Games you are currently playing - Part 7

[Osprey]

I think i'll check it out for at least a couple of hours. PS plus game at one point so no loss in starting.

Just to warn you: the game has a seriously long prologue--about 8 hours long if you don't skip the cutscenes--in which you pretty much have to go where and do what you're told in order to set up the story. After that, the game opens up and you can go anywhere and do anything that you want, like your usual open-world RPG. If you stop after only a couple of hours, you may not get a true sense of the game. You may want to count on giving it 9 or 10 hours. If you're unsure if you want to commit that much time, you might look up YouTube videos of later gameplay to see if it appeals to you first.

 

[robertmac43]

Just to warn you: the game has a seriously long prologue--about 8 hours long if you don't skip the cutscenes--in which you pretty much have to go and do what you're told in order to set up the story. After that, the game opens up and you can go and do anything you that want, like your usual open-world RPG. If you stop after only a couple of hours, you won't get a true sense of the game, so, you may want to count on giving it 9 or 10 hours. If you're unsure if you want to commit that much time, you might look up YouTube videos of later gameplay to see if it appeals to you first.

I have made it through some long tutorials, the Xenoblade games instantly come to mind. I get the sense those are more 'hands on' though.

I'll do a little more digging and see if I want to commit.

 

[Frankie Spankie]

I tried it but for me, a lot of these horror games with no combat just feel like hide and seek games to me. I understand that making you weak and defenseless adds to tension but it just doesn't do it for me. I wouldn't mind trying Amnesia: The Bunker because I know you at least get a gun in that one.

I picked up Amnesia: The Bunker because it's part of a Fanatical bundle right now and I was wrong, it was still not for me... It's so rare for me to find a horror game I enjoy.

I also played a few hours of Miasma Chronicles and ended up giving up on that too. That was made by the same team as Mutant Year Zero which I really enjoyed. This one just has really uninspired combat and the balance is way off. It feels like they focused too much on making a good looking world and forgot about making the game fun to play.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

I picked up Amnesia: The Bunker because it's part of a Fanatical bundle right now and I was wrong, it was still not for me... It's so rare for me to find a horror game I enjoy.

I also played a few hours of Miasma Chronicles and ended up giving up on that too. That was made by the same team as Mutant Year Zero which I really enjoyed. This one just has really uninspired combat and the balance is way off. It feels like they focused too much on making a good looking world and forgot about making the game fun to play.

Sorry to hear you didn’t like The Bunker. The wife and I are big fans of Amnesia and have this on our list to try.

Outside of a couple Resident Evil entries I haven’t been able to find many horror titles I liked, but Amnesia was one. I was in a bit of a different life situation when I got into that one so maybe that contributed. Too bad you didn’t get the same experience.

 

[Jovavic]

Anyone getting the new Dragon Age that comes out this week? Review embargo lifted, sounds pretty good and a step up from Bioware's last three games (Inquisition, Andromeda, Anthem)

 

[Turin]

Anyone getting the new Dragon Age that comes out this week? Review embargo lifted, sounds pretty good and a step up from Bioware's last three games (Inquisition, Andromeda, Anthem)

It looks like Concord if Concord was an RPG. Hard pass.

 

[Osprey]

Anyone getting the new Dragon Age that comes out this week? Review embargo lifted, sounds pretty good and a step up from Bioware's last three games (Inquisition, Andromeda, Anthem)

It sounds like a pretty decent action RPG that might appeal to general audiences looking for one while disappointing long-time fans who remember what a great serious RPG the original was.

 

[PeteWorrell]

The Dragon Age games are a perfect example of enshittification which each game being more watered down.

They should completely remove the illlusion of choice as there is none really. The protagonist can only be nice to people. We are far from Dragon Age: Origins where you could make choices that alienated people including party members.

The art direction went from a realistic and expressive visual style to looking like glossy characters from Shrek that have stiff facial animations.

Larian are the true successors to the Bioware of old and a game like Baldur's Gate 3 is the true natural evolution of a game like Dragon Age: Origins.

 

[Turin]

The Dragon Age games are a perfect example of enshittification which each game being more watered down.

They should completely remove the illlusion of choice as there is none really. The protagonist can only be nice to people. We are far from Dragon Age: Origins where you could make choices that alienated people including party members.

