I will start by saying that I absolutely loved Dragon Age: The Veilguard. I’m not afraid to admit that. I like what I like. As a person with ADHD, I was so happy with the way that the companion system was set up. I didn’t have to worry about their health on top of mine. I understand that some long time Dragon Age fans are annoyed by that, but holy crap, it’s a relief and takes a ton of stress off me. The combat is beautiful and very fast-paced! It is like watching a dance and doesn’t feel awkward and clunky like the combat in the old Dragon Age games. The game is as gorgeous as it is brutal and gruesome, and I can’t stop looking at EVERYTHING.
Some fan complaints that I saw were that the storytelling felt lazy. I didn’t get that feeling at all. The story is epic and sometimes horrible, just as you would expect from Dragon Age. Every companion has interesting stories and backgrounds, and I loved getting to know all of them. For example, Taash is a badass Qunari who starts questioning their identity because of something their mother said. The other characters are very supportive and help Taash with understanding the feeling of being out of place in their own body. It’s a perfect example of a conversation that might happen between friends and family, and it felt real, so if that is lazy… I don’t even know what to say to that anymore.
Okay, so I explained and put out there some reasons why I LOVED the game. I was able to get through it in roughly 60 hours and could not put it down. I loved it enough to immediately start a second playthrough and then… wait. I never finished Dragon Age Origins or Inquisition. I played a big chunk of both but got overwhelmed because it felt like such a massive undertaking at the time.
So what crazy thing did DA: The Veilguard make me do? I restarted playthroughs of BOTH DA: Origins and Inquisition! OMG, what am I thinking? But, it made me crave to go back and remember the lore, and as The Veilguard happens just 10 years after Inquisition, there are several characters from Inquisition in The Veilguard. So, basically, at the moment, I have a playthrough of each of them going simultaneously. It’s crazy. I know. But it’s this fantastic thing that Veilguard has done.
I know some serious DA fans are up in arms about how Veilguard feels more accessible for more gamers, and it’s not as DA as DA should be, but look what it has done for people like me who struggled with the old games and the mechanics.
I played through Veilguard, fell in love with the lore of Dragon Age again, and decided to make my way back to the old games. Isn’t that what games should do? Pull people back in and make them fall in love with the series all over again? Make them remember what made the history and the lore so unique in these games. So maybe, instead of criticizing why it doesn’t feel like the Dragon Age of old, praise it for being such a visually stunning and easily accessible game that it brings more people into the fold.
Have there been any other games that you have played that make you want to go back and revisit the older games in a series? Let us know in the comments!
