We asked you what you thought of Dragon Age: The Veilguard. We break down the result in this article.
Dragon Age: The Veilguard has been on the market for a good two weeks. Even before the release, there was discussion about whether the new role-playing game could be Bioware’s salvation or not.
And even after the release, the discussions continue: Is The Veilguard too colorful and too nice? Or has Bioware managed to return to its old strengths? Last week we asked you how you liked Dragon Age: The Veilguard so far – and the result was very revealing on two points.
More than 12,000 users take part
First of all, there is the almost record-breaking participation: More than 12,000 GameStar.de users took part in the vote. As a rule, the number of participants in our votes ranges between 1,000 and 6,000 people – so thank you very much for your active participation.
From the numbers it can be deduced that many of you have studied and informed yourself about Dragon Age. Even if you ultimately decided not to buy the game:
The result, however, is largely positive. According to the survey, 25 percent (3,048 votes) of you like the game »Pretty good! It’s not perfect, but enjoy it.”. 16 percent (1,898 votes) even think the game is “Great! You’re having a lot of fun with The Veilguard!”. Overall, over 41 percent of all participants had a lot of fun with the latest BioWare title.
At the same time, a third of all participants have not yet played the game themselves, but have formed an opinion based on the reporting, trailers, etc. Of this third, the majority say they think it looks rather bad (2,488 votes) and 1,608 votes say it looks rather good. Considering that those who aren’t enthusiastic don’t buy it, this result is hardly surprising.
18 percent of you find the game really bad or at least rather disappointing. The answer option accounted for nine percent of each answer “Terrible, I’m completely disappointed” (1,142 votes) or “Not so good, a lot of things bother me” (1,115 votes).
Not only were the number of participants high – there were also numerous comments on the survey. Currently (as of November 11th, 2024 12:00) almost 400 (!).
They are mostly positive. For example, eracer61 writes:
I’m just glad that there are still single-player games like this these days. In this case, I don’t care whether it’s a true Dragon Age or not. I would best describe it as a cross between the new “God of War” parts and a Darksiders 2. I’m having a lot of fun with the game. The combat system is fun (play warriors), exploring the levels is fun, although I didn’t think the level structure was that great at first. So far I can follow the story much better than its predecessor and listening to the companions often makes me smile. I don’t want to claim that everything is 100% great, but if it’s hard for me to put the controller down, then something is going right.
And ToMiBriX says:
For me, despite all the prophecies of doom, it’s a huge surprise that encourages me to keep playing at any time. I love returning to the base after missions and, like in Mass Effect, having long conversations with my companions.
And michiwege0311 comments as follows:
I’ve got about 10 hours in there so far (unfortunately only) because of family and work, but I think about it every minute. I just think it’s really good and actually during the very first gameplay I thought: “No, not for me, too comic-like” but yeah, really good so far.
1:24:12
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ArchangelAlaska sees the whole thing a bit more conflicted:
I have to admit that I generally enjoy this game a lot, but I still understand the criticism. It has little in common with the dark Dragon Age. Yes, there are passages in which you are reminded of this setting and the dark one comes through at a few points, but you notice that it is very pimped up to make it look more like utopian fantasy than the tough bloody fantasy, what we know from Origins and probably all miss.
As I said, the companions are also more than weak. Despite all the criticism of Dragon Age 2, for example, the companions in this part beat those from Veilguard by far! Cameo appearances from Inquisition don’t help either.
My main point of criticism is actually the combat system. I knew from the trailer that I wouldn’t like it, but since I’m a Dragon Age fan, I wanted to at least play that part. The combat system is so slimmed down that the skill tree, which is very extensive, makes me more aggressive than exciting. Simply because I can skill so much, but I can only equip 3 normal skills… Why?
Group dynamics in the fights are also limited. You can only take 2 companions with you and then the classic dynamic with tank, healer, DPS doesn’t really work because tanks can only taunt briefly and it feels like every companion has a small heal but nothing really support-like. So the majority of the fights consist of running and dodging. Maybe it’s because I play a magician, but basically I just run around every fight.
[…]
However, the survey also makes it clear that Dragon Age: The Veilguard doesn’t work for everyone.
mstummer writes:
I refunded it… I’m probably too old for that… the writing annoys me, it’s too flat for me, too child-friendly, the same goes for the art style, “Dark Fortnite” isn’t dark enough for me…
That doesn’t objectively make it a bad game, but it pushes the wrong buttons for me…[…]
After many hours of play, Drosera complains:
I’m close to the final now. My conclusion goes like this: Fairly competent fantasy game, terrible Dragon Age.
The game doesn’t have much of what made its predecessors great. The Companions are the weakest in the whole series. In addition, there are constant immersion problems; you are always reminded that you are standing in front of the thoughts of the authors and not in front of a character.
What’s exciting, by the way, is that a look at the Steam successes reveals that most players are still at the beginning of Dragon Age. We are excited to see how opinions change over the next few weeks and months.
Are you surprised by the result? How far along are you in Dragon Age (if you’re playing)? Write it to us in the comments.