The art direction went from a realistic and expressive visual style to looking like glossy characters from Shrek that have stiff facial animations.

Larian are the true successors to the Bioware of old and a game like Baldur's Gate 3 is the true natural evolution of a game like Dragon Age: Origins.

There are mainstream outlets scoring this the same or better than Baldurs Gate 3, despite not being able to name a single thing it does as well, never mind better. I'm not sure I've seen access journalism gaslighting to this level.

Steam reviews and metacritic user scores will all be under 50% for this one.

 

[PeteWorrell]

There are mainstream outlets scoring this the same or better than Baldurs Gate 3, despite not being able to name a single thing it does as well, never mind better. I'm not sure I've seen access journalism gaslighting to this level.

Steam reviews and metacritic user scores will all be under 50% for this one.

I watched the Skill Up review and it explains very well my grievances with this type of game.

There are no real choices, the gameplay and RPG aspects are watered down and the puzzles are laughable. You can't even take control of one of your companion if you want to mix it up and play as another class. They are just there to act as glorified cooldown abilities to use in combat.

 

[Blitzkrug]

Kinda reminds me of the vibes when Final Fantasy 16 came out.

Everyone was drooling over it on a surface level but the people who actually play video games tore it to f***ing pieces. That's another one SkillUp ripped in a like 50 minute video.

It's so blatantly obvious to me following this game this was her another formerly shitty live service game hastily converted into a mid as hell single player game.

Same shitty loot system, repetitive combat, cobbled together story and hilariously bad character models (no, not from a "this is woke" standpoint, but from a "this character looks like they had their horns glued on" standpoint)

A bioware game with no choice on what path your character walks, isn't a bioware game at all.

 

[Tw1ster]

Anyone getting the new Dragon Age that comes out this week? Review embargo lifted, sounds pretty good and a step up from Bioware's last three games (Inquisition, Andromeda, Anthem)

All of the good reviews I’m seeing are from the sites I tend to agree with most which is a nice sign. I’m likely to try this when it’s on sale but hearing so many of my trusted reviewers say it’s a return to form is music to my ears

 

[Turin]

So immersive. Anybody who doesn’t want this is clearly just being mad for no reason.

 

[Jovavic]

^lol, just melt more, why that bothers people so much, I have no idea

 

[Mikeaveli]

I've never played a Dragon Age game and was mildly interested in Veilguard with the reveal trailer. The graphics and combat looked decent.

Everything I've seen since has been cringeworthy at best and turned me off completely lol

 

[Turin]

^lol, just melt more, why that bothers people so much, I have no idea

You don’t know why terrible writing bothers people?

 

[PeteWorrell]

I've never played a Dragon Age game and was mildly interested in Veilguard with the reveal trailer. The graphics and combat looked decent.

Everything I've seen since has been cringeworthy at best and turned me off completely lol

The combat looks decent at first glance. Then you see that it get really repetitive really quickly.

There is little enemy variety and the developer took the easy way out by making the enemies damage sponges instead of actually making them challenging.

There is nothing more dull then endless combat not because you are being challenged but because the enemies are easy but just won't die.

 

[Blitzkrug]

^lol, just melt more, why that bothers people so much, I have no idea

While the the context of that line doesn't bother me, it certainly doesn't do much to dispel the complaints from non-chud youtubers that this game has awful writing given this looks likes it's just dropped in the middle of another conversation. Or it could be snipped out of context where maybe the protag is just getting to know the character in question. At this point nothing surpises me.

SkillUp iirc complained that it's basically Marvel movie tier garbage which i'm shocked hasn't died out as a writing style yet. Far cry from the first couple dragon age games.

Frankly as someone who holds Mass Effect very dear this Dragon Age is a bad omen for me, lol. Bioware has been a shell of what it was in the late 2000s and i wouldn't be surprised if it's closed in the future.

 

[Mikeaveli]

The combat looks decent at first glance. Then you see that it get really repetitive really quickly.

There is little enemy variety and the developer took the easy way out by making the enemies damage sponges instead of actually making them challenging.

There is nothing more dull then endless combat not because you are being challenged but because the enemies are easy but just won't die.

