to play around the world and while it lacks the narrative depth of its forefathers, it’s still a rollicking blast to play. The combat is nice and weighty, and you’ll have endless fun just going around whacking everyone with a ruddy big hammer. But no matter what hardware you have in your gaming PC andwhat graphics options you want to use, there are three graphics settings that you really should disable before jumping in.
However, it just applies a blur filter to said objects and it’s not very convincing. Fortunately, it’s used quite sparingly, as you can see in the images below. The first shows the use of DoF, and the second with it disabled.
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
The same is true for motion blur. It’s actually one of the better implementations I’ve seen in recent games but I find it distracting and, more importantly, it’s entirely unnecessary. Anything moving rapidly in my peripheral vision won’t be clearly in focus anyway, so there’s just no need to blur it all out.
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
The above images were taken while frantically whipping the mouse around and then taking a screenshot. As you can see in the first image, it’s not a bad effect but the second screenshot shows how much nicer it is without it.
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The final setting that really needs to be disabled is the vignette option. This darkens the outer edges of the frame, simulating how poorly set cameras or old lenses produce brightness ‘hotspots’—the centre of the frame is at full brightness but the edges are all dark. It can be used as a creative tool, drawing one’s eye to the framed object, but it’s just one more unnecessary addition here.
Just compare the two images below. The use of a vignette stands out like a sore thumb.
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Unfortunately, disabling the vignette exposes one particular weakness in Dragon Age: The Veilguard’s graphics settings and it’s that there is no option to disable or reduce the amount of bloom being applied. Youcando it in the game’s photo mode but there’s no way to do it for normal gameplay.
In the pictures below, you can clearly see the difference between having no bloom applied and the default 18% level used in the photo mode. One might feel that the lack of bloom makes the image too dark overall but I find disabling it adds a lot more depth to the image. Dark areas appear darker, textures a tad grittier, and the whole thing is less ‘early 2000s gaming’ in style.
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Image1of2
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
(Image credit: BioWare/Electronic Arts)
Hopefully, BioWare will add the option to adjust the in-game level of bloom in a later patch. Until then, I’ll just have to put up with it, though at least I can bin depth of field, motion blur, and vignette—along with chromatic aberration, these are the settings Ialwaysdisable, where possible, in every game I play.
Call me a curmudgeon but I really don’t like them, and honestly don’t see what the appeal is. This makes me wonder just how many peopledolike them because if they were universally hated, I can’t see why any developer would make the effort to include them. Answers on a postcard, please.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
Best gaming PC: The top pre-built machines.Best gaming laptop: Great devices for mobile gaming.
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