Operation Backlog Completion 2025
Jun 142024
 

When Dragon Age: The Veilguard was shown as part of the Xbox Games Showcase, I was not exactly thrilled.

In fact, I was pretty worried.

I’ve been worried about the next Dragon Age game for a while now, between the years of getting tiny teasers with no actual footage shown and all the people who have left BioWare since it’s been in development. I’m not crazy about the name change from “Dreadwolf” to “The Veilguard,” either.

(Also, I keep calling it Dragon Age: Veilguard by mistake since that sounds smoother to me.)

So when it finally got a full trailer, and the tone just didn’t feel like Dragon Age at all, the only thing I had left to cling to was the hope that it was just a bad trailer.

At least I didn’t have long to wonder. On Tuesday, they followed up the trailer with a 20-minute gameplay reveal.

Note: due to the nature of Veilguard’s story, the footage spoils a major reveal from Dragon Age Inquisition’s DLC.

The combat looks a bit more faster-paced even though in Inquisition, with a skill wheel to pull up for special abilities and no way to directly control party members. According to the official blog post about the gameplay reveal, the combat has “tactical depth” not shown in the video.

But what had bothered me the most in that trailer was the tone, and the tone in the gameplay reveal feels much more suitable for Dragon Age.

So this essentially restored me to my “nervous, yet cautiously optimistic” mindset.

Now, in an interview with IGN, BioWare confirmed that Veilguard is “a mission-based game,” with curated areas that do sometimes open up for “alternate branching paths, mysterious, secrets, optional content.”

One of my biggest criticisms when I played Inquisition was that it felt to me like the open world areas were entirely separate from the main quest. This sounds like it should avoid that. I’m hoping that its mission-based approach won’t go in the opposite direction and make it too linear, because I’d like to have a good amount of exploration along the way.

My other criticisms of Inquisition were related to the story, and that’s impossible to judge this early.

Once, a new Dragon Age game would have been one of my most hotly-anticipated titles. Now I’m just holding my breath hoping it doesn’t disappoint. At least my initial worries from the trailer have been calmed. But what do you think of what we’ve seen so far from Dragon Age: The Veilguard?

Dec 072018
 

Last night was The Game Awards 2018. While I couldn’t watch the whole thing live, I caught up on it later.

The show’s structure puzzles me. It’s devoted to the Game Awards, yet some awards aren’t announced in the show itself… and this year, the pre-show included some award announcements and world premieres?

Despite the blurry line between pre-show and actual show (and my disappointment when I checked the full list afterwards and saw that The Missing didn’t win), this was definitely one of the better years. So let’s take a look at the announcements that were personal highlights for me.

I was somewhat intrigued by Journey to the Savage Planet, although now that I’ve looked into it more, it sounds like it won’t emphasize its story too much. I’ll keep my eye on it, but I’m not sure it’s for me.

A little while later, another premiere revealed The Stanley Parable: Ultra Deluxe. I loved The Stanley Parable. It was one of my top games of 2013. This new version will have new endings and choices, and it’s planned for both PC and consoles. The trailer was great, and I’ll definitely get this when it comes out.

Supergiant Games has a new game coming out called Hades. Well… actually it’s out now in Early Access, but I’d rather wait for the full release. This also reminded me that I should play Transistor eventually…

And now, of course, there’s the announcement I already showed in the page image, the one with the most credible rumors, Crash Team Racing! Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled is a remake (remaster?) coming to the PS4, Xbox One, and Switch and it looks beautiful.

(It also appears to confirm split-screen multiplayer, even though they haven’t specifically mentioned it.)

Moving on, Obsidian announced its new game, a single-player RPG called The Outer Worlds. It’s described as having a “player-driven story,” and the world shown in the trailer gave me some Borderlands vibes. I’ll be keeping my eye on it.

The Last Campfire also looks cute.

Another rumor came true with the tease of the next Dragon Age game. While it’s just a tiny teaser that basically shows nothing, it does confirm the one thing I wanted… it will follow the plot set up in Inquisition!

(So, is this game going to be called Dragon Age: The Dread Wolf Rises, or is that just the tagline? Because I took it as a tagline until I saw people using the hashtag like it’s the name of the game.)

Now let’s hope that when we do get something more substantial about it, it looks like a good game with a good story.

A new game called The Pathless was revealed, and it looks like it could be interesting.

And at last, we we got a full trailer for Psychonauts 2! I’ve been a little nervous about this game since I love Psychonauts so much and because Broken Age left me a little disillusioned with Double Fine, but the trailer looks great.

Finally, in the surprise announcement of the night, Joker from Persona 5 was announced for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a DLC character, which I definitely never saw coming.

I was disappointed that we didn’t get any Bayonetta 3 footage, and I wasn’t too invested in the awards themselves since I haven’t played most of them yet, but on the other hand, I’m excited for Crash Team Racing, Psychonauts is looking great, I have hope for Dragon Age, and several interesting games were announced.

What did you think of The Game Awards 2018 and its announcements? And don’t forget, while it was the big night for announcements, we have Yakuza news coming tomorrow!

Nov 302018
 

Not only do we have Yakuza and/or Project Judge news coming soon, but it sounds like Dragon Age news is planned for December as well.

BioWare’s November update post includes a tease of upcoming Dragon Age news:

Dragon Age is an incredibly important franchise in our studio, and we’re excited to continue its legacy. Look for more on this in the coming month (though I won’t tell you where to look…)”

That sounds like it might not be something as obvious as a trailer, maybe more like a quiet hint about the next game. On the other hand, it could just be to keep it more mysterious.

I’ve enjoyed all three Dragon Age games, but Dragon Age Inquisition left me conflicted due to the separation of its main plot and exploration, as well as its weak villain. I hope the next Dragon Age game has stronger storytelling.

(Although since Mass Effect: Andromeda also left me conflicted and had an even worse villain, I’m not as hyped for a new BioWare game as I used to be.)

The post also makes a brief mention of Mass Effect, basically just to say they have future plans for the series.

Some people think they might announce a fourth Dragon Age in December, while a lot of other fans think it might be something different, like a remaster of Dragon Age: Origins.

While I did have some issues with Inquisition, I enjoyed it in general and thought it set up a sequel pretty well. If they do announce the next game, I hope it continues the story that began in Inquisition (even if it isn’t an “Inquisition 2”) rather than picking up somewhere else.

Where do you think the Dragon Age series is going from here? What are you hoping for?