Recent reviews by OMGLX

Is it perfect? No, certainly not, but its a return to a world that I love after a long time away... at least, for most people. I bounced off Inquisition when it first came out, and only just got to last year leading up to Veilguard's release. Having a very direct comparison, I personally found Veilguard to be a strong follow-up to Inquisition, while having its own set of issues.

The Good: Gameplay, specifically combat, has improved, with both the skill tree and perks on gear creating a possibility space for varied and fun 'builds' while still being very approachable and easy to understand. Prior to release, I worried that my intent to make a Rogue Ranger would be met with a very passive playstyle, which was not the case. I felt like Legolas for the duration of my playtime, lining up powerful shots, rapid fire volleys, and flipping across the battlefield. Moreover, not having some sort of War Table, or massive open world spaces that must be dotted with repetitive filler, made for a much more cohesive and fun experience, imo.

The narrative, in its totality. The Evanuris (Solas inclusive) felt like far better realized antagonists than Corypheus was, and I enjoyed the process of assembling a team, going on adventures with them and figuring out how to approach an impossible task. Additionally, I appreciated the overall theme of acknowledging the past while looking to create a new status quo, which feels fitting given the lapse between releases... and the apparent shelving of Dragon Age moving forward.

The team. I think this is maybe the hardest to stack up to, as Dragon Age has had some great companions and companion storylines, but Veilguard delivered for me. Some were not as strong as others (I loved Bellara but her questline was relatively weak, for example.) but overall I derived great enjoyment from taking my squad out to slay dragons and listen to their banter.

The Bad: The narrative, specifically its responsiveness. Comparative to other Dragon Age games, to say nothing of the wider RPG space, the decisions I made felt less substantial, with the exception with the ones made during the final few chapters, and a couple big 'A or B' forks early on. In a time where RPGs have iterated immensely since the last Dragon Age game, its pecular to me that the game has regressed in this way, especially with the clean slate afforded to Veilguard by compressing the previous games choices to a sort of master canon with a few variations.

The strategy & tactics. I don't have super fond memories of micromanaging my party members in previous DA games, but having the system there allowed for tension points where a party member would fall and I would need to figure out how to handle it -- focus on the fight, take a beat to revive, swap to another character to do so, etc. In Veilguard, companions are effectively immortal, and I think consequently, their combat effective suffers unless they're chaining skills/detonations.

There are other appreciations and criticisms, but they're minor compared to those listed above. Would I have loved a Dragon Age that more directly rivals luminaries like Baldur's Gate 3 or The Witcher 3, while maintianing the things that make Dragon Age, Dragon Age. Of course! But in the absence of that, I think Veilguard does meaningfully iterate upon Inquisition, mostly positively. Sadly, it'll have to do as a decent farewell, too.

Occasionally, Destiny will allow me to play other games, and I love it for that.

The game is a little rough around the edges, yes, but honestly there's a lot of charm here and a strong foundation for the future, if it gets updated and polished up. A couple characters could use a little balancing (Ajonah especially feels a bit underpowered for a Sniper archetype) but overall there's a strong opening salvo and that threads a delicate balance of being similar to other archetypes you may be familiar with from other hero shooters, but different enough to not feel rote or samey. So far, I would say it represents a better first go at the crowded multiplayer area space than other recent releases. (Ahem, like Bleeding Edge.)

Having played multiple games in this series, going all the way back to the original, this is the Hitman game I always envisioned this could be. Production through the roof, style bleeding from the seams, and a staggering amount of ways to play the game. Highly recommended for Hitman fans, of course, but also for stealth enthusiasts and problem solvers with a macabre streak.

Setting aside the wonderful gameplay, the exceptional soundtrack, and some of the best front-to-back art direction I've seen in a game -- Brothers moved me in a way few games do. Highly recommended.