Recent reviews by Lorai

TLDR: I absolutely adore this game, find all it's flaws forgiveable and will play it many more times.

A worthy addition to my most beloved franchise, Veilguard has extremely fun combat (for all classes, which is new for me!), quirky, lovable characters and a sweeping, epic story.
There's loot hidden everywhere for the loot goblins, tons of lore to be found for the lore goblins, and the scenery and visual style are simply gorgeous to me.
I genuinely love the pacing in this game and how it brings elements from especially DAII back that just...work. It's like a Best-Of Dragon Age in level design, map creation and side-quests.
The game respects your time in so many ways, most noticeably in it's loot- and quest-mechanics, and it's been SO rewarding. So many small issues we've had with previous games are solved in such clever, intuitive ways... Veilguard is truly a joy to play for all of these reasons.
I love the factions and the way they're built in - so far the Crows and Grey Wardens have had very fun extra dialogue that I've seen, though the Mourn Watchers outshine all of them as far as immersion and changed dialogue goes.
I also genuinely believe this game can be great for those who haven't previously played Dragon Age.
The slower, more guided first 10~ish hours of the game offer a great introduction to Northern Thedas and the game's scope, and offer a great basis for exploration later on.

It has it's faults, like all games do, but it cannot be understated how good, complete and bug-less this game was ON RELEASE. The dialogue especially is less deep than other installments, sometimes to the point of being silly, although there's also some really intense conversations that balance this out. Some characters are more well-written than others, as could be expected from the development hell this game was in for so long.
The way world-states are resolved and the way some of the world-building elements are treated are definitely not my favourite, but I do understand the decision. This robs us of many potential cameos, for one.
I just regret how issues like slavery and prejudice were glossed over in this game to focus on the story. It makes the world just a little more hollow, despite the many vibrant, wonderfully crafted new regions full of ambiance.
To some, this game will never be what they expected or wanted to see - from the new art-style to the way the story differs from Joplin's original concept - but in my opinion the creators of Veilguard took Dragon Age's enormous, daunting legacy and created something they can be truly proud of.

Like every Dragon Age game before it, Veilguard brings new, modern gameplay elements and TONS of lore to the table, bringing the long, sweeping storyline of elvhen gods and their history to a truly epic conclusion!

TLDR: An amazing, well-made singleplayer game, that gives the most genuine Dungeons & Dragons feeling and mechanics of any game I've seen! Of course there's room for improvement, but I vastly enjoyed my first full playthrough!

I played a bit in early access, because I love D&D and video games. The idea of a video game that utilises D&D rules was very attractive to me. BG3 was also a little disappointing in that regard, clearly bearing the Larian stamp, but Solasta completely filled that gap for me. The fact that a game like this came forth from a smaller studio & a successful Kickstarter amazes me; the quality is very high and the story is very well-crafted & works well together with the mechanics.

Gameplay & D&D Rules
If you're completely unfamiliar with mechanics of Dungeons and Dragons 5th edition, which the game is almost entirely based on and stays very true to, the tutorials offer quite a good entry into the basics. Once it comes to what spells do, status effects and character levelling (especially how to make the best builds), the game kind of drops you in the deep end. I suppose if you had no prior knowledge of those things, you'd have quite some reading to do!

For me (knowing the mechanics well) a quite completionist playthrough on Authentic Mode with a few useless bumbles & no deaths or other complications took around 37 hours, but I'm sure you could end up taking anywhere between 20-50 depending on how you like to play!

Pacing
The pacing was great, although I recommend checking back in at your hometown, Caer Cyflen, often, because I missed the opportunity to do some side quests at their ideal moments because I didn't do it one or two more times than I did. The beginning is a little slow, especially if you've already done it in early access, but once the main plot kicks in and the pacing picks up, I found I appreciated the slow beginning a lot. It lets you get the feel of the game & setting quite well.

Finishing the game (no spoilers) was a little disappointing to me, mainly because once you finish the main game, you no longer get to keep playing with your characters. It was a very unexpected 'loss' for me, and I find myself feeling quite sad about it having just finished. Those side-quests I missed will forever stay a mystery to these particular characters, and I regret that. I would have much preferred being able to still play them and just fight some monsters here and there, however over-levelled I may be, and I definitely wasn't expecting having to say goodbye to my characters so suddenly.

Also good to know in the late-game in that regard (I'll spoiler tag it but I'll try to give as little away as I can) there comes a point where you return to Caer Cyflen for the main quest when your characters have discovered they can currently not find gems anymore. At that point - the game does not tell you this - but once you return to Caer Cyflen and attend a council meeting, you're in the end-game. You can no longer go away & do side-quests, you have to follow the plot progression. I was caught off guard by this and was sat with a bunch of leftover sidequests and items I still wanted to try to make/earn, that given the fact that you can't keep playing after the end, I just won't get to do until my next playthrough or if I hunt down a save-file...

Character Building/Characters
Especially with the 1.0 improvements, making a character is a good balance between simplicity & functionality. There's plenty of options and ways to switch things up, and definitely also the "authentic D&D experience" of being able to make combinations that work terrifyingly well. I found I actually got a little bit too good at that & started blazing through combats, but adjusting the difficulty mid-game offers an immediate fix for that, so keep that feature in mind!
Each party member gets their own personality based on flags you choose, which impacts only the flavour of conversations, but it's so very well done & smoothly integrated that it deserves mentioning. I found that a deeply satisfying way to make the stories more memorable & personalised, and a huge counterweight to some other options that have to be one-size-fits-all to make the game work.

Each party member also ends up getting their own little side-plot [re: go back to Caer Cyflen often enough!], which is a very fun way to make the game feel even more like D&D. It's those seemingly little things that really show the love that went into the game and make me appreciate it even more.

Crafting
Important to keep in mind when building your character is the crafting manual & magic items. Unless you want to spend quite some time improving your relationships with just the right factions and a lot of money, you'll want to have at least one member with a 'Manalocan Rosary' proficiency to help you make use of the host of items you get to craft before the game.

In conclusion
I could probably go on and on, but these are the things most in my mind having just finished my first playthrough. I usually don't like replaying games, but this time I'm actually excited to experience the game with a different party & in a different way. I also hope more and more quests & [mini] campaigns get added. For example, I would love to be able to play a level 10-12 or 10-15 mini arc with parties I've completed the game with! I would definitely recommend this game to anyone looking for a relatively lightweight but well-crafted RPG that really cares about it's world- & storybuilding, or to anyone trying to get to know D&D coming from video gaming, or the other way around!

P.S. If you want to feel OP and break the action economy (at least with the Authentic Mode AI & unaltered settings), stealthing into cut-scenes & Conjure Minor Elementals (4 creatures) are both your friend. Trust me ;)