Yeah I watched Skill Up's review where he said him and multiple other reviewers all lowered the difficulty due to bullet sponge enemies. That's pretty damning lol.

If I feel the need to play a fantasy ARPG I'll just replay Dragons Dogma 2.

 

[Osprey]

I watched the Skill Up review and it really turned me off of the game, as well. It's just one perspective, but instead of giving only his opinion, he shows many examples that I was able to make up my own mind about, and I ended up agreeing with him on just about every one of them. The writing, especially, seems very safe, amateurish and lame. I've since watched a little of a few other reviews that are much more positive, but it's hard to take them seriously when they compliment the writing, admit that they were never that high on DA: Origins and/or proclaim this as the best DA or even best Bioware game ever. Honestly, it makes me suspicious that they're gushing in order to continue receiving the perks and privileges that allow them to cover EA's games prior to release. Also, interestingly, the Skill Up guy admits that the last two hours of the game are fantastic, making me wonder if recency bias is a factor in some of the more positive reviews. I agree with him, though, that a great last two hours don't make up for the preceding 48 if they're shallow and tedious.

 

[PeteWorrell]

They should have gone with the original plan of a game centered around Solas. He is actually a character that was in the previous game who was interesting. It would have been nice to follow that up.

Instead, they made a game where Solas is in it to get sidelined in favor of other characters. That seems like an odd choice to me. Like the writers didn't want to be "burdened" by past games and many of their characters beyond cameos.

 

[BigBadBruins7708]

^lol, just melt more, why that bothers people so much, I have no idea

It's not the content that bothers people, its the way its put in. It's almost never written in as just part of conversation or the story. It almost always has to be a big awkward "Im [insert alternative life style]" followed by a "pause for applause".

Notice how there was basically no outrage or backlash over Assassins Creed Odyssey and Valhalla having NPCs make homosexual advances towards you and allowing the player to choose to engage in homosexual relationships? That's because it was just a thing written into the world itself, it wasn't done for woke credit.

 

[Osprey]

I watched a YT video titled "The Truth About Dragon Age: The Veilguard Reviews" that goes over how EA may've manipulated reviews of the game. Apparently, months ago, they held a preview event and flew out loads of journalists and content creators to get hands-on with the game. At least three of those content creators (including the makers of the video) who were a little critical of some aspects that they got to see (even while being positive about others) ended up not being offered review codes.

Skill Up was actually pretty positive and optimistic in his first impressions of the game, which is probably why he got a review code and is one of the few negative reviews so far. Most other journalists and creators who might've ended up being critical were seemingly weeded out by EA by not being given the opportunity to play and review the game prior to release. It almost sounds like the preview event wasn't just to generate hype, but to pre-screen potential reviewers. The author advises taking early reviews for the game with a grain of salt and waiting for reviews to trickle in from people who weren't selected by EA, especially regular gamers. It's good advice in general, but maybe even better advice in this case.

 

[Jovavic]

It's not the content that bothers people, its the way its put in. It's almost never written in as just part of conversation or the story. It almost always has to be a big awkward "Im [insert alternative life style]" followed by a "pause for applause".

Notice how there was basically no outrage or backlash over Assassins Creed Odyssey and Valhalla having NPCs make homosexual advances towards you and allowing the player to choose to engage in homosexual relationships? That's because it was just a thing written into the world itself, it wasn't done for woke credit.

Bonus internet points for using "woke" in a sentence though you would've received more if you found a way to fit "DEI" and "CRT" in there somewhere, better luck next time!

Anyway, I'm going to guess this won't sell what EA wants/thinks it should and it'll shutter the studio.

 

[Turin]

Bonus internet points for using "woke" in a sentence though you would've received more if you found a way to fit "DEI" and "CRT" in there somewhere, better luck next time!

Anyway, I'm going to guess this won't sell what EA wants/thinks it should and it'll shutter the studio.

Sorry but it’s an objective fact that companies are being brought on board by shareholders in order to HR-ize the content. You don’t have to be a “chud” to point out that basic, indisputable fact. Just because you may agree with the morality of the messaging doesn’t mean people who call out the unnatural and forced usage of it are wrong or deserve to be put in some kind of box where you can turn off your brain when they mention certain words. The vast majority of people don’t want their fiction to sound like it was written by a redditor